consummation of all Ages They have reason to disclaim the opinion of the ancient Millenarians as carnal and absurd But there is no cause of counting it a carnal opinion to believe that the Church shall enjoy Tranquillity and Peace for a thousand years during which time she shall have no visible Enemies by whom to be oppressed Antichrist being totally destroyed and all the Nations of the world enlightned with the knowledg of the Truth In a word to believe as is the common opinion now that the thousand years Reign shall be spiritual and that it will consist in this that the number of true Christians shall be greater than ever it hath been their knowledg more large their Assemblies more holy their Love more strong their Zeal more ardent and that there shall be a most perfect peace both inward and outward Neither hath Jesus Christ nor have his Apostles said that the Cross and Tribulations shall be the Livery of Christians and the path to Paradise to the end of the world nor have they any where declared that the Church is never to enjoy any long peace here on the Earth For both St. Iohn and the Prophets give us ground to hope for such a calm and Tranquillity As for St. Iohn it was not possible for him to speak of it in a more express manner than he hath here done For after he had foretold the destruction of Babylon of the Beast and of the false Prophet whose rage had wearied the Church with so many persecutions and for so many Ages he doth now represent Satan's being cast into prison that he might not deceive the Nations for the space of a thousand years How can the Church be persecuted during this whole time wherein Satan shall be bound and the Nations no more deceived the Papacy being either wholly abolished or so weakned that it cannot lift up its head This peace of the Church is then a natural and an infallible consequence of Satan's being cast into Prison St. Iohn further added I saws say's he the Souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus and which had not worshipped the Beast and they reigned with Christ a thousand years this is the first Resurrection This Reign can be nothing but a State of Tranquillity and of a profound Peace of the Church because it is set in opposition to her state of Bondage Trouble and Oppression during the cruel and bloody Reign of Antichrist As to this first Resurrection it cannot be meant of that from the Grave of Sin which is the Souls Conversion and Sanctification For St. Iohn designs it by the Relative This because of its reference to what he had said Now he had not spoken one word of the Resurrection from Sin but had discoursed only of living and Reigning with Christ a thousand years and of Thrones that were given whereon to judg i. e. to reign which expresseth a flourishing condition of the Christian Church and that she is to have sway and Authority over all the world for a thousand years But it can no way 's agree to that Resurrection which consisteth in Sanctification Is it then to be thus that the Martyrs are to be raised and to live on the Earth a thousand years with Jesus Christ It is certain that this opinion containeth nothing that interferes either with Reason or with Faith. For this being the only place of the Bible wherein this particular Resurrection of the Martyrs is spoken of and that in all other places the general Resurrection is mentioned 't is most safe and most agreeable to the Analogy of Faith as well as most conformable to the Stile of the Prophets to understand by this Resurrection the deliverance of the Church from all her Enemies and her State of peace and Tranquillity For Afflictions being called a Death Ezek. 37. 2 3. Isaiah 26. 14 19. and 2 Cor. 1. 9 10. by consequence Deliverance from Afflictions may be called both a Resurrection and a first Resurrection not only because it goes before the general but because it is a pledg and a forerunner of it They whom Babylon had condemned to death as Hereticks were esteemed by her Followers to be damned and to undergo the second Death But when the Church shall come to be delivered from her Enemies her Martyrs shall then be fully justified And when she comes to Reign a thousand years her Martyrs shall then be acknowledged to be happy and to be Reigning with Christ Thus it is clear that they shall be blessed who have part in this first Resurrection And herein the Martyrs will have a part because their Honor shall be established and their Memory universally blessed But it may be said that this seems to import that all who shall live in the Communion of the Christian Church during the time of the 1000. years Reign shall be saved and that all they who have part in this first Resurrection shall be delivered from the power of the second Death If one should believe so it would be no Heresie nor can the will of God concerning this be known by any nor how far he will extend the effusion of his Grace It may be that he will then pour out his Spirit upon all Flesh and that all Christians then shall be really and in truth a willing People in the beauties of Holiness a Holy Nation and a Royal Priesthood And it would seem as if St. John favoured this opinion in that he saith not meerly blessed is he but Blessed and Holy is he who hath part in the first Resurrection At the least we may truly say that whereas hitherto Worldlings and Hypocrites have exceeded the number of sincere Christians the thousand years Reign will shew us the contrary and that more than a third part of the seed of the word shall then fall into good and honest Hearts and shall bring forth eighty and a hundred for one Nor is there any thing carnal in this Millenarian opinion but all doth become the magnificency of the Prophecies and all is suteable to the wisdom of God and to the infinite riches of his Grace Nor is it St. Iohn alone who hath promised this Reign of a thousand years but Daniel and Isaiah have also promised it tho' less clearly than this Apostle as there was reason Daniel says in his second Chap. v. 35 44 45. that the Image which appeared to the King of Babylon in his Dream was broken in pieces by a little stone cut out of a Mountain and that this little Stone cut out without a hand became a great Mountain and filled the whole Earth This little Stone is the Christian Church the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which is to out-live the destruction and ruin of the Papal Roman Empire represented by the Feet of the Image and that after the subversion of all Empires which are contrary to this of the Son of God it is to spread it self throw all Nations This is not yet fulfilled but it must be
most eminent So that this Bishop is without doubt he of Rome who from the very beginning was lookt upon as above others by reason of the City which was the Seat of the Empire and consequently the Lady and Mistriss of all other Cities This was the ground of the precedency granted to that Bishop as appears both by the Council of Calcedon and by the second Council of Constantinople Among the Bishops of Rome Gregory the first is particularly here represented by this great Star. And that not only because he was stiled great but because he truly fell from Heaven through abandoning the care of heavenly things to pursue and cleave to those of the Earth This we may the rather believe because he gives this account of himself in the fifth Epistle of his first Book writing to Theotista the Emperors Sister Under the Colour says he of a Bishoprick I am sunk into the world and am become more enslaved to the cares of the Earth than ever I was when but a Laick person Since I was outwardly advanced I am inwardly fallen And I bewaile my own state as being thus driven from the presence of my Creator He writ the same to Anastasius Bishop of Antioch namely that he was so depressed by the load of multiplicity of affairs that he could not raise his mind to heavenly things The fall of this Gregory the Great does yet more appear in that it was he who changed the Service of the Church into that which from his name is called to this day the Gregorian 'T was he likewise who most blasphemously equalled the four first Councils to the four Gospels and who in his four Books of Dialogues brought the belief of Purgatory into the Church But we are to take care that we do not restrain our selves only to one Bishop This great Star is to be taken as representing collectively all the Bishops of Rome since they first begun to depart from the Truth and from Christian Humility And indeed before Gregory the Great Mark who was elected Pope anno 335. did so highly exalt the Rights of the Sea of Rome that he had the confidence to write to the Bishops of Egypt in these prophane words that follow The Roman Church hath forever been without a Spot and through the Grace of God and the protection of St. Peter forever shall be so For says he the Lord spake thus to the Prince of the Apostles Peter I have prayed for thee that thy Faith do not fail Julius I. took upon him by his own meer Authority to re-establish several Oriental Bishops that had been justly deposed Liberius by subscribing to the condemnation of St. Athanasius subscribed to Arianism which drew upon him the curses of St. Hilary After the death of Liberius Damasius and Ursicinus caused such an effusion of blood by their struglings for the Roman Chair that Ammianus Marcellinus a Heathen Author reports that in the Temple where the Election of Damasus was held there were 137. slain at one time The greatest persons among the Heathen coveted the grandure of the Popes so that the Pagan Pretextatus being designed Consul offered to Damasus to turn Christian upon condition that he might be made Pope Siricius who succeeded to Damasus forbid Ecclesiastical Persons to marry shamefully perverting to that purpose the words of St. Paul Rom. 8. 8. they who are in the flesh connot please God. After Gregory I. Boniface III. assumed the Title of Universal Bishop Boniface IV who succeeded to him consecrated the Pantheon to the blessed Virgin and to all the Saints having been before a Temple dedicated to Cybele and to all the Heathen Gods. And the Monastick life became so highly valued and advanced under all these Popes that they taught it to be the true Evangelick way of living and the most sure means of salvation These Doctrines together with others added by the Bishops of Rome and which they either themselves invented or else authorised and decreed made them to be this Wormwood that hath corrupted the saving Doctrine and which hath rendred all the Waters of Grace and the Fountains of Salvation bitter XIII ILLUSTRATION Of the fourth Trumpet The third part of the Sun and of the Moon and of the Stars smitten REV. CHAP. VIII V. 12. And the fourth Angel sounded and the 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 darkned and the day shone not for a third part of it and the night likewise THE wo denounced by this fourth Trumpet hath two Characters The one is Error and Superstition in that the Fountains of light are so strangely changed The other is Violence and Force because these Sources of light are smitten For the Term of Smiting is often used in the Scripture to signify killing and destroying As in Deut. chap. 4. v. 46. Ios chap. 8. v. 22. 1 Kings chap. 15. v. 29. and elsewhere These two characters do perfectly agree to the Religion of the Mahometans The Error in it is most palpable in that it denieth both Christs Divinity and the merit of his death and in that it promiseth such a felicity in the life to come as can be pleasing to none save unto Souls sunk into sensuality And its Violence is so well known that all who have heard of Mahomet do know that that Impostor boasted the being sent by God with a Sword to force the belief of his Religion And the event was according for within the space of 40. years after Mahomets death his four Successors Ebubeker Oâ—hmar Osman and Haly whom they stile Gods four sharp Swords planted that abominable Religion by force of Arms in Syria Palestine Egypt Mesopotamia Persia Africk Barbary and Numidia It was in the year 622. that Mahomet published his damnable Errors which is another character whereby to adjust it with the Wo or this fourth Trumpet For the Bishop of Rome was already fallen under the third These are the two Enemies of the Christian Religion the one a hidden Enemy and the other an avowed The one established himself as a Fox the other as a Lion. The one assaulted Religion in the West the other in the East The Bishop of Rome begun to fall away in the fourth Age Mahomet appeared in the seventh His abominable Religion followed the fall of the Roman Bishop as the Wo of the fourth Trumpet followeth the Wo of the third XIV ILLUSTRATION Of the fifth Trumpet The Key of the bottomless Pit given to the Star that fell from Heaven REV. CHAP. IX V. 1. And the fifth Angel sounded and I saw a Star fall from Heaven unto the Earth and to him was given the Key of the bottomless Pit. V. 2. And he opened the bottomless Pit and there arose a Smoke out of the Pit as the smoke of a great Furnace and the Sun and the Air were darkned by reason of the smoke of the Pit. WE have seen the Fall
a very imperfect account of this Divine Book and leave the Reader under great deficiency as to the knowledg of it There are divers of the Refugies who had the sight of this Discourse while they were in France For the Author had finished it near the end of August 1685. about two day 's before the arrival of the new Missionaries the Dragoons who plundred him of all he had So that this was the whole that he was able to save out of that doleful Ship-wreck which since his arrival at a place of security he hath reviewed and corrected in several places And having met with the Accomplishment of Prophecies written by the famous Monsr Jurieu the Author was exceedingly pleased to find that he had explained the 11 th Chap. as promissory of there establishment of the Reformed in France according as that great Man hath done And whereas it may be feared lest this conformity in their opinions seconded with a general hope should make the Protestants who remain still in France the more inclinable to abide there tho they may find opportunities of making their escape he thinks fit to admonish them as from God to obey immediately that Heavenly voice Come out of Babylon my people lest pertaking of her sins ye rereive also of her plagues And to let them know that they cannot go to Mass without either worshipping the Beast or worshipping his Image or without either having his Name or the Number of his Name and without receiving his Mark either in their Foreheads or in their Hands And by becoming inrolled in that list they cease to be of the Number of the 144000. that are sealed and of those who are to Reign with Jesus Christ And as they cannot worship the Host which is but a Creature without being Idolaters so they cannot plead that in their hearts they do it not without the being Hypocrites and through being either Idolaters or Hypocrites they derive upon themselves the Judgments of God. Neither are they to make the Accomplishment of Prophecies nor these Illustrations upon the Apocalypse the Rule of their conduct but they are to govern themselves by the alone Word of God which requires them to beware of Idols to withdraw from Idolaters and to fly from one place to another in time of Persecution and that not only to the hazarding their Estates and their Liberties but their very lives as thousands of Exiles of all qualities Sexes and Ages have done The infinite mercy of God his ineffable and immense Wisdom his Titles of mighty in Power wonderful in Counsel the strong God who can do both above our thoughts and our desires his being a God to whom vengeance belongeth a jealous God who worketh all things for the glory of his Name together with the Intercession of Jesus which is the retreat of an innumerable company of Souls that pray to God day and night for the turning his anger away from his people These I say are Considerations which afford infinitely more solid foundations for the support of our hopes in reference to the re-establishment of the Reformed in France than all human conjectures and reasonings can administer But how firm soever the foundation is that this hope is built upon yet it ought not to hinder those who know the Idolatry of the Romish Church either from withdrawing immediately out of the Kingdom provided they can find a door open to escape or from repairing the injury which through their sacrilegious Abjuration they have done to Religion by a publick and constant Confession of the Truth for the time to come Finally the Author made use of no Books towards the composure of this Discourse save of Launay's Commentary published under the name of Jonas le Buy Sr. de la Perie and of the Synopsis Criticorum He chiefly follows Launay as having a great esteem for his judgment as well as his Learning and as thinking that so good a Guide could not conduct him amiss He oweth to the Synopsis Criticorum among divers other things the Exposition of the Number of the Beast which he hopes to have so much farther inlightned that Mr. Potters Opinion shall be accounted as solid ' as it appeareth subtile and profound But this Preface is too long for an Author that would equally avoid length as well as obscurity And he hopes there will be no cause of fastning upon him that Reproach Dum brevis esse laborus obscurus fis A TABLE Of all the ILLUSTRATIONS On the APOCALYPSE The FIRST Part. 1 WHat we are to understand by the term Beast Pag. 1 2 What is intended by the Seven Heads of the Beast 5 3 What the ten Horns of the Beast do denote and signify 8 4 What it is that the Holy Ghost represents by Great Babylon 10 5 What the Beast is with the two Horns 14 6 Of the Eighth King. 33 7 Who the false Prophet is 37 8 Of the Dragon with seven Heads and ten Horns 49 9 Of the Woman cloathed with the Sun. 52 10 Of the Combate between Michael and the Dragon 55 11 Of the Flight of the Woman 58 12 Of the Flood which the Serpent cast out of his mouth and of the help which the Earth gave unto the Woman 62 13 Of the War which the Dragon being full of Wrath made against the remant of the seed of the Woman Pag. 66 14 Of Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots that sitteth upon many Waters carrying upon her Forehead the name Mystery and having a golden Cup in her hand 70 15 Of Babylon making all Nations drunk with the Wine of her Fornication and of her being drunk with the Blood of the Saints 77 16 Of the Lamb on Mount Sion and with him the 144000. having the Fathers Name written in their Foreheads 80 17 Of the Three Angels of the Everlasting Gospel and of the Denunciation against Babylon and her followers 84 18 Of the Harvest and the Vintage 90 19 Of the Sea of Glass mingled with Fire 94 20 Of the Opening of the Temple and of the Smoak wherewith it was fiiled 96 21 Of the Fail of Babylon and the time when 98 22 Of the binding of Satan for a thousand years and of the Millennary Reign 105 23 Of the Marriage of the Lamb. 123 24 Of the Holy Jerusalem 126 The SECOND Part. 1 OF the Throne the twenty four Elders the Sea of Glass and the four living Creatures Pag. 129 2 Of the sealed Book which no Creature could open save the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah 134 3 Of the Lamb with seven Horns and seven Eyes and of his being worshipped 136 4 Of the opening of the first six Seals pag. 140 5 Of the four Angels that withheld the four Winds and of the Angel that had the Seal of the living God. 153 6 Of the Hundred forty and four thousand which were sealed of the Tribes of Israel 156 7 Of the Multitude which no man could number that stood before the Lamb with Palms of
the beginning of it Thus 't is said 1 Sam. 23. 18. that David and Ionathan made a Covenant that is they renewed it for they had made it before So St. Iohn tells us in his first Epist chap 5. v. 13. that he wrote to those who believed that they might believe i. e. that they might increase in Faith. So that that which the Spirit of God would plainly say is that the wrath of the Dragon became inflamed and that he went to make a more dangerous war than he had made before But who are this Remnant of the Seed of the Woman which keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Christ Is there any difference betwixt them and the Church Is not the Church made up of such as keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ There is the same difference between the Woman and those who are her Seed as there is betwixt a Mother and a Daughter The Oriental or Greek Church that had been distressed for about 200 years by the Heresie of Arius is the Mother and the Western or Latine Church is the Daughter and the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman The Bishop of Bitonto used this Distinction in a Sermon which he made before the Council of Trent The Greek Church saith he is our Mother to whom the Latin is indebted for all that She hath And in truth the Terms Church Bishop Priest Deacon Baptism Eucharist and Christian it self are all Greek Terms and plainly shew that our Religion is derived from them from whom we have borrowed the Terms They then who are said to be the Seed of the Woman against whom the Serpent went to make War is the Latine or Western Church where the Dragon all along since that time hath been labouring to accompish the Mystery of Iniquity which was at work in St. Pauls days 2 Thes 2. 7. And this is nothing else save Antichristianism or the Papacy But since the time that a Church of God Separated it self from that which had received the Mystery of iniquity the Church that so withdrew is the remnant of the Seed of the Woman And particularly the Waldenses are this Seed and whose Separation is acknowledged both by Historians and Inquisitors of the Church of Rome who speak of the Waldenses as of Christians who have been Separated from the Roman Church from the time of Sylvester and of Constantine the great Claudius Sesselius Arch-Bishop of Turin tells us in a Book which he writ against the Waldenses that the Sect of the Waldenses took its rise from a most religious person called Leo that lived in the time of Constantine the great and who detesting the covetousness of Pope Sylvester and the immoderate bounty of Constantine chose rather to embrace poverty with the simplicity of the Christian Faith than with Sylvester to be defiled with a Fat and rich benefice and that all they who were seriously Religious joined themselves to him The famous Inquisitor Reynerus Sacco as he is quoted by the Jesuite Cretzer in his Bibliotheck of the Fathers speaks much to the same purpose Amongst all the sects sayth he that either are or have hitherto been there is none that hath been so pernicious to the Church of Rome as that of the Leonists and that for three Reasons 1 Because it is she most ancient and hath continued longest For some affirm that it begun in the time of Sylvester and others in the time of the Apostles 2 Because it hath spread it self farthest there being no place where it is not to be found 3 Because they who are of it have a great shew of piety live vertuously before men believe rightly of the Deity and observe all the Articles of the Creed The Frier Belvedoras in his Relation al consilio de propaganda fide de Extir pandis Hereticis printed at Turin anno 1636. pag. 37 being excusing himself and those Missionaries that were his companions why they could not convert so much as one of the Waldenses do's assign this reason for it namely that that Heresie is too firmly rooted there for any to be able to do good among them in that say's he le Valli d'Angrogna sempre ad in omni tempo hanno havuto Heretici i. e. they of the Valleys of Angrogna have been alway's and through all times accounted Hereticks So that this Woman is exactly the Church of the Valdenses which as Claudius Seysellius tells us did in the person of the forementioned Leo separate from the Church of Rome in the time of Pope Sylvester and of the Emperor Constantine There being two Wings of an Eagle given unto her to assist her in her flight into the Valleys of Piedmont which lye at the foot of the Alp's And from thence they were stiled Valdenses long before the time of Peter Valdo as John Leger hath sufficiently proved in his History These then are the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman who as in France they have been stiled Vaudois from the word Vaux that signifies a Valley so in the Low Countries they have been called Valons which is to say those of the Valleys XIV ILLUSTRATION Of Babylon the great the Mother of Harlots that Sitteth upon many Waters carrying upon her fore-head the name Mystery and having a Golden Cup in her hand REV. CHAP. 17. v. 1 4 5. HAving proved in our Fourth Illustration that Babylon can be nothing else but Rome as professing her self Christian we are now to consider the Description which the Holy Spirit hath given of Babylon and to see how that Picture of her doth agree to Rome There is such an affinity and so many exact Resemblances between Rome and Babylon of the Chaldees that we are not to think it strang that the Holy Spirit hath given unto Rome the name of Babylon They were both founded by persons that were Captains over Robbers and who were great Shedders of blood Babylon by Nimrod who is said to have been a mighty hunter before the Lord Gen. 10. 9. And Rome by Romulus who as another Cain murthered his Brother They were both of them the Seats of great Empires The one as well as the other have had Monarchs who have stiled themselves Kings of Kings For this Title the Pope doth no less claim than Nebuchadnezzar did Both the one and the other have been the Subject of the Visions in the Prophet Daniel As the Babylonish Empire was the first Beast and the Head of the Image so the Roman was the Fourth Beast and the Feet of the Image that were part of Clay and part Iron The one as well as the other hath kept the people of God in Bondage Babylon the Israelites and Rome the Christians The one and t' other have Killed and burnt such as would not worship their Gods. The one as well as the other have been overthrown and after their subversion have past from one Religion to another Babylon being become Mahometan and Rome Popish
his Church whatsoever Eclipse does befall her whether by Heresies or by persecutions And that there shall alway's be Belivers in the Earth who shall worship the one only true God in Spirit and truth even as the Angels and the blessed do adore him in Heaven II. ILLUSTRATION Of the Sealed Book which no Creature could open save the Lion of the Tribe of Judah REV. CHAP. 5. v. 1. And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a Book written within and without sealed with seven seals v. 2. And I saw a strong Angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the Book and to loose the Seals thereof v. 3. And no man in Heaven nor in Earth neither under the Earth was able to open the Book neither to look thereon THis Book can be nothing else but the Apocalypse which containeth every thing remarkable that was to befall either the Roman Empire or the Church of God. It is written within and without for the same reason because within it containeth the destiny of the Church and without the fate of the Roman Empire The form of this Book consisteth in seven leaves rolled after such a fashion that the second was shut up within the first and so of the rest The Seals denote the importance the Authority the stability and the obscurity of the Visions This darkness is such that no Creature how honorable soever could either open the Book or look into it That is to say who could so much as imagin the Events which it containeth v. 5. And one of the Elders saith unto me weep not behold the Lion of the Tribe of Judah the root of David hath prevailed to open the Book and to loose the Seals thereof But what no creature could do Jesus Christ hath done So St. John tells us at the very entrance in that he begun by these terms chap. 1. v. 1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass Jesus Christ is here called a Lion because of his Resurrection as he is a little afterward called a Lamb by reason of the sacrifice of his death And a Lion of the Tribe of Judah because he sprung from that Tribe according to the flesh The Root of David because tho he be tru'ly Davids son according to his humane Nature he is nevertheless Davids Father as well as his Lord according to his Divinity III. ILLUSTRATION Of the Lamb with seven Horns and Seven Eyes and of his being worshipped REV. CHAP. 5. v. 6 c. V. 6. And I beheld lo in the midst of the Throne and of the four living Creatures and in the midst of the Elders stood a Lamb as it had been slain having seven Horns seven Eyes which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth THis Lamb is Jesus Christ who tho risen is here represented as dead before the Throne to give us to understand that the merit of his death is alway's present before God and that his sacrifice is of an eternal vertu ' Horns according to the prophetick stile signify glory and power Psa 75. 10. The Lamb is represented having Seven which is a Mystick number to signify that nothing can be added to his glory and that his power hath no limits The seven Eyes and seven Spirits are of the same importance And do denote an omniscient knowledg and an immense wisdom by which he is every where present and conducteth all events as the soveraign Arbiter and Disposer V. 8. And when he had taken the Book the four living Creatures and four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb having every one of them Harps and golden Vials full of Odours which are the Prayers of Saints V. 9. And they sung a new Song saying Thou art worthy to take the Book and to open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and Nation V. 10. And hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests c. Here is the same worship given to Jesus Christ by the four living Creatures and by the four and twenty Elders that in the preceding Chapter had been rendred to Him who created all things for his pleasure which shews Christs being acknowledged for the true God by the four living Creatures and by the 24. Elders The Harps which they have in their hands are for the singing the praises of God and the Vials full of odours are for the invocating of him which are the two Acts of Adoration These Odours are called the prayers of the Saints because the Incense offered by the Priests of old were a Symbole of prayers as appeareth in the 141. Ps v. 2. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as Incense Some may possibly infer from hence that the Saints who are in Heaven do pray for those on Earth and that they do present unto God the prayers of such as are here in the world But this is to suppose that the four and twenty Elders are in Heaven and that the Saints spoken of in this passage are to be understood of Souls received into Paradise or as men are used to speak in the world of the Saints that are in Heaven which is a supposition without any ground or foundation For those believers that are in Heaven are not in any part of the Bible called Saints but only stiled Blessed Nor is it said here that these 24. Elders are Blessed The Vision is so far from saying this that it declareth the contrary because the very same persons having Vials full of Odours do say v. 10. Thou hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reign on Earth Which sheweth that they who offer up the prayers of the Saints that are on the Earth are themselves likewise upon the Earth and where they hope to Reign So that the four and twenty Elders do represent the Pastors and Guides of the Militant Church who are said to offer up Odours by reason of their praying publickly for all the Congregations of Believers And these Pastors are represented under the number of 24. by an allusion to rhe twelve Patriarchs of the Old Testament and the twelve Apostles of the New as they were in the Vision of the foregoing Chap. These 24. Elders and the 4. living Creatures sing a new Song saying Thou art worthy to take the Book and to open the Seals thereof for thou hast redeemed us c. Which words seem to give light to that saying of Jesus Christ in the 13. Chap. of Mark v. 32. But of that day and hour of Judgment knoweth no man no not the Angels which are in Heaven neither the Son of man but the Father Then the Son as man knew it not because he had not offered the Sacrifice of his death for the satisfying Divine Justice but now he knoweth both the day
but we shall be extreamly surprised at the re-establishment of the Reformed Churches in France because we know the King to be of opposite Sentiments to them But as it is the King of France who contributeth most to the Glory of the Papacy So it shall be the King of France that shall contribute most to its ruin It was a Louis XII who in the last age threatned to destroy the Romish Church perdam Babylonis nomen And it shall be a Louis who will execute the threatning of that generous King. The God of heaven and Earth the King of Kings who has the hearts of Kings and of people in his hand raiseth in us this hope because it is further added in the Prophecy 5 That the same hour there was a great Earthquake and the tenth part of the City fell It may be doubted whether this Earthquake may come to pass according to the letter But it is most certain that Earthquakes in scripture signify great alterations that fall out in States And to bring no other example save one that relates nearly to this matter Whosoever remembers that Earthquake which was in France when the King returned from the Pyrenees after the Treaty of Peace and the consummation of his Marriage and considers the great alterations which have since fallen out in that Kingdom not only in reference to Religion as well Popish as Reformed but in reference to Justice to Policy to the Finances and to War will no longer question but that the Earthquake which is to be after the Witnesses have lyen three days and a half dead doth promise as surprising a change in France as to all those regards and an alteration wherewith all the world will be contented except it be the Clergy the Monks and the Jesuites Some will doubless ask what reason I have to understand France rather than any other Kingdom by this tenth part of the City which is to fall after the Eartquake My reasons are these 1 I presuppose that the City here spoken of is Babylon or the Papal Empire or the Romish Church which is the Empire of Antichrist This Truth we have already proved 2 I presuppose that France is One of the ten Horns of the Beast One of the ten Kingdoms that were to be formed out of the ruins of the Roman Empire according to Daniel and which was to begin at the same time with the Beast according to St. John that is to begin with the Papal Empire This is evident in History 3 I presuppose France is one Street and one part of the City i. e. of the Papal Kingdom Nor can any deny but that the Gallican Church or the Church of France stiles it self by the Title of the Catholick Apostolick Roman Church that the Pope Reigns there over what is called Spiritual that he hath there his Ministers and Agents that he receiveth Annates from thence and that there is no Arch-Bishop or Bishop in France but who receives his Mission and Authority from the Pope 4 I suppose that France is the most beautiful and glorious Kingdom of all those Kingdoms which are Tributary to the Pope They do so account it by calling the King of France the most Christian King and the eldest Son of the Church And it is worthy of remark that even in St. Johns time France was by way of excellency stiled the Province because of all the Provinces of the Roman Empire France which was then called Gaul was the best and the most powerful This is so certain that the name do's yet remain and is attributed to the Southern part of France which is stiled Province from the latin Provincia It being therefore said in the Text that the tenth part of the City fell the Holy Spirit did questionless intend by that expression the most excellent part of all So that it is from thence very natural to understand France by the tenth part of the City Lastly we have already observed that it is not said that the two Witnesses were killed and that they lay unburied in the places or Streets in the plural number but in the Street of the great City in the singular which is as much as to say a Popish Kingdom marked out by way of excellency And therefore seeing the Holy Spirit had the most excellent of all the Popish Kingdoms in his Eye and seeing we have seen the death which in so surprising a manner hath befallen the Witnesses in France we may without any difficulty conclude that it is France which is this tenth part of the City that is to fall 6 'T is said that the tenth part of the City shall fall This may at the first view appear a dreadful prediction against France But yet it is not so For we must observe that this threatning is not as it would at first seem denounced against the tenth part of the City but against the City it self Because as that is the alone cause of the death of the two Witnesses so that is also the object of Gods vengeance 'T is then the City the Papal Kingdom which is to receive a terrible loss by the falling away of France Whereas France it self will increase both its strength and Glory by that falling off and withdrawing So that upon the whole I do not doubt but that it is the conversion of that beautiful Kingdom which is promised in this place And that which confirmeth me the more in this conjecture is what followeth namely that there i. e. in the tenth part of the City which was to fall by an Earthquake there shall be slain of men seven thousand and that the remnant shall be affrighted and give glory to God. In which words we have two Events represented unto us whereof the one is very different from the other both of them worthy of observation The one is an effect of the vengeance of God the other an effect of his Mercy The first event is the death of seven thousand names of men Which is a figure where seven thousand names of men are put for seven thousand men of name that is of quality reputation and dignity These Men of Name are doubtless either the Doctors who make a great deal of noise in France in the Sorbone in the Society of the Oratory in the Society of the Jesuites and among the Clergy or else persons of quality who are distinguished from others by their birth and by their honor The Number of seven thousand denotes an indefinite number but very considerable And the death of these men will be a death parallel to the Death of the Witnesses that so like may be returned unto them for like For that the same shall be rendred unto Babylon which She rendred unto Sion is both threatned in the Prophesies of Isaiah and in the Revelations of St. John Isa 14. 6. Rev. 18. 6. Not that these seven thousand men shall be compelled by the fury of Missionary Dragoons to abjure Popery and to embrace the Reformed Religion For
had therein done amiss Otherwise the fault were in the Angel in rebuking that as a sin which was an action that ought not to have been blamed Which is a thing that we are neither to say nor to think of an Angel of light But what was this fault of St. Iohn Can we say that he failed in reference to the Law and to matter of Right Certainly this Apostle was sanctified to the knowledg of the Truth by that Spirit which inspired him in his divine Writings yet sanctification being not perfect save in heaven there is no danger in confessing him to have been liable to infirmities and the rather because he himself saith 1 Epist chap. 1. v. 8. that if we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Nevertheless seeing that if St. Iohn had failed in matter of Right he must have been guilty of Idolatry a thing he was not capable of committing neither as he was a Iew by his birth and less as he was a Christian who had received a greater measure of the light of Grace and least of all as he was an Apostle that had preached against Idolatry and who had shut up his first Epistle with that Exhortation Little children keep your selves from Idols it is therefore safest to say that he failed in matter of Fact and that being struck with the luster of the Angel he took him for one of the Persons of the Godhead for which the Angel doth rebuke him And what the Angel saith in his reprehending of him do's plainly favour this account See thou do it not say's he for I am thy fellow servant and of thy Brethren that have the Testimony of Iesus Worship God. The Angel saw that he took him not for a Creature but for the Creator For he doth it in the same manner that St. Paul and Barnabas reprehended the Lycaonians Act. 14. 15. when they would have sacrified to them as unto Iupiter and Mercury why do ye these things we also are men of like passions with you The Relapse of St. Iohn into the same fault chap. 22. v. 8. for which he was again rebuked do's invincibly prove that his sin was a faileur in matter of Fact. For who can with any probability believe that St. Iohn would have worshipped a creature if he had known him to be such or who can think but that if the Angel had thought so of him he would have rebuked him with greater severity than he did Whereas even upon that miscarriage he contenteth himself with producing the same reason a second time thar he had alledged unto him before That which the Angel addeth for the Testimony of Iesus is the Spirit of Prophecy is nothing but an Illustration of the reason which he had assigned for not suffering St. Iohn to worship him namely that I am thy fellow Servant For it is all one as if he should have said the Testimony of Iesus which is in thee as an Apostle is the same thing with the Spirit of Prophecy that is in me We are equal and therefore you deceive your self in taking me for an object which ought to be worshipped The Bishop of Rome is not so Scrupulous as the Angel was nor do's he carry it after that manner forasmuch as upon the day of his Election he suffereth himself to be set upon the high Altar where he is worshipped by all the Cardinals and by all the people By which we come to know what agreement there is between the Bishop of Rome and an Angel of light And that there is a great deal more betwixt him and the Angel of Darkness that had the impudence to require of Iesus Christ that he should fall down and Worship him XXXI ILLUSTRATION Of Christ's directing his Epistles and his Revelation to the seven Churches And why AFter that we have explained all the Visions of the Apocalypse we are not to forget to inquire the Reason why Jesus Christ judged it convenient to direct it together with the Epistles particularly to the seven Churches of Asia Ephesus Smyrna Pergamus Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia and Laodicea There is unquestionably a Mystery in it that Jesus Christ should direct this divine Book to Seven Churches neither to more nor to fewer For 1 the number seven is a Mysterious Number through this whole Book It signifieth the universality the fulfilling of all Times as appeareth by the consideration of the seven Seals the seven Trumpets and the seven Vials Because that number denoteth the whole Train of things which the Seals Trumpets and Vials fore-tell are to come to pass till the very destruction of the Antichristian Empire 2 Christ appeareth having in his hand Seven Stars which are the Seven Pastors of the Seven Churches aud walking in the midst of Seven Candlesticks which are the Seven Churches that we have mentioned But why Seven Doth he not promise to be the Protector but of these seven Pastors and the Overseer and Defender but of these Churches 3 There is a Conformity between that Vision in the first Chapter and those of the seven Seals and of the opened Book For we there find the same pomp the sound of a Trumpet and the glorious presence of our Saviour in the midst of his Church And withal he appeareth there walking in the midst of the seven Candlesticks and sitting in the midst of the four living Creatures and the 24. Elders By which conformity we are given to understand that this first Vision is of equal weight and of an equal extension with all the other And that this of the Seven Churches reached to the End of the world as all the following together do 4 Jesus Christ saith to St. John. v. 19. Write the things which thou hast seen and the things which are and the things which shall be hereafter Which is as much as if he had said write not only things which concern the Churches that are mentioned and which ought to be instructed as these are but which also concern all Churches to the End of the world and whereof the seven that are named are a model and Type 5 The Epistles which Jesus Christ directeth to the seven Churches do contain Instructions and Reprehensions which agree unto and exactly express all the different and several conditions in which the Christian Church will be found until the end of the world The State of the Church of Ephesus doth lively represent the condition of the Primitive Church where Truth prevailed and where at the last the decay of Charity became a disposition and a step to a more doleful State. Whosoever well considers what is said to the Church of Ephesus will therein find the condition of the primitive Church painted forth to the life That of Smyrna represents the State of the Church during the fourth and fifth Ages wherein Arianism had the upperhand and wherein the Orthodox were outragiously persecuted That is the Tribulation of ten days wherewith Smyrna is threatned not
a potion But why Is it more usual to say that there are hour-glasses cast into the Air upon the Sun upon the Sea upon the Earth and upon the Rivers 'T is most true that the phrase should it be taken in a literal signification is both contrary to custom and common sense but yet it serves to conduct the Reader to a Mystical sense and the rather in that it is expresly said that the Vials are full of the wrath of God which renders the Trope clear and intelligible to all persons And if there be any difficulty in the expression it consists chiefly in knowing the meaning of the Earth the Sea the Fountains the Sun the Seat of the Beast the Air and Euphrates which are the Subjects upon which the Vials are poured forth For after we have once attained to the Sense of the Subject there remains no room for doubt out that the effusion of the Vials signifies the judgments of God against that which is called the Air the Sun Euphrates the Seat of the Beast c. Forasmuch then as the Prophesie saith expresly that the Vials are full of the wrath of God Mr. Iurieu acts both unreasonably and wholly against the genius and spirit of Prophecy in making them to be hour-glasses and Periods of Time. To give some probability to his Notion and some kind of evidence to his principle he saith that the Seals and the Trumpets denote periods of time The Seals by vertu of an Allusion to Tables or Chronological Books where Times are marked and registred The Trumpets by an Allusion to the Iubile Trumpets of the old Law whereby the Period of fifty years was marked out And that therefore because the Visions of the Seals and Trumpets signify periods of Times we are to conclude that the Vision of the Vials doth the same All this is very easily said but 't is impossible to be proved 'T is most true that St. Iohn do's allude to the expressions of the Prophets and to their Visions but no Prophet hath made mention of a Sealed Book and if he had yet it would remain still to be proved that the Seal of that Book signified a certain Period of time which it is not so easie to do as to say There is somewhat more likelihood in the Allusion to the Trumpets that proclaimed the Iubilees because they recurred upon the revolution of every fifty years But then in order to our being convinced that St. Iohn made this allusion we ought to be first satisfied that Trumpets were applied to no other use save to the publication of the Iubilees which is most evidently false seeing they were used among the Israelites as well as in the time of St. Iohn in the proclaiming of War. And it is clear that St. Iohn do's rather allude to the Trumpets that proclaimed War than to the Trumpets whereby the Iubilees were published Because the Trumpets of St. Iohn represent the rise and progress of Popery and Mahometanism which are Wars against the Church and Truth of God. Whereas the Iubilees were years of Prosperity blessing for which reason Isaiah calls the year of Jubilee the acceptable year of the Lord chap. 61. v. 2. Mahomet and Antichrist are the two wild Bores that spoil the vineyard of the Lord. They are the two great Enemies of the Gospel and the sound of each Trumpet is a signal of the Battles which those two Enemies fought against the Church of God the one of them in the East and the other in the West They denote rather years of lamentation and tears than of Jubilation and joy So that it is not true that the Trumpets of St. Iohn intimate periods of Time by an allusion to the Trumpets which published the Iubilees And it is yet less true that the Vials are hour-glasses to mark these periods by Mr. Iurieu's principle being false all the Conclusions which he draws from it must necessarily be false also 1 'T is false that there is a difference between the seven plagues and the seven Vials Seeing they are the same Judgments of God against the Enemies of his Church represented chap. 15. under the name plagues and chap. 16 under that of Vials For as by the plagues the wrath of God is fulfilled so the Vials are not full of divine wrath but in order to be accomplished upon his Enemies when they come to be fully poured forth The seven Angels who are said to have the seven Vials receive from one of the four Living Creatures seven golden Vials full of the Wrath of God. In a word the Effect and result of the plagues fore-told chap. 15. is the same with the effect of the Vials when fully poured forth chap. 16. namely the opening of the Temple of God that all Nations may enter in 2 'T is false that all the plagues are designed only against the Empire of the Beast and that there is not any of them intended against the Mahometan Empire For as Mahomet hath infected the Eastern Roman Empire so St. Iohn do's nothing but declare as a prophet what was to befall the Roman Empire therein pursuing the History which Daniel had begun And from thence we may conclude that both the Vials and the Trumpets have in part for their object the Turkish Empire and the Mahometan Religion 3 'T is false that the sixth Trumpet is subdivided into the seven Vials and that the seven Vials have been pouring out since the tenth Century For it is the 7th Trumpet that is subdivided into the Seven Vials because 't is under the Seventh Trumpet that the Vials shall be poured out Whosoever well considers what is to arrive under the sixth Vial according as St. Iohn has described it and thereupon compares it with what is to come to pass under the Seventh Trumpet may from thence prove that the judgments of God represented by pouring forth of the Vials agree admirably with the effect of the Seventh Trumpet but do no way's accord with that of the sixth and may from thence conclude that the subdivision which Mr. Iurieu attributes to the sixth Trumpet agrees only to the Seventh The Anonymous Author might here give over if he intended no more than to discover how ill Mr. Iurieu hath explained the 16th Chap. of the Revelation and that the applications which he hath made of Events to the Vials are all forced and constrained But because he hath so unhandsomly treated the Anonymous Author's reasons against the effusion of the Vials as not to account them worthy of the name of difficulties it will be convenient before we advance to the examination of Mr. Iurieu's application of Events to the Vials and to the Defence of the Anonymous Author's reasons to represent to the Reader the principles and foundations upon which the said concealed Author hath built the Systeme of his Illustrations The 1st foundation upon which he go's is that the Apocalypse is nothing but a continuation of the Prophetical History of Daniel concerning the fourth
five speaketh of nothing save of War against the Church of God. So long as it lasts Antichrist abates nothing of his fury but constantly makes the same efforts for the oppressing of the Truth and such as do profess it and while it endureth all things go ' on at the same rate against the Church of God. But as soon as the seventh Trumpet comes to be sounded by the seventh Angel the case will quite alter the wrath of God will break forth and the Vials empty themselves And this is the true Reason why the Vials are called the last plagues by which the wrath of God is fulfilled So that all which Mr. Jurieu hath said upon the Term last tho in it self very good and very ingenious yet it is altogether impertinent His curious remarks and comparisons which amount to the fourth part of his Apology are very incongruously placed For all he saith is founded upon a principle that is false namely that the seven Vials are contemporary with the seven Trumpets Whereof as the falsehood is already demonstrated so it will farther appear in what is hereafter â—o be said The 3d Argument which the Anonymous Author made use of was this that St. Iohn Rev. chap. 8. v. 13. declareth how he heard an Angel flying thorow the midst of heaven saying with a loud voice Wo wo wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth by reason of the Trumpets that are yet to sound and that he adds chap. 9. v. 12. after the sounding of the fifth Trumpet one Wo is past and behold there come two Woes more hereafter For as one of these two last woes did undoubtedly arrive under the sixth Trumpet under which Mahometism and the Arms of the Turks subverted Christianity in the East so it must needs be that the third Wo is to arrive under the seventh Trumpet This also St. Iohn expresly declares chap. 11. v. 14. the second Wo say's he is past and behold the third cometh quickly after which he immediately subjoins the seventh Angel sounded 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 This is a Wo for the Papacy and for Mahometism but a great happiness here in this life for the Church of God. For 't is plainly the general Reformation which shall comprehend the conversion of all Nations by giving them to see the total destruction of the Papal Empire From whence it clearly followeth that all the Vials are contained under the third Wo and consequently that they are yet all to be poured out forasmuch as we are still under the sixth Trumpet groaning under the pressures of the second Wo. Mr. Jurieu say's he doth not apprehend how these can be stiled invincible Proofs and he do's withal add that it is not true that the third Wo is confined to the seventh Trumpet To which I answer that it is as clear that the third Wo is contained under the seventh Trumpet as 't is evident that the second Wo is comprehended under the sixth and the first Wo under the fifth But by what doth it appear that the first Wo is contained under the fifth Trumpet and the second Wo under the sixth This appeareth by its being said that after the sound of the fourth Trumpet the Angel cried Wo wo wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth by reason of the Trumpets of the three Angels which are yet to sound It likewise appears in that after the sounding of the sixth Trumpet St. Iohn declares chap. 11. v. 14. the second Wo is past and behold the third cometh quickly And that we may know when it is to come St. John adds and the seventh Angel sounded and the Kingdoms of this world became the Lords and his Christs Now can the Kingdoms of this world be made subject to Christ before the destruction of Mahometism and of Popery 'T is then evident that the 3d Wo is comprehended under the seventh Trumpet as the 2d is under the sixth and the 1st under the fifth which renders the Argument of the Anonymous Author unanswerable The weakness of this proof saith Mr. Jurieu which is given us for invincible is that it supposeth a thing which is not true and which the Anonymous Author cannot evince by any sort of reason viz. that the plagues and the Vials are all comprehended under the third Wo. To whom that Author Answereth that he hath proved the third Wo to be contained under the seventh Trumpet as the 2d is comprehended in the sixth and the first in the fifth And forasmuch as the seventh Trumpet comprehendeth all the Vials because they are not poured out till after it hath sounded it invincibly follows that the third Wo is comprehended in the seven Vials and that the seven Vials do execute the third Wo. Nor is it to be helped if Mr. Jurieu will not see what St. Iohn so plainly declareth unto him To demonstrate saith Mr. Jurieu that the seven Vials are not comprehended in the 3d Wo 't is sufficient to prove as we have done that the seven Vials are seven Periods of time which run along as water runneth out of an hour-glass This principle of Mr. Iurieu that the Vials are seven Periods of time we have fully refuted have made it appear that both his principle and the reasons by which he endeavours to maintain it are worth nothing So that if he hath nothing else to alledg whereby to make it appear that the Third Wo is not contained in the Seventh Trumpet the Anonymous Author's argument may be still called invincible Moreover Mr. Iurieu's supposition that the sixth Trumpet under which we are hath been exerting its Influences for almost eight hundred years and that it s subdivided into seven Vials is a most false principle and unto which we have opposed that which is uncontrolable Namely that all the 1st 6 Trumpets do sound before the effusion of any Vial because according to St. Iohn there is not one of them poured out till under the seventh Trumpet which hath not yet begun to sound For as none of the Trumpets sound till after the opening of the seventh Seal so none of the Vials are to be poured forth till under the sounding of the seventh Trumpet Mr. Jurieu confesseth that the H. Spirit hath not evidently declared that the sixth Trumpet is subdivided into 7 Vials but he say's it may be inferred from this that whereas the seventh Trumpet was sounding when the Turks invaded the Grecian Empire which was about the tenth Century and that we find the first Vial to have fallen about that time upon the Empire of the Beast and that therefore the course of the Vials must be contained under the sixth Trumpet To which I answer that nothing of all this ariseth from the words of the Prophesie unless in the vertu ' of his principle that the Vials are periods of times and hour-glasses which run along with the sixth