observed in the first place That The Second Beast in the 13th Chapter of the Revelations is a COrnel à Lapide in cap. 13. Apoc. The Two Horns i. e. of the second Beast as Joseph Acosta observes l. 2. de temp Noviss cap. 17. are the marks of the Episcopal Dignity That is of the Mitre or Episcopal Crown The False Prophet therefore does seem by this to be some Apostate Bishop and pretender to Religion It is not therefore the Mitre but some Mitred Apostate that is here taxed who shall treacherously abuse these Horns of the Lamb Christ to propagate the Sect of Anti-Christ Blasius Viega in Cap. 13. Apoc. Sect. 6. Andreas Caesariensis and Irenaeus L. 4. cap 28. seem to me to have been more in the right who take the Second Beast to be some eminent forerunner of Antichrist and remarkable Preacher or as Irenaeus calls him The Armour-bearer of Antichrist Tom. 2. Concilior in decretis Pelagii secundi Upon the assuming of the Title of Universal Bishop by John Patriarch of Constantinople Pope Pelagius the second writes thus to him None of the Patriarchs ever used so prophane a word And weigh well my Brethren what is next to follow c. For it comes very nigh to him of whom it is written He is the King over all the Children of Pride When our Brother and fellow Bishop John to the contempt of the commands of our Lord the Precepts of his Apostles and the Rules of the Fathers does endeavour by this name to be his forerunner Pope Gregory presently after him has much the same opinion of the same person L. 4. Ep. 32. By this haughtiness of his says he what does he show us but that the time of Antichrist is at hand c. and Ep. 36. Repeats the former words of Pelagius and Ep. 38. says That this is the last hour as Christ had foretold of Antichrist All that was foretold is now accomplished The King of pride is at the door and which cannot be spoken without horrour An Army of Priests is prepared for him And L. 6. Ep. 24. And not to speak of the wrong that is done to me in particular by it If a Bishop is called Universal The Universal Church falls to the ground if that Universal Bishop chances to fall And Ep. 28. ad Cyriacum to take away that name of pride Whosoever desires to be Honoured against the Honour of God That is in being called Universal is not at all to be honoured And because Antichrist the Enemy of the Almighty is near at hand I do earnestly beseech you that he may find nothing that belongs to him neither in the Manners nor in the Name of the Priests And Ep. 30. now I say boldly That whosoever calls himself Universal Priest or Bishop he is by that exaltation of himself the forerunner of Antichrist For as that wicked one would seem to be God above all Men so the other exalts himself above all Bishops a Prop. 25. See References Church-head owned for Supream over all the Roman Jurisdiction And distinct from the First Beast For the Second Beast is said to exercise all the Power of the v. 12. First Beast and therefore is a Supream Authority in that Nation And the exercise of this Power is to force men to a Religious v. 12 13 14. Worship and to make them make an Image to the First Beast to be worshipped by all the World and he was to work Miracles to deceive men into this Worship which are all Instances of an Ecclesiastical Authority And besides has the name of the false Prophet by way of eminence Coroll 2. Prop. 8. Wherefore he must be a church-Church-Head exercising this Supream Ecclesiastical Authority over the Romans The description of the Second Beast is also quite different from that of the First and is said to be a Second Beast in reference to that First and therefore must be another different Beast from the First His great business also is to make men give worship to the First Beast who is every-where distinguished from him by the name of the First Beast which had been deadly wounded but yet v. 12 14. did still live All which is sufficient to conclude them to be b Alcasar in cap. 13. Apoc. Sect. 6. It is evident from the Context That the Beast out of the Earth and the Beast out of the Sea must be two distinct Beasts See also before Viega Pelagius Gregorius M. Mede in c. 13. Apoc. v. 1. See the next note Mede See Note 6. of this Chap Goldastus p. 349. Item Ibidem Goldast p. 76. See there the Oath taken by the Electors by the order of the Golden Bull That I will chuse a Temporal head for the Christian World Pope Gelasius in the time of Theodoric King of Italy in his Decree about the Council of Chalcedon Concil Caranzae p. 282. shows That before the coming of Christ the King used to be the High-Priest and so was it in use amongst the Pagan Emperors But when it was come to him that was the true King and High-priest together neither could the Emperor take the name of High-priest nor the High-priest the name of Emperor So that the Emperors have need of the Popes for the things of another life And the Popes of the Emperours for the things of this World All the Concordats betwixt the Emperors and Popes are said to be to Unite the Royal Power and the Priesthood as particularly that of the Emperor Henry's giving up the right of Investitures to Pope Calixtus the 2d and the Popes confirming the Regalia to the Emperor by the Scepter Abbot Urspurg Chron. An. 1122. two distinct things really different from one another 'T is true All the mischief for which the First Beast is so stigmatized in this Prophecy is that which is the whole business of the Second Beast that is Idolatrous Worship tyrannically imposed by the Image which the Second Beast sets up This the first Beast assists and enforces by his Power And upon this account are these Two Beasts represented as one Confederacy And therefore the one is often comprehended in what is said to be done by the other because it is one common Interest that they both act in and in which they both act at the same time So that to signify the Activity of either of them it is enough on many occasions to intimate the name of but one of them as we see the name of either of the two Partners in a Trade does signify the concurrence of the other in it who was not named But that they are notwithstanding both of them Supream Heads in their several ways with an absolute Jurisdiction belonging to them appears from that Power of the Second Beast by which he gave life to the Image of the First Beast and impowered it to kill all who would not worship it For it is certain from that v. 15. That the Second Beast himself must have that Power of
from the time of St. John Prop. 22. At the ruine of the Western Empire by the Heruli and Gothish Kings of Italy the Sixth Head was at the latest at an end Prop. 23. The Beast called the Eighth King Rev. 17. 11. is a Sovereign Power of Rome that is owned there for Supream at this present Corollar 1. The 42 Months of the Beast Rev. 13. 5. are at least 1260 Chaldaick Years Corollar 2. The 1260 days of the Two Witnesses Revel 11. 3. are the same concurrent time with the 42 Months of the Beast Corollar 3. The Two Witnesses in Sackcloth Revel 11. 3. do represent the whole True Church of Christ during all the time of the Reign of the Beast Prop. 24. The Second Beast Revel 13. 11. is a Church-head owned for Supream over all the Roman Jurisdiction and distinct from the First Beast Prop. 25. The Beast in the Revelations is a Secular Sovereign Power of the Romans confederated with an Ecclesiastical Roman Head in an Antichristian Idolatrous League and distinct from him Coroll 1. The Second Beast Revel 13. 11. is a Succession of Ecclesiastical Persons having Supream Power in Ecclesiastical Affairs Coroll 2. The Beast and the False Prophet are those Two Secular and Ecclesiastical Governours which are at this present time acknowledged Supream by the City of Rome and distinct from one another Coroll 3. The Present Imperial and Papal Power of the Romans are the Beast and the False Prophet Concerning the First Appearance of the Beast Query 1. Whether at the time of Justinian's Conquest of the Italian Goths there had not been at least two such Changes of the Secular Government of Rome since the time of St. John as might he called two different Heads of the Beast Query 2. Whether the First Rise of the Beast was not upon the Conquest of the Goths by Justinian THE SEVERAL OPINIONS CONCERNING THE BEAST IN THE APOCALYPSE IT is generally agreed by all the considerable Interpreters of all Churches in this present Age That Babylon and The Beast in the Visions of the Apocalypse do signify some Idolatrous State of Roman Reign For they all agree that by Babylon must be meant some Domination of Rome But there are three main Differences amongst them in respect of the Age to which they fix their Interpretations Some do apply these Visions to the Affairs of Rome-Heathen and so maintain that the time of the concern of these Visions is already past Others apply them to the times of Antichrist near the end of the World who contend that the matter of them is not yet begun to be fulfilled And others again Interpret them of the present times in which we live and of many Ages past since the time of Rome-Heathen There are some other Opinions that are a mixture of these but these are the only considerable Differences of the Interpreters of our present Age. 1. Those that lay this Scene in Rome-Heathen they make The Beast considered as the common Subject of his Heads and Horns to be the Roman Empire or Nation And when that Term is used only for Him who is called the Eighth King it is then the Roman Nation under that particular King or He himself Ruling the Romans The Seven Heads are Seven Persecutions of Roman Emperors either of so many single Emperors or of so many kinds of persecuting Emperors Of this Opinion are the latest of the Roman Interpreters and Grotius and Dr. Hammond c. 2. Those that defer the Application of these things to some State of Rome near the end of the World are more uncertain They will have many of the things that are said of Babylon alone by it self to belong to Rome-Heathen but far the greatest part of the Account of it and all that concerns the History of the Beast they determine to the time of the appearance of Antichrist three years and an half before the end of the World according to the litteral Acceptation of that space of time mentioned five several times within the compass of three Chapters Therefore are they forced to make the Beast signify The World of wicked Men in general when taken for the common Subject of its Heads and Horns But the particular State of it when used to signify the Eighth King only they determine to be either some Roman Antichrist or which is much the same the Devil in Antichrist in the time of the Reign of Antichrist as the 7th King in the Roman Territories The Seven Heads they would have to be Seven Ages of the World with the several Tyrants against the Church of God in each of them the Sixth of which was that Age in which St. John lived because it is said Five are past One is which appears to be the ground of all this Opinion that they may make the Sixth Head continue from St. John's time to the time of Antichrist near the end of the World whom they make to be the Seventh Of this Opinion are almost all the Roman Interpreters and ground themselves for it upon the general Opinion of the Fathers concerning the three years and an half of the Reign of Antichrist near the end of the World And Alcasar says of them that they think it so certain that there is no doubt to be made of it Disput in Argument totius cap. 13. Apocal. But Alcasar himself is of another mind and after twenty years Labour in this Study says That it is plain from the Characters of the Beast in the Revelations and from its Allusion to the Ten horned Beast in Daniel That this whole Beast is nothing but the Roman Empire Disputat in Argument cap. 13. Apocal. And that to fly to the Kingdom of the whole World for the Beast and to make the Seven Heads to be Seven Ages in it is so forced and wrested an Interpretation that any one may observe it Disput 1a. in cap. 17. Apoc. And that Ribera's Opinion does offer a fair occasion to the Hereticks to calumniate the Roman Church as being at last to be an Apostate from the Faith On the other side Cornelius à Lapide does thus censure the first opinion that interprets all of Rome Heathen and which therefore is forced to interpret the first part of the Visions of the ruin of the Jewish Common-wealth or Synagogue as Salmeron and Alcasar in particular so also Grotius and Dr. Hammond He says of this opinion in Prolegomen in Apocal. That it is 1. an Innovation 2. Mystical not Historical 3. Of a Prophecy it makes the Apocalypse an History for the Jewish state was down before the writing these things 4. Because it was against the agreeing-sense of the Fathers He says further in the same place That tho it was not flattery yet it was only a Love to and Reverence for the Apostolick See and a zeal for the honour of it that put Alcasar upon this opinion as he himself does ingenuously confess But Ribera says positively That he is blind that does not see that
people that are given up to a reprobate mind for denying Babylon in the 2 Peter 5. 13. to be Rome and then shew us the almost unanimous Consent of the Fathers concerning it And Grotius who has used all the dexterity of his Wit to remove the Scene of these Visions from the Church of Rome yet does upon the 9th and 18th Verses of this Chapter affirm That there could not have been given more illustrious Marks of the City of Rome than those that are there expressed of it This positive Testimony for the unquestionable Evidence of this Proposition against the doubts and waverings of others is a great encouragement to expect as sufficient a proof of it from the grounds that are laid down for it in the Prophecy which are now therefore to be considered 1. And first The Angel's promise at the 7th Verse of this Chapter to explain to the Prophet the mystical expressions of the Woman and the Beast which he had invited him to the shew of in the beginning of the Chapter would make any judge he might with very good reason expect to see it performed by him in so clear a manner as might tolerably answer the promise that he had before made of it 2. The Angel may be found thereupon describing Babylon by such Characters as were the individual and peculiar Characters of the City of Rome v. 9 18. by its seven Hills and its Reign over the Kings of the Earth for there was no City in the World that ruled over the Kings of the Earth and that was seated upon seven Hills but that City only But Rome was very eminent for this It commanded the East the West the South and some of the parts of the North to the end of the then civiliz'd World And e Varro lib. 4. de LL. Dies septimontium nominatus ab his septem montibus in queis sita urbs est Varro informs us of a yearly Festival at Rome that was called Dies Septimontium to celebrate the memory of the seven Hills upon which the City was built 3. Rome was also at the time of this Explication generally known by the appellatives of The seven-hill'd City The Queen and Lady of the World It was not better known by the Letters of its own proper Name by persons of any fashion than by these Appellatives as may be seen amongst all the famous Poets especially of that Age and who were generally esteemed and read all over the Roman Empire as f Virgil Georg. lib. 2. Aeneid lib. 6. Septemque una sive muro circumdedit arces And all The seven-tow'r'd Hills has compass'd with one Wall Virgil g Horace in carmine saeculari Diis quibus septem placuere colles Dicere carmen To sing unto the Gods who love the place Which the sev'n Hills do grace Horace h Ovid. Fastor lib. 1. Sed quae de septem totum circumspicis orbem Montibus Imperii Roma Deûmque locus But Thou who from thy sev'n-hill'd Seat Seest the World crouching at thy feet Rome in thy Gods and Empire Great Ovid i Propertius Septem urbs alta juges toti quae praesidet orbi The Town that rules the World advanc'd upon The sev'n Hills for its Throne Propertius k Martial lib. 12. Epigr. 8. Terrarum Dea gentiumque Roma Cui par est nihil nihil secundum Rome the Worlds Godess by all Nations fear'd To whom no thing is like no thing to be compar'd Martial l Lucan Atque omnis Latio servit quae purpura ferro And every Crowned Head and State Who to the Roman Arms submit their Fate Lucan c. 4. And these Characters we find also expresly fixed to a certain time when they could not be understood of any other Place as The seven Hills where the Woman sitteth that is at this present time The City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth that is at Ver. 9 18. this moment or at that time when the Angel spoke to the Apostle all along that Chapter to unfold the Mystery to him From these plain Circumstances I could not think it would be any dangerous venture to be confident That Babylon must be Rome For who can think it possible for an Angel of God to promise in the first place to explain the mystical terms of a Prophecy to an Apostle of Christ then to go on immediately to perform it by Characters of them which were very peculiar and individual Properties of things that were alone known to have them and by which they were generally known and understood to be meant in the common conversation of the world and to fix them also to a certain time when they were so generally used and yet after all this that the Angel might understand them in a much different sense How then is it possible to know the meaning of the plainest words in Scripture if in such circumstances as these an Angel of God could have given such an invincible temptation to the world to deceive themselves without any possibility to prevent it I could not therefore judge it possible that Babylon here should be any thing else but Rome This I was still the more free in because I saw it the confidence CONSENT of those who tho' they make the outward Testimony of a Church their ordinary Rule to judge of any divine infallible Truth yet here speak with all imaginable assurance about a thing which their Church never defined upon the account of the over-bearing evidence of the Text for it and this also freed me from all fear of any partial prejudice against their Church that might make me too ready to join with the rest in this great assurance As for the wavering Opinions of others about it I knew it to be no strange thing to find Learned and Worthy Persons of different Judgments about the most certain and even the most undeniable Truths either upon the account of former prejudices or want of sufficient consideration or from an unaccountable indifference for some things or from some peculiar propension to others so as sometimes to maintain very plain Contradictions to the common sense of men as it was of old observed of the subtilest Reasoners in the world That there was nothing so absurd which was not maintained by some or other of the Philosophers I had read of very learned Scepticks that doubted of the Certainty of Mathematical Demonstrations had known many Judicious and Worthy Persons that could not see any absolute Contradiction in the most difficult Notion of Transubstantiation and much more easie is it for the best men to apprehend That in the clearest Explication of a Mystery as this is there may possibly be a further Mystery Let the reason of the indifference of others have been what it will we are sure That if any mystical Figure should be now said by an Angel to signifie the most Christian King with the Flower-de-Luces or the most Catholick
before said to be the seven Heads and which immediately after the mention of them were divided into five one and this other There is certainly no manner of ground to think the one in this division to be one of the Seven more than the other As for the Criticism of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is known that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is ordinarily used to signify another thing or person individually distinct from one mentioned before without any other new quality in the One distinct from the Other which had been before spoken of Matt. 4. 21. and 5. 39. and 12. 13. and 13. 8. Where the Seed was the same before it was Sown and yet called other Seed And to the same purpose every where in the New Testament But that which does the most plainly express the same quality in the thing which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of that which hath been mentioned before it is that known By-word of Aristotle in his Ethicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Friend is another self And howsoever Philosophers may distinguish betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet in common speech they are promiscuously used for one another I have insisted the longer upon the perfect clearing of this because it is the foundation of all the Historical Application that can be made of the 8th King called the Beast which is the great business of all our search and I hope there needs no more now to make it unquestionable that the Seventh King is one of the whole seven mentioned before in general in the first words of the 10th Verse and so that every one of the Eighth Kings is also one of those same Seven since the Eighth is expresly said to be one of the Seven To this the Romish Interpreters do generally agree They CONSENT make the first seven Kings to be the seven Heads and the Eighth to be the Devil common to them all and so no new Head or new King distinct from those seven that are mentioned before him To recompence the length of the former Discourse here are these following fruits of it The Eighth King is one of the seven that had been in Rule before it and Corollar was returned into Power again For the Eighth King is one of the same whole Seven mentioned in general that the rest are comprehended in by Prop. 4. And therefore the whole Eight are really but Seven distinct Kings and the Eighth comes after Seven of them distinctly reckoned up before him The Eighth must therefore be one of those former Seven returned into Power again according as it is intimated of him That he is one of the Seven The Romanists do apply that term And is of the seven to the Devil as being in all the other Seven Kings But then they make the being of the seven the same with the being in the seven whereas the word in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does properly signify the being one of that number of Seven just before mentioned especially when he appears here to be an Eighth in a successive order of Kings For that shows him to be a King alone by himself after the time of the former Seven Reigns but yet one of them And so must be one of them returned again It may next be observed That Every one of the Eight Kings Rev. 17. 10 11. is represented by Prop. 5. one of the seven Heads of the Beast For every one of those Eight Kings is one of those called the Seven Kings in General by Prop. 4. And those called the Seven Kings in General v. 10. are said to be the Seven Heads as well as the Seven Hills are The Text in the Original is The seven Heads are seven Mountains and are seven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kings v. 9 10. The Hills and Kings have the very same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or are to affirm them equally to be the seven Heads as it is also almost unanimously agreed upon by all Interpreters And the eighth King is called The Beast and is one of those seven Kings which denotes the relation of the seven Kings to the seven Heads of the Beast Wherefore every one of those eight Kings must be one of the seven Heads that are said to be the seven Kings because every one of the eight Kings by Prop. 4. is one of those same seven Kings who are said to be the seven Heads The fear of this Consequence viz. That then the seventh King must be the seventh Head is the chief ground of that Opinion before mentioned that would have the Seventh King in the Order to be none of those seven Kings which are just before called the seven Kings in General tho immediately after the mention of the whole seven in General follows the account of them in order and in that order the seventh King has its proper place But they will have the eighth King to be the seventh Head of the Beast which will appear from the following Corollary to be inconsistent with the plain expressions of the Text. The Eighth King is one of the Seven Heads of the Beast that was Corollar 1 past and revived again For the Eighth King was one of the Seven Kings that was past and was returned into Power again by Coroll Prop. 4. And all those seven Kings reckoned up as past before him have been found to be so many Heads of the Beast by Prop. 5. Wherefore the eighth King must be one of those past seven Heads that was revived again since the eighth King was one of those seven Heads by Prop. 5. And yet came after the time of them all And therefore must be one of them revived again This is so far agreed to by those who make the eighth King the seventh Head That they apprehend it to be the sixth Head healed of a deadly wound But it is manifest That by this they make but six Heads upon the Beast instead of seven For the Head of the Beast that was seen wounded to death and healed again in the 13th Chap. v. 3. could be but one and the same Head It is absurd to make an Head wounded and healed again to be more than one Head And therefore does the Prophet describe it but as one and the same Head Wherefore since the maintainers of this Opinion do account the sixth King of the seven to be the sixth Head and the seventh King to be no Head the eighth King which is but the healing of the sixth Head cannot encrease the number and so they come at last to make but six Heads in all For their seventh Head is but the sixth healed again whereas there were seven really distinct Heads seen in the Vision By the preceding Corollary it appears That The Eighth King called The Beast Rev. 17. 11. signifies The Beast Corollar 2 with that Head only which was last in Rule For the eighth King is one of the seven Heads of the
each particular description 1. As they are in the 13th and 17th Chapters both described with seven Heads and ten Horns so are they also characterized more peculiarly by one Head only of the seven The one by his Chap. 13. 3. Chap. 17. 11. healed Head and the Mouth of it The other by the 8th King or Head which was one of the seven Heads 2. The peculiar Head that the one is described by is an Head Ibid. wounded to death and healed again and under which The Beast with the same False Prophet that he is found with in the 13th Chapter does in all appearance come to his end and that Head therefore must be is Last Head and yet it cannot be distinct from the other Seven because it is but one of them healed and it comes after them all as the last of all and so must necessarily be an Eighth which was one of the Seven Now the Head of the other is expresly said to be an Eighth which was one of the Seven 3. It is said of the one that the World wondred at the Head Chap. 13. 3. deadly wounded and healed And of the other that the World Chap 17. 8. should wonder at The Beast which was and is not and yet is who is said to be the Eighth King or Head Which seems to be the same 4. The one is said to arise out of the Sea with the former Character of its Head wounded and healed again Chap. 13. 1. Chap. 17. 8. And the other to ascend out of the Bottomless Pit with the latter Character of Was and Is not and yet is which signifies the same And the word in the Greek for the bottomless Pit The Abyss is the common term in the Septuagint to signify the Sea and the Septuagint was the Copy that our Saviour and his Apostles referred to in all their Discourses and Writings 5. The one had Ten Kings in power with it signified by its Chap. 17. 12. Ten Horns who gave their power to it which they had not at the time of the Vision the other arose up with Ten Horns upon it all crowned which had no Crowns upon the Dragon in the Chapter before 6. The one is described by one particular mouth speaking Blasphemies Chap. 13. 1. Chap. 13. 5. v. 3. The other with one Head who is that Beast all over the 17th Chapter who is said to be full of Blasphemies Prop. 6. 7. The City of the one and the other was the same Babylon in one particular state of Idolatrous and Antichristian Tyranny Prop. 2. and which is said to be fallen in both which one would judge should signify one and the same particular time of Chap. 14. 8. Chap. 18. 2. that City Other the same Characters in both I omit here to mention because they may be accounted not such particular Characters As that they have the same Enemies the same kind of Friends and make the same kind of Wars and have the same variety of Success and Loss in Battel To make them then signify two different states of The Beast or of Roman Rule as the Beast is here agreed to signify there must at least these unlikelihoods be digested viz. That all these Characters together which are the same in both must be twice verified of the Roman Government viz. That it had twice a Supreme Government over it which came after Seven before it and yet was one of the Seven and Ten Kings twice confederated with such a Power at two several Changes of Roman Power in two several states of the same kind of Idolatry and Antichristian Tyranny of Rome and that Rome must have two eminent Ruines in the midst of all these same Circumstances twice repeated For these and many other very peculiar Characters must have been all at a time in conjunction or have belonged altogether at the same time to each of these same repeated States of the Beast Which would have been much like a Story of the throwing so many Dice out of a Box at two several times into just the same Order and Chances without any contrivance For all the credit of this way of Interpretation lies wholly upon the affirmation of the Interpreters themselves Would not this be to lay the plainest ground for an almost unavoidable delusion about the sense of a Prophecy For who would ever take such a representation of Two Beasts with so exact a likeness to one another in so many peculiar Characters with the same peculiar way of rise marks actions make and circumstances for two different States of that Beast and only because they are Two several Shows of it Can any one believe Rev. XIII XVII this of a Vision that men are exhorted to understand and which an Angel of God comes on purpose so to explain as to make an Apostle of Christ apprehend it was to tell him the mystery of these things for the edification of the Christian Church And the Rules for interpreting of which according to the common Apprehensions of Men in other Cases he himself See CHAP. 2. gave an earnest of in his own Explication Certainly unless it can be proved to be impossible for two Shows of a Beast to signify but one and the same state of it one would be very apt from hence to be confident That they are in these Chapters but Two Shows only of one and the same state of the Beast After all this particular Examination If we would be content with ordinary proof and such as makes men sure of almost all other places of Scripture that is what the Context does as it were of its own accord force one to be confident of The Consideration of the Histories of these Two Beasts and of their order and dependance upon one another would appear to be a sufficient ground for a full conviction of the certainty of this Truth For it is very obvious to observe That the 17th Chapter comes in about the conclusion of the History of The Beast of the 13th Chapter for nothing but to tell the Prophet as the Interpreting Angel himself does seem to intimate what was meant by the Beast and his Seven Heads and Ten Horns and by Great Babylon which had been the Subject of all the four Chapters before it To secure us in this Persuasion we see that the business of the 17th Chapter is brought in immediately after the 16th by one of those Seven Angels with the Seven Vials who had been just before employed about the Seven last Plagues that were poured out upon the other Beast in the former Chapter And the Introduction to all that this Angel had to communicate in the 17th Chapter is an offer from him to shew the Apostle the Judgment of that Great Whore called Babylon the Great which had been just mentioned before by that very name of Babylon the Great in the History of the other Beast at the end of the 16th Chapter And then again after the
particular state of one of its Heads by Rule 2. And to shew the use of the term of The Beast with or without the mention of his Head to signify the same particular state of it under that Head That which is called The Beast with v. 3. the Head wounded to death and healed in one place is in the other place of this Chapter called The Beast whose deadly wound was v. 12. healed and The Beast who had a wound by a Sword and did live without any mention of his Head to which nevertheless that v. 14. Circumstance does unquestionably refer so that by the bare term of The Beast wounded and healed is signified The Beast with that particular Head If any one would pretend after this that the healed Head might signify one of the seven Hills said to be the Heads Chap. 17. 9. He must bring greater evidence for it by Rule the 2 d than the Prophetical use of an Head of a Beast for the Ruling Power of it is which is not pretended by any All that appears for it is that the seven Heads which were crowned in the Dragon chap. 12. have no Crowns upon the Beast in the 13th Chapter immediately after which may seem to shew that the Heads in the 13th Chapter without Crowns are Hills But that would be a reason for making the seven Heads no Kings in the 17th Chapter also where they are shown without Chap. 17. 10. Crowns and yet are certainly so many Kings But from the 17th Chapter it is plain that the time of their Crowns would be past before The Beast would come to be in that state which he appears in in the 17th Chapter and the 13th For even according to Grotius himself the seven Reigns would be past before the time of those two Shows in each Chapter And then was it not proper to represent those seven Heads without Crowns that is as Kings seven of whose Reigns were past for that in being was an 8th that was after the 7th Besides Since the 17th Chapter which is the only ground for making those seven Heads in the 13th Chapter to signify the seven Hills does also make them to be seven Kings The only way to know whether of these two any Character of an Head does mean is to consider the nature of the Character and whether it be the propriety of an Hill or of a King Now of which of these two is it most proper to say whether of an Hill or of a King that it was deadly wounded and healed again And with which of them by reason of that wound might the Beast himself who is described with a very Royal Dominion be most properly said to be wounded and to have his deadly wound healed or to have a wound by a sword and yet to live The very terms of the question does shew that this is properly said of a King who is the life of all the power of the Beast but most improper to be said of the Hill of a City to which a Beast may belong But whatsoever becomes of this wounded and healed Head we are assured by the mouth of the Beast that The Beast in the 13th Chapter for the whole time of its continuance does signify The Beast in a particular state of one of its Heads or Horns And from thence it is plain That the Affairs of the Second Beast the Image Mark Name and Corollar 1 Number of the Name of the Beast do every-where in the 13th Chapter belong to that particular state of the First Beast For the term of the Beast signifies all over that Chapter the First Beast only by Proposit 8. And that Beast does there signify The Beast in one particular state of an Head or Horn for the whole time of his continuance by Proposit 9. Wherefore every thing that is there joined with the term of the Beast the Image Mark c. and the Second Beast acting with him do all belong to that particular state of the Beast And that does also further assure us That the Beast with the False Prophet or Second Beast and Image Corollar 2 and Mark and Name c. in all the other Chapters do signify the same particular state of the Beast with those Attendants in which it is in the 13th Chapter For by Coroll 2. Prop. 8. The Beast with all those same Attendants is the same with that in the 13th Chapter And by Coroll 1. Prop. 9. The Beast with those Attendants in the 13th Chapter is in a particular state of its Heads or Horns Therefore must they all signify the Beast in the same particular state every where else CHAP. VIII Rev. XIII XVII The Tenth Proposition and its Corollaries conclude The Beast of the 13th and 17th Chapters to be one and the same particular state of the Beast WE have now sufficient grounds to conclude That The seven Heads and ten Horns of the Beast in the 13th and Proposit 10. 17th Chapters must signify the same things For since they are in both Chapters the same very peculiar and proper mystical Expressions and since they are explained in the 17th Chapter by Rule the third they must signify the same things But still further to confirm the force of that Rule in the present Case and to make the thing unquestionable it is to be considered That The Beast of the 13th Chapter is one and the same particular state of it both before and after the 17th Chapter by Coroll 1 and 2. Prop. 9. and so the 17th Chapter does stand in the body of the History of that Beast of the 13th Chapter We may also very plainly see that the 17th Chapter is interpreted in that place only to explain the mystical Significations of the same number of Heads and Horns upon a Beast to all appearance every way the same with this and of that Babylon that is the common sharer in the Fortunes of the Beast of the 13th Chapter throughout all the account of him For at the very v. 1. entrance into that Explication it is said by the Angel that he would shew the Apostle the judgment of that Great Whore called Babylon which was but just before it threatened with the Wrath of God in the Story of the other Beast at the conclusion of the 16th Chapter And then the Explication of this same kind and number of things of just so many Heads and Horns as had been mentioned of the other Beast is made by one of those Angels with the seven Vials who had been just before employed about the judgments of the former Beasts all over the Chapter immediatly preceding this Explication Who would not upon this consideration conclude with himself That the Angel's Explication of the same number of Heads and Horns in a new show of a Beast to all appearance the same with this other whose History is on purpose there interrupted to make room for that new show did most certainly refer to the same number of
It has the mouth of a Lyon the feet of a Bear and the body of a Leopard Chap. 13. v. 2. which is enough to distinguish him from all the Beasts in the World It would much surprise any one at the first to meet with so uncouth an appearance of a thing that has three such strange and unusual Characters which cannot be supposed to be mentioned by chance and yet have no kind of Interpretation given them as many of the Characters of that Beast have in the 17th Chapter But it thereby appears that this Beast is plainly drawn from another Original Copy viz. That Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel And there it appears that that Beast had devoured three other Dan. 7. 7 19. Beasts which where like to a Lyon a Bear and a Leopard So that this Fourth Beast in Daniel with the other three before it in the 7th Chapter being interpreted afterwards to signify so many Kingdoms His devouring them there can be nothing but v. 17 23. the conquering them and upon that conquest the having them added to himself And so the Kingdom signified by him comes to be made up of those three together with that which was properly his own Dominion before All the difference then betwixt them is that the one is said to have devoured those three and the other is shown with them digested into his own Body 2. The parts in which the Beast in the 13th Chapter of the Revelations are said to be like those three Beasts are just like the same parts of the Fourth Beast in Daniel For the mouth which is said to be like that of a Lyon in the 13th of the Revelations and to be a mouth speaking great things and that was opened in Blasphemy v. 5. against God is just like the mouth belonging to the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel which spake great words against v. 8. the Most High The Feet which in that 13th Chapter of the Revelations are v. 2. said to be the feet of a Bear whose strength we know lies in his Paws were just like the Feet of the other in Daniel the Nails of v. 19. which were of brass and brake all in pieces and stampt upon the residue with his Feet The whole Body of that in the Revelations that was like a Leopard or like the Third Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel which being the same thing with the Third Kingdom in the 2d Chapter did bear rule over all the Earth v. 39. is just the same with that of the Fourth Beast in Daniel which devoured the whole Earth ch 7. 23. and so had a Body of the same likeness with the Leopard 3. The Beast in the Revelations had Ten Horns upon it just as that Fourth in Daniel had and the Ten Horns of both of them are said to signify Ten Kings Rev. 17. 12. Dan. 7. 24. But here indeed is the difference betwixt them that the one had Seven Heads and Ten Horns and the other nothing but the Ten Horns and the Little Horn. But 4. Since all the Heads of the Beast in the Revelations were past and gone excepting the last Prop. 6. and so that Beast is nothing but the Beast under the Last Head all the difference then betwixt that in the Revelations and that in the 7th of Daniel is but this That the one besides the Ten Horns had an Head and the other an Eleventh Horn and if this be all the difference betwixt them the fashion of their Figures signifies nothing we are only to regard what they are both interpreted to represent Since therefore the Little Horn is said to represent a remarkable bustling King and the last Head of the Beast signifies nothing but the last King of Seven very formidable and turbulent we have no reason at all to fear any difference betwixt them 5. Consider then what this Eleventh Horn was and the Characters Dan. 7. 8. 21. of it It had Eyes like the Eyes of a Man and a Mouth speaking great things and a Look that was stouter than that of its Fellows Surely an Horn that has a Look or Face and Eyes and a Mouth can be nothing in the World but an Head in the fashion of a Horn an ill-shap'd Head For it had also Brains and a Soul in it by what it was able to speak and to act and by ruling and commanding the whole Body So that the whole Beast was slain and burnt for the Crimes of that Horn v. 11. This Horn then was in reality an Head for it had all the Properties and Offices that an Head is known by And therefore see next how the Characters of it agree with those in the last Head of the other Beast 6. The Mouth of the one and the other we have found to Dan. 7. 7. Rev. 13. 3 5. be the same by their speech and both of these Beasts wondred at for their dreadfulness 7. The one had power given him to make war with the Saints Rev. 13. 7. and to overcome them The other was to wear out the Saints of the Most High Dan. 7. 25. 8. The one had power given him over all Kindreds Tongues and Nations and the other was the King of a Kingdom that had devoured Rev. 13. 7. the whole Earth and trod it down Dan. 7. 23. 9. Both the one and the other had Ten Kings at the same time with them in the same Kingdom 10. The one ariseth out of a Kingdom divided amongst Ten Rev. 13. 1. Kings the other ariseth up out of the Sea and Waters signify Multitudes and Tongues and Nations Rev. 17. It ariseth Dan. 7. 24. also with Ten Kings ready Crowned which we cannot think could be all at the same moment that it arose and so it must arise in a Kingdom divided amongst those Ten Revel 13. 1. 11. They both end with the Beast to whom they belong and Dan. 7. 11. Coroll 2. Prop. 6. Coroll 1. Prop. 12. Dan. 7. 25. are both destroyed at the beginning of Christ's Second coming in glory at the beginning of his Universal Reign over all the World which concludes with the judging of the Dead 12. The time of the continuance of both is exactly the same The one a Time Times and half a Time which by many Examples in Daniel and one Instance in the Revelations is known to Rev. 13. 5. be three years and an half and the other continues forty two Months 13. They both rule over the same place over the whole Earth Rev. 13. 7. Dan. 7. 23. over all Kindreds and Tongues and Nations 14. And The Beast it self in both is said to rise out of the Rev. 13. 1. Dan. 7. 3. Sea From all these put together Though it could not be prov'd to be absolutely impossible from their Characters for the two Kingdoms represented by these two Beasts to be otherwise than one and the same Kingdom yet how could a man
does hold good in this use of it also it will be explained how this First Beast does also signify the a ALcasar in cap. 13. Apoc. sect 6. By the Beast out of the Earth is signified a multitude of Persons as well as by the Beast that came out of the Sea Ibid. As well the one Beast as the other are taken not for single Persons but for a great Multitude as the Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel Ibid. As the Beast out of the Sea does contain in it all the Nations of the Roman Empire so also does the Beast that came out of the Earth Rule of the Romans but in another manner of Kingdom than that Chap. 18. See References of the first Beast is so as that they are both in being at the same time For this second will be found to signify their Church-Rule as the first does the Rule of the State Prop. 24 25. 3. It may also be objected That the two Horns of the second v. 11. Beast Chap. 13. according to Daniel must signify distinct Sovereignties Prop. 16. Observat 2 4. But since these Horns have no mark of Rule or Dominion joined with them and are particularly said to signify the likeness of that Beast to a Lamb that does sufficiently shew a particular exception of them from the general Rule in Daniel And yet they may also signify the two distinct Kingdoms or Jurisdictions of that Beast over the Temporal and Spiritual Affairs of that Nation After this how manifestly does it appear to be but a Contrivance only to serve a turn in b Alcasar in Apoc. c. 12. de 10 Corn. It is most evident that the Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel do signify the Roman Empire But those which are not Roman Commanders cannot be the Horns of that Beast Ibid. Ribera understands by the Beast the whole World which does easily fall to the ground of it self For it is evident that Daniel did prophesie of the Roman Empire only viz. in the Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast chap. 7. Ibid. Another Opinion of his is that the Roman Empire shall be Idolatrous which Conjecture is very vain and empty For then it would be another Empire as the Empire that is now in Greece is quite different from that which is represented by the Third Beast in the 7th of Daniel Idem in cap. 17. v. 11. But any one may easily see how forced all that Interpretation is à Lapide Ribera and a number of other See References eminent Persons of the Church of Rome to make the general notion of the Beast in the Revelations to signify the World in general and the seven Heads to be seven Ages of it with the several Tyrannical Powers which persecuted the Church of God in each of them notwithstanding that they are agreed with all other Interpreters about the Constant Uniform Signification of a Beast and of its Heads and Horns all over the Prophecy of Daniel and that the fourth Beast there in the 7th Chapter of Daniel is the particular Monarchy of the Romans and that the Little Horn of that Beast is the same with the last Head of this Beast in the Revelations And yet c Alcasar in cap. 12. Apoc. de 10 Cornibus Quod autem Romanorum Imperium sit extinctum prorsus videtur certum It seems to be altogether certain that the Roman Empire is destroyed Again It is evident that the Roman Empire is destroyed although the Provinces of it be in the possession of other Kings and Emperours Ribera in cap. 12. Apoc. num 14. de 10 Cornibus That which the forementioned Writers apply to the Kingdom of the Romans because that is now altogether annihilated we understand of the whole World over which the Romans reigned do they not shew the least intimation from the Text to countenance this Contradiction to their own Judgments about the same Words and Phrases nor offer to give any Example from the Figures of the like kind to ground their fancy upon Bellarmin indeed is more ingenuous he owns the known Signification of Beasts in Daniel and that the fourth of the 7th Chapter is in particular the same with that in the Revelations and from the certainty of both does acknowledge that the Beast in the Revelations does signify in general the Roman Empire and that the Heads of the Beast must be all Heads of the Romans and that the time of that called the Beast is not yet past And what more convincing proof can there be for the irresistible Light that there is for these things than to see so able a Judge of the concern of his Church in this Affair to be forced thereby to yield to it without any the least shew of advantage from it to serve the Cause that he is so zealous for But especially when we see him thereby forced to desert all the other Defences of his Brethren and to reduce the whole merit of the Cause about the Charge laid against his Church to this only issue viz. Whether the Imperial Roman Government that was in Rule at the time of the Vision has been since that time cut off and succeeded by another form of Government which is to reduce the whole Dispute about the matter of so great importance in the consequence of it to a question about the truth of a matter of fact only in History and which is given against him d Tacitus just about the time that the Revelations were wrote reckons them up in this order in the beginning of his first Book of Annals Kings were at first the Governours of Rome L. Brutus brought in the Consulary Government and Liberty Dictators were set up upon occasion The Decemvirs continued not above two years The Consulary Power of the Tribunes of the Soldiers lasted not long The Domination of Cinna and Sylla was soon ended and Pompey and Crassus yielded to Caesar and Lepidus and Anthony to Augustus who took all into his hands under the name of a Prince or Emperour Livy before him had given much the same account for all those Governments which had been up in his time in his 6th Book I have says he in the five former Books given an account of all the Wars abroad and the Seditions at home which the Romans have had from the first building of the City to the taking of it under Kings Consuls Decemvirs Dictators and Consulary Tribunes So Onuphrius Panvicinus in his Preface to his Fasti Consulares For the City was first under Kings Then succeeded Consuls and sometimes under Decemvirs and sometimes under Tribunes of the Soldiers with Consulary Power and sometimes under Dictators Cassiodorus in his Chronicon gives the same account of the Change of the Roman Government from Kings to Consuls and from them to the Decemvirs and the Consulary Government again interrupted by the Military Tribunes and during all these spaces of time the intermixture of Dictators upon
destruction of the Species or Soul of it that is of the Society of that People either by Slavery or by Subjection only to a new Authority Artic. 4 5 6. Ibid. Artic. 8. As Grotius determines concerning the continuance of the same body of People in the See References 9th Chapter of his Second Book de jure Belli Pacis And therefore were they still the commanding Authority of the Roman Empire 9. This is very learnedly confirmed by b Thus were the People of Rome the same under Kings Consuls and Emperours And Artic. 11. are the same at this day because they still retain that Society in Civil Government which they had formerly and therefore the Imperial Power did always reside in them as in the Body in which it lived For whatever the People of Rome could have formerly done of right before the time of the Emperours the same had they power to do upon the death of any Emperour before there was another chosen The Election of the Emperours did also belong to the People of the City of Rome and was oftentimes performed by the People either alone or by the Senate for them And those Elections which were made by first one and then another Legion of the Army were not valid by the right of those Legions for in a flitting Body there could be no certain right but from the approbation of the People It is no Objection against this that by the Decree of Antoninus all the Subjects of the Roman Empire were made Citizens of Rome For the rest of the Roman Subjects got nothing more by that Decree than what the Colonies and free Cities of the Empire and the Roman Provinces used to have which was to be partakers of the Roman Honours and to have the privileges of Quirites not that the Seat and Fountain of Government should be in other parts of the Empire as it was at Rome For that was not in the power of the Emperour to give who could not change the Fundamental Laws for the exercise of the Governing Power Nor was it any diminution of the Right of the People of Rome that the Emperours chose rather to live at Constantinople afterwards than at Rome For then also did the whole People of Rome confirm and make valid the Election which was made by a part of them at Constantinople who for that are called the Byzantine Quirites by Claudian And those of Rome did still preserve the Prerogative of their City and the honour of the precedence of their Consul which was no small Monument of their Original Right Wherefore all the Right which those of Constantinople had to chuse the Roman Emperour did depend upon the Will of the People of Rome To this purpose is that of Hieron Balbus de Conventione c. 13. But sometimes the Emperour was chosen by the Army who was then accounted rightly chosen if the Authority of the Senate and People of Rome did confirm it Ludovic â Rebeuberg a Caesarian Writer cap. 3. de juribus Reg. Imp. Romanor Charlemaign never called himself Emperour before he was anointed and crowned by Pope Leo The Romans with one Consent did give the Imperial Acclamations to Charlemaign And when he was crowned by Pope Leo they called him Caesar and Augustus M. Fribeius in the Comment In which way of Acclamation says he the popular Election both at Rome and Constantinople did at that time consist As Paulus Diaconus in Histor Miscella Anastas Bibliothecarius do testify Grotius himself in that same Chapter and the Comment on it where he shews as a Lawyer That it was always acknowledged to be the right of the Senate and People of Rome to determine the next Succession to the Government of the Roman Empire in the time of every vacancy That therefore all Elections of Princes and Laws were to be confirmed by them So that the Constantinopolitan Emperours were generally so confirmed and their Laws ratified by the Authority of the City of Rome And to give authority to their Government they had one of the Consuls and a part of the Senate of Rome generally residing with them as delegated from that City to give authority to their Orders as long as there was a good correspondence betwixt the Eastern and Western Empires And to show which of the Seats of the Empire was the chief Fountain of the Roman Power the Consul of the City of Rome always had the precedence So that as long as the Power of the Roman Senate and Consuls did continue at Rome which was till the Conquest of Rome by Justinian the Sovereign Power of that City must come in for a share at least in the then Ruling Head of the Beast which is all that is necessary to be here established 10. And the way to make any man a Roman in distinction to others that were Subjects of that Empire was to make him a Citizen of Rome which did manifestly shew that no Power could be properly said to be the Head of the Roman Empire that was without any Authority from the City of Rome 11. The City of Rome had also a very peculiar acknowledgment from the whole Government of the Empire that it was the Head and Fountain of all the Power of the Roman Empire and in a more eminent way than we read of any other City besides For all the Governors of the Provinces at their return from their Office used to lay down the Ensigns of their Authority at the Gates of the City of Rome before they entred the Town in acknowledgment of the first Fountain of their Magistracy which they did therefore thus signify to be resigned up into her hands when they returned home again L. ult de Officio Procons 12. Besides That during the whole time of the division of the Empire to the Reign of c Cod. Justinian Praefat. Consuetudo Romanae Urbis sequenda ab omnibus quia Roma est Caput Orbis Terrarum To this purpose do the Eastern Emperours before give the precedence to the City of Rome So all over Cassiodorus's Varior p. 41 112 207 302 311 319 341 348 359 361 390 396. Rome has the name of the Head of the World with such Characters as these in that City where Honour does always reside in the most sacred City none can be greater than he to whose care Rome is committed not only Rome tho in it are contained all things whatsoever is done in that City is almost in the eyes of the whole World If the Head of the World rejoyces all the rest must do the same not in the Provinces but in the Head of all things And this was just before the Reign of Justinian Justinian at least the City of Rome though no longer the Seat of the Empire was called and accounted the Metropolis of it and therefore was it for all that time called The Head of the World the Head of all things Wherefore by the Head of the Roman Empire that is by any Head
of the Beast in distinction from an Horn all would then have understood That Authority which was owned for Supream by the Senate and People of Rome And it has been concluded that the Angel did so explain his Figures as all the World would understand the literal sense of them to be if there were nothing clearer against it Chap. 2. It does therefore necessarily follow from hence That every Head of the Beast is at the end of its Reign when the Authority Corollar 1 of the City of Rome does own another setled form of Government for Supream in the room of it For then there is a new Head of the Beast constituted by Prop. preced And this shews us the necessity of the following Consequence That The sixth Head was at an end when the City of Rome owned another Corollar 2 setled Authority in the room of that Imperial Government which had continued from the time of the Vision 1. For every Head of a Beast is at an end when another differing form of setled Government is owned for Supream by the City of Rome by Corol 1. praeced And therefore must the sixth Head end with the end of that form of Imperial Government which had continued from the time of the Vision For the sixth Head is that form of Imperial Government by Proposition 19. 2. Again The sixth Head and the Reign of the City of Rome are by the Angel declared to be the same Roman Rule that was in being at the time of the Vision For of both it is said Rev. 17. 9 10. 18. that they were then in Rule and joined with the seven Hills in their Reign And that Head was the Imperial Government at that time by Prop. 19. Wherefore whenever that Imperial Power should be so cut off from the City of Rome that another setled Form of Government should be owned in the stead of it by the Authority of that City who would not assure himself That the Imperial Rule which had continued the Head of that City from the time of the Vision and which was said by the Angel to be the same Ruling Power with which the City of Rome is described at that same time must necessarily have then been at an end It may therefore assuredly be concluded that that sixth Head was at an end at the time that another different Form of Government was owned in the stead of it at Rome This last Conclusion does invite ones curiosity to enquire from the Roman History whether the Imperial Government were ever changed or interrupted by any other setled Form of Government since the time of the Prophecy For since the next Form of Government to the Imperial or sixth King is said should continue but a short space and that then should arise that King Rev. 17. 10 11. or Government called the Beast which is the end of all our search one may easily see that the discovery of a Change in the Imperial Government will determine the time of the Rise of the Beast which is the next Form of Roman Government but one to the Imperial that was in Rule at the time of the Vision And the following Account have we from the Roman History of all the considerable Changes of the Form of the Chief Government from the time of the Revelations CHAP. IV. Rev. XVII An Account of the several changes of the form of the Government of Rome from the time of the Vision The two Emperours were joynt-partners in the Government of the whole Empire like the two Consuls The 22 d Proposition the sixth Head was at latest at an end upon the Fall of the Western Empire in Augustulus The Barbarous Kings of Italy The Absolute Masters of Rome Objections Answered THE Imperial Power continued the same from the time of the mention of it in this Prophecy under the name of the King that was then in Rule till about the year 160 after Christ When Marcus Aurelius made Aelius Verus a sharer with him in the Imperial Power under the name of Augustus whereas there had never been before seen two Emperors with the names of Augustus at the same time And this was taken notice of for so new a face of the Government that some dated their Fasti Spartian in Vero Eutrop. 8. Consulares from thence as a new Epocha of time This way of taking others into the Society of the Empire with them was followed by other Emperors afterwards as Severus with his Son Caracalla Caracalla and his Brother Geta the Gordiani And in their time was there another Government set up at Rome it self called the Twenty Men who were chosen by the Senate to Administer the Affairs of the whole Commonwealth and Ambassadors were sent to all the Provinces of the Empire to contain them under the obedience of the Senate But this continued but a short time and gave way to the exaltation of Balbinus and Papienus to the Imperial dignity by the choice of those Twenty Men themselves and with the Interruption of some single Emperors after them The same Social Form of Empire returned again in Valerian with his Son Gallien And there were afterwards sometimes three and sometimes four Augustus's together which seems to be much like the change of a Dictator into two Consuls And the Dictators and Consuls are accounted two of the five Heads or forms of Government which were said to be past at the time of the Vision Another change was there in the Imperial Government When the Emperors became Christians and when the Laws of the Empire were made to conform to the Christian Religion This seems to some to be a change of the Government much more remarkable than any Political change and to deserve to be one of the two forms of Government that we are in quest of And besides it seems to be plainly described in the 12th Chap. of the Revelations as a very considerable change of the Government of the Empire under the show of the Fall of the Dragon upon which the Beast ascends into the Throne presently after in the 13th Chapter The change of Religion again by Julian the Apostate does thereupon seem to put in for a title to another form And thô the time of his Reign was very short yet it was as long as that of the Decemvirs who are determined by most of the approved Interpreters to be one of the Five Heads that were past at the time of the Vision Besides That his Reign was just almost the very same length of time that the Beast is said to Reign That is Three years and an half The division of the Empire into the Western and Eastern seats especially when it came to be setled by Theodosius seems to have a very fair claim to the title of a new Head or Change of the Imperial Government And like to the succession of the Consuls to the Kingly Government of Rome which are made two of the five forms of Roman Government that were past at the
time of the Vision If it be said that these Emperors were rather two Heads than one like the representation of two of the four Kingdoms in the Graecian Monarchy by two distinct Horns succeeding to Dan. 8. the first It may be answered That according to the account of all Historians Thô they seemed to have a divided Empire yet they acted in almost all the publick affairs as but a BEllarmin de Translat Imperii Occident l. 1. c. 4. Erat tamen c. But so common to them both was the whole Administration of the Empire that is to both the Western and Eastern Emperour that the Laws were made for the whole Empire by the Authority and in the name of both the Emperours And if one of them died without Children the Government of the whole Empire fell to the other One Government of the whole Empire They had both their Authority confirmed at Rome they owned the same Laws and joyned together in the making of them The Laws bear the names of both the Emperors And no Laws could be made but by the consent of both the Princes And if either of them died without Children the other succeeded him in that part of the Empire The supream Authority of Rome was divided betwixt them part of the Roman Senate did always sit at Constantinople one of the Consuls did ordinarily belong to that City There was indeed a promiscuous use of this right of chusing the Consuls betwixt the Two Imperial Seats as Onuphrius Panurinus does show Lib. Fastor pag. 290. sometimes both the Consuls were made at Rome sometimes both at Constantinople sometimes none at all sometimes one in the East another in the West So that as b Panciroll notit Imp. Occident p. 1. But yet both the Princes of See Onuph Panvi Fastor p. 61. and p. 290. where he gives a Chronicle of the Eastern and Western Consuls the East and West did always administer the Affairs of the Empire by a joint consent They made the Laws together they governed the Army by consent and chose the Consuls one of which resided at Rome and the other at Constantinople so that they seemed to be two halves of the Empire joined together Pancirollus does very properly express it They seemed to be Two half Empires joyned together And accordingly in the Notitia Imperii which was the Imperial standard of all the Dignities and Offices of the Empire both Civil and Military and was in use in the time of this division of the Empire The Military Ensigns and the Arms of the chief Dignities are there described as representing the perfect Vnity of the Two Emperors in their design of Governing the whole World All the greater Civil-Magistrates as the Praefects Pancirol Not it Imp. Orient pag. 40. Consuls Proconsuls Vicarii c. had always the Two Emperors Heads raised upon gilded Pedestals and carried before them as the Ensigns of their Authority Pancirollus admires That of the Correctors of Apulia and Calabria as the most expressive of the intent of all the rest Notit dignitat Occident p. 87. And that of the President of Dalmatia was much the same pag. 91. ibid. It was Two Princes upon the top of a gilded Pillar with their backs to one another but so close joyned together that they ended in one common Body And of all the publick Ensigns of Authority he says pag. 46. Notit Orient That the Heads or Faces of the Princes was the chiefest 3. The Military Dignities had the same Figure of the Princes Heads conjoyned Engraven on a Gilded Plate on the back-side of a Book And c Panciroll Notit Imp. Orient p. 56. de M. militum praesentali The Badges of the Authority of this Dignity was a Book upon a Chest covered with white Tapistry In the middle of it is a golden Plate with the two gilt Faces of the Princes engraven in it every Legion had the same drawn together with the Eagle in their Banners besides the distinguishing Figure of the Legion The distinguishing Ensigns d Panciroll notit Imper. Orient p. 59. de Legionibus Every Legion consisted of ten Companies the first of which was called Milliaria This had the charge of the Eagle which was the chief Ensign in the Army and the Faces of the two Princes And pag. 46. Every Legion had the Princes Heads with the Eagle and they adored them upon the top of the Colours The first Company pay their veneration to the Images of the Emperours that is to a Divine Representation of Authority and present at hand And Vegetius de re Militari In the second Rank after the Eagle and the Images stands the 6th Troop And adds The Imaginiferi are those that carry the Emperours Images Panciroll Notit Imper. Orient à cap. 50. usque ad cap. 60. Idem Notit Imper. Occident à cap. 20. ad cap. 28. Panciroll Notit Imper. Oriental cap. 39. pag. 70. Defensores The Old Coin that has two Serpents joined by the Tails is a Type of the one common Power of the two Consuls in both their Authorities The Inscription is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The twofold Rule of the two Consuls Prattica dalle Medaglie di Carlo Patino pag. 150. The Romans used to comprehend their History in two or three words as may be seen in these following Examples of Medals Amor mutuus Augustorum c. and p. 161. among the Abbreviations of the Inscriptions of Medals this is one Augg. which is interpreted to be Augusti duo of every particular Legion had also generally the same signification and that was shown most commonly by two circles of different colours Pancirol Notit dignitat l. 1. 252. c. 2. p. 35. Rounding a Ball which Augustus first ordered to signify the Rule of the World by the Romans sometimes by Two half Circles conjoyned and yet distinguished sometimes by a Circle or Ball girt about with two different wreaths sometimes by two half Snakes rising from a Basis and meeting with their Heads in a Circle Or by two half Horses or Hawks or Horns enclosing a Ball or some round figure sometimes by Half-moons c. And the Sagittarii had this plainly expressed in theirs by a Cirlce about a Globe and Two Eagles on each side of it and the Two Emperors above it The Mattiaci also by a White Globe encircled with two Rounds Red and White and above it the Faces of the Two Emperors And much the same have the Tertia Dioclesiana Thebaeorum Others that are more uncertain I will not mention And these seemed all to be done in imitation of the impress of the old Coynes made to signify the Two Consuls Governing the one Roman State which was represented by Two Serpents joyn'd by their Tails with this Inscription e Baronius Anno 472. Odoacer made a Law which he proclaimed by his Praefect Basilius in a full Assembly of the Bishops in the Vatican That after the decease of Simplicius then Bishop of Rome
by which he is every-where owned for the Chief Head of all Christian Princes For this reason is it That m Bellarmin l. 1. c. 5. de Translat Imp. Rom. proves That the Western Emperours Title to that part of the Roman Empire was acknowledged by all Princes and particularly by the Emperour of Constantinople after the confirming that Title upon Charlemagne And chap. 12. shews the same to have been owned to the German Emperours by all Christian Princes ever since the year 800. And cap. 5. lib. 3. de Pontifice gives this proof of it That for this cause the German Emperour has the precedence of all other Kings tho far more considerable and powerful than himself And next That he has the Consent of the Representatives of the People of Rome for it Ludovic à Bebenburg de Jurib Reg. Imp. cap. 11. does first shew That the Imperial Coronation must certainly give the Emperours more than a Name and that therefore it does give them a Title of Superiority over all the Territories that were under the Jurisdiction of the Roman Empire tho they be not now de facto or actually under the Emperour's Power as that he can legitimate Bastards in them in order to Inheritance restore those that have been publickly disgraced to their Reputation again make Laws and such-like things which of right are only reserved to the Imperial Power to do And unless the King of the Romans got something which he had not before by being made Emperour he could not be said to be advanced to the Imperial Dignity which is the word in the Election Rex Romanorum in Caesarem promovendus Imperator futurus and then the Law would be for words only and not for things contrary to C. Communia de Leg. 2. extr de elect C. Commissa and the difference of the Names would intimate no difference betwixt the Things contrary to Jura 21. distinct C. Clerus c. de Codicel l. si idem he and his Ambassadors have the precedence given them in all publick Appearances And upon this account also is he in n See Ludovic à Bebenburg Not. praecedent Idem cap. 15. shews how the Emperour has the mediate Power in all Kingdoms under the Jurisdiction of the Roman Empire and the Kings the immediate Power To the same purpose is that p. 191 200. S. Rom. Imp. Jus Publicum The Emperour alone has the Power of Legitimating of Bastards of restoring the Disgraced and prescription beyond the Memory of Man against Imperial Rights is of no validity An Order of the Imperial Chamber is an Universal Jurisdiction over all the Subjects of the Roman Empire as well those that are its immediate as those that are it s more remote Subjects the exercise of some Right reserved to him over the Subjects of other Princes in case of the denial of Justice to them or of the neglect of it and in cases of Appeal though not with any power over the persons of Princes Whether this be fit and allowable I will not dispute It is certain that these Rights he has a long time been in actual possession of which usually confirms a Right and are acknowledged to be his due by the Authority of the City of Rome at this present and not allowed to any other Prince beside So that there is none else that has the least appearance of being the one Secular Head of Rome in the midst of Ten Horns or the division of the Roman Empire into Ten Kings If it should be further urged That those dreadful Acts of Antichristian Tyranny over the whole World which are attributed to the Beast do very little suit with the Power of the Imperial Government at present It must be considered That there is a plain description of two different States of the Power of the Beast in the Prophecy it self The first before the Rise of the Second Beast or False Prophet and there he is described as acting upon his own bottom and it is said that all the World did worship him and that he had power over all Tongues and Nations c. And that Rev. 13. 8. does very well answer any time of the Imperial enforcement of the Roman Religion by their Laws and their Execution of the Acts of Councils before the Popes had got the whole Superiority into their Hands For then the Imperial Power was the only Roman Power that was worshipped or whose Will and Law about Religion was set up for the Laws of God to the World But then there is another State of the Power of the Beast after the Rise of the Second Beast or False Prophet where all his v. 12. Power is exercised before his face by another and in that state the charge of Anti-christian Tyranny over the whole World does belong to the Beast as he is confederated with those who act all these things and it is attributed to the Beast only upon the account of his continuing still the Secular Head of that Confederacy As any Cruelty done by the Officers of any Army against the Enemy is said to be all done by the General But to shew us that all this mischief was chiefly chargeable upon his Confederates and Instruments only We see all that Tragical part acted by the Image of the Beast which was inspired by the False Prophet who is described as the principal Actor in all the Bloodshed and Murther of those who would not worship the Beast or his Image And that this Image is a thing quite distinct v. 15 16 17. from the Beast will be made afterwards to appear as also how both the Beast and his Image are the Objects of the false Worship enjoined But yet after all It cannot but be acknowledged that it is every way more certain and unquestionable that the present Papal Power must be the False Prophet how dubious soever his real distinction from that which is called the Beast may seem to be For the Character of the False Prophet cannot possibly fit any other Church-Head of Rome at this time in being but o See Note the first upon the fifth Chapter only that Power And the False Prophet must necessarily be now in being because the Beast his individual Companion whoever he is to the last end of them both is certainly now in being Rev. 19. Propos 23. CHAP. VII Rev. XIII The first Query Whether at Justinian 's Recovery of Italy from the Goths there had not been Two Changes of Roman Government since the time of the Vision THus far there seems to be a general agreement amongst almost all kind of considerable Interpreters who make The Beast to be a Roman Power in being at this present time and this seems sufficient for the main use that is to be made of this kind of knowledg But because Mens minds are usually very uneasy under such a general assurance of the main foundation without a more particular determination of the first rise of
the time of the continuance and the last period of so formidable a power as that of the Beast and the False Prophet is described to be I will now proceed to propound my apprehensions about those particular circumstances which is so much the more necessary because almost all the applications of the many Characters and Properties of the Beast do seem to depend upon such a particular determination And because I know it will be difficult to prevail with any who have framed to themselves an Hypothesis of their own about these things to see any convincing proof for the way that I make choice of To be civil to the Understandings and Assurances of others I will now propound my own particular Application under the name of Queries instead of Propositions thô to my self they may appear to be of much the same strength I would therefore first have it considered Whether at the time of Justinian 's Conquest of the Italian Query 1 Goths there had not been at least Two such Changes of the Secular Soveraign Power of Rome since the time of the Visions about the Beast as might be called Two different Heads of the Beast For the Secular Soveraign Power of Rome at the time of the Vision was the Imperial Government and Sixth Head by Prop. 19. and 5. And the Imperial Government as the Sixth Head was changed at latest upon the ruin of the Western Empire by the Heruli and Goths by Prop. the 22. There remains then nothing more to be done for the determining of this question than to show That the Succession of the Heruli and Goths to the Government of Rome and Italy did make a new Head of the Beast For then it will not be questioned but that the Conquest of the Goths by Justinian did also make the other Head that was to be revived That the Succession of those Barbarous Kings at Rome did make a new Head of the Beast appears from the definition of an Head of the Beast Prop. the 21st For upon the ruin of the Western Empire by these Kings and their Reign over Rome and Italy The Supream Secular Power of Rome was changed and another owned there in the place of it Thô the one part of the Imperial Head remained still sound at Constantinople yet by the change of the other part of it which did more immediately preside over the City of Rome the Soveraign power of the Romans came to be divided betwixt a King and an Emperor And so that which was a form of Government purely Imperial before came to be a mixture of Kingly and Imperial Government For that the new Kings of Italy and the Eastern Emperours made still but one Supream form of Roman Government thô divided in the Seats of their Empire appears from the state of the Imperial Government before the ruin of the Western Empire by these Barbarous Kings The Eastern and Western Emperor were then but one and the same Imperial Head Thô they had Two different Kingdoms they had both of them their Authority Chap. xvii pag. 157 158. from the a SEe Note the second on Chap. 3. Grotius de Jure Bell. Pac. lib. 2. c. 9. Art 11. and in the Annotat. Onuphrius Panvinius lib. Fastor does frequently make mention of the Constantinopolitan and Roman Consuls and shews them to have been indifferently chosen from either of those Cities See Pancirollus in Note 2. Chap. 4. same people and Senate of Rome and therefore were there half the Senate and one of the Consuls ordinarily residing at Constantinople The Laws also of the Empire were joyntly subscribed by both and do now in the Code bear the names of both the Emperors and it is the Subject of a great part of Pancirollus's Explication of the Notitia Imperii to show that the Military Ensigns and the Arms of the chief Dignities of the Empire were almost every one of them Figures on purpose contrived by the Emperors and given by their Authority to represent the Vnity of the Roman Empire all over the World under the divided shares of the Two Imperial Heads of it as has Ch. 17. been before observed page 148. And thus were the Two Empires but like the Two Provinces of the Two Consuls of Rome which nevertheless were but one Vnited Supream Government of the Romans Now all the change of this Imperial Partnership in the Government by the change of the Western Empire was the introducing the Kingly power into that share of the Empire For in every thing else The new Kings observed b Sigonius de Occident Imper. lib. 15. Odoacer did humble the Authority of the Senate and Consuls but in every thing else he retained the Old Constitutions of the Commonwealth and the Rights and Names of the Magistrates gave the Bishops and Churches their due respect And speaking of Theodorick after him lib. 16. He retained the Roman Magistrates and because he reigned by the Emperour's Favour and the Consent of the Senate he laid aside his own Country Habit and wore the Purple and the Royal Robes He set up a Kingdom every way like the ancient Western Empire Joan. Fersius Silesius de Praefectura Praetor Theodoric retained still the Roman Laws and Customs and the very same Magistrates so that the Citizens of Rome were ashamed to create them themselves Cassiodor lib. 3. Variar Ep. 43. Theodoric says We delight in governing according to the Laws of the Romans whom we desire to maintain by our Arms. And all over that Book nothing is more frequent than the mention of the Roman Commonwealth for the Kingdom of the Goths in Italy And the whole business of it is The Kings or Governours Letters for the administration of the Civil Government after the same manner and by the same kinds of Magistrates that the Western Empire had been govern'd by before Hieron Rubeus Histor Ravennat pag. 867. speaking of the Gothish Government in Italy But altho they changed not any Roman Constitutions as the Senate the Praefects the Comites the Curators and the like yet they did ordinarily model them after their own fashion but yet all in imitation of the Roman Laws and Dignities And pag. 128. Then began Italy to breathe and flourish again and Theodoric when he saw the Romans whom he had an affection for very much bent upon their ancient Liberties he commanded all things should be administred by Roman Magistrates He committed the whole Government of the City to the Senate and People of Rome but so as that he himself chose the Praefect of the City the old form See References of Government which they found in use at their coming to the Crown as appears from all the History of their Government They changed no Roman Custom says Rubeus And it may H. Rubeus Histor Raven p. 128 167. more particularly be seen in Cassiodorus's Variarum That they retained all the same Magistrates by which the Government of the Western Empire was administred Besides the fall of
both parts of the Roman Commonwealth by it and the Examples of all former Princes and sollicites the s Idem l. 10. Ep. 33. Magistro officior Vitiges R. For tho I may be thought to have deserved less of you yet have some regard to the Roman Liberties which by the Tumults of War are every-where violated concurrence of the great Men of that Court with him in that motion upon the account of the common Liberty of the Roman Nation The Senate also of Rome it self uses the same motive to Justinian for Peace t Cassiod Var. l. 11. Ep. 13. Justiniano Aug. Senatus Urbis Romanae It is a very just and necessary thing to petition for the security of the Roman Commonwealth of one that is a pious Prince of it because it is reasonable for you to desire all that may contribute to our Advantage or Liberty c. because Rome ought to be his care and therefore not to be suffered to be ruined upon his account And that it was his Agreement only with the Goths that made that City find favour with them because of his concern in the common Interest of the Romans And well worth the perusing for this purpose is u Ibidem Be not thou the cause of my Ruine who hast always contributed to the Joy of my Life Do not ruine by Discord whom thou oughtest to defend by War Joyn Councels with the King and unite your Forces that whatsoever may be to my Advantage may redound to your Glory That Prosopopaeia which the Senate represents to Justinian in the name of the City of Rome as his peculiar City that ought to be his care and concern and that he ought to maintain Peace and Unity with the Goths for her sake It is also a remarkable observation of Joh. Fersius Silesius to this purpose in his Book de Praefect Praetor That Justinian demanded of the Gothish King as the condition of the Peace That he should never set up his Statue without Justinian's in an higher eminency than his own and at the Right hand as the more Honourable place which confirms the former Custom of setting up both the Princes Statues to signify one Empire in common to them both thô the Emperour would have the precedence Again both the Eastern Emperours and Gothish Kings had the name of Rerum Domini or Lords of the World from the same City of Rome which was then called The Head of all things Of the Emperours it is unquestionable and x Idem l. 11. Ep. 1 8 10. l. 12. Ep. 3 5 6 11 18. of the Gothish Kings it is no less certain from Lib. 11. and 12. Cassiod Variarum in above Twenty several instances of that Title And both Emperour and King were represented together in Italy at least as the one conjoyned Soveraign Authority of the Roman Empire as appears from the before cited form of the Kings Letters to Pag. 186. the new elected Consulary Magistrate where the Heads of both the Princes are said to be carried before them And accordingly we find the Dates of the Pontificates in those times to have the King of the Goths as well as the Eastern Emperour signified in whose time the Popes lived The Wars betwixt the Goths and Justinian are no greater objection against their being One Head of the Romans than the Civil Wars betwixt the Two Consuls Sulla and Cinna c. Or the Wars betwixt the Two Emperours of the East and West who yet for a while at least are acknowledged by the chief Adversaries of my opinion to have been one of the Heads of the Beast From hence then it may be certainly concluded That so considerable a change of the Form of the Sovereign power of Rome is sufficient to give it the name of one of those two last Kings of the Eight Rev. 17. 10 11. which should come immediately after that Imperial Sixth Head which Ruled at the time of the Vision for it has all the qualifications of one of those Kings That is it is a change of the Supreme Government of Rome And to know what kind of change of that Government is sufficient for the Title of one of these Kings one must consult the Examples of those which were past before it It is certain That the five first changes called the five Kings past and one in being could be nothing but the change of the name of the Civil Sovereign power let them be what they will in particular For there was one and the same Religion in them all There are then five plain instances in the same Figure to justify the making of this change of the name of the Civil Roman Government at the ruin of the Western Empire to be one of those Two Kings of the Eight which were to come after the Imperial Sixth Head that was the King at the time of the Vision Besides There is also the example of the Ten Horns or Ten Kings represented by them to show the difference betwixt the Supreme powers which they signified to be nothing but outward civil differences For those Ten Kings are said to be of one and the same Religion to be of one mind and to agree together in false Worship Rev. 17. 13 17. Here are then Sixteen instances in the same Figure to show that the change of the Civil Form of Roman Government by the Gothish Kings was sufficient to make them to be accounted one of those Two Kings that were to come after the Sixth King that Ruled in St. John's time If further we consult the usages of the Figures in Daniel that signify Kings we shall find there that the only note of distinction to know different Kings by is some outward civil difference either upon the account of a different Dominion or for being another name of the Civil Government in the same Dominion and the number of the instances of that kind in that Prophecy are about Thirty So that there seems to be no manner of reason why this change of the name of the Sovereign Power of Rome by the Goths succeeding the Imperial should not be one of those Two Kings that were to come after the Imperial since All the Eight Kings are agreed to be so many changes of the Roman Government And thô it should be said That the change of the Religion of the Empire by Constantine was one of those Kings yet since the different kind of the Civil Government under the same Religion have been found to be the difference betwixt all the Kings besides that are figuratively mentioned in Daniel or the Revelations This constant usage of Prophetical expressions in above Sixty Instances is surely warrant enough to make that remarkable change of the Civil Form of the Sovereign Power at the fall of the Western Empire to be another King thô the Religion might continue the same Now if this change of the name of the Civil Government by the Goths were either the Seventh or Eighth King after the Imperial
then it must make a new Head because it is one of the first and clearest Propositions that has been advanced That every one of those Eight Kings are one of the Seven Heads of the Beast by Prop. the 5th q Idem l. 10. Ep. 15. CHAP. VIII Rev. XIII The Second Query Whether the Reign of the Beast did not begin with Justinian 's Conquests of the Italian Goths This endeavoured to be demonstrated Eighteen Objections answered AFTER what has been said for the making the Gothish Kings one of the Eight Kings it will easily be granted that Justinian's Conquest of the Goths in Italy must make another new Head because it had the same qualifications that the other before it had for being one of the Two Kings after the Imperial that ruled at the time of the Vision that is It was a very remarkable change of the name of the Civil Sovereign Power of Rome which is the only constant difference betwixt all the Changes in the same Empire that are to be found in Daniel or the Revelations And Examples are the Rules that are to be followed in Interpretations by Rule 2 and 3. Now if this be once granted it seems to be scarce worth the making it a question Whether the first Rise of the Beast were not upon the Conquest of the Query 2 Goths in Italy by Justinian For the Beast is in being at this present by Prop. 23. And he could not arise either before or after Justinian's Conquest 1. Not after it For at that time there had been at least two Changes of the Secular Government of Rome since the time of the Vision by Query 1. And the last of these two Changes is the Beast by Prop. 20. 2. The Beast could not arise before that time For then at Justinian's Conquest there would have been another Change of the Civil Government of Rome and so would the Beast have been put an end to but the time of the Beast is not yet past by Prop. 23. and Coroll 4. Prop. 15. Now if the first Rise of the Beast could be neither before nor after Justinian's Conquest it must necessarily be at the same time with it The whole strength of this proof does lie upon the general Notion of Heads and Horns in Daniel and the Revelations and the constant mark of their distinction from one another And the mark of their distinction from one another in all the known Examples of Figures in both these Prophecies is nothing but either a distinct jurisdiction or a different name of the Civil Government and not any differences from one another in point of Religion or any other accidental qualifications The differences of the Heads or Horns that are described to be in Rule in the same Kingdom all at one time are nothing but distinct civil Jurisdictions in that one Monarchy The differences betwixt Successive Heads or Horns in regard of the Successive Change of the state of the Beast are nothing Observ 4. Prop. 16. but new names of the Civil Sovereign Power of that Monarchy If the change be from one to many then it signifies the divided state of that Monarchy and the change of the Monarchical Form of it into many distinct Principalities ruling in it as may be seen in the Example of the Fourth Beast with the Ten Horns in the 7th Chapter of Daniel and in the He-Goat of the 8th Chapter with the first Horn and the other four after him If the Change be represented by single Heads or Horns coming after one another then every Head or Horn signifies a new name of the Ruling Power of that Monarchy without any divisions in it So as has been shown does the Second Horn of the Ram of the 8th Chapter of Daniel signify the Succession of the Sovereign Power over the same Nation of the Medes and Persians by the name of the King of Persia in the place of the King of Media And the six first Heads of the Beast in the Revelations that are described as succeeding in order do all signify the several changes of the name of the chief Ruling Power of the Romans By these Examples it appears That the only Constitutive or Essential difference of an Head of the Beast is a new different name of the Civil Power that rules in chief And therefore there seems to be no ground from the known Examples of the signification of Successive Heads or Horns to make the rise of the Christian Religion in the Imperial Head by Constantine to be a new King of the Seven whenas the same civil Form of Government continued under the same name of the Imperial Government or the Government of Emperors If the many instances of this kind in Daniel and the Revelations which counting the three shows of the Seven Heads and Ten Horns in the Revelations are more than seventy be of any force then the Imperial Government cannot be said to be changed by the Succession of a new King till there be another different Form of Civil Government set up at Rome in its place under another name And then the Imperial Form which is said to be in being at the time of the Vision will continue the same till the Western Empire was cut off by the Heruli and Goths of Italy which will shew it to be necessary for the return of the Imperial Rule again over Rome by Justinian to be the Eighth which was one of the Seven that is the sixth returned into being again The Rise of the Beast with Justinian may be thus further confirmed The Beast is the Eighth King and was of the Seven Rev. 17. 11. and therefore was one of the Seven Kings who had been in Rule before and was returned into it again by Coroll Prop. 4. But he could not have been the Seventh King that was in Rule before because then he would have been the Seventh still continued and not a new King with the name of an Eighth See Coroll Prop. 18. The Beast therefore must have been either the Sixth King that is the Imperial Government returned into Rule again or one of the other five before it But before the time of Justinian there was neither any restauration of the Imperial Government of Rome that was fallen from it before nor any new reviving of any of the other five Governments of Rome which were before the Imperial 1. It will be objected That this would make the Imperial Head Objections to continue unchanged from the time of the Vision to the fall of the Western Empire whereas the Sixth Head seems plainly to be represented to have its deadly wound upon the Dragon at Constantine's Rev. 12. Conversion of the Imperial Head to Christianity For immediately after that in the 13th Chapter is the Beast shown with his Head wounded to death and yet healed again after the Dragon had been said in the 12th Chapter to have been thrown down from Heaven All that can be made appear from the fall of the Dragon supposing Answer
the Application of it to the fall of Paganism by Constanstine's Conversion is That the Reign of Diabolical Rage in the Imperial Head against the Christan Church was then at an end and that Christianity was mounted on the Throne instead of it But there is no manner of hint about the end of the Imperial Head it self or of the change of it for a new Head It is only the change of the Reign of the Devil in that Head and therefore is it said to be Satan only cast down And though one would judge this to be a great change of Affairs yet there was no reason from hence to make the loss of the Dragon's Power the end of an Head because his Power never was the beginning of one The Imperial Head had not its denomination or distinctive Character from the other Heads upon the account of the power of the Dragon in it and therefore it cannot cease to be an Head only for having that power cast out of it That it was not the power of the Dragon that was the distinguishing Character of the Imperial Head from those that were before it is certain For the Red Dragon with the Seven Heads and Ten Horns must necessarily be some Roman Power persecuting the Church of God And then it must 1. Either begin at Pompey's Conquest of Judaea which was in the time of the Consulary Government and continued in the Dictatorship of Julius Caesar and so the Red Dagon would be in one or two Heads more besides the Imperial and therefore could not be the mark of distinction betwixt them and the Imperial If so then the continuance of the Imperial Government without the Dragon in it has all reason to be accounted the same Head still since the Dragon was no part of the essential difference of the Imperial Head from the two others that went before it and therefore does the casting out of the Dragon out of the Imperial Head make no change of that Property which made it an Head Or 2dly The Dragon must be the Roman persecution of the Christians And then the Imperial Head would have been begun a long time before the time of the Dragon in it which would plainly show that as the Imperial Government was an Head of the Beast before it was possessed by the Dragon so must it continue the same Head of the Beast after it was dispossessed of the Dragon 2. And whereas this Opinion seems to be countenanced from the immediate consequence of it in the 13th Chapter which is v. 3. the appearance of an Head wounded to death and healed again It is to be considered that the maintainers of this Opinion themselves do allow at least 140 years space betwixt the Fall of the Dragon and the Rise of that other Beast And then there is no Argument at all from the nearness of the two Visions to one another either to interpret that Fall of the wounding of any of the Seven Heads or to make so little a distance of space betwixt the Fall and the Rise of the Beast There is a plain mention of a flood cast out of the Dragon's Rev. 12. 15. mouth which in Prophetick Language signifying an inundation of vast multitudes of People does give opportunity and time enough for the wounding of the Head and the healing it again and this distance betwixt them is by our Adversaries said to be 140 years Indeed this very 13th Chapter does shew the power of the Dragon to be wholly spiritual considered by himself For he is represented here as active as he was before he was cast down which shews that he was only an Evil Spirit in one of the Heads and not the Head it self For then his casting down would have been the Dragon's deadly wound as the Head of the Beast that was before past is represented to be so wounded whereas the Dragon is as much in action after his fall as he was before He was then the same spiritual Power when he was in the Head and when he was cast out of it and therefore distinct from it 3. It will be further urged that this would make the Imperial Head continue an Head of the Beast after it was turned Christian whereas the Heads of the Beast are said to have the names of blasphemy upon them But it is known that things are called by the name of that which is most predominant amongst them And since the time of the Christian Emperors in that Head was inconsiderable in comparison of the time of Heathenism the Objection has no weight in it 4. But then it seems harder to answer that Character upon the Seventh Head or Gothish Kings It will not be so very difficult if it be considered That the Seventh Head is the mixed form of Imperial and Regal Government For it is not hard to find the beginning of that degeneracy of Christianity which is called Blasphemy in the established Roman Religion a WE find in St. Augustine contra Faustum lib. 20. c. 2. which was near an 100 years before this time that the Manachees would have the Orthodox to be like the Pagans And Faustus thence says Ye have turned the Idols of the Pagans into Martyrs whom you worship with the same kind of Invocations And the Edicts of Valens and Theodosius against the Adorations of the Image of Christ confirms it Hospinian pag. 49. The Worship of the Saints by Invocation c. seems to be very near akin to the Worship of the Lesser Gods amongst the Heathens and then it must needs be Blasphemy H. Salmeron praelud 7. in Apocalyps gives this very reason why by Babylon the Harlot must be understood Rome Heathen viz. because it did worship the Images of all the Gods in the Pantheon as the Saints of the Eastern Empire at that time And however different the Goths might be from the Romans in Opinion yet we have b Petavius Ration Temp. part 1. l. 6. c. 2. de Theodorico And tho according to the Religion of his Country he was of the Arrian Sect yet he defended the Rights and Liberties of the Roman Church with all faithfulness And Sigonius says of Odoacer before him That he gave the Bishops and the Churches their due respects lib. 15. de Imp. Occident And Baron Anno 476. that he gave the Catholick Church no trouble in Church-matters But sufficient Instances of the preservation of the Rights of the Roman Church by the Gothish Kings may be found in Cassiodorus's Book of Variar As Lib. 2. Ep. 28. There is first Theodoric's Profession that he ought not to force Religion upon any not upon Jews Lib. 3. Ep. 45. He mentions the Defenders of the Rights of the Roman Church Commissioners setled by himself and upon their complaint of an Injury enjoins his Deputy by all means to right them according to the former grants to the Roman Church Lib. 4. Ep. 20. orders the Restitution of Gifts taken away from the Church Athalaricus after him makes
Justinian To resolve this Scruple it must be considered That there are two different kinds of Sovereign Power represented in the Beast the one by his Heads and the other by his Horns And the next Change of Sovereignty but one to that which ruled in St. John's time which constitutes the 8th King or the Beast is a succession of an Head of the Beast by Prop. 20 21. And that Head is called the Beast as a thing distinct from the Ten Horns for the Ten Horns are said to give their Kingdom to the Beast who before had been said to be the Eighth King and is one of the Seven Heads by Prop. 5. Coroll It matters not therefore at what time the Ten Horns arose For they were but so many Sovereignties in the Roman Empire distinct from that Eighth King which is the Beast or an Head of the Beast and who were confederated with him And to know the time of that Confederacy it must be enquired first what was the next successive Head but one to the Imperial that was up at the time of the Vision For besides the Ten Kings there was to be an Head amongst them whom they should all join with And the Ten Kings were but so many different Horns which signify a division of the Empire and not a single successive Head of it superior to them all which is here enquired after according to the mark that has already been given to know an Head by 17. This would also be another difficulty against deferring the appearance of the Beast till the Reign of Justinian viz. That the Reign of the Beast and the time of the Woman in the Wilderness do begin and end together and the Woman is said to fly into the Wilderness presently after her delivery of the Man-child that is presently after the Conversion of the Imperial Throne 200 years before Justinian's time But it is by almost all agreed that that first mention of the Woman's flying into the Wilderness is an anticipation because after several great Actions intervening it is repeated again at the 14th verse and there represented but as a preparation to rest in the Wilderness and then the Dragon cast out a flood after her whilst she was flying so that she was not at rest then till after that flood was swallowed up by the Earth which was just before the rising of the Beast out of the Sea chap. 13. 18. In the last place it may be objected That from the fall of the Western Empire in Augustulus to the time of Justinian was no new Roman Government in the West because the Barbarous Kings and their People were not Romans and therefore must if any thing be a new Beast and not a new Head of the Roman Beast and then all the time of their Reign will be but an Interregnum of the Roman Government and Justinian's return there will be but the continuance of the Sixth Head But it is sufficient answer to this that the ten Barbarous Kings which are made to be the Ten Horns of the Beast are thereby represented as Members of the Roman Empire as has been just now observed And moreover it does appear that the Goths who succeeded in the room of the Western Emperors had been long before made the Confederates and Members of the Roman Empire See Note y on Chap. 4. CHAP. IX Rev. XIII A short Account of the several Opinions of Interpreters that differ from the Propositions before demonstrated Their inconsistency with the Analogy of Prophecy The Shifts that they are forced to flye to to maintain them BY the same Light which has cleared up mine own Applications of the Prophecy it may be seen upon what grounds I depart from the Apprehensions of others about it 1. It is much to be admired That there ever should have been any at all much more any of the Ancients that had been conversant Andreas Caesar Aretas Primatius Beda c. in this Study that should apprehend it possible for the whole business of Babylon and the Beast in the Revelations to be nothing but a Mystical and Spiritual state of the Christian Church in relation to the whole World of the Wicked in general and not to any particular Empire of the World more than other For the Angel in the 17th Chapter does so expresly signifie Prop. 1. his design there to be to unfold the Mystery of Babylon and the Beast that had been before mentioned and does thereupon determine the meaning of them to the Roman Empire by such generally known and peculiar marks that the Romanists themselves whose only interest and considerable concern it is to divert the scene of these Visions from the City of Rome do yet almost unanimously in this latter age acknowledg to their Adversaries That there is nothing more certain and unquestionable than That some particular state of the Domination of See Consent of Antiquity c. Rome must be meant by them The ground of this paradoxical Fancy of the Ancients will be afterwards enquired into 2. It is in the next place very near as extravagant to grant That some particular state of Roman Rule must be the great object of these Visions and yet to make the Figure of the Beast in general to signifie the World and the Heads of the Ribera c. Beast either so many successive Ages or so many distinct successive Empires in it For by all the Examples of Beasts and their Ruling parts all Prop. 16. over the Prophecy of Daniel which is generally agreed to be the original pattern of the Prophecy of the Revelations it is acknowledged by these very persons themselves That a Beast does constantly signifie the Rule or Empire of one particular Nation only and therefore must the Heads also signifie so many Supreme Powers in that Nation only But the most inexcusable thing in this opinion is That the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel is granted by these same persons to be nothing but the particular Nation of the Romans which yet is the exact picture Prop. 15. of this Beast in the Revelations But then to grant 3dly That the Beast and his Heads do signifie nothing but Roman Power and after that to make the Seven Heads not to be so many distinct Powers but to be taken Bellarm. c. collectively for All the Rulers of one kind or for All the Emperors is to out-face the plain expressions of the Text which divide the number Seven into Five One Another and an Eighth that is one of the Seven and it is well known that when the number Seven is so expresly divided into parts it is never used collectively or for an indefinite multitude 4. As contrary to the known use of those Mystical Expressions is it to make the Seven Heads of the Beast to be so many single persons only of Rulers Grotius c. For it is evident all over the Book of Daniel That Heads and Horns of Beasts do signify all
the single Persons that Rule in that Division or Form of Government that is signified by Prop. 16. each Head and each Horn. 5. And still more inconsistent is it to make the Beast and his Seven Heads to be Roman Powers and yet Antichrist signified by the Eighth King which was one of the Seven not to Most of the Romish Interpreters come till after the end of all Roman Rule or that the Fourth Beast in the Tenth of Daniel should be the Roman Empire and yet the little Horn of that Beast not to appear till after the destruction of the Roman Empire For this would make the little Horn of the Beast to be no Horn of it but to appear after the ruin of the Beast whose Horn it is which is a contradiction 6. Of much the same nature is that Absurdity That the Beast called the 8th King is Antichrist a little before the end of the World and yet that Babylon that is described to go all The same along with it and to be destroyed before it is Rome Heathen 7. Nor does it much help the matter to affirm That Babylon does signifie both Rome Heathen and Rome in the time of Antichrist about the end of the World For by by Prop. 2. and 3. it is evident That Babylon is in all Ribera c. the mentions of it in the Revelations one and the same state of Rome in the Reign of the Beast and in which it is destroyed 8. That Opinion which makes the Heads of the Beast to be single Persons and yet the Reign of the Beast to continue at Grot. Dr. Hammond Prop. 6. and Coroll least to the time of Justinian is inconsistent with the determination of the term of the Beast in the Prophecy to the last Head of the Beast For if the Beast be nothing but the Beast under its last Head and all the Seven Heads be but so many Successions of single Rulers only it is impossible that the time of the Beast should continue many years after the time of St. John for the Sixth Head was then in Rule Rev. 17. 10. 9. And upon the same grounds it is impossible That the Ten Horns of the Beast should be after the time of the last Grot. Dr. Hammond Corol. 1. Prop. 12. Head of the Beast or that the time of the last Head of the Beast should be yet past because the Beast continues to the Second Coming of Christ and is the same with the Reign of its last Head Prop. 6. and its Corollaries 10. Amongst those Opinions which make the Heads of the Beast to be so many Successions of Roman Power I could not entertain any of them about the constitutive difference of one Head from another but that which made it to consist only in the setled change of the name of the Civil Power because that was the only known difference of Successive Horns in Daniel ch 8. and of the five first Successive Heads in the Revelations and besides the only difference betwixt all kinds of Heads or Horns upon the same Beast whose signification is agreed on is nothing but the different name of the Civil Power either from its peculiar Terrritory in those that are represented to rule all at a time in a divided Monarchy or from the different appellation in those that succeed one another in an intire Empire So is it above sixty times in the agreed examples of Daniel and the Revelations See discourse on Query the 2d And therefore I could not but look upon Alcasar's determination of the Seven Heads to Seven Roman Persecutions of the Church as arbitrary and much more the opinion of those Protestants who agree that the only Constitutive Difference of the Six first Heads of the Beast is nothing but a different name of the Civil Power for they were all Six of the same Mr. Mede Dr. More Religion and yet will make the Two last Successions of the Eight which compleat the Seven Heads to be nothing but Two Changes of Religion under the same Civil Head with the Sixth For this is to make a new Rule for the difference of the Two last Successions without any ground for it from the Prophecy and contrary to all the known and acknowledged Examples either in the rest of the Heads of the same Beast or in the Heads and Horns of other Beasts and gives great advantage to the Papists to despise the Protestants Application The Pleas for it may be seen answered in Answer to Objection 1 2 3 against the 2 d Query 11. There is so plain a distinction in the Second Beast of the 13th Chapter from the first Beast there and the one so manifestly Most Protestants Prop. 24 c. set forth as an Ecclesiastical Power under the Character of the False Prophet in distinction to the other whose Image and Honour he is altogether employed to advance that I could never yield to make them but one and the same thing viz. The Papal Power only But yet because they make but one joint Confederacy for the interest of a false Religion against the true Church they are therefore sometimes promiscuously used to signifie the actions of one another in that common concern and the Image and Babylon are in the same manner used Thus is Babylon said to be fallen chap. 14. 8. to signifie the decay of the Power of the Image and the Beast in the 17th chapter is said to have the Power and Strength of the Ten Kings given him which belongs properly to the Image of the Beast 12. It seems to be a very unnatural force upon the Text to make the Seventh King none of the Seven Heads in chap. Dr. More c. 17. 10. For it is manifestly reckon'd up in order as one of those Seven Kings which in the beginning of that verse are said to be the Seven Heads and without making it one of the Seven Heads there will be but Six Heads upon the Beast in the 13th chapter Prop. 4 5. For it is agreed that it was the Sixth King and Sixth Head that was there wounded and it must be the same Head that was seen healed which also is agreed to be the Eighth King and last Ruling Head If therefore the Seventh King were no Head there would be no new Head after the Sixth but only the Sixth healed of a wound whereas there were Seven really distinct Heads seen upon the Beast That which is pleaded for the ground of this Opinion is answered in the Answer to the 1st 2d and 3d Objections against the Second Query It will much confirm the strength of the whole Process of the Propositions before laid down to observe to what strange shifts those Interpreters have been put that own any part of the Demonstration and yet will stand out against the Conclusion Those that own Babylon to be Rome but not the present Rome Christian are forced to make it to be Either Rome Pagan
Alcasar Grotius Dr. Hammond Two hundred Years after the Empire was turned Christian and was then burnt in the possession of a Christian King by a Christian Emperor Or To make it to be Rome a little before the end of the World grown prodigiously rich by Foreign Traffick Rev. 18 19. and having brought the Kings of the earth under her Subjection v. 3. in the space of Three Years and an Ribera c. half Or To make it to be both Rome Heathen and Rome at the end of the world which should cry I sit as a Queen and shall see no sorrow v. 7. and which should not have the Pagan Power of it abated or ended for above a Thousand Years after it began to be Rome Christian all which are such monstrous Inconsistencies as to make any conclude them to be impossible Those that own Babylon to be Rome and the last Ruling Head of the Beast to be Antichrist about the end of the World and that the whole Seven Heads are so many immediate Successions of Ruling Powers to make the Sixth Head continue from Ribera c. Most Papists Rev. 17 10. the time of St. John when it is by the Text signified to be in Rule to the time of the Seventh King that is in their opinion to a short space before the end of the World they are forced to make the Sixth King to be of a much longer Continuance than the Imperial Government at Rome that was the King in being at the time of the Vision For they own that the Imperial Government was long since at an end at Rome and therefore are they forced to make their Sixth King to be all those persecuting Powers of the World that reach from the time of the Vision to about the end of the World in consequence of which it is necessary for them to make the Beast in general to be the whole World and the rest of the Heads so many Successions of either persecuting Ages or Monarchies of it and this is so contrary to the known acceptation of a Beast and its Heads or Horns for one Ruling Nation only all over the Prophecy of Daniel as it is by these very persons acknowledged that nothing could make it appear to what a forced shift they were fain to flye to avoid the bringing in of Antichrist into the Roman Church many Ages ago if they should have granted the Sixth Head at the time of the Vision to have been the then Ruling Imperial Power of Rome only But a much more apparent shift is it in those who think themselves forced to own the Beast to be but one single Nation only or the Roman Empire and the last ruling Head to be Antichrist Bellarm. c. about the end of the World and the Head in Rule at the time of the Vision to be the Imperial Government but after all this for fear of bringing in Antichrist into the Roman Church too soon to make the Seven Heads to signifie collectively all the Roman Emperors either at Rome or Constantinople or at Vienna whereas the number Seven is apparently here divided into broken numbers which does as certainly determine the Heads to that definite number in an immediate Succession to one another And nothing could have made it appear how so well a versed understanding in the Critical use of words as Bellarmine's was resolved to outface his own Knowledg to avoid a dangerous Consequence for if he had allowed the Seven Heads to have been just so many Successive Changes of the Rule of the Romans he must certainly have made the Sixth Head end at the Succession of the Kingly Government of Rome upon the fall of the Western Empire tho the Imperial Government at Constantinople had been part of the Sixth Head For the change of the other part of it at Rome did make a new Change of the whole Government that is from Imperial to the mixt Form of Kingly and Imperial together as the Tribunes with the Consulary Power were a Change of the Consulary Head of the Government But of all the forced shifts that we meet with the most Paradoxical and absurd are those of the Grotian way they grant Grot. Dr. Hammond the Beast to be the Idolatrous Roman Empire and the Heads to be Successive Changes of Roman Rulers and the time of the Beast to continue at least to the Reign of Justinian and yet make the last Ruling Head of the Beast to be at an end with the Reign of Domitian which is Contrary to all the Representations of the Beast in the 17th chapter as ending with his last Head Prop. 6. Corol. ibid. they do also by this make the Ten Horns to be a long time after the last Head which are said expresly to give their Kingdom to the Eighth King or the Beast under the last Ruling Head They do also make the Seven Heads of the Beast to be but so many single Persons contrary to the known signification of the Heads and Horns of Beasts all over Daniel They do also make the different Shows of the same Beast in the 11th 13th and 17th Chapters to be really distinct Beasts from one another without any ground for it but the different Shows of them contrary to what the exact resemblance of their Characters to one another would make any judg them to be and contrary to the First Book plain demonstration of their being but one and the same thing from the Characters of them and contrary to the sense of almost all kind of Interpreters especially those of the Roman Party who cry out against the main foundations of this Opinion as nothing but the extravagancies of men without any Preface to my former Treatise The Judgments of God c. sense in them tho the whole business of all the pains that is taken by these Contrivances is to remove the charge of Idolatry from the Church of Rome Those that own the Fourth Beast in the Seventh of Daniel and the Beast in the Revelations to be the particular Nation of the Romans and yet will make the little Horn of the one and the last Head or Eighth King in the other to come after the destruction of the Beasts to which they belong Most of the Romanists show that they value not Contradictions to keep off Antichrist from appearing in the Roman Church And those that own the last time of the Beast to be about the end of the world and yet will make Babylon that accompanies the Beast to the last to be Rome Pagan must have much the same contempt The same of the plain intimations of the Prophecy and those also that can think That Babylon is not the same thing but several vastly distant States of Roman Rule in the several mentions of it or both Rome Pagan and Rome near the end of the World Prop. 2 3. Those of the Protestants that make the Change of Religion in the Imperial Head to be a new
former A Carved Image is indeed but the dead likeness of some single Person But an Image of a Publick State that is alive as this is must be some Ruling Power in the same State that has a very lively resemblance to it for it is in being at the same time with it the Beast and his Image are ordinarily described to be together And the Image is made in honour of the Beast and so must like the Images of the Emperors be within the bounds of the Authority of the Beast And besides is made by a False Prophet in the exercise of the Power of the Beast This living Image then must necessarily be an Universal Rule of the World like to that of the Imperial Roman State And accordingly we find it speaking and commanding all the World to worship it chap. 13. 15. forcing all men to receive the mark of it and to take the name of it v. 16. which shows the extent of its Power to be as large as that of the Imperial Power its Original It had also power of life and death in it v. 15. which is the peculiar Prerogative of Supream Power Now this was all for nothing else but the enforcing of False Worship which it was inspired with life by a false Prophet to effect And one of the Punishments was Excommunication v. 14. v. 17. That men might not buy or sell which was an usual punishment d Selden de Synod l. 1. cap. 7. De effectibus Excommunicationis He that was excommunicated with either greater or lesser Excommunication was said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the effects of them were Separation from Converse from the Synagogue from the publick Assemblies from all the People and Commonwealth of the Jews And he that was accursed with Cherem was not to have any Commerce with any but just so much as to get Victuals of the Elders of the Synagogues amongst the Jews All which denotes it to be an Ecclesiastical Power equal to the Secular Power for the universality of its Jurisdiction Indeed what kind of Power within the same Bounds and Territories can it possibly be but Ecclesiastical that can be a living Image of the Secular Exercising Supream Authority at the same time with it and in the same places as this is described This Image therefore must be a Church-Rule equal to that of the State And since the Jurisdiction of it is Universal or Catholick and also Roman can it be any thing else but the Roman-Catholick-Church And since all the life that it has is inspired into it by the False Prophet who is already known to be the Papal Power Corol. 3. Prop. 25. what plainer description could we have had of the Roman-Catholick-Church under the Pope Or what can there be that is a e Leo Sermo 1. de Natali Apos Rome has a larger Jurisdiction in its Spiritual Reign than it had formerly in its Worldly Empire Bellarm. l. 5. de Pontif. c. 6. From whence it appears That the Pope is greater than the Emperour c. Stenelius Eugubinus lib. 1. de Donat. Constant By the Exaltation of the Papacy Rome has recovered a Greatness very little different from that of the Ancient Empires since all Nations from the East to the West reverence the Pope of Rome in the same manner as they formerly did the Emperours See the expressions of Pope Gregory VII of his own Authority Greg. 7. Epist 37. The Roman Ceremonial l. 1. c. 2. shews this to be the manner of investing the Pope with his Authority I invest Thee with the Authority of Pope that Thou maist Rule over the City and the World Urbi Orbi more exact living Image of the Roman State under the Imperial Power For the Head of it has a Jurisdiction equal to the Head of the State Both Pope and Emperor have long since had the Title of The Lords of the World They have both a Triple Crown tho for different Jurisdictions They are both called King of Kings The body of the Image is just the same with that of the Beast The Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions are parted out exactly according to the divisions of the Civil Government of the Empire The Patriarchs Archbishops and Bishops had their Ranks and Places every-where according to the Divisions of the Provinces of the State and the name of the Ecclesiastical Diocesses did arise from the distinction of the several Civil Diocesses of the Empire by Constantine And it is established by the Canons of f Concil 6º in Trullo Can. 37. The Canon which was made by the Fathers we do also observe which says thus If any City be or shall be new raised by the Royal Power the Ecclesiastical Dignity shall follow the Publick and Civil state of it two Synods That if any City were newly raised by the Emperor the Ecclesiastical Dignities there should be conformed to it So that the Church and State did run parallel to one another through the whole Body of the Roman Empire just like the Arteries and Veins in the Body of Man and observed the same proportion every-where to one another a MAlvenda de Antichristo pag. 234. de 10 Cornibus The number Ten is very often in Scripture used indefinitely for a great many CHAP. III. Rev. XIII Wherein the Worship of the Beast and of his Image doth consist BY the process of the former Chapter we have all the Confederates in the design of the Beast discovered to us There is the Imperial Roman State for the Beast with his last Head The Image and false Prophet for the Roman Catholick Church and the Pope The ten Kings giving their Kingdoms to the Beast for those Roman Catholick Kings who force their Subjects to submit to the Roman Religion enjoyned by the Papal Power or Imperial Authority And now it is to be examined what is meant by Worshiping the Beast and his Image It is certain in the first place That the words here used to express the Worship of the Beast and his Image are the same with those which were in use at the time of the Vision to signifie the Adoration given to the Emperors and their Images publickly set up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and adorare were the terms in common use amongst the Greeks and Latines of those times to express that profound Reverence which was paid to the Emperor and his Image And then there seems to be nothing more required to make Application of this Phrase but only to show what obedience was given to the Secular and Ecclesiastical Authority of Rome by all the World from the time of Justinian But because we find that the a GRotius in Decal Nor did the first Christians think it contrary to their Religion to fall down before the Emperours Images But when they afterwards joined the Images of false Gods with their own they chose to endure any thing rather than to worship them first Christians did pay that Reverence before-mentioned to the
power who are the executioners of the Sentence All that the Civil power does in it is but to follow the commands of the Church and to strike the last stroke only which is all that can make them be said to have an hand in it And thô it must be confessed that the Secular part in it is that which does the most effectually persuade to the worship of the Beast yet it is plain That the Church is the principal Agent in that also because they overawe the Civil Power into compliances with them which does very naturally answer the power of the Image in the Prophecy to cause all those who would not worship it to be killed The False-prophet is the Head of this Image and so is the chief manager of this Church-Tyranny and therefore is it accordingly said of him That he spake like a Dragon or like that Red Dragon in the 12th Chapter just before and found to be the Devil raging against the followers of the Lamb. If any one should question a COrnelius à Lapide in c. 13. Apoc. v. 11. The Two Horns according to Josephus Acosta l. 2. De temporibus Noviss c. 17. are the Ensigns of the Episcopal Dignity viz. the Mitre or the Episcopal Crown It should seem therefore by this That this false Prophet should be some Apostate Bishop a great pretender to Religion It is not therefore the Mitre but some Mitred Apostate that is here set out who shall treacherously abuse these Horns of Christ the Lamb to propagate the Party of Antichrist And before when he had reckon'd up the several opinions about the 2 d Beast In the fourth place says he the best opinion is that of Irenaeus Tertullian Ribera Viega and others who by this Beast understand some Eminent Pastor of the Church the forerunner and Preacher up of Antichrist Viegas in c. 13. Apoc. v. 11. after the mention of the opinion of others But Andreas Caesariensis and Irenaeus to me seem to have been much more in the right who understand by the 2d Beast some Eminent Preacher the â—â—â—erunner of Antichrist The Armour-bearer of Antichrist as Irenaeus whether so dreadful a character of a Beast speaking like a Dragon or like the Devil can belong to a Christian Bishop of so great eminency in the Church of Christ as the Bishop of Rome is he may easily be satisfied if he considers that by his description he ought to be nothing less than such a person For that he must be the Head of a Roman Church extended over all the World has been shown from his Character of being a church-Church-Head over the same extent of dominion that the Beast did Rule in For he exercised all the power of the Beast And then that he must have the show of the chief Head of the Christian Church appears from his having Two Horns like a Lamb. For the signification of a Lamb all over the Book of the Revelations is nothing but the person of Christ It would indeed have a more plain reference to the other mentions of that word if it were said like THE Lamb. But we have Grotius's Authority for it upon this place which in Criticisme is of the best account when Impartial That nothing is more ordinary in Scripture then to b Ribera upon this place of the Apocalypse after he had pleaded for the indefinite signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the absence of the Article concludes But yet this which I have said of Articles is not always observed by the Greeks Alcasar upon the same The Article is wanting and yet it is an allusion to the Lamb Cap. 5. omit the Article of reference before a word which should denote its relation to the former mentions of it where yet the sense does shew it to be necessary to be understood It appears then from the description of him that he must be as it were c Malvenda de Antichristo pag. 348. quotes Irenaeus for making Antichrist a pretender to be Christ upon Earth And Lactantius affirming that he should falsly pretend himself to be Christ And pag. 349. says That it is the consent of the Fathers That Antichrist shall take away Idols And shall set himself up in the Temple of God as Antiochus Epiphanes had his own Image put into the Temple at Jerusalem who yet Worshipped his own Country Gods and obtruded them upon the Jews He contends indeed That the Temple of God in which Antichrist must sit is the Temple of Jerusalem But Pererius the Jesuit upon the 7th of Daniel quotes Theodoret Damascene and others of the Fathers Interpreting it of the Christian Church For that says he is the only true Temple of God And then Antichrist must be like Christ the Head of the Church And pag. 351. Malvenda shows how Antichrist shall pretend himself to be true God according to the agreeing sense of the Fathers viz. As Nebuchadnezzar Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar the latter of which did certainly do no more than order himself a like worship with the gods And Antiochus Epiphanes who is made the Type of Antichrist did set up the Statue of Jupiter Olympius in the Temple as well as his own And is said by Malvenda to have Consecrated the Temple of Jerusalem to Jupiter Olympius and the Temple on Mount Gerizim to Jupiter Hospitalis It is not therefore necessary according to Malvenda that Antichrist should set himself up as the one supreme God or Christ Irenaeus pag. 483. Edit Erasmi de Antichristo Of whom the Apostle in the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians He shall sit in the Temple enendeavouring to show himself to be Christ Bellarmin also says Lib. 1. de Pontif. cap. 1. That by the common agreement of all Christians Antichrist is understood to be some Eminent False Christ a Vice-Christ or pretend to be the Vicar of Christ which is the same as both of them are also the same with an Antichrist Besides this Beast thus described in one place with Two Horns like a Lamb in the other Chapters is called the False Prophet To acquaint us that the Horns of the Lamb were but the outward show of the Christian Spirit So that if we put these two Characters of him together and then add the other of his speaking like a Dragon and consider that the name of a Dragon is very ordinary in this Book and that it every where else relates to the representation of the Devil in the 12th Chapter just before this as a raging Red Bloody Dragon What can more manifestly denote him to be A False Prophet in Sheeps cloathing but inwardly a Ravenous wolf How could this have been more clearly expressed in a Prophecy where the Lamb and the Dragon are in a very peculiar manner and very commonly restrained to signifie Christ and the Devil And what could more openly show us the difference betwixt the Dragon in the 12th Chapter and the Beast in the 13th thô both enemies to the Christian
rash Conjectures Many other Agreements of the Ancients about these matters are instanced in by Bellarmine Lib. 3. de Pontifice some of which must indeed be granted But they are such as are no ground of concluding upon the sense of the place to which they refer because they themselves do often acknowledge themselves to be incapable Judges of the determinate Signification of those things upon the account of their ignorance of the Event that they referred to and by which alone they apprehended them capable of being certainly known Thus Theodoret upon the 12th Chapter of Daniel 8 9. where the Prophet professes he understood not what he heard And the Angel confirms it to be because the words were sealed up but afterwards many should understand explains it thus But when the thing shall come to pass they shall plainly understand the things that were foretold So also Andreas Caesariensis concerning the number of the name of the Beast Revel 13. The exact knowledge says he of the number and of every thing else besides that is delivered about Antichrist Time and Experience will discover to Prudent and Sober Enquirers And Irenaeus upon the same matter judges it to have been on Lib. 5. cont Haeres cap. ult purpose concealed that it might not be known till it came to be fulfilled And after Cautions put in against Conjectures 'T is therefore says he much the surer way to stop our Conjectures till the Prophecy be fulfilled And this is given as a general Rule for every thing of this nature that is not very plain and clear before the Event By which it appears That the Fathers did not think themselves in a capacity to determine the meaning of the particular Circumstances in the Prophecies about Antichrist because they were generally agreed that he was still to come And that therefore the particular Characters of his appearance did depend upon Events in after-times for the clear understanding them Now all those Opinions for which Bellarmin cites the Consent N B. of the Fathers are such as depend upon this Supposition That the Time Times and the dividing of Time which is the time assigned to the continuance of the Little Horn in the 7th of Daniel Dan. 7. 25. do not signify any longer time than Three years and an half according to the common acceptation of A Time in the Prophecy of Daniel Upon this account it is that many Fathers have agreed that Antichrist must be a single Person and consequently That the Ten Kings signified by the Ten Horns must also be so many single Kings as well as the Little Horn that denotes Antichrist It is also for this reason that they agree That the Roman Empire must be ruined at his appearance by the Ten Kings viz. because by this his Time is made to be but Three years and an half before the end of the World or the Second Coming of Christ unto which the time of the Little Horn is described to continue The Fathers indeed might easily be induced to take the Times or 1260 days of Antichrist in the literal sense because they living under the Reign of the Sixth Head of the Beast which had ruled from the time of the Vision they saw no necessity for that sense in which days and weeks are used amongst the Prophets and so were then obliged to judge according to the First Rule of all sound Interpretation Chap. 2. Book I. of this Part. But the Agreement of the Fathers in these things is not so perfectly Vnanimous as Bellarmin would make it to be Justin Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew concerning this very place in Daniel tells him That by A Time the Jews themselves understand sometimes an 100 years according to which says he the Man of Sin must needs reign 355 years And Augustin ad Marcellin Lib. 20. cap. 19. Some says he understand by the Man of Sin not one Prince only but as it were an whole Body that is a great Multitude of Men. And Primasius speaking of the Beast and the False Prophet â—â— c. 19. Apoc. that is says he the Devil and Antichrist or his Chief Rulers and his whole Body So also do we find in the Testimonies of Irenaeus Tertullian Hippolitus Lactantius Victorinus Jerom that they made the Ten Horns of the Beast to be no more than a Division of the Roman Empire whereas Bellarmin pretends that the Fathers are agreed that they signify the utter destruction of that Empire And Andreas Caesariensis does expresly contradict him in this in his Testimony where he says That most of the Ancient Doctors did understand Ten Kings of the Roman Empire by the Ten Horns of the Beast There are many other things for which Bellarmin brings the Consent of the Fathers in which he has been found to be much mistaken particularly by Bishop Andrews Respons ad Bellarmin Now from the former Considerations about the Agreement and the differences of the Opinions of the Ancients it may be observed That their Testimonies about things that the Church has not positively defined as the present case is are of the nature of all other humane Testimony Where they all agree in a sense of which they were capable Judges in their time it is a very great presumption that it is the plain and obvious sense of that place But where they differ from one another their Authority is to be resolved into the strength of the grounds of their particular Opinions And those amongst them who in any particular circumstances speak things contradictory to what was so generally agreed on from the plain evidence of the Text may be as little our concern as the Paradoxical Opinions of some Learned Men in our own Age. They themselves we have seen do acknowledge themselves uncapable Judges of most of the things in the Prophecy of Antichrist and the absolute need there was of further time and experience of the Events to be able to speak with any likelihood of truth about them The use therefore that is to be made of these Agreements of the Ancients about the places of the Prophecy of which they were capable Judges at that time is To confirm the natural sense that is offered from the Text and not to give any a prejudice against new senses of the Prophecy about such things in this Age so many Ages since it was wrote And as strong a presumption is it against the fixing of the full accomplishment of the Prophecies of Daniel and the Revelations to any Events before or in the Grotius Dr. Hammond time of the Fathers to see them so generally to agree in their silence about any such Interpretation It would indeed be matter of astonishment to us if the things of these Prophecies should have been past before the times of these Learned Inquirers into the meaning of them And yet that they should unanimously agreee that they were not to be fulfilled till a long time after From the General Agreement of the Ancients in
in the 2d Chapter of Daniel the same with that of the Son of Man in the 7th Chapter must also judge the Fourth Kingdom before it in each to be the same And the Fourth Kingdom in the 2d Chapter is said to be the same Kingdom in substance when it was entire and when divided verse 40 41. Lactantius applies the whole account of the Fourth Beast to the Roman Empire Victorinus doth certainly seat Antichrist or the Little Horn amongst the Roman Rulers Those indeed that came after the time of Augustine did many of them think that Antichrist was to destroy all the Power of Rome The only ground that they alledge for it is That in the Second Epistle of the Thessalonians chap. 2. where it is said That that did withhold at the present time must be taken away and then should the Man of Sin be Revealed This that did with-hold they Interpreted to be the Roman Empire And yet since they afterwards Interpret Babylon in the Revelations to be Rome which is openly described to be the City of Antichrist the same with the little Horn whom they agreed to continue till about the end of the World they did thereby plainly shew that they meant nothing else by the taking away of the Roman Empire in the forecited place but only the change of the Monarchical Imperial form of it not the last end of all Roman Rule According as Tertullian says that they prayed for the Lives of the Emperors to put off the coming of Antichrist in the end of the World As for those amongst them that did not understand Rome by Babylon See the References to the 1st Chap. Book 1. we see that the Jesuits themselves look upon them as extravagant in it Wherefore the Ten Horns and the Little one after them may now be counted by the express Consent of the Fathers as conformable to the General Rule for all the rest of their kind 6. It does also now appear from this Agreement of the Fathers concerning Beasts and their parts signifying Dominion That they had no other mark for their difference betwixt either Successive or Contemporary Horns but only the different Changes of the Supream Civil Power of Monarchies 7. Nor any other constitutive difference betwixt Successive Heads or Horns but a different name or title of the Supream Power The second Horn of the Ram was distinguished from the first only by the name of the King of Persia instead of that of Media over the same Nation Dan. 8. 3 20. 8. And by their Agreement that the four Heads of the Leopard in the 7th Chapter was the same time of Graecian Empire with the four Horns of the He-goat in the 8th Chapter it appeared That they made Heads and Horns to be promiscuously used for the same thing in different Schemes of the same Monarchy CHAP. IV. The Agreements of the Ancients about the Beast in the Revelations Eight Queries about the Necessary Consequences of the Ancients Consent concerning the Fourth Beast in Daniel and the Beast in tbe Revelations for the more particular determination of the Characters of the Beast in the Revelations The Reason of the Contrariety of some of the Opinions of the Fathers to their general Agreements about the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel and the Beast in the Revelations The Application of the Beast to the Roman Church in all Ages THE Consent of the Ancients about the nature of the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel and the necessary Consequences of what they expresly consent in do discover what they must agree in concerning the Beast in the Revelations For 1. The Fathers are well enough known to make that which from the 13th to the end of the 19th Chapter of the Revelations is peculiarly called The Beast as one particular state of it only in the latter time of it to be that to which they give the name of Antichrist See Andreas Caesariensis 2. They do upon this account make that particular Reign of the Beast in the Revelations to be the same with the Reign of the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast in Daniel the same with the Man of Sin in the 2d Chapter of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians the same also with the Bustling King in Daniel 11. 36. For as they called all these by the name of Antichrist so Bellarmin assures us lib. 3. de Pontif. cap. 1. That by the common consent of all Christians by Antichrist is understood but one certain Eminent False Christ In the Testimony also of Andreas Caesariensis may be seen the Agreement of the Ancient Doctors That The Beast in the Revelations and the Little Horn in the 7th of Daniel were the same thing because they accounted them both to be Antichrist 3. The Fathers do also own with the Text the seven Heads of Rev. 17. 10 11. the Beast to be successive Ruling Powers five of which were past at the time of the Vision one of them at that time in being and two Kings more which were to come to make up the whole Seven the latter of which Two was to be such an Eighth as should be one of the Seven 4. They did also agree that Babylon that went along with the Beast in the Revelations was the City of Rome This appears from Andreas Caesariensis's Testimony and Bellarmin's Quotations of the Fathers for this Exposition Lib. 2. de Pontif. cap. 2. where he concludes it to be the Opinion of the Fathers That John in the Apocalypse did every-where call Rome Babylon Now from the forementioned Particulars in which the Ancients are found generally to agree about the Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel and the Beast in the Revelations and from the immediate and necessary Consequences before deduced from them I would propound it to the Impartial Consideration of all the World whether to make the Ancients constant to themselves they ought not to be judged to agree also in those unavoidable Consequences of the Conclusions in which they are so unanimous That the general Notion of the Beast in the Revelations as it Query 1 is the common subject of its Heads and Horns must signify the Particular Monarchy of the Romans till the last ruine of it This does necessarily follow 1st From the fourth Consequence of Chap. 3. their Agreements about the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel For by that the general Notion of every Beast is to be some Particular Monarchy to the last end of it And 2dly From their See 4th Agreement in this Chap. Unanimous Agreement about Babylon in the Apocalypse before-mentioned which does necessarily determine it to be the Roman Monarchy Wherefore if some of the Fathers have interpreted the Beast in the Revelations to signify a great Multitude of Kingdoms tyrannizing over the Church of God They do plainly contradict that which before they had agreed to be the natural and obvious signification of A Beast in Prophecy by the almost Unanimous Consent of
represented by the False Prophet cannot be the same thing with that which is called the Beast viz. Because the Beast is really nothing but an Head of the Beast which by consequence the 6th Chap. 3. does denote Prop. 6. a Civil Power of the Romans whereas the False Prophet is described as an Ecclesiastical Power employed in the service of that Civil Power See Revelat. 13 12 14. But yet they might very well agree That the Beast and the False Prophet might be used promiscuously to signify the really distinct Actions of one another because they were joined together in one Confederacy And the names of any Confederates or Partners in any thing are commonly used to express the Actions of one another in the common Design So Primasius upon the 13th of the Revelations concerning them both Both of them says he are every-where to be understood in conjunction And presently after It is manifest that both the Beasts are one and the same body of men and exercise the same wicked Worship so that the First is said to fight for the false Shows of the Second Thus I have drawn down the Consequences of the General Consent of the Ancients to mine own particular Opinion concerning the first date of the Rise of the Beast and the particular Roman Power that is now signified by that Term. But that which is to be observed for the General Confirmation of the Conclusion in which almost all Protestants agree in is That if it be sure as may appear from the 4th Query That the Sixth Head of the Beast is the Imperial Government at the time of the Vision then there need nothing be granted to prove the Beast and the False Prophet to be the Civil and Ecclesiastical Power of Rome at this present but only to demonstrate from History That there has certainly been two Changes of the Sovereign Power of the Romans since the time of St. John For they did agree That Antichrist from his first appearance must continue 4th Agreement Chap. 3. 3d Agreement this Chap. till the Second Coming of Christ and that the next Change of the Sovereignty of the Romans but one after the time of the Vision must be the Eighth King or the Beast and Antichrist And therefore at the beginning of the last of those two Changes of the Government of the Romans since the time of St. John must the Kingdom of Antichrist have begun whensoever that does appear from History to have happened And whatsoever the Fathers have delivered contrary to this concerning the Time Times and half a Time of the Beast as but three years and an half must have been acknowledged by them to contradict their General Agreements in other things more plain and from Experience which they often mention as the only means to determine the meaning of some Mystical Expressions that regarded future Times they would have learnt that those Times were necessarily to be understood in a Mystical Sense and not as they ordinarily signify according to the frequent Examples in Scripture of such a Mystical Signification of parts of See Corol. 1. Prop. 23. Rule 2. time and the true Rule of Interpretation in such like Cases For a clearer satisfaction about the contrariety and inconsistency of some of the particular Opinions of the Fathers with the Conclusions in which they agree with the Unanimous Judgment of the rest it may be convenient to inquire into the grounds or reasons of their Paradoxical Fancies about the Beast in the Revelations which contradicted the General Agreement about the signification of A Beast and its Ruling Parts in the Prophecy of Daniel For this purpose it is in the first place to be considered That it is a true Observation of the Learned Grotius That the Reason why the Apocalypse was not added at first to the rest of the Books In Praefat. ad Apocal. of the New Testament which did afterwards give ground for questioning the Canonical Authority of it was That it did so openly point at the Roman Government as the great Enemy of God that it lay concealed in a few hands amongst the Christians of the first times for fear of exasperating the Romans against them This does St. Chrysostome and Augustine make to be the ground why St. Paul spoke so mysteriously about the Roman Empire in In 2. Ep. Thess his Prophecy about Antichrist 2 Thess 2. 6. when he says And now ye know what doth withhold the Reason they give for it is That if the Apostle had openly named the Romans they would have accounted him and all the Faithful very pestilent Members of their Government This fear of the then Ruling Power together with the Professions of their ignorance of the application of the Characters of Antichrist because they look'd upon their times as not at all concerned in those things may be very reasonably judged to be the cause of the little care that the Fathers took to be wary in the Interpretations that they gave of this Book For they esteemed it to be both a dangerous study and also relating to things that they could not well judge of and also to future times in which they should not share And might therefore as Chrysostome and Augustine do expresly say bring themselves unnecessarily into great danger And Jerom in his Answer to 11. q. ad Algasiam and Primasius upon 2 Thess 2. 6. to the same purpose This Account may the more easily be allowed from the general neglect of the Book of the Apocalypse even in this Age to which the chief things in Mr. Mede Bp. Usher c. it are by the severest Examiners of the Sense of Scripture judged to belong so as to be even laid aside out of the Calendar for * Homilies of the Church of England p. 69 and p. 316. the daily readings of Scripture by Protestants themselves †who nevertheless do give the present Church of Rome the name of Babylon It is then no great wonder That Irenaeus and Hippolytus and some other of the Fathers whilst the Roman Government continued Pagan should be so willing to make the Beast in general to be the World and the Seven Heads of it to be seven Wicked Ages of the World as the sum or Recapitulation as Irenaeus calls it of all the Apostate times For in that way the Sixth Head said in the Prophecy to be then in being was not more applied to the Romans than to all the other Wicked Nations in the World at that time and the last Head called the Beast would not concern the then Roman Empire because it was not to come till after the end of that present Reigning Age. And their willingness to take this safe way might make them easie to be satisfied with such small grounds as these for it viz. 1. That the Beast in the Revelations is signified Chap. 13. 2. to 1. Dan. 2. 40. and 7. 7 23. contain all the Four Beasts of the 7th of Daniel in his own
Body though that be the same with what is said of the Fourth Beast alone that is that he had devoured the other three But this Apprehension might easily induce them first to fancy the Beast to be at least all those Four Monarchies that are mentioned in Daniel And 2. when that was done they might as easily thereupon be brought to extend the notion of it to contain the whole World in it from the representation of the Seven Heads upon it the number seven being then generally accounted in the Learning of the Jews and Christians to be a signification of the whole sum of the kind of things with which it was joined And then it was obvious to fancy the Seven Heads to be some seven parts of time that should measure out that blasphemous or ungodly time of the World from the first beginning of it to the last end of it And yet all the ground for this was nothing but that mention of the parts of the Four Beasts in the 7th of Daniel in the make of the Body of the Beast in the 13th Chapter of the Revelations which the Fourth Beast in Daniel is said to have devoured The Fathers that came after the time of Constantine and that saw the Roman Empire turned Christian could not it seems ever bring it into their minds to think That God would ever suffer the Roman Empire to relapse again into Infidelity or to appear in the dreadful Characters of the Tyranny of the Beast against the Church And yet they must stand to that if they allowed Babylon to be Rome or the future times of the Beast to belong to the Roman Empire They therefore interpret Babylon to be the General City of all Wicked Men all the World over and the Beast to be the World of Wicked Men and the Seven Heads to be either all the Tyrannical Powers of the World that had or should persecute the Church of God or all the Wicked Emperors only of that Time Heathen or Arrian That which might the more easily dispose them to this was the Clamours of the Arrians and Donatists against the then Orthodox Party that they were the People of that Babylon that is so dreadfully set out in the Revelations For it was very obvious for any that had zeal enough to make the Change of Religion to be the Change of one of the Heads of the Beast and so to account the Sixth Head to be the Heathen Emperors only the Seventh King to be the short continuance of Imperial and professed Arrianism under Constantius Valens c. as the time of the Seventh King is described And the Eighth King called The Beast to be the return of that which these called Idolatry and Blasphemy but others Orthodoxy under the rest of the Emperors that succeeded and that were in the time of this Charge in power If we consider That by some of the best Learned and Cautious Mr. Mede Dr. More Interpreters of this present Age the change of Religion in the Imperial Head is made to be the end of the Reign of that Head it will appear very reasonable to judge That these Clamours of their Adversaries might be thought to have some ground for them if they should allow The Beast and Heads to be Roman Powers only And this Consideration might very well make them conclude that Babylon could not be Rome nor the Heads of the Beast to be so many Successions of Roman Government at least if they thought it to be undoubted That the then called Orthodox Party could not possibly be concerned in the Characters of the Beast For That the Orthodox were then charged by their Adversaries with the Application of Babylon and the Beast to them is evident That which is the clearest Instance of this nature is that which Bede in his Preface to his Comment upon the Revelations says of Tyconius an Eminent Donatist and whom he commends for his Interpretation He there says That Tyconius who had suffered in the Cause of the Donatists with the rest of his Brethren That he did apply all the Persecutions in the Revelations to the Actions of the then present Church of Rome against those of his Party And Primasius another of his Followers does also in his Comment upon this Book affirm much the same of him in his Preface So also does the Imperfect Work upon St. Matthew wrongly attributed to Chrysostome charge the Governing party of the Roman Church about the same time with much the same accusations in several places of it and Bellarmin informs us Lib. 3. de Pontif. c. 11. That the Orthodox Africans were called Romanists by the Arrians as a name of reproach Whatever was the true Reason of this new Interpretation of the name of Babylon it is certain that it was against the opinion of all the Fathers before as the most Learned of the Roman Interpreters do often acquaint us and as may be seen from Irenaeus in particular Lib. 5. Contra Haeres And from Tertullian in Apolog. Victorinus c. And there could be no greater Reason to move them to it than the clamours of that discontented Party But after the inundation of the Barbarous Nations all over the Roman Empire and the settlement of their several Kingdoms within the Bounds of it Andreas Caesariensis and Arethas as if they had now plainly seen the division of that Empire amongst the Ten Kings represented by the Ten Horns of the Beast seem to be not so well satisfied about the Mystical way of Interpretation which they had received from those before them But yet for fear of fixing the Characters of Babylon upon the then present times of the Roman Church they are very cautious of determining any way They show how many meanings Babylon may have in it it may either be the whole World of the Wicked in general or Babylon in Persia or Old Rome or New Rome and the Seven Heads of the Beast may be either all the wicked Emperours or Seven Ages of the World c. And yet when they come to bethink themselves again Babylon must sometimes be Rome with them according to the Ancient Fathers and yet that it cannot be Old Rome because that had lost all Majesty of Empire And then what Rome can it be else And that Antichrist when he comes must be a Monarch of Rome See Andreas Caesariensis on the 13th and 17th Chapters of the Revelations All which shows That the only thing that can be depended upon as the Authoritative sense of the Ancients is their Geneneral Agreement about the nature of the 4th Beast in Daniel and about the relation of the Beast in the Revelations to it And the immediate consequences of that unanimous consent If now it should be thought to be a great prejudice against the clearness and easiness of the Protestant Applications of the Apocalypse to the Church of Rome That that Interpretation was never heard of for many Ages together after the time that the beginning of the Apostacy