the Priests and Religious persons might well be called a Doctrine of Devills by reason of those impurities that are the consequences of it but as for abstinence from meats in Lent and on certain days one cannot deny but that it is a very extravagant expression to call it a Doctrine of Devils It must be observed therefore that apostacy from the faith and the Doctrine of Devils do not refer to the forbidding of marriage and of meats as the Genus referrs to the Species as if these forbiddings of marriage and of meats were themselves Doctrines of Devils They are only the Characters of those that are to teach the Doctrines of Devils that is to say that they shall be persons that shall make a profession of great austerity to that degree that they shall abstain from marriage which God hath instituted and from meats which God hath allowed us to use And so this is the sense of the words The true sense and the true translation of this Text of St. Paul. In the latter days there shall happen an apostacy and a revolting from the faith men shall give up themselves to seducing spirits to doctrines of Demons which Doctrines shall be taught by hypocrites lyars men whose consciences are seared with a hot iron and who making a great shew of their austerities shall abstain from marriage and from meats which God hath created imposing a necessity on all their devouts to observe celibacy and the Laws of their fasts that consist in distinction of meats And to translate it exactly according to the Greek Text the sense is clear without a Paraphrase I. Now the Spirit saith expresly that in the latter times some shall revolt from the faith giving themselves up to deceiving Spirits and Doctrines of Demons II. And this through the fictions of lyars men whose consciences are seared with a hot iron III. Forbidding to marry commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful and by them who know the truth Those that understand Greek and the rules of Grammer will easily see that the words cannot be otherwise translated For the Greek pronoun some and the participle giving up themselves to cannot be construed with lyars and forbidding seeing the pronoun some is in the nominative case as they call it and the other words are in that which they call the Genitiue So that it must not be translated some giving up themselves and teaching lies But lyars and forbidding must be construed with these words through the hypocrisy and be rendred through the hypocrisy or through the fiction of lyars For the proposition that signifies in signifies also by or through And our French Interpreters have so translated it teaching lies through hypocrisy But instead of teaching lies it should be translated through the hypocrisy of those that teach lies or lyars This Text thus rectified by a right translation presents two things to us the first is the Antichristian Apostacy and its Characters the second is the fountain of this Apostacy the men that must cause and promote it The first is the apostacy from the faith to give up themselves to seducing spirits and the doctrine of Devils or Daemons the second is the hypocritical Authors of the Law of celibacy and of abstinence from meats Let us examine whether these two things do well agree to the Papism CHAP. XIX That the term of Apostacy is not too big to express the Papism by that Apostacy signifies rebellion and Idolatry why the H. Sâ—ripture uses such high words to describe the popish Idolatry and higher than those it makes use of to describe the Pagan Idolatry THe first Character of the Antichristian Empire that appears in this place is apostacy some shall revolt from the faith 'T is exactly the very same word which Saint Paul uses in the second Chap. of the second Epistle to the Thessalonians where by the confession of all he describes the coming of the Antichristian Empire That day shall not come except there come a falling away or an apostacy first and that man of sin the son of perdition be revealed The Idea which the word Apostacy raiseth in the mind This term of apostacy at this day begets a dreadful Idea in mens minds 'T is used to signify an entire renunciation of the faith Especially when 't is joined with the word faith as it is here They shall fall into an apostacy from the faith it seems to signify as much i. e. an utter renunciation of the Christian faith Now the Papism makes great use of that and pretends to prove it cannot be called an apostacy and a renunciation of the Christian faith because it retains that entire receiving the Apostles Creed the Nicene and Athanasius's in the sense of the Scripture and of the Church Before we shew that this makes nothing against our hypothesis The word Apostacy which signifies Antichrist shews he must not be a Jew I will observe one thing which I have not found any as yet have sufficiently confirm'd 'T is this that the term of apostacy which signifies the Empire of Antichrist evidently shews that the Antichrist of the Romish Doctors is a meer Chimaera According to them he must be a Jew that must style himself the Messiah assemble all the Jews at Jerusalem make war on the Christians and destroy Christianity If he be a Jew by nation and religion he will not be an Apostate For according to the Scripture usage of the word and that of the languages at this day none are called Apostates but those that abandon the true religion to embrace a false one So that see here is a new proof that Antichristianism must establish it self in Christianity and the Subjects and Prince of this Empire must be Apostates from the Christian religion which cannot agree to the Jews We must not say that this Empire of Antichrist is called an apostacy because it will cause the Christians to revolt and make them Apostates For it is plain that the head of this Empire must himself be an Apostate That day shall not come except there be first a falling away or an apostacy and the man of sin the son of perdition be revealed One may plainly see that this signifies before the apostacy of the man of sin happens The revolt of the Papism from the faith is very well called an Apostacy At the present to make appear that the revolt of the Papism from the faith is very justly styled an apostacy divers things must be observ'd And first That this word in its original doth not signify all that that men at this day would signify by it The verb whence this word is derived signifies no more than to depart from any person or thing They that understand Greek cannot be ignorant of that So Apostacy originally signifies a departure 't is to depart from the obedience which is due to any one 'T is to refuse him either the whole or a
makes this renewed Paganism of Popery to be in less credit and esteem than formerly Men begin to disgust the popish superstitions They speak of the Invocation of Saints with contempt and boldly condemn the excess of it and call it Idolatry when they speak of it in private They wish Images were banisht from their Churches that it might not be a scandal and an offence to us They begin to confess that there was no necessity for the taking away the Cup. They acknowledge that a man may be saved without Indulgencies by the sole merit of I. Christ They would restore the reading of the Holy Scriptures to the People They suppress the Authority of the Pope and speak of it with scorn They despise his Thunders and if he begin to murmur they talk as loud or louder than he They indeavour to establish this Doctrine that under pretence of Religion or for the preservation of it 't is not permitted to subjects to take up arms They mollify and sweeten all the Doctrines of Popery I have taken notice of this in another place and again observe it this cannot hold long this state and posture of the Papacy is violent Since it is freely confest that the adoration of one God is sufficient without that of Saints and Images they must shortly conclude that for things unnecessary they ought not to scandalize one half of the Christian World and shut the Gate against the Iews and the Mahometans Never were there so many in the Church of Rome as now who acknowledge the vanity impurity of their Superstitions Every man hath the liberty of his own thoughts but I profess that to me these are great presages of the approach of the last work of God for the establishment of his Kingdom and the ruin of that of Antichrist My spirit was in this frame when this last and great Persecution in France began I therein took notice of several Characters that confirmed me in the belief that we were in the last times of the Period of 1260 years and that this is the last Persecution spoken of in the 11th Chap. Revel Singular Characters in the present persecution which presage that it shall be this last And when they shall have finiht their Testimony the Beast who ascendeth out of the bottomless Pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them And their dead Bodies shall lye in the street of the great City three days and a half For there are so many things singular and irregular in this Persecution that without prophaness and a denial of Divine Providence we cannot but acknowledge the hand of God therein 'T is singular and more than usual whether we consider the Authors of this Persecution and the manner of it or whether we consider the Subjects that suffer it and in what manner they suffer As to the Persecutors themselves There is First a Prince who hath the chiefest obligation to us for the Crown he wears which entred into his Family by the person of his Grand Father a Prince to whom we have always paid obedience and submission without the least shadow of Rebellion a Prince for whom we preserved the Crown in his minority and who hath not scrupled to testify that we did so a Prince who is wise and understanding as to his own Interests and those of the States of Europe who yet in despite of his own Interest hath done all that which the House of Austria would have dictated to him to do if she had imployed her Emissaries in his Council who destroys his own Subjects who makes innumerable Male-contents who throws eternal seeds of rebellion and war in his own Dominions who disobliges his Protestant Allies and alienates them in such a manner almost as never to be reconciled The Protestant States and Princes have been always the principal Allies of France Swede Denmark England the Low-Countries the Switzers and the Protestant Princes of Germany These are they that have supported it when the House of Austria threatned the liberty of all Europe And these are they who assisted France to humble the House of Austria so low as now it is and consequently that have advanced France to that point of Grandeur she is now at But Time will shew how great a wound France hath now made in the heart of all her ancient Allies We see already that this Persecution makes the discord and dissention cease that was between the Protestants and brings them nearer an union and reconciliation than before God will let us see something farther of that kind However it must be confest that there is something therein which is not to be understood by man that so wise a Court should violate all the rules of good policy which is the Soul of States and the spring of all their motions If we look upon the Clergy that seems to have been the Sollicitor of this Persecution it will appear no less extraordinary 'T is not an Ignorant and superstitious Clergy as was that of the last Century These are understanding and knowing persons Men of learning and prudence freed from the ridiculous affectation and prejudice of a Monastic Spirit who have little zeal for the Romish Ceremonies who flight their worship at least for the most part of it who have much knowledge of the Truth and at the bottom but very little Religion In a word they are such as know very well that we are not in the wrong or at least that altogether and in every thing we are not Nevertheless they persecute us more cruelly than the most furious Monks or inraged Inquisitors have ever done They act therefore against their own light which is so far very strange and surprizing But what is more astonishing they act against the most sacred Principles of their Religion There is nothing among them more venerable than the Sacraments and nothing esteemed more criminal than the violation of them To administer the Sacrament of Pennance to give absolution to a Sinner to an Heretick who is not penitent who saith and declares openly without hiding or concealing it that he perseveres from his very heart in his sin and Heresy and never renounc't it but by constraint and violence to give I say absolution to such a man according to the definition of their loosest Casuists 'T is Sacriledge to give the Sacrament of the Altar to a man that professeth he believes nothing of it and acknowledgeth nothing there but meer Bread 't is a Sacrilegious Communion Should it not affect the Hearts and even the Imaginations of those persecuting Bishops and Priests to think of the innumerable Sacriledges that by this means are every day committed They absolve a multitude of wretched People who protest that by meer force and violence they were constrained to sign the abjuration of their Religion and to get out of the hands of a thousand Executioners who devour'd and destroyed 'em and gave them no rest day or night The Priests and Bishops who
the other Churches of Asia and if any will have it so all those that were at that time in the world And he chose among these seven the names of the principal ones intending that the other lesser Churches should reckon that as spoken concerning their present estate which is spoken to the seven principal ones among them 2dly Who knows whether there were at that time more than seven considerable Churches in Asia The other were so very much below these for Dignity Grandure Excellency that the H. Spirit judged it not proper to make any account of them the Advertisements that he gives to these seven Churches being sufficient for the Disorders which might be in all the others which Disorders were apparently the same For 't is usuall enough for little flocks to follow the examples of the greater ones Lastly it doth not appear that the holy Spirit in what follows hath divided the duration of the Church since J. Christ's time to the end of the world or to the coming of Jesus Christ's Kingdom into seven Periods For the seven seals the seven Trumpets the seven Vialls do not each of them take up all time They succeed one another The seventh seal brings forth seven Trumpets the sixth Trumpet is subdivided into seven Vialls It had been very methodical in a Revelation after having obscurely mark'd out the seven Periods of the Church by the seven Epistles to describe the same times by seven other Characters more observable more distinct This is indeed what some modern writers do believe that God hath done pretending that the seven seals the seven Trumpets are co-temporary divide the duration of the Christian Church into seven Periods as the seven Epistles to the seven Churches do But this opinion will not appear probable to those that study the Prophecies the events with any application of mind I look on that as nothing that is said to support the mystery of the seven Churches viz. that we do not see that such things happened in the seven Churches of Asia which are there named as have any resemblance with what the H. Spirit saith to them How should we see it seeing we have not the particular History of those Churches in that time Besides tho we do not know the particulars of those events yet there is nothing in the seven Epistles which doth not very well agree with the Estate of the Church that then was without any necessity to seek out events mystically meant in future ages The applications that are made of the seven Epistles to the seven Periods are not happy The principal thing that hinders me from closing with the opinion of the Prophetical sense of the Epistles is that I do not find that the applications which are made of them to the Ages that have past since the Apostles do answer expectation 'T is true there are some places where the applications are not unhappy But seeing this is not to be met with every where I believe that they have hit luckily by chance Otherwise the Prophecy should every where agree with the events To the end one may better judge of the force of this last reason I shall set down two or three of the mystical interpretations that are given to these Epistles This will please those who cannot or will not go to seek them in their Springs I begin with that of Patrick Forbes a Scotch Divine The explication of the mystery of the seven Churches by Forbes that lived died in the beginning of this age According to him the Church of Ephesus signifies the Primitive Church of the three first Ages The Praises which the H. Spirit gives it I know thy works thy labour how thou canst not bear them which are evil c. These praises I say may well agree to the Church of the three first Ages But those which God gives to the Church of Thyatira afterwards are greater Yet 't is certain that the fourth Period of the Church did not come near the Church of the three first Ages in fervency purity The Nicolaitans that are spoken of in this Epistle to the Church of Ephesus may signifie all the Hereticks all the kinds being meant by one But seeing the Church of all Ages hath had its Hereticks this character can't distinguish this Period from the others The second Epistle is to the Church of Smyrna Forbes would have this to be the Period in which the Arrians Macedonians Nestorians Eutychians reigned That is to say that this Period will comprehend the fourth the fifth Age. But how can these words be applied to those Ages I know thy works thy Tribulation thy poverty but thou art rich I know the blasphemy of those that say they are Jews but are not but are the Synagogue of Satan See here are praises that are no whit inferiour to those that were given to the Church of Ephesus Yet 't is certain that the Church in these Ages was corrupted lost all the beauty it had in the three first Ages of the Church Its manners were corrupted its worship was marred by the invocation of Saints the worship of Reliques What will become of that Persecution of ten days that God predicts to this Church of Smyrna 'T is true the Church was persecuted under the Arrian Emperours but it doth not appear very well why this is described by number of ten days The third Epistle is directed to the Church of Pergamus according to Forbes this is the Period of the reign of Antichrist The foregoing Periods were but of two or three hundred years this must be above a thousand years Here is found something that is pretty like this Period I know where thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is To which may be added that the martyr Antipas spoken of in this Epistle signifies Anti-papa an Enemy opposing the Pope that this signifies all those that have opposed the tyranny of Antichrist But the rest doth by no means agree to this Period I know thy works that thou holdest fast my name hast not denied my faith These praises do by no neans belong to a Church so corrupt as was that of the third Period under the reign of Antichrist Thou hast them that hold the Doctrine of Balaam who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the Children of Israel to eat things sacrificed unto Idols to commit fornication By this must be meant those evil Christians that joined in with the Antichristian Idolatry Now these people are not well described by thou hast them for this imports that it was not the body of the Society And on the contrary under the Antichristian Empire the greatest part of men did partake of his abominations The fourth Epistle is directed to the Church of Thyatira to which the H. Spirit gives these great praises I know thy works Charity service Patience that thy last works are more than the
first Forbes would have this be that Period of the Church in which the Church began to reform her self in which the good separated from the evil i. e. the Church from the Albigenses to Luthers time Now I leave every wise man to judge if a small number of Albigenses Waldenses that separated from the Church of Rome that endured so short a time could deserve from the whole Christian Church so generally corrupted the fairest of all the praises that the H. Spirit gives to the seven Churches Thou sufferest that woman Jezabel that calleth her self a Prophetess to teach to seduce my servants to commit fornication This Jezabel I confess very much resembles the Antichristian Church But Why should the Albigenses be blamed for suffering the Roman Church How could they destroy it who were so weak Did they not cry out upon her as Babylon as much as they were able Sardis is the fifth Church to which the H. Spirit writes according to Forbes 't is the Reformed Church in which neither Jezabel nor Balaam nor the Pope nor Popery are any longer tolerated because she broke with the Roman Church But why would we have the Ages of our Reformation since Luther to be branded with so black fatal a Character Thou hast a name to live but art dead Be watchful strengthen the things which remain are ready to dy for I have not found thy works perfect before God. I think our Reformation deserved at least as much praise as that of the Albigenses The Zeal thereof was great the Doctrine pure Philadelphia is the sixth Church signifies according to Forbes the Church that shall carry the Reformation to its greatest height that shall have but a small number of members but they shall be very Zealous Laodicea is the last Church or the last Period The Holy Spirit terribly blames it Thou art neither hot nor cold Thou saist I am rich have need of nothing c. dost not know that thou art wretched miserable poor blind naked According to Forbes this is those Churches that making all their glory to consist in their having quitted Babylon do fall back make Religion to consist in nothing but duties purely external This last Period must be placed at the end of the World. Thus you have Forbes's system Let us proceed to that of Cocceius According to this later Author the Church of Ephesus is the Apostolical Church i. e. that wherin the Apostles preached The Explication of the mystery of the seven Churches according to Cocceius So that this Period must be extended to the death of St. John. The Nicolaitans spoken of in this first Epistle are Hereticks in general Nicolaos in Greek signifies the Conquerour of the People 'T is the Character of Hereticks to make themselves masters of the people by seducing them The Church of Smyrna signifies the Church suffering in all places especially that of the three first Ages The persecution of ten Days according to this must signify the ten Persecutions which the Church suffered during those three Ages under the Pagan Emperours This doth not fall out ill but I fear it was chance that made this hit for the rest doth not fall out in the same manner The holy Spirit saith Some of you shall be cast into Prison that ye may be tryed This is very feebly to express the great number of Martyrs and the cruel Sufferings to which the Church was exposed during these three first Ages of the Church 'T is much more probable that this signifies some light Persecution that was to befal Smyrna in which Persecution the Evil should not go beyond the imprisoning some perticular Persons The Epistle to the Church of Pergamus is the third according to Cocceius 't is the Church from Constantine's time to the birth of Antichrist Pergamus is the name of a famous fortress of Troy. Rome signifies strength or fortress 'T is in Rome that satan's seat is But why should the seat of satan be fixed in Rome converted by Constantine It had been much better to have fix'd it in Rome Pagan or to reserve it for Rome Antichristian that was to follow immediately after Antipas the martyr signifies saith he the Orthodox that maintain'd the consubstantiality of the Son. Antipas for Antipatros Antipatros for Isopatros equal to the Father I have nothing to say hereupon but it doth not please me every well The Church of Thyatira is the fourth signifies according to Cocceius the Church under the reign of Antichrist Jezabel that appears in this Epistle is the Antichristian Church They that suffer Jezabel the Prophetess are the elect mingled among the Antichristian Idolaters That sickness that God would send on Jezabel in casting her on her bed are those mortifications which Antichristianism was to receive by the several disasters that befel the Roman Church till the Reformation This falls out pretty well but 't is by meer chance for how can that magnificent Elogy be applied to this period of the Antichristian church I know thy works thy charity thy patience that thy last works are more than the first Never was the church so void of saints of good works as in this sad Period Sardis is the fifth Church the fifth Period according to Cocceius as well as according to Forbes 't is the Reformed Church But I say hereto as I said before on occasion of Forbes why should we say of our Reformation thou hast a name to live behold thou art dead strengthen the things which remain are ready to dy Philadelphia signifies brotherly Love this is the sixth Church which carries in its name the character of a Church yet to come wherein love and charity shall reign but among a very small number of people This church shall be persecuted Attempts will be made to shut the door against its conversions Yet after this the Kings of the Earth shall submit themselves to it This is in after ages So that we have nothing to say about it Laodicea signifies the Church that shall immediately precede the time wherein God shall pass that judgment spoken of in the 11th ch v. 18. i. e. when the reign of J. Christ shall come to be establisht on the Earth That is to say that immediately before the Kingdom of J. Christ comes on the Earth the Church must fall into that dreadful decay meant by these words Thou art neither hot nor cold thou art poor blind naked I do not well understand how all this hangs together The Church oâ— Philadelphia which is the sixth after it hath been persecuted shall remain victorious over all the Kings of the Earth which signifies that all the nations of the Earth shall be converted see here the reign of J. Christ on the Earth And yet after this comes a seventh Period wherein religion shall almost entirely perish before the Kingdom of J. Christ comes on
the Earth Besides all other inconveniencies this system hath this further viz. that besides these seven Periods an eighth must be added for the reign of the Church on the Earth This is a thing that was never heard of the times were never in any prophecy divided into eight The mystery of the seven Churches according to Dr. Hen. More Dr. Henry More is one of the last that hath spent his Labours on the Revelation He believes also that these seven Epistles are mystical prophetical see how he understands them The Church of Ephesus is the Period that ran out from J. Christ's time to the tenth year of Nero's Empire See here a Period short enough There is not usually so great an inequality between the Periods that divide the times in the Prophecies Moreover one may be assured that there is not so much as one word in this Epistle that may not as happily be applyed to the two following Ages as to the first so that this Application is purely Arbitrary and without any Ground The Church of Smyrna is the Period from the tenth year of Nero to the year 324. i. e. to the Reign of Constantine and the Council of Nice This falls in with Cocceius's Notion wherefore I cannot approve of it for the Reason above-mention'd Pergamus according to Dr. More signifies the Church from the year 324. to the year 1242. during which time the Empire of Antichrist was establisht taking in the time in which the Waldenses and Albigenses appear'd in the World and were extinguisht The Foundation of this Explication is the Seat of Satan I know where thou dwellest even where Satan's Seat is And the Martyr Antipas that signifies according to this Author Anti-Pope or contrary to the Pope This is a little glittering Light but I am much afraid 't is a Deceitful one For First Why should we comprehend in this Empire of Satan the Reigns of Constantine and Theodosius which were so happy for the Church 2dly Why should it be said to this Antichristian Period I know thy Good Works and that thou hast not Denyed my Name seeing there never were fewer that made profession of the Truth than in this Period If ever the Church may be accused of having renounced the Name of Jesus Christ 't is in the time of Antichristianism which is called an Apostacy so that this Article doth not hit well but that which follows doth much worse Thyatira according to this Author is the Church from the time that the Albigenses were destroyed to that time that entire Nations abandon'd the Communion of Rome 'T is it may be a time the most barren in Virtue and the most overwhelm'd with Superstition that ever was since Jesus Christ yet must this great Praise be attributed to it I know thy Works and thy Patience and thy Charity and that thy last Works are more than the first What is said to the Church of Ephesus which 't is pretended is the Apostolical Church is not so honourable nor so great Thou sufferest the Woman Iezabel that calls her self a Prophetess How can this be applied to those Ages that have run out since the Ruin of the Albigenses to the Reformation Jezabel that Roman Whore hath not only been suffer'd and tolerated she hath reigned with less Contradiction than in any Age. Sardis is the fifth Church which signifies the fifth Period according to Dr. More and this Period is that of the Reformation to the last Vial i.e. to the last Ruin of Antichrist 'T is to this Church that the Holy Spirit saith Thou hast a Name to live but behold thou art dead Can it be imagin'd that God should give such great Praises to the Church that was since the Ruin of the Albigenses till the Reformation and that the Holy Spirit should be made to speak with so much Disdain of the Reformed Church What comparison is there between the Church in its Reformation that corrupted Church wherein hardly any was to be found that preserv'd himself from the mighty Corruption of Error and Vice Philadelphia which is the sixth Church signifies a sixth Period wherein Antichrist shall be entirely ruin'd and the Infidel Nations be converted This is to divine and that which the Holy Spirit saith to the sixth Church doth not exactly import any such thing Lastly Laodicea of which the Holy Spirit speaks in such disadvantageous terms is the Church that must fall into decay after the Fall of Antichrist and the Conversion of the People And this Decay must bring the Church to the coming of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ on the Earth See here a new Period and of which there is not the least foot-step in all the Prophecies 'T is a Period that must run out from the Ruin of Antichrist and the Conversion of the People All the Prophecies foretell that the Reign of Jesus Christ shall come immediately after the Fall of Babylon and the Fulness of the Gentiles Yet here behold a Period that separates these two Events which ought to be joyned together Lastly this System is subject to the same inconveniencies as that of Cocceius There must be supposed an eighth Period for the reign of the thousand years which Dr. More acknowledges Now it must be confessed that this eighth Period is altogether unknown to the Prophets for we do not any where find that the time hath been divided into Eight parts Those that will attentively reflect on what we have just now said will confess if I am not much mistaken either that these Epistles to the seven Churches are not prophetical or that the Mystery hath not yet been discovered For nothing that hath been said about them hath this certain Character of Truth which is obvious to every one The Prophecies must be like Aenigma's which till they have been well explained seem unintelligible but when one hath hit right upon them they appear so clear that they cannot otherwise be understood CHAP. II. An Explication of the Vision of the four living Creatures of the twenty four Elders contained in the fourth Chapter SEeing there 's nothing propheticall in the three first chapters of the Revelation we may go on to the fourth Chapter One may say that this is the opening of this great divine Theater on which these admirable prophetical Visions will immediatly appear The entrance is like that of the Prophet Ezekiel God appears in the Temple which is in heaven sitting on a magnificent Throne Round about the throne there is a Rainbow this is the Symbol of Peace Before the Throne there was a Sea of Glass like to Chrystal This may signify the Purity of the Doctrine of the Gospel by which we are washed justified It is of Glass of Chrystal because of its firmness For the Gospel is an eternal Covenant that shall not be done away by a new covenant But that which is most considerable here is the four living Creatures the twenty four Elders that are round about
necessary to premise in the first place an Observation which I call the Key of the Revelation 'T is that this whole Book is nothing but a Paraphrase on what Daniel saith in the seventh Ch. of his revelations touching the fourth Beast Certainly this fourth Beast is the Roman Empire the fourth Monarchy And if some great strange events be found therin 't is always with respect to the Roman Empire that must endure to the coming of the Kingdom of J. Christ on the Earth VVhy God hath nor taken notice of other States in the Revelation The reason why God taking no notice of so many great events that happen without the bounds of the Roman Empire of the great Empires that are establisht the nations that are overturned the bloody Wars that are every where insists only on the fourth Monarchy or the Roman Empire is because god reveals not future events but with respect to the Church which he loveth which he conducts which he will instruct concerning his will. Now the Church was to be enclosed in or very near within the bounds of the Roman Empire I know that there were Christian-Churches in Persia it may be some in the Indies But all this was but a small matter Euphrates was the bounds of Christianity it spread it self but a little beyond it The Church therfore had no need to know that which should happen on the other side Euphrates nor to understand the foundation of the Empires of the Tartars the Kings of Persia the Mogulls the Chinois for all this had no respect to her Wherfore the Revelation saith not one word of them The Spirit of God also had no intention to instruct us in the adventures of the Empire of the Saracens that of the Turks but with reference to the fourth Monarchy Therfore we shall not see these two Empires that of the Saracens that of the Tarcks but only by the by in the fifth sixth Trumpets we shall not see them there but as the Scourges of God that fall on the fourth monarchy to vex to destroy it This observation is the Key of the Revelation For first it removes that difficulty which many make so great a stir about viz. that the Revelation as t is usually explained doth not at all touch on or if it doth 't is but by the by the greatest Revolutions of the World that happen'd in the East since 1200 years Yet once more it was not the work of him who would speak of nothing but the Church those Events that have in immediate reference to the Church Secondly This observation will teach us rightly to divide the times of the Revelation properly to apply the visions to each time to discover the events that are signified by those Visions We must know therefore that the fourth monarchy without comparison the greatest The division of the fourth Monarchy into two Periods most distinguished in the Prophecies is divided into two great periods The first is from the birth of Rome ab urbe conditâ which was the great Epocha of the Romans to the division of the Roman Empire into ten Kingdoms which was after the death of Valentinian the third about the year 455. For then the Empire was torn in pieces between the Greeks the Vandals the Goths the Burgundians c. it was I say divided into ten principal parts The second period of the fourth monarchy is since the division of the Empire among ten Kings the reunion of those ten Kings under one sole head that calls himself the universal Bishop to the end of this monarchy the coming of the fifth which is that of J. Christ on the Earth These two periods are very near of the same length viz. 1200 years or a little more The Lord J. Christ came into the world Anno V. C. 754. or 752. as Dionysius the lesser pretends The Empire was divided into ten Kingdomes about the year of J. Christ 455. i. e. in the year 1209 or 1207 of the city of Rome since that time under the Roman Gothish Kings the counting ab urbe conditâ was continued till the time of Dionysius the lesser a Roman Abbot a Scythian by nation who died in the year 540 according to Baronius who made his Paschal cycle in the year 527. T is about the year 530 that the Christian Aera began to be in use the counting by the years of J. Christ Then men left off counting ab urbe conditâ after they had used this Epocha about 1280 years However that be the period from the building of Rome to the division of the Roman Empire among ten Kings is more than 1200 years The second period of the fourth monarchy since its division among ten Kings to the end must be also above 1200 years The Prophecy makes it 1260 prophetical days i.e. 1260 years Now we must observe that in the time of St. Iohn i. e. in the time when he wrote the Revelation there was above two thirds of the first period of the fourth monarchy past gone For the wrote about the year 850 after the building of the city There remain'd therfore but a little more than 350 years of this first period But he had before him the whole entire second period of 1260 years Wherfore t is not very strange that he enlargeth himself much more on this later part than on the former So that we shall not find properly more than two chapters the sixth the eighth that respect this first period of the fourth monarchy and all the rest from the ninth ch inclusively to the 20th exclusively contains the events that belong to the period of the 1260 Years which is the second of the fourth Monarchy To render this truth more plain that the Prophecy of Daniel touching the fourth Monarchy is the Text on which the H. Spirit treats in the Revelation we must here view the Prophecy of Daniel apply it to divers parts of that of St. John. After this I saw in the night visions Dan. 7.7 behold a fourth beast dreadful terrible strong exceedingly it had great iron teeth It devoured brake in pieces stamped the residue with the feet of it it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it it had ten horns Daniel having asked the explication of this vision the Angel saith to him hereupon The fourth beast shall be the fourth Kingdom on the Earth v. 23. which shall be diverse from all Kingdoms shall devour the whole Earth tread it down break it in pieces This refers to the establishment of this Empire its conquests that were begun under the Consuls Dictators were finisht under the Emperours of which St. John. had seen a part some followed after him under whom also the Empire was always enlarged or at least preserved in its greatness even to the children of Theodosius It broke in
To find out the mystery of the seven seals the seven Trumpets we must here again bring in that observation which we a little before made in the foregoing Ch. viz. that the Revelation contains enigmatically the Epitomy of the history of the fourth Monarchy that is to say of the Roman Empire a Monarchy which according to Daniel's Prophecy must last till the coming of the Kingdom of J. Christ on the Earth i. e. to the end of the reign of Antichrist It is clear that the Holy Spirit was to insist only on this fourth Monarchy without considering the other states Empires of the world because 't is that only that Daniel spoke of after the three first Beasts whose reign was certainly past in St. John's time Moreover 't is under this fourth Monarchy in the extent of its dominions that the Christian Church hath receiv'd its seat its rule That Christianity that is found beyond the extent of the Roman Empire is almost nothing And therfore 't is that the Counsells which were assembled from the several parts of the Roman Empire are called Oecumenical as representing the Universal Church Now 't is certain that all the Prophecies have a Mediate or an immediate Relation to the Church So that they ought to insist only on those states in which the Church hath been nourisht brought up There is a third Reason why these Prophecies cannot be understood but of the Roman Empire viz. because the reign of Antichrist which is the greatest affair that happens in the Church which must happen there was to make a part a continuation of this Roman Empire For Antichristianism is the Roman Empire continued This principle which I was willing to repeat here because of its importance will serve to answer those that say to us How know you that the Prophecies of the Revelation do not refer to China or Tartary This objection doth not seem to me to be worthy of understanding persons This being supposed that the Revelation enigmatically contains the history of the Roman Empire continued The principal Catastrophes happening in the Roman Empire are istinctly noted in the Revelation it must also be necessarily supposed that principal great Changes that happened in this Empire are described in large Characters with some note of distinction in the Revelation Otherwise the H. Spirit would not act according to his profound wisdom if in making a history of an Empire he should omit to mark the great Catastrophes that are to happen therin or if he should hide them make them to pass without any character of distinction among the other less events We must therfore consider what are the principal events that have happen'd in the Roman Empire See here they are 1. The fall of Paganism when the Roman Emperours became Christians This is so great an affair that 't is impossible to suppose that the Holy Spirit should have taken no notice of it 2. The fall of the Temporal Roman Empire when 't was divided into ten Kingdoms 3. The erecting a new Roman Empire or rather the continuation of the same under the rule of Antichrist 4. The Birth of the Saracen Empire by the Arabians that come to afflict the Roman Empire in its Eastern branch i.e. the Empire of Constantinople 5. The power of the Turks that come to finish the destruction of the Greek branch of the Roman Empire to lay desolate the Latin Empire See the five great events that have changed the face of the word of the Empire Wherefore I am perswaded these must be found in the Revelation with Characters of distinction Let us suppose therefore that in all the places where there is a notable distinction there we must find one of these notable events The First distinction is found at the end of the sixth seal After the opening this seal there happens a great Earthquake the sun is eclypsed the moon becomes red as blood the stars fall Afterwards the vision of the seals is interrupted by a new vision that comes between in which an Angel marks the elect among the twelve Tribes twelve thousand of every Tribe After which the Holy Spirit returns to the seventh seal under which nothing is done besides the distribution of the seven Trumpets to seven Angells that must sound the successively 'T is clear this is an Epocha a point on which the H. Spirit would have our thoughts to dwell This first Character of distinction must to all appearance be affixed to the first distinct event that happens in the Roman Empire that is the fall of Paganism So that in the opening of the sixth seal we must find the fall of the Pagan Religion The Second very observable distinction is found at the fourth Trumpet There the third part of the sun is in like mannereclypsed the moon the stars suffer the like diminution in their light After which the process of the Trumpets is interrupted by a new Vision viz. that of an Angel that flies in the midst of heaven cries three time Wo to the inhabitants of the Earth because of the three last Trumpets which are yet to sound This is an evident distinction this second distinction must signify to us the second distinct event in the Roman Empire viz. its fall division among ten Kings which came to pass after Valentinian the 3d. in the middle of the fifth Age. The making a new Vision a new Angel crying Wo there times go before the sounding the 5th Trumpet is also a mark of distinction for that 5th Trumpet which signifies to us that 't is an event greatly distinguisht in the history of the Roman Empire And this third distinction can't be applied to any thing but the third notable event that befalls the Roman Empire viz. the Birth of the Saracen Empire by Mahomet his Successors that did so cruelly afflict the Roman Empire in the Empire of Constantinople which was the greatest the most noble part of these ten into which this Empire was divided The Empire of the Turks at the bottom is but a branch of the Arabian Saracen Empire Wherfore it doth not deserve so great a distinction as the other great events of which we have just now spoken And yet the H. Spirit is content to distinguish it by a very long description The fifth sixth Trumpet contain an entire Chapter whereas the four first Trumpets were finisht in 6. or 7. verses which signifies that this fifth and sixth Trumpet must be concerning great Affairs and Evils of a long duration As for that great Event which was to happen in the Roman Empire which wereckon'd for the third viz. the Erection of a new Roman Empire or the continuation of the same Empire under the new Name of the Pope and the Roman Church 't is so great an Affair that the Holy Spirit would not bring it into the first part of the Revelation He hath reserved it to make it the Subject
said we must find the fall of Paganism Indeed a little time after Dioclesian Constantine ascended the Throne of the Emperours made the Christian Religion reign He his Successors ruin'd Paganism This fall of the Pagan Religion is thus represented to us And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal lo there was a great Earth-quake v. 12. the Sun became black as sack-cloth of hair the Moon became red as blood And the Stars of Heaven fell to the Earth even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs v. 13. when she is shaken of a mighty Wind. And the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together v. 14. every mountain island were moved out of their places And the Kings of the Earth v. 15. the great men the rich men the chief captains the mighty men every bond-man every free-man his themselves in the dens in the rocks of the mountains And said to the mountains rocks v. 16. fall on us hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath is come v. 17. who shall be able to stand The fixth Trumpet contains the fall of Faganism All these images are borrowed from the last judgment wherfore they are usually applied to it Because indeed this fall of Paganism is the most terrible judgment that yet ever fell since the beginning of the World on the Devil's Empire We must know that in the whole Revelation we see these three heads reigning the Dragon the Beast the false Prophet The Dragon is the Devil the Beast is the Roman Empire the false Prophet is the Pope The Dragon hath two Empires the First is pure Paganism purely Pagan The second is Antichristian Paganism mingled with Christianity See here the fall of the first Empire that is the purely Pagan Empire of the Dragon 1. There is a great Earth-quake In the style of the Prophets particularly of St. John an Earth-quake always signifies a Change of the face of affairs in the world because Earth-quakes overturn the Earth make it Change its face Now what change of the face of affairs in the world can be imagin'd greater than that which happen'd under Constantine his successors The Church had been beat down massacred it was bathed in its own blood all on a sudden behold 't is the Mistress of the world It is become rich powerfull it builds stately Temples it overturns the Temples of Idols 2. The sun becomes black as sack-cloth We must hold it for certain that the Sun the Moon the Stars in the Revelation always signify the Sovereign the Dignities Powers of the Empire treated of We shall afterwards see this every where Here the Empire treated of is that of the Red Dragon viz. The Devil So that the Sun is the Soveraign of that Empire who is the Devil himself The Moon is the Pagan Religion which borrowed all its power from the Devil as the Moon takes all its lights from the Sun. The Stars are the Pontifexes Priests of Paganism All these powers suffer'd an Eclypse were destroyed by the Christian Emperours tumbled to the ground like Figs by a great wind 3. Every mountain Every Isle were removed out of their places i. e. the Temples the Idols the Cities the places peculiarly consecrated to the devotion of certain Pagan divinities were changed superstition therin was abolisht The hand of God fell heavily on the Gods of the Romans as formerly it did on the Gods of the Egyptians 4. Lastly The King all men of every age condition are exceedingly terrified run up down flee hide themselves endeavour to escape the judgment the wrath of God. One might have seen above a hundred times more than what the Prophet here saith if one could have seen the commotions that then happen'd the terrors the distresses the frights that the invisible Empire of Demons suffer'd at the fall of Paganism All that the Devil suffer'd at the coming of J. Christ into the world was nothing in comparison of this He reigned notwithstanding he was master of Empires Crowns Temples Altars But all on a sudden at that very time when he thought he had entirely ruin'd the Empire of J. Christ by the persecution of Dioclesian behold him himself cast down on the Earth 'T is easy to judg that the Horrours Commotions of the evil Spirits were unconceivable And moreover who can doubt but that this great body of Pontifexes Priests Pagan Ministers felt a prodigious commotion when Constantine turn'd Christian his successors beat down run'd all the Temples of the Idols History tells us enough of this tho it said nothing it would be very easy to apprehend that the images here made use of are not too lively to represent the commotions of the Heathens of Paganism This Period brings us to Theodosius the great under whom Paganism expired but after whom also the glory quiet of the Empire was quite lost as we shall see hereafter The greatness of the Roman Empire Paganism fell at the same time This was a great matter of triumph to the Pagans who said The Gods had abandon'd the Empire since their Altars had been beaten down But God was providing for great events it was necessary the temporal Empire should fall to make way for the Spiritual Empire of Antichrist CHAP. VI. An explication of the four first Trumpets which are the five degrees of the Fall of the Roman Empire or the Soveraignty of Rome The 7th Ch. is a vision that interrupts the course of the seven seals The mystery of the 144 thousand sealed persons in the 7th Ch. Here God causes his Elect to be sealed their number amounts to 144 thousand We shall see in the process of this discourse that 144 is a sacred number appointed to signify the Church a number that arises from twelve multiplied by it self For the present it is sufficient to observe that God takes the time between the sixth seal the first Trumpet to cause his elect to be sealed because more unhappy sad much more fatall times were at hand than the foregoing ones In the ages of the Heathen Emperours under the Seals there were cruell persecutions men had suffer'd much in their bodies But under the Trumpets must come the dark Kingdom of Antichrist wherin the souls of the Christian-Church must be attack'd with Spiritual Temptations be swallowed up in Superstition Idolatry that in such a manner that the number of the faithfull should be almost as nothing The 144 thousand signify the Church the pure Church under Antichrists reign Now 144 thousand are almost nothing in comparison of that innumerable multitude that is in the reign of Antichrist This little number therfore was to be sealed to the end
into the lesser waters For here a Mountain of fire is much more than a star of fire tho in truth a star is a thousand a thousand times bigger than a Mountain But the H. Spirit frames his speech according to appearances hath chiefly are spect to those fires that are often seen falling from heaven which are called Falling-stars Joseph Mede with all other Interpreters would find in this Mountain of fire this Starlike a Lamp much more of mystery than is in it pretending that this means some great person distinguisht by his dignity as a king or an Emperour or by his knowledg as a great Doctor Therfore many by this star understand a great Prophet But 't is not so This must be explain'd with relation to the first Trumpet we must know that this is but the sequel of the history of the destruction of the Roman Empire by the Barbarians The first part of this destruction was but Hail mingled with Fire a common storm such as often happens in summer wherin thunder lightning in hot countries are always mingled with the hail But afterwards this inundation of the Barbarians increased in such a manner that it was no longer an ordinary storm There fell not only Fire mingled with Water Hail this Storm becomes wholly pure fire a fall of terrible Lightning a true Mountain of Fire that fell on the Roman Empire over-whelm'd it Afterwards the fire continued to fall on a third part in truth no longer as a Mountain but as a fire-brand such as the stars are that appear to fall in the air See therfore here three fires The First is mingled with Hail The second is meer fire great as a mountain The third is as a great Lamp. The First afflicts the Trees of Europe or of the third part of the World. The second falls into the sea changes it into blood The third falls on the rivers fountains makes their waters bitter This evidently signifies the three first degrees of the Barbarians invasion They come at First like fire mingled with hail which burns the trees like a storm that spoils the fruits of the Earth They pillaged the Goods the Riches of the Empire The mountain of fire that falls into the sea is Alario that made Italy desolate took Rome 2ly They come like a meet fire that consumes devours They fell on the sea By that I understand the people of Italy the taking of Rome by Alaric Italy was in respect to the Roman Empire what the sea is in respect to the rivers The sea is the center the rivers are all round about it The sea is the gulf the rivers come from all parts to pay their tribute to this gulf Rome Italy was the midst of the Empire Rome was the sea whither all the Provinces came to pay their tribute their riches Alaric his Goths falls like a burning mountain on Italy the city of Rome he takes it and sacks it This sea becomes blood Italy was filled with slaughter After this the Barbarians suffer'd themselves to be appeased Alaric after he had taken Rome and made there a new Emperour named Attalus with whom he went to besiege Honorius in Ravenna gave peace to Honorius quitted Italy retired among the Gaulls where with his Goths he establishthimself The Vandals possessed Spain The Burgundians staid on the Rhone The Huns inhabited Pannonia And then the Fountains the Waters i.e. the people that depended on Rome felt the force of this fire of the judgment of God. But this fire did not turn the waters into Blood because then the slaughter ceased the opposition ceasing the Barbarians saw themselves Masters But they turned the Rivers and the Fountains into Wormwood i. e. They reduced the Roman Provinces into a bitter Servitude And by reason of this the name of Wormwood is given this last Fire that is to say this last Judgment and Punishment less than the former but yet so great as to make the people live in Bitterness For the Goths spoiled them of their Lands Goods See the Mystery of the second and third Trumpet I have no need to give notice that the third part of the Sea and the third part of the Rivers signifie the Sea and the Rivers of the third part of the World i. e. of Europe For I have given notice already of that once for all In truth they were the People of Europe that suffered these Desolations V. 12. And the fourth Angel sounded and a third part of the Sun was smitten and the third part of the Moon and the third part of the Stars so as the third part of them was darkened and the Day shone not for a third part of it and the Night likewise The Fall of the Reman Empire 'T is still the same Figure that rules that is to say that the Sun of Europe which is the third part of the World was darkened in like manner the Moon and Stars We must remember that in the Prophecies the Sun Moon and Stars alwayes signifie the Powers of a State. The Heaven of the politick World is the superior Region of Dignities that sheds kind or malignant Influences on the People We shall see this constantly observed in this Book in such manner that in all places where the Sun Moon and Eclypses are spoken of 't is unquestionable that we must understand the darkening and destruction of the sovereign Powers in the State or Empire spoken of Now what Empire is it that is here spoken of 'T is the Empire of Rome For yet once more we must stick to this Principle as one of the principal Keys of the Revelation viz. that it moves wholly on the Roman Empire and that 't is properly nothing but a Comment on what is said of the fourth Beast in the 7th chap. of Daniel The Roman Empire and în part the Invasions of it by the Goths and other Barbarians being here treated of there is no room for doubting but that the Sun of the third part of the World which is smitten signifies the Sovereign of Rome the Roman Emperor the Moon is the Imperial Dignity the Stars are the Grandees of the Empire And 't is the Extinction of the Roman Empire of Italy that happen'd in the year 455. after the Death of Valentinian the 3d when Genseric came from Africa with his Vandals took Rome and sackt it fifteen days one after another after which the Empire was torn among tell Kings according as St. John foretold it in the sequel of this Book CHAP. VII An Explication of the Visions of the fifth sixth Trumpet wherin are seen the Empires of the Saracens Turks THis fall of the Imperial dignity at Rome in the fourth Monarchy is a great affair Therfore the H. Spirit stays upon it makes a pause as a mark of distinction as we have before observed But that which follows also is a great affair
And when the seven Thunders had uttered their Voices v. 4. I was about to write A sealed vision is an obscure vision I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me seal up those things which the seven Thunders uttered write them not A Sealed Book a Writing a Word sealed according to the Style of the Scripture is a word that is not understood 1s 29.11 The Vision of all is saith Esay as a book that is sealed that is to say you shall not understand it God saith to Daniel seal up the vision Dan. 8.26 for it shall be for many Days And in another place O Daniel shut up the words Dan 12.4 seal the book even to the time of the end many shall run to fro knowledg shall be encreased That is to say God will not have the Prophecies be understood till a certain time In like manner the Prophecy that respected Antichrist was Sealed up till an appointed time For above ten whole ages nothing of It was understood or so little that 't is to be reckon'd as nothing And write them not that is to say do not express them in such terms that in them the events may be read at least not very soon V. 5. And the Angel which I saw standing upon the Sea and upon the Earth lifted up his Hand to Heaven V. 6. And sware by him that liveth forever and ever who created Heaven and the things that therein are and the Earth and the things that therein are and the Sea and the things which are therein That there should be Time no longer V. 7 But in the days of the Voice of the seventh Angle when he shall begin to sound the Mystery of God should be finisht as he hath declared to his Servants the Prophets VVhen the last Trumper must sound The Voice of the seventh Trumpet is that which must sound at the moment of the last Fall of the Antichristian Empire when Popery shall be destroyed Then all the Nations shall turn unto God to make up the Kingdom of Jesus Christ that is yet to come as appears by these words The seventh Angel sounded Ch. 11.15 and there were great Voices in Heaven saying The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever Here our Angel swears that in that time that is to say when the Kingdoms shall be reduced to Jesus Christ Time shall be no longer Time in this place is not opposed to Eternity as if the Angel would say that then the World shall end and Eternity begin but his meaning is that the times afforded to Antichrist shall be ended shall be no more It must be remembred that the Holy Spirit as well by the mouth of Daniel as by that of St. John assigns to Antichrist a time times half a time This shall be no more There shall not be neither time nor times nor half a time for Antichrist Time shall be no more for his reign it shall be the time of his total destruction Then the mystery of God shall be finisht as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets viz. The mystery of this glorious reign of Jesus Christ on the Earth which hath been foretold by all the Prophets in so magnificent a manner as we shall shew in the process of this work which Daniel saw so clearly as to mark the time circumstances of it And the voice which I heard from heaven v. 8 spake to me again said Go take the little book which is open in the hand of the Angel which standeth upon the sea upon the Earth And I went unto the Angel v. 9 said unto him give me the little book And he said unto me take it eat it up it shall make thy belly bitter but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as Honey The voice which he heard from Heaven is the same as spoke to him in the beginning of the book I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day heard behind me a great voice as of a Trumpet saying I am Alpha Omega the First the Last And this also shews that this here is a new prophecy not the continuation of the first For the same voice of God the Father that began the First Revelation returns begins the second as the same Jesus Christ also appears again a second time Saint John receives the book from the hand of the Angel that is to say of Jesus Christ because 't is he that sends the Prophets that inspires them by his Spirit This little book is Saveet in Saint John's Mouth because the Spirit of prophecy the glory of being the mouth of God from heaven pleases the inclination of men that love honour But this little book Made his belly bitter because that after having reflected on the events which he was about to fore-tell after having digested consider'd them in his own breast he found them so dreadful that they filled his soul with sorrow And he said unto me v. 11. thou must prophecy again before many people nations tongues Kings These words do no longer leave any cause of doubting whether this be a new prophecy not a continuation of the First Thou must make a Second Prophecy to Kings People Nations wheras what thou hast prophecied to them respected their Temporal state for the future that which thou shalt foretell them respects their Spiritual state the things of Religion CHAP. IX A short System of all the Events of the Church which are noted in the Apocalypse first of all an Epitome of the Chronology The history of the Church is not to be found but in the last eleven Chapters of the Apocalypse WE must not seek for the History of the Church in the First Nine chapters of the Apocalypse Joseph Mede is the first that hath discover'd that the Apocalypse consists of two bodies of Revelations meant by two Books the first of which we find in the beginning of the fifth Chapter v. 1. And I saw in the right hand of him that sate on the throne a book written within on the back side sealed with seven seals The other we find in the 10. Chap. v. 2. And he had in his hand a little book open he set his right foot upon the sea his left foot on the Earth It is plain that these two Books are two bodies of Revelations perfect in their kind different each from the other that both the one the other run through all reach to all the times from the beginning of the Revelation of St. John even to the end of the World. One cannot imagine any thing more reasonable than this that the First Book contains the destinies of the World the Empire the Church also in respect to her Temporal as far as she is
to re-establish the law of Moses that he must set on foot again the Levitical worship How would the Iews receive him for their Messiah if he were so wicked a person as not to believe there were a God To what purpose should he rebuild the Temple of Ierusalem and why should he offer sacrifices to God in it if he made himself to be worshipped as the only God Besides it is clear enough that the Pope causes himself to be adored like a God tho he doth not call himself either the only God or the great God. Germany is not the Roman Empire that must be divided among ten Kings under Antichrist XVI He is not to come till the Roman Empire be entirely destroyed We shall afterwards take an occasion to examin this In the mean time consider what absurdities these men run themselves into According to them the Roman Empire doth yet subsist viz. in the branch of Germany According to them at the end of the World the Roman Empire shall be divided among ten Kings that shall be the Friends the co-temporaries and the supporters of Antichrist That is to say the Empire of Germany shall be divided into ten Kingdoms Those will be notable Kingdoms those ten Kingdoms on the other side the Rheine and do well deserve a place even ten times over in the Prophecies of Daniel and St. Iohn If Antichrist must not come till the Roman Empire be destroyed why did they confess that the little Horn in the 7th Chapt. of Daniel is Antichrist This Horn doth it not play the part of the fourth Beast i.e. of the Roman Empire Why do these Gentlemen agree to this that Antichrist is the seventh Head of the first Beast in the 13th of the Revelation which they together with us acknowledg to be the Roman Empire Why did Bellarmine grant that Antichrist is to be the last Roman Emperour The Roman Empire therfore shall not be destroyed when Antichrist shall come because that Empire shall continue under him Antichrist must come before the end of the World. XVII He is not to come but just at the end of the World. He is not to come till the last times But we shall hereafter examin whether the last times signify the three last years before the day of judgment And when we shall have proved that the 1260 Days of Antichrists reign are so many Years this point will be cleared up The Gospel hath been preached almost throughout the VVorld XVIII Before he comes the Gospel must have been preached throughout all the World. Indeed before the Antichristian Empire did appear and was perceivable the Gospel had been preached in that which they called the whole World from the time of the Apostles in all the extent of the Roman Empire and beyond it in all the then known World in the countries which they knew were inhabited and where they could enter without being hindred by the barbarity of those that dwelt there But this universal preaching throughout all the Earth without Exception must be consequent upon the fall of Antichrist and not a sign of his coming Further this term of Vniversal preaching even then must not be taken in the strictest sense For it may be there will be some Exceptions It is not necessary that Antichrist should be a Magician XIX Lastly Antichrist must be a Magician And that because he must work great signs and miracles by the help of Magick 'T is sufficient for the fulfilling of these Oracles that he doth his signs by illusion and the enchantment of mens senses by cheating and deceit and also by the help of the Devil without his making any compact with the Devil either direct or indirect The false miracles of Popery also are wrought by the cheats of the Priests or purely by lies or by the Devil that makes himself sport with their miserable devotion Seeing all these Characters of the Antichristian Empire are all false we must for the future examin and seek out what are the true Characters of it CHAP. XIII What are the true Characters of the Antichristian Empire They are three Tyranny Idolatry and great corruption of manners That we must not look on Tyranny alone as the sole Character of Antichrist The Antichristian Empire hath three names that note its three Characters WE are seeking after the Characters of the Antichristian Empire I believe we may hope to find them in the names which the Holy Spirit gives it For assuredly names are given by God to signify the nature of things I find that the Holy Spirit gives three names to that Empire He calls it Egypt and Sodom and lastly Babylon Egypt and Sodom in the eleventh of the Revelation where speaking of the death of the two witnesses C. 11.8 he saith their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great City which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt Babylon in as many places of the same book as 't is said in she is fallen she is fallen Babylon the great Come out of Babylon my people These three names signify the three Characters of that Babylonish Empire The name of Egypt signifies the pride Tyranny and Cruelty of Antichrist Egypt is the embleme of Tyranny Pride and Cruelty Of Tyranny because there the Israelites did groan under hard bondage in the chains of Pharaoh who tyrannised over them Of Cruelty because that cruel Prince did vex them sorely with hard labour and the death of their children whom he caused to be drowned in the river Nile Of Pride because this proud Tyrant rebelled against God with an intolerable pride saying Who is the Lord that I should obey his voyce Sodom signifies the great corruption of manners in the Antichristian Empire Sodom signifies the mighty corruption of manners and the reason of it may be easily apprehended It was neither Tyranny nor Cruelty that destroyed Sodom We do not read that she did aspire after the dominion It was not Idolatry at least we have no reason to believe that she was more notorious for it than the other Canaavites round about It was therefore only dissoluteness luxury and debauchery ease and abundance of bread as the Prophets speak Therefore when they would set forth a mighty corruption of manners they borrow an expression from hence and use the names of Sodom nd Gomorrha â—s 1.10 Hear the word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodom give ear unto the Law of our God ye people of Gomorrha After which Isaiah falls not upon their Idolatry but upon their corrupt manners He reproaches them with nothing but their injustice and violence Babylon signifies the Idolatry of Antichristianism Lastly Babylon signifies Idolatry All do agree that Babylon was the fountain of all sorts of Idolatry From Chaldaea it spread it self over all the Earth That is the fountain and spring of men 't is also of false Gods. As she was the first fountain so she did continue the chief Seat of it
that Empire to the judgement that God causes to fall on the Kingdom of Antichrist to the harvest and to the vintage i. e. to the total destruction of the Devils Kingdom The following Chapters carry on the matter also to the reign of Jesus Christ the description of which begins in the 20th Chap. of the book There is nothing comes between whereby it is clear there is no interval of time nor any Monarchy between the Roman Empire and the Monarchy of J. Christ and so that the Antichristian Empire that must immediatly procede the reign of Jesus Christ is the continuation of the Roman Empire The same thing is evident from the 17th Chap. which is an explication of the visions of the 13th The 13th Chap. speaks of two Beasts the one had seven heads and ten horns the other hath but one head and two horns The 17th Chapt. speaks no more of the second Beast It speaks only of a woman riding on a Beast of seven heads and ten horns 'T is because the second Beast at the bottom was no more than a continuation of the first i. e. it was no more than the continuation of the Roman Empire Therefore the Holy Spirit in explaining the adventures of the first Beast pretends to explain those of the second also For otherwise if the two Beasts had been different 't is plain the H. Spirit would not have been wanting to have spoken of the one as well as of the other in the 17th Chap. where he explains the visions of the Beasis Now this Beast with seven heads and ten horns i. e. the Roman Empire must reach to the end of the persecutions and to the reign of J. Christ This appears plainly in the 18th and the following Chapters where the ruin of Antichrist is represented and described at large If these proofs did not suffice to prove that the Empire of Antichrist must be a continuation of the Roman Empire one might bring others from the comparison of the two Beasts of the 13th Ch. For 't is clear that 't is one and the same Empire represented by two Beasts And the thing is so plain that the Popish Authors themselves do acknowledg it We have heard Bellarmin confess it and say that Antichrist must be a King possessing the Roman Empire but without the name of the Roman Emperour He that did possess in the time of St. Paul and was to be removed out of the way before Antichrist came is the sixth head of the Beast with ten Horns and seven heads If this be so what must we understand by those words of St. Paul only he that now letteth or possesseth will let or possess till he be taken out of the way and then shall that wicked one be revealed It doth not import till the Roman Empire be abolisht as the Ancients did believe and as the Agents of Antichrist at this day would fain perswade us We must remember that in the Beast in the Revelation with seven Heads and ten Horns the seven Heads are seven forms of Governments under which the Roman Empire hath past 1. Kings 2. Consuls 3. Decemvires 4. The Tribunes of the People 5. Perpetual Dictators 6. Emperours 7. and lastly Popes Every one of these Heads and these Governments hath had its time one hath passed away and another hath come in its place In the time of St. Paul the Head of the Emperours was in possession And 't is of that we must understand those words of his Prophecy only he which now with-holdeth or possesseth i.e. the Head of the Emperors shall cease at Rome and then the Antichristian Kingdom shall be revealed and quickly form the seventh Head which shall be that of the Popes calling themselves the Vicars of J. Christ but being indeed the true Antichrists And thus you have what I thought necessary to be added for the explication of that Prophecy of St. Paul contained in the 2d. Ep. to the Thessalonians CHAP. XV. An explication of the Visions of the thirteenth Chapter of the Revelation and of the two Beasts that appear therin WE come now to the description of the Antichristian Empire according as we find it in the Revelation a book particularly designed to describe it to us 'T is found above all in the 13th Chapter Two Beasts are seen in this Chapter We shall immediately examin both the one and the other following the Text word for word V. 1. And I saw a Beast rise out of the sea having seven Heads and ten Horns and upon his Horns ten crowns and upon his Heads the name of Blasphemy 2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a Leopard and his feet were as the feet of a Bear and his mouth as the mouth of a Lion and the Dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority There is no need that I should observe here that in the style of the Prophets a Beast signifies an Empire A beast signifies a worldly Empire enemy of God. All the world knows it and confesses it It must only be noted that a Beast signifies an Empire that is worldly terrestrial and an enemy to God. The Kingdom of God and of Jesus Christ that must be given to the Saints after the fourth Monarchy is never represented under the image of a Beast The Beast that appears here is the fourth Monarchy which we have seen described in the text of the seventh Chapter of Daniel The Prophet had said that it was diverse from all the other Beasts And Saint John in the explication of it saith that it was composed of the shape of a Lion a Leopard and a Bear wheras the fore-going Beasts had but one simple shape The First was as a Lion with the wings of an Eagle The second was as a Bear and the third as a Leopard But this fourth Monarchy hath all the strength and all the advantages of the tree others together 'T is couragious and strong as a Lion. It had the swiftness of a Leopard in its conquests It hath the firmness of a Bear whose large feet make a firm basis for its whole body The Holy Spirit lays before the Prophets eyes this Roman Monarchy whole and entire Why the fourth Monarchy appears entire in the Revelation about a third part of it was already past because this Monarchy was to be the subject on which all the great events were to turn And to know and object well it must not be shewn by pieces but all entire So that 't is reasonable the Prophet should see this Beast or this Monarchy in its whole extent He riseth out of the Sea. This is not what was said in the eleventh Chapter he riseth out of the bottomless pit The bottomless pit and the sea are not the same thing The bottomless pit is Hell. Here the sea signifies a great number of people The Roma Monarchy rose from the midst of the people as a monster that should rise out of the sea 'T is because it
More proofs that the Characters of the Antichristian Empire do agree to the Papism A Proof drawn from the fourth Chapter of the first Epistle of St Paul to Timothy The translation of that passage amended SOme persons reading our second just Prejudice against popery have admired that to make up the character of Antichrist we have not among other places of Scripture inserted that Text of St. Paul in his first Epistle to Timothy in the beginning of the fourth Chapter Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the later times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils speaking lies in hypocrisy having their consciences seared with an hot iron Forbidding to marry and abstaining from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them that believe The reason why this Text was not made use of in the book of Prejudices against Popery 'T is certain this is one of the clearest Oracles of the New Testament and one of the most lively pictures the Holy Spirit gives us of the Antichristian Apostacy But I could not make use of it in drawing my prejudices against the Roman Church because prejudices must be drawn from things either exceeding notorious or confessed and granted My prejudice was not this No Religion that hath Antichrist for its head can be the true Religion Now the Roman Religion hath Antichrist for its head c. If I had formed it thus I had been obliged to bring all the proofs that are to be met with in the H. Scripture to maintain that the Roman Religion is the Antichristian Empire and then I must not have omitted this But I argued otherwise in that prejudice and said I judge not but I prejudge I do not pronounce that the Pope and his religion are Antichrist But I say it is very strange and surprizing that all those places of Scripture where by the consent of Interpreters of all ages and of all parties Antichrist is spoken of may be so easily and so justly applied to the Pope and his religion Though at the bottom popery should not be pure Antichristianism yet there is no likelyhood that God would describe Antichrist and his reign in such equivocal terms that all that that is confessed to be spoken concerning Antichrist may be adopted to him that should be the Vicar of Jesus Christ and to a Society that should be his faithful Spouse 'T is plain that to reason thus I was to look for no other Texts but those that are not contested such as are the second Chapt. of the second Epistle to the Thessalonians the seventh of Daniel the 11 13 17 and 18th of the Revelation whereas the Romish Doctors do dispute about all in the words of St. Paul in the fourth Chapter of his first Epistle to Timothy They dispute about the particular sense and the general scope of it They turn this Oracle off on the Encratites Manichees c. Now that I am not a drawing prejudices but do dispute I must prove and though the proofs are contested yet we must not abandon them in a controversy We must only make them so evident that they may be clear to all reasonable men And this is that which we are about to do in pursuing the History of the Characters of the Antichristian Apostacy by this passage of St. Paul according to that sense of it which the learned Joseph Mede gives us who hath given us abundance of light into the Prophecies but into none of them more or more happily than into this The division of Chapters and Verses in our Bibles is not authentique First of all we must rectify the translation of this passage and in the beginning give notice that the divisions of our Chapters being not altogether authentick and being often times made with little judgment no regard must be given to this that the 4th Ch. of the 1st Epistle of Timothy begins with these words Now the Spirit saith expresly that in the later times c. For in truth the sense begins at the last verse of the foregoing Chap. and we should read thus Without controversy great is the mystery of Godliness God manifest in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angells preached to the Gentiles believed on in the World and received up into Glory But the Spirit saith expresly that in the later times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devills This observation alone is enough to perswade all those that sincerely seek after the truth that the Apostacy which the Apostle speaks of is the Apostacy of Antichrist For he makes so clear an opposition of this apostacy to the Mystery of Godliness that 't is impossible not to discern that he opposes Mystery to mystery religion to religion the mystery of Godliness to the mystery of iniquity of which he himself hath spoken to us in his 2d Ep. to the Thessalonians And as by the mystery of iniquity all the world acknowledges that he means the religion of Antichrist so all the world ought to acknowledg that in this place the Apostacy of the later times opposed to the Mystery of Godliness is the Antichristian Empire and Religion And that the reason why the Apostle hath not here repeated the term of the mystery of iniquity is because he did believe that it would be easily understood It seems natural that after he had said the mystery of Godliness is great he should say but the mystery of iniquity shall publickly appear which shall be an Apostacy from the faith He would without doubt have thus exprest himself were it not that having spoken elsewhere of the Mystery of iniquity any one might easily perceive that in this later place he makes an evident allusion to it and that so it might easily be seen in the Apostacy which he describes Our common translation doth not well represent St. Paul's sense Our version renders the Text of St. Paul thus Now the Spirit saith expresly that in the later times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils speaking lies in hypocrisy having their conscience scared with a hot iron forbidding to marry commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created for them that believe Looking on the Text in this form the first sense that offers it self to our sight is that these Doctrines of Devills are those which he adds in the following words viz. Forbidding of marriage and abstinence from meat Now I confess that ever since I understood how to read and understand I have always suspected this and I did not understand how and why the Apostle St. Paul should characterise those opinions that seem so little criminal as the forbidding of Mariage to certain persons and abstaining from certain meats at certain times by such black names as the Apostacy from the faith and the Doctrines of Devills I did conceive that the law of Celibacy in
part of that homage that is due to him 'T is not without a great mystery of Providence that such extravagant Ideas and such as are not according to the intention of the H. Spirit should be affixed to the names designed to signify the Antichristian Empire and its head For example the man of sin the son of perdition the Beast with seven heads full of blasphemies the great Whore the Cup of abomination Antichrist Excessive Ideas I say have been affixed to these names as if hereby it were signified that the person and the Empire designed by these names should have nothing of the Christian yea nothing of humane in it and that they should be prodigies of impiety madness blasphemy and impurity The same thing hath happen'd in the term Apostacy to which hath been affixed the Idea of an utter renunciation of the faith And this hath not come to pass without a singular Providence of God who would not have Antichrist to be known to the end that during his birth and establishment no man might oppose him Our second Observation is that the word apostacy in the Scripture use of it answers to the Hebrew word mered rebellion The word Apostacy properly signifies rebellion and marad to rebel 'T is very usual with the 70. Interpreters to render these Hebrew words by those of to apostatize and apostacy whether it be rebellion against God or rebellion against men that is treated of The Reubenites and Gadites returning home after they had assisted their Brethren to settle themselves on the other side of Jordan built an Altar on the bank of the river The other Tribes imagining that the Reubenites Gadites intended to sacrifice on that Altar against the commandment of God they say to them ye rebel against the Lord. Josh 22.18 19. Timeredou which in the Greek is rendred you are become Apostates from the Lord. On the other hand the Reubenites justifying themselves say the Lord knows if this thing be done in rebellion They use this word mered and the septuagint have rendred it by that of apostacy When the Spies returned Joshuah and Caleb being desirous to induce the Israelites to pursue their journey to endeavour the conquest of the Land of Canaan according to the intention of God they say to them revolt not al timeredou and the Greek hath it do not turn apostates Instances are without number and 't is sufficient to have intimated it According to this use of the word which is certainly the Scripture use of it 't is evident that the Papism is a true apostacy a rebellion a revolt To be an Apostate in the Scripture sense Apostacy doth not always signify a total defection it is not necessary that a man should utterly abandon the true God. When the Israelites on this side Jordan accuse the Reubenites of an intention to turn Apostates do not revolt they do not so much as suspect that they intend entirely to renounce God but only to build an altar against the Altar of Moses to sacrifice to that God that brought them out of Egypt Do not apostatize say they to them in building you an Altar besides the Altar of the Lord our God. When Caleb and Joshuah say to the Israelites on the occasion of their refusing to go towards the Land of Canaan do not apostatize they did not apprehend that the Israelites were minded to chuse another God but only that they would revolt from the orders of the true God but yet without renouncing him for their God. How the Papism destroys the Articles of faith It is not therefore necessary that the Papism should be a formal and entire renunciation of the faith it is enough that 't is a revolting from the faith Now certainly the Papism is so There are none of the Articles of the Christian faith which it doth not destroy and against which it doth not plant its engines There are rebels that do in words acknowledge a Prince for their King who yet do not cease to make war against him This is the ordinary way of rebels The Papism doth perfectly the very same thing It doth homage in words to the principal Articles of the Christian faith but indeed it fights against them it destroys them It acknowledges a God manifest in the flesh but it revolts from this Article and destroys it by another carnal God or a God in the flesh i. e. the Bishop of Rome to whom it ascribes a double power which agrees to Jesus Christ alone and which even Jesus Christ himself would not exercise while he was here upon Earth It destroys also this God manifest in the flesh by another Jesus Christ incarnated breaden transubstantiated indivisibly united to the accidents of the bread and of this false Christ it makes a true Idol It believes one Jesus the redeemer of the World but it destroys this article of faith and revolts from it in saying the Saints are our mediators in offering to God their merits besides the merits of Jesus Christ and in praying to God in their name and by their intercession It believes one only God but it revolts from this article in supposing new objects of worship to which it renders a truly religious worship It believes that the blood of J. Christ cleanseth us from all sin but it revolts from this Article divers ways in seeking out strange satisfactions and in supposing a purgatory the use of which is to expiate the sins of men 'T is an Apostacy from the faith to introduce that Which is beside the faith And that we may clearly understand that all these things and others of the like nature may very well be called an Apostacy from the faith we must again make use of that passage in the 22th Chapt. of the book of Joshua where the Israelites say to their brethren do not apostatize in building an Altar besides the Altar of the Lord. These words shew that one may be an apostate not only by bringing things into Religion which are against Religion but also in promoting things that are besides Religion For they do not say against the Altar but besides the Altar Now in this sense it is clear that the Papism is an Apostacy For besides the true object of worship it introduces new objects of religious adoration besides the sole and only Jesus it introduces many saviours besides the sole Intercessor many intercessors besides the sole sacrifice another sacrifice besides the true Sacraments false ones The Papism introduceth doctrines worship both against the faith besides the faith therfor 't is a true revolting or apostacy from the faith The Papism is an Apostacy if it he considered alone My third Observation is this that to have a right knowledge of the Papism we must not look upon it as is usually done as compounded with the opinions and worship of Christianity which it hath retained This is one of the great artifices of the Devil and his Agents to make us
forced to it by the vertue of Reliques and merit of a Saint A blind man received his sight by putting a cloth to his eyes that had touched the Coffin of the Martyrs The people by their credulity make such sort of Miracles every day The Miracles were false ones St. Austin had a good share of this credulity But though it were true the Devil might do things much harder than this of restoring sight to a man that had not seen for some time Besides God that was willing that his decrees should be accomplish'd let loose the rains to the spirit of illusion We need but follow the History of the Church and the Legends of the Saints and there we shall find every where these dreams these visions these apparitions of Souls Saints speaking the Virgin Mary appearing to her devotoes the whole designed not to confirm the Doctrines of Christianity but the invocation of Saints the adoration of the Virgin the adoration of Images the Mass Purgatory and other parts of the Antichristian abomination And this fountain of seduction was open'd in part by deceiving spirits among men wicked superstitious wretches Priests and Monks in part by the wicked spirits that perpetually surround men to deceive and mock them The last Character of the Religion of Antichrist here express'd is the Doctrine of Devils or of Daemons giving up themselves to deceiving spirits and to Doctrines of Daemons The Doctrines of Devils or of Daemons what they are The common opinion is that by the Doctrines of Devils or of Daemons we are to understand those Doctrines of which the Devil is the Author and inventor and that bear upon them a Diabolical Character Joseph Mede hath made a new conjecture upon it and which I believe we owe to him He understands by Daemons not wicked spirits that are represented as dwelling in Hell but those spirits which the Heathens worshipt as Mediatours between God and men whom in truth in their Theology they called Daemons For then the word was not taken in an ill sense and Daemons were properly in the Heathen Religion secondary Gods subject to the great Gods. By the Doctrine of Daemons he understands a Doctrine of which Daemons are the object not the authors And according to him the sense is that men in the Antichristian Religion would renew the Divinity and the worship of these mediatory spirits called Daemons that Paganism shall be introduced into the Religion of Jesus Christ that therein shall be establisht a second order of Divinities besides the three adorable persons of the Trinity that dead men shall be invocated in this new Paganism in the same manner as was practised under the old that their Reliques shall be honour'd Statues shall be erected to them Images shall be consecrated for them which shall be worshipp'd that Temples shall be built for them and sacrifices be offer'd to their honour that apotheoses or canonizations shall be renew'd that Miracles shall be feign'd to be done by these Images and these Demy-Gods that Trees shall a new be set up with Trophies which are the Crosses before which men shall prostrate themselves that it shall be pretended that God comes to dwell here below in a piece of consecrated bread just as in the ancient Paganism it was pretended that the Gods by vertue of the consecration came to dwell in their Images Popery hath certainly Devils for its Authors Which interpretation soever we follow 't is certain that Antichristianism is found here It is composed of Doctrines that are truely Diabolical and that have Devils for their Authors 'T is a Doctrine of Devils that hath establisht that Tyrant in the Church who hath exercised so much fury there who pretends to be King of Kings and Lord of the Lords of the Earth who exalts himself above all that is called God who saith he can't be judged by any one but though he should lead men to Hell by troops he must be suffer'd to do it and be left to God to be judged 'T is a Doctrine that hath the Devil for its Author which sets up other objects of worship besides God that gives Iesus Christ companions and believers other Saviours It was no other than the Devil that could inspire Christians with the thoughts of adoring Images and bringing in afresh that Paganism that was once buried 'T was the Devil the father of lies that form'd that monster of Transsubstantiation that hath contrived that prophane sacrifice of the Mass and who of a Sacrament hath made a wretched Idol of it and so to keep to the common opinion the true Religion will not lose any thing by it By Doctrines of Daemons we must understand Doctrines that have Demi-Gods for their object However I confess I have resolved on Joseph Mede's sense It hath not been without weighing things and I did a long time believe that this interpretation was much more ingenious than solid But after I had well thought on it I judg'd the quite contrary and that for these reasons I. First This expression Doctrine of Daemons doth not more naturally signify that the Doctrine spoken of hath Daemons for its Authors than it doth that it hath them for its Object For it is certain that in all languages these sorts of propositions are aequivocal We say the love of God to signify the love of which God is the object more naturally than to signify that love of which he is the Author We say the knowledge of bodies to signify that knowledge of which bodies are the objects the knowledge of the stars to express Astrology a treatise of Angels to express a book not made by the Angels but treating of them The same aequivocal speech and the same usage is to be met with in the sacred books In the sixth Chapt. of the Epistle to the Hebrews the Apostle speaks of the Doctrine of Baptisms Heb. 6.2 i. e. of the Doctrine that hath Baptism for its object St. Luke saith that the Pro-consul Sergius was astonished at the Doctrine of the Lord Act. 13.12 i. e. the Doctrine treating of the Lord. Gal. 2.20 Acts 3.16 The faith of the Son of God and faith of his name is the faith not which hath Jesus Christ for its Author but its object And thus you see we have already gain'd one point viz. that Grammar can put in no obstacle to this Interpretation By the Doctrine of Daemons must be understood the Idolatry of Popery II. My second reason is because explain it how you will I am perswaded that by the Doctrine of Devils or of Daemons is meant the Idolatry which Antichrist was to re-establish in the Church For this is that which distinguishes that Religion from the Christian Religion and which renders it abominable It will be said that there are some things in the Papism which are not less abominable than its Idolatry that is the usurpation of Jesus Christs power by the Pope I confess it But besides that this
usurpation is joined with Idolatry seeing they make an Idol of the Pope I say there is in Antichristianism an Empire and a Religion The Empire is Diabolical Tyrannical Antichristian and may well be called and Empire of Devils as having them for its Authors And 't is in this respect of an Empire and a Tyranny that St. Paul principally considers Antichristianism in the second Chapter of the second Epistle to the Thessalonians For there he represents the head of this Empire as a Tyrant that sits himself down on the Throne of God and was to possess the Empire when he that then held it was cast down 'T is true that he considers siders it also a little as a Religion for he calls it a Mystery and saith it shall be establisht by false signs and false miracles But in this fourth Chap. of the first Epistle to Timothy he considers Antichristianism purely as a Religion and not as an Empire Therefore he speaks only of Apostacy Spirits Deceivers and of Doctrines Now that which is most abominable in the Papism as 't is a Religion is without doubt its Idolatry and not its heresies and consequently this is what we must here understand by the Doctrine of Devils or of Daemons For the Apostle intends by that to note that which is most criminal in the Papism Seeing therefore we must necessarily understand by these words Doctrine of Daemons the Antichristian Idolatry why should we not believe that the Apostle Saint Paul calls it so by way of allusion and comparing it with the heathen Religion and Theology Antichristianism is considered in the Prophecies sometimes as a Religion somtimes as an Empire I have just before made a distinction which I desire may be observed because 't is of great use for the understanding the Prophecies of the Revelation on this argument of the estate of Antichrist 'T is this that the H. Spirit sometimes speaks of it as of a Religion sometimes as of an Empire Indeed he considers it much oftner under the notion of an Empire than under that of a Religion In the 13 14 16 17 and 18th of the Revelation where Antichristianism is represented as a Beast vith two horns or seven heads and ten horns â—nd as a City called Babylon 't is under the Idea of an Empire For in the Prophetical visions Beasts always signify Kings and Empires But in the 11th Chap. Antichristianism is represented as a Religion for it is called Paganism and is shadowed forth under the emblem of a Temple that is prophaned Leave out the Court which is without the Temple and measure it not for it is given to the Gentiles In those places where it is represented as a Whore where the Cup of its abominations is spoken of and where it is said it shall seduce the inhabitants of the Earth by the signs that it shall work it is consider'd as a Religion because worship idolatry miracles and signs belong to Religion The Doctrine of Daemons Antichristian Paganism are the same thing III. The H. Spirit 's representing the Antichristian Religion as a Paganism is to me a new reason that perswades me that in the Text of St. Paul which we are now discoursing of by the Doctrine of Daemons we must understand that doctrine of which Daemons are the object For I look on these two Texts as Parallel this of the Revelation the out ward Court is given to the Gentiles and this the apostacy of the son of perdition shall be a Doctrine of Daemons Now it is certain that in that Text in the eleventh of the Revelation is precisely meant that Paganism that Pagan Theology and that Pagan service that were introduced into the Christian Religion and consequently here by the Doctrines of Daemons we must understand the Pagan Religion that worshipt Daemons or Antichristianism that hath made for it self a Religion altogether like it in worshipping new Daemons God could not but predict the introduction of Paganisin into the Christian Church IV. But the principal reason that persectly perswades me is the â—â—â—…ent which is always the best or rather the oâ—â— sure Interpreter of prophecies One thing is curtain viz. that there is a perfect conformity between the Thelogy and worship of the ancient Paganism and the Antichristian Religion of the Papism This was not done by chance God permitted it God foresaw it and without doubt God hath predicted it For there is no likelihood that having carefully marked in the Prophecies events incomparably less considerable he should forget this 'T is true one may say that the Prophecy of it is found in these words of the Revelation the outward Court shall be given to the Gentiles and in those places where the Antichristian and popish Religion is compared to adultery and the corrupted Church to a whore But the first seems to me to be too obscure and the second too general I can't believe but that God would leave us some Oracles more clear and less general to predict this admirable conformity which is between the worship of the ancient Paganism and that of Antichristianism Now this Text more express and more clear then the others I do not find elsewhere To set forth this last proof in all its strength we must consider some points of this conformity They may be seen already in those two Chapt. of the second part of our Prejudices where we have shewn the conformity between Popery and Paganism But not to give any the trouble of leaving this book to find out the proof of this truth that the worship of Daemons among the Heathens and this of the Saints in the Papism are alike we will here give an abstract of it The Articles of the Pagan Theology Religion touching Daemons The Pagan Theology about good Daemons is reserred to these Articles I. They said that besides the great Gods there were inferiour Divinities that received all their power from the superiour Gods. II. The inferiour Divinities were either consecrated Heroes and deified souls or spirits naturally and originally separated from matter III. Their office was to be mediatours between men and the great Gods to execute their orders in favour of men and carry the prayers of men to those superiour Gods. IV. To the honour of the one and the other i. e. of Daemons or spirits as well those that were consecrated souls as those that were naturally separated from matter they made Images built Temples and by vertue of the consecration they made them come and dwell in those Images and Temples V. Besides this they did adore and worship the ashes and the reliques of their Heroes These are the Articles to which the Theology of the Pagan Daemons was reduced Paganism acknowledg'd inferiour Gods called Daemons First They held inferiour Divinities that were infinitely beneath the great Gods. 'T is a thing so known that there is no need to prove it They called their great Gods Dii superi Dii coelestes Soveraign Gods and heavenly
Gods. They placed these Gods in the Stars as souls in bodies therefore the Greeks called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 runners as always going and always running as Plato saith in the Dialogue entitled Cratylus These Gods were so very much above the others that they believed them only immortal for the same Plato saith somewhere that the inferiour Gods were not immortal by their nature They called these inferiour Gods Daemons and they ascribed this distinction to Zoroaster In lib. de defectu graculorum They saith Plutarch seem to have removed great difficulties who have establisht a species of spirits called Daemons between the Gods and men They have found that they are these Daemons that do unite us with the great Gods and do conciliate them to us whether this Doctrine cometh from the Magi and Zoroaster or whether it drew its original from Thrace by Orpheus or from Egypt or from Phrygia The Papism makes no more distinction between the Saints and God than the Heathens did between the Gods and Daemons The Papism acknowledgeth the very same distinction And they must not tell us that it supposes but one Soveraign God and no inferiour Gods for the Saints are its true inferiour Divinities It calls them Divus and Diva as well as he was called Divus Augustus The Heathens put the very same difference between their great Gods and their inferiour ones as the Papism doth between God and the Saints For the superiour Gods were almighty and eternal and the other were created by the great Gods did not act but according to their orders and were not immortal in their own nature The Papists can't make a greater distinction between God and the Saints than this The Daemons were Mediators between God and men The superiour Gods of the Heathens were according to them so heavenly so sublime and so pure that they could not by themselves have any commerce with men nor abase themselves so far as to take care of humane affairs to govern them immediately and by themselves Therefore they establisht a kind of Daemons Plato in Symposio to be as Mediators and Agents between the Soveraign Gods and mortal men said Plato God doth not converse with men saith the same Author but all commerce between God and men is by the mediation of Daemons The Daemons are Messengers and Interpreters that come from God to men and go from men to God. They bring to men the presents of the Gods and to the Gods the prayers and homage of men He that would see this Theology more at large may find it in Plutarchs discourse de Defectu Ordculorum In Apuleius de Deo Socratis in Jamblichus de mysteriis and above all in Saint Austin in the eighth Book of the City of God with Ludovicus Vives's notes Now one drop of water is not more like another than this Pagan Theology is to that of the Papism God and Jesus Christ say they who are their great Gods are too sublime for us to address our selves directly to them We must have mediatours that may be more of our rank the souls of Saints and the Angels do this office for us They are the interpreters of our thoughts and our wants before God and they receive commission to do us good an serve us Therefore it is that prayers are addressed to them Therefore 't is that cures and deliverances are expected from them Lastly therefore 't is that men put themselves under their protection Hesiod the first author of the deifications of souls the first order of Daemons In the heathen Theology the mediators spirits were of two sorts One were humane souls the other separate intelligences The most ancient of the Greeks in which we see this deification of souls expresly is Hesiod who saith that by the counsel of Jupiter the great men after their death are establisht guardians and patrons of mortal men inspectors of their good and evil works destributors of riches and that in this consists their royal dignity Therefore afterwards this sort of Gods were called the Gods of Hesiod Plato entirely adopted this Theology and Eusebius quotes from this Philosopher these words touching the Heroes Euseb l. 3. c. 11. de praepar Evang. We will for the future serve and adore their sepulchers as of the Daemons following the advice of the Oracle Those that have the smallest acquaintance with the Pagan Theology and History The Laws of ancient Rome about the worshipping of Saints exactly like those of new Rome know this that the greatest part of their Gods were deified men They themselves made no secret of it it may be seen in Plutarch's book about the ceasing of Oracles The Laws of ancient Rome are express and remarkable hereupon Divos illos qui coelestes semper beati habiti sunt colunto eos quos in coelum merita vocaverint That the Saints should be worshipped as well those that had been always esteemed the happy inhabitants of Heaven as those that by their merits have been exalted into Heaven See another Roman Law like it Deorum manium jura sancta sunto hos letho datos divos habento That the rights of the Gods Manes should be inviolable and that they should be reputed for Saints after their death Is there not an admirable Providence in this that new Rome hath re-establisht the same Laws almost in the same terms And who can doubt after this whether Antichristian Rome hath renewed ancient Rome's Doctrine of Daemons A second rank of Demons separate spirits But besides these men become Daemons that ancient Pagan Theology did acknowledge others that were always such and that never had been men All the monuments of Paganism that we have are full of this Theology Apuleius expresses it in these words De Deo Socratis There is another sort of Daemons that are superiour and more august who being free from the bonds and dis-engaged from the chains of body have each of them received a certain particular strength and power 'T is from this rank of superiour Daemons that Plato hath taken those Daemons of which he believes every man hath one all his life time for a witness of his actions and a guardian How is it possible that one should not perceive this perfect conformity between the Pagan Theology and the popish Theology The Papists also make two sorts of mediatory spirits Exactly as the Heathens did so do the Papists make two orders of spirits that are the mediatours and protectors of men humane souls or glorified Saints and Angels naturally separate from matter The Heathens took Guardians from among those Daemons who had never been men the Papists assign to each man a guardian spirit but he is taken out of the order of Angels They call him the guardian Angel and every devout person recommends himself to his guardian Angel when the undertakes any thing of danger The Papism in the crection consecration and worship of Images hath perfectly
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
very little importance to know by what Spirit this hath been expresly said by that of the Prophets or that of St. Paul seeing it is the same Spirit And besides this we shall have occasion to say something o fit in one of the following Chapters CHAP. XXII The Characters of Antichrist in the Papism confirm'd by the great type of Antichrist Antiochus Epiphanes That which is spoken literally of this Antiochus agrees mystically to the Pope and the Papism THere is but one spring more whence I would draw the Characters of the Antichristian Empire viz. those Chapters of the Revelation of the Prophet Daniel where the most famous of the persecutors of the Jewish Nation is literally spoken of and the most fatal persecution that Nation endured The first Text of this prophecy is found in the 28th verse of the 11th Chapter to the end In the 28th verse of the 11th Cha of Daniel Antinchus Epiphanes is found according to the letter 28. Then shall he return into his Land with great riches and his heart shall be against the holy covenant and he shall do exploits and return to his own Land. 29. At the time appointed he shall return and come toward the south but it shall not be as the former or as the later 30. For the Ships of Chittim shall come against him Therefore he shall be grieved and return and have indignation against the holy covenant so shall he do he shall even return and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant 31. And arms shall stand on his part and they shall pollute the Sanctuary of strength and shall take away the daily sacrifice and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate 32. And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits 33. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many yet they shall fall by the sword and by the flame and by captivity and by spoil many days 34. Now when they shall fall they shall be holpen with a little help but many shall cleave to them with flatteries 35. And some of them understanding shall fall to try them and to purge and to make them white even to the time of the and because it is yet for a time appointed 36. And the King shall do according to his will and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above very God and shall speak mà rvellous things against the God of Gods and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished for that that is determined shall be done 37. Neither shall he regard the God of his Father nor the desire of Women nor regardany God for he shall magnify himself above all 38. But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces and a God whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold and silver and with precious stones and pleasant things 39. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange God whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory and he shall cause them to rule over many and shall divide the land for gain 40. And at the time of the end shall the King of the South push at him and the King of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots and with horsemen and with any Ships and he shall enter into the Countries and shall overflow and pass over 41. He shall enter also into the glorious Land and many Countreys shall be overthrown but these shall escape out of his hand even Edom and Moab and the chief of the children of Ammon 42. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the Countries and the Land of Egypt shall not escape 43. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver and over all the precious things of Egypt and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps 44. But tidings out of the East and out of the North shall trouble him Therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to make away many 45. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas and in the glorious holy mountain yet he shall come to his end and none shall help him I find a pretty great agreement among Interpreters on this Chapter and the Verses which we have just now read By those of both communions it is agreed that 't is Antiochus called Epiphanes one of Alexander's successors that is here literally spoken of It is the very same that the other Prophecy respects in the eighth Chap. where the H. Spirit having represented to Daniel in a vision the Empire of the Medes and Pèrsians under the Emblem of a Ram with two horns he describes the Empire of the Greeks under the Emblem of a he-goat that had at first only one horn in the middle of his fore-head which being broken four other horns less than the first came in its place Afterwards from one of these four horns comes forth a little horn of which the prophecy thus speaks C. 8. v. 9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn which waxed exceeding great toward the South and toward the East and toward the pleasant land v. 10. And it waxed great even to the host of Heaven and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground and stamped upon them 11. Yea he magnified himself even to the Prince of the host and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away and the place of his sanctuary was cast down 12. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression and it cast down the truth to the ground and it practised and prospered 13. Then I heard one Saint speaking and another Saint said unto that certain Saint which spake How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot 14. And he said unto me unto two thousand and 300. days then shall the sanctuary be cleansed 'T is also to the same Antiochus that we must refer the whole 12th Chapt. of the same book of Daniel C. 12. v. 1. And at that time shall Michael stand up the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a Nation even to that same time and at that time shall thy people be deliver'd every one that shall be found written in the book 2. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall wake some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame and contempt 3. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firnament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever 4. But thou O Daniel shut up the words and seal the book even
must be according to Bellarmine the last Roman Enperour though without the name of a Roman Emperour And this Roman Empire is brought in anew expresly for the seventh head with ten horns which make Antichrist i. e. the ten Kings his vassals which give him their power In truth three years and a half would they well deserve that the Holy Spirit should represent them to us and lay before our eyes afresh all this great Empire of almost 3000 years duration For by the confession of our adversaries the Roman Empire doth yet last and shall continue even to Antichrist who shall be the last King of it Now there is about two thousand four or five hundred years since the first foundation of Rome Moreover Antichrist is the seventh head of the Roman Empire This is so evident that it can't be gain-sayed Now must there not be some proportion between the heads and their durations The head of the Kings lasted near 200 years that of the Emperors above 500 years what proportion is there between so long a duration and this of three years and a half As for us we pretend that the last head must endure as long as the other six Rome under Kings Consuls Decemvirs Tribunes of the people perpetual Dictators and Emperors hath lasted about 1250 years it must be as long under the Popes But at least the head of Antichrist should last at Rome some ages to have its duration proportionable to that of the other heads It signifies nothing to us what period is assigned to it provided it be not that of three natural years and a half For we have proved that if it can't be taken for three natural years and a half it must necessarily be taken for prophetical years Third Arg. in three years and a half Antichrist can't prevail over the Nations of the earth neither by violence nor by seducing them Thirdly In the same Chapter the same Antichristian Empire appears again under the form of a second beast that hath but one head and two horns Yet once more see a great mystery for a matter that is to endure but three years and a half in a period of 2000 years Of the first beast the Prophet saith that it was given to him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them and also to him was given power over every Tribe Tongue and Nation And of the second that he should deceive them that dwell on the Earth by reason of those miracles which he had power to do c. and that all both small and great free and bond should receive his mark in their hand and in their foreheads Afterwards 't is said of this Antichristian Empire under the emblem of a woman sitting on a beast with seven heads and ten horns that all the Kings of the Earth have committed whoredom with her that she made drunk all the Inhabitants of the Earth with the wine of her whoredoms and that all the Nations drank of the wine of her whoredom This signifies two things one that this Antichristian Empire must subdue all Nations the second that it must seduce them by its signs and false miracles Now can any one imagine that three years and a half suffice first to conquer an Empire and overcome all Nations secondly to seduce and pervert them and bring them to deny the Christian Religion If Antichrist were to use that method that is used in France and were to use no other but that it may be in three years and a half he could make many Kingdoms abjure Christianity as in six months he hath made the reformation be abjured by more than a million of persons But 't is plain the Antichrist of the Papists is not to use this way So that one may say the Clergy of France have outstript their Antichrist and that there never was a more hellish sort of persecution It is clear I say that Antichrist is to carry away men by seducing them for otherwise why should he work signs and miracles and though he were to pervert the Christians with Dragoons at least certainly he ought to have conquer'd them by arms before hand and have overturn'd every other Empire Can he conquer all the World in three years where are the examples of so swift a conquest Alexander the Great is represented in the vision of the four Beasts as a Leopard by reason of the speediness of his conquests Yet he spent more than three years and a half and had conquer'd but one part of Asia when he died Are three years and a half sufficient to reassemble the Jews from all the Countries of the World to make them masters of the whole Vniverse to re-establish the mosaical worship and rebuild the Temple of Solomon Only the building of the Temple the first time took up seven years The labour'd more than 40 years about that of Herod and this of Antichrist which will apparently be more magnificent shall be finisht in a few months If there were therefore nothing else but what were to be done by the violence of Antichrist according to the very supposition of the popish Doctors it would be impossible to be done in 30 years How much more impossible is it that he should attain his end in so short a time in what he is to do by the means of seducing His false Prophet must seduce all the inhabitants of the Earth i. e. all the Subjects of the Roman Empire according to the style of the Writers in those times who defined the Roman Empire by the habitable earth There must be much more time to seduce the Nations than to conquer them If Antichrist was to establish his Religion by violence only it might be said that in building up his Empire he would build up his Religion but it is clearer than the day that he must perswade and seduce 'T is for this purpose that he worketh Signs There 's no need of miracles to establish a Religion by arms The Prophecy saith expresly that he shall make drunk the Nations of the Earth with the wine of his whoredoms Which signifies great obstinacy drunkeness of mind perswasion Now behold a strange thing in less than three years and a half a seducer utterly destroys the whole Christian Religion and by the means of perswasion seduces all the Christians and perswades them to become Jews Fourth Argument the meer fall of the Antichristian Empire must take up more years according to the 14th Chap. of the Revel Fourthly We have in the 14th Chap. an abridgement of the History of the ruin of spiritual Babylon She is fallen she is fallen Babylon that great City We have proved before that Babylon and the Antichristian Empire are the same thing Now the Prophet in this Chapt. concerning the end of the Antichristian Empire makes two periods of his last ruin the first is called the harvest Then he that sate on the Cloud thrust in his sickle on the Earth c. 14.8 and the Earth was reaped
the World but was manifest in these last times for us 2 Pet. 3.3 4. The same Apostle tells us in the last days shall come scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming 'T was the very time in which Saint Peter spoke and wrote For 't is spoken as of persons that were in being already And it appears by the second Chapter of the Epistle to the Thessalonians that there was an opinion spread abroad that the end of the World was at hand which made prophane ones say where is the promise of his coming which they tell us is nigh The Prophet Ioel saith Acts 2. in the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh St. Peter applies this Oracle to that which happen'd on the day of Pentecost and in the ages of the Primitive Church 2. Tim. 3.1 St. Paul saith to Timothy Know this that in the last days perillous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves c. These last days began a little after St. Paul For the Church was not long before she corrupted her manners These very same Texts prove also the other thing we have laid down which is that the last times do not signify a short duration For the manifestation of Jesus Christ made in the last times and God speaking to us in the last days by his Son and the last days wherein the prophane shall bear sway all this I say signifieth the time that passeth from I. Christ to the end of the word The times divided into three parts in reference to the Church To understand why the Period that passeth from Jesus Christ to this present time is called the last time we must observe that in the Scripture the times are divided either with reference to the Church or with reference to the World. With reference to the Church there are three times A time when the Church was without the Law and without the Gospel this is the first time that passed from Adam to Moses A time wherein the Church had the Law of Moses that was the time from the departure out of Egypt to I. Christ that 's the second time Lastly A time wherein the Church enjoys the light of Iesus Christ that 's ours and that 's the third time The times in reference to the world are divided into four With reference to the World the time is divided into four great Monarchies that must precede the last reign of I. Christ The first was the Monarchy of the Assyrians which had its seat first at Niniveh and afterwards at Babylon The second is that of the Persians the third that of the Greeks and the fourth that of the Romans whose reign must be prolong'd till the Kingdom be given to J. Christ and his Saints Since Jesus Christ we are in the last times Now whether we refer it to the first division or the second 't is still true that we are in the last times that I. Christ came in the last times and that the Empire of Antichrist must be in the last times J. Christ came in the third and last time with reference to the times of the Church seeing he came since the Law of Moses ceased to be in its vigor And Antichrist also hath his reign in the third and last period of the Church Jesus Christ also came in the last times with respect to the World for he came in the time of the fourth Monarchy Antichrist with much more reason may be assigned to the last times of the fourth Monarchy because he himself is but a continuation of that fourth Monarchy But to be so much the more fully perswaded that 't is a very proper expression it must be observ'd that the fourth Monarchy figur'd by the fourth beast was to have two great periods one of six heads the other of a seventh head having ten horns The Period of the six first heads is the Roman Empire under Kings Consuls Decemvirs Tribunes of the people perpetual Dictators and Emperors And this first Period contains about 12 or 1300 years The period of the little horn or the seventh beast with ten horns is that of Antichrist and the ten Kings which must also be between 12 and 1300 years Antichrist therefore is come in the last time of the last time i. e. in the last period of the fourth and last worldly Monarchy And consequently the Holy Spirit might with very great reason call his reign the last times And thence it can by no means be concluded that this Kingdom must last but a few years before the end of the World. Having said all that I had to say to destroy this false imagination that the Empire of Antichrist must last but three years and a half I might justly reassume and urge all those Arguments I formerly mentioned to prove that the Idea of Antichrist which the Papists frame to themselves is false and that the popish Roman see is the true Antichrist But before that I must use them yet once more to confound the dishonesty of the Translators of the Port-Royal Rev. 17.10 The dishonesty of the translation of the Port-Royal about the duration of Antichrists reign who say of the ten Kings that they shall take power for one hour or for a little time with the beast instead of translating in in the same hour or at the same time with the beast They found this translation or rather this notorious falsification very proper to take away from the Reformed this Text that proves so clearly that the birth of Antichrist must be reckon'd from the division of the Roman Empire among ten Kings and into ten Kingdoms But afterwards we shall see that though we should let their translation pass our proof would not in the least be weakned by it But as they will not agree that 1260 years may be called a little time see here they are engaged to prove that all that we have said to prove that the 1260 days of Antichrists reign are so many years is illusion a Chimaera a dream and a sophism For if our proofs do subsist how will they maintain their version that the Kings shall take power for a little time with the beast Seeing all Interpreters do agree and 't is clear of it self without their consent that the power of the ten Kings must last as long as that of the beast And also these ten Kings must reach beyond the beast for after they have clothed him with their power they must strip him of it eat his flesh and burn it with fire If therefore they duration and continuance of the beast be 1260 years as we have demonstrated it 't is necessary that the reign of the ten Kings be 1260 years and consequently this reign will not be for one hour and for a little time 'T is here that these Gentlemen the Interpreters will have great need of the Arabique Rabbinical learning and Hebrew of Father
Constantinople against the Turks But they leapt over this barriere and spread themselves as far as the Euxine Sea and the Bosphorus and the Aegean Sea or the Archipelago The Croisades about the end of the eleventh Age drove them back took from them Nice and a part of the lesser Asia But afterwards they came again and wasting the Grecian Empire they took all away from it as far as the Sea called Bosphorus and as far as the Archipelago Behold these are the Kings of the East which appear again in our sixth viol behold the Euphrates which again comes upon the stage But what is this Euphrates Here Euphrates is the Thracian Bosphorus the second barriere of the Turks In this Prophecy whatever serves as a barriere to the Turks is called Euphrates because this River was the first barriere which did seperate that people from Christendom After the Turks had got over that River they find another Euphrates viz. the Bosphorus This in their last irruptions was the same that Euphrates had been in their first namely a barriere that for a little while stopt their course though at last they leapt over it This figure is very ordinary in Orators and consequently there is ground to seek it in Prophets whose style is much more figurative Thus one will say Here are my Herculis's pillars meaning here I will bound my conquests another will say Here are my East-Indies meaning here I will bound my longest voyages A third says This is my Louure meaning this is my Palace or residence So it might be said of the Turks stopt behind the Bosphorus This was their Euphrates therefore the Sea call'd Archipel and the Bosphorus of Thrace in the thirteenth age were the barriere that parted the remainder of the Greek Empire and the Empire of the Turks But at the end of the 14th age the Turks under the conduct of the proud Bajazet and by means of the treachery of the Genuese who let their Gallies to them they passed the Bosphorus made themselves masters of all Thrace fixed the Seat of their Empire at Adrianople and plundred all Greece insomuch that the Greek Emperor had scarce any thing left besides the City of Constantinople Tamerlain tamed the pride of Bajazet and for a while stopt the fury of this torrent But the Children and Successors of Bajazet soon after carried on their conquests and 50 years after quite ruin'd the remainder of the Greek Empire Mahomet II. took Constantinople in the year 1452. After which the Turks overflowed as a torrent conquer'd all Greece Macedonia Albania Slavonia Croatia Bulgaria Hungary and extended the bounds of their Empire even unto the borders of Germany Here therefore the Archipel and the Bosphorus which is joyn'd to it are called Euphrates because this Sea served as a barriere against the Turks as Euphrates formerly had done this was the Euphrates of that time and the Holy Ghost kept the name of Euphrates in this second barriere that we might in this Text the more certainly discern the Turks who had passed over Euphrates when they first invaded the Greek Empire and Christendom The Latin Church suffered infinitely by the passage of the Turks into Europe This is the sixth plague which may be well called the plague upon the Kingdom of the Beast for that Kingdom did infinitely suffer by it 'T is true the first desolations fell upon the Greek Empire but as I have already remarkt the great Idolatries which reigned in the Greek Church had made it become a Province of the Antichristian Empire it was indeed separated by a schisme from the Latin Church notwithstanding it was a Province Besides this the Latin Church the Kingdom of the beast was infinitely a loser How many fair Provinces and brave Kingdoms were rent off from the West by the Turks How often have the Turks vexed Italy nay even Christian Princes have used them to mortify the Popes besides what they have already done we know not what they must do hereafter The Holy Ghost seems to intimate that God hath placed them there for some greater work than that which they have already performed for the Spirit saith that the way of the Kings of the East might be prepared without telling us what work they are to do and the reason is because their greatest work must not be done under the sixth plague but at the end of the seventh God hath thought it sufficient to tell us that he hath placed them on this side the Bosphorus and brought them even to the borders of Germany to be the instruments of his great work at least this is the opinion of many who are taken with the Prophecies of Drabicius They are perswaded that the Turk must destroy Rome The present state of his affairs does not promise this for since the Ottoman Empire was founded he was never brought so low But I confess that this is far from weakning my opinion that the Turk must be the Instrument of the vengeance of God against Rome for 't is this that does confirm me in it for I look on this year 1685 as a Critical year in this great affair God hath brought low the Protestants and the Turks at the same time that he may raise them up at the same time and make them the Instruments of his vengeance against the Babylonian Empire Notwithstanding as I do not found my predictions upon the visions of Drabicius but upon those of Saint John and he saith nothing that does determine me I am in suspence whether the Turks have been placed so nigh the Kingdom of the Beast to bear a part in destroying him or to be honoured with the blessing of conversion upon the sight of that great work of God. I am perswaded that a few years will inform us which of these is the truth From 1390 until 1526. The duration of this period is about 125 or 130 years In the year 1529 the Turks came and besieged Vienna Charles the fifth made them raise teir siege Since that time they have not made any great progress into the Kingdom of the Beast And this sixth plague exactly brings that Kingdom unto the time of Luthers preaching of which the consequences are fore-told in the seventh plague as I hope a Parenthesis of a great depth and obscurity V. 13. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the Dragon and out of the mouth of the Beast and out of the mouth of the false Prophet V. 14. For they are the spirits of Devils working miracles which go forth unto the Kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battel of that great day of God Almighty V. 15. Behold I come as a thief c. V. 16. And he gathers them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armegeddon Behold great affairs untill now finding nothing better I was contented with the conjecture of those who by these three unclean spirits understand the
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified V. 9. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three dayes and a half and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put into graves V. 10. And they that dwell upon the Earth shall rejoyce over them and make merry and send gifts one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwelt upon the Earth V. 11. And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entred into them and they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon them which saw them V. 12. And they heard a great voyce from heaven saying unto them Come up hither and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies beheld them V. 13. And the same hour was there a great earthquake and the tenth part of the City fell and in the earth-quake were slain of men seven thousand and the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to God. The Witnesses who prophecy cloathed in sackcloth are the faithful who preach under the Cross As to what concerns these two witnesses i.e. what is signified by them I have not changed my opinion since I wrote the book intitled Lawfull prejudices against popery Though as to all the rest the studious attention which I have used in reading these Prophecies hath given me quite different apprehensions I do therefore still believe that these two Witnesses who must prophesy 1260 days cloathed in sackcloth are the small number of the faithfull who during the reign of Antichristianism must keep themselves from its corruption and condemn its idolatries and tyranny God calls them witnesses because these are they who bore witness to the Truth which but for them would have been forgotten They prophesy cloathed in sackcloth i. e. they preach under the Cross For we must well observe that these two Phrases one used in our language the other in that of the Holy Ghost to prophesy cloathed in sackcloth and to preach under the Cross are absolutely of the same signification He makes them onely two in number to express that those faithfull who shall preserve themselves from the corruption of Idolatry shall be but a very small number And indeed experience hath too much verified this prediction Nevertheless he makes them two in number to signify that however small the number of true Christians is it shall notwithstanding be great enough to support the Truth and keep it from falling for in the mouth of two witnesses every word shall be establisht How these witnesses have power to change water into blood and shut up heaven v. 6. God ascribes to these two witnesses power to shut Heaven that it rain not in the dayes of their prophesy and power over waters to turn them into blood and to smite the Earth with all plagues as often as they will. Joseph Mede gives a very ingenious reason of this which I believe is very solid viz. That the Holy Ghost borrows his Emblems from the histories of the Old Testament and alludes unto several Pairs of eminent witnesses which God raised up at several times as Aaron and Moses at the coming out of Egypt Joshua and Caleb at the conquering of the promised Land Elijah and Elisha at the time of the grand Schism of the ten tribes Zerubbabel and Jehoshua at the return from the captivity Among these witnesses Elijah and Elisha had power to shut Heaven to hinder rain for three years and to make fire come down from Heaven Moses and Aaron turn'd the waters of Egypt into blood Joshua and Caleb brought the people of Israel into the Land of Canaan and smote the ancient Inhabitants with a sore plague To this the Holy Ghost alludes But we must further add that God ascribes to these witnesses 1. The shutting of Heaven that rain no in the days of their prophecy to signify that during the 1260 years of their Prophecy and of the reign of Antichrist there should be a great drought of grace and a barreness of virtues and gifts in the Church 2. The turning of waters into blood and the smiting of the Earth with all plagues Because all the heavy judgements of God that during the course of these 1260 years came upon the Antichristian Church were sent on the account of these two witnesses and to punish oppression under which it held both the Truth and those who were willing to profess it Here is fore-told a last persecution that must happen before the end of Antichrists reign The seven verses which we even now have read concerning the persecution which these two witnesses must suffer and the consequent of that persecution contain a grand event which must come to pass before the last fall of the Antichristian Kingdom And 't is one of the principal circumstances of this fall First we must observe the circumstance of time and when they shall have finish their testimony Mark this testimony must last a thousand two hundred and sixty days My two witnesses shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days cloathed in sackcloth Now these thousand two hundred sixty days of the prophesying of the witnesses are the forty two moneths of the Antichristian reign for forty two moneths make exactly 1260 days All the World is agreed that these are the three years and a half of the reign of Antichrist and that Antichrist and these two witnesses are absolutely and exactly contempories 'T is therefore the very same as if the Holy Ghost had said And when the Beast or the man of sin shall have finisht his reign of 1260 years it shall make war against the two witnesses This is therefore a persecution of Antichrist against the faithfull and a persecution that must happen before the end of Antichrists reign These words when they shall have finisht must not be understood as if the Holy Ghost would say when the 1260 years shall be finisht For after the 1260 years are finisht there can be no persecution seeing the Beast shall have lost his power So that this persecution must begin and end within the 1260 years but yet at the end of them 't is the ordinary custome not only of Scripture but of all men to say that something comes to pass when this or that is finisht because it happens when that things is finishing and very near its end This is therefore the last persecution of Antichrist against the Church This persecution hath its Characters 1. It must continue a long time Characters of the last persecution for 't is compared to a war The Beast that comes up out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them 2. This war or persecution must end in a victory over the two witnesses and shall overcome them and kill them Mark that God does not reckon the death and martyrdom which the faithfull suffer for the Truth as a victory that the Devil gains over them on the
that hath mercy on them shall lead them even by the springs of water shall he guide them I will make all my Mountains a way c. 55.12 13. and my high ways shall be exalted ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace The Mountains and the Hills shall break forth before you into singing and all the Trees of the Field shall clap their hands Instead of the Thorn shall come up the Firr-tree and instead of the Bryer shall come up the Myrtle-tree and it shall be to the Lord for a Name and for an everlasting Sign that shall not be cut off The Sun shall be no more thy Light by day neither for brightness shall the Moon give Light unto thee Is 60.19 but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting Light and thy God thy Glory The Sun shall no more go down neither shall thy Moon withdraw it self for the Lord shall be thine everlasting Light and the days of thy mourning shall be ended Is 54.9.10 This shall be as the waters of Noah unto me for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the Earth so have I sworn that I would not be wrath with thee nor rebuke thee for the Mountains shall depart and the Hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee What is meant by all these prophecies All these and the like Expressions which we read in the Prophets do import 1. A profound Peace which shall never be interrupted by war. 2. Plenty and Abundance of all sorts of Goods 3. An Exemption from all Evils 4. Such a Prosperity where are Riches and Plenty and Joy. 5. A Felicity that is not to be interrupted by the return of Calamities This must be fixt that all these Prophecies respect the State of the Church under the Messiah for as to those who endeavour to turn them to another sense and apply them to the Temporal blessings of the Iews I cannot consider them as Christians but reckon them enemies to Christianity These promises have not been accomplisht We must therefore search for the accomplishment of these Prophecies in the History of the Church that no such thing can be found there the Antimillenaries themselves confess For they constantly tell us that these thousand years of Rest are altogether inconsistent with the orders of Divine Providence and the condition of the Church which is appointed to be always calamitous and afflicted upon Earth that Sorrow and Suffering Persecution and the Cross do inseparably belong to it that we must judge of what is to come by the History of what is past 'T is true in the three first Ages the Church was under the Cross of the Pagans in the fourth under that of the Arrians in the fifth she began to sink into superstition and hath remain'd overwhelm'd with it during the whole reign of Antichrist Where then shall we place those happy days the Prophets promise 'T is trifling to apply those promises of Peace and Tranquillity to certain little intervals of Quiet which from time to time the Church hath had in some places for it would be a very ill use of Rhetorick and a strange force put upon figures to represent so imperfect a calm by such terms as give us an Idea of the greatest and most perfect Prosperity imaginable Moreover the Prophets speaking of an endless Peace to which no affliction shall succeed it must be such a one as is like the waters of Noah which shall never return to cover the Earth it must be a peace so firm that though the Mountains be overthrown shall never be changed These Prophecies not accomplisht by the spiritual graces which the Church hath received We may not say that all this hath respect only to spiritual Graces the stability of God's Covenant and the Joy of the Faithfull I will not deny but the Holy Spirit may have some reference thereto but it is false that those spiritual favours in that weak degree wherein we see them at this day can comprehend the full signification of such great Expressions which clearly import a peace in reference to Earth as well as Heaven Add to this that though these Promises should not be applied but to Spiritual Blessings there must yet be a new Kingdom and a new Age for the fulfilling of them for we have never yet seen any wherein Spiritual Peace and invisible Graces have been so abundantly poured out to satisfy in any measure the greatness of such Expressions CHAP. XIX The fourth Head of Arguments for the reign of a thousand years are the Types Four Types of this Period the Principal is the seventh day of the Creation which is not an immediate Type of Eternal Rest but of the Peace of the Church on Earth I Come now to the fourth Head of Arguments viz. the Types They as well as the Prophecies are Pictures and representations of future Events They are not vain speculations of Divines and the Great wits that look upon them to be so approach very near to Impiety 'T is very certain that God hath been pleased to shadow forth his Mysteries in certain dispensations of his Providence Saint Paul teacheth us that Hagar the servant of Sarah Sinai a Mountain in Arabia were Types of the legal Institution As Sarah and Sion were also Types of the Covenant of Grace That Melchisedeck was a Type of our Lord Jesus Christ and in general that the Law had shadows of which the substance is to be found in Christ The Types therefore are no false or deceitfull Light whereby to judge in case they be rightly used Now I pretend that all the Types make for the Reign of Christ before the end of the World. We may find a great number of them The Captivity of Israel in Egypt was certainly a Type of that bondage under which the Church should groan The deliverance of Israel out of Egypt figured that of the Church from under the bondage of Antichrist during the Reign of Antichrist The Antichristian Empire is therefore called Egypt Now after the Israelites were come out of Egypt they entred into Canaan the Land flowing with Milk and Honey which did certainly prefigure the happy State of the Church after all her enemies should be subdued 'T is supposed that the Land of Canaan was the Image of that great and Eternall Dwelling to which the faithfull should be transported after the last judgement I deny it not But you must know 1. Type the Rest in the Land of Canaan that in the Old Testament the descriptions of the future Blessedness of the Church by Emblems Types Figures and metaphorical resemblances have not their immediate relation to Eternal Blessedness St. Paul hath told us that eye hath not seen it nor ear heard it nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive and consequently
't is not that which the H. Ghost would immediately describe because he would that we should be kept ignorant of it So that those Descriptions have an immediate relation to the flourishing State of the Church in the last Period and by analogy they may be transfer'd to the blessings of Paradise 2. Type the Rest after the Babylonish captivity The Captivity of Babylon was doubtless another Type of the Captivity of the Church under Antichrist and therefore the Papacy is called the City of Babylon and after that Captivity the People returned to their own Land and lived peaceably there So doubtless the Church being delivered from the bondage of Antichrist shall return to its rest here on Earth 3. Type the Rest after the persecution under Antiochus The Persecution of Antiochus was also a Type of the Persecution which the Church hath suffered under Antichrist Now after the three years and half of that Persecution the People of the Iews returned to the possession of their Temple and rose to a more flourishing condition than they had ever been in since their coming out of Babylon 4 Type the number seven which is so often mentioned I leave these and many other Types which may be found to insist on one which I find to be very evident and convincing 'T is that which may be found in the number of seven 'T will be granted that this is a mysterious and sacred number and that it signifies perfection 'T is on this account it is mentioned so often in the Apocalypse There are seven Churches seven Stars seven Candlesticks seven Spirits seven Lamps seven Eyes seven Horns of the Lamb seven Plagues seven Trumpets seven Thunders seven Viols So in the Books of Moses the seventh day is Holy and the seventh year was the year of Rest and the seven times seventh year was the great Jubilee The living Creatures entred into the Ark by sevens the first-born of every beast remained seven days with its Dam the male Children were to be seven days old before they were circumcised the Candlestick of the Tabernacle had seven Lamps a Woman after her uncleanness a Leper after he was cured of his leprosy were to be purified for seven days It would be too long to recite all the Examples of this nature which might be mentioned for the number seven is almost every where to be found For what reason is it so who sees not that this number signifies Completion and Perfection and of what can it signify the Perfection if not of the greatest work of God that for which all his other works were wrought that is the Church If then the 7th the be every where sacred why is not the seventh Period reckoning from the creation of the World also sacred and a Period of perfection It will be said the number seven is sacred because of the seventh day which was consecrated to the service of God but why hath God chosen the seventh day to be holy and a day of rest for man is it not plainly to signify that the seventh day or the seventh Period of the Church shall be a time of Holiness Tranquility and Peace The 7th day of the Creation a type of the seventh period of the Church The seventh day they farther tell us was consecrated to Rest and Holiness because God created the World in six days and rested on the seventh Behold now we are at the Spring Head and can rise no higher but here also we shall find an excellent Type of our seventh Period 'T is here I would ask with boldness Wherefore God created the World in six days and rested on the seventh Why did he not imploy five days eight ten or twelve in the work of Creation but precisely seven Certainly the infinite wisdom of God will not permit that he should do any thing without reason Here is this reason because he intended to hold the Church in an imperfect state for six Periods of Time labouring in that great work for which he made all others and causing it successively to pass through seven degrees We must not say that the Sabbath the seventh day on which God rested was the image of that great Rest into which the Church is to be brought after he shall have compleated it upon Earth for the seventh Period ought to bear proportion to the other six whereas Eternity hath none with Time much less with one day So that the seventh Period cannot be the Eternal Rest It must be a Time that bears proportion to the six preceding Periods As then after six days of labour God finisht his work by a day to which he affixt Holiness and Rest as its Characters there must likewise be for the Church after six days of sins and sufferings one last day that is to be distinguisht by those two Seals Peace and Holiness upon Earth Not but that the Sabbath is also a figure of the Eternal Rest but 't is because these thousand years of Peace and Holiness on Earth shall be the image of that perfect Peace and Holiness which the Church shall injoy in Heaven and so 't is a mediate Type of the Eternal Rest These thousand years I confess have no proportion with Eternity but it is not to be a Type in the duration of the Time but in respect of the state of Peace and Holiness Images of the Coelestial Peace So these thousand years may be Types of the Heavenly Glory but the seventh day could not be the immediate Type because of what was said before Because the seventh day of the Creation is a Period of the same nature with the six preceding and which by consequent ought to bear proportion to them It will be said that 'T is easy to make these suppositions hut difficult to prove them But I have a sure Method for the proof of this when the several parts of a System support one another even therein they are proved in an Hypothesis that is false there is alway some part inconsistent with it self Now I will make it evident that the seven days of the Creation do perfectly answer to the seven Periods of the Church that in every one of those days such works were wrought which were exact Emblems of the Events which have happened and of the things which were done in every Period of the Church answering to every day If I make it evident that in the six Periods of the duration of the Church which are past we have seen those things which were painted out by the six days of the Creation so that the first Period contains that which was figur'd by the work of the first day the second Period that of the second and so of the rest if I say I can do this methinks it will then be proved that what was done in the seventh day of the Creation is the image of that which shall be done in our seventh Period of the Church The parts of this System do admirably support one
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
Christ unto the birth of Antichrist i. e. till the middle of the fifth Century In this Period we have the Sun of Righteousness so Jesus Christ is called by the Prophets and Evangelists John c. 1. The Light which inlightens every man that comes into the world So by the Apostles The Father of Lights in whom is no shadow of change James 1. i. e. a Sun that hath no Tropicks The Parrallel of the Moon with the Church The Parrallel between Iesus Christ and the Sun is too manifest and easy to make to be long insisted on I will rather speak somewhat of the Moon which is an admirable Emblem of the Church 1. The Moon hath all her Light from the Sun The Church hath all her Beauty Holiness Vertue and Glory from I. Christ 2. The Moon retains some spots and those considerable ones in her borrowed Light the Church hath many great and plain defects in her vertues 3. The Moon hath no fixed Light she often changeth and is sometimes more and sometimes less inlightned The Church remains not long in one state she is always rising or falling she looseth some of her Light and then receiveth more she defiles herself and then is cleansed and hath Periods almost as regular as those of the Moon 4. The Moon besides her constant and periodical decrease suffers Ecclipses and sometimes total ones The Church besides her ordinary declensions is sometimes so Ecclipst as not to appear which is more or less according to the inundations of Herely or the corruption of manners 5. 'T is not the fault of the Sun but of the Moon it self that these Ecclipses happen she plungeth herself in the shadow of the Earth and so deprives herself of the Sun. The Ecclipses of the Church by the loss of Truth or vertue happen in like manner because she falls into sin and falshood which is shadow and darkness the product of Earth and Hell. Your sins have separated between God and you 6. When the Moon is Ecclipst she becomes black and puts on a frightfull Aspect when the Church suffers herself to lose the Light of the Sun her visage becomes deformed by her disorders and crimes Why doth not the Church appear but in this fourth Period since she was created from the beginning of the World so the Moon which was a figure of the Church should have been created on the first day I answer that the Church may also be found in the three preceding Periods but in the first and second day 't is a Land covered with waters The Church is mixt and confounded with the People of the World and even covered and hidden among 'em In the third she appears as a dry Land that is visible but as yet it is but Earth producing Plants and Fruits In our fourth Period she is advanc't from the quality of Earth to the dignity of the Stars she becomes a Moon a luminous body which may be seen afar off which spreads its rays throughout all the world Stars of six magnitudes images of the six orders of Teachers In the fourth day there were also Stars which are of six different magnitudes from the first to the sixth In our fourth Period we have several Teachers as shining Stars but they lessen by degrees The Apostles are the Stars of the first magnitude Apostolick Persons were Stars of the second magnitude their Disciples who lived in the second Century were Stars of the third the Doctors of the Church in the third Century were Stars of the fourth magnitude Those of the fourth Century were of the fifth magnitude Lastly in the fifth Century when the good days of the Church ended there were more Teachers more Stars in number but they were but of the sixth magnitude their Light began to be obscured by mixing with the darkness of Superstition and Heresy After them in the following Ages we see no Stars but under a Cloud the witnesses covered with sackcloth Christians concealed and hidden among the multitude of those who were sunk into error and Idolatry In this Period there is also another sort of Stars viz. Confessors and Martyrs who shined as Stars of the first magnitude and the common sort of the Faithful who are truly Stars though but of the sixth magnitude Lastly in the fourth Period we find Planets wandring Stars Apostates Iudas's and such as Hymenaeus and Philetus who concerning the Faith made shipwrack Mysteries of the 5th day We proceed to the fifth day of the Creation The fifth Period is that from the rise of Antichrist to his Completion from the fifth Century to the eleventh In the fifth day God said Let the waters bring forth Fishes abundantly or moving Creatures which have life and Fowl that may flie above the Earth in the open firmament of Heaven Behold two sorts of Creatures Birds and Fishes and they are to be Emblems of men who should rule in the fifth Period of the Church It may be the name of Bird may prove a good Omen to some one would think we should find something of good there because Birds are a kind of Coelestial Creatures but we must remember that in the two following Periods we shall meet with nothing that is good because they belong to Antichrist If there be any thing good in these two Periods 't is the remnant of the fourth for all is evil that belongs to their perticular Character So that by Birds we understand men of rash and daring spirits who would pierce beyond the Clouds attempting to reach unto God himself and have done violence to his Holy Mysteries by their bold Inquiries Such was Arrius who would dive into the mystery of the Eternal generation of the Son and was there stumbled Such was Macedonius who would fathom the Mysteries of the Procession of the Holy Spirit and not being able to effect it made him a Creature as Arius did the Son. Such was Eutyches who not being able to fathom the Mysteries of the union of the two natures in Christ did confound them Such was Nestorius who lost himself in searching into the manner of the Vnion of the humane Nature with the Divine Person and so establisht two Persons in Christ and I know not how many more such Birds there were men of bold and daring spirits who did great mischief to the Church We need but consult History to be informed 'T is true among those Birds there were some whose flight was happy enough The fourth and fifth Centuries produced some Eminent Doctors in comparison of the preceding The first Doctors of the Christian Church after the Apostles were but poor Divines they could flye but a little way There is more Divinity in one piece of St. Austin then in all the three first Centuries Origen excepted who was the Eagle of his Age. But those Birds who made some happy flights were yet guilty of great faults and often lost themselves by endeavouring to go too far The Fish of the fifth day are Antichrist
In the sixth Period near the end whereof we now are God will compleat his Church by the ruin of Antichrist and bring the Kingdom of Christ upon Earth to its perfection This should be well remembred that the Church in the Type of the Creation appears under four Emblems 1. As the Earth buried and covered under waters 2. As a dry Land above the waters and bearing fruit 3. As a Moon inlightened by the Sun. 4. And lastly as the Woman And our Lord Jesus appears there under three Emblems 1. As the Light of the first day without or before the Sun. 2. As the Sun. 3. Under the Emblem of the Man. The Church in her first state before the Law was as the Earth under water she was obscure and as it were buried among the Nations In her second state under the Law she was as a discovered Land distinguisht and known and bearing fruit but yet she was but Earth i. e. not very considerable In her third state under the Gospel she appears as a Moon a rival of the Sun imitating his Light and therein she is more glorious than the Earth This is the Apostolical Church so glorious and full of knowledge In the fourth state she appears as the woman taken out of the side of Adam closely united with him being one Body and one Flesh 'T is in the last Period that she shall be more united to Christ than before In the fourth Period she is as the Moon and notwithstanding the nearest approaches of the Sun there remain vast distances between them But towards the end of the sixth Period and throughout the seventh her union unto Christ shall be immediate and intimate as that of a Wife with her Husband therefore the Church in this seventh Period is represented as a Spouse which was to be brought to the Lamb. On the other hand Jesus Christ appears under three Emblems In the fourth Period as a Sun which scatters the darkness of Idolatry Paganism and Ignorance that covered the face of the Earth This Sun is plac't in the fourth point just in the middle of the seven to let us know that he is the Center of the Church the Sun which gives light before and behind to the preceding Ages and to those which follow him Towards the end of the sixth Period and throughout the seventh he is A man to whom God gives dominion over the Fowls of the Air the Fish of the Sea and creeping things and four-footed Beasts i. e. That Christ in this last Period shall be Lord and King who shall rule over the Birds tame the boldest and most aspiring spirits who mount even unto the Heavens he shall humble them and keep 'em within the bounds of their duty over the Fish of the Sea to deliver'em from their corruption over Creeping things to destroy the influence of their poison over wild Beasts to tame their fierceness and render them meek as Lambs In the first day Jesus Christ was figured but by a dim Light because in the first Period of the Church he vouchsaf't her but a very imperfect knowledge of himself This methinks is the Mystery of the six days which way well serve as a favourable omen in reference to the seventh day The mystery of the seventh day of the Creation because every thing therein seems to accord well what then is wanting to the World after the works of the six daye to render it perfect Holiness and Rest and these are the two Things which God added on the seventh day Holiness for he Sanctified the seventh day and thereby the rest of the World. Rest for till then God had been at work and the World in Motion Now God gave the World that Rest which it wanted in that he himself rested on the seventh day All this is an admirable Emblem of our seventh Period for the sake whereof all this explication of the Type of the Worlds Creation hath been given During the six days God made the Church to pass through several changes he will bring it to perfection at the end of the sixth by the ruin of the Antichristian Kingdom and by the Conversion of all Nations What then is wanting to it Rest and Holiness Rest for hitherto she hath always been in toyl and Travel Holiness for she hath alway been imperfect We must therefore look for a seventh Period which shall be a Kingdom of Rest and Holiness wherein the Church shall no more be persecuted either by Fire and Sword or by Heresy and Idolatry wherein also there shall be a plentiful effusion of the H. Spirit to produce a great degree of Holiness and Sanctification among men This mystery shall be accomplisht upon Earth We must not say that the accomplishment of this Type will be found in Heaven where is Rest and Holiness and that therein is the mystery of the seventh day I say again that cannot be meant because this seventh Period must be of the same kind and order with the other six We even now observed that the Sun was created on the fourth day there are three days before and three after exactly in the middle of the seven to signify that Christ the Son of Righteousness is the Center of the intelligible World. If he be the Center of the seven Periods he must certainly have an equal reference to all the points of that Circumference Now what relation can he have to the seventh day if Eternity be meant by it In that Eternal abode Christ shall have no more the relation of a Center a Sun and a King. For St. Paul tells us that then God shall be all in all and Christ shall deliver up the Kingdom again to his Father Moreover 't is certain there ought to be a proportion between the seventh Period and the six fore-going ones Now there is none between Eternity and the duration of the Church upon Earth And lastly I am bold to say that the ancient Types were not establisht by God immediately to figure Heavenly Things but only the Graces and Favors of God in this World under the Kingdom of the Messiah You cannot show me any one of the ancient Types which hath an immediate relation to the glories of the Heavenly Paradise The marriage of Adam and Eve was the immediate Type of the Vnion between Christ and his Church in the Kingdom of his Grace It did only mediately typify their Vnion in the Kingdom of Glory By consequence this seventh day which all acknowledge to be Typical must have its immediate relation not to the Sabbath of the Church in Heaven but to its State of Rest upon Earth CHAP. XXIII A farther Confirmation of the future prosperity of the Church upon Earth The 21 and 22. Chap. of the Apocalypse interpreted that in those Chapters the Church is described as victorious upon Earth and not as Triumphant in Heaven WE may not pass from the Apocalyps without saying somewhat concerning the last Chapters If we needed another Head of Arguments to
prove our notion of the Reign of Christ for a thousand years and the Triumphant state of the Church upon Earth before its final glorious Triumph in Heaven we might be furnisht from these last Chapters For they are not as is commonly supposed a description of the Church in Heaven The Prophecy of the nine last Chapters of Ezekiel is the same with that of the last Chapt. of the Apocalypse They exactly answer to the nine last Chapters of the Prophecy of Ezekiel That Prophet in those nine last Chapters sets forth in a figurative manner the condition of the Church of Israel after its restoration their glorious Kingdom and the wonderful Peace they should injoy after their return which return or recalling was to be after the fall of Antichrist St. John gives an account what the Church shall be after with relation to that Fall after it shall have bin accomplisht so that both these Prophets describe the Church as to the same Period and the same condition This will easily appear if we briefly run over that which remains of the Apocalypse It cannot be questioned but that our Prophet concludes the 20th Chapter with a description of the last day of Judgement The war of Gog and Magog follows upon the reign of a thousand years to the revolt of Gog and Magog succeeds their defeat after their defeat there is nothing but the last day which shall come and surprize the World in the twinkling of an eye This is signified by those words V. 11. Chap. 20. Then I saw a great white Throne and him that sat on it from whose face the Earth and Heaven fled way and there was found no place for them White as well as Purple is a Royal colour and withal a Priestly for the Priests were clothed in white The Holy Priest's garments on the day of Expiation according to the tradition of the Iews were called Bigdei Lavan white garments In like manner he that sat upon the Throne is our King and Priest The Earth and the Heaven fled from his face for they shall be burnt that they may be renewed V. 12. And I saw the dead small and great stand before God c. 'T is a description of the last Judgement to the end of the Chapter all this is plain The 21. v. 1. Chapter begins with these words And I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away The first Vision of 21 Chapt. to the 9th V. respects that which follows the end of the world These words do evidently allude to what he had said just before and the Heaven and the Earth fled away As that was interpreted of what should happen at the last day of Judgement it is clear that these new Heavens and this new Earth must be understood in a literal and not a figurative sense for the new World after it hath been refined by fire And so the description we read of here even to the ninth Verse is that of eternal Rewards and Punishments 'T is true that which is spoken of the H. City v. 3 4. of the new Ierusalem coming down from Heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband of the Tabernacle of God with men of his dwelling with them and they with him and that God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and that there shall be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain All this I say might very well be applied to the Church as victorious upon Earth but this description is determin'd by what precedes and by what follows to Eternal Glory by that which precedes which is the description of the last day of Judgement and by that which follows which is the description of everlasting Punishment but the fearful and unbelieving c. v. 8. shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death The 9th v. begins a new Vision The ninth Verse begins a new Vision and a more perticular description of the blessed Reign of Christ upon Earth In the same manner as the H. Spirit after he had in the 13th Chapter given an enigmatical and general description of the Antichristian Empire under the image of the two Beasts gives a more ample account of it in the 17th Chapt. So having in the 20th Chapt. described the reign of Christ though in few words he set forth that reign more at length afterwards that state of the delivered Church under the image of a great City called Ierusalem as after having set out the Antichristian Church under the image of a Beast and of an Empire he represents it under the Emblem of a great City called Babylon V. 9. And there came unto me one of the seven Angels which had the seven Viols full of the seven last plagues and talked with me saying come hither I will show thee the Bride the Lambs wife 'T is in all likelyhood the last of those seven Angels who had poured out the Viols and the same who show'd unto the Prophet the great City the mother of Fornications Cha. 17.1 Then came one of the seven Angels unto me which had the seven Viols and talked with me saying Come hither I will show thee the Judgement of the great Whore that sitteth on many Waters As it was this seventh and last Angel who had the Viols by whom the ruin of Antichrist was effected it doth most properly belong to him to show Babylon faln and Ierusalem rebuilt V. 10. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high Mountain and showed me that great City the Holy Jerusalem descending out of Heaven from God. This is somewhat like what the Devil did unto Jesus Christ when he carried him up into an high Mountain and shows him all the Kingdoms of the world what the Devil makes appear by illusion St. Iohn sees by vision That he was carried or seemed to be carried up into an high Mountain makes it plain that the Ierusalem he was to be made see from thence was here upon Earth and not the Triumphant Church in Heaven though it be called the Holy Jerusalem descending out of Heaven from God. She shall be descended from Heaven because she shall abound in Graces which come from thence she is called the great City and 't is the first time she is so called 'T is a detestable name which in all the preceding Prophecy is given only to Spiritual Babylon But 't is on this account that then the Church shall possess the multitude of the Nations as Antichristianism doth at present V. 11. Having the Glory of God and her Light wus like unto a stone most precious even like a Iasper stone clear as Cristal V. 12. And had a Wall great and high and had twelve Gates and at the Gates twelve Angels and names written thereon which are the names of the twelve Tribes of the children of Israel V. 13.
Sense of this Prophecy 1. Because that did not extend very far the number was not great of those who did pertake of it 2. That did not last but a little while for even before the death of the Apostles the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit became rare So that what was then was properly but a presage and type of that large effusion of the Spirit which should be in the last Period of the Church not that all men shall then become Prophets and be inspired but all shall be assisted and led by an extraordinary and all-powerfull influence of the H. Spirit The second Character great Holiness 2. From this first Character will arise a second viz. great Holiness Great in respect of the degrees and of the extent of it In respect of degrees for such as shall then be Holy shall be incomparably more so than any are now who are reputed such and as to the extent of it because the number of Holy persons shall be greater Nevertheless 't is not to be understood as if men shall then be altogether without sin for they must dye There must therefore be some remainders of sin even the Holy Apostles did not cease to be Men by being Saints The like shall be in reference to men in this last Period Neither is it to be hop't that all men without exception shall then be holy but 't is credible that the number of the Good shall exceed that of the Wicked as much as 't is now inferior to it By Good men I intend not those who are commonly called Honest men of such there is yet a considerable number in the World but such as shall be distinguisht by an extraordinary Piety and Holiness The number of such is now but very small but the greatest part of Men shall then be so And for the Men of another Character they shall then be as rare as now they are common This great Holiness of Men in those days is abundantly proved by the many Prophecies already mentioned and which certainly have not hitherto been fullfilled The third Character Purity of worship Doctrine 3. From thence follows a third Character viz. Purity of worship and Doctrine Corruption in Religion follows the corruption of manners God cannot permit that any Church which is greatly corrupted in manners should for any long time preserve Purity of Doctrine and worship and therefore we find in the Papacy that natural conjunction of a great Idolatry with a great corruption in manners So on the other hand God cannot suffer that a Church that is eminent for Holiness should decline from the Purity of Religion wherefore we may be confident that the Church in its last Period shall not admit any alteration in the purity of its worship or of its Doctrine or in any thing of its Religion There shall no Heresy be received in that Church and I am perswaded that Pelagianism which is now so common shall be quite extirpated for then all men shall be full of God and perceive and acknowledge him in every thing Whereas the Pelagians who prevail in so many places do not see and own him any where but make a God of Man by making him Independent These men are far enough from having a right Idea of a Being infinitely perfect I dare say that God is not much in those men who feel and perceive so little of God. 4. Character Great Peace 4. The fourth Character of this Reign of Christ is a Soveraign Peace This is plainly revealed by many express Prophecies That the Wolf shall feed with the Lamb and swords be turned into plough-shares and men shall not hurt or destroy one another The Art of War which sprung from Hell shall return thither Nothing but the corruption and wickedness of the World doth now make it necessary The Devil of Covetousness and of Ambition the spirit of Revenge and the like shall return to the bottomless pit whence they came And it shall no more be a point of honour to know how to massacre mankind to storm Towns and gain Battels and destroy Countries and cover the Fields with dead Bodies 5. Character Deep Humility 5. This shall be a Kingdom of Humility All those vain Titles which now serve for ornament and pride shall then be vanisht Brotherly Love shall make all men equal not that all distinction and all dignities among men shall cease This Kingdom is no Anarchy there shall be some to govern and others to obey But Government shall then be without Pride and Insolence without Tyranny and without Violence Subjects shall obey their Rulers with an humble spirit and Governors shall rule their Subjects with a spirit of meekness and gentleness 6. Character The abolishing of unlawfull vain Arts. 6. All those Arts which now serve the Pride and Vanity of mankind shall then be abolisht 'T is a mysterious and deep design of God that his Providence permits the Reign of Vanity in the place of Charity which is retired and gone What a multitude of People are maintained by this Reign of Vanity for how could the Poor subsist without the vanity of the Rich who will have stately Houses gawdy furniture pompous garments of Gold Silk Point Lace and fanâ—â— deliciously and keep many attendants and domestick Servants by all these doth subsist that great Company of Artificers Goldsmiths Painters and those that work in Tapistry in Stuffs of Wool Gold and Silk Cooks Pastry-men Architects Taylors and such as make Point and Lace c. These comprehend above three quarters of the World and all these must dye of hunger if the several branches of humane vanity were not as so many secret and under-ground chanels whereby Divine Providence distributes food and nourishment to so many persons They therefore who would cut off all this Vanity before the season of returning Charity do confound the times and Characters of the different Periods of the Church These are the Vanities of the World and while the World reigns they must have their course but 't is certain withal that assoon as the Reign of Charity shall return all these shall be quite banisht 7. Character The return of Charity 7. And this is the seventh Character of the reign of Christ on Earth that fervent charity shall be restored and supply all the necessities of inferior persons By this a thousand Channels shall be opened for the relief of the Poor like those of vanity And they who now live upon the Vanity of worldly men shall then live upon the charity of the Saints Inferiors are now vain and proud as well as Superiors they learn and derive their vanity from that of those above 'em and as Diogenes trampled under his feet the Houshold-stuff and pride of Plato with a greater Pride and his so oftentimes the Pride and vanity of those who grow rich by the vanity of others is greater than that of the Rich themselves It shall not then be thus Every man shall
not contemporary with 'em the seven seals carry the Prophecy almost as far as the fall of Paganism unto Constantine the first Christian Emperor The seven Trumpets divide the rest of the Time between Constantine and his Christian Successors to the end of the World. And the seventh Trumpet that sounds here is the beginning of the last Period which comprehends the fall of the Empires of the World and particularly that of the Antichristian Kingdom or the Papacy The seventh Angel sounded and there were great voices These are voices of Acclamation and joy That Thunders and Lightnings are joyned to those voices signifies the preaching of the Gospel And the four and twenty Elders who sat before God on their seats fell upon their faces and worshipped God saying we give thee thanks O Lord God Almighty c. 'T is the Song and subject matter of thanksgiving wherewith the Holy People should praise God during the reign of a thousand years when God shall have subdued all their Enemies Observe here that the four and twenty Elders appear alone and begin the Song whereas in the first Vision the living Creatures begun the Song and the Elders followed ' em 'T is not to exclude the living Creatures and the Ministry in the last Period of the Church but to signify that then the People shall be so filled with the Divine Spirit that they shall not need to wait the inspiration and assistance of the Holy Ministry to ingage them to praise God and perform holy duties The Nations were angry and thy wrath in come i. e. the Nations of the Antichristian People have executed their malice and fury and thou hast avenged it by destroying their Empire And the Time of the dead that they should be judged and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy Servants the Prophets and to the Saints and them that fear thy name small and great This doth not signify the last judgement or the last Resurrection 'T is the first Resurrection the Deliverance of the Church her coming to the expected Kingdom This is set forth after the same manner in the 20th Chapter of the Apocalyps as hath been already seen The Time of the Dead to be judged he saith not the Living and the Dead or all the Dead but speaks of the Church which lay as dead during the reign of Antichrist and shall rise again when that Kingdom is destroyed The Dead shall be judged And how 't is God will reward the faithfull and the Church by giving them Peace and a Kingdom 'T is a judgement of Grace and of Beneficence He speaks not of eternal Rewards as appears by what follows and to destroy those who destroyed the Earth Which is not a proper term to signify eternal punishments wherein nothing is destroyed men continue under them for ever so that the ruin of the Antichristian Empire must be here meant V. 19. Chap. 11. And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven and there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Testament The Ark is the sign of God's Covenant with the Iews so this Prophecy of the Ark in the Temple of God signifies the recalling of the Iews The Temple of God was open The Church shall be open to all Nations all People shall resort to it and among others we shall see that People who derive their Glory from the Ark of the Covenant CHAP. XXIV The Characters of the Kingdom of the Church Eight are certain and five doubtfull What shall happen after this Kingdom What is meant by Gog and Magog There shall probably be a lesser kind of Antichrist a little before the end of the World. HAving confirmed the Truth of this Reign of Christ upon Earth we ought now to consider the Nature and Characters of it they may be divided into two Classes some that are doubtful and others certain It is fit that we begin with the certain We are not to reckon among the Characters of this Reign either the fall of the Babylonish Empire or the conversion of the Iews or the conversion of the remaining Gentiles For these three things are to go before it They can never be brought about but with confusion and Tumult The Popish Empire cannot fall but it must cost blood and make a mighty noise The conversion of the Iews must needs be attended with great Commotions among the People and it may be violent contradictions 'T is likewise impossible to conceive that the Conversion of the Gentiles can be brought about without the utmost endeavours of the Devil to hinder it he will raise all his forces every where to hinder the last establishment of this Kingdom of Christ as he did in the first Ages of the Christian Church So that we cannot doubt but he will cause great opposition not only by words but it may be blows Now this cannot belong to the Kingdom of Christ whereof the principal Character is Soveraign Peace Insomuch that we thus conceive of it 1. The Papal Empire shall fall 2. After that some years will be necessary to abolish Sects and Parties and compose the differences among Christians 3. That after this many Heathen Nations and the Iews shall be converted for it cannot be thought that they should be converted while Christians are so much at variance among themselves and seeking the destruction of one another 4. After the Conversion of the Iews the remainder of the most remote Nations shall also be converted Now for all this there must be time for should we think that God will act in a more miraculous manner in this than in the establishment of the first Christian Church Wherefore as the Christian Church was near an hundred years in its first setling no less will be necessary perfectly to resettle it and then shall that blessed Kingdom come which we expect not but that there is some probability that God may begin to compute the thousand years from the fall of Antichrist even before the Conversion of the Iews and Gentiles and so the fall of the Antichristian Kingdom and the Conversion of the Nations may in some sort be comprehended within the Reign of Christ for a thousand years But when we speak here of the Kingdom of Christ we speak of it as in its perfection which will not be till after these things are come to pass An extraordinary effusion of the Spirit the first certain Character Chap. 2.28 29. The first certain Character of this reign of Christ is the plentifull effusion of the Spirit of God upon men The Prophecy of Ioel to this purpose is one of those which is but in part accomplisht hitherto I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophecy your old Men shall dream dreams and your young Men see visions also on the servants and the hand-maid in those days will I pour out my Spirit That lesser effusion of the Spirit which the first Christians experienc't is not enough to fill up the