Imperial Seat at Rome and his great 11 Authority Rule or Government 7 7 7 From hence it appears that this was the Fourth or Roman Monarchy because it is represented as made up of the Three former whose People and Nations it conquered and out of whose Ruines it grew and because it had all the evil Qualities and Properties of Subtilty and Cruelty which are thought to be (c) See the Interpreters on Daniel 7. signified by these Beasts which Fourth Beast having no shape 〈◊〉 Daniel has here one given it in which the Parts and Shapes of the Image and the Beasts in Daniel are united into one Fourth Beast Only it is to be observed that the Order of the Parts of this Beast is contrary to that in Daniel the Leopard being placed first because it represented the Grecian Monarchy which immediately preceded the Roman which this Beast was like unto in its Body as it was in its Mouth to the Lion which corresponds to the Head of the Image and in its Fore-Feet to the Bear whose strength lies in his Fore-Feet which answer to the Arms of the great Image as the Hinder-Feet or Legs do to its Legs and Feet the proper situation of the Fourth or Roman Monarchy And the Dragon answers exactly to the first appearance of the Fourth Beast Dan. 7.7 and the Beast it self with its Ten Kings to the Ten Horned appearance of that Beast and the Little Horn amongst them Dan. 7.7 8. These being but several Symbols and Hierogliphicks of one and the same thing viz. of Four successive Vniversal Monarchies 8 By the Dragon is meant as hath been before observed on Chap. 12.3 the Imperatorial Pagan Power or the Heathen Emperours of Rome the sixth Head as under the Influence of Sathan who is mentioned chiefly with reference to the Roman Monarchy in this Prophecy which has the Character of Satanicalness above all the rest 9 Here the Succession of the seventh Head or the Antichristian King to the sixth Head or the Pagan Emperours is described by the Dragon 's giving him his Power which came to pass at A.D. 476. when the Christian Emperours the seventh King but no Head as is shewn on Chap. 17 8-13 ceased and the Antichristian King succeeded And the latter is represented as receiving Power from the former by immediate Succession although there were about an hundred and Fifty Years distance betwixt them because it was the next immediate Head to it although not the next King who being a Christian one is of no account in the Annals of the Beastian Kingdom as the Jews and Eastern People were wont to omit the History and Chronology of Vsurpers and because the Dragon's Antichristian Successor was then in Being although withheld from his actual Succession by the Christian Emperours according to 2 Thes 2. as is fully shewn on Chap. 17. And the Dragon is said to give his Power to the Beast that is secretly to convey and willingly to resign it to him because of the insensible Change of Paganism into Antichristianism and the Agreeableness betwixt them 10 This being a Roman Beast the Seat or Throne given it must be at Rome too Which was by a wonderful Interposal of Providence kept as it were empty for the Beast Constantine removing from thence to Byzantium and the Western Emperours residing mostly at Milan and Ravenna by which means the Power of the Papacy encreased at Rome and the Dragon made sure of his Seat for his Successor which he began to do as soon as he perceived that he must depart by so influencing Dioclesian and Maximian under the disposals of Providence that the one should live at Milan and the other at Nicomedia and resign the Empire in those Cities and not at Rome And this is a thing so evident from History that it is expresly mentioned by Laonicus (a) De reb gest Imperat. Turcar. edit Paris pag. 3. Blondus instaurat Rom. lib. 3. Steuch Eugub de Constantin Donat. lib. 1. Chalcondylas an Athenian whom I mention to shew that it was a thing so notorious that Strangers took notice of it with this Notable Remark That the Romans although Masters of the greatest Empire in the World left Rome to the High-Priest and passed into Thrace unto Constantinople under the Conduct of Constantine After the Division of the Empire into Eastern and Western Rome was so much neglected by the Western Emperours that there are frequent Complaints of that City in (b) Sâ—gon de Imper. Oceident lib. 10. pag. 167. edit Hanov. Claudian that Milan was preferred before it and when Augustulus abdicated Odoacer retired to Ravenna leaving Rome to the Papacy which came then into succession as its proper Seat and although (a) Sigon ibid. lib. 16. pag. 271. Theodorick acknowledged that it was a Crime to be absent from that City yet as if a Providential Fate had determined him contrary to his own Will and Choice he immediately after a splendid Triumph retired from it to Ravenna where his Successors the Gothick Kings resided And it is further to be observed that when the Beast succeeded into the Dynasty or Power and Seat of the Dragon that Odoacer called not himself Emperour of Rome which was the Seat of the Beast but King of Italy and that although there have been since the Time of Augustulus the last Emperour of Rome Kings of Italy Roman Emperours and Kings of the Romans yet there hath been no Supream Governour who hath had the Imperial Title of the City of Rome it self at least for any long time but the Pope who is peculiarly styled the Pope of Rome and hath the Supreme Government of it See more on Chap. 17. 11 This refers to the Authority the Pope hath in the Empire in Union with the Ten Kings of whom he is Head See on Chap. 17. 3 And I saw 12 one of his Heads to wit the Sixth the Pagan Emperours as it 13 were wounded or slain to death by the Christian Emperours and his to wit the Beast's deadly wound in its sixth Head was healed by its survival in the seventh Head which succeeded it See Verse 14. and Chap. 17.8 11 and all the * World wondred after the Beast i. e. were wonderfully taken with him and followed him with implicit Consent and Applause 12 It is evident by comparing Rev. 17 8-13 with this Verse that by this wounded Head must be understood the Pagan Emperours the sixth Head wounded by the Christian Emperours the seventh King 13 Here we may observe that the Sixth Head is not said to be dead but to have a Wound which seemed (a) Arethas in locum to be deadly or to be wounded as it were to death whereby may be denoted that although the Pagan Imperialism the sixth Head never came again into Succession for any long time the Roman Monarchickness of it only remaining under the Christian Emperours and not its Pagan Idolatry and Bloody Temper against Christianity that yet Paganism was not so
(c) â—â—â—ck on Joel 1.19 word in Scripture for all manner of Mischiefs and Destructions 4. This Victory was followed with the entire Destruction of Heathenism in which appeared an extraordinary Manifestation of Christ's Kingdom of which Thunderings and Lightnings and an Earthquake are usual Forerunners in this Prophecy 5. This Victory was obtained at the Prayers of the Christians Theodosius having solemnly prayed to God for it in a Publick Church when he set forward to the Army and earnestly begging it at the Hands of God upon his Knees at the Head of his Army in the very Day of Battel the whole Church in the mean while observing solemn Fasts and putting up their united Prayers to God for his Success which being their constant Custom was without doubt observed on this extraordinary occasion as seems to be intimated by (a) Lib. 7.24 in fin Sozomen All which is manifestly here typified by the Offering of the Prayers and Incense of all Saints and its Ascent before God 6 And the seven Angels which had the seven 9 Trumpets prepared 10 themselves that men might repent during the time of that preparation to sound an Alarm of Judgments Jerem. 4.19 Ezek 33 1-6 9 Trumpets (b) See Ainsworth on Numb 10. and Pocock on Joel 2.1 15. were used amonst the Jews on several occasions as 1. In the several Journeyings and Removes of their Camp in the Wilderness whereby is not unfitly typified the several Motions of the Church in its Wilderness-Condition upon the sounding of the Trumpets by the Angels in this Prophecy 2. In calling the Ordinary Assemblies and on Feast Days and New Moons and on their Fast Days when they were according to the Observation of Maimonides to sound Trumpets for Fasting and Prayer because of the Enemies of Israel which were coming against Israel and because of the Approaching Winds Rain and Earthquakes Wars of Heathens with Heathens and Pestilences Locusts and Caterpillers and because of other Distresses mentioned out of him by Ainsworth So that the Trumpets given to the Angels and their preparation to sound may be as an Admonition to the Empire to Repent in order to the diverting of Judgments Lastly Trumpets were used in sounding Alarms in time of War whence they signifie in the Prophets a Denunciation of Judgments and a warning of the imminent Approach of them as they do in this place 10 They had Trumpets given them Verse 2. and here they prepare to sound by taking as it were their Trumpets into their Hands and putting them to their Mouths whereby a Respite and Delay is signified from the actual Execution of the Judgment or some lesser Judgments preparatory to the great and fatal ones according to the proceedings of the Merciful but Just God who after Judgments threatned gives time and space of Repentance and punishes lightly before he comes to utter Excision 7 And after some short space of Quiet and Respite Vers 1. The first Angel sounded and there followed 11 Hail and Fire mingled with Blood i. e. a wasting and bloody Devastation and they were cast upon the 12 Earth i. e. the Roman Empire and the third 13 part of 14 Trees i. e. the great ones Isa 2.13 Zach. 11.2 was burnt up and all green Grass i. e. the common People 11 This is a Description of a Thunder-storm in which there is Blood instead of Rain to make the Type more dreadful And it is an Allusion taken from the Plague of Hail in Aegypt Exod. 9 22-35 whereby is signified a Furious and Bloody Irruption laying all things waste before it as Fields and Trees are wont to be by a raging and blasting Tempest The like Scheme of Speech is made use of by Isaiah Chap. 28.2 in describing the Invasion of the King of Assyria which he likens to a destroying Tempest of Hail and an overflowing Flood of mighty Waters only Blood is here added instead of Water to shew the Greatness of the Slaughter which should attend it And what fitter Metaphors could be used to set forth the terrible Inundations of the Barbarous Nations upon the Roman Empire which happened in the Course of this Trumpet For we are to understand that the (a) Grotii Prolegom ad Procop. Sherringham de Anglorum Origin Loccennius de Gothorum Sueon Orig. Howel 's History Part 4. Cap. 1. Goths which seems sometimes to be used as a General Name for these Barbarous People were originally a People of Scythia who coming from thence and having seated themselves in Scandza or Scanzia which comprehends Sweedland Norway and the vast Tracts of Land adjoyning at length in process of time about Three Hundred Years before Christ upon the occasion of a Famine Wars their great increase or the desire of a better Soil the usual Causes of the Transmigration of Nations left that Countrey and after long Wanderings from whence they were afterwards called Vandals that is Wanderers through Germany and Sarmatia as far as the Palus Maeotis one part of them setled there and were called Getae and the other but the greatest part of them returned from thence and took up their Habitation in Dacia and Thrace from whence they seem to have made their first Incursions under (b) Pagi in Baron Philip or Decius about A. D. 251. After several Fights with them in the Times of Constantine Valens and Valentinian immediately upon the Death of Theodosius the Great they fell like a mighty Torrent into the Roman Empire They first harrassed the Eastern parts of it under Alarich about A. D. 395. for about five Years together and about A. D. 405. a vast number of them under Radagaisus invaded Italy who was followed by Alarich who took Rome on the 24th of August A. D. 410. a great multitude of them mixt with other Barbarous People having over-run Gaul Spain and Africk at the instigation of Stilicho about the same time that Alarich first invaded Italy A. D. 406. From the Invasion begun by Alarich Italy enjoyed but little Quiet daily steps being made to its utter Ruine some of which were as Preparations to the sounding of the Trumpets first by the Goths then by the Huns under Attila and by the Vandals under Genserick who from the Year 430. miserably wasted Italy and the Provinces especially about A. D. 455. when Genserick took Rome which is accounted a fatal (a) Howel 's Histor. Part 2. Pag. 692 693. Mr. Mede Pag. 659. Year and stiled by some the Year of Vengeance But upon the Death of Aetius Provinces were daily lost to the Barbarians and the Roman Empire which declined from the Death of Theodosius received a Mortal Wound under which it lay languishing until it expired under Augustulus about A. D 476. So that we have here a famous Period of Time from the Victory of Theodosius upon which his Death ensued A. D. 395 until 476 which seems to be called One Hour or One entire Space or Line of Time for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Ch. 9.15
when he arrived to his Kingship and Supremacy then this other Beast became his False Prophet serving and Advancing him by Lying Miracles and Wonders 14 For they three Frogs are indeed the Spirits 25 of Devils like Frogs workâ—ng 26 lying Miracles 2 Thes 2 9-11 Rev. 13.13 14. which go f rth unto the Kings of the Earth i. e. the Antichristian Potentates and Enemies of Christ's Kingdom Psalm 2.1 2. Judg. 5.3.19 Rev. 20 7-10 and of the whole World Chap. 20.8 to gather them by exciting and engaging them to the 27 Battle of that 28 great day of God Almighty Chap. 19.19 25 These Wicked Agents for Paganism and Aneichristianism are called Spirits of Devils because they are acted and influenced by the Devil and his Angels who ever since their Fall have been permitted to make bold Attempts full of Malice and Rage against God and Christ's Kingdom 26 They are permitted according to the Example of the Aegyptian Magicians to work Lying Wonders as the Devil had frequently done in the Times of Paganism and Antichristianism 27 This is the first Battle of Gog and Magog before the coming of Christ's Kingdom now ready to appear wherein they are overcome and the Wisdom and extraordinary Power of God styled here upon that account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord of Hosts in respect of his Rule and Dominion over all things and his Power by which he is able to perform them is manifested in the Defeat of the Devil who had summoned all his Force and Power together under the Wise Holy and Incomprehensible Justice and Vengeance of God to shew his utmost Malice and Rage against Christ's Kingdom See on Chap. 19.19 and on the Three Last Chapters 28 Wherein he would manifest his uncontroulable Power and absolute Dominion after the most extraordinary manner beyond any thing which had as yet appeared 15 Behold 29 says Christ I come or am just ready to come in my Thousand Years Kingdom as 30 a Thief i. e. on a suddain and after a surprizing manner chap. 3.3 10 11. Blessed in that happy state Dan. 12.12 is he that 31 watcheth in this time of trouble and temptation and they who shall be found so doing when I come Luke 12 35-40 and 32 blessed also is he that keepeth his Garments i. e. his purity righteousness and innocency chap. 19.8 lest loosing his righteousness he walk naked and they see his shame i. e. his shameful nakedness be discovered to his utter confusion and he be driven out of Paradise as his naked first Parents were Gen. 3. 2 Cor. 5.3 29 These Words are a Parenthesis spoken by Christ to those who professed his Religion as appears from the Gentleness and tender care of them commanding them to watch over themselves with great diligence and signifying what their state should be in his Kingdom just approaching intimated by the Word Blessed taken from Dan. 12.12 which is a place of the like import with this 30 Christ is every where represented (a) Matth. 24. 1 Thess 5.2 in Scripture as coming of a sudden to his Kingdom notwithstanding the many Prognosticks given of it and preparations to it because his actual appearing will be on a sudden and by surprize 31 32 Hereby is signified that all they shall be blessed who have watched for Christ with Oyl in their Vessels as well as their Lamps and shall be found really united to him and having on his Righteousness when he comes in his Kingdom See Chap. 3. 16 And he 33 i. e. the Spirits of Devils under the justice and Vengeance of Almighty God in order to his Glory and the punishment of his Enemies Judg. 4.7 Joel 3.11 12. gathereth them i. e. the Kings of the Earth and of the whole World together by their instigations and power ever them into a place called in the Hebrew tongue 34 Armageddon i. e. there was a most Powerful and Diabolical Confederacy against Christ's Kingdom Psal 2. 33 It is evident from Verse 14. that this gathering together is performed by the three Evil Spirits where yet as well as in this Verse a Verb of the Singular Number is made use of according to the Custom of the Greek Language when a Noun of the Neuter Gender is referred to And this gathering together is some desperate Attempt managed by the Wicked of the Old Earth at the instigation and by the help of the Evil Spirits against Christ's Kingdom just ready to appear in which they are discomfited after some extraordinary and miraculous manner as Sisera was at Megiddo Judg. 4 15.5 20. and are confined by God in a miserable and most contemptible condition during the Thousand Years of Christ's Kingdom upon the expiring of which Satan and his Wicked Kings and Nations are again loosed See Chap. 20. 34 The Word signifies the Hill of Megiddo called Megiddon by the (a) Zech. 12.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXX Prophet a Royal City in the Tribe of Issachar but belonging to Manasseh which (b) Josh 17.11 12. Judg. 1.27 the Canaanites inhabited in despight of the Children of Manasseh and was (c) Judg. Chapters 3 and 4. famous for the miraculous Defeat of Sisera and the Kings of Canaan a Type of the Kings of the Earth in this Prophecy by Barak and the Israelites who came down from Mount Tabor which was not far from that place and discomfited them at the Waters of Megiddo in the Hilly as (a) In loc Grotius thinks and Mountainous parts of that place and also for the Death of (b) 2 Kings 9 27. Ahaziah but especially of (c) 2 Kings 23.29 30. 2 Chron. 35 20-27 Josiah who received his deadly Wound with a great slaughter in the Valley of Megiddo where he was bewailed with so great a Lamentation that the Mournings in that Valley are used by way of a proverbial speech by the Prophet Zechariah and Megiddo is interpreted by the LXX the Valley of the slain or cut off as if it signified a place of great grief and slaughter And the Name of this place is made choice of here perhaps to signifie 1. That Satan shall be discomfited and that although he make choice of the most advantageous places to defend himself signified by the Mountains encompassing the Valley of Megiddo For the Canaanites having had a Terrible Defeat in the Valley Satan the Leader of these Wicked Kings of the Earth may be supposed now to make choice of New Stratagems signified by the Hill of Megiddo according to the (d) 1 Kings 20.23 Notions received amongst Idolaters that the Gods of the Hills were stronger than the Gods of the Plain 2. With reference to what is prophesied of by (e) Chap. 39.4 Ezekiel concerning Gog the Type of these Kings of the Earth that he shall fall upon the Mountains of Israel 3. Megiddo is chosen as the Type and Symbol of the place of this Battel of Decision to shew that Satan intended the Destruction of Christ's Kingdom now ready to succeed