and Power But yet further They that stand for such a Beginning of the Roman Empire at Iulius Caesar I desire they would Answer this Question In the Tables of the Consuls it is manifest That there is the space of 17 years from the Conquest of Iudea to the Empire of Iulius Caesar. Now concerning this Number of years it must be either reckoned as a Chasme in the Prophetical Chronologie or else it must be applied to some one of the Four Metal-Kingdoms But it cannot be reckoned as a Chasme in the Prophetical Chronologie For it is clear from the Scriptures That these Four Monarchical States must continue one after another in a lineal succession and when their times are in flux and succession then the Kingdom of Christ shall begin Therefore this portion of time from the Conquest of Iudea to the Monarchy of Caesar must necessarily be reckoned as appertaining to one of the Four Kingdoms If so it must either appertain to the Graecian Kingdom typed by the Brass-Metal or to the Roman typed by the Iron-Metal For none will be so absurd as to apply it either to Babel or Persia which were destroyed long before Now they that apply this term of time to the Graecian Kingdom how can they make their Position good seeing that People were brought under the Power of the Romans But if you apply this to the time of the Roman typed by the Iron-Metal you give up the Cause to wit That the Roman began as the Fourth metal-Metal-Kingdom in the time of their â—…ree-state Object 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will Reply The Four Persâ—…uting States of the world are compacted together into one Image but the Romans in the time of their Free-State did not Persecute the Church Ergo. Sol. By the like Reason you may argue That Cyrus did not begin the Persian Kingdom nor Alexander the Graecian because neither of these Monarchs did actually afflict the Church But if you shall say Though they raised no actual Persecution in their own persons yet they did first bring the Church within the verge of that Dominion which in its times did notably afflict her I may say the same of the Romans For if it may be supposed That they did not afflict the Church in the times of their Free-state yet then she came first within the verge of that Dominion where were the â—…orest Persecutions that ever were In the Book of the Revelation there is again and again mention made of the Sufferings of the Church under Roman Tyranny And when she was to bring forth her Man-Child that should Rule all Nations with a Rod of Iron when she cried in pains to be Delivered a great red Dragon with seven Heads and ten Horns did lie in wait to Devour her Child chap. 12. All do agree That this noteth the Sufferings of the Church under Roman Tyranny There must then be some particular instant of time when the Church first came under that Tyranny and there we must set the date of the Tribulation Secondly Whereas it is Affirmed That the Romans did not Afflict the Church in the times of their Free-state this I do plainly Deny For let us hear what is spoken by Iosephus for he I presume in this matter is able to give us the best information Thus saith he Hircanus and Aristobulus through their Dissentions and civil Broyles were the cause of that Servitude that fell upon the Iews For we have lost our Liberty and have been subdued by the Romans Antiq. lib. 14. ch 8. And further he addeth That which is to be lamented the Romans in a little time have drawn from us more than 10000 talents and the Royalty which before was an Honour reserved to the High Priests hath been bestowed upon men of obscurity Antiq. l. 14. c. 8. But if we go to Particulars it is a thing famously known to all Posteritâ—… how Crassus did rob the Temple at Ierusalem And when all this is done shall we say That the Jews suffered nothing from the Romans during the times of their Free-state If we look to the times of Nehemiah we may well conceive that these were some of the best times of the Jewish Church Yet mark what is expressed in the Confession of the Leviâ—…es Behold we are Servants this day and for the Land that thou gavest unto our Fathers to eate the Fruit thereof and the good thereof behold we are Servants in it and it yieldeth much encrease unto the Kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins Also they have Dominion over our Bodies and over our Cattel at their pleasure and we are in great distress chap. 9. vers 36 37. Here was then no publick Persecution for Religion only their Vassalage under the Persian Kings is here noted And may not all things be rightly applied to the Romans when they came to have supreme Dominion in the Land of Promise Were not the Bodies Lives Goods Cattel of the Jews and all that they had at the Roman devotion Nay further if we will compare the times that went before with those that come after we shall find before the Romans came into Iudea that the Jews had indifferently well asserted their Liberty against the Tyranny of the Seleucian Kings as may appear in the Stories of the Macchabees that rose up for the defence of their Country But from that time as the Roman Legions entred Ierusalem and a Conquest was made over the Churches Continent the Jews did totally and finally lose that Liberty to the destruction of their City and Temple And that which is to be noted The Christian Church also hath been under Roman Tyranny more or less to this very day as may appear by the Book of the Revelation and the Stories of the Church Now then if we put all together we may conclude That all things neeful to the beginning of the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel's Image began to be applicable to the Roman State at the destruction of the Seleucian Kingdom and at the subduing the Territories of the Church And therefore we do here fix the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom ARGUMENT IV. Where the Story of the Gospel doth insinuate the beginning of the Roman to be that is the true beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom But the Story of the Gospel doth insinuate the beginning of the Roman to be in the time of their Free-state when the Churches Continent came first within the Verge of their Dominion Therefore within the time of their Free-state when the Churches Continent came under the Verge of that Dominion is the true beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom The Major is plain for we cannot but think that the Story of the Gospel doth rightly expound the true beginning of the Fourth Kingdom And for the Minor That the Story of the Gospel doth insinuate the beginning of the Roman to be in the time of their Free-state we have these Instances that follow The Evangelist being to write the
of men that had persevered and held out for Christ against the Power and Headship of Antichrist in all the time of that Tribulation And yet as this matter is one it is branched into several Considerations First If you speak of the Papacy as a State or Government afflicting the Saints so it is called a Beast like to one of the Beasts in Daniel Secondly If you speak of the Universal Headship wherein the form and essence of the Kingdom doth consist this is the Name of the Beast Thirdly If you speak of that Universal Headship as a Representative of that Soveraign Majesty that was formerly lost in Rome Imperial and now repaired in Rome Papal this is the Image of the Beast Fourthly If you speak of the publick profession of this Universal Headship in the society of men this is the Mark of the Beast Fifthly If you speak of the time when this Universal Headship began visibly and remarkably to appear this is the Number of the Beast and more specially of his Name and Headship All these are so many distinct Apocalyptical Considerations which agree in one main Truth in the general And thus having spoken of the Law of the Beast in the three branches thereof we will now come to speak more briefly of the other particulars because they are more easie to be understood Secondly For the Law-maker the Power by and through which he caused all to receive the Mark this is a Spiritual Christ-like efficacy prevailing in the Consciences of men to make them subject to his Laws It is said of the Monarchy of Nebuchadnezzar that the most High God did give to him a Kingdome And for the Majesty that he gave him all People Nations and Languages trembled and feared before him whom he would he slew and whom he would he kept alive Chap. 5. ver 18 19. So the Beast in the Revelation hath the same transcendent power he causeth all to receive a Mark whether rich or poor bond or free male or female he compelleth all to yield obedience as they sometimes did that were under the power of Nebuchadnezzar But here is the difference The power of Nebuchadnezzar was more external over the bodies of men this is more internal over their Mindes and Consciences and by consequence over their bodies also Secondly They thaâ—… were under the Jurisdiction of Nebuchadnezzar had they been left to their free choyce they would have been glad to have enjoyed their liberty but now for those that lived in subjection to the See of Rome for the most part the matter was far otherwise with them they would not be free if they might The Kings of the Earth divided in Interests and in many Civil respects all of them could agree in this one thing To give their Power to the Beast Rev. Ch. 17. They thought they could not be saved unless in all Realms there was a Universal subjection to this Headship given by Christ himself as they thought to Peter and his Successors And for the time of the publick Institution of this Universal Headship there were some preparations and previous workings towards the setting up of this Power but there was no publick Establishment thereof till the time of the Emperor Phocas Let us hear what Mr. Fox in his Acts and Monuments speaketh concerning this matter Pag. 108. Col. 2. But Rome saith he would not so soon lose the Supremacy once given as the giver lost his life For ever since from that day she hath holden defended and maintained the same still and yet doth to this present day by all force and policy possible And thus much concerning Boniface whom by the words of Gregory we may call the Fore-runner of Antichrist For as Gregory brought in the style Servus Servorum So this Boniface brought into their heads first Volumus Mandamus Statuimus Praecipimus that is We Will and Command We Injoyn and Charge you The same is mentioned by Paraens in his Commentary upon the Revelation Chap. 6. ver 12. From whence I gather As the Bishops of Rome have had a Mandatory Power in and over the Church so this first began in the time of the Emperor Phocas in the Decree of the Universal Headship Thirdly Let us consider the persons who they are that are subject to his Power He commandeth all both small and great rich and poor to receive a Mark. The greatness of rich men cannot procure a toleration neither can the meanness of poor men exempt them by their poverty Bullinger upon the place speaketh very pithily We see saith he that Emperors Kings Dukes Marquesses Earls Barons Realms Countreys Cities Patriarchs Archbishops Bishops Prelates Doctors Clerks and Lay men obey him And also men of the greatest Power Riches Wisdome together with the poor people There is no such Kingdome and so diversly compact in the whole world no not among the Mahometans And all these are willingly subject to the Seat yea they have perswaded themselves that they cannot well live and that they cannot be saved unless they be subject to the See of Rome So far Bullinger From hence we gather that the event doth fully answer the Prophecy for we see by experience how all the world hath worshipped the Beast and received his Mark. And whereas some to illude this truth have pleaded that the Popish Churches in France do not own the Pope for Head of the Church We will easily grant that they may not be so strictly obliged to the Popes Chair in some temporal respects yet it is too plain that his Authority is set up in their Consciences and that they are subject to his Laws Fourthly Let us consider the punishment to be inflicted upon those that have not the Mark in the Forehead and in the right-hand they are forbidden to buy or sell. Mr. Mede doth take this for Excommunication or casting out of Church-fellowship But rather the words signifie a cutting off from all civil commerce among men Yea if we compare the Scriptures we shall finde that it was present death for any man to refuse to have the Mark in the forehead and in the right-hand Therefore when Iohn saw the Souls of those that were beheaded for the Word of God and the testimony of Iesus that had not worshipped the Image nor received the Mark Chap. 20. ver 4. he doth plainly shew that the beheading was for the Non-worship of the Beast and for the not receiving of the Mark We may conclude then when men are exempted from buâ—…ing and selling this is a Synecdoche By this one all other kindes of punishment whatsoever are understood And thus we have seen the matter of the Law the Law-maker the persons subject to the Law and the penalty upon all such as shall refuse subjection Let us now come to the several particulars which concern the right calculation of the Number First For the Person who it is that must make the discovery It is such a one as hath wisdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
height the Heavens and in breadth the corners of the Earth Likewise the other Kingdoms aâ—…e semblanced to a Ram and to a Goat Buck and both in sundry Horns And now all the Nations be named that be therein contained Answer First For the great Tree it is not so much a figure of the Babylonian Kingdom as of the King Nebuchadnezzar in his own personal greatness For when the Tree was cut down and Nebuchadnezzar fell the Babylonian Empire stood Foâ—… the Kingdoms of Persia and Greece it is not needful that these two should be all the Nations which Daniel doth Number after the Babylonians First How doth this distinguish the Monarchies after the Scripture-difference The Scripture distinguisheth them according to the change from People to People chap. 2. vers 44. chap. 7. vers 27. If therefore the Babylonians Persians Graecians be all the People how shall we make Four Monarchies of Three People Secondly That of Persia and Greece are again repeated chap. 8. because they were more summarily described in the former Chapter For if we look narrowly to the matter the Seventh Chapter is for the most part taken up in the descrption of the Fourth Kingdom Mr Broughton The Legs of the Image are the Successors of Alexander in the mightiest Kingdoms Syria and Egypt Answer Piscator doth build much upon this Reason and therefore to avoid repetition we will defer the Examination thereof till we come to him Mr Broughton Daniel chap. 7. vers 13. One like to the Son of man c. The Iewes grant Christ here to be meant and if we had not deceived them by forging a general Fourth Monarchy by refusing the plainness of Daniel they would have come to the Faith long ago Answer This is a good Caution in the general and Christian men ought to take heed how they turn all into nice Disputes Atheistical and gainsaying people will soon take Advantage Yet for all this we have sufficient matter to convince the Jew that their Messiah is come that he is cut off that the â—…0 weeks of Daniel are at an end because Ierusalem hath been destroyed long ago and the 70 weeks do lead us to that fatal destruction For our Interpretation that the Roman is the Fourth Monarchy it is not this that keepeth the Jew in his blindness and unbelief but rather it would be a greater stumbling-block in his way to take the Seleucian for the Fourth Monarchy Mr Broughton who affirmeth this to be a Fourth Monarchy how can he make it good That the Kingdom of Christ was set up in the times of the Seleucian Suppose a Jew should read in the Gospel written by Saint Matthew that our Saviour was Born in Bethlem in the times of the Romans and as the other Evangelists do expresly say in the times of Augustus Caesar who caused all the world to be taxed c. Here then if a Jew should be of the judgement of these Learned men That the Roman is none of the Four Monarchies and that there was a total dissolution of the Four Metal-Kingdoms before the coming of Christ and the beginning of the Roman In this method and way of Interpretation how can they possibly make good that Scripture forementioned In the dayes of these Kingdoms shall the God of Heaven raise up a Kingdom that shall never be destroyed Dan. 2. 44. If the Lord will raise up the Kingdom of Christ in the dayes of the Four Metal-Kingdoms and the Evangelists all with one mouth do say That the Kingdom was raised up in that time when all was under the power of the Romans we may safely Conclude That the Roman must needs be one of the Four Kingdoms and in particular the Fourth and the last Kingdom And whereas it is alledged One like the Son of Man came in the clouds of Heaven vers 13. We do willingly yield when the Roman Kingdom in the last and Antichristian state thereof shall be brought to a final destruction then in those times the Kingdom of the Saints shall be set up upon the Earth in the last dayes and there shall be a Union betwixt Jewes and Gentiles under Christ their King according to the Scriptures And though we do not press the strictness of the Letter for a Personal and visible Reign of Christ as many have done and many now do yet I trust that the Jew and the Gentile shall find it true That both People shall come under the Reign of Christ when his Gospel shall be the regent Law in the latter dayes But of this matter somthing more largely afterwards Mr Broughton I will shew thee what shall be in the latter end of wrath chap. 8. vers 21. This place strongly overthroweth their Error that seign the Roman to be the Fourth Kingdom meant by the Legs of the Image seeing the Greeks are the Dealers in the latter end of wrath And it had been a strange thing that this last vision repeating the former should neglect the Romans if they had been spoken of before Answer We have shewed how the former Kingdoms 〈◊〉 repeated in the latter Vision we yield that there is a repetitiâ—…n of the Monarchical Kingdoms but not a repetition of them in the full Number For what a way of Reasoning were this The Babylonian is not reckoned chap. 8. therefore he is none of the Four great Empires mentioned in the Chapter going â—…efore Let us come to the main Reason which Mr Broughtâ—… saith strongly overthroweth their Error who feign the Roman to be the Fourth Kingdom His Argument is drawn from that Expression I will shew thee what shall be in the last end of indignation â—…ll that may be gathered from hence is this That the Greeks may be Dealers in the latter end of wrath if we compare them with the times of Daniel yet according to this sense the Romans may be latter than they Secondly If we look to the true translation of the word as Iunius and Piscator have it the Interpretation must run thus I will make known to thee what shall be in the extremity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that indignation when Antiochus shall afflict the Church And therefore the Angel doth expound what is meant by these words In the latter end of their Kingdom when transgressors are come to a full end a King of fierce countenance shall stand up vers 23. So then according to the true sense the Greeks are not so much the Dealers in the latter end of wrath as Antiochus in particular is a Dealer against the Saints in the latter end of the Graecian tyranny Here then is a plain fallacy à dicto secundum quid ad dictum simplicitur Mr Broughton Chap. 12. vers 1. And at that time shall Michael stand up that standeth for the Children of thy people When Antiochus going to War against Parthia left Lysias behind him to have rooted out the Iews then Michael stood up Here the terms of Daniel's People must needs mean the Iewes and not the
to be the Monarchical people This being laid as a ground we may say in the particuâ—…ar case alledged by Piscator That though the Kingdom of Alexander was plucked up by the Roots and the Kingdoms of his Successors were set up upon his ruines yet for all this there was no change of Dominion from People to People There was only a change from Alexander to his Successors still one Graecian People had the Empire over the Earth And to put all out of questiâ—…n That the Spirit doth principally point to the Flux and Passage of the Sovereignty from one People to another and thaâ—… in this case he doth not distinguish the Kingdom of Alexander from that of his Successors the ground which we have to buiâ—…d upon iâ—… The resemblance of the He-goat chap. 8. Now under this similitude the whole Graecian Empire both of Alexander and of his four Successors they are all comprehended together as they were formerly set forth under the Type of the Third Beast with four Heads Now whereas 〈◊〉 alledgeth That the He-goat is different from the Third Beast and that the Prophecie chap. 8. Habet rationem diversam a different way of Interpretation I Answer The He goat and the Third Beast are all one so farforth as both are Types of the same Empire under one and the same People And for the Partition of the Greek Kingdom between Alexander and his Successors this doth no more hinder the Type of that Kingdom by one Third Beast then it doth hinder the delineation by one He-goat But now to produce some Reasons that Alexander divided from his Successors cannot be the Third Kingdom Typed by the Brass-Metal or the Third Beast First All the Kingdoms were persecuting States such that did afflict the People of God But Alexander if you divide him from his Successors did not afflict the Church of the Jews neither were they Persecuted in all the times of his Empire Secondly The metal-Metal-Kingdoms are so constituted that the latter are of a more hard and Tyrannical disposition against the Saints Now take Alexander in sensu diviso take him several from his Successors how was his Kingdom of more hard disposition against the Saints than was either Babylon or Persia going before His Monarchy was but for a few years and there was no Persecution of the People of the Jews in all his time Thirdly The Beast that came up our of the Sea after the Persian Bear is expresly said to have four Heads vers 6. Now take Alexander severally from his Successors what four Heads or what four Divisions were there in his Kingdom For in his time the Beast was so far from having four Heads that it had no Heads or Divisions at all Therefore we must necessarily conclude That the Third Beast doth represent and figâ—…re the Graecian Kingdom which in a famous revolution of State became divided into four Parts Now whereas the learned Interpreter doth distinguish the Kingdom of Alexander from the Dominion of his Successors I do yield this to be true For Alexander being broken off four Kingdoms did stand up out of that Nation But this is nothing to the purpose For these several Fractions and Divisions do not hinder the Unity of the Greek Monarchy If it had been the plot of the Spirit to make a Third Monarchy of Alexander and a Fourth of his Successors why doth he use the similitude of one He-goat for the representation of two Monarchies Why are two Empires set forth under one figure And whereas he strongly bindeth upon this That all Four Successors are expresly called One Kingdom vers 23. Saving the great Worth and Learning of the Author he is deceived in this Point For when it is said In the latter end of their Kingdom when transgressors are come to the full a King of fierce countenance shall stand up Now in these words In the latter end of their Kingdom this is not only meant of the Kingdom of the Four Successors contradistinct to the Kingdom of Alexander but the expression is concerning the whole Kingdom of the Greeks opposed to that of the Persians In the description of the He-goat Four Kingdoms are said to rise up out of that Nation and in the latter end of their Kingdom meaning the Greeks when that People shall have the Sovereignty over the Earth a King of fierce countenance shall arise Therefore we conclude That Alexander and his Successors together make but one Greek Empire under the similitude of one He-goat Now let us proceed Piscator By the Fourth Kingdom which was prefigured by the Ironthighs of the Image we must understand the Kingdom of the Successors of Alexander the Great This I have already cleared by comparing it with the Fourth Beast chap. 7. To which I now adde another evident collation of chap. 2. vers 43. with chap. 11. vers 6. concerning the Feet of the Image which pertain to the Fourth Kingdom Daniel speaking to Nebuchadnezzar thus saith Whereas thou sâ—…west the Iron mixed with miry Clay they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men but they shall not cleave one to the other even as Iron is not mixed with Clay Now this very same thing the Angel Gabriel doth declare concerning the Successors of Alexander to wit The Seleucidae and the Lagidae chap. 11. And in the end of the years they shall joyn themselves together for the King's Daughter of the South shall come to the King of the North to make an Agreement but she shall not retain the power of the Arm neither shall he stand nor his Arm. From hence it is manifest by the Fourth Kingdom Represented by the Feet of the Image this cannot be understood of the Roman Empire seeing it was diverse from that of the Graecians Answer The Character of the mixture of Marriages drawn from that collation between chap. 2. vers 43. and chap. 11. vers 6. This of all others seemeth to be the grand Argument But to say the truth and that upon tryal I here find that Interpreters do usually build upon Three notable False Principles First They take the Fourth Kingdom as divided in all time and therefore they look after the interchangable marriages of the Seleucidae and Lagidae to make up the Union But in this they erre For the Fourth Kingdom as long as it is in the Iron-Legs it is not diâ—…ided at all It is one intire Dominion and therefore needeth no Uniting by mixture of marriages The Division beginneth not till you come to the Feet part of Iron and part of Clay But let us hear the words themselves Aâ—…d the Fourth Kingdom shall be strong as Iron forasmuch as Iron breaketâ—… in pâ—…eces and subdueth all things and as Iron that breaketh all these shall it break in pieces and bruise So then the Fourth Kingdom so long as it is in the Iron-Legs is more strong than any going before There arose first a Kingdom of Gold in all fulness of powerâ—… anâ—… then afterwords a Kingdom of Silver and
the Second Chapter of Daniel we gather these Four Observations First Concerning the time of the Beginning of the Kingdom of Christ it must be in the latter times For though it is only said That in the dayes of these Kingdoms speaking indefinitely shall the God of Heaven raise up a Kingdom that never shall be destroyed yet in the scope of the Vision it is implyed to be in the times of the last metal-Metal-Kingdom For according to the Order of the Vision Nebuchadnezzar first saw the Head of Gold then the Breast of Silver the Belly and Thighs of Brass the Legs of Iron the Feet and Toes part of Iron and part of Clay And then after some consideration he saw a Stone cut out of the Mountain that smote the Image upon his Feet Therefore the Beginnings of the Kingdom of Christ were in the latter times when the Image was in its last and lowest Region At leastwise the eminent operation of Christ's Kingdom was upon the Feet and Toes of the Image Secondly We are to observe That the Kingdom of Christ was small in the beginning it was a little Stone cut out of the Mountain For look what difference there is betwixt a little Stone and a great Mountain so the same difference is betwixt the Kingdom of Christ when it began and that Kingdom when it self became a Mountain and filled the Earth Calvin upon the place speaketh very well Propheta admonet exordia Regni Christi fore contempta The Prophet doth well admonish us the beginnings of the Kingdom of Christ to be weak and contemptible Thirdly We are to Note also That the progress of this Kingdom was from small beginnings First it was a Stone cut out of the Mountain and then by degrees in time though the space of time is not expressed in the text it became a Mountain and filled the Earth Fourthly Concerning the means of the encrease how it came to that plentitude or fulness of Power It smote upon the Feet and Toes of the Image and so the Iron the Clay â—…he Brass the Silver the Gold were broken all together and the Stone became a Mountain and filled the Earth vers 34 35. These are the Four Observations drawn from the Second Chapter Now let us apply our selves to Polanus and other Interpreters of that way And here we agree That the Kingdom of Christ did in some sense begin at his Incarnation And this is one chief Argument to prove the Roman to be the Fourth Kingdom because the Lord Christ came in the Flesh and his Gospel was Preached and many Churches were gathered when the Romans did bear rule But our Question is Whether did the Kingdom of Christ begin as the Fifth Monarchy as a Mountain that did fill the Earth In this sense he cannot be said to begin in that fulness and amplitude of power at the Incarnation For from the scope of the text it is plain That the Kingdom of Christ was small in the beginning Secondly That it grew by degrees Thirdly That the means of the encrease was by wearing out the Fourth Kingdom The Stone smote the Image upon the Feet and Toes and so became a Mountain and filled the Earth If we apply this to the event The Kingdom of Christ began when the Romans did bear rule His Kingdom was small in the beginning but by degrees first by wearing out Rome Imperial and after that by wearing out Rome Papal this Kingdom of Christ shall come to the fulness of all Monarchical power over the whole Earth Now on the contrary Let us suppose That the Seleucidae and the Lagidae joyntly or the Seleucidae alone do make the Fourth metal-Metal-Kingdom For so Iunius Broughton Piscator Polanus Hayne Willet and others will have it Upon their Grounds I Demand First How did the Kingdom of Christ begin in the times of the Four metal-Metal-Kingdoms if the Seleucidae and the Lagidae do make the Fourth metal-Metal-Kingdom Secondly Seeing the Kingdom of Christ did begin as a little Stone cut out of the Mountain How do they prove that this Kingdom did come to that small beginning in the times of the Seleucidae and the Lagidae Thirdly Seeing the Kingdom of Christ did encrease by decrees in the duration of the metal-Metal-Kingdoms How did it encrease in the duration of the times of the Seleucidae and the Lagidae Fourthly Seeing the means of the encrease was by the wearing out of the Fourth Metal-Kingdom the Stone smote the Image upon the Feet How did the Kingdom of Christ wear out the Dominions of the Seleucidae and Lagidae Were they not totally destroyed some years before the Coming of Christ in the Flesh by the means of the Romans All these things put together do weaken that Principle of the Dissolution of all the Four Metal-Kingdoms at the Coming of Christ in the Flesh and that the Kingdom of Christ did begin at the Incarnation in the fulness of Monarchical Power Now because Mr Hayne hath laboured very much in this Point we will take his Arguments into Consideration Mr Hayne When Herod Pilate and the Iewish Rulers rose up against Iesus Christ God set him to be his King on Mount Sion and gave him so Eminent a Kingdom that to it all Kings Iudges and People must submit or else be crushed with an Iron-Scepter But Herod Pilate and the Rulers of the Iews rose up against Iesus Christ 1500 years ago and more Therefore God set up Christ his Kiâ—…g on Mount Sion and gave him a Kingdom so Eminent 1500 years ago and more Answer For the beginning of the Kingdom of Christ 1500 years ago I yield that this is true according to the right meaning of the Scriptures But the great Question is Whether the Monarchical Kingdom of Christ when the Saints of the most High shall become the Monarchical People whether did that Kingdom begin 1500 years ago yea or no I do call that the Monarchical Kingdom of Christ to speak cleerly in the Point not when he hath a power in himself greater than any Earthly Dominion not when by the merit of his death and donation of his Father he beginneth to have right to all Earthly Kingdoms for this was given to him at his Ascension But by the Monarchical Kingdom I understand when the Lord Christ after the several and respective times of the Tyrannical Kingdoms of this world according to the free Dispensation of his Father doth actually take into his Possession the Sovereignty over the Earth and that his Gospel cometh to be the regent Law over the Nations Now this Monarchical Kingdom I deny that it began 1500 years ago It is not fully begun as yet though we have some beginnings thereof by the Preaching of the eternal Gospel by Luther and those that follow The scope of the Spirit in the Revelation is to shew that this Kingdom must begin at the end of the Dominion of the Beast or the Roman Kingdom of the latest Edition But to come to particulars It is mentioned Rev.
19. vers 1 2 3 4 5. That when the Saints did sing their Halelujah at the Judgement upon the great Whore then a voyce was heard The Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth vers 6. Here I demand Did not the Lord God Omnipotent Reign before He did not Reign before in the sense of that text For the great Whoâ—…e had Ruled all the world and had corrupted the Earth by her Fornications all was under her Power and she spilt the Blood of the Martyrs at her own pleasure But at her destruction the Lord Christ did begin to Reign and that was the time of the marriage of the Lamb of the glory of the Gospel-Church when the Lamb's Wife had made her self ready vers 7. So it is said Rev. 11. 15. The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall Reign for ever and ever Here I demand Were not the Kingdoms of this world the Kingdoms of Christ before the sound of the Seventh Trumpet before the fall of the great City before that time when the Kingdom of the Beast began to be destroyed I Answer They were his Kingdoms jure by Right they were his by vertue of Purchase 1500 years ago and more but he entered not into the actual Possession till the destruction of the Tyrannical Kingdoms of this world He received Institution jus ad rem above 1500 years ago but he had not Inâ—…uction jus in re till the destruction of the Beast's Kingdom And therefore these words are specially and Emphatically added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou hast taken to thy self thy great Power and hast Reigned In which words the holy Spirit doth insinuate That before the sound of the Seventh Trumpet the Lord Christ by his own free and voluntary permission did suffer the Beast and other Monarchical States to encroach upon him and to detain his Power for 1260 years At the end of this time he doth resume and take the Power to himself alone This is the scope of the Prophecie And for the Argument of Mr Hayne That Christ was an established King upon Mount Sion when Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired against him I will further adde That in those times when the Beast ruled over all and when all worshipped his Image and received his Mark in those very times the Lamb stood upon Mount Sion and with him 144000 having their Fathers Name written in their forehead chap. 14. vers 1. Now I believe none that understand the scope of the Prophecie will affirm That Christ was stated in his Monarchical Kingdom in all the times of the Reign of Antichrist upon the Earth To speak properly These were rather the times of the Patience of the Saints and of the Exinanition and concealment of the Glory of Christ's Kingdom The Kings did agree to give their Power to the Beast and must do so till the Word of God be fulfilled When this is done the Beast shall be destroyed his Body shall be given to the burning Fire and then the Lord Christ shall begin to Reign Mr Hayne It must be granted That Christ's Kingdom when it was set up was more powerful than Romes which to this day never could though assisted by the Gates of Hell either by Might or Policy prevail against Christ's Kingdom Answer It is true That the Kingdom of Christ is in it self stronger than any Monarchical Kingdom whatsoever But the great Question is Whether it be his mind at all times to eâ—…ert and put forth his Power If this had been his mind why did he not dash in pieces the Babylonian the Persian the Graecian and the Roman Powers as soon as they had any Being Why had they any liberty given them to Afflict the Saints In these Variations and Changes of Empire the Lord Christ would not put out his Power till the times of his Reign upon the Earth should begin Again We do not absolutely and simply affirm That the Lord Christ did not exert and put out his Power in the times of the Metal-Kingdoms For he armed his Saints with Faith and Patience and made them able to Suffer But this we affirm He did not put forth his Power to the destruction of these Kingdoms in their Tyranny and Rage against the Church When the Babylonian stood in all greatness of Power it could not overcome the Spirit of Christ in the Three Children And when the Ten Horns did agree together to give their Power to the Beast The Lamb did overcome them for he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful chap. 17. vers 14. It is manifest then That the Lord Christ did put out his Power to hold up the Faith of the Saints and to make them able to Suffer But for the present he did not break those Tyrannical Empires in pieces to make them submit to the Laws of the Gospel He did not nor will not exert and send forth that part of Power till the time and season doth come when his Monarchical Kingdom shall begin The Apostle saith 1 Tim. cap. 6. vers 15. In his times he will shew who is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only Potentate the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords He will set forth his Monarchical Sovereignty and Potency but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his own times in that season which the Father hath appointed for his Sovereignty and Dominion Now that time according to the Scriptures is at the end of the Metal-Kingdoms and more particularly at the end of the Antichristian Kingdom But let us proceed Mr Hayne Christ in S. Iohn's time was the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Rev. 1. 5. Had all things given him by his Father Luk. 10. 22. All Power in Heaven and Earth was given him before his Ascension Matth. 28. 18. So that he was the Head of the Church his Body and in Place far above all Principalitie and Power and Domination and every Title and Name that is Named not in this world only but in the world to come Eph. 1. 21 22. Therefore at Christ's being here on Earth or near unto that time he had an absolute and boundless Sovereignty far above all Monarchs that hereâ—…ofore lived or shall ever live hereafter Answer To this matter I have spoken before scil That the Kingdom given to the Son at his Ascension was far greater than any Earthly Kingdoms whatsoever But the Question here is Whether did he enter into the Possession of that Kingdom yea or no There was a Power given to Christ at his Ascension by vertue of which he was able to destroy the Beast the false Prophet the Dragon Gog and Magog Death and Hell and all other Enemies yet we see that he doth not nor will not execute and put forth his Power in their destruction till the time appointed of the Father till the Saints have passed the time of their Patience and Sufferings
under these Tyrants But in this matter let us Answer Mr Hayne with Mr Hayne In the first Page of his Book he speaketh of the Eternity of Christ's Kingdom and of its extent to the end of the world And afterward in the second Page he speaketh as followeth Of this Extent saith he is Christ's Kingdom yet in regard that God hath soâ—…etimes permitted Satan and wicked men in extraordnary manner to domineer and to exercise their worldly and ungodly Power and that at other times he hath made his own Sovereignty by remarkable Mercies and Iudgements to appear God and Christ upon this more glorious expression of their more Over-ruling Might are then especially said to have a Kingdom and to Reign Because in such times their Glory and Majesty doth more manifestly shew it self Exod. 15. 18. 1 Sam. 12. 12. Obad. vers 21. Rev. 12. 10. In like manner I may say Though at the Ascension of Christ there was given to him a Kingdom far greater than all the Kingdoms of the world yet in regard that it hath pleased God the Father for many Ages together to permit Rome Imperial and afterwards Rome Papal in an extraordinary manner to exercise their worldly Power And seeing also it is his pleasure after some Ages to make his Sovereignty known in the destruction of the Tyranny of these States and in setting up the Gospel as the regent Law in this respect the Reign of Christ may be said to begin at the Dissolution of the Fourth Kingdom in the last and Antichristian State thereof But a little further to open the meaning of the Scriptures When Michael and his Angels i. e. Christ and his Primitive Martyrs had conquered the Dragon presently and immediately upon the Conquest this Acclamation was heard I heard a loud voice saying in Heaven Now is come Salvation and Strength and the Kingdom of our God and the Power of his Christ for the Accuser of our Brethren is cast down Rev. 12. 10. Here I demand what is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by that Kingdom of God and Power of Christ You are to Note That the scope of the place is concerning the Fight between the Lord Christ and his Primitive Martyrs on the one side and the Powers of the Persecuting Empire of the Romans on the otherside After a long and terrible Fight the Dragon was overcome by the Faith and Patience of the Martyrs by the Prayer of Faith grounded upon the Promise of God And in the times of Constantine the Great when the Christian Faith as the best Expositors will have it became Religio Imperii the Religion of the Empire then at that time the Kingdom of God and the Power of his Christ was revealed to the world The Deliverance and Salvation of the Church from under the Ten first Persecutions was much desired before but it was not effected till the dayes of Constantine the Great To his times then that notable expression the Kingdom of our God and the Power of his Christ is come is more immediately â—…o be applyed By that which the Church hath had Experience of already we may learn what is the meaning of the Spirit when he speaketh of her Deliverance from under Antichristian sufferings and of the future Reign of Christ upon the Earth for 1000 years And though there was some beginning of his Monarchical Reign in the dayes of Constantine yet that was but radiatura vel specimen Regni Christi a glympse or a handâ—…el as it were of the Kingdom of Christ and of the future liberty of the Church that shall be For that glory was Eclipsed and the Church fell under Persecution in all Antichristian times When those times shall be fulfilled the Kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And so they shall continue and remain for many years when Jews and Gentiles both together shall make a glorious Church under Christ their Head and King in the latter dayes After the destruction of the Fourth Beast it is expresly said The Dominion under the whole Heaven shall be given to the Saints of the most High and that this Dominion is to continue for ever Dan. 7. 27. Now then If the Monarchical Kingdom of Christ did begin at the Incarnation and so forward to continue for ever what shall we make of the Reign of Antichrist for so many Ages together Christ hath Reigned but a little if we look to an exteriour Reign Mr Hayne The Reign of Antichrist and of other Tyrants is no impeachment to Christ's absolute Sovereignty The wickedness of Sons taketh not away the Fatherhood and Authority of Parents Nor a Debauched Servant's ill carriage argue his exemption from the Master he is subject to David was and continued a King though Ishbosheth and Saul's House though Absolon his own Son though Sheba a Benjamite and many of Israel rose up against him and submitted not to his Scepter Answer We agree That the Tyrannical States and by Name the â—…ntichristian cannot be such impeachments to Christ's Kingdom so as absolutely and finally to obstruct it in every part and point of Power We yield also That the Right belongeth to Christ to be Universal Head of the Church though Antichrist hath Usurped his Right for many Ages together And further Though his Jurisdiction hath been detained by others a long time yet he hath Power enough in himself to recover it again when the time appointed for the Dominion of the Tyrannical States is once fulfilled But to say for the present That the Antichristian State is no impeachment to the Kingdom of Christ this is a marvelous thing When a Usurpet is in the place of Government is this no impeachment to the lawful power All the world did agree together to worship the Beast and to receive his Mark and was this no impeachment to the Kingdom of Christ The great Whore corrupted the Earth with her Fornications and the Kings of the Earth agreed together to give their Power to the Beast and was this no impeachment to the Kingdom of Christ Though David was anointed King over Israel and though by vertue of his Unction he had true Title to the Kingdom yet so long as Saul and Ishbosheth did bear Rule the Kingdom was not his In like manner Though the Lord Christ by suffering Death and by his Unction had Title to all the Kingdoms of the Earth yet as long as the Tyrannical States of this world and particularly the Antichristian Kingdom do continue the Kingdoms of this world in that form and manner as they shall be are not his And therefore at the Fall of the Great City this expression is used The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Here is a tacite implication That they were none of his Kingdoms before in that sense which the text intendeth Mr Hayne You much debase and vilifie Christ and his Kingdom in comparing it and counting it Inferiour to
Earthly Monarchies and Kingdoms Answer For the Kingdom of Christ I acknowledge that it is far above Earthly Monarchies in largeness of Dominion in greatness of Power in time of continuance Yet we do not vilifie and debase it by compaâ—…ing it with the Kingdoms of this world We see both in Daniel and in the Revelation That the Kingdom of Christ and the Monarchies are all Numbered together and are set one in Opposition against the other the Kingdom of Christ against the Governments of this world Further We have good Reason to Affirm That this Kingdom is not begun in that fulness and amplitude of Power as it shall have because the Lord Christ hath not yet Ruled Universally over the known parts of the Earth as Earthly Monarchs have done Mr Hayne That Christ hath not so Ruled the Reason is easily given Soloman who excelled in Abundance of all outward and royal Accoutrements found all to be vanity of vanities and vexation of Spirit Answer That Christ hath not so Ruled is because the time of such a manner of Ruling is not yet come to that fulness of Perfection as it shall have The Scriptures do everywhere speak of his Kingdom over Jews and Gentiles in the latter dayes and shall any imagine that there shall be no such Kingdom And though that of Solomon be rightly applied to the Kingdoms of this world that they be all vanity of vanities yet we must take heed that the same things be not spoken of the Kingdom of Christ. For the Nature of this Kingdom we desire that we may not be mistaken We do not plead for a Personal Reign nor a literal Resurrection of the Martyrs nor a confluence of all Sensual Delights as many have done That which we principally stand for is The Universal Subjection of the Nations to the Laws of the Gospel and the rest of the Church from such Persecutions as have been in all Antichristian times when the Governments of this world have been engaged to Afflict the Church For as formerly The Kings of the Earth being deceived did yield a Universal subjection to the Bishop of Rome and to the Laws made by his Authority So the times shall be when the spiritual Excellencies of the Gospel shall be discovered to the world then the Dominations Dignities States and Governments of the Earth shall willingly submit to the Laws of Christ Whole Nations shall come in in the time of the Gospel They that will call such a Kingdom vanity of vanities must needs call many Promises of the Scriptures Vanity of Vanities For many Promises are concerning the bringing in of the fulness of the Gentiles when that Nation of the Jews shall be called Secondly The Hallâ—…lujah that was sung to the Lord Christ at the burning of the Great Whore was in reference to this The Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth chap. 19. vers 6. For as the Great Whore somtimes Reigned over the Nations when their Laws Statutes Customs Priviledges and all other things were made subject to the Authority of that Church So the Lord Christ shall Reign when the Nations shall willingly yield themselves up to be governed by his Scepter and shall live in subordination to the Laws of the Gospel Be it far therefore from any to think That the Hallelujah was sung to Christ in reference to his Monarchical Reign and such a Reign when all comes to all be but vanity of vanities But leaving this Point let us come to that which is more pertinent to our purpose to the Discourse concerning the Four Metal-Kingdoms and to the Parallel between the Ten-Horned Beast in Dan. 7 and the Ten-Horned Beast in the Book of the Revelation Mr Hayne The Beast Rev. 13. expresseth not the very same but a like Kingdom to the Fourth Kingdom Dan. 7. Therefore it is not one and the same Roman Kingdom That the Beast Rev. 1â—… expresseth not the very same but a like Kingdom I thus prove The Chief Mystical and Figurative terms in the Revelation having reference to some thing in the Old Testament express some New matter like the Old yet not the same with the Old But the Beast in the Revelation hath in the Figurative and Mystical terms thereof reference to the Old Testament namely to the Fourth Beast in the Propheâ—…ie of Daniel Therefore the Beast in the Revelation expresseth not the same but a like Kingdom to that in Daniel's Prophecie What I Affirm of the chief Mystical and Figurative terms in the Revelation is evident For Egypt Babylon the New Ierusalem the Wilderness Paradise Manna express new terms like 〈…〉 same Answer I can see no Reason but the Fourth Beast with Ten 〈◊〉 in the Prophecie of Daniel is one and the same in substance with the Ten-Horned Beast in the Revelation They are â—…et out by one and the same Character with the same circumstances and both Prophecies do pitch upon one and the same Roman Kingdom And what Mr Hayne doth Alledge to 〈◊〉 contrary in my Apprehension is not of such great moment For what if it happeneth many times That the 〈◊〉 mystical terms in the Revelation having reference to 〈◊〉 in the Old Testament express some New matter 〈◊〉 the Old yet not the same with the Old What if this be true in many particulars as in those aforenamed yet it dâ—…th not follow That it is true in every particular We can shew many Instances to the contrary That the same truth is literally and historically mentioned in both Prophecies First The Kingdom of Christ is described to be an everlasting Kingdom that shall not pass away Dan. 2. And is not this one and the same Numerical Kingdom with that which is mentioned in the Book of the Revelation concerning the Dominion of Christ that he is Alpha and Omega the first and the last which is and which was and which is to come the Lord Almighty Secondly Muâ—…h is spoken iâ—… the Old Prophets concerning the future Glory of the Church of the Jews that shall be at the Call of that Nation and are not the same things Numerically and in terms repeated by Paul in Romans 11 and by Iohn in the Revelation But now let us come more particularly to enquire concerning the Ten-Horned Beast whether he be one and the same in both Prophecies for if Mr Hayne or other Interpreters of his way can make it appear That this Beast is the Seleucian Kingdom and the Ten Horns are the Ten Kings in a lineal Succession we will willingly yield the truth of that which he Affirms But on the contrary if we can make it appear and that by true Demonstration That the Roman is the Fourth Kingdom then we may conclude That one Kingdom is Identically Literally and Historically spoken of in both prophecies and that Iohn doth but more fully declare those things which were more fully decyphered in the prophecie of Daniel This is that which we shoot at to make it appear that both Daniel and Iohn do describe one and
the same time of the Roman Kingdom under the Type of a Beast with Ten Horns This being once explained the Doctrine of the Number 666 and other Apocalyptical Mysteries will begin to be made clear But seeing that Dr Willet in his Commentary upon Daniel and in his Appendix against Grasserus is somthing more copious in this matter we will therefore more diligently enquire Whether the Fourth Beast in Daniel be the Seleucian or the Roman Kingdom The Queries are of Three sorts The First From the Nature of the Fourth Beast The Second From the Ten Horns The Third From the description of the little Horn. The Queries from the Nature of the Fourth Beast are these Querie 1. How can the Seleucidae be the Fourth Kingdom upon the Earth under the Type of the Fourth Beast seeing they are one of the Four Heads of the Third Beast going before chap. 7. vers 6. chap. 8. vers 8 22. If they make one of the Four Heads with the rest of the Successors of Alexander they cannot be the Fourth Kingdom The Fourth Beast must necessarily be the Roman seeing the Third with Four Heads is the Graecian going before But Dr Willet thus replieth Alexander's Four Captains were at the first Regents under him and his Successor Aridaeus but they became the Fourth Beast when they erected the Kingdom to themselves If we put Alexander and his Successors together we can give a cleer Reason why the Third Beast may be said to have Four Heads because in the times of the Monarchy of the People of Greece that Nation became divided into Four Kingdoms as appeareth Dan. 8. 8 22. But if we take Alexander and his Successor Aridaeus asunder from the Four Successors I cannot see possibly how the Kingdom of Alexander in that abstract consideration may be said to have Four Heads or that it may be decyphered properly by such a character The Four Heads do signifie the Four Divisions of the Greek Monarchy and can this be a Character of Alexander's Kingdom which in it self considered had no Heads Parts or Divisions at all The Scriptures speak plainly That the Graecian was one intire Kingdom in him and after his eradication the Dominion began to be divided into Four parts Therefore his Successors quatenus Heads had no being at all in all the times of his Dominion Much less could they be the Characters of his Kingdom at whose only extirpation they were to begin as Heads of the Graecian State Besides it would be a great work to prove out of the Stories That the Kingdom of Alexander was Governed by Four principal Regents in his time And further If it could be made appear still this would be a great Question Whether in the Description of the Monarchies the Scripture would look to such inferiour Administrations Darius the King set over the Mede-Persian Kingdom 120 Princes Dan. 6. 1 2 3. and yet we do not reade that this Number of Regents is set forth as the special Character of that Monarchy We have a clear Reason in the Scriptures wherefore the Graecian State is figured by the Type of Four Heads scil in relation to the quadri-partite Division of Alexander's Kingdomâ—… after his death Therefore the Notion of the Four Regents of Alexander during his life time I take rather to be an evasion than a just Truth grounded upon the Prophecie or the civil Stories Querie 2. How can the Kingdom of the Seleucidae be the Fourth Kingdom upon the Earth that shall be different from the former and shall devour the whole Earth and tread it down and break it in pieces chap. 7. vers 23. How can this be applied to them The Seleucidae were far inferiour to the Kingdom of Alexander Four Kings or Kingdoms did arise out of him but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his Strength chap. 8. vers 22. Further The Seleucians were far inferiour to the former Monarchies of Babel and Persia in greatness of Power and largeness of Dominion On the contrary If we apply the Fourth Beast to the Roman all the properties of that Beast will be verified iâ—… him First The admirable condition of the Fourth Beast above the former Secondly His multi-form and various shape Thirdly The greatness of terrour Fourthly The highest degree of strength Fifthly His Iron-Teeth and Brazen-Nayles Sixthly His Actions to devour and to break in pieces Seventhly The object of his Victory to subdue the whole Earth Eighthly The time of the continuance And so the Earth hath longer continued under the Dominion of the Romans than under any nay under aâ—…l the metal-Metal-Kingdoms All these properties agree to the Roman and I cannot possibly see how they may be applicable to the Seleucian Kingdom But Dr Willet replieth That the Kingdom of the Seleucidae make the Fourth Beast not so much in respect of greater strength as in respect of greater cruelty and hardness of disposition against the People of God the Iews And therefore when it is said of this Kingdom That it did devour the whole Earth this is not simply the whole Earth but the whole Earth about the Confines of the Iewish Church If we should grant this Principle of cruel Disposition against the People of the Jews this would strongly prove the Roman to be the Fourth Kingdom For the Jews suffered much from the Babylonians much from the Persians more from the Graecians yet most of all from the Romans They were under the Roman Tyranny for the space of 130 years together and then last of all the Nation and Church was destroyed by their means The Sufferings of the Jews under Antiochus were great but they were not to be compared with the last and fatal destruction of Ierusalem Our Saviour himself doth testifie as much when he speaketh concerning the great calamity that should come by the Romans Luk. 21. vers 20 21 22 23. And this also is well observed by a certain nameless Writer in a Tract concerning Antichrist and the Four Monarchies For saith he Quamvis Antiochus graviter afflixit Iuâ—…aeos tamen ea afflictio ad tempus tantum duravit cum illa 〈◊〉 quae a Romanis facta est nequaquam conferenda Therefore if the greatest degree of Cruelty against the People of the Jews doth give denomination to the Fourth Beast the greatest Sufferings of the Jews have been under the Romans Secondly In the case of the Monarchies in the Chaldee Visions I see no reason why the Jews should be called The only People of God In Dan. 2. there is mention made of the beginning of the Kingdom of Christ and how that Kingdom should break the Metal-Kingdoms Now is this verified in the Nation of the Jews Do they only make the Kingdom of Christ Or have they been only used as Instruments to the Dissolution of the Fourth Kingdom Again It is mentioned That the little Horn did wear out the Saints of the most High till the Saints took the Kingdom Now what warrant is there to take them only for the Saints of
the Jewish Church True indeed in the Hebrew Visions there is some mention made of the People of God but then commonly you shall see some circumstances in the text to decypher the People of the Jews only As for ensample You shall read somthing spoken of the Tsebi or the pleasant Land of the daily Sacrifice of the Sanctuary of Daniel's People and the like But in the Chaldee Visions there is no such thing mentioned which maketh me to think That the Saints there mentioned are of a more general Nature and concern the People of God both Jews and Gentiles Indeed it is often spoken concerning the Saints of the most High That the little Horn did wear them out and consume them and that at the time appointed they shall take the Kingdom But yet it is not specified in Daniel what these Saints are Whether they be the Saints of the Jews or the Gentiles or both Dr Willet seemeth to me to give a good Reason why they should be called The Saints of the most High scil in reference to their most High Prince the Lord Christ. The words of the text are fair for this Interpretation And the Kingdom and Dominion under the whole Heaven shall be given to the People of the Saints And then in the words immediately following His Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an everlasting Kingdom and all Dominions shall obey him vers 27. The Kingdom is given to the Son of man as to the Head and by him it is communicated to his People and Subjects after their Sufferings By all that hath been spoken we may conclude That the Subjects of the Kingdom of Christ the Members of his Mystical Body are the Objects of the Tyranny of the Fourth Beast Thirdly The great Power and Cruelty of this Beast is not only against the Saints but against all the former Metal-Kingdoms for as Iron it shall break them all in pieces vers 40. Therefore this Kingdom is said to be more Mighty than any going before in respect of the exercise and imployment of strength upon the former Kingdoms and not only in respect of the particular exercise of cruelty against the People of the Jews If this be so we cannot say That the Seleucian was such but to the Roman all things agree Fourthly I do yield also that this Expression is used specially for that part of the earth about the Confines of the Church of the Jews yet it is not the whole meaning of the text When the Lord gave Nebuchadnezzar the Head of the Image a Kingdom Power Strength and Glory And wheresoever the Children of men dwelt he gave them all into his hands we cannot say That he made him Ruler over all in Iudea only but he made him Ruler over all the Eastern Countries far and near round about the Confines of that Church and Nation In like manner when the Fourth Kingdom arose and brought the Earth into a more absolute subjection we must not only confine this to the Countries of Iudea but we must also expound the whole Earth by some Analogie to the former Metal-Kingdoms According to this sense when the Fourth Kingdom cometh to the times of its Monarchical Dominion it will be the most potent Kingdom that ever was about the Confines of the Church and it will bring the former Kingdoms into the greatest subjection If you apply this to the Kingdom of the Seleucidae there will be no correspondence at all but to the Roman all things do agree For that Kingdom was absolutely the most mighty and the most powerful that ever was about the Church of the Jews And as the People of Rome had Iudea under their Obedience so they had the greatest Empire about Iudea from East to West that ever was All these Reasons laid together shew plainly That the Fourth Beast is the Roman Kingdom and so consequently the Ten-Horned Beast in Daniel and the Revelation is all one It is not only one and the same in Analogie and similitude of Expression but it is Literally and Historically one and the same The Roman Kingdom is described in both Prophecies by the same Emblems and similitudes And thus much concerning the Queries of the Fourth Beast in the more general Nature thereof We will now descend more particularly to the Ten Horns And here we will shew that they cannot be the Ten Kings lineally succeeding in the Seleucian race but they are so many inferiour Realms of the Roman Empire Querie 1. If the Ten Horns be Ten Seleucian Kings there will be Eleven Horns in all and how can Ten Horns be the Character of the Beast If in the whole succession the Number of Kings be Eleven in all the Beast is more properly called Undeâ—…em Cornupeta the Beast with Eleven Horns The words are plain The ten Horns are ten Kings that shall arise and another shall arise up after them that shall be diverse from the first vers 24. Therefore if in the whole succession there be Eleven Kings first Ten and then another that came up after them why is the Beast set forth by the special Character of Ten Horns The little Horn must needs be the more cruel and more eminent according to the text And yet by this rule that which is more principal shall be excluded from the denomination But Doctor Willet hath this evasion to wit That the little Horn did not come up after the ten but it came up as the last of them And so Piscator rendreth the words Et Cornua decem ex illo Regno nempe decem Reges exsurgent postremus resurget post illos is diversus erit à prioribus And in his Scholia upon the 8 verse he thus speaketh Vox Chaldaica 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae versu sexto septimo significat alium hic valet ultimum seu postremum Nam Antiochus Epiphanes qui per Cornu illud figurabatur fuit ultimus inter decem illos Reges qui hîc per decem Cornua figurantur But let it be supposed that the Chaldee word may indefinitely be taken yet it is to our purpose to consider what the scope of the text will admit In the former verses when the description of the Babylonian-Lyon was ended it is there mentioned I beheld 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another Beast like a Bear not a latter Beast that came up out of the Sea For the scope of the Spirit is to shew the rising of Four several Monarchies each one diverse from other So in the present case after the description of the Ten Horns the little Horn is said to be another that came up after them to shew the notable diversity between it and the Horns that came up before And so this is the meaning of the text That another Horn much differing from the former Ten in Nature and Condition came up after them in order of time Secondly Suppose we should let this Translation pass Postremum exsurget post illa a latter shall arise after them Here I
the latter dayes Dan. 10. 14. From all which we gather That the Monarchies are specially Numbred according to Church-relations And therefore the Roman began as the Fourth metal-Metal-Kingdom when the Church came first under the Obedience of that People Let us now proceed to the Second Argument ARGUMENT II. Where the Graecian Kingdom Typed by the Brass-Metal and the Third Beast made an end there did the Roman typed by the Iron-Metal and the Fourth Beast begin But at the overthrow of the Seleucian Kingdom in Asia and at the Conquest of Judea the Graecian Kingdom typed by the Brass-Metal and the Third Beast did make an end Therefore at the Overthrow of the Seleucian Kingdom and at the Conquest of Judea the Roman typed by the Iron-Metal and the Fourth Beast began The Major is evident it being a ruled case in the Body of the Metal-Kingdoms That where the former ceaseth the latter doth begin All the Question is concerning the Assumption Whether the Graecian ended as the Third Metal-Kingdom at the destruction of the Seleucian Here I finde that Interpreters are greatly divided They agree in it That the Graecian is the Third Kingdom but they are divided about the particular time when that Empire ended For all the Successors of Alexander came not under the power of the Romans at one and the same time His Successors in Greece ended when Macedonia was made a Roman Province by Aemilius the Consul 166 years before the Birth of our Lord. His Successors the Seleucidae in Syria and Iudea ended when all that tract of Land was brought under the power of the Romans by the means of Pompey the Great this was done about 60 years before the Birth of our Lord. His Successors the Lagidae in Egypt were made a Roman Province by Augustus Caesar this was done 28 years before the Birth of the Lord. So then it is plain That all Alexander's Successors fell into the hands of the Romans yet all fell not under the Roman Obedience at one time The great Question is Where we shall set the Ending of the Graecian Kingdom as typed by the Third Beast and the Brass-Metal And this I say must needs be at the overthrow of the Seleucian 60 years before the Birth of the Lord. First In the Original distribution of Alexander's Kingdom Iudea is pleaded to belong to the Seleucian Polyb. lib. 5. And therefore the Seleucian is that Successor to whom the Title of the Monarchy doth principally appertain I do not Deny but the Lagidae somtimes made their Incursions into Iudea as may be seen Dan. 11. But in the Original Constitution of the Kingdom Iudea was allotted to the Seleucian And that which may strengthen our Argument if you reade Iosephus the Book of the Macchabees and such-like Stories you shall find That the Sufferings of the People of the Jews have been wholly in a manner from those Successors of Alexander that were of the Seleucian line And this to me is a great Reason wherefore the Graecian Kingdom typed by the Brass-Metal is rather to end at the destruction of the Seleucian Kingdom Secondly At the Overthrow of the Successors of Alexander at several times the Fall of the Seleucian was only at that time when Iudea Ierusalem and all that Continent of Land fell under the Power of the Romans Mr Mede and some Historians do look principally when Greece the Head-Province was brought into subjection to the Romans by Aemilius the Consul they look here more specially to the ending of the Greek and beginning of the Roman Empire But at this very time Iudea was under the Tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes and the true Graecian Kingdom typed by the Brass-Metal and the Third Beast in great vigor and sulness of strength For though in those times Greece their Native Country was taken away from the Graecians yet nevertheless that People had still the sovereign Dominion in and about the Borders of the Church And this continued for the space of 106 years till the time of Pompey the Great then the Selcucian Kingdom and together with it all the Lands of the Jewish Church fell under the Dominion of the State of Rome And that which may adde to the force of this Reason let us Consider First The limits of the Land of Promise Secondly The Governments that there should be erected For the limits of the Land of Promise the Seat of the Church for 2000 years these are the words of the Charter to Abraham Unto thy Seed have I given this Land from the River of Egypt to the great River Euphrates Gen. 15. 18 19 20. This was performed in the dayes of Ioshua who brought Israel into the Possession thereof Secondly For the Governments here erected The Scriptures do take notice that these Countries were under the Government of the Judges and then after that under the Kings of the Line of David to the times of the Captivity And then it was revealed to Nibuchadnâ—…zzar in the Image of Persecuting Empires what Succession of Tyrannies should be in and over those Countries For as somtimes the Kings of the Line of David did bear Rule in the Land of Promise so they continued the Government till the People of Babel got the Dominion So the People of Babel carried on the times of the Golden-Metal till the People of Media and Persia did take the Kingdom And after that the People of Media and Persia did continue the times of the Silver-Metal till they were subdued by the People of Greece under the Conduct of Alexander the Great And after the Victories of Alexander the People of Greece went on with the sovereign Dominion over all the Territories of the Church from the River of Egypt to the great River Euphrates till the destruction of the Seleucian Kingdom by Pompey the Great And then all that tract of Land came under the Dominion of the People of Rome So then we may conclude As the Seleucian is the immediate Successor of Alexander in and over the Continent of the Church So where he ended as the Third metal-Metal-Kingdom over the Church there the Roman did begin as the Fourth Object But some perhaps may Reason That the Lagidae the Successors of Alexander in Egypt were not made Subject to the Romans till the times of Augustus Sol. Grant this to be true That Augustus did extinguish the last Successor yet the Monarchy was taken from the People of Greece before when the Romans came into Asia and brought all those Eastern Countries about Iudea within the compass of their great Empire It is one thing for the People of Greece to have a Fragment of the Kingdom of Alexander remaining and another thing for that People to have the sovereign Dominion over the Continent of the Land of Promise And this they had till the Overthrow of the Seleucian Kingdom by the Roman State But Helvicus in a little Treatise intituled Chronologia Universalis doth stiffly argue the Point That the Graecian Kingdom did not end as long
all things necessary to their being All the Controversie is about the Minor to wit That the Roman had all things necessary to the being of the Fourth Kingdom and the destruction of the Seleucian This is proved in these Particulars Particular 1. When the Fourth Kingdom beginneth it must exercise sovereign Dominion over many inferiour Kingdoms And so far Melancthon's definition of a Monarchy doth hold true though Bodin doth much deride it in hi Method of History chap. 7. So saith Melancthon Monarchia est summa unius Reipublica potentia quae aliarum opes cop as super are possit A Monarchy is the supreme Power of one Common-wealth which can easily excel the Riches and Plenty of all other Common-wealths whatsoever And so could the Roman State in those times go beyond all the Kingdoms of the Earth when the â—…ewish Church came under the Obedience of that Nation or People Particular 2. When the Fourth Kingdom beginneth it must not only exercise sovereign Dominion over many inferiour States but also sovereign Dominion over many inferiour States in and about the Borders of the Church Now the Roman did first begin to do this at the destruction of the Seleucian Kingdom and at the reducing of Iudea to the Obedience of the People of Rome Particular 3. The Fourth Kingdom did then begin when all the Three former Metal-Kingdoms had fulfilled their several and respective times But the People of Babel of Persia and Greece had then only compleated the times of their Monarchical Rule in and about the Territories of the Jewish Church at the Overthrow of the Seleucian Kingdom Ergo c. If we put all these Particulars into one sum The Fourth of Daniel's Kingdoms may be thus described To be the Fourth tyrannical State which in its times at the end of the Three former is to bear Rule over all the Earth but more specially in and over the Churches Continent This is the true definition of the Fourth Kingdom so far as such a matter may be defined For First The thing Defined and the Definition are Convertible Secondly The most Essential Attributes of the Fourth Kingdom are mentioned Thirdly They are all mentioned therefore this is a true Definition Now all these things necessary to the being of the Fourth Kingdom began to be applicable to the Roman State at the Overthrow of the Seleucian and the Reducing of Iudea by Pompey the Great Object But here perhaps some will Reply Julius Caesar was the First Roman Monarch Therefore the Roman quatenus the Fourth Monarchy did begin at the time of Julius Caesar and noâ—… at the time of their Free-State Sol. If you take a Monarchy for a Form of Government in and by One only I acknowledge Iulius Caesar to be the Foundet of that Monarchy For he was the first Prince that changed the Free State into the Government by Oâ—…e But I justly question whether this be Daniel's meaning That everywhere and in every point of time these Dominions must necessarily be under one Head To say the truth This is but a Tradition borrowed from the custom of Speech They take it for a granted truth That these Kingdoms must be so Constituted but this doth not alwayes necessarily hold The Graecian Kingdom typed by the Brass-Metal was under one Head in Alexander the Great But after that it came to be under Four Heads in the times of his successors Nay in the inter-Regnum in the vacancie it was scarcely under any Head at all The Roman Kingdom was under one Head in the time of the Caesars After that it came divided into Ten inferiour Realms Nay there was a time when there was an intercision of Roman Majesty the Beast was wounded in one of his Heads And last of all when the Fourth Kingdom was destroyed the Dominion and the greatness of the Dominion under the whole Heaven was given to the Saints of the most High Dan. 7. 27. This is expresly said to be given to the People of the Saints in opposition to Four kinds of People that had the Dominion in the times of the Four Monarchies going before All these Particulars shew That it is not alwayes necessary to the Being of Daniel's Four Kingdoms That the particular Form of Administration should be under one Head It is a good and a material Observation of Helvicus in the aforementioned Treatise pag. 3. Quamobrem saith he nihil movemur Aetymologiae Graecâ ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quam Bodinus ostendit in Methodo Histor. cap. 7. Cum per Monarchiam nihil aliud intelligan us quam imperium in mundo summum à Daniele praesiguratum quod Deus potentiâ prae caeteris instruit ut caetera illud respiciant And in very deed if we narrowly look to the words of the text though these Kingdoms are familiarly called the Four Monarchies this is meant chiefly of their Latitude and sovereignty of Dominion as they are so many summa Imperia But it is not necessary that these Dominions should be alwayes under one Head and therefore whereas it is said That God gave to Nebuchadnezzar a great Kingdom and a second arose up after him and a Third that should bear rule over all the Earth and lastly a Fourth Kingdom as strong as Iron which shall bring all into subjection From all this we may collect That these several Kingdoms must have supreme Dominion over inferiour Realms but it is not necessary to supreme Dominion That one man alwayes must bear Rule And therefore look what sovereign Dominion Nebuchadnezzar began over the Church the same did descend in as large a way and in as ample a manner upon the Romans in the times of their Free-state when the Church came within the precincts of their Dominion There is nothing then doth exclude but that the Roman might begin as the Fourth Empire in the time of their Freestaâ—…e For then they became supreme Commanders about the Borders of the Church Object 2. But if you Alledge That this is the way to confound the Free-state and the Monarchy of One together which ought not to be done Answ. It is the plot of the Spirit not to look upon the several Forms of Roman Dominion but upon the Roman as opposed to one Graecian one Persian one Babylonian Dominion going before The scope of the Prophecie is to shew That the Earth especially the parts of the Earth about the Territories of the Church should fall under the sovereign Command of Four sorts of People And further It is the scope of the Spirit to shew while these several Dominions are in their flux and succession Christ shall be born and his Kingdom shall be set up If this be so we need not fear the confounding together of Two several kinds of Government into One. It is enough for our purpose that the Roman was Imperium in mundo summum the prevailing Dominion over the Earth at that time when the Church of the Jews came under their sovereign Lordship
received some hints of the Four Metals of Daniel's Image when he spake of the Golden Age under Saturn and of the Silver Age under Iupiter c. We must not think whatsoever is spoken by this Poet to be altogether a Fable That which he saith concerning Deucalion's Flood in many particulars it was a Fable of his own making yet in the general ground we all know that it is a Scripture-Truth that there was a Deluge to drown the world So he speaketh of the Gyants and of their heaping of Pelion upon Ossa we may conceive that in this he had some respect to the Gyants before the Flood and to the building of the Tower of Babel So in the present case when he spoke of the Four Ages of the world of the Golden the Silver the Brass and the Iron-Ages though in this matter to use the Apostles Expression he turned the Truth of God into a Lye yet in the ground it is true That the times of the Church are divided into Four Ages and these Ages are figured by so many Metals of the Image In after times they that lived in the Church and had the right Experience of things did expound the Babylonian to be the Head of Gold the Mede-Persian to be the Silver the Graecian to be the Brass and the Roman to be the Iron This is a true Exposition in the main but in some particulars they have gone too much after Ovid in his Metamorphosis It is true that the Babylonian Monarchy is represented by the Golden-Metal but it is a common Error in the Ancients and now generally among the Historians Chronologers and Writers to begin the Babylonian Monarchy at Ninus Upon the front of many Chronological Tables you shall find That Ninus is Pictured as the Founder of the Babylonian Cyrus of the Persian Alexander of the Graecian Iulius Caesar of the Roman Monarchy This distribution though it may take in a greater compass of time yet it doth not agree with the sense of the Holy Ghost in some chief Circumstances For the beginning of the Babylonian at Ninus Historians have taken this out of thâ—…ir own Heads and not out of the Word of God And from hence Bodin in his Method of History ch p. 7. hath taken occasion to Dispute against the Scriptures and to strike out the Truth because some have mingled their own Inventions with the Word of God He hath taken this Advantage upon the private Errors of some who have stood for the Truth in the main But the latter Expositors do decline this Error of Ninus and do pitch upon this That Nebuchadnezzar is the Head of Gold and that the Babylonian Kingdom doth begin from his Monarchy They find by Experience That the Scriptures do chiefly point to those several Empires that were to stand in fulness of Power one after another in those Countries where somtimes the Kings of the Lineage of David did bear Rule These are the most approved Interpreters which I so call because they go according to the minde of the Scriptures Now according to their grounds it followeth by necessary consequence That the Roman must begin as the Fourth Kingdom in the time of their Free-state when the Church and all the Countries adjoyning came under the Lordship and Dominion of the People of Rome And whereas in the Chronographical Tables Iulius Caesar is set forth as the Founder of the Roman Empire this is as false an imagination as that of Ninus First It is clear That every metal-Metal-Kingdom did rise and encrease by the destruction of the Empire that went before Now what part or parcel of the Graecian Empire did Iulius Caesar bring under the Power of the Romans Secondly What part or parcel of the Nations about the Borders of the Church did he bring under the Roman Obedience If we speak in a Latitude Caesar did change the Free-state into the Government by One yet to speak accurately The Roman did not begin then as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom but in the times of Pompey when the Jewish Church came under the Obedience of that Nation And so our Argument is Founded upon the Principles of the best Expositors for the true beginning of the Roman Kingdom Now then to gather all into one sum we may conclude the Roman to begin as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom when the Church came under the Dominion of that People This is demonstrated First By the Analogie of the Three former metal-Metal-Kingdoms which did begin each one as the Church came under their Dominion Secondly By the end of the Graecian Kingdom typed by the Brass-Metal Where the Graecian endeth there the Roman beginneth Thirdly By that which is necessary to the Being of the Fourth Metal-Kingdom which began to be applicable to the Roman in the time aforementioned Fourthly By the Testimony of the Evangelist S. Luke which doth insinuate such a Beginning Fifthly By the Principles of the latter and most Approved Interpreters which being rightly laid do necessarily prove such a Beginning also Having thus laid the Foundation I should now proceed to the Building But there are some few Objections that yet remain to be Answered Object 1. Mr Mede standeth upon it That the Roman came up by the same degrees as the Graecian went down Therefore there can be no determinate and set time of the Beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom Sol. What he speaketh in his Apostacy of the latter-times concerning the gradual encrease of the greatness of the Romans we do yield to be a truth in the main But we here speak of the beginning of the Roman in a more strict sense in that acception as it is in the Fourth metal-Metal-Kingdom And here as there was a determinate time of the beginning of the Babylonian Persian and Graecian Empires So there must be a determinate beginning of the Roman as the Fourth metal-Metal-Kingdom Secondly Daniel saw in the Vision the Four Beasts come up out of the Sea one after another and the Fourth Beast last of all There must then be some determinate time of the beginning of the Fourth Empire Thirdly It is the plot of the Spirit by the Four Empires to decypher so many periods of time According to this Rule If there be no certain beginning of the Fourth Metal-Kingdom there will be a Chasme There will be some part of time which will be long to no Metal of the Image For as Mr Mede himself doth allow The Image doth comprehend Four great Revolutions of time to begin one after another in an orderly succession These are his own words Apost pag. 69. For the true account of the times in Scripture we must have recourse to that Secret Kalendar and Great Almanack of Prophecie The Four Kingdoms of Daniel which are a Prophetical Chronologie of times measured by the Succession of Four Principal Kingdoms from the beginning of the Captivity of Israel until the Mysterie of God should be finished A course of time during which the Church and the Nation of the Iews together
with those whom by occasion of their unbelief in Christ God should surrogate in their rooms were to remain under the Bondage of the Gentiles and Oppression of Gentilism But these times once fulfilled all the Kingdoms of the World should become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. So far Mr Mede In whose words I Note these Three Points First That the Four Metal-Kingdoms in Daniel's Image are a Prophetical Chronologie of the times Secondly That this Prophetical Chronologie beginneth at the Captivity of Babylon Thirdly That it endeth at the glorious Kingdom of the Saints And for the Four Kingdoms he Numbreth them in this manner First The Babylonian Secondly The Mede-Persian Thirdly The Graecian Fourthly The Roman And for the beginning of the Roman the Point that we now are upon he hath this Observation In which quaternary of Kingdoms as the Roman being the last of the Four is the last Kingdom So are the times thereof the last times we seek for During which times saith Daniel the God of Heaven shall raise up a Kingdom that never shall be destroyed c. In these words also we do agree with the forenamed Author in Two Points First In the Number of the Four Kingdoms Secondly In the date of the last times from the beginning of the Fourth Kingdom And this is that which we endeavor to prove That assoon as the Church came under the Dominion of the Romans that People became the Fourth metal-Metal-Kingdom And here also we do set the beginning of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or latter times so much spoken of If therefore we set our selves in this beginning where in Mr Mede's own Opinion the latter times do commence If we Number 666 years we shall come to that particular time when the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome began to be set up And so every man may easily observe That we go in the true Scripture-way of account But of this afterward Now let us go on and consider wherein we do differ from Mr Mede about the true beginning of the Roman Kingdom For either saith he we must set the beginning thereof when all Greece came under the Roman Obedience after the Conquest of Perseus or else the Roman Kingdom must begin by degrees In which Opinion of his there are Two Errors For that of the beginning at Perseus we have spoken already And for the Roman Encroachment by degrees let it be what it will be there must be a certain determinate time where the Roman doth begin as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom unless we will admit of a Chasme or a vacuum in the Prophetical Chronologie And yet further Upon Mr Mede's own grounds we do desire to press this Argument If the Babylonian did begin as the first Metal-Kingdom when the People of Israel came under the Dominion of Babel then the Roman will begin as the Fourth Metal Kingdom when the same People of Israel 〈◊〉 under the 〈◊〉 of Rome But the former is true Ergo the latter The Consequence is clear from Analogie for the Roman doth but continue that Dominion which the Babylonian began And for the Minor our Author saith That the Four metal-Metal-Kingdoms did begin from the Captivity of Israel when that People fell under the power of the Babylonians I say also When the same People of Israel came under the power of the Romans there is the true determinate beginning of the Roman as the Fourth metal-Metal-Kingdom And this is proved by such Principles as Mr Mede himself will allow Object 2. Others do plead That the Roman did begin as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom when it began to be the prevailing Dominion upon the Earth But they were so some years before the Iewish Church came under their Obedience Sol. It is true That all the Monarchical Kingdoms were prevailing when those times came that were appointed of God that they should prevail For Nebuchadnezzar the Scriptures speak very much how he carried all before him And for Cyrus the Founder of the Persian Kingdom Thus saith the Lord to Cyrus his anointed whose right hand I have holden The right hand is the instrument of Action and Conquerors prevail by the Lord 's holding up their right hand I will loose the loyns of Kings When the loyns of Kings are loosed wherein their strength lieth he must needs prevail against them To open Before him the two-leaved Gates It was the Power of God that did go before him and that was the Petard to burst open the Gates of his Enemies Isa. 45. v. 1 2 3 4. And for Alexander the Great the Scripture saith Behold an He-goat came from the West on the face of the whole Earth and touched not the Ground Dan. 8. 5. Livy is of Opinion That if Alexander had turned his Arms against the Western people as he did against the Eastern he would have failed of his Conquests And Caesar objected to Pompey That the Wars waged against the People of Asia in respect of others were rather against Women than Men. But these are only Observations of States-men and Souldiers that look upon second Causes The Scripture yieldeth us the true reason wherefore Alexander prevailed against the Asiaticks carried his victories so far eastward I saw an He-goat come from the West to the East and touched not the ground This is the true cause of the greatness and celerity of the Conquest of Alexander He came upon the face of the whole Earth and touched not the ground It is not the situation of the People in the Western Hemisphere that maketh them prevail over the Eastern but they only shall prevail whom God will set up We may see on the contrary That great Conquerors have come from East to West as well as they have passed from West to East This may be seen in the Victories of Cyrus Belisarius the Saracens and now last of all the Turks which have come from the East too too far but only that God would have it so into the Roman Territories Now if you would know the true Reason of the prevailing of the latter their Commission lieth in these words Loose the Four Angels that are bound in the Great River Euphrates and the Four Angels were loosed which were prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year for to slay the third part of men Rev. 9. 14 15. For the Four Angels the course of the Prophecie and the best Expositors do plainly shew That this is meant of the Turkish Nation which Originally were divided into Four Families and had power to come over the River Euphrates into the Territories of the Western World And for that famous Instance of Xerxes That a few Graecians in the West did defeat multitudes of People that came out of the East the reason lieth not in the situation of either People in respect of the Hemisphere but in the hand of the Lord that fought against the Persian Empire For from that time that the building of the Temple was hindred
hath it Consideravi in libris Iunius Fui considerans ex libris All cometh to one sense That whether he did consider these times in books or by books or out of books he laid the times together to wit the times in the Prophecy of Ieremy and the times that had past in the Churches experience and accordingly did argue the approach of the deliverance that should come This act of his was by wisdome or understanding for so the word doth signifie the inward contriving or plotting of any thing in the minde as Artificers do cast the frame of a building Thus Kirkerus doth render the meaning of the word in his Concordance Iunius upon the place doth very significantly express the meaning of the word Fuit intelligens ex libris Prophetiarum Hieromiae quibus annorum numerus fuit praefinitus tum Historiis temporum quae à deportationis initio effluxerant In Danielâ—…hen â—…hen we have an example of computing the times and of his wisedome in numbring the seventy years of Ieremy before the event And this Daniel did do not by extraordinary revelation but as an ordinary believer might do by search Let us now go to another Instance When the Disciples came privately to our Saviour upon Mount Olivet they asked him concerning the time of the destruction of Ierusalem and in order to their question he made them this answer When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place let him that readeth understand Mat. 24. 15. Here I demand What is meant by him that readeth Secondly what is meant by the book that he must reade By him that readeth is meant any one to whom God hath given a minde to search and to look into the meaning of the Scripture And for the Book that must needs be the Prophecy of Daniel concerning the seventy weeks Dan. 9. And whereas it is said Let him that readeth understand the words must go in this tenor Let him that readeth know and understand how many years the 70 weeks of Daniel must contain and where they must begin And from the knowledge of these two if he reckon well he shall come to that time where they shall make an end and that will be the time of the destruction of Ierusalem And so we have an answer to the Disciples question But yet further concerning the time when the period of the seventy weeks are to be studied and that is when you see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place In that particular instant it is said Then let him that readeth understand As for the standing of the abomination of desolation in the most holy place our Saviour doth expound his meaning more plainly in another Evangelist When ye shall see Ierusalem compassed about with Armies then know that the desolation thereof is nigh Luke 21. 20. Here some man may object It is not always a necessary truth that when a City is compassed with Armies therefore it shall be taken and when it is taken it is not infallible that it shall be brought to utter desolation What doth our Saviour then mean by this speech His meaning is not that from such weak principles men should draw a Conclusion of that weight but this is the drift of his speech When ye shall see Ierusalem compassed about with Armies then let him that readeth fall upon the calculation of the times in the Prophecy of Daniel Let him consider where they begin how long they shall continue and where they make an end and then by the joynt consideration of all these together they shall finde they be not far from the destruction of Ierusalem and that the years of the patience of God are run out And yet further our Saviour would not have men calculate the times to satisfie their curiosity but meerly for use and practise and better information He saith Let him that readeth understand But to what end These words are immediately added ver 16. Then let them which are in Iudea flee to the Mountains c. Now the understanding of the Prophetical times is no common matter but there must be much study and meditation used to finde out the meaning of the Spirit The words of the Text are most emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him that readeth ponder and consider the times by some subtilty of observation Now then to apply all this to the present Text and so we have many examples out of Scripture to warrant us That the Number 666 may be such a Number of years to the setting up of the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome And for the computation of these years before the event this in the Scripture-language is called by the name of Wisedome Having then such a multitude of Examples out of the Old Testament where pious men have calculated the Prophetical years before the accomplishment why by the like reason may we not conceive That Iohn spake to the people in his own times to the ages immediately following but most specially to those who should live upon the borders of Antichrists rising that they should calculate 666 years to the beginning of his Kingdom The coming of Christ in the flesh and the glory that should follow was revealed to the ancient Prophets though under dark and figurative expressions Now mark what the Apostle S. Peter speaketh of the practise of those wonderful men Of which salvation the Prophets have inquired and searched diligently searching into what manner of time the Spirit did point to when he spake of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow 1 Pet. 1. 10 11 12. The times of the ancient Church were divided into many periods Now it was shewed them though darkly in what period of time Christ should come And accordingly they who had his Spirit in them made no spare to search when that time should be In like manner the times of the New Testament are divided into many regions or parts and it was revealed to the Apostles in mystical terms how Antichrist should come in what particular period of time he should come and what should be the signs of his coming Now seeing these things are revealed in the Prophecies of the New Testament as I think none can well deny was it not the duty of men immediately after the Apostles time and so downward to calculate the Times And for the actual rising of the Kingdom of Anti-Christ there is no one place doth speak more of his pedigree and genealogie then the Text we now are upon If this be so it will quickly appear of what nature the Number 666 is seeing it is put in the close of the Chapter There is then the greatest probability as can be supposed that this must be the Number of years to the first Institution and Foundation of that Spiritual Monarchy and the person who hath wisedome is to make up the account Further if we take 666 for the Number of time and particularly for the
we account it but a curiosity to finde out the meaning of Christ in these things in which also the precious Souls of many thousands are so deeply hazarded and that for ever to their eternal perdition if they repent not Our Saviour fore-seeing the great Calamities that should befal the Church and People of the Iews at the Destruction of Ierusalem had great tenderness of heart toward them At the instant of his Suffering he said Daughters of Ierusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your Children For the dayes are coming in which they shall say Blessed are the barren that do not bear and the Papps that never gave suck Luk. 23. 28 29 30. Even so at this present day though the friends and followers of the Church of Rome are the greatest Enemies that we have yet nevertheless had we the heart of Christ and did we see the greatness of their sin and the grievousness of the wrath to come we would have tender Affections towards them we would mourn over them with many tears But how shall we do this if we our selves do not understand what this sin is and what judgment the Lord will bring upon them for these things Therefore it is no idle Speculation to meditate on this subject which concerneth the sin of the world and the great judgment of God because of the sin Fourthly If we consider the special Cause of the Martyrdom and the Sufferings of the Saints it was specially for these things And therefore in the beginning of the Beasts Kingdom and Edict was made That all who would not worship the Image should be put to death chap. 13. vers 15. The Victory of the Saints also that stood upon the glassie Sea mingled with fire was of them that had overcome the Beast his Image Mark Name and the Number of his Name chap. 15. v. 2 3. At the beginning of the thousand years also those Souls saâ—…e upon Thrones and judgment was given to them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God that had not worshiped the Beast nor received his Mark. We may conclude then That these were the special Causes of the Martyrs Sufferings in all the times of the Beasts Kingdom and were the eminent object of their Victory and Crown in the end of the Kingdom Now shall we think the knowledge of these things to be a nice Speculation I think that there is nothing more seriously to be thought of and I believe also that it is the minde of Christ that we should so judge of the matter Fifthly If we consider the object of the Vials upon what kind of persons they are poured out They are poured out upon a People that are distinguished by such Badges and Cognizances as these That had the Mark of the Beast and worshipped his Image chap. 16. vers 1 2 10 13. Now then if we would know what the Vials are and wherein the justice of God doth appear in his pouring forth of them in these times for these are the times of the Vials it would be a Point very necessary and material to the opening of this Doctrine to shew what is meant by the Image of the Beast and the Mark of his Name for the Vials full of the wrath of God have their several and respective operations upon these kind of men Therefore it is no matter of light curiosity to discover what these things are and what kind of persons are deciphered and set forth under these Characters Sixthly Considering the Promises that are made to the Church That after the time of the Beasts Kingdom then the Dragon shall deceive the Nations no more chap. 20. v. 3. That wherein the Nations have been deceived in all the times of the Beasts Kingdom is in the matter of worshipping the Beast in adoring his Image and in receiving his Mark as may appear chap. 13. v. 13 14. chap. 20. v. 3. Further whereas it is said that the two-horned Beast did deceive them that dwell on the Earth by the means of those Miracles he had power to do Here we must not think that this deceiving of the Nations was only at that instant but he hath deceived them and doth deceive them and will deceive them in all the times of his Kingdom And it is particularly said of the Kings of the Earth to wit The deluded Kings that they shall agree to give their Kingdoms to the Beast till the words of God shall be fulfilled When those times are once fulfilled the Dragon shall deceive the Nations no more For though he and the Beast are two yet in this business they are but one The Dragon deceiveth the Nations by the Beast the Beast is the Dragons Vice-gerent in deceiving the Nations When the Beast is destroyed the Dragon also shall be bound up that he shall deceive the Nations no more If we descend to particulars and enquire wherein the Nations have been deceived the whole Scope of the Prophecie doth direct us to the worship of the Beast and to the receiving of his Mark. It is no frivolous study then to dive into the Sense and to search into the Meaning of these things seeing they are the subject-matter of such an universal Delusion And who can tell when these things shall come to be more clearly known to the Consciences of them which have been formerly seduced When they shall come also more perfectly and fully to know what the Spirit meaneth by the Name of the Beast his Mark and Image and how they have greatly sinned against Christ in yielding to these things Who can tell what a mean this may be of their undeceiving We may probably suppose that the States and Governments of this world may more easily be brought off from their subjection to the Beast when we shall define the true natural meaning of the Spirit and lay the definition before the Conscience In the great Controversies betwixt the See of Rome and other States it is remarkable what the Champions of that Church do usually propound they speak much of the stability of that Seat grounded upon the Promise Tues Petrus c. And in very deed if we look to experience how many Kingdoms how many Churches in the East and in the West have totally perished and have come to nothing when that Church and See hath continued in the greatest Glory and that for many Ages Now this being laid as a Foundation is not here great reason alledged to the Conscience that the States of Christendom should yet continue their Obedience to the Catholick Apostolick Romane See as they call it None can deny but That Authority hath been wonderously and miraculosly preserved in all times and in all changes of time And for mine own part I do openly confess That to me it is a great wonder to see a State oâ—… Government to continue so many Ages and yet to abide one and the same still But when I read the Scriptures I find that the
Roman Dominion in the last and Antichristian Edition must continue a long time â—…o the admiration of the world The Caesarean Majesty was to continue some good space of time and that being cut off the Antichristian is to be restored as the wonder of the world And therefore it is said That all they whose Names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world shall admire when they behold the Beast that was and is not and yet is chap. 17. vers 8. Now then if we can make it appear what is the meaning of the Spirit in these things when the Antichristian Kingdom began and how long it must continue if we can shew what is meant by the Name Mark and the Number of the Name and how all these are applicable to the universal headship of the See of Rome and to the worlds living in subjection to that headship if these things can be cleared as by the Lords assistance I shall endeavour to clear them in the process of this Treatise I hope that this will not any longer be accounted a fruitless inquiry which may be the mean under the grace of God to redeem the Souls of men from such a thraldom For put case you have to do with such a one who placeth a great part of his Religion in yielding subjection to the universal headship of the Bishop of Rome You shall do much toward his Conviction when out of the Scriptures in general you shall be able to prove such an Obligation to be contrary to Faith in Christ. And this many worthy Writers have done already Yet you shall do more when out of this particular Scripture you shall be able solidly to prove the Profession of such an Allegiance to be the Mark of the Beast If they that separate from our Church and cite that Scripture Come out of Babylon my People would first define what Babylon is and that the Church of England is the Babylon that St. Iohn speaks of they would carry on their business more demonstratively and Apocalyptically Till this be done they do but beat the Air. The same Law may be given to us when we charge the Roman Catholicks that they are such that receive the Mark of the Beast To justifie the charge we should define in the first place what the Beast his Name Mark Image and the Number of his Name do signifie and when this is done we should shew how these things do agree to the head-ship of the Roman Bishop If there be no performance of this how can we accuse them of a sin and we our selves be altogether ignorant what that sin is Therefore the right determination of these things is no trivial matter as some imagine Seventhly If we consider the Reign of Christ upon the Earth for 1000 years to the better understanding of this it is behoveful for us first of all to know what is the Reign of the Beast over those that have the Mark and worship the Image For it is the Scope of the Spirit to set the Reign of Christ in immediate opposition to the Reign of the Beast If therefore we can well understand the nature and manner of the Beast's Reigning over those that have his Mark and worship his Image we shall be the more able to see the nature of the Reign of Christ. For the knowledge of one contrary doth exceedingly conduce to the knowledge of the other specially in that Point wherein the contrariety doth stand and the contrariety between the Lamb and the Beast doth lie in the Soveraignty Now for the clearing of this Truth we can prove it from the Scope of the Prophecie and from the coherence of the Visions For in the former part of the Prophecie from the beginning of the 13 chapt to the end of the 19 it is the Plot of the Spirit to describe the Kingdom of the Beast in its first Institution in the greatness of its power in its cruelty against the Saints in the time of its continuance and in other Adjuncts of that Dominion At the end of the 19 chap. he sheweth how the Beast is cast into the Lake of Fire and when this is done he beginneth to â—…peak of the Reign of Christ and of the Resurrection of the Martyrs From the whole Scope of the Prophecie it is evident That the Reign of the Beast is opposed to the Reign of Christ for 1000 years where the Beast doth make an end at that instant of time the Reign of Christ doth begin And where the death of the Martyrs is fully complete there the Resurrection and emersion out of the Antichristian Death doth immediately ensue Now for the Consequents that follow the destruction of the Beast's Kingdom Iohn tells us I saw an Angel come down from Heaven having the Key of the bottomless Pâ—…t and a great chain in his hand and he laid hold on the Dragon and bound him 1000 years Further he did cast him into the bottomless pit and set a Seal upon him that he should deceive the Nations no more chap. 20. vers 1 2. Now if the question be put How and wherein were the Nations deceived I Answer It was in the worship of the Beast and in receiving his Mark for it is mentioned in the two last verses of the former Chapter That the false Prophet deceived them that received the Mark of the Beast and worshipped his Image When the Beast was destroyed then the Dragon was bound up and so an end was put to the deceiving of the Nations By all that hath been spoken it is evident That the Reign of the Beast in all his times is immediately opposed to the thousand years of the Reign of Christ. Therefore if we would know the nature of the Reign of Christ in what manner he shall Reign upon the Earth and how his Martyrs shall Reign with him it is needful that we should understand what is the Reign of the Beast over those that receive his Mark and worship his Image It is needful also that we should understand the whole Antichrisian time to be the season of the Death Sufferings and Beheading of the Marâ—…yrs for the testimonies sake When this time is ended then there shall be a rising or a standing up from this Death The right stating of these things will prepare the way for the discovery of the 1000 years And for ought as I can discern one chief reason wherefore we are so dark in the Apprehension and confused in the Notion of the Reign of Christ is this Because we do not first Expound and make cleer the Reign of the Beast what it is what his Name Mark or Image are nor what is the Number of his Name These and many other Reasons might be brought to prove the Use and Profit of the Discovery But to gather up all into one Sum If any think these things to be a Nicety â—…et them consider First That these are the distinctive Badges of the Beast's Kingdom Secondly That
or Intercision of that sovereignty before the Roman Dominion in the last the reâ—…aired and Antichristian state thereof In the 13 Chapter it is said That the Ten-Horned Beast had a wound in one of his heads vers 3. What is this wound but an intercision or cessation of all Roman Majesty in the world at the rising of the Ten Kings The Two-Horned beast by his Deâ—…es did cure the wound vers 14 15. What is this cure but the renovation of the same Sovereignty in the Popes which was formerly lost in the Caesars So in the 17 Chapter it is said That all the world worshipped the Beast When they beheld the Beast that was is not and yet is v. 8. What is meant here by the Beast that is not This noteth the total cessation abrogation of the Roman Majesty at the Fall of the Empire And by the Beast that is This â—…eth the reâ—…ing of the Roman Majesty from the Dead when it was formerly lost in the Caesars Both Scriptures then do plainly shew and so doth S. Paul in the Thessalonians That the Empire must first Fall before the Antichristian times can begin They therefore that set the beginning of the Beast's Kingdom at the time of Victor or at Constantines removing the seat of the Empire to Constantinople or at the Reign of the Emperor Iulâ—…an or at any other time before the Fall of the Empire To my understanding they do anticipate the true beginning of the Beast's Kingdom and do go against the Grounds and Foundations of all true Apocalyptical learning The Second Branch of this Principle is this also That the time of the beginning of the Beast with Two Horns must be after the rising of the Ten Kings or the Ten-Horned Beast out of the Sea chap. 13. vers 1. For though the antient Commentators take the first Beast to be the Old Empire yet the latter Interpreters such as Brightman Peraeus Mede and others do more rightly understand this to be the rising of the Ten Kings out of the ruines of the Empire And in very deed if we consider the time of the Beginning of this Beast it was presently and immediately after the Dragons Flood scil after the Inundation of the Barbarous Nations Secondly The Manner of the Rising The Beast had Ten Crowns upon his Horns at the time of his Rising out of the Sea which noteth the Division of the Roman into Ten inferiour Kingdoms in that notable change of State Thirdly The time of his Continuance He was to continue 42 Months and this is the exact time of the Sufferings of the Church under the Antichristian Persecution These and many such-like Reasons do strongly prove That the Beast with Ten Horns and his rising out of the Sea doth Note and decypher The standing up of the Ten Kings out of the Ruines of the Empire And here then The beginning of the 42 Months the time of the Reign of this Beast is set forth by a true Demonstrative Character and we may not doubt of the certainty thereof Further then If we look to the scope of the Text the rising of the Beast with Two Horns must needs be after the rising of the Ten-Horned Beast and so consequently after the standing up of the Ten Kings out of the Ruines of the Empire And so the Visions will be rightly applyed to their true times I know nothing of moment which doth contradict this Assertion but only that which is spoken by Mr Mede in his Apocalyptical Key Synchronism the second Where he endeavoureth to shew That the Ten-horned Beast and the Beast with Two Horns are exact Contemporaries in all their times These are his words A se invicâ—…nt neque ortu suo neque interitu separantur quinetiam altera alterius potestatem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est in praesentia ipsius administrat And then he concludes Quis non vidit illas omni aevo suo necessariò contemporare But saving the great respect I bear to this Author I cannot see first how this can agree with the scope of the Scripture Secondly With the event of things Thirdly With the Tenor of his own Doctrine as he delivereth it elsewhere Fourthly With the Body of the best Protestant Expositors who have spoken most Proâ—…atively concerning the beginning of the Beast's Kingdom First I cannot see how he agreeth with the Scripture For Iohn saw first a Beast come out of the Sea with seven Heads and ten Horns and ten Crowns upon his Horns and after that he saw another second Beast which came out of the Earth with Two Horns From whence we may easily collect That the rising of the one is in order of time before the rising of the other and therefore they no not ad amussim contemporare ortu suo they do not exactly agree in the time of their Original Secondly I cannot see how he agrees with the event of things For at that time when the Ten Kings arose out of the ruines of the Empire there was no Roman Sovereignty in the whole world For as we have formerly mentioned The Beast had a wound in one of his Heads and therefore there was an intercision and a cessation of that Potency for a time We yield that the Two-Horned Beast is the Restorer of the Ten-Horned Beast he cured the wound and made the Image to speak and live It is true that he revived the Roman Sovereignty from Death to Life but this reviving was not assoon as the Ten Kings rose out of the Ruines of the Empire Thirdly I cannot see how this agreeth with Mr Mede's own Doctrine For he saith Apost pag. 83. That the Fourth Beast is the Roman Kingdom the Ten Horns are the Ten Kings that arise out of the dissipation of the Empire and the little Horn he saith expresly that it must arise after them pag. 74. For so he will have the Chaldee word to be all one with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the 70 to wit That the little Horn must arise behind the Ten Horns Now then if the Papacie must arise after and behind the Ten Kings it is plain That he doth contemporate with them ortu suo in his beginning and that according to Mr Mede's own Principles Fourthly I cannot see how he can agree with the Body of the best Protestant Expositors who have demonstratively written of the beginning of the Beast's Kingdom For as many almost who have spoken of the rising of the Two-Horned Beast out of the Earth have applied this beginning to the Bishop of Rome in the times after the Fall of the Empire when the Decree went forth That he should be Head over all the Churches All the Circumstances of the Text laid together prove the truth of this Interpetation We come now to the Third Principle Princ. 3. The time of the rising of the second Beast must be so stated That all the circumstances of the Text may agree to such a beginning We must not leave the times of the Fall
the Church To let pass the ambiguity of the phrase let us seriously ponder the circumstances of the text The Lord did reveal to Nebuchadnezzar things that should come to pass in the latter times But the great Question is in specie What latter times are here intended It is confessed by all That the Monarchical Kingdoms were to continue to the Coming of Christ and the words of the text are clear that the Kingdom of Christ shall begin in the times of these Kingdoms Now our Saviour was born his Gospel was preached and his Kingdom began when the Earth and particularly that part of the Earth was under the Sovereign Dominion of the Romans To me therefore it is an infallible Reason That the Roman must be one of the Monarchical Kingdoms and the Fourth in particular because the Kingdom of Christ did then begin when the Earth was under the Authority and Dominion of that People But let us go on Junius They which follow the latter Opinion do well to end Daniel's Prophecie at Christ. But this they ought to consider that the Lord doth not declare the State of the world universally but only so far as it concerneth the Iewes and the People of God And therefore in our judgement we cannot approve it that the Roman is the Fourth Kingdom Answer For the Maxime That the Four Monarchies are described only in relation to the Iewes I do yield it to be a truth so far as the Jewes were the only people of God But when the Gentiles also became his people the Monarchies are described in relation to them So then the metal-Metal-Kingdoms are not related to the Jewes only nor to the Gentiles only but to the People of God both of Jewes and Gentiles Among many this one Argument may be sufficient to clear the Truth of that which we affirm At the end of these Kingdoms it is mentioned That the Kingdom and the Dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High chap. 7. vers 27. Who are they that are the People of the Saints of the most High Shall we say That they are only the People of the Jewes Then it will follow That the People of the Jewes only shall Constitute and make up the Kingdom of Christ and his Saints And how contrary is this to all colour and shew of truth Secondly Admit it should be granted that in the description of the Metal-Kingdoms the Lord should only have respect to the People of the Jewes this doth not exclude the Roman from being one of the Four Kingdoms For as the Jewes were somtimes under the Babylonians somtimes under the Persians somtimes under the Graecians so sixty years before the Birth of our Lord they came under the Dominion of the People of Rome who were the particular Nation and State of whom the Prophet speaketh The people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the City and Sanctuary Dan. 9. 26. If you Number the times from that instant when the Dominion of the Romans began you shall finde that there were 130 years to the destruction of Ierusalem by Titus and Vespasian So long the Jewish Church and Nation were under the Roman Obedience So then we Conclude If the Monarchies be Numbred only in relation to the Jewes the Roman may be one of the Four as well as the Babylonian Persian oâ—… Graecian what should hinder Junius They that so Number must of necessity confound the popular State with the Sovereign Command of one which is here only mentioned Neither did the Romans any wayes afflict the Iewes till the times of Cleopatra or Herod Answer This is most true That the Jewes came under the Dominion of the Romans in the times of their Free-State And therefore in these times we begin the Roman as the Fourth Kingdom Now whereas it is alledged that in so doing we do confound the Popular State and the Government by One To this I Answer We are not here so much to look after the several forms of Roman Dominion as upon one whole Roman Kingdom opposed to one Babylonian to one Persian to one Graecian going before The Scripture looketh to Four kinds of People who in their respective Seasons and Successions should have absolute Dominion over the Earth and specially about the Confines of the Church according to this Difference we ought to distinguish each Monarchy as the Dominion pass'd from one people to another and not by the particular forms of Government observed by one people Therefore it doth fully Answer our purpose That the Church of the Jewes came under the Dominion and Lordship of the people of Rome 60 years before the Birth of the Lord. Now what Form of Dominion the Romans then had is not to our purpose Further Whereas it is said That the Romans did not afflict the Church of the Jewes till the times of Herod Give me leave to Argue after the same manner Cyrus did not afflict the People of the Jewes Therefore the Persian tyranny did not then begin Alexander the Great did not persecute the Jewes Therefore the Graecian Monarchy did not begin in his times This way of Reasoning is contrary to Scripture and Experience For to speak positively Though Cyrus did not afflict the Church of the Jewes yet he brought that Church and People within the Verge of the Persian Dominion which in all its times was a Tyrannical State So Alexander the Great did not persecute the Church yet he was the Founder of the Graecian Empire which in the whole time thereof did more or less afflict the Saints of the Jewish Church The like may be said of the Romans though there was no eminent Persecution in the time of their Free-State yet then the Church was brought within the compass of that Kingdom in which under which and by which there were the sorest Persecutions that ever were as appeareth by the Stories of the Evangelâ—…sts the Acts of the Apostles and the whole Book of the Revelation Now let us Consider what is spoken by Mr Broughton Mr Broughton The Book of Daniel handleth principal points of the Iewes thraldom in Babylon for 70 years and seven times that space unto Christ's Ascention and the destruction of the City and Temple So that Ierusalem surprized by the Chaldâ—…an and razed by the Roman is the limit of the Story Answer If it could be proved That Ierusalem seized by the Chaldaean and razed by the Roman that this is the limit of some of Daniel's Visions and namely of the 70 weeks it doth not follow that this is the boundary of all his Visions and particularly of all the Four Kingdoms typed in the Metals of the Image I shall endeavour in the process of this Discourse to make it appear that these Kingdoms do continue to the time of the glorious Kingdom of the Saints Rev. 20. But let us go on Mr Broughton The Kingdom of Babel is figured by a Tree touching in
1290 dayes the time of the dispersion doth run from that begiâ—… 〈◊〉 We haâ—…e good reason to take this for an authentick 〈◊〉 because Danâ—…el in the 12 Chapter doth more largely repeâ—… 〈◊〉 Desolation by the Romans which he had more briefly 〈◊〉 chap. 9. We cannot be perswaded but that the Propâ—… 〈◊〉 last Vision went farther into the times than he did iâ—… 〈◊〉 going before at least he went as far For 〈◊〉 is expresly said concerning this last Vision that the time was long and for many dayes The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as Mr Broughton doth well render it the Army-like-ordered time was great Piscator upon the place also doth well observe the same propriety of the phrase Vide â—…r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 essâ—… Metaphora quod in tempore determinaâ—…o partes convenienti ordine à Deo sunt dispositae sicut Milites in exercitis Tâ—…e sâ—…emeth here to be a 〈◊〉 the parts in this determinâ—…te time are so disposed of Gâ—… Souldiers in an Army We may then safely conclude 〈◊〉 in this last Vision Daniel doth go many 〈◊〉 deep into the times and much deeper than he did in the former Visions And therefore we may necessarily affirm That he doth lead us far beyond the times of Christ. On the contrary If these times end with the Persecutionâ—… under Antiochus Epiphanes for so Mr Broughton and others will have it how is the time long and how doth the Lord speak of such notable events that should befal Daâ—…iel's People in the last and utmost Rere-ward of time The destruction of Ierusalem by the Romans was 230 years after the death of Antiochus Epiphanes And therefore the Vision of the 70 weeks if Mr Broughtons interpretation be good must go farther than this last Vision by such a Proportion and Number of years Now who can possibly believe this to be true that readeth the three last Chapters of the Prophecie Must the whole Narration of all the things there declared end at Antiochus his death Now then to gather all into one sum we may safely collect That Daniel in this Vision doth not only lead us to the destruction of Ierusalem by the Romans but he doth speak also how long the Jewes shall remain under that fatal Dispersion These things our Saviour the Apostle St. Paul Isaiah and Daniel all of them do speak First of the scattering of the Nation after the destruction of Ierusalem and of the time of their Dispersion till their Calling again If any shall then require me to make good the Chronologie of 1290 dayes and of 1335 dayes I must confess that I am here at a loss and it may be that they who shall come in the Rere-ward of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Army-like-ordered time shall see more Then perhaps many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be encreased If I may to use the words of Mr Fox vent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Conjectures I should be willing to proceed in this manner First To speak of the time in a Latitude Secondly To speak of it more particularly If we speak of it in some Latitude and begin the 1290 daies at the destruction of Ierusalem this period of time will bring us precisely to the year of the Lord 1359 And here as Alstedius well observeth in his Chronologie cap. 6. the Saints did begin more vigorously to testifie against the Antichristian Idolatries And in very deed if we diligently observe the times with some subtilty of consideration we shall find That from the taking of Constantinople and the destruction of the Greek Empire in the East the Languages have been revived and the Witnesses of Truth have been more effectually raised up in the West and the light of the Gospel doth more and more encrease And it is very probable that these things will go on and never cease till the Kingdom of Christ be set up in its full glory and Monarchical power over Jews and Gentiles This I take to be the meaning of the Prophecie in the general accommodation thereof But for the more distinct and particular Application of the times this as I have said before I must leave to them that come after Now let us proceed to the words of Piscator in his Preface upon the Prophecie of Daniel Piscator The third Kingdom is not here rightly extended to the Successors of Alexander the Great so far at least as he is stated the first King of that Kingdom For though this is done chap. 8. vers 21. yet nevertheless that Prophecie differeth much from this For the Kingdom of the Greeks figured by the He-goat is there expresly Named and is divided into the Kingdom of Alexander who is resembled by the notable Horn which the He-goat had between his eyes and the Kingdom of his Successors So that this of Alexander is clearly to be distinguished as different from that of the Successors For it is said When that Horn was brâ—…ken four stood up for it or in the place of it and afterward those four are expresly called one Kingdom vers 23. Likewise it is spoken concerning the Kingdom of Alexander That it should be plucked up and that it should come to others and not to his Posterity Dan. 11. 4. Answer I do not deny but in some sense the Kingdom of Alexander may be distinct from that of his Successors But 〈◊〉 Whether in the present case it ouâ—…ht to be 〈◊〉 distinguished The Kingdoms of Media and Persia are two distinct Realms Dan. 8. yet both these make but one silver-Metal So the Kingdoms of Alexander and his Successors though they be distinguished yet in the Notion Relation and Distribution of the Kingdoms in the Image they make but one Brass-metal or one Empire typed by the third Beast with four Heads In this case every Metal signifieth a distinct Kingdom in the fulness thereof And therefore as the Golden-Head doth signifie the Babylonian-Kinâ—…dom and the Silver-Breast the Mede-Persian So the Brazen-Belly and Thighs do signifie the whole Graecian Empire And as in this Acception the distinct Kingdoms of Media and Persia do not make two but one Silver-metal So the Distinct Kingdoms of Alexander and his Successors do not make divers but one third Kingdom of Brass But yet further If we should ask how every Metal-Kingdom comes to be divided it must be in relation as each People cometh to have the sovereign Dominion over the Earth and therefore it is expresly said concerning the Kingdom of Christ That it shall not be left to other People chap. 2. 44. And in the end of the seventh Chapter v. 27. these words are recited The Kingdom and Dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom shall be given to the People of the Saints of the most High From whence we collect That the Monarchies are to be distinguished as the Dominion doth devolve and descend from one People to another till at last it cometh to the turn of the Saints of the most High
Graecian nor the Roman can be set forth by this Character sith the Graecian is described in the Scripture in the nature of a Tetrarchy or a Kingdom divided into Four parts and the Roman in the nature of a Decarchy or a Kingdom divided into ten inferiour Realms These are the Three False Principles on which Interpreters do usually build and therefore the interpretation cannot be good that standeth upon such a sandy foundation For the mixture of Marriages which Piscator calleth Evidentem collationem an evident collation I do acknowledge that the mixture of Marriages mentioned chap. 2. is again repeated chap. 11. In the one text it is said That they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men And in the other That there is an interchangeable Marriage one or two betwixt the Seleucidae and the Lagidae But what of all this They that are like in some things are not altogether the same If that general rule Omne simile non est idem were observed in the Exposition of Daniel and the Revelation we should have a cleerer sense of some Visions then now we have But this great Fallacy hath imposed upon Interpreters they have taken that for the same which is parallel in some things only There are some that have gone so far in these times as that they have taken the little Horn for some late Princes some for Mahomet and some for this and some for that Here I confess there may be a similitude in some particulars and the Allusion may hold in some few Circumstances But if you go to the whole Body of the notes of the little Horn and to the scope of the text here it will be very hard to make good the Assertion There is a resemblance only between the Marriages mentioned chap. 2. and chap. 11. But if we go to the main scope the whole carriage of the text doth plainly shew That the Roman is the Fourth Kingdom and so consequeâ—…ly the mixture of Marriages and the mingling 〈◊〉 the seed of men must necessarily be in the Roman Kingdom And yet further To satisfie the doubt They who do look more diligently into the sense of the Prophecie they find many things in the Graecian which are but as Types and Figures of some notable events in the Roman Kingdom Let us take for Instance the little Horn mentioned in the Eighth of Daniel Now here all do agree That Antiochus Epiphanes is the little Horn meant in this Chapter yet whosoever he is that diligently readeth the words of St. Paul in 2 Thess. 2. he shall find that the Apostle doth apply many things to the Roman Antichrist and so doth Iohn in the Revelation that are here ascribed to Antiochus Epiphanes To salve the matter Interpreters tell us That Antiochus is the Figure of the Antichrist to come We may proceed in the same Method and so we may say That the interchangeable Marriages between the Seleucâ—…dae and the Lagidae are but Figures of the future mingling with the seed of men and of all other means that shall be used to the keeping up of the Roman Kingdom in the last and Antichristian State thereof But let us proceed Piscator The same thing also may be cleerly demonstrated from the words vers 34 35. where Daniel among many other things doth speak unto the King Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands which smote the Image upon the Feet that were part of Iron and part of Clay and brake them to pieces And the stone which smote the Image became a great Mountain and filled the whole Earth This Stone Daniel doth expound vers 44. to be the Kingdom that never shall be destroyed and is the Kingdom of Christ for the Kingdom of Christ began then to fill the whole Earth by the preaching of the Gospel after the overthrow of those Four Kingdoms as it is evident from the text And truly about the beginning of the Roman Empire Christ was Born when Augustus did bear Rule c. In the 35 year from his Birth he sent the holy Spirit from Heaven into the Apostles with whose Power they being endued did Preach the Gospel first at Ierusalem to the Iews and then afterward everywhere in the whole world to the Gentiles as the Book of the Acts doth testifie Therefore sith at the Rising of the Kingdom of Christ and at his filling the whole Earth the Fourth Kingdom prefigured by this Image was already destroyed and seeing also that the Roman Empire did continue at that time it doth necessarily follow That that Fourth Kingdom cannot any way be understood of the Empire of the Romans Answer That the Stone cut out of the Mountain is the Kingdom of Christ to this we freely Assent But whereas Piscator doth alledge That all the Four Metal-Kingdoms did expire at the beginning of Christ's Kingdom this we Deny Let us consider the words of the text for they must govern in this case First It is said concerning the Kingdom represented by the Stone cut out of the Mountain That in the dayes of these Kingdoms will the God of Heaven raise up a Kingdom that never shall be destroyed If this be so it will necessarily follow That the Roman must be one of the Four Metal-Kingdoms because our Saviour was Born his Gospel was Preached the Gentiles were brought to the Faith in those times when the Romans had the Sovereign Dominion over the Earth and particularly over those parts where the Church was seated The Seleucian Kingdom was destroyed and all that tract of Land from Euphrates to the Border of Egypt was wholly brought under the power of the Romans Therefore sith the Kingdom of Christ began in the times of the Roman the Roman must necessarily be the Fourth and the last Kingdom Secondlâ—… It is said That the Stone became a great Mâ—…untain and filled the whole Earth Now when did thiâ—… come to pass The Kingdom of Christ was weak and small at his Inâ—…arnation and in the times immediately following But after that the Stone smote the Image upon the Feet and Toes after that he had broken the Roman Kingdom in the last and Antichristian state thereof then and not till then it became a Mountain and filled the whole Earth Now this was not at the Incarnatioâ—… but we look for the performance thereof at the setting up of the Majestical Kingdom of Christ as it is plainly discovered in the whole Book of the Revelation Thirdly It is said That the Stone smote the Image upon the Feet and Toes that were part of Iron and part of Clay This sheweth plainly That the Seleucidae and the Lagidae cannot be the Fourth and the last Metal-Kingdom For the Kingdom of Christ did never so much as touch these Kingdoms They were all utterly destroyed by the power of the Romans before the Coming of Christ in the Flesh. Now if you apply this to the Roman as to the last of the Four Persecuting Empires the Kingdom of Christ in these last
times must consume the Roman Kingdom in the Antichristian state thereof as it is cleer by the whole Book of the Revelation Object But whereas Piscator doth alledge That the Kingdom of Christ did begin to fill the whole Earth when the Gentiles far and neer were brought to the Faith by the Preachiâ—…g of the Apostles Sol. I do not Deny but that the Kingdom of Christ in the Apostles time did then begin to fill the Earth For the bounds of his Spiritual Kingdom were much enlarged by their travel But what is this to the purpose The text speaketh plainly of a Monarchical Kingdom of such a Kingdom opposed to the Four Monarchies that shall subdue and fill the whole Earth The Apostles Preached the Gospel among all Nations and by name Saint Paul filled all places from Ierusalem to Illyricum with the Gospel of Christ. Yet nevertheless for all this large spreading of the Gospel there was no destruction of the Roman Kingdom In those times the Romans continued their Power and Tyranny though the Gospel of Christ was Preached everywhere But when the stone shall become a Mountain and fill the whole Earth before this can be done the Stone must strike the Image upon the Feet and Toes thereof The Tyranny of the Roman Kingdom must be broken by the Power of the Gospel before the Kingdom of Christ can be set up in the Throne Now if we apply these things to the times we shall find that the Church was in perpetual conflict with the Empire of the Romans for 300 yearâ—… together in all the times of the Ten first Persecutions Now it is said of the Primitive Mareyrs That they overcame him to wit The Persecuting Empire by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their Testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death Rev. 12. 11. By the scope of the place it is clear That the Lord Christ by his Power and his Martyrs by their Sufferings both together did break the Tyranny of that Persecuting Empire It is said of them That they overcame him to wit the Dragon with Seven Heads and Ten Horns The Saints by their Sufferings did overcome him and so the Gospel was set up as the regent Law The Woman brought forth a Man-Child that should Rule all Nations with a Rod of Iron This is meant of the Reign of Christ upon the Earth and there were some beginnings thereof in the times of Constantine the Great as appears by the scope of the text vers 9 10 11. Now whereas it came to pass afterwards That the Christian Empire was broken to pieces by the coming down of the barbarous Nations out of the North and Ten Kings rose out of the Ruines of the Empire aforesaid Then also according to the Prophecies a New Persecuting Empire was Erected to try the Faith and Patience of the Saints This in the whole Prophecie is called The Antichristian Empire or The Roman Kingdom in the last Edition thereof Now this Kingdom also shall be broken in pieces by the Preaching of the eternal Gospel the Nations shall be undeceived and the Gospel shall be set up as the regent Law as it began to be set up in the times of Constantine the Great but was hiâ—…dered afterward But now it shall be far otherwise The Kingdom of Christ shall be so set up after the breaking in pieces of the Toes and Feet of the Image after the wearing out of the Antichristian Tyranny that he shall Reign 1000 years From all that hath been said it is clear That we must look after the Monarchical beginning of the Kingdom of Christ according to the Prophecies Of this we shall have some occasion to speak more largely afterward Now let us consider what is Alledged by Polanus Polanus The Scope of Daniel is To speak of those great Empires only that should stand up one after another till Christ in those Territories where the Babylonian began Now the Roman had nothing that the Babylonian had but only Syria and Egypt He had nothing that the Persian had more than the Babylonian but Asia the Less Therefore the Roman is not to be accounted one of the Four Empires Answer It is true that the Roman went no further Eastward than the River Euphrates neither did he possess many of those Eastern Countries which were formerly under the Babylonian and Persian Monarchies But what of all this It is enough for our purpose That he possessed all those Countries on this side Euphrates which were the Continent of the Church In the Churches Continent the Roman was the Successor of the Babylonian Persian and Graecian Empires For look what Monarchy the Babylonian began over the People of the Jews the same was continued by the Romans when their time came to have the Monarchy over the Church If this be a truth we may quickly Answer the Objection of Dr Willet which is much to the same effect These are his words This Vision of an humane Image signified one united Body consisting of divers Kingdoms one succeeding another as the parts of the Body do joyn one to another the Beginning and Head of which was Babylon And then he addeth The Roman Monarchy being distant at least 1200 miles could not make one united Body with it Therefore that Monarchy cannot here fitly be understood By the same Reason he might Argue The Graecian Kingdom being distant many miles from the Babylonian and Persian therefore it cannot be compacted into the same Image of Persecuting Empires But this is not the Point which we are on For we are not to measure the Monarchies by the Longitude Latitude and Distance of place but by the same Succession of Monarchical Dominion over the Churches Territories In this sense the Roman may be placed in the same Image of Monarchical Empires as long as he did continue the same Sovereignty over the Church which the Babylonian began And therefore when the Scriptures do call the City of Rome by the Name of Babylon it is a very proper Expression for she did continue the same Tyranny over the Saints which the Babylonians began And it is clear also That the same Empire did Devolve and Descend upon the Romans in the Fourth Alteration and Change of State But let us proceed Polanus At the Coming of Christ the Kingdom represented by the Feet and Toes was ruined but so was not the Kingdom of the Romans which was not compleat till the time of Trajan Therefore the Roman is not the Fourth Kingdom Answer I have already touched this Point in my Answer to Piscator but because I see many Excellent Expositors build upon this Principle That the Kingdom of Christ Beginneth at the Dissolution of all Four Metal-Kingdoms and that this Dissolution was at his Incarnation Because they build strongly upon this we will bestow the more pains to enquire into the matter To the clearing of this let us look to that which the text naturally affordeth and then let us make Application From
ask What and who are they after whom the little Horn shall arise Are they not the Ten Kings signified by the Ten Horns and is not then the litle Horn the Eleventh in the same succession Mr Mede in his Apost pag. 74. thinketh that the words do best run in this sense Out of this Kingdom ten Kings shall arise and another shall arise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 behind them as the 70 translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This plainly sheweth the rising of Ten Horns and the little Horn rose behind them in the order of time Thirdly Let us go to the scope of the words going before For Daniel would know the truth of the Fourth Beast and of the Ten Horns and of the little Horn that came up after them And the Angel's Answer is sutable to the Question The ten Horns are ten Kings that shall arise and another shall arise up after them and shall be diverse from the first vers 24. Now is not here a plain Antithesis or Opposition betwixt the Ten Horns and the little Horn that came up after Upon these grounds we may conclude That there are Eleven Horns mentioned in the text Now if these be Eleven Kings lineally succeeding why is the Beast called and set forth by the Character of Ten Horns Why is the most Tyrannical Prince left out of the Number But on the contrary If you take the Fourth Beast for the Roman Kingdom and the Ten Horns for the Ten Kings that shall arise in a famous change of State all things will agree For though the little Horn be more Tyrannical than any of the Ten yet it is not of that Edition of Horns from whence the Beast fetcheth his proper denomination In the Goat of Graeciae chap. 8. there are Six Horns in all First Alexander the great Horn Secondly His Successors Four notable Horns And then Thirdly Out of one of them Antiochus Epiphanes a little Horn. Yet we do not say That Six Horns but Four Heads and Four Horns are the proper Characters of the Graecian Kingdom For in a famous mutation of State that Monarchy became Divided into Four Realms So likewise though the little Horn scil the Papacie was more terrible than any of the Ten going before yet the Ten Horns give the denomination to the Beast because the Roman in a famous alteration of Government was parâ—…ed into Ten inferiour Dominions There is a delineation of the Roman by the same Character in the Book of the Revelation chap. 17. vers 12. Now whereas Dr Willet maketh the Question How ten Kings may arise out of one Kingdom at one time I Answer As well as Four Kings or Realms may arise out of one Graecian Kingdom at one time The Four Horns are Four Kings or Kingdoms which shall stand up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of that Nation chap. 8. vers 22. So the Ten Horns are Ten Kings that shall arise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex Regno out of that Fourth or Roman Kingdom chap. 7. vers 24. Querie 2. If the Ten Horns be Ten Kings in a lineal succession and the little Horn is one in the same row or order why doth the Spirit put such a difference between the one and the other According to the text there is a great distance between them they were of a former Edition this of a latter They came up together and were of the same kind this after some pause or interval of time came up after them was diverse from them before whom Three of the former were plucked up by the roots If you apply this to the row of Seleucian Kings I cannot see how this can be true either in the general or in the particular accommodation In the general it is not true for the Seleucian Kings Reigning one after another make but one Dynastie For though some of the Kings were more mighty than others and some more cruel against the Saints of the Jewish Church yet all make but one succession of Kings in the same Kingdom Now if you look to the text there is mention made of a double change or form of State the first is when the Ten Kings arose the second when the little Horn arose up after them which was diverse from them and subdued three of the former Kings and so became Great The scope of this Scripture is concerning the Division of the Fourth Kingdom into Ten Regencies or Divisions at one time and after some space of time it sheweth how the little Horn arose and subdued three of the former Realms We cannot see how this can be spoken so properly of Kings Reigning one after another in the same Policie or Government Neither is it true in the particular Accommodation for they that will have Antiochus Epiphanes to be the little Horn they have not yet cleared the Point First How Antiochus Epiphanes was the tenth Seleucian King Secondly How he was more Potent than his Father Antiochus Magnus or Seleucâ—… Nicanor Thirdly How he did pluck up three of the former Seleucian Kings by the roots Fourthly How he did wear out the Saints of the most High till the Saints did take the Kingdom which should be for ever and ever Fifthly How he did continue his Dominion and Persecution so long till the Beast was destroyed and his Body given to the burning fire All these Particulars have not yet been cleared in Antiochus Epiphanes Somthing hath been spoken in the Commentaries which I take rather to be Evasions than just Answers On the contrary if you take the Roman for the Fourth Kingdom all things will agree For in a famous Revolution of Empire that Monarchy became divided into ten inferiour Realms as it is set forth by the rising of the Ten Horned Beast our of the Sea Rev. 13. 1. After this another rose out of the Earth This in Daniel is called the little Horn which is the Emblem and Type of the Papal Government Now to this last Edition of Roman State all the aforementioned particulars do agree First it is evident That this was more dreadful than any of the Horns going before Secondly That it did eradicate some of the former to have elbow-room in Italy Thirdly That it did wear out the Saints a time and times and half a time Fourthly That the wearing out of the Saints was till the Body of the Beast was cast into the burning fire and the Saints of the most High did begin to Reign with Christ chap. 19. vers 20. and chap. 20. vers 4. Querie 3. If the Ten Horns be Ten Kings and the little Horn the last King why is it said I considered the Horns and behold there came up amongst them another little Horn vers 8. If these be so many Kings in a lineal succession how could the little Horn that came last of all be said to come up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inter ea among them to have Being and Existence with them We do willingly yield That Antiochus Epiphanes was one of the Seleucian
Such a sense may be admitted For we read in the Scripture That the Davidical Kingdom should be destroyed for the sins of Manasseth King of Iudah 2 King 23. 26. yet the destruction was many years after his death Though such a sense may be admitted yet it will not stand in the present case for in this Chapter the little Horn is said to continue till the destruction of the Fourth Kingdom It is said in express terms in the 26 Verse That the Iudgement shall sit and they shall take away his Dominion to consume and to destroy it to the time of the end Here I demand Whose Dominion is it that they shall take away Is it the Dominion of the Fourth Beast Hornless and harmless No This is immediately spoken of the little Horn that should wear out the Saints of the most High and should change Laws and Times a time and times and half a time Touching this little Horn it 's said That the Judgement shall sit and they shall take away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Kingdom They shall bereave him of his Dominion Therefore it is clear That the times of the little Horn shall continue to the end of the Beast's Kingdom and to the beginning of the Kingdom of the Saints And yet further Daniel did desire to know the truth of the Fourth Beast and of the Ten Horns of the little Horn that came up after them I beheld saith he and the same Horn made War with the Saints and prevailed against them until the ancient of dayes came and judgement was given to the Saints of the most High the time came that the Saints possessed the Kingdom vers 22. From these words also it is manifest That the times of the little Horn do extend to the beginning of the Kingdom of the Saints Now how this should be verified in Antiochus Epiphanes it is not as yet made so clear to me But if you apply this to the Papacy all things will agree for it is manifest That the Two-Horned Beast in the Revelation must wear out the Saints a time and times and half a time Rev. 12. 14. Rev. 11. 7 8 9. Now when this time is once fulfilled the Beast and the false Prophet shall both of them be cast into the Lake of fire and the Reign of Christ and of his Saints shall begin upon the Earth Rev. 19. 20. Rev. 20. 1 2 3 4. But by the way because some stand for a Personal Reign of Christ at the end of the Fourth Kingdom because then the Son of Man is said to come in the clouds of Heaven I Answer That they have no Reason to take that strictly which we can prove from the Harmony of Scripture ought to be construed with some kind of Latitude These things are shewed to Daniel who saw afar off as joyned together and yet in experience they do not meet in the same juncture of time As for example A man that traveleth in Wales or some such-like hilly Country while he is yet at a long distance he may see the tops of two great Mountains as though they were near together yet when he cometh to look upon them with a more distinct view the one may be ten or twelve Miles beyond the other in the distance of place It is well known also That when the Apostles made mention of the coming of Antichrist they also spake of the end of the world 2 Thess. 2. What then shall we argue as many do That the Discovery of Antichrist will not be till the end of the world This cannot be We that live in these times may see more clearly That Antichrist hath been revealed many hundred years ago and the end of the world is not yet come If therefore a Reason be demanded why these two The Revelation of Antichrist and the End of the World are coupled together we may say That the Apostles who saw afar off spake of these things because they should happen in the last times though in the particularity of time the one might be before the other In like manner the Prophet Daniel who lived very remote from the Dissolution of the Fourth Kingdom from the glorious Kingdom of the Saints and from the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of Heaven to him all these things in the general and in the lump may be represented together when in a more distinct and particular consideration the one may be before the other The consuming of the Kingdom of Antichrist with the word of his mouth and the establishment of the Kingdom of the Saints may be before the Personal appearing of the Son of Man in the Clouds of Heaven But now it is not to our present purpose to meddle with this Difficulty That which we have to say is only concerning the Fourth Beast That either he must signifie the Seleucian or the Roman Kingdom But we have proved by many Arguments against Dr Willet and others That the Seleucian cannot here be meant Therefore we may safely conclude That the Fourth Beast with Ten Horns is the proper Embleme and Type of the Roman Kingdom From whence also we gather That Daniel in his Prophecie and Iohn in the Revelation so far as this Point is concerned do speak of one and the same matter And by the Interpretation of the one we may finde out the sense of the other Prophecie There is no Principle that can be more useful and demonstrative than this To discover the Truth by the Harmony of the Prophecies Now let us go to the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth metal-Metal-Kingdom and so let us see how there is a Chain of 666 years from that beginning to the Universal Headship of the Beast This shall be the Subject of the Chapter following CHAP. VI. That the Beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom is not from the time of Julius or Augustus Caesar or from any other vulgar Beginning but precisely from that instant when the Church of God came under the Dominion of the Romans 60 years before the Birth of the Lord and 666 before the going forth of the Decree That the Bishop of Rome should be Head over all the Churches THere are in this Proposition Two Parts that need special Confirmation First That the Roman did begin as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom when the Church came under the Dominion of that People Secondly That from this beginning there is the space of 666 years to the Universal Headship For the Beginning of the Dominion of the Romans according to different Relations men may differently state the Epocha thereof But laying aside all other considerations we are to note in what sense Daniel doth begin it as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom And here I stand upon it That we are principally to look to the state of the Church How the Church and the Continent adjoyning came under the Dominion of that People For the clearing of this we will also demonstrate two things First That the Beginning of
this Fourth Monarchy is to be stated according to Church-relations Secondly We will shew out of the Stories in whose times and by whose means the Church came first under the Dominion of that People Now That the Roman doth begin as the Fourth of Daniel's Kingdoms when the Church came under the Obedience of that People may be proved by these Arguments ARGUMENT I. Where the former Three Kingdoms in Daniel's Image did begin by the same Analogie we are to proceed in stating the Beginning of the Fourth Kingdom But the former Three Kingdoms in Daniel's Image did begin each of them in their several times when the Church and the Confines adjoyning came under their Dominion Therefore the Roman as the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel's Image began when the Church and the Confines about the Church came under the Obedience of that People The Major is clear For none will Deny but that the Roman doth hold Analogie with the three former Empires in their beginning And for the Minor we prove it by Induction of Singulars As for Ensample Example 1. First In the Babylonian Kingdom the first of Daniel's Four there were many Potent Kings that did Reign in that Succession before the times of Nebuchadnezzar for he began to Reign in the 144 year of the Aera of Nabonazzar Now the several Names of the Kings the times of their Reign and the order of their Succession are all set down in the famous Canon of Ptolomy as we shall shew afterwards But not to go far for an Example There is mention made of one Merodach-Baladan in the Canon aforesaid called by the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he sent Ambassadors to Hezekiah King of Iudah 2 King 20. 12. There was then a Succession of Babylonian Kings before Nebuchadnezzar You will say Why is he then called the Head of Gold as much in sense as the first Babylonian King I Answer Though he was not simply the first Babylonian King others Reigning before him yet he was the first Prince of the Babylonians that brought the Jewish Church and the Confines about that Church within the Babylonian Empire Example 2. Secondly That Kingdom of the Medes and Persians whereof Darius and Cyrus were the Founders if we go strictly to work the Foundation of these was laid before For it is manifestly plain by the testimony of the Greek Historians and by the Chronographical Tables now in the hands of all men That there was a Potent Race of the Kings of Media down from Arbaces the Mede Yet for all this Darius and Cyrus are the true Founders of the Mede-Persian Kingdom because they first brought the Jewish Church under the power of the Medes and Persians And that which is very remarkable to our present purpose though it be a thing famously known among Historians That Cyrus began to Reign in the 55 Olympiad though he subdued many Nations Propagated the Persian Empire very far yet the Scripture taketh no notice of that beginning but then only when the Church came within the limits of the Persian Dominion And therefore it is well Observed by Piscator in his Scholia upon Ezra chap. 1. vers 2. That the Edict came forth in the first of Cyrus King of Persia. This saith he is the first year of his Reign in Babylon Example 3. The Third Kingdom in Daniel's Image is that of the Graecians of which Alexander became the Head at the overthrow of Darius The rough Goat is said to be the Monarchy of the Graecians and the Great Horn to wit Alexander is expresly called the first King Dan. 8. 21. Now How can he be said to be the first King of the Graecians seeing there were many Mighty Kings before him in and over that Nation To let pass all the other States of Greece in Macedonia it self Philip the Father of Alexander was a Potent Prince But the Answer is as before He was the first Monarchical King that subdued the Territories of the Church There was never any Graecian Prince that extended the Sovereign Rule of that People so far Eastward to the Confines of the Church as he And therefore he is expresly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first King of the Graecians From all the forementioned particulars it is clear That the former Three Kingdoms in Daniel's Image began each of them in their several times when the Church came under their respective Dominions And so the Assumption is proved If then we proceed in the same Analogie we must necessarily say That the Roman began as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom when the Jewish Church and the Continent adjoyning came first under the Sovereign Lordship and Command of the People of Rome But yet for further confirmation of this truth we will produce some new Arguments to prove That the metal-Metal-Kingdoms are Numbred in relation to the Church First The Revelation of these Metal-Kingdoms was specially for the Saints and People of God For though one end was to Discover to Nebuchadnezzar what Successions of Tyranny there should be after him yet this was principally for the Churches sake and the Churches use And therefore it is mentioned This Secret is not revealed unto me for any wisdom that I have above all living but for their sakes that shall make known the Interpretation to the King vers 30. Therefore in the delineation of these Tyrannical Empires the Lord doth specially intend to Reveal to the Church those Changes and Vicissitudes of times that she should meet withal In Relation to her then There is primarily a Discovery of these things Secondly These Metal-Kingdoms are also Discovered to shew in what Region or Part of Time the Kingdom of Christ should begin All the Scriptures in the Old Testament point mainly to Christ some point to his Parentage others to the place of his Birth others to the Tribe that he should come of So this in special pointeth to that period of time when his Kingdom should begin These are the words of the text In the dayes of these Kingdoms shall the God of Heaven raise up a Kingdom that never shall be destroyed From whence it is manifest That the Monarchies are reckoned according to the alterations which shall be in and about the Borders of the Jewish Church For Where should Christ be Born but in Iudea And hereupon he is called The King of the Jews Thirdly If we go to that Expression so often mentioned Dan. 11. where the Seleucian is called The King of the North and the Dominion of the Lagidae The King of the South Here we must necessarily Affirm That these Empires are said to be North and South in some special relation And the Reason is clear Because Iudea did lie in the middest betwixt them as a Lamb betwixt Two Wolves having the Seleucidae on the North and the Lagidae on the South Now that the People of the Jews are herein principally respected the words of the Angel are clear I am come to make Thee Understand what shall befal Thy People in
Story of the Gospel and particularly the entrance of Christ into his Ministery he hath these words In the fifteenth year of the Reign of Tiberius Caesar Pontius Pilate being Governor of Iudea and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee and his Brother Philip Tetrarch of Iturea and of the Region of Trachonitis and Lysanias the Tetrarch of Abilene the Word of the Lord came to Iohn the Son of Zacharias in the Wilderness Luk. 3. 1 2 3. Here I demand What hath the Evangelist to do with the times of the Romans being a Government so alien to the affairs of the Church I Answer There be Two Reasons wherefore he Numbreth the times according to the Roman accompt The First is To shew the Truth of Daniel's Prophecie in the Image of Persecuting States For there it is expresly said That in the dayes of these Kingdoms shall the God of Heaven raise up a Kingdom that never shall be destroyed Dan. 2. 44. Now the Evangelist expoundeth this to be the Kingdom of Christ and that the Roman in particular is the Metal-Kingdom in whose times the Kingdom of Christ did begin And he doth leave it upon Record That the Lord Christ had a solemn Inauguration into his Office in that part of time when Tiberius was Emperor in the fifteenth year of his Reign when Pontius Pilate was Governor of Iudea c. Now if it be the scope of the Evangelist to shew That the Lord did begin his Office in Preaching the Gospel when the Romans did beaâ—… Rule there must be a particular instant of time also when all in Iudea fell under the Dominion of that People and that in the sense of the Gospel must be the Epocha or term of the Roman Kingdom Secondly The Evangelist doth so punctually Number the times according to the Roman Government because then Iudea where the Gospel began to be Preached was under the Command of the People of Rome And the Evangelist doth no more in the times of the New Testament than what the Prophets and ancient Writers had done in the times of the Old As for Ensample Those Prophets that lived in the times of the Kings of Iudah and Israel as Isaiah Ieremy Hosea dated their Prophecies from the Reign of those Kings And from that time that the Kings of the Line of David were taken away it was the use to reckon by the times of the Four Monarchical States So Daniel and Hezâ—…kiel who lived in the times of the Babylonian Empire do reckon their Visions by the times of the Babylonian Kings And after them Ezrah Nehemiah Haggie and Zachary who lived in the times of the Persian Monarchy dated their times by the Reigns of the Kings of Persia. And as for those Ecclesiastical Writers that lived in the times of the Graecian Kingdom as the Author of the Book of the Macchabees they accounted by the years of the Kingdom of the Greeks In like manner the Evangelists living in the times of the Romans date the Story of the Gospel by the Roman account In all which they do secretly imply That the Roman is the Fourth Metal-Kingdom and it began so to be when the Church of the Jews became subject to the People of Rome So long the Stories of the Church were Numerable by the Roman account But let us adde another Testimony out of the same Evangelist where he telleth us chap. 2. vers 2. A Decree went forth from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed 〈◊〉 this taxing was first made when Cyreneus was Governor of Syria Now whereas he saith That all the world should be taxed this is meant only of the world under the Roman obedience And here we Affirm When Iudea and the Countries near Bordering became Members of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Roman world then did the Roman begin as the Fourth of Daniel's Kingdoms The Evangelist being to speak of the Birth of the Kinâ—… of the Jews his special purpose is to shew how that particular Continent was under the sovereign Power of Augustus Caesar at that time Object 1. But here it may be Objected How could Augustus tax Iudea when it was under the Power of Herod the King Sol. This matter is solidly Disputed by the learned Spanhemius in his Dubia Evangelica part 2. dub 2. pa. 157. The sum of that which he doth deliver cometh to this issue Though Herod was King he had not jus summum the supreme Dominion he had only jus subalternum a Right and a Power meerly by the courtesie of Augustus And therefore he citeth a passage out of Appianus That as Darius was the King of Pontus and Polemon of Cilicia so Herod was King of the Jews that is meerly by favour and courtesie Secondly He sheweth That there were often Appeals from Herod to the Romans and therefore he was compelled to pleÌ„ad for himself before Antonius at Laodicea and before Augustus after the Battel of Actium at Rhodes Many more Arguments he brought to prove that his Government was meerly Precatious and at the will of the Romans Now for that particular time when the Romans began to have the sovereignty over the People of the Jews this was at the times of Pompey the Great These are the Authors own words pag. 160 At a sane erat conditio populi Iudaici tempore Macchabaeorum qu indo à Iudâ Macchabaeo foedus primò cum Romanis initum ubi Iudaeâ—… vocantur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 populi Romani rescripto Sena us ad Deâ—…ctrium à quo premebantur 1 Mac. 8. Sed quamâ—…rimum à Pompeio Magno subacti fuere societatis nomen in servitutem abâ—…r illi aequè ac aliae gentes dâ—…victae Romanis vectigales facti eorum imperio accessêre Ab eâ—… tempore Iudaeorum gens in Clientelâ Romanorum fuit à quâ—…bus Reges pro arbitrio instituebantur vel destituebantur tales quidem quibus precarium limitatum erat imperium à nutu eorum suspensum qui Romae rerum potâ—…ebantur In these words of his he doth plainly distinguish what the People of the Jews were before the Conquest of Judea by Pompey and what they were after Before the Conquest they were Friends Allies and Auxiliaries and after that their society was turned into servitude and as other Conquered Nations so the Jews were made Tributaries to the Empire From that time the Nation of the Jews was alwayes under the Dominion of the Romans by whom their Kings were either set up or plucked down at pleasure And for the manner of their Rule it was meerly limited hanging upon the good will of them that had the supreme Command at Rome Now if this be so I leave it to any man to judge when the Roman did begin as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom According to these Principles he must needs begin at the times of Pompey when the Church was brought under the Power of the Romans Object 2. Why is it said That the taxing was when Cyreneus was Governor of Syria and not rather
when Herod was King of the Iews Sol. The Answer is clear That though Herod was King of the Jews yet Cyreneus was the principal Agent of the Romans in the Tax and Iudea was but a Member annexed to the Province of Syria Maldonate upon the place to my apprehension speaketh satisfactorily For saith he Cyreneus was not the Governor of Judea but of Syria but because Judea did then belong to the Province of Syria as all Authors do deliver it was his Office to tax not only Syria but Judea also And in very deed much is spoken in the Roman Story That Iudea was a Member annexed and Iosâ—…phus calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apendix or the Additament of Syria If we go to the Original we shall find in the Stories That when the Seleucian Kingdom was destroyed Syria and Iudea both together came under the Power of the Romans by the means of Pompeâ—… the Great And here we set the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom But because Spanhemius doth seem to go another way and doth stand upon it That Iudea was not a Member annexed to Syria till the time of Archelaus when Iudea was made a Province Let him now give his Answer Why the Birth of Christ is recorded by the Evangelist to be in the times of the Oecumenical Tax of the Roman World His Answer is this Ut non tantum res tam illustris Charactere temporis illustri consignaretur sed tali qui responderet vaticiniis Propheticis not only that so famous a matter should be decyphered by so famous a Character of time but by such a famous Character of time which should Answer the Predictions of the Prophets And then in particular he citeth those words of the Prophecie of Daniel In the dayes of these Kingdoms shall the God of Heaven raise up a Kingdom that never shall be destroyed chap. 2. vers 44. And then he concludeth upon the Premises in these words Descriptio enim Iudaeorum sub Augusto erat publica servitutis professio tessera Obsequii quod debebatur Principi Extero adeóque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 advenisse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quo Messias nasci debuit lapis sine manibus è monte excindi The Tax of the Iews under Augustus was a publick profession of their Servitude and a Badge of that Homage which was due to a Forreign Prince and therefore a clear Demonâ—…ation that that fulness of time was come in which the Messiah should be born and in which the Stone should be cut out of the Mountain without hands From these words of his we do conclude That in the sense of the Evangelists the Roman is the Fourth and last Metal-Kingdom For when the Lord Christ was born the Jews did yield their Homage and Obedience to the Romans as to those that were set over them But if we do enquire after the time when they came to be Homagers it was at the time of Pompey the Great Therefore in the sense of the Evangelists we must there set the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom ARGUMENT V. That which doth necessarily spring from theâ—…r Principles who do most authentically expound the Monarchies that is the true beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom But the beginning of the Roman at the time of their Free-state when the Church came first within the Verge of their Dominion is such Ergo. The Major is plain For we cannot reject that beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom which doth necessarily spring from the Principles of the most Authentick Expositors We do in substance take that for truth which is implyed as that which is plainly expressed But for the Minor That the beginning of the Roman Monarchy was at the time of their Free-stare and that this doth spring from the Principles of the most Authentick Expositors This is proved by the enumeration of Singulars First The most approved Interpreters do hold That all the Four Tyrannical Empires are compacted into one Image and though they differ in some particulars yet they all agree in the greatness of Dominion In this sense nothing doth exclude the Roman from being one of the Four Secondly They agree That all these Tyrannical Empires compacted into one Image continue a succession of that Lordship which the first scil the Babylonian did take from the People of the Jews If this be so the Roman must begin as the Fourth of Daniel's Kingdoms at that time only when the Church of the Jews came under their Dominion For though the Romans were a mighty State and had gained to themselves a great Power in the West yet they were not the sucsessors of Nebuchadnezzar in that Monarchy which he had begun till they had taken in the Eastern Countries and brought the Jewish Church within the Power of their Kingdom But when this matter was once effected then did the Roman begin as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom And this doth necessarily arise from the Principles and Foundations of such as have best Expounded the Metal-Kingdoms Object But some perhaps may alledge You have formerly taught That the Metal-Kingdoms do not only respect the People of the Iews but the People of the Gentiles also when the Gentiles come to be the Church of Christ. Sol. This I confess to be a Truth Yet withal in the right stating of the beginning of the Four Kingdoms we must have only respect to the Nation of the Jews For when all these Kingdoms began and in particular the Fourth and the last there was no other Church in all the world but that of the Jews only Afterwards by the Preaching of the Apostles the Church did greatly encrease and the whole Empire in its just Latitude from East to West from North to South was the Seat and the Place of the Church And hence it is That the Spirit in the Revelation doth discover her State according to the changes of time in the Empire of the Romans But yet however The Doctrine of the forementioned Interpreters will strongly inforce the beginning of the Roman when Iudea came under the Power of that People seeing there was no Church in all the world but that of the Jews only Object But if it be further Alledged Why do you call this a Principle of the most Approved Interpreters seeing you your self do not Allow their Exposition in some Particulars Sol. So far forth as the Exposition is Approved I do build upon it and it doth strongly inforce the Conclusion And for the kinds of Interpreters I will shew who are the most Approved and why they are so called After such times as it pleased the Lord to Reveal to Daniel the Four Ages of the Church under the Type and Similitude of Four Metals in the Image this Discovery hath been variously received Some only having a glaring light of the Truth have turned it into Fables and it is very probable That Ovid in his Metamorphosis
by the Persians and Daniel mourned for it full three weeks together the Angel to comfort him telleth him plainly Dan. 10. 20. I will return to fight with the Prince of Persia and then the King of Graecia shall come in The meaning of which words is this That the power of the Empire of the Persians should be overthrown by the Graecians and then he cometh to particulars to speak of the expedition of Xerxes into Greece how that the Fourth King of the Persians should raise up great multitudes of People against the Graecians These are the words of the text for speaking of Darius the Mede he saith In the first year of Darius the Mede I stood up to strengthen him chap. 11. vers 1. And then he addeth I will shew thee the truth behold there shall stand up three Kings in Persia to wit Cyrus Cambyses Darius And the Fourth meaning Xerxes shall be richer than they all and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the Realm of Graecia vers 2 3. If we will go to the true Reason wherefore the Graecians were so couragious at the Straits of Thermopylae and wherefore they did prevail against the Persians the true cause doth lie in these words I will fight against the Prince of Persia and then the Kingdom of Graecia shall come in It was the secret and invisible hand of the Lord that was the cause of the declining of the Power of the Persians in the East and the rising of the Graecian in the West It is true That the He-goat passed from West to East upon the face of the whole Earth and yet it is as true That the Ram of Persia did push to the three several Coasts Westward Northward and Southward chap. 8. vers 4. By these words it is plain If the Victories of the Graecians did pass from West to East then è converso it is as true That the Victories of the Persians did pass from East to West Let us hear the words of the Prophet Isaiah to put all out of question for speaking of Cyrus thus he saith I have called a ravenous Bird out of the East the man of my Counsel from a far Country chap. 46. 11. From hence it is plain When God will Conquerors shall come out of the East And in Allusion to this Story those Kings that shall deliver the Mystical Israel out of the Captivity of Western Babylon are called the Kings of the East in a Figure Rev. 16. 12. It is not in the Climate in the Hemisphere in the temper of the Heavens in the better exercise of Military Discipline in the experience of old Souldiers in the success of fortunate Generals or any other inferiour cause but in the immediate Dispensation of God Therefore to adde the words of the Psalmist as an Epiphonema Lift not up your Horn on high speak not with a stiff neck for promotion cometh not from the East not from the West but God is judge he putteth down one and setteth up another Psal. 75. 5 6 7. I have staid the longer upon this digression because I set that States-men Souldiers and others of deepest wisdom look to these subtilties Hereupon they trust in an Arm of Flesh oppose the Gospel perfecute the Saints bear themselves more high over those that are made subject to them Make no Conscience of Honesty Truth or Religion when they have the Law in their own hands They should as well look to the invisible and spiritual causes of the Changes of Empire to the Providence of God to the Revelations in the Word to the Angels fighting against the Kingdoms of this world to the power of the Saints Prayers that are offered upon the golden Altar There is nothing more divine nothing more spiritual and nothing more apt to carry up the Soul into an high contemplation of the manifold wisdom power truth and Fidelity of God then to behold in the Prophecie of Daniel and in the Book of the Revelation as in a Map the several Empires of the world where the Church should be seated their times their changes and their causes of the change and this many hundred years before these Empires come to be set up They that read the VVord together with the Stories of the times may see the Fidelity of God and may by this come to know him by the Name Iehovah But so much by the way touching the sudden growth of the Graecian Empire from VVest to East Now we come to the Romans and in the times of their Dominion they must also have the strength of Iron to subdue the whole Earth and break it in pieces And though great Nations and mighty Princes should rise against him as Pyrrhus Hannibal Perseus Iugurtha Sertorius Methridates Tigranes c. yet in their times the Romans must be too hard for them all and break them all in pieces And therefore when Dionysius Halicarnassaeus Cicero and others boast of the Roman Greatness it may be said to them as somtimes it was to Cyrus I have girded thee with strength though thou knowest not me Isa. 45. 1 2. This was the true though the invisible cause why the Romans grew so Great and their Dominion reached to the ends of the Earth But now it is high time to return from whence we have made a digression to shew when the Roman began as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom Some think it was when that Nation was the most prevailing Nation upon the Earth But this cannot be For in the times of Antiochus the Great but more specially in the times of Antiochus Epiphanes they were the more prevailing People yet they did not begin in those times as the Fourth metal-Metal-Kingdom in Daniel's Image You will say then VVhere shall we set the beginning of the Fourth Kingdom I Answer In this case we must distinguish between the Latitude of the Roman Dominion more absolutely considered and the Latitude of the Dominion in and about the Borders of the Church If you speak of the Latitude of Dominion in a more absolute consideration then the Roman began as the more prevailing Dominion when it became more mighty than any other Empire of the world But if you speak in a more strict sense it began then to be the Fourth Metal-Kingdom in Daniel's Image when it did begin to take in the greatest Amplitude and largeness of Rule in and about the Confines of the Church And this is to our purpose Object 3. Others perhaps may Alledge That we cannot begin the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom when the Iewish Church came under the Dominion of that People For say they it is foretoll in the Prophecie of Jacob The Scepter shall not depart from Iudah nor a Law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come Gen. 49. 10. Sol. I Answer We must so expound the meaning of one that it may not dash against the main sense of another Scripture Now it is the manifest scope of other Scriptures to shew That the Four
Monarchies must come to bear Rule over those Countries where the Kings of the Line of David had the power before And therefore it is mentioned That a Rod shall come out of the stock of Iesse and a Branch shall come out of his Roots Isa. 11. 1 2. A Lapide upon the place speaketh very well Christo enim nascente regia Davidis familia ad pauperes redacta When Christ was born the Kingly Family of David was brought very low To this accordeth the Prophet Daniel In the dayes of these Kingdoms shall the God of Heaven raise up a Kingdom that shall never be destroyed chap. 2. vers 44. In these words he doth insinuate That when the Kingdom of Christ beginneth it shall be as it were a new-erected Kingdom raised up out of the rubbish To me therefore Baronius in his Apparatus seemeth to deliver a strange Exposition of this Prophecie For he speaketh to this effect That the Kingdom was specially foretold to the Tribe of Iudah above any other To which when that tribe had once attained in David by a long race of Kings it held out to the Captivity of Babylon And after the Captivity of Babylon where there was some intermission for a time the Empire recovered again in Zorobabel And then from him being derived it held in his Posterity without any absolute interruption to the second year of the 184 Olympiad when Calvin and Pollio were Consuls Then Herod an Idumaean a Gentile at the first and after that a Proselyte by the courtesie of the Romans took the Kingdom in Iudea and so the Government was translated from the Natives to a Forreigner This is the sum of that which is more largely delivered Where Three Errors are to be noted First That he maketh the Davidical-Kingdom to last to the times of Herod Which cannot be For the Kingdom was taken from the Kings of the Line of David by the Babylonians And by them it was transmitted to the Persians and Graecians And so last of all it came to the Romans in whose time Christ was Born Neither did Herod a Forreigner Reign any more by the courtesie and favour of the Romans than did Hyrcanus his immediate Predecessor A Second is this That he maketh the Scepter to continue in the time of Zorobabel which is not so For they that plead for an inferiour way of Rule in the High Priests the men of the Great Sanhedrâ—…m do not affirm That all these came of Zorobabel no nor of David neither Thirdly He erreth in this That he maketh the Scepter to depart from Iudah in the times of Herod for the Jews had some form of Government some Laws of their own which did continue to the destruction of Ierusalem When the Lord Christ had provided him a People amongst the Gentiles then Ierusalem was destroyed and the Jews were cast away according to the Prophecies Object You will say then What is the true meaning of Jacob's Prophecie Sol. This is the meaning thereof That there should be a Succession of Kings in the Line of David till the Captivity of Babylon And though the other Ten Tribes should be cast away yet that Tribe should remain And after the Captivity though the supreme Power should be taken away from them yet still among that People there should be a continuation of some Laws and forms of Government under the Persians Graecians and Romans till the coming of the Messiah When the Messiah shall be born he shall raise up the Tabernacle of David which hath fallen down he shall set up that Kingdom that never shall be destroyed And at the end he shall destroy all the Metal-Kingdoms and fill the Earth And so by consequence the Kingdom of David shall continue for ever This is the full sense and the meaning of Iacob's Prophecie Piscator in his Scholia upon this text doth confirm what we speak Gubernatio plena cujus princeps pars est potestas judiciorum capitalium adempta fuit Posteris Iudae per Pompeium qui Iudaeam in formam Provinciae redegit imperioque Romanorum subjecit Post quam gubernationis ademptionem paulò post natus est Christus sub Augusto Quod autem potestas illa Iudaeis per Romanos fuerit adempta fatentur ipsi Joh. 18. 31. Gubernatio vero imminuta ademptâ scilicet potestate Iudiciorum capitalium relictâ Potestate Iudiciorum civilium Religionis duravit usque ad tempus illud quo natus est Christus immo etiam quo patefactus est in orbo terrarum per praedicationem Apostolorum Quippe Iudaeos adhuc tempore passionis Christi habuisse potestatem aliquam judiciorum patet ex verbis Pilati ad illos In which words of his there is a plain distinction betwixt the Sovereign and Supreme Power and that which is subordinate For the Sovereign and Supreme power in Capital Crimes he faith this was taken away from the Jews by the means of Pompey the Great who first brought that Nation in subjection and made it Tributary to the Romans And so that speech of the Jews is to be expounded It is not in our power to put any man to death Joh. 18. 31. For the subordinate Power which he calls gubernationem imminutam a regulated or limited power in Civil Causes and in matters of Religion this saith he did continue to the destruction of Ierusalem And so those words are to be expounded Ye have a Law and judge ye him according to your Law Joh. 18. 31. By this then we may understand how Iudea may be made subject to the Romans before the coming of Christ and yet some form of Policy might continue among that People to make good the Prophecie of Iacob But if we must needs stand upon the words That the Scepter was taken away by the means of Pompey the Great this hath excellent ground in the Stories and it doth make exceedingly for our purpose For the ground in the Stories we shall finde That the Jews that were in Bondage first to the Babylonians secondly to the Persians thirdly to the Graecians that after the death of Antiochus Epiphanes they did assert their Liberty against the Graecians of the Seleucian Line And some Kings did Reign in Iudea of the stock of the Macchabees But after such time as Pompey the Great brought Iudea under the power of the Romans they never recovered their Liberty again Now then I leave it to any to judge Whether here is not the beginning of the Fourth Metal-Kingdom in Daniel's Image This we have confirmed by Reasons and have Answered such Objections as might be alledged to the contrary Now let us go to the second Point to shew the Order of the times that there is the space of 666 years from the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom to the setting up of the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome under the Emperor Phocas And for the time we cannot easily be deceived because the words of Iosephus are so plain That this
the Kings that make one Catholick Communion under the Pope their Head Rev. 13. and chap. 17. In these Particulars he doth not touch us in his Disputation but them only who do maintain the Truth with some mixtures of their own Secondly For the Points wherein we differ He standeth hard upon this That the Roman cannot be called the Iron-Metal seeing in these latter Ages Learning Civility Religion Discoveries by Navigation have been raised to a higher perfection and therefore the Roman cannot be set forth by a more worthless Metal than the other Kingdoms Sol. But in this matter he doth not Dispute so much against us as against the Scripture it self and the scope of the Spirit For is it not the scope of the Spirit to compare the Fourth Kingdom to Iron because of the strength cruelty and power to break all things in pieces in and about the Borders of the Church What good will Learning Civility Navigation and other such things do when the Church of God is under Persecution But yet further to Convince the Consciences of men That the Four Metal-Kingdoms in Daniel's Image are no nice speculation I would willingly put it to men to Resolve me this Question The Faithful that lived in the Iewish Church some years before the coming of Christ whether was it not their practise and some way their duty to search after the time of his coming These are the words of Peter Of which Salvation the Prophets have enquired and searched diligently who Prophesied of the Grace that should come unto you searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie when it testified before-hand the Sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. Out of these words Three Points no necessarily issue First The coming of Christ his Sufferings and the glory that followed this was revealed to the Church of the Jews Secondly It was revealed to them in what period of time Christ should come Thirdly They did diligently search the several periods and changes of time to come to that particular season when the Son of Man should come in the flesh The words in the Original are very Emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Piscator hath it Scrutantes inquem cujusmodi temporis articulum Beza In quem aut qualem temporis articulum But I think the words are more naturally rendered Scrutantes ad quam aut qualem temporis periodum Searching to which or to what kind of period of time the Spirit should point as with a finger when he spake of the coming of Christ in the flesh But let the Translation be what it will be all is to this sense That the Believers of the Antient Church did diligently search the periods of time to the coming of Christ in the flesh And our Saviour doth blame the Jews for it That they could discern the face of the skie and yet could not understand the signs of the times that is The signs of the times of his coming in the flesh Matt. 16. 1 2 3. Now for the periods of time to the coming of the Son of Man in the flesh there are none more clear demonstrative in the whole Old Testament than those two in the Prophecie of Daniel The first is that of the Four Metal-Kingdoms chap. 2. and the Second is that of the 70 weeks chap. 9. By these Two the Saints and Prophets in the Old Testament might periodically come to the times of the Messiah and so might discover his coming in the flesh à priori Our Saviour therefore doth blame them that by the changes of State in Iudea First From the Babylonians to the Persians Secondly From the Persians to the Graecians Thirdly From the Graecians to the Romans that by these several Alterations of time they did not discern the signs of his coming nor the beginning of his Kingdom which should be set up when the Image should come to the last and lowest Region to the Fourth and the last Metal-Kingdom In the times of this Kingdom the God of Heaven shall set up a Kingdom that never shall be destroyed Dan. 2. 44. Therefore when the times of the Romans were come the Fourth and the last Monarchical People the Jews by the course of Daniel's periods might easily understand that they were not far from the times of the Messiah And to put all out of doubt if they had Numbred 490 years or 70 weeks of years from the building of the City and Temple in the dayes of Ezra and Nehemiah by this period also they might have come to the time of the cutting off of the Messiah and to the preaching of the Gospel among all Nations By the Collation and Parallel of these two periods the Saints in the Jewish Church might have found out in what Article or what period of time the Son of man should come in the flesh And shall we then say That the Four periods of time in Daniel's Image is a Scholastical and nice speculation Thus I have largely insisted upon the Point where Two things are made good First That the Roman doth begin as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom when the Church and the Continent of the Church came under the Dominion of that People Secondly That the Number of years are 666 to the setting up of the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome under the Emperor Phocas if the account be made from the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth metal-Metal-Kingdom I have proved also That this Method of Account is no nice speculation but a true Scripture-way to calculate and Number the Prophetical times Let us now proceed to the next Chapter to shew the issue of the Discourse CHAP. VII The whole Process of the Discourse is repeated That there are 666 years from the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom to the setting up of the Name or Vniversal Headship of the Bishop of Rome And that this is the meaning of the Spirit in the Revelation when he speaketh of the Name of the Beast and of the Number of the Name FOR the cleerer Demonstration of the Truth it is necessary that I should Repeat the sum of that which I have formerly delivered that we may see the whole Process of the Disputation First I have shewed That the Name of the Beast is not the word Lateinos nor any other Grammatical Name whatsoever but in the Apocalyptical stile it noteth his Universal Headship or Power standing in immediate Opposition to the Name or Headship of the Lamb. Secondly For the time of the beginning of this Universal Headship I have shewed That it had not only a determinate beginning but it began after the Fall of the Empire and not only so but it began after the Fall of the Empire in such a time when the Universal Headship was ascribed to the Bishop of Rome Now this I have proved out of the Stories to begin under the Emperor Phocas when the Decree went forth That the
Bishop of Rome should be Head over all Churches For the Calculation of the times I have shewed That there is a Chain of 666 years from the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom to the setting up of the Name or Universal Headship aforesaid To the clearer probation of which I have largely insisted upon two Points First That the Roman is the Fourth Metal-Kingdom against Iunius and his followers Secondly That the Roman doth begin as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom not from Iulius or Augustus Caesar but from that time when the Church came under the Dominion of that People Now from this beginning I do positively Affirm That there is a Chain of 666 years to the beginning of the Papacie set forth by the Type or Emblem of the little Horn Dan. 7. And this is the true Accommodation and Application of Daniel's Visions to the Stories of the Church And whereas Iohn in the Revelation speaketh of the rising of the Two-Horned Beast out of the Earth that the Number of the Name or Universal Headship of this Beast is 666 His meaning is That there are 666 years from the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom to the setting up of the Name or Universal Headship of the Beast He doth more fully repeat that which was more briefly delivered before And in these Calculations he doth but refer us to Daniel's Chronologie in the Image of persecuting States This is the whole process of the Discourse But before I come to the Point I will remove a mistake in some of our latter Commentaries which will have Mahomet or the Turk to be the little Horn. This is the Opinion of Grasserus and Mr Brightman I have been held with some kind of admiration to see two such worthy Expositors to leave the Common and plain way and to embrace a private Fancy of their own so contrary to the scope of the Scriptures and to the ordinary Reason of men But let us come to Argument First The little Horn and the Ten Horns in the text are set forth as the parts that do integrate and make up the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom But so do neither Mahomet nor the Turk as it is plain by experience For who can say That the Turk or Mahomet are any integral parts of the Roman Kingdom being every way so contrary and opposite having no union or conjunction at all Object 1. But it may be Replied The ten Kings that arose out of the Ruines of the old Empire are reckoned as Branches and Parts of the Roman Kingdom and yet they were the Princes by whom the Empire was destroyed Sol. To this I Reply The forenamed Interpreters may easily give an Answer to this Doubt out of the Revelation Though the Ten Kings did arise out of the Ruines of the Empire yet all of them afterward were united in one Roman Body of the last Edition but neither Mahomet nor the Turk ever came within this union or combination Object 2. But it may be further Alledged That the little Horn did subdue three of the former Horns and this rather agreeth to Mahomet and the Turk than to the Papacie whose part it is to preserve them Sol. Among the many Notes of the little Horn it is possible some few may be applicable to Mahomet and to the Turk but we should also consider the multitude and Evidence of those others that do utterly reject such an Application Now there are many Notes that cannot possibly agree with Mahomet or the Turk if we should come to singulars And for the eradication of Three Horns we have largely proved how the Papacie did humble Three Dominions to have elbow-room in Italy He did cast down some of the former and it is as true That he did preserve the union of the Residue to make a Roman Catholick Empire Secondly For the Blasphemies of the little Horn The Beast was destroyed and his Body given to the burning fire Now what Congruity or colour of Reason is there That the Roman Kingdom should be destroyed for the Blasphemies of Mahomet If you apply this to the Papacy this is fully verified in that which is spoken The Beast was taken and with him the false Prophet and they both were cast into the Lake of fire Thirdly In all the times of the Roman Kingdom from the beginning to the end there was the greatest cruelty exercised against the Saints in the times of the little Horn. Now if you apply this to Mahomet and the Turk though they have made great waste in the Christian world yet the War hath not been formerly against the Saints as such neither hath their cruelty been the greatest that ever hath been But if we apply this to the Papacy here hath been a War against the Saints as Saints and here hath been the greatest Persecutions that ever were as appeareth by the whole Book of the Revelation Fourthly The little Horn is said to continue a time times and the dividing of time This will not agree to the duration of Mahomet for what place of Scripture doth once mention such a thing But it is plainly applied to the Papacy Rev. 12. 6. Rev. 13. 5. These and many more Reasons may be produced to prove That Mahomet cannot be resembled by the little Horn and the Reasons for the Affirmative are very weak and feeble On the contrary if you take the whole Body of the Chapter and the whole Bundle of Notes they will be wholly applied to the Bishop of Rome and strongly prove That the Papacy is the little Horn. Now I will try the truth of one Principle on which the forenamed Authors do build when they take Mahomet to be the little Horn. The chief Ground they build upon is this Because the Turk doth hold all those Countries in Asia which were formerly the Continent of the Iewish Church To this I have said before That so long as the Jews were the only People of God the delineation of the Four metal-Metal-Kingdoms was in special reference to that Church But they being cast off the Metal-Kingdoms so much of them as doth remain doth more immediately concern the Churches of the Gentiles If Mahomet be the little Horn who were the Saints of the most High whom he did wear cut Will any man say That they were only the Saints of the Jewish Church Alas the Jews were a People cast away some hundreds of years before the Name of Mahomet was heard in the world and they do remain till this day a People not called again It may be more truly affirmed That the metal-Metal-Kingdoms in Daniel's Image do not concern the Jews only nor the Gentiles only but both Jews and Gentiles in their several times For proof of this we will lay down some special Observations First In the Image of persecuting States it is not the purpose of God only to shew Four Revolutions of Empire but his more special intent is to shew the beginning of the Kingdom of his Son Secondly It is his purpose
not to reveal this only to the Jews but to the People of the Gentiles also This latter may be proved from the person of Nebuchadnezzar to whom this secret was revealed For if it had only concerned the National Church of the Jews That the God of Heaven will raise up a Kingdom that never shall be destroyed Why was this delivered to Nebuchadnezzar an Heathen Man and an Enemy of the Church When the Lord did reveal to Pharoah the Dream of the seven fat Kine and after the Dream of seven lean Kine this was not only discovered for the good of the Church but for the preservation of mankind So the Succession of the Four great Empires and the beginning of the Kingdom of Christ in the times of the last Empire these things were not revealed only to Nebuchadnezzar that the Jews might understand the truth but that the whole habitable world under Nebuchadnezzar's Dominion might take notice of that which God did intend to do Secondly This appeareth by the manner of the Revelation to Nebuchadnezzar which was to this end That the whole world might observe it First If you consider the Person Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a Dream Secondly The way of God's dealing with him he forgat the Dream and therefore a great trouble fell upon his Spirit Thirdly His calling for the wise-men of Babylon which City in these times was the Eye of the world and the seat of the Empire Now it is not to be imagined but all that lived within the Verge of so large a Dominion would be apt to hearken after such a thing Specially when they should hear of the trouble of the King and of the Edict to kill all the wise-men of Babylon Here was a matter set out in the view of all Asia as it were to prove Three Particulars First That the God of Israel was the true God Secondly That he would set up Four great Changes of Empire in the world Thirdly That in the last Succession of Empire he would set up a Kingdom that never should be destroyed These things were propounded not only for the Church but for the Observation of the whole habitable Earth under the Babylonian Empire that then was and for the Ages following Thirdly If we look to the Story of the Evangelists we do read that the Evangelist S. Matthew doth tell us That when the Lord Christ was Born in Bethleem in the dayes of Herod the King wise-men came to Ierusalem Matth. 2. 1 2 3 4. Here Interpreters upon the place do raise many Questions First Who these wise-men were Secondly Why was it Revealed to them by a Star Thirdly Why did the Star guide them to Ierusalem and then vanish out of 〈◊〉 These Questions are propounded by Interpreters and they do give very learned and solid Answers to them Only there is a Question to which I do not yet finde a satisfactory Answer and that is this Why was this matter Revealed to wise-men in the East rather than to any other Nation Profession or Sect among the Gentiles Spanhemius doth handle this Point in his Dubia Evangelica part 2. dub 31. pag. 326. and he doth come to this issue in the close Concludimus itaque causum vocationis Magorum nequaquam in illis suisse sed in solâ Dei vocantis bonitate illos ex merâ ejus gratiâ vocatos sive absolutè eorum vocatio consideretur sive comparatè Quod enim vocati vocati prae aliis Dei miserentis fuit illorum potius quam aliorum Et haec causa causarum est summa ratio pag. 329. Here I do agree That the Call of the wise-men doth chiefly depend upon the Grace and Mercy of God This is the Cause of causes and the chiefest Reason why they were called and why they were called before any other But yet with submission to a better judgement I think there lies a plain reason in the Scriptures why the Birth of the King of the Jews was revealed to the wise-men of the East rather than to any other Gentiles For when the Lord had a purpose to Reveal Four great Changes of time to the world and particularly the time of the setting up of the Kingdom of his Son he had appointed in his Providence that the wisemen of Babylon whose Profession it was to understand the changes of time that they should come to take notice of these things but more specially of the time when the Kingdom of Christ should be set up But because they could not know this by their own strength the Lord did Reveal it to them by the Ministery of Daniel That he would set up Four Kingdoms over the Earth whereof the Babylonian in Being was the first and then in the latter end he would set up a Kingdom that never should be destroyed In a word This is the Cause wherefore these changes of times were revealed to the wise-men of the East because it did suit with their Profession to take notice of such things And the Lord having once revealed in particular the time of the setting up of the Kingdom of his Son to the wise-men of the East when the Lord Christ was born at Bethleem in Iudea in the days of Herod the King he did Call that sort of men in special to take notice of that which was foretold Because these things were revealed to them they were called in a special manner to take notice of the Birth of the Messiah and of the beginning of his Kingdom From all that hath been said we may conclude That the Vision of the Metal-Kingdoms doth concern both Jews and Gentiles Therefore there is no necessity that Brightman Grasserus and other learned men should take the little Horn for Mahomet because the Country of Iudea is now under the Turks Many other Arguments might be brought to prove That neither Mahomet nor the Turk can possibly be resembled by the Type of the little Horn. The scope of the text and the whole collection of Circumstances do altogether pitch upon the Papacy which arose after the division of the Roman Empire into ten inferiour Kingdoms in the time of the Emperor Phocas 666 years from the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom This is the true Application of the times to the Stories of the Church and this is the natural sense of Iohn in the Book of the Revelation That the Number of the Name of the Beast is 666. Now for the truth of this Interpretation we will prove it First From the whole scope of the text Rev. 13. Secondly From the drift of the Spirit Rev. 17. Thirdly From the whole Harmony of the Prophecie in the chief and remarkable Circumstances Lastly From the scope of the Apostle 2 Thess. 2. And of these in their Order CHAP. VIII The Truth of the Interpretation is proved from the remarkable Circumstances of the Text it self Revel 13. 16 17 18. THere be many excellent and precious Truths in the general which we cannot alwayes avouch That the Spirit
hath been introduced in the latter times But now it is not so with the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome this hath been in hatching in all Ages almost down from the times of the Apostles till in the 666th year from the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom it began publickly to be established under the Emperor Phocas And here was the true beginning of the Name or Universal Headship of the Beast and of the Mark of the Name Fourthly The Mark in the Forehead and in the right Hand is a convertible and reciprocal Note to distinguish the Subjects of the Beast's Kingdom from other men and such a convertible Note is the publick Profession of a Roman Catholick And therefore many of their chief Writers do lay down Three Notes to prove a true Church by Verae fidei Professione by the Profession of the true Faith Sacramentorum Communione by participating of the Sacraments Pontifici Romano tanquam legitimo Pastori subjectione by subjection to the Bishop of Rome as to their lawful Pastor Fifthly The Mark in the Forehead and the right Hand must be such a thing as is in open view and in common use for so do these figurative Expressions import It is not said That he causeth all to receive a Mark in their Arm or Breast or Foot or Leg or any other Member of the Body but in the Forehead which is in open view and in the right Hand as being that part of the Body which is of most common use Now what is there among that Society of men which is of more common use and publick view than the Profession of a Roman Catholick Experience doth plainly shew That none can buy nor sell nor hold Land and Possessions but such a one as doth acknowledge this Universal Headship Sixthly The Mark in the Forehead and in the right Hand is in express and significant terms called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mark of his Name They have no rest day nor night that worship the Beast and his Image and receive the Mark of his Name chap. 14. vers 11. Now if you apply this to the Profession of a Roman Catholick all things will agree For what is a Roman Catholick but such a one as doth make it the chief and main Article of his Faith to acknowledge the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome and to subject his Conscience to the Laws made by that Authority And this we have already proved in the Third Chapter of this Treatise to be no other but the Name of the Beast For if there were no such thing as the Universal Headship Sovereign Power and Supreme Dominion of the Bishop of Rome what would become of the Faith and Profession of a Roman Catholick The Name or Universal Headship is that which giveth foundation to the Mark or Profession à priori and the Mark or Profession is that which declareth the Name or Universal Headship à posteriori And therefore in significant terms it is called the Mark of the Name Seventhly The Mark in the Forehead and in the right Hand is that which the Subjects of the Beast's Kingdom do assume to themselves as a matter of the greatest Honour and Dignity It is not a brand or nick-Name put upon them by their Enemies but that which themselves do voluntarily profess as may be seen in the whole Book of the Revelation Now such a Name is the Profession of a Roman Catholick The Roman Church comprehendeth all those Nations Languages and People that agree in the same Unity of the Faith under the Pope the Head And every Member of this Church of what sort soever maketh this as the principal Badge of his Profession to adhere to the Bishop of Rome as to the visible Head of the Church Eighthly The Mark in the right Hand and in the Forehead must be so expounded That in receiving of this men must be guilty of great sin against Christ and so consequently lyable to most grievous Judgements except they repent And therefore it is expressed That such shall be tormented day and night that worship the Beast and receive his Mark. Surely then that act of receiving the Mark of the Beast must needs be a grievous sin because the Lord Christ doth threaten it with so heavie a Judgement Now if you take the Profession of the Faith of a Roman Catholick as he professeth his subjection to the Bishop of Rome this is the greatest derogation that can be to Christ to supplant him in his Universal Headship For it is his peculiar and incommunicable Priviledge to be the only Head of the Church his Mystical Body Therefore whosoever he is that doth ascribe this to himself or to any other doth sin against the Kingly Office of Christ and doth what in him lies to dethrone and put Christ from his sovereign Dignity A Wife may be guilty of many Offences against her Husband but that is one of the most capital when she doth take another in his room for that is in a sense To break the bond and to cast him off from being her Husband when she doth give her self to another man A Roman Catholick then when he doth profess his Allegiance to the Bishop of Rome as to the visible Head of the Church this publick Profession of his is Rebellion and high Treason against the Lord Christ the true Head of the Church this doth supplant him of his Kingly Power and Dignity and therefore he doth threaten this sin with such grievous Judgements Those words therefore that are added as an Epiphonema in the end of the Revelation Whosoever shall adde to the words of this Book God will adde to him the Plagues that are written in this Book And if any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this Prophecie God will take away his part out of the Book of Life and out of the Holy City and from the things which are written in this Book chap. 22. vers 18. 19. Interpreters do usually apply this place to those that bring in Traditions but I think that here is a more special sense intended sutable to the nature of the Book for the principal scope of the Book of the Revelation is to speak of the Kingly Office of Christ and therefore they that set up another Head of the Church they do adde to the words of the Prophecie of this Book and God will adde to them the Plagues that are written in the Book So they that take away from the Kingly Office of Christ they do in a more special sense take away from the words of the Prophecie of this Book And therefore God will take away their part out of the New Ierusalem and from the things that are contained in the Book If these things are so I cannot but admire at Hugo Grotius a man of great Learning in these last times who in his Tract de Antichristo doth speak very favourably of the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome
to himself by Revelation but to some others also by search For how could it be possible that a Government to come might be discoverable by a Number and that Number not extant How great a torment would it be for a man to assay to do that thing that were altogether impossible From which words of his I do conclude That the Number which must discover the Name of the Beast must be some way extant in the days of Iohn If this be so what Number was then more familiarly known then the Number by the four divisions and parts of the Body of Man by and through which Daniel doth number the four persecuting Empires of the world Therefore we may well conclude That this Prophetical Chronologie was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Number of a Man meant in the Text. Object You will say That the four great Empires in Daniels Image were all destroyed before the coming of Christ in the flesh and therefore no way sutable or apt to number the times of the new Prophecy Sol. By the same reason you may say That five forms of Government were fallen in the City of Rome Kings Consuls Dictators Decemvirs Tribunes Therefore these several forms of account are not fit to decypher the Beast in the last and Antichristian edition of Roman Government And this were plainly to 〈◊〉 against the scope of the Text Rev. 17. But in the present case we answer It is true that the Babylonian the Mede-Persian and the Graecian Empires were fully destroyed before the coming of Christ but this is not true of the Roman for that stood in fulness of power when Iohn wrote the Revelation If therefore the people living in his times had made their account from the beginning of the Roman as the onely remaining Empire of the four by a line of 666 years they would have come to that particular instant where the Name and Universal Headship of the Beast should begin And so by the Number of a Man by that Prophetical Chronologie they might have discovered the times of the rising of the second Beast a priori Now whereas many learned men in these times are of opinion That all the old Prophets do end at Christ and that none of their Predictions are repeated in the new Prophecy I yield that this is true in part but it is not universally true for there are some things declared in the old Prophets which are more distinctly and fully set down in the Revelation Beza in his Preface speaketh to excellent purpose Spiritum Sanctum in hunc pretiosum librum congerere voluâ—…sse quae ex superiorum Prophetarum praedictionibus implenda supererant nonnulla addidisse quae nos interesse cognovit And this is true in the four Metal-Kingdoms in Daniels Image For what is more briefly and more darkly delivered in that Prophecy concerning the Roman as the fourth Metal-Kingdom is more fully and clearly revealed by the Spirit in the Revelation And therefore had the people that lived in the days of Iohn computed the times from the beginning of the Roman Kingdom for this was the onely surviving and remaining Kingdom of the four by a line of 666 years they had been carried upon the year of the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome upon that time when the Name and the Mark of the Name of the Beast did begin Lastly the Number of a Man in the Text must be so expounded that it may also be the Number of the Beast for though ordinarily a Man hath nothing to do with a Beast there being so great a difference in their kindes yet the words of the Text are plain Let him that hath wisdome count 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Number of the Beast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…r it is the Number of a Man In this sense of the Text thâ—…n the Number of the Beast and the Number of a Man be all one and here is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though it may 〈◊〉 â—… to be For aâ—… Daniel describeth the four great Emâ—…es by so many parts of the Body of Man Chap. 2. So he â—…escribeth the same Empires under the type and similitude of â—…our Beasts Chap. 7. In the present case then the Number of the Beast and the Number of a Man are all one And that which may make for the more abundant confirmation of the truth all Interpreters some few excepted do agree That the Little Horn in the 7 of Daniel is the Emblem and Type of the Papacy and that it is all one with the two-horned Beast mentioned in the Revelation And therefore when the Spirit saith Let him that hath wisdome count the Number of the Beast for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Number of a Man he doth but refer us to that ancient Prophetical way of account by the members and parts of the Body of a Man in Daniels Image Therefore seeing all Circumstances do agree and we finde it true in the event we may conclude that the calculation by the times of Daniels Image is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Number of a Man meant in the Text. But that this may better take with the Reader we will make a brief Narrative in what order and by what degrees we came to be of this judgement It may be when he shall finde the process of this discovery to be upon probative grounds this will give him the fuller and the surer satisfaction The first thing I builded upon was The subject of the Number For I found by the whole scope of the Prophecy as I have formerly proved that the name of the beast is no other but his Universal Headship and Power And therefore for the discovery of the Number the true work was to finde out the Number of the Universal Headship and here was the first degree of discovery Therefore they who have spent their time about the word Lateinos and the numeral Letters of that or such like Grammatical names have but wasted their time and have erred in the very beginning of the work Therefore I did conclude That the Name was the Universal Headship and that the â—…umber was the Number of the Uniniâ—…ersal Headship and no other And this was the first step Secondly for the discovery of the Number I did observe That in every Mathematica Proposition that is dubious three things are specially observable First the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where both the subject and the predicate are propounded and so here the datum or the subject is the Name or Universal Headship of the Beast The quaesitum or the praedâ—…cate is 666. The second is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Exposition of the Antecedent that is given or of the subject of the Demonstration and so as I have formerly spoken the Name of the Bâ—…ast I found to be no other then his Universal Power and Headship The third is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the definition and explanation of the Predicate or of the Consequent And so the great
question was to me how the Name or Universal Headship of the Beast should be 666 Here I mused and often pondered in my minde what is the manner and use of the Spirit in the Scriptures when he speaketh of the riâ—…ng of Governments and their Calculations by Number to discover their beginning And here I found as I believe every man shall do the like who will give himself to observation that the Prophetical Scriptures do very often reckon Governments either by the Number of years to the time of their rising or by the Number of years how long they shall continue Now I was sure that 666 could not be the time of the continuance of the Antichristian Kingdom seeing in the whole body of the Prophecy it is largely shewed That the Kingdom of the Beast must continue 1260 Prophetical days or years and that this time must commence from the rising of the ten-horned Beast out of the Sea or the ten Kings out of the ruines of the Empire Therefore Mr. Archer in his book of the Personal Reign is a very fabulous Writer in this as in many other particulars when he will needs have 666 to be the time of the continuance of the Beasts Kingdome All the circumstances of the Text plainly laid together do decypher this Kingdome à priori and therefore the Number must refer to the time of the beginning or the standing up of the Name or Headship But then the great 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 what time I should 〈◊〉 to Number In this caâ—…e I was helped by the practise of Chronologers For theâ—… when they have a Prophetical Number and do not know â—…rom what beginning to compute iâ—… aâ—…k how long it continueth and where it maketh an eno And if they be certain of these two they will finde out the third where it ought to begin It is a sure rule in this as in other kindes of learning By two known things you may come to discover a third unknown And sometimes it so cometh to pass that some diligence must be used before we can come to the knowledge of the two by and through which we may prove the third As for example We reade That the Prophet Ezekiel was to lye upon his left side 390 days which signifie so many years of the patience of God in bearing the iniquity of the house of Israel Again he was to turn and to lye upon his right side 40 days which signifie so many years of the patience of God in bearing the iniquity of the house of Iudah Ezek. 4. 4 5. Now for the application of the times the great Queâ—…ion is Where the 390 years begin and where they make an end and how long they do continue For the continuation there is no doubt to be made and for the time of the ending this must be at the destruction of Ierusalem by the Chaldaeans For the time of the end though it is not set down in express terms yet it may be collected from the whole scope of the Text. For five years before the destruction of Ierusalem Ezekiel was to take a Tile and pourtray upon it the city Ierusalem and laâ—… sâ—…ge against it build a fort against it So then the scope of the whole Vision is to shew That after the 390 years of the patience of God are run out the time should come that the Chaldaeans should destroy both City and Temple In this Ezekiel was a sign to the home of Israel to foretel the destruction of the City and Temple five years before it came to pass Ezek. 1. 2. Upon these grounds Chronologers do reason in this manner If the 390 years do end at the destruction of Ierusalem by the Chaldaeans they must necessarily begin at the Apostacy of Ieroboam For if you take the right vein of Chronologie in the Book of the Kings and number the times interchangably as each King of Iudah and each King of Israel began to reign and to carry on the whole series and order of years you shall find by induction of singulars That there will be an exact line of 390 years from the defection of Ieroboam to the destruction of Ierusalem aforesaid He that desires the particular account of the years and how it is exactly computed let him go to the Isagoge of Calvisius And of the certainty of the account the Chronologer thus speaketh Hunc igitur numerum annorum 390 ex annotatione Historiarum hujus temporis ab initio Ieroboami usque ad excidium Hierosolymae nos colligemus It a quidem ne conjecturas nos Lectori obâ—…rudamus neque etiam sacrae Scripturae vim faciamus Isag. Cap. 40. And in very deed his performance is answerable to the Promise for he doth exactly prove by induction of singulars and that from the words of Scripture That there are 390 years from the Apostacy of Ieroboam to the destruction of Ierusalem But now for the 40 years of the iniquity of the house of Iudah this matter is somewhat more dark But yet nevertheless Chronologers do reason in this wise If 40 years be the time of the patience of God in bearing the iniquities of the house of Iudah and those years must run compleat at the destruction of Ierusalem by the Chaldees then it will follow according to the Scripture-Chronologie and the series of the times that they must necessarily commence from the 13 year of Iosiah Now if a question be made Why these years should begin from the 13 of Iosiah who was a reformer of the Church Though he was these times are to begin there because the Lord did then begin to strive with that people to bring them to Repentance by the Ministery of Ieremy These are the words of the Text From the thirteenth year of Iosiah the son of Ammon King of Iudah even unto this day that is the three and twentieth year the word of the Lord hath come unto me and I have spoken unto you rising early and speaking but ye have not hearkned And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the Prophets rising early and sending them but ye have not hearkened nor inclined your ear to hear Jer. 25. 3 4. From these words it is plain That the 40 years patience of God in bearing the iniquitie of the house of Iudah did begin from the Ministery of Ieremy and when these should run compleat then the Prophet â—…zekiel doth signifie That there shall be the destruction of Ierusalem From this and from some such like passages I was moved to take the like course I argued in this manner If 666 be such a Number of years and if this period of time also must end at the setting up of the Universal Headship under the Emperor Phocas by necessary consequence I did conclude That this time must begin 60 years before the birth of the Lord. Consulting with Chronologers I found that this was much about that time when Cicero and Antonius were Consuls at Rome But here to me was the great difficulty
of the Twentieth Jubilee according to the Authority of the Chronologer aforementioned Being furnished with these Principles as also being firmly perswaded by other Reasons That the Beast was the Bishop of Rome and that the Number did signifie the first visible declaration of the Authority of that See Finding also the account by Jubilees to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Number frequently used amongst men in those ancient times Upon these Considerations I was at length induced probably at least to take this as the meaning of the Text As who would say in plainer terms Let him that hath wisdome count by the Jubilees a Number frequently used amongst men and he shall finde that this Beast shall begin to erect and put forth his Power in the 666th year from the beginning of the Twentieth Jubilee and so he shall come to the particular year when Victor Excommunicated the Churches of Asia This Interpretation though it seemed very specious and plausible at the first yet afterward when I came to dive into the Prophecy and to compare the Commentaries and to look into the natural sense of the Visions I did finde from the collation of all that there must be first a death and a wound of the Roman Majestie in the Caesars before it could be revived in the Popes the Caesareate must fall before the Papacy could begin This I gathered from the whole scope of the Apocalyptical learning And I do admire how any can begin the 42 Moneths from Constantine the Great or from Iulian the Apostata or from any other time before the fall of the old Empire They who do this to my understanding go against the scope and drift of this kinde of learning Another Interpretation I had which I did favour in the beginning and that is the Interpretation of Moulin in his Treatise concerning the Complement of Prophecies He in that Treatise doth set the beginning of the Beasts Kingdome at the fall of the Exarchs of Ravenna and so concludeth That where the Empire made an end there the Papacy was to begin But the Empire ended at the Exarchate Ergo. In this Exposition of his he doth well to set the beginning of Rome Papal after the destruction of Rome Imperial for this is but the sense of the Prophecy But yet withal this must be remembred that we must not set the beginning of the Beasts Kingdom where we will how we will our selves but we must set it there where it ought to be set Now for the place where it ought to be set it must be at the beginning of the Universal Headship of the Beast which is the Name of the Beast when he did make an Image to the Beast that had a wound in one of his Heads If these things be applied to the times they do not agree to the ruine of the Exarchate but to the setting up of the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome under the Emperor Phocas Then there was an Image made to the Beast then the Name or Universal Headship began then the Roman Potency did revive in the Popes which was formerly lost in the Caesars then the second Beast caused the Image both to speak and live Princ. 9. The Name of the Beast ought so in special to be expâ—…unded that it may be the subject-matter of the Mark. This is proved from Chap. 14. ver 11. where the Mark is expresly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Mark of his Name Now it would not be so called if there were not something in the Name that giveth beeing to the Mark. And therefore when Mr. Potter endevoreth to shew That 25 is the Number of the Beast and that the Government may be known by the frequent use of the Number 25 the square-root of 666 In my apprehension he should not have imployed himself in the variety of those things in the Beasts Kingdome to which this Number might be applied His prime work had been first to have found out the Name of the Beast and then he should have proceeded to the Mark and the Number of the Name For there is no other Mark but that which relateth to the Name and there is no other Number but that which is the Number of the Name I cannot conceive any other but his mistake is in the subjectâ materiâ in the subject matter of the Number He that erreth in the beginning must needs go far out of the way Princ. 10. The Name of the Beast ought so in special to be expounded that it may appear to be the matter about which the Number is conversant This is proved from Ch. 13 v. 17. There it is expresly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Name then only must be the immediate Object of the Number or the thing Numbred Why is it else called The Number of the Name By this Reason then I cannot see how Mr. Potter can apply the Number indefinitely to all such kinde of things as are essential and constituent in the Kingdome of the Beast seeing the Number is onely restrained to the Name and is the Number of the Name or Universal Headship But let us look to the grounds of the Interpretation laid down by that learned man He supposeth this Number 666 to be an Image or typical Representation of the whole Body of Antichrist that is of the whole Body of his Kingdome State or Hierarchy And thus much saith he is acknowledged by many Writers but especially by Cotterius Further he addeth If this Number be an Image or a Type of the whole Body of Antichrist then no man ought to imagine that the whole Image of Antichrist is like to one prrticular Member or part of the Body of Antichrist For as the whole Image of Caesar is not like unto the Hand of Caesar or the Head of Caesar so neither is the Number considered wholly applicable to any particular Times Names Persons Places or other Individuall things or Circumstances belonging unto Antichrist as divers Interpreters have laboured to apply it But saith he if any man desire to know Caesar by his Image he must compare Head to Head Face to Face Eye to Eye Foot to Foot and so conclude a likeness in general from an induction of particulars In like manner he that desires to know Antichrist by his Number he must first finde in this Number such things as are essential and remarkable to that Government So far Mr. Potter In which words of his though I do acknowledge there is greater solidity then I have ordinarily met withall in Interpretations of this kinde yet under favour I conceive when all is done the Number must be the Number of the Name or Universal Headship and that by right ought to be the thing Numbred And whereas he saith That the Number is not applicable to any particular Times Persons Places or other petty Circumstances of the Kingdome of Antichrist I do acknowledge That there hath been vanity more then too much among Interpreters about the explication of these
things And whereas the Author aforenamâ—…d following Cotterius and other learned men doth tell us That the Number must be applied to that which is essential in the Kingdome of the Beast In this we do fully agree with him and therefore we have stated the Name Mark and Image of the Beast and have so explained these things that they do contain the very essence form and beeing of that Kingdome For what is the Name but the Power and Universal Headship And what is the Mark of the Name but the profession of Subjection to that Power or Headship Thus we come to the sense of Cotterius and others in the main Now whereas Mr. Potter doth stand upon 25 Cardinals 25 Churches 25 Articles in the compilation of Pius Quartus How doth he make all these the Name of the Beast In all true Mathematical Demonstration we should begin with expositio Dati the Exposition of the Subject or Antecedent If therefore the Name of the Beast be Datum or the subject of the Demonstration this must be first expounded before the Number can be rightly applied seeing it is called the Number of the Name Secondly if 25 be the Characteristical Number of the State or Hierarchy of the Beast why doth not the Holy Spirit in so large a description of that Kingdome once make mention of the Number 25 Shall we imagine that he will not once mention that which is individually necessary but altogether stand upon remoter points Thirdly if the Number 25 is to be applied to the Hierarchy of the Beast as the Number 12 is to the New Ierusalem why is not the like reason given for the one as for the other The Number 12 is therefore so frequently used in sacred Numbers in reference to the first Original of the Church and to the division into Twelve Tribes And therefore we reade of Twelve Cakes of Shew-bread Exod. 24. 5 of Twelve Pillars of Moses his Altar Exod. 24. 4 of Twelve Stones in the Breast-plate of Aaron Exod. 28. 21 of Twelve Oxen brought to the Dedication of the Tabernacle Numb 7. 23 of Twelve Rods laid up before the Ark of the Testimony Numb 17. 1 of Twelve Spies sent to search the Land of Canaan Numb 13. 1 of Twelve Stones in Iordan Iosh. 4. 9 of the Garment of Ieroboam rent into Twelve pieces 1 Kings 11. 30 of Twelve Stones on which the Altar of Eliah was built and many such-like instances Now it is apparent in these Scriptures That the Spirit standeth upon the exact Number 12 and all this in reference to that ancient distribution of the Church into 12 Tribes Therefore in imitation of the Jewish Church the Holy Spirit in the new Prophecy is very frequent in the use of the same Number when he setteth forth the state of the Gospel-Church in these latter days But can there be the like Reason given why the Antichristian Church is so frequent in the Number 25 Fourthly if it can be proved in some places that 12 is the square-root of 144 and that the Spirit doth stand upon this way of Calculation yet I am sure he doth not universally do this in the description of the New Ierusalem For there is a remarkable passage touching the measures of that City in these words And the City lieth four-square and the length is as large as the Breadth and he measured the City with a reed 12000 furlongs the length breadth and height of it are all equal Rev. 21. 16. If there be any one Text that doâ—…h shew a Characteristical Number to decypher the Holy City this is that Scripture Now if it be the manner of the Spirit in all Apocalyptical Computations to count the square-root of any figurate Number why doth he not use that method here In this particular Number then 109 is the square-root and if you will multiply it into it self it will make 11881 and the remainder will be 119. Therefore in the Dimensions of the Holy City the Spirit doth not perpetually look to the Number 12 as to the square-root of those Holy Numbers Fifthly if it could be proved That 12 is the Root of all the Numbers in the New Ierusalem yet it cannot be made manifest That 25 is the square-root of 666 in so special a manner at least For all the Numbers from 625 to 676 have 25 for their square-root and therefore all the Numbers aforementioned may be the Number of the Name as well as the Number 666. According to this ground what certainty of Interpretation is here to be had More properly then if 25 were the square-root 625 would rather be the Number of the Name of the Beast For if you Multiply 25 into it self it will make exactly 625 and no fractions remaining Whereas 666 as skilful Artists do use to speak is numerus surdus a deaf Number it hath 25 for the square-root and 41 fractions remaining All these Reasons put together do plainly shew That 25 is not the onely Characteristical Number and if it could be proved to be so yet is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Number of the Name of the Beast Princ. 11. The Mark of the Beast ought so in special to be expounded that it may agree to all those and onely to those that are the Beasts Subjects and that it may be the Badge and Livery of their Profession This is proved from Chap. 13. ver 16 17. He causeth all both small and great to receive a Mark in their Forehead and in their Right-hand The Mark then agreeth to all the Subjects of the Beasts Kingdome and to those onely that are his And this also is the badge of the distinction in the matter of buying and selling If this be so how doth Mr. Potter give a true Exposition of the Number For admit the Number 25 be rightly applied to the Cardinals Gates Churches and other remarkable Circumstances of the City of Rome yet how doth he distinguish the Beasts Subjects in the matter of buying and selling The Text saith plainly That none might buy nor sell but he that had the Mark the Name and the Number of the Name The right understanding of these things lieth nor in the subtilties of Arithmetick nor in the extraction of the square-root of any figurate Number or in any occu't Circumstance of the Kingdome of the Beast for these things are discernible unto all and are obvious in the matter of buying and selling Secondly how do they also rightly expound the Number who apply these things to more then the Subjects of the Beasts Kingdome seeing these are the peculiar Characters of them onely who are of his flock Therefore they who will have Lateinos to be the Name of the Beast how do they make this the individuall Character of the Beasts Subjects Our Saviour himself his Apostles and many holy Martyrs for sundry ages have been under the Dominion of the Latines or Romans Therefore we cannot be of so flinty a Philosophy to believe That all sinned who lived under the
things are most necessary for the Calculation of the Times and for the Exposition of the Prophecies But whereas Mr. Potter doth wholly build upon the extraction of the square-root in a figurate Number I cannot see how this doth agree with the practise of the Spirit in other Scriptures I must needs confess that he speaketh very rationally in these words as they follow I have saith he but beaten made plain the same path which Mr. Forbes and other Commentators have trodden out before But I am now come to the place where they either stood still or turned out of the way They say that the Number 12 is the square root of 144 why then do they not proceed in the same Method to finde out the root of the Number of the Beast seeing they say it is opposed to the Number 144 These learned men cannot be supposed to be guilty of so much nescience as to be ignorant of the square-root of a Number Rather they thought it unbeseeming the Wisdome of God and the Majesty of the Scripture to wrap up such Divine Mysteries in Humane Inventions But be it what it will be it is the foundation of Geometry and Arithmetick it is that also in and through which many famous inventions have been brought to light And the words themselves also do insinuate that the discovery is to be made by wisdome So far Mr. Potter pag. 47. In this I do agree with him That it is the foundation of Geometry and Arithmetick in some good measure to extract the square-root of any figurate Number yet for all that I cannot see when the Spirit either in Daniel or in the Revelation doth speak of Tyrannical States or Empires under divers Emblems and Figures that we should discover and finde out these Governments by calculating the square-root of any Number but rather we should go to the Chronologie of the Times and the Stories of the Church And in this sense we hold That Humane Learning is exceeding necessary And for the invention of the square-root it is very necessary in its kinde Princ. 15. The Number ought so in special to be expounded that it may be in some sort discoverable to the people that lived in the days of John and in the ages immediately following though they lived before the beginning of the Beasts Kingdome Therefore when it is said Let him that hath wisdome count the Number of the Beast S. Iohn in these words speaketh to the people that lived in his days and in the ages immediately following that by this they should understand the signs of the coming of the Man of Sin And he doth yet further shew in what Revolution of Time he shall appear There are seven Kings five are fallen one is and the other is not yet come and the Beast that comes out of the Bottomless Pit he is the eighth In which words of his he doth plainly shew That when seven Forms of Government are fallen in the City of Rome then the Beast shall begin as the eighth Potentate At the same time also he saith That the Roman Empire shall be divided into ten inferiour Kingdomes that these have no beeing as yet but receive a Kingdome one hour with the Beast By the collation of both these Scriptures it is clear That the Number was discoverable in the times of Iohn and not onely to Iohn by Revelation but to others also that would imploy themselves by search From hence then we may clearly discern That they are in an error who would have the Number 666 to be the Number of the time of the rising of the Beast and yet make their account by the years of the Lord. So Danaeus in his Treatise de Antichristo The Spirit of God in that place saith he medleth not with Arithmetical signification of Letters but with the Time and Number of years wherein those things shall be accomplished that are there spoken of and for the particular time he referreth us to the year 666 pag. 13 14. Alstedius saith Denotatur tempus quo Antichristus inchoaturus regnum suum scil anno 666 quo tempore coepit Papa maxime dominari Theol. Polem Part. 4. Controv. 5. pag. 388. The like is said By Eckard the Lutheran and others Though in this matter we do agree with the forenamed Expositors That about the 666th year from the birth of the Lord the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome was set up though this be true in some latitude of speech yet it cannot be the meaning of the Text. For what knowledge had the people that lived in the days of Iohn and in the ages immediately following of the account by the year of the Lord Why should not the Christians that lived in Spain finde out the Number by the Spanish Aera The Christians in Aegyâ—…t and Africa by the Aera of Dioclesian And the Christians under the Emperors of Constantinople by the Indictions These and many other ways of account were anciently used Dyonisius the Less about the year 532 did begin to compute by the years of the Lord and that way of Computation came not into vulgar use many years after It is therefore very strange That men should Number the times of the beginning of the Beasts Kingdome after the account by the years of the Lord and yet certain hundred years after the Church should be wholly ignorant of that way of Computation And thus laying all things together we have proved by the concatenation and connexion of all particulars That ours is the true Interpretation because it doth agree with all the Body of the Circumstances fore-alledged And for other Expositions we have shewed the Reason why we cannot rest in them because in severall Principles more or less they do cross the meaning of the Spirit Now it remaineth that we compare the substance of our Interpretation with the scope of the Apostle S. Paul 2 Thess. 2. CHAP. XI A brief Description of the Doctrine of S. Paul 2 Thess. 2. And how he doth fully agree with the present Interpretation ALl Interpreters and Writers in a manner do agree in this That the Beast his Name and Image spoken of Rev. 13. are all one and the same in substance with the description of the Great Antichrist in the Thessalonians Let us come to the words of the Text. Vers. 1. 2. Now we beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Iesus Christ and by our gathering together to him that ye be not soon shaken in minde nor be troubled neither by Spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as though the day of Christ were at hand In these words there is some darkness in our English Translation for whereas the Translation hath it We beseech you Brethren by the coming of the Lord the word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the cause of the coming of the Lord. The Apostle in the former Epistle having spoken of the coming of Christ to Judgement of the Resurrection from the
Constantine the Great After these things he sheweth the fall of the Empire and the rising of the Ten Kings by the Emblem of a Beast with ten Horns that came up out of the Sea Chap. 13. ver 1. This Beast doth signifie the Roman Tyranny in the last and the Antichristian Edition And he further addeth in the latter times of this Kingdome that the Eternal Gospel shall be preached to every Kindred Tongue and Nation Chap. 14. ver 6. 7. Then also the deceived Kings shall be undeceived and The Kingdomes of this world shall become the Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ Chap. 11. 15. That is those Kingdomes which formerly were the Kingdomes of the Beast shall become subject to the Laws of Christ and of his Gospel Here is a plain Example though not in the Age of the Apostles of whole Christian Nations in the times of the Gospel I willingly yield That the preaching of the Gospel is that by and through which primarily and immediately Churches are gathered yet by the Authority of the Magistrate the same Gospel also is countenanced Laws are made Parishes are divided Ministers maintained and the Body of the Nation brought to attend to that which is or at least may be the mean of their Salvation I cannot think but with great horrour what would ensue if the Designs of some men should take place It would be the very Abaddon and Apollyon to the Church of God But let us look what is spoken of the Kings of Europe They shall hate the Whore and make her desolate and naked and shall burn her flesh with fire Chap. 17. If they shall hate the Whore then they shall destroy the Idolatries and Superstitions of that Church which they did formerly so love and admire and on the contrary part they shall countenance the Gospel bring in their People and do as much for the Church of Christ which they did formerly persecute and hate Of the New Ierusalem it is said The Kings of the Earth shall bring their glory to her Chap 21. But lest any should think That this is meant onely of the Glory of the Church in Heaven Let sundry passages of the Prophet Esay be considered The scope of all whiâ—…h is to shew That the Kings of the Earth shall bring their Glory unto the Church There is much spoken also of the coming in of whole Nations of the Conversion of Kings and the adorning of the Church by the bounty of Kings Reade Chap. 60. per totum with many other places If these things were rightly considered men would not have such prejudices against a National Constitution and setting up of the Gospel by the Authority Power and Command of Kings and Princes What shall we make of the Reign of Christ upon the Earth Is it not directly and diametrally opposite to the Reign of the Beast And the Reign of the Beast let the Angel himself together with our own experience shew wherein the formality and the being thereof doth consist So he speaketh The Horns which thou sawest are ten Kings which have received no Kingdome as yet but receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast These have one minde and shall give their power and strength unto the Beast These shall make war with the Lamb but the Lamb shall overcome them for he is the Lord of lords and King of kings Rev. 17. ver 12 13 14. The effence of the Kingdome of the Beast lyeth in the Confederacy of Kings and in their yielding themselves to the Name and Headship of the Bishop of Rome This is the Reign of the Beast upon the Earth So by the Rule of Proportion the Reign of Christ and of the Lamb shall be in the holy association and concurrence of Christian Princes to set up the Gospel of Christ his Name and Headship as the Regent-Law among the Nations From all that hath been said it is cleer That this Doctrine is not contrary to the Authority of Magistrates nay it is most forcible and effectual to establish the Laws and Government of the Church Upon the same grounds I do here desire to speak a word or two and Oh that I could speak it with tears The Reformation in Germany and now lately in England hath been and yet is much deformed by abalienation of the Churches Revenue and in passing away that which former Ages have bestowed I may speak of a great part at least upon the preaching of the Gospel These are Scandals to the Enemy Let our Consciences in the mean while judge Whether this be not a Scandal given rather then a Scandal taken Whether we do not open the mouthes of the Enemies of the Lord to speak evil of the Reformation And whether we are not faulty in this Point Moses went in Gods way and by his Command and it was a glorious work to deliver Israel from the Bondage of Egypt yet withall when he was in the discharge of so excellent a work then the Lord stood in the Way to kill him Exod. 4. 24. Our Armies are going forth against the Enemies and the Proteâ—…ant Armies are like to go forth more and more These are the times or at least do border upon the times of the Suâ—…per of the Fowls of the great Vintage of thâ—… Batâ—…el of Armageddon There are like to be great Commotions of State Army against Army in the times of the end of the Beasts Kingdome And therefore by collation of all Circumstances we cannot be fat off from the performance of all that hath been foretold It is meet for us to see our own sins and specially that which I have hinted before we go on in the Lords work These things I have thought good to annex by way of Appendiâ—… My purpose is not to speak any thing to please or diâ—…please any Party Neither can I tell how any Party will be pleased with me it may be I may displease all However I do desire to please mine own Conscience in delivering that which I conceive to be a Truth of God There is one thing whiâ—…h I think meet more â—…ully to explain my self in I have in the preceding Treatise made it a good part of my work to prove the Roman to be the Fourth and the last Metal Kingdome and that the Roman doth begin in the consideration and notion of such a Kingdome when the Church and the Conâ—…inent of the Church came under the Dominion and Soveraignty of the People of Rome This I know the followers of Iunius will not away with and many learned men in these times do follow this way of Interpretation But because we will not unnecessarily controvert and make our selves more enemies then needs we will be content to say That the Roman doth begin at the end or ending of all four Metal-Kingdomes and where they end in the method order and way of account the Roman doth begin And whereas we have endeavored Chap. 6. pag. 116. to prove the beginning of the Roman as The fourth Metal-Kingdome to be at that instant of time when the Church came under the Dominion of that People the same Arguments mutatis mutandis will prove the beginning of the Roman at the end of all four Metal-Kingdomes And so the followers of Iunius and we shall agree in the substance of the Interpretation Let us compute the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome as Decreed and Enacted under the Emperor Phocas and in that series and way of account it will be 666 years from the beginning of the Roman as that great Empire doth succeed at the end of the four Metal-Kingdomes Here is the Name of the Beast and the Calculation according to the Number of a Man according to the Divisions and Parts of the Body of Man in Daniels Image If we go either way the Account will be made good FINIS Hier. in Levit. Quot verba tot mysteria quot syllaba tot sacramenta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iren. lib. 2. c. 39. l. 3. c. 3. â—…us l. 3. c. 23. Epiph. Haeres 51. Rev. 16. Acts 1. 7. * In his Treatise concerning the Kingdom of Christ upon the Earth Note Note Note Note * And besides the Testimonies of Josephus Dio the Historian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iews 〈◊〉 Taxâ—…d by Gabinius 〈◊〉 3â—… Note