THE

GENERAL HISTORY

OF THE

CHRISTIAN CHURCH:

DIVIDED INTO SEVEN AGES,

AND DEDUCED CHIEFLY FROM THE

APOCALYPSE.

Before we enter upon this prophetic History, it will be necessary to explain the first chapter of the Apocalypse, as it contains the Preface to the whole book,-and, on that account, is essential to the present work.

CHAPTER I.

Explication of the first Chapter of the Apocalypse.

Verse 1. "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to make known to his servants the things which must shortly come to pass: and signified, sending by his angel to his servant John.

V. 2. "Who hath given testimony to the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, what things soever he hath seen.'

We are here informed that the book of the Apocalypse is a Revelation, which Jesus Christ, as Man-God, received from God: the purpose of which is to disclose to his servants, the Christians, a series of events very interesting to them, and which must shortly come to pass. This revelation Jesus Christ communicates by the channel of his angel, whom he sends to deliver it to his servant John. The character here given to this servant John shows him to be the Apostle St. John; for he is here said to have given testimony to the word

of God, by his preaching and suffering for the cause of God, and to have also given testimony of Jesus Christ, by bearing witness to what things soever he had seen of his divine Master. And this account of him coincides with what St. John says of himself at the beginning of his first epistle; That which we have heard," says he, "which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life—we declare unto you."

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We have said that it was Christ who signified or notified this his Revelation, sending it by his angel; which is confirmed by what he himself speaks in the conclusion of the Apocalypse: "I Jesus have sent my angel, to testify to you these things in the churches." Apoc. xxii. 16. But it might be equally said, that God himself communicated this prophecy by his angel; for we likewise read: The Lord God of the spirits of the prophets sent his angel to show his servants the things which must be done shortly," Apoc. xxii. 6. which words are quite similar to those above of verse first. However, it is not material whether to God or to Jesus Christ the communication of the prophecy be ascribed, when we consider the divinity of Christ.

be

Another observation we must here make, is concerning the angel of God or Christ, who is sent to communicate the Apocalypse to St. John. He is generally supposed to be a real angel: but upon close examination we think he will appear to be St. John the Baptist. This personage is peculiarly vested with the character of angel* or messenger of God and Christ, and is denominated such in the ancient prophecies, and by Christ himself:-"Behold I send my angel," said the Lord by his prophet Malachy, "and he shall prepare the way fore my face," Mal. iii. I. which Christ applies to his precursor, St. John Baptist. This is he," says Christ, "of whom it is written Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare the way before thee." Mat. xi. 10. The same is also confirmed by the Baptist's own declaration: "I am," says he 'the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord," John i. 23. which plainly speaks his function of angel or messenger of Christ. A farther proof is de rived from the words of the angel himself, who thus speaks to St. John the Apostle: "I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren who have the testimony of Jesus." Apoc. xix. 10. And again, "I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the pro phets, and of them that keep the words of the prophecy of this

The word angel signifies messenger.

another hand, if futurity was clearly foretold, it might seem to intrench upon that liberty, which God had been pleased to grant to man, of directing his own conduct and actions. For these reasons, the generality of prophecies are covered with a veil of darkness and uncertainty. Obscurity is therefore a general characteristic of prophecy, but it is peculiarly so of the Apocalypse, as every commentator has acknowledged. This book appears at first sight impenetrable. Let any one dip into it without having a key to open to him the meaning, and he will see nothing but a continued series of the most mysterious enigmas. Hence it has happened that so many different explanations have been invented. But the same obscurity was the occasion, that the ancient Fathers were so sparing in their interpretations of this prophecy. They have here and there explained a particular passage, without attempting the whole, and sometimes only given a moral exposition of it. But in this we need not wonder, because as the Apocalypse is the history of Christ's Church through the whole time of its existence, so few events had happened when they wrote, that the greatest part of the book must have appeared to them inexplicable. Hence we see the advantage of the present times for unravelling the mysteries of the Apocalypse, when so considerable a share of them has been fulfilled. Whoever looks back into the history of the Church, and compares attentively the facts with the expressions of St. John, will see a distinct analogy and connexion between them. It must however be allowed, there remain yet very many obscurities, which if we have not always sufficiently cleared, we hope the indulgent reader will consider the difficulty and excuse the defect.

The principal help for removing the obscurities of the Apocalypse arises from a right understanding of its general tendency. If a wrong system be adopted, the difficulty of reconciling the different parts of the prophecy become insuperable and this has appeared fully in the attempts of several interpreters. But when the plan of the book is discovered and ascertained, the difficulties decrease and the obscurities gradually disappear. Thus a surprising light breaks in upon the Apocalypse, when we view it as the History of Christ's Church divided into seven periods or ages, as we have above explained. A second means of removing difficulties is, the taking notice of the order of the different parts that compose this prophetic book. St. John gives all the seals together, then all the trumpets, and lastly the vials in the same manner.

Under the seven seals a series of transactions is related which belong to the seven successive ages of the Church, and which terminate with the great day of judgment. The same course

is observed in the trumpet and the vials. But we must however remark, that, after finishing with the trumpets, he does not proceed immediately to the vials: nevertheless he observes the same rule, namely, in returning, after the seventh trumpet, to relate a new series of events, but which are confined to the first, third, sixth, and seventh ages; these ages being the most interesting to the Church, as the three first of them exhibit the history of idolatry, and the last or seventh relates to the general judgment. This narrative is given in the chapters xii. xiii. xiv. and as it is joined to that of the trumpets, it partakes of the nature of them, that is, it describes events that are alarming to the Church, with the addition however of some incidents or promises that administer comfort in those alarming circumstances.

The prophet, having thus carried us on to the end of time, begins again with the first age, and rehearses under the seven vials, in chap. xv. xvi. a new course of transactions that runs through all the seven ages. This narrative being terminated, he returns back, as he had done after the account of the trumpets, to a new course of history, relating to the first, third, sixth, and seventh ages, beginning at chap. xvii, and ending with verse 10th of chap. xix. This piece of history is of such a nature as agrees with that of the vials to which it is joined, that is, it is a rehearsal of divine punishments; to which are annexed exultations on these victories of Christ over his enemies. This being done, the prophet, according to his custom, begins again a new narrative of events, of the same nature as the preceding, and which also belong to those interesting ages, the first, third, sixth and seventh. This narrative begins at verse 11th of chap. xix. and continues to the end of chap. xx. Finally, the two last chapters conclude the prophecy, with an account of the other world, as it will be after the close of all time. Hence then appears the order observed in this incomparable prophecy of the Apocalypse. As the whole History of the Church, therein contained, is divided into seven Ages, so it is related, not indeed all that part together which belongs to each age, but in seven different series of events, six of which reach from the first age to the last day, and the seventh is the description of the next world. The first of these series is given under the seals, the second under the trumpets; the third in the chapters xii. xiii. xiv. the fourth under the

and

vials; the fifth in chapters xvii. xviii. and part of chapter xix. ; the sixth in the rest of chapter xix. and in chapter xx.; the seventh in chapters xxi. and xxii. This sevenfold division is conformable to the constant use made in the Apocalypse of that mysterious number seven, as, of seven seals, seven trumpets, seven vials, seven churches, seven candlesticks, seven spirits, &c.

It is plain from this disposition of the plan of the Apocalypse, that it is necessary to transpose many things in order to form a regular narration: for, as St. John so often travels through the whole period of the Christian æra, at each time relating only a part of the transactions, we are obliged to collect from different parts of the book all those facts that belong to the same age. And we may observe, that the prophet is the most copious upon four of the seven ages, viz. the first, third, sixth, and seventh, as being the most interesting to the Church, and most remarkable for their transactions.

Another help which we found for clearing up obscurities was, a very strict attention to the tenor of the text. The extraordinary nicety in the expressions, the sudden change of tense in the verbs, of number in the nouns, general words used in particular senses, the addition or omission of a word, with several such circumstances, are of great consequence for discovering the true sense, and have not been by the generality of interpreters sufficiently attended to; which indeed we may not wonder at, as such minute particularities are not generally expected, and there never has been seen a book written with that comprehensive precision and exact nicety which are observable in the Apocalypse.

In composing this work we have freely made use of other authors, where we liked their opinions; and we hope to incur no censure, when on other occasions we have substituted our own.-Some few passages of the Apocalypse have been generally understood in the same sense by all the ancient fathers of the Church and modern Catholic interpreters; to these we have scrupulously adhered, and founded our interpretation on their testimony. In other places, where former writers took the liberty of interpreting and differed in their expositions, we have likewise thought it lawful to use the same liberty. We hope for indulgence, if in some few instances we appear to have applied the text of the ancient prophets to what they have not usually been applied. This freedom, we presume, is allowable, when the sense of the texts has never been fully settled. And here we cannot but remark that, whoever will take