Nation Yet if we seriously consider the times we shall finde That the light began to break out and the day began to dawn at the taking of Constantinople in the year 1453. For the Greek Empire being destroyed and that Eye of the Christian world being put out it pleased the Lord by this means to cast many learned Grecians into this Western World This gave occasion to the reviving of the Languages and the reviving of the Languages brought in the study of the Scriptures and other ancient Authors and things began to be cast into another mould By this means the more learned sort were brought off from the Doctrine of the School-men and the more zealous ones from Visions Dreams and Revelations and so the world was prepared to receive another kinde of light Not to mention the troubles which Reuchlin Pagnin and Arias Montanus did meet withall it is manifest by the Epistles of Erasmus how much the Monks and Friars were inraged at him He tells us how in England France Spain Italy and every-where in a manner they did both publickly and privately inveigh against him And it went for a received Maxime among many That Erasmus did more hurt then Luther How could that be He revived the Tongues he was an instrument to bring men to the study of the Scriptures and ancient Authors and by those amoeniores literae which he so often speaks of he did bring the world from Monkish darkness and foolish Revelations Campanella therefore calls the War betwixt the Protestants and the Papists Grammaticale Bellum a Grammarian War because by the study of the Languages by the Greek and the Hebrew Tongues the Reformation of the Church was introduced And it is the sentence of Melancthon Non aliam ad veterem barbariem reducendam magis compendiariam esse viam quam si studia linguarum interirent There is no more compendious way to reduce the ancient barbarism then if the studies of Languages should peresh Orat. tom 4. pag. 465. As light then as men make of Humane Learning in these times it was one chief mean under God to bring the world out of Antichristian darkness And it is the judgement of so id men that if it should be totally abolished it would occasion the return of that darkness once again Now let us come to consider the Stories and the time of the immersion how the Church came first under this darkness It is clear from the process of the aforementioned Discourse that about the time of the Emperor Phocas the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome was publickly proclaimed the Scriptures began to be slighted and the Traditions of the Church immoderately extol'd Now here is a great demand How is it possible that the Church could apostatize and degenerate so far in one or two Centuries seeing in the age of the Christian Caesars when Chrysostome Hierom Augustine and others lived there was so much light The answer is clear The Goths Hunnes and Vandals and other barbarous Nations came out of the North overturned Churches burned Libraries overthrew Schools of Learning and by this means the world was organized and fashioned to receive the Kingdome of Antichrist and all that whole body of false Doctrine that should be set up in the Consciences of ignorant people by Visions Dreams and Revelations From all which I do conclude If there should be a total abrogation of Book-learning it would be a compendious way means to bring the Church into its former darkness For as experience sheweth That the taking away of that Learning was one chief meâ—…n to introduce Antichristian darkness So the restoring and renewing of it again was one principal mean of the recovery of the former light Thirdly they do symbolize and come in the nearest similitude to the true formality of Antichristianism who do build their Corsciences upon men and do make men the Lords of their Faith In this sense we are to take the words of our Saviour when he saith Mat. 23. 9. Call no man your Father upon the earth for one is your Father which is in heaven Neither be ye called Masters for one is your Master even Christ. Some are so void of understanding as to take these words according to the letter as though the practise of Christianity should extinguish civil relations and distinctions betwixt man and man But these are idle conceits we are to look to the scope of our Saviours meaning The Jews in his time were divided into divers Factions into the Sects of the Pharisees Sadduces Herodians Gaulonites and the like Now it was the ambition of those times for every man to have his Rabbi and each Rabbi to have his Scholars depend upon him as the Lord of their Faith In this sense our Saviour speaks that they should call no man Rabbi Rabbi and gives this reason One is your Master even Christ and all ye are Brethren In these words he doth especially point at the formality of Antichristianism that should be in the Popes Kingdome For though there is much ado made betwixt the Criticks in the Greek Hebrew and Syriack Tongues about the true Origination of the word Papa yet I finde That all do agree in the signification that it is as much in sense as Spiritual Father Now then if we look to the practise of the Romish Church we shall finde it apparent That the Body of the People do depend upon their Teachers as their Spiritual Fathers and all the Spiritual Fathers of the lower degree do depend upon the Bishop of Rome as the Father of all And herein that Hierarchy doth directly oppose the true Church of Christ as it is described Eph. 4. ver 4. 5 6. There is one Body and one Spirit even as you are called into one hope of your calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all The Apostle further speaketh how the Mystery of Iniquity did begin to work in the Church of Corinth Every one of you saith I am of Paul and I of Apollo and I of Cephas and I of Christ Is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were ye baptized in the Name of Paul 1 Cor. 1. 12 13. It appears by this That the Unity of that Church was broken by many divisions several Believers had their several Rabbies on whom they did depend and though Paul and Cephas would not take so much upon them to be the Lords of peoples Faith and the Heads of Parties yet the false Apostles did wonderfully affect such a kinde of Title and too many carnal Christians in those days were too forward to pin their Faith upon other mens sleeves and to come in the nearest formasity to the Antichristian practise in these last times The world is too apt to fall into Divisions and to say I am of Paul I am of Apollo and I am of Cephas And in this men must needs symbolize with them who make the Bishop of Rome the Lord of their Faith and do profess themselves
Blasphemy against God And so the matter is expounded Rev. 13. He opened his mouth in Blasphemies against God to Blaspheme his Name his Tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven These and the like places laid together do plainly shew that the scope of the text must circumscribe and limit the signification of the phrase so often used in this Prophecie Now if it be so according to this tenor we may say That the Name of the Beast must be expounded according to the Analogie of the text His Name then can be no other but his Universal Headship as a Counter-Christ emulous of the Dignity of Christ. But to go to further Instances we do reade that the deluded Kings were all gathered together into a place called in the Hebrew Harmageddon Rev. 16. 16. Much ado is made by Expositors about the meaning of the word Some take it for the Mountain of Delights Some for the Hill of the Gospel Some think there is an Allusion to the slaughter of Iosiah in the valley of Megiddo And there is a great Difference among them But for my part I do believe there can be no other meaning but this to wit The destruction of a Troope or Company and my Reasons are these First It is expresly said That the Name of the place in the Hebrew is called Harmageddon that is The destruction of a Troope and this Exposition is given by Grasserus and others Secondly That which moveth me so to think is the subject matter of the text For the unclean Spirits like Frogs did gather the deluded Kings to Battel and they brought them into a place called Harmageddon which in the event proved the place of their destruction It is well known That it is the manner of the Hebrews to give Names to several places in testimony of some famous Actions that have been done in them And it is as evident that the Spirit in this Prophecie doth perpetually follow the Hebrew stile As in the times of the fifth Trumpet when the Locusts came out of the bottomless pit they had a King over them whose Name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon and in the Greek is Apollyon chap. 9. Now this Trumper Mr Brightman and Mr Mede do rightly apply to the times of the Sarazens And because they did in great multitudes everywhere overspread the Territories of the Church they are therefore compared to Locusts Now for the Name of their King in the Greek or Hebrew tongues we are not here so much to look to Letters and syllables as to the sense of the figurative expression Mr Mede then in his Commentary upon the Revelation doth seem to me to be too Cabalistical when he doth descant upon the Names of some Kings formerly amongst the Arabians We are not to trouble our selves with Letters and syllables Mahomet is the Head or King of these Locusts or rather the Devil acting in and by him And too sad experience doth shew that his Name is called in the Hebrew Abaddon and in the Greek Apollyox For what is Mahometism but the waster and destroyer of the Christian Faith The Name doth answer the nature In the times of the third Trumpet we reade That a great star fell into the third part of the Rivers and the Name of the star is called Wormwood Interpreters upon the place do not look so much to a literal star but it is so called Effectivè from the Effect or Operation By these and many other places it is evident when the Spirit speaketh of a Name Thing Person or State he doth not aim so much at the bare formality of Letters and syllables as at the scope of the text Upon these grounds if the Beast be a King or Potentate his Name is not a Grammatical Name but according to the scope of the place it must necessarily denote his Kingly Power and Headship Let us come to a place mentioned in the Old Testament which hath been greatly mistaken by the Jewish Rabbins and by some others the words are these The Lord said to Moses I appeared to Abraham Isaac and Iacob by the Name of God Almighty but by the Name Iehovah I was not known unto them Exod. 6. 3. Here great ado is made by the Rabbins aforementioned they speak much of nomen Tetragrammatum of the word of four Letters of the difficulty to pronounce that Name and of bables more than too many And what is the reason of all this they look superficially upon the outward Letter and neglect the main sense and scope of the place The main sense is this That God appeared to Moses by the Name Iehovah by and through which he did give Existence and Being to his Promises And yet we are not to take it absolutely as though the Lord did no way appear to Abraham Isaac and Iacob by that Name This cannot be We are therefore to take the words in a restrictive meaning in respect to that particular Promise that he would give the Land of Canaan to Abraham and his seed for a Possession Gâ—…n 15. 13 14. Now in this particular sense God did not appear to Abraham Isaac and Iacob by the Name Iehovah they never lived so long to see the performance of this promise They did not see the end of the 400 years Bondage not the Deliverance out of Egypt as Moses did The Lord only did appear to them by the Name of God Alsufficient they might believe that he was able to perform what he promised In special relation then to this particular Promise the Lord saith to Moses By my Name Iehovah was I not made known to them If this be so what a wild race have they run who have looked only after a Name consisting of Letters and syllables and have not observed the Truth of God in the performance of his Word What is this but to make a Fable of the most important and comfortable Promises that be to neglect the substance and to catch at a shadow And the ground of all this is chiefly from hence they look to the out-side and shell of a figurative expression and neglect the natural sense of the text which in this case should principally rule In like manner they who are for the word Lateinos or for any such like Name must needs digress as much from the Truth For it is not to be imagined that the Name of the Beast is meerly a Name consisting of Letters and syllables neither can the Mark of the Beast be the Mark of such a Name according to the sense of the text and the Analogie of the Prophecie The Name of the Beast therefore must be his Universal Power and Headship and the Mark of the Name must be the publick Profession of subjection allegeance and devotion to that Name or Headship And this is clear from the several Instances fore-alledged where the Name of a person of a state of a thing is alwayes taken with correspondence to the text But if it be alledged That it may be so taken
in this place for Power and Headship but it is not absolutely necessary that we should build upon such a sense I Answer The Name of the Beast must necessarily be construed and taken for his Power and Headship because as a Potentate he doth confront the Lord Jesus Christ the true Head of the Church this is the scope of the Prophecie and therefore the Name of the Beast cannot rationally and fairly be taken in any other sense Paraeus in his Commentary upon the Romans doth open the meaning of these words As I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God Rom. 14. 11. From the misunderstanding of this place he telleth us That the superstitious bowing at the Name of Jesus had its first original And he doth shew the irrationality of that practice For why saith he should men be uncovered and why should they bow their knee at the Name of Iesus rather than at the Name of Christ or at the Name of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost Further He doth insist upon the greatness of their superstition when men give worship to Letters and syllables rather than to the Person himself And therefore he cometh positively to define what is meant by the Name of Jesus And so he saith Nomen Iesu non est vox dâ—…ssyllaba scripta picta aut pronunciata sed persona Majestas imperium Servâ—…toris cui omnes subjectionem debent The Name of Iesus is not a word of two Syllables written painted or pronounced but it is the Person Majesty and Dominion of our Saviour to which all do owe Subjection So I may say in the present case That the Name of the Beast and the Number thereof is his sovereign Power and Authority to which all his Vâ—…stals do yield their subjection and they have departed from the true meaning of the Spirit who have looked to the Name Lateinos and the Numeral Letters of that Name For the Name is not a word of one two three or four syllables written painted or pronounced but the Name of the Bâ—…ast is his Power and Headship standing in immediate Opposition to the Name or Headship of the Lamb. But if you ask What certainty there is of this Interpretation The ground I build upon is the rule of Opposition and the whole scope of the Prophecie If we take the Name for a Grammatical Name what certainty can there be and who can particularly define what the Name is Doctor Mayer upon the place having rejected several Names and their Calculation by Numeral Letters doth thus determine As long saith he as we go this way to work we shall never be able to Convince the Adversary there being so many Names that do contain the Number And for my part I do believe That if men will peruse the Greek and Hebrew Lexicons they shall find many words which either severally or joyntly will make 666 by the calculation of the Numeral Letters Now what certainty is in all this On the contrary If we take the Name of the Beast for his Universal Power this doth agree with the Circumstances of the text with the Analogie of the Prophecie and there can be no good exception to the contrary Now to gather up all into one Sum Though the Name of a Thing the Name of a Person the Name of a Place the Name of a State or any such-like may be ambiguors yet we may finde out from the scope of the text that which will determine the ambiguity If any shall say That the Name of the Beast may be taken for any thing else as well as for his sovereign power I yield that it may be so but if we look to Analogie in the Scripture it must needs be taken for his sovereignty As therefore in the like cases when the Scriptures speak of believing in the Name of the Lord of the writing of the Name of the new Ierusalem of the Name of the Lamb of the Name Abaddon Apollyon Harmageddon of the Name of the Father in the foreheads of the 144000 of the Lords making himself known to Moses by the Name Iehovah of the Fathers giving to the Son a Name above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow As in these several Scriptures we are not to look after Names consisting of Letters and syllables but to judge of the Truth according to the scope of the text So in the present case we are not to look after such a Name of the Beast that is meerly literal but after such a Name that will hold correspondency with the subject matter of the text and with the nature of the thing it self If this be so it is easie to conclude That the Name of the Beast is no other but his Potency or Headship Secondly We argue from the Condition and Quality of the Mark. For as à priori we may come to the knowledge of the Mark by the right stating and defining of the Name So à posteriori by the knowledge of the Mark we may come to understand what is meant by the Name seeing that it is called the Mark of the Name They shall be tormented day and night that receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mark of the Name Rev. 14. 11. I finde that many approved Commentators who do much differ from the Truth of our interpretation do willingly agree That the profession of a Roman Catholick is the Mark of the Name Now upon their own grounds do they not affirm also in sense and substance That the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Name of the Beast For what is the profession of a Roman Catholick Is he not such a one that doth believe receive and profess the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome Take away the Catholicism of the Roman Bishop the Faith and Profession of a Roman Catholick will be a meer non-ens or nullity So then if this Profession be the Mark of the Name as Grasserus Brightman Piscator and other Expositors will have it I say upon their own grounds the Universal Headship must be the Name it self seeing the profession of a Roman Catholick is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mark of the Name And so our Conclusion is proved à posteriori From the Condition and Quality of the Mark we may know the nature of the Name The third Argument is drawn from the Image which is Homogeneal and answerable to the Name in the nature and essence thereof For the Image of the Beast I might take it as a thing already sufficiently declared in the Commentaries of the Protestant Writers In them it is nothing else but that Expression of the ancient Splendor and Glory of the Roman Majesty anciently decayed in Rome Imperial and in the latter times repaired and revived in Rome Papal The scope of the text sheweth that this is the meaning and that the Image was made to the Beast which was wounded in one
Appellation that consisteth only of Letters and syllables how will this redound to the benefit or perfection of the Beasts Kingdom if men of all Degrees and Orders shall receive a Name meerly consisting of Numeral Letters and such-like trifles But if you take the Name for the sovereign Power and Headship there is nothing more rational and common than for the Kingdoms of this world to make Laws that all should live in subjection to their Power and Authority And Experience plainly sheweth That in all the Kingdoms of the Christian world stricter Laws have been made for the Preservation of the Dignity of the Catholick Apostolick Roman See as they call it and for the maintenance of the Decrees made by that Authority than there have been for the support and Defence of their own Communities Among many take this one Instance of the Statute Ex Officio made here in England in the times of Hen. 4. In which Statute it was provided That all they should be Burned publickly in the sight of the People that did maintain teach inform openly or in secret any thing contrary to the Catholick Faith and the determination of the Holy Church And so in the times following by vertue of this Law the faithful Martyrs under the Title of Lollards have been publickly burned for speaking preaching writing and declaring against the Decrees and Superstitions established by the Authority of the Church of Rome And it is as plain That neither the Scripture nor any Article of the Creed nor any other Point of the Christian Faith is received among them but that which is warranted by this Authority From whence we may easily collect what is meant by the Law and Injunction of the Beast That none might buy nor sell but such only that had the Mark and the Number of the Name We are not to take the Name Alphabetically For to what end should he command men to receive such a Name as this But if you take the Name for the Universal Headship and the Mark for the publick owning of subjection to this Headship there is great Reason given for the making of such a Statute and it is fully proved by the event The Seventh Argument is taken from the Essence of the great Antichrist as he is set forth 2 Thess. 2. For the Pith and Marrow of the Apostle in this description is to express the great sublimity of Power that the man of sin should assume to himself in and over the Church of God These are the words of the Text He as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God vers 4. From these words we may gather the Essence of the Antichristian Kingdom lieth in the affectation of a kind of godlike Dominion and Headship in and over the Church of God Now then as the â—…on of God hath merited of his Father to be only Head and only Lord So must our subjection be rendered to him without communicability of such a prerogative to any other For though there be gods many and lords many there is but one Universal Head on whom the whole Body of the Church doth depend In this sense as the Son hath merited of the Father to be the Supreme Lord and Head there is none de jure can be but himself only Now then when Paul in the Thessalonians doth describe the Essence of the Beast's Kingdom he doth shew that it doth chiefly confist in the Headship and Dominion over the Church And this is that which Iohn in the Revelation calls the Name of the Beast And so far we have gone in the Discovery of the Subject of the Number We have shewed by many Reasons That the Name is The Headship of the Beast Now we shall in the next Chapter endeavour to Calculate and Compute the Number CHAP. IV. Concerning the Number of the Name of the Beast where it is shewed That the Name or Universal Headship began publickly to be Established under the Emperor Phocas 666 years from the beginning of the Roman as the Fâ—…th Metal Kingdome FOr the carrying on of this Complicate Proposition we are to make Two things clear First That the Name or Sovereign Dominion of the Beast began precisely at that time of the Universal Headship under the Emperor Phocas Secondly That there is a Câ—…in of 666 years from the begining of the Roman as the Fourth Metal Kingdom to the Name or Universal Headship afcreâ—…aid First Concerning the Eâ—…sion of the two-horned Beast out of the Earth I find a great consent in the Commentaries Controversies and Stories of the Church That the Two-Horned Beast began in the Universal Headship under the Emperor Phocas Crackanâ—…orp in his Treatise against Spalaâ—… calleth it the Câ—… one of the Building And in very deed though many Authors do stiffly maintain That the Name is the word Lateinos and that the Number is made out of the Numeral Letters of that Name yet if you put them upon it to state the Original of the Beast's Kingdom they do generally in a manner pitch upon the year aforesaid But we will not depend upon Authority Therefore to the right computing of â—…he true Apocalyptical time we will Observe these ensuing Principles Principle 1. There must be some particular instant of time when the Antichristian state Typed by the Beast with Two Horns had its first visible rising out of the Earth This is proved from the words of the Text And I beheld another Beast coming out of the Earth and he had Two Horns like the Lamb and he spake as the Dragon Rev. 13. 11. And therefore as there was a certain and determinate time when the Babylonian Lyon and the Persian Bear came up out of the Sea that is As there was a certain time when the Babylolonian and Persian Monarchies began so there must be a particular and certain term of time when the Antichristian Monarchy must come up out of the Earth also If this be well observed it will cut off a multitude of superâ—…luous Diâ—…putes concerning the Infancy Childhood Middle age and other degrees of the Antichristian state In these points every man may abound in his own Fancy but sure I am according to the true Apocalyptical process there is mention made but of one visible and remarkable beginning of the Two-Horned Beast And this is at the time of his rising ouâ—… of the Earth Princ. 2. Secondly The time of the rising of this Beast must be after the dissipation of the old Empire and the beginning of the Ten Kings Typed and Figured by the rising of the Ten-Horned Beast out of the Sea There are Two Branches in this Principle The First is this That the time of the beginning of the Two-Horned Beast must needs be placed after the Fall of the Empire This is clearly proved from the Scope of the 13 and 17 Chapters of the Revelation Both these Scriptures do pitch upon this that there must be a taking away of the Imperial Majesty and a kinde of Chasm
height the Heavens and in breadth the corners of the Earth Likewise the other Kingdoms aâ—…e semblanced to a Ram and to a Goat Buck and both in sundry Horns And now all the Nations be named that be therein contained Answer First For the great Tree it is not so much a figure of the Babylonian Kingdom as of the King Nebuchadnezzar in his own personal greatness For when the Tree was cut down and Nebuchadnezzar fell the Babylonian Empire stood Foâ—… the Kingdoms of Persia and Greece it is not needful that these two should be all the Nations which Daniel doth Number after the Babylonians First How doth this distinguish the Monarchies after the Scripture-difference The Scripture distinguisheth them according to the change from People to People chap. 2. vers 44. chap. 7. vers 27. If therefore the Babylonians Persians Graecians be all the People how shall we make Four Monarchies of Three People Secondly That of Persia and Greece are again repeated chap. 8. because they were more summarily described in the former Chapter For if we look narrowly to the matter the Seventh Chapter is for the most part taken up in the descrption of the Fourth Kingdom Mr Broughton The Legs of the Image are the Successors of Alexander in the mightiest Kingdoms Syria and Egypt Answer Piscator doth build much upon this Reason and therefore to avoid repetition we will defer the Examination thereof till we come to him Mr Broughton Daniel chap. 7. vers 13. One like to the Son of man c. The Iewes grant Christ here to be meant and if we had not deceived them by forging a general Fourth Monarchy by refusing the plainness of Daniel they would have come to the Faith long ago Answer This is a good Caution in the general and Christian men ought to take heed how they turn all into nice Disputes Atheistical and gainsaying people will soon take Advantage Yet for all this we have sufficient matter to convince the Jew that their Messiah is come that he is cut off that the â—…0 weeks of Daniel are at an end because Ierusalem hath been destroyed long ago and the 70 weeks do lead us to that fatal destruction For our Interpretation that the Roman is the Fourth Monarchy it is not this that keepeth the Jew in his blindness and unbelief but rather it would be a greater stumbling-block in his way to take the Seleucian for the Fourth Monarchy Mr Broughton who affirmeth this to be a Fourth Monarchy how can he make it good That the Kingdom of Christ was set up in the times of the Seleucian Suppose a Jew should read in the Gospel written by Saint Matthew that our Saviour was Born in Bethlem in the times of the Romans and as the other Evangelists do expresly say in the times of Augustus Caesar who caused all the world to be taxed c. Here then if a Jew should be of the judgement of these Learned men That the Roman is none of the Four Monarchies and that there was a total dissolution of the Four Metal-Kingdoms before the coming of Christ and the beginning of the Roman In this method and way of Interpretation how can they possibly make good that Scripture forementioned In the dayes of these Kingdoms shall the God of Heaven raise up a Kingdom that shall never be destroyed Dan. 2. 44. If the Lord will raise up the Kingdom of Christ in the dayes of the Four Metal-Kingdoms and the Evangelists all with one mouth do say That the Kingdom was raised up in that time when all was under the power of the Romans we may safely Conclude That the Roman must needs be one of the Four Kingdoms and in particular the Fourth and the last Kingdom And whereas it is alledged One like the Son of Man came in the clouds of Heaven vers 13. We do willingly yield when the Roman Kingdom in the last and Antichristian state thereof shall be brought to a final destruction then in those times the Kingdom of the Saints shall be set up upon the Earth in the last dayes and there shall be a Union betwixt Jewes and Gentiles under Christ their King according to the Scriptures And though we do not press the strictness of the Letter for a Personal and visible Reign of Christ as many have done and many now do yet I trust that the Jew and the Gentile shall find it true That both People shall come under the Reign of Christ when his Gospel shall be the regent Law in the latter dayes But of this matter somthing more largely afterwards Mr Broughton I will shew thee what shall be in the latter end of wrath chap. 8. vers 21. This place strongly overthroweth their Error that seign the Roman to be the Fourth Kingdom meant by the Legs of the Image seeing the Greeks are the Dealers in the latter end of wrath And it had been a strange thing that this last vision repeating the former should neglect the Romans if they had been spoken of before Answer We have shewed how the former Kingdoms 〈◊〉 repeated in the latter Vision we yield that there is a repetitiâ—…n of the Monarchical Kingdoms but not a repetition of them in the full Number For what a way of Reasoning were this The Babylonian is not reckoned chap. 8. therefore he is none of the Four great Empires mentioned in the Chapter going â—…efore Let us come to the main Reason which Mr Broughtâ—… saith strongly overthroweth their Error who feign the Roman to be the Fourth Kingdom His Argument is drawn from that Expression I will shew thee what shall be in the last end of indignation â—…ll that may be gathered from hence is this That the Greeks may be Dealers in the latter end of wrath if we compare them with the times of Daniel yet according to this sense the Romans may be latter than they Secondly If we look to the true translation of the word as Iunius and Piscator have it the Interpretation must run thus I will make known to thee what shall be in the extremity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that indignation when Antiochus shall afflict the Church And therefore the Angel doth expound what is meant by these words In the latter end of their Kingdom when transgressors are come to a full end a King of fierce countenance shall stand up vers 23. So then according to the true sense the Greeks are not so much the Dealers in the latter end of wrath as Antiochus in particular is a Dealer against the Saints in the latter end of the Graecian tyranny Here then is a plain fallacy à dicto secundum quid ad dictum simplicitur Mr Broughton Chap. 12. vers 1. And at that time shall Michael stand up that standeth for the Children of thy people When Antiochus going to War against Parthia left Lysias behind him to have rooted out the Iews then Michael stood up Here the terms of Daniel's People must needs mean the Iewes and not the
hath been introduced in the latter times But now it is not so with the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome this hath been in hatching in all Ages almost down from the times of the Apostles till in the 666th year from the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom it began publickly to be established under the Emperor Phocas And here was the true beginning of the Name or Universal Headship of the Beast and of the Mark of the Name Fourthly The Mark in the Forehead and in the right Hand is a convertible and reciprocal Note to distinguish the Subjects of the Beast's Kingdom from other men and such a convertible Note is the publick Profession of a Roman Catholick And therefore many of their chief Writers do lay down Three Notes to prove a true Church by Verae fidei Professione by the Profession of the true Faith Sacramentorum Communione by participating of the Sacraments Pontifici Romano tanquam legitimo Pastori subjectione by subjection to the Bishop of Rome as to their lawful Pastor Fifthly The Mark in the Forehead and the right Hand must be such a thing as is in open view and in common use for so do these figurative Expressions import It is not said That he causeth all to receive a Mark in their Arm or Breast or Foot or Leg or any other Member of the Body but in the Forehead which is in open view and in the right Hand as being that part of the Body which is of most common use Now what is there among that Society of men which is of more common use and publick view than the Profession of a Roman Catholick Experience doth plainly shew That none can buy nor sell nor hold Land and Possessions but such a one as doth acknowledge this Universal Headship Sixthly The Mark in the Forehead and in the right Hand is in express and significant terms called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mark of his Name They have no rest day nor night that worship the Beast and his Image and receive the Mark of his Name chap. 14. vers 11. Now if you apply this to the Profession of a Roman Catholick all things will agree For what is a Roman Catholick but such a one as doth make it the chief and main Article of his Faith to acknowledge the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome and to subject his Conscience to the Laws made by that Authority And this we have already proved in the Third Chapter of this Treatise to be no other but the Name of the Beast For if there were no such thing as the Universal Headship Sovereign Power and Supreme Dominion of the Bishop of Rome what would become of the Faith and Profession of a Roman Catholick The Name or Universal Headship is that which giveth foundation to the Mark or Profession à priori and the Mark or Profession is that which declareth the Name or Universal Headship à posteriori And therefore in significant terms it is called the Mark of the Name Seventhly The Mark in the Forehead and in the right Hand is that which the Subjects of the Beast's Kingdom do assume to themselves as a matter of the greatest Honour and Dignity It is not a brand or nick-Name put upon them by their Enemies but that which themselves do voluntarily profess as may be seen in the whole Book of the Revelation Now such a Name is the Profession of a Roman Catholick The Roman Church comprehendeth all those Nations Languages and People that agree in the same Unity of the Faith under the Pope the Head And every Member of this Church of what sort soever maketh this as the principal Badge of his Profession to adhere to the Bishop of Rome as to the visible Head of the Church Eighthly The Mark in the right Hand and in the Forehead must be so expounded That in receiving of this men must be guilty of great sin against Christ and so consequently lyable to most grievous Judgements except they repent And therefore it is expressed That such shall be tormented day and night that worship the Beast and receive his Mark. Surely then that act of receiving the Mark of the Beast must needs be a grievous sin because the Lord Christ doth threaten it with so heavie a Judgement Now if you take the Profession of the Faith of a Roman Catholick as he professeth his subjection to the Bishop of Rome this is the greatest derogation that can be to Christ to supplant him in his Universal Headship For it is his peculiar and incommunicable Priviledge to be the only Head of the Church his Mystical Body Therefore whosoever he is that doth ascribe this to himself or to any other doth sin against the Kingly Office of Christ and doth what in him lies to dethrone and put Christ from his sovereign Dignity A Wife may be guilty of many Offences against her Husband but that is one of the most capital when she doth take another in his room for that is in a sense To break the bond and to cast him off from being her Husband when she doth give her self to another man A Roman Catholick then when he doth profess his Allegiance to the Bishop of Rome as to the visible Head of the Church this publick Profession of his is Rebellion and high Treason against the Lord Christ the true Head of the Church this doth supplant him of his Kingly Power and Dignity and therefore he doth threaten this sin with such grievous Judgements Those words therefore that are added as an Epiphonema in the end of the Revelation Whosoever shall adde to the words of this Book God will adde to him the Plagues that are written in this Book And if any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this Prophecie God will take away his part out of the Book of Life and out of the Holy City and from the things which are written in this Book chap. 22. vers 18. 19. Interpreters do usually apply this place to those that bring in Traditions but I think that here is a more special sense intended sutable to the nature of the Book for the principal scope of the Book of the Revelation is to speak of the Kingly Office of Christ and therefore they that set up another Head of the Church they do adde to the words of the Prophecie of this Book and God will adde to them the Plagues that are written in the Book So they that take away from the Kingly Office of Christ they do in a more special sense take away from the words of the Prophecie of this Book And therefore God will take away their part out of the New Ierusalem and from the things that are contained in the Book If these things are so I cannot but admire at Hugo Grotius a man of great Learning in these last times who in his Tract de Antichristo doth speak very favourably of the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome
in the Name of the Lord the trusting upon the Lord himself This doth make good that former rule What the Name of God is that God himself is And so by way of Opposition what the Name of the Beast is that is the Beast himself If he be described as a Mighty King we have cause to take his Name for his Monarchical Power and sovereignty Secondly We often reade in the New Testament of believing in the Name of the Son of God c. we do not then look to the Name Jesus or the Name Christ as though there were any Vertue or Efficacy in the Letters and Syllables of these Names but in this case the sense of each Scripture must govern And therefore when the Apostles do Exhort us to believe on the Name of the Son of God in their sense we are exhorted to believe on the Lord Christ for pardon of sin for help in temptation and for supply in all our wants We must not look to Letters and syllables but to the main sense of each Scripture In like manner when we reade of the Name of the Beast and the Saints overcoming his Name Mark and the Number of the Name we are not here to look to the word Lateinos or any such Grammatical Name but according to the sense of the Prophecie the Name must be taken for the Potency of the Beast as he is Opposed to the Lamb. But let us come more largely to shew some particular Instances out of the Book of the Revelation where the Name of a thing person or state is to be expounded according to the Analogie of the text We read that there were with the Lamb 144000 and that they had their Fathers Name written in their Forehead chap. 14. vers 1. Now these 144000 are set in direct Opposition to the followers of the Beast and their Father's Name written in their forehead is contradistinct to the Mark of the Beast in the forehead and the right Hand Now here sâ—…th there is mention made of the Name of the Father and of his Name written in the forehead of all the followers of the Lamb shall we think therefore that it is made out of the Alphabet or that it is a literal Name Not so we must look here to the main scope of the text and accordingly we must render the meaning of the words They that have their Father's Name written in their forehead are such who in all the times of Antichrist had consecrated dedicated and given themselves up to God the Father to live in subjection to his Commandements and to take him as their sovereign Lord this was the Badge of their outward Profession By the rule of Opposition they that had the Name of the Beast were such as did resign their Obedience to him as to their sovereign Lord And the submission to this Lordship was the Badge and Livery of their outward Profession this is clear from the scope of the text Further We read chap. 2. vers 17. To him that overcometh will I give a white Stone and in the Stone a new Name written that none can read but he that hath it Now what is here meant by the Name written shall we say that it is a Name consisting of Letters and syllables If we so affirm we shall have as good foundation for such a Position as they who take Lateinos to be the Name of the Beast But this is to trifle in a serious matter Therefore we must have recourse to the forementioned Principle to wit The scope of the text When the Lord Christ promiseth to give to him that overcometh a white stone and in the stone a Name written this is nothing else but the inward testimony of the Spirit by and through which he sealeth extraordinary Consolations to his Martyrs and Witnesses in the middest of their sufferings under the tyrannical States and Governments of the world Many worthy Expositors take this for the seal of the Spirit that followeth Justification as may be seen in several late Treatises But I take it That the Promise in the text and so commonly through the whole Prophecie is immediately made to him that overcometh in the times of Persecution And therefore these things do more immediately concern the Martyrs the in-coming of Christ into their hearts and the divine Consolations which they feel in the Name written which none can read but they that have it Let us go to the meaning of that Promise Rev. 3. 12. He that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the Name of my God and the Name of the City of my God which is the new Ierusalem which cometh down from Heaven and I will write upon him my new Name In these words when the Lord Christ promiseth to him that overcometh That he will write upon him the Name of his God doth he intend here a writing by Letters and syllables This cannot be But according to the scope of the place this is the meaning of Christ That they that overcome shall have this peculiar testimony given into their hearts That the Lord is theirs and that they are his Further Whereas it is said I will write upon them the Name of the City of my God By this he doth mean The true Catholick Church represented Rev. chap. 21. The scope of the words is this That he will inroll them into the Number of Citizens and count them as Members of the true Church his Mystical Body And for the truth of the Interpretation we do chiefly build upon the scope of the text But now let us go to other Scriptures where usually the Name of a thing is taken according to the Analogie of the text It is said concerning the Church of Sardis Thou hast a few Names which have not defiled their Garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy Rev. 3. 4. Here then when it is said Thou hast a few Names shall we understand this to be meant of Grammatical Names This cannot be The drift of the text is concerning the persons of men and women which did not defile themselves in the times of general Pollution And so at the destruction of Rome Antichristian there was a great Earthquake and there were slain of the Names of men 7000 chap. 11. vers 13. Now for the Names of men shall we understand Names consisting of Letters and syllables What a kind of slaughter would this be According to the scope of the text and the manner of the Hebrew expression we may say That such a Number of persons were slain in the Earthquake Adde moreover to this That the Beast which did carry the Whore was full of the Names of Blasphemy chap. 17. There is none so void of understanding to imagine That the Spirit speaketh of such Names that do consist of Letters and syllables We must here go to the sense of the text which speaketh of his
times must consume the Roman Kingdom in the Antichristian state thereof as it is cleer by the whole Book of the Revelation Object But whereas Piscator doth alledge That the Kingdom of Christ did begin to fill the whole Earth when the Gentiles far and neer were brought to the Faith by the Preachiâ—…g of the Apostles Sol. I do not Deny but that the Kingdom of Christ in the Apostles time did then begin to fill the Earth For the bounds of his Spiritual Kingdom were much enlarged by their travel But what is this to the purpose The text speaketh plainly of a Monarchical Kingdom of such a Kingdom opposed to the Four Monarchies that shall subdue and fill the whole Earth The Apostles Preached the Gospel among all Nations and by name Saint Paul filled all places from Ierusalem to Illyricum with the Gospel of Christ. Yet nevertheless for all this large spreading of the Gospel there was no destruction of the Roman Kingdom In those times the Romans continued their Power and Tyranny though the Gospel of Christ was Preached everywhere But when the stone shall become a Mountain and fill the whole Earth before this can be done the Stone must strike the Image upon the Feet and Toes thereof The Tyranny of the Roman Kingdom must be broken by the Power of the Gospel before the Kingdom of Christ can be set up in the Throne Now if we apply these things to the times we shall find that the Church was in perpetual conflict with the Empire of the Romans for 300 yearâ—… together in all the times of the Ten first Persecutions Now it is said of the Primitive Mareyrs That they overcame him to wit The Persecuting Empire by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their Testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death Rev. 12. 11. By the scope of the place it is clear That the Lord Christ by his Power and his Martyrs by their Sufferings both together did break the Tyranny of that Persecuting Empire It is said of them That they overcame him to wit the Dragon with Seven Heads and Ten Horns The Saints by their Sufferings did overcome him and so the Gospel was set up as the regent Law The Woman brought forth a Man-Child that should Rule all Nations with a Rod of Iron This is meant of the Reign of Christ upon the Earth and there were some beginnings thereof in the times of Constantine the Great as appears by the scope of the text vers 9 10 11. Now whereas it came to pass afterwards That the Christian Empire was broken to pieces by the coming down of the barbarous Nations out of the North and Ten Kings rose out of the Ruines of the Empire aforesaid Then also according to the Prophecies a New Persecuting Empire was Erected to try the Faith and Patience of the Saints This in the whole Prophecie is called The Antichristian Empire or The Roman Kingdom in the last Edition thereof Now this Kingdom also shall be broken in pieces by the Preaching of the eternal Gospel the Nations shall be undeceived and the Gospel shall be set up as the regent Law as it began to be set up in the times of Constantine the Great but was hiâ—…dered afterward But now it shall be far otherwise The Kingdom of Christ shall be so set up after the breaking in pieces of the Toes and Feet of the Image after the wearing out of the Antichristian Tyranny that he shall Reign 1000 years From all that hath been said it is clear That we must look after the Monarchical beginning of the Kingdom of Christ according to the Prophecies Of this we shall have some occasion to speak more largely afterward Now let us consider what is Alledged by Polanus Polanus The Scope of Daniel is To speak of those great Empires only that should stand up one after another till Christ in those Territories where the Babylonian began Now the Roman had nothing that the Babylonian had but only Syria and Egypt He had nothing that the Persian had more than the Babylonian but Asia the Less Therefore the Roman is not to be accounted one of the Four Empires Answer It is true that the Roman went no further Eastward than the River Euphrates neither did he possess many of those Eastern Countries which were formerly under the Babylonian and Persian Monarchies But what of all this It is enough for our purpose That he possessed all those Countries on this side Euphrates which were the Continent of the Church In the Churches Continent the Roman was the Successor of the Babylonian Persian and Graecian Empires For look what Monarchy the Babylonian began over the People of the Jews the same was continued by the Romans when their time came to have the Monarchy over the Church If this be a truth we may quickly Answer the Objection of Dr Willet which is much to the same effect These are his words This Vision of an humane Image signified one united Body consisting of divers Kingdoms one succeeding another as the parts of the Body do joyn one to another the Beginning and Head of which was Babylon And then he addeth The Roman Monarchy being distant at least 1200 miles could not make one united Body with it Therefore that Monarchy cannot here fitly be understood By the same Reason he might Argue The Graecian Kingdom being distant many miles from the Babylonian and Persian therefore it cannot be compacted into the same Image of Persecuting Empires But this is not the Point which we are on For we are not to measure the Monarchies by the Longitude Latitude and Distance of place but by the same Succession of Monarchical Dominion over the Churches Territories In this sense the Roman may be placed in the same Image of Monarchical Empires as long as he did continue the same Sovereignty over the Church which the Babylonian began And therefore when the Scriptures do call the City of Rome by the Name of Babylon it is a very proper Expression for she did continue the same Tyranny over the Saints which the Babylonians began And it is clear also That the same Empire did Devolve and Descend upon the Romans in the Fourth Alteration and Change of State But let us proceed Polanus At the Coming of Christ the Kingdom represented by the Feet and Toes was ruined but so was not the Kingdom of the Romans which was not compleat till the time of Trajan Therefore the Roman is not the Fourth Kingdom Answer I have already touched this Point in my Answer to Piscator but because I see many Excellent Expositors build upon this Principle That the Kingdom of Christ Beginneth at the Dissolution of all Four Metal-Kingdoms and that this Dissolution was at his Incarnation Because they build strongly upon this we will bestow the more pains to enquire into the matter To the clearing of this let us look to that which the text naturally affordeth and then let us make Application From
the Second Chapter of Daniel we gather these Four Observations First Concerning the time of the Beginning of the Kingdom of Christ it must be in the latter times For though it is only said That in the dayes of these Kingdoms speaking indefinitely shall the God of Heaven raise up a Kingdom that never shall be destroyed yet in the scope of the Vision it is implyed to be in the times of the last Metal-Kingdom For according to the Order of the Vision Nebuchadnezzar first saw the Head of Gold then the Breast of Silver the Belly and Thighs of Brass the Legs of Iron the Feet and Toes part of Iron and part of Clay And then after some consideration he saw a Stone cut out of the Mountain that smote the Image upon his Feet Therefore the Beginnings of the Kingdom of Christ were in the latter times when the Image was in its last and lowest Region At leastwise the eminent operation of Christ's Kingdom was upon the Feet and Toes of the Image Secondly We are to observe That the Kingdom of Christ was small in the beginning it was a little Stone cut out of the Mountain For look what difference there is betwixt a little Stone and a great Mountain so the same difference is betwixt the Kingdom of Christ when it began and that Kingdom when it self became a Mountain and filled the Earth Calvin upon the place speaketh very well Propheta admonet exordia Regni Christi fore contempta The Prophet doth well admonish us the beginnings of the Kingdom of Christ to be weak and contemptible Thirdly We are to Note also That the progress of this Kingdom was from small beginnings First it was a Stone cut out of the Mountain and then by degrees in time though the space of time is not expressed in the text it became a Mountain and filled the Earth Fourthly Concerning the means of the encrease how it came to that plentitude or fulness of Power It smote upon the Feet and Toes of the Image and so the Iron the Clay â—…he Brass the Silver the Gold were broken all together and the Stone became a Mountain and filled the Earth vers 34 35. These are the Four Observations drawn from the Second Chapter Now let us apply our selves to Polanus and other Interpreters of that way And here we agree That the Kingdom of Christ did in some sense begin at his Incarnation And this is one chief Argument to prove the Roman to be the Fourth Kingdom because the Lord Christ came in the Flesh and his Gospel was Preached and many Churches were gathered when the Romans did bear rule But our Question is Whether did the Kingdom of Christ begin as the Fifth Monarchy as a Mountain that did fill the Earth In this sense he cannot be said to begin in that fulness and amplitude of power at the Incarnation For from the scope of the text it is plain That the Kingdom of Christ was small in the beginning Secondly That it grew by degrees Thirdly That the means of the encrease was by wearing out the Fourth Kingdom The Stone smote the Image upon the Feet and Toes and so became a Mountain and filled the Earth If we apply this to the event The Kingdom of Christ began when the Romans did bear rule His Kingdom was small in the beginning but by degrees first by wearing out Rome Imperial and after that by wearing out Rome Papal this Kingdom of Christ shall come to the fulness of all Monarchical power over the whole Earth Now on the contrary Let us suppose That the Seleucidae and the Lagidae joyntly or the Seleucidae alone do make the Fourth Metal-Kingdom For so Iunius Broughton Piscator Polanus Hayne Willet and others will have it Upon their Grounds I Demand First How did the Kingdom of Christ begin in the times of the Four Metal-Kingdoms if the Seleucidae and the Lagidae do make the Fourth Metal-Kingdom Secondly Seeing the Kingdom of Christ did begin as a little Stone cut out of the Mountain How do they prove that this Kingdom did come to that small beginning in the times of the Seleucidae and the Lagidae Thirdly Seeing the Kingdom of Christ did encrease by decrees in the duration of the Metal-Kingdoms How did it encrease in the duration of the times of the Seleucidae and the Lagidae Fourthly Seeing the means of the encrease was by the wearing out of the Fourth Metal-Kingdom the Stone smote the Image upon the Feet How did the Kingdom of Christ wear out the Dominions of the Seleucidae and Lagidae Were they not totally destroyed some years before the Coming of Christ in the Flesh by the means of the Romans All these things put together do weaken that Principle of the Dissolution of all the Four Metal-Kingdoms at the Coming of Christ in the Flesh and that the Kingdom of Christ did begin at the Incarnation in the fulness of Monarchical Power Now because Mr Hayne hath laboured very much in this Point we will take his Arguments into Consideration Mr Hayne When Herod Pilate and the Iewish Rulers rose up against Iesus Christ God set him to be his King on Mount Sion and gave him so Eminent a Kingdom that to it all Kings Iudges and People must submit or else be crushed with an Iron-Scepter But Herod Pilate and the Rulers of the Iews rose up against Iesus Christ 1500 years ago and more Therefore God set up Christ his Kiâ—…g on Mount Sion and gave him a Kingdom so Eminent 1500 years ago and more Answer For the beginning of the Kingdom of Christ 1500 years ago I yield that this is true according to the right meaning of the Scriptures But the great Question is Whether the Monarchical Kingdom of Christ when the Saints of the most High shall become the Monarchical People whether did that Kingdom begin 1500 years ago yea or no I do call that the Monarchical Kingdom of Christ to speak cleerly in the Point not when he hath a power in himself greater than any Earthly Dominion not when by the merit of his death and donation of his Father he beginneth to have right to all Earthly Kingdoms for this was given to him at his Ascension But by the Monarchical Kingdom I understand when the Lord Christ after the several and respective times of the Tyrannical Kingdoms of this world according to the free Dispensation of his Father doth actually take into his Possession the Sovereignty over the Earth and that his Gospel cometh to be the regent Law over the Nations Now this Monarchical Kingdom I deny that it began 1500 years ago It is not fully begun as yet though we have some beginnings thereof by the Preaching of the eternal Gospel by Luther and those that follow The scope of the Spirit in the Revelation is to shew that this Kingdom must begin at the end of the Dominion of the Beast or the Roman Kingdom of the latest Edition But to come to particulars It is mentioned Rev.
the Jewish Church True indeed in the Hebrew Visions there is some mention made of the People of God but then commonly you shall see some circumstances in the text to decypher the People of the Jews only As for ensample You shall read somthing spoken of the Tsebi or the pleasant Land of the daily Sacrifice of the Sanctuary of Daniel's People and the like But in the Chaldee Visions there is no such thing mentioned which maketh me to think That the Saints there mentioned are of a more general Nature and concern the People of God both Jews and Gentiles Indeed it is often spoken concerning the Saints of the most High That the little Horn did wear them out and consume them and that at the time appointed they shall take the Kingdom But yet it is not specified in Daniel what these Saints are Whether they be the Saints of the Jews or the Gentiles or both Dr Willet seemeth to me to give a good Reason why they should be called The Saints of the most High scil in reference to their most High Prince the Lord Christ. The words of the text are fair for this Interpretation And the Kingdom and Dominion under the whole Heaven shall be given to the People of the Saints And then in the words immediately following His Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an everlasting Kingdom and all Dominions shall obey him vers 27. The Kingdom is given to the Son of man as to the Head and by him it is communicated to his People and Subjects after their Sufferings By all that hath been spoken we may conclude That the Subjects of the Kingdom of Christ the Members of his Mystical Body are the Objects of the Tyranny of the Fourth Beast Thirdly The great Power and Cruelty of this Beast is not only against the Saints but against all the former Metal-Kingdoms for as Iron it shall break them all in pieces vers 40. Therefore this Kingdom is said to be more Mighty than any going before in respect of the exercise and imployment of strength upon the former Kingdoms and not only in respect of the particular exercise of cruelty against the People of the Jews If this be so we cannot say That the Seleucian was such but to the Roman all things agree Fourthly I do yield also that this Expression is used specially for that part of the earth about the Confines of the Church of the Jews yet it is not the whole meaning of the text When the Lord gave Nebuchadnezzar the Head of the Image a Kingdom Power Strength and Glory And wheresoever the Children of men dwelt he gave them all into his hands we cannot say That he made him Ruler over all in Iudea only but he made him Ruler over all the Eastern Countries far and near round about the Confines of that Church and Nation In like manner when the Fourth Kingdom arose and brought the Earth into a more absolute subjection we must not only confine this to the Countries of Iudea but we must also expound the whole Earth by some Analogie to the former Metal-Kingdoms According to this sense when the Fourth Kingdom cometh to the times of its Monarchical Dominion it will be the most potent Kingdom that ever was about the Confines of the Church and it will bring the former Kingdoms into the greatest subjection If you apply this to the Kingdom of the Seleucidae there will be no correspondence at all but to the Roman all things do agree For that Kingdom was absolutely the most mighty and the most powerful that ever was about the Church of the Jews And as the People of Rome had Iudea under their Obedience so they had the greatest Empire about Iudea from East to West that ever was All these Reasons laid together shew plainly That the Fourth Beast is the Roman Kingdom and so consequently the Ten-Horned Beast in Daniel and the Revelation is all one It is not only one and the same in Analogie and similitude of Expression but it is Literally and Historically one and the same The Roman Kingdom is described in both Prophecies by the same Emblems and similitudes And thus much concerning the Queries of the Fourth Beast in the more general Nature thereof We will now descend more particularly to the Ten Horns And here we will shew that they cannot be the Ten Kings lineally succeeding in the Seleucian race but they are so many inferiour Realms of the Roman Empire Querie 1. If the Ten Horns be Ten Seleucian Kings there will be Eleven Horns in all and how can Ten Horns be the Character of the Beast If in the whole succession the Number of Kings be Eleven in all the Beast is more properly called Undeâ—…em Cornupeta the Beast with Eleven Horns The words are plain The ten Horns are ten Kings that shall arise and another shall arise up after them that shall be diverse from the first vers 24. Therefore if in the whole succession there be Eleven Kings first Ten and then another that came up after them why is the Beast set forth by the special Character of Ten Horns The little Horn must needs be the more cruel and more eminent according to the text And yet by this rule that which is more principal shall be excluded from the denomination But Doctor Willet hath this evasion to wit That the little Horn did not come up after the ten but it came up as the last of them And so Piscator rendreth the words Et Cornua decem ex illo Regno nempe decem Reges exsurgent postremus resurget post illos is diversus erit à prioribus And in his Scholia upon the 8 verse he thus speaketh Vox Chaldaica 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae versu sexto septimo significat alium hic valet ultimum seu postremum Nam Antiochus Epiphanes qui per Cornu illud figurabatur fuit ultimus inter decem illos Reges qui hîc per decem Cornua figurantur But let it be supposed that the Chaldee word may indefinitely be taken yet it is to our purpose to consider what the scope of the text will admit In the former verses when the description of the Babylonian-Lyon was ended it is there mentioned I beheld 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another Beast like a Bear not a latter Beast that came up out of the Sea For the scope of the Spirit is to shew the rising of Four several Monarchies each one diverse from other So in the present case after the description of the Ten Horns the little Horn is said to be another that came up after them to shew the notable diversity between it and the Horns that came up before And so this is the meaning of the text That another Horn much differing from the former Ten in Nature and Condition came up after them in order of time Secondly Suppose we should let this Translation pass Postremum exsurget post illa a latter shall arise after them Here I
as the Lagidae one of the Successors of Alexander did remain These are his words Quatuor Regâ—…aunam Monarchiam constituunt non per se separatâ—…m considerata sed conjunctim hoc axioma mereri haud secus ac de mortuo Principe omnes Praefecti Conjunctim repraesentant Principem Adeo si pars Ditionis ab extero quodam avellatur illa non Praefecto sed toto Principatui decedat Ita Romani ereptâ Asiâ Occupatá Macedoniâ diminuêre quidem Monarchiam extinxisse vero ad se transtulisse dici non potuerant antequam ultimam partem Aegyptum subegerunt pag. 50. From which words of his it is clear That the Graecian Empire was diminished only at the Overthrow of the Seleucian Kingdom and it was extinguished at that time only when the Lagidae were brought under the Power of the Romans But herein he is greatly deceived for if we must Affirm That each Metal-Kingdom doth continue as long as any Fragment thereof doth remain what shall we say by the meaning of this Scripture As for the rest of the Beasts their Dominion was taken away but their Lives were prolonged for a time Dan. 11. 12. This plainly sheweth That after the Imperial Dominion was taken away there might be some prolongation of life some inferiour Dominion as long as any Relique remaineth This is true in some sense after the death of Alexander the Great when his Kingdom was divided among his Successors there was some diminution of the Monarchy because these Successors did not stand up in his strength And yet for all this the Empire of that Nation did still abide And further when Aemilius the Consul subdued Perseus there was a greater defalcation yet nevertheless The Graecian Monarchy continued the most prevailing about the Borders of the Church But afterwards in the times of Pompey when those Eastern Countries were brought under the People of Rome then there was not only a diminishing but a plain abrogation of the Empire of the Graecians For then the Graecian did not only lose the Imperiality in a more general sense but the Imperiality here principally intended about the Borders of the Church And therefore where the Seleucian made an end there the Roman began Thirdly The Seleucian of the Four Successors of Alexander was the most prevailing and the most eminent Priâ—…ce Therefore at the Ruine of the Seleucian we do rather place the end of the Graecian Kingdom typed by the Brass-Metal and the Third Beast That the Seleâ—…cian was the most notable of all Alexander's Successors we prove First From the Testimony of the Scriptures For it is expresly said That a Mighty King scil Alexander the Great shall stand up but when he shall stand up his Kingdom shall be broken Dan. 11. 3 4 5. Now this came to pass after his death his Kingdom was divided to Four Successors the Kings of Syria Egypt Asia Greece For the Kingdom of Asia that â—…oon vanished and the Kingdom of Greece or Macedonia was very remote from the Confines of the Church All the description is limited to the Two Successors Syria and Egypt and of these Two that of Syria was the more Potent The King of the South meaning Egypt shall be strong and another of his Princes shall be stronger than he vers 5. that is The Seleucian Prince in Syria called the King of the North shall be stronger than the other Succesâ—…or And further Concerning the Seleucian it is added His Dominion shall be a great Dominion This plainly sheweth That the Seleucian is the most eminent and the most notable of all the Successors according to the Testimony of Scripture Secondly This is clear by the Testimony of Historians For the Stories of the times plainly shew That the Seleucidae did possess Syria Babylon and part of Asia and as some will have it they possessed all from Phrygia to the River of Indus Thirdly It may be confirmed by Reason for the Antigonidae in Asia that were one of the Four Successors were subdued by the Seleucian and therefore by the Addition of this the Seleucian must needs be the greater Dominion Fourthly Here is the Consent of Modern Expositors for Iunius Broughton Rolloc Piscator Wâ—…llet and other Interpreters of this way do pitch upon the Seleucian as the principal Successor I do not say That their Position in the particular Application is true but that which I stand upon is The ground of their Reasoning in a more general sense For if they Affirm the Seleucian to be the fourth Kingdom in their judgement there must be somthing more eminent and remarkable in that Potentate above all the rest of the Successors Wherefore else should they appropriate the Fourth Metal-Kingdom to him only Lastly We are to have special regard unto this rather than to any of the other Successors because whatsoever is spoken in the Prophecie of Daniel concerning the Graecian or the Third Metal-Kingdom is specially meant of the Seleucian Kings As for Ensample A great part of the description chap. 8. and chap. 11. is concerning Antiochus Epiphanes his rising greatness cruelty against the Saints and his polluting the Sanctuary Now out of which of the Four Successors did he spring Was not his Original out of the Seleucian stock And did he not Reign as a Seleucian King For the Angel speaking of the Fall of Alexander and the Rising of the Four Successors proceedeth in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and out of one of them came forth another little Horn. Now if you enquire which Successor was that One from whom Antiochus Epiphanes did spring Did he not arise out of the Seleucian Family By all that hath been said it is clear by the Testimony of Scriptures by the authority of Historians by the weight of Reason by the consent of Interpreters and by the sufferings of the Church That the Seleucian is the most eminent and notable Successor of Alexander Therefore we do conclude That we have more special Reason to end the Third Metal-Kingdom at the destruction of the Seleucian rather than at the destruction of any other successor If we must end at the the destruction of the Seleucian where he endeth the Roman must begin as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom ARGUMENT III. When all things needful to the being of the Fourth Metal-Kingdom began first to be applicable to the Roman State at that instant of time did the Roman begin as the Fourth Kingdom But at the time of Pompey's Victory over the Seleucian and his reducing of the Territories of the Church all things needful to the being of the Fourth Metal-Kingdom began to be applicable to the Roman State Therefore at the time of Pompey's Victory over the Seleucian and his Reducing the Territories of the Church the Roman did begin as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom For the Major none will Deny That the Roman did then begin as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom when it did receive all things necessary to the being of that Kingdom Things do then begin when they receive
received some hints of the Four Metals of Daniel's Image when he spake of the Golden Age under Saturn and of the Silver Age under Iupiter c. We must not think whatsoever is spoken by this Poet to be altogether a Fable That which he saith concerning Deucalion's Flood in many particulars it was a Fable of his own making yet in the general ground we all know that it is a Scripture-Truth that there was a Deluge to drown the world So he speaketh of the Gyants and of their heaping of Pelion upon Ossa we may conceive that in this he had some respect to the Gyants before the Flood and to the building of the Tower of Babel So in the present case when he spoke of the Four Ages of the world of the Golden the Silver the Brass and the Iron-Ages though in this matter to use the Apostles Expression he turned the Truth of God into a Lye yet in the ground it is true That the times of the Church are divided into Four Ages and these Ages are figured by so many Metals of the Image In after times they that lived in the Church and had the right Experience of things did expound the Babylonian to be the Head of Gold the Mede-Persian to be the Silver the Graecian to be the Brass and the Roman to be the Iron This is a true Exposition in the main but in some particulars they have gone too much after Ovid in his Metamorphosis It is true that the Babylonian Monarchy is represented by the Golden-Metal but it is a common Error in the Ancients and now generally among the Historians Chronologers and Writers to begin the Babylonian Monarchy at Ninus Upon the front of many Chronological Tables you shall find That Ninus is Pictured as the Founder of the Babylonian Cyrus of the Persian Alexander of the Graecian Iulius Caesar of the Roman Monarchy This distribution though it may take in a greater compass of time yet it doth not agree with the sense of the Holy Ghost in some chief Circumstances For the beginning of the Babylonian at Ninus Historians have taken this out of thâ—…ir own Heads and not out of the Word of God And from hence Bodin in his Method of History ch p. 7. hath taken occasion to Dispute against the Scriptures and to strike out the Truth because some have mingled their own Inventions with the Word of God He hath taken this Advantage upon the private Errors of some who have stood for the Truth in the main But the latter Expositors do decline this Error of Ninus and do pitch upon this That Nebuchadnezzar is the Head of Gold and that the Babylonian Kingdom doth begin from his Monarchy They find by Experience That the Scriptures do chiefly point to those several Empires that were to stand in fulness of Power one after another in those Countries where somtimes the Kings of the Lineage of David did bear Rule These are the most approved Interpreters which I so call because they go according to the minde of the Scriptures Now according to their grounds it followeth by necessary consequence That the Roman must begin as the Fourth Kingdom in the time of their Free-state when the Church and all the Countries adjoyning came under the Lordship and Dominion of the People of Rome And whereas in the Chronographical Tables Iulius Caesar is set forth as the Founder of the Roman Empire this is as false an imagination as that of Ninus First It is clear That every Metal-Kingdom did rise and encrease by the destruction of the Empire that went before Now what part or parcel of the Graecian Empire did Iulius Caesar bring under the Power of the Romans Secondly What part or parcel of the Nations about the Borders of the Church did he bring under the Roman Obedience If we speak in a Latitude Caesar did change the Free-state into the Government by One yet to speak accurately The Roman did not begin then as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom but in the times of Pompey when the Jewish Church came under the Obedience of that Nation And so our Argument is Founded upon the Principles of the best Expositors for the true beginning of the Roman Kingdom Now then to gather all into one sum we may conclude the Roman to begin as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom when the Church came under the Dominion of that People This is demonstrated First By the Analogie of the Three former Metal-Kingdoms which did begin each one as the Church came under their Dominion Secondly By the end of the Graecian Kingdom typed by the Brass-Metal Where the Graecian endeth there the Roman beginneth Thirdly By that which is necessary to the Being of the Fourth Metal-Kingdom which began to be applicable to the Roman in the time aforementioned Fourthly By the Testimony of the Evangelist S. Luke which doth insinuate such a Beginning Fifthly By the Principles of the latter and most Approved Interpreters which being rightly laid do necessarily prove such a Beginning also Having thus laid the Foundation I should now proceed to the Building But there are some few Objections that yet remain to be Answered Object 1. Mr Mede standeth upon it That the Roman came up by the same degrees as the Graecian went down Therefore there can be no determinate and set time of the Beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom Sol. What he speaketh in his Apostacy of the latter-times concerning the gradual encrease of the greatness of the Romans we do yield to be a truth in the main But we here speak of the beginning of the Roman in a more strict sense in that acception as it is in the Fourth Metal-Kingdom And here as there was a determinate time of the beginning of the Babylonian Persian and Graecian Empires So there must be a determinate beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom Secondly Daniel saw in the Vision the Four Beasts come up out of the Sea one after another and the Fourth Beast last of all There must then be some determinate time of the beginning of the Fourth Empire Thirdly It is the plot of the Spirit by the Four Empires to decypher so many periods of time According to this Rule If there be no certain beginning of the Fourth Metal-Kingdom there will be a Chasme There will be some part of time which will be long to no Metal of the Image For as Mr Mede himself doth allow The Image doth comprehend Four great Revolutions of time to begin one after another in an orderly succession These are his own words Apost pag. 69. For the true account of the times in Scripture we must have recourse to that Secret Kalendar and Great Almanack of Prophecie The Four Kingdoms of Daniel which are a Prophetical Chronologie of times measured by the Succession of Four Principal Kingdoms from the beginning of the Captivity of Israel until the Mysterie of God should be finished A course of time during which the Church and the Nation of the Iews together
by the Persians and Daniel mourned for it full three weeks together the Angel to comfort him telleth him plainly Dan. 10. 20. I will return to fight with the Prince of Persia and then the King of Graecia shall come in The meaning of which words is this That the power of the Empire of the Persians should be overthrown by the Graecians and then he cometh to particulars to speak of the expedition of Xerxes into Greece how that the Fourth King of the Persians should raise up great multitudes of People against the Graecians These are the words of the text for speaking of Darius the Mede he saith In the first year of Darius the Mede I stood up to strengthen him chap. 11. vers 1. And then he addeth I will shew thee the truth behold there shall stand up three Kings in Persia to wit Cyrus Cambyses Darius And the Fourth meaning Xerxes shall be richer than they all and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the Realm of Graecia vers 2 3. If we will go to the true Reason wherefore the Graecians were so couragious at the Straits of Thermopylae and wherefore they did prevail against the Persians the true cause doth lie in these words I will fight against the Prince of Persia and then the Kingdom of Graecia shall come in It was the secret and invisible hand of the Lord that was the cause of the declining of the Power of the Persians in the East and the rising of the Graecian in the West It is true That the He-goat passed from West to East upon the face of the whole Earth and yet it is as true That the Ram of Persia did push to the three several Coasts Westward Northward and Southward chap. 8. vers 4. By these words it is plain If the Victories of the Graecians did pass from West to East then è converso it is as true That the Victories of the Persians did pass from East to West Let us hear the words of the Prophet Isaiah to put all out of question for speaking of Cyrus thus he saith I have called a ravenous Bird out of the East the man of my Counsel from a far Country chap. 46. 11. From hence it is plain When God will Conquerors shall come out of the East And in Allusion to this Story those Kings that shall deliver the Mystical Israel out of the Captivity of Western Babylon are called the Kings of the East in a Figure Rev. 16. 12. It is not in the Climate in the Hemisphere in the temper of the Heavens in the better exercise of Military Discipline in the experience of old Souldiers in the success of fortunate Generals or any other inferiour cause but in the immediate Dispensation of God Therefore to adde the words of the Psalmist as an Epiphonema Lift not up your Horn on high speak not with a stiff neck for promotion cometh not from the East not from the West but God is judge he putteth down one and setteth up another Psal. 75. 5 6 7. I have staid the longer upon this digression because I set that States-men Souldiers and others of deepest wisdom look to these subtilties Hereupon they trust in an Arm of Flesh oppose the Gospel perfecute the Saints bear themselves more high over those that are made subject to them Make no Conscience of Honesty Truth or Religion when they have the Law in their own hands They should as well look to the invisible and spiritual causes of the Changes of Empire to the Providence of God to the Revelations in the Word to the Angels fighting against the Kingdoms of this world to the power of the Saints Prayers that are offered upon the golden Altar There is nothing more divine nothing more spiritual and nothing more apt to carry up the Soul into an high contemplation of the manifold wisdom power truth and Fidelity of God then to behold in the Prophecie of Daniel and in the Book of the Revelation as in a Map the several Empires of the world where the Church should be seated their times their changes and their causes of the change and this many hundred years before these Empires come to be set up They that read the VVord together with the Stories of the times may see the Fidelity of God and may by this come to know him by the Name Iehovah But so much by the way touching the sudden growth of the Graecian Empire from VVest to East Now we come to the Romans and in the times of their Dominion they must also have the strength of Iron to subdue the whole Earth and break it in pieces And though great Nations and mighty Princes should rise against him as Pyrrhus Hannibal Perseus Iugurtha Sertorius Methridates Tigranes c. yet in their times the Romans must be too hard for them all and break them all in pieces And therefore when Dionysius Halicarnassaeus Cicero and others boast of the Roman Greatness it may be said to them as somtimes it was to Cyrus I have girded thee with strength though thou knowest not me Isa. 45. 1 2. This was the true though the invisible cause why the Romans grew so Great and their Dominion reached to the ends of the Earth But now it is high time to return from whence we have made a digression to shew when the Roman began as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom Some think it was when that Nation was the most prevailing Nation upon the Earth But this cannot be For in the times of Antiochus the Great but more specially in the times of Antiochus Epiphanes they were the more prevailing People yet they did not begin in those times as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom in Daniel's Image You will say then VVhere shall we set the beginning of the Fourth Kingdom I Answer In this case we must distinguish between the Latitude of the Roman Dominion more absolutely considered and the Latitude of the Dominion in and about the Borders of the Church If you speak of the Latitude of Dominion in a more absolute consideration then the Roman began as the more prevailing Dominion when it became more mighty than any other Empire of the world But if you speak in a more strict sense it began then to be the Fourth Metal-Kingdom in Daniel's Image when it did begin to take in the greatest Amplitude and largeness of Rule in and about the Confines of the Church And this is to our purpose Object 3. Others perhaps may Alledge That we cannot begin the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom when the Iewish Church came under the Dominion of that People For say they it is foretoll in the Prophecie of Jacob The Scepter shall not depart from Iudah nor a Law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come Gen. 49. 10. Sol. I Answer We must so expound the meaning of one that it may not dash against the main sense of another Scripture Now it is the manifest scope of other Scriptures to shew That the Four
not to reveal this only to the Jews but to the People of the Gentiles also This latter may be proved from the person of Nebuchadnezzar to whom this secret was revealed For if it had only concerned the National Church of the Jews That the God of Heaven will raise up a Kingdom that never shall be destroyed Why was this delivered to Nebuchadnezzar an Heathen Man and an Enemy of the Church When the Lord did reveal to Pharoah the Dream of the seven fat Kine and after the Dream of seven lean Kine this was not only discovered for the good of the Church but for the preservation of mankind So the Succession of the Four great Empires and the beginning of the Kingdom of Christ in the times of the last Empire these things were not revealed only to Nebuchadnezzar that the Jews might understand the truth but that the whole habitable world under Nebuchadnezzar's Dominion might take notice of that which God did intend to do Secondly This appeareth by the manner of the Revelation to Nebuchadnezzar which was to this end That the whole world might observe it First If you consider the Person Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a Dream Secondly The way of God's dealing with him he forgat the Dream and therefore a great trouble fell upon his Spirit Thirdly His calling for the wise-men of Babylon which City in these times was the Eye of the world and the seat of the Empire Now it is not to be imagined but all that lived within the Verge of so large a Dominion would be apt to hearken after such a thing Specially when they should hear of the trouble of the King and of the Edict to kill all the wise-men of Babylon Here was a matter set out in the view of all Asia as it were to prove Three Particulars First That the God of Israel was the true God Secondly That he would set up Four great Changes of Empire in the world Thirdly That in the last Succession of Empire he would set up a Kingdom that never should be destroyed These things were propounded not only for the Church but for the Observation of the whole habitable Earth under the Babylonian Empire that then was and for the Ages following Thirdly If we look to the Story of the Evangelists we do read that the Evangelist S. Matthew doth tell us That when the Lord Christ was Born in Bethleem in the dayes of Herod the King wise-men came to Ierusalem Matth. 2. 1 2 3 4. Here Interpreters upon the place do raise many Questions First Who these wise-men were Secondly Why was it Revealed to them by a Star Thirdly Why did the Star guide them to Ierusalem and then vanish out of 〈◊〉 These Questions are propounded by Interpreters and they do give very learned and solid Answers to them Only there is a Question to which I do not yet finde a satisfactory Answer and that is this Why was this matter Revealed to wise-men in the East rather than to any other Nation Profession or Sect among the Gentiles Spanhemius doth handle this Point in his Dubia Evangelica part 2. dub 31. pag. 326. and he doth come to this issue in the close Concludimus itaque causum vocationis Magorum nequaquam in illis suisse sed in solâ Dei vocantis bonitate illos ex merâ ejus gratiâ vocatos sive absolutè eorum vocatio consideretur sive comparatè Quod enim vocati vocati prae aliis Dei miserentis fuit illorum potius quam aliorum Et haec causa causarum est summa ratio pag. 329. Here I do agree That the Call of the wise-men doth chiefly depend upon the Grace and Mercy of God This is the Cause of causes and the chiefest Reason why they were called and why they were called before any other But yet with submission to a better judgement I think there lies a plain reason in the Scriptures why the Birth of the King of the Jews was revealed to the wise-men of the East rather than to any other Gentiles For when the Lord had a purpose to Reveal Four great Changes of time to the world and particularly the time of the setting up of the Kingdom of his Son he had appointed in his Providence that the wisemen of Babylon whose Profession it was to understand the changes of time that they should come to take notice of these things but more specially of the time when the Kingdom of Christ should be set up But because they could not know this by their own strength the Lord did Reveal it to them by the Ministery of Daniel That he would set up Four Kingdoms over the Earth whereof the Babylonian in Being was the first and then in the latter end he would set up a Kingdom that never should be destroyed In a word This is the Cause wherefore these changes of times were revealed to the wise-men of the East because it did suit with their Profession to take notice of such things And the Lord having once revealed in particular the time of the setting up of the Kingdom of his Son to the wise-men of the East when the Lord Christ was born at Bethleem in Iudea in the days of Herod the King he did Call that sort of men in special to take notice of that which was foretold Because these things were revealed to them they were called in a special manner to take notice of the Birth of the Messiah and of the beginning of his Kingdom From all that hath been said we may conclude That the Vision of the Metal-Kingdoms doth concern both Jews and Gentiles Therefore there is no necessity that Brightman Grasserus and other learned men should take the little Horn for Mahomet because the Country of Iudea is now under the Turks Many other Arguments might be brought to prove That neither Mahomet nor the Turk can possibly be resembled by the Type of the little Horn. The scope of the text and the whole collection of Circumstances do altogether pitch upon the Papacy which arose after the division of the Roman Empire into ten inferiour Kingdoms in the time of the Emperor Phocas 666 years from the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom This is the true Application of the times to the Stories of the Church and this is the natural sense of Iohn in the Book of the Revelation That the Number of the Name of the Beast is 666. Now for the truth of this Interpretation we will prove it First From the whole scope of the text Rev. 13. Secondly From the drift of the Spirit Rev. 17. Thirdly From the whole Harmony of the Prophecie in the chief and remarkable Circumstances Lastly From the scope of the Apostle 2 Thess. 2. And of these in their Order CHAP. VIII The Truth of the Interpretation is proved from the remarkable Circumstances of the Text it self Revel 13. 16 17 18. THere be many excellent and precious Truths in the general which we cannot alwayes avouch That the Spirit
discovery of this will guide us in the clearing of other things For if we do rightly conceive what is meant by the Mark of the Name we may come to demonstrate the Name it self what it is And when the Name it self is truly and Apocalyptically defined we may be the better prepared for the discovery of the Number All these do mutually depend each upon other And therefore for the subject-matter of the Law of the Beast in the several branches thereof we do thus determine in these three Particulars First The Mark that he causeth all to receive in their forehead and in their right hand is nothing else but the visibility of their Profession that do acknowledge him as Head of the Church And this he compelleth men of all sorts to submit and to yeeld obedience unto Secondly For the Name of the Beast which is also a part of that Law which he did impose upon his Subjects That none might buy nor sell but they that have the Name of the Beast This Name I have formerly proved in the third Chapter of this Treatise That it is not the word Lateinos nor any other Grammatical Name but the Name is the Universal Headship it self The matter cometh to this Issue That none must buy nor sell nor have civil commerce within the Dominions of the Beast but those onely who will acknowledge his Name or Headship Thirdly For the Number of the Name the third part or branch of the Law imposed upon the Subjects of that Kingdom that none must buy nor sell but they that had the Number of the Name I have shewed in part and I shall more fully declare afterward That the Number is not made out of the Numeral letters of the name Lateinos or out of any other Grammatical Name whatsoever but it is the Number of time when that Name or Headship had its first visible and remarkable Institution and therefore it is called The Number of the Name The matter then must come to this Issue That none must buy nor sell but he that doth own the Universal Headship as it was established and set up in the first Foundation and Institution of that spiritual Monarchy Object You perhaps will alleadge That the words are plain That none must buy nor sell but he that hath the Number of the Name Therefore if the Number of the Name be the Number of time when this Name or Universal Headship began according to this Exposition he must not buy nor sell who hath not the Number of time when this Universal Headship began Sol. We must not take the words further then they naturally intend And therefore this is the meaning of the Text That he must not buy nor sell who doth not receive the Catholicism or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome as it was Enacted in the first Institution of that Spiritual Monarchy And if we look attentively to the words we shall finde that there is some difference to be made betwixt the Mark of the Name and the Number For when the Spirit speaketh of the Mark in the forehead and in the right hand and of the Name in relation to the Mark he speaketh of such a thing as is apparent to the sight of every man The Beast's Subjects in their usual buying and selling may discern who have the Mark in the forehead and who have not But now for the Number of the Name and for the Name in reference to the Number it is nowhere said that this is in the forehead or in the right hand for it is of a more secret and occult nature Let him that hath wisdom count the Number of the Beast This sheweth plainly that the Number is to be found out by some subtilty of observation and it is not to be discerned in the ordinary use of buying and selling Object You will say Why are all these joyned together that none must buy nor sell but he that hath the Mark of the Beast the Name and the Number of the Nâ—…me Sol. They are all joyned together by reason of their affinity or relation that the one hath to the other and therefore a man cannot well take upon him the Profession of a Romane Catholick which is the Mark of the Name but he must also profess the Name or Soveraign power it self And he cannot profess the Name or Universal Headship but he must relate also to the first Foundation and Institution thereof in the time when it first began visibly to appear And therefore when the Romane Catholicks do at this day own the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome they do not mean it onely personally of the Pope now living but of the Succession that hath continued many hundred years There must then be some particular instant of time where this Institution did begin In many great Kingdoms at this day it is not safe for a man to live among them unless he will acknowledge the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome Now I say then there must be some particular term and instant of time where this Universal Headship had its first institution where we must set the date thereof And here I say it must be in the time of the Emperor Phocas 666 years from the beginning of the Roman as the fourth Metal-Kingdom Thus I have distinctly shewed the matter of the Law which the Beast imposeth upon his Subjects in the three branches thereof And though I have departed in some particulars from the ordinary stream of Interpreters yet I do agree with many Protestant Writers in the main sense and substance of the Interpretation Since the preaching of Luther Bullinger was one of the first that did historically and with Principles expound the Book of Revelation And so Paraeus speaking of Expositors of the last times hath these words Quibus omnibus meo judicio facem praetulit Henricus Bullingerus quam ferè secuti sunt alii Prooeâ—… in Apocal. Cap. 4. Now this Interpreter doth pitch upon the same sense as we do as it is manifest in his Commentary upon the Revelation And so do some other Interpreters as Danaeus de Antichristo c. If therefore a Reason be demanded Why the latter Interpreters have not gone on in this ancient and true way of Exposition There are two Reasons which are usually given as we may see in the Commentary of Paraeus upon the Revelation and of Downham in his Tract de Antichristo and of Dr. Mayer in his Expositions upon the Revelation First they alledge That the Number of the Beast is numerus nominis the Number of his Name and not the Number of the time of his rising Sol. If these Interpreters will consider the truth of that which we have largely disputed to wit that the Name of the Beast is no other but his Universal Headship and Power by the discovery of this they will finde that there is no difference between the Number of the Name and the Number of the time of the rising of the Beast
Number of years this will agree with the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for in the known and most familiar use that art which teacheth us to number Periods Cycles and greater Revolutions of years is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the art of Computation But if all this will not give satisfaction if any shall still say That this may be the sense yet it doth not prove that it must be so For the further clearing of the matter we will go to the third Circumstance to the Method or the Rule which we must number by And here we shall finde That we have not onely typical proof but true Apocalyptical and demonstrative grounds to build upon if we compare the words of Scripture with our own experience Thirdly the method by which we are to account is by the Numbers of the four Metal-Kingdoms in Daniels Image So then if we account from the beginning of the Roman as the fourth Metal-Kingdom there will be an exact line of 666 years to the setting up of the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome under the Emperor Phocas And here the best Expositors do set the rising of the two-horned Beast out of the earth And this is the reason that 666 is called the Number of the Name of the Beast and experience also sheweth That the account is to be made by the periods of time in Daniels Image And so we have not onely probabiliâ—…y but also apodeictical proof for the Exposition of the Number But now to come to clear the point we will shew the Reasons why the account by Daniels method is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Number of a Man and that this is the meaning of the Spirit First it may fitly be called a Number because as Mr. Mede rightly saith It is the Sacred Kalendar or Prophetical Chronologie appointed by God himself to measure the times We may therefore fitly call it a Number or as they speak in the Schools numerus numerans because it comprehendeth the four Periods of time appointed by God himself to number the special occurrences of the Church Secondly in a more special sense it is called the Number of a Man because it pleaseth the Holy Ghost by the four Regions Parts and Divisions of the Body of Man to number the four great Empires of the world and the four notable and remarkable Revolutions of Time The Image in the parts and in the divisions of it doth not as Interpreters well observe naturally signifie these things but meerly by positive and divine Institution It pleaseth the Lord by the four parts of the Humane Image to decypher so many periods of time And this is the true reason wherefore the Spirit in the figure calls this form method and way of account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Number of a Man because it is the Number of the Humane Image Thirdly this way of expression doth agree with the manner of the Spirit in other places As for example Thou art this Head of Gold that is Thou art signified by this Head of Gold The seven kine are seven years that is the seven kine do represent seven years And The seven Heads are seven Mountains that is the seven Heads do type and set forth seven Mountains And so in the present case The Number of the Beast is the Number of a Man and that Number is 666. The plain meaning whereof is this That 666 signifieth so many years specified and declared in the accounts of Daniels Image called The Number of a Man It is so styled because the Number is such in that Calculation and it is so to be made out in that method and way of account Fourthly this method of account will agree with the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here will be an excellent subject for a man that hath dexterity in the Calculations of the Times to imploy the art and skill of a good Accomptant For to what end did the Lord reveal this Prophetical Chronologie under the figure and similitude of the four Regions and Parts of the Body of Man but that it might be a certain and a standing rule to all Posterities to number those times and changes of times that should befall in and about the affairs of the Church Fifthly the Number of time by the account of Daniels Image is the most fit to decypher the rising of a Tyrannical State such as the Kingdome of the Beast is whereof we speak Now what is the Image of Daniel It is no other but a Systeme or body of the four great persecuting Empires which should rise up one after another in the same succession notably to afflict the Church of God Now fith the Beast with two Horns in the Revelation is such a Dominion or State that shall notably afflict the Saints in the latter days where can it be more properly or fitly placed then in the Image of Tyrannical Empires All these are of the same lineage and kindred And therefore seeing it is the plot of the Spirit to delineate these four Successions by so many Parts of the Body of Man we may well conclude That this way of Computation is the Number of a Man meant in the Text seeing it doth so notably agree with the event Sixthly the Number of Time by the account of Daniels Image in the days of Iohn and in the times immediately following was most apt to finde out the events that should befal the Church For this is to be observed That though the Beast his Name Mark and Image were not extant in the times of Iohn yet the number by and through which these were to be computed must then be not onely extant but it must be also of remarkable use As for example The Anti-Christian Church had no beeing in the days of Iohn nor in the ages immediately following yet nevertheless the Spirit in the Revelation doth decypher the place of this Church by such a Character as was famously known in the days of Iohn The seven Heads are seven Mountains where the woman sitteth Now this did more properly appertain to those first times in which S. Iohn lived That Rome was seated upon seven Mountains For the people then living though they should never see the Antichristian times yet Iohn did foreshew the place where that Church should have her beeing in the time appointed and limited by the Lord. In like manner though the Name Image and Mark of the Name had none of them existence in the days of Iohn yet the Number by which all these must be accounted must needs then be in some tolerable use For how shall a man that hath wisdome by the Number finde out the Name if the Number were no way discoverable in those times Mr. Brightman upon the place doth fully agree with us His words are these Though the Mark and the Name were not extant the Beast being not as yet Nevertheless the Number of the Name might be manifest to that age wherein John lived and not onely
of them Five are fallen one is and the other is not yet come and the Beast that cometh out of the Bottomless Pit he is the eighth To satisfie the doubt we do pitch upon this sense that the Beast is both the eighth Dynasty and the seventh Head For if you reckon by the order of Kings the Dynasty of the Christian Caesars being included he must needs be the eighth But if you reckon by the Heads of the Beast which are Pagan and Idolatrous Forms of Government then that of the Christian Caesars must be Status exâ—…resimus or exemptilis a State exempted and put out of the Kalendar From whence it comes to pass That the Beast if you reckon him among the Kings his place is to be the eighth but yet among the Heads he is but the seventh And so these words The Beast that was and is not he is the eighth and is one of the seventh are plain as I take it and the knot is untied But leaving this scruple I finde That all solid Interpreters do agree in the general sense of the Text to wit That the Antichristian times begin at the fall of the Empire and the rising of the Ten Kings The words of the Angel are so clear for speaking of the Roman Dominion and the Ten Horns of that Beast he expresly saith These have no Kingdome as yet but shall receive a Kingdome one hour with the Beast which plainly sheweth That their times shall be when the Roman Dominion shall come to the last and Antichristian edition of State The fall of the old Empire and the rising of the Ten Kings is an infallible Character of the beginning of the Antichristian times And this no man can rationally deny that doth look upon the true scope of the Angels Interpretation But our question is concerning the times of the Great Whore when was it that she did begin to ride the Beast We cannot say That it was at that time when the Kings did rise out of the ruines of the Empire For then the Kings of the Earth did not dogmatically and conscientiously acknowledge the Church of Rome the Mother of all Churches To the resolution of the case we will consider what Expositors do say to this purpose For in the 17th Chapter though there is mention made of the Beast with Ten Horns yet there is not the least word of the two-horned Beast Now the reason ordinarily given is very solid and it doth agree with the scope of the Scripture For it is plain That the description under the resemblance of a Beast with two Horns Chap. 13. is again repeated under the similitude and type of a Great Whore Chap. 17. Both Scriptures speak of one and the same matter in substance though in a different manner And if need should require we have many Arguments to prove the Parallel Now then in the present case seeing Iohn speaks of the City of Rome that in his days was the great City that ruled over the Kings of the Earth it is to our purpose to inquire when the Church came within the verge of the Dominion oâ—… that great City And here I say if we calculate the times aright and reckon 666 years from that time when that great City came to have Dominion over the Church we shall precisely come to that point and instant of time when the Church of Rome was made the Catholick and the General Mother of all other Churches The Church first came under the Dominion of the City of Rome and then 666 years after â—…hat Church her self was declared Universal Mother of all Churches And here then our Interpretation is one and the same in substance in both Scriptures And whereas the Woman hath this Inscription on her Forehead Mystery Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots and the Abominations of the Earth The Name then on the Forehead of the Woman is not a Grammatical word consisting of Letters and Syllables but it signifieth her Universal Maternity or Motherhood when she began to be declared Universal Mother over all other Churches Now if you apply this to the times it came to pass in the 666th year from that time when the Church and the Territories of the Church came under the obedience of the City of Rome And this is the Number of her Maternity or general Motherhood or of the Name written in the Forehead of the Woman If we apply this to the two-horned Beast in the 13 Chapter his Name is no other but his Paternity or Universal Headship and the Number of his Name is no other but the Number of his Universal Headship from the beginning of the Roman as the fourth Metal-Kingdome And so the sense of one Chapter is clear by the scope and drift of the other But we go on CHAP. X. A List of Fifteen Principles drawn from the main sense of the Prophecy concerning the Beast his Name Mark and Number by the Position of which the present Interpretation is established Also the several Expositions of Mr. Potter and other Writers are brought to Tryall FOr the more full proof of the Point we must take the same method to prove the truth of our Interpretation as Divines do when they would prove the Pope to be Anti-Christ They do infallibly determine him to be so because all the Properties of the Beast do punctually pitch upon that Seat or Succession So in the present case we may say That 666 is such a Number of years to the setting up of the Name or Universal Headship of the Beast And this we take to be an infallible and undoubted Truth because all the Principles of the Prophecy do pitch and mainly centre upon such an Interpretation We can prove the truth thereof by the accumulation of Notes Wâ—… may further take in the words of the Jesuite Suarez for he himself well obserueth That it is not sufficient to decypher Antichrist by one two or three Notes but by the Concurrence of all the Properties that do appertain to him So I may say for a tight Exposition of the Name of the Beast and the Number thereof we must not rest in a few Circumstances for so many have been brought for the name Lateinos And M. Pâ—…tters Interpretation also seemeth to be very fair But this is that which I mainly stand upon That their several Interpretations will not agree with many Principles The same course then that we take to prove the Truth shall be to disprove their Error But now to the Principles in order Princ. 1. The Name of the Beast his Mark and Number do all agree to the Papall Tyranny by a special application This is proved from the whole scope of the Text. For the Beast is a Tyrannical Empire or Government and not onely so but also a Roman Tyrannical Empire in the last edition thereof Therefore these Characters are specially applicable to that Government and to the Hierarchy thereof and not to any other They erre therefore that seek after the Number in the
of the Twentieth Jubilee according to the Authority of the Chronologer aforementioned Being furnished with these Principles as also being firmly perswaded by other Reasons That the Beast was the Bishop of Rome and that the Number did signifie the first visible declaration of the Authority of that See Finding also the account by Jubilees to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Number frequently used amongst men in those ancient times Upon these Considerations I was at length induced probably at least to take this as the meaning of the Text As who would say in plainer terms Let him that hath wisdome count by the Jubilees a Number frequently used amongst men and he shall finde that this Beast shall begin to erect and put forth his Power in the 666th year from the beginning of the Twentieth Jubilee and so he shall come to the particular year when Victor Excommunicated the Churches of Asia This Interpretation though it seemed very specious and plausible at the first yet afterward when I came to dive into the Prophecy and to compare the Commentaries and to look into the natural sense of the Visions I did finde from the collation of all that there must be first a death and a wound of the Roman Majestie in the Caesars before it could be revived in the Popes the Caesareate must fall before the Papacy could begin This I gathered from the whole scope of the Apocalyptical learning And I do admire how any can begin the 42 Moneths from Constantine the Great or from Iulian the Apostata or from any other time before the fall of the old Empire They who do this to my understanding go against the scope and drift of this kinde of learning Another Interpretation I had which I did favour in the beginning and that is the Interpretation of Moulin in his Treatise concerning the Complement of Prophecies He in that Treatise doth set the beginning of the Beasts Kingdome at the fall of the Exarchs of Ravenna and so concludeth That where the Empire made an end there the Papacy was to begin But the Empire ended at the Exarchate Ergo. In this Exposition of his he doth well to set the beginning of Rome Papal after the destruction of Rome Imperial for this is but the sense of the Prophecy But yet withal this must be remembred that we must not set the beginning of the Beasts Kingdom where we will how we will our selves but we must set it there where it ought to be set Now for the place where it ought to be set it must be at the beginning of the Universal Headship of the Beast which is the Name of the Beast when he did make an Image to the Beast that had a wound in one of his Heads If these things be applied to the times they do not agree to the ruine of the Exarchate but to the setting up of the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome under the Emperor Phocas Then there was an Image made to the Beast then the Name or Universal Headship began then the Roman Potency did revive in the Popes which was formerly lost in the Caesars then the second Beast caused the Image both to speak and live Princ. 9. The Name of the Beast ought so in special to be expâ—…unded that it may be the subject-matter of the Mark. This is proved from Chap. 14. ver 11. where the Mark is expresly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Mark of his Name Now it would not be so called if there were not something in the Name that giveth beeing to the Mark. And therefore when Mr. Potter endevoreth to shew That 25 is the Number of the Beast and that the Government may be known by the frequent use of the Number 25 the square-root of 666 In my apprehension he should not have imployed himself in the variety of those things in the Beasts Kingdome to which this Number might be applied His prime work had been first to have found out the Name of the Beast and then he should have proceeded to the Mark and the Number of the Name For there is no other Mark but that which relateth to the Name and there is no other Number but that which is the Number of the Name I cannot conceive any other but his mistake is in the subjectâ materiâ in the subject matter of the Number He that erreth in the beginning must needs go far out of the way Princ. 10. The Name of the Beast ought so in special to be expounded that it may appear to be the matter about which the Number is conversant This is proved from Ch. 13 v. 17. There it is expresly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Name then only must be the immediate Object of the Number or the thing Numbred Why is it else called The Number of the Name By this Reason then I cannot see how Mr. Potter can apply the Number indefinitely to all such kinde of things as are essential and constituent in the Kingdome of the Beast seeing the Number is onely restrained to the Name and is the Number of the Name or Universal Headship But let us look to the grounds of the Interpretation laid down by that learned man He supposeth this Number 666 to be an Image or typical Representation of the whole Body of Antichrist that is of the whole Body of his Kingdome State or Hierarchy And thus much saith he is acknowledged by many Writers but especially by Cotterius Further he addeth If this Number be an Image or a Type of the whole Body of Antichrist then no man ought to imagine that the whole Image of Antichrist is like to one prrticular Member or part of the Body of Antichrist For as the whole Image of Caesar is not like unto the Hand of Caesar or the Head of Caesar so neither is the Number considered wholly applicable to any particular Times Names Persons Places or other Individuall things or Circumstances belonging unto Antichrist as divers Interpreters have laboured to apply it But saith he if any man desire to know Caesar by his Image he must compare Head to Head Face to Face Eye to Eye Foot to Foot and so conclude a likeness in general from an induction of particulars In like manner he that desires to know Antichrist by his Number he must first finde in this Number such things as are essential and remarkable to that Government So far Mr. Potter In which words of his though I do acknowledge there is greater solidity then I have ordinarily met withall in Interpretations of this kinde yet under favour I conceive when all is done the Number must be the Number of the Name or Universal Headship and that by right ought to be the thing Numbred And whereas he saith That the Number is not applicable to any particular Times Persons Places or other petty Circumstances of the Kingdome of Antichrist I do acknowledge That there hath been vanity more then too much among Interpreters about the explication of these
things are most necessary for the Calculation of the Times and for the Exposition of the Prophecies But whereas Mr. Potter doth wholly build upon the extraction of the square-root in a figurate Number I cannot see how this doth agree with the practise of the Spirit in other Scriptures I must needs confess that he speaketh very rationally in these words as they follow I have saith he but beaten made plain the same path which Mr. Forbes and other Commentators have trodden out before But I am now come to the place where they either stood still or turned out of the way They say that the Number 12 is the square root of 144 why then do they not proceed in the same Method to finde out the root of the Number of the Beast seeing they say it is opposed to the Number 144 These learned men cannot be supposed to be guilty of so much nescience as to be ignorant of the square-root of a Number Rather they thought it unbeseeming the Wisdome of God and the Majesty of the Scripture to wrap up such Divine Mysteries in Humane Inventions But be it what it will be it is the foundation of Geometry and Arithmetick it is that also in and through which many famous inventions have been brought to light And the words themselves also do insinuate that the discovery is to be made by wisdome So far Mr. Potter pag. 47. In this I do agree with him That it is the foundation of Geometry and Arithmetick in some good measure to extract the square-root of any figurate Number yet for all that I cannot see when the Spirit either in Daniel or in the Revelation doth speak of Tyrannical States or Empires under divers Emblems and Figures that we should discover and finde out these Governments by calculating the square-root of any Number but rather we should go to the Chronologie of the Times and the Stories of the Church And in this sense we hold That Humane Learning is exceeding necessary And for the invention of the square-root it is very necessary in its kinde Princ. 15. The Number ought so in special to be expounded that it may be in some sort discoverable to the people that lived in the days of John and in the ages immediately following though they lived before the beginning of the Beasts Kingdome Therefore when it is said Let him that hath wisdome count the Number of the Beast S. Iohn in these words speaketh to the people that lived in his days and in the ages immediately following that by this they should understand the signs of the coming of the Man of Sin And he doth yet further shew in what Revolution of Time he shall appear There are seven Kings five are fallen one is and the other is not yet come and the Beast that comes out of the Bottomless Pit he is the eighth In which words of his he doth plainly shew That when seven Forms of Government are fallen in the City of Rome then the Beast shall begin as the eighth Potentate At the same time also he saith That the Roman Empire shall be divided into ten inferiour Kingdomes that these have no beeing as yet but receive a Kingdome one hour with the Beast By the collation of both these Scriptures it is clear That the Number was discoverable in the times of Iohn and not onely to Iohn by Revelation but to others also that would imploy themselves by search From hence then we may clearly discern That they are in an error who would have the Number 666 to be the Number of the time of the rising of the Beast and yet make their account by the years of the Lord. So Danaeus in his Treatise de Antichristo The Spirit of God in that place saith he medleth not with Arithmetical signification of Letters but with the Time and Number of years wherein those things shall be accomplished that are there spoken of and for the particular time he referreth us to the year 666 pag. 13 14. Alstedius saith Denotatur tempus quo Antichristus inchoaturus regnum suum scil anno 666 quo tempore coepit Papa maxime dominari Theol. Polem Part. 4. Controv. 5. pag. 388. The like is said By Eckard the Lutheran and others Though in this matter we do agree with the forenamed Expositors That about the 666th year from the birth of the Lord the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome was set up though this be true in some latitude of speech yet it cannot be the meaning of the Text. For what knowledge had the people that lived in the days of Iohn and in the ages immediately following of the account by the year of the Lord Why should not the Christians that lived in Spain finde out the Number by the Spanish Aera The Christians in Aegyâ—…t and Africa by the Aera of Dioclesian And the Christians under the Emperors of Constantinople by the Indictions These and many other ways of account were anciently used Dyonisius the Less about the year 532 did begin to compute by the years of the Lord and that way of Computation came not into vulgar use many years after It is therefore very strange That men should Number the times of the beginning of the Beasts Kingdome after the account by the years of the Lord and yet certain hundred years after the Church should be wholly ignorant of that way of Computation And thus laying all things together we have proved by the concatenation and connexion of all particulars That ours is the true Interpretation because it doth agree with all the Body of the Circumstances fore-alledged And for other Expositions we have shewed the Reason why we cannot rest in them because in severall Principles more or less they do cross the meaning of the Spirit Now it remaineth that we compare the substance of our Interpretation with the scope of the Apostle S. Paul 2 Thess. 2. CHAP. XI A brief Description of the Doctrine of S. Paul 2 Thess. 2. And how he doth fully agree with the present Interpretation ALl Interpreters and Writers in a manner do agree in this That the Beast his Name and Image spoken of Rev. 13. are all one and the same in substance with the description of the Great Antichrist in the Thessalonians Let us come to the words of the Text. Vers. 1. 2. Now we beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Iesus Christ and by our gathering together to him that ye be not soon shaken in minde nor be troubled neither by Spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as though the day of Christ were at hand In these words there is some darkness in our English Translation for whereas the Translation hath it We beseech you Brethren by the coming of the Lord the word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the cause of the coming of the Lord. The Apostle in the former Epistle having spoken of the coming of Christ to Judgement of the Resurrection from the
Dead and the taking up of those that should remain to meet the Lord in the air Hereupon certain among the Thessalonians mistaking the meaning of the Apostle did conclude That the Day of Judgement and the general Assembly of the Saints was then at hand Now to diminish this opinion the Apostle doth exhort them in these words I beseech you Brethren 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the cause of the coming of Christ to Iudgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the matter or cause of our gathering together unto him that ye be not soon shaken in minde nor be troubled either by Spirit by word or by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand This sheweth plainly That they did mistake the Apostle in his former Epistle and did understand his words as though Christ should come presently to Judgement Now for their better information he proceedeth Vers. 3. Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and the Man of Sin be revealed the Son of Perdition He plainly sheweth what things should precede the coming of Christ to wit A general defection from the Faith and the revelation of the Man of Sin And this I take it doth fully open the meaning of our Saviours words in the Gospel concerning the woful state of the Church in the latter times He speaketh plainly that many false Christs shall arise and shall deceive if it were possible the very Elect Matth. 24. 5 23 24. Now to what times can we better refer this then to the times of Antichrist to the times of the Apostacy in which men shall depart from the Faith and shall give heed to the Doctrine of Devils 1 Tim. 4. 1. Now whereas the Apostle saith That there shall come a falling away first Some of the Ancients as Hierom did understand this of the defection from the Roman Empire Though this be a truth yet it is not the meaning of the Text For the falling away here meant is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a falling away from the true Faith or from the pure Worship of God So the word is used commonly in the New Testament and the sense of the Text doth plainly shew That God gave men up to delusions to believe lies because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved The words then do not intend a Civil but a Spiritual apostacy or falling away Further whereas it is said And the Man of Sin shall be revealed the Son of Perdition Here is a great question Whether the times of the Apostacy and the Revelation of the Man of Sin do begin all at one instant Some will have this to be a Figure which the Rhetoricians call Hendyadys But they are deceived for the words are plain that a falling away from the Faith should be by degrees and when this Apostacy should come to some ripeness and maturity then the Man of Sin should be revealed For how is it possible that the Christian Church should degenerate so far from Christ to take Antichrist for her Head but she must be moulded prepared and wrought by degrees for such a rebellion And for that expression The Man of Sin whereas the Romish Interpreters and Hugo Grotius in his Tract de Antichristo do take this for one individual Man herein they are monstrous absurd For if he be one Man as they suppose then the Apostle tells us That he was secretly conceived in those first times the Mystery of Iniquity did then begin to work And he further addeth that he shall continue till the last times whom the Lord shall consume with the word of his mouth and shall abolish with the brightness of his coming Upon these grounds if the Man of Sin be one individual Man he must needs be very long-lived he must live in a manner from the first to the second coming of Christ. But leaving them to make good their own conceits to speak positively The Man of Sin meant in the Text is A State or a Succession of Men in a State or Government for Iohn in the Revlation doth call this Tyrannical Empire by the Title of a Beast which all do know in the sense of the Prophets doth intend an Idolatrous or a persecuting Empire He is called The Man of Sin by a singular Emphasis as being exceeding sinful and the cause of sin to others for so it is said in the Scriptures Ieroboam the son of Nebat that made Israel to sin And if he be the Man of Sin it is no hard matter to render a reason why he should be called The childe of Perdition This Title was sometimes given to Iudas While I was with them in the world I kept them in thy Name those that thou gavest me have I kept and none of them is lost save the Son of Perdition Joh. 17. 12. In the next words the Apostle doth describe him according to his nature Ver. 4. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or is worshipped So that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God For his opposing himself this is spoken in relation to Christ as he is King Priest and Prophet So the Beast in the Revelat. is set in immediate opposition against the Lamb as if he were another Christ the Rival of his Kingly Power and Dignity And whereas he doth exalt himself above all that is called God Interpreters do ordinarily take this for Magistrates whether Inferior or Superior above all which Antichrist must advance himself The expression above all that is called God is a style too diminuent to express the true God by There be maâ—…y that be called Gods yet to us there is but one God 1 Cor. 8. 5. This is spoken of Magistrates that they are called Gods and above all these Antichrist as he doth pretend himself Universal Head of the Church shall exalt himself Further whereas it is said that he sits in the Temple of God this is meant of the Church of God where God is worshipped in the time of the New Testament as he was in the Temple of Ierusalem of old Now that the Church is called The Temple of God is clear from that of the Apostle Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and The Temple of God is holy which ye are 1 Cor. 3. 16. The result of the whole speech is this That Antichrist shall sit in the Universal Church as in his Episcopal See for so the word in the Original doth signifie Cathedraticâ potestate praesidere By these words it is plain That the formality of Antichristianism lies in the Universal Headship For when the Apostle doth describe the Great Antichrist by his nature he saith That he sitteth in the Church of God as the supreme Lord and Ruler Therefore if that be true which I have so largely dispured in the Body of the Treatise That the Name of the
Beast is no other but his Universal Power and Headship over the Church of God then I will leave any man to consider Whether one and the same thing is not here spoken by S. Paul in the Epistle to the Thessalonians He as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God And hath not the Bishop of Rome for 1000 years put himself in the place of Christ as the Head and Law-giver to the Church of Christ But the Apostle goes on Vers. 5. Remember you â—…ot when I was with you I told you these things We reade in Acts 20. when the 〈◊〉 sent to Ephesus he called for the Eâ—…ders of the Church he told them that grievous Wolves should come and that they should not spare the stock The same things in effect he spake among the Thessalonians when he did foreshew the decay of the Christian faith and the revelation of the Man of Sin Now for the time of his coming and the knowledge they had oâ—… that time he hath these words Vers. 6. And now ye know what with holâ—…eth 〈◊〉 he may be revealed in his time â—…y the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the thing that doth withhold all Interpreters for the most part 〈◊〉 understand the Great Empire of the Romans For as long as the Mâ—…jesty of that Empire did stand it would keep 〈◊〉 the dominion of Antichrist who should ariâ—…e What knowledge the 〈◊〉 Thessalonians had of this is doubtful yet there iâ—… nothing more â—…ure then that the Ancient Writers 〈◊〉 as lived before the fall of the Empire did believe That when this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 come then the Man of Sin should be revealed Among many others when Hierom heard of the taking of Rome by the Râ—…me he did make application of this Scripture that then the Man of Sin was at the doors Now whereas some Interpreters think that we cannot shew any precise time of the coming of Antichrist they divide themselves into sundry opinions And therefore some speak of his Conception some of his Birth some of his higher advancement into the Throne and some of the full Perfection of his Power Others there are that take all these together and tell us That he was conceived in the Primitive Times born about the times of Constantane set up in the Throne under the Emperor Phocas and raised to the high pitch when he did assume the Power of both Swords But all these are but conceits of mens own Commenting For the time of the revelation of the Man of Sin must not be as every one will feign it at his own pleasure but as it is positively and plainly set down in the Word of Truth Now if we go to the scope of the Context the Great Empire of the Roman the impediment that hindred must be taken away and then after that the Man of Sin must be revealed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his definite and determinate time There is then a precise definite and determinate time for the revelation of the Man of Sin and this must be after the fall of the old Empire Nâ—…w according to these grounds there can be no other time intended but when he was installed Oecumenical Bishop under the Emperor Phocas It is clear by the Stories of the Church That the Empire fell and the Kings arose in the fifth Century And after that in the year 606 from the birth of the Lord and in the year 666 from the beginning of the Roman as the fourth Metal-Kingdome the Bishop of Rome was declared Universal Head over all Churches in the times of the Emperor Phocas In this year he was revealed and declared to the world in such a manner as the Apostle doth describe him for in this year he did begin to sit in the Church or in the Temple of God as in Cathedrá as Oecumenical and Universal Bishop and Head of the Church And so we have the particular time when Antichrist was revealed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his definite time This we take to be the natural sense of the Text for if these two things be supposed First that the beeing of the Man of Sin lies essentially in his Headship over the Church and Temple of God Secondly that he did appear in his proper time after the fall of the old Empire What other thing can here be signified or decyphered but that which we speak of to wit that the Number 666 in the Revelation doth point out the time of the rising of this Spiritual Monarchy For as we have formerly shewed the year 606 according to the calculation of the times in Daniel is the Number 666 the Number of the Name or Universal Headship of the Beast And thus we see how the scope of the Apostle in this Scripture doth fully answer our Interpretation concerning the Name of the Beast and the Number of the Name Now let us go to the words of the Apostle as they follow Vers. 7 8. For the Mystery of Iniquity doth already work onely he who now letteth will let till he be taken out of the way and then shall that wicked one be revealed Here Interpreters do inquire what is meant by the Mystery of Iniquity Some do think that the Apostle doth refer to those Heresies in the first times that were previous to the bringing in of the Man of Sin But how could those gross Heresies be so called The Mystery of Iniquity did incroach upon the Church and upon godly men under the appearance of the greatest holiness Secondly suppose that in those first times there were some beginnings of Free-will Justification by the Merit of Man yet these things are not to our purpose for we are here specially to look after such a working of the Mystery of Iniquity as makes way for the Papacy or the Papal Government or the Universal Headship of Antichrist that he shall sit as Lord or chief Ruler in and over the Church and Temple of God The question is What previous workings were there in the Apostles days and so downwards towards the setting up of the Universal Headship For this is to the scope of the Text and this doth answer the matter in hand Let us therefore consult with other Scriptures S. Iohn saith Ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even so the spirit of Antichrist is already in the world 1 Joh. 4. 3. What doth he mean by this that the spirit of Antichrist was already in the world He doth explain himself in his third Epistle and the 9th verse I would have wrote unto the Church but Diotrephes who loveth to have the pre-eminence suffereth us not It appears from hence then that in those first times men did affect that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Primacy or Headship in and over the Church of God Here then the Mystery of Iniquity did begin to work in those first times But lest any man might alledge that these incroachments were too gross and that the Mystery of Iniquity must be carried on with greater shews
of the Coercive Power is so far from being Tyrannical or Antichristian that it is most necessary for the suppression of Blasphemies and Reproaches against the known Truth of God For some fall into a contrary extream they think all Compulsion to be illegal And hereupon they are for an absolute boundless and universal Toleration of all Opinions never considering the Circumstances but desperately passing from one extream to another If they did well consider the matter there is no ground for Toleration of Blaspemous Opinions rightly so called For perhaps some either through passion or ignorance or both may bestow such an opprobious Title upon the Truth We have a clear instance for this in the glorious state of the Church mentioned by Zachary And it shall come to pass when any shall yet Prophesie then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him Thou shalt not live for thou speakest lyes in the Name of the Lord. And his father his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth Zaâ—…h 13. 3. It is clear that these things are spoken concerning the glorious times of the Church at the call of the Jews when the Lord shall pour upon that Nation the Spirit of Grace and supplication when they shall look to the Messiah whom they have crucified when there shall be a Fountain opened to the House of David and to the Inhabitants of Ierusalem for sin and for uncleanness Their chief sin is their enmity against the Gospel and the justification of their Ancestors for the Crucifying of Christ. When this sin shall be mourned over and pardoned then the Lord doth promise That all Idols shall be taken out of the land and such zeal shall be to the Truth that the Parents themselves rather then fail should concur to the coercion of such a Son who should prophesie lyes in the Name of the Lord. But there is a great question touching this expression His father and mother that begat him shall thrust him through This cannot be taken according to the letter for it belongs only to the Magistrate to have the power of life and death We are to expound this phrase according to the analogie of the Old Testament where the Parents were to bring their Son to the Elders of the Gate And so proportionably in the times of the New Testament when all other means should be tryed in vain the Parents themselves shall bring their Son to the Civil Magistrate to suffer rather then the truth it self should suffer Many have endeavored to avoid the force of this Scripture and to illude it by distinctions but for my part I cannot see but it is of great force against fundamental errors rightly and truly so called which tend to the apparent and manifest ruine of the Doctrine of Salvation and to the great hurt of the Souls of men Though the affections of Parents are tender towards their Children yet in those wonderful times the Prophet doth insinuate that they shall be more tender to the truth and to the welfare of the Church of God In a comparative sense then it is said That his father and mother that begat him shall thrust him through Further though a Toleration may be granted to tender Consciences yet the profane the careless and those that never minde the Salvation of their Souls ought not to be left to their free indifferency the Magistrate should use Comâ—…ulsion to them to bring them to the Publick Worship For if we travel through the Land in the length and breadth thereof we cannot probably presume any other but that the greater part would desire rather to live like Heathens without God and without Christ in the world If that be true which is spoken of some places it is much to be lamented That the people are left destitute of the means of their Salvation Let the richer sort pay no Tythes or that which is equivalent have them at an easie rate Let the Youth have their pleasures and pastimes upon the Lords-day I believe it matters not much with these whether there be any publick Worship or no. If it be wholly at their choyce the Church or the Publick-place of Meeting may well be left for Jack-Daws or such like Birds to build in So little do they minde the means of their Salvation In such a case I conceive the Supreme Magistrate the Keeper of both the Tables the Vicegerent of Christ upon the Earth is to compel men to come to the Publick-places of Worship So did the godly Kings of Iudah and so have the Christian States and Governments ever done they have demolished the Monuments of Idolatry established the Publick Ordinances and have compelled the more ignorant and rude sort to wait upon the means of their Salvation And this I take to be the meaning of the Parable When the Lord sent forth his servants to invite guests to the Wedding go out into the high-ways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled Luke 14. ver 23. Here two Questions are to be demanded The first is What is meant by the guests that did lie in the high-ways and the hedges Secondly Why should compulsion be used rather toward them then to the two former kindes For the guests that did lie in the hedges we must necessarily understand the ruder and more ignorant sort of people as the wanderers and beggars from door to door Of these we cannot give a reason what rule of Marriage they do observe what difference there is betwixt father and childe we may probably presume that the greater part of them live without God and without Christ without the consideration of Heaven or Hell or the future state of the Soul hereafter These are the guests that lie in the high-ways and in the hedges Now why is it that Compulsion should be used towards these rather then the other two kinde of guests The reason I take it is this That they have not a tolerable discretion to judge of that which is good for their Salvation and therefore compulsion should be used towards such brutish kinde of men And though they would lose their own Souls by what lies in them yet the Magistrate or the Minister should not lose them For the two former kinde of guests the one was of a more civil education for being invited to the Marriage they did all plead their necessary imployments one had married a wife another had bought five yoke of Oxen and a third had bought a parcel of Land The inordinate affection to some one worldly thing or other is the true cause why men do not come to Christ to take him as their Lord and Husband Though they have a minde to come yet they are loth to deny such a particular profit or pleasure that is dear to them Now concerning these we reade That the servant was not to compel them to come to the Wedding only the Lord said None of these shall taste of my Supper
the other side I conceive That it is too high to call Hen. 8. or any other Supreme Magistrate an Head much more a good Head of the Church the eminency transcendency and sublimity of that Prerogative belonging to Christ alone Our Princes have used such a Title and in the sense of the Statute in a moderate way the people have ascribed it to them to wit a Spiritual Power Authority and Jurisdiction that ever have belonged to Kings and Princes which David Solomon the Kings of Iudah and Christian Emperours have ever exercised in their respective Dominions This no doubt hath been the sense of well-meaning men and so Mr. Bedel doth expound it in the forementioned place and pag. 56. But for my part being inlightned and better informed I pray God such Titles be no more used and let that passage Next under thee and thy Christ in all Causes Ecclesiastical in these His Majesties Dominions Supreme Head and Governour Let the exuberancy of such a Title pass among the iniquity of our holy things Our godly Friends have been offended at it our Enemies have insulted Experience hath shewed much danger in the use of it and the present Treatise I doubt not will shew what an evil thing it is to take away the Prerogative of Christ and to make other Heads of the Church in his room Of all men living the Erastians have greatest cause to look to this For let Princes be once told That there is no Church-Government in the Word of God and that they themselves are the sole Fountains of Church-Power By this means it will be effected That the Name and Power of Christ over his own Church will be plucked down and the Name and Headship of Princes will be onely set up In matters of this nature if you give an Inch men will take an Ell. Rather for acts past we should often think upon that expression of the Prophet I will pour upon the House of David and the inhabitants of Ierusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication and they shall look to him whom they have pierced Zach. 12. 10. Christ is not onely pierced in a literal sense when his body is run thorow with a Spear but he is pierced also when his Name and Headship is taken away from him and given to another So far as a whole Nation have been mediately or immediately directly or indirectly implicated and involved in such a sin so far I believe they ought to mourn If this be not done God perhaps may rebuke us when our Armies go forth against those that Worship the Beast and uphold his Name and Headship in enmity to the Government of Christ. Though not in the favour of the enemy yet we may be chastised for our own faults and the Lord may be provoked to appear against us When the Lamb went forth on his white Horse against the Beast and his Armies the Armies that followed were upon white Horses cloathed in fine linen white and clean Rev. 19. 14. Further also by the process of this Discourse information may be given to certain in these Times who being led by the meer shew and colour of some passages in the Prophesies do think it a part of their duty to level Magistracy abolish Laws and to turn all things up-side down in Church and Common-wealth Of such I may say That they mingle the precious Truths of God with Fables of their own commenting In the Metamorphosis of Ovid we reade of the Beginning of the World of the Chaos of the Giants heaping of Pelion upon Ossa of Deucalions Flood of the Four Ages of the Golden the Silver the Brazen and the Iron Age. These things are not all Fictions because they have some ground of truth in the Scripture neither are they all truths because they are mingled with Fictions of the invention of man Of the same kinde are some Authors who are for the Fifth Monarchy they think that the setting up of the Kingdome of Christ will be the Dissolution of all Earthly Kingdomes But by the purport and whole drift of the present Discourse they may understand That the Kingdome of Christ is not contrary to Governments Powers and Authorities purely as such but onely to Governments as Idolatrous as Tyrannical as contrary to the Laws of Christ and of his Church In the Prophecy of Daniel the Empire of Babel is resembled to a Lyon of Persia to a Bear of Greece to a Leopard of Rome to a Beast of divers shapes All these Monarchies erected and set up on the ruines of the Davidical Kingdome are parallell'd to so many Beasts Buâ—… to what Beast shall we resemble in its right constitution the Davidical Kingdome it self In the Book of the Revelation the Angel doth expresly say That there were eight Kings and yet the Beast had but seven Heads Chap. 17. How can this be I have fully proved That the Dynasty Race and Succession of the Christian Caesars do make the seventh Roman King but no Head of the Beast Therefore the Mediatoriâ—…n Kingdom of Christ is not contrary to Governments as such neither is nor ever shall be built upon the ruines of Governments as Governments but upon the ruines of Governments onely as Tyrannical and opposite to the Laws of the Gospel There is no such cause then why solid and judicious men in these dayes should set aside this kinde of Learning which is so much for the Credit Authority of the Christian Magistrate And for the Government of the Church in some Points if I am not mistaken there is in this Prophecy as strong if not stronger proof then in any other Book of the New Testament As for Example Though Bishops are put down the Service-Book taken away the Ordination of Ministers brought neerer the Rule all this being done men are not pleased What is the cause of the Difference The difficulty lies in the Church-state Robinson and others of that way do plead That we have no Example for a National Church in the New Testament and the bringing in of whole Nations by the power of the Magistrate this is the principal Rock of Offence I confess it is true that we have no Example of a National Church in the Apostles time For how could all Nations come in at that particular instant when the greater part of them did still remain in their Idolatries and the Emperors themselves were the greatest Enemies of the Church Now if we apply our selves to the Book of the Revelation we shall plainly see how the Spirit doth foretel That after the Preaching of the Gospel the Church should fall under grievous Persecutions in all the times of the Pagan Caesars when that time is ended the Empire it self shall become Christian. What else should be the meaning of that expression Now is come Salvation and Strength and the Kingdome of our God and the Power of his Christ Rev. 12. 10. This doth note no other but the setting up of the Gospel in the Throne in the times of
the Spirit saith to the Churches There are many excellent things that he speaketh to the Churches in the way of Reproof in the way of Advice and in the way of Comfort yet onely he that hath an ear to hear will understand the meaning of his words And so in the present case when it is said Here is wisdome let him that hath understanding count the Number of the Beast This implieth That this matter must be found out by some subtilty of observation The person that doth inquire must be such a one as hath wisdome Secondly For the manner of discovery it must be by calculation of the Number and therefore it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him count the Number of the Beast The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth such a kinde of Numbring as is by Counters or Stones of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lapillus Calculus But in the ordinary and common use it doth promiscuously note any kinde of reckoning And therefore it is said concerning the man that went about to build a Tower 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he counteth or reckoneth the cost Luke 14. 28. And so in the present case there is a computation or way of account to finde out the mystery of the Number But here is the difference betwixt Interpreters some go to the extraction of the root some to the numeral Letters of the name Lateinos But of these we have spoken in part already and we shall further shew the vanity of this way in the process of the Discourse We will therefore come positively and plainly to set down the meaning of the Spirit And we shall finde That there is nothing more familiar in the Predictions of Prophetical Scriptures then for the Spirit to foretel remarkable occurrences by a definite number of years to every such occurrence Of many Examples that may be given take these few When the Lord would give Noah warning concerning the Flood he told him That such a Number of years should fulfil their course and then the Flood should come My Spirit shall not alway strâ—…ve with man yet his dayes shall be an hundred and twenty years Gen. 6. 3. So when he made a Promise to Abraham that he would give to his Posterity the Land of Canaan for an Inheritance he told him That 400 years should run compleat to the performance of the Promise Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years and afterwards they shall come out with great substance Gen. 15. 13 14 15. Further when the people of the Jews were carried captive into Babylon in the times of Ieâ—…kims Captivity to these the Prophet Ieremy did send a Consolatory Letter in which he did declare two things of eminent note Their remarkable deliverance and the overthrow of the Babylonian Empire Yet withall â—…e did declare That seventy years must first be fulfilled and accomplished at Babylon before their deliverance wiâ—… come And these Nations shall serve the King of Babylon seventy years and when seventy years are accomplished then will I visit the King of Babylon Jer. 25. ver 11 12. And again Thus saith the Lord After seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you and perform my good word towards you in causing you to return unto this place Jer. 29. 10 11. Last of all when Daniel himself was mâ—…sing on the truth of the Promise of God and gave himself to understand the Times and to pray in faith for the accomplishment of the Promises he had a further discovery of the seventy weeks that should lead him to the times of the Messiah to his Passion to the Preaching of the Gospel among all Nations and to the destruction of Ierusalem Now to the performance of these things it was shewed to him That there must be seventy Sevens or seventy weeks of years or 490 years in all to begin and commence from the building of the second Temple which line of years if he followed it would bring him to that time when all these things should be fulfilled By these Examples it is manifest That it is a frequent thing in Prophetical Scriptures to foretell future occurrences and to shew the Number of years that shall pass before the event If this be so we have a rational ground to build upon when we make 666 the Number of years to the setting up of the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome But for the further clearing of the truth That the study and the calculation of the Prophetical years is said to be wisdome we can make this appear by some special Examples out of Scripture We reade in the the Prophecy of Daniel In the first year of Darius the son of Ahashuerosh of the seed of the Medes which was made King over the Realm of the Caldeans in the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the Number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Ieremiah the Prophet that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Ierusalem Dan. 9. 1 2 3. Concerning Darius the Mede there is a great Controversie among Chronologers whether he came to the Kingdome of the Caldeans by Conquest or by free Election But let that point be what it will be all do agree in it That Darius the Mede raigned immediately before Cyrus the Persian And it is as clear also by the stories of the times That the first year of Darius the Mede was upon the very dawning of the Churches deliverance In this year then Daniel gave himself to study by books the Number of years that the Lord would accomplish in the Churches desolations In him then by the way let us note That they who have the greatest fulness of Spirit are chiefly imployed in the meditation of the Scriptures And they who are conversant in the Prophetical Scriptures are many times helped out in the knowledge of these things by the Sacred and the Civil Stories But now let us take notice of the process and order of his meditations First he did lay it as a general ground That seventy years must be expired before deliverance will come But now saith he the seventy years of the desolations of Ierusalem begin almost to be fulfilled Therefore in these times we are almost come to the promised deliverance And thereupon he did pray with great faith in the Promises of God as appeareth by the scope of the Chapter Here now in this Syllogism Daniel did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by two known Numbers he did finde out a third unknown His major Proposition was the Prophecy of Ieremy his Assumption was his own experience and the Chaldee Registers of the Time and his Conclusion was the approach of the delivery of the Church And the whole operation in computing the times was by wisdome For these are the words of the Text I Daniel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understood by books Piscator
hath it Consideravi in libris Iunius Fui considerans ex libris All cometh to one sense That whether he did consider these times in books or by books or out of books he laid the times together to wit the times in the Prophecy of Ieremy and the times that had past in the Churches experience and accordingly did argue the approach of the deliverance that should come This act of his was by wisdome or understanding for so the word doth signifie the inward contriving or plotting of any thing in the minde as Artificers do cast the frame of a building Thus Kirkerus doth render the meaning of the word in his Concordance Iunius upon the place doth very significantly express the meaning of the word Fuit intelligens ex libris Prophetiarum Hieromiae quibus annorum numerus fuit praefinitus tum Historiis temporum quae à deportationis initio effluxerant In Danielâ—…hen â—…hen we have an example of computing the times and of his wisedome in numbring the seventy years of Ieremy before the event And this Daniel did do not by extraordinary revelation but as an ordinary believer might do by search Let us now go to another Instance When the Disciples came privately to our Saviour upon Mount Olivet they asked him concerning the time of the destruction of Ierusalem and in order to their question he made them this answer When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place let him that readeth understand Mat. 24. 15. Here I demand What is meant by him that readeth Secondly what is meant by the book that he must reade By him that readeth is meant any one to whom God hath given a minde to search and to look into the meaning of the Scripture And for the Book that must needs be the Prophecy of Daniel concerning the seventy weeks Dan. 9. And whereas it is said Let him that readeth understand the words must go in this tenor Let him that readeth know and understand how many years the 70 weeks of Daniel must contain and where they must begin And from the knowledge of these two if he reckon well he shall come to that time where they shall make an end and that will be the time of the destruction of Ierusalem And so we have an answer to the Disciples question But yet further concerning the time when the period of the seventy weeks are to be studied and that is when you see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place In that particular instant it is said Then let him that readeth understand As for the standing of the abomination of desolation in the most holy place our Saviour doth expound his meaning more plainly in another Evangelist When ye shall see Ierusalem compassed about with Armies then know that the desolation thereof is nigh Luke 21. 20. Here some man may object It is not always a necessary truth that when a City is compassed with Armies therefore it shall be taken and when it is taken it is not infallible that it shall be brought to utter desolation What doth our Saviour then mean by this speech His meaning is not that from such weak principles men should draw a Conclusion of that weight but this is the drift of his speech When ye shall see Ierusalem compassed about with Armies then let him that readeth fall upon the calculation of the times in the Prophecy of Daniel Let him consider where they begin how long they shall continue and where they make an end and then by the joynt consideration of all these together they shall finde they be not far from the destruction of Ierusalem and that the years of the patience of God are run out And yet further our Saviour would not have men calculate the times to satisfie their curiosity but meerly for use and practise and better information He saith Let him that readeth understand But to what end These words are immediately added ver 16. Then let them which are in Iudea flee to the Mountains c. Now the understanding of the Prophetical times is no common matter but there must be much study and meditation used to finde out the meaning of the Spirit The words of the Text are most emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him that readeth ponder and consider the times by some subtilty of observation Now then to apply all this to the present Text and so we have many examples out of Scripture to warrant us That the Number 666 may be such a Number of years to the setting up of the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome And for the computation of these years before the event this in the Scripture-language is called by the name of Wisedome Having then such a multitude of Examples out of the Old Testament where pious men have calculated the Prophetical years before the accomplishment why by the like reason may we not conceive That Iohn spake to the people in his own times to the ages immediately following but most specially to those who should live upon the borders of Antichrists rising that they should calculate 666 years to the beginning of his Kingdom The coming of Christ in the flesh and the glory that should follow was revealed to the ancient Prophets though under dark and figurative expressions Now mark what the Apostle S. Peter speaketh of the practise of those wonderful men Of which salvation the Prophets have inquired and searched diligently searching into what manner of time the Spirit did point to when he spake of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow 1 Pet. 1. 10 11 12. The times of the ancient Church were divided into many periods Now it was shewed them though darkly in what period of time Christ should come And accordingly they who had his Spirit in them made no spare to search when that time should be In like manner the times of the New Testament are divided into many regions or parts and it was revealed to the Apostles in mystical terms how Antichrist should come in what particular period of time he should come and what should be the signs of his coming Now seeing these things are revealed in the Prophecies of the New Testament as I think none can well deny was it not the duty of men immediately after the Apostles time and so downward to calculate the Times And for the actual rising of the Kingdom of Anti-Christ there is no one place doth speak more of his pedigree and genealogie then the Text we now are upon If this be so it will quickly appear of what nature the Number 666 is seeing it is put in the close of the Chapter There is then the greatest probability as can be supposed that this must be the Number of years to the first Institution and Foundation of that Spiritual Monarchy and the person who hath wisedome is to make up the account Further if we take 666 for the Number of time and particularly for the