The Argument of This Whole Epistle.

By His Majesty King James One of England, Six of Scotland

His book or Epistle of Revelation, as called in doubt, as well for the uncertainty of the Author, as also for the canonicalness of the book it self, by sundry of the ancients, and specially by Eusebe; For loving thereof I need not to insist, since it is both received now of all Christians, and also divers of the Neoteriques, in special Beza in his Preface upon it, hath handled that matter sufficiently already; SO that this doubt only rests now in men, that this Book is so obscure and allegorical, that it is in a manner unprofitable to be taught or interpreted, Whereunto I will shortly make answer, and then go forward to set down the method of the same: And therefore to make deduction from the beginning, let us understand in what several or principal parts the whole scriptures may be divided in, and then which of them this Book is. How soon Adam being made perfect in his creation, and having the choice of Life and Death, Good and Evil, did by his horrible defection make choice Death, and cast off Life, and by that means infected his whole posterity with double sin, to wit, Original and Actual, God notwithstanding had such a Love to mankind as being his most Noble workmanship, and Creature, made to his own Likeness and Image, that he selected a Church amongst them who first because of their weakness and incredulity, he with his own mouth taught, and next instructed and raised up notable men amongst them to be their Rulers, whom be endowed with such excellent gifts, as not only their example in life preached, but also by Miracles they strengthened and confirmed their faith: But lest this ministry of men should make them to depend only upon their mouths, forgetting Him, and making Gods of them, he at length out of his own mouth gave them his Law, which he caused them tout in Writing, and retain still amongst them; And then lest they should forget and neglect the same, he raised up godly Rulers, as well Temporall as Spiritual, who by their holy lives and working of Miracles, revived and strengthened the law in their hearts.

But seeing, that notwithstanding all this, they cast themselves headlong in the gulf of vices (such is the unthankful and repining Nature of Man,) he raised up Prophets, as especially Jeramia and Daniel, to assure them of the sins, and by Visions to forewarn them of the times to come, whereby the Godly might turn and arm themselves, and the wicked might be made inexcusable. And thus much for the Old Testament. But then God seeing that notwithstanding this, there crept in such a general corruption amongst them, that scarce one might be found that bowed not his knee to Baal; He then by his unsearchable Wisdom incarnated his Eternal Son and Word The Lord Jesus, who by his death as Passion accomplished the faith of the Fathers; whose Salvation was by the believing in him to come, as also made an open and patent way Grace to all the world thereafter: And then as upon a new world, and a new church, God’s Fatherly care to Mankind was renewed, but in a more favorable form, because he looked upon the Merits of his dear Son: Then, first Christ with his win mouth did instruct men, and confirmed his Doctrine by Miracles, and secondly raised up the Apostles to give the Law of Faith, confirming it by their lives and Miracles, and secondly raised up the Apostles to give the Law of Faith, confirming it by their lives and Miracles: And last, that notwithstanding this Defection was beginning to creep in again, he inspired one of them, to wit, John to write this Book; that he might thereby, even as Jeremiah and Daniel did in the old Law, swell rebuke them of their sins, as by forewarning them, to arm them against the great temptations that were to come after. Then of it self it proves, how profitable this Book is for this age, seeing it is the last Revelation of God’s will and Prohecy, that every was, or shall be in the World: For we shall have no more prophecies already given, as Christ in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man teacheth. Now as to the method, this holy Epistle is directed to the seven Churches of Asia Minor, whom he names and writes to particularly in the first three Chapters of the same, and under the Names to all their true successors, the whole church Militant in the World. The whole matter may be divided in six parts, to win, The praise of dispraise of every one of these Churches, according to their merits wherein they merit good or evil, what way they ought to reform themselves, and this is contained in the three first Chapters: And to make them inexcusable, in case they slide again, he shows the estate of the whole Church militant in their time: he tells them what it shall be until the end of the World, and what it shall be until the end of the world, and what is shall be when it is Triumphant and immortal after the dissolution: These three last parts are declared by Visions in the rest of the Epistle, first the present estate of the church then, and what it should be thereafter unto the later day, is summarily declared by the first six of the seven Seals: in the sixth and seventh Chapters, and afterwards more at large by the seven Trumpets that came out of the seventh Seal in the 8th through 11th chapters: and because through Tyranny and abuse of the Popedome, Popery is the greatest temptation since Christ’s first coming, or that shall be unto his last; therefore he specially insists more at large and clearly, in the declaration and painting forth of the same, by Vision of the woman in the widerness, and of the Beasts that rose out of the sea and the earth in the 12, 13, and 14th chapters; And then to comfort men that might otherwise despair, because of the greatness of that temptation, he declares by the next following Vision of the Phials, what plagues shall light upon the Pope and his followers: Next, he describes him again, far clearer then any time before, and likewise his ruine, together with the sorrow of the Earth, and joy of Heaven therefore: And then to inculcate and ingrave the better the forsaid Visions in the hearts and memories of men, he in a vision makes a short sum and recapitulation of them, to wit, of the present estate of the Church then, and whit should be thereafter, unto the Day of Judgement, together with a short description of the said Day : And last he describes by a Vision, the glorious reward of them, who constantly persist in the Truth, resisting all the temptations which he hath fore spoken, To wit he describes the blessed estate of the holy and Eternal Jerusalem, and Church Triumphant, and so with a short and pithy Conclusion makes and end.