considered two ways First more grossly and in the bulk as it comprehendeth all the Seven Heads and in that sense it is nothing but a Regency under the seven Forms of Government which Rome hath passed throw since its Foundation and so it indefinitely and at large designs the Roman Empire Secondly As it is used precisely or strictly to denote the Beast under the seventh Head which is the Pope or Papal Power and so it is represented by the Beast with Two Horns 'T is most evident that it is Rome under the seventh Head which is the Pope that is here spoken of in that it is the Healing of the Wound which the Beast had received under the sixth Head. For he both speaks of this Wound in the third Verse and then of the Healing of it by the Beast with two Horns which is the Papacy in the 12. Verse Now that the Papal Empire is the Seventh Head or the Beast with Two Horns will be demonstratively proved by observing the conformity which is between that Beast and the Papal Kingdom 1. For whereas the Term Beast does signify a Domination and an Empire it cannot be denied but that the Romish Church is an Empire and that it may be stiled the Papal Kingdom and the Roman Empire 2. Forasmuch as Horns according as we have proved do denote Iurisdictions and Powers so the Papal Authority comprehends a twofold Power and two kinds of Domination one over that which is Temporal and another over that which is Spiritual One over this Life and another over that which is to come So that the Papal Kingdom must be that which is meant by the Beast with Two Horns 3. Whereas 't is said Rev. 13. 11. that the Two Horns of the Beast were like the Two Horns of the Lamb. All do know that Jesus Christ hath a twofold Authority or two kinds of Soveraignty One over the Soul and another over the Body One over that which is Temporal and another over that which is Spiritual And seeing the Pope boasts of this twofold Authority under pretence of being the Vicar of Jesus Christ it does therefore follow that he is the Beast with the Two Horns 4. And whereas 't is said Rev. 13. 11. that the Beast with two Horns spake as a Dragon 't is undeniable that the Pope speaks in the same manner and not only like the Devil Matth. 4. 9. assumeth to himself a Right of Disposing of all the Kingdoms of the World and of forbidding men to obey the Commandments of God but as the calumniating Spirit he reproacheth Gods Word both by accusing it of falsehood and by robbing it of its perspicuity integrity perfection sufficiency and of its Authority which he challengeth to himself 5. It being said Rev. 13. 12. that the Beast with two Horns exerciseth all the power of the first Beast whose deadly wound was healed This does perfectly agree to the Papal Power For the Roman Empire that flourished in St. Iohn's time having received a Deadly Wound it became healed thro the application of the Papal Authority as a Plaister unto it Now that Wound consisted in two things in the Subversion of the Pagan Idolatry and in the Abatement of the Glory of Rome And the Heathens were wont to observe in their Disputations against the Christians that as the ancient Religion fell from its splendor so the Glory of Rome did proportionably decay And as the Pagan Idolatry became in effect destroyed by the conversion of Constantine and the care of his Successors so Rome as to its Glory being first much darkned and almost extinguished and then being destroyed by the Goths tho it came afterwards to be restored yet it was never honored to be the Residence of the Emperors in that they fixed their abode at Ravenna and Millan These two Wounds seemed to be incurable but the Papal Soveraignty did perfectly heal them both For in the room of the God's Worshipped under Paganism there was set up the Adoration of Angels Saints the Consecrated Bread and of Relicks So that by this new Idolatry Panagism became again restored And withal Rome hath recovered a Glory not only equal unto its former but greater than what it had seeing the Pope thro having made it the Seat of his Empire appears there as the true Successor of the Heathen Emperors as the Commander of Kings and as the Supream Pontife as well as Chief Cesar who hath united the Priesthood to the Imperial Dignity In a word the Pope is the Head of a Senate attired in Purple and challengeth a Right of Deposing Kings and of disposing Crowns and who receives Tribute from all People and makes himself to be adored not only with a Civil but with a Religious Adoration as the Emperors of old used to be Both Blondus and Steuchus Bishop of Egubium do ingenuously describe without being aware of it how the Wound which Rome had received is again healed thro means of the Soveraignty that is come to be vested in the Pope The first says That the Majesty of Rome is now greater than ever it was because the Princes of the Earth do now worship the Successor of St. Peter as perpetual Dictator that is as Soveraign Pontife and as Vicar of the High Priest Jesus Christ And the other tells us That if after the Subversion of the Roman Empire God had not raised up the Papacy in which the ancient Majesty of Rome is revived that City had been a Habitation of Brute Beasts whereas by the establishment of the Papacy it hath recovered a grandure very little different from that which it had in the time of the old Empire seeing all Nations do now no less Reverence the Bishop of Rome than heretofore they obeyed the Roman Emperors So that by this it appears that the Beast with Two Horns is nothing but the Papacy forasmuch as the Papal Power hath healed Rome of the Wound she had received under the Emperors and rendred her again both Idolatrous and Mistriss of the World as she was heretofore 6. Whereas 't is said of the Beast with Two Horns Rev. 13. 12. That he causeth the Earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first Beast this agrees also to the Papacy which causeth that Rome being healed of its Wound is as much if not more reverenced than ever it had been upon an alledged pretence of having been the Chair and Seat of St. Peter As the Pagans made a Goddess of Rome Heathen by consecrating a Temple and dedicating a Feast unto her which they called Septimontium so Christians do no less make a Goddess of Rome Christian both by stiling her the Mistriss of the World and thro attributing to her the Priviledg of Infallibility that does belong to none save unto God. 7. 'T is further said Rev. 13. 13. That the Beast with two Horns doth great Signs and Wonders so that he maketh Fire come down from Heaven Now all men do not only know that the Romish Legends are full
of the Miracles pretended to be done in the Papal Kingdoms but that the Excommunications which flow from the Papal Jurisdiction are as much dreaded by Princes who stand in aw ' of that Authority as Fire and Lightning from Heaven History affords us many Examples of Princes who have been ruined by Papal Excommunications To this day they forbear not to proclaim the Miracles which are constantly wrought in the Papal Kingdom and the Partisans for the Pope vaunt themselves upon them as marks of the true Church But this is peculiar to those Miracles that they are no where done but in the Papal Empire and that out of the view of Hereticks Nor are they profitable unto any save unto those who do esteem them Neither is there any of their Wonder-mongers that have Raised the Dead They are such Miracles as do become the Beast with two Horns that speaketh as a Dragon 8. 'T is said Rev. 13. 14 15. That the Beast with two Horns commandeth them that dwell on the Earth that they should make an Image unto the Beast which had the Wound and that it was granted to the Beast to give Life unto this Image that it should speak Now this Image of the Beast is nothing but the Soveraign Power of the Pope as appears from the 14. Chapter v. 9 and 11. where the Description of the Beast is the same with this of his Image Which would not be if the Beast with two Horns were other than the Pope And the being an Image that speaks shews plainly that it does not differ from the Original or from that whose Image it is We use to say of a Picture that is done naturally and to the life that it wants nothing but that it cannot speak and that if it could speak it would be another Original None to whom the Papal Authority is known can be ignorant that the Pope has the same Power which the Emperors had the same Throne the same Soveraign Pontifical Dignity and that he is worshipped with the same Adoration and hath as stately a Senate and as magnificent a Court. Now the Pope is stiled an Image and not the thing it self both because he is arisen to his greatness under a pretence of Religion and under the Title of being the Vicar of Jesus Christ and of St. Peter and because he is also the Vicar of the Emperor and the Successor of Cesar And as he is in that Quality an Image of Cesar so being an Image that speaks he is cloathed with all the Majesty of the Emperors and possessed of their whole Authority Accordingly he will have his Feet kissed as the Feet of the Emperors were and will have Kings kneel before him as they did before the Cesars For as the Historian notes of the Emperor Caligula that he had his Feet kissed so the Poet Horace speaking in one of his Epistles of a Prince that kneeled before Augustus says that he appeared before him Genibus minor 9. 'T is said Rev. 13. 15. The Beast with two Horns causeth that as many as will not worship the Image of the Beast should be killed And this is what we have seen for above these 600. years fulfilled in the Papal Church thro her delivering those over to the Secular Power to be destroyed that would not obey her Commands and in her causing extirpate them by Croisados 10. 'T is said Rev. 13. 17. That no man might Buy or Sell save he that had the Mark of the Beast As Dtocletian debarred those from all sort of Commerce who would not Sacrifice to the Heathen Gods so we have the like Prohibition in that Bull which Pope Martin the fifth published against Wicklif And at this day they will suffer none to live in France who does not bring a Note under the Curat 's hand of his going to Mess So that the Romish Church is this second Beast with two Horns the speaking Image of the first Beast in that she lays the same Prohibitions upon men that the Roman Emperor did 11. Whereas it is said Rev. 13. 17. That the Beast with two Horns hath three sorts of Subjects or Followers One that bears his Mark another that carry's his Name and a third that hath the Number of his Name The Pope hath also three sorts of Adherents one that beareth his Mark which is the Ecclesiasticks that are tyed to him by an Oath and who boast of an indelible Character Another that carrieth his Name which is those that do stile themselves Papists and who do glory in it as Bellarmin did The Third sort bear the Number of his Name and these are they who are ashamed to be called Papists and account it for an Injury to be so stiled as the most part do in France But they call themselves Catholicks which is a word that hath reference to number Catholick signifying Universal and this causeth that the Pope does acknowledg them for his 12. There remains the Number of the Beast which is 666. and in order to our being convinced that this is the Number of the Papacy we are to observe that he treats not of the Number of the Beast alone Rev. 13 18. but also of the Number of his Name because it comes to be spoken of those who have the Number of the Name of the Beast The Holy Ghost doth acquaint those who shall read that this Name is not kept so hidden in reference to where it is to be found but that they who have wisdom may be able to discover it For by telling us that it is the Number of a Man we are to count according to the manner that men use to do Here is Wisdom saith the Text let him that hath understanding count the number of the Beast for it is the Number of a Man and his Number is six hundred threescore and six In order then to find in the Papacy the number 666. we are after the manner of computation among men to extract the Cubical Root of that number For as 144. is in the Book of the Apocalypse the Number of the Heavenly Ierusalem so 666. is made there the Number of the Beast And as 12. is the Cubical Root of 144. so if we can but find in the Papacy a number that is the Cubical Root of 666. we need not in the least doubt but that 666. is the Number of the Papal Church They call that in Arithmetick the Cubical Root of any specified number which being multiplied by it self does constitute that Number whether it be with a Fraction remaining or without one Thus 10. is the Cubical Root of a 100. because 10 being multiplied by it self makes a 100. But if we would seek for the Cubical Root of 55. we can assign no other than 7. and because 7. multiplied by it self makes but 49 there must to the making up 55. be 6. added which Arithmeticians stile a Fraction And it is worthy of Observation that the Holy Ghost doth not require us to count the Number of
Papal Empire is erected This Kingdom is constituted of Errors False Worship and Tyranny And according to the Language of Isaiah Tyranny is denoted by the Head and Errors and False Worship are figured out to us by the Tail. And this is that which maketh up the Mystery Iniquity Dionysius Carthusianus tells us in his Commentaries that the Tail of the Dragon is Antichrist which is a notion as solid as it is ingenious For as the Tail is the End of the Dragon's Body so Antichrist is the End and Tail of the Roman Power And after that the Viols come to be poured out there shall be no more mention neither of Pope nor of Roman Empire neither of Roman Religion nor of Rome As to that which is intended by the third part of the Stars which the Tail of the Dragon cast to the Earth we are to know that the Roman Empire contained about the third part of the World and therefore that this third part of the Stars do signify all the Rulers and Doctors of that part of the world that have been drawn away and ensnared by the Papal Superstitions IX ILLUSTRATION Of the Woman cloathed with the Sun. REV. CHAP. 12. v. 1. THIS Woman whom St. John saw cloathed with the Sun having the Moon under her Feet and upon her Head a Crown of twelve Stars can be nothing but the true Church forasmuch as this Sun is Iesus Christ who is called by Malachy chap. 4. 2. the Sun of Righteousness and whom St. Paul in the 13. chapt to the Romans v. 14. requireth Believers to put on The Moon is the Pedagogy of the Law which as it was changeable so the Church hath trampled it under her Feet This St. Paul plainly intimates in the second chapt of the Epist to the Coloss For as most of the Legal Feasts such as the Passover Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles depended upon the motion of the Moon so the whole Legal Pedagogy is very well represented by the Moon as well as all the changeable things of this world which Believers thro being Citizens of Heaven do despise The Twelve Stars with which this Woman is crowned must signify the Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles which the true Church maketh her Glory and her Crown And this in Opposition to the Antichristian Church which may be said to have the Moon upon her Head and to be crowned with her Forasmuch as by the establishment of Priests Sacrifices Altars Purifications and Moveable Feasts she may be said to have revived the Synagogue rebuilt the Tabernacle of Moses and set up again the whole Legal Oeconomy And she may also be said to have the Sun and the Twelve Stars under her Feet both through her subjecting Jesus Christ to her Priests who do Sacrifice him and the Doctrine of the Apostles to her unscriptural and invented Traditions The Churches being with Child and crying and being in pain to be delivered represents the Persecutions that She suffered during the first three Centuries The Man Child which She brought forth is not Jesus Christ as might seem at the first view because in that sense She must have been the Judaick Church and not the Christian whereas this alone is the Subject of the Revelation But it is Christ Mystical the Church formed of those that were Gentiles which St. Paul in the first to the Cor. chap. 12. v. 12. stiles Christ And this is the more evident because this Man Child is distinguished from Michael v. 7. from the Lamb v. 11. from Iesus v. 17. and is said to overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and to have the Testimony of Iesus And whereas it is said that the Dragon stood before the Woman to devour her Child as soon as it was born That is by way of Allusion to the Birth of our Saviour and the Persecution he suffered from Herod who endeavoured to destroy him So that this Woman is properly the Christian Church which being made up at first of Iews travailed and was in pain to bring forth a Church composed of Gentiles And forasmuch as it is said of this Man Child that he was to Rule all Nations with a rod of Iron the same is promised to all Believers in the Epistle directed to the Church of Thyatira Rev. 2. 26 27. And whereas it is said of this Male Child that he was caught up unto God and to his Throne this doth not hinder us from understanding it of the Christian Church composed of Gentiles Since as such it was exalted to the Throne of the Empire in the person of Constantine and his Successors and was delivered from the Persecutions of Pagan Rome It is an Allusion to the Ascension of Jesus Christ for the Holy Spirit puts that Honour upon the Church when he is speaking of her Combats and Victories as to borrow Expressions which refer to the Combates and Victories of her Divine Husband X. ILLUSTRATION Of the Combate between Michael and the Dragon REV. CHAP. 12. INterpreters are divided about who this Michael should be who fought with the Dragon Some will have it to be Michael the Archangel who disputed with Satan about the Body of Moses and who durst not bring against him a railing accusation as St. Jude tells us v. 9. The same Michael being called by Dan. chap. 10. v. 13. one of the Chief Princes of the People of God. But others will have it to be Christ himself who in his own person fights against the Dragon And this opinion seems to be the truest because the Victory obtained in this Battel is above the power of a created Angel. The defeat given to Satan and his Angels in casting them out of Heaven unto the Earth is a work that belongs properly to none save to Jesus Christ who as he is here stiled by the name of Angel because he is the Angel of the covenant the Angel of the Great Council so he is called Michael that is one who is like unto God because he is the true God the Brightness of the Fathers Glory and the lively and express Image of his Person And of whom the Michael spoken of in Daniel was a Type We have already shew'd in the foregoing Explanations that the Dragon is the ancient Roman Empire or Rome under the sixth Head which was the Emperors but called the old Serpent the Devil and Satan because the Devil was as the Soul that enlivened that Empire and was worshipped in it as a Deity under the name of Mars so that Rome was surnamed Martia the City of the Idol-God Mars This being laid down there is no difficulty in the Vision It being nothing but a Description of the Persecutions which lasted under the Emperors for about the space of three hundred years It was then that Satan had justly the name of the Accuser of the Bretheren according as he is called v. 10. For the Christians during the time of 300 years could not assemble openly but were forced to keep their Mettings in Dens or
in Woods or in Holes of Rocks and were accused of committing there execrable Crimes and Murders and of being guilty of Conspiracies against the Government and of Uncleannesses and incestuous Converses as doth appear by the Apologies of Tertullian and other Writers of that time And whereas it is said that the Dragon was cast out of Heaven unto the Earth and that there was no place found any more for him in Heaven nor for his Angels this was verified by the conversion of Rome and her Emperors because Paganism being then destroyed both in Rome and through the whole Empire and the Devil being neither any more Worshipped under the name of Mars nor his Angels which are they that were his persecuting Emissaries respected and dreaded as they had been before there was no place found any more for him in heaven ` For in Rome he had no more a Temple where he was worshipped nor were there throughout the whole Roman Empire any more Pagans who did adore him so that he is thenceforth accounted of as fallen from Heaven to Earth according to the Prediction of the Son of God Luc. 10. 18. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven And forasmuch as St. John farther says I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now is come salvation and the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for the Accuser of our Brethren is cast down This is a description of the joy that was among believers when they saw Iesus Christ victorious and triumphant over the Dragon the subversion of Idols the down fall of paganism and the Church come out of Caves Woods and the Holes of Rocks and to assemble openly in the very Temples where the Dragon had been worshipped and there to worship the true God Creator and Redeemer So that if it be asked who those Angels of the Dragon are that fought for him I answer that they are the Philosophers the Orators the Priests of the Idols Gods and Magistrates who made use of all sort of Tricks Frauds Outrages of blind Zeal Violence Fines Banishments Imprisonments and Executions As upon the other hand Michaels Angels are the Pastors and Teachers who made use of no other Weapons nor Defence but that of the Sword of the Word of God of Faith of a holy Life and of Patience As it is said v. 11. that they overcame the Dragon by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of their Testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death XI ILLUSTRATION Of the Flight of the Woman REV. CHAP. 12. v. 14. THis Flight of the Woman had been mentioned v. 6. where it is said that after the Man child was caught up unto God and to his Throne the Woman fled into the Wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore Days But it appeareth by the 14 verse that this was spoken there by way of Anticipation and that the Flight of the Woman fell out after the fall of the Dragon that is after the destruction of Heathenism and the conversion of the Emperors Which gives us to understand that the Birth of Atichristianism followed soon after the deliverance from the Persecutions of the Pagan Emperors For ever since the Church decayed in her Purity the prosperity which She enjoyed under the Christian Emperors having suddenly and insensibly corrupted her And Platina tells us that a voice was then heard Hodie venenum funditur in Ecclesiam i. e. Poison is now poured forth upon the Church Nevertheless this Flight of the Church did not lye in a change of Place but in a change of her external State. In a word it was an Eclipse rather than a proper Flight a Darkness rather than a Retreat and discovered it in the pride Covetousness Luxury and Dissoluteness of the Churches Guides and in the Doctrines Worship and Ceremonies which She borrowed from the Pagans The Place which God had prepared for her was a little Corner of that Temple which is spoken of Rev. 11. 1. when the outward Court was trodden under foot by the Gentiles that is by those who had adopted and brought in Human Traditions and Heathenish Rites and Ceremonies into the Christian Religion The Two Wings given unto the Woman to forward her Flight and to render it the more expeditious and safe do denote the same thing that the measuring of the Temple doth in the eleventh chap. For he speaketh here of the same persons to wit the Church and of the same Time namely that which succeeded soon after the End of the Churches Persecution by the Heathen Emperors and of the same Design which is the Preservation of Believers against the Calamities threatned by the Trumpets The Wilderness into which She fled Intimateth unto us the Churches Obscurity Poverty and Distress of which there were different degrees For at some seasons the Church was not so much as visible no more than the seven thousand of the ten Tribes were under Ahab and Iesabel that were unknown to the Prophet Elias She fled into the Wilderness with the Wings of an Eagle as the Church of Israel is said to have been carried upon Eagles Wings Exod. 19. 4 which both shews the speediness and the safety of her Flight and that She should remain and be entertained within the Bounds of the Roman Empire And as the Eagle's being the Arms of the Roman Empire putteth this out of all doubt so the Two Wings of the Eagle do denote the Empire of the East and that of the West where the Church of God hath been kept hidden and had been fed during the time of her Poverty and great Distress And She hath been Fed not with the unsavoury and poisonous Food of Human Traditions and Ceremonies or Doctrines drawn from the Pagan Religion but with the sound and wholsom Food of the Word of God. Nor can She be fed with any other Nourishment so that this is the same thing with that which is said in the 11. chap. v. 2 3. viz. that while the Holy City should be trodden under foot by the Gentiles the Lord should cause his two Witnesses to prophesie a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes cloathed in Sack-cloth For this Prophecy of the two Witnesses is nothing else save the Bread and Food of the Church which he speaketh of here From which it necessarily followeth that this Flight of the Woman into the Wilderness is of the same Date with the treading down of the City by the Gentiles which is mentioned chap. 11. v. 2. The Time that the Church was to be nourished in the Wilderness is expressed by Time Times and half a Time. Which amounts to the 1260. dayes of the sixth verse Nor can this be gainsaid in that no man can deny but that the Flight spoken of v. 6 is the same with the Flight that is discoursed of v. 14. Now we shall see elsewhere what is meant both by the 1260. Dayes and
well as most powerful Buttress of the Papal Empire Luther called them in this sense ultimus Diaboli crepitus Besides seeing of all the Fraternities that of the Iesuites hath had the greatest power to do hurt and have done the greatest damage to the Christian Religion we are not to doubt but that they are principally intended in this Prophecy concerning the Locusts Which nevertheless is so to be understood that the ruin of the Jesuites will draw along with it that of all the other Monks and Fryers For that measure of Evil which the whole Body of the Monks and Fryers hath done being consummated by those mischiefs which the Iesuites have added thereunto partly as Politicans in States whose councils they have animated partly in the Church under the quality of Doctors and Directors through corrupting the Consciences of men and infecting the Air of Religion by their damnable Morality it must needs be that the whole Monastick Body perish at one and the same time in respect of their power XVI ILLUSTRATION Of the sixth Trumpet The loosing of the four Angels in the River Euphrates REV. CHAP. 9. V. 13. And the sixth Angel sounded and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden Altar which is before God. V. 14. Saying to the sixth Angel which had the Trumpet loose the four Angels which are bound in the great River Euphrates V. 15. And the four Angels were loosed which were prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year for to stay the third part of men V. 16. And the number of the Army of the Horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand and I heard the number of them V. 17. And thus I saw the Horses in the Vision and them that sat on them having Breast-plates of fire and of â—acinct and brimstone and the heads of the Horses were as the heads of Lions and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone V. 18. By these three was the third part of men killed by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone which issued out of their mouths V. 19. For their power is in their mouth and in their Tails for their Tails were like unto Serpents and had heads and with them they do hurt V. 20. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship Devils and Idols of Gold and Silver and Brass and Stone and of Wood which neither can see nor hear nor walk V. 21. Neither repented they of their Murders nor of their Sorceries nor of their Fornication nor of their Thefis WE do here see the growth and progress of the Mahometan Religion which begun under the fourth Trumpet as we have seen under the fifth Trumpet the growth of Popery that begun under the third The River Euphrates the four Angels that are loosed the dreadful number of Horsemen the Breast-plates the Fire the Smoke the Brimstone the Heads the Tails the Progress the Murders and in a word all the particularities which appear under this sixth Trumpet do evidently shew that it is the Mahometan Religion and the Eastern Empire invaded by the Turks that are here intended And the reason also which is here assigned why that Empire fell into the hands of the Turks doth further confirm it 1. The Turks being setled in Persia they must cross Euphrates before they could make any conquests on this side or render themselves Masters of that of the Roman Empire whereof Constantinople was the Seat. 2. Their Armies appear here to be made up of none but of Horse Thus the name Perse signifies a Horse To which the Holy Spirit did doubtless allude As in the Visions of Daniel the King of Grecia is stiled a Goat because the Grecians were called Aegiades which is to say Wild Goats 'T is certain that the Holy Spirit does often make allusions to the names of persons and of people And in truth the Turks have often come into the Field with Armies of two or three hundred thousand Horse 3 The number of four is Mystical in the Mahometan Religion as the number seven is in the Revelation When the Turks had past Euphrates they established four Sultanies That of Cesarea in Cappadocia that of Aleppo that of Damascus and that of Antioch Mahomet boasted that he had four Councellors two from Heaven viz. Michael and Gabriel and two from the Earth namely Ebubeker and Othmar There were four false Teachers concurred to the making of the Alkoran Iohn of Antioch an Arian Barra of Persia a Iacobite Sergius a Nestorian Monk and Solam a Iew who was an Astroleger Mahomet left behind him four Successors whom he called the four cutting Swords of God to wit Ebubeker otherways called Abdalla Osman Othmar and Haly. Which four Successors begot four Sects in the Mahometan Religion There are four Religious Orders among the followers of that false Prophet the Gemaliers the Dervis the Calenders and the Torlaquis In a word the number four is to be found in their Fasts in their Ceremonies in their Testaments in their Marriages and almost in every thing Which so plainly answering to the four Angels loosed in the Euphrates leaves us no room to doubt but that the Holy Spirit had a design in this place to represent the Mahometan Religion and the Turkish Empire as possessing the place of the Oriental Roman Empire And forasmuch as both the name of fourth and that of Mahomet meet in the present Grand Seignior I do not know but that this Mystical number of his Religion may presage his Empire to be near an end and that he shall be the last Turkish Emperor The Breast-plates of Fire of Jacinct and of Brimstone denote the gross darkness and the loathsome silthiness of the Turkish Religion A Religion that can relish with none save such as are sunk into all sensuality and which could be invented by none but by those that were prophane and wicked The Tails like unto Serpents which had heads represent the Mahometan Teachers clothed with the power of being Judges In the 9. Chap. of Isaiah v. 15. the Head signifies a man of Authority and the Tail signifies a false Treacher Now the Turkish Doctors or Priests are the Supream Judges in all causes as well civil as Religious 'T is said Their power is in their mouth the better to discover these to be the Mahometans in that their power when they have to do with carnal and sensual Christians consists in the seducing vertu of their carnal Doctrine The Fire the Brimstone and the Smoke do questionless relate to Powder used in guns which the Turks made both use of sooner and after a more terrible manner than Christians generally did For a German Monk having invented it and it was an invention becoming the Cloister he discovered it to the Venetians and they communicated it to the Turks And the Turks being greedy to extend their Conquests made