I interpret to be that difmal corruption, which Part 2. feized on the Popedom, head and members, in the benth Century; for there I place the beginning of thefe plagues, and they must not have a fhorter fpace of time. Every plague takes up a period of more then a hundred years, fo that eight hundred years are not too much for feven periods. When the Prophets divide times by periods, they are not wont to affign to each lefs then an age, or Cen tury. plague is of the Century. We must know then, that untill the 10th Cen- The first tury, all things favoured the Antichriftian Empire, the dismal whilft it was brought forth and grew up. Tis corruption true, Rome (as alfo other Cities of Italy) did fuffer Popedam in in the fifth, fixth, and feventh Ages; by the ir- the tenth ruptions of the Goths and Vandals, by the Wars of Belifarius and Narfes, during the reign of fufti nian, by the Arms of the Lombards, who were call'd in by Narfes. But these temporal Calamities were far from doing prejudice to the Antichriftian Empire; on the contrary, it grew and got ftrength by the ruins of the Roman Empire, and by the total abolition of the authority of the Greek Emperors in Italy. The Western Nations, infenfibly grew paffionate for the fupremacy of the pretended feat of St. Peter; hommage was paid to him without contradiction, at leaft in fpirituals, and alfo in temporals, the power of Popes was great and the Bishops of Rome, had made themselves formidable to the whole World. But the first step to their declining ftate was that aftonishing corruption, which the See of Rome fell into, and thereupon all the Provinces that had had depens dence upon it. This corruption was fo difmal, that the descriptions made of it by popish Authors themselves, do even at this day affright us. They Call A Part 2. en. 900. call the tenth age, an iron and leaden age; an iroï age, because of its hardness and barrenness; a leaBaron. ad den one den one, on the account of thefe deforming evils which broke in like a deluge; an age of darkness, because of its ignorance. Two women, famous for their debauches, did make and depofe Popes. For the space of 120 years, the Bishops of Rome were Murtherers, Poyfoners, Adulterers, Sodomites, prophane Blafphemers, known and open Magicians; the corruption of the head diffused it felf into all the members. The Author of Fafciculus Temporum informs us, that in many places men did not know fo much as the Sacraments. The Priests Religion was Aftrology, Negromancy and Magick, and their life an excefs of all forts of abominations. Baronius confeffes, that things were come to that pafs, that it was an opinion spread through the whole world, that the end of the world was at hand, becaufe Antichrift was come. An Ulcer Now what refemblance can be more proper to very proper reprefent fuch a corruption of manners, then a fent fuch a noyfom fore, or ulcer, which is here given by Saint corruption. John? An alcer does contain the Idea, i. Of a to repre great corruption of the blood; for Apoftems and Ulcers do always proceed from thence. 2. Of a very great ftink, offenfive to the smell. 3. Of a frightfull object to the fight. Such was this corruption of manners, it proceeded from a deep corruption of the inward parts of the heart and mind, it caft a very bad fmell, which hath reacht even to us: it formed a most frightfull object, upon which the adorers of the Pope, and of the (fo called) boly feat, cannot even now adays reflect without horror and indignation. This plague fell upon the Earth, i. e. upon the globe or whole mafs of the Antichriftian world. For the members and the the head, the whole and the parts were cover'd over Part 2. with this difmal corruption. a terrible And further, it cannot be exprefs'd how great a This core plague, how fore a blow this See received from was, and is hence. For this gave occafion to the Emperors 10 this day. to meddle with the affairs of Rome and its Bishops. blow to The Succeffors of Charlemaine, having let go this Popery fair patrimony, kept themselves in Germany, during which time the Popes got ftrength and made themselves Masters. But the exceffes of the Court of Rome, obliged the Otho's Emperors of Germany to march into Italy, there they corrected and depofed fome Popes, and chofe others to their mind. They revived the ancient right, which the Emperors had of confirming Popes after their election, which was a very fore mortification, of which they did not recover untill Gregory the VII. And be fides, this corruption rendred the See of Rome con temptible to all nations. In fome Countries men took liberty to write very bitter invectives against it, fome of which are come to our hands. This is a wound that bleeds even at this day, and affords us a very strong argument against the pretentions of infallibility and fupremacy, challeng'd by the Church of Rome. For we will never cease to object, and very rationally, that God is too good and too wife, to fuffer the Seat of his Vicar, and ofan infallible Vicar, to be infected with fo difmal a corruption. These confiderations let us fee that none ought to object against us, that we make one of the plagues of the Antichriftian Empire to be that corruption, which is one of its Characters. The fame thing we shall fee in the fourth plague, where we will make it appear, that the tyranny of the Antichriftian Kingdom, which is one of its Characters, is notwithstanding become one of its plagues. When. Ff the fe Part 2, these Characters are risen to an immoderate height, they become fenfible, they difcover Antichriftianifm, and by difcovering it they deftroy it; for its Safety confifts in being a mytery; it is a mystery of iniquity. This is the firft plague, and the firft period of Antichrifts declining; this period lafted above a 150 years; for this corruption continued for a good fpace of the eleventh Age. The fecond and third plagues are thus fet down. Waters fig nify peoof blood ple, the fea the Croifades. y. 15. V.3. And the fecond Angel pour'd out his viol upon the fea, and it became as the blood of a dead man, and every living foul dyed in the fea. V. 4. And the third Angel pour'd out his viol upon the rivers and fountains of waters, and they became blood. Obferve, that the fea and waters in Prophetick vifions, fignify people or nations; this is fo well known, that it needs not to be proved. And fuppofing that this Emblem is not common in other Prophets, it is moft evidently fo in St. John. Come, Chap. 17. faith the Angel to him, I will shew thee the judgement of the great whore, which fits upon mary waters. The waters which thon faweft,where the whore fits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and languages. The firft viol was pour'd out upon the earth, i. e. upon the whole Globe; for earth contains both dry and moist. The corruption of manners was fpread over the head and the members, over the papal Seat and all its fubjects. But this fecond viol is pour'd only upon the waters, the fea and the rivers, i.e. upon the people of the Antichristian Empire, or upon the different Nations, Tribes, and Languages (as the Spirit does exprefs it) it falls not upon the Head and the Seat, on the contrary, it is the Seat of the Beaft, which contributes to this Plague. The waters of the fea were turn'd turn'd into blood, and every living foul dyed. What Part more native and lively reprefentation could have been made of the Rage of the Croisades. In all languages and in all forts of ftyle, a fea of blood, rivers of blood, ftreams of blood, fignify a very great flaughter. Now the proper Character of the Croisades, is flaughter, murther, which falls not upon the head of the Antichriftian Empire, but upon the people, all was there turn'd into blood. Never was there fuch a prodigious effufion of blood in the fea, i. e. among the peoples. In the first Croisade, there dyed more then two millions of men in three or four years. 'Tis evident that God did lead thefe wretched creatures, as it were to the fhambles, that they should find the punishment of their crimes: he took away fo great a quantity of blood, that he might cure the Ulcers of Christendom. For that he might purge it of that vaft rabble, he permitted the Devil to inspire them, either with fuch a fottish fuperftition, or an extra vagant ambition, that they must go and deliver the holy Land, or go and conquer Kingdoms in the East. This plague lighted only on the fea, not at all on the dry land: upon the fubjects of the Popedoms not at all upon the Popes. On the contrary, the Popes improved that evafion to greaten their power, to plunder whole Countries, to make Generals of Armies, to act as foveraign Monarchs, and to lay a heavier yoke upon Kings: whom they order'd to march, and fent them as their flaves into the Eaft, and during their abfence plundred their Kingdoms. We must not imagine that all the plagues laid down by St. John, muft tend to the ruin of the See of Rome, or to the diminution of its power; for fome are to light upon the head of that Empire, to crush Ff2 it, |