gen, MarginaliaNico. de Lyra and other popishe writers deceaued in the 13. chapt. of the Apoc.Matthias Dorinkus, the author of Fortalilium fidei, and other Cōmentaries moe of the same faction:  

who writyng vpon this xiij. chapter of the Apocalips, and not consideryng the circumstauncies therof, both are deceaued them selues, & deceaue many other, applying that to the Turke, which cā not otherwise be verified but onely vpon the pope, as may appeare sufficiently by the premisses: Not that I write this of any moode or malice either to the Citie of Rome, or to the person of the Byshop, as beyng Gods creature: but beyng occasioned here to entreate of the Prophecies agaynst the Turkes, would wish the readers not to be deceaued, but rightly to vnderstand the simple Scriptures accordyng as they lye, to the entent that the true meanyng therof beyng boolted out, it may be the better knowen what Prophecyes directly make agaynst these Turkes, what otherwise.

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In the whiche Prophecies agaynst the Turkes, now to procede, let vs come to the 20. chapter of the Apocalips, wherein the holy Scripture seemeth playnly and directly to notifie the sayd Turkes. The wordes of the Prophecie be these.  

MarginaliaApoc. cap. 20. And I saw an Aungell descendyng from heauen, hauyng the key of the bottomles pyt, and a great cheyne in his hand: and he tooke the Dragon, the old Serpent, which is the deuill and Satanas, and bound hym vp for a thousand yeares, and cast him in the pyt, and sealed hym vp, that he should not seduce the people any more, till the thousand yeares were expired: and after that he must be let loose for a litle while. &c.

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And it foloweth after:  

And when the thousand yeares shalbe complete, Satanas shalbe let out of his doūgeon, and shall go abroad to seduce the people, which are on the iiij. corners of the land of Gog and Magog, to assemble them to battayle: whose nūber is like to the sandes of the Sea. And they went vp vpō the latitude or breadth of the earth, and compassed about the tentes of the Saintes, and the welbeloued Cities. &c.

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MarginaliaThe bynding and loosing out of Sathan examined.
Three thinges to be noted in thys prophesie. To the perfect vnderstandyng of this Prophecie, three thynges are necessary to be knowen. First what is ment by byndyng vp, and loosing out of Satanas the old Dragon. Secondly, at what tyme and yeare first he was cheyned vp and sealed for a 1000. yeares. Thirdly, at what yeare & tyme these thousand yeares did end, when as he should be loosed out agayne for a litle season. Whiche three poyntes beyng well examined and marked, the prophesie may easely be vnderstand directly to be ment of the Turke. Albeit Anagogically some part therof may also be referred not vnproperly vnto the Pope, as is aboue notified.  

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MarginaliaWhat is meant by bynding vp of Sathan. First, by byndyng and loosing of Satanas, seemeth to be mente the ceasing and staying of the cruell & horrible persecution of the Heathen Emperours of Rome, agaynst the true Christians, as is to be sene in the x. first persecutiōs in the primitiue Church aboue described in the former part of these Actes and Monumentes: in the whiche moste bloudy persecutions, Satanas the deuill then raged without all measure, till tyme it pleased almighty God to stoppe this old Serpent, and to tye him shorter. And thus haue you to vnderstand what is ment by the byndyng vp of Sathan for a thousand yeares: whereby is signified that the persecution agaynst the Christiās styrred vp by the beast (that is, in the Empire of Rome, through the instigation of Sathan) shall not alwayes continue, but shall breake vp, after a certaine tyme, and shall cease for a thousand yeares. &c.

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MarginaliaThe tyme of the bynding vp of Sathan.
Apoc. 11. 13. Now, at what time and yeare this persecution, that is, the fury and rage of Sathan should cease, is also declared in the Apoc. before: where in the chapter 11. and. 13.  

we read that the beast afore mentioned,Marginalia42. monethes in the Apoc. declared. shall haue power to worke his malice and mischief, the space of 42. monethes & no more, and then that Sathan shoulde be locked vp for a thousand yeares. The computation of which monethes beyng counted by Sabbates of yeares (after the example of the 69. weekes of Daniell. cap. 11,)   it doth bring vs to the iust yeare and tyme, when that terrible persecution in the primitiue church should end, and so it did.MarginaliaSupputatiō of yeares betwene the beginning & ceasing the persecutiōs in the primitiue Church. For geue to euery moneth a Sabbat of yeares, that is, recken euery moneth for seuen yeares, and that maketh 294. yeares. which was the full tyme betwene the 18. yeare of Tiberius, (vnder whom Christ suffered) and the death of Maxentius the last persecutour of the primitiue Church in Europe, subdued by Constantinus, as may appeare by calculating the yeares, monethes, and dayes, betwene the sayd yeare of the reigne of Tiberius, and the latter end of Maxentius: and so haue ye the supputation of the yeare and time, when Satan was first bounde vp, after he had raged in the primitiue Church 42. monethes. Which monethes, as is sayd, being counted by Sabbates of yeares, after the vsuall maner of þ^e Scrip ture, MarginaliaVide supra pag. 383.mounteth to 294. yeares:   and so much was the full tyme betwene the passion of our Lord, which was in the 18. yeare of Tiberius, vnto the last yeare of Maxentius.

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And here by the way commeth a note to be obserued: that forasmuch as, by the number of these 42. monethes, specified in the Apocalips, the Empire of Rome must necessarily be confessed to be the first beast:MarginaliaThe pope proued to be the second beast mentioned in the Apocal. cap. 13. therefore it must by lyke necessitie follow, the Byshop of Rome to be the second beast, wyth the two hornes of the Lambe, for that he onely hath and doth cause the sayd Empyre of Rome to reuiue and to be magnified, and so doth not the Turke, but rather laboureth to the contrary. Wherfore let euery Christen man be wyse and beware betyme, how he taketh the marke of that beast, least peraduenture it follow vpon him, that he drinke of that terrible cup of wrath mencionedMarginaliaEt hic bibet de vino iræ dei Apoc. 14. Apocal. chap. 14.  

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MarginaliaThe 3 part of the prophesie for the loosing out of Satan. Thirdly, it remaineth to be discussed touching þ^e thyrd point in this foresayd prophesie, that as we haue found out (through the helpe of Christ) the yeare and tyme of Satās bynding: so we search out likewise the tyme and season of his loosing out: which by the testimonie of Scripture, was appointed to be a thousand yeares after hys bynding vp, & so rightly according to the tyme appoynted it came to passe. For if we number well by the scripture þ^e yeare of hys bynding vp, which was frō the passion of our Lord 294. yeres, and adde thereto a thousand yeares, it amounteth to 1294.MarginaliaThe beginning of the Turkes progenie. which was the very yeare when Ottomannus the first Turke beganne his reigne: which was the first spring and wellhead of all these wofull calamities that the Churche of Christ hath felt both in Asia, Affrica, and Europe, almost these three hundreth yeares past. For so we finde in Chronicles, that the kingdome of the Turkes being first deuided into foure families. an. 1280. at length the familie of Ottomans preuayled, and thereupon came these, whom now we call Turkes: which was about the same tyme, when pope Boniface the viij. was Byshop of Rome.  

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MarginaliaThe tyme of Transubstantiation Where, by the way this is againe to be noted, that after the decree of Transubstantiation was enacted in the Coūcell of Laterane by Pope Innocent the iij. the yeare of our Lord 1215.MarginaliaThe tyme of the Turkes. not long after, about the yeare of our Lord 1260. was styrred vp the power and armes of the Oguzians, and of Orthogules father of Ottomānus: who about the yeare of our Lord 1294. began first to vexe the Christians about Pontus and Bithynia: and so beginning hys kingdome, an 1300. reigned 28. yeares,MarginaliaEx Laonico Chalcondyla. lib. 1. as is afore mentioned.  

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MarginaliaThe prophesie of Ezechiel. cap. 38. Mention was mad before of Ezechiel propheciyng agaynst Gog, whose wordes diuers expositours doe applye agaynst the Turke, and are these:  

Thou shall come from thy place, out of the North partes, thou and much people with thee, all rydyng vpon horses, a great and a myghty armye, and thou shalt come vp agaynst my people of Israell as a cloude, to couer the land: Thou shalt be in the latter dayes, and I wyll bryng thee vpon my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before theyr eyes. Thus sayth the Lord God: Art not thou he, of whom I haue spoken in the old tyme, by the hand of my seruaunts, the Prophets of Israell, that prophesied in those dayes and yeares, that I would bryng thee vpon them? At the same tyme also, when Gog shall come agaynst the land of Israell, sayth the Lord God, my wrath shal aryse in mine anger. For in my indignation, and in the fire of my wrath haue I spoken it: Surely at that tyme there shall be a great shakyng in the land of Israell: So that the fishes of the sea, the foules of the heauen, the beastes of the fielde, and all that moue and creepe vpon the earth, and all the men that are vpon the earth, shall tremble at my presence: the mountaynes shall be ouerthrowne: the starres shall fall, and euery wall shall fall to the ground. &c.

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MarginaliaMethodius prophecies. VNto these testimonies aboue excerped out of the holy Scriptures, let vs adde also the propheticall reuelatiōs of Methodius, Hildegardis, Sybilla, & other.  

This Methodius is thought of some to be the same Methodius, of whom Hierome, and Suidas make mention: which was Byshop first of Olympus in Lycia, then of Tyrus, and suffred martyrdome in the last persecution of the primitiue Church, vnder Diocletian. Vnto whom also Trithemius attributeth the booke intitled: De Quatuor nouissimis temporibus.MarginaliaThe booke of Methodius mistaken. But that can not be, for asmuch as the sayde Methodius doth cite and alledge the Maister of Sētence, namely in his 2. booke and 6. dist. which Maister of Sen-

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