Treatise on Revelation
That ye Papists for some years past haue had & stil continue in a firm persuasion that they shall ere long suppresse all parties disagreeing from them, is cōmonly obserued by those who converse much wth them; why they should doe so at this time more then formerly, since they pretend not to any prohecy for it, must be from ye knowledg they haue of ye present posture of affairs in Europe and some accot they haue that ye present Powers governing therin are more then formerly favourable to their party.
Many who are not of their Religion think them not mistaken in the present present {sic} posture of affaires, wch must be acknowledged to look very favourably on ye design & hopes of ye Papist in general, in order to this haue been all ye troubles wch of late haue afflicted Germany, fflanders, Holland, England & other parts. But that the design, if it prevail for a time, will not long continue, is ye opinion of many, who yet differ very much in ye reasons on wch they ground the same.
It may therfore be worth enquiry what advantages Popery may yet obtain, & on what grounds any expectation may be built of its not continuing long in case for a time it should further prevail then now at present it doth.
In order hereunto it ought to be considered that although God hath promised yt ye gates of Hell shall not prevail agt his Church, yet ye Christians had very early notice that there should happen an Apostacy from the true end & design of Christianity, that should long prevail in ye world. This appears from ye 2 Epist. to ye Thess: cap 2. where the Church is admonished not to look for ye day of Christ as at hand, for that day shal not come except there come a falling away first & that man of Sin be revealed, ye Son of perdition, whom ye Lord shall consume wth ye Spirit of his mouth & shall destroy wth ye brightnesse of his coming. vers 2. 3. 8.
It is further in ye same place declared that although ye mistery of iniquity did then already work yet he was then letted & should be so untill ye lett was taken out of ye way, And then shall that wicked one be revealed &c. and its further observable that the Apostle tells ye Thessalonians, yee know what wthholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time.
ffrom all this it appears yt ye persecutions of ye Church whilst in her wildernesse condition was to be under ye Mystery of iniquity, that man of Sin who opposeth & exalteth himselfe under Heathen Rome or others whilst ye Roman Empire continued in its glory, because \besides/ this the Roman Empire had no lett, nor could be called Apostate, neither it nor any other Pouuer any erroneous opinion at that time hath continued untill this day, wheras ye Apostacy under the mystery of iniquity was to continue till very near at least Christs second comcom̄ing {sic}, the Son of Perdition being to be consumed by ye Spirit of his mouth and destroyed wth ye brightnesse of his comeing.
What this Mystery of iniquity is, what was its working already in ye Apostles times who that man of Sin & Son of perdition is shall be presently examined, but at present let it be considered that what euer ye Mystery be or whoeuer ye Person, it is now in being it is yet to continue & it hath been working euer since St Pauls time – soe saith ye Scripture. The mystery of iniquity doth already worke, when the lett wch did wthhold his being revealed shall be taken out of ye way then he should be revealed whom ye Lord shall consume &c.
So long as ye allotted time for ye raign of this Man of Sin is unfullfilled no pre{va}lency of his ought to be strange but wee ought rather to admire the great mercy of God who under this great Apostacy hath encouraged his Church by so considerable Reformations as he hath made in many places, howeuer for ye unworthy carriage of his Church in s{ome} places he may suffer him euen there again to prevail, that being no more then w{hat} ye Church hath before hand been appointed to expect.
And therefore why England & other reformed countryes may not again come under {ye} government of that man of Sin as well as other countryes haue done, who formerly w{ere} reformed, or why ye protestants here and elswhere, may not be reduced to great Straites as well as those in ffrance & Hungary & elswhere so long as the time allotted for the working of ye mystery of iniquity is unfulfilled, is altogether unaccountable.
And this is sufficient in general to shew that Popery if it be ye mystery of iniquity, may yet prevail in the world, ye time allotted for its destruction not being yet come: for although the Reformation may be termed ye Spirit of Christs mouth being regulated according to his word & it be evidente that hath {sic} in part consumed the man of Sin, yet he still continues & hath of late considerably prevailed agt the Reformation in many places & may go further on untill ye brightnesse of the Lords com̄ing by wch he is to be destroyed.
If it be questioned what this com̄ing of ye Lord is, Its answered that it is ye second com̄ing of Christ, the same as is mentioned luk. 21. v. 27. they shall see ye Son of man com̄ing in a cloud wth power & great Glory euen then when the times of ye Gentiles be fulfilled, v. 24. when the Redemption of Israel draweth nigh ver: 28 & when the kingdom of God is nigh at hand v. 31.
The same is Math: 24.30. They shall see ye Son of man com̄ing in the clouds of heaven wth power & great glory the same Math: 24.64. Mark 13.26. & Chap: 14.62. The same was seen by Daniel Cha: 7. v. 13 – one like ye son of man came wth ye clouds of Heaven to whom was given Dominion & power & a Kingdom wch should not be destroyed. the same foretold Rev: 1.7.
Thus far is then clear that this son of Perdition shall be destroyed by the brightnesse of ye Lords com̄ing & consequently till then he may prevail.
When this shall be is hinted above in Luke when the times of ye Gentiles be fulfilled & when the redemption of Israel draweth nigh & ye Kingdom of God nigh {sic} at hand, the same time as was revealed to Daniel. 12.7. whose finishing should be ye period of those wondrous afflictions of ye Church & of ye scattering the power of ye holy {temple} \people/ the same time wth St Iohns Apolalyptical {sic} Times of ye renewed Beasts blasphemy, reign & prophanation of ye Temple & city of God 42. months or 1260 dayes forasmuch as the same Kingdom of or Lord Christ is the im̄ediate & com̄on consequent to them all. Compare then.
When Daniels times are done the son of man comes in the clouds of heaven to receive the Empire of all the Kingdoms of the world Dan: 7.14.
When St Lukes times of ye Gentiles are finished, then shall be signs in ye Sun & Moon; the Son of Man comes also in ye clouds of heaven.
When St Iohns Apocalyptical Beasts 42 Months raign wth ye witnesses 1260 dayes prouuing, determine the Ark of ye Covenant is seen in heaven & all ye Kingdoms of the world become ye Kingdoms of ye Lord & his Christ Rev: 11.15.
Here then is a further confirmation of what is already said, The man of Sin shall not be destroyed till ye brightness of Christs coming & yt shall not be till ye 42 months or 1260 {sic} dayes or ye time times & dividing of a time mentioned in St Iohn & Daniel is expired: so yt till that can be shewn to be accomplished the Man of Sin may prevail –
It will not be needfull to stay here to prove yt ye 1260 dayes are to be understood of so many years & yt they cannot be taken in this place indefinitly that being abundantly cleared by Mr Mede; none can deny but that prophetick dayes are usually so many years, nor can any proue such uneven numbers as 42 or 1260 were euer taken otherwise then definitely, & besides ye various wayes used for expressing the same space of time in Daniel & ye Revelations as 42 months, 1260 dayes, a time times & dividing of a time & time times & halfe a time not otherwayes agreeing then in making all to mean a definite number of 1260 years.
One thing more is worth consideration on this point wch is ye 3 years & halfe allotted for ye viewing of ye dead bodies of ye witnesses slain, seems to be added unto ye 1260 years & consequently that must run out before Gods judgments are to be expected on this Son of perdition, this Man of Sin.
Many are of opinion that is already passed, but that opinion seems not agreable to ye prophecy nor well to haue digested the difference between the killing of ym in general wch in some sence may be applyed to all ye time of their wildernesse-condition, the whole space of 1260 years & that slaughter upon wch their dead bodies shall be exposed to view 3 years & halfe, wch by all ye Circūstances accompanying the same seems not applicable to any other time then ye three years & halfe.
1. After ye accot given of ye witnesses prophecying 1260 dayes in sackcloth it {illeg} finished their Testimony the beast shal make war against them & ouercome them & {kill them.} Their Testimony was finishing in the time of their wildernesse-condition, the whole space of 1260 years, but the slaughter {illeg} is to be afterwards that is just on ye Expiration of ye 1260 years.
2. Its said after 3 dayes & a halfe they shall rise & the same hour there {was} an earthquake & ye 10th part of ye City fell &c. if by ye 10th part of ye City is meant Rome, that not being fallen, ye slaying of ye witnesses can not {be} over.
3. This by all ye circ̄vstances shovld be a general slavghter at ye same time, {&} it is to be in ye street (that is ye jvrisdiction) of ye great City (yt is Rome & ye peoples, Kingdomes, Tongves, nations are to rejoyce over them by sending guifts one to another for that they are freed from these who tormented them, therefore ye slaughter in one country, as ffrance, or Spain, or Hungary tho it may be called the killing of ye witnesses (for there is no time set how long they shall be killing) comes not up to ye full of ye \this/ prophecy, wch speakes of an Universall death of all ye Witnesses at ye same time euery where in ye street of ye great City over wch all ye nations at ye same time within that street are to rejoyce for 3 years & halfe & {noe} longer, because they are free from them who tormented them that is by their Reform{s} the greatest Torment could befall the man of sin during his raign & the time allotted him for his Government.
To conclude this point if ye brightnesse of Christs second com̄ing is yet to appear, if either ye 1260 dayes of ye Witnesses prophecying in sackcloth or ye 3 dayes & halfe of their lying dead & exposed to view be not yet expired, then the time of ye Raigne of ye Man of Sin doth yet continue & will continue till ye accomplishment of those things & consequently Popery may yet prevail, nay it seems necessary it should further prevail in order to ye accomplishment thereof.
But after all it may be asked what is all this discourse to popery that is not yet proved to be ye Mistery of iniquity, nor ye Pope ye man of Sin or son of perdition.
To which its replyed that they who haue a mind to know what ye Mistery of iniquity is & who ye Man of sin and \need/ look no further then ye second of the Thessal: & he will find nothing in ye world can be ye Mistery of inquity {but} Popery, nor none that Man of Sin there spoken of but ye Pope and therefore let that be again considered to this purpose.
1. as hath been said, its evident the mistery of inquity was somthing wch did already work in St Pauls time.
2. that this working at that time was not so open & discernable by everyone as afterwards it should be, somthing did then wthhold its Revelation wch was to be taken out of ye way & then ye man of sin ye son of perdition sh{ould} be revealed.
That which was then working & wch after ye present lett removed should be revealed was to continue in being till ye brightnesse of Christs second coming {by} wch it twas {sic} to be destroyed.
So that if it can be shewed that ye Spirit of Popery began to work in St Pauls {time} & hath continued untill this day in credit & esteem & autority in ye world euer since it came to set up & barface to be revealed it will highly concerne the Papists to shew what ye Mistery of iniquity was & is to wch all those Characters agree & it will be very hard for them to pitch on any thing but Popery it selfe.
All errors & heresies which were in St Pauls time how long since haue they {illeg} & although some of them may haue revived at sundry times since yet wch {illeg} pitch on wch hath wrought wt ye son of perdition the Man of Sin Sinne is {illeg} foretold to doe.
All civil powers & States & also Ecclesiastical amongst ye Heathen {since St} Pauls times how long since haue they left ye world to others, & wch of them Iew, Saracen, Turk; Mahomet or any of ye Ballances of Europe or any parts of {Reformation} can be pretended to be working in St Pauls time. wch yet ye Mistery of so neither any thing that shall yet arise no man can think any new State, Power & Religion yet to come either was working when the Epistle to ye Thessalonians was written or hath been hitherto hindered by a lett wch was euen then in being since that lett wteuer it was hath been long agoe removed as all the
To come a little closer: if wee find out what was ye lett wee may the better know what was the thing letted; it would be strange if wee should not know what the lett was, for St Paul knew it & as is before observed the Thessalonians knew it, & is it probable a thing of such concern & so generally known in St Pauls time should be buried wth that age & there should be no retreiving of it, no doubt {sic} they did deliver this over to posterity & accordingly, wee find the Primitive Christians made noe question in ye businesse, but take it as certain that the Roman Empire was the lett & the thing letted was Antichristianisme & accordingly they continually prayed for the {posterity} prosperity of ye Roman Empire lest Antichrist should come who they looked for when the Roman Empire should decline: & he that will seriously consider it will not find it possible to assign any other lett.
That this was the lett will more evidently appear, if wee can learn wt was the thing letted & when wee haue turned or thoughts euery way what can wee pitch upon but aiming at power, greatnesse, superiority & Governmt by Church men.
There can be no doubt that the Clergy so early as St Pauls time had an itching this way, wee find euen the Disciples of or Saviour contesting who should be ye greatest, & no small stir afterwards who was the cheifest of the Apostles & no marvail this Spirit did soe early appear amongst them who could not but foresee ye Change the Religion of or Saviour was to make amongst the in ye world, nor could be lesse sensible {either} of the great honour ye high Priests both of Iew & Gentile had conferred on him, on whose vanishing, by the prevalency of the Christian Religion, they thought somthing like thereunto must fall to their Share.
Neither or Saviours check of his disciples, nor St Pauls boasting of himselfe, nor the after persecutions of the Church, could stop this humour; but besides the quarrell amongst the Governors of the Church & all other perticular evidences of their Pride, wee find one of ye first things to be setled in the first councils was who should haue ye first, who ye second Seat therin. & so on
It needed not any great spirit of prophecy to foretel what this spirit of Pride so early discovering it selfe euen under the severest persecutions would come to when those persecutions should cease: nothing but prosperity attend them & all Civil power wch might curb this humour be removed.
To what else could ye Roman Empire be a lett, imagine all the Evills could {sic} possibly be in ye Church (for ye mystery of iniquity was to be a falling away from ye true Church) how did the Roman Empire lett its prevalency. The Errors & heresies were rather promoted then letted by the Roman Empire; they sprang from them who being convinced of the Rule of Christianity would (possibly hoping thereby to avoid persecution) mix the same either wth ye Philosophy or Theology or both then in vogue in ye world. And ye more divided the Christians were the lesse cause had the Roman Emperours to fear them, & the lesse concern the high Preists to put ye Civil power on to persecution.
Besides since it is certain as before is shewn that ye Roman Empire was the lett, what in ye Roman Empire could be ye lett but the intirenesse of its Civil power & consequently ye thing letted must be ye ambition of Gouernmt
As the Roman Empire was heathen it was a lett to ye Mystery of godlinesse but not to ye mistery of iniquity, for as to all other corruptions but that wee are speaking of there was no lett, but if God had not preuented by his grace notwthstanding any {external} {illeg}
When the Empire turned Christian, ye wicked one was revealed, as its said he should be when the lett was removed & consequently must then haue been if heathen Rome was ye lett, indeed the mystery of iniquity wch before was working & therby make a further progresse by complying wth ye old heathen custome & licking up ye old Idolatry into new shapes but yet it came not up to that forme, capacity & policy that any one could point out who was the man of sin, who ye son of perdition.
Moreover ye custome of the primitive Christians, to pray for ye preservation of the Roman Empire least Antichrist should come plainly showes that ye Roman Empire was a lett not as heathen nor as Christian but as an Empire as it had ye sole civil power in its selfe during ye continuance wherof it is certain it must be a lett to those things wch ye man of sin was foretold by St Paul to doe, from whence it followes as evidently that the mystery of iniquity then working must be ye great pride amongst ye Churchmen, wch St Paul considering together wth ye fall of ye Roman Empire wch its evident he foreknew did easily discern the same Spirit would be restlesse untill it exalted it selfe above all that is called God that is aboue all civil power & magistracy: And now let ye Papists judge whether Popery be not the mystery of iniquity & ye Pope that man of sin & son of perdition, if they will not grant it, they must shew to what the Roman Empire was a lett besides that Spirit of Government wch was then working & hath since prevailed.
It is now high time to consider the other part of or enquiry to wit on wt grounds any expectation may be built of Popery's not continuing long in case for a time it should further preuail then now at present it doth –
Here all ye former perticulars might be repeated, for ye same reasons which proue Antichrist is yet to continue & prevail do also prove his destruction to be drawing nigh. Is he to continue because the brightnesse of Christs second coming hath not yet appeared. because ye 1260 years & ye three years & halfe are not expired he shall not continue long because Christs second coming hastens because 1260 years are near expiring & consequently ye beginning of ye 3 years & halfe
But because what may be said concerning ye approach of Christs second com com̄ing may not be so convincing to euery one, & that the other two points are not only sufficient to prove the approach of Antichrists's destruction but of Christ's coming, let us consider when ye 1260 years began & that will shew us when wee may expect the end of them & the accomplishment of other things –
If what is already said be true wee can not be at any great losse in this matter for St Paul tels us the man of sin should be revealed when the lett was taken out of ye way & not before, that is when ye Civil power then lodged in ye Roman Empire was soe Changed that way was thereby made for some churchmen, that is, the Bishop of Rome to exalt himselfe aboue all magistracy. Not that he must come to that height before the account of ye 1260 years did begin, no, that was a work of longer time but when the lett that was in St Pauls time viz: the civil power of ye Roman Empire was so taken out of ye way that it was no longer a lett to his attempting the same, then he was revealed, that is, then it began plainly to appear what ye Pope drove at & consequently then ye account began.
And when should this be but then when that Civil power wch before was entirely lodged wth ye Roman Emperours was scattered & divided amongst no lesse then ten Kings or Kingdoms, this made way for ye Pope to advance himselfe according to all ye pride of his heart.
He was now no longer under a subordinate power, but sets up wth others on the Spoil of ye Roman Empire for an original jurisdiction and the advantages he had ouer them by being first on ye spot, by \their/ quarrelling amongst them selves, by their custom of dividing what they got amongst their Children, but aoue all by his pretence to Religion, made the way plain for him to come to ye height of his ambition.
<3v>More plainly the inundation of the Barbarous Nations & nothing else was the taking the lett out of the way. They by a swift motion, by unknown wayes & in a most prodigious manner wthin ye space of 50 years overran the greatest Empire ye world euer had, som of whom were before as much unknown to the Romans as the Romans to them, they came frō seueral parts of ye world, & wthout any foreagreement concurred at ye same time in seueral places to assault that renowned Empire: their successe was noe lesse wonderfull, indeed the whole History of their coming in, prevalency & settlement into seueral Kingdoms, together wth ye consideration how things were ordered a little before in the Roman Empire as it were on purpose to make room for them; these things bring along wth them convincing evidence that all was ordered by ye overruling disposal of Almighty God & doe so fully point out to us the time we are enquiring after that it is wonderfull it should not be more observed by us, especially when [1] St Ierome & others haue so long agoe pointed them out to us as the time in which the lett was taken away & consequently in wch Antichrist was revealed.
That ye Roman Empire had afterwards a considerable duration in ye East & some lingring time of death, after ye coming of ye Goths & Vandalls in the West, is not of any consideration to this point; for ye seat of ye man of Sin was to be {illeg} in ye West, it is there the pride of ye first Governors of the Church hath shapen it selfe into a Dominion wch hath made a glorious show for a long time, but there hath not been any such thing in ye East; & it makes no matter how long ye power of ye Roman Empire in ye West was dying, since it was removed from being a lett when the Civil power of those Countryes where Antichrist was to raign was setled in other hands, such as according to what was foretold of them should give their power to ye beast, till God should put it into their hearts to hate ye Whore &c.
This then brings us to a certainty where to begin the 1260 years wth a latitude. It was about ye time of ye invasion of the Barbarous nations & their erecting seuerall Kingdoms in ye Roman Empire, & had wee nothing more then this it were sufficient to ground an expectation that the prevalency yet to come of Popery cannot continue long, it being certain that aboue 1200 of the 1260 years are run out already
Herewth most men who are well enough persuaded of those things satisfye themselues wthout looking further, & though ye time must begin from some thing eminent yt happened wthin 50 years, are loth to trouble themselues to look so far back as to consider all things wthin yt space, certainly a great negligence for howeuer wee may not be able to find out ye exact time yet ought wee to search wherin if wee attain not to what wee look for, yet wee may therin see such changes & alterations wrought by God in that time as may as well as any deserve or serious consideration & may very well recompence all or labour herein.
Circa an: C. 425 Celestinus Bishop of Rome passing ye bounds of his preistly order presumed to challenge to himselfe secular power & autority. Socrates lib. 7. Ch: 11.
Pharamond ye first K. of france was crowned Ano. 420.
[1] qui tenebat de medio fit & non intelligimus Antichristum appropinquant. St Ierom: on Alaricus the Goths taking Rome Ano: 410.
