The Apostasy of the Latter Times, Part · Appendix
AN APPENDIX.
I Should now presently come to speak of the fourth particular which I observed in the verse, but because in this discourse of times, besides the great Calendar of times which I so much spake of, there was some mention of a lesser Calendar, viz. of Daniels 70 weekes, give me leave to note some places of Scripture which I suppose to have refe…ence thereto, for the better clearing not onelyonly of our former discourse, but of some scruples that might trouble our minds, when mention is made of an end then supposed neere, though the world hath lasted so many hundred yeeres, and no end thereof is yet come.
Know therefore, that these 70 weeks are a little provinciall Calendar, containi…g the time that the legall worship and Jewish state was to continue from the re-building of the Sanctuary under Darius Nothus, untill the finall destruction thereof, when the Calendar shall expire, within the space whereof their Commonwealth and City should be restored, and 62 weeks after that, the Messias be slaine for sin, and at the end of the whole 70 their City and Temple againe destroyed, and their Commonwealth utterly dissolved. To these weeks therefore, whose computation so especially concernes the Jewes, is reference made in those Epistles which are written to the Christian Churches of that Nation, whether being in Iewry, or abroad dispersed, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bythinia. Such is S. Pauls Epistle to the Hebrewes, both Saint Peters to the Dispersion, the Epistle of Saint Iames to the twelve Tribes, and likewise the first Epistle of Saint Iohn, which though the salutation expresseth not as in the former, yet may appeare both because Peter, Iames, and Iohn, were all three Apostles of the circumcision, and from that passage cap. 2.2. Christ Iesus is the propitiation for our sinnes, and not for ours onelyonly, but for the sinnes of the whole world; that is, not for the sins of us onelyonly who are Jewes, but for the sinnes of the Gentiles also. And doth not the name of generall or catholicall Epistle given unto this, as well as those of Saint Iames and Peter, imply thus much? for it cannot be thus called, as written to all Christians indefinitely, and generally, since the contrary plainly appeares in the former; but because this as well as the rest was written to those of the circumcision, who were not a people confined to any one City or Region, but dispersed through every Nation, as we reade in the Acts, cap. 2.5. &c. that at the Feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost came downe upon the Apostles, there were sojourning at Ierusalem Iewes, devout men, out of every nation under heaven; Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and the dwellers of Mesopotamia, Iudaea, and Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, and strangers of Rome, Jewes and Proselites (Jewes by race, and Jewes by religion) &c. for we must not mistake those there numbred to be Gentiles, but Israelites; both of the ten Tribes captivated by Shalmaneser, and the other two; some of whom never returned from Babylon, but lived still in Mesopotamia: but of these who returned, great multitudes were dispersed afterwards in Egypt, Lybia, and many other Provinces before the time of our Saviours appearing in the flesh. So that the Apostles of the Circumcision had their Province for largenesse not much inferiour to that of the Gentiles.
But I come to note the places I spake of: and first out of the fore-named Epistle of Saint John, where from that prediction of our Saviour in the Gospel, that the arising of the false Prophets should be one of the neare signes of the nigh approaching end of the Jewish state: the Apostle thus referres to it cap. 2. ver. 18. Little children this is the foreign, the last houre: and as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now there are many Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time: here by the last time I suppose no other thing to be meant but the neare expiring of Daniels 70 weeks, and with it the approaching end of the Jewish Commonwealth: and why might not this Epistle be written in the last weeke, at the beginning whereof Jesus Ananiae began that wofull crie, Woe unto Jerusalem, and the Temple, Joseph. l. 7. belli Judaici. By foreign, many Antichrists,Cyril. Hieros. Catech. 6. expounds his of John to meane Simon Magiss. are meant no other but false Prophets, Counter-prophets to the great Prophet, pretending an unction and commission from heaven (as he had) to teach the world some new revelation and doctrine: for the name Christ implies the unction of prophecies, as well as the unction of a kingdome, and accordingly the name Antichrist: and therefore the Syriack here turnes it, false Christs, that is, such as should falsely pretend some extraordinary unction of prophecie like unto him. And the comming of such as these, our Saviour in Saint Matthews Gospel, a Gospel for the Hebrewes, makes one of the last signes ushering the destruction of Jerusalem; and if the harmony of this prophecy in the three Evangelists be well considered, there was no more to come but the compassing of Jerusalem with armies. Well therefore might Saint John, when he saw so many Antiprophets spring up, say, Hereby we know that it is the last time.
Againe, b…cause the desolation of the Jewish state and Temple would be a great confirmation to Christian faith, therefore the beleeving Jewes, whom nothing could so much stagger as the standing glory of that Temple and Religion, are encouraged by the neerenesse of that time of expectation, when so great a confirmation of their faith of their Messias already come should appeare. Heb. 10.23.25. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, and so much the more as you see the day approaching; namely, that day when you shall be sufficiently confirmed: so I take the 35. and 37. verses of the same Chapter, Cast not away your confidence which hath great recompence of reward, for ye have need of patience. For yet a little while, he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry. What (he) is this, but even he of whom Daniel sayes, The people of the Prince that shall come, shall destroy the City and the Sanctuary, Dan. 9.26. For even as the destruction of Papall Rome would be a great confirmation of the reformed Christian, who hath forsaken the Communion of that Religion, the continuance and supposed stability of the glory thereof being that wherewith their Proctors endeavour most to shake and stager us: so was the destruction of the Jewish state and Temple to be unto those Jewes, who had withdrawne themselves from that body and Religion whereof they had once beene, to embrace the new faith of the Messiah, preached by the Apostles. For if at the end of the 70 weeks approaching, the legall Sanctuary were rased, and the Jewish state dissolved, then would it be apparent indeed, that the Messiah was already come and slaine for sin; because this was infallibly to come to passe within the compasse, and before the expiration of those 70 weeks, or 490 yeeres allotted for the last continuance of that City and Sanctuarie, when it should be restored after the captivity of Babylon.
Not without cause therefore doth Saint Peter in his second Epistle say to the Christian Jewes, We have a more sure word of prophecie, whereunto you doe well that you give heed as unto a light shining in a dark place, untill the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts: yea and besides, because Jesus also as well as Daniel had prophesied of the approaching desolation of that City and Temple, mentioning all the signes that were to usher it; if the event when time come should fall out accordingly, then must Jesus of Nazareth, who foretold the foregoing signes thereof, be approved as a true Prophet, by whom of a truth the Lord had spoken. Now for the last place I mean to alledge: thus must the last of Saint James also be expounded, because the fall and shock of that state might shake the whole nation wheresoever dispersed, unlesse God had spared the Christians, and made them alone happy in that wofull day, or rather because Christ had foretold that one of the next fore-runners thereof should be a generall persecution of Christians, as it happened under Nero. Therefore the remembrance of the end of these 70 weekes so neere the expiring, was a good caution to all the Christian Jewes to watch and pray: to this sence therefore I take that of Peter, 1 Pet. 4.7. foreign, the end of all things is at hand, be yee sober therefore, and watch unto prayer; that is, the end of all your Commonwealth, legall worship, Temple, and service, is now within a few yeeres: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer, that ye may be more happy in the day of vengeance and wrath upon our Nation. Neither need we wonder that this desolation should be called the end, for our Saviour himselfe taught them so to speak in his prophecie concerning it, as may appeare if we consider that Antithesis in Saint Luke, cap. 21.9. Yee shall heare of warres, and commotions, but the end is not by and by. Ver. 20. But when yee shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
And thus much I thought to add to my former discourse of latter times, lest through ignorance thereof we might incline to that little better than blasphemous conceit which *An. 57. §. 189. Ann. 72. §. 26. Ann 82. §. 3.Baronius by name, and some other of Romes followers have taken up; viz. that the Apostles in such like passages as we have noted, were mistaken as beleeving that the end of the world should have been in their owne time; God of purpose so ordering it, to cause in them a greater measure of zeale, and contempt of worldly things; an opinion I thinke not well beseeming a Christian.
1 For, first, whatsoever we imagine, the Apostles might here conceive in their private opinions as men; yet we must know that the Holy Ghost, by whose instinct they wrote the Scriptures, is the Spirit of truth, and therefore what is there affirmed must be true, yea, though the Pen-man himselfe understood it not.
2 Secondly, it was not possible the Apostles should expect the end of the world to be in their owne time, when they knew so many things were to come to passe before it, as could not be fulfilled in a short time: As first, the desolation of Jerusalem, and that not till the 70 weeks were expired.Mat. 24. Mar. 13 Luke 21. Dan 9.24. Secondly, then the Jewes to be carryed captives over all Nations, and Jerusalem to be trodden downe of the Gentiles, untill the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled, Luke 21.24. Thirdly, that in the meane time the Roman Empire must be ruined, and that which hindered taken out of the way, 2 Thes. 2.7. Fourtly, that after that was done, the man of sin should be revealed, and domineere his time in the Temple and Church of God, Ibid. Fifthly, after all this, viz. when the fulnesse of the Gentiles should come in, that Israel should be received againe to mercy, Rom. 11.27. Sixthly, that Christ should reigne in his Church on earth so long, till he had put downe all rule, all authority and power, and subjected all his enemies under his feet, before he should subdue the last enemy, which is death, and surrender his kingdome into the hands of his Father, 1 Cor. 15.24, 25, &c. Heb. 2.8. Seventhly, that the time should be so long, that in the last dayes should come Scoffers, saying, Where is the promise of his comming, 2 Pet. 3.4. How is it possible they should imagine the day of Doome to be so neere, when all these things must first come to passe, and not one of them was yet fulfilled?
And how could the expectation of this day be made a ground of exhortation, and a motive to watchfulnesse, and prayer, as though it could suddenly and unawares surprize them which had so many wonderfull alterations to foregoe it, and yet none of them come to passe. I have spoken hitherto of what was revealed to all the Apostles in generall; but if we take Saint John apart from the rest, and consider what was afterward revealed to him in Patmos, we shall finde in his Apocalypticall vision, besides other times more obscurely intimated, an expresse prophecy of no lesse than a thousand yeers, which whatever it meane, cannot be a small time, and must be fulfilled in this world, and not in the world to come. Notwithstanding all this, I make no question but in the Apostles times many of the beleeving Gentiles, mistaking the Apostles admonition to the Jewes of the end of their state approaching, thought the end of the whole world and the day of the Lord had beene also neere, whom therefore Paul 2 Thes. 2. beseeches to be better informed, because that day should not come untill the Apostasie came first, and that man of sin were revealed.