according to the sense of all Interpreters on that place of the Apocalypse and the thing is evident from the Text it self But how like to this description of Christ in the Apocalypse this of the Angel here appearing to Daniel is I shall take notice in my exposition of the Vision I will only observe for the present that there being so pompous an Introduction to the Vision of the Scripture of Truth which reaches from the times of the Persian Empire to the end of the World that there must be most remarkable matters revealed therein such as concern not only the Iews but the Christian Church as well as them or else the Gate will be too big for the City 1. In the Third year of Cyrus King of Persia * namely in the Third year of the Persian Monarchy begun upon the death of Darius the Mede who immediately succeeded Belshazzar the Grand-child of Nebuchadnezzar A thing was revealed unto Daniel whose name was called Belteshazzar There are Three names that occurr in Daniel that sound like one another in the Hebrew but are not the same The first is of the Grand-child of Nebuchadnezzar called Belshazzar in the Hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is compounded of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pronoun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Thesaurum colligere where Grotius interprets it Belus est cujus opes q. d. In Beli potestate sunt opes imperia The other two names in Hebrew belong both to Daniel and have a distinction in writing and signification but they are writ alike in the English viz. Belteshazzar and so other languages make no discrimination But here in the Hebrew the name that was given to Daniel by Ashpenaz the Prince of the Eunuchs is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Iunius in Gregorius Gregorii his Lexicon sanctum interprets Beli abdita thesaurizans from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absconditum though with something an hard Hypallage and from the Pronoun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is thesaurizare Which sounds as if they would make Daniel Arcanorum Beli thesaurarium the Treasurer of the Secrets of Belus understanding thereby the God of the Babylonians which new name partly because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of a large and indifferent signification and may signify simply Dominus and partly because he could not help it he bore as well as he could But here in this Vision there is a variation of the writing and it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being put before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence Grotius would have it to signify as if it were compounded of these parts of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Preposition and Noun put together will signifie latenter and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ignis and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hostis Latenter ignis hosticus And Daniel calls himself so says he signifying that thereby what he had predicted did suddenly and unexpectedly come to pass upon the Babylonians But yet though he a little changed the writing of his name the sound being so near that which was given him by Ahpenaz Master of the Eunuchs he thought fit to record it here as well as his own genuine name Daniel which by long disuse in those parts was in a manner buried in oblivion and therefore he thought requisite to record this more known name of his that it might be more certain to those Nations that this was his Prophecy To this sense Calvin writes upon the place But indulging to a little liberty and putting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Belteshazzar may signify Homo host is in abscondito whereby Daniel cries quits with them For when they would have besmeared him with the name of their Idol Bel as if he were a professed Client of his this little change of the name declares himself to be inwardly a downright enemy to the Babylonish Idolatry though always a faithfull subject to the Kings of Babylon as all good men are to their Princes be they of what Religion they will though they never close with the palpable erours and gross mispractices therein And the thing was true that is to say the matter that was communicated unto him was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chidah a prophetick Parable or Aenigm such as was communicated hitherto unto him under the Types or Figures of an Image of various Metalls and of severally shaped Beasts and therefore wanted an interpretation but it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Emeth a matter declared plainly and apertly without any such Riddles or figurative Involutions But the time appointed was long that is this clear and plain Prophecy or Vision of the Scripture of Truth without any Aenigmatical shadows which begins at the next Chapter and reaches to the end of Daniel comprehends a long extent of time even from the beginning of the Persian Empire to the end of the World or Conflagration as is exprest in the Apocalypse And he understood the thing and had understanding of the Uision that is he understood the aforesaid Prophecy of the Scripture of truth for Vision is here as much as Prophecy as I noted above it wanting no Interpretation as those Aenigmatical Prophecies did This further confirms that that passage and the thing was true is to be understood as I have expounded it viz. that the matter was plainly delivered without any Aenigmatical Figure or Symbols of Beasts or Statues as in the former Prophecies Otherwise if and the thing was true should be understood in that other sense as opposed to False it would imply that the foregoing Visions were not true than which nothing can be more false or absurd 2. In those days i.e. On a certain time in that Third year of Cyrus King of Persia after the adversaries of the Iews notwithstanding the gracious Decree of Cyrus had so prevailed with Caâ—…byses his Son his Father being busy in a foreign War against the Scythians and others as to hinder the building of the Temple as it is recorded in Ezra Ch. 4. That they hired Counsellers against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus King of Persia. I Daniel was mourning thrée full Wéeks And the reason thereof I have already specified the Hebrew has it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Three Weeks of days in counter-distinction to the Seventy Weeks in the foregoing Prophecy which signify Weeks of years that when in any Prophecy it self of Daniel Years or Weeks or Days are mentioned and nothing intimated to the contrary it may be presently taken for granted that it is to be understood of Prophetical Years Weeks and Days Which being an observable Rule in Daniel the putting days for years can bring no obscurity on the Prophecy
salute not the cloven toe but the hairy backside of the black Goat in a Nocturnal conventicle of Witches The Consciousness of which baseness and impiety of spirit to him that has any sense of Religion left in him one would think should be more affrightful to him than the menaces of the most cruel Tyrant or the very flames of Hell Wherefore there being so strong an Effort and tugg to debauch a Nation on this manner how can it be unseasonable by all honest means to endeavour to keep them sound that God be not dishonoured nor Religion slurred before the eyes of this Atheistical world by so foul an Apostasie Nor is there any thing of Immoderateness or Extravagancy in this my zeal for so good a cause For I herein offend neither the Law of God nor man And I doe but that duty I owe to my Prince Church and Country in defending the established Religion of the Land against all Opposers or Vnderminers of it and being what I defend is true I have the Apostles warrant if not command to be zealous in it who tells us It is good to be zealously affected always in a good matter It is not onely asserted by our Church but it is irrefutably proved by able writers of our Church that the Church of Rome is Idolatrous And the most horrid murders they have committed upon innocent souls hundred thousands of them because they would not commit Idolatry with their Church all Histories ring thereof Wherefore our Church in her Homilies does not stick to intimate this bloudy Idolatrous Church to be that Harlot in the Apocalypse upon the Seven Hills as also that the Pope of Rome is the Antichrist And Bishop Jewel in his Volume against Harding appointed by authority to be in every Church expounds the Man of sin 2 Thess. 2. whom all the Ancients understood of Antichrist of the Bishop of Rome making the Antichrist predicted there to be the Pope And indeed what Protestant writer before Grotius ever expounded that Prophecy of any other than the Pope But how absurd and ridiculous Grotius his Interpretation is I have abundantly shewn in my Synopsis Prophetica Now what extravagance is it in me who further confirm what our Church holds to say nothing of other Churches by a more perfect and accurate account of the Prophecies of St. John and Daniel Wherein I shew all those Prophecies that the Ancient Fathers interpreted of the times of Antichrist himself necessarily to belong to the Papal Hierarchy And for Antiochus Epiphanes whom they lookt upon as a Type of Antichrist I have further shewed how lively a Type he also is of the Pope So fitly do things agree and cohere all along in every place And verily I am so well assured of the truth of the Expositions I have exhibited of Daniel and St. John those parts especially that appertain to the deciding of those grand Controversies betwixt the Church of Rome and the Protestant Churches viz. whether that Church be Idolatrous and the Pope Antichrist that I dare in an humble confidence spread them in the sight of Heaven before God and his Holy Angels and the Blessed Spirits of the Saints departed and particularly St. John and Daniel the two inspired Pen-men of those Divine Visions which the special Providence of God has left to the comfort and direction of his Church and appeal unto them whether the Expositions be not true Not that I expect any miraculous voice from Heaven in attestation to the truth of the said Expositions but to signify thus to all the world with what sincerity and assurance I have written them Which I would have chiefly understood of the abovesaid Controversies and of my Applications of things past But as for what is to come that of the Poet may here take place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he is the best Hariolus that guesses well so he the best Interpreter of Divine Prophecies that gives a rational account whatever the Event may prove touching such passages of them as concern things yet future Which I speak in reference to my Expounding Dan. Ch. II. vers 45. of the taking of Rome by the Turk which I heartily wish the Papal Hierarchy may prevent by a timely repentance of their Idolatry and bloud But the like fears and jealousies of holy men in former time touching the Turks over-running the West for their Idolatry are expressed in our Churches Homily upon that subject to which I refer the Reader But as for the truth of my Expositions which reach the main points whether the Church of Rome be not that Babylon the great the mother of Harlots with the golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of Fornication the woman on the Seven Hills that is drunk with the bloud of the Saints and the bloud of the Martyrs of Iesus and whether the Pope be not the Antichrist and the Papal Hierarchy understood in all those Prophecies in John and Daniel which the Ancient Fathers and Primitive Writers understood of Antichrist whence it is manifest that the Pope with his Hierarchy is he these things I profess are as clear to me as any point in all Theology and Philosophy Geometry itself being not excepted But as for those that answer this our well-grounded confidence of the truth of our Expositions instead of endeavouring a solid confutation of them which they are conscious to themselves they can never perform and therefore have discreetly declined the taking notice of my Joynt-Exposition of the seventeenth and thirteenth Chapters of the Apocalypse in my Synopsis Prophetica published at least fifteen years agoe which alone would make good the conclusions aimed at of the Antichristianity and Idolatry of the Church of Rome for those I say which answer this well grounded confidence of mine with mocks and mowes with distorted drollery and course buffoonry I have no other Reply to give to them but that I heartily pity them and that I humbly conceive if there were any remainders of a mans heart left in them they would pity themselves could they but once consider what a few hairs breadths their souls are elevated above those of Monkeys or Baboons and would sadly sit down on their breech with their arms or rather forelegs if you will across and sigh deeply to the Maker and Former of all things that he would vouchsafe to transform them into the shape and state of men And I in the mean time it being something doubtfull how much the braying of their brutish nature may prevail shall desire all good people to pray for them But for those to whom is given a more sober and understanding heart and capable of the mysteries of God I hope by perusing the Expositions which I have written upon the Prophet Daniel and the Apocalypse they will not stick to acknowledge with our own Church and other Reformed Churches that the Popedome is the Kingdome of Antichrist and the Roman Church most foully and
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
of Ierusalem and then relaxate their Captivity and observing also that Cyrus had now appeared and cut off the race of Nebuchadnezzar and reckoning from the time of his own Captivity and the beginning of the Reign of the Kings of Babylon he did rationally conceive hopes that the day of their deliverance was now nigh at hand and accordingly he betook himself to his devotions to hasten it as follows 3. And I set my Face unto the Lord God viz. Toward the Temple at Ierusalem as he did Ch. 6. v. 10. which is a demonstration it is no Idolatry to direct a Mans devotions towards one certain place To seek by Prayer and Supplication with Fasting and Sackcloth and Ashes Not lazily expecting as if because God had once promised he would be faithfull and be sure to perform it let us behave our selves as we will but preparing himself for I look upon him as the Representative here of all the people of the Iews by earnest Prayer hearty Repentance and sincere Humiliation and fitting himself thus to receive so great a mercy and blessing Which singular piety of Daniel all those that wait for the deliverance of God's people from the Captivity of the Mystical Babylon should set themselves faithfully and conscientiously to imitate and break off their sins by Repentance and make it their business that the Man of Sin may be slain in themselves and the Spirit of everlasting Righteousness and holy Love be raised in them and then will it come to pass that even the external Antichrist will be consumed by the breath of Christ's mouth and by the brightness of his appearing Not by might that is not by an Army nor by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts This was the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel Zach. 4. 6. No force nor rebellion becomes the people of God in their Captivity under the King of Babylon as Ieremy also inculcates unto them But they are patiently to wait till some good Prince like Cyrus moved by the good Spirit of God and their own good behaviour do relaxate their Captivity in the mean time they are to be obedient to the Supreme Magistrate in all Secular matters but as for their Religion to be as firm in it as Daniel and the Three Children 4. And I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my Confession and said O Lord the great and dreadfull God Which expressions shew with what fear and reverence we are to make our addresses to him and that from our very heart and inward sense not in words and composed looks only Kéeping the Covenant and mercy that is The mercifull Promise in particular of redeeming thy People from the Babylonian bondage To them that love him and to them that kéep his Commandments i.e. If we were fitted for so great a blessing by unfeigned Love and Obedience to him 5. But We have sinned and have committed iniquity The whole Prayer and Confession following is plain of it self and wants no interpretation only we may observe from the very form We have sinned c. that Daniel here sustains a publick Person and represents the whole Body of the Iews as I noted before we will pass therefore to the Twentieth Verse 20. And whiles I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel This passage also shews that Daniel in his Prayer represented the whole Body of the people of the Iews Which he did certainly with the profoundest humility and the purest sincerity conceivable as all such addresses in such like circumstances are to be made And presenting my Supplications before the Lord my God for the Holy Mountain of my God that is For the restoring of the exercise of their Religion to the Iews and the rebuilding of the Temple 21. Yea whiles I was speaking in Prayer even the man Gabriel viz. The Angel Gabriel in humane shape Behold the efficacy of humble earnest and sincere Devotion that by a kind of Divine Magick does attract unto the Supplicant not only the gracious illapses of the Holy Spirit within but also the external and visible converse of Angels Whom I had seen in the Uision at the beginning namely at Susa near the River Vlai or Vlaeus Ch. 8. v. 16. Being caused to fly swiftly As if Angels were winged Creatures But they are so described only to signifie the speed of their ministry Touched me about the time of the Evening oblation that is About the Ninth hour of the day the time heretofore while the Temple stood allotted for Sacrifices and now the Temple was down it was made choice of by the Iews for the time of Prayer which is a more Spiritual sacrifice 22. And he informed me and talked with me and said O Daniel I am now come forth to give thée skill and understanding namely Touching his People Religion and Temple for which he was concerned with so much zeal and earnestness 23. At the beginning of the Supplications the Commandment came forth Thou hadst no sooner set thy Face to seek God in behalf of thy People thy Religion and the Holy Mountain but it was given to me in charge to come unto thee And I am come to shew thée Not only how Cyrâ—…s King of Persia will relaxate your Captivity but how the Messias the true Shepherd of Israel will come to relaxate his people from the Captivity of Sin and Satan For thou art greatly beloved That is one sense of the Hebrew Text which verbatim is Thou art a man of desires which may signifie as well actively as passively and denote the earnestness of his Spirit in matters that concerned the glory of God and the welfare of his People Which holy desire is as I said a certain Divine Magick of the soul to attract the influences of the Spirit of God and the ministry of Angels Therefore understand the matter and consider the Uision viz. This Prophecy here ensuing of the Seventy Weeks which is expresly called a Vision in such a general notion as Prophets are called Seers It is Grotius his note upon the Text Nam ut Prophetae Videntes ita omne Prophetiae genus quocunque modo â—…omini innotescat Visio dicitur Which Vision of Daniel considered well it does more than abundantly answer the Scope of his Prayers which concerned only the relaxation of the Babylonish Captivity for which they obtained a Decree in the very first year of the Reign of Cyrus But in the ensuing Vision as it is called there is granted them the injoyment of their Religion and Laws for the space of about Five hundred years and the promise of the coming of their Messias for greater purposes than were otherwise ever designed for the People of God This might Daniel collect by understanding the matter and considering the ensuing Vision which is this 24. Seventy Wéeks That Seventy Weeks of years are understood and that it is as much as if he should have said 490 years all Interpreters are agreed
Scribae aut legis Doctores c. These were not the Scribes or Doctors of the Law but men that studied the Law for that purpose that they might keep it such as Mattathias and Iudas Maccabaeus who incouraged many to the observance of the Law with the peril of their lives and made that they willingly underwent killing with the sword burning captivity and a thousand such like jeopardies says he And Cornelius à Lapide speaks much-what to the same sense interpreting those that understand among the people though of the Priests chiefly yet also of the Laity Which is therefore the more lively Type of those that encouraged the people of God against the Idolatrous tyranny of Antichrist there being those that instructed them so both of the Clergy and Laity So that the Pontiâ—â—cian Party have no reason to lay such things in the dish of the Reformed these of their own Church here approving of it For both Gasper Sanctius and Cornelius à Lapide were members of the Church of Rome Yet they shall fall read rather Though they shall fall By the sword and by the flame and by captivity and by spoil many daies Though these things be in their eyes and they be in a manner certain to undergo them to be either killed by the sword burnt at the stake banished out of their countrey or despoiled of their goods yet those that know their God will not desist to instruct those they have the opportunity to instruct touching their duty in Religion and adherence to the true worship of God nor will others be discouraged to follow their counsell to keep a good conscience nor be driven to Gentilism by the terrour of men they knowing whom they serve and being so sure of their reward Else it were as if there were no God upon Earth and that the Supreme Power of every Countrey were absolutely the God of that Countrey and that there were no difference of moral good or evil nor any Religion truer or more obligatory one than another which is the very Quintessence of Atheism But this pious party of the Iews was otherwise persuaded and stood to the truth with the hazard of their lives and all that they had as is copiously set down in the books of the Maccabees 34. Now when they shall fall they shall be holpen with a little help Mattathias with his five sons amongst whom was Iudas who was called Maccabaeus he will open a way toward their liberty See 1 Macc. 2. 1. and 2 Macc. 5. But many shall cleave to them with flatteries The Hebrew word here for 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Lubricitates â—â—ipperinesses as well as flatteries so that the sense may be That many shall joyn themselves to them 〈◊〉 not firmly and sincerely There shall not be an immediate firm union from one principle which is the hearty love of God and unfeigned zeal for the purity of his worship but their adherence will be from By-respects of Ambition or Covetousness or the like of each which we see an example in some of those that sided with Iudas Maccabaeus against Antiochus his forces Of Ambition and desire of Fame in Ioseph and Azarias who when they had heard of the valiant acts which Iudas and Ionathan had done said Let us also get us a name c. 1 Macc. 5. 55. But their success was accordingly for they were routed by Gorgias and slain of them two thousand men vers 60. But the example of Covetousness is that in those slain in the battle which Iudas fought with Gorgias the Governour of Idumaea the men of Iudas his side that were slain were such as under whose coats were found things consecrated to Idols of the Iamnites or Idumaeans as Grotius would have it which is forbidden the Iews by the law Here we see plainly that some of Iudas his company who was himself so sincere a zealot for the true worship of God adhered to the Cause part out of Ambition part out of Covetousness which therefore was a more infirm or lubricous adhesion And it were desirable that those who oppose Antichrist as these did the Type of him Antiochus Epiphanes held together in a more sincere principle and then the opposing of him I mean in Polemical Theology for I have nothing to do with other Polemicks or Politicks would prove more successful It was Calvins complaint in his time upon this Text That in that little number that had withdrawn themselves from the Idolatries of the Papacy major pars says he plena est perfidiâ dolis which is something an harsh censure understanding it in the grosser way as if they wittingly and resolvedly were such But so few are touched with the sincere and hearty love of the pure worship of God or oppose the Papacy upon this just and laudable jealousy for His Honour and the Support of the Power of true Religion and right knowledg of God such as destroys the body of sin in us that being encumbred with these unknown Hypocriâ—…es or better assured that many things in Popery are grosly false than that the great articles of Religion wherein we seem generally agreed on all sides are assuredly true or that not so much the purity of Gods worship as the splendour power and worldly Interest of the Priesthood is to be the measure of a prudent and well moderated Reformation I say mens minds and consciences being darkened with such prejudices and they seeking their own Interest or following their own Humour rather than sincerely affecting that the power of true and pure Religion should prevail it is no wonder we have no better success in opposing the Papacy than Ioseph and Azarias or those that had under their coats things consecrated to the Idols of the Idumaeans had in opposing Paganism For it is two to one but that he will be vanquish'd by the Popes Champions whoever enters the lists with them who hath already as the Proverb is a Pope in his belly 35. And some of them of understanding shall fall that is Some of them that know their God in the sense above explained shall fall the Septuagint turn it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As in the former verse where the same Hebrew word is used viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Septuagint render it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signify to be in misery in several places in the New Testament So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 has not a Moral sense but Physical as the following words do more fully assure us To try them to purge and to make them white And therefore these troubles that seem so direfull and Tragical to mortal men proceed from the love of God to his own that he may make them more pure and consequently better fitted for Communion with himself And this is that which St. Paul suggests 2 Cor. 4. 17. For our light affliction and such is all that wicked men can inflict upon