Ordain That all usurped jurisdiction of any Bishops over another's Province shall be ipso facto void And that lest the fear of any Mans power should creep in under a shew of an Holy Function and so we should lose that Liberty insensibly and unawares which our Lord Jesus Christ did purchase with his own Blood the Ephesine Council not long after the time of Theodosius had made an excellent provision against any incroachment of any one part of the Christian Church over the rest so that though there might be some irregular exercise of the Imperial Authority yet whenever any considerable Diocese should have stood up for their Liberty though against the Roman Church they had a right to plead for it from that Council In this estate did things continue till the fall of the Western Empire and then the Arrian Goths being the Masters of Rome and the West there was a composition betwixt them and the Eastern Emperors for a f It appears from Cassiodor Variar L. 10. Ep. 26. That the Gothish Kings did not press any in Italy to their way Theodate to Justinian says there Since the Deity suffers many Religions to be we dare not enjoyn one alone to be followed For we remember it is said That Men must sacrifice willingly to the Lord not at the command of any one to force them to it With good reason therefore does your Piety invite us to that which the Commands of God do require And in the time of Justin before Thedoric forced him to leave off persecuting the Arrians in the East And Zeno and Anastasius before Justin are represented as Lovers of Peace and Union rather than a strict Conformity of which Zeno's Henoticon is an example Petavius says of the Emperour Anastasius That he gave every Man liberty to profess what Sect he pleased Rationar Temp. Part 1. l 7. c. 3. Theodoric to all the Jews lib. 2. ep 27. Gassiodor Variar We cannot says Command Religion because none is to be compelled to believe against his Will mutual Tolleration of Orthodoxy and Arrianism in their respective Jurisdictions And before that had the Emperors Zeno and Anastasius contrived a form of Faith for a Comprehension and Union and did connive at a general Liberty of Conscience But the Emperor Justin after them begins the Project of an Vniversal Conformity to the Roman Religion At the sollicitations of Pope Hormisda he makes g See Petav. Rationar Temp. Part. 1. l. 7. c. 3. Item Anastasius Bibliothecar in Hormisdâ an Union betwixt the Greek and the Latin Church which had been in a Schism against one another near forty years After that in Pope John's time sets out several Edicts against h Petav. ibidem Item Blondus de Inclinat Rom. Imp. in Occidente Pag. 37. Pope John in whose time the Emperour Justin being wholly set upon rooting out all the Heresies throughout the Eastern parts deprived all the Bishops of that Sect of their Places and put their Ministers out of their Churches And a little after not only the Eutichyan Heresy but all kind of different Parties were suppressed throughout all the East Anastasius Bibliothecar to the same purpose in Joanne 1. the Hereticks and heavily persecutes them so as even to suppress all kind of Heresie throughout the Eastern Empire But he was forced by i Anastasius Bibliothec. in Joanne 1. gives an account of Theodoric's sending Pope John in an Embassy to Justin to acquaint him That he would ruine all the Catholicks in Italy if he did not restore the Arrians in the East to their Dignities and Churches And that Justin did thereupon comply with him Theodorick king of Italy to desist and so his Design came to nothing But however there was so good a Correspondence by this means setled betwixt the Emperor and the Bishop of Rome for that common Interest that the Emperor submits to be crowned by the Pope which was the k Petav. Rationa Temp. Part 1. l. 7. c. 3. The Emperour received the Pope with all honour and was the first that received the Imperial Crown at the Popes Hands Anastas Bibliothec. in Joanne 1. first Example of that kind and got the name of Justin l Hieron Rubeus Histor Ravennat pag. 141. Item Anastas Bibliothec. in Joanne 1. the Orthodox for his Piety to the Church This good Correspondence betwixt the Secular and Ecclesiastical Power of Rome was the only means to carry on an Vniversal Vniformity in the Roman Religion For the Imperial Authority was now confined to a very small Jurisdiction and the rest of the Empire was divided into several Kingdoms which had no other Secular Sovereign to command them but their own particular Kings There was therefore no other way of reducing them all to one Religion but by the advancement of a Spiritual Roman Authority to be the principle of Vnity amongst them whose business it should be to overawe the Conscience with the Curses of the Church for the enforcing the execution of the Imperial Penalties For as the Imperial Laws were for every thing else the standing Laws of these divided Kingdoms so the only way to make their Edicts and Sanctions of Councils about Church-matters to take place amongst them was to have them confirmed and enforced by the Authority of an Universal Head of the Church And though the Church Head seems by this to be the principal in all this Affair yet the Temporal Penalties of the Laws being the only certain means to effect an Universal Conformity and this Sovereign Head of the Church himself being also a Creature of the Imperial Power to carry on his design of Uniformity in the Roman Religion as has been observed all the Obedience that Chap. 22. is given by other Princes and their Subjects is really nothing but the Worship of the Beast or of the Imperial Religion and they give their Kingdoms to the Beast when they force their Subjects to submit to that Religion There was nothing that could make it look more like the worshipping of that Roman Authority than this Submission of the Ten Kings who were absolute in their Kingdoms and had as much right to appoint the Laws of Religion to their Subjects as the Roman Emperor had in his own Territories But by this conformity to the Romans they did seem to lay down their N. B. Crowns at the feet of that Nation and to adore them as the great Dictators and Oracles of the Will of God There is indeed not the least appearance of so general an Uniformity at the end of the Reign of the Emperor Justin who as has been observed was not able so much as to bring it about within the bounds of his own Territories But Justinian immediately after him appears in this Design like a new Blazing-star in the East whom all the World began to be afraid of One would indeed from a cursory view of his History be apt to entertain no other Idea of him than as a very eminent Conqueror
Prophecy of the Witnesses at the passing away of the Sixth Trumpet nor does it seem to be more necessary that the Forty Two Months of the time of the Beast should end before the Last Ruine of his Kingdom or when it comes only to be broken which yet is the whole strength of what he adds to defend it The Third Synchronism betwixt Babylon and the Healed Beast in the 13th Chap. supposes the Beast to be the same particular time and state of Roman Power without any proof and yet Grotius and others suppose them quite different Dr. More endeavours to show them to be necessarily the same by Eighteen Congruities of Characters which tho I think I am sure that many of them are not true yet are indeed sufficient to make any Man strongly persuaded of the perfect identity of the Two Beasts But they have nothing in them that does necessarily determine them to the same particular state and time of Roman Reign And yet the whole strength of the Demonstrative proof of the Synchronisms depends upon the necessity of these Suppositions The Fourth Synchronism is the total contemporation of the 144000 with the Beast upon the account of their state of mutual opposition from the first time of the Marked followers of the Beast But the utmost that this can prove is That they were Contemporaries from that time where they are mentioned together For the Party of the Beast were marked to be distinguished from the sealed Company But the 144000 were sealed only to escape the Judgments of the Trumpets which are no-where proved necessary nor to begin before the time of the Beast And Dr. More does add nothing to shew it necessary and yet the chief proof of the Connexion of the first part of the Visions with the latter does depend upon this in the first Synchronism of the second Part. I cannot but further add That Mr. Mede's and Dr. More 's Applications of the seventh and eighth King does seem to render the Synchronisms altogether ineffectual for convincing a Papist For after they had made the essential difference betwixt the six first Heads or Kings to be nothing but a different Title of the Civil Sovereign Power of See Judgments of God p. 4. Rome they make the seventh King to be nothing but a change of the Religion of the sixth King retaining still the same Title of the Sovereign Power which was his essential difference from that before him This seems to be contrary to six Examples in the same Figure and to almost six times as many in the Prophecy of Daniel A Papist would therefore hold them to their true Notion of the sixth Head and then pretend That the Imperial Title does continue still as the sixth Head and that the Synchronisms cannot therefore take place till that be changed All this I mention only to shew That there is still wanting a clearer Evidence to make good that excellent Design towards which Mr. Mede did give the first great strokes and for which he is to be acknowledged to have been the first clear Light that God gave the World for the illustration of these dark Mysteries which now appear to be the worthiest Entertainment of the best and the most judicious Vnderstandings This I have endeavoured to perfect But I must still acknowledge That tho I think my self sure enough of the strength of my Method for it yet I do not pretend to that which is strictly called Demonstration It is enough for me if I can proceed but upon such clear grounds and go on in so close a coherence from them as to force the assent of all wary and impartial Examiners of it with as little doubt concerning it tho not with so Absolute a Certainty of it as Mathematical Evidence uses to do I dare however be confident for the encouragement of the Reader That if he has found any satisfaction in the grounds of any Protestant Interpretations that others affirm themselves to be Abundantly and Mathematically certain of he will find them here much more cautiously and strongly secured and that the Elegant Systemes which have of late Monsieur Jurieu Eclaircissemens oü Systeme Nouveau much surprized the generality of those that look into these things have but a very blind and uncertain Foundation without such a proof of the first Principles of them as is here attempted I think I may also safely venture to assure the Friends of the Grotian way That the least degreee of impartiality in them will make them see it here shewn to be MUCH MORE CERTAIN a Preface to the Judgments of God upon the Roman Church That the chief Foundations of that Interpretation are contrary to the clear and obvious sense of the Prophetical Terms as well as to the general Judgment of Interpreters of all Parties in all Ages according to the Censure of the most Judicious of the Romanists than it is b La veritable clef de l' Apocalypse p. 115. That Grotius was Divinely Inspired c Ibid. Preface and that Mr. Baxter is the Greatest Man in England among the Protestants for seconding him d Ibid. p. 115. Or That they have made Mr. Mede's Systeme appear so absurd that it is to be abhorred according to the extravagant and hypocritical expressions of a late Incendiary of that Church to inflame Protestants against one another A TABLE OF PROPOSITIONS To be Inspected when any Proposition or Corollary or Rule is quoted to avoid the trouble of turning to it in the body of the Book BOOK I. Propositions Rules and Corollaries Proposit 1. BAbylon Revelat. 17. is the City of Rome in an Antichristian and Idolatrous Domination From hence are drawn these Rules of Interpretation Rule 1. Words of a plain signification are to be taken in the 17th Chapter of the Revelations in that sense in which they are generally taken in the World unless it be inconsistent with something more clearly known Rule 2. Words of a mystical signification must follow the use of them amongst the Prophets if not inconsistent with something more clearly known Rule 3. The same Words do signify the same things all over the Prophecy unless there be clear grounds against it Rule 4. The different Judgments of Learned Men ought not to weaken our Assent to what appears sufficiently clear after an impartial Examination especially if it be commonly acknowledged Proposit 2. Babylon signifies the same thing immediately before in and after the 17th Chapter Corollary Babylon is the same thing in the 14th Chapter as it is in the rest Proposit 3. The Judgment of Babylon in all Chapters is the desolation of Rome by Fire in the time of its Idolatrous Antichristian Domination Corollary Babylon cannot be Rome-Pagan Proposit 4. Every one of the Eight Kings Revelat. 17. reckoned up in order v. 10 11. is one of those called the Seven Kings in General v. 10. Corollary The Eighth King is one of the Seven Kings who had been in Rule before and was
immediatly succeed one another then it is certain that The Eighth King is one of the first Six returned into Rule again Corollary For the Eighth King is one of the Seven that were past before returned into Rule again Coroll Prop. 4. And it cannot be the Seventh because the three last Kings and therefore the Seventh and Eighth do immediatly succeed one another Prop. 18. so that if the Eighth were the Seventh and with the Seventh King it would be but the Seventh continued in being and therefore not an Eighth The Eighth King must therefore be one of the Six that were past before it It cannot therefore now be doubted but that The Sixth King of the Eight in the 17th Chapter of the Revelations Proposit 19. was the Imperial Government of Rome at the time of the Vision For the Sixth King is the Sixth Head of the Beast Prop. 5. And an Head or Horn of a Beast does in Prophecy signify a form of Supream Power in a Nation And the continuance of that Form under all the single Persons that reign in it till it be changed by another Prop. 16. Now there was no other Government over Rome when the Sixth King is said to be in Rule there but only that of the Roman Emperours The Sixth King then must be the Government of the Roman Emperours till that was cut off by a Form of Government of another name Observ 4. Prop. 16. If it should be objected That by the Sixth Head or King may be meant but one part of the Imperial Government or those only that were of the same Line or Family or of the same Countrey or of the same Religion or the like It may be replied that there is no warrant for any other signification of a new Successive Head or Horn in the same Jurisdiction than that of a new name of the Governing Power There were many other differences in the Successions of the several Kings of the Persian and Graecian Monarchies viz. several Lines and Families several different Countries but yet they were all comprehended under one and the same Horn. The only plain Example that we have of the change of a single Horn in the same Beast which is the same with the change of an Head Observ 3. Prop. 16. is that of the Two Horns of the Ram Dan. 8. where all the difference betwixt the latter Horn and the first is that the Last was known by the name of the King of Persia whereas the other was called the King of Media in the same one Kingdom of the Medes and Persians There is therefore no warrant for making the Sixth King any thing else but the whole time of the Imperial Government till it was changed for a Roman Government of another name There is no kind of scruple to be made against this upon the account of the name of King which is common to all the Eight Kings For that is known to be very dubiously used in Scripture but especially in Prophecy to signify either a Kingdom or a Government in a Nation of another kind than the Kingly Government The most certain Example of it is this present use of the word King where it must at least signify an Emperour which is a Government of another denomination and so different from that of Kings that the Romans which permitted the one are said to have †Hieron Balbus de Coronatione c. 13. Julius Caesar c. Julius Caesar who when he had engrossed the Dictatorian and Regal Power to himself because he knew that the name of King was hated by the Romans and even execrable to them to decline the envy of it instead of King chose rather to be called Emperour When Mark Anthony the Consul offered him the Diadem he cried out aloud that he was Caesar and not a King and threw away the Diadem an hatred for the other Grotius's Answer to this is That an Emperour had really the same power that a King had But if that be sufficient to qualify a Supream Power for the Name or Title of King Then all the several different Rulers of the Roman State might as well have See References that name and so be comprehended under the Five first Kings here mentioned For the Consuls are said to have succeeded into all the Power and the Authority of the Kings that were before them And all the other kinds of Government had the same Authority And though there should be some small difference in the degree of their Authority yet that is no more than is to be found betwixt c Ribera in cap. 17. Apoc. v. 10. numer 15. But if any one should think it hard and forced that many Kings should be signified by the name of one King and should think that these seven are but seven single Kings let him know in the first place that all Expositors have understood that in every one of these seven are comprehended a great many and that never did any take them to be seven single persons only but Victorinus whose Opinion all do deservedly cry out against And then next let him understand that it is not unusual in Scripture by one King to signify many of the like sort and as it were of one and the same Body which is especially to be observed So in Daniel 8. The Ram with the two Horns does signify all the Kings of Persia succeeding one another in order and making as it were but one body who are therefore accounted but as one King So that in Jeremiah chap. 25. And they shall serve the King of Babylon 70 years which it is impossible to understand of one single King different sorts of Kings As for the Plea that the Name of a King denotes a single Person almost d Ribera in cap. 1. Apocal. v. 3. numer 5. citat We may say that which is begun is now done or doing Wherefore since those things were shortly to begin he might well say the things which shall shortly be done although they were not shortly to be ended This is the common use of speech and the use of Scripture all the Examples in Daniel of that name do show See References that it does signify a Succession of many single Persons in a Kingdom Prop. 16. Part the Last This Grotius takes no notice of but thinks it argument sufficient against it to call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and quis unquam ita loquitur To which Ribera does best answer on cap. 17. Apoc. pag. 528. That all Expositors have said so and never any but Victorinus said otherwise But in the 7th of Daniel it is evident That by the Four Beasts called Four Kings is meant four Kingdoms and by the Fourth of these Kings the Roman Commonwealth For it is described in that state in which it conquered the Graecian Monarchy which was in the state of its Commonwealth And Deut. 33. 5. and Judges 9. 16 18. chap. 17. 6. ch 18. 1. ch 19. 1. ch 21. 25. the
both parts of the Roman Commonwealth by it and the Examples of all former Princes and sollicites the s Idem l. 10. Ep. 33. Magistro officior Vitiges R. For tho I may be thought to have deserved less of you yet have some regard to the Roman Liberties which by the Tumults of War are every-where violated concurrence of the great Men of that Court with him in that motion upon the account of the common Liberty of the Roman Nation The Senate also of Rome it self uses the same motive to Justinian for Peace t Cassiod Var. l. 11. Ep. 13. Justiniano Aug. Senatus Urbis Romanae It is a very just and necessary thing to petition for the security of the Roman Commonwealth of one that is a pious Prince of it because it is reasonable for you to desire all that may contribute to our Advantage or Liberty c. because Rome ought to be his care and therefore not to be suffered to be ruined upon his account And that it was his Agreement only with the Goths that made that City find favour with them because of his concern in the common Interest of the Romans And well worth the perusing for this purpose is u Ibidem Be not thou the cause of my Ruine who hast always contributed to the Joy of my Life Do not ruine by Discord whom thou oughtest to defend by War Joyn Councels with the King and unite your Forces that whatsoever may be to my Advantage may redound to your Glory That Prosopopaeia which the Senate represents to Justinian in the name of the City of Rome as his peculiar City that ought to be his care and concern and that he ought to maintain Peace and Unity with the Goths for her sake It is also a remarkable observation of Joh. Fersius Silesius to this purpose in his Book de Praefect Praetor That Justinian demanded of the Gothish King as the condition of the Peace That he should never set up his Statue without Justinian's in an higher eminency than his own and at the Right hand as the more Honourable place which confirms the former Custom of setting up both the Princes Statues to signify one Empire in common to them both thô the Emperour would have the precedence Again both the Eastern Emperours and Gothish Kings had the name of Rerum Domini or Lords of the World from the same City of Rome which was then called The Head of all things Of the Emperours it is unquestionable and x Idem l. 11. Ep. 1 8 10. l. 12. Ep. 3 5 6 11 18. of the Gothish Kings it is no less certain from Lib. 11. and 12. Cassiod Variarum in above Twenty several instances of that Title And both Emperour and King were represented together in Italy at least as the one conjoyned Soveraign Authority of the Roman Empire as appears from the before cited form of the Kings Letters to Pag. 186. the new elected Consulary Magistrate where the Heads of both the Princes are said to be carried before them And accordingly we find the Dates of the Pontificates in those times to have the King of the Goths as well as the Eastern Emperour signified in whose time the Popes lived The Wars betwixt the Goths and Justinian are no greater objection against their being One Head of the Romans than the Civil Wars betwixt the Two Consuls Sulla and Cinna c. Or the Wars betwixt the Two Emperours of the East and West who yet for a while at least are acknowledged by the chief Adversaries of my opinion to have been one of the Heads of the Beast From hence then it may be certainly concluded That so considerable a change of the Form of the Sovereign power of Rome is sufficient to give it the name of one of those two last Kings of the Eight Rev. 17. 10 11. which should come immediately after that Imperial Sixth Head which Ruled at the time of the Vision for it has all the qualifications of one of those Kings That is it is a change of the Supreme Government of Rome And to know what kind of change of that Government is sufficient for the Title of one of these Kings one must consult the Examples of those which were past before it It is certain That the five first changes called the five Kings past and one in being could be nothing but the change of the name of the Civil Sovereign power let them be what they will in particular For there was one and the same Religion in them all There are then five plain instances in the same Figure to justify the making of this change of the name of the Civil Roman Government at the ruin of the Western Empire to be one of those Two Kings of the Eight which were to come after the Imperial Sixth Head that was the King at the time of the Vision Besides There is also the example of the Ten Horns or Ten Kings represented by them to show the difference betwixt the Supreme powers which they signified to be nothing but outward civil differences For those Ten Kings are said to be of one and the same Religion to be of one mind and to agree together in false Worship Rev. 17. 13 17. Here are then Sixteen instances in the same Figure to show that the change of the Civil Form of Roman Government by the Gothish Kings was sufficient to make them to be accounted one of those Two Kings that were to come after the Sixth King that Ruled in St. John's time If further we consult the usages of the Figures in Daniel that signify Kings we shall find there that the only note of distinction to know different Kings by is some outward civil difference either upon the account of a different Dominion or for being another name of the Civil Government in the same Dominion and the number of the instances of that kind in that Prophecy are about Thirty So that there seems to be no manner of reason why this change of the name of the Sovereign Power of Rome by the Goths succeeding the Imperial should not be one of those Two Kings that were to come after the Imperial since All the Eight Kings are agreed to be so many changes of the Roman Government And thô it should be said That the change of the Religion of the Empire by Constantine was one of those Kings yet since the different kind of the Civil Government under the same Religion have been found to be the difference betwixt all the Kings besides that are figuratively mentioned in Daniel or the Revelations This constant usage of Prophetical expressions in above Sixty Instances is surely warrant enough to make that remarkable change of the Civil Form of the Sovereign Power at the fall of the Western Empire to be another King thô the Religion might continue the same Now if this change of the name of the Civil Government by the Goths were either the Seventh or Eighth King after the Imperial
the Application of it to the fall of Paganism by Constanstine's Conversion is That the Reign of Diabolical Rage in the Imperial Head against the Christan Church was then at an end and that Christianity was mounted on the Throne instead of it But there is no manner of hint about the end of the Imperial Head it self or of the change of it for a new Head It is only the change of the Reign of the Devil in that Head and therefore is it said to be Satan only cast down And though one would judge this to be a great change of Affairs yet there was no reason from hence to make the loss of the Dragon's Power the end of an Head because his Power never was the beginning of one The Imperial Head had not its denomination or distinctive Character from the other Heads upon the account of the power of the Dragon in it and therefore it cannot cease to be an Head only for having that power cast out of it That it was not the power of the Dragon that was the distinguishing Character of the Imperial Head from those that were before it is certain For the Red Dragon with the Seven Heads and Ten Horns must necessarily be some Roman Power persecuting the Church of God And then it must 1. Either begin at Pompey's Conquest of Judaea which was in the time of the Consulary Government and continued in the Dictatorship of Julius Caesar and so the Red Dagon would be in one or two Heads more besides the Imperial and therefore could not be the mark of distinction betwixt them and the Imperial If so then the continuance of the Imperial Government without the Dragon in it has all reason to be accounted the same Head still since the Dragon was no part of the essential difference of the Imperial Head from the two others that went before it and therefore does the casting out of the Dragon out of the Imperial Head make no change of that Property which made it an Head Or 2dly The Dragon must be the Roman persecution of the Christians And then the Imperial Head would have been begun a long time before the time of the Dragon in it which would plainly show that as the Imperial Government was an Head of the Beast before it was possessed by the Dragon so must it continue the same Head of the Beast after it was dispossessed of the Dragon 2. And whereas this Opinion seems to be countenanced from the immediate consequence of it in the 13th Chapter which is v. 3. the appearance of an Head wounded to death and healed again It is to be considered that the maintainers of this Opinion themselves do allow at least 140 years space betwixt the Fall of the Dragon and the Rise of that other Beast And then there is no Argument at all from the nearness of the two Visions to one another either to interpret that Fall of the wounding of any of the Seven Heads or to make so little a distance of space betwixt the Fall and the Rise of the Beast There is a plain mention of a flood cast out of the Dragon's Rev. 12. 15. mouth which in Prophetick Language signifying an inundation of vast multitudes of People does give opportunity and time enough for the wounding of the Head and the healing it again and this distance betwixt them is by our Adversaries said to be 140 years Indeed this very 13th Chapter does shew the power of the Dragon to be wholly spiritual considered by himself For he is represented here as active as he was before he was cast down which shews that he was only an Evil Spirit in one of the Heads and not the Head it self For then his casting down would have been the Dragon's deadly wound as the Head of the Beast that was before past is represented to be so wounded whereas the Dragon is as much in action after his fall as he was before He was then the same spiritual Power when he was in the Head and when he was cast out of it and therefore distinct from it 3. It will be further urged that this would make the Imperial Head continue an Head of the Beast after it was turned Christian whereas the Heads of the Beast are said to have the names of blasphemy upon them But it is known that things are called by the name of that which is most predominant amongst them And since the time of the Christian Emperors in that Head was inconsiderable in comparison of the time of Heathenism the Objection has no weight in it 4. But then it seems harder to answer that Character upon the Seventh Head or Gothish Kings It will not be so very difficult if it be considered That the Seventh Head is the mixed form of Imperial and Regal Government For it is not hard to find the beginning of that degeneracy of Christianity which is called Blasphemy in the established Roman Religion a WE find in St. Augustine contra Faustum lib. 20. c. 2. which was near an 100 years before this time that the Manachees would have the Orthodox to be like the Pagans And Faustus thence says Ye have turned the Idols of the Pagans into Martyrs whom you worship with the same kind of Invocations And the Edicts of Valens and Theodosius against the Adorations of the Image of Christ confirms it Hospinian pag. 49. The Worship of the Saints by Invocation c. seems to be very near akin to the Worship of the Lesser Gods amongst the Heathens and then it must needs be Blasphemy H. Salmeron praelud 7. in Apocalyps gives this very reason why by Babylon the Harlot must be understood Rome Heathen viz. because it did worship the Images of all the Gods in the Pantheon as the Saints of the Eastern Empire at that time And however different the Goths might be from the Romans in Opinion yet we have b Petavius Ration Temp. part 1. l. 6. c. 2. de Theodorico And tho according to the Religion of his Country he was of the Arrian Sect yet he defended the Rights and Liberties of the Roman Church with all faithfulness And Sigonius says of Odoacer before him That he gave the Bishops and the Churches their due respects lib. 15. de Imp. Occident And Baron Anno 476. that he gave the Catholick Church no trouble in Church-matters But sufficient Instances of the preservation of the Rights of the Roman Church by the Gothish Kings may be found in Cassiodorus's Book of Variar As Lib. 2. Ep. 28. There is first Theodoric's Profession that he ought not to force Religion upon any not upon Jews Lib. 3. Ep. 45. He mentions the Defenders of the Rights of the Roman Church Commissioners setled by himself and upon their complaint of an Injury enjoins his Deputy by all means to right them according to the former grants to the Roman Church Lib. 4. Ep. 20. orders the Restitution of Gifts taken away from the Church Athalaricus after him makes
of Competitors to the Kingdom and besides not owned as heads of Rome that there is no reason to account it any setled change of the Imperial Head Prop. 21. part 1. Hugo of Arles had indeed the Principality of Rome with Marozia but he was presently cast out of it again Besides that r Ibid. cap. 14. The German Writers account Conrad and Henry Auceps Emperors in succession to Ludovicus the immediate Emperor before them and then there will not be above 8 years of vacancy others reject these two because they were not anointed and crowned by the Pope But the Germans do much dispute the necessity of that the Kings of Germany with whom the Imperial Title of Rome had continued by right of Succession from Charlemaigne till that time did still retain the same right in appearance because they were neither formally disowned by the City of Rome nor had any other set up there in their place For the Kingdom of Italy was then accounted a particular Jurisdiction by it self distinct from the City of Rome And the Pope was by that time almost absolute in that City So that all that could be inferred from hence would be that the False Prophet acted for a little time without the Beast 9. And this last Observation may occasion a Scruple How the Emperors can be said to be an Head of the City of Rome when some hundreds of years they have had no more than the bare Title of it The easie Answer to this is That all that is required to make an Head of the Beast is to be Å¿ See Note the 6th on the 6th Chapter a setled Secular Authority owned for Supream at Rome And 't is no wonder that he should be called an Head of it and have so little power or influence over it For all his power was to be exercised before him by another Church-Head distinct from him It cannot be thought necessary Rev. 13. 12. for the Emperor to be particularly resident at Rome to be the Head of Rome For then the Roman Emperors ever after the making Ravenna the Imperial Seat by Honorius must have ceased to have been the Heads of Rome 10. It may then be replied That the Constantinopolitan Emperors in the time of the Gothish Kings of Italy had the Title of the Imperial Head of Rome and upon that account should seem not to have been changed from the time of the Vision But it must be remembred That it is not sufficient to have a Title only but that Title must be owned by the chief Authority of the City of Rome for the sole Secular Sovereign Power of it Whereas it has been made to appear that in the Reign of the Gothish Kings of Italy the Constantinopolitan Emperors were far from being owned for the only Sovereigns of Rome For they were no further owned to have any thing to do there than what the t All Historians give an account of the Imprisonment of Pope John the First for crowning the Emperor Justin in the East and of the absolute Sovereignty of the Gothish Kings over the City of Rome See Notes on the 4th Chapter Lib. 3. Kings of the Goths who were then in the real and actual possession of Rome did allow them as Partners with them in the Honour of the Title of that City 11. It may also be objected That the Emperors have been very often in Wars with the Popes which is contrary to the strict Confederacy that is every-where expressed to be betwixt the Beast and the False Prophet But since they have been notwithstanding at a constant agreement in the great design of their Confederacy which is persecution for false Worship their occasional differences about other things is not to be regarded at most not more than the Differences betwixt the Popes and the Ten Kings who yet give their Kingdom to the Beast 12. How also can the Ten Kings be said to have given their power to the Beast about the time of Justinian when they were many of them Arrians at the greatest distance from the Religion of Rome The Answer to this is That they were soon brought under the Authority and See of Rome France Spain and all Justinian's Conquests changed about the end of that Age. 13. If it be said That when the Roman Empire was divided into Ten Kingdoms distinct from one another there could be no one Secular Head that could deserve to be called the Beast It may be answered That the Beast is but such an Head of the Roman Empire as has a superior Right to the Authority of the chief City of the Empire while the whole body of it is divided Prop. 21. into ten Sovereignties and by that Right has a claim to a Jurisdiction paramount to them all And such is the claim of the present Emperors to u See Notes m and n on the 6th Chapter reserved Rights over all the divided Kingdoms of the Roman Empire And there is at present so great and publick an acknowledgment of the German Emperor's Superiority over over other Kings only as he is Roman Emperor That as has been observed he is suffered to have the precedence of Kings who have both a much larger Dominion than he and a much ancienter Title and who take place of him before he has the Imperial Title when he has nothing but his Hereditary Countries But that which is chiefly to be regarded for the qualifying him for this character of an Head amongst the Ten Horns is That he is properly said to be the Roman Civil Head of those Ten Kings in one common Design that they are all engaged in because he is so acknowledged to be by the False Prophet who manages them all for that end and gives Him the Title of their Head in it 14. It may be further enquired How it can be said That the Imperial Power has subdued three Kings as it is said of the Little Horn in the 7th of Daniel It is answered That whatsoever is said there of the Little Horn is to be understood of the Beast in the Revelations in his joint confederacy with the False Prophet as one Thing engaged in one Design And then whatsoever is done by the False Prophet in that Design will be said to be done by the Beast so that the subduing of the three Kings may thus be either x Hierom. Rubeus Histor Ravennat pag. 145. says That Justinian built that Magnificent Temple of Sancta Sophia in memory of his Persian Vandalic and Gothick Victories Cuspinian de Casaribus pag. 139. gives an account of Belisarius's Expedition against the Persians and that he entred in a Triumph into Constantinople for that Conquest And pag. 140. says That he had a most Pompous Triumph from the Spoils of the Vandals being then Consul in ordinary And pag. 141. says That when Justinian had recovered Italy and subdued Africa and Persia he put the Glory of his Victories into his Titles Justinian's Conquests or y
former A Carved Image is indeed but the dead likeness of some single Person But an Image of a Publick State that is alive as this is must be some Ruling Power in the same State that has a very lively resemblance to it for it is in being at the same time with it the Beast and his Image are ordinarily described to be together And the Image is made in honour of the Beast and so must like the Images of the Emperors be within the bounds of the Authority of the Beast And besides is made by a False Prophet in the exercise of the Power of the Beast This living Image then must necessarily be an Universal Rule of the World like to that of the Imperial Roman State And accordingly we find it speaking and commanding all the World to worship it chap. 13. 15. forcing all men to receive the mark of it and to take the name of it v. 16. which shows the extent of its Power to be as large as that of the Imperial Power its Original It had also power of life and death in it v. 15. which is the peculiar Prerogative of Supream Power Now this was all for nothing else but the enforcing of False Worship which it was inspired with life by a false Prophet to effect And one of the Punishments was Excommunication v. 14. v. 17. That men might not buy or sell which was an usual punishment d Selden de Synod l. 1. cap. 7. De effectibus Excommunicationis He that was excommunicated with either greater or lesser Excommunication was said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the effects of them were Separation from Converse from the Synagogue from the publick Assemblies from all the People and Commonwealth of the Jews And he that was accursed with Cherem was not to have any Commerce with any but just so much as to get Victuals of the Elders of the Synagogues amongst the Jews All which denotes it to be an Ecclesiastical Power equal to the Secular Power for the universality of its Jurisdiction Indeed what kind of Power within the same Bounds and Territories can it possibly be but Ecclesiastical that can be a living Image of the Secular Exercising Supream Authority at the same time with it and in the same places as this is described This Image therefore must be a Church-Rule equal to that of the State And since the Jurisdiction of it is Universal or Catholick and also Roman can it be any thing else but the Roman-Catholick-Church And since all the life that it has is inspired into it by the False Prophet who is already known to be the Papal Power Corol. 3. Prop. 25. what plainer description could we have had of the Roman-Catholick-Church under the Pope Or what can there be that is a e Leo Sermo 1. de Natali Apos Rome has a larger Jurisdiction in its Spiritual Reign than it had formerly in its Worldly Empire Bellarm. l. 5. de Pontif. c. 6. From whence it appears That the Pope is greater than the Emperour c. Stenelius Eugubinus lib. 1. de Donat. Constant By the Exaltation of the Papacy Rome has recovered a Greatness very little different from that of the Ancient Empires since all Nations from the East to the West reverence the Pope of Rome in the same manner as they formerly did the Emperours See the expressions of Pope Gregory VII of his own Authority Greg. 7. Epist 37. The Roman Ceremonial l. 1. c. 2. shews this to be the manner of investing the Pope with his Authority I invest Thee with the Authority of Pope that Thou maist Rule over the City and the World Urbi Orbi more exact living Image of the Roman State under the Imperial Power For the Head of it has a Jurisdiction equal to the Head of the State Both Pope and Emperor have long since had the Title of The Lords of the World They have both a Triple Crown tho for different Jurisdictions They are both called King of Kings The body of the Image is just the same with that of the Beast The Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions are parted out exactly according to the divisions of the Civil Government of the Empire The Patriarchs Archbishops and Bishops had their Ranks and Places every-where according to the Divisions of the Provinces of the State and the name of the Ecclesiastical Diocesses did arise from the distinction of the several Civil Diocesses of the Empire by Constantine And it is established by the Canons of f Concil 6º in Trullo Can. 37. The Canon which was made by the Fathers we do also observe which says thus If any City be or shall be new raised by the Royal Power the Ecclesiastical Dignity shall follow the Publick and Civil state of it two Synods That if any City were newly raised by the Emperor the Ecclesiastical Dignities there should be conformed to it So that the Church and State did run parallel to one another through the whole Body of the Roman Empire just like the Arteries and Veins in the Body of Man and observed the same proportion every-where to one another a MAlvenda de Antichristo pag. 234. de 10 Cornibus The number Ten is very often in Scripture used indefinitely for a great many CHAP. III. Rev. XIII Wherein the Worship of the Beast and of his Image doth consist BY the process of the former Chapter we have all the Confederates in the design of the Beast discovered to us There is the Imperial Roman State for the Beast with his last Head The Image and false Prophet for the Roman Catholick Church and the Pope The ten Kings giving their Kingdoms to the Beast for those Roman Catholick Kings who force their Subjects to submit to the Roman Religion enjoyned by the Papal Power or Imperial Authority And now it is to be examined what is meant by Worshiping the Beast and his Image It is certain in the first place That the words here used to express the Worship of the Beast and his Image are the same with those which were in use at the time of the Vision to signifie the Adoration given to the Emperors and their Images publickly set up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and adorare were the terms in common use amongst the Greeks and Latines of those times to express that profound Reverence which was paid to the Emperor and his Image And then there seems to be nothing more required to make Application of this Phrase but only to show what obedience was given to the Secular and Ecclesiastical Authority of Rome by all the World from the time of Justinian But because we find that the a GRotius in Decal Nor did the first Christians think it contrary to their Religion to fall down before the Emperours Images But when they afterwards joined the Images of false Gods with their own they chose to endure any thing rather than to worship them first Christians did pay that Reverence before-mentioned to the
Emperors and their Images as well as the Pagans It is manifest that there must be something more here meant than a bare external Civil Veneration of the higher Powers as the Ordinance of God It must be something very much like the Worshipping of Nebuchadnezzar's Image and of those Babylonian Kings in such a manner as not to be allowed the exercise of the true Religion And nothing less than this can answer the Character of the man of sin 2 Thes 2. 4. who is said to exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped So that be as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God And by the consent of all Interpreters that Prophecy does certainly belong to that state of things that is represented by the Beast and his Image By this then it appears that by the Worship here mentioned must be understood the giving of Divine honours or the peculiar Prerogatives of God or Christ to the Beast or his Image that is to the Civil and Ecclesiastical Authority of the Romans after the Restauration of the Imperial Roman Government in the West The unquestionable way to effect this would be to make * Grot. Responsde Antichristo pag. 77. I detest every thing that belongs to the Spirit of Antichrist that is the imposing persecuting Spirit And that has appeared not only near the Tyber but about the Lake Lemanus and in other places the Arbitrary will and pleasure of the Supreme Authority of the Roman State or the Church to be acknowledged for the Law of God Divinely inspired or to be publickly obeyed as such by outward compliance with it This is certainly to set up ones own will for the will of God and so to stand ones self in the place of God to the World And if this be exercised with an irresistible power over the Universal Church of Christ upon Earth it is plainly the showing ones self to be a God in the Temple of God For there could nothing else be understood by the Temple of God after the Destruction of Jerusalem but the Christian Church which also has that name in several places of the same Apostle's Writings A still much higher improvement of this Worship is it if it be enjoined as necessary to Salvation to believe these Arbitrary Decrees to be the Inspirations of God and to obey them But especially if these Decrees be not only about things left indifferent by the Word of God but are also Injunctions contrary to the Will and Word of God For this is to oppose and exalt ones self above God in the Temple of God And if this be done with the shew of the Authority of God himself in it this is to oppose all that is called God shewing himself to be God For he does certainly make himself very near as absolute a Sovereign of a Nation who does unjustly exercise all the Acts of the Sovereign Power of it against the will of the undoubted Prince of it but yet under the name of his Authority as he that does it by an open Usurpation of the Title of the Sovereign Power This Power and Authority is carried on with a still greater arrogance and claim of divinity in it if it pretends to a Title of Infallibility in all that it can enjoin For as this Divine Attribute is the fundamental ground of all the highest Acts of Faith in God so is it a claim of an infinite power in men and does give b Thomas de Albiis in his Tabulae Suffragiales does the best lay open the dreadful Consequences of establishing Infallibility in any Head of the Church or any where where it really is not Tab. 20 21. This Claim in reference to the Pope he proves there to be the Mother of all Heresies and the worst of all sins because if those who claim it should err it would lead all the Church into the same without any possibility of remedy There is the same reason for that Claim in any Governing-part of the Church where that Privilege really is not Authority to all the Acts of their own Will frees them from See References all Bounds and Measures or Rules to distinguish betwixt Truth and Falshood sets them out of the reach of all humane Judicature and makes their Will and Pleasure the last Appeal for all Controversies and their Arbitrary Decisions to be the Oracles of God How inconsiderable does the Worship of Nebuchadnezzar's Image appear to be in comparison with this profound Veneration of the Soul and Conscience given to the arbitrary false and wicked Decrees of either ignorant or designing Men under the Character of the Word and Will of God And all these particulars are made good in the matter before us by the Imperial Laws and their Sanctions and Edicts to force their own Faith in indifferent things And the Errors of General Councils upon the Consciences of the whole Christian Church Catholick to be assented to as c It had been the common stile of Councils ever since the Council of Nice to publish their Decrees under the Title of Things Divinely Inspired Thus does Socrates shew lib. 1. cap. 6. Ep. That Constantine there says of the Decree of the 300 Bishops at Nice That it was to be looked upon as the Sentence of God himself And ibid. Ep. 4. To the Churches he says of all Councils That whatsoever is decreed in the Holy Councils of Bishops the same is to be attributed to the will of God Cardinal Julian's Harangue to the Deputies of the Bohemians in the Council of Basil tells them That the Decrees of Councils are not less to be believed than the Gospel because it is THEY that give AUTHORITY to the Scriptures Divine Truth See References and many times as necessary to Salvation and the giving of the Secular Arm to execute the like Injunctions of the Roman Church Of this kind also are the unwarrantable Acts of Councils and the unlawful Canons of the Roman Church inforced by the d By vertue of such Orders from that Power as these Determinations in the Decretals and Glosses do authorize viz. That the Pope of Rome is by the Order of God set over the Nations and Kingdoms That it belongs to the Pope to depose the Emperour and all other Kings and States and to assign them Deputies That the Pope is to be esteemed the Vicar of Jesus Christ for all things here upon Earth in Heaven and Hell That he can make that which is square to be round Injustice to be Justice that which is nothing to be something That he has an Absolute Power of Judging and that justly Against the Law of Nature Nations and of particular Countreys Human and Divine above and against Right against all Decrees and Orders of Council That he can dispense with the Injunctions of the Apostles And these Glosses the Popes do recommend to the Publick as AUTHENTICK See Jus Canonic Gregor 13. Aventin lib. 6. Histor Boior
Diaconus de Gest Longobard c. 37. who was near those times Phocas says he at the request of Pope Boniface did Decree That the See of the Church of Rome should be the Head of all Churches because that the Church of Constantinople did write it self the first of all Churches See Note g on this Chapter Our Lords the Emperors Our Most Gracious and Pious Lords and subscribed themselves Their meanest Servants And that which is the chief flower of their Authority their Universal Headship or Supremacy over the Catholick Church was begged m Boniface the 3 d did so far acknowledg this Title of Universal Head to be the Emperour's favour That he has the Emperour's grant for it proclaimed at Rome in a Council of 62 Bishops Platina in Boniface 3. Sigonius says That Boniface sent an Embassy to Phocas to desire it by which means he obtained that Decree of the Emperor Phocas by Boniface and could not be obtained but by the drudgery of an approbation of Murder and Assassination and then also not without n The Contest about the Universal Headship appears plainly to have continued from the Order of the Council of Chalcedon for the place of the Patriarch of Constantinople The Law of the Emperors Leo and Anthemius l. 16. c. in fin de Sacros Eccles for the superiority of the See of Constantinople was soon after that Council Pelagius the 2 d. condemns John Patriarch of Constantinople for that claim and so does Gregory the 1st after him See Note g on this Chapter Platina says in Boniface 3. Though his pretentions were not always obeyed yet there has ever since that time been a Schism betwixt the Greek and the Latin Church Bellarmin in Praefat. in lib. de Pontifice The Greeks opposed the Popes Supremacy in the year 451. in the Council of Chalcedon and in the year 600. declare the Bp. of Constantinople Universal Bishop great contests against it as an usurpation upon the Rights and Liberties of other Churches to mind him by whose favour only he came to possess it For the Emperor o Cuspinian de Caesaribus p. 140. Mauritius wrote to Pope Gregory To obey John Patriarch of Constantinople as if Head Patriarch of all others Mauritius just before had commanded Pope Gregory to acknowledg John Patriarch of Constantinople for the Universal Head There is great reason then to account the Honour shown to the Papal Authority and his Clergy which are the Life and Soul of the Roman Church to be an honour done to the Power that raised him and supported him 4. The Worship that is given to the Roman Religion may well be called the Worship of the Imperial Authority because it is the Secular Arm that makes the Church-Laws to be obeyed and thereby it does appear That it is the owning of these Laws by the Secular Power for its own will and command that gives all the life and force to them and that therefore they are obeyed as the Laws and Will of that Power only The Church might make what Laws it pleased to the Consciences of men Their Anathema's would not have been much regarded by those who knew them to be unwarrantable But that which sets the edge upon them is the Secular Arm of the Civil Power 'T is then the Secular Arm that is in reality the chief thing that is worshipped or whose will is complied with as the Will of God and as the Law of his Religion It is therefore very properly the Worship of the Beast both before the division of the Empire when all the Secular Authority was only Imperial and also after the appearance of the p Canon 3. Concil Lateranens 1. The Secular Powers are enjoyned to take an Oath to prosecute Hereticks to the Rooting them out of their Territories And those Princes that neglect to do thus are to be Excommunicated and their Subjects Absolved of their Oath of Allegiance to them and their Lands to be exposed to the Seizure of Catholicks See Note c and f on Chapter 4. The Council of Milan and Arles send to their Emperours to make their Decrees effectual Aeneas Sylvius afterward Pope Pius 2d Epist l. 53. We are all of the same Faith with our Princes If they were Idolaters we should be so too and should deny not only the Pope but Christ himself also if the Secular Power did but press us to it Otho Frisius in prol l. 4. Chronic. There are two persons set up in the Church The Sacerdotal and the Regal the one to execute the Ecclesiastical Censures by the Spiritual Sword the other carries the Material Sword to execute the Secular Sentences And as Spiritual possessions are under the jurisdiction of the Spiritual Sword so are the Dignities of this World as Dutchies Counties c. under the jurisdiction of the Material Sword Ten Kings in it because N. B. they are found to give their Kingdoms to the Beast or to that Religion which the Imperial Authority does set up For this end alone is it that the Imperial Authority has its confirmation at present from q Goldast Polit. in Imperial H. 1. pag. 72. Speaking of the Installation of the Roman Kings or Emperours They do then require an Oath from the Supream Monarch of the whole World To defend the Roman Church to exterminate Hereticks and to secure the Dignity of the Pope by all manner of ways Glabar l. 1. Histor in fine Benedict the 9th made this Decree That none should be called or taken for Emperour but He whom the Pope for his good behaviour shall make choice for a fit person for the Common-weal and upon whom he shall set that Imperial Crown which is a Golden Apple set with Jewels and a Cross in the middle of it viz. To denote the end of his power to be to defend the Church And such is every Imperial Crown of every particular Prince Clementina unica de jure jurando Gives the Oath that the Emperour takes to defend the Rights of the Church the Head of the Church that it may enforce the Spiritual Power of the Church and by this means do both the Civil and Ecclesiastical Power come to be Worshipped in one and the same Act of obedience From hence it is now easie to apprehend how the false Prophet does exercise all the power of the first Beast before him For Rev. 13. 12. since the first Beast is found to be the Imperial power the exercise of all his power must be an Universal Supremacy over the Roman Catholick Church and this does very well answer the Popes exercise of the power of both the Roman Swords And it is said to be done before the first Beast as that signifies in Honour of him or in Honour of the chief seat of the Empire The first great effect of this power is to cause all the world to Ibid. worship the first Beast And that is when the Papal Authority does either make the World receive the Imperial
would be but the taking of the word Latinos after the Ancient way of the Latins The False Prophet's punishment of those who had not the mark or name of the Beast is just the same with z The effect of the Papal Excommunications for this purpose does appear from the Bull of Pope Martin the 5th in confirmation of the Council of Constance and to be found at the end of it Which commands all Emperours Princes Lords and all Civil Magistrates as well as Ecclesiastical to expell all Hereticks out of their Territories not to suffer them to make Contracts or to exercise any kind of Merchandize amongst them the Papal-Excommunications For the hindering them from the Market or from buying and selling was one of the effects of the Excommunications of the Jews CHAP. VI. Rev. XIII Vnder the name of the Beast is comprehended all his under-Agents in the same design How the ten Kings give their Kingdoms to the Beast How the Character of speaking like the Dragon can agree with a Christian Bishop It cannot be any thing else THE particular instances explained in the former Chapter do clearly show that the exercise of the Power of the false Prophet does in all the parts of it regard the Beast as the principal concern of his design The Worship that he promotes is the Worship of the Beast The Image that he causes to be made is an Image made in honour of the Beast it self And the Worship that is given to it is because of its being the Image of that Beast that was deadly wounded and was healed again And the mark name and number of the name is the name of the Beast by which all Men were to own themselves the peculiar slaves of the Beast And this is no more than what the Character of that Power which the false Prophet did exercise in all these ways does plainly intimate to us for it is said to be the Power of the Beast it self exercised hefore him And therefore must the exercise of it be only upon his account and those that were employed in it were therefore but his Ministers and Instruments in it All which does signifie to us That the Supremacy of the Pope the Infallibility of the Church of Rome the blind Submission and Veneration that is paid to it the taking the name of a Roman Catholick the confining of all the publick Offices of Religion and Devotion to God and of the lively Oracles of God to the old Roman Language That all these things are done in honour of the Universal Imperial Power of the Romans or of the Empire of the City of Rome and that in the time of the Imperial Authority over Rome restored by Justinian And therefore are all these things signified to be the Worship of the Beast under the last Ruling Head because it is not a Civil honour that is given to this Empire and the Head of it But the giving them the Prerogative of Almighty God the Power of setting up a Spiritual Authority which shall give Law to the Consciences of Men according to their own will and pleasure and shall have the Spirit of God confined to their Arbitrary proceedings and the Curses of God to dispose of at their will against all that dissent from them The Beast therefore is the final Object of all the Worship N. B. and Honour that is given and therefore does generally comprehend in it all the under-Actors and Instruments in this Design where he is mentioned alone Thus ln the 17th Chapter of the Revelations there is no mention of the false Prophet or of the Image but only of the Beast and of the magnificent appearance of his Empire under the name of Babylon And therefore by the Beast must there be understood all his Ministers and Instruments joyned with him according to the nature of the several Characters that he is joyned with As in the time of the Mayres of the Palace in France by the name of the King must many times be understood the will of those Mayres to the prejudice of the Royal Authority because it was the King's Power that was exercised by them And all the Honour and Obedience that they had was upon the account of their being authorized by him So also do the Actions and Honour of the false Prophet and the Image go under the name of the Beast in that Chapter tho in reality they have been much to the diminution of the Imperial Authority It is enough to qualifie them to be comprehended under the name of the Beast that they concur with the Beast in his great design of making all the World to submit to an Ecclesiastical Authority of his own Creating as the acknowledgment of the Honour of his Empire For all the Worship that is hereby promoted is The Honour shown to the Imperial Power of the Romans which is submitted to as the only ground for any hopes of Salvation And that not upon the account of its being the Catholick Church of Christ but for that which is at present a contradiction to it viz. for being the Roman-Catholick Church Wherefore when the ten Kings are said to give their Power Rev. 17. 13. and Strength and Kingdoms to the Beast it is to be understood of their concurrence to advance the Roman Religion as the Imperial Religion of the Romans which was first set up and promoted by the Imperial Authority and so still continues to be defended and protected by it and therein does the Worship of the Beast more eminently appear because of the submission of crowned Heads to it who have no Superior upon Earth but God alone For it is very difficult to understand how ten Kings can be supposed to be of one mind and to agree to give their Kingdoms to the Worship of any Power upon Earth but only in this way of an Uniformity in a common Religion which is set up by the Will and to the Honour of another And here it is to be observed how exactly the Prophecy and the Event do agree with one another in respect of the Order which is observed in the Text. The Beast is described as beginning the Scene first and setting the design on foot And the false prophet and the Image come in afterwards to perfect and accomplish it which was very punctually verified by the beginning of the Universal Monarchy of the Church of Rome under the Imperial Authority and the advancement of it into a perfect Tyranny by the Roman Hierarchy So that after a while the False-prophet seems to take the power of the Beast out of his hands and to exercise it before his face and then the Beast had little to do himself in the management of it and seemed only to give Authority to what was done by others which is also now manifest from the common course of the Roman Church in their proceedings against Hereticks They judge condemn and pronounce sentence against them and then deliver them over to the Secular
that the Roman Church has set up for the Orthodox way of interpreting Scripture in the second Session of the Council of Trent Can. 3. viz. That none should presume to interpret Scripture against the unanimous Consent of the Fathers By which we have the Approbation of the chief Adversary in our present Case for the soundness of any thing that has this Authority for it and the mouths of all its Members are hereby stopped from opposing that which is so confirmed For a clearer satisfaction in this I will give the Tradition of it from the several Writers in every Century of the first Ages after Christ But for those that may account that either tedious or uncertain it will be sufficient to hear what the Modern Authors of all Parties have delivered as the common Consent of the Ancients As for the Judgment of the most Learned of the Roman Church it has been particularly shewn in the Preface to my Judgments of God upon the Roman Church Second Part That their best Commentators Malvenda Viega Alcasar Pererius do with a great deal of Heat and Zeal affirm That All find it unquestionable both Jews and Christians That it is commonly agreed upon by all that profess the Name of Christ That it is the common Road and the King's High-way That it is the common Opinion of the Learned That all do interpret it so viz. That the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel is the Roman Empire and look upon it as a perfect madness and to shew ones felf void of sense to think otherwise Gaspar Sanctius gives a remarkable reason to this purpose why it is needless to name any of the Ancients of this Opinion and that is Because there is no Body that says otherwise And this Testimony of the Romanists is so much the more unquestionable because they can make no advantage of it by affirming it but on the contrary do thereby grant the main Foundation of their Adversaries Applications of the Revelations to their Church which makes their Judgment about the Consent of the Ancients in this appear to be clear and impartial Mr. Mede may be more reasonably suspected of partiality because of his particular engagements in the Interpretations of the Apocalypse but yet never do we find his Integrity questioned for misrepresenting the Opinions of the Authors that he quotes And thus does he speak of the Application of the Fourth Kingdom in the 7th of Daniel pag. 964. This has been the constant Tradition of the Church since the Apostles days to this last saeculum and was of the Church of the Jews before and at our Saviour's time viz. That it was the Roman Empire Rabbi Abarbenel's Testimony is sufficient for the Consent of the Comment in Dan. Pag. 42. Col. 1. Jewish Writers being known to be one of the most Learned of their Nation Our Masters says he are right in THEIR TRADITION That the Fourth Beast does signifie the Roman Emperours whereby it appears to have been the common Tradition of the Learned Jews Here then have we the most impartial Judgment of the Learned Moderns of All Parties Jews and Christians That both the Ancient Fathers and the Ancient Rabbi's are all unanimous in this Interpretation of the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel But the most authentick Testimony of the Consent of the Ancients in this is that of St. Jerom who is known to have been the most curious and diligent in his search into the Writings of the Learned in his time as appears from his Book De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis In his Explication of the 7th Chapter of Daniel after he had animadverted upon Porphyry's Opinion as a perfect madness who would have the Fourth Beast to be a part of the Grecian Monarchy he concludes thus Let us therefore affirm that which ALL ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS have delivered to us That about the end of the World when the Kingdom of the Romans is to be destroyed there shall be Ten Kings who shall divide the Roman Empire amongst themselves and there shall arise after them an eleventh small King c. Where we see plainly that by the Beast its self was universally understood the Roman Empire This he affirms to have been an Universal Tradition of Church-writers before him And what is there almost in the whole Body of our Religion that has a more Authentick Testimony of being an unquestionable Tradition of the Vniversal Church And this is further confirmed by the general Custom of the Christians in the first Ages to pray for the Safety of the Roman Empire lest the Ruin of that should bring on the times of Antichrist and the end of the world as Tertullian does affirm of them in that known place of his Apology and Lactantius Theophylact St. Jerome and Oecumenius are cited by Bellarmin in confirmation Lib. 3. De Pontif. Cap. 5. of the same general Custom of the Church in After-times And it is apparent from all the mentions of Antichrist amongst the Fathers That they make him to be the same with the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel which shews that they made the Fourth Beast to be certainly after the time of the Greek Monarchy because the end of it with the Little Horn was to bring on the end of the World Therefore does Erasmus in his Comment upon cap. 29. lib. 20. Augustin ad Marcellin reckon up Lactantius with St. Jerom to affirm That all Writers had agreed in that Opinion That the times of Antichrist was to be after the division of the Roman Empire as it is set out by the Ten Kings and Little Horn of the Fourth Beast These Testimonies about the general Sense of the Ancients of all Churches about this Point may seem to be a sufficient proof of their Judgments about it But because some of late very * eminent for Learning and Ingenuity have fancied another Interpretation of the Fourth Beast and especially because one of them †as much famed for an Antiquary as any of them has positively affirmed it to be the general Judgment of the Ancients That the Fourth Beast is quite another thing than the Romans it may be more satisfactory to set down here the Tradition of every Century of the Christian Church concerning this almost ever since the Romans came to be that Fourth Beast at their Conquest of the Greek Monarchy CHAP. II. The particular Tradition of the Consent of the Ancients in every Century since the time of Christ in their Application of the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel to the Reign of the Romans FIRST CENTURY THE Chaldee Paraphrast on the Prophets is the most ancient Evidence but Scripture what was the current Opinion of the times near our Saviour about the Four Monarchies of Daniel for he both lived about those times and his Exposition was always reverenced by the Jews as of so unquestionable Authority that none ever dared to contradict it says Lyranus in Comment on cap. 8. Isai