Macedon all Greece came under the Romane obedience 166 yeers afore the birth of Christ which no sooner was come to passe but the very selfe same yeere within lesse than three moneths after Antiochus sets up the abomination of desolation in the Temple of Jerusalem Why should we not then beleeve that the Holy Ghost intendeth here to give us as sure a watch-word when to beware of the man of sinne by this circumstance of latter times here in my text as we see he gave the Jewes to look for the persecution and prophanation by Antiochus Therefore without any more preambles I come now directly to resolve what was before propounded viz. what is meant by last times in generall whence and how we are to reckon them and then in the second place what are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my text which must be as I said before a latter part of that generall For the true account therefore of times in Scripture we must have recourse to that SACRED KALENDAR and GREAT ALMANACK of PROPHESIE the foure kingdomes of Daniel which are a propheticall chronology of times measured by the succession of foure principall kingdomes from the beginning of the captivity of Israel untill the mystery of God should be finished a course of time during which the Church and Nation of the Jewes together with those whom by occasion of their unbeleefe in Christ God should surrogate in their roomes was to remain under the bondage of the Gentiles and oppression of Gentilisme but these times once finished all the kingdomes of this world should become the kingdome of our Lord and his Christ. And to this great Calendar of times together with that other but lesser Calendar of 70 weekes all mention of times in Scripture seemes to have reference Now these foure kingdomes according to the truth infallibly to be demonstrated if need were and agreeable both to the ancient opinion of the Jewish Church whom they most concerned and to the most ancient and universall opinions of Christians derived from the times of the Apostles untill now of late time some have questioned it are 1 The Babylonian 2 That of the Medes and Persians 3 The Greekes 4 The Romane In which quaternary of kingdomes as the Romane being the last of the foure is the last kingdome so are the times thereof these last times we seeke for during which times saith Daniel cap. 2. v. 44. The God of heaven shall set up a kingdome which shall never be destroyed nor left unto another people but it shall breake in pieces and consume all these kingdomes and it shall stand for ever which is figured by a stone hewen out of the mountaine without hands before the times of the Image were yet spent which stone at length smote the Image upon his feet of Iron and Clay and so utterly destroyed it that done the stone that smote the Image upon the feet became a great mountaine and filled the whole earth the meaning of all which is that in the last times or under the times of the last kingdome the Romane should the kingdome of Christ appeare in the world as we see it hath done and this is that which the Apostle saith Heb. 1.2 God in these last dayes or last times hath spoken to us by his Sonne and Saint Peter 1 Ep. 1.20 that he was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world but was manifested in these last times This is that fulnesse of time whereof the Apostle speaks Gal. 4.4 When the fulnesse of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman and Ephes. 7.10 Having made knowne to us the mystery of his will that in the dispensation of the fulnesse of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ. Agreeable unto all which is that Heb. 9.26 Christ hath once appeared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the end of times or ages to put away sinne by the sacrifice of himself where these last times fulnesse of time and conclusion of ages are nothing else but the times of the fourth kingdome whose times are the last period of Daniels foure the fulnesse of propheticall chronologie and conclusion of the sacred Calendar during these times Christ was looked for and accordingly came and reigned whose kingdome shall at length abolish the brittle remainder of the Romane state according to the other part of the prophesie when the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in and our Lord subdue all his enemies under his feet and at the last death it selfe Having thus found what times are termed the last times in generall let us now see if we can discover which are the latter times of these last times or the last times in speciall which are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my Text which will not be hard to doe for if the last times in generall are all the times of the fourth kingdome then must our latter times as a part thereof needs be the latter times of that kingdome Let us therefore againe to our propheticall Calendar and survey Daniels description of the fourth or Romane kingdome as it is cap. 7. from ver 29. where we shall finde the latter times thereof to be that period of a time times and halfe a time during which that prodigious Horne with eyes like a man and mouth speaking great things should make warre with the Saints prevaile against them and weare them out and thinke to change times and lawes untill the judgement should sit and his dominions be taken away and in him that long-liv'd Beast finally be destroyed and his body given to the burning flame v. 11. for this Hornish soveraignty is the last Scene of that long Tragedy and the conclusion of the fourth beast and therefore the times thereof are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof the Spirit speakes expresly that in them there should be an Apostasie from the Christian faith Concerning these times thus found we will now further enquire 1 What durance they may be of 2 When they take beginning and by what mark their beginning may be knowne For the first we will make no question but these are the selfe same times whereof Saint John speakes telling us the Church should be in the wildernesse a Time Times and halfe a Time the same with those two and forty moneths wherein Johns restored beast should domineere and play the selfe-same reax which Daniels hornish tyrant doth the same time with those two and forty moneths during which the Church is trodden downe of the Gentiles lastly the same times with 1260. dayes during which the witnesses of Christ prophesied in sackcloth for a time times and halfe a time or a yeare two yeares and halfe are 42 moneths and 42 moneths make 1260. dayes if therefore we can finde the beginning and continuance of any of these we have found the beginning and continuance of them all For the duration and length of them they must imply some definitive times because the
the Revelation of S. John not the Lyar of Babylon not the Tyrant of Babylon not the Heretique of Babylon nor the Murdresse of Babylon but the Whore of Babylon yea that Great Whore and the Mother of fornications and abominations of the earth Doth not God think we give the name as he accounts the nature or is there any one will deny that this Babylon is that mystery of iniquity which our Apostle so calleth as being in opposition to the great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mystery of true worship and Religion if any should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mystery Babylon in her forehead would help to reclaim him And what Whore is that with whom the Kings and Nations and Kingdomes of the earth commit fornication can it be any other but a spirituall Whore Without question therefore S. John meanes no other thing here than what he foretold in the eleventh chapter That the Second and outmost court of the Temple which is the second state of the Christian Church together with the holy City should bee trodden downe and overtrampled by the Gentiles forty two moneths that is overwhelmed with the Idolaty of the Gentiles which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as long as power shall bee given to the Beast to make warre with the Saints as long as the witnesses must weare sackcloth and the woman which escaped the fury of the Ethnicall Dragon be fed in the wildernesse Secondly S. Paul tels us that the great Apostasie should enter by strong delusions by signes and lying wonders consider then what corruptions of the Christian faith were thus ushered in to begin with the begining and first corruption of that kinde Invocation of Saints with the adoration of their shrines and reliques how were these advanced in the Church was it not by miraculous cures of the sick healing of the lame restoring of the blinde yea raising of the dead as seemed sometimes by the only touch and aire sometimes of the shrines and reliques of soules deceased was it not still confirmed by strange apparitions and other meanes wonderfull to heare for discovery of bones and reliques unknowne and forgotten yea of men whose names they never heard of before And which I shall shew better hereafter no such experience for thirty yeares together observed in the Church untill the totall and fixed time began to enter The worshipping of Images the second for time of the Churches fornications was not this also allowed and at length fully ratified by like signes and miracles shewed upon those who approached them in their devotions Read the legend and see what store there is of strong delusions and lying wonders That which for time came in last but deserves a place among the foremost I meane the Idolatry of the Masse and adoration of the breaden god search and see if it be not also thus attented If all this be true then would I know what doctrine of theirs besides was installed with these solemnities there is but one only left for exception and it is Purgatory but what if all the delusions of Purgatory with all the apparitions of Purgatorian Ghosts were but an indirect device of Satan ayming partly to advance the Masse into an Idoll by the miraculous efficacy forsooth as the Ghosts report of the oblation thereof for them partly to install the Sonne of perdition a Daemon I yet speak not of and yet a Daemon to sit as God in the Temple and Throne of Christ with the keyes of Hades and death to deliver them what stronger presumption can there be of this than the event and that the errour of Purgatory had so long beene working before the Devill seemed to know how to make this use of it which at length he spied out and plied lustily with signes and wonders If all this be true then it followes still that it is spirituall fornication which the Holy Ghost in Scripture intendeth and the event hath marked out for the soule of Antichristian abomination and impiety But of the matter of miracles and lying wonders more in the second part of my text which is the proper place thereof Thirdly and lastly the great Apostasie is a thing proper to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the latter times which I will shew when I come at it to be the last times of the fourth kingdome of Daniel Dan. 7.25 alibi but amongst all other corruptions only the spirituall fornication of the Church and spouse of Christ will bee found proper to these times But you will say if Idolatry and Spirituall fornication bee the matter why should not this rather be laid upon Painims and Turks and Saracens who acknowledge not Christ rather than upon Christians who doe I answer S. John and S. Paul prophesied of things to come not of that which was in being when they prophesied But Ethnicall and Painim Idolatry at that time overwhelmed the whole earth yea and persecuted and made warre with the Saints and no time hath yet beene when this Idolatry was not to be found It must needs be then some other whoredome for whoredome it was to be which was prophesied of to come Againe neither Saracen nor Turk the greatest unchristian States since Christ neither of these I say can bee Antichrist wee speak of nor their blasphemy that mystery of iniquity foretold by the Apostles and Prophets For there are two unquestionable charactes of that mystery which will neither of them without doubt not both of them agree to Turk or Saracen videlicet first that it should sit in the Great City which in S. Johns time reigned over the nations of the earth Secondly that it should bee an Apostasie from the Christian faith once embraced But the Turk whatsoever he be is no Apostate being of a nation which never was Christian nor was the seat of the Saracen Empire whilst it stood either in the old or new Rome or neere unto either for I would seeme to yeeld for this time that new Rome or Constantinople would serve the turne though I am farre enough from beleeving it Nor will I alleadge that Mahomet himselfe and his nation were both Painims when they began their blasphemies for you would tell me that Sergius the Monk taught him to make the Alchoran nor will I question now whether the Christian or Mahumetan be the greater Idolater though the doubt might soone bee resolved seeing it is well knowne the Mahumetans worship no Images But I have alleaged nothing save what is without exception that both these characters I spake of cannot bee applied either to Turk or Saracen though I beleeve that neither can be When I spake of Painims and Mahumetans I would have you remember that there were some blasphemous sects in the first ages of the Church which are no more to be accounted of as Christians than Mahumetans and Painims are nay Mahumetanism is neerer Christianity than many of them were for amongst whom the Christians Deity is not worshipped and received those though they
Scripture followes that use of speech and useth no number indefinitely but those which the use of speech had made such as 1.10.1000 but mixt and compound numbers as these are 3 ½. 42.1260 are neither in the Hebrew nor I think in any other language used indefinitely Our adversaries would have them literally understood for three single yeers and a half as though it were an History and not a Prophesie but besides the use of prophesie to reckon dayes for yeers I think it would trouble any man to conceive how so many things as should be performed in this time should be done in three single yeeres and a halfe 1 Ten kingdomes founded at the same time with the Beast 2 Peoples and multitudes of nations and tongues to serve and obey him 3 To make warre with the Saints and overcome them 4 To cause all that dwell upon the earth to worship him 5 Babylon to ride the Beast so long that all nations shall drinke of the wine of her fornication the Kings of the earth commit fornication with her yea the Merchants and all those that had ships in the sea to grow rich by trading with her Me thinks all this should ask much more than three yeeres works or foure either To which I adde moreover that that state of government soveraignty or seigniory or what you will of the Beast under which the whore should ride him followeth immediately upon a former which in comparison is said to last but a short space Rev. 17.20 But if the Antichristian state should continue but three yeers and a half literally taken how short must the time of that foregoing King or soveraignty be which should occasion the Holy Ghost to insert so singular a note of the difference thereof from that which followed that it should continue but a short space doth not this imply that the next state wherin the whore should ride the beast was to continue a long space therefore 3 yeers a half historically taken cannot be the time of the Churches Apostasie and the Antichristian soveraignty of Rome and if it cannot be taken historically it must be taken prophetically every day for a yeer so 1260 dayes counted so many yeers shewes the extent of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be 1260 yeers Now for the second thing proposed the beginning of these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saint John tells us in the Revelation that his blasphemous Beast of 42 moneths continuance should succeed upon the mortall wound of the Caesarian or Imperiall soveraignty of Rome And Apoc. 17. the Idolatrous Beast which carries the great Whore upon his back should have a plurality of Kings start up at the same time with him who should agree to submit their power and kingdome unto this whore-ridden Beast and would not he also in the same chapter have us take notice that the Antichristian state of the Beast which was to come should be next to that of the Caesars which then reigned for the Angell there tels him that that state of the beast wherein the Whore should ride him which was then not in being but should afterward ascend out of the bottomlesse pit and goe into perdition that this state or head of the beast should succeed so immediately upon the sixth state or head viz. the Caesarian then reigning that howsoever in some respects it might be called an eighth yet should in very deed be but the seventh for how could it be otherwise when the Beast in the vision hath but seven heads and no more vide ver 8.10.11 Agreeable to this is Saint Pauls Epocha 2 Thes. 2.7 who tels us that as soone as the Imperiall soveraignty of Rome which then hindered should be taken out of the way then should that wicked one be revealed thus the Fathers generally expound it Hence was that custome in the Church in the most ancient times of it to pray in their Lyturgy for the lasting of the Roman Empire that so Antichrist might be long acomming Tertul. apol cap. 32. 39. Ad Scap. c. 2. Upon this ground Saint Jerome when ho heard of the taking of Rome by Alaricus the Goth presently expected the comming of Antichrist Ad Ageruchiam de Monogamia Qui tenebat saith he de medio sit non intelligimus Antichristum appropinquare Idem praefat l. 8. Comment in Ezec. Pascitur animus obliviscitur saeculi calamitatum quòd in extremo fine jam positum congemiseit parturit donec qui tenet de medio fiat pedes statuae quondam ferrei fragilitate digitorum fictilium conterantur Cadit mundus Cervix erect a non flectitur c. Thus he Postquam clarissimum terrarum omnium Lumen extinctum est imo Romani Imperii truncatum caput in una urbe totus orbis interiit as he elsewhere deplores that wofull calamity Praef. l. 1. Comment in Ezek. Answerable to that which Saint John told us Daniels Calendar also informes us that the hornish Tyrant who was to act the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should then begin to appeare when ten kings should arise in the fourth kingdome for the ten horns which at last he espied upon the Beasts head and observed a little horn with eyes a mouth to spring up amongst them displant three of them v. 8. the Angel v. 24. expounds to be ten kings which should arise out of that kingdome and another to wit Antichrist should arise behind them so it should be translated as the 70 doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which should be diverse from the first that is a King of another nature and should bring downe or humble three Kings and play those reax which follow in the Text. Thus the Fathers universally and from the utmost antiquity expound this Scripture Justin. Mart. Dialog cum Tryphone takes it for granted that this horne is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui iniqua in nos Christianos andebit Irenaeus scholar to Policarp l. 5. c. 21. aliis 25. saith Daniel novissimi regni finem respiciens id est novissimos decem reges in quo divideretur regnum illorum super quos filius perditionis veniet cornua dicâ—â— decâ—m â—asei bestiae c. Yea a little after hee tels us that Saint John in his ten Kings which should re-receive their kingdomes at one houre with the Beast expounds this of Daniel Manifestius adhuc dâ— novissimo tempore de his qui sunt in eo decem regibus in quos dividâ—tur quod nunc regnaâ— imperium significavit Johannes Domini discipulus in Apocalypsi edisserens quae fuerint decem cornua quâ— Ã Daniele visa sunt c. Nay Saint Jerome in his Comment upon this seventh chapter of Daniel will give us to understand that all the Ecclesiasticall Writers delivered this to be the true exposition for having there confuted Porphyrie who to derogate from the divinity of this prophesie would have it meant of Antiochus Epiphanes and therefore written when the
Notwithstanding all this I make no question but in the Apostles times many of the beleeving Gentiles mistaking the Apostles admonition to the Jewes of the end of their state approaching thought the end of the whole world and the day of the Lord had beene also neere whom therefore Paul 2 Thes. 2. beseeches to be better informed because that day should not come untill the Apostasie came first and that man of sin were revealed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Expresly or in expresse words NOw I come to the fourth part of this prophecy the warrant or proofe thereof The Spirit hath foretold it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in expresse words in some place or other of divine Writ The Spirit told Peter Acts 10.19 Behold three men seeke thee The Spirit said Separate Barnabas and Saul Acts 13.2 The Spirit forbade Saint Paul to preach in Asia The Spirit said that the Jewes should binde Saint Paul at Jerusalem Acts 21.11 But in all these the Spirit spake not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for these things were no where written and therefore what it spake it spake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely by secret Instinct or Inspiration but that which the Spirit speakes in the written Word that it speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verbatim expresly If therefore concerning this Apostasie of Christian beleevers to be in these latter times the Scripture speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then is it to be found somewhere in the Old Testament for there alone the Spirit could be said to speake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or verbatim in the Apostles time Having therefore so good a hint given us let us see if we can finde where the Spirit speaketh of this matter so expresly There are three maine things in this our Apostles prediction whereof I finde the Spirit to have spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in expresse words and that in the prophecy of Daniel 1 Of these last or latter times 2 Of the new worship of Daemons in them 3 Of a Prohibition of marriage to accompany them As for the first of these the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Daniel as you heard before expresly names them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a time times and halfe a time being those last times of this last kingdome wheren the Hornish Tyrant should make warre with the Saints and prevaile against them For the second a worship of new Daemons or Demi-gods with the profession of the name of Christ you will perhaps think it strange if I should shew it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but if I doe it was the Appendix of hindering or debarring marriage mentioned in the next verse which as a thread led me the way to the end of the eleventh chapter of Daniel where I found it and in a place too very suspicious being taken I think by almost all the Ancients for a prophecy of Antichrist yea and so expounded by the greatest part of our own though with much variety of reading and application But heare the words themselves in the 36 37 38 39 verses of the eleventh chapter of Daniel translated as I think 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verbatim without any wresting or straining the Hebrew text they are a description of the last or Roman Kingdome with the severall states thereof conquering nations persecuting Christians false worshipping Christ. The words are these Daniel cap. 11.36 37 38 39. verses 36 Then a King shall doe according to his will shall exalt and magnifie himselfe above every god yea against the God of gods shall hee speak marvellous things and shall prosper untill the indignation be accomplished for the determined time shall be fulfilled 36 Tunc faciet pro libitu suo Rex extollet ac magnificabit seipsum supra omnem deum etiam contra Deum deorum loquetur stupenda proficitque donec consummata fuerit indignatio nam statutum perficietur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 37 Then he shall not regard the gods of his Ancestors nor shall he regard the desire of women no nor any god but he shall magnifie himselfe above all 37 Tunc ad Deos ma jorum suorum non attendet nec ad desiderium mulierum nec ad ullum numen attendet sed supra omne se magnificabit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 38 For to or together with God in his seat hee shall honour Mahuzzims yea together with that God whom his Ancestours knew not shall he honour them with gold and with silver and with precious stones and with pleasant things 38 Nam ad vel juxta Deum Mahuzzimos in sede ejus honorabit scilicet ad Deum quem non agnoverunt majores ejus honarabit eos auro argento lapidibus pretiosis rebus desideratissimis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 39 And hee shall make the holds of the Mahuzzims withall or joyntly to the forreigne god whom acknowledging hee shall increase with honour and shall cause them to rule over many and shall distribute the earth for a reward 39 Et faciet munimenta Mauzzimorum unà deo peregrino seu exotico quem agnoscendo multiplicabit honores dominari faciet eos in multos terramque partietur in mercedem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Now for the understanding of this Prophecy wee must take notice that the Prophet Daniel at the begining of these verses leaves off the Greek kingdome with Antiochus of whom he was speaking before and falls about the Romane the reason being because after Antiochus in whose time Macedonia whence that kingdome sprung with all the rest of Greece came under the Romane obedience the third kingdome comes no more into reckoning Daniel himselfe calling the time of Antiochus reigne the latter end of the Greek kingdome cap. 8.23 and as I take it he intimates the same in this chapter in the verses immediately fore-going these we have now to deale withall from thence forward therefore the Romane succeeds in the account of the Great Calendar of time 2 Under the name King we must understand the whole Roman State under what kind of government soever for the Hebrewes use King for kingdome and kingdome for any Government State or Policy in the world for the Divell in the Gospel is said to have shewn Christ all the kingdomes of the world Monarchies Aristocracies Democracies or what other kind soever 3 Where it is said this King shall exalt himselfe above every God nothing is thereby meant but the generality and the greatnesse of his conquests and prevailings and the reason of that phrase or manner of speech should seem to be because in the time of Paganisme every Citie and Country was supposed to have their proper and peculiar gods which were deemed as their guardians and protectors whence in the Scripture according to the language of that time we may observe a threefold use of speech First The Nations themselves are expressed and implyed under the names of their gods The Israelites were called the people of Jehovah so are the Moabites the people of Chemosh Numb 21.29
over the words again and apply the interpretation unto them DAN II. Verse 36. Then a King shall doe according to his will and shall exalt or magnifie himselfe above every god 36 That is toward the end of the reigne of Antiochus Epiphanes the Roman shal prevail and set up the Fourth Kingdome making himself master of the kingdome of Macedon and advancing himselfe from this time forward by continuall conquests shall Lord it over every King and Nation Yea against the God of gods shall he speake marvellous things and shall prosper untill the indignation be accomplished for the determined time shall bee fulfilled Yea Christ the God of gods and King of the kings of the earth who in those times should appear in the world the Roman shall mock blaspheme and crucifie and by most bloody edicts shall persecute and massacre his servants the Christians and yet shall prosper in his Empire untill these outragious times be ended that is untill the dayes of Constantine for the time God hath appointed must be fulfilled Verse 37. Then he shall not regard the gods of his Ancestors nor shall he regard the desire of women no nor any God but he shall magnifie himselfe above all 37 When that appointed time for the date of his prosperitie comes to his period and the time of his ruine and change of his dominion drawes neere then this Roman state shall cashiere and forsake the Idols and False gods whom their Fathers worshipped and shall acknowledge Christ a God whom their fathers knew not at that time the desire of women and married life shall be discountenanced and shall not be of that account and regard it had been but contrary to the long continued custome of the Romans single life shall be honoured and priviledged aboue it yea and soone after the Romane shall beare himselfe so as if he regarded not any God and with Antichristian pride shall magnifie himselfe over all Verse 38 For to or together with God in his seat he shal honour Mahuzzims yea together with that God whom his Ancestours knew not shall he honor them with gold and with silver and with precious stones and with pleasant things 38 That is together with the Christian God who is a jealous God and to be worshipped alone hee shall worship Mahuzzims even in his seat and Temple even with a forreine God whom his Ancestors acknowledged not shall hee honour Mahuzzims with gold and silver and with precious stones and with pleasant things Verse 39. And he shall make the holds of the Mahuzzims withall or joyntly to the forreine god whom acknowledging hee shall increase with honour and shall cause them to rule over many and shall distribute the earth for a reward 39 And though the Christian God whom he shall professe to acknowledge and worship can endure no compeers yet shall he consecrate his Temples and Monasteries Ecclesiasticall holds jointly to the Christian God and to his Mahuzzims Deo Sanctis yea he shall distribute the earth among Mahuzzims so that beside severall patrimonies which in every Countrey he shall allot them he shall share whole Kingdomes and Provinces among them Saint George shall have England Saint Andrew shall have Scotland St. Denis France St. James Spaine S. Mark Venice c. and beare rule as Presidents and Patrons of their severall Countries Thus we see how 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how expresly the Spirit foretold the Roman Empire having rejected the multitudes of gods and Daemons worshipped by their Ancestours and betaken themselves to that One and Onely True God which their Fathers knew not should neverthelesse depart from this their Faith and revive againe their old Theology of Daemons by a new Superinduction of Mahuzzims Now although this Prophesie thus applied be so evident that the onely pointing at the event were able almost to convince the Reader yet that we may the more yet admire the truth of God in the contemplation of an even so sutable I will add these following observations concerning it 1 First that agreeably with the date of the Holy Ghost the Roman Historians themselves have observed and marked out this time of their prevailing against Macedonia which I said was accomplished toward the end of the reigne of Antiochus Epiphanes for the beginning of the Dominion over the world Lucius Florus lib. â— cap. 7. Cedente Hannibale praemium victoriae Africa â—uit secutâ—s Africam tâ—rrarum orbis post Carthaginem vinci neminem puduit secutae sunt statim Africam Gentes Macedonia Graecia Syria caeteraque omnia quodam quasi aestu torrente fortunae sed primi omnium Macedones affectator quondam imperii populus In Velleius Paterculus lib. 1. cap. 6. is an Annotation out of one Aemilius Sura in these words Aemilius Sura de annis populi Romani Assyrii Principes omnium Gentium rerum potiti sunt deiâ—de Medi postea Persae deinde Macedones exinde duobus regibus Philippo Antiocho qui à Macedonibus oriundi erant haud multò post Carthaginem subactam devictis summa Imperii ad Populum Romanum pervenit Inter hoc tempus initium Nini Regis Assyriorum qui Princeps rerum potitus intersunt anni mille nongenti quinque Here the time of the Romans prevailing against the Macedonian King is made the beginning of their Empire even as Daniel also beginneth the Roman account from thence but with this difference that whereas Aemilius Sura seems to reckon from the beginning of these prevailings in the victories against Philip Daniel counts from the victory against Perseus his son when that conquest was now perfected and Macedonia brought into a Province which happened as I have already said the same yeere that Antiochus Epiphanes prophaned the Temple of Jerusalem 2 That no Kingdome in the world that we know of could more literally be said in their conquests to exalt and magnifie themselves above every God than the Roman in respect of a solemne custome they used in their wars by a certain charm to call out the gods of any City when they besieged it The form wherof Macrob. gives us l. 3. Saturn c. 8. as he found it in Sammon Serenus his fifth book of hidden secrets namely this If it be a god if it be a goddesse that hath the City of Carthage in protection And thou especially whosoever thou art the Patron of this City and people I pray and beseech and with your leave require you to abandon the people and City of Carthage to forsake the places Temples Ceremonies and Enclosures of their City to goe away from them and to strike feare terrour and astonishment into that people and City and having left it to come to Rome to me and mine and that our Cities Places Temples Ceremonies be more acceptable and better liked of you that you would take the charge of me of the people of Rome and of my souldiers â—o as we may know and understand it If you doe so I vow to build you Temples and
called by his name or whether his Spouse his darling his beloved one to whom he was betrothed and married Judge according to the manner of wedlock and the notorious president of Israel he that is a father we say is best able to understand the love of a father and therefore Gods love to his children for the like reason he that is an husband is sensible of the jealousie of an husband and so of the case of Christ with his unfaithfull and trecherous Spouse the Christian Jezabel The decision and summe of all this is this That the whoredome of the Church of God is a spirituall adultery and therefore betweene the Idolatry of Christians and that of Infidels and of Painims is as much difference in Gods esteeme as is between adultery and simple fornication The one as equall to murther was in the law punished with death the other with a much lighter punishment whence in Ezekiel in whose words I have beene so long chap. 16. ver 38. God saith to Jerusalem for their Idolatry that he would â—udge her as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged he would give her blood in fury and jealousie And this was the resolution of God himselfe against Israel Amos 3.1 2. Heare the word that the Lord hath spoken against you O children of Israel saying You onely have I known of all the families of the earth therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities And the same will be the judgement of the Christian Jezabel howsoever Painims and Infidels speed when Great Babylon shall come in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fiercenesse of his wrath This I would have well considered and weighed by those whom the Mahumetan blasphemy hath so dazeled that they can hardly beleeve that so hated and execrable a name of Babylon should belong unto any other unlesse there be yet to come some other like barbarous Tyrant and Seducer after them the cause of which errour is That men have fancied another manner of Antichrist than the Holy Ghost meant of and placed their eyes farre wide of the ground of Gods hatred and of the nature of that mysterie of abomination But Israels Apostasie Gods Iealousie and their unparalled punishment therefore such as no Nation in the world how Idolatrous soever endured besides themselves are in this case the onely Polestarre to direct us But even this mistake which is and hath beene of the mystery of iniquity is it selfe a kinde of mystery or not without one for Antichrist is a Counter-Christ and therefore his comming to be a counter-resemblance of the comming of Christ. Christ was both to come and accordingly looked for in the last times that is in the time of the fourth kingdome of Daniel so Antichrist and his mystery of impiety was to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the latter times of these last times that is as I shall better shew hereafter in the last times or last Scene as I may so speake of the fourth kingdome of Daniel When Christ came the Scepter was to depart from Judah and that Commonwealth to be dissolved so when Antichrist was to come the Roman Empire was to fall and he that hindered was to be taken out of the way 2 Thes. 2.8 The Jewes expected Christ to come when he did come and yet knew him not when he was come because they had fancied the manner and quality of his comming like some temporall Monarch with armed power to subdue the earth before him So the Christians Gods second Israel looked the comming of Antichrist should be at that time when he came indeed and yet they knew him not when he was come because they had fancied his comming as of some barbarous Tyrant who should with armed power not onely persecute and destroy the Church of Christ but almost the world that is they looked for such an Antichrist as the Jewes looked for a Christ. Wherefore as Christ came unto his owne and his own received him not so Antichrist came upon those who were not his owne and yet they eschewed him not but yet as some Jewes though few knew Christ when he came and received him so did some Christians though but few keep themselves from the pollution of Antichrist Lastly as the Jewes ere long shall acknowledge and run unto him whom they pierced as not knowing him so hath the Christian Church for a great part discovered that Son of perdition whom a long time they had ignorantly worshipped because they knew him not O the depth of the riches both of the wisedome and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out But for our part seeing our case is so like unto that of the Jewes let their lamentable and wofull errour in mistaking their Messiah by wrongly fancying him be a warning and a caveat unto us that we likewise upon like conceits and prejudice mistake and misdeeme not the Man of sinne TINEΣ Some NOw I come unto the second point expressed in this description of the great Apostasie viz. the Persons Revolters they shall not be all but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some shall Apostatize some that is not as we in ouâ— English doe often use it a few but some that is not all yet some that is so many as that the whole visible Church should be said thereof to be Apostatized so many as should like a cloud overspread the face of the Christian firmament in such sort as the starres and lights therein should not easily be discerned For the great defection so much prophesied of was to be a solemne and generall one such a one as wherein the chiefest of the Churches honoured as a mother in Israel should become a Babylonish whore a mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth Rev. 17. such a one as whereby the outmost court of the Temple of God should not onely be prophaned but trodden downe by Gentilisme Rev. 11. such a one as the world is said to wonder after the beast and to worship him and such a one as should not onely make warre with the Saints but overcome them Rev. 13. Otherwise if our Apostle here and Saint John there should meane no more than the errours of some particular ones and their revolt from the faith of the Church they should make either no prophesie at all or at the best but a needlesse one For who knowes not that in Saint Pauls Saint Johns and the Apostles owne times were many Heresies and Hereticks growne up as weeds in the wheat field of Christ but as yet the wheat overtopped them and the visible body of the Church disclaimed them If these had beene the worst the Church should look for the Apostles should seeme to prophesie of things present and not as they doe of things to come yea and more than this they should foretell of a thing as proper and peculiar to the last times which
which exposition I will make more plain hereafter But when a continuation or longer space of time is signified then I find the plurall number to be used as 1 Pet. 1.20 of the Incarnation of Christ it is said that he was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world but was made manifest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the last times which times have continued these 1600 yeares at the least so Heb. 1.2 God saith Saint Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in these last dayes hath spoken unto us by his sonne and 2 Tim. 3.1 This know also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in the last dayes perillous times shall come Again Acts. 2.17 In the last dayes I will poure out my spirit upon all flesh and in 2 Pet. 3.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the last dayes shall come scoffers And so in my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the latter times some shall revolt from the faith and give heed to doctrines of Daemons Whatsoever the validity of this observation be for the rest I make no question but it will be granted that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my Text means some continued space of time and not terminus temporis or the very end of time which therefore presupposed I approach one step neerer laying this for a second ground of our discovery that these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof Saint Paul speakes and meanes were times not then present but afterward to come for the words of the Text are not a narration of things present but a prediction as I have already admonished of what should betide the Christian faith in after times yet notwithstanding were the times wherein Saint Paul lived and all the times of Christianity the last times and so stiled in Scripture even by our Apostle himselfe as by some of the fore-cited examples evidently appeareth wherefore it must needs follow that times here meant and mentioned in my Text are not the last times in generall and simply but the last times in speciall and comparatively i. e. the latter times of the last times That as the last times in generall were the times wherein Christ the Sunne of righteousnesse was to be revealed and his kingdome founded in the world so the latter times of these last times should be the times wherein the Apostasie of the Christian faith should prevaile and that wicked one usurp the throne of Christ. Before therefore that we can know what are the last times comparatively i e. the latter times or the last of the last we must first understand what are the last times simply and in generall why so called whence reckoned and how limited for then will these latter times in my Text which are the last part of them be easily found and in a manner demonstrated As for the last times therefore in generall most use to describe them onely thus to be the times of the kingdome of Christ which began at his passion to continue to the end of the world which in respect that it succeeds the legall worship and no other shall succeed it is therefore the last time In like manner the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 allotted to the man of sinne are as I take it usually no otherwise described then to be the times wherein the Apostasie should appeare which in that it should immediately precede the second coming of Christ is therefore to be esteemed the last times of all but these descriptions are obscurum per magis obscurum they doe declare an obscure thing by that which was and is more obscure than it and therefore come short of making good the intent of the Holy Ghost in his so often mention of the last times especially in the New Testament for the lact times or fulnesse of time were both a ground of the Jewes expectation of Christ when he came and are without doubt so often propounded and alledged by the Apostles for a confirmation of the truth of his comming but if the last times could not be knowne but by his comming how should his comming be knowne by them so also the Holy Ghost in my Text mentions these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for an argument or signe of the Apostasie to fall out therein or for a note or mark of time wherein we should look for it and therefore as forewarned beware of being carried away in that defection but if these times cannot be knowne nor described any other way than by the defection to fall out in them we should be never a whit the nearer and this mark of time which the Holy Ghost gives us would stand us in no stead at all Let us therefore now take this as a truth to be supposed that the times are set out unto us to be as markes to informe us when that should come to passe which was to fall out in them and not the things which were to befall intended for signes to know the times by and therefore we are not to doubt but that the Holy Ghost hath somewhere else by some other marks and grounds of computation made knowne unto us when to reckon both the last times wherein was foretold that Christ should be anointed and these latter times of them wherein the Christian Apostasie should be revealed that so we might have a sure beliefe in the one and a certaine and sufficient mark when to beware of the other The prophanation of the legall Sanctuary and trampling down the holy people by Antiochus Epiphanes was marked out in Daniels prophesie by the like circumstance and determination of time as is this Apostasie here in our Apostles prediction Dan. 8.23 In the latter time or in the latter end of the kingdome of Graecia a King of a fierce countenance shall stand up viz. he who should magnifie himselfe against the Prince of the hoast of heaven and take away the daily sacrifice c. as it is in the vision which was foreshewed of him ver 10.11 where it would be preposterous to think that this latter time or end of the Greekes kingdome could not be defined otherwise than by the event to fall out therein and not rather conceive that this determination of time being such as might otherwise well enough be knowne was therefore intended for a character to observe the event by For when was this latter end of the Greekes kingdome to be taken notice of but then when they should see that kingdome begin to be given to another people when the fourth kingdome the Romane state should once begin to encroach upon the third especially when they should see the head Province thereof Greece it selfe to come under their obedience when they should see this then were they to prepare themselves for the abomination of desolation that was now at the door And surely the event was most punctuall for this Roman encroachment having beene for 28 yeeres together attempting manifestly and advancing was at length accomplished when Aemilius the Consul having quite vanquished Perseus the King of
event was past he concludeth thus Ergo dicamus quod omnes Scriptores Ecclesiastici tradiderunt in consummatione mundi quando regnum destruâ—ndum est Romanorum decem futuros reges qui orbem Romanum inter se dividant undecimum surrecturum esse Regem parvulum qui tres reges de decem regibus superaturus sit in quo totus Satanas habitaturus sit corporaliter Who these three Kings were which this horne displanted to make himselfe elbow-roome you shall heare more anon but I will not conceale what I have heard of another exposition which fits our turne for the beginning of the Apostasie no lesse than that of the Fathers namely that by ten kingdomes may be meant the full plurality of the Romane Provinces so much whereof as three is of ten should have the Imperiall power rooted out of them and fall under the Dominion of the Antichristian Horne who should act the soveraignty of the latter times or the last soveraignty of that kingdome Now it is most true that the Popes Patriarchdome in the West holds just that scantling of the ancient Territory of the Roman Empire which a man may judge by his eyes or compasses in a Mapp and yet I preferre the other exposition before it To come up to an issue It is apparent by all that hath bin said that these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with that wicked soveraignty which should domineer in them was to take beginning from the wound the fall the ruine the rending in pieces or rooting up of the Imperial soveraignty of the City of Rome when that City should cease to be the Lap of that soveraignty which the Casars once held over the Nations and many new upstart Kings should appeare in the place and Territory of that once one Empire then should the Apostasie be seen and the latter times with that wicked one make their entrance Now in what age this fell out I think no man can be ignorant who hath but a little skill in Historie But you will say The Imperiall soveraignty of old Rome fell not all at once but had divers steps and degrees of ruine so that the doubt will be notwithstanding from which of these steps of the fall thereof these latter times must be reckoned I answer From any of them For as the Imperiall soveraignty fell by degrees so the Apostasie under the lattermost soveraignty grew up also by degrees and for every degree which the ruinous Empire decayed was the rising sonne of perdition a degree advanced Secondly all the maine and evident degrees of the Empires ruine fell in the compasse of an age and the knowledge and observation of that age onely within which the times of this fall were comprehended was sufficient both to warn them which then lived that that which was to come was then a comming and to informe us who now live that it is already come Now which were these maine and evident degrees of the Empires falling and at what time I will tell you as soon as I have removed an usuall mistake in this businesse which is to reckon the time of the Empires ruine and so likewise the Apostasie attending onely from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or full heigth thereof but this is too much against reason and not agreeable to the course wee otherwise use in the like for as when we reckon the age of a man we reckon not from the time since he came to mans estate but from his birth so should we doe here for the times of the man of sinne I say not we should begin to count his age from his conception for that we use not in other things but from the time he was first editus in lucem when he first began to appeare in the world and so likewise the fall of the Empire and the Apostasie not from the time they were consummate but from the time they first evidently appeared as therefore I hold their opinion the best and most agreeable to truth who begin the 70 yeeres of the Jewish captivity in Babylon not from the consummation thereof under Zedekiah when the City and Temple were utterly rased for that is impossible there being not 60 yeeres in all betweene the nineteenth of Nebuchadnezzar and the last of Cyrus but from the beginning thereof under Jehojakim eighteen yeers before or at the most but from Jehojakim So are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Romane state to begin when the Empire first began to fall and not when it was utterly rooted up Take for another example that computation of the time allotted to the calamity of the Jewes under Antiochus which I the rather alledge because he is commonly counted for a type of Antichrist the beginning of that 2300 evenings and mornings or six yeeres or somewhat more than a quarter which that calamity was to continue from the beginning thereof untill the Temple should again be cleansed Dan. 8.13 14. was not to be reckoned from the heigth thereof when the daily sacrifice should be taken away for thence it is but three yeers 1 Mac. 1.54 c. with c. 4.52 but from the beginning of the transgression which occasioned this desolation and is described 1 Mac. 1.11 c. so likewise the end of the kingdome of the Greekes wherein this calamity was to happen is not to be counted onely then when Aemilius the Consul had quite finished the conquest of Macedon for this points out onely the heigth of that calamity but from the beginning of the last fatall warre which put an end to that kingdome which was about some three yeeres and an halfe before and jumps with the beginning of the transgresâ—ion of desolation as the finishing of the conquest doth with the taking away of the daily sacrifice But leaving this let us returne againe and see which were these maine and evident degrees of the Empires downfall and when they befell which I suppose may not unfitly be sampled by those of the Babylonish captivity As therefore the Babylonish captivity had three steps or degrees the first in the dayes of Jehojakim when Daniel went captive the second under Jehoiachim or Jechonias when Ezechiel went captive the last under Zedekiah when the Temple and City were wholly razed and consumed so omitting the Politicall change under Constantine the chiefe and principall moments of the ruine of the Empire by the sword and by the sword the Beast had his deadly wound Apoc. 13.14 may fitly be reduced unto three 1 The first was presently after the death of Julian the last of heathen Emperours about the yeere 365. ominously marked with that universall stupendious and never but then sampled earthquake whereby the waters of the Sea were rolled out of their channels and left ships hanging upon the tops of houses From this time forwards all the nations on every side seeme as it were with one consent to have conspired the ruine of the Empire Now that terrible and fatall storme of
the nations of the North Almaines Sarmatians Quades Picts Scots and Saxons especially the Goths began to break in upon it almost without intermission harrying burning wasting destroying the most part of the Provinces thereof almost for 45 yeeres together And to mend that matter the Goths sonne after their comming were admitted as Inhabitants and dispersed as free Denizens into the bowels and heart of the Empire advanced to be Commanders and bore the greatest sway in their Armies By which fatall errour the Empire received her bane and the Romanes were no longer masters of their owne strength which they quickly and often repented but even that cost them deare when they had indeed eyes to see it but never ability to amend it This was the first degree of the Empires ruine 2 The second was about the yeere 410 when Alaricus the Goth sacked Rome it selfe the Lady of the world when as Saint Jerome saith Capiebatur urbs quae totum cepit orbem imo fame periit antequam gladio vix pauci qui caperentur inventi sunt And from thâ—s very yeere the plurality of Kings foretold of began to come upon the stage five or six new kingdomes presently appeared within the Territories of the Empire of the Goths of the Burgundians and though somewhat later of the Franks in Gallia of the Suevians and Alans and of the Vandals in Spaine and as Sigonius thinks of the Huns in Pannonia certainly they could not be much later than this very yeere But this number of Kings we will leave till they be better increased as continually they did And thus you see the second degree of the ruine of the Empire 3 The third was about the yeere 455 presently upon the death of the third Valentinian the last as Sleidan well observed of the Emperours of the West and consequently of the ancient Rome then when Gensericus the Vandall tooke the City now the second time fired it and spoiled it of all the goodly and glorious ornaments which Alaricus had spared amongst which were the golden and silver vessels of the Temple of Jerusalem brought thither by Titus All which with an innumerable multitude of Roman captives he carried away with him Now was the prediction which Varro reports that Vectâ—us Valens the Augur made of 12 Vulturs to Romulus the founder that his city should continue 12 hundred yeeres fulfilled and those yeeres newly expired and which is more to be heeded now was the plurality of Kings lately risen in the ancient Territorie of the Empire as Daniel and Saint Iohn had prophesied increased unto the full number of ten which together with the Provinces wherein they were seated and the names of the Kings which reigned the next yeare after the City was taken are these which follow ANNO DOMINI 456. Kingdomes of the Provinces Names of the Kings reigning Somewhat of their changes 1 Britans In Britaine Vortimer  2 Saxons Hengist  3 Franks In Gallia Childericke An. 526. this kingdome was subdued by the Franks but to fill up the number that of the Ostrogoths became two by the comming of the Longobards into Pannonia the same time 4 Burgundians Gundericke 5 Wisigothes In the South of Gallia between the Rhene Loyr and the Sea and part of Spain Theodorick 6 Swevians and Alanes Spain in Gallicia and Portugal Riciarius  7 Vandals In Africke but first in Spain Gensericus  8 Almaines Germany in Rhetia between the Rhene c. Sumanus This kingdome became one with a part of the kingdome of the Herules 475. during their short reign in Italy 9 Ostrogothes In Pannonia where they subdued the Huns and not long after propagated their kingdome into Italy Theodemir The Longobards succeeded the Ostrogoths first in Pannonia upon the death of Theodorick of Veâ—ona An. 526. Then in Italy called in by Narses discontented soon after he had destroyed the kingdome of the Goths 10 Greeks In the residue of the Empire Marcianus Ancient Romes Empire finished that of the Greeks is but onâ— of tâ—e kingdomes whâ—reinto 〈◊〉 was divideâ— Thus was the Empire divided and shared An. 456. the yeere after Rome was sacked by Gensericus and the off-spring of these Nations through many alterations partly by the inconstancie of humane things unions and dis-unions partly by the further enlargement of the Christian faith are the body of the most of the Kingdomes and States of Christendome at this day Three of these Kings saith Daniel should the Antichristian horne depresse and displant to advance himselfe which three are those whose dominions extended into Italy and so stood in his light 1 That of the Greekes whose Emperour Leo Isaurus for the quarrell of Images he excommunicated and revolted his subjects of Italy from their allegiance 2 That of the Longobards successours of the Ostrogoths whose kingdome he caused by the aid of the Franks to be wholly ruinated thereby to get the Exarchate of Ravenna which since their revolt from the Greekes they were seized on for a Patrimony to Saint Peter 3 The last was the kingdome of the Franks it selfe continued in the Empire of Germany whose Emperours from the day of Henry the fourth he excommunicated deposed and trampled under his feet and never suffered them to live in rest till he made them not onely quit their interest in election of Popes and investiture of Bishops but that remainder of jurisdiction in Italy wherewith together with the dignity of the Roman name he had once infeoffed their Predecessors These are the Kings by displanting or as the Vulgar hath it by humbling of whom the Pope by degrees got elbow-roome and advanced himselfe to the heigth of temporall Majesty and absolute greatnesse which made him so terrible in the world This third blow therefore I suppose is to be counted the last of the ruine of the Roman Empire the Imperiall power of ancient Rome untill the Pope some 345 yeeres after revived the name henceforth ceasing for as for those who yet for some twenty yeeres after our date scuffled for that name one of them deposing another they were indeed but shadowes of Caesars and as it were struglings with the pangs of death untill with Augustulus it gave up the ghost yea it is to be observed that two of them Avitus the very next and Glycerius being deposed from the Empire were made Bishops the one of Placentia or Piacenza the other of Portus as a signe perhaps that the Emperour of Rome henceforth should be a Bishop and a Bishop the Emperour To conclude therefore with the application of our Apostles prediction whether the Christian Apostasie in worshipping new Daemon-gods began not with the first of these degrees notably increased with the second and was established by the last I leave you to judge when you shall have surveyed the monuments and records of those times It is commonly and truly affirmed by our Ecclesiasticall Antiquaries that before the yeere 360 there is no word to be found of the invocation
of Saints glorified or worshipping their Reliques to which I add no not of any miracles done by them but presently after that yeere when our first date of the Empires ruine began search and you shall finde I spare to name the Authors not willing to discover the nakednesse of the Fathers but whoso reads them will admire to see so truly verified what the Spirit foretold should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the latter times And to make an end if any shall think this speculation of times to be a needlesse curiositie I desire him to remember how our Saviour reproved the Jewes for neglect hereof Mat. 16.3 O ye Hypocrites ye can discerne the face of the skies but can ye not discerne the signes of the times or as Saint Luke 12.56 How is it that yee doe not discerne this time they through neglecting the signes of the times when Christ came received him not how many through ignorance of these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the Apostasie hath appeared eschewed it not From which of these three beginnings of the Apostaticall times or whether from some other moment within or betweene them the Almighty will reckon that his computation of these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which ended will finish the dayes of the man of sinne I curiously enquire not but leave unto him who is Lord of times and seasons nor doe I think that the Jewes themselves could certainly tell from which of their three captivities to begin that reckoning of 70 yeeres whose end should bring their returne from Babylon untill the event assured them thereof AN APPENDIX I Should now presently come to speak of the fourth particular which I observed in the verse but because in this discourse of times besides the great Calendar of times which I so much spake of there was some mention of a lesser Calendar viz. of Daniels 70 weekes give me leave to note some places of Scripture which I suppose to have refeâ—ence thereto for the better clearing not onely of our former discourse but of some scruples that might trouble our minds when mention is made of an end then supposed neere though the world hath lasted so many hundred yeeres and no end thereof is yet come Know therefore that these 70 weeks are a little provinciall Calendar containiâ—g the time that the legall worship and Jewish state was to continue from the re-building of the Sanctuary under Darius Nothus untill the finall destruction thereof when the Calendar shall expire within the space whereof their Commonwealth and City should be restored and 62 weeks after that the Messias be slaine for sin and at the end of the whole 70 their City and Temple againe destroyed and their Commonwealth utterly dissolved To these weeks therefore whose computation so especially concernes the Jewes is reference made in those Epistles which are written to the Christian Churches of that Nation whether being in Iewry or abroad dispersed in Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia Bythinia Such is S. Pauls Epistle to the Hebrewes both Saint Peters to the Dispersion the Epistle of Saint Iames to the twelve Tribes and likewise the first Epistle of Saint Iohn which though the salutation expresseth not as in the former yet may appeare both because Peter Iames and Iohn were all three Apostles of the circumcision and from that passage cap. 2.2 Christ Iesus is the propitiation for our sinnes and not for ours onely but for the sinnes of the whole world that is not for the sins of us onely who are Jewes but for the sinnes of the Gentiles also And doth not the name of generall or catholicall Epistle given unto this as well as those of Saint Iames and Peter imply thus much for it cannot be thus called as written to all Christians indefinitely and generally since the contrary plainly appeares in the former but because this as well as the rest was written to those of the circumcision who were not a people confined to any one City or Region but dispersed through every Nation as we reade in the Acts cap. 2.5 c. that at the Feast of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost came downe upon the Apostles there were sojourning at Ierusalem Iewes devout men out of every nation under heaven Parthians Medes Elamites and the dwellers of Mesopotamia Iudaea and Cappadocia Pontus and Asia and strangers of Rome Jewes and Proselites Jewes by race and Jewes by religion c. for we must not mistake those there numbred to be Gentiles but Israelites both of the ten Tribes captivated by Shalmaneser and the other two some of whom never returned from Babylon but lived still in Mesopotamia but of these who returned great multitudes were dispersed afterwards in Egypt Lybia and many other Provinces before the time of our Saviours appearing in the flesh So that the Apostles of the Circumcision had their Province for largenesse not much inferiour to that of the Gentiles But I come to note the places I spake of and first out of the fore-named Epistle of Saint John where from that prediction of our Saviour in the Gospel that the arising of the false Prophets should be one of the neare signes of the nigh approaching end of the Jewish state the Apostle thus referres to it cap. 2. ver 18. Little children this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the last houre and as you have heard that Antichrist shall come even now there are many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time here by the last time I suppose no other thing to be meant but the neare expiring of Daniels 70 weeks and with it the approaching end of the Jewish Commonwealth and why might not this Epistle be written in the last weeke at the beginning whereof Jesus Ananiae began that wofull crie Woe unto Jerusalem and the Temple Joseph l. 7. belli Judaici By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many Antichrists are meant no other but false Prophets Counter-prophets to the great Prophet pretending an unction and commission from heaven as he had to teach the world some new revelation and doctrine for the name Christ implies the unction of prophecies as well as the unction of a kingdome and accordingly the name Antichrist and therefore the Syriack here turnes it false Christs that is such as should falsely pretend some extraordinary unction of prophecie like unto him And the comming of such as these our Saviour in Saint Matthews Gospel a Gospel for the Hebrewes makes one of the last signes ushering the destruction of Jerusalem and if the harmony of this prophecy in the three Evangelists be well considered there was no more to come but the compassing of Jerusalem with armies Well therefore might Saint John when he saw so many Antiprophets spring up say Hereby we know that it is the last time Againe bâ—cause the desolation of the Jewish state and Temple would be a great confirmation to Christian faith therefore the beleeving Jewes whom nothing could so much stagger as the standing glory of that
Temple and Religion are encouraged by the neerenesse of that time of expectation when so great a confirmation of their faith of their Messias already come should appeare Heb. 10.23.25 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering and so much the more as you see the day approaching namely that day when you shall be sufficiently confirmed so I take the 35. and 37. verses of the same Chapter Cast not away your confidence which hath great recompence of reward for ye have need of patience For yet a little while he that shall come will come and will not tarry What he is this but even he of whom Daniel sayes The people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the City and the Sanctuary Dan. 9.26 For even as the destruction of Papall Rome would be a great confirmation of the reformed Christian who hath forsaken the Communion of that Religion the continuance and supposed stability of the glory thereof being that wherewith their Proctors endeavour most to shake and stager us so was the destruction of the Jewish state and Temple to be unto those Jewes who had withdrawne themselves from that body and Religion whereof they had once beene to embrace the new faith of the Messiah preached by the Apostles For if at the end of the 70 weeks approaching the legall Sanctuary were rased and the Jewish state dissolved then would it be apparent indeed that the Messiah was already come and slaine for sin because this was infallibly to come to passe within the compasse and before the expiration of those 70 weeks or 490 yeeres allotted for the last continuance of that City and Sanctuarie when it should be restored after the captivity of Babylon Not without cause therefore doth Saint Peter in his second Epistle say to the Christian Jewes We have a more sure word of prophecie whereunto you doe well that you give heed as unto a light shining in a dark place untill the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts yea and besides because Jesus also as well as Daniel had prophesied of the approaching desolation of that City and Temple mentioning all the signes that were to usher it if the event when time come should fall out accordingly then must Jesus of Nazareth who foretold the foregoing signes thereof be approved as a true Prophet by whom of a truth the Lord had spoken Now for the last place I mean to alledge thus must the last of Saint James also be expounded because the fall and shock of that state might shake the whole nation wheresoever dispersed unlesse God had spared the Christians and made them alone happy in that wofull day or rather because Christ had foretold that one of the next fore-runners thereof should be a generall persecution of Christians as it happened under Nero. Therefore the remembrance of the end of these 70 weekes so neere the expiring was a good caution to all the Christian Jewes to watch and pray to this sence therefore I take that of Peter 1 Pet. 4.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the end of all things is at hand be yee sober therefore and watch unto prayer that is the end of all your Commonwealth legall worship Temple and service is now within a few yeeres be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer that ye may be more happy in the day of vengeance and wrath upon our Nation Neither need we wonder that this desolation should be called the end for our Saviour himselfe taught them so to speak in his prophecie concerning it as may appeare if we consider that Antithesis in Saint Luke cap. 21.9 Yee shall heare of warres and commotions but the end is not by and by Ver. 20. But when yee shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies then know that the desolation thereof is nigh And thus much I thought to add to my former discourse of latter times lest through ignorance thereof we might incline to that little better than blasphemous conceit which Baronius by name and some other of Romes followers have taken up viz. that the Apostles in such like passages as we have noted were mistaken as beleeving that the end of the world should have been in their owne time God of purpose so ordering it to cause in them a greater measure of zeale and contempt of worldly things an opinion I thinke not well beseeming a Christian. 1 For first whatsoever we imagine the Apostles might here conceive in their private opinions as men yet we must know that the Holy Ghost by whose instinct they wrote the Scriptures is the Spirit of truth and therefore what is there affirmed must be true yea though the Pen-man himselfe understood it not 2 Secondly it was not possible the Apostles should expect the end of the world to be in their owne time when they knew so many things were to come to passe before it as could not be fulfilled in a short time As first the desolation of Jerusalem and that not till the 70 weeks were expired Secondly then the Jewes to be carryed captives over all Nations and Jerusalem to be trodden downe of the Gentiles untill the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled Luke 21.24 Thirdly that in the meane time the Roman Empire must be ruined and that which hindered taken out of the way 2 Thes. 2.7 Fourtly that after that was done the man of sin should be revealed and domineere his time in the Temple and Church of God Ibid. Fifthly after all this viz. when the fulnesse of the Gentiles should come in that Israel should be received againe to mercy Rom. 11.27 Sixthly that Christ should reigne in his Church on earth so long till he had put downe all rule all authority and power and subjected all his enemies under his feet before he should subdue the last enemy which is death and surrender his kingdome into the hands of his Father 1 Cor. 15.24 25 c. Heb. 2.8 Seventhly that the time should be so long that in the last dayes should come Scoffers saying Where is the promise of his comming 2 Pet. 3.4 How is it possible they should imagine the day of Doome to be so neere when all these things must first come to passe and not one of them was yet fulfilled And how could the expectation of this day be made a ground of exhortation and a motive to watchfulnesse and prayer as though it could suddenly and unawares surprize them which had so many wonderfull alterations to foregoe it and yet none of them come to passe I have spoken hitherto of what was revealed to all the Apostles in generall but if we take Saint John apart from the rest and consider what was afterward revealed to him in Patmos we shall finde in his Apocalypticall vision besides other times more obscurely intimated an expresse prophecy of no lesse than a thousand yeers which whatever it meane cannot be a small time and must be fulfilled in this world and not in the world to come
〈◊〉 God and Mahuzzim construed together as one thing viz. God Mahuzzim or as some the God of forces I expresse the Preposition Lamed and construe God and Mahuzzim apart as here viz. to or together with God he shall honour Mahuzzims c. Ad vel juxta Deum Mahuzzimos honorabit For the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is made of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifies the same with it viz. addition of or joyning of things ad juxta apud pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contra super to together and besides with as Lev. 18.18 Thou shalt not take a wife to her sister 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is sister· By this meanes the controversie betweene Junius and Graserus is taken away for Junius as should seeme seeing no reason why the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be neglected and that by so doing the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was made irregularly and against use to governe a Dative case he expresses the Preposition by Quod ad or Quod attinet ad id est as concerning But the words God and Mahuzzim he separateth not but turneth them as in statu constructo viz. the god of might and of forces understanding thereby the true and Almighty God himselfe Against which Graserus excepts first that to render the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad as concerning savours of a Latinisme rather than of an Hebraisme Secondly that he doth as good as strike out the distinctive accent Athnach which is a Colon in as much as he makes the sentence being a full member to be imperfect and defective and yet would seeme to stand in awe of that smaller distinction Zakeph-katon over the word Mahuzzim which yet stands there as elsewere it doth but for a nota benè Thirdly that to expound god Mahuzzim to be the true God against the consent not onely of the Jewes who ever take it for some Idol or other but of the ancient Christian writers who understand by it some Idol of Antichrist yea some the Divell himselfe and many of our owne who take it for the Idol of the Masse and some otherwise yet for some Idol-deity To expound this of the true and mighty God without example in Scripture Graserus thinkes not tolerable wherefore himselfe had rather yeeld the construction of the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be irregular Junius himselfe having admitted it in the next member of the verse and to suppose it to be a mysticall Solecisme the Spirit intending by the Anomaly or incongruity of the Syntax to signifie an Anomaly or incongruity of Religion but their inconveniences on both sides as farre as I can see are wholly accorded by that translation we have given Whereof let the Reader judge I come now to unfold the signification of the word Mahuzzim a word which most translations retain the Septuagint calling it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saint Jerome and the Vulgar Latine Maozim the Geneva and others Mahuzzim this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mahuzzim I say is in the Plurall number the singular 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mahoz which in the abstract signifies sometimes strength sometimes a Fortresse or Bulwarke of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 robustus fuit but the Hebrewes use Abstracts for Concretes examples are many in the Old Testament as justitia pro justis captivity for captives c. In the New Testament Principalities Powers and Dominions for Princes Potentates and Dominators so Mahoz strength or a Fortresse for him that strengthens or fortifies that is a Protector Defender Guardian and Helper Wherefore the Septuagint five times in the Psalmes render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mahoz 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Vulgar Latine as often Protector the places are these Psal. 27.1 The Lord is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the protector of my life of whom should I be affraid Psal. 28.8 The Lord is their strength and he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mahoz Jeshuoth the Mahoz of salvation of his annointed where the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Vulgar Protector salvationum Psal. 31.1 Bow downe thine eare to me deliver me speedily be thou unto me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a Rock Mahoz Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulg. in Deum Protectorem againe verse 5. Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou art my Protector Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Vulgar Protector Psal. 37.39 The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mahuzzam their Mahoz in the time of trouble where the Septuagint and the Vulgar render as before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Protector How think you now are not Saints and Angels worshipped as Mahuzzims True Christians have with David in the Psalme before quoted one Mahoz Jehovah Mahoz that is Christ but Apostate Christians have their many Mahuzzims Oh would they worshipped only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mahoz of salvations as you heard David even now call him Psal. 28. You may if you please compare with these places of the Psalmes that in the first verse of this eleventh of Daniel where the Angel said he stood in the first yeere of Darius the Mede to confirme and be a Mahoz to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate to strengthen him by which we may see how fitly this name may be applied to Angels and so to Saints supposed in helping protecting assisting to be like them Thus you see the concrete sence of Mahoz for Helper Protector and Defender is not new But what if we take the word passively force and strength for forts and strong ones will not then the valiant Martyrs and Champions of the faith well bear the name of Mahuzzims and these are they whom at the first Christians worshipped onely in this sort as an honour peculiarly due unto their sufferings Moreover that you may not think this word and the notion thereof unproper to be given unto a Deity observe that the true God is called a Rock 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seven times Deut. 32. which the Vulgar turnes as often Deus yea in the same place false gods are termed also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rockes ver 31. Their Rock i. e. the Gentiles Rock is not as our Rock even our enemies themselves being Judges and ver 37. Where are their gods that is Baalim their Rock in whom they trusted which did eat the fat of their sacrifices c. The like you shall finde in Hannahs song and other places of Scripture See now the parity The True God or Christ himself is often by David cald Mahoz why may not then False gods or Plurality of Christs be called Mahuzzim Rocke and Fortresse are not words of so great difference Thus having cleared the chiefest difficulties in the Text and made the way smooth let us read