I look upon to be the more likely reading and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which bears the same sense comes so presently after Loveth all things that is to say is a sincere lover and hearty imbracer of the whole Creation of God and a rejoycer in his works Believeth all things that is All the Fundamentals at least of the truly ancient and Apostolick Faith in vertue of that purification of the Soul whereby she has arrived to this transcendent state of Divine Love Hopeth all things namely firmly expecteth all those great and gracious promises of a Blessed Immortality after this life and the Glories and Enjoyments thereof in which hope she is so fixt and stedfast by reason of the purity of the Soul and presence of the Divine Spirit in her that as it follows buoyed up by this full persuasion and chiefly in assurance it is for the glory of God and the good of his people she Endureth all things being assured that God whom St. John calls Love and with whom she is united by faith and love can carry her through a thousand persecutions and deaths and yet repose her safe at last in his own bosome Which is according to that couragious profession of the same blessed Apostle Rom. 8. Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ shall Tribulation or Distress or Persecution or Famine or Nakedness or Peril or Sword Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerours in him that loved us For I am persuaded that neither Death nor Life the fear of the one or the love of the other nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ our Lord. This is that most excellent glorious and salutiferous Idea or Character of the Philadelphian state of the Church which is immediately to succeed the Sardian and in which alone the Reformed Churches must hope to be in safe Harbour indeed But in the mean time the nearer we compose our selves to this great Pattern in the greater safety and better condition shall we be If we will lay aside all our Dissentions and Animosities all our Factions and Schisms and remember that for all the stir and noise we make about Opinions and Ceremonies and Forms of Government in the esteem of our Lord Christ we are but dead bodies for so he declares to the Church in Sardis being destitute of the life of Christ which is the Spirit of Love whose fruits and effects I have above described out of St. Paul If we could but have so much zeal and ardour of mind to promote the Indispensables of Christian Religion as every Sect has to promote such Forms or Opinions as Christianity can well want and yet be most effectual for the Salvation of Souls which is the end of our Religion it would be a wholsome symptome or sign of our Recovery For this undoubtedly would bring along with it all Decency and Order and Morigerousness to the Magistrate whether Ecclesiastical or Civil in things indifferent and cement us together and consolidate us into one inexpugnable Temple of Christ able to bear off all the assaults of the Emissaries of Antichrist whereas now Divisions and Factions Animosity and Discord amongst our selves is like to make us a prey to the common Enemy These things are lively represented to us in those two Epistles the one to the Church of Sardis the other to the Church of Philadelphia which therefore made me so solicitous to confirm to all the World that Truth and here again repeatedly to declare it That the Vision of the Seven Churches is a Prophecy of the State of the Church from the beginning thereof to the end of the world To which I will onely cast in this third reason That it makes much for the Gracefulness and Elegancy and Enravishing Artifice of this Divine Volume of Prophecies the Apocalypse that the Vision of the Seven Churches be acknowledged such a Prophecy as I have described especially if we consider how the order of the Intervals agree with the order of the Synchronals of the Sealed and Opened Book-Prophecies and particularly how the Church of Sardis falls in with the Rising of the Witnesses on which things it is needless here to enlarge any further and not at all convenient my Preface having already swelled so exceeding much beyond my expectation Onely I will remind the Reader that I am not alone in this my confidence of the Vision of the Seven Churches being such a Prophecy those two eminent Theologers Ludovicus Crocius and Balthasar Willius an Authour that was very lately sent me by a Reverend and Learned Friend discovering the same truth before me and the latter so well assured of it that he makes it the ground of his Exposition of a considerable part of the Prophecy of Zachary as I have intimated above and the more of us hitting upon and approving the same Notion unknown to one another it ought to be the greater confirmation to others that the Notion is natural sound and true Thus have I with all imaginable sincerity and freeness given an account of this my Exposition of the Divine Visions of Daniel and of my annexing the Threefold Appendage thereto And now that this my just zeal for the truth may not seem to any one either unseasonable immoderate or extravagant That it is not unseasonable I think is over apparent there being that strong Effort by the Popish Party to bring their Religion again here into England and therefore it is the duty of every one of my Calling as he finds himself tolerably appointed for it to instruct the people touching the Solidity of our Reformed Religion and of the Detestableness of Popery such as it may be made out to be either from Reason or the Divine Oracles For for a Nation Priest and People to turn in a moment from one Religion to another as contrary to one another as Light is to Darkness and Christ to Antichrist surely must be the greatest slur that ever was put on the Profession of true Religion since the world stood and the greatest gratification and Triumph which that Triumvirate of pestilent Wits ever yet have had I mean the Atheist Antichrist and the Devil And verily there being that vast difference betwixt the Reformed Religion and Popery this consideration alone one would think should put an effectual stop to any ones revolt that is not an Infidel and believes nothing of a life to come viz. That if he does not stand his ground in this assault nor be driven off by the terrour and affright of men he cannot assure himself but if the like threatnings of death and cruelty were used to him to renounce all Christianity whatsoever that he might be an utter Apostate from Christ pass over to Turcism nay Paganism and at last be persuaded humbly to
loathsomly besmeared with Idolatry and bloud and that those that shut their eyes from seeing and their mouths from professing so plain a truth are but dough-baked Protestants and in great peril if occasion offer itself to be amassed and kned again into the old soure lump of Popery worse than the very Leaven of the Pharisees which Christ advised his Disciples to beware of Moreover That the Rising of the Witnesses was fulfilled in the late Blessed Reformation and that as the Popedome is the Kingdome of Antichrist so Reformed Christendome the Kingdome of Christ in opposition thereunto and a more visible emersion of the Fifth-Monarchy ever distinct from the four Monarchies so much guilty of Idolatry and bloud And that as the many Sects in the Primitive times more in number and more hainous in quality as you may see in Epiphanius than have appeared since the Reformation did not hinder but the Christian Church was then the real Kingdome of Christ no more do those Sects that appear in the Reformed Churches but are disallowed by them hinder at all but they are the true Kingdome of Christ also and rightfully oppose the Kingdome of Antichrist as the Primitive Christians did the Kingdome of the Dragon And that Reformed Christendome being in truth the Kingdome of Christ our inference therefrom is very sound that we ought from the very heart to give all Reverence and obedience in things indifferent to the Magistrates thereof a duty which is owing even to Pagan Magistrates from Christians much more one would think to Christian Magistrates from those that pretend to be Christians themselves This is a Truth so firm and sure that I have placed it amongst my eight Principles for the support and enlargement of the Kingdome of Christ in my Divine Dialogues in these express words The fifth Document or Instruction should be to all the Members of Christs Kingdome wherever their abode is that they do not suffer themselves to be stain'd with the least blemish or taint of Disloyalty to their lawful Sovereign upon any account whatsoever but especially upon a Religious one there being no greater disinterest to the true Religion than to appear to be promoted or maintained by so gross an Immorality as Disloyalty nor any greater advantage than through Faith and Patience to bear all tryals and hardships as the old Primitive Christians did whose eyes being lift up Heavenward and their feet wholly in that path by Providence stumbled on the Imperial Crown the Emperour at last becoming a professed Christian. Furthermore The Rising of the Witnesses and the Sardian Period commencing together That they of the Reformed Churches are bound in the fear of God with all attentiveness to read Christ's Epistle to the Church in Sardis and especially we of the Church of England and to impress those weighty words on our minds Remember how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent as of our carnal and sensual lives so of our wantonness and stipperiness in matters of Doctrine as those two great points attested by the Witnesses of Christ That the Popedome is the Kingdome of Antichrist and the Papal Hierarchy the mother of Spiritual fornication or Idolatry That we are to remember what we have heard and received and hold fast and repent us of either our coldness in or Apostasie from the profession of so grand concerning Truths as also of our Schismaticalness and Rebelliousness That we remember I say what we have received and may still read in that excellent Book of Homilies of our English Church touching these main points of the Pope being Antichrist the Papal Church Idolatrous and of that hainous wickedness of Rebellion against our lawful Sovereign and of mingling any Righteousnesses or Satisfactions and Penances of humane invention with our Justification and Remission of sins in the bloud of Christ. The profession of the Risen Witnesses in the Book of Homilies is so sincere savoury and genuinely Christian in this point without the least leaning towards Libertinism and Antinomianism that I do not doubt but this profession of the Reformed Churches is alluded to Apoc. 15. in the placing those Harpers that sing the Song of Moses and the Lamb upon the Sea of glass mingled with fire namely upon the shore of the Red Sea for what reason so called it matters not in which Pharaoh and his Host was overthrown as the Pope and his Pontifician Clergy defeated by the Witnesses professing That a true and living faith in the bloud of Christ which the Title of the Red Sea is a Symbol of for remission of sins does alone justify us before God Whereby they flung off a load of trumperies and tedious impositions of humane invention by which they were kept in a worse than Aegyptian servitude under the Pope and Pontifician Clergy And therefore the Reformed Churches are brought in in the above-cited place of the Apocalypse in imitation of the Israelites that had escaped the thraldome of Pharaoh singing a triumphal song on the shore as it were of the mystical Red Sea where the Roman Pharaoh and his tyrannical Hierarchy were overthrown and that wretched bondage which those true Israelites had been kept in for filthy lucre's sake and gain of the Church cast off utterly and quite escaped For all that sweet alluring power and genuine comfort from the Gospel and wonderfull efficacy to make men truly good they hid from the eyes of the people and whenas the very specifick nature and essence of the Christian Religion is a sincere and vehement Love of our Saviours person and peaceful repose of our Souls in his Passion and Merits we in the mean time acting sincerely as our Homilies require in this Covenant of grace this high honour and affection we bear to Christ this repose and peace of mind we have in the merits of his most precious bloud and passion those supplies by his promised Spirit of illumination comfort and direction all this is so miserably and perfidiously squander'd away or sold if you will for the gain of the Church by multiplying of false Patrons and the vain worshippings of Saints and their images by making men to depend on the Infallibility of the Pope and his Priests and by stifling all hopes of illumination and direction from the blessed Spirit of Christ that the members of that Church are made not onely so many slaves bereft of their Christian liberty and enjoyment of the love of Christ that procured it but so many senseless stocks or stones as to Divine matters and are taught to transfer all that recumbency that every true Christian has on the person of our faithful High Priest upon the persons of these unskilful and which is worse unfaithful Tamperers with the Souls of men Whose Salvation consisting in a lively faith and sincere love honour and dependance on the person of our Blessed Saviour and doing the things that He commands these deceitful Emissaries of Rome O Detestable Treachery carry on such a Religion or
very bad sighted that does not plainly perceive the said Empire to be the Greek or Macedonick 7. After this I saw in the night Uisions In this Divine or supernatural Dream communicated to me from God And behold a Fourth Beast that is A Fourth Empire and particularly the Roman For what Empire should succeed the Greek or Macedonick Empire but the Roman that vanquished it as the Greek the Persian and the Persian the Babylonian That this Fourth Beast or Fourth Empire is the Roman Empire I have so fully and evidently demonstrated against Grotius in my Synopsis Prophetica Book 2. Ch. 13. that no rational man I think if he read considerately what I have written can ever for the future doubt thereof And how suitable the description is in the Vision all along we shall now see Dreadfull and terrible and strong excéedingly and it had great Iron téeth As this Fourth Kingdom is also represented in the Vision of the Image by the Iron Legs thereof to which you may also refer that it is said here to be strong exceedingly For so is that Metal And the courage cruelty and exceeding largeness of the Roman Empire must needs make it dreadfull and terrible Which some conceive it to have been in so great a measure as no one wild Beast could be a sufficient Symbol to set off the terrible cruelty thereof Amongst othâ—â— Specimens of which that bloudy and salvage Peâ—â—eution First of the Pagan Roman Empire againâ—â— the Primitive Christians and then of the Pagano-Christian against the Waldenses and Albigenses and innumerable others that professed and stuck to the pure Christian Faith is astonishing and ineffable and exceeding the Salvageness of any wild Beast whatsoever that we may not want a reason why this Fourth Beast is without Name It devoured and brake in pieces and stamped the residue with the Féâ—…t of it that is The Romans subdued and brought under many Kingdoms and Nations devoured their Wealth and incorporated them into their Empire and whom they could not so perfectly subdue yet they harassed their Countries and by inriching some of their Clients by giving others Lands or Revenues to them they trampled upon those whom they could not so perfectly devour and digest into the body of their Empire Illa igitur astuta liberalitas says Calvin vocatur conculcatio quòd Residuum quia scilicet non poterant vorare absumere suis dentibus pedibus suis calcarent See Calvin upon the place And it was diverse from all the Beasts that went before it Forasmuch as they being absolute Monarchies this Fourth Beast consisted of Two Consuls and a Senate Dictators also were sometimes chosen and in after times of a Mingle-mangle of Popes and Emperors c. And it had Ten Horns answering to the Ten Toes of the Iron Legs of the Image that is to say This Roman Empire was at last divided into Ten Kingdoms as the Greek Empire was into Four That these Ten Horns belong to the Roman Empire Grotius himself is fain to acknowledge in his Commentary on the Apocalypse though with might and main he endeavours to distort and obscure the sense of that Book to the utmost he can But by Virtue of the Apocalyptick Synchronisms and the clear and undeniable sense of the Seventeenth Chapter of that Book these Ten Horns must be the Roman Empire divided into Ten Kingdoms after the Empire became Christian and was beginning to Pagano-Christianize and grow Idolatrous again This therefore is the time and there the Ten Horns of the Beast 8. I considered the Horns Which is said by Daniel to excite us to a close consideration of these Horns to see what we can espy there And behold there came up among them another little Horn. And this more especially was the object of Daniel's and ought to be of our consideration what this little Horn that is said to be another Horn among them indeed but distinct from them may mean This little Horn therefore is an Additional to the Ten Horns here as the Two-horned Beast and the Whore are Additionals to the Ten-horned Beast Apoc. Ch. 13. and 7. Which most peculiarly is the Papal Polity or Hierarchy Now let us see how this suits with the Text. Before whom there were thrée of the First namely of the First Kind and First mentioned viz. Secular Horns pluckâ—… up by the roots Vatablus his Translation has it out of the Chaldee Tria autem ex cornibus prioribus evulsa sunt à facie ejus Whereby is signified only the removal from before his Face they stood in his light it seems Whereas they would have or had fixed themselves so near him to his prejudice he made shift to get them pull'd away But this you must conceive could not be till the Pope had ascended unto that rampancy of Power that he would excommunicate Emperours and depose them if need were or absolve their Subjects from Allegiance and seize their Lands In which time the Pope becoming the Monarch as it were of the Roman Empire the Emperours so called whether Greek or German may well take their places among the Ten Horns especially the Secular Empire of old Rome being dissolved which gave the Name or Title to the Roman Empire as Macedonia did to the Macedonick Empire This premised what Mr. Mede says on this Text is very agreeable That the Three Horns pulled away from before the little Horn is the power extending into Italy of the Greek Emperours of the Lombards and of the Franks continued in the Empire of Germany All these Three Powers or Horns he made shift to rid himself of that he might the more easily domineer in Italy without any Corrival as is sufficiently made out by History And behold in this Horn were eyes like the eyes of a man This is another main observable in this little Horn that it had eyes when none of the rest are said to have so Which is a notorious difference and hugely significant of a Power that will pretend to lead all the rest of the Horns as being themselves destitute of sight And the Papal Hierarchy how cunning and quick-sighted a Polity it has been all Histories ring of it and how far they pretend and how active Assistants they are even in Civil Affairs But I conceive this does not exhaust all the meaning of these eyes in the little Horn and of the other Horns having none Which may more peculiarly represent the difference betwixt this Hierarchical Power in the Empire and the Secular of the Ten Kings who in matters of Faith and Religion are to have no eyes of their own but to profess and believe as this Horn who pretends to have the only eyes tells them and to be led in a blind implicit Faith and Profession of whatsoever this seeing Horn declares to be Articles of the Christian Religion and requisite to salvation And this little Horn having this hank upon them you may be sure will require them to believe such things as tend
a spurious reading understanding the Prophecy literally And it may be it was a Comment crept into the Text. For as all are agreed that by the red Apple is meant some Imperial City so the Red Hats of the Cardinals and the Scarlet cloathing of the Papal Hierarchy might easily invite the Commentatour to interpret this Red Apple of the City of Rome and if any Iew was the Interpreter as there are many amongst the Turks they understanding by Edom in the Scripture which signifies Red the City of Rome or the Roman Power it was hard for him to miss of that Interpretation And Cornelius à Lapide notes that the Iews by the Idumaeans understand the Romans in his Commentary upon Isai. 21. 11. The Burden of Dumah that is of Idumaea in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which is very nigh in writing to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Martinius in his Technologia observes out of St. Ierome Sic saith he Hieronymus ait 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 literas parvo apice distingui cùm interpretatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 paululùm literae apice commutato pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 legi posse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sonare Romam But there was no need of this nicety the Interpretation of this Turkish Prophecy is discovered enough already I will onely referr the Reader to Mr. Mede Book 5. Ch. 8. where by many examples he shows that the Iews by Edom understand Rome and how R. D. Kimchi turns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I think Interpreters are much mistaken when they interpret the seven and twelve years not Symbolically but Arithmetically For if there be any thing in the Prophecy I suspect this to be the meaning thereof That the Turk may take the City of Rome suppose within the space of the seventh Vial being so hugely guilty of Idolatry and bloud if she prevent it not by timely Repentance And if the Christian sword advance not against him during the Septenary a Symbol of the reign of Idolatry for such was the seventh Head yet upon the commencing of the Duodenary which is the Symbol of the times of the pure Apostolick Restitution and of the new Ierusalem Christianity shall furmount Turcisme Nor shall the Christians any where be any longer slaves â—…nto him But I brought this Prophecy of the Turks taking the City of Rome set down by that zealous Romanist Bartholomaeus Georgivitz onely to shew that the forewarning the Church of Rome of the danger is no argument of the least ill will towards them Shall be slain with the Sword of him that sits on the white Horse And this is the Christian sword that in the beginning of the Duodenary when the truely pure and Apostolick Church shall appear will put the Turk to flight that is quite vanquish the Turkish Religion and Power and turn them all Christians And these are those times which Cardan in an Astrological Fit of Divination more than ordinarily assisted it may be as the Star-gazers of the East were by a Supernatural Star describes in his language briefly thus Martem Lunam debellant Sol Iupiter Authoritate Dignitate Veritate Ob hoc Christiani erigite capita qui potest capere capiat The language is fantastical as being Astrological but the prediction insinuated by some better kind of Genius as the Turkish Prophet haply might be inspired by some secret Emissary from Palmoni who has a right to all Kingdomes though not possession yet of all is sober and true as appears by the Holy Oracles of Scripture VISION VI. Continued From the times of the sixth and seventh Vial to the second Resurrection as also the Duration of the Entireness of the Kingdome of Antichrist defined And the time of his more palpable Discovery indigitated by two Numbers directing thereto Chap. 12. 1. AND at that time shall Michael stand up the great Prince which standeth for the Children of thy people As it is said Ch. 10. 21. And there is none that holdeth with me in these things but Michael your Prince This passage therefore denotes the time when the affairs of the Iews become very hopefull and prosperous which is about the sixth and the seventh Vials to speak in the language of the Apocalypse And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a Nation even to that same time As it is said Apoc. 16. 18. under the seventh Vial And there was a great Earthquake such as was not since men were upon earth so mighty an earthquake and so great The comparing which two places together plainly shews to what times they belong And at that time thy people shall be delivered The Seventy have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy people shall be saved as also the vulgar Latin has it Salvabitur populus tuus namely from that bondage and abject condition they had lived in among the Nations as also from the rude and beggerly elements of Moses and by their conversion to Christianity they will be made partakers of eternal salvation Chery one that shall be found written in the Book Yea not the Iews onely but every one as well Gentiles as Iews that are found written in the Book of Life mentioned Apoc. 20. 12. shall be saved So that as it is usual with the Prophets there is a running out from the Temporal deliverance of the Iews to the Spiritual deliverance and from their particular deliverance from the lake of fire or second death to the General Salvation of all whose names are writ in the Book of Life As the sense is very coherent with what follows in the next verse which contains though something involutely and contractedly both the first and second Resurrection according as the words are capable of a double Exposition 2. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake Where Many in counterdistinction to All does plainly intimate the first Resurrection which is not the General Resurrection but the Resurrection of the Martyrs onely such as did actually lose their lives for witnessing to the Truth or did without all reserve expose them for the same as Daniel did who was cast into the Lions den and the three Children into the fiery furnace though they were miraculously delivered Some to everlasting life The Hebrew has it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those to everlasting life viz. Those that awake out of the dust of the earth at this time Those that are revivificated into their glorious bodies at this first Resurrection these awake to eternal life and enjoy a blessed immortality in their Heavenly bodies This is the first Resurrection of which it is said Apoc. 20. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath â—…o power And some to shame and everlasting contempt In the Hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which you may render But those others another sort of people which the Prophecy
haec atque horribilis Bellua Romanum Imperium neque necesse est quenquam nomiâ—…are cùm nemo non dicat 3. Secondly that it cannot be the Kingdome of the Lagidae and Seleucidae as Grotius would bear us in hand in which odd conceit of his he forsakes the judgment of the whole Church of Christ to follow Porphyrius his who was a sworn Enemy to the Christian Religion appears from what is said Daniel 7. 23. The Fourth Beast shall be the Fourth Kingdome upon Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quâ—…d majus erit omnibus regniâ—… Which shall be greater than all Kingdomes so the Vulgar Latine and Vatablus The Seventy also render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And it agrees best with what follows and shall devour the whole Earth which must be understood in such a sense as Earth was before and shall tread it down and break it in pieces Which it could not be said to do unless it were so great a Kingdome as is here intimated Now it is manifest that the Kingdome of the Seleucidae and Lagidae * was neither greater more excellent nor a more victorious Kingdome than any of the three preceeding namely the Babylonian Persian and that of Alexander the Great from whose Kingdome they would make this of the Lagidae and Seleucidae distinct Wherefore their Kingdome cannot be this Fourth This Inference is so plain to Gasper Sanctius that he does though but justly yet very severely chastise Porphyrius for this Errour which Grotius has so unluckily taken up For he breaks out into these words upon this Text Vide Porphyrii stuporem oscitantiam in cujus mentem venire potuit â—…ut existimaverit regnum eorum qui Alexandro successere omnium esse maximum quodque omnem terram sibi subjecerit conculcaveritque cùm reliquis regnis longè fuerit infirmius ab omnibus concisum out malè vexatum Nay the very Prophecy it self makes the Kingdom of the Successours of Alexander less than his in power and greatness Dan. 8. 22. where it is said that Four Kingdoms shall stand up but not in the power of Alexander Which is they shall be inâ—…eriour to him Which questionless is meant of them joyntly it being a needless intimation of them single 4. Thirdly The Kingdom of the Iron legs and toes and of the Ten horned Beast with Iron teeth are one and the same Kingdom according to Grotius his own acknowledgment which he makes that of the Seleucidoe and Lagidae Now it is said that a Stone cut out of a Mountain without hands should break in pieces these legs and toes nay the whole Image oâ—… Iron Brass Silver and Gold and so succeed this Kingdom of the Seleucidae according to his sense oâ—… the Vision And Ch. 7. One like the Son of man in the Clouds of Heaven comes to receive a Kingdom namely upon the destruction of Antiochus Epiphanâ—…s that little Horn amongst the ten in this fourth Kingdom of Grotius his framing of whom it is said at the 21 verse I beheld and the same Horn made war with the Saints and prevailed against them until the Antient of days came and judgment was given to the Saints of the most High Which is the same with the Son of Man his coming in the Clouds of Heaven to receive the Kingdom of the Antient of days vers 13. And both agree with the Stone cut out without hands to shew it is not the work of man but of the Antieâ—â— of days God himself and that this is indeed the very Kingdom of Christ as Interpreters ever have expounded it Which is a perfect contradiction to Grotius his Dream That the fourth Beast with Iron Teeth and the Iron legs of the Image denote the Kingdom of the Lagidoe and Seleucidae and tâ—…at Antiochus is this little Horn. * For Antiochus Epiphanes was dead almost two hundred years before Christ so much as preached the Doctrine of the Kingdome or had any Disciples to follow him and yet it is said Dan. 2. 44. And in tâ—…e days of these Kingdoms shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed From which passage I doubt not but that phrase The Kingdome of God as also from that above The Kingdom of Heaven does so often occur in the Gospel as also that Title which Christ so often gives himself of the Son of man And Grotius himself upon Matthew 8. 20. acknowledgeth that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son of man mentioned Dan. 7. 13. is to be understood of the Messias Wherefore it is impossible that the Kingdome of the Lagidae and Seleucidae should be the fourth Kingdom 5. But here Grotius contrary to his judgment when he wrote upon Matthew has found a device which is scarce to be uttered without horrour and astonishment So that I am infinitely amazed that a man otherwise so learned and laudable as he speaks of Porphyrius should be mis-led into so bad an adventure The Son of man coming in the Clouds of Heaven according to him is Populus Romanus nullum intra se habens Regem When our Saviour Christ intimated to the High Priest that he was that Son of man that should come in the Clouds of Heaven it seem'd so high an Arrogation that he rent his clothes and said he had spoken Blasphemy And truly I think that neither Jew nor Christian can well acquit Grotius of that crime who attributes that which is the peculiar character of the Messias to a Prophane and Pagan people and that forsooth because they had no King as if they were ever the better for that But they had Kings at first and both in the Infancy of their Empire and afterwards they had a Supreme Power so great and Imperial as may excuse them from the least shew of contempt They had always over them a Sovereignty so that they could not be deemed the Son of man for any such private condition For the Summa Potestas is the Summa Potestas under what name or form soever and of the same real grandeur Besides that they were a most glorious and victorious people before Antiochus his time So that it is a very dilute and sapless conceit of Grotius to apply the Phrase of the Son of man to them for any inconsiderableness in them or obscurity For they were not so in the times of Antiochus 6. Again The Kingdom of the Son of man and the Stone cut out without hands are all one both in truth and according to Grotius his own concession But this Stone is Christ and his Kingdome as being Heavenly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing erected not by human power but by the power and Spirit of God That this is the meaning of without hands is the general vote of Interpreters S. Ierom Irenaeus Iustin Epiphanius S. Augustin Theodoret and several others Where think you does Grotius take shelter now Why This Figure which is so appropriate to Christ and mentioned of him so often in the New Testament This Stone
I have demonstrated the Rising of the Witnesses to be in this second part of my Appendage And they that have applied the late Blessed Reformation to the second Vial as Mr. Mede and after him Peganius has done it was from this errour that they took it for granted that most of the Vials preceeded the Rising of the Witnesses And such is the humour fansifulness and partiality of many that they can hardly believe of themselves that the Witnesses are risen till Kingdomes Nations and Principalities of their own party rise into Political power namely all Episcopal all Presbyterian all Calvinists all Arminians all Socinians and so of Anabaptists Quakers and Famulists But they erre knowing not the Scriptures or the true meaning of them nor rightly considering the Records of History where they may find what was the testimony of these Witnesses who are predicted to rise in the Reformation and to be warred against before by the Beast and cruelly persecuted As there was nothing to alledge against the Apostolicalness of their faith they professing the Triunity of the Godhead and Divinity of Christ and such like Articles of the Christian belief and living accordingly whereby they became idoneous Witnesses so their plain and simple testimony against the Church of Rome was this That the Pope was that Man of sin or Antichrist and their Church Idolatrous by reason of their adoration of the Host invocation of Saints and worshipping of Images and their Religion otherwise also grosly corrupt in seeking to propitiate God by their adhering to the multifarious vain and wicked inventions of men excogitated onely for the gain of the Priest and the keeping the people in blindness and ignorance This was the tenour of the Testimony of the Witnesses both in the Pergamenian and the Thyatirian Interval of the Church which they witnessed with great favouriness and assurance in virtue of the Spirit of life and holiness in them And persons innumerable that bore the same testimony and were of the same sentiments instead of being still mournfull Witnesses in sackcloth or lying dead in a Political sense in the streets of the Mystical Prophet-murdering Jerusalem the same with Babylon or Aegypt which signify the large jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome at the Reformation had a reviving into Political Power again and ascended in several Kingdomes to the highest Honours Dignities and Employments in Church and State Which therefore as I have proved in this part of my Appendage must needs be the Rising of the Witnesses they being of the same mind and profession with those that were so grievously persecuted and kept out of all power nay burnt at the stake murdered and massacred God knows how many hundred thousands of them And at this very day our own Church of England partly in her Homilies partly in her Articles and Liturgy gives the same testimony of the Church of Rome even that she is that old painted harlot of Babylon with her cup of fornication that is of Idolatry and that the Pope is Antichrist as I have shewn in my Synopsis Prophetica Book 2. Ch. 21. Which whenas our own Church which seems most moderate does so plainly attest we may be sure the rest of the chiefest writers of the Reformation do not mince the matter at all And if there be any persons in the Reformation any where that at all recoyl from this testimony it is because the Spirit of life and holiness is decayed in them and the gross Spirit of this world has blinded their eyes and darkened their understandings and hardened their hearts against the truth they preferring worldly power pomp and riches before the purity of Gods worship Wherefore I say this is one great usefulness of my demonstrating the Vials to follow the Rising of the Witnesses in that it is thence manifest that the Vision of the Rising of the Witnesses was fulfilled in the late Blessed Reformation there being thus no other Vision to predict it but this Which conclusion contains a manifold usefulness in it For first that acclamation in Heaven upon the Rising of the Witnesses That the Kingdomes of the world were become the Kingdomes of the Lord and of his Christ namely after so many Principalities Provinces and Kingdomes had cast off the Pope in the late Blessed Reformation what does this imply but that they were before in the hands of Antichrist and that were the Pope has any Dominion it is ipso facto Antichrists Kingdome and on the contrary that all the Reformed parts of Christendome are the Kingdome of Christ and indeed the fifth Monarchy begun Which ought to stop the mouths and carrears of an ignorant and Fanatical sort of men that cannot see wood for trees and seek for a fifth Monarchy in a fifth Monarchy whenas so considerable a part of it is erected before their eyes already But as I noted above such is the folly and freakishness of ignorant and conceited men that they would not willingly acknowledge the Witnesses to be risen till those of the same crotchets with themselves whole Kingdomes and Nations of them have got into power But it is very true and extremely worth our nothing that as in the times of the old Roman Paganism all those that professed Christ according to the tenour of what we call the Apostles Creed though in the mean time they had several different conceits about things that appertained to the Christian Religion were notwithstanding lookt upon as the Kingdome of Christ in opposition to the Kingdome of the red Dragon the Pagan persecutive Roman Empire so all the Reformed Churches States and Kingdomes though some Lutherans others Calvinists some of one opinion others of another yet they keeping to the old Orthodox Faith of the Triunity of the Godhead and Divinity of Christ acknowledged by the Church in the Symmetral times thereof and renouncing the Communion of the Roman Church for her gross Idolatries and wretched and intolerable Superstitions and humane inventions whereby she has so notoriously adulterated the purity and simplicity of the Christian Faith and worship all these I say are justly deemed the Kingdome of Christ in opposition to the Dominion of the Pope or Kingdome of Antichrist Whence as I was a going to say a second special use of this our demonstration that the late Blessed Reformation was the fulfilling of the Vision of the Rising of the Witnesses is the undeceiving of those they call the Fifth-monarchy men who would pretend to begin the fifth Monarchy and upon that account raise commotions and tumults whenas it is so stupendiously and surprisingly by the special providence of God begun already And let a third usefulness be to reprove them that out of rashness and conceitedness or any other worse principle vilify and contemn this great work of God the late happy Reformation whether it be those that think there is too much done already they having an hankering again after the Flesh-pots of Aegypt the worldly bigness and downbearing
rather Superstition as whose very nature is to abuse that Religious inclination in humane Souls by making them swattle away their love and zeal upon false objects and to spend their obedience on the vain inventions of men by making them rely on the falsly supposed merits of Saints and to depend upon the person and Trumperies of an ignorant or deceitful Priest instead of having their sure repose in the richness of the mercy of God through Christ Iesus our Lord. To whom if we be immediately united by faith and love and shew our love by endeavouring sincerely to our power to keep His commandments this is the plain and compendious way to salvation All other Interposals of humane invention are but distractions and obstacles thereto and wicked elusions of the power and comfort of the Gospel of our Lord Iesus This seems to be the sound and savoury sense of the Homilies of the Church of England and that in opposition to that Aegyptian servitude and vile bondage that Gods people were held in under the Church of Rome And certainly it must have been a most loathsome slavery and a sight intolerable to as many as whose eyes God had opened to see the whole scope of the Gospel thus â—…luded for filthy lucre's sake by the wretched inventâ—â—ns of men besides the sordidness and foulness of 〈◊〉 intermingled therewith Which made the sâ—…ate of that Church intolerable to as many as God had visited with his saving grace and had made to understand this mystery of Iniquity by the illumination of his holy Spirit insomuch that it was more tolerable to them to quit this world and life itself than to comply with such horrid Impieties How can we then whom God long since has delivered out of this vile bondage and have sung that Triumphal Song of Moses and the Lamb return again into Sodom and Aegypt How can we desert a Religion to the Witnesses whereof God has given so ample a witness in that blessed and Apostolick Reformation in raising them from the dead after three days and an half according to prediction and calling them up into the Political Heavens and setting them to rule in high places How can we return like a dog to his vomit to a vomit cast out and lying so long time cold and sour in the dirt and mire a vomit cast out as nauseous to all that is sound or sacred in the faculties of a man Nauseous to the outward senses and inward senses Nauseous to common Reason Nauseous to the principles of Logick and all sound Philosophy so nauseous to all these was that figment of Transubstantiation forged for the gain and honour of the Priesthood but quite repugnant to all the abovesaid faculties of man and nauseous to all common honesty and modesty to obtrude such an impossible fiction upon deluded people and to make them profess it whether they will or no for fear of being cruelly and barbarously murdered which must be exceeding nauseous to all such as have but the least sense of Iustice or humanity remaining in them How shall we again incorporate with that Church whom the Spirit of God has so plainly as well as the Homilies of our Church of England declared to be the Whore of Babylon May we take the Members of Christ and make them the members of an Harlot How shall we forsake the Kingdome of Christ and make our selves subjects of the Popedome which out of St. John and the Prophet Daniel to say nothing of St. Paul three sufficient Witnesses I trow to put an end to this controversy is most evident to be the Kingdome of Antichrist If treason and rebellion against an earthly Prince be so hainous a crime as most certainly it is what a crime is rebellion and treason against him who is assuredly King of Kings and Lord of Lords even the Lord Christ Iesus And lastly How can we turn our backs of a Religion unless we will wilfully run into eternal perdition that has all the assurance of truth against that of the Church of Rome that the heart of man can wish or his curiosity require Is the vote of Primitive antiquity of any value that stands for us the Church for the first four hundred years being the very platform of our Reformation Has Sense common Reason the Rudiments of Logick the sound Principles of Philosophy any weight with them all these assuredly witness for us against the impossible figments and fond forgeries of the Church of Rome Has Morality and indispensable Principles of common Honesty which the pretence of no Religion ought in any wise to deface Has the eternal law of God and Nature implanted in our hearts any right to be appealed to we right willingly appeal to it how innocent the Form of our Religion is as to this and how foul and obnoxious will be found the Principles of the Papacy And finally has the attestation of Scripture and bloud of Martyrs some hundred thousands of innocent and holy Souls burnt and massacred by these Antichristian Persecutors have such serious Testimonies any force with them then have we even a cloud of Witnesses in the behalf of the Truth of our Reformed Religion against the impious corruptions of the Church of Rome The plain places of Scripture expresly condemn the worship of Images the praying in an unknown tongue the communicating but in one kind and the like And the Prophecies do not onely declare the Church of Rome to be the Whore of Babylon and the Pope Antichrist but those that professed the faith of the Reformed Churches to be the Witnesses to be the Martyrs of Iesus and the Saints of the most High Such a Seal is there set to the truth of the profession of the Reformed Religion against the enormous corruptions of Popery even by the bloud of infinite numbers of the serious and faithful servants of our Lord Christ that I may not say even by the bloud of Christ himself Who gave himself and shed his most precious bloud on the cross for his Church that he might sanctify it and cleanse it as with the washing of water by the word of God and the Pope keeps the word of God from the knowledge of the people that they may wallow in the black mire of ignorance and the filth of Idolatry for the gain of Holy Church Christ the true Bridegroom gave himself for his Church that he might present it to himself a glorious Church most illustriously shining forth in the fruits of the Spirit and the works of real Righteousness declared in the Gospel But the Pope blasphemously arrogating that Title of Sponsus Ecclesiae to himself has debauched the Church not presenting it a glorious Church to Christ her true Husband but in a whorish pompous dress contrary to the Christian mans very promise in Baptism to forsake the pomps and vanities of this wicked world presents it to himself a garisâ—… gorgeous Idolatrous Church for the satisfaction of his own pride and lust And whenas
Christ the true Husband gave himself for the Church that she might have neither spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing but be holy and without blemish the whole body of the Religion of the Roman Church so far forth as it differs from the Ioynt Profession of the Reformed Churches is nothing but an overspread leprosie of grosly false Doctrines and of foully Superstitious and Idolatrous Practices besides being smeared over and over again with the bloud of the innocent and carrying on a perpetual design and trade of eluding all the force of true Religion and piety by a multitude of humane inventions and breaking off our comfortable recumbence and dependence upon the lovely person of our Lord Iesus our faithful Saviour and Redeemer to depend upon the person of some ignorant or deceitful Wight that bewilders a deluded Soul with a world of false devices and trumperies giving her no solid rest after she has once strayed from the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ and fallen into the hands of these deceivers who are sealed and occrustated in the trade of their impieties by a false and boastful pretence of their Churches Infallibility and under the colour thereof declaring the true and faithful servants of Christ Hereticks they thereby snatch all occasions to drink and swill and make themselves drunk with the bloud of the Saints of the most High From whence it is plain that the Roman Church is an estranged Synagogue which is no Spouse of Christ but the Spouse of the Pope as he boastfully pretends to be her Husband So contrary does this Successour of St. Peter to the example of St. Paul who espoused the Church of Corinth as a chast virgin not to himself but to Christ but the Pope the Church of Rome not to Christ but to himself and not a chast virgin but all to be polluted with the filth of Idolatry which is Spiritual fornication But Reformed Christendome is the Spouse of Christ as acknowledging no Husband but him and depending immediately upon him by faith in his bloud alone and sincere obedience to his commands and not to the vain injunctions and inventions of men for her justification and salvation And for such a Church his own chast Spouse has Christ given himself and poured forth his most precious bloud and not for those that have espoused themselves to another Husband Which is also a sound Witness and may go for a most firm and authentick Seal to the saving Truth of our Reformed Religion These things I have taken the boldness to speak with all freedome out of sincere love and faithfulness to the Souls of men of what communion soever that those that are already deluded may be undeceived and they that are yet of our Communion may never so deeply sin against their own souls as to depart from it and so dislodging themselves out of the bosome of Christ run into the arms of that man of sin and son of perdition the declared Antichrist according to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures and more especially of those Divine Visions of the Prophet Daniel which I have with so faithful care and diligence expounded for mens fuller satisfaction and instruction that they may return into or if they be there already continue and persist in the way of Truth and of everlasting Salvation A Plain and Continued EXPOSITION Of the several Prophecies or Divine Uisions OF THE Prophet Daniel VISION I. The Vision of the Image of the Four Metals signifying the Four Empires Babylonian Medo-Persian Greek and Roman seen first by Nebuchadnezzar and after revealed to Daniel Dan. 2. IN the second Year of his Reign which is now about 2300 Years ago did Nebuchadnezzar being sollicitous concerning the Fate of his own Empire and what would be afterwards his thoughts coming into his mind upon his Bed as it is said Ver. 29. fall into a Dream which much affected him when he was in it and therefore was earnestly desirous to recall it into his mind again but not being able he sent for his Magicians Astrologers Sorcerers and Chaldeans to try if they could divine what this Dream was For the thing was gone from him neither could he recover it into his mind But if they could have declared unto him what it was he could then have very-well remembred he had dream'd it Which forgetfulness of Nebuchadnezzar in not retaining the Dream in his mind as well as the Impression of the Dream it self is no small Argument of the Providence of God over his Church and People for whose sake these things happened viz. That Nebuchadnezzar should dream this Dream that concerned the Church of God infinitely more than himself and that he should forget it to the baffling of all his Magicians Sorcerers and Chaldeans and that Daniel a Jewish Youth and one of the people of God should by Divine Revelation have the honour of declaring the King's Dream unto him so that the King could not but acknowledge that this was the Dream By which alone it was manifest that the Spirit of the Holy God was in him And the Dream it concerning the people of God more than Nebuchadnezzar himself whether Jews or Christians there was this singular good effect thereof that they could not but be more certainly assured that it was a truly Divine Dream neither feigned by Nebuchadnezzar nor by Daniel but communicated to both by God either immediately or by the ministry of his Holy Angels And that therefore Daâ—…iel having this privilege of declaring Nebuchadnezzar's Dream had also the same supernatural privilege of rightly interpreting thereof The Declaration and Interpretation whereof is as follows which we shall expound as briefly and as clearly as we may where there is need beginning at the 31 Verse For it will be admirable to observe how the Preâ—…iguration of things in this Prophetical Dream reaches from Nebuchadnezzar's time not to our days only but even to the pouring forth of the seventh Vial whereupon all the Kingdoms of the World will become the Kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ. 31. Thou O King when thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy Bed and thou didst fall into that Dream sawest and behold a great Image or great Statue of a Colossean bigness it comprehending in its extent no less than the succession of Four Famous Empires This great Image whose brightness was excellent it representing the Splendour and Glory of those Empires it did prefigure stood before thee And the form thereof was terrible setting out thereby the great Fear and Awe these Empires viz. the Supreme Powers therein and their Ministers cast the World into by their severity violence and cruelty For which cause in another Vision they are resembled to wild Beasts for their rage and bloud-thirstiness as the true Church of God has too often found them 32. This Image's head was of fine Gold There being a Succession of Four Empires here to be prefigured by Four kind of Metals the order of dignity or pretiosity
Saints of the most High that is The Sentence was pronounced on their side God so generally convincing the World of the truth of their cause And the time came that the Saints possessed the Kingdom namely After the evidence of the truth of their Cause was so well known to the World 23. Thus he said The Fourth Beast shall be the Fourth Kingdom upon Earth namely the Roman State or Empire Which shall be divers from all Kingdoms as having a Political constitution different from them as has been noted above The vulgar Latin the Septuagint and Vatablus as also Gasper Sanctius read Which shall be greater than all Kingdoms namely than those Three before named Which therefore cannot be the Kingdom of the Lagidae and Seleucidae as Grotius would have it if that reading obtain And it has the start of the other for Antiquity And shall devour the whole Earth and shall tread it down and break it in pieces Which sutes best of all with the sense of Vatablus the vulgar Latin and the Septuagint For the greatest Kingdom was the most able to do this 24. And the Ten Horns out of this Kingdom are the Ten Kings that shall arise The Roman Empire Ver. 7. is described under one Interval of its period to have Ten Horns so that it is the same Ten-horned Beast that occurs in the Apocalypse And Ver. 8. it is said that there came up among them another little Horn which naturally implies that it came up much about the same time with them though in what here follows it is said And another shall arise after them Which is no contradiction to the former supposing in order he came up last so be it was not any considerable time after or be understood of his more sensible growth or palpable appearance though the Hebrew word implies no necessity of signifying any posteriority of time but that he might spring up with them and amongst them but in such an occult manner and so unawares as if he had stoln his growth behind them For so the Septuagint render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the word in the Original will bear that sense very well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying order of place as well as of time accordingly as the Septuagint have translated it But the time of the Ten-horned healed Beast being the time of the Apostasie of the Church and he being actually Ten-horned and healed at the same time For the crowned Ten Horns which shew their actual Reign appear only on the healed Beast's head as I have noted in my Exposition of the Apocalypse and the little Horn being said to arise among them or with them though the other Horns were not aware of him as having no Eyes though the little Horn have the Eyes of a man of a cunning perspicacious Politician it is manifest that the growth of the little Horn began with the Apostasie of the Church and so the little Horn may well be suspected of helping it on being most concerned in matters of Religion to manage them well or ill as being that Sacerdotal Polity or Hierarchy as is intimated in what follows And he shall be divers from the First namely from the other Ten Horns they being Laick or Civil this Ecclesiastick or Spiritual for such was the Papal Power And under pretence of this Ecclesiastick Power he shall subdue Thrée Kings The Three Kings which he is said to humble subdue or supplant are as I have hinted above those Three whose Dominions extended into Italy as that of the Greek Emperour Leo Isaurus whom he excommunicated and made his Subjects of Italy revolt from their Allegiance because he was against Image-worâ—…hip The other supplanting or subduing is of the Longobards whose Kingdom he caused by aid of the Franks to be wholly ruined thereby to get the Exarchate of Ravenna which since the revolt from the Greeks the Longobards were seized on for a Patrimony to S. Peter And the last of the Three which he humbled were the Emperours of Germany whom from the days of Henry the Fourth he excommunicated deposed and trampled under his Feet and never suffered to live in rest till he had made them quit their interest in election of Popes and Investitures of Bishops and what-ever remainder of Jurisdiction they had in Italy See Mr. Mede Epist. 24. Thus did this Horn with Eyes whose look was more stout than his Fellows 25. And he namely the little Horn shall speak great 〈◊〉 against the most High It is rightly translated great words because that Phrase touching the little Horn has been used so oft already Ver. 8. 11. 20. Where either great things or great words occur and there cannot be a more fit and authentick commentary on these passages than that in the Apocalypse Ch. 13. v. 5 6. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies where great things are expounded by blasphemies And in the following Verse he shews how these blasphemies are against God the most High many examples whereof I have given above upon Verse 8. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his Name his authority and titles and his tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven The Ten-horned Beast is said here to reproach them by allowing authorizing and inforcing against the decrees and authority of God which is also a blaspheming of his Name those blasphemous decrees of the Two horned Beast which is the same with the little Horn they being both the Papal Polity or Hierarchy the Ecclesiastick Authority not the Laick or Secular for Image-worship for Saint-worship and worship of Angels and for Transubstantiation which is a reproach to the Tabernacle of God the body of Christ see the place in my Exposition of the Apocalypse It is sufficient here to note how well the deeds of the little Horn sute with those of the Ten-horned Healed Beast who is but the Abettor and Executioner of what the Two-horned Beast would have And therefore when it is said the little Horn here speaks great words against the most High it is all one as if it were said of the Ten-horned Beast in the Apocalypse nor is it any repugnancy to understand it of them both For this which is said of the Ten-horned Beast is to be lookt upon as the meer Echo of the Draconick voice of the Beast with Two Horns So agreeable in every point is Daniel with the Apocalypse And shall 〈◊〉 out the Saints of the most High By Imprisonments Confiscation of Goods by Burnings Croysades and Massacres upon which this little Horn will put the Ten Horns as his occasions require as is also noted Apoc. Ch. 13. v. 7. and in this Chapter of Daniel ver 21. And think to change times and lawâ—… To alter the Primitive simplicity of the Christian Religion into a Constitution that best serves the Interest of his Papal Kingdom and the increasing the Revenues and the Power of Holy Church as they
or above him by decreeing things contrary to the Laws of God as if he were supremum Numen in terris as his Flatterers call him for who can null or abrogate the Law of God but that God that made it or some God if there be any higher than he What Antiochus did to the Iews in commanding them point-blank to transgress the Laws of the God of Israel and in making them conform to the Idolatrous Laws of the Gentiles the Samaritans those false Brethren writing in the mean time to Antiochus in this style 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the glorious God King Antiochus the same does Antichrist in his forcing the true Servants of the living God and faithfull Members of Christ against the express Word of God to worship Idols of his own setting up and so to pollute the Church with Gentilism his Flatterers in the mean time crying out Dominus Deus noster Papa and that all is right that he commands and no man must disobey him as I have noted above These are great examples of boldness in the Antitype as well as the Type who yet was never so bold as to avow that a piece of Bread such certainly examined by the indubitable Test of Sense Scripture and Reason was either a Man or God and miserably to kill men if they would not yield to this bold obtrusion Now for the understanding dark Sentences as this passage in some sense respects Antiochus Epiphanes so it does Antichrist and is it may be more eminently fulfilled in the later than in the former The Hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chidah which most usually signifies a Parable or Riddle but it signifies also at large any hard question Such as the Queen of Sheba is said to propound to King Solomon the word Chidah is there used 2 Chron. 9. where she is said to commune with him of all that was in her heart and that Solomon told her all her questions c. Which two great persons surely spent not their time in Riddle me Riddle me what 's this as Children sometimes do but the Queen of Sheba put hard and weighty questions to him in points of State Religion and Philosophy And in the two former Antiochus might be pretty well versed and would not stick when the question was put whether the pure worship of the God of Israel such as himself had appointed was to be kept or the Rites of the Gentiles and their Idolatry to be brought in amongst the Iews to make all his people of one Religion and so the more to strengthen his Kingdom he would not stick I say to pronounce having an equal share of boldness as of wit that the pure worship of the God of Israel must stoop to the Reason of State And whether Antichrist has not horribly defiled the Ancient pure Christian Religion with gross Gentilism and Idolatry to support the wealth and greatness of his Antichristian Kingdom let all indifferent men judge These things are so plain and open that they are unknown to none but those that wilfully shut their eyes But besides this the Papal Hierarchy is a most notorious understander of hard questions in matters of Religion especially and of State so far forth as Religion or Holy Church is therein concerned as assuming to themselves the privilege of Infallibility So that the Pope with his Hierarchy at least is the infallible oracle of Christendom to solve hard questions Which makes me conceive that this passage and understanding dark Sentences and hard Questions was put in by the Spirit of Prophecy with a more peculiar respect to Antichrist himself than to Antiochus his Type And indeed that Church would make every Sentence in Scripture a Riddle or dark Sentence that the Pope may have the pretence of interpreting it who will be sure never to interpret it inconsistently to his own corrupt Interest 24. And his power shall be mighty but not by his own power The Power of Antiochus over the Iews was caused by some mistaken or ill-minded Iews themselves And as for Antichrist or the Head of the healed Beast or of the Beast that was and is not and yet is it is plain Apoc. 17. 13. that the Ten Kings give their power to him Thus plainly is his power mighty but not by his own power And he shall destroy wonderfully But whether Antiochus destroyed more Iews or Antichrist more Christians let any one that reads History compute and tell which of them is the more wonderfull destroyer For not only the bloud of Saints and Prophets but the bloud of all the slain upon Earth is laid to the charge of the Papal Hierarchy Apoc. 18. 24. And shall prosper and practise Antiochus against the Iews and Antichrist against the true Christians Apoc. 13. 7. And shall destroy the mighty and the holy people The mighty the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Azumim the Septuagint render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vatablus and the vulgar Latin Robustos It signifies those that were strong in Faith and stout and couragious in professing the truth whether in the times of Antiochus or Antichrist These may be those which the Apocalypse calls the Prophets and the holy people are those that are instructed by them which are called Saints Apoc. 18. 24. What a destroyer Antiochus was and how much greater a destroyer of these Antichrist has been all History rings of it What Antiochus was to the sincere Iews the same was Antichrist and much more to the sincere Apostolick Christians 25. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand and he shall magnifie himself in his heart that is Applaud himself as all Politicians do when things succeed for his own great Policy that he has brought things to pass as they are This History testifies to be true as in Antiochus so much more in Antichrist or the Papal Hierarchy there never having been a more cunning Polity in the world as all Historians and Politicians are agreed Which perspicacity of theirs in Politicks is set out by the little Horn with eyes Chap. 7. amongst the Ten Horns as I have noted above on that Chapter And by peace shall he destroy many The Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in peace out of time of war he shall destroy many Multos pacificos innoxios occidet says à Lapide and Grotius understands it of the Iews persecuted for their Religion by Antiochus But what is this to the bloudy Massacres that Antichrist has made upon the peaceable and innocent Protestants and to the burning God knows how many beside with Fire and Fagot The examples are more fresh than that they need to be named He shall also stand up against the Prince of Princes The Hebrew has it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where Grotius says that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is attributed to the Chiefs of all the Families of the Priesthood Ezr. 8. 24. and Ch. 10. v. 5. Wherefore the chief Priests being called Princes
of the last Week of years shall the Messiah by suffering on the Cross put an end to the Iewish sacrifices and oblations For he that was prefigured by them being come and having been sacrificed and made an oblation it is plain those other ceased as to right and efficacy that is were abrogated or abolished by the excellency of his Person who offered up himself once a-sacrifice and atonement for the sins of the whole world The main drift therefore of the Prophecy is more curiously to define the time as of his Manifestation so likewise of the Death of the Messiah which I question not but may very well be hinted at here in this expression he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease and what was spoke more at large and more undeterminately in the foregoing Verse touching his being cut off may here For time be more punctually defined And as at the mention of his death before there was annexed that vengeance upon them that murthered him so here where it is repeated again the same vengeance is repeated as follows And for the over-spreading of aâ—â—minatioâ—…s he shall make it desolate The Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which with Mr. Mede I would render thus And commanding over a wing of abominations he will be a destroyer i.e. over an army of Idolatrous Gentiles namely the Roman Army And the coming of the Romans to destroy the City of Ierusalem is in several places of the New Testament called * the coming of Christ. So well fitted is the Interpretation to the nature of the thing See also Grotius upon Matth. 24. 15. whose Interpretation though it differ something from Mr. Mede's yet in my opinion does confirm it very much he proving by several citations out of Authours that the Romans bore upon their Standards the Images of their Gods which in the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We shall only instance in that one of many out of Tacitus Fulgentibus Aquilis Signisque Simulacris Deûm in modum Templi So fitly is this wing of abominations interpreted of an army of Idolaters Even until the consummation and that determined Read out of the Hebrew And until the consummation i.e. the finishing of this destruction Shall be poured upon the desolate Read out of the Original It shall continue upon the distressed viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall do so The Roman Army shall continue upon Ierusalem till they have brought it to utter devastation Or it shall be spread like water poured out upon the desolate in that sense that Inundation was interpreted in the foregoing Verse For as I intimated before this is but a repeated prediction of the same vengeance upon the fame occasion namely upon the consideration of their murthering the Messiah which is implied in that expression He shall make the sacrifice and oblation to cease himself then becoming a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world according to the eternal counsel of God The sense which we have given of this Prophecy is so coherent and of one piece though taken out of several Interpreters that no sense can be applied to any Writing more naturally So that if Chronology will but favour the Interpretation of this Prophecy it is most certain that what we have given is throughout the true meaning thereof * And the Chronological part Thomas Lydiat in my judgment has made out accurately well of which I shall say something in my Notes The goods news therefore that the Angel Gabriel imparts to Daniel in this Prophecy is this That they should return out of Captivity and that from the going forth of a certain Decree to rebuild Ierusalem even with the Wall thereof that from that time forward God had determined Seventy Weeks for them that he would give them his special Protection so long and they should be his People and their City should be Holy their oblations and sacrifices should not be antiquated nor their Law and Religion abrogated But within that time a new Law or Religion should begin which should never have an end which therefore is called the everlasting Righteousness and that the Iudaical Sin-offerings should then cease that is should be no longer warrantable or effectual For the Messiah should by that time be come whom they will slay and he shall by his death put an end to all other sacrifices his bloud being sufficient to reconcile the whole world to God But though the design of Divine Providence herein was holy and good yet the Iews crucifying him out of malice and envy enormous wickedness having blinded their eyes the People of the Iews shall be cast out of God's favour nor shall they be the People of the Messiah but a People that shall be the Messiah's viz. the Romans shall come and destroy their City and Sanctuary with an utter destruction This is a short and easie account of the whole Prophecy in which it plainly appears That the foretelling of the destruction of the City is but an Appendix of the main Prophecy and comes but in by the by as an effect of that soul act of the Iews in slaying their Prince But that the circumscription of the Prophetical Weeks is made by those main designs they were allotted to the Iews for that is they should not expire till the everlasting Righteousness was brought in till the Prophecies were fulfilled and the most Holy anointed that is till the Messias was manifested to the world till he suffered rose again ascended into Heaven sent down the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles and set the Christian Religion on foot in the world All which was done in the last Week After which the City was to be destroyed by the Romans but there was no need of precisely setting down the time when It came to pass by Titus the Son of Vespasian about Thirty years after the expiration of Daniel's Weeks NOTES Upon VISION IV. Ver. 1. Which is very near to Assibaras and consequently to Assuerus c. Which name Assuerus Gasper Sanctius looks upon as a common name of all the Kings of Media as Merodac of the Babylonian Kings Seleucus and Antiochus of the Kings of Syria Ptolemaeus of Aegypt Caesar of the Roman Emperours Arsaces of the Parthian Kings and Tigranes of the Armenian because the first Founders or Enlargers of those Kingdoms were called by those names see Gasper Sanctius on the place But Diodorus seems to make this distinct succession by different names as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so thought because he succeeded Astibaras whenas according to Thomas Lydiat he might be the Uncle of Nicrotis which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greeks call ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whence it is probable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 standing there for one single King as well as the rest that it was the proper name of that single King as the rest are and consequently that Assuerus is not a common name of the Kings
rule over many and shall divide the land for gain And shall distribute the earth to them for a reward So Vatablus out of the Hebrew And the Seventy have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every one has his portion as a retribution or reward namely of their sufferings and of the good offices the Mahuzzim Daemons or deceased Saints are supposed to doe to them that worship them that is This Antichristian Power though they profess Christ yet they will consecrate Temples and Altars to Saints together with him and ascribe the safety of Cities and Provinces to their Protection and trust in them accordingly giving Religious worship unto them and invoking them as their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so Mahuzzim is often rendred by the Seventy as their Refuge and Protectours in the time of trouble Which is a lively Description of the condition of the Papacy at this very day and indeed of a long time heretofore both of the Greek and Latin Church of both which the Pope pretends to be Supreme Patriarch For which the Idolatrous Empire has been sorely scourged by the Saraceus and Turks namely for worshipping Mahuzzim that is Daemons or the Souls of deceased Saints and in order to them Images of Gold and of Silver and of Brass and of Stone c. Apoc. 9. 20. The plagues of the Locusts and the Euphratean Horsemen that is of the Saracens and Turks came upon them for this And so it follows answerably here upon the mention of these Mahuzzim 40. And at the time of the end shall the King of the South push at him that is Within the compass of the Time and Times and half a Time under the fifth Trumpet shall the Locusts or Saracens come against the Idolatrous Empire whose Original is from Arabia that lies South on the said Empire And the King of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind that is The Euphratean Horsemen which are the Turks and whose Original is Northern beyond the Caspian Sea at a great distance opposite to Arabia these under the sixth Trumpet which is the last part of the Time and Times and half a Time these shall invade the said Roman Empire by reason of that Idolatrous Antichristian Polity therein like a whirlwind or strong tempest from the North. With Chariots and with Horsemen and with many Ships With Carriages and a number of Horsemen as they are described in the Apocalypse And Ships are here mentioned consentaneously to what follows And he shall enter into the countreys and overflow and pass over the Sea out of Asia Minor into Europe and at last take Constantinople and utterly ruin the Eastern part of the Empire for their Idolatries with the Mahuzzim as has been above intimated 41. He shall enter into the glorious Land 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Ch. 8. 9. signifies the land of Iudaea according to the general strain of Interpreters by reason of the glory of the Temple and Divine Residence there The King of the North the Turk will be master of this land too as he is known to be at this day And many countreys shall be overthrown but these shall escape out of his hand Edom and Moab and the chief of the children of Ammon that is saith Mr. Mede the Inhabitants of Arabia Petraea which were never yet Provincials of the Turkish Empire Yea with some of them he is fain to be at pension for the safer passage of his Caravans 42. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon other Countreys and the land of Egypt namely shall not escape which thougâ—… it held out long under the Mamalukes till the year 1517 whenas Constantinople was taken in the year 1457 at last fell under the hands of the Turk 43. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt and the Libyans and the Ethiopians The Hebrew has it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Cushites that is the neighbouring Nations whether of Africk or Libya as those of Algiers c. or of the Arabians in Scripture called Cushim Shall be at his steps that is At his devotion so Mr. Mede And thus far the Prophecy seems clear being applied to times past But what follows is to come and therefore the sense more uncertain and being so little is likely to reach at times more distant And we are already at the seventh Trumpet with which begin the seven Vials and I suspect in this so contracted a Prophecy that aims onely at main things and such especially as concern the Church of Christ and here treats of the scourges upon Antichrist from the Saracen and Turk that there may be a leap to the sixth and seventh Vials in the latter whereof Antichrist or the bloudy Idolatrous Papal Hierarchy is utterly ruined which is a thing so considerable that it is unlikely to be omitted in this Prophecy of the Scripture of Truth 44. But tidings out of the East and out of the North shall trouble him that is shall trouble the Turk Which tidings out of the East may very well contemporize with the sixth Vial which is poured out upon the River Euphrates whereby its waters are dried up and a way to the Kings of the East prepared which shews some grand mutation of affairs and jeopardy that the Turkish Empire in those Eastern parts will seem to be in at that time But the tidings out of the North may be of a most formidable strength of Tartars invading the Turkish Empire at the same time it may be converted to the Christian Religion And Peganius I remember in his Exposition of the sixth Vial interprets the Kings of the East of the Tartars and Persians But the Tartars are to be look'd upon as a people from the North rather than from the East as this Prophecy of Daniel expresses it The Tartars their first driving the Turks on this side of Euphrates made them overflow so that by degrees making themselves masters of Asia Minor they at last got into Europe took New Rome or Constantinople and seized themselves of the Constantinopolitan Empire And what this Driving of them here mentioned will doe God alone certainly knows But it seems the same and rumour of this Incursion of the Tartars and Persians casteth the Turk into a great anxiety of mind and an equal rage as is intimated in what follows Therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to make away many that is any by whose destruction and overthrow he may think it probable further to strengthen himself against those imminent dangers he is so sensible of or to compensate his losses 45. And he shall plant the Tabernacles of his Palace betweéen the Seas in the glorious Holy Mountain This Interpreters ordinarily understand of his entring into Iudaea because of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used which they make a character of the land of Iudaea and will have the Mountain