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
And Galatinus That they reverence it almost as much as the Text it self So that this may be very well accounted the Sense of the whole Body of the Jews in those days He has not indeed any Comment upon the Book of Daniel But in his Paraphrase upon the four last Verses of the first Chapter of Zechariah the Four Horns there that scattered the Men of Judah and Jerusalem he determines to be Four Kingdoms captivating the Jews And so also on the 6th Chapter v. 5. he mentions the same four Kingdoms coming after one another What he did particularly understand by these four Kingdoms is plainly expressed in the Paraphrase upon Habakkuk 3. 17. concerning the end of the Nations that should captivate the Jews For says he the Kingdom of Babel shall not remain nor exercise Dominion in Israel the Kings of Media shall be slain and the strong Ones of Grecia shall not prosper the Romans shall be rooted out nor shall they gather Tribute at Jerusalem Now it was always agreed That whatsoever the Four Kingdoms in the 7th of Daniel were in particular yet that they were four successive Monarchies that should measure out the whole time of the Captivity of the Church of God from the Babylonian Conquest of the Jews to the time of the Kingdom of the Son of Man and that the end of this Captivity was to be at the end of the Times of the Little Horn as it is also expresly said Dan. 12. 7. When therefore Zechariah who was one of the next Prophets to Daniel in the Captivity is by the Paraphrast determined to signifie four successive Kingdoms captivating the Jews or scattering them which is Daniel's own expression for it ibid. And when the only Conquerours and Enslavers of that Nation are mentioned by the same Paraphrast to be the Babylonian Persian Grecian and Roman Monarchies it is manifest That he does thereby determine the four Kingdoms captivating the Church of God in the 7th of Daniel to be those four Monarchies only and therefore That the last of the four is the Roman Monarchy And this is sufficient to shew it to be then the general Opinion of the Jewish Church at that time That the fourth Kingdom in the 7th chapter of Daniel was the Roman Monarchy And this Opinion of the Jews in those times was made to be the Faith of Christians also in those days by our Saviour himself so far at least as to assure that fourth Kingdom not to belong to the Greek Monarchy which is all the present Concern in his Prophecies every-where about the Kingdom and Coming of the Son of Man which has been found unquestionably to be meant of the same Kingdom that in the 7th of Daniel is also called The Kingdom of the Son of Man and of the Saints as may be seen in the Proof of the 13th and 14th Propositions And then that Kingdom of the Son of Man being signified by Christ not then to be come nor to be expected till at least some while after his Death that is not till long after the end of the Greek Monarchy and yet being described in Daniel to come to the destruction of the Fourth Beast or Kingdom there does make it sure That that Fourth Beast and Kingdom could not certainly be any part of the Reign of the Greek Empire and therefore must it be that which succeeded the Reign of the Greeks or the Reign of the Romans if the Third Beast before it were the beginning of the Greek Empire as it is here by all acknowledged to be A still more particular Determination of the Fourth Beast and Kingdom in Daniel to the time of the Romans is that exact Picture of the same Kingdom in the Revelations of St. John and that also fixed to Rome as the Seat of its Empire See Propos 15. Which all the Ancients before Constantine looked upon to be so plainly set out as a Roman Domination that there was no doubt of it And this is a lasting Testimony of the Sense of the Christian Church about it in those times And when St. Paul before this describes the last Coming of Christ as the Son of Man in his Kingdom 2 Thes 2. he does it with just the same description of it and of that eminent Opposer of the Church of God just before his Coming as the Coming of the Son of Man is set out in the 7th chapter of Daniel by the Destruction of the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast which therefore could no ways belong to the Greek Monarchy that was past And then by his appeal to their knowledge of what it was that did then withhold that Enemy from appearing he plainly intimates That that Antichrist must come after the time of that Ruling Power of the Romans which was then Reigning This also does shew That it was a commonly-known thing amongst the Christians of those days that the time of the Fourth Beast or Kingdom that was next before the Second Coming of Christ was not then past as the Greek Empire was And this may suffice for the Judgment of the Apostolical times about the Fourth Beast in Daniel All these places in the New Testament are still further confirmed by the general Sense of Antiquity about them Whether the fourth Book of Esdras be of so ancient a date as the first Century or no yet that it was writ not long after may reasonably be presumed from St. Ambrose's Quotation of it in several places as a Book of ancient Tradition in his time As in Epist ad Horontian 2. ad Lucam Commentar And especially in Libro de Bono Mortis where he questions Whether that Esdras were not older than Plato And the 4th Book of Esdras doth plainly determine the Fourth Beast in Daniel to be the Roman Empire 2 Esdr 12. 11. where the Roman Eagle is called The Kingdom that was seen by Daniel and called chap. 11. 39 40. The last Remainder of the Four Beasts c. CENTURY II. It is easie now to demonstrate the Consent of almost every one of the Ecclesiastical Writers in the following Ages for the Application of the Fourth Beast in Daniel to the Roman Empire from their Agreement about the time of the Coming of the Son of Man in the 7th of Daniel For they generally understanding that of the Second Coming of Christ Jesus into the World must make the Fourth Beast or Kingdom that it is there described to destroy to continue till that time and therefore certainly not possible to be the Greek Monarchy and then since it is as manifest that the first of those four Beasts is said to be Nebuchadnezzar's Dan. 2. 44. 7. 2. Kingdom or the Babylonians the fourth from thence must at farthest be the Romans But I will only pick out those amongst them that have mentioned something relating to this Fourth Beast together with that Coming of the Son of Man Justin Martyr is the next considerable Remainder of Antiquity after the times of the Apostles In
first to grant that the Name of the Son of Man is the most familiar Name of Christ in the Gospel and also that the term of the Son of Man joined with the same Expressions and Circumstances in the Gospels that we find it with in Daniel does plainly refer to this place in the 7th of Daniel And that in the Gospels when joined with those same Expressions it signifies the coming of Christ at the end of the World And yet to maintain that in Daniel it signifies not so much as the power of Christ but sometimes the Kingdom of the Romans only and sometimes the Roman fury against the Jews notwithstanding that that coming of the Son of Man is set out in Daniel under the Character of an Universal and Eternal Kingdom of the Saints upon the destruction of all their Enemies upon Earth There could not well be a plainer Instance to shew how possible it is for Grotius to be singular in his own fancy where there is a clear evidence and the general Authority of all Ages against him But a much more satisfactory Instance of the Confidence of a Learned Man against open day-light is that of a Person who is esteemed a great Critick in History about this Fourth Kingdom in the 7th of Daniel He does very positively assert and looks upon it to be so known a thing that he takes no pains at all to prove it That it was the general Opinion of Interpreters Sir John Marsham from the time of Josephus that the Little Horn of the Fourth Kingdom concerned only the times of Antiochus Epiphanes whereas the contrary is as well known as a general Tradition can be known by the Books of the Ancients that are now remaining namely That it was the c Idem pag. 222. St. Hierome and others do most clearly demonstrate that Porphyry's Opinion is a perfect madness For all find it unquestionable both Jews and Christians that the Third and Fourth Beast are most certainly two distinct Beasts so that he is to be looked upon as a man of no sense that can think otherwise general Opinion in all Ages that it did not at all concern the Graecian Monarchy as is made to appear more at large in my Discourse concerning the Consent of Antiquity about the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel And what more manifest proof could be given of the possibility of a Learned Man's Authority against the most evident Truths than to see one so positive against a generally known matter of Fact CHAP. IV. Dan. VII The same Four Monarchies prophesied of in Daniel that are the Subject of the rest of the Prophets in the Old Testament The Sixteenth Proposition The Vniform Signification of A Beast and of its Ruling Parts all over the Prophecy of Daniel This demonstrated from not only the Figures of Beasts but also from all the Figures signifying Dominion The Beasts in the 8th Chapter the first Instance of it THE certainty of the former Proposition does open us a very fair prospect into the rest of the Prophecy of Daniel If it be certain that the Fourth Kingdom in the 7th of Daniel is a Kingdom of the Romans then there remains no more dispute amongst the Interpreters what Kingdoms in particular those four in the 2 d and 7th Chapters are And by that means it is also apparent what the constant signification of a Beast and of its parts that signify Dominion is all over the Prophecy of Daniel For if the Fourth Kingdom in the 7th Chapter be a Roman Kingdom it will appear that the Four in each Chapter are those Four Monarchies that succeeded after one another from the time of Nebuchadnezzar to some Kingdom of Christ And thus will the Prophecy of Daniel appear to be a short abridgment of the whole Fortunes of the Church of God from his own time to the end of the World For the clearer apprehension of which it may be premised for the use of those who are not so well skill'd in History That there has been four Great Empires in which the Church of God hath sojourned since the first total Captivity of the Jews The first was that of the Babylonians who were the first Ruling Nation of the East who began the total Captivity of the Jews which happened in the time of Daniel himself And of this have we the Prophecy in Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel and Daniel And the Babylonian Empire is said by Megasthenes in Josephus to have extended to Hercules's Pillars The next were the Persians who conquered the Babylonians and who continued their Empire under the name of the Medes and Persians as one entire people united into one Empire till the time of Alexander the Great And the Prophecy of the Persian Conquest we have in Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel and Daniel and the History of it in Daniel Ezra Nehemiah Esther Haggai and Zechariah The Graecian Monarchy conquered and succeeded the Persian and appeared in its greatest magnitude under Alexander the first beginner of that Empire But after his death by the Factions of his Captains it was broken into a great many Divisions which were in a continual change of Masters till at last the whole power of the Greeks setled it self in four distinct Kingdoms viz. Egypt Syria Macedonia and Thrace or Pergamus which was the same Dominion with Thrace though the name was changed From the Syrian Line of this fourfold Monarchy came Antiochus Epiphanes who made himself so famous by his prophanation of the Temple of the Jews of whom the things of the Little Horn in the 8th Chapter of Daniel were always interpreted And the Wars and Marriages of the Syrian and Egyptian Kings set out in the 11th of Daniel are exactly answerable to the History of them so that Porphyry concluded from that that the whole Prophecy wat but an History of what had been done before The Prophecies of this Monarchy are chiefly in Daniel and hinted at in Zechariah but very openly and plainly foretold in Daniel many hundreds of years before the time of its Reign and the History of it is in the Books of the Maccabees The Romans were the Fourth Conquerors And after their Conquests of the Graecians were the most formidable Empire that ever appeared At the beginning of this Empire was our Saviour born and the Prophecies about it are chiefly in Daniel and the New Testament and the History of the beginning of it in the Book of Maccabees and the New Testament It appears then by this that the Prophecies of Daniel do concern the same Ruling Nations over the Church of God that are foretold in the other Prophets But Daniel is judged to be much more obscure than others because that which in others is signified by plain words in Daniel is represented by Figures and Hieroglyphicks And yet those Figures are found to be interpreted in most places and are of the same kind with those that are sometimes used by the other Prophets to signify the same Ruling Nations as the
Beast here is represented as consisting of these Kingdoms as the parts of his Body which if it has any reference to the Roman State at the particular Rise of the Beast with Justinian must signify That it should be that particular Roman Power which was in possession of Greece Babylon and Persia or that part of Asia which belonged to the Babylonians and Persians And then it does very clearly signify That the Rise of the Beast should be at the advancement of the Eastern Empire to the Government of Rome And does not that suit well enough with Justinian's Conquest of Italy This would tempt one to be very confident That this was designed as a very plain Character to know the Rise of the Beast by since there is no such mention of any of the Parts of these Beasts in the Dragon in the Chapter just before which yet is the same kind of Figure with this and is known to signify the Roman Chap. 12. State a long time after that it had been in possession of Greece and Asia And one would be very apt to judge That what is represented as particular to the Beast in the 13th Chapter and was omitted in the Dragon which yet is known to be the Roman Empire must be added as a mark of distinction of the one from the other But if others will have this mark of the Three Beasts to belong to the general nature of the Beast as it signifies the Roman Conquest at its first appearance after the destruction of the Greek Monarchy it will not prejudice my Opinion It is enough to show That as this Beast does signify the particular state of it under its last Ruling Head So this character of the Parts of it does most exactly agree with that which I make to be the last Ruling Head at its first Rise in distinction to all other states of the Beast The rising of the Beast out of the Sea is known to signify that it Rev. 13. 1. should arise out of great Commotions and by great Wars and Tumults For so are many Waters interpreted by the Angel himself to signify in this Prophecy chap. 17. 15. Multitudes and Peoples Isa 8. 7. 17. 12. Jer. 46. 8. and Tongues and Nations which being added to the nature of those Waters in the Sea do determine it to signify great commotions of those Multitudes and Nations And certainly this does very well suit with that strange bustle which Justinian made in the World by his Wars with the Goths and Vandals and Persians and with his Conquests of those People at his taking possession of the Western Empire The ascending of the Beast out of the Bottomless Pit Rev. 17. 8. is the same thing as the Sea is usually called by the name of the Abyss in Scripture which is the word here used for the Bottomless Pit I could never meet with any satisfactory Account from any other Hypothesis concerning the date of the first appearance of the Beast why the whole time of its continuance both in Daniel Dan. 7. 25. Rev. 13. 5. Chap. 12. 14. and the Revelations should be expressed by a Time Times and half a time or 4â— Months which is the same Coroll 2. Prop. 24. For one would be apt to conclude that a ALcasar Notat 4. ad v. 2. cap. 11. All the Persecutions of the Church are set out by three years and an half Three days and an half refer to a Week And on chap. 12. We have seen that by 1260 days are signified three years and an half according to the Graecian and Jewish Account We have also there seen that the space of three years and an half is to be taken mystically and that by it is signified in the middle of a week of seven years the three and an half in that expression must have a reference to some seven as the whole number of it Three years and an half is in it self so precise and unusual a determination of the whole time of a thing and the whole number seven so commonly used in the Old and New Testament to signify the whole of things of the same kind that it must be thought to be very likely to be here referred to especially when it is also considered That the number seven is very frequently in use all over the Book of the Apocalypse Alcasar has observed that it is made use of there no less than forty times Epist Dedicat. Comment in Apocalyp The three years and an half of the preaching of Christ to which these three years and an half are said to allude are also in the 9th Chapter of Daniel last verse made to be a reference to half a week of years With this it is also to be observed That the other two famous Prophecies concerning the Captivities of the Jewish Church which is every-where made the scheme of the Christian Church The first about the 70 years Captivity by Jeremiah and the other of the 70 weeks Captivity till the time of the Messias which is mentioned with the former in the 9th Chapter of Daniel They both have the number seven for their denominator and common measure And from Jacob's seven years service for Gen. 29. Chap. 21. 2. Leah and Rachel and from the Liberty of an Hebrew Servant at the end of seven years It appears that the space of seven years was the known space of time for servitude amongst the Jews where the Prophecies were delivered And the seven years that we are now enquiring after to fix the half of them to must be some seven years of the Bondage of the Church though with some lightsome intervals As this does make it very likely That the Time Times and an half of the Tyranny of the Little Horn or Beast over the Church of God does certainly refer to some whole number of seven Times so is it now worth the enquiring to what particular seven Prophetical Times they are referred This difficulty in the way that I have found my self determined to by the Prophecy is easily resolved For if the first appearance of the Beast be at Justinian's Conquest of Italy the Time Times and half of the Beast in the Revelations and Little Horn of the Beast in Daniel are just as long a space of time as it was from the first beginning of the Captivity of the Jews under the Assyrians who were much the same Kingdom with the Babylonians in the 9th year of the Reign of Hosea to the time of Justinian For that Captivity of the Ten Tribes by Salmanasar was in Petav. Rat. Temp. part 1. l. 2. cap. 2. in Ezechia Part. 2. l. 1. c. 4. in fine the 3993d year of the Julian Period and 720 years before Christ If to this be added the Year of our Lord when Belisarius carried Vitiges the King of the Italian Goths in triumph with him to Justinian which was Anno Dom. 540 there will be just the same number of 1260 years to the
returned into Power again Proposit 5. Every one of the Eight Kings Rev. 17. 10 11. is represented by one of the Seven Heads of the Beast Coroll 1. The Eighth King is one of the seven Heads that had ruled before and was revived again Coroll 2. The Eighth King called the Beast v. 11. is the Beast with that Head only which is last in Rule Proposit 6. The Beast all over the 17th Chapter is the Beast in the time of its last Ruling Head Coroll 1. The Beast in the 17th Chapter continues no longer than his last Ruling Head Against Grotius's Notion of the Beast after all his Heads Coroll 2 The Ten Horns belong to the Beast no longer than the time of his Last Head Against the same Proposit 7. The Beast all over the 17th Chapter of the Revelations is a particular Sovereign of Rome in the time of its Idolatrous Rule Proposit 8. The Term of The Beast all over the 13th Chapter does signify the First Beast shown v. 1. Corollar 1. By the Image Mark Name and number of the Name of the Beast chap. 13. is to be understood the Image c. of the First Beast Corollar 2. By the Beast with the False Prophet and with the Image Mark c. in all the other Chapters of the Revelations is to be understood the First Beast with all the same Attendants in Chap. 13. Proposit 9. The Beast in the 13th Chapter is a particular state of the Beast under one of its either Ruling Heads or Horns for all the time of the continuance of the Head or Horn. Corollar 1. The False Prophet or Second Beast Image Mark Name c. do in all the mentions of them in the 13th Chapter belong to that particular state of the Beast under either of one of its Heads or Horns Corollar 2. The Beast with the False Prophet Image Mark c. in all other Chapters signifies the same particular state of the Beast that it is signified to be in the 13th Chapter with the like Adjuncts Proposit 10. The Seven Heads and the Ten Horns in the 13th and 17th Chapters are the same things Corollar 1. The Beasts in the 13th and 17th Chapters are one and the same particular Beast in every successive state of the same Heads or Horns Corollar 2. The Beast in the 13th Chapter is the same particular state of the Beast with that in the 17th Chapter for the whole time of its continuance Corollar 3. The wounded and healed Head of the Beast Chap. 13. is the same Last Ruling Head of the Beast with that in the 17th Chapter Proposit 11. The Judgment of the Dead Rev. 11. 18. is the General Judgment at Christ's Second Coming Corollary The Reign of Christ over the Kingdoms of the World Rev. 11. 15. is Christ's Second Coming in glory Proposit 12. The Beast that killed the Witnesses Rev. 11. 7. is the same particular time of Roman Rule with the Beast in the other Chapters Corollar 1. The Beast in the Revelations is to continue till some Vniversal Reign of Christ over the Kingdoms of this World Corollar 2. The Beast and the Two Witnesses Chap. 11. are Contemporaries for the whole time of the continuance of them both BOOK II. PROPOSITIONS Prop. 13. THE Kingdom of the Son of Man Daniel 7. 13 14. is some Kingdom of Christ Jesus Prop. 14. The Kingdom of the Son of Man Dan. 7. is the Second Coming of Christ in glory Corollary The Kingdom of the Son of Man is Christ's Second Coming to Judgment Prop. 15. The Fourth Kingdom in the 7th Chapter of Daniel is the same thing with the Beast in the Revelations Coroll 1. The Last Ruling Head of the Beast in the Revelations is the same thing with the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast Dan. 7. Coroll 2. The Beast in the Revelations signifies the same particular time of Reign with the Fourth Beast in the time of the Little Horn Dan. 7. Coroll 3. The time of the Beast in the Revelations did not begin till after the division of the Roman Empire into Ten Kingdoms Coroll 4. The time of the Beast in the Revelations is not yet past Prop. 16. All over the Prophecy of Daniel By a Beast as the common Subject of its Heads and Horns is meant a Ruling Nation or People Part. 1. Part. 2. By the Heads and Horns of that Beast the several kinds of Supream Government in that Nation Part. 3. And if they be said to come after one another they denote so many Successive Governments in the same place Part. 4. But if they are described as ruling all at the same time then they signify so many divided Sovereignties in that one Ruling People or Nation Part. 5. And in both the kinds of them each particular Head or Horn does signify the whole time of all the several single Governours that reign either in the same form of Government when they signify successive Forms of Government or in the same particular division when they signify divided Kingdoms Observ 1. Every whole Figure signifying Dominion does all over Daniel signify a Ruling People or Nation Observ 2. The parts of whole Figures signifying Dominion do all over Daniel follow the Rule of the Heads and Horns of the Beast Observ 3. An Head and an Horn are indifferently used to signify the same Ruling Power of a Nation Observ 4. The distinguishing Character of a new Succession of an Head or Horn or of a new Succession of a different Government in the same place is a new name of the Sovereign Power publickly established Observ 5. All parts of Figures signifying Dominion do all over Daniel denote the whole successive Line of all the single Persons that reign either in the same form of Government or in the same part of a divided Nation or People BOOK III. PROPOSITIONS Prop. 17. THE Beast in the Revelations when taken for the common Subject of its Heads or Horns does signify the Rule of the Romans in general The Seven Heads of it the Successive Changes of the Government of that Nation The Ten Horns the division of that Empire into so many several Sovereignties Prop. 18. The Three last Kings of the Eight Rev. 17. 10 11. are three Changes of Roman Government coming after one another in an immediate order Prop. 19. The Sixth King Revelat. 17. 10. was the Imperial Government of Rome in the time of St. John Prop. 20. The Beast was that Supream Government of Rome which came next but one after the Imperial Government in St. John's time Prop. 21. An Head of the Beast is that setled Sovereign Power of the Romans whose Authority is owned for Supream by the City of Rome Coroll 1. Every Head of the Beast is at an end when the City of Rome does own another setled Power for Supream in the room of it Coroll 2. The Sixth Head was at an end when the City of Rome owned another setled Authority in the room of the Imperial Government that had continued
Settlement to the end of the world This they all agree in for the matter and scope of the whole Book tho' they infinitely differ about the Explication of the several parts of it And there cannot be a greater invitation to engage the curiosity of any that are concerned for Useful and Important Truths than that Consideration The great variety of the apprehensions of Interpreters about these things ought not to discourage mens hopes of a clear Interpretation more than the same differences amongst them about almost every other Book of Scripture For it will be found that they do almost as generally agree about the first Grounds of the Interpretation of these Visions as about other Books of Scripture that seem to be less mystical The Language of Prophecy already explained by accomplishments is in these things as sure a Rule of Interpretation as the more common Language of Scripture is for the other Books of it that are more plain And those that seem the most impartial in these things Mr. Mede B p. Usher Dr. More are very confident that there are plain grounds upon that foundation to build a demonstrative Evidence of the Sense of the chief design of these Visions upon With this encouragement it will be first enquired What sure grounds there are for the certainty of the Apostolical Authority of this Book as the only foundation of all satisfaction that can possibly be had from the clearest Interpretation of it There are two ways by which the Authority of any Book of Scripture is secured to us The First An Universal Tradition concerning it in the first Times of the Church soon after the writing of it And the Other The Determination of the Universal Church concerning it after some doubts and scruples concerning it And by both these ways of assurance is the Authority of the Apocalypse secured Two of the first Writers after the writing of the Apocalypse were Justin Martyr and Irenaeus Justin Martyr was contemporary with those who knew the Apostle whose Name it bears Anno 160. and that conversed with him and He in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew pag. 308. quotes the Apostle St. John about the Thousand Years under the Name of A certain man amongst them who was one of the twelve Apostles of Christ speaking of that matter in the Revelation which was given him which all know to be the Subject of the 20th Chapter of the Apocalypse And accordingly does Eusebius l. 4. c. 18. Eccl. Hist quote Justin Martyr as attributing the Apocalypse to the Apostle St. John But Irenaeus does the most satisfactorily put an end to all Controversie about this in his time and Irenaeus was contemporary with Justin Martyr And to assure us of the truth of what he affirms he says he had it from Polycarp whose diligent Auditor Lib. 3. contra Haeres cap. 3. he was and Polycarp was a Disciple of St. John himself and died a Martyr and so secures the truth of his Testimony But Irenaeus his Testimony concerning the Apocalypse is most full in his fifth book contra Haeres sect ult where speaking of the Number of Antichrist he says That that Number was in all the ancient and approved Copies and that he had it also confirmed to him by those who had seen St. John face to face There can hardly be given a more unquestionable or more particular Testimony concerning the true Author of a Book at any distance from the time that it was wrote in than this is Here is a particular search after all the Copies of it soon after the writing of it with the concurrent Testimony of those who knew the Author himself And further to shew the utter unlikelihood of any falsification of the Name of the Author of it a little after speaking of the Name of Antichrist Knowing this says he that if his Name Lib. 5. sect ult were to have been openly known at this present time it would certainly have been expressed by him who saw the Revelation for it is not long ago since he saw it but almost in this present Age at the latter-end of the Reign of Domitian The little distance betwixt the time of Irenaeus and the time of the writing this Book together with the care that he took to look into all the various Copies of it and the Traditions of the Ear-witnesses of the Apostle about it and the confirmation of his own Testimony in all this by dying a Martyr himself does silence all scruples about the Apostolical Authority of this Book But yet about 100 years after the time of Irenaeus Dionysius of Lib. 2. Alexandria in his Disputes against the Millenaries of his time does affirm That many of his Predecessors did reject this Book But then he says It was because they saw it obscure and full of too gross ignorance about the Millenarian state not from any new knowledge they had got of the forgery of it And their grounds were so small for it that tho' he was the chief Head of the Anti-millinarian Party yet he says he believed it to be divinely inspired Tho' from the difference of the Style of it from that of the Gospel and Epistles of John the Evangelist he judged it to be wrote by some other John contemporary with him And yet there are some expressions in the Revelations so peculiar to the Gospel and Epistles of John the Evangelist and used by no other Apostle that it must be either He himself or a very near Friend of his that must be the Author of them such as are The Lamb The Word The bearing record or witness of the Word They that pierced him shall see him The Testimony of Jesus Christ He that overcometh As I received of my Father c. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely and Let him that is athirst come And whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely Which are all expressions peculiar to the Gospel and Epistles of St. John St. Jerem indeed says That the Greek Church rejected the Authority of it But as Baronius well observes about it An. 96. St. Jerom must necessarily mean that only of the meaner and lower part of the Greek Church For as he there shews almost every one of the Greek Fathers does quote it under the Name of St. John the Apostle And Eusebius who relates the dissent of some of the Ancients about it and was the most eminent Antiquary of the Greek Church does name Justin Martyr Irenaeus Melito of Sardis Theophilus Antiochenus Origen Dionysius Alexandrinus the chief Writers of the Greek Church before him as Asserters of the Apostolical Authority of this Book If we go to the Judgment of after-Ages we have the Universal Consent of the Christian Church for the Canonical Authority of the Apocalypse after it had been scrupled by some which is the other way of assuring the right Tradition of a Canonical Book The third Council
destruction of the Species or Soul of it that is of the Society of that People either by Slavery or by Subjection only to a new Authority Artic. 4 5 6. Ibid. Artic. 8. As Grotius determines concerning the continuance of the same body of People in the See References 9th Chapter of his Second Book de jure Belli Pacis And therefore were they still the commanding Authority of the Roman Empire 9. This is very learnedly confirmed by b Thus were the People of Rome the same under Kings Consuls and Emperours And Artic. 11. are the same at this day because they still retain that Society in Civil Government which they had formerly and therefore the Imperial Power did always reside in them as in the Body in which it lived For whatever the People of Rome could have formerly done of right before the time of the Emperours the same had they power to do upon the death of any Emperour before there was another chosen The Election of the Emperours did also belong to the People of the City of Rome and was oftentimes performed by the People either alone or by the Senate for them And those Elections which were made by first one and then another Legion of the Army were not valid by the right of those Legions for in a flitting Body there could be no certain right but from the approbation of the People It is no Objection against this that by the Decree of Antoninus all the Subjects of the Roman Empire were made Citizens of Rome For the rest of the Roman Subjects got nothing more by that Decree than what the Colonies and free Cities of the Empire and the Roman Provinces used to have which was to be partakers of the Roman Honours and to have the privileges of Quirites not that the Seat and Fountain of Government should be in other parts of the Empire as it was at Rome For that was not in the power of the Emperour to give who could not change the Fundamental Laws for the exercise of the Governing Power Nor was it any diminution of the Right of the People of Rome that the Emperours chose rather to live at Constantinople afterwards than at Rome For then also did the whole People of Rome confirm and make valid the Election which was made by a part of them at Constantinople who for that are called the Byzantine Quirites by Claudian And those of Rome did still preserve the Prerogative of their City and the honour of the precedence of their Consul which was no small Monument of their Original Right Wherefore all the Right which those of Constantinople had to chuse the Roman Emperour did depend upon the Will of the People of Rome To this purpose is that of Hieron Balbus de Conventione c. 13. But sometimes the Emperour was chosen by the Army who was then accounted rightly chosen if the Authority of the Senate and People of Rome did confirm it Ludovic â Rebeuberg a Caesarian Writer cap. 3. de juribus Reg. Imp. Romanor Charlemaign never called himself Emperour before he was anointed and crowned by Pope Leo The Romans with one Consent did give the Imperial Acclamations to Charlemaign And when he was crowned by Pope Leo they called him Caesar and Augustus M. Fribeius in the Comment In which way of Acclamation says he the popular Election both at Rome and Constantinople did at that time consist As Paulus Diaconus in Histor Miscella Anastas Bibliothecarius do testify Grotius himself in that same Chapter and the Comment on it where he shews as a Lawyer That it was always acknowledged to be the right of the Senate and People of Rome to determine the next Succession to the Government of the Roman Empire in the time of every vacancy That therefore all Elections of Princes and Laws were to be confirmed by them So that the Constantinopolitan Emperours were generally so confirmed and their Laws ratified by the Authority of the City of Rome And to give authority to their Government they had one of the Consuls and a part of the Senate of Rome generally residing with them as delegated from that City to give authority to their Orders as long as there was a good correspondence betwixt the Eastern and Western Empires And to show which of the Seats of the Empire was the chief Fountain of the Roman Power the Consul of the City of Rome always had the precedence So that as long as the Power of the Roman Senate and Consuls did continue at Rome which was till the Conquest of Rome by Justinian the Sovereign Power of that City must come in for a share at least in the then Ruling Head of the Beast which is all that is necessary to be here established 10. And the way to make any man a Roman in distinction to others that were Subjects of that Empire was to make him a Citizen of Rome which did manifestly shew that no Power could be properly said to be the Head of the Roman Empire that was without any Authority from the City of Rome 11. The City of Rome had also a very peculiar acknowledgment from the whole Government of the Empire that it was the Head and Fountain of all the Power of the Roman Empire and in a more eminent way than we read of any other City besides For all the Governors of the Provinces at their return from their Office used to lay down the Ensigns of their Authority at the Gates of the City of Rome before they entred the Town in acknowledgment of the first Fountain of their Magistracy which they did therefore thus signify to be resigned up into her hands when they returned home again L. ult de Officio Procons 12. Besides That during the whole time of the division of the Empire to the Reign of c Cod. Justinian Praefat. Consuetudo Romanae Urbis sequenda ab omnibus quia Roma est Caput Orbis Terrarum To this purpose do the Eastern Emperours before give the precedence to the City of Rome So all over Cassiodorus's Varior p. 41 112 207 302 311 319 341 348 359 361 390 396. Rome has the name of the Head of the World with such Characters as these in that City where Honour does always reside in the most sacred City none can be greater than he to whose care Rome is committed not only Rome tho in it are contained all things whatsoever is done in that City is almost in the eyes of the whole World If the Head of the World rejoyces all the rest must do the same not in the Provinces but in the Head of all things And this was just before the Reign of Justinian Justinian at least the City of Rome though no longer the Seat of the Empire was called and accounted the Metropolis of it and therefore was it for all that time called The Head of the World the Head of all things Wherefore by the Head of the Roman Empire that is by any Head
a Superior Authority in himself above that of the Emperor but because he judged the Emperor's mind to be contrary to the Council of Chalcedon And it was accounted a kind of Sacrilege to revoke any thing that was decreed in Council But neither could the Authority of the Pope nor of the rest of the Clergy hinder the Council from doing as Councils used to do that is from being of the same mind with their Emperor And so as Justinian would have it they condemned the three Chapters and pronounced an Anathema upon all those who should defend them or any part of them by the Authority of the Council of Chalcedon Whereas it is manifest that in that Council the chief of these things were particularly examined and Ibas and Theodoret the Authors of these Writings were received by the Synod as Orthodox and the r Concil Chalcedon Action 8 va Which when he had said All the Bishops cried out Theodoret is worthy of his Seat in the Church Let the Church receive its Orthodox Pastour c. And Action 9. c. 10. The Popes Legat Paschasius in the name of all the rest pronounces That upon reading the Votes of the most Reverand Bishops Ibas was approved by them For upon a review of his Epistle we acknowledg him to be Orthodox and for this Decree him to be restored to his Bishoprick and that the Church from whence he was unjustly put out be repaired And this Approbation of the Council of Chalcedon is quoted by Pope Vigilius against Justinian in his Constitution And decrees the contrary to him with this preamble We following the judgment of the Holy Fathers And afterwards These things therefore we having ordered with caution and diligence Epistle of Ibas in particular declared to contain in it no heretical Opinion Here was as great an instance of Imperial Authority over a Council as could well be given to make them define his Will to be an Inspiration of the Holy Ghost contrary to matter of fact And the Pope and his own Clergy were sufficient Witnesses of it to the World by refusing to subscribe to that falshood about a thing which their Eyes might be the Judges of in the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon In that Synod does Justinian also Authorize a new way of Anathema's in the Church and that was to curse the dead whom he judged not to have been right in the Faith which was a practise never before heard of And therein among the rest he curses Origen who in his time was accounted one of the most eminent Fathers of the Church for sanctity of life for profound Learning and his great Services to the Church So that if it has pleased God to pardon him and some of the rest their Speculative Errors they possibly may be those Saints in Heaven against which the Beast is said to open his mouth in blasphemy Rev. 13. 6. But besides this he brings in fashion another way of cursing in the Council which all the Rational World cannot but look upon as very strangely extravagant and that was to anathematize all such who did not damn all those whom they called Hereticks Which certainly was one of the highest Acts of Tyranny over the Consciences of the Universal Church and which of all their Injunctions was the most difficult to subscribe unto For whatsoever accommodating Interpretations men may find out to subscribe to a form of Faith which they do not believe in the common sense of the words yet they can never justify themselves in pronouncing the Curses of God upon all those who do not subscribe to it And yet both this and the former way of Cursing was from that time continued in the Church Never was there before such an appearance all at one time of a new assuming Power over the Church of God as in the conduct of all that business of the three Chapters insomuch that it was generally enough taken notice of to make the worship of the Beast appear a very strange and new thing and to make the World wonder after the Beast as it is said of him The Books of Facundus Bishop of Hermiana against that Emperor for these Arbitrary Proceedings are a sufficient Testimony what noise these things did at that time make in the World and nothing could have made them to be so slightly passed over in History but the greater Extravagancies of the Popish Councils that came afterwards That Bishop tells him s Facundus Hermianens ad Justinian Lib. 12. c. 3. cap. 5. That it was not lawful for the Emperor to intermeddle in this manner in the Office of the Priest shows him the Example of Vzziah and Dathan and that none but Christ alone can have a Kingdom together with a Priesthood That his Book was against the Decrees of the Council of Chalcedon and that no Emperor but he did ever before change the Decrees of a Council of his own head bids him look up into Heaven with the Eye of Faith and there see all those Blessed Fathers which he had accursed now Inhabitants of Heaven And speaking of the like haughtiness of the Emperor Zeno As if says he the Faith of all the Churches did depend upon the Emperor's Will and as if none must believe otherwise than the Emperor should command him to believe Baronius also does censure him as guilty of great Arrogance in presuming to set forth these Decrees concerning the Catholick Faith Anno 546. However we find Justinian still keeping his point against them all he defends this cursing of the Dead in a publick Edict of the Confession of his Faith and turns the Council into a Law of the Empire Novell 42. The Pope all this while whose Authority is pretended to be so absolutely necessary to the making of a Council declared himself contrary to all this was banished Petav. Ration Temp. part 1. l. 7. c. 7. for it and so ill handled in it that it was at last the cause of his Death So that here was a very clear appearance of the Imperial Roman Authority in the Church which appears to be the only soul and head of this which is called the fifth General Council For it could not have its name of a Council of the Roman Church from any at that time but the Bishops there assembled and the Imperial Authority which confirmed it To pretend that it was afterwards confirmed by another Pope and so made a Council is to give the Pope a power to change the nature of things For if it wanted its due Authority at that time it must be no Council at all and the Pope may as well be allowed to turn all the Religious Meetings of Bishops that ever were into Councils at his pleasure There was then nothing here but the worship of the Beast alone without the False Prophet to assist him But that all the Irregularities of these Procedures are chargeable upon the Roman Church as the beginning of the Tyrannical Exercise of their Power is