The like significancy is also acknowledged in the Onirocriticks Artemidor lib. 2. c. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The like he saith also c. 41. which have some similitude with that in Daniel But to come nearer to the point concerning Hail Achmetes out of the Indian Persian and Aegyptian Onirocritical Solutions c. 191. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But yet more particularly of Hail and more to our present purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If one dream that Hail falls on a place he may expect a through and sudden incursion of the enemie And further 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if he dream that the Hail hurt the stemms or stalks of the Corn accordingly as they are broken in the same proportion will the slaughter of men be upon the place 3. Harvest That cutting down Corn is significative of the death of men appears by that Apparition of twelve men seeming to mow the Corn-fields with sithes in Merchia upon which a pestilence followed But that mortality that is by war is still more fitly expressed thereby Achmetes out of the Indian Onirocriticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If a King dream he sees harvest reaped in his own Countrey he will suddenly hear of the slaughter of his people This similitude is also used in Scripture Jer. 15. 33. The daughter of Babylon is like a thrashing-floor it is time to thrash her yet a little while and the time of her Harvest shall come But Harvest sometimes has a more auspicious sense as in that of our Saviour John 4. 35. Behold I say unto you Lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to Harvest And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit to life eternal that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together 4. Head That the Head of a Beast in these Prophetick Figures signifies that Person or those Persons in whom the Supreme Power resides is as infallibly to be concluded as the fourth Proportional in Arithmetick three Numbers being given For we have three terms of the Analogie here also viz. a Kingdom and the Sovereignty thereof and a Beast which is the Prophetick figure of a Kingdom Wherefore we cannot miss to say As a Kingdom is to the Sovereign Power thereof so is this Prophetick or figurative Beast to the Head thereof and alternately As the Kingdom to the Beast so the Sovereign Power of the Kingdom to the Head of the Beast Whence we see plainly that the Head of a Beast answers to the Supreme Power and that whether the Supreme Power be in one single Person or in many For as the Power abstractedly is not considered so neither the Persons abstracted from their Power but both in concreto make up this Head Politick And therefore if the Supreme be not but in many those many are the Head and not the less one Head for consisting of many persons no more then the Body is less one Body for consisting of many persons Nay if a man should follow the Symmetry of his Phancy rather then his Reason a Head of many persons to a Body of a vast multitude of persons would look more elegantly and proportionably then one single person As if a Beast were made of little wax bullets sticking together a head of one bullet put to it would not look so conformably as an head of many bullets such as the whole body consisted of 5. Heaven and Earth By Heaven and Earth is understood the Universe as Grotius has rightly noted upon Genesis and abundantly proved upon 2 Pet. 3. 13. But that by Heaven and Earth the Prophets sometime understand a Political Universe that is a Kingdom or Polity there needs no further proof thereof then what is found in Esay ch 51. 15. I am the Lord thy God that divided the Sea whose waves roared the Lord of Hoasts is my Name And I have put my words in thy mouth and have covered thee in the shadow of my hand that I might plant the Heavens and lay the foundations of the Earth and say unto Sion Thou art my people that is to say to make them that were but scattered persons and slaves in Aegypt before a Kingdom or Polity to be governed by their own Laws and Magistrates Again chap. 65. 17. For behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into minde But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that I create for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy Upon which Text Forerius Decrevi enim novum Orbem condere by which he means the Kingdom of Christ upon Earth that is his Church According to which sense also he interprets For as the new Heavens and the new Earth which I shall make shall remain before me so shall your Esay 66. 22. seed and your name remain Quam diu duraret novus Orbis i. e. Regnum Dei Ecclesiae c. And Grotius also though he look a-scue and is very shie himself best knows the reason at these places that have been mentioned yet he cannot abstain from interpreting the new Heaven and the new Earth Apocal. 21. of the state of the Church upon Earth And Dr. Hammond upon 2 Pet. 3. doth expresly acknowledge the new Heaven and the new Earth there mentioned to have a Political sense Which notion was worth the clearing because this general Analogie will make us the better understand what the parts of the Universe figuratively signify as to be called up into Heaven or cast down to the Earth and the like 6. Horn. Horn also signifies the Supreme Power of a Body Politick which is resembled to a Beast it being the highest part of the Beast and the Defender of his body It is the interpretation of the Angel in Daniel The great Horn is the first King And the ten Horns are interpreted ten Kings by the Angel in the Apocalyps For they were the height and summity of their respective Kingdoms though in some sort subordinate to the seventh Head of the Beast 7. Horse There is no express interpretation of that Animal in Scripture But a generous Horse with his Rider does naturally emblematize Rule and Command Which may seem also hinted to us from that of Psalm 45. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Prosper and ride which the Seventy turn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prosper and reign But an Horse signifies also any success or fortune of him that rides on him So Achmetes out of the Indian Interpretations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If one dreams that he rides on Pharas which is a generous Steed which goes orderly and obediently he shall obtain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honour and renown proportionable to the Beast he rides on And so after he descants on the largeness thickness and length of the tail declaring that his power and train shall be answerable but if bob-tailed or thin of hair it signifies defect of power The halting of
might have heard of Barchocab But there being no mention of any one famous Impostour above the rest in our Saviour's Predictions in Matthew it is very suspicable that this rumour was raised out of the Prophecy of Daniel touching that little mischievous Horn which certainly is a Prophetick Figure of that eximious Antichrist that was to come 5. The same Author also interprets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Barchocab and renders it Quis potest esse major impostor and I believe very rightly For it were a dilute business for the Apostle to describe Antichrist onely by the bare denial of Jesus his being the Christ that great King Priest and Prophet sent of God to whom all Nations should flow For such Antichrists are all Infidels which are innumerable Wherefore such a Denier of Christ is here intimated as by playing the Impostour and by making of himself Christ or by putting of himself into the place of the true Christ which is Jesus denies Jesus to be the Christ and so by denying him denies him that sent him and witnessed of him that he was his beloved Son whom all should hear Such an Antichrist was Barchocab especially who by making himself the Messias did thereby plainly deny that Jesus was he But as there were eximious Types of Christ amongst the people of the Jews and such as one and the same Prophecies touch as well as Christ himself so it is obvious to conceive that there might also Antichrists arise among the said people to whom all things befell in figures which were Types of the famous Antichrist in the Christian Church and that one and the same Text might point at both as it is not hard to conceive that this does For as for that great Antichrist which I have described in my Idea of Antichristianism it is plain that he puts Jesus out of his Kingly Priestly and Prophetick Office usurping all that himself or conferring it upon others as is there copiously declared Wherefore he making himself so absolute an Head of the Church he does ipso facto cut off Jesus from being Head of the same and thereby discovers himself to be that notorious Antichrist in Christendom And by denying that Jesus is that Supreme King Priest and Prophet to whom all are to listen and obey whose Decrees and Words are an immutable Law he does thereby deny also the Father that sent him as much as any other Antichrist amongst the Jews can be imagined ever to have done For which of them was ever said to have professed himself an Atheist 6. Which things duely considered will inable us with ease to understand also the meaning of what is writ in the fourth chapter of this Epistle of S. John where he saith That every spirit that confesses that Jesus is the Messias come in the flesh is of God and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus is the Messias come in the flesh is not of God and this is that spirit of Antichrist which you have heard shall come and is now already in the World The vulgar Latine hath it Et hic est Antichristus de quo audîstis quoniam venit nunc jam in mundo est Which implies they read not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of which Antichrist you have heard that he shall come And he addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like that of S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the futurity of a more notorious Antichrist is not excluded in neither place In this of S. John Grotius again understands the Impostour Barchocab but the Ancients even the Romanists themselves the famous Antichrist of the Fathers Whence it is confessedly true both from Grotius and the Romanists that such a Denier of Jesus his being the Messias or Christ come in the flesh is understood as is an Impostour and boasts himself to be that Christ whereby he denies Jesus to be him as I have noted upon the former Text. And the sense of both may be this namely That whereas those to whom S. John wrote had received a rumour or fame of that eximious Antichrist that was to come into the world in the last time occasioned I doubt not from Daniel's Prophecies of the little Horn and of that King of pride that would exalt himself above all the Event of these Prophecies being further off though at last certainly to come he fixes their minds upon such Antichrists as were nearer at hand and though but the Types and Figures of that great Antichrist to come some Ages after yet of more concernment to them to take notice of but in the interim describes Antichrist so that though it does more palpably point at these Types of the future Antichrist yet the Description more narrowly searched into takes fast hold also on that great Antichrist himself forasmuch as it is implied that it is one who by way of imposture puts himself into the place of Jesus who is the true Christ that King Priest and Prophet appointed by God to whom all must submit Which not onely Barchocab and such false Messiasses in the Jewish Common-wealth have done but he that has so made himself the Head of the Church as to null the Laws and Doctrines of Christ is deprehended to doe the like also 7. I must confess the Opposition and Intrusion of this grand Antichrist among Christians is more oblique and more subtil then the claim of those false Messiasses amongst the Jews but we are withall to take notice that the Christians Messias or Christ is more spiritual then what the Jews expected and therefore it is no wonder that their Antichrist be of another nature not a gross and violent Invader of the Empire of Christ but a more cunning Impostour and insinuating Hypocrite Nor are we to marvel that Christendom has been so slow-sighted in discovering this Antichrist after he was come the same thing happening to them that befell the Jews who could not discern their Messias when he daily conversed before their eyes For both these mistakes arose from a like prejudice and false prenotion of things the Jews decyphering in their minds such a Messias as should conquer Kingdoms for them and make them a rich and potent people upon Earth so crass and external a conceit had they of his Power and Office and the Christians prefiguring such an Antichrist as would cast away the external profession of Christ and directly and professedly oppose him in his Kingdom 8. But fraudulent and hypocritical Opposition is as true and a more mischievous Opposition then that which is open and direct And he that calls another Lord and King but professes a power of abrogating his Laws and of making what Laws he lists himself and of forcing this Prince's Subjects to obey them this man has really made himself King And therefore he that takes upon him the power to null the Laws of Christ and makes new ones of his own for the Rule of Christendom he in like
may be found to disguise the worthiness of their persons For the Witnesses were to be clothed in sackcloth a thousand two hundred sixty days Scorpion See Serpent Scorched by the Sun Achmetes Onirocrit c. 167. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If one dream that the Sun has scorched him much he will be punished by the King proportionably to that scorching according to the doctrine of the Aegyptians Indians and Persians 9. Sea Waters signifying people as the Angel tells S. John the gathering together of people into one Body Politick Kingdom or Jurisdiction may fitly be called a Sea in the Political world as the gathering together of the Waters is so termed in the Natural Gen. 1. And the whole University of Kingdoms or a great part of them may according to this analogie be called either the great Sea or Ocean as is figured out also in the Vision of Daniel Ch. 7. I saw in my Vision by night and behold the four winds of Heaven strove upon the great Sea Where by Winds undoubtedly is meant War as well as by the great Sea a comprehension of several Kingdoms in which this bluster and tempest of War is made one Kingdom fighting against another to enlarge their dominions This analogie of the Sea is also acknowledged in the Interpretations of the Indians Persians and Aegyptians Achmetes c. 178. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any dream he is Master of the Sea he will be entire successour in the whole Kingdom And so likewise of the Winds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If a King see the Sea troubled by a wind from a known quarter â—…e will be molested by some Nation from that quarter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if he see the Sea calm he will enjoy his Kingdom in peace This interpretation therefore of the Sea will farther confirm that of the Rivers Serpent That notorious Serpentine shape which deceived Adam and Eve and lapsed them into rebellion against God cannot but assure any one that in Scripture all the Serpentine kind that are described in Prophecy do in all likelihood refer to the Kingdom of the Devil Ship That a Ship as well as a Mill may be an Hieroglyphick of Profit any one may easily conceive if he think but of Merchandizing Achmetes according to the mind of the Aegyptians and Persians c. 180. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If one dream he builds Ships he shall grow rich proportionably to the number of the Ships he builds But out of the foregoing Chapter according to the doctrine of the Indian Interpreters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which is an interpretation as far fetched as from the Indies indeed Nor is it easy to conjecture why a Ship should intimate the congregating of men for the celebrating religious Mysteries unless we conceive a Ship to represent a Temple Which why we should I know not unless because they are disterminated and solitary buildings as Temples are not joyned to one another no more then a Temple to other Houses But in that it is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Navis mercatoria it may be the profit of the Priest from sacrifices or offerings to Idols may be alluded to And whether any darker recesses in the Ship may represent the Adyta in Temples I know not Such particularities I leave to every mans phancy to pursue at leisure Slain See Resurrection Slaughter See Death 10. Sun Moon and Stars The Sun and Moon have either a Spiritual signification or a Secular Of the Spiritual signification of the Sun there is an example where Christ is called the Sun of Righteousness as he is by the Prophet Malachi Also the Apostle to the Ephesians Awake thâ—… that sleepest that Christ may give thee light The Moon also may have a Spiritual signification supposing it to typifie the Mosaical dispensation Which it may very well doe both because it is a light and a far dimmer light then that of the Gospel as also in allusion to their New Moons and other Festivals of the Jews the order of which depended on that Planet See Mr. Mede on Apocal. 12. To which you may adde That as the Law of Moses is compared to the Moon so may the Light of the Gospel of Christ be compared to the Sun For that the Word of God is compared to Light is plain from that of David Thy word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path And Psalm 119. 105. that great Lamp of the Universe the Sun is the clearest Light men can walk by Whence that vulgar expression of the Sun-shine of the Gospel was framed by very warrantable analogie and does further assure unto us that the Light of the Gospel may also be one Spiritual signification of the Sun 11. The Secular signification of Sun and Moon is when they signifie the Power and Glory of this world And that either generally and at large as Jerem. 15. 9. Her Sun is gone down while it was yet day Which the Targum renders Their glory passed from them in their life-time The like to which is in Amos 8. 9. I will cause the Sun to goe down at noon and I will darken the Earth in the clear day Vatabl. Cùm eritis in supremo felicitat is gradu tunc indè vos dejiciam infelicissimos reddam Again Esay 60. 20. Thy Sun shall no more goe down neither shall thy Moon withdraw herself that is to say Thou shalt have uninterrupted glory and prosperity as it follows presently after The days of thy mourning shall be ended In such places as these Sun and Moon have not a sense determined to any particular Dignity in a Kingdom but signifie onely at large the Glory and Prosperity thereof 12. But in other places there may be a more particular meaning of these Lights For as there is a Political Universe as well as a Natural as I have already shewn which has its Heaven also as well as Earth so there must be something answering in the Political Heaven to those chief conspicuous parts of the Natural the Sun Moon and Stars Whence it will follow that he that is chief in a Political world must be the Sun thereof as may appear though in an inferiour instance touching a Body Oeconomical Gen. 37. 9. viz. the Dream of Joseph that the Sun and the Moon and the eleven Stars made obeisance to him Which Jacob unriddling What is this dream saith he to his son that thou hast dreamed Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to how down our selves to thee to the Earth Wherefore if these Symbols signifie so distinctly in a Family which is but a Body Oeconomical much more is it to be expected that it may signifie so in a Body Politick Achmetes according to the mind of the Indians Persians and Aegyptians cap. 167. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the next chapter he calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second or lesser King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom he calls in the following chapter 〈◊〉
noted and so necessary an Expression to set off the quite different nature of him from all that went before he not being properly of that kind of Line For what communion or affinity had the pure Christian Caesars with the purely Pagan But now when he comes to this last Head which I cannot avoid for significancy to term Pagano-Christian the whole Empire from head to foot being supposed such this King he thinks good to call the Eighth because he being derived from a double Line takes in all Predecessors before him as well Christian as Pagan and therefore reckoning here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Succession from whom also he is derived he is rightly called the Eighth King and yet considering that he is a Paganizing or Idolatrizing Head as well as Christian he is said to be one of the Seven namely of those seven Kings that are noted by the seven blasphemous Heads of the Beast which were seven and no more This in my apprehension is the most easie and the most assured sense that â—…ny can desire of any place of Scripture 3. Nor need we distrust it for the seeming harshness of that Synecdoche by which the whole Beast is put for part namely the Head the speech being to be salved not onely by this Figure but confirmed by Example As Dan. 2. 38. Thou art this Head of Gold and yet this Head of Gold was a Type of the whole Kingdom of Babylon Wherefore it is plain that the whole Head of Gold is put for some chief part thereof Also Dan. 4. 20 22. The Tree which thou sawest which grew and was strong c. It is thou O King that art grown and become strong c. Where notwithstanding that Tree was an Emblem of his whole Kingdom and of the large extent of the Dominion thereof So that the King is here again called the Tree whenas indeed he was but part thereof the Root as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the stumping of the Tree to the ground was a Figure to represent the cutting him off from his Kingdom for a time Besides all which it is not sense without this Synecdoche for how can any Head be truly and properly the whole Beast 4. Wherefore the Eighth King is the Succession of the Christian Caesars for that time wherein the Empire Paganizes that is Idolatrizes in Christianity Which though their Succession be long and their Persons more then one at a time in some Ages yet by an Henopoeia they are expressed under the show of one single King For the Division into Seven was not by Individuals but by difference of Kind as I have above declared And therefore the Eastern and Western Emperours reigning at once in the Empire breaks no squares in this Prophetick way of Computation which reckons not by Individuals but by Sorts and Successions contrived into one Individual shape or show Which is the reason there is no mention of succession of Persons no more then enumeration of Years in this Book of the Apocalyps though it treat of things that fill the Period of almost two thousand years and that of this side of the Millennium 5. And is of the Seven This also intimates that the Seven Heads of Par. 2. Agr. 9. the Beast are Idolatrous Heads accordingly as they are declared Chap. 13. v. 1. Which is the evidence of the ninth Agreement of our second Parallelism 6. And goeth into perdition that is into final destruction as is intimated Par. 2. Agr. 7. also in the Thirteenth Chapter v. 5 and 10. where his time is set 1260 days but then death allotted him It is the seventh Agreement of our second Parallelism as I have noted already Ver. XII And the Ten Horns which thou sawest are Ten Kings which Par. 2. Agr. 11. have received no Kingdom as yet that is to say in S. John's time who liv'd in the reign of the Sixth Head under which the Beast fought and was slain by Michael in which Battel he is also represented with Seven Heads and Ten Horns but no Crowns upon these Horns their actual Coronation being not till the Seventh Head And therefore Which have received no Kingdom as yet answers to that Type of the Horns without Crowns upon them Which is the eleventh Agreement of our second Parallelism 2. But receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast that is to say Par. 2. Agr. 12. with the Beast whose name is Was and is not and yet is which is the Beast considered under the succession of the Seventh or last Head the healed or revived Head from the mortal blow it lay under the Kings receive power and are actually crowned Kings at the time of this Beast's getting again into Being And therefore this healed Beast his ten Horns are represented with ten Crowns on them Chap. 13. 1. which answers exactly to this present Text They receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast and is a manifest proof of the twelfth Agreement of our second Parallelism 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The meaning is I conceive But they are receiving power about the same hour with the Beast For the present Tense may intimate a productedness of the Action as being in fieri nor does imply but that they may be receiving though not in such a passive way as it does not involve with it some stout effort of their own towards the getting of this power for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have an higher sense and more active then so that they may be receiving I say this Roial power for some time together though some speed sooner then other some but none long without their booty For so I would understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a Diorismus that it does not signifie an Hour properly so called but any short space of time the measure of which Circumstances will make us the best to understand Wherefore I would render it But they receive power as Kings about the same time with the Beast so as it is understood Exod. 9. 18. Behold to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very great hail The Greek has it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is plain from Exod. 36. 9. and several other places of Scripture The sense therefore is this That about what time the Beast should revive and be worshipped that is obey'd or in plainer English About what time the Empire should relapse again into Idolatry and be a-resuming the ancient Pagan Rites though placing them upon Christian Objects about that very time should the Empire be rending into Ten Kingdoms or these Ten Kings be catching at and receiving power as Kings all of them appearing and succeeding in their Enterprises within a little time from the first Degeneracy of the Empire into Pagan Idolatries and Superstitions which may be within the space of fourty or
miss-led into so bad an adventure The Son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven according to him is Populus Romanus nullum intra se habens regem When our Saviour Christ intimated to the high Priest that he was that Son of man that should come in the clouds of Heaven it seem'd so high an Arrogation that he rent his clothes and said he had spoken blasphemie And truly I think that neither Jew nor Christian can well acquit Grotius of that crime who attributes that which is the peculiar character of the Messias to a Prophane and Pagan people and that forsooth because they had no King as if they were ever the better for that But they had Kings at first and both in the Infancy of their Empire and afterwards they had a Supreme Power so great and imperial as may excuse them from the least shew of Contempt They had always over them a Sovereignty so that they could not be deemed the Son of man for any such private condition For the Summa Potestas is the Summa Potestas under what name or form soever and of the same real grandeur Besides that they were a most glorious and victorious people before Antiochus his time So that it is a very dilute and sapless conceit of Grotius to apply the phrase of the Son of man to them for any inconsiderableness in them or obscurity For they were not so in the times of Antiochus 6. Again the Kingdom of the Son of man and the Stone cut out without hands are all one both in truth and according to Grotius his own Concession But this Stone is Christ and his Kingdom as being Heavenly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing erected not by humane power but by the power and Spirit of God That this is the meaning of without hands is the general vote of Interpreters S. Jerom Irenaus Justin Epiphanius S. Augustin Theodoret and several others Where think you does Grotius take shelter now Why This Figure which is so appropriate to Christ and mentioned of him so often in the New Testament This Stone must be cast away as if it were neither precious nor a Corner-stone and be bestowed again on a Pagan people the Romans For so Grotius does not stick to profess Idem Lapis Filius hominis and he made the Son of man before the people of Rome But can a man believe that the Original or Success of that people was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing brought to pass by the special power and Spirit of God and not more humano according to the usual course of the World and that not of the best kind their beginnings being helped on by a rabble of Ruffians and Robbers 7. No but that is not Grotius his gloss you will say Let us therefore hear what it is Lapis abscissus de monte sine manibus according to him is Exercitus populi qui suae esset spontis nullique regi pareret cujus populi origo à monte nempe Palatino In which there is nothing sound nor solid For was this Roman Army any thing more suae spontis in that they had not a Kingly Government at Rome That Supreme Power of Consuls and Senatours was as directive and coactive as if it had been Regal So that the motion of this Army was never the more spontaneous for this Again The Stone cut from the mountain without hands implies that it was then spontaneously divided from the Mountain when it is said to be cut thence But when the Romans first issued from mount Palatine yea so soon as they were populus Romanus Regal Government was amongst them it being the first Government of this People and therefore they were not then Populus suae spontis according to Grotius his Conceit so that he cannot bring both ends together And lastly To interpret Mountain here in a literal sense is unskilfully done and not according to the analogy of the Prophetick style nor the very intimation of the present Text which says the Little stone became a great Mountain itself and filled the whole Earth Wherefore this Mountain signifying not literally but politically there is no question but the other does so too and that the Stone is in some sense homogeneall to this rocky Mountain Whence the sense is plainly this That out of the great Mountain that is the Roman Empire there should be a People raised not by humane power or policy but by the Spirit of God and the preaching of the Gospel by Jesus Christ and his Apostles which should be a peculiar people to him and become the Subjects of his Kingdom that is to say That the Church of Christ should be cut out of the Roman Empire without humane help This is a most easy and undistorted sense and against which there cannot be made the least Exception 8. Fourthly which I have already intimated above The Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast with iron teeth and the Ten toes of the iron leggs of the Statue signify the same thing Wherefore it is plain sith the Ten toes imply a Coexistence of the Ten Horns by reason of the coordination of their Site that there must be Ten Kings together in the Fourth Kingdom But in the Kingdom of the Seleucidae and Lagidae there were not Ten Kings together all at once Therefore that Kingdom is not the Fourth 9. Fifthly Antiochus Epiphanes part of this Kingdom of the Lagidae and Seleucidae is said to rise up in the latter time of the Kingdom of the Successours of Alexander Dan. 8. 22 23. Wherefore this Kingdom of the Lagidae and Seleucidae has expired near two thousand years ago But the Kingdom of the Fourth Beast reaches even to the Day of Judgment Dan. 7. 9 10. And I beheld till the thrones were cast down and the ancient of days did sit His throne was like the fiery flame and his wheels as burning fire A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him the Judgment was set and the Books were opened c. That this is the Description of the Day of Judgment is the general Opinion of both Christians and Jews and answers exactly to the Lake of fire and the opening of the Books Apocal. 20. which Grotius himself does interpret of the Last Day Whence we may safely conclude that the Kingdom of the Lagidae and Seleucidae is not the Fourth Kingdom as having ceased so long before that time though we understood the Day of Judgment in the sense of the Rabbins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 According to which the meaning of I beheld till the thrones were set and the Books were opened is this That the Prophet Daniel had a prospect even to the utmost end of that great Day But he begins more particularly at the beginning of that Day in the eleventh verse But this I have onely noted by the bye 10. Sixthly and lastly Alexander's Kingdom and that of his Successours
they bear the world in hand in the mean time that they are doing the work of God and promoting the Interest of the Kingdom of his Son Jesus This I say in general is the very Nature and Essence of Antichristianism And where this poison is imbibed into publick Authority that either one Person or Body politick or jointly both of them together if they be the first beginners or continuers of this Mystery of Iniquity in a due latitude thereof are assuredly that Antichrist there is such a noise of in the Christian world And for others that have it not in such a measure yet so far forth as they are Teachers Abetters or Obtruders of such Practices or Principles upon pretence of Religion as naturally frustrate the End of the coming of Christ they are so far also Antichristian 4. Wherefore he that has duly considered and satisfied himself what is the great Scope of the Gospel of Christ and finds but out which he cannot easily miss what things are contrary thereto if he but colour them over with plausible pretences of promoting the Interest of Christ he has ipso facto drawn the true Image or Idea of Antichrist whereby he may surely know him whereever he is Now that great Scope and those main concernments that the Gospel of Christ aims at are plainly these namely The extirpation of Idolatry out of the world as also A releasement of God's people from the improfitable burthen of Judaical Ceremonies which we may call the Privative End of the Gospel and The exaltation of the Divine life whose Root is Faith in God and of a world to come and the Branches Humility Charity and Purity as I have more at large discoursed in my Explanation of the Mystery of Godliness And in this is comprized the Positive End of Christ's coming into this world CHAP. II. 1. The rooting out of Idolatry by the Messias prophesied of by Jeremy That all the Gods that made not Heaven and Earth should perish 2. An explication of that Prophecy and an assertion of our Saviour's right of being worshipped for ever as the Eternal Logos who made Heaven and Earth 3. Proofs out of the Psalms that the Messias was to root out Idolatry 4. Several places in the New Testament witnessing against Idolatry and Image-worship 5. That the Spirituality of Christian Religion indigitated by our Saviour does abundantly evidence the unlawfulness of Image-worship or of what Idolatry else soever 1. THat God intended the rooting out of Idolatry by sending Christ into the World appears as well by those Prophecies of the Old Testament that foretel that all Idolatry shall be rooted out for by whom should it be done but by the Messias in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed as by several passages in the New Of the first sort is that in Jeremie chap. 10. where the Prophet puts this prophecy in the mouths of the Jews that were carried captive into Babylon Thus shall ye say unto them saith he The Gods that made not the Heavens and the Earth they shall perish from the Earth and from under the Heavens But the preceding context is so lively and magnificent and so close to our purpose that it ought not to have been omitted At the seventh verse therefore Who would not fear thee O King of Nations for to thee doth it appertain Forasmuch as among all the wise men of the Nations and in all their Kingdoms there is none like unto thee But they are altogether brutish and foolish the stock is a Doctrine of vanities Silver spred into plates is brought from Tarshish and Gold from Uphas the work of the workman and of the hands of the Founder Blue and purple is their cloathing they are all the work of cunning men But the Lord is the true God he is the living God and an everlasting King At his wrath the earth shall tremble and the Nations shall not be able to abide his indignation And then follows this Prophetick denunciation against every undue object of Divine worship Thus shall ye say unto them The Gods that made not the Heavens and the Earth they shall perish from the Earth and from under these Heavens 2. Things are exceeding clear in this Prophecy saving in that comparison of the King of Nations with the wise men of the Nations betwixt whom there is that infinite disparity that the collation seems hugely improper if the pure Deity be here conceived to be compared with any wise men whatsoever Grotius therefore ingeniously hinteth that it is meant of some of the wise men of the Nations that had been translated into the number of their Gods as Taautes for example which a little helps out one terme of the comparison these wise men being supposed to have been advanced to Divine honours after their death and to have been reckoned amongst the Gods But I must confess even that in the 86 Psalm Among the Gods there is none like unto thee O Lord there is none that can doe as thou doest has often puzzel'd me that the Prophet should vouchsafe to compare the Gods of the Nations which were but Deified Mortals or at best but particular Angels or Daemons in that higher sense with the pure infinite and omnipotent Deity which has made me often suspect that such passages as these are to be understood of the Messias who was also to be incarnated and to become the true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thereupon after his sufferings to be declared King of Nations and the Worship of the whole Earth according as it follows in that Psalm All Nations whom thou hast made shall come Rev. 25. 3 4. and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy Name And you know he was the Logos or Word which was in the beginning without which nothing was made that was made As the Authour to the Hebrews also witnesseth Thou Lord in the beginning layedst the Foundations of Psalm 102. 25. the Earth and the Heavens are the work of thy hands Which is spoke of the Messias his time being there so plainly decyphered as appears in the 22 verse When the people are gathered together and the Kingdoms to serve the Lord. Whence that is also plain that Christ shall be ever the same and that his years shall have no end and that this Prophetick denunciation The Gods that made not Heaven and Earth shall perish from Vers. 27. the Earth and from under these Heavens cannot reach him But the worship of any thing else that is not the pure Deity is to be cast away according to the meaning of that Prophecy 3. That also in the 97 Psalm plainly shews that Idolatry is to goe down at the coming of Christ. Confounded be all they that serve graven Images that boast themselves of Idols worship him all ye Gods which the Author to the Hebrews does expresly interpret of Christ whereby he proves his Divinity and doth therewith disapprove of giving any Religious worship to
of the spoil or rather to erect a Spiritual Polity to enslave all and bring the most insupportable Servitude of Body Soul and Estate such as Paganism could scarce ever shew the like certainly this must be very highly Antichristian For indeed what can be more salvagely oppressive in reference to the very Estates of men then to frame such a Religion upon the pretence of their Infallibility as is perfectly repugnant to the plain Word of God and immutable Rules of Reason depraving of things so for their own worldly advantage as I have already abundantly set out to bring in a more ample Revenue to feed the Pride and Luxury of this false Church And then when they have thus grossly perverted the Truth of God to declare that they who will not say Amen to their lies and forgeries have no more right to their own Estates then a Thief or Robber to what he has got by unlawful spoil and therefore accordingly not onely to hinder them from any employments of either profit or credit but disable them from making of Wills and their Heirs from inheriting their Estates and awing them from laying claim to their Patrimonies lest their Father's Heresie be intailed upon them whether they will or no. 7. To which Antichristian Barbarities you may adde also the scornful and cruel Penances they put upon them that do submit themselves to their Church making them go in procession in contemptible disguises or else enjoyning them to march in their shirts bare foot and bare leg and to whip their own bodies in the sight of the people as they go along How unlike nay how utterly contrary is this to that Meekness and Sweetness that is described in the Discipline and Government of the Kingdom of Christ But we need not insist upon these things we having treated sufficiently of them already 8. Now upon the second particular viz. that Humility and Lowliness which is also one fruit of Charity and by which the Person and Rule of our Saviour is described in the ancient Prophecies We have shewn the Antichristian Detestableness of the opposite to this Vertue already in the first Branch of the Divine Life and need adde nothing more thereto 9. The third character of Charity is her delighting in true and faithful dealing amongst men The opposites to which are easily discoverable To say nothing therefore of the manifold Frauds which we have already taken notice of all along in this our Description of Antichristianism this certainly must be very Antichristian and uncharitable namely To misrepresent mens Actions and Opinions in publick Speeches or Writings nay to invent notorious lies and fictions to the disparagement of mens Persons and Doctrines and suborn men to write them and divulge them to the world for truths Which is to doe so as was the custom of those who were under the Dragon that old Serpent and false accuser of the ancient primitive Christians whom they aspersed and calumniated as worshippers of the Sun because they put up their prayers with their faces towards the East as Man-sacrificers and as Eaters and Drinkers of humane flesh and bloud because of their calling the Eucharistick Bread and Wine the Body and Bloud of Christ they understanding it onely in a mystical or symbolical sense For professing with S. Paul There is neither Male nor Female in Christ but that both have equal admission into his eternal Kingdom That they had no regard of Sexes but were vile Sodomites and abusers of themselves with Mankind For meeting together to serve God in private in Grotts and Caves of the Earth for fear of persecution That they were Conspirators against the Roman State and Empire And lastly for their reverently receiving the Elements of Bread and Wine at their holy Communions That they were Worshippers of Ceres and Bacchus 10. In like manner we may imagine that this Pseudo-christian Church may raise such perverse Calumnies against the true members of Christ as namely traducing them for Atheists or at least Arrians because they will not acknowledge the Divinity of a consecrated piece of Bread reporting them as Manichees because they do not hold the power of the Church to be superiour to that of Emperours and Kings to make thereby but one Sovereignty in the Church but affirm the Secular Power independent thereon as if the holding these two distinct Powers were forsooth the holding the two Principles of the Manichees defaming them for Beesoneriders or Witches because they have by reason of hard persecution been driven to inhabit desert and mountainous places or upon their meeting more privately in houses by night to impute to them some such horrid and villainous practices as were reported of the primitive Christians that the Candle being put out they committed Incest and all manner of Uncleanness in the dark nay that they killed their own children in these concealed Assemblies of theirs To accuse them of reviling the Saints merely upon their professing it unlawful to invoke them or of blaspheming the Blessed Virgin because they hold it unfit to worship her To tax them of disobedience to the Magistrate onely because of their persisting in the sincere profession of that Faith that is consonant to the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles And lastly to father upon them what abominable actions they please and speaking without a Metaphor to gag the mouths of the thus accused and slandered that they may not answer for themselves to clear themselves in the audience of the people Nay to rack men till their very bowels break out of their belly to force them to acknowledge themselves or their party guilty of such villainous crimes as it is incredible their very persecutors should in good earnest suspect them of merely to get a pretence from such an extorted Confession to verifie their wicked Slanders to the world and to make the harmless and innocent professors of the Truth of the Gospel to be odious and hateful in the eyes of all men Certainly if this be not diametrically opposite to that part of Charity that discovers it self in true and faithful dealing nothing can be excogitated that is so CHAP. XIV 1. The nick-naming of the true Christians by the odious Title of Hereticks with their barbarous injuries thereupon 2. That Heresie and Schism are sins against the truly-Catholick and Apostolick Church 3. What is meant by One Catholick and Apostolick Church 4. What is that hainous sin of Heresie 5. What Schism 6. That while men are sincere members of the Apostolick Body they can be neither Hereticks nor Schismaticks 7. The Hypocritical and Schismatical Niceness of this Antichristian Church in forbearing to joyn in any Religious Duty with any member of the truly-Apostolick Body 8. Their fraudulent purpose in fostering this Schismatical Niceness and Unsociableness 1. BUt we will also take notice of that which will be so usually cast upon the Dissenters from this false Church that it will be scarce accounted any reproach done to them but rather civility
genuine sense is I shall take notice in its proper place I will cast in a fourth Example The 1260 Days they being but the Diduction of those larger measures of three Times and an half or of fourty two Months into more numerous parts it is not irrational to suspect that it was rather for the varying of the phrase and for the polishing of the external frame of the Prophecy by such a determinate numbering of those times or months into 1260 days then that it did challenge our expectation to be satisfied to a Prophetick day one Day in so many and in matters of so voluminous a transaction being not considerable and of small use the Epocha also being uncertain from whence the time exactly is to commence Besides what Mr. Mede has hinted that varying of the time into Months and into Days respects the works of Light and the works of Darkness and therefore their continuance who are under the Principality of Light is reckoned by Days but theirs who are under the Principality of Darkness the Moon being the Governess of the Night is reckoned by Months Wherefore a man might not without ground imagine that there may be a latitude of reckoning in this solution of the three Times and an half or the 42 Months into 126 Decads of Days as well as there is in those Times and Months and that any variation above or within that exceeds not a Decad breaks no squares Divine Prophecies being not for the ostentation of God's Omnisciency for who knows not but that he can compute Events to the smallest moment of an Hour nor yet for the gratifying of the excess of humane Curiosity but for the use and exercise of his Church The Witnesses also lying unburied three days and a half is an eximious Example of this Numeral Diorism but the meaning may be the same with three times and an half as I have elsewhere intimated 6. And lastly the five months allotted to the Locusts for tormenting men I must confess upon better consideration I do suspect to be a Diorismus Rev. 9. also and to signify merely Symbolically not Arithmetically For the continuation of the Saracenical Kingdom I mean of that more notable intervall thereof from the beginning of the Caliphate of the Abasidae See Mr. Mede's Comment Apocalypt upon Chap. 9. at Bagdad to the taking of that City by Togrulbeck is neither exactly twice five months of years nor this doubling of the five months sufficiently grounded from the time being twice mentioned in the Prophecy for the mentioning of the same number twice in Prophecy or History does not warrant the addition of them to make up a new summe as if it were a Bill of Particulars nor lastly is it likely that the Spirit of God would indigitate 300 years by those twice five months whenas the Duration of the Saracens Empire was much longer as well as the continuation of the Caliphate at Bagdad not adequate That Infestation of Italy by the Saracens from the year 830 to 980 had been more plausible if it had been commensurate but it extends beyond the year 980. For anno 1001 the Saracens are expelled Capua by Otho and in the next year they besiege Salernum in the year 1008 they are raised from the Siege of Barium and Capua in the year 1017 they invade Italy again besides other fights and troubles afterwards But this is enough to shew that five months of years will not be well applicable to their molestation of Italy neither though I think Mr. Mede has made things look as handsomely as they are capable of But the Attempt was as well needless as unsuccessfull For there is exactly no determinate time intended by these five months but it is onely an elegant Diorism respecting the Type which are Locusts whose continuance in life not reaching to the space of a Year it was fit by an Antichronismus to number by Months And what number fitter then five not onely because it may be a Symbol of incompleteness as Ribera suggests and those Locusts are said onely to torment not kill but also in respect of the length of their life which according to Plinie Aristotle and other Naturalists is in all likelihood about five months So that the solution of the Mystery of these numbers is not merely into such an Antichronismus where the figurative number will determinate the true but also into a Diorismus where this accuracy is expressed in the Cortex but not intended in the inward meaning Which Scheme is here used with a special elegancy by reason of the reflexion it has upon the noted time of the continuance of those Creatures which are the Type 7. But why these kind of Diorisms are made use of and why there is not the same accuracy in the inside of these Prophecies as there is engraven on the outside is a Problem too curious to enquire into but not altogether inextricable with those that are well assured of the Cabbalistick style and also throughly consider how shy Providence is of bearing too hard against that free Principle in Man by necessarily determining what is more naturally left loose to play of it self and use its own free Agency 8. Which also may give an account of the manner of expression of that period of time from the taking of Bagdad by Togrulbeck to the sacking of Constantinople by Mahomet the second For though the intervall of time be just 396 years as Mr. Mede has made good out of Elmachinus the Arabian Historian yet the expression of it in the Prophecy * Apocal. 9. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may as generally Interpreters observe signify no more then their readiness at the time appointed whether at a day month or year For by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all likelihood the Prophecy meant not that part of time which we call an Hour but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the article prefixed may intimate it being prefixed to it onely And the sense might have been Ready at the time appointed whether day month or year that is to say at any time But the Event is so exact and conspicuous that I doubt not but the meaning is Ready 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ready at that season that is indigitated by both a day and a month and a year which would be no indication at all but by adding of them together which then make up 396 days which stylo Prophetico are so many years Which answers exquisitely to the Event and therefore is a sure stake to fix down this Prophecy of the Euphratean Horsemen to the affairs of the Turkish Empire Whereby as also by the Description of the Breast-plates of these Horsemen we know to what Ages of the World this Prophecy appertains and consequently that of the Locusts Whence the noting of their time more then by way of Diorism for the adorning of the Prophecy was the more needless 9. Examples of Proportional Diorisms
consopite in both whence these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Achmetes the question is not concerning the Principle from whence or the manner how these divinatory Impresses come but what they represent or signifie which if it be granted that they prefigure rightly and unforcedly such or such things in Dreams it is manifest that they will doe the same in Visions For I speak of such Impresses as have not the nature of the Effects of Complexion or of any other natural Cause but of a mere Type or Prefiguration Wherefore it will not be impertinent to adjoyn sometimes the suffrage of these Onirocritical Writers to what weight we produce out of Scripture and from Reason for the interpreting of such Symbols or Iconisms as we shall comprise in our Prophetick Alphabet which I shall now exhibit to view 5. Angels There is such frequent mention of the Ministery of Angels in the Apocalyps and the Presidency there so prefixed to every thing that I cannot omit to take notice of this Scheme amongst the rest though peradventure it does not fall so right under the notion of an Icasmus they being rather the Instruments of Divine Providence then the Emblem of it But if we reflect upon their vulgar representation which doubtless took its ground from the Mosaick Cherubims how well they are appointed with wings for the quicker dispatch of those services that are expected of them they are not unsignificative of that Wisdom that is * Wisd. 8. said to be more quick and moving then any motion and to reach from one end to another mightily and sweetly to order all things But that Angels are in these Apocalyptick Visions so constantly and particularly set over every negotiation of Divine Providence is exceeding consonant to the sense of Daniel as in that great change of Nebuchadnezzar's condition which is said to come to pass by the decree of the Watchers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greeks would say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Excubitores or Vigiles by which are understood Angels and also to the sense of the ancient Cabbala that makes the number Seven a Symbol of the Sabbatism of God wherein he rests from his works and calls that number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in relation to this employment of these Excubitores or Vigiles these holy Angels whom God imploys in the administration of his Providence 6. Ascension into Heaven A Kingdom or Polity being so expresly resembled to the World or Universe as we shall see under that Title it is an easie Analogie to parallel the Heavens to the high Places and Dignities of it According to this sense is that of * Chap. 14. 12. Esay How art thou fallen from Heaven O Lucifer son of the morning For thou hast said in thy heart I will ascend into Heaven c. Aspiraveras ad summam dignitatem so Vatablus And Achmetes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Onirocrit c. 161. And in the following Chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And a little after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus Achmetes out of the writings of the Indians Persians and Aegyptians All which does expressly declare that Ascending into Heaven signifies the acquisition or increase of Political Dignities and Honours 7. Air. That the Air is taken for the place of the Empire of the Devil appears from Ephes. 2. And you who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the Air the spirit that now worketh in the children of Unbelief that is to say in Infidels such as have not submitted themselves to the Kingdom of God but serve Idols and walk after the lusts of their own mind Upon which place Drusius out of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sciendum à terra usque ad Expansum omnia plena esse turmis ac praefectis According to which opinion of the Hebrew Rabbins the Apostle again speaks Chap. 6. For we wrastle not against flesh and bloud but against Principalities against the Rulers of the darkness of this world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against those that hold fast the Rule of this lower world this dark caliginous Air 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against wicked Spirits or Devils in these Aereal places For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is but to the same sense that Expansum is in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the space from the clouds downward as it is limited Gen. 1. Else how could these wicked Spirits be said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as both Peter and Jude declare of them But enough of this and the rather because where Air occurs in the Prophetick Visions in this sense we have spoke of it is rather an ordinary Metonymie then an Icasmus 8. Balance That a Balance should signifie Justice is obvious to any one to conceive it being a main Instrument of commutative Justice and a fit Emblem of exactly weighing out and sharing all things or rather dispensing all things accurately Achmetes out of the Indian Onirocriticks chap. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I omit to transcribe how he refers the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Scales to the Ears of the Judge and the Weights in these Scales to the matter pleaded on both sides for him to ponder with an indifferent hearing And again in the same Chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and more particularly he descants upon the condition of the Scales and Beam but here is enough already to shew how confessed an Emblem a Balance is of Justice And he insinuates the same of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Measures 9. Beast What a plain resemblance there is betwixt a Body Politick and a living Creature S. Paul copiously declares 1 Cor. 12. And it is a thing easie to conceive that as in a Creature that has life there are distinctly-framed parts so ordered one in reference to another that they are all to be moved for the good of the whole by that power that resides in the Brain in virtue of the spirits pervading throughout so in a Polity that there are several Orders and Ranks of men held together by one common Law which is as the life and spirit of the Body Politick and to be moved and directed for the common good by the command and appointment of the Sovereign Power which is the Head of this Kingdom or Polity Wherefore it is no wonder that Men or Nations thus framed into a Body Politick which is called a Kingdom be represented in Daniel under the resemblance of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 living Creatures but such as are rightly translated by the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ferae wild Beasts they being such that appear in those Visions Of which Grotius upon Dan. 7. where there is mention of the four great Beasts ascending out of the Sea Ideo Bestiae saith he quia Idololatrica erant Imperia ut notat hîc Jacchiades
But not for their Idolatry onely but also for their bloudy Tyranny as the same Grotius has noted excellently well upon Matth. 20. where Christ declaring that he that would be greatest and first in his Kingdom must be the minister and servant of the rest and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not lord it or swagger it over his inferiours as the Rulers of the Gentiles doe Haec oppositio saith he ostendit cur apud Prophetas Imperia mundi Bestiarum Regnum Christi Hominis imagine depingantur Where by Bestiae we are to understand wild Beasts as the word usually signifies and in that sense will exactly answer to the Seventy's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence the Latine word Ferae which always signifies wild Beasts is derived by turning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Aeolick Dialect Otherwise the Kingdoms of the world might be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the four Beasts in the Apocalyps which allude to the Camp of Israel distributed into four quarters as Mr. Mede has rightly observed are called and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that being a very unfit Title for any Polity where Humanity and Equity bears sway 10. But much less fit would it be for the true Body of Christ but least of all for the Lamb himself nor the Lamb a fit Prophetick Representative of one single person but that Christ had got that Title before being called by John The Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the World as being indeed that Paschal Lamb whose Bloud is the Salvation of his people Wherefore unless there be some such bar as this which is an Instantia Monodica it is most assuredly true That an Animal or Beast in the Prophetick style signifies not one single Man but a Company Polity or Kingdom For how can they be said to have Horns and Heads and those Horns and Heads be expressly by an Angel from Heaven interpreted of Kings if the whole Beasts did not signifie not single persons but Kingdoms But why these wild Beasts should imply Idolatry as well as Cruelty in their Type the reason lies a little deeper but yet is not fathomless which I conceive is this Because Idolatrous worship is lodged within the Verges of the mere Bestial or Animal nature as may appear from what I have wrote in my Mystery of Godliness to which for brevitie sake I refer the Book 2. chap. 10. Reader 11. Blasphemy Blasphemy for Idolatry is also an Icasmus and the Analogie is discernible enough For what reproachful words are concerning God to the Ears the same is the worshipping of Images or any Creature with religious worship to the Eyes For by either way is declared that which is a contumely and vilification of God And therefore it is no wonder that the Prophetick style affecting an artificial concealment substitutes one kind of Blasphemy for another that Blasphemy which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chrysostom distinguishes of Divine Predictions But it is observable that the Scripture also in several places terms Idolatry Blasphemy As in Esay I will recompense into their bosoms your iniquities Chap. 65. 7. and the iniquities of your fathers together saith the Lord which have burnt incense upon the mountains and blasphemed me upon the hills which certainly was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by their acts of Idolatry Qui colunt Idola quasi Deos exprobrant Deo arrogantiam Divinitatis saith A lapide The like express passage is in Ezekiel Thus saith the Lord God Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me in that Chap. 20. 27 28. they have committed a trespass against me namely when I brought them into the Land for the which I lifted up my hand to give it to them then they saw every high hill and all the thick trees and they offered there their sacrifices and thereby presented the provocation of their offering c. which the same Interpreter again expounds of their Idolatries as also Gaspar Sanctius Again Deuter. 31. When they shall have eaten and filled themselves Vers. 20. and waxen fat then will they turn to other Gods and serve them and provoke me so our Translation but the Hebrew has it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is properly they will blaspheme me as it is translated by the Seventy in Esay 52. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred Ezek. 35. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word in the Original Lastly it is observable also that in Psalm 69. 9. where the Prophet David says The reproaches of them that reproached thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the same as if it had been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are fallen upon me the Chaldee Paraphrast interprets it of that reproach which God receives by communicating his Worship unto Idols whenas yet it is expressed by Blasphemie or contumely of words for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Wherefore seeing the children of Israel are said in their prevaricating in the Worship of God and turning to Idols to blaspheme it is very easie to conceive by the rule of Conjugates that this Idolatry of theirs may well be called Blasphemy Accordingly therefore Alcazar interprets the Names of Blasphemy in the Apocalyps on the seven Heads of the Beast of the Temples of Idols and Grotius paraphrases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plena diis qui ità dicebantur in veri Dei injuriam So easily is it acknowledged on all hands that Blasphemy may be put for Idolatry And it is the most happy and significant Icasmus that can be nothing expressing the detestable nature of Idolatry so well as it For Idolatry is as absolute a subsannation and vilification of God as malice could invent and as ill as if they should call him by the names of all that base liveless matter that they make their Images of and proclaim him no better then it For they giving Divine worship to it make it equal to him And this Blasphemy is proportionable in other more worthy Objects that are not God for they are infinitely worthless in comparison of him and therefore it is an infinite reproach and horrid blasphemy against God to worship any thing besides him 12. Bloud That Bloud is an Hieroglyphick of Slaughter Providence it self seems to take for granted in praemitting that Prodigie of raining Bloud before the eruptions of war and bloudshed as History reports and all men naturally interpret And where the Apostle says Ye have not resisted unto bloud the meaning is unto death be it mystically or naturally meant But even there where Death is meant mystically there is mention of Bloud as when the Prophet is charged to denounce to him that sins Ezek. 33. 8. against the Law of God with an high hand that he shall surely die speaking of eternal death yet upon the
style represents under the figure of Animals or single Persons whether by the simple Appellation of Man or Woman or else such Conditions of man or woman as Whore Wife Witness or the like Now what Life and Spirit is to a natural Animal that is Rule and Power to figurative Persons or Animals in the Prophetick sense which are Bodies Politick And therefore as the loss of the one is the death of the one so the loss of the other is the death of the other And because there is a Spirit in all things even in those things that are inanimate the fading or vanishing of that spirit may be said analogically to be the Death of those things Instances are innumerable I will onely adde that as in the Hebrew Idiom not to be is to be dead so in analogie any thing that is not what it was namely any thing that is changed from its former condition this change thereof may goe for a kind of Death as Death is ordinarily said to be a Change 6. Desart That by Desart is meant Paganism Alcazar pronounces with great confidence speaking of the Woman in the wilderness In qua locutione notandum est per Desertum proculdubio figurari Gentilitatem For which opinion he produces a cloud of witnesses Clemens Alexandrinus Origen Ambrosius Basilius Hieronymus Gregorius Hilarius Hesychius c. The reason of which Hieroglyphick I conceive is this The Idolatry of the Pagans was much in Woods and Groves and on the tops of Mountains and wast places and the names of their Daemons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have reference to the fields and desarts Besides that Idolaters do not emerge above the pitch of the mere Animal life and their worship and devotion is little higher then that of the Elephant or Cercopithecus The Rapacity also and bloudy Cruelty of the Pagan Kingdoms farther fill out the congruity of the Type And consequently where such a condition of things is as this does typify that is to say whatever Kingdoms or Empires do paganize they do ipso facto become a Wilderness or Desart 7. Dragon The Hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifies Draco or Serpens and also Cetus as being the great Serpent or Dragon of the Sea And accordingly the Seventy render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That it is a Figure of the Devil the ancient Cabbala of Moses may assure us and it may be though one be noted chiefly yet the Serpent there may have a Prophetick Henopoeia in it and signify the whole Principality of Satan that Kingdom of Darkness which has been ever in opposition against the Kingdom of God and therefore it is no wonder that those Kingdoms that have in such a special manner afflicted the Church have been represented under this Figure as Aegypt and the Roman Empire Awake awake put on strength O arme of the Lord awake as in the Esay 51. ancient days in the generations of old Art noâ—… thou he that hath cut Rahab that is Aegypt see Forerius and wounded the Dragon which is Pharaoh as Ezekiel plainly speaks out I am against thee Pharaoh King of Aegypt the great Dragon that lieth in the midst of the Chap. 29. Rivers And for that he lies thus in the Rivers he is called Leviathan as if he were a Water-serpent or a Whale Psalm 74. Thou brakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces and gavest him to be meat to thy people in the Wilderness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heads of the Leviathan as if this Leviathan as the Dragon in the Apocalyps had more Heads then one These considerations plainly intimate to us That the Seven-headed Serpent in the Apocalyps which is the Roman State or Kingdom is so represented not onely in regard of that old Serpentine form that tempted our first Parents but has a reflexion also upon that Tyrannical Kingdom of Aegypt which is typified under the image of a Dragon and Leviathan and that not only Rome Pagan has a share in this Type but Rome Pagano-Christian For all the Seven Heads are from the Body of the Dragon and the Beast that was and is not and yet is is as well the Dragon as not the Dragon and therefore is as well Aegypt and I wish I could not say more as the Church of God or the Kingdom of his Son Jesus 8. Drunkenness It is taken sometimes for the being so filled and intoxicated with the pleasures and affluences of this world as to be regardless and senseless of the things of God Esay 29. Stay your selves and wonder cry ye out and cry They are drunken but not with wine they stagger but not with strong drink For the Lord has poured upon you the spirit of deep sleep and hath closed your eyes the prophets and the rulers the seers hath he covered Such a remiss Stupor and Drunkenness does the prosperity of this world often cast men into Achmetes from the Indian Interpretations cap. 111. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any one dream he is drunk with wine riches and power will flow in to him proportionably to his dunkenness And he affirms the like in the following Chapter according to the sense of the Aegyptians and Persians There is also a Drunkenness from the Cup of Affliction which is often intimated in the Scriptures 9. Eagle Esay 40. 31. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not be faint And Exod. 19. 4. Ye had seen what I did to the Aegyptians and how I bare you on Eagles wings and brought you unto my self Artemidor lib. 2. c. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For poor men to dream they ride upon an Eagle it is good for it signifies they will be supported and well relieved by the rich Earth-quake So we usually turn the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but it signifies also more generally any shaking or concussion as Heb. 12. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the Author says this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the removing of those things that are shaken Hagg. 2. 21. Speak to Zerubbabel Governour of Judah saying I will shake the Heavens and the Earth and I will overthrow the Thrones of Kingdoms and I will destroy the strength of the Kingdoms of the Heathen This is a plain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The like ruine and overturning of things is set out but by what is the effect of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Earth-quake properly so called Jer. 4. 24. I beheld the Mountains and lo they trembled and all the Hills moved lightly Which verse 26 he interprets as Haggai before I beheld and lo the fruitful place was a Wilderness and all the Cities thereof were broken down c. Achmetes out of the Indian Persian and Aegyptian Onirocriticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Artemidor lib. 2. c. 46. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
of the Chaldee Paraphrast super munitionem quae habitat pacificé The vulgar Latin has it super montem caliginosum Upon which Grotius Id ideo quia vetus Babylon in palustribus locis sita erat unde ascendens vapor urbem obscurabat Jer. 51. 25. Behold I am against thee O destroying mountain I will stretch out my hand upon thee and roll thee down from the rocks Upon which Munster Vocat Babylonem montem ob aedificiorum molem cùm urbs ipsa in planitie fuerit sita and analogically he interprets the Rocks de praesidiis turrium eminentium To which Vatablus and Clarius agree expresly But all interpret this Mountain of the City Babylon And Zach. 4. 7. Who art thou O great Mountain before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain Grotius interprets it of Babylon cast down by Cyrus Thirdly Achmetes according to the sense of the Persians Indians and Aegyptians interprets Mountains of great and wealthy men cap. 144. where speaking of Earthquakes and the things that are overturned by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And lastly it seems to be spoke of a whole Kingdom that is grown great as Dan. 2. where the Stone cut out without hands becomes a Mountain and fills the whole Earth CHAP. VIII 1. Nakedness Paradise 2. Philtre That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Virus amatorium 3. That Magical words were used in the mixing of Philtres 4. Pillars Rain Red. The seventh Head of the red Dragon what it intimates 5. Resurrection That to be cut off and slain signifies also Politically 6. Rivers what they signifie in reference to the Sea 7. What in respect of their limpidity and irrigation 8. Saints Scorpion Scorched by the Sun 9. Sea Serpent Slain Slaughter 10. Sun Moon and Stars The spiritual signification of Sun and Moon 11. A secular signification of them in general 12. A more particular signification of them in that sense 13. In what sense the King of Babylon is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Lucifer and the Western Caesar a Star in the Apocalyps 14. A more mystical signification of Stars and what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies 1. NAkedness It is either understood spiritually as Apocal. 3. 18. for being destitute of Divine Graces or else in a more vulgar meaning for Distress Poverty and Disgrace Achmetes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See also ch 117. to the same purpose Paradise Achmetes cap. 8. according to the sense of the Indian Interpreters If a man dream he enters Paradise it fore-signifies salvation to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But it signifies also riches and worldly prosperity And presently after concerning the fruits of Paradise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because the fruits of Paradise are Divine and useful Notions 2. Philtre Philtrum is a Love-potion Virus amatorium a Composition that is to extort love from the party that drinks it Mr. Mede makes that Apocal. 14. 8. of the wine of the wrath of her Fornication which in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be a Periphrasis of a Philtre which therefore he renders thus ex vino veneficii scortationis suae For as the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both wrath and poison so the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the like as is plain out of that one place Deuteron 32. 33. Their wine is the poison of Dragons and the cruel venome of Asps which the Seventy render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are also several other places of Scripture to the same purpose See Grotius on the Text. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore is as much as Vinum venenatum in such a sense as it may be Virus amatorium For what other kinde of Potion should be in the hand of a Whore especially such an one who is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by her sorcery and enchantment to have deceived the nations of the earth that is to say by her enchanted cup 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies venenum as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. But that Magical Rites and Charms were used in the mingling these Love-potions is up and down famed in the writings of the Poets As in Juvenal Satyr 6. Hippomanes carménque loquar coctúmque venenum And towards the end of that Satyre Hic magicos affert cantus hic Thessala vendit Philtra Which plainly implies that Philtres are made by Witchcraft And Virgil concerning the superstitious gathering of Hippomanes potent as it was believed for this purpose Georgic 3. intimates the like Hippomanes quod saepe malae legere Novercae Miscuerúntque herbas non innoxia verba And lastly Ovid in his De Arte amandi lib. 2. Non facient â—…t vivet amor Medeïdes herbae Mistáque cum magicis Marsa venena sonis All which places with several others do sufficiently inform us of the nature of a Philtre That it is a Magical potion and superstitiously mingled according to certain Rites and Laws of Sorcery or Witchcraft whatever the Ingredients be And that therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred Vinum Veneficii or Philtrum which is Virus amatorium agrees very well with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Sorcery of the Whore mentioned Apocal. 18. 23. which she being accused of and no other signs appearing upon her of that wickedness but this Cup in her hand it is in all likelihood to be found there 4. Pillar Pillars signifie Princes or Nobles in a Kingdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as you may see in Achmetes c. 148. 160. Rain Rain may signifie the refreshment of pure and heavenly Doctrine As in Deuteronom ch 32. 2. My doctrine shall drop as the Rain my speech shall distill as the dew as the small rain upon the tender herb and as the showers upon the grass Also Peace and Righteousness through the goodness of the sovereign power Psal. 72. 6. the Kingdome of Christ is so described He shall come down like the rain upon the mowen grass as showers water the earth In his daies shall the righteous flourish and abundance of peace so long as the Moon endureth So likewise Hosea 10. 12. there is mention of the Lord 's coming and raining down righteousness upon them Achmetes out of the Indian Solutions c. 171. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rain is an emblem of mercy from God in answering our Prayers And therefore he saith If any one dream that his field is rained upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall find riches and joy and mercy from God And a little after he interprets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 According to which is that of the Psalmist Thou O God sentest a gracious rain on thine inheritance and refreshedst it when it was dry Red. That Red does emblematize bloudy Cruelty and barbarous Persecution is so obvious to conceive that it seems needless to have noted it Every one acknowledges that that 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apocal. 12. that great red Dragon with seven Heads is so called from his Sanguinolency But that his Seventh head 's growing out of this red body signifies that this Beast will be cruel also under the Seventh Head and that this Cruelty it self is part of the Image of the Beast this every one has not noted 5. Resurrection That the Resurrection of the dead has a Political sense as well as a Theological or Physical may appear plainly from Ezekiel 37. 9. Then said he unto me Prophesy unto the wind prophesy son of man and say to the wind Thus saith the Lord God Come from the four winds O breath and breathe upon these slain that they may live So I prophesied as he commanded me and the breath came into them and they lived and stood upon their feet an exceeding great army That this is to be understood in a Political sense concerning the restoring of the people of Israel to their own Land out of thraldome and captivity is plain from the very mouth of God himself in the following verses Then he said unto me Son of man these bones are the whole house of Israel Behold they say Our bones are dried and our hope is lost we are cut off for our parts Therefore prophesy and say unto them Thus saith the Lord God Behold O my people I will open your graves and cause you to come out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel Whence it is plain that to be cut off to be slain and to rise from the dead has as I said a Political sense as well as a Natural or Theological and that Resurrection is a Recuperation of such rights and liberties as have been taken away and a deliverance from persecution affliction and bondage Achmetes cap. 5. according to the Indian doctrine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And cap. 6. according to the doctrine of the Persian Onirocriticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And lastly according to the Aegyptians c. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sense of all which put together is That the dreaming of men rising from the dead signifies the execution of Justice and deliverance from war bondage and affliction 6. Rivers A River has a double consideration The first in respect of its Original and its recourse thither which is hinted Ecclesiast 1. 7. All the Rivers run into the Sea yet the Sea is not full unto the place from whence the Rivers come thither they return again According to which consideration supposing the Sea a Type of the Extent of the Jurisdiction or Empire of any Potentate as it indeed is Rivers will signifie any Emissary Powers from thence whether Armies or Provincial Magistrates or what Agents abroad soever that are under this chief Power and so act in reference to it These may according to exact Analogie be called Rivers because both themselves and their affairs have recourse to the main Sea the amplitude of that Jurisdiction to which they belong Achmetes c. 178. according to the mind of the Indians Persians and Aegyptians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sense of which is That any great King is resembled by the Sea I suppose he means his Kingdom and as all Rivers run into the Sea so the wealth of the world to him And again to the same purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That new Rivers running into the Sea signify new Revenues accruing to the King or Kingdom from people afar off suppose made Provinces by his power 7. The other consideration of Rivers is their limpidness and irrigation but in this respect they have either a Spiritual sense or more Mundane The former appears from what our Saviour hath said John 7. 38. He that believes in me out of his belly shall flow Rivers of water This he spake of the Spirit which they that believed in him should receive The fruit of which Spirit as it is communicable to the generality of the Church is Righteousness Peace and Joy according to that Onirocritical solution of Astrampsychus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of this Water our Saviour Christ John 4. Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life Like that in Esay 58. And thou shalt be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not But Waters are also meant of worldly affluency Jerem. 31. 12. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Sion and shall flow together for the goodness of the Lord for wheat and for wine and for oil and for the young of the flock and of the herd and their soul shall be as a watered garden and they shall not sorrow any more at all Achmetes c. 176. according to the Aegyptian Solutions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rivers that water the soil are interpreted of mans livelihood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If one sees a River that uses to water the country dried up it portends death sorrow and affliction 8. Saints The first style of Saintship belongs to the Israelites who were a separate people set apart from other Nations and made holy to the Lord by adhering to that Law he gave them not contaminating themselves with the Idolatrous Institutes of the Gentiles Deuteron 33. 2. The Lord came from Sinai and rose from Seir unto them he shined from mount Paran and he came with ten thousands of Saints that is to say saith Vatablus cum populo Israel quorum fuerunt quidem multa millia licèt nâ—…n singuli Sancti tamen sancta fuerunt millia quòd Deus illos sanctificâsset in populum suum illos sibi segregâsset And further in the following verse Yea he loved the people all his Saints are in thy hand Which is plainly spoke of the Israelites according to that sense in Exodus ch 19. v. 5 6. where they are called a peculiar treasure above all people and also a Kingdom of Priests and an holy Nation And this they are said to be if they obey his voice and keep his Covenant Whence it is easy to conceive that those Christians succeed into this Title that are purely Evangelical and do not contaminate themselves by any Idolatrous Practices against the Command and Covenant of God they are Saints in this peculiar and separate sense in that they do not mingle with the Rites of the Gentiles but keep themselves to the Commands of that one Master Christ. If they doe this sincerely and constantly and truly there is little doubt of their sincerity that did not stick to lay down their lives for the truth though they be not so wise and plausible according to the mode of the world nor devoid of all blemishes of humane infirmity yet undoubtedly they are those Saints of which there is so frequent mention in the Apocalyps and are the true Israel of God under whatsoever hardship or low condition of fortune they
As also chap. 17. the Seven-headed Beast there exhibited is said to be the Beast that was and I pray who was that but the Dragon and therefore this Draco redivivus or this Image of the Dragon cannot but be an Idolatrous Empire or the Empire again becoming Idolatrous And lastly lest the Reader should not be heedful enough to observe the Idolatry of the Seven-headed Beast in the 13 and 17 Chapters from this consideration I have named the Spirit of God has farther and more expresly stigmatized him with this Note in both those Visions placing the Name of Blasphemy on his Seven Heads in the 13 Chapter and declaring his Body to be full of the Names of Blasphemy in the 17 by Blasphemy meaning Idolatry as I have abundantly proved in my Prophetick Alphabet 6. Fourthly That these Visions exhibit the Roman Empire Idolatrous through all the time it was so or was to be so appears First from the general nature of these Prophetick Figures where a Beast signifies a Kingdom See Chap. 3. Sect. 6. or Empire in its entire succession and duration unless any thing be intimated to the contrary Which is clear as well from those examples in Daniel where the Four Beasts signifie so many Kingdoms in their entire Successions as also from the very nature of that Prophetick Scheme which we call Henopoeia which always goes along with these Iconisms of Beasts For an Henopoeia is nothing else but a Collection as well of Succession as of Multitude into one Individual Form or Shape be it Humane or Belluine Again in that the Seven-headed Beast in the 13 Chapter is said to be the Image of the Dragon and the said Beast in the 17 to be the Beast that was which certainly was the Dragon this shews that those Visions intend to represent the Empire through all the times of its being Idolatrous as well the times of its primitive or purely Pagan Idolatry as of the Image or Restauration thereof in a Paganish or Idolatrous kind of Christianity Or more fully thus This Seven-headed Beast is represented under some one of his Heads to fight and to be wounded to death but after to be revived also to have been for a certain time and then to cease to be but after to be again and then finally to perish Wherefore the whole Duration and Continuance of the Beast seems to be comprised therein divided into two parts by this death and interceasing of the Beast for a time Of which the plain sense is this The Roman Kingdom or Empire has been and shall be a Beast that is to say Idolatrous for a certain series of time then cease to be so for a while but after be Idolatrous again and then cease to be so for ever These Prophetick Figures therefore I mean these Beasts that exhibit this sense must needs imply these two entire parts of time wherein the Empire is represented Idolatrous as he that divides a Line into two divides the whole Line into two parts To all which you may adde That the Seven Heads of the Dragon being represented as actually crowned whenas yet Five were gone in S. John's time and but one present and therefore the Seventh not yet in being it plainly intimates that the whole Duration and Succession of the Beast is exhibited at once Which is still more evident in that the Seventh Head is the last under which the Beast perisheth together with that Head as that Elliptical Text doth certainly imply chap. 17. 11. the entire sense whereof is this And the Beast that was and is not even his Head is the Eighth and is one of the Seven and he together with his Head goes into perdition as I shall have occasion more fully to note in its due place Wherefore it is reasonable to conceive that the first Head reaches to the first beginning of the Beast that is of the Roman Empire as well as the last to its destruction Nor will I adde that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 connoting the Roman Empire as well as the Devil may also connote the antiquity of the one as well as of the other 7. Fifthly and lastly That the Seven-headed Beast represents the Roman Empire no further then as Idolatrous which is the last part of our Assertion will appear from this That this Prophetick Image or Iconism of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Fera is not used for the Representation of any Empire but what is Idolatrous as I have already intimated and therefore if it should stand for a Kingdom or Empire while it is not Idolatrous it would be like a false affirmation in words and prove an Emblematical slander The names of Blasphemy also on his Heads and on his Body make this Seven-headed Beast still more inept to represent any Kingdom while it stands free from Idolatry I mean the Life and Being of the Beast is thus inept But the slaughter of the Beast or extermination of him out of Being may signifie that an Empire that was Idolatrous and consequently according to the Prophetick style a Beast ceases to be so still And considering that the Roman Empire as an Empire has not yet ceased to be but that it did cease to be Idolatrous upon Constantine his turning Christian it is manifest that the Beast's being slain or ceasing to be is to be understood of that state of the Empire For from Constantine's time till the entrance again of Idolatry into the Empire the Beast in life and being was an inept Emblem thereof and as I said a mere Hieroglyphick slander But as the slain Beast during the time it lies slain comprises in it all the time of the Empire 's pure Christianity so the Beast as yet not slain as also after the slaughter again restored to life comprises all that tract of time of the Roman Kingdom or Empire's Idolatry as well that before as that after the flourishing of pure Christianity in it Which is another plain discovery of the truth of the fourth part of our Assertion 8. It is abundantly plain therefore from what we have alledged That the Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns signifies the Idolatrous Roman Kingdom or Empire quatenus Idolatrous that is to say when and so long as Idolatrous and no longer Which is one considerable Argument to evince that the Seven Heads of the Beast are not Seven single Persons succeeding one another but Seven sorts of Supreme Governours For what seven Persons can fill out the time of the duration of the Empire while Idolatrous and not leave it many hundreds if not above a thousand years destitute of Sovereign Power and so make it a Beast living so many Ages without an Head then which nothing can be more absurd 9. But this is not our onely Argument though it alone may seem sufficient to prove our main Thesis For it may be farther confirmed by reflecting on the nature and description of these Seven Heads for what they are set out by ought to be conceived as
same case as Apoc. 1. and Exod. 3. But to object that there they breed no such obscurity or sense as in this place is to acknowledge what I contend for that the Ellipsis is here used on set pupose for concealment but the concealment again more recommendable and not at all invincible because this Ellipsis is not without Examples in Scripture and made it may be not without some allusion to those very Texts where the Name of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ero Exod. 3. 14. qui ero and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Zegerus and Cornelius à Lapide compare with this name of the Beast to shew the great discrepancy And the latter of them concludes that the Reign of the wicked is fitly expressed by Erat non est but the Name of God who alone has immortality and whose Kingdom is a Kingdom of all Ages by Qui est qui er at qui venturus est and much more he has to that purpose in comparing this Name of God with the Name of the Beast for so he also calls this description of him Sicut Dei Nomen est Jehova h. e. Qui est ità Bestiae Nomen est Qui non est Secundò Dei Nomen est Qui â—…uit est Bestiae Qui fuit non est Tertiò Dei Nomen est Fuit erit Bestiae Non erit ampliús So Cornelius The last of which answers exactly to our sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But we have been over-copious and industrious in clearing a point which we had already so fully demonstrated by proving That this Beast whose Chap 11. Sect. 13 14 c. Name or Title or Description call it what you will is Was and is not c. is the Roman Empire after it had taken the profession of Christianity upon it and had degenerated therein into a kind of an After-Paganism 14. And that I have interpreted the Beast in his Re-existence of the Empire turning Idolatrous rather then being moulded into any new Political Government as many doe my reason is because this is more consonant to my third Rule of interpreting Prophecies and likewise because the Empire in a Political sense cannot be said to have ever yet ceased to be there was never yet a season since its being when a man might say It is not and lastly the Whore or Two-horned Beast will not be Synchronal with the Beast that was and is not and yet is unless this Beast's Commencement begin upon those terms I have declared namely That the Rising again of the Beast was the Empire's Relapse into a kind of Paganism Idolatry 15. But we shall now pursue the detection of Agreements Was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit That is to say It was in that decursion of time before the Dragon was fought by Michael and slain but ceased to be upon that slaughter And therefore it is said in the Thirteenth Chapter that the Dragon gave him his power that is he succeeded as Heir to the powers of the Dragon and the Dragon's forces for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signâ—…fies as in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were left to his conduct and management Or because the Dragon signifies the Devil as well as the Pagan Empire The Devil delivered to this Beast his forces his power and throne so as he had done to the Pagan Empire that is the assistence of evil Spirits Idols or Images and all the Pomp and Train of his Kingdom of Darkness but yet changing himself and all these into a show of true light and hiding his villainy under a pretext of adorning and improving the Christian worship See Mr. Mede upon the place Which setting up again of the Beast that had the deadly wound and Paral. 2. Agr. 3. getting into life by means of the Dragon's assistence and proper weapons of his warfare such as Idols and Images and false Miracles answers very fitly to his re-ascending here out of the bottomless pit For so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signify as well as the Sea or Abolition or Evanescency And hence is manifested the truth of the third Agreement of our second Parallelism 16. But if we understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signify the Sea as it usually Paral. 2. Agr. 6. does and in reference to the Empire it self I doubt not but does also here this answers to the Seven-headed Beast's rising out of the Sea chap. 13. v. 1. and is the sixth Agreement of our second Parallelism 17. And go into perdition According as it is said chap. 13. v. 10. Paral. 2. Agr. 7. He that leadeth into Captivity must go into Captivity He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword Which is the seventh Agreement of our second Parallelism 18. And they that dwell on the Earth shall wonder whose names were Paral. 2. Agr. 8. not written in the book of life According to what we reade chap. 13. v. 3. And all the world wondered after the Beast and v. 8. And all that dwell upon the Earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of Life of the Lamb c. Which is the eighth Agreement of our second Parallelism 19. When they behold the Beast that was and is not He is said here or rather in the beginning of this verse not to be answerably to his being said to be slain chap. 13. 3. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death so the English Translation But the Greek has it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is caesa ad mortem Nor does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render as it were imply that his head was not slain and struck with so deadly a wound that it died For besides that this wound is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a deadly wound more then once it is evident that the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does not always weaken or lessen the sense as appears ch 5. v. 6. where we find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Lamb notwithstanding was really and down-right slain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore referrs to the Imaginativeness of the Representation not to the Imperfectness of the Death or Slaughter represented Wherefore this Head was really slain and killed and therefore implies the Body was dead also and that the Beast ceased to be according as it is here said that he is not Which I Paral. 2. Agr. 3. have already noted to be the third Agreement of our second Parallelism Which Agreement considered jointly with the perpetual Agreements of that Parallelism is also an invincible Confirmation of the truth of our Exposition of The Beast which thou sawest was and is not c. namely That he speaks adequately of the Beast under the last Succession re-existing in this Seventeeth Chapter as he does of the healed Beast in the Thirteenth and that there can be no objection against the over-close concealment of the
truth of the Consectary appears thus The Seventh King which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and which I have proved to be the Emperours purely Christian it is said of him that he must * Apoc. 17. 10. continue a short space which unless the Prophecy speaks altogether undeterminately and defines nothing thereby must in reason be thought to be about a third part of that space which this Expression intimates to be long For Short and Long are not absolute terms but relative or comparative and are two Extremes which imply a Middle Wherefore we cannot better settle the determinate Idea of them then by supposing a Line divided into three equal parts and to look upon the whole Line as the Subject of Longness two thirds of the Line as the Subject of Mediocrity and one third of Shortness From whence we may gather universally what proportion to speak accurately and Mathematically Short and Long must bear the one to the other That in strictness of Notion that which is just the third part of the other is short in comparison of it but in common use of speech though it be something more or less it will break no squares There must either be some such way as this to settle this Notion or else Short and Long will signify nothing but be words spoke at random unless it be in such cases as there is a known measure of Mediocrity as when we say a tall man or a low man where it is taken for granted that a middle stature is so many foot and no more Having seriously considered the necessity of some determinate Notion of these two terms and how naturally they fall into this proportion I could not but consent to so plain a Conviction though I might justly seem prejudiced against it by what I have wrote elsewhere concerning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but I had not then so accurately Mystery of Godliness Book 5. Ch. 16. Sect. 9. weighed the matter 4. Admitting therefore that to be the genuine sense of these terms of Short and Long which I have propounded and comparing the continuance of the Seventh King with the continuance of the Sixth that is to say of the Pagan Caesars which from Julius to Constantine is about 360 years it is plain that the continuance of the Seventh King that is of the Christian Caesars must be 120 years or thereabout which added to Ann. Christi 312 when Constantine was converted to Christianity make 432 years Which I would not pronounce to be so defined as to understand a Mathematical accuracy in the proportion of Short and Long but with some latitude such as befits the use of common speech in such Expressions though it be necessary to have recourse to this Mathematical Idea that we may judge whether the use of these terms be tolerable or extravagant But what I leave more laxe here will be more particularly bounded in the Proportion of the Inward and Outward Court of the Temple which will gird in this time a little within 400 years but so as this present way of Compute will be very flexible and obedient to it For supposing the Short term viz. 120 subdivided into three degrees or parts any thing above two thirds thereof may rationally be deemed Short in the first degree of Comparison And we are to remember that the Duration of the Beast restored is computed by Months of years which as I have above noted intimates a latitude no less then any thing within thirty in the computation of these Epocha's the pinching of things to a year's coincidence being of no usefulness in these long Periods nor in the nature of the things that are predicted and therefore not affected nor intended by that Spirit that dictated these Prophecies Which I doubt not but is a very solid and true Observation Wherefore it is plain enough that the Churche's lapse into Antichristianism was not till about four hundred years after Christ the reign of the Seventh King not expiring till then Consect III. That the Reign of Antichrist is comprised within the compass of 1260 years or thereabout 5. For thus long is the Empire to continue Idolatrous as is evident out of our Joint-Exposition and the first Consectary thereof But it is in a manner impossible for the Empire to continue Idolatrous any longer then the Idolatrous Clergy thereof rides it and guides it which is the Whore or the Two-horned Beast and these Types the Types or Symbols of Antichrist Which we shall farther prove to synchronize with the Ten-horned Beast that is with the Pagano-Christian Empire in the following Chapter Consect IV. That Antichrist is long since entred into the World and has reigned about twelve hundred years already The truth of this Consectary is evident from the second wherein is shewn that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the succession of the purely Christian Caesars was not above 120 years or thereabout Which added to the year of Constantine's Conversion 312 make up 432. From about that time Antichrist began his reign and therefore has reigned at least twelve hundred years already Consect V. That according to Prophetical Compute the Ruine of Antichrist is near and that nothing can retard it but the Sinfulness Hypocrisy and Factiousness of the Reformed Churches and that therefore that voice of Him that cried in the Wilderness Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand is again very seasonable in this our Age. This Consectary is exceeding plain from the three Consectaries immediately going before nor is it needfull to adde any thing to the farther clearing it Onely see if you will my Mystery of Godliness Book 5. Chap. 17. Sect. 10. Consect VI. That the Roman Empire divided into Ten Kingdoms is the Seat of Antichrist This is directly contained in our Joint-Exposition the Beast with ten Horns being there proved to be the Roman Empire thus divided And the Whore which is Antichrist is said to sit upon this Beast and the Two-horned Beast to be the Idolatrizing Clergy of the Empire under those two Imperial Patriarchates of Rome and Constantinople as also the Whore and the Two-horned Beast are proved to be all one Which fully make good this sixth Consectary Consect VII That the Ruine of the Fourth Monarchy and the Introducing of the Fifth which is the Kingdome of the Saints of the most High as Daniel calls it does not imply warrs and spoil and the invading of the rights of any Prince or People according to the tenour of the Prophetick style but merely the renewing of the Empire into an Evangelical Purity in Doctrine and Worship and in Christian Life 6. This plainly appears out of our Joint-Exposition where it is manifest that the Beast which is the Roman Monarchy is said to be slain and not to be in rerum natura merely because the Pagan Idolatry was expelled out of it or ceased to be the Religion of the Empire and that the Beast was revived from the dead and brought into Being again merely
are said to ascend up to Heaven in a cloud it seems an Allusion to Christ's Ascension after his Crucifixion which is also alluded to here in the eighth verse And the time of Christ's mournfull Prophecy before his Resurrection was about Three years and an half if we may believe Chronologers to make the Allusion still more perfect Ver. XIII And the same time there was a great Earth-quake and the tenth part of the City fell and in the Earth-quake were slain seven thousand Names of men and the Remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of Heaven That an Earth-quake signifies Political Commotions and change of affairs is obvious to any one to note But that the City here mentioned should be understood not of a City of brick or stone but a Polity has not been so easy for every one to hit on But I conceive it is plain enough that this City is the very City mentioned in the eighth verse which is called the great City and this great City is the Whore of Babylon and the Whore of Babylon is nothing but the body of the Idolatrous Clergy in the Empire who appertain to the seventh or last Head of the Beast which is an Head of Blasphemie as well as the six first that is to say an Idolatrous Head Whence we may understand what is meant by these Seven thousand Names of men For neither seven nor thousand signify any determinate number though by a pleasant Diorismus they seem to doe so but onely the nature or property of those Names of men that are said to be slain namely That they are Titles Dignities Offices or Orders of men belonging to the State of Christendom as under the Seventh Head that is become Idolatrous and Antichristian And in that this Number Seven is multiplied into a Thousand it signifies a perfect and durable nulling all such Offices and Orders of men Which if Mr. Mede had taken notice of it would have saved him the labour of making out the sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and also the solicitude touching the proportionableness of the Number of the slain For no men at all here are necessarily implied to be slain but onely all Antichristian Offices and Fraternities to be dissolved and abrogated and things to be reduced to the purity of the first four hundred years For to slay by a Diorismus signifies nothing else but a causing a thing to cease to be This I little question but is the true meaning of this place And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will have a sense marvellous coincident therewith But that there is any design upon the brick and stone the walls and buildings of Rome either in this present Vision or any other in the Apocalyps I do profess my self for the present so dim-sighted as not to discover the Papal Polity by an Hylasmus not the material City being understood in all the denunciations against her so far as I see yet So that if she be to be burnt or sack'd or sunk by Earth-quakes it may be but a By-Accident and not directly pointed at nor prefigured in the Apocalyptick Visions But if such a thing should happen in such circumstances as should in a special and peculiar way fit with some of these Prophecies it will be therein comprised by an Henopoeia of the second sort as I have intimated in my Prophetick Schemes But be this how it will I make no question but this thirteenth verse of the Chapter we are upon concerns mainly if not onely the Idolatrous Clergy it self But it is said of the rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the remnant that they were indeed affrighted and amazed but gave glory to the God of Heaven as being just in his judgments 2. Out of what I have written here and in my Mystery of Godliness I think it is evident enough that that Antichristian Opposition that is made Book 5. Ch. 17. Sect. 8. against the Prophetick and Regal Office of Christ is clearly prefigured in this Vision of the Two Witnesses who are said to lie slain in the street of the great City during the Conculcation of the Outward Court of the Temple by the Gentiles And truly though some please themselves in conceiting this Vision such an invincible puzzle I cannot but prosess that the fense thereof seems to me as clear as the Meridian Sun And for that special Knot therein imagined to lie in the eighth verse how these Witnesses can be understood of Christendom their bodies being said to lie dead in the City where our Lord was crucified which must be Jerusalem I have already intimated that this City is called the old Jerusalem spiritually or mystically as well as Sodom and Aegypt And if any one have an heart to hear for it requires no great labour of the head to understand it the brief and plain sense of this verse is this That these Two Witnesses shall lie despoiled of all Respect and Power in the Precincts of the Jurisdiction of that Church which hitherto has always been the greatest and is now very large indeed consisting of mere formal carnal and Hypocritical Professours of the worship of the true God in which Church our Lord also was crucified What can be more easy and plain then this For it onely supposes that this carnal Hypocritical Witness-slaying Church of the Christians is one succeeding City Synagogue or false Church with the formal Hypocritical Prophet-murthering Church of the Jews Which is a plain truth whether this Prophecy suppose it or no. But we proceed CHAP. XIII 1. That the little Horn in Daniel is a Type of that Power which should oppose the Regal Office of Christ. 2. That the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel is not that of the Lagidae and Seleucidae but the Roman proved from the universal Consent of Ecclesiastick Writers 3. From the eminency and greatness of the Fourth Kingdom 4. From the distance of time betwixt the Kingdom of the Lagidae and Seleucidae and the Kingdom of the Stone cut out without hands or the Kingdom of the Son of man which is also the Kingdom of Heaven or of God 5. Grotius his fond and profane Interpretation of the Son of man as if thereby were meant the People of Rome 6. The like extravagancy in his interpreting the Stone cut out without hands of the same People 7. The unsoundness of that conceit more particularly discovered 8. The Kingdom of the Lagidae and Seleucidae farther proved not to be the Fourth Kingdom from the Coexistence of the Ten Kings according to Type 9. From their vastly-differing Periods the one ending according to Daniel presently after Antiochus the other not before the Day of Judgment 10. From Daniel's making the great Horn the first King in the Third Kingdom and four lesser to grow up after him on the same Goat's Head 11. From the four Heads of the Leopard which are the four Successours of Alexander in this Third Beast or Kingdom and from Daniel's reckoning Antiochus in the latter end of
is all one Kingdom But that of Alexander's is the Third according to Grotius his own Concession Now that that of his Successours of which Line are the Lagidae and Seleucidae is one Kingdom with that of Alexander's is evident out of Daniel Ch. 8. 21. The rough Goat is the King of Graecia and the great Horn that is betwixt his eyes is the first King Now that being broken whereas Four stood up for it Four Kingdoms shall stand up out of the Nation but not in his power This is one plain proof that the Kingdom of Alexander and his Successours is all one Kingdom For he calls Alexander the first King which necessarily implies that his Successours are the second and that therefore they all belong to one and the same Kingdom Nay he says plainly that these four Horns stand up for that great one that is in his stead What is this but to succeed in place of him as the Heads of one and the same Empire For no new Beast is said to succeed this Beast but the Horns the Horn. And then the comparing of them and saying but not in his power farther intimates a cognation and succession of one Line and that he does not speak of the Heads of two different Kingdoms Which appears farther from vers 8. Therefore the Goat waxed very great and when he was strong the great Horn was broken and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of Heaven But where should these come up but on that Head that had lost this great Horn which is compensated with four lesser ones though in their kinde notable For it is very incongruous and extravagant to phansy them to come up in any other And surely if they had belonged to any other Beast that Beast would not fail to have been named Wherefore they must either grow out of this Goat's Head or no where unless out of the ground which is ridiculous And therefore it is plain that Alexander's Kingdome and that of his Successours is but one Kingdome For that Goat is but one and the same Goat under the Succession of this variety of Horns 11. And yet there is still greater evidence of this truth from Ch. 7. 6. After which I beheld and lo another like a Leopard which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl the Beast had also four Heads and Dominion was given unto it That the four Heads of this Beast are the four Successours of Alexander namely Perdicca Seleucus Ptolemaens Meleager Grotius himself does frankly confess The Wings therefore denote the four Kingdomes Alexander's Empire was divided into after his decease which is still look'd upon as one Beast notwithstanding as the Roman is with its division into Ten Kingdomes noted by ten Horns or into Oriental and Occidental figured by the two Wings of an Eagle Here Grotius if he would speak out would make Alexander the Beast as he has Domitian and others in the Apocalyps against all the Laws of Prophetick Interpretation nay indeed against all rhyme and reason For he glosses thus Pardus varium Animal sic Alexander moribus variis But how grosly incongruous it is let any one consider For then would Alexander be inferiour to his four chief Officers and they would be the Head of him which is a Political Absurdity nay the Head of him when he ceased to be which is an Absurdity Metaphysical Wherefore Alexander is the first Head or great Horn of this Beast not the Body of it that he may be superiour to his four grand Officers and not be the Beast to bear these four Horns or Heads when he has quite ceased to be on this stage of things For these were not Heads nor Horns before he was dead Alexander therefore is the first of the Succession of the Heads or Horns of this Beast not the Beast it self But to come up closer to our business I say it is very manifest from these four Heads and four Wings that this Leopard is said to have that the Third Kingdome takes into it the four first Successours of Alexander Nothing can be more plain then this from the very Text. For the Leopard is described in the third place and immediately after him the Fourth Beast is mentioned and called the Fourth v. 7. Wherefore this four-headed Leopard is plainly the Third Beast But now that the succession of these four Heads even to Antiochus Epiphanes is the succession of one and the same Kingdome is plain from Ch. 8. 22. Now that being broken namely the great Horn where as Four stood up for it Four Kingdomes shall stand up out of the Nation but not in his power And in the latter time of their Kingdome the Original has it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Seventy render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the very same with our English and there is no doubt of the Translation a King of fierce countenance shall stand up Which Grotius and every one acknowledges to be Antiochus Epiphanes Whence it is evident that the whole Succession of Alexander's Captains from the first four inclusively even to Antiochus his time is one Succession and one Kingdome For he calls the times of Antiochus the last times of their Kingdome Wherefore it is plain seeing that the Kingdome of Alexander is one and the same with the Kingdome of the four Captains for that is the Third Kingdome and the Kingdome of the four Captains the same with their Succession even to Antiochus his time that the whole Succession from Alexander to Antiochus is one Succession and one Kingdome If this be not demonstratively true there is no demonstration in Mathematicks But if this be true the Kingdome of the Lagidae and Seleucidae are not the Fourth Kingdome but the Kingdome of the Romans according as all sober men have hitherto held 12. Which we being so firmly assured of we shall easily know where to seek for this little Horn that is said to change times and laws For where can we finde it but amongst those many Horns in the Roman Kingdome or Empire not in the Greek to which Antiochus Epiphanes appertains And we have already plainly shewn that the Apocalyptick Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns is this Roman Kingdome and that this Beast once healed or in such a condition that it may be said of him that he is the Beast that was and is not and yet is which is when he is become Pagano-Christian is this Empire actually divided into Ten Kingdomes and that together with this Division the Empire began to relapse gradually into Idolatry by the Agency and Guidance of the Two-horned Beast or the Whore whom I have also shewed to be Synchronal to the healed Beast or the Beast that was and is not and yet is 13. But the Beast restored or healed his duration is 42 months which is 1260 daies or a Time and Times and half a Time For the abode of the Woman in the Wilderness is indifferently expressed by
like extravagancy in his interpreting the Stone cut out without hands of the same People 7. The unsoundness of that conceit more particularly discovered 8. The Kingdom of the Lagidae and Seleucidae farther proved not to be the Fourth Kingdom from the Coexistence of the Ten Kings according to Type 9. From their vastly-differing Periods the one ending according to Daniel presently after Antiochus the other not before the Day of Judgment 10. From Daniel's making the great Horn the first King in the Third Kingdom and four lesser to grow up after him on the same Goat's Head 11. From the four Heads of the Leopard which are the four Successors of Alexander in this Third Beast or Kingdom and from Daniel's reckoning Antiochus in the latter end of this Succession 12. That the little Horn does of necessity appertain to the Roman Kingdom become Ten-horned and Pagano-Christian at once 13. That it is of equal duration with the Whore and Two-horned Beast and at least coincident in time with them and the Beast restored 14. From which Equality and Coincidence be is discovered to be the Whore or Two-horned Beast 15. That the Patriarch of Rome is more especially concerned in this Type 16. The exquisite Applicability of the Characters of this Horn to the said Patriarch 17. The Application of those Characters that more particularly concern his opposing the Regal Office of Christ. 410 CHAP. XIV 1. The Vision of the Rider of the white Horse Apocal. 19. proposed 2. A general account of that Vision 3. What meant by the white Horse what by the flammeous eyes of his Rider 4. What by his Name known onely to himself 5. What by his garment dipp'd in bloud and that this as also the precedent Characters are applicable to Christ's Body the Church 6. The meaning of the Sword coming out of his mouth 7. And of the treading the Wine-press of God's wrath 8. The meaning of the Inscription upon his thigh in reference to himself 9. As also in respect of his Church to which it is applicable As also the treading of the Wine-press and the Sword coming out of his mouth 419 CHAP. XV. 1. That the rest of the Sacred Titles of Christ are referrible to the Prophecies we have already treated of 2. As likewise all the Oppositions to the Divine life in general saving that of turning the Church into a City of Merchandises 3. Which seems predicted in the Lamentation over the Ruines of Babylon Apoc. 18. Ver. 11. The meaning of the eleventh twelfth and thirteenth verses Ver. 14. Of the fourteenth fifteenth and sixteenth Ver. 17. Of the seventeenth eighteenth nineteenth and twentieth Ver. 21. The Exposition continued from the twentieth to the end of the Chapter 423 CHAP. XVI 1. This mystical sense of the burning of Babylon confirmed out of his Joint-Exposition and from Alcazar's Interpretation and that the same is prefigured in the destruction of Tyre 2. How lively the Patriarch of Rome is typified in Ezekiel by the King of Tyre 3. Another Vision to the same purpose in the same Prophet 4. A third Vision in Esay concerning Esay 23. Tyre typifying Rome Pagan Christian and then Pagano-Christian Ver. 18. That Tyre that is Rome will be reformed from her Pagano-Christianism and become purely Christian again and Apostolick according to this Vision 6. That these Visions of Tyre must needs have a farther meaning then what literally concerns that City 7. An Exposition of the eighteenth verse of the last Vision comprising the Prediction of the Reformation of Rome Pagano-Christian 8. What is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a general reflexion upon the appositeness of these four last Prophecies for the setting out the Merchandising of the Church of Rome in the management of her Ecclesiastick Affairs 429 CHAP. XVII 1. Their lying Legends perstringed in S. Paul's Prophecie of the Latter times 2. A more full Prefiguration of that Antichristian Opposition that is against Faith in part of his Prophecy of the Man of Sin 3. A clear Exposition of that part of the Prophecy 4. Strictures in the Apocalyptick Visions to the same purpose 5. The Pride of the Bishop of Rome prefigured in the King of Tyre as also his Downfall and how 6. His gorgecus splendour set out both in the King of Tyre and in the Whore of Babylon 7. The Pride and Downfall of this Patriarch typified in the King of Babylon The meaning of the twelfth and thirteenth verses Ver. 14. The meaning of the Prophecy from the fourteenth to the nineteenth verse Ver. 20. An Explication of the twentieth verse 10. Farther Prefigurations of the Papal Pride in the Whore and the little Horn. 11. An easy and genuine Exposition or Paraphrase of the thirty sixth and the thirty seventh verses of the eleventh Chapter of Daniel wherein the Impious Self-elation of the Bishop of Rome is clearly foretold 12. That the sense of the two following verses of this Prediction may be still the same with Mr. Mede's 435 CHAP. XVIII 1. That the truth of the foregoing Paraphrase may be assured out of Saint Paul's Prophecy of the Man of Sin The three first verses thereof interpreted Ver. 4. Wherein this Man of Sin exalteth himself above all that is called God and what it is to snew himself to be God Ver. 5. The meaning of to be revealed in his time and what that is that withstandeth Ver. 7. The Mystery of Iniquity doth already work how to be understood and who the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 8. What is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and what the meaning and manner of his destruction with an intimation of the exquisite Applicability of this Prophesy to the Papal Power and Imposture 2. A short Parallel betwixt the little Horn in Daniel and this Son of Perdition 441 CHAP. XIX 1. A summary Proposal of Grotius his Exposition of the foregoing Prophecy 2. That the coming of Christ in this Prophecy cannot be understood of the Destruction of Jerusalem 3. Nor Apostasy attributed to Caius nor he said to sit in the Temple of God nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fit so well with Vitellius 4. That Caius his purpose of placing his Statue in the Temple was no Mystery of Iniquity but gross Prophanevess 5. Grotius his ridiculous luxation of the sense of the Prophecy in making Caius the Man of Sin and Son of Perdition concealed by Vitellius his standing in the way and yet upon Vitellius his removal not Caius but Simon Magus to be the man revealed and destroyed 6. That in all likelihood the Story of Simon Magus is a Fiction and from what Occasion 7. That if it were true it is not so applicable this wicked man Simon being not consumed by the Spirit of Christ's mouth but onely his Coach and Horses 8. That Grotius makes Paul prophesy of things past his Epistle being written ten years after Caius his death with a full Answer to Grotius his first Argument to the contrary 9. An Answer to the
fifty years See Mr. Mede's Diagram of the ten Kings Ver. XIII These have one mind and shall give their strength and power Par. 2. Agr. 13. to the Beast And therefore in the Thirteenth Chapter he is also adorned with this gift where he is described The Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns and upon his Horns ten Crowns which shews that even when they were actually Kings they were voluntarily the strength of this Beast For what strength in the Empire could have constrained them they being the very strength thereof Whence appears the thirteenth Agreement of our second Parallelism But the sense of this verse is briefly this These ten Kings shall be of one mind that is of one mind in matters of Religion shall be of the Religion of the Empire that is to say of the Pagano-Christian Religion whereby the Empire had again become a Beast and shall give their power and strength unto this Beast that is to say shall be ready even by force of Arms if need be or by what other power or authority they have to maintain this Beast in its beastly that is in its Idolatrous condition and Pagan-like Superstitions or else understanding all along a Synecdoche shall give the Pagano-Christian Emperour which is the Head of this Beast the aid or afford him the assistence of their Armies or forces if need should so require against all Opposers of this Pagano-christianism For the Emperour is look'd upon as the chief Champion and Generalissimo of all the Pagano-Christian Forces And though those Kings be distinct and absolute in their own Dominions yet looking upon them as held together in one upon the account of the Religion of the Empire of which the Emperour is by place the chief Champion these ten Kings may be considered as coming into a kind of subordination unto him and be conceived to be the Horns of this Head I mean of this Generalissimo or Emperour of that Army which makes War with the Lamb. But that Power which influences all is the Whore that rides the Beast 2. And truly when the Head of this Whore is once found to be so big as to out-top the Secular Head of the Empire the Emperours themselves and both pretends to and makes use of that boasted Jus utriusque gladii that is to say So soon as the Pope is found to act the Caesar as well as the Universal Patriarch there is no incongruity to allow him represented in two places as well as he sustains two parts and conceive him to be typifi'd as well in the last Head of the Beast as in the costly adorned Head of the Whore But my way is more distinct and more compliable with Grotius his opinion who stands so stoutly for the permanency of the Imperial Majesty to this day And it seems also reasonable to me to interpret Prophecie according to the sense and phrase of History Prophecie being nothing else but an Anticipative History And therefore the Series of Roman Emperours and Title of the Empire and the Body of the Empire continuing still though much contracted and being so look'd upon in History I should think it is the most natural way to interpret according to the common acknowledged phrase and sense of Historians But as I said if the Pope be conceived to supply the room of the Emperours as soon or as oft as he appears to out-top them even in Secular power and to prove the real Head of the Empire acting the Caesar as well as the Patriarch that Interpretation also is very approvable and unexceptionable For the Supreme Power of the Beast that was and is not is by the Angel look'd upon as one and the same Head provided it be but all along the Head of that Beast that is Pagano-Christian For the spirit of Prophecie takes no notice of any useless distinctions and discriminations Wherefore that Supreme Power that shall be found Pagano-Christian is still one Head in the style of this Prophecie as I have above noted And that which is under it though it were invested with the Title of Emperour will fall under the number of the Ten Horns after the division of the Empire into many Kingdoms Ten suppose at least or thereabout For I look upon the number to signifie Symbolically rather then purely Arithmetically Ver. XIV These shall make war with the Lamb. What is said of these Par. 2. Agr. 14. Ten Kings is said of the Beast in the Thirteenth Chapter That he should make war with the Saints which is the same as to war with the Lamb. Saul Saul why persecutest thou me And these Ten Kings being the Horns of the Beast what is done by them is done by the Beast So that the Beasts in both Chapters make war with the Saints according to the fourteenth Agreement of our second Parallelism As for the 16 and 17 verses of the Thirteenth Chapter the sense of them is this That no man of what degree soever that was not of the Pagano-Christian Profession for that is meant by receiving a mark in the hand or in the fore-head should have any traffick or commerce in the Empire or Territories of any of these Ten Kings which is a kind of besieging them with famine and therefore not unfitly reckoned under the Hostilities of War Which interdiction of all commerce and traffick is an effect of Excommunication by the Two-horned Beast Examples of which Warfare are obvious every-where in History Concerning the Name of the Beast and the Number of his name mentioned in those 16 and 17 verses I shall speak upon the last verse of this present Chapter 2. And the Lamb shall overcome them According to that in the Thirteenth Par. 2. Agr. 15. Chapter v. 10. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity This fifteenth Agreement of our second Parallelism is very manifest 3. And they that are with him are Called and Chosen and Faithful Par. 2. Agr. 16. Sutably to that in the Thirteenth Chapter v. 10. Here is the Patience and Faith of the Saints The great stress lies upon Chosen and Faithful Patience and Faith For many are called but few are chosen But those choice ones that are said to be with him are stout Souldiers that will follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes never leave him for any persecution whatsoever but be Firm and Faithful unto him be their Patience never so much exercised by sufferings In which is comprised the sixteenth Agreement of our second Parallelism CHAP. XV. Ver. XV. The seventh Agreement of the first Parallelism Ver. XVI The folly of those Interpreters that understand the Burning of the Whore of the burning of the Houses of Rome by fire Ver. XVII The Ten Kings giving their Power and Kingdom to the Beast according to the will and purpose of God how stupendious an Arcanum 2. In what sense God may be said to put it into their hearts 3. That it is rather Fate then Policy that has carried on the affairs of the Whore
as being the seven last Plagues 9. The same farther proved from the Song of the Harpers upon their victory over the Beast 10. And from the order of the Vision of the Vials as also from the appearing of the Temple out of which the Angels come after the sixth Trumpet and before any of the Vials be poured out 11. In what sense the Middle Synchronals are to be fulfilled at the Exit of the sixth Trumpet 12 A larger Declaration how all the Middle Synchronals expire together in what sense or degree soever they do expire 13. Of the commencing of the last Synchronals and what the time of the Millennium more eminently so styled 14. The serviceableness of the premising these orderly Synchronisms for his farther search into the Prophecies that foretel the Lapse of the Church into Antichristianism 377 CHAP. VIII 1. That there are Three more Middle Synchronals that foretel the Churche's Lapse into Idolatry As the Vision of the Outward Court troden down by the Gentiles 2. The Woman in the Wilderness What meant by Wilderness 3. A brief account of the sense of the whole Vision 4. That there is an Hypallage in her being said to flie into the Desart like that of Hades being cast into the Fire and of the Kingdom being given to the Saints in Daniel 5. That our Interpretation of the Woman in the Wilderness does not clash with Mr. Mede's though different from it 6. The third Synchronal the Virgin-Company The meaning of the Number of their Regiments and of the new Song which none could learn besides them 7. How the Vision of these Virgin-souldiers implies the Lapse of the Church into Idolatry 383 CHAP. IX 1. Three more Prophecies predicting the Churche's Lapse into Idolatry As the Vision of the sixth Trumpet which is proved to respect the Roman Empire long after it became Christian. 2. That in this Vision the Greek and Latin Church are both apparently taxed of Idolatry and with Aggravations common to Pagans and them 3. That it appears from the same Vision of what great consequence it would be for Christendom to reform from this gross sin and that they are their best friends that plainly and freely rebuke them for it and for those other crimes reflected upon in this Vision 4. The Prophecy of Paul to Timothy proposed and the first part thereof expounded out of Epiphanius touching the Inspirers of this predicted Errour 5. As also that part that contains the Errour it self namely the worship of Daemons From whence it is plain the Prophecie concerns this notorious Lapse of the Church into Idolatry 6. As also from the Instruments of the Broaching this Errour 7. And from the mentioning of the Mystery of Godliness immediately before to which this Mystery of Iniquity is opposed 8. And lastly from the Times of the Lapse which are termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9. Which is proved to be a proper Term of the Prophetick style denoting that Time and Times and half a Time which is the latter section of the continuance of the Fourth Monarchy 10. That the course of these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of the Reign of Antichrist is indigitated by thâ—…se Numbers of Days in the last of Daniel 387 CHAP. X. 1. Epiphanius his Exposition of the Prophecie of Paul to Timothy confirmed from the reference it has to that in Daniel 2. Grotius his miss-timing this Prophecie of Daniel and applying it to Antiochus how rash and groundless 3. A Confutation of his Application 4. The right timing this Prophecie by Calvin and Mr. Mede who both interpret it of the Roman State and Empire 5. A more particular account of the two first verses of the Prophecie Mr. Mede's way 6. As also of the third 7. And fourth 8. That the sense of this Prophecie so clearly accords with that of S. Paul that it is manifest he refers to it in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9. That though this Interpretation of Mr. Mede be unexceptionable throughout yet the two first verses of the Prophecie may be otherwise expounded and more suitably to S. Paul's Prophecie in his Epistle to the Thessalonians 393 CHAP. XI 1. The Reasons of his Prolixity hitherto in the Predictions of the Idolatry of the Church and of his future Brevity in the rest of the parts of Antichristianism 2. The Second member of Antichristianism prefigured in the Apoc. 11. 8. Witnesses lying slain in the Streets of the great City called Aegypt 3. A short Paraphrase and Exposition upon that verse of the Apocalyps 4. That the same thing seems to be prefigured in the Whore of Babylon her riding of the Beast 5. What Predictions concern the Opposition to the Priestly Office of Christ. 6. That the Two-horned Beast and the False-prophet are all one and that both prefigure the Antichristian Opposition against his Prophetick Office 7. That the Affliction of the true Prophets of Christ is prefigured in the Vision of the Two Witnesses as also the Antichristian Opposition against the Kingly Office 398 CHAP. XII 1. An Explication of the Vision of the Witnesses Ver. III. The reason why they are Two Ver. IV V. Why Two Olive-Trees and Candlesticks and what meant by their killing men by the fire that proceeds out of their mouths Ver. VI. That their power of shutting up Heaven from raining may be attributed to them onely by a Metalepsis 2. Or rather by a Zoopoeia of the second sort 3. According to which Figure they are said to smite the Earth with every plague of Aegypt And what the meaning of these Plagues may be Ver. VII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The War and Death of the Witnesses what they mean Ver. VIII Aegypt and the foregoing Plagues fitly mentioned together Ver. IX The meaning of Three days and an half and of the Bodies of the Witnesses lying unburied Ver. X. What meant by the Dwellers upon Earth Ver. XI What by the Spirit of God coming into the Witnesses Ver. XII That the true Witnesses do not invade Heaven but ascend thither when they are called Ver. XIII The Earth-quake City Fall of the City and the Slaughter of 7000 Names of men what they mean 2. That the Antichristian Opposition to the Regal and Prophetical Office of Christ is clearly prefigured in this Vision of the Two Witnesses 403 CHAP. XIII 1. That the little Horn in Daniel is a Type of that Power which should oppose the Regal Office of Christ. 2. That the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel is not that of the Lagidae and Seleucidae but the Roman proved from the universal Consent of Ecclesiastick Writers 3. From the eminency and greatness of the Fourth Kingdom 4. From the distance of time betwixt the Kingdom of the Lagidae and Seleucidae and the Kingdom of the Stone cut out without hands or the Kingdom of the Son of man which is also the Kingdom of Heaven or of God 5 Grotius his fond and profane Interpretation of the Son of man as if thereby were meant the People of Rome 6 The