Mede p. 536, &683.

Preface.

particular Hypothefes or Explications: and that from fuch an Order firft eftablifh'd, all the certainty and evidence of future Applications is to be deriv'd: and without fuch Order fo eftablith'd, all Expofitions must be precarious and uncertain, and only depend on the Fancy and Imagination of every Commentator. This was the Great Mr. Mede's fettl'd and conftant Judgment in this Matter: and his Attempt being built on this Method, had fuch vaft and unexpected fuccefs, that the Body of the Proteftant Churches have generally declar'd themfelves fatisfy'd in the greateft part of his Foundations, laid down in his Clavis Apocalyptica; and in the greatest part of his Superstructure, or Interpretations alfo, contain'd in his Commentationes Apocalyptice, and other more occafional Papers thereto relating. And tho' I care not to use Monfieur Jurien's words, as if Mr. Mede were a Man Inspir'd for the Interpretation of the Prophecies; yet I can add with him that his Works of this kind have ever charm'd me; and that I can find nothing like them in all the other Expofitors. And I take the true Reason to be (befides his extraordinary Judgment in the Scripture in general, his Impartiality, and the extraordinary Bleffing of God upon his Labours) that he laid the Foundation right by the exact obfervance of this Method, as far as poffibly he could and that he would not venture a particular Application of any Vifions, till by the demonftration of his Synchronisms he had fix'd the Order and Series of them all beforehand. And it is to be lamented that his example has never fince been rightly follow'd by any. The Learned Dr. Henry Moor, and Monfieur Jurien generally follow Mr.Mede, and fo are certainly fome of our best Commentators on this Book. But where Mr. Mede had fail'd, they generally fail alfo: and where they advance fome new Affertions of their own, they are generally built on fome Interpretations of their own, contrary to the true Order of the Vifions: As where the former fixes the beginning of the Vials to the Proteftant Reformation; and makes that the rifing of the Witnesses; wholly without direction from the Book it felf; nay.contrary to its certain Order and Coherence. In part of which the Learned, and otherwife Judicious Dr. Creffener haserred with himalfo; and on the fame occafion;

I mean by fuffering a particular Interpretation to determin the Order of the Vifions, even where he owns the Concinnity and Exactness of the Prophecy it felf diffwaded him from it, as we have feen already. Nay, what is particularly obfervable in Dr. Creffener is, that he builds a great part of his Conclufions on this Judgments on Poftulatum, that the Rife of the Beaft was before the year 620. the Roman without any proof that I find offer'd for the fame at all. Where- Church P. 3• as not one fuch Interpretation as that is, ought ever to be taken for granted by any Expofitor; but prov'd from the Series of the Visions establish'd from the Book it felf alone, and fome certain Characters of the Time of the Rife of the Beaft therein mention'd. It being certainly very eafy to fuppofe that in a Book fo lately in a manner begun to be understood, all Interpreters may have fail'd in the date of the Reign of Antichrift, as well as He fupposes they have mistaken in other things. I have ever therefore been intirely of Mr. Mede's Opinion, and without regarding any Expofitions whatfoever, I have endeavour'd to Tearch into, and I think have found the Order and Series of all the Vifions in the Apocalypfe, from fufficient Characters in the Vifions themselves. And now, and not till now do look upon my felf prepar'd to attempt a fhort View of the Prophecies themJelves, and their general Applications to the Hiftories of the past Ages. And if it fhould be my good Fortune to give the World better Satisfaction in any of the Points ftill left obfcure by Mr. Mede, than others have been able to do; I muft, under the Providence of God, afcribe it to my perfect reliance on the intrinfick Characters of the Book it felf, for the intire Order of the Vifions; and on my Endeavour after the Obfervance of the Letter of the Text every where in my Applications, without any fondness for darling Hypothefes first fix'd upon, or any Studium Partium, any Prejudice or Biafs for this or that Party or Opinion among Proteftants, any farther than I find ground for the fame from the Holy Scriptures, and the moft Ancient Writers of the Chriftian Church. But before I proceed to the particulars, the Reader is to be inform'd that I do not pretend to write an intire Commentary or Critical Expofition on this Book: I do not think my felf capable of doing that with any fuccefs: but I only intend to comply with the Title, and to

write

write in way of Effay, or Short View of the feveral Vifions; and to give fuch a Specimen of their Application to the feveral Circumftances of the Roman Empire, and of the Chriftian Church contain'd therein, as will pretty well fatisfy moft Readers; and render an Exact and Critical Expofition of the whole very obvious, and easy to those whofe Studies and Genius fit them for fuch an Undertaking.

In order then to the better understanding of the reft of the parts of this Book, I fhall first take the Affiftance of that admirable Expofition of fome of its principal Branches which the Good Providence of God has afforded us in the Book, it felf, by the Miniftry of his Angel; without which perhaps the fe veral Prophecies of this Book had never on good Grounds been understood by us.

The Angel's Ex POSITION.

Apoc. Chap. AND there came one of the Seven Angels, which had the seven

xvij.

See Mr. Gar

vials, and talked with me, faying unto me, Come hither, rett's Difcourfe I will fhew unto thee the judgment of the great whore, that fitteth

concerning An- upon many waters;

tichrift. part. 1.

2. With whom the Kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the Inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

3. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness; and I Saw a woman fit upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blafphemy, having seven heads, and ten horns.

4. And the woman was arayed in purple, and scarlet colour; and decked with gold, and pretious stones, and pearls; having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations, and filthiness of her fornication.

5. And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS, AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

6. And I faw the woman drunken with the blood of the faints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

7. And the Angel faid unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the Woman, and of the beaft that carryeth her; which hath the feven heads and ten horns.

8. The beast which thon faweft was, and is not, and shall afcend out of the fea or abyffe, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, (whofe names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world,) when they behold the beaft that was, and is not, and yet is.

9. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The feven heads are feven mountains, on which the woman fitteth.

10. And they are feven Kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come: and when he cometh, he must continue a Short Space.

11. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the feven, and goeth into perdition.

12. And the ten horns which thou faweft, are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

13. Thefe have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the Beast.

14. These fall make war with the lamb, and the lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords and King of kings and they that are with him are called, and chofen, and faithful.

15. And he faith unto me, The waters which thou faweft, where the whore fittetb, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

16. And the ten horns which thou faweft upon the beaft, fhall hate the whore, and shall make her defolate, and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

17. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdoms unto the beast, untill the words of God fhall be fulfilled.

18. And the woman which thou faweft, is that great city, which reignethover the kings of the Earth.

Having thus fet down the Angel's Expofition at large, I fhall endeavour to unfold its meaning under the following Propofitions or Obfervations.

I. "The Beast with seven heads and ten horns,mention'd in this 66 Expofition, is the fame Beaft that was before defcrib'd in the "13th Chapter, and in Daniel, i. c. The Roman Empire; And "Babylon, that great Harlot that rides upon the Beast, or Rules "over that Empire, ist the City of Rome. The former part of this Obfervation is fo clear from a Comparison of their feveral defcriptions, and from the nature of this Chapter (which is not a new Vifion, but an Explication of a former;) that I fhall choose rather to take it for granted, or refer the Reader to Dr. Dr.More'sSyn- More and Dr. Creffener, who have prov'd it beyond rational optis Propheti Contradiction, than enlarge upon it in this Effay. Those who ca, p. 261, &c. Dr. Creffener's are refolv'd to make as many fuch Beafts with the fame feven Demonftrati- heads and ten horns, as they fhall have occafion for in their on p. 44.&c. own Hypothefes; and can deny these to be the fame Beast; & 82: &c. feem to me prejudic'd enough to evade all the Arguments in the World and therefore I fhall not concern my felf with them in thefe matters. But as to the latter part of the Obfer

+ Certiffimum eft nomine Babylonis Romam Urbem fignificari. Baron ad Annum 45• ·

Johannes in Apocalypfi paffim Romam vocat Babylonem: -Et aperte colligitur.ex Cap. 17. Apocalypfeas. Bellarmin. de Rom. Pontif. L. 3. Cap. 13.

Romæ conveniunt aptiffime omnia quæ de Babylone dicuntur in hoc libro: atque illud imprimis quod alii convenire non poteft Apoc. 14. 9.-Siergo omnia conjungamus quæ de Babylone dicuntur planius eam effe Romam intelligemus:-Nam etfi quædam ex fingulis vel in congregationem malorum, vel in aliam urbem convenire poffent; omnia profecto nifi in Romam non conveniunt. Ribera in Cap. 14. Apoc.. 30. 31.

Et non potuit manifeftius Romam Urbem veluti digito monftrare, Malvenda de Antichrifto, pag. 184. in Cap. 17. & 18.

Roma à Joanne vocatur Babylon, quia Babylon fuit figura Rome; quibus verbis aperte defignat Romam. Leffius de Antichrifto.

Dico ergo, Babylon hic eft Roma. Hoc enim nulli alteri nifi foli Roma Competit. Cornel. à Lapide in Cap. 17. Apoc. v. 2. &• 9.

Perfpicue enim afferit feptem Beftia capita effe feptem Romæ montes, -Reliquis ergo expofitionibusrejectis illa debet effe certa quæ docet Romam fub Babylonis nomine fignificari. Alcafar in Apoc. Cap. 13. Sect. 5. & in Cap. 7. Difput. 1.

Quare exiftimamus nomine Babylonis Romam Urbem fignificari in hoc Apocalypfews opere.-Nam quod Roma Babylonis nomine cenfeatur perfpicuum eft. Et vere Romam Joannes clariffimis argumentis videtur indicafle. Viega. In Cap. 17. Apocalypf. Sect. 3.

vation,