from the proportion of the Outward Court to the Inward that it was Symmetral till about that time Which approvable Ages of the Church were the Pattern of our English Reformation Besides that as I have already intimated the said Reformation is an eminent Speciminal completion of the Prophecy of the Resurrection of the Witnesses So that the Rectitute thereof is ratified as well from those Visions that prefigure the Recovery of the Church as from those that signify her primaevall Purity Nor can those Perstrictions of the less perfect condition of things which I elsewhere have noted touching the Reformed Churches be rightly conceived to concern our English Church both because it had disappeared in a manner when I penned that Treatise as also because of her special immunity from those Imputations as may appear from my Vindication of her at the end of this present Discourse And as for the whole Protestant Reformation I must freely and ingenuously confess I had something a lesser value for it then it does deserve being born down by the authority of our best Interpreters into a belief that we were not yet past the Sixth Trumpet much less had advanced any thing in the Seventh According to which supposition some things have passed my Pen in the Mystery of Godliness which I here take the opportunity of recalling judging it with Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Etbic Nicom lib. 1. cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which duty is more indispensable in Theologie Though here I must confess I do not so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mistake being not originally mine but others Which yet I the more easily swallowed down by reason of my Computing the Woman's abode in the Wilderness and the mournfull condition of the Witnesses by Days and not by Semi-Times as the Three days and Half did indigitate By the former of which Computes the Woman could not be come out of the Wilderness nor the Witnesses be rose from the dead till about this time But reckoning by Semi-times the Protestant Reformation will very easily and naturally be a Speciminall Completion of the Prophecy of their Resurrection it plainly happening in the last Half-Day or Semi-Time according to prediction Nor does the Prophecy require any greater accuracy of Compute then so Which I confess is a great ease to my mind in the Apprehension of things For examining the Frame of our Church and finding it such as I have represented it in the two last Chapters of this Book it was so near to what according to my best Judgment I could desire and had hinted at in some passages of my Mystery of Godliness that methought it fared so with me in this matter as it did once with a musing companion of mine and myself in a short Journey we took together when we asked the way to a certain Town we were to go to even then when we had already unawares got into the midst of it The Reddition is very easy and obvious But nothing then puzzled me but my compute by Days as I said instead of Semi-times which hindred me from rightly applying so illustrious an Event to the Prediction But correcting that errour as also a false surmize that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implies the full expiration of the time to which it is prefixed the Application of the Prophecy proved very easy to me nor do I at all doubt but that it is a Prediction of the Protestant Reformation in Christendom in general Of which notwithstanding this of the Church of England seems the most noble Specimen and the Resurrection of the Witnesses and their Ascension more high more full more orderly and more answerable to the Vision here then any where else that I know 17. And as if Providence had a more special eye to this Church A peculiar Attestation to the Church of England in the Completion of the Prophecy of the Resurrection of the Witnesses above the rest of the Reformed Churches and to the Platform of the Reformation thereof then to any other as it indeed seems to me to exceed all the rest in several main Respects as in her moderation in the Cinq-Points her perfect freeness from all manner of superstitious and imposturous Opinions and Usages her declaredness concerning things indifferent and apert profession of them to be such and her Loyal Obsequiousness to the Sovereign Power with others of the like nature which at least joyntly considered make her condition peculiar so she seems to me also to have a more full and peculiar privilege in her being witnessed to from above then any of the rest have For beside her Resurrection in the East Reformation which fell within the last Semi-time and is common to her with the rest she has had of late after she was suppressed and in a manner extinct for so many years together another most glorious and unexpected Resuscitation to life our Zerobabel and Jesuah that is to say that Regal and Episcopal Power of England which were the first Founders and Establishers and are now the present Restorers and Upholders of so well a constituted Church being so happily and providentially restored again to the Nation What is this but another Resurrection from the dead to the slain Witnesses and a second Testimonie from Heaven to the Sacredness and Inviolableness of our English Reformation and that beyond all cavil and exception it falling out not within the last Semi-Time at large as the former did but just at the expiration thereof or if you will of the 1260 Days For taking a fit Epocha for the matter in hand which concerns the purely Christian and Antichristian Periods of the Church and I think there can be none more fit then that year wherein so many were converted to the faith at Antioch insomuch that the Church was then first called Christian which was the fourtieth year from the Nativity of Christ if we adde to these fourty years 360 the time of the Churche's continuing Symmetral and 1260 the time of the mournfull Prophecy of the Witnesses or of their Political Death the very last year of the whole summe is the year 1660 Which therefore must be the last year of the Witnesses sad and calamitous condition And lo to the admiration of the whole world in the very self-same year is the restoring of our English Protestant Regal and Episcopal Power our Moses and Aaron do not onely stand upon their feet but ascend into Heaven in a cloud the whole world looking up and wondring at them Can there be a more fit fulfilling of the Prophecy of the Resurrection of the Witnesses then this or a more ample Testimonie to the Excellency of our English Reformation such as I have decyphered at the end of this Book then this completion of the Prophecy or lastly a more urgent obligation from Divine Providence upon these so miraculouslyrevived Witnesses for the perfecting of Faith and Holiness Whom God seems on purpose after his
and Injustice not inferiour to any thing we have yet named would not this be a sign or watch-word as it were to all the Adherents to this Devilish Religion to use the enemies of it as cruelly as opportunity will permit or the natural bitterness of their own spirits suggest Let us imagine therefore a Tribunal though not so just yet more severe or rather more cruel then that of those Judges of Hell Minos and Rhadamanthus and that it may be more like theirs to be in some subterraneous room that the cries and groans of the tormented may not pierce the ears of the people where all things are transacted in that more impure light and stench of Links and Torches held by Assistants and Officers as grim of aspect as the infernal Furies and that the proceedings of this Court are infinitely more unrighteous then those of Hell these Holy Judges having unlimited power any vile person being admitted for a witness against the suspected and they making no matter whether the accusation be by word of mouth or by tickets cast in before this Sacred Consistory for without any personal appearance or confronting one another the process is to be framed without party without witness and without other Law then the pleasure of these Spiritual Judges or Infernal Spirits 4. Now when the suspected or accused have descended into these shades of Death we will suppose these subterraneous Judges to begin with some terrifying Premonitions and Comminations mingling some Hypocritical Exhortations and Protestations as if they would wash their hands clean as Pilate of old of the innocent bloud they are about to spill But if the party will not accuse himself by the terrour of these threats that they may notwithstanding take away his life in such a torturous way as they think fit for Hereticks yea though he should freely confess that which they will call Heresy yet if he will not betray all of the same opinion that he either knows or suspects he is presently sentenced to undergoe such Agonies and Trials as these men of Cruelty shall please to adjudge him to 5. Wherefore there is ready at hand the grim Executioner in a black disguise so horrid as makes him look more like a Devil then a man who seizing upon the sentenced parties be they men or women married or virgins of mean rank or of noble quality first strips them naked to satisfy the lustfull eyes of these Holy Leachers which to the modest Maids and grave Matrons must be a torment worse then Death it self After this he binds their hands eight or ten times about with Cords these cruel and lustfull Villains on the Bench commanding him to bind one round harder then another and then with a smaller line their thumbs and then to fasten the parties hands and thumbs to a pulley that hangs on a gibbet After this to hang weights of Iron or Lead at their feet at first suppose about five pound and to twitch them up by the rope till their Head touches the pulley In which pitifull posture they are called to and bawled at by these salvage Judges to confess what they would have them And thus they hang in this exquisite torture a good space of time And if the party will confess nothing nor betray his friends the true professours of the Gospel and faithfull Servants of Jesus they let him down indeed but to hoise him up again with a double weight of Iron at his feet the salvage Judges commanding the hangman to let the rope goe up and down with many short checks or stops that the weight of the Iron may rend every joynt of his body one from another Which intolerable pain if it cause the party to shreek and cry out as it must needs these grim Benchers shall drown the noise with roaring and railing at him and calling him Dog and Heretick for so obstinately that is so faithfully refusing to betray himself and his friends Which if he persist in they will let him down again and adde still more weight to his heels and an higher torment to his whole body putting this poor member of Christ to these unsupportable tortures for at least two or three hours together and it may be as they shall think fit some three days after when his joints are most sore bring him to suffer the same extremities of torment again nay repeat it at great distances if life will endure it five or six times over 6. And this I think were a Cruelty little inferiour to any we have hitherto intimated in all our barbarous Suppositions But let us adde another Scene somewhat different The stripping them as before but then the binding of their hands behind them and hanging them at the pulley together with the girding of their thighs so hard as also their legs with strong cords and forcing the strings by plugs of wood thrust betwixt so deep into the flesh that they reach near the very bone In which intolerable Torment they will keep them two or three hours together 7. Or else which is more cruel if it be possible to gird both thighs legs and armes with strong small cords as before so hard that they sink out of sight into the flesh to the bone but withall to lay the party along with his face upwards on a great hollow Trough having a cross bar in the midst with his back resting on that bar to his unspeakable diseasement spreading over his mouth and nostrils a fine Lawn upon which they pouring out water in a small but high-falling stream drive the Lawn into his mouth and down the furthest part of his throat which can put him in no less agonie then they are that are fetching their last gasp And what violence is done to him by that softer Engine I mean the fine Linen when it is twitched out of his mouth the bloud and water that comes with it doth copiously witness one would think it brought up the very Entralls with it out of the body 8. And lastly to make an end That that Element that is most merciless may not seem to be forgotten by these wicked Engineers of Cruelty it were easy to imagine that they may make use of great Chark-coal-pans of Iron full of hot coals forcing the Captives feet as near as they please and basting them with Lard to make the pain of scalding more exquisite Which torture can be little less then the roasting men alive at the fire 9. Certainly if the Religious Orders of a Church in a form of Justice and upon pretence of Piety and Zeal against Hereticks can commit these astonishing outrages and acts of Barbarism against the faithfull Followers of Christ how can their example fail of being a School of universal Cruelty for their Adherents against all such whom they shall look upon as Hereticks and they are taught all are so that are not of their Church And therefore the guilt of all these Tragical cruelties which are done upon the true Members of Christ
Monitor ad Caesar. c. King James of ever-blessed memory has smartly and justly taxed them sub larvata simulatione curae spiritualis animarum regna exhaurit orbémque Christianum caede sanguine miscet to this Power I must confess the Visions of the Apocalyps are somewhat more severe as it is most fit they should be For this Power except so much therein as agrees with the Primitive Ages of the Church comprising in it nothing but a masse of Frauds and Impostures of Superstitions and Idolatries and bloudy and Antichristian Cruelties the Visions of the Apocalyps were not the Visions of God if they predicted not ill to so ungodly and Diabolical a Polity And yet if I might profess freely my opinion were but that heap of wicked stuff cast out and abolished and all her false Merchandizes every-where interdicted as they are here in England such a purification as this would undoubtedly fulfill the prediction of the burning of the Whore of Babylon with fire according to the primary sense or scope of these Visions and the Church and whatsoever is comely and usefull be saved from any farther or severer Castigations provided they did not Antichristianize in what is left and place all their Religion merely in an outward though unexceptionable Form neglecting the indispensable Laws of the Life of God and of honest and laudable Morality So little reason have any to be affraid of the right sense of the Apocalyps in those Visions unless they have a favour for the Kingdom of sin and dominion of the Devil in the World 11. Again I must confess also that I cannot but dissent from Mr. His difference from Mr. Mede's way in expounding the three days and an half of the death of the Witnesses and in the placing of the Vials c. Mede in his expounding the three days and an half wherein the Witnesses lay slain three years and an half and not three times and an half which is a mistake of no small consequence As also in his placing of six of the Vials within the sixth Trumpet whenas I have shewn reason I think sufficient why they should be all ranged within the seventh Upon which supposition the pouring out of the first will follow the ascension of the Witnesses into Heaven in a cloud with a very close and natural coherence and such as is intimated in the very Text. For it is said that they ascended up into Heaven in a cloud and their Enemies beheld them and you may be sure Apoc. 11. 12. with a very envious eye and with much wrath and bitter exulceration of spirit accordingly as it is said Ver. 18. And the Nations were angry This is presently upon the blast of the seventh Trumpet And the first Vial answerably thereto is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apoc. 16. 2. an evil and wicked Ulcer or Sore Which does very significantly indigitate that rancour and exulceration of spirit that fell on them that had the Mark of the Beast upon their seeing the exaltation of the Witnesses and hearing the Triumphal Song of those mystical Israelites that had escaped the Tyranny of the Roman Pharaoh by betaking themselves to the safeguard of the Red Sea in such a sense as I have above intimated These are considerable Examples of differences betwixt Mr. Mede 's Interpretations and mine From which several others must necessarily flow as depending thereon beside others that depend not on these which were to little purpose to note particularly But they all put together will not amount to any such summe as will at all impair that rich stock of honour and esteem which will be for ever due to so excellent a Writer whose Modesty Judgment and usefull Industry will I doubt not be admired and applauded to all posteritis For there is no reason at all that those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I mention here should derogate any thing from either that singular ability Mr. Mede had of interpreting Prophecies or from the credit of other performances of his in this kind where he had more maturely considered things and therefore according to the accuracy of his Judgment had perfected his Interpretations beyond all just exception But these that I differ from him in he does ingenuously confess to be but certain Specimina which he had communicated to his private friends nor did look upon them himself as throughly concocted and completed 12. These are the main prejudices that seemed to encumber our Design The reason of the Prolixness of his Alphabet of Prophetick Iconisms which I think I have clearly removed As for particular Exceptions they are of less moment such as might be made against the Prolixity and Inadequateness of my Alphabet of Iconisms my Confutation of Grotius onely and that with some sharpness in some places and lastly my uncharitable Liberty in applying those Prophecies of the Apocalyps and other Scriptures which by the ancient Fathers and more modern Writers even of the Romanists themselves are understood of the famous Antichrist unto the Papacy and Church of Rome To which I shall briefly answer and in order To the first That that Alphabet of Prophetick Iconisms is neither prolix nor inadequate to the whole design I had in mine eye when I compiled it though it be much too long for the use of the present Treatise But we are to remember that I had occasion to write of other Visions in my Mystery of Godliness which are pretermitted here as not appertaining to our present Scope But the use of this Alphabet is extendible also to that former Writing as likewise to a future design in my last part of the Mystery of Iniquity where I shall have occasion to range very far into the Prophecies of the Apocalyps besides other Divine Predictions even upon this very account more fully and accurately to examine whether those Comminations that threaten destruction to the Fourth Beast and the Whore or by whatsoever other Figures those Powers are indigitated do primarily signify any bloudy or boisterous destruction such as the keen Fifth-Monarchy-men or any other Enthusiasts are over-forward to imagine or whether the Mystery of God may not rather be accomplished in such an orderly Reformation as was made by the Sovereign Power of England in King Edward and Queen Elizabeth 's time Which can be no affrightfull news to any that have any Knowledge of God or Love of the Truth For assuredly that was an eminent Example of Christ's Re-visiting the World in the behalf of the faithfull and of his coming again to Judgement in thus judging the Whore and rescuing this part of his Kingdom here in this Island out of the hands of that Man of Sin though few have taken due notice hereof or had a right notion of this so marvellous Event 13. And therefore it is a wonder to me that there are so many that talk so loud of the Spirit of Elias and pretend to be in that Dispensation A Description of
omission of this warning it is said that his Bloud shall be upon the Prophet And chap. 14. 19. even natural death where there is no effusion of bloud is so expressed Or if I send pestilence into the land and pour out my fury upon it in bloud to cut off from it man and beast Upon which Grotius rightly out of the Chaldee Paraphrast Omne mortis immaturae genus Sanguis Hebraeis Bloud therefore signifies Death and bloudy dead because as it is written In the bloud thereof is the life thereof And answerably to this * Onirocrit c. 103. Achmetes according to the sense of the Aegyptians and Persians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the letting out his bloud must be his death and in Analogie the destroying the strength of any thing or that power or virtue whereby it is what it is is the death of that thing not considering whether it be animate or inimate 13. Bow and Arrows They naturally signifie the aiming at some thing and the hitting the mark the enjoying the scope of our enterprises But it may more peculiarly refer to Victory in war and the rather because they are warlike weapons Achmetes out of the Onirocriticks of the Aegyptians and Persians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Onirocrit 249. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If a man dream he holds in his hand Bow and Arrows he shall victoriously insult over his enemies Buildings Achmetes according to the sense of the Indian Interpreter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If one dream he is in an house of Marble or Stone it imports long life and riches where thieves cannot break through nor steal Burial For a dead body to be unburied it may have a two-fold signification either of a more infamous death or of hope of recovering into life According to the first is that of Ecclesiasâ—…es If a man beget an hundred Chap. 6. 3. children and live many years and his soul be not filled with good and also that he have no burial I say that an untimely birth is better then he Otherwise not to be buried may signifie onely that what the Vision portends will not be quite finished Burial being the consummation of all even of Death it self Whence Leonas Syrus dreaming that he was dead but not buried Artemidorus interprets it of that Event viz. that he was Artemidor lib. 4 c. 84. victorious but not crown'd But Menander of Smyrna dreaming also that he was buried was also crowned Victor at the Olympick Games Wherefore not to be buried in Visions that portend good is bad in those that portend bad is good And Achmetes expresly according to the sense of the Indian Interpreters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If there be any thing wanting whereby the Interrement is hindered it signifies hope of recovery to life CHAP. VI. 1. Candle 2. Character 3. Clouds of Heaven 4. Crown of precious Stones 5. Darkness Day Death 6. Desart 7. Dragon a figure of the Devil according to the ancient Cabbala and then of the chief Polities that oppose the Church 8. Drunkenness 9. Eagle Earth-quake 10. Eclipses 11. Eye an Hieroglyphick of Counsel and Prudence 12. Fishing Fish dead in the Sea 13. Fire the different significations thereof 14. Fire from Heaven its exact significancy of Excommunication 15 16. Flesh two notable significations thereof 17. Floud Fornication Frogs 18. Gemms and precious Stones God 1. CAndle Candle seems to signifie the prosperous state of things in this world Job 18. Yea the light of the wicked shall be put out and the spark of his fire shall not shine The light shall be dark in his Tabernacle and his candle shall be put out And chap. 29. O that I were as in months past as in the days when God preserved me when his candle shined upon my head and by his light I walked through darkness The like prosperous success the Psalmist also denotes by the same figure Psal. 18. For thou wilt light my candle the Lord my God will make my darkness to be light in his Song of thanksgiving for his deliverance out of the hand of Saul Astrampsychus and Nicephorus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Artemidorus lib. 2. c. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Candle seen burning bright in the house portends good the increase of riches and plenty Lastly Achmetes according to the meaning of the Aegyptians and Persians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in the same Chapter again he saith That the lighting up of Lights signifies joy and chearfulness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the extinction of them against a mans will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 affliction and distress from a mans enemies proportionable to the darkness 2. Character That Servants and Souldiers received Marks upon their foreheads and hands whereby it might be known to whom they did belong is a piece of indisputable Antiquity there being sufficient testimony thereof in Authours See what is congested in Mr. Mede and Grotius upon Apocal. 13. But in the Prophetick style it does not imply that there is any visible mark in the hand or on the head of those that are said to be marked but onely that there is an open profession of belonging to them whose mark they are said to receive For they are onely Types of Propriety and are no more to be conceived to be really impressed upon them that are said to bear them then those whole Kingdoms of men that are called Beasts in the Prophetick style are to be imagined to be metamorphozed into Bears or Leopards For all these are Typical Attributes not Real 3. Clouds of Heaven In the Scripture-phrase they seem to signify Power and great Glory Achmetes Chap. 194. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the mind of the Persians and Aegyptians And Chap. 162. according to the Aegyptians Persians and Indians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And again in the same Chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sense of all which is this That the riding upon the Clouds and ascending into Heaven signifies honourable prosperity and success against our enemies and enlargement of power and dignity 4. Crown of Gemms and precious Stones Achmetes out of the Onirocriticks of the Indians Chap. 247. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where the force of the Interpretation bears most upon the Gemms or precious Stones they being the Emblems of Riches Height and Honour They have also a more Mystical meaning in this very Chapter and signify 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the brightness of Divine doctrine or Truth But Chap. 248. they are onely interpreted of worldly things according to the mind of the Aegyptians and Persians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. Pearls and precious Stones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he has got abundance of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall find proportionable riches and honour 5. Darkness See Candle and Eye Day See Time Death Death is a dissolution of Body and Soul and therefore properly belongs onely to a natural Animal but by Analogie may be transferred to all Bodies Politick which the Prophetick
the South as a numerous army of Locusts or that palpable Darkness in Divine matters seize the minds of men or that the First-born in every Family be found dead that is saith Alcazar the Soul of every man obnoxious to eternal Death as if he would not have the Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 born later then the Body but to be the first born in man or rather because she has the right of Primogeniture the right of Ruling over the Body That all these Plagues of the Mystical Aegypt what-ever they be as certainly they cannot signify well are attributed to the two mournfull Witnesses by a Zoopoeia they being the necessary Consequence of the Witnesses Disgrace Affliction and Deprivation of Power and Office as Darkness Thefts Murthers and Adulteries are of the Absence of the Sun Ver. VII And when they shall have finished their Testimony the Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them The Greek has it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies no more then when they shall perform their Witnessings And out of the bottomless pit is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is either Out of a deep pit in the Earth or Out of the Sea and so may intimate either the Two-horned Beast or the Ten-horned The making war against them by a Diorismus signifies any manner of opposing them and endeavour to suppress them not excluding war and bloud-shed as it happens to them toward the latter end of their Prophecy among the Waldenses and Albigenses and others And as War signifies any Opposition so Death or Killing any changing their condition into worse so that they cease to be what they were before And that this is a Political Death or putting out of Power is plain in that their Resurrection is such See Death and Resurrection in my Prophetick Alphabet So that the sense is this That no sooner shall they begin to perform their office of witnessing to the Truth but they shall be assaulted suppressed and politically killed that is kept out of power Ver. VIII And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great City that Spiritually is called Sodom and Aegypt where also our Lord was crucified This verse I have expounded already onely you may here take notice how well this Appellation of Aegypt agrees with the mention of the Aegyptian Plagues before alluded to which abode upon the Land because they still kept the People of God in bondage and would not suffer them to serve God according to his own will and precept Ver. IX And they of the People and Kindreds and Tongues and Nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in the grave This not being buried has a double sense as you may see in the Prophetick Alphabet But I must confess I take the more favourable to be the truer and that their not being buried is a pledge of their Resurrection at last that is after three days and an half which I have in my Mystery of Book 5. Ch. 15. Sect. 4. Godliness shewn to be Three Times and an half or 1260 years the very same with the time of their mournfull Prophecy For they being onely Politically dead it is not at all inconsistent in the verity of the thing signified that they should prophesy in a mournfull condition nay indeed it is necessary to be so And the Spirit of God designing the setting out these two parts of their condition namely their Prophetical Witnessings and their Devestment of all Political Power which the Scripture calls the Death of a people and their Recovery again into a Polity their Resurrection he has partly because it were very incongruous to make them prophesy while they were dead and partly because so long a time as their Prophecy is said to last viz. 1260 years was not so sutable for a dead body to lie unburied in the streets and then to revive so contrived the Cortex of this Vision with such admirable artifice as that these harshnesses are avoided in that Homonymia of Three days and an half and all the parts of the Prophetick Figurations made to keep due proportion and symmetry as well as the inward signification of the things meant and yet without any prejudice to the finding out of the true meaning to him that is sagacious the Three days and an half so easily casting him upon Three times and an half which is the very same time with 1260 days But whether in a secondary Intention these Three days and an half may have some such meaning as Mr. Mede has given them Event will best define For my own part I see very little or no ground in the Text for any such meaning See my Mystery of Godliness and what I have above intimated in this Treatise Ver. X. And they that dwell upon the Earth shall rejoyce over them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwell on the Earth The dwellers upon Earth Ribera in another place out of Andreas interprets Habentes in terra perpetuam cordis habitationem whose minds dwel upon worldly things These must needs rejoyce when the Two Witnesses are slain their free Rebukes out of the Oracles of God being very disquieting and tormenting to these worldly and carnally-minded men See my Mystery of Godliness Book 5. Ch. 17. Sect. 8. Ver. XI And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entred into them and they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon them that saw them That the Spirit of life from God enâ—…red into them is correspondent to what we have already cited out of Zacharie Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts That this Resurrection of them has a Political meaning you may be farther satisfied in my Prophetick Alphabet from what I have there said upon that Term. Ver. 12. And they heard a voice from Heaven saying unto them Come up hither And they ascended up to Heaven in a cloud and their enemies beheld them I had rather render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For they heard c. this voice from Heaven raising them from the dead as the voice of Christ did Lazarus By which Heaven is here understood the higher places in the Political Universe unto which the slain Witnesses are called by a voice from thence saying Come up hither Whence it will not be unseasonable to note That those that are the true Witnesses will not come before they be called nor like the ancient Giants invade this Heaven against their wills that reside there but stay till they have a lawfull call to Political Offices and Dignities For it is not true of this Political Heaven but of the Spiritual The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it Matt. 11. 12. by force And that these Witnesses
that Wicked one be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of bis coming That Wicked one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Lawless one who exalts himself above the Laws of God and Christ and can dispense with them as he pleases whose destruction is by the preaching of the Gospel and by the victorious evidence of Truth by clear and convictive Reason divulged to the world by such as speak by the Spirit of God and by a Principle of Life within them For their mouth is the mouth of God and their breath as a flaming Torrent to consume the ungodly Deceiver The remainder of this Prophecy we have expounded already and therefore need not renew our Exposition in this place No Prophecy can be more expresly applicable to any Event then this is to the Papal Power and Imposture The Effect therefore being already in the world who can doubt but that this is the Prediction of it especially we having the common suffrage of Antiquity that it is to be understood of one that is to appear after the breaking of the Roman Empire into pieces If any one ask Tertullian who this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that hindered the revealing of Antichrist is he shall have this round answer from him Quis nisi Romanus Status cujus in decem reges abscessio dispersa Antichristum superinducet tune revelabitur Iniquus Accordingly as the faithful Servants of Christ have found to their great sorrow and affliction 2. This Man of Sin therefore is that little Horn with the eyes of a man in it both expressions intimating the humane Policy of the Papal Power that King diverse from the ten as being an Ecclesiastick Prince and rising up behinde them to over-grow them and over-top them by his policy Whom S. Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lawless man as Daniel makes him a changer of Times and Laws as not being content to be kept in and bounded by those that were already though they were the Sanctions of God and of his Christ. In that Horn also is a mouth speaking great things and that against the most High that is treasonable words against the Sovereignty of God and Christ as this Man of Sin does this Papal Body exalting their Head the Pope above every thing that is called God or is worshipped And lastly as the little Horn in Daniel is to be burnt by the fiery stream issuing from before that dreadful Judge so is this Man of Sin to be consumed by the Spirit of the mouth of the Lord and by the fiery brightness of his coming Which considerations may assure us that one and the same Person is aimed at in the little Horn in the seventh of Daniel and that prosperous King in the eleventh that exalts and magnifies himself above every God they both agreeing in this present Prophecy of the Man of Sin and Son of Perdition So plain is it that this Prophecy is not to be understood of either Cains or Simon Magus as Grotius groundlesly conceits whose Opinion I will now examine because the name of that Authour bears so much sway with some men otherwise it were scarce worth the pains of perusing CHAP. XIX 1. A summary Proposal of Grotius his Exposition of the foregoing Prophecy 2. That the coming of Christ in this Prophecy cannot be understood of the Destruction of Jerusalem 3. Nor Apostasy attributed to Caius nor he said to sit in the Temple of God nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fit so well with Vitellius 4. That Caius his purpose of placing his Scatâ—…e in the Temple was no Mystery of Iniquity but gâ—…oss Prophaneness 5. Grotius his ridiculous luxation of the sense of the Prophecy in making Caius the Man of Sin and Son of Perdition concealed by Vitellius his standing in the way and yet upon Vitellius his removal not Caius but Simon Magus to be the man revealed and destroyed 6. That in all likelihood the Story of Simon Magus is a Fiction and from what Occasion 7. That if it were true it is not so applicable this wicked man Simon being not consumed by the Spirit of Christis mouth but onely his Coach and Horses 8. That Grotius makes Paul prophesy of things past his Epistle being written ten years after Caius his death with a fâ—…ll Answer to Grotius his first Argument to the contrary 9. An Answer to the second 10. A Demonstration out of Scripture and Grotius his own Concessions that this Second Epistle was wrote ten years after Caius his death as also that the fall of Simon Magus from his fiery Chariot was eight years before this Prophecy 1. THE summe of Grotius his Exposition of this Second Chapter of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians is this First He interprets the coming of Christ of the destruction of Jerusalem Secondly The Apostasy or Falling away and the Revealing of the Man of Sin he understands of Caius Caligula who indeed was a very impious Emperour and would have had his own Statue set in the Temple of Jerusalem Thirdly The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he will have to be Lucius Vitellius President of Syria and consequently of Judaea who was a friend to the Jews and therefore in his time not so seasonable for Caius to make the motion of setting his own Statue in the holy Temple Fourthly By the working of the Mystery of Iniquity he understands the persuasions of Helicon and other Aegyptian Impostors who were great with Caius and were preparing the way to this grand piece of Impiety Fifthly But when he that letteth is taken out of the way that is Lucius Vitellius who as yet hindered Caius from this impious purpose of placing his Statue in the Temple at Jerusalem then shall that Wicked one be revealed who has dealt under-board hitherto with his Conspirators Helicon and the rest Caius certainly you will say no Simon Magus saith Grotius Was there ever such a ridiculous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in any serious interpretation of Authors much less of Holy Scripture Sixthly and lastly But this is because the rest of the Prophecy seems to speak of a Conjurer or Magician such as Simon Magus was famed to be whom at Rome riding in the air with his fiery Chariot and Horses Peter by his prayers to Christ made fall to the ground And thus was Simon consumed by the Spirit of the Lord's mouth and by the brightness of his coming as Grotius would have it 2. This is a brief account of his Exposition in which there is scarce one sound Joynt For as for the first which understands the coming of Christ of the destruction of Jerusalem Whosoever considers that this Epistle is really the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians as I shall hereafter prove and that in the * Ch. 4. v. 15 16 17. foregoing Epistle he speaks of the final coming of Christ which is joyn'd with the Resurrection of the dead and
pretends that this Second Epistle was wrote before the First and in Caius his reign you see how distorted forced and incompliable his Exposition is to the Text the same falling out here that has in his other mistimings of Prophecy But to sweep all away at once I say that both these Epistles were wrote about the ninth or tenth year of the reign of Claudius that is so many years after Caius his death and that therefore Grotius makes Paul prophesy of things past That this is the constant tradition of the Church cannot be denied But this is not the first time that Grotius has broke all the bounds of modesty to reach at that which vanishes in his hand in the very grasping of it I know he has some pretences to prove the Second Epistle written before the First that he might phansy it written as early as he pleases but the arguments he draws out do cut his own fingers The first is from the Conclusion of this Second Epistle The Salutation of Paul with mine own hand which is the token in every Epistle So I write viz. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen This written with Paul's own hand is his Mark or Token in every Epistle And yet Grotius would from hence infer that this Epistle was wrote first because there is no such mark in the fore-going Epistle there being those alive amongst the Thessalonians that knew his hand already But I answer First That the fore-going Epistle has this Mark. For does not it end with The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen And this he said before is written with his own hand in every Epistle Wherefore the Mark is equal in both these Epistles Secondly Unless he had sent them some former Epistle with this Mark they could not argue that this was his by it Thirdly He did send an Epistle before this to them as appears from Ch. 2. 15. Therefore brethren stand fast and hold the traditions you have been taught whether by word or our Epistle Wherefore this Mark can be no demonstration of priority for so it had been before that other that really precedes it which is a contradiction And Grotius himself does not deny but the Epistle here mentioned was before this but humoursomly and groundlesly pretends it to be lost rather then to be the First Epistle according to Canon Fourthly This first according to the Canon of the Church is this very Epistle mentioned ch 2. 15. as appears from the subject of this second Chapter which plainly is nothing else but a clearing up his meaning concerning the coming of Christ of which he had wrote in the fore-going Epistle ch 4. 13. to the end and ch 5. 1 2 3. where there are such expressions as if the Resurrection and the last Judgment were near at hand even hanging over their heads And therefore fifthly and lastly Paul does so solicitously give them notice that this Second Epistle is his and that they may be sure of it from his known Mark written as in every of his Epistles with his own hand that they might by his authority be quieted by whose through the mistake of his meaning they were so perplexed and troubled So plainly does this Allegation of Grotius make against himself 9. His second argument for the priority of this Second Epistle is this That the Christians at Thessalonica were so few when S. Paul wrote that they did not make a Church or Presbytery could not make a number sufficient to constitute an Authoritative Church And his reason is Quòd homines non ex regula viventes Apostolus hîc non excommunicari praecepit quod justi coetûs fuerit sed vitari quod jus singulorum est For answer to which I shall onely set down the words of the Apostle ch 3. 14 15. And if any man obey not our word by this Epistle note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed Yet count him not as an enemy but admonish him as a brother The words in the Original are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The former occurrs 1 Cor. 5. 11. But now I write unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to keep company if any that is called a brother be a fornicator c. with such an one not to eat Which is an explication of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where Grotius his own Note is Hebraeis mos erat cibum communem non sumere cum eo qui erat in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with him that was excommunicated So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implies Excommunication and shews that the Christians in Thessalonica were a Church as Paul also styled them when he wrote this Second Epistle to them And for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is there not in the first to the Thessalonians ch 5. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet Grotius acknowledges that there was then a Church in Thessalonica properly so called Whence it is plain that he has no reason at all to change the order of these Epistles and that therefore constant Tradition and the Authority of the Church must take place and that the Second must be the Second Epistle in the Churche's sense that is to say written after the First As appears also from those innate Arguments I produced in answer to the first Reason of Grotius 10. But the First Epistle according to Grotius his own acknowledgement was written after Paul had been at Thessalonica and Paul had not been at Thessalonica before that Synod which was held at Jerusalem by the Apostles as appears from Acts ch 15 16. and the whole Series of the History of the Apostles Nor was this Synod of the Apostles at Jerusalem held till fourteen years after the Conversion of S. Paul as appears Galat 2. 2. where Grotius himself acknowledges that Paul then went up to that meeting Nihil credibilius reperio quà m notari hîc illud ipsum Pauli iter cujus mentio Act. 15. 2. But after this journey to Jerusalem Paul chose Silas that is Sylvanus and Timotheus as appears Act. 15. 40. 16. 1. to be his Companions whose names are prefixed to the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians as well as to the First Wherefore both the Second and the First were written fourteen years 〈◊〉 Paul's Conversion and consequently about the tenth year of Claudius his Reign that is to say about ten years after Caius his death and about eight years after Peter had broke Simon Magus his leggs by making him fall from his fiery Chariot For Grotius out of Jerome and others places that miraculous feat in the second year of Claudius So that he makes Paul prophesy of things past as well by the Application of Simon Magus his story as the story of Caius to this Prediction touching the Man of Sin and Son of Perdition CHAP. XX. 1. The Preeminence of this latter Interpretation above that of Grotius 2. A summary Proposal
second 10. A Demonstration out of Scripture and Grotius his own Concessions that this Second Epistle was wrote ten years after Caius his death as also that the fall of Simon Magus from his fiery Chariot was eight years before this Prophecy 445 CHAP. XX. 1. The Preeminence of this latter Interpretation above that of Grotius 2. A summary Proposal of the same 3. The first part of this Exposition the same with Grotius his and therefore confuted already The second enervated 4. The third confuted from a farther discovery of the improbability of Simon Magus his Story from his being sufficiently revealed before and from his not being found to sit in any Temple to receive Divine honours 5. That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not so good Syntax in the present case nor the wickedness of the Gnosticks a Mystery but open Impiety and Hostility against the Church 6. The harshness of interpreting whom in whom the Lord shall consume c. of two several Subjects the one to be destroyed by the breath of Christ's mouth the other by the brightness of his coming and that in distinct places and times 7. That if the History of Simon Magus had been true and the Application fit to this Prophecy the most ancient Fathers would not have failed to have hit upon it And that it might then have been a preludious Type to the great Antichrist to come 8. Brief Prophetick Strictures touching Antichristian Impurity 9. The Antichristian Cruelty predicted in the Vision of the King of Babyion and of the little Horn. 10. Also in the slain Witnesses and in the Two-horned Beast's causing the Ten-horned to kill as many as would not worship the Image of the Beast nor receive his Mark 11. In the Vision of the Angel with the third Vial and in the Declaration of the cause of the Whore's Ruine 12. And lastly in the Description of the Whore as drunk with the bloud of the Saints 13. That all the Members of Antichristianism in our Idea are prefigured in the Prophecies of the Holy Writ so expressly that so clear an evidence cannot be withstood for ever 14. That that ample Testimony of the Apocalyps cannot be evaded by the novel Exposition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 450 CHAP. XXI 1. The marvellous Completeness of the Reformation of the Church of England in her Doctrines and Institutes 2. That she plainly condemns the Invocation of Saints for Idolatry 3. As also the Adoration of the Host where our Kneeling at the Communion is vindicated 4. Her condemning the Worshipping of Images 5. Her concluding the manner of the Papists worshipping Saints and Images to be plainly the same with that of Pagans 6. Her free and just censure touching the decking of their Images and making them Lay-mens Books 7. How perfectly she has freed us from that Aegyptian yoke we lay under in the time of Popery 8. The Celebration of Holy-days the keeping of Lent and the use of the Surplice in the sense of the Church of England fully vindicated from all imputation of Superstition or Antichristianism 9. That the use of the Surplice is not from any grounds at all of Policy in the Church but pure Charity with a vindication of the use of the Cross in Baptism 459 CHAP. XXII 1. The diametrical Opposition of our Church to that part of Antichristianism which would subvert the Regal and Prophetick Offices of Christ. 2. As also to that which strikes at his Sacerdotal Office 3. That she holds nothing against those other sacred Titles of Christ the Truth Life Light c. 4. A demonstrative Vindication of Episcopacy from the Imputation of Antichristianism out of the Apocalyps 5. What an Establishment that Book is if rightly understood to the Crown and Church of England 6. That no Papal nor Presbyterian Power is of right above the King no not in Causes Ecclesiastical 7. The judgement of our Church thereupon 8. The peculiar glory of our Church that she is so perfectly free from all Frauds and Impostures 9. Her freeness from Pride 10. From Antichristian Impurity 11. And from Cruelty 12. Her Reformation an eminent Speciminal Completion of the Prophecy of the Resurrection of the Two Witnesses 13. The usefulness of this Vindication of her for the suppressing of Popery and Schism 469 FINIS Errata PAG. 27. l. 45. for Contradiction r. Counterdistinction P. 130. l. 12. for Clergie r. Charge P. 132. l. 12. for more r. mere P. 141. l. 21. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 204. l. 11. for this judgement r. the judgement P. 207. l. 21. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 227. l. 33. for the presidency r. their presidency P. 241. l. 33. for Supreme be r. Supreme power be P. 246. l. 45. for vivet r. vivat P. 254. l. 28. for naturally by r. naturally by and for Israelism it r. Israelism it P. 284. l. 23. for Beast r. Boast P. 306. l. 19. for named r. noted P. 399. l. 37. for sight r. light P. 422. l. 34. for right use r. right use P. 429. l. 3. for Prophet-murthering Fornication r. Prophet-murthering Fornication P. 434. l. 8. for faign change r. faign to change
like extravagancy in his interpreting the Stone cut out without hands of the same People 7. The unsoundness of that conceit more particularly discovered 8. The Kingdom of the Lagidae and Seleucidae farther proved not to be the Fourth Kingdom from the Coexistence of the Ten Kings according to Type 9. From their vastly-differing Periods the one ending according to Daniel presently after Antiochus the other not before the Day of Judgment 10. From Daniel's making the great Horn the first King in the Third Kingdom and four lesser to grow up after him on the same Goat's Head 11. From the four Heads of the Leopard which are the four Successors of Alexander in this Third Beast or Kingdom and from Daniel's reckoning Antiochus in the latter end of this Succession 12. That the little Horn does of necessity appertain to the Roman Kingdom become Ten-horned and Pagano-Christian at once 13. That it is of equal duration with the Whore and Two-horned Beast and at least coincident in time with them and the Beast restored 14. From which Equality and Coincidence be is discovered to be the Whore or Two-horned Beast 15. That the Patriarch of Rome is more especially concerned in this Type 16. The exquisite Applicability of the Characters of this Horn to the said Patriarch 17. The Application of those Characters that more particularly concern his opposing the Regal Office of Christ. 410 CHAP. XIV 1. The Vision of the Rider of the white Horse Apocal. 19. proposed 2. A general account of that Vision 3. What meant by the white Horse what by the flammeous eyes of his Rider 4. What by his Name known onely to himself 5. What by his garment dipp'd in bloud and that this as also the precedent Characters are applicable to Christ's Body the Church 6. The meaning of the Sword coming out of his mouth 7. And of the treading the Wine-press of God's wrath 8. The meaning of the Inscription upon his thigh in reference to himself 9. As also in respect of his Church to which it is applicable As also the treading of the Wine-press and the Sword coming out of his mouth 419 CHAP. XV. 1. That the rest of the Sacred Titles of Christ are referrible to the Prophecies we have already treated of 2. As likewise all the Oppositions to the Divine life in general saving that of turning the Church into a City of Merchandises 3. Which seems predicted in the Lamentation over the Ruines of Babylon Apoc. 18. Ver. 11. The meaning of the eleventh twelfth and thirteenth verses Ver. 14. Of the fourteenth fifteenth and sixteenth Ver. 17. Of the seventeenth eighteenth nineteenth and twentieth Ver. 21. The Exposition continued from the twentieth to the end of the Chapter 423 CHAP. XVI 1. This mystical sense of the burning of Babylon confirmed out of his Joint-Exposition and from Alcazar's Interpretation and that the same is prefigured in the destruction of Tyre 2. How lively the Patriarch of Rome is typified in Ezekiel by the King of Tyre 3. Another Vision to the same purpose in the same Prophet 4. A third Vision in Esay concerning Esay 23. Tyre typifying Rome Pagan Christian and then Pagano-Christian Ver. 18. That Tyre that is Rome will be reformed from her Pagano-Christianism and become purely Christian again and Apostolick according to this Vision 6. That these Visions of Tyre must needs have a farther meaning then what literally concerns that City 7. An Exposition of the eighteenth verse of the last Vision comprising the Prediction of the Reformation of Rome Pagano-Christian 8. What is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a general reflexion upon the appositeness of these four last Prophecies for the setting out the Merchandising of the Church of Rome in the management of her Ecclesiastick Affairs 429 CHAP. XVII 1. Their lying Legends perstringed in S. Paul's Prophecie of the Latter times 2. A more full Prefiguration of that Antichristian Opposition that is against Faith in part of his Prophecy of the Man of Sin 3. A clear Exposition of that part of the Prophecy 4. Strictures in the Apocalyptick Visions to the same purpose 5. The Pride of the Bishop of Rome prefigured in the King of Tyre as also his Downfall and how 6. His gorgecus splendour set out both in the King of Tyre and in the Whore of Babylon 7. The Pride and Downfall of this Patriarch typified in the King of Babylon The meaning of the twelfth and thirteenth verses Ver. 14. The meaning of the Prophecy from the fourteenth to the nineteenth verse Ver. 20. An Explication of the twentieth verse 10. Farther Prefigurations of the Papal Pride in the Whore and the little Horn. 11. An easy and genuine Exposition or Paraphrase of the thirty sixth and the thirty seventh verses of the eleventh Chapter of Daniel wherein the Impious Self-elation of the Bishop of Rome is clearly foretold 12. That the sense of the two following verses of this Prediction may be still the same with Mr. Mede's 435 CHAP. XVIII 1. That the truth of the foregoing Paraphrase may be assured out of Saint Paul's Prophecy of the Man of Sin The three first verses thereof interpreted Ver. 4. Wherein this Man of Sin exalteth himself above all that is called God and what it is to snew himself to be God Ver. 5. The meaning of to be revealed in his time and what that is that withstandeth Ver. 7. The Mystery of Iniquity doth already work how to be understood and who the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 8. What is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and what the meaning and manner of his destruction with an intimation of the exquisite Applicability of this Prophesy to the Papal Power and Imposture 2. A short Parallel betwixt the little Horn in Daniel and this Son of Perdition 441 CHAP. XIX 1. A summary Proposal of Grotius his Exposition of the foregoing Prophecy 2. That the coming of Christ in this Prophecy cannot be understood of the Destruction of Jerusalem 3. Nor Apostasy attributed to Caius nor he said to sit in the Temple of God nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fit so well with Vitellius 4. That Caius his purpose of placing his Statue in the Temple was no Mystery of Iniquity but gross Prophanevess 5. Grotius his ridiculous luxation of the sense of the Prophecy in making Caius the Man of Sin and Son of Perdition concealed by Vitellius his standing in the way and yet upon Vitellius his removal not Caius but Simon Magus to be the man revealed and destroyed 6. That in all likelihood the Story of Simon Magus is a Fiction and from what Occasion 7. That if it were true it is not so applicable this wicked man Simon being not consumed by the Spirit of Christ's mouth but onely his Coach and Horses 8. That Grotius makes Paul prophesy of things past his Epistle being written ten years after Caius his death with a full Answer to Grotius his first Argument to the contrary 9. An Answer to the