Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John Part 9

[10] Exposit. in Psal. 114. sub finem.

_The end of the first Part._

PART II.

OBSERVATIONS UPON THE APOCALYPSE OF St. _JOHN_.

CHAP. I.

_Introduction, concerning the time when the _Apocalypse_ was written_.

_Irenaeus_ introduced an opinion that the _Apocalypse_ was written in the time of _Domitian_; but then he also postponed the writing of some others of the sacred books, and was to place the _Apocalypse_ after them: he might perhaps have heard from his master _Polycarp_ that he had received this book from _John_ about the time of _Domitian_'s death; or indeed _John_ might himself at that time have made a new publication of it, from whence _Irenaeus_ might imagine it was then but newly written. _Eusebius_ in his _Chronicle_ and _Ecclesiastical History_ follows _Irenoeus_; but afterwards [1] in his _Evangelical Demonstrations_, he conjoins the banishment of _John_ into _Patmos_, with the deaths of _Peter_ and _Paul_: and so do [2]

_Tertullian_ and _Pseudo-Prochorus_, as well as the first author, whoever he was, of that very antient fable, that _John_ was put by _Nero_ into a vessel of hot oil, and coming out unhurt, was banished by him into _Patmos._ Tho this story be no more than a fiction yet was it founded on a tradition of the first churches, that _John_ was banished into _Patmos_ in the days of _Nero_. _Epiphanius_ represents the _Gospel of John_ as written in the time of _Domitian_, and the _Apocalypse_ even before that of _Nero_.

[3] _Arethas_ in the beginning of his Commentary quotes the opinion of _Irenaeus_ from _Eusebius_, but follows it not: for he afterwards affirms the _Apocalypse_ was written before the destruction of _Jerusalem_, and that former commentators had expounded the sixth seal of that destruction.

With the opinion of the first Commentators agrees the tradition of the Churches of _Syria_, preserved to this day in the t.i.tle of the _Syriac_ Version of the _Apocalypse_, which t.i.tle is this: _The Revelation which was made to _John_ the Evangelist by G.o.d in the Island _Patmos_, into which he was banished by _Nero_ the _Caesar__. The fame is confirmed by a story told by [4] _Eusebius_ out of _Clemens Alexandrinus_, and other antient authors, concerning a youth, whom _John_ some time after his return from _Patmos_ committed to the care of the Bishop of a certain city. The Bishop educated, instructed, and at length baptized him; but then remitting of his care, the young man thereupon got into ill company, and began by degrees first to revel and grow vitious, then to abuse and spoil those he met in the night; and at last grew so desperate, that his companions turning a band of high-way men, made him their Captain: and, saith [5] _Chrysostom_, he continued their Captain a long time. At length _John_ returning to that city, and hearing what was done, rode to the thief; and, when he out of reverence to his old master fled, _John_ rode after him, recalled him, and restored him to the Church. This is a story of many years, and requires that _John_ should have returned from _Patmos_ rather at the death of _Nero_ than at that of _Domitian_; because between the death of _Domitian_ and that of _John_ there were but two years and an half; and _John_ in his old age was [6] so infirm as to be carried to Church, dying above 90 years old, and therefore could not be then suppos'd able to ride after the thief.

This opinion is further supported by the allusions in the _Apocalypse_ to the Temple and Altar, and holy City, as then standing; and to the _Gentiles_, who were soon after to tread under foot the holy City and outward Court. 'Tis confirmed also by the style of the _Apocalypse_ itself, which is fuller of _Hebraisms_ than his Gospel. For thence it may be gathered, that it was written when _John_ was newly come out of _Judea_, where he had been used to the _Syriac_ tongue; and that he did not write his Gospel, till by long converse with the _Asiatick_ Greeks he had left off most of the _Hebraisms_. It is confirmed also by the many false _Apocalypses_, as those of _Peter_, _Paul_, _Thomas_, _Stephen_, _Elias_ and _Cerinthus_, written in imitation of the true one. For as the many false Gospels, false Acts, and false Epistles were occasioned by true ones; and the writing many false _Apocalypses_, and ascribing them to Apostles and Prophets, argues that there was a true Apostolic one in great request with the first _Christians_: so this true one may well be suppos'd to have been written early, that there may be room in the Apostolic age for the writing of so many false ones afterwards, and fathering them upon _Peter_, _Paul_, _Thomas_ and others, who were dead before _John_. _Caius_, who was contemporary with _Tertullian_, [7] tells us that _Cerinthus_ wrote his Revelations as a great Apostle, and pretended the visions were shewn him by Angels, a.s.serting a _millennium_ of carnal pleasures at _Jerusalem_ after the resurrection; so that his _Apocalypse_ was plainly written in imitation of _John_'s: and yet he lived so early, that [8] he resisted the Apostles at _Jerusalem_ in or before the first year of _Claudius_, that is, 26 years before the death of _Nero_, and [9] died before _John_.

These reasons may suffice for determining the time; and yet there is one more, which to considering men may seem a good reason, to others not. I'll propound it, and leave it to every man's judgment. The _Apocalypse_ seems to be alluded to in the Epistles of _Peter_ and that to the _Hebrews_ and therefore to have been written before them. Such allusions in the Epistle to the _Hebrews_, I take to be the discourses concerning the High-Priest in the heavenly Tabernacle, who is both Priest and King, as was _Melchisedec_; and those concerning the _word of G.o.d_, with the _sharp two-edged sword_, the [Greek: sabbatismos], or _millennial_ rest, the _earth whose end is to be burned_, suppose by the lake of fire, _the judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries_, the _heavenly City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is G.o.d_, the _cloud of witnesses, mount _Sion_, heavenly _Jerusalem_, general a.s.sembly, spirits of just men made perfect_, viz. by the resurrection, and _the shaking of heaven and earth, and removing them, that the new heaven, new earth and new kingdom which cannot be shaken, may remain_. In the first of _Peter_ occur these: [10] _The Revelation of Jesus Christ_, twice or thrice repeated; [11] the _blood of _Christ_ as of a Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world_; [12] the _spiritual building_ in heaven, 1 Pet. ii. 5. _an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us, who are kept unto the salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time_, 1 Pet. i. 4, 5. [13] the _royal Priesthood_, [14] the _holy Priesthood_, [15] the _judgment beginning at the house of G.o.d_, and [16]

_the Church at _Babylon__. These are indeed obscurer allusions; but the second Epistle, from the 19th verse of the first Chapter to the end, seems to be a continued Commentary upon the _Apocalypse_. There, in writing to the _Churches in _Asia__, to whom _John_ was commanded to send this Prophecy, he tells them, they _have a more sure word of Prophecy_, to be heeded by them, _as a light that s.h.i.+neth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in their hearts_, that is, until they begin to understand it: for _no Prophecy_, saith he, _of the scripture is of any private interpretation; the Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of G.o.d spake, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Daniel_ [17] himself professes that he understood not his own _Prophecies_; and therefore the Churches were not to expect the interpretation from their Prophet _John_, but to study the Prophecies themselves. This is the substance of what _Peter_ says in the first chapter; and then in the second he proceeds to describe, out of this _sure word of Prophecy_, how there should arise in the Church _false Prophets_, or _false teachers_, expressed collectively in the _Apocalypse_ by the name of the false Prophet; who should _bring in d.a.m.nable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them_, which is the character of _Antichrist_: _And many_, saith he, _shall follow their l.u.s.ts_ [18]; they that dwell on the earth [19] shall be deceived by the false Prophet, and be made drunk with the wine of the Wh.o.r.e's fornication, _by reason of whom the way of truth shall be blasphemed_; for [20] the Beast is full of blasphemy: _and thro'

covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandize of you_; for these are the Merchants of the Earth, who trade with the great Wh.o.r.e, and their merchandize [21] is all things of price, with the bodies and souls of men: _whose judgment--lingreth not, and their d.a.m.nation [22] slumbreth not_, but shall surely come upon them at the last day suddenly, as the flood upon _the old world_, and fire and brimstone upon _Sodom_ and _Gomorrha_, when the just shall be delivered [23] like _Lot_; for _the Lord knoweth how to deliver the G.o.dly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished_, in the lake of fire; _but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the l.u.s.t of uncleanness_, [24]

being made drunk with the wine of the Wh.o.r.e's fornication; who _despise dominion, and are not afraid to blaspheme glories_; for the beast opened his mouth against G.o.d [25] to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. _These, as natural brute beasts_, the ten-horned beast and two-horned beast, or false Prophet, _made to be taken and destroyed_, in the lake of fire, _blaspheme the things they understand not_:--they count it pleasure to riot in the day-time--sporting themselves with their own deceivings, while they feast [26] with you, _having eyes full of an [27] Adulteress_: for the kingdoms of the beast live deliciously with the great Wh.o.r.e, and the nations are made drunk with the wine of her fornication. They _are gone astray, following the way of _Balaam_, the son of _Beor_, who loved the wages of unrighteousness_, the false Prophet [28]

who taught _Balak_ to cast a stumbling-block before the children of _Israel_. _These are_, not fountains of living water, but _wells without water_; not such clouds of Saints as the two witnesses ascend in, but _clouds that are carried with a tempest_, &c. Thus does the author of this Epistle spend all the second Chapter in describing the qualities of the _Apocalyptic_ Beasts and false Prophet: and then in the third he goes on to describe their destruction more fully, and the future kingdom. He saith, that because the coming of _Christ_ should be long deferred, they should scoff, saying, _where is the promise of his coming_? Then he describes the sudden coming of the day of the Lord upon them, _as a thief in the night_, which is the _Apocalyptic_ phrase; and the _millennium_, or _thousand years_, which _are with G.o.d but as a day_; the _pa.s.sing away of the old heavens_ and earth, by a conflagration in the lake of fire, and our _looking for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness_.

Seeing therefore _Peter_ and _John_ were Apostles of the circ.u.mcision, it seems to me that they staid with their Churches in _Judea_ and _Syria_ till the _Romans_ made war upon their nation, that is, till the twelfth year of _Nero_; that they then followed the main body of their flying Churches into _Asia_, and that _Peter_ went thence by _Corinth_ to _Rome_; that the _Roman_ Empire looked upon those Churches as enemies, because _Jews_ by birth; and therefore to prevent insurrections, secured their leaders, and banished _John_ into _Patmos_. It seems also probable to me that the _Apocalypse_ was there composed, and that soon after the Epistle to the _Hebrews_ and those of _Peter_ were written to these Churches, with reference to this Prophecy as what they were particularly concerned in. For it appears by these Epistles, that they were written in times of general affliction and tribulation under the heathens, and by consequence when the Empire made war upon the _Jews_; for till then the heathens were at peace with the _Christian Jews_, as well as with the rest. The Epistle to the _Hebrews_, since it mentions _Timothy_ as related to those _Hebrews_, must be written to them after their flight into _Asia_, where _Timothy_ was Bishop; and by consequence after the war began, the _Hebrews_ in _Judea_ being strangers to _Timothy_. _Peter_ seems also to call _Rome_ _Babylon_, as well with respect to the war made upon _Judea_, and the approaching captivity, like that under old _Babylon_, as with respect to that name in the _Apocalypse_: and in writing _to the strangers scattered thro'out _Pontus_, _Galatia_, _Cappadocia_, _Asia_ and _Bithynia__, he seems to intimate that they were the strangers newly scattered by the _Roman_ wars; for those were the only strangers there belonging to his care.

This account of things agrees best with history when duly rectified. For [29] _Justin_ and [30] _Irenaeus_ say, that _Simon Magus_ came to _Rome_ in the reign of _Claudius_, and exercised juggling tricks there.

_Pseudo-Clemens_ adds, that he endeavoured there to fly, but broke his neck thro' the prayers of _Peter_. Whence [31] _Eusebius_, or rather his interpolator _Jerom_, has recorded, that _Peter_ came to _Rome_ in the second year of _Claudius_: but [32] _Cyril_ Bishop of _Jerusalem_, _Philastrius_, _Sulpitius_, _Prosper_, _Maximus Taurinensis_, and _Hegesippus junior_, place this victory of _Peter_ in the time of _Nero_.

Indeed the antienter tradition was, that _Peter_ came to _Rome_ in the days of this Emperor, as may be seen in [33] _Lactantius_. _Chrysostom_ [34]

tells us, that the Apostles continued long in _Judea_, and that then being driven out by the _Jews_ they went to the _Gentiles_. This dispersion was in the first year of the _Jewish_ war, when the _Jews_, as _Josephus_ tells us, began to be tumultuous and violent in all places. For all agree that the Apostles were dispersed into several regions at once; and _Origen_ has set down the time, [35] telling us that in the beginning of the _Judaic_ war, the Apostles and disciples of our Lord were scattered into all nations; _Thomas_ into _Parthia_, _Andrew_ into _Scythia_, _John_ into _Asia_, and _Peter_ first into _Asia_, where he preacht to the dispersion, and thence into _Italy_. [36] _Dionysius Corinthius_ saith, that _Peter_ went from _Asia_ by _Corinth_ to _Rome_, and all antiquity agrees that _Peter_ and _Paul_ were martyred there in the end of _Nero_'s reign. _Mark_ went with _Timothy_ to _Rome_, 2 _Tim._ iv. 11. _Colos._ iv. 10. _Sylva.n.u.s_ was _Paul_'s a.s.sistant; and by the companions of _Peter_, mentioned in his first Epistle, we may know that he wrote from _Rome_; and the Antients generally agree, that in this Epistle he understood _Rome_ by _Babylon_.

His second Epistle was writ to the same dispersed strangers with the first, 2 _Pet._ iii. 1. and therein he saith, that _Paul_ had writ of the same things to them, and also in his other Epistles, _ver._ 15, 16. Now as there is no Epistle of _Paul_ to these strangers besides that to the _Hebrews_, so in this Epistle, chap. x. 11, 12. we find at large all those things which _Peter_ had been speaking of, and here refers to; particularly the _pa.s.sing away of the old heavens and earth_, and _establis.h.i.+ng an inheritance immoveable_, with an exhortation to grace, because _G.o.d_, to the wicked, _is a consuming fire_, Heb. xii. 25, 26, 28, 29.

Having determined the time of writing the _Apocalyse_, I need not say much about the truth of it, since it was in such request with the first ages, that many endeavoured to imitate it, by feigning _Apocalypses_ under the Apostles names; and the Apostles themselves, as I have just now shewed, studied it, and used its phrases; by which means the style of the Epistle to the _Hebrews_ became more mystical than that of _Paul_'s other Epistles, and the style of _John_'s Gospel more figurative and majestical than that of the other Gospels. I do not apprehend that _Christ_ was called the word of G.o.d in any book of the New Testament written before the _Apocalypse_; and therefore am of opinion, the language was taken from this Prophecy, as were also many other phrases in this Gospel, such as those of _Christ_'s being _the light which enlightens the world, the lamb of G.o.d which taketh away the sins of the world, the bridegroom, he that testifieth, he that came down from heaven, the Son of G.o.d_, &c. _Justin Martyr_, who within thirty years after _John_'s death became a _Christian_, writes expresly that _a certain man among the _Christians_ whose name was _John_, one of the twelve Apostles of _Christ_, in the Revelation which was shewed him, prophesied that those who believed in _Christ_ should live a thousand years at _Jerusalem__. And a few lines before he saith: _But I, and as many as are _Christians_, in all things right in their opinions, believe both that there shall be a resurrection of the flesh, and a thousand years life at _Jerusalem_ built, adorned and enlarged_. Which is as much as to say, that all true _Christians_ in that early age received this Prophecy: for in all ages, as many as believed the thousand years, received the _Apocalypse_ as the foundation of their opinion: and I do not know one instance to the contrary. _Papias_ Bishop of _Hierapolis_, a man of the Apostolic age, and one of _John_'s own disciples, did not only teach the doctrine of the thousand years, but also [37] a.s.serted the _Apocalypse_ as written by divine inspiration. _Melito_, who flourished next after _Justin_, [38]

wrote a commentary upon this Prophecy; and he, being Bishop of _Sardis_ one of the seven Churches, could neither be ignorant of their tradition about it, nor impose upon them. _Irenaeus_, who was contemporary with _Melito_, wrote much upon it, and said, that _the number 666 was in all the antient and approved copies; and that he had it also confirmed to him by those who had seen _John_ face to face_, meaning no doubt his master _Polycarp_ for one. At the same time [39] _Theophilus_ Bishop of _Antioch_ a.s.serted it, and so did _Tertullian_, _Clemens Alexandrinus_, and _Origen_ soon after; and their contemporary _Hippolytus_ the Martyr, Metropolitan of the _Arabians_, [40] wrote a commentary upon it. All these were antient men, flouris.h.i.+ng within a hundred and twenty years after _John_'s death, and of greatest note in the Churches of those times. Soon after did _Victorinus Pictaviensis_ write another commentary upon it; and he lived in the time of _Dioclesian_. This may surely suffice to shew how the _Apocalypse_ was received and studied in the first ages: and I do not indeed find any other book of the New Testament so strongly attested, or commented upon so early as this. The Prophecy said: _Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this Prophecy, and keep the things which are written therein._ This animated the first _Christians_ to study it so much, till the difficulty made them remit, and comment more upon the other books of the New Testament. This was the state of the _Apocalypse_, till the thousand years being misunderstood, brought a prejudice against it: and _Dionysius_ of _Alexandria_, noting how it abounded with barbarisms, that is with _Hebraisms_, promoted that prejudice so far, as to cause many _Greeks_ in the fourth century to doubt of the book. But whilst the _Latins_, and a great part of the _Greeks_, always retained the _Apocalypse_, and the rest doubted only out of prejudice, it makes nothing against its authority.

This Prophecy is called _the Revelation_, with respect to _the scripture of truth_, which _Daniel_ [41] was commanded to _shut up and seal, till the time of the end_. _Daniel_ sealed it _until the time of the end_; and until that time comes, the Lamb is opening the seals: and afterwards the two Witnesses prophesy out of it a long time in sack-cloth, before they ascend up to heaven in a cloud. All which is as much as to say, that these Prophecies of _Daniel_ and _John_ should not be understood till the time of the end: but then some should prophesy out of them in an afflicted and mournful state for a long time, and that but darkly, so as to convert but few. But in the very end, the Prophecy should be so far interpreted as to convince many. _Then_, saith _Daniel, many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be encreased_. For the Gospel must be preached in all nations before the great tribulation, and end of the world. The palm-bearing mult.i.tude, which come out of this great tribulation, cannot be innumerable out of all nations, unless they be made so by the preaching of the Gospel before it comes. There must be a stone cut out of a mountain without hands, before it can fall upon the toes of the Image, and become a great mountain and fill the earth. An Angel must fly thro' the midst of heaven with the everlasting Gospel to preach to all nations, before _Babylon_ falls, and the Son of man reaps his harvest. The two Prophets must ascend up to heaven in a cloud, before the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of _Christ_. 'Tis therefore a part of this Prophecy, that it should not be understood before the last age of the world; and therefore it makes for the credit of the Prophecy, that it is not yet understood. But if the last age, the age of opening these things, be now approaching, as by the great successes of late Interpreters it seems to be, we have more encouragement than ever to look into these things. If the general preaching of the Gospel be approaching, it is to us and our posterity that those words mainly belong: [42] _In the time of the end the wise shall understand, but none of the wicked shall understand. [43]

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this Prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein._

The folly of Interpreters has been, to foretel times and things by this Prophecy, as if G.o.d designed to make them Prophets. By this rashness they have not only exposed themselves, but brought the Prophecy also into contempt. The design of G.o.d was much otherwise. He gave this and the Prophecies of the Old Testament, not to gratify men's curiosities by enabling them to foreknow things, but that after they were fulfilled they might be interpreted by the event, and his own Providence, not the Interpreters, be then manifested thereby to the world. For the event of things predicted many ages before, will then be a convincing argument that the world is governed by providence. For as the few and obscure Prophecies concerning _Christ_'s first coming were for setting up the _Christian_ religion, which all nations have since corrupted; so the many and clear Prophecies concerning the things to be done at _Christ_'s second coming, are not only for predicting but also for effecting a recovery and re-establishment of the long-lost truth, and setting up a kingdom wherein dwells righteousness. The event will prove the _Apocalypse_; and this Prophecy, thus proved and understood, will open the old Prophets, and all together will make known the true religion, and establish it. For he that will understand the old Prophets, must begin with this; but the time is not yet come for understanding them perfectly, because the main revolution predicted in them is not yet come to pa.s.s. _In the days of the voice of the seventh Angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of G.o.d shall be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets_: and then _the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and his _Christ_, and he shall reign for ever_, Apoc. x. 7. xi. 15. There is already so much of the Prophecy fulfilled, that as many as will take pains in this study, may see sufficient instances of G.o.d's providence: but then the signal revolutions predicted by all the holy Prophets, will at once both turn mens eyes upon considering the predictions, and plainly interpret them. Till then we must content ourselves with interpreting what hath been already fulfilled.

Amongst the Interpreters of the last age there is scarce one of note who hath not made some discovery worth knowing; and thence I seem to gather that G.o.d is about opening these mysteries. The success of others put me upon considering it; and if I have done any thing which may be useful to following writers, I have my design.

Notes to Chap. I.

[1] Dem. Evang. l. 3.

[2] Vid. _Pamelium_ in notis ad _Tertull._ de Praescriptionbus, n. 215 & _Hieron_ l. 1. contra _Jovinianum_, c. 14. Edit._Erasmi._

[3] Areth. c. 18, 19.

[4] Hist. Eccl. l. 3. c. 23.

[5] Chrysost. ad Theodorum lapsum.

[6] Hieron. in Epist. ad Gal. l. 3. c. 6.

[7] Apud Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 28. Edit. _Valesii_.

[8] Epiphan. Haeres. 28.

[9] Hieron. adv. Lucif.

[10] 1 Pet. i. 7, 13. iv. 13. & v. 1.

[11] Apoc. xiii. 8.

[12] Apoc. xxi.

[13] Apoc. i. 6. & v. 10.

[14] Apoc. xx. 6.

[15] Apoc. xx. 4, 12.

[16] Apoc. xvii.

[17] Dan. viii. 15, 16, 27. & xii. 8, 9.

[18] [Greek: aselgeias], _in many of the best MSS._

[19] Apoc. xiii. 7, 12.

[20] Apoc. xiii. 1, 5, 6.

[21] Apoc. xviii. 12, 13.

[22] Apoc. xix. 20.