It appeareth from ver. 1. that Fohn was the Penman of it ;, and that this John was the beloved Diſciple, he that tw, the Penman of the Goſpels, hath been doubted by very few, and with very little reaſon, as will appear to him that will but wiſely conſider the terms and phraſes uſed m it almoſt peculiar to this Apoſtle, and hardly to be found in Scripture any: where, but in this Book and the Goſpel of John, ſuch as calling Chriſt The Word, of which be bare Record, Ec. Nor rs their Objettion of any validity, who objeff, That in the Goſpel he ordinarily conceatet h his Name, which this Author doth not ; conſidering that in that he wrote a Relation or Hiftory of things paſt, 19 be proved by many Eye and Ear Witneſſes ; but here a Revelation or Prephecy of things to come, to which his Name was neceſſary, that Men might judge by what Authority he thus wrote. +
For the time of his writing it, himſelf tells xs, chap. 1. 9. That he received this Revelation from God, white he was in Patmys, for the Word of God, and the Teſtimony of Jeſus Chriſt, zh:s was (if we may believe Hi- ſtory, and we have nothing elſe to inform 1s) in the time of Domitian the Roman Emperor, about the 94th, or
'95th year after the Natrony of Chriſt, ſo as this Book pleads a preſcription of near ſixteen hundred years, in
which very few ever queſtioned its Divine Amthorty. |
For the Scope of :t, it 7s plainly told ws, chap. 1. 1. Ita mis Sins duri & $5 avi & rye, Toſhew his Servants what ſhould ſhortly come to paſs. The [ike we have repeated, Chap. 22. 6. pon which account it is called 4 Revelation, and a Prophecy, neither of which terms agree to a Narration or Hiſtory, the 0/2 of which is ſome thing cr things that are already paſt.
1 will not undertake to give the certain and infallible ſenſe of the ſeveral paſſages of this myſterious Prophecy. 1n magnis volwſle fat eſt, But I have proceeded upon theſe few Poſtulata, |
1. That
* Rev, 3-4 -
24, 37. Eph. 3.20- 1 (im 1.
” I 7:
Chap. 1. REVELATION. Chap. 1.
i. That the whole of this Book is no Hiſtorical Relation of things that were palſled before the year 95 or 96, -or ar leaſt not long before, but of things to come, which Þas made me wholly rejcet the Notions of Grotius and Dr. Hammond, ſo far as they concerned the Siege or Deſiruttion of Jeruſalem, which way paſt 26 or 27 years before John heard of this Revelation. I cannot underſtand how his can agree with Chap. 1. 1, or Chap. 22. 6, 2. That it contains a Prophecy of the moſt remarkable things that happened enther tothe Roman Empire ; o7 76 the Church, (all which was within the Latitude of that in St. John's time) during the whole time of that ; or. hich ſhould happen after the decay of that, throughout the Church to the End of the World.
3.Thar this time is reaſonably divided into three Periods; zbe firſt determining with the Roman Empires contin: ing Pagan, 310 07 325 years after Chriſt : the ſecond with the total ruine of Antichriſt, when that ſhall be I cannot tell, "The thirdwith Chriſt's coming 10 the laſt Judgment. The firſt zs by ſome called Regnum, Draconis Erhnicum ; tbe ſecond Vicariatus Draconis Antichriſtianus z- tbe zh77d Regnum Chriſti; or, Status Fcclefiz tranquillus.
4. 1 ſee no reaſon to diſſent from thoſe eminent Men, who think that part of the Revelation which relates to the firſt period, and zs prediftive of what happened to the Church of God until the time of Conſtantine the Grear, 3IO 07 325 years after Chriſt, beginneth with chap. 4. and endeth with chap. 7. and ihat the Silence in Heaven tor halt an Hour, mentioned chap. 8. v. 1. relateth to the reſt which the Church bad from Conttantine's time 7il/ the end of Theodofius's Rejgn, about 70 or 75 years: _
5. Where to fix the Epoca, or beginning of the 1260 years, or 42 Months, I cannot tell. That the Myſtery of Iniquity began to work in the Apoſtles time, is evident from 1 Thell. 2. 7. and reaſon will 1e/1 77s, that Rome, as 11 now ſtands, or as it was in: the year 606, was not built up in a Day; the great Corruptions then in it, came in and grew up by degrees ; but 1 cannot tell how to count Antichriſt's Reign, but from the time Phocas humoured the Pope with the Title and Stile of Supream or Univerſal Biſhop ; from which time 1 ſhould rather reckon the 1260 years, than from any time before. | |
6. I do agree with thoſe who think the 11 firſt Chapters contain the ſumm of whatſoever is prophecied concerning the 37e0 firſt Periods, though many things falling within them, are more particularly and fully opened,chap. 12,1 3,14, 15.16,17,18.19..The 1te/fth Chapter giving ws a particular account of the Church during 1 be 1 wo firſt Periods; the 132Þ giving 7 a more particular account of Antichriſt, both in the Secular Power, and in hzs Eccleſtaſtical Furijditti. on - the 15th and 16th Chapter more fully open to ws what ſhould be done under the fixth Trumpet. In the 171h Chap- rer we bave a more full deſcription of the Beaſt with two Horns, mentioned chap. 13. 11. which ſignified Antichriit 23 ſitting inthe Temple of God. The 18th more fully deſcribes his fall, ſummarily before mentioned, Chap. 14. 1be 19th, ſo far as it concerneth the Praiſe given 10 God for this, relates to that great Diſpenſation of Providence.
7. 1 take the third ſtate of the Church (to which I cannot concerve we are yet come, which I called its ſerene ond quiet flate) to be foretold and deſcribed chap. 20. after which ſhall be the Battel with all the Wicked of the Earth, which ſhall end in Chriſt's coming to Fudge the World, and the General Reſurrettion in order 19 it.
s [iake ibe two laſt Chapters to deſcribe a ſtate of the Church, agreeing to none but the Church Triumphant, ond bave accordingly interpreted them. ve © | | 2 | | |
If any differ from me in any of theſe things, it will be no wonder if be diſagreeth with me in the Explication &f the Chapters and Verſes relating to them. 2
[ dare not be poſitive as 19 the ſenſe Thave given, but ſhall only ſay it 7s what 5 at to me moſt probable. There have been found ſome in the Tents of Proteſtants, that have taken much pains to free the Papacy from the imputation of Antichriſtianiſm. This I conceive was Grotius his Deſign, in his Imerpretation of this Book, as if it had been an Hiſtory rather than a Prophecy, and if a Prophecy, fulfilled in leſs than 250 years afier it was pabliſhed. As to