A Scripture Line of Time, Treatise · Part 2 · Section 6
SECT. VI.
Wherein, The Third Part of Men, upon which the Trumpets have their Effects, is more fully made clear to be the Roman Imperialneſs, and that the Symbols of the Three firſt Trumpets do most plainly agree with the Hiſtory, in full Anſwer to the ſecond and third Enquiry.
HAving given a general Account of the things nam'd in the Contents, ſo far as is neceſſary to ſettle the Beginning of that Line, upon the beginning of which we have been ſo intent; it is now neceſſary to give a more ample Satisfaction concerning the Third part of men, both that, It means the Roman Imperial Power, as alſo why, the Empire being Chriſtian, there was ſuch an Effuſion or Wrath upon it, that ſo the whole Line may be thereby aſcertain'd.
The firſt Time then, in true order of nature in this Prophecy, though not in Place, or in the Contexture of it, this Third Part is found and made uſe of, is in that Viſion of the Dragon, Revel. 12. 3. Where, I think, hardly any Interpreter does not think there is a Repreſentation of the Roman Pagan Empire, in one Line or other of that Table.
And indeed, when we conſider the Prophecy hath the Roman Empire for its great Subject, ſeeing in the Days of that, and at the end of that, Chriſt's glorious Kingdom is to be eſtabliſh'd, it is every where (where it can be) to be ſuppos'd; and ſeeing here All things agree to it, and that the Careir of Time was guided directly to it in the parallel Viſion to this, viz. of the fifth and ſixth Seals, upon the Dragon watching to deſtroy the Prince, the Chriſtian Church was to bring forth, and to devour it, in which Cauſe ſo many Souls lay under the Altar, and yet that the Lamb was on the Throne; from all this, we cannot but ſuppoſe the Roman Pagan Empire intended.
The third part then of the Stars bruſh'd down as it were with the Tail of the Dragon, whatever ſpiritual Signification it hath of the Sathanick Power, does alſo ſuppoſe thoſe Supreme Princes and States that the Roman Imperialiſm diſmounted, and made tributary, ſtamping upon them with its Legs of Iron, according to Daniel. The Emblem is lively, Dan. 7. 7.and elegant to preſent their Dominions, converted into Provinces, ſubjected to the Roman Dominion.
So that from hence; That Empire Thirding the Eaſt and Weſt of the Sovereignties of the habitable known World, in the divine Judgment of it, is ſymbol'd by a third part of Nature it ſelf, viz. Earth, Trees, Sea, Fountains, Sun, &c. for of the third part of the Stars brought under its univerſal Monarchy, it was conſtituted.
And in this very Viſion, where the Holy Spirit, who fore-knew and fore-ſaw what Interpretations would be made of what he writ, and what Interpretations he would have to be made, and in what Time, and to what degrees of Certainty and Aſſurance theſe Interpretations ſhould riſe; and ſo from thence, what was fit to be laid in the Foundations, and what to be ſuperſtracted: The Holy Spirit that knew all this, knew that in the Viſion of the Dragon there would be found the Roman Monarchy agreedly; ſo that there would be a fair Conduct to its third part in Dominion: and wherever that Imperialneſs reſided, whether in the Eaſt or the Weſt, it was mounted upon the Ruine or Subjection of the third part of the Stars; and ſo the third part became the Figure of the Roman Imperialneſs, not of the whole Territory of the Empire, but of the Imperialiſm or Grandeur of Supremacy.
And what was moſt immediately and properly to touch that, is according to the moſt ſolemn Symbolicks of this Prophecy ſaid to touch and impeach that third part.
For otherwiſe, the whole Empire is call'd in the Evang. Luke the whole Habitable World, and in the courſe of the Luke 2. 1.four Judgments of the fourth Seal, which rang'd equally, as it were over the whole Territory and Dominion of the Empire. Death is ſaid to have Power given it over four parts of men, or over every fourth part with each Judgment, ſignifying the free Expatiation of thoſe Judgments upon the whole Latitude of the Empire, and, as it were, quartering it with a judiciary ſtaff. But here the Territory of the Empire, with its far and wide Dominion over the Earth, was under the Ravage of Death, without any touch upon the Imperialiſme it ſelf, although ſo many Emperours fell under it, and ſo there is no mention of the third part, Revel. 6. 8.
So in the change of the Empire from Heatheniſm to Chriſtianity, there was no Change upon the Imperiality, which continued as high ſtill in the Chriſtian Emperours from Conſtantine to the Death of the Great Theodoſius, as it was before: the Deſcription therefore is as if Heaven and Earth were concern'd in the Mutation; but there is no mention of a third, Revel. 6. ult.
The opening of the bottomleſs Pit darkned the Sun and the Air, with the Smoak, out of which the Locuſts came upon the Earth, and they had Power to hurt men univerſally: but Revel. 9. 6.becauſe the Imperial Sovereignty was not to be hurt in the very Imperiality, there is no mention of the third part; but when the Turkiſh Number was to ſeiſe upon the Eaſtern Throne, that had its firſt Eſtabliſhment upon the third part of the Stars in the Eaſt and Weſt, the third part of men are ſaid to be kill'd: and thus the third part was under the force Rev. 9. 18.of every one of the firſt four Trumpets, becauſe every Trumpet was in an order or ſeries to the deſtruction of the Weſtern Empire in the three firſt of them, and upon the Remains of Senatorian and Conſular Power in the laſt of them.
All which I look upon as a fair Reſolution of that part of this Enquiry. As to what remains, why ſo ſevere a Procedure upon a Chriſtian Empire? If it had been the Pagan Empire that had been under this Purſuit, it had not been ſtrange: but it looks ſo unreaſonable upon a Chriſtian Empire, as to call in queſtion the whole frame of the Expoſition. Hereunto I therefore offer theſe two Solutions.
It having been decreed long ago by the determinate Counſel Solut. 1 of God, and ſworn by Chriſt himſelf, that the Accompliſhment of the Wonders of his Kingdom ſhould be delay'd after the Seals of the Book open'd, for the Time, Times, and half Time of the Beaſt, or Antichriſt; the Roman Empire did no otherwiſe paſs into Chriſtian, but that it Antichriſtianiz'd at the ſame time gradually, and inſenſibly covered the former Paganiſm with the diſguiſe of Antichristianiſm, worſhipping Maozzim, and a God, their Fathers had not known, but Idolatrouſly; and ſo on the other ſide it degenerated true Dan. 11. 38.Chriſtianity into a kind of Paganiſm, whereby they intitled themſelves to the Blood, Paganiſm had ſhed, even as the Jews by the Murther of Chriſt did to all the Blood ſhed from Righteous Abel, &c. This went forward even from Conſtantine, by ſilent and deaf ſteps; but by the year 437, when the Trumpets firſt ſounded, the Meaſure was fill'd up, and the Talent down weight, and then the Impoſture of ſuppoſiting the Kingdom of Antichrist for the true Kingdom of Christ was compleat: ſo that the Vengeance of God aroſe, and chaſed down that Empire that was call'd Chriſtian, but was now indeed become Antichriſtian.
God, that changes Times, and Seaſons, and the States of Solut. 2 Kingdoms, giving them, as he pleaſes, had deſtin'd to the Beast, the Seat, and Power of the Western Empire, and the Eastern, as a kind of tributary Commendam, for forty two Months, does by theſe Judgments void the Room for him, by taking away the Western Imperialiſm, first, in its ſeventh King, that he, the Beast might ſucceed, into his forty two Months. Then taking away all Conſular and Senaterian Power, ſo that it ſhined not the third part of the day, nor of the night, that he, as the falling Star, might inlighten Revel. 9. 1.it, and grow up to his Regnancy, or Number 666.
Upon both theſe Accounts therefore, the Eaſtern Empire was ſo much longer ſpar'd; firſt, That it was not to be ſo deep in the Guilt of Antichristianiſm, and Supplantation of the Kingdom of Christ, and as it were for his Servant Conſtantine's ſake; and then, the Room of it was not neceſſary for the receiving a Succeſſor till the Mahometan Emperour, a thouſand Years after; although it was many Times under dreadful Rebukes of Divine Judgment, as alſo under the Claims and endeavour'd Uſurpations of the Antichriſtian King.
Having thus far endeavour'd to ſatisfie the third Enquiry, Enquiry 4 there will be the leſs neceſſary to add to the Reſolution of the fourth; for the courſe of Events is in Hiſtory moſt notorious. The Event of the first Trumpet was the Irruptions of the Barbarians on the whole Latitude of the Western Empire, which thereby was as much blasted, as the Glory of Summer is by a Storm of Hail and Lightning mix'd with Fire.
The Event of the ſecond Trumpet connected with the firſt, was, That that great Mountain Rome, the City upon ſeven Hills, that had been under ſo many Emperours, Pagan and Chriſtian, the Miſtreſs of the Nations; that had been under the Pagan Emperours, Pagan Myſtical Babylon, and was now becoming Antichristian, Mystical Babylon; this Babylon was in the very Beginning of the Apostacy arreſted by Divine Judgment; for that City, which had been ſo lately purg'd from Heathen Idolatry, and was to be the Antichristian City for ſo long a Time after, God erects the Pillar of his Judgment early upon it; ſo that he caſt it into the Sea, as a flaming Mountain, not as Babylon of old, burnt, but a burning Mountain, into the Sea of continual Turmoil and Eſtuation; ſo that in regard of the Warriors of that Time, in their dreadful Diſputes concerning it, All Waters were turn'd into Blood. And yet becauſe it was to be born aloft upon the Beast of ten Horns, that it might not be conſum'd it burns as in a Sea, wherein it was preſerv'd, though burning; often it was taken, and ſack'd, and made in the very literal ſenſe a burning Mountain: but it was reſcu'd, and ſurviv'd; for ſo it was decreed, till its final Deſolation and Burning, Rev. 18.
At the Voice of the third Trumpet, the very Heavens of the Weſtern Government were ſo ſhaken, that the great Star of Imperialiſm fell, like Wormwood, into the Rivers, and made them ſo bitter that many died of that Imbitterment of the Waters, that became even Wormwood it ſelf.
Whilſt Rome, as a burning Mountain in the midſt of the Sea made it to boyl, even into Blood, with a prodigious noiſe through the Nations, and made that Tumult and Commotion in the midſt of People, a burning Mountain, like Etna, or Veſuvius, may be ſuppos'd to do; the Star falling imbitter'd ſo deadlily the Inland private State of the Empire, that although it was quickly quench'd it ſelf when it fell; yet in the Time it was burning as a Lamp, which was ſome time before its Fall into the Water, and when it fell it was like a Lamp burning in Water, every moment ready to dye, and yet not preſently extinct, that it ſo conſum'd the ſweeter Juyces, and benign Spirits of Government and Commerce, that many Men died, that is, innumerable Families and Perſons were ruin'd, and utterly impoveriſh'd within the Empire, both by the loſs of the Aſpect, and influence of ſuch a Star, as alſo by the Confuſion its Fall made, and the Struggles it had with Death in its Fall and in the Water, all which made the malign Effects much greater while the Fire and Water were in conteſt.
Now all theſe Symbols are ſo very evident in Hiſtory, that there needs no more than the very Appeal to it concerning them, and ſo wonderfully accompliſh'd in their Gravity, Significancy, and Sprightlineſs, as to ſpeak Divine Inſpiration: What Hiſtory of that Time knows not, Theſe things were ſo? That firſt, all the Glory and Honour of the Empires Grandeur was ſtruck all over, as it were at once, as with Fire and Hail from Heaven, every day bringing the News of Invaſions, and Revolts every where, That Rome was in the Flames, and in a Sea, and yet by contrary Agencies of the ſeveral Intereſts of Princes like Fire and Water, ſtill preſerv'd; on the other ſide, that the Imperial Torch, however Flaming, yet falling into the Water would be ſoon quenched, while a burning Mountain reſiſted the contrary Element; ſo Rome liv'd, but the Emperour dy'd; Rome Burns as a Mountain in the Sea, and though it turn'd the Waters into Blood, yet it ſurviv'd to ride aloft upon a new Univerſality. The Flaming Taper did hurt, while it flam'd, but falling into Water muſt needs be ſhort-liv'd; And it was to dye that another ſort of Principality might ſucceed it, upon which Romes Grandeur, a City Reigning over the Kings of the Earth, might have the Guaranty of Prophecy, even as of Providence to ſecure it, for a longer time than by all Computation it had made the Epoch of Ʋrbs Condita, or it had been Built.
I am yet to ſtate juſtly, and more at large, what the Dragon Enquiry 5 means, and how his Perſecution of the Woman can agree with the Explanation of the Trumpets; ſeeing both muſt be at the beginning of the Line, becauſe then was the Woman's firſt flight into the Wilderneſs, when the Dragon perſecuted her; from whence ariſe theſe two Doubts.
How can theſe Trumpets, that are the Alarms of Divine Doubt. 1 Judgment and Diſpleaſure upon the Antichriſtianiz'd Empire, as was before declared, be the Dragons Perſecution of the Woman.
When the Beast, or his Gentiles have the whole Time, Doubt. 2 Times, Half Time, and ſo the 1260 of the Womans Wilderneſs-state, under their Domination and Tyranny; does not the Dragons Perſecution of the Woman, and then of the Seed, contradict the Aſſertion of this Time to the Beaſt?
That theſe two Doubts may be ſubſtantially reſolved, and ſo, as to clear the whole progreſs of this Time with Relation to the Beast; we muſt underſtand aright concerning the Dragon; for a miſtake in that confounds the whole order of the Prophecy.
The Dragon then,, as it is preſented, Revel. 12. 3. with Seven Heads, and Ten Horns, hath a double meaning; One proper to it, as the ſixth, or Imperial Head of the Roman Empire, which headſhip is always accounted to the whole Roman Beaſt, in this Prophecy: But when the Chriſtian Emperour aroſe, That Head became wounded, and by degrees, the Power and Conduct of it Tranſmigrated from the ſixth to the ſeventh Head, and Eighth King; as is to be ſhewn upon the Symbols of the Beaſt.
But in all this, it is of great Influence to the right underſtanding of this Prophecy to be known, there is a more abſtract ſignification of Draconiſm, or of the Dragon, viz. the Old Serpent, deceiving the Nations into the Worſhip of himſelf, under the diſguiſe of thoſe many Idol Gods and Demons, they ſacrificed and did ſervice to; when therefore this Idolatry and Demonolatry was demoliſhed by Conſtantine, and the Christian Emperours, and the only True God in Jeſus Chriſt, and his Kingdom acknowledg'd at the Head of the Roman Empire: Satan, that Old Serpent was cast down from Heaven, and Chriſt the manly Birth caught up thither; Satan, therefore, as an Intelligence within, at the Head and Spring of all is to be underſtood in this Dragon, Revel. 12. 7.
The Roman Ceſars, as having the Imperial Monarchick Government of ſo great a part of the World, at the Birth of Chriſt, ſo along in the firſt Times of Chriſtianity, lay indeed in the midſt of Nations and People, and watched all the effects of the Kingdom of Chriſt, and were ready to devour the manly Birth, that was to rule the Nations with a rod of Iron, and who had right to do ſo at his Reſurrection, and all along ſince.
But at the Time, this Ceſarian Dragon was acted by that Satan, that inviſible Spiritual Dragon, and his Angels, who made War againſt Chriſt, who carried the Ceſarian Dragon in a perpetual Hoſtility to the Kingdom of Chriſt, and alſo moſt devoted to Idolatry; While therefore Devils were worſhipped under thoſe ſeveral Names of Jupiter, Mars, &c. and an Idolatrous Power was at the Head of the Roman Power, Satan is accounted in Heaven, and the rather ſo, becauſe the Title of Satan is not reckon'd purely of Fraud and Uſurpation, but By Permiſſion, and not only ſo, but even in regard of Juſtice, and divine diſpleaſure againſt the Apoſtacy of humane Nature, as it were of Commiſſion; ſo that he was overcome and cast down by the Blood of the Lamb, as the true meritorious Cauſe, appeaſing that Wrath, ſatisfying that Juſtice, expiating the World; by the Word of his Teſtimony, as the Grand inſtrumental Cauſe, and by the Martyrdom of Chriſtians, who loved not their Lives unto Death, as a ſubordinate diſpoſe of God in honour to his Juſtice againſt the horrible degeneracy of Mankind.
From hence, whatever Power acted by Sathan, to an aſpiring to a ſupreme Reſidency in the Fourth, or Roman Monarchy, in the days of which Chriſt's Kingdom was foretold to be ſet up, and of all Right ought to have been ſo, ſpeaking as to the Duty and Obligation of all Mankind, becauſe of his Sovereign Reſurrection after his Death and Sacrifice of himſelf for the Life of the World, and that then the Roman Monarchy was the Monarchy of the Oecumene, or habitable Earth in Symbol of Prophecy; whatever Power therefore did not then acknowledge that Kingdom, nor that Truth of Chriſtianity, any way either ſeated in, or attempting that Monarchy, is under a Character of Draconick; the Notion of which came into eſpecial date ſince that Reſurrection of Chriſt, and his Right thereby to an univerſal Monarchy: at which Time the Roman Ceſareate ariſen to that univerſal Monarchy from the Time of the more publick Notices of the Right of Chriſt, inſpir'd by Sathan with a Draconick Subtilty, and watchfulneſs waited to devour that princely Birth (of which Pharaoh's Cruelty to Gods typical firſt-born, lying as a Dragon in the Egyptian Nile was a Type) and was therefore by the moſt notable ſignancy of the Symbol inveſted with the Draconick Title.
But when the Acknowledgment of Jeſus, as Christ and Lord, was made by the Chriſtian Roman Emperour, Conſtantine, and his Succeſſors, Chriſt was then in eminent Type caught up to the Throne of God, never to be dethron'd, as we ſee he is not to this day, notwithſtanding the Combat of the Dragon and his Angels by Julian, Argobaſtes the Roman Senate, and others, with Michael and his Angels. But for all this the Woman, the Church was perſecuted by the rolling of the barbarous Nations upon that Empire, who were Enemies to the Profeſſion of Chriſtianity at the firſt, and ſo to the Kingdom of Chriſt, and their Invaſion upon the Rights of the Empire as Chriſts, and on the Roman Church, as eminent in the Profeſſion of Chriſtianity, and having produc'd the Chriſtian Emperour was both as deſign'd by Satan, and reputed by God a Draconick Perſecution of the Woman; even as after, the Mahometan Flood which came out of the Dragon's mouth, to have ſwallowed up Chriſtianity, and that Empire together, as it were, wherever it could be found, was on the very ſame Account a Perſecution of the Dragon; for the Mahometans were from their very original, Adverſaries to this Sovereignty of the Lord's Anointed, ſubſtituting an Impoſture of Sovereignty, and Prophetiſm in the place of it; and all this within the univerſal Roman Monarchy, the Propriety of Chriſt. Their Deluge of Power and People impetuouſly overflowing with a falſe Religion, is then moſt juſtly call'd a Flood out of Sathan's mouth, acting as a Dragon according to the Notion of abſtract Draconiſm, and ſo raging and foaming with hoſtile Oppoſition to the Kingdom of Chriſt, notwithſtanding ſome ſeeming Acknowledgment of him in Mahometaniſm as a Prophet, but truckling under that infamous falſe Prophet.
This then being the firſt Account of Draconiſm, it is very eaſie to give Satisfaction to the firſt Doubt; for the ſame things that are remonſtrated as the Judgments of God, as permitted and order'd by him in his holy Government of the World, and Execution of Juſtice and Judgment upon Offenders, are alſo moſt maliciouſly and helliſhly negotiated by Satan, as is moſt evident in the Hiſtory of David's numbring the People; that ſame miſdoing of David is attributed to the diſpleaſure of God, and to Sathan, as may be ſeen by comparing 2 Sam. 24. 1. and 1 Chron. 21. 1. yea in that different Caſe, viz. the Tranſaction of our Lord's Sufferings, Satan enter'd into Judas, to embolden him to do what ſupreme Wiſdom and Goodneſs had contriv'd to redeem loſt Man. It is therefore nothing ſtrange, the Holy Angels and Sathan met in theſe Trumpets, each in their Place and Orb, that while the Holy Angels ſounded an Alarm to the Inſtruments of the divine Vengeance, Sathan had his Contrivance to perſecute the Woman, both by the Barbarians and Mahometans.
But beſides this Draconiſm of profeſs'd Enemies to Chriſtianity, there is the Draconiſm of the Beast, or the Dragon living, and being worſhipped in the Beast, or Antichriſtianiſm, beginning by the other Beast, who is afterwards call'd the falſe Prophet, ſpeaking as a Dragon, which was the Synagogue of Sathan in the firſt growth, and his Throne in the farther Growth, when the Beast came to his Image and Number, and the depths of Sathan or his Government in his ripeſt Age: and thus the Dragon gave his Seat or Throne, and great Authority to the Beast; that is, Sathan the Supreme Dragon in the idolatrous and bloody Ceſareate, now became Reſidentiary in the Beast, and conveyed both the Hoſtility to the Kingdom of Chriſt, the Idolatry and the Bloodineſs into the Beast, and by his Negotiation under divine Permiſſion order'd the very Seat and Power of the Imperial Ceſareate to the Beast, as the Heir both of his Idolatry, Enmity to Chriſt's Kingdom, and perſecutory Tyranny, and for the ſake of all theſe: in all Revel. 16. 13.which Regards, it may well be eſteem'd Draconiſm to the laſt. And God in juſt Indignation brings upon this Serpentiniſm of this Beaſt a Counter-Serpentiniſm of Infideliſm, a Counter Draconiſm, for ſerpens ſerpentem devorans fit Draco, as before explain'd.
But yet the Draconiſm of the Beast is a diverſe Draconiſm, its Hoſtility to the Kingdom of Chriſt is not by down-right Force and Reſiſtance of open War to the Name of Chriſtianity, but by way of Surpriſe out of his Hand, and held, as in his Right, and to his Glory, and yet in ſuch real Oppoſition to him, that he hath ſworn, His Kingdom ſhall not come, till that be at the full end of Time, Times, and half Time. Its Idolatry is an Idolatry as it were conſecrating it ſelf to the Honour of Chriſt, and is therefore, as in it ſelf, ſo in the prophetical Symbol, full in all its heads of the Names of Blaſphemy; under this Head, all the former Heads are flower'd, and, as it were powder'd with the Names of Blaſphemy; all former groſs Idolatries and Demonolatries are diſſembled under True Religion, and Heatheniſm under Chriſtianity, or more truly, True Religion and Chriſtianity are Traveſtied and Burleſqu'd into Heatheniſm and Paganiſm, and therefore it is not Simple-Idolatry, but Blaſphemy, as we ſhall ſee.
But yet notwithſtanding all this, Sathan is but on Earth; for the Beast holding the Kingdom, as in the Right of Chriſt, Chriſt thereby is ſtill acknowledg'd to be on the Throne, and in that the true God, Holy Angels, and Saints, are thus blaſphem'd by Antichriſtian Idolatries, and that Sathan and wicked Spirits are abandon'd and deteſted in Profeſſion generally, though his Kingdom hath ſometimes portentouſly broken out in Acknowledgments, as it were to the Devil himſelf, by ſome of the Antichriſtian Cheifs. His Seat is not then as before, as in a Heaven; he therefore in a Rage daſhes one part of his Kingdom againſt another, the Barbarian againſt the Antichristian, the Mahometan againſt the Beſtian; becauſe he, as a ſubtil Computator of his own Time, knows, It can be but ſhort compar'd with above four thouſand Years Reign before, and that as in Heaven too; in the Idolatry perform'd to Devils, viz. Fallen Angels, or Damned Souls. And for ſo great a Pledge of the future Fall of Sathan is that Doxology and Song of Praiſe concerted in Heaven, Rev. 12. 10. as alſo in Previſion of the full Glory of Chriſt's Kingdom decreed to him by God, from the infinite value of his own Blood, and as a Retribution for the Sufferings of his Servants, maugre all Sathan's Accuſations, in which the Accuſer himſelf was condemn'd and cast out; and notwithſtanding the ſucceeding Antichriſtianiſm.
And from all this ariſes a full Solution to the ſecond Doubt, and not only a Solution, but an admirable Harmony and Conſent of the whole Prophetical Symboliſm. For when Satan fell from Heaven, in that deſolation of Heatheniſm, not only by the Chriſtian Empire of Constantine, but the perfect Victory over it by Theodoſius; When the Devil and his Angels after the War in Heaven were finally caſt down, A Victory obtained by the Incenſe offered with the Revel. 8. 3.Prayers of all Saints, as a Signal of the Church, yet continuing pure in the publick Worſhip, and that then was ſo great Expectation of the Glory of Chriſts Kingdom, as that Doxology exprſſes, now mention'd; Now is the Kingdom of our Rev. 12. 10.God come; At this very Moment, to ſhew, that though God was pleas'd to account the Church pure, to the very moment, it could in his Righteous Judgment be ſo accounted; yet I ſay to ſhew its Purity was at a very low Ebb, and that it had long wan'd, as alſo to ſhew, that God had deſign'd to permit a very different ſtate of Things to the Kingdom of Christ, the very next news of the Church, is, that the two wings, Western, Eastern of the Great Roman Eagle had convey'd the Church, the True Church into the wilderneſs, that Rev. 12. 14.it could not be found.
This had been mention'd before, aſſoon as ever the manly v. 6.Birth was caught up to the Throne of God; but that was only in preparation, and to match with the other Symbols; But now the Church was indeed out of view, by the Apoſtaſie, introduc'd by the Gentiles the Beaſts people under the other Beaſt; ſo that the Falſe Church hid the True, as in a wilderneſs: The Gentiles crowded the True worſhippers into a clos'd Temple, The Daily was taken away; The witneſſes were in Sackcloth, where then could the True Church be ſeen? All was ſcatter'd, no Body of a Church appear'd, but the Antichriſtian; to this ſtate things grew more and more under the Regnancy of the Beaſt till the Woman was fled from the Serpent himſelf. All this is then to be accounted to the Beaſt, ſerving the True Church by Gods overruling Hand ſo far, as that it was out of the Dragons reach who was deceived, thinking to ſtrike the True, but the Falſe lay bleeding.
In the mean time, Satan, however in his Serpentine, and draconick Nature, jealous of any thing of Chriſt even in his own Kingdom, firſt perſecutes the Empire by the Barbarians, where He knew, the woman very lately was by her bringing forth the Manly Birth; He ſtruck at it by way of diſtinction in his own Aym, but finding He could not reach it by the rude ſtrokes of the Barbarians, but the Eagles wings had convey'd it away, and finding that thoſe Barbarous Nations, ſetled by degrees into the Antichriſtian Chriſtianity, and ſo help'd it forward into the wilderneſs, He then reſolved to be ſure of it, attempted to ſwallow it by the Mahometan Flood; But This neither diſtinguiſhing it, nor ſucceeding becauſe the Beſtian Earth drunk up the Flood, not only receiving it upon it ſelf, but maintaining the name, Doctrine, Profeſſion, and Church ſtate of Chriſtianity, ſo far as is neceſſary abſolutely to Antichriſtianiſme and its Kingdom, ſo drunk up the Flood by ſetting it ſelf againſt the blaſphemous, monſtrous, Mahometan Impoſture, and with a deadly hate, becauſe Mahometaniſm is no leſs againſt Antichristianity, than Chriſtianity, ſo the Serpent diſappointed is wroth, and, as ſo neceſſitated, determines now to ſift for his Ends, by Draconiſm refin'd into Beastianiſm, Heatheniſm guilded with Chriſtianity, but pointed and edg'd with Antichriſtianiſme, which is a compound of the Dragon and the Beast: And becauſe this Antichriſtian ſtate allowed ſuch a thing as a Chriſtian Church, tho but it ſelf only, He can make war only with the womans ſeed; And to the purpoſe, and, as we ſay, with a Vengeance. He makes War with the womans ſeed, who keep the Commandments God, and hold as witneſſes, the Martyry of Jeſus; that is, by the Beast, whoſe Hiſtory immediately follows. cap. 13. and to whom the Dragon deputed his power and ſeat, even Great Authority; which Delegation, the other Beast that ſpake as a Dragon, viz. the Falſe Prophecy received and managed for him the Grand Beaſt, until He came to his Image and Number; and ſo the Dragon and the Beaſt continue together, till the Beaſt is taken and caſt into the Lake, and the Dragon and all his Draconiſm, Bound, Chain'd, and Seal'd up by the Kingdom of Chriſt appearing, Rev. c. 19. c. 20. v. 1.
And this is the True Hiſtory of Draconiſm, as entred into Beſtianiſm, by which it plainly appears, the ſcattering of the Power of the Holy People, or the ſtate of the Woman in the Wilderneſs, is wholly owing to the Beaſt and his Beſtianiſm, whoſe are Time, Times, Half Time, and that the Dragon and his Perſecution were wholly defeated by the Beſtian Apoſtacy, conveying the Church from the Serpent, till He wrought by the Beast, and made over his Power to Him, in revenge upon the Womans Seed, it ſelf being ſtill ſafe.
Now how admirable is all this, according to the Symbols, the Beast ſtill in all appearance and ſemblance ſecures Chriſt on the Throne, while it ſupplants his true Kingdom and Power: for how could Antichriſt's Kingdom ſtand if Chriſt were not in Title upon the Throne? But how could it ſtand if Chriſt did indeed reign? No, it preſently falls then, or rather vaniſheth away.
Again, the Wings of the Apoſtatiz'd Empire, while they convey the true Church out of all ordinary Viſibility, yet ſecure it in the Name and Notion of a Church: the Beaſt's Earth thus helps it; for a Chriſtian Church is his Claim, and Title to his Kingdom: but it muſt be hidden; for a true Chriſtian Church viſible deſtroys his Kingdom. Thus all things even to Aſtoniſhment at the divine Prophetick Wiſdom have a Harmony in Truth, greater than that of the Spheres in Imagination.
Mahometans and Pagan Infidels by ſubverting Chriſtianity neceſſarily overthrow Antichriſt's Kingdom alſo: it is in indiſpenſable need of Chriſtianity ſo far as a Pretence goes, but the Brightneſs and native Glory conſumes it; while Chriſtianity under a falſe mask ſupports it, true Chriſtianity ſcorches it to nothing, as will be ſeen at the Vial pour'd into the Sun; true Chriſtianity and the Church therefore muſt be hidden, and in the Wilderneſs, and its Seed perſecuted as if not of the Church, that falſe Chriſtianity and the falſe Church may reign in its Abſence under its Name and Appearance.
Thus while the Dragon perſecutes in his Aim and Intention the Chriſtian Church, the Apoſtacy pretending it ſelf the Ʋniverſal Church conveys the true Church into a Wilderneſs, and ſo befriends the Notion of a Church, while it conveys it out of ſight; the Dragon by the Beaſt makes War with the Seed, and ſcatters them, that they could not poſſibly be found in the Body of a Church; not but that the Church was truly viſible in the ſingle Witneſſes, however anathematiz'd: but it could not be reach'd in a Body, even by the Serpent himſelf; for it was not in a Body; and yet the Notion of a Church was dear to the Antichriſtians, for They and the Beaſt uſurp'd it. At this Time therefore, according to this Prophecy, it could be no Argument againſt the Church, Where was it? or, It was not viſible in a Body; for it was not to be viſible in a Body, but in the Suffering, ſcatter'd Seed. So that it was hid from the very Serpent. And yet even to the end of the 1260 Days there is a Mahometan Draconiſm levelling at Chriſt, Chriſtianity, and the true Church, but falling almoſt wholly upon the falſe Church, and the Antichriſtian King, and his Subjects; who is therefore always principally concern'd to drink up this Flood, and ſo helps the true Church by his Earth.
There is nothing at the preſent I can think neceſſary to add to this Explication of the Apocalyptical Dragon, but that the whole Viſion, Rev. 12. to v. 13. is preſented as in Heaven: ſo that the Aſſumption of the manly Birth, the Joy upon the Dragon's caſting down, upon the Kingdom of our God being come, &c. is given, as in Heaven, and is reſerved alſo in Heaven, till the glorious Appearance of Chriſt; and there is no more but ſuch an imperfect cogniſance of thoſe great Things upon Earth as was given by the Christian ſhort Empire, to be expected, till that glorious Kingdom of Chriſt at the end of the Beaſt's Reign, which may remove any ſeeming Objection ariſing from the ſudden change from ſuch a Glory into the Apoſtacy, ſo ſoon after entring, and the Witneſſes going into Sackcloth, and the Woman into the Wilderneſs.