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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61453	A plain and easie calculation of the name, mark, and number of the name of the beast ... humbly presented to the studious observers of Scripture-prophecies, God's works, and the times / by Nathaniel Stephens ... ; whereunto is prefixed, a commendatory epistle, written by Mr. Edm. Calamy.	Stephens, Nathaniel, 1606?-1678.; Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1656 (1656)	Wing S5450; ESTC R17480	246,007	328

19. vers 1 2 3 4 5. That when the Saints did sing their Halelujah at the Judgement upon the great Whore then a voyce was heard The Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth vers 6. Here I demand Did not the Lord God Omnipotent Reign before He did not Reign before in the sense of that text For the great Who●…e had Ruled all the world and had corrupted the Earth by her Fornications all was under her Power and she spilt the Blood of the Martyrs at her own pleasure But at her destruction the Lord Christ did begin to Reign and that was the time of the marriage of the Lamb of the glory of the Gospel-Church when the Lamb's Wife had made her self ready vers 7. So it is said Rev. 11. 15. The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall Reign for ever and ever Here I demand Were not the Kingdoms of this world the Kingdoms of Christ before the sound of the Seventh Trumpet before the fall of the great City before that time when the Kingdom of the Beast began to be destroyed I Answer They were his Kingdoms jure by Right they were his by vertue of Purchase 1500 years ago and more but he entered not into the actual Possession till the destruction of the Tyrannical Kingdoms of this world He received Institution jus ad rem above 1500 years ago but he had not In●…uction jus in re till the destruction of the Beast's Kingdom And therefore these words are specially and Emphatically added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou hast taken to thy self thy great Power and hast Reigned In which words the holy Spirit doth insinuate That before the sound of the Seventh Trumpet the Lord Christ by his own free and voluntary permission did suffer the Beast and other Monarchical States to encroach upon him and to detain his Power for 1260 years At the end of this time he doth resume and take the Power to himself alone This is the scope of the Prophecie And for the Argument of Mr Hayne That Christ was an established King upon Mount Sion when Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired against him I will further adde That in those times when the Beast ruled over all and when all worshipped his Image and received his Mark in those very times the Lamb stood upon Mount Sion and with him 144000 having their Fathers Name written in their forehead chap. 14. vers 1. Now I believe none that understand the scope of the Prophecie will affirm That Christ was stated in his Monarchical Kingdom in all the times of the Reign of Antichrist upon the Earth To speak properly These were rather the times of the Patience of the Saints and of the Exinanition and concealment of the Glory of Christ's Kingdom The Kings did agree to give their Power to the Beast and must do so till the Word of God be fulfilled When this is done the Beast shall be destroyed his Body shall be given to the burning Fire and then the Lord Christ shall begin to Reign Mr Hayne It must be granted That Christ's Kingdom when it was set up was more powerful than Romes which to this day never could though assisted by the Gates of Hell either by Might or Policy prevail against Christ's Kingdom Answer It is true That the Kingdom of Christ is in it self stronger than any Monarchical Kingdom whatsoever But the great Question is Whether it be his mind at all times to e●…ert and put forth his Power If this had been his mind why did he not dash in pieces the Babylonian the Persian the Graecian and the Roman Powers as soon as they had any Being Why had they any liberty given them to Afflict the Saints In these Variations and Changes of Empire the Lord Christ would not put out his Power till the times of his Reign upon the Earth should begin Again We do not absolutely and simply affirm That the Lord Christ did not exert and put out his Power in the times of the Metal-Kingdoms For he armed his Saints with Faith and Patience and made them able to Suffer But this we affirm He did not put forth his Power to the destruction of these Kingdoms in their Tyranny and Rage against the Church When the Babylonian stood in all greatness of Power it could not overcome the Spirit of Christ in the Three Children And when the Ten Horns did agree together to give their Power to the Beast The Lamb did overcome them for he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful chap. 17. vers 14. It is manifest then That the Lord Christ did put out his Power to hold up the Faith of the Saints and to make them able to Suffer But for the present he did not break those Tyrannical Empires in pieces to make them submit to the Laws of the Gospel He did not nor will not exert and send forth that part of Power till the time and season doth come when his Monarchical Kingdom shall begin The Apostle saith 1 Tim. cap. 6. vers 15. In his times he will shew who is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only Potentate the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords He will set forth his Monarchical Sovereignty and Potency but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his own times in that season which the Father hath appointed for his Sovereignty and Dominion Now that time according to the Scriptures is at the end of the Metal-Kingdoms and more particularly at the end of the Antichristian Kingdom But let us proceed Mr Hayne Christ in S. Iohn's time was the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Rev. 1. 5. Had all things given him by his Father Luk. 10. 22. All Power in Heaven and Earth was given him before his Ascension Matth. 28. 18. So that he was the Head of the Church his Body and in Place far above all Principalitie and Power and Domination and every Title and Name that is Named not in this world only but in the world to come Eph. 1. 21 22. Therefore at Christ's being here on Earth or near unto that time he had an absolute and boundless Sovereignty far above all Monarchs that here●…ofore lived or shall ever live hereafter Answer To this matter I have spoken before scil That the Kingdom given to the Son at his Ascension was far greater than any Earthly Kingdoms whatsoever But the Question here is Whether did he enter into the Possession of that Kingdom yea or no There was a Power given to Christ at his Ascension by vertue of which he was able to destroy the Beast the false Prophet the Dragon Gog and Magog Death and Hell and all other Enemies yet we see that he doth not nor will not execute and put forth his Power in their destruction till the time appointed of the Father till the Saints have passed the time of their Patience and Sufferings

Story of the Gospel and particularly the entrance of Christ into his Ministery he hath these words In the fifteenth year of the Reign of Tiberius Caesar Pontius Pilate being Governor of Iudea and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee and his Brother Philip Tetrarch of Iturea and of the Region of Trachonitis and Lysanias the Tetrarch of Abilene the Word of the Lord came to Iohn the Son of Zacharias in the Wilderness Luk. 3. 1 2 3. Here I demand What hath the Evangelist to do with the times of the Romans being a Government so alien to the affairs of the Church I Answer There be Two Reasons wherefore he Numbreth the times according to the Roman accompt The First is To shew the Truth of Daniel's Prophecie in the Image of Persecuting States For there it is expresly said That in the dayes of these Kingdoms shall the God of Heaven raise up a Kingdom that never shall be destroyed Dan. 2. 44. Now the Evangelist expoundeth this to be the Kingdom of Christ and that the Roman in particular is the Metal-Kingdom in whose times the Kingdom of Christ did begin And he doth leave it upon Record That the Lord Christ had a solemn Inauguration into his Office in that part of time when Tiberius was Emperor in the fifteenth year of his Reign when Pontius Pilate was Governor of Iudea c. Now if it be the scope of the Evangelist to shew That the Lord did begin his Office in Preaching the Gospel when the Romans did bea●… Rule there must be a particular instant of time also when all in Iudea fell under the Dominion of that People and that in the sense of the Gospel must be the Epocha or term of the Roman Kingdom Secondly The Evangelist doth so punctually Number the times according to the Roman Government because then Iudea where the Gospel began to be Preached was under the Command of the People of Rome And the Evangelist doth no more in the times of the New Testament than what the Prophets and ancient Writers had done in the times of the Old As for Ensample Those Prophets that lived in the times of the Kings of Iudah and Israel as Isaiah Ieremy Hosea dated their Prophecies from the Reign of those Kings And from that time that the Kings of the Line of David were taken away it was the use to reckon by the times of the Four Monarchical States So Daniel and Hez●…kiel who lived in the times of the Babylonian Empire do reckon their Visions by the times of the Babylonian Kings And after them Ezrah Nehemiah Haggie and Zachary who lived in the times of the Persian Monarchy dated their times by the Reigns of the Kings of Persia. And as for those Ecclesiastical Writers that lived in the times of the Graecian Kingdom as the Author of the Book of the Macchabees they accounted by the years of the Kingdom of the Greeks In like manner the Evangelists living in the times of the Romans date the Story of the Gospel by the Roman account In all which they do secretly imply That the Roman is the Fourth Metal-Kingdom and it began so to be when the Church of the Jews became subject to the People of Rome So long the Stories of the Church were Numerable by the Roman account But let us adde another Testimony out of the same Evangelist where he telleth us chap. 2. vers 2. A Decree went forth from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed 〈◊〉 this taxing was first made when Cyreneus was Governor of Syria Now whereas he saith That all the world should be taxed this is meant only of the world under the Roman obedience And here we Affirm When Iudea and the Countries near Bordering became Members of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Roman world then did the Roman begin as the Fourth of Daniel's Kingdoms The Evangelist being to speak of the Birth of the Kin●… of the Jews his special purpose is to shew how that particular Continent was under the sovereign Power of Augustus Caesar at that time Object 1. But here it may be Objected How could Augustus tax Iudea when it was under the Power of Herod the King Sol. This matter is solidly Disputed by the learned Spanhemius in his Dubia Evangelica part 2. dub 2. pa. 157. The sum of that which he doth deliver cometh to this issue Though Herod was King he had not jus summum the supreme Dominion he had only jus subalternum a Right and a Power meerly by the courtesie of Augustus And therefore he citeth a passage out of Appianus That as Darius was the King of Pontus and Polemon of Cilicia so Herod was King of the Jews that is meerly by favour and courtesie Secondly He sheweth That there were often Appeals from Herod to the Romans and therefore he was compelled to plēad for himself before Antonius at Laodicea and before Augustus after the Battel of Actium at Rhodes Many more Arguments he brought to prove that his Government was meerly Precatious and at the will of the Romans Now for that particular time when the Romans began to have the sovereignty over the People of the Jews this was at the times of Pompey the Great These are the Authors own words pag. 160 At a sane erat conditio populi Iudaici tempore Macchabaeorum qu indo à Iudâ Macchabaeo foedus primò cum Romanis initum ubi Iudae●… vocantur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 populi Romani rescripto Sena us ad De●…ctrium à quo premebantur 1 Mac. 8. Sed quam●…rimum à Pompeio Magno subacti fuere societatis nomen in servitutem ab●…r illi aequè ac aliae gentes d●…victae Romanis vectigales facti eorum imperio accessêre Ab e●… tempore Iudaeorum gens in Clientelâ Romanorum fuit à qu●…bus Reges pro arbitrio instituebantur vel destituebantur tales quidem quibus precarium limitatum erat imperium à nutu eorum suspensum qui Romae rerum pot●…ebantur In these words of his he doth plainly distinguish what the People of the Jews were before the Conquest of Judea by Pompey and what they were after Before the Conquest they were Friends Allies and Auxiliaries and after that their society was turned into servitude and as other Conquered Nations so the Jews were made Tributaries to the Empire From that time the Nation of the Jews was alwayes under the Dominion of the Romans by whom their Kings were either set up or plucked down at pleasure And for the manner of their Rule it was meerly limited hanging upon the good will of them that had the supreme Command at Rome Now if this be so I leave it to any man to judge when the Roman did begin as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom According to these Principles he must needs begin at the times of Pompey when the Church was brought under the Power of the Romans Object 2. Why is it said That the taxing was when Cyreneus was Governor of Syria and not rather

came to pass in that year when Cicero and Antonius were Consuls at Rome in the 179 Olympiad in the third Month on a Fasting-day he saith That Pompey entred Ierusalem with the Roman Legions Antiq. lib. 12. cap. 8. And for their subjection to the Romans he addeth That Syria and Iudea and all places from the Borders of Egypt to Euphrates were committed to the tuition of Scaurus Antiq. lib. 14. cap. 8. de Bell. Iud. lib. 1. cap. 5. And here I finde That all Historians and Chronologers do agree in the aforementioned year Now for the Number of time That there are 666 years from this beginning to the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome under the Emperor Phocas this is clear also in all our ordinary Books of Chronology Dr Willet who doth differ from our Judgement about the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom he in his Synops. Papism Quaest. de Antichr part 2. saith That the Scepter was taken from Iudah at that year when Cicero was Consul at Rome which he affirmeth to be 60 years before the Birth of the Lord and 666 before the setting up of the Headship of the Bishop of Rome And in general he doth approve the truth of our Interpretation as Bale the Historian did before him And whereas it may be Alledged That Calvisius the most accurate Chronologer doth Number somthing more than 60 years to the Birth of the Lord To solve this Difficulty let us say as he doth That Cicero and Antonius did enter their Office about the 20 of October when all was full of troubles at Rome And in the fourth of Iuly following which was the 17 day of the Month Tamuz the Romans entered Ierusalem and Pompey went into the Temple To this if we adde those Acts of his of breaking down the Wall of Ierusalem of making Iudea Tributary to the Romans and delivering all into the Power of Scaurus the Questor till further Order should be taken by the Senate These things must necessarily be done in the latter end of the year when C●…cero and Antonius were Consuls or rather in the beginning of the next year which according to Calvisius his account is the year of the world 3889. To which if you adde 666 years the Number of the Name of the Universal Headship of the Beast this will make the year of the world 4554. And this will bring us to that fatal year of the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome under the Emperor Phocas And so this present year will be From The Creation of the World the 4555 Year From The Birth of the Lord the 606 Year From The Beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom the 666 Year For the Number of years there is yet one main Objection Some will have the periods of time in Daniel's Image to be a meer Scholastical speculation Sol. We will go to the Scriptures and to the Stories of the Church to decide the Question For the Scriptures Let us first consider the words of Daniel's Thanksgiving upon the Revelation of the Mystery of the Four Metal-Kingdoms Blessed be the Name of God for ever for Wisdom and Might are his he changeth the times and seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings Dan. 2. 20 21. The scope of the Vision is concerning the Four Metal-Kingdoms and so many changes of time answerable to those Four Mutations of Empire But if we look more narrowly to the text the words in the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are times and revolutions of time For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth as much as tempus statutum determinatum an appointed and determinate time For the Lord having shewed Nebuchadnezzar's Dream to Daniel and the substance of the Dream That it concerned a Fourfold change of Empire and a Fourfold change of time upon the Earth Upon this Reason the Prophet breaketh forth into the praise of the Wisdom and the Power of God in a sutable manner to the present occasion And in very deed if we look upon the translation of the Empire from the Babylonians to the Persians from the Persians to the Graecians from the Graecians to the Romans Here is a notable Example of the Wisdom and the Power of God And that which is more considerable The Lord speaketh of the times of the sovereign Dominion of these People many years before they come to have the Dominion upon the Earth For this cause the Prophet breaketh forth into the praises of the wisdom of God in his disposing the changes of times and the changes of Empire and for the communication of this deep secret to him and the other three Children and by their means to the information of the Church And when all this is done shall we say That the Four changes of time in the Image of the Metal-Kingdoms are but a curious speculation Further it is added vers 44. In the dayes of these Kingdoms shall the God of Heaven raise up a Kingdom that shall never be destroyed This is spoken of the rising of the Kingdom of Christ in the time of one of the Four Metal-Kingdoms The Four periods of time then are not a bare Speculation but a plain Scripture-truth For it is the plot of the Spirit to shew That down from Nebuchadnezzar there should be Four Changes of Empire and Four notable Revolutions of time and when these Changes should be in their course and succession then the Kingdom of Christ shall begin Now whereas Bodin in his Method of History chap. 7. taketh a great deal of pains in the Confutation of this Let us Consider what he Alledgeth First There be many things he confuteth which we do not allow For as we have formerly said The Babylonian Empire did not begin at Ninus but at Nebuchadnezzar Secondly He taketh it as Granted That only the Amplitude of Dominion maketh a Monarchical Kingdom And hereupon Reasons Why should not the Kingdoms of the Parthians Saracens Turks Tartars go under the account of Monarchical Kingdoms Here he is to consider That not only the greatness of Dominion but the greatness of Dominion over the Churches Continent is necessary to the Being of Daniel's Metal-Kingdoms And therefore look what Kingdom Nebuchadnezzar did begin it did orderly descend to the Persians Graecians and Romans and not to the Parthians as experience sheweth Therefore a Beast in Daniel or the Revelation doth not signifie a State or Government in the General Notion but a State or Government that is Idolatrous and doth persecute the Church Neither doth it signifie an Idolatrous Government in the Latitude but such an Idolatrous Government in and about the Borders of the Church If this distinction were well observed They that are Enemies to Magistracie would not have such harbour in the Revelation as they think they have Thirdly He disputeth against those who stand for a German-Roman Empire And with him we do agree That this is but a Fable For the Empire of the last Edition is the whole Body of

the Spirit saith to the Churches There are many excellent things that he speaketh to the Churches in the way of Reproof in the way of Advice and in the way of Comfort yet onely he that hath an ear to hear will understand the meaning of his words And so in the present case when it is said Here is wisdome let him that hath understanding count the Number of the Beast This implieth That this matter must be found out by some subtilty of observation The person that doth inquire must be such a one as hath wisdome Secondly For the manner of discovery it must be by calculation of the Number and therefore it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him count the Number of the Beast The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth such a kinde of Numbring as is by Counters or Stones of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lapillus Calculus But in the ordinary and common use it doth promiscuously note any kinde of reckoning And therefore it is said concerning the man that went about to build a Tower 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he counteth or reckoneth the cost Luke 14. 28. And so in the present case there is a computation or way of account to finde out the mystery of the Number But here is the difference betwixt Interpreters some go to the extraction of the root some to the numeral Letters of the name Lateinos But of these we have spoken in part already and we shall further shew the vanity of this way in the process of the Discourse We will therefore come positively and plainly to set down the meaning of the Spirit And we shall finde That there is nothing more familiar in the Predictions of Prophetical Scriptures then for the Spirit to foretel remarkable occurrences by a definite number of years to every such occurrence Of many Examples that may be given take these few When the Lord would give Noah warning concerning the Flood he told him That such a Number of years should fulfil their course and then the Flood should come My Spirit shall not alway str●…ve with man yet his dayes shall be an hundred and twenty years Gen. 6. 3. So when he made a Promise to Abraham that he would give to his Posterity the Land of Canaan for an Inheritance he told him That 400 years should run compleat to the performance of the Promise Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years and afterwards they shall come out with great substance Gen. 15. 13 14 15. Further when the people of the Jews were carried captive into Babylon in the times of Ie●…kims Captivity to these the Prophet Ieremy did send a Consolatory Letter in which he did declare two things of eminent note Their remarkable deliverance and the overthrow of the Babylonian Empire Yet withall ●…e did declare That seventy years must first be fulfilled and accomplished at Babylon before their deliverance wi●… come And these Nations shall serve the King of Babylon seventy years and when seventy years are accomplished then will I visit the King of Babylon Jer. 25. ver 11 12. And again Thus saith the Lord After seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you and perform my good word towards you in causing you to return unto this place Jer. 29. 10 11. Last of all when Daniel himself was m●…sing on the truth of the Promise of God and gave himself to understand the Times and to pray in faith for the accomplishment of the Promises he had a further discovery of the seventy weeks that should lead him to the times of the Messiah to his Passion to the Preaching of the Gospel among all Nations and to the destruction of Ierusalem Now to the performance of these things it was shewed to him That there must be seventy Sevens or seventy weeks of years or 490 years in all to begin and commence from the building of the second Temple which line of years if he followed it would bring him to that time when all these things should be fulfilled By these Examples it is manifest That it is a frequent thing in Prophetical Scriptures to foretell future occurrences and to shew the Number of years that shall pass before the event If this be so we have a rational ground to build upon when we make 666 the Number of years to the setting up of the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome But for the further clearing of the truth That the study and the calculation of the Prophetical years is said to be wisdome we can make this appear by some special Examples out of Scripture We reade in the the Prophecy of Daniel In the first year of Darius the son of Ahashuerosh of the seed of the Medes which was made King over the Realm of the Caldeans in the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the Number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Ieremiah the Prophet that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Ierusalem Dan. 9. 1 2 3. Concerning Darius the Mede there is a great Controversie among Chronologers whether he came to the Kingdome of the Caldeans by Conquest or by free Election But let that point be what it will be all do agree in it That Darius the Mede raigned immediately before Cyrus the Persian And it is as clear also by the stories of the times That the first year of Darius the Mede was upon the very dawning of the Churches deliverance In this year then Daniel gave himself to study by books the Number of years that the Lord would accomplish in the Churches desolations In him then by the way let us note That they who have the greatest fulness of Spirit are chiefly imployed in the meditation of the Scriptures And they who are conversant in the Prophetical Scriptures are many times helped out in the knowledge of these things by the Sacred and the Civil Stories But now let us take notice of the process and order of his meditations First he did lay it as a general ground That seventy years must be expired before deliverance will come But now saith he the seventy years of the desolations of Ierusalem begin almost to be fulfilled Therefore in these times we are almost come to the promised deliverance And thereupon he did pray with great faith in the Promises of God as appeareth by the scope of the Chapter Here now in this Syllogism Daniel did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by two known Numbers he did finde out a third unknown His major Proposition was the Prophecy of Ieremy his Assumption was his own experience and the Chaldee Registers of the Time and his Conclusion was the approach of the delivery of the Church And the whole operation in computing the times was by wisdome For these are the words of the Text I Daniel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understood by books Piscator

question was to me how the Name or Universal Headship of the Beast should be 666 Here I mused and often pondered in my minde what is the manner and use of the Spirit in the Scriptures when he speaketh of the ri●…ng of Governments and their Calculations by Number to discover their beginning And here I found as I believe every man shall do the like who will give himself to observation that the Prophetical Scriptures do very often reckon Governments either by the Number of years to the time of their rising or by the Number of years how long they shall continue Now I was sure that 666 could not be the time of the continuance of the Antichristian Kingdom seeing in the whole body of the Prophecy it is largely shewed That the Kingdom of the Beast must continue 1260 Prophetical days or years and that this time must commence from the rising of the ten-horned Beast out of the Sea or the ten Kings out of the ruines of the Empire Therefore Mr. Archer in his book of the Personal Reign is a very fabulous Writer in this as in many other particulars when he will needs have 666 to be the time of the continuance of the Beasts Kingdome All the circumstances of the Text plainly laid together do decypher this Kingdome à priori and therefore the Number must refer to the time of the beginning or the standing up of the Name or Headship But then the great 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 what time I should 〈◊〉 to Number In this ca●…e I was helped by the practise of Chronologers For the●… when they have a Prophetical Number and do not know ●…rom what beginning to compute i●… a●…k how long it continueth and where it maketh an eno And if they be certain of these two they will finde out the third where it ought to begin It is a sure rule in this as in other kindes of learning By two known things you may come to discover a third unknown And sometimes it so cometh to pass that some diligence must be used before we can come to the knowledge of the two by and through which we may prove the third As for example We reade That the Prophet Ezekiel was to lye upon his left side 390 days which signifie so many years of the patience of God in bearing the iniquity of the house of Israel Again he was to turn and to lye upon his right side 40 days which signifie so many years of the patience of God in bearing the iniquity of the house of Iudah Ezek. 4. 4 5. Now for the application of the times the great Que●…ion is Where the 390 years begin and where they make an end and how long they do continue For the continuation there is no doubt to be made and for the time of the ending this must be at the destruction of Ierusalem by the Chaldaeans For the time of the end though it is not set down in express terms yet it may be collected from the whole scope of the Text. For five years before the destruction of Ierusalem Ezekiel was to take a Tile and pourtray upon it the city Ierusalem and la●… s●…ge against it build a fort against it So then the scope of the whole Vision is to shew That after the 390 years of the patience of God are run out the time should come that the Chaldaeans should destroy both City and Temple In this Ezekiel was a sign to the home of Israel to foretel the destruction of the City and Temple five years before it came to pass Ezek. 1. 2. Upon these grounds Chronologers do reason in this manner If the 390 years do end at the destruction of Ierusalem by the Chaldaeans they must necessarily begin at the Apostacy of Ieroboam For if you take the right vein of Chronologie in the Book of the Kings and number the times interchangably as each King of Iudah and each King of Israel began to reign and to carry on the whole series and order of years you shall find by induction of singulars That there will be an exact line of 390 years from the defection of Ieroboam to the destruction of Ierusalem aforesaid He that desires the particular account of the years and how it is exactly computed let him go to the Isagoge of Calvisius And of the certainty of the account the Chronologer thus speaketh Hunc igitur numerum annorum 390 ex annotatione Historiarum hujus temporis ab initio Ieroboami usque ad excidium Hierosolymae nos colligemus It a quidem ne conjecturas nos Lectori ob●…rudamus neque etiam sacrae Scripturae vim faciamus Isag. Cap. 40. And in very deed his performance is answerable to the Promise for he doth exactly prove by induction of singulars and that from the words of Scripture That there are 390 years from the Apostacy of Ieroboam to the destruction of Ierusalem But now for the 40 years of the iniquity of the house of Iudah this matter is somewhat more dark But yet nevertheless Chronologers do reason in this wise If 40 years be the time of the patience of God in bearing the iniquities of the house of Iudah and those years must run compleat at the destruction of Ierusalem by the Chaldees then it will follow according to the Scripture-Chronologie and the series of the times that they must necessarily commence from the 13 year of Iosiah Now if a question be made Why these years should begin from the 13 of Iosiah who was a reformer of the Church Though he was these times are to begin there because the Lord did then begin to strive with that people to bring them to Repentance by the Ministery of Ieremy These are the words of the Text From the thirteenth year of Iosiah the son of Ammon King of Iudah even unto this day that is the three and twentieth year the word of the Lord hath come unto me and I have spoken unto you rising early and speaking but ye have not hearkned And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the Prophets rising early and sending them but ye have not hearkened nor inclined your ear to hear Jer. 25. 3 4. From these words it is plain That the 40 years patience of God in bearing the iniquitie of the house of Iudah did begin from the Ministery of Ieremy and when these should run compleat then the Prophet ●…zekiel doth signifie That there shall be the destruction of Ierusalem From this and from some such like passages I was moved to take the like course I argued in this manner If 666 be such a Number of years and if this period of time also must end at the setting up of the Universal Headship under the Emperor Phocas by necessary consequence I did conclude That this time must begin 60 years before the birth of the Lord. Consulting with Chronologers I found that this was much about that time when Cicero and Antonius were Consuls at Rome But here to me was the great difficulty

things are most necessary for the Calculation of the Times and for the Exposition of the Prophecies But whereas Mr. Potter doth wholly build upon the extraction of the square-root in a figurate Number I cannot see how this doth agree with the practise of the Spirit in other Scriptures I must needs confess that he speaketh very rationally in these words as they follow I have saith he but beaten made plain the same path which Mr. Forbes and other Commentators have trodden out before But I am now come to the place where they either stood still or turned out of the way They say that the Number 12 is the square root of 144 why then do they not proceed in the same Method to finde out the root of the Number of the Beast seeing they say it is opposed to the Number 144 These learned men cannot be supposed to be guilty of so much nescience as to be ignorant of the square-root of a Number Rather they thought it unbeseeming the Wisdome of God and the Majesty of the Scripture to wrap up such Divine Mysteries in Humane Inventions But be it what it will be it is the foundation of Geometry and Arithmetick it is that also in and through which many famous inventions have been brought to light And the words themselves also do insinuate that the discovery is to be made by wisdome So far Mr. Potter pag. 47. In this I do agree with him That it is the foundation of Geometry and Arithmetick in some good measure to extract the square-root of any figurate Number yet for all that I cannot see when the Spirit either in Daniel or in the Revelation doth speak of Tyrannical States or Empires under divers Emblems and Figures that we should discover and finde out these Governments by calculating the square-root of any Number but rather we should go to the Chronologie of the Times and the Stories of the Church And in this sense we hold That Humane Learning is exceeding necessary And for the invention of the square-root it is very necessary in its kinde Princ. 15. The Number ought so in special to be expounded that it may be in some sort discoverable to the people that lived in the days of John and in the ages immediately following though they lived before the beginning of the Beasts Kingdome Therefore when it is said Let him that hath wisdome count the Number of the Beast S. Iohn in these words speaketh to the people that lived in his days and in the ages immediately following that by this they should understand the signs of the coming of the Man of Sin And he doth yet further shew in what Revolution of Time he shall appear There are seven Kings five are fallen one is and the other is not yet come and the Beast that comes out of the Bottomless Pit he is the eighth In which words of his he doth plainly shew That when seven Forms of Government are fallen in the City of Rome then the Beast shall begin as the eighth Potentate At the same time also he saith That the Roman Empire shall be divided into ten inferiour Kingdomes that these have no beeing as yet but receive a Kingdome one hour with the Beast By the collation of both these Scriptures it is clear That the Number was discoverable in the times of Iohn and not onely to Iohn by Revelation but to others also that would imploy themselves by search From hence then we may clearly discern That they are in an error who would have the Number 666 to be the Number of the time of the rising of the Beast and yet make their account by the years of the Lord. So Danaeus in his Treatise de Antichristo The Spirit of God in that place saith he medleth not with Arithmetical signification of Letters but with the Time and Number of years wherein those things shall be accomplished that are there spoken of and for the particular time he referreth us to the year 666 pag. 13 14. Alstedius saith Denotatur tempus quo Antichristus inchoaturus regnum suum scil anno 666 quo tempore coepit Papa maxime dominari Theol. Polem Part. 4. Controv. 5. pag. 388. The like is said By Eckard the Lutheran and others Though in this matter we do agree with the forenamed Expositors That about the 666th year from the birth of the Lord the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome was set up though this be true in some latitude of speech yet it cannot be the meaning of the Text. For what knowledge had the people that lived in the days of Iohn and in the ages immediately following of the account by the year of the Lord Why should not the Christians that lived in Spain finde out the Number by the Spanish Aera The Christians in Aegy●…t and Africa by the Aera of Dioclesian And the Christians under the Emperors of Constantinople by the Indictions These and many other ways of account were anciently used Dyonisius the Less about the year 532 did begin to compute by the years of the Lord and that way of Computation came not into vulgar use many years after It is therefore very strange That men should Number the times of the beginning of the Beasts Kingdome after the account by the years of the Lord and yet certain hundred years after the Church should be wholly ignorant of that way of Computation And thus laying all things together we have proved by the concatenation and connexion of all particulars That ours is the true Interpretation because it doth agree with all the Body of the Circumstances fore-alledged And for other Expositions we have shewed the Reason why we cannot rest in them because in severall Principles more or less they do cross the meaning of the Spirit Now it remaineth that we compare the substance of our Interpretation with the scope of the Apostle S. Paul 2 Thess. 2. CHAP. XI A brief Description of the Doctrine of S. Paul 2 Thess. 2. And how he doth fully agree with the present Interpretation ALl Interpreters and Writers in a manner do agree in this That the Beast his Name and Image spoken of Rev. 13. are all one and the same in substance with the description of the Great Antichrist in the Thessalonians Let us come to the words of the Text. Vers. 1. 2. Now we beseech you Brethren by the coming of our Lord Iesus Christ and by our gathering together to him that ye be not soon shaken in minde nor be troubled neither by Spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as though the day of Christ were at hand In these words there is some darkness in our English Translation for whereas the Translation hath it We beseech you Brethren by the coming of the Lord the word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the cause of the coming of the Lord. The Apostle in the former Epistle having spoken of the coming of Christ to Judgement of the Resurrection from the

give them a Mark as if the intent of the Beast were by this that they should give testimony that they are his They are also said to receive a Mark Chap. 14. To have the Mark Chap. 16. Now then we are sure that to give receive or have the Mark of the Beast is no other but that Act by which the Consciences of men are obliged to the Authority of the Pope and his Church When also they do prosess That by their Swords Wits Goods Lives and by all that they have they will maintain the Decrees and Laws made by that Authority The Mark in the Forehead is the publick Profession of the Universal Headship in the view of men and the Mark in the Right-hand is the solemn Resolution and Obligation to defend and maintain the Authority of the Beast against all that do oppose it And truly the event of things doth notably answer the prediction For we see by plain experience That the Papists such is their zeal to the Catholick Cause do out-strip us by many degrees The Jesui●…es are never idle they compass Sea and Land they ●…urn themselves into all forms and are still animating of Princes and People against the Protestant Cause Yea they have so wrought that almost no man among them seemeth to spare either Labour Wealth Counsel or Life it self to uphold the Name and Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome God grant that one day they do not rise up in Judgment against us for we do not come near them in the least degree in promoting the Kingdom of Christ or in setting up the Gospel as the Regent-Law among the Nations But the Papists will not hear that they are enemies or that they go against the Lord and his Word They hold That the Bishop of Rome is the Vicar of Christ and that he hath all his Authority by delegation from him These are specious shews But in deed and in truth they are real enemies against Christ For the Scriptures and the words of the Gospel they can do nothing but meerly as the Pope and the Church of Rome do give life vigour and authority to them and as they do interpret them which always they do to their own advantage There is no truth more clearly delivered in Scripture then the Doctrine of Justification by Faith in Christ and yet the Pope saith on the contrary That there is a Purgatory after this life and that the souls there detained are freed by Masses Indulgences Pardons and such like means God and his Word say Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve The Pope on the contrary saith Thou shalt worship Saints Images Crosses Reliques and the like God and Christ have commanded all men to search the Scriptures and to try the Spirits of what nature they be Now the Pope on the contrary commandeth that men should forbear the doing of this and that they should depend upon him alone God and Christ say Marriage is honourable amongst all men and the bed undefiled The Pope on the contrary forbiddeth Marriage to the Ministry By these and sundry such-like instances it is apparent That the Name and Soveraignty of the Beast is every way contrary to the Name and Soveraignty of the Lamb. For what the Lamb doth command the Beast doth countermand for the most part From hence it is clear then say the Papists what they will when they leave Christ to follow the Laws of the Pope in sense and substance they make him their Christ their Spiritual King Head and Governour and so in effect are no true Christians Now on the contrary seeing the Lord Christ is given as a Leader and Commander to his people they who refuse the Laws of the Pope to yield subjection to Christ in the times of the greatest persecution are every where mentioned in the Revelation to have the Name of the Father written in their Forehead Chap. 14. ver 15. To be the remnant of the seed of the woman that keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Iesus Christ Chap. 12. ver 17. The Papists then in receiving the Doctrines and Decrees of the Bishop of Rome under that formality as they do believe him Universal Head of the Church are positively directly and immediately Antichristian This Truth being laid down a stream of excellent Uses do naturally flow from it First We may here contemplate and behold the truth and infinite Wisdome of God speaking in the Scriptures It is now above 1500 years since that Iohn wrote the Revelation in which he spake of the Beast his Name Mark Image and the Number of his Name Now if we go to experience What have all ages for this thousand years last past but verified and fulfilled the truth of that which he spake of long before He that shall diligently reade the present Treatise will finde it to be true as we have said Secondly here is matter for our prayers and tears yea for our bowels to yern over those great Countries Kingdomes and Commonweals which do as yet own the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome They do continue in a great sin against the Kingly Office of Christ their profession is no other but Apostacy from the true Head of the Church and unless they repent they will one day feel the great Plagues contained in the words of the Prophecy Thirdly here is cause for the Protestant Churches to be thankful to the Lord For did they rightly understand it he hath delivered them from a bondage and slavery which far surpasseth the bondage of Egypt or Babylon For in the present case if men under this Government refuse to Worship the Beast and to receive his Mark the penalty is that they shall have no liberty to buy nor sell they shall be killed with the Sword they shall have their blood spilt they shall be subjected to sundry kindes of death On the contrary if they do worship the Beast and receive his Mark the Lord Christ doth threaten on the other side that they shall be tormented day and night and the smoke of their burning shall ascend for ever and ever Rev. Chap. 14. ver 7 8 9 10. The day of the deliverance of the Churches from Romish Tyranny was a day of deliverance from a Tyranny over their Souls over their Consciences over their Bodies over their Estates But all Treatises are full of Uses of this kinde We will proceed ●…o that which is Antichristian by Analogie and Reduction for this is more immediate to our purpose CHAP. XIII Concerning that which is Antichristian by Analogie and 〈◊〉 IN the progress of the Discourse we have shewed That the formality of Antichristianism is in the Headship of the Beast By this Standard of the Market we may prove all other things that do more remotely symbolize and agree with the Great Anti-Christ First the power of the Magistrate when it hath no bounds or limits but he doth all by his Will and Prerogative in

I have bestowed the more pains to try the force of their Arguments for either we or they must greatly mistake in the Point However let it be true as they affirm that not the Roman but the Seleucian is the fourth last Metal-Kingdome then all the Metal-Kingdomes must necessarily determine and expireat the destruction of the Seleucian And so according to the tenor of this Doctrine we shall have that which will singularly agree with our way of Calculation For if the account be made from the end of all four Metal-Kingdomes from the terminus ad quem in the same series and method of Computation there will be 666 years to the setting up of the Name or Headship of the Bishop of Rome And so we shall concord with the Principles of Iunius and as to the Point in hand he and we shall facere paria This is in brief the understanding which I have both of the Name of the Beast and the Number thereof Now if any shall ask What proof or what evidence I have to hold forth the truth of the thing I answer The process of the Demonstration is by Conglobation and by a full Induction of Singulars and it is this in effect Where there is a true correspondence with all the Circumstances of the Text the most remarkable Passages of the Prophesie and the Event of things that is a true Interpretation But the present is such Ergo c. All the burthen of proof will rest upon the Assumption I have to this purpose applied it then to all the Circumstances of the Text Chap. 13. I have compared it with the main drift and scope of the Spirit Chap. 17. I have examined it by the tenor of the Apostles Doctrine 2 Thess. 2. And last of all I have shewed how it doth agree with the several passages in the body of the Prophesie and with the event of things And now Reader whosoever thou art that hast a minde given thee rightly to calculate the Number of the Beast I leave it to thee to reade to meditate to examine and to judge of the things that I have written If I have anywhere deviated from the Truth I desire thy brotherly Admonition And if anywhere it shall please the Lord to make this Treatise an Instrument of light to thy understanding know That thou hast this Treasure brought to thee in an earthen Vessel that the praise may be of God alone And so I rest Thine in the LORD N. S. THE CONTENTS of the CHAPTERS Of the ensuing TREATISE CHAP. I. COncerning the Profitableness and the Use of the Discovery Pag. 1 CHAP. II. Concerning the Possibility of the Discovery and how that there are certain demonstrative Principles to bring the Truth to light pag. 12 CHAP. III. That the Name of the Beast is not the word Lateinos or any other Grammatical word but the Name is The Universal Power and Headship of the Beast immediately opposed to the Power Dominion and Headship of the Lamb pag. 18 CHAP. IV. Concerning the Number of the Name of the Beast where it is shewed That the Name or Universal Headship began publickly to he Established under the Emperor Phocas 666 years from the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdome pag. 36 CHAP. V. That the Roman is the Fourth and Last Metal-Kingdome in Daniels Image and the truth of this is proved against the Positions of Junius Broughton Piscator Dr. Willet and others pag. 46 CHAP. VI. That the Beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdome is not from the time of Julius or Augustus Caesar or from any other ●…ulgar 〈◊〉 but precisely from that instant when the 〈◊〉 o●… God came under the Dominion of the Romans 60 years before the Birth of the Lord and 666 before the going ●…orth of the Dec●…ee That the Bishop of Rome should be Head o●…r all the Churches pag. 116 CHAP. VII The whole process of the Discourse is repeated That there are 666 years from the Beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdome to the setting up of the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome And that this is the meaning of the Spirit in the Revelation when he speaketh of the Name of the Beast and of the Number of the Name pag. 158 CHAP. VIII The Truth of the Interpretation is proved from the remarkable Circumstances of the Text it self Revel 13. 16 17 18. pag. 165 CHAP. IX The Truth of the Interpretation is further Confirmed from the scope of the Seventeenth Chapter of the Revelation pag. 212 CHAP. X. A List of Fifteen Principles drawn from the main sense of the Prophecy concerning the Beast his Name Mark and Number by the Position of which the present Interpretation is established Also the several Expositions of Mr. Potter and other Writers are brought to Tryal pag. 219 CHAP. XI A brief Description of the Doctrine of S. Paul 2 Thess. 2. And how he doth fully agree with the present Interpretation pag. 238 CHAP. XII The Application of the whole Where mention is made first of those things that are directly Antichristian pag. 247 CHAP. XIII Concerning that which is Antichristian by Analogie and Reduction pag. 251 CHAP. XIV What these things are which are Antichristian onely by the Position of some Circumstances as they are truly Christian by the Position of others The Conclusion of the whole pag. 277 CHAP. XV. Concerning those things which are not Antichristian but are onely falsly so called by the Separation pag. 291 There are divers faults to be amended some are lesser which we leave to the courtesie of the Reader to pass by others there are that do more notably mar and deface the sense which we do desire that he will amend Page Line For Reade 94 3 briefly fully 135 23 be brought be there brought 142 11 in the fourth is the fourth ibid. 27 secret sacred 185 29 seventh Angel seven Angels 193 20 typical proof topical proof 216 21 Augustus Angulus 229 12 to that Government in that Government Some Hebrew words are not right printed pag. 51 101 118 153. The terms in the Conclusion of the first Argument pag. 117. are misplaced And so are the words in another expression pag. 57. lin 17 18. A plain EXPOSITION OF THE Number of the Name of the Beast Revel 13. vers 18. CHAP. I. Concerning the Profitableness and the Use of the Discovery BEfore I come positively to set down the meaning of the Number and what the Holy Spirit doth hereby particularly intend it shall be profitable to speak Two things First Concerning the Use of the Discovery Secondly Concerning the Possibility thereof For the Use It is a matter of some Concernment that I should treat of this in the beginning first out of respect to that Common Maxime Let all things be done to Edification I shall therefore endeavour to let it appear to the Christian Reader how he may be builded up in the Faith and how in this Argument he may have matter of Correction

the great Sin of the Christian world for many Ages hath been in worshipping the Image and receiving the Mark. Thirdly The grievous Judgements of God denounced against men for these things Fourthly The Cause of the Martyrs Sufferings because they would not worship the Beast nor receive his Mark. Fifthly The object of the Vials they are poured out upon a People distinguished by these Characters Sixthly The deceiving of the Nations in the matter of the Mark of the Beast and the worship of his Image Seventhly The Reign of Christ upon the Earth which will be the more demonstratively understood by the right Stating of the Reign of the Beast ●…ver those that worship the Image and receive the Mark All these Considerations laid together plainly shew the Use and Profitableness of the Discovery Now let us proceed to the second Point to the Possibility thereof CHAP. II. Concerning the Possibility of the Discovery and how that there are certain Demonstrative Principles to bring the Truth to light THere are now living in these times many who think that there is no medling with this Prophecie especially in the matter of the Beast and the Number of his Name But I would entreat all such seriously to ponder in their own hearts Whether by this Opinion of theirs they do not secretly accuse the Lord Christ either for want of Truth or want of Wisdom For what man of Truth will call that a Revelation which is no Revelation at all And what man of Wisdom will say Blessed is he that readeth and keepeth the words of the Prophecie when there is no possibility to reade it so as to understand And particularly Shall the Lord Jesus give serious warning to his Church and People shall he shew them so long before-hand the great sin of the world which shall consist in the worship of the Beast and in receiving of his Mark and when all comes to all shall it be presumption to shew what is the meaning of Christ in these things To what end were they Revealed if there be no use of the Revelation at all and there is no use if it be so difficult that it cannot possibly be understood It was a special part of Love in Christ to send and signifie to his Servants things that must come shortly to pass But what part of Love is it to signifie it in that manner that they cannot possibly understand what he meaneth You will say It was revealed to some Select ones I grant that some of the Servants of Christ have a peculiar Gift to understand the Typical Expressions in this Prophecie as every Member in the Church hath his peculiar Gift dispensed to the edification of the whole Body and therefore they are bound to lay out their Talent this way for the common good But what shall we say of them that account it curiosity in any whosoever to meddle with these studies and are absolutely for the concealing of these things from the People But if it be alledged That Experience sheweth how they have been deceived who have bestowed their pains in this kind of study I Answer The same Experience plainly sheweth That they who have come with a sincere mind to finde out the Truth to study the whole Body of the Prophecie to compare Time with Time Vision with Vision and the Prophecies with the Stories have had a good return of their Labours I may say without prejudice to those that went before That Bullinger in his time Brightman in his time Grasserus in his time Mede in his time each of these have made their several and respective Additions to the clearing of the Prophecie If we endeavour to carry on the Work where they left it at least with the same Industry and Fidelity we may by the blessing of God be the instruments of bringing those Mysteries to light that were not discerned in former Ages And for my part I do firmly believe That God will not cease to raise up such in the times following as shall clear the things that have layen dark in the Prophecies and do yet remain hid to us But for the present because many think that the Name of the Beast and the Number of the Name are unsearchable Mysteries let me lay down some Reasons to prove the Possibility and the Evidence of the Discovery First The Name of the Beast and the Number of his Name are the Essential Characters of a State or Government obvious to the view of men It is said of the Writings of S. Paul that there are many things in them hard to be understood 2 Pet. 3. 16. There may be good Reason given for this to wit The sublimity and the spiritualness of the matter for a Natural man that hath no Experience in his own heart how can he judge of the meaning of the Apostle when he speaketh of the Life of the Spirit of the leading of the Spirit of the Comfort of the Spirit of the putting off of the Old man and the putting on of the New When a man hath no experience how can he understand these things that are so largely spoken of in the Epistle to the Romans Now it is not so with the Name of the Beast and his Mark these are the Badges of a Government obvious to the Senses of all men If there be any difficulty it lieth only in the typical and figurative way of expression Secondly The Name of the Beast and the Number of the Name are the essential Characters of a State or Government which the Church hath had long experience of for many Ages For the Monarchical Kingdom of Christ that shall be over Jews and Gentiles in the latter times though there are many things spoken in the Scriptures concerning this Dominion yet there are sundry passages hard to be determined because the event hath not yet shewed the meaning of the Prophecie Now there is nothing wanting so far as it concerneth the event to make known to the Church what is meant by the Name of the Beast and the Number of the Name Thirdly The Name of the Beast and the Number of the Name are such Characters that the Church in Being hath the present Experience of Many things are dark in the Old Prophets because the Stories of those times are lost to us The Jews could better understand the meaning of some Prophecies than we can And I believe the greatest Knot in Expounding the 70 weeks of Daniel lieth principally in this To shew precisely and determinately where that Number of Time doth begin There is an excellent agreement between the Greek Historians about the respective times of the Kings of Persia But the Knot lyeth in this Rightly to determine who that Darius was in whose times the Temple was built and the City repaired This thing was better known to the ancient Jews than it is to us But now for the Name of the Beast the Mark and the Number of the Name there is not the like Reason of darkness in these because they

in the Name of the Lord the trusting upon the Lord himself This doth make good that former rule What the Name of God is that God himself is And so by way of Opposition what the Name of the Beast is that is the Beast himself If he be described as a Mighty King we have cause to take his Name for his Monarchical Power and sovereignty Secondly We often reade in the New Testament of believing in the Name of the Son of God c. we do not then look to the Name Jesus or the Name Christ as though there were any Vertue or Efficacy in the Letters and Syllables of these Names but in this case the sense of each Scripture must govern And therefore when the Apostles do Exhort us to believe on the Name of the Son of God in their sense we are exhorted to believe on the Lord Christ for pardon of sin for help in temptation and for supply in all our wants We must not look to Letters and syllables but to the main sense of each Scripture In like manner when we reade of the Name of the Beast and the Saints overcoming his Name Mark and the Number of the Name we are not here to look to the word Lateinos or any such Grammatical Name but according to the sense of the Prophecie the Name must be taken for the Potency of the Beast as he is Opposed to the Lamb. But let us come more largely to shew some particular Instances out of the Book of the Revelation where the Name of a thing person or state is to be expounded according to the Analogie of the text We read that there were with the Lamb 144000 and that they had their Fathers Name written in their Forehead chap. 14. vers 1. Now these 144000 are set in direct Opposition to the followers of the Beast and their Father's Name written in their forehead is contradistinct to the Mark of the Beast in the forehead and the right Hand Now here s●…th there is mention made of the Name of the Father and of his Name written in the forehead of all the followers of the Lamb shall we think therefore that it is made out of the Alphabet or that it is a literal Name Not so we must look here to the main scope of the text and accordingly we must render the meaning of the words They that have their Father's Name written in their forehead are such who in all the times of Antichrist had consecrated dedicated and given themselves up to God the Father to live in subjection to his Commandements and to take him as their sovereign Lord this was the Badge of their outward Profession By the rule of Opposition they that had the Name of the Beast were such as did resign their Obedience to him as to their sovereign Lord And the submission to this Lordship was the Badge and Livery of their outward Profession this is clear from the scope of the text Further We read chap. 2. vers 17. To him that overcometh will I give a white Stone and in the Stone a new Name written that none can read but he that hath it Now what is here meant by the Name written shall we say that it is a Name consisting of Letters and syllables If we so affirm we shall have as good foundation for such a Position as they who take Lateinos to be the Name of the Beast But this is to trifle in a serious matter Therefore we must have recourse to the forementioned Principle to wit The scope of the text When the Lord Christ promiseth to give to him that overcometh a white stone and in the stone a Name written this is nothing else but the inward testimony of the Spirit by and through which he sealeth extraordinary Consolations to his Martyrs and Witnesses in the middest of their sufferings under the tyrannical States and Governments of the world Many worthy Expositors take this for the seal of the Spirit that followeth Justification as may be seen in several late Treatises But I take it That the Promise in the text and so commonly through the whole Prophecie is immediately made to him that overcometh in the times of Persecution And therefore these things do more immediately concern the Martyrs the in-coming of Christ into their hearts and the divine Consolations which they feel in the Name written which none can read but they that have it Let us go to the meaning of that Promise Rev. 3. 12. He that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the Name of my God and the Name of the City of my God which is the new Ierusalem which cometh down from Heaven and I will write upon him my new Name In these words when the Lord Christ promiseth to him that overcometh That he will write upon him the Name of his God doth he intend here a writing by Letters and syllables This cannot be But according to the scope of the place this is the meaning of Christ That they that overcome shall have this peculiar testimony given into their hearts That the Lord is theirs and that they are his Further Whereas it is said I will write upon them the Name of the City of my God By this he doth mean The true Catholick Church represented Rev. chap. 21. The scope of the words is this That he will inroll them into the Number of Citizens and count them as Members of the true Church his Mystical Body And for the truth of the Interpretation we do chiefly build upon the scope of the text But now let us go to other Scriptures where usually the Name of a thing is taken according to the Analogie of the text It is said concerning the Church of Sardis Thou hast a few Names which have not defiled their Garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy Rev. 3. 4. Here then when it is said Thou hast a few Names shall we understand this to be meant of Grammatical Names This cannot be The drift of the text is concerning the persons of men and women which did not defile themselves in the times of general Pollution And so at the destruction of Rome Antichristian there was a great Earthquake and there were slain of the Names of men 7000 chap. 11. vers 13. Now for the Names of men shall we understand Names consisting of Letters and syllables What a kind of slaughter would this be According to the scope of the text and the manner of the Hebrew expression we may say That such a Number of persons were slain in the Earthquake Adde moreover to this That the Beast which did carry the Whore was full of the Names of Blasphemy chap. 17. There is none so void of understanding to imagine That the Spirit speaketh of such Names that do consist of Letters and syllables We must here go to the sense of the text which speaketh of his

Blasphemy against God And so the matter is expounded Rev. 13. He opened his mouth in Blasphemies against God to Blaspheme his Name his Tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven These and the like places laid together do plainly shew that the scope of the text must circumscribe and limit the signification of the phrase so often used in this Prophecie Now if it be so according to this tenor we may say That the Name of the Beast must be expounded according to the Analogie of the text His Name then can be no other but his Universal Headship as a Counter-Christ emulous of the Dignity of Christ. But to go to further Instances we do reade that the deluded Kings were all gathered together into a place called in the Hebrew Harmageddon Rev. 16. 16. Much ado is made by Expositors about the meaning of the word Some take it for the Mountain of Delights Some for the Hill of the Gospel Some think there is an Allusion to the slaughter of Iosiah in the valley of Megiddo And there is a great Difference among them But for my part I do believe there can be no other meaning but this to wit The destruction of a Troope or Company and my Reasons are these First It is expresly said That the Name of the place in the Hebrew is called Harmageddon that is The destruction of a Troope and this Exposition is given by Grasserus and others Secondly That which moveth me so to think is the subject matter of the text For the unclean Spirits like Frogs did gather the deluded Kings to Battel and they brought them into a place called Harmageddon which in the event proved the place of their destruction It is well known That it is the manner of the Hebrews to give Names to several places in testimony of some famous Actions that have been done in them And it is as evident that the Spirit in this Prophecie doth perpetually follow the Hebrew stile As in the times of the fifth Trumpet when the Locusts came out of the bottomless pit they had a King over them whose Name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon and in the Greek is Apollyon chap. 9. Now this Trumper Mr Brightman and Mr Mede do rightly apply to the times of the Sarazens And because they did in great multitudes everywhere overspread the Territories of the Church they are therefore compared to Locusts Now for the Name of their King in the Greek or Hebrew tongues we are not here so much to look to Letters and syllables as to the sense of the figurative expression Mr Mede then in his Commentary upon the Revelation doth seem to me to be too Cabalistical when he doth descant upon the Names of some Kings formerly amongst the Arabians We are not to trouble our selves with Letters and syllables Mahomet is the Head or King of these Locusts or rather the Devil acting in and by him And too sad experience doth shew that his Name is called in the Hebrew Abaddon and in the Greek Apollyox For what is Mahometism but the waster and destroyer of the Christian Faith The Name doth answer the nature In the times of the third Trumpet we reade That a great star fell into the third part of the Rivers and the Name of the star is called Wormwood Interpreters upon the place do not look so much to a literal star but it is so called Effectivè from the Effect or Operation By these and many other places it is evident when the Spirit speaketh of a Name Thing Person or State he doth not aim so much at the bare formality of Letters and syllables as at the scope of the text Upon these grounds if the Beast be a King or Potentate his Name is not a Grammatical Name but according to the scope of the place it must necessarily denote his Kingly Power and Headship Let us come to a place mentioned in the Old Testament which hath been greatly mistaken by the Jewish Rabbins and by some others the words are these The Lord said to Moses I appeared to Abraham Isaac and Iacob by the Name of God Almighty but by the Name Iehovah I was not known unto them Exod. 6. 3. Here great ado is made by the Rabbins aforementioned they speak much of nomen Tetragrammatum of the word of four Letters of the difficulty to pronounce that Name and of bables more than too many And what is the reason of all this they look superficially upon the outward Letter and neglect the main sense and scope of the place The main sense is this That God appeared to Moses by the Name Iehovah by and through which he did give Existence and Being to his Promises And yet we are not to take it absolutely as though the Lord did no way appear to Abraham Isaac and Iacob by that Name This cannot be We are therefore to take the words in a restrictive meaning in respect to that particular Promise that he would give the Land of Canaan to Abraham and his seed for a Possession G●…n 15. 13 14. Now in this particular sense God did not appear to Abraham Isaac and Iacob by the Name Iehovah they never lived so long to see the performance of this promise They did not see the end of the 400 years Bondage not the Deliverance out of Egypt as Moses did The Lord only did appear to them by the Name of God Alsufficient they might believe that he was able to perform what he promised In special relation then to this particular Promise the Lord saith to Moses By my Name Iehovah was I not made known to them If this be so what a wild race have they run who have looked only after a Name consisting of Letters and syllables and have not observed the Truth of God in the performance of his Word What is this but to make a Fable of the most important and comfortable Promises that be to neglect the substance and to catch at a shadow And the ground of all this is chiefly from hence they look to the out-side and shell of a figurative expression and neglect the natural sense of the text which in this case should principally rule In like manner they who are for the word Lateinos or for any such like Name must needs digress as much from the Truth For it is not to be imagined that the Name of the Beast is meerly a Name consisting of Letters and syllables neither can the Mark of the Beast be the Mark of such a Name according to the sense of the text and the Analogie of the Prophecie The Name of the Beast therefore must be his Universal Power and Headship and the Mark of the Name must be the publick Profession of subjection allegeance and devotion to that Name or Headship And this is clear from the several Instances fore-alledged where the Name of a person of a state of a thing is alwayes taken with correspondence to the text But if it be alledged That it may be so taken

in this place for Power and Headship but it is not absolutely necessary that we should build upon such a sense I Answer The Name of the Beast must necessarily be construed and taken for his Power and Headship because as a Potentate he doth confront the Lord Jesus Christ the true Head of the Church this is the scope of the Prophecie and therefore the Name of the Beast cannot rationally and fairly be taken in any other sense Paraeus in his Commentary upon the Romans doth open the meaning of these words As I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God Rom. 14. 11. From the misunderstanding of this place he telleth us That the superstitious bowing at the Name of Jesus had its first original And he doth shew the irrationality of that practice For why saith he should men be uncovered and why should they bow their knee at the Name of Iesus rather than at the Name of Christ or at the Name of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost Further He doth insist upon the greatness of their superstition when men give worship to Letters and syllables rather than to the Person himself And therefore he cometh positively to define what is meant by the Name of Jesus And so he saith Nomen Iesu non est vox d●…ssyllaba scripta picta aut pronunciata sed persona Majestas imperium Serv●…toris cui omnes subjectionem debent The Name of Iesus is not a word of two Syllables written painted or pronounced but it is the Person Majesty and Dominion of our Saviour to which all do owe Subjection So I may say in the present case That the Name of the Beast and the Number thereof is his sovereign Power and Authority to which all his V●…stals do yield their subjection and they have departed from the true meaning of the Spirit who have looked to the Name Lateinos and the Numeral Letters of that Name For the Name is not a word of one two three or four syllables written painted or pronounced but the Name of the B●…ast is his Power and Headship standing in immediate Opposition to the Name or Headship of the Lamb. But if you ask What certainty there is of this Interpretation The ground I build upon is the rule of Opposition and the whole scope of the Prophecie If we take the Name for a Grammatical Name what certainty can there be and who can particularly define what the Name is Doctor Mayer upon the place having rejected several Names and their Calculation by Numeral Letters doth thus determine As long saith he as we go this way to work we shall never be able to Convince the Adversary there being so many Names that do contain the Number And for my part I do believe That if men will peruse the Greek and Hebrew Lexicons they shall find many words which either severally or joyntly will make 666 by the calculation of the Numeral Letters Now what certainty is in all this On the contrary If we take the Name of the Beast for his Universal Power this doth agree with the Circumstances of the text with the Analogie of the Prophecie and there can be no good exception to the contrary Now to gather up all into one Sum Though the Name of a Thing the Name of a Person the Name of a Place the Name of a State or any such-like may be ambiguors yet we may finde out from the scope of the text that which will determine the ambiguity If any shall say That the Name of the Beast may be taken for any thing else as well as for his sovereign power I yield that it may be so but if we look to Analogie in the Scripture it must needs be taken for his sovereignty As therefore in the like cases when the Scriptures speak of believing in the Name of the Lord of the writing of the Name of the new Ierusalem of the Name of the Lamb of the Name Abaddon Apollyon Harmageddon of the Name of the Father in the foreheads of the 144000 of the Lords making himself known to Moses by the Name Iehovah of the Fathers giving to the Son a Name above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow As in these several Scriptures we are not to look after Names consisting of Letters and syllables but to judge of the Truth according to the scope of the text So in the present case we are not to look after such a Name of the Beast that is meerly literal but after such a Name that will hold correspondency with the subject matter of the text and with the nature of the thing it self If this be so it is easie to conclude That the Name of the Beast is no other but his Potency or Headship Secondly We argue from the Condition and Quality of the Mark. For as à priori we may come to the knowledge of the Mark by the right stating and defining of the Name So à posteriori by the knowledge of the Mark we may come to understand what is meant by the Name seeing that it is called the Mark of the Name They shall be tormented day and night that receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mark of the Name Rev. 14. 11. I finde that many approved Commentators who do much differ from the Truth of our interpretation do willingly agree That the profession of a Roman Catholick is the Mark of the Name Now upon their own grounds do they not affirm also in sense and substance That the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Name of the Beast For what is the profession of a Roman Catholick Is he not such a one that doth believe receive and profess the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome Take away the Catholicism of the Roman Bishop the Faith and Profession of a Roman Catholick will be a meer non-ens or nullity So then if this Profession be the Mark of the Name as Grasserus Brightman Piscator and other Expositors will have it I say upon their own grounds the Universal Headship must be the Name it self seeing the profession of a Roman Catholick is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mark of the Name And so our Conclusion is proved à posteriori From the Condition and Quality of the Mark we may know the nature of the Name The third Argument is drawn from the Image which is Homogeneal and answerable to the Name in the nature and essence thereof For the Image of the Beast I might take it as a thing already sufficiently declared in the Commentaries of the Protestant Writers In them it is nothing else but that Expression of the ancient Splendor and Glory of the Roman Majesty anciently decayed in Rome Imperial and in the latter times repaired and revived in Rome Papal The scope of the text sheweth that this is the meaning and that the Image was made to the Beast which was wounded in one

Appellation that consisteth only of Letters and syllables how will this redound to the benefit or perfection of the Beasts Kingdom if men of all Degrees and Orders shall receive a Name meerly consisting of Numeral Letters and such-like trifles But if you take the Name for the sovereign Power and Headship there is nothing more rational and common than for the Kingdoms of this world to make Laws that all should live in subjection to their Power and Authority And Experience plainly sheweth That in all the Kingdoms of the Christian world stricter Laws have been made for the Preservation of the Dignity of the Catholick Apostolick Roman See as they call it and for the maintenance of the Decrees made by that Authority than there have been for the support and Defence of their own Communities Among many take this one Instance of the Statute Ex Officio made here in England in the times of Hen. 4. In which Statute it was provided That all they should be Burned publickly in the sight of the People that did maintain teach inform openly or in secret any thing contrary to the Catholick Faith and the determination of the Holy Church And so in the times following by vertue of this Law the faithful Martyrs under the Title of Lollards have been publickly burned for speaking preaching writing and declaring against the Decrees and Superstitions established by the Authority of the Church of Rome And it is as plain That neither the Scripture nor any Article of the Creed nor any other Point of the Christian Faith is received among them but that which is warranted by this Authority From whence we may easily collect what is meant by the Law and Injunction of the Beast That none might buy nor sell but such only that had the Mark and the Number of the Name We are not to take the Name Alphabetically For to what end should he command men to receive such a Name as this But if you take the Name for the Universal Headship and the Mark for the publick owning of subjection to this Headship there is great Reason given for the making of such a Statute and it is fully proved by the event The Seventh Argument is taken from the Essence of the great Antichrist as he is set forth 2 Thess. 2. For the Pith and Marrow of the Apostle in this description is to express the great sublimity of Power that the man of sin should assume to himself in and over the Church of God These are the words of the Text He as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God vers 4. From these words we may gather the Essence of the Antichristian Kingdom lieth in the affectation of a kind of godlike Dominion and Headship in and over the Church of God Now then as the ●…on of God hath merited of his Father to be only Head and only Lord So must our subjection be rendered to him without communicability of such a prerogative to any other For though there be gods many and lords many there is but one Universal Head on whom the whole Body of the Church doth depend In this sense as the Son hath merited of the Father to be the Supreme Lord and Head there is none de jure can be but himself only Now then when Paul in the Thessalonians doth describe the Essence of the Beast's Kingdom he doth shew that it doth chiefly confist in the Headship and Dominion over the Church And this is that which Iohn in the Revelation calls the Name of the Beast And so far we have gone in the Discovery of the Subject of the Number We have shewed by many Reasons That the Name is The Headship of the Beast Now we shall in the next Chapter endeavour to Calculate and Compute the Number CHAP. IV. Concerning the Number of the Name of the Beast where it is shewed That the Name or Universal Headship began publickly to be Established under the Emperor Phocas 666 years from the beginning of the Roman as the F●…th Metal Kingdome FOr the carrying on of this Complicate Proposition we are to make Two things clear First That the Name or Sovereign Dominion of the Beast began precisely at that time of the Universal Headship under the Emperor Phocas Secondly That there is a C●…in of 666 years from the begining of the Roman as the Fourth Metal Kingdom to the Name or Universal Headship afcre●…aid First Concerning the E●…sion of the two-horned Beast out of the Earth I find a great consent in the Commentaries Controversies and Stories of the Church That the Two-Horned Beast began in the Universal Headship under the Emperor Phocas Crackan●…orp in his Treatise against Spala●… calleth it the C●… one of the Building And in very deed though many Authors do stiffly maintain That the Name is the word Lateinos and that the Number is made out of the Numeral Letters of that Name yet if you put them upon it to state the Original of the Beast's Kingdom they do generally in a manner pitch upon the year aforesaid But we will not depend upon Authority Therefore to the right computing of ●…he true Apocalyptical time we will Observe these ensuing Principles Principle 1. There must be some particular instant of time when the Antichristian state Typed by the Beast with Two Horns had its first visible rising out of the Earth This is proved from the words of the Text And I beheld another Beast coming out of the Earth and he had Two Horns like the Lamb and he spake as the Dragon Rev. 13. 11. And therefore as there was a certain and determinate time when the Babylonian Lyon and the Persian Bear came up out of the Sea that is As there was a certain time when the Babylolonian and Persian Monarchies began so there must be a particular and certain term of time when the Antichristian Monarchy must come up out of the Earth also If this be well observed it will cut off a multitude of super●…luous Di●…putes concerning the Infancy Childhood Middle age and other degrees of the Antichristian state In these points every man may abound in his own Fancy but sure I am according to the true Apocalyptical process there is mention made but of one visible and remarkable beginning of the Two-Horned Beast And this is at the time of his rising ou●… of the Earth Princ. 2. Secondly The time of the rising of this Beast must be after the dissipation of the old Empire and the beginning of the Ten Kings Typed and Figured by the rising of the Ten-Horned Beast out of the Sea There are Two Branches in this Principle The First is this That the time of the beginning of the Two-Horned Beast must needs be placed after the Fall of the Empire This is clearly proved from the Scope of the 13 and 17 Chapters of the Revelation Both these Scriptures do pitch upon this that there must be a taking away of the Imperial Majesty and a kinde of Chasm

of the Old Empire behind and so going forward apply the rising of the Two-Horned Beast to what times we please No There is some particular instant of time when the Beast rose up out of the Earth when his Name or Universal Headship began And thi●… must needs be at the Decree under the Emperor Phocas when it was determined That the Bishop of Rome should be Head over all Churches So then if we lay these Three Principles together First That the Beast had a determinate Beginning of his Kingdom Secondly That this determinate Beginning was after the Fall of the Empire Thirdly That it was after the Fall of the Empire in such times when the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome began first publickly and solemnly to be established If we put all these Three together we shall inevitably pi●…ch upon that time when the Decree went forth That the Bishop of Rome should be the Head over all Churches For if we look to the Stories we shall find that presently after the Fall of the Empire the Bishop of Constantinople was to have equal Priviledges with the Bishop of Rome by the Decree of the Council of Calcedon Nay further The Bishop of Constantinople was in a fairer possibility for the Universal Headship than was he of Rome Only then in the time under the Emperor Phocas the Decree was Enacted That the Bishop of Rome should be the Head of all Churches And from that time downward this hath been a Priviledge perpetually annexed to that Chair And so then we have the true beginning of the rising of the Two-Horned Beast out of the Earth And it is rightly and Apocalyptically applied ●…o the times by the Position of the Three Principles aforenamed But here Bellarmine and Baronius deny That the Universal Headship began in the time of the Emperor Phocas For saith Bellarmine Phocas did not Ordain this by way of a new Institution but only by way of Declaration of a thing ever before Acknowledged in the Church In Answer to this Mornay in his History of the Papacie telleth us That all Historians down from that time as Paulus Diaconus Freculphus Rhegino Anastasius Sabelli●…us Blondus Pomponius Laetus and others agree in this beginning Progress 22. pag. 118. And for Baronius he saith An. 606. Therefore what did Phocas bestow upon the Roman Church Nothing truly Only he did Declare by his Sentence That the Name of the Oecumenical Bishop was unlawfully Usurped by the Bishop of Constantinople when it was due Romanae tantum Ecclesiae only to the Roman Church I cannot but admire at the boldness of this great Annalist that he should go so palpably against the Stories of the Church and against some chief Records of their own For if we look a little before in the times of Gregory the Great we shall finde that there was a sharp contest betwixt him and the Bishop of Constantinople about the Primacy For Iohn the Fourth sirnamed the Easter Bishop of Constantinople did begin to assume the Title of Universal Bishop about the year of the Lord 580 26 years before the matter was determined for the Bishop of Rome He was the more imboldened to do this because he saw the Seat of the Empire established at Constantinople and the City of Rome besieged by the Lombards And consequently the Bishop of that City brought to a low ebb Now these attempts of the Bishops of Constantinople they of Rome did most strongly oppose but none more than Gregory the Great as may appear by sundry passages in his Epistles at this very day In them we find every-where that he doth strongly Dispute against the Name and Title of Universal Bishop and doth say in effect That it is the Name of the Beast He doth again and again inculcate That the Title is new prophane contrary to the scope of the Gospel and the Use of the Church And whereas Bellarmine and Baronius have this creep-hole that he did only inveigh against the encroachments of the Bishop of Constantinople he doth again and again repeat That none of his Predecessours did ever use such a prophane Title Nullus decessorum meorum hoc tam profano vocabulo uti consuevit lib. 4. Epist. 80. But that which is most to our purpo●…e he doth everywhere place the formality of Antichristianism in the Universal Headship And they that affect so to be called he doth expresly term them the praecursors and fore-runners of Antichrist To let pass all others we will recite those words of his as they are in his sixth Book and thirtieth Epistle to the Emperor Mauritius Consider saith he that when Antichrist shall call himself God the matter it self is but small and frivolous yet most pernitious If you look to the quality of the word it consisteth only of two Syllables but if you regard the weight of iniquity the matter is very great For I may boldly say That whosoever calleth himself or desireth to be called by others The Universal Priest or Bishop is in his elation of minde the forerunner of Antichrist In elatione suâ Antichristum praecurrit Because in like pride he preferreth himself before others And in his Fourth Book Epist. 34. he writeth to Constantia the Empress Be it far saith he that your times should thus be defiled with the Exaltation of one man and then addeth In hâc ejus superbiâ quid aliud nisi propinqua ja●… Antichristi esse tempora designatur By this Arrogancy what else is portended but that the time of Antichrist is now at hand And more fully to Iohn himself he useth these words lib. 4. Epist. 38. Tu quid Christo Universalis scilicet Ecclesiae capiti in extremi judicii dicturus es examine qui cuncta ejus membra tibimet conaris Universalis appellatione supponere What wilt thou answer to Christ the Head of the Universal Church in the tryal of the Day of Iudgement seeing that by this Name Universal thou seekest to inthral the Members of his Bodie to thy self And that which maketh more to our purpose he telleth him That the times concerning the coming of Antichrist begin to be fulfilled and that there is ●…ow a performance of the Prophecies Omnia enim quae praedicta sunt fiunt Rex superbiae prope est quod dici nefas est sacerdotum est praeparatus exercitus All Prophecies begin now to be fulfilled and that which I dread to speak the King of Pride is at hand and an Army of Priests do attend him Now for these and such-like passages between Gregory and Iohn of Constantinople I cannot think otherwise of them but that they did happen by the singular Providence of God to excite the world to look after the Revelation of the man of sin For as when our Lord Christ was born at Bethlehem there was a hurly-burly in Iudaea the star appeared the wise men came to Ierusalem and the whole City was troubled What was the end of God in all this but to stir them

up to attention to look after the Messiah of whom so much was sooken in the Prophecies So in the like case many things being foretold in the writings of the Apostles concerning the coming of Antichrist when that time should begin to draw near the Lord was pleased to suffer such a dust to be raised between Constantinople and Rome to rouze up the spirits of men to examine those things which were foretold in the Scriptures In the Book of the Revelation there is much spoken concerning the Name of the Beast and the Mark of the Name Now when this Name or Headship was come to the beginning thereof Gregory did plainly declare That the formality of Antichristianism did consist in this Title and that the Man of sin was then at the doors And I wish one day his sayings do not strongly witness against all his Successors who with one joynt consent down from the year of our Lord 606 have appropriated this Title to themselves to the great dishonour of Christ the true Head of the Church But if they alledge That the Bishop of Rome is only a Ministerial head as Christ's Vicar To this I Answer However they may evade by subtilty of words indeed and in truth they have taken for many Ages together the Dignity of Christ and have made him only the titular Head of the Church For is it not clear by the Stories That all doth depend upon the Authority of the Romane See The credit of Scripture the interpretation of Scripture the making of Laws the abrogation of divine Laws and all things in a manner have depended upon the Authority of the Roman Bishop What he would he hath set up what he would he hath plucked down And when all this is done is he only a titular Head Indeed and in ●…uth the Headship of Christ hath been made but a cypher and the words of Gregory have been found too true in the event But for the passages out of him two things are briefly to be observed First If we go to the 600 years immediately after the birth of Christ there was then no Oecumenical Bishop For though the Man of sin had gone very far and had made many progressions in the Mysterie of Iniquity yet the Authority it self was not publickly established in all that time If it were so we may believe that Gregory would not have inveighed against that Headship as he did Secondly In the year of the Lord 606 the Decree was Enacted That the Bishop of Rome should be Head over all Churches which Dignity the whole Succession have enjoyed now above this 1000 years And that which Gregory did call Antichristian in others that all his followers have assumed to this very day Therefore Thuanus in his 67 Book doth speak very pithily Phocas Bonifacio tertio insignes Episcopi Universalis titulos quos nuper Gregorius in Iohanne Constantinopolitano improbaverat prolixè attribuit Phocas did largely ascribe to Boniface the third those eminent titles of Universal Bishop which Gregory did lately inveigh against in Iohn of Constantinople Now then to gather all into one sum we may see how the Prophecies and the Stories of the Church do agree First That the two-horned Beast had a determinate time when he rose up out of the Earth Secondly That this time is after the rising of the ten-horned Beast or the ten Kings out of the ruines of the Empire Thirdly It is to be applied to such a time only when the Name and the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome began publickly to be set up All these three laid together do necessarily bring us to the Decree of the Headship under the Emperor Phocas And so we do Conclude that this is the Number of the Name of the Beast as it is mentioned in the Prophecie Now by what Accompt the Number is 666 we will shew in the Two Chapters following CHAP. V. That the Roman is the Fourth and Last Metal-Kingdom in Daniels Image and the truth of this is proved against the Positions of Junius Broughton Piscator Dr. Willet and others FOr the carrying on of our matter we need not imbark in that great Question Whether the Roman be the Fourth Metal-Kingdom Or Whether the Opinion of Junius and his followers be received We are sure both wayes to make the Accompt good That the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome is 666. The matter is so firmly grounded upon the event Let us then proceed according to Iunius his Method let us say that the Babylonian is the first Metal-Kingdom that the Mede-Persian is the second that the Macedonian in Alexander is the third that the Seleucian is the fourth Here according to this Analogie there must be an end of all the four Metal-Kingdoms at the destruction of the Seleucian when Syria Iudaea and all that Oriental tract came under the Obedience of the People of Rome Now then if you reckon from the final Conclusion of all the four persecuting Empires and from the beginning of the Roman as that Nation did succeed in the Rule over the Church there will be an exact period of 666 years to the setting up of the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome And so we do concord with the Principles of Iunius But we do not say That there was a dissolution of all four Metal-Kingdoms but only a dissolution of the third and a beginning of the fourth Now from the beginning of the Roman or the fourth Kingdom we make the accompt And for the clearer manifestation of the truth we will Debate this Point more fully for it is a ruled case in Daniel and the Revelation That one and the same thing is variously repeated for clearer explication As for ensample The Antichristian Kingdom is more obscurely delivered Revel 11. Now if we compare it with the description chap. 13 and chap. 17. all three Scriptures will exceedingly illustrate one and the same truth And so in the present case if it can be solidly proved that the fourth Beast in Daniel is the Roman Kingdom we may safely conclude that the same matter is repeated more largely in the Book of the Revelation Mr Med●… speaketh to very good purpose concerning the description of the ten-horn'd Beast Rev. 13. These are his words To●…a autem haec descriptio petita est ex Prophe●…iâ Danielis cap. 7. ubi de eâdem agitur quâ hic Bestiâ Romanâ status novissimi sed quae ibi Danieli ab Angelo succinctius narrantur ea hîc Iohanni interjectâ quasi explicatione fusius deducuntur Comment Apocal. pag. 190. From which words of his it is clear that one and the same Roman Dominion in the last and Antichristian State thereof is the subject matter of both Scriptures And so we have a certain and a demonstrative Principle to build upon For not only the Book of the Revelation it self will be cleared by comparing one part with another that which is more dark with that which is more

the Church To let pass the ambiguity of the phrase let us seriously ponder the circumstances of the text The Lord did reveal to Nebuchadnezzar things that should come to pass in the latter times But the great Question is in specie What latter times are here intended It is confessed by all That the Monarchical Kingdoms were to continue to the Coming of Christ and the words of the text are clear that the Kingdom of Christ shall begin in the times of these Kingdoms Now our Saviour was born his Gospel was preached and his Kingdom began when the Earth and particularly that part of the Earth was under the Sovereign Dominion of the Romans To me therefore it is an infallible Reason That the Roman must be one of the Monarchical Kingdoms and the Fourth in particular because the Kingdom of Christ did then begin when the Earth was under the Authority and Dominion of that People But let us go on Junius They which follow the latter Opinion do well to end Daniel's Prophecie at Christ. But this they ought to consider that the Lord doth not declare the State of the world universally but only so far as it concerneth the Iewes and the People of God And therefore in our judgement we cannot approve it that the Roman is the Fourth Kingdom Answer For the Maxime That the Four Monarchies are described only in relation to the Iewes I do yield it to be a truth so far as the Jewes were the only people of God But when the Gentiles also became his people the Monarchies are described in relation to them So then the Metal-Kingdoms are not related to the Jewes only nor to the Gentiles only but to the People of God both of Jewes and Gentiles Among many this one Argument may be sufficient to clear the Truth of that which we affirm At the end of these Kingdoms it is mentioned That the Kingdom and the Dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High chap. 7. vers 27. Who are they that are the People of the Saints of the most High Shall we say That they are only the People of the Jewes Then it will follow That the People of the Jewes only shall Constitute and make up the Kingdom of Christ and his Saints And how contrary is this to all colour and shew of truth Secondly Admit it should be granted that in the description of the Metal-Kingdoms the Lord should only have respect to the People of the Jewes this doth not exclude the Roman from being one of the Four Kingdoms For as the Jewes were somtimes under the Babylonians somtimes under the Persians somtimes under the Graecians so sixty years before the Birth of our Lord they came under the Dominion of the People of Rome who were the particular Nation and State of whom the Prophet speaketh The people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the City and Sanctuary Dan. 9. 26. If you Number the times from that instant when the Dominion of the Romans began you shall finde that there were 130 years to the destruction of Ierusalem by Titus and Vespasian So long the Jewish Church and Nation were under the Roman Obedience So then we Conclude If the Monarchies be Numbred only in relation to the Jewes the Roman may be one of the Four as well as the Babylonian Persian o●… Graecian what should hinder Junius They that so Number must of necessity confound the popular State with the Sovereign Command of one which is here only mentioned Neither did the Romans any wayes afflict the Iewes till the times of Cleopatra or Herod Answer This is most true That the Jewes came under the Dominion of the Romans in the times of their Free-State And therefore in these times we begin the Roman as the Fourth Kingdom Now whereas it is alledged that in so doing we do confound the Popular State and the Government by One To this I Answer We are not here so much to look after the several forms of Roman Dominion as upon one whole Roman Kingdom opposed to one Babylonian to one Persian to one Graecian going before The Scripture looketh to Four kinds of People who in their respective Seasons and Successions should have absolute Dominion over the Earth and specially about the Confines of the Church according to this Difference we ought to distinguish each Monarchy as the Dominion pass'd from one people to another and not by the particular forms of Government observed by one people Therefore it doth fully Answer our purpose That the Church of the Jewes came under the Dominion and Lordship of the people of Rome 60 years before the Birth of the Lord. Now what Form of Dominion the Romans then had is not to our purpose Further Whereas it is said That the Romans did not afflict the Church of the Jewes till the times of Herod Give me leave to Argue after the same manner Cyrus did not afflict the People of the Jewes Therefore the Persian tyranny did not then begin Alexander the Great did not persecute the Jewes Therefore the Graecian Monarchy did not begin in his times This way of Reasoning is contrary to Scripture and Experience For to speak positively Though Cyrus did not afflict the Church of the Jewes yet he brought that Church and People within the Verge of the Persian Dominion which in all its times was a Tyrannical State So Alexander the Great did not persecute the Church yet he was the Founder of the Graecian Empire which in the whole time thereof did more or less afflict the Saints of the Jewish Church The like may be said of the Romans though there was no eminent Persecution in the time of their Free-State yet then the Church was brought within the compass of that Kingdom in which under which and by which there were the sorest Persecutions that ever were as appeareth by the Stories of the Evangel●…sts the Acts of the Apostles and the whole Book of the Revelation Now let us Consider what is spoken by Mr Broughton Mr Broughton The Book of Daniel handleth principal points of the Iewes thraldom in Babylon for 70 years and seven times that space unto Christ's Ascention and the destruction of the City and Temple So that Ierusalem surprized by the Chald●…an and razed by the Roman is the limit of the Story Answer If it could be proved That Ierusalem seized by the Chaldaean and razed by the Roman that this is the limit of some of Daniel's Visions and namely of the 70 weeks it doth not follow that this is the boundary of all his Visions and particularly of all the Four Kingdoms typed in the Metals of the Image I shall endeavour in the process of this Discourse to make it appear that these Kingdoms do continue to the time of the glorious Kingdom of the Saints Rev. 20. But let us go on Mr Broughton The Kingdom of Babel is figured by a Tree touching in

1290 dayes the time of the dispersion doth run from that begi●… 〈◊〉 We ha●…e good reason to take this for an authentick 〈◊〉 because Dan●…el in the 12 Chapter doth more largely repe●… 〈◊〉 Desolation by the Romans which he had more briefly 〈◊〉 chap. 9. We cannot be perswaded but that the Prop●… 〈◊〉 last Vision went farther into the times than he did i●… 〈◊〉 going before at least he went as far For 〈◊〉 is expresly said concerning this last Vision that the time was long and for many dayes The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as Mr Broughton doth well render it the Army-like-ordered time was great Piscator upon the place also doth well observe the same propriety of the phrase Vide ●…r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ess●… Metaphora quod in tempore determina●…o partes convenienti ordine à Deo sunt dispositae sicut Milites in exercitis T●…e s●…emeth here to be a 〈◊〉 the parts in this determin●…te time are so disposed of G●… Souldiers in an Army We may then safely conclude 〈◊〉 in this last Vision Daniel doth go many 〈◊〉 deep into the times and much deeper than he did in the former Visions And therefore we may necessarily affirm That he doth lead us far beyond the times of Christ. On the contrary If these times end with the Persecution●… under Antiochus Epiphanes for so Mr Broughton and others will have it how is the time long and how doth the Lord speak of such notable events that should befal Da●…iel's People in the last and utmost Rere-ward of time The destruction of Ierusalem by the Romans was 230 years after the death of Antiochus Epiphanes And therefore the Vision of the 70 weeks if Mr Broughtons interpretation be good must go farther than this last Vision by such a Proportion and Number of years Now who can possibly believe this to be true that readeth the three last Chapters of the Prophecie Must the whole Narration of all the things there declared end at Antiochus his death Now then to gather all into one sum we may safely collect That Daniel in this Vision doth not only lead us to the destruction of Ierusalem by the Romans but he doth speak also how long the Jewes shall remain under that fatal Dispersion These things our Saviour the Apostle St. Paul Isaiah and Daniel all of them do speak First of the scattering of the Nation after the destruction of Ierusalem and of the time of their Dispersion till their Calling again If any shall then require me to make good the Chronologie of 1290 dayes and of 1335 dayes I must confess that I am here at a loss and it may be that they who shall come in the Rere-ward of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Army-like-ordered time shall see more Then perhaps many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be encreased If I may to use the words of Mr Fox vent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Conjectures I should be willing to proceed in this manner First To speak of the time in a Latitude Secondly To speak of it more particularly If we speak of it in some Latitude and begin the 1290 daies at the destruction of Ierusalem this period of time will bring us precisely to the year of the Lord 1359 And here as Alstedius well observeth in his Chronologie cap. 6. the Saints did begin more vigorously to testifie against the Antichristian Idolatries And in very deed if we diligently observe the times with some subtilty of consideration we shall find That from the taking of Constantinople and the destruction of the Greek Empire in the East the Languages have been revived and the Witnesses of Truth have been more effectually raised up in the West and the light of the Gospel doth more and more encrease And it is very probable that these things will go on and never cease till the Kingdom of Christ be set up in its full glory and Monarchical power over Jews and Gentiles This I take to be the meaning of the Prophecie in the general accommodation thereof But for the more distinct and particular Application of the times this as I have said before I must leave to them that come after Now let us proceed to the words of Piscator in his Preface upon the Prophecie of Daniel Piscator The third Kingdom is not here rightly extended to the Successors of Alexander the Great so far at least as he is stated the first King of that Kingdom For though this is done chap. 8. vers 21. yet nevertheless that Prophecie differeth much from this For the Kingdom of the Greeks figured by the He-goat is there expresly Named and is divided into the Kingdom of Alexander who is resembled by the notable Horn which the He-goat had between his eyes and the Kingdom of his Successors So that this of Alexander is clearly to be distinguished as different from that of the Successors For it is said When that Horn was br●…ken four stood up for it or in the place of it and afterward those four are expresly called one Kingdom vers 23. Likewise it is spoken concerning the Kingdom of Alexander That it should be plucked up and that it should come to others and not to his Posterity Dan. 11. 4. Answer I do not deny but in some sense the Kingdom of Alexander may be distinct from that of his Successors But 〈◊〉 Whether in the present case it ou●…ht to be 〈◊〉 distinguished The Kingdoms of Media and Persia are two distinct Realms Dan. 8. yet both these make but one silver-Metal So the Kingdoms of Alexander and his Successors though they be distinguished yet in the Notion Relation and Distribution of the Kingdoms in the Image they make but one Brass-metal or one Empire typed by the third Beast with four Heads In this case every Metal signifieth a distinct Kingdom in the fulness thereof And therefore as the Golden-Head doth signifie the Babylonian-Kin●…dom and the Silver-Breast the Mede-Persian So the Brazen-Belly and Thighs do signifie the whole Graecian Empire And as in this Acception the distinct Kingdoms of Media and Persia do not make two but one Silver-metal So the Distinct Kingdoms of Alexander and his Successors do not make divers but one third Kingdom of Brass But yet further If we should ask how every Metal-Kingdom comes to be divided it must be in relation as each People cometh to have the sovereign Dominion over the Earth and therefore it is expresly said concerning the Kingdom of Christ That it shall not be left to other People chap. 2. 44. And in the end of the seventh Chapter v. 27. these words are recited The Kingdom and Dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom shall be given to the People of the Saints of the most High From whence we collect That the Monarchies are to be distinguished as the Dominion doth devolve and descend from one People to another till at last it cometh to the turn of the Saints of the most High

times must consume the Roman Kingdom in the Antichristian state thereof as it is cleer by the whole Book of the Revelation Object But whereas Piscator doth alledge That the Kingdom of Christ did begin to fill the whole Earth when the Gentiles far and neer were brought to the Faith by the Preachi●…g of the Apostles Sol. I do not Deny but that the Kingdom of Christ in the Apostles time did then begin to fill the Earth For the bounds of his Spiritual Kingdom were much enlarged by their travel But what is this to the purpose The text speaketh plainly of a Monarchical Kingdom of such a Kingdom opposed to the Four Monarchies that shall subdue and fill the whole Earth The Apostles Preached the Gospel among all Nations and by name Saint Paul filled all places from Ierusalem to Illyricum with the Gospel of Christ. Yet nevertheless for all this large spreading of the Gospel there was no destruction of the Roman Kingdom In those times the Romans continued their Power and Tyranny though the Gospel of Christ was Preached everywhere But when the stone shall become a Mountain and fill the whole Earth before this can be done the Stone must strike the Image upon the Feet and Toes thereof The Tyranny of the Roman Kingdom must be broken by the Power of the Gospel before the Kingdom of Christ can be set up in the Throne Now if we apply these things to the times we shall find that the Church was in perpetual conflict with the Empire of the Romans for 300 year●… together in all the times of the Ten first Persecutions Now it is said of the Primitive Mareyrs That they overcame him to wit The Persecuting Empire by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their Testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death Rev. 12. 11. By the scope of the place it is clear That the Lord Christ by his Power and his Martyrs by their Sufferings both together did break the Tyranny of that Persecuting Empire It is said of them That they overcame him to wit the Dragon with Seven Heads and Ten Horns The Saints by their Sufferings did overcome him and so the Gospel was set up as the regent Law The Woman brought forth a Man-Child that should Rule all Nations with a Rod of Iron This is meant of the Reign of Christ upon the Earth and there were some beginnings thereof in the times of Constantine the Great as appears by the scope of the text vers 9 10 11. Now whereas it came to pass afterwards That the Christian Empire was broken to pieces by the coming down of the barbarous Nations out of the North and Ten Kings rose out of the Ruines of the Empire aforesaid Then also according to the Prophecies a New Persecuting Empire was Erected to try the Faith and Patience of the Saints This in the whole Prophecie is called The Antichristian Empire or The Roman Kingdom in the last Edition thereof Now this Kingdom also shall be broken in pieces by the Preaching of the eternal Gospel the Nations shall be undeceived and the Gospel shall be set up as the regent Law as it began to be set up in the times of Constantine the Great but was hi●…dered afterward But now it shall be far otherwise The Kingdom of Christ shall be so set up after the breaking in pieces of the Toes and Feet of the Image after the wearing out of the Antichristian Tyranny that he shall Reign 1000 years From all that hath been said it is clear That we must look after the Monarchical beginning of the Kingdom of Christ according to the Prophecies Of this we shall have some occasion to speak more largely afterward Now let us consider what is Alledged by Polanus Polanus The Scope of Daniel is To speak of those great Empires only that should stand up one after another till Christ in those Territories where the Babylonian began Now the Roman had nothing that the Babylonian had but only Syria and Egypt He had nothing that the Persian had more than the Babylonian but Asia the Less Therefore the Roman is not to be accounted one of the Four Empires Answer It is true that the Roman went no further Eastward than the River Euphrates neither did he possess many of those Eastern Countries which were formerly under the Babylonian and Persian Monarchies But what of all this It is enough for our purpose That he possessed all those Countries on this side Euphrates which were the Continent of the Church In the Churches Continent the Roman was the Successor of the Babylonian Persian and Graecian Empires For look what Monarchy the Babylonian began over the People of the Jews the same was continued by the Romans when their time came to have the Monarchy over the Church If this be a truth we may quickly Answer the Objection of Dr Willet which is much to the same effect These are his words This Vision of an humane Image signified one united Body consisting of divers Kingdoms one succeeding another as the parts of the Body do joyn one to another the Beginning and Head of which was Babylon And then he addeth The Roman Monarchy being distant at least 1200 miles could not make one united Body with it Therefore that Monarchy cannot here fitly be understood By the same Reason he might Argue The Graecian Kingdom being distant many miles from the Babylonian and Persian therefore it cannot be compacted into the same Image of Persecuting Empires But this is not the Point which we are on For we are not to measure the Monarchies by the Longitude Latitude and Distance of place but by the same Succession of Monarchical Dominion over the Churches Territories In this sense the Roman may be placed in the same Image of Monarchical Empires as long as he did continue the same Sovereignty over the Church which the Babylonian began And therefore when the Scriptures do call the City of Rome by the Name of Babylon it is a very proper Expression for she did continue the same Tyranny over the Saints which the Babylonians began And it is clear also That the same Empire did Devolve and Descend upon the Romans in the Fourth Alteration and Change of State But let us proceed Polanus At the Coming of Christ the Kingdom represented by the Feet and Toes was ruined but so was not the Kingdom of the Romans which was not compleat till the time of Trajan Therefore the Roman is not the Fourth Kingdom Answer I have already touched this Point in my Answer to Piscator but because I see many Excellent Expositors build upon this Principle That the Kingdom of Christ Beginneth at the Dissolution of all Four Metal-Kingdoms and that this Dissolution was at his Incarnation Because they build strongly upon this we will bestow the more pains to enquire into the matter To the clearing of this let us look to that which the text naturally affordeth and then let us make Application From

under these Tyrants But in this matter let us Answer Mr Hayne with Mr Hayne In the first Page of his Book he speaketh of the Eternity of Christ's Kingdom and of its extent to the end of the world And afterward in the second Page he speaketh as followeth Of this Extent saith he is Christ's Kingdom yet in regard that God hath so●…etimes permitted Satan and wicked men in extraordnary manner to domineer and to exercise their worldly and ungodly Power and that at other times he hath made his own Sovereignty by remarkable Mercies and Iudgements to appear God and Christ upon this more glorious expression of their more Over-ruling Might are then especially said to have a Kingdom and to Reign Because in such times their Glory and Majesty doth more manifestly shew it self Exod. 15. 18. 1 Sam. 12. 12. Obad. vers 21. Rev. 12. 10. In like manner I may say Though at the Ascension of Christ there was given to him a Kingdom far greater than all the Kingdoms of the world yet in regard that it hath pleased God the Father for many Ages together to permit Rome Imperial and afterwards Rome Papal in an extraordinary manner to exercise their worldly Power And seeing also it is his pleasure after some Ages to make his Sovereignty known in the destruction of the Tyranny of these States and in setting up the Gospel as the regent Law in this respect the Reign of Christ may be said to begin at the Dissolution of the Fourth Kingdom in the last and Antichristian State thereof But a little further to open the meaning of the Scriptures When Michael and his Angels i. e. Christ and his Primitive Martyrs had conquered the Dragon presently and immediately upon the Conquest this Acclamation was heard I heard a loud voice saying in Heaven Now is come Salvation and Strength and the Kingdom of our God and the Power of his Christ for the Accuser of our Brethren is cast down Rev. 12. 10. Here I demand what is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by that Kingdom of God and Power of Christ You are to Note That the scope of the place is concerning the Fight between the Lord Christ and his Primitive Martyrs on the one side and the Powers of the Persecuting Empire of the Romans on the otherside After a long and terrible Fight the Dragon was overcome by the Faith and Patience of the Martyrs by the Prayer of Faith grounded upon the Promise of God And in the times of Constantine the Great when the Christian Faith as the best Expositors will have it became Religio Imperii the Religion of the Empire then at that time the Kingdom of God and the Power of his Christ was revealed to the world The Deliverance and Salvation of the Church from under the Ten first Persecutions was much desired before but it was not effected till the dayes of Constantine the Great To his times then that notable expression the Kingdom of our God and the Power of his Christ is come is more immediately ●…o be applyed By that which the Church hath had Experience of already we may learn what is the meaning of the Spirit when he speaketh of her Deliverance from under Antichristian sufferings and of the future Reign of Christ upon the Earth for 1000 years And though there was some beginning of his Monarchical Reign in the dayes of Constantine yet that was but radiatura vel specimen Regni Christi a glympse or a hand●…el as it were of the Kingdom of Christ and of the future liberty of the Church that shall be For that glory was Eclipsed and the Church fell under Persecution in all Antichristian times When those times shall be fulfilled the Kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And so they shall continue and remain for many years when Jews and Gentiles both together shall make a glorious Church under Christ their Head and King in the latter dayes After the destruction of the Fourth Beast it is expresly said The Dominion under the whole Heaven shall be given to the Saints of the most High and that this Dominion is to continue for ever Dan. 7. 27. Now then If the Monarchical Kingdom of Christ did begin at the Incarnation and so forward to continue for ever what shall we make of the Reign of Antichrist for so many Ages together Christ hath Reigned but a little if we look to an exteriour Reign Mr Hayne The Reign of Antichrist and of other Tyrants is no impeachment to Christ's absolute Sovereignty The wickedness of Sons taketh not away the Fatherhood and Authority of Parents Nor a Debauched Servant's ill carriage argue his exemption from the Master he is subject to David was and continued a King though Ishbosheth and Saul's House though Absolon his own Son though Sheba a Benjamite and many of Israel rose up against him and submitted not to his Scepter Answer We agree That the Tyrannical States and by Name the ●…ntichristian cannot be such impeachments to Christ's Kingdom so as absolutely and finally to obstruct it in every part and point of Power We yield also That the Right belongeth to Christ to be Universal Head of the Church though Antichrist hath Usurped his Right for many Ages together And further Though his Jurisdiction hath been detained by others a long time yet he hath Power enough in himself to recover it again when the time appointed for the Dominion of the Tyrannical States is once fulfilled But to say for the present That the Antichristian State is no impeachment to the Kingdom of Christ this is a marvelous thing When a Usurpet is in the place of Government is this no impeachment to the lawful power All the world did agree together to worship the Beast and to receive his Mark and was this no impeachment to the Kingdom of Christ The great Whore corrupted the Earth with her Fornications and the Kings of the Earth agreed together to give their Power to the Beast and was this no impeachment to the Kingdom of Christ Though David was anointed King over Israel and though by vertue of his Unction he had true Title to the Kingdom yet so long as Saul and Ishbosheth did bear Rule the Kingdom was not his In like manner Though the Lord Christ by suffering Death and by his Unction had Title to all the Kingdoms of the Earth yet as long as the Tyrannical States of this world and particularly the Antichristian Kingdom do continue the Kingdoms of this world in that form and manner as they shall be are not his And therefore at the Fall of the Great City this expression is used The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Here is a tacite implication That they were none of his Kingdoms before in that sense which the text intendeth Mr Hayne You much debase and vilifie Christ and his Kingdom in comparing it and counting it Inferiour to

the latter dayes Dan. 10. 14. From all which we gather That the Monarchies are specially Numbred according to Church-relations And therefore the Roman began as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom when the Church came first under the Obedience of that People Let us now proceed to the Second Argument ARGUMENT II. Where the Graecian Kingdom Typed by the Brass-Metal and the Third Beast made an end there did the Roman typed by the Iron-Metal and the Fourth Beast begin But at the overthrow of the Seleucian Kingdom in Asia and at the Conquest of Judea the Graecian Kingdom typed by the Brass-Metal and the Third Beast did make an end Therefore at the Overthrow of the Seleucian Kingdom and at the Conquest of Judea the Roman typed by the Iron-Metal and the Fourth Beast began The Major is evident it being a ruled case in the Body of the Metal-Kingdoms That where the former ceaseth the latter doth begin All the Question is concerning the Assumption Whether the Graecian ended as the Third Metal-Kingdom at the destruction of the Seleucian Here I finde that Interpreters are greatly divided They agree in it That the Graecian is the Third Kingdom but they are divided about the particular time when that Empire ended For all the Successors of Alexander came not under the power of the Romans at one and the same time His Successors in Greece ended when Macedonia was made a Roman Province by Aemilius the Consul 166 years before the Birth of our Lord. His Successors the Seleucidae in Syria and Iudea ended when all that tract of Land was brought under the power of the Romans by the means of Pompey the Great this was done about 60 years before the Birth of our Lord. His Successors the Lagidae in Egypt were made a Roman Province by Augustus Caesar this was done 28 years before the Birth of the Lord. So then it is plain That all Alexander's Successors fell into the hands of the Romans yet all fell not under the Roman Obedience at one time The great Question is Where we shall set the Ending of the Graecian Kingdom as typed by the Third Beast and the Brass-Metal And this I say must needs be at the overthrow of the Seleucian 60 years before the Birth of the Lord. First In the Original distribution of Alexander's Kingdom Iudea is pleaded to belong to the Seleucian Polyb. lib. 5. And therefore the Seleucian is that Successor to whom the Title of the Monarchy doth principally appertain I do not Deny but the Lagidae somtimes made their Incursions into Iudea as may be seen Dan. 11. But in the Original Constitution of the Kingdom Iudea was allotted to the Seleucian And that which may strengthen our Argument if you reade Iosephus the Book of the Macchabees and such-like Stories you shall find That the Sufferings of the People of the Jews have been wholly in a manner from those Successors of Alexander that were of the Seleucian line And this to me is a great Reason wherefore the Graecian Kingdom typed by the Brass-Metal is rather to end at the destruction of the Seleucian Kingdom Secondly At the Overthrow of the Successors of Alexander at several times the Fall of the Seleucian was only at that time when Iudea Ierusalem and all that Continent of Land fell under the Power of the Romans Mr Mede and some Historians do look principally when Greece the Head-Province was brought into subjection to the Romans by Aemilius the Consul they look here more specially to the ending of the Greek and beginning of the Roman Empire But at this very time Iudea was under the Tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes and the true Graecian Kingdom typed by the Brass-Metal and the Third Beast in great vigor and sulness of strength For though in those times Greece their Native Country was taken away from the Graecians yet nevertheless that People had still the sovereign Dominion in and about the Borders of the Church And this continued for the space of 106 years till the time of Pompey the Great then the Selcucian Kingdom and together with it all the Lands of the Jewish Church fell under the Dominion of the State of Rome And that which may adde to the force of this Reason let us Consider First The limits of the Land of Promise Secondly The Governments that there should be erected For the limits of the Land of Promise the Seat of the Church for 2000 years these are the words of the Charter to Abraham Unto thy Seed have I given this Land from the River of Egypt to the great River Euphrates Gen. 15. 18 19 20. This was performed in the dayes of Ioshua who brought Israel into the Possession thereof Secondly For the Governments here erected The Scriptures do take notice that these Countries were under the Government of the Judges and then after that under the Kings of the Line of David to the times of the Captivity And then it was revealed to Nibuchadn●…zzar in the Image of Persecuting Empires what Succession of Tyrannies should be in and over those Countries For as somtimes the Kings of the Line of David did bear Rule in the Land of Promise so they continued the Government till the People of Babel got the Dominion So the People of Babel carried on the times of the Golden-Metal till the People of Media and Persia did take the Kingdom And after that the People of Media and Persia did continue the times of the Silver-Metal till they were subdued by the People of Greece under the Conduct of Alexander the Great And after the Victories of Alexander the People of Greece went on with the sovereign Dominion over all the Territories of the Church from the River of Egypt to the great River Euphrates till the destruction of the Seleucian Kingdom by Pompey the Great And then all that tract of Land came under the Dominion of the People of Rome So then we may conclude As the Seleucian is the immediate Successor of Alexander in and over the Continent of the Church So where he ended as the Third Metal-Kingdom over the Church there the Roman did begin as the Fourth Object But some perhaps may Reason That the Lagidae the Successors of Alexander in Egypt were not made Subject to the Romans till the times of Augustus Sol. Grant this to be true That Augustus did extinguish the last Successor yet the Monarchy was taken from the People of Greece before when the Romans came into Asia and brought all those Eastern Countries about Iudea within the compass of their great Empire It is one thing for the People of Greece to have a Fragment of the Kingdom of Alexander remaining and another thing for that People to have the sovereign Dominion over the Continent of the Land of Promise And this they had till the Overthrow of the Seleucian Kingdom by the Roman State But Helvicus in a little Treatise intituled Chronologia Universalis doth stiffly argue the Point That the Graecian Kingdom did not end as long

when Herod was King of the Iews Sol. The Answer is clear That though Herod was King of the Jews yet Cyreneus was the principal Agent of the Romans in the Tax and Iudea was but a Member annexed to the Province of Syria Maldonate upon the place to my apprehension speaketh satisfactorily For saith he Cyreneus was not the Governor of Judea but of Syria but because Judea did then belong to the Province of Syria as all Authors do deliver it was his Office to tax not only Syria but Judea also And in very deed much is spoken in the Roman Story That Iudea was a Member annexed and Ios●…phus calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apendix or the Additament of Syria If we go to the Original we shall find in the Stories That when the Seleucian Kingdom was destroyed Syria and Iudea both together came under the Power of the Romans by the means of Pompe●… the Great And here we set the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom But because Spanhemius doth seem to go another way and doth stand upon it That Iudea was not a Member annexed to Syria till the time of Archelaus when Iudea was made a Province Let him now give his Answer Why the Birth of Christ is recorded by the Evangelist to be in the times of the Oecumenical Tax of the Roman World His Answer is this Ut non tantum res tam illustris Charactere temporis illustri consignaretur sed tali qui responderet vaticiniis Propheticis not only that so famous a matter should be decyphered by so famous a Character of time but by such a famous Character of time which should Answer the Predictions of the Prophets And then in particular he citeth those words of the Prophecie of Daniel In the dayes of these Kingdoms shall the God of Heaven raise up a Kingdom that never shall be destroyed chap. 2. vers 44. And then he concludeth upon the Premises in these words Descriptio enim Iudaeorum sub Augusto erat publica servitutis professio tessera Obsequii quod debebatur Principi Extero adeóque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 advenisse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quo Messias nasci debuit lapis sine manibus è monte excindi The Tax of the Iews under Augustus was a publick profession of their Servitude and a Badge of that Homage which was due to a Forreign Prince and therefore a clear Demon●…ation that that fulness of time was come in which the Messiah should be born and in which the Stone should be cut out of the Mountain without hands From these words of his we do conclude That in the sense of the Evangelists the Roman is the Fourth and last Metal-Kingdom For when the Lord Christ was born the Jews did yield their Homage and Obedience to the Romans as to those that were set over them But if we do enquire after the time when they came to be Homagers it was at the time of Pompey the Great Therefore in the sense of the Evangelists we must there set the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom ARGUMENT V. That which doth necessarily spring from the●…r Principles who do most authentically expound the Monarchies that is the true beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom But the beginning of the Roman at the time of their Free-state when the Church came first within the Verge of their Dominion is such Ergo. The Major is plain For we cannot reject that beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom which doth necessarily spring from the Principles of the most Authentick Expositors We do in substance take that for truth which is implyed as that which is plainly expressed But for the Minor That the beginning of the Roman Monarchy was at the time of their Free-stare and that this doth spring from the Principles of the most Authentick Expositors This is proved by the enumeration of Singulars First The most approved Interpreters do hold That all the Four Tyrannical Empires are compacted into one Image and though they differ in some particulars yet they all agree in the greatness of Dominion In this sense nothing doth exclude the Roman from being one of the Four Secondly They agree That all these Tyrannical Empires compacted into one Image continue a succession of that Lordship which the first scil the Babylonian did take from the People of the Jews If this be so the Roman must begin as the Fourth of Daniel's Kingdoms at that time only when the Church of the Jews came under their Dominion For though the Romans were a mighty State and had gained to themselves a great Power in the West yet they were not the sucsessors of Nebuchadnezzar in that Monarchy which he had begun till they had taken in the Eastern Countries and brought the Jewish Church within the Power of their Kingdom But when this matter was once effected then did the Roman begin as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom And this doth necessarily arise from the Principles and Foundations of such as have best Expounded the Metal-Kingdoms Object But some perhaps may alledge You have formerly taught That the Metal-Kingdoms do not only respect the People of the Iews but the People of the Gentiles also when the Gentiles come to be the Church of Christ. Sol. This I confess to be a Truth Yet withal in the right stating of the beginning of the Four Kingdoms we must have only respect to the Nation of the Jews For when all these Kingdoms began and in particular the Fourth and the last there was no other Church in all the world but that of the Jews only Afterwards by the Preaching of the Apostles the Church did greatly encrease and the whole Empire in its just Latitude from East to West from North to South was the Seat and the Place of the Church And hence it is That the Spirit in the Revelation doth discover her State according to the changes of time in the Empire of the Romans But yet however The Doctrine of the forementioned Interpreters will strongly inforce the beginning of the Roman when Iudea came under the Power of that People seeing there was no Church in all the world but that of the Jews only Object But if it be further Alledged Why do you call this a Principle of the most Approved Interpreters seeing you your self do not Allow their Exposition in some Particulars Sol. So far forth as the Exposition is Approved I do build upon it and it doth strongly inforce the Conclusion And for the kinds of Interpreters I will shew who are the most Approved and why they are so called After such times as it pleased the Lord to Reveal to Daniel the Four Ages of the Church under the Type and Similitude of Four Metals in the Image this Discovery hath been variously received Some only having a glaring light of the Truth have turned it into Fables and it is very probable That Ovid in his Metamorphosis

by the Persians and Daniel mourned for it full three weeks together the Angel to comfort him telleth him plainly Dan. 10. 20. I will return to fight with the Prince of Persia and then the King of Graecia shall come in The meaning of which words is this That the power of the Empire of the Persians should be overthrown by the Graecians and then he cometh to particulars to speak of the expedition of Xerxes into Greece how that the Fourth King of the Persians should raise up great multitudes of People against the Graecians These are the words of the text for speaking of Darius the Mede he saith In the first year of Darius the Mede I stood up to strengthen him chap. 11. vers 1. And then he addeth I will shew thee the truth behold there shall stand up three Kings in Persia to wit Cyrus Cambyses Darius And the Fourth meaning Xerxes shall be richer than they all and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the Realm of Graecia vers 2 3. If we will go to the true Reason wherefore the Graecians were so couragious at the Straits of Thermopylae and wherefore they did prevail against the Persians the true cause doth lie in these words I will fight against the Prince of Persia and then the Kingdom of Graecia shall come in It was the secret and invisible hand of the Lord that was the cause of the declining of the Power of the Persians in the East and the rising of the Graecian in the West It is true That the He-goat passed from West to East upon the face of the whole Earth and yet it is as true That the Ram of Persia did push to the three several Coasts Westward Northward and Southward chap. 8. vers 4. By these words it is plain If the Victories of the Graecians did pass from West to East then è converso it is as true That the Victories of the Persians did pass from East to West Let us hear the words of the Prophet Isaiah to put all out of question for speaking of Cyrus thus he saith I have called a ravenous Bird out of the East the man of my Counsel from a far Country chap. 46. 11. From hence it is plain When God will Conquerors shall come out of the East And in Allusion to this Story those Kings that shall deliver the Mystical Israel out of the Captivity of Western Babylon are called the Kings of the East in a Figure Rev. 16. 12. It is not in the Climate in the Hemisphere in the temper of the Heavens in the better exercise of Military Discipline in the experience of old Souldiers in the success of fortunate Generals or any other inferiour cause but in the immediate Dispensation of God Therefore to adde the words of the Psalmist as an Epiphonema Lift not up your Horn on high speak not with a stiff neck for promotion cometh not from the East not from the West but God is judge he putteth down one and setteth up another Psal. 75. 5 6 7. I have staid the longer upon this digression because I set that States-men Souldiers and others of deepest wisdom look to these subtilties Hereupon they trust in an Arm of Flesh oppose the Gospel perfecute the Saints bear themselves more high over those that are made subject to them Make no Conscience of Honesty Truth or Religion when they have the Law in their own hands They should as well look to the invisible and spiritual causes of the Changes of Empire to the Providence of God to the Revelations in the Word to the Angels fighting against the Kingdoms of this world to the power of the Saints Prayers that are offered upon the golden Altar There is nothing more divine nothing more spiritual and nothing more apt to carry up the Soul into an high contemplation of the manifold wisdom power truth and Fidelity of God then to behold in the Prophecie of Daniel and in the Book of the Revelation as in a Map the several Empires of the world where the Church should be seated their times their changes and their causes of the change and this many hundred years before these Empires come to be set up They that read the VVord together with the Stories of the times may see the Fidelity of God and may by this come to know him by the Name Iehovah But so much by the way touching the sudden growth of the Graecian Empire from VVest to East Now we come to the Romans and in the times of their Dominion they must also have the strength of Iron to subdue the whole Earth and break it in pieces And though great Nations and mighty Princes should rise against him as Pyrrhus Hannibal Perseus Iugurtha Sertorius Methridates Tigranes c. yet in their times the Romans must be too hard for them all and break them all in pieces And therefore when Dionysius Halicarnassaeus Cicero and others boast of the Roman Greatness it may be said to them as somtimes it was to Cyrus I have girded thee with strength though thou knowest not me Isa. 45. 1 2. This was the true though the invisible cause why the Romans grew so Great and their Dominion reached to the ends of the Earth But now it is high time to return from whence we have made a digression to shew when the Roman began as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom Some think it was when that Nation was the most prevailing Nation upon the Earth But this cannot be For in the times of Antiochus the Great but more specially in the times of Antiochus Epiphanes they were the more prevailing People yet they did not begin in those times as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom in Daniel's Image You will say then VVhere shall we set the beginning of the Fourth Kingdom I Answer In this case we must distinguish between the Latitude of the Roman Dominion more absolutely considered and the Latitude of the Dominion in and about the Borders of the Church If you speak of the Latitude of Dominion in a more absolute consideration then the Roman began as the more prevailing Dominion when it became more mighty than any other Empire of the world But if you speak in a more strict sense it began then to be the Fourth Metal-Kingdom in Daniel's Image when it did begin to take in the greatest Amplitude and largeness of Rule in and about the Confines of the Church And this is to our purpose Object 3. Others perhaps may Alledge That we cannot begin the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom when the Iewish Church came under the Dominion of that People For say they it is foretoll in the Prophecie of Jacob The Scepter shall not depart from Iudah nor a Law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come Gen. 49. 10. Sol. I Answer We must so expound the meaning of one that it may not dash against the main sense of another Scripture Now it is the manifest scope of other Scriptures to shew That the Four

not to reveal this only to the Jews but to the People of the Gentiles also This latter may be proved from the person of Nebuchadnezzar to whom this secret was revealed For if it had only concerned the National Church of the Jews That the God of Heaven will raise up a Kingdom that never shall be destroyed Why was this delivered to Nebuchadnezzar an Heathen Man and an Enemy of the Church When the Lord did reveal to Pharoah the Dream of the seven fat Kine and after the Dream of seven lean Kine this was not only discovered for the good of the Church but for the preservation of mankind So the Succession of the Four great Empires and the beginning of the Kingdom of Christ in the times of the last Empire these things were not revealed only to Nebuchadnezzar that the Jews might understand the truth but that the whole habitable world under Nebuchadnezzar's Dominion might take notice of that which God did intend to do Secondly This appeareth by the manner of the Revelation to Nebuchadnezzar which was to this end That the whole world might observe it First If you consider the Person Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a Dream Secondly The way of God's dealing with him he forgat the Dream and therefore a great trouble fell upon his Spirit Thirdly His calling for the wise-men of Babylon which City in these times was the Eye of the world and the seat of the Empire Now it is not to be imagined but all that lived within the Verge of so large a Dominion would be apt to hearken after such a thing Specially when they should hear of the trouble of the King and of the Edict to kill all the wise-men of Babylon Here was a matter set out in the view of all Asia as it were to prove Three Particulars First That the God of Israel was the true God Secondly That he would set up Four great Changes of Empire in the world Thirdly That in the last Succession of Empire he would set up a Kingdom that never should be destroyed These things were propounded not only for the Church but for the Observation of the whole habitable Earth under the Babylonian Empire that then was and for the Ages following Thirdly If we look to the Story of the Evangelists we do read that the Evangelist S. Matthew doth tell us That when the Lord Christ was Born in Bethleem in the dayes of Herod the King wise-men came to Ierusalem Matth. 2. 1 2 3 4. Here Interpreters upon the place do raise many Questions First Who these wise-men were Secondly Why was it Revealed to them by a Star Thirdly Why did the Star guide them to Ierusalem and then vanish out of 〈◊〉 These Questions are propounded by Interpreters and they do give very learned and solid Answers to them Only there is a Question to which I do not yet finde a satisfactory Answer and that is this Why was this matter Revealed to wise-men in the East rather than to any other Nation Profession or Sect among the Gentiles Spanhemius doth handle this Point in his Dubia Evangelica part 2. dub 31. pag. 326. and he doth come to this issue in the close Concludimus itaque causum vocationis Magorum nequaquam in illis suisse sed in solâ Dei vocantis bonitate illos ex merâ ejus gratiâ vocatos sive absolutè eorum vocatio consideretur sive comparatè Quod enim vocati vocati prae aliis Dei miserentis fuit illorum potius quam aliorum Et haec causa causarum est summa ratio pag. 329. Here I do agree That the Call of the wise-men doth chiefly depend upon the Grace and Mercy of God This is the Cause of causes and the chiefest Reason why they were called and why they were called before any other But yet with submission to a better judgement I think there lies a plain reason in the Scriptures why the Birth of the King of the Jews was revealed to the wise-men of the East rather than to any other Gentiles For when the Lord had a purpose to Reveal Four great Changes of time to the world and particularly the time of the setting up of the Kingdom of his Son he had appointed in his Providence that the wisemen of Babylon whose Profession it was to understand the changes of time that they should come to take notice of these things but more specially of the time when the Kingdom of Christ should be set up But because they could not know this by their own strength the Lord did Reveal it to them by the Ministery of Daniel That he would set up Four Kingdoms over the Earth whereof the Babylonian in Being was the first and then in the latter end he would set up a Kingdom that never should be destroyed In a word This is the Cause wherefore these changes of times were revealed to the wise-men of the East because it did suit with their Profession to take notice of such things And the Lord having once revealed in particular the time of the setting up of the Kingdom of his Son to the wise-men of the East when the Lord Christ was born at Bethleem in Iudea in the days of Herod the King he did Call that sort of men in special to take notice of that which was foretold Because these things were revealed to them they were called in a special manner to take notice of the Birth of the Messiah and of the beginning of his Kingdom From all that hath been said we may conclude That the Vision of the Metal-Kingdoms doth concern both Jews and Gentiles Therefore there is no necessity that Brightman Grasserus and other learned men should take the little Horn for Mahomet because the Country of Iudea is now under the Turks Many other Arguments might be brought to prove That neither Mahomet nor the Turk can possibly be resembled by the Type of the little Horn. The scope of the text and the whole collection of Circumstances do altogether pitch upon the Papacy which arose after the division of the Roman Empire into ten inferiour Kingdoms in the time of the Emperor Phocas 666 years from the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom This is the true Application of the times to the Stories of the Church and this is the natural sense of Iohn in the Book of the Revelation That the Number of the Name of the Beast is 666. Now for the truth of this Interpretation we will prove it First From the whole scope of the text Rev. 13. Secondly From the drift of the Spirit Rev. 17. Thirdly From the whole Harmony of the Prophecie in the chief and remarkable Circumstances Lastly From the scope of the Apostle 2 Thess. 2. And of these in their Order CHAP. VIII The Truth of the Interpretation is proved from the remarkable Circumstances of the Text it self Revel 13. 16 17 18. THere be many excellent and precious Truths in the general which we cannot alwayes avouch That the Spirit

But saving the great worth and Learning of such an Author here is the very formality of Antichristianism for which which men shall be liable to very great Judgements unless they do repent And though they do distinguish betwixt Two kinds of Heads that Head which is Supreme and that which is Ministerial it is too too well known if we go to Practice That the Bishop of Rome hath not assumed a Ministerial Headship to himself nay indeed and in truth he hath made the Headship of Christ nothing at all Ninthly The Mark in the Forehead and in the right Hand ought to be so expounded that therein must appear the principal Cause of the sufferings of the Martyrs For after that the Beast was destroyed Iohn saw in the Vision the Souls of them that were beheaded for the Word God and for the Testimony of Jesus that had not worshipped the Beast nor received his Mark Chap. 20. 3 4. The special Cause of the sufferings of the Martyrs must be for the refusal of these things If we transfer this to Experience we shall find That great Multitudes of Men and Women have been put to death in all the times of the Beast's Kingdom because they would not yield Obedience to the Laws Ceremonies Traditions and Superstitious Observations imposed upon them by the Authority of the Bishop of Rome as Universal Head of the Church They were slain because they held the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ because they took the Lord Christ alone for the true Head of the Church and would live only in subjection to his Laws Now then to gather up all the aforementioned particulars into one sum it is clear That the Profession of a Roman Catholick in the visibility thereof is the Mark of the Beast in the Forehead and in the right Hand and all Circumstances do wonderfully agree But let us now come to give some special instance for this out of the Old Testament And here if we go to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes we shall finde a cleer instance of the Character or Mark of the Beast in the times of the Graecian Antichrist For there is mention made of one Iason when he had bought the High Priesthood for Money and did assign 150 Talents more if he might have license to set up a place for Exercise and for the training up of Youth in the Fashions of the Heathen and to write them of Hierusalem by the Name of Antiochians Which when the King had granted and he had gotten the Rule into his hand it is expressly said of this Iason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our English hath it He forthwith brought his own Nation to the Greekish Fashion Iunius and Montanus and the Lexicographer Scapula have it Ad Graecum Ritum But I think the words may better be translated He carried over his own Country-men to the Greek Character 2 Macc. 4. 9 10. For the more close and perfect Application of this Truth we will note these four Particulars 1. What is the Hellenick or Graecian Character 2. Who are the Persons that do receive it 3. The Time when 4. The Power and Authority which did compel them to receive it For the first A Character is nothing else but a Note of Distinction by and through which one sort of People are distinguished from another as the Ephraimites were distinguished from the Gileadites by the Word Shiboleth so one Nation is distinguished from another by their Language Attire and other Customes But in this case we have not to do with the Marks of civil distinction and therefore when it is said That Iason carried over his own Country-men to the Hellenick Character this is meant of such a way of worship as was the publick Profession among the profane Graecians in matters of Religion In respect whereof that publick Profession was determinatus modus vivendi as the School-men speak containing that manner and way of living according to the Law of the Antiochians The like may be said That the Mark of the Beast in the Revelation is that whereby they of the Romish Religion are distinguished from others for they have a peculiar manner of living according to the Laws of that Church under the Pope the Head There is then an exact Agreement betwixt the Hellenick and the Romish Character and in both Nations Men are distinguished by this as by the Badge of their Profession Secondly For the Persons who were they that Iason carried over to receive the Mark of the Beast in the Graecian Tyranny It is plainly said That he carried over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his own Country-men of the Stock and Lineage of Abraham And these things were foretold by Daniel the Prophet many yeers before That in the dayes of Antiochus Epiphanes many of his own Country-men should forsake the Holy Covenant Dan. 11. 31 32. and as he foretold it came to pass indeed as appeareth in the Book of the Macchabees and in the Stories of Iosephus and others Now if we apyly this to the Beast in the Revelation there is a more general Defection and Apostacie of the whole Christian world He causeth all to receive a Mark in their forehead and in their right hand Thirdly For the time When was it that Iason carryed over his own Country-men to the Hellenick Character to the publike Profession of Religion used by the Grecians in the Sele●…cian State It was in the times of Antiochus the Grecian Antichrist If therefore we read in the Book of the Revelation That the Beast did cause all to receive a Mark in their forehead and in their right hand this was no other but that which was done before in the times of Antiochus the Grecian Antichrist who is set forth as a Type and a Figure of that great Antichrist who should come in the last times Fourthly For the power by and through which Iason should carry over his own Country-men to the Hellenick Character or to that way of Profession It was then when he had gotten the Rule into his hands Some sins do increase by Propagation as Original sin some by Ensample as many evil Customs amongst us But here is mention made of the increase and prevailing of a sin by Imperial Edict by the Countenance Power and Authority of them that have the Soveraignty in their hands The like may be said of the Beast in the Revelation all did receive the Mark in their forehead and in their right hand and if you look to the reason it was a sin of Monarchy or Imperial power The Beast as a Potentate did cause all to receive a Mark in their forehead and in their right hand By the Hellenick Character used in the times of the Grecian Tyranny we may know what is the Mark of the Beast so often mentioned in the Revelation and by the one we may finde out the meaning of the other I have stay'd the longer on this Point because it is the principal matter in the Text and the right

Number of years this will agree with the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for in the known and most familiar use that art which teacheth us to number Periods Cycles and greater Revolutions of years is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the art of Computation But if all this will not give satisfaction if any shall still say That this may be the sense yet it doth not prove that it must be so For the further clearing of the matter we will go to the third Circumstance to the Method or the Rule which we must number by And here we shall finde That we have not onely typical proof but true Apocalyptical and demonstrative grounds to build upon if we compare the words of Scripture with our own experience Thirdly the method by which we are to account is by the Numbers of the four Metal-Kingdoms in Daniels Image So then if we account from the beginning of the Roman as the fourth Metal-Kingdom there will be an exact line of 666 years to the setting up of the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome under the Emperor Phocas And here the best Expositors do set the rising of the two-horned Beast out of the earth And this is the reason that 666 is called the Number of the Name of the Beast and experience also sheweth That the account is to be made by the periods of time in Daniels Image And so we have not onely probabili●…y but also apodeictical proof for the Exposition of the Number But now to come to clear the point we will shew the Reasons why the account by Daniels method is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Number of a Man and that this is the meaning of the Spirit First it may fitly be called a Number because as Mr. Mede rightly saith It is the Sacred Kalendar or Prophetical Chronologie appointed by God himself to measure the times We may therefore fitly call it a Number or as they speak in the Schools numerus numerans because it comprehendeth the four Periods of time appointed by God himself to number the special occurrences of the Church Secondly in a more special sense it is called the Number of a Man because it pleaseth the Holy Ghost by the four Regions Parts and Divisions of the Body of Man to number the four great Empires of the world and the four notable and remarkable Revolutions of Time The Image in the parts and in the divisions of it doth not as Interpreters well observe naturally signifie these things but meerly by positive and divine Institution It pleaseth the Lord by the four parts of the Humane Image to decypher so many periods of time And this is the true reason wherefore the Spirit in the figure calls this form method and way of account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Number of a Man because it is the Number of the Humane Image Thirdly this way of expression doth agree with the manner of the Spirit in other places As for example Thou art this Head of Gold that is Thou art signified by this Head of Gold The seven kine are seven years that is the seven kine do represent seven years And The seven Heads are seven Mountains that is the seven Heads do type and set forth seven Mountains And so in the present case The Number of the Beast is the Number of a Man and that Number is 666. The plain meaning whereof is this That 666 signifieth so many years specified and declared in the accounts of Daniels Image called The Number of a Man It is so styled because the Number is such in that Calculation and it is so to be made out in that method and way of account Fourthly this method of account will agree with the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here will be an excellent subject for a man that hath dexterity in the Calculations of the Times to imploy the art and skill of a good Accomptant For to what end did the Lord reveal this Prophetical Chronologie under the figure and similitude of the four Regions and Parts of the Body of Man but that it might be a certain and a standing rule to all Posterities to number those times and changes of times that should befall in and about the affairs of the Church Fifthly the Number of time by the account of Daniels Image is the most fit to decypher the rising of a Tyrannical State such as the Kingdome of the Beast is whereof we speak Now what is the Image of Daniel It is no other but a Systeme or body of the four great persecuting Empires which should rise up one after another in the same succession notably to afflict the Church of God Now fith the Beast with two Horns in the Revelation is such a Dominion or State that shall notably afflict the Saints in the latter days where can it be more properly or fitly placed then in the Image of Tyrannical Empires All these are of the same lineage and kindred And therefore seeing it is the plot of the Spirit to delineate these four Successions by so many Parts of the Body of Man we may well conclude That this way of Computation is the Number of a Man meant in the Text seeing it doth so notably agree with the event Sixthly the Number of Time by the account of Daniels Image in the days of Iohn and in the times immediately following was most apt to finde out the events that should befal the Church For this is to be observed That though the Beast his Name Mark and Image were not extant in the times of Iohn yet the number by and through which these were to be computed must then be not onely extant but it must be also of remarkable use As for example The Anti-Christian Church had no beeing in the days of Iohn nor in the ages immediately following yet nevertheless the Spirit in the Revelation doth decypher the place of this Church by such a Character as was famously known in the days of Iohn The seven Heads are seven Mountains where the woman sitteth Now this did more properly appertain to those first times in which S. Iohn lived That Rome was seated upon seven Mountains For the people then living though they should never see the Antichristian times yet Iohn did foreshew the place where that Church should have her beeing in the time appointed and limited by the Lord. In like manner though the Name Image and Mark of the Name had none of them existence in the days of Iohn yet the Number by which all these must be accounted must needs then be in some tolerable use For how shall a man that hath wisdome by the Number finde out the Name if the Number were no way discoverable in those times Mr. Brightman upon the place doth fully agree with us His words are these Though the Mark and the Name were not extant the Beast being not as yet Nevertheless the Number of the Name might be manifest to that age wherein John lived and not onely

between this way of writing to the understanding both ways do come but to one sense if you go to the sum of the matter For if you would speak of a thing to be done in one of the years of the Lord as in thi●… present year for instance Is not 1654 in figures all one with One thousand 〈◊〉 hundred fifty and four in letters written at length Do not we decypher the years of the Lord in our common way of writing by figures in brief as well as by words in their full delinearion If none can deny this we may conceive the like of the meaning of the Spirit when he saith that the Number of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as much as to say the 666th year is the Number of time when this Government shall begin to be 〈◊〉 up But ●…eeing there have been in former Ages and now there are that are do●…ing ripe upon the Numeral Letters I do here seriously put it to them to 〈◊〉 me their opinion concerning the two Letters of the Greek Alphabet α and ω. The question is proper to the purpose in hand for they may well observe as the Lamb standeth in direct opposition to the Beast the Name and Soveraignty of the Lamb to the Soveraignty of the Beast so the Number of the Name or Dominion of the Lamb if oppositio be in eodem must necessarily be opposed to the Number of the Name or Dominion of the Beast But for the Letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is none that ever went about to find out the Anagram of the Name of the Lamb in the Elements of the Greek Alphabet These Characters do not set forth any literal Name nor the Numeral Letters of any Grammatical word but they do denote and set forth the infinity and eternity of his Kingdom For when he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is all one with that expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first and the last which is which was and which is to come the Almighty Chap. 1. v. 8 11. So in immediate opposition to those Characters of the Kingdom of the Lamb the Number of the Name or Headship of the Beast is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 666 according to the Calculation of the times in Daniels Image For as the Characters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we take them severally in themselves they may be ascribed to any kinde of Infinity in the Lambs Kingdom he may be said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in reference to Place Power and time But in the Book of the Revelation it is necessary that these Characters should be restrained onely to the Number of time So in the like case the Number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may many ways be applied to the Beasts Kingdom but in the natural and genuine sense of the Prophecy this doth onely denote such a Number of time to the setting up of his Kingdom Now for the further confirmation of this truth let us call to minde what is written in the Prophecy of Daniel concerning the Ancient of Days I beheld till the Thrones were cast down or more properly I beheld till the Thrones were set and the Ancient of Days did sit whose garment is as white as snow and the hair of his head like the pure wooll Ch. 7. v. 5. In these words why is God the Father called The Ancient of days why is the hair of his head compared to the pure wooll This doth note the eternity of his Kingdom in immediate opposition to the four great Periods of time set forth by the Tyranny of the four great Empires of the World So the same is ●…aid concerning the Dominion of the Son of Man that his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion that shall not pass away and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed ver 14 Here then if we demand Why the Kingdom of the Son of Man is called An everlasting Kingdome This is in immediate opposition to the several and respective times of the four Beasts their Kingdoms had an end and they were destroyed but the Kingdom of the Son of Man is an everlasting Kingdome that never shall be destroyed According to this Analogie do we conform the Exposition of the Number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Number of the Kingdome of the Lamb we do oppose it to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Number of the Name of the Beast And so Iohn in the Revelation and Daniel in his Prophecy do agree in the Numbers and in the same method and way of account For when the Son is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the First and the Last in the order of time is not this all one with that passage in Daniel His Dominion is an everlasting Dominion But because many stand upon the Letters we will cite the famous Canon of Ptolomy where the Kings of Babylon of Persia of Greece and Rome are set forth by the Characters of the Greek Alphabet It is useful to illustrate many passages in this Book and therefore it followeth as hereunder written De Epochâ Nabonassareâ Ex Manuscripto libro Graeco Claudii Ptolomaei continente Hypothes●…s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 38 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 43 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 45 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 48 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 54 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 55 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 59 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 67 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 80 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 100 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 122 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 143 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 186 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 188 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉

The Number 5 is the Number of so many parts of their Jurisdiction and thereupon they observed this Number in their Trespass-offering But we cannot say that it was their sin to do it Neither can I see if there should be the like National cause that it is simply a sin in any State to be frequent in the use of the Number 25. For in it self what good or what evil is in that Number You will then say What is meant by the Name and the Number thereof I answer Take the Number 666 severally by it self it is nothing but if you take it joyntly as the Character of the Name and the Mark of the Name we may say That in these things hath consisted the grand Apostacy of the latter Times And for Mr. Potters Interpretation I cannot be satisfied in it for these three Reasons First he undertaketh to expound the Number and to apply it to so many Cardinals so many Churches so many Altars c. Whereas the Number is not the Number of these but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Number of the Name of the Beast Secondly he undertaketh to shew how the Beast is frequent in the use of such a particular Number whereas the Number is rather the specifi●…al Note and Character of the Kingdome it self Thirdly he sheweth how the Beast is frequent in the use of the Number 25 the square-root of 666. But what sin is there in the frequent use of such a Number To speak properly in these things there is neither good nor evil These are some of the Reasons that move me to depart from the Interpretation of the forementioned Author whom I do otherwise acknowledge to be a man of solid and excellent Learning and much to be approved for his industry and diligence which he hath bestowed toward the discovery of these Mysteries Princ. 5. For the Mark of the Beast and for the worship of the Image and for such-like things the world is made liable to the most grievous Iudgements of God This I have largely proved from Rev. 14. 9 10 11. Now if you apply this to singulars How can men rationally be tormented day and night How can the smoke of their burning ascend for ever and ever for the superstitious use of the Number 25 the square-root of 666 Surely all these things ought so to be stated that the Justice of God may be cleared in the execution of Judgement I cannot then think that so grievous a Judgement is denounced against the superstitious use of the Number 25 but rather as I have largely proved for the yielding subjection to the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome as it began publickly to be established in the 666th year from the beginning of the Roman as the fourth Metal-Kingdome Princ. 6. In over coming the Name of the Beast and the Number of the Name standeth the special object of the Martyrs Victory This I have largely proved from Chap. 15. ver 2. The persons that stood on the glassie Sea that overcame the Beast were the company and society of Martyrs which suffered for Christ in all Antichristian times and their Victory is no other but a Victory of Martyrdome Now if you apply this to the ordinary Interpretation If the Name of the Beast be no other but the word Lateinos and the Number no other but the Numeral Letters of that Name what a kinde of Victory shall the Martyrs obtain over Words and Syllables and Numeral Letters We may be well assured That there is another kinde of meaning in these words that is the Martyrs did overcome that Power Authority and Universal Headship it self which began solemnly and publickly to be established in the 666th year from the beginning of the Roman as the fourth Metal-Kingdome Princ. 7. The glorious Resurrection of the Martyrs to reign with Christ 1000 years is grounded in special upon this Reason Because they did refuse to worship the Image and to receive the Mark. And therefore Iohn in the Vision saith I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the Word of God and the Testimony of Iesus that these lived to wit out of their Antichristian death and reigned with Christ 1000 years Chap. 20. v. 3. It is evident from hence then That the Name Lateinos or any such-like Grammatical word cannot be the Name of the Beast For the Martyrs were never put to death neither shall they ever have their glorious Resurrection for Names consisting of Letters and Syllables The slaughter hath been mainly for the refusal of the Authority and the Laws made by the Authority or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome Therefore their glorious Resurrection to reign with Christ shall be for their suffering in the behalfe of Christ. Princ. 8. The Image of the Beast ought so to be expounded that it may express to the life the repair of Roman Majesty after the deadly wound This is proved from the scope of the Text. When the second Beast came out of the earth he did cure the deadly wound that the first Beast had in one of his Heads He had power also to give life to the Image of the Beast that the Image should both speak and live Chap. 13. ver 14 15. Now for the curing of the wound of the first Beast and the giving life to the Image of the Beast these typical expressions do denote the onely repair of Roman Majesty after the fall of the old Empire This is clear from the scope of the Scripture and it is abundantly shewed in many Commentaries The Angel also in Rev. 17. hath this expression The Beast thou sawest that was is not and yet is Here he speaketh of the marvelous recovery of the Roman Majesty after a former loss and destruction which is nothing else in sense and substance but the making of an Image to the Beast that was wounded in one of his Heads and the causing of the Image both to speak and live For in a sense it is true that there was a total eradication of the Roman Soveraignty for a while and when it was set up in the Popes there was a kinde of reviving and a rising of that Soveraignty from the dead The laying down of this one Position did drive me from an Interpretation which seemed to be very plausible in my first meditations upon this Argument Now that particular Interpretation did concern the times of Victor his Excommunicating the Churches of Asia not long after the writing of the Revelation Now because the Roman Jurisdiction over all Churches did begin to make its first visible appearance in these times I did therefore apply the Number of the Beast to the forementioned Excommunication And for the particular time Calvisius the Chronologer saith That those Churches were Excommunicated in the year of the World 4145 and in the year of the Lord 196. Now if you subduct 666 years out of 4145 there will remain the 3479th year of the World which was the first year

Dead and the taking up of those that should remain to meet the Lord in the air Hereupon certain among the Thessalonians mistaking the meaning of the Apostle did conclude That the Day of Judgement and the general Assembly of the Saints was then at hand Now to diminish this opinion the Apostle doth exhort them in these words I beseech you Brethren 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the cause of the coming of Christ to Iudgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the matter or cause of our gathering together unto him that ye be not soon shaken in minde nor be troubled either by Spirit by word or by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand This sheweth plainly That they did mistake the Apostle in his former Epistle and did understand his words as though Christ should come presently to Judgement Now for their better information he proceedeth Vers. 3. Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and the Man of Sin be revealed the Son of Perdition He plainly sheweth what things should precede the coming of Christ to wit A general defection from the Faith and the revelation of the Man of Sin And this I take it doth fully open the meaning of our Saviours words in the Gospel concerning the woful state of the Church in the latter times He speaketh plainly that many false Christs shall arise and shall deceive if it were possible the very Elect Matth. 24. 5 23 24. Now to what times can we better refer this then to the times of Antichrist to the times of the Apostacy in which men shall depart from the Faith and shall give heed to the Doctrine of Devils 1 Tim. 4. 1. Now whereas the Apostle saith That there shall come a falling away first Some of the Ancients as Hierom did understand this of the defection from the Roman Empire Though this be a truth yet it is not the meaning of the Text For the falling away here meant is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a falling away from the true Faith or from the pure Worship of God So the word is used commonly in the New Testament and the sense of the Text doth plainly shew That God gave men up to delusions to believe lies because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved The words then do not intend a Civil but a Spiritual apostacy or falling away Further whereas it is said And the Man of Sin shall be revealed the Son of Perdition Here is a great question Whether the times of the Apostacy and the Revelation of the Man of Sin do begin all at one instant Some will have this to be a Figure which the Rhetoricians call Hendyadys But they are deceived for the words are plain that a falling away from the Faith should be by degrees and when this Apostacy should come to some ripeness and maturity then the Man of Sin should be revealed For how is it possible that the Christian Church should degenerate so far from Christ to take Antichrist for her Head but she must be moulded prepared and wrought by degrees for such a rebellion And for that expression The Man of Sin whereas the Romish Interpreters and Hugo Grotius in his Tract de Antichristo do take this for one individual Man herein they are monstrous absurd For if he be one Man as they suppose then the Apostle tells us That he was secretly conceived in those first times the Mystery of Iniquity did then begin to work And he further addeth that he shall continue till the last times whom the Lord shall consume with the word of his mouth and shall abolish with the brightness of his coming Upon these grounds if the Man of Sin be one individual Man he must needs be very long-lived he must live in a manner from the first to the second coming of Christ. But leaving them to make good their own conceits to speak positively The Man of Sin meant in the Text is A State or a Succession of Men in a State or Government for Iohn in the Revlation doth call this Tyrannical Empire by the Title of a Beast which all do know in the sense of the Prophets doth intend an Idolatrous or a persecuting Empire He is called The Man of Sin by a singular Emphasis as being exceeding sinful and the cause of sin to others for so it is said in the Scriptures Ieroboam the son of Nebat that made Israel to sin And if he be the Man of Sin it is no hard matter to render a reason why he should be called The childe of Perdition This Title was sometimes given to Iudas While I was with them in the world I kept them in thy Name those that thou gavest me have I kept and none of them is lost save the Son of Perdition Joh. 17. 12. In the next words the Apostle doth describe him according to his nature Ver. 4. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or is worshipped So that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God For his opposing himself this is spoken in relation to Christ as he is King Priest and Prophet So the Beast in the Revelat. is set in immediate opposition against the Lamb as if he were another Christ the Rival of his Kingly Power and Dignity And whereas he doth exalt himself above all that is called God Interpreters do ordinarily take this for Magistrates whether Inferior or Superior above all which Antichrist must advance himself The expression above all that is called God is a style too diminuent to express the true God by There be ma●…y that be called Gods yet to us there is but one God 1 Cor. 8. 5. This is spoken of Magistrates that they are called Gods and above all these Antichrist as he doth pretend himself Universal Head of the Church shall exalt himself Further whereas it is said that he sits in the Temple of God this is meant of the Church of God where God is worshipped in the time of the New Testament as he was in the Temple of Ierusalem of old Now that the Church is called The Temple of God is clear from that of the Apostle Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and The Temple of God is holy which ye are 1 Cor. 3. 16. The result of the whole speech is this That Antichrist shall sit in the Universal Church as in his Episcopal See for so the word in the Original doth signifie Cathedraticâ potestate praesidere By these words it is plain That the formality of Antichristianism lies in the Universal Headship For when the Apostle doth describe the Great Antichrist by his nature he saith That he sitteth in the Church of God as the supreme Lord and Ruler Therefore if that be true which I have so largely dispured in the Body of the Treatise That the Name of the

Beast is no other but his Universal Power and Headship over the Church of God then I will leave any man to consider Whether one and the same thing is not here spoken by S. Paul in the Epistle to the Thessalonians He as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God And hath not the Bishop of Rome for 1000 years put himself in the place of Christ as the Head and Law-giver to the Church of Christ But the Apostle goes on Vers. 5. Remember you ●…ot when I was with you I told you these things We reade in Acts 20. when the 〈◊〉 sent to Ephesus he called for the E●…ders of the Church he told them that grievous Wolves should come and that they should not spare the stock The same things in effect he spake among the Thessalonians when he did foreshew the decay of the Christian faith and the revelation of the Man of Sin Now for the time of his coming and the knowledge they had o●… that time he hath these words Vers. 6. And now ye know what with hol●…eth 〈◊〉 he may be revealed in his time ●…y the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the thing that doth withhold all Interpreters for the most part 〈◊〉 understand the Great Empire of the Romans For as long as the M●…jesty of that Empire did stand it would keep 〈◊〉 the dominion of Antichrist who should ari●…e What knowledge the 〈◊〉 Thessalonians had of this is doubtful yet there i●… nothing more ●…ure then that the Ancient Writers 〈◊〉 as lived before the fall of the Empire did believe That when this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 come then the Man of Sin should be revealed Among many others when Hierom heard of the taking of Rome by the R●…me he did make application of this Scripture that then the Man of Sin was at the doors Now whereas some Interpreters think that we cannot shew any precise time of the coming of Antichrist they divide themselves into sundry opinions And therefore some speak of his Conception some of his Birth some of his higher advancement into the Throne and some of the full Perfection of his Power Others there are that take all these together and tell us That he was conceived in the Primitive Times born about the times of Constantane set up in the Throne under the Emperor Phocas and raised to the high pitch when he did assume the Power of both Swords But all these are but conceits of mens own Commenting For the time of the revelation of the Man of Sin must not be as every one will feign it at his own pleasure but as it is positively and plainly set down in the Word of Truth Now if we go to the scope of the Context the Great Empire of the Roman the impediment that hindred must be taken away and then after that the Man of Sin must be revealed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his definite and determinate time There is then a precise definite and determinate time for the revelation of the Man of Sin and this must be after the fall of the old Empire N●…w according to these grounds there can be no other time intended but when he was installed Oecumenical Bishop under the Emperor Phocas It is clear by the Stories of the Church That the Empire fell and the Kings arose in the fifth Century And after that in the year 606 from the birth of the Lord and in the year 666 from the beginning of the Roman as the fourth Metal-Kingdome the Bishop of Rome was declared Universal Head over all Churches in the times of the Emperor Phocas In this year he was revealed and declared to the world in such a manner as the Apostle doth describe him for in this year he did begin to sit in the Church or in the Temple of God as in Cathedrá as Oecumenical and Universal Bishop and Head of the Church And so we have the particular time when Antichrist was revealed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his definite time This we take to be the natural sense of the Text for if these two things be supposed First that the beeing of the Man of Sin lies essentially in his Headship over the Church and Temple of God Secondly that he did appear in his proper time after the fall of the old Empire What other thing can here be signified or decyphered but that which we speak of to wit that the Number 666 in the Revelation doth point out the time of the rising of this Spiritual Monarchy For as we have formerly shewed the year 606 according to the calculation of the times in Daniel is the Number 666 the Number of the Name or Universal Headship of the Beast And thus we see how the scope of the Apostle in this Scripture doth fully answer our Interpretation concerning the Name of the Beast and the Number of the Name Now let us go to the words of the Apostle as they follow Vers. 7 8. For the Mystery of Iniquity doth already work onely he who now letteth will let till he be taken out of the way and then shall that wicked one be revealed Here Interpreters do inquire what is meant by the Mystery of Iniquity Some do think that the Apostle doth refer to those Heresies in the first times that were previous to the bringing in of the Man of Sin But how could those gross Heresies be so called The Mystery of Iniquity did incroach upon the Church and upon godly men under the appearance of the greatest holiness Secondly suppose that in those first times there were some beginnings of Free-will Justification by the Merit of Man yet these things are not to our purpose for we are here specially to look after such a working of the Mystery of Iniquity as makes way for the Papacy or the Papal Government or the Universal Headship of Antichrist that he shall sit as Lord or chief Ruler in and over the Church and Temple of God The question is What previous workings were there in the Apostles days and so downwards towards the setting up of the Universal Headship For this is to the scope of the Text and this doth answer the matter in hand Let us therefore consult with other Scriptures S. Iohn saith Ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even so the spirit of Antichrist is already in the world 1 Joh. 4. 3. What doth he mean by this that the spirit of Antichrist was already in the world He doth explain himself in his third Epistle and the 9th verse I would have wrote unto the Church but Diotrephes who loveth to have the pre-eminence suffereth us not It appears from hence then that in those first times men did affect that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Primacy or Headship in and over the Church of God Here then the Mystery of Iniquity did begin to work in those first times But lest any man might alledge that these incroachments were too gross and that the Mystery of Iniquity must be carried on with greater shews

Doctrine and in the whole Spiritual Government Therefore there ought to be a temper kept for this disease hath always reigned in Princes to desire to bend Religion according to their own pleasure and lust and for their own profits in the mean time So far he In which words two Points are observable First the lawful exercise of the Power of the Supreme Magistrate as it doth keep its due limits in Causes Ecclesiastical Secondly the redundancy and the excess of the Power when it doth tread under foot the Laws of the Church That which these learned men did speak concerning the Supremacy of the Kings of England in Causes Ecclesiastical and the danger of the excess of the Civil Power hath been too truly verified by some in our days not onely to the total ruine of themselves but also to the destruction of that Soveraignty it self which they did so immeasurably exalt And whereas Calvin in the place aforementioned hath these words Et hodie quam multi sunt in Papatu qui regibus accumulant quicquid possunt juris potestatis And at this day saith he how many are there in the Papacy that heap upon Kings whatsoever Right or Power they can possible So that there may not be any Dispute of Religion but this Power shall be in one King to Decree according to his own pleasure whatsoever he list and that should remain fixed without Controversie So far he But we for our parts may not onely say Quam multi in Papatu How many in the Papacy but how many in the Profession of the Protestant Religion have accumulated this great Power upon Princes that they might do what they list in the Church of God and in the determination of matters of Faith In Daniel and the Revelation these things are set down as the true causes of the destruction of Kingdomes That is a most Divine expression of Daniel and the three Children Chap. 2. ver 20 21. Wisdome and might are his and he changeth the times and seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings And for the cause of these Changes it is more particularly expressed Chap. 7. v. 11. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the Horn spake I beheld even till the Beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning fire All solid Interpreters do understand some State or Government to be typed by the Little Horn. Now the destruction of such a State or Government doth arise immediately from hence because of great words which the Horn did speak against the most High Therefore the exorbitancy of the Power against Religion Christ and his Saints is oftentimes the cause of the eversion of States and Kingdomes But that we may more fully understand how far the Power may go and whither it must not go let us consider the examples of the Kings of Iudah And here it is clear That Asa Iehosaphat Hezekiah Iosiah did great things about the affairs of the Church and had a very large testimony for their zeal in the Worship of God yet I am sure none can say that their Power was so transcendent as to abrogate any thing that was appointed or immediately commanded by God in his Word For when Uzziah the King would offer Incense that appertained not to him but to the Sons of Aaron he was imitten with leprosie and compelled to dwell alone as one that should have no commerce nor society with men So Belshazzar the King when he made a Feast to a thousand of his Lords we reade That in the time of the Feast the fingers of a mans hand did appear and write upon the wall the destruction of the King and the Kingdome And the cause of this Judgement is expounded by Daniel himself in these words Chap. 5. ver 25. Thou hast lifted up thy self against the Lord of Heaven and they have brought the vessels of his House before thee and thou and thy Lords thy Wives and thy Concubines have drunk wine in them Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar both by strong convictions and demonstrations were brought to understand That the God of Israel was the onely true God and that they had their Dominion from him Now when they were not contented with this which the Lord had given them but would insult over the Giver and drink wine in the Bowls of the Temple which they had taken with sacrilegious hands this was the cause of the ruine of the King and Kingdome at last There is a remarkable passage of Herodotus in his second Book where he maketh mention of a Statue that was set up to Sennacherib in one of the Temples of Egypt with this Inscription and Title upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whosoever looks upon me let him learn to be pious This Testimony as it hath the greatest probability of truth so doth it singularly well agree with the Story of the Scripture We reade that 185000 were slain in one night in the Camp of the Assyrians by an Angel sent from Heaven Sennacherib himself was killed by his own two sons and that great Empire did decline and lose its vigour by degrees Now if we look into the cause of all this we shall finde That the insolency of that King against God and his Church was that which broke him all to pieces This was done in the sight of all Asia that the world might know that the insolency of the greatest Powers of the Earth against God will prove the certain cause of their destruction But we will conclude this matter with that Exhortation of the Psalmist for so he speaketh to all Princes and Potentates who do intrench upon the Prerogative of Christ Be wise now therefore O ye Kings and be instructed ye Iudges of the Earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way Psa. 2. ver 10 11 12. Now why doth he exhort the Kings and Judges of the Earth to be wise rather then other men They are Gods Vicegerents and there is none greater in Power then they and through the greatness of their place none are more apt to bend Religion according to their own pleasures and lusts then they are Because this is more immediately against the Kingdome of Christ and cometh nearest to Antichristian pride the Psalmist doth advise them to take heed what they do to serve the Lord with fear and to rejoyce with trembling If not he tells them plainly their insolency against Christ and his Church will be a certain cause of their destruction This is made manifest from the beginning of the Psalm The Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together against the L●…rd and against his anointed saying Let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us ver 2. Now he doth direct his speech to such as these and tells them plainly That the Lord Christ will break them with a Rod of Iron and dash them

be deluded by the power of Satan What shall we think of the Oracles among the Heathen of the answer of the Gentile gods of the power which the Devil hath in those Countries that lye wholly under gross Idolatries There is no doubt to be made but that Satan had great power to deceive the world by wonders See August in his Book Of the City of God Lib. 10. Cap. 16. The Scripture also is very plain to the same purpose If there arise among you a Prophet or a Dreamer of Dreams and giveth thee a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder cometh to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying Let us go after other gods which thou hast not known and let us serve them Thou shalt not hearken to the words of that Prophet or Dreamer of Dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul Deut. 13. ver 1 2 3. In which words it is plain That the Truth may be set up in the Church of God according to the written Word and yet for the tryal of the sincerity of men God may suffer seducers to arise to do great things We have a large experience of this in all the times of the Beasts Kingdome For when our Saviour saith There shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect Mat. 24. 24. these things are specially spoken of the times of the Kingdome of Anti-Christ when the Devil by the permission of God had great power given to him to deceive the world by wonders and signs and great variety of Revelations From hence I am induced to believe That the answer given by the Crucifix at Winchester was reall and it was done by more then an ordinary power Let us consider the meaning of that place in the Prophecy of Zachary Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain so the Lord shall make bright clouds and give showers of rain to every one grass in the field For the Idols have spoken vanity and the Diviners have seen a lie and have told false dreams Chap. 10. ver 1 2. Here I demand How could the Idols speak vanity The word in the Original is Teraphim Idols made after the similitude of a Man With these Idolaters did usually consult in matters of great difficulty And Mr. Pemble upon the place saith It is very probable th●…t the Devil used the like feats to cozen the Iews as he did to the Greeks and other simple Gentiles And we may say the same touching the answer of the Rood God in his just judgement might suffer apostatizing Christians to be deceived by the immediate delusions of Satan because they did not receive the truth in the love of it that they might be saved But of all others that place of the Apostle is most proper to the purpose The Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils speaking lies in hypocrisie having their Consciences seared with a hot iron forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving 1 Tim. 4. 1 2 3. Seeing the Apostle doth here so plainly speak of the Apostacy of the latter times and of the Prohibition of Marriage Meats and other lawful things all do agree in it That he pointeth to the times of Antichrists Kingdome Onely the great Question lieth here Why the Prohibition of Marriage is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Doctrine of Devils Mr. Mede in his learned Treatise concerning the Apostacy of the later times thinketh that this is Genitivus materiae a Genitive case of the matter because Daemons and the Souls departed are so much worshipped in the Papal Kingdome Though it is true in the general That Daemon-worship as he saith is used in that Kingdome yet it is not the meaning of this Text For here is plainly Genitivus efficientis a Genitive case of the efficient cause for the Doctrine of the Prohibition of Marriage is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Doctrine of Devils because it was brought into the Church by the suggestions of those impure Spirits to cast miserable mortals upon all occasions of sin If therefore we do determine the case that the Devil in the Rood did utter this voice touching the Marriage of Ministers God forbid it should be so it doth singularly agree with the words of the Apostle when he speaketh of the Prohibition of Marriage in Antichristian times that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Doctrine of Devils For to say truly The Prohibition of Marriage as it did continue for many hundred years together so it had its immediate original from the delusion of Satan Now for the fall of the house at Cleve or Calne we may probably believe That God might suffer the Devil to do great wonders for so Spondanus calls it mirandum to deceive the world What else should be the meaning of that place Rev. 20 He layed hold on the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years and cast him into the Bottomless Pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the Nations no more ver 2 3. By this he doth tacitely imply That the whole time of the Beasts Kingdome was a time of the loosing of Satan in which God was preased to give him leave to do great wonders to deceive the world and therefore in the two last Verses of the former Chapter these words are expressed And the Beast was taken and with him the false Prophet that wrought Miracles before him with which he deceived them who had received the Mark of the Beast and them that worshipped his Image These both were cast alive into a Lake of fire burning with brimstone ver 20. When this was done an Angel came down from Heaven with a great Chain in his hand and bound the Dragon the old Serpent that he should deceive the Nations no more All this plainly declareth That in Antichristian times the Devil had freedome to do great wonders to deceive the Nations If therefore at the fall of the house they who stood against the Marriage of Ministers were marvellously delivered and those that stood for it were slain out-right or sorely bruised we must not wonder at these things The Devil can do great things to deceive them who forsake the Scriptures and the known Will of God to hang upon Visions Dreams and Revelations There was a time when the Devil could not touch a hair of Iobs head Thou hast made an hedge about him and his substance is increased in the Land yet we see when God did give leave the Devil could cause fire to come down from heaven to devour his sheep he could blow down

They who refuse the offer of Christ for the injoyment of any worldly thing it is just with Christ to refuse them The second kinde of guests were the blinde the lame the poor the maimed who did lie in the streets and lanes of the City These out of the sense of their own misery did come to the feast and there needed no compulsion So then the force of the whole Parable is this That the ruder sort of people which are under the care and custody of the Magistrate are in a special manner to be compelsed to Worship God and to wait upon the means of their Salvation But lest any should think that this Parabolical Divinity is not of such force as to conclude the Point we have many other places to prove That those that are in Authority have a power to compel those that are under them to worship God and to call upon the Name of the Lord. What else should be the meaning of those words in the fourth Commandment In it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy son nor thy daughter thy man servant nor thy maid servant thy cattel nor thy stranger which is within thy gates Exod. 20. 10. Here we may demand the reason why these words are extended to Children and Servants What have Parents and Masters to do with their sanctifying of the Sabbath All Expositors upon the place do give this reason That the Parent or the Master do not rightly worship God themselves unless they take care that they also do worship him who are under their Authority and Jurisdiction The command that concerns the duty of Servants is given to Masters That is therefore a most excellent speech of Augustine Tom. 2. Ep. 50. where speaking of the duty of Kings out of the second Psalm he hath these words Therefore saith he how do Kings serve the Lord in fear and trembling No other way but by prohibiting and punishing those things which are done against the commands of God He doth serve God after one manner as he is a man and after another manner as he is a King As he is a man he serveth him by living religiously as he is a King he serveth him by establ●…shing such kinde of Laws with convenient rigour as do command things that are just and forbid things unjust Even as Hezekias served the Lord by destroying the Groves and the Temples of Idols and the High-places which were built against the Commandments of God As Josiah served the Lord by doing the same things which Hezekiah did As the King of the Ninevites served the Lord by compelling the whole City to humble themselves and intreat the face of God And going on in passages of the like nature he concludes with this Epiphonema In hoc ergo serviunt domino Reges in quantum sunt reges cum ea faciunt ad serviendum illi quae non possunt facere nisi Reges In this therefore Kings do serve the Lord so far forth as they are Kings when they do those things for his service which otherwise they cannot do but in relation as they are Kings This passage worthy to be written in letters of Gold is cited by Zanchy in his Work concerning the Attributes of God in the Preface to Casimire Palatine of the Rhyne There he sheweth That it is the duty of a Christian Prince principally to take care in his Dominion that Religion be taught out of the pure Word of God according to the first Principles of the Faith which others call The Analogie of Faith And the pure Word of God being established he saith also That it concerneth the Prince or the Ruler to take care that the people wait upon the means of their Salvation And this is that which we have so largely stood upon when we have spoken of the Reign of Christ upon the Earth in sundry parts of this Treatise we have not followed the Conceit of them who are for a personal Reign This noteth onely the coming in of the States Governments and Dominions of the Earth to own the Gospel and to set it up as a Regent-Law To my understanding then this matter is plainly expressed Ier. 3. 17. At that time shall they call Ierusalem the Throne of the Lord and all the Nations shall be gathered unto it to the Name of the Lord to Ierusalem Neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart In these words he doth speak of the glorious state of the Church in the latter times It cannot be meant of the Jewish Church before the coming of Christ nor of that literal kinde of worship as it appeareth ver 16. They shall say no more The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord neither shall it come to minde neither shall they remember it neither shall they visit it neither shall that be done any more It is manifest then that these things are spoken concerning the happy estate of the Church in the times of the New Testament But in what part of the times of the New Testament must these things be fulfilled It is clear from the Context That he speaketh of the call of the Jews In those days the house of Iudah shall walk with the house of Israel ver 18. This is meant of the glory of the Church in the latter days But what are the means that the Lord hath sanctified to the introducing of this glory They are expressed in these words I will give them Pastors after mine own heart He doth speak of the Civil Pastor in the Common-wealth as well as the Spiritual Pastor in the Church David was a Pastor after the heart of Christ himself when he chose him to feed and govern the People of Israel Such Pastors there shall be in the latter times and by such the Lord will bring in the glory of the Church The like passage is in the Prophecy of Isaiah when he speaketh of the Churches glory that shall be I will make all thy officers peace and thy exactors righteousness Isa. 60. 17. The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all thy visitation peace It noteth the visitation of the Prince as a Nursing Father that hath care of the Church And further it is added Thine exactors righteousness the word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Taskmaster one that driveth on the work which implieth as there shall be Magistrates so there shall be use of a Coercive Power in those glorious times And therefore this passage is immediately added Violence shall be no more heard in thee The Magistrates shall themselves be so holy and righteous that they shall not oppress and tyrannize and they shall also be so impartial and sincere in the use of the Sword that they shall keep down and suppress all exorbitant and lawless courses I have the more carefully noted this Point because many in the times that we now live are of opinion That all Coercion and Compulsion in matters of Religion is absolutely