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]]
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.
OF GILBERT'S DE MAGNETE.
De Magnete magneticisque corporibus, et de magno magnete tellure. By William Gilbert. London, 1600, folio.—There is a second edition; and a third, according to Watt.[[91]]
Of the great work on the magnet there is no need to speak, though it was a paradox in its day. The posthumous work of Gilbert, "De Mundo nostro sublunari philosophia nova" (Amsterdam, 1651, 4to)[[92]] is, as the title indicates, confined to the physics of the globe and its atmosphere. It has never excited attention: I should hope it would be examined with our present lights.