A plain discoverie of the whole Revelation of St. John ... whereunto are annexed certain oracles of Sibylla.... Set Foorth by John Napeir L. of Marchiston. London, 1611, 4to.[87]
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The first edition was Edinburgh, 1593,[88] 4to. Napier[89] always believed that his great mission was to upset the Pope, and that logarithms, and such things, were merely episodes and relaxations. It is a pity that so many books have been written about this matter, while Napier, as good as any, is forgotten and unread. He is one of the first who gave us the six thousand years. "There is a sentence of the house of Elias reserved in all ages, bearing these words: The world shall stand six thousand years, and then it shall be consumed by fire: two thousand yeares voide or without lawe, two thousand yeares under the law, and two thousand yeares shall be the daies of the Messias...."
I give Napier's parting salute: it is a killing dilemma:
"In summar conclusion, if thou o _Rome_ aledges thyselfe reformed, and to beleeue true Christianisme, then beleeue Saint _John_ the Disciple, whome Christ loued, publikely here in this Reuelation proclaiming thy wracke, but if thou remain Ethnick in thy priuate thoghts, beleeuing[90] the old Oracles of the _Sibyls_ reuerently keeped somtime in thy _Capitol_: then doth here this _Sibyll_ proclame also thy wracke. Repent therefore alwayes, in this thy latter breath, as thou louest thine Eternall salvation. _Amen_."
--Strange that Napier should not have seen that this appeal could not succeed, unless the prophecies of the Apocalypse were no true prophecies at all.
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