The Great Charter for the Interpretation of All Prophecy, Appendix
An APPENDIX.
This Prediction I have added by way of Appendix, concerning Greateſt Revolutions in the ſo near Approaching Year, 1698.
Found in the Study of that eminent, Learned Perſon, Juſtus Lipſius, who Dyed in the year 1606.
Tranſcribed by Dr. Mayer, into his Preface upon all the Prophets, publiſhed 1653. and there to be ſeen by any who will inſpect it.
Tranſlated, and Remark'd upon according to its Agreement with Scripture Prophecy, and the Line of it's Time explain'd in ſeveral Diſcourſes; demonſtrating, the time, times and half time ſworn by Chriſt, as the ſpace of the Antichriſtian Apoſtaſy ſhall end in the year 1697. And ſo theſe ſo Grand Events appear in a ſettlement and Conſiſtency, 1698.
The Original PREDICTION.
POſt Mille Expletos a Partu Virginis Annos,
Et poſt ſexcentos Rurſus ab Orbe Datos,
Nonageſimus Octavus, Mirabilis Annus
Ingruet; Isſecum Gaudia Laeta Feret.
Corruet hoc Anno Turcarum Inviſa Propago;
Roma, Tuum in Libris Fabula Nomen Erit,
Omnia Tunc Ibunt Mundi ſurſum, atque Deorſum
Imperia, ut Populos Sceptra Novella Premant;
Utque ſuum Cunctas Verbum Diffundat in Oras
Chriſtus, & Imperitet Nomine Ubique Suo.
The Tranſlation.
FRom Virgins Son a Thouſand Years when told,
And after them ſix Hundred more are Roll'd;
Then Ninety Eight, a year of VVonders Comes,
And Joyes on Joyes It heaps, to Vaſteſt Sums;
The Hated Stem of Turks that year ſhall Fall:
Oh Rome, in Sacred Books Foretold, men All
Shall call thy Name That Lye: Earths Empires Move
Their upſide down; a Novel Empire prove
The Univerſal Monarchy; Then Christ
To th' Everlaſting Goſpel giving Riſt,
Shall through all Tongues, and Kindreds it diffuſe,
And for Imperial Style his own Name uſe.
I can Humbly Bleſs God, I have never been ſubject to be lightly Impreſs'd upon by any Pretenſions to Prophecy; Revering only that ſure word of Prophecy, Scripture Prophecy; to which I eſteem the word, Prophecy, in proper ſpeaking, to be now only due; as the word Scripture to Sacred Writ; and the Word to the Word of God; yet it is very certain, there may be ſtill, and there is ſtill vouchſafed by God ſuch Expoſitions of the ſure Word of Prophecy, as that his Servants thereby have the Teſtimony of Jeſus, which is the Spirit of Prophecy; or ſome Eminent Servants of God, as A. B. Ʋſher had; may have particular Foreſights given them; or God may providentially Dictate to the minds of whom he pleaſes, the Foretelling of particular Events, and their Times; and each of theſe may, in general ſpeaking, be call'd Prophecy, or rather (as I chooſe) Prediction; All this notwithſtanding; A Vain Credulity, a weak Superſtitiouſneſs, Fanatick Heats I have, through his Grace, Far Removed from me; and I deſire ſtill to Renunciate to them.
Yet being (as I may Account) Providentially Directed to this Prediction; which I can ſollemnly Affirm had ſo little to do yet with my ſo conſtant Fixing on Ninety Seven; that I had never Taken the leaſt notice of it, before the latter part of the laſt year; Nor had I now minded it in the leaſt; but that I found it to Tread the path of Scripture Prophecy in ſo great, and wonderful Events; and according to the Line of Time given alſo by that Prophecy; with which I have for ſeveral years laſt paſt, Separated my ſelf to Intermeddle, and to make, as publick, as I could, as one Principal Point of Wiſdom at this Seaſon, now the Day is ſo near Approaching; I have found upon moſt Aſſured grounds; This Prediction hath fallen upon the Juſt Time for thoſe Events, that commencing 1697 ſhall ſettledly appear, 1698.
Moreover, I find, This Prediction Formed in the very Phraſe and Words, which are ſo Applicable to the ſacred Style; that conſidering both the Subſtance and the Happineſs of the very Expreſſion in ſeveral Inſtances, I cannot deny my ſelf the Satisfaction, and others the Benefit (as I hope and deſire) of making ſome Remarks upon ſuch an Effort of Providence; in giving to, whoever it was, a Prediction ſo agreeable to Prophecy; a Prediction, in undeniable Fact, many years before the preſent Time, ſo conſonous to what, upon ſtrongeſt Arguments from the Word of God, with the Conſent of Undeniable, Univerſal Hiſtory, I have offered to General Knowledge, and Obſervation; To Excite to the Pondering of which Subſtantial Proof, I have ſome Expectation; ſuch a Concurrent, ſhort Prediction (becauſe we are naturally Inclin'd to have ſome kind of Quicker Thoughts for ſuch) may not be unuſeful.
This Prediction is affirm'd by Dr. Mayer, to have been found in the Study of Justus Lipſius, a Name ſo known to the World, for All Learning, and Sagacity of Enquiry into All Things; and of the Roman, (as they will have it call'd) Catholic Church.
I confeſs, I can give no greater Proof, It was found there, than that Dr. Mayer hath left it ſo Affirm'd; but if it was ſo; It Argues, There was ſome Obſervation Defer'd to it by him; that he gave that Paper a place in his Study, which Foretold Rome, as the Catholick Church, ſhould become one of the moſt notorious Fables in the World; and be expoſed, as one of the greateſt Cheats upon it, Altho he ſeem'd to adhere to it; I ſay, He ſeem'd (for of ſo great a Wit, I queſtion it) However bigotted he appear'd in Writing the Virgo Hallenſis.
But that which is enough to me, and will be, I ſuppoſe, to others in this Kind, is; That it hath undoubtedly been extant in Print above Forty years, and ſo in the Hands of many perſons; and that any one may ſee it at any Time, that Pleaſes.
Now it muſt needs be, Dr. Mayer knew it a Prediction of ſome Age in his Time, in Aſſigning it to Lipſius his Study, who Died near Fifty years before; and how long before it came into Lipſius his Study, it cannot be ſaid: Yet indeed Forty years in this matter, is as much as an Hundred; and Dr Mayers Preface in this Caſe, as much as Lipſius his Study. For the whole ſtreſs lies here; that ſuch Events were Foretold ſo long before; that there was no Train of Cauſes leading probably to that Ninety Eight, more than any other year; and that there be ſufficient Aſſurance of this by the Predictions being in well known Hands: Now both theſe are unconteſtable concerning this Prediction by being ſo long ago in Print in Dr. Mayer, and Dr. Mayer's Works in many Hands. The Sum of the matter is, This Prediction was ſo long, before 98, an undeniable matter of Fact in Print, and known to be ſo.
But I muſt not conceale; There is a Prediction in Stows Annals, p: 749. According to which, This, I am Diſcourſing, moſt probably was Form'd, as appears by ſeveral Alluſions of the one to the other, ſo plain as not to be Denied. It is a Prediction upon that famous year 1588, running thus.
Poſt Mille Expletos a partu Virginis Annos,
Et poſt Quingentos Rurſus ab orbe Datos.
Octageſimus Octavus, Mirabilis Annus
Ingruet; Is ſecum Triſtia Fata Feret:
Si non hoc Anno Totus Malus Occidet Orbis,
Si non in Nihilum, Terra, Fretumque Ruant
Cuncta Tamen Mundi ſurſum, Ibuntque Retrorſum
Imperia, & Luctus undique Grandis Erit.
There Engliſhed thus
When after Chriſts Birth, there ſhall be expir'd,
Of Hundreds Fifteen years, Eeighty and Eight;
Then comes the Time of Danger to be fear'd,
And all mankind with Dolors it ſhall fright;
For if the World that year ſhall not fall,
If Sea and Land then Periſh, ne decay,
Yet States and Kingdoms then alter ſhall,
And men to eaſe themſelves ſhall have no way.
Now this laſt Recited Prediction is ſaid to be written by Regiomontanus, that moſt Famous Aſtronomer of his Time, in the year 1475. the year before he died at Rome; And the Prediction I now Recommend, may ſeem to be a meer Imitation of it; and ſo to be the Diverſion of a Fanciful, Poetical, and Adventrous Pen, wantonizing upon a Former Prediction, and Running Counter to it; and that therefore there is no Regard to be had to it. But I ſhall argue the contrary, and that upon Due Compare of the one with the other, That in Dr. Mayer will be much advanced in Repute.
I do grant, That it was written by one, that had laid the Prediction of Regiomontanus before him: Nay, I make no doubt, he writ it after the year 1588. when the Remarkable Events of that Famous Year had given Reputation to the Prediction upon it: Whoever therefore writ the Prediction before us, Coaſted, and Glanced along upon that of Regiomontanus, grown into Eſteem by Things Anſwering it; and grafts a far greater Prediction upon ſo much, as would ſerve his main purpoſe, and Leaves the Reſt. And this he did to give it ſome Remarkableneſs, by appearing in ſome of the Garb of what had obtain'd a Degree of Honor by the Effect Following it: But it indeed far exceeds its Copy; and ſince I know, it is ſo Truly according to the Sure Word of Prophecy, I am aſſur'd, whoever writ it, writ it either from a Judgment enlightned by deep Enquiry into Scripture Prophecy, or by ſome Divine Impulſe, and far above the Copy.
And as Reaſons of my Aſſurance herein, I make theſe Obſervations upon it.
1. In the other Prediction, there is nothing, but what falls within an ordinary Human imagination, ſuppoſing the world in an Hurly-Burly, and Confuſion; but ſuch a Series of Events known only to Scripture, and its Prophecy, not to be Read in the Stars, nor in the Book of Nature, but the Book of God only, ſhews a much higher Original, than Human Imagination, taking Copy from one much lower than it ſelf; but either a mind Divinely Taught by Scripture Prophecy, or at leaſt, Providentially Impell'd, as Caiaphas's was, John 11. 51. and not ſpeaking of it ſelf.
2. Whereas in the other Prediction, The Events, though ſignified to be great, yet are but General, and Confuſed, and no one Expreſs; In this Prophecy, all is very great, each Event is of the greateſt, that can be Thought of within the ſtate of the whole preſent World; each is Diſtinct, Firmly declared, Like one that knew he ſpake on great ground; this Poetry and Fancy do not uſe to do.
3. Whereas a mere Fancy, or Humor of Foretelling would have choſen ſome nearer Time than above a Century beyond that 1588, to raiſe a quicker Expectation; and thereby a greater Amuſe; this Prediction, carries ſteddily to 1698, ſo far off.
4. A Naked Fancy, or Incertainly guided Arrogancy of Foretelling, if it had born ſo Aloft, and at a Diſtance from the Time of the Former Prediction, would have hardly miſs'd of the Crime of 1688, Anſwering 1588. For we ſee common Expectation hath of it ſelf run upon that year, and has not been greatly miſtaken, in Regard of the Revolution in this Nation, wherein All the European World hath been ſo much concern'd alſo; to carry therefore the Prediction as from one 88, and not to ſtop, and quarry (as one may ſay) upon the next 88. but to fall Perpendicularly upon 98. is a higher flight, than of a Fancy.
5. The words choſen out, by whoever, was the Predictor, ſo ſuſceptible of, ſo ready to Fall into, and to Cope with the words, and Images of Scripture Prophecy, are a very great Argument, and Aſſurance; He either from Great Acquaintance with Scripture Prophecy, and Aſſiſtance from it in that mediate way, or ſome more immediate Inſpirings of that Holy Spirit of Prophecy; or at leaſt from a Providential Impulſe, or Motion of Mind was Enabled to uſe words, which the Holy Spirit Teacheth, comparing Spiritual Things with Spiritual.
6r That, which above All Aſſures me, there was a Divine Extraordinary, either Explorating, and ſearching out of the Teſtimony of Jeſus in the Written word; or from ſome Emotion of the Spirit of Prophecy in ſome Holy and Sanctified Perſon; or at leaſt from ſome Providential Impulſe of that Spirit upon the Perſon, that writ the Prediction, is, that he hath fallen upon that very time, I have by exact Calculation found to be the very Time for the Coming of theſe great Events to paſs in a ſettlement in 98, after their beginning 97.
FINIS.
End of the text · Thomas Beverley, The Great Charter for the Interpretation of All Prophecy (1694)