to the Churches in Europe Asia and Africk For certainly the Church had disspred it self into all these Quarters of the world by that time As if the Spirit of Truth were a respecter of persons For these are not the Letters of Iohn but of the Holy Ghost But our Answer is ready at hand * That for the significancy of the word Asia to comport also with the significancy of the names of the seven Churches Asia alone was pitched upon But according to the Prophetical sense the true Catholick Church is writ unto under such distinct conditions as she was to vary into unto the end of the world So that there is no Partiality nor Acception of Persons in this Thirdly If a man demand touching the order or precedency of these Seven Churches that are writ unto What a plain and manifest account is there to him that compares the Epistles in their Prophetical sense with the Intervals of the Church Catholick lying in that order that these Churches are ranged This is a satisfactory reason and worthy the Spirit that wrote these Epistles But whether they are ranged in this order * because that a Letter-carrier going from Patmos his first journey will be to Ephesus and then to Smyrna and so in order till he come to Laodicea whether the holy Spirit of Prophecy regarded that in the dictating of his Letters though Alcazar the Jesuit be for it I cannot but suspend my judgment and that not without a smile But of this Ataxie more particularly anon 3. Fourthly If it be demanded why just Seven Churches in Asia are writ to neither more nor less especially that in Thyatira according to the acknowledgment of Epiphanius being then not founded but after the writing of these Epistles it is hard to give a satisfactory answer in the Literal sense For to say this Book of the Apocalypse affects the number Seven and that because it runs upon the number Seven altogether in the ensuing part of the Book which is Prophetical it therefore for Conformity sake chuses this number in writing to the Churches though Literally understood seems but a meagre mean and trifling account a design unworthy the Holy Spirit that dictated this Book But the using this number Seven all over is rather an intimation that the Book is Prophetical all over and that these Epistles are also a Prophecy accordingly as we have explained them And taking them so the Answer is plain and obvious viz. The number Seven is here chosen out as Symbolical it being the note of Vniversality whence the Pythagoreans as I elsewhere have noted call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore Seven and no more than Seven Churches are writ unto as standing for the seven Intervals of the Church from the beginning to the end of all Fifthly If it be demanded why these seven Churches rather than any others which in all likelihood may have the same Vertues and Vices that these are commended and taxed for The Reason of this is writ in the very Notation of their Names every Name being significative of the Condition of the Church Catholick in that successive Intervall of time that this or that Church so named standeth for and in such order as they are repeated Sixthly If one require a Reason why Christ is described by holding the seven Stars in his right hand in the Epistles to the Churches of Ephesus and Sardis why the same description in both or why in either In the Literal sense it will be hard to find any peculiar Reason but in the Prophetical sense already declared it is obvious For the seven Stars signify all the Pastours whether in present existence or succession And Ephesus is the begnning-state of the Church and therefore it is both very seasonable and methodical to represent the First Founder Sustainer and Continuer thereof by this Emblem Lo I am with you to the end of the World And that this again is hinted at in the Epistle to the Church of Sardis is with evident Proportion and Analogy to the Affairs of the Church there represented For the Church of Sardis is as it were the beginning again or the emerging of the true Church or Kingdome of Christ out of the Power and Kingdome of Antichrist 4. Seventhly Why the Church of Ephesus of all other Churches should be commended for their trying false Apostles Why might not other Churches be attacqued by them and also discover them as well as the Church of Ephesus The Solution of which Problem is easy in this Mystical sense of the Epistles * that places the Ephesine Interval within the Apostles times but the rest on this side of them Eighthly If any one demand why it is said to the Church of Smyrna more than to any other Church Be thou faithfull unto death and I will give thee the Crown of life and again He that overcometh shall not 〈◊〉 hurt by the second death In the Literal sense it will be very hard to find any peculiar Reason why this might not as well be said to the Church in Pergamus where there was killing for Religion it seems by the mention of the Martyr Antipas I but there was no obtaining the Crown of life there in any peculiar sense but the Crown of life that is the Imperial Crown was given to the sufferings of the Primitive Martyrs under the Ten Persecutions to whom also according to the opinion of the Antient Church the Promise of the first Resurrection belonged Which is here obliquely glanced at according to the mode of the Apocalyptik style that loves to hint things by Ellipses in that Promise He that overcometh shall not be hurt by the second death implying thereby that he shall be made partaker of the first Resurrection Ninthly If any one will again object more particularly against the Ataxie of the Churches that they are raâ—…ged neither according to the merit nor congeneracy of their Conditions pretending that it had been far better to have joyned the two irreprehensible together Smyrna and Philadelphia against whom there is no complaint at all and then Ephesus Sardis and Laodicea against whom there is no complaint of eating things offered unto Idols and afterwards Pergamus and Thyatira in which Churches alone there is If any one I say contend that this method had been more exact truly in the Literal sense it will be hard to frame an handsome and satisfactory answer especially if he urge that God is the Authour of Method as well as the God of Order But in this Mystical or Prophetical sense the Answer is solid and exquisite and much what the same that was given to the like difficulty more generally propounded before namely That the Churches of Asia are named in that order the Successive intervals of the Church Catholick were to proceed in of which these Asiatick Churches are but the Symbols or Hieroglyphicks And therefore those two Intervals of time which take in the Reign of the Beast and the False Prophet viz. the
solicitude being not so much for the gratifying of their bodies as the safely bringing back their Souls out of this Region of Mortality and Corruption as a glorious spoil snatcht out of the hands of Satan and Antichrist to present to God his Father in those higher Regions of Immortality and Bliss And certainly so dear and tender as well as so potent a Patron as the Messias would never have permitted his best Clients to suffer such grievous things for his sake had there not been a certain reward in the other world for the Souls of them that so suffered and that been true which he told his Disciples after he was come in the flesh Joh. 14. In my fathers house there are many mansions I go to prepare a place for you Whence these things add a mighty weight to our faith and assurance of the Immortality of the Soul and of an unexpressible happiness to be enjoyed after we have left this body These considerations I think must bring abundance of pleasure to them that have an heart to believe them And yet I will add one thing more which I have observed that cannot but be taking with the judicious That as the miracles of our Saviour Christ here upon earth were never done out of any vanity or ostentation of his wonder-working faculty but as the principle of goodness and needfull beneficency directed him and limited him so likewise the same Christ has behaved himself in like manner in the communication of these Prophecies Wherein there is not the least shew of affectation of foretelling future things as future but merely as they are in subserviency to the most certain information of his Church whether Iewish or Christian concerning their own state and condition what it would be This is more largely insisted upon if the Prophecies be rightly understood but the Pagan Concerns more sparingly and in subordination onely to the affairs of the Church which is a thing methinks very gracefull and becoming the weightiness and authentickness of these Prophecies And this shall briefly serve to intimate what Pleasure the pious soul may reap from the reading and rightly understanding these Divine Visions of Daniel as well as what other fruit or profit he may have thereby The more particular usefulness of which it was less needfull for me to insist upon here they being muchwhat the same with those I have noted in my Preface to my Apocalypsis Apocalypseos to which the Reader may have recourse I shall onely give an account of my adding The Threefold Appendage to this my â—…xposition of the Visions of Daniel and then conclude And the reason of my adding the first part thereof viz. The Confutation of Grotius his opinion who makes the Kingdome of the Lagidae and Seleucidae the fourth Kingdome in Daniel is this It being the constant tradition of the Church and opinion of the Primitive Fathers besides other Interpreters it would make too great a rattle or noise to rehearse the names of them you may see them in Cornelius à Lapide and Ribera that the times of the ten-horned Beast and two-horned Beast Apoc. 13. and also of the Beast that was is not and yet is Apoc. 17. are the times of Antichrist and Ribera expresly says of this last viz. the Beast that is said to ascend out of the bottomless pit that Antichrist ascends with him and that the other Beast Chap. 13. with ten Horns is Antichrist from the authority of the Fathers and the two-horned Beast his Armour-bearer or Squire of his body though more properly the two-horned Beast is to be called Antichrist and the ten-horned his Squire I wish he had had a better office and not been debased to so mean and unbecoming a ministry by the Imposture of the two-horned Beast I say it being according to the common stream of Antiquity and Interpreters that those times of the ten-horned Beast are the times of Antichrist and the same being founded mainly upon that which is unexceptionably sound viz. That the times of these Apocalyptick Beasts and of that in Daniel with ten Horns amongst which appears that little Horn with eyes which the ancient Tradition of the Church and all the Primitive Fathers with one consent declare to be the formidable Antichrist then to come that those times I say do synchronize or are the very same times and both necessarily conceived in the latter time of the Roman Empire Grotius discerning that unless Porphyrius his opinion may be admitted viz. That the Kingdome of the Lagidae and Seleucidae not the Roman is the fourth Kingdome in Daniel and having so much wit and perspicacity of Iudgment as to perceive that the Papistical notion and declaration touching Antichrist is such a Romance so incredible and ridiculous you may have it pretty well at large in Cornelius à Lapide upon 2 Thess. 2. that it is more fit for old wives and children to listen to than any one that can pretend to have the understanding of a man he and as it seems to me partly out of the distaste he had taken against the Reformed Church of Holland for their usage of him and partly to glaver and curry favour with the Pontifician party that he might make all sure in the behalf of the Pope and his Hierarchy rejects the Primitive Orthodox opinion of the Church who ever made the fourth Kingdome in Daniel the Roman and strikes in with Porphyrius a mere Pagan who conceited the fourth Kingdome to be that of the Lagidae and Seleucidae By which device Grotius forsooth would excuse the Pope from being the little Horn with eyes and consequently Antichrist and cast it upon Antiochus Epiphanes the little Horn according to him not belonging to the times of the Roman Empire but to the times of the Kings of Syria and Aegypt Wherefore I thought it a business of no small importance to shew the shamefull groundlesness of Grotius his opinion and to restore truth to her due possession and place But in the mean time it is worth our observation that Grotius being ashamed of that Romish or rather Romantick fable which that Church entertains of Antichrist as that he shall be born of a Iewish Female of the â—…ribe of Dan and be begotten by an Incubus or at least that he shall be of the abovesaid 〈◊〉 and make himself the Messias of the Jews shall doe strange miracles to deceive them shall make mountains seem to remove out of their place shall raise himself or some other mortally wounded Prince from the dead shall bring fire from Heaven and like the story of Frier Bacons brazen Head his statue shall be made to speak He shall fly in the air the Devils in the appearance of Angels doing homage to him He shall rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem and there require to be honoured as the sole God of the Vniverse and in the mean time Enoch and Elias appearing again in the Flesh shall Prophesy against him whom he shall slay and their
loathsomly besmeared with Idolatry and bloud and that those that shut their eyes from seeing and their mouths from professing so plain a truth are but dough-baked Protestants and in great peril if occasion offer itself to be amassed and kned again into the old soure lump of Popery worse than the very Leaven of the Pharisees which Christ advised his Disciples to beware of Moreover That the Rising of the Witnesses was fulfilled in the late Blessed Reformation and that as the Popedome is the Kingdome of Antichrist so Reformed Christendome the Kingdome of Christ in opposition thereunto and a more visible emersion of the Fifth-Monarchy ever distinct from the four Monarchies so much guilty of Idolatry and bloud And that as the many Sects in the Primitive times more in number and more hainous in quality as you may see in Epiphanius than have appeared since the Reformation did not hinder but the Christian Church was then the real Kingdome of Christ no more do those Sects that appear in the Reformed Churches but are disallowed by them hinder at all but they are the true Kingdome of Christ also and rightfully oppose the Kingdome of Antichrist as the Primitive Christians did the Kingdome of the Dragon And that Reformed Christendome being in truth the Kingdome of Christ our inference therefrom is very sound that we ought from the very heart to give all Reverence and obedience in things indifferent to the Magistrates thereof a duty which is owing even to Pagan Magistrates from Christians much more one would think to Christian Magistrates from those that pretend to be Christians themselves This is a Truth so firm and sure that I have placed it amongst my eight Principles for the support and enlargement of the Kingdome of Christ in my Divine Dialogues in these express words The fifth Document or Instruction should be to all the Members of Christs Kingdome wherever their abode is that they do not suffer themselves to be stain'd with the least blemish or taint of Disloyalty to their lawful Sovereign upon any account whatsoever but especially upon a Religious one there being no greater disinterest to the true Religion than to appear to be promoted or maintained by so gross an Immorality as Disloyalty nor any greater advantage than through Faith and Patience to bear all tryals and hardships as the old Primitive Christians did whose eyes being lift up Heavenward and their feet wholly in that path by Providence stumbled on the Imperial Crown the Emperour at last becoming a professed Christian. Furthermore The Rising of the Witnesses and the Sardian Period commencing together That they of the Reformed Churches are bound in the fear of God with all attentiveness to read Christ's Epistle to the Church in Sardis and especially we of the Church of England and to impress those weighty words on our minds Remember how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent as of our carnal and sensual lives so of our wantonness and stipperiness in matters of Doctrine as those two great points attested by the Witnesses of Christ That the Popedome is the Kingdome of Antichrist and the Papal Hierarchy the mother of Spiritual fornication or Idolatry That we are to remember what we have heard and received and hold fast and repent us of either our coldness in or Apostasie from the profession of so grand concerning Truths as also of our Schismaticalness and Rebelliousness That we remember I say what we have received and may still read in that excellent Book of Homilies of our English Church touching these main points of the Pope being Antichrist the Papal Church Idolatrous and of that hainous wickedness of Rebellion against our lawful Sovereign and of mingling any Righteousnesses or Satisfactions and Penances of humane invention with our Justification and Remission of sins in the bloud of Christ. The profession of the Risen Witnesses in the Book of Homilies is so sincere savoury and genuinely Christian in this point without the least leaning towards Libertinism and Antinomianism that I do not doubt but this profession of the Reformed Churches is alluded to Apoc. 15. in the placing those Harpers that sing the Song of Moses and the Lamb upon the Sea of glass mingled with fire namely upon the shore of the Red Sea for what reason so called it matters not in which Pharaoh and his Host was overthrown as the Pope and his Pontifician Clergy defeated by the Witnesses professing That a true and living faith in the bloud of Christ which the Title of the Red Sea is a Symbol of for remission of sins does alone justify us before God Whereby they flung off a load of trumperies and tedious impositions of humane invention by which they were kept in a worse than Aegyptian servitude under the Pope and Pontifician Clergy And therefore the Reformed Churches are brought in in the above-cited place of the Apocalypse in imitation of the Israelites that had escaped the thraldome of Pharaoh singing a triumphal song on the shore as it were of the mystical Red Sea where the Roman Pharaoh and his tyrannical Hierarchy were overthrown and that wretched bondage which those true Israelites had been kept in for filthy lucre's sake and gain of the Church cast off utterly and quite escaped For all that sweet alluring power and genuine comfort from the Gospel and wonderfull efficacy to make men truly good they hid from the eyes of the people and whenas the very specifick nature and essence of the Christian Religion is a sincere and vehement Love of our Saviours person and peaceful repose of our Souls in his Passion and Merits we in the mean time acting sincerely as our Homilies require in this Covenant of grace this high honour and affection we bear to Christ this repose and peace of mind we have in the merits of his most precious bloud and passion those supplies by his promised Spirit of illumination comfort and direction all this is so miserably and perfidiously squander'd away or sold if you will for the gain of the Church by multiplying of false Patrons and the vain worshippings of Saints and their images by making men to depend on the Infallibility of the Pope and his Priests and by stifling all hopes of illumination and direction from the blessed Spirit of Christ that the members of that Church are made not onely so many slaves bereft of their Christian liberty and enjoyment of the love of Christ that procured it but so many senseless stocks or stones as to Divine matters and are taught to transfer all that recumbency that every true Christian has on the person of our faithful High Priest upon the persons of these unskilful and which is worse unfaithful Tamperers with the Souls of men Whose Salvation consisting in a lively faith and sincere love honour and dependance on the person of our Blessed Saviour and doing the things that He commands these deceitful Emissaries of Rome O Detestable Treachery carry on such a Religion or
days are not symbols of so many years as elsewhere which Calvin also observes but are to be taken in the literal sense as was above declared though the other part of the interpretation touching Antiochus Epiphaâ—…es may have also a further meaning touching Antichrist But it is here to be noted that the Angels giving notice to Daniel that the Vision of the 2300 days is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a plain truth no aenigma but that the days signifie days in a literal sense does imply that unless there be some such notice to the contrary that they signifie aenigmatically and stand for years as in Dan. 12. 11 12. Wherefore shut up the Uision that is to say Having exactly writ this Vision with the explication lock it up safely that the Original may be kept to compare with the Event So Grotius as well as Cornelius à Lapide and Calvin For it shall be for many days The time from the Prophecy to the Event will be a long time betwixt Three and Four hundred years For from Belshazzar's Reign to Antiochus Epiphanes is about 380 years 27. And I Daniel fainted and was sick certain days namely By reason of my converse with and consternation of mind from the hearing and seeing of those Angelical Powers so much removed above the condition of us Mortals and also out of sadness for the prophanation of the Sanctuary and great calamities of my Nation which were foretold me Afterwards I rose up and did the King's business that is After I had grown well again I went about the business the King sent me for into Susiana where I was when I saw this Vision And I was astonished at the Uision that is I lookt with an astonished or forlorn look by reason of the Vision I had seen that portended so much ill to my people But none understood it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 None understood what the matter was with me that I lookt so sadly and ghastly on it Quà m diligentissime poteram dissimulabam dolorem meum To that sense Grotius interprets the place and before him Theodoret Maldonat and Gasper Sanctius NOTES Upon VISION III. Ver. 5. That strange exploit of his literally taken c. His climbing up with his Soldiers a steep Rock as natural Goats are said to do The Story is in Iustin lib. 12. cap. 7. Peragrata India cùm ad Saxum mirae asperitatis altitudinis in quod multi populi confugerant pervenisset cognoscit Herculem ab expugnatione ejusdem Saxi terrae-motu prohibitum Itaque cupidine Herculis acta superare cum summo labore ac periculo potitus Saxo omnes ejus loci gentes in deditionem accipit Ver. 8. Ptolemaeus the Son of Lagus Sovereign of Aegypt c. The Authentickness of this distribution to be applied to the Four Horns that is the notable ones as the Four chief Successours of Alexander appears from Diodorus Siculus lib. 19. p. 727. Where upon Cassander Ptolemaeus and Lysimachus their making peace with Antigonus the Sum of the form of Agreement was this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say That Cassander should be chief Commander of Europe till Alexander the Son of Roxana came to Age and Zysimachus should be Lord of Thracia and Ptolemaeus of Aegypt with the Cities conterminous in Africk and Arabia And Antigonus should be Prefect of all Asia And the Greeks live after their own Laws And thus they continued but advanced in title For upon Demetrius his Naval victory over Ptolemy and notice given thereof to his Father Antigonus Antigonus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 puffed up at the greatness of the success put upon himself a royal Crown and took to himself the title of King Which out of emulation and to shew himself not at all discouraged by that late defeat Ptolemy did also and in imitation of him Lysâ—…machus and Cassander Which things Iustin also witnesses lib. 15. cap. 2. And Seleucus a supernumerary to the Four notable Horns who did rise up after Ptolemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lately having acquired the Satrapies of Syria superior to adjoyn to his former Prefecture crowned himself King also Diodor. lib. 20. p. 761. But that the above-named Four Horns still continued tight till Seleucus routed Antigonus and his Son and so succeeded in their place is plain from Diodorus For there is mention how Cassander Lysimachus Seleucus and Ptolemaeus by common consent made war against Antigonus lib. 20. p. 787. his ambition threatening to swallow up all And wheâ—…as some leave out Lysimachus out of the number of the Four first notable Horns it is without reason and against the testimony of this excellent Historian Diâ—…dorus Siculus who reckons them together and gives us to understand that Seleucus came on afterwards as a supernumerary helpt to this his power which afterward proved so considerable by the favour of Ptolemy as part of the very Title of the Nineteenth Book of Diodorus gives us to understand which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. How Seleucus receiving a small Army from Ptolemy made himself Master of Babylon and recovered his former Satrapy and Prefecture again And that Lysimachus may not be thought unworthy of the rank of those Four notable Horns consider what Iustin says of him Erat hic Lysimachus illustri quidem Maoedoniae loco natus sed virtutis experimentis omni nobilitate clarior quae tanta in illo fuit ut â—…nimi magnitudiâ—…e Philosophiâ ipsâ viriumque gloriâ omnes per quos Oriens domitus est vicerit So little 〈◊〉 is there but that according to Thomas Lydiat out of Diodorus he should be reckoned one of the Four notable Horns after the breaking of that first great one Ver. 9. But of the Kingdom of the Seleucidâ—…e c. The truth of what is said here will be the more easily acknowledged from what we have produced upon the foregoing Verse out of Diodorus and Iustin. But I cannot here but take notice of the well grounded confidence of Thomas Lydiat who in his Emendatio Temporum Anno Mundi 3693. writes thus Videtur verò nobis pace omâ—…inum ipsum 〈◊〉 Imperium hoc tempore Babylone institutum aliquaâ—…to post caetera illa quatuor Successorum Alexandri â—…uisse parvum illud Cornu juxta Danielem Prophetaâ—â— ab uno eorum exoriens quandoquidem Selâ—â—cus 〈…〉 initium Ptolemaeo acceptâ—â— retulerit ac 〈◊〉 sâ—…pra ipsum evectus fit The reasons are manifest from the foregoing Note on the Eighth Verse And of these Two main Kingdoms of the Lagidae and Seleucidae he adds this observation that the Epocha of the Anni Seleucidâ—…rum is at this very day by the Arabians Saracens and Mahoâ—…etans called Dhilcarâ—…aâ—â—â— from these Two Horns so remarkable in History and the Prophecy of Daniel Which is the Genius of the Prophetick style to give as it were Two strokes at once c. viz. A more general stroke and a more particular touch and that in the series of the same words The former whereof for
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conjoyned with so profound humiliation before him can bear with it no scruple or difficulty at all For as for me straightway there remained no strength in me So perfect an exinanition ought there to be of our own carnal mind and powers for the fitting us to receive the supernatural power from God and those divine communications that flow from him We ought to become breathless and liveless as it were to our natural and carnal sentiments and abilities that we may be inspired from above and receive the Influences of the holy Spirit 18. Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man that is After Daniel was thus lost and confounded in himself and found no strength of his own carnal will and mind left that we may pursue the Moral Allegory also of this Vision and after the free and hearty acknowledgment of the same then Christ in humane shape here though not yet in humane flesh touched him again And says he he strengthened me namely by his touch So great virtue is there in the touch of the Divine body of Christ. 19. And said O man greatly beloved What senses greatly beloved may bear I have more than once intimated Fear not but instead of trusting in thine own wit and strength trust in me It is the sober boast of St. Paul I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me But that is more Moral the more Literal sense is intimated in what follows Peace be unto thee Which friendly salutation shews that he came for the good of Daniel and for the good of his people the Iews for whom he was so much concerned Be strong yea be strong And this is the word of him of whom that is true Dixit factum est For he is the Word by whose command all things were created The repeating therefore of the command is a note of his proportionating supplies according to the sincere acknowledgment of our defects and desire of being supplied from him For it is upon Daniel that man of desires that these communications are bestowed And when he had spoken to me I was strengthened And by this strength perceived and acknowldged to come from without not from our own natural and carnal principles was Daniel incouraged to think himself prepared to hear the voice of Christ in things of greater concern according as it follows And said Let my Lord speak for thou hast strengthened me that is Thou hast enabled me to be a fit auditour of thy instructions and informations 20. Then said he viz. the Angel knowest thou wherefore I come unto thée that is thou canst not easily imagine what things and of what mighty concern I have to impart unto thee And now will I return to fight with the Prince of Persia viz. I will return to dispute or contest * for so Praeliari is taken in Cicero with the Presidentiary Angel of Persia after I have imparted what I have to communicate unto thee And when I am gone forth lo the Prince of Grecia shall come viz. the Presidentiary Angel of Grecia for he will also put in for the Empire of the World and to have the Iews under his command And this is the reason of the mentioning of the Prince of Grecia here 21. But now that I may enter upon what I came to thee for I will shew thée what is noted in the Scripture of Truth that is I will declare in plain words without any Symbolical or Hieroglyphical figures such as were used in the former Prophecies the Divine Counsel and Purpose so distinctly and orderly as if it were writ in a Book which Writing therefore here is called Scripture and for its plainness and unsymbolicalness as I may so speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Scripture of Truth And I do not question but there is a certain correspondency betwixt this Scripture of Truth and that Book in the Apocalypse first Sealed and then Opened The Prophecy of which this Scripture of Truth contains and the times also before the Epocha of the Apocalypse from the Persian Monarchy to the said Epocha which is fixt in Tiberius his Reign the Third of the Roman Emperours And there is none that holdeth with me in these things but Michael your Prince that is there is none of the Presidentiary Angels of the Nations that holds fast to me but your Prince which is Michael the Presidentiary Angel of the Iews who is my General and therefore contains all the Powers or Forces under him So little occasion is there that Interpreters should be puzzled or move difficulties how one Angel only should be imployed in carrying on and assisting the affairs of Gods People But we may note here by the by that as Michael here is made the Presidentiary Angel of Gods people the Iews so in the Apocalypse he is made the General to fight the Battles of the Christians the Christians succeeding into the place of the Iews and being called or implied to be Iews or Israelites in several places of the Apocalypse And the sense of this passage suits well with the interpretation of the former passages that make this Angel so Great and Glorious and the same with Palmoni as it is here insinuated that Michael is the Generalissâ—…mo under him but that he himself is the Lord of Hosts properly so called and above this Generalissimo that is that he is Christ. As is further confirmed out of the first Verse of the following Chapter which ought to have been the last of this which contains the Proemial Vision to the great Prophecy of the Scripture of Truth which first verse is this Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede even I stood to confirm and strengthen him Where I is repeated and an Emphasis put upon it that that act should be imputed not so much to the Minister Gabriel as to himself that sent him Ch. 9. 21. The man Gabriel whom I had seen in the Vision before viz. Ch. 8. 16. being caused to fly swiftly touched me c. Now in the Vision before it is manifest that Palmoni commanded Gabriel saying Gabriel make this man to understand the Vision Therefore there is all the reason to think that Gabriel by the same Palmoni was caused to fly swiftly that is was sent speedily to touch Daniel about the time of the Evening Oblation when he was at his devotions in the first year of Darius the Mede But in that it is said he stood to confirm and strengthen him that is to strengthen Michael as both Grotius and other Expositours as Calvin confesseth refer Him to Michael by Michael accordingly as is perpetually to be observed in the Apocalypse that by Angels are understood the people over which they preside is to be meant the people of the Iews who with Daniel were strengthened and comforted by that Prophecy Ch. 9. delivered by Gabriel sent by Palmoni unto him Wherefore it is most evident also from this last
Spectres as raise them in themselves by the strength and fieriness of their Imagination So that what they see is more properly to be called a Phantasm than a Spectre Vers. 13. Whether they be good Angels c. This controversy Gasper Sanctius pursues pretty copiously and of himself is very much inclining to conclude against the authority of the antient Fathers that the Presidentiary Angels of the Nations of all but that of the Iews were downright Devils The two chief arguments are First That the Devil is said to be the Prince of this world Iohn 12. 31. Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out And St. Paul Ephes. 6. 11. For we wrestle not saith he against flesh and bloud that is against Men onely but against Principalities against Powers against the Rulers of the darkness of this world of this world of darkness an usual Hypallage this world comprised within the caliginous Air against spiritual wickednesses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is to be read according to the Syriack version cum spiritibus malis against wicked spirits in high places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same version has it qui sunt sub coelo viz. in the Air for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often signifies out of the Hebrew Which passage of Saint Paul suits excellently well with this Hypothesis of Presidentiary Angels in Daniel But whether all Angels that are Presidents of the Nations besides such as belong to the Church of God be downright Devils is the controversy And these two Scriptures are the first argument for the Affirmative That since the Devil is said to be the Prince of this World in distinction to the Church of God and that in bringing the world into subjection to Christ the Apostles fought against evil Spirits that had the Rule of this dark World that were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Chieftains Presidents and Emperours of it that it is hence apparent that the Presidentiary Angels suppose of Persia and Greece were Devils The second argument is from the contest of the Presidentiary Angels of Grecia and Persia with Michael and Gabriel and indeed with Palmoni himself which is the other argument which Sanctiâ—…s brings and pursues with that tightness in answering all the evasions of the adverse party that I must confess I do not wonder that he is so much inclining to this opinion of his That these Presidentiary Angels of Greece and Persia were Cacodaemones as he calls them downright Devils rather than good Angels Though it is hard on the other side to conceive that mere Quintessential Devils such as consist onely of envy pride and malice and pursue evil for evils sake should be Presidents over Nations Wherefore in respect of such Devils as these we may with the Ancient Fathers conclude them to be good Angels but in respect of that more holy and divine grace such as Christ was anointed with in a measure far above his fellows but such as by his means all of his Kingdome properly so called in some measure partake of and are expresly and from the root of their life the Sons of Light and Love we may I say comparing those Presidentiary Angels of Greece and Persia with these of Christs Kingdom conclude them not to be good Angels but Devils If any one will adventure to say That there is some such Analogy betwixt Michael the Presidentiary Angel of Iudea and the Presidentiary Angel of Greece or Persia as there is betwixt the most holy and most regenerate Christian King or Emperour and some other Emperour or King that is neither styled Christian nor is regenerate haply he may not be much out of the way But I leave to every one to think of such things as these in such a way as will be with most ease and satisfaction to himself provided he shrink not from the belief of that which is so manifest here on Daniel viz. that there are Presidentiary Angels over Nations and Countreys Vers. 20. For so praeliari is taken in Cicero Epist. 13. ad Attic. Lib. 1. Quomodo ego minus quà m soleam praeliatus sim and within a line or two after Ego enim quamdiu Senatûs Authoritas mihi defendenda fuit sic acriter vehementer praeliatus sum ut clamor concursúsque maxima cum mea laude fierent And a little afterwards persisting in the same Metaphor and bragging quà m fortis esset which also is a military expression Dii Immortales says he quas ego pugnas quantas strages edidi So easily is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Seventy render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understood of dispute or arguing the case whence the Disputative or controversial Divines are also called Poleâ—…icall VISION VI. Which is the Vision or Prophecy of the Scripture of Truth which reaches from the second verse of the eleventh Chapter to the end of Daniel 2. AND now will I shew thee the Truth that is Now will I declare unto thee things to come in a plain intelligible way touching the Kingdomes of Persia and Grecia and also the Roman Empire not resembling the first to a Bear or Ram the second to a Leopard or Goat and the third to a monstrous Beast with Iron teeth but delivering the matter without any Prophetick Aenigm or Parable you shall hear from me the bare Truth in easy and vulgar words Behold there shall stand up yet three Kings in Persia viz. Cambyses Smerdis and Darius Hystaspis which that particle yet seems to imply as if it should hint to us that they are three beside Cyrus the then present King of Persia so that Cyrus is not to be taken into this reckoning And the fourth shall be far richer than they all Which fourth is Xerxes the same who is called Ahasuerus in the book of Esther who married Esther the Iewish Virgin and Herodotus records the name of Xerxes his Queen to have been Amestris which manifestly has the sound of Esther in it whatever the syllable Am prefixed may signify whether it be from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Sol her beauty being such an Inflammatory to love or from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mater For such in a wonderfull manner was she to her Countreymen the Iews whose lives she saved from the malice of Haman which was no less to them than their mothers did for them that first gave them their lives But if we are to read as Ioseph Scaliger would have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that there is the like composition of the name of the Father of Aman viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is not so consistent with our former conjectures but what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the composition of those two names signifies neither Scaliger nor any one else I know can tell us However so be that Esther be but acknowledged to sound in Amestris Xerxes his Queen I am content Now for the riches of this Xerxes or Ahasuerus all Histories ring of it and the Book
Syria because the affairs of the Iews are most concerned in them And this very first King of Aegypt Ptolemaeus the Son of Lagus he is taken notice of in Historians for that treacherous exploit of his of the taking Ierusalem on the Sabbath day under pretence of Sacrificing But he possest himself of the City they not arming themselves for resistance For which Agatharchides Cnidius twitts them as a fond people that preferred their superstition before their liberty He carried many of the Iews at that time with him into Aegypt See Ioseph Antiq. lib. 12. c. 1. And one of his Princes that is one of the Princes of Alexander says Grotius but if it be referred not to Alexander but to Ptolemy it may haply be one of those lesser Princes that he had a more special favour for but either way it is Seleucus Nicator that is here meant who got up first toward this greatness by the favour and countenance of this Ptolemy as I noted above And he shall be strong above him Seleucus shall outdoe Ptolemy in exploits of war For having taken Demetrius the Son of Antigonus he added Asia to Syria he overcame Lysimachus King of Thracia in batle and Antigonus in Phrygia as Androcotus also in India from which great exploits he purchased to himself the name of Nicanor or Nicator as if we should say Seleucus the Conquerour And have Dominion That is plain from which has been said already His Dominion shall be a great Dominion And so it appears to have been by History as Grotius has noted out of Appianus according to whom his Dominion contained all these Countreys Syria Phrygia Mesopotamia Bactriana Arabia Sogdiana Arachosia and a great part of India even beyond the River Indus And Appianus adds in general that he was by far the most potent of all the successours of Alexander and that there were built by him near fifty Cities 6. And in the end of years that is After a certain time They shall ioyn themselves together that is They shall be friends or confederates one with another viz. the King of the North with the King of the South Not that the same Individual persons Ptolemaeus Lagi and Seleucus Nicanor shall do this but some of the succession of each of them For the succession of the Kings of the North and of the South or of Syria and Aegypt are in the Prophetick style spoke of as of two single Kings continuing all that time of their Kingdomes Which is a thing so obvious and known that it hinders not at all but that this Prophecy may be called the Prophecy of the Scripture of Truth for all that For the Kings Daughter of the South shall come to the King of the North to make an agréement The Hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Rectitudes and the Septuagint render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Agreements For the agreeing of things is to set them right and straight This Kings daughter therefore of the South is Berenice the Daughter of Ptolemaeus Philadelphus Son and Successour to Ptolemaeus Lagi She it seems was sent to the King of the Nâ—…orth viz. to Antiochus Theos King of Syria and Asia and grandchild to Seleâ—…cus Nâ—…icanor to beget peace and amity betwixt those two Kingdoms with a vast dowry of gold and silver so that by this marriage betwixt Antiochus Theos and Berenice these two Kingdoms might be held together in a firm league Otherwise the proâ—â—er seems needless Antiochus having already a wife viz. Laodice and two children by her Seleucus Callinicus and Antiochus But accepting of Berenice for his wife and promising that he would not have Laodice for any other than a concubine this proved an ill business both to him and to Berenice at last For he receiving afterwards Laodice into favour and calling her â—…ack to Court she made shift to poison her husband Antiochus and get Berenice and her young child she had by Antiochus to be slain according as it follows predicted by Daniel But she shall not retain the power of the Arm that is She shall not have that strong Interest at Court nor remain in that authority she seemed to have at first the mind of her husband being afterward carried to his former wife Laodice Neither shall he stand not Antiochus himself For Laâ—…dice suspicious how constant he might prove in his love to her got him to be poisoned Nor his Arm The Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and may be translated Nor his seed viz. that offspring which he had by Berenice his little Son he had by her who was killed with her But she shall be given up and they that brought her and he that begat her The truer reading is and that son of hers or he whom she brought forth For that is the most obvious sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he that strengthened her in these times that is Those who were with her and took her part as friends and comforters But she and her little son and all her Confidents would go to the pot Even as it came to pass in the Daphneum at Antioch where she had shut her self up and might have been safe through the help of friends that heard thereof but that she was betrayed and so she and her little son murder'd by Seleucus Callinicus her son in law So bad an end had a matter ill begun See Iustin lib. 27. c. 1. 7. But out of a branch of her roots It seems to be an Hypallage as Gasper Sanctius also takes notice for But out of the roots of her branch that is from the root or stock from whence she and her little son was that is from Ptolemaeus Philadelphus who was her father Shall one stand up in his estate The Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where there is plainly an Ellipsis of a praeposition suppose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 super baâ—…in ejus so Vatablus supplies it He shall found his quarrel upon the right that the young child had if he had had strength and been alive to revenge his mothers death This therefore is the brother of Berenice Ptolemaeus Euergetes Which shall come with an Army and shall enter into the fortress of the King of the North that is Shall fall into the Territories or Frontiers of Seleucus Callinicus the King of Syria who killed Berenice and her little Son And shall deal against them and prevail that is He shall make war against them and have them so much in his power that he may do what he will with them He shall have very easy and mighty success 8. And shall also carry captives into Egypt their Gods with their Princes and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold St. Ieromes comment upon this place is full enough Ptolemaeus saith he prevailed so far that he took Syria and Cilicia and the upper parts beyond Euphrates and almost all Asia and when he heard there was sedition moved at home in Aegypt he spoiling the Kingdoms of
the true servants of God who will never suffer them to be tempted above what they can bear which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen For the things which are seen are Temporal but the things that are not seen are Eternal Even to the time of the end that is To the time of their ending For God had set his time wherein these afflictions of his Church should end as bounding all human affairs by his Power and Providence so that there may be a respiration to his people from these extremities of affliction And therefore there is put an end to this affliction of his Church because it was foreseen that another would begin as it is intimated to us by what follows according to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because it is yet for a time appointed The vulgar Latin has it Quia adhuc aliud tempus erit Because there will be yet another time namely of persecution of the Church of God viz. under the Roman Empire Pagan and Pagano-Christian Wherefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an Elliptical speech as was observed above v. 27. Which verbatim is thus to be rendred Because yet-again at the time appointed subaudi There will be a persecution of my People or Church viz. under the Roman Empire whose succession begins in the next verse For hitherto is described from vers 21. the Reign and feats of Antiochus Epiphanes But that now the times of the Roman Empire succeed both the mention of A Time and Times and half a time Ch. 12. 7. and those other numbers there vers 11. that point to them and that vast gap that would be betwixt Antiochus his time and the Resurrection of the dead mentioned v. 2. may sufficiently assure us To which you may add that the Passage here from the Greek Empire to the Roman in the next verse is as distinct and plain as from the Persian to the Greek vers 3. and the like great success and Prosperity expressed in both in that of both Kings it is said And he shall do according to his will * Which therefore cannot be understood of Antiochus Whence they that would drag what follows of the Prophecy to that scope are fain to run back and apply the same things that were predicted before and so make the Prophecy to tautologize Besides many things are most wretchedly distorted and very weakly and faintly accommodated to the person of Antiochus Which Calvin being sensible of applies all to the Roman Empire from the times of the Roman Empire after Antiochus his death to the coming of Christ. In which besides that many things are dilute or forced he leaves a vast gap as well as those others viz. from the beginning of the Gospel to the Resurrection Which makes the Prophecy less worthy of that Pompous Preface to it viz. the Prefatory vision Ch. 10. as I noted above Wherefore there can be no doubt with them that consider the matter but that this Prophecy of the Scripture of Truth does not only here pass from the Greek Empire to the Roman upon the death of Antiochus and the vanquishing of Perseus the last King of Macedonia by Aemylius Paulus and turning his Kingdom into a Roman Province but that the Prophecy continuedly goes on though in general strokes through the whole series of times of the Roman Empire to the end of the world or general Resurrection And that as there has hitherto been predictions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Literally or Historically to be understood of the affairs of the Persian and Greek Kingdome and more particularly of those two parts thereof the Kingdoms of Syria and Aegypt where the real gests of Antiochus Epiphanes are foretold and are but onely as other Historical parts of Scripture drawn to a Typical sense so whatever follows touching the affairs of the Roman Empire has a plain Historical meaning and is so to be understood till its utter dissolution So that there will be no room left for such a Chimerical Antichrist as some of the Fathers have fancied and others have been either themselves such children or would have others to be such as to believe them Wherefore bidding adieu to Hugo Grotius and laying aside all the fancifull and Chimerical Crotchets of mistaken Antiquity I shall clear the sense of the remaining part of this Prophecy of the Scripture of Truth as follows 36. And the King shall do according to his will and shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every God This may be understood of the Roman Empire at large and the words be rendred thus Then shall a King do according to his will shall have all things go prosperously according to his desire by King understanding here as it is elsewhere in Daniel a State or Kingdome which is here the Roman upon the expiration of the Greek Empire Macedonia being conquered by the Romans of which Perseus was the last King contemporary to Antiochus whom Daniel foretels to reign Ch. 8. in the latter time of the Greek Kingdome And therefore the Roman is very fitly here supposed to succeed it after Antiochus Epiphanes the rest of his Successours being taken no notice of for the same reasons that all but one after Xerxes are past by in the Persian Empire And this Roman King or Kingdome is said to magnify himself above every God in that the Romans by sacred charms called out the Gods of those Cities they conquered and so as it were led them captive to Rome See my Synops. Prophet Book 2. Ch. 10. And shall speak marvelous things that is blasphemous against the God of Gods that is The officers of this Roman Power shall do so namely against Christ Jesus himself who was truly God as well as man and therefore the God of Gods and yet was he in word and deed most despightfully used by them and crucified And how the God of of Gods viz. the God of Israel was despised by the Romans a man may collect from that greatest Wit of the Roman Empire Marcus Cicero and one of the best men of them who yet speaks but contemptibly of the Religion of the Iews as unworthy of the greatness of the Roman name and Empire and insults over their Nation as less befriended by the Gods because they were vanquished and subjected to the Romans If a person of his quality went so far in reproach to the God of Israel what would others of less sagacity and morality blurt out See his oration pro Flacco And shall prosper till the Indignation be accâ—…mplished for that that is determined shall be done And yet they shall prosper notwithstanding this their villany towards Christ and bloudy persecution of his members wherein he was again reproached and blasphemed till the determined time of this rage ran out and that the Empire became Christian which was certainly determined to be