are mentioned in the 7th of Daniel was the peculiar name of the Messias or of that eminent Christ whose coming was the great expectation of the Jewish Nation and was appropriated to him alone For upon that solemn adjuration of the High-Priest to Jesus to tell him whether he were the Christ which was the putting him to his Oath about it the Answer which our Saviour gives to it is expressed in these very words of Daniel viz. The Son of Man that was to come in the clouds of Heaven Together with the Circumstance of Matth. 26. 64 65 66. sitting on the right hand of the power of God The same with his Being brough near to the Ancient of days who was upon his Throne Dan. 7. 10 13. with myriads of Angels about him And this was so presently understood for an Answer of his being the Christ and so generally that the High-Priest thereupon forthwith rent his cloaths and cryed that he had spoken Blasphemy and all the rest about him judged him to be worthy of death To me therefore it looks like an Infatuation in so understanding a Person as Grotius To make the Son of Man in this 7th of Grot. in v. 13. cap. 7. Dan. Daniel to signify nothing but the Roman People when he himself in his Comment upon the very same Expression and joined with the same Circumstances in the 24th of St. Matthew v. 30. had acknowledged it to be spoken of Christ And on St. Matthew 26. 64. does expresly say that our Saviour's owning himself there to be the Christ does refer to the same way of expressing it in this 7th of Daniel And which is the most to be admired This he does without giving any account of any necessity for it from this or any other place where it is used but thinks it sufficient that in this new sense it will uphold a new Hypothesis This is therefore another plain instance against how clear a Light Grotius is able to shut his eyes to be constant to a new Invention though against the unanimous agreement of all the World besides and even to the hazarding of the Crime of Blasphemy For a Crime of that nature was it judged to be by the whole Sanhedrim of the Jews as has been just observed to give the incommunicable name of the Son of Man in the 7th of Daniel to any other than to the true Messias And the error of their Judgment was only the fixing of that Crime upon him who was the True Christ to whom it did really belong It does indeed by this seem to be a double Blasphemy first to take away the proper Character of the Messias from the True Christ And next To give it away to a thing that neither he himself nor any else ever thought to be the Christ CHAP. II. Mat. XXIV The 14th Proposition The Kingdom of the Son of Man Dan. 7. is the second Coming of Christ in Glory This demonstrated upon Four General Heads First From its being the same with the Kingdom of the Saints in that Chapter 2. From its being the same with the Reign of Christ Rev. 11. 15. 3. From its being the same with the beginning of the Resurrection Dan. 12. 2. This evinced in three Lemma's 4. From its being the same with that which is determined by our Saviour and the Apostles to be the Second Coming of Christ in Glory This confirmed in six Particulars Dr. Hammond 's Objection against this answered SINCE now it is undoubted that the Kingdom of the Son of Man is some Kingdom of our Jesus The Characters of it will make appear what Kingdom of his it is and from a view of them it may be resolved That The Kingdom of the Son of Man in the 7th of Daniel is the Second Proposit 14. Coming of Christ in Glory One would easily be persuaded of this at the first fight of the glorious Properties of it and especially upon the account of its Vniversal Command and the Eternal Duration of it For what else is his coming in Glory for but to take possession of the whole World and to reign with his Father and his Saints in it to all Eternity And though he delivers up his Kingdom to his Father at the last end yet he has so much share in it as to have it here called his Everlasting Kingdom As elsewhere it is said also And he shall reign for ever and ever But it may be said that this Rev. 11. 15. was verified of Christ at his first coming For at his Ascension into Heaven he is said to have all Power given unto him both in Matth. 28. 18. Heaven and Earth It must therefore be shown that by the Characters of the Kingdom of the Son of Man in this place it cannot be that Vniversal Power which was given to Christ at his Dan. VII Ascension into Heaven and his sitting on the Right hand of Power For this purpose it is to be considered That the Kingdom of the Son of Man and That of the Saints in the 7th Chapter of Daniel is the same Kingdom for they both are described as beginning at the same time at the destruction of the Little Horn and have the same Characters of an Universal and Eternal Dominion which it is impossible for two different Kingdoms to have at the same time And the Kingdom of the Saints has these Properties in it 1. To begin at the destruction of a Kingdom that did devour v. 21 22. the whole Earth and of a great tyrannizing Power in it who did wear out the Saints of the Most High that is at the destruction of v. 26 27. all the Enemies of the Church upon Earth for thereupon it had his Dominion and all Dominions under the whole Heaven 2dly To be in the actual possession of the Obedience of v. 14. All People Nations and Languages and of All Dominions under Heaven 3dly To be Eternal from that first beginning of such an Ibid. v. 27. Universal Dominion And this can be nothing but Christ's Second Coming in Glory For tho' all Power both in Heaven and Earth was given unto him at his Ascension into Heaven yet St. Paul tells us That all things then were not put under him and that he had not Heb. 2. 8. then put down all Authority and Rule and Power nor had he 1 Cor. 15 24 25. put all his Enemies under his feet which yet we see is necessary to be done to have His Kingdom be That of the Saints in this 7th of Daniel and which when it does comes to pass St. Paul in the same places does shew us to be his Coming in Glory But what appearance ever was there of such an Universal Kingdom of Christ on Earth in the time of the Ten Poman Persecutions or in the time of the Saracen and Turkish Empires after them And what fourth Kingdom that ruled over all the Earth was destroyed at the Ascension of
Temple shall be fulfilled which are the very same words with those in the other Verse that All thâ—se things should be fulfilled before that Generation v. 30. should pass away which do follow presently after the mention of the Signs that should begin the whole Scene of the Prophecy as if it were wholly restrained to them And then the meaning of All these things shall be fulfilled will be the same with that which the Jesuit Ribera and most others with him do determine the sense of a like expression at the beginning and at the end of the Apocalypse to be in both which places it is said of all the things in that Book that they were things that must shortly be done or fulfilled That is says Ribera of those words things that must shortly begin to be done which he says is a common way of speech in the World and according to the usage of Scripture In this sense all the things mentioned in the 24th of St. Matthew would be said to be fulfilled in that Generation though nothing but some very remarkable beginning of them had been then to be fulfilled And yet if it were less intelligible all that could be made of it would be but this That our Saviour had very much implicated the Destruction of Jerusalem with his last coming to Judgment in that Discourse For that the coming of the Son of Man there mentioned is unquestionably to be understood of his coming to Judgment is manifest from what has been discoursed more particularly about it And the Objections against it are too inconsiderable to make it questionable Whatever other mentions of the coming of the Son of Man there may be that may seem to signify a sooner appearance of Christ's Kingdom cannot be of any moment against it For the whole force of the Proof from this place in St. Matthew lies upon the peculiar words and circumstances that it is described by There are indeed some Exhortations of our Saviour and his Apostles to persons then living to watch against the day of this Lord 's coming as if by that coming were meant some coming in that Age but that can be no argument for it For we meet with the same Exhortations in places where by all it is granted to concern only the last coming of Christ to Judgment As in St. Matthew 25. 13. 1 Cor. 15. 51 52. 1 Thess 4. 15 17. The reason and application of which in the Thessalonians is given in the next Chapter following from the 1st to the 7th Verse from the uncertainty of the particular time and season when that last coming should be Wherefore there seems now to be nothing that is at all considerable to make any maâ— question whether the coming of the Son of Man in this place of St. Matthew be the coming of Christ in glory And from what has been advanced to make it clear that our Saviour did refer to the coming of the Son of Man in Daniel where there are the same words and circumstances of a glorious appearance with his Angels at the time of a great Judgment and of an universal dominion of the Saints over all the Earth it appears to be unreasonable to doubt whether this coming of the Son of Man in Daniel be the same with it and therefore we may securely conclude that the Kingdom of the Son of Man in the 7th Chapter of Daniel is Christ's second coming in glory I have endeavoured to secure this with the greater care because all hopes of any certain determination of the sense of this Prophecy seems to depend upon it CHAP. III. Dan. VII The 15th Proposition The Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel is the same with the Beast in the Revelations This shown in 13 Particulars and made unquestionable from the three last The Corollaries of the 15th Proposition 1. The Beast in the Revelations the same with the little Horn in the 7th of Daniel 2. The Beast in the Revelations the same with the Fourth Beast in Daniel 7. 3. The time of the Beast in the Revelations is not till after the Roman Empire is divided into Ten Kingdoms 4. The Reign of the Beast in the Revelations is not yet past Grotius 's Opinion of the Signification of the Son of Man a sufficient Answer to all his Objections against these things AFter the Assurance that has been offered about the Kingdom of the Son of Man it will be convenient to improve the Knowledge that we have of the Beast in the Revelations to determine the Signification of the Fourth Kingdom in the 7th of Daniel immediately before that of the Son of Man And by comparing that Fourth Kingdom with the Characters of that in the Revelations it seems to be very plain That The Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel is the a BLas Viega in cap. 13. Apoc. For the Interpretation of this place it is to be known that there was a like Vision to this shown to Daniel in his 7th Chapter upon the Explication of which this Vision of ours in this place does depend Which Beast of Daniel according to the common Opinion of the Learned is the Roman Empire Besides the Fathers do generally understand that place of Antichrist Alcasar in cap. 13. Apoc. sect 3. In this place of the Revelations there is a manifest relation to that in the 7th of Daniel But the Beast is the Roman Empire Ibid. sect 5. Negari non potest It cannot be denied that in that Ten Horned Beast there is an allusion to that Fourth Beast of Daniel which is very plainly a Figure and Symbol of the Roman Empire Malvenda de Antichristo pag. 257. John does therefore call Antichrist a Beast more especially that he might express his Kingdom and Monarchy and to shew that he wrote with the same Spirit that Daniel did and that he prophesied of the same Beast which he also had foretold long before Ribera in cap. 12. Apocalyp numer 11. For this or a very like Beast did Daniel see in his 7th Chapter After this says he These therefore are the Ten Kings which Daniel foretold in those words and which John does here foretel Ibidem numer 12. We see that Irenaeus makes them Ten Kings after he had quoted Irenaeus for affirming that Daniel and John did speak of the same Ten Kings and that the Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast of Daniel are the same with the Ten Horns of the Beast in the Apocalyps same Prop. 15. thing with the Beast in the Revelations For it will be found That that Beast in the Revelations hath scarce a Property belonging to him which may not be found in the Fourth Beast of the 7th of Daniel And there are a great many such very peculiar Marks in each of them as shew them to be necessarily the peculiar Properties of one and the same thing For Example 1. The Beast in the Revelations has a very strange and peculiar Revel 13. 2. make
Kingdoms these in the 2 d Chapter are For they cannot possibly be the Four Reigns of so many single Persons either in the same or in different Nations In which sense Kingdoms are sometimes taken For the Four longest single Reigns that ever were heard of in an immediate Succession to one another do not reach to half the number of years that there are from the time of Nebuchadnezzar here said v. 38. to be the first to any Kingdom of Christ These Four Kingdoms then must necessarily be such Successions of Kingly Power as include the times of a great many single Rulers in them And then They must be either so many successive Forms of the Sovereign Power in the same Nation as Chap. 8. 22. the changes of the governing Form of the same Nation are called different Kingdoms and as the Monarchy of England and the Saxon Heptarchy may be said to be two different Kingdoms Or else they must be Four Kingdoms of different Nations in succession to one another Or some of them Forms of Government in the same Nation and others the Rule of different Nations For it seems hardly possibly to find any other acceptation of Successive Kingdoms but in one of these senses 1. It is certain that they cannot be Four Successive Forms of Sovereignty in the same Nation For since the first is known to be the Babylonian Nation the end of that would then be the Dan. 2. 38. end of all the Four and the beginning of a Kingdom of Christ upon Earth 2. Neither can they be part of them Forms of Sovereignty in the same Nations For the first of them is known to be the Babylonian Nation which had no differing Forms of Sovereignty in it from the time of Nebuchadnezzar to the last end of it and therefore the first must necessarily be the Babylonian Monarchy only And the next in immediate succession to it must be the Persian Monarchy upon the same account of its continuing in the same Monarchichal Form of Sovereignty from the beginning of it under Cyrus to the last Conquest of it under Darius But about the Third Kingdom in the 2 d Chapter there may be some question For that next the Persian is represented even in this very Prophecy Chap. 8. 21 22. with two several Forms of the Sovereign Power of it succeeding one another under the name of the Kingdom of the First King and of a Fourfold Kingdom after him But the Third also does appear to be nothing but the whole Dan. II VII time of the Graecian Monarchy from its Succession to the Persian till its Conquest by the Roman For the Fourth that is next to it is already found to be the same with the Fourth Kingdom in the 7th Chapter of Daniel pag. 121. And that Fourth in the 7th Chapter is already known to be a Kingdom of the Romans by Prop. 15. The Third Kingdom therefore beginning immediately after the Second or Persian Conquest and ending but immediately before the Roman Conquest immediate Succession being common to all the Four it must necessarily be the whole continuance of the Graecian Monarchy from the Persian to the Roman because the Fourth Kingdom is already known to be the Roman Thus then do we at last find that these Four Kingdoms in the 2 d Chapter must be the Kingdoms of Four Ruling Nations immediately succeeding one another and that it is at the same time determined what Nations they are in particular From hence then it appears that the Third in the 2 d and the 7th Chapters must be the same Ruling Nation For the Third in the 2 d Chapter was immediately before that which is the same Fourth in both Chapters pag. 121. Paragr praeced And that Third in the 2 d Chapter ruled over all the Earth and v. 39. therefore included in it any other Kingdom of the Prophet's Earth that was destroyed at the beginning of the same Fourth in the 7th Chapter Now the Fourth in the 7th Chapter did break in pieces the v. 23. Third there that was before it and therefore that Third in the 7th Chapter must be the same with or be included in the Third of the 2 d Chapter Besides by the term of all the Earth must at least be understood Chap. 2. 39. Judaea in Scripture or the Prophet's Nation according to the sense of all Interpreters And all the Four Kingdoms of the v. 17. 7th Chapter are said to arise out of the Earth or to be in Rule over it and so over Judaea Wherefore the Third in the 2d and in the 7th being both over Judaea at least because both over the Earth and both destroyed by the same Fourth they can be but one and the same Kingdom in one and the same place There is no question now to be made about the sameness of the First and Second in each Chapters For since they are the First and Second to the same Third in both Chapters seg praeced And that the use of the word Kingdom is found to signify a Ruling Nation pag. 107. And since the two first in the 2 d Chapter are already determined to be the Babylonians and Persians ibid. The Prophetical use of the same words with the same things is sufficient by Rule the 3 d to satisfy any that they signify the same things in both Chapters Besides that they are all represented in the 7th Chapter to be great remarkable Kingdoms under the names of Great Beasts and in succession after one another And then The Second before the Graecian Monarchy in the 7th Chapter can be no other Kingdom but the Persian as it is in this very Prophet also shewn in the 8th Chapter 20 21. And the First of these Successive Kingdoms in the 7th Chapter before the Persian must then be the Babylonian which the Persian conquered For there were no other two great Kingdoms in those times in a successive order to one another before the Graecian Conquest called the Third pag. 107. chap. 2. 39. The whole number also of the Four Kingdoms in the 7th Chapter seem to be plainly for no other end but only to measure out the time of the last Kingdom of the Saints about which all the concern of that Prophecy is as may be seen at the 17th and 18th verses where after the Interpreting Angel had said These Great Beasts are Four Kings without mentioning any thing of them he adds But the Saints of the Most High shall take tbe Kingdom and possess it for ever Wherefore since the Three last of these Kingdoms are found to be the same with those in the 2d Chapter about the same concern pag. 123. 126. and all the Five are the same number in the whole with the number of these here for the same end and are prophesied of in the same Reign of the Babylonian Monarchy which is the first of them in the 2 d Chapter v. 38. and so could not begin before that
time There seems to be no manner of doubt but that they are all the same Four in both Chapters For otherwise there would have been a plain ground laid down for a delusion in this Chapter also about the most momentous things that can concern the Church of God as has been observed And therefore do we find an unanimous Consent amongst all sorts of CONSENT Interpreters That whatsoever these Four Kingdoms be in particular yet that they must certainly be the same Kingdoms in both Chapters Thus are we at last come to find not only that the Five Kingdoms in each Chapter are the same particular Kingdoms but also what they all are by name And thereby is it manifest that the names of The Beast in general does signify a Ruling Nation and that the parts of A Beast signifying Dominion does denote the Supream Powers of that Nation which if they be represented as existing all at a time do signify the division of that Empire into so many Sovereignties as we see in the Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter according to the Proposition at first laid down CHAP. VII Dan. II VII Objections against the making the Third Kingdom in the 2 d and 7th of Daniel the whole time of one Ruling Nation answered IT is unanimously agreed amongst the Interpreters of all Parties and Interests That the Four Kingdoms in the 2d and 7th Chapters of Daniel are the same particular Kingdoms how differing soever they are from one another in the particular applications of them It is also as generally agreed amongst them that the two first of these Kingdoms in each Chapter are the Babylonian and Persian Monarchies But about the Third Kingdom in each Chapter though acknowledged to be the Scheme of one and the same Dominion there is not the same consent for the particular application of it At the first mention of a difference one would be apt to admire what should make any one sceptical in this matter who affirms the other Two before this Third to be known Kingdoms and that all the Four do immediately succeed one another as has been observed to be acknowledged by all Parties For all that seems needful to be done for such an ones satisfaction is to desire him to enquire what Kingdom it was of the same kind and nature with the Babylonian and Persian Monarchy acknowledged to be the first and second that came immediately after the Second of these Kingdoms or the Persian Monarchy Since the Second is granted by all to be the Persian Monarchy from the time of its first great appearance in the World at its Conquest of the Babylonian who would not forthwith conclude that the Third must be that whole Monarchy which subdued the Persian and succeeded in its room that is the whole Graecian Monarchy This being the natural and obvious determination about it and according to the common Rule of reading the sense of all other places of Scripture that is from the known use of them in the Context it would be imagined that there must certainly be some very great appearing necessity that could make Grotius and some others of this last Age to judge the Third Kingdom in both Chapters to be of quite another nature than those before it were especially since it is against the sense of all the Ancients who have been found from St. Jerom to have been generally agreed in making this Third as well as all the rest to be the Successive Rule of an whole Nation The Opinion of these Innovators about the Third Kingdom is That it is the single Reign of Alexander the Great and that the Fourth Kingdom in both Chapters is the division of the Greek Monarchy amongst his Ten Captains immediately after him The Reasons that they rely upon for this new Opinion against all the seeming Absurdities that attend it are chiefly these that follow 1. Because if the Third Kingdom in the 2d and 7th of Daniel were the whole Greek Monarchy then the Fourth must be the Roman which conquered the Graecians and then the Kingdom of the Son of Man Chap. 7. which comes after the Fourth Kingdom there must not begin till after the end of all Roman Dominion upon Earth and this is supposed to give too great an advantage to the Jews to conclude that Christ Jesus at his first appearance could not be the King Messias or the Son of Man in his Kingdom For he died about the beginning of the Roman Monarchy after the compleat Conquest of the Graecian 2. This Objection will be thought to be much strengthened from the Prophecies that our Saviour and his Apostles have given out about the time of the coming of the Son of Man which seems to represent it to be the advancement of the Christian Church in the World by the destruction of the Jews its Enemies in that very Age when those Prophecies were delivered and therefore could not agree with the coming of the Son of Man in the 7th of Daniel if the Fourth Kingdom there before the Kingdom of the Son of Man were the Roman Monarchy 3. Again If the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel were the Roman Monarchy then the Little Horn in that Kingdom would be the same with the Beast in the Revelations as appears from the exact agreement of the Characters of them both compared together But it is thought impossible that the Little Horn and the Beast in the Revelations should be the same For the Little Horn was Dan. VIII not to arise till the Fourth Kingdom was broken into Ten Kingdoms Three of which it was to subdue Dan. 7. 8. Whereas the time of the Beast in the Revelations must necessarily have been soon after that that Prophecy was given which was long before any such division of the Roman Empire It is said both at the beginning and at the end of the Book That the time of those Rev. 1. 1 3. things was at hand and that they should shortly come to pass and should shortly be done And to make this unquestionable The Rev. 22. 6 7 10. Prophet is commanded at the end of the Prophecy not to seal the Saying of the Prophecy of that Book because the time was at hand 4. It is most agreeable to the Event and to the other parts of the Prophecy of Daniel to make the Fourth Kingdom to be the Graecian Monarchy in the time of Alexander's Successors For it has Ten Kings arising out of it to signify that variety of Kingdoms that his Captains did set up after his death And after these Ten is there a Little Horn represented almost every way the same in every Character of it with the Little Horn in the 8th Chapter which all agree to be Antiochus Epiphanes one of the Successors of Alexander's Captains 1. In the first of these Reasons there is nothing to force a Answer man against what is but the most probable sense of the words much less what has seemed to be the
to uphold it that all have thought that the General Peace on that side must have been precipitated And yet we have seen it deserred to this time And the Order of the Prophecy for the end of the Second Woe after the Resurrection Rev. 11. 14. of the Witnesses thereby observed and fulfilled against all human appearance 3. From my proof of the time of the full death of the Witnesses I did determine That there would be no suppression P. 92 106. Letter to H. P. of the Protestant Profession either in England or in the Palatinate which how miraculously it has been verified amongst us we are all the joyful Witnesses of Nor does it appear That the French in all their Devastations of the Palatinate ever carried on the Dragoon work of Abjuration amongst them And yet how contrary to all outward appearance of things here was this Conjecture when it was declared and some-while after it The Project of getting a Complying Parliament to put the strength of the Nation into Popish Hands by nulling the Laws against it was then in a fair likelihood of taking But upon the continual change of Corporations soon after it seemed to be out of all question And the fury with which the Bishops Constancy was entertained and the Severities of the Ecclesiastical Commission were sufficient Testimonies of the Resolution that was then taken to bring the Ruling Religion to that state of Toleration which might qualify them to be the Witnesses in Sackcloth And who could ever have thought that the most Refined Politicians in the Church of Rome should have been so unaccountably infatuated as to chuse such Methods as tended the most apparently to the ruine of all the fair hopes that their Cause was then in Or that the French would be so unready to oppose His Present Majesty's Expedition here when they foresaw it and long before had publickly threatned by their Ambassador to revenge all Attempts of that nature And then for the Palatinate There was no reason to imagine that the French Zeal for their new way of Conversions should not have been as hot as the Flames that they put the whole Country into 4. It was necessary for me in my way of applying the Vials to make the mortifications of the Imperial and truly Papal Party by the Reign of the present French King to P. 207. 241. be the Plague of the Fourth Vial upon the Beast and the time of every Vial being found by those that are past to be about the space of Forty years I have judged from thence that the present King there would not be longer a Plague of any moment to that Party His Reign having continued for P. 244. more than Forty years since the end of the Suedish-War And what considerable Plague has he been of late but to the Protestant Palatinate And he has already begun to be a spectator only of the Imperial and Papal Triumphs over him And yet how contrary to all appearance of things was it That the French King should not think of taking his advantage sooner against the Spanish Imperial and Papal Dominions OR That he should be willing to stand at gaze only for a whole Campagne while his new Conquests were forced from him 5. I have only this further to add That it is a most surprizing instance of Divine Providence to croud so many strange and unusual Revolutions together into one point of the time of a Prophecy of near 2000 years concern and to fulfil the Predictions of them by such new and unexpected means By the number of years assigned to the continuance of Judgments of God chap. 8 9. Rev. 11. 9. Ibid. p. 253 260. the second Woe And by the Three days and an half of the death of the Witnesses and by the time of the beginning of the fifth Vial Here are all these great Changes confined to the compass of less than Ten years viz. The perfect silencing of all the Reformed Churches in All Popish Territories The Revival of them The Advancement of one of them into a Popish Throne The Revolt of the whole Kingdom there from the Roman Church The last end of all Turkish Wars The General Mortification of the Roman Interest in all its own Territories And these we have seen begun to be accomplished by as strange means such as the forcing a whole Nation to that which they really account Idolatry by unheard of Artifices The Change of the Supream Power of a Kingdom the greatest Confederacy of Protestant and Popish Princes that was ever known The Pope's Excommunications of the fiercest Zealot of his Church that ever appeared The breaking of an handful of Men through the opposition of a prepared and powerful Enemy The sudden Conquest of several Eastern Countries and a new Revolution in their Government This wonderful Accomplishment of Predictions that were particularly foretold and confined to so short a time after and that also contrary to the appearing disposition of affairs may be a very reasonable presumption for the truth of the Principles upon which they rely But I have every where taken care upon the mention of these things to forewarn N. B. all That whatever becomes of these conjectures yet it will not affect the proof that I here offer for the Principles of the Protestant Applications For loose things may be built upon a very strong foundation But I hope these will be found not to have been rashly applied And then they will be a confirmation of the Demonstration à priori here attempted As Effects are usually instanced in to demonstrate the true Causes Indeed the chief end of publishing the other part first was to engage the curiosity of the World to enquire after this which was always the chief aim of my Studies about this Subject For as I was extreamly surprized and pleased with Mr. Mede's Method in the Demonstrative way so could I not think his precess altogether close enough for it as it has before been observed by others And tho the Learned Dr. More has very sufficiently shown that notwithstanding the strongest of the Objections against them they may nevertheless be most of them true yet I do not see that he has proved some of them upon which the main stress of the whole Application does lye to be necessary to be so which is the whole design of the Synchronism e. g. The Synchronisms suppose for their foundation that the Beast in the 13th Chap. and that in the Eleventh are the same particular state of the Seven Headed Beast which yet Grotius supposes to be quite different things and by that undermines the force of the Demonstration Dr. More endeavours to strengthen it by finding a likeness betwixt the Beasts in one Character of each which is far from a Cogent necessity Dr. More himself allows not the proof of the Synchronism betwixt the Beast and the Two Witnesses in the Eleventh Chapter from the end of the Kingdom of the Beast and of the Sackcloth
with a greater variety of Circumstances to determine the nature of that which is the great Affair in them all From hence then it does now appear That the wounded and healed Head in the 13th Chapter is so far from being one of the seven Hills of Rome that The wounded and healed Head of the Beast in the 13th Chapter Coroll 3 is the same last Ruling Head of the Beast with that in the 17th Chapter For the Beast in the 13th Chapter is under the same last Ruling Head with that in the 17th Chapter Coroll praeced Prop. 9. And the last Ruling Head of the Beast in the 17th Chapter called The eighth King was an Head that had been one of those seven that were past and gone before it and was now revived again by Coroll 1. Prop. 5. Which is the same with A last Ruling Head of Seven which was wounded to death and healed again The Beast therefore in the 13th Chapter is certainly in the state of an Head wounded to death and healed again After the certainty of which it will be a very extravagant thing to question Whether the wounded and healed Head which the Beast in the 13th Chapter is under be that wounded and healed Head which it is said in the Text to have CHAP. IX Rev. XI The 11th Proposition That the Judgment of the Dead Revel 11. 18. is the Judgment of the Dead at Christ's second Coming The Three Creeds confirm it The extravagance of the Grotian Interpretation of this Judging the Dead The Reign of Christ over the Kingdoms of this World His second Coming in Glory The twelfth Proposition The Beast in the 11th Chapter the same with The Beast in the other Chapters THere is now only the mention of the Beast in the 11th Chapter remaining to be found to be the same state of it with those in the other Chapters After which it will be very easie to look through the whole process of these Visions and to be thereby satisfied of the consistency of all the parts of them and their mutual dependance upon and relation to one another notwithstanding the seeming interfering order of them For this purpose it is to be observed first That the Judgment of the Dead Revel 11. 18. is the Judgment of the Dead at Christ's second Coming Prop. 11. For the phrase of Judging the Dead is always used for the Day of Judgment all over the New Testament And it is a fundamental Article of the Christian Faith expressed by those peculiar words in the Apostles Writings and put into the Apostles Creed in the same words and so was that peculiar expression always used by the first Fathers and for nothing else and in all the Three Creeds is it joined with Christ's second Coming as it is also for the most part found together with it in the New Testament And this shews the constant use of this expression by the whole Church in all times Wherefore to make the phrase of Judging the Dead to signifie here as some do only the Revenging the Cause of the Dead is to change the signification of a very peculiar and generally-known expression into a very uncommon acceptation of it and to do that without some great necessity for it for which there is here no apparent evidence pretended is the way to license men to allegorize all the Articles of our Belief away And besides this acceptation of Judging the Dead for the avenging them is beyond all example Judging and Judgment in general are indeed ambiguously used in Scripture but Judging the Dead is never any where made use of but to signifie the Judgment at Christ's second Coming and so was it always taken by the Christian Church in all Ages and so conveyed down by them in the same words in all the Ancient Creeds for several Ages and joined with the mention of Christ's second Coming So that of all the shifts that Grotius is put to for upholding his Interpretation there seems none to be more monstrous or that does more shew his resolution to cut all the Knots that he cannot unty than this miserable shift of making the Judging of the Dead here to signifie the Revenging of the Dead To assure one still further of this it appears to be the same phrase by which it is granted that the real Judging of the Dead is signified in these very Visions as Rev. 20. 12. See Grot. in 20 Apoc. v. 12. It is also added in this 11th Chapter v. 18. to make it more unquestionable That thou shouldst give the reward to thy servants the Prophets and to the Saints and to them that fear thy Name small and great Which shews that it is a change of the state of the Dead themselves by the reward that is given to their faithfulness and this can be nothing but their reward at the second Coming of Christ to Judgment For betwixt Death and That there is no other reward for the Prophets and Saints small and great at one time as is here expressed The time of the Dead is come that they should be judged and that thou shouldst give the reward c. From hence it cannot but be concluded That the Reign of Christ over the Kingdoms of this World Rev. 11. Corollary 15. is Christ's second Coming in Glory For first it is joined with judging of the Dead at the 18th verse The time is come that the Dead should be judged that is The time is now come now that thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned as just before it is expressed That glorious Reign and the Judging of the Dead are very expresly joined together in the same Doxology of the four and twenty Elders and so ty'd to the same time that if they be not contemporary yet there is nothing comes in betwixt them and therefore must that Reign of Christ be at least at the same time with his Coming in Glory And what can such a glorious Kingdom of Christ be at that time but his glorious Coming or Appearance For since there is but one second Coming of Christ to be expected his glorious Reign and his second Coming fixed as here to one time must certainly be the same thing And that which secures them to be the same without farther ground of scruple is That this Reign of Christ is said to be Universal over all the Kingdoms of this World and also Eternal with his Father for ever and ever v. 15. Which can be nothing but his Kingdom of Glory If it be objected That Christ's Coming in Glory is the beginning only of a Spiritual and Heavenly Kingdom whereas it is here said The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of Christ It is to be considered That the first shew of his Kingdom is agreed by all to be upon Earth at his Coming and for the remaining part of it it is here expressed to be for ever and ever and so also a Kingdom in Heaven with his Father It may
here be suggested That this would make the Coming of Christ in Glory and his Kingdom of Glory here upon Earth to be but a momentary thing only during the time of the Day of Judgment whereas he is represented in several places as reigning here in Glory with his Saints for a considerable time after the end of Antichrist But Mr. Mede has given this Answer to that That according to the Notion of the Day of Judgment among the Jews from whom the New Testament did borrow it it was taken for a continuance of time for 1000 years together But all that need be regarded for the present purpose in hand is That it is agreed by All Parties That the beginning of the Judgment of the Dead properly so called is not till the second Coming of Christ in Glory By this are we assured now at last That The Beast which killed the two Witnesses Rev. 11. 7. is the same time of Roman Rule with the Beast in the other Chapters Prop. 12. For first This Beast in the 11th Chapter hath one of the most peculiar distinguishing Characters of that Beast viz. The Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit which is the very same Character with that of the Beast in the 17th Chapter v. 8. in just the same peculiar phrase And the same Character has that Beast in the 13th Chapter in another different expression indeed but of the same signification viz. That it did rise out of the Sea for the Sea is very ordinarily called in the Septuagint which the Greek of the New Testament does generally conform to by the same name of the Abyss which is here rendred the bottomless pit When therefore we see in the Chapters after this 11th Chapter the mention of a Beast that is to ascend out of the bottomless pit which is made his peculiar Character to distinguish him from other states of him under the succession of his Heads and that here there is the same peculiar description of such a Beast with the name of THE Beast that ascendeth c. which plainly refers us to the same Character of a Beast somewhere else mentioned It must certainly be the same with that Beast or else there is no ground to believe a thing to be the same at two several mentions of it tho' it has the same peculiar Character in both places and a Note of reference in one of them to confine it to the same thing that had been before mentioned which in this case would be a violation of all the first Three Rules which have been judged to be the surest ground for any Interrpetation 2. Besides they both end at the expiration of the same space of time of 42 months or the 1260 days of the Witnesses in Sackcloth which is the same state in both because it is the last state of them both The Beast in the 11th Chapter is also described to end just before a glorious Reign of Christ in the 7th Trumpet which is accompanied with a Judgment of the Dead So also does the Beast in the 19th Chapter come to an end just before a Reign of Christ which is accompanied with the Judgment of the Dead chap. 20. And is not this a very good ground to be confident that they are both the same Beast when they are said to end at the expiration of the same peculiar space of time and at the beginning of just the same kind of peculiar Reign of Christ over all the world and for ever and ever and that is accompanied with the Judgment of the Dead For since they are thus found from these Circumstances to be contemporary how can a Beast with so peculiar Characters that are the same in the other and at the same time be supposed to be quite another thing In both the mentions of the Beasts we also find them warring against the same Martyrs or Witnesses of God and Christ and in both overcoming them and being overcome by them c. From hence may very safely be determined That The Beast is to continue till the beginning of an Vniversal and Eternal Corollary Reign of Christ over the Kingdoms of this World These four last Conclusions have also the Consent of many of the most eminent Interpreters a RIbera about the 15th verse of the 11th Chapter in his Discourse upon Chap. 10. num 20. Caecus est qui non videt c. He is blind that does not see that these things cannot be but after the ruin of Antichrist and at the time of the Judgment Malvenda de Antichristo pag. 226. No man of sense can doubt but that the Beast in the 11th and 13th Chapters is the same Beast of the Church of Rome Thus then do we find at last That the term of the Beast does signifie one and the same particular state of his Reign in all the several Chapters where it is mentioned And from the last proof of this in the 11th Chapter it appears That the Account of the last end of the Beast there is before the Account of his first rise in the 13th Chapter and so mentioned in the 11th Chapter as a thing that was afterwards to appear Which does sufficiently assure us THAT the Order of the things in this Prophecy is many times transposed The Second BOOK THE Constant Uniform Signification OF A BEAST And its PARTS All over DANIEL CHAP. I. The Prophecy of Daniel the clearest Rule for the signification of A Beast and its Ruling Parts Porphyry's Objection against the Authority of it The greatest Confirmation of the plainness of the Predictions in it The Authority of the Book Daniel proved The 13th Proposition The Kingdom of the Son of Man in the 7th of Daniel a Kingdom of Christ Jesus The singularity of Grotius 's Notion of the Son of Man in that place judged to be Blasphemy by the Sanhedrim WE have now our prospect very much enlarged Dan. VII by a multitude of known Marks of the Beast which is found to be the same particular state of one of its Heads from the first mention of him in Chap. 11. to the last end of his History in Chapter 20. by which he is described to us in all his lineaments with his Rise his Mark his Actions and his End and with a great many of his Assistants and Dependants And I think I could make unquestionable to any that were impartial and considerate enough that one may come to a very satisfactory determination from hence about the particular knowledge of him But because I would continue firm to my first design of carrying on the proof all along in so full and convincing a manner as should be able to satisfie the most sceptical scruples it will be much more useful to consult the Prophecy of Daniel for the constant signification of the mystical Phrases that are made use of all over these Visions in the Revelations for there is a great deal more evidence of the determinate signification of a Beast
in general and of the Heads and Horns and Actions of a Beast in that Prophecy There are a multitude of Instances there of the constant use of these figures in one and the same determinate Notion and it is generally agreed That St. John by the like expressions in the Revelations does every-where allude to them as the Original Copy of his Figures and as a Nomenclator to explain the meaning of them See References in the 5th Chapter There is also this further advantage in the Prophetical Usages of the mystical Expressions in Daniel That there is the concurrence of almost all Interpreters in the particular signification of them who yet differ from one another about the signification of the same Expressions in the Revelations And as I found this to be of very great effect for the silencing of mine own Scruples so is it the most certainly satisfactory method for the generality of the World The Prophecies of Daniel have indeed that advantage above CONSENT any other Mystical Writings of that nature that the things foretold in them are so plainly described That all who have considered them have in all Ages till this latter generally agreed about their Interpretation One or two Instances to the contrary in the space of so many Ages will be no material exception against it by Rule the 4th Porphyrie the Philosopher who is the first that is said to be of a different mind from the rest yet gives such a reason for his confining the date and matter of these Prophesies to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes as does unquestionably confirm the clearness S. Hierom. Prooem in Dan. of his Expressions in all his Visions St. Jerom acquaints us that his reason for it was Because it seemed plain to him That the Author must have lived about the times of Epiphanes from the distinct Account he gives us in the 11th Chapter of the Successions and Actions of the Syrian and Egyptian Kings under the names of the King of the North and of the King of the South till the time of Epiphanes And so he will have it to be an History of what is past and not a Prophecy of things to come Could there be a greater Testimony of the clearness of Prophetical Expressions than to see a profest Enemy to it acknowledge it to be so very plain that he could not believe it to be Cathol Expos Eccles in Apoc. Tanta enim dictorum fides fuit c. For the things were so plainly fulfilled that to Unbelievers he seemed not to have foretold things to come but to have related things before past and done any thing but an History of things past As for his suspicion of the Authority of it that is as satisfactorily answered as need be 1. By our Saviour's owning the Prophecy Matth. 24. 15. Which to Christians is an undeniable proof though it could not be so to an Infidel 2. Josephus who lived about the time of Christ not two hundred years after Antiochus Epiphanes does own the Prophecy of Daniel for the most considerable of any that they had and relates of it That it was shown to Alexander the Great by Jaddus the High-Priest upon the account of the 8th Chapter which did plainly foretel his Conquest of the Persian And that this was owned by Alexander and rewarded with many great Privileges to the Jews particularly that of being Tax-free every seventh year which no question remained to Josephus's Age as the publick Memorial of that Action What an unaccountable Forgery would that be which should be able to impose so strangely upon one of the most Learned Antiquaries in that Age and make him take a Writing concerning his own Nation not Two hundred years old for an Ancient Writing of Five hundred years standing 3. Especially when we consider that it had been long received into the Jewish Canon of Scripture in Josephus's days and had been constantly used in Greek Translations in their Synagogues as appears by our Saviour's Quotations which is impossible for a forged Book not much above One hundred years old to have been After this assurance Porphyry's suspicion that it was an History of things seen by the Writer of it is as great a confirmation as can be desired of the clearness of Daniel's meaning in his Prophetical Descriptions in some parts of his Visions And the general concurrence of almost all Interpreters about the determinate sense of the rest is proof enough of the plainness of his Expressions in all For what can give one a plainer ground to presume that it is easie to arrive at a perfect knowledge of the signification of the Mystical Schemes of a Prophecy than first to see it accused by an Enemy of having been wrote after the things were done only upon the account of the clearness of the terms that are used to express them And next to see all Interpreters of the most different Parties and Interests unanimously agreed upon the particular Application of them This is an encouragement sufficient to make one hope for the fullest satisfaction from the Visions of Daniel concerning the constant signification of the same Mystical Terms in both Prophecies In order to which The first thing that it is the most necessary to be resolved about as the general Basis of all that is to follow is this Proposition That the Kingdom of the Son of Man in Daniel the 7th v. 13 Proposit 13. 14. is some Kingdom of Christ Jesus upon Earth 1. That it is some Kingdom upon Earth is manifest from v. 27. where it is said that it is the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven 2. That it is the Kingdom of our Jesus is as certain as it is that our Jesus was the true Messias For there is no name of the Messias any-where so peculiarly owned by Christ as this name of the Son of Man is all over the Gospel And as by the note of reference joined with it it must refer to some use of that name in some places of the Old Testament where it is before mentioned so do we find St. Matthew 24. 30. what place of the Old Testament that is For our Saviour does there join that name of his with the very same Circumstances that it is mentioned with here in Daniel In that place of St. Matthew and in all the other Gospels beside in his Prophecy of his coming he calls it the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory which is just the same with that in the 7th of Daniel about the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of Heaven and his waving an Vniversal Kingdom given him at the time of that Judgment when there were infinite multitudes of Angels attending It is most certain from our Saviour's Examination before the High-Priest That it was the commonly received Opinion of all men in those days That the name of the Son of Man in those circumstances of his appearance that
It has the mouth of a Lyon the feet of a Bear and the body of a Leopard Chap. 13. v. 2. which is enough to distinguish him from all the Beasts in the World It would much surprise any one at the first to meet with so uncouth an appearance of a thing that has three such strange and unusual Characters which cannot be supposed to be mentioned by chance and yet have no kind of Interpretation given them as many of the Characters of that Beast have in the 17th Chapter But it thereby appears that this Beast is plainly drawn from another Original Copy viz. That Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel And there it appears that that Beast had devoured three other Dan. 7. 7 19. Beasts which where like to a Lyon a Bear and a Leopard So that this Fourth Beast in Daniel with the other three before it in the 7th Chapter being interpreted afterwards to signify so many Kingdoms His devouring them there can be nothing but v. 17 23. the conquering them and upon that conquest the having them added to himself And so the Kingdom signified by him comes to be made up of those three together with that which was properly his own Dominion before All the difference then betwixt them is that the one is said to have devoured those three and the other is shown with them digested into his own Body 2. The parts in which the Beast in the 13th Chapter of the Revelations are said to be like those three Beasts are just like the same parts of the Fourth Beast in Daniel For the mouth which is said to be like that of a Lyon in the 13th of the Revelations and to be a mouth speaking great things and that was opened in Blasphemy v. 5. against God is just like the mouth belonging to the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel which spake great words against v. 8. the Most High The Feet which in that 13th Chapter of the Revelations are v. 2. said to be the feet of a Bear whose strength we know lies in his Paws were just like the Feet of the other in Daniel the Nails of v. 19. which were of brass and brake all in pieces and stampt upon the residue with his Feet The whole Body of that in the Revelations that was like a Leopard or like the Third Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel which being the same thing with the Third Kingdom in the 2d Chapter did bear rule over all the Earth v. 39. is just the same with that of the Fourth Beast in Daniel which devoured the whole Earth ch 7. 23. and so had a Body of the same likeness with the Leopard 3. The Beast in the Revelations had Ten Horns upon it just as that Fourth in Daniel had and the Ten Horns of both of them are said to signify Ten Kings Rev. 17. 12. Dan. 7. 24. But here indeed is the difference betwixt them that the one had Seven Heads and Ten Horns and the other nothing but the Ten Horns and the Little Horn. But 4. Since all the Heads of the Beast in the Revelations were past and gone excepting the last Prop. 6. and so that Beast is nothing but the Beast under the Last Head all the difference then betwixt that in the Revelations and that in the 7th of Daniel is but this That the one besides the Ten Horns had an Head and the other an Eleventh Horn and if this be all the difference betwixt them the fashion of their Figures signifies nothing we are only to regard what they are both interpreted to represent Since therefore the Little Horn is said to represent a remarkable bustling King and the last Head of the Beast signifies nothing but the last King of Seven very formidable and turbulent we have no reason at all to fear any difference betwixt them 5. Consider then what this Eleventh Horn was and the Characters Dan. 7. 8. 21. of it It had Eyes like the Eyes of a Man and a Mouth speaking great things and a Look that was stouter than that of its Fellows Surely an Horn that has a Look or Face and Eyes and a Mouth can be nothing in the World but an Head in the fashion of a Horn an ill-shap'd Head For it had also Brains and a Soul in it by what it was able to speak and to act and by ruling and commanding the whole Body So that the whole Beast was slain and burnt for the Crimes of that Horn v. 11. This Horn then was in reality an Head for it had all the Properties and Offices that an Head is known by And therefore see next how the Characters of it agree with those in the last Head of the other Beast 6. The Mouth of the one and the other we have found to Dan. 7. 7. Rev. 13. 3 5. be the same by their speech and both of these Beasts wondred at for their dreadfulness 7. The one had power given him to make war with the Saints Rev. 13. 7. and to overcome them The other was to wear out the Saints of the Most High Dan. 7. 25. 8. The one had power given him over all Kindreds Tongues and Nations and the other was the King of a Kingdom that had devoured Rev. 13. 7. the whole Earth and trod it down Dan. 7. 23. 9. Both the one and the other had Ten Kings at the same time with them in the same Kingdom 10. The one ariseth out of a Kingdom divided amongst Ten Rev. 13. 1. Kings the other ariseth up out of the Sea and Waters signify Multitudes and Tongues and Nations Rev. 17. It ariseth Dan. 7. 24. also with Ten Kings ready Crowned which we cannot think could be all at the same moment that it arose and so it must arise in a Kingdom divided amongst those Ten Revel 13. 1. 11. They both end with the Beast to whom they belong and Dan. 7. 11. Coroll 2. Prop. 6. Coroll 1. Prop. 12. Dan. 7. 25. are both destroyed at the beginning of Christ's Second coming in glory at the beginning of his Universal Reign over all the World which concludes with the judging of the Dead 12. The time of the continuance of both is exactly the same The one a Time Times and half a Time which by many Examples in Daniel and one Instance in the Revelations is known to Rev. 13. 5. be three years and an half and the other continues forty two Months 13. They both rule over the same place over the whole Earth Rev. 13. 7. Dan. 7. 23. over all Kindreds and Tongues and Nations 14. And The Beast it self in both is said to rise out of the Rev. 13. 1. Dan. 7. 3. Sea From all these put together Though it could not be prov'd to be absolutely impossible from their Characters for the two Kingdoms represented by these two Beasts to be otherwise than one and the same Kingdom yet how could a man
of the most wary and cautious judgment withhold from concluding That it would be a very strange thing if two Descriptions agreeing together in such multitudes of most peculiar Characters never attributed to any Figures before should not really mean one and the same thing To hear of the Pictures of two Beasts described thus exactly like one another in such a strange make of all their Parts and Furniture with the same Qualities and Actions belonging to them the same manner of rise the same time of continuance and agreeing in the same peculiar way and circumstances of their Ruine and both these Figures interpreted to signify the same things in all their Characters that are interpreted And then to see the things wherein they seem to differ in words and expressions to be found to be in reality and substance the same sure this would make any man forth with resolve with himself that these two must be the Pictures of the very self-same Beast And since they both are said to signify Kingdoms that they must represent but one and the same Kingdom And if it should not be so he would conclude that they were on purpose contriv'd by the Relator of them to deceive men into wrong Apprehensions of them if he had given no plain intimation that they could not possibly be the same For to mention a Property or two in one which was not in the mention of the other would signify little to make him think them of different kinds where there were such strange Agreements unless the Relator had given such a property to the one as could not be in the other from the plain description of it which is not the present Case But after all this from the three last Characters of each of these Beasts it will appear to be absolutely impossible that they should be any thing but one and the same time of the same Kingdom They are both said to be destroyed just before the Universal and Eternal Kingdom of Christ that ruled over all the Earth and that for ever So that the description of that in those two places cannot possibly signify more than one determinate Kingdom over all the Earth and when they were destroyed are said at that time both of them to rule over the same place THE whole Earth and for the same continuance of time before their destruction But it is absolutely impossible that they should be two different Kingdoms over the same place at the same time both destroyed by a Third that succeeds in their place The beginning of the Universal Reign of Christ with his Saints when each of them were to be destroyed was the same time and their Rule over the whole Earth at that time was over the same place And besides they had continued the same length of time over the same place before their destruction and were both destroyed after the very same and that a most peculiar and unusual manner that is by fire Dan. 7. 11. Rev. 19. 20. It is therefore unquestionable that the Fourth Beast in Daniel is the same with the Beast in the Revelations and especially in the time of the Reign of the Little Horn From hence it appears That The Last Head of the Beast in the Revelations is b Malvenda de Antichristo p. 224. Fixum stabile omnium quoque Consensu firmatum c. It is sure and certain and confirmed also by the Consent of All that Daniel did understand by the Little Horn and as it were point at with his Finger nothing else but Antichrist that was to come Idem pag. 253. It is the agreeing Opinion of the Fathers and Interpreters that Antichrist is called the Little Horn. the same with Corollar 1 the Little Horn in the 7th of Daniel And therefore That The Term of the Beast in the Revelations signifies the same particular Corollar 2 Roman Rule with the Beast in the 7th of Daniel in the time of the Little Horn. For the Term of the Beast in the Revelations signifies the Beast with the Last Head by Prop. 6. And the Last Head is the same with the Little Horn by Coroll praeced And the Rule of the Last Head is a Roman Rule Prop. 7. As also That The time of the Beast in the Revelations did not begin till after the Roman Corollar 3 Empire was divided into Ten Kingdoms For the Little Horn of the 4th Beast which is the same with that in the Revelations by Coroll praeced did not arise till after the Ten Kings were up and besides did subdue three of those Ten Dan. 7. 8 24. And from hence still is it further confirmed That the Kingdom of the Son of Man Dan. 7. and the Reign of Christ over Coroll Prop. 11. Prop. 14. the Kingdoms of this World Rev. 11. are the same time of Christ's Second coming in glory For they begin at the same time at the destruction of the same Beast and are universal from the beginning of them Thus does this last Proposition about the Fourth Kingdom and the former about the coming of the Son of Man much more strengthen the proof of one another and yet have evidence enough for them in themselves without any necessary dependance upon one another so that either of them might have been set alone by themselves but they are still more abundantly cleared and strengthned by the help of one another's Light It is therefore now manifest That The Reign of the Beast in the Revelations is not yet past Corollar 4 For the Reign of the Beast in the Revelations is the same with the Reign of the Little Horn in the 7th of Daniel Corollar 2. Prop. 15. and is therefore to continue till the Second Coming of Christ Prop. 14. and Corol. 1. Prop. 12. This is acknowledged by most of the Romish Interpreters who according to the general Opinion of the Fathers do expect the coming of Antichrist at the end of the World or just CONSENT before the Second Coming of Christ It must be acknowledged that both this Proposition and the former and their Consectaries are denied by Grotius and others but upon what small grounds for it and against how great an evidence to the contrary may be seen Cap. ult Lib. 1. and cap. 2 3 15. Lib. 2. And lest the Authority of great Names should have still too much weight in it to hinder ones full assent to these present Conclusions I would in the mean while have any one but reflect upon one of the Tenets of the Grotian way to which they are forced to maintain their Singularity in the present Case and that is their Opinion of the Kingdom of the Son of Man in the 7th Chapter of Daniel For that is sufficient to make one very much unconcerned at any thing that is built upon it The modern Jews are justly admired for denying that by the Son of Man in the 7th of Daniel is meant the Messiah But it is much more monstrous in these men
East where the Prophecy was given The He Goat indeed in that Chapter at the first mention of the Angel's Interpretation of him may seem to be but a single Person for he is said to be the King of Greece But v. 21 22. when we see a first King in him and then four Kingdoms after him represented by the several Horns of that Beast It is altogether unquestionable that the He Goat himself is something that belongs in common to all his Horns or Ruling Powers represented by them And that can be nothing but the Graecian Monarchy or the Ruling Time of the Greeks The beginning of which is signified by the Conquest of the Ruling Monarchy of the Persians that was before it by Alexander the Great called here the Great Horn And the establishment and the continuance of the Graecian Monarchy from that establishment of it under the four setled Kingdoms of Macedonia Syria Egypt and Thrace or Pergamus which was the same is shewn by the four Horns coming up in the place of the first Horn that was broken For though there were more Kingdoms than four soon after Alexander's death yet they were were in a perpetual change and rather a tumultuous Scuffle of his Captains than any determinate number of Kingdoms till they came to be setled in those four So that till then the whole Monarchy could not be said to have any particular form in it Besides that during the time of that scuffle or at least the greatest part of it there were some or other of Alexander's Line remaining who might well enough be looked upon as the continuance of the Reign of the first Horn. But after that the Monarchy setled in the four mentioned divisions till the Roman Conquest There is indeed a little Horn said to come out of one of the four But v. 9. by that expression it appears that it cannot well be taken for any thing else than for a part of the Ruling Time of the same Horn which it came out of and therefore is it generally judged to the single Reign of Antiochus Epiphanes By both these Figures in the 8th Chapter it appears that the Ruling Parts of a Figure do not only signify the several Governments in the Nation but also the Succession of all the particular Persons in that form of Government As the four Horns signify the Succession of all the Kings in those Kingdoms and the two Horns of the Ram all the Line of the Median and Persian Kings Of this the 11th Chapter is still a further confirmation Dan. 11. 3 4. where after the Kings of Persia there is the mention of the Realm of Greece and of a mighty King who should have a Kingdom which should be broken and divided towards the four Winds of Heaven just as in the other the four Horns are said to come up towards the four Winds of Heaven Dan. 8. 8. And a Kingdom broken and divided towards the four Winds can be nothing but a fourfold Kingdom according as it is said in the other that the great Horn being broken said to be the first King four Kingdoms should stand up in the Nations And then two of these Divisions according to the points of the Wind are the subject of the greatest part of that 11th Chapter under the Names of the King of the North and the King of the South which though they seem to signify but two single Kings yet are indeed a Succession of many Kings in each Division And at last one of this Succession is there set out as much more considerable for his Villany than any of the rest just as the Little Horn was in the 8th Chapter which is there said to come out of one of the four Horns to denote him to be a single King of that Division And that all these Expressions were very clear significations of the Graecian Monarchy and of the Changes in it till about the end of it there can be no greater evidence than that Scoff of Porphyry the Philosoper mentioned by St. Jerom who derides this part of the Prophecies of Daniel with a great assurance that it must have been wrote after the things were done because of the exact agreement of it with the particular Circumstances of the Times which it foretells From these two Chapters may it also be seen That Kings N. B. and Kingdoms are promiscuously used for any intimations of Rule whether in a Ruling Nation or in a single Person when it is said to be his Kingdom As we ordinarily use the terms of the King of France or of Spain to signify the whole Monarchy of that Nation for all the time that it continues in power and the terms of England and France for the Actions of the Kings of those Places For Example The King of France and Spain have been always at war England was the King of France's Friend There is then assurance enough of the confirmation of the General Proposition by the Examples of the 8th Chapter a THeodoret in cap. 7. Daniel Utraque Cornua Because the Medes were also called Persians Foreign Writers do also join them promiscuously together CHAP. V. Dan. II VII All Interpreters agreed That the Five Kingdoms in the 2 d and 7th Chapters are the same Kingdoms whatever they be in particular This attempted to be demonstrated from the Characters of each of them in both Chapters The Fourth and Fifth in each of those Chapters proved to be necessarily the same particular Kingdoms THere is now good ground to apprehend that the Figures in Daniel were designed to be understood And that there is an exact conformity amongst them in the general significations of the same kind of Characters in every one of them as the exact agreement of the Two figures in the 8th Chapter in the same general signification of A Monarchy and the several Changes of the Ruling Power of that Monarchy has been shown to be very plainly expressed in the words of the Prophecy it self And this is sufficient to excite ones curiosity to a more particular examination of the other Figures of that Book which thô they have no such plain determinations of their signification as the former in express words yet are there such peculiar descriptions of them in the explication that is given of them as upon the first serious reflections would make one very confident that it was no hard matter either to come to the particular knowledg of them or to find them conformable to the Rule of the present Proposition It is a considerable encouragement to our hopes of this nature That it is almost unanimously agreed upon by all the several parties of Interpreters That the other Figures in the 2d and 7th Chapters are the successions of the four famous Monarchies from the time of the Prophet Daniel himself till some universal Kingdom of Christ at the end of them Let us consider them both according to their descriptions in each Chapter In the 7th
Chapter there are Five Kingdoms represented by four Beasts and a Majestical appearance of the Kingdom of the Saints And in the 2d Chapter there are Five Kingdoms represented distinct from one another by the Four several qualities of the parts of a Statue and a Stone made a Mountain If we can find these Five Kingdoms in each to be the very Chap. 2. 36. same Kingdoms in reality as they seem at the first view of them to be from their being exactly the same number of Kingdoms and from the extraordinary likeness of the fifth of them in each it will be easy from thence to conclude what is the signification of any Figure in general as distinct from the several parts of it that are represented with it in Rule and Power which is the first part of the Proposition And here is this further encouragement to ground our hopes of it upon That it is unanimously agreed by all Interpreters of CONSENT all Ages that are considerable That they are the same Five Kingdoms in each of those Chapters thô there be a different apprehension in some few of them from the rest about the particular names of these Kingdoms But because they have not distinctly proved the certainty of those Grounds upon which they build this common agreement It may be useful for a constant assured satisfaction of this point once for all to reflect upon the evidence that there is for it and to put it into a close and distinct order to make it unquestionable Consider then first That the 5th Kingdom in the 7th Chapter v. 13 14. must be some Kingdom of Christ For it was a Kingdom given to one like the Son of Man by the Ancient of days who had v. 9 10. Hosts of Angels Ministring unto him which cannot possibly be any thing but God himself And the name of the Son of Man is so peculiarly owned by Christ himself all over the Gospels That he cannot be more plainly known by the name of Christ or of Jesus than by that And 't is observed by a very accurate Mr. Mede Critick That there is no other place in the Old Testament that he could fetch this name of the Son of Man from as a name of the Messias but from this very place of Daniel The Circumstances of which our Saviour doth also expresly add to that name in his Prophecy about the Coming of the Son of Man in the Clouds of Heaven with great glory which we find in all the three Gospels and is the same with what is said here Of the coming of the Son of Man in the Clouds of Heaven to the Ancient of days with an infinite multitude of Angels about his Throne and a very glorious appearance Consider next That this Kingdom of the Son of Man in the 7th Chapter is said to be both Eternal and Vniversal or over all the Earth There could not well be more care taken to signifie this than there seems to have been by the fullness of the expressions for both of these For The Eternity of it in such words as these an Everlasting Dominion which shall not pass away v. 14. and a kingdom that shall not be destroyed and a kingdom for ever even for ever and ever as if it had been on purpose to stop all suspicions of ambiguity in the use of the word everlasting and for ever And then to assure the real universality of it It is called A Kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him And the greatness of the kingdom under the whole Heaven And All Dominions shall obey him And it did succeed in v. 27. v. 23. the place of a Fourth Kingdom upon Earth which had devoured the whole earth and trod it down If now we look into the 5th Kingdom in the second Chapter we shall find just the same Characters of it from the 44th Verse It was to be set up by the God of Heaven It was never to be destroyed nor to be left to other people but was to stand for ever which secures the Eternity of it from any successions after it And the Vniversality of it appears from its breaking in pieces and consuming all other kingdoms which had Ruled over all the Earth especially the Fourth Kingdom which before it had subdued all things even a third Kingdom which bare Rule over all the v. 39 40. earth Here then are Two Kingdoms Both without End Both over all the Earth and therefore Both in the same place Let the Earth signify what it will since it must signify in both places at least the Prophets Countrey as all agree this makes it appear That the latter time of both is most undoubtedly the same because they are both at a time or eternal in the same place which no two distinct Kingdoms can properly be that are of the same kind as these are described to be Both the Kingdoms of the God of Heaven and such as began to be set up in the days of the other Kings Besides they both began the Universality of their Reign at the Ruin of a Power which had devoured the whole earth and Ch. 2. 39 40. Ch. 7. 23 26. which had broken in pieces and consumed all other Kingdoms and did themselves Rule over all the earth in the room of the former so that they both then continue at the same time in the same place and the continuance of them both is to all eternity And then they begin their Reign in that same place together Or else that which should come after the other would put an end to it which is a contradiction to the Eternity of either of them It seems then to be absolutely impossible That the Fifth Kingdom in each of those Chapters should not be one and the same Kingdom of Christ Eternal and Vniversal and which began at the ruin of another universal dominion before it Now if the Fifth Kingdom in each of these Chapters be the same the Fourth also in each of them before it must be the same For the Fourth Kingdom in each of those Chapters was the only Ruling power over all the earth when it was destroyed by the last For by the destruction of it the Fifth got its dominion over all the earth And so the Fourth could not possibly be more than one and the same Kingdom in each of the Chapters because the whole earth in each must as has been observed signify at least the same place and there could be but one Kingdom in the same place at the same time that each of them in those Chapters is said to be destroyed by the last For they are both destroyed by the same Fifth Kingdom as has been shown at the same time That is at the beginning of the Universal Reign of that Kingdom in each Chapter Two different Kingdoms cannot be destroyed by a Third in the same place and at the same time And the Fourth Kingdom in each is one Ruling
Chap. 7. v. 27. Power over all the Earth at the time that the greatness of the Kingdom of the Fifth under the whole Heaven began by the Conquest of it CHAP. VI. Dan. II VII The Five Kingdoms in the 2 d Chapter of Daniel immediatly successive to one another This agreed on by Interpreters and particularly evinced upon several grounds The nature of these Kingdoms shewn from their immediate Succession to one another Not successive forms of Government in the same Nation nor part of them of that kind From hece necessary that they must be the Four Monarchies And therefore must the Third in the 2 d and the 7th Chapter be the same Kingdom The First and Second also in both Chapters proved to be the same THE surest way to demonstrate the rest of these five Kingdoms to be the same is to find that those in the Second Chapter are immediately successive to one another For since the first of the Kingdoms in the Second Chapter is known to be the Dominion of Nebuchadnezzar and the last of them to be some Kingdom of Christ pag. praeced If they be all in an immediate v. 38. succession from the first to the last that will shew what kind of Kingdoms they must needs be to be able to fill up the distance of time betwixt those two Kingdoms by immediate Succession and thereby will make it appear from History what Kingdoms also they must be in particular and this will give light enough to find them to be the same with those in the 7th Chapter That the Five Kingdoms in the 2 d Chapter are successive to one Dan. II. another is undoubted For of the Second it is said And after thee shall arise another Kingdom And of the Third That it should bear Rule over all the Earth and so could it not be at the same time with any other that was different from it in the Earth at least where the Prophet lived And it is agreed by all that the Prophet's Countrey did belong to this Third Kingdom And then of the Fourth that it should break in pieces and consume all Kingdoms that had been before mentioned and so must come after them And then That these in the 2 d Chapter are all immediately successive Dan. II. to one another it is unanimously agreed amongst all kinds of Interpreters Jews and Christians of all Ages that are any CONSENT thing considerable which shews it to be here so plainly intimated if not expressed in words That the common sense of all considering Persons would judge it to be so from the usual acceptation of such words as it is signified by For how otherwise could those who differ from one another in almost every thing else be supposed to be so willing to agree together in this where there may be a great disadvantage given against the Party which they embrace by allowing it but no manner of advantage gained by it The Jews would be much surer of a defence for their deferring the coming of the Messias if the first Four Kingdoms were not determined to be the Four Monarchies immediately succeeding one another And it would not appear that Antichrist went along with the Kingdom of the Romans if the whole four were not found to be necessarily successive Empires that came immediately after one another from the times of Nebuchadnezzar The grounds of this agreement about the immediate Succession of these Kingdoms from the Text may be these 1. The mention of the number of them from the time of Nebuchadnezzar to the Kingdom of Christ seems to be plainly expressed to be to foreshew the determinate time of that Kingdom For there is nothing mentioned in any of the rest excepting that Tyranny in the last times of the Fourth Kingdom which ushers in the Kingdom of Christ about any Religious concern or any Action of God which yet is ordinarily the business of every Divine Prophecy Daniel does expresly tell Nebuchadnezzar that the end of his Dream was to make known to him from God what should be in the latter days And by the latter days must be there understood at least the latter days of those Kingdoms which are the subject of the Dream and therefore must they include the days of the last of those Five Kingdoms or the time of the Kingdom of Christ therein mentioned The whole number then seems to be wholly for this end to shew how many Successions of Empire there should be betwixt the Reign of Nebuchadnezzar's Kingdom and the Kingdom of Christ For who would not assuredly conclude it to be for that end only when there is nothing considerable spoken of the rest of the number And when the gloriousest state of things that ever was mentioned is set forth in that last Kingdom with this Introduction to the Interpretation of them all that the whole shew was to make known what should be in the latter days And how could that be possibly shewn by such an orderly number unless there had been no other Kingdoms betwixt them This therefore does make it manifest that the Succession of these Kingdoms was immediate to measure out the exact time of the coming of Christ in glory 2. An orderly number when joined with Successive Reigns as it is here under the names of a Third and a Fourth Kingdom v. 39 40. is generally used in speech to signify an immediate orderly Succession And who would ever call those a Third or a Fourth Kingdom from the First which had two or three more coming in betwixt them and the First 3. And then the last of the Five is known to be immediately Chap. 2. 44. Chap. 7. 26. successive to the Fourth pag. 120. which is an instance to shew the manner of the Succession of all the rest unless there were any thing clearer against it which is not by any pretended 4. The parts also of the Statue which represents these Kingdoms are immediatly joined to one another which must denote a property in the things represented some way answerable to it and that in Successive Kingdoms can be nothing else but the immediate Succession of them Upon these grounds it may safely be concluded That these Four Kingdoms in the 2 d Chapter do immediatly succeed one another especially when there is nothing offered against it but on the contrary as has been observed it has the unanimous Consent of all the differing Parties of Interpreters And by that it appears that in the Judgment of all that have considered these things it is so plainly suggested from the Text That unless it be really so there is occasion given for an unavoidable delusion about such things of moment as the great Tyranny of the last King of the Fourth Kingdom over the Church of God and the Universal Eternal Kingdom of Christ succeeding it and which the whole Prophecy was designed wholly to make known as is expressed v. 28. Chap. 2. It may therefore now be determined what kind of
necessary sense of them unless it can be proved to be impossible that the Kingdom of the Son of Man in that place should be any thing but the first coming of the Messias But our Saviour has put us out of all fear of that For he makes use of those very words to set out his second coming after his death as may be seen in all the Gospels that mention that Prophecy Matth. 24. 30. Mark 13. 26. Luke 21. 27. We may also be well assured that Daniel himself could not possibly understand that Eternal Vniversal Kingdom of the Son of Man of his first coming For in his 9th Chapter he sets out the Dan. 9. 26. Messias by name as delivered up at his first coming into his Enemies hands and cut off and his City Jerusalem and the Temple as destroyed by them which is quite contrary to such a glorious Kingdom as he is described in the 7th Chapter to enjoy to all eternity and which was at its first appearance to destroy a Kingdom that ruled over all the Earth and was contrary to it 2. The 2d Reason is of much the same force with the former Dan. VII For though the Terms of the coming of the Son of Man and of his Kingdom should be found to be used by our Saviour and his Apostles in some peculiar circumstances and by way of allusion to signify the destruction of Jerusalem yet that it cannot be so understood in this 7th Chapter of Daniel is certain because it has such peculiar circumstances there joined with it as do always signify the last coming of Christ to judgment as may be seen more at large in the proof of the 14th Proposition But it has also been found that that place in the Gospels which seems to have the greatest strength in it to shew that the coming of the Son of Man is to be understood of his coming only to the destruction of Jerusalem must necessarily signify his last coming to judgment See this Book Chap. 2. the five last Pages There are indeed some Exhortations of our Saviour and his Apostles to Persons then living to watch against the day of the Lord 's coming as if it were to be in that Age. But that can be no assurance of it For there are the same kind of Exhortations in places which are by all acknowledged to belong to Christ's last coming to judgment only As Mat. 25. 13. 1 Cor. 15. 51 52. 1 Thessal 4. 15 17. The reason and application of which last is given in the following Chapter from the 1st to the 7th verse viz. because of the uncertainty of the time of the Lord 's Coming 3. The consequence of the Third Reason may safely be acknowledged viz. That then the Beast with the Little Horn in Daniel must be the same with the Beast in the Revelations For it has already been sufficiently demonstrated so to be in the proof of the 15th Proposition Coroll 2. And as for the inconsistency of those Expressions in the first and last Chapters of the Revelations with the rise and continuance of the Little Horn in Daniel it is answered by the strength of the 15th Proposition and Corol. 1. Prop. 12. And by the familiar use of such kind of Expressions as those of the time being at hand and the doing things shortly and of their coming to pass very shortly to denote only the beginning of a scene of Action within a little while which requires a long time to finish it As may be seen in particular instances in the Answer to the Objection against the 20th Proposition That which does the most manifestly evidence how little those that raise this Objection do believe it themselves is that they all allow the Thousand years in the 20th Chapter of the Revelations to be literally understood which is sufficient to convince them that the short time and the time being at hand and the coming shortly to pass cannot possibly be understood of the last completion of the things in that Prophecy and therefore that it can signify no more than that they should shortly begin to be fulfilled as it is usually said of long continuance of time that it is at hand or that it will shortly come to signify that it will shortly begin 4. All the strength of the last Objection lies in the likeness of the Little Horn in the 7th Chapter to that in the 8th Chapter But who could ever take the Two Little Horns in the 7th and 8th Chapters to be so very like one another that has but the least patience to consider them impartially It is so plain that the Little Horn in the 8th Chapter must be Antiochus Epiphanes that it is generally agreed upon by almost all kind of Interpreters But it is as plain that the other in the 7th Chapter is succeeded by an Eternal Universal Kingdom of the Son of Man which v. 27. is called the Greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven Now was there any thing ever like this in the times immediately after the death of Antiochus Epiphanes who was near 200 years before Christ or any thing like it at the end of the Kingdom of the Greeks many years after it which was above 60 years before the birth of Christ And therefore do we find Grotius at such a pinch to reconcile these Inconsistencies that he is forced to interpret the Son of Man to signify in this place the Roman Nation Whereas the name of the Son of man in the 7th of Daniel was so generally known amongst the Jews to signify the Messias that the High-priest immediately rent his Cloaths when he heard our Saviour making himself known by that name and he and they forthwith concluded him guilty of Blasphemy because they took him but for an ordinary Person as has been before observed in the proof of the 13th Proposition And nothing can more demonstrate the hardiness of Grotius for the defence of a singular Opinion than to see him venture at so likely a danger of Blasphemy to maintain his post CHAP. VIII Dan. VII An Vniversal Tradition for some hundreds of years after the time of the Prophecy of Daniel That the Fourth Kingdom in the 2 d and 7th Chapter is the Kingdom of the Romans This demonstrated from the Text in 15 Particulars LET us now see what mountains of absurd Consequences must be cut through to avoid the formidable dangers that are pretended upon the account of the forementioned Objections to lie in the other way It may well be imagined That this new Invention must put a very unnatural force upon the Text and have very great inconveniences in it because it is against the Judgment of all the Jewish Rabbies both before and after Christ for 900 years after the Prophecy was given and till it came to appear to the Jews to be their great Interest to hinder the triumph of Christianity over the Empire from being thought to be the Kingdom of the Son of Man
destroying the fourth Beast And therefore seemed it very useful for them to make the fourth Beast to be not the Roman but a part of the Grecian Monarchy It is also against the whole current of all the Learned Christian Fathers at least till St. Jerom's time near a thousand years after the Prophecy was given and above four hundred years after Christ a HIeronyme in c. 7. Daniel Let us therefore say what All Ecclesiastical Writers have delivered That in the end of the World when the Kingdom of the Romans is to be destroyed there shall be Ten Kings who shall divide the Roman World among themselves and that there shall be an Eleventh littleKing that shall arise and overcome three of those Ten Kings c. Ergo dicamus says he quod omnes scriptores Ecclesiastici In cap. 7. Dan. tradiderunt Which is almost as much as to say That it was an Universal Tradition or a Tradition of all the considerable persons of the Catholick Church to his time That the fourth Beast was the Roman Monarchy and so that the third Beast must be the whole time of the Grecian Monarchy from its succession to the Persian which is by all granted to be the second Is not this sufficient to make any man confident That the Prophecy does of its own accord offer this Interpretation to the common sense of men when it thus appears to be the impartial Judgment of all the Learned World b Malvenda de Antichristo p. 222. For All both Jews and Christians look upon it as unquestionable That the Third and Fourth Beasts are plainly distinct from one another so that he must have lost his wits that can think otherwise Maldonal in c. 7. Dan. The fourth Kingdom is the Kingdom of the Romans and so all take it to be Calovius in c. 7. Dan. All agree That the Fourth Kingdom is the Kingdom of the Romans as well the Ancients and the Jewish Church both before and after Christ and the Christian-Church for the first Four hundred years as the Moderns both Jews and See References Christians before there was any particular Interests to be served by it It has also been and is still the Judgment of even c Pererius in c. 7. Dan. This Fourth Beast according as all interpret it to be and as the matter it self does shew it did represent the Figure of the Roman Empire Malvenda in c. 7. Dan. p. 222. That the Fourth Beast is the Roman Empire is certain and agreed upon by all that profess the name of Christ The Reader then is thus to be set in the Right Road and the King's High-way Ibid. S. Hierom and others do very clearly show that Porphyry's Opinion is a perfect madness Alcasar Sect. 5. in c. 13. Apoc. It cannot be denied but that there is a plain allusion in the Ten Horns of this Beast to the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel which does very plainly appear to be the Figure of the Roman Empire Item Sect. 3. in v. 1. The Beast out of the Sea does evidently allude to the Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel and 't is most clear and evident That that Fourth Beast of Daniel is the Figure of the Roman Empire in an Idolatrous State the most Eminent of the Church of Rome tho' it be more for their Interest than any others that the fourth Kingdom were any thing rather than the Roman which does sufficiently shew that they are forced to allow it For they can have no manner of advantage from that concession and therefore must it be the impartial sense of their minds but it would save them a great deal of trouble to deny it if they fairly could and that shews the evidence for it to be too clear And this gives as strong a presumption against the possibility of any other sense as can almost be given from Authority It is therefore well worth the enquiry What might be the grounds of so universal and impartial an Agreement amongst all the differing Parties of all sorts about this third and fourth Kingdom The first Reason that may be observed for it d Theodoret in c. 7. Daniel Some would have the Fourth Kingdom to be the Rule of Alexander's Successors But they should have remembred that the Golden-Head was the Babylonians and that the second Kingdom was the Persians the third then must be the Graecians and the fourth the Romans Ibid. But at present I cannot but admire that there should be some pious Men who should take the Fourth Beast to be the Macedonian Kingdom For they should have considered that the Third Beast has four Heads which does openly show the fourfold division of the Greek Empire after Alexander's Death And then that the Fourth Beast has Ten Horns And that they were but Four and not Ten that continued the Reign of the Greek Monarchy after Alexander Ibid. That ought to be observed that the Prophet saw the Third Beast with Four Heads upon him And the He-Goat Chap. 8. after the first Horn was broken to have had Four in the room of it to make it clear and unquestionable That the He-Goat and the Third Beast were but one and the same thing is the plain intimations in the Prophecy That the third Kingdom is the Dan. 7. whole time of the Greeks from the Persians to the Romans 1. As first in the Text it self the third Kingdom has the same name of A Kingdom that hinders all the rest from being possible to be understood of single Kings or of different Sovereignties in the same Empire pag. 106. There is the same ground then against the parting the Reign of Alexander and his Captains into a third and fourth Kingdom which in reality are but one and the same Kingdom of the Greeks 2. It is against all the significations of Kingdoms besides that are represented by any whole Figures in this Book of Daniel and the common usage of Prophetical Terms especially in the same Book is the best Rule to determine their signification by Rule 2. Now by the confession of these men themselves and the unanimous consent of all Interpreters every whole Figure that is said to signifie a Kingdom does signifie the whole time of a Ruling Nation or People In that one constant acceptation we find it in no less than Ten distinct Figures not counting in this third Kingdom There are eight mentioned besides the third in the 2d and 7th Chapters and two in the 8th for the Kingdom of the Stone and of the Son of Man are two of those Schemes So that there is at least Ten to nothing against it That the third Kingdom is the whole time of the Monarchy of the Greeks after the Persians And that which appears to be the constant use of expressions in so wise and judicious a Writer as the Prophet Daniel was may be very securely relied upon as an unquestionable ground to determine his meaning whenever the same expression is
himself Chap. 8. Vers 9 10. As Josephus affirms of him also from the Ancients and he did not conclude them till after the Persian Monarchy was begun under Cyrus chap. 10. 1. So that he lived under the Babylonian and Persian Monarchies and names them both and the Graecian And he Prophecies of the whole Graecian Monarchy in particular under the Figure of a Beast Chap. 8. as is by all granted When therefore we find in the 7th Chapter just before the 8th the mention of three Kingdoms succeeding one another represented by three Beasts The Two first of which the Prophet knew to be the Babylonian and Persian Monarchies as all do grant What ground in the world have we to question whether he means by the third Beast or third Kingdom the whole Graecian Monarchy from its Conquest of the Persian since it is acknowledged that in the very next Chapter after this 7th he foretells that whole Monarchy of the Greeks under the Figure of a Beast There is certainly more ground from the Prophecy to conclude that he means by the third Beast in the 7th Chapter the whole time of the Greek Monarchy from its Conquest of the Persian than that by the first of the three must be meant the whole Babylonian Monarchy For the Babylonian is not any where else said by name to be represented under the Figure of a Beast as the Grecian is in the 8th Chapter immediately after We have reason therefore to be confident that the Prophet that understands by the first and second Beasts the Babylonian and Persian Monarchies to their last end cannot by the third understand only a part of the Graecian Monarchy after the Persian and by the fourth the remaining part of it And if men may be allowed thus to disregard all examples of the significations of things of the same nature they may chuse any interpretation that they can fancy and with the same freedom may they maintain That by the first Beast is meant the single person of Nebuchadnezzar alone and by the second another Conqueror some Hundreds of years after and by the third Pompey and by the fourth what they please If they may interpret one of these Figures to be a single person There is as much reason to make them all of the same kind And to affirm any thing thus at all adventures without any regard to the known examples of the same kind is both against all the Rules of any other Interpretations of Scripture and takes away all manner of hopes of being able to determine the sense of any Scripture 10. To this may be added That the Order and Time of the several Visions do confirm this Application of the four Beasts in the 7th Chapter to the four succeeding Monarchies from the Prophets time For as these four Beasts have been found to be the same with the four Kingdoms in the 2d Chapter Page 104 c. so does it appear from the time of the first of them in the 2d Chapter compared with that of the first in the 7th That they must be both the whole Babylonian Monarchy not any single Reign because that in the 2d is applied to Nebuchadnezzar and that in the 7th was seen in the time of Belshazzar after the death of Nebuchadnezzar and therefore must the first Kingdom in both Chapters signify an Empire common to Nebuchadnezzar and those that came after him That is the whole Monarchy Now the 8th Chapter whose vision was after that in the 7th Chapter assures us by the same kind of Figures viz. by Two Beasts That the two next Kingdoms are the Persian and Graecian Monarchies by name to the time of their last end And when the Prophet had thus seen afterwards the Persian and Graecian Monarchies represented by the Figures of Two Beasts Can it be with any manner of Reason thought that he could Judge the 2d and 3d Beast in the 7th Chapter to be any other Kingdoms than those very same which he had in the 8th Chapter seen represented by the same kind of Figures and which were made known to him to be Kingdoms that should succeed in order to the first in the 7th Chapter and which he knew in the time of Cyrus by his own experience was verified of the Persian Especially if it be considered that there is not the least intimation from him to make any think the second and third Kingdoms in the 7th Chapter to be different things from the Persian and Graecian Kingdoms known by name in the 8th Chapter 11. It is impossible That the fourth Kingdom in the 7th of Daniel should be a Kingdom of the Graecians because it was to be consumed by the Kingdom of the Son of Man in the 2d Chap. which has been found to be most unquestionably some Kingdom of Christ upon Earth by Prop. 13. For the Graecian Monarchy was totally destroyed long before the Birth of Christ And it has been observed how monstrous a shift that of Grotius is upon this occasions such as may very well amaze any one that considers it and his great abilities together To be constant to his Hypothesis he will have the Kingdom of the son of Man signify the Kingdom of the Romans and Dan. 7. 14 22. the Kingdom of the Saints to begin at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Auxiliary Armies of the Romans who therefore must be called the People of the most High because The people amongst whom God was to have his Church But the extravagance of this has been formerly considered and nothing can give us better satisfaction what absurdities he is capable of owning for the sense of a Prophecy when he has set his heart upon a supposition that needs it 12. The end of the Fourth Beast is at the destruction of the little Horn. But if the Fourth Beast were the Graecian Monarchy The Little Horn must be Antiochus Epiphanes as is by all granted and then at the end of him the whole time of that Monarchy must be ended Whereas the Graecian Monarchy continued above an Hundred years after his death 13. The Little Horn of the Fourth Beast was to continue till v. 22. the Saints came to possess an Universal Kingdom over all the World which since it is acknowledged to signify a Reign of Christianity in the World is certain could not happen till some Hundreds of years after Antiochus Epiphanes and therefore neither could he be the Little Horn nor the Fourth Beast the Graecian Empire 14. The Time Times and the dividing of Time at the end of v. 25. which The Little Horn and the Fourth Beast to which it belongs are said to be destroyed are the same times with the time times and an half in the 12th Chapter pag. But those in the 12th Chapter end before Christ's coming to the last Judgment ibid. And therefore cannot the Little Horn and the Fourth Beast be any time of the Graecian Monarchy 15. The Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter is so far from
does hold good in this use of it also it will be explained how this First Beast does also signify the a ALcasar in cap. 13. Apoc. sect 6. By the Beast out of the Earth is signified a multitude of Persons as well as by the Beast that came out of the Sea Ibid. As well the one Beast as the other are taken not for single Persons but for a great Multitude as the Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel Ibid. As the Beast out of the Sea does contain in it all the Nations of the Roman Empire so also does the Beast that came out of the Earth Rule of the Romans but in another manner of Kingdom than that Chap. 18. See References of the first Beast is so as that they are both in being at the same time For this second will be found to signify their Church-Rule as the first does the Rule of the State Prop. 24 25. 3. It may also be objected That the two Horns of the second v. 11. Beast Chap. 13. according to Daniel must signify distinct Sovereignties Prop. 16. Observat 2 4. But since these Horns have no mark of Rule or Dominion joined with them and are particularly said to signify the likeness of that Beast to a Lamb that does sufficiently shew a particular exception of them from the general Rule in Daniel And yet they may also signify the two distinct Kingdoms or Jurisdictions of that Beast over the Temporal and Spiritual Affairs of that Nation After this how manifestly does it appear to be but a Contrivance only to serve a turn in b Alcasar in Apoc. c. 12. de 10 Corn. It is most evident that the Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel do signify the Roman Empire But those which are not Roman Commanders cannot be the Horns of that Beast Ibid. Ribera understands by the Beast the whole World which does easily fall to the ground of it self For it is evident that Daniel did prophesie of the Roman Empire only viz. in the Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast chap. 7. Ibid. Another Opinion of his is that the Roman Empire shall be Idolatrous which Conjecture is very vain and empty For then it would be another Empire as the Empire that is now in Greece is quite different from that which is represented by the Third Beast in the 7th of Daniel Idem in cap. 17. v. 11. But any one may easily see how forced all that Interpretation is à Lapide Ribera and a number of other See References eminent Persons of the Church of Rome to make the general notion of the Beast in the Revelations to signify the World in general and the seven Heads to be seven Ages of it with the several Tyrannical Powers which persecuted the Church of God in each of them notwithstanding that they are agreed with all other Interpreters about the Constant Uniform Signification of a Beast and of its Heads and Horns all over the Prophecy of Daniel and that the fourth Beast there in the 7th Chapter of Daniel is the particular Monarchy of the Romans and that the Little Horn of that Beast is the same with the last Head of this Beast in the Revelations And yet c Alcasar in cap. 12. Apoc. de 10 Cornibus Quod autem Romanorum Imperium sit extinctum prorsus videtur certum It seems to be altogether certain that the Roman Empire is destroyed Again It is evident that the Roman Empire is destroyed although the Provinces of it be in the possession of other Kings and Emperours Ribera in cap. 12. Apoc. num 14. de 10 Cornibus That which the forementioned Writers apply to the Kingdom of the Romans because that is now altogether annihilated we understand of the whole World over which the Romans reigned do they not shew the least intimation from the Text to countenance this Contradiction to their own Judgments about the same Words and Phrases nor offer to give any Example from the Figures of the like kind to ground their fancy upon Bellarmin indeed is more ingenuous he owns the known Signification of Beasts in Daniel and that the fourth of the 7th Chapter is in particular the same with that in the Revelations and from the certainty of both does acknowledge that the Beast in the Revelations does signify in general the Roman Empire and that the Heads of the Beast must be all Heads of the Romans and that the time of that called the Beast is not yet past And what more convincing proof can there be for the irresistible Light that there is for these things than to see so able a Judge of the concern of his Church in this Affair to be forced thereby to yield to it without any the least shew of advantage from it to serve the Cause that he is so zealous for But especially when we see him thereby forced to desert all the other Defences of his Brethren and to reduce the whole merit of the Cause about the Charge laid against his Church to this only issue viz. Whether the Imperial Roman Government that was in Rule at the time of the Vision has been since that time cut off and succeeded by another form of Government which is to reduce the whole Dispute about the matter of so great importance in the consequence of it to a question about the truth of a matter of fact only in History and which is given against him d Tacitus just about the time that the Revelations were wrote reckons them up in this order in the beginning of his first Book of Annals Kings were at first the Governours of Rome L. Brutus brought in the Consulary Government and Liberty Dictators were set up upon occasion The Decemvirs continued not above two years The Consulary Power of the Tribunes of the Soldiers lasted not long The Domination of Cinna and Sylla was soon ended and Pompey and Crassus yielded to Caesar and Lepidus and Anthony to Augustus who took all into his hands under the name of a Prince or Emperour Livy before him had given much the same account for all those Governments which had been up in his time in his 6th Book I have says he in the five former Books given an account of all the Wars abroad and the Seditions at home which the Romans have had from the first building of the City to the taking of it under Kings Consuls Decemvirs Dictators and Consulary Tribunes So Onuphrius Panvicinus in his Preface to his Fasti Consulares For the City was first under Kings Then succeeded Consuls and sometimes under Decemvirs and sometimes under Tribunes of the Soldiers with Consulary Power and sometimes under Dictators Cassiodorus in his Chronicon gives the same account of the Change of the Roman Government from Kings to Consuls and from them to the Decemvirs and the Consulary Government again interrupted by the Military Tribunes and during all these spaces of time the intermixture of Dictators upon
shew of himself before the full rise of the Beast though his full-grown appearance was not till after the Reign of the Beast 7. If it be further objected That the Imperial Line that was begun in Justinian was cut off from the Rule of Rome at the deprivation of Leo Isaurus and the Eastern Emperors by the Pope and therefore that the Emperors from Justinian could not be the Beast since the Beast was to continue in being till the second coming of Christ It is to be considered That the conferring of the Title of Roman Emperor upon Charlemaigne not long after did continue the Succession of the Imperial Head to this day And if there had been a perfect Inter-Reign from the end of Leo Isaurus to Charlemaigne that would not have discontinued the Imperial Head For since there was no other Secular Head of Rome owned for Supream there in the room of the Imperial during that space of time the Imperial Head still continued without the interposition of any other For the Lombard Kings who were the only appearing Power of Italy besides were so far from being owned for Supream at Rome in the room of the Eastern Emperors that the Pope k Petavius Rationar Temp. Part. I. Lib. 8. cap. 7. speaking of Aistulphus King of the Lombards And then he delivered to the Pope by the Abbot Fulrade the Exarchat of Ravenna and the Five Cities that is Ancona and the four Towns of the Picene Territory and other adjacent had all their most considerable Territories given him by Pepin the Father of Charlemaigne And l Ludovic à Bebenberg quotes the Historiae Francorum for what follows Pope Stephen the Successor of Zacharias about the Year 753. anointed Pepin and his two Sons viz. Charles afterwards Charlemaignc and Carolomannus for Kings of the Franks and obliged the Princes of the Franks to chuse none of any Family than these whom he had made choice of by the Providence of God to defend the Apostolick See And so Pepin enters that year into Italy for that very purpose Upon this account it is very probable that the Chronicle of St. Martin and others of the same Opinion have said that Pope Stephen translated the Empire from the Greeks to the Germans For since the business of the Emperor is to defend the Roman Church and to exalt the Head of it the Pope as appears Dist 6. Tibi Domino and to protect the Clergy 96 Distinct c. ult and the Holy Churches as other Kings and Princes are 23. q. 5. c. Principes c. Administratores And since Constantine and his Son Leo required to do this by Pope Stephen against the Lombards as appears Ext. de Elect. venerabilem in ult glossâ did refuse to do it therefore did Pope Stephen chuse Pepin and Charles c. and their Successors c. And for the contrariety of Chronicles we ought to stand to the Chronicle of the Franks abovementioned which seems to have been wrote by a Frank who therefore was well acquainted with the Transaction of this Translation For this History of the Franks in this matter concerning Charlemaigne is taken out of the Writings of the Abbot Rhegius of the Diocese of Triers who has reason to be thought to be well acquainted with the History of the Princes of his own Countrey The sum of the Canon-Law printed at Venice with the Privileges of almost all Monarchs and Popes by the Title of the Speculum of Popes Emperors and Kings does affirm the Translation of the Empire from the Greeks to the Franks to have been done by Pope Stephen about the Year 753. Ludovicus a Bebenburg attributes to Pepin Ann. Dom. 753. and A. Rosellus to the Year 755. and Marinus to the same Year De Translat Imp. Rom. in Germanos sect Quod Translatio Imp. non facta erat per Papam And Bellarmin L. 1. de Translatione Imp. Romani in Germanos cap. 12. grants that Charlemaigne conquered Italy 20 years before he was Crowned by the Pope Charlemaigne himself See References was within some years after Leo Isaurus owned by the Pope for the Royal Defender of the Liberties of Rome and of the Church though he had not the Title of Emperor till many years after If any should dispute the Right of Charlemaigne because the Constantinopolitan Emperor was m Bellarmin in his First Book de Translat Imp. Rom. in Germanos c. 12. does give an account of the Succession of the Constantinopolitan Emperors to Charlemaigne and of the owning the Title of the Western Emperors And cap. 5. To the same purpose Ludovic à Bebenberg in note 6. on the 6th Chapter M. Frehems his Commentator unjustly deposed They may as well question the Right of Succession in most of the Emperors before Possession and not Right was that which did always confirm the Imperial Title And it will be hard to find any constant way of Succession or Election in the Imperial Line before Charlemaigne to found a right upon Sometimes the Emperor was elected by the Army sometimes by the People sometimes adopted by another Emperor All that can be found constant about it is that generally they used to have n See Grot. de Jure B. P. l. 2. c. 9. note 1. chap. 3. Hieron Balbus de Coronatione cap. 13. in the same note and the Comment there on Ludovic à Bebenburg See also Lipsius of these Acclamations 2. Elect. cap. 10. the Acclamations of the People of Rome and the Approbation of the Senate which were freely given o Of Charlemaign's Acclamations all Historians speak to Charlemaigne From whom there has been continued a Succession of the Imperial Line to this time It is certain that before Julius Caesar the Majesty of the Roman Kingdom was in the See References p Paulus Merula de Legibus Romanis pag. 58. The Jurisdictions were bounded The Senate had more Authority than the Magistrate The Common People had the greatest Authority In all the People together was the Majesty of the Commonwealth Cuspinian in Sextum Rufum pag. 6. The Consuls Rods were hung down when they came into a full Assembly of the People because the Majesty of the People of Rome was greater than that of the Consuls People of Rome And to commit Treason was in Majestatem Populi Romani peccare And it was a generally continued custome by the Emperors to receive the confirmation of their Title from the Acclamations of the People 8. But it may be here urged That the Imperial Head was manifestly discontinued in the time of the Tumults of Italy under the q See Petavii Rationar Temp. Part. I. L. 8. c. 13. Berengarii when there were such frequent changes of the Kings of Italy This can be of no more force than the former excepting the Ceremony of anointing Berengarius King at Rome by Pope John the Xth. But his Reign was so very short after it and the Successions of those after him so like a mere scuffle
of Competitors to the Kingdom and besides not owned as heads of Rome that there is no reason to account it any setled change of the Imperial Head Prop. 21. part 1. Hugo of Arles had indeed the Principality of Rome with Marozia but he was presently cast out of it again Besides that r Ibid. cap. 14. The German Writers account Conrad and Henry Auceps Emperors in succession to Ludovicus the immediate Emperor before them and then there will not be above 8 years of vacancy others reject these two because they were not anointed and crowned by the Pope But the Germans do much dispute the necessity of that the Kings of Germany with whom the Imperial Title of Rome had continued by right of Succession from Charlemaigne till that time did still retain the same right in appearance because they were neither formally disowned by the City of Rome nor had any other set up there in their place For the Kingdom of Italy was then accounted a particular Jurisdiction by it self distinct from the City of Rome And the Pope was by that time almost absolute in that City So that all that could be inferred from hence would be that the False Prophet acted for a little time without the Beast 9. And this last Observation may occasion a Scruple How the Emperors can be said to be an Head of the City of Rome when some hundreds of years they have had no more than the bare Title of it The easie Answer to this is That all that is required to make an Head of the Beast is to be Å¿ See Note the 6th on the 6th Chapter a setled Secular Authority owned for Supream at Rome And 't is no wonder that he should be called an Head of it and have so little power or influence over it For all his power was to be exercised before him by another Church-Head distinct from him It cannot be thought necessary Rev. 13. 12. for the Emperor to be particularly resident at Rome to be the Head of Rome For then the Roman Emperors ever after the making Ravenna the Imperial Seat by Honorius must have ceased to have been the Heads of Rome 10. It may then be replied That the Constantinopolitan Emperors in the time of the Gothish Kings of Italy had the Title of the Imperial Head of Rome and upon that account should seem not to have been changed from the time of the Vision But it must be remembred That it is not sufficient to have a Title only but that Title must be owned by the chief Authority of the City of Rome for the sole Secular Sovereign Power of it Whereas it has been made to appear that in the Reign of the Gothish Kings of Italy the Constantinopolitan Emperors were far from being owned for the only Sovereigns of Rome For they were no further owned to have any thing to do there than what the t All Historians give an account of the Imprisonment of Pope John the First for crowning the Emperor Justin in the East and of the absolute Sovereignty of the Gothish Kings over the City of Rome See Notes on the 4th Chapter Lib. 3. Kings of the Goths who were then in the real and actual possession of Rome did allow them as Partners with them in the Honour of the Title of that City 11. It may also be objected That the Emperors have been very often in Wars with the Popes which is contrary to the strict Confederacy that is every-where expressed to be betwixt the Beast and the False Prophet But since they have been notwithstanding at a constant agreement in the great design of their Confederacy which is persecution for false Worship their occasional differences about other things is not to be regarded at most not more than the Differences betwixt the Popes and the Ten Kings who yet give their Kingdom to the Beast 12. How also can the Ten Kings be said to have given their power to the Beast about the time of Justinian when they were many of them Arrians at the greatest distance from the Religion of Rome The Answer to this is That they were soon brought under the Authority and See of Rome France Spain and all Justinian's Conquests changed about the end of that Age. 13. If it be said That when the Roman Empire was divided into Ten Kingdoms distinct from one another there could be no one Secular Head that could deserve to be called the Beast It may be answered That the Beast is but such an Head of the Roman Empire as has a superior Right to the Authority of the chief City of the Empire while the whole body of it is divided Prop. 21. into ten Sovereignties and by that Right has a claim to a Jurisdiction paramount to them all And such is the claim of the present Emperors to u See Notes m and n on the 6th Chapter reserved Rights over all the divided Kingdoms of the Roman Empire And there is at present so great and publick an acknowledgment of the German Emperor's Superiority over over other Kings only as he is Roman Emperor That as has been observed he is suffered to have the precedence of Kings who have both a much larger Dominion than he and a much ancienter Title and who take place of him before he has the Imperial Title when he has nothing but his Hereditary Countries But that which is chiefly to be regarded for the qualifying him for this character of an Head amongst the Ten Horns is That he is properly said to be the Roman Civil Head of those Ten Kings in one common Design that they are all engaged in because he is so acknowledged to be by the False Prophet who manages them all for that end and gives Him the Title of their Head in it 14. It may be further enquired How it can be said That the Imperial Power has subdued three Kings as it is said of the Little Horn in the 7th of Daniel It is answered That whatsoever is said there of the Little Horn is to be understood of the Beast in the Revelations in his joint confederacy with the False Prophet as one Thing engaged in one Design And then whatsoever is done by the False Prophet in that Design will be said to be done by the Beast so that the subduing of the three Kings may thus be either x Hierom. Rubeus Histor Ravennat pag. 145. says That Justinian built that Magnificent Temple of Sancta Sophia in memory of his Persian Vandalic and Gothick Victories Cuspinian de Casaribus pag. 139. gives an account of Belisarius's Expedition against the Persians and that he entred in a Triumph into Constantinople for that Conquest And pag. 140. says That he had a most Pompous Triumph from the Spoils of the Vandals being then Consul in ordinary And pag. 141. says That when Justinian had recovered Italy and subdued Africa and Persia he put the Glory of his Victories into his Titles Justinian's Conquests or y
necessary to the Emperors for upholding their Power in the midst of the Invasions of the Barbarous Nations the Emperors were willing to enlarge their Authority to make use of it for the management of their own Affairs And after that the Divisions of the Roman Empire were setled in so many Sovereign Princes that Church-Authority which they themselves had now lost in those several Kingdoms they were not unwilling to bestow upon the Chief Bishop of their City and so by small advances he came at last to get the Title of Occumenical Bishop and Vniversal Head of the Church of Christ upon Earth But yet still did the Emperors retain their Power of the setting up of every new Bishop of Rome The Emperors m This is thus well expressed by John Wex de Antichristo p. 119. And so the Ten Kings delivered to the Beast their Kingdoms which they had got at the dissolution of the Western Empire according to Apoc. 17. 12. For after that the Western Empire was broken in pieces all the Kingdoms of the West did join again together in one body that by the bonds and tye of the Babylonish Superstition of the Bishop of Rome they might fight against the Lamb. Consent was still held necessary for the confirmation of the Election as the Chief Power upon Earth that gave him his Authority And upon this account he was set up as the Emperor's Deputy and Creature to be the Universal Head of the Roman Church in all the divided Kingdoms of the Roman Empire which now would own no other Secular Head of the Churches in them but those Sovereigns which ruled them And thus came the divided Roman Empire to be n one entire thing again and the several Kings in it to own one Roman Head again set up by the Imperial Authority Things continued not long in this mere spiritual and Ecclesiastical State The new Ecclesiastical Head used all ways to make himself universally acknowledged for such And to that end as Head of the Church he assumes a power of executing the Canons of Councils upon Sovereign Princes to the depriving them of their Kingdoms if they refused to execute the Orders of the Church upon all those that were disobedient to it and that even to the punishment of death From hence then we have a perfect Idea of the worship of the Beast and of his Image from the first Rise of the last Ruling Head or of the Imperial Power restored by Justinian The Imperial Authority was at first the sole Head of the Roman Catholick Church Afterwards the Submission of the divided States of the Empire to one Ecclesiastical Sovereign who was set up by the Emperor made this new Empire the exact Image of the first in respect of the Church-Government of it And the Manager and Contriver of this new Model is in History the Bishop of Rome and is in the Prophecy called the False Prophet CHAP. V. Rev. XIII Four Grounds for the applying of the Worship of the Beast to the Imperial Power How the False Prophet does Exercise all the Power of the First Beast causes all the World to Worship him makes them make an Image to him Gives Life to that Image and makes All receive its Mark c. BY the Observations in the preceding Discourse it is easie to see How justly the Worship of the Beast may be applied to the Imperial Authority after the degeneracy of the Christian Religion 1. For the Imperial Authority as has been observed p. 221. was 〈…〉 a long while the only commanding Head of the Roman Religion and the a SOcrates Proam in l. 5. We have therefore in the whole course of out History given an account of the Emperor's interest in it because that since they began to embrace the Christian Religion Ecclesiastical Affairs did seem very much to depend upon them so that the most eminent Councils were in times past and are at this day summoned by their consent and procurement See Notes on the third Chapter b c d e f g i k The Emperours had always the Right of Investing Church-Governours in their several jurisdictions till the Council of Worms in the year 1122. And then the Emperour Henry the 3d. wearied with the vexations occasioned him by the Popes gave up his Right of the Staff and the Ring the Ceremonies of the investiture to Pope Calixtus the 2d Aventin Histor Boior l. 6. The Abbot of Ursperg in his Chronicle gives the form of this Concordat betwixt the Emperour and the Pope And the Pope in return agrees for the future That the Elections of the Bishops and Abbots c. should be performed in his presence c. And that He that was Elected should receive the Regalia of the Emperour by the Scepter And this was called the Uniting of the Royal Power with the Priesthood and long endeavoured after under that Name Cardinal Cusan Concordia Catholic c. 6 7 8 9. Affirms That every Emperour and Prince in their several Jurisdictions are of God alone and that it belongs to the Emperours to summon General Councils and to regulate the Procedures in them and to every Prince to do the same in his respective Territory for National and Provincial Councils And that if the Pope be negligent in these things the Emperour ought to make use of his Authority in all such Cases That the Emperour always presided in the Councils assisted with fifteen or twenty of the Nobles of his Court whom he made to take place before all And He and his Legats propounded the matters that were to be considered Pererius in Apoc. Disp 5. de Constantino Then came the Imperial Majesty first into the Church which was then Armed with both the Swords c. For though from the first The Church had that Sword viz. the Secular Sword yet then first began the facility and conveniency of exercising it against whomsoever it pleased only Soveraign Authority upon Earth that was acknowledged in all Ecclesiastical Affairs so that all obedience given to the erroneous Acts of those Councels was really an obedience to the Emperors will only For those things had no obliging power in them to overrule the Conscience upon the account of the Councels Authority And therefore since it had been long before that time received as a maxime by those who owned that Councel That all was there done by the b Socrates l. 1. c. 6. Ep. 4. Constantine unto the Churches He there tells them That whatsoever is decreed in the Holy Councils of Bishops is to be attributed to the Will of God And of the Sentence of the Council of Nice in particular Ibid. Ep. 2. to the Church of Alexandria For that which has been agreed upon by the 300 Bishops is to be taken for nothing but the determination of God himself The Holy Ghost residing in the minds of such worthy persons and inspiring them with the Divine Will of God himself Concil Constantinop Universal 6. Action 17. sub finem The
would be but the taking of the word Latinos after the Ancient way of the Latins The False Prophet's punishment of those who had not the mark or name of the Beast is just the same with z The effect of the Papal Excommunications for this purpose does appear from the Bull of Pope Martin the 5th in confirmation of the Council of Constance and to be found at the end of it Which commands all Emperours Princes Lords and all Civil Magistrates as well as Ecclesiastical to expell all Hereticks out of their Territories not to suffer them to make Contracts or to exercise any kind of Merchandize amongst them the Papal-Excommunications For the hindering them from the Market or from buying and selling was one of the effects of the Excommunications of the Jews CHAP. VI. Rev. XIII Vnder the name of the Beast is comprehended all his under-Agents in the same design How the ten Kings give their Kingdoms to the Beast How the Character of speaking like the Dragon can agree with a Christian Bishop It cannot be any thing else THE particular instances explained in the former Chapter do clearly show that the exercise of the Power of the false Prophet does in all the parts of it regard the Beast as the principal concern of his design The Worship that he promotes is the Worship of the Beast The Image that he causes to be made is an Image made in honour of the Beast it self And the Worship that is given to it is because of its being the Image of that Beast that was deadly wounded and was healed again And the mark name and number of the name is the name of the Beast by which all Men were to own themselves the peculiar slaves of the Beast And this is no more than what the Character of that Power which the false Prophet did exercise in all these ways does plainly intimate to us for it is said to be the Power of the Beast it self exercised hefore him And therefore must the exercise of it be only upon his account and those that were employed in it were therefore but his Ministers and Instruments in it All which does signifie to us That the Supremacy of the Pope the Infallibility of the Church of Rome the blind Submission and Veneration that is paid to it the taking the name of a Roman Catholick the confining of all the publick Offices of Religion and Devotion to God and of the lively Oracles of God to the old Roman Language That all these things are done in honour of the Universal Imperial Power of the Romans or of the Empire of the City of Rome and that in the time of the Imperial Authority over Rome restored by Justinian And therefore are all these things signified to be the Worship of the Beast under the last Ruling Head because it is not a Civil honour that is given to this Empire and the Head of it But the giving them the Prerogative of Almighty God the Power of setting up a Spiritual Authority which shall give Law to the Consciences of Men according to their own will and pleasure and shall have the Spirit of God confined to their Arbitrary proceedings and the Curses of God to dispose of at their will against all that dissent from them The Beast therefore is the final Object of all the Worship N. B. and Honour that is given and therefore does generally comprehend in it all the under-Actors and Instruments in this Design where he is mentioned alone Thus ln the 17th Chapter of the Revelations there is no mention of the false Prophet or of the Image but only of the Beast and of the magnificent appearance of his Empire under the name of Babylon And therefore by the Beast must there be understood all his Ministers and Instruments joyned with him according to the nature of the several Characters that he is joyned with As in the time of the Mayres of the Palace in France by the name of the King must many times be understood the will of those Mayres to the prejudice of the Royal Authority because it was the King's Power that was exercised by them And all the Honour and Obedience that they had was upon the account of their being authorized by him So also do the Actions and Honour of the false Prophet and the Image go under the name of the Beast in that Chapter tho in reality they have been much to the diminution of the Imperial Authority It is enough to qualifie them to be comprehended under the name of the Beast that they concur with the Beast in his great design of making all the World to submit to an Ecclesiastical Authority of his own Creating as the acknowledgment of the Honour of his Empire For all the Worship that is hereby promoted is The Honour shown to the Imperial Power of the Romans which is submitted to as the only ground for any hopes of Salvation And that not upon the account of its being the Catholick Church of Christ but for that which is at present a contradiction to it viz. for being the Roman-Catholick Church Wherefore when the ten Kings are said to give their Power Rev. 17. 13. and Strength and Kingdoms to the Beast it is to be understood of their concurrence to advance the Roman Religion as the Imperial Religion of the Romans which was first set up and promoted by the Imperial Authority and so still continues to be defended and protected by it and therein does the Worship of the Beast more eminently appear because of the submission of crowned Heads to it who have no Superior upon Earth but God alone For it is very difficult to understand how ten Kings can be supposed to be of one mind and to agree to give their Kingdoms to the Worship of any Power upon Earth but only in this way of an Uniformity in a common Religion which is set up by the Will and to the Honour of another And here it is to be observed how exactly the Prophecy and the Event do agree with one another in respect of the Order which is observed in the Text. The Beast is described as beginning the Scene first and setting the design on foot And the false prophet and the Image come in afterwards to perfect and accomplish it which was very punctually verified by the beginning of the Universal Monarchy of the Church of Rome under the Imperial Authority and the advancement of it into a perfect Tyranny by the Roman Hierarchy So that after a while the False-prophet seems to take the power of the Beast out of his hands and to exercise it before his face and then the Beast had little to do himself in the management of it and seemed only to give Authority to what was done by others which is also now manifest from the common course of the Roman Church in their proceedings against Hereticks They judge condemn and pronounce sentence against them and then deliver them over to the Secular
thereupon into the Church And thus comes the Roman Empire to appear with Ten Kingdoms in it shown by the Ten Horns and this was the helping of the Woman because the Church by this got her freedom and peace and gained these Barbarians to her But the Dragon is said to be still in great fury against the Woman and therefore went to make War with the remnant of her seed which Rev. 12. 17. keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ where we may observe a plain distinction made betwixt the Seed of the Woman The Warr that the Dragon makes is with that part of her Seed which keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony or are the Witnesses or Martyrs of Jesus Christ which intimates that the Rest of her Seed should depart from the Commandments of God and from the truth of the Gospel of Christ By this we have a new scene opened about the enmity of the Dragon against the Church The Time of it is after the Settlement of the Divisions of the Empire in those Kings of the Barbarians signified by the swallowing up of the great flood by the earth That is after the rise of the Ten Kings in the Roman Empire and the party against whom this War is carried on are the Godly Seed of the Woman not against all her Seed but against those only who keep God's Commandments and are the Witnesses or the Martyrs of Jesus or as they are elsewhere called The Witnesses in Sackcloth How this was brought to pass That which does immediately follow this design of the Dragon does inform us For immediately upon it appears a Beast with all the same Emblems of the Roman Empire that the Dragon had and to him the Dragon Rev. 13. 1. is said to give his Power and his Seat and great Authority v. 2. And thus does the Dragon fulfill the intention that he had just before to War with the chosen Remnant of the Womans Seed He does not appear himself in it but inspires another set up in his place to do it By which it is evidently signified That this new war with the dutiful part of the Womans Seed is not managed by any Roman Power which is openly known to be the professed Enemy of God and of the Christian Religion as that Government of the Empire was which had the open appearance of the Devil's management in it And if it were not such a Power that should appear like an open professed Enemy of the Christian Religion it must be such as must profess that Religion and out of a pretended zeal to it exercise all the Tyranny of the Devil or Dragon against the true professors of it For all the great business of the Beast is Religious worship and if that Religion be not professed enmity to the Christian because that would make it the open show of the Dragon as it was before his fall It must then be a zealous outward profession of the Christian Religion to persecute and to destroy the true maintainers of it This does determine the time of the first settlement of the Woman in the Wilderness for the space of a Time Times and an half For thô it be said Chap. 12. 6. That She fled into the Wilderness yet it is not there said that she was setled there but only that she had a place prepared for her there to be fed for One Thousand two Hundred and Sixty days And besides after many great Actions intervening she is said at the 14th Verse to be but then in a condition to fly into the Wilderness and after she was flying thither the Dragon cast out a flood after her and hindred her settlement there till that was swallowed up and therefore did her Time Times and Half-time begin but just at the same time with the Dragon 's persecuting the remnant of her Seed which was just at the first rise of the Beast and so confirms the Synchronism of the Woman and the Beast for their whole time We are therefore now to enquire from the History of the Christian Church how it can be said that from the time of Justinian all the true Professors of the Christian Faith were forced by Tyrannical usage to worship the Will of the Christian Roman Emperors about matters of Religion thereby to fit the Characters here given to the Beast to the Imperial Head restored in the West And thus we find that at the Time that the Christian Church The Woman was secured in the Two Imperial Seats of the East and West the two Wings of a great Eagle from all the inundations of Pagan people or from the face of the Serpent The Devil did then set up persecution in the Roman Throne against the true and faithful Members of the Christian Church The Remnant of the Seed of the Woman which keep the Commandments of God while she her self was in the Wilderness or in a place of security CHAP. VII Rev. XIII The particular point of the first date of the Rise of the Beast enquired after in order The first conception and progress of the chief Malignity of the Beast It entred with Theodosius and was setled by Justinian And appears to have been the enforcing of Vniversal Conformity by Penalties able to make the generality of the World to comply against their Consciences Justinian 's peculiar Talent in the setling this Method for Conformity FRom the former Account of the over-ruling Authority of the Christian Emperors in all Church-Affairs and of the great veneration which they had for the Councils assembled under them it is obvious for any one to conclude That they lay very open to the danger of requiring Divine Honours to be given them For this must needs make them very apt to command many things which God has left free and undetermined to be received for Points of Faith necessary to Salvation as inspired by the Holy Ghost in Council And it is evident that in such a case the will of him that enjoins such things is taken for the Will of God and so he may very well be said to require the Honour of God to be given to his own will One cannot but think it very probable upon this account that such a kind of Worship as is called the Worship of the Beast was sometimes enjoined before the Rise of the Beast since there were many Erroneous Councils before that time And it may be many things in Orthodox Councils made to be Inspirations of the Holy Ghost and pressed upon the Consciences of men as Divine Oracles necessarily to be obeyed which were but the mere Arbitrary Injunctions of men But yet though the same kind of Worship might have been commanded before his appearance yet it could not be the worship of the Beast till it was the owning of the Roman Authority for the Will of God in those particular Circumstances of Antichristian Idolatry and Tyranny in which it is described to be all over the
Christ into Heaven into whose Place and Dominion the Kingdom of Christ and his Saints did succeed 2. The Kingdom of the Son of Man or of the Saints appears to have the same individual Characters with that state of the Church which has been already shewn by Coroll Prop. 11. Rev. 11. 15. to be the time of Christ's Second Coming in Glory For they both begin at the last end of a Kingdom signified by A Beast Dan. 7. 14 26. Rev. 11. 15. which ruled over all the World and at the end of the last Persecution of the Church and from that time they reign in triumph for ever and ever They are both from their first beginning over all the Kingdoms of the World and Eternal They are therefore described to reign in the same place for the same continuance of time and at the same particular time and it is impossible for two different Kingdoms of the same nature to be in the same place and at the same time Wherefore since the One of these is known to be the time of Christ's Second Coming in Glory the Other must also of necessity be the same Accordingly do we find in both the circumstances of Warring against the Saints and overcoming them just before the beginning of them and a famous remarkable Judgment accompanying them 3. To confirm this still further from this Prophecy it self if we compare the circumstances of the Kingdom of the Son of Man in this Chapter with the description of the Resurrection in the 12th Chapter it will be unquestionable For the time times Dan. 12. 2. and an half in the 7th verse of the 12th Chapter are said to end at the end of the Wonders that had before been prophesied of and at the beginning of the last deliverance of the People of God from affliction Now the end of the Wonders or things of the Prophecy is the awaking of those that sleep in the dust of the Earth v. 2. which by the circumstances of Everlasting Life and Everlasting Contempt appears to be a Resurrection of the Dead and this must certainly be the time of Christ's Coming in Glory And then the time and times must also end at this Second Coming of Christ because they are said to end at the conclusion of those Wonders which is at the awaking of the Dead From hence it appears That these times in the 12th Chapter are the same particular time with the time and times and the dividing of time in the Dan. 7. 25. For they are both of them the same length of time and they both end at the last deliverance of the People of God from Persecution in this World Those in the 12th Chapter are described to end at the accomplishment of a scattering of God's Mat. XXIV People just before the awaking of the Dead or Christ's Second Coming in Glory and those in the 7th Chapter are described to end at the destruction of the little Horn which is followed by an universal Reign of the Saints for ever and therefore shews the Persecution that preceded it to be the last The times therefore in both Chapters do end at the same time and being both of the same length of duration they must therefore be the same particular time from the beginning to the end of it And hence it appears That the Kingdom of the Son of Man in the 7th Chapter is Christ's Second Coming in Glory because it begins at the end of the times in that Chapter which are the same with the times in the 12th Chapter which have just now been proved to end at Christ's Second Coming in Glory And here it is well worth the observing what another wresting of plain words Grotius presents us withal about the Grot. in Dan. 12. 2. awaking of the Dead ch 12. v. 2. He would have the Heathen Porphyry to be the best Interpreter of these words who makes this rising of the Dead to be nothing but the return of some persecuted Jews and yet both Grotius and Porphyry confess That the words are very wonderfully and artificially put together to hint at the mystery of the Resurrection So wonderfully indeed as it is to be admired how they can be made to intend any thing else 4. Again the very same peculiar words and description with these in the 7th of Daniel about the coming of the Son of Man does our Saviour use to signifie his Second Coming in Glory Matth. 24. 30 31. And withal it may be plainly observed That he referred to that place in Daniel in those words and that description which it is therefore convenient in the first place to be well satisfied in It is affirmed by a very judicious and impartial Critick That Mr. Mede the term of the Son of Man in that verse of St. Matthew and which was so familiar an expression with him to signifie his being the Messias could be taken from no other place in the Old Testament as the Name of the Messias but from this 7th Chapter of Daniel But surely this will never more be questioned when it is considered That our Saviour contrary to almost all the custom of his Discourses any where else has quoted Daniel by name but a few Verses before this 30th Verse in the very same v. 15. continued Prophecy When therefore soon after this we find in that Verse the same words and circumstances with these here in Daniel about the Coming of the Son of Man how is it possible for any man to question Whether our Saviour did mean the same thing with that which was signified in Daniel by the same words unless there were some so very clear ground against it as to force him to question it Which will not here be found Grotius therefore our chief Adversary in these things does allow That the same expression Matth. 26. 64. is a plain reference to this 7th of Daniel which makes him to appear so much the more extravagant in his fancy of quite another meaning in the same words and description of that place in Daniel from what he determines them to signifie in St. Matthew It is now therefore to be confirmed That by the same description and words of Christ Matth. 24. 30 31. cannot be understood any thing but his Second Coming in Glory which will appear from these following Considerations 1. The Coming of the Son of Man Matth. 24. 30. is joined with the end of the world for the time of it as may be seen in the question about it v. 3. And there is no other mention of the end of the world to answer that question in all the Chapter but as it is included in this Coming of the Son of Man and the sending his Angels to gather all to Judgment after it As for the phrase in the Original to signifie the end of the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is the very same that is made use of Matth. 13. in three several places in that one Chapter for