five speaketh of nothing save of War against the Church of God. So long as it lasts Antichrist abates nothing of his fury but constantly makes the same efforts for the oppressing of the Truth and such as do profess it and while it endureth all things go ' on at the same rate against the Church of God. But as soon as the seventh Trumpet comes to be sounded by the seventh Angel the case will quite alter the wrath of God will break forth and the Vials empty themselves And this is the true Reason why the Vials are called the last plagues by which the wrath of God is fulfilled So that all which Mr. Jurieu hath said upon the Term last tho in it self very good and very ingenious yet it is altogether impertinent His curious remarks and comparisons which amount to the fourth part of his Apology are very incongruously placed For all he saith is founded upon a principle that is false namely that the seven Vials are contemporary with the seven Trumpets Whereof as the falsehood is already demonstrated so it will farther appear in what is hereafter â—o be said The 3d Argument which the Anonymous Author made use of was this that St. Iohn Rev. chap. 8. v. 13. declareth how he heard an Angel flying thorow the midst of heaven saying with a loud voice Wo wo wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth by reason of the Trumpets that are yet to sound and that he adds chap. 9. v. 12. after the sounding of the fifth Trumpet one Wo is past and behold there come two Woes more hereafter For as one of these two last woes did undoubtedly arrive under the sixth Trumpet under which Mahometism and the Arms of the Turks subverted Christianity in the East so it must needs be that the third Wo is to arrive under the seventh Trumpet This also St. Iohn expresly declares chap. 11. v. 14. the second Wo say's he is past and behold the third cometh quickly after which he immediately subjoins the seventh Angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven saying the Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall Reign forever This is a Wo for the Papacy and for Mahometism but a great happiness here in this life for the Church of God. For 't is plainly the general Reformation which shall comprehend the conversion of all Nations by giving them to see the total destruction of the Papal Empire From whence it clearly followeth that all the Vials are contained under the third Wo and consequently that they are yet all to be poured out forasmuch as we are still under the sixth Trumpet groaning under the pressures of the second Wo. Mr. Jurieu say's he doth not apprehend how these can be stiled invincible Proofs and he do's withal add that it is not true that the third Wo is confined to the seventh Trumpet To which I answer that it is as clear that the third Wo is contained under the seventh Trumpet as 't is evident that the second Wo is comprehended under the sixth and the first Wo under the fifth But by what doth it appear that the first Wo is contained under the fifth Trumpet and the second Wo under the sixth This appeareth by its being said that after the sound of the fourth Trumpet the Angel cried Wo wo wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth by reason of the Trumpets of the three Angels which are yet to sound It likewise appears in that after the sounding of the sixth Trumpet St. Iohn declares chap. 11. v. 14. the second Wo is past and behold the third cometh quickly And that we may know when it is to come St. John adds and the seventh Angel sounded and the Kingdoms of this world became the Lords and his Christs Now can the Kingdoms of this world be made subject to Christ before the destruction of Mahometism and of Popery 'T is then evident that the 3d Wo is comprehended under the seventh Trumpet as the 2d is under the sixth and the 1st under the fifth which renders the Argument of the Anonymous Author unanswerable The weakness of this proof saith Mr. Jurieu which is given us for invincible is that it supposeth a thing which is not true and which the Anonymous Author cannot evince by any sort of reason viz. that the plagues and the Vials are all comprehended under the third Wo. To whom that Author Answereth that he hath proved the third Wo to be contained under the seventh Trumpet as the 2d is comprehended in the sixth and the first in the fifth And forasmuch as the seventh Trumpet comprehendeth all the Vials because they are not poured out till after it hath sounded it invincibly follows that the third Wo is comprehended in the seven Vials and that the seven Vials do execute the third Wo. Nor is it to be helped if Mr. Jurieu will not see what St. Iohn so plainly declareth unto him To demonstrate saith Mr. Jurieu that the seven Vials are not comprehended in the 3d Wo 't is sufficient to prove as we have done that the seven Vials are seven Periods of time which run along as water runneth out of an hour-glass This principle of Mr. Iurieu that the Vials are seven Periods of time we have fully refuted have made it appear that both his principle and the reasons by which he endeavours to maintain it are worth nothing So that if he hath nothing else to alledg whereby to make it appear that the Third Wo is not contained in the Seventh Trumpet the Anonymous Author's argument may be still called invincible Moreover Mr. Iurieu's supposition that the sixth Trumpet under which we are hath been exerting its Influences for almost eight hundred years and that it s subdivided into seven Vials is a most false principle and unto which we have opposed that which is uncontrolable Namely that all the 1st 6 Trumpets do sound before the effusion of any Vial because according to St. Iohn there is not one of them poured out till under the seventh Trumpet which hath not yet begun to sound For as none of the Trumpets sound till after the opening of the seventh Seal so none of the Vials are to be poured forth till under the sounding of the seventh Trumpet Mr. Jurieu confesseth that the H. Spirit hath not evidently declared that the sixth Trumpet is subdivided into 7 Vials but he say's it may be inferred from this that whereas the seventh Trumpet was sounding when the Turks invaded the Grecian Empire which was about the tenth Century and that we find the first Vial to have fallen about that time upon the Empire of the Beast and that therefore the course of the Vials must be contained under the sixth Trumpet To which I answer that nothing of all this ariseth from the words of the Prophesie unless in the vertu ' of his principle that the Vials are periods of times and hour-glasses which run along with the sixth
their Felicity and whence they same 159 8 Of the Silence in Heaven for half an hour 162 9 Of the seven Angels with the seven Trumpets and of the Angel who cast the Censer into the Earth 163 10 Of the first Trumpet and of the Hail Fire and Blood. 165 11 Of the second Trumpet a Mountain burning cast in the Sea and a third part of it became Blood. 167 12 Of the third Trumpet A great Star fall from Heaven 169 13 Of the fourth Trumpet the third part of the Sun and of the Moon and of the Stars smitten 172 14 Of the fifth Trumpet the Key of the bottomless Pit given to the Star that fell from Heaven 174 15 Of the Locusts 179 16 Of the sixth Trumpet the loosing of the four Angels in the River Euphrates 194 17 Of the Angel with the Book open 201 18 Of the Voice of the Angel that had his right Foot upon the Sea and his left upon the Earth and of the seven Thunders 203 19 Of the Angels Oath and of the finishing the Mystery of God. 205 20 Of the Angels giving the Book to S. John to be eaten and of the effects which ensue thereupon Pag. 207 21 Of the measuring of the Temple and of the outward Court to be trodden under foot of the Gentiles 209 22 Of the two Witnesses their Sackcloth State the time of their Prophecying and their Dignity 212 23 Of the Witnesses being overcome and slain and left unburied 216 24 Of the rising of the Witnesses their Ascending into Heaven and of what follows upon their triumph 227 25 Of the seventh Trumpet The Ark opened in Heaven the Kingdoms of this world become the Lords 240 26 Of the pouring out of the Vials 245 27 Of the time that the Beasts Reign is to continue 265 28 Of the time when the Beasts Reign or the Papal Empire began 269 29 Of the Destruction of Gog and Magog 278 30 Of S. Johns Offence in falling at the Angels feet to worship him 280 31 Of Christs directing his Epistles and his Revelation to the seven Churches and why 284 ◠Defence of the Illustrations upon the Apocalypse concerning the Effusion of the Vials Page 1 Reasons for the Non-Effusion of the Vials 27 A NEW SYSTEME OF THE APOCALYPSE OR A Plain and Methodical Explanation of all the Visions of the REVELATION of St. JOHN The FIRST Part. I. ILLUSTRATION What we are to understand by the BEAST SAint John having in the 17. Chapter v. 1 2 3. told us how he was carried into the Wilderness by one of the Seven Angels that had the seven Viols and how he there saw a Woman sitting upon a Scarlet Beast full of Names of Blasphemy having seven Heads and ten Horns and having in the Vision related in the 13. Chapter described this Beast unto us we are therefore in the first place to inquire what is meant by this Beast with Seven Heads and Ten Horns that we may be able thereby to know with the more certainty and with the greater plainness who this Woman is that is called Babylon the Great whom the Beast carries Nor will it be difficult to understand the meaning and import of this Term Beast it having been explained in the Visions of Daniel For that Prophet having in the 7 th Chap. v. 3 4 5 6 7. declared how that he beheld Four Beasts rising out of the Sea the first whereof resembled a Lion the second a Bear the third a Leopard and the fourth different from the three former He adds that having asked one of the Angels that stood before the Ancient of Day 's what the meaning of that Vision might be it was answered him v. 17. that these four Beasts were four Kings which should arise upon the Earth So that this Explication vouchsav'd by the Angel unto Daniel concerning the Vision of the four Beasts do's fully inform us that this Term Beast in the Revelations of St. John signifies a Power à n Empire a Succession of Kings and Rulers as the four in Daniel's Visions represented the four Empires the Assyrian Persian Grecian and Roman with which the Church of God was concerned and which four Empires had been before represented by the Image that appeared to Nebuchadnezzar in his Dream Dan. 2. 31 c. The word Beast being then used in the Visions of Daniel to denote an Empire or a Succession of Soveraign Rulers it can have no other signification affixed unto it in the Visions of St. John forasmuch as one Spirit inspired both the Apostle and the Prophet And this is the more evident in that Daniel's fourth Beast is the same with that in St. Johns Visions as do's plainly appear by the universal and perfect Agreement that is between the one and the other 1. Whereas Daniel tells us c. 7. v. 7. that the Fourth Beast which is the Roman Empire and to which he gave no Name was different from the three former from the Lion the Bear and the Leopard so St. Iohn represents the Beast upon which the Woman sitteth not only as diverse from those three but as that which there is none that bears any resemblance unto and which as he says Rev. 13. 2. had the Body of a Leopard and whose Feet were as the Feet of a Bear and his Mouth as the Mouth of a Lion. 2. Whereas Daniel Chap. 7. 7. says of the fourth Beast that he had ten Horns St. Iohn says the same of the Beast that carried the Woman Rev. 17. 12. 3. And as Daniel informs us Chap. 7. 24. that the ten Horns of the fourth Beast were ten Kings that should arise out of that Kingdom St. Iohn likewise assures us Rev. 17. 12 that the ten Horns of the Beast upon which the Woman sitteth are ten Kings which had not then received any Kingdom 4. Whereas Daniel says Chap. 7. v. 8. 25. that the little Horn of the fourth Beast had a Mouth speaking great things and uttering words against the Most High. St. Iohn also say's of the Beast that carried the Woman Rev. 13. 5 6. that there was given unto him a Mouth speaking great things and that he opened his Mouth in Blasphemies against God. 5. Forasmuch as Daniel tells us Chap. 7. v. 21. concerning the little Horn of the fourth Beast that he made war with the Saints and prevailed against them St. John say's the same of the fourth Beast upon which the Woman sitteth Rev. 13. 7. namely that it was given unto him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them 6. And whereas Daniel declares Chap. 7. v. 25. that the Saints shall be given into the hands of the fourth Beast a time times and the dividing of time St. John declares also of the Beast upon which the Woman sitteth Rev. 13. 7. that Power was given unto him to continue forty and two moneths which make just three Prophetical years and a half 7. Lastly Forasmuch as Daniel says of the fourth Beast chap. 7. v. 11. that he was
that is not the way by which the Reformed Religion planteth it self in the hearts of men That is a method only sutable to the Popish Religion and to the Mahometan But the meaning is that they shall no more dare to write or to speak in favour of Popery against the Reformation that their Societies shall be put down and that they shall banish themselves out of the Realm upon their not finding it to be their interest to continue all which will be a death unto them But we may take the words of the Text litterally and without a Figure Seeing there shall be killed seven thousand names of men that is there shall be no more of that kind of Doctors who are distinguished by their Societies and Fraternities no more Monks no more Jesuites and it may be no more Arch-Bishops no more Abbots and no more Cardinals in the Kingdom The 2 d Event marked in the Prophecy is that the remnant shall be affrighted by the resurrection and ascention of the Witnesses i. e. by seeing the reestablishment of the Reformed Churches and shall give glory to God. Which questionless denoteth unto us the conversion of all those people who belong to France For there is nothing by which God is more eminently glorified than by the conversion of men And that expression of their giving glory to the God of Heaven deserveth to be remarked Why is it not said they shall give Glory to God why to the God of Heaven This beyond all contradiction strikes at them who put themselues in the place of God. Every one knoweth the Station which the Pope and the Roman Church hold in all parts of the Papal Kingdom They make a God of the Pope and of the Church both in ascribing to them the glorious Attribute of being Infallible which appertaineth to none but to the Deity and in making the Authority of the Church the Foundation of the Faith of Christians But this is a perishable Divinity a God of the Earth a false God from which men shall turn to the God of Heaven the living and true God whose Word shall then be the alone Foundation of Faith. 'T is well known how they have made the great Louis a God through their compelling Protestants to change their Religion for this only reason because it was the Kings Will to have it so But affairs will alter and all France shall give Glory to the God of Heaven They shall give to Cesar the things that are Cesar's but not the things which belong to God. Yea Cesar himself shall give glory to the God of Heaven If what we have said in reference to the Resurrection of the two Witnesses and of that which is to ensue thereupon be no more than a Conjecture as we will give it no other Title yet it may be affirmed that it is a conjecture accompanied with great probability and that there is some Foundation for it For if we dare not say that St. John foretold the Event which is actually come to pass we may say that such a thing is fallen out which may be called both the death of the two Witnesses and their lying without being put into Graves Seeing what we have seen befall the Reformed in France does exactly answer to the Terms of the prediction And if the death of the Witnesses be what we have explained it then it cannot be denied but that all which we have said in reference to their Resurrection is a conjecture that hath a Foundation and a probability As to the Time when we are to see their Resurrection there is no doubt but that we are to reckon from the period at which their death fell out And it may be said with great appearance of truth that the Edict of Fontain bleau which repealed that of Nantes that was the Foundation of the Liberty of the Reformed was the fatal stroke which gave the Witnesses their death For the Edict of Fontain bleau declareth that of Nantes to be now useless seeing there remain but few Protestants to be converted to the Catholick Religion and they hope these will be soon reduced as others have been Forasmuch then as the Edict of Fontain bleau was registred towards the end of October 1685. and that it speaks of the extinction of the Reformed Religion and of the Protestants which was that foretold by St. John under the death of the two Witnesses as a thing done and that what remained of them were not to be reckoned upon we may then very probably say that upon counting the three years and a half from the forementioned October the Witnesses shall again rise and the Reformed shall be re-established XXV ILLUSTRATION Of the Seventh Trumpet The Arkopened in Heaven The Kingdoms of this world become the Lords REV. CHAP. 11. V. 14. The second Wo is past and behold the third Wo cometh quickly V. 15. And the seventh Angel sounded and there were great voices in Heaven saying the Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever V. 16. And the four and twenty Elders which sate before God on their Seats fell upon their faces and worshipped God saying V. 17. We give thee thanks O Lord God Almighty which art and wast and art to come because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned V. 18. And the Nations were angry and thy wrath is come and the time of the dead that they should be judged and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy Servants the Prophets and to the Saints and them that fear thy Name small and great and shouldest destroy them which destroy the Earth V. 19. And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven and there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Testament and there were lightnings and voices and thundring and an Earthquake and great hail ALtho this be the seventh Trumpet yet it can no way's be the last Judgment that is spoken of here as it might seem to be at the first view For the pouring out of the seven Vials is to be followed with the destruction of Babylon and that is to be followed with the conversion of all Nations and with the Reign of a 1000. years After which shall come the War of God and Magog And all these things being to go before the Judgment of the last day it is not possible that that should be the subject of this seventh Trumpet under which the seven Vials are to be poured out Nor do the 24. Elders say that the time of Judging the quick and the dead was come but they only speak of the Dead which sheweth that is not the Judgment of the last day that is spoken of where the Living shall be judged as well as the Dead And withall 't is here said that the Kingdoms of this world are to become the Kingdoms of Jesus Christ which admirably agrees to the Millennian Reign when all Nations shall be converted but no
plagues and that by them the wrath of God is consummated Now against whom is it consummated Without doubt it is against Babylon against Rome and the Papacy against the Kingdom of Antichrist And the wrath of God cannot be said to be consummated until that prophecy chap. 18. v. 20. be fulfilled Rejoice over her thou Heaven and ye Holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on her And a mighty Angel took up a stone like a great milstone and cast it into the Sea saying thus with violence shall that great City Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all This Oracle is not yet fulfilled Babylon is yet standing The Kingdom of Antichrist doth yet continue From whence it does at the least follow that the last Vial is still to be poured out and as I may say that there is not one drop of it yet fallen But the same do's appear as evidently in reference to the sour first as it do's in relation to the three last For besides that it is said of them all in general that they are the last plagues and the consummation of the wrath of God against Babylon St. John further tells us ch 8. v. 13. that he heard an Angel flying thorow the midst of Heaven saying with a loud voice Wo wo wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth by reason of the Trumpets that are yet to sound And chap. 9. v. 12. after the sounding of the fifth Trumpet St. John adds one Wo is past and behold there come two Woes more hereafter One of these two Woes fell undoubtedly out under the sixth Trumpet under which Mahometanism and the Turkish Armies destroyed the whole East And therefore the third Wo must come to pass under the seventh and the last Trumpet St. Iohn accordingly declareth expresly chap. 11. v. 14. that the second Wo is past and behold the third Wo cometh quickly And after that he immediately subjoins that the seventh Angel sounded and that there were great voices in heaven saying the Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall Reign for ever and ever This is a wo for the Papacy but it is a happiness for the Church of God. For it is exactly the general Reformation which shall comprehend in it the conversion of the Jews of the Mahometans of the Pagans and of the Papists and the uniting of all Sects of Christians into one belief and into one Worship together with the final End of the Papal Kingdom Whence it uncontroably follows that all the Vials being contained under this third Wo they are yet to be poured out Forasmuch as we are this year 1687. still under the sixth Trumpet and are groaning under the pressures of the second Wo. Which over and aboye all the Massacres that were seen in the former ages hath made us to see in this age the two Sackcloth Witnesses overcome and killed by the Beast So that here we have a new proof that all the Vials from the first to the last are yet to be poured out forasmuch as the Vials are no other thing but the seven Thunders which are spoken of Chap. 10. And indeed the Thunders are seven in number as well as the Vials are And as the Thunders do signify the judgments of God against the Enemies of the Church so the Vials do signify the same in that by them the Wrath of God is to be consummated Moreover the things threatned by the Thunders are delayed from being executed until the sounding of the Seventh Trumpet For St. Iohn tells us Chap. 10. v. 4. that being about to write he heard a voice from Heaven saying Seal up those things which the seven Thunders uttered and write them not Why was this Because they were not to be executed until the Mystery of God should be finished which is not to be till under the Seventh Trumpet For the Mystery of God is the bringing in of all Kingdoms to Jesus Christ the conversion of all Nations and the uniting of all Christians from whence that peace of the Church shall arise which is to continue during the thousand years that Satan is to be bound And if there be any difference betwixt the Vials and the Thunders it consisteth only in this that the Thunders are the denunciation of the Judgments of God and that the Vials are the execution of them For tho the Thunders were heard by St. Iohn under the Sixth Trumpet yet they were not to be executed till under the Seventh under which it is that all the Vials shall be poured out I do know that there are famous Writers who pretend to demonstrate the effusion of most of the Vials as already past by that conformity which they observe in Events with the Terms that exptess the Evils which each Vial doth contain But that conformity doth not necessarily prove that they are all poured forth nor indeed that any part of them is what hath been now said proves the contrary in a manner that comes near to demonstration All that agreement does only prove that they shall be poured out in their proper times and that of this we are not to doubt seeing what is already come to pass is an assurance of what is to ensue So that what fell out in the time of Luther tho' conformable to the prediction about the ruin of Babylon does not serve to prove that Babylon is entirely fallen but is as it were an Earnest put into our hand whereby the total fall of it is promised unto us and which is to be a pledg of the full payment of all that is promised us in reference thereunto Forasmuch then as it is certain that not so much as one of the Vials is yet poured forth it becometh us in point of Wisdom to affirm nothing dogmatically in the expounding of them That which may be affirmed as certain and indubitable is first that as the Trumpets declared the manifestation of Antichrist and his advances in the establishment of his Empire together with the rise of the Mahometan Religion and the growth of the Turkish Empire so the Vials shew the fall and ruin of these two Enemies of the Christian Religion Secondly That when the Vials come to be poured out there shall be no long distance between the pouring nut of one of them and the effusion of the rest Because it is said in the 10th Chapter v. 6. that the Angel sware that there should be time no longer That is to say that there should be no more delay that the Judgments of God shall overtake the Beast without any respit betwixt one and another and that the seven Thunders shall break forth and fall as it were close and near together And consequently that the Vials which are nothing but the seven Thunders shall be so poured out that before the pouring forth of the first be ended the second shall begin and so the rest Thirdly That there shall be scarce any distance
of the Miracles pretended to be done in the Papal Kingdoms but that the Excommunications which flow from the Papal Jurisdiction are as much dreaded by Princes who stand in aw ' of that Authority as Fire and Lightning from Heaven History affords us many Examples of Princes who have been ruined by Papal Excommunications To this day they forbear not to proclaim the Miracles which are constantly wrought in the Papal Kingdom and the Partisans for the Pope vaunt themselves upon them as marks of the true Church But this is peculiar to those Miracles that they are no where done but in the Papal Empire and that out of the view of Hereticks Nor are they profitable unto any save unto those who do esteem them Neither is there any of their Wonder-mongers that have Raised the Dead They are such Miracles as do become the Beast with two Horns that speaketh as a Dragon 8. 'T is said Rev. 13. 14 15. That the Beast with two Horns commandeth them that dwell on the Earth that they should make an Image unto the Beast which had the Wound and that it was granted to the Beast to give Life unto this Image that it should speak Now this Image of the Beast is nothing but the Soveraign Power of the Pope as appears from the 14. Chapter v. 9 and 11. where the Description of the Beast is the same with this of his Image Which would not be if the Beast with two Horns were other than the Pope And the being an Image that speaks shews plainly that it does not differ from the Original or from that whose Image it is We use to say of a Picture that is done naturally and to the life that it wants nothing but that it cannot speak and that if it could speak it would be another Original None to whom the Papal Authority is known can be ignorant that the Pope has the same Power which the Emperors had the same Throne the same Soveraign Pontifical Dignity and that he is worshipped with the same Adoration and hath as stately a Senate and as magnificent a Court. Now the Pope is stiled an Image and not the thing it self both because he is arisen to his greatness under a pretence of Religion and under the Title of being the Vicar of Jesus Christ and of St. Peter and because he is also the Vicar of the Emperor and the Successor of Cesar And as he is in that Quality an Image of Cesar so being an Image that speaks he is cloathed with all the Majesty of the Emperors and possessed of their whole Authority Accordingly he will have his Feet kissed as the Feet of the Emperors were and will have Kings kneel before him as they did before the Cesars For as the Historian notes of the Emperor Caligula that he had his Feet kissed so the Poet Horace speaking in one of his Epistles of a Prince that kneeled before Augustus says that he appeared before him Genibus minor 9. 'T is said Rev. 13. 15. The Beast with two Horns causeth that as many as will not worship the Image of the Beast should be killed And this is what we have seen for above these 600. years fulfilled in the Papal Church thro her delivering those over to the Secular Power to be destroyed that would not obey her Commands and in her causing extirpate them by Croisados 10. 'T is said Rev. 13. 17. That no man might Buy or Sell save he that had the Mark of the Beast As Dtocletian debarred those from all sort of Commerce who would not Sacrifice to the Heathen Gods so we have the like Prohibition in that Bull which Pope Martin the fifth published against Wicklif And at this day they will suffer none to live in France who does not bring a Note under the Curat 's hand of his going to Mess So that the Romish Church is this second Beast with two Horns the speaking Image of the first Beast in that she lays the same Prohibitions upon men that the Roman Emperor did 11. Whereas it is said Rev. 13. 17. That the Beast with two Horns hath three sorts of Subjects or Followers One that bears his Mark another that carry's his Name and a third that hath the Number of his Name The Pope hath also three sorts of Adherents one that beareth his Mark which is the Ecclesiasticks that are tyed to him by an Oath and who boast of an indelible Character Another that carrieth his Name which is those that do stile themselves Papists and who do glory in it as Bellarmin did The Third sort bear the Number of his Name and these are they who are ashamed to be called Papists and account it for an Injury to be so stiled as the most part do in France But they call themselves Catholicks which is a word that hath reference to number Catholick signifying Universal and this causeth that the Pope does acknowledg them for his 12. There remains the Number of the Beast which is 666. and in order to our being convinced that this is the Number of the Papacy we are to observe that he treats not of the Number of the Beast alone Rev. 13 18. but also of the Number of his Name because it comes to be spoken of those who have the Number of the Name of the Beast The Holy Ghost doth acquaint those who shall read that this Name is not kept so hidden in reference to where it is to be found but that they who have wisdom may be able to discover it For by telling us that it is the Number of a Man we are to count according to the manner that men use to do Here is Wisdom saith the Text let him that hath understanding count the number of the Beast for it is the Number of a Man and his Number is six hundred threescore and six In order then to find in the Papacy the number 666. we are after the manner of computation among men to extract the Cubical Root of that number For as 144. is in the Book of the Apocalypse the Number of the Heavenly Ierusalem so 666. is made there the Number of the Beast And as 12. is the Cubical Root of 144. so if we can but find in the Papacy a number that is the Cubical Root of 666. we need not in the least doubt but that 666. is the Number of the Papal Church They call that in Arithmetick the Cubical Root of any specified number which being multiplied by it self does constitute that Number whether it be with a Fraction remaining or without one Thus 10. is the Cubical Root of a 100. because 10 being multiplied by it self makes a 100. But if we would seek for the Cubical Root of 55. we can assign no other than 7. and because 7. multiplied by it self makes but 49 there must to the making up 55. be 6. added which Arithmeticians stile a Fraction And it is worthy of Observation that the Holy Ghost doth not require us to count the Number of
in Woods or in Holes of Rocks and were accused of committing there execrable Crimes and Murders and of being guilty of Conspiracies against the Government and of Uncleannesses and incestuous Converses as doth appear by the Apologies of Tertullian and other Writers of that time And whereas it is said that the Dragon was cast out of Heaven unto the Earth and that there was no place found any more for him in Heaven nor for his Angels this was verified by the conversion of Rome and her Emperors because Paganism being then destroyed both in Rome and through the whole Empire and the Devil being neither any more Worshipped under the name of Mars nor his Angels which are they that were his persecuting Emissaries respected and dreaded as they had been before there was no place found any more for him in heaven ` For in Rome he had no more a Temple where he was worshipped nor were there throughout the whole Roman Empire any more Pagans who did adore him so that he is thenceforth accounted of as fallen from Heaven to Earth according to the Prediction of the Son of God Luc. 10. 18. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven And forasmuch as St. John farther says I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now is come salvation and the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for the Accuser of our Brethren is cast down This is a description of the joy that was among believers when they saw Iesus Christ victorious and triumphant over the Dragon the subversion of Idols the down fall of paganism and the Church come out of Caves Woods and the Holes of Rocks and to assemble openly in the very Temples where the Dragon had been worshipped and there to worship the true God Creator and Redeemer So that if it be asked who those Angels of the Dragon are that fought for him I answer that they are the Philosophers the Orators the Priests of the Idols Gods and Magistrates who made use of all sort of Tricks Frauds Outrages of blind Zeal Violence Fines Banishments Imprisonments and Executions As upon the other hand Michaels Angels are the Pastors and Teachers who made use of no other Weapons nor Defence but that of the Sword of the Word of God of Faith of a holy Life and of Patience As it is said v. 11. that they overcame the Dragon by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of their Testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death XI ILLUSTRATION Of the Flight of the Woman REV. CHAP. 12. v. 14. THis Flight of the Woman had been mentioned v. 6. where it is said that after the Man child was caught up unto God and to his Throne the Woman fled into the Wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore Days But it appeareth by the 14 verse that this was spoken there by way of Anticipation and that the Flight of the Woman fell out after the fall of the Dragon that is after the destruction of Heathenism and the conversion of the Emperors Which gives us to understand that the Birth of Atichristianism followed soon after the deliverance from the Persecutions of the Pagan Emperors For ever since the Church decayed in her Purity the prosperity which She enjoyed under the Christian Emperors having suddenly and insensibly corrupted her And Platina tells us that a voice was then heard Hodie venenum funditur in Ecclesiam i. e. Poison is now poured forth upon the Church Nevertheless this Flight of the Church did not lye in a change of Place but in a change of her external State. In a word it was an Eclipse rather than a proper Flight a Darkness rather than a Retreat and discovered it in the pride Covetousness Luxury and Dissoluteness of the Churches Guides and in the Doctrines Worship and Ceremonies which She borrowed from the Pagans The Place which God had prepared for her was a little Corner of that Temple which is spoken of Rev. 11. 1. when the outward Court was trodden under foot by the Gentiles that is by those who had adopted and brought in Human Traditions and Heathenish Rites and Ceremonies into the Christian Religion The Two Wings given unto the Woman to forward her Flight and to render it the more expeditious and safe do denote the same thing that the measuring of the Temple doth in the eleventh chap. For he speaketh here of the same persons to wit the Church and of the same Time namely that which succeeded soon after the End of the Churches Persecution by the Heathen Emperors and of the same Design which is the Preservation of Believers against the Calamities threatned by the Trumpets The Wilderness into which She fled Intimateth unto us the Churches Obscurity Poverty and Distress of which there were different degrees For at some seasons the Church was not so much as visible no more than the seven thousand of the ten Tribes were under Ahab and Iesabel that were unknown to the Prophet Elias She fled into the Wilderness with the Wings of an Eagle as the Church of Israel is said to have been carried upon Eagles Wings Exod. 19. 4 which both shews the speediness and the safety of her Flight and that She should remain and be entertained within the Bounds of the Roman Empire And as the Eagle's being the Arms of the Roman Empire putteth this out of all doubt so the Two Wings of the Eagle do denote the Empire of the East and that of the West where the Church of God hath been kept hidden and had been fed during the time of her Poverty and great Distress And She hath been Fed not with the unsavoury and poisonous Food of Human Traditions and Ceremonies or Doctrines drawn from the Pagan Religion but with the sound and wholsom Food of the Word of God. Nor can She be fed with any other Nourishment so that this is the same thing with that which is said in the 11. chap. v. 2 3. viz. that while the Holy City should be trodden under foot by the Gentiles the Lord should cause his two Witnesses to prophesie a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes cloathed in Sack-cloth For this Prophecy of the two Witnesses is nothing else save the Bread and Food of the Church which he speaketh of here From which it necessarily followeth that this Flight of the Woman into the Wilderness is of the same Date with the treading down of the City by the Gentiles which is mentioned chap. 11. v. 2. The Time that the Church was to be nourished in the Wilderness is expressed by Time Times and half a Time. Which amounts to the 1260. dayes of the sixth verse Nor can this be gainsaid in that no man can deny but that the Flight spoken of v. 6 is the same with the Flight that is discoursed of v. 14. Now we shall see elsewhere what is meant both by the 1260. Dayes and
of the Militant Church forasmuch as the Church Militant and Triumphant are but one and the same Mystical Body Tho in the mean time they be not in the Church Militant but retired and withdrawn For they are not any more upon the Sea but they are gotten upon the Shore XX. ILLUSTRATION Of the opening of the Temple and of the Smoak where-with it was filled REV. CHAP. 15. v. 5 10. THe whole House built upon Mount Moriah is called the Temple and yet only that Appartment called the Holy of Holies where the Ark stood was properly the Temple and which is otherway's stiled the Tabernacle of Witness The opening of the Temple which is here spoken of is an allusion to the Church of the Iews For under the Reign and Idolatry of Ahaz the Temple was shut up but under Hezekiâ— the Reformer it was again opened So that this is as if St. John should say I saw the time of the Reformation when the Idolatry and Superstition of Rome were condemned and the Truth of the Gospel was publickly preached From thence these three things are to be gathered 1 That the Vials which are mentioned in this 15 chapter and poured out in the following do belong to this state of the Church wherein Antichrist is made manifest and wherein there shineth a measure of light in the Church 2 That the Vials are all contained under the seventh Trompet seeing we have the same fact that is here mentioned repeated under that Rev. chap. 11. v. 19. And 3 the Temple is not here Represented open in order to give a passage to the seven Angels that pour out the Vials but to give way for all Nations to enter in according as it is said v. 4. that all Nation shall come and worship before God. And this may be collected from v. 8. where it is said that no man could enter into the Temple till the seven plagues of the seven Angels were fulfilled Which plainly shews that the Temple is therefore opened that there may be a way made for men to enter into it against whom it had been so long shut The Smoak that filled the Temple answereth to the Cloud that covered the Tabernacle of Moses and to the Divine Glory which so filled the Tent of the Congregation that Moses himself was not able to enter into it Exod. chap. 40. v. 34. which thing is also reported of the Temple of Solomon 1 Kings chap. 8. v. 10 11 Now as the Cloud was a Symbol ' of Gods gracious presence in the midst of Israel so the Smoak here spoken of is a presage of the Lords Return again into his Temple which he had for so song time abandoned to the Gentiles i. e. to the followers of the Beast and to the Citizens of Babylon chap. 11. v. 2. 'T is added that this Smoak caused that no man was able to enter into the Temple till the seven plagues of the seven Angels were fulfilled Which intimateth that tho the time of the destruction of the Churches Enemies draweth near and the time wherein the Gospel shall shine bright in the world yet that the Gospel will not be universally received and followed of all Nations till after the Subversion of Babylon which will not be until the Vials have been poured out XXI ILLUSTRATION Of the fall of Babylon and the Time when REV. CHAP. 18. THe Destruction of Babylon is described at length in the 18th Chapter But whereas Babylon may be taken either for the City of Rome or for her Empire which is the Papacy or Popery the Destruction described in the 18th chap. do's respect her only in the first sense to wit as She is the Seat of the Beast According as She is intended in the effusion of the fifth Vial that is as She is the Seat of the Papal Kingdom For after that the Angel had said that her plagues shall come in one day death and mourning and famine and that she shall be utterly burnt with fire because strong is the Lord God who judgeth her he then addeth that the Kings of the Earth who have committed fornication and lived diliciously with her shall bewaile her and lament for her when they shall see the smoak of her burning that the merchants also shall mourn over her because none buyeth her Merchandise any more and that every Ship-master and all Sailers in Ships shall cast dust on their heads when they shall see the smoak of her burning Now who are these Kings these Merchants these Shipmasters and these Sailors that do thus mourn and lament upon the seeing the subversion of Rome and the total ruin of her that was both the mother of their Faith and of all Churches The Kings are partly the Cardinals who do esteem themselves equal to Princes and partly Kings themselves and Soveraign's that are Secular The Masters of Ships are Archbishops and Bishops The Sailers are the inferior Clergy The Merchants are the Friers that sell the dispensations the Indulgences the Relicks the Agnus Dei's c. and who do vend those Triffles as the most precious of all commodities making people believe that the peace of their consciences and the salvation of their Soul 's pend upon them So that there shall be papists and Roman Catholicks subsisting after that Rome is destroyed and who shall worship that Idol tho reduced into ashes Thus 't is said in the 16th chap. v. 10. that the fifth Angel poured out his Vial upon the Seat of the Beast and his Kingdom became full of darkness The Seat of the Beast is the City Rome which is now the Seat of the Papal Kingdom as it was heretofore of the Roman Empire But this Kingdom shall subsist for a while after that Rome it self is destroyed Forasmuch as it is said that after the pouring out of the fifth Vial the Kingdom of the Beast became full of darkness i. e. sorrowful dejected full of affliction and mourning without that pomp and splendor which it had enjoyed before the effusion of that Vial. Yea St. Iohn tells us in the 19. chap. v. 19. that he saw the Beast and the Kings of the Earth and their Armies gathered together to make war against him that sat upon the white Horse and against his Army And that the Beast was taken and with him the false Prophet that wrought miracles before him with which be deceived them that had received the mark of the Beast and them that worshipped his Image and that these two were cast alive into a Lake of fire burning with brimstone So that it shall be after the destruction of the City of Rome ere the Papal Hierarchy and the Pope come to be entirely abolished The Time that is to run out between the one and the other is not expresly marked by the H. Spirit no more than the Time wherein Rome is to be destroyed But in all probability this destruction can not be far off For of the two signs which are to precede it we do already see one
Censer and filled it with fire of the Altar and cast it into the Earth and there were voyces and thundrings and lighnings and an Earthquake TRumpets were used under the Law for two uses One was for War and to encourage the people to fight The other was for peace and to stir up the people to a holy rejoicing Those spoken of here are of the first sort The Seven Angels are the denouncers of those Evils which God was to pour out upon the Church to punish her decay in zeal and Charity The other Angel who stood before the Golden Altar with a Golden Censer is Jesus Christ that appeared in the 7. Chap. with the Seal of God and appeareth now as a Priest with a Censer that is to say as an Intercessor And his Intercession appeareth here with two different effects one for his people in obtaining their prayers to be accepted and his giving value to them is figured by incense The other against false Christians upon whom he scattereth fire from off the Altar This is the fire of division whereof Christ speaks Luke 12. 49 51. I am come to send fire on the earth Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on Earth I tell you nay but rather division 'T is said that this fire was taken off the Altar because it was to be kindled in a Church destitute of zeal and charity and because this fire of division was to be about Religion as the subject of it and by reason that Jesus Câ—rist was to be the cause of it or at least the pretence The voices thundrings lightnings and Earthquake that ensued upon the Scattering of this fire do plainly represent the strifes quarrels and troubles which under the Reign of Constantin and his Successors broke out among the Bishops and Pastors Who being given up to covetousness luxury and ambition raised such troubles as shook the Christian Religion and opened a door to Antichristianism which did appear under the Trumpets X. ILLUSTRATION Of the first Trumpet and of the Hail Fire and Blood. REV. CHAP. 8. V. 1. And the seven Angels which had the Seven Trumpets prepared themselves to sound V. 7. And the first Angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood and they were cast upon the Earth and the third part of the Trees was burnt up and all green Grass was burnt up WE find not in History any change that befell the Church so near to the withholding the winds and to the Silence for half an hour i. e. so near to the peaceable Reign of Constantin which either more opened a door to Antichristianism or which better correspondeth to this Hail to this fire and to this blood caused by this first Trumpet than that so much noted Heresie of Arius 1 Arianism begun to lift up its head under the Reign of Constantin The Church had no sooner peace than the Devil let loose this Heretick to trouble her 2 This Heresie infected the whole Empire The world saith St. Ierom trembleth and is amased to see it self become Arian It lasted near three hundred years Many Councils were assembled to stop its course And it was in these Councils that the Bishop of Rome laid the foundation of that Supremacy which made him afterward to be considered and feared as the Head the judg and the absolute Monarch both of the world and of the Church 3 The hail the fire and the blood do admirably agree to that Heresie 'T is called Hail by reason both of its violence and of the noise which it made and because of the barrenness and coldness which it begot in mens hearts out of which it drove away godliness and charity 'T is stiled Fire because of the contentions which it kindled And it is called Blood by reason of the bloody persecutions which it raised And whereas she third part of the Trees and every green Herb are said to have been burnt up it is because more than one half of the Pastors who are designed by Trees and the generality of the people signified by all green Grass were infected with it XI ILLUSTRATION Of the second Trumpet A Mountain Burning cast into the Sea and a third part of it became Blood. REV. CHAP. 8. V. 8. And the second Angel sounded and as it were a great Mountain burning with fire was cast into the Sea and the third part of the Sea became blood V. 9. And the third part of the Creatures which were in the Sea and had life died and the third part of the Ships were destroyed 'T Is certain that Mountains do in the language of the Prophets signify the Kingdoms of the Earth Thus Mount Sion signifieth the Church which is the Kingdom of God. And thus 't is said Isaiah chap. 2. v. 14. that the day of the Lord shall be against all the high Mountains that is against all Nations tho' never so fierce and against all Kingdoms how powerful soever So that this burning Mountain thrown into the Sea cannot be better explained than of the Nations of the Goths Visigoths Ostrogoths Vandal's and Gepid's that under the Reign of Valens about the year 378. broke in like an inundation upon the Roman Empire destroyed Rome and who abolished the very Name of the Roman Empire in the West about the year 547. These Nations are stiled a burning Mountain because of their violence and of their swiftness This Mountain was cast into the Sea because it was an effect of the wrath of God that these Nations broke in upon the Roman Empire which was a great Sea a heap of many peoples which the Scripture useth to express by waters Now this burning Mountain is not said to dry up the Sea tho that be the proper effect of fire but it is said to have caused the third part of the Sea to become blood the H. Spirit having a respect to what is here signified by this Mountain namely the fierce and bloody humour of these Nations who drowned a part of the Roman Empire in blood infected the people of this Empire with Errors and destroyed a part of its Cities designed here by Ships XII ILLUSTRATION Of the third Trumpet A great Star fell from Heaven REV. CHAP. VIII V. 10. And the third Angel sounded and there fell a great Star from heaven burning as it were a Lamp and it fell upon the third part of the Rivers and upon the Fountains of Waters V. II. And the Name of the Star is called Worm-wood and the third part of the waters became Worm-wood and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter SEeing Jesus Christ hath in the first chap. v. 20. expounded the seven Stars which he had in his right hand to represent Pastors it must necessarily be that by the Star spoken of here some Bishop or Pastor should be intended And forasmuch as it is a great Star it must be a great Bishop that is designed and the Pastor of some Church which men esteem'd to be the
of the Bishop of Rome under the third Trumpet The fifth discovereth unto us the growth and the accomplishment of the Mystery of Iniquity For this is the same Star which St. Iohn had called great and of which he had said that it was already fallen from Heaven The Key is a Symbole of Power and Authority When the Nations were to be brought out of Idolatry into which they were plunged as into a bottomless pit and to be introduced into the Kingdom of Heaven Iesus Christ gave to St. Peter the Keys of that Kingdom And it was that Apostle who first made use of those Keys when he preached the Gospel to Cornelius who was a Gentile But now when the same Nations are to return to Idolatry the Key of the bottomless Pit is given to the pretended Successor of St. Peter by the Dragon Rev. chap. 13. v. 2 4. The Bottomless Pit being opened with this Key which the Bishop of Rome received from the Dragon there came forth a smoke out of the Pit as out of a great Furnace and the Sun and Air were darkned The Sun is Jesus Christ The Air is Religion For Jesus Christ is the Sun of Righteousness and Religion which consisteth in Doctrines Worship and Ceremonies is with respect to Salvation what the Air is with respect to the Animal life which no longer endureth than while we suck in and breath out the Air. Nor can it be denied but that the Bishop of Rome hath darkned the Sun of Righteousness in that he hath assumed to himself all the Offiâ—es of our Saviour his Kingship his Priesthood and his dignity of Supream and infallible Teacher And in that he hath added the Sacrifice of the Mass to the Sacrifice of the Cross and humane Satisfaction to the merit of Christs Blood which is the price of our Redemption Neither can it be gainsaid but that he hath darkned the Air of Religion by a mixture of Heathen Ceremonies with those which Jesus Christ had ordained Such as Altars the different Habits of Priests Agnus Dei's Chappelets Scapularies Holy Water Abstinences and Fastings Finally he hath corrupted the Discipline and Government which fence and preserve Religion by changing it into a Monarchy like unto that of Earthly Princes contrary to the express Declaration of our Saviour to his Apostles The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship but ye shall not be so Luks 22. 25. And also contrary to the advice of St. Peter whose Vicar and Successor he vainly boasts himself to be For he enjoins Ministers to feed the Flock of God and not to carry it as being Lords over God's Heritage 1 Pet. 5. 2 3. This Change was not all made at once but by little and little The Smokt came not all out of the bottomless Pit at one and the same time but successively and by degrees answerable to the nature of the Mystery of Iniquity which hath established it self by fraud and subtility Before Gregory I. about the end of the second Century Victor upon the subject of what day Easter should be kept was so rash as to excommunicate all the Churches of Asia as if he had been the Soveraign Master of all Churches Upon which account St. Ireneus rebuked him according as he deserved Siricius condemned the Marriage of Priests abusing to that end the words of St. Paul They that are in the Flesh cannot please God as if by being in the Flesh the Apostle had understood the state of Marriage Boniface III. Successor of Gregory I. challenged the Title of Universal Bishop which Gregory had condemned in Iohn Bishop of Constantinople as the Title of the Forerunner of Antichrist Boniface IV. consecrated the Pantheon to the Holy Virgin and to all the Saints which the Pagans had dedicated before to Cibele the Mother of the Gods. And the Controversie about the Worship of Images grew so hot in the eighth Age that Pope Gregory the second excommunicated the Emperor Leo for opposing it In the ninth Age Paschasius the Monk of Corby was the first that taught the Corporal Presence but Rathramu writting against it by the command of Charles the Bold the question remained undetermined But the Truth becoming darkned by the Smoke that arose out of the bottomless Pit in the tenth Age which Baronius stiles an Age of Iron and Lead and which all Writers acknowledg to have been an Age of Ignorance and Darkness it came to be decided in the eleventh Age by Nicolas the second Who made it be prescribed to Berenger in his Retractation that believers did not only eat Christ Sacramentally but that he was really broken by their teeth In the same Age Gregory the seventh made come out of the bottomless Pit these propositions mentioned by Baronius Anno 1076. num 31. namely that the Pope of Rome alone hath Right to be called Universal That all Princes ought to kiss the Popes Feet That his name only should be mentioned to the Churches That he hath an Authority to depose Emperors That without his command no Council ought to be called General That no Book nor Chapter ought to be held for Canonical without his Authorisy That he may discharge Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance And many other such as these which Baronius calls Dictata Papae Out of the same Pit came forth the Adoration of the Holy Sacrament under Pope Houorius the second The Feast of God or of Corpus Christi under Pope Eugenius the second Auricular Confession under Pope Innocent the third The first Crusado with promise of forgiveness of all their sins under Urban the second Anno 1095 The first Jubilee with a promise annexed to it of universal pardon to all that should go to Rome and visit the Churches there was instituted by Boniface the eighth Anno 1295. Finally Eugenius the third about the year 1149. did ordain that the Decretals collected by Gratian should be read and explained in the Schools Which Decretals treat of nothing save of the Power of St. Peter and of the Pope of the excellency of a Monastick life of Celibate of Transubstantiation of the Mass and of such like Doctrines which are this Smoke arisen out of the bottomless Pit by which the Sun and the Air have been darkned XV. ILLUSTRATION Of the Locusts REV. CHAP. 9. V. 3. And there came out of the Smoke Locusts upon the Earth and unto them was given power as the Scorpions of the Earth have power V. 4. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the Grass of the Earth neither any Green thing neither any Tree but only those men which have not the Seal of God in their Foreheads V. 5. And to them it was given that they should not kill them but that they should torment them five moneths and their Torment was as the Torment of a Scorpion when he striketh a man. V. 6. And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them V.
considered two ways First more grossly and in the bulk as it comprehendeth all the Seven Heads and in that sense it is nothing but a Regency under the seven Forms of Government which Rome hath passed throw since its Foundation and so it indefinitely and at large designs the Roman Empire Secondly As it is used precisely or strictly to denote the Beast under the seventh Head which is the Pope or Papal Power and so it is represented by the Beast with Two Horns 'T is most evident that it is Rome under the seventh Head which is the Pope that is here spoken of in that it is the Healing of the Wound which the Beast had received under the sixth Head. For he both speaks of this Wound in the third Verse and then of the Healing of it by the Beast with two Horns which is the Papacy in the 12. Verse Now that the Papal Empire is the Seventh Head or the Beast with Two Horns will be demonstratively proved by observing the conformity which is between that Beast and the Papal Kingdom 1. For whereas the Term Beast does signify a Domination and an Empire it cannot be denied but that the Romish Church is an Empire and that it may be stiled the Papal Kingdom and the Roman Empire 2. Forasmuch as Horns according as we have proved do denote Iurisdictions and Powers so the Papal Authority comprehends a twofold Power and two kinds of Domination one over that which is Temporal and another over that which is Spiritual One over this Life and another over that which is to come So that the Papal Kingdom must be that which is meant by the Beast with Two Horns 3. Whereas 't is said Rev. 13. 11. that the Two Horns of the Beast were like the Two Horns of the Lamb. All do know that Jesus Christ hath a twofold Authority or two kinds of Soveraignty One over the Soul and another over the Body One over that which is Temporal and another over that which is Spiritual And seeing the Pope boasts of this twofold Authority under pretence of being the Vicar of Jesus Christ it does therefore follow that he is the Beast with the Two Horns 4. And whereas 't is said Rev. 13. 11. that the Beast with two Horns spake as a Dragon 't is undeniable that the Pope speaks in the same manner and not only like the Devil Matth. 4. 9. assumeth to himself a Right of Disposing of all the Kingdoms of the World and of forbidding men to obey the Commandments of God but as the calumniating Spirit he reproacheth Gods Word both by accusing it of falsehood and by robbing it of its perspicuity integrity perfection sufficiency and of its Authority which he challengeth to himself 5. It being said Rev. 13. 12. that the Beast with two Horns exerciseth all the power of the first Beast whose deadly wound was healed This does perfectly agree to the Papal Power For the Roman Empire that flourished in St. Iohn's time having received a Deadly Wound it became healed thro the application of the Papal Authority as a Plaister unto it Now that Wound consisted in two things in the Subversion of the Pagan Idolatry and in the Abatement of the Glory of Rome And the Heathens were wont to observe in their Disputations against the Christians that as the ancient Religion fell from its splendor so the Glory of Rome did proportionably decay And as the Pagan Idolatry became in effect destroyed by the conversion of Constantine and the care of his Successors so Rome as to its Glory being first much darkned and almost extinguished and then being destroyed by the Goths tho it came afterwards to be restored yet it was never honored to be the Residence of the Emperors in that they fixed their abode at Ravenna and Millan These two Wounds seemed to be incurable but the Papal Soveraignty did perfectly heal them both For in the room of the God's Worshipped under Paganism there was set up the Adoration of Angels Saints the Consecrated Bread and of Relicks So that by this new Idolatry Panagism became again restored And withal Rome hath recovered a Glory not only equal unto its former but greater than what it had seeing the Pope thro having made it the Seat of his Empire appears there as the true Successor of the Heathen Emperors as the Commander of Kings and as the Supream Pontife as well as Chief Cesar who hath united the Priesthood to the Imperial Dignity In a word the Pope is the Head of a Senate attired in Purple and challengeth a Right of Deposing Kings and of disposing Crowns and who receives Tribute from all People and makes himself to be adored not only with a Civil but with a Religious Adoration as the Emperors of old used to be Both Blondus and Steuchus Bishop of Egubium do ingenuously describe without being aware of it how the Wound which Rome had received is again healed thro means of the Soveraignty that is come to be vested in the Pope The first says That the Majesty of Rome is now greater than ever it was because the Princes of the Earth do now worship the Successor of St. Peter as perpetual Dictator that is as Soveraign Pontife and as Vicar of the High Priest Jesus Christ And the other tells us That if after the Subversion of the Roman Empire God had not raised up the Papacy in which the ancient Majesty of Rome is revived that City had been a Habitation of Brute Beasts whereas by the establishment of the Papacy it hath recovered a grandure very little different from that which it had in the time of the old Empire seeing all Nations do now no less Reverence the Bishop of Rome than heretofore they obeyed the Roman Emperors So that by this it appears that the Beast with Two Horns is nothing but the Papacy forasmuch as the Papal Power hath healed Rome of the Wound she had received under the Emperors and rendred her again both Idolatrous and Mistriss of the World as she was heretofore 6. Whereas 't is said of the Beast with Two Horns Rev. 13. 12. That he causeth the Earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first Beast this agrees also to the Papacy which causeth that Rome being healed of its Wound is as much if not more reverenced than ever it had been upon an alledged pretence of having been the Chair and Seat of St. Peter As the Pagans made a Goddess of Rome Heathen by consecrating a Temple and dedicating a Feast unto her which they called Septimontium so Christians do no less make a Goddess of Rome Christian both by stiling her the Mistriss of the World and thro attributing to her the Priviledg of Infallibility that does belong to none save unto God. 7. 'T is further said Rev. 13. 13. That the Beast with two Horns doth great Signs and Wonders so that he maketh Fire come down from Heaven Now all men do not only know that the Romish Legends are full