day of Pentecost when he sent down the Holy Ghost and was with them in that assistance nor of so long a time as his coming to the Final Judgment And besides there were several things so peculiar in his chief Commander over the Army as if he were pickt out on purpose or so qualified on purpose that the Iews and Christians too might easily believe that he was Jesus Christ his General and that he by him and his Army came to take vengeance on the Iews As that he healed the Blind and the Lame with Spittle and touch That he was one of the most humble and mild men then breathing which is the very character of Christ That he shut the Gate of Ianus his Temple and erected a Temple of Peace like a Lieutenant of that Prince of Peace the Blessed Jesus That after the taking Ierusalem and vanquishing the Iews neither he nor his Son would be named Iudaicus as other Conquerours usually were styled from the Nation they conquered but ascribed the whole work to God These and several other considerations which that learned Authour produces are more than enough to make good the fitness of Mr. Medes Interpretation who understands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Destroyer of Christ who then made good that Parable of the injured King Matth. 22. who in his wrath sent forth his Armies and destroyed those Murtherers and burnt up their City And the Chronological part Thomas Lydiat in my judgment c. A general account of Thomas Lydiat his performance in this point I have given in my Latin Explanation of the Grand Mystery of Godliness lib. 7. cap. 4. sect 5. which I will translate hither with some emendation The summ of his Method is this Forasmuch as he makes the beginning of the Reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus Six years sooner than Funccius does who places it in the Fourth year of the 78 Olympiad but Lydiat in the Second year of the Olympiad 77 it is plain that Daniel's Seventy Weeks from the Thirteenth year of Artaxerxes according to Lydiat's Epocha will have the same ending as before from Funccius his viz. in the Third year of the 202 Olympiad So that if the Passion of Christ as Funccius would have it fell out upon the expiration of the last year of the last week according to his own Epocha which Helvicus also intimates namely that Christ suffered Anno quarto Olympiad 202. We computing from Thomas Lydiat's Epocha viz. from the Twentieth year of Artaxerxes Longimanus the Passion will fall on the First year of his last week which is immediatly next to the last of Funccius his if the Passion fell out no later than they would have it Wherefore the rest of the Artifice of Lydiat's Method is spent in proving the Passion of Christ to have fallen out about Three or Four years later than vulgarly they reckon viz. in the Twenty second year of Tiberius whenas others reckon it to have fallen out in the Nineteenth of his Reign and consequently to have happened in the midst of the last Week according to Daniel's Prophecy This is that general account I give for the main in the abovesaid place of my Mystery of Godliness But here for the better satisfaction of the Reader I shall briefly intimate the main reasons whereby Thomas Lydiat proves First That Artaxerxes Longimanus began his Reign Six years sooner than others account and Secondly That the Birth Baptism and Passion of Christ fell out several years later That Artaxerxes his Reign began Six years sooner than others reckon he makes out thus Artaxerxes began his Reign about Six months before the Flight of Themistocles into Asia according to the testimony of Thucydides the chief of the Heathen Historians For Themistocles in his flight according to him being tossed upon the Sea a day and night at anchor that he might not be driven into the Army of the Athenians then besieging the people of Naxos whom they subdued as the same Thucydides writes before that twofold famous Victory against the Persians by Sea and Land in the same day on the Coast of Pamphilia and near the shores of Cyprus under Cimon the Athenian General Which Victory they obtained according to Diodorus his own testimony on the Third year of the 77. Olympiad himself referring the flight of Themistocles to the former year viz. to the second of the 77. Olympiad I say it is plain from hence that the beginning of this Artaxerxes his Reign was Six years sooner than Funccius and others do place it the Argument being founded upon the unexceptionable Authority of Thucydides of whom Plutarch in the life of Themistocles writes thus That Thucydides and Charon Lamplacenus record that Xerxes being dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Themistocles had the communication with his Son viz. Artaxerxes And Plutarch adds that though others write that the said conference was with his Father Xerxes yet he prefers Thucydides his account as being more agreeing with the Chronology of those times And so Cornelius Nepos prefers his Authority in this matter before all others Quòd aetate proxiâ—â—s erat qui illorum temporum Historiam reliquerunt ejusdem Civitatis fuit Who therefore could not but know the time of the Athenians subduing the Naxii and of their famous twofold Victory by Sea and Land over the Persians under Ciâ—â—n their General So well is this first point established But see further in Thomas Lydiat himself Aâ—â—o Mundi 3534. Now for the Birth Baptism and Passion of Christ Daniel's Weeks reaching from Lydiat's Epocha which is the Twentieth of Artaxerxes which is Seven years later than the Seventh in their Epocha or the Thirteenth of his own reaching I say Seven years beyond Funccius his Expiration of them so that the year next after the last Week with Funccius is the first of the last with Lydiat it was requisite for Lydiat to set the Birth Baptism and Passion of our Saviour several years later than others account them that his Death may fall out in the midst of the last Week Wherefore whereas Funccius and Helvicus also placed the Birth of Christ in the year when C. Lent Getulicus and M. Messalinus were Consuls and others sooner as well as other-some later Thomas Lydiat places his Birth in the latest date of all viz. in the year when L. Aelius Lamia and M. Servilius Geminus were Consuls Which is Four years later than that Date of Funcâ—…ius which is in the Third year of the 194 Olympiad that in the Third of the 195. The first ground of his Evidence is That the Birth of our Saviour happened in that Oecumenical Tax appointed by Augustus and mentioned Luke 2. and executed by Cyrenius then Governour of Syria Now we are to understand that Augustus in his Reign appointed three universal Taxes of the Citizens and People of the Roman Empire which Suetonius intimates in his Life Cap. 27. Ceâ—…sum populi ter egit primum ac tertium cum collega medium solus The first was
Christ the true Husband gave himself for the Church that she might have neither spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing but be holy and without blemish the whole body of the Religion of the Roman Church so far forth as it differs from the Ioynt Profession of the Reformed Churches is nothing but an overspread leprosie of grosly false Doctrines and of foully Superstitious and Idolatrous Practices besides being smeared over and over again with the bloud of the innocent and carrying on a perpetual design and trade of eluding all the force of true Religion and piety by a multitude of humane inventions and breaking off our comfortable recumbence and dependence upon the lovely person of our Lord Iesus our faithful Saviour and Redeemer to depend upon the person of some ignorant or deceitful Wight that bewilders a deluded Soul with a world of false devices and trumperies giving her no solid rest after she has once strayed from the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ and fallen into the hands of these deceivers who are sealed and occrustated in the trade of their impieties by a false and boastful pretence of their Churches Infallibility and under the colour thereof declaring the true and faithful servants of Christ Hereticks they thereby snatch all occasions to drink and swill and make themselves drunk with the bloud of the Saints of the most High From whence it is plain that the Roman Church is an estranged Synagogue which is no Spouse of Christ but the Spouse of the Pope as he boastfully pretends to be her Husband So contrary does this Successour of St. Peter to the example of St. Paul who espoused the Church of Corinth as a chast virgin not to himself but to Christ but the Pope the Church of Rome not to Christ but to himself and not a chast virgin but all to be polluted with the filth of Idolatry which is Spiritual fornication But Reformed Christendome is the Spouse of Christ as acknowledging no Husband but him and depending immediately upon him by faith in his bloud alone and sincere obedience to his commands and not to the vain injunctions and inventions of men for her justification and salvation And for such a Church his own chast Spouse has Christ given himself and poured forth his most precious bloud and not for those that have espoused themselves to another Husband Which is also a sound Witness and may go for a most firm and authentick Seal to the saving Truth of our Reformed Religion These things I have taken the boldness to speak with all freedome out of sincere love and faithfulness to the Souls of men of what communion soever that those that are already deluded may be undeceived and they that are yet of our Communion may never so deeply sin against their own souls as to depart from it and so dislodging themselves out of the bosome of Christ run into the arms of that man of sin and son of perdition the declared Antichrist according to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures and more especially of those Divine Visions of the Prophet Daniel which I have with so faithful care and diligence expounded for mens fuller satisfaction and instruction that they may return into or if they be there already continue and persist in the way of Truth and of everlasting Salvation A Plain and Continued EXPOSITION Of the several Prophecies or Divine Uisions OF THE Prophet Daniel VISION I. The Vision of the Image of the Four Metals signifying the Four Empires Babylonian Medo-Persian Greek and Roman seen first by Nebuchadnezzar and after revealed to Daniel Dan. 2. IN the second Year of his Reign which is now about 2300 Years ago did Nebuchadnezzar being sollicitous concerning the Fate of his own Empire and what would be afterwards his thoughts coming into his mind upon his Bed as it is said Ver. 29. fall into a Dream which much affected him when he was in it and therefore was earnestly desirous to recall it into his mind again but not being able he sent for his Magicians Astrologers Sorcerers and Chaldeans to try if they could divine what this Dream was For the thing was gone from him neither could he recover it into his mind But if they could have declared unto him what it was he could then have very-well remembred he had dream'd it Which forgetfulness of Nebuchadnezzar in not retaining the Dream in his mind as well as the Impression of the Dream it self is no small Argument of the Providence of God over his Church and People for whose sake these things happened viz. That Nebuchadnezzar should dream this Dream that concerned the Church of God infinitely more than himself and that he should forget it to the baffling of all his Magicians Sorcerers and Chaldeans and that Daniel a Jewish Youth and one of the people of God should by Divine Revelation have the honour of declaring the King's Dream unto him so that the King could not but acknowledge that this was the Dream By which alone it was manifest that the Spirit of the Holy God was in him And the Dream it concerning the people of God more than Nebuchadnezzar himself whether Jews or Christians there was this singular good effect thereof that they could not but be more certainly assured that it was a truly Divine Dream neither feigned by Nebuchadnezzar nor by Daniel but communicated to both by God either immediately or by the ministry of his Holy Angels And that therefore Daâ—…iel having this privilege of declaring Nebuchadnezzar's Dream had also the same supernatural privilege of rightly interpreting thereof The Declaration and Interpretation whereof is as follows which we shall expound as briefly and as clearly as we may where there is need beginning at the 31 Verse For it will be admirable to observe how the Preâ—…iguration of things in this Prophetical Dream reaches from Nebuchadnezzar's time not to our days only but even to the pouring forth of the seventh Vial whereupon all the Kingdoms of the World will become the Kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ. 31. Thou O King when thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy Bed and thou didst fall into that Dream sawest and behold a great Image or great Statue of a Colossean bigness it comprehending in its extent no less than the succession of Four Famous Empires This great Image whose brightness was excellent it representing the Splendour and Glory of those Empires it did prefigure stood before thee And the form thereof was terrible setting out thereby the great Fear and Awe these Empires viz. the Supreme Powers therein and their Ministers cast the World into by their severity violence and cruelty For which cause in another Vision they are resembled to wild Beasts for their rage and bloud-thirstiness as the true Church of God has too often found them 32. This Image's head was of fine Gold There being a Succession of Four Empires here to be prefigured by Four kind of Metals the order of dignity or pretiosity
seed of men The Septuagâ—…nt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By this Interpreters usually understand * alliance by Marriages whereby one Kingdom may be more surely obliged to keep peace and amity with another But dominandi cupido cunâ—â—is affectibus flagrantior est as the Historian observes And if this may go for a good sense as to the sodering of the Ten Kings one to another the Iron to the Iron yet we are to consdier that the Text here speaks of the Iron being mixt with Clay and how they come to unite They shall mingle one with another faith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It might as well be rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in sementi hominum that is by placing of men in Seminaries where they shall be so brought up informed and instructed suppose in Covents Monasteries and other such like places that they shall be made notable instruments so to insinuate into the Secular Powers and also into the People as to ingage their affections to his Holiness the great Ecclesiastick Sovereign and to all the Rites Institutes and Doctrines that are fittest to support that Papal Greatness The Propagation and Dissemination of such instruments as these I conceive to be alluded to as if he should say They shall mingle one with another agree or unite together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signifie by the sowing or planting of men in the Seminaries abovesaid fitting them for the foresaid purpose the more brisk cunning and gentile attacking Princes and great Men and other Monks Priests and Friers hanging fast on the people and clarting upon them and keeping warm in them all the modes of Idolatry and Superstition and all the Principles and Practices that may be gainfull to the Papal Hierarchy Thus the Clay sticks to the Iron as well as it can But they shall not cleave so very firmly one to another even as Iron is not mixed with Clay And what Bickerings and Clashings there have been betwixt these Two Powers the Secular and Ecclesiastick in particular Kingdoms the Chronicles of each Kingdom will declare As also what combates there have been betwixt the Pope and the Emperours both Greek and German is notoriously known to all I will only cite one passage out of The Defence of the Right of Kings written by King Iames of blessed Memory Let Histories be searched saith he Let just accounts be taken and beside many Sieges laid to Cities it will appear by true computation that Henry the Fourth and Frederick the First fought above Threescore Battles in defence of their own Right against the enemies of the Empire stirred up to Arms by the Popes of Rome And indeed the dealings and usurpations of that Hierarchy grew so intolerable that many Kingdoms at last shook them off and would admit the Papal Authority and Religion no longer Whereby was manifestly fulfilled which is here predicted by Daniel That they shall not cleave one to another even as Iron is not mixed with Clay It is an unnatural and heterogeneal union and therefore not durable and permanent This passage therefore in Daniel seems to answer to that in the Apocalypse Ch. 17. v. 16. And the ten Horns which thou sawest upon the Beast they shall hate the Whore and make her desolate and naked c. Which was performed in some measure in the happy Reformation begun in Luther's days and when there will be a farther accomplishment of it lies wholly in the pleasure of the Almighty 44. And in the days of these Kings shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed After Daniel in his Interpretation has gone through all the Empires comprised in that Image which Nebuchadnezzar saw from head to foot now he begins to explain the mystery of the Stone cut out without hands whereby is understood Christ with his truly pure Apostolick Church Wherefore by in the days of these Kings must be understood in the days of the Fourth viz. in the time of the Roman Empire For Christ was born and his Gospel divulged and his Church first gathered in that time as every body must acknowledge And the Seventy weeks plainly carry to that time also But now this pure Church of Christ being called the Kingdom which the God of Heaven shall set up we may observe from hence how in our Saviour Christ's preaching and mentioning the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God that it had a respect to this Prophecy And the use of those Phrases with him does further ratifie our interpreting it thus of the appearance of Christ with his true Church Which is rightly called the Kingdom of Heaven or of God because the raising of it was by the special miraculous power of the God of Heaven And the administration of this his true Church is by his Spirit from above in the hearts of his true Believers God does truly rule there by his Spirit whence it is rightly called the Kingdom of God Which shall never be destroyed The Gates of Hell shall never prevail against it The true and living Church which the Spirit of Christ actuates this shall never fail And the Kingdom shall not be left to other people The Persians succeeded the Babylonians the Greeks the Persians and the Romans the Greeks but no Empire shall succeed nor any People the true Christian Church which is the Kingdom of God which either as Regnum Lapidis or else as Regnum Montis will last to the end of the World But it shall break in pieces and consume all these Kingdoms that is When it has become Regnum montis it will have overspread and will possess and keep in rule all the Countries that the Four great Monarchies signified by the Statue had occupied And the Three former Kingdoms being as it were incorporated into the Fourth or because the Four Kingdoms are in this Image exhibited at once the Kingdom of the Mountain for the embellishing the cortex of the Vision is said to break in pieces and consume all the other Kingdoms together striking the Image on the Toes as I noted above And it shall stand for ever According as it is said Apoc II. 16. The Kingdoms of the world are become the Kingdoms of the Lord and he shall reign for ever and ever 45. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the Stone was cut out of the Mountain without hands that is Forasmuch as the State of the true Church of Christ is the absolute work of God carried on by his special Providence not by humane arts or policies and that it was thus begun and that he is with his Church to the end of the World And that it broke in pieces the Iron the Brass the Clay and the Silver and the Gold Forasmuch as thou sawest the Stone cut out of the Mountain without hands to do this Which signifies the true Church of Christ thus supernaturally begun and as supernaturally emerging to this glorious issue at last
he shall come up saith he as Clouds and his Chariot shall be as a Whirlwind his Horses are swifter than Eagles Wo unto us for we are spoiled And again Ch. 40. Behold he shall fly as an Eagle and shall spread his Wings over Moab And many other places there are concerning Nebuchadnezzar to the same purpose I beheld till the Wings thereof were pluckt wherewith it was lifted up from the Earth For the Marginal wherewith in the English Bible is better than and in the Text. And Grotius says Verte per quas efferebatur supra terram And he adds thus Note further Saepe enim Chaldaeis ut Hebraeis Copula vim habet Relativi And besides the Copula â—… will signifie for as well as and and then the sense will be the same that Grotius drives at and the Septuagint ratifie it by translating 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies he was carried up on high not taken out of the way or destroyed as some would have it Now the Babylonian Monarch his being thus carried up on high on his Wings may signifie both the height of his prosperity and the haughtiness of his mind his ambition as it is set out by the Prophet Isaiah Ch. 14. v. 14. where he brings him in saying I will ascend above the heights of the Clouds I will be like the most High For this is to be understood of the King of Babylon and the whole succession is to be look'd on as one King as the Empire is look'd upon as one Beast Now therefore I beheld till the Wings thereof were pluckt is not to be understood as if this plucking of the Wings could not be but after the time of this Vision of Daniel because as I proved above the Vision reaches from the beginning of the Babylonian Empire the Scene whereof all along Daniel here beheld Where amongst other things he noted the plucking of the Wings of this Lion the Babylonian Monarch Which happened most notoriously in his being cast down from his loftily priding himself in his great Magnificence Ch. 4. 30. Is not this great Babylon that I have built by the might of my Power and for the honour of my Majesty Which was no sooner said by him but he heard a. voice from Heaven O King Nebuchadnezzar to thee it is spoken The Kingdom is departed from thee c. And so he was driven out to eat grass with the Beasts of the Field till Seven times passed over him And is not this a clipping of his Wings indeed who was soaring before above the Clouds Instead of being lifted up on high with his Wings from the Earth he was fain to graze on the ground with Oxen. And was made stand on the feet as a man and a man's heart was given to it Now after that Septennial humiliation of Nebuchadnezzar by being cast into so deep a melancholy and delirancy as if he were grown a very brute that goes on all Four these words describe his happy recovery out of that deep disease For Physicians take notice of such a melancholy as makes the party imagine himself to be and to imitate the manners and nature of this or that Beast as you may see in Sennertus and other Writers But here it seems he came to himself again by the good Providence of God and went constantly upon his Feet as other men do And a man's heart was given unto him that is his humane understanding was restored unto him For the Phrase of Scripture makes the heart the Seat of understanding Instead therefore of having the mind or heart of either a Brute or Luciferian Devil he had got a man's heart and was taught Ch. 4. v. 37. to honour and extoll the King of Heaven all whose works are Truth and his ways Iudgment and who is able to abase all those that walk in Pride What can be more significant of Nebuchadnezzar's Case than this Which therefore is a most certain character that the First Beast is the Babylonian Monarchy and this passage is most properly applied to him But withall I do not deny but it may be extended further to other Cases of the Empire or Monarchs of Babylon accordingly as Grotius expounds the plucking of the Wings of this Lion Tardati cursus ejus Imperii c. The affairs of that Empire were not carried on with that speed and success under Evil-Merodac and his Vice-roy as it were Naragalrazar in whose days Cyrus rebelling against Astyages whom Nebuchadnezzar had set over the Kingdom of Media insomuch that Media was under the Babylonian Empire in the Reign of Nebuchadnezzar and onward till this rebellion of Cyrus Media by this means in Evil-Merodac's days Son of Nebuchadnezzar was rent from the Babylonian Empire And this I think was a considerable clipping or plucking the Wings of the Lion besides what other particularities might be noted in History And moreover Belshazzar Ch. 5. as Daniel reproves him for his not regarding that fearfull punishment of his Grandfather For his pride had lifted him up also against the Lord of Heaven v. 23. and he had quaffed in the holy Vessels of God's Temple in that impious Feast he made Belshazzar I say was pretty well humbled by that hand-writing against him on the Wall but immediately after was laid in the dust of death But in his Successor Darius the Mede for I above noted that the succession is accounted as one continued Monarch as the Beast one continued Empire and what belongs to the Monarch or Empire is said of this First Beast the other part of the Prophecy is again fulfilled That he was made to stand upon his feet as a man not to soar in the Air with Eagles Wings and phancy himself above him that dwells in the Clouds And a man's heart was given to him namely to Darius the Mede * the last Monarch of the Babylonian Empire For all begin the Medo-Persian Empire from Cyrus And what a heart full of humanity towards Daniel nay indeed of Piety and Belief in Daniel's God the God of Israel was given unto him will plainly appear to any that reads the Sixth Chapter of Daniel ver 14 16 18 19 20 23 26 27. Thus fully well assured may we be that this First Beast is the Babylonian Empire and this being given we shall easily be induced to believe that the Three following will prove the Medo-Persian Greek and Roman as they were in the Image of the Four Metals for the same reasons there above specified 5. And behold another Beasâ—… a sâ—…econd like to a Bear This according to the succession of the Empires in History which is the most faithfull Interpreter of Prophecies must be the Medâ—…-Persian Empire So that there is less need to take notice what Interpreters have observed of congruity in the making a Bear the Symbol of the Medo-Persian Monarchy As that Persia is notorious for the breeding the fiercer sort as well as plenty of those Animals That what is most notorious in the Bear that
days are not symbols of so many years as elsewhere which Calvin also observes but are to be taken in the literal sense as was above declared though the other part of the interpretation touching Antiochus Epiphaâ—…es may have also a further meaning touching Antichrist But it is here to be noted that the Angels giving notice to Daniel that the Vision of the 2300 days is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a plain truth no aenigma but that the days signifie days in a literal sense does imply that unless there be some such notice to the contrary that they signifie aenigmatically and stand for years as in Dan. 12. 11 12. Wherefore shut up the Uision that is to say Having exactly writ this Vision with the explication lock it up safely that the Original may be kept to compare with the Event So Grotius as well as Cornelius à Lapide and Calvin For it shall be for many days The time from the Prophecy to the Event will be a long time betwixt Three and Four hundred years For from Belshazzar's Reign to Antiochus Epiphanes is about 380 years 27. And I Daniel fainted and was sick certain days namely By reason of my converse with and consternation of mind from the hearing and seeing of those Angelical Powers so much removed above the condition of us Mortals and also out of sadness for the prophanation of the Sanctuary and great calamities of my Nation which were foretold me Afterwards I rose up and did the King's business that is After I had grown well again I went about the business the King sent me for into Susiana where I was when I saw this Vision And I was astonished at the Uision that is I lookt with an astonished or forlorn look by reason of the Vision I had seen that portended so much ill to my people But none understood it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 None understood what the matter was with me that I lookt so sadly and ghastly on it Quà m diligentissime poteram dissimulabam dolorem meum To that sense Grotius interprets the place and before him Theodoret Maldonat and Gasper Sanctius NOTES Upon VISION III. Ver. 5. That strange exploit of his literally taken c. His climbing up with his Soldiers a steep Rock as natural Goats are said to do The Story is in Iustin lib. 12. cap. 7. Peragrata India cùm ad Saxum mirae asperitatis altitudinis in quod multi populi confugerant pervenisset cognoscit Herculem ab expugnatione ejusdem Saxi terrae-motu prohibitum Itaque cupidine Herculis acta superare cum summo labore ac periculo potitus Saxo omnes ejus loci gentes in deditionem accipit Ver. 8. Ptolemaeus the Son of Lagus Sovereign of Aegypt c. The Authentickness of this distribution to be applied to the Four Horns that is the notable ones as the Four chief Successours of Alexander appears from Diodorus Siculus lib. 19. p. 727. Where upon Cassander Ptolemaeus and Lysimachus their making peace with Antigonus the Sum of the form of Agreement was this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say That Cassander should be chief Commander of Europe till Alexander the Son of Roxana came to Age and Zysimachus should be Lord of Thracia and Ptolemaeus of Aegypt with the Cities conterminous in Africk and Arabia And Antigonus should be Prefect of all Asia And the Greeks live after their own Laws And thus they continued but advanced in title For upon Demetrius his Naval victory over Ptolemy and notice given thereof to his Father Antigonus Antigonus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 puffed up at the greatness of the success put upon himself a royal Crown and took to himself the title of King Which out of emulation and to shew himself not at all discouraged by that late defeat Ptolemy did also and in imitation of him Lysâ—…machus and Cassander Which things Iustin also witnesses lib. 15. cap. 2. And Seleucus a supernumerary to the Four notable Horns who did rise up after Ptolemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lately having acquired the Satrapies of Syria superior to adjoyn to his former Prefecture crowned himself King also Diodor. lib. 20. p. 761. But that the above-named Four Horns still continued tight till Seleucus routed Antigonus and his Son and so succeeded in their place is plain from Diodorus For there is mention how Cassander Lysimachus Seleucus and Ptolemaeus by common consent made war against Antigonus lib. 20. p. 787. his ambition threatening to swallow up all And wheâ—…as some leave out Lysimachus out of the number of the Four first notable Horns it is without reason and against the testimony of this excellent Historian Diâ—…dorus Siculus who reckons them together and gives us to understand that Seleucus came on afterwards as a supernumerary helpt to this his power which afterward proved so considerable by the favour of Ptolemy as part of the very Title of the Nineteenth Book of Diodorus gives us to understand which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. How Seleucus receiving a small Army from Ptolemy made himself Master of Babylon and recovered his former Satrapy and Prefecture again And that Lysimachus may not be thought unworthy of the rank of those Four notable Horns consider what Iustin says of him Erat hic Lysimachus illustri quidem Maoedoniae loco natus sed virtutis experimentis omni nobilitate clarior quae tanta in illo fuit ut â—…nimi magnitudiâ—…e Philosophiâ ipsâ viriumque gloriâ omnes per quos Oriens domitus est vicerit So little 〈◊〉 is there but that according to Thomas Lydiat out of Diodorus he should be reckoned one of the Four notable Horns after the breaking of that first great one Ver. 9. But of the Kingdom of the Seleucidâ—…e c. The truth of what is said here will be the more easily acknowledged from what we have produced upon the foregoing Verse out of Diodorus and Iustin. But I cannot here but take notice of the well grounded confidence of Thomas Lydiat who in his Emendatio Temporum Anno Mundi 3693. writes thus Videtur verò nobis pace omâ—…inum ipsum 〈◊〉 Imperium hoc tempore Babylone institutum aliquaâ—…to post caetera illa quatuor Successorum Alexandri â—…uisse parvum illud Cornu juxta Danielem Prophetaâ—â— ab uno eorum exoriens quandoquidem Selâ—â—cus 〈…〉 initium Ptolemaeo acceptâ—â— retulerit ac 〈◊〉 sâ—…pra ipsum evectus fit The reasons are manifest from the foregoing Note on the Eighth Verse And of these Two main Kingdoms of the Lagidae and Seleucidae he adds this observation that the Epocha of the Anni Seleucidâ—…rum is at this very day by the Arabians Saracens and Mahoâ—…etans called Dhilcarâ—…aâ—â—â— from these Two Horns so remarkable in History and the Prophecy of Daniel Which is the Genius of the Prophetick style to give as it were Two strokes at once c. viz. A more general stroke and a more particular touch and that in the series of the same words The former whereof for
must be cast away as if it were neither precious nor a Corner-stone and be bestowed again on a Pagan people the Romans For so Grotius does not stick to profess Idem Lapis Filius hominis and he made the Son of man before the people of Rome But can a man believe that the Original or success of that people was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing brought to pass by the special power and Spirit of God and not more humano according to the usual course of the World and that not of the best kind their beginnings being helped on by a rabble of Ruffians and Robbers 7. No but that is not Grotius his gloss you will â—…ay Let us therefore hear what it is Lapis abscissus de Monte sine maâ—…ibus according to him is Exercitus populi qui suae esset spontis nullique Regi pareret cujâ—…s populi origo à Monte nempe Palatino In which there is nothing sound nor solid For was this Roman Army any thing more suae spontis in that they had not a Kingly Government at Rome That supreme Power of Consuls and Senatours was as directive and coactive as if it had been Regal So that the motion of this Army was never the more spontaneous for this Again The Stone cut from the Mountain without hands implies that it was then spontaneously divided from the Mountain when it is said to be cut thence But when the Romans first issued from Mount Palatine yea so soon as they were Populus Romanus Regal Government was amongst them it being the first Government of this â—…eople and therefore they were not then Populus suae spontis according to Grotius his own conceit so that he cannot bring both ends together And lastly To interpret Mountain here in a litteral sense is unskilfully done and not according to the analogy of the Prophetick Style nor the very intimation of the present Text which says the little Stone became a great Mountain it self and filled the whole Earth Wherefore this Mountain signifying not litterally but politically there is no question but the other does so too and that the Stone is in some sense homogeneal to this rocky Mountain Whence the sense is plainly this That out of the great Mountain that is the Roman Empire there should be a people raised not by human power or policy but by the Spirit of God and the preaching of the Gospel by Iesus Christ and his Apostles which should be a peculiar people to him and becomâ—… the Subjects of his Kingdome that is to say That the Church of Christ should be cut out of the Roman Empire without human help This is a most easy and undistorted sense and against which there cannot be made the least exception 8. Fourthly which I have already intimated above The Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast with Iron Teeth and the Ten Toes of the Iron Legs of the Statue signify the same thing Wherefore it is plain sith the Ten Toes imply a Coexistence of the Ten Horns by reason of the coordination of their Site that there must be Ten Kings together in the Fourth Kingdome But in the Kingdome of the Seleucidae and Lagidae there were not Ten Kings together all at once Therefore that Kingdome is not the Fourth 9. Fifthly Antiochus Epiphanes part of this Kingdome of the Lagidae and Seleucidae is said to riâ—…e up in the latter time of the Kingdome of the successours of Alexander Dan. 8. 22 23. Wherefore this Kingdome of the Lagidae and Seleucidae has expired near two thousand years ago But the Kingdome of the Fourth Beast reaches even to the day of Judgment Dan. 7. 9 10. And I beheld till the Thrones were cast down and the Antient of days did sit His Throne was like the fiery flame and his wheels as burniâ—…g fire A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him * the Iudgment was set and the Books were opened c. That this is the description of the day of Judgment is the general opinion of both Christians and Jews and answers exactly to the lake of Fire and the opening of the Books Apoc. 20. which Grotius himself does interpret of the last day Whence we may safely conclude that the Kingdome of the Lagidae and Seleucidae is not the Fourth Kingdome as having ceased so long before that time though we understood the day of Judgment in the sense of the Rabbins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 According to which the meaning of I beheld till the Thrones were set and the Books were opened is this that the Prophet Daniel had a prospect even to the utmost end of that great day But he begins more particularly at the beginning of that day in the eleventh verse But this I have onely noted by the by 10. Sixthly and lastly Alexander's Kingdome and that of his Successours is all one Kingdome But that of Alexander's is the third according to Grotius his own concession Now that that of his Successours of which Line are the Lagidae and Seleucidae is one Kingdome with that of Alexander's is evident out of Daniel Ch. 8. 21. The rough Goat is the King of Graecia and the great Horn that is betâ—…ixt his eyes is the first King Now that being broken whereas Four stood up for it Four Kingdomes shall stand up out of the Nation but not in his Power This is one plain proof that the Kingdome of Alexander and his Successours is all one Kingdome For he calls Alexander the first King which necessarily implies that his Successours are the second and that therefore they all belong to one and the same Kingdome Nay he says plainly that these Four Horns stand up for that great one that is in his stead What is this but to succeed in place of him as the Heads of one and the same Empire For no new Beast is said to succeed this Beast but the Horns the Horn. And then the comparing of them and saying But not in his power farther intimates a cognation and succession of one Line and that he does noâ—… speak of the Heads of two different Kingdomes Which appears farther from vers 8. Therefore the Goat waxed very great and when he was strong the great Horn was broken and foâ—… it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of Heaven But where should these come up but on that Head that had lost this great Horn which is compensated with four lesser ones * though in their kind notable For it is very incongruous and extravagant to fansy them to come up in any other And surely if they had belonged to any other Beast that Beast would not fail to have been named Wherefore they must either grow out of this Goat's Head or no where unless out of the ground which is ridiculous And therefore it is plain that Alexanders Kingdome and that of his Successors is but one Kingdome For that Goat is but one
and the same Goat under the Succession of this variety of Horns 11. And yet there is still greater evidence of this truth from Ch. 7. 6. After which I beheld and lo another like a Leopard which had upon the back of it four Wings of a fowl the beast had also four Heads and Dominiâ—…n was given unto it That the four Heads of this Beast are the four Successours of Alexander * namely Perdicca Seleucus Ptolemaeus Meleager Grotius himself does frankly confess The Wings therefore denote the four Kingdomes Alexander's Empire was divided into after his decease which is still lookt upon as one Beast notwithstanding as the Roman is with its division into ten Kingdomes noted by ten Horns or into Oriental and Occidental figured by the two Wings of an Eagle Here Grotius if he would speak out would make Alexander the Beast as he has Domitian and others in the Apocalypse against all the Laws of Prophetick Interpretation nay indeed against all rhyme and reason For he glosses thus Pardus variâ—…m Animal â—…ic Alexander moribus variis But how grosly incongruous it is let any one consider For then would Alexander be inferiour to his four chief Officers and they would be the Head of him which is a Political Absurdity nay the Head of him when he ceased to be which is an Absurdity Metaphysical Wherefore Alexaâ—…der is the first Head or great Horn of this Beast not the Body of it that he may be superiour to his four grand Officers and not be the Beast to bear these â—…our Horns or Heads when he had quite ceased to be on this stage of things For these were not Heads nor Horns before he wâ—…s dead Alexander therefore is the first of the Succession of the Heads or Horns of this Beast not the Beast it self But to come up closer to our business I say it is very manifest from thesâ—…â—…our Heads and four Wings that this Leopard is said to have that the Third Kingdome takes into it the four first Successours of Alexander Nothing can be more plain than this from the very Text. For the Leopard is described in the third place and immediately after him the Fourth Beast is mentioned and called the Fourth v. 7. Wherefore this four-headed Leopard is plainly the Third Beast But now that the Succession of these four Heads even to Antiochus Epiphanes is the Succession of one and the same Kingdome is plain from Ch. 8. 22. Now that being broken namely the great Horn whereas Four stood up for it Four Kingdomes shall stand up out of the Nation but not in his power And in the latter time of their Kingdome the Original has it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Seventy render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the very same with our English and there is no doubt of the Translation a King of fierce countenance shall stand up Which Grotius and every one acknowledges to be Antiochus Epiphanes Whence it is evident that the whole Succession of Alexander's Captains from the first four inclusively even to Antiochus his time is one Succession and one Kingdome For he calls the times of Antiochus the last times of their Kingdome Wherefore it is plain seeing that the Kingdome of Alexander is one and the same with the Kingdome of the four Captains for that is the Third Kingdome and the Kingdome of the four Captains the same with their Succession even to Antiochus his time that the whole Succession from Alexander to Antiochus is one Succession and one Kingdome If this be not demonstratively true there is no demonstration in Mathematicks But if this be true the Kingdome of the Lagidae and Seleucidae are not the Fourth Kingdome but the Kingdome of the Râ—…mans according as all sober men have hitherto held 12. Which we being so firmly assured of we shall easily know where to seek for this little Horn that is said to change times and laws For where can we find it but amongst those many Horns in the Roman Kingdome or Empire not in the Greek to which Antiochus Epiphanes appertains And we have already plainly shewn * that the Apocalyptick Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns is this Roman Kingdome and that this Beast once healed or in such a condition that it may be said of him that he is the Beast that was and is not and yet is which is when he is become Pagano Christian is this Empire actually divided into ten Kingdomes and that together with this Division the Empire began to relapse gradually into Idolatry by the Agency and Guidance of the Two-horned Beast or the Whore whom I havâ—… also shewed to be Synchronal to the healed Beast or the Beast that was and is not and yet is 13. But the Beast restored or healed his duration is 42 months which is 1260 days or a Time and Times and half a Time For the abode of the Woman in the Wilderness is indifferently expressed by either of these latter and the first and the second are joyned together in the Vision of the Outward Court and the Two Witnesses Wherefore 42 months and a Time and Times and half a Time being the same with 1260 days they are the same one with another But this little Horn in Daniel we speak of his Reign is also set out by a Time and Times and half a Time Therefore it is of the same duration with the Whore or Two-horned Beast which is Synchronal to the Beast restored whose continuance is 42. months Wherefore it is a strong suspicion that there is a Coincidence at least of time if not of affairs or complication of natures if not Identity of some betwixt this little Horn in Daniel and those three Synchronals the restored Beast the Whore and the Two-horned Beast For that expression Dan. 7. 24. And another shall rise after them does not at all hinder since the Seventy translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 behind them * it signifying order of situation as well as of time And this being placed behind is the most convenient posture for such an exploit as is attributed to this Horn which is said to throw down or humble three Kings which is more by treachery and craft than open force 14. Now from this equality of time it will also follow * that the duration of this little Horn is 1260 years by the last Confectary of our joynt Exposition Which again shews how impossible it is this Horn should be Antiochus Epiphanes To which you may add that it is said to be different from the rest of the Horns in the explication of them * And the ten Horns out of this Kingdome that is the Roman Kingdome as has been demonstrated are ten Kings that shall arise and another shall rise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 behind them and he shall be diverse from the rest and he shall subdue three Kings Now I demand what one of the ten Kings or Kingdomes is so different from all the rest unless it be an Ecclesiastical Kingdome Wherefore