ing is, that the times afforded to Antichrift fhall be ended, & fhall be no more. It must be remembred, that the Holy Spirit, as well by the mouth of Daniel as by that of St. John, affigns to Antichrift a time, times, & half a time. Thisfhall be no more. There thall not be neither time, nor times, nor half a time for Antichrift. Time fhall be no more for his reign, it fhall be the time of his total deftruction.

Then the mystery of God fhall be finisht, as he hath declared to his fervants the Prophets: viz. The mystery of this glorious reign of Jefus Chrift on the Earth, which hath been foretold by all the Prophets in fo magnificent a manner, as we shall fhew in the process of this work, & which Daniel faw fo clearly, as to mark the time & circumftances of it.

And the voice, which I heard from heaven, Spake to me again, & faid, Go & take the little book, which is open in the hand of the Angel, which ftandeth upon the fea upon the

Earth.

And I went unto the Angel, him, give me the little book. unto me, take it, & eat it up, thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy as Honey.

& faid unto And he faid it shall make mouth sweet

The voice which he heard from Heaven, is the fame as fpoke 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 in Trumpet, faying, I am Alpha & Omega, the First & the Laft. And this alfo fhews, that

V. II.

,

this here is a new prophecy, & not the continuation of the firft. For the fame voice of God the Father, that began the First Revelation, returns & begins the fecond; as the fame Jefus Chrift alfo appears again a fecond time. Saint John receives the book from the hand of the Angel, that is to fay, of Jefus Chrift becaufe 'tis he that fends the Prophets, & that infpires them by his Spirit. This little book is Sweet in Saint John's Mouth, because the Spirit of prophecy & the glory of being the mouth of God from heaven, pleafes 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 digefted & confider'd them in his own breaft, he found them fo dreadful, that they filled his foul with forrow.

And he faid unto me, 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 haft prophecied to them respected their Temporal state; for the future that which thou shalt foretell them, refpects their Spiri tuall ftate & the things of Religion.

CHAP

CHAP. IX.

A Short Syftem of all the Events of the Church which are noted in the Apocalypfe; & first of all, an Epitome of the Chronology.

WE

Church is

in the laft

E muft not feek for the Hiftory of the The hifto Church in the First Nine chapters of the ry of the Apocalypfe. fofeph Mede is the firit that hath not to be difcover'd, that the Apocalypfe confifts of two found but bodies of Revelations, meant by two Books; eleven the firft of which we find in the beginning of of the the fifth Chapter, v. 1.. And I faw in the right Apocahand of him that fate on the throne, a book lypie. written within, & on the back fide, fealed with feven feals. The other we find in the io. Chap. v.2. And he had in his hand a little book open, E he fet his right foot upon the fea, & 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 deftinies of the World, the Empire, & the Church alfo, in refpect to her Temporal, & as far as the is a part of the World. The Second Book contains the deftinies of the Church properly taken as a Church, & diftinguifht from the G Z

fo

focieties of the World. This is a much better notion than that of Mr. de Launay, who tells us, that the first book contains the History of the Church, & the second that of the Gospel. What can be the adventures of the Gefpell diftinct from those of the Church? How can thofe Prophecies that refpect the Establishment & the ruin of Antichrift be applied to the book of the Gospel, unless it be in a very indirect manner? For these events do directly respect the Church & not the book of the Holy Scriptures.

That which God faith to St. John, after he had caufed him to fwallow the little book 11. of the 10th, Chapter, Thou must prophesy again before many Peoples, & Nations, Tongues,

Kings. Thefe words, I fay, do plainly fhew, that this is a Prophecy wholly new which doth begin, and país over again all the periods of time. This being fo, that is to fay, the first book included in the 5. 6. 7. 8. and 9th. Chapters, containing the deftinies of the Roman Empire, and the various changes that were to befall it even to the time of its utter ruin by the revolt of the ten Kings, it is evident that they are greatly mistaken, that endeavour to find the Pope and Anti-chrift in the Star of the 8th. Chapter called Wormwood.

It is true, that in the 7th. Ch. we find, the vifion of the 144. thousand perfons that were Sealed, who do belong to the History of the Church. For these are they that have not defiled their garments with the Idolatries

of

of Antichrift, nor partaken of his fornications. These are the fame with the two Wineffes of the 11th. Chapter, that prophefy clothed in fack-cloth for 1260 days, during the reign of Anti-Chrift & Babylon. The H. Ghoft hath placed thefe 144 thoufand Sealed perfons in the deftinies of the Empire, immediatly after the opening the first fix feals, & before the opening of the feventh, because the feventh Seal was to be fubdivided into feven Trumpets, which do reach even to the end of Antichrift's Empire: Trumpets that were to contain the horrible corruption of the Church the Birth and Progrefs of her Idolatries. It was therfore very reasonable to take notice of those whom God intended to exempt from thofe corruptions, before the opening of the feventh Seal, which was to bring fo many evills on the Church, as well as upon the World.

This in my opinion being certain, that the deftinies of the Church do not begin be fore the 11th. Chapter, & are profecuted even to the end, it will be necessary to confider the Chronology & the Hiftory of these twelve Chapters, from the 10th, to the 22th. & the laft.

ftian

As for the Chronology, St. John begins his Prophecy concerning the Church, either from the beginning of the Christian Æra,i.e. from The Chri the birth of the Saviour of the World; or at least Church in from the time in which he prophecied, which the Apowas in the reign of Trajan. This duration of muft be dithe Church from Jefus Chrift's time is divided three G. 3

calypfe

vided inte

into Periods.