The Conjectures of the End of the World, Chapter 1 – Chapter 2
The. i. Chap. & i. Coniecture.THe first coniecture is taken out of Elie the Prophete, which the Iewes recite as out of the mouth of God, spoken in diuerse places of theyr bokes called Thalmude. For they be writen in theyr boke called Abodazara in the i. Cha. & in theyr boke called …aichedrim in y• laste Cha. and also in other places on thys maner. The house or scole of Elie hath affirmed, and left it thus writen. Elye hath sayd, that sixe thousande yeares shal the world stand …r endure. Two thousande voyde of anye lawe written, two thousande vnderunder the lawe writen, & two thousande vnderunder the dayes of Messias. Hytherto Elias, afterward the rabbins added these wordes. But for our sin nes, which be great and many, the fyfte thousande and an halfe be thus past, and yet is not Messias comen. But yet is thisAn oracle is a sure saiynge as it were answered of God. doutles an oracle worthy to be beleued for many causes, although it be not expressed in the scriptures. For fyrst to begyn therewith, this oracle is susteyned with the wordes of Moyses in the Psal. after the Hebrewe rekenynge. xc. to which Saynt Peter cleaueth in hys ij. Epistle. iij, Cap. saying. That a thousand yeares with the Lord be, but as one day. Also hereof it foloweth. That as god cre ated all thynges in vi. dayes, & rested in the. vij. Euen so shal he sixe thousand yeares gouerne the world subiect to generacyon and corruptyon, and in the seuēth thousand bryng in that euerlasting rest: of which Thapostle so plainely speketh. Hebre. iiij. that he semeth to shewe the selfe same misterye, as it were with hys fynger. ☞ Besides this it consenteth ryght well with all the other coniectures folowyng, and it is constantly celebrated and hyghly estemed of the Iewes as the assewered oracle of the Prophete, and yet it fighteth plainly agaynst them selues & theyr infidelitie, whiche may not be beter confounded then in yt they be cōpelled by theyrowne sainges of Elias to graunt y• Messias shuld raygne the hole laste two thousande yeares, & yet contrary to their sayng, they still loke for him, as thoughe he were not comē. For by this clause added, (That for theyr synnes God differreth Messias birthe) theyr selues confesse frely and plainly the time of christes birthe not to hauehad bē yet past in this last age of late, but rather then, whā theyr bo ke of thalmude was publyshed, euen aboutSymon iustus made their thalmude. 210. before Christe. ye yeare of our Lord. CCCC. xxxvi. Wherof it is manifelt that thei hauehave wai ted more then these eleuen hondred yeres for a nother messias then our Lord Christ and al in vayne. The cause whereof they falsely impute it to their own sinnes. For Christ was in so certain a prediffined tyme promised to vsus & thē, that neyther for theyr sinnes must he hauehave had ben borne ye later, nor yet for theyr good liuig hauehave comen the soner, of y• which thing, more peraduēture shalbe spokē in another pla ce. Although some of our religyon wold contend to drawe this litle clause of Chri stes birthe now paste vntounto thend of the worlde, as thoughe for our synnes there shuld wāte muche of these sixe thousande yeares, so that they be not fulfylled. But thys sence, although it maketh well for our purpose, yet the Hebrew wordes receyue it not. Wherfor this is the meanig of the oracle. That the world frō the time wherof Moses said. The earth was emp tye grosse and void, dured two thousand before the lawe of circumcision with her adpertinences was geuen to Abrahā, of which it is writtē Gen. 26 & 27. That al nacyons shalbe blessed in thy sead. And from the time of delyueraunce of circum cision to Abraham vntounto Christes birthe there dured also, other two thousand yea res, which thyng syth it is proued manyfestly so to hauehave come to passe (for Christ was born, & suffred about the four thousand yeares frō ye creacion) nedes muste the rest of ye oracle also be true, y• frōchrist to the ende of the worlde, there shalbe no more (peraduenture much lesse) then two thousande euē as Elias sayd. But in that as certain yeres of the laste two myllenaryes be paste, and yet Christ be not come (as ye Iewes dreame because of their sinnes, as they wold seme to excuse theyr vnbeleue with another synne of vnbelief they be vtterly deceiued. For after this oracle, Christ is verely comen, so yt about fower thousand yeares from the creacyō he was crucifyed & rose agayn frō death ascended to heauen, and in the ende of the world thence to come to iudge the quicke and deade. And where the Iewes fro the creacyon hither to, reken. CC. yeres lesse then we, the cause is, that emong manye of theyr errours, this is one great ouerfight. For they reken dariū Hystaspis or Longimane vnderunder whom the tēple was redifyed, and Darium that was ouer comen of greate Alexander bothe for one Kynge of the Medys and Persyans, & to hauehave reigned but vi. yeares, whē there canne betwixt them after Ptoleme. Cxcij yeares, which thyng we shal discusse diligently in our cronicle. This coniecture is also holpen by Henoch and Elie hymselfe, which bothe were translated quick out of thys miserable lyfe to that blessed immortalitie, death neuer tasted. For as the sixe fyrst generacyons, that is to say, Adā, Seth, Enos, Lainam, Mahalaleel Iared, dyed, and the seuenth generac…on euen Hen…ch hym selfe (whom Iudas in hys Epistle mētioned not without a cau se to be the seuenth) is immortal. Euen so thorow these. vi. millenaries of the world shall death raygne, and in the seuenthe shal floresh that blessed immortalite. And as the fyrste. vi. ages of men from Adam to Elie were subiect to death, and the seuenth which is Elie, obieyned immortali tie (For Elias was rapt vp aly…e in the charet of fyer) euen so thorow these vimillenaryes shall the mortall lyfe dure, And in the beginnyng of the seuenth shal we be taken vp to mete Christ comynge downe to iudgement. Adā lyued to Mathusalem, Mathusalem to Sem, Sem to Iacob, Iacob to Amrā, Amram to Ahiā the Silonite, Ahias to Elias, which was trāslated. These cōiectures also vsed Ioā picus Meradulane in ye yere of our Lord …. ccc, lxxxvi. & did put vp this one amōg hys disputable. 90. conclusions sayng: yf there be any humane coniecture of y• last tyme, we may serche and fynde it by the muste secrete way of Cabbalist, the end of the world to come hense of 514. yeres. Netheles for right gret causes (as we hauehave sayd to fore) we coniecture that the sixt millenarie shall not be fulfylled. For as in the lawe, the sixt daye was not hole graunted to worke therein to the full end as to the midnyght, but a good part therof was anticipated and cut of, added to the Sabboth daye, euen so shall not the sixt millenarie be all full hole geuen to the laborouse last mortal lyfe, but yt most gloryouse beutyfull parte therof aboute the euenyng sh…lbe anteuorted and preuented of that blessed and euerlastynge reste, as it shal appere clearlyer in the cō iectures followyng, and in the mysterye of the supper of oure Lorde preuented & celebrated in the euenyng and in the para bles of yt callinges to supper, after which refreshyng there followeth no more laboure, but reste.
The. ij. Chapt.The secōd coniecture is takē of y• wordes of christ red. Matth. 24 & Mar. 13. thus. But the daye and hower nomā knoweth it, no not thaungels in heauē, nor yet the sone him selfe but onlye my father. But as were the dayes of Nohe so shalbe the coming of the sone of man. For as in the dayes of Nohe, before the floude, they were eating drynkyng and marying vntounto the daye in which Nohe entred into y• arke, and knewe not therof till the floude came ouer them taking all awaye, euen so shalbe the coming of the sone of man. For in these wordes, Christe semeth not to compare only the qualyte but also the quantite of the tyme. The qualitie of the tyme, I call the corrupt maners of that worlde and age, the quantitie is the nomber of the yeres. And as for the qualitie, ther is no doute therof, when Christ said playnly Luke. xvij. That as in the dayes of Nohe and Lot they ate and dronke, toke wyues and maried, bought and sold, planted and builded, euen so shall it be when the sone of man shalbe reueled. But as touchyng the quantyte or noumber of the yeris albe it the thing be hid & obscure, yet in some behalfe it shyueth & sheweth her selfe, wher Math. saith perfectly. As were the dayes of Nohe, so shalbe the coming of the son of man. Namely when Paul Rom. v. affyrmeth Adā to hauehave had ben the forme and image of Chryst to come, as in y• i. Cor. xv. of christ he maketh an other Adam euen into the spirit that quickeneth. The fyrst Adam was erthey out of the earthe, but the seconde man is the Lorde him self out of heuen. Nowe if Christ be the other Adā of whom the fyrst was the forme and similytude, and the comyng of Christe be as the dayes of Nohe aboute the floude, who wyll not beleue but that how much tyme passed from the earthey adam vntounto the dayes of Nohe euen to the floude, so much tyme shall there passouer to the celestiall Adam our Lorde Iesus vntounto the …nde euen to that last fiery floude wherof Peter sayth. The daye of the Lord shall come lyke a thefe in the night at whose coming the heuens shal passouer lyke a storme and thelements shall melt awaye with heat, y• erthe & al y• workes theri shal be brūt vp. And the heuens shalbe consumed whith fyer, and thelementes moltē, it is so manifest that from Adam to the floude there passed ouer. Mcccccclvi. yeres. wherfor it is very like that in y• year of our Lorde. Mcccccclvi. the end of the world shalbe comen before our dores whiche now is not much more thē an. C. yeres hēce, except it be rekoned from yt re surreccion of Christ. And as Nohe knewand the… hauehave we cxli, & so shal it en de in the Mccccccc. yere frō christ not the day ne hower of the floude tyl the Lorde bode him go into the arke (but the year, he knewe it) when God told him before that he wold graunt him yet to the men. cxx. yeres space to repent, euen so we albeit the daye and howr we knowe not, yet the year maye we knowe or coniecture very nighe it.