Article LXVI. Treatises and Dissertations upon the Book of Revelations.

SEE the Prefaces of Cornelius à Lapide, M. Bossuet Bishop of Meaux, Du Pin, and ours, on the Revelations; and Du Pin’s eight first Dissertations on this Book, which may pass for Prolegomena to the Revelations.

Joan. Basel de Alpha & Omega, Apoc. 1. 8. in the second Tome of the Thes. Dissert. Philolog. He was a German Lutheran.

Of the Nicolaitans, and Millenarians.

Eber. Rud. Roth de Nicolaitis, Apoc. 2. 15. at Jena, 1679, in 4to. See Tillemont likewise, tom. 9. p. 45, &c. of his Ecclesiastical Memoirs. Roth was a German, and Lutheran Professor at Stockholm.

Augustin Balthasar, a Lutheran, and Minister-General of Pomerania, wrote a Disputation upon the ancient Heresy of the Nicolaitans; printed at Grypswald, in 1682, in 4to. It is an Answer to Nicholas Dassovius.

Sebastian Nieman has likewise an historical and theological Dissertation on this Subject; printed at Jena, 1668, in 4to. John Valekenier has an Inquiry into this Heresy; printed in 4to. It is not said in what Year, or in what Place.

John Henry Alstedius, de mille annis Apocalypticis, & Danielis; at Frankfort, 1630, in 12mo. Moses Amyraut, du regne de mille ans; at Saumur, 1614, and 1655, in 8vo. in French.

John Gerard, Tractatus de Chiliasmo; at Jena, 1667.

Du Pin’s Dissertation on the Millenarians, Analys. Apoc. p. 319, & seq.

——His Dissertation upon the State of the Soul till the Day of Judgment, p. 409, &c.

——His Dissertation on the last Judgment, p. 682, &c.

Of the white Stone, and St. Michael’s Fighting.

Christ. David Funccius de calculo albo, Apoc. 2. 17. printed at Lipsick, 1691, in 4to. and afterwards in the first Tome of the Philological Dissertations. He was a German Lutheran.

Georg. Schwartzen de pugna Michaelis & Diaboli, Apoc. 12. 7, & seq. in the second Tome of the Philological Dissertations; and at Wittemberg, 1679, in 4to. He was a German Lutheran.

Benedict Pictet wrote upon the white Stone; printed at Leyden, 1677, in 4to. We have spoken of him upon the first to Timothy; and William Salden, in his Otia Theologica, printed at Amsterdam, 1684, in 4to.

Ulric Mayer, a Lutheran of Lipsick, wrote upon the Combat between St. Michael and the Dragon; at Lipsick, 1715, in 4to. the second Edition.

Upon the Lamb, the River, and the Garments.

John Fridericus, mentioned by us upon St. Luke, and in other Places, has written upon ver. 8. of chap. 13. relating to the Lamb which was slain from the beginning of the World; printed at Grypswald, 1705, in 4to.

Henrici Horchii de Agno in monte Sion, Apoc. 14. 1, 2, 3. in the second Tome of Philological Dissertations. He was a Calvinist, and Minister at Frankfort.

Deylingii, in Apoc. 16. 15. Beatus qui vigilat, & custodit vestimenta sua; Obser. tom. 2. chap. 50. James Hasæus has an Observation on the Garments of the People of Sardis, ch. 3. ver. 4, 5. in the Biblioth. Philolog. tom. 3. p. 253, 316. There are twenty Articles.

Joan. Meisner, Flumen Chrystallinum, Apoc. 22. 1. His Dissertation is in tom. 11. of the Great Criticks, p. 848. It is a kind of Comment, wherein he describes the River of Chrystal, mentioned by St. John.

Deylingii, de vestium candidarum usu apud Hebræos, ad Apoc. 3. 4. 7. 13. Obser. tom. 3. chap. 49.

Ejusdem, ad Apoc. 18. 4. de decessione facienda è Babylone; Observat. tom. 3. ch. 50.

Upon the seven Vials, the seven Seals, and seven Churches.

Henry Burton, an Englishman, of the Sect of Independents, in 1628. treated of the seven Vials, in ch. 15, and 16. printed at London, 1628.

John Lomeier made three Exercitations upon the seven Seals, in tom. 2. of the Philolog. Dissert. We have already spoken of him.

Francis Sengebart, a German Lutheran, made a Treatise upon the seven Spirits in the Revelations, in opposition to Ribera and Alcasar; printed at Goslar, 1616, in 4to.

Thomas Smith, an Englishman, of the Church of England, has treated of the seven Churches, in his Letters concerning the Manners of the Turks; printed at Oxford, 1672, in 8vo. He died in 1710.

Jerom Vechietti, in his eight Books of the Primitive Year, treats of the seven Churches, to which St. John addresses himself in the Revelations; printed at Augsburg, 1621, in fol.

Upon the two Witnesses, and Antichrist.

James Durfeldius, of Westphalia, has treated of the two Witnesses of the Truth, in chap. 2. ver. 3. printed at Rostock, in 1638, in 4to. and has written three Disputations on the Sacrifices, in chap. 13. ver. 8. printed ibid. 1642, in 4to.

Henry Muhlius, a German Lutheran, has treated of the Destiny of the two Witnesses: This was printed at Kiel, in 1702, in 4to.

We have a particular Article on Antichrist, in another Place. We shall take notice here only of Malvanda’s Treatise, printed in fol. and divided into eleven Books. He begins with a Catalogue of such ancient and modern Authors as have treated of him, whether expressly, or in their Comments on Holy Scripture; whether in their Histories, controversial Treatises, or other Works. He speaks afterwards of the Name of Antichrist, of his Person, and the time of his Appearing, &c. He concludes with submitting his Work to the Judgment of the Pope, and takes notice that he finished it on St. Thomas of Canterbury’s Day, in the Year 1604. and in the beginning of the eight and thirtieth Year of his Age. There is a great deal of Learning in it; but as the Matter is obscure, and very uncertain, Malvanda delivers boldly his Conjectures, and those of others, concerning Prophecies, the true meaning whereof cannot certainly be known by Men: and, for this reason his Work is more curious than useful, and solid. He makes abundance of Digressions upon Points of History and Criticism, which are not the least profitable part of his Treatise. This is M. Du Pin’s Judgment, declared by him in his Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique.

Upon several other Subjects.

Gustavus Schrodterus, a German Lutheran, has a particular Disputation upon the Author of the Revelations; printed at Rostock, 1697, in 4to.

George Wedelius, in two of his Sacred and Profane Dissertations, printed in Latin at Jena, 1708, in 4to. explains what the precious Wood is, called Lignum Thyinum, ver. 12. of chap. 18. and his Description agrees very well with the Tree named Sabina, or Sabin-tree. We have already spoken of the Author, who was one of the most laborious of his Nation.

We have already mentioned the Disputation of Antony Driessen, and Herman Deusing, upon the same Passages of this Book; which is of use in the Illustration of these Places. It is in tom. 1. of the Bibliotheca Philologica, p. 139, and 155. The first was of Utrecht upon the Rhine; the second of Groninguen, a Calvinist, and Professor of Law.

The Subject of their Disputation turns upon the Reign of a thousand Years, upon the Woman, and Beast in the Revelations; which both explain in their way, and after a different manner.

What we have mentioned of Dressen, is only an Abridgement of a larger Work composed by him upon this Subject, and printed 1717, in 4to. under the Title of Meditations upon the Revelations; wherein he examines, 1. Whether there were not seven Periods of the Church in the New Testament, each including the space of 160 Years. 2. Whether, besides these seven Periods, there were not another space of Time pointed out in the 20th Chapter. 3. He treats of the seven Seals, of the seven Trumpets, and seven Thunders, &c.

The same Person, in the same Year; ibid. published another Work upon the whole Scripture; whereof there is notice taken in the same Tome of the Biblioth. Philolog. Part 1. p. 168.

Bernard Peter Karl, Minister at Esens in Friesland, put out a Demonstration of the Time of the first apocalyptical Vision, and of the Reign of a thousand Years, in seven Propositions; tom. 2. of the Biblioth. Philolog. p. 598, 611.

He has also written Reflections upon what Antony Driessen wrote upon the same Subject. They are addressed, in the way of Letter, to Herman Deusing; and to be found in the same Tome, p. 919, 981. He has added to them a kind of Appendix relating to the Woman in the Wilderness, mentioned in chap. 12. ver. 6, 14. concerning the Beast, chap. 13. ver. 5. upon the Dragon, &c. in tom. 6. p. 1105, 1136.

Michael Resall, Greek Professor at Groninguen, made an Observation upon the Throne of Satan; printed in the Biblioth. Philolog. tom. 3. p. 93, 109. Here he explains ver. 13, and 17 of chap. 2. of the Revelations.

Theodore Hasæus has also made a Dissertation on the same Subject; which is in the same Tome, p. 104, 132. It is divided into 18 Articles. He treats there of all the false Deities adored at Pergamus, and of the Worship paid to them; particularly to Æsculapius, under the figure of a Serpent. There are several curious inquiries relating to Antiquity, in this Work.

John d’ Outrein wrote a Dissertation upon the Word Conqueror mentioned, in ch. 2. ver. 7. in the same Collection, tom. 4. p. 605, 634.

John Prideaux has a Discourse upon the Book of Life, spoken of in ver. 8. of ch. 13. It is the fourth of his Discourses; printed at Zurich, 1672, in 4to. He was an Englishman of Hertford¹, of the Church of England, and Bishop of Worcester. He died in 1650.

The End of the fifth and last Part of the Bibliotheca Sacra.