of Carthage after the time of these scruples of the Antimillenarians and before the degeneracy of the Church to which the aim of the Apocalypse is applied by Protestants viz. before the year 400 does in its 47th Canon ordain the Book of the Apocalypse to be read in the Church as Canonical Scripture And this Provincial Council is confirmed to oblige the Universal Church both the Greek and Latin by the sixth Synod in Trullo at Constantinople Can. 2. Anno 707. But it was unquestionably a Decree of the Greek Church where the Apocalypse had alone been scrupled But the most authentick Evidence of this is the Authority of the fourth Council of Toledo when it could not possibly be any Interest of the then Ruling Party of the Church to plead for the Apocalypse but might possibly enough endanger the Interest of it because it was about the year 640. after the time that the Protestants Applications of that Book do generally date the degeneracy of the Church of Rome from So that the sense of that Council is the Testimony of an Adversary to the General Consent of the Church about the Tradition of this Book The words of it are these The Authority of many Councils and the Synodical Decrees Concil Toletan 4. Can. 16. about the year 640. of the holy Bishops of Rome have determined the Book of the Apocalypse to have been wrote by John the Evangelist and to be received amongst the Books divinely inspired And because there are many that do not receive it for Authentick and scorn to read it in the Church of God if any one for the future shall refuse to receive it or to read it in the Church in the time of Mass from Easter to Whitsuntide he shall be Excommunicated By this it does appear how the Apocalypse came to lose its authenticalness among the meaner part of the Church It was it seems so disused in the Church that it passed for an useless Book the Interpretations that were given of it were either so fanciful or so little concerning the Times when it was neglected that it passed amongst them for a kind of Book of Dreams in which the Church was not concerned and which none knew the meaning of And this cannot much be wondred at when it is considered how little regard is had to these Revelations even in these days unto which they are by the best Learned amongst us judged to belong in matters of the highest importance for the Church to know But as for that suggestion That Cerinthus was the Author of the Apocalypse which was always the most current ground amongst those who rejected the Authority of it there is assurance enough of the falshood of it out of Irenaeus for he was the Scholar of Polycarp who was the Disciple and Companion of St. John to whom Irenaeus every-where attributes Euseb l. 5. Eccles Histor c. 18. the Apocalypse and writes against Cerinthus and reports from Polycarp the great detestation that St. John had against Cerinthus And how absurd a thing would it be to imagine that Irenaeus after so diligent so long and familiar a conversation with Polycarp the Companion of St. John as he particularly mentions of himself should make the Apostle to be the Author Lib. 3. contra Haeres cap. 3. of a Book which was really wrote by his worst Adversary to propagate his Errors Whatever was the true reason of the rejection of the Authority of this Prophecy it is certain That no Book of Scripture has had a more express and unexceptionable Tradition of its Apostolical Authority since it was confirmed by the Testimony of two Learned Martyrs soon after the writing of it who also had searched into all the Copies of it and were confirmed in it by those who were conversant with the Apostle himself that wrote it and that in the very times that it was scrupled it was believed to be Authentical by all the Eminently-learned Fathers of those days and that after the times that it had been scrupled it was owned by the General Consent of the Christian Church This I thought fit to premise for the full satisfaction of those that are altogether sceptical in the first foundation of these Interpretations But the Romanists whose whole concern it is to make every thing in this kind dubious do agree with all other Christian Churches in the World at this time about the unquestionableness of the Canonical Authority of this part of the New Testament And now it may appear to be our Duty and Concern to enquire with diligence after the best understanding that we can get of this Prophecy when we consider what pressing Motives there are to it more in this Book than in any other Book of Scripture beside In the beginning Blessed is he that readeth Rev. 1. 3. 13. 9. and they that hear the words of this Prophecy And again If any man have an ear let him hear And the matter of it is said to be The Revelation that God gave unto Jesus Christ to shew Chap. 1. 1. unto his Servants And that whosoever should add to or take Chap. 22. 18 19. from the words of this Book above any other should have the plagues of God added to him or his part of Eternal Life taken away The First BOOK THE Uniform Constant Notion Of the Term of THE BEAST All over the REVELATIONS CHAP. I. The Ground of the Method here used The first Proposition That Babylon is the City of Rome in an Antichristian and Idolatrous Reign Scruples moved against it The Demonstration of it from the Text confirmed by General Consent NOne could be more disposed to the common prejudices against the study of the Revelations than I was at the time that I first engaged in those things I had till then been so almost wholly confin'd to such Enquiries as are the closest Exercise of Ratiocination upon clear and sure grounds That I was come to have a natural aversion against all such loose Conjectures as the Interpretations of those Visions are generally reputed to be But Mr. Mede's Synchronisms and his offers at Demonstration in them which I lighted on by chance some years since in a solitary retirement did tempt my curiosity to enquire What could be the ground of such a confidence in one of so known a Character for a cautious and imparial Judgment in Scriptural Rev. XVII Expositions At the first cursory view of his performance I was extremely surprized to see such fair grounds of a clear Explication about so intricate and obscure a Subject And tho' upon a more critical examination of the strength of them I found most of his Synchronisms far short of a close and cogent proof in them yet I could not but think that the Subject might be capable of a more certain determination to the Conclusion that he aimed at I did thereupon set my self upon a particular search after a closer demonstration of that Application that he had made
power who are the executioners of the Sentence All that the Civil power does in it is but to follow the commands of the Church and to strike the last stroke only which is all that can make them be said to have an hand in it And thô it must be confessed that the Secular part in it is that which does the most effectually persuade to the worship of the Beast yet it is plain That the Church is the principal Agent in that also because they overawe the Civil Power into compliances with them which does very naturally answer the power of the Image in the Prophecy to cause all those who would not worship it to be killed The False-prophet is the Head of this Image and so is the chief manager of this Church-Tyranny and therefore is it accordingly said of him That he spake like a Dragon or like that Red Dragon in the 12th Chapter just before and found to be the Devil raging against the followers of the Lamb. If any one should question a COrnelius à Lapide in c. 13. Apoc. v. 11. The Two Horns according to Josephus Acosta l. 2. De temporibus Noviss c. 17. are the Ensigns of the Episcopal Dignity viz. the Mitre or the Episcopal Crown It should seem therefore by this That this false Prophet should be some Apostate Bishop a great pretender to Religion It is not therefore the Mitre but some Mitred Apostate that is here set out who shall treacherously abuse these Horns of Christ the Lamb to propagate the Party of Antichrist And before when he had reckon'd up the several opinions about the 2 d Beast In the fourth place says he the best opinion is that of Irenaeus Tertullian Ribera Viega and others who by this Beast understand some Eminent Pastor of the Church the forerunner and Preacher up of Antichrist Viegas in c. 13. Apoc. v. 11. after the mention of the opinion of others But Andreas Caesariensis and Irenaeus to me seem to have been much more in the right who understand by the 2d Beast some Eminent Preacher the â—â—â—erunner of Antichrist The Armour-bearer of Antichrist as Irenaeus whether so dreadful a character of a Beast speaking like a Dragon or like the Devil can belong to a Christian Bishop of so great eminency in the Church of Christ as the Bishop of Rome is he may easily be satisfied if he considers that by his description he ought to be nothing less than such a person For that he must be the Head of a Roman Church extended over all the World has been shown from his Character of being a Church-Head over the same extent of dominion that the Beast did Rule in For he exercised all the power of the Beast And then that he must have the show of the chief Head of the Christian Church appears from his having Two Horns like a Lamb. For the signification of a Lamb all over the Book of the Revelations is nothing but the person of Christ It would indeed have a more plain reference to the other mentions of that word if it were said like THE Lamb. But we have Grotius's Authority for it upon this place which in Criticisme is of the best account when Impartial That nothing is more ordinary in Scripture then to b Ribera upon this place of the Apocalypse after he had pleaded for the indefinite signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the absence of the Article concludes But yet this which I have said of Articles is not always observed by the Greeks Alcasar upon the same The Article is wanting and yet it is an allusion to the Lamb Cap. 5. omit the Article of reference before a word which should denote its relation to the former mentions of it where yet the sense does shew it to be necessary to be understood It appears then from the description of him that he must be as it were c Malvenda de Antichristo pag. 348. quotes Irenaeus for making Antichrist a pretender to be Christ upon Earth And Lactantius affirming that he should falsly pretend himself to be Christ And pag. 349. says That it is the consent of the Fathers That Antichrist shall take away Idols And shall set himself up in the Temple of God as Antiochus Epiphanes had his own Image put into the Temple at Jerusalem who yet Worshipped his own Country Gods and obtruded them upon the Jews He contends indeed That the Temple of God in which Antichrist must sit is the Temple of Jerusalem But Pererius the Jesuit upon the 7th of Daniel quotes Theodoret Damascene and others of the Fathers Interpreting it of the Christian Church For that says he is the only true Temple of God And then Antichrist must be like Christ the Head of the Church And pag. 351. Malvenda shows how Antichrist shall pretend himself to be true God according to the agreeing sense of the Fathers viz. As Nebuchadnezzar Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar the latter of which did certainly do no more than order himself a like worship with the gods And Antiochus Epiphanes who is made the Type of Antichrist did set up the Statue of Jupiter Olympius in the Temple as well as his own And is said by Malvenda to have Consecrated the Temple of Jerusalem to Jupiter Olympius and the Temple on Mount Gerizim to Jupiter Hospitalis It is not therefore necessary according to Malvenda that Antichrist should set himself up as the one supreme God or Christ Irenaeus pag. 483. Edit Erasmi de Antichristo Of whom the Apostle in the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians He shall sit in the Temple enendeavouring to show himself to be Christ Bellarmin also says Lib. 1. de Pontif. cap. 1. That by the common agreement of all Christians Antichrist is understood to be some Eminent False Christ a Vice-Christ or pretend to be the Vicar of Christ which is the same as both of them are also the same with an Antichrist Besides this Beast thus described in one place with Two Horns like a Lamb in the other Chapters is called the False Prophet To acquaint us that the Horns of the Lamb were but the outward show of the Christian Spirit So that if we put these two Characters of him together and then add the other of his speaking like a Dragon and consider that the name of a Dragon is very ordinary in this Book and that it every where else relates to the representation of the Devil in the 12th Chapter just before this as a raging Red Bloody Dragon What can more manifestly denote him to be A False Prophet in Sheeps cloathing but inwardly a Ravenous wolf How could this have been more clearly expressed in a Prophecy where the Lamb and the Dragon are in a very peculiar manner and very commonly restrained to signifie Christ and the Devil And what could more openly show us the difference betwixt the Dragon in the 12th Chapter and the Beast in the 13th thô both enemies to the Christian
Prophecy of the Witnesses at the passing away of the Sixth Trumpet nor does it seem to be more necessary that the Forty Two Months of the time of the Beast should end before the Last Ruine of his Kingdom or when it comes only to be broken which yet is the whole strength of what he adds to defend it The Third Synchronism betwixt Babylon and the Healed Beast in the 13th Chap. supposes the Beast to be the same particular time and state of Roman Power without any proof and yet Grotius and others suppose them quite different Dr. More endeavours to show them to be necessarily the same by Eighteen Congruities of Characters which tho I think I am sure that many of them are not true yet are indeed sufficient to make any Man strongly persuaded of the perfect identity of the Two Beasts But they have nothing in them that does necessarily determine them to the same particular state and time of Roman Reign And yet the whole strength of the Demonstrative proof of the Synchronisms depends upon the necessity of these Suppositions The Fourth Synchronism is the total contemporation of the 144000 with the Beast upon the account of their state of mutual opposition from the first time of the Marked followers of the Beast But the utmost that this can prove is That they were Contemporaries from that time where they are mentioned together For the Party of the Beast were marked to be distinguished from the sealed Company But the 144000 were sealed only to escape the Judgments of the Trumpets which are no-where proved necessary nor to begin before the time of the Beast And Dr. More does add nothing to shew it necessary and yet the chief proof of the Connexion of the first part of the Visions with the latter does depend upon this in the first Synchronism of the second Part. I cannot but further add That Mr. Mede's and Dr. More 's Applications of the seventh and eighth King does seem to render the Synchronisms altogether ineffectual for convincing a Papist For after they had made the essential difference betwixt the six first Heads or Kings to be nothing but a different Title of the Civil Sovereign Power of See Judgments of God p. 4. Rome they make the seventh King to be nothing but a change of the Religion of the sixth King retaining still the same Title of the Sovereign Power which was his essential difference from that before him This seems to be contrary to six Examples in the same Figure and to almost six times as many in the Prophecy of Daniel A Papist would therefore hold them to their true Notion of the sixth Head and then pretend That the Imperial Title does continue still as the sixth Head and that the Synchronisms cannot therefore take place till that be changed All this I mention only to shew That there is still wanting a clearer Evidence to make good that excellent Design towards which Mr. Mede did give the first great strokes and for which he is to be acknowledged to have been the first clear Light that God gave the World for the illustration of these dark Mysteries which now appear to be the worthiest Entertainment of the best and the most judicious Vnderstandings This I have endeavoured to perfect But I must still acknowledge That tho I think my self sure enough of the strength of my Method for it yet I do not pretend to that which is strictly called Demonstration It is enough for me if I can proceed but upon such clear grounds and go on in so close a coherence from them as to force the assent of all wary and impartial Examiners of it with as little doubt concerning it tho not with so Absolute a Certainty of it as Mathematical Evidence uses to do I dare however be confident for the encouragement of the Reader That if he has found any satisfaction in the grounds of any Protestant Interpretations that others affirm themselves to be Abundantly and Mathematically certain of he will find them here much more cautiously and strongly secured and that the Elegant Systemes which have of late Monsieur Jurieu Eclaircissemens oü Systeme Nouveau much surprized the generality of those that look into these things have but a very blind and uncertain Foundation without such a proof of the first Principles of them as is here attempted I think I may also safely venture to assure the Friends of the Grotian way That the least degreee of impartiality in them will make them see it here shewn to be MUCH MORE CERTAIN a Preface to the Judgments of God upon the Roman Church That the chief Foundations of that Interpretation are contrary to the clear and obvious sense of the Prophetical Terms as well as to the general Judgment of Interpreters of all Parties in all Ages according to the Censure of the most Judicious of the Romanists than it is b La veritable clef de l' Apocalypse p. 115. That Grotius was Divinely Inspired c Ibid. Preface and that Mr. Baxter is the Greatest Man in England among the Protestants for seconding him d Ibid. p. 115. Or That they have made Mr. Mede's Systeme appear so absurd that it is to be abhorred according to the extravagant and hypocritical expressions of a late Incendiary of that Church to inflame Protestants against one another A TABLE OF PROPOSITIONS To be Inspected when any Proposition or Corollary or Rule is quoted to avoid the trouble of turning to it in the body of the Book BOOK I. Propositions Rules and Corollaries Proposit 1. BAbylon Revelat. 17. is the City of Rome in an Antichristian and Idolatrous Domination From hence are drawn these Rules of Interpretation Rule 1. Words of a plain signification are to be taken in the 17th Chapter of the Revelations in that sense in which they are generally taken in the World unless it be inconsistent with something more clearly known Rule 2. Words of a mystical signification must follow the use of them amongst the Prophets if not inconsistent with something more clearly known Rule 3. The same Words do signify the same things all over the Prophecy unless there be clear grounds against it Rule 4. The different Judgments of Learned Men ought not to weaken our Assent to what appears sufficiently clear after an impartial Examination especially if it be commonly acknowledged Proposit 2. Babylon signifies the same thing immediately before in and after the 17th Chapter Corollary Babylon is the same thing in the 14th Chapter as it is in the rest Proposit 3. The Judgment of Babylon in all Chapters is the desolation of Rome by Fire in the time of its Idolatrous Antichristian Domination Corollary Babylon cannot be Rome-Pagan Proposit 4. Every one of the Eight Kings Revelat. 17. reckoned up in order v. 10 11. is one of those called the Seven Kings in General v. 10. Corollary The Eighth King is one of the Seven Kings who had been in Rule before and was
Temple shall be fulfilled which are the very same words with those in the other Verse that All thâ—se things should be fulfilled before that Generation v. 30. should pass away which do follow presently after the mention of the Signs that should begin the whole Scene of the Prophecy as if it were wholly restrained to them And then the meaning of All these things shall be fulfilled will be the same with that which the Jesuit Ribera and most others with him do determine the sense of a like expression at the beginning and at the end of the Apocalypse to be in both which places it is said of all the things in that Book that they were things that must shortly be done or fulfilled That is says Ribera of those words things that must shortly begin to be done which he says is a common way of speech in the World and according to the usage of Scripture In this sense all the things mentioned in the 24th of St. Matthew would be said to be fulfilled in that Generation though nothing but some very remarkable beginning of them had been then to be fulfilled And yet if it were less intelligible all that could be made of it would be but this That our Saviour had very much implicated the Destruction of Jerusalem with his last coming to Judgment in that Discourse For that the coming of the Son of Man there mentioned is unquestionably to be understood of his coming to Judgment is manifest from what has been discoursed more particularly about it And the Objections against it are too inconsiderable to make it questionable Whatever other mentions of the coming of the Son of Man there may be that may seem to signify a sooner appearance of Christ's Kingdom cannot be of any moment against it For the whole force of the Proof from this place in St. Matthew lies upon the peculiar words and circumstances that it is described by There are indeed some Exhortations of our Saviour and his Apostles to persons then living to watch against the day of this Lord 's coming as if by that coming were meant some coming in that Age but that can be no argument for it For we meet with the same Exhortations in places where by all it is granted to concern only the last coming of Christ to Judgment As in St. Matthew 25. 13. 1 Cor. 15. 51 52. 1 Thess 4. 15 17. The reason and application of which in the Thessalonians is given in the next Chapter following from the 1st to the 7th Verse from the uncertainty of the particular time and season when that last coming should be Wherefore there seems now to be nothing that is at all considerable to make any maâ— question whether the coming of the Son of Man in this place of St. Matthew be the coming of Christ in glory And from what has been advanced to make it clear that our Saviour did refer to the coming of the Son of Man in Daniel where there are the same words and circumstances of a glorious appearance with his Angels at the time of a great Judgment and of an universal dominion of the Saints over all the Earth it appears to be unreasonable to doubt whether this coming of the Son of Man in Daniel be the same with it and therefore we may securely conclude that the Kingdom of the Son of Man in the 7th Chapter of Daniel is Christ's second coming in glory I have endeavoured to secure this with the greater care because all hopes of any certain determination of the sense of this Prophecy seems to depend upon it CHAP. III. Dan. VII The 15th Proposition The Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel is the same with the Beast in the Revelations This shown in 13 Particulars and made unquestionable from the three last The Corollaries of the 15th Proposition 1. The Beast in the Revelations the same with the little Horn in the 7th of Daniel 2. The Beast in the Revelations the same with the Fourth Beast in Daniel 7. 3. The time of the Beast in the Revelations is not till after the Roman Empire is divided into Ten Kingdoms 4. The Reign of the Beast in the Revelations is not yet past Grotius 's Opinion of the Signification of the Son of Man a sufficient Answer to all his Objections against these things AFter the Assurance that has been offered about the Kingdom of the Son of Man it will be convenient to improve the Knowledge that we have of the Beast in the Revelations to determine the Signification of the Fourth Kingdom in the 7th of Daniel immediately before that of the Son of Man And by comparing that Fourth Kingdom with the Characters of that in the Revelations it seems to be very plain That The Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel is the a BLas Viega in cap. 13. Apoc. For the Interpretation of this place it is to be known that there was a like Vision to this shown to Daniel in his 7th Chapter upon the Explication of which this Vision of ours in this place does depend Which Beast of Daniel according to the common Opinion of the Learned is the Roman Empire Besides the Fathers do generally understand that place of Antichrist Alcasar in cap. 13. Apoc. sect 3. In this place of the Revelations there is a manifest relation to that in the 7th of Daniel But the Beast is the Roman Empire Ibid. sect 5. Negari non potest It cannot be denied that in that Ten Horned Beast there is an allusion to that Fourth Beast of Daniel which is very plainly a Figure and Symbol of the Roman Empire Malvenda de Antichristo pag. 257. John does therefore call Antichrist a Beast more especially that he might express his Kingdom and Monarchy and to shew that he wrote with the same Spirit that Daniel did and that he prophesied of the same Beast which he also had foretold long before Ribera in cap. 12. Apocalyp numer 11. For this or a very like Beast did Daniel see in his 7th Chapter After this says he These therefore are the Ten Kings which Daniel foretold in those words and which John does here foretel Ibidem numer 12. We see that Irenaeus makes them Ten Kings after he had quoted Irenaeus for affirming that Daniel and John did speak of the same Ten Kings and that the Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast of Daniel are the same with the Ten Horns of the Beast in the Apocalyps same Prop. 15. thing with the Beast in the Revelations For it will be found That that Beast in the Revelations hath scarce a Property belonging to him which may not be found in the Fourth Beast of the 7th of Daniel And there are a great many such very peculiar Marks in each of them as shew them to be necessarily the peculiar Properties of one and the same thing For Example 1. The Beast in the Revelations has a very strange and peculiar Revel 13. 2. make
East where the Prophecy was given The He Goat indeed in that Chapter at the first mention of the Angel's Interpretation of him may seem to be but a single Person for he is said to be the King of Greece But v. 21 22. when we see a first King in him and then four Kingdoms after him represented by the several Horns of that Beast It is altogether unquestionable that the He Goat himself is something that belongs in common to all his Horns or Ruling Powers represented by them And that can be nothing but the Graecian Monarchy or the Ruling Time of the Greeks The beginning of which is signified by the Conquest of the Ruling Monarchy of the Persians that was before it by Alexander the Great called here the Great Horn And the establishment and the continuance of the Graecian Monarchy from that establishment of it under the four setled Kingdoms of Macedonia Syria Egypt and Thrace or Pergamus which was the same is shewn by the four Horns coming up in the place of the first Horn that was broken For though there were more Kingdoms than four soon after Alexander's death yet they were were in a perpetual change and rather a tumultuous Scuffle of his Captains than any determinate number of Kingdoms till they came to be setled in those four So that till then the whole Monarchy could not be said to have any particular form in it Besides that during the time of that scuffle or at least the greatest part of it there were some or other of Alexander's Line remaining who might well enough be looked upon as the continuance of the Reign of the first Horn. But after that the Monarchy setled in the four mentioned divisions till the Roman Conquest There is indeed a little Horn said to come out of one of the four But v. 9. by that expression it appears that it cannot well be taken for any thing else than for a part of the Ruling Time of the same Horn which it came out of and therefore is it generally judged to the single Reign of Antiochus Epiphanes By both these Figures in the 8th Chapter it appears that the Ruling Parts of a Figure do not only signify the several Governments in the Nation but also the Succession of all the particular Persons in that form of Government As the four Horns signify the Succession of all the Kings in those Kingdoms and the two Horns of the Ram all the Line of the Median and Persian Kings Of this the 11th Chapter is still a further confirmation Dan. 11. 3 4. where after the Kings of Persia there is the mention of the Realm of Greece and of a mighty King who should have a Kingdom which should be broken and divided towards the four Winds of Heaven just as in the other the four Horns are said to come up towards the four Winds of Heaven Dan. 8. 8. And a Kingdom broken and divided towards the four Winds can be nothing but a fourfold Kingdom according as it is said in the other that the great Horn being broken said to be the first King four Kingdoms should stand up in the Nations And then two of these Divisions according to the points of the Wind are the subject of the greatest part of that 11th Chapter under the Names of the King of the North and the King of the South which though they seem to signify but two single Kings yet are indeed a Succession of many Kings in each Division And at last one of this Succession is there set out as much more considerable for his Villany than any of the rest just as the Little Horn was in the 8th Chapter which is there said to come out of one of the four Horns to denote him to be a single King of that Division And that all these Expressions were very clear significations of the Graecian Monarchy and of the Changes in it till about the end of it there can be no greater evidence than that Scoff of Porphyry the Philosoper mentioned by St. Jerom who derides this part of the Prophecies of Daniel with a great assurance that it must have been wrote after the things were done because of the exact agreement of it with the particular Circumstances of the Times which it foretells From these two Chapters may it also be seen That Kings N. B. and Kingdoms are promiscuously used for any intimations of Rule whether in a Ruling Nation or in a single Person when it is said to be his Kingdom As we ordinarily use the terms of the King of France or of Spain to signify the whole Monarchy of that Nation for all the time that it continues in power and the terms of England and France for the Actions of the Kings of those Places For Example The King of France and Spain have been always at war England was the King of France's Friend There is then assurance enough of the confirmation of the General Proposition by the Examples of the 8th Chapter a THeodoret in cap. 7. Daniel Utraque Cornua Because the Medes were also called Persians Foreign Writers do also join them promiscuously together CHAP. V. Dan. II VII All Interpreters agreed That the Five Kingdoms in the 2 d and 7th Chapters are the same Kingdoms whatever they be in particular This attempted to be demonstrated from the Characters of each of them in both Chapters The Fourth and Fifth in each of those Chapters proved to be necessarily the same particular Kingdoms THere is now good ground to apprehend that the Figures in Daniel were designed to be understood And that there is an exact conformity amongst them in the general significations of the same kind of Characters in every one of them as the exact agreement of the Two figures in the 8th Chapter in the same general signification of A Monarchy and the several Changes of the Ruling Power of that Monarchy has been shown to be very plainly expressed in the words of the Prophecy it self And this is sufficient to excite ones curiosity to a more particular examination of the other Figures of that Book which thô they have no such plain determinations of their signification as the former in express words yet are there such peculiar descriptions of them in the explication that is given of them as upon the first serious reflections would make one very confident that it was no hard matter either to come to the particular knowledg of them or to find them conformable to the Rule of the present Proposition It is a considerable encouragement to our hopes of this nature That it is almost unanimously agreed upon by all the several parties of Interpreters That the other Figures in the 2d and 7th Chapters are the successions of the four famous Monarchies from the time of the Prophet Daniel himself till some universal Kingdom of Christ at the end of them Let us consider them both according to their descriptions in each Chapter In the 7th
represented by the False Prophet cannot be the same thing with that which is called the Beast viz. Because the Beast is really nothing but an Head of the Beast which by consequence the 6th Chap. 3. does denote Prop. 6. a Civil Power of the Romans whereas the False Prophet is described as an Ecclesiastical Power employed in the service of that Civil Power See Revelat. 13 12 14. But yet they might very well agree That the Beast and the False Prophet might be used promiscuously to signify the really distinct Actions of one another because they were joined together in one Confederacy And the names of any Confederates or Partners in any thing are commonly used to express the Actions of one another in the common Design So Primasius upon the 13th of the Revelations concerning them both Both of them says he are every-where to be understood in conjunction And presently after It is manifest that both the Beasts are one and the same body of men and exercise the same wicked Worship so that the First is said to fight for the false Shows of the Second Thus I have drawn down the Consequences of the General Consent of the Ancients to mine own particular Opinion concerning the first date of the Rise of the Beast and the particular Roman Power that is now signified by that Term. But that which is to be observed for the General Confirmation of the Conclusion in which almost all Protestants agree in is That if it be sure as may appear from the 4th Query That the Sixth Head of the Beast is the Imperial Government at the time of the Vision then there need nothing be granted to prove the Beast and the False Prophet to be the Civil and Ecclesiastical Power of Rome at this present but only to demonstrate from History That there has certainly been two Changes of the Sovereign Power of the Romans since the time of St. John For they did agree That Antichrist from his first appearance must continue 4th Agreement Chap. 3. 3d Agreement this Chap. till the Second Coming of Christ and that the next Change of the Sovereignty of the Romans but one after the time of the Vision must be the Eighth King or the Beast and Antichrist And therefore at the beginning of the last of those two Changes of the Government of the Romans since the time of St. John must the Kingdom of Antichrist have begun whensoever that does appear from History to have happened And whatsoever the Fathers have delivered contrary to this concerning the Time Times and half a Time of the Beast as but three years and an half must have been acknowledged by them to contradict their General Agreements in other things more plain and from Experience which they often mention as the only means to determine the meaning of some Mystical Expressions that regarded future Times they would have learnt that those Times were necessarily to be understood in a Mystical Sense and not as they ordinarily signify according to the frequent Examples in Scripture of such a Mystical Signification of parts of See Corol. 1. Prop. 23. Rule 2. time and the true Rule of Interpretation in such like Cases For a clearer satisfaction about the contrariety and inconsistency of some of the particular Opinions of the Fathers with the Conclusions in which they agree with the Unanimous Judgment of the rest it may be convenient to inquire into the grounds or reasons of their Paradoxical Fancies about the Beast in the Revelations which contradicted the General Agreement about the signification of A Beast and its Ruling Parts in the Prophecy of Daniel For this purpose it is in the first place to be considered That it is a true Observation of the Learned Grotius That the Reason why the Apocalypse was not added at first to the rest of the Books In Praefat. ad Apocal. of the New Testament which did afterwards give ground for questioning the Canonical Authority of it was That it did so openly point at the Roman Government as the great Enemy of God that it lay concealed in a few hands amongst the Christians of the first times for fear of exasperating the Romans against them This does St. Chrysostome and Augustine make to be the ground why St. Paul spoke so mysteriously about the Roman Empire in In 2. Ep. Thess his Prophecy about Antichrist 2 Thess 2. 6. when he says And now ye know what doth withhold the Reason they give for it is That if the Apostle had openly named the Romans they would have accounted him and all the Faithful very pestilent Members of their Government This fear of the then Ruling Power together with the Professions of their ignorance of the application of the Characters of Antichrist because they look'd upon their times as not at all concerned in those things may be very reasonably judged to be the cause of the little care that the Fathers took to be wary in the Interpretations that they gave of this Book For they esteemed it to be both a dangerous study and also relating to things that they could not well judge of and also to future times in which they should not share And might therefore as Chrysostome and Augustine do expresly say bring themselves unnecessarily into great danger And Jerom in his Answer to 11. q. ad Algasiam and Primasius upon 2 Thess 2. 6. to the same purpose This Account may the more easily be allowed from the general neglect of the Book of the Apocalypse even in this Age to which the chief things in Mr. Mede Bp. Usher c. it are by the severest Examiners of the Sense of Scripture judged to belong so as to be even laid aside out of the Calendar for * Homilies of the Church of England p. 69 and p. 316. the daily readings of Scripture by Protestants themselves †who nevertheless do give the present Church of Rome the name of Babylon It is then no great wonder That Irenaeus and Hippolytus and some other of the Fathers whilst the Roman Government continued Pagan should be so willing to make the Beast in general to be the World and the Seven Heads of it to be seven Wicked Ages of the World as the sum or Recapitulation as Irenaeus calls it of all the Apostate times For in that way the Sixth Head said in the Prophecy to be then in being was not more applied to the Romans than to all the other Wicked Nations in the World at that time and the last Head called the Beast would not concern the then Roman Empire because it was not to come till after the end of that present Reigning Age. And their willingness to take this safe way might make them easie to be satisfied with such small grounds as these for it viz. 1. That the Beast in the Revelations is signified Chap. 13. 2. to 1. Dan. 2. 40. and 7. 7 23. contain all the Four Beasts of the 7th of Daniel in his own