of the Bishop of Rome under the third Trumpet The fifth discovereth unto us the growth and the accomplishment of the Mystery of Iniquity For this is the same Star which St. Iohn had called great and of which he had said that it was already fallen from Heaven The Key is a Symbole of Power and Authority When the Nations were to be brought out of Idolatry into which they were plunged as into a bottomless pit and to be introduced into the Kingdom of Heaven Iesus Christ gave to St. Peter the Keys of that Kingdom And it was that Apostle who first made use of those Keys when he preached the Gospel to Cornelius who was a Gentile But now when the same Nations are to return to Idolatry the Key of the bottomless Pit is given to the pretended Successor of St. Peter by the Dragon Rev. chap. 13. v. 2 4. The Bottomless Pit being opened with this Key which the Bishop of Rome received from the Dragon there came forth a smoke out of the Pit as out of a great Furnace and the Sun and Air were darkned The Sun is Jesus Christ The Air is Religion For Jesus Christ is the Sun of Righteousness and Religion which consisteth in Doctrines Worship and Ceremonies is with respect to Salvation what the Air is with respect to the Animal life which no longer endureth than while we suck in and breath out the Air. Nor can it be denied but that the Bishop of Rome hath darkned the Sun of Righteousness in that he hath assumed to himself all the Offiâ—es of our Saviour his Kingship his Priesthood and his dignity of Supream and infallible Teacher And in that he hath added the Sacrifice of the Mass to the Sacrifice of the Cross and humane Satisfaction to the merit of Christs Blood which is the price of our Redemption Neither can it be gainsaid but that he hath darkned the Air of Religion by a mixture of Heathen Ceremonies with those which Jesus Christ had ordained Such as Altars the different Habits of Priests Agnus Dei's Chappelets Scapularies Holy Water Abstinences and Fastings Finally he hath corrupted the Discipline and Government which fence and preserve Religion by changing it into a Monarchy like unto that of Earthly Princes contrary to the express Declaration of our Saviour to his Apostles The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship but ye shall not be so Luks 22. 25. And also contrary to the advice of St. Peter whose Vicar and Successor he vainly boasts himself to be For he enjoins Ministers to feed the Flock of God and not to carry it as being Lords over God's Heritage 1 Pet. 5. 2 3. This Change was not all made at once but by little and little The Smokt came not all out of the bottomless Pit at one and the same time but successively and by degrees answerable to the nature of the Mystery of Iniquity which hath established it self by fraud and subtility Before Gregory I. about the end of the second Century Victor upon the subject of what day Easter should be kept was so rash as to excommunicate all the Churches of Asia as if he had been the Soveraign Master of all Churches Upon which account St. Ireneus rebuked him according as he deserved Siricius condemned the Marriage of Priests abusing to that end the words of St. Paul They that are in the Flesh cannot please God as if by being in the Flesh the Apostle had understood the state of Marriage Boniface III. Successor of Gregory I. challenged the Title of Universal Bishop which Gregory had condemned in Iohn Bishop of Constantinople as the Title of the Forerunner of Antichrist Boniface IV. consecrated the Pantheon to the Holy Virgin and to all the Saints which the Pagans had dedicated before to Cibele the Mother of the Gods. And the Controversie about the Worship of Images grew so hot in the eighth Age that Pope Gregory the second excommunicated the Emperor Leo for opposing it In the ninth Age Paschasius the Monk of Corby was the first that taught the Corporal Presence but Rathramu writting against it by the command of Charles the Bold the question remained undetermined But the Truth becoming darkned by the Smoke that arose out of the bottomless Pit in the tenth Age which Baronius stiles an Age of Iron and Lead and which all Writers acknowledg to have been an Age of Ignorance and Darkness it came to be decided in the eleventh Age by Nicolas the second Who made it be prescribed to Berenger in his Retractation that believers did not only eat Christ Sacramentally but that he was really broken by their teeth In the same Age Gregory the seventh made come out of the bottomless Pit these propositions mentioned by Baronius Anno 1076. num 31. namely that the Pope of Rome alone hath Right to be called Universal That all Princes ought to kiss the Popes Feet That his name only should be mentioned to the Churches That he hath an Authority to depose Emperors That without his command no Council ought to be called General That no Book nor Chapter ought to be held for Canonical without his Authorisy That he may discharge Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance And many other such as these which Baronius calls Dictata Papae Out of the same Pit came forth the Adoration of the Holy Sacrament under Pope Houorius the second The Feast of God or of Corpus Christi under Pope Eugenius the second Auricular Confession under Pope Innocent the third The first Crusado with promise of forgiveness of all their sins under Urban the second Anno 1095 The first Jubilee with a promise annexed to it of universal pardon to all that should go to Rome and visit the Churches there was instituted by Boniface the eighth Anno 1295. Finally Eugenius the third about the year 1149. did ordain that the Decretals collected by Gratian should be read and explained in the Schools Which Decretals treat of nothing save of the Power of St. Peter and of the Pope of the excellency of a Monastick life of Celibate of Transubstantiation of the Mass and of such like Doctrines which are this Smoke arisen out of the bottomless Pit by which the Sun and the Air have been darkned XV. ILLUSTRATION Of the Locusts REV. CHAP. 9. V. 3. And there came out of the Smoke Locusts upon the Earth and unto them was given power as the Scorpions of the Earth have power V. 4. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the Grass of the Earth neither any Green thing neither any Tree but only those men which have not the Seal of God in their Foreheads V. 5. And to them it was given that they should not kill them but that they should torment them five moneths and their Torment was as the Torment of a Scorpion when he striketh a man. V. 6. And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them V.
the cloud not only hindred men from entring but which made that they who went in could discern nothing save darkness In a word they say it is in vain to study Prophesies which it is impossible to know the meaning of unless illuminated by the same Spirit which Revealed them or without attending till we see their completion which is that alone whereby they come to be infallibly interpreted Nor ought we to wonder that a person of parts and abilities and who can spend his time about something else should decline to wast his Spirits in searching out the sense of a Book to whose composition there concurred nothing save human wit and Industry and which eontained only picquant Satyrs upon the brutal Vices of Nero and the profligacies of other depraved Monsters of that unhappy Reign and wherein the best that was to be met with were only some Moral Instructions and a little diverting Railery upon Fools and Villains But the Revelation contains in it the great Mysteries of Divine Providence the Destiny of the Roman Empire the Fate of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and gives us not only a Description of the Romish Church which is the Mystical Babylon and the Spouse of Antichrist but Vouchsafes us a Representation of the True Church which is the Heavenly Jerusalem and the Spouse of the Son of God. All which are matters so Holy and of so great importance to the Consolation of every Believer that knows how to read that none ought to be discouraged from studying it by the darkness wherewith it is envelop'd The Holy Spirit foreseeing the dislike which the obscurity of the Apocalypse might occasion took care to Invite Christians to the reading of it by a most alluring promise registred at the beginning of this Book Blessed is he who readeth and heareth the words of this Prophecy 'T is a matter worthy to be remarked that tho' the Revelation be not the alone Book which is dark and hardly to be understood there being divers parts of the ancient Prophets incircled with no less obscurity yet this is the only portion of the Divine Writings which the Holy Spirit hath tanqa particular care to recommend unto our perusal and study Which doth unquestionably intimate two things 1 That of all Divine Revelations there are none of more Importance than those which are the subject matter of the Apocalypse 2 That whosoever shall read this Book with all due regard and application and in order thereby to be rendred holy and wise he shall not find the study of it useless and unprofitable nor miss the being in some measure and degree guided into an understanding of it For were it otherways the Holy Spirit would not have been guilty of so unaccountable a thing as to tempt and oblige our searching into it by so signal a promise Moreover the Apocalypse like the Cloudy Pillar that conducted the Israelites tho it be dark on the one side yet it is luminous on the other Where the Spirit of God hath given no Explanation of the Prophetick Schem's and where the Event hath not illustrated them there we are still upon the dark and cloudy side of it But where either the Holy Spirit hath expounded any of the Visions or where the accomplishment hath interpreted them we are there furnished with such a light that it is impossible to miss the understanding those portions of this Divine Book without a wilful shutting of our eyes and a chosen muffling of our Intellects When we are to learn crabbed and abstruse Sciences we begin with Common Notions and with principles which are the most evident and so we proceed by degrees till we have advanced unto and have conquered that which is more sublime and difficult This Method is natural and good By obsâ—rving of it the greatest Doctors and the most celebrated Philosophers have arrived both at their knowledg and their renown And if we take the same course in our search into the Apocalyptick Mysteries there will remain little but what we may master and unravel There are some Visions which the Angel who revealed them to St. John Vouchsafed also to explain There are others which the Event hath expounded And there are a third sort in the sense of which all men are agreed So that being first assured of the Scope and meaning of those which are explained and then of the signification of such as there is no contest among Authors about we may afterwards proceed to the rest By this method we shall enter upon the darker places with a Torch in our hand and thereby come to discover all the Mysteries of this Book as far as is either necessary or profitable 'T is evident that there are but three principal Visions in the Revelation in which are contained both all that was to befall the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which is the True Church and all that hath relation to the Papal Empire which is the false These Visions are those of the Seals those of the Trumpets and those of the Vials The rest are only Tablets and Draughts wherein what had been represented in those of the Seals Trumpets and Vials is reassumed inlarged and more particularly deduced and explained The number Seven being Mystical and marking perfection serveth to inform us that these three Visions do comprehend all For it is found in the Seals in the Trumpets in the Vials and in the Thunders which are the Fore-runners of the Vials Moreover these three Visions are so link'd one to another that the Second which is that of the Trumpets begins under the seventh Seal and the third which is that of the Vials commence under the seventh Trumpet Finally 't is upon the Effusion of the Vials that the Mystery of God is to be finished whereof there is mention chap. 10. which consisteth in the deliverance of the Christian Church from all that She suffered by and under the Roman Empire and in the reduction of all the Kingdoms of the World to Jesus Christ which will usher in the Millennian peace of the Church Being fully perswaded that this Division which I have laid down is the true Key of the Apocalypse I shall therefore distribute this Work into two parts The first shall explain the Visions of Chapters 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21. The second shall illustrate those of Chapters 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 and 16. By this means there will be found here an entire Systeme of the whole Apocalypse where one may see the Disposition of all the Visions and the Order of the several Events therein fore-told and all this in so compendious a manner as is not to be met with elsewhere For whether they be Commentaries or other Tracts in which all these Visions are explained they are either of a length sufficient to weary and discourage the Reader or if they be so short as by reason of their brevity to invite one to peruse them they do at most but expound a part of these Visions and afford
esteem that they who before had been called Arnoldians Henricians and Petrobrusians are supposed to have gotten from him the name of Valdenses Tho that is a mistake forasmuch as long before the time of Valdo they who made profession of the true Doctrine had been so stiled from the name of the Valleys of Angrogna and Piedmont where the Church of God had been harboured from the day 's of Constantin as hath been already observed These Teachers are represented crying with a loud voice Fear God because at that season Babylon alone was dreaded it being the common language of every one at that day Who is like unto the Beast who is able to make war with him as the Holy Ghost hath marked Rev. chap. 13. v. 4. They are farther represented crying Give Glory to God because then the Honor due to God was transferred to Creatures which according to St. Paul is a with-holding or a not-giving Glory to God. For that Apostle being speaking of the Pagans he accuseth them of not having glorified God by reason of their giving that honor to the Creature which belonged to none save to the Creator Rom. 1. 21 23. Moreover they are here introduced threatning the men of that Age with the Judgments of God The hour say they of his judgment is come Which Denunciation was fulfilled in the same Century For the Quarrels between the Emperor Frederick and the Pope filled all Christendom with Civil Wars and overwhelmed it with Desolation Besides the Voiage of Louis the seventh into the Holy Land proved most unhappy and then Saladin towards the end of that Age conquered the Kingdom of Jerusalem so that all the Christians became defeated and droven out of Palestine They are further introduced preaching the Gospel to every Nation and kindred and Tongue and People that is through all parts of the Papal Kingdom which in these Visions is signified by the Kingdom of the Beast Of whom it is said Chap. 13. v 7. that power was given unto him over all kindreds and Tongues and Nations and that all who dwelt upon the Earth worshipped him Which can be meant of nothing else but of the Roman Papal Empire In the fourteenth Age about the year 1360. Iohn Wicklif assaulted the Pope and both called him Archheretick Antichrist the Impostore of the Church and proved him to be so by Scripture History and his own Actions He preached likewise against the Sacrifice of the Mass against Indulgences and against the Worship of Images Relicks and Saints The voice of this Angel was so powerful and efficacious that Edward the third King of England ordained in Parliament that from thence forward Bishops should not go to Rome for confirmation but be confirmed at home by their own Metropolitans This Wicklif upon his withdrawing into Bohemia had Iohn Hus for his Disciple Which Hus by the alone power of his Doctrine drew the Kingdom of Bohemia off from obedience to Rome And thence it is that this Angel is introduced crying Babylon is falling is falling Because that was a presage of the falling away of Nations from her which should ensue in the next Age. John Hus was burnt by the Council of Constance contrary to the publick Faith and the safe Conduct that had been given him by the Emperor Sigismond And History reports of him that he should say to his Judges ye are putting a Goose to death for so Hus in the Bohemian Language signifies but a hundred years hence God will raise up a Swan whom tho ye would never so fain destroy ye shall not be able Which Prophecy was exactly fulfilled at the time For as Iohn Hus was burnt anno 1415. so Luther begun the work of the Reformation by writing against Indulgences in the year 1515. And tho the Court of Rome did all they could both to stop his mouth and to destroy him yet they could never effect it It was therefore in the 16. Century that the voice of the third Angel was heard saying loudly If any man worship the Beast and his Image and receive his mark in his Forehead or in his Hand the same shall drink of the Wine of the Wrath of God c. This Angel is Luther who writ with that strength and preached with that efficacy and with such success against the Errors Idolatry and Tyranny of the Church of Rome that near one half of the Nations and People who reverenced her as their Mother and feared her as their Queen withdrew from her Communion and look't upon her with detestation as the Mother of uncleanness and Abominations And as Rome could not behold the success of the voice of the third Angel but with despite and rage so Believers could not escape suffering a great deal from a power which saw it self so dangerously weakned by their Separation This is what the H. Spirit declareth was to be when he saith Here is the patience of the Saints here are they that keâ—p the Commaudments of God and the Faith of Iesus But the Holy Spirit in the message directed thereupon to St. Iohn do's likeway's animate and fortify them against all those evils that Babylon should be able to do unto them And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me write Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them There being no where else and express command given unto St. Iohn to write except in the first Chap. v. 19. It serves to shew the great importance of this Doctrine both in discovering the falsehood of the Romish Doctrine about the State of Dead about the Worship given unto them about Purgatory to which they are adjudged and about the Mass which is made use of for fetching them thence and also for the comfort and encouragement of those who assert the dignity of the Everlasting Gospel and who are persecuted by the Beast for defending of it XVIII ILLUSTRATION Of the Harvest and the Vintage REV. CHAP. 14. v. 14 15 c. THese two Visions do without doubt signify the Judgments of God against his Enemies and the Persecutors of his Church Accordingly Ieremiah useth the similitudes of Vintage and Harvest against Babylon of the Chaldees Chap. 51. v. 33. The Daughter of Babylon saith he is like a threshing floor it is time to thresh her yet a little while and the time of her Harvest shall come Ioel also makes use of them both Chap. 13. 3. Put in the Sicle saith he for the Harvest is ripe come get you down for the Press is full the fats overflow for their wickedness is great There are some who do think that the Harvest respecteth and threatneth the Mahometan Empire but all are agreed that the Vintage referreth unto and threatneth the Papal Kingdom As for me I think it most probable that both these Judgments do threaten the Papal Empire And that the Harvest signifies an Initial Judgment or a Decision as to some
and the hour and every thing that shall befal either the Church or the World because he hath been sacrificed Which is the reason of the four and twenty Elders saying unto him Thou art worthy to open the Book and to loose the Seals thereof for thou hast redeemed us It ought here to be carefully observed that this New Song containeth the whole Mystery of Gospel worship For here we have the death of Christ which is the foundation of all we have them whom his death hath redeemed we have the fruits which believers receive by his Death namely the dignity of being Kings and Priests and we have the Glory which accrueth to Jesus Christ himself For he is thought worthy to know all the Secrets of providence and to receive the Adoration of all Creatures low middle and high Which Adoration is here set before us in a form that is most perfect and which alone is that where with God is pleased that which all the Angels with the four and twenty Elders publish aloud that worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing This is moreover what every Creature in Heaven and on Earth and under the earth and such as are in the Sea say likewise in their turn Blessing and Honor and Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever And the four living Creatures said Amen and the twenty four Elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever It is repeated again because it can never be said enough All worship that is not conformable to this pattern is unlawful and displeaseth God. Nor can we give the least worship to a Creature whatsoever degree of glory it hath arrived at without a departing from this divine model and falling into Idolatry Here we have a Sentence that condemneth the worship of the Roman Church in their addressing their Hymn's and their Prayers to Angels and to Saints IV. ILLUSTRATION Of the Opening of the first six Seals REV. CHAP. 6. AS to the Six Seals of the opening whereof the sixth Chapter treateth the four first differ from the two other in two things One is that at the opening of the four first there appear four Horsemen four living Creatures The other is that at the opening of these St. John is called upon to consider the things which are there declared to be hereafter to come There is doubtless some reason for this difference and this reason is in all probability nothing but this namely that every one of these four Seals containeth things which respect the whole course of the prophetick History both of the Roman Empire and of the Church which the two following do not This reason appeareth to be true in that in the first Vision of Zechariah chap. 1. v 8. it is said that the men which the Prophet saw riding upon red bay and white Horses were those whom the Lord sent to and fro through the Earth And in that the four living Creatures signify as we have proved the four Archangels set over the four parts of the world which marketh Universality And by consequence that the four first Seals at the opening whereof they do appear contain the things that respect the whole series of the History of the Roman Empire and of the Church Which observation if we duly attend unto we shall the more clearly understand the opening of these Seals V. 1. And when the Lamb opened one of the Seals i. e. the first I heard one of the four living Creatures that is the first saying as if it had been the voice of Thunder Come and see V. 2. And I saw and behold a white Horse and he that sat on him had a Bow and a Crown was given unto him and he went forth conquering and to conquer This first living Creature is the Lion whose Roaring is the most terrible voice of all the noises of Brutes If the Lion doth Roar shall we not tremble saith one of the Prophets It is compared also to the noise of Thunder which is the thing of the world that is most frightful to men This is exactly the preaching of the Gospel They who preach it are Boanerges Sons of Thunder they carry dread along with them wheresoever they are heard Jews and Gentiles were equally frighted at the beginning and the Papal Kingdom doth dread nothing so much at this day Which is the reason that the Pope and his Clergy use all the power and industry that they are able to stiffle this voice in all places but it is in vain The Gospel hath been victorious over Iews and Gentiles and will be so over the Papal Empire This is what is promised to the man upon the white Horse going forth conquering and to conquer For this Man is Iesus Christ the Lion of the Tribe of Judah who hath overcome He established his Gospel through the whole Pagan Roman Empire The worshippers of false Gods being pierced by the Arrows of our Saviour became converted to the Faith. And he will do the same to the Papal Roman Empire V. 3. And when he had opened the second Seal I heard the second living Creature say come and see V. 4. And there went out another Horse that was red and power was given unto him that sat thereon to take peace from the Earth and that they should kill one another and there was given unto him a great Sword. This second living Creature is the Ox the Symbole of patience and of being designed for slaughter which denoteth the persecutions which believers who are the Mystical Sheep of Jesus Christ were to suffer And he that sat upon this red Horse is no other than Satan the red Dragon that Murderer from the beginning who is armed with a Sword to presage the Blood which for the sake of the Gospel and to hinder the victories of Jesus Christ he should shed through the whole extent both of the Pagan and Papal Empire V. 5. And when he had opened the third Seal I heard the third living Creature say come and see and I beheld and lo a black Horse by that sat on him had a pair of Ballances in his hand The word in the Original signifies a Yoak as well as a Ballance And that it ought to be here translated a Yoak the sequel doth demonstrate V. 6. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living Creatures say a measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny and see thou hurt not the Oyl and the Wine This undoubtedly denoteth a great plenty of all things necessary to the comfort of life Which sheweth that this Horseman carrieth a Yoak not a Ballance Here is indeed a change from white to black The first Horseman who sat upon the white Horse to wit Jesus Christ spread the light of his Gospel in order to establish a spiritual Religion
general Councils which were constituted of the Bishops of the whole Empire these Councils contributed to the Exaltation of the Bishop of Rome So that Gregory I. spake according to his interest when he said that he had the same regard for the 4. Councils viz. of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Calcedon that he had for the four Gospels Which was a plain Blasphemy and very suteable to Antichrist 6. St. John delivereth the Explication which the Angel gave of the Vision of the 17th Chapter v. 12. in these Words The ten Horns which thou sawest are ten Kings which have received no Kingdom as yet but receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast For we are not to seek for these Kings in the Eastern Empire that continued until the Turks became Masters of it which is something more than two hundred years but we are to seek for them in the Western Empire And the reason of it is because there were not several Kingdoms formed out of the ruins of the Eastern Empire as there have according to the Terms of the Vision been formed out of the Western We are not to confine our selves positively to the number of ten seeing that number is taken indefinitely in the Revelation Thus chap. 2. v. 10. the tribulation of ten days that is spoken of is to denote a long persecution All that is essential to be remarked is that these ten Kingdoms or Soveraignties are formed out of the ruins of the Western Empire Which Daniel says positively chap. 7. v. 24. as well as St. John who from the Angels Interpretation of the Vision saith that the ten Kings receive their power in the same hour with the Beast After these observations from Scripture it will be of advantage to consider the following matters of Fact which are all expresly recorded in History It was in the fourth Age that the Fasts Abstinences of the Montemists came to be received in the Church of Rome And in that Age Pope Syricius condemned the Marriage of Priests It was in the fourth Age that Pope Mark wrote Letters to Anastasius and to the Bishops of Egypt in these words The Church of Rome hath always been without afault and through the grace of God and the protection of St. Peter for ever shall be so Which words favour both of Idolairy and of Blasphemy 'T was in the 4th Age that the 2. first Councils of Nice and Constantinople were held as those of Ephesus and Chalcedon were kept in the fifth And although as these Councils did not greatly exalt the Bishop of Rome we may truly say that they opened a way and served as a Bridg to the following Councils which have made it their business to advance the Pope to what he is at this day 'T was in the fourth Age that the Emperors embraced the Christian Religion that they were so liberal to the Bishop of Rome and that they stript themselves of the dignity of Supream Pontiff in favour to him From the time of Iulius Cesar they had always retained it that they might thereby render their persons sacred and inviolable 'T was the Emperor Gratian that surrendred it and since that time none of his Successors have claimed it 'T was in the fifth Age that the Emperors withdrew from Rome and chose Ravenna and Milan for their residence 'T was in the beginning of the fifth Age that the Western Empire was destroyed by the Barbarians and that out of the ruins of it they formed several Soveraignties in Germany Gaul Spain and Italy 'T was in the fifth Age that in order to allure the Pagans to Christianity the Church espoused many of their Ceremonies such as the Invocation of Saints the Worship of Images the Veneration of Relicks and Prayers for the dead 'T was in the beginning of the fifth Age that Pope Innocent I. defended the Right of Appeals to the Sea of Rome Finally it was in the fifth Age that the Controversy between Pope Leo 1. and other Bishops about the matter of Appeals was in the most solemn and authentick manner that the Bishop of Rome could desire ended and determined in his favour When the two Emperors Theodosius and Valentintan granted unto him and issued out an Edict in the following terms We by this perpetual Edict have ordained that no Bishop whether they be of Gaul or of any other Provinces shall contrary to the ancient customs attempt any thing hereafter without the Authority of the venerable Pope of the Eternal City But that whatsoever the Authority of the Apostolick Sea shall ordain shall be submitted to by all others as unto a Law. So that whosoever of the Bishops having appealed shall neglect to appear at the Tribunal of the Roman Bishop shall be obliged to appear before the Governor of the Province where he lives provided always that whatsoever things our Sacred Predecessors have granted to the Church of Rome shall be unchangeably and universally preserved We need go no farther in order to seek for the birth of the Antichristian Empire or to find the fatal Date where the 1260. days or the 42. Months of the continuance of the Beasts Reign doth begin For in what is already mentioned we find every thing that goes to the constitution of Antichristianism namely Error in Doctrine Idolatry in Worship and Tyranny in Government Forasmuch as we find the Roman Church at that time guilty of Forbidding Marriage and of Commanding to abstain from Meats which are the two characters of the Apostacy fore-told by St. Paul. And because we find her defiled with prayers for the dead with the Worshipping of Images with the Invocation of Saints with the veneration of Relicks and brought into a subjection to a Bishop who was by an Imperial Edict established Soveraign Judg of all other Bishops within the Circle of the Roman Empire That Edict was published anno 445. in favour of Leo I. and of his Successors It is then in that year at the soonest and at the latest also that we are to fix the fatal Epoche of the birth of the Antichristian Empire and consequently may hope to see the End of it in the year 1705. For if unto 445. which was the year of the Edict of Valentinian and Theodosius there be added 1260. the total will be 1705. And if from 1705. there be substracted 445. the Remain will be 1260. which is the time of the duration of the Beasts Reign The Historian Florus hath considered the Roman Empire passing through the different Ages and periods of human life and according to that Idea he hath marked the Birth and Infancy of that Empire under Kings its youth from Brutus and Collatinus who were the first Consuls till the time of Appius Claudius its Manhood from Appius Claudius till the time of the Emperor Augustus and its Old Age from Augustus till the time of Trajan under whose Reign that Historian lived and under which he says that the Empire tho' verging to a decrepitness bestirred it self as if it