Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	age_n	church_n	time_n	2,142	5	3.6322	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55520	An interpretation of the number 666 wherein, not onely the manner, how this number ought to be interpreted, is clearely proved and demonstrated : but it is also shewed [that] this number is an exquisite and perfect character, truly, exactly, and essentially describing that state of government to [which] all other notes of Antichrist doe agree : with all knowne objections solidly and fully answered [that] can be materially made against it / by Francis Potter ...	Potter, Francis, 1594-1678.	1642 (1642)	Wing P3028; ESTC R40657	113,466	230

AN INTERPRETATION OF THE NUMBER 666 Wherein not onely the Manner how this Number ought to be Interpreted is clearely proved and Demonstrated but it is also showed that this Number is an exquisite and perfect Character truly exactly and essentially describing that State of Government to which all other notes of Antichrist doe agree With all Knowne objections solidly and fully answered that can be materially made against it By Francis Potter B. D. Dan 12. 4. Many shall runn to and fro and Knowledge shall be increased OXFORD Printed by Leonard Lichfield 1642. W. Marshall sculp Mr JOSEPH MEDE's judgement of this ensuing Treatise THis discourse or Tract of the number of the Beast is the happiest that ever yet came into the world and such as cannot be read save of those that perhaps will not beleeve it without much admiration The ground hath been harped on before namely that that number was to be explicated by some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the number of the Virgin company new Hierusalem which type the true Apostolicall Church whose number is alwaies derived from XII But never did any worke this principle to such a wonderfull discovery as this Author hath done namely to make this number not onely to shew the manner and property of that state which was to be that Beast but to defigne the City wherein he should reigne the figure and compasse thereof the number of Gates Cardinall titles or Churches Saint Peters Altar I know not how many more the like I read the book at first with as much prejudice against the numericall speculation as might be and almost against my will having met with so much vanitie formerly in that kinde But by the time I had done it left me possest with as much admiration as I came to it with prejudice IOSEPH MEDE TO THE READER CHRISTIAN Reader Grace and wisdome be multiplied unto thee If thou knowest not to what issues the questions are driven concerning Antichrist and the interpretation of this number nor hast that knowledge which is requisit for the understanding of it then I know that that which I have here written will seem nothing else to thee but an intricate labyrinth of curious unnecessary speculations I have therefore a double request unto thee either that thou would'st stirre up thy industry whereby thou maist attaine such knowledge as is required for the understanding of it or else that thou wouldest make use of thy sobriety by leaving those things which are above thy reach and capacity unto those more learned Readers who even for this very reason that thou doest not understand it will or may draw a probable argument that this is the true interpretation For assure thy selfe it is not in any mans power much lesse in mine to make that streight which God hath made crooked nor to make that plaine and easy unto all men which by the expresse words of the scripture is restrained only to those that have wisdome and understanding But if thou art one of those other sort of Readers of whom a Caius Lucilius dicere solebat ea quae scriberet neque a doctissimis neque ab indoctissimis se legi velle quod hi nihil intelligerent illi plus fortasse quàm ipse de se Cicero de Orat. Lucilius speakes who canst understand more by that which I have written than I my selfe that writ it thē my request unto thee is not as his was that thou shouldest abstaine from reading of it but by how much the more wise and more learned more quick of apprehension thou art so much the more earnestly do I desire that thou wouldest vouchsafe to peruse this treatise which with very great confidence and yet not without due humility and submission to thy better judgment I doe here present unto thee I know that all men are naturally in love most men ravished with their owne opinions inventions I know also that the heart of man is evill deceitfull above all things and that the master-peice of the deceitfulnesse of mans heart consists in deceiving of Anno. 1625. it's selfe lastly I know that he which knowes all this may have alie in his right hand yet am I confident that this my confidence concerning the truth of this interpretation proceeds from evidence of truth and reason and not from the blindnesse of mine owne minde I have not uttered it hastily unadvisedly but upon mature or at the least upon long deliberation and divers yeeres have now passed since some chiefe substantiall points of it were publiquely declared and defended in the Divinity schoole at Oxford and neither then nor at any time since could I ever heare or learne any reason that could be brought against it which might cause me to doubt of the probability or truth of it Neverthelesse if any man either by authority of scripture or evident reason shall be able to confute and evince the possibility or probability of this interpretation or of any substantiall or essentiall part of it I shall be then ready and willing even with mine owne hands to pull downe these then towers of mine owne imaginations and shall rejoyce to see the ruines and rubble of them serve to levell the ground upon which a better building may be raised But I am perswaded better things of this interpretation although I thus speake such things as accompany the manifestatiō of that truth which shall never be abolished Let not any man esteem it the lesse probable because it proceeds from one who is no way eminent either in the Church or Common-wealth except it be for his infirmities Great matters may and most usuall doe proceed from mean and unworthy beginnings A fountaine of precious water may arise out of a dry and stony plat of ground although it were otherwise barren and unfruitfull A late namlesse writer speaketh fitly to this purpose in these words Quòd si ita est nec maximis ingenj is licet Sriptor anonymus de Bestia Apocalyptica pag. 140 141. hujus inventionem numeri sibi minùs confidenter arrogare nec diffitendum tamen est posse Deum perexiguo ingenio rationem hujus numeri patefacere dicit enim numerus hominis est id est ●t alibi alia de re mensus est murum ejus 144. cubitorum mensura hominis quae est Angeli Neither let it seem unprobable to any man that the true meaning and interpretation of this number having layen hidden for so many ages should in these times be found out and revealed For such happy times as these in which Christian Princes and Common-wealthes are able and willing to stand at defiance with the Pope and to maintaine truth to his face these are the fittest times as Mr Fox noteth for the manifestation of this mystery In his Comment upon the Apoc. and not heretofore when no man in these Westerne Churches could affirme the Pope to be Antichrist without apparent

intricate so must it also be acknowledged to be new and unheard of in former times In both which respects I may say of it as a late worthy writer doth of his new Philosophy in a very like case Scio quemadmodū arduum Gilbertus de Magnete Magneticisque corporibus in praesatione ad Lectorem est vetustis novitatem dare obsoletis nitorem obscuris lucem fastiditis gratiam dubiis fidem it a multò magis novis inauditis contra omnes omnium opiniones authoritatem aliquam conciliare stabilire difficilimum But all truths which are now old were once new and have had their severall oppositions New truths are like new friends worthy to be tried though not to be trusted and I propose these things to the wise and learned as b Si quid Fusce vacas adhuc amari Nam sunt hinc tibi hinc amici Vnum si superest locum roga●us Nec me quid tibi sum nonus recuses Omnes hoc veteres tui fueruat Tu tantum inspice qui novas paratur An possit steri vetus sodalis lib. 1. Epig. 35. Martiall proposed himselfe to his friend to be tryed and examined first and to be beleived afterward as it is alwayes wisdome to trust an old friend so is it somtimes great folly not to make an exact triall of one that is new As touching the method and manner of composure of this treatise I do willingly confesse that it is not only inartificiall but also rude and harsh especially considering how nécessary a perspicuous Method and exquisit expressions had been in so difficult a matter But I hope the Logick is better then the Rhetoricke and perhaps there wil not want those that will quickly put my meaning into better words and other languages if it shall deserve them My only aime hath been to speak so that my meaning may be fully understood and yet I finde that where I have indeavoured to expresse my selfe most clearly there have I done as Iob did in his vexations even darkened Counsell by words without knowledge But I hope a wise learned and charitable Reader will picke out my meaning howsoever and pardon my unnecessary tautologies and circumlocutions And to the serious and setled considerations of such sober minded and judicious Readers I wholy referr that which I have written Let such consider what I say not who speaks unto them and God give them understanding in all things that hating neutrality of opinion especially in a matter of so great consequence and a Next unto the Knowledge of Christ and him crucified there is no Knowledge more necessary for the Church of God then the Knowledge of Antichrist and him revealed necessity they may be both able and willing if the substance of that which I have here written be true to believe it or if it be otherwise to confute it In the mean time and untill I shall see reason to the contrary I shall hope That among this wood and hay and stubble which I have here heaped together there is also some Gold and some Silver and some Pretious Stones that is some long sought after and desireable b Of which one is the reconciling of the measures of the new Hierusalem with those measures of the City mentioned in the last Chap of Ezechiel a truth untill these times unknowne unto the Church truthes which being purged and refined from my errors and imperfections by that fire of which the Apostle speakes in the third Chap of the first Epistle to the Corinthians shall continue in the Church of God notwithstanding any thing which hath been as yet objected against it Kilmington in Somerset March 27. 1642. FRAN POTTER THE CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTERS CHAP. 1. The probability of the following Interpretation is briefly and generally proposed that opinion of numerall letters being almost wholy rejected CHAP. 2. That the mystery of the number 144 which is the number opposed to 666 consists in the square root of it which is 12 and that therefore the mystery of 666 must be in the square Root of it also CHAP. 3. The manner of the Interpretation more clearely yet cursorily proposed An introduction to the true Interpretation of the number 144 and the measures of the new Hierusalem CHAP. 4. A disquisition concerning the Interpretation of the 16 and 17 verses of the 21 Chap of the Revelat and a new exposition of the measures of the new Hierusalem CHAP. 5. A farther confirmation of the precedent Interpretation of the measures of the new Hierusalem CHAP. 6. The Interpretation of the measure of the wall of the new Hierusalem or of the 144 Cubits CHAP. 7. A farther confirmation of the solid and square measures above mentioned shewing that the like measures are used in other places of Scripture CHAP. 8. The reason why the new Hierusalem is measur'd by the solid and square measures onely that the measure and structure of the wall and the number by which it is expressed doe both typically represent the Hierarchie of the Church of Christ The conclusion of this digression concerning the measures and numbers of the new Hierusalem CHAP. 9. That those writers who make the mystery of the number 144 to consist in the Root of it ought also to have extracted the square Root of the number 666. That the extraction of the square Root is an ancient and usefull invention by which many famous mysteries have been found out CHAP. 10. What the counting of the number is What is meant by the first Beast the second Beast the image of the Beast mentioned Rev. 13. cap. That by counting the Beasts number some other number ought to be found out besider the number 666. CHAP. 11. What it is to extract the square Root of a number That 25 is the number that is the Root of 666 remarkably opposed unto 12. Some objections answered concerning the fractions of the root of 666. CHAP. 12. That the number 25 hath been conceived to be a fatall and unfortunate number by such as knew no relation that it had to Antichrist or to the number 666. CHAP. 13. Of the nature and quality of those particulars in which the Root and the Figure of the Beasts number is to be applied to the Papocie CHAP. 14. That Rome is answerable to Hierusalem and the Popes Cardinals to Christs Apostles CHAP. 15. That the first number of Cardinals according to their first institution and foundation is chiefly to be considered as that which doth most remarkably characterize Antichrist in his originall CHAP. 16. A disquisition concerning other particulars to which the number 12 is applied in the description of the new Hierusalem particularly of the 12 Gates 12 Tribes and 12 Angels CHAP. 17. Of such particulars in the mysticall Babylon as are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Gates Tribes Angels and Foundations of the new Hierusalem CHAP. 18. Of such things as are answerable to the measure of 12000 furlongs and the 12 manner

state Hierarthy sect or society of men so confidently and yet so falsly pretending and arrogating themselves to have all fullnesse of power Apostolicall annexed and as it were appropriated unto themselves as the Colledge of Cardinalls doth I may therefore conclude that there are persons in the Papacy answerable to the Apostles as Rome is to Hierusalem that if the Papacy be Antichrist and if the number 666 be to be interpreted and applied after the same manner which is above proved that it ought to be then the first originall number and foundation of this Colledge of Cardinalls must be typed out unto us by the square root of the number 666 as the first limited and established number of the Apostles is typed out by the square root of the number 144. CHAP. 15. That the first number of Cardinals according to their first institution and foundation is chiefly to be considered as that which doth most remarkably characterize Antichrist in his originall AND that only the first decreed and established number of the Colledge of Cardinals is typed out unto us and plainly foretold by the root of the Beast's number this is a farre more evident and remarkable description of Antichrist then if any other number had been declared which should at any other time have been applicable unto them For as it is usually said scire is per causas cognoscere and as we cannot perfectly know any thing untill we know what were the first originall causes and beginnings of it so this order of Cardinals which beareth now so much sway in the Romish Church and which is the very body and corporation of Antichrist may be then perfectly discerned when we know what it was in it's first originall and beginning And for this cause it is that the holy Ghost in the description of the new Hierusalem useth chiefly such numbers and measures as were conspicuous and remarkable in the first apparent foundation of Christian Religion For the wall of the new Hierusalem is said to have 12 foundations not because the number 12 either in respect of the Apostles themselves or in respect of Christian Bishops themselves who are their lawfull successours in so much of their authority as is necessary for the perpetuall government of the Church should be at all times following actually existent and remarkable in the Church but that by this one number which is the root Basis of another number there might be an evident strong allusion not only to the number but also to the nature qualitie and office of those persons from whom as from the Root the Churches Hierarchy doth originally proceed upon whom it is fundamentally built and in whom it was first apparently to be discerned As therefore the number 12 is not applicable to the Hierarchy of the Church in respect of any one perpetuall and constant number of Persons which was alwaies to continue so neither ought the number 25 to be after this manner applicable to the Romish Hierarchy but the true and exact application of it ought chiefly to be terminated in the discovery not onely of the number but also of the nature quality office of those Persons from whom their Pseudo-hierarchy did originally proceed upon whom it was fundamentally built and in whom and with whom it was first apparently to be discerned Howsoever therefore it may perhaps at the first apprehension seeme requisite that according to this application which I am at the number 25 ought to be the onely constant setled and perpetuall number of the Popes Cardinalls or Apostles which should at all times during the time of Antichrists continuance be actually applicable unto them yet upon due consideration it must be granted that such an application can neither be warranted by the example of the opposite number which is applicable to the first number of the Apostles only nor be agreeable to the nature of this type which aymes not only at a certaine number of unities but also of such unities as are the root and Basis of other unities which were to proceed from them and to be built upon them I say therefore that it must be granted that there is no necessity nor any probability that this number ought otherwise to be applied unto them then in respect of that first decreed established number which was most conspicuous and remarkable most exactly applicable unto them in and at the first foundation of their Colledge and in the first apparent and actuall institution of their order And that not only the number of the 10 crowned hornes mentioned in the Revelation may be thus interpreted in respect of their first originall onely but that also the number of the Beast ought to have speciall reference to the first original stock and image of Antichrist's Anti-Apostles is a truth clearely discerned and in general tearmes plainly expressed by a late learned interpreter of the Revelations although he aimed not at the same particular application which I doe These things being now thus cleared and discussed in generall concerning the time the place and the persons which this number ought chiefly to characterize and it being proved that Rome is answerable to Hierusalem and that the Cardinalls of Rome are those persons which may be fitly stiled Anti-Apostles in the Romish Hierarchy and lastly that the time in which the root of the Beast's number ought to be applied to the Pseudohierarchy of Antichrist must be in the first apparent and remarkable emersion of his Hierarchy that so it may be like and answerable to that very nick of time in which and in which only the root of the opposite number is actually applicable to the Hierarchy of the Church these things I say being thus cleared and discussed it remaineth now that J shew by cleare and evident testimonies that as the Colledge of Apostles did originally consiste of 12 persons and no more so the Colledge and corporation of Cardinals in Rome according to it's first institution in the first apparent and remarkable foundation of the a That the first remarkable foundation of the Papacie was about 300 yeares after Christ in or about the time of Constantine is out of question Then was that voice heard hodiè seminatum est virus in Ecclesia Then was the seat of the Empire taken out of the way and removed from Rome to Cōstantinople and then was Antichrist to come when the Roman Emperour was taken out of the way Then doe they pretend Constantines donation to have been made Then was the ancient purity of the Primitive Church decayed then was the visible Hierarchie of the Christian Church almost quite extinguished by the violence of persecutions for then as Baronius relates Anno 304. The persecuting Princes velut gloriosae victoriae titulis de suba actis deletisque penitus Christianis columnas erexetunt Cluniae enim in Hispania in nobili columnâ haec inscriptio legitur DIOCLESIAN JOVIUS c. AMPLIFICATO por ORIENT OCCIDENT IMPERIO ROMANO

of cardinals of Rome are the body of the Church To which Ioh. Husse answereth that Christ is the Head and all faithful christians the Body of the Church of Christ To which the said Prelates doe reply as Master Fox relateth by a long and ●edious processe shewing how the Pope is Head and how the Colledge of Cardinals onely and not other Christians are the Body of the Church Acts and Monuments Anno 1414. pag. 589. und 590. and 591. as the Romish Prelats pretend the Colledge of Cardinall to be But I returne from whence I finde my selfe digressing and doe conclude that as all Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy in the Church of Christ against and above which the Cardinals of Rome doe most energetically oppose and advance themselves had it's first originall institution and foundation from the 12 Apostles in Hierusalem so the opposite Hierarchy of Cardinals in the Synagogue of Antichrist had it's first institution and foundation from 25 Parish Priests in Rome CHAP. 20. That the number of the Gates of Rome was 25. COncerning the number of the Gates of the City of Rome according to the sense literall it remaineth yet to be shewed that their number was 25 as the number of the Gates of the materiall Hierusalē either was or is generally received to have been 12. For howsoever the first number of Churches in which Baptisme was administred be by the name of Gates most principally aymed at in the description of the new Hierusalem as according to the sense spirituall I have above shewed yet I cannot but think that the number of the Gates according to the sense literall is also directly intended and that the number of the Gates of Hierusalem was twelve and no more Villanpandus Tom. 3o. a pag. 68 69 where is also exhibited a Map of Hierusalem with this inscription Vera Hierusolimae veteris imago Roma superiorum permissiu cum privilegio summi Pontificis Imperatoris Regis Catholici ac Senatùs veneti c. apparatus urbis templi plainly affirmeth and reciteth them nominatim after this manner 1 Porta fontis 2 Porta stercoris 3 Porta vallis 4 Porta Anguli 5 Porta Ephraim 6 Porta Vetus 7 Porta piscium 8 Porta Benjamin 9 Porta gregis 10 Porta Equarum 11 Porta Aquarum 12 Porta Fiscalis b ●n indice tertio Appendicis ad Civitates Orbis Georgius Braunus and Franciscus Hogenbergius out of Livie and Plinie who lived neere about the time that S. Iohn writ the Revelation doe write thus Portas suburbiorum urbis in universum 24 fuisse refert Plinius Livius tamen ut passim in illius Historia est legere 27 ponit And whereas some editions of Plinie make him to say sometimes that there were 27 Gates in Rome and sometimes 37 this is corrected as an error by Onuphryus lib. description urbis where he writeth thus Siigitur decem has portas quas ab ijs quatuor decem diversas fuisse liquet ipsis adjunxerimus erunt 24 urbis Romae Portae ut Plinium dixisse existimo nam quod vulgati codices habent 27 mendum proculdubio est ex adjectione numerorum aliquot ortum ita ut 12 portae semel numerentur praetereantque ex veteribus septē quae esse desierunt It seems by the differing opinions of Live and Plinie who lived not long the one after the other that the number of the gates of Rome was neer about 25 for plus uno verum esse non potest there can be but one truth it is not probable that either of these Authors was ignorant how many Gates Rome had in their own times If there were 27 when Livy writ but 24 when Plinie writ then it is probable that in this interim there were for some tyme but 25 but it is most likely that as in all great Cities there are Gates some of greater and some of lesser note some publike and some belonging to private houses or Pallaces and some so ambiguously placed and used that it is hard and doubtfull to be determined whether they are to be accounted as Gates of the Citie or not so I say it is most likely that Livie accounted 2 or 3 Gates of lesser note for Gates of the Citie which Pliny thought fit rather to be left out as private passages but perhaps a third man which had been to set downe his opinion concerning the number of the Gates of Rome in those times would have taken one of those 3 Gates into the number which Pliny left out and have left out 2 of those 3 Gates which Livie tooke in and so doing it is likely he might have spoken more truely then either of them For when Authors of equall credit and estimation are of different opinions it is more safe to goe betweene them both if there be any medium then to joyne with either But I confesse all this proveth but a probability at the most that the number of the Gates of Rome was 25. I am content therefore that Onuphryus that learned Roman Antiquary who and who only as far as I know hath written a peculiar Tract concerning the Gates of Rome shall decide this Question It is evident by those words of Onuphryus which are last aboue recited that he affirmeth the number of the Gates of Rome in the time of Pliny to have been 24 at the least but it is plaine that among all those Porta Triumphalis is not numbred and therefore Onuphrius presently after when he rehearseth nominatim all those 24 Gates above spoken of addeth this Gate in the last place as a Gate of the City although not one of the former number number saying expresly Porta triumphalis extra numerum And whereas afterwards he nameth two other Gates which are Porta fenestralis Palatii and Porta Stercoraria he saith of the first Porta fenestralis Palatii non urbis sed potius Palatii fuisse crediderim and of the second Porta Stercoraria non urbis sed Capitolii plainly excluding these two last Gates from being of the number of the Gates of the City and plainly adding Porta triumphalis to the former number as one of the Gates of the City as not onely other authors doe account it but a ●●●ip Roma 〈…〉 pag. 54 elsewhere also as well as in this place himselfe affirmeth it to be as these his words doe witnesse Pars muri antiquitùs per medium Burgum girabat habebat duas portas Aureliam Triumphalem But for the greater evidence of this truth I will here set downe the names of these Gates recited by Onuphrius in manner following 1 Porta flumentana 2 Porta Collatina 3 Porta Quirinalis 4 Porta Viminalis 5 Porta Gabinia 1 Porta Esquilina 2 Porta Coelimontana 3 Porta Latina Divers of these Gates were called by other names also a● Onuphrius sheweth 4 Porta Capena 5 Porta Ostiensis 1 Porta Portuensis 2 Porta Janiculensis 3 Porta Sextimiana 4 Porta Aurelia 5 Porta Querquetularia 1 Porta Piacularis 2 Porta