up to attention to look after the Messiah of whom so much was sooken in the Prophecies So in the like case many things being foretold in the writings of the Apostles concerning the coming of Antichrist when that time should begin to draw near the Lord was pleased to suffer such a dust to be raised between Constantinople and Rome to rouze up the spirits of men to examine those things which were foretold in the Scriptures In the Book of the Revelation there is much spoken concerning the Name of the Beast and the Mark of the Name Now when this Name or Headship was come to the beginning thereof Gregory did plainly declare That the formality of Antichristianism did consist in this Title and that the Man of sin was then at the doors And I wish one day his sayings do not strongly witness against all his Successors who with one joynt consent down from the year of our Lord 606 have appropriated this Title to themselves to the great dishonour of Christ the true Head of the Church But if they alledge That the Bishop of Rome is only a Ministerial head as Christ's Vicar To this I Answer However they may evade by subtilty of words indeed and in truth they have taken for many Ages together the Dignity of Christ and have made him only the titular Head of the Church For is it not clear by the Stories That all doth depend upon the Authority of the Romane See The credit of Scripture the interpretation of Scripture the making of Laws the abrogation of divine Laws and all things in a manner have depended upon the Authority of the Roman Bishop What he would he hath set up what he would he hath plucked down And when all this is done is he only a titular Head Indeed and in â—…uth the Headship of Christ hath been made but a cypher and the words of Gregory have been found too true in the event But for the passages out of him two things are briefly to be observed First If we go to the 600 years immediately after the birth of Christ there was then no Oecumenical Bishop For though the Man of sin had gone very far and had made many progressions in the Mysterie of Iniquity yet the Authority it self was not publickly established in all that time If it were so we may believe that Gregory would not have inveighed against that Headship as he did Secondly In the year of the Lord 606 the Decree was Enacted That the Bishop of Rome should be Head over all Churches which Dignity the whole Succession have enjoyed now above this 1000 years And that which Gregory did call Antichristian in others that all his followers have assumed to this very day Therefore Thuanus in his 67 Book doth speak very pithily Phocas Bonifacio tertio insignes Episcopi Universalis titulos quos nuper Gregorius in Iohanne Constantinopolitano improbaverat prolixè attribuit Phocas did largely ascribe to Boniface the third those eminent titles of Universal Bishop which Gregory did lately inveigh against in Iohn of Constantinople Now then to gather all into one sum we may see how the Prophecies and the Stories of the Church do agree First That the two-horned Beast had a determinate time when he rose up out of the Earth Secondly That this time is after the rising of the ten-horned Beast or the ten Kings out of the ruines of the Empire Thirdly It is to be applied to such a time only when the Name and the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome began publickly to be set up All these three laid together do necessarily bring us to the Decree of the Headship under the Emperor Phocas And so we do Conclude that this is the Number of the Name of the Beast as it is mentioned in the Prophecie Now by what Accompt the Number is 666 we will shew in the Two Chapters following CHAP. V. That the Roman is the Fourth and Last Metal-Kingdom in Daniels Image and the truth of this is proved against the Positions of Junius Broughton Piscator Dr. Willet and others FOr the carrying on of our matter we need not imbark in that great Question Whether the Roman be the Fourth Metal-Kingdom Or Whether the Opinion of Junius and his followers be received We are sure both wayes to make the Accompt good That the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome is 666. The matter is so firmly grounded upon the event Let us then proceed according to Iunius his Method let us say that the Babylonian is the first Metal-Kingdom that the Mede-Persian is the second that the Macedonian in Alexander is the third that the Seleucian is the fourth Here according to this Analogie there must be an end of all the four Metal-Kingdoms at the destruction of the Seleucian when Syria Iudaea and all that Oriental tract came under the Obedience of the People of Rome Now then if you reckon from the final Conclusion of all the four persecuting Empires and from the beginning of the Roman as that Nation did succeed in the Rule over the Church there will be an exact period of 666 years to the setting up of the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome And so we do concord with the Principles of Iunius But we do not say That there was a dissolution of all four Metal-Kingdoms but only a dissolution of the third and a beginning of the fourth Now from the beginning of the Roman or the fourth Kingdom we make the accompt And for the clearer manifestation of the truth we will Debate this Point more fully for it is a ruled case in Daniel and the Revelation That one and the same thing is variously repeated for clearer explication As for ensample The Antichristian Kingdom is more obscurely delivered Revel 11. Now if we compare it with the description chap. 13 and chap. 17. all three Scriptures will exceedingly illustrate one and the same truth And so in the present case if it can be solidly proved that the fourth Beast in Daniel is the Roman Kingdom we may safely conclude that the same matter is repeated more largely in the Book of the Revelation Mr Medâ—… speaketh to very good purpose concerning the description of the ten-horn'd Beast Rev. 13. These are his words Toâ—…a autem haec descriptio petita est ex Propheâ—…iâ Danielis cap. 7. ubi de eâdem agitur quâ hic Bestiâ Romanâ status novissimi sed quae ibi Danieli ab Angelo succinctius narrantur ea hîc Iohanni interjectâ quasi explicatione fusius deducuntur Comment Apocal. pag. 190. From which words of his it is clear that one and the same Roman Dominion in the last and Antichristian State thereof is the subject matter of both Scriptures And so we have a certain and a demonstrative Principle to build upon For not only the Book of the Revelation it self will be cleared by comparing one part with another that which is more dark with that which is more
in the Name of the Lord the trusting upon the Lord himself This doth make good that former rule What the Name of God is that God himself is And so by way of Opposition what the Name of the Beast is that is the Beast himself If he be described as a Mighty King we have cause to take his Name for his Monarchical Power and sovereignty Secondly We often reade in the New Testament of believing in the Name of the Son of God c. we do not then look to the Name Jesus or the Name Christ as though there were any Vertue or Efficacy in the Letters and Syllables of these Names but in this case the sense of each Scripture must govern And therefore when the Apostles do Exhort us to believe on the Name of the Son of God in their sense we are exhorted to believe on the Lord Christ for pardon of sin for help in temptation and for supply in all our wants We must not look to Letters and syllables but to the main sense of each Scripture In like manner when we reade of the Name of the Beast and the Saints overcoming his Name Mark and the Number of the Name we are not here to look to the word Lateinos or any such Grammatical Name but according to the sense of the Prophecie the Name must be taken for the Potency of the Beast as he is Opposed to the Lamb. But let us come more largely to shew some particular Instances out of the Book of the Revelation where the Name of a thing person or state is to be expounded according to the Analogie of the text We read that there were with the Lamb 144000 and that they had their Fathers Name written in their Forehead chap. 14. vers 1. Now these 144000 are set in direct Opposition to the followers of the Beast and their Father's Name written in their forehead is contradistinct to the Mark of the Beast in the forehead and the right Hand Now here sâ—…th there is mention made of the Name of the Father and of his Name written in the forehead of all the followers of the Lamb shall we think therefore that it is made out of the Alphabet or that it is a literal Name Not so we must look here to the main scope of the text and accordingly we must render the meaning of the words They that have their Father's Name written in their forehead are such who in all the times of Antichrist had consecrated dedicated and given themselves up to God the Father to live in subjection to his Commandements and to take him as their sovereign Lord this was the Badge of their outward Profession By the rule of Opposition they that had the Name of the Beast were such as did resign their Obedience to him as to their sovereign Lord And the submission to this Lordship was the Badge and Livery of their outward Profession this is clear from the scope of the text Further We read chap. 2. vers 17. To him that overcometh will I give a white Stone and in the Stone a new Name written that none can read but he that hath it Now what is here meant by the Name written shall we say that it is a Name consisting of Letters and syllables If we so affirm we shall have as good foundation for such a Position as they who take Lateinos to be the Name of the Beast But this is to trifle in a serious matter Therefore we must have recourse to the forementioned Principle to wit The scope of the text When the Lord Christ promiseth to give to him that overcometh a white stone and in the stone a Name written this is nothing else but the inward testimony of the Spirit by and through which he sealeth extraordinary Consolations to his Martyrs and Witnesses in the middest of their sufferings under the tyrannical States and Governments of the world Many worthy Expositors take this for the seal of the Spirit that followeth Justification as may be seen in several late Treatises But I take it That the Promise in the text and so commonly through the whole Prophecie is immediately made to him that overcometh in the times of Persecution And therefore these things do more immediately concern the Martyrs the in-coming of Christ into their hearts and the divine Consolations which they feel in the Name written which none can read but they that have it Let us go to the meaning of that Promise Rev. 3. 12. He that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the Name of my God and the Name of the City of my God which is the new Ierusalem which cometh down from Heaven and I will write upon him my new Name In these words when the Lord Christ promiseth to him that overcometh That he will write upon him the Name of his God doth he intend here a writing by Letters and syllables This cannot be But according to the scope of the place this is the meaning of Christ That they that overcome shall have this peculiar testimony given into their hearts That the Lord is theirs and that they are his Further Whereas it is said I will write upon them the Name of the City of my God By this he doth mean The true Catholick Church represented Rev. chap. 21. The scope of the words is this That he will inroll them into the Number of Citizens and count them as Members of the true Church his Mystical Body And for the truth of the Interpretation we do chiefly build upon the scope of the text But now let us go to other Scriptures where usually the Name of a thing is taken according to the Analogie of the text It is said concerning the Church of Sardis Thou hast a few Names which have not defiled their Garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy Rev. 3. 4. Here then when it is said Thou hast a few Names shall we understand this to be meant of Grammatical Names This cannot be The drift of the text is concerning the persons of men and women which did not defile themselves in the times of general Pollution And so at the destruction of Rome Antichristian there was a great Earthquake and there were slain of the Names of men 7000 chap. 11. vers 13. Now for the Names of men shall we understand Names consisting of Letters and syllables What a kind of slaughter would this be According to the scope of the text and the manner of the Hebrew expression we may say That such a Number of persons were slain in the Earthquake Adde moreover to this That the Beast which did carry the Whore was full of the Names of Blasphemy chap. 17. There is none so void of understanding to imagine That the Spirit speaketh of such Names that do consist of Letters and syllables We must here go to the sense of the text which speaketh of his
Story of the Gospel and particularly the entrance of Christ into his Ministery he hath these words In the fifteenth year of the Reign of Tiberius Caesar Pontius Pilate being Governor of Iudea and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee and his Brother Philip Tetrarch of Iturea and of the Region of Trachonitis and Lysanias the Tetrarch of Abilene the Word of the Lord came to Iohn the Son of Zacharias in the Wilderness Luk. 3. 1 2 3. Here I demand What hath the Evangelist to do with the times of the Romans being a Government so alien to the affairs of the Church I Answer There be Two Reasons wherefore he Numbreth the times according to the Roman accompt The First is To shew the Truth of Daniel's Prophecie in the Image of Persecuting States For there it is expresly said That in the dayes of these Kingdoms shall the God of Heaven raise up a Kingdom that never shall be destroyed Dan. 2. 44. Now the Evangelist expoundeth this to be the Kingdom of Christ and that the Roman in particular is the Metal-Kingdom in whose times the Kingdom of Christ did begin And he doth leave it upon Record That the Lord Christ had a solemn Inauguration into his Office in that part of time when Tiberius was Emperor in the fifteenth year of his Reign when Pontius Pilate was Governor of Iudea c. Now if it be the scope of the Evangelist to shew That the Lord did begin his Office in Preaching the Gospel when the Romans did beaâ—… Rule there must be a particular instant of time also when all in Iudea fell under the Dominion of that People and that in the sense of the Gospel must be the Epocha or term of the Roman Kingdom Secondly The Evangelist doth so punctually Number the times according to the Roman Government because then Iudea where the Gospel began to be Preached was under the Command of the People of Rome And the Evangelist doth no more in the times of the New Testament than what the Prophets and ancient Writers had done in the times of the Old As for Ensample Those Prophets that lived in the times of the Kings of Iudah and Israel as Isaiah Ieremy Hosea dated their Prophecies from the Reign of those Kings And from that time that the Kings of the Line of David were taken away it was the use to reckon by the times of the Four Monarchical States So Daniel and Hezâ—…kiel who lived in the times of the Babylonian Empire do reckon their Visions by the times of the Babylonian Kings And after them Ezrah Nehemiah Haggie and Zachary who lived in the times of the Persian Monarchy dated their times by the Reigns of the Kings of Persia. And as for those Ecclesiastical Writers that lived in the times of the Graecian Kingdom as the Author of the Book of the Macchabees they accounted by the years of the Kingdom of the Greeks In like manner the Evangelists living in the times of the Romans date the Story of the Gospel by the Roman account In all which they do secretly imply That the Roman is the Fourth Metal-Kingdom and it began so to be when the Church of the Jews became subject to the People of Rome So long the Stories of the Church were Numerable by the Roman account But let us adde another Testimony out of the same Evangelist where he telleth us chap. 2. vers 2. A Decree went forth from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed 〈◊〉 this taxing was first made when Cyreneus was Governor of Syria Now whereas he saith That all the world should be taxed this is meant only of the world under the Roman obedience And here we Affirm When Iudea and the Countries near Bordering became Members of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Roman world then did the Roman begin as the Fourth of Daniel's Kingdoms The Evangelist being to speak of the Birth of the Kinâ—… of the Jews his special purpose is to shew how that particular Continent was under the sovereign Power of Augustus Caesar at that time Object 1. But here it may be Objected How could Augustus tax Iudea when it was under the Power of Herod the King Sol. This matter is solidly Disputed by the learned Spanhemius in his Dubia Evangelica part 2. dub 2. pa. 157. The sum of that which he doth deliver cometh to this issue Though Herod was King he had not jus summum the supreme Dominion he had only jus subalternum a Right and a Power meerly by the courtesie of Augustus And therefore he citeth a passage out of Appianus That as Darius was the King of Pontus and Polemon of Cilicia so Herod was King of the Jews that is meerly by favour and courtesie Secondly He sheweth That there were often Appeals from Herod to the Romans and therefore he was compelled to pleÌ„ad for himself before Antonius at Laodicea and before Augustus after the Battel of Actium at Rhodes Many more Arguments he brought to prove that his Government was meerly Precatious and at the will of the Romans Now for that particular time when the Romans began to have the sovereignty over the People of the Jews this was at the times of Pompey the Great These are the Authors own words pag. 160 At a sane erat conditio populi Iudaici tempore Macchabaeorum qu indo à Iudâ Macchabaeo foedus primò cum Romanis initum ubi Iudaeâ—… vocantur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 populi Romani rescripto Sena us ad Deâ—…ctrium à quo premebantur 1 Mac. 8. Sed quamâ—…rimum à Pompeio Magno subacti fuere societatis nomen in servitutem abâ—…r illi aequè ac aliae gentes dâ—…victae Romanis vectigales facti eorum imperio accessêre Ab eâ—… tempore Iudaeorum gens in Clientelâ Romanorum fuit à quâ—…bus Reges pro arbitrio instituebantur vel destituebantur tales quidem quibus precarium limitatum erat imperium à nutu eorum suspensum qui Romae rerum potâ—…ebantur In these words of his he doth plainly distinguish what the People of the Jews were before the Conquest of Judea by Pompey and what they were after Before the Conquest they were Friends Allies and Auxiliaries and after that their society was turned into servitude and as other Conquered Nations so the Jews were made Tributaries to the Empire From that time the Nation of the Jews was alwayes under the Dominion of the Romans by whom their Kings were either set up or plucked down at pleasure And for the manner of their Rule it was meerly limited hanging upon the good will of them that had the supreme Command at Rome Now if this be so I leave it to any man to judge when the Roman did begin as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom According to these Principles he must needs begin at the times of Pompey when the Church was brought under the Power of the Romans Object 2. Why is it said That the taxing was when Cyreneus was Governor of Syria and not rather
give them a Mark as if the intent of the Beast were by this that they should give testimony that they are his They are also said to receive a Mark Chap. 14. To have the Mark Chap. 16. Now then we are sure that to give receive or have the Mark of the Beast is no other but that Act by which the Consciences of men are obliged to the Authority of the Pope and his Church When also they do prosess That by their Swords Wits Goods Lives and by all that they have they will maintain the Decrees and Laws made by that Authority The Mark in the Forehead is the publick Profession of the Universal Headship in the view of men and the Mark in the Right-hand is the solemn Resolution and Obligation to defend and maintain the Authority of the Beast against all that do oppose it And truly the event of things doth notably answer the prediction For we see by plain experience That the Papists such is their zeal to the Catholick Cause do out-strip us by many degrees The Jesuiâ—…es are never idle they compass Sea and Land they â—…urn themselves into all forms and are still animating of Princes and People against the Protestant Cause Yea they have so wrought that almost no man among them seemeth to spare either Labour Wealth Counsel or Life it self to uphold the Name and Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome God grant that one day they do not rise up in Judgment against us for we do not come near them in the least degree in promoting the Kingdom of Christ or in setting up the Gospel as the Regent-Law among the Nations But the Papists will not hear that they are enemies or that they go against the Lord and his Word They hold That the Bishop of Rome is the Vicar of Christ and that he hath all his Authority by delegation from him These are specious shews But in deed and in truth they are real enemies against Christ For the Scriptures and the words of the Gospel they can do nothing but meerly as the Pope and the Church of Rome do give life vigour and authority to them and as they do interpret them which always they do to their own advantage There is no truth more clearly delivered in Scripture then the Doctrine of Justification by Faith in Christ and yet the Pope saith on the contrary That there is a Purgatory after this life and that the souls there detained are freed by Masses Indulgences Pardons and such like means God and his Word say Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve The Pope on the contrary saith Thou shalt worship Saints Images Crosses Reliques and the like God and Christ have commanded all men to search the Scriptures and to try the Spirits of what nature they be Now the Pope on the contrary commandeth that men should forbear the doing of this and that they should depend upon him alone God and Christ say Marriage is honourable amongst all men and the bed undefiled The Pope on the contrary forbiddeth Marriage to the Ministry By these and sundry such-like instances it is apparent That the Name and Soveraignty of the Beast is every way contrary to the Name and Soveraignty of the Lamb. For what the Lamb doth command the Beast doth countermand for the most part From hence it is clear then say the Papists what they will when they leave Christ to follow the Laws of the Pope in sense and substance they make him their Christ their Spiritual King Head and Governour and so in effect are no true Christians Now on the contrary seeing the Lord Christ is given as a Leader and Commander to his people they who refuse the Laws of the Pope to yield subjection to Christ in the times of the greatest persecution are every where mentioned in the Revelation to have the Name of the Father written in their Forehead Chap. 14. ver 15. To be the remnant of the seed of the woman that keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Iesus Christ Chap. 12. ver 17. The Papists then in receiving the Doctrines and Decrees of the Bishop of Rome under that formality as they do believe him Universal Head of the Church are positively directly and immediately Antichristian This Truth being laid down a stream of excellent Uses do naturally flow from it First We may here contemplate and behold the truth and infinite Wisdome of God speaking in the Scriptures It is now above 1500 years since that Iohn wrote the Revelation in which he spake of the Beast his Name Mark Image and the Number of his Name Now if we go to experience What have all ages for this thousand years last past but verified and fulfilled the truth of that which he spake of long before He that shall diligently reade the present Treatise will finde it to be true as we have said Secondly here is matter for our prayers and tears yea for our bowels to yern over those great Countries Kingdomes and Commonweals which do as yet own the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome They do continue in a great sin against the Kingly Office of Christ their profession is no other but Apostacy from the true Head of the Church and unless they repent they will one day feel the great Plagues contained in the words of the Prophecy Thirdly here is cause for the Protestant Churches to be thankful to the Lord For did they rightly understand it he hath delivered them from a bondage and slavery which far surpasseth the bondage of Egypt or Babylon For in the present case if men under this Government refuse to Worship the Beast and to receive his Mark the penalty is that they shall have no liberty to buy nor sell they shall be killed with the Sword they shall have their blood spilt they shall be subjected to sundry kindes of death On the contrary if they do worship the Beast and receive his Mark the Lord Christ doth threaten on the other side that they shall be tormented day and night and the smoke of their burning shall ascend for ever and ever Rev. Chap. 14. ver 7 8 9 10. The day of the deliverance of the Churches from Romish Tyranny was a day of deliverance from a Tyranny over their Souls over their Consciences over their Bodies over their Estates But all Treatises are full of Uses of this kinde We will proceed â—…o that which is Antichristian by Analogie and Reduction for this is more immediate to our purpose CHAP. XIII Concerning that which is Antichristian by Analogie and 〈◊〉 IN the progress of the Discourse we have shewed That the formality of Antichristianism is in the Headship of the Beast By this Standard of the Market we may prove all other things that do more remotely symbolize and agree with the Great Anti-Christ First the power of the Magistrate when it hath no bounds or limits but he doth all by his Will and Prerogative in
the great Sin of the Christian world for many Ages hath been in worshipping the Image and receiving the Mark. Thirdly The grievous Judgements of God denounced against men for these things Fourthly The Cause of the Martyrs Sufferings because they would not worship the Beast nor receive his Mark. Fifthly The object of the Vials they are poured out upon a People distinguished by these Characters Sixthly The deceiving of the Nations in the matter of the Mark of the Beast and the worship of his Image Seventhly The Reign of Christ upon the Earth which will be the more demonstratively understood by the right Stating of the Reign of the Beast â—…ver those that worship the Image and receive the Mark All these Considerations laid together plainly shew the Use and Profitableness of the Discovery Now let us proceed to the second Point to the Possibility thereof CHAP. II. Concerning the Possibility of the Discovery and how that there are certain Demonstrative Principles to bring the Truth to light THere are now living in these times many who think that there is no medling with this Prophecie especially in the matter of the Beast and the Number of his Name But I would entreat all such seriously to ponder in their own hearts Whether by this Opinion of theirs they do not secretly accuse the Lord Christ either for want of Truth or want of Wisdom For what man of Truth will call that a Revelation which is no Revelation at all And what man of Wisdom will say Blessed is he that readeth and keepeth the words of the Prophecie when there is no possibility to reade it so as to understand And particularly Shall the Lord Jesus give serious warning to his Church and People shall he shew them so long before-hand the great sin of the world which shall consist in the worship of the Beast and in receiving of his Mark and when all comes to all shall it be presumption to shew what is the meaning of Christ in these things To what end were they Revealed if there be no use of the Revelation at all and there is no use if it be so difficult that it cannot possibly be understood It was a special part of Love in Christ to send and signifie to his Servants things that must come shortly to pass But what part of Love is it to signifie it in that manner that they cannot possibly understand what he meaneth You will say It was revealed to some Select ones I grant that some of the Servants of Christ have a peculiar Gift to understand the Typical Expressions in this Prophecie as every Member in the Church hath his peculiar Gift dispensed to the edification of the whole Body and therefore they are bound to lay out their Talent this way for the common good But what shall we say of them that account it curiosity in any whosoever to meddle with these studies and are absolutely for the concealing of these things from the People But if it be alledged That Experience sheweth how they have been deceived who have bestowed their pains in this kind of study I Answer The same Experience plainly sheweth That they who have come with a sincere mind to finde out the Truth to study the whole Body of the Prophecie to compare Time with Time Vision with Vision and the Prophecies with the Stories have had a good return of their Labours I may say without prejudice to those that went before That Bullinger in his time Brightman in his time Grasserus in his time Mede in his time each of these have made their several and respective Additions to the clearing of the Prophecie If we endeavour to carry on the Work where they left it at least with the same Industry and Fidelity we may by the blessing of God be the instruments of bringing those Mysteries to light that were not discerned in former Ages And for my part I do firmly believe That God will not cease to raise up such in the times following as shall clear the things that have layen dark in the Prophecies and do yet remain hid to us But for the present because many think that the Name of the Beast and the Number of the Name are unsearchable Mysteries let me lay down some Reasons to prove the Possibility and the Evidence of the Discovery First The Name of the Beast and the Number of his Name are the Essential Characters of a State or Government obvious to the view of men It is said of the Writings of S. Paul that there are many things in them hard to be understood 2 Pet. 3. 16. There may be good Reason given for this to wit The sublimity and the spiritualness of the matter for a Natural man that hath no Experience in his own heart how can he judge of the meaning of the Apostle when he speaketh of the Life of the Spirit of the leading of the Spirit of the Comfort of the Spirit of the putting off of the Old man and the putting on of the New When a man hath no experience how can he understand these things that are so largely spoken of in the Epistle to the Romans Now it is not so with the Name of the Beast and his Mark these are the Badges of a Government obvious to the Senses of all men If there be any difficulty it lieth only in the typical and figurative way of expression Secondly The Name of the Beast and the Number of the Name are the essential Characters of a State or Government which the Church hath had long experience of for many Ages For the Monarchical Kingdom of Christ that shall be over Jews and Gentiles in the latter times though there are many things spoken in the Scriptures concerning this Dominion yet there are sundry passages hard to be determined because the event hath not yet shewed the meaning of the Prophecie Now there is nothing wanting so far as it concerneth the event to make known to the Church what is meant by the Name of the Beast and the Number of the Name Thirdly The Name of the Beast and the Number of the Name are such Characters that the Church in Being hath the present Experience of Many things are dark in the Old Prophets because the Stories of those times are lost to us The Jews could better understand the meaning of some Prophecies than we can And I believe the greatest Knot in Expounding the 70 weeks of Daniel lieth principally in this To shew precisely and determinately where that Number of Time doth begin There is an excellent agreement between the Greek Historians about the respective times of the Kings of Persia But the Knot lyeth in this Rightly to determine who that Darius was in whose times the Temple was built and the City repaired This thing was better known to the ancient Jews than it is to us But now for the Name of the Beast the Mark and the Number of the Name there is not the like Reason of darkness in these because they
conjectural Knowledge and go no further So in the present case touching the Beast his Name Mark and Number men do only take up with a Topical Knowledge yet I am perswaded if they would look to the Principles laid down in the whole Bodie of the Prophecie they would finde that here is a certain Demonstration to be had and that they need not go to literal Names to numeral Letters to Anagrammatisms and to such-like uncertainties Thus I have passed through the two Prooemial Points The First Concerning the Profit and Use of the Discovery The Second Concerning the Possibility thereof and that there are true Principles of Demonstration to Discover the meaning of the Spirit Now I will come to the Body of the Treatise CHAP. III. That the Name of the Beast is not the word Lateinos or any other Grammatical word but the name is The Universal Power and Headship of the Beast immediately opposed to the Power Dominion and Headship of the Lamb. FOr the carrying on of the whole Work we will divide the Matter into Two Parts into that which is Doctrinal which concerns the Truth of the thing and into that which is Practical which is for Use. For the Doctrinal Part We will First handle the Substance of the Interpretation Secondly We will prove it by sundry places of Scripture and by the Harmony of the Prophecie For the Truth of the Interpretation We will First shew what is meant by the Name Secondly What is meant by the Number of the Name For the Name It is most necessary that we should begin with the Exposition what it signifieth For the right Stating of the Name doth much conduce to the Knowledge of the Number It is the Number of the Name and therefore unless we shew what the Name is we cannot finde out the Number All true Learning sheweth That in every Demonstration we are to begin with a right Exposition of the Subject And whereas in a manner all the Learned down from the times of Irenaeus have taken Lateinos for the Name and the Numeral Letters for the Number of the Name Herein they have been greatly deceived as we can prove by many solid Reasons And some of our own Interpreters also have suspected the vanity of this way These are the words of Iunius in his Notes upon the Revelation Chap. 13. vers 18. I am not ignorant saith he that men bring other Interpretations of the place but by their leave I also have brought my Interpretation to be compared and that for this reason specially because to me it seemeth not probable nor like That the Number of the Beast or the Name of the Beast ought so to be taken as the common strain of Interpretors will have it For saith he this Number of the Beast he scil the Beast teacheth giveth and imprinteth as the publick Note of his own which Note he highly rateth above others as the Note of his beloved Ones Now these Interpretations seem to be so far wide from the Propriety and Condition of this Number whether we respect the Name Latinus or Titan or any such like For these the Beast doth not teach give nor imprint but with the greatest care forbiddeth them to be taught and boldly denieth them He doth not allow but disallow them and those which do so esteem of this Number he doth persecute with a direful hatred So far Iunius Let us now adde the words of Chamier in his Panstratia Tom. 2. lib. 17. cap. 8. sect 5 6. Truly saith he this way of Interpretation that I may speak freely what I think seemeth to be far wide from the manner of the Spirit and to come too neer to the dreams of the Cabalists Whereas we read in the Sybils Verses That Iesus is described by 888 this is a bable and not from the Spirit of God Secondly This cannot be the proper Name of one Man seeing we have formerly shewed the Error of them who will have Antichrist to be one Individual Person Therefore of necessity it must be either a Name common or a Name proper to some State But by what right may the Name of the Beast be called common and for a Name proper to some particular State no man hath brought that to Light Thirdly It is not said that it is the Number of the Name only but here is a prohibition to men That they shall not buy nor sell that have not the Number of the Name How this may be understood of that Cabalistical supputation of the Letters I cannot discern Neither can I discern how other men may have the Number of the Name Farther What is the way of Computing Is it Hebrew Greek or Latin But it is not the manner of the Latines to count by Letters therefore it must be a Greek or an Hebrew Name But how can Antichrist assume such a Name to himself that is only peculiarly known in the Schools So far Chamier I might here recite the words of Danaeus Mr Forbes and others but these Testimonies shall suffice to take away prejudice from me because I do forsake the ordinary stream of Interpreters and do look after such a Name of the Beast which is more true The Work which I have more specially to perform is positively to prove That the Name of the Beast is the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome and by the same Reasons by and through which I will disprove Lateinos I will prove the Universal Headship to be the Name of the Beast And the Reasons are as followeth First I argue from the main Scope of the Text concerning the Beast as he is a Monarchical King and here I say his Name must necessarily be his Sovereign Power and Headship The Rabbins have a good Observation What God himself is that his Name is So I may say What the Beast himself is that his Name is The Beast not only in this Text but all the Prophecie throughout is described as a Monarchical King therefore the Name of the Beast must be his Universal Power and Headship Object Seeing the Name of a thing person or State is of so doubtful a meaning what warrant is there to take the Name of the Beast for his Sovereign Power and Headship Answ. I confess That the Name of a thing person or State is ambiguously taken But yet for all this it is not so Obscure if we will take the right course to understand the Scripture Inst. You will say The great Question lieth in finding the right course Rep. The right course lieth in this By looking to the main sense in each text respectively and the main sense will guide the Interpretation Let us come to give some Instances out of the Scripture but more specially out of the Book of the Revelation For Instances out of the Scripture VVe often read of calling upon the Name of the Lord of trusting in the Name of the Lord. Now is not the calling upon the Name of the Lord the calling upon God himself the trusting
received some hints of the Four Metals of Daniel's Image when he spake of the Golden Age under Saturn and of the Silver Age under Iupiter c. We must not think whatsoever is spoken by this Poet to be altogether a Fable That which he saith concerning Deucalion's Flood in many particulars it was a Fable of his own making yet in the general ground we all know that it is a Scripture-Truth that there was a Deluge to drown the world So he speaketh of the Gyants and of their heaping of Pelion upon Ossa we may conceive that in this he had some respect to the Gyants before the Flood and to the building of the Tower of Babel So in the present case when he spoke of the Four Ages of the world of the Golden the Silver the Brass and the Iron-Ages though in this matter to use the Apostles Expression he turned the Truth of God into a Lye yet in the ground it is true That the times of the Church are divided into Four Ages and these Ages are figured by so many Metals of the Image In after times they that lived in the Church and had the right Experience of things did expound the Babylonian to be the Head of Gold the Mede-Persian to be the Silver the Graecian to be the Brass and the Roman to be the Iron This is a true Exposition in the main but in some particulars they have gone too much after Ovid in his Metamorphosis It is true that the Babylonian Monarchy is represented by the Golden-Metal but it is a common Error in the Ancients and now generally among the Historians Chronologers and Writers to begin the Babylonian Monarchy at Ninus Upon the front of many Chronological Tables you shall find That Ninus is Pictured as the Founder of the Babylonian Cyrus of the Persian Alexander of the Graecian Iulius Caesar of the Roman Monarchy This distribution though it may take in a greater compass of time yet it doth not agree with the sense of the Holy Ghost in some chief Circumstances For the beginning of the Babylonian at Ninus Historians have taken this out of thâ—…ir own Heads and not out of the Word of God And from hence Bodin in his Method of History ch p. 7. hath taken occasion to Dispute against the Scriptures and to strike out the Truth because some have mingled their own Inventions with the Word of God He hath taken this Advantage upon the private Errors of some who have stood for the Truth in the main But the latter Expositors do decline this Error of Ninus and do pitch upon this That Nebuchadnezzar is the Head of Gold and that the Babylonian Kingdom doth begin from his Monarchy They find by Experience That the Scriptures do chiefly point to those several Empires that were to stand in fulness of Power one after another in those Countries where somtimes the Kings of the Lineage of David did bear Rule These are the most approved Interpreters which I so call because they go according to the minde of the Scriptures Now according to their grounds it followeth by necessary consequence That the Roman must begin as the Fourth Kingdom in the time of their Free-state when the Church and all the Countries adjoyning came under the Lordship and Dominion of the People of Rome And whereas in the Chronographical Tables Iulius Caesar is set forth as the Founder of the Roman Empire this is as false an imagination as that of Ninus First It is clear That every Metal-Kingdom did rise and encrease by the destruction of the Empire that went before Now what part or parcel of the Graecian Empire did Iulius Caesar bring under the Power of the Romans Secondly What part or parcel of the Nations about the Borders of the Church did he bring under the Roman Obedience If we speak in a Latitude Caesar did change the Free-state into the Government by One yet to speak accurately The Roman did not begin then as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom but in the times of Pompey when the Jewish Church came under the Obedience of that Nation And so our Argument is Founded upon the Principles of the best Expositors for the true beginning of the Roman Kingdom Now then to gather all into one sum we may conclude the Roman to begin as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom when the Church came under the Dominion of that People This is demonstrated First By the Analogie of the Three former Metal-Kingdoms which did begin each one as the Church came under their Dominion Secondly By the end of the Graecian Kingdom typed by the Brass-Metal Where the Graecian endeth there the Roman beginneth Thirdly By that which is necessary to the Being of the Fourth Metal-Kingdom which began to be applicable to the Roman in the time aforementioned Fourthly By the Testimony of the Evangelist S. Luke which doth insinuate such a Beginning Fifthly By the Principles of the latter and most Approved Interpreters which being rightly laid do necessarily prove such a Beginning also Having thus laid the Foundation I should now proceed to the Building But there are some few Objections that yet remain to be Answered Object 1. Mr Mede standeth upon it That the Roman came up by the same degrees as the Graecian went down Therefore there can be no determinate and set time of the Beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom Sol. What he speaketh in his Apostacy of the latter-times concerning the gradual encrease of the greatness of the Romans we do yield to be a truth in the main But we here speak of the beginning of the Roman in a more strict sense in that acception as it is in the Fourth Metal-Kingdom And here as there was a determinate time of the beginning of the Babylonian Persian and Graecian Empires So there must be a determinate beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom Secondly Daniel saw in the Vision the Four Beasts come up out of the Sea one after another and the Fourth Beast last of all There must then be some determinate time of the beginning of the Fourth Empire Thirdly It is the plot of the Spirit by the Four Empires to decypher so many periods of time According to this Rule If there be no certain beginning of the Fourth Metal-Kingdom there will be a Chasme There will be some part of time which will be long to no Metal of the Image For as Mr Mede himself doth allow The Image doth comprehend Four great Revolutions of time to begin one after another in an orderly succession These are his own words Apost pag. 69. For the true account of the times in Scripture we must have recourse to that Secret Kalendar and Great Almanack of Prophecie The Four Kingdoms of Daniel which are a Prophetical Chronologie of times measured by the Succession of Four Principal Kingdoms from the beginning of the Captivity of Israel until the Mysterie of God should be finished A course of time during which the Church and the Nation of the Iews together
of men that had persevered and held out for Christ against the Power and Headship of Antichrist in all the time of that Tribulation And yet as this matter is one it is branched into several Considerations First If you speak of the Papacy as a State or Government afflicting the Saints so it is called a Beast like to one of the Beasts in Daniel Secondly If you speak of the Universal Headship wherein the form and essence of the Kingdom doth consist this is the Name of the Beast Thirdly If you speak of that Universal Headship as a Representative of that Soveraign Majesty that was formerly lost in Rome Imperial and now repaired in Rome Papal this is the Image of the Beast Fourthly If you speak of the publick profession of this Universal Headship in the society of men this is the Mark of the Beast Fifthly If you speak of the time when this Universal Headship began visibly and remarkably to appear this is the Number of the Beast and more specially of his Name and Headship All these are so many distinct Apocalyptical Considerations which agree in one main Truth in the general And thus having spoken of the Law of the Beast in the three branches thereof we will now come to speak more briefly of the other particulars because they are more easie to be understood Secondly For the Law-maker the Power by and through which he caused all to receive the Mark this is a Spiritual Christ-like efficacy prevailing in the Consciences of men to make them subject to his Laws It is said of the Monarchy of Nebuchadnezzar that the most High God did give to him a Kingdome And for the Majesty that he gave him all People Nations and Languages trembled and feared before him whom he would he slew and whom he would he kept alive Chap. 5. ver 18 19. So the Beast in the Revelation hath the same transcendent power he causeth all to receive a Mark whether rich or poor bond or free male or female he compelleth all to yield obedience as they sometimes did that were under the power of Nebuchadnezzar But here is the difference The power of Nebuchadnezzar was more external over the bodies of men this is more internal over their Mindes and Consciences and by consequence over their bodies also Secondly They thaâ—… were under the Jurisdiction of Nebuchadnezzar had they been left to their free choyce they would have been glad to have enjoyed their liberty but now for those that lived in subjection to the See of Rome for the most part the matter was far otherwise with them they would not be free if they might The Kings of the Earth divided in Interests and in many Civil respects all of them could agree in this one thing To give their Power to the Beast Rev. Ch. 17. They thought they could not be saved unless in all Realms there was a Universal subjection to this Headship given by Christ himself as they thought to Peter and his Successors And for the time of the publick Institution of this Universal Headship there were some preparations and previous workings towards the setting up of this Power but there was no publick Establishment thereof till the time of the Emperor Phocas Let us hear what Mr. Fox in his Acts and Monuments speaketh concerning this matter Pag. 108. Col. 2. But Rome saith he would not so soon lose the Supremacy once given as the giver lost his life For ever since from that day she hath holden defended and maintained the same still and yet doth to this present day by all force and policy possible And thus much concerning Boniface whom by the words of Gregory we may call the Fore-runner of Antichrist For as Gregory brought in the style Servus Servorum So this Boniface brought into their heads first Volumus Mandamus Statuimus Praecipimus that is We Will and Command We Injoyn and Charge you The same is mentioned by Paraens in his Commentary upon the Revelation Chap. 6. ver 12. From whence I gather As the Bishops of Rome have had a Mandatory Power in and over the Church so this first began in the time of the Emperor Phocas in the Decree of the Universal Headship Thirdly Let us consider the persons who they are that are subject to his Power He commandeth all both small and great rich and poor to receive a Mark. The greatness of rich men cannot procure a toleration neither can the meanness of poor men exempt them by their poverty Bullinger upon the place speaketh very pithily We see saith he that Emperors Kings Dukes Marquesses Earls Barons Realms Countreys Cities Patriarchs Archbishops Bishops Prelates Doctors Clerks and Lay men obey him And also men of the greatest Power Riches Wisdome together with the poor people There is no such Kingdome and so diversly compact in the whole world no not among the Mahometans And all these are willingly subject to the Seat yea they have perswaded themselves that they cannot well live and that they cannot be saved unless they be subject to the See of Rome So far Bullinger From hence we gather that the event doth fully answer the Prophecy for we see by experience how all the world hath worshipped the Beast and received his Mark. And whereas some to illude this truth have pleaded that the Popish Churches in France do not own the Pope for Head of the Church We will easily grant that they may not be so strictly obliged to the Popes Chair in some temporal respects yet it is too plain that his Authority is set up in their Consciences and that they are subject to his Laws Fourthly Let us consider the punishment to be inflicted upon those that have not the Mark in the Forehead and in the right-hand they are forbidden to buy or sell. Mr. Mede doth take this for Excommunication or casting out of Church-fellowship But rather the words signifie a cutting off from all civil commerce among men Yea if we compare the Scriptures we shall finde that it was present death for any man to refuse to have the Mark in the forehead and in the right-hand Therefore when Iohn saw the Souls of those that were beheaded for the Word of God and the testimony of Iesus that had not worshipped the Image nor received the Mark Chap. 20. ver 4. he doth plainly shew that the beheading was for the Non-worship of the Beast and for the not receiving of the Mark We may conclude then when men are exempted from buâ—…ing and selling this is a Synecdoche By this one all other kindes of punishment whatsoever are understood And thus we have seen the matter of the Law the Law-maker the persons subject to the Law and the penalty upon all such as shall refuse subjection Let us now come to the several particulars which concern the right calculation of the Number First For the Person who it is that must make the discovery It is such a one as hath wisdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
the Spirit saith to the Churches There are many excellent things that he speaketh to the Churches in the way of Reproof in the way of Advice and in the way of Comfort yet onely he that hath an ear to hear will understand the meaning of his words And so in the present case when it is said Here is wisdome let him that hath understanding count the Number of the Beast This implieth That this matter must be found out by some subtilty of observation The person that doth inquire must be such a one as hath wisdome Secondly For the manner of discovery it must be by calculation of the Number and therefore it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him count the Number of the Beast The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth such a kinde of Numbring as is by Counters or Stones of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lapillus Calculus But in the ordinary and common use it doth promiscuously note any kinde of reckoning And therefore it is said concerning the man that went about to build a Tower 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he counteth or reckoneth the cost Luke 14. 28. And so in the present case there is a computation or way of account to finde out the mystery of the Number But here is the difference betwixt Interpreters some go to the extraction of the root some to the numeral Letters of the name Lateinos But of these we have spoken in part already and we shall further shew the vanity of this way in the process of the Discourse We will therefore come positively and plainly to set down the meaning of the Spirit And we shall finde That there is nothing more familiar in the Predictions of Prophetical Scriptures then for the Spirit to foretel remarkable occurrences by a definite number of years to every such occurrence Of many Examples that may be given take these few When the Lord would give Noah warning concerning the Flood he told him That such a Number of years should fulfil their course and then the Flood should come My Spirit shall not alway strâ—…ve with man yet his dayes shall be an hundred and twenty years Gen. 6. 3. So when he made a Promise to Abraham that he would give to his Posterity the Land of Canaan for an Inheritance he told him That 400 years should run compleat to the performance of the Promise Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years and afterwards they shall come out with great substance Gen. 15. 13 14 15. Further when the people of the Jews were carried captive into Babylon in the times of Ieâ—…kims Captivity to these the Prophet Ieremy did send a Consolatory Letter in which he did declare two things of eminent note Their remarkable deliverance and the overthrow of the Babylonian Empire Yet withall â—…e did declare That seventy years must first be fulfilled and accomplished at Babylon before their deliverance wiâ—… come And these Nations shall serve the King of Babylon seventy years and when seventy years are accomplished then will I visit the King of Babylon Jer. 25. ver 11 12. And again Thus saith the Lord After seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you and perform my good word towards you in causing you to return unto this place Jer. 29. 10 11. Last of all when Daniel himself was mâ—…sing on the truth of the Promise of God and gave himself to understand the Times and to pray in faith for the accomplishment of the Promises he had a further discovery of the seventy weeks that should lead him to the times of the Messiah to his Passion to the Preaching of the Gospel among all Nations and to the destruction of Ierusalem Now to the performance of these things it was shewed to him That there must be seventy Sevens or seventy weeks of years or 490 years in all to begin and commence from the building of the second Temple which line of years if he followed it would bring him to that time when all these things should be fulfilled By these Examples it is manifest That it is a frequent thing in Prophetical Scriptures to foretell future occurrences and to shew the Number of years that shall pass before the event If this be so we have a rational ground to build upon when we make 666 the Number of years to the setting up of the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome But for the further clearing of the truth That the study and the calculation of the Prophetical years is said to be wisdome we can make this appear by some special Examples out of Scripture We reade in the the Prophecy of Daniel In the first year of Darius the son of Ahashuerosh of the seed of the Medes which was made King over the Realm of the Caldeans in the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the Number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Ieremiah the Prophet that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Ierusalem Dan. 9. 1 2 3. Concerning Darius the Mede there is a great Controversie among Chronologers whether he came to the Kingdome of the Caldeans by Conquest or by free Election But let that point be what it will be all do agree in it That Darius the Mede raigned immediately before Cyrus the Persian And it is as clear also by the stories of the times That the first year of Darius the Mede was upon the very dawning of the Churches deliverance In this year then Daniel gave himself to study by books the Number of years that the Lord would accomplish in the Churches desolations In him then by the way let us note That they who have the greatest fulness of Spirit are chiefly imployed in the meditation of the Scriptures And they who are conversant in the Prophetical Scriptures are many times helped out in the knowledge of these things by the Sacred and the Civil Stories But now let us take notice of the process and order of his meditations First he did lay it as a general ground That seventy years must be expired before deliverance will come But now saith he the seventy years of the desolations of Ierusalem begin almost to be fulfilled Therefore in these times we are almost come to the promised deliverance And thereupon he did pray with great faith in the Promises of God as appeareth by the scope of the Chapter Here now in this Syllogism Daniel did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by two known Numbers he did finde out a third unknown His major Proposition was the Prophecy of Ieremy his Assumption was his own experience and the Chaldee Registers of the Time and his Conclusion was the approach of the delivery of the Church And the whole operation in computing the times was by wisdome For these are the words of the Text I Daniel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understood by books Piscator
Doctrine and in the whole Spiritual Government Therefore there ought to be a temper kept for this disease hath always reigned in Princes to desire to bend Religion according to their own pleasure and lust and for their own profits in the mean time So far he In which words two Points are observable First the lawful exercise of the Power of the Supreme Magistrate as it doth keep its due limits in Causes Ecclesiastical Secondly the redundancy and the excess of the Power when it doth tread under foot the Laws of the Church That which these learned men did speak concerning the Supremacy of the Kings of England in Causes Ecclesiastical and the danger of the excess of the Civil Power hath been too truly verified by some in our days not onely to the total ruine of themselves but also to the destruction of that Soveraignty it self which they did so immeasurably exalt And whereas Calvin in the place aforementioned hath these words Et hodie quam multi sunt in Papatu qui regibus accumulant quicquid possunt juris potestatis And at this day saith he how many are there in the Papacy that heap upon Kings whatsoever Right or Power they can possible So that there may not be any Dispute of Religion but this Power shall be in one King to Decree according to his own pleasure whatsoever he list and that should remain fixed without Controversie So far he But we for our parts may not onely say Quam multi in Papatu How many in the Papacy but how many in the Profession of the Protestant Religion have accumulated this great Power upon Princes that they might do what they list in the Church of God and in the determination of matters of Faith In Daniel and the Revelation these things are set down as the true causes of the destruction of Kingdomes That is a most Divine expression of Daniel and the three Children Chap. 2. ver 20 21. Wisdome and might are his and he changeth the times and seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings And for the cause of these Changes it is more particularly expressed Chap. 7. v. 11. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the Horn spake I beheld even till the Beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning fire All solid Interpreters do understand some State or Government to be typed by the Little Horn. Now the destruction of such a State or Government doth arise immediately from hence because of great words which the Horn did speak against the most High Therefore the exorbitancy of the Power against Religion Christ and his Saints is oftentimes the cause of the eversion of States and Kingdomes But that we may more fully understand how far the Power may go and whither it must not go let us consider the examples of the Kings of Iudah And here it is clear That Asa Iehosaphat Hezekiah Iosiah did great things about the affairs of the Church and had a very large testimony for their zeal in the Worship of God yet I am sure none can say that their Power was so transcendent as to abrogate any thing that was appointed or immediately commanded by God in his Word For when Uzziah the King would offer Incense that appertained not to him but to the Sons of Aaron he was imitten with leprosie and compelled to dwell alone as one that should have no commerce nor society with men So Belshazzar the King when he made a Feast to a thousand of his Lords we reade That in the time of the Feast the fingers of a mans hand did appear and write upon the wall the destruction of the King and the Kingdome And the cause of this Judgement is expounded by Daniel himself in these words Chap. 5. ver 25. Thou hast lifted up thy self against the Lord of Heaven and they have brought the vessels of his House before thee and thou and thy Lords thy Wives and thy Concubines have drunk wine in them Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar both by strong convictions and demonstrations were brought to understand That the God of Israel was the onely true God and that they had their Dominion from him Now when they were not contented with this which the Lord had given them but would insult over the Giver and drink wine in the Bowls of the Temple which they had taken with sacrilegious hands this was the cause of the ruine of the King and Kingdome at last There is a remarkable passage of Herodotus in his second Book where he maketh mention of a Statue that was set up to Sennacherib in one of the Temples of Egypt with this Inscription and Title upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whosoever looks upon me let him learn to be pious This Testimony as it hath the greatest probability of truth so doth it singularly well agree with the Story of the Scripture We reade that 185000 were slain in one night in the Camp of the Assyrians by an Angel sent from Heaven Sennacherib himself was killed by his own two sons and that great Empire did decline and lose its vigour by degrees Now if we look into the cause of all this we shall finde That the insolency of that King against God and his Church was that which broke him all to pieces This was done in the sight of all Asia that the world might know that the insolency of the greatest Powers of the Earth against God will prove the certain cause of their destruction But we will conclude this matter with that Exhortation of the Psalmist for so he speaketh to all Princes and Potentates who do intrench upon the Prerogative of Christ Be wise now therefore O ye Kings and be instructed ye Iudges of the Earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way Psa. 2. ver 10 11 12. Now why doth he exhort the Kings and Judges of the Earth to be wise rather then other men They are Gods Vicegerents and there is none greater in Power then they and through the greatness of their place none are more apt to bend Religion according to their own pleasures and lusts then they are Because this is more immediately against the Kingdome of Christ and cometh nearest to Antichristian pride the Psalmist doth advise them to take heed what they do to serve the Lord with fear and to rejoyce with trembling If not he tells them plainly their insolency against Christ and his Church will be a certain cause of their destruction This is made manifest from the beginning of the Psalm The Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lâ—…rd and against his anointed saying Let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us ver 2. Now he doth direct his speech to such as these and tells them plainly That the Lord Christ will break them with a Rod of Iron and dash them
if they keep in those who should be cast out if they abuse the Power of the Keyes which Christ hath committed to their custody if they use the Discipline of the Church meerly as a Rod to smite their fellow-servants In such a case as this is we may say That in respect of their persons the Elders of the Church may resemble the Great Antichrist and may symbolize with him in his Pride and Tyranny yet for all this the Office is Christs and it is from God by divine Institution It were then a very profitable point that the Friends and Followers of the Separation who to justifie their practise do call this Antichristian and that Antichristian would distinguish betwixt the several forms and kindes of Antichristianity For as I have made it appear by the course of this Chapter some things are directly Antichristian and other things are onely Antichristian by consequence and reduction So also some things are Antichristian in respect of the Office it self and other things onely have the form of Antichristianity meerly because of the evil carriage of the person in a lawful Office These things are specially to be noted And so much concerning the several particulars which are truly Antichristian by Analogie and Reduction Let us now go to the third point CHAP. XIV What those things are which are 〈◊〉 onely by the position of some Circumstances as they are truly Christian by the position of others The Conclusion of the whole THere be two things especially that here need to be inquired into The first is concerning the Compulsive Power of the Supreme Magistrate in matters of Religion whether that be Antichristian yea or no The second is Whether it be Antichristian to maintain the future glory and splendor of the Church of Christ upon the Earth For some do think that this position will bring us back again to the Riches and Magnificence of the Popish Church In these two cases we are carefully to distinguish for such may be the Circumstances that these things may symbolize with the Antichristian Patern and such they may be that they may set forth decypher and express that future glory of the Church as it shall be First concerning the Coercive power of the Magistrate we do then acknowledge his Coercion to be Antichristian when he shall constrain men to subject their Consciences to those things which are directly contrary to the Laws of Christ. And of this we have largely spoken in this Treatise when we had occasion to make mention of the two-horned Beast and of his compelling all men to receive a Mark in their Forehead and in their Right-hand There is no doubt to be made but Compulsion in this case is directly Antichristian Secondly Rites and Institutions of Humane Invention though perhaps they may seem to be more innocent yet it doth coast too near upon Antichristian Tyranny to compel the Consciences of men to these things For the Ceremonies of the Church of England when they stood in their vigour men did judge diversly of them Some did esteem them to be Antichristian others did beat them as burthens and a third sort judged them harmless and inoffensive But yet among those who did give the fairest Interpretation there were some who did think it very hard that men should be compelled that the godly Ministers should be deprived and that so many sincere Christians should be subjected to persecution in the Ecclesiastical Courts that no tears or prayers would prevail but that they must either yield or suffer the greatest extremity The instance of the curious Glasses of Pollio the famous Roman is well known It had been better they had been broken then that the Servant should have been so cruelly beaten But now that power is laid aside Thirdly in points more remote from the foundation where the Scriptures seem to run as clear for one opinion as for the other it is very hard in these lesser scruples that they who have the power in their hands should hang the Consciences of other men at their girdles Oftentimes it may come to pass that they who have the Authority have not the Truth on their side and they who have the Truth in the main may be dark in some particulars and may need a better light In this case then must they who dissent be compelled to yield or be censured as Rebels against the Laws of the State This would be an hard Censure yet I will not call it directly Antichristian though the practise may come somewhat too near that method and may resemble it very much But here an Objection may be made concerning the present Heresies which are now in the Land What should be done to the suppression of these I will not enter into the bowels of this Question it being so largely and learnedly handled by others in several Treatises which are now in the hands of all men My desire is onely to keep close to the point of Compulsion so far forth onely as it hath the formality of Antichristianism Therefore as to the present Sects I think it necessary to distinguish between the persons who are Leaders meerly upon Principles of Conscience and those who are led by them For the persons who are Leaders it is expedient also to distinguish betwixt their first Principles and the absurd Deductions and Consequences drawn from those Principles Now for those persons who are Leaders of others meerly upon Principles of Conscience I think it necessary that Compulsion should be more sparingly used and greater care should be to give satisfaction For some Doctrines I believe are now on fooâ—… which have tolerable Principles though they have ill Consequences I will give one instance The Doctrine of the Millenaries for many hundred years from the times of Hierom and Augustine hath gone for an error in the Church of God But to speak truly the error lies in the Consequences and in the ill deductions of falshoods from true Principles For in it self it is true that Christ shall reign upon the Earth a thousand years and this reign shall begin at the dissolution of the Antichristian Kingdome This is the scope of Rev. 20. and it is a hard thing to compel a man to deny such a truth so plainly delivered in the Scriptures Yet I must needs confess as heretofore so now men have mixed this truth with many falsities of their own invention Yea there is scarce an opinion which conscientious men do follow but there is some one Principle or other which doth chiefly incline them to be of that belief It were good then that the conscientious at all seasons were cited to make Confession of their Faith and to render a Reason of the hope that is in them and that there should be a more moderate use of Compulsion But this Question I leave to the large Disputes of others who have copiously handled the subject Now we will come to the other Point where Coercive Power is necessarily to be used Secondly the use
of the Coercive Power is so far from being Tyrannical or Antichristian that it is most necessary for the suppression of Blasphemies and Reproaches against the known Truth of God For some fall into a contrary extream they think all Compulsion to be illegal And hereupon they are for an absolute boundless and universal Toleration of all Opinions never considering the Circumstances but desperately passing from one extream to another If they did well consider the matter there is no ground for Toleration of Blaspemous Opinions rightly so called For perhaps some either through passion or ignorance or both may bestow such an opprobious Title upon the Truth We have a clear instance for this in the glorious state of the Church mentioned by Zachary And it shall come to pass when any shall yet Prophesie then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him Thou shalt not live for thou speakest lyes in the Name of the Lord. And his father his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth Zaâ—…h 13. 3. It is clear that these things are spoken concerning the glorious times of the Church at the call of the Jews when the Lord shall pour upon that Nation the Spirit of Grace and supplication when they shall look to the Messiah whom they have crucified when there shall be a Fountain opened to the House of David and to the Inhabitants of Ierusalem for sin and for uncleanness Their chief sin is their enmity against the Gospel and the justification of their Ancestors for the Crucifying of Christ. When this sin shall be mourned over and pardoned then the Lord doth promise That all Idols shall be taken out of the land and such zeal shall be to the Truth that the Parents themselves rather then fail should concur to the coercion of such a Son who should prophesie lyes in the Name of the Lord. But there is a great question touching this expression His father and mother that begat him shall thrust him through This cannot be taken according to the letter for it belongs only to the Magistrate to have the power of life and death We are to expound this phrase according to the analogie of the Old Testament where the Parents were to bring their Son to the Elders of the Gate And so proportionably in the times of the New Testament when all other means should be tryed in vain the Parents themselves shall bring their Son to the Civil Magistrate to suffer rather then the truth it self should suffer Many have endeavored to avoid the force of this Scripture and to illude it by distinctions but for my part I cannot see but it is of great force against fundamental errors rightly and truly so called which tend to the apparent and manifest ruine of the Doctrine of Salvation and to the great hurt of the Souls of men Though the affections of Parents are tender towards their Children yet in those wonderful times the Prophet doth insinuate that they shall be more tender to the truth and to the welfare of the Church of God In a comparative sense then it is said That his father and mother that begat him shall thrust him through Further though a Toleration may be granted to tender Consciences yet the profane the careless and those that never minde the Salvation of their Souls ought not to be left to their free indifferency the Magistrate should use Comâ—…ulsion to them to bring them to the Publick Worship For if we travel through the Land in the length and breadth thereof we cannot probably presume any other but that the greater part would desire rather to live like Heathens without God and without Christ in the world If that be true which is spoken of some places it is much to be lamented That the people are left destitute of the means of their Salvation Let the richer sort pay no Tythes or that which is equivalent have them at an easie rate Let the Youth have their pleasures and pastimes upon the Lords-day I believe it matters not much with these whether there be any publick Worship or no. If it be wholly at their choyce the Church or the Publick-place of Meeting may well be left for Jack-Daws or such like Birds to build in So little do they minde the means of their Salvation In such a case I conceive the Supreme Magistrate the Keeper of both the Tables the Vicegerent of Christ upon the Earth is to compel men to come to the Publick-places of Worship So did the godly Kings of Iudah and so have the Christian States and Governments ever done they have demolished the Monuments of Idolatry established the Publick Ordinances and have compelled the more ignorant and rude sort to wait upon the means of their Salvation And this I take to be the meaning of the Parable When the Lord sent forth his servants to invite guests to the Wedding go out into the high-ways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled Luke 14. ver 23. Here two Questions are to be demanded The first is What is meant by the guests that did lie in the high-ways and the hedges Secondly Why should compulsion be used rather toward them then to the two former kindes For the guests that did lie in the hedges we must necessarily understand the ruder and more ignorant sort of people as the wanderers and beggars from door to door Of these we cannot give a reason what rule of Marriage they do observe what difference there is betwixt father and childe we may probably presume that the greater part of them live without God and without Christ without the consideration of Heaven or Hell or the future state of the Soul hereafter These are the guests that lie in the high-ways and in the hedges Now why is it that Compulsion should be used towards these rather then the other two kinde of guests The reason I take it is this That they have not a tolerable discretion to judge of that which is good for their Salvation and therefore compulsion should be used towards such brutish kinde of men And though they would lose their own Souls by what lies in them yet the Magistrate or the Minister should not lose them For the two former kinde of guests the one was of a more civil education for being invited to the Marriage they did all plead their necessary imployments one had married a wife another had bought five yoke of Oxen and a third had bought a parcel of Land The inordinate affection to some one worldly thing or other is the true cause why men do not come to Christ to take him as their Lord and Husband Though they have a minde to come yet they are loth to deny such a particular profit or pleasure that is dear to them Now concerning these we reade That the servant was not to compel them to come to the Wedding only the Lord said None of these shall taste of my Supper
the other side I conceive That it is too high to call Hen. 8. or any other Supreme Magistrate an Head much more a good Head of the Church the eminency transcendency and sublimity of that Prerogative belonging to Christ alone Our Princes have used such a Title and in the sense of the Statute in a moderate way the people have ascribed it to them to wit a Spiritual Power Authority and Jurisdiction that ever have belonged to Kings and Princes which David Solomon the Kings of Iudah and Christian Emperours have ever exercised in their respective Dominions This no doubt hath been the sense of well-meaning men and so Mr. Bedel doth expound it in the forementioned place and pag. 56. But for my part being inlightned and better informed I pray God such Titles be no more used and let that passage Next under thee and thy Christ in all Causes Ecclesiastical in these His Majesties Dominions Supreme Head and Governour Let the exuberancy of such a Title pass among the iniquity of our holy things Our godly Friends have been offended at it our Enemies have insulted Experience hath shewed much danger in the use of it and the present Treatise I doubt not will shew what an evil thing it is to take away the Prerogative of Christ and to make other Heads of the Church in his room Of all men living the Erastians have greatest cause to look to this For let Princes be once told That there is no Church-Government in the Word of God and that they themselves are the sole Fountains of Church-Power By this means it will be effected That the Name and Power of Christ over his own Church will be plucked down and the Name and Headship of Princes will be onely set up In matters of this nature if you give an Inch men will take an Ell. Rather for acts past we should often think upon that expression of the Prophet I will pour upon the House of David and the inhabitants of Ierusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication and they shall look to him whom they have pierced Zach. 12. 10. Christ is not onely pierced in a literal sense when his body is run thorow with a Spear but he is pierced also when his Name and Headship is taken away from him and given to another So far as a whole Nation have been mediately or immediately directly or indirectly implicated and involved in such a sin so far I believe they ought to mourn If this be not done God perhaps may rebuke us when our Armies go forth against those that Worship the Beast and uphold his Name and Headship in enmity to the Government of Christ. Though not in the favour of the enemy yet we may be chastised for our own faults and the Lord may be provoked to appear against us When the Lamb went forth on his white Horse against the Beast and his Armies the Armies that followed were upon white Horses cloathed in fine linen white and clean Rev. 19. 14. Further also by the process of this Discourse information may be given to certain in these Times who being led by the meer shew and colour of some passages in the Prophesies do think it a part of their duty to level Magistracy abolish Laws and to turn all things up-side down in Church and Common-wealth Of such I may say That they mingle the precious Truths of God with Fables of their own commenting In the Metamorphosis of Ovid we reade of the Beginning of the World of the Chaos of the Giants heaping of Pelion upon Ossa of Deucalions Flood of the Four Ages of the Golden the Silver the Brazen and the Iron Age. These things are not all Fictions because they have some ground of truth in the Scripture neither are they all truths because they are mingled with Fictions of the invention of man Of the same kinde are some Authors who are for the Fifth Monarchy they think that the setting up of the Kingdome of Christ will be the Dissolution of all Earthly Kingdomes But by the purport and whole drift of the present Discourse they may understand That the Kingdome of Christ is not contrary to Governments Powers and Authorities purely as such but onely to Governments as Idolatrous as Tyrannical as contrary to the Laws of Christ and of his Church In the Prophecy of Daniel the Empire of Babel is resembled to a Lyon of Persia to a Bear of Greece to a Leopard of Rome to a Beast of divers shapes All these Monarchies erected and set up on the ruines of the Davidical Kingdome are parallell'd to so many Beasts Buâ—… to what Beast shall we resemble in its right constitution the Davidical Kingdome it self In the Book of the Revelation the Angel doth expresly say That there were eight Kings and yet the Beast had but seven Heads Chap. 17. How can this be I have fully proved That the Dynasty Race and Succession of the Christian Caesars do make the seventh Roman King but no Head of the Beast Therefore the Mediatoriâ—…n Kingdom of Christ is not contrary to Governments as such neither is nor ever shall be built upon the ruines of Governments as Governments but upon the ruines of Governments onely as Tyrannical and opposite to the Laws of the Gospel There is no such cause then why solid and judicious men in these dayes should set aside this kinde of Learning which is so much for the Credit Authority of the Christian Magistrate And for the Government of the Church in some Points if I am not mistaken there is in this Prophecy as strong if not stronger proof then in any other Book of the New Testament As for Example Though Bishops are put down the Service-Book taken away the Ordination of Ministers brought neerer the Rule all this being done men are not pleased What is the cause of the Difference The difficulty lies in the Church-state Robinson and others of that way do plead That we have no Example for a National Church in the New Testament and the bringing in of whole Nations by the power of the Magistrate this is the principal Rock of Offence I confess it is true that we have no Example of a National Church in the Apostles time For how could all Nations come in at that particular instant when the greater part of them did still remain in their Idolatries and the Emperors themselves were the greatest Enemies of the Church Now if we apply our selves to the Book of the Revelation we shall plainly see how the Spirit doth foretel That after the Preaching of the Gospel the Church should fall under grievous Persecutions in all the times of the Pagan Caesars when that time is ended the Empire it self shall become Christian. What else should be the meaning of that expression Now is come Salvation and Strength and the Kingdome of our God and the Power of his Christ Rev. 12. 10. This doth note no other but the setting up of the Gospel in the Throne in the times of
a third 〈◊〉 Brass that should rule over all and then last of all a Kingdom of Iron which should break in pieces and suâ—…due all the former Metals But how is this verified in the Fourth Kingdom The strength and power of the Kingdom was chiefly in the Iron-Legs when it came to the Feet and Toes it then became divided and was partly strong and 〈◊〉 broken If we look narrowly to the words there is a description of the Fourth Kingdom in the 〈◊〉 â—…ate thereof First It iâ—… described as one intire Kingdom ruâ—…ing over all the Earth and so it was in the first times when it was in the Iron Legs Secondly It is described as a divided Kingdom into many parts and so it was in its last times in the Feet part of Iron and part of Clay If this be so How far doth Piscator and other Interpreters of his way depart from the Truth First They make the Fourth the mightiest Kingdom to consist meerly of the Fragments and broken pieces of Alexander's Dominion Secondly That which is more They make it a Kingdom broken and divided in all its times when it became divided in its last times only Thirdly They plead the mixture of Marriages between the Seleucâ—…dae and the Lagidae in the Iron-Legs of the Image and yet it standeth them upon to prove That the Fourth Kingdom was divided when it was in the Iron-Legs The Scripture saith no such thing but rather the contrary as long as it was in the Iron-Legs it was an absolute intire and undivided Kingdom And therefore where there is no division into pieces what need is there of mingling to make an Union Secondly They usually take it for granted That the Fourth Kingdom is divided into two parts and therefore they mainly insist upon the division between the Seleucidae and the Lagidae We yield that there is a division in the Feet and Toes of the Image but how is it proved That this is a division into Two parts only and no more The words of the text are these The Legs were of Iron and the Feet part of Iron and part of Clay The Chaldee hath it Out of those parts that wâ—…e of Iron and those parts that were of Clay The materials of the Feet were Iron and Clay of these the several parts of the Fourth Kingdom were tempered But how is it proved That the Kingdom was divided into Two parts only and no more They that build upon this as upon an undoubted Principle should first make it appear That it is so For where doth Daniel in his Exposition make mention of any such bipartite State How can this be proved from his words For thus it is in the text Whereas thou sawest the Feet and Toes part of Potters Clay and part of Iron the Kingdom shall be divided or as Iunius rendreth it Râ—…gna erunt diversâ—… There shall be diverse Kingdoms But how is it proved That the Kingdom is divided only into Two parts and that the diverse Kingdoms are only two and no more Let us refer that matter to that other description chap. 7. And is there any thing there spoken to prove the bipartite State of the Fourth Kingdom For if we must suppose That the Seleucidae and the Lagidae are the Two Iron-Legs or divisions of the Fourth Empire why is not this repeated again or somthing to this purpose in the seventh Chapter All agree in it That there is a description of one and the same Kingdom in both texts Now then in the seventh Chapter there is no mention made of this division only there it is said That Ten Kings or Kingdoms shall arise and another shall arise up after them Here it is plainly said what that Number of Kingdoms is into which the Fourth Empire shall be divided scil into Ten inferiour Realms These then are the parts of the Fourth Empire that shall mingle themselves with the seed of men in the latter times of that Dominion There is nothing spoken in the text conâ—…erning the bipartite State nothing concerning the Seleucidae and the Lagidae but that multiplicity of lesser States in the Feet and Toes of the Image are here defined and declared to be Ten in Number the proper Character and print-mark of the Roman Dominion Rev. 17. Object You will say That the two Legs of the Image do signifie the double state of the Fourth Kingdom and these are the Seleucidae and the Lagidae Sol This is but a Fancy as I have formerly proved for if you look to the Exposition of the text in Daniel's own words The Fourth Kingdom was so far from being bipartite that it was not at all partite or divided as long as it was in the Legs the division beginning only in the Feet and Toes But if any stand upon the Analogie and similitude That therefore the Kingdom must be divided into Two parts because there are two Legs in the Body of man I would here know also by the same method of Interpretation what is meant by the Knees the Ancles and other parts of the Legs Must we finde out a signification for all these The Kingdom of Babel is compared to an Head of Gold must we look then what is signified by the Eyes the Nose the Mouth the Beard the Lips and other parts of the Head and so apply several significations to the Babylonian Kingdom This were to trifle in a serious matter It is a good observation of Dr Willets That the Image is no Natural but a voluntary sign and therefore we are not to seek for a signification beyond the intent of the Type The intent of the Type by the Legs of the Image as by the lowest region and part of the Body of Man is to set forth the Fourth and last Monarchical Kingdom and the Fourth and last period of time We can prove no more by the similiâ—…ude than it will signifie and here it is plain That the Two Legs do signifie no more than the Two Thighs the Two Sides and these do not signifie the bipartite State of the Third Kingdom Thirdly They take it for a granted Truth That the twodivided State is the proper Character of the Graecian Kingdom and therefore they look to the Seleucidae or Lagidae as the immediate parts and divisions of that Empire But herein also they are greatly deceived For it is plain from chap. 8. That the Graecian is quadri-partite In a famous change of State that Empire became divided into Four Kingdoms The Goat is the Kingdom of Graecia the Four Horns are Four Kingdoms that shall arise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of that Nation vers 22. And this is the reason wherefore the Third Beast is said to have Four Heads because of the quadri-partite Estate of that Empire From whence we collect That Piscator and other Interpreters that follow his judgement do erre from the Truth when they would have the Seleucidae and the Lagâ—…dae to be the two parts of the Greek Empire To speak properly Neither the
Graecian nor the Roman can be set forth by this Character sith the Graecian is described in the Scripture in the nature of a Tetrarchy or a Kingdom divided into Four parts and the Roman in the nature of a Decarchy or a Kingdom divided into ten inferiour Realms These are the Three False Principles on which Interpreters do usually build and therefore the interpretation cannot be good that standeth upon such a sandy foundation For the mixture of Marriages which Piscator calleth Evidentem collationem an evident collation I do acknowledge that the mixture of Marriages mentioned chap. 2. is again repeated chap. 11. In the one text it is said That they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men And in the other That there is an interchangeable Marriage one or two betwixt the Seleucidae and the Lagidae But what of all this They that are like in some things are not altogether the same If that general rule Omne simile non est idem were observed in the Exposition of Daniel and the Revelation we should have a cleerer sense of some Visions then now we have But this great Fallacy hath imposed upon Interpreters they have taken that for the same which is parallel in some things only There are some that have gone so far in these times as that they have taken the little Horn for some late Princes some for Mahomet and some for this and some for that Here I confess there may be a similitude in some particulars and the Allusion may hold in some few Circumstances But if you go to the whole Body of the notes of the little Horn and to the scope of the text here it will be very hard to make good the Assertion There is a resemblance only between the Marriages mentioned chap. 2. and chap. 11. But if we go to the main scope the whole carriage of the text doth plainly shew That the Roman is the Fourth Kingdom and so consequeâ—…ly the mixture of Marriages and the mingling 〈◊〉 the seed of men must necessarily be in the Roman Kingdom And yet further To satisfie the doubt They who do look more diligently into the sense of the Prophecie they find many things in the Graecian which are but as Types and Figures of some notable events in the Roman Kingdom Let us take for Instance the little Horn mentioned in the Eighth of Daniel Now here all do agree That Antiochus Epiphanes is the little Horn meant in this Chapter yet whosoever he is that diligently readeth the words of St. Paul in 2 Thess. 2. he shall find that the Apostle doth apply many things to the Roman Antichrist and so doth Iohn in the Revelation that are here ascribed to Antiochus Epiphanes To salve the matter Interpreters tell us That Antiochus is the Figure of the Antichrist to come We may proceed in the same Method and so we may say That the interchangeable Marriages between the Seleucâ—…dae and the Lagidae are but Figures of the future mingling with the seed of men and of all other means that shall be used to the keeping up of the Roman Kingdom in the last and Antichristian State thereof But let us proceed Piscator The same thing also may be cleerly demonstrated from the words vers 34 35. where Daniel among many other things doth speak unto the King Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands which smote the Image upon the Feet that were part of Iron and part of Clay and brake them to pieces And the stone which smote the Image became a great Mountain and filled the whole Earth This Stone Daniel doth expound vers 44. to be the Kingdom that never shall be destroyed and is the Kingdom of Christ for the Kingdom of Christ began then to fill the whole Earth by the preaching of the Gospel after the overthrow of those Four Kingdoms as it is evident from the text And truly about the beginning of the Roman Empire Christ was Born when Augustus did bear Rule c. In the 35 year from his Birth he sent the holy Spirit from Heaven into the Apostles with whose Power they being endued did Preach the Gospel first at Ierusalem to the Iews and then afterward everywhere in the whole world to the Gentiles as the Book of the Acts doth testifie Therefore sith at the Rising of the Kingdom of Christ and at his filling the whole Earth the Fourth Kingdom prefigured by this Image was already destroyed and seeing also that the Roman Empire did continue at that time it doth necessarily follow That that Fourth Kingdom cannot any way be understood of the Empire of the Romans Answer That the Stone cut out of the Mountain is the Kingdom of Christ to this we freely Assent But whereas Piscator doth alledge That all the Four Metal-Kingdoms did expire at the beginning of Christ's Kingdom this we Deny Let us consider the words of the text for they must govern in this case First It is said concerning the Kingdom represented by the Stone cut out of the Mountain That in the dayes of these Kingdoms will the God of Heaven raise up a Kingdom that never shall be destroyed If this be so it will necessarily follow That the Roman must be one of the Four Metal-Kingdoms because our Saviour was Born his Gospel was Preached the Gentiles were brought to the Faith in those times when the Romans had the Sovereign Dominion over the Earth and particularly over those parts where the Church was seated The Seleucian Kingdom was destroyed and all that tract of Land from Euphrates to the Border of Egypt was wholly brought under the power of the Romans Therefore sith the Kingdom of Christ began in the times of the Roman the Roman must necessarily be the Fourth and the last Kingdom Secondlâ—… It is said That the Stone became a great Mâ—…untain and filled the whole Earth Now when did thiâ—… come to pass The Kingdom of Christ was weak and small at his Inâ—…arnation and in the times immediately following But after that the Stone smote the Image upon the Feet and Toes after that he had broken the Roman Kingdom in the last and Antichristian state thereof then and not till then it became a Mountain and filled the whole Earth Now this was not at the Incarnatioâ—… but we look for the performance thereof at the setting up of the Majestical Kingdom of Christ as it is plainly discovered in the whole Book of the Revelation Thirdly It is said That the Stone smote the Image upon the Feet and Toes that were part of Iron and part of Clay This sheweth plainly That the Seleucidae and the Lagidae cannot be the Fourth and the last Metal-Kingdom For the Kingdom of Christ did never so much as touch these Kingdoms They were all utterly destroyed by the power of the Romans before the Coming of Christ in the Flesh. Now if you apply this to the Roman as to the last of the Four Persecuting Empires the Kingdom of Christ in these last
not to reveal this only to the Jews but to the People of the Gentiles also This latter may be proved from the person of Nebuchadnezzar to whom this secret was revealed For if it had only concerned the National Church of the Jews That the God of Heaven will raise up a Kingdom that never shall be destroyed Why was this delivered to Nebuchadnezzar an Heathen Man and an Enemy of the Church When the Lord did reveal to Pharoah the Dream of the seven fat Kine and after the Dream of seven lean Kine this was not only discovered for the good of the Church but for the preservation of mankind So the Succession of the Four great Empires and the beginning of the Kingdom of Christ in the times of the last Empire these things were not revealed only to Nebuchadnezzar that the Jews might understand the truth but that the whole habitable world under Nebuchadnezzar's Dominion might take notice of that which God did intend to do Secondly This appeareth by the manner of the Revelation to Nebuchadnezzar which was to this end That the whole world might observe it First If you consider the Person Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a Dream Secondly The way of God's dealing with him he forgat the Dream and therefore a great trouble fell upon his Spirit Thirdly His calling for the wise-men of Babylon which City in these times was the Eye of the world and the seat of the Empire Now it is not to be imagined but all that lived within the Verge of so large a Dominion would be apt to hearken after such a thing Specially when they should hear of the trouble of the King and of the Edict to kill all the wise-men of Babylon Here was a matter set out in the view of all Asia as it were to prove Three Particulars First That the God of Israel was the true God Secondly That he would set up Four great Changes of Empire in the world Thirdly That in the last Succession of Empire he would set up a Kingdom that never should be destroyed These things were propounded not only for the Church but for the Observation of the whole habitable Earth under the Babylonian Empire that then was and for the Ages following Thirdly If we look to the Story of the Evangelists we do read that the Evangelist S. Matthew doth tell us That when the Lord Christ was Born in Bethleem in the dayes of Herod the King wise-men came to Ierusalem Matth. 2. 1 2 3 4. Here Interpreters upon the place do raise many Questions First Who these wise-men were Secondly Why was it Revealed to them by a Star Thirdly Why did the Star guide them to Ierusalem and then vanish out of 〈◊〉 These Questions are propounded by Interpreters and they do give very learned and solid Answers to them Only there is a Question to which I do not yet finde a satisfactory Answer and that is this Why was this matter Revealed to wise-men in the East rather than to any other Nation Profession or Sect among the Gentiles Spanhemius doth handle this Point in his Dubia Evangelica part 2. dub 31. pag. 326. and he doth come to this issue in the close Concludimus itaque causum vocationis Magorum nequaquam in illis suisse sed in solâ Dei vocantis bonitate illos ex merâ ejus gratiâ vocatos sive absolutè eorum vocatio consideretur sive comparatè Quod enim vocati vocati prae aliis Dei miserentis fuit illorum potius quam aliorum Et haec causa causarum est summa ratio pag. 329. Here I do agree That the Call of the wise-men doth chiefly depend upon the Grace and Mercy of God This is the Cause of causes and the chiefest Reason why they were called and why they were called before any other But yet with submission to a better judgement I think there lies a plain reason in the Scriptures why the Birth of the King of the Jews was revealed to the wise-men of the East rather than to any other Gentiles For when the Lord had a purpose to Reveal Four great Changes of time to the world and particularly the time of the setting up of the Kingdom of his Son he had appointed in his Providence that the wisemen of Babylon whose Profession it was to understand the changes of time that they should come to take notice of these things but more specially of the time when the Kingdom of Christ should be set up But because they could not know this by their own strength the Lord did Reveal it to them by the Ministery of Daniel That he would set up Four Kingdoms over the Earth whereof the Babylonian in Being was the first and then in the latter end he would set up a Kingdom that never should be destroyed In a word This is the Cause wherefore these changes of times were revealed to the wise-men of the East because it did suit with their Profession to take notice of such things And the Lord having once revealed in particular the time of the setting up of the Kingdom of his Son to the wise-men of the East when the Lord Christ was born at Bethleem in Iudea in the days of Herod the King he did Call that sort of men in special to take notice of that which was foretold Because these things were revealed to them they were called in a special manner to take notice of the Birth of the Messiah and of the beginning of his Kingdom From all that hath been said we may conclude That the Vision of the Metal-Kingdoms doth concern both Jews and Gentiles Therefore there is no necessity that Brightman Grasserus and other learned men should take the little Horn for Mahomet because the Country of Iudea is now under the Turks Many other Arguments might be brought to prove That neither Mahomet nor the Turk can possibly be resembled by the Type of the little Horn. The scope of the text and the whole collection of Circumstances do altogether pitch upon the Papacy which arose after the division of the Roman Empire into ten inferiour Kingdoms in the time of the Emperor Phocas 666 years from the beginning of the Roman as the Fourth Metal-Kingdom This is the true Application of the times to the Stories of the Church and this is the natural sense of Iohn in the Book of the Revelation That the Number of the Name of the Beast is 666. Now for the truth of this Interpretation we will prove it First From the whole scope of the text Rev. 13. Secondly From the drift of the Spirit Rev. 17. Thirdly From the whole Harmony of the Prophecie in the chief and remarkable Circumstances Lastly From the scope of the Apostle 2 Thess. 2. And of these in their Order CHAP. VIII The Truth of the Interpretation is proved from the remarkable Circumstances of the Text it self Revel 13. 16 17 18. THere be many excellent and precious Truths in the general which we cannot alwayes avouch That the Spirit
doth intend them in such or such a particular Scripture Now that this may appear to be a right Interpretation we will compare it with every Circumstance in the Text. These are the words that follow And he causeth all both small and great rich and poor free and bond to Receive a Mark in their right hand and in their forehead and that no man might buy or sell save he that had the Mark or the Name of the Beast or the Number of the Name Here is Wisdom Let him that hath Understanding â—…ount the Number of the Beast for it is the Number of a Man and his Number is six hundred threescore and six In these words we are to Note Four Particulars 1. The matter of the Law which the Beast doth impose he causeth all men to receive a Mark in their right Hand and in their Forehead and that they have the Name of the Beast and the Number of it 2. The maker of the Law soil The Beast with Two Horns He causeth men to receive the Mark by his coercive power 3. The Persons on whom he doth impose the Law He causeth all both small and great bond and free rich and poor to receive a Mark. For though there is great difference in civil Relations between poor-men and rich bondmen and free yet in this matter none are exempted All must receive the Mark one as well as the other there is no difference of Condition 4. The Penalty inflicted on him that will not submit to the Law He must have no civil Commerce with men he must not buy nor sell that hath not these Three Things First The Mark Secondly The Name Thirdly The Number of the Name Now that men might rightly conceive what is meant by these things the same Spirit doth exhort them to Calculate the Number the Point that we are now upon For the Calculation of the Number these Four Particulars also ought to be Observed First The Person exhorted who it is that must make the Discovery And this is every such one as hath a mind given him of God more accurately to search into the meaning of the Prophecies The matter is not easio to be understood at the first sight there must be some Wisdom used to the Discovery thereof Secondly The manner It must be by the way of Reckoning or Numbering Let him that hath Wisdom reckon the Number of the Beast Thirdly The Rule and Method of Account There is some way of Reckoning called The Number of a Man by and through which the Calculation is to be made Fourthly The particular Number it self and in this Method or way of Account it is 666. These are the Natural distributions of the words of the text Now according to this Pattern or Platform let us proceed to shew the truth of our Interpretation and what apt coherence it hath with the Circumstances and with the Natural scope of the text To begin therefore with the matter of the Law It is expresly said That the Beast did cause all to receive a Mark to have the Name and the Number of the Name For the Mark we are not to take it for a material Character but it is the publick Profession of the Faith of a Roman Catholick by and through which he doth publickly acknowledg his subjection and Allegeance to the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome For as in the words immediately following when Iohn saw the Lamb stand upon Mount Sion and with him 144000 having their Father's Name written in their Forehead We do not take the Name of the Father written in the Forehead for a literal Character but for the visibility of their Profession that yield subjection to the Commands of God the Father as their Sovereign Lord So on the other side The followers of the Beast the Mark in their Forehead and in their right hand is not a visible brand or print-mark consisting of Letters and syllables but it sheweth the visibility of their Profession that do own the Bishop of Rome's Universal Headship over all Churches and that they are in Conscience bound to be subject to his Laws as to another Christ. Paraeus upon the place speaketh to the same effect Unde secundò liquet cum Bestia Antichristiana sit Papa Romanus exuviis Romani Imperii tunicâ Christi indutus Characterem Bestiae esse Professionem Papistici cultus sicut supra Character Christi non fuit nota materialis sed professio Christiani cultus But that in this matter we may not altogether depend upon Authority we will prove by many Arguments that the publick Profession of the Catholicism or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome is the Mark in the Forehead and in the right Hand First This agreeth omni to every Subject in the Beast's Kingdom He causeth all both small and great rich and poor free and bond to receive a Mark. And such a Mark is the Profession of the Faith of a Roman Catholick And though all are not Cardinals all are not Archbishops all are not Bishops yet all are Roman Catholicks all agree in this To profess the Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome This is Nota maximè communis Secondly The Mark agreeth Soli only to such a one as is a Subject of the Beast's Kingdom For as Princes have Marks and Cognizances to distinguish their Servants and Subjects So the Beast hath a peculiar Character to discern between those that are his and those that are none of his Now if you apply this to the Profession of a Roman Catholick all that whole Society and Body of men as they are one among themselves in their publick Profession So in this they are distinguished from all other kinds of men in the whole world Here is nota maximè propria Thirdly The Mark agreeth to the Subjects of the Beast's Kingdom at all times For not only at the first beginning of the spiritual Monarchy he caused every man to receive a Mark but in all the times of his Kingdom he did impose this Law upon his Subjects And therefore we reade in the latter end of his Dominion That the first Vial was poured out upon them that had the Mark of the Beast and worshipped his Image chap. 16. vers 2. And those Souls that lived again to Reign with Christ 1000 years were such as were beheaded in all the times of the Beast's Kingdom because they had not worshipped the Image nor received the Mark. The receiving of the Mark in the Forehead it must be semper in all the times of the Beast's Kingdom Now such a Mark is the Profession of a Roman Catholick This hath been received in all times There are some things received by that Society of men which are not much more ancient than the Council of Trent which were not established de fide till that time And though in the dayes of Queen Mary the Critical Question was What say you to the Sacrament of the Altar Yet it is well known That Transubstantiation