events, and this we have obferved, and cleared. Part 2! But I fay it again, the grofs is alwayes according to the order of hiftory: this order is obferved in the Revelation, that the birth and progresses of Antithrifts Kingdom are laid down before its fall. Now the Authors we have spoken, do make St John guilty of a Parachronisme of two thousand years. After he had finifht the narrative of the ruin of Antichrift, and gone through a Period of 1260 years, which if we add to them the space from the Incarnation of Chrift, unto the revelation of the fon of perdition, make almoft two thousand years. After this, I fay, they make him on a fudden to. go back as far as the beginning of the Chriftian Church. Is there any other inftance of fuch confufion in this book? Let them fhew it. What mean those words, After this (fo the French version) which begin the 20 Chapter, and denote always not only the fucceffion of vifions, but of times? This work is already larger than I intended to make it ; but notwithstanding I cannot forbear to lay down a few of our arguments, there are so many, that one might crush the contrary opinion with number: but I thall only urge the principal ones. I fhall open as it were four (prings of arguments, Four which I fhall leave every man liberty to found and Springs of dive into, contenting my felf with producing them, and drawing from them the principal evi- thetrath dences, which clearly discover this future reign of of Chrifts our Lord Iefus Chrift.

arguments

monftrate

reign npon . earth.

the fifth

My first fpring, or fource of arguments, will the first be in the Prophecies that fpeak of a fifth Monarchy Spring is referved for the Saints. 'Tis impoffible to find a Monarchy. rational fenfe in them, without fuppofing this promifed thousand years reign. There are two remarkable saints. ones in the book of Daniel; In the 2. Chapter

Nebu

to the

Dan. 2.

Part 2. Nebuchadnefar fees a ftatue, whofe head was of gold, the fhoulders of filver, the belly of brass, the leggs of iron, the feet and toes partly of iron, and partly of earth. The Prophet interprets to him thefe four metals of the ftatue; that they are four great Monarchies. The iron leggs, by confent of all, fignifie the fourth Monarchy, which is the Roman. The feet and the ten toes, partly of iron, and partly of earth; fignifie the ten kings or Kingdoms, which were to divide the Roman Empire, and weaken it at the fame time. And wher7. 41, 42. as thou faweft the feet and the toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, but there shall be in it of the ftrength of iron, forafmuch as thou faweft the iron mixt with miery clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, fo the kingdom shall be partly ftrong, and partly broken. These ten toes are the ten Kings, which were to make up the Kingdom of Antichrift, and reign together with him, in the laft Period of the Roman Empire; during the 1260 years marked in the Revelation. Now what happens at the end of the reign of these ten Kings, and of the fourth Monarchy? And in the dayes of thefe kings shall the God of heaven fet up a Kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and confume all thefe Kingdoms, and it shall ftand for ever.

Behold a fifth Monarchy, different from the ten The Mo- Kings, which muft break them in pieces, and narchy promifed mult continue after them for ever, i.e. untill the ro Chrift, end of the world. 'Tis granted, that this Kingdom, placed in that shall never be deftroyed, is that of Iefus Christ. the Ages But is it not as clear as the day, that this King. bypaft. dom must not appear until after that the ten

cannot be

1

291 King's and the ten Kingdoms shall have been bro- Part 2 ken in pieces by this fifth Monarchy. I confess, I have nothing to fay to them who are incapable of beholding this evidence; and I do not conceive how it can be faid, that we must go back beyond the ten Kings, that we may place the Monarchy of Iefus Chrift before them, when the Prophet fo plainly placeth it after the ten Kings. Is it not expresly faid, that this fifth Monarchy muft break in pieces and destroy these ten Kingdoms? How therefore can it go before them, or have its duration parallel to theirs?

Chap. 7.

In the feventh Chapter of the fame Prophecy, we have the fame foar Monarchies, under the Images of four Beafts. "Tis confeffed,, that the fourth Beaft, that had ten horns, is the Roman Em pire. All our writers grant, that these ten horns, that fignifie ten Kings, are the ten Kingdoms, into which the Roman Empire was divided after the time of Valentinian the third, and that those ten horns reign together with the little born, which is Antichrift. When the Prophet had feen both the fourthBeaft,and the three first wholly deftroyed, and their bodies burnt with fire, he adds, And I faw in the night.vifions, and behold one like the v.13. Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came unto the Antient of dayes, and they brought him near before him, and there was given him dominion, and a glory, and a Kingdom, that all people,nations, and languages should ferve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. And to the fame purpofe in the explication of the vifion. And the ten horns out of this v.24.25 Kingdom, are ten Kings that shall arife, and another shall arife after them, and he shall be diverfe from

the

. 26.

7.27.

Part 2. the first, &c. And he shall speak great words against the most high, and shall wear out the faints of the most high, and think to change times and lawes; andthey shall be given into his hand, untill a time, andrimes, and the dividing of times, &c. All are agreed that Antichrift is here intended, and all Proteftants grant that this is the Papacy, and that its reign is to laft 1260 years. Now what is to happen after this time, and times, and a dividing or half a time? But the judgment shall fit, and they shall take away his dominion, to confume, and to deftroy it anto the end. Behold the deftruction of Antichrifts Kingdom. Immediately after the Prophet adds, And the Kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the Kingdom under. the whole heaven, fhall be given to the people of the faints of the most High, whofe Kingdom is an everlafting Kingdom, and all dominions shall ferve and obey him. Behold the reign and Kingdom of the Saints, and a reign which fucceeds to that of Antichrift. In truth, we must give the lye to the Holy Spirit, if we fuppofe, that we must go back two thousand years before the end of Antichris reign, to place the beginning of this reign of the Saints and of Jefus Chrift. Here we have the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, after that the four Beafts, i.e. the four Empires, have been broken to pieces; to receive the Kingdom from the hand of God his Father, and reign for ever untill the end of the world. We must Monarchy fpeak without any judgment, if we fay, that cannot be this everlasting Kingdom of Jefus Chrift, is to be of the understood of the heavenly reign, after the end Kingdom of the world, and the last judgment. For the after the Apostle St Paul faith in plain terms, that Jesus Christ shall then reign no longer, and that he judgment.

The fifth

understood

of glory

day of

Shall

shall deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Fa-Part . ther. Befides, Daniel speaks of a Kingdom that is to be under the Heavens, and not of one that is above them. Further, 'tis a meer triffling, to mingle eternal things with temporal, and bring down the Heavenly Kingdom of Paradife into the rank of earthly and temporal Monarchies, by making it to be a fifth Monarchy. Thus 'tis plain, that the Prophet treats here of a Kingdom, that indeed is heavenly on the account of its purity, but is earthly on the account of its Seat, and because it must be upon earth.

I am willing to joyn unto thefe Prophecies, only that in this 20th Chapter of the Revelation, which is fo clear, that it needs not any commentary. The Prophet faith exprefly; After this (fo the first verfe is rendred in the French) i.e. after the last victory over the Beast, and his falfe Prophet, the Devil fhall be bound, and the Saints skall live and reign with Christ a thousand years. But 'twill be objected, that this paffage is too plain, and this very thing makes our fenfe of it fufpicious. The Prophets are not wont to exprefs future things fo clearly. But if this reafon holds, the Iews are not to be blamed, for rejecting our Oracles concerning Iefus Chrift; for example, this, A Virgin shall conceive a Son; and this other, And thou Bethlehem ---out of thee shall come a Ruler, &c. and the whole 53. Chapter of Ifaiah, and that Prophecy of Daniel, that Meffiah must be cut off, but not for himself, And that very clear Oracle, he shall make his foul an offering for fin. For 'tis evident, that thefe Oracles, are not lefs plain in speaking of Chrift, and the circumstances of his birth, his life, and his death; than thofe in Daniel and the Revelation, which fpeak of the thousand years reign. Nn

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