The Conjectures of the End of the World, Title page – Preface
The coniectures of the ende of the worlde, translated by George Ioye.
Marke. xij. ¶ Be ye awake, for ye knowe not, when the Lorde of the house shall come, lest he commeth sodenly, and fynde you sleapers.
M. D. X…viij.
¶ George Ioye to the Readers wysheth knowledge and repentaunce.
SYthe al vnrea sonable creatures so greatly long & wyth groning syghes (as Paule sayth) vnableRo, viij▪ to be expressed, desyer to see the day of theyr redemptyon, wherein they shuld be losed from theyr present seruitute (wherewith man yet abuseth and holdeth them, as the dronkardes abuse the wyne, glotons the beastes foules, fysshes, corne and all maner frutes, the vnthankefull all maner gyftes, and creatures of God, the Idolaters abu se the sonne, mone, starres, stones, trees, and the supersticiouse the water, fyer, &c. And the blasphemouse swerers the sayntes in heauen, God and hys creatures) muche more do the electe childrē of God here abused, oppressed, persecuted, & slain of the vngodly long, syghe and sorrowe …riynge oute with the soules vnderunder the altare for the gloriouse daye of the redēpApo. vi. cion of oure bodies. Yea and to knowe the sygnes and coniectures immediatlie coming before it, that we myght in tyme lyft vp oure heades, awake oute of oure beastly and synfull lyuinge gladly to come forth wyth our bryght lāpes to meet our brydegrome. And they that yet of ignoraunce hauehave ben captyued and abused of ye abhominable beast of Rome might also now in time forsake her, and flye far out of Babylon into Christes churche. And for asmuch as this boke treateth of the signes and coniectures, that go befo re the ende of this world, wherof some be paste, some are present, & some are yet shortely to come, and do tell vsus certainly the tyme of the fall of the Antichriste of Rome, and laste ende of thys myserable synfull worlde, layd in so darke Prophecyes, noumbers of dayes, tymes & yeares in Daniell, and in the Apocalipse, which eueryevery man except he be indurated wt the Rome Churche wold be desyerous to knowe and to prepare hymself. I hauehave made thys latyne boke of that godly and lerned man Andrew Oseander to speake Englysh, that ye myght counforte your selues by readyng ye diuine mysteries & warninges conteyned herein. And becau se (as eueryevery man knoweth) experte artifi cers, by their diligent exercyse and continuall labours, wyll excell, amende & beter the beutye of their former workes, and as sayth Cicero, our later cogitacions are better, then oure fyrste, yea and as Daniell affirmeth, The oftener hysDan. x… boke be reuolued and diligently studyed the more lernyng is there foundin it, kno weledge is encreased. And to be shorte, Because I wolde with the confession of my faithe profyte and counfort the congregacions of Christe (we are all borne to profyte oure bretheren) lo here haste thou, ientle reader, a cleare brief exposicion of the moste harde places and hide misteryes in Daniell, Paule and Apocalyps. concernyng thys last monarchy of Rome, the descripcyon and lyuely picture of that Antichristen horned whore, of her fall, and ende of thys world, short lye to come. Thys therfore reade and vse it to thencrease of thy knoweledge and counfort to the profyte of other, and prayse and glorye of God the father thorow Christe in his comyng. Who be thanked and magnyfyed for euer. So be it▪.
AMEN.
M. D. Xlviij. In Maye printed.
… The coniectures of the last dayes, & end of the worlde, gathered out of scriptures by Andrewe Oseander, and translated by George Ioye.
ALthough oure Lorde Iesus Christ (as witnesseth Mat.) hathe most clearlye pro…oū ced, yt the daye & howr, whe rein himselfe shal returne to iudge ye quick & dead, of no mortal mā to be knowē: No, not of th…igels: but to be left only in ye pleasure of God the father: yet think I, yt the very christiās broughte vp & lerned in ye holy scriptures, may by some certayn cōiectures gathered oute of Gods worde & of hys workes, not only come to ye forsight of yt same tyme, & (as it were) cōprehēde within certaī limites: but also I iudge yt we ought to endeuour our selues to studye, to att…yne therevnto. For our Lorde sayde not, that worlde, or that age, or that yeare of hys comminge, of noman to be knowne, but onelyonly the day and hower no man to knowe them. For verely, by the most apt similitude to serche it out dyd he louingly prouoke vsus bothe to obserue & wayte for that same tyme, yea and in a maner compelled vsus so to do. Wherfor he sayd when I begynne to do these thynges, then loke vp, and lyft vp youre heades, sor then draweth nyghe p…ure libertye & redempcyon. And euen of the fygge tree lerne the similitude, whose braunches when they begyn to be softe and tender and thruste forth their knops, and leaues, then knowe ye that Somer is nyghe. And eue… so, when ye see all these tokēs and thinges told you before in doyng: then be ye sure that the kyngdom of God is at hande. By this and such lyke warninges hath he not only of the state of thinges to come, as though they were present, committed and geuen to the com mon people to coniecture of the last tyme but also the wyser and better lerned hath he meruelously gyuen occasion, long before to serche out, & to fore see this desyred last tyme. For as the tylmē, by ye buddig of yt trees knowe somer to drawe nyghe, and the astronomers by the mouing of y• starres can diffyne the springyng tyme & pronosticate it long before, euen so ought we to decerne the ende of the worlde to drawe nyghe, and the comyng of the sonne of man to be at hande by these sygnes shewed vsus of Christ of hys comynge: & the lerned in holy scripture to signifye it long before the courses of tymes, and the ages, which all the sygnes be suer to come, yea and to coniecture thesame tryed out of the secret misteryes of the worde. Which thig sith it be so, I hauehave diligētly consydered and noted certayn excellente saynges and dedes properly and specyal ly pertainyng to this mater, whiche by the waye were offred to me readyng the scriptures, and thus hauehave I commended to memorye these coniectures of the ende of the worlde taken out of the holye letters, of the which coniectures many I hauehave communicated pryuately in wryt…yng to my familyar frēdes, which whē they were desyered of so many, and now spred abrode, I sawe that it was perell, lest any foolyshardy shuld mixe wt these my coniectures any thynge of hys own, and so vnderunder my name to thrust them into other mennes handes, I not knowing which thyng to auoyde, I reuoked into my handes myne owne wrytinges, litle then though they were, and mended thē in some places, & i…ome I so enlarged them, that they thus printed, mighte do my bretherē pleasure. And lest hereafter they might be, perehaunce, by some falsifyers corrupted, I thought mi self to ma ke them sure. They be. iiij. cōiectures (for wherfor shuld I not tell them forthe by tale as treasure) which nowe orderlye I will reherse.