The Image of Both Churches in Revelation, Table of contents – Preface 3
The Contentes of the seconde parte.
THe xj. Chap. beginneth wherin Iohn measureth the Temple, the Aulter, and them that worship therein. The .ij. witnesses doe their appointed offices, the beast making warre against them and sleying them. A great Earthquake followeth, and the second woe is past.
The xij. Chapter beginneth wherin the seuenth Angell bloweth his trompet. In heauē appeareth a woman all cloathed with ye sun, whom the Dragon diuersly vexeth. Mychaell fighteth with the Dragon and ouercommeth him. The woman flyeth into the wildernesse and there is preserued.
The xiij. Chapter beginneth wherin a beast ryseth out of the sea with seuen heades and ten hornes, receyuing authority of the Dragon. One of his heades is wounded and healed agayne. An other beast commeth out of the earth with .ii. hornes, which deceiueth the earthly dwellers, and raiseth vp an Image like vntounto ye beast. In the ende is counted the number of ye beast. The .xiiij. Chapter beginneth wherin the Lambe standeth vpō ye mount Sion, and the vndefiled congregacion wt him. An Angell sheweth ye euerlasting Gospel, an other declareth ye fal of the great whore. An other is commaūded with his sikle to cut down ye grapes of the vineyard.
The .xv. Chap. beginneth, wherein Iohn séeth ye seuen Angels, hauing the seuen last plages of the wrath of God. On the glassy sea standeth men hauing the harpes of God, & they sing the song of Moyses, and the songe of ye lambe. The tabernacle of testymony is séene in heauen.
The .xvi. Chapter beginneth, where in the seuen Angels power out theyr vials of gods wrath. The first vponupon ye earth. The secōd vpō ye sea. The third vponupon ye riuers. The fourth vponupon ye sūn. The fift vponupon the seat of ye beast. The vj. vponupon ye great floud Euphrates. And the seuenth into the ayre.
The xvij. Chapter beginneth, wherin an Angell sheweth vntounto Iohn the iudgement of the great whore, which sitteth vponupon the beast. Hée discrybeth both hir and the beast at large. Finally he sheweth the meaning both of hys heades and hornes, with other great mysteries more.
The poore persecuted church of christ, or immaculate spouse of the Lambe.
Apoca. 12.
The Dragō was wroth with ye woman which fled into the wildernesse, and went and made warre with the remnaunt of hir séede, which kept the commaundement of god and hauehave the testimone of Iesus Christ.
The proude painted Church of the Pope, or sinfull Sinagoge of Sathan.
Apoca. 17.
I sawe woman sitte vponupon a Rose coloured beast, full of names of blasphemye, decked with golde, precious stone, and pearles, with whom the Kinges of the earth committed whordome, and the inhabiters of the earth are dronken with the wyne of hir fornication.
¶THE THIRDE parte of the Image of both churches, after the most wonderfull and heauenly reuelation of saint Iehn the Euangelist. &c.
Compiled by Iohn Bale.
Apoca 1.
¶I Ihon your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdome of pacience which is in Christe Iesu, was in the Ile of Pathmos for the worde of God.
A small Preface vntounto the Christen Reader.
FOr so muche as this Image of both churchs, or exposition vponupon S. Iohns Apocalipsis, seemed vntounto me (as it came vntounto the printing) to be farre to much for one volume. I thought to deuide it by equall porcions into three smal bookes, as I hauehave now done in deede. Of whom the firste contayneth x. Chapter, the second vii. & the third v. onelyonly, which maketh out the whole number of the xxii. Some peraduenture wil maruel, that the smaller nūber of ye chapters should comprehend so much of that commē tarie as the greater number. But if they marke in the text, the aboundinge of misteries euermore as the matter thereof aboundeth, they will soone leaue their marueiling. The nature of this reuelation is, the further it goeth, the more wonders it sheweth & openeth vntounto hym that after praier shal in faith reade it and deserne it. Neuer therin are the principles well perceiued, till the conclusion thervpon folowinge doth playnely with the other scriptures conferred, declare them.
In these v. last chapters are the two churches (wherevpon resteth the whole argumēt of this booke) fully by all dew circumstaunces described, thē turned ouer into a moste fearefull and terrible destruction, vnderunder title of the olde whorish Babilon, the other obtayning a moste glorious rayse, vnderunder the name of the holy new Hierusalem.
In the xvij… Chapter is that execrable churche of antichrist with hyr filthye wares and occupings painted out hereof the holye Ghost, & with hir most horrible fal in ye end, hir worldly fauours shewing gret heanies, and the seruants of God an excedyng reyse. In the .xix. Chapter is that reyoice of elect number ouer the tirryble iudgments of that whore much more highly discribed, the deth of Christes holy witnesses most plentyously reuenged, and how the Angel in no case will of Iohn be worshiped.
In the .xx. Chapter is ye dragon tied vp for a thousand years, the chosen sort reigning wt Christ. Gog and Magog gather thē to battayle, and are ouercōmen. The dead after that ariseth and receiueth iudgement.
In the xxi. Chapter is the church of the chosen or the new Hierusalem prepared to to hir spouse. That citie commeth downe from heauen, and is of the holy ghoste here, after most wonderfull circumstaunces in hir right proportion described.
In the xxii. Chapter, the riuer of lyuinge waters proceedeth from the throne of God.
Iohn sealeth vp the sayinges of this prophecy. Christ concludeth what his kingdome is, and who shall be therevnto receyued, admonishyng that vntounto his worde nothing be added of men in payne of dampnation.
Some hatefull and vngodly blasphemers there are and euer hath bene, whiche wyll in no wise this Booke to be of equall authorytie with the other scriptures of christes testament. But damnably wretched … are they, in the vaine imaginations of their sinful h…rts. The most high Theologye and secret wisdome of God the eternall father, is the blessed doctrine there of, geuen vntounto hys onelyonly sonne in our humanytie and after that of him so cōmited vntounto Iohn by ye holy ghost to be distributed & taught by hym to ye vniuersal christen cōgregation, which is a most sufficient argument of the authoritie therof, what so euer mad Momus shall quarrell to the contrary. Iames Faber Stapulensis in his preface prefixed to the woorkes of Dionise the Ariopagyt, doubted neuer a deale to prefer this heauenly prophesie to all ye other writings of the other Apostles, confessing that in worthines, it farre passed them all ye due circumstances there of considered. The more nigher (saith he) the light be to the sun, the more strength it hath, and the more clernesse it ministreth vntounto men. But Momus hath not yet done away the madde mistes of his monkery, nor yet the darke dregges of his sophistry, which both are great blemyshing vneo his eye sight. The wisdom of Plato, Homerus, & Cicero, auaileth nothing in this. Aristotle & Uirgil if thei were aliue, could herein do little or nothing. In estimably more maketh the poore fishers, learning to the vnderstanding of these misteryes, thē the prowd painted eloquence or far set resōs of ye philosophers. The Lord geue vsus grace from the barne of his most plentuous scriptures to fetche the fat feedyng of our feble & hungry soules, that we may by thē obtayne his strength into the lyfe euerlasting.