ther wholly unconcern'd in the Cafe, or it was Chap. 3. by her that the Errors and Idolatry of Babylon Queit 15 were destroy'd.

VIII. But that, which makes this unfair Policy still worse, is that both the Scripture and the Creed were falfe for many Ages before the Reformation, if the Church of Rome be S. John's Babylon.

For, if the Creed be always true; Chrift had in the Ages, immediately before the Reformation, One, Holy, CATHOLICK [that is, Or thodox and Univerfal] and Apoftolical Church, the Communion of Saints. If the H. Scripture be always true; Chrift has always had a Church, fuch as the Scripture describes it, that is, the Pillar and Support of Truth, and the Church of all Nations, always Orthodox, always vifible, always known, always fpread over the Earth.

But, if the Church of Rome be the Whore of Babylon; if fhe be guilty of thofe Abominations, with which fhe is charg'd; 'tis certain, that Chrift, for many Ages immediately before the Reformation, had no Vifible and Orthodox Church, fpread over the World: He had no Church of many Nations, which in the Administration of Sacraments, in Preaching the Word of God, in her publick Profeffions of Faith, and in her Terms of Communion, did not authorize and require the Belief of great and grievous Errors. Confequently, both the Scripture and the Creed was falfe, for many Ages before the Reformation, if the Roman Church be St. John's Babylon.

Chap. 3.

Queft16 Sixteenth QUESTION.

Does not the Scripture foretell a great and general * Apoftacy. 2. Thefs. ii. v. 3? And that, when the thoufand years are expir'd, Satan fhall be loos'd out of his Prison, and fhall go out to deceive the Nations, which are in the four Quarters of the Earth. Apoc.xx. v. 7. &c?

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10 the FIRST, I anfwer, it does. But that the Catholick and Orthodox Church, which is One, Holy, and Apoftolical, which is the Communion of Saints, which is the Pillar and Support of Truth, against which the Gates of Hell fhall not prevail, and with which Chrift will continue at all Times even to the end of the World; that this Church, I fay, has apoftatiz'd, is wholly inconfiftent, both with the Scripture, and with the Creed.

What Apoftacy then does S. Paul foretell, 2. Thefs. ii. v. 3. ?

S. (1) Jerom thinks, it is the Revolt of barbarous Nations from the Roman Empire. Not that Chrift would come to judge the World, as foon as that Revolt fhould happen: But that he would not come before it. So the Scripture fays, that after the Destruction of

* ἐὰν μὴ ἔλθῃ ἡ ἀποςασία πρῶτον, 2. Thels. ii. v. 3. (1) Nifi, inquit Apoftolus, fuerit Romanum Imperium ante defolatum Christus non veniet: S. Hieron. Epift. cli. ad Algafiam. Quæst. xi.

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of Jerufalem Chrift will come to Judgment, Chap, 3. S. Luke xxi. v. 24. 25. 26. 27: S. Mar.xiii. 24 Quest 16 &c. S. Mat. xxiv. v. 29, 30, 31. Not that there will not be a confiderable Time, betwixt the Destruction of Jerufalem, and the End of the World: but that the Son of God, in the Texts now mention'd (to keep us in a necessary suspenfe) thought fit to pafs over the feveral Occurrences of that Interval. If you ask me, why S. Paul, if he meant the Roman Empire, did not name it? To this S. Jerom answers: The Reafon was that he might not appear difaffected to the Empire, and fo give it an Occafion of perfecuting the Chriftians.

Others understand the Apoftacy, 2. Thef. ii. v. 3, of a Revolt of Hereticks from the Catholick Church. As Simon Magus, and others departed from it in the firft Century. As the Greeks revolted from it, in the eleventh Century; feveral other Nations in the Sixteenth: and the Catholick Church, may for ought we know, be the National Church of no one Kingdom in the Universe, before the End of the World: As it was the Church of all Nations, and the Catholick Church in the first Century; tho' Catholick Religion, as far as it appears, was not then the National and governing Religion of any Kingdom or Nation whatsoever.

Of these two Explications of S. Paul, the fe cond seems to be the more probable. If so, the Apoftacy, of which he speaks 2 Thef. ii, has had, or may have, the Name of a Refor mation.

Chap. 3. II. To the SECOND, Apoc. xx. v. 7. &c, I Quest 16 anfwer, that the H. Scripture is true, altho' the History fhould contain, either a few Years more, or a few Years lefs, than a Thousand.

This Vifion, fays Grotius, of binding Satan for a thousand Years, fhews, that the Tranquil lity, which Conftantin and his Succeffors gave to the Church, will be long indeed; but that it will not continue to the End of the World.

So Dr. Hammond, on Apoc. xx, p. 996, And I faw another Reprefentation, by which I dif cern'd, what should fucceed the Converfion of Heathen Rome to Christianity, viz, a tranquillity and flourishing Eftate of Christianity from the Time of Conftantin's coming to the Empire And an Angel fecur'd the Devil, by all ways of fecurity, binding, locking, fealing him up, that be might not deceive and corrupt the World - as till then be bad done, but permit the Christian Profeffion to flourish till these thousand Years were at an End, and after that he should get loose again for fome Time, and make fome Havock in the Christian World This is the FIRST RESURRECTION, that is a flourishing Condition if the Church under the Meffias. v. 6, Blessed and Holy is be, who has Part in the first Refurrection: on fuch the fecond Death [Hell] has no Power. Thus Dr. Hammond.

III. As this Expofition of the thousand Years appears to be the most probable : let us fee from whence it may or must be dated, Conftan

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(2) Apoc. xx. Aliud eft Visum, significans tranquilli· tatem, que Ecclefiis per Conftantinum erat primum data, au&ta ta per Succeffores, fore quidem longam, non tamen ufq; ad mundi interitum. Grotius in Apoc. xx. v. I.

tin gave Heathen Worfhip a deadly Wound, Chap. 3. when he publish'd his first Edict in Favour of Quest. 16 Christians, an. Chr. 312. But after the Emperors were Chriftian; Heathenifm fays Dr. (3) Hammond, fill continued in Rome and in the Empire, in fome Degree, till by the Coming of the Goths, and Vandals, and Huns, under Alaricus, Genfericus, and Attilas, the City and Empire of Rome was, all the Heathen Part of it, deftroy'd, and Christianity fully victorious over The City having been taken by Alaricus and the Goths, an. Chr. 410, and by Genfericus and the Vandals an. 455.

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The publick Worship of Heathenifm ceas'd in Rome, an. (4) Chr. 399. And this Religion was wholly, or in a manner wholly, extinct there by the End of the following Century, Theodofius the Younger, an. 423, fpeaks of Pagans, as if he thought there were none left in the Eastern Empire (as Dr. Cave, in his Apoftolici obferves pag. 315) Pagani, qui fuperfunt, quanquam jam nullos effe credamus, &c. Yet three Years after, he was forc❜d to make another Law against them. This, fays Dr. Cave p. 316, it seems, was a parting Blow

For Heathenifm dwindled into Nothing: and that little, that was left, Crept into Holes and Corners, to hide its Head, according to the Prediction long fince of the Prophet Ifaiah, Chap. ii. v. 18, 19, 20. So that, if Heathen Rome be St, Fohn's Babylon; we may date the Ruin of it from about the Year of Chrift, 500. Which fhews, where the thousand Years will end,

(3) In Apoc. xx. v. 7. pag. 998. col. 2. (4) Tillem. des Emp. Tom. v. p. 305, 511, 513.)