A DEMONSTRATION OF THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE Protestant Applications OF THE APOCALYPSE.  
Together with the Consent of the Ancients Concerning the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel, and The Beast in the Revelations.  
By DRUE CRESSENER, D. D.  
LONDON: Printed for Thomas Cockerill, at the Three Legs in the Poultry over-against Stock-market. M DC XC.   

TO THE QUEEN.  
MADAM,  
THE Intent of these Papers is to make a more certain Discovery of the Sense of some Divine Oracles, which have foretold the Successive Revolutions of all the Great Empires, in which the Church of God was to sojourn, till it should come to triumph over the Kingdoms of this World. If they prove to be satisfactorily clear, Religion and Empire being the Subject-matter of them, They seem to be the most proper Object of the Meditation of Christian Princes. We are now in the concluding part of the Last of these Empires; And Your Majesty's Late Wonderful Successes have so promising an Aspect on that part of the Predictions, That they seem to appropriate all Addresses of this kind to Your Royal Court.  
I have therefore thought it a duty to offer that, which I have already published on this Subject, to the Hands of His Majesty; And Your Majesty's peculiar Share in the Throne does seem to demand This of me, as the Remainder of a Debt from one that has once approached it.  
This Part is indeed the whole Strength and Foundation of the former, and for that reason ought to attend it to the same Place, to confirm the Hopes of a Glorious Success of both Your Majesty's Endeavours for the Revival of the Oppressed Reformation. Madam, We have already seen a very surprising beginning of this Recovery, in the late Providential manner of the Return of the Protestants of Savoy through the midst of their most Inveterate, and most Powerful Opposers. The first date of that General Suppression of the Protestant Profession in Roman States, which in the Prophecy is called, The Death of the Witnesses in Sackcloth, is supposed to commence from the Last Considerable Abjurations of the new Converts abroad, some while after the Revocation of the Edict of Nants; And then, That which in the Prophecy is called, Their Resurrection three days and an half after their Death, must fall just about the time that the Vaudois did Revive, and Resettle the Public Profession of their Religion, after their return to their Ancient Habitations.  
The Vaudois, and their Neighbours, have been so much the Main Body of the Witnesses for many Ages before the Reformation, That since the first Revival is agreed from the Prophecy to be in one particular place only, they may safely be allowed to be the first promising beginning at least of that Revolution. The Proper Kingdom of France did indeed seem from the present Posture of Affairs, to be the most likely to be the first Scene of this Revival. 
The other Treatise, pag. 139, 140.  But it has been shown, that there is nothing in the Prophecy that does fix the first beginning of it there; And that the Persecution in France, and Savoy, being executed by the same Instruments, may very well pass for one and the same thing.  
This, Madam, is the first encouraging Earnest of that Great Deliverance, which the Oppressed Church does groan for, and look up to Heaven, and to Your Protection to accomplish.  
But whatever may become of these remote Conclusions relating to present Affairs, it will be no prejudice to what I here offer, which is the only necessary and Great Concern of the Protestant Interpretations, and the sole foundation of them. It will here appear to remain still firm, and unshaken, That the Church of Rome is the main Object of the Judgements of this Prophecy. The Foundation of a Building may be settled upon a Rock, though some parts of the Superstructure should fall for want of an immediate and close coherence with it. And if this first Foundation be but once agreed on, and well regarded by all Parties of Protestants, it is easy to see how influential it must needs be for the strengthening of the Common Interest of the Reformation. The dreadful Characters that are here set upon the Common Enemy, and the Divine Intimations of the joint concern of all the Reformed Churches in the League against them, as the Witnesses, and People of God, And the Present Crying Miseries of their Enslaved Brethren, are more than sufficient to make them silence all their little Unnecessary Heats and Animosities against one another, and to make them unite with zeal to strengthen the Hands of Your Majesties against the most refined Barbarities of the Great Oppressor, that were ever yet heard of.  
There are indeed but small Grounds to hope, That Protestants will of a sudden agree upon this Foundation, whatever Evidence there may be for it. The Enquiry into these matters is so out of fashion, and lies under so general a prejudice, that I found the Press  affrighted from undertaking the Charge of this Publication. And I am bound to acknowledge, That nothing less could persuade them to it, than the warm Recommendations of a Person, whom Your Majesty's Favour has eminently rewarded for his Long continued Labours in all the ways, by which the Church can be either piously edified, or learnedly defended. It is indeed owing to My Lord Bishop of Chichester, if any thing here does prove to be of Public Use.  
Madam,  
This General Unconcern seems chief to be the effect of the Popish Marriages in the Three Last Reigns. Nothing was more the Doctrine of our Church to the end of the Reign of King James the First, than the Charge of Babylon, and Antichrist, upon the Roman Church; but it seemed something too rude a Charge, both to Church and Court, when the Queen came to be concerned in it; and none but some very few of the most Sincere and Disinterested amongst the Learned, would appear in it.  
I have therefore apprehended it to be the most effectual way for the making this the Currant Study of the Age again, to procure the Royal Stamp upon it, by Your Majesty's favourable regard of this Performance. I am encouraged to hope, That it may not displease the Impartial Examiner's of it. And Your Majesty's Pious Zeal to promote True Religion and Virtue, has already began to make all good Designs for the Protestant Interest, the Fashionable Study of all about You. That we may long have the Powerful and Charming Influence of this Great Example for the improvement of all Useful Knowledge, is the Zealous Prayer of,  
MADAM, Your MAJESTY'S Most Obedient Subject, DRUE CRESSENER.   

THE PREFACE, Concerning the Strength and Usefulness of the Work, and the Confirmation of it by the Event; and the Defects of the Synchronisms.  
MOST Writers are so happy, as to be able to think themselves sure of Readers enough; and all their care is to make them Courteous and gentle by a Preface. But there are so few that can have the patience to hear of any thing about the Revelations, that the great difficulty here is to get any Readers at all, and to prevent the being sentenced without a Trial.  
That which does so affright the World from these things, is the usual fancifulness, and looseness of Discourses of this nature, and their great Confidence and Assurance, with little or no care to make sure of their foundation. I do therefore think it requisite to assure all those that look upon this, That the whole aim of my Endeavours here, is to restrain all kind of Liberty of Imagination, and to force an Assent by close, and clear proof, instead of surprising it by an Ingenious Scheme, and by the tempting agreements, and lucky likenesses of Characters. My great fear indeed is, that the dry strictness of the Reasonings in it, will turn away more from perusing it, than the strength and cautiousness of it will please. But that will still the more clear my Attempt from the common Prejudice.  
It may be some motive to the belief of this, That the only end of this Undertaking was to find out a more satisfactory foundation for what the Excellent Mr. Mede has endeavoured to demonstrate in this way; Whose known Reputation for his impartial and cautious Judgement in the interpretation of other parts of Scripture, is sufficient to silence all inconsiderate Prejudices against his Performances of this kind.  
There have indeed been some very great Names of late 
Grotius, Dr. Hammond, etc.  amongst ourselves, who have excused the Church of Rome from any concern in the Judgements of this Prophecy; and that, only by laying down another Scheme of Interpretation without any tolerable proof of it. But it is a sufficient prejudice against their Authority, that they are forced to such shifts for their foundation, as the most Judicious, and the most skilful of the Romish Interpreters themselves do cry 
See the Preface to my former Treatise.  out against, as things, that none, but Men out of their Wits, would own, and such as they affirm to be contrary to the general sense of all kinds of Interpreters, Jews and Christians, Ancient and Modern. And when they come to speak of the like kind of Phrases, do declare that sense of them, which these New Men account monstrous in the Interpretations of their Brethren, to be so clear, that all, but those that are blind, may easily see it; Or such, as is agreeable both to the usage of common Speech, and to the usage of Scripture; Or such, as must necessarily be allowed: Which is a sufficient Vindication of those Learned Interpreters of our own, who have brought the same Charge against these Ingenious Innovators.  
It would at the first much surprise any man to see these Learned Protestants so busy to ease the Church of Rome of this trouble from their Brethren, when all the thanks that they can get for it from the most Judicious of those, whose Cause they oblige by it, is to be called Madmen, and fools for their pains.  
But in this they themselves do satisfy us. They acknowledge that they came to the Interpretation of the Revelations with a design to serve by it; It was more to answer Objections against some singular Notions, than to unfold the Mystery of that Prophecy. They came to force their way through the Difficulties, that the plain and obvious sense of the Visions did lay in their way. And nothing is more ordinary than to see men wrest any part of Scripture, that will not comply with their fancy, for some particular Opinions. Their Expedient for Catholic Union of all Christian Churches by the Compliance of the Roman; Their Assurace of the necessity of the conveyance of a Right Succession, and Ordination by a Church that was not formally Idolatrous, etc. were altogether inconsistent with the Protestant sense of the Apocalypse.  
It is as evident on the other side from the closeness and cautiousness of Mr. Mede's Explications, and the impartiality of his Judgement upon all other Occasions, that his whole aim was to make sure of the clear and certain sense of these Mysteries. He bade no private Opinion that he came to advance by it, or to make it a drudge to: And his way of life, and the wariness, and the Ingenuity of his Spirit in all his other Expositions of Scripture, did sufficiently secure him that Character of himself, which his Modesty would only own, viz. his freedom from studium partium.  
But the present Age is so generally prepossessed with the Interpretations of these Learned Men, That it is further necessary to remind those, that look upon them as a great service to the Church of England, That they are great Novelties 
See Dr. Bernard 's Discourses, p. 139, to 160.  in its Doctrine; and if continued in, will but expose it to the rest of the Reformed Churches for departing from them, and from its own first Faith, only to uphold some Prerogatives of its own Reformation, to the undervaluing, and undermining of the grounds of theirs. It is manifest 
* Third Part of the Sermon against Idolatry, p. 69. And 6th Part of the Sermon against Rebellion, p. 316.  by the Homilies approved of in our Articles as the faith of our Church, That the Charge of Babylon upon the Church of Rome is the standing Profession of the Church of England; And it continued to be the 
† Bishop Jewel, p. 373. Bishop Abbot, Antichristi Demonstratio, Archbishop Whitgift, Tract. 8. p. 349. Bishop Andrews, Tortura Torti. Bishop Bilson, p. 527. Bishop Morton. Mr. R. Hooker 's Treatise of Justification, sect. 10, 57  currant Judgement of all the best Learned Members of it till the end of the Reign of King James the First: It was really believed in his time to be so clear and important a part of their Faith, That both the Church, and the Court, did applaud the King in his public defence of it, though he did thereby plainly endanger the honour of his Character, and the Interest of his Kingdom amongst all Roman-Catholick Princes. As appears by Lessius' Epistle Monitory to them:  
After that time, This Doctrine of the Homilies came to be more out of fashion, either to be civil to the Marriages of the succeeding Reigns, or to take away all the advantage that the Serapatists might have from hence against the necessity of an uninterrupted Succession and Ordination in every Lawfully-constituted Church; Which might also show them the necessity of uniting with the Church of England. It is certain, that the extravagant Heats of those times were enough to make Learned Men run into unnecessary Extremes.  
But the common Danger of late has now revived the Ancient Doctrine of the Church again, which these Novelties did contradict. All the best Learned in the Church have been engaged in charging the Church of Rome with formal Idolatry, in exposing all Expedients for Union with it; in demonstrating the necessity of a Separation from them, whatever becomes of the Succession; in disowning of all kind of Right of Supremacy there, etc.  
If therefore the Authority of these New Interpreters does still prejudice any (that are otherwise curious) against these kind of Inquiries, here is all this to make them very uneasy under it, viz. That they rely upon such for it, as the best Judges amongst those, whose Cause they most befriend by it, do impartially cry out against, as Men void of common Sense, for the grounds that they go upon for it; and that they prefer the Judgement of these men in opposition to the Doctrine of the Church of England itself, and of the best Learned, and the most impartial Defenders of it almost ever since the Reformation, and also in opposition to the Judgement of all Reformed Churches besides.  
I do moreover here pretend to lay a surer and deeper foundation for the demonstration of the Protestant Applications, than has yet been offered; which may make my endeavours for it at least worth the examining. And for the better apprehending of the force of all, I will here give a general Idea of my whole process in it.  
The chief foundation of my Design, is the constant usage of Figures of the like kind in the Prophecy of Daniel. For there is this great advantage from Daniel's Figures, That they are both the Original Copy of that in the Revelations, and have also a great variety of like Schemes, and were almost all of them fulfilled before the writing of the Apocalypse, as it has been by the Consent of the Learned 
See Consent of the Ancients at the end.  of almost all Parties, and Ages, agreed upon. This makes the signification of the Schemes of Daniel to be certainly determined, and to be so many Data, and Rules for the determination of the like, but less known, Phrases in the Revelations. I have therefore taken some pains to make sure of the Interpretation of the Figures of Daniel in such a way of proof, as I hope may bear the most critical Examination, which was never before clearly done, but is the most requisite of any thing for a full satisfaction about the sense of the Apocalypse. For by this means I have reduced all the kinds of Schemes, signifying Dominion, to certain and uniform Definitions, which is a much larger Basis to establish the Interpretation of these Mysteries upon, and which I found much wanting in Mr. Mede's, and Dr. More's Method. The Prophetical Terms in the Revelations do by this appear to have been well known to the Apostle before; and the signification of the chief of them, to contain in them so large a space of time, as determines their accomplishment to many Ages after his time, which is a great confirmation of the Divine Authority of the Prophecy. This is the whole business of the Second Book, which ought to be the most nicely, and attentively examined.  
But to make the demonstration of this the more secure, I thought it most convenient to make use of some of the most undoubted, and acknowledged things about Babylon, and the Figure of the Beast in the Revelations, which do the most openly and unquestionably determine the scene of these things to one certain Empire; Whereby the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel, which is proved necessarily to be the same with that in the Apocalypse, is more certainly made known; and all the rest of the Kingdoms there mentioned, more unavoidably confined in their particular significations. This therefore was thought fit to be premised in the First Book.  
In the doing of this, I had another aim, which I apprehended to be of very useful importance; and that was to make sure of the foundation of Mr. Mede's Syncronisms; that is, That the Term of the Beast all over the Revelations, does denote but one and the same particular state of it; the want of a close proof of which, gives a great advantage to the Grotian Interpretation, to evade the force of his Demonstrations by taking that Term in various acceptations. Dr. Moor has indeed taken great pains for this purpose; but I could not be satisfied, till I found it more absolutely necessary for that term to be  but the same particular state, than his Eighteen Congruities, or Likenesses, do seem to make it.  
The Third Book does apply the general Notions in the Two former, to the Beast in the Revelations. Thus far I have generally endeavoured to carry on my whole Process upon Principles common to all the several ways of Protestant Interpreters; and have therefore offered mine own particular Apprehensions about the Application, and first date of the Reign of the Beast, by way of Queries only; that I might lay the stress of the business upon a foundation large enough to fit almost all the different Judgements of Protestant Interpreters, and not venture it upon the narrow bottom of one particular man's Fancy and Method; And I have made use of no Authorities to confirm any thing of moment, but the Consent of Papists themselves; And their Consent about almost all the Propositions in the First and Second Book, which are the Principles and foundation of the Design, was a very great confirmation to me of the strength and certainty of all that follows.  
But yet I am so throughly sensible of the strange and violent heats, that the study of these things do generally possess all men with, that engage in it, that I must desire that Justice of the Reader not to be deterred from the perusal of this performance, by the confident Censures of any that may observe some small Conclusions here, not so agreeable to their own Fancies. For the most eminent and admired in other parts of Learning, have been found to be the most absurd and gross in their Confident Mistakes about these matters. Nothing indeed does make men so obnoxious to mistakes here, as a more than ordinary measure of quickness of Parts, and of assurance from great improvements in other ways. If I have at all succeeded in this Attempt, I must wholly attribute it, under God's assistance, to the peculiar scepticalness of my nature, and the continual distrust of my own Apprehensions and Performances, which would not suffer me to fix upon scarce any thing, before I had by often repeated corrections of my first thoughts about it, made it appear not only clear, but necessary to me.  
It is enough to revive the Curiosity of the present Age for the examination of this Attempt, to reflect but upon the peculiar advantages of it, if performed. My Design 
The Usefulness of the Design.  is to give a clear and necessary proof, That the Church of Rome is that Great Enemy of God's Church, which is much the business of the Revelations.  
And one very great advantage of this would be, That it would cut off many voluminous and intricate Disputes, which take up so much of the choicest time of the Best Men. If it were once made sure, That God had here so openly exposed the distinguishing marks of that Church, almost every one of Bellarmin's Notes of his Church ought, without any dispute, to be granted him. Nay, If that alone be but yielded, which the Jesuit Alcazar 
* In v. 2. c. 11. Apocalyps. Notat. 4. item ante Notation. See Preface to the Judgements of God upon the R. C.  affirms to be necessary, and the contrary of it to be not at all agreeable to the Enigmatical style of the Revelations; that is, That the 1260 days are to be taken in a Mystical, and not in the literal sense; Those Notes would be the surest confirmation, that that Church must be the Great Babylon. For as the Mystical acceptation of a Day in Scripture, is a Year, so is it impossible to apply the Characters answering to those Marks in the Revelations to any Ruling Power besides, for the space of 1260 together, since the writing of the Prophecy.  
Ex. gr.  was there an Empire since the writing of the Prophecy, but that of the Roman Church, that Note 1 was so Universal for 1260 years together, as to have all that dwell upon Earth, Peoples, and Multitudes, and 
Rev. 13. 8. etc. 17. 15.  Nations, and Tongues, to worship it? What Ruling Power, but that, so Ancient, as to have the Blood of Prophets, and Saints, and of all that were slain upon Earth, of Note 2 that kind for that space of time, to be found in it? What 
Rev. 18. 24.  Rule but that, had ever so long a duration in the World, as to continue set upon an Hill, much less upon seven Hills, Note 3 for so great a space of time, or so as to answer the whole length of the time of the Saracen, and Turkish Empires 
Rev. 9 1, 13.  in the Two first Woes? Never had any other Church Note 4 such an Amplitude, or variety of Believers, as to have all Nations drink of the Wine of her Fornication; or so 
Rev. 18. 3, & c. 13. 7.  as to have a blasphemous power over all Kindred's, and Tongues, and Nations. None, but that, was ever so eminently conspicuous for so long a time for the Succession Note 5 of its Bishops under one Supreme Patriarch, as to be the Living Image of all the Civil Dignities of the Empire, where 
Rev. 13. 12, 14, 15.  it was under one Supreme Church-Head exercising all the power of the Civil Head, or with Imperium in Imperio. Nor did ever any Enemy of God's Church act for so long a time like the Red Dragon in its bloody Laws against the Note 6 Followers of the Lamb: And yet so far agree with the Primitive Church in fundamental Doctrines, as to answer the Character of a False Prophet with the Horns of 
Rev. 13. 11.  the Lamb (Christ), but speaking like the Red Dragon to his Followers, as the Church of Rome has done. Wherever, but there, has there been such an union of Head and Note 7 Members for that length of time, to apply the one mind 
Rev. 17. 13, 17.  of the Ten Kings to for their agreement together to give their power, and strength, and their whole Kingdoms to the Beast? Never did any, but that Church, appear so long together with such a medley of Sanctity in some Doctrines, Note 8, & 10. and outward appearances of a strict holiness of life, joined with other abominable Doctrines, and Practices; to qualify it for the Horns of the Lamb, and the Speech of the Dragon for the Idolatrous and cruel Commands of the 
Rev. 13. 12, 15.  Image; Or for having the Form of Godliness in the latter 
2 Tim. 3. 1, 7.  times, and yet denying the power thereof; Or for forbidding 
1 Tim. 4. 3.  to marry, and commanding to abstain from Meats, and yet maintaining Doctrines of Devils. What Deceiving Power, but that, did ever show so wonderful an efficacy Note 9 of its Doctrine, as to make the Kings of the Earth, and 
Rev. 17. 2.  all Nations, drunk with the Wine of its Fornication? Or where did God ever send such an efficacious Delusion, as to make men so strongly to believe a lie; things clear contrary 
2 Thess. 2. 11.  to the common Sense and Reason of all Mankind? Note 11 The Glory of Miracles never appeared any where so long, 
Rev. 13. 14.  to make good the False Prophet's lying Wonders, and his 
Matth. 7. 22.  deceiving all that dwell upon Earth by the means of them; And never was there, but in the Roman Church, so long a Reign of those that prophesied in the name of Note 12 Christ, with Signs and Wonders, to assure the Gift of Prophecy to them, and so to answer the Character of the False 
Rev. 13. 14. & Mat. 24. 24.  Prophet working Miracles to deceive the World, and even, if it were possible, the very Elect. Nor ever had any Power upon Earth so numerous Confessions of its Note 13 Adversaries for the application of these Notes of his Church in the Revelations, to verify the Testimony of the Witnesses; 
Rev. 11. 3.  no Church or State in the World beside has made such an unhappy end of any thing near so many of its Enemies, Note 14 as the Roman, to assure us, That it can be nowhere but there, that the Image caused all to be killed 
Rev. 13. 15, 16, 17.  that would not worship it, nor receive its mark, and name; Nor did Temporal Felicity ever attend any other Note 15 Religion for half the time of the Roman Reign to make it possible to understand the Riches and Glory of Babylon to 
Rev. 18. 16, 17.  her last hour, of any thing else.  
If it should here be said, That these 1260 years are to be verified of some Empire yet to come; It must however be allowed, That the present Roman Church is as like that Antichristian Empire for all the time that it is to continue, and that for 1260 years, as one thing can well be like another.  
This would make one apprehend, That Bellarmin was perfectly infatuated to make choice of such things for the marks of his Church, as make it the very picture of Babylon the Great in the Revelations; and shows the Use, and great moment of the Notes of the Church, as delivered by Cardinal Bellarmin.  
So also for other Intricate Controversies.  
E. G. If this Application of the Apocalypse were once secured, who would much trouble himself to prove the formal Idolatry of the Church of Rome? when it appears here to be the Mother of Harlots, that has made all Nations 
Rev. 18. 3.  drink of the Wine of her Fornication; Or to defend any Reformed Church from the imputation of Schism? when there is such an express Command to the People of 
v. 4.  God to come out of her, any ways, with, or without the countenance of Authority, that they be not partakers of her Sins, and so receive of her Plagues. Or to contend much for the perpetual visibility of the true People of God? when the Prophecy does so expressly distinguish betwixt them as unknown, and a False, Idolatrous, and Apostate Church, 
Ibidem. Rev. 18. 4. & c. 7.  wherein they sojourn, and does set them forth as persons no ways to be known from those, where they are, but by the Seal of God upon them, Rev. 9 4. Or to fence off the Charge of Novelty? when all Nations are described to worship a False Church for so many Ages together: Or to prove the Fallibility, or Actual Errors of the General Councils of that Church? when it appears to have forced all the World to commit Fornication with it. Or to spend 
v. 3.  much time against the Pope's Supremacy? when the mischief 
Rev. 13. 11, 12.  of it is so openly, and so fully here set forth.  
It is another great Advantage of the proof of this Application, That the Evidence, by which it is to be proved, is such, as the Capacities of all, that are curious, are most fitted to apprehend, and to be the most delighted with, viz. the Histories of the Changes of Empires and Kingdoms; Figures that are easy Objects of the Fancies and Imaginations of men, and are diverting Resemblances of real things. So that nothing does seem to be more likely to engage the Attention of all Protestants to the understanding of the difference of their Religion from Popery, than this Method.  
All the Controversial part of the proof against the Romanists, has little or no critical curiosity in it; little else but what is known by the common usage of words in the Vulgar Tongue. In almost every thing that is material we agree about the Translation, which in many other Controversies makes a great part of the Dispute. There is nothing here of Scholastical intricacy, as most other ways have. The Text, which is the ground of all, is generally agreed upon; The Histories, that the Application refers to, are on both sides granted; many Explications of Figures allowed to be plainly expressed in the Text in general words; And the almost only thing in Controversy, is, What particular Interpretation is the necessary sense of those general words compared with what is clearly known from the Text, and from the frequent use of those words in Prophecies fulfilled, and from unquestionable matter of fact in History. So that a man of the slowest parts, that can but reason warily and attentively about common Affairs, or apprehend the like Reasonings of others, may be able enough with a short Chronology of the Times and Actions that these things refer to, to understand with ease all the proof that is necessary for this matter. The only thing requisite indeed for this, is a patiented Attention, which the quickest Apprehensions are the least disposed for.  
There is also this further advantage in this way of settling men's minds, viz. That no Reasonings will be more easily retained in Memory, because these are generally about things which are wholly the objects of Imagination and Sense; nor will any thing more fix and determine the thoughts of men to it, when it is once apprehended to be clear, without any apparent ground of doubt about it. For what can be a nobler, or more pleasing entertainment of a man's mind, than to find the most considerable actions of the civilised World for so many Ages (and of the greatest importance for himself to be acquainted with) so particularly foretold, so long before, and with such accurate Figures of things exactly agreeable to them?  
One peculiar Advantage I must acknowledge to have received from it myself, which possibly may be also of use to others in the like condition; and that was, The freeing me from all vain deluding hopes of any such Reformation in the Church of Rome, as might make way for a general Union of All Christians. For we see it impossible from this Prophecy, that Babylon should ever so change itself, before its final destruction. I was once very much taken with the mollifying Pleas of Grotius, and others of the Reconciling way; and apprehended it possible for the chief Heads of the Roman Communion to condescend to an expedient for a general Reconciliation. But when I came to be acquainted with Mr. Mede's Demonstrations, and had compared them with the monstrous evasions, and absurd strains of wit, that Grotius and others were fain to fly to, to turn off the force of them, I gave over all thoughts of the comprehending way, and made it my business to examine the strength of his Foundation with all the critical caution that I could bring to it. Nothing did more confirm me in my hopes to meet with a perfect satisfaction in this way, than the great opinion I had of the abilities of the eminent Grotius, and the unnatural Artifices and Evasions that I saw him forced to, in contradiction to the known use of words, and sometimes to his own acceptation of them; one egregious instance of which, is that against the use of a day for a year, in the Prophecy of the 70 weeks; where he affirms that the original word for the Weeks, does always signify a week of Years, and not of days; whereas it is plain to the contrary, that in all the places of Scripture where it is used, it signifies literally only a week of days, as the Learned Dr. More has very expressly proved. Mystery of Godliness, lib. 5. chap. 15. Sect. 2.  
Another great advantage of this Interpretation, consequent upon the former, and more immediately influencing the present state of Affairs, is, The great efficacy of it, for the uniting of all sober Protestants together, for their common Interest: For here may they the most livelily perceive themselves to be all Brethren, and the People of God, supposed to be in one Common League together against that formidable Dragon, that stands always ready either to deceive and inchant them, or to destroy them. This shows them not only the great folly, but also the ungodliness of Schisms and Divisions upon unnecessary grounds, and of their lukewarm unconcern for the means of uniting themselves together in one body.  
I will not mention other advantages in common to all the Prophetical parts of the N. T. These are enough to incline the Reader to make a trial of what is here offered; especially when it is withal considered, that my aim is still further to improve the strongest and clearest method of reasoning about these things.  
I am not insensible, That the ground of many mens prejudices against this study, is, That the Interpreters are so fanciful, as to apply the Prophecy to Times and Places near ourselves But the only fault in this, is the Application of things to particular places and times, without any clear express determination to them in the Prophecy. It is manifest, That if the Church of Rome be the main concern of this Prophecy, then both the times, and that quarter of the world wherein we live, must be the subject matter of some of the Predictions in it: For they reach to the last end of Babylon, and therefore must comprehend in them both the present Fortunes and Dominions of that Church, which are now no where to any purpose, but in these Western Parts of Europe. And since I have myself appeared in this way, I am thereby obliged to remove all grounds of Prejudice, upon the account of any thing that I may seem to have been too venturous in.  
I have accounted it the truest Rule for the Application of Prophecy, that concerns the whole Christian Church, ever since the writing of it, to choose out only the most eminent Events, and such as were of the largest Extent over Christendom, both for Time and Place, and that do withal the best answer the Characters of the Text. And this Rule I make account, I have been so careful to observe, that I question not, but that the Events which I have pitched upon, will by all impartial Judges be allowed to have had a fair and strong Temptation to them from the Prophecy itself.  
This may appear first from my Explication of the Vials. 
The Judgements of God upon the Roman Church pag. 219.  I thought myself forced by the close and immediate Consequences in the 14th Chapter of my former Treatise, to fix the first date of the Vials, to the Time soon after the Reformation, That being the first Victory over the Beast, after 
Rev. 15. 2.  which the Plauges that were to humble the Roman Church, in order to its last ruin, did begin. And the Vials being agreed, not to end before the Ruin of Babylon, they must therefore measure out the chief Mortifications of the Roman Church from the Reformation till that time; and I cannot but be confident, That I have pitched upon the most eminent Mortifications, and those withal, that do the most justly answer the Characters of their respective Vial in the Text.  
Indeed, from the Consideration of those great Humiliations of the Roman Interest since the Reformation, which seem to be equal to the Plagues of the first Trumpets; and were at the same time with the Plague of the sixth Trumpet, and yet uncapable of being signified by it; I cannot think it possible for them not to be signified by the Vials; since otherwise, those eminent Plagues upon that Church, since the Reformation will have nothing in the Prophecy that represents them; which yet were at least as great Plagues to the Romanists, as the three first Trumpets.  
The Death, and the Resurrection of the Witnesses 
Rev. 11. 7, 11. See the Judgements of God upon the Roman Church, pag. 100  in Sackcloth, is the chief of my Applications to present times. And I have taken such care in this, that I think I have proved it impossible to have happened before our times; and by its nearness in the Prophecy to the end of the second Woe, which all considerable Protestants agree to be the Turkish Hostilities; and by the time assigned 
Ibid. chap. 8, & 9  to the continuance of that woe, I have not without sufficient warrant for it, confined it to this present time.  
I see nothing yet, but what does very surprisingly confirm that Application. And it will not be improper, nor unpleasant upon this occasion, to reflect upon the Confirmation that has been given of them by the Event, contrary to what in all humane appearance might have been expected.  
The Resurrection of the Witnesses is there determined 
Chap. 7. p. 107.  to three years and an half, after the general Apostasy of the French Church. For the Death of the Witnesses is proved to be the perfect Suppression of the Profession of Protestantism; and that is not, till the Professors of it 
Chap. 6. p 91.  that remain behind, renounce that Profession. And as the Character of their being in Sackcloth, does confine the place of this to a Roman State; So also has this been most unexpectedly fulfilled by the return of the Protestants of Savoy, through the midst of their Enemies, contrary to all humane appearance. They resettled their public Worship there, just about that distance of time from the last considerable Abjurations of the new Converts, which was the most proper Death of their witnessing Profession.  
I have indeed declared, That I thought it much more likely from the outward appearances of things, that this Revolution should begin first in the proper Kingdom of France. But I took care at the same time, to show that there was nothing 
P. 107, 139, 140.  clear in the Prophecy that did fix it there. And Providence has accordingly thought fit to make choice of a more unthought-of manner of bringing this to pass; And yet the Savoy-persecution being carried on by the French Troops, 
P. 140.  and Counsels, I did then signify, that it was to be accounted but the same place of the death of the Witnesses.  
I have in some places mentioned the Revocation of the Edict of Nants, as the date of the death of the Witnesses, that being the great public Act that made them speechless. But then I have more particularly explained my meaning about it, pag. 107. viz. That their last expiring is not to be accounted but from the last end of the Work of the Dragoons for the general Apostasy of that Church; For the Edict itself had an offer of Toleration in private to those who were willing to stay in the Kingdom. If some should think it fit to date this time from the end of the Savoy-persecution, than the three years and a half would end at the quiet establishment of the Vaudois in their Profession some while after their return. And let none think the smallness of the appearance of the Vaudois to be too inconsiderable to be thought of by the Prophecy. For besides that the Resurrection 
Chap. 7. Theor. 32.  of the Witnesses is to be but in one place at the first, the Vaudois were for many Ages the only considerable Party of the Witnesses. They may therefore be very well accounted the first comfortable Earnest of a more Universal Revival of the Silenced Churches in other places.  
2. From the Order in the Text I have also formerly determined, 
Letter to H. P. E. at the end of the Treatise.  That the end of the present Turkish War (as the last part of the Second Woe) could not be till some time after the first Revival of suppressed Protestantism. This we now see fulfilled; And yet how contrary was this to all the outward posture of Affairs, almost ever since it was conjectured, which was in the Year 87? The Turk seemed before to have been brought to the greatest necessity of making a Peace. But from that time almost ever since, they have had such strange Disorders, and New Changes in their Government, which tended all to the impoverishing and dividing of their State; that it was by all the best Judges of Public Affairs concluded, That it was impossible for them to subsist any longer without it. And on the other side, there has been such loud Alarms of a more formidable Enemy on this side of the Empire, and such continual Importunities from the Allies in the French War, and from the Obligations of the League of Ausbourg, to put an end to the Turkish War, and so small a diversion from the Confederates in it to uphold it, that all have thought that the General Peace on that side must have been precipitated. And yet we have seen it deferred to this time; And the Order of the Prophecy for the end of the Second Woe after the Resurrection 
Rev. 11. 14.  of the Witnesses, thereby observed, and fulfilled against all human appearance.  
3. From my proof of the time of the full death of the Witnesses, I did determine, That there would be no suppression 
P. 92, 106. Letter to H. P.  of the Protestant Profession, either in England, or in the Palatinate; which how miraculously it has been verified amongst us, we are all the joyful Witnesses of. Nor does it appear, That the French in all their Devastations of the Palatinate, ever carried on the Dragoon work of Abjuration amongst them. And yet how contrary to all outward appearance of things here, was this Conjecture when it was declared, and somewhile after it? The Project of getting a Complying Parliament to put the strength of the Nation into Popish Hands, by nulling the Laws against it, was then in a fair likelihood of taking; But upon the continual change of Corporations soon after, it seemed to be out of all question: And the fury with which the Bishop's Constancy was entertained, and the Severities of the Ecclesiastical Commission, were sufficient Testimonies of the Resolution that was then taken to bring the Ruling Religion to that state of Toleration, which might qualify them to be the Witnesses in Sackcloth. And who could ever have thought, that the most Refined Politicians in the Church of Rome should have been so unaccountably infatuated, as to choose such Methods, as tended the most apparently to the ruin of all the fair hopes that their Cause was then in? Or that the French would be so unready to oppose His Present Majesty's Expedition here, when they foresaw it; and long before had publicly threatened by their Ambassador, to revenge all Attempts of that nature? And then for the Palatinate, There was no reason to imagine that the French Zeal for their new way of Conversions should not have been as hot, as the Flames that they put the whole Country into.  
4. It was necessary for me in my way of applying the Vials, to make the mortifications of the Imperial, and truly Papal Party by the Reign of the present French King, to 
P. 207. 241.  be the Plague of the Fourth Vial upon the Beast; and the time of every Vial being found by those that are past, to be about the space of Forty years, I have judged from thence, that the present King there would not be longer a Plague of any moment to that Party, His Reign having continued for 
P. 244.  more than Forty years since the end of the Suedish-War; And what considerable Plague has he been of late, but to the Protestant Palatinate? And he has already begun to be a spectator only of the Imperial and Papal Triumphs over him: And yet how contrary to all appearance of things was it, That the French King should not think of taking his advantage sooner against the Spanish, Imperial, and Papal Dominions? OR, That he should be willing to stand at gaze only for a whole Campagne, while his new Conquests were forced from him?  
5. I have only this further to add, That it is a most surprising instance of Divine Providence, to crowd so many strange and unusual Revolutions together, into one point of the time of a Prophecy of near 2000 years concern, and to fulfil the Predictions of them by such new and unexpected means. By the number of years assigned to the continuance of 
Judgements of God, chap. 8, 9 Rev. 11. 9 Ibid. p. 253, 260.  the second Woe, And by the Three days and an half of the death of the Witnesses, and by the time of the beginning of the fifth Vial, Here are all these great Changes confined to the compass of less than Ten years, viz. The perfect silencing of all the Reformed Churches in All Popish Territories; The Revival of them; The Advancement of one of them into a Popish Throne; The Revolt of the whole Kingdom there from the Roman Church; The last end of all Turkish Wars; The General Mortification of the Roman Interest in all its own Territories. And these we have seen begun to be accomplished by as strange means, such as the forcing a whole Nation to that, which they really account Idolatry, by unheard of Artifices; The Change of the Supreme Power of a Kingdom, the greatest Confederacy of Protestant and Popish Princes, that was ever known; The Pope's Excommunications of the fiercest Zealot of his Church, that ever appeared; The breaking of an handful of Men through the opposition of a prepared and powerful Enemy; The sudden Conquest of several Eastern Countries, and a new Revolution in their Government.  
This wonderful Accomplishment of Predictions that were particularly foretold, and confined to so short a time after, and that also contrary to the appearing disposition of affairs, may be a very reasonable presumption for the truth of the Principles upon which they rely. But I have every where taken care upon the mention of these things, to forewarn 
N. B.  all, That whatever becomes of these conjectures, yet it will not affect the proof that I here offer for the Principles of the Protestant Applications. For lose things may be built upon a very strong foundation. But I hope these will be found not to have been rashly applied; And then they will be a confirmation of the Demonstration, à priori, here attempted, As Effects are usually instanced in, to demonstrate the true Causes.  
Indeed the chief end of publishing the other part first, was to engage the curiosity of the World to inquire after this, which was always the chief aim of my Studies about this Subject. For as I was extremely surprised, and pleased with Mr. Mede's Method in the Demonstrative way; so could I not think his precess altogether close enough for it, as it has before been observed by others. And though the Learned Dr. More has very sufficiently shown, that notwithstanding the strongest of the Objections against them, they may nevertheless be most of them true; yet I do not see that he has proved some of them, upon which the main stress of the whole Application does lie, to be necessary to be so, which is the whole design of the Synchronism. e. g. The Synchronisms suppose for their foundation, that the Beast in the 13th Chap. and that in the Eleventh, are the same particular state of the Seven Headed Beast, which yet Grotius supposes to be quite different things, and by that undermines the force of the Demonstration. Dr. More endeavours to strengthen it, by finding a likeness betwixt the Beasts, in one Character of each; which is far from a Cogent necessity.  
Dr. More himself allows not the proof of the Synchronism betwixt the Beast, and the Two Witnesses in the Eleventh Chapter, from the end of the Kingdom of the Beast, and of the Sackcloth Prophecy of the Witnesses, at the passing away of the Sixth Trumpet; nor does it seem to be more necessary, that the Forty Two Months of the time of the Beast, should end before the Last Ruin of his Kingdom, or when it comes only to be broken; which yet is the whole strength of what he adds to defend it.  
The Third Synchronism betwixt Babylon, and the Healed Beast in the 13th Chap. supposes the Beast to be the same particular time and state of Roman Power, without any proof; and yet Grotius and others suppose them quite different. Dr. More endeavours to show them to be necessarily the same, by Eighteen Congruities of Characters, which (though I think I am sure, that many of them are not true, yet) are indeed sufficient to make any Man strongly persuaded of the perfect identity of the Two Beasts; But they have nothing in them, that does necessarily determine them to the same particular state, and time of Roman Reign. And yet the whole strength of the Demonstrative proof of the Synchronisms depends upon the necessity of these Suppositions.  
The Fourth Synchronism is the total contemporation of the 144000 with the Beast, upon the account of their state of mutual opposition from the first time of the Marked followers of the Beast: But the utmost that this can prove, is, That they were Contemporaries from that time, where they are mentioned together; For the Party of the Beast were marked, to be distinguished from the sealed Company: But the 144000 were sealed, only to escape the Judgements of the Trumpets, which are nowhere proved necessary, nor to begin before the time of the Beast. And Dr. More does add nothing to show it necessary; and yet the chief proof of the Connexion of the first part of the Visions with the latter, does depend upon this in the first Synchronism of the second Part.  
I cannot but further add, That Mr. Mede's and Dr. More's Applications of the seventh and eighth King, does seem to render the Synchronisms altogether ineffectual for convincing a Papist. For after they had made the essential difference betwixt the six first Heads or Kings, to be nothing but a different Title of the Civil Sovereign Power of 
See Judgements of God, p. 4.  Rome, they make the seventh King to be nothing but a change of the Religion of the sixth King, retaining still the same Title of the Sovereign Power, which was his essential difference from that before him. This seems to be contrary to six Examples in the same Figure, and to almost six times as many in the Prophecy of Daniel. A Papist would therefore hold them to their true Notion of the sixth Head, and then pretend, That the Imperial Title does continue still as the sixth Head, and that the Synchronisms cannot therefore take place, till that be changed.  
All this I mention, only to show, That there is still wanting a clearer Evidence, to make good that excellent Design, towards which Mr. Mede did give the first great strokes, and for which he is to be acknowledged to have been the first clear Light that God gave the World for the illustration of these dark Mysteries, which now appear to be the worthiest Entertainment of the best and the most judicious Understandings. This I have endeavoured to perfect: But I must still acknowledge, That though I think myself sure enough of the strength of my Method for it, yet I do not pretend to that which is strictly called Demonstration; It is enough for me, if I can proceed but upon such clear grounds, and go on in so close a coherence from them, as to force the assent of all wary and impartial Examiner's of it, with as little doubt concerning it, though not with so Absolute a Certainty of it, as Mathematical Evidence uses to do.  
I dare however be confident, for the encouragement of the Reader, That if he has found any satisfaction in the grounds of any Protestant Interpretations, that others affirm themselves to be Abundantly and Mathematically certain of, he will find them here much more cautiously and strongly secured; and that the Elegant Systemes which have of late 
Monsieur Jurieu. Eclaircissemens' oü Systeme Nouveau.  much surprised the generality of those that look into these things, have but a very blind and uncertain Foundation, without such a proof of the first Principles of them as is here attempted.  
I think I may also safely venture to assure the Friends of the Grotian way, That the least degree of impartiality in them will make them see it here shown to be MUCH MORE CERTAIN, 
a Preface to the Judgements of God upon the Roman Church.  That the chief Foundations of that Interpretation are contrary to the clear and obvious sense of the Prophetical Terms, as well as to the general Judgement of Interpreters of all Parties in all Ages, according to the Censure of the most Judicious of the Romanists; than it is, 
b La veritable clef de l' Apocalypse, p. 115.  That Grotius was Divinely Inspired, 
c Ibid. Preface.  and that Mr. Baxter is the Greatest Man in England among the Protestants for seconding him 
d Ibid. p. 115. ; Or, That they have made Mr. Mede's Systeme appear so absurd, that it is to be abhorred, according to the extravagant and hypocritical expressions of a late Incendiary of that Church, to inflame Protestants against one another.   

A TABLE OF PROPOSITIONS  
To be Inspected, when any Proposition or Corollary, or Rule is quoted, to avoid the trouble of turning to it in the body of the Book.  

BOOK I.  

Propositions, Rules and Corollaries.  
Proposit. 1. BAbylon, Revelat. 17. is the City of Rome in an Antichristian and Idolatrous Domination. From hence are drawn these Rules of Interpretation.  
Rule 1. Words of a plain signification are to be taken in the 17th Chapter of the Revelations, in that sense, in which they are generally taken in the World, unless it be inconsistent with something more clearly known.  
Rule 2. Words of a mystical signification must follow the use of them amongst the Prophets, if not inconsistent with something more clearly known.  
Rule 3. The same Words do signify the same things all over the Prophecy, unless there be clear grounds against it.  
Rule 4. The different Judgements of Learned Men ought not to weaken our Assent to what appears sufficiently clear after an impartial Examination, especially if it be commonly acknowledged.  
Proposit. 2. Babylon signifies the same thing immediately before, in, and after the 17th Chapter.  
Corollary. Babylon is the same thing in the 14th Chapter, as it is in the rest.  
Proposit. 3. The Judgement of Babylon in all Chapters, is the desolation of Rome by Fire in the time of its Idolatrous Antichristian Domination.  
Corollary. Babylon cannot be Rome-Pagan.  
Proposit. 4. Every one of the Eight Kings, Revelat. 17. reckoned up in order, v. 10, 11. is one of those called the Seven Kings in General, v. 10.  
Corollary. The Eighth King is one of the Seven Kings, who had been in Rule before, and was returned into Power again.  
Proposit. 5. Every one of the Eight Kings, Rev. 17. 10, 11. is represented by one of the Seven Heads of the Beast.  
Coral. 1. The Eighth King is one of the seven Heads that had ruled before, and was revived again.  
Coral. 2. The Eighth King, called the Beast (v. 11.) is the Beast with that Head only, which is last in Rule.  
Proposit. 6. The Beast all over the 17th Chapter, is the Beast in the time of its last Ruling Head.  
Coral. 1. The Beast in the 17th Chapter, continues no longer than his last Ruling Head. Against Grotius' Notion of the Beast after all his Heads.  
Coroll. 2: The Ten Horns belong to the Beast no longer, than the time of his Last Head. Against the same.  
Proposit. 7. The Beast all over the 17th Chapter of the Revelations, is a particular Sovereign of Rome in the time of its Idolatrous Rule.  
Proposit. 8. The Term of The Beast all over the 13th Chapter, does signify the First Beast, shown v. 1.  
Corollar. 1. By the Image, Mark, Name, and number of the Name of the Beast, chap. 13. is to be understood the Image, etc. of the First Beast.  
Corollar. 2. By the Beast with the False Prophet, and with the Image, Mark, etc. in all the other Chapters of the Revelations, is to be understood the First Beast, with all the same Attendants in Chap. 13.  
Proposit. 9 The Beast in the 13th Chapter, is a particular state of the Beast under one of its either Ruling Heads, or Horns, for all the time of the continuance of the Head, or Horn.  
Corollar. 1. The False Prophet, or Second Beast, Image, Mark, Name, etc. do in all the mentions of them in the 13th Chapter, belong to that particular state of the Beast under either of one of its Heads, or Horns.  
Corollar. 2. The Beast with the False Prophet, Image, Mark, etc. in all other Chapters, signifies the same particular state of the Beast, that it is signified to be in the 13th Chapter, with the like Adjuncts.  
Proposit. 10. The Seven Heads, and the Ten Horns in the 13th and 17th Chapters, are the same things.  
Corollar. 1. The Beasts in the 13th and 17th Chapters, are one and the same particular Beast in every successive state of the same Heads, or Horns.  
Corollar. 2. The Beast in the 13th Chapter, is the same particular state of the Beast with that in the 17th Chapter, for the whole time of its continuance.  
Corollar. 3. The wounded, and healed Head of the Beast, Chap. 13. is the same Last Ruling Head of the Beast with that in the 17th Chapter.  
Proposit. 11. The Judgement of the Dead, Rev. 11. 18. is the General Judgement at Christ's Second Coming.  
Corollary. The Reign of Christ over the Kingdoms of the World, Rev. 11. 15. is Christ's Second Coming in glory.  
Proposit. 12. The Beast that killed the Witnesses, Rev. 11. 7. is the same particular time of Roman Rule with the Beast in the other Chapters.  
Corollar. 1. The Beast in the Revelations is to continue till some Universal Reign of Christ over the Kingdoms of this World.  
Corollar. 2. The Beast, and the Two Witnesses, Chap. 11. are Contemporaries for the whole time of the continuance of them both.    

BOOK II.  

PROPOSITIONS.  
Prop. 13. THE Kingdom of the Son of Man, Daniel 7. 13, 14. is some Kingdom of Christ Jesus.  
Prop. 14. The Kingdom of the Son of Man, Dan. 7. is the Second Coming of Christ in glory.  
Corollary. The Kingdom of the Son of Man is Christ's Second Coming to Judgement.  
Prop. 15. The Fourth Kingdom in the 7th Chapter of Daniel, is the same thing with the Beast in the Revelations.  
Coral. 1. The Last Ruling Head of the Beast in the Revelations, is the same thing with the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast, Dan. 7.  
Coral. 2. The Beast in the Revelations signifies the same particular time of Reign with the Fourth Beast in the time of the Little Horn, Dan. 7.  
Coral. 3. The time of the Beast in the Revelations did not begin till after the division of the Roman Empire into Ten Kingdoms.  
Coral. 4. The time of the Beast in the Revelations is not yet past.  
Prop. 16. All over the Prophecy of Daniel, By a Beast, as the common Subject of its Heads, and Horns, is meant a Ruling Nation, or People;  
Part. 1.  
Part. 2. By the Heads, and Horns of that Beast, the several kinds of Supreme Government in that Nation:  
Part. 3. And if they be said to come after one another, they denote so many Successive Governments in the same place.  
Part. 4. But if they are described as ruling all at the same time, than they signify so many divided Sovereignties in that one Ruling People, or Nation;  
Part. 5. And in both the kinds of them, each particular Head, or Horn, does signify the whole time of all the several single Governors, that reign either in the same form of Government, when they signify successive Forms of Government, or in the same particular division, when they signify divided Kingdoms.  
Observe. 1. Every whole Figure signifying Dominion, does all over Daniel signify a Ruling People, or Nation.  
Observe. 2. The parts of whole Figures, signifying Dominion, do all over Daniel follow the Rule of the Heads and Horns of the Beast.  
Observe. 3. An Head, and an Horn, are indifferently used to signify the same Ruling Power of a Nation.  
Observe. 4. The distinguishing Character of a new Succession of an Head, or Horn, or of a new Succession of a different Government in the same place, is a new name of the Sovereign Power publicly established.  
Observe. 5. All parts of Figures signifying Dominion, do all over Daniel denote the whole successive Line of all the single Persons, that reign either in the same form of Government, or in the same part of a divided Nation, or People.    

BOOK III.  

PROPOSITIONS.  
Prop. 17. THE Beast in the Revelations, when taken for the common Subject of its Heads, or Horns, does signify the Rule of the Romans in general; The Seven Heads of it, the Successive Changes of the Government of that Nation; The Ten Horns, the division of that Empire into so many several Sovereignties.  
Prop. 18. The Three last Kings of the Eight, Rev. 17. 10, 11. are three Changes of Roman Government coming after one another in an immediate order.  
Prop. 19 The Sixth King, Revelat. 17. 10. was the Imperial Government of Rome in the time of St. John.  
Prop. 20. The Beast was that Supreme Government of Rome which came next but one after the Imperial Government in St. John's time.  
Prop. 21. An Head of the Beast is that settled Sovereign Power of the Romans, whose Authority is owned for Supreme by the City of Rome.  
Coral. 1. Every Head of the Beast is at an end, when the City of Rome does own another settled Power for Supreme in the room of it.  
Coral. 2. The Sixth Head was at an end, when the City of Rome owned another settled Authority in the room of the Imperial Government, that had continued from the time of St. John.  
Prop. 22. At the ruin of the Western Empire by the Heruli, and Gothish Kings of Italy, the Sixth Head was at the latest at an end.  
Prop. 23. The Beast called the Eighth King, Rev. 17. 11. is a Sovereign Power of Rome, that is owned there for Supreme at this present.  
Corollar. 1. The 42 Months of the Beast, Rev. 13. 5. are at least 1260  Years.  
Corollar. 2. The 1260 days of the Two Witnesses, Revel. 11. 3. are the same concurrent time with the 42 Months of the Beast.  
Corollar. 3. The Two Witnesses in Sackcloth, Revel. 11. 3. do represent the whole True Church of Christ during all the time of the Reign of the Beast.  
Prop. 24. The Second Beast, Revel. 13. 11. is a Church-head owned for Supreme over all the Roman Jurisdiction, and distinct from the First Beast.  
Prop. 25. The Beast in the Revelations is a Secular Sovereign Power of the Romans confederated with an Ecclesiastical Roman Head in an Antichristian Idolatrous League, and distinct from him.  
Coral. 1. The Second Beast, Revel. 13. 11. is a Succession of Ecclesiastical Persons, having Supreme Power in Ecclesiastical Affairs.  
Coral. 2. The Beast, and the False Prophet, are those Two Secular and Ecclesiastical Governors, which are at this present time acknowledged Supreme by the City of Rome, and distinct from one another.  
Coral. 3. The Present Imperial, and Papal Power of the Romans, are the Beast, and the False Prophet. Concerning the First Appearance of the Beast.  
Query 1. Whether, at the time of Justinian's Conquest of the Italian Goths, there had not been at least two such Changes of the Secular Government of Rome since the time of St. John, as might he called two different Heads of the Beast?  
Query 2. Whether the First Rise of the Beast was not upon the Conquest of the Goths by Justinian?     

THE SEVERAL OPINIONS CONCERNING THE BEAST IN THE APOCALYPSE.  
IT is generally agreed by all the considerable Interpreters of all Churches in this present Age, That Babylon and The Beast, in the Visions of the Apocalypse, do signify some Idolatrous State of Roman Reign. For they all agree, that by Babylon, must be meant some Domination of Rome.  
But there are three main Differences amongst them in respect of the Age to which they fix their Interpretations. Some do apply these Visions to the Affairs of Rome-Heathen, and so maintain, that the time of the concern of these Visions is already past. Others apply them to the times of Antichrist, near the end of the World, who contend, that the matter of them is not yet begun to be fulfilled. And others again, Interpret them of the present times in which we live, and of many Ages past, since the time of Rome-Heathen. There are some other Opinions, that are a mixture of these; but these are the only considerable Differences of the Interpreters of our present Age.  
1. Those that lay this Scene in Rome-Heathen, they make The Beast considered as the common Subject of his Heads and Horns, to be the Roman Empire, or Nation. And when that Term is used only for Him, who is called the Eighth King, it is then the Roman Nation under that particular King, or He himself Ruling the Romans. The Seven Heads, are Seven Persecutions of Roman Emperors, either of so many single Emperors, or of so many kinds of persecuting Emperors.  
Of this Opinion are the latest of the Roman Interpreters, and Grotius, and Dr. Hammond, etc.  
2. Those that defer the Application of these things to some State of Rome, near the end of the World, are more uncertain. They will have many of the things that are said of Babylon alone by itself, to belong to Rome-Heathen; but far the greatest part of the Account of it, and all that concerns the History of the Beast, they determine to the time of the appearance of Antichrist, three years and an half before the end of the World, according to the literal Acceptation of that space of time, mentioned five several times within the compass of three Chapters. Therefore are they forced to make the Beast signify, The World of wicked Men in general, when taken for the common Subject of its Heads and Horns: But the particular State of it, when used to signify the Eighth King only, they determine to be either some Roman Antichrist, or (which is much the same) the Devil in Antichrist in the time of the Reign of Antichrist, as the 7th King in the Roman Territories. The Seven Heads, they would have to be Seven Ages of the World, with the several Tyrants against the Church of God in each of them; the Sixth of which was that Age in which St. John lived, because it is said, Five are past, One is, which appears to be the ground of all this Opinion, that they may make the Sixth Head continue from St. John's time, to the time of Antichrist, near the end of the World, whom they make to be the Seventh.  
Of this Opinion, are almost all the Roman Interpreters, and ground themselves for it upon the general Opinion of the Fathers, concerning the three years and an half of the Reign of Antichrist, near the end of the World. And Alcazar says of them, that they think it so certain, that there is no doubt to be made of it. Disput. in Argument. totius, cap. 13. Apocal.  
But Alcazar himself is of another mind, and after twenty years' Labour in this Study, says, That it is plain from the Characters of the Beast in the Revelations, and from its Allusion to the Ten horned Beast in Daniel, That this whole Beast is nothing but the Roman Empire. Disputat. in Argument. cap. 13. Apocal.— And that to fly to the Kingdom of the whole World for the Beast, and to make the Seven Heads to be Seven Ages in it, is so forced, and wrested an Interpretation, that any one may observe it. Disput. 1a. in cap. 17. Apoc.— And that Ribera's Opinion does offer a fair occasion to the Heretics to calumniate the Roman Church, as being at last to be an Apostate from the Faith.  
On the other side, Cornelius à Lapide does thus censure the first opinion, that interprets all of Rome Heathen, and which therefore is forced to interpret the first part of the Visions of the ruin of the Jewish Commonwealth, or Synagogue, as Salmeron and Alcazar in particular, so also Grotius, and Dr. Hammond. He says of this opinion, in Prolegomen. in Apocal. That it is 1. an Innovation. 2. Mystical, not Historical. 3. Of a Prophecy, it makes the Apocalypse an History; for the Jewish state was down before the writing these things. 4. Because it was against the agreeing-sense of the Fathers.  
He says further in the same place, That though it was not flattery, yet it was only a Love to, and Reverence for the Apostolic See, and a zeal for the honour of it, that put Alcazar upon this opinion, as he himself does ingenuously confess.  
But Ribera says positively, That he is blind that does not see, that the judging the Dead (v. 18. cap. 11. Apoc. which Grotius, and those of Alcasar's way, interpret of the time of Rome-Heathen) cannot be fulfilled before the time of the last Judgement, Comment. in cap. 10. Apocal. Numer. 20.  
The Censures of both the Two former Opinions, by the most eminent of the Romish Interpreters, may very reasonably plead an excuse for a Third advanced in their stead by the Protestants; and that is this,  
That the Beast in general, is the Roman Empire; but when taken for the Eighth King, is The Present Ruling Power of the Roman Church: That the Seven Heads of the Beast, are Seven successive Changes of Roman Government: That the Sixth of them, said to be in being at the time of the Vision, is the Imperial Government: The change of that into another form, the 
Rev. 17. 10.  Seventh King: And the next to that, The Antichristian Sovereignty of the Roman Church, is the Eighth, which is of the Seven: And therefore the Three Years 
v. 11.  and an half, so often mentioned by Months and Days, must be so many Prophetical Years, as there are days in that Period, according to the Examples that there are in Scripture, to take a Day for a Year, in a Prophetical Sense.  
For this they seem to have all the Premises, which are the main foundation of their Conclusion, from the opinions of the Roman Interpreters themselves. The General Notion of the Beast, for the Roman Empire, they have from Alcazar, Bellarmine, etc. to whom agree Grotius, and Dr. Hammond.  
As also their acceptation of the Seven Heads for Roman Governors, from the same; Their making the Seven Heads to be so many successive Lines of Roman Sovereigns, each of which contains under it a long Succession of single persons of the same sort, is according to Alcasar's Notion of the Heads: And Ribera, though he makes them not Roman Heads, yet contends much for 
In cap. 13. Apoc. sect. 2.  their being Seven general sorts of Sovereign Power, each of which contains under it a succession of many 
In cap. 17. Apoc. num. 15.  single Rulers of that kind, according to all the known Examples of Daniel, and other places of Scripture.  
And then since the Prophecy says of one of these Kings, viz. the Sixth, That he was in being at the time of the Vision; that could be no other sort of Sovereign Power, that contained a Succession of many single Persons under it, but the Imperial Government of the Romans.  
And the determining of this does thereupon make it necessary, that the rest of the Heads or Kings should be other Titles of the Government of Rome; And what then can be pitched upon for this end, with more reason, than those other Changes of the Government of Rome, which are frequently recorded by the Roman Authors, Kings, Consuls, etc.  
Whatever were the Five first Kings, yet it is less dubious, that that which is called the Beast, must be the next Change of Roman Government but one, to the Imperial, that was in Rule at the time of the Vision. And the Roman History does assure us, That there has been at least Two such Changes since that time; and that therefore The Beast must be somewhere in being at this present, in the Ruling Power of the City of Rome, because he is described to continue with Babylon and the Seven Hills, to the Universal Kingdom of Christ.  
Therefore do they conclude, That it must be the present Ruling Power of the Church of Rome, because it is described to be a Roman-Church-Power, and it cannot possibly be any where else than there.   

THE HEADS OF THE BOOKS.  
BOOK I. 
THE Uniform Notion of The Beast all over the Revelation.  BOOK II. 
The Constant Signification of A Beast, and its Parts, all over Daniel.  BOOK III. 
The Particular Signification of The Beast, and its Parts, in the Revelations.  BOOK IU. 
The Application of the Characters of The Beast.    

ERRATA.  
These necessary to be Corrected before the reading of the Book.  
PAge 23. l. 27. for it, the, read it: The. p. 105. l. 17. r. pag. 102. So also p. 107. l. 5. item. l. 22. r. the same. p. 108. l. 30. r. pag. 107. And l. 35. no full point. p. 130. l: pen. r. Prop. 7. p. 141. l. 12. for and with the Seventh King, r. revived. p. 180. l. 11. r. Corol. 2. Prop. 8. p. 192. l. ult. r. pag. 157, 158. In the Marg. r. chap. 4. lib. 3. p. 206. l. ult. and p. 207. l. 10. for 140. r. above 40. p. 211. l. 27. deal twice. p. 245. l. 28. r. Prop. 25. l. 30. r. Prop. 26. So also p. 247. l. 3. p. 270. l. 12. r. 261. Appendix. p. 19 l. 9 a full stop. l. 10. to be continued with l. 11. p. 26. l. ult. for never, r. after.  
Notes of References necessary to be Corrected before reading.  
P. 138. l. 20. strike outa. p. 139. l. 1. strike outb. p. 142. l. 36. r. ᵃ Consuls. p. 143. l. 2. for ᶜ, r.b. l. 4. for ᵈ r.c. p. 158. l. 16. The Note ᵉ to be set the line before; the Notes following ᵉ are anticipated in the References as far asl. And p. 165. l. 14. r. ᵉ Panciroll. and l. 23. for ᵉ r. ᶠ, etc. p. 190. l. 17. r. this Chapter. p. 219. l. 12. r. Note ˢ. p. 242. in the Marg. r. Note 5, 6, on Chap. 7. Lib. 3. p. 259. The Notes are right, but p. 266. the Notes answering them are postponed; for ᵍ, r. ʰ; for ʰ, r. ⁱ, etc. to the end. p. 278. l. 8, 9 r. Notes on the 4th Chapter. p. 286. l. 23. r. ᵐ paulus. bb, sup. p. 311. l. 6, 7. Notes bb, cc, transposed in the References, p. 315. P. 313. l. 2. r. Note ᵇ on the 5th Chapter. p. 315. l. 35. r. Note ᶜ on the 5th Chapter. p. 316. l. 8. r. Note ᵐ. l. 17. r. Note ˡ on the 5th Chapter, Lib. 4. p. 317. l. 10. r. Ch. 5. l. 22. Notes b, c, d, e, on Chap. 4. and Note ᵃ, Chap. 5. Lib. 4. l. 23. r. Chap. 4. l. 24. r. Notes i, l, on Chap. 4. and ⁱ, on Chap. 5. Lib. 4.  
Other Faults less Considerable.  
P. 81. l. 36. for by some, r. by Him. p. 116. l. 23. strike out possible to be. p. 132. r. in the Marg. Chap. 6. Lib. 3. ibid. l. 23. to Nation, add, or his Western, and Eastern Empire. p. 143. l. 6. deal part last. p. 149. r. Chap. 2. Lib. 1. p. 172. r. Epagomenae, and elsewhere. p. 180. l. 6. to Prop. 6. add Prop. 7. p. 238. l. 11. r. five days and a quarter. l. 14. r. Roman years. p. 251. l. 16. no full point. p. 288. l. 14. r. Romijith & Latino's.  
Proper Names and Latin Quotations sometimes mistaken.   

THE Introduction.  
Concerning the Authority of the Apocalypse, which is shown to be unquestionable.  
THE Book of the Revelations is acknowledged by all contending Parties, to be the only distinct Prophecy that we have of the successive fortunes of the Christian Church, from its first Settlement, to the end of the world. This they all agree in, for the matter and scope of the whole Book, tho' they infinitely differ about the Explication of the several parts of it. And there cannot be a greater invitation to engage the curiosity of any that are concerned for Useful and Important Truths, than that Consideration. The great variety of the apprehensions of Interpreters about these things, ought not to discourage men's hopes of a clear Interpretation, more than the same differences amongst them about almost every other Book of Scripture: For it will be found, that they do almost as generally agree about the first Grounds of the Interpretation of these Visions, as about other Books of Scripture, that seem to be less mystical. The Language of Prophecy, already explained by accomplishments, is in these things as sure a Rule of Interpretation, as the more common Language of Scripture is for the other Books of it, that are more plain. And those that seem the most impartial in these things, 
Mr. Mede, Bp. Ʋsher, Dr. More.  are very confident, that there are plain grounds upon that foundation to build a demonstrative Evidence of the Sense of the chief design of these Visions upon.  
With this encouragement, it will be first enquired, What sure grounds there are for the certainty of the Apostolical Authority of this Book, as the only foundation of all satisfaction that can possibly be had from the clearest Interpretation of it?  
There are two ways by which the Authority of any Book of Scripture is secured to us: The First, An Universal Tradition concerning it in the first Times of the Church, soon after the writing of it; And the Other, The Determination of the Universal Church concerning it, after some doubts and scruples concerning it. And by both these ways of assurance is the Authority of the Apocalypse secured.  
Two of the first Writers, after the writing of the Apocalypse, were, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus. Justin Martyr was contemporary with those who knew the Apostle whose Name it bears, 
Anno 160.  and that conversed with him; and He, in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, pag. 308. quotes the Apostle St. John about the Thousand Years, under the Name of, A certain man amongst them, who was one of the twelve Apostles of Christ, speaking of that matter, in the Revelation which was given him; which all know to be the Subject of the 20th Chapter of the Apocalypse. And accordingly does Eusebius, l. 4. c. 18. Eccl. Hist. quote Justin Martyr, as attributing the Apocalypse to the Apostle St. John.  
But Irenaeus does the most satisfactorily put an end to all Controversy about this in his time; and Irenaeus was contemporary with Justin Martyr. And to assure us of the truth of what he affirms, he says he had it from Polycarp, whose diligent Auditor 
Lib. 3. contra Haeres. cap. 3.  he was; and Polycarp was a Disciple of St. John himself, and died a Martyr, and so secures the truth of his Testimony.  
But Irenaeus his Testimony concerning the Apocalypse, is most full in his fifth book contra Haeres. sect. ult. where speaking of the Number of Antichrist, he says, That that Number was in all the ancient and approved Copies; and that he had it also confirmed to him by those who had seen St. John face to face.  
There can hardly be given a more unquestionable, or more particular Testimony concerning the true Author of a Book at any distance from the time that it was wrote in, than this is. Here is a particular search after all the Copies of it, soon after the writing of it, with the concurrent Testimony of those who knew the Author himself.  
And further to show the utter unlikelihood of any falsification of the Name of the Author of it, a little after, speaking of the Name of Antichrist, — Knowing this, says he, that if his Name 
Lib. 5. sect. ult.  were to have been openly known at this present time, it would certainly have been expressed by him who saw the Revelation: for it is not long ago since he saw it, but almost in this present Age, at the latter-end of the Reign of Domitian. The little distance betwixt the time of Irenaeus, and the time of the writing this Book, together with the care that he took to look into all the various Copies of it, and the Traditions of the Ear-witnesses of the Apostle about it, and the confirmation of his own Testimony in all this, by dying a Martyr himself, does silence all scruples about the Apostolical Authority of this Book.  
But yet about 100 years after the time of Irenaeus, Dionysius of 
Lib. 2.  Alexandria, in his Disputes against the Millenaries of his time, does affirm, That many of his Predecessors did reject this Book: But then he says, It was because they saw it obscure, and full of too gross ignorance about the Millenarian state; not from any new knowledge they had got of the forgery of it. And their grounds were so small for it, that tho' he was the chief Head of the Antimillinarian Party, yet he says he believed it to be divinely inspired; Tho' from the difference of the Style of it from that of the Gospel and Epistles of John the Evangelist, he judged it to be wrote by some other John contemporary with him. And yet there are some expressions in the Revelations so peculiar to the Gospel and Epistles of John the Evangelist, and used by no other Apostle, that it must be either He himself, or a very near Friend of his, that must be the Author of them; such as are, The Lamb; The Word; The bearing record, or witness of the Word; They that pierced him, shall see him; The Testimony of Jesus Christ; He that overcometh; As I received of my Father, etc. I will give unto him that is athirst, of the fountain of the water of life freely; and Let him that is athirst come; And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely: Which are all expressions peculiar to the Gospel and Epistles of St. John.  
St. Jerem indeed says, That the Greek Church rejected the Authority of it: But, as Baronius well observes about it, An. 96. St. Jerom must necessarily mean that only of the meaner and lower part of the Greek Church; For, as he there shows, almost every one of the Greek Fathers does quote it under the Name of St. John the Apostle. And Eusebius, who relates the dissent of some of the Ancients about it, and was the most eminent Antiquary of the Greek Church, does name Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Melito of Sardis, Theophilus Antiochenus, Origen, Dionysius Alexandrinus, the chief Writers of the Greek Church before him, as Asserters of the Apostolical Authority of this Book.  
If we go to the Judgement of after-Ages, we have the Universal Consent of the Christian Church for the Canonical Authority of the Apocalypse, after it had been scrupled by some; which is the other way of assuring the right Tradition of a Canonical Book.  
The third Council of Carthage, after the time of these scruples of the Antimillenarians, and before the degeneracy of the Church, to which the aim of the Apocalypse is applied by Protestants, viz. before the year 400, does in its 47th Canon ordain the Book of the Apocalypse to be read in the Church, as Canonical Scripture. And this Provincial Council is confirmed, to oblige the Universal Church, both the Greek and Latin, by the sixth Synod in Trullo at Constantinople, Can. 2. Anno 707. But it was unquestionably a Decree of the Greek Church, where the Apocalypse had alone been scrupled.  
But the most authentic Evidence of this, is the Authority of the fourth Council of Toledo, when it could not possibly be any Interest of the then Ruling Party of the Church to plead for the Apocalypse, but might possibly enough endanger the Interest of it; because it was about the year 640. after the time that the Protestants Applications of that Book do generally date the degeneracy of the Church of Rome from. So that the sense of that Council is the Testimony of an Adversary to the General Consent of the Church about the Tradition of this Book. The words of it are these:  
The Authority of many Councils, and the Synodical Decrees 
Concil. Toletan. 4. Can. 16. about the year 640.  of the holy Bishops of Rome, have determined the Book of the Apocalypse to have been wrote by John the Evangelist, and to be received amongst the Books divinely inspired. And because there are many that do not receive it for Authentic, and scorn to read it in the Church of God; if any one for the future shall refuse to receive it, or to read it in the Church, in the time of Mass, from Easter to Whitsuntide, he shall be Excommunicated.  
By this it does appear how the Apocalypse came to lose its authenticalness among the meaner part of the Church: It was, it seems, so disused in the Church, that it passed for an useless Book; the Interpretations that were given of it, were either so fanciful, or so little concerning the Times when it was neglected, that it passed amongst them for a kind of Book of Dreams, in which the Church was not concerned, and which none knew the meaning of. And this cannot much be wondered at, when it is considered how little regard is had to these Revelations, even in these days, unto which they are, by the best Learned amongst us, judged to belong in matters of the highest importance for the Church to know.  
But as for that suggestion, That Cerinthus was the Author of the Apocalypse, (which was always the most current ground amongst those who rejected the Authority of it), there is assurance enough of the falsehood of it out of Irenaeus; for he was the Scholar of Polycarp, who was the Disciple and Companion of St. John, (to whom Irenaeus  attributes 
Euseb. l. 5. Eccles. Histor. c. 18.  the Apocalypse), and writes against Cerinthus, and reports from Polycarp the great detestation that St. John had against Cerinthus. And how absurd a thing would it be to imagine, that Irenaeus, after so diligent, so long and familiar a conversation with Polycarp, the Companion of St. John, as he particularly mentions of himself, should make the Apostle to be the Author 
Lib. 3. contra Haeres. cap. 3.  of a Book which was really wrote by his worst Adversary to propagate his Errors?  
Whatever was the true reason of the rejection of the Authority of this Prophecy, it is certain, That no Book of Scripture has had a more express and unexceptionable Tradition of its Apostolical Authority, since it was confirmed by the Testimony of two Learned Martyrs soon after the writing of it, who also had searched into all the Copies of it, and were confirmed in it by those who were conversant with the Apostle himself that wrote it; and that in the very times that it was scrupled, it was believed to be Authentical by all the Eminently-learned Fathers of those days; and that after the times that it had been scrupled, it was owned by the General Consent of the Christian Church.  
This I thought fit to premise, for the full satisfaction of those that are altogether sceptical in the first foundation of these Interpretations. But the Romanists, whose whole concern it is to make every thing in this kind dubious, do agree with all other Christian Churches in the World at this time about the unquestionableness of the Canonical Authority of this part of the New Testament.  
And now it may appear to be our Duty and Concern to inquire with diligence after the best understanding that we can get of this Prophecy, when we consider what pressing Motives there are to it, more in this Book than in any other Book of Scripture beside. In the beginning; Blessed is he that readeth, 
Rev. 1. 3. & 13. 9  and they that hear the words of this Prophecy. And again; If any man have an ear, let him hear. And the matter of it is said to be, The Revelation that God gave unto Jesus Christ, to show 
Chap. 1. 1.  unto his Servants. And that whosoever should add to, or take 
Chap. 22. 18, 19  from the words of this Book, above any other, should have the plagues of God added to him, or his part of Eternal Life taken away.   

The First BOOK.  
THE Uniform Constant Notion Of the Term of THE BEAST All over the REVELATIONS.  

CHAP. I.  
The Ground of the Method here used. The first Proposition, That Babylon is the City of Rome in an Antichristian and Idolatrous Reign. Scruples moved against it. The Demonstration of it from the Text, confirmed by General Consent.  
NOne could be more disposed to the common prejudices against the study of the Revelations, than I was at the time that I first engaged in those things. I had till then been so almost wholly confined to such Inquiries as are the closest Exercise of Ratiocination, upon clear and sure grounds, That I was come to have a natural aversion against all such lose Conjectures, as the Interpretations of those Visions are generally reputed to be.  
But Mr. Mede's Synchronisms, and his offers at Demonstration in them, which I lighted on by chance some years since in a solitary retirement, did tempt my curiosity to inquire, What could be the ground of such a confidence in one of so known a Character for a cautious and imparial Judgement in Scriptural 
Rev. XVII.  Expositions. At the first cursory view of his performance, I was extremely surprised to see such fair grounds of a clear Explication about so intricate and obscure a Subject: And tho' upon a more critical examination of the strength of them, I found most of his Synchronisms far short of a close and cogent proof in them; yet I could not but think that the Subject might be capable of a more certain determination to the Conclusion that he aimed at.  
I did thereupon set myself upon a particular search after a closer demonstration of that Application that he had made of the main scope of these Visions; and at last thought I had arrived at what I was in search of.  
The late dangerous Circumstances that I apprehended the True Religion to be in, made me think I was obliged to communicate my thoughts of these things to the Public; And because I knew that I should have a very sagacious Adversary, encouraged by a Ruling Interest, engaged against me with all that scorn and fierceness that the charge of the Characters of Babylon upon the Roman Church does usually raise in them, I thought it necessary to review the coherence of my former thoughts, and to take care that I never concluded upon any thing till I should see a moral necessity at least for it from the evidence of the Grounds upon which it depended. The great importance of the thing, made me think it worth all these pains; and the fear of betraying the Cause of Religion, instead of assisting it, and of giving a false Charge, of so heavy and dreadful a nature, upon so large a part of the Christian Church, made me conclude, That I could not be too slow and cautious in my determinations about these matters. And therefore, if the scrupulous Cautiousness, with which I examine this Subject, should seem tedious and troublesome to any, the nature of the dangers that I designed to avoid by it, and the aim that I propounded in it, of arriving at a certain and clear foundation of satisfaction about these things, may very reasonably excuse it: And tho' I do not here pretend to any more Certainty or Demonstration, than the Interpretation of another's meaning in a Writing is capable of, yet I am encouraged to hope, That I shall be allowed, by those that are Judicious and Impartial enough, to have here arrived at the aim that I propounded to myself, so far at least as I positively affirm or conclude.  
In this design, the first thing that offers itself, is that which seems to be the clearest thing in the Prophecy, and may therefore be apprehended to be the foundation of all the rest; which is, That  Babylon in the 17th Chapter of the Revelations, is the City of Rome in an Antichristian and Idolatrous Reign. 
To abate the Evidence of this Proposition from the Angel's Interpretation; I found that there were not only various Opinions about the signification of Babylon, much different from what it is here made to be; but also that they were countenanced by Persons of the greatest Authority for Integrity, Learning, and a sound Judgement. St. Austin makes Babylon in this place to be only the general City of Wicked Men all the World over; and those that were most conversant in these things soon after his time, and the most judicious in them, Primasius, Andreas Caesariensis, Arethas, make it indifferent, to be Babylon in Persia, or Rome, or Constantinople, or the general Society of Wicked Men; and even Protestants themselves do some of them agree to this, notwithstanding the great advantage it would be to their Cause to have it to be the City of Rome only.  
But than one cannot but be surprised again, to see the most Learned and Judicious of the Church of Rome so very positive, That Babylon cannot possibly be any thing but the City of Rome; as, 
a BAronius, Anno 45. Certissimum est nomine Babylonis, Romam Urbem significari: It is most certain, that by the name of Babylon, is meant the City of Rome.  Baronius, and 
b Bellarmin. lib. 3. de Rom. Pontifice, cap. 13. Johannes in Apocalypsi passim Roman vocat Babylonem; — & aperte colligitur ex cap. 17. Apocalyp. etc. John does  in the Revelations call Rome Babylon;— and this is manifestly to be gathered from the 17th Chapter of the Revelations, etc.  Bellarmin, 
c 
Ribera in cap. 14. Apocalyp. n. 30, 31. Huic (sc. Romae) conveniunt aptissime omnia, quae de Babylone dicuntur in hoc libro.— Atque illud imprimis, quod alii convenire non potest, v. 9 — Si ergo omnia conjungamus quae de Babylone dicuntur, planius eam Romam esse intelligemus.— Nam etsi quaedam ex singulis vel in congregationem malorum, vel in aliam urbem convenire possent, omnia profecto nisi in Romam non conveniunt. All that is spoken of Babylon in this Book, does very exactly fit the City of Rome.— And that especially which can agree with nothing else, v. 9— If therefore we put all that is spoken of Babylon together, we shall more plainly understand it to be Rome.— For tho' something in every mention of it might agree well enough with the Society of Wicked Men, or suit with another City, yet All put together can agree to nothing but the City of Rome.  
Malvenda de Antichristo, pag. 184. in cap. 17, 18. Et non potuit manifestius Romam urbem veluti digito monstrare.— He could not more manifestly have pointed out the City of Rome with his finger.  
Lessius de Antichristo.— Roma à Joanne vocatur Babylon, quia Babylon fuit figura Romae, quibus verbis aperte designat Romam.— John calls Rome Babylon, as being the figure of Rome, by which name he does clearly show it to be Rome.  
Cornel. à Lapide, in cap. 17. Apoc. v. 2. Dico ergo Babylon hic est Roma. v. 9 Hoc enim nulli alteri nisi soli Romae competit: I say therefore, Babylon here is Rome. v. 9 For this can agree to nothing else but Rome.  
Et postea— 7m. Montibus patet denotari Romam. Virgil. Georg. 2. in fine. Sibyl. lib. 6. 2. Horat. in Carmine saeculari. Ovid. l. 1. de Trist. It that by the seven Hills is signified Rome. Virgil, etc.  
Alcazar. in cap. 13. Apoc. sect. 5. Perspicuè enim asseruit 7m. Bestiae capita esse 7m. Romae montes.— Idem in cap. 7. Disput. 1. Reliquis ergo Expositionibus rejectis, illa debet esse certa, quod docct Romam sub Babylonis nomine significari.  
Tyrinus the Jesuit, in cap. 17. Apoc. quotes Sixtus Senensis, Bellarmine, Bozius, Suarez, Salmeron, Alcazar, most of his own Order, as Maintainers of this Opinion.  
Blasius Viega, in cap. 17. Apocalyps. sect. 3. — Quare existimamus nomine Babylonis, Romam urbem significari in hoc Apocalypsios Opere.— Nam quod Roma Babylonis nomine censeatur perspicuum est.— Et vere Romam Joannes clarissimis Argumentis videtur indicâsse, etc.— We do therefore judge, That by the name of Babylon is meant the City of Rome in this Book of the Revelations:— For that Rome is called by the name of Babylon, is very clear, etc.— But that Rome is meant by it, John seems to have shown by very clear proofs of it.   the most zealous, and the most skilled of all the Jesuits in these things. And from the great evidence that they think they see for it in the Revelations, they make great 
d Baronius Anno 45. n. 8. Bellarmin. lib. 2. de Pontifice R ᵒ cap. 2.  outcries against the Protestants, as people that are given up to a reprobate mind, for denying Babylon in the 2 Peter 5. 13. to be Rome; and then show us the almost unanimous Consent of the Father's concerning it. And Grotius, who has used all the dexterity of his Wit to remove the Scene of these Visions from the Church of Rome, yet does upon the 9th and 18th Verses of this Chapter affirm, That there could not have been given more illustrious Marks of the City of Rome, than those that are there expressed of it.  
This positive Testimony for the unquestionable Evidence of this Proposition against the doubts and waver of others, is a great encouragement to expect as sufficient a proof of it, from the grounds that are laid down for it in the Prophecy; which are now therefore to be considered.  
1. And first, The Angel's promise, at the 7th Verse of this Chapter, to explain to the Prophet the mystical expressions of the Woman, and the Beast, which he had invited him to the show of in the beginning of the Chapter, would make any judge he might with very good reason expect to see it performed by him in so clear a manner as might tolerably answer the promise that he had before made of it.  
2. The Angel may be found thereupon describing Babylon, by such Characters as were the individual and peculiar Characters of the City of Rome, v. 9, & 18. by its seven Hills, and its Reign over the Kings of the Earth: for there was no City in the World that ruled over the Kings of the Earth, and that was seated upon seven Hills, but that City only. But Rome was very eminent for this: It commanded the East, the West, the South, and some of the parts of the North, to the end of the then civilised World. And 
e Varro lib. 4. de LL. Dies septimontium nominatus ab his septem montibus, in queis sita urbs est.  Varro informs us of a yearly Festival at Rome, that was called Dies Septimontium, to celebrate the memory of the seven Hills upon which the City was built.  
3. Rome was also, at the time of this Explication, generally known by the appellatives of, The seven-hilled City, The Queen and Lady of the World. It was not better known by the Letters of its own proper Name by persons of any fashion, than by these Appellatives; as may be seen amongst all the famous Poets especially of that Age, and who were generally esteemed and read all over the Roman Empire; as, 
f 

Virgil Georg. lib. 2. & Aeneid. lib. 6.  
Septemque una (sive muro) circumdedit arces.  
— And all  
The seven-tow'red Hills has compassed with one Wall.    Virgil, 
g 

Horace in carmine saeculari.  
Diis, quibus septem placuere colles  
Dicere carmen.  
To sing unto the Gods, who love the place  
Which the seven Hills do grace.    Horace, 
h 

Ovid. Faster. lib. 1.  
Sed quae de septem totum circumspicis orbem  
Montibus, Imperii Roma, Deûmque locus.  
But Thou, who from thy sev'n-hilled Seat  
Seest the World crouching at thy feet,  
Rome, in thy Gods and Empire Great.    Ovid, 
i 

Propertius.  
Septem urbs alta juges toti quae praesidet orbi.  
The Town that rules the World, advanced upon  
The seven Hills for its Throne.    Propertius, 
k 

Martial lib. 12. Epigr. 8.  
Terrarum Dea, gentiumque Roma,  
Cui par est nihil, & nihil secundum.  
Rome the World's Goddess, by all Nations feared,  
To whom no thing is like, no thing to be compared.    Martial, 
l 

Lucan.  
Atque omnis Latio servit quae purpura ferro.  
— And every Crowned Head, and State,  
Who to the Roman Arms submit their Fate.    Lucan, etc.  
4. And these Characters we find also expressly fixed to a certain time, when they could not be understood of any other Place; as, The seven Hills where the Woman sitteth; that is, at this present time: The City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth; that is, at 
Ver. 9, & 18.  this moment; or at that time when the Angel spoke to the Apostle all along that Chapter, to unfold the Mystery to him.  
From these plain Circumstances, I could not think it would be any dangerous venture to be confident, That Babylon must be Rome.  
For who can think it possible for an Angel of God to promise in the first place to explain the mystical terms of a Prophecy to an Apostle of Christ; then to go on immediately to perform it by Characters of them, which were very peculiar and individual Properties of things that were alone known to have them, and by which they were generally known and understood to be meant in the common conversation of the world: and to fix them also to a certain time when they were so generally used; and yet after all this, that the Angel might understand them in a much different sense? How then is it possible to know the meaning of the plainest words in Scripture, if in such circumstances as these an Angel of God could have given such an invincible temptation to the world to deceive themselves, without any possibility to prevent it? I could not therefore judge it possible, that Babylon here should be any thing else but Rome.  
This I was still the more free in, because I saw it the confidence 
CONSENT.  of those, who, tho' they make the outward Testimony of a Church their ordinary Rule to judge of any divine infallible Truth, yet here speak with all imaginable assurance about a thing which their Church never defined, upon the account of the over-bearing evidence of the Text for it: and this also freed me from all fear of any partial prejudice against their Church, that might make me too ready to join with the rest in this great assurance.  
As for the wavering Opinions of others about it, I knew it to be no strange thing to find Learned and Worthy Persons of different Judgements about the most certain, and even the most undeniable Truths, either upon the account of former prejudices, or want of sufficient consideration, or from an unaccountable indifference for some things, or from some peculiar propension to others; so as sometimes to maintain very plain Contradictions to the common sense of men; as it was of old observed of the subtlest Reasoners in the world, That there was nothing so absurd, which was not maintained by some or other of the Philosophers. I had read of very learned Sceptics, that doubted of the Certainty of Mathematical Demonstrations; had known many Judicious and Worthy Persons, that could not see any absolute Contradiction in the most difficult Notion of Transubstantiation: and much more easy is it for the best men to apprehend, That in the clearest Explication of a Mystery, as this is, there may possibly be a further Mystery.  
Let the reason of the indifference of others have been what it will, we are sure, That if any mystical Figure should be now said by an Angel to signify the most Christian King with the Flower-de-luces'; or the most Catholic King, who has the Gold Mines of America; or the Port, that rules over the East; we should most assuredly conclude, That no other King now or hereafter could be meant by it, but the King of France, or Spain; nor any other Port in the World, but the Ottoman Port, or Constantinople. And it would be altogether incredible to us, That any learned Person some hundreds of years hence, that was acquainted with the common use of those terms in this Age, should be so extravagant as to think that this might be meant of any other Christian or Catholic King in the world besides, or of some other great Eastern Port, some hundred years hence.  
The MOST SATISFACTORY instance of the wild imaginations of Learned Men on some occasions, is the example that Bellarmin has given us of it in the very Case before us. Whatsoever was the reason of it, it is certain that he is in express terms repugnant to himself in two contradictory Assertions about this thing: For in his second Book de Pontifice, cap. 2. 
m 
Joannes in Apocalypsi Romam passim vocat Babylonem. — Et aperte colligitur ex cap. 17. Apocalyps.— Alioqui respondeat nobis Vellenus.— Quaenam est illa Babylon, quae in Apocalypsi imperat Regibus terrae? Bellarm. l. 2. de Pontifice Romano, cap. 2.  
Ibid. Nec enim alia civitas est, quae Joannes tempore Imperium habuerit super Reges terrae quam Roma; & notissimum est supra septem colles Romam aedificatam esse. For neither was there any other City in St. John's time, that reigned over the Kings of the Earth; and it was  known, that Rome was built upon seven Hills.   he affirms, That it is plain from the 17th Chapter of the Revelations, that Babylon is Rome; and shows Vellenus, his Adversary, That it is not possible it should be any thing else. And yet in the same Book, lib. 3. cap. 13. when he comes to state what Babylon is in that place of the Revelations, 
n 
Respondeo, 1ᵒ. Dici posse cum Augustino, Areta, Haymone, Beda, Raperto, etc. non intelligi Romam per meretricem, sed universam Diaboli civitatem, quae in Scripturâ saepe vocatur Babylon. Bellarm. lib. 3. de Pont. Romano, cap. 13.  
This was before observed by Malvenda, p. 226. de Antichristo. — Mirati impendio sumus, etc. I do extremely wonder to find a new Author (i. e. Bellarmine) to think that this Beast may be either the Roman Empire, or 
Bellarm. l. 3. de Pont. c. 15.  the Congregation of wicked men.   First, says he, it may be said with St. Augustine, that it is not Rome. If so eminent a person can print such an express Contradiction in plain words, about an Opinion which he could think to be necessarily certain, and clearly expressed in the Text at some times; and that in a Book of Controversy in the face of his Adversaries, and about so very remarkable a matter; it cannot be at all strange to find Learned Men barely differing from one another, in a matter which is apparently clear and certain.  
And that remarkable Observation of the Jesuit Ribera, is a great Confirmation of this; namely, 
o 
Hoc dicam, Ambrose, qui prius negaverat, tandem in cap. 17. veritate convictus Babylonem Romam significare confessus est. Ribera in cap. 14. Apocalyps. num. 30.  
Idem in cap. 17. Apoc. v. 16. Hîc jam nonnulli scriptores, qui aliter interpretati fuerint, veritate ipsâ coguntur nobis favere. Nam Ambrose Romam dicit esse Fornicariam.   That such as had been of another mind in this Point, yet at last were forced to change their Opinion by the irresistible evidence of the thing: which is a sufficient instance, that men of Learning may hold out awhile against the clearest Truth; and that therefore their Authority is not to be weighed against any Conclusion that does otherwise appear undoubtedly clear to ones self, and to the generality of the Judicious besides.  
And now I may seem to have been unnecessarily tedious in these last Reflections; But since I have found by long experience, that the general prejudice to me, and to most of the World beside, against the clearest things in these Visions, was the strange different Apprehensions of very Judicious Men about them; I thought myself obliged to stay long enough upon the consideration of the insignificancy of that Scruple, to take off all the power of it for the future; and this will, it may be, prove to be of greater use, than it may at first be apprehended to be.  
After this satisfaction about Babylon, the Subject of the present Proposition, I found at the first sight, that what is attributed to Babylon in it, must be acknowledged to be unquestionable, 
CONSENT.  as it has also the general suffrage of the Interpreters.  
1. As namely, first, that it is there signified to be 
p 
Grotius in cap. 17. Apocal. Mulier est Roma: sed notandum cum urbe simul notari Imperium urbis. The Woman is Rome: but it is to be observed, That together with the City, is to be understood the Empire of the City.  
A manifest proof of this, was the Custom observed by all the Governors of the Provinces of the Roman Empire, when they returned from their several Governments to the City of Rome: They used to lay down the Ensigns of their Authority at the Gate of the City of Rome before they entered the City. Lib. ult. de Officio Procons.   in Rule, or to be the Seat of Empire. For it has all the Ensigns of Majesty, 
Chap. 17. v. 1. 3, 4, 5.  arrayed in Purple, and Scarlet colour, and sitting upon a Beast with seven heads, and ten horns, interpreted to be so many Kings. And called Babylon the Great, the Great Whore.  
2. That it is an Idolatrous Rule, is assured from the names of an Harlot, and a Whore, and of Fornication given it, which amongst all the Prophets do commonly signify nothing else but Idolatry and Apostasy, when spoken of a City in the same manner.  
3. That it is also an Antichristian Tyranny, is plain from her being said to be seen drunken with the blood of the Martyrs 
v. 6.  of Jesus.   

CHAP. II. 
Rev. XVII.   
The former Proposition made the Standard to judge what kind of Evidence is sufficient to make one sure of the Interpretation of any thing else in the Prophecy. And Four Rules of Interpretation drawn from it. The Plainness and usefulness of them.  
I Was not so vain as to think I had got much by the undoubted Certainty of the former Proposition, to give me any hopes of much better satisfaction about the rest of the Interpretation. For in all my former perplexities about these things, I never questioned the certainty of this. And besides, I saw this to be generally acknowledged by those, who yet differ from one another in almost every thing else.  
But however, since this was the only certain truth, that was then known about these things, It was necessary to inquire upon what general Suppositions it did rely to make it useful for a foundation for further advances; according to the best method of finding out unknown Truths, where the Resolution of one Problem discovers many General Theorems at the end of it very useful for farther improvements; as it is also the most easy, sure, and natural order of Science, from particular Instances to draw forth the General Rule supposed in them for all like Cases.  
And this great advantage have we from the certainty of this particular Instance, That it determines both what kind, or degree of Evidence is sufficient to make a man sure of any other Conclusion in these matters; and also, what would be sufficient grounds to secure any, that there was that degree of Evidence in it. For, whatever it is that makes this single Truth appear to be so unquestionable, must be acknowledged to be sufficient to secure the certainty of any other Proposition that has the same grounds in it. And this I conceived to be of the greatest importance in all further search into these Obscurities, To have such a Criterion or Standard of the true value of every thing that should offer itself.  
First then, for the KIND of EVIDENCE, that from hence appears sufficient for ones assurance of any thing hereafter; it need be no greater, than that which makes men sure of the meaning of any plain words of Scripture of unexceptionable Authority. For of that kind is the certainty of this Instance. It is not an Evidence grounded upon the necessary connexion betwixt the thing, and its essential properties, as Mathematical Demonstrations are; or such, as it may be proved to be absolutely impossible to be otherwise in the nature of the thing.  
It would be hard to prove it absolutely impossible from the nature of God's Veracity, that he should have a further mysterious meaning in expressions, that seem very plain to us, for some great good ends unknown to us. But yet this is so contrary to his ordinary way of revealing his mind, and so seemingly inconsistent with the perfection of his Veracity, that we cannot but be confident, that he means always, as plainly as he speaks; unless he gives clear intimations to the contrary to assure us, that he has an hidden meaning, either by its contradiction to some Truths far more clearly known, or by the inconsistency of the plain sense of the words with that wherewith it is joined, or the like.  
From hence therefore it will be expected, that whatever extravagant, Metaphysical Reasons a man may have to doubt of it, one ought not to scruple the certainty of any thing, that has the same grounds to make us sure of it, that the several parts of this Proposition rely upon; for that would be of equal force against the sense of the plainest Expressions of Scripture. And besides, it would have the testimony of the unanimous Judgement of all the differing kinds of Parties and Interests in the World against it, whom we find to be all agreed about some of the parts of this Proposition, only from the plainness of the Expressions about them, notwithstanding all the wild Possibilities only of their being otherwise meant.  
Wherefore it would be thought very reasonable, that one should look upon the several grounds of this present Instance, as so many General Rules to assure us of the certainty of every thing else in these Visions, that was established upon them.  
For this end, it may be observed, in the first place, that the chief ground for concluding Babylon to be Rome in the Angel's explication of it, and its Reign to be an Antichristian Tyranny against the Church of Christ, before the explication of it at the 6th verse, is the common usage of the Expressions in such a determinate known signification; especially when compared with the Angel's promise to explain the Mystery with an intention to have it understood: It may therefore from hence be established.  That whatsoever is delivered in the 17th Chapter of the Revelations, Rule 1 in expressions of a known signification, aught to be taken 
a 
COrnel. à Lapide Prolegomen. in Apocalyps. De Canonibus Interpretandi, of the Rules of Interpreting. Augustinus, Lib. 3. de Doctrinâ Christianâ, cap. 1. The Apocalypse, and all other Scripture, is to be taken according to the letter, as it does ordinarily signify, as much as may be; that is, unless that sense be found to be absurd, or contrary to sound Faith, or good Manners.  
Ribera in cap. 6. Apoc. Numer. 51. The propriety of the words (or their proper literal signification) is to be kept to, when there is no clear reason against it. And in cap. 7. number. 1.— Because, as it has been said, we must not departed from the proper (literal) sense of the words, unless some plain reason forces us to it.  
Thomas de Albiis Tab. suffrag. cap. 17. pag. 230, 231. THE BASIS of all other Interpretations is the literal sense, and only that which can be clear from the words; that is, which only can force the Understanding to an assent.— And before— The Arguments which are to convince one's Faith, can only be fetched from the literal sense of the Holy Scripture. The other Senses, since they proceed only from the Wit of the Interpreter, it is clear, that they have the Authority of the Interpreter, but not of the Scripture divinely inspired.   as it is generally used to be understood in the World with the like construction, unless; it be inconsistent with something more clearly known. 
And next, the certainty, That it is here an Idolatrous state of Rome that it is described in, is grounded upon the necessity of a mystical sense of the terms of Harlot, and Whore here given to Babylon; and upon the known use of those terms amongst the Prophets to signify the Idolatry and Apostasy of a Nation, or City. From hence then it may reasonably be required to be granted,  That where there is a necessity for a Mystical Sense, that Sense is Rule 2 to be taken which is the most generally made use of by the Prophets, if not inconsistent with something more clearly known. 
After which might very reasonably be urged, That since the Angel's Explication of the Mystery is in the midst of a very frequent use of the same peculiar and proper Mystical Expressions in this Prophecy; that it cannot be doubted, but  
That the same peculiar, and proper Expressions do signify all over the Prophecy the same things which they are said to signify in the 17th Chapter of the Revelations, unless there be something more clearly known against it.  
And this being an unquestionable assurance, that the Angel's Explication was given to afford light to the rest of the Prophecy, It does seem as clearly to assure us,  That the same Expressions all over the Prophecy, explained, unexplained, Rule 3 and commonly known, do signify the same things, unless there be plain grounds against it. 
These Rules seem indeed to be the immediate, and necessary Consequences of the grounds of the first Proposition; But that which made me the better satisfied with them, was, That they are so clear of themselves, that any impartial Reasoner about these things, would naturally suppose them, and be in the continual use of them, without any regard to the strength of this Conclusion, from which they are fetched. They are so obvious, and easy, and so plain to the common Sense of all men; and accordingly so generally acknowledged by all kinds of Interpreters; That I should have thought it a very unnecessary 
CONSENT.  trouble to the Reader to have mentioned them, had it not been necessary for the conviction of those that are sceptical in these matters; to make it appear to them from this undoubted Example, what are the plain, and known Rules to secure an Interpretation upon.  
I could not but see the great use of this Method, that it would certainly ease one of all the perplexities which the different Judgements of Learned Men do ordinarily distract men's minds with, and would make me rest fully satisfied of any Conclusion, that I should see truly inferred from so plain a foundation.  
Wherefore upon this account, and the experience I had had of the different Judgements of some Great Men about one of the plainest Conclusions that one could have met with in the former Instance, I thought it worth the while to set it up for a Rule for the future,  
That, The different Judgements of Learned Men, ougbt not to Rule 4 weaken one's assent to any thing, which upon an impartial examination of it, appears clear, and undoubted, and is generally acknowledged.  
[The Two following Chapters may be passed over by those, who would only look at the close Connexion of the Demonstration.] 
ᵇ Ribera, Prooem. in Comment. in Apocal. This Book is a Prophecy, and has many things like the Old Prophets, and often alludes to them, and offers an opportunity from thence to find out the most mysterious meaning of it: It has the same phrases (or style) with them, the same kind of Metaphors, and Allegories, etc.    

CHAP. III. 
Rev. XVII.   
The Second Proposition, Babylon the same thing in all Chapters of the Revelations. The Third Proposition, That the Judgement of Babylon is the desolation of it in the time of its Antichristian Reign. Babylon not Rome Pagan. Grotius examined.  
THE securest exercise of those plain Rules of Interpretation, which were found to be contained in the First Proposition, will be about some of the Characters of Babylon, whose Explication is already known, and from whence they were drawn. The plainest Expressions about Babylon seem to be the account of the desolation of it immediately before, and after the 17th Chapter, which does offer very fair grounds of assurance against the most current Opinions concerning the particular time of that state, in which it has already been determined to be from the 17th Chapter. For the clearer proof of this, it may be observed, That  Babylon signifies the same particular state of the Idolatrous, 
Proposit. 2.  Antichristian Rule of Rome, immediately before, and after the 17th Chapter, that it signifies in that Chapter. 
1. Babylon signifies the same state of Rome immediately before the 17th Chapter, that it does in it. For immediately after the mention of Babylon the Great at the end of the 16th Chapter, and of the Judgement of it just then approaching, at the pouring out of the 7th Vial; there comes one of the Angels of the seven Vials in the entrance of the 17th Chapter, and offers the Apostle an Explication of the Mystery of Babylon the Great, and of the Judgement of it; which in the common acceptation of any such relation of an Affair, all the World would understand to be meant of the same thing. Wherefore by Rule 1. it must then be the same time of Babylon just before the 17th Chapter, that is mentioned in that Chapter: so also by Rule 3. Babylon the Great being a very peculiar Mystical Expression, must signify in both these Chapters the same thing, since there is nothing more clearly known to hinder it.  
2. Babylon signifies the same state of Rome after the 17th Chapter, that it does in that Chapter. For the 18th and 19th Chapters appear to be but one continued account of the Fortunes of the same Babylon, that had been mentioned but just before in the 17th Chapter. As 1. The Significations of its Ruling Power, Chap. 18. 2, 16. and Chap. 19 2. are just the same very peculiar words with those in the 17th Chapter, v. 1, 4, 5. So also 2. It's Idolatrous State is signified in the same Expressions, Chap. 18. 3, 9 and Chap. 19 2. with those in the 17th Chapter, v. 1, 2, 4, 5. 3. The Antichristian Tyranny of Babylon, Chap. 18. 20, 24. and Chap. 19 2. is signified to be the same with that Chap. 17. 6. And 4. Its last Desolation is expressed in just the same words, Chap. 18. 8, 9, 10, 19 and Chap. 19 3. with those in the 17th Chapter, v. 1, 16.  
But to put this past all scruple, we find scarce one Interpreter that is not of the same mind.  
If it be so unquestionable, that Babylon is the same time of the Antichristian Rule of Rome immediately before, after, and in the 17th Chapter, than it can hardly be doubted, but that  
Babylon is the same in the 14th Chapter with the rest of the mentions Corollar. of it in the other Chapters, by Rule 3. Nor but that  
The Judgement of Babylon in the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Chapters is the desolation of Rome by Fire in the time of its 
Proposit. 3:  Antichristian Reign in those Chapters.  
1. That the Judgement of Babylon in those Chapters is the desolation of it by Fire, is signified by the fullest Expressions that could be used for that purpose; such as the being utterly burnt with 
Chap. 18. 8, 21.  fire; and so burnt, that the smoke of it ascended up for ever: And, the being thrown down with violence, so as not to be found any more at all; but to be like a great Millstone cast into the Sea. All which are Expressions taken out of the Prophets, to signify the utter dissolution of the City Babylon at the ruin of the Babylonian Monarchy. So that both the common, and usual 
Jer. 50. 39 Jer. 51. 7, 8, 13, 35, 37. 45, 64.  Sense, and the known use also of these Phrases amongst the Prophets, do necessarily determine them to signify the utter desolation of Babylon here at the last end of that Empire, that it does here mystically signify, by Rule 1, and 2. that is, at the last end of the Antichristian Reign of Rome, which is in all these Chapters signified by Babylon (by Proposit. 1. and 2.)  
2. And further, That this desolation of Rome, is certainly in the time of its Antichristian Reign, is as evident, 1. Because Babylon does in all those places of the Prophets, to which the Characters of it do here allude, signify the Babylonian Throne, or Monarchy. 2. And here is it also found to signify the City of Rome in its Antichristian Domination (by Prop. 1.) 3. And the desolation of Babylon in the Prophets, for which the same Expressions with these here are used, does signify the last end of that Monarchy, or Ruling Power. 4. And besides, It is the general usage of the Prophetical Writings, to set out the last Ruin of a Ruling People by the desolation of the chief City of that Nation at the same time. Thus is the Ruin of the Kingdom of Israel, Judah, Egypt, and of the Babylonians, represented by the Desolations of Samaria, Jerusalem, Noph and Babylon. 5. But more particularly is it set forth in this Prophecy, that the desolation of Babylon is not after the end of that Monarchy, which it here represents. For The Beast, whose Heads do represent this City, and is himself called the King of it, is not dethroned till after the desolation of Babylon in the 18th Chapter, as appears Chapters 19, 20.  
And Chap. 16. 14, 19 The Judgement upon Babylon is betwixt the meeting of the Strength of that Monarchy in Harmageddon, and the last end of it in the 19th Chapter.  
From hence it appears, That  Babylon in none of the mentions of it in the Revelations, can be Rome Corollar. Pagan. 
This may safely be concluded from the name of The Whore here given to Babylon. For when a Nation or City is said in Scripture to commit Fornication, or to be an Harlot, It signifies that Nation or City to have apostatised from the True Religion to Idolatry (see the three first Chapters of Hosea:) And therefore must Babylon here signify Rome Christian turned Idolatrous, which was not till after the time of Rome Pagan. The name of Harlot is indeed given to Nineveh, Nahum. 3. 4. But that Prophecy was after that of Jonah, in whose time the people of Niniveh are said to have believed in God, and to have repent, Jonah 3. 5, 10. And so the Idolatry of Nineveh after that time, was her Apostasy from the true Faith.  
But it is much more confirmed from the preceding Propositions: For Babylon is, in all the mentions of it, the same Antichristian state of the Reign of Rome (by Prop. 2.)— And in that state of it, it is desolated by Fire (by Propos. praeced.)— But this was never known to have been done in the time of the Reign of Rome-Heathen. There was nothing that had the least appearance of the desolation of Rome, or of the dissolution of the Roman Government, at Constantine's Triumphs over Paganism; much less was there any thing like the least part of the description of the desolation of Babylon by fire, as it is here most remarkably signified.  
But Grotius and Dr. Hammond, to uphold their applications of these things to Rome-Heathen, will have Rome to be Babylon two hundred years after it was come under the Christian Emperors, because there were a part of the Senate, and now and then a Consul, that were Pagans, for that space of time after Constantine's Triumph over Paganism; and therefore, that the last desolation of Babylon by fire, was at the burning of Rome by Totila, An. 546. where the storm of the Enemy's fury lay almost wholly upon the Pagan Party, and the Christians were most saved by flying to the Churches.  
In the first place, it may here by the way be observed, what becomes of the ground of Dr. Hammond's confidence, That the things in the Revelations were all to be fulfilled in the Times next to the Age in which they were seen, from what is said Chap. 1. 1. Things that must shortly come to pass. For here are near five hundred years' time allowed by the Doctor for the fulfilling them. And then he makes the Turks also to be foretold in them besides, by Gog and Magog, which requires some hundreds 
Chap. 20. 8.  of years more; and yet the Doctor speaks with a great confidence and assurance of the fulfilling of all, soon after the time that the Prophecy was given.  
But without further concern about that, let us now observe the strange absurdities of this Explication.  
1. According to this, Rome must be Babylon, or Rome for 200 years after that the Baylonish Throne in it had been pulled down, and when its conquering Enemy, the Christian Church, had been for all that time triumphing in its room, in the Imperial Throne, in the public Laws, in all parts of the Government, and in the public places of Divine Worship.  
2. And then Rome Christian, whilst it was the possession of a 
Rev. 18. 20.  Christian Prince, must be supposed to be burnt, to bear the vengeance of Rome Heathen, for shedding the Blood of Christian Saints and Martyrs, so many years after that Heathenism had been there publicly triumphed over.  
3. The Christians also, who did then defend their City against 
Rev. 18. 4.  another Christian Prince, must be supposed to be called upon from Heaven to come out of it, and so to give up their Masters Right to the Enemy, lest they should be made to partake of the punishment of Rome, for its Heathenism 200 years before, to which they were the greatest Enemies; for none was more zealous against Paganism, than Justinian, who was at that time Lord of Rome, as appears by the severity of his Laws against it.  
4. Of the same extravagant nature must it be, to make the 
Rev. 18. 20.  Heavens, the Apostles and Prophets, and all the faithful Christians in the City at that time, to triumph with joy at the burning of the Houses and Goods of most Christians, and a few Pagans together, and at the taking of a City by the Christian Goths from the Christian Romans.  
5. And the burning not a third part of Rome, as Grotius confesses of this Exploit of Totila's, and the slaughter of a few Pagans in it, must be made to be, the giving Rome-Pagan double revenge for the Blood of the Prophets and Saints, and of all that were slain upon the Earth by the Pagan Power of Rome 
Rev. 8. 6.  all over the Empire: It must be the giving Rome-Pagan the Cup of the Wine of the fierceness of the Wrath of God. 
Chap. 16. 19▪   
6. The Pagan Kings also of the Roman Empire, which had committed Fornication with Rome-Pagan some hundreds of years before, that is, had complied with the Roman Idolatry, must in this way be supposed to be alive, to lament the sad condition 
Rev. 18. 9  of a Christian City at the taking it by a Christian Prince; or, at best, the Heathen Kings then in the World, no body knows when▪ within many hundred miles of that City, must grievously lament for the slaughter of some Pagan Romans, with whom they had been used to comply in the Pagan Way. Nothing indeed does make Grotius more to be suspected of intending only to play with this Prophecy, or only to vex some hot Apocalyptical Men amongst his Adversaries, than the seemingly-wilful Application of the Kings of the Earth, that had committed Fornication with Babylon in the 18th Chapter, to the Pagan Senators of Rome; when he had but a few Verses before, in the 17th Chapter, determined the same words to signify 
v. 2.  the Kings of all the Nations of the Roman Empire.  
7. Rome must again be supposed in this way to have been in the height of her Wealth and Riches, by which she is described in her Idolatrous state, as decked with Gold, and Pearls, and Precious Stones, at the time that she was burnt by Totila: For it is said at the burning of her, That in that one hour was so 
Rev. 18. 17.  great Riches brought to nought; which supposes, that those Riches must be in her at the time of her Desolation. But this is quite contrary to the state of Paganism in Rome at that time, whose Glory had been there laid in the dust many Generations before.  
8. How monstrous a force also upon the Text must it be, to make Rome the Object of the fiercest Wrath of God, at a time when she was  owned for the Queen of all Christian Churches, only for having said in her heart some hundreds of years before, in her Pagan state, I sit as a Queen, and shall know no sorrow? But, indeed, the plain words do represent her 
Rev. 18. 7.  saying in her heart, just about the time of these last Plagues upon her, I sit as a Queen, etc. which does plainly signify, That the Ruling State, in which Rome is to be at the time of this last end of her, is the Object of this Judgement: And this in Totila's time, being a Christian Government, the boast of the Reign of Christianity then, under the term of sitting as a Queen, would, according to this, be the reason of the Desolation of it, under the Notion of a Pagan Empire.  
9 And what can that cry of the admirers of Babylon, v. 18. be understood of, but of Rome, as at that time the Seat of Empire? — What is like unto this great City? Now, what were the 
Rev. 18. 19  Pagans in Totila's time the better for Rome's being the Seat of a great Empire, which was contrary to their way? How come they to lament and compassionate its loss of Empire? Or how indeed did it at all lose of its Empire, by changing Princes? Or wherein was it then so great in Empire before the burning it, or so less after it, when it had not been the Imperial or Royal Seat for above 100 years before that time; and was by the taking of it, but returned into the same hands that it had been in for near 50 years together but ten years before that time, and when presently after it was returned again into the same hands that it was taken from, within a few months after the burning it, and was then repaired again?  
10. And this last Consideration of the return of the Roman Emperor again to the possession of the City, within so short a time; is evidence enough, That it is impossible that Totila's Exploit should be the burning of Babylon in this place, even by a Rule that Grotius himself has set up about the signification of the word for ever, upon ver. 19th Chap. 3. where it is said, That the smoke of the burning of Babylon ascended up for ever: He says, That whenever that term for ever is joined with the destruction of a City, it signifies, That it shall not recover again of a long time; whereas Rome was rebuilt the next year after the burning a small part of it by Totila.  
I will not here insist upon the significations of a final Desolation of Rome, upon those emphatical expressions, which at first seem to design such a thing, because I see all the same phrases used by the Prophets of the fall of Cities, as the Seats of Empire, which yet continued considerable Places after that, under other Rulers.  
11. But that which seems the most inexcusably to condemn Grotius' fancy, is, That most of these expressions concerning the Desolation of Babylon, are used in the Prophets for nothing but the end of a Monarchy that enslaved the Church of God; and which also they do of themselves most of them naturally signify. Thus are the People of God commanded to come out of Babylon, just before the overthrow of the Babylonian Monarchy; 
Jer. 50. 8. & 51. 6, 45.  and the expression itself does naturally signify, That the Body of the People out of whom they were to come, were Babylonians; and so therefore must the chief Body of Babylon's People have been Idolatrous, and Enslavers of his People.  
So also the rejoicing over Babylon at her fall, and the calling 
Jer. 50. 14, 48, 29.  to the People of God to reward Babylon double of what she had done to them, and the riches of Babylon at her desolation, and the name of Babylon the Great, said at that time to be destroyed, and her Greatness admired by those that lamented her at the 
Isa. 47. 8.  time of her fall, and the Kings of the Earth who had committed Fornication with her at that time bewailing her, do all naturally signify, That Babylon, at the time of her desolation by fire, is then a Nation oppressing the People of God, in great splendour in that way, and bewailed by persons who themselves had been partakers in her Glory; and so are they used by the Prophets from whence they are fetched, about the end of the Babylonian Monarchy.  
It is therefore impossible, that Rome-Christian burnt, should be Babylon desolated by fire.  
12. It is also to be remembered, That the signification of Babylon, in this very Prophecy, has been already concluded to be the City of Rome in an Ecclesiastical Domination, Prop. 1. And therefore must the fall of it be the last-end of that Roman Domination, and not the last-end of the Favourers of it only. And then how inconsistent is it, to make the burning of Rome, in a Domination quite contrary to that Church-rule, which is called Babylon, to be the ruin of Babylon?  
13. To conclude, Grotius' Explication of the Characters of falling Babylon, do some of them suppose, That Rome at the taking it by Totila, was actually at that time a Seat of Empire; and the rest, That it was a Pagan City; neither of which were true. The desolation of it, he understands only of the loss of the Imperial Majesty of it, the distinction of the People of God from it; and the name of Babylon, he interprets of its being a Pagan City. Now Rome had not actually been the Seat of the Empire for above an hundred years before: Ravenna was the constant residence of the Emperors, and Kings of the Goths, and had left off being a Pagan City ever since the public Reformation of it by Constantine: for a few Pagan Temples cannot make the contrary Government of a City have the name of a Pagan City.  
Here than we have a sufficient earnest of what Grotius is capable of venturing at in the Interpretation of these Visions, and is enough to prevent all the danger of being overborn in any thing here by the Authority of his Judgement only.  
And the most 
a 
Cornel. à Lapide in cap. 17. Apocalyps. v. 2. Ex dictis patet, non esse probabile, etc. From what has been said, it appears, That it is not probable, what a Learned Man has imagined, viz. That those things which we meet with in this, and the following Chapter, may be understood of the Sacking of Rome by Alaricus, Gensericus, Odoacer, and Totila; for those Exploits were not done by Ten Kings, (as it is in the Text), but by single Kings.— Nor were they so considerable, as that shall be, which is described in the following Chapter; that is, the last, and never-before-parallelled Ruin of Rome.  
So also Malvenda, pag. 186. in cap. 19 v. 9 Apocalyp.— It is manifest, That this denotes the burning of Babylon, that is, of Rome in the end of the World.  
Idem, pag. 187. Equidem si cuncta, etc.— For if what the H. Evangelist has delivered from the 11th verse (Chap. 18. Apocal.) be observed,— one may see very plainly from thence, That John did undoubtedly prophesy of that state in which Rome should be about the end of the World.  
Bellarmin. lib. 4. de Pontif. cap. 4. Nor is it any Objection against this, That Rome is to be laid waste, and burnt, according to Rev. 17. 16. For this will not be till about the end of the World.  
Ribera in cap. 18. Apoc. v. 21.— But the Greatness of the Stone signifies something more, viz. That Babylon is to be utterly destroyed,— so that there shall be no footsteps of it to be seen. And v. 22.— After this manner do the Prophets usually speak of Cities that are ruined. Jerem. 25.  
Malvenda de Antichristo, pag. 185.— The first Opinion, (viz. That Rome will be an Idolatrous Harlot in the time of Antichrist) is probable, because Rome, which is to be destroyed about the end of the World, must be destroyed for some Crime against the Church of Christ.  
Ribera, pag. 455. in cap. 14. Apoc. num. 44.— For that Rome shall be utterly burnt, not only for its former sins, but also for those which it shall commit in the last times, is so manifestly to be known from these words of the Apocalypse, that the silliest man in the world cannot deny it.   Eminent of the Roman Interpreters do also agree in this Opinion, and show it to be the mind of the 
b Alcazar Notat. 13. Prooemial.— The Ancient Fathers— did agree, That the Roman Empire shall continue till the City of Rome shall be burnt with corporeal Fire; and that also by Ten Kings.  Ancient Fathers.  
It is a great confirmation of the evidence of these inconveniences against the making Babylon Rome-Heathen, That they have forced the most judicious and ingenuous of the Roman Interpreters rather to venture upon applying all to the City of Rome in an Apostasy from the Roman Church, about the end of the World, for three years and an half,  to the time of forty two months, or twelve hundred and sixty days, assigned for the Reign of the Beast; tho' they have thereby manifestly endangered the Two Chief Notes of their Church, that is, Universality and Infallibility: For Babylon must then seduce All Nations, and All the Kings of the Earth; which must at least signify all the Nations within the bounds of the Roman Empire, which must be vastly greater than the rest of the Roman Church: and then it would have the Authority of Rome itself at that time, and of all its Empire, to make it a fallible and deluding Roman Church, greater than any remaining part of that Church.  
But the certain Obstacles against this are, first, That Rome must thus be supposed to get the Conquest of all Nations, 
Rev. 17. 18.  and of all the Kings of the Earth, within three years' time, (for that is made to be the time of her Reign); and not only to get such a miraculous Conquest in that time, but also to make all Nations own her Idolatry in that space of time; which must be a far greater Miracle than ever God 
Rev. 17. 2.  yet suffered the Devil to work in the World; and that also against all the Light and Resolution of men's Consciences to the contrary, which is a more difficult matter to bend against the Natural Course of it, than the subject-matter of any other Miracle.  
Rome must also by this, be supposed to advance all Merchants to an incredible Stock of Wealth, and Riches, within 
Rev. 18. 15.  the space of three years and an half, by Foreign Traffic with her: For these Merchants are to be all that trade by Sea, and the Great Men, or Princes of the Earth. And how monstrous a thing is this to think of Foreign Merchants 
v. 17.  within so short a time, when the business of but one ordinary Voyage does take up the best part of one of those years?  
This the chief Author of this Opinion, Ribera, does ingenuously confess to be a very hard thing to imagine the manner of; and that He himself does account it a wonderful and miraculous thing; and thereby does seem to allow us the liberty of taking it for a kind of incredible thing, as Miracles before they are done are generally accounted to be.  
And then this makes it at least very highly probable, That the time of forty two months, or of one thousand two hundred and sixty days of the Reign of Babylon, with the Beast who carries her, and to whose Seven Heads she is always fixed, must be understood in such a mystical sense, as will give time enough for the things that are described to be done in that Reign, and according to the use of such parts of time in a mystical sense amongst the Prophets, by Rule 3. which will make the time of Babylon to begin many Ages before the end of the World.  
From hence then it appears, That we have this encouragement already for our hopes of a clear Determination of the Application of this Prophecy, (viz.) That there are but three ways yet pitched upon for the Application of it; that is, to Rome-Pagan, to Rome-Christian, and to Rome about the end of the World: The first of which has been found to be very Absurd, and the last Incredible. And this is an inviting foretaste of the satisfaction that may be expected from the more orderly and cautious Examination of the Grounds of all clear Determinations concerning these Visions.   

CHAP. IU. 
Rev. XVII.   
Inferences drawn from the former Chapter, to discover the Nature of the Three last Heads of the Beast, and the time of the Reign of the last, called, The Beast. An Account of the Author's Method.  
THE determination of the Reign of Babylon to the times after the end of Rome-Pagan, which seems now to be unquestionable, does offer a very fair light for some general discoveries about the Mystery of the Beast, and his Heads, which seem by the order of them to be designed to be the Clue to direct us in the intricate Mazes of these Visions.  
For Babylon and the Beast are represented as inseparable Companions in the 17th Chapter. The Beast seems to be confined to that City by his Heads, which are said to be the seven Hills upon which the City is seated. And since it is already known what City Babylon is, it cannot then be doubted but that the Beast, who is said to be a King, must be the King of that City. So that if the Reign of Babylon has been clearly proved to be after the time of Rome-Pagan, the Reign of the Beast must also be allowed to be as long after that time.  
Now if any part of the Reign of the Beast was in being so long after the time of the Vision, this does plainly determine what kind of Kings the Heads of the Beast must be, whose Successions seem to be given on purpose to measure out the time betwixt the date of the Vision, and the appearance of the last of them in Rule, called The Beast; for the Beast is determined by the Prophecy to be the third King in order after Him who reigned at the time of the Vision. He is said to be an Eighth to 
Rev. 17. 11.  him that was a Sixth at the time of the Vision.  
From hence would any conclude, That since the eighth of these Kings, or the Beast, is found to be in Rule after the time of Rome-Pagan, that is, some hundreds of years after the time of the Vision, that His Reign, and the other two Reigns before him from the time of the Vision in St. John's days, could not possibly be the Reign of three single persons only; for there were near three hundred years betwixt the time of the Vision, and the full end of Rome Pagan, before which the Reign of Babylon and The Beast have been proved impossible to be: And within that space of time there were above thirty Successions of single Persons in the Roman Throne.  
It would therefore next be necessary to inquire from the Roman History, what else the first of these three Kings, who is said to Reign at the time of the Vision, could possibly be. It will appear from thence, that there was no other King of Rome at that time, but a single Emperor. Wherefore since it has been found impossible, that it should be the single person of that Emperor, who is meant by the King then Reigning; there is nothing else that can be meant by it, but that form of the Supreme Government, which the Emperor's Title gave name to, or the Imperial Government then in power. And consequently, by the same reason, must all the three Kings, of which The Beast is said to be the 8th, or last, be so many successive Changes of Roman Government from the time of the Vision.  
Since therefore the first of these three Kings is known to be the Imperial Government in the days of St. John; all that seems needful to be done to determine the time, and the particular form of Roman Government, that is called the Beast, is to inquire from History, what successive Changes there have been in the Roman Government since the time of the Vision. For the next Change but one to the Imperial Government in those days, must certainly be the Beast. And Bellarmin is so far of the same mind in this, That according to him, the true state of the difference betwixt them and us in this Affair, is, whether the Imperial Government at the time of the Vision has ever since that time been cut off, which makes him take such pains to prove, That the same Imperial Roman Government continues unchanged to this day: And thus all the difficulty that remains, seems according to him to be no more than to inquire after, and rightly judge of the matter of Fact from History. For he grants, that nothing can be meant by The Beast, his Heads, and Horns, but Roman Power: Tho' he takes no notice of the distinction, and order of Succession amongst them.  
THE SEEMING evidence of the Conclusions before mentioned, even in the judgement of the most Zealous, and the most able Defender of the Roman Interest, is a very satisfactory proof, that the Angel, that offered that Explication of the Mystery to the Apostle, did really intent to be understood, according as one would expect from the promise of an Explication of a Mystery from so Divine a Person. And this is a great encouragement to any, that is willing to take the pains for it, to search after the true means to determine the right sense of this Explication. The Angel first promises to unfold a Mystery, gins it in very known Expressions, goes on in other Characters, that seem to be clear. Who would not then positively conclude with himself, that the main strokes, and Mystical Characters in which it is expressed, must certainly be intelligible enough by some means in our power, especially when we find so many Excitations in this Prophecy to understand it?  
But I saw so many miscarriages in attempts in this way, and could find so little clear satisfaction in the most cautious Interpretations, that I was afraid of nothing more, than of being satisfied about these things too soon. There are such fair Appearances, and grounds for strong Presumptions, That the greatest danger lies in being too ready to close with a seemingly obvious Sense of the Angel's Explication. My aim was at assurance in these matters; and the best way for that, I concluded to be, To search for difficulties to counterpoise the too much proneness of my Inclination to hasten to a determination. There seemed to be a great variety of shows of the Beast, which Grotius makes a great advantage of to the baffling of all the force of the best Demonstrations, drawn from the Synchronisms of the several descriptions of it in the several Chapters.  
There seems also to be a great ambiguity in the notion of The Beast. There are no distinguishing Characters of the Heads from The Beast himself, nor of their Nature in general, nor of their Constitutive differences from one another; and it seemed but a presumption to make all the rest of the Heads to take their determinate form from what was discovered to be the nature of the sixth Head; upon which nevertheless does depend all the hopes of coming to a particular knowledge of the time of the Reign of The Beast: and without the knowledge of the particular time of that Reign, it is in vain to think of any thing of this nature.  
These Considerations made me conclude, That the Angel's Explication did suppose, and direct to some other known Key to come to a full understanding of his mind. It was obvious thereupon to apprehend, that The Beast, and his Heads, and Horns, being very mystical kind of Expressions, it was necessary, for the clearer knowledge of them, to consult the common acceptation of them amongst the Ancient Prophets in like matters to these here before us, according to Rule 2.  
I was soon satisfied in this. I found by the unanimous 
a 
BIshop Andrews, p. 234. Respons. ad Bellarm. Apolog. speaking of Saint John in the Revelations.— He borrows that way of speaking from Daniel, of whom he is almost  an Imitator. And immediately after, Vix enim reperias apud Joannem, etc. You shall scarce find a Phrase in the Revelations of St. John, that is not taken out of Daniel, or some other Prophet.  
Bellarmin, l. 3. de Pontif. c. 5. Jum vero, Daniel, etc. Now Daniel in the 7th Chapter of that Prophecy, does very clearly describe the same Four Kingdoms by Four Beasts, that is, the same with those Four in his 2d Chapter, and which are the same Four Beasts that are mentioned in the Description of The Beast of the Revelations.  
Blas. Viega, in cap. 13. Apoc. v. 1, 2. Sciendum est Danieli, cap. 7, etc. It is to be considered, that there was a Vision like to this, shown to Daniel in the 7th Chapter of that Prophecy, where the business is about Antichrist, upon the Explication of which this Vision of ours here does depend.  
See Mr. Medes Discourse, Regnum quartum Danielis est Regnum Romanorum.  
Alcazar. sect. 3. cap. 13. Apoc. v. 1.  
Marina Bestia (cap. 13. Apoc.) Evidenter respicit quartam Bestiam Danielis, cap. 7. etc. The Beast that arose out of the Sea (cap. 13. Revel.) does evidently relate to the Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel,— Quae etiam quatuor Regna, sive Imperia (sc. in 7o. cap. Dan.) dubium non est in statuà illâ Danielis, cap. 2. 31. praefigurata fuisse,— Bestiam Apocalypticam continere in se tres priores Monarchias, quas dicitur apud Danielem devorasse. Which Four Kingdoms, or Empires (viz. in the 7th Chapter of Daniel) are unquestionably foretold in the Statue, cap. 2. 31.— And The Beast in the Revalations does contain in it (or is there described to be made up of) these three Monarchies, which it is said in Daniel to have devoured Idem in cap. 12. Apoc. v. 3. de 10. Cornibus.  
— Non aliud fundamentum, etc. There needs no other foundation for the Interpretation, but only to look out a conformable Explication of it with that of the Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel; by which it is evident, that it signifies the Roman Empire.  
See the References to the Third Chapter, Lib. 2. Note a. especially Malvenda and Ribera.   consent of Interpreters of all Parties, That the Terms of the Beast, and his Heads, and Horns, and most of his Characters, had a very unquestionable reference to the frequent use of them about the same kind of Subject in the Prophet Daniel.  
But I was extremely surprised to find also, That by the same Unanimous agreement of all the Considerable Interpreters of all Ages, excepting only some few of this last Age, it was granted, That the Terms of Beasts, and their Heads, or Horns, and indeed all other Figures and their parts signifying Dominion, as it is here in these Visions, had but one constant, uniform Signification in general all over the Prophecy of Daniel; and that also in great variety of Instances: And withal, That by the concurrent agreement of those few also, that differed from the rest, there needed nothing more to prove such a constant, uniform Signification of these Figures, but only this, viz. That The Fourth Beast, or Kingdom, in the 7th Chapter of Daniel, was the Roman Monarchy.  
This gave me very confident hopes of fixing the same kind of mystical Terms in the Visions of the Apocalypse to settled Notions, and certain Definitions, and thereby of coming to some assurance about those things, notwithstanding all the ambiguous and various acceptations of the Expressions, in which they were conveyed; which I accounted well worth all the closest application of my thoughts, as a thing of the most useful importance to the World for the clear determination of the aim of this Prophecy, as well as for mine own particular satisfaction and benefit.  
I have therefore for this end endeavoured to demonstrate the constant, uniform acceptation of the Schemes of A Beast, and its parts, all over Daniel: And this requiring the certain knowledge of the Interpretation of the Fourth Beast, or Kingdom, in the Seventh Chapter of Daniel; and the determinate application of that, relying chief upon the determination of the undoubted signification of the Kingdom of the Son of Man that succeeds that Fourth Kingdom; These make up the Demonstration of the design of the Second Book from the Intrinsic Arguments of the Prophecy of Daniel itself.  
But the clearest proof of the signification of the Fourth Beast in Daniel, is the exact agreement of it with The Beast in the Revelations; And that also in some such peculiar Characters amongst the rest, as are impossible to belong to more than one and the same Kingdom, and to the same time of that Kingdom: This therefore is added to the other Evidences that are drawn from the Prophecy of Daniel itself, as a most undoubted confirmation, That the Fourth Beast or Kingdom in Daniel, is the Kingdom of the Romans.  
Who indeed would not be ready to conclude with himself, before ever he comes to examine the grounds that there is for it, That so general an agreement of all the differing Parties of Interpreters for so many Ages, as has been observed, about Mystical Expressions, where there is so great a scope for Fancy to expatiate in, must certainly have very plain and express grounds for it in the Prophetical Writings, and very obvious to common observation? And this is another considerable thing to fortify the assurance that the strength of the Proof itself does offer.  
But the Characters in which The Beast in the Revelations does so exactly agree with those of the Fourth Beast in Daniel, and which are the surest Proof, That that Beast in Daniel must be the Kingdom of the Romans, are fetched from several distinct Shows of the Apocalyptick Beast in several Chapters: And these several Shows are by some Learned Men judged to be the Shows of different Beasts; whereas the proof of the exact agreement of The Beast in Daniel, with that in the Revelations, from the several Characters of those different Shows, does suppose it to be but one and the same Beast in all those Chapters.  
This made it necessary to settle the notion of The Beast in the 17th Chapter of the Revelations, and to show, that all the mentions of that which is called The Beast in all the other Chapters, are but so many Accounts of that one and the same particular state of The Beast that it is found in in the 17th Chapter: And that therefore all the several Characters of The Beast in those several Chapters, are but the Characters of one and the same thing. And this it was requisite to prefix in the First Book before all other reasonings that are fetched from the nature of that Beast in the following Discourses.  
After the determination of the constant and settled signification of a Beast, and of the parts of it signifying Dominion, from the frequent use of those Schemes in Daniel; The business of the Third Book is to apply these general Notions to The Beast in the Revelations, and to the parts of it: And from the known signification of that Head of The Beast, which in the Prophecy is said to reign at the time of the Vision; and from the immediate Succession of the other two Reigns after it, to determine the time of that particular state of The Beast, which is by way of eminency called The Beast alone by itself, and the Eighth King; and which is the Great Subject of these Visions.  
And then the Explication of all the Uncouth Characters of The Beast is the last Finishing-work of this Design in the Fourth Book.  
And this may give the Reader a distinct and comprehensive view of my whole Design at once, and of the Order of my Method towards it.   

CHAP. V. 
Rev. XVII.   
The distinct Notion of The Beast enquired into. The Fourth Proposition, Every one of the Eight Kings, is one of those called the Seven in general, Rev. 17. 10, 11. The Eighth King one of Seven, that were passed, revived. The Fifth Proposition, Every one of the Eight Kings, is one of the Seven Heads. The Beast is The Beast under the Last Head. The Sixth Proposition, with its Corollaries. The Seventh Proposition, The Beast is a Sovereign Power of Rome in its Idolatrous Antichristian State.  
THE foundation of all satisfaction about the certain time of that Idolatrous Reign of Rome, that is signified by Babylon, does seem to depend wholly upon the means that are offered from the Angel's Explication to determine the time of the Reign of The Beast, which appears all over the Prophecy with that City as its inseparable Companion. There seems to be no other means left to fix that particular time, but the Succession of the Heads of The Beast; the three last Reigns of which seem to be on purpose singled out from the general sum of the other five, and to be distinctly mentioned one after another, for no other end, but to direct us from the knowledge of the first of the three (said then to be in Rule, when these words were spoken, and so might easily be known) to determine the particular time of The Beast, who is made to be the next Reign but one after that Ruling-Power, which was then in present possession.  
But before any thing can be well settled upon this bottom, the use of the Term of The Beast must be first sufficiently cleared. For it seems to have an ambiguous Signification in it, which may defeat all our hopes of fixing it to any determinate meaning.  
Sometimes it seems to signify a thing common to all the Seven Heads, when it is represented as the common Subject of them all in their several successive Reigns; and sometimes it seems to signify nothing but one of its Heads in distinction to all the rest. Wherefore it seems to be the first thing that is to be enquired after, Whether there can be any determinate and fixed signification settled upon the use of this Expression: And the fear of mistaking in so fundamental a Point, made me think it necessary to be very cautious of every step I made in it, and to have a distinct comprehension of it, before I settled myself upon it.  
For this purpose I found it requisite to begin with this Proposition as the ground of all that was to follow.  Every one of the Eight Kings reckoned up in order (Rev. 17. 
Proposit. 4.  10, 11.) is one of those called the Seven Kings in general, v. 10. 
Nothing can well be more plainly signified, than this in the Text after this manner; They are Seven Kings, Five are fallen, one 
Rev. 17. 10, 11.  is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, must continue a short space; and the Eighth is of the Seven. What can more plainly signify the parting the whole sum of the Seven Kings mentioned just before, into five, and one, and the other; and an Eighth which is one of those Seven? For who would ever understand those words otherwise, than in this plain sense. They are Seven Kings, Five of which Seven are fallen; One of them is, the other of the Seven is not yet come, etc. And there is an Eighth, who yet is one of those Seven before mentioned. So that every one of the Eight is one of the Seven, and therefore can there be but Seven Kings in all.  
This indeed seems to be so very plain and necessary, that it may be wondered why it should not be rather supposed, than endeavoured to be proved, since there seems to be no manner of ground for a doubt about it, but only upon the account of the Eighth King; who yet (to make all clear) is said expressly to be an Eighth which was one of the Seven, and is so granted to be without dispute. But yet it was thought needful to secure this by these Reflections upon it, because there is a considerable Authority against it in defence of a particular Hypothesis.  
That which is alleged from the Text to make it capable of another sense, is, 
* Dr. More, Vol. 1. p. 647. Brightman, in V 10. c. 17. Apoc.  That the 7th King in the Order, is called, the other, and not the 7th; and that therefore he may be a King of a different nature, from those Seven Kings which are said to be the Seven Heads; because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek signifies sometimes a thing of another nature: And that to make up the number of those Seven Kings, that are the Seven Heads, the 8th is said to be one of those Seven.  
But it is plain enough, that the other in that place denotes no new quality in the 7th King, but only refers to the signification of the number of the King just before him, who is called one; And that King is called one by a very proper and familiar way of Speech, without any ground for the least mystery in it, such as this following would now be accounted: The Seven Heads are Seven Kings, five are past, one is at this present; after which would very naturally follow, and the other is not yet come: That is, the other of the seven, which is an usual and ordinary way of speaking, if not more proper, than to say, five are past, the sixth is at present, and the seventh is not yet come. And certainly the 7th would in the latter Example appear to be nothing but one of the seven Kings, who had at first been called the seven Heads.  
When with this we consider there is mention here made of an 8th, Can any thing be more manifest, than that the other just before it, is as certainly the 7th, as if it had been expressly so called? and that the one before that, is the same with the 6th? And then of what can they possibly be the Sixth, or the Seventh, but of those Seven Kings, which were just before said to be the seven Heads, and which immediately after the mention of them, were divided into five, one, and this other? There is certainly no manner of ground to think the one in this division, to be one of the Seven, more than the other.  
As for the Criticism of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, It is known, that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is ordinarily used to signify another thing, or person individually distinct from one mentioned before, without any other new quality in the One distinct from the Other, which had been before spoken of, Matt. 4. 21. and 5. 39 and 12. 13. and 13. 8. Where the Seed was the same before it was Sown, and yet called other Seed. And to the same purpose every where in the New Testament. But that which does the most plainly express the same quality in the thing, which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in respect of that which hath been mentioned before it, is that known Byword of Aristotle in his Ethics, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. A Friend is another self. And howsoever Philosophers may distinguish betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, yet in common speech, they are promiscuously used for one another.  
I have insisted the longer upon the perfect clearing of this, because it is the foundation of all the Historical Application that can be made of the 8th King, called the Beast, which is the great business of all our search; and I hope there needs no more now to make it unquestionable, that the Seventh King is one of the whole seven mentioned before in general, in the first words of the 10th Verse; and so that every one of the Eighth Kings is also one of those same Seven, since the Eighth is expressly said to be one of the Seven.  
To this the Romish Interpreters do generally agree. They 
CONSENT.  make the first seven Kings to be the seven Heads, and the Eighth to be the Devil, common to them all; and so no new Head, or new King distinct from those seven, that are mentioned before him.  
To recompense the length of the former Discourse, here are these following fruits of it:  The Eighth King is one of the seven that had been in Rule before it, and Corollar. was returned into Power again. 
For the Eighth King is one of the same whole Seven mentioned in general, that the rest are comprehended in (by Prop. 4.) And therefore the whole Eight are really but Seven distinct Kings; and the Eighth comes after Seven of them distinctly reckoned up before him. The Eighth must therefore be one of those former Seven returned into Power again; according as it is intimated of him, That he is one of the Seven.  
The Romanists do apply that term, And is of the seven, to the Devil, as being in all the other Seven Kings. But then they make the being of the seven, the same with the being in the seven; whereas the word in the Original, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, does properly signify the being one of that number of Seven just before mentioned, especially when he appears here to be an Eighth in a successive order of Kings. For that shows him to be a King alone by himself after the time of the former Seven Reigns; but yet one of them: And so must be one of them returned again.  
It may next be observed, That  Every one of the Eight Kings (Rev. 17. 10, 11.) is represented by 
Prop. 5.  one of the seven Heads of the Beast. 
For every one of those Eight Kings, is one of those called the Seven Kings in General (by Prop. 4.): And those called the Seven Kings in General, v. 10. are said to be the Seven Heads, as well as the Seven Hills are. The Text in the Original is, The seven Heads are seven Mountains— and are seven 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.—  Kings, v. 9, 10. The Hills and Kings have the very same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or are, to affirm them equally to be the seven Heads, as it is also almost unanimously agreed upon by all Interpreters.  
And the eighth King is called The Beast, and is one of those seven Kings; which denotes the relation of the seven Kings to the seven Heads of the Beast.  
Wherefore every one of those eight Kings must be one of the seven Heads, that are said to be the seven Kings; because every one of the eight Kings (by Prop. 4.) is one of those same seven Kings, who are said to be the seven Heads.  
The fear of this Consequence, viz. That then the seventh King must be the seventh Head, is the chief ground of that Opinion before mentioned, that would have the Seventh King in the Order to be none of those seven Kings, which are just before called the seven Kings in General, though immediately after the mention of the whole seven in General, follows the account of them in order; and in that order the seventh King has its proper place. But they will have the eighth King to be the seventh Head of the Beast, which will appear from the following Corollary to be inconsistent with the plain expressions of the Text.  The Eighth King is one of the Seven Heads of the Beast, that was Corollar. 1 past, and revived again. 
For the Eighth King was one of the Seven Kings that was past, and was returned into Power again by Coral. Prop. 4. And all those seven Kings reckoned up as past before him, have been found to be so many Heads of the Beast (by Prop. 5.) Wherefore the eighth King must be one of those past seven Heads that was revived again, since the eighth King was one of those seven Heads (by Prop. 5.) And yet came after the time of them all: And therefore must be one of them revived again.  
This is so far agreed to by those who make the eighth King the seventh Head, That they apprehend it to be the sixth Head healed of a deadly wound: But it is manifest, That by this, they make but six Heads upon the Beast instead of seven. For the Head of the Beast that was seen wounded to death, and healed again in the 13th Chap. v. 3. could be but one and the same Head. It is absurd to make an Head wounded, and healed again, to be more than one Head: And therefore does the Prophet describe it but as one and the same Head. Wherefore since the maintainers of this Opinion do account the sixth King of the seven to be the sixth Head, and the seventh King to be no Head, the eighth King, which is but the healing of the sixth Head, cannot increase the number; and so they come at last to make but six Heads in all: For their seventh Head, is but the sixth healed again, whereas there were seven really distinct Heads seen in the Vision.  
By the preceding Corollary it appears, That  The Eighth King, called The Beast, Rev. 17. 11. signifies The Beast Corollar. 2 with that Head only which was last in Rule. 
For the eighth King is one of the seven Heads of the Beast that was past, and revived again (by Corol. Prop. 5.) and was the eighth after the seven; and therefore must be that Head of the Beast that was last in Rule.  
Wherefore since the eighth King is called the Beast, and yet is found really to be but one Head of the Beast, That term of the Beast can signify nothing, but the Beast with that particular Head only. And so the Head is said to be the Beast; as the actions of Kings, are said to be the Actions of that People, or Nation, where they Reign.  
This Interpretation is confirmed by the agreement of almost all Interpreters of all differing Parties, excepting one or two, without any Reason for their dissent, but only the upholding of a particular Opinion; and amongst those is that Opinion of Bellarmin, who would have the number Seven in this place to signify collectively All the Emperors, because that Seven is very usually taken in Scripture for a perfect number, 
Lib. 3. de Pontif. c. 5.  and then signifies All indefinitely, but more frequently in the Revelations than any where else: And yet all that know any thing of the difference betwixt the use of Seven when it is a perfect number, and when it is a broken number, cannot but see, that Seven here must necessarily be taken for a definite, determinate number, by the plain distribution of it into Five, One, Another, and an Eighth which was one of the Seven; And this is so common and known a thing, that there could not have been a plainer instance of the extravagancy of a Learned Man's imaginations about the most clear and known things.  
And yet after all, Bellarmin is so far of Opinion with the rest, as to affirm, That Antichrist, or The Beast, is the last King of those who shall rule the Roman Empire. Lib. 3. de Pontif. c. 15. Which is an agreement with the rest in the preceding Conclusion.  
From the former Corollary, it does very immediately follow,  That the Beast, all over the 17th Chapter of the Revelations, 
Prop. 6.  does signify the Beast with his last Ruling Head. 
For the Beast all over the 17th Chapter▪ is that state of the Beast in which he was seen in the 3d verse, as does thus appear:  
After that show of him, he is called all over that Chapter by the name of THE Beast, in reference to his having been seen before; which, in common use of Speech, determines him to be the same that had been there shown; and therefore, by Rule 1. he must be all over the Chapter the Beast that was seen in the 3d verse.  
Now of the Beast which was there seen, the Angel says, v. 8. That He was, and is not.  
And the Beast, which was, and is not, he says at the 11th verse, was the eighth King, who is known to be the Beast with the last Ruling Head, (Coral. 2. Prop. 5.) The Beast therefore does signify nothing else all over the 17th Chap. Revel. but the state of it under its last Ruling Head.  
And tho' there were Seven Heads seen upon the Beast, yet it is expressly said, That all the other Heads would be passed before the Reign of the Beast, or eighth King, v. 10. So that the sight of him with the Seven Heads, was in effect the seeing him with Six dead Heads, and One of the Seven only revived again; which is the same with the sight of the Beast under its one last Ruling Head only.  
See then the sum of this Proof in short: The Beast all over the 17th Chapter, is the Beast that was seen, v. 3. The Beast that was there seen, had the peculiar Character of, Was, and is not; and the Beast that was, and is not, is said to be the eighth King; and the eighth King has been found to signify nothing but the 
Corol. 2. Prop. 5.  Beast with its last Ruling Head. Wherefore, to tie the first part of this Chain to the last, The Beast all over the 17th Chapter, is the Beast, with the last only of his Ruling Heads.  
Besides, since the mystical meaning of the term of the Beast, is said in one place to be the eighth King, that is, The Beast under the last Ruling Head, by Coral. 2. Prop. 5. it must have the same signification all over the Chapter, by Rule 3. — Babylon might as well signify two several Cities in two different places of that Chapter, as the Beast several Kings.  
For a Testimony of the great evidence of this Proposition, 
CONSENT.  we have the Unanimous Agreement of all Interpreters almost of all Ages, as well as of all Parties, excepting one or two of late against the Judgement of all those, whose greatest Interest it seems to be to admit of their new Contrivance, who yet will not venture upon it, merely for their reputation. One would expect to find some very great necessity alleged for another sense against such a seeming evidence of the Text, and the confirmation of it by so considerable a weight of Authority; and yet we do not find from Grotius the least offer of a reason against this 
In cap. 17. Apoc.  sense, or for any other, to make us think that the Beast may continue after his last Head in this Chapter, as he does make it to do in the time of its Ten Horns.  
The Light of this Proposition does offer these following Consequences.  
The Beast in the 17th Chapter continues no longer than its last Corollar. 1 Head.  
For he lives by that Head all over that Chapter, (by Coral. 2. Prop. 5.) and the Beast goes into perdition with that Head, ver. 11.  
The Ten Horns belong to the Beast no longer than his last Head. Corollary 2  
For as they give their Kingdom to the Beast. v. 13. so the Beast itself continues no longer than his last Head; Coral. 1. Prop. 6.  
The knowledge of the Woman does acquaint us with the Country or Kingdom of the Beast, her constant Confederate; and from thence it is manifest, That  The Beast, all over the 17th Chapter, is some particular Sovereign 
Prop. 7.  Power of Rome in the time of its Idolatrous Antichristian Reign. 
For the Beast all over the 17th Chapter, is in the time of its last Ruling Head, and called the eighth King, (Prop. 6.) and therefore a particular Sovereign Power.  
And the Woman, or Babylon, is represented riding upon it at that time in great Majesty, and known to signify Rome in its Idolatrous Antichristian Reign, Prop. 1. And besides, is described in confederacy with the Beast in that Chapter, v. 16, 17.  
The Beast is also said to be the eighth King, or the last Ruling Head of the Seven, which signify the seven Hills of Rome, v. 9  
This does infallibly show the Beast to be a Sovereign Power of the seven Hills. The Beast than is tied to this City by his seven Heads, which are the seven Hills upon which it is built; and so they cannot possibly be separated, without Either cutting off the Heads from the Beast, and by consequence that Head by which he lives, (Prop. 6.) — Or removing the City from the seven Hills upon which it is built: and therefore is it plainly impossible for the Beast not to be the Sovereign Power of Rome all over the 17th Chapter.  
2. And that also shows, That the Beast exercises this Power over Rome in its Idolatrous Antichristian state; because Babylon is but in that one state all over that Chapter, (Prop. 1. and Rule 3.) And the first show of the Beast, to which all the mentions of the Feast afterward do relate by a Note of reference to that, has a Woman riding upon him in all that Antichristian state, which is her Character  else.  
This is so plainly signified, that it is as unanimously consented to 
b Alcazar in cap. 13. Apoc. sect. 5. Auctores omnes, qui Romam Ethnicam, etc. All Authors who judge Rome-Heathen to be meant by the name of Babylon, make the Beast  to be the Roman Empire.— And even those who interpret the Beast to signify the whole multitude of wicked Men, understand it of the wicked Romans, not of those in America, or out of the bounds of the Roman Empire.  by all sorts of Interpreters, as to almost any thing that is said of these things. 
CONSENT.  

ᵃ ALL the Maintainers of the second Opinion, which are the generality of the Church of Rome, with the Fathers, do all make the Beast to be the times of Antichrist, as the last Head.  
Alcazar in cap. 13. Apoc. sect. 5. Two, qui (Bestiam) Antichristum esse volunt, eum constituunt ultimum esse Romanorum Imperatorum. Those who make the Beast to be Antichrist, affirm him to be the last of the Roman Emperors.     

CHAP. VI 
Rev. XVII.   
Manifest Grounds for a strong presumption, That the Term of The Beast does signify the same particular state of the Beast, all over the Revelations. The mentions of it in the 13th and 17th Chapters every way parallel.  
FOR a more full and determinate knowledge of the Nature and Characters of the Beast, so often mentioned in these Visions, it is very necessary to examine, Whether every show of it be one and the same state of the Beast? For without some assurance of that, all our knowledge of this kind will be confined to the bounds of the 17th Chapter.  
'Tis true, that by Rule 3. the Term of the Beast being the same peculiar mystical expression, there is great reason to judge, That it signifies  the same thing. But there seems to be plain grounds given us to suspect the contrary; for there are several different shows of it, as if it were purposely designed to warn us thereby, that they were so many new states of the Beast, according to the variety of the successions of his Heads. Wherefore, in search of a more large and comprehensive knowledge of the Beast in the 17th Chapter, one would be extremely desirous to find, that every mention of the same Term in all the other Chapters, did really signify the same thing: for thereby we should have a great many more Properties and Circumstances to judge of him, and to determine his particular signification. The more Marks that one has of a Beast, the more easy will it be to find him, and to distinguish him from all others that may resemble him.  
The places where it would be judged to be the most likely to find the Term of the Beast to signify the same thing with the Beast in the 17th Chapter, are the Chapters just before and after the 17th; and to them are we therefore directed for our first beginning in this search.  
And first, The mention of the Beast, after the 17th Chapter, would be concluded could be nothing else but the continuation of the History of the same Beast that is mentioned in the 17th Chapter: for we find no mention made of any other Beast, or of any new show of a Beast, betwixt the 17th Chapter and the 19th, where we see the Beast brought upon the Stage again: And who would not thereupon conclude, That the Beast in the 19th Chapter, with that Note of reference before it, did certainly signify the Beast that had been last discoursed of in the 17th Chapter before it? And therefore is this unanimously agreed on amongst all Interpreters, That it is the same Beast in both places, as to the general Notion of the Beast.  
And in that sense also is it granted to be the same Beast in the Chapters before the 17th: For it does indeed necessarily follow from the former; because the Beast before the 17th, must be the same with that after it; for they have both the same peculiar Attendants, the false Prophet, with the Image of the Beast, and the Mark of it. And therefore does Grotius, with one or two more, give general and comprehensive Notions of the Beast, and false Prophet, etc. which are the same in all kind of states of the Beast; and the one he calls Idolatry, and the other Magic; but withal, applies these general Notions to very different things in particular, in those several mentions of the Beast before and after the 17th Chapter. So that, in effect, he still makes the Beast and false Prophet in one place, quite different things in particular, than they are in the other; and the Beast in the 17th Chapter, to be as different a thing from either of them: He would have these several mentions of the Beast to be so many several states of it; sometimes under Ten Kings and Seven Emperors, signified by so many Heads and Horns; sometimes to be but One Emperor, and then to be the Beast with One Head only; and sometimes to be the Beast with Ten Horns only, without any of its Seven Heads.  
But since there is little reason given for the proof of this, but only the divers shows of the Beast, it must be very hard for any that is the least impartial to shut his eyes against so many instances of an exact likeness and uniformity, in very particular Characters, in each of the several mentions of these Beasts, that would strongly persuade a man, that it was impossible but that they should signify one and the same particular state of one and the same Beast. Especially, when he considers, That the Angel did very manifestly intent that these Visions should be understood, and after such a manner as the generality of the World would conclude from the expressions in them, where there is any plain ground for it. For example, It has been already agreed, 
Rev. XIII. & XVII.  That the term of the Beast must signify the same thing at least in general, before, in, and after the 17th Chapter. And in every of those Places he is certainly in a particular state, by the 
Pag. praeced.  particular Actions, and Characters, that are given him. Now would any one question whether the Beast were in one particular state of his Heads and Horns in these several places, when there are these particular Circumstances and Characters that follow, which are the same in each particular description?  
1. As they are in the 13th and 17th Chapters both described with seven Heads, and ten Horns, so are they also characterized more peculiarly by one Head only of the seven. The one by his 
Chap. 13. 3. Chap. 17. 11.  healed Head, and the Mouth of it; The other by the 8th King, or Head, which was one of the seven Heads.  
2. The peculiar Head that the one is described by, is an Head 
Ibid.  wounded to death, and healed again; and under which The Beast, with the same False Prophet that he is found with in the 13th Chapter, does in all appearance come to his end; and that Head therefore must be is Last Head; and yet it cannot be distinct from the other Seven, because it is but one of them healed, and it comes after them all, as the last of all, and so must necessarily be an Eighth, which was one of the Seven.  
Now the Head of the other is expressly said to be an Eighth, which was one of the Seven.  
3. It is said of the one, that the World wondered at the Head 
Chap. 13. 3.  deadly wounded, and healed; And of the other, that the World 
Chap 17. 8.  should wonder at The Beast, which was, and is not, and yet is, who is said to be the Eighth King, or Head; Which seems to be the same.  
4. The one is said to arise out of the Sea, with the former Character of its Head wounded and healed again. 
Chap. 13. 1.  
Chap. 17. 8.   
And the other to ascend out of the Bottomless Pit, with the latter Character of Was, and Is not, and yet is, which signifies the same. And the word in the Greek for the bottomless Pit, The Abyss, is the common term in the Septuagint to signify the Sea; and the Septuagint was the Copy that our Saviour and his Apostles referred to in all their Discourses and Writings.  
5. The one had Ten Kings in power with it, signified by its 
Chap. 17. 12.  Ten Horns, who gave their power to it, which they had not at the time of the Vision; the other arose up with Ten Horns upon it all crowned, which had no Crowns upon the Dragon in the Chapter before.  
6. The one is described by one particular mouth speaking Blasphemies. 
Chap. 13. 1. Chap. 13. 5. v. 3.   
The other with one Head, who is that Beast all over the 17th Chapter, who is said to be full of Blasphemies; Prop. 6.  
7. The City of the one, and the other, was the same Babylon in one particular state of Idolatrous and Antichristian Tyranny (Prop. 2.) and which is said to be fallen, in both, which one would judge should signify one and the same particular time of 
Chap. 14. 8. Chap. 18. 2.  that City. Other the same Characters in both I omit here to mention, because they may be accounted not such particular Characters; As, that they have the same Enemies, the same kind of Friends, and make the same kind of Wars, and have the same variety of Success and Loss in Battle.  
To make them then signify two different states of The Beast, (or of Roman Rule, as the Beast is here agreed to signify) there must at least these unlikelihoods be digested, (viz.) That all these Characters together, which are the same in both, must be twice verified of the Roman Government, viz. That it had twice a Supreme Government over it, which came after Seven before it, and yet was one of the Seven; and Ten Kings twice confederated with such a Power at two several Changes of Roman Power, in two several states of the same kind of Idolatry, and Antichristian Tyranny of Rome, and that Rome must have two eminent Ruins in the midst of all these same Circumstances twice repeated: For these, and many other very peculiar Characters must have been all at a time in conjunction, or have belonged altogether at the same time to each of these same repeated States of the Beast; Which would have been much like a Story of the throwing so many Dice out of a Box at two several times into just the same Order and Chances without any contrivance. For all the credit of this way of Interpretation lies wholly upon the affirmation of the Interpreters themselves.  
Would not this be to lay the plainest ground for an almost unavoidable delusion about the sense of a Prophecy? For who would ever take such a representation of Two Beasts with so exact a likeness to one another in so many peculiar Characters, with the same peculiar way of rise, marks, actions, make and circumstances, for two different States of that Beast, and only because they are Two several Shows of it? Can any one believe 
Rev. XIII. & XVII.  this of a Vision, that men are exhorted to understand; and which an Angel of God comes on purpose so to explain, as to make an Apostle of Christ apprehend, it was to tell him the mystery of these things for the edification of the Christian Church: And the Rules for interpreting of which, according to the common Apprehensions of Men in other Cases, he himself 
See CHAP. 2.  gave an earnest of in his own Explication? Certainly, unless it can be proved to be impossible for two Shows of a Beast to signify but one and the same state of it; one would be very apt from hence to be confident, That they are in these Chapters but Two Shows only of one and the same state of the Beast.  
After all this particular Examination, If we would be content with ordinary proof, and such as makes men sure of almost all other places of Scripture; that is, what the Context does, as it were of its own accord force one to be confident of; The Consideration of the Histories of these Two Beasts, and of their order and dependence upon one another, would appear to be a sufficient ground for a full conviction of the certainty of this Truth.  
For it is very obvious to observe, That the 17th Chapter comes in about the conclusion of the History of The Beast of the 13th Chapter, for nothing, but to tell the Prophet, (as the Interpreting Angel himself does seem to intimate) what was meant by the Beast, and his Seven Heads, and Ten Horns, and by Great Babylon, which had been the Subject of all the four Chapters before it.  
To secure us in this Persuasion, we see that the business of the 17th Chapter is brought in immediately after the 16th by one of those Seven Angels, with the Seven Vials, who had been just before employed about the Seven last Plagues that were poured out upon the other Beast in the former Chapter: And the Introduction to all that this Angel had to communicate in the 17th Chapter, is an offer from him to show the Apostle the Judgement of that Great Whore, called Babylon the Great, which had been just mentioned before by that very name of Babylon the Great in the History of the other Beast at the end of the 16th Chapter. And then again, after the interposing of the Interpretation of Babylon, and The Beast in the 17th Chapter, comes in the continuation of the History of the same Babylon, and Beast, that had been broken off at the end of the 16th Chapter, and is carried on to the last end of them both in the 18th and 19th Chapters.  
This does very plainly show, That the 17th Chapter comes in only to interpret those Mystical Expressions in the Chapter before it, by a new Representation of the same Beast, and of the same Babylon, that had been the great Subject just before discoursed of.  
Now it is already assured, That The Beast in the 17th Chapter signifies but one particular state of it under its last Ruling Head, Prop. 6.— And therefore if it be the same with that mentioned in the other Chapter, that Beast also must be the same particular state of it under its last Head.  
To secure us also still further in the assurance of this, there is 
CONSENT.  
a Certum namque est Maris Bestiam, de quâ in hoc, cap. (sc. cap. 13.) — Et Bestiam illam cui Babylon insidet. cap. 17. unam eandemque esse, ut disere Hieronymus. For it is certain, That the Beast that is said to arise out of the Sea in this Chapter (that is the 13th Chapter) and that Beast, upon which Babylon sitteth, in the 17th Chapter, are but one and the same Beast.  the general Consent of all those, whose greatest interest it may be to confound all the Significations of The Beast, but who can have no manner of interest to affirm it, Almost unanimously agreeing, That The Beast is all over these Visions but one and the same particular time of the Reign of the 8th King, 
b Those of the second Opinion, who take the Beast in the 13th Chapter for Antichrist, and that in the 17th for the Devil; yet they interpret it to be the Devil inspiring Antichrist, which is much the same thing.  though they join the 7th with him; which is a very considerable Testimony of the Evidence that there is for it in the Text. 
ALcasar in cap. 13. Apoc. sect. 5. & postea in cap. 17.    

CHAP. VII. 
Rev. XIII. & XVII.   
Further attempted to be demonstrated, That the Beast in the 13th and 17th Chapters, are the same particular thing. The 8th and 9th Propositions, together with their Corollaries. The strength of this Demonstration. The Beast, his Image, Mark, Number, Name, in the 13th Chapter, and  else, defined, and distinguished from the Second Beast in the 13th Chapter.  
THE Evidence that has been insisted upon in the former Chapter, is of the nature of that accumulative proof, which in Courts of Judicature does determine the best and wisest men about the nearest Interests of men in this World. But notwithstanding so strange a concurrence of such peculiar Circumstances in the Beast of the 13th and 17 Chapters, yet Grotius does make them to be very distinct states of the Roman Monarchy; and therefore it will be requisite to search for a more cogent and convincing proof, That they must both necessarily be the same particular state of one only of the Heads of the Beast. The Consequence of mistaking in this search being no less than the falling into confusions about the first grounds of all clear knowledge of these things, which would multiply into infinite Errors in the reasoning upon them: It is therefore necessary to use the greatest circumspection in it, and to advance in it but by such short steps, as we may clearly see, that we tread firm and sure in all the way towards it. And in this Design, that which is first to be cleared, is, That  The Term of The Beast all over the 13th Chapter does signify 
Proposit. 8.  only the First Beast shown, v. 1. 
This seems to be sufficiently evident. For there is no mention of any other Beast besides in that Chapter, but of the Second Beast; and that it cannot signify the Second Beast either before or after the first mention of that Beast there, may thus be shown in order.  
1. That it signifies nothing else before the mention of that Beast, is agreed by all; because there is no other Beast before that Second, that it can signify: And four times is it so called by the name of The Beast, without any other addition; and twice is it said, that all the World, or the Earth, did worship him, before the mention of the Second Beast.  
2. And that the Term of The Beast does signify the First Beast also after the mention of the Second, is certain enough. For though thrice after the rise of the Second Beast, the First has a note of distinction added to the Term of The Beast, As The First Beast, and The Beast that was deadly wounded, etc. yet when that Term has no note of distinction added to it, it does also signify the First Beast, as distinguished from the Second: So v. 14. where it is said of the Second Beast, that he had power to do Miracles in the sight of The Beast; it is unquestionable that by The Beast, is meant the First Beast.  
In the same manner is the Second Beast brought in after, as employed about the Affairs of the First Beast, to the end of the Chapter; Where it is distinguished from the several mentions of The Beast, by the name of He, as the Agent about something that has the term of The Beast joined with it. For example, He gave life to the Image of the Beast, which in the Verse before 
v. 15.  was said to be the Image made to the First Beast; He made all men receive the Mark, and Name, and Number of the name of the 
v. 16.  Beast: Which Beast all the World would understand in common construction of speech to signify a Beast different from him, who did all these things about the Affairs of the Beast; but more especially, when it is found that this term of The Beast had four times 
Chap. 13. v. 2, 3, 4.  before the mention of the Second Beast in the same Chapter been used to signify the First Beast and once at least after the appearance of the Second Beast without any dispute about it; and had 
v. 14.  been often mentioned after the Second Beast with some other addition to it: And yet the Second Beast had never been clearly intimated by the name of The Beast after the first mention of its rise; but in every Verse after that, is signified in the Original only by a Verb in the Third Person, as acting in the Affairs of that which is called The Beast, which must therefore certainly be some other Beast, that is referred to by that Article of reference, as distinct from him, and as before known, and mentioned. Wherefore, by Rule 1, and 3. The Beast must all over the 13th Chapter signify the First Beast. And therefore  By the terms of the Image of the Beast, the Mark, Name, and number Corollar. 1 of the name of the Beast in the 13th Chapter, must be understood, The Image, Mark, Name, and number of the Name of the First Beast. 
And after that, it seems as necessarily to follow, That  By the Beast with the False Prophet, or Second Beast, and the Image, Corollar. 2 Mark, Name, and number of the Name of the Beast in all the other Chapters, must be understood, The First Beast of the 13th Chapter, with the same Attendance of that Beast mentioned in that Chapter. 
The necessity of this does appear from their being the same very peculiar Expressions in those Chapters, that they are in the 13th Chapter; and therefore by Rule the 3 d. must signify the same First Beast, and his Adjuncts, unless there were something more clear against it.  
But the grounds upon which a very worthy Person thinks 
Mr. Mede, p. 524. & p. 708.  otherwise, are far from being more clear. As  
1. That the Second Beast ought to be somewhere mentioned in these Chapters by the name of The Beast. For is it not enough Object. 1 that he is sometimes signified by the name of the False Prophet?  
Nor 2dly, is it any thing so clear, That the Image of the Object. 2 Beast, is the same with the First Beast; and that therefore in the mentions of the Beast, and the Image of the Beast both together, by The Beast must be understood the Second Beast, or else there must be a tautology, as he would have it. For there is no appearance that the Image and the First Beast are the same thing. On the contrary, The Image of the Beast, in the very expression of it, does signify another thing different from the Beast itself, or some other thing that is only like the First Beast.  
Now what small Reasons are these to allege against the so frequent and constant use of the Term of the Beast, to signify the First Beast in the Chapter where these peculiar Characters of it are found with it; and where also it is granted by the same Person, that the Image of the Beast does really signify the Image of the First Beast? The known and frequent use of any peculiar Expressions, is the Rule that all Judicious Persons recommend for the interpreting any other places of Scripture; and the Angel's Example in his Interpretation of part of these Visions, does still further confirm it to be the Right Rule for these things.  
Wherefore for the future, to avoid all unnecessary multiplication of words, I will make use of only the term of The Beast in, or of the 13th Chapter, to signify any mention of the First Beast from that Chapter, either before or after the 17th Chapter; because in those Chapters, The Beast is  joined with the forementioned Attendants.  
It will not be now very difficult from the former Corollaries to find, that The Beast from the 13th Chapter, to the end of the mention of that Term in these Visions, as well in the 17th Chapter, as in the rest, is one and the same particular state of its Last Ruling Head: In order to which, it must be first advanced, That  The Beast in the 13th Chapter signifies a particular state of the 
Proposit. 9  Beast under one of its either Ruling Heads or Horns, in all the time of its continuance. 
The certainty of this is the most necessary to be in the first place secured, because the way that others take to confound all the Significations of the Beast in the several mentions of that Term, and to keep them from any particular determinate notion, by which they might be concluded to be the same particular thing, is, To understand the Term of the Beast  in a general notion, which may be allowed to be  the same; and yet the things with which it is joined, may show it to be meant of quite different states of the Beast.  
But that this Beast in the 13th Chapter, is in a particular state of one of its Heads, or Horns, does thus appear.  
The Beast in the 13th Chapter has a set time of continuance allotted to it, viz. the space of 42 months, as the Original is 
v. 5.  agreed to signify.  
And it is described as continuing for that time, with a very 
v. 6.  haughty commanding Mouth. The Mouth is joined with the time of his continuance, and is mentioned again in the next words after it; and he is described with that Mouth at his first rise also as his peculiar Character; and in all those three places it is set out as an overruling, uncontrollable Mouth.  
And such a Mouth must signify some particular Ruling Power, 
v. 2.  when joined with a Beast that is said to have so Universal a Dominion: and for this particular Rule, of some such particular Power, for all the time of the continuance of the 42 Months of the Beast, we have the general consent of all those of the Interpreters that are the most concerned against this Proposition.  
Now the Mouth that is said to be the Mouth of a Beast with Heads and Horns, as it is here, and that so very remarkable a Mouth, must belong either to one of the Heads, or to one of the Horns; as there is much the same description of the Mouth of the little Horn in Daniel, Chap. 7. And an Head, or Horn of a Beast, that represents Dominion, as it does here, does  in Prophecy signify a Ruling Head, or Horn; and therefore with such a commanding Mouth added to it, must certainly signify a very particular commanding Head, or Horn, by Rule 2. unless it could be made more clear, that it is the Mouth of such a Head, as signifies one of the Seven Hills, which is not pretended by any, and seems to be almost absurd but to mention.  
The Beast therefore with that Mouth, for all the time of his continuance, must be in the particular state of that Head, or Horn.  
And if the Beast be in the particular state of any Ruling Head, or Horn, then by the Term of the Beast, for all the time of his continuance, must be understood at every mention of it, The Beast with that particular Head or Horn. For so is the Term of the Beast generally used to signify in Prophecy, when it is in any particular state of Heads or Horns. So all over the 17th Chapter of the Revelations several times (Prop. 6.)— so also Dan. 7. 11. and Dan. 8. 5, 6, 7, 8. and so therefore (by Rule the 2 d) must it be here for all the time of its continuance in that state.  
Besides, that this Beast in the 13th Chapter is described all over the Chapter by one of its Heads wounded to death, and healed. And A Beast with one, or more of its Heads at a time, does  in Prophecy signify that Beast with that, or those particular Ruling Powers at that time, even by the consent of those who are most difficult in these things; and the particular time is the 42 Months of his continuance. And therefore to whatsoever the Mouth of the Beast belongs, the Beast there must be in a particular state of one of its Heads, by Rule 2.  
And to show the use of the term of The Beast, with, or without the mention of his Head, to signify the same particular state of it under that Head; That which is called The Beast with 
v. 3.  the Head wounded to death, and healed in one place, is in the other place of this Chapter called The Beast, whose deadly wound was 
v. 12.  healed, and The Beast who had a wound by a Sword, and did live, without any mention of his Head, to which nevertheless that 
v. 14.  Circumstance does unquestionably refer; so that by the bare term of The Beast wounded and healed, is signified The Beast with that particular Head.  
If any one would pretend after this, that the healed Head might signify one of the seven Hills (said to be the Heads, Chap. 17. 9) He must bring greater evidence for it by Rule the 2 d, than the Prophetical use of an Head of a Beast for the Ruling Power of it is; which is not pretended by any. All that appears for it is, that the seven Heads, which were crowned in the Dragon, chap. 12. have no Crowns upon the Beast in the 13th Chapter immediately after, which may seem to show, that the Heads in the 13th Chapter without Crowns, are Hills.  
But that would be a reason for making the seven Heads no Kings in the 17th Chapter also, where they are shown without 
Chap. 17. 10.  Crowns, and yet are certainly so many Kings. But from the 17th Chapter it is plain, that the time of their Crowns would be passed before The Beast would come to be in that state, which he appears in in the 17th Chapter, and the 13th. For even according to Grotius himself, the seven Reigns would be passed before the time of those two Shows in each Chapter. And then was it not proper to represent those seven Heads without Crowns, that is, as Kings seven of whose Reigns were passed? for that in being was an 8th, that was after the 7th.  
Besides, Since the 17th Chapter, which is the only ground for making those seven Heads in the 13th Chapter to signify the seven Hills, does also make them to be seven Kings; The only way to know whether of these two any Character of an Head does mean, is to consider the nature of the Character, and whether it be the propriety of an Hill, or of a King. Now of which of these two is it most proper to say, whether of an Hill, or of a King, that it was deadly wounded, and healed again? And with which of them, by reason of that wound, might the Beast himself (who is described with a very Royal Dominion) be most properly said to be wounded, and to have his deadly wound healed; or to have a wound by a sword, and yet to live? The very terms of the question does show, that this is properly said of a King, who is the life of all the power of the Beast; but most improper to be said of the Hill of a City, to which a Beast may belong.  
But whatsoever becomes of this wounded, and healed Head, we are assured by the mouth of the Beast, that The Beast in the 13th Chapter, for the whole time of its continuance, does signify The Beast in a particular state of one of its Heads, or Horns.  
And from thence it is plain.  That the Affairs of the Second Beast, the Image, Mark, Name and Corollar. 1 Number of the Name of the Beast, do  in the 13th Chapter belong to that particular state of the First Beast. 
For the term of the Beast signifies all over that Chapter, the First Beast only by Proposit. 8. And that Beast does there signify, The Beast in one particular state of an Head, or Horn, for the whole time of his continuance (by Proposit. 9) Wherefore every thing that is there joined with the term of the Beast, the Image, Mark, etc. and the Second Beast acting with him, do all belong to that particular state of the Beast.  
And that does also further assure us,  That the Beast, with the False Prophet, or Second Beast, and Image, Corollar. 2 and Mark, and Name, etc. in all the other Chapters, do signify the same particular state of the Beast with those Attendants, in which it is in the 13th Chapter. 
For (by Coral. 2. Prop. 8.) The Beast with all those same Attendants, is the same with that in the 13th Chapter. And (by Coral. 1. Prop. 9) The Beast with those Attendants in the 13th Chapter, is in a particular state of its Heads, or Horns. Therefore must they all signify the Beast in the same particular state every where else.   

CHAP. VIII. 
Rev. XIII, & XVII.   
The Tenth Proposition, and its Corollaries, conclude The Beast of the 13th and 17th Chapters to be one and the same particular state of the Beast.  
WE have now sufficient grounds to conclude, That  The seven Heads and ten Horns of the Beast in the 13th and 
Proposit. 10.  17th Chapters, must signify the same things. 
For since they are in both Chapters the same very peculiar, and proper mystical Expressions; and since they are explained in the 17th Chapter, by Rule the third, they must signify the same things.  
But still further, to confirm the force of that Rule in the present Case, and to make the thing unquestionable, it is to be considered, That The Beast of the 13th Chapter, is one and the same particular state of it both before and after the 17th Chapter (by Coral 1, and 2. Prop. 9) and so the 17th Chapter does stand in the body of the History of that Beast of the 13th Chapter. We may also very plainly see, that the 17th Chapter is interpreted in that place only to explain the mystical Significations of the same number of Heads and Horns upon a Beast to all appearance every way the same with this, and of that Babylon that is the common sharer in the Fortunes of the Beast of the 13th Chapter, throughout all the account of him. For at the very 
v. 1.  entrance into that Explication, it is said by the Angel, that he would show the Apostle the judgement of that Great Whore, called Babylon, which was but just before it, threatened with the Wrath of God in the Story of the other Beast at the conclusion of the 16th Chapter.  
And then the Explication of this same kind, and number of things, of just so many Heads and Horns, as had been mentioned of the other Beast, is made by one of those Angels with the seven Vials, who had been just before employed about the judgements of the former Beasts all over the Chapter immediately preceding this Explication. Who would not upon this consideration conclude with himself, That the Angel's Explication of the same number of Heads and Horns in a new show of a Beast, to all appearance the same with this other, whose History is on purpose there interrupted to make room for that new show, did most certainly refer to the same number of Heads and Horns of the Beast, which had all the way before been discoursed of? Especially, when he sees, that the Person that brings in all this new Scene, does expressly say, that it was to tell the Apostle what that particular judgement of Babylon was, which had but just before been mentioned in the History of the former Beast, and  made its companion; as also that the Interpreter 
Chap. 16. v. 19  himself had but just before been very busy in the concerns of that Beast, which did but just conclude where this new show began, and which also this Angel seems concerned to interrupt, only to give this Explication of what had been already shown.  
Wherefore, unless it were very plainly inconsistent with something else more clearly known, which is not by any pretended; the seven Heads, and ten Horns of the Beasts in the 13th and 17th Chapters, must by this new enforcement of Rule the third, most certainly signify the same things.  
Alcazar does very well observe to this purpose upon the 1st Verse of the 13th Chapter of the Revelations; The seven Heads and ten Horns of this Beast are the same with those of the Beast in the 17th Chapter: which is so unquestionably clear, that they themselves, who would have these two Beasts to be different from one another, do yet agree, that the seven Heads, and ten Horns, have the same signification in both of these Beasts.  
In consequence of which it must be inferred,  That the Beasts in the 13th and 17th Chapters in every successive state Corollar. 1 of the same Heads or Horns, are one and the same particular Beast. 
For the general signification of the Term of The Beast, as the common Subject of each Head, or Horn, is the same in both. And the Head, or Horn, is supposed to be the same in both, at the time of every such Succession. Wherefore the whole Beast in each Chapter, can be but one and the same Beast at any such time.  
And from thence it does at last easily follow, That 
Rev. XVII.   The Beast of the 13th Chapter is every way the same particular state of Corollar. 2 the Beast with that of the Beast in the 17th Chapter, for the whole time of its continuance. 
For the Beast in the 13th Chapter, under every the same successive Head, or Horn, is the same particular Beast with that in the 17th Chapter in that same state, by Coral. praeced. And the Beast in the 17th Chapter, in the state of its last Ruling Head, is destroyed, (by Coral. 1. Prop. 6.) Wherefore it must also be in the state of its last Ruling Head, that the Beast in the 13th Chapter must be destroyed. Now the Beast of the 13th Chapter is destroyed Chap. 19 18. where it is the same particular state of it, that it is in the 13th Chapter, (by Coral. 2. Prop. 9)— That particular state then, that the Beast in the 13th Chapter is in, is the state of it under its last Head; that is, the same with that of the Beast in the 17th Chapter, by Prop. 6.  
And that the Beast in the 13th Chapter, is in this same state with that in the 17th Chapter, for the whole time of its continuance, is confirmed by Prop. 9 For it is, for its whole time, in that one and the same particular state.  
Besides, the time of the Beast, under any one of his Heads, is the whole time of that Head; the Beast and his Head make but one whole thing all that time; and this cannot be any time apart from one another, without ceasing to be that Head in Rule, or that Beast: Wherefore the two Beasts in the 13th and 17th Chapters being found to be one and the same Beast under its last Ruling Head, they must be the same for their whole time.  
And if we consult the Characters of both of them in their several Chapters, they will be found to begin both in the same particular circumstances of the last Head, as well as to end with it.  
For the One gins at his rising out of the Sea, Chap. 13. 1.  
The Other, at his ascent out of the bottomless Pit, (Chap. 17. 8.) which is signified in the Original by the same name of the Abyss, which is known to be the usual word for the Sea.  
The One rises up with an Head wounded and healed, and yet the last Head, ch. 13. 1. & ch. 19 20.  
The Other as an eighth King, which was one of the seven before 
Rev. XIII. & XVII.  him; which is the same thing, because the seven Heads signify seven Kings, (Coral. 1. Prop. 5.)  
The One rises up with Ten Kings crowned upon him, ch. 13. 1.  
The Other with the same Ten Kings receiving Power with him, ch. 17. 12.  
Wherefore, the Beasts in the 13th and 17th Chapters do begin together, and end together, in the same state of their last Ruling Head of the Seven; and therefore are the same particular state of the Beast in both Chapters for the whole time of their continuance.  
We have then now both a close and a demonstrative proof, from the Proprieties of these two Beasts, That they must necessarily be one and the same thing; and a copious variety also of very peculiar Circumstances exactly the same in both, (as has been formerly more fully shown), to secure and confirm it. It has been also observed, That the very Order and Dependence of the Accounts of these two Beasts upon one another, as they seem to break into the continued relation of one another's fortunes, would at the first sight satisfy any impartial person of the same thing, without any farther scrupulous Examination. And withal, it is confirmed by the almost unanimous Consent of all kind of 
CONSENT.  Interpreters, at least, for their being one and the same Interest at the same time. [See References in the 7th Chapter.]  
And those two or three only, that have of late differed from the general current of the rest in all Ages, do not pretend to give any other reason for it, than that the Beasts in those two Chapters are two several shows, and therefore must be two different states of the Beast: And how small a ground is that, against so great a variety of convincing Evidences, and so universal an Authority?  
There are indeed such a variety of Circumstances to make this Conclusion to appear unquestionable at the first cursory view of the Text, that it will appear to most persons to have been too tedious and unnecessary a trouble, which has been here taken to secure it.  
But the great use of the Certainty of this Proposition, will justify the care that has been taken to assure it; for without it, the whole Prophecy will be found to be but a Rope of Sand, as it has also been made to be by those who have been of another Opinion in this Point: but by the Certainty of it, the whole Prophecy is found to be all of one piece, and about the same state of things, tho' delivered in several Visions; and thereby are we furnished with a greater variety of Circumstances, to determine the nature of that which is the great Affair in them all.  
From hence then it does now appear, That the wounded and healed Head in the 13th Chapter, is so far from being one of the seven Hills of Rome, that  The wounded and healed Head of the Beast, in the 13th Chapter, Coral. 3 is the same last Ruling Head of the Beast with that in the 17th Chapter. 
For the Beast in the 13th Chapter, is under the same last Ruling Head with that in the 17th Chapter, (Coral. praeced. & Prop. 9) And the last Ruling Head of the Beast in the 17th Chapter, called, The eighth King, was an Head that had been one of those seven that were passed, and gone before it, and was now revived again, (by Coral. 1. Prop. 5.) Which is the same with A last Ruling Head of Seven, which was wounded to death, and healed again. The Beast therefore in the 13th Chapter, is certainly in the state of an Head wounded to death, and healed again. After the certainty of which, it will be a very extravagant thing to question, Whether the wounded and healed Head, which the Beast in the 13th Chapter is under, be that wounded and healed Head which it is said in the Text to have?   

CHAP. IX. 
Rev. XI.   
The 11th Proposition, That the Judgement of the Dead, Revel. 11. 18. is the Judgement of the Dead at Christ's second Coming. The Three Creeds confirm it. The extravagance of the Grotian Interpretation of this Judging the Dead. The Reign of Christ over the Kingdoms of this World. His second Coming in Glory. The twelfth Proposition, The Beast in the 11th Chapter, the same with The Beast in the other Chapters.  
THere is now only the mention of the Beast in the 11th Chapter, remaining to be found to be the same state of it with those in the other Chapters. After which, it will be very easy to look through the whole process of these Visions, and to be thereby satisfied of the consistency of all the parts of them, and their mutual dependence upon, and relation to one another, notwithstanding the seeming interfering order of them.  
For this purpose, it is to be observed, first,  That the Judgement of the Dead, Revel. 11. 18. is the Judgement of the Dead at Christ's second Coming. 
Prop. 11.  
For the phrase of Judging the Dead, is always used for the Day of Judgement all over the New Testament: And it is a fundamental Article of the Christian Faith, expressed by those peculiar words in the Apostles Writings, and put into the Apostles Creed in the same words; and so was that peculiar expression always used by the first Fathers, and for nothing else; and in all the Three Creeds is it joined with Christ's second Coming; as it is also for the most part found together with it in the New Testament. And this shows the constant use of this expression by the whole Church in all times. Wherefore, to make the phrase of Judging the Dead to signify here, as some do, only the Revenging the Cause of the Dead, is to change the signification of a very peculiar and generally-known expression, into a very uncommon acceptation of it; and to do that, without some great necessity for it, (for which there is here no apparent evidence pretended) is the way to licence men to allegorise all the Articles of our Belief away.  
And besides, this acceptation of Judging the Dead for the avenging them, is beyond all example. Judging and Judgement in general are, indeed, ambiguously used in Scripture: but Judging the Dead is never any where made use of, but to signify the Judgement at Christ's second Coming; and so was it always taken by the Christian Church in all Ages, and so conveyed down by them in the same words in all the Ancient Creeds for several Ages, and joined with the mention of Christ's second Coming. So that of all the shifts that Grotius is put to, for upholding his Interpretation, there seems none to be more monstrous, or that does more show his resolution to cut all the Knots that he cannot untie, than this miserable shift of making the Judging of the Dead here, to signify the Revenging of the Dead.  
To assure one still further of this, it appears to be the same phrase, by which it is granted, that the real Judging of the Dead is signified in these very Visions, as Rev. 20. 12. 
See Grot. in 20 Apoc. v. 12.   
It is also added in this 11th Chapter, v. 18. to make it more unquestionable, — That thou shouldst give the reward to thy servants the Prophets, and to the Saints, and to them that fear thy Name, small and great. Which shows, that it is a change of the state of the Dead themselves, by the reward that is given to their faithfulness; and this can be nothing but their reward at the second Coming of Christ to Judgement.  
For betwixt Death and That, there is no other reward for the Prophets, and Saints, small and great, at one time, as is here expressed; — The time of the Dead is come, that they should be judged; and that thou shouldst give the reward, etc.  
From hence it cannot but be concluded,  That the Reign of Christ over the Kingdoms of this World, Rev. 11. Corollary. 15. is Christ's second Coming in Glory. 
For first, it is joined with judging of the Dead at the 18th verse: The time is come, that the Dead should be judged; that is, The time is now come, now, that thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned, as just before it is expressed. That glorious Reign, and the Judging of the Dead, are very expressly joined together in the same Doxology of the four and twenty Elders, and so tied to the same time, that if they be not contemporary, yet there is nothing comes in betwixt them: and therefore must that Reign of Christ be at least at the same time with his Coming in Glory. And what can such a glorious Kingdom of Christ be at that time, but his glorious Coming or Appearance? For since there is but one second Coming of Christ to be expected, his glorious Reign and his second Coming, fixed, as here, to one time, must certainly be the same thing.  
And that which secures them to be the same, without farther ground of scruple, is, That this Reign of Christ is said to be Universal, over all the Kingdoms of this World; and also Eternal with his Father, for ever and ever, v. 15. Which can be nothing but his Kingdom of Glory.  
If it be objected, That Christ's Coming in Glory is the beginning only of a Spiritual and Heavenly Kingdom; whereas it is here said, The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of Christ: It is to be considered, That the first show of his Kingdom is agreed by all to be upon Earth at his Coming; and for the remaining part of it, it is here expressed to be for ever and ever; and so also a Kingdom in Heaven with his Father.  
It may here be suggested, That this would make the Coming of Christ in Glory, and his Kingdom of Glory here upon Earth, to be but a momentary thing, only during the time of the Day of Judgement; whereas he is represented in several places as reigning here in Glory with his Saints for a considerable time after the end of Antichrist. But Mr. Mede has given this Answer to that, That according to the Notion of the Day of Judgement among the Jews, from whom the New Testament did borrow it, it was taken for a continuance of time for 1000 years together.  
But all that need be regarded for the present purpose in hand, is, That it is agreed by All Parties, That the beginning of the Judgement of the Dead, properly so called, is not till the second Coming of Christ in Glory.  
By this are we assured now at last, That  The Beast which killed the two Witnesses, Rev. 11. 7. is the same time of Roman Rule with the Beast in the other Chapters. 
Prop. 12.  
For first, This Beast in the 11th Chapter hath one of the most peculiar distinguishing Characters of that Beast; viz. The Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit; which is the very same Character with that of the Beast in the 17th Chapter, v. 8. in just the same peculiar phrase. And the same Character has that Beast in the 13th Chapter, in another different expression indeed, but of the same signification; viz. That it did rise out of the Sea; for the Sea is very ordinarily called in the Septuagint (which the Greek of the New Testament does generally conform to) by the same name of the Abyss, which is here rendered the bottomless pit.  
When therefore we see, in the Chapters after this 11th Chapter, the mention of a Beast that is to ascend out of the bottomless pit, which is made his peculiar Character, to distinguish him from other states of him under the succession of his Heads; and that here there is the same peculiar description of such a Beast, with the name of THE Beast that ascendeth, etc. which plainly refers us to the same Character of a Beast somewhere else mentioned: It must certainly be the same with that Beast, or else there is no ground to believe a thing to be the same at two several mentions of it, tho' it has the same peculiar Character in both places, and a Note of reference in one of them to confine it to the same thing that had been before mentioned; which in this case would be a violation of all the first Three Rules, which have been judged to be the surest ground for any Interrpetation.  
2. Besides, they both end at the expiration of the same space of time of 42 months, or the 1260 days of the Witnesses in Sackcloth; which is the same state in both, because it is the last state of them both.  
The Beast in the 11th Chapter is also described to end just before a glorious Reign of Christ, in the 7th Trumpet, which is accompanied with a Judgement of the Dead. So also does the Beast in the 19th Chapter come to an end just before a Reign of Christ, which is accompanied with the Judgement of the Dead, chap. 20.  
And is not this a very good ground to be confident, that they are both the same Beast, when they are said to end at the expiration of the same peculiar space of time, and at the beginning of just the same kind of peculiar Reign of Christ over all the world, and for ever and ever, and that is accompanied with the Judgement of the Dead? For since they are thus found, from these Circumstances, to be contemporary, how can a Beast with so peculiar Characters, that are the same in the other, and at the same time, be supposed to be quite another thing?  
In both the mentions of the Beasts, we also find them warring against the same Martyrs, or Witnesses of God, and Christ, and in both overcoming them, and being overcome by them, etc.  
From hence may very safely be determined, That  The Beast is to continue till the beginning of an Universal and Eternal Corollary. Reign of Christ over the Kingdoms of this World. 
These four last Conclusions have also the Consent of many of the most eminent Interpreters 
a 
RIbera, about the 15th verse of the 11th Chapter, in his Discourse upon Chap. 10. num. 20.  
Caecus est, qui non videt, etc. He is blind, that does not see that these things cannot be, but after the ruin of Antichrist, and at the time of the Judgement.  
Malvenda de Antichristo, pag. 226.— No man of sense can doubt, but that the Beast in the 11th and 13th Chapters, is the same Beast.   of the Church of Rome.  
Thus then do we find at last, That the term of the Beast does signify one and the same particular state of his Reign in all the several Chapters where it is mentioned.  
And from the last proof of this in the 11th Chapter, it appears, That the Account of the last end of the Beast there, is before the Account of his first rise in the 13th Chapter, and so mentioned in the 11th Chapter, as a thing that was afterwards to appear.  
Which does sufficiently assure us, THAT the Order of the things in this Prophecy is many times transposed.    

The Second BOOK.  
THE Constant Uniform Signification OF A BEAST, And its PARTS, All over DANIEL.  

CHAP. I.  
The Prophecy of Daniel the clearest Rule for the signification of A Beast, and its Ruling Parts. Porphyry's Objection against the Authority of it. The greatest Confirmation of the plainness of the Predictions in it. The Authority of the Book Daniel, proved. The 13th Proposition, The Kingdom of the Son of Man, in the 7th of Daniel, a Kingdom of Christ Jesus. The singularity of Grotius 's Notion of the Son of Man in that place, judged to be Blasphemy by the Sanhedrim.  
WE have now our prospect very much enlarged, 
Dan. VII.  by a multitude of known Marks of the Beast, which is found to be the same particular state of one of its Heads from the first mention of him in Chap. 11. to the last end of his History in Chapter 20. by which he is described to us in all his lineaments, with his Rise, his Mark, his Actions, and his End, and with a great many of his Assistants and Dependants. And, I think, I could make unquestionable to any that were impartial and considerate enough, that one may come to a very satisfactory determination from hence about the particular knowledge of him.  
But because I would continue firm to my first design of carrying on the proof all along in so full and convincing a manner, as should be able to satisfy the most sceptical scruples, it will be much more useful to consult the Prophecy of Daniel for the constant signification of the mystical Phrases that are made use of all over these Visions in the Revelations; for there is a great deal more evidence of the determinate signification of a Beast in general, and of the Heads, and Horns, and Actions of a Beast in that Prophecy. There are a multitude of Instances there of the constant use of these figures in one and the same determinate Notion; and it is generally agreed, That St. John, by the like expressions in the Revelations, does  allude to them, as the Original Copy of his Figures, and as a Nomenclator to explain the meaning of them. [See References in the 5th Chapter.  
There is also this further advantage in the Prophetical Usages of the mystical Expressions in Daniel, That there is the concurrence of almost all Interpreters in the particular signification of them, who yet differ from one another about the signification of the same Expressions in the Revelations: And as I found this to be of very great effect for the silencing of mine own Scruples, so is it the most certainly satisfactory method for the generality of the World.  
The Prophecies of Daniel have indeed that advantage above 
CONSENT.  any other Mystical Writings of that nature, that the things foretold in them, are so plainly described, That all who have considered them, have in all Ages, till this latter, generally agreed about their Interpretation; One or two Instances to the contrary in the space of so many Ages will be no material exception against it by Rule the 4th.  
Porphyry the Philosopher, who is the first that is said to be of a different mind from the rest, yet gives such a reason for his confining the date and matter of these Prophecies to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes, as does unquestionably confirm the clearness 
S. Hierom. Prooem. in Dan.  of his Expressions in all his Visions. St. Jerom acquaints us, that his reason for it was, Because it seemed plain to him, That the Author must have lived about the times of Epiphanes, from the distinct Account he gives us in the 11th Chapter, of the Successions and Actions of the Syrian and Egyptian Kings under the names of the King of the North, and of the King of the South, till the time of Epiphanes. And so he will have it to be an History of what is past, and not a Prophecy of things to come.  
Can there be a greater Testimony of the clearness of Prophetical Expressions, than to see a professed Enemy to it, acknowledge it to be so very plain, that he could not believe it to be 
Cathol. Expos. Eccles. in Apoc. Tanta enim dictorum fides fuit, etc. For the things were so plainly fulfilled, that to Unbelievers he seemed not to have foretold things to come, but to have related things before past and done.  any thing but an History of things past?  
As for his suspicion of the Authority of it, that is as satisfactorily answered as need be.  
1. By our Saviour's owning the Prophecy, Matth. 24. 15. Which to Christians is an undeniable proof, though it could not be so to an Infidel.  
2. Josephus, who lived about the time of Christ (not two hundred years after Antiochus Epiphanes) does own the Prophecy of Daniel for the most considerable of any that they had; and relates of it, That it was shown to Alexander the Great, by Jaddus the Highpriest, upon the account of the 8th Chapter, which did plainly foretell his Conquest of the Persian; And that this was owned by Alexander, and rewarded with many great Privileges to the Jews, particularly that of being Tax-free every seventh year, which, no question, remained to Josephus' Age as the public Memorial of that Action. What an unaccountable Forgery would that be, which should be able to impose so strangely upon one of the most Learned Antiquaries in that Age, and make him take a Writing concerning his own Nation not Two hundred years old, for an Ancient Writing of Five hundred years standing?  
3. Especially, when we consider, that it had been long received into the Jewish Canon of Scripture in Josephus' days, and had been constantly used in Greek Translations in their Synagogues (as appears by our Saviour's Quotations) which is impossible for a forged Book, not much above One hundred years old, to have been.  
After this assurance, Porphyry's suspicion that it was an History of things seen by the Writer of it, is as great a confirmation as can be desired of the clearness of Daniel's meaning in his Prophetical Descriptions in some parts of his Visions; And the general concurrence of almost all Interpreters about the determinate sense of the rest, is proof enough of the plainness of his Expressions in all.  
For what can give one a plainer ground to presume that it is easy to arrive at a perfect knowledge of the signification of the Mystical Schemes of a Prophecy, than first to see it accused by an Enemy of having been wrote after the things were done, only upon the account of the clearness of the terms that are used to express them; And next, to see all Interpreters of the most different Parties and Interests unanimously agreed upon the particular Application of them?  
This is an encouragement sufficient to make one hope for the fullest satisfaction from the Visions of Daniel concerning the constant signification of the same Mystical Terms in both Prophecies: In order to which, The first thing, that it is the most necessary to be resolved about, as the general Basis of all that is to follow, is this Proposition.  That the Kingdom of the Son of Man in Daniel the 7th, v. 13, 
Proposit. 13.  14. is some Kingdom of Christ Jesus upon Earth. 
1. That it is some Kingdom upon Earth, is manifest from v. 27. where it is said, that it is the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven.  
2. That it is the Kingdom of our Jesus, is as certain, as it is, that our Jesus was the true Messiah. For there is no name of the Messiah anywhere so peculiarly owned by Christ, as this name of the Son of Man is all over the Gospel. And as by the note of reference joined with it, it must refer to some use of that name in some places of the Old Testament, where it is before mentioned; so do we find St. Matthew 24. 30. what place of the Old Testament that is. For our Saviour does there join that name of his with the very same Circumstances that it is mentioned with here in Daniel. In that place of St. Matthew, and in all the other Gospels beside in his Prophecy of his coming, he calls it the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory, which is just the same with that in the 7th of Daniel, about the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of Heaven, and his waving an Universal Kingdom given him at the time of that Judgement, when there were infinite multitudes of Angels attending.  
It is most certain from our Saviour's Examination before the Highpriest, That it was the commonly received Opinion of all men in those days, That the name of the Son of Man in those circumstances of his appearance that are mentioned in the 7th of Daniel, was the peculiar name of the Messiah, or of that eminent Christ, whose coming was the great expectation of the Jewish Nation, and was appropriated to him alone. For upon that solemn adjuration of the Highpriest to Jesus, to tell him whether he were the Christ, which was the putting him to his Oath about it; the Answer which our Saviour gives to it, is expressed in these very words of Daniel, viz. The Son of Man that was to come in the clouds of Heaven, Together with the Circumstance of 
Matth. 26. 64, 65, 66.  sitting on the right hand of the power of God; The same with his Being borough near to the Ancient of days, who was upon his Throne 
Dan. 7. 10, 13.  with myriads of Angels about him: And this was so presently understood for an Answer of his being the Christ, and so generally, that the Highpriest thereupon forthwith rend his , and cried that he had spoken Blasphemy; and all the rest about him judged him to be worthy of death.  
To me therefore it looks like an Infatuation in so understanding a Person as Grotius, To make the Son of Man in this 7th of 
Grot. in v. 13. cap. 7. Dan.  Daniel to signify nothing but the Roman People; when he himself in his Comment upon the very same Expression, and joined with the same Circumstances in the 24th of St. Matthew, v. 30. had acknowledged it to be spoken of Christ: And on St. Matthew 26. 64. does expressly say, that our Saviour's owning himself there to be the Christ, does refer to the same way of expressing it in this 7th of Daniel. And which is the most to be admired, This he does without giving any account of any necessity for it, from this or any other place, where it is used, but thinks it sufficient, that in this new sense it will uphold a new Hypothesis. This is therefore another plain instance against how clear a Light Grotius is able to shut his eyes, to be constant to a new Invention, though against the unanimous agreement of all the World besides, and even to the hazarding of the Crime of Blasphemy. For a Crime of that nature was it judged to be by the whole Sanhedrim of the Jews (as has been just observed) to give the incommunicable name of the Son of Man, in the 7th of Daniel, to any other, than to the true Messiah: And the error of their Judgement was only the fixing of that Crime upon him, who was the True Christ, to whom it did really belong.  
It does indeed by this seem to be a double Blasphemy; first to take away the proper Character of the Messiah from the True Christ: And next, To give it away to a thing, that neither he himself, nor any else, ever thought to be the Christ.   

CHAP. II. 
Mat. XXIV.   
The 14th Proposition, The Kingdom of the Son of Man, Dan. 7. is the second Coming of Christ in Glory. This demonstrated upon Four General Heads. First, From its being the same with the Kingdom of the Saints in that Chapter. 2. From its being the same with the Reign of Christ, Rev. 11. 15. 3. From its being the same with the beginning of the Resurrection, Dan. 12. 2. This evinced in three Lemmas. 4. From its being the same with that which is determined by our Saviour, and the Apostles, to be the Second Coming of Christ in Glory. This confirmed in six Particulars. Dr. Hammond 's Objection against this, answered.  
SINCE now it is undoubted, that the Kingdom of the Son of Man is some Kingdom of our Jesus, The Characters of it will make appear what Kingdom of his it is; and from a view of them, it may be resolved, That  The Kingdom of the Son of Man in the 7th of Daniel, is the Second 
Proposit. 14.  Coming of Christ in Glory. 
One would easily be persuaded of this at the first fight of the glorious Properties of it, and especially upon the account of its Universal Command, and the Eternal Duration of it. For what else is his coming in Glory for, but to take possession of the whole World, and to reign with his Father, and his Saints in it, to all Eternity? And though he delivers up his Kingdom to his Father at the last end, yet he has so much share in it, as to have it here called his Everlasting Kingdom: As elsewhere it is said also; And he shall reign for ever and ever. But it may be said, that this 
Rev. 11. 15.  was verified of Christ at his first coming: For at his Ascension into Heaven, he is said to have all Power given unto him both in 
Matth. 28. 18.  Heaven and Earth. It must therefore be shown, that by the Characters of the Kingdom of the Son of Man in this place, it cannot be that Universal Power which was given to Christ at his 
Dan. VII.  Ascension into Heaven, and his sitting on the Right hand of Power.  
For this purpose, it is to be considered, That the Kingdom of the Son of Man, and That of the Saints, in the 7th Chapter of Daniel, is the same Kingdom; for they both are described as beginning at the same time, at the destruction of the Little Horn, and have the same Characters of an Universal and Eternal Dominion, which it is impossible for two different Kingdoms to have at the same time.  
And the Kingdom of the Saints has these Properties in it.  
1. To begin at the destruction of a Kingdom, that did devour 
v. 21, 22.  the whole Earth, and of a great tyrannising Power in it, who did wear out the Saints of the Most High; that is, at the destruction of 
v. 26, 27.  all the Enemies of the Church upon Earth; for thereupon it had his Dominion, and all Dominions under the whole Heaven.  
2dly. To be in the actual possession of the Obedience of 
v. 14.  All People, Nations, and Languages, and of All Dominions under Heaven.  
3dly. To be Eternal, from that first beginning of such an 
Ibid. & v. 27.  Universal Dominion.  
And this can be nothing but Christ's Second Coming in Glory: For tho' all Power both in Heaven and Earth was given unto him at his Ascension into Heaven, yet St. Paul tells us, That all things than were not put under him, and that he had not 
Heb. 2. 8.  then put down all Authority, and Rule, and Power; nor had he 
1 Cor. 15, 24, 25.  put all his Enemies under his feet; which yet we see is necessary to be done, to have His Kingdom be That of the Saints in this 7th of Daniel; and which, when it does comes to pass, St. Paul in the same places does show us to be his Coming in Glory.  
But what appearance ever was there of such an Universal Kingdom of Christ on Earth in the time of the Ten Poman Persecutions; or in the time of the Saracen and Turkish Empires after them? And what fourth Kingdom, that ruled over all the Earth, was destroyed at the Ascension of Christ into Heaven, into whose Place and Dominion the Kingdom of Christ and his Saints did succeed?  
2. The Kingdom of the Son of Man, or of the Saints, appears to have the same individual Characters with that state of the Church, which has been already shown (by Coral. Prop. 11.) 
Rev. 11. 15.  to be the time of Christ's Second Coming in Glory: For they both begin at the last end of a Kingdom, signified by A Beast, 
Dan. 7. 14, 26. Rev. 11. 15.  which ruled over all the World, and at the end of the last Persecution of the Church; and from that time they reign in triumph for ever and ever.  
They are both from their first beginning over all the Kingdoms of the World, and Eternal: They are therefore described to reign in the same place for the same continuance of time, and at the same particular time; and it is impossible for two different Kingdoms of the same nature to be in the same place, and at the same time. Wherefore, since the One of these is known to be the time of Christ's Second Coming in Glory, the Other must also of necessity be the same.  
Accordingly do we find in both the circumstances of Warring against the Saints, and overcoming them just before the beginning of them, and a famous remarkable Judgement accompanying them.  
3. To confirm this still further from this Prophecy itself, if we compare the circumstances of the Kingdom of the Son of Man in this Chapter, with the description of the Resurrection in the 12th Chapter, it will be unquestionable. For the time, times, 
Dan. 12. 2.  and an half, in the 7th verse of the 12th Chapter, are said to end at the end of the Wonders that had before been prophesied of, and at the beginning of the last deliverance of the People of God from affliction. Now the end of the Wonders, or things of the Prophecy, is the awaking of those that sleep in the dust of the Earth, v. 2. which, by the circumstances of Everlasting Life, and Everlasting Contempt, appears to be a Resurrection of the Dead; and this must certainly be the time of Christ's Coming in Glory. And then the time and times must also end at this Second Coming of Christ, because they are said to end at the conclusion of those Wonders, which is, at the awaking of the Dead.  
From hence it appears, That these times in the 12th Chapter, are the same particular time with the time, and times, and the dividing of time in the Dan. 7. 25. For they are both of them the same length of time, and they both end at the last deliverance of the People of God from Persecution in this World. Those in the 12th Chapter are described to end at the accomplishment of a scattering of God's 
Mat. XXIV.  People, just before the awaking of the Dead, or Christ's Second Coming in Glory; and those in the 7th Chapter are described to end at the destruction of the little Horn, which is followed by an universal Reign of the Saints for ever; and therefore shows the Persecution that preceded it, to be the last.  
The times therefore in both Chapters, do end at the same time; and being both of the same length of duration, they must therefore be the same particular time from the beginning to the end of it.  
And hence it appears, That the Kingdom of the Son of Man in the 7th Chapter, is Christ's Second Coming in Glory, because it gins at the end of the times in that Chapter, which are the same with the times in the 12th Chapter, which have just now been proved to end at Christ's Second Coming in Glory.  
And here it is well worth the observing, what another wresting of plain words Grotius presents us withal, about the 
Grot. in Dan. 12. 2.  awaking of the Dead, ch. 12. v. 2.— He would have the Heathen Porphyry to be the best Interpreter of these words, who makes this rising of the Dead to be nothing but the return of some persecuted Jews; and yet both Grotius and Porphyry confess, That the words are very wonderfully and artificially put together, to hint at the mystery of the Resurrection: So wonderfully indeed, as it is to be admired how they can be made to intent any thing else.  
4. Again, the very same peculiar words, and description with these in the 7th of Daniel, about the coming of the Son of Man, does our Saviour use to signify his Second Coming in Glory, Matth. 24. 30, 31. And withal, it may be plainly observed, That he referred to that place in Daniel in those words, and that description, which it is therefore convenient in the first place to be well satisfied in.  
It is affirmed by a very judicious and impartial Critic, That 
Mr. Mede.  the term of the Son of Man in that verse of St. Matthew, and which was so familiar an expression with him to signify his being the Messiah, could be taken from no other place in the Old Testament, as the Name of the Messiah, but from this 7th Chapter of Daniel.  
But surely this will never more be questioned, when it is considered, That our Saviour, contrary to almost all the custom of his Discourses any where else, has quoted Daniel by name, but a few Verses before this 30th Verse, in the very same 
v. 15.  continued Prophecy. When therefore, soon after this, we find in that Verse, the same words and circumstances with these here in Daniel, about the Coming of the Son of Man; how is it possible for any man to question, Whether our Saviour did mean the same thing with that which was signified in Daniel by the same words, unless there were some so very clear ground against it, as to force him to question it? Which will not here be found.  
Grotius therefore, our chief Adversary in these things, does allow, That the same expression, Matth. 26. 64. is a plain reference to this 7th of Daniel: which makes him to appear so much the more extravagant in his fancy of quite another meaning in the same words, and description of that place in Daniel, from what he determines them to signify in St. Matthew.  
It is now therefore to be confirmed, That by the same description and words of Christ, Matth. 24. 30, 31. cannot be understood any thing but his Second Coming in Glory; which will appear from these following Considerations:  
1. The Coming of the Son of Man, Matth. 24. 30. is joined with the end of the world, for the time of it, as may be seen in the question about it, v. 3. And there is no other mention of the end of the world to answer that question in all the Chapter, but as it is included in this Coming of the Son of Man, and the sending his Angels to gather all to Judgement after it. As for the phrase in the Original to signify the end of the world, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it is the very same that is made use of Matth. 13. in three several places in that one Chapter, for the last end of the world, as by all is granted: for in the 39, 40, 49 verses, it is accompanied with the last discrimination of the Good and the Evil.  
Now to evade this, it is alleged, That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here rendered the World, may signify here, as it sometimes does, that present Age; and then the phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, is no more than the end of that present Generation.  
But let the use of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alone by itself, be what it will, yet nothing is more known, than that single words must follow the common use of the Phrase that they are a part of, whatsoever 
Dan. VII.  their signification is alone by themselves; and the use of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we see by those three places in one Chapter, is to signify and express the end of the World.  
For the same reason must that same Phrase in St. Matthew 28. 20. be taken in the same sense, because, however dubious it may there be by reason of the thing of which it is said, yet since the signification of it is known to be determined in other places, the dubious use of it must be determined by that which is clear, and undoubted. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, used by St. Paul, 1 Cor. 10. 11. is quite another expression, and can signify at best no more than the last Ages of the World.  
2. The coming of the Son of Man in that place of St. Matthew, is joined with the last discriminating Act of the Good from the Bad, by the sending his Angels out for that purpose, v. 31. which is certainly the same Circumstance with that  in St. Matthew 13. and which is twice in that Chapter joined with that, which is acknowledged to be the real end of the World. This is also further confirmed from the 31, 32, verses of the very next Chapter to this, which is but a continuation of the Account of the coming of the Son of Man that is 
Matth. 25.  here mentioned: In those verses of the 25th Chapter, there is the same circumstance with that here mentioned of the coming of the Son of Man with his holy Angels to discriminate the Good from the Evil: And that that Act of the Angels in the 25 Chapter, is certainly at the Day of Judgement, is unquestionable from the 46 verse, and is acknowledged by all.  
3. The coming of the Son of Man is said to be here with power, and great glory, and his Angels are employed with him; And such a glorious Coming as that with his Angels, is known  else to signify the second Coming of Christ: As in Saint Matthew 16. 27. where it is joined with the last Reward, and follows upon the discourse of gaining, or losing one's own Soul. As also 2 Thessalon. 1. 7. where that Appearance of Christ with his Angels, is certainly his coming to Judgement, v. 8. with flames of fire, v. 9 to the everlasting destruction of those that obey not the Gospel.  
There is also the same Circumstance of his coming with his Angels in glory, St. Matthew 25. 31. where it is acknowledged that it signifies his coming to Judgement.  
4. This coming of the Son of Man in St. Matthew, is at the same time, that he sends out his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet, to gather his Elect from all parts of the World; and that is a peculiar 
v. 31.  Circumstance of Christ's last coming: As is acknowledged in 1 Thess. 4. 16. and in 1 Cor. 15. 52.  
5. The description of his coming in the clouds of Heaven was the chief thing that made Grotius himself acknowledge, that this 
Grot. in v. 30. — tum praecipue id, quod, etc. Act. 1. 9, 11.  must be meant of our Saviour's last coming, because it was so promised, Act. 1. 11. That he should come from Heaven upon a Cloud, just as they then saw him going into Heaven. And this is confirmed by 1 Thess. 4. 17. which is acknowledged to signify the last coming of Christ.  
6. To this may be added the consideration of the concurrence of most of these same peculiar Circumstances in places which do unquestionably signify the last coming of Christ. As in the 31st and 32d verses of the 25th Chapter, where we have almost just the same crowd of particular Expressions and Descriptions with those in the 30th and 31st verses of the 24th Chapter. There is the mention of his coming in glory, and with his Angels, and to gather the Elect from the rest out of all Nations. So again in the 4th Chapter of 1 Thess. v. 16, 17. there are the Circumstances of the Triumph, and of the Clouds, and the Angels employed in it, as here. And in the 27th verse of the 16th Chapter of Saint Matthew, we find the coming in glory, and the Angels, and the last Reward.  
Who can desire a more convincing Proof of the same signification of words in several places, than to see them thus joined with the same very many peculiar Circumstances and Expressions in all those places? And therefore do we find an almost unanimous 
CONSENT.  Consent amongst all sorts of Interpreters, that this coming of the Son of Man, St. Matthew 24. 30. must be his second coming in glory. Grotius himself, in this, is forced to be of the same mind with the rest.  
Dr. Hammond indeed does here venture at a strain higher than ever his Friend Grotius could allow himself.  
A great Objection is it judged by some to be, That it is said of this coming of the Son of Man in St. Matthew 24. that it should be immediately after the tribulation of those days which were 
v. 29.  a little before mentioned about the Destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of the Jewish State. And the time of this seems to him to be still more necessarily determined to that Age by that Solemn Asseveration, 
Mat. XXIV.  Verily, verily, I say unto you, This Generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.  
In the first of th●se places there will be found to be no ground for the exception, if it be considered from St. Luke, what is the Tribulation of those days. It is there expressed to be the being led away Captive into all Nations, and the treading down of Jerusalem by the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled: And th●n the immediately after the Tribulation of those days, is a time that is yet to come: And the coming of the Son of Man (in St. Luke) in the same Discourse with that other beforementioned in St. Matthew, is found to be after this mention of the Captivity.  
It will not be very hard in the next place to understand what things they are, whose fulfilling is tied to that present Generation, if we do but look into the terms of the Question in St. Mark, where we find it demanded about the ruin of the Temple only, What 
Mark 13. 4.  shall be the sign when all these things, that is about the Temple, shall be fulfilled? which are the very same words with those in the other Verse, that All th●se things should be fulfilled before that Generation 
v. 30.  should pass away, which do follow presently after the mention of the Signs that should begin the whole Scene of the Prophecy, as if it were wholly restrained to them. And then the meaning of All these things shall be fulfilled, will be the same with that which the Jesuit Ribera, and most others with him, do determine the sense of a like expression at the beginning, and at the end of the Apocalypse to be: in both which places it is said of all the things in that Book, that they were things that must shortly be done, or fulfilled; That is, says Ribera of those words, things that must shortly begin to be done; which, he says, is a common way of speech in the World, and according to the usage of Scripture. In this sense, all the things mentioned in the 24th of St. Matthew would be said to be fulfilled in that Generation, though nothing but some very remarkable beginning of them had been then to be fulfilled.  
And yet if it were less intelligible, all that could be made of it, would be but this, That our Saviour had very much implicated the Destruction of Jerusalem, with his last coming to Judgement, in that Discourse: For that the coming of the Son of Man there mentioned, is unquestionably to be understood, of his coming to Judgement, is manifest from what has been discoursed more particularly about it. And the Objections against it are too inconsiderable to make it questionable.  
Whatever other mentions of the coming of the Son of Man there may be, that may seem to signify a sooner appearance of Christ's Kingdom, cannot be of any moment against it: For the whole force of the Proof from this place in St. Matthew, lies upon the peculiar words and circumstances that it is described by.  
There are indeed some Exhortations of our Saviour, and his Apostles to persons then living, to watch against the day of this Lord's coming, as if by that coming were meant some coming in that Age; but that can be no argument for it. For we meet with the same Exhortations in places, where by all it is granted to concern only the last coming of Christ to Judgement. As in St. Matthew 25. 13. 1 Cor. 15. 51, 52. 1 Thess. 4. 15, 17. The reason and application of which in the Thessalonians, is given in the next Chapter following from the 1st to the 7th Verse, from the uncertainty of the particular time, and season, when that last coming should be.  
Wherefore there seems now to be nothing that is at all considerable to make any ma● question, whether the coming of the Son of Man in this place of St. Matthew, be the coming of Christ in glory. And from what has been advanced to make it clear, that our Saviour did refer to the coming of the Son of Man in Daniel, where there are the same words, and circumstances of a glorious appearance with his Angels at the time of a great Judgement, and of an universal dominion of the Saints over all the Earth; it appears to be unreasonable to doubt, whether this coming of the Son of Man in Daniel, be the same with it; and therefore we may securely conclude, that the Kingdom of the Son of Man in the 7th Chapter of Daniel, is Christ's second coming in glory.  
I have endeavoured to secure this with the greater care, because all hopes of any certain determination of the sense of this Prophecy seems to depend upon it.   

CHAP. III. 
Dan. VII.   
The 15th Proposition, The Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel, is the same with the Beast in the Revelations. This shown in 13 Particulars, and made unquestionable from the three last. The Corollaries of the 15th Proposition. 1. The Beast in the Revelations the same with the little Horn in the 7th of Daniel. 2. The Beast in the Revelations the same with the Fourth Beast in Daniel 7. 3. The time of the Beast in the Revelations, is not till after the Roman Empire is divided into Ten Kingdoms. 4. The Reign of the Beast in the Revelations is not yet past. Grotius 's Opinion of the Signification of the Son of Man, a sufficient Answer to all his Objections against these things.  
AFter the Assurance that has been offered about the Kingdom of the Son of Man, it will be convenient to improve the Knowledge that we have of the Beast in the Revelations, to determine the Signification of the Fourth Kingdom in the 7th of Daniel, immediately before that of the Son of Man. And by comparing that Fourth Kingdom with the Characters of that in the Revelations, it seems to be very plain, That  The Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel, is the 
a 
BLas. Viega. in cap. 13. Apoc. For the Interpretation of this place, it is to be known, that there was a like Vision to this shown to Daniel in his 7th Chapter, upon the Explication of which this Vision of ours in this place does depend.— Which Beast (of Daniel) according to the common Opinion of the Learned, is the Roman Empire.— Besides the Fathers do generally understand that place of Antichrist.  
Alcazar in cap. 13. Apoc. sect. 3. In this place of the Revelations there is a manifest relation to that in the 7th of Daniel. But the Beast is the Roman Empire.  
Ibid. sect. 5. Negari non potest; It cannot be denied, that in that Ten Horned Beast there is an allusion to that Fourth Beast of Daniel,— which is very plainly a Figure, and Symbol of the Roman Empire.  
Malvenda de Antichristo, pag. 257. John does therefore call Antichrist a Beast,— more especially, that he might express his Kingdom, and Monarchy, and to show that he wrote with the same Spirit that Daniel did, and that he prophesied of the same Beast which he also had foretold long before.  
Ribera in cap. 12. Apocalyp. number. 11. For this, or a very like Beast did Daniel see in his 7th Chapter. After this, says he,— These therefore are the Ten Kings which Daniel foretold in those words, and which John does here foretell.  
Ibidem, number. 12. We see that Irenaeus makes them Ten Kings [after he had quoted Irenaeus for affirming that Daniel and John did speak of the same Ten Kings] and that the Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast of Daniel are the same with the Ten Horns of the Beast in the Apocalypse.   same 
Prop. 15.  thing with the Beast in the Revelations. 
For it will be found, That that Beast in the Revelations hath scarce a Property belonging to him which may not be found in the Fourth Beast of the 7th of Daniel. And there are a great many such very peculiar Marks in each of them, as show them to be necessarily the peculiar Properties of one and the same thing. For Example,  
1. The Beast in the Revelations has a very strange and peculiar 
Revel. 13. 2.  make; It has the mouth of a Lion, the feet of a Bear, and the body of a Leopard, Chap. 13. v. 2. which is enough to distinguish him from all the Beasts in the World. It would much surprise any one at the first, to meet with so uncouth an appearance of a thing that has three such strange and unusual Characters, which cannot be supposed to be mentioned by chance; and yet have no kind of Interpretation given them, as many of the Characters of that Beast have in the 17th Chapter.  
But it thereby appears, that this Beast is plainly drawn from another Original Copy, viz. That Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel. And there it appears that that Beast had devoured three other 
Dan. 7. 7, 19  Beasts, which where like to a Lion, a Bear, and a Leopard. So that this Fourth Beast in Daniel, with the other three before it in the 7th Chapter, being interpreted afterwards to signify so many Kingdoms; His devouring them there, can be nothing but 
v. 17, 23.  the conquering them; and upon that conquest, the having them added to himself. And so the Kingdom signified by him, comes to be made up of those three together, with that which was properly his own Dominion before.  
All the difference then betwixt them is, that the one is said to have devoured those three, and the other is shown with them digested into his own Body.  
2. The parts in which the Beast in the 13th Chapter of the Revelations are said to be like those three Beasts, are just like the same parts of the Fourth Beast in Daniel. For the mouth which is said to be like that of a Lion in the 13th of the Revelations, and to be a mouth speaking great things, and that was opened in Blasphemy 
v. 5.  against God, is just like the mouth belonging to the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel, which spoke great words against 
v. 8.  the Most High.  
The Feet, which in that 13th Chapter of the Revelations, are 
v. 2.  said to be the feet of a Bear, whose strength we know lies in his Paws, were just like the Feet of the other in Daniel, the Nails of 
v. 19  which were of brass, and broke all in pieces, and stamped upon the residue with his Feet.  
The whole Body of that in the Revelations, that was like a Leopard, or like the Third Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel (which being the same thing with the Third Kingdom in the 2d Chapter, did bear rule over all the Earth, v. 39) is just the same with that of the Fourth Beast in Daniel, which devoured the whole Earth, ch. 7. 23. and so had a Body of the same likeness with the Leopard.  
3. The Beast in the Revelations had Ten Horns upon it, just as that Fourth in Daniel had; and the Ten Horns of both of them are said to signify Ten Kings. 
Rev. 17. 12. Dan. 7. 24.   
But here indeed is the difference betwixt them; that the one had Seven Heads, and Ten Horns; and the other nothing but the Ten Horns, and the Little Horn. But  
4. Since all the Heads of the Beast in the Revelations were past and gone, excepting the last, (Prop. 6.) and so that Beast is nothing but the Beast under the Last Head; all the difference then betwixt that in the Revelations, and that in the 7th of Daniel, is but this, That the one besides the Ten Horns had an Head, and the other an Eleventh Horn; and if this be all the difference betwixt them, the fashion of their Figures signifies nothing; we are only to regard what they are both interpreted to represent. Since therefore the Little Horn is said to represent a remarkable bustling King, and the last Head of the Beast signifies nothing but the last King of Seven very formidable and turbulent, we have no reason at all to fear any difference betwixt them.  
5. Consider then what this Eleventh Horn was, and the Characters 
Dan. 7. 8. 21.  of it. It had Eyes like the Eyes of a Man, and a Mouth speaking great things, and a Look that was stouter than that of its Fellows. Surely, an Horn that has a Look, or Face, and Eyes, and a Mouth, can be nothing in the World, but an Head in the fashion of a Horn, an ill-shaped Head. For it had also Brains, and a Soul in it, by what it was able to speak, and to act, and by ruling and commanding the whole Body. So that the whole Beast was slain and burnt for the Crimes of that Horn, v. 11. This Horn than was in reality an Head, for it had all the Properties and Offices that an Head is known by. And therefore see next, how the Characters of it agree with those in the last Head of the other Beast.  
6. The Mouth of the one, and the other, we have found to 
Dan. 7. 7. Rev. 13. 3, 5.  be the same by their speech, and both of these Beasts wondered at for their dreadfulness.  
7. The one had power given him to make war with the Saints, 
Rev. 13. 7.  and to overcome them. The other was to wear out the Saints of the Most High. 
Dan. 7. 25.   
8. The one had power given him over all Kindred's, Tongues and Nations; and the other was the King of a Kingdom that had devoured 
Rev. 13. 7.  the whole Earth, and trod it down. 
Dan. 7. 23.   
9 Both the one and the other had Ten Kings at the same time with them in the same Kingdom.  
10. The one ariseth out of a Kingdom divided amongst Ten 
Rev. 13. 1.  Kings, the other ariseth up out of the Sea, and Waters signify Multitudes, and Tongues, and Nations, (Rev. 17.) It ariseth 
Dan. 7. 24.  also with Ten Kings ready Crowned, which we cannot think could be all at the same moment that it arose; and so it must arise in a Kingdom divided amongst those Ten, Revel. 13. 1.  
11. They both end with the Beast to whom they belong, and 
Dan. 7. 11. Coral. 2. Prop. 6. Coral. 1. Prop. 12. Dan. 7. 25.  are both destroyed at the beginning of Christ's Second coming in glory; at the beginning of his Universal Reign over all the World, which concludes with the judging of the Dead.  
12. The time of the continuance of both is exactly the same; The one a Time, Times, and half a Time (which by many Examples in Daniel, and one Instance in the Revelations, is known to 
Rev. 13. 5.  be three years and an half) and the other continues forty two Months.  
13. They both rule over the same place, over the whole Earth, 
Rev. 13. 7. Dan. 7. 23.  over all Kindred's, and Tongues and Nations.  
14. And The Beast itself in both, is said to rise out of the 
Rev. 13. 1. Dan. 7. 3.  Sea.  
From all these put together, Though it could not be proved to be absolutely impossible from their Characters for the two Kingdoms represented by these two Beasts to be otherwise than one and the same Kingdom; yet how could a man of the most wary and cautious judgement withhold from concluding, That it would be a very strange thing, if two Descriptions agreeing together in such multitudes of most peculiar Characters, never attributed to any Figures before, should not really mean one and the same thing? To hear of the Pictures of two Beasts described thus exactly like one another in such a strange make of all their Parts and Furniture, with the same Qualities and Actions belonging to them; the same manner of rise, the same time of continuance, and agreeing in the same peculiar way and circumstances of their Ruin; and both these Figures interpreted to signify the same things in all their Characters that are interpreted: And then to see the things wherein they seem to differ in words and expressions, to be found to be in reality and substance the same; sure this would make any man forth with resolve with himself, that these two must be the Pictures of the very selfsame Beast: And (since they both are said to signify Kingdoms) that they must represent but one and the same Kingdom. And if it should not be so, he would conclude, that they were on purpose contrived by the Relator of them to deceive men into wrong Apprehensions of them, if he had given no plain intimation, that they could not possibly be the same. For to mention a Property or two in one, which was not in the mention of the other, would signify little to make him think them of different kinds, where there were such strange Agreements, unless the Relator had given such a property to the one, as could not be in the other, from the plain description of it, which is not the present Case.  
But after all this, from the three last Characters of each of these Beasts, it will appear to be absolutely impossible that they should be any thing but one and the same time of the same Kingdom. They are both said to be destroyed just before the Universal and Eternal Kingdom of Christ, that ruled over all the Earth, and that for ever: So that the description of that, in those two places, cannot possibly signify more than one determinate Kingdom over all the Earth; and when they were destroyed, are said at that time both of them to rule over the same place, THE whole Earth, and for the same continuance of time before their destruction. But it is absolutely impossible that they should be two different Kingdoms over the same place at the same time, both destroyed by a Third that succeeds in their place. The beginning of the Universal Reign of Christ with his Saints, when each of them were to be destroyed, was the same time; and their Rule over the whole Earth at that time was over the same place: And besides, they had continued the same length of time over the same place before their destruction; and were both destroyed after the very same, and that a most peculiar and unusual manner, that is, by fire; Dan. 7. 11. Rev. 19 20.  
It is therefore unquestionable, that the Fourth Beast in Daniel, is the same with the Beast in the Revelations, and especially in the time of the Reign of the Little Horn: From hence it appears, That  The Last Head of the Beast in the Revelations, is 
b 
Malvenda de Antichristo, p. 224. Fixum, & stabile & omnium quoque Consensu firmatum, etc. It is sure, and certain, and confirmed also by the Consent of All, that Daniel did understand by the Little Horn, and as it were point at with his Finger nothing else but Antichrist, that was to come.  
Idem. pag. 253. It is the agreeing Opinion of the Fathers, and Interpreters, that Antichrist is called the Little Horn.   the same with Corollar. 1 the Little Horn in the 7th of Daniel. 
And therefore, That  The Term of the Beast in the Revelations, signifies the same particular Corollar. 2 Roman Rule with the Beast in the 7th of Daniel in the time of the Little Horn. 
For the Term of the Beast in the Revelations, signifies the Beast with the Last Head (by Prop. 6.)— And the Last Head is the same with the Little Horn (by Coral. praeced.) And the Rule of the Last Head is a Roman Rule (Prop. 7.)  
As also, That  The time of the Beast in the Revelations did not begin till after the Roman Corollar. 3 Empire was divided into Ten Kingdoms. 
For the Little Horn of the 4th Beast, which is the same with that in the Revelations (by Coral. praeced) did not arise till after the Ten Kings were up; and besides, did subdue three of those Ten, Dan. 7. 8, 24.  
And from hence still is it further confirmed, That the Kingdom of the Son of Man, Dan. 7. and the Reign of Christ over 
Coral. Prop. 11. & Prop. 14.  the Kingdoms of this World, Rev. 11. are the same time of Christ's Second coming in glory. For they begin at the same time at the destruction of the same Beast, and are universal from the beginning of them.  
Thus does this last Proposition about the Fourth Kingdom, and the former about the coming of the Son of Man, much more strengthen the proof of one another, and yet have evidence enough for them in themselves, without any necessary dependence upon one another; so that either of them might have been set alone by themselves; but they are still more abundantly cleared and strengthened by the help of one another's Light.  
It is therefore now manifest, That  The Reign of the Beast in the Revelations is not yet past. Corollar. 4 
For the Reign of the Beast in the Revelations, is the same with the Reign of the Little Horn in the 7th of Daniel (Corollar. 2. Prop. 15.) and is therefore to continue till the Second Coming of Christ; Prop. 14. and Corol. 1. Prop. 12.  
This is acknowledged by most of the Romish Interpreters, who according to the general Opinion of the Fathers, do expect the coming of Antichrist at the end of the World, or just 
CONSENT.  before the Second Coming of Christ.  
It must be acknowledged, that both this Proposition, and the former, and their Consectaries are denied by Grotius, and others; but upon what small grounds for it, and against how great an evidence to the contrary, may be seen, Cap. ult. Lib. 1.— and cap. 2, 3, & 15. Lib. 2. And lest the Authority of great Names should have still too much weight in it, to hinder one's full assent to these present Conclusions, I would in the mean while have any one but reflect upon one of the Tenets of the Grotian way, to which they are forced, to maintain their Singularity in the present Case; and that is their Opinion of the Kingdom of the Son of Man in the 7th Chapter of Daniel. For that is sufficient to make one very much unconcerned at any thing that is built upon it.  
The modern Jews are justly admired for denying, that by the Son of Man in the 7th of Daniel, is meant the Messiah; But it is much more monstrous in these men, first to grant that the Name of the Son of Man is the most familiar Name of Christ in the Gospel; and also, that the term of the Son of Man joined with the same Expressions and Circumstances in the Gospels, that we find it with in Daniel, does plainly refer to this place in the 7th of Daniel: And that in the Gospels, when joined with those same Expressions, it signifies the coming of Christ at the end of the World: And yet to maintain, that in Daniel it signifies not so much as the power of Christ, but sometimes the Kingdom of the Romans only, and sometimes the Roman fury against the Jews; notwithstanding that that coming of the Son of Man is set out in Daniel under the Character of an Universal and Eternal Kingdom of the Saints, upon the destruction of all their Enemies upon Earth.  
There could not well be a plainer Instance to show, how possible it is for Grotius to be singular in his own fancy, where there is a clear evidence, and the general Authority of all Ages against him.  
But a much more satisfactory Instance of the Confidence of a Learned Man against open daylight, is that of a Person who is esteemed a great Critic in History, about this Fourth Kingdom in the 7th of Daniel. He does very positively assert, and looks upon it to be so known a thing, that he takes no pains at all to prove it, That it was the general Opinion of Interpreters 
Sir John Marsham.  from the time of Josephus, that the Little Horn of the Fourth Kingdom concerned only the times of Antiochus Epiphanes; whereas the contrary is as well known, as a general Tradition can be known by the Books of the Ancients, that are now remaining; namely, That it was the 
c Idem, pag. 222. St. Hierome, and others, do most clearly demonstrate, that Porphyry's Opinion is a perfect madness. For all find it unquestionable, both Jews and Christians, that the Third and Fourth Beast are most certainly two distinct Beasts; so that he is to be looked upon as a man of no sense, that can think otherwise.  general Opinion in all Ages, that it did not at all concern the Grecian Monarchy; as is made to appear more at large in my Discourse concerning the Consent of Antiquity about the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel.  
And what more manifest proof could be given of the possibility of a Learned Man's Authority against the most evident Truths, than to see one so positive against a generally known matter of Fact?   

CHAP. IU. 
Dan. VII.   
The same Four Monarchies prophesied of in Daniel, that are the Subject of the rest of the Prophets in the Old Testament. The Sixteenth Proposition, The uniform Signification of A Beast, and of its Ruling Parts all over the Prophecy of Daniel. This demonstrated from not only the Figures of Beasts, but also from all the Figures signifying Dominion. The Beasts in the 8th Chapter the first Instance of it.  
THE certainty of the former Proposition does open us a very fair prospect into the rest of the Prophecy of Daniel. If it be certain, that the Fourth Kingdom in the 7th of Daniel, is a Kingdom of the Romans; then there remains no more dispute amongst the Interpreters, what Kingdoms in particular those four in the 2 d and 7th Chapters are: And by that means it is also apparent, what the constant signification of a Beast, and of its parts, that signify Dominion, is all over the Prophecy of Daniel. For if the Fourth Kingdom in the 7th Chapter be a Roman Kingdom, it will appear, that the Four in each Chapter, are those Four Monarchies that succeeded after one another from the time of Nabuchadnezzar to some Kingdom of Christ. And thus will the Prophecy of Daniel appear to be a short abridgement of the whole Fortunes of the Church of God from his own time to the end of the World.  
For the clearer apprehension of which, it may be premised for the use of those who are not so well skilled in History, That there has been four Great Empires, in which the Church of God hath sojourned, since the first total Captivity of the Jews.  
The first was that of the Babylonians, who were the first Ruling Nation of the East, who began the total Captivity of the Jews, which happened in the time of Daniel himself; And of this have we the Prophecy in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. And the Babylonian Empire is said by Megasthenes, in Josephus, to have extended to Herculeses Pillars.  
The next were the Persians, who conquered the Babylonians, and who continued their Empire under the name of the Medes and Persians, as one entire people united into one Empire, till the time of Alexander the Great. And the Prophecy of the Persian Conquest we have in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel; and the History of it in Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Haggai and Zechariah.  
The Grecian Monarchy conquered, and succeeded the Persian, and appeared in its greatest magnitude under Alexander the first beginner of that Empire. But after his death, by the Factions of his Captains it was broken into a great many Divisions, which were in a continual change of Masters, till at last the whole power of the Greeks settled itself in four distinct Kingdoms, viz. Egypt, Syria, Macedonia and Thrace, or Pergamus, which was the same Dominion with Thrace, though the name was changed.  
From the Syrian Line of this fourfold Monarchy came Antiochus Epiphanes, who made himself so famous by his profanation of the Temple of the Jews, of whom the things of the Little Horn in the 8th Chapter of Daniel were always interpreted.— And the Wars and Marriages of the Syrian and Egyptian Kings set out in the 11th of Daniel, are exactly answerable to the History of them; so that Porphyry concluded from that, that the whole Prophecy wat but an History of what had been done before.  
The Prophecies of this Monarchy are chief in Daniel, and hinted at in Zechariah, but very openly and plainly foretold in Daniel many hundreds of years before the time of its Reign, and the History of it is in the Books of the Maccabees.  
The Romans were the Fourth Conquerors: And, after their Conquests of the Grecians, were the most formidable Empire that ever appeared: At the beginning of this Empire was our Saviour born; and the Prophecies about it are chief in Daniel, and the New Testament; and the History of the beginning of it in the Book of Maccabees, and the New Testament.  
It appears then by this, that the Prophecies of Daniel do concern the same Ruling Nations over the Church of God, that are foretold in the other Prophets. But Daniel is judged to be much more obscure than others, because that which in others is signified by plain words, in Daniel is represented by Figures and Hieroglyphics. And yet those Figures are found to be interpreted in most places, and are of the same kind with those that are sometimes used by the other Prophets to signify the same Ruling Nations; as the names of Beasts and Horns are often mentioned amongst the other Prophets for that purpose: But that which takes away all the fear of the unintelligibleness of these Figures, is the explication that is given by name of the Beasts, and their Horns, in the 8th Chapter, which is by all acknowledged to be very manifestly determined; and is a clear instance of the general signification of those mystical Terms in all other parts of the Prophecy besides.  
From hence it was, that there has been so unanimous an agreement amongst the Interpreters of all former Ages concerning the particular Kingdoms that are signified by Daniel's Figures; which in all reason ought therefore to determine, all Interpreters to the search of the constant signification of Beast, and their parts, in all those places, to fix the notion of the Beast, and its Heads and Horns in the Revelations. For the Book of Daniel is without any controversy owned by all to be the place to which those uncouth Figures in the Revelations do refer, and from whence most of the peculiar Phrases for such things are transcribed: And from an attentive consideration of all the Figures of Beasts, and their parts, in Daniel, one may observe the constant uniform signification of them to be according to this following Proposition.  
In all the Figures of Beasts in the Prophecy of Daniel. 
Prop. 16.   

1. By the Beast in general, as the common subject of its Heads or Horns, is signified a Ruling Nation, or People.  
2. By the Horns and Heads of a Beast, the several kinds of Supreme Government in that Nation.  
3. And if they be described to come after one another, they signify so many successive kinds of settled Government over the same Kingdom.  
4. But if they be described to be in Rule all at the same time, they signify so many distinct Sovereignties, or Kingdoms, of one and the same Ruling People.  
5. And in both these kinds do the several Heads or Horns signify the settled continuance of that Successive Government, or divided Kingdom, to their last end.   
To make the proof of this the more full, and to show how 
Dan. VIII.  uniform and constant to itself this Prophecy is in all its Figures, and that it may appear, that there is one constant and determinate signification in the use of them; I will prove by an induction of all the particular Instances, That this is a property in common to all the Prophetical Figures of this Book, which signify Kingdoms, as The Beasts  do; That by every such Figure in general, as the common subject of its parts is to be understood the Rule of some particular Nation, or People; and by the parts and divisions of the same kind in it, that are said to denote Dominion, is meant the Supreme Government of that Kingdom. And if they be said to come after one another, they do denote the Successions of them in the same state: But if they be said to be all in Rule at the same time, they signify so many divided Kingdoms in that Nation, or People.  
This general proof from the uniform signification of all Figures, and their parts, will give us the more assurance of the common use of all these Prophetical Schemes; and so does make the Conclusions about any of the particular Instances contained under it, so much the stronger, and the more undoubted.  
Now there are Ten whole Figures in Daniel which are interpreted to signify Kingdoms there, and they all confirm that general Observation: As may be seen by the particular Instances.  
The Two Figures in the 8th Chapter concerning the Ram 
Daniel VIII.  and the He Goat, are of the most known signification of any, because of the particular Interpretation that is there given of them; and therefore it will be the most convenient to begin with them.  
The Ram with its two Horns is said to be the Kings of Media 
v. 20.  and Persia, which does very plainly determine it to signify a multitude in the notion of it: The Kings of Media and Persia cannot possibly signify one single person only, or only the person of Darius conquered by Alexander, though that Conquest seems to be the main thing there described.  
The Ram therefore said with his two Horns to be the Kings of Media and Persia, must signify a succession of Ruling Powers in that Dominion, since there was but one King of that Dominion at one time. And then the two Horns being joined with the single mention of the Ram, and there being mentioned but just two sorts of Kings, viz. of Media and Persia, that are said to be signified by the Ram with his two Horns; what can be plainer, than that the Ram under each of these two Horns does signify each of those two sorts of Kings? For an Horn does very commonly signify in Scripture the Ruling or Commanding Power of the thing with which it is joined. And the Ram being the same common subject of both the Horns, since the two Horns are found to be the two kinds of Kings, the Ram, of which they are the Horns, must be the Kingdom of Media and Persia, of which they are the Kings; or, which is the same, the Ram must be the common Ruling Nation of the Medes and Persians, of which the Horns are the Kings.  
For since the Ram with them is said in the whole to be the Kings of Media and Persia, and since his Horns are now found to be the Kings in that expression, the remaining signification for the Ram, as the common subject of both of them, must be that which remains of what the whole is said to signify, and that is Media and Persia, or the Ruling Nation of the Medes and Persians. And though there were two different Lines of Kings in that Dominion, first the Median Line, and then the Persian, as they are represented by two different Horns, yet was the Dominion always counted one and the same common Kingdom; and both the Nations were always joined together, as one united People: Thus in the time of the Median Rule, the Laws of that common Kingdom are called the Laws of the Medes and Persians thrice in one Chapter, Dan. 6. And again, in the time of the Persian Rule, all over the Book of Esther, is that one Kingdom called Persia and Media.  
But then to show the Successions of the two different sorts of Ruling Powers in this one Kingdom, the two Horns of the Ram are mentioned with this Remark — That which came up last, was 
v. 3.  the highest, which shows that they succeeded after one another; And the last of the two Horns being the last of the two Kings, that they are both said to be, must be that which is last mentioned in the Interpretation, or the King of the Persian Line; which might well be represented by an higher Horn than the Median Line just before it, because of the increase of the Conquests of the Persian Monarchy from the time of Cyrus, so as to have the Title of the Great King all over the East, where the Prophecy was given.  
The He Goat indeed in that Chapter, at the first mention of the Angel's Interpretation of him, may seem to be but a single Person; for he is said to be the King of Greece; But 
v. 21, 22.  when we see a first King in him, and then four Kingdoms after him, represented by the several Horns of that Beast, It is altogether unquestionable, that the He Goat himself is something that belongs in common to all his Horns, or Ruling Powers represented by them: And that can be nothing but the Grecian Monarchy, or the Ruling Time of the Greeks; The beginning of which is signified by the Conquest of the Ruling Monarchy of the Persians, that was before it, by Alexander the Great, called here the Great Horn; And the establishment, and the continuance of the Grecian Monarchy from that establishment of it under the four settled Kingdoms of Macedonia, Syria, Egypt and Thrace, or Pergamus (which was the same) is shown by the four Horns coming up in the place of the first Horn that was broken. For though there were more Kingdoms than four soon after Alexander's death, yet they were were in a perpetual change; and rather a tumultuous Scuffle of his Captains, than any determinate number of Kingdoms, till they came to be settled in those four. So that till then the whole Monarchy could not be said to have any particular form in it. Besides, that during the time of that scuffle, or at least the greatest part of it, there were some or other of Alexander's Line remaining, who might well enough be looked upon as the continuance of the Reign of the first Horn. But after that, the Monarchy settled in the four mentioned divisions, till the Roman Conquest. There is indeed a little Horn said to come out of one of the four. But 
v. 9  by that expression it appears, that it cannot well be taken for any thing else, than for a part of the Ruling Time of the same Horn which it came out of; and therefore is it generally judged to the single Reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.  
By both these Figures in the 8th Chapter it appears, that the Ruling Parts of a Figure do not only signify the several Governments in the Nation; but also the Succession of all the particular Persons in that form of Government. As the four Horns signify the Succession of all the Kings in those Kingdoms, and the two Horns of the Ram all the Line of the Median and Persian Kings.  
Of this the 11th Chapter is still a further confirmation, 
Dan. 11. 3, 4.  where, after the Kings of Persia, there is the mention of the Realm of Greece, and of a mighty King, who should have a Kingdom, which should be broken, and divided towards the four Winds of Heaven: just as in the other the four Horns are said to come up towards the four Winds of Heaven. 
Dan. 8. 8.  And a Kingdom broken, and divided towards the four Winds, can be nothing but a fourfold Kingdom; according as it is said in the other, that the great Horn being broken (said to be the first King) four Kingdoms should stand up in the Nations; And then two of these Divisions, according to the points of the Wind, are the subject of the greatest part of that 11th Chapter, under the Names of the King of the North, and the King of the South; which though they seem to signify but two single Kings, yet are indeed a Succession of many Kings in each Division. And at last one of this Succession is there set out as much more considerable for his Villainy, than any of the rest; just as the Little Horn was in the 8th Chapter, which is there said to come out of one of the four Horns, to denote him to be a single King of that Division.  
And that all these Expressions were very clear significations of the Grecian Monarchy, and of the Changes in it, till about the end of it, there can be no greater evidence than that Scoff of Porphyry the Philosopher, mentioned by St. Jerom, who derides this part of the Prophecies of Daniel, with a great assurance, that it must have been wrote after the things were done, because of the exact agreement of it with the particular Circumstances of the Times, which it foretells.  
From these two Chapters may it also be seen, That Kings 
N. B.  and Kingdoms are promiscuously used for any intimations of Rule, whether in a Ruling Nation, or in a single Person when it is said to be his Kingdom; As we ordinarily use the terms of the King of France, or of Spain, to signify the whole Monarchy of that Nation for all the time that it continues in power; and the terms of England and France for the Actions of the Kings of those Places. For Example, The King of France and Spain have been always at war; England was the King of France's Friend.  
There is then assurance enough of the confirmation of the General Proposition, by the Examples of the 8th Chapter. 
ᵃ THeodoret. in cap. 7. Daniel. Utraque Cornua.]— Because the Medes were also called Persians. Foreign Writers do also join them promiscuously together.    

CHAP. V. 
Dan. TWO, & VII.   
All Interpreters agreed, That the Five Kingdoms in the 2 d and 7th Chapters, are the same Kingdoms, whatever they be in particular. This attempted to be demonstrated from the Characters of each of them in both Chapters. The Fourth and Fifth in each of those Chapters proved to be necessarily the same particular Kingdoms.  
THere is now good ground to apprehend, that the Figures in Daniel were designed to be understood; And that there is an exact conformity amongst them in the general significations of the same kind of Characters in every one of them, as the exact agreement of the Two figures in the 8th Chapter in the same general signification of A Monarchy, and the several Changes of the Ruling Power of that Monarchy has been shown to be very plainly expressed in the words of the Prophecy itself. And this is sufficient to excite one's curiosity to a more particular examination of the other Figures of that Book, which, though they have no such plain determinations of their signification, as the former, in express words; yet are there such peculiar descriptions of them in the explication that is given of them, as upon the first, serious reflections would make one very confident, that it was no hard matter either to come to the particular knowledge of them, or to find them conformable to the Rule of the present Proposition.  
It is a considerable encouragement to our hopes of this nature, That it is almost unanimously agreed upon by all the several parties of Interpreters, That the other Figures in the 2d and 7th Chapters, are the successions of the four famous Monarchies, from the time of the Prophet Daniel himself, till some universal Kingdom of Christ at the end of them.  
Let us consider them both according to their descriptions in each Chapter.  
In the 7th Chapter there are Five Kingdoms represented by four Beasts, and a Majestical appearance of the Kingdom of the Saints.  
And in the 2d Chapter, there are Five Kingdoms represented distinct from one another by the Four several qualities of the parts of a Statue; and a Stone made a Mountain.  
If we can find these Five Kingdoms in each to be the very 
Chap. 2. 36.  same Kingdoms in reality, as they seem at the first view of them to be from their being exactly the same number of Kingdoms, and from the extraordinary likeness of the fifth of them in each, it will be easy from thence to conclude, what is the signification of any Figure in general, as distinct from the several parts of it, that are represented with it in Rule and Power; which is the first part of the Proposition.  
And here is this further encouragement, to ground our hopes of it upon, That it is unanimously agreed by all Interpreters of 
CONSENT.  all Ages that are considerable, That they are the same Five Kingdoms in each of those Chapters; though there be a different apprehension in some few of them from the rest about the particular names of these Kingdoms.  
But because they have not distinctly proved the certainty of those Grounds, upon which they build this common agreement, It may be useful for a constant assured satisfaction of this point, once for all to reflect upon the evidence that there is for it, and to put it into a close and distinct order to make it unquestionable.  
Consider then first, That the 5th Kingdom in the 7th Chapter, 
v. 13, 14.  must be some Kingdom of Christ. For it was a Kingdom given to one like the Son of Man, by the Ancient of days, who had 
v. 9, 10.  Hosts of Angel's Ministering unto him; which cannot possibly be any thing, but God himself; And the name of the Son of Man is so peculiarly owned by Christ himself all over the Gospels, That he cannot be more plainly known by the name of Christ, or of Jesus, than by that. And 'tis observed by a very accurate 
Mr. Mede.  Critic, That there is no other place in the Old Testament that he could fetch this name of the Son of Man from, as a name of the Messiah, but from this very place of Daniel; The Circumstances of which our Saviour doth also expressly add to that name, in his Prophecy about the Coming of the Son of Man in the Clouds of Heaven with great glory, which we find in all the three Gospels; and is the same with what is said here, Of the coming of the Son of Man in the Clouds of Heaven to the Ancient of days, with an infinite multitude of Angels about his Throne, and a very glorious appearance.  
Consider next, That this Kingdom of the Son of Man in the 7th Chapter, is said to be both Eternal and Universal, or over all the Earth. There could not well be more care taken to signify this, than there seems to have been by the fullness of the expressions for both of these; For The Eternity of it in such words as these, an Everlasting Dominion, which shall not pass away, 
v. 14.  and a kingdom that shall not be destroyed; and a kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever; as if it had been on purpose to stop all suspicions of ambiguity in the use of the word everlasting, and for ever. And then to assure the real universality of it— It is called, A Kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should serve him, And the greatness of the kingdom under the whole Heaven.— And, All Dominions shall obey him; And it did succeed in 
v. 27. v. 23.  the place of a Fourth Kingdom upon Earth, which had devoured the whole earth, and trod it down.  
If now we look into the 5th Kingdom, in the second Chapter, we shall find just the same Characters of it from the 44th Verse. It was to be set up by the God of Heaven, It was never to be destroyed, nor to be left to other people; but was to stand for ever: which secures the Eternity of it from any successions after it. And the Universality of it appears from its breaking in pieces, and consuming all other kingdoms which had Ruled over all the Earth, especially the Fourth Kingdom, which before it had subdued all things, even a third Kingdom, which bare Rule over all the 
v. 39, 40.  earth.  
Here then are Two Kingdoms, Both without End, Both over all the Earth; and therefore Both in the same place. Let the Earth signify what it will, since it must signify in both places at least the Prophet's Country, as all agree, this makes it appear, That the latter time of both, is most undoubtedly the same, because they are both at a time, (or eternal) in the same place, which not two distinct Kingdoms can properly be, that are of the same kind, as these are described to be, Both the Kingdoms of the God of Heaven, and such as began to be set up in the days of the other Kings.  
Besides, they both began the Universality of their Reign at the Ruin of a Power, which had devoured the whole earth, and 
Ch. 2. 39, 40. Ch. 7. 23, 26.  which had broken in pieces, and consumed all other Kingdoms, and did themselves Rule over all the earth in the room of the former; so that they both then continue at the same time, in the same place; and the continuance of them both is to all eternity. And then they begin their Reign in that same place together: Or else, that which should come after the other, would put an end to it, which is a contradiction to the Eternity of either of them.  
It seems then to be absolutely impossible, That the Fifth Kingdom in each of those Chapters, should not be one and the same Kingdom of Christ, Eternal and Universal, and which began at the ruin of another universal dominion before it.  
Now, if the Fifth Kingdom in each of these Chapters be the same, the Fourth also in each of them before it, must be the same. For the Fourth Kingdom in each of those Chapters, was the only Ruling power over all the earth, when it was destroyed by the last. For by the destruction of it, the Fifth got its dominion over all the earth And so the Fourth could not possibly be more than one and the same Kingdom in each of the Chapters, because the whole earth in each must, as has been observed, signify at least the same place; and there could be but one Kingdom in the same place at the same time, that each of them in those Chapters is said to be destroyed by the last. For they are both destroyed by the same Fifth Kingdom, as has been shown, at the same time, That is, at the beginning of the Universal Reign of that Kingdom in each Chapter. Two different Kingdoms cannot be destroyed by a Third in the same place, and at the same time. And the Fourth Kingdom in each, is one Ruling 
Chap. 7. v. 27.  Power over all the Earth at the time that the greatness of the Kingdom of the Fifth under the whole Heaven, began by the Conquest of it.   

CHAP. VI 
Dan. TWO, & VII.   
The Five Kingdoms in the 2 d Chapter of Daniel, immediately successive to one another. This agreed on by Interpreters; and particularly evinced upon several grounds. The nature of these Kingdoms shown, from their immediate Succession to one another. Not successive forms of Government in the same Nation; nor part of them of that kind. From hence necessary, that they must be the Four Monarchies. And therefore must the Third in the 2 d and the 7th Chapter be the same Kingdom. The First and Second also in both Chapters proved to be the same.  
THE surest way to demonstrate the rest of these five Kingdoms to be the same, is, to find, that those in the Second Chapter are immediately successive to one another. For since the first of the Kingdoms in the Second Chapter, is known to be the Dominion of Nabuchadnezzar, and the last of them to be some Kingdom of Christ, pag. praeced. If they be all in an immediate 
v. 38.  succession from the first to the last, that will show what kind of Kingdoms they must needs be, to be able to fill up the distance of time betwixt those two Kingdoms by immediate Succession; and thereby will make it appear from History, what Kingdoms also they must be in particular; and this will give light enough to find them to be the same with those in the 7th Chapter.  
That the Five Kingdoms in the 2 d Chapter are successive to one 
Dan. II.  another, is undoubted. For of the Second it is said— And after thee shall arise another Kingdom; And of the Third, That it should bear Rule over all the Earth; and so could it not be at the same time with any other that was different from it in the Earth, at least where the Prophet lived; And it is agreed by all, that the Prophet's Country did belong to this Third Kingdom. And then of the Fourth, that it should break in pieces, and consume all Kingdoms that had been before mentioned, and so must come after them.  
And then, That these in the 2 d Chapter are all immediately successive 
Dan. II.  to one another, it is unanimously agreed amongst all kinds of Interpreters, Jews and Christians of all Ages that are any 
CONSENT.  thing considerable; which shows it to be here so plainly intimated, if not expressed in words, That the common sense of all considering Persons would judge it to be so from the usual acceptation of such words as it is signified by. For how otherwise could those, who differ from one another in almost every thing else, be supposed to be so willing to agree together in this, where there may be a great disadvantage given against the Party, which they embrace, by allowing it, but no manner of advantage gained by it? The Jews would be much surer of a defence for their deferring the coming of the Messiah, if the first Four Kingdoms were not determined to be the Four Monarchies immediately succeeding one another; And it would not appear that Antichrist went along with the Kingdom of the Romans, if the whole four were not found to be necessarily successive Empires, that came immediately after one another from the times of Nabuchadnezzar.  
The grounds of this agreement about the immediate Succession of these Kingdoms from the Text, may be these.  
1. The mention of the number of them from the time of Nabuchadnezzar to the Kingdom of Christ, seems to be plainly expressed to be, to foreshow the determinate time of that Kingdom. For there is nothing mentioned in any of the rest (excepting that Tyranny in the last times of the Fourth Kingdom, which ushers in the Kingdom of Christ) about any Religious concern, or any Action of God, which yet is ordinarily the business of every Divine Prophecy. Daniel does expressly tell Nabuchadnezzar, that the end of his Dream was to make known to him from God, what should be in the latter days; And by the latter days must be there understood at least the latter days of those Kingdoms which are the subject of the Dream, and therefore must they include the days of the last of those Five Kingdoms, or the time of the Kingdom of Christ therein mentioned. The whole number than seems to be wholly for this end, to show how many Successions of Empire there should be betwixt the Reign of Nebuchadnezzar's Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Christ.  
For who would not assuredly conclude it to be for that end only, when there is nothing considerable spoken of the rest of the number; And when the gloriousest state of things that ever was mentioned, is set forth in that last Kingdom with this Introduction to the Interpretation of them all, that the whole show was to make known what should be in the latter days? And how could that be possibly shown by such an orderly number, unless there had been no other Kingdoms betwixt them? This therefore does make it manifest, that the Succession of these Kingdoms was immediate, to measure out the exact time of the coming of Christ in glory.  
2. An orderly number, when joined with Successive Reigns, as it is here, under the names of a Third, and a Fourth Kingdom (v. 39, 40.) is generally used in speech to signify an immediate orderly Succession: And who would ever call those a Third, or a Fourth Kingdom from the First, which had two or three more coming in betwixt them and the First?  
3. And then the last of the Five is known to be immediately 
Chap. 2. 44. Chap. 7. 26.  successive to the Fourth (pag. 120.) which is an instance, to show the manner of the Succession of all the rest, unless there were any thing clearer against it, which is not by any pretended.  
4. The parts also of the Statue, which represents these Kingdoms, are immediately joined to one another, which must denote a property in the things represented some way answerable to it; and that in Successive Kingdoms can be nothing else but the immediate Succession of them.  
Upon these grounds it may safely be concluded, That these Four Kingdoms in the 2 d Chapter, do immediately succeed one another; especially when there is nothing offered against it; but on the contrary, as has been observed, it has the unanimous Consent of all the differing Parties of Interpreters: And by that it appears, that in the Judgement of all that have considered these things, it is so plainly suggested from the Text, That, unless it be really so, there is occasion given for an unavoidable delusion about such things of moment, as the great Tyranny of the last King of the Fourth Kingdom over the Church of God, and the Universal Eternal Kingdom of Christ succeeding it; and which the whole Prophecy was designed wholly to make known, as is expressed, v. 28. 
Chap. 2.   
It may therefore now be determined what kind of Kingdoms these in the 2 d Chapter are.  
For they cannot possibly be the Four Reigns of so many single Persons, either in the same, or in different Nations: In which sense Kingdoms are sometimes taken. For the Four longest single Reigns that ever were heard of in an immediate Succession to one another, do not reach to half the number of years that there are from the time of Nabuchadnezzar (here said 
v. 38.  to be the first) to any Kingdom of Christ.  
These Four Kingdoms then must necessarily be such Successions of Kingly Power, as include the times of a great many single Rulers in them. And then, They must be either so many successive Forms of the Sovereign Power in the same Nation (as Chap. 8. 22. the changes of the governing Form of the same Nation are called different Kingdoms; and as the Monarchy of England, and the Saxon Heptarchy, may be said to be two different Kingdoms.) Or else, they must be Four Kingdoms of different Nations in succession to one another; Or some of them Forms of Government in the same Nation, and others the Rule of different Nations. For it seems hardly possibly to find any other acceptation of Successive Kingdoms, but in one of these senses.  
1. It is certain, that they cannot be Four Successive Forms of Sovereignty in the same Nation. For since the first is known to be the Babylonian Nation, the end of that would then be the 
Dan. 2. 38.  end of all the Four, and the beginning of a Kingdom of Christ upon Earth.  
2. Neither can they be part of them Forms of Sovereignty in the same Nations. For the first of them is known to be the Babylonian Nation, which had no differing Forms of Sovereignty in it, from the time of Nabuchadnezzar to the last end of it; and therefore the first must necessarily be the Babylonian Monarchy only: And the next in immediate succession to it, must be the Persian Monarchy upon the same account of its continuing in the same Monarchichal Form of Sovereignty, from the beginning of it under Cyrus, to the last Conquest of it under Darius.  
But about the Third Kingdom in the 2 d Chapter, there may be some question; For that next the Persian is represented even in this very Prophecy, Chap. 8. 21, 22. with two several Forms of the Sovereign Power of it succeeding one another under the name of the Kingdom of the First King, and of a Fourfold Kingdom after him.  
But the Third also does appear to be nothing but the whole 
Dan. TWO, & VII.  time of the Grecian Monarchy from its Succession to the Persian, till its Conquest by the Roman. For the Fourth, that is next to it, is already found to be the same with the Fourth Kingdom in the 7th Chapter of Daniel, pag. 121. And that Fourth in the 7th Chapter is already known to be a Kingdom of the Romans by Prop. 15.  
The Third Kingdom therefore beginning immediately after the Second, or Persian Conquest, and ending but immediately before the Roman Conquest (immediate Succession being common to all the Four) it must necessarily be the whole continuance of the Grecian Monarchy from the Persian to the Roman, because the Fourth Kingdom is already known to be the Roman.  
Thus then do we at last find, that these Four Kingdoms in the 2 d Chapter, must be the Kingdoms of Four Ruling Nations immediately succeeding one another; and that it is at the same time determined what Nations they are in particular.  
From hence then it appears, that the Third in the 2 d and the 7th Chapters, must be the same Ruling Nation.  
For the Third in the 2 d Chapter, was immediately before that, which is the same Fourth in both Chapters, pag. 121. & Paragr. praeced.  
And that Third in the 2 d Chapter ruled over all the Earth, and 
v. 39  therefore included in it any other Kingdom of the Prophet's Earth that was destroyed at the beginning of the same Fourth in the 7th Chapter. Now the Fourth in the 7th Chapter did break in pieces the 
v. 23.  Third there that was before it; and therefore that Third in the 7th Chapter must be the same with, or be included in the Third of the 2 d Chapter.  
Besides, by the term of all the Earth, must at least be understood 
Chap. 2. 39  Judaea in Scripture, or the Prophet's Nation, according to the sense of all Interpreters; And all the Four Kingdoms of the 
v. 17.  7th Chapter are said to arise out of the Earth, or to be in Rule over it, and so over Judaea.  
Wherefore the Third in the 2d and in the 7th being both over Judaea at least, because both over the Earth, and both destroyed; by the same Fourth they can be but one and the same Kingdom in one and the same place.  
There is no question now to be made about the sameness of the First and Second in each Chapters; For since they are the First and Second to the same Third in both Chapters (seg. praeced.) And that the use of the word Kingdom is found to signify a Ruling Nation (pag. 107.) And since the two first in the 2 d Chapter are already determined to be the Babylonians and Persians (ibid.) The Prophetical use of the same words with the same things, is sufficient (by Rule the 3 d) to satisfy any, that they signify the same things in both Chapters.  
Besides, that they are all represented in the 7th Chapter to be great remarkable Kingdoms under the names of Great Beasts, and in succession after one another; And then, The Second before the Grecian Monarchy in the 7th Chapter, can be no other Kingdom but the Persian, as it is in this very Prophet also shown in the 8th Chapter 20, 21. And the First of these Successive Kingdoms in the 7th Chapter before the Persian, must then be the Babylonian, which the Persian conquered. For there were no other two great Kingdoms in those times in a successive order to one another, before the Grecian Conquest, called the Third, pag. 107. & chap. 2. 39  
The whole number also of the Four Kingdoms in the 7th Chapter, seem to be plainly for no other end, but only to measure out the time of the last Kingdom of the Saints, about which all the concern of that Prophecy is, as may be seen at the 17th and 18th verses: where after the Interpreting Angel had said — These Great Beasts are Four Kings— without mentioning any thing of them, he adds — But the Saints of the Most High shall take the Kingdom, and possess it for ever— Wherefore, since the Three last of these Kingdoms are found to be the same with those in the 2d Chapter about the same concern (pag. 123. & 126.) and all the Five are the same number in the whole with the number of these here, for the same end; and are prophesied of in the same Reign of the Babylonian Monarchy, which is the first of them in the 2 d Chapter, v. 38. and so could not begin before that time. There seems to be no manner of doubt, but that they are all the same Four in both Chapters. For otherwise there would have been a plain ground laid down for a delusion in this Chapter also, about the most momentous things that can concern the Church of God, as has been observed. And therefore do we find an unanimous Consent amongst all sorts of 
CONSENT.  Interpreters, That, whatsoever these Four Kingdoms be in particular, yet that they must certainly be the same Kingdoms in both Chapters.  
Thus are we at last come to find not only, that the Five Kingdoms in each Chapter, are the same particular Kingdoms, but also what they all are by name.  
And thereby is it manifest, that the names of The Beast in general, does signify a Ruling Nation; and that the parts of A Beast signifying Dominion, does denote the Supreme Powers of that Nation; which if they be represented as existing all at a time, do signify the division of that Empire into so many Sovereignties, as we see in the Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter, according to the Proposition at first laid down.   

CHAP. VII. 
Dan. TWO, & VII.   
Objections against the making the Third Kingdom in the 2 d and 7th of Daniel, the whole time of one Ruling Nation, answered.  
IT is unanimously agreed amongst the Interpreters of all Parties, and Interests, That the Four Kingdoms in the 2d and 7th Chapters of Daniel, are the same particular Kingdoms, how differing soever they are from one another in the particular applications of them.  
It is also as generally agreed amongst them, that the two first of these Kingdoms in each Chapter, are the Babylonian and Persian Monarchies; But about the Third Kingdom in each Chapter, though acknowledged to be the Scheme of one and the same Dominion, there is not the same consent for the particular application of it.  
At the first mention of a difference, one would be apt to admire what should make any one sceptical in this matter, who affirms the other Two before this Third, to be known Kingdoms, and that all the Four do immediately succeed one another, as has been observed to be acknowledged by all Parties. For all that seems needful to be done for such an one's satisfaction, is to desire him to inquire, what Kingdom it was of the same kind and nature with the Babylonian and Persian Monarchy (acknowledged to be the first and second) that came immediately after the Second of these Kingdoms, or the Persian Monarchy. Since the Second is granted by all to be the Persian Monarchy, from the time of its first great appearance in the World at its Conquest of the Babylonian; who would not forthwith conclude, that the Third must be that whole Monarchy which subdued the Persian, and succeeded in its room, that is, the whole Grecian Monarchy?  
This being the natural and obvious determination about it, and according to the common Rule of reading the sense of all other places of Scripture, that is, from the known use of them in the Context; it would be imagined, that there must certainly be some very great appearing necessity, that could make Grotius, and some others of this last Age, to judge the Third Kingdom in both Chapters to be of quite another nature, than those before it, were; especially since it is against the sense of all the Ancients, who have been found from St. Jerom to have been generally agreed in making this Third, as well as all the rest, to be the Successive Rule of an whole Nation.  
The Opinion of these Innovators about the Third Kingdom, is, That it is the single Reign of Alexander the Great; and that the Fourth Kingdom in both Chapters is the division of the Greek Monarchy amongst his Ten Captains immediately after him.  
The Reasons that they rely upon for this new Opinion, against all the seeming Absurdities that attend it, are chief these that follow.  
1. Because, if the Third Kingdom in the 2d and 7th of Daniel, were the whole Greek Monarchy, than the Fourth must be the Roman, which conquered the Grecians; and then the Kingdom of the Son of Man (Chap. 7.) which comes after the Fourth Kingdom there, must not begin till after the end of all Roman Dominion upon Earth: and this is supposed to give too great an advantage to the Jews, to conclude, that Christ Jesus, at his first appearance, could not be the King Messiah, or the Son of Man in his Kingdom. For he died about the beginning of the Roman Monarchy, after the complete Conquest of the Grecian.  
2. This Objection will be thought to be much strengthened from the Prophecies that our Saviour, and his Apostles, have given out about the time of the coming of the Son of Man, which seems to represent it to be the advancement of the Christian Church in the World, by the destruction of the Jews, its Enemies, in that very Age when those Prophecies were delivered, and therefore could not agree with the coming of the Son of Man in the 7th of Daniel, if the Fourth Kingdom there, before the Kingdom of the Son of Man, were the Roman Monarchy.  
3. Again, If the Fourth Kingdom in Daniel were the Roman Monarchy, than the Little Horn in that Kingdom would be the same with the Beast in the Revelations, as appears from the exact agreement of the Characters of them both compared together. But it is thought impossible that the Little Horn, and the Beast in the Revelations, should be the same. For the Little Horn was 
Dan. VIII.  not to arise till the Fourth Kingdom was broken into Ten Kingdoms, Three of which it was to subdue, Dan. 7. 8. Whereas the time of the Beast in the Revelations must necessarily have been soon after that that Prophecy was given, which was long before any such division of the Roman Empire: It is said both at the beginning, and at the end of the Book, That the time of those 
Rev. 1. 1, 3.  things was at hand; and that they should shortly come to pass, and should shortly be done. And to make this unquestionable, The 
Rev. 22. 6, 7, 10.  Prophet is commanded at the end of the Prophecy, not to seal the Saying of the Prophecy of that Book, because the time was at hand.  
4. It is most agreeable to the Event, and to the other parts of the Prophecy of Daniel, to make the Fourth Kingdom to be the Grecian Monarchy in the time of Alexander's Successors. For it has Ten Kings arising out of it, to signify that variety of Kingdoms that his Captains did set up after his death; And after these Ten, is there a Little Horn represented, almost every way the same in every Character of it with the Little Horn in the 8th Chapter, which all agree to be Antiochus Epiphanes, one of the Successors of Alexander's Captains.  
1. In the first of these Reasons there is nothing to force a Answer. man against what is but the most probable sense of the words, much less what has seemed to be the necessary sense of them, unless it can be proved to be impossible, that the Kingdom of the Son of Man in that place should be any thing but the first coming of the Messiah. But our Saviour has put us out of all fear of that. For he makes use of those very words to set out his second coming after his death, as may be seen in all the Gospels that mention that Prophecy, Matth. 24. 30. Mark 13. 26. Luke 21. 27.  
We may also be well assured, that Daniel himself could not possibly understand that Eternal Universal Kingdom of the Son of Man, of his first coming. For in his 9th Chapter he sets out the 
Dan. 9 26.  Messiah by name, as delivered up at his first coming into his Enemy's hands, and cut off, and his City Jerusalem, and the Temple as destroyed by them; which is quite contrary to such a glorious Kingdom, as he is described in the 7th Chapter to enjoy to all eternity; and which was at its first appearance to destroy a Kingdom that ruled over all the Earth, and was contrary to it.  
2. The 2d Reason is of much the same force with the former. 
Dan. VII.  For though the Terms of the coming of the Son of Man, and of his Kingdom, should be found to be used by our Saviour, and his Apostles (in some peculiar circumstances, and by way of allusion) to signify the destruction of Jerusalem; yet that it cannot be so understood in this 7th Chapter of Daniel, is certain, because it has such peculiar circumstances there joined with it, as do always signify the last coming of Christ to judgement; as may be seen more at large in the proof of the 14th Proposition. But it has also been found, that that place in the Gospels which seems to have the greatest strength in it, to show that the coming of the Son of Man, is to be understood of his coming only to the destruction of Jerusalem, must necessarily signify his last coming to judgement. See this Book, Chap. 2. the five last Pages.  
There are indeed some Exhortations of our Saviour, and his Apostles, to Persons then living, to watch against the day of the Lord's coming, as if it were to be in that Age. But that can be no assurance of it. For there are the same kind of Exhortations in places, which are by all acknowledged to belong to Christ's last coming to judgement only: As Mat. 25. 13. 1 Cor. 15. 51, 52. 1 Thessal. 4. 15, 17. The reason, and application of which last, is given in the following Chapter from the 1st to the 7th verse, viz. because of the uncertainty of the time of the Lord's Coming.  
3. The consequence of the Third Reason may safely be acknowledged, viz. That then the Beast with the Little Horn in Daniel, must be the same with the Beast in the Revelations. For it has already been sufficiently demonstrated so to be in the proof of the 15th Proposition, Coral. 2. And as for the inconsistency of those Expressions in the first and last Chapters of the Revelations, with the rise and continuance of the Little Horn in Daniel; it is answered by the strength of the 15th Proposition, and Corol. 1. Prop. 12. And by the familiar use of such kind of Expressions (as those of the time being at hand, and the doing things shortly, and of their coming to pass very shortly) to denote only the beginning of a scene of Action within a little while, which requires a long time to finish it. As may be seen in particular instances in the Answer to the Objection against the 20th Proposition.  
That which does the most manifestly evidence, how little those that raise this Objection do believe it themselves, is, that they all allow the Thousand years in the 20th Chapter of the Revelations, to be literally understood, which is sufficient to convince them, that the short time, and the time being at hand, and the coming shortly to pass, cannot possibly be understood of the last completion of the things in that Prophecy; and therefore that it can signify no more, than that they should shortly begin to be fulfilled; as it is usually said of long continuance of time, that it is at hand, or that it will shortly come, to signify that it will shortly begin.  
4. All the strength of the last Objection lies in the likeness of the Little Horn in the 7th Chapter, to that in the 8th Chapter.  
But who could ever take the Two Little Horns in the 7th and 8th Chapters, to be so very like one another, that has but the least patience to consider them impartially? It is so plain, that the Little Horn in the 8th Chapter must be Antiochus Epiphanes, that it is generally agreed upon by almost all kind of Interpreters: But it is as plain, that the other in the 7th Chapter is succeeded by an Eternal, Universal Kingdom of the Son of Man, which 
v. 27.  is called the Greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven. Now was there any thing ever like this in the times immediately after the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, who was near 200 years before Christ? or any thing like it at the end of the Kingdom of the Greeks many years after it, which was above 60 years before the birth of Christ?  
And therefore do we find Grotius at such a pinch to reconcile these Inconsistencies, that he is forced to interpret the Son of Man to signify in this place the Roman Nation: Whereas the name of the Son of man, in the 7th of Daniel, was so generally known amongst the Jews to signify the Messiah, that the Highpriest immediately rend his  when he heard our Saviour making himself known by that name; and he and they forthwith concluded him guilty of Blasphemy, because they took him but for an ordinary Person, as has been before observed in the proof of the 13th Proposition. And nothing can more demonstrate the hardiness of Grotius for the defence of a singular Opinion, than to see him venture at so likely a danger of Blasphemy to maintain his post.   

CHAP. VIII. 
Dan. VII.   
An Universal Tradition, for some hundreds of years after the time of the Prophecy of Daniel, That the Fourth Kingdom in the 2 d and 7th Chapter, is the Kingdom of the Romans. This demonstrated from the Text, in 15 Particulars.  
LET us now see what mountains of absurd Consequences must be cut through, to avoid the formidable dangers that are pretended (upon the account of the forementioned Objections) to lie in the other way. It may well be imagined, That this new Invention must put a very unnatural force upon the Text, and have very great inconveniences in it, because it is against the Judgement of all the Jewish Rabbis, both before and after Christ, for 900 years after the Prophecy was given, and till it came to appear to the Jews to be their great Interest to hinder the triumph of Christianity over the Empire from being thought to be the Kingdom of the Son of Man destroying the fourth Beast: And therefore seemed it very useful for them to make the fourth Beast to be, not the Roman, but a part of the Grecian Monarchy.  
It is also against the whole current of all the Learned Christian Fathers, at least till St. Jerom's time, near a thousand years after the Prophecy was given, and above four hundred years after Christ: 
a HIeronyme in c. 7. Daniel. Let us therefore say, what All Ecclesiastical Writers have delivered, That in the end of the World, when the Kingdom of the Romans is to be destroyed, there shall be Ten Kings who shall divide the Roman World among themselves; and that there shall be an Eleventh littleKing, that shall arise, and overcome three of those Ten Kings, etc.  Ergo dicamus, says he, quod omnes scriptores Ecclesiastici 
In cap. 7. Dan.  tradiderunt. Which is almost as much as to say, That it was an Universal Tradition, or a Tradition of all the considerable persons of the Catholic Church to his time, That the fourth Beast was the Roman Monarchy; and so that the third Beast must be the whole time of the Grecian Monarchy, from its succession to the Persian, which is by all granted to be the second.  
Is not this sufficient to make any man confident, That the Prophecy does of its own accord offer this Interpretation to the common sense of men, when it thus appears to be the impartial Judgement of all the Learned World, 
b 
Malvenda de Antichristo, p. 222. For All, both Jews and Christians, look upon it as unquestionable, That the Third and Fourth Beasts are plainly distinct from one another; so that he must have lost his wits that can think otherwise.  
Maldonal. in c. 7. Dan. The fourth Kingdom is the Kingdom of the Romans; and so all take it to be.  
Calovius, in c. 7. Dan. All agree, That the Fourth Kingdom is the Kingdom of the Romans, as well the Ancients and the Jewish Church both before and after Christ; and the Christian-Church for the first Four hundred years, as the Moderns.   both Jews and 
See References.  Christians, before there was any particular Interests to be served by it.  
It has also been, and is still, the Judgement of even 
c 
Pererius, in c. 7. Dan. This Fourth Beast, according as all interpret it to be, and as the matter itself does show it, did represent the Figure of the Roman Empire.  
Malvenda, in c. 7. Dan. p. 222. That the Fourth Beast is the Roman Empire, is certain, and agreed upon by all that profess the name of Christ.— The Reader than is thus to be set in the Right Road, and the King's Highway.  
Ibid. S. Hierom and others, do very clearly show, that Porphyry's Opinion is a perfect madness.  
Alcazar, Sect. 5. in c. 13. Apoc. It cannot be denied, but that there is a plain allusion in the Ten Horns of this Beast, to the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel,— which does very plainly appear to be the Figure of the Roman Empire. Item Sect. 3. in v. 1. The Beast out of the Sea does evidently allude to the Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel; and 'tis most clear and evident, That that Fourth Beast of Daniel is the Figure of the Roman Empire in an Idolatrous State.   the most Eminent of the Church of Rome; tho' it be more for their Interest than any others, that the fourth Kingdom were any thing rather than the Roman; which does sufficiently show that they are forced to allow it: For they can have no manner of advantage from that concession, and therefore must it be the impartial sense of their minds; but it would save them a great deal of trouble to deny it, if they fairly could; and that shows the evidence for it to be too clear: And this gives as strong a presumption against the possibility of any other sense, as can almost be given from Authority.  
It is therefore well worth the enquiry, What might be the grounds of so universal and impartial an Agreement, amongst all the differing Parties of all sorts, about this third and fourth Kingdom.  
The first Reason that may be observed for it, 
d 
Theodoret, in c. 7. Daniel, Some would have the Fourth Kingdom to be the Rule of Alexander's Successors: But they should have remembered, that the Golden-Head was the Babylonians, and that the second Kingdom was the Persians; the third than must be the Grecians; and the fourth the Romans.  
Ibid. But at present— I cannot but admire, that there should be some pious Men, who should take the Fourth Beast to be the Macedonian Kingdom. For they should have considered, that the Third Beast has four Heads, which does openly show the fourfold division of the Greek Empire after Alexander's Death.— And then, that the Fourth Beast has Ten Horns,— And that they were but Four, and not Ten, that continued the Reign of the Greek Monarchy after Alexander.  
Ibid. That aught to be observed, that the Prophet saw the Third Beast with Four Heads upon him; And the He-Goat (Chap. 8.) after the first Horn was broken, to have had Four in the room of it, to make it clear, and unquestionable, That the He-Goat, and the Third Beast were but one and the same thing.   is the plain intimations in the Prophecy, That the third Kingdom is the 
Dan. 7.  whole time of the Greeks, from the Persians to the Romans.  
1. As first, in the Text itself, the third Kingdom has the same name of A Kingdom, that hinders all the rest from being possible to be understood of single Kings, or of different Sovereignties in the same Empire, pag. 106. There is the same ground then against the parting the Reign of Alexander and his Captains into a third and fourth Kingdom, which in reality are but one and the same Kingdom of the Greeks.  
2. It is against all the significations of Kingdoms besides, that are represented by any whole Figures in this Book of Daniel; and the common usage of Prophetical Terms, especially in the same Book, is the best Rule to determine their signification, by Rule 2. Now, by the confession of these men themselves, and the unanimous consent of all Interpreters, every whole Figure that is said to signify a Kingdom, does signify the whole time of a Ruling Nation or People. In that one constant acceptation, we find it in no less than Ten distinct Figures, not counting in this third Kingdom. There are eight mentioned, besides the third, in the 2d and 7th Chapters, and two in the 8th; for the Kingdom of the Stone, and of the Son of Man, are two of those Schemes: So that there is at least Ten to nothing against it, That the third Kingdom is the whole time of the Monarchy of the Greeks after the Persians. And that which appears to be the constant use of expressions in so wise and judicious a Writer, as the Prophet Daniel was, may be very securely relied upon, as an unquestionable ground to determine his meaning, whenever the same expression is used in any other place, in which it is not so clearly known. Rule 2, 3.  
3. It is against all the other known representations of the different kinds of Supreme Powers in the same Nation all over Daniel, or the Revelations, that they should have two distinct Figures to represent two different kinds of them, even according to the Interpretation of these men themselves. For all the differences of Supreme Powers in the same Nation  else, are granted to be set out by the parts or appurtenances of whole Figures: As, in the 8th Chapter, that which represents the Succession of the Persian after the Median Kings, in the same Nation of the Medes and Persians, is the Two Horns of the Ram, not two different Beasts. And the four divisions of the Grecian Monarchy, with the Rule of the first King, are set out by four Horns, after one great Horn, which belonged all to the one He-Goat. The Ten Kings arising out of the fourth Kingdom, and the One after them, are represented by eleven Horns of one and the same Beast, in Chap. 7. 24. And the same Ten Kings in the fourth Kingdom of the Image, in the 2 d Chapter, are shown by the Ten Toes of the Feet. The Seven successive Kings also of the Kingdom in the Revelations, and the Ten Kings, who are all at a time in that Roman Rule, are represented by the Seven Heads and Ten Horns of that One Beast. All which, if counted up together, will be found to be the odds of above Forty to Nothing, against the dividing of the single Reign of Alexander, from those who succeeded him in the same Nation, and against the representing him by one whole Figure.  
4. The Third Kingdom is certainly that which succeeded the Second; and the Second by all is agreed to signify the Persian Kingdom; and what a kind of Kingdom it was that succeeded the Persian, the Prophet himself informs us in the 8th Chapter; 
v. 21, 22.  where the King of Greece, who overthrew the Persian Monarchy, does signify the whole time of the Grecian Monarchy, with a first Conquering King in it, and a  Kingdom after him. And therefore here also must this Third Kingdom, that succeeded the Persian, and is represented in this 7th Chapter by One Beast, as that was in the Eighth, be the same time of the Greek Monarchy from its Conquest of Persia, to the end of it.  
5. The proper Character of the Kingdom of the Greeks (which Alexander's Reign was but a part of) is a Kingdom first under one King, then divided into four, and joined together in one Figure, as appears in the 8th and 11th Chapters, where 
v. 8. v. 4.  the Kingdom of the first King is said to be divided towards the four winds of Heaven in both those Chapters. Wherefore since the Third Kingdom in the 7th Chapter is shown by a Leopard 
v. 6.  with four Heads, and four Wings (to make sure of the number Four) If that be Alexander's Kingdom, it must be his Kingdom divided into four; and than it is the same with the whole Grecian Monarchy settled in the four lasting Kingdoms of it, mentioned as the one Kingdom in the 8th and 11th Chapters.  
6. Besides, that the Leopard with the four Heads, and four Wings, must signify such a divided Kingdom, appears from all the significations of Heads and Horns; and all the parts of Figures signifying Dominion in any place else of this Book, and of that of the Revelations. As in the 8th Chapter twice; in the 2d Chapter, in the feet and toes (the same with the fourth Beast and his Ten Horns in the 7th Chapter) pag. 104, etc. which also are Ten Kings in one Kingdom; and the Ten Horns of the Beast in the Revelations, are of the same signification, Prop. 15. So that the Leopard being granted by all to be a Grecian Kingdom, there is at least Five to nothing clear to the contrary, that the four-headed Leopard is Alexander's Kingdom divided into four, which we know to be the fourfold Monarchy of the Greeks.  
7. If Alexander's single Reign were the Third Kingdom shown by the Third Beast in the 7th Chapter, and his Ten Captains immediately after him were a fourth Kingdom shown by the Fourth Beast with Ten Horns; then that Kingdom, which was represented but as One and the same in the 8th and 11th Chapters of the same Prophet, would be represented as One and Three.  
For there would be one Kingdom under Alexander alone, shown by the Third Beast, chap. 7. Another under his Ten Captains, shown by the Fourth Beast; and a Third by the fourfold Kingdom of the four Horns of the He-Goat in the 8th Chapter: And thus one Kingdom shown by one Beast only in the 8th Chapter, should be two Kingdoms shown by two Beasts in the 7th Chapter, and a Third Kingdom besides, shown by a part only of that one Beast in the 8th Chapter, which represented the whole time of them all; which would suppose that the Prophet had no consistency at all with himself in his Figures; but that he did set them down at all adventures in contradiction to one another: And this also must be supposed of him without the least plain ground from any thing that he had said to countenance it; which is a sufficient warrant to make us determine, that all this is more than these Men have any ground to affirm of him, and contrary to what he is every where represented, viz. As a very profound wise Man; and even contrary to all the experience that we have of it in all the Figures, which are granted to be known, wherein he is acknowledged by All to observe a constant and determinate usage of them in one only signification.  
8. Again, when we see the Grecian Monarchy after Alexander represented as a fourfold Kingdom in known and plain terms in the 8th and 11th Chapters, to make the next Kingdom after him to be a tenfold Kingdom of his Captains in the 7th Chapter, is to shut one's eyes against what the Prophet had plainly said in those two Chapters: And which he seems openly to refer to by the four Heads of the Leopard. And what a strange contempt of a Prophecy is it, to reject a Figure of a Kingdom, that has just the same marks that it is set out with in two open known places which expressly name it, and to take up with another in the stead of it, that has such marks as that Kingdom was never before set out with by the Prophet? That is, to pass by the Leopard with the four Heads (which yet is granted to be a part of the Kingdom of the Greeks, that is mentioned in the 8th and 11th Chapters, by their own confession) and instead of it, to choose a Beast with Ten Horns representing ten Kingdoms for the rest of the Grecian Monarchy, which had before been twice called a fourfold Kingdom; but never a Kingdom with Ten Kings in it?  
9 The Prophecies of Daniel we see were wrote by himself, Chap. 8. Vers. 9, 10. As Josephus affirms of him also from the Ancients; and he did not conclude them till after the Persian Monarchy was begun under Cyrus, chap. 10. 1. So that he lived under the Babylonian and Persian Monarchies, and names them both, and the Grecian: And he Prophecies of the whole Grecian Monarchy in particular under the Figure of a Beast, Chap. 8. as is by all granted.  
When therefore we find in the 7th Chapter, just before the 8th, the mention of three Kingdoms succeeding one another, represented by three Beasts, The Two first of which the Prophet knew to be the Babylonian and Persian Monarchies, (as all do grant) What ground in the world have we to question, whether he means by the third Beast, or third Kingdom, the whole Grecian Monarchy from its Conquest of the Persian, since it is acknowledged, that in the very next Chapter after this 7th, he foretells that whole Monarchy of the Greeks, under the Figure of a Beast? There is certainly more ground from the Prophecy to conclude, that he means by the third Beast in the 7th Chapter, the whole time of the Greek Monarchy from its Conquest of the Persian, than that by the first of the three must be meant the whole Babylonian Monarchy. For the Babylonian is not any where else said, by name, to be represented under the Figure of a Beast, as the Grecian is in the 8th Chapter, immediately after.  
We have reason therefore to be confident, that the Prophet, that understands by the first and second Beasts, the Babylonian and Persian Monarchies to their last end, cannot by the third understand only a part of the Grecian Monarchy after the Persian; and by the fourth, the remaining part of it. And if men may be allowed thus to disregard all examples of the significations of things of the same nature, they may choose any interpretation that they can fancy; and with the same freedom may they maintain, That by the first Beast is meant the single person of Nabuchadnezzar alone; and by the second, another Conqueror some Hundreds of years after; and by the third, Pompey; and by the fourth, what they please: If they may interpret one of these Figures to be a single person, There is as much reason to make them all of the same kind: And to affirm any thing thus at all adventures, without any regard to the known examples of the same kind, is both against all the Rules of any other Interpretations of Scripture, and takes away all manner of hopes of being able to determine the sense of any Scripture.  
10. To this may be added, That the Order, and Time of the several Visions, do confirm this Application of the four Beasts in the 7th Chapter, to the four succeeding Monarchies from the Prophet's time.  
For as these four Beasts have been found to be the same with the four Kingdoms in the 2d Chapter (Page 104, etc.) so does it appear from the time of the first of them in the 2d Chapter, compared with that of the first in the 7th, That they must be both the whole Babylonian Monarchy, not any single Reign; because that in the 2d is applied to Nabuchadnezzar; and that in the 7th was seen in the time of Belshazzar, after the death of Nabuchadnezzar; and therefore must the first Kingdom in both Chapters signify an Empire common to Nabuchadnezzar and those that came after him; That is, the whole Monarchy. Now the 8th Chapter, whose vision was after that in the 7th Chapter, assures us by the same kind of Figures, viz. by Two Beasts, That the two next Kingdoms are the Persian and Grecian Monarchies by name, to the time of their last end: And when the Prophet had thus seen afterwards the Persian and Grecian Monarchies represented by the Figures of Two Beasts, Can it be with any manner of Reason thought, that he could Judge the 2d and 3d Beast in the 7th Chapter, to be any other Kingdoms, than those very same, which he had in the 8th Chapter seen represented by the same kind of Figures, and which were made known to him to be Kingdoms, that should succeed in order to the first in the 7th Chapter, and which he knew in the time of Cyrus, by his own experience, was verified of the Persian? Especially if it be considered, that there is not the least intimation from him, to make any think the second and third Kingdoms in the 7th Chapter, to be different things from the Persian and Grecian Kingdoms, known by name, in the 8th Chapter.  
11. It is impossible, That the fourth Kingdom in the 7th of Daniel, should be a Kingdom of the Grecians, because it was to be consumed by the Kingdom of the Son of Man in the 2d Chap. which has been found to be most unquestionably some Kingdom of Christ upon Earth, by Prop. 13.  
For the Grecian Monarchy was totally destroyed long before the Birth of Christ. And it has been observed how monstrous a shift that of Grotius is upon this occasions, such as may very well amaze any one that considers it, and his great abilities together. To be constant to his Hypothesis, he will have the Kingdom of the son of Man, signify the Kingdom of the Romans; and 
Dan. 7. 14, 22.  the Kingdom of the Saints, to begin at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Auxiliary Armies of the Romans, who therefore must be called the People of the most High, because The people, amongst whom God was to have his Church. But the extravagance of this, has been formerly considered; and nothing can give us better satisfaction, what absurdities he is capable of owning for the sense of a Prophecy, when he has set his heart upon a supposition, that needs it.  
12. The end of the Fourth Beast is at the destruction of the little Horn. But if the Fourth Beast were the Grecian Monarchy, The Little Horn must be Antiochus Epiphanes, as is by all granted; and then at the end of him, the whole time of that Monarchy must be ended: Whereas the Grecian Monarchy continued above an Hundred years after his death.  
13. The Little Horn of the Fourth Beast was to continue, till 
v. 22.  the Saints came to possess an Universal Kingdom over all the World, which since it is acknowledged to signify a Reign of Christianity in the World, is certain, could not happen till some Hundreds of years after Antiochus Epiphanes; and therefore neither could he be the Little Horn; nor the Fourth Beast, the Grecian Empire.  
14. The Time, Times, and the dividing of Time, at the end of 
v. 25.  which, The Little Horn, and the Fourth Beast to which it belongs, are said to be destroyed, are the same times with the time, times and an half, in the 12th Chapter, pag. But those in the 12th Chapter end before Christ's coming to the last Judgement, ibid.— And therefore cannot the Little Horn, and the Fourth Beast, be any time of the Grecian Monarchy.  
15. The Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter, is so far from being any part of the Grecian Monarchy, that it is most certainly the Roman: For as nothing can be understood by a Fourth Kingdom from Nebuchadnezzar's Kingdom (agreed by all to be the Babylonian Monarchy) but the Reign of some Ruling Nation, which was a Fourth from the Babylonian, which is known there to be the First; so hath it the individual Characters of the Beast in the Revelations, which has been already shown to be a Roman Dominion, as may be seen Prop. 15.   

CHAP. IX. 
Dan. VII.   
The Recapitulation of the Demonstration of the Sixteenth Proposition; And from thence shown, that Heads and Horns are indifferently used for the same thing; And that the distinction of one Successive Head, or Horn, from that before it, is, A new name of the Governing Power, after a settled continuance of it.  
FRom the Conclusion in the foregoing Chapter, that the Fourth Kingdom in the 7th of Danel, is certainly the Roman Monarchy, and not any part of the Grecian; It does now appear, what is the undoubted and known signification of all the Figures of Rule and Dominion in Daniel, which is the proof of the Proposition at first laid down. For it now appears,  
That the four first whole Figures in the 2d and 7th of Daniel, are the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian and Roman Monarchies; And that the last Kingdom in each, signified by the Stone, and the Figure of the Appearance of the Son of Man, is the Rule of God's Church, or of the People of God; and then the two Figures in the 8th Chapter, are known to be the Persian, and Grecian Monarchies; And thus we find the first part of the Proposition abundantly assured, That not only the Figure of a Beast, but any other Observe: 1 whole Figure all over the Prophecy of Daniel, does signify a Ruling Nation, or Monarchy.  
That for the rest of the Proposition about the parts of the Figures, Observe. 2 we find that the two Horns of the Ram, and the first and four Horns of the He Goat, do signify so many Supreme Powers in those Ruling Nations. And in the first of them, or the Persian, those Supreme Powers appear to be successive Governments of the Medes and Persians, because 'tis said of the two Horns of the Ram, that the highest of them came up last, where the difference betwixt the Successive Horns is the Title of Media, or Persia. And in the Grecian Monarchy it appears also, that the divers Supreme Powers in it, signified by the Horns, are in a Succession over the same Nation of the Greeks in respect of the first Horn, and the other four; For it is said that the first was 
Dan. 8.  broken, and in the place of ●● came up four others, that is, they came up after him; But the four Horns, in respect of one another, signify only the division of that Monarchy into four Kingdoms, because they are said to come up all together in the room of the first Horn. Which is exactly according to the Rule for their signification in this Proposition. And then a single particular King in one of the Divisions of this Monarchy, is set out by 
v. 9  a little Horn, coming out of one of those Horns, as a part only of the time of the whole Horn. The four Wings also, and the four Heads of the Leopard in the 7th Chapter, show us the fourfold Kingdom of the Greeks in that Monarchy. The ten Horns of the Fourth Beast do represent the division of the Roman Monarchy into Ten Kingdoms; for they are represented as being all up at the same time with the Little Horn. The ten Toes of the Image do also represent the same thing.  
It appears also from the four Heads of the Leopard, and the Observe. 3 four Horns of the He Goat (which signify the same thing) that an Head and an Horn have the same general signification of the Supreme Power of a Nation, and are indifferently used to signify the same particular Supreme Power in the same Nation.  
It may also be observed, that the distinguishing Character of a Observe. 4 new Succession of the Ruling Power in the same Kingdom, that is set out by a new Head, or Horn, coming after another, is a new name of the Ruling Power publicly owned.  
For though the Persian Rule was in the same Nation of the Medes and Persians with that of the King of Media, yet because he had the name of the King of Persia instead of the King of Media, he is represented by a new Horn of the same Beast. Many other differences were there in the Persian Line, as different Families, different behaviour to the Church of God, etc. but all these made no change of that Horn for any other; and the same may be observed by the Horns of the He Goat in the Grecian Monarchy, where, though there were many other accidental Differences amongst the single Persons comprehended under the same Horn, yet they continue notwithstanding but one and the same Horn.  
It is also apparent from the Figure of the Greek Monarchy, that it is the continuing Settlement of a Form of Government, which Observe. 5 makes it an Head, or Horn, or a change of the Government of the body of a Nation. Thus we see it was in the four Horns of the Leopard, and He Goat, which did signify the Greek Monarchy when it came to a settled appearance of four Kingdoms; whereas there was nothing to represent the continued Scuffles of Alexander's Captains before that settled Form of the Monarchy.  
And further, That these parts of Figures do also represent those Observe. 6 several Supreme Governments for the whole time of their duration 
Ribera in cap. 17. Apoc. number. 15, 16.  under all the single Persons that are in the possession of them after one another, is certain from the continuance of the several Horns, and the Little Horn on the Fourth Beast, till the time of the last coming of the Son of Man; And also from the time of the Little Horn in the 8th Chapter, which is said to be in the latter time of the Kingdom of the four Horns: For before the time of that 
v. 25.  Little Horn, there had been many Successions of single Persons in each of the four Kingdoms, that is, in the Ruling time of each of the Horns.  
Wherefore we may now most certainly conclude, That the Prophecy of Daniel is  constant to itself in the signification of every one of its Figures, and that there is but one uniform signification of the Prophetical Figures of the same kind throughout the whole Book; and therefore may one thereupon conclude with still more assurance, That  
By a Beast, as the common Subject of its Heads, or Horns, is signified a Ruling Nation, or People.  
By the Horns and Heads of a Beast, the several kinds of Supreme settled Government in it.  
And that either in succession to one another over the same place, if those Heads and Horns be described to come after one another.  
Or so many distinct Sovereignties, or Kingdoms, of one and the same Ruling People, if they be described to be in Rule all at the same time.  
And in both these kinds do the several Heads, or Horns, signify the continuance of that Government, or divided Kingdom, to their last End.  
To this whole Discourse, about the Sixteenth Proposition, do the generality of the Roman Interpreters agree, which all must 
CONSENT.  necessarily do, who grant as they do, that the Fourth Kingdom in the 7th of Daniel, is the Roman Monarchy.  
The only difference of some of them from the rest is, that the Ten Kings, and the 11th after them, shall be after the whole Roman Monarchy is ruined, and has lost the name. 
ᵃ GRotius de jure B. & P. L. 2. c. 9 Art. 3. — Populus est ex eo corporum genere, quod ex distantibus constat, etc. The people are a Body of the kind of those, which are made up of things distant from one another. Item, Art. 8. It matters not which way they are Governed, either by Monarches, or by many, or by the multitude: For it is the same Roman people, under Kings, Consuls, and Emperors.     

The Third BOOK.  
THE Particular Signification OF THE BEAST, And its Heads, and Horns, In the REVELATIONS.  

CHAP. I.  
The Interpretation of The Beast in the Revelations, and 
Rev. XVII.  of its Heads, and Horns, in the 17th Proposition. Three Objections answered. The inconsistency of the Roman Interpreters with themselves. Bellarmin more Ingenuous, but forced thereby to give up the Cause. Grotius to mend the matter, runs into greater Absurdities than any of them. Conjectures about the first Five Heads.  
AFTER the knowledge of the Constant uniform Signification of a Beast, and of the Heads, or Horns of a Beast all over the Prophecy of Daniel, any one would be ready to conclude with himself, That it was no hard matter now to determine the signification of the Heads, and Horns, and of the Beast itself, which is the Subject of all the latter part of the Revelations: since it has been already found, that all those peculiar Figures of Empire, and Sovereignty, and the particular Phrases and Style belonging to them in the Revelations, are just the same with those of the like kind in Daniel, and are not so distinctly to be found in any other of the Prophets besides.  
But the undoubted confirmation of this, is the assurance that we have of the 15th Proposition. For by that it appears, That the Beast in the Revelations is the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel, and that it has the same, and that a very great many most peculiar Characters and Expressions attributed to it, by which that Beast in Daniel is described.  
Wherefore according to all the Examples that are to be found in that Prophecy, from whence it appears that these Figures in the Revelations, and the most peculiar Expressions about them are taken, it is unquestionable, That  
The Beast in the Revelations in its general notion, as the common 
Prop. 17.  subject of its Heads, and Horns, does signify the Rule of the Romans in general.  
The Seven Heads of it, successive Changes of the Sovereign Power of that Nation.  
The Ten Horns, the division of that Empire into so many distinct Sovereignties.  
There need no more be said for the proof of this, than that the Seven Heads are said to succeed in this order, Five, one, another, etc. to show them to be successive, Revel. 17. and that the Ten Kings are described as acting all together with the Beast.  
For according to the signification of a Beast, and its Heads and Horns, with these Characters in Daniel, they must signify so many successive Sovereign Powers, and so many divided, distinct Kingdoms of one and the same Nation, by Prop. 16.  
And the Prophecy of Daniel is the chief Example of the mystical use of Beasts, and their Parts, and to which all the Expressions about the Beast in the Revelations are found to refer, Proposition 15.— And the Beast in the Revelations is certainly some Roman Rule, by Prop. 6.— Therefore by Rule the 2 d, The Beast, its Heads, and Horns, do signify the Rule of the Romans under so many successive Changes of the Sovereign Power, and divided into so many distinct Sovereignties, as are represented by its Seven Heads, and Ten Horns.  
But it may possibly be pretended, that there are clear grounds in the Revelations against the making the Prophecy of Daniel a Rule of Interpretation for the Figures in the Revelations. For the Figures in the Revelations have a different use from those in Daniel. For example,  
1. There are three several shows of one and the same Roman Monarchy, and following immediately one after another from the 12th to the 18th Chapter of the Revelations; which according to the use of such succession of Figures in Daniel, must signify three several Ruling Nations; Prop. 16. Besides, that one of these three Beasts is expressly described in succession to the other, Chap. 13. 2. But it must be remembered, That it is according to the use of the Figures in Daniel, to represent the same Kingdoms by different Figures in different Visions; as in the 2d and 7th Chapters. And in the 8th Chapter, two of those same Kingdoms by two new Beasts; and it is certain, that the two Shows in the 13th and 17th Chapters are in two several Visions, and that they are one and the same particular state of the Beast, by Coral. 2. Prop. 10.  
And though the Beast in the 13th Chapter be described to be in succession to that in the 12th Chapter: yet 1. it is described, as a new Vision of a Beast with the same proper marks upon it, which the other had before it, viz. the Seven Heads, and Ten Horns: And next, it must be considered, That though they be two different Beasts; yet it is plainly said, That the one is Satan, 
Chap. 12. 9  or the Devil, and so does signify only a spiritual Rule of the Devil in the Roman Empire, and no different Temporal Empire from the other; and than it signifies no more to the making two different Monarchies, than Nebuchadnezzar's Image to the constituting of a new Monarchy of the Babylonians, distinct from that which was represented by the Head of the other Image, Chap. 2.  
2. It will be further urged, that in the 13th Chapter, There are Two Beasts represented as rising up after one another, which according to Prop. 16. Part. 1. must signify in Daniel's way two different Ruling Nations.  
This would signify very much (by Rule the 2 d) if the Text did not make it appear, that they were not successive to one another. But it is expressly said, That the Second Beast did exercise all the power of the First Beast before him, and that all 
Chap. 13. 12.  for his Service, as appears v. 12. The Text does therefore expressly affirm, that the power of them both is but one and the same power, or Ruling Nation. And yet to show that the signification of a Beast in Daniel does hold good in this use of it also, it will be explained how this First Beast does also signify the 
a ALcasar, in cap. 13. Apoc. sect. 6. By the Beast out of the Earth, is signified a multitude of Persons, as well as by the Beast that came out of the Sea. Ibid.— As well the one Beast as the other, are taken, not for single Persons, but for a great Multitude, as the Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel, Ibid.— As the Beast out of the Sea does contain in it all the Nations of the Roman Empire; so also does the Beast that came out of the Earth.  Rule of the Romans, but in another manner of Kingdom than that 
Chap. 18. See References.  of the first Beast is, so as that they are both in being at the same time. For this second will be found to signify their Church-Rule, as the first does the Rule of the State, Prop. 24, & 25.  
3. It may also be objected, That the two Horns of the second 
v. 11.  Beast, Chap. 13. according to Daniel, must signify distinct Sovereignties, Prop. 16. Observat. 2, & 4.  
But since these Horns have no mark of Rule, or Dominion joined with them, and are particularly said to signify the likeness of that Beast to a Lamb, that does sufficiently show a particular exception of them from the general Rule in Daniel. And yet they may also signify the two distinct Kingdoms, or Jurisdictions of that Beast over the Temporal and Spiritual Affairs of that Nation.  
After this, how manifestly does it appear to be but a Contrivance only to serve a turn in 
b Alcazar, in Apoc. c. 12. de 10 Corn. It is most evident, that the Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel, do signify the Roman Empire. But those which are not Roman Commanders, cannot be the Horns of that Beast, Ibid.— Ribera understands by the Beast, the whole World, which does easily fall to the ground of itself. For it is evident, that Daniel did prophesy of the Roman Empire only, viz. in the Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast, chap. 7. — Ibid. Another Opinion of his, is, that the Roman Empire shall be Idolatrous, which Conjecture is very vain, and empty— For than it would be another Empire; as the Empire that is now in Greece, is quite different from that which is represented by the Third Beast in the 7th of Daniel, Idem in cap. 17. v. 11.— But any one may easily see, how forced all that Interpretation is.  à Lapide, Ribera, and a number of other 
See References.  eminent Persons of the Church of Rome, to make the general notion of the Beast in the Revelations, to signify the World in general; and the seven Heads to be seven Ages of it, with the several Tyrannical Powers, which persecuted the Church of God in each of them, notwithstanding that they are agreed with all other Interpreters about the Constant Uniform Signification of a Beast, and of its Heads, and Horns, all over the Prophecy of Daniel; and that the fourth Beast there in the 7th Chapter of Daniel, is the particular Monarchy of the Romans; and that the Little Horn of that Beast is the same with the last Head of this Beast in the Revelations? And yet 
c 
Alcazar, in cap. 12. Apoc. de 10 Cornibus.— Quod autem Romanorum Imperium sit extinctum prorsus videtur certum; It seems to be altogether certain, that the Roman Empire is destroyed. Again,— It is evident, that the Roman Empire is destroyed, although the Provinces of it be in the possession of other Kings and Emperors.  
Ribera in cap. 12. Apoc. num. 14. de 10 Cornibus— That which the forementioned Writers apply to the Kingdom of the Romans, because that is now altogether annihilated, we understand of the whole World, over which the Romans reigned.   do they not show the least intimation from the Text to countenance this Contradiction to their own Judgements about the same Words and Phrases, nor offer to give any Example from the Figures of the like kind to ground their fancy upon.  
Bellarmin indeed is more ingenuous; he owns the known Signification of Beasts in Daniel, and that the fourth of the 7th Chapter is in particular the same with that in the Revelations; and from the certainty of both does acknowledge, that the Beast in the Revelations does signify in general the Roman Empire; and that the Heads of the Beast must be all Heads of the Romans; and that the time of that called the Beast, is not yet past. And what more convincing proof can there be for the irresistible Light that there is for these things, than to see so able a Judge of the concern of his Church in this Affair, to be forced thereby to yield to it without any the least show of advantage from it to serve the Cause that he is so zealous for? But especially when we see him thereby forced to desert all the other Defences of his Brethren, and to reduce the whole merit of the Cause about the Charge laid against his Church, to this only issue, viz. Whether the Imperial Roman Government, that was in Rule at the time of the Vision, has been since that time cut off, and succeeded by another form of Government; which is to reduce the whole Dispute about the matter of so great importance in the consequence of it, to a question about the truth of a matter of fact only in History, and which is given against him 
d 
Tacitus just about the time that the Revelations were wrote, reckons them up in this order in the beginning of his first Book of Annals. — Kings were at first the Governors of Rome. L. Brutus brought in the Consulary Government, and Liberty; Dictator's were set up upon occasion. The Decemvirs continued not above two years. The Consulary Power of the Tribunes of the Soldiers lasted not long. The Domination of Cinna, and Sylla, was soon ended, and Pompey and Crassus yielded to Caesar; and Lepidus and Anthony to Augustus, who took all into his hands under the name of a Prince, or Emperor.  
Livy before him had given much the same account for all those Governments which had been up in his time, in his 6th Book. I have, says he, in the five former Books given an account of all the Wars abroad, and the Seditions at home, which the Romans have had from the first building of the City, to the taking of it, under Kings, Consuls, Decemvirs, Dictator's, and Consulary Tribunes.  
So Onuphrius Panvicinus, in his Preface to his Fasti Consulares.  
— For the City was first under Kings— Then succeeded Consuls— and sometimes under Decemvirs, and sometimes under Tribunes of the Soldiers with Consulary Power; and sometimes under Dictator's.  
Cassiodorus, in his Chronicon, gives the same account of the Change of the Roman Government from Kings to Consuls, and from them to the Decemvirs; and the Consulary Government again interrupted by the Military Tribunes; and during all these spaces of time, the intermixture of Dictator's, upon the creation of whom all other Magistracies were at an end; all which ended at last in the Imperial Government.  
The Jesuit Pererius confirms this upon the Fourth Beast of the 7th of Daniel.  
— Why that Beast is without a name, and all the other three named, — Because, says he, in the other three Kingdoms there was but one kind, or form of Government. But the kinds of Government amongst the Romans were of several sorts. First Regal, then Consulary, after that partly Tribunitical, partly Consulary; sometimes by Dictator's, sometimes by Emperors. Where he leaves out only the Decemvirs, who yet are sufficiently known to have been a peculiar Government distinct from the rest.  
If it should be objected, That the Triumvirs Rep. Constituendae, were as different a Government from all these, it is to be considered, that that was only the Rule of three single Men for one turn only; And single Persons are nowhere made an Head of a Beast. That of the first Horn in the 8th of Daniel, is the King of Macedon, or Alexander, and his Heirs. Fenestella does also reject this as no Magistracy, cap. 21.  
And these two forms of these Governments, which are the most questioned, viz. the Decemvirs, and the Dictator's, have a very sufficient warrant for them from the best approved Writers of the Roman Affairs. Livy says of the Decemvirs, Book the IIId, in the 300th and first year after the building of Rome, The Government of the City was changed from Consuls to Decemvirs, as it had been before from Kings to Consuls. And Fenestella of the Dictator's, chap. 8. of the Roman Magistracy,— that they were so much the Supreme Power of the Commonwealth, that there was no Appeal from them; and that they had the power of the Lives of the Roman Citizens, and the entire Jurisdiction of the whole Commonwealth;— And that He was called the Master of the People for his Absolute Power.   by Alcazar, and by Ribera, in express words, who says, that the Roman Empire is now at an end.  
Therefore is it that Grotius is so higly applauded for that Masterpiece of his, in confounding the acceptation of a Beast, and its Horns, in Daniel, by denying the fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter to be a Rule of the Romans, which is the only true way to strike at the root of any settled Interpretation of the Beast, or its Heads, in the Revelations. But then we see it was necessary for him to run into a greater absurdity than any of these to maintain it, as his Opinion about the coming of the Son of Man has been already made to appear. And there need no other proof of the falseness of his Interpretation of the Heads of the Beast, than to be satisfied, that the coming of the Son of Man in the 7th of Daniel, is the Kingdom of Christ. For that establishes such an uniform acceptation of the signification of the Heads, and Horns of a Beast all over Daniel, as makes his new contrivance about the seven Heads of the Beast in the Revelations to be against all the constant Prophetical use of them.  
From hence then it does sufficiently appear, That the seven Heads of the Beast are so many Sovereign Powers of the Roman Monarchy; and because they are distinguished into five, past at the time of the Vision, one than in being, and others to come, it is certain also, that they are successive; and therefore by Proposition the 16th— are they as many Changes of the Sovereign Power of that Empire, as there are Successions amongst them.  
By almost all Protestant Interpreters, are these seven Heads determined to be at least seven Successions of the Sovereign Power of Rome. But because there is no absolutely certain assurance of more than three successive Changes from the Text, of which the sixth is the first Succession (there signified by five are past, one is.) All that can therefore be positively affirmed about the number of the successive Ruling Powers, is, That the three last are certainly successive Changes of the Ruling Power of the whole Roman Monarchy.  
I dispute not here the successive Rule of the first five Heads, but rather judge it to be highly probable, that they are the five different Changes of the Roman Government that are ordinarily accounted upon. 
e 
Bellarmin, lib. 1. de Pontifice, cap. 2.  
— But neither was the Commonwealth governed always by the same Heads. For in the beginning they had Consuls and Tribunes (after he had before supposed Kings) And when they were taken away, Decemvirs, Consuls and Tribunes were then recalled; and sometimes had they Dictator's, and sometimes Military Tribunes with a Consulary Power.  
But if any will further contend to have the Senate and the Interreges, and the Triumvirs Reipublic. Constituendae, to come in for a share of the Supreme Government, than the five Governments before the Imperial, may be accounted to be those which had been in Rule from the first Succession of the Beast, to the third Beast in Daniel, ch. 7. that is, ever since the Roman Conquests of the Greek Monarchy, and may be reckoned this way to be the Consuls, Dictator's, Senate, Interreges, Triumvirs. Reip. Constituendae. It is indeed usual to account all the Characters that are given to every Beast in Daniel, from the time that it conquered the Beast that was before it; And according to that, the seven Heads may by some be thought necessary to be accounted for from the end of the Greek Monarchy.   The Roman Historians do reckon up the Changes of their Government in that order; Bellarmin himself, lib. 1. c. 2. de Pontifice, does reckon up the same number of the Governments of Rome. But yet it seems not to be plainly assured to us, that the five first Heads may not have been all five in Rule at the same time before the sixth, or at least not certain, but that they might have succeeded by more than one single Head at a time. As in the He-Goat in the 8th Chapter of Daniel, it might be said that there was one Horn first, and four more after it, where there is a succession of five Horns, and yet but one successive Change of the Ruling Power of the Greeks: that is, The division of that Monarchy into four, after the time of the single Reign of one King over it.   

CHAP. II. 
Rev. XVII.   
The Eighteenth Proposition, The Three last Kings of the Eight, Rev. 17. 10, 11. are Three immediately successessive Changes of Roman Government. This demonstrated. Bellarmin 's peculiar fancy of the signification of the number Seven. The Eighth King one of the Six first returned into power. The Nineteenth Proposition, The Sixth King, the Imperial Government at the time of the Vision. Grotius examined in that point. The Twentieth Proposition, The Beast is the next Government of Rome, but one, to the Imperial at the time of the Vision. Dr. Hammond 's Objection from the time being at hand, answered.  
WIthout any farther concern about the particular nature of the first five Heads, or Kings, it may be observed of the rest, That  The Three last Kings of the Eight in the 17th Chapter, are Three 
Proposit. 18.  Changes of Roman Government coming after one another in an immediate successive Order. 

a 
CUspinian in Sextum Rufum, pag. 6. 
Cuspinian. p. 95. in Cassiodori Chronicon. shows, that Military Tribunes with Consulary Power differed only in name from Consuls.   
Consuls were chosen by the People of Rome at first, that after the expulsion of the Kings, the Power of the Kings might remain with them; ut penes illos Regia esset potestas.  
Pancirollus in notit. Imperii Oriental. pag. 155. Appian says in his Syrian History, that the Romans sent Praetors to the Army, which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, six Axes, because the Consuls did use to have twelve Axes, and as many bundles of Rods carried before them, after the manner of the Kings. [See in the Margin.]   First, That they are Three Changes of the Supreme Government of the Romans, appears from their being every one represented by an Head of the Beast, which signifies a Rule of the Romans, Prop. 17. and from their being said to Reign one after another, v. 10, 11.  
For Heads or Horns of a Beast said to come one after another do all over Daniel signify the successive Changes of the Supreme Government of a Nation by Prop. 16.  
And Daniel is the only Example of the use of such Prophetical Schemes: wherefore by Rule the 2 d, they can signify nothing else here, but three successive Changes of the Sovereign Power of the Romans.  

b 
Thomas de Albiis Tabulae suffragiales, p. 247.  
And under the name of King itself, there are almost as many different sorts of Sovereign Power, as there are Kingdoms in the World; for there is not any Power of two different Kings that is altogether the same.   And next, That they do reign in an immediate successive Order, does appear from the Number of the Last, which is said to be the Eighth. Whereas, if there had been any more than Two betwixt the Five, that were then said to be passed, and this which is called the Eighth, this Last would have been more than an Eighth, according to the number of those that had come in betwixt the Five and the Last, besides those Two that are mentioned.  
This is further confirmed by the use of Numbers in Daniel, which denote the Succession of Ruling Powers. As in the four Kingdoms represented by the four Metals in the Statue, Ch. 2. and signified to succeed one another; every Kingdom does immediately succeed that before it. So also do the four Kingdoms in the 7th Chapter of Daniel follow one another in an immediate 
Chap. 15. lib. 2.  order. The Two Horns of the Ram in the 8th Chapter, one of which is said to come up after the other, are known to represent the immediate Succession of the Persian Government to that under the Median Kings. The fourth King of Persia after Cyrus in the 11th Chapter, v. 2. is known to be Xerxes in an immediate Succession from Cyrus.  
The Succession of the first King, and of the four after him, signified by the Horns of the He-Goat in the 8th Chapter, may indeed seem to be an exception to the rest, because the quadripartite Division of the Grecian Monarchy did not immediately succeed the Reign of Alexander.  
But then neither is there any number there used to denote an immediate Succession; There is no mention of a first, and a second King, but only of a first, and four Kings after him, which does not exclude the intervening of others betwixt them, as the name of a first, or second, would do.  
And yet, if it be well considered, The Quadripartite Division of the Grecian Monarchy was so much the immediate next form of the Supreme Rule of it to the Heirs of Alexander; that there was no other settled Division of that Monarchy that came in between them; and that one would esteem to be ground enough to call it the next immediate successive form of the Grecian Monarchy, when there was no other settled form betwixt the Reign of Alexander's Heirs, and the fourfold Division of the Empire.  
Again, The Beast is never without one of his Heads, even in the time of his Ten Horns to his last ruin, by Coral. 1. Prop. 6. Wherefore upon the falling of one of his Heads, the next in order must immediately arise, or else the Beast would be without an Head, and so without any life in it. For the Ten Horns, from whence alone it could be supposed to have any life besides, are all in the time of the Last Head, by Coral. 2. Prop. 6.  
But still further, it may easily be perceived, That the three last Kings are set down in order by the Angel, for no other end, but to show the time of the rise of the Eighth, called the Beast, and which is the only Subject-matter of all the Visions.  
To confirm this, it is plain, That there is none of the whole number of these Kings, but only the Eighth, who have any thing more mentioned of them, than barely the number, that they are known by, and the order in which they lie from that present time, when these things were spoken, to the time of the Reign of the Eighth. The Sixth is therefore only said to be the King, that was at that present time the Sovereign of the Romans, that it might be thereby known, how many Successions of the Ruling Power of that Monarchy there was to be from the time of the Vision to the Reign of the Beast. Now if the order of these Successions had not been immediate to one another, this number would really have signified nothing for that Design; but would on the contrary have been a most certain means of deluding men into a mistake upon very clear and warrantable grounds for it, especially since there is no intimation in the least to incline a man to understand it otherwise.  
Wherefore by Rule the first, it may be relied upon, that the Succession of the three last Kings of the Eighth in the 17th Chapter, was immediate.  
And so plainly does this appear to be intimated from the 
CONSENT.  Text, that it has the almost unanimous Consent of all the differing Parties of Interpreters. Bellarmin indeed has a very singular fancy in this point; he would have the Seven Heads, or Kings, to signify here all the Emperors, because the Number Seven is generally so used in the Revelations: Whereas nothing is more commonly known, than that when Seven, or Ten, are divided into broken numbers, as the number Seven is here into Five, One, another, etc. they are never used for a perfect number, or to signify All. And the mention of the Eighth, which was one of the Seven, does plainly assure them to be just Seven, and no more. What more remarkable Instance can we have, how extravagantly singular a man of good sense, in other respects, may be upon no manner of tolerable grounds for it?  
If the three last Kings do immediately succeed one another, than it is certain, that  The Eighth King is one of the first Six returned into Rule again. Corollary. 
For the Eighth King is one of the Seven that were passed before, returned into Rule again, Coral. Prop. 4. And it cannot be the Seventh, because the three last Kings; and therefore the Seventh and Eighth do immediately succeed one another, Prop. 18. so that if the Eighth were the Seventh, and with the Seventh King it would be but the Seventh continued in being, and therefore not an Eighth. The Eighth King must therefore be one of the Six that were passed before it.  
It cannot therefore now be doubted, but that  The Sixth King of the Eight in the 17th Chapter of the Revelations, 
Proposit. 19  was the Imperial Government of Rome at the time of the Vision. 
For the Sixth King is the Sixth Head of the Beast, Prop. 5. And an Head or Horn of a Beast does in Prophecy signify a form of Supreme Power in a Nation; And the continuance of that Form, under all the single Persons that reign in it, till it be changed by another, Prop. 16. Now there was no other Government over Rome, when the Sixth King is said to be in Rule there, but only that of the Roman Emperors. The Sixth King than must be the Government of the Roman Emperors till that was cut off by a Form of Government of another name. Observe. 4. Prop. 16.  
If it should be objected, That by the Sixth Head, or King, may be meant but one part of the Imperial Government, or those only that were of the same Line or Family, or of the same Country, or of the same Religion, or the like; It may be replied, that there is no warrant for any other signification of a new Successive Head, or Horn, in the same Jurisdiction, than that of a new name of the Governing Power. There were many other differences in the Successions of the several Kings of the Persian and Grecian Monarchies, viz. several Lines and Families, several different Countries, but yet they were all comprehended under one and the same Horn. The only plain Example that we have of the change of a single Horn in the same Beast, which is the same with the change of an Head, Observe. 3. Prop. 16. is that of the Two Horns of the Ram, Dan. 8. where all the difference betwixt the latter Horn and the first, is, that the Last was known by the name of the King of Persia, whereas the other was called the King of Media, in the same one Kingdom of the Medes and Persians.  
There is therefore no warrant for making the Sixth King any thing else, but the whole time of the Imperial Government, till it was changed for a Roman Government of another name.  
There is no kind of scruple to be made against this upon the account of the name of King, which is common to all the Eight Kings. For that is known to be very dubiously used in Scripture, but especially in Prophecy, to signify either a Kingdom, or a Government in a Nation of another kind than the Kingly Government. The most certain Example of it is this present use of the word King, where it must at least signify an Emperor, which is a Government of another denomination; and so different from that of Kings, that the Romans, which permitted the one, are said to have 
† Hieron. Balbus de Coronatione, c. 13. Julius Caesar, etc. Julius Caesar— who when he had engrossed the Dictatorian and Regal Power to himself, because he knew that the name of King was hated by the Romans, and even execrable to them; to decline the envy of it, instead of King, chose rather to be called Emperor.— When Mark Anthony the Consul offered him the Diadem, he cried out aloud, that he was Caesar, and not a King, and threw away the Diadem.  an hatred for the other.  
Grotius' Answer to this, is, That an Emperor had really the same power that a King had; But if that be sufficient to qualify a Supreme Power for the Name or Title of King, Then all the several different Rulers of the Roman State might as well have 
See References.  that name, and so be comprehended under the Five first Kings here mentioned. For the Consuls are said to have succeeded into all the Power and the Authority of the Kings that were before them; And all the other kinds of Government had the same Authority: And though there should be some small difference in the degree of their Authority, yet that is no more, than is to be found betwixt 
c Ribera in cap. 17. Apoc. v. 10. number. 15. But if any one should think it hard, and forced, that many Kings should be signified by the name of one King, and should think, that these seven are but seven single Kings; let him know in the first place, that all Expositors have understood, that in every one of these seven are comprehended a great many, and that never did any take them to be seven single persons only, but Victorinus, whose Opinion all do deservedly cry out against.— And then next, let him understand, that it is not unusual in Scripture, by one King to signify many of the like sort, and as it were of one and the same Body, which is especially to be observed. So in Daniel 8. The Ram with the two Horns, does signify all the Kings of Persia succeeding one another in order, and making as it were but one body, who are therefore accounted but as one King. So that in Jeremiah, chap. 25. And they shall serve the King of Babylon 70 years, which it is impossible to understand of one single King.  different sorts of Kings.  
As for the Plea, that the Name of a King denotes a single Person, almost 
d 
Ribera in cap. 1. Apocal. v. 3. number 5. citat.  
We may say, that which is begun, is now done, or doing. Wherefore since those things were shortly to begin, he might well say, the things which shall shortly be done, although they were not shortly to be ended. This is the common use of speech, and the use of Scripture.   all the Examples in Daniel of that name do show 
See References.  that it does signify a Succession of many single Persons in a Kingdom, Prop. 16. Part the Last. This Grotius takes no notice of, but thinks it argument sufficient against it to call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and quis unquam ita loquitur?  
To which Ribera does best answer on cap. 17. Apoc. pag. 528. That all Expositors have said so; and never any but Victorinus said otherwise.  
But in the 7th of Daniel, it is evident, That by the Four Beasts, called Four Kings, is meant four Kingdoms, and by the Fourth of these Kings, the Roman Commonwealth. For it is described in that state in which it conquered the Grecian Monarchy, which was in the state of its Commonwealth. And Deut. 33. 5. and Judges 9 16, 18. chap. 17. 6. ch. 18. 1. ch. 19 1. ch. 21. 25. the name of King is given to Moses, and the Judges of the Israelites.  
And further, That this Sixth King cannot be any single Ruler or Emperor, which is the chief thing pretended to by those who will not have it to be the Imperial Government, is most evident from this following Consideration; viz. That then the Eighth King, which is the Beast, would have been the next single Emperor but one after him. For the three Last Kings do immediately succeed one another by Prop. praeced. And then all the Characters and Attendants of the Beast must have been found verified of the next Emperor but one after the time of the Vision. For by Prop. the 6th, Corol. 2. Prop. 10. The Beast in all the Chapters of the Revelations, is one and the same particular state of it under one of its Heads. There must then have been Ten Kings, that had no Kingdom at the time of the Vision, who were yet such Masters of so many Kingdoms, in the time of the next Emperor but one to it, as that they should give their Kingdoms to that Emperor, Rev. 17. 12, 13.  
Rome must also have been so burnt with fire, that it must have been finally ruined, and have had all Sovereignty taken from it in the time of that Emperor, v. 16. But in History we meet with 
Prop. 3.  nothing like to this, much less is there any account from History of the overcoming of any Emperor of Rome by the Christians 
v. 14.  of those days, nor that any Ten Kings confederated with that Emperor, were conquered by them, nor of any such Emperor that was destroyed by the Armies of Christ; So that upon his 
Rev. 19 19, 20. Rev. 20. 4.  death there was any such glorious Reign of the Kingdom of Christ over the Kingdoms of this World, as is described immeately to succeed it.  
But History is very full of the accounts of the afflicted and persecuted state of the Christian Church in those times, which is quite contrary to that glorious Description of the state of the Church immediately after the times of the Beast in the Revelations.  
Besides, that it has been proved, that that Beast was to continue till the Second coming of Christ. Corol. 1. Prop. 12.  
This seems to have been well enough observed by those who would have the Beast in the 17th Chapter to signify a single Emperor: And therefore to evade those Confequences, they are 
Grotius.  forced to make two or three distinct states of the Beast in the Revelations, at the several mentions of him in chap. 13. chap. 17. chap. 19 But how evident it is that all the mentions of that Beast all over the Revelations, do signify but one and the same state of him under his last Head, may be seen by the whole process of the Demonstration of the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th Propositions.  
The Sixth King, or Head, must therefore necessarily be the Imperial Government of Rome.  
It is then unquestionable, That  The Beast called the Eighth King, is that change of Roman Government, 
Prop. 20.  which was next but one to the Imperial Government of Rome at the time of the Vision. 
For the Beast is the Eighth in immediate succession to the Sixth, which is the Imperial Government; Prop. 19 And it is The Beast under one of its Heads, which signifies Supreme Government under the Successive Reigns of many single Persons in that Government, Prop. 16. Therefore must the Beast be the next Roman Government but one to the Imperial, that Ruled at the time of the Vision.  
By the preceding Proposition it appears what Absurdities and Inconsistencies they must fall into, who would have the time of the Beast passed over almost as soon as it began. One would think, that there must be some great necessity that did force to these straits; But the chief thing that is alleged for it from this Prophecy, is, That at the beginning of it, it is said, That the things were shortly to come to pass, That the time was at hand: And again, at the end of it also, That they were things which must shortly be done; And that the Book should not be sealed, because the time was at hand. But these things have already been sufficiently considered, pag. 114. And there is nothing more familiar in Speech, than to say of things, that require a great deal of time for the finishing them, that they ᵈ will shortly be, instead of, They 
See References.  will shortly begin to be. As one might say at Easter, All the Summer's work will shortly be upon us; This Play will be acted presently, though it be five hours in acting: So about the Birth of Christ, All things foretold of the times of the Messiah will shortly come to pass. All the pretended necessity then, comes now to be none at all.  
Grotius could not have reflected more upon the Judgement of the most Eminent of the Roman Interpreters, than to think it to be so plain, that the time of the Beast was long since past, from such obvious grounds as these, and yet that this should never be found out by the most Judicious of them; For it would save them all that trouble that they have, to make it out that their present Church is not concerned in the Affairs of the Beast, in which there would be no difficulty, if it were so plain, that the time of the Beast is long since past: And besides, it would keep them from granting so much as they do, to the disadvantage of their Cause; whereas, in a concern of this nature, 'tis very unsafe to yield to any thing, but what is necessary to be granted; especially since what they do yield to, does force them to such contradictions to what they allow to be the known significations of a Beast, and its Heads or Horns, in other places, as we see in Ribera, etc. or to matter of fact, as shall be made to appear against Bellarmin (Prop. 22.) who has granted so far, as he has laid the whole stress of the Controversy betwixt us upon the truth of History.   

CHAP. III. 
Rev. XVII.   
The 21st Proposition, What an Head of the Beast is, in distinction to an Horn. This determined by Eleven Arguments. What demonstrates an Head to be at an end. The Sixth Head at an end, when another Government was owned at Rome in the place of it.  
TO take away all dispute that may arise about the distinguishing Characters of an Head of the Beast in the time of the last Head, when there is ten Kingdoms to appear in the Roman Empire at the same time, signified by the ten Horns; This following Proposition is to distinguish an Head from an Horn.  An Head of the Beast is that settled Sovereign Power of the Romans, 
Prop. 21.  whose Authority is owned to be Supreme by the Government of the City of Rome. 
1. That it must be a settled Sovereign Power, is confirmed from all the Examples of Daniel, where there are no Heads, or Horns to signify the Ruling Power of a Monarchy in the time of the unsettled Confusions of a Nation; As particularly the time of the Magis, in the Persian Monarchy, has nothing to distinguish it from the rest of it, nor the time of the Confused Scuffles of Alexander's Captains after his death. As may be seen in the 8th Chapter. Where there is no mention of any change of Horns after the first great one, till the rising of those four, which did signify the four settled Kingdoms of the Greek Empire. And next,  
2. That an Head of a Beast must be that Roman Power, whose Authority is owned to be Supreme by the Chief Government of the City of Rome, one would think were sufficiently evident by the Interpretation that the Angel himself has given of the signification of the seven Heads. For the same seven Heads, which he interprets 
1.  to be seven Kings of the Romans, do also signify the seven Hills of Rome, to which the City of Rome is inseparably tied; which does very plainly signify, that all the seven Kings are Kings of the seven Hills, or of that City, which those Hills do signify.  
What could be more closely joined together in a Prophetical Scheme, to show them to be inseparable Companions, than to make both Kings and City to be represented by the very same Figure? And therefore does it seem to be so very extravagant 
Ribera, etc.  an Opinion of some, to make the first five of these Heads to be perfect Strangers to the Romans, and their Affairs. Neither Bellarmin, nor Grotius himself, could have the confidence to assert this, though it would have served their purpose better than any of those other strange Suppositions, that they have advanced to answer their Adversaries.  
2. The whole time of the Roman Monarchy is set out by the Beast, and the seven Heads, by Prop. 15, and 16. And then the seven Heads being interpreted to signify the City of Rome, do plainly determine the City of Rome to be the Royal Seat of that Monarchy during the whole time of it. The Reign therefore of every Head must necessarily go along with the Authority of that City.  
3. No other Empire whatsoever in all the Figures of Daniel, is so set out by its chief City, as this of the Romans is. So that the addition of the seven Hills to this Beast, does more inseparably tie the Sovereign Authority of the Empire to this particular City, and seems to be added on purpose to express something about this Empire, which had been omitted in all others, viz. The constant conjunction of the Sovereign Power of this Empire with the Authority of this City of Rome.  
4. And it was necessary to do this, more than in the Figure of any other Monarchy, because there are two kinds of Sovereign Powers in this Monarchy at one and the same time, that is, Heads and Horns; To distinguish which, at least in the time of the last Head, there is no other mark in the Text, but only the Authority of the City of Rome for the Head.  
5. The Authority of the City of Rome can be no more separated from the Sovereign Power of that Empire, than the Beast can be separated from all its seven Heads.  
6. The flourishing and decaying condition also of the Roman Monarchy, is set out by the flourishing and decaying condition of the City of Rome all over the Book of the Revelations. In the time of the sixth Head, the whole Monarchy is described by the 
Chap. 17. 4, 18.  Reign of the City of Rome over the Kings of the Earth. In the time of the last Ruling Head, Rome is described in a Majestic Appearance to express the Power of the Roman Rule over Peoples, and Multitudes, and Nations, and Tongues: And the ruinous and desolate State of the City of Rome is afterwards made use of to 
Chap. 16. 19 Chap. 18.  signify the fall of that Empire, and the last end of all Roman Rule; All which is sufficient evidence, That the City of Rome goes constantly along with the chief Head of that State.  
7. The Fates of the chief City of any other Empire, that is mentioned by the Prophets, do generally signify the condition of the chief Head, or of the Sovereign Power that goes along with that City; And the end of any such Ruling Power, or Empire, is expressed to be at the loss of their Royal City. Thus is the flourishing and ruinous State of the Israelites set out by the like Characters of Samaria, that of Judah by Jerusalem, the rise and fall of the Babylonians by the glory or ruin of Babylon, etc. And therefore by Rule the 2 d. The Authority of the City of Rome must go along with every Head of the Roman Power, unless there were any thing clear against it, which is not pretended.  
8. But most especially must this be true of an Head of the Beast, at the time that Rome enjoyed the Ensigns and Badges of the chief Authority of the Empire; For that chief Authority is the distinguishing mark of an Head of the Beast.  
And therefore it is impossible, that in the division of the Roman Empire, either into Two Empires, or into Ten Kingdoms, that the Emperor of Constantinople should be an Head of the Beast, or of the Roman Monarchy, any longer than he was owned, and allowed either together with, or without another Partner, by the Senate and People of Rome, whilst they did retain their usual Authority. For as long as they continued in that Authority, let their State be never so much diminished in comparison with what they had been, yet they had all the qualifications that the Prophecy requires to be represented by an Head of the Beast. They were still the Ruling People of the 7 Hills, and the same continued Body with those that reigned in the most flourishing State of the City of Rome. 
a GRotius de jure B. & P. L. 2. c. 9 Art. 3. — Isocrates, and Julian after him, have said, that Cities are immortal; that is, They may be so, because the People are of that kind of Bodies, which are made up of distant Parts, and fall under one name, which has one Soul, or Spirit in it. And that Spirit in a People is a full and perfect Society of Civil Life, the first product of which is Government, the bond by which the Commonwealth holds together the Vital Spirit which so many thousands partake in. Now these Artificial Bodies are just like Natural Bodies. A Natural Body ceases not to be the same for the change of some of the Particles of it, while the Species continues the same. So a River is still the same, notwithstanding the continual succession of Waters in it;— so an outward accession may possibly add to, or take from the dignity of a People, but not make it another People.— And the way that a People ceases to be, is either by the ruin of the Body of it, when the Body of the People are lost by Earthquakes, etc. or Wars, or Pestilence; or by the destruction of the Species, or Soul of it; that is, of the Society of that People, either by Slavery, or by Subjection only to a new Authority. Artic. 4, 5, 6. Ibid. Artic. 8.  As Grotius determines concerning the continuance of the same body of People in the 
See References.  9th Chapter of his Second Book, de jure Belli, & Pacis. And therefore were they still the commanding Authority of the Roman Empire.  
9 This is very learnedly confirmed by 
b 
Thus were the People of Rome the same under Kings, Consuls and Emperors; And Artic. 11. are the same at this day, because they still retain that Society in Civil Government which they had formerly; and therefore the Imperial Power did always reside in them, as in the Body in which it lived. For whatever the People of Rome could have formerly done of right before the time of the Emperors, the same had they power to do upon the death of any Emperor, before there was another chosen. The Election of the Emperors did also belong to the People of the City of Rome, and was oftentimes performed by the People, either alone, or by the Senate for them; And those Elections, which were made by first one, and then another Legion of the Army, were not valid by the right of those Legions (for in a flitting Body there could be no certain right) but from the approbation of the People.  
It is no Objection against this, that by the Decree of Antoninus, all the Subjects of the Roman Empire were made Citizens of Rome. For the rest of the Roman Subjects got nothing more by that Decree, than what the Colonies, and free Cities of the Empire, and the Roman Provinces used to have, which was to be partakers of the Roman Honours, and to have the privileges of Quirites; not that the Seat and Fountain of Government should be in other parts of the Empire, as it was at Rome. For that was not in the power of the Emperor to give, who could not change the Fundamental Laws for the exercise of the Governing Power.  
Nor was it any diminution of the Right of the People of Rome, that the Emperors chose rather to live at Constantinople afterwards, than at Rome. For then also did the whole People of Rome confirm and make valid the Election, which was made by a part of them at Constantinople, who for that are called the Byzantine Quirites, by Claudian; And those of Rome did still preserve the Prerogative of their City, and the honour of the precedence of their Consul, which was no small Monument of their Original Right. Wherefore all the Right which those of Constantinople had to choose the Roman Emperor, did depend upon the Will of the People of Rome.  
To this purpose is that of Hieron. Balbus de Conventione, c. 13.— But sometimes the Emperor was chosen by the Army— who was then accounted rightly chosen, if the Authority of the Senate, and People of Rome did confirm it.  
Ludovic. â Rebeuberg. a Caesarian Writer, cap. 3. de juribus Reg. & Imp. Romanor. Charlemaign never called himself Emperor before he was anointed and crowned by Pope Leo— The Romans with one Consent did give the Imperial Acclamations to Charlemaign; And when he was crowned by Pope Leo, they called him Caesar, and Augustus— M. Fribeius, in the Comment— In which way of Acclamation, says he, the popular Election, both at Rome and Constantinople, did at that time consist. As Paulus Diaconus in Histor. Miscella. & Anastas. Bibliothecarius, do testify.   Grotius himself in that same Chapter, and the Comment on it; where he shows as a Lawyer, That it was always acknowledged to be the right of the Senate, and People of Rome, to determine the next Succession to the Government of the Roman Empire in the time of every vacancy; That therefore all Elections of Princes and Laws were to be confirmed by them. So that the Constantinopolitan Emperors were generally so confirmed, and their Laws ratified by the Authority of the City of Rome; And to give authority to their Government, they had one of the Consuls, and a part of the Senate of Rome generally residing with them, as delegated from that City, to give authority to their Orders, as long as there was a good correspondence betwixt the Eastern and Western Empires; And to show which of the Seats of the Empire was the chief Fountain of the Roman Power, the Consul of the City of Rome always had the precedence. So that as long as the Power of the Roman Senate and Consuls did continue at Rome, which was till the Conquest of Rome by Justinian, the Sovereign Power of that City must come in for a share at least in the then Ruling Head of the Beast, which is all that is necessary to be here established.  
10. And the way to make any man a Roman, in distinction to others that were Subjects of that Empire, was to make him a Citizen of Rome; which did manifestly show, that no Power could be properly said to be the Head of the Roman Empire, that was without any Authority from the City of Rome.  
11. The City of Rome had also a very peculiar acknowledgement from the whole Government of the Empire, that it was the Head and Fountain of all the Power of the Roman Empire; and in a more eminent way, than we read of any other City besides. For all the Governors of the Provinces, at their return from their Office, used to lay down the Ensigns of their Authority at the Gates of the City of Rome, before they entered the Town, in acknowledgement of the first Fountain of their Magistracy: which they did therefore thus signify to be resigned up into her hands, when they returned home again. L. ult. de Officio Procons.  
12. Besides, That during the whole time of the division of the Empire, to the Reign of 
c 
Cod. Justinian. Praefat. Consuetudo Romanae Urbis sequenda ab omnibus, quia Roma est Caput Orbis Terrarum. To this purpose do the Eastern Emperors before give the precedence to the City of Rome.  
So all over Cassiodorus' Varior. p. 41, 112, 207, 302, 311, 319, 341, 348, 359, 361, 390, 396. Rome has the name of the Head of the World; with such Characters as these — in that City, where Honour does always reside— in the most sacred City— none can be greater, than he to whose care Rome is committed— not only Rome, though in it are contained all things— whatsoever is done in that City, is almost in the eyes of the whole World— If the Head of the World rejoices, all the rest must do the same— not in the Provinces, but in the Head of all things. And this was just before the Reign of Justinian.   Justinian at least, the City of Rome, though no longer the Seat of the Empire, was called, and accounted the Metropolis of it; and therefore was it for all that time called The Head of the World, the Head of all things: Wherefore by the Head of the Roman Empire (that is by any Head of the Beast in distinction from an Horn) all would then have understood, That Authority, which was owned for Supreme by the Senate and People of Rome; And it has been concluded that the Angel did so explain his Figures, as all the World would understand the literal sense of them to be, if there were nothing clearer against it, Chap. 2.  
It does therefore necessarily follow from hence,  That every Head of the Beast is at the end of its Reign, when the Authority Corollar. 1 of the City of Rome does own another settled form of Government for Supreme in the room of it. 
For then there is a new Head of the Beast constituted by Prop. preced. And this shows us the necessity of the following Consequence; That  The sixth Head was at an end when the City of Rome owned another Corollar. 2 settled Authority in the room of that Imperial Government, which had continued from the time of the Vision. 
1. For every Head of a Beast is at an end, when another differing form of settled Government is owned for Supreme by the City of Rome, by Corol 1. praeced.— And therefore must the sixth Head end with the end of that form of Imperial Government, which had continued from the time of the Vision. For the sixth Head is that form of Imperial Government, by Proposition 19  
2. Again, The sixth Head, and the Reign of the City of Rome, are by the Angel declared to be the same Roman Rule that was in being at the time of the Vision; For of both it is said, 
Rev. 17. 9, 10. 18.  that they were then in Rule, and joined with the seven Hills in their Reign. And that Head was the Imperial Government at that time, by Prop. 19  
Wherefore, whenever that Imperial Power should be so cut off from the City of Rome, that another settled Form of Government should be owned in the stead of it by the Authority of that City, who would not assure himself, That the Imperial Rule, which had continued the Head of that City from the time of the Vision, and which was said by the Angel to be the same Ruling Power with which the City of Rome is described at that same time, must necessarily have then been at an end? It may therefore assuredly be concluded, that that sixth Head was at an end, at the time that another different Form of Government was owned in the stead of it at Rome.  
This last Conclusion does invite one's curiosity to inquire from the Roman History, whether the Imperial Government were ever changed, or interrupted by any other settled Form of Government since the time of the Prophecy. For since the next Form of Government to the Imperial, or sixth King, is said should continue but a short space; and that then should arise that King, 
Rev. 17. 10, 11.  or Government, called the Beast, which is the end of all our search, one may easily see, that the discovery of a Change in the Imperial Government will determine the time of the Rise of the Beast, which is the next Form of Roman Government but one to the Imperial, that was in Rule at the time of the Vision.  
And the following Account have we from the Roman History of all the considerable Changes of the Form of the Chief Government from the time of the Revelations.   

CHAP. IU. 
Rev. XVII.   
An Account of the several changes of the form of the Government of Rome, from the time of the Vision. The two Emperors were joynt-partners in the Government of the whole Empire, like the two Consuls. The 22 d Proposition, the sixth Head was at latest at an end upon the Fall of the Western Empire in Augustulus. The Barbarous Kings of Italy, The Absolute Masters of Rome. Objections Answered.  
THE Imperial Power continued the same from the time of the mention of it in this Prophecy under the name of the King, that was then in Rule, till about the year 160 after Christ, When Marcus Aurelius made Aelius Verus a sharer with him in the Imperial Power under the name of Augustus, whereas there had never been before seen two Emperors with the names of Augustus at the same time. And this was taken notice of for so new a face of the Government, that some dated their Fasti 
Spartian in Vero. Eutrop. 8.  Consulares from thence, as a new Epocha of time.  
This way of taking others into the Society of the Empire with them, was followed by other Emperors afterwards; as Severus with his Son Caracalla; Caracalla and his Brother Geta, the Gordianis: And in their time was there another Government set up, at Rome itself, called, the Twenty Men, who were chosen by the Senate to Administer the Affairs of the whole Commonwealth; and Ambassadors were sent to all the Provinces of the Empire to contain them under the obedience of the Senate. But this continued but a short time, and gave way to the exaltation of Balbinus and Papienus to the Imperial dignity, by the choice of those Twenty Men themselves; and with the Interruption of some single Emperors after them, The same Social Form of Empire returned again in Valerian, with his Son Gallien. And there were afterwards sometimes three, and sometimes four Augustus' together; which seems to be much like the change of a Dictator into two Consuls: And the Dictator's and Consul's are accounted two of the five Heads, or forms of Government, which were said to be passed at the time of the Vision.  
Another change was there in the Imperial Government, When the Emperors became Christians, and when the Laws of the Empire were made to conform to the Christian Religion. This seems to some to be a change of the Government much more remarkable than any Political change, and to deserve to be one of the two forms of Government that we are in quest of; And besides, it seems to be plainly described in the 12th Chap. of the Revelations, as a very considerable change of the Government of the Empire under the show of the Fall of the Dragon, upon which the Beast ascends into the Throne presently after in the 13th Chapter.  
The change of Religion again by Julian the Apostate, does thereupon seem to put in for a title to another form; And though the time of his Reign was very short, yet it was as long as that of the Decemvirs, who are determined by most of the approved Interpreters, to be one of the Five Heads that were passed at the time of the Vision.  
Besides, That his Reign was just almost the very same length of time, that the Beast is said to Reign, That is, Three years and an half.  
The division of the Empire into the Western and Eastern seats, especially when it came to be settled by Theodosius, seems to have a very fair claim to the title of a new Head, or Change of the Imperial Government; And like to the succession of the Consuls to the Kingly Government of Rome, which are made two of the five forms of Roman Government, that were passed at the time of the Vision.  
If it be said that these Emperors were rather two Heads, than one, like the representation of two of the four Kingdoms in the Grecian Monarchy, by two distinct Horns succeeding to 
Dan. 8.  the first; It may be answered, That according to the account of all Historians, Tho' they seemed to have a divided Empire, yet they acted in almost all the public affairs, as but 
a BEllarmin de Translat. Imperii Occident. l. 1. c. 4. — Erat tamen, etc. But so common to them both was the whole Administration of the Empire (that is, to both the Western and Eastern Emperor) that the Laws were made for the whole Empire, by the Authority, and in the name of both the Emperors. And if one of them died without Children, the Government of the whole Empire fell to the other.  One Government of the whole Empire; They had both their Authority confirmed at Rome, they owned the same Laws, and joined together in the making of them; The Laws bear the names of both the Emperors; And no Laws could be made but by the consent of both the Princes: And if either of them died without Children, the other succeeded him in that part of the Empire.  
The supreme Authority of Rome was divided betwixt them; part of the Roman Senate did always sit at Constantinople; one of the Consuls did ordinarily belong to that City. There was indeed a promiscuous use of this right of choosing the Consuls betwixt the Two Imperial Seats, as Onuphrius Panurinus does show, Lib. Faster, pag. 290. sometimes both the Consuls were made at Rome, sometimes both at Constantinople, sometimes none at all; sometimes one in the East, another in the West: So that as 
b Panciroll. notit. Imp. Occident. p. 1.— But yet both the Princes (of 
See Onuph. Panvi. Faster. p. 61. and p. 290. where he gives a Chronicle of the Eastern and Western Consuls.  the East, and West) did always administer the Affairs of the Empire by a joint consent; They made the Laws together, they governed the Army by consent, and chose the Consuls, one of which resided at Rome, and the other at Constantinople; so that they seemed to be two halves of the Empire joined together.  Pancirollus does very properly express it, They seemed to be Two half Empires joined together.  
And accordingly in the Notitia Imperii, which was the Imperial standard of all the Dignities and Offices of the Empire both Civil and Military; and was in use in the time of this division of the Empire; The Military Ensigns, and the Arms of the chief Dignities are there described, as representing the perfect Unity of the Two Emperors in their design of Governing the whole World. All the greater Civil-Magistrates, as the Praefects, 
Pancirol. Not it. Imp. Orient. pag. 40.  Consuls, Proconsul's, Vicarii, etc. had always the Two Emperors Heads raised upon gilded Pedestals, and carried before them, as the Ensigns of their Authority.  
Pancirollus admires That of the Correctors of Apulia, and Calabria, as the most expressive of the intent of all the rest. Notit. dignitat. Occident. p. 87. And that of the Precedent of Dalmatia was much the same, pag. 91. ibid. It was Two Princes upon the top of a gilded Pillar, with their backs to one another; but so close joined together, that they ended in one common Body. And of all the public Ensigns of Authority, he says, pag. 46. Notit. Orient. That the Heads, or Faces of the Princes, was the chiefest.  
3. The Military Dignities had the same Figure of the Prince's Heads conjoined, Engraven on a Gilded Plate on the backside of a Book. And 
c Panciroll. Notit. Imp. Orient. p. 56. de M. militum praesentali.— The Badges of the Authority of this Dignity was, a Book upon a Chest, covered with white Tapestry— In the middle of it is a golden Plate, with the two gilt Faces of the Princes engraven in it.  every Legion had the same drawn together with the Eagle in their Banners, besides the distinguishing Figure of the Legion. The distinguishing Ensigns 
d 
Panciroll. notit. Imper. Orient, p. 59 de Legionibus— Every Legion consisted of ten Companies, the first of which was called Milliaria— This had the charge of the Eagle (which was the chief Ensign in the Army) and the Faces of the two Princes. And pag. 46. Every Legion had the Prince's Heads, with the Eagle, and they adored them upon the top of the Colours,— The first Company pay their veneration to the Images of the Emperors; that is, to a Divine Representation of Authority, and present at hand.  
And Vegetius de re Militari— In the second Rank, after the Eagle, and the Images, stands the 6th Troop — And adds— The Imaginiferi are those that carry the Emperor's Images.  
Panciroll. Notit. Imper. Orient. à cap. 50. usque ad cap. 60.  
Idem Notit. Imper. Occident. à cap. 20. ad cap. 28.  
Panciroll. Notit. Imper. Oriental. cap. 39 pag. 70. Defensores. The Old Coin, that has two Serpents joined by the Tails, is a Type of the one common Power of the two Consuls in both their Authorities.  
The Inscription is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The twofold Rule of the two Consuls.  
Prattica dalle Medaglie di Carlo Patino, pag. 150. The Romans used to comprehend their History in two or three words; as may be seen in these following Examples of Medals, Amor mutuus Augustorum, etc. and p. 161. among the Abbreviations of the Inscriptions of Medals, this is one, Augg. which is interpreted to be, Augusti duo.   of every particular Legion had also generally the same signification; and that was shown most commonly by two circles of different colours 
Pancirol. Notit. dignitat. l. 1. 252. c. 2. p. 35.  Rounding a Ball, which Augustus first ordered to signify the Rule of the World by the Romans; sometimes by Two half Circles conjoined, and yet distinguished; sometimes by a Circle or Ball, girt about with two different wreaths; sometimes by two half Snakes rising from a Basis, and meeting with their Heads in a Circle; Or by two half Horses, or Hawks, or Horns enclosing a Ball, or some round figure; sometimes by Halfmoons, etc. And the Sagittarii had this plainly expressed in theirs by a Cirlce about a Globe, and Two Eagles on each side of it, and the Two Emperors above it. The Mattiaci also by a White Globe encircled with two Rounds, Red and White, and above it the Faces of the Two Emperors: And much the same have the Tertia Dioclesiana Thebaeorum. Others that are more uncertain I will not mention. And these seemed all to be done in imitation of the impress of the old Coins, made to signify the Two Consuls Governing the one Roman State, which was represented by Two Serpents joined by their Tails, with this Inscription, 
e Baronius, Anno 472. Odoacer made a Law, which he proclaimed by his Praefect Basilius, in a full Assembly of the Bishops in the Vatican, That after the decease of Simplicius (than Bishop of Rome) to avoid all disturbance in the City, and prejudice to the Church, none should be chosen without his knowledge. See also Petavius, Rationar. Temp. part. 1. lib. 7. cap. 3.  The doubled strength of the Two Consuls. The Coins also of the Empire, in the time of this division, had both the Emperor's Heads, with this Inscription, The mutual love of the two Augusti.  
And whatever was there more like to the Consuls of Rome, which are said to be one of the five Heads, that were passed at the date of the Prophecy, than these two Emperors?  
After this came the Western Empire to be cut off by the Barbarous Nations. Odoacer, who cut off the last Emperor Augustulus, Reigned with his Heruli Sixteen years in his stead; and how much he deserved to be accounted a new Head of Rome, may appear by the power he had there to have a Law made, 
f Petavius, Rationar. Temp. l. 7. c. 3.— To prevent which (that is, the Commotions in the City about the Election of Laurentius, and Symmachus, upon the death of Pope Anastasius) the whole Controversy was remitted to the determination of King Theodoric, according to the Law made in that Case by Odoacer. And he pronounced Symmachus Pope. And many Synods were about that Affair in the year 501, and some years after.  That no Election of the Bishop of Rome should be valid, except it were confirmed by the King. And also, That in a Controversial Choice, The King should determine which of the Elected should stand. This Law continued also under 
g 
Hieron. Rubens. Histor. Raven. p. 131, 132. The year after was there another Council called by the Command of King Theodorick, from Ravenna.— The French Bishops mention their being called to Rome by his Command. And Pope Symmachus gives the King thanks, that he called the Council to meet at Rome.  
See Tom. 2. Concil. de Synodis Romae sub Symmacho. — Theodoric does there show the Letters of Symmachus himself to request him to call the Fourth Synod.   Theodorick, who succeeded Odoacer, together with his Goths; and Theodorick was in the exercise of it till the year 502. 
h 
Pompon. Laetus of Odoacer.— The Romans at his first entrance into the City, salute him King of Rome and Italy, and lead him to the Capitol with all the highest Honours. To the same purpose Blondus. Decad. l. 3. pag. 31.  
In decretal. distinct. 69. Odoacer is called by Pope Symmachus, the Most Excellent King of the Romans.   And by his Authority were there frequent Synods of the Orthodox called at Rome, till some years after the year 501, though he himself was an Arrian; which shows how absolute he was amongst them. And of the 
i 
De Translat. Romani Imper. in Germanos. Tit. Quâ ratione facta est Imperii translatio— The Roman Power was transferred upon Odoacer first by the Army, or by the submission of the Roman Legions to him. 2. By the Nobility, and Senate of Rome. 3. By the Right of Conquest. 4. By the Renunciation of Augustulus. 5. By the Consent of all Rome, and Italy, declared in the Capitol, as they used to acknowledge their Lawful Emperors.  
Blondus, Decad. l. 3. p. 37. He there shows— How Theodoric was received at Rome by the agreeing Consent, and Applauses, and Acclamations of the Pope, the Senate, and People of Rome; And that he left Rome to its own Government by the Senate; but yet so as that his Praefect did preside over them.  
Bellarm. l. 1. de Translat. Imper. Rom. in Germanos, cap 9 says, that Theodoric enjoyed the Empire of all Italy.  
The style of Theodoric's Letters-Pattents represent him  as the Absolute Sovereign of the Romans, as much as ever the Emperors had been before him. In his Letter to the Senate of Rome, upon his Coronation Oath, Lib 10. Variar. Cassiodori— Our Goodness must be a very commanding thing, when we are overcome by our own Will, who are not bound to answer to any one else— because we own th●se things to God only, and not to Man; Epistola 17. So also in the next Letter to the People of Rome— consider, How much kindness is intended you, when he swears to you, who cannot be compelled. And speaking of the Office of Praefect of the City of Rome, Epist. 4. lib. 6. says of himself in comparison with those Praefects— Hâc sold ratione, etc. In this only are we different from them, that we cannot be subject to any one else, who have none to judge us, or, to call us to account.  
Sigonias says of him, lib. 16. the Occident. Imper. That Theodoric set up a Kingdom in the West, every way most like the old Empire there.   splendid receptions of both Odoacer, and Theodorick, at Rome, by the Pope, the Senate, and the People of Rome, and of the applauses and submissions that were shown them in acknowledgement of their Sovereignty, There are sufficiene Testimonies from the best approved Historians of those times; And the time of the Reign of these Barbarous Kings over Rome, was near 70 years.  
The Lieutenants of Justinian, Bellisarius, and Nurses, subdued those Kings of Italy; And thereby Justinian, who was but the Emperor of Constantinople, and which had been divided from the Authority of Rome for so many years, comes to be restored to the Royal Seat of the Empire at Rome, which was another Change of the chief Government of that place: And thus it continued under the Command of the Exarches of the Greek Emperors for near Two hundred years.  
The Lombard's, and the Franks, and the Pope together, seem to make another Change of the Sovereign Power of Rome, by the ruin of the Greek Emperors interests in Italy; But though the Lombard's seemed to be the next Masters of that Jurisdiction, yet they never could succeed in their attempts to make themselves Masters of Rome: For they were checked in it, by the Power of the Franks, under Pepin and Charlemagne.  
But then upon a Confederacy betwixt the Pope and those Kings of the Franks, Rome was left wholly free to itself, and Charlemagne was made Emperor of the Romans; and from him the Title continued to this day in the French and Germane Line, with some small intervals of vacancies.  
Who would make any question, whether here be not variety of Changes enough to make one conclude, That the Imperial Government, which was the Ruling Head in St. John's time; must have been long since at an end?  
One would indeed be more apt to judge from hence, That there hath been not only a Change of the Sixth Head since that time; but also four or five Heads besides in succession to one another. But since we are already assured, That the next Change but one to the Imperial Sixth Head, was to be the Beast, (Prop. 20.) And that the Beast was to continue from his first rise under that Head, to the last coming of Christ in Glory, (by Prop. 6. and Corol. 1. Prop. 12.) It is manifest, that there can be but Two of these several Changes of Government, that can be Heads of the Beast; the latter of which must continue to the second coming of Christ.  
Wherefore to be able to know from the account of these Changes of the Roman Government, whether we are now in the times of the Beast, which is our chief concern; It is now to be enquired, Whether it can be assured from thence, that the Sixth Imperial Head has been at an end, since the time of the Vision.  
Now leaving all the rest of the Changes to the particular defenders of them, one may upon most undoubted grounds for it resolve himself, That  At the ruin of the Western Empire by Odoacer, and the Gothish 
Proposit. 22.  Kings of Italy, The Sixth Head was at latest at an End. 
For the Sixth Head was to be at an end, when another settled Government should be owned at Rome instead of the Imperial Government (by Coral. 2. Prop. 22.)▪  
And at the ruin of the Western Empire by those Kings, their Authority was 
k Cassiodor. Variar. Lib. 5. Epist. 3. de Praefecturâ Praetorianâ.— No Dignity is equal in power to it.— And although other Dignities have their set bounds, yet under that jurisdiction does almost every thing come that is done in our whole Empire. — And in the Comment there by Brossius. — Ammianus Marcellimus, lib. 21. affirms, That the Praefectura Praetoriana is much above all other Dignities, as Valentinian, Valens, and Gratian, have decreed, l. 1. c. de Officio Vicarii. And that with good reason; For the Praetorian Praefecture was a kind of Sovereignty of Command, but without the Purple; and that was the distinction betwixt the Sovereign, and the Praefectus Praetorio, that he had not the sacred Purple, nor the Imperial Badge of Authority.  owned for supreme at Rome; as has been already made appear, from the public reception of those Conquerors at Rome, by the whole Authority of that City, the Pope, the Senate, and People of Rome, and their acclamations to them under the name of the King of Rome: And what other Authority does Bellarmin himself make necessary for such an end, 
Bellarm. de Translat. Imp. Occid.  but that of the Pope?  
And the Exercise of this Power is manifest from the whole Book of Cassiodorus Variarum, who was the Chancellor and chief Minister of State to two or three of the Gothish Kings; For that whole Book is nothing but the several forms of the Letters Patents, as one may say, of the Gothish Kings for all the great Offices of the Roman Government, such as those of Consul, Praefectus Praetorio, etc. Perfect of the City, etc.  
And the Office of the 
l Cassiodor. Variar. l. 1. Epist. 4. l. 11. Ep. 1. 8, 10. l. 12. Ep. 3. 56.  Praefectus praetorio was immediately depending upon the supreme Imperial Power, and Commanding all under him with an Imperial Authority.  
But the most assured evidence of it is the Commands that we find from the Gothish Kings to the Senate, by the same name 
m 
Cuspinian in Sextum Rufum, p. 8. De Imperatoribus.  
Appian writes in the Proem of his History, That Emperor was the name of the Generals of Armies of old; From whence he that Governed the Commonwealth at his own pleasure like a King, was called an Emperor. And they took that name upon them, because the name of Emperor was more acceptable at Rome, than any other Title, which had a show of Absolute Government.— And Julius Caesar, as Dion says, did take the name of Emperor upon him, as omnium Rerum Dominus, from whom the Emperors after him took the name.  
Thus were the Gothish Kings really Emperors of Rome under the name of Kings; They had the same Power, and differed only in Name.   of Rerum Dominus, 
n Cassiodor Variar. Lib. 1. Epist. 29, 31, 32, 33, 44. Lib. 4. Ep. 45, etc.  that the Emperors had in distinction from all other Sovereigns, and in such terms as these, By these 
o 
Cassiodor. Variar. Lib. 8. Ep. 2, 3, 4. Lib. 10. Ep. 18. Lib. 11. Ep. 1. pag. 658.  
Cassiodor. Lib. 8. Epist. 24. Clero Ecclesiae Romanae Athalaricus Rex. We decree by our Authority at this present, That if any one has an Action against any belonging to the Roman Clergy, That he Cite him to the Court of the Most Blessed Pope.— And if the Plaintiff has not right done him there, than he may go to the Secular Courts.   presents we do ordain, By our Proclamation we do enjoin, And know ye— lest any one incur the severity of our displeasure. Give ye your Suffrages according to our Command; And know ye that we have given our special Order: But Especially, ⁿ when we see them minding the Senate and People of Rome, that not only by the general consent of all Goths and Romans, THEY were chosen their Kings and Governors, but that also they had taken an Oath of Allegiance to them; And if there should be any scruple of a Superior Authority in the Pope at that time, We find an Ordinance of the Kings, That ᵒ Clergymen should indeed go first to the Bishops-Court; But if they apprehended themselves not righted there, they should from thence appeal to the Civil Courts of Judicature, which shows which of the Courts was then accounted the Superior Jurisdiction, even amongst the Clergy themselves; And this will not be much wondered at, as any strange thing, when it appeaas, That those Kings made Edicts to Regulate the Ordinations 
p 
Cassiodor. Variar. Lib 8. Epist. 15. King Athalaricus to the Senate of Rome concerning their Agreement in the choice of that Pope, which his Father had named to them after the Imprisonment of Pope John by him, He calls it, their Obeying his Command in it.  
Idem, Lib. 9 Epist. 15. To Pope John.   of the Popes themselves, and directed them to the Popes in such terms as these to publish, May your Holiness know that we have at present decreed,— which we will have to extend to all Patriarches and Metropolitans— And in the substance of the Edict; We allow no voice to any Clergyman, that shall be found to have been bribed for it. And then commands that a former decree of the Senate about it, be observed— And with the desire of the Bishop's Prayers, bids him take care to observe his Edicts; and commands him to intimate this to the Senate and People, by the Praefect of the City, and to make it known himself to all the Bishops under him; And to intimate a thing, was the Law-term, to signify the making a public Act of it. Panciroll. notit. Imp. Orient. p. 33.  

q Anastasius Bibliothecarius records this of Pope John the first, in the time of Theordoric; and of Pope Agapetus in the time of Theodahat.  It was also an ordinary thing, for the Gothish Kings to send the Popes in Embassy to the Greek Emperors.  
If now it be replied, That the Imperial Government was still in being in the Constantinopolitan Emperor, because he had a part of the Senate of Rome, and one of the Consuls with him, which was the Supreme Authority of that City:  
The utmost that can be pretended from that, is, That that Greek Emperor had as much Roman Authority on his side after the fall of the Western Empire, as he had before it; but that being only one share of the Authority of Rome, It is plain, That those Kings, who had the real Sovereignty of the City of Rome, must at least be the other part of the supreme Government of it; And of the two, they must unquestionably be the most 
r Bellarmin, in his 9th Chapter, De Translatione Imp. Rom. Lib. 1. does show that Odoacer was King of Rome and Italy, against the Emperors will, and so had no dependence upon him; and that Theodoric after him was made King of Rome and Italy, by the consent of Zeno, as one Emperor did usually create another; so that these Kings must unquestionably be qualified to be the Sovereigns of Rome, both for their independence on any other, and their possession of it by the same way that the Western Emperors used to have it.  properly the Sovereign Authority of Rome, which is the qualification of an Head of the Beast (Prop 21.)  
This made Theodorick deal so harshly with Pope John, for Crowning the Emperor Justin Roman Emperor at Constantinople; 
Petau. l. 7. c. 3. Part 1.  For that did show that it was then generally thought, that the conferring that Honour by the chief Minister of Rome, was the giving him a Title to the Command of the Authority of Rome.  
In short, one need but consider who was the Head of the Roman Empire before the fall of the Western Empire, to determine, whether that Head were changed or no by that fall. It is certain, that if it were but one of the Imperial Thrones that was then the Head of it, it must be the Western who had the chief Imperial Seat in his power, and then the Kings that succeeded him, must be a new Head; but if they were both together the Roman Head, as is most likely, then at the fall of the Western Power, and the succession of a new Regal Government in the stead of it; the whole Government of the State must be acknowledged to have been changed, and a new Head set up in the room of it.  
Wherefore instead of the whole Imperial Government in the Eastern and Western parts of the Empire, by this new conquest of Rome, There is a Succession of Kingly Government in the Western part, to share with the Imperial in the East: And of the Two, the Authority of the Kings must be acknowledged to be the most considerable part of the Head of Rome. But that the Imperial Government of Rome was then changed into another Form than what appeared before that conquest, is no ways to be questioned.  
There must therefore necessarily be thereupon the appearance of a New Head; But whether it were the mixed form of Imperial and Kingly Government together, that made that Head, or the Kingly Government alone, need not yet be determined.  
It cannot be here Objected, That the Gothish Kings could not be any part of a Roman Head upon the account of their being quite another Nation distinct from the Romans, and therefore not possible to be any part of the same Beast by which the Roman Empire is represented; and that there was then no other Head of the Romans at their Conquest, but the Imperial Head at Constantinople, which continued the same for all the time of the Reign of those Barbarous Kings of Italy; and so was never put an end to by them.  
For it is well known, That those Barbarous Nations were taken into 
s 
Grot. in cap. 17. Apoc. v. 12.— The Goths were the first that were made the Confederates of the Roman Empire, as Procopius shows, Gothic. l. 4. And that before the time of Maximinus, as we learn out of Jornandes.  
To the same purpose Onuphrius Panuvinus, Lib. Faster. pag. 307.— The Romans a little before (that is before the time of Augustulus) had taken the Scythians, alan's, and Gothish people into Society with them— The Dignity of the Roman Princes was so diminished about that time, That they were even forced by these Strangers, against their will, under the decent Name of Associates and Confederates, to let them share all the Italic parts of the Empire with them.  
Grot. de jure Belli & pacis, Lib. 2. c. 9 Art. 11. By the Decree of Antoninus, All within the bounds of the Roman Empire were made Citizens 
N. B.  of Rome.  
Petavius shows out of Idatus, That in the year 38. The whole Nation of the Goths were taken into Society with the Romans, and had Lands assigned them. Petau. Rationar. Temp. Lib. 6. c. 8.   the Society of the Romans, and had Kingdoms and Territories assigned them within the bounds of the Empire, long before this last Conquest of Italy, at the subversion of the Western Empire.  
By the Decree of Antoninus, all that were within the bounds of the Roman Empire were made Citizens of Rome, as Grotius observes, c. 9 l. 2. de jure B. & P. And all over Cassiodorus Variar. 
t 
So also all over Cassiodorus' Variar. The Gothish Kings style themselves Roman Princes.  
Cassiodor. Variar. Lib. 3. Ep. 16. 18. Lib. 11. Ep. 1, 2. pag. 658, 659, 669.   the Gothish Kings style themselves Roman Princes, and their Kingdoms Roman Empires: And Theodoric, who was the first of them, had this Commission from the Roman Emperor Zeno, and the Senate, as may be seen in pag. 284, 285.  
Jornandes affirms, that the alliance betwixt the Romans and 
Petavius in Theodor.  Goths began in the time of Maximinus; but it is certain, that in the time of Theodosius there was a very formal agreement betwixt them; The whole Nation of the Goths delivered themselves up into the hands of the Romans, and they had Lands of the Empire assigned them for their habitation, and so were Members of the Roman State. And such real Members were they of it in the time of Theodorick, that he was 
u 
Jornandes de Reb. Geticis, Sect. 86. Zeno Adopts Theodorit for his Son— And he was made one of the Yearly Consuls, which is the highest Office, and the greatest Honour in the World.  
Cassiodori Chronicon. p. ult. D. N. Eutharicus Cillica & Justinus Aug. Caes.   made Consul of the Empire by Zeno; and Eutharicus his Son in Law after him.  
But that which gives the best satisfaction in this case, is, that the Goths of Italy must be either an Head, or an Horn of the Roman Beast, according to the interpretation of all Protestants, who make the Ten Horns to be the division of the Roman Empire amongst the Barbarous Nations; and then since the Kingdom of the Goths in Italy had the City of Rome for its share, it was much better qualified to be an Head, than an Horn (by Propos. 21.)  
The continuance of the Imperial Roman Government at Constantinople could not hinder the change of that Head, when there was a new face of Government at Rome: For besides that it has been demonstrated, that the essential Character of an Head of the Beast, is the Government owned at Rome (by Prop. 21.) It appears also by almost all the known examples besides, of the changes of Government in a Monarchy, either in Daniel or the Revelations; That the continuance of the former Government, together with a new face of the Sovereign Power, is made to be a New Succession of the Sovereign Power of that Nation: The most plain instance of it is in the Figure of the Grecian Monarchy in the 8th Chapter of Daniel, where after the end of the first form of Government under the first King, there succeeds a fourfold Kingdom, notwithstanding that the Macedonian Sovereignty, which was the first King continued still in being; for it was one of those four Kingdoms. So also in the figure of the Persian Monarchy just before it, the successive changes of the Sovereignty are represented by the Two Horns coming after one another, though the first of them, That is, The King of Media was still in being when the latter was in Rule, because the King of Persia was also King of Media, and his Realm at that time called the Kingdom of the Medes and Persians. This also is confirmed from the Succession of this very same Imperial Head, which was a new head, notwithstanding that the 
x 
Onuphr. Panuvinus, lib. Faster. p. 61.— But the Consulary Dignity continued at Rome to the time of Justinian.  
Joh. Fersius Silesius protonotarius de p. Praet.  
Justinian. Novel 105. calls the Consulship, a Dignity that goes always with the Imperial Power; so that the Consulary Power seems to be so interwoven with the Sovereignty, that it follows it of its own accord, and is tacitly included in it, as soon as the Sceptre of the Empire is taken.  
L. 6. Cod. Theodos. The Emperor's Decree, That all other Dignities shall give place to that of Consul.  
Prattica dell. Medagglie de Carlo Patten. Pag. 67. The greatest part of the Money which the Emperors, Julius Caesar and Augustus, caused to be stamped, was called Consular Money, for the respect that they bore to that Supreme Dignity.   Consulary Government continued with it, though in subordination to the Imperial; much more must this Government be a new Head, when that which was only Imperial, is turned into a Regal form at Rome.  
There is therefore no longer any question to be made, whether the Imperial Government, which was the Sixth Head at the time of the Vision be yet at an end.   

CHAP. V. 
Rev. XVII.   
The 23 d Proposition, The Beast some Present Sovereign of Rome. The 24th. The 42 Months of the Beast at least 1260 years. The 1260 Days of the Witnesses the same particular time. The Two Witnesses, the Representatives of the whole Church enslaved by the Beast.  
SInce it has been made unquestionable from the preceding Proposition, That the Sixth King, or Head, has been past for some hundreds of years. From thence it may as assuredly be concluded, That  The Beast called the Eighth King, is a Sovereign Roman 
Proposit. 23.  Power that is owned for Supreme by the Authority of the City of Rome at this present. 
For the Sixth King in being at the time of the Vision, was certainly at an end after the ruin of the Western Empire by the Heruli and Goths (Prop. 22.)— And the Seventh King does immediately succeed the Sixth (by Prop. the 18th)— And the Seventh King was to continue but a short space (chap. 17. 10.) Whereas the number of years from the Ruin of the Western Empire to this present, is three times longer than the whole time of the sixth Head from the date of the Vision, and as long as the whole time of the other six Heads before.  
Wherefore the Seventh King must needs have been long since past, and the Eighth King (called the Beast) have entered upon his Reign. For the Eighth King did immediately succeed the Seventh (by Prop. 18.)— And the Eighth King, or the Beast, is to continue till the Second coming of Christ (by Corollar. 1. Prop. 12.)— And therefore must the time of the Beast be both begun already, and not yet past; that is, must be at present in being.  
Upon the same grounds it appears, That.  The forty two Months of the Reign of the Beast, Revel. 13. 5. are at least 1260 Years. 
Prop. 24.  
For the Beast is in being at this present (by Prop. 23.)— And he began his Reign soon after the fall of the sixth Head, because the Seventh King was to continue but a short space, Rev. 17. 10.— And the sixth Head was at latest ended at the fall of the Western Empire in Augustulus (by Prop. 22.)— which was above 1200 Years since. It is therefore impossible, that the forty two Months of the Reign of the Beast should have a literal signification in this place. They must then of necessity be understood in a Mystical Signification (by Rule 2.)— and in such a Mystical Signification also, as must make them contain in them above 1200 Years.  
Now there is no Example in Prophecy of any such Mystical Signification of Time, as will make these forty two Months reach to 1200 Years, and make them less exceed that number of Years, than the Mystical use of Weeks and Days in some of the Prophecies. Weeks are by almost the unanimous Consent of all Interpreters taken for so many Years as they have days in them, in that famous Prophecy about the first coming of the Messiah into the World, in the 9th Chapter of Daniel, v. 24. under the name of the seventy Weeks. This is an unexceptionable Instance of the mystical use of days for years.  
So also is the Year of Jubilee after 49 years called the end of seven Sabbaths, or weeks of years, Levit. 25. 8.  
Days also are made use of to signify Years in Ezekiel twice in one Chapter, Ezek. 4. 4, 6. and in the same manner in the Book of Numbers 14. 34.  
Against these two last Examples it is pretended, That Days do not absolutely signify Years, but are only made the Types of Years. But this is no material Objection against this usage of Days. For though in those two places they be used but as Types, yet it is easy to observe, that Types of things are ordinarily used in the New Testament for the things themselves after the Type is fulfilled in them; and in that use of them they signify the things absolutely, and not Typically; for a typical signification of any thing, is the signification of it before it is come to pass, which cannot be, when the Type is used for the real thing it self then in being. And therefore in such a use of the typical word, it must signify the thing absolutely only.  
Thus do we find the names of Temple, Altar, the Holiest of Holies, the Veil, the Passeover-Lamb, used to signify, the Christian Church, the Communion, Heaven, this Earthly state, Christ Jesus, after these Types were accomplished, and so after their typical time was passed.  
By the same reason may any other Type be used to signify a thing absolutely, as well as typically. And Days may for that reason be as well supposed to signify Years absolutely in some places, because used to signify them typically in others, if there be any evidence against their literal acceptation, as there is here found to be.  
Wherefore according to these Examples, especially that of the 70 weeks, which is by all acknowledged, the 42 Months must be considered, as containing so many years in them as they have days in them; and the least number of days that they can contain in them, is 1260. whatsoever accounts of Months be taken either in the time of Daniel, or of St. John.  
If it should be hereupon enquired, What kind of Months these were, and how many days they did precisely contain in them, the relation that this account of the Beast in the Revelations has to the fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel, will resolve that difficulty. The 42 Months of the Beast in this place, are the Times of the Little Horn in that 7th Chapter of Daniel (by Coral. 2. Prop. 15.) And the Times of the Little Horn there, are said to be a time, times, and half a time; which therefore must be the same with the 42 Months of the Beast, they being both of them the same time of the same Reign. Now the Time, 
v. 14.  Times, and an half, are in the 12th Chapter of the Revelations the same time of the Woman's abode in the Wilderness, which is 
v. 6.  a little before said to be 1260 days. The 42 Months then, which is the same time of the Reign of the Beast with the Time, Times, and an half, must also be but 1260 days.  
By this than it appears, That the calculation of these Months must be according to the Babylonian Account, where Daniel lived, when he wrote that Prophecy, to which this of the Beast in the Revelations does  refer. The Babylonians had but 30 days in their Months, and they were all of equal length; to which they added an Appendix of five days at the end of the Year, which the Greeks called the Epagomena, and so made their Year to be 365 days. But without the Epagomena, three Years and an half make but 1260 days, which is the number that these Visions about the Beast do so often inculcate, and is 17 days short of the true Account of three years and an half in the Babylonian way.  
And this is the only reason that I could ever find satisfactory, Why, besides the Time, Times, and an half, there, is the mention of 42 Months, and 1260 days in the Prophecy, to express the same number of years. For the Time, Times, and an half, without any thing else to restrain it, would have been understood to be three full years, and an half, according to the Chaldaic Account, from whence that calculation was fetched, and so would really have been 17 days longer, and have signified 17 years longer than they really were to be; whereas by this particular determination of them in the Prophecy to 1260 days, and 42 Months, they appear to want the Appendix of the five days, or Epagomena, at the end of every Year. And thus are we delivered from that fanciful Shift, that Mr. Mede was fain to fly to in his account of the different ways of expressing the same time here, viz. That the Months were used to signify the works of darkness, and the days the contrary: The Months being regulated by the course of the Moon, and the days by that of the Sun.  
The 42 Months then do appear by this to be 15 days short of the full length of Time, Times, and half a time, by being reckoned without the Epagomena; It may hereupon be very reasonably imagined, that the 1260 Years signified by so many days, may each of them also be reckoned without the Epagomena, or five days at the end of them; and then they will also want some such number of Years of their full account, and so prove to be but 1243 Years.  
From the former Proposition it may be concluded, That  The 1260 days of the Two Witnesses, Revel. 11. 3. are 1260 Corollar. 1 Years. 
For the 1260 days of the two Witnesses are the same length of time with the 42 Months of the Beast, pag. preced. And are described as the opposite Party to the Beast, v. 7. and so mentioned in the same account as Contemporaries with him: And since they have the same length of time assigned to them for their continuance, it ought to be understood to signify the same thing without any clearer Evidence to the contrary (by Rule the 3 d.)— Now by their Characters they appear to be capable of so long a continuance. For they represent a body of Men, and not two single Persons only. It is said, that the Beast should make war with them. And the Beast is already known to signify a great Empire; And how can a great Empire be said to make war with two single Persons, or Peoples, Kindred's, and Nations, as it is said of them, to see them lie dead, and not to suffer them to be buried?  
The 1260 days then of the two Witnesses, do signify the same length of time, that the same number of days in the 42 Months of their Contemporary do signify, that is 1260 Years.  
If these days do signify the same number of Years with the 42 Months, Then  The 1260 days of the two Witnesses and the 42 Months of the Beast, do Corollar. 2 signify the same coincident space of 1260 Years. 
For the Beast and the Witnesses have the same length of continuance (Prop. 24. & Coral 1.)— And they are described to be Contemporaries, and the opposite Party to one another, Rev. 11. 7. to 14. And therefore it is extravagant to fancy their time to be different, only because it cannot be proved to be strictly impossible that they should not be the same from the beginning to the end. See Chap. 2. Book I.  
From hence it may safely be inferred, That  The two Witnesses in Sackcloth, Rev. 11. 3. do represent the whole Corollar. 3 True Church in the time of its humiliation under the Beast. 
For the two Witnesses must signify a succession of Persons during the space of 1260 Years, (Coral. preced.) And they are set out by Characters that are peculiar to the Representations of the True Church in the times of its humiliation under its Adversaries in the Old Testament. As by the peculiar Miracles of Moses and Aaron in the Land of Egypt, v. 6. By those of Elijah, with 
Exod. 7. 19 1 Kings 17. 1. Zechar. 4.  Elisha, v. 5, 6. And by the Mystical Characters of Joshua, and zerubbabel, v. 4.  
By this it appears, That they must refer to some twofold division of the whole Catholic Church that must be generally known for 1260 years together; And in this respect the Reason why they are represented by Two, may be either,  
1. The natural division of every well constituted People into Civil, and Ecclesiastical Persons, the King, and the Highpriest, especially where the Church of God is, which is the present Case. As this does go along with all wellordered Societies, so it is exemplified in two of the Instances here referred to out of the Old Testament.  
Or, 2. The Church may here be represented by Two, upon the account of the known peculiar Character of the Christian Church, in distinction to that of the Jews, all over the New Testament; where it is  represented, as one Church made up of Jews and Gentiles, one Common Society with those two great constituent Parts in it; upon the account of which it was originally called the Catholic Church.  
Thus do we find † St. Paul almost continually insisting upon this Twofold distinction in the Church; and the chief ground of 
Rom. 3. 30. & 4. 16. & 9 24. & 10. 12. & 11. 17. & 15. 8, 9 1 Cor. 1. 24. & 7. 18, 19 Gal. 27. 8. & 4. 22, 24. & 6. 15, 16. Ephes. 3. 6, 9  all his earnest Motives to Unity, and Mutual Communion, for the making the Christian Church but one thing, is, that all the World, both Jews and Gentiles, are but one Church of Christ. As Ephes. 2. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. and Chap. 3. 6. and Chap. 4. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. And this is  represented by him, as the great Mystery of God, in the bringing the Gentiles to be one Church with the Jews, Ephes. 1. 9 3. 3, 9 Colos. 1. 26, 27. This Book of the Apocalypse does also generally run upon that distinction. As Chap. 5. 5. The number of the Jewish Elders gathered out of all Nations. And Chap. 7. 4, 9 The 144000 out of the Jewish Tribes, but figuratively taken; and the Great Multitude of all Nations. So also Chap. 14. 1, 6. The 144000, and all Nations, and Kindred's, and Tongues, and People. And Chap. 19 4, 6. The 24 Elders represent the Jewish part, and the Voice of the Great Multitude the Gentiles, though both figuratively. And the Church is  set forth as the Jewish Temple, or Synagogue, set open to all people.  
This also we find  foretold in the Old Testament, as the peculiar distinction of the Church of the Messiah from that of the Jews, That it should be the Church of both Jews and Gentiles. And this does our Saviour also make the distinguishing Badge of his Church. For this reason did he make choice of Baptism to be the Initial Rite of all Nations into his Church, which by the Jews had always before been made the distinguishing Rite 
Matth. 8. 11. & 21. 43. & 22. 9 & 24. 14. John 11. 52.  betwixt themselves, and the Gentile Proselytes. He also upon the same account ordered the Memorial of his own Death to be the Communion-Feast, or the common Union of Jews and Gentiles in his Church, or the Communion of Saints of all kinds, instead of the Paschal Lamb, which was the distinguishing Ceremony of the Religion of the Jews from all the rest of the World besides. And thus also does he himself signify his Church to be One Fold made up of two sorts of Sheep, John 10. 16.  
But this does most eminently appear in the History of the Actions of the Apostles, after Jesus had committed the sole management of his Church to them. The chief Subject of the Book of their Acts is to set forth this new appearance of the Christian Church with these Two different kinds of Members in it.  
Indeed this twofold distinction of the Members of the Christian Church had its foundation in the known division of the whole World into those two general Parts of it, Jews, and Gentiles, both always before, and at the time of the writing this Prophecy. And this distinction was always preserved in memory by the frame of the Jewish Temple, and its distinction of the two Courts of the Jews, and Gentiles; and so seems to be the most likely to be here referred to, because the most obvious, and commonly known division of the Church of God into Two.  
But what strength soever this Account of their being called Two, may seem to have, yet the demonstration of their real nature in general before given, does not at all depend upon it. This is intended only for a probable illustration of that Character. And since by the discovery of their Nature, they must represent the whole Christian Church for many Ages, there must be some reference in this Character of it to some twofold division of the Christian Church, which must distinguish it from the Jewish; and none was better known for such, than that which has been here pitched upon; not that of the Old and New Testament, nor that of the Churches of the Waldenses and Albigenses, which some would have that number to refer to. 

ᵃ THUS does Ribera interpret the three days and an half, in Chap. 11. v. 9— that they signify that the Tyranny of Anti-christ shall not be continued above three years and an half, according to that of Ezek. 4. I have given thee a day for a year; Though afterwards upon the 20th Chapter of the Apocalypse, he does in express terms contradict this very Interpretation; When ever, says he, did Lyranus see a day taken for a year? And though in Ezekiel— God said, I have given thee a day for a year, yet what ground is this to take a day for a year in Scripture?  
Alcazar also upon the 2 d verse, Chap. 11. Apocalypse, does determine, That the 42 months, and the 1260 days must necessarily be taken in a mystical, and not in a literal sense. Notatione quarta in vers. 2. And they both agree with Bellarmin, l. 3. de Pont. c. 8. that the 42 months, and three years, and an half, must be understood according to the Chaldaic Account.     

CHAP. VI 
Rev. XIII.   
The 25th Proposition, The Second Beast (Rev. 13.) an Universal Church-Head distinct from the First. The 26th Proposition; The Beast, A Secular Head confederated with an Universal Church-Head, but distinct from Him. The Second Beast a succession of many single Persons. The Beast, and the False Prophet are the present Secular, and Ecclesiastical Roman Heads, or the Imperial and Papal Power. Objections answered.  
THere have been sufficient grounds of Assurance given, that the Beast is really in being at this present time; It is in the next place necessary to inquire after those Characters of him that do distinguish him from all other Sovereign Powers upon Earth.  
The greatest difficulty in this Affair arises from the great resemblance, that there seems to be, betwixt the First and the Second 
v. 1, & 11.  Beast in the 13th Chapter of the Revelations. For they are described as two distinct Sovereign Powers in one and the same Roman Dominion. The Second Beast is said to exercise all the power 
v. 12.  of the First Beast before him. And therefore do we find these two Beasts confounded together by many of the best esteemed Interpreters.  
It may then be observed in the first place, That  The Second Beast in the 13th Chapter of the Revelations, is 
a 
COrnel. à Lapide in cap. 13. Apoc.] The Two Horns, (i. e. of the second Beast) as Joseph. Acosta observes (l. 2. de temp. Noviss. cap. 17.) are the marks of the Episcopal Dignity; That is, of the Mitre, or Episcopal Crown; The False Prophet therefore does seem by this to be some Apostate Bishop, and pretender to Religion.— It is not therefore the Mitre, but some Mitred Apostate, that is here taxed, who shall treacherously abuse these Horns of (the Lamb) Christ, to propagate the Sect of Antichrist.  
Blasius Viega, in Cap. 13. Apoc. Sect. 6.] Andrea's Caesariensis, and Irenaeus, L. 4. cap 28. seem to me to have been more in the right, who take the Second Beast to be some eminent forerunner of Antichrist, and remarkable Preacher;— or, as Irenaeus calls him, The Armour-bearer of Antichrist.  
Tom. 2. Concilior. in decretis Pelagii secundi,] Upon the assuming of the Title of Universal Bishop by John, Patriarch of Constantinople, Pope Pelagius the second writes thus to him— None of the Patriarches ever used so profane a word— And weigh well, my Brethren, what is next to follow, etc.— For it comes very nigh to him, of whom it is written, He is the King over all the Children of Pride— When our Brother, and fellow Bishop John to the contempt of the commands of our Lord, the Precepts of his Apostles, and the Rules of the Fathers, does endeavour by this name to be his forerunner.  
Pope Gregory presently after him has much the same opinion of the same person, L. 4. Ep. 32.] By this haughtiness of his, says he, what does he show us, but that the time of Antichrist is at hand, etc. and Ep. 36. Repeats the former words of Pelagius, and Ep. 38. says, That this is the last hour, as Christ had foretold of Antichrist. All that was foretold is now accomplished. The King of pride is at the door; and which cannot be spoken without horror, An Army of Priests is prepared for him. And L. 6. Ep. 24. And not to speak of the wrong that is done to me (in particular) by it, If a Bishop is called Universal, The Universal Church falls to the ground, if that Universal Bishop chances to fall; And Ep. 28. ad Cyriacum, to take away that name of pride— Whosoever desires to be Honoured against the Honour of God, (That is, in being called Universal) is not at all to be honoured; And because Antichrist, the Enemy of the Almighty, is near at hand, I do earnestly beseech you, that he may find nothing that belongs to him, neither in the Manners, nor in the Name of the Priests. And, Ep. 30. now I say boldly, That whosoever calls himself Universal Priest, or Bishop, he is by that exaltation of himself the forerunner of Antichrist— For as that wicked one would seem to be God above all Men; so the other exalts himself above all Bishops.   a 
Prop. 25. See References.  Church-head owned for Supreme over all the Roman Jurisdiction, And distinct from the First Beast. 
For the Second Beast is said to exercise all the Power of the 
v. 12.  First Beast; and therefore is a Supreme Authority in that Nation.  
And the exercise of this Power is to force men to a Religious 
v. 12, 13, 14.  Worship, and to make them make an Image to the First Beast to be worshipped by all the World; and he was to work Miracles to deceive men into this Worship, which are all Instances of an Ecclesiastical Authority: And besides, has the name of the false Prophet by way of eminence, Coral. 2. Prop. 8. Wherefore he must be a Church-Head, exercising this Supreme Ecclesiastical Authority over the Romans.  
The description of the Second Beast is also quite different from that of the First, and is said to be a Second Beast in reference to that First, and therefore must be another different Beast from the First. His great business also is to make men give worship to the First Beast, who is  distinguished from him by the name of the First Beast, which had been deadly wounded, but yet 
v. 12, 14.  did still live; All which is sufficient to conclude them to be 
b 
Alcazar in cap. 13. Apoc. Sect. 6.] It is evident from the Context, That the Beast out of the Earth, and the Beast out of the Sea, must be two distinct Beasts. See also before, Viega, Pelagius, Gregorius M.  
Mede in c. 13. Apoc. v. 1. See the next note Mede.  
See Note 6. of this Chap, Goldastus, p. 349. Item Ibidem, Goldast. p. 76. See there the Oath taken by the Electors, by the order of the Golden Bull, That I will choose a Temporal head for the Christian World.—  
Pope Gelasius, in the time of Theodoric King of Italy, in his Decree about the Council of Chalcedon, Concil. Caranzae. p. 282. shows, That before the coming of Christ, the King used to be the Highpriest; and so was it in use amongst the Pagan Emperors: But when it was come to him that was the true King, and Highpriest together, neither could the Emperor take the name of Highpriest, nor the Highpriest the name of Emperor. So that the Emperors have need of the Popes for the things of another life,— And the Popes of the Emperors for the things of this World.  
All the Concordats betwixt the Emperors and Popes are said to be to Unite the Royal Power, and the Priesthood; as particularly that of the Emperor Henry's giving up the right of Investitures to Pope Calixtus the 2d, and the Pope's confirming the Regalia to the Emperor by the Sceptre. Abbot Urspurg. Chron. An. 1122.   two distinct things really different from one another.  
'Tis true; All the mischief, for which the First Beast is so stigmatised in this Prophecy, is that which is the whole business of the Second Beast; that is, Idolatrous Worship, tyrannically imposed by the Image, which the Second Beast sets up; This the first Beast assists, and enforces by his Power; And upon this account are these Two Beasts represented as one Confederacy. And therefore the one is often comprehended in what is said to be done by the other, because it is one common Interest that they both act in; and in which they both act at the same time. So that to signify the Activity of either of them, it is enough on many occasions to intimate the name of but one of them; as we see the name of either of the two Partners in a Trade does signify the concurrence of the other in it, who was not named.  
But that they are notwithstanding both of them Supreme Heads in their several ways, with an absolute Jurisdiction belonging to them, appears from that Power of the Second Beast, by which he gave life to the Image of the First Beast, and impowered it to kill all who would not worship it: For it is certain from that, 
v. 15.  That the Second Beast himself must have that Power of Life and Death to himself, which he gave to the Image, and therefore be Supreme.  
From hence it would be inferred, That  The Second Beast is a Pontifex Maximus of the Romans after the time of the Heathen Emperors. 
For (by Propos. preced.) the Second Beast must be a Supreme Church-Head of the Romans, which is a Pontifex Maximus. And (by the same Prop.) he must be distinct from the First Beast, who is another Supreme Head of the Romans (by Propos. 20.) And till the time of the Emperor Gratian, the Pontifex Maximus was not a really distinct Head of the Romans from the Emperors; the Emperors till then were both the Pontifex Maximus, and the Supreme Civil Head.  
And now it may be safely determined, That  By the Beast in the Revelations, is meant a Secular Sovereign 
Proposit. 26. See References.  Power of the Romans 
c 
Mede, in c. 13. Apoc. v. 1. These Two Beasts are tied to one another by the nearest relation to one another; and both of them do together Reign over the same part of the World. The First, or Ten Horned Beast we may call The Secular Power; the Two Horned Beast, The Ecclesiastical Power. And on v. 11. The first Beast is a Secular Power; this an Ecclesiastical, which does exercise the chief Ministerial power of the first Beast, and his Blasphemies.  
Aventin. Histor. Boior. Lib. 7.] The Bull of Pope John against the Emperor Lewis, does there recount, That from the time of Charlemaigne, the Empire was a Fiefe of the Papal power, and so must be conferred by the Pope, to be in union with him for the assisting the Church in its Acts.  
The Emperor, in Answer to it, Challenges it to be his right to elect the Pope; so that both agree, that they are to be immediately united to one another.   confederated in an Idolatrous Antichristian Rule with an Ecclesiastical Supreme Head of that Nation, which is distinct from it. 
For the principal Agent is the False Prophet; The design and business of all the Power that is exercised, Idolatrous Worship; the Instrument that executes all the Orders about it, the Image which was made by the False Prophet; and the Beast joins in all, as the chief Supporter of it. And the Tyranny exercised in it against the Followers of the Lamb, does sufficiently show how Antichristian a Design it is that they are engaged in; and the real distinction betwixt the Beast, and the Church-Head, his Confederate, is assured from Prop. 25.  
This Confederacy does show the Second Beast to be no single Person. For the False Prophet continues to the end with the First Beast; and the First Beast is the Succession of many single 
Prop. 15, & 20.  Persons in the same Form of Government, as an Head of a Beast is known here to signify; And therefore,  The Second Beast is a 
d Alcazar, in c. 13. Apoc. Sect. 6.] By the Beast of the Earth (or second Beast) is signified a multitude of persons, as well as by the Beast of the Sea (or the First Beast); as well the one, as the other of these Beasts, is the Scheme of a numerous multitude, and not of a single person; as in the 7th of Daniel.  Succession of Ecclesiastical Persons having the Corollar. 1 Supreme Power in Ecclesiastical Affairs. 
See References.  
Wherefore, without any further scrupulous search for the moment at which the Beast began his Reign, let the particular Change of the Government of the Romans, which made the Beast at first to appear, be what it will, and never so difficult to know, yet now it may be safely concluded, That  The Beast, and the False Prophet are those two Forms of Secular and Ecclesiastical Government really distinct from one another, Corollar. 2 which are at this present time acknowledged for Supreme by the Authority of the City of Rome. 
For the Beast is the last Ruling Head of the Romans by Corol. 2. Prop. 6.— And therefore is that which is owned for Supreme at Rome, by Prop. 21.— And he is owned there for Supreme at this present time, by Prop. 23.— And he is a Saecular Sovereign Power of Rome, distinct from an Ecclesiastical Head there owned, and confederate with him, by Prop. 25.— And that Ecclesiastical Chief Head of Rome is the False Prophet, by Coral. 1. Prop. 25.  
Wherefore the Beast, and the False Prophet, must be those Secular, and Ecclesiastical Heads of Rome distinct from one another, whose Authority in those several kinds are at this present there owned.  
If so, Then how can one avoid from being assured, That  The present Imperial and Papal Power, or Authority of Rome, are Corollar. 3 the Beast, and the False Prophet. 
For there are no other Secular, or Ecclesiastical Sovereign Powers of Rome, whose Authority in those several kinds are there acknowledged for Supreme, and as really distinct from one another, 
Note 6. Corn. à Lapide.  but only the Papal and Imperial Power; and we are sure that they must be both of them in being at this present time by Coral. 2. Prop. 26.  
And besides, The present Imperial Power has all its title from the City of Rome, and was generally used to have a 
e 
The Germane Writers, who defend the Imperial power from any dependency upon the Papal, and therefore look upon the Coronation of the Emperor at Rome, as unnecessary; yet grant it to be the usual and common form of confirming the Roman Empire upon him by the people of Rome.  
Hieron. Balbus de Coronatione, Cap. 21. says, That the place assigned for the Coronation of the Emperor with the Imperial Crown, is at Rome: For which he quotes Clem. Roman. de jurcjurand. & D. c. venerabilem and says in his plea against the necessity of the Crowning of the Emperor at Rome, That it is only positive Law that ordains it; whereas the Emperor is above all such kind of Law:— Which shows however, That that was the Law, That the Coronation should be at Rome. And makes this another Argument for his side, That though the Pope be ordained to be Inaugurated at Rome, yet that he dispenses with it, and so therefore might the Emperor: Which intimates, That Rome is as properly the place from whence the Imperial Crown comes, as it is for the Papal Mitre.— And then concludes the Chapter, That it is not material where the Coronation be, provided it be done by the Pope, or his Legate; — Which confirms the Authority of it to be from Rome; and therefore adds, That before the Translation of the Empire from the Greeks to the Germans, the Coronation used to be performed by the Praefect of the City— And that does manifest, that the Pope in that Solemnity does stand only as the Head of the People of Rome, instead of the Praefect of the City of Rome.  
Albericus in Indice, verbo Coronâ, says] That the Emperor receives three Crowns, The first of Silver in Germany, An Iron one in the Duchy of Milan, and a Golden one for the Roman Empire.   particular Crown from thence; and the powers of it are acknowledged by the Authority of Rome to belong to them, 
f 
Ludovic. à Bebenburg, though on the Germane or Caesarian side, de juribus Regni & Imp. Rom. pag. 5.] The Reason why he that is elected, is called King of the Romans, is both in reverence to the Most Holy Roman Church — and in honour of the City of Rome, whose People had formerly the Monarchy of the Empire. M. Freherus in Commentario.— Hence that proud Voice of Rome, at the Coronation of the Emperor Henry the VIIth, I confirm unto the Prince the Sovereign Power, with the Crown of Crowns, and give him command over the Cities and Nations of the World. Let the Eagles defend my Glory.— And in the Seal of Charles the IVth, with which the Golden Bull (the Instrument for the present manner of the Imperial Elections) is sealed, and other public Instruments, The City of Rome is in the stamp of it with this Motto,  
Roma caput Mundi regit Orbis fraena rotundi.  
Goldast. Politic. Imperial. pars 5. p. 349.] — Sed postquam Christiana & Orthodoxa Religio, etc. But after that the Christian and Orthodox Religion prevailed, so as to make a noise all over the World; And that by this means the High-Priests (at Rome) came to be adored by Princes, Kings and Emperors with the greatest humility, and a singular kind of devotion; it came to pass, that by the common Consent of all Christian People, that of the two several States of the Christian World, The one should be governed by the Popes, the other by the Emperors; But yet so, that the Emperors should acknowledge both their Imperial Dignity and Power to proceed from the Popes of Rome, as the true Mediators and Intercessors for them.— But this is further confirmed by the Civil Law, which suffers not the Imperial Majesty to be subject to any human Laws; but on the contrary, does openly declare it to be above all human Privileges and Laws.  
Bellarmin shows, Lib. 3. de Translat. Imp. Roman. in Germanos— That the present way of electing the Emperor was settled by Pope Gregory the VIIth, in the Golden Bull, to confer the Power and Authority of Emperor of Rome upon the Person elected by them; and chap. 12. lib. 1. says, That all kind of Christian Princes whatsoever have acknowledged the Roman Empire to have been amongst the Germans ever since the Year 800.  
Goldastus in his Politic. Imperial. part. 1. p. 76. sets down the particular form of the Oath, that the Electors take before their choice, to this effect.  
I. N. — by the help of God, will choose a Temporal (or Secular) Head for all Christian People; that is, a King of the Romans to be advanced to be Emperor.  
And it is the Order of the Golden Bull, That they should not departed from the City of Francfort, till the major part of them have elected a Temporal Head for all Christian People; that is, A King of the Romans to be created Emperor.  
Aventin. l. 6. Histor. Boior.] Pope Adrian, in his Letter to the Germane Princes, tells them, That the Roman Empire was translated from the Greeks to the Almains, so, as that their King was not called Roman Emperor, till he was crowned by the Pope. Before his Consecration he was but King, after his Consecration he became Emperor. From whence then, says he, had he the Empire, but from Us? And afterwards gives this reason for it— For Rome is our Seat; The Seat of the Empire is Aix, in the Forest of Ardenne.  
Radevicus, l. 1. c. 16.] Frederic the Emperor, who had denied all Subjection to Pope Adrian, yet in his very defence of himself for it says thus: The first Voice in our Election we own to the Archbishop of Mentz, and then to the other Electors in their Order; Our Regal Unction to the Bishop of Cologn and the last, which is the Imperial Unction only, we have from the Pope.  
Ibidem. And Pope Adrian presently after, in his Subjection to the Emperor, minds him, That his Magnificence had acknowledged, That it was the Pope that set the Imperial Crown upon his Head.  
Cornelius à Lapide upon the 10th v. of the 17th chap. Apoc.] To confute that Opinion, that would have the seventh King succeeding the Emperors, to be the Pope.— The seventh, says he, is here said should continue but a little while, whereas the Pope and the Emperor have continued a long while together.— The Pope therefore did not succeed the Emperors in the Roman Empire, but continues there together with Them; as we see now the most Serene Ferdinand to be the Emperor of the Roman Empire, and our most Holy Lord Paul V to be the Highpriest (or the Pope) of the Roman Church.  
Grotius in Respons. de Antichristo.] The Germane Princes choose the Emperor; but their Choice must have the Approbation of the City of Rome, which has conferred their Right and Power upon the Pope: from that Approbation has the Emperor the Title of ROMAN EMPEROR, and many things in Italy which belonged to the ancient Roman Empire; from whence comes the Homage that is done him for the Dutchies of Milan, Montferrat, Mantua, and many other Privileges there besides.  
Nor can it be said upon this account, That the Emperor is made by the Pope; for the Authority of the Roman Empire was always the same, even when the Emperors were some Thracians, some of Illyricum, and some of Hungary: And so was it afterwards with Charlemaigne, and now with the Princes of Germany. See Grot. c. 9 lib. 2. de Jure Belli & Pacis, and in the Commentary of it in Prop. 21.  
Lud. à Bebenburg. cap. 5.] It is apparent from History, That Germany, even after the Division of the Empire of the Franks, was accounted a Kingdom by itself, that is, distinct from the Title of the Roman Empire.— M. Freherus in his Comment upon this:— Our Emperors at this time observe this in their Title; — Emperor of the Romans, King of Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, etc. Ludovicus the Emperor, the Son of Pius, was called King of Germany, which was almost from the first times of the division of the Territories of Charlemaigne.  
He does also in the next Chapter show, That the seven Electors choose the Emperor, as a College, or as the Representatives of all the Princes and People that are subject to the Roman Empire; which Authority is conferred upon them from the City of Rome, by the Golden Bull of Charles IU.  
If it shall be objected, That the Constantinopolitan Emperors were the only true Roman Emperors, and were unjustly deprived of their Western Dominions by the Pope: it is to be remembered, That the Constantinopolitan Emperors themselves confirmed the Title of the Western Emperors Lud. à Bebenburg. cap. 5. and M. Freherus in his Comment there, proves that Transaction betwixt the Eastern and Western Emperors, by the Authority of Ado, Rhegino, Philip of Bergamo, Platina, Voluterranus, Egnatius, especially that of the Eastern Emperor Michael, which was published in St. Peter's Church at Rome, and confirmed by Pope Leo.   as Kings and Emperors of the Romans, and they are owned for such by all Christian Princes in their Treaties with them.  
The Pope also, who confers this Right and Title of Roman Emperor, is by Custom and Prescription the 
g Clementin▪ de sententia & re judicata.] That Law was made by Pope Clement V against Henry VII. That in the time of the Interregnum, or Vacancy after every Emperor's death, the Pope should have all the Power over the Imperial countries' and Towns.  The Administrator of the Empire in time of a Vacancy, and is the Representative of the Senate and People of Rome, in whom the power of choosing or approving the Head of the Roman Empire did always reside, how various soever the way of choosing him was; as Grotius informs us in his Notes upon the 9th Chapter of his 2d Book, de jure Belli & Pacis, & Bellarm. de Translat. Imp. Rom. 
Note 1, & 2. on Chap. 3.   
These Rights of the present Roman Emperor are also confirmed by that Civil Law, which was always in former times the General Law of all Nations, and is so now for the greatest part of it; and his Title has been acknowledged by the Constantinopolitan Emperors themselves. His Power in disposing of the Fees of the Roman Empire in 
h Blondus, Trithemius, Sabellicus, Cuspinian, etc. and almost all Historians, do blame the Emperor Rodolph of Hasburg, for selling the Fees of the Imperial Towns and Principalities in Italy:— But the Popes were well pleased with it, because it kept the Emperors at greater distance from them.  Italy, he is continually in the exercise of, and has public homage done him for the Dutchies of Milan, Mantua, Modena, Montferret, &c and for other Rights in these Parts.  

i Grot. Respons. de Antichristo in Not. 6. of this Chapter.]  His being of the Germane Nation, signifies no more against him, than it did against others, that they were of Thrace, or Dalmatia, or Hungary. Besides, there is a plain distinction in his Titles betwixt that of Caesar or the Emperor of the Romans, and his being King of Germany, Hungary, Bohemia.  
It can be no objection against this, That the Imperial Power has no exercise of Authority over the City of Rome, or over all the Jurisdiction of the Roman Empire.  
For, 1. His Absence from Rome, and from the particular Government 
See References.  of it, is no greater Argument against his being the Head of that City, as it is a part of the Empire, than it was against those Roman Emperors, who first left the City of Rome to its own disposal, and seated themselves at Ravenna; And though the Authority of the present Emperor be now less at Rome, than it was in the days of those Emperors; yet as long as he is still owned there as Lord paramount of the whole Empire of that City, a particular privilege of exemption from the execution of his Orders among the inhabitants of Rome, is no more than the asserting it to be a privileged place within the extent of his Jurisdiction: Besides, that it is by 
k 
The Popes themselves pretend no other Right to the City of Rome, than the Donations of their Emperors; and these were upon occasion recalled: The most famous instance of which was no later than the year 963. when Pope Leo VIII. made a most solemn Renunciation of all the Imperial Donations that had been given to his Predecessors, and this for Himself and his Successors, to the Emperor Otho I. and his Successors; and to this subscribed the Archbishops, Cardinals, and all the Clergy there, and the Consuls, Senators, etc. and all the Civil Governors of the City of Rome and the Papacy, as is recorded by Theodoric à Nyem. There was indeed continual Differences betwixt the Popes and Emperors about these Donations, and the Popes were not wholly in the free possession of the Government of it, till it was given away by the Emperor Charles IU. who in lieu of it had the Golden Bull to choose the Emperor of the Romans in Germany. Blondus in his 2d Decad. lib. 10. gives that account of Pope Innocent VI That he would not give him the Imperial Crown, but upon this Condition, That he should not keep his public Meetings there, nor make any Order about the Romans, without the advice of the Pope; and that he should not keep any constant Court at Rome or in Italy.  
Thus was the Emperor Sigismond brought afterwards to do much the same thing by Pope Eugenius, about the time of the Council of Constance, and that under the name of, Confirming the Donations of Constantine, and of the other Princes.   the consent of the Emperors themselves, that they exercise no temporal Superiority there; And that Power which they have lost there, is only upon the account of their power there exercised before them by a Church-Head, according to the Letter of the Prophecy. 
Rev. 13. 12.   
2. As for the inconsiderableness of his Power or Authority over the Jurisdiction of the Roman Empire, it is no more than what is foretold of him in the Figure of the Beast. For it is expressly signified in the Figure, that he should be but the Head 
Rev. 13. 1 & chap. 17. 12.  of the Roman Empire, when it was divided into 
l 
Aventinus in Annal. Boior. lib. 7.] Eberhard Archbishop of Saltzbourg, about the year 1240. describes the Usurpations of the Papal Authority over the Imperial, with application to the Beast in the Apocalypse.— The Emperor, says he, is now no more than a Name: the Ten Kings who have parted the World amongst them, do Destroy it rather than Govern it.— Under them is grown up that little Horn, which has Eyes, and a Mouth speaking proud things.— What can be clearer than this Prophecy? Turn over the Annals; all the strange things which our Master forewarned us of, are already come to pass.  
Ludovic. à Bebenburg. de Jurib. Reg. & Imp. Rom. cap. 9] shows, That the Imperial Authority stands upon the same Title that Charlemain left to his Sons by Inheritance; the way by Election succeeded into the same Right; and so the Imperial Power has still the same Title over the Lands and Kingdoms that were subject to the Roman Empire, though he is not in the actual possession of them.   Eleven distinct Sovereignties, represented by the Ten Horns, with Crowns upon them, and the last Ruling Head amongst them. And therefore must the Head be really but a titular Head of that whole Empire, and not in the actual possession of all the Jurisdiction of it; And since the Beast is a Roman Secular Power in being at this present, by Coral. preced; And there is no other Secular Power of the Empire, who is acknowledged to be superior to all the rest, by the Authority of the City of Rome, but he alone; The smallness of his Dominions cannot hinder him from being a Secular Head of Rome.  
Besides, He is in the actual possession and exercise of many privileges, by which he is  owned for the Chief Head of all Christian Princes: For this reason is it, That 
m Bellarmin. l. 1. c. 5. the Translat. Imp. Rom.] proves, That the Western Emperor's Title to that part of the Roman Empire was acknowledged by all Princes, and particularly by the Emperor of Constantinople, after the confirming that Title upon Charlemain. And chap. 12. shows the same to have been owned to the Germane Emperors by all Christian Princes ever since the year 800. And cap. 5. lib. 3. de Pontifice, gives this proof of it: That for this cause the Germane Emperor has the precedence of all other Kings, though far more considerable and powerful than himself. And next, That he has the Consent of the Representatives of the People of Rome for it. Ludovic. à Bebenburg. de Jurib. Reg. & Imp. cap. 11. does first show, That the Imperial Coronation must certainly give the Emperor's more than a Name; and that therefore it does give them a Title of Superiority over all the Territories that were under the Jurisdiction of the Roman Empire, though they be not now the facto, or actually, under the Emperor's Power; as that he can legitimate Bastards in them, in order to Inheritance; restore those that have been publicly disgraced, to their Reputation again; make Laws, and suchlike things, which of right are only reserved to the Imperial Power to do. And unless the King of the Romans got something which he had not before, by being made Emperor, he could not be said to be advanced to the Imperial Dignity, which is the word in the Election: Rex Romanorum in Caesarem promovendus, & Imperator futurus; and then the Law would be for words only, and not for things, contrary to C. Communia de Leg. 2. & extr. de elect. C. Commissa. and the difference of the Names would intimate no difference betwixt the Things, contrary to Jura 21. distinct. C. Clerus etc. de Codicel. l. si idem.  he, and his Ambassadors have the precedence given them in all public Appearances; And upon this account also is he in 
n 
See Ludovic. à Bebenburg. Not. praecedent.]  
Idem cap. 15. shows how the Emperor has the mediate Power in all Kingdoms under the Jurisdiction of the Roman Empire, and the Kings the immediate Power.  
To the same purpose is that p. 191, & 200. S. Rom. Imp. Jus Publicum.— The Emperor alone has the Power of Legitimating of Bastards, of restoring the Disgraced: and prescription beyond the Memory of Man against Imperial Rights, is of no validity.— An Order of the Imperial Chamber is an Universal Jurisdiction over all the Subjects of the Roman Empire, as well those that are its immediate, as those that are it's more remote Subjects.   the exercise of some Right reserved to him over the Subjects of other Princes, in case of the denial of Justice to them, or of the neglect of it; and in cases of Appeal, though not with any power over the persons of Princes. Whether this be fit, and allowable, I will not dispute: It is certain, that these Rights he has a long time been in actual possession of, which usually confirms a Right, and are acknowledged to be his due by the Authority of the City of Rome at this present, and not allowed to any other Prince beside. So that there is none else that has the least appearance of being the one Secular Head of Rome in the midst of Ten Horns, or the division of the Roman Empire into Ten Kings.  
If it should be further urged, That those dreadful Acts of Antichristian Tyranny over the whole World, which are attributed to the Beast, do very little suit with the Power of the Imperial Government at present.  
It must be considered, That there is a plain description of two different States of the Power of the Beast in the Prophecy itself: The first before the Rise of the Second Beast, or False Prophet; and there he is described as acting upon his own bottom; and it is said that all the World did worship him, and that he had power over all Tongues and Nations, etc. And that 
Rev. 13. 8.  does very well answer any time of the Imperial enforcement of the Roman Religion by their Laws, and their Execution of the Acts of Councils, before the Popes had got the whole Superiority into their Hands. For then the Imperial Power was the only Roman Power that was worshipped, or whose Will and Law about Religion was set up for the Laws of God to the World.  
But then there is another State of the Power of the Beast after the Rise of the Second Beast, or False Prophet, where all his 
v. 12.  Power is exercised before his face by another; and in that state the charge of Anti-christian Tyranny over the whole World does belong to the Beast, as he is confederated with those who act all these things; and it is attributed to the Beast only, upon the account of his continuing still the Secular Head of that Confederacy; As any Cruelty done by the Officers of any Army against the Enemy, is said to be all done by the General.  
But to show us, that all this mischief was chief chargeable upon his Confederates, and Instruments only; We see all that Tragical part acted by the Image of the Beast which was inspired by the False Prophet, who is described as the principal Actor in all the Bloodshed and Murder of those, who would not worship the Beast, or his Image; And that this Image is a thing quite distinct 
v. 15, 16, 17.  from the Beast, will be made afterwards to appear; as also how both the Beast, and his Image, are the Objects of the false Worship enjoined.  
But yet after all, It cannot but be acknowledged, that it is every way more certain, and unquestionable, that the present Papal Power must be the False Prophet, how dubious soever his real distinction from that, which is called the Beast, may seem to be. For the Character of the False Prophet cannot possibly fit any other Church-Head of Rome at this time in being, but 
o See Note the first upon the fifth Chapter.  only that Power. And the False Prophet must necessarily be now in being, because the Beast (his individual Companion, whoever he is, to the last end of them both) is certainly now in being. 
Rev. 19  Propos. 23.   

CHAP. VII. 
Rev. XIII.   
The first Query, Whether at Justinian 's Recovery of Italy from the Goths, there had not been Two Changes of Roman Government since the time of the Vision?  
THus far there seems to be a general agreement amongst almost all kind of considerable Interpreters, who make The Beast to be a Roman Power in being at this present time; and this seems sufficient for the main use that is to be made of this kind of knowledge.  
But because men's minds are usually very uneasy under such a general assurance of the main foundation, without a more particular determination of the first rise, of the time of the continuance, and the last period of so formidable a power as that of the Beast, and the False Prophet is described to be; I will now proceed to propound my apprehensions about those particular circumstances; which is so much the more necessary, because almost all the applications of the many Characters and Properties of the Beast, do seem to depend upon such a particular determination.  
And because I know it will be difficult to prevail with any who have framed to themselves an Hypothesis of their own about these things, to see any convincing proof for the way that I make choice of; To be civil to the Understandings and Assurances of others, I will now propound my own particular Application under the name of Queries, instead of Propositions, though to myself they may appear to be of much the same strength.  
I would therefore first have it considered,  Whether at the time of Justinian 's Conquest of the Italian Query 1 Goths, there had not been, at least, Two such Changes of the Secular Sovereign Power of Rome, since the time of the Visions about the Beast, as might be called Two different Heads of the Beast? 
For the Secular Sovereign Power of Rome at the time of the Vision, was the Imperial Government and Sixth Head (by Prop. 19 and 5.)— And the Imperial Government as the Sixth Head was changed, at latest, upon the ruin of the Western Empire by the Heruli and Goths (by Prop. the 22.)— There remains then nothing more to be done for the determining of this question, than to show, That the Succession of the Heruli, and Goths, to the Government of Rome, and Italy, did make a new Head of the Beast: For than it will not be questioned, but that, the Conquest of the Goths by Justinian did also make the other Head that was to be revived.  
That the Succession of those Barbarous Kings at Rome did make a new Head of the Beast, appears from the definition of an Head of the Beast (Prop. the 21st.) For upon the ruin of the Western Empire by these Kings, and their Reign over Rome, and Italy; The Supreme Secular Power of Rome was changed, and another owned there in the place of it. Tho' the one part of the Imperial Head remained still sound at Constantinople, yet by the change of the other part of it, which did more immediately preside over the City of Rome, the Sovereign power of the Romans came to be divided betwixt a King and an Emperor: And so, that which was a form of Government purely Imperial before, came to be a mixture of Kingly and Imperial Government.  
For that the new Kings of Italy, and the Eastern Emperors, made still but one Supreme form of Roman Government, though divided in the Seats of their Empire, appears from the state of the Imperial Government before the ruin of the Western Empire by these Barbarous Kings. The Eastern and Western Emperor were then but one, and the same Imperial Head, Tho' they had Two different Kingdoms; they had both of them their Authority 
Chap. xvii. pag. 157, 158.  from the 
a 
SEe Note the second on Chap. 3. Grotius de Jure Bell. & Pac. lib. 2. c. 9 Art. 11. and in the Annotat.  
Onuphrius Panvinius lib. Faster. does frequently make mention of the Constantinopolitan and Roman Consuls, and shows them to have been indifferently chosen from either of those Cities. See Pancirollus in Note 2. Chap. 4.   same people and Senate of Rome; and therefore were there half the Senate, and one of the Consuls, ordinarily residing at Constantinople. The Laws also of the Empire were jointly subscribed by both, and do now in the Code bear the names of both the Emperors; and it is the Subject of a great part of Pancirollus' Explication of the Notitia Imperii, to show, that the Military Ensigns, and the Arms of the chief Dignities of the Empire, were almost every one of them Figures on purpose contrived by the Emperors, and given by their Authority to represent the Unity of the Roman Empire all over the World under the divided shares of the Two Imperial Heads of it, as has 
Ch. 17.  been before observed, page 148. And thus were the Two Empires, but like the Two Provinces of the Two Consuls of Rome, which nevertheless were but one United Supreme Government of the Romans.  
Now all the change of this Imperial Partnership in the Government, by the change of the Western Empire, was the introducing the Kingly power into that share of the Empire.  
For in every thing else, The new Kings observed 
b 
Sigonius de Occident. Imper. lib. 15.] Odoacer did humble the Authority of the Senate and Consuls,— but in every thing else he retained the Old Constitutions of the Commonwealth, and the Rights and Names of the Magistrates;— gave the Bishops and Churches their due respect.— And speaking of Theodorick after him, lib. 16.— He retained the Roman Magistrates; and because he reigned by the Emperor's Favour, and the Consent of the Senate, he laid aside his own Country Habit, and wore the Purple and the Royal Robes;— He set up a Kingdom every way like the ancient Western Empire.  
Joan. Fersius Silesius de Praefectura Praetor.] Theodoric retained still the Roman Laws and Customs, and the very same Magistrates; so that the Citizens of Rome were ashamed to create them themselves.  
Cassiodor. lib. 3. Variar. Ep. 43.] Theodoric says, We delight in governing according to the Laws of the Romans, whom we desire to maintain by our Arms. — And all over that Book, nothing is more frequent than the mention of the Roman Commonwealth for the Kingdom of the Goths in Italy. And the whole business of it is, The Kings or Governors Letters for the administration of the Civil Government after the same manner, and by the same kinds of Magistrates, that the Western Empire had been governed by before.  
Hieron. Rubeus Histor. Ravennat. pag. 867. speaking of the Gothish Government in Italy:— But although they changed not any Roman Constitutions, as the Senate, the Praefects, the Comites, the Curators, and the like; yet they did ordinarily model them after their own fashion, but yet all in imitation of the Roman Laws and Dignities.  
And pag. 128. Then began Italy to breathe, and flourish again; and Theodoric, when he saw the Romans, whom he had an affection for, very much bend upon their ancient Liberties, he commanded all things should be administered by Roman Magistrates;— He committed the whole Government of the City to the Senate and People of Rome; but so, as that he himself chose the Praefect of the City.   the old form 
See References.  of Government which they found in use at their coming to the Crown, as appears from all the History of their Government; They changed no Roman Custom, says Rubeus. And it may 
H. Rubeus Histor. Raven. p. 128, 167.  more particularly be seen in Cassiodorus' Variarum, That they retained all the same Magistrates, by which the Government of the Western Empire was administered.  
Besides, the fall of the Western Empire was in the time of Zeno Emperor of the East; and Zeno could not be less a part of the Supreme Government of Rome after the fall of the Western Empire, than he was before the fall of it; because he had his part of the Senate of Rome, and the choice of one of the Consuls still continued to him all the the time of Odoacer the Conqueror's Reign; and 
c 
Jornandes, who was the Gothish Bishop of Ravenna, in the time of the Reign of the Goths in Italy, gives this account of King Theodoric, in his Book De Rebus Geticis, sect. 86.] Zeno, upon the report that he heard of Theodoric, than chosen King of the Goths, invites him into the City; and receiving him with Honour, placed him amongst the Nobles of his Palace.— And after that; to show him greater Honour, he adopts him his Son for the Wars, and gave a Triumph in the City at his own Costs;— then made him Consul in Ordinary, which is the highest Honour in the Empire— But Theodoric, weary of living idle, begs of Zeno that he would give him leave to try his Fortunes for the recovery of Italy, which had been a part of the Roman Empire, and contained in it that City, which was Head and Lady of the World. — For it is better, says he, that I, who am your Son, should possess that Kingdom by your Gift, than one that tyrannises over your Senate and Commonwealth; for if I be Conqueror, I shall hold it as your Gift and Favour.— Which Zeno hearing, did yield to his desire, and sent him away with Honour, recommending the Senate and People of Rome to his Care.  
Blondus Decad. l. 3. pag. 32. speaking of Theodoric 's Petition to Zeno: — When Zeno had reported this to the Senate, they voted, That it was not only very reasonable, but that it ought freely to be offered him of their own motion; wherefore Zeno, when he had honoured Theodoric with a consecrated Veil (which was then the surest Confirmation of the Emperor's Grant for any thing), sent him away, with a recommendation of Italy, and the Senate and People of Rome, to his Care.  
Carolus Sigonius de Occid. Imp. lib. 15. concerning this Grant to Theodoric.— Zeno thereupon gives him a Grant of Italy, by a public Instrument (per Pragmaticum), putting a consecrated Veil upon his Head.  
De Translat. Imp. Rom. in Germane.— Amongst the rest of the proofs that he gives of the Translation of the Western Empire upon Odoacer and the Goths, brings this for one; That Theodorick had the Grant of it by the Consent of the whole Imperial Senate; for which he quotes Sigebert, Abbas Urspergensis, etc. And that he was the Emperor's adopted Son, and made Consul, which was next in Dignity to the Emperor, and had a consecrated Veil from him, which he says was the Imperial Purple. And that Pope Symmachus was subject to him; and that he governed all the Bishops of Italy.  
Ibid. As for the Name of King, he proves from Baldus, Examp. Col. fin. de probat. & in lib. penultim. C. de donat. inter Vir. & Uxor. That a King in his Kingdom, is the same with an Emperor: the Emperors ordinarily called themselves Kings as well as Caesar's, Augusti, & Emperors.   by his own Authority did Zeno first make Theodorick, who Conquered Odoacer, one of the Roman Consuls, Adopted him for his Son like a new Caesar, then gave him a formal Commission for the Government of Rome and Italy, as the Emperor used to 
See References.  create another Emperor to share with him in the Government; and from that time was there much the same Union in the Public Acts of the Government betwixt the Gothish Kings, and the Eastern Emperors, that there had been before betwixt the Eastern and Western Emperors. Accordingly do we find the dates of the Decretals of the Popes of those days, to have the mention of the years of the Gothish Kings, as well as those of the Eastern Emperors.  
As for their occasional differences, That was no more than what used to be sometimes betwixt the two Emperors, and must necessarily be sometimes betwixt the most united Sovereigns, as it is expressly intimated by Sigonius, as the Case between Zeno and Odoacer, Lib. 15. de Imperio Occid. Zeno, says he, took Odoacer's Invasion of Italy so ill, that he would have no Society of the Empire with him; which shows by the way, That the Agreement of the Emperors with the following Kings of Italy, was the same kind of sociable Government of the Roman Empire, that had been before used amongst the Eastern and Western Emperors. Thus was Theodorick 
d 
See Not. praeced.— And Sigonius de Occid. Imp. l. 16. says of Theodoric, That he conformed himself to the Purple of the Roman Princes, and laid away the Habit of his own Country, because he was made King of Italy by the Roman Emperor and Senate. And Blondus says, pag. 37. Decad. l. 3. That Theodoric was received at Rome with the applause of the Senate and all the people.  
Hieron. Rubeus Histor. Ravennat. pag. 122. says, That Zeno and the Senate conducted Theodoric out of the City in his Robes of State.   chosen King of Italy, and of Rome, by Zeno and the whole Senate, and with pomp accompanied by them out of the City in his Robes of State; He is received at Rome for their King with the Applauses, and Acclamations of the People, and the Honours of the Senate.  
After a small difference with Anastasius the next Emperor, in 
e Cassiodor. Variar. l. 1. Ep. 1. Theodoric to Anastasius; wherein those mentioned expressions are found, and amongst them an Acknowledgement of frequent Messages from Anastasius, To love the Senate, To observe the Roman Laws, To take care of all the Members of Italy; which shows how much the Western Empire was still accounted by the Eastern Emperors to be a part of the Roman State, as it had been before, in Union with the Eastern.  the beginning of his Reign, Theodoric begs Peace of him, with an acknowledgement of his Superiority over all the World; and moves him to it by this consideration, That these two Commonwealths of the East and West, were always one body under the former Princes; And there ought to be but one Will, and one Judgement in the Kingdom of the Romans.  
And Onuphrius Pauvinius observes, Faster. pag. 308. That Theodoric enjoyed the Government of Italy, by the consent of Anastasius; and the very difference betwixt them at the beginning of Anastasius his Reign does show, what opinion Theodoric had of his being the Emperor's partner in the Government of the West: For upon Anastasius' conferring the honour of Consul, and Augustus upon Chlodoreus King of the Franks, Theodoric is 
Pomponius Laetus.  said to have declared War against him, for the Provinces of the Western Empire.  
A manifest instance does he give of his owning the same conjunction with the Eastern Empire, that the Western Emperors before him did testify by their joint Suffrages, in choosing of each of their Consuls. He sends to that Emperor to join his Suffrage with his own in 
f 
Cassiodor. Variar. lib. 2. Ep. 1. Theodoric does first acquaint the Emperor Anastasius, That he himself has chosen Felix for Consul; and then recommends him to him to join his Suffrage with him, according to the old Custom of the joint Consent of both the Eastern and Western Princes in that Choice.  
Onuphr. Panvinius Faster. p. 61. & p. 290.] shows how the Consuls were chosen at Rome and Constantinople in the time of the Gothish Kings, and gives a particular Account of all the Consuls of the West and East.   the choice of Felix for that years Consul, that he might show his care of both the Commonwealths; And 
g See Onuph. Panvinius Faster. p. 308. Anno 507. Cum Anastasio Augusto Consul Venantius Theodoric Comes domesticorum.  Verientius, Theodoric's Comes domesticorum, was chosen Consul with the Emperor Anastasius. And the joint consent of the two Emperors in the choice of their Consuls, was one of the most remarkable testimonies of their perfect concord in the same common Government of the Roman Empire: For the 
h See in Note 25. chap. 4. Justinian. Novel 105. 6. Cod. Theodos. Tit. 6, 7.  Consulary dignity was always accounted the next in Degree and Honour to that of Emperor.  
In the time of the Gothish Kings we do also find the ancient Ensign of Honour continued to be carried before those of the Consulary Dignity, which had been 
i See chap. 17. Pancirollus about the Ensigns of Authority carried before all the great Magistrates in the time of the division of the Empire.  used ever since the division of the Empire, to signify the Unity of the two Emperors in the Roman Government; And which Pancirollus says (p. 46. Notit. Orient.) That it was the chiefest of all the Ensigns of Public Authority; And that was, to have the Heads of both the Princes of the East and West carried before them upon a Mace: As may be seen in the Forms of the Gothish King's Letters to the new Elected Consulary Magistrate, Cassiod. Var. Lib. 6. Epist. 20. Vultus quinetiam Regnantûm, etc. The Faces of the Princes are carried before thee in Pomp, That thou mayst be Reverenced for the Authority of the Governors. And again, The name of Consul bespeaks thee to be Merciful: And the Images of the Princes declare that thou oughtest to be feared. And there were Two and Twenty of these Consulary Magistrates in the Western Division, which appear to 
N. B.  have continued to the time of Justinian. Pancirol. Notit. Imp. Orient. p. 249. The same Figure had the chief Military General engraven upon the backside of a Book, Id. pag. 56.  
Athalaricus 
k 
Cassiodor. Variar. l. 8. Ep. 1. Vos avum nostrum in vestrâ civitate celsis curulibus extulistis. Vos genitorem meum in Italiâ palmatae claritate decorâstis.  
Cassiodor. Variar. l. 11. Ep. 1. It appears by the Letter of Cassiodorus to the Senate, That Justinian had taken advantage of the Death of Theodoric to invade the Gothish Territories in Illyricum, while things were unsettled under the young Prince Athalaricus and his Mother; but that he was well repulsed in the Attempt, and that the Goths had gained upon the Eastern Empire in these parts.— In the very beginning of her Reign (says hc of Amalasuntha and Athalaricus) when Attempts are usually made, by reason of the unsetledness of new Changes, the Army made the Danube part of the Roman Empire, in spite of the Prince of the East. It is well enough known what the Invaders met with; which I purposely omit, lest the Genius of a Social Prince (that is, then in a League of Peace) should put on the blush of a Traitor.   after Theodoric, Solicits the favour of Justinian, that they might continue in Peace and Union, as his Father had done; and commemorates the former Emperor's kindnesses, in making his Grandfather Consul at Constantinople, and his Father Consul in Italy; For his Father Eutharicus was 
l Cassiodor. Chronicon pag. 702.] D. N. Eutharicus Cillica, & Justinus Aug. Cos. And there does Cassiodorus describe the Pomp in which Eutharicus appeared at Rome in the time of his Consulship, after which he returned to his Father Theodoric to Ravenna.  Consul with the Emperor Justin; and his Father's Consulship in Italy is an evident sign of the joint suffrages of both the Princes for the Consul of Rome, especially when it appears, that 
m Onuph. Panvin. Faster. p. 308. Anno 510. Eutharicus Consul Orientalis, cum Boethio Occidentali.  Lutharicus was once the Consul of the East, viz. when he was Colleague with Roatheus the Western Consul. Onuph. Panci. Faster. Anno 510.  
He professes the strength of his Kingdom to lie in his good correspondence with the Emperors; and mentions 
n Cassiod. Variar. l. 8. Ep. 10.] He was also made your Son for the Wars, in order to a closer Union.— This Name you will more fitly bestow upon so young a Man as I am, since you have given it to those that were much older.  his Father's being his adopted Son, like those who were made Augusti or Partners of the Empire by others, and desires the same for himself.  
Amalasuntha, and Theodohadus, after the death of Athalaricus, send the same professions of Amity, and desire an Union betwixt the Two Kingdoms, as that which was then confirmed by long 
o Cassiod. Var. l. 10. Ep. 1, 2.  Custom, and become like a Law betwixt them: And they both send to the Emperor for leave to transport 
p 
Cassiod. Var. l. 10. Ep. 8.] Justiniano Aug. Amalasuntha Regina.— For it is fit that the Roman World should be embellished by your assistance, which the love of your Serenity does illustrate.  
And Theod. Ep. 9] It is but fitting that you should willingly grant us those things, which, if we were negligent of, we ought to be stirred up by your Clemency to set about; for, without question, all must be very pleasing to you, whatsoever shall be done by us for the Ornament of Italy, because it is to your Honour, whensoever the Glory of our Commonwealth is advanced.   Marble for the Ornament of that Roman World, and Commonwealth, which they express his glory to be concerned in; and Theodohadus in particular sends his recommendation of a Petitioner to him about the Affairs of the Church at Ravenna, notwithstanding that Ravenna was Theodahadus his Royal Seat: But the Goths being Arrians, they committed the chief care of the Orthodox to the Emperor.  
Vitiges pleads with the 
r Idem l. 10. Ep. 32.] Vitiges R. Justiniano Aug.— That you may do after your usual manner, that both the Commonwealths may continue in Concord, and that according to the manner of the Princes that have gone before, etc.  Emperor Justinian for Peace in the same stile; shows him how much Rome, the Head of the world, had suffered by the War, moves him to Peace, by the consideration of the advantage of both parts of the Roman Commonwealth by it, and the Examples of all former Princes; and solicits the 
s Idem l. 10. Ep. 33.] Magistro officior. Vitiges R.— For though I may be thought to have deserved less of you, yet have some regard to the Roman Liberties, which by the Tumults of War are  violated.  concurrence of the great Men of that Court with him in that motion, upon the account of the common Liberty of the Roman Nation.  
The Senate also of Rome itself uses the same motive to Justinian for Peace, 
t Cassiod. Var. l. 11. Ep. 13.] Justiniano Aug. Senatus Urbis Romanae.— It is a very just and necessary thing to petition for the security of the Roman Commonwealth, of one that is a pious Prince of it, because it is reasonable for you to desire all that may contribute to our Advantage or Liberty, etc.  because Rome ought to be his care, and therefore not to be suffered to be ruined upon his account; And that it was his Agreement only with the Goths, that made that City find favour with them, because of his concern in the common Interest of the Romans.  
And well worth the perusing for this purpose, is 
u Ibidem. Be not thou the cause of my Ruin, who hast always contributed to the Joy of my Life— Do not ruin by Discord, whom thou oughtest to defend by War.— Join Counsels (with the King) and unite your Forces, that whatsoever may be to my Advantage, may redound to your Glory.  That Prosopopaeia, which the Senate represents to Justinian in the name of the City of Rome, as his peculiar City, that aught to be his care and concern; and that he ought to maintain Peace and Unity with the Goths for her sake.  
It is also a remarkable observation of Joh. Fersius Silesius to this purpose in his Book de Praefect. Praetor. That Justinian demanded of the Gothish King as the condition of the Peace, That he should never set up his Statue, without Justinian's in an higher eminency than his own, and at the Right hand, as the more Honourable place; which confirms the former Custom of setting up both the Prince's Statues to signify one Empire in common to them both, though the Emperor would have the precedence.  
Again, both the Eastern Emperors and Gothish Kings had the name of Rerum Domini, or Lords of the World, from the same City of Rome, which was then called, The Head of all things. Of the Emperors, it is unquestionable; and 
x Idem l. 11. Ep. 1, 8, 10. l. 12. Ep. 3, 5, 6, 11, 18.  of the Gothish Kings it is no less certain, from Lib. 11. and 12. Cassiod. Variarum, in above Twenty several instances of that Title. And both Emperor and King were represented together in Italy at least, as the one conjoined Sovereign Authority of the Roman Empire, as appears from the before cited form of the King's Letters to 
Pag. 186.  the new elected Consulary Magistrate, where the Heads of both the Princes are said to be carried before them.  
And accordingly we find the Dates of the Pontificates in those times, to have the King of the Goths, as well as the Eastern Emperor signified in whose time the Popes lived. The Wars betwixt the Goths and Justinian, are no greater objection against their being One Head of the Romans, than the Civil Wars betwixt the Two Consuls, Silvius, and Cinna, etc. Or the Wars betwixt the Two Emperors of the East and West, who yet for a while, at least, are acknowledged by the chief Adversaries of my opinion to have been one of the Heads of the Beast.  
From hence then it may be certainly concluded, That so considerable a change of the Form of the Sovereign power of Rome is sufficient to give it the name of one of those two last Kings of the Eight, Rev. 17. 10, 11. which should come immediately after that Imperial Sixth Head which Ruled at the time of the Vision; for it has all the qualifications of one of those Kings; That is, it is a change of the Supreme Government of Rome. And to know what kind of change of that Government is sufficient for the Title of one of these Kings, one must consult the Examples of those, which were passed before it.  
It is certain, That the five first changes (called the five Kings past, and one in being) could be nothing but the change of the name of the Civil Sovereign power, let them be what they will in particular: For there was one and the same Religion in them all. There are then five plain instances in the same Figure, to justify the making of this change of the name of the Civil Roman Government at the ruin of the Western Empire to be one of those Two Kings of the Eight, which were to come after the Imperial Sixth Head, that was the King at the time of the Vision.  
Besides, There is also the example of the Ten Horns, or Ten Kings (represented by them) to show the difference betwixt the Supreme powers, which they signified, to be nothing but outward civil differences. For those Ten Kings are said to be of one and the same Religion, to be of one mind, and to agree together in false Worship. 
Rev. 17. 13, 17.   
Here are then Sixteen instances in the same Figure, to show that the change of the Civil Form of Roman Government by the Gothish Kings was sufficient to make them to be accounted one of those Two Kings that were to come after the Sixth King, that Ruled in St. John's time.  
If further we consult the usages of the Figures in Daniel, that signify Kings, we shall find there, that the only note of distinction to know different Kings by, is some outward civil difference, either upon the account of a different Dominion, or for being another name of the Civil Government in the same Dominion; and the number of the instances of that kind in that Prophecy are about Thirty.  
So that there seems to be no manner of reason, why this change of the name of the Sovereign Power of Rome, by the Goths succeeding the Imperial, should not be one of those Two Kings, that were to come after the Imperial, since All the Eight Kings are agreed to be so many changes of the Roman Government.  
And though it should be said, That the change of the Religion of the Empire by Constantine, was one of those Kings; yet since the different kind of the Civil Government under the same Religion, have been found to be the difference betwixt all the Kings besides, that are figuratively mentioned in Daniel, or the Revelations; This constant usage of Prophetical expressions, in above Sixty Instances, is surely warrant enough to make that remarkable change of the Civil Form of the Sovereign Power, at the fall of the Western Empire, to be another King, though the Religion might continue the same.  
Now if this change of the name of the Civil Government by the Goths, were either the Seventh or Eighth King after the Imperial, than it must make a new Head, because it is one of the first and clearest Propositions that has been advanced, That every one of those Eight Kings are one of the Seven Heads of the Beast, by Prop. the 5th. 
q Idem l. 10. Ep. 15.    

CHAP. VIII. 
Rev. XIII.   
The Second Query, Whether the Reign of the Beast did not begin with Justinian 's Conquests of the Italian Goths? This endeavoured to be demonstrated. Eighteen Objections answered.  
AFTER what has been said for the making the Gothish Kings one of the Eight Kings, it will easily be granted, that Justinian's Conquest of the Goths in Italy must make another new Head, because it had the same qualifications that the other before it had for being one of the Two Kings after the Imperial, that ruled at the time of the Vision; that is, It was a very remarkable change of the name of the Civil Sovereign Power of Rome, which is the only constant difference betwixt all the Changes in the same Empire, that are to be found in Daniel, or the Revelations; And Examples are the Rules that are to be followed in Interpretations (by Rule 2, and 3.) Now if this be once granted, it seems to be scarce worth the making it a question,  Whether the first Rise of the Beast were not upon the Conquest of the Query 2 Goths in Italy by Justinian? 
For the Beast is in being at this present (by Prop. 23.) And he could not arise either before or after Justinian's Conquest.  
1. Not after it. For at that time there had been at least two Changes of the Secular Government of Rome, since the time of the Vision (by Query 1.)— And the last of these two Changes is the Beast (by Prop. 20.)  
2. The Beast could not arise before that time. For then at Justinian's Conquest there would have been another Change of the Civil Government of Rome, and so would the Beast have been put an end to; but the time of the Beast is not yet past (by Prop. 23. and Coral. 4. Prop. 15.) Now if the first Rise of the Beast could be neither before, nor after Justinian's Conquest, it must necessarily be at the same time with it.  
The whole strength of this proof does lie upon the general Notion of Heads, and Horns, in Daniel, and the Revelations, and the constant mark of their distinction from one another; And the mark of their distinction from one another in all the known Examples of Figures in both these Prophecies, is nothing, but either a distinct jurisdiction, or a different name of the Civil Government, and not any differences from one another in point of Religion, or any other accidental qualifications.  
The differences of the Heads, or Horns, that are described to be in Rule in the same Kingdom all at one time, are nothing but distinct civil Jurisdictions in that one Monarchy.  
The differences betwixt Successive Heads, or Horns, in regard of the Successive Change of the state of the Beast, are nothing 
Observe. 4. Prop. 16.  but new names of the Civil Sovereign Power of that Monarchy. If the change be from one to many, than it signifies the divided state of that Monarchy, and the change of the Monarchical Form of it into many distinct Principalities ruling in it; as may be seen in the Example of the Fourth Beast with the Ten Horns, in the 7th Chapter of Daniel, and in the He-Goat, of the 8th Chapter, with the first Horn, and the other four after him. If the Change be represented by single Heads, or Horns, coming after one another, than every Head, or Horn, signifies a new name of the Ruling Power of that Monarchy, without any divisions in it. So, as has been shown, does the Second Horn of the Ram of the 8th Chapter of Daniel, signify the Succession of the Sovereign Power over the same Nation of the Medes and Persians, by the name of the King of Persia, in the place of the King of Media. And the six first Heads of the Beast in the Revelations, that are described as succeeding in order, do all signify the several changes of the name of the chief Ruling Power of the Romans.  
By these Examples it appears, That the only Constitutive or Essential difference of an Head of the Beast, is a new different name of the Civil Power that rules in chief; And therefore there seems to be no ground from the known Examples of the signification of Successive Heads, or Horns, to make the rise of the Christian Religion, in the Imperial Head, by Constantine, to be a new King of the Seven, whenas the same civil Form of Government continued under the same name of the Imperial Government, or the Government of Emperors.  
If the many instances of this kind in Daniel, and the Revelations, which (counting the three shows of the Seven Heads, and Ten Horns in the Revelations) are more than seventy, be of any force, than the Imperial Government cannot be said to be changed by the Succession of a new King, till there be another different Form of Civil Government set up at Rome in its place, under another name; And then the Imperial Form, which is said to be in being at the time of the Vision, will continue the same, till the Western Empire was cut off by the Heruli, and Goths of Italy; which will show it to be necessary for the return of the Imperial Rule again over Rome, by Justinian, to be the Eighth, which was one of the Seven, that is, the sixth returned into being again.  
The Rise of the Beast with Justinian, may be thus further confirmed.  
The Beast is the Eighth King, and was of the Seven, Rev. 17. 11. and therefore was one of the Seven Kings, who had been in Rule before, and was returned into it again (by Coral. Prop. 4.) But he could not have been the Seventh King, that was in Rule before, because than he would have been the Seventh still continued, and not a new King with the name of an Eighth. See Coral. Prop. 18.  
The Beast therefore must have been either the Sixth King, that is, the Imperial Government returned into Rule again, or one of the other five before it. But before the time of Justinian there was neither any restauration of the Imperial Government of Rome, that was fallen from it before, nor any new reviving of any of the other five Governments of Rome, which were before the Imperial.  
1. It will be objected, That this would make the Imperial Head Objections. to continue unchanged from the time of the Vision, to the fall of the Western Empire; whereas the Sixth Head seems plainly to be represented to have its deadly wound upon the Dragon at Constantine's 
Rev. 12.  Conversion of the Imperial Head to Christianity. For immediately after that, in the 13th Chapter, is the Beast shown with his Head wounded to death, and yet healed again, after the Dragon had been said in the 12th Chapter to have been thrown down from Heaven.  
All that can be made appear from the fall of the Dragon (supposing Answer. the Application of it to the fall of Paganism by Constanstine's Conversion) is, That the Reign of Diabolical Rage in the Imperial Head against the Christian Church, was then at an end, and that Christianity was mounted on the Throne instead of it. But there is no manner of hint about the end of the Imperial Head itself, or of the change of it for a new Head; It is only the change of the Reign of the Devil in that Head, and therefore is it said to be Satan only cast down: And though one would judge this to be a great change of Affairs, yet there was no reason from hence to make the loss of the Dragon's Power the end of an Head, because his Power never was the beginning of one; The Imperial Head had not its denomination or distinctive Character from the other Heads upon the account of the power of the Dragon in it, and therefore it cannot cease to be an Head, only for having that power cast out of it.  
That it was not the power of the Dragon that was the distinguishing Character of the Imperial Head from those that were before it, is certain. For the Red Dragon with the Seven Heads and Ten Horns, must necessarily be some Roman Power persecuting the Church of God: And then it must 1. Either begin at Pompey's Conquest of Judaea, which was in the time of the Consulary Government, and continued in the Dictatorship of Julius Caesar; and so the Red Dagon would be in one or two Heads more besides the Imperial, and therefore could not be the mark of distinction betwixt them and the Imperial: If so, than the continuance of the Imperial Government without the Dragon in it, has all reason to be accounted the same Head still, since the Dragon was no part of the essential difference of the Imperial Head from the two others that went before it; and therefore does the casting out of the Dragon out of the Imperial Head, make no change of that Property which made it an Head: Or, 2dly, The Dragon must be the Roman persecution of the Christians. And then the Imperial Head would have been begun a long time before the time of the Dragon in it; which would plainly show, that as the Imperial Government was an Head of the Beast before it was possessed by the Dragon, so must it continue the same Head of the Beast after it was dispossessed of the Dragon.  
2. And whereas this Opinion seems to be countenanced from the immediate consequence of it in the 13th Chapter, which is 
v. 3.  the appearance of an Head wounded to death, and healed again; It is to be considered, that the maintainers of this Opinion themselves do allow at least 140 years' space, betwixt the Fall of the Dragon, and the Rise of that other Beast: And then there is no Argument at all from the nearness of the two Visions to one another, either to interpret that Fall of the wounding of any of the Seven Heads, or to make so little a distance of space betwixt the Fall, and the Rise of the Beast.  
There is a plain mention of a flood cast out of the Dragon's 
Rev. 12. 15.  mouth, which in Prophetic Language signifying an inundation of vast multitudes of People, does give opportunity and time enough for the wounding of the Head, and the healing it again; and this distance betwixt them is by our Adversaries said to be 140 years.  
Indeed this very 13th Chapter does show the power of the Dragon to be wholly spiritual, considered by himself; For he is represented here as active as he was before he was cast down; which shows that he was only an Evil Spirit in one of the Heads, and not the Head itself. For than his casting down would have been the Dragon's deadly wound, as the Head of the Beast, that was before past, is represented to be so wounded; whereas the Dragon is as much in action after his fall, as he was before. He was then the same spiritual Power when he was in the Head, and when he was cast out of it; and therefore distinct from it.  
3. It will be further urged, that this would make the Imperial Head continue an Head of the Beast after it was turned Christian, whereas the Heads of the Beast are said to have the names of blasphemy upon them.  
But it is known, that things are called by the name of that which is most predominant amongst them; And since the time of the Christian Emperors in that Head was inconsiderable, in comparison of the time of Heathenism, the Objection has no weight in it.  
4. But than it seems harder to answer that Character upon the Seventh Head, or Gothish Kings.  
It will not be so very difficult if it be considered, That the Seventh Head is the mixed form of Imperial and Regal Government; For it is not hard to find the beginning of that degeneracy of Christianity, which is called Blasphemy, in the established Roman Religion 
a 
WE find in St. Augustine, contra Faustum, lib. 20. c. 2. [which was near an 100 years before this time] that the Manachees would have the Orthodox to be like the Pagans. And Faustus thence says, Ye have turned the Idols of the Pagans into Martyrs, whom you worship with the same kind of Invocations: And the Edicts of Valens and Theodosius against the Adorations of the Image of Christ, confirms it; Hospinian. pag. 49.  
The Worship of the Saints by Invocation, etc. seems to be very near akin to the Worship of the Lesser Gods amongst the Heathens, and then it must needs be Blasphemy.  
H. Salmeron praelud. 7. in Apocalyps.] gives this very reason, why by Babylon the Harlot, must be understood Rome Heathen, viz. because it did worship the Images of all the Gods in the Pantheon, as the Saints.   of the Eastern Empire at that time. And however different the Goths might be from the Romans in Opinion, yet we have 
b 
Petavius Ration. Temp. part. 1. l. 6. c. 2. de Theodorico.]— And tho according to the Religion of his Country, he was of the Arrian Sect, yet he defended the Rights and Liberties of the Roman Church with all faithfulness.  
And Sigonius says of Odoacer before him, That he gave the Bishops and the Churches their due respects, lib. 15. de Imp. Occident. And Baron. Anno 476. that he gave the Catholic Church no trouble in Church-matters.  
But sufficient Instances of the preservation of the Rights of the Roman Church by the Gothish Kings may be found in Cassiodorus' Book of Variar. As Lib. 2. Ep. 28. There is first Theodoric's Profession, that he ought not to force Religion upon any; not upon Jews. Lib. 3. Ep. 45.— He mentions the Defenders of the Rights of the Roman Church (Commissioners settled by himself) and upon their complaint of an Injury, enjoins his Deputy by all means to right them according to the former grants to the Roman Church. Lib. 4. Ep. 20. orders the Restitution of Gifts taken away from the Church.  
Athalaricus, after him, makes Laws about the Election of the Roman Bishops, and Clergy, Lib. 8. Ep. 15. Ep. 24. l. 9 Ep. 15.  
The Church-Annals do also give an account of many Synods that were called by Theodoric for the good of the Roman Church; for which Baronius gives him this Character, That though he were a Barbarian, Arrian, Heretic, and Stranger, yet notwithstanding the importunity of the Schismatics, he shown so very great a Reverence to the Church, or See Apostolic. Baron. Ann. 501.   Petavius his acknowledgement, That Theodorick whose Reign was the best part of the whole time of the Reign of the Goths in Italy, did defend the Rights and Liberties of the Roman Church with the greatest care and faithfulness; And we find much the same account of those who succeeded him. 
See References.   
We are also informed, that in the point 
c Sanders de Vis●b. Monarch. p. 220. In the Honour of the Saints, the Arrians do also agree with us. Quaere.  of the Honour of the Saints, the Arrian Goths were of the same Opinion with the Romans; and they are also charged with the giving Christ divine worship, though they judged him to be but a Creature, which is apprehended to be an Idolatrous Worship.  
Besides, The names of Blasphemy are not said to be on all the Heads; whereas to make it appear that there were Crowns upon every Horn of the Ten, it had been said just before — Ten Horns, and upon his Horns Ten Crowns— which seems to make a difference betwixt that, and what is said of the Seven Heads; and on his Heads the names of Blasphemy— not on his Seven Heads.  
And though there should be but six of the Heads blasphemous, that were enough to say of them, that the names of Blasphemy were on them; as indefinite ways of speech are often used in Scripture. For Example: The Ten Kings, it is said, should burn the Whore, which no one would judge necessary to be done by every one of the Ten. So is it said that the Four Beasts, Dan. 7. 17. (said to be Four Kings) shall arise out of the Earth, though the 
Rev. 17. 16.  First, or Babylonian, were then almost past.  
Grotius, Apoc. 12. 1. observes, That the Disciples were often called the Twelve, when there were not so many of them together, as particularly St. John 20. 24. after the death of Judas.  
He does also there furnish us with another Answer to this, that the names of blasphemy are upon the Seven Heads in the 13th Chapter, to signify the Idolatrous State of the Seven Hills, or of the Roman Reign, when the Crowns were upon the Horns, or when the Empire was divided into so many Sovereigns; But the Crowns were upon the Seven Heads in the 12th Chapter to show, that then there was no other Seat of Roman Reign, but the Seven Hills. In this way the names of blasphemy have no respect to the Seven Kings, that are signified by the Seven Heads, but only to the Seven Hills, which they do also represent, or the City of Rome in the time of the Ten Kings. This indeed, and no other way, does give a very good reason, why all the Heads should be crowned in the 12th Chapter, and none in the 13th.  
If it be still urged, That the Beast itself, of which every one of them are the Heads, is said to be full of Blasphemy; that is easily answered; For by the Beast there, is meant only that one peculiar 
Rev. 17. 3.  state of it under its last Head, Prop. 6.  
And for the other Examples of Beasts in Daniel, we find no Characteristic Note of Blasphemy, or Idolatry, upon them; All that they are set out for, as any ways dreadful, is only the fierceness of their power in their Horns, or their Paws, or in their Teeth, or in their prevailing Conquests.  
And those Beasts in particular, of which this in the Revelations is described to be made up of, viz, A Lion, a Bear, and a Leopard, are such as both in their own natures are given to destroy, and ruin; And are so set out, and that in conjunction with one another in Scripture, as the destroyers of God's People. So do we find the Lion and the Leopard joined together, Jerem. 5. 6. The Lion and the Bear, Amos 5. 19 Prov. 28. 15. And in the 13th of Hosea 7, 8. We have them all three together.  
And very great Critics in these things, though Defenders of 
Dr. Moor, B. Bestia.  the Idolatrous quality of all the Heads, and Horns of the Beast, yet acquaint us, that the 
d 
Dr. Moor in his Alphabet of Prophetical Iconismes, Vol. I. pag. 598. — Literar. B. Bestia.  
Great Empires are called Beasts, not only for their Idolatry, but also for their bloody Tyranny, as Grotius has observed upon Mat. 20. Where Christ declares the difference betwixt his Disciples, and the Kings of the Gentiles. This opposition, says he, shows, why the Empires of the World are set out amongst the Prophets by the Figures of Beasts; but the Kingdom of Christ by the Image of a Man, the Son of Man. Where by Beasts Grotius must understand Feras, and then it will properly answer the use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Septuagint in the same way, viz. for wild Beasts, and has almost the same likeness of sound, and derivation with it— otherwise the Kingdoms of the World might have been called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as the Four Beasts in the 4th Chapter of the Apocalypse, and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.   proper signification of a Beast in Daniel, according to the word in the Original, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is only a great living Creature. It is indeed rendered by the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to express the terror of it; But that, according to the general use of it by the Septuagint, signifies only a fierce Beast, to denote the conquering power of it, without the least intimation of Idolatry in it. And Grotius himself, who will have the notion of a Beast to be nothing else but an Idolatrous Empire, yet on St. Matthew 20. 25. observes, that therefore are the Empires of the World represented by Beasts, upon the account of their Tyrannising Power; but the Reign of Christ by the Figure of a Man: And 
e Malvenda de Antichristo, pag. 257. John does therefore call Antichrist a Beast— that he might signify that his Persecution will be the fiercest— But that under that name is very properly signified terrible and dreadful Empires for their fierceness and cruelty, St. Jerome, etc. all agree.  Malvenda says, that St. Jerome, and all besides, did agree, that formidable Empires were properly signified by that name for their fierceness and cruelty.  
And to the same purpose does 
f Ribera in v. 7. c. 11. Apocalyps, item in v. 1. cap. 13. Bestia, Though amongst the Latins it be a general word, yet here it does properly signify a fierce, and hurtful Beast, as the Latins themselves understand Bestiar●i; that is, those that fight with Beasts, and that are sent to the Beasts. Which also the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does make appear, which our Apostle always makes use of, and is properly applied to those Animals that do mischief by poison, or by biting. Upon this account is it, that c. 11. number. 19 we said out of Arethas, etc. And St. Jerome interprets Daniel's Four Beasts to be Four Kingdoms; And says, And this is to he noted, that the Fierceness and Cruelty of Kingdoms is signified by the name of Beasts — Arethas does also so interpret it, and shows the holy Methodius and St. Hippolytus to be of the same mind.  Ribera quote St. Jerome, and Arethas.  
It is also worth the observing, that in those very days, when these Visions were wrote, The Roman People, and Empire, were called by the name of Great Beast by their own Heathen Authors, who meant no more by that Expression than the selfwilled, commanding nature of the Body of a People, or Empire. Thus does Suetonius represent Tiberius his Censure of his Friends for persuading him to take the Government upon him, as Men that were ignorant what a Great Beast an Empire was, Quanta Bellua esset Imperium, In Tiberio, Art. 24. And Horace, Ep. 1. Lib. 1. calls the Roman People Bellua multorum Capitum, A great manyheaded Beast.  
As for the common use of the Heads, and Horns of a Beast, there are near 60 Instances against nothing that is plain to the contrary, That they signify only differences of the Civil Form of the Government, without any reference to Idolatrous Worship that is any where expressly mentioned: Thus in the first Six Heads of the Dragon, and Beast, thrice in the Revelations, in the Ten Horns of the Fourth Kingdom of the 7th of Daniel, in the Four Heads of the Leopard there, in the Horns of the two Beasts in the 8th Chapter.  
5. But it may be urged, That there was a change of the Civil Form of the Imperial Government before the times of the Goths in Italy. There was a division of the Empire into East, and West, by Constantine, and two distinct Jurisdictions seated at Rome and Constantinople. This division came to be perfectly settled at the death of the first Theodosius, and continued in that estate for near 80 years; And this also not as two divided Kingdoms (which must have been represented by two Heads, or two Horns, according to all the Examples of divisions of Sovereignty in Daniel, or the Revelations) but as two halves of one and the same Roman Empire by a joint and common concern of both those parts, for the Government and Administration of the whole Roman Empire, as has been before observed, much after the manner of the Two Consuls of the same Roman Commonwealth. This then seems to be a new face of the Imperial Power, as different from the first, as the Consuls seemed to be from the Regal Power.  
But the increase of the number of the Ruling Persons, that have the same name, and title, is known by several Instances not to be a change of that kind of Government. The Consuls were sometimes 
g Cuspinian in Chronic. Cassiodori. pag. 264. The Triumvirate gave the Consulship to as many of the Princes as they pleased.  more than two, sometimes 
h In Cassiodorus Chronicon. it may be observed, that Pompey, in the disturbances of the Commonwealth, continued alone the only Consul, and there was no other Choice at the usual time; And so was Lepidus in the time of the Triumvirate. Cuspinian. in Chronic. Cassiodor. pag. 250. & pag. 262.  but one. The military Tribunes with the power of Consuls, were sometimes more, sometimes fewer 
i 
Fenestilla de Magistrate. Romans, c. 16.  
There were therefore Three Military Tribunes created with the power of Consuls, and were continued with great variety for their number; sometimes they were Twenty, sometimes more, sometimes fewer. Or as this is corrected by Cuspinian as wrongly printed in the Pandects (F. de Orig. juris) At first Six, afterwards Eight, or somewhat more: As Livy writes in his Fifth Book, Cuspinian in Cassiodori Chronicon. p. 95.   in a very great variety. And the Imperial Power itself, before this establishment of the Two Empires, was in the hands of sometime two, sometimes three, and once of four, and yet were not these changes in the same form of Government ever accounted any other than the same Consulary, Tribunal and Imperial Government: Nor were the two Czars of Muscovy of late accounted any thing more than the same Government by Emperors, that it was before; nor was the increasing or diminishing the settled number of Senators at several times, the making a new Senate; and the having two different Seats of Supreme Authority, is not much more than the two Provinces of the two Consuls of Rome.  
6. If the distance betwixt the end of the Imperial Head, and the rise of the Beast should seem to be too far asunder for the description of the rise of the Man of Sin, 2 Thess. 2. 7, 8. Which seems to intimate, that it should be immediately after the end of the Imperial Power.  
It may be answered, That the Particle, then, in that expression — And then shall be revealed— is very often in Scripture used, where there is a great distance of time betwixt that which went before, and that which it introduceth.  
Grotius does upon this verse acquaint us, that the Partitle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or then, does very ordinarily in Scripture connect very distant times together, of which he there gives many Examples.  
Besides, by the Seventh King that is described to come betwixt 
Rev. 17. 10.  the Imperial Government, and the Beast, must be meant another form of Government of some short continuance after the fall of the Imperial Head; And the time that is assigned here for it, is but seventy years, which is but the Age of one single person; 
Isa. 23. 15.  whereas those that do the most oppose this way, do make the Seventh King to continue near twice as long.  
But that which does the most clearly show the little weight there is in the Particle then in this place to signify the immediate Succession of the Man of Sin, upon the fall of the Western Empire, is the Opinion of almost all Interpreters, concerning the first rise and appearance of the Man of Sin. For they generally agree, that it was either a good while before the ruin of that Empire, or some while after; and any one that considers in what a state of humiliation the Bishops of Rome were under the Arrian Kings of the Heruli and Goths in Italy immediately upon the fall of the Western Empire, must conclude, that that was a very improper posture of the Roman Affairs, to fix the revealing of the Man of Sin to.  
But that which does the most fully answer this Objection, is, that the Man of Sin, and the Beast in the Revelations, may not be exactly the same thing; the Man of Sin may be the False Prophet, and then why may he not be thought to make some show of himself before the full rise of the Beast; though his fullgrown appearance was not till after the Reign of the Beast?  
7. If it be further objected, That the Imperial Line, that was begun in Justinian, was cut off from the Rule of Rome at the deprivation of Leo Isaurus, and the Eastern Emperors by the Pope; and therefore that the Emperors from Justinian could not be the Beast, since the Beast was to continue in being till the second coming of Christ.  
It is to be considered, That the conferring of the Title of Roman Emperor upon Charlemaigne not long after, did continue the Succession of the Imperial Head to this day: And if there had been a perfect Inter-Reign from the end of Leo Isaurus to Charlemaigne, that would not have discontinued the Imperial Head. For since there was no other Secular Head of Rome owned for Supreme there in the room of the Imperial, during that space of time, the Imperial Head still continued without the interposition of any other. For the Lombard Kings, who were the only appearing Power of Italy besides, were so far from being owned for Supreme at Rome in the room of the Eastern Emperors, that the Pope 
k Petavius Rationar. Temp. Part. I. Lib. 8. cap. 7. speaking of Aistulphus King of the Lombard's— And then he delivered to the Pope, by the Abbot Fulrade, the Exarchat of Ravenna, and the Five Cities, that is, Ancona, and the four Towns of the Picene Territory, and other adjacent.  had all their most considerable Territories given him by Pepin, the Father of Charlemaigne; And 
l 
Ludovic. à Bebenberg quotes the Historiae Francorum for what follows— Pope Stephen, the Successor of Zacharias, about the Year 753. anointed Pepin, and his two Sons, viz. Charles (afterwards Charlemaignc) and Carolomannus, for Kings of the Franks, and obliged the Princes of the Franks to choose none of any Family, than these, whom he had made choice of by the Providence of God to defend the Apostolic See. And so Pepin enters that year into Italy for that very purpose.— Upon this account it is very probable, that the Chronicle of St. Martin, and others of the same Opinion, have said, that Pope Stephen translated the Empire from the Greeks to the Germans. For since the business of the Emperor is to defend the Roman Church, and to exalt the (Head of it) the Pope (as appears Dist. 6. Tibi Domino) and to protect the Clergy (96 Distinct. c. ult.) and the Holy Churches, as other Kings and Princes are (23. q. 5. c. Principes, etc. Administratores) And since Constantine, and his Son Leo, required to do this by Pope Stephen against the Lombard's (as appears Ext. de Elect. venerabilem in ult. glossâ) did refuse to do it; therefore did Pope Stephen choose Pepin, and Charles, etc. and their Successors, etc.— And for the contrariety of Chronicles, we ought to stand to the Chronicle of the Franks abovementioned, which seems to have been wrote by a Frank, who therefore was well acquainted with the Transaction of this Translation. For this History of the Franks in this matter concerning Charlemaigne, is taken out of the Writings of the Abbot Rhegius of the Diocese of Triers, who has reason to be thought to be well acquainted with the History of the Princes of his own Country.  
The sum of the Canon-Law, printed at Venice, with the Privileges of almost all Monarches and Popes, by the Title of the Speculum of Popes, Emperors and Kings, does affirm the Translation of the Empire from the Greeks to the Franks, to have been done by Pope Stephen, about the Year 753. Ludovicus a Bebenburg, attributes to Pepin, Ann. Dom. 753. and A. Rosellus, to the Year 755. and Marinus to the same Year. De Translat. Imp. Rom. in Germanos, sect. Quod Translatio Imp. non facta erat per Papam.  
And Bellarmin. L. 1. de Translatione Imp. Romani in Germanos, cap. 12. grants that Charlemaigne conquered Italy 20 years before he was Crowned by the Pope.   Charlemaigne himself 
See References.  was within some years after Leo Isaurus owned by the Pope for the Royal Defender of the Liberties of Rome, and of the Church, though he had not the Title of Emperor till many years after.  
If any should dispute the Right of Charlemaigne, because the Constantinopolitan Emperor was 
m Bellarmin. in his First Book de Translat. Imp. Rom. in Germanos, c. 12. does give an account of the Succession of the Constantinopolitan Emperors to Charlemaigne, and of the owning the Title of the Western Emperors. And cap. 5. To the same purpose, Ludovic. à Bebenberg, in note 6. on the 6th Chapter. M. Frehems his Commentator.  unjustly deposed, They may as well question the Right of Succession in most of the Emperors before. Possession, and not Right, was that which did always confirm the Imperial Title: And it will be hard to find any constant way of Succession, or Election, in the Imperial Line before Charlemaigne, to found a right upon. Sometimes the Emperor was elected by the Army, sometimes by the People, sometimes adopted by another Emperor. All that can be found constant about it, is, that generally they used to have 
n See Grot. de Jure B. & P. l. 2. c. 9 note 1. chap. 3. & Hieron. Balbus de Coronatione, cap. 13. in the same note, and the Comment there on Ludovic. à Bebenburg. See also Lipsius of these Acclamations, 2. Elect. cap. 10.  the Acclamations of the People of Rome, and the Approbation of the Senate, which were freely given 
o Of Charlemaign's Acclamations all Historians speak.  to Charlemaigne. From whom there has been continued a Succession of the Imperial Line to this time. It is certain that before Julius Caesar, the Majesty of the Roman Kingdom was in the 
See References.  
p 
Paulus Merula de Legibus Romanis, pag. 58.— The Jurisdictions were bounded: The Senate had more Authority than the Magistrate; The Common People had the greatest Authority: In all the People together was the Majesty of the Commonwealth.  
Cuspinian in Sextum Rufum. pag. 6.  
The Consul's Rods were hung down when they came into a full Assembly of the People, because the Majesty of the People of Rome was greater than that of the Consuls.   People of Rome; And to commit Treason, was in Majestatem Populi Romani peccare. And it was a generally continued custom by the Emperors, to receive the confirmation of their Title from the Acclamations of the People.  
8. But it may be here urged, That the Imperial Head was manifestly discontinued in the time of the Tumults of Italy under the 
q See Petavii Rationar. Temp. Part. I. L. 8. c. 13.  Berengarii, when there were such frequent changes of the Kings of Italy.  
This can be of no more force than the former, excepting the Ceremony of anointing Berengarius King at Rome, by Pope John the Xth. But his Reign was so very short after it, and the Successions of those after him so like a mere scuffle of Competitors to the Kingdom; and besides, not owned as heads of Rome; that there is no reason to account it any settled change of the Imperial Head (Prop. 21. part 1.)  
Hugo of Arles had indeed the Principality of Rome with Marozia, but he was presently cast out of it again: Besides, that 
r 
Ibid. cap. 14.  
The Germane Writers account Conrade, and Henry Auceps, Emperors in succession to Ludovicus the immediate Emperor before them [and then there will not be above 8 years of vacancy] others reject these two, because they were not anointed and crowned by the Pope— But the Germans do much dispute the necessity of that.   the Kings of Germany, with whom the Imperial Title of Rome had continued by right of Succession from Charlemaigne till that time, did still retain the same right in appearance, because they were neither formally disowned by the City of Rome, nor had any other set up there in their place; For the Kingdom of Italy was then accounted a particular Jurisdiction by itself, distinct from the City of Rome; And the Pope was by that time almost absolute in that City. So that all that could be inferred from hence would be, that the False Prophet acted for a little time without the Beast.  
9 And this last Observation may occasion a Scruple, How the Emperors can be said to be an Head of the City of Rome, when some hundreds of years they have had no more than the bare Title of it.  
The easy Answer to this, is, That all that is required to make an Head of the Beast, is to be 
s See Note the 6th, on the 6th Chapter.  a settled Secular Authority owned for Supreme at Rome. And 'tis no wonder that he should be called an Head of it, and have so little power, or influence over it. For all his power was to be exercised before him by another Church-Head distinct from him. It cannot be thought necessary 
Rev. 13. 12.  for the Emperor to be particularly resident at Rome, to be the Head of Rome; For then the Roman Emperors ever after the making Ravenna the Imperial Seat by Honorius, must have ceased to have been the Heads of Rome.  
10. It may then be replied, That the Constantinopolitan Emperors, in the time of the Gothish Kings of Italy, had the Title of the Imperial Head of Rome, and upon that account should seem not to have been changed from the time of the Vision.  
But it must be remembered, That it is not sufficient to have a Title only, but that Title must be owned by the chief Authority of the City of Rome, for the sole Secular Sovereign Power of it. Whereas it has been made to appear, that in the Reign of the Gothish Kings of Italy, the Constantinopolitan Emperors were far from being owned for the only Sovereigns of Rome; For they were no further owned to have any thing to do there, than what the 
t All Historians give an account of the Imprisonment of Pope John the First, for crowning the Emperor Justin in the East; and of the absolute Sovereignty of the Gothish Kings over the City of Rome. See Notes on the 4th Chapter, Lib. 3.  Kings of the Goths, who were then in the real and actual possession of Rome, did allow them, as Partners with them in the Honour of the Title of that City.  
11. It may also be objected, That the Emperors have been very often in Wars with the Popes, which is contrary to the strict Confederacy that is  expressed to be betwixt the Beast, and the False Prophet.  
But since they have been notwithstanding at a constant agreement in the great design of their Confederacy, which is persecution for false Worship, their occasional differences about other things is not to be regarded, at most not more than the Differences betwixt the Popes, and the Ten Kings, who yet give their Kingdom to the Beast.  
12. How also can the Ten Kings be said to have given their power to the Beast about the time of Justinian, when they were many of them Arrians, at the greatest distance from the Religion of Rome?  
The Answer to this is, That they were soon brought under the Authority and See of Rome; France, Spain, and all Justinian's Conquests, changed about the end of that Age.  
13. If it be said, That when the Roman Empire was divided into Ten Kingdoms distinct from one another, there could be no one Secular Head that could deserve to be called the Beast.  
It may be answered, That the Beast is but such an Head of the Roman Empire, as has a superior Right to the Authority of the chief City of the Empire, while the whole body of it is divided 
Prop. 21.  into ten Sovereignties; and by that Right has a claim to a Jurisdiction paramount to them all: And such is the claim of the present Emperors to 
u See Notes ᵐ and ⁿ on the 6th Chapter.  reserved Rights over all the divided Kingdoms of the Roman Empire. And there is at present so great and public an acknowledgement of the Germane Emperor's Superiority over over other Kings, only as he is Roman Emperor; That, as has been observed, he is suffered to have the precedence of Kings, who have both a much larger Dominion than he, and a much ancienter Title; and who take place of him, before he has the Imperial Title, when he has nothing but his Hereditary Countries.  
But that which is chief to be regarded for the qualifying him for this character of an Head amongst the Ten Horns, is, That he is properly said to be the Roman Civil Head of those Ten Kings in one common Design that they are all engaged in, because he is so acknowledged to be by the False Prophet, who manages them all for that end, and gives Him the Title of their Head in it.  
14. It may be further enquired, How it can be said, That the Imperial Power has subdued three Kings, as it is said of the Little Horn in the 7th of Daniel?  
It is answered, That whatsoever is said there of the Little Horn, is to be understood of the Beast in the Revelations, in his joint confederacy with the False Prophet, as one Thing engaged in one Design: And than whatsoever is done by the False Prophet in that Design, will be said to be done by the Beast; so that the subduing of the three Kings, may thus be, either 
x 
Hierom. Rubeus Histor. Ravennat. pag. 145. says, That Justinian built that Magnificent Temple of Sancta Sophia, in memory of his Persian, Vandalic and Gothick Victories.  
Cuspinian. de Casaribus, pag. 139. gives an account of Belisarius' Expedition against the Persians, and that he entered in a Triumph into Constantinople for that Conquest. And pag. 140. says, That he had a most Pompous Triumph from the Spoils of the Vandals, being then Consul in ordinary. And pag. 141. says, That when Justinian had recovered Italy, and subdued Africa and Persia, he put the Glory of his Victories into his Titles.   Justinian's Conquests, or 
y Mr. Mede supposes the rooting out of the Goths and Lombard's, and the Power of the Greek Emperors out of Italy, may answer this Character.  the Pope's Excommunications, and deprivations of some 
See References.  three remarkable Sovereign Powers.  
15. A great objection against this Opinion about the time of the Rise of the Beast, is this following esteemed to be, viz. That the Rise of the Beast was at the same time with that of the Ten Kings. For Rev. 17. 12. it is said, That those Ten Kings should receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast; And that the term of one hour does signify in the Original, at the same time. Now it is known, that the Roman Empire was divided into Ten settled Kingdoms at the fall of the Western Empire; the Beast therefore must arise about the same time: and this was almost a whole Age before the Conquest of Justinian.  
1. There is no clear grounds for any necessity of such a signification of the word in the Original, that is rendered one hour. On the contrary, To render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, at the same time, is at best but a very rare, and unusual acceptation of it, if it should be ever found to be used at all in that signification, which is much to be questioned. And therefore is it, that we find not this Interpretation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have been thought on, till this present Age; And even now the greatest number of Translations have nothing of this sense in them.  
The proper signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as it is in the Accusative Case, is, as it is rendered, for one hours' space, which in a Prophetical Style signifies, a short space of time. And then it may be easily understood to signify, that those Kings should Reign like Kings with the Beast for a little time; but, as it follows, that they should give their Kingdoms to the Beast after it, and so appear to be like the Slaves of the Beast, for his use and service.  
2. Or, if it should signify, about the same time, yet it might be understood only of the Reigns of these Kings together with the Beast at any the same time of both. For to receive power as Kings at the same time with the Beast, may be understood of any time of their Reign together in conjunction with the Beast, and not necessarily of their beginning to reign at the same time with it. On the contrary, it is certain, by the consent of all, that most of these Ten Kings had begun to receive power as Kings long before others, and so could not possibly be said to begin their power all together at the same time with the Beast.  
If the Rise of the Beast should be counted from the first appearance of Ten Kingdoms in the Roman Empire, the Reign of the Beast must be already past. For it will be found, that there were Ten Kingdoms erected there before the Year 420. As 1. The Almans, who had been long a Roman Province, had a King in Julian's time; and after the conquest of him, 
z Cuspinian. de Caesar. pag. 102. mentions Julian's League with the Almains: and p. 112. the Huns invading Epirus in Valens' Reign.  Julian 
See References.  made a League with that People. 
aa Petau. Ration. Temp. Part. I. lib 6. cap. 10. does particularly reckon up the chief Divisions of these Invasions of the Barbarians.  2. The Ostrogoths. 3. The West Goths. 4. The Hunns, who were all three up about the Year 378. 5. The Suevi. 6. The alan. 7. The Vandals. 8. The Burgundians. 9 The Franks; and besides these, were the Vandals in Africa; and Silingii, another sort of Vandals in that part of Spain that is called Baetica, besides other Divisions of Principalities amongst these People.  
3. Again, In the signification of, at the same time, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might denote the Reign of these Ten Kings 
bb 
Alcazar in cap. 13. Apoc. sect. 3.  
For what, I pray, does one hour signify, but that these Kings do Reign all together at one and the same time?  
Theodoret. in cap. 7. Dan. the 10. Regibus.  
It is therefore manifest, that there shall Ten Kings arise up all together.   altogether at 
See References.  the same time with one another; which the order of the words does make far more natural; For whereas it had been just before said, that they had not any of them any Kingdom as yet; it here follows in this order in the Original, but power as Kings, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, they receive with the Beast, where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is more naturally joined with the Kings, than with the Beast. And then it signifies, That nevertheless these Kings should all reign together At the same time in the Reign of the Beast, to denote the strange Division of the Roman Empire at that time.  
And this was very proper and convenient to be signified, because the Seven Kings just before, had been described to succeed, or to come after one another; to distinguish which from these Ten Kings, it might be on purpose made their Character, that these did reign all together. But this is only upon the supposition of this signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, for which, after all, there is no necessity.  
4. But however, That it cannot signify the rise of these Ten Kings at the same time witb the first appearance of the Beast, is determined by the description of the Little Horn in the 7th of Daniel, which, is said there, should arise 
cc 
Blasius Viega in cap. 13. Apoc. sect. 2. shows, That it was the Opinion of all the Ancients, according to St. Jerom, that Antichrist (the Little Horn) should arise after the Division of the Roman Empire amongst Ten Kings.  
Theodoret. in cap. 7. Dan. It is therefore, says he, manifest, that the Prophet does here foretell, that about the end, Ten Kings shall arise up all together; And that Antichrist should be the last after them. So Irenaeus, l. 5. contra Haer. c. 24. & Aretas in c. 13. Apoc. & Ausburtus in cap. 17.   after the Ten Kings: And 
v. 24.  the Beast in the Revelations, and the Little Horn, are unquestionably the same particular Roman Rule (Coral. 2. Prop. 15.) and therefore has it been already concluded, that the Beast cannot arise till after the Ten Kings (Coral. 3. Prop. 15.)  
16. But it will be then demanded, How Justinian's restauration of the Imperial Head, can be the next Change but one of the Roman Sovereignty after the time of the Vision? For the Division of the Empire into Ten Sovereignties before him, would be accounted at least one Change of the Sovereign Power of that Empire, as the four Horns of the He Goat, in the 8th of Daniel, was a new state of the Grecian Monarchy. If so, than the fall of the Western Empire must unquestionably be another Change of the Roman Rule; and thus would there have been an 8th King from the Sixth, that ruled in St. John's time, before Justinian.  
To resolve this Scruple, it must be considered, That there are two different kinds of Sovereign Power represented in the Beast; the one by his Heads, and the other by his Horns. And the next Change of Sovereignty but one to that, which ruled in St. John's time, which constitutes the 8th King, or the Beast, is a succession of an Head of the Beast, by Prop. 20, 21.  
And that Head is called the Beast, as a thing distinct from the Ten Horns; for the Ten Horns are said to give their Kingdom to the Beast, who before had been said to be the Eighth King, and is one of the Seven Heads, by Prop. 5. Coral. It matters not therefore at what time the Ten Horns arose. For they were but so many Sovereignties in the Roman Empire distinct from that Eighth King, which is the Beast, or an Head of the Beast; and who were confederated with him: And to know the time of that Confederacy, it must be enquired first, what was the next successive Head but one to the Imperial, that was up at the time of the Vision. For, besides the Ten Kings, there was to be an Head amongst them, whom they should all join with; And the Ten Kings were but so many different Horns, which signify a division of the Empire, and not a single successive Head of it superior to them all, which is here enquired after, according to the mark that has already been given to know an Head by.  
17. This would also be another difficulty against deferring the appearance of the Beast till the Reign of Justinian, viz. That the Reign of the Beast, and the time of the Woman in the Wilderness, do begin and end together; and the Woman is said to fly into the Wilderness presently after her delivery of the Manchild, that is, presently after the Conversion of the Imperial Throne, 200 years before Justinian's time.  
But it is by almost all agreed, that that first mention of the Woman's flying into the Wilderness, is an anticipation, because after several great Actions intervening, it is repeated again at the 14th verse; and there represented but as a preparation to rest in the Wilderness; and then the Dragon cast out a flood after her, whilst she was flying, so that she was not at rest then, till after that flood was swallowed up by the Earth, which was just before the rising of the Beast out of the Sea, chap. 13.  
18. In the last place it may be objected, That from the fall of the Western Empire in Augustulus, to the time of Justinian, was no new Roman Government in the West, because the Barbarous Kings, and their People, were not Romans, and therefore must, if any thing, be a new Beast, and not a new Head of the Roman Beast; and then all the time of their Reign will be but an Interregnum of the Roman Government; and Justinian's return there, will be but the continuance of the Sixth Head.  
But it is sufficient answer to this, that the ten Barbarous Kings which are made to be the Ten Horns of the Beast, are thereby represented as Members of the Roman Empire, as has been just now observed: And moreover it does appear, that the Goths, who succeeded in the room of the Western Emperors, had been long before made the Confederates, and Members of the Roman Empire. See Note ʸ, on Chap. 4.   

CHAP. IX. 
Rev. XIII.   
A short Account of the several Opinions of Interpreters, that differ from the Propositions before demonstrated. Their inconsistency with the Analogy of Prophecy. The Shifts that they are forced to fly to, to maintain them.  
BY the same Light which has cleared up mine own Applications of the Prophecy, it may be seen upon what grounds I depart from the Apprehensions of others about it.  
1. It is much to be admired, That there ever should have been any at all, much more any of the Ancients, that had been conversant 
Andrea's Caesar, Aretas, Primatius, Beda, etc.  in this Study, that should apprehend it possible for the whole business of Babylon, and the Beast in the Revelations, to be nothing but a Mystical and Spiritual state of the Christian Church, in relation to the whole World of the Wicked in general, and not to any particular Empire of the World, more than other.  
For the Angel in the 17th Chapter does so expressly signify 
Prop. 1.  his design there to be to unfold the Mystery of Babylon, and the Beast that had been before mentioned; and does thereupon determine the meaning of them to the Roman Empire, by such generally known, and peculiar marks, that the Romanists themselves, whose only interest, and considerable concern it is, to divert the scene of these Visions from the City of Rome, do yet almost unanimously in this latter age, acknowledge to their Adversaries, That there is nothing more certain and unquestionable, than, That some particular state of the Domination of 
See Consent of Antiquity, etc.  Rome, must be meant by them. The ground of this paradoxical Fancy of the Ancients, will be afterwards enquired into.  
2. It is in the next place very near as extravagant to grant, That some particular state of Roman Rule, must be the great object of these Visions; and yet to make the Figure of the Beast in general, to signify the World, and the Heads of the 
Ribera, etc.  Beast either so many successive Ages, or so many distinct successive Empires in it.  
For by all the Examples of Beasts and their Ruling parts all 
Prop. 16.  over the Prophecy of Daniel, (which is generally agreed to be the original pattern of the Prophecy of the Revelations) it is acknowledged by these very persons themselves, That a Beast does constantly signify the Rule or Empire of one particular Nation only; and therefore must the Heads also signify so many Supreme Powers in that Nation only. But the most inexcusable thing in this opinion is, That the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel, is granted by these same persons to be nothing but the particular Nation of the Romans, which yet is the exact picture 
Prop. 15.  of this Beast in the Revelations.  
But then to grant, 3dly, That the Beast and his Heads do signify nothing but Roman Power; and after that, to make the Seven Heads not to be so many distinct Powers, but to be taken 
Bellarm. etc.  collectively for All the Rulers of one kind, or for All the Emperors, is to outface the plain expressions of the Text, which divide the number Seven into Five, One, Another, and an Eighth that is one of the Seven; and it is well known, that when the number Seven is so expressly divided into parts, it is never used collectively, or for an indefinite multitude.  
4. As contrary to the known use of those Mystical Expressions, is it to make the Seven Heads of the Beast to be so many single persons only of Rulers. 
Grotius, etc.   
For it is evident all over the Book of Daniel, That Heads and Horns of Beasts do signify all the single Persons that Rule in that Division, or Form of Government, that is signified by 
Prop. 16.  each Head and each Horn.  
5. And still more inconsistent is it, to make the Beast and his Seven Heads to be Roman Powers, and yet Antichrist, signified by the Eighth King, which was one of the Seven, not to 
Most of the Romish Interpreters.  come till after the end of all Roman Rule; or that the Fourth Beast in the Tenth of Daniel, should be the Roman Empire; and yet the little Horn of that Beast not to appear till after the destruction of the Roman Empire.  
For this would make the little Horn of the Beast, to be no Horn of it, but to appear after the ruin of the Beast, whose Horn it is; which is a contradiction.  
6. Of much the same nature, is that Absurdity, That the Beast, called the 8th King, is Antichrist, a little before the end of the World; and yet that Babylon, that is described to go all 
The same.  along with it, and to be destroyed before it, is Rome Heathen.  
7. Nor does it much help the matter, to affirm, That Babylon does signify both Rome Heathen, and Rome in the time of Antichrist, about the end of the World.  
For by by Prop. 2. and 3. it is evident, That Babylon is in all 
Ribera, etc.  the mentions of it in the Revelations, one and the same state of Rome, in the Reign of the Beast, and in which it is destroyed.  
8. That Opinion which makes the Heads of the Beast to be single Persons, and yet the Reign of the Beast to continue at 
Grot. Dr. Hammond. Prop. 6. and Coral.  least to the time of Justinian, is inconsistent with the determination of the term of the Beast in the Prophecy, to the last Head of the Beast.  
For if the Beast be nothing but the Beast under its last Head, and all the Seven Heads be but so many Successions of single Rulers only, it is impossible that the time of the Beast should continue many years after the time of St. John, for the Sixth Head was then in Rule, Rev. 17. 10.  
9 And upon the same grounds it is impossible, That the Ten Horns of the Beast should be after the time of the last 
Grot. Dr. Hammond. Corol. 1. Prop. 12.  Head of the Beast; or that the time of the last Head of the Beast, should be yet past, because the Beast continues to the Second Coming of Christ, and is the same with the Reign of its last Head, Prop. 6. and its Corollaries.  
10. Amongst those Opinions which make the Heads of the Beast to be so many Successions of Roman Power, I could not entertain any of them about the constitutive difference of one Head from another, but that which made it to consist only in the settled change of the name of the Civil Power; because that was the only known difference of Successive Horns in Daniel, ch. 8. and of the five first Successive Heads in the Revelations; and besides, the only difference betwixt all kinds of Heads or Horns, upon the same Beast, whose signification is agreed on, is nothing but the different name of the Civil Power, either from its peculiar Terrritory in those that are represented to rule all at a time, in a divided Monarchy, or from the different appellation in those that succeed one another in an entire Empire. So is it above sixty times in the agreed examples of Daniel and the Revelations. See discourse on Query the 2d.  
And therefore I could not but look upon Alcasar's determination of the Seven Heads to Seven Roman Persecutions of the Church, as arbitrary; and much more the opinion of those Protestants, who agree that the only Constitutive Difference of the Six first Heads of the Beast, is nothing but a different name of the Civil Power; for they were all Six of the same 
Mr. Mede. Dr. More.  Religion); and yet will make the Two last Successions of the Eight, which complete the Seven Heads, to be nothing but Two Changes of Religion under the same Civil Head with the Sixth. For this is to make a new Rule for the difference of the Two last Successions, without any ground for it from the Prophecy, and contrary to all the known and acknowledged Examples, either in the rest of the Heads of the same Beast, or in the Heads and Horns of other Beasts; and gives great advantage to the Papists to despise the Protestants Application. The Pleas for it may be seen answered, in Answer to Objection 1, 2, 3, against the 2 d Query.  
11. There is so plain a distinction in the Second Beast of the 13th Chapter, from the first Beast there, and the one so manifestly 
Most Protestants. Prop. 24, etc.  set forth as an Ecclesiastical Power under the Character of the False Prophet, in distinction to the other, whose Image and Honour he is altogether employed to advance, that I could never yield to make them but one and the same thing, viz. The Papal Power only: But yet because they make but one joint Confederacy for the interest of a false Religion against the true Church, they are therefore sometimes promiscuously used to signify the actions of one another in that common concern; and the Image, and Babylon, are in the same manner used. Thus is Babylon said to be fallen, chap. 14. 8. to signify the decay of the Power of the Image; and the Beast in the 17th chapter is said to have the Power and Strength of the Ten Kings given him, which belongs properly to the Image of the Beast.  
12. It seems to be a very unnatural force upon the Text, to make the Seventh King none of the Seven Heads, in chap. 
Dr. More, etc.  17. 10.  
For it is manifestly reckoned up in order, as one of those Seven Kings, which in the beginning of that verse, are said to be the Seven Heads; and without making it one of the Seven Heads, there will be but Six Heads upon the Beast in the 13th chapter. 
Prop. 4, & 5.  For it is agreed that it was the Sixth King, and Sixth Head that was there wounded; and it must be the same Head that was seen healed; which also is agreed to be the Eighth King, and last Ruling Head: If therefore the Seventh King were no Head, there would be no new Head after the Sixth, but only the Sixth healed of a wound, whereas there were Seven really distinct Heads seen upon the Beast.  
That which is pleaded for the ground of this Opinion, is answered in the Answer to the 1st, 2d, and 3d Objections against the Second Query.  
It will much confirm the strength of the whole Process of the Propositions before laid down, to observe to what strange shifts those Interpreters have been put, that own any part of the Demonstration, and yet will stand out against the Conclusion.  
Those that own Babylon to be Rome, but not the present Rome Christian, are forced to make it to be, Either Rome Pagan 
Alcazar, Grotius, Dr. Hammond.  Two hundred Years after the Empire was turned Christian, and was then burnt in the possession of a Christian King, by a Christian Emperor: Or, To make it to be Rome a little before the end of the World, grown prodigiously rich by Foreign Traffic, Rev. 18, 19 and having brought the Kings of the earth, under her Subjection, v. 3. in the space of Three Years and an 
Ribera, etc.  half: Or, To make it to be both Rome Heathen, and Rome at the end of the world, which should cry, I sit as a Queen, and shall see no sorrow, v. 7. and which should not have the Pagan Power of it abated, or ended, for above a Thousand Years after it began to be Rome Christian; all which are such monstrous Inconsistencies, as to make any conclude them to be impossible.  
Those that own Babylon to be Rome, and the last Ruling Head of the Beast to be Antichrist about the end of the World; and that the whole Seven Heads are so many immediate Successions of Ruling Powers; to make the Sixth Head continue from 
Ribera, etc. Most Papists. Rev. 17 10.  the time of St. John (when it is by the Text signified to be in Rule) to the time of the Seventh King, that is, (in their opinion) to a short space before the end of the World, they are forced to make the Sixth King to be of a much longer Continuance than the Imperial Government at Rome, that was the King in being at the time of the Vision: For they own, that the Imperial Government was long since at an end at Rome, and therefore are they forced to make their Sixth King to be all those persecuting Powers of the World, that reach from the time of the Vision, to about the end of the World; in consequence of which it is necessary for them to make the Beast in general, to be the whole World, and the rest of the Heads so many Successions of either persecuting Ages, or Monarchies of it; and this is so contrary to the known acceptation of a Beast, and its Heads or Horns, for one Ruling Nation only, all over the Prophecy of Daniel, (as it is by these very persons acknowledged), that nothing could make it appear to what a forced shift they were fain to fly to avoid the bringing in of Antichrist into the Roman Church many Ages ago, if they should have granted the Sixth Head at the time of the Vision to have been the then Ruling Imperial Power of Rome only.  
But a much more apparent shift is it in those, who think themselves forced to own the Beast to be but one single Nation only, or the Roman Empire; and the last ruling Head to be Antichrist 
Bellarm. etc.  about the end of the World; and the Head in Rule at the time of the Vision, to be the Imperial Government; but after all this for fear of bringing in Antichrist into the Roman Church too soon, to make the Seven Heads to signify collectively, all the Roman Emperors either at Rome or Constantinople, or at Vienna; whereas the number Seven is apparently here divided into broken numbers, which does as certainly determine the Heads to that definite number in an immediate Succession to one another. And nothing could have made it appear how so well a versed understanding in the Critical use of words as Bellarmine's was, resolved to outface his own Knowledge, to avoid a dangerous Consequence; for if he had allowed the Seven Heads to have been just so many Successive Changes of the Rule of the Romans, he must certainly have made the Sixth Head end at the Succession of the Kingly Government of Rome upon the fall of the Western Empire, though the Imperial Government at Constantinople; had been part of the Sixth Head: For the change of the other part of it at Rome, did make a new Change of the whole Government, that is, from Imperial, to the mixed Form of Kingly and Imperial together; as the Tribunes with the Consulary Power, were a Change of the Consulary Head of the Government.  
But of all the forced shifts that we meet with, the most Paradoxical and absurd are those of the Grotian way; they grant 
Grot. Dr. Hammond.  the Beast to be the Idolatrous Roman Empire; and the Heads to be Successive Changes of Roman Rulers; and the time of the Beast to continue at least to the Reign of Justinian: and yet make the last Ruling Head of the Beast to be at an end with the Reign of Domitian, which is Contrary to all the Representations of the Beast in the 17th chapter, as ending with his last Head: 
Prop. 6. Corol. ibid.  they do also by this make the Ten Horns to be a long time after the last Head, which are said expressly to give their Kingdom to the Eighth King, or the Beast under the last Ruling Head. They do also make the Seven Heads of the Beast to be but so many single Persons, contrary to the known signification of the Heads and Horns of Beasts all over Daniel. They do also make the different Shows of the same Beast in the 11th, 13th, and 17th Chapters, to be really distinct Beasts from one another; without any ground for it, but the different Shows of them, contrary to what the exact resemblance of their Characters to one another, would make any judge them to be; and contrary to the 
First Book.  plain demonstration of their being but one and the same thing from the Characters of them; and contrary to the sense of almost all kind of Interpreters, especially those of the Roman Party, who cry out against the main foundations of this Opinion, as nothing but the extravagancies of men without any 
Preface to my former Treatise. The Judgements of God, etc.  sense in them, though the whole business of all the pains that is taken by these Contrivances, is to remove the charge of Idolatry from the Church of Rome.  
Those that own the Fourth Beast in the Seventh of Daniel, and the Beast in the Revelations. to be the particular Nation of the Romans, and yet will make the little Horn of the one, and the last Head, or Eighth King in the other, to come after the destruction of the Beasts to which they belong, 
Most of the Romanists.  show, that they value not Contradictions, to keep off Antichrist from appearing in the Roman Church. And those that own the last time of the Beast to be about the end of the world, and yet will make Babylon that accompanies the Beast to the last, to be Rome Pagan, must have much the same contempt 
The same.  of the plain intimations of the Prophecy; and those also that can think, That Babylon is not the same thing, but several vastly distant States of Roman Rule in the several mentions of it, or both Rome Pagan, and Rome near the end of the World. 
Prop. 2, & 3.   
Those of the Protestants that make the Change of Religion in the Imperial Head, to be a new Head, seem to be so wholly intent upon the Charge of Antichristianism upon the Church 
Most Protestants.  of Rome, that they neglect all known and acknowledged Examples of the difference of the Heads of Beasts, to fix their Charge; And to hold to it, they are forced to wrest the natural and plain sense of the 10th verse of the 17th Chapter of the Revelations, and to find out some far fetched Criticisms to make it good; As the making of the 7th of those Seven Kings, that are said to be the seven Heads, to be none of those Heads: And 
Dr. More, 648.  as the making 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to denote the Seventh King to be quite different from the rest, does appear to be. See Prop. 4.  
They are also forced to make the wounded, and the healed 
Mr. Mede.  Head, to be two distinct Heads of the seven, which is contrary to the plain Expressions of the Prophecy, which mention it to be seen but as one and the same Head wounded and healed; and is also contrary to the common acceptation of a Head wounded and healed, which can be but one Head.  
Others of them are forced to make the Seventh King, and the Eighth, to be the same thing, and for that end to transpose the latter end of the 10th verse, and to make it come after the 
Monsieur Jurieu Accomp. des Prophecies, pag. 190. 2d Edit. Most Protestants.  beginning of the 11th, contrary to the natural order of the Text.  
Those that would fix all the Charge of the Beast, and the False Prophet, upon the Papal Power only, are forced to make nothing of the plain Characters by which they are distinguished from one another, when named together, nor of the Change of the name of the Civil Government of the Romans at the fall of the Western Empire, though that was the only difference betwixt the first six Heads of the Beast, according to their own Opinion. For the first six Heads were all of the same Religion, that is, Pagans: And upon this account is it, that most of them are forced to make the first appearance of the Beast to be of a very uncertain date; that is, according to their fancy about the first great appearance of the Papal Power, which cannot well be fixed: Whereas the first Rise of the Beast must have been a very visible and remarkable Change of the Supreme Power of Rome, from that which was the 7th Ruling Power of it to the 8th, called the Beast.  
It is upon this account, that some of those who incline to the former Opinion, and yet do plainly see, that the Beast must be a Change of the form of the Civil Power of the Empire, do therefore make the Ten Kings with the Papal Power, to be the Beast, that is, the Eighth King, or last Ruling Head. But what 
Prop. 6.  an absurdity do they fly to in this, when it is manifest, that the Ten Kings were the Ten Horns, and none of the Seven Heads.  
Others of them indeed defer the Rise of this Papal Beast, to that manifest Change of the Imperial Power at the fall of the Western Empire in Augustulus, as the end of the true Christian Emperors, who are their Seventh King; but then they are forced to make nothing of the succeeding Sovereign Power of the Italian Kings of Rome, who were as Absolute Sovereigns of it, notwithstanding their Royal Seat at Ravenna, as any of the Western Emperors had been from the time of Honorius, who first made Ravenna the Imperial Seat. They are also forced to pass over the Change of the Regal and Imperial Power of Rome, to the pure Imperial Government at the recovery of Rome by Justinian, as of no account for a new Head, though they must own the Eastern Emperors to have been as much Sovereigns of Rome at this Re-conquest of it, as the Western were before the loss of it, and when they were the acknowledged Sixth Head. This appears from the Power of the Eastern Emperor's Exarches after the recovery of the West.    

The Fourth BOOK.  
THE Application of the Characters OF THE BEAST In the REVELATIONS.  

CHAP. I.  
The force of the Applications of the Characters of the 
Rev. XIII.  Beast to confirm the first date of his Reign. A Caution to those who have taken up with a former Hypothesis. The uncouth Composition of the Beast, of the Parts of a Lion, of a Leopard, and of a Bear, applied to an absolute exactness. The Rising of the Beast out of the Sea; The Continuance of his Reign for 42 Months.  
AFTER the more close and demonstrative way of proof, that has been made use of to determine the particular nature, and first Rise of the Beast, It will much confirm the knowledge that is now had of him, to see how easy and natural the Application of all the other Circumstances of his History will appear to be upon this foundation.  
And this may serve for an additional proof à posteriori, as the Demonstrations of the principles of natural things by their causes are much strengthened by their perfect agreement with all the effects that we can apply them to, or with all that experience does teach us of them. But yet it must always be remembered, That though the Application of an Instance or two should seem to be something harsh, or forced; That no man ought for that to question the former Conclusions, unless upon a new examination he can find them less necessary, than they did at first appear. No man ought to doubt of a plain and manifest truth, because he sees it to be seemingly inconsistent with some other Conclusions that are deduced from it, which are not so plain and necessary.  
I know not of any such harshness in any of the Applications that I am now going to make, but rather think them so well agreeing with the Characters of the Text, that they are enough to surprise one into an admiration of the Congruity of them. But I interpose this as a convenient Caution to those who may find a convincing evidence in the proof of the maint Point, to which the Applications are fixed; but by reason of some prejudices, and long use of a former Hypothesis, may not think some of the Applications so well fitted to the Prophecy, as they will imagine their own to be. For this will be apt to make them judge many things, which to all others would appear very tolerable at least, to be harsh and uncouth to them.  
To begin then with the figure and composition of the Beast; It is said to be in the several parts of it like a Lion, a Leopard, 
Rev. 13. 2.  and a Bear, which do manifestly refer to its being the Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel, which is there represented immediately after the account of the Three Kingdoms shown by 
v. 7, 23.  those Three Beasts, and is said to have devoured them. And those Three Beasts are agreed to be the Babylonian, Persian and 
Book the IId.  Grecian Monarchies: The Beast here is represented as consisting of these Kingdoms, as the parts of his Body; which if it has any reference to the Roman State at the particular Rise of the Beast with Justinian, must signify, That it should be that particular Roman Power which was in possession of Greece, Babylon and Persia, or that part of Asia which belonged to the Babylonians and Persians. And then it does very clearly signify, That the Rise of the Beast should be at the advancement of the Eastern Empire to the Government of Rome? And does not that suit well enough with Justinian's Conquest of Italy?  
This would tempt one to be very confident, That this was designed as a very plain Character to know the Rise of the Beast by, since there is no such mention of any of the Parts of these Beasts, in the Dragon in the Chapter just before, which yet is the same kind of Figure with this, and is known to signify the Roman 
Chap. 12.  State a long time after that it had been in possession of Greece and Asia. And one would be very apt to judge, That what is represented as particular to the Beast in the 13th Chapter, and was omitted in the Dragon, which yet is known to be the Roman Empire, must be added as a mark of distinction of the one from the other. But if others will have this mark of the Three Beasts to belong to the general nature of the Beast, as it signifies the Roman Conquest at its first appearance after the destruction of the Greek Monarchy, it will not prejudice my Opinion. It is enough to show, That as this Beast does signify the particular state of it under its last Ruling Head; So this character of the Parts of it does most exactly agree with that, which I make to be the last Ruling Head at its first Rise, in distinction to all other states of the Beast.  
The rising of the Beast out of the Sea, is known to signify, that it 
Rev. 13. 1.  should arise out of great Commotions, and by great Wars and Tumults. For so are many Waters interpreted by the Angel himself, to signify in this Prophecy, chap. 17. 15. Multitudes, and Peoples, 
Isa. 8. 7. & 17. 12. Jer. 46. 8.  and Tongues, and Nations, which being added to the nature of those Waters in the Sea, do determine it to signify great commotions of those Multitudes, and Nations. And certainly this does very well suit with that strange bustle which Justinian made in the World by his Wars with the Goths, and Vandals, and Persians, and with his Conquests of those People at his taking possession of the Western Empire. The ascending of the Beast out of the Bottomless Pit, Rev. 17. 8. is the same thing; as the Sea is usually called by the name of the Abyss in Scripture, which is the word here used for the Bottomless Pit.  
I could never meet with any satisfactory Account from any other Hypothesis concerning the date of the first appearance of the Beast, why the whole time of its continuance, both in Daniel, 
Dan. 7. 25. Rev. 13. 5. & Chap. 12. 14.  and the Revelations, should be expressed by a Time, Times, and half a time, or 4● Months, which is the same (Coral. 2. Prop. 24.) For one would be apt to conclude, that 
a 
ALcasar. Notat. 4. ad v. 2. cap. 11.  
All the Persecutions of the Church are set out by three years and an half. Three days and an half refer to a Week. And on chap. 12. We have seen, that by 1260 days are signified three years and an half, according to the Grecian and Jewish Account. We have also there seen, that the space of three years and an half is to be taken mystically, and that by it is signified in the middle of a week of seven years.   the three, and an half, in that expression, must have a reference to some seven, as the whole number of it. Three years, and an half, is in itself so precise, and unusual a determination of the whole time of a thing; and the whole number seven, so commonly used in the Old and New Testament, to signify the whole of things of the same kind, that it must be thought to be very likely to be here referred to; especially, when it is also considered, That the number seven is very frequently in use all over the Book of the Apocalypse: Alcazar has observed, that it is made use of there no less than forty times. Epist. Dedicat. Comment. in Apocalyp.  
The three years and an half, of the preaching of Christ, to which these three years and an half, are said to allude, are also in the 9th Chapter of Daniel, last verse, made to be a reference to half a week of years.  
With this it is also to be observed, That the other two famous Prophecies concerning the Captivities of the Jewish Church (which is  made the scheme of the Christian Church.) The first about the 70 years' Captivity by Jeremiah, and the other of the 70 week's Captivity, till the time of the Messiah (which is mentioned with the former in the 9th Chapter of Daniel)▪ They both have the number seven for their denominator, and common measure. And from Jacob's seven years' service for 
Gen. 29. & Chap. 21. 2.  Leah and Rachel, and from the Liberty of an Hebrew Servant at the end of seven years; It appears, that the space of seven years was the known space of time for servitude amongst the Jews, where the Prophecies were delivered. And the seven years that we are now enquiring after to fix the half of them to, must be some seven years of the Bondage of the Church, though with some lightsome intervals.  
As this does make it very likely, That the Time, Times, and an half, of the Tyranny of the Little Horn, or Beast, over the Church of God, does certainly refer to some whole number of seven Times: so is it now worth the enquiring, to what particular seven Prophetical Times they are referred.  
This difficulty in the way, that I have found myself determined to by the Prophecy, is easily resolved. For if the first appearance of the Beast be at Justinian's Conquest of Italy, the Time, Times, and half, of the Beast in the Revelations, and Little Horn of the Beast in Daniel, are just as long a space of time, as it was from the first beginning of the Captivity of the Jews under the Assyrians (who were much the same Kingdom with the Babylonians) in the 9th year of the Reign of Hosea, to the time of Justinian.  
For that Captivity of the Ten Tribes, by Salmanasar, was in 
Petau. Rat. Temp. part. 1. l. 2. cap. 2. in Ezechia. Part. 2. l. 1. c. 4. in fine.  the 3993d year of the Julian Period, and 720 years before Christ. If to this be added the Year of our Lord, when Belisarius carried Vitiges, the King of the Italian Goths, in triumph with him to Justinian, which was Anno Dom. 540, there will be just the same number of 1260 years to the beginning of the Reign of the Beast at Rome, for the first half of the seven Prophetical years of years, without their Epagomena, or the five days at the end of them, as is determined in the Revelations. And though the Goths did after that Triumph of Belisarius, get head again in Italy, yet the example that we have of the computation of 
Petau. Rat. Temp. part. 2. l. 3. c. 12.  the 70 years' Captivity, from the first carrying away of Jehoiakim, long before the final Desolation, is a very plain Rule given for the fixing of the date of the Conquest of a Nation in Prophecy. For Belisarius' Conquest of the Goths at the taking of Vitiges their King, was exactly the same kind of Conquest of them, as Nebuchadnezzar's Conquest of Judaea at the carrying away their King Jehoiakim in Fetters, though the Line of their Kings continued to the end of Zedekiah.  
By this it appears, That from the first times of the Bondage of God's Church at the beginning of the great Captivity of the Jews, to the last end of it at the ruin of the Fourth Kingdom in the 7th of Daniel, succeeded there by the Kingdom of the Son of Man; there is just the space of seven Prophetical years, or in the phrase of Daniel, seven Times, of which the one half gins with the Captivity of the Ten Tribes, and ends at the first appearance of the Reign of the Beast; and the other half is the times of that Reign. At the end of which the great Prophetical Week of Times is accomplished, or the times of the Servitude and Bondage of the People of God: For as seven years was the allotted time in the Law for the slavery of a Servant, so did that time seem to be made the Type of this great state of Bondage.  
To confirm this, We see the end of the Time, Times, and half, declared to be the end of the Jewish Captivity, Daniel 12. 7. Which does clearly show, that those Times were only a part of that whole Captivity; and where they appear to be the just half, and to be called three, and an half, who would not assure himself, that they must refer to the whole number of seven Times, or years of years, which was the whole time of that Captivity?  
And thus comes the whole time of that long Captivity of the Jews, to be measured out to our admiration by these two halves of it, from the first time of the Captivity of the Kingdom of Israel (as the 70 years from the first Captivity of Jehoiakim) to the Rise of the Beast, or Little Horn, and from the beginning of that Reign, to the end of it.  
But if the 1260 years in both the halves should be also accounted without the five days, or the Epagomena, at the end of each year in them, just as three times, or three years, and an half, are here but 1260 days, than they would be 18 years short of that number of years; and then the first half of the whole seven would end just about Justinian's entrance upon the Throne in the East, or at Justin's being crowned by Pope John, four years before, in acknowledgement of his Right over the Roman Empire. And this might be so much a more remarkable date of the Rise of the Beast, because this is said by Petavius, Ration. Temp. Part. I. L. 7. cap. 3. to have been the first Instance of the Crowning of an Emperor by the Pope. And this was near 18 years before the other date from Belisarius' Triumph over the Gothish Kings, and made remarkable by the change of the common Aera ab V C. for that of the year of our Lord presently after by Dionysius Exiguus; and by the beginning of a new Digest and Code of Laws by Justinian, which have continued ever since to be the acknowledged standard of Civil Law to all Nations, though properly nothing but the Laws of the Roman Empire.  
The other half also of the Time, or the 1260 years of the Beast, must thereupon be concluded to end 18 years' sooner, or soon after the Year 1760.  
It has indeed been already determined, that the first appearance of the Beast was at Justinian's Conquest of the Goths. But though his first public formal appearance might be not till then, yet the time of his Reign might very well be accounted from the time of his first Inauguration, or Coronation, for that Design, by the False Prophet, since it seemed to be but one continued Design for the Elevation of the Eastern Emperor into the Western Throne. And so was that Action of Pope John interpreted by the Goths in Italy, as a translation of the Western Empire upon him; and upon that account was the Pope so closely imprisoned at his return by the King of the Goths, as it cost him his life. The first date then of the 42 months of the Beast's Reign, may very well begin at his first Coronation by the Pope, as the Eighth King of Rome, or the seven Hills.  
But after all, it is to be observed, That there is an apparent ground from the Prophecy for the apprehending the two halves of the seven times of years not to be altogether of an equal length. The mention of a Time, Times, and an half, is indeed ground enough to make one conclude, that they refer to an whole week of times, of which they are three and an half. But then to show, that this latter half was of a different length from the other three and an half before them; these latter are industriously explained in the Revelations to be no more than three years and an half without the five days, which were usually added to the twelve Babylonian Months in every year: Which seems to be a plain exception there put in to distinguish them from all other Accounts of Babylonian years, that had not that limitation added to them, and therefore more particularly to show their difference from the first three and an half in the seven times.  
According to this, The first three times and an half, aught to be accounted according to the full number of days in the Babylonian year, or with the addition of the five days, or Epagomena, after the other Twelve Months; which would make every one of these first half of the seven Times to contain five days more in it, than is accounted in every one of the latter half: And then the first Three Prophetical Times and an half before the Reign of the Beast would be 17 years more than 1260 full years; which would make them reach from the first Assyrian Captivity of the Jews, to the year 558 after Christ, 
Petau. Rat. Temp. l. 7: c. 5. in fine.  when Belisarius made an end of the last remainder of all the opposers of Justinian's Conquest of the Western Empire, viz. the Nation of the Huns; the Times of the Reign of the Beast, the latter half would by this account not begin till about the year 558: and if they were full 1260 Babylonian years, they would then reach to about the year 1820 for their Last End. But by the same reason, that they are made to be but 1260 years, or 17 years short of the full account of the three Times and an half; 
N. B.  every of those 1260 years as has been observed, may be judged to want five days in them; and then they would reach but to just the year 1800.  
And this I account to be the true way of determining the number of the years in both the halves of the Week of Times here referred to. For the industrious care, that the Prophecy seems to take in three Chapters of the Revelations to limit the number of years contained in the latter half of that great week, is sufficient ground to conclude, that the former half of it before the Times of the Beast, which has no such limitation in it, is to be accounted according to the received Custom of the Babylonian Nation, for their number of days in a year, to which all this peculiar calculation of the Times does refer. For the Exception expressly put in to the one half, is a confirmation of the common way of account in the other half, where there is none.  
Thus may we observe, That this great Tribulation of the domination of the Beast, does in that resemble the time of the greatest Tribulation that ever befell the Jews, as it is characterized by our Saviour. The days that this should have in it in proportion to the other half of the seven before it, are shortened for the Elects sake.  
And all the grounds that there are for the shortening of the length of 1260 years by the  and Greek Account, without the additional five days, expressly referred to in the Prophecy, do also prove, that the Rise of the Beast, whose time is measured out by these years, could not be about the Year 450. for then his time would now have been almost just run out. For 1260 Chaldaic years would be but 1242, which added to 450, would make but 1692 for the end of the Beast. And yet that is the time to which the first Rise of the Beast is fixed by the most Judicious of the Protestants, that take other ways for the succession of the Eighth King, called The Beast.  
But in the shortest account of these years they appear however to be so prodigious a length of time for the Reign of One Tyrannical Kingdom over the Church of God, in comparison with any other of the Four Monarchies (by which the whole 
N. B.  time of the Captivity of the Church of God is measured out in the 7th of Daniel) That that is a very sufficient Reason for the particular mention of them, as the half of some week of years: For by that, this Antichristian Tyranny is set out by that which is the most remarkable Circumstance in it, viz. The continuance of it in the last Monarchy of the Four, as long as all the rest of the time of the slavery of the Church under all the other Three Monarchies, and that also in but the one part of the Fourth Monarchy.   

CHAP. II. 
Rev. XIII.   
The Character of an Eighth, which was one of the Seven, explained; of was, and is not, yet is; Of coming after a Seventh, which should continue but a short space: Of the changing of Times, and Laws: Of the Ten Kings reigning one hour with the Beast: Of the Image of the Beast.  
TO go on with the rest of the Characters of the Beast in the Revelations. The Imperial Head cut off by the Goths, and restored by Justinian, does very naturally agree with the Character of its being an Eighth King, which was one of the Seven. Because 
Rev. 17. 11.  it was the Sixth of those Seven Kings at the time of the Prophecy, and an Eighth in the time of its Restauration by Justinian. And it is a strange thing to see how others are forced to make either their Eighth King to be the same with their Seventh, or their Seventh King to be none of the seven Heads, to uphold their Interpretation.  
And that also shows, How the Imperial Head restored by Justinian, was the Head wounded to death, and healed again; ch. 13. 3. And the Beast that was, and is not, and yet is, ch. 17. 8. which do but signify the same thing with its being the Eighth, which was one of the Seven that had been once past before. For all those Expressions signify no more, than that the Imperial Head was, before it was deadly wounded by the Goths, than ceased to be, while the Gothish Kings were the Kings of Rome and Italy; and afterwards was healed again by the return of the Imperial Rule over Rome in Justinian.  
Where by the way may be observed, how justly the continuance of the Roman Imperial Power in the East, after the ruin of the Western Empire, does answer the Character of, and yet is, at the time when it had but a small share in the Authority of the City of Rome, together with the Gothish Kings. See the Account of their 
Note 20, 21. on Chap. 18.  Union in the choice of their Consuls, etc. But whereas the first of these Expressions seems to belong only to an Head of the Beast, and the other is said of the Beast indefinitely; It is to be considered, that the notion of the Beast, is the Beast in the particular state of its last Head (Prop. 6.)— which is the healed Head (Coral. 3. Prop. 10.)  
As for the Riddle of was, and is not, and yet is, The Learned 
Vol. 1. p. 642.  Dr. More has shown, that that is to be understood of the Beast, as it was subject to those several changes of one and the same state of it, and not to be tied to any one set particular time, when those inconsistent Characters were really verified of it altogether, as several compounded Names of things are found to be in the Old Testament. For to understand it literally of the substance of the Beast, is an open contradiction; or to understand those Characters about the same qualification of it in the same respect at the same time. And yet it cannot but be seen, that in the time of the Gothish Kings, it was very near being verified to the greatest nicety about the Imperial Government. It was Supreme at Rome before them, it was not so in their time; and yet it was owned for its share with them in the Authority of it.  
But to make out this difficulty by applying these Expressions only to a quality of the Beast, that was, and was not, and yet was (as Dr. More does to the Idolatry of the Romans) is contrary to that, which has been proved to be the constant acceptation of the Beast (Prop. 6)— that is, The particular state of it under the Eighth King, which therefore must be the thing of which, was, is not, and yet is, must be verified.  
The Character of his being an Eighth after a Seventh King, which should continue but a short space, agrees very well with the 
Ch. 17. 10.  Restauration of the Imperial Rule after the Reign of the Goths in Italy. For their whole time was not above seventy years, which 
Isa. 23. 15.  is but the Age of one Man, and is by the Prophet Isaiah called the days of one King; and is a very short space of time in comparison with those Kings betwixt whom it stands, and to whose time of Reign the reference is made. For those seventy years were as nothing in comparison of either the Imperial Rule before it, which had continued for above five hundred years; or of that after it, which has already continued above a thousand years. And besides, it is a shorter space of time than is attributed to the Seventh King, by almost all others who do not make him to be a single Emperor.  
The changing of Times, and Laws, attributed to the Little Horn in Daniel, may signify no more than appearing like a new Lawgiver in the Church. But if it be desired to see this more particularly verified of the Reign of Justinian; Is it not sufficient for that purpose, that His Code was then made the standing Law of the Roman Empire, and has ever since continued to be so? And that the Epocha, that Dionysius Exiguus did then bring in of the Year of our Lord, against the old Epocha ab urbe conditâ, has ever since been observed? But I rather stick to his Settlement of the Laws of the Roman Church.  
There is no manner of difficulty about the Ten Kings, which 
Rev. 17. 12.  are said to Reign with the Beast either one hour, or at the same time. For the number Ten is usually taken in Scripture for an uncertain multitude of those things of which it is said to be the number; and in such a long succession, and change of Kingdoms, as it is here joined with, and where there is no other circumstance to show it to be a definite number, it ought in all reason to be taken in that sense; that is, for an uncertain multitude of Kingdoms, that were to be set up with the Beast in the bounds of the Roman Empire, according as they are represented by Horns of that Beast, which is agreed to be the particular Roman Monarchy, Prop. 16.  
For it is unimaginable, That ever that definite number of Ten Kingdoms should be found to have been constant under all those Changes of Masters, that the Divisions of the Roman Empire have have been successively ruled by. I am sure in the time of the Saxon Heptarchy in England, it could not be so: And many other Instances of the like nature might be produced against it. But however, it is not questioned by those, who maintain the definite number, but that these Ten Kings were up in Rule at the same time with Justinian. That they should have their first Rise with him at one and the same time, is not at all necessary from the Text, though the signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be granted to be at the same time. See pag. 216.  
But indeed the common, and unforced signification of that Expression, is one hour, that is, a small time, as has been observed: And then all that could be made of it, would be, That those Ten Kings, which are said to have received no Kingdom in St. John's time, yet should receive power as Kings, or as free Independent Sovereigns, for a small time with the Beast; and that only, till, as it is said, they should give their power, and strength, and Kingdoms to the Beast; that is, Till they should submit themselves, and their Kingdoms to that Roman Usurpation, which the Imperial Authority should set up, and be the Secular Head of; which will be better understood, when it is explained what the worship of the Beast, and of his Image, is.  
For that end it will be now requisite to inquire what the Image of the Beast can be determined to be. It seems at first to 
Chap. 13, 14.  be a figurative Expression, and so capable of variety of Interpretations; but there will be peculiar marks enough found of it in the Text to determine it to one certain thing.  
But before we enter upon that, it is to be premised, That the mention of the Beast, and his Image, is a very manifest allusion to the 
b Panciroll. de Notitia Imp. Orient. pag. 46. gives the examples of raising the Emperor's Image, and carrying it about, to denote his Exaltation to the Empire. And pag. 47. gives the examples of breaking the Emperor's Images, or the throwing them down, to signify the end of his Reign, or his being Deposed.  common custom of the Romans at that time, to raise the Emperor's Image in all public places at his election to that Dignity, and to continue the adoration of it during the time of his Reign, and to pull down, and break those Images at the end of every respective Reign. The Emperor's Image, and the worship given to it, was the public signification of his being in power: And that they might have the fairer Title to Adoration, 
c Panciroll. pag. 47. Notit. Imp. Orient. shows the way of consecrating the Images of the Emperors, and the unlawfulness of selling them after it; no less than Crimen laesae Majestatis, or High-Treason.  they were consecrated with a form of words, as the Idols that were dedicated to the honour of the Gods: And so sacred were they after that, accounted to be, that it was High-treason for any to sell them after Consecration.  
The Beast then, and his Image, are here joined together with a reference to the worship of the Emperors, and their Images. The False Prophet, who is the contriver of this Image, has been already found to be a Church-Head with Supreme Authority over the Roman Empire, and that he is really distinguished from the Beast, who is the Secular Head of it. Prop. 24.  
And this False Prophet is determined to be in particular, the Papal Authority, (Coral. 3. Prop. 25.)  
The Characters of this Image in the Text are to be next considered.  
It is said to be the Image of the first Beast, which had the deadly 
Chap. 13.  wound, and was healed again. It was then the Image of the Imperial Roman Rule restored again by Justinian, Coral. 1. Prop. 5. & Query 2.  
Now an Image of any thing, is something made after the likeness of the thing of which it is the Image; And particularly, in this Case it must have as great a likeness to its Original, as the Images of the Emperors used to have to the Emperors themselves.  
But then this Image is different from all Carved Images of the Emperors: For it is said to have life put into it; and therefore must it be a living likeness to its Original. That which it represents, is the Imperial Roman State, which is said to have power over all Kindred's, and Tongues, and Nations. This Image than must also be a living Supreme Power over all the same Jurisdiction; for otherwise it cannot be a living likeness of the former. A Carved Image is indeed but the dead likeness of some single Person. But an Image of a Public State, that is alive, as this is, must be some Ruling Power in the same State, that has a very lively resemblance to it; for it is in being at the same time with it; the Beast and his Image are ordinarily described to be together. And the Image is made in honour of the Beast, and so must, like the Images of the Emperors, be within the bounds of the Authority of the Beast; And besides, is made by a False Prophet in the exercise of the Power of the Beast.  
This living Image then, must necessarily be an Universal Rule of the World, like to that of the Imperial Roman State. And accordingly we find it speaking, and commanding all the World to worship it, chap. 13. 15. forcing all men to receive the mark of it, and to take the name of it, v. 16. which shows the extent of its Power to be as large as that of the Imperial Power, its Original. It had also power of life and death in it, v. 15.— which is the peculiar Prerogative of Supreme Power.  
Now this was all for nothing else but the enforcing of False Worship, which it was inspired with life by a false Prophet to effect. And one of the Punishments was Excommunication, 
v. 14. v. 17.  That men might not buy or sell, which was an usual punishment 
d Selden de Synod. l. 1. cap. 7. De effectibus Excommunicationis. He that was excommunicated, with either greater or lesser Excommunication, was said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; And the effects of them, were Separation from Converse, from the Synagogue, from the public Assemblies, from all the People and Commonwealth of the Jews.— And he that was accursed with Cherem, was not to have any Commerce with any, but just so much as to get Victuals.  of the Elders of the Synagogues amongst the Jews. All which denotes it to be an Ecclesiastical Power, equal to the Secular Power for the universality of its Jurisdiction: Indeed what kind of Power within the same Bounds and Territories can it possibly be, but Ecclesiastical, that can be a living Image of the Secular Exercising Supreme Authority at the same time with it, and in the same places, as this is described?  
This Image therefore must be a Church-Rule equal to that of the State; And since the Jurisdiction of it is Universal, or Catholic, and also Roman, can it be any thing else but the Roman-Catholick-Church? And since all the life that it has, is inspired into it by the False Prophet, who is already known to be the Papal Power (Corol. 3. Prop. 25.) what plainer description could we have had of the Roman-Catholick-Church under the Pope? Or what can there be that is a 
e 
Leo Sermo 1. de Natali Apos.] Rome has a larger Jurisdiction in its Spiritual Reign, than it had formerly in its Worldly Empire.  
Bellarm. l. 5. de Pontif. c. 6.] From whence it appears, That the Pope is greater than the Emperor, etc.  
Stenelius Eugubinus lib. 1. de Donat. Constant.] By the Exaltation of the Papacy, Rome has recovered a Greatness very little different from that of the Ancient Empires, since all Nations from the East to the West reverence the Pope of Rome in the same manner as they formerly did the Emperors.  
See the expressions of Pope Gregory VII. of his own Authority, Greg. 7. Epist. 37.  
The Roman Ceremonial, l. 1. c. 2. shows this to be the manner of investing the Pope with his Authority: I invest Thee with the Authority of Pope, that Thou mayst Rule over the City and the World, Urbi & Orbi.   more exact living Image of the Roman State under the Imperial Power? For the Head of it has a Jurisdiction equal to the Head of the State: Both Pope and Emperor have long since had the Title of The Lords of the World; They have both a Triple Crown, though for different Jurisdictions. They are both called King of Kings. The body of the Image is just the same with that of the Beast. The Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions are parted out exactly according to the divisions of the Civil Government of the Empire. The Patriarches, Archbishops and Bishops, had their Ranks and Places  according to the Divisions of the Provinces of the State; and the name of the Ecclesiastical Dioceses did arise from the distinction of the several Civil Dioceses of the Empire by Constantine. And it is established by the Canons of 
f Concil. 6ᵒ in Trullo, Can. 37. The Canon which was made by the Fathers, we do also observe, which says thus: If any City be, or shall be new raised by the Royal Power, the Ecclesiastical Dignity shall follow the Public and Civil state of it.  two Synods, That if any City were newly raised by the Emperor, the Ecclesiastical Dignities there should be conformed to it. So that the Church and State did run parallel to one another through the whole Body of the Roman Empire, just like the Arteries and Veins in the Body of Man, and observed the same proportion  to one another. 
ᵃ MAlvenda de Antichristo, pag. 234. de 10 Cornibus— The number Ten is very often in Scripture used indefinitely for a great many.    

CHAP. III. 
Rev. XIII.   
Wherein the Worship of the Beast, and of his Image, doth consist.  
BY the process of the former Chapter we have all the Confederates in the design of the Beast discovered to us. There is the Imperial Roman State for the Beast with his last Head; The Image and false Prophet for the Roman Catholic Church, and the Pope. The ten Kings giving their Kingdoms to the Beast; for those Roman Catholic Kings, who force their Subjects to submit to the Roman Religion, enjoined by the Papal Power, or Imperial Authority.  
And now it is to be examined, what is meant by Worshipping the Beast, and his Image.  
It is certain, in the first place, That the words here used to express the Worship of the Beast, and his Image, are the same with those which were in use at the time of the Vision, to signify the Adoration given to the Emperors, and their Images, publicly set up. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and adorare were the terms, in common use amongst the Greeks and Latins of those times to express that profound Reverence which was paid to the Emperor and his Image. And then there seems to be nothing more required to make Application of this Phrase, but only to show what obedience was given to the Secular and Ecclesiastical Authority of Rome, by all the World, from the time of Justinian.  
But because we find that the 
a GRotius in Decal.] Nor did the first Christians think it contrary to their Religion to fall down before the Emperor's Images: But when they afterwards joined the Images of false Gods with their own, they chose to endure any thing, rather than to worship them.  first Christians did pay that Reverence  to the Emperors and their Images, as well as the Pagans; It is manifest, that there must be something more here meant, than a bare external Civil Veneration of the higher Powers as the Ordinance of God.  
It must be something very much like the Worshipping of Nebuchadnezzar's Image, and of those Babylonian Kings, in such a manner, as not to be allowed the exercise of the true Religion: And nothing less than this, can answer the Character of the man of sin, 2 Thes. 2. 4. who is said to exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped: So that be as God sitteth in the Temple of God, showing himself, that he is God. And by the consent of all Interpreters, that Prophecy does certainly belong to that state of things that is represented by the Beast and his Image.  
By this than it appears, that by the Worship here mentioned, must be understood, the giving of Divine honours, or the peculiar Prerogatives of God, or Christ, to the Beast, or his Image; that is, to the Civil and Ecclesiastical Authority of the Romans, after the Restauration of the Imperial Roman Government in the West.  
The unquestionable way to effect this, would be to make 
* Grot. Responsde Antichristo, pag. 77. I detest every thing that belongs to the Spirit of Antichrist; (that is, the imposing, persecuting Spirit.) And that has appeared not only near the Tiber, but about the Lake Lemanus, and in other places.  the Arbitrary will and pleasure of the Supreme Authority of the Roman State, or the Church, to be acknowledged for the Law of God, Divinely inspired, or to be publicly obeyed as such by outward compliance with it: This is certainly to set up ones own will for the will of God; and so to stand one's self in the place of God to the World. And if this be exercised with an irresistible power over the Universal Church of Christ upon Earth, it is plainly the showing one's self to be a God in the Temple of God. For there could nothing else be understood by the Temple of God, after the Destruction of Jerusalem, but the Christian Church, which also has that name in several places of the same Apostle's Writings.  
A still much higher improvement of this Worship is it, if it be enjoined as necessary to Salvation to believe these Arbitrary Decrees to be the Inspirations of God, and to obey them.  
But especially if these Decrees be not only about things left indifferent by the Word of God, but are also Injunctions contrary to the Will and Word of God; For this is to oppose and exalt one's self above God in the Temple of God; And if this be done with the show of the Authority of God himself in it, this is to oppose all that is called God, showing himself to be God. For he does certainly make himself very near as absolute a Sovereign of a Nation, who does unjustly exercise all the Acts of the Sovereign Power of it, against the will of the undoubted Prince of it, but yet under the name of his Authority, as he that does it by an open Usurpation of the Title of the Sovereign Power.  
This Power and Authority is carried on with a still greater arrogance and claim of divinity in it, if it pretends to a Title of Infallibility in all that it can enjoin. For as this Divine Attribute is the fundamental ground of all the highest Acts of Faith in God; so is it a claim of an infinite power in men; and does give 
b Thomas de Albiis, in his Tabulae Suffragiales, does the best lay open the dreadful Consequences of establishing Infallibility in any Head of the Church, or any where, where it really is not. Tab. 20, 21. This Claim, in reference to the Pope, he proves there to be the Mother of all Heresies, and the worst of all sins, because if those who claim it should err, it would lead all the Church into the same, without any possibility of remedy. There is the same reason for that Claim in any Governing-part of the Church, where that Privilege really is not.  Authority to all the Acts of their own Will, frees them from 
See References.  all Bounds and Measures, or Rules to distinguish betwixt Truth and Falsehood; sets them out of the reach of all humane Judicature, and makes their Will and Pleasure the last Appeal for all Controversies; and their Arbitrary Decisions to be the Oracles of God.  
How inconsiderable does the Worship of Nebuchadnezzar's Image appear to be, in comparison with this profound Veneration of the Soul and Conscience, given to the arbitrary, false and wicked Decrees of either ignorant or designing Men, under the Character of the Word and Will of God?  
And all these particulars are made good in the matter before us, by the Imperial Laws, and their Sanctions, and Edicts, to force their own Faith in indifferent things. And the Errors of General Councils upon the Consciences of the whole Christian Church Catholic, to be assented to as 
c 
It had been the common stile of Councils, ever since the Council of Nice, to publish their Decrees under the Title of Things Divinely Inspired. Thus does Socrates show, lib. 1. cap. 6. Ep. That Constantine there says of the Decree of the 300 Bishops at Nice, That it was to be looked upon as the Sentence of God himself. And ibid. Ep. 4. To the Churches, he says of all Councils,— That whatsoever is decreed in the Holy Councils of Bishops, the same is to be attributed to the will of God.  
Cardinal Julian's Harangue to the Deputies of the Bohemians in the Council of Basil, tells them, That the Decrees of Councils are not less to be believed than the Gospel, because it is THEY that give AUTHORITY to the Scriptures.   Divine Truth, 
See References.  and many times as necessary to Salvation: and the giving of the Secular Arm to execute the like Injunctions of the Roman Church.  
Of this kind also are the unwarrantable Acts of Councils, and the unlawful Canons of the Roman Church, enforced by the 
d 
By virtue of such Orders from that Power, as these Determinations in the Decretals and Glosses do authorise, viz. That the Pope of Rome is by the Order of God set over the Nations and Kingdoms; That it belongs to the Pope to depose the Emperor, and all other Kings and States, and to assign them Deputies.— That the Pope is to be esteemed the Vicar of Jesus Christ, for all things here upon Earth, in Heaven, and Hell.— That he can make that which is square to be round, Injustice to be Justice; that which is nothing, to be something.— That he has an Absolute Power of Judging, and that justly, Against the Law of Nature, Nations, and of particular Countries, Human and Divine, above and against Right, against all Decrees and Orders of Council.— That he can dispense with the Injunctions of the Apostles.— And these Glosses the Popes do recommend to the Public, as AUTHENTIC. See Jus Canonic. Gregor. 13.  
Aventin. lib. 6. Histor. Boior. mentions the Emperor Henry's Charge against Pope Paschal, Ann. 1107— He says there of the Papal Power,— That they take an Oath of every Bishop to own all that for Law, that they shall say.  
This Oath is described, lib. 2. Decret. Tit. 24. where they swear to obey all the Pope's Commands, and to assist him against all that shall oppose themselves.   Papal Authority, and the Church of Rome, as necessary to Salvation; and as dictated by an Infallible Authority, with the claim of Infallibility, as an inseparable Prerogative of their Authority.  
Of the same Nature is the exercise of the power of the Keys in that Church, by which they confine all Divine Favour, and all Right to the Kingdom of Heaven, to the Communion of the Roman Church, and only as Roman, and by which they pretend to have the Power of the Curses of God, and of Eternal Damnation in their Hands, to pronounce against all those who own not that Divine Authority, and Infallible Spirit in them, by which they appear, as in the place of God, in the Church.  
For by this does the Church of Rome appear manifestly to sit as a Goddess in the Church Catholic; to which all must submit with all the outward Worship of their Bodies, and the inward Veneration of their Souls, as the only Oracle of God, in all its Decisions and Definitions of Faith and Worship, and as the immediate Voice and Thunder of God from Heaven in all its anathemas and Excommunications: And all this about matters, which either were never made to be the Will of God, by any other Authority, but the mere Will of the Roman Church; Or which are known to be absolutely contrary to the revealed Will of God, the Light of Natural Conscience, and to the common Sense and Reason of mankind, which is the Candle of the Lord; and the most fundamental 
Prov. 20. 27.  Criterion of the Truth or Falsehood of Revelations or Inspirations.  
But some will question, whether all this can amount to the charge of commanding Men to Worship the Beast and his Image with Divine Honours, though these things should be done without any warrant from God for them; because God himself is intended for the only Object of all that Worship that is thus enjoined.  
This doubt may soon be resolved by what Men would judge of the Worship of Nebuchadnezzar's Image, though he should have pretended, that it was the peculiar Presence of the God of Israel, as well as his own Image; and that it was to be Worshipped upon the account of that immediate Union of the True God with himself and his Image. Or by what Men can think of the Worship given to Simon Magus, under the supposition of his being the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, at several appearances; Whether would the Adoration be excused, for being intended to the True God?  
I would but demand of any sorts of Christians, what they would think of such an unbounded Power as has been mentioned, in any Party of Men, from whom they differ, which should now arise with these Claims of Superiority and Jurisdiction over the Universal Church of Christ upon Earth, and should force men's Consciences to acknowledge these Claims to be due by Divine Right, and should really think them to be so, upon as slight Grounds, as the Church of Rome does now believe its own pretences upon; and should exercise these new powers with as zealous designs for God's Service, as they of that Church seem to do? It would be hardly possible for any of a differing Party to forbear the charging of this new Pretender with the Character of sitting like a God in the Temple of God, or in the Christian Church. For he that requires mere human Laws to be accounted Divine Inspiration, which yet are nothing but his own will; he plainly makes his own will a Divine Law: And if he forces it upon all the World for such, he makes his own will the Universal Lord of the Consciences of Men, which is the peculiar Prerogative of God alone.  
Without all question, if the King of France, and the Assembly of his Clergy, should use the same methods and pretences that they have done to the Protestants, to force the Consciences of the Papal Party all over the World to the Opinions of the Gallican Church, they would not stick to charge him with the Character of usurping upon the peculiar Prerogative of God in his Church.  
I do take it all this while for granted, That the Claim for this Universal Power in the Church of Rome, and to the Title of Infallibility, is unwarrantable; and that is so easy a thing to be satisfied about, that I think it not needful here to dilate upon it. There needs no better satisfaction to be had about it, than what the slightness of the grounds that are alleged for this Authority, compared with the vast importance of the thing that they are to prove, does at the first sight offer to any that are impartial. But others have made it their business, and to them I remit it.  
The unwarrantableness of this Claim is supposed in the Objection: And if that be once granted, let the intention of the Church of Rome be never so fair in its Exercise of this Power, the instance  will make it sufficiently clear, how just the charge of the Worship of the Image is due to it: though it should exercise this power over the whole Church of God, within much more moderate bounds than it is known to do. The reality of their intention may without any difficulty be believed; For it was long since foretold, that the time would come, that whosoever killed the true Members of Christ, should 
John 16. 2, 4.  think that he did God service in it. And it is said to be foretold on purpose, that when the time should come, we should remember, that it had been told us of them. St. Paul does give the example of it 
Acts 22. 3, 4. Acts 26. 9, 10, 11.  in himself; he verily thought with himself, that he ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, and accordingly did them: For he shut up the Saints in Prison; when they were put to Death, he gave his Voice against them: He even compelled them to blaspheme; and was exceeding mad against them; and yet was zealous towards God, while he was Persecuting that way unto the death: And yet surely none would ever maintain, that the zealous intention of these cruel Actions would excuse them from the guilt of Inhumanity and Murder.  
The sincerity of the Intention in all these Diabolical acts of Antichristian Tyranny, does only denote, how absolute the power of the Devil is in them, by the power he has over them to make them believe, that it is the doing God service all the while, that they are acted by the Rage of the Devil.  
Wherefore it may now be safely concluded, That the great malignity of the Worship of the Beast and his Image, does lie in the Acknowledgement of an Universal Arbitrary Jurisdiction over the Consciences of all Men, in the Governing-Power of the Roman State and Church.  
I need add nothing else to make the Character of it comprehensive enough of all the particulars included in it.  
For this unbounded Power, especially when secured by the Plea of Infallibility, does comprehend in it all the Tyrannical impositions that can enslave the Souls of Men, to give an Absolute and Divine Reverence to the Supreme Power. An ungrounded belief of an Infallible Spirit in Men in the exercise of their Jurisdiction over the Conscience, does oblige a Man to a blind Faith in them for every the most absurd and extravagant thing that they affirm; and to a blind obedience to all their most Unreasonable and Arbitrary Injunctions. It binds him to renounce all use of his Understanding, that should enable him to discover a falsehood; and to stifle all the Light of Conscience in him, which would make him discern betwixt good and evil: And by this means does it not only lay a Man open to the inspirations and illusions of the Devil, but to take them also for the Oracles of God; and makes him uncapable of the Grace of Repentance.  
This does make it easy to understand how the Worshippers of the Beast do also Worship the Dragon, who gives Power to him. For this Power being not of God, but of the Dragon, and for his service, as it is expressly said to be; the Worship that is paid to it, is, the Worshipping of that 
e Ribera on 16 B. cap. 13. moves a Doubt, How Antichrist, that is to deceive the World with a false show, can persuade them to worship the Devil, or Dragon?— And thereupon says, The Interpreters do thus answer:— Men shall worship Antichrist: But because he shall have his Power from the Devil, by worshipping of Him, they shall worship the Devil. So Aretas, Primatius, Ausbertus, Haymo, Ambrose Anselmus.  Dragon, or of the Devil, for whose service it is. Besides, that the Devil or Dragon is represented as the constant companion of the Beast to the last, and so must be the Inspirer and Manager of the Beast in all he does. And then the Devil may be said to be as really in the Throne again, as he was in the Red Dragon; so that the Dragon by that, does become the Life and Soul of the Beast; and both together make one and the same Body of Sovereign Power that is worshipped.  
And this does very well express the Tyrannical Persecutions of the Faithful Members of Christ by the Roman Powers, which is almost the whole Character of the Red Dragon in the 
Rev. 12. 3.  Chapter before this; and for which he wears those bloody Colours.   

CHAP. IU. 
Rev. XIII.   
An Essay to apply the Idolatrous Worship of the Beast, to the Imperial Power. The Church no Monarchy before Constantine. With him came in the Monarchical Form of Church-Government, with an Ecclesiastical Senate. The Resemblance of the Imperial Power in the Church, both as to the Legislative, and Executive part of the Government, with the Civil Power in conjunction with the Roman Senate. The first Ground of the Authority of the Bishops of Rome.  
THE Charge of the Idolatrous Worship , may seem at the very first sight to be just enough for the Worship of the Image, or of the Church of Rome, and of the Papal Authority, which is the Head and life of it; But it may not appear to be so easy to apply the Worship of the Beast to the Secular Imperial Power.  
For a clear satisfaction in this, It will be convenient to take a view of the different states of the Church, when under Persecution, and when advanced to the Imperial Throne. It is very evident, that the Catholic Church, however united it might be, yet was certainly no Monarchy in the times before Constantine. The Bishop of Rome, who is the only pretender to the Sovereignty at that time, is sufficiently known to have had then but a very limited Jurisdiction; and nothing did pass for a Law of the Church, but what was decreed by the Common Assembly of the Governors of it.  
The Church did much resemble the Union and Government of the States of the United Provinces. The Bishop and his Clergy were the standing Authority of every particular Jurisdiction; and the People and inferior Clergy were generally the Electors of the Bishops into their particular places; and the general Assembly of them all in Council, was the Supreme Authority of the Church: By them were Laws made, and they were accounted the last Appeal for the determination of all material Controversies about Jurisdiction.  
Upon Constantine's Conversion 
a THe Jesuit Pererius Disp. 5. in Apocalypsin, De Constantino.— Then was the Imperial Majesty first brought into the Church, and the Church came to be armed against its Enemies with two Swords; The one the Temporal Sword, in the hands of Seculars, (or Laics), and of Christian Princes; the other Spiritual, in the hands of the Church-Prelates, but chief that in the Papal Power.  there appeared a new form of Government in the Church. That which before was but an Aristocracy, comes now to be a Monarchy under an Emperor, and an Ecclesiastical Senate; but yet with so much deference to the Emperor, as he might evidently be perceived to be the Supreme Governor of the whole Church. It was 
b 
Constantine summoned the Council of Nice, and presided there, Euseb. vit. Constantin. l. 1. c. 37. l. 3. c. 6. And before had commanded and enjoined the meeting of the Synod of Arles, Euseb. l. 10. c. 5.  
The Council of Sardica was summoned by the Order of the two Emperors (Constantius and Constans.) Sozomen l. 3. c. 10. The Synodical Epistle of that Council in Theodoret. l. 2. c. 8. says, The Emperors, wellbeloved of God, gathered us together, from divers Cities and Provinces, and have ordered us to hold a Synod in the Town of Sardica. So also Athanasius, Apol. 2. of the same thing: By the Edict of the most religious Emperors, Constans and Constantius.  
The Second General Council at Constantinople was summoned by the command of the Emperor Theodosius, as Socrates expressly says, l. 5. c. 8. & Theodoret. l. 5. c. 9 that they were assembled by the Letters of the Emperor.  
The Synodical Epistle of the Council, 1 Tom. Council. expresses their being assembled at the Emperor's Command; and desire him to confirm their Decrees by his Judgement and Seal.  
The Third General Council at Ephesus; Epist. Synodal. ad Theodos. apud Cyrill. Tom. 4. Concil. We present our Persons in the Synod that you have commanded, etc. And they desire leave of the Emperor, with all humility, to go to their several homes, till the business was determined. — And the Emperor in his confirmation of it, says, The Emperor duly informed of all, is well satisfied, that the Holy Synod has done all things Canonically.  
Soon after this does Theodosius call another Council at Ephesus, and says of Dioscorus to that Council— We give Him according to the Canons of the Holy Father's Authority, and the first Seat there: Baronius calls it usurping upon the Rights of the Pope.  
The Fourth General Council at Chalcedon, is said, in the Acts of the Council, to be called by the Decree of the most Pious Emperors, Valentinian, and Marcian. The Emperor Marcian bespeaks them as the chief amongst them, prescribes them their bounds in their Disputes, not to say any thing contrary to the Council of Nice. The Judges of the Assembly were appointed by the Emperor, and the Senate sat there with Him as the Precedents, and Moderators of the Assembly, who correct the Pope's Legates in their Demands, etc. And Eusebius, Bishop of Doryletum, appeals to them, and conjures them by the safety of the Emperors, next to the Holy Trinity, which was a plain evidence, who were then accounted the Highest Authority amongst them under God. And in the conclusion of that Action, all give thanks to the Emperors, the Judges, and the Senate. Actione prima Council. Chalced.  
Pope Leo in his Epistle to the Emperor Marcian, tells him, That he had thought his Clemency would have granted him his desire to have the Synod at a more convenient Season.— But since his love for the Catholic Faith would have the Assembly to be at that time— that he had sent his Legate to it to supply his place.  
In the fifth Action of the Synod at Chalcedon, it is ordered, that a Definition of Faith be brought in by some Bishops appointed for that purpose— And in the sixth it is said, that after the Emperor Marcian's Speech. the Emperor's Definition of Faith was read, which had been mentioned in the fifth Action.  
The Emperor in the same Action confirms the Acts of the Council, and threatens the Contemners of it with condign punishment; the same does he mention in his Letter to Palladius.  
But nothing does more show the Custom of calling Synods to be by the Supreme Civil Power, than the exercise of this Right in the Roman Church by the Arrian Kings of Italy, after the fall of the Western Empire. Several Synods were called at Rome by those Kings to appease the Divisions of that Church and Clergy. Tom. 2. Concil. In Synodis Tempore Symmachi.  
By the command of the most Religious King, says the Fourth Synod— and that the King had signified, that the Pope himself had desired him by his Letters to appoint the Synod,— and that the Synod presumed not to declare any thing in that Affair without the knowledge of the King;— and that Pope Symmachus was commanded by the King to engage with his Adversaries there— And that according to the command of the Prince, they had power allowed them; But that they did restore him all the Ecclesiastical Right, both within, and without the City.  
The Fifth General Council was summoned by Justinian, and the Pope Vigilius banished by the Emperor for not obeying the Summons.  
The Sixth General Council is said to have been summoned by the Decree of the Emperor Constantine at Constantinople— The Emperor there seated in the Highest Place, with the Consuls and Judges on his side.— And the Emperor first gave order for the Dispute, and after it by the Emperor's command the first Action was concluded. Actio prima, Council 6.  
In the second Action the Emperor presides again — Praesidente Imper. Piissimo.  
In the third Action the Emperor again presides.— The Emperor, and the Judges do there consult together about a Passage in the Fifth Synod— And the Judges determine with the Synod.  
In the fourth Action the same Emperor presides.  
Pope Agatho in the second Action tells the Emperor, If he offers himself to render ready Obedience to the things that had been commanded him by the sacred Patent of his most Clement Fortitude, and says— to fulfil the obedience of my Service— according to the most pious Command of your Clemency— for the Obedience which we owe.  
In the fifth Action the Emperor presides— order Macarius to bring forth his Testimonies— And by the Emperor's Command the Action was finished.  
In the sixth the Emperor presides— is applied to by the Pope's Legates, to desire that he would command the true Copies of the Book cited by Macarius, to be sent for, and the Emperor did accordingly order it to be done the next Session.  
In the ninth the Emperor presides, and orders those of the Synod of one Party to declare themselves.  
The Emperor presides also in the 10th and 11th Actions, and then order his Deputies, two Patricians, and two Exconsuls' to preside in his room for the future, because he had heard the Principal things himself— They continued till the 18th Action.  
And in the 18th Action the Emperor presides, and the Council first subscribe to the Acts, and then the Emperor.  
Thereupon does the Emperor issue out his Edicts to the People of the West, to confirm all that had been decreed.  
The Seventh General Council is said to be called by the Emperor Constantine, and Irene his Mother in their Letters Patents, and that at the Request of Tharasius, Patriarch of Constantinople; and the Council itself says it was by that pious Decree, Action. 7.  
The Council of Frankford celebrated soon after in the West, is by Charlemaigne, in his Letters to Elipard, Archbishop of Toledo, said to have been summoned by his Command. He presided there, and the Circular Letter of the Synod is dispatched in his Name. So are the Councils of Arles, Aix, Tours, Chalons, Mentz, about the same time said to be summoned by the Command of the Emperor Charles. There was also a Synod at Rome said to be summoned by Charles, in the time of Pope Adrian, as Gratian affirms, D. 6. C. Adrianus 22.  
And in the Council of Francford does Charlemaigne give a very remarkable proof of the Imperial Authority. For by his countenancing it, it condemned the famous Second Council at Nice, and with it the Four Councils that were held at Rome before it, about the same business, in the years 713. 716. 742. 768.  
And even after the depriving of the Eastern Emperor of his Right in Italy, yet do the Popes than date their Councils according to the year of the Reign of those Emperors, as it always before had been the Custom; as that of Pope Zachary at Rome against Godescalcus.— In the Reign of our most pious Lord the Emperor Constantine Augustus, the six and twentieth year of his Reign.  
All the several Kings in the West had also the same Authority for the summoning of Provincial Councils, as may be  observed in the Tomes of the Councils.  
The Eighth General Council is said by the Bishops of it, Action 6. That it was summoned by the Emperor (Basilius) crowned of God — And in the 7th Action, That the Emperor had used all diligence to get the Legates of other Patriarches, as well as those of Rome, and had thereby assembled an Universal Council.  
But Pope Stephens' Letter to Basilius is the best Testimony of it— What evil has the Roman Church done? Has it not, according to the custom of the former Synods at Constantinople, sent its Legates at thy Command?  
And the Emperor himself says in the Preface to this Council, That the Divine Benignity having committed the Helm of the Universal Ship to his care, he had taken care before all things to appease the Ecclesiastical Storms.  
The Pope's Legates did indeed preside in this Council. But it is the first, wherever they can be found to have done so.  
Radevicus says of the Council of Pavia, that was called to judge of the Schism betwixt Alexander the Second, and Victor the Second, in the Year 1160. That the Emperor Frederick did declare, that he summoned it by his Authority, according to the custom of the Ancient Emperors. And in his Decree for it to the Bishops, expresses the same thing. Radevic. c. 51. & deinceps.— And all their meeting in Council asserts his Authority from the Examples of Constantine, Theodosius, Justinian, Charles and Otho.  
Aeneas Silvius, Ep. 34. says of the Council of Basil, That it was called by the King of the Romans, with the permission of the King of France.   the Emperor 
See References at the end of the Fourth Chapter.  that summoned the General Councils at his pleasure; He often presided himself in them, and managed the Disputes there, and appointed others to preside in his absence. All Applications were made to him, as the Supreme Authority amongst them, when he was present; And those that were the Judges of the Assembly in his absence, were delegated from him; His will was consulted upon all occasions; The definition of Faith, that the Council subscribed to, was many times proposed by him, and it was called the Emperor's definition of Faith; and after the Bishops, the Emperor subscribed to the Acts of the Councils in the last place, and as the last confirmation of it; and then was the Councils said to be 
c 
Concil. Arelatense. sub Carolo M. Ann. 823. cap. 26.  
These things we have decreed should be sent to our Lord the Emperor, beseeching his Clemency, that if there be any thing here omitted, it may be supplied by his prudence; If any thing unreasonable, that it may be corrected by his judgement; If any thing be well determined, that it may have its effect by His Assistance, the Divine Aid concurring with it.  
Eutychius in Origen, says, That the Bishops of the Council of Nice, upon Constantine's resigning up himself, and his whole Empire to them, by the laying down of his Sword before them, did begirt him with his Sword again for the defence of the Faith.  
Euseb. de vitâ Constantin. l. 4. c. 35. Constantine tells the Bishops there, That they are Bishops for the things within the Church, and he appointed by the Grace of God to be Bishop over the things without the Church. And l. 1. c. 37. ibid. that he called a Synod, as if God had appointed him to be the Universal Bishop.  
Concil. Milevitan. under the Emperors Arcadius and Honorius, cap. 11. It was also decreed, that Legates should be sent from this Honourable Council to obtain from the most Glorious Emperors, whatsoever they shall judge useful against Heretics, Pagans, or their Superstitions.  
Novel. 42. Cod. Justinian. Justinian gives this account of the Deposition of the Patriarch Mennas, by him, after he was condemned by the Council. We according to the Usage of the Imperial Power, have ourselves also resolved upon this Law. For whenever the Assembly of Bishops have ejected any out of the Priestly Thrones, as Nestorius, Eutyches, Arius, Macedonius, Eunomius, and others — The Imperial Power did agree to it.   confirmed, or made valid, and not before; For the Emperor had a negative Voice in all they did, as well as the chief power in the doing it, whenever he pleased to concern himself in it: After the conclusions of these Assemblies, that which made their Definitions and Decrees to be universally received and obeyed, was 
d 
Concil. Arelatense. sub Carolo M. Ann. 823. cap. 26.  
These things we have decreed should be sent to our Lord the Emperor, beseeching his Clemency, that if there be any thing here omitted, it may be supplied by his prudence; If any thing unreasonable, that it may be corrected by his judgement; If any thing be well determined, that it may have its effect by His Assistance, the Divine Aid concurring with it.  
Eutychius in Origen, says, That the Bishops of the Council of Nice, upon Constantine's resigning up himself, and his whole Empire to them, by the laying down of his Sword before them, did begirt him with his Sword again for the defence of the Faith.  
Euseb. de vitâ Constantin. l. 4. c. 35. Constantine tells the Bishops there, That they are Bishops for the things within the Church, and he appointed by the Grace of God to be Bishop over the things without the Church. And l. 1. c. 37. ibid. that he called a Synod, as if God had appointed him to be the Universal Bishop.  
Concil. Milevitan. under the Emperors Arcadius and Honorius, cap. 11. It was also decreed, that Legates should be sent from this Honourable Council to obtain from the most Glorious Emperors, whatsoever they shall judge useful against Heretics, Pagans, or their Superstitions.  
Novel. 42. Cod. Justinian. Justinian gives this account of the Deposition of the Patriarch Mennas, by him, after he was condemned by the Council. We according to the Usage of the Imperial Power, have ourselves also resolved upon this Law. For whenever the Assembly of Bishops have ejected any out of the Priestly Thrones, as Nestorius, Eutyches, Arius, Macedonius, Eunomius, and others — The Imperial Power did agree to it.   the Emperor's Edicts for that purpose, which were published with the Threats of anathemas, as well as Civil Punishments: 
e 
See Cod. Theodos. Tit. de Haereticis. Item Cod Justiniani Tit. de Episcopis, & Clericis. Item de Apostatis.  
So also was it in the times of the Gothish Kings of Italy, after the ruin of the Western Empire. Cassiodor. Variar. l. 9 Ep. 15. King Athalaricus to Pope John concerning the Conditions of the Elections of Bishops.  
Novel. 434. Justiniani, Orders that no Bishops be sued without an Imperial Command for it. And Pope Pelagius the First, upon the choice of Paulinus, Bishop of Aquileia, in his Letters to Narses, desires him to send the principal of the Faction to Justinian, and gives this reason for it, that Totila himself would not suffer the Bishop of Milan (who consecrated Paulinus) to be created without his leave first had in writing for it.  
Cod. Theodos. Novel. Valentin. l. 2. Tit. 12. The Emperor Valentinian forbids the Bishops to be Judges of the persons of Bishops, and that in any Civil, or Criminal Causes, but that they should come before the Secular Judges, unless they go by consent to the Bishop's Courts.  
Liberatus in Breviario, c. 22. gives an account of Belizarius' setting up, and deposing one Pope after another,— And that Anthimus being deposed by Justinian, gave up his Pallium (or Episcopal Robe) to the Emperor.  
Gregory the Great, in the Case of Januarius, does expressly order his Legate to go according to the Laws of Justinian's Code— And of Januarius— It must be considered, that it was done perfectly against the Laws, to draw him by force out of the Church, which, he says, aught to be punished as High-Treason, l. 11. Ep. 54.  
Sigonius de regno Italiae, l. 5. The Emperor Lotharius declares for a Council at Pavia, to regulate the Clergy; thereupon followed a great Disorder at Rome. But Pope Leo, in his Letter to Lotharius, affirms, That he did observe his Laws, and his Predecessors, and would always observe them; desiring him also, that the Roman Law might be kept for the future, as it had been before.   And the Executions of the Canons of the Church upon irregular and disobedient Bishops, by Deprivations, etc. was by the Imperial Authority. The Church-Rights were still indeed preserved for a while in Elections, church-good, etc. But the whole External Government of it was managed by the Imperial Authority, in almost as absolute a manner as the Civil Government. 
f 
Concil. Milevitan, See Note ᶜ of this Chapter, & ibid. Canon. 17. They desire an Imperial Law to enforce the Canon of the Council upon Contemners.  
The Emperor Marcian in Action. 6. Concil. Chalcedon.— After the declaration of the Catholic Faith by the Holy Synod, we have thought it just and expedient to take away all dispute and contention about it for the future. And therefore, etc. where he proceeds to the inflicting punishment. upon the several Offenders against the Canons.   They made Laws about Apostates, and Heretics, and their Books, about Churches, about the regulation of the Clergy in Elections of Bishops, about the Qualifications, and Depositions of Bishops. And these Laws were very ordinarily executed upon Bishops according to the Emperor's will.  
But that which does the most fully show, what share the Emperors had in the Government of the Church, and in the Canons of Councils, is the 45th of Justinian's Novels, where all the Canons of Councils are turned into Laws of the Empire. Indeed the general definition of the Law in the Code, together with the explication of it there, does expressly determine the will of the Emperor to be the only rule and measure of Law either in Church or State.  
The general definition of a Law, is in these terms. Whatever 
C. de Offic. Principis.  the Prince declares to be his Pleasure, has the force of a Law; upon which it follows; Wherefore, whatever the Emperor does appoint by the Subscription of the Bishops, or decrees of his own knowledge, or does publicly declare by word, or does command by Edict, does appear to be a Law. Where it is evident, That the Acts of Councils became Laws of the Empire only by the Emperor's will in Council, and had nothing in them to enforce them upon those, who would descent from the Council as erroneous, 
g 
Sozomen. l. 3. c. 10. By the Order of the two Emperors it was decreed, That the Bishops of each Party should meet at a set day at Sardica, a City of Illiricum.  
The Synodical Epistle of that Council says the same. So also Balsamon in his Preface to that Council. And Socrat. l. 2. c. 16.   before the Emperor's command for it.  
We do accordingly see what effect the fear of the Imperial Authority had upon the Councils themselves. For all the Councils assembled under Arrian Emperors, were of the same mind with the Emperor that called them; And if some should think, that it was rather the judgement of their own Consciences, they must then allow, that the generality of the Governors of the Church were really Arrians, and sincerely Orthodox, within the space of less than thirty years. It is certain that the Arrian Council of Ariminum was more than twice as numerous as the biggest General Councils besides; The Councils indeed were of the same mind with the Emperor that called them; And it is well worth the observing, how the Bishops of the East and West divided at the Sardican Council about the business of Athanasius, according to the different minds 
h See Note ᶜ, and ᶠ, of this Chapter, Constantine Universal Bishop.  of Constantius and Constans, who sent them thither.  
By this than it appears, that the Imperial Authority did from its first owning of the Christian Religion, look so big in the Church, that those of the highest Character in it, did bow down to its will and pleasure. And when withal it is considered, that all the Parts of the Catholic Church were under this Roman Government, it is plain, That the proper appellative of the Christian Church at that time, was the Roman Church, because Roman and Catholic were of the same import, when all the World was Roman; And the Principle of Political Unity amongst them all, which made them one Body, and one Church in the face of the World, was their owning the Roman Emperor; with his Ecclesiastical Senate (or General Council) for their Supreme Ruler and Governor.  
It appears then, that the Imperial Power was the Supreme Authority at that time in the Church upon Earth. General Councils were but his Senate; And whether they were in the right or the wrong, it was his consent that gave them their 
i 
Baronius, Anno 418. about the Schism of Boniface and Eulalius for the Papacy. Symmachus, Governor of the City, writes to the Emperor Honorius.  
Because it belongs to your Piety to determine it, I thought I ought forthwith to consult Your Majesty about it. Thereupon Honorius writes back— We command by Our Positive Order, that Boniface do forthwith leave the Place, and obey the Celestial Commands; (that is, the Imperial Order) idem Anno 419. which was obeyed.  
So was it ordained by Athalaricus, King of Italy, after the fall of the Western Empire, that in case of wrong, the Clergy should appeal to the Secular Court. Cassiodor. Variar. l. 8. Ep. 24. & l. 9 Ep. 15.  
So also does Justinian, Novel 123. command the Bishop of Rome to execute an Order of his — jubemus Episcopum Romanum.  
See Dr. Barrow's Supremacy of the Pope, from page 324, to 372. Instances of Emperors appealed to in Ecclesiastical Affairs, Popes not intermeddling.  
The Donatists appeal from the Council of Arles to the Emperor Constantine (after two Councils appointed by him to decide the difference) who does thereupon assign them to meet at the Council of Milan. S. Augustin. contra Crescon. l. 3. c. 71. and Ep. 162. & 68  
And Flavian, Bishop of Constantinople, was beaten and banished for appealing to the Court of Rome from the Synod at Ephesus. Petau. Ratio. Temp. part 1. l. 6. c. 19   actual force for a general outward compliance; and without this Imperial Assent, we find scarce any Symbol of Faith, or Canons of discipline publicly or universally enjoined, after the Emperors were become Christians: But after the Decrees of either of those kinds were concluded upon in Council, it was the Emperor's Sanctions, and Edicts, that gave them the effectual force of a Law to the whole Church; which shows the Emperor's share in the Legislative Power of the Church, to be near akin to his Power in the Senate about Civil Affairs; but at least very near as great in the Councils as the Papal Authority was afterwards, before it came to its full height.  
And then in the Execution of the Laws and Canons of the Church, the Imperial Authority appears  to be the last resort, and the last Power that they 
k 
Hieron. Rubeus Histor. Ravennat. p. 180. The Archbishops of Ravenna do there contend with the Popes of Rome for the Superiority. John the Archbishop had many of the Italian Bishops of his Party in it.  
And Sigonius de Regno Ital. l. 2. & Blondus. Decad. 1. l. 9 Ann. 608. gives an account of this Contest of Ravenna with Rome all the days of Pope Martin the First, Eugenius the First, Vitalian, and Adeodat. They would have no Pallium nor Consecration from Rome in acknowledgement of any dependence upon them.  
S. Hierom. ad Evagre.— If you dispute about the Authority of the whole World, Orbis major est Urbe— Wheresoever there is a Bishop, whether at Rome, or Eugubium, at Constantinople or Rhegium, he is of the same Dignity, and of the same Priesthood.  
Cardinal Cusan, l. 2. c. 12. shows that all Bishops are equal— But the execution of their Office is bounded by Human Laws, and Orders, which if they come to cease, those Differences of Greater and Less, return again to their natural Right, that is, to an Equality.  
Aeneas Silvius, Comment. l. 2.  
Before the Council of Nice, every Bishop lived independent in his own Jurisdiction.   appeal to for redress, 
Dr. Barrow, p. 324. to p. 372. Grot. in. Decal. Praecep. 2. Note the 3d.  or for correction of Church-governors; which shows it to have had also the full possession of the Executive Power; And accordingly do we find the Title of the Universal Bishop of the Church, in respect of the External Government of it, assumed by Constantine.  
In this state did the Imperial Authority continue in the Church, when the exercise of its power was the most unblameable. So that here was a Roman Catholic Church established from the very first appearance of the Imperial Throne in the Church; and no other Political Unity was there then of the Roman Church, but only this Imperial Headship. The particular Jurisdiction of the 
l 
Ludovic. Bebenberg. de jurib. R. & Imp. Romanor. pag. 142. In Commentar. M. Freherus.  
— When the Emperor Henry had objected to the Romans, why against the custom of their Ancestors they had chosen them a Pope without the leave of the King; The Pope excused himself, that he was chosen by force; but that he would not be consecrated, till he did perfectly understand by an Embassy, that both the Emperor and the Princes had consented to his Election.  
Hieron. Balbus de Coronatione, cap. 14. It had been an ancient Custom, that the Clergy and People of Rome should nominate the Pope; After which it was in the Emperor's power to confirm or invalidate the Election, and as he pleased, either to admit him, or to substitute another in his room; c. Agatho 63. distinct. And this Custom continued to the time of Pope Adrian, Anno 815.— who would have changed it— But the old Custom obtained again, of expecting the Pope's Confirmation from the Emperor, as Platina observes in Gregor 9 in the Year 1072. Gregory was reconciled to the Emperor Henry— who confirmed him Pope, as it was then the custom.  
Caronza Concil. summa, pag. 437. Severinus Papa in locum Honorii subrogatus ab Isaacio— Hexarcho in Pontificatu confirmatur, etc.— Severinus was confirmed Pope by Isaac the Hexarch of Italy. For the Election by the People and Clergy was not accounted valid in those days, unless the Emperors, or their Exarches, had confirmed them. Platina says the same in Severinus; And Blondus the same with this of Caranza, l. 9 Decad. 1. and adds, That the Confirmation was put off for a year and an half, because Isaac did not go from Ravenna to Rome before.  
Sigebert in his Chronicle mentions a Council held by Charlemaigne at Rome before he was crowned Emperor, by virtue of his being made Defender of the Church by Adrian— And there Adrian and 150 Bishops did confer the Right of choosing the Pope, upon Charles, and of ordering the Apostolic See, and the Dignity of the Prince. The same is mentioned by Gratian, D. 69. c. Hadrianus 22. And by Sigonius de Regno Ital. l. 4.  
In the time of the Emperor Ludovicus, the Son of Charlemaigne, upon Pope Stephen's being elected contrary to the Order, without the Emperor's Command — Stephen to mend the matter, makes this Order in the Canon. Quia Sancta, D. 52.  
Because the Roman Church suffers great Violences at the Death of the Pope, when the Election is made without the Emperor's knowledge; We ordain, That when the Bishop of Rome is to be chosen, that he be elected in a full Assembly of the Bishops and Clergy, and in the presence of the Senate and People; and so being chosen in the presence of the Legate of the Emperor, that he be consecrated.  
Baronius, Anno 827. says of the Election of Pope Valentinus, That his Consecration was deferred till the Emperor should be consulted about it.  
Pope Leo the Eighth, Anno 963. makes this Order in behalf of the Emperor Otho— That according to the Example of Adrian, Bishop of the Apostolic See, who granted unto the Emperor Charles the ordering the Apostolic See— That he likewise, with all the Clergy did constitute, and by his Authority corroborate to his Lord Otho (first King of the Theutons) and to his Successors in the Kingdom of Italy, The power of choosing a Successor, and of disposing of the Bishop of the Sovereign Apostolic See: and for that purpose, that the Archbishops, and Bishops should take investiture from him— And that none for the future should take upon them the power of electing, or consecrating the Bishop of Rome, or of any other See, without the Consent of the said Emperor. D. 63. in Synodo 23. The Title of the Canon in Gratian is— The Election of the Bishop of Rome does of right appertain to the Emperor.   Bishopric of the City of Rome, was in no other account for Supremacy, than the rest of the Episcopal Jurisdictions, and all of them were confined to their own particular Territories.  
But it was reputed just and fitting at the coming in of the Emperors into the Church, that the Bishop of their Ruling City should have a mark of distinction from the rest, as an honour due to the Emperor's Court, and Residence; And thus came the Bishop of Rome to have the precedence of all other Bishops in the Church; And upon the same account had Constanstinople the second place to that of Rome, when that City became the Seat of a new Empire.  
This Primacy gave the Bishops of Rome a great advantage over the Interests of their Fellow-Bishops; And being become very necessary to the Emperors for upholding their Power in the midst of the Invasions of the Barbarous Nations, the Emperors were willing to enlarge their Authority, to make use of it for the management of their own Affairs; And after that the Divisions of the Roman Empire were settled in so many Sovereign Princes, that Church-Authority, which they themselves had now lost in those several Kingdoms, they were not unwilling to bestow upon the Chief Bishop of their City; and so by small advances he came at last to get the Title of Ecumenical Bishop, and Universal Head of the Church of Christ upon Earth.  
But yet still did the Emperors retain their Power of the setting up of every new Bishop of Rome; The Emperor's 
m This is thus well expressed by John Wax de Antichristo, p. 119. And so the Ten Kings delivered to the Beast their Kingdoms which they had got at the dissolution of the Western Empire, according to Apoc. 17. 12. For after that the Western Empire was broken in pieces, all the Kingdoms of the West did join again together in one body, that by the bonds and tie of the Babylonish Superstition of the Bishop of Rome, they might fight against the Lamb.  Consent was still held necessary for the confirmation of the Election, as the Chief Power upon Earth, that gave him his Authority; And upon this account he was set up as the Emperor's Deputy and Creature, to be the Universal Head of the Roman Church, in all the divided Kingdoms of the Roman Empire, which now would own no other Secular Head of the Churches in them, but those Sovereigns which ruled them; And thus came the divided Roman Empire to be ⁿ one entire thing again, and the several Kings in it to own one Roman Head again set up by the Imperial Authority.  
Things continued not long in this mere spiritual and Ecclesiastical State. The new Ecclesiastical Head used all ways to make himself universally acknowledged for such: And to that end, as Head of the Church, he assumes a power of executing the Canons of Councils upon Sovereign Princes, to the depriving them of their Kingdoms, if they refused to execute the Orders of the Church upon all those that were disobedient to it, and that even to the punishment of death.  
From hence then we have a perfect Idea of the worship of the Beast, and of his Image, from the first Rise of the last Ruling Head, or of the Imperial Power restored by Justinian.  
The Imperial Authority was at first the sole Head of the Roman Catholic Church; Afterwards the Submission of the divided States of the Empire to one Ecclesiastical Sovereign, who was set up by the Emperor, made this new Empire the exact Image of the first, in respect of the Church-Government of it; And the Manager and Contriver of this new Model, is in History, the Bishop of Rome; and is in the Prophecy called, the False Prophet.   

CHAP. V. 
Rev. XIII.   
Four Grounds for the applying of the Worship of the Beast to the Imperial Power: How the False Prophet does Exercise all the Power of the First Beast, causes all the World to Worship him; makes them make an Image to him; Gives Life to that Image, and makes All receive its Mark, etc.  
BY the Observations in the preceding Discourse, it is easy to see, How justly the Worship of the Beast may be applied to the Imperial Authority after the degeneracy of the Christian Religion.  
1. For the Imperial Authority, as has been observed, p. 221. was 〈…〉 a long while the only commanding Head of the Roman Religion, and the 
a 
Socrates' Proam. in l. 5. We have therefore in the whole course of out History given an account of the Emperor's interest in it; because that since they began to embrace the Christian Religion, Ecclesiastical Affairs did seem very much to depend upon them; so that the most eminent Councils were in times past, and are at this day summoned by their consent and procurement. See Notes on the third Chapter, b, c, d, e, f, g, i, k.  
The Emperors had always the Right of Investing Church-governors in their several jurisdictions, till the Council of Worms, in the year 1122. And then the Emperor Henry the 3d. wearied with the vexations occasioned him by the Popes, gave up his Right of the Staff and the Ring (the Ceremonies of the investiture) to Pope Calixtus the 2d. Aventin. Histor Boior. l. 6.  
The Abbot of Ursperg, in his Chronicle, gives the form of this Concordat betwixt the Emperor and the Pope. And the Pope in return, agrees for the future, That the Elections of the Bishops and Abbots, etc. should be performed in his presence, etc. And that He that was Elected should receive the Regalia of the Emperor, by the Sceptre: And this was called, the Uniting of the Royal Power with the Priesthood, and long endeavoured after, under that Name.  
Cardinal Cusan. Concordia Catholic. c. 6, 7, 8, 9 Affirms, That every Emperor and Prince in their several Jurisdictions are of God alone, and that it belongs to the Emperors to summon General Councils, and to regulate the Procedures in them; and to every Prince to do the same in his respective Territory for National and Provincial Councils.— And that if the Pope be negligent in these things, the Emperor ought to make use of his Authority in all such Cases,— That the Emperor always presided in the Councils, assisted with fifteen or twenty of the Nobles of his Court, whom he made to take place before all.— And He, and his Legates propounded the matters that were to be considered.  
Pererius in Apoc. Disp. 5. de Constantino— Then came the Imperial Majesty first into the Church, which was then Armed with both the Swords, etc.— For though from the first, The Church had that Sword, (viz. the Secular Sword) yet than first began the facility and conveniency of exercising it against whomsoever it pleased.   only Sovereign Authority upon Earth, that was acknowledged in all Ecclesiastical Affairs; so that all obedience given to the erroneous Acts of those Counsels, was really an obedience to the Emperors will only: For those things had no obliging power in them to overrule the Conscience upon the account of the Counsels Authority; And therefore since it had been long before that time received as a maxim by those who owned that Council, That all was there done by the 
b 
Socrates, l. 1. c. 6. Ep. 4. Constantine unto the Churches, He there tells them, That whatsoever is decreed in the Holy Councils of Bishops, is to be attributed to the Will of God. And of the Sentence of the Council of Nice in particular, Ibid. Ep. 2. to the Church of Alexandria,— For that which has been agreed upon by the 300 Bishops, is to be taken for nothing but the determination of God himself.— The Holy Ghost residing in the minds of such worthy persons, and inspiring them with the Divine Will of God himself.  
Concil. Constantinop. Universal. 6. Action. 17. sub finem. The Council thus speaks: We have pronounced a definitive Sentence, free from Error, certain, and Infallible, by the assistance of the Holy Spirit.   inspiration of the Holy Ghost; The emperor's mere will was thereby made a Divine Law, obliging the Conscience, under the notion of the immediate will of God, whenever the things enjoined were really no part of his declared will. And thus came the Emperors to make good the Title of Their 
c 
Cod. Justinian. tit. Trinitat. l. 3. Theodos. & Valentinian. Hormisdae. P. P.— Accord to those Laws which have already been made by our Divinity— How much Our Divinity abhors— And Novel. 126. A most manifest constitution Of Our Deity, Nostri Numinis.  
Baronius, Anno. 419. Honorius the Emperor gives this order to Symmachus, Praef. Urb. upon the information sent him about the Schism of Boniface and Eulalius.— We Command that Boniface forthwith departed, and obey our Celestial Command. And Symmachus in Answer to Honorius' further order to receive Boniface, returns this,— We having published the Celestial Decree— every one was rejoiced at it.  
Pancirol. Notit. Imp. Orient. p. 109. The Emperor did first subscribe his name to the Rescript, before any else. A. A. Manu Divina.  
Ibidem. p. 172. 6. And thus used the Prince to subscribe his Hand. A. M. D. That is, August. Manu Divina. Novel. Valentinian. l. de Homicidio. casu— And those who had the Emperor's hand to their Letters, are said to be pricked, or pointed down by the Divine Hand, lib. 4. c. de Advocate. dicitur. jamjam. Justinian calls this, A Divine Marking out — Divinam subnotationem. l. 1. in fin. c. de Justin. c. confirmand.  
Accordingly had the Emperor's Letters-Patents the name of Sacra, in distinction to all other Licenses.  
So Zeno Lib. penult. c. de Re Militari— We allow none for the future to be Listed either in their Horse, or Foot, without the Commendatory Letter of our Divinity, sine numinis nostri sacra probatoria.— And afterwards— That they only be listed on the Confines, or in the Lists, who have a Licence for it from Our Divinity, Probatorias (sc. Sacras) a nostra Divinitate.  
And Pancirol. Notit. Imp. Orient. pag. 255. Observes in general, That the Actions and Affairs of the Emperors have every where in the Civil Law, the epithet of Divine; as His Divine Indulgence, His Divine Delegation, His Divine Sanction, His Divine House, etc.   Divinity (which was before the stile of their common Edicts) upon much more proper and real grounds than ever before was thought of; and the obedience that was given to their will in such things under the notion of the dictate of the Divine Spirit, and as necessary to Salvation to be believed, was the giving them a Divine Honour, and the worshipping of their will, as the Will of God.  
2. All the honour and preference that is given to the Roman Church, is said even by General Counsels, which did first distinguish this Church from the rest, to be given it only, because Rome was the Imperial City of the World; All the Worship then that is given to the Roman Church, is given it only in Honour of the Imperial Authority of that City; and so the worshipping of that Church, is the worshipping of that Authority. 
d Concil. Constantinopol. sub Gratiano, & Theodosio Canon 5. So Socrates, l. 5. c. 8. And Sozomon gives this Reason for it, l. 7 c. 9— Because that Constantinople had not only the same name, and a like Senate and Magistrates with Rome; but did also carry the same Ensigns of Authority after the manner of Rome, and was equal to old Rome in all Rights and Honours.  The second General Council at Constantinople did decree, That the Bishop of Constantinople should be the next in precedence to the Bishop of Rome, because that City was new Rome; And this is thus explained by the Fathers of the 4th General Council of Chalcedon, at their confirmation of equal Privileges to the See of Constantinople with those of the See of Rome. The Fathers, say they, gave the See of old Rome its Privileges upon the account 
e 
Concil. Chalcedon sub Mareiano & Valentin. Canon 28.— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — for its being the Reigning City.  
Baronius, Anno. 448— Cites Valentinian's acknowledgement of the See of Rome, Novel. 14. That the merit of St. Peter, the Dignity of the City, and the Authority of the Synod, were the foundations of its Primacy— If there had been a Divine Right, it would have been a diminution to it to speak of the other.  
And in the year 451.— He quotes Galla Placidia's Letter to her Son Theodosius, about that Affair, who says there, That it did become them to keep up a due reverence to the City of Rome, because it is the Lady of all the rest.  
A clear evidence of the ground of the Primacy of the See of Rome, is that Law of the Emperor Leo, l. 6. l. 15. and in sin. c. de Sacros. Eccles. which was made a little while after the Council at Constantinople, when the Empire of Rome in the West was just falling, We judge, and ordain, says he, That the Most Holy Church of this Most Religious City of Constantinople, the Mother of our Piety, and of all Christians of the Orthodox Religion, and the Most Holy See of this Royal City, for ever have for the future, in consideration that it is the Imperial City, All Privileges, and Honours over the Creations of Bishops, Right of Precedence before all others, and all other things, which they shall be known to have had either before, or during our Reign. And that this continued, appears from l. 16. c. de Sacros. Ecclesiis. The Church of Constantinople is Head of all other Churches.  
Upon this account also was it, as Guicciardin observes, l. 4. Histor. That the Bishops of Ravenna and Constantinople so often disputed the Primacy with the Bishop of Rome, because that it was thought that the chief Seat of the Church followed the residence of the Imperial Power. And the Archbishop of Ravenna in particular, refused to receive the Pall from the Bishop of Rome in acknowledgement of the superiority of the Pope, for the Reign of four Popes together, viz. Martin. 1. Eugenius 1. Vitalian and Adeodat; and they were therefore called Autocephali, or Self-headed, by the Popes, in memory of it. Anastasius Bibliothec. in these Pope's lives says, that it was against the Supremacy that they contended.   of the Imperial Authority of it; upon the same account did the Hundred and fifty Bishops (at Constantinople) give the same Privileges also to the See of New-Rome; judging it in all reason fit, That a City adorned with a Senate, and an Imperial power, should enjoy the same Privileges with Old Rome, 〈…〉 like unto it, to have the tokens of Majesty in Ecclesiastical Affair.  
The Synod in Trullo gives the general reason of this, from 〈◊〉 Ancient Canon of the Church in its Thirty eighth Canon; which was, That the Ecclesiastical dignities should follow the Imperial Orders for the precedence of the Cities to which they did belong. And Baronius himself does openly acknowledge this, An. 39 10. The Ancients, says he, observed no other Rule in instituting the Ecclesiastical Sees, than the division of Provinces, And the Prerogatives before established by the Romans.  
But the Authority of the Council of Chalcedon in the particular Case of the Bishop of Rome, is an unanswerable evidence; for it was the biggest of all the first four famous General Counsels, which Pope Gregory did reverence as the four Gospels. And this was there carried 
f 
See the contest betwixt the Pope's Legates, and the Council about this Affair, Concil. Chalcedon. Action. 16. where it was in fine determined against the Legates by the Judges and Council.  
Bellarmin acknowledges this in his Preface to his Book de Pontifice. The Greeks, says he, opposed this (That is, the Universal Supremacy of the Pope) in the Council of Chalcedon in the year 451.   against the will of the Bishop of Rome, though then at the greatest height that he ever had been, which does manifest the sense of the Council to be contrary to the tenure that the Pope claimed to hold by. And further, That this was the true aim of the Council, does appear, not only from Pope Leo's Exception against this Decree, but also by the opposition that there was ever after betwixt the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the Bishop of Rome, about the precedence, till the time of Boniface, who got the Title of Universal Bishop; but yet not without much opposition from the Greeks upon the account of the change of the Seat of the Empire to Constantinople. By this than it appears, that the Imperial Power was the principal object of the Worship that was given to the Roman Church, because it was given to that Church only in veneration of that Power. For that for whose sake a thing is honoured, is the principal object of that honour. And 
g 
Platina in Bonifacio tertio. He obtained of the Emperor Phocas, That the Seat of St. Peter— should be called, and esteemed to be the Head of all Churches; but yet not without great contention about it, many affirming, that there ought to be the nrst and chief See of the Church, where the Head of the Empire was.  
Anastasius Bibliothecarius in Bonifacio 3. He obtained of Phocas, That the Apostolic See of St. Peter should be the Head of all Churches; whereas the Church of Constantinople did write itself the chief of all Churches.  
Caranza Concil. Summa. p. 369. Bonefacius 3.— He obtained, etc. That the See of St. Peter should be accounted the Head of all Churches, which Title the Church of Constantinople did challenge to itself, evil Princes favouring it, and affirming that the chief See (of the Church) ought to be there where the Head of the Empire was, that is, at Constantinople.  
Gregor. M. just before Boniface, is full of the mention of the Patriarch of Constantinople's claim to the Title of Universal Bishop, in his 4th, 6th, and 7th Book of his Epistles.   Boniface the Third, notwithstanding all his good services to Phocas, could not get the Title of Universal Bishop, without much opposition from the Greeks, upon the account of the change of the Seat of the Empire to Constantinople.  
3. The chief Head and Life of the Roman Church is the Papal Authority; 'Tis that which is the contriver of that Image, and is also the evil spirit of it, that instigates it to all the mischief that it does. Now the Popes of Rome were nothing, but 
h 
Edictum, sive Decretal. Pap. Hilarii, Ep. 11. About the Year 476. when the Western Empire fell into the hands of the Barbarians, and so the Pope seemed to be the sole Head of the Church of Rome; It has also been decreed by the Laws of Christian Princes, That whatsoever the Bishop of the Apostolic See should upon examination pronounce concerning Churches, and their Governors, should with reverence be received, and strictly observed.  
Dr. Barrow 's Pope's Supremacy, p. 244. speaking of the Episcopal Sees before the time of Constantine— so stood the Order of Church-Dignities, till it was confirmed by the Council of Nice, backed with Imperial Authority— What before was but custom, by so August a Sanction became Universal Law, and with such veneration, as by some was accounted immutably and everlastingly obligatory, as appears in Pope Leo's Maxims.  
This does best appear from the ground of the Supremacy of the Pope, which was because they were the Bishops of the Emperor's chief Seat; And also from the Authority by which they came by it, which was by the Imperial Laws, by whom their Primacy was established. See Not. preced And they were set up, and deposed, by the Emperors at pleasure, and were created by them.   the Emperor's Creatures. No Election of the Bishop of Rome was valid till after the 
i 
Caranza. Concil. summa in Severino. Ann. Dom. 634. Severinus was set up in the room of Pope Honorius by Isaacius the Emperor's Exarch (or Deputy in Italy.) For in those days the Election of the Clergy and People was not accounted valid, unless the Emperors, or their Exarches did confirm it. After he had before observed in Pelagius the Second, Ann. Dom. 580. That Pelagius was created Pope without the Roman Prince's Authority, against the usual custom. For in those days nothing was done by the Clergy in the Election of the Pope, without the Emperor's Approbation. But there was no conveniency at that time of sending to (the Emperor at) Constantinople, because Rome was then besieged by the Lombard's. But he afterwards begged pardon for it by his Legate Gregory.  
But in Adrian the Third he does thus more remarkably confirm this Custom. This Pope (Ann. Dom. 888.) was so stout, as in the beginning of his Pontificate to bring in this Law to the Senate and People, That the Authority of the Emperor should not be waited for before the Creation of the Pope.  
This was so commonly acknowledged, that it appears, that the Popes used to pay a sum of money to the Emperors for their Confirmation. Canon. Agath. 21. Can. distinct. 63. See Note ¹ on Chapter the Fourth.  
Onuphrius Panvinius gives an account of the first Rise of this Custom at Justinian's Conquest of Italy.  
In Pelag. 2. The Goths, says he, being beaten out of Italy by Narses, and Italy together with the City of Rome, being made a part of the Eastern Empire, under Justinian the Emperor, by the Authority of Pope Vigilius, there was a New Custom brought up in the Assemblies for the Elections of the Popes; which was, that upon the death of the Pope, there should forthwith be an Election made by the Clergy, the Senate, and the People, after the manner of the Right of Majors. But the new elected Pope could not be consecrated, or ordained, before his Election was confirmed by the Emperor at Constantinople, nor before he had the Emperor's Letters-Patents for his Consecration in order to enter upon the Papal Jurisdiction: For the obtaining of the grant of which, the new Elect was to send a sum of Money to the Emperor. After which he was consecrated, and administered the Bishopric of Rome. Before that time the Pope was chosen, and consecrated the same day.  
This is farther confirmed by Guicciardin, l. 4. Histor.  
In these times (of the Exarches, set up by Justinian in Italy) the Bishops of Rome had no Civil Power, and for their degeneracy from the ancient purity of their Manners, were not much admired, or reverenced by men, passing their lives under the subjection of the Emperors, without the Authority of whom, or their Exarches, they durst not receive, nor exercise the Papacy, although they had been elected by the Votes of the Clergy, and the People of Rome. So Sabelli. Aenead. 8. l. 5.  
And Cuspinian de Caesaribus, pag. 144.  
But I find the Magistracy of the Exarchate first set up by the Emperor Justin (the Younger) that he should be in a manner the Emperor's Vicegerent in Italy; and with so great Authority, that he that was created Pope at Rome, was first to have his Approbation. And pag. 149. Gregory was sent by Pope Pelagius to the Emperor Mauritius to beg his pardon for suffering himself to be proclaimed Pope without his leave. For the nomination of the Pope was then held to be of no effect, unless the Emperor had confirmed it.  
Pope Agatho, about the Year 673. writes to the Emperor Constantine, acknowledges the City of Rome to be the Servant of his Most Christian Empire, and has this answer to his Request from the Emperor; That by the Imperial Command he was discharged at his request from that which the Bishop of Rome used to pay for his Ordination; but yet upon this condition, That the Election of the Pope should not pass on to Consecration till the Emperor had been advised of it, and had expressly commanded it, according to the Ancient Custom, L. 6. Pontifical. in Agathone. And D. 63. c. Agatho 21.  
Pope Adrian, in a Synod at Rome, with the Universal Consent of the Great Men there, Bishops, Abbots, and others there assembled, gives Charlemaigne the Authority of choosing the Pope, and of ordering the Apostolic See. D. 63. c. Adrianus 22.  
And Gratian mentions the Anathema there pronounced against all that should do contrary to that Decree, and the confiscation of his Goods, if he did not repent.  
The Oath that was to be taken for the Dutchies, which were given the Pope, as well for all other, was this; I promise to be faithful to my Lord Charles, and his Heirs, without Fraud, or Covin, all the days of my life. Sigonius de Regno Ital. l. 4. which does sufficiently show the dependence and subjection of the Popes to the Emperor for all that they have.  
Anno 796. Leo the Third succeeded Adrian the First, who forthwith sends an Ambassador to Charlemaigne to acquaint him with his Election, presents the Keys of the Confession of St. Peter to him, that is, the Keys of the Sepulchre, and the Standard of the City, in token of homage ●nd fealty. Baron. An. 796.  
816. Stephen the Fifth succeeded Leo the Third, and, says Aimoinus, l. 4. c. 103. contrary to Law was chosen, and consecrated without the Emperor's Order for it. But then he hastens into France to get his Consecration of the Emperor, sending two Legates before him to beg it. And to make amends, he makes this Order, before quoted in the Canon, Quia sancta, D. 53. G. quia sancta 28. Because the Roman Church suffers great violences at the death of the Pope, for having the Elections and Consecrations of the Successor made without the Emperor's knowledge, against the Canons, and the usual custom; the Emperor's Ambassadors that should hinder the Scandals, being not there, We ordain, That when the Bishop of Rome is to be made, the Bishops and all the Clergy being assembled, he be elected in the presence of the Senate, and People, and be thereupon consecrated in the presence of the Emperor's Ambassadors.  
817. And though Paschal a year after was chosen, and consecrated without waiting the Emperor's Order, yet he acknowledges his fault to the Emperor, and begs pardon, because the Papal Honour was forced upon him against his Will. Aimoin. l. 4. c. 105.  
The Emperor Lotharius, not long after, does therefore make a new Order; That the Emperor himself, or in his absence, his Deputies should assist at the Consecration of the Pope. This he commands to be observed for the future.  
827. At the death of Valentin, Gregory the Fourth succeeded; And, as Sigonius relates, l. 4. de Regno Ital. 1. His Consecration was deferred, because the Emperor's Deputy was absent.  
845. Sergius the Second succeeded Gregory the Fourth, and was forced to be consecrated before the Emperor was acquainted with it; upon which the Emperor Lewis marches to Rome with an Army.  
847. After Sergius, was Leo the Fourth chosen, and consecrated the same day against the Law, without staying for the Emperor's Order; and the Romans excused themselves for it to the Emperor, that they were surrounded with the Saracens, and Leo himself, that he was forced to it by them. But yet Anastasius Bibliothecarius, in that Pope's Life, says, that the People were in great fears of the Emperor's resentment of it. And the same Pope, upon the Emperor's sending his Son Lewis to set the Church in right order, professes to him, That he did observe the Commands of himself, and his Predecessors, and always would observe them.  
855. Benedict the Third succeeded next but one to Leo the Fourth, and was consecrated without the Imperial Order; but was fain to be chosen again, and confirmed by the Emperor's Authority. Anastas. Biblioth. in Benedicto.  
858. Nicolas the First was chosen presently after the death of Benedict, which the Emperor Lewis hasted to Rome to prevent, but found the Election past; and Nicolas absconded, to show that he was forced to it for fear. He was a few days after consecrated in the presence of the Emperor. Anastas. Nicol. 1.  
867. Adrian the Second succeeds without the Emperor's Order, or the assistance of his Deputies, though they were in the Town; the Emperor being then deeply engaged in War with the Saracens.  
875. John the Eighth, or Ninth, succeeds Adrian the Second, maketh Charles the Bald, Emperor of Rome, upon condition that the Pope should no longer wait for the Emperor's confirmation, Rome should be left wholly to the Pope's disposal; And from that time, says Sigonius, the Title of Emperor began to be wholly the gift of the Pope.  
885. Adrian the Third, after John, gets a Law made, That for the future there should be no expectation of the Emperor's Confirmation.  
961. But then the Emperor Leo the First, taketh Rome, puts the Pope to flight, and the Romans swear Fealty to him, with this express Clause, That they should never choose and consecrate a Pope without the Consent and Choice of the Emperor Otho, and his Heirs: Then assembles a great Council at Rome, where Pope John was deposed, and Leo the Eighth substituted in his place by the Emperor's Approbation; And the Old Law, that there should be no consecration of the Pope without the Emperor's Order, was renewed by the Authority of the Pope, and another Council, and Anathema and Banishment was the punishment of the Disobedient. D. 63. C. In Synodo 23. See Note ˡ on the Thirteenth Chapter. Theodor. à Niem. says, He saw the Patent, from whence this was drawn, preserved at Florence in testimony of the Imperial Dignity, and he lived under John the XXIIId.  
The Emperor Henry the Second, upon complaint of great Disorders of the Roman Church, goes in the year 1046. to Rome, there deposes Gregory the Sixth, and fets up Clement the Second, and the Romans swear to him, that they would never choose them any Pope without his Consent. And upon the meeting of a great Council there, it is ordained that the New-elected Pope shall not be so accounted till the Authority of the Emperor should confirm it; and that the Pope ought not to be created without his Authority. Petr. Damian. in lib. Gratis. Platina, & Onuphr. in Clement. 2.  
The Council of Lateran, Ann. 1055. order the Election of the Pope to be begun by the Cardinals, and the rest of the Clergy and People to consent to it; and adds,— seeing nevertheless the Honour due to our dear Son Henry, who is at present held for King, and to be Emperor afterwards, as we have granted to him, and his Successors, who shall obtain this right in person of the Apostolic See.  
In the Synod at Rome, in the Year 1106. is that dreadful Charge drawn up against Gregory the Seventh, or Hildebrand, for aspiring to the Papacy, without either the Consent of the Emperor of the Romans, or the Senate, or People.  
In the Year 1107. the Emperor Henry the Third sets forth a Remonstrance against Pope Paschal the Second, and concludes, That although by Right, and force of Arms, he could retain the Ancient Custom, observed of so long time by so many Holy Fathers touching the Election of the Popes, and the Right of Investitures, yet he should not much trouble himself about it, if they would return him the Estates and Chattels which they retained by the Gifts of the Laity, and would content themselves with the Title. Aventin. Histor. Boior. L. 6.  
And upon taking Pope Paschal Prisoner by Henry, it was sworn to by the Pope, That the Right of confirming or investing the new chosen Bishop, should be always in the Emperor, and none should dare to own them before they were invested by the Emperor's Command.  
Sigebert says thus concerning this Affair, Chron. Ann. 1111. The King or Emperor would use the Authority which the Emperors had used since the time of Charlemaigne, for 300 years, and more, under 63 Popes.  
1118. Gelasius the Second succeeded Paschal the Second, and was created without the knowledge of the Emperor Henry, who thereupon returns from Milan to Rome, and consecrates Gregory the Eighth in his place.  
1165. Paschal the Third was confirmed Pope by the Council of Wurtzbourg, where this Remarkable Decree was made, That for the future, no Pope should be created but after the Ancient Fashion, by the Consent of the Emperor. Aventin. Hist. Boior. L. 6.  
And afterwards, That the Pope should be called only Nuntius Christi, and not to be the Rival of the Imperial Power. And an oath was thereupon taken by all there present.  
The Universities of Oxford and Paris agree about the Year 1404. that the Emperor has right of Patronage to the Pope, and to the Roman Church. That the Election of the Pope does not appertain of divine Right to the Cardinals, but to the People; and the Confirmation of him, to the Emperor. Epist. Universit. Paris Editae A. Hutten. Ann. 1520.   Emperor's confirmation of him; and was the Imperial Authority, that did many times call them 
k Nothing is more common in the History of the Church, than the summonings and depositions of Popes by the Emperors.  to an account for their irregular actions, and depose them. The usual Titles that the Bishops of Rome gave their Emperors, were, 
l 
Guicciard. Histor. L. 4.  
In this time (of the Exarchat, that is, after Justinian's recovery of Italy) the Bishops of Rome had no Civil Power— passing their lives under the subjection of the Emperors, without the Authority of whom, or of their Exarches, they durst not receive, or exercise the Pontifical. And therefore their Addresses to the Emperors must be proportionably submissive, as follows.  
601. Gregory the Great, who by the Romanists is made the Example of a Good Pope, in his Second Book, Ep. 62. & 65. to the Emperor Mauritius, hath these Expressions.  
He is guilty before the Almighty, who in all that he says, or does, is not clear towards His Most Serene Lords, and I the Unworthy Servant of Your Piety, If, etc.— And I, when I speak thus to My Lords, what am I but dust, and a Worm of the Earth, etc.— Power is given My Lords from Heaven over all men. I have committed, will Christ say, my Priests (or Bishops) into thy hands. And, l. 2. Ep. 64. my tongue cannot express the favour that I have received of the Almighty, and of the most Serene Emperor, My Lord. And, Ep. 52. I have sent him to the Feet of My Lords.  
And yet Gregory speaks boldly enough to him, when he reproves him as his Confessor, L. 2. Ep. 64. And, L. 6. Ep. 11. to Anastasius, Bishop of Antioch,— All that are advanced into Holy Orders, ought always to give thanks for it to Almighty God, and always pray to God for the Life of our most Pious and most Christian Lord the Emperor.  
Pope Agatho, Council. 6. Act. 2. and 4. tells the Emperor That he gave ready obedience to the things that were commanded him by the Sacred Letters Patents of his most Clement Fortitude.— And that again, To do his due obedience to the Emperor, in making the Bishops of those parts Address themselves to the Most Pious Feet of his Goodness.— calls Rome the Servant City of his most Serene Empire— often uses— according to your most Pious Command.— And— we beseech you upon the bended knees of our Soul.  
800. Ado Viennensis in Chronic. An. 798. Aimoin. l. 4. c. 90. Refute the Coronation of Charlemaigne by Pope Leo.— And that after the Acclamations of the People, He was adored by the Pope after the manner of the former Emperors.  
And Salvian, in Epistolam ad Parents, Explains what is meant by the manner of the Ancient Emperors. He says, That As Servants, they kissed the feet of their Masters.  
An. 854. Pope Leo the 4th writes to the Emperor Lotharius, That he observed His and his Predecessors Commands; and should always observe them. Dis. 10. c. 9  
An. 1158. Pope Adrian the 4th, Together with all the Cardinals and Clergy, send to the Emperor Frcderick, and acknowledge him Lord, and Emperor of the City, and of the World, Urbis & Orbis, Raderius de Gestis Frederici. l. 1. c. 22.  
Paulus Diaconus de Gest. Longobard. c. 37. who was near those times— Phocas, says he, at the request of Pope Boniface, did Decree, That the See of the Church of Rome should be the Head of all Churches; because that the Church of Constantinople did write itself the first of all Churches. See Note ᵍ on this Chapter.   Our Lords the Emperors; Our Most Gracious and Pious Lords; and subscribed themselves, Their meanest Servants: And that which is the chief flower of their Authority, their, Universal Headship, or Supremacy over the Catholic Church, was begged 
m 
Boniface the 3 d did so far acknowledge this Title of Universal Head, to be the Emperor's favour, That he has the Emperor's grant for it proclaimed at Rome, in a Council of 62 Bishops. Platina in Boniface 3.  
Sigonius says, That Boniface sent an Embassy to Phocas to desire it; by which means he obtained that Decree.   of the Emperor Phocas by Boniface, and could not be obtained but by the drudgery of an approbation of Murder and Assassination; and then also not without 
n 
The Contest about the Universal Headship appears plainly to have continued from the Order of the Council of Chalcedon, for the place of the Patriarch of Constantinople.  
The Law of the Emperors Leo and Anthemius, l. 16. c. in fin. de Sacros. Eccles. for the superiority of the See of Constantinople, was soon after that Council.  
Pelagius the 2 d. condemns John, Patriarch of Constantinople, for that claim, and so does Gregory the 1st. after him. See Note ᵍ on this Chapter.  
Platina says in Boniface 3. Though his pretensions were not always obeyed, yet there has ever since that time been a Schism betwixt the Greek and the Latin Church.  
Bellarmin. in Praefat. in lib. de Pontifice. The Greeks opposed (the Pope's Supremacy) in the year 451. in the Council of Chalcedon, and in the year 600. declare the Bp. of Constantinople, Universal Bishop.   great contests against it, as an usurpation upon the Rights and Liberties of other Churches, to mind him by whose favour only he came to possess it. For the Emperor 
o Cuspinian de Caesaribus, p. 140. Mauritius wrote to Pope Gregory, To obey John, Patriarch of Constantinople, as if Head Patriarch of all others.  Mauritius, just before, had commanded Pope Gregory to acknowledge John, Patriarch of Constantinople, for the Universal Head. There is great reason then to account the Honour shown to the Papal Authority, and his Clergy, which are the Life and Soul of the Roman Church, to be an honour done to the Power that raised him, and supported him.  
4. The Worship that is given to the Roman Religion, may well be called the Worship of the Imperial Authority, because it is the Secular Arm that makes the Church-Laws to be obeyed; and thereby it does appear, That it is the owning of these Laws by the Secular Power for its own will and command, that gives all the life and force to them, and that therefore they are obeyed as the Laws and Will of that Power only. The Church might make what Laws it pleased, to the Consciences of men. Their anathemas would not have been much regarded by those, who knew them to be unwarrantable: But that which sets the edge upon them, is the Secular Arm of the Civil Power.  
'Tis then the Secular Arm, that is in reality the chief thing that is worshipped, or whose will is complied with as the Will of God, and as the Law of his Religion. It is therefore very properly the Worship of the Beast, both before the division of the Empire, when all the Secular Authority was only Imperial, and also after the appearance of the 
p 
Canon. 3. Concil. Lateranens. 1. The Secular Powers are enjoined to take an Oath to prosecute Heretics, to the Rooting them out of their Territories— And those Princes that neglect to do thus, are to be Excommunicated, and their Subjects Absolved of their Oath of Allegiance to them; and their Lands to be exposed to the Seizure of Catholics.  
See Note ᶜ and ᶠ on Chapter 4. The Council of Milan and Arles, send to their Emperors to make their Decrees effectual.  
Aeneas Silvius, afterward Pope Pius 2d. Epist. l. 53. We are all of the same Faith with our Princes; If they were Idolaters, we should be so too; and should deny, not only the Pope, but Christ himself also, if the Secular Power did but press us to it.  
Otho Frisius. in prol. l. 4. Chronic. There are two persons set up in the Church, The Sacerdotal, and the Regal; the one to execute the Ecclesiastical Censures by the Spiritual Sword; the other carries the Material Sword to execute the Secular Sentences. And as Spiritual possessions are under the jurisdiction of the Spiritual Sword; so are the Dignities of this World, as Dutchies, Counties, etc. under the jurisdiction of the Material Sword.   Ten Kings in it, because 
N. B.  they are found to give their Kingdoms to the Beast, or to that Religion which the Imperial Authority does set up. For this end alone is it, that the Imperial Authority has its confirmation at present from 
q 
Goldast. Polit. in Imperial. H. 1. pag. 72. Speaking of the Installation of the Roman Kings, or Emperors, They do then require an Oath from the Supreme Monarch of the whole World, To defend the Roman Church, to exterminate Heretics, and to secure the Dignity of the Pope by all manner of ways.  
Glabar. l. 1. Histor. in fine. Benedict the 9th made this Decree, That none should be called, or taken for Emperor, but He, whom the Pope for his good behaviour shall make choice for a fit person for the Common-weal, and upon whom he shall set that Imperial Crown, which is a Golden Apple set with Jewels; and a Cross in the middle of it, viz. To denote the end of his power to be to defend the Church.  
And such is every Imperial Crown of every particular Prince.  
Clementina unica de jure jurando, Gives the Oath that the Emperor takes to defend the Rights of the Church.   the Head of the Church, that it may enforce the Spiritual Power of the Church; and by this means do both the Civil and Ecclesiastical Power come to be Worshipped in one and the same Act of obedience.  
From hence it is now easy to apprehend how the false Prophet does exercise all the power of the first Beast before him. For 
Rev. 13. 12.  since the first Beast is found to be the Imperial power, the exercise of all his power must be an Universal Supremacy over the Roman Catholic Church; and this does very well answer the Pope's exercise of the power of both the Roman Swords. And it is said to be done before the first Beast, as that signifies in Honour of him, or in Honour of the chief seat of the Empire.  
The first great effect of this power, is to cause all the world to 
Ibid.  worship the first Beast; And that is, when the Papal Authority does either make the World receive the Imperial Laws, and their Sanctions of Councils as the Will of God about the way to Salvation; or make them receive the Roman Religion itself, as the Gospel of Christ, only upon the account of its being the Doctrine of the Roman Church, which has all the Authority, that it lays claim to, from the will of the Emperors, only in veneration to the Majesty of that Empire, and the Supreme Ruler of it; or when the Pope does make the Emperors to be owned for the 
r 
Gregor. 7. Ep. poll. 18. l. 6. Richard, Prince of Capua, takes this as part of his Oath to the Pope— I will acknowledge the Emperor Henry for every thing else, and will Swear fealty to him, when I shall be exhorted to it by thee, or thy Successors, always with the exception of the Holy Church, etc.  
And it is the general practice of that Church, in case of the Emperor's failure of this Defence of the Church, or in case of Heresy contrary to it, He is to be deposed.   defenders of the Faith of that Church by a Divine Commission to them from his hands, at their confirmation in the Imperial Dignity; and thus recommends them under that Sacred Character as the immediate and special Ordinance of God in the Roman Church, whose will must be submitted to in their commands for the owning of the Infallibility of the Roman Church, or the Divine inspiration of it in all things.  
The next exercise of the False Prophet's power, is by all the deceitful Arts of persuasion to get the World to make an Image to 
Rev. 13 14.  the Beast, which does set out the great industry of the Papal Power upon its exaltation to the Supremacy over the Church, to make the Church of Rome to be as Universal an Empire over the World, as the Civil state of it was; and so to be the Image of the Roman Empire.  
When this was obtained, it is said, That he had power also to 
V 15.  give life to this Image; and questionless all will own the Church of Rome to have almost all its life from 
s 
This appears from the Oath that all the dignified Clergy of the Church of Rome take at their Creation; the form of which is thus set down, Lib. 2. Decret. Tit. 24. I N. N. by the Grace of God, and of the Apostolic See, Bishop of etc. will assist for the retaining of the Roman Pacy, and the Regalia of St. Peter, and to the maintaining them against every Man; I will take care to preserve, increase, defend, and further the Rights, Honours, Privileges, and Authority of the Roman Church, of our Lord the Pope, and his Successors; I will prosecute, and suppress to my power, all Heretics, Schismatics, and Rebels against our Lord the Pope.  
Add to this, the Oath that the Emperor and Kings take at their Coronation to defend the Rights of the Apostolic See, and then the Papal Authority seems to be the sole Head of the Image, and the inspirer of it.   the Papal Authority in it.  
Of which there could be no more lively a proof, than to 
Ibid.  make the Image speak, and cause all to be killed that would not worship it; And does not this very exactly agree with the Decrees and Canons of that Church put in execution by its own Courts of Judicature, and by the concurrence of the Secular Arm, which it makes its Officers and Executioners? It is known, That any dissent from the Faith of that Church, is judged by them to be Heresy, and that the punishment of Heresy is death. And since all the Government of the Church is made a Papal Monarchy, and the Pope the Supreme Head of it, it is very properly said, that he does cause the Church to do all these things.  
The last mentioned exercise of the False-Prophet's power, is to make all men receive a mark in their hand or forehead, or to 
Rev. 13 16, 17.  have the name of the Beast, or the number of his name.  
This seems to be very mystical at the first sight of it: But the custom of all the Eastern parts, to give their Soldiers, and Slaves, a mark to know them for their own, does make it plain, that it is to be understood of some 
t 
Malvenda de Antichristo, Pag. 434. Let it therefore be taken for clear and undoubted, which all the Fathers did unquestionably teach, That this number of the name of the Beast 666, does not relate to either the birth, or death of Christ, or to any kind of duration, or space of time; but that it is to be the real name of Antichrist— And he there mentions Romanists and Latins.  
Alcazar in c. 13. Apoc. de Charactere Bestiae.— The Mark, says he, is not here any thing distinct from the number, and the name, 1. because it is said the Mark, or the Name, or the Number of the Name, which does not intimate three distinct things, but only three distinct Names of the same things. 2. Because Chap. 20. Apoc. it is said, That all that had not received the Mark of the Beast, did Reign with Christ, where the Mark includes in it the Name and Number. 3. Because Chap. 14. 9 It is said also of the punishment of the followers of the Beast, That it was to those who should receive the Mark, where all that had the name and the number are also comprehended.  
He there also adds, That it was the Custom for Soldiers to receive the name of their Prince in their Skin. So Vegelius, l. 1. c. 8. and l. 2. c. 5. Soldiers are Listed by being pricked in the Skin with the name of the Prince or General. So Lipsius, l. 1. c. 9 Quotes Justinian's Code for it, St. Augustine, Chrysostom, and Prudentius.  
The Society of Bacchus were thus marked with an Ivy-leaf.   peculiar mark and name, which does distinguish those of the Roman Church from all other Christians. But that which does the best open the mystery of these expressions, is that observation of Grotius upon this place, That it was a common fashion in St. John 's time for every Heathen God to have a particular Society, or Fraternity belonging to him; and the way of admitting any into these fraternities was, 1. By giving them some Hieroglyphic mark in their Hands, or Forehead, which was accounted Sacred to that particular God; as that of an Ivy-leaf to own themselves of the fraternity of Bacchus. 2. By Sealing them with the Letters of the name of that God. And, 3. with that number, which the Greek Letters of their name did make up; for the Numeral Ciphers of the Greeks were the Letters of the Alphabet. Thus the Greek Letters of the Name of the Sun, did in all make up 608. And therefore his fraternity were marked with XH.  
A very great confirmation of this way of interpreting the Name, and Number of the Name, is Irenaeus' Testimony from 
Irenaeus l. 5. c. 24.  the mouth of those who had received it from St. John, That the Number of the Name of the Beast is the number expressed in those Greek Letters, of which the Name of the Beast is made up, according to the usual computation of the Greeks by the Letters of their Alphabet; and which in the present instance must in all make up the number of 666.  
This indeed is not to be meant of the Sealing of any such Marks upon the flesh of the followers of the Beast in a literal sense; yet by Analogy it must be understood of some particular marks of distinction betwixt the Romanists and others; and than what does more fitly suit with this, than the Greek name of Latino's, which does exactly fill up the number of 666, or the number of the Beast? What was more likely to be designed by it in the Text, than this, since this was the known distinguishing name of the Western Romans from those of the East, after the division of the Empire? And in the whole Body of these Visions about the Beast, I make no question but all the Characters are such, as all the World might easily know them, when they came to be fulfilled. Now it is evident, That in all the solemn Acts of the Empire, and in General Councils, This distinction was always observed betwixt those of the Greek and Latin Church; and that name of the Latins had the Western Bishops, Princes and Potentates; especially amongst that people in whose Language the Apocalypse was writ, That is, The Greeks.  
That which does extremely confirm this is, 
u Ibid. Alcazar against those, who would have this name to be different from all things that were then known. — Aenigmas, says he, or dark Riddles are made for that end, not that things before unknown should be known by them; but that things before known, should be concealed in the dark terms of the Riddle from those to whom the Riddle is given to be revealed. This Truth is so clear to me, that I cannot sufficiently admire those, who fancy, That this Number 666 was here given to signify a name, that was before unknown to the Church; and he quotes Arethus upon this place to the same purpose,— That thereby was signified, that the great things there mentioned about the Beast, did not relate to things whose Names were unknown; but to a Name then very well known.  That the name of Latins was so well known to signify the Romans about the time of the Vision, That Irenaeus does pitch upon this, as one of the most likely names that did answer the number of the 
L. 5. c. 24. Contra Haeres.  Beast, with this Reason for it; For they are the Latins, says he, who are now in Rule.  
So that he takes a Latin and a Roman for the same thing in his time. Wherefore to have the mark, name, and number of the name of the Beast, may very well signify the having and owning the name of a Roman, or Roman-Catholick, as that is the same thing with the name of a Latin, and is a word of distinction betwixt a Member of the Roman, and of any other communion of Christians.  
It is very remarkable to this purpose, according, as has been by others observed, that this does very happily answer the fondness of the Roman Church for the Latin Tongue, as that which they would have generally known to be the peculiar Language of their Church in distinction to both the common Language of the World about any other Affairs, and to the Language of any other Churches.  
Thus it is decreed, That notwithstanding the very change of the Language of Rome itself, none of the public Offices of the Church shall be in any other Language than Latin; And that the Word of God itself shall be conveyed to the people in no other Language, nor any other Translation allowed to be Authentic, but that of the Vulgar Latin; so that they will not allow either God to speak to his people, or his people to speak to him, but in the Latin Tongue; and by this do they distinguish themselves, as the public Shibboleth, by which they are known all the World over. St. Hierom gives an instance in his censure of Ruffinus' Translation of Origen into Latin, How naturally any one would judge the Language of Babylon to be the Latin Tongue, Apolog. advers. Ruffin. You alone, says he, are suffered to translate the poison of Heretics, and to drink to all Nations out of the Cup of Babylon.  
There cannot surely be found a more remarkable badge, or token, to be publicly and universally known by, than this mark in the mouth of the Beast, compared with the name of a Roman, that every one that enters himself into their Communion must list himself under. 'Tis as manifest and public a mark to know them by in their mixtures with other Communions, as the Badges of the Order are to distinguish the Knights of Maltha, in all places of the World where they are. And the name and number of the name here mentioned, is questionless such a manifest and remarkable name, as all the World may take notice of, because it is to be received by all men; and chief because all the rest of the Characters of the Beast are of the same General, and Public cognizance. And one may well question the truth of the Application of any of the Characters of so universal a Rule, as that of the Beast is found to be, which is not applied to something that is very signal, and manifest to the senses of all the World.  
It is no manner of considerable objection against this, That the true word in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an jota only: For nothing is more ordinary than to 
x The same Author shows, That Latino's is to be read with an ei Dipthong, and quotes Mekertius, who says, That the indifferent Vowels, or Vocales ancipites, are used by the Ancient Greeks to be doubled in the pronunciation (or to be made long like Dipthongs) and citys Augustinus de Numism. and Lipsius de Antiquâ Pronunciatione, Cap. 8. who there shows, that the Romans formerly did write I Vowel by ei Dipthongs.  use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dipthong for jota, when it is a long Vowel. Irenaeus his acceptation of it in that way, is an unquestionable Authority for it. For he was one of the Greek Fathers. And it is a very strange slighty exception that Grotius does make to this, as if this were nothing 
Respons. de Antichristo.  but the usual mistake of Stone-cutters; whereas we see nothing more ordinary amongst the old 
y The same Author shows, That Latino's is to be read with an ei Dipthong, and quotes Mekertius, who says, That the indifferent Vowels, or Vocales ancipites, are used by the Ancient Greeks to be doubled in the pronunciation (or to be made long like Dipthongs) and citys Augustinus de Numism. and Lipsius de Antiquâ Pronunciatione, Cap. 8. who there shows, that the Romans formerly did write I Vowel by ei Dipthongs.  Latin Poets, in imitation of the Greeks; Or, however it would be but the taking of the word Latino's after the Ancient way of the Latins.  
The False Prophet's punishment of those who had not the mark or name of the Beast, is just the same with 
z The effect of the Papal Excommunications for this purpose, does appear from the Bull of Pope Martin the 5th. in confirmation of the Council of Constance, and to be found at the end of it,— Which commands all Emperors, Princes, Lords, and all Civil Magistrates, as well as Ecclesiastical, to expel all Heretics out of their Territories, not to suffer them to make Contracts, or to exercise any kind of Merchandise amongst them.  the Papalexcommunications: For the hindering them from the Market, or from buying and selling, was one of the effects of the Excommunications of the Jews.   

CHAP. VI 
Rev. XIII.   
Under the name of the Beast, is comprehended all his under-Agents in the same design. How the ten Kings give their Kingdoms to the Beast. How the Character of speaking like the Dragon, can agree with a Christian Bishop: It cannot be any thing else.  
THE particular instances explained in the former Chapter, do clearly show, that the exercise of the Power of the false Prophet, does in all the parts of it regard the Beast, as the principal concern of his design.  
The Worship, that he promotes, is the Worship of the Beast. The Image that he causes to be made, is an Image made in honour of the Beast itself: And the Worship that is given to it, is because of its being the Image of that Beast that was deadly wounded, and was healed again. And the mark, name, and number of the name, is the name of the Beast, by which all Men were to own themselves the peculiar slaves of the Beast: And this is no more than what the Character of that Power, which the false Prophet did exercise in all these ways, does plainly intimate to us; for it is said to be the Power of the Beast itself, exercised before him: And therefore must the exercise of it be only upon his account; and those that were employed in it, were therefore but his Ministers, and Instruments in it.  
All which does signify to us, That the Supremacy of the Pope, the Infallibility of the Church of Rome, the blind Submission and Veneration that is paid to it, the taking the name of a Roman Catholic, the confining of all the public Offices of Religion and Devotion to God, and of the lively Oracles of God, to the old Roman Language: That all these things are done in honour of the Universal Imperial Power of the Romans, or of the Empire of the City of Rome; and that in the time of the Imperial Authority over Rome restored by Justinian: And therefore are all these things signified to be the Worship of the Beast, under the last Ruling Head; because it is not a Civil honour that is given to this Empire, and the Head of it; But the giving them the Prerogative of Almighty God, the Power of setting up a Spiritual Authority, which shall give Law to the Consciences of Men, according to their own will and pleasure, and shall have the Spirit of God confined to their Arbitrary proceed; and the Curses of God to dispose of at their will, against all that dissent from them.  
The Beast therefore is the final Object of all the Worship 
N. B.  and Honour that is given: and therefore does generally comprehend in it all the under-Actors and Instruments in this Design, where he is mentioned alone.  
Thus ln the 17th. Chapter of the Revelations, there is no mention of the false Prophet, or of the Image, but only of the Beast, and of the magnificent appearance of his Empire under the name of Babylon. And therefore by the Beast must there be understood all his Ministers and Instruments joined with him, according to the nature of the several Characters that he is joined with.  
As in the time of the Mayres of the Palace in France, by the name of the King, must many times be understood the will of those Mayres to the prejudice of the Royal Authority, because it was the King's Power that was exercised by them: And all the Honour and Obedience that they had, was upon the account of their being authorized by him. So also do the Actions and Honour of the false Prophet, and the Image, go under the name of the Beast in that Chapter, though in reality they have been much to the diminution of the Imperial Authority.  
It is enough to qualify them, to be comprehended under the name of the Beast, that they concur with the Beast in his great design of making all the World to submit to an Ecclesiastical Authority of his own Creating, as the acknowledgement of the Honour of his Empire. For all the Worship that is hereby promoted, is, The Honour shown to the Imperial Power of the Romans, which is submitted to as the only ground for any hopes of Salvation: And that not upon the account of its being the Catholic Church of Christ, but for that which is at present a contradiction to it, viz. for being the Roman-Catholick Church.  
Wherefore, when the ten Kings are said to give their Power, 
Rev. 17. 13.  and Strength, and Kingdoms to the Beast, it is to be understood of their concurrence to advance the Roman Religion, as the Imperial Religion of the Romans, which was first set up, and promoted by the Imperial Authority, and so still continues to be defended, and protected by it; and therein does the Worship of the Beast more eminently appear, because of the submission of crowned Heads to it, who have no Superior upon Earth, but God alone. For it is very difficult to understand how ten Kings can be supposed to be of one mind, and to agree to give their Kingdoms to the Worship of any Power upon Earth, but only in this way of an Uniformity in a common Religion, which is set up by the Will, and to the Honour of another.  
And here it is to be observed, how exactly the Prophecy, and the Event, do agree with one another in respect of the Order, which is observed in the Text. The Beast is described as beginning the Scene first, and setting the design on foot: And the false prophet and the Image come in afterwards to perfect and accomplish it; which was very punctually verified by the beginning of the Universal Monarchy of the Church of Rome under the Imperial Authority, and the advancement of it into a perfect Tyranny by the Roman Hierarchy. So that after a while, the False-prophet seems to take the power of the Beast out of his hands, and to exercise it before his face; and then the Beast had little to do himself in the management of it, and seemed only to give Authority to what was done by others; which is also now manifest from the common course of the Roman Church in their proceed against Heretics. They judge, condemn, and pronounce sentence against them, and then deliver them over to the Secular power, who are the executioners of the Sentence. All that the Civil power does in it, is but to follow the commands of the Church, and to strike the last stroke only, which is all that can make them be said to have an hand in it.  
And though it must be confessed, that the Secular part in it, is that which does the most effectually persuade to the worship of the Beast; yet it is plain, That the Church is the principal Agent in that also; because they overawe the Civil Power into compliances with them, which does very naturally answer the power of the Image in the Prophecy, to cause all those who would not worship it, to be killed.  
The False-prophet is the Head of this Image, and so is the chief manager of this Church-Tyranny; and therefore is it accordingly said of him, That he spoke like a Dragon, or like that Red Dragon in the 12th Chapter just before, and found to be the Devil raging against the followers of the Lamb.  
If any one should question, 
a 
COrnelius à Lapide, in c. 13. Apoc. v. 11. The Two Horns (according to Josephus Acosta, l. 2. De temporibus Noviss. c. 17.) are the Ensigns of the Episcopal Dignity, viz. the Mitre, or the Episcopal Crown. It should seem therefore by this, That this false Prophet should be some Apostate Bishop, a great pretender to Religion.— It is not therefore the Mitre, but some Mitred Apostate that is here set out, who shall treacherously abuse these Horns of Christ (the Lamb) to propagate the Party of Antichrist. — And before, when he had reckoned up the several opinions about the 2 d Beast,— In the fourth place, says he, the best opinion is that of Irenaeus, Tertullian, Ribera, Viega, and others, who by this Beast understand some Eminent Pastor of the Church, the forerunner, and Preacher up of Antichrist.  
Viegas, in c. 13. Apoc. v. 11. after the mention of the opinion of others; But Andrea's Caesariensis, and Irenaeus, to me seem to have been much more in the right, who understand by the 2d Beast, some Eminent Preacher, the forerunner of Antichrist; The Armour-bearer of Antichrist, as Irenaeus.   whether so dreadful a character of a Beast speaking like a Dragon, or like the Devil, can belong to a Christian Bishop of so great eminency in the Church of Christ, as the Bishop of Rome is; he may easily be satisfied, if he considers, that by his description he ought to be nothing less than such a person. For that he must be the Head of a Roman Church extended over all the World, has been shown from his Character of being a Church-Head over the same extent of dominion, that the Beast did Rule in. For he exercised all the power of the Beast: And then, that he must have the show of the chief Head of the Christian Church, appears from his having Two Horns like a Lamb. For the signification of a Lamb, all over the Book of the Revelations, is nothing but the person of Christ. It would indeed have a more plain reference to the other mentions of that word, if it were said, like THE Lamb. But we have Grotius' Authority for it upon this place, which in Criticism is of the best account, when Impartial, That nothing is more ordinary in Scripture, then to 
b 
Ribera upon this place of the Apocalypse, after he had pleaded for the indefinite signification of, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, from the absence of the Article, concludes,— But yet this which I have said of Articles, is not always observed by the Greeks.  
Alcazar upon the same, The Article is wanting, and yet it is an allusion to the Lamb, Cap. 5.   omit the Article of reference before a word, which should denote its relation to the former mentions of it, where yet the sense does show it to be necessary to be understood.  
It appears then from the description of him, that he must be as it were 
c 
Malvenda de Antichristo, pag. 348. quotes Irenaeus for making Antichrist a pretender to be Christ upon Earth. And Lactantius affirming, that he should falsely pretend himself to be Christ. And pag. 349. says, That it is the consent of the Fathers, That Antichrist shall take away Idols— And shall set himself up in the Temple of God, as Antiochus Epiphanes had his own Image put into the Temple at Jerusalem, who yet Worshipped his own Country Gods, and obtruded them upon the Jews. He contends indeed, That the Temple of God, in which Antichrist must sit, is the Temple of Jerusalem. But Pererius the Jesuit upon the 7th of Daniel, quotes Theodoret, Damascene, and others of the Fathers, Interpreting it of the Christian Church: For that, says he, is the only true Temple of God. And then Antichrist must be like Christ the Head of the Church.  
And, pag. 351. Malvenda shows how Antichrist shall pretend himself to be true God, according to the agreeing sense of the Fathers, viz. As Nabuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar; the latter of which did certainly do no more than order himself a like worship with the gods. And Antiochus Epiphanes, who is made the Type of Antichrist, did set up the Statue of Jupiter Olympius in the Temple, as well as his own: And is said by Malvenda, to have Consecrated the Temple of Jerusalem to Jupiter Olympius, and the Temple on Mount Gerizim to Jupiter Hospitalis. It is not therefore necessary, according to Malvenda, that Antichrist should set himself up as the one supreme God, or Christ.  
Irenaeus, pag. 483. Edit. Erasmi de Antichristo.— Of whom the Apostle in the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians— He shall sit in the Temple, enendeavouring to show himself to be Christ.  
Bellarmin also says, Lib. 1. de Pontif. cap. 1. That by the common agreement of all Christians, Antichrist is understood to be some Eminent False Christ.   a Vice-Christ, or pretend to be the Vicar of Christ, which is the same, as both of them are also the same with an Antichrist.  
Besides, this Beast thus described in one place with Two Horns like a Lamb, in the other Chapters is called the False Prophet; To acquaint us, that the Horns of the Lamb were but the outward show of the Christian Spirit. So that if we put these two Characters of him together, and then add the other of his speaking like a Dragon, and consider that the name of a Dragon is very ordinary in this Book, and that it every where else relates to the representation of the Devil in the 12th Chapter just before this, as a raging Red Bloody Dragon; What can more manifestly denote him to be A False Prophet in Sheep's clothing, but inwardly a Ravenous wolf? How could this have been more clearly expressed in a Prophecy, where the Lamb and the Dragon are in a very peculiar manner, and very commonly restrained to signify Christ and the Devil? And what could more openly show us the difference betwixt the Dragon in the 12th Chapter, and the Beast in the 13th. though both enemies to the Christian Church in the same Seven Headed, Ten Horned Empire, or better satisfy us why there needed two different figures of Dragon and Beast, to signify those two kind of Hostilities against the Church of Christ?  
For by this it appears, that the Beast and the False Prophet were to be in outward appearance the most directly contrary to the Dragon, that could be, and even to look like Christ himself; and therefore that this False Prophet must really be such an one of that Kind, as our Saviour calls 
d 
See Malvenda Not. praeced. And the Fathers agree— That Antichrist shall take away the Worship of false Gods. See Irenaeus, Not. Praeced.  
Arethas, in V 11. c. 13. Apoc. Two Horns of the Lamb— because he shall feign himself to be kind and benign, that he may deceive.  
Idem, in v. 14. He doth Miracles, That Antichrist might be thought to be Christ.   a False Christ, or a false pretender to be his Deputy, and Vicar upon Earth; The Character of which kind of False Christ's, and False Prophets, in being able to deceive the very elect by their great Wonders and Signs, is just the same with the power of this eminent False Prophet for doing great wonders also, for deceiving all those that dwell upon 
Rev. 13. 14.  earth by the Miracles which he had power to do.  
Wherefore the speaking like a Dragon in this False Prophet, with the appearance of a Lamb, must signify his speaking or commanding under the vizard of the Vicar of Christ, the same kind of acts of Cruelty and Tyranny for an Idolatrous worship, which the Red Dragon was active in against the Woman in the Chapter just before. The profession of Christianity is now we see so far from excusing the Bishop of Rome from the Character of the False Prophet, That it is necessary for him to be a more eminent Professor of that Religion, than any other person in the Church, to be capable of having it applied to him.  
And the enforcing of false-worship by all the Arts of Cruelty, under the pretence of the Authority of Christ, does therefore fill up the whole Character that is given, of his having the Horns of a Lamb, and speaking like the Red Dragon; for nothing does more resemble the nature of the Devil, than Antichristian Tyranny under the Mask of Piety.  
Well therefore may the Dragon be said to give his power to the 
Rev. 13. 2, 3.  Beast, since the Devil may be safely enough supposed to inspire this design of carrying on this Adoration of the Roman Power, and of that Church, by force of Arms, and sanguinary Laws, like the Reign of the Red Dragon in the time of Heathen persecution described in the Chapter just before.  
By this may be understood the true meaning of the casting 
V 9  down of the Dragon with the Seven Heads and the Ten Horns, out of Heaven, in the 12th Chapter. For as that Figure has the proper mark of the Roman Empire in the Seven Heads; so must it be the Devil inspiring the Roman Empire to bloody Acts against the followers of the Lamb, who are said to have overcome him by not 
V 11.  loving their lives unto the Death: Wherefore the casting down of the Dragon out of Heaven, can signify nothing else, but the mortifying of the Pagan Power against the Christian Church, after the conversion of the Imperial Head to the Christian Religion.  
For since the Beast is found to arise with Justinian, and the fall of the Roman Dragon is in the Text described to be before the time of the Beast, and yet to be after the time of St. John; the Dragon can be no other raging power of the Devil Reigning at Rome, and Tyrannising over the Christian Church, but only the Devil raging in the Heathen Emperors before the Conversion of Constantine. From the time of Constantine, to the Reign of Justinian, there was no such Roman Tyranny exercised against the Christians, that had the least show of so dreadful an appearance; and whatsoever any professed Christian Emperors might do in that kind, must be under the appearance of the qualities of the Lamb, and so be another Beast different from the Dragon; It is certain, that at this appearance of Christianity upon the Imperial Throne, this Prophecy was apprehended to be so plainly fulfilled, That Constantine's Effigies was set up in public over his Palace-Gate, trampling upon a wounded Dragon, which, says Eusebius, was done to signify his conquests of those Tyrants 
Lib. 3. c. 3. de Vita Constantini.  that oppressed and persecuted the Church, at the instigation of the Devil, in allusion to the Books of the Prophets, where the Devil thus raging against the Church, is called a Dragon. And Constantine himself 
Socrat. l. 1. c. 6.  in his Epistle to Eusebius for the repairing of the Churches, calls his conquest of Licinius, who was the last of the persecuting Heathen Emperors, The foiling of the Dragon, and the restoring of Christian Liberty to all Men.  
By the same reason, whatsoever is expressed to follow the Dragon's fall, and to be before the rise of the Beast, must be understood of the Roman Empire turned Christian before the time of Justinian; and therefore the Dragons casting a flood of water out of his mouth to carry away the Woman with it, must be understood 
Rev. 12. 15.  of some great inundation of multitudes of Pagan people upon the Roman Empire, that was able to have carried away, and to have buried the true Church in it. For waters are interpreted to signify multitudes of people in the 17th Chapter; A Flood therefore must denote 
e 
Victorinus in v. 15. cap. 12. Apoc. The Waters which he cast out, do signify the Army that followed him.  
Ribera on the same place; Interpreters agree, That by the Waters, Persecution (that is, of multitudes) is understood.— The Devil sent an Army to Persecute the Saints that fled into the Wilderness. Sabo Tyconius— He cast out Waters after her— That is, the Violence of Persecutors. — And afterwards— It signifies an Army of Persecutors.  
Andrea's, Primatius, Haymo, and Ausbertus, say the same, and quote that of Psalm 122.— When Men risen up against me. To which may be added many other places in the Psalms concerning the Floods, and Water-floods.   some very extraordinary overflow of such multitudes; And was there ever any thing more exactly answerable to this, than that prodigious inundation of barbarous Nations over all the Western Empire, presently after the full accomplishment of the Victory of Christianity over Heathenism about the times of Theodosius? St. Jerome describes those times, with the characters of the last dismal state of things, which should be the forerunners of the end of the World.  
The swallowing up of this flood by the Earth, to help the Woman, can 
V 16.  thereupon be nothing else, but the Leagues that were made with these people, with the several allotments of habitation to them within the bounds of the Roman Empire, as one people with the Romans; and their entrance thereupon into the Church. And thus comes the Roman Empire to appear with Ten Kingdoms in it, shown by the Ten Horns; and this was the helping of the Woman, because the Church by this got her freedom and peace, and gained these Barbarians to her.  
But the Dragon is said to be still in great fury against the Woman, and therefore went to make War with the remnant of her seed, which 
Rev. 12. 17.  keep the Commandments of God, and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ; where we may observe a plain distinction made betwixt the Seed of the Woman: The War, that the Dragon makes, is with that part of her Seed, which keep the Commandments of God, and have the Testimony, or are the Witnesses or Martyrs of Jesus Christ; which intimates, that the Rest of her Seed should departed from the Commandments of God, and from the truth of the Gospel of Christ.  
By this we have a new scene opened about the enmity of the Dragon against the Church; The Time of it is after the Settlement of the Divisions of the Empire in those Kings of the Barbarians, signified by the swallowing up of the great flood by the earth, That is, after the rise of the Ten Kings in the Roman Empire; and the party against whom this War is carried on, are the Godly Seed of the Woman; not against all her Seed, but against those only, who keep God's Commandments, and are the Witnesses or the Martyrs of Jesus, or as they are elsewhere called, The Witnesses in Sackcloth.  
How this was brought to pass, That which does immediately follow this design of the Dragon, does inform us: For immediately upon it, appears a Beast with all the same Emblems of the Roman Empire, that the Dragon had; and to him the Dragon 
Rev. 13. 1.  is said to give his Power, and his Seat, and great Authority; 
v. 2.  And thus does the Dragon fulfil the intention that he had just before, to War with the chosen Remnant of the Woman's Seed: He does not appear himself in it, but inspires another set up in his place to do it. By which it is evidently signified, That this new war with the dutiful part of the Woman's Seed, is not managed by any Roman Power, which is openly known to be the professed Enemy of God, and of the Christian Religion, as that Government of the Empire was, which had the open appearance of the Devil's management in it; And if it were not such a Power that should appear like an open professed Enemy of the Christian Religion, it must be such as must profess that Religion; and out of a pretended zeal to it, exercise all the Tyranny of the Devil, or Dragon, against the true professors of it. For all the great business of the Beast, is Religious worship; and if that Religion be not professed enmity to the Christian (because that would make it the open show of the Dragon, as it was before his fall) It must then be a zealous outward profession of the Christian Religion, to persecute and to destroy the true maintainers of it.  
This does determine the time of the first settlement of the Woman in the Wilderness, for the space of a Time, Times and an half. For though it be said, Chap. 12. 6. That She fled into the Wilderness; yet it is not there said, that she was settled there; but only, that she had a place prepared for her there, to be fed for One Thousand two Hundred and Sixty days. And besides, after many great Actions intervening, she is said at the 14th Verse to be but then in a condition to fly into the Wilderness; and after she was flying thither, the Dragon cast out a flood after her, and hindered her settlement there, till that was swallowed up; and therefore did her Time, Times, and Half-time, begin but just at the same time with the Dragon's persecuting the remnant of her Seed, which was just at the first rise of the Beast, and so confirms the Synchronism of the Woman and the Beast for their whole time.  
We are therefore now to inquire from the History of the Christian Church, how it can be said, that from the time of Justinian, all the true Professors of the Christian Faith, were forced by Tyrannical usage to worship the Will of the Christian Roman Emperors about matters of Religion, thereby to fit the Characters here given to the Beast, to the Imperial Head restored in the West?  
And thus we find, that at the Time that the Christian Church (The Woman) was secured in the Two Imperial Seats of the East and West (the two Wings of a great Eagle) from all the inundations of Pagan people (or from the face of the Serpent) The Devil did then set up persecution in the Roman Throne, against the true and faithful Members of the Christian Church, (The Remnant of the Seed of the Woman, which keep the Commandments of God) while she herself was in the Wilderness, or in a place of security.   

CHAP. VII. 
Rev. XIII.   
The particular point of the first date of the Rise of the Beast, enquired after in order. The first conception and progress of the chief Malignity of the Beast. It entered with Theodosius, and was settled by Justinian: And appears to have been the enforcing of Universal Conformity by Penalties able to make the generality of the World to comply against their Consciences. Justinian 's peculiar Talon in the settling this Method for Conformity.  
FRom the former Account of the overruling Authority of the Christian Emperors in all Church-Affairs, and of the great veneration which they had for the Councils assembled under them, it is obvious for any one to conclude, That they lay very open to the danger of requiring Divine Honours to be given them. For this must needs make them very apt to command many things (which God has left free and undetermined) to be received for Points of Faith necessary to Salvation, as inspired by the Holy Ghost in Council. And it is evident, that in such a case, the will of him that enjoins such things, is taken for the Will of God; and so he may very well be said to require the Honour of God to be given to his own will.  
One cannot but think it very probable upon this account, that such a kind of Worship, as is called the Worship of the Beast, was sometimes enjoined before the Rise of the Beast, since there were many Erroneous Councils before that time; And, it may be, many things in Orthodox Councils made to be Inspirations of the Holy Ghost, and pressed upon the Consciences of men, as Divine Oracles, necessarily to be obeyed, which were but the mere Arbitrary Injunctions of men.  
But yet, though the same kind of Worship might have been commanded before his appearance, yet it could not be the worship of the Beast, till it was the owning of the Roman Authority for the Will of God in those particular Circumstances of Antichristian Idolatry, and Tyranny, in which it is described to be all over the Prophecy; And this it came not to be, till it was the worship of the last Ruling Head, in the midst of the several divided Kingdoms of the Roman Empire, according to the description of it in the show of the Figure: Chap. 13. 17.  
And besides, there is one peculiar circumstance in the worship of the Beast, which was never fulfilled till the time of his Reign; and that is, an actual conformity of all the whole world to it. How peremptory soever the command for that Worship might be before, yet it will appear, that it could not long obtain amongst all those that were of a contrary judgement, before the settled establishment of it at the new return of the Imperial Government in the West.  
The reason that I give for this, is, because the Laws and Commands of the Emperors for Uniformity, either had not before that time any penalties in them sufficient to make all the world to comply with them, or were hindered from any settled continued execution of them. The Penalties annexed to their Laws for Conformity, were generally either nothing but anathemas, which Dissenters would not value, or deprivations of Clergymen, and Military men; And the pulling down, and confiscating the public Meeting-place, or prohibitions to all men against coming into the Imperial City: And there was no force in these Penalties for an Universal Conformity; And the Commotions in the Western Empire would not allow the other severe and more general Penalties to have any constant effect.  
We see Honorius soon after, alleging this reason for his renewing his Commands for the terrifying of Heretics, viz. because he was then delivered from the fear of Attalus the Tyrant, and Alaricus the Gothish King. Now, says he, that the Oracle is taken away, by whom they were encouraged to the exercise of their Heretical Superstition, Let all the Enemies of the Holy Law know, that they shall be punished with Banishment, and also to blood, if they will dare to meet still in public. Hieron. Rubeus. Histor. Ravennat. lib. 2. pag. 78.  
Wherefore it can never be thought that there was any thing of this General Conformity in the 4th, or 5th Centuries, either in the Reign of the Orthodox, or Arrian Emperors. Constantine seems to have gone as high in his Commands as most that came after him, till the time of Theodosius: We have 
a SEE Note the 8th. on the 2d Chapter, Socrates, l. 1. c. 6.  in his Edicts, and Epistles, all the great apprehensions that the World had of General Councils, as immediately inspired by the Holy Ghost, as the only Warrants for Unity and Uniformity, and as vested with a power of denouncing the Curses of God upon Dissenters; We find there the suppression of all their 
b Euseb. de Vita Constantini. l. 3. c. 63. To the Heretics— We Enact, and Command by this Law, That none of you shall dare hereafter to meet at Conventicles— and that all those places, where you were wont to keep close meetings, be demolished; provided also, that you shall not keep any— meetings, either in public, or in private Houses, or in remote places. c. 64. And threatened their maintainers with punishments.  Conventicles, the deposing of dissenting Bishops; and which seems more terrible than any thing that we find in his Successors, the 
c Socrates, l. 1. c. 6. Constantine to the Bishops and People— For as soon as he be taken, our pleasure is, That his Head be stricken off his Shoulders. Sozom. l. 1. c. 21.  penalty of death threatened to those that should conceal any of Arrius' Books, and not deliver them up to be publicly burned; but there was nothing in all this, that did oblige the generality of the Arrians to Church Communion.  
The Laws of Theodosius were indeed something more severe, and of more force for a general conformity 
d 
Cod. Justinian. lib. 1. de Summa Trinitat. Theodos. Edict. ad pop. Constantinop. We will have all the people of our Empire be of that Religion, which St. Peter the Apostle delivered to the Romans; and which it is manifest that Pope Damasus does now follow, and Peter Bishop of Alexandria.— And we command those that follow this Law, to take the Name of Catholic Christian upon them;— and the rest, only the name of Heretics— we decree shall be chastised by a Divine Vengeance first (by Excommunication) and afterwards also, by the Revenge of the motions of our own mind, as Heaven shall incline us.  
And all over the Theodosian Code. Tit. de Haereticis, there are nothing but Laws, either for pulling down the Meeting-houses of Heretics, or for punishing them, and that even to Banishment. So Cod. Theodos. l. 15. Tit. 5. de Haereticis, l. 16. Tit. 4. the his, qui supra Religionem contendunt. Lex secunda, item lex tertia, c. 67. de Haereticis, l. 21. item l. 26. And Inquisitors appointed, l. 9, 13, 15, 31, 32, 35, 52. Cod. de Haereticis.  
Socrates, l. 3. c. 4. The Emperor Basilicus' Edict there, does mention and enforce Theodosius' Laws, viz. That Laics be punished with Banishment and Confiscation of Goods, and Bishops with Deprivation.   to the Roman Church. But whatsoever force these Laws might have, yet we may be sure, that the inundation of the Barbarous Nations (who 
Baron. Anno 585.  were generally Arrians) all over the whole Empire a few years after, must necessarily put an end to that General Uniformity.  
Socrates, who lived in those times, does indeed tell us, That 
Socrat. l. 5. c. 2. 4. 20.  as Gratian before him had granted a general Toleration, so Theodosius constrained none of the Sects to be of his Communion, but gave them the free exercise of their Religion in public without the Walls of the City.  
But Sozomen, lib. 7. cap. 4, and 5. and Theodor. 5. 15. asserts the quite contrary of Theodosius, that he made Decrees for punishing the Arrians with the greatest Severities. To the same purpose Philostorgius, l. 9 c. 19  
If indeed we come narrowly to search into the Laws of Theodosius, Arcadius and 
* Honorius ad Heraclian. Commit. Africâ, An. 411. Sciant omnes Sanctae legis inimici plectendos se poenâ & proscriptionis & sanguinis, si ultra convenire in publicum tentaverint.  Honorius, one may very reasonably question Socrates' fidelity in this account of those times; However, the Confusions of the Empire by the Inundations of the Barbarians, till the fall of the Western Empire, may with all reason be judged to have given a continual interruption to the execution of the severest Laws of this kind, at least to that general Conformity, which is made the Character of the Power of the Beast; And then, the momentary appearance of this Power of the Beast for so inconsiderable a time, can be taken for nothing, but his endeavour to appear, and which upon its first rise was immediately crushed.  
It is certain, that 
e Concil. Ephesin, Canon 8. Upon the complaint of the Cyprian Bishops against the Bishop of Antioch's usurped jurisdiction over them. They Ordain, That all usurped jurisdiction of any Bishops over another's Province, shall be, ipso facto, void;— And that— lest the fear of any Man's power should creep in, under a show of an Holy Function, and so we should lose that Liberty insensibly and unawares, which our Lord Jesus Christ did purchase with his own Blood.  the Ephesine Council, not long after the time of Theodosius, had made an excellent provision against any encroachment of any one part of the Christian Church over the rest; so that though there might be some irregular exercise of the Imperial Authority, yet whenever any considerable Diocese should have stood up for their Liberty, though against the Roman Church, they had a right to plead for it from that Council.  
In this estate did things continue till the fall of the Western Empire, and then the Arrian Goths being the Masters of Rome, and the West, there was a composition betwixt them and the Eastern Emperors for a 
f 
It appears from Cassiodor Variar. L. 10. Ep. 26. That the Gothish Kings did not press any in Italy to their way. — Theodate to Justinian, says there,— Since the Deity suffers many Religions to be, we dare not enjoin one alone to be followed: For we remember it is said, That Men must sacrifice willingly to the Lord, not at the command of any one to force them to it.— With good reason therefore does your Piety invite us to that, which the Commands of God do require. And in the time of Justin before, Thedoric forced him to leave off persecuting the Arrians in the East. And Zeno and Anastasius before Justin, are represented as Lovers of Peace and Union, rather than a strict Conformity; of which Zeno's Henoticon is an example.  
Petavius says of the Emperor Anastasius, That he gave every Man liberty to profess what Sect he pleased. Rationar. Temp. Part 1. l 7. c. 3.  
Theodoric. to all the Jews, lib. 2. ep. 27. Gassiodor Variar. We cannot, says Command Religion, because none is to be compelled to believe against his Will.   mutual Toleration of Orthodoxy and Arrianism in their respective Jurisdictions; And before that, had the Emperors Zeno and Anastasius contrived a form of Faith for a Comprehension and Union, and did connive at a general Liberty of Conscience.  
But the Emperor Justin, after them, gins the Project of an Universal Conformity to the Roman Religion. At the solicitations of Pope Hormisda, he makes 
g See Petau. Rationar. Temp. Part. 1. l. 7. c. 3. Item Anastasius Bibliothecar. in Hormisdâ.  an Union betwixt the Greek and the Latin Church, which had been in a Schism against one another near forty years; After that, in Pope John's time, sets out several Edicts against 
h 
Petau. ibidem Item Blondus de Inclinat. Rom. Imp. in Occidente.— Pag. 37. Pope John, in whose time (the Emperor) Justin being wholly set upon rooting out all the Heresies throughout the Eastern parts, deprived all the Bishops of that Sect of their Places, and put their Ministers out of their Churches. — And a little after, not only the Eutichyan Heresy, but all kind of different Parties were suppressed throughout all the East.  
Anastasius Bibliothecar. to the same purpose in Joanne 1.   the Heretics, and heavily persecutes them; so as even to suppress all kind of Heresy throughout the Eastern Empire: But he was forced by 
i Anastasius Bibliothec. in Joanne 1. gives an account of Theodoric's sending Pope John in an Embassy to Justin, to acquaint him, That he would ruin all the Catholics in Italy, if he did not restore the Arrians in the East to their Dignities and Churches: And that Justin did thereupon comply with him.  Theodorick, king of Italy, to desist; and so his Design came to nothing.  
But however, there was so good a Correspondence by this means settled betwixt the Emperor, and the Bishop of Rome, for that common Interest, that the Emperor submits to be crowned by the Pope, which was the 
k Petau. Rationa. Temp. Part 1. l. 7. c. 3. The Emperor received the Pope with all honour, and was the first that received the Imperial Crown at the Pope's Hands. Anastas. Bibliothec. in Joanne 1.  first Example of that kind, and got the name of Justin 
l Hieron. Rubeus, Histor. Ravennat. pag. 141. Item Anastas. Bibliothec. in Joanne 1.  the Orthodox, for his Piety to the Church.  
This good Correspondence betwixt the Secular and Ecclesiastical Power of Rome, was the only means to carry on an Universal Uniformity in the Roman Religion. For the Imperial Authority was now confined to a very small Jurisdiction, and the rest of the Empire was divided into several Kingdoms, which had no other Secular Sovereign to command them, but their own particular Kings. There was therefore no other way of reducing them all to one Religion, but by the advancement of a Spiritual Roman Authority to be the principle of Unity amongst them, whose business it should be to overawe the Conscience with the Curses of the Church, for the enforcing the execution of the Imperial Penalties.  
For as the Imperial Laws were for every thing else the standing Laws of these divided Kingdoms, so the only way to make their Edicts and Sanctions of Councils about Church-matters to take place amongst them, was to have them confirmed and enforced by the Authority of an Universal Head of the Church. And though the Church Head seems by this to be the principal in all this Affair, yet the Temporal Penalties of the Laws, being the only certain means to effect an Universal Conformity, and this Sovereign Head of the Church himself being also a Creature of the Imperial Power to carry on his design of Uniformity in the Roman Religion, as has been observed; all the Obedience that 
Chap. 22.  is given by other Princes, and their Subjects, is really nothing but the Worship of the Beast, or of the Imperial Religion; and they give their Kingdoms to the Beast, when they force their Subjects to submit to that Religion.  
There was nothing that could make it look more like the worshipping of that Roman Authority, than this Submission of the Ten Kings, who were absolute in their Kingdoms, and had as much right to appoint the Laws of Religion to their Subjects, as the Roman Emperor had in his own Territories; But by this conformity to the Romans, they did seem to lay down their 
N. B.  Crowns at the feet of that Nation, and to adore them, as the great Dictator's and Oracles of the Will of God.  
There is indeed not the least appearance of so general an Uniformity at the end of the Reign of the Emperor Justin, who, as has been observed, was not able so much as to bring it about within the bounds of his own Territories.  
But Justinian, immediately after him, appears in this Design like a new Blazing-star in the East, whom all the World began to be afraid of. One would indeed from a cursory view of his History, be apt to entertain no other Idea of him, than as a very eminent Conqueror, and Restorer 
m 
Therefore is Justinian chosen out by the people of Rome in their insurrection against Pope Innocent the 1st. as the example of the greatest Roman Prince for the Emperor Conrade to resemble; in favour of whom they declared in these Verses,  
Imperium Teneat, Romae sedeat, Regat Orbem,  
Princeps Terrarum, ceu fecit Justinianus.  
As Sigonius, Lib. 11. de Regno Italiae does give the account of it; so Procopius de Bello Persico makes Vitiges, King of the Goths, in his Letter to Chosroes King of Persia, give Justinian this Character;— That it is his Nature to be always coveting of new things, to which he had no Right.— And that he did aim at the whole World, and every Man's Kingdom. And in his description of Justinian's Buildings, in his first Oration, describes Justiman's Statue upon a Pillar, holding a Globe in his Left hand, to signify his Conquest of the World; and stretching out the Fingers of his Right Hand towards the East, to Command the Barbarians and Persians, not to advance any further upon the Roman Empire: without any Armour, or Sword; or Spear; but only with a Cross upon the Globe, to signify by what power he gained his Victories.— Which if it were to corrupt the Christian Religion, was a Magnificent show of a False pretender to the power of Christ.   of the Imperial Authority in the Western Empire. But as that made him eminent and remarkable enough to be taken notice of for the beginning, or the restoring of a new Head of the Beast, so did the great Bustle which he made in Church-matters, signalise him as much for laying the first foundation of a general Uniformity in Religion.  
His Contemporary 
n See Praefat. in Cod. Justiniani.  Procopius, gives a Character of him, that shows how much the Affairs of the Church were the concern of his heart; He says of him, That Justinian was so continually taken up with Churchmen in private for the determining the niceties of matters of Faith, that he lost his best time amongst them, which he should have spent about his more weighty Coneerns; And we do accordingly find him as fierce, and severe in his Injunctions for a general conformity to the Definitions that were made about them.  
In the beginning of his Reign, He sets out 
o See Lib. 5. Cod. Justinian. de summâ Trinitate.  an Edict concerning his Faith, therein threatens all who should descent from it; that they should have no manner of indulgence. And that upon the discovery of them, they should suffer the Law as professed Heretics, which was to be banished the Roman Territories, and which was never executed upon the generality of Dissenters before. And here does his Faith appear to be made the Rule and measure of Orthodoxy to the whole Empire upon a Penalty which had terror enough in it.  
This Faith he sends to Pope John for his concurrence with him in it; And tells him, that he did it to conform all to the Church of Rome; that it was always his desire to preserve the Unity of the Apostolic See, and the state of the Holy Churches of God; And for that purpose to bring all the Eastern Churches under his subjection, and to unite them to the See of his Holiness.  

p Ibid. l. 8, 9, & 10.  Pope John's Answer to him does repeat the same thing out of his Letter, with great thanks to him— As, that he did preserve the Faith of the Roman Church, and did bring all else under the subjection of it, and did draw them into the Unity of it.  
Therein also does Justinian expressly call the Church of Rome; the Head of all Churches, and desires a Rule of Faith from the Pope for the Bishops of the East.  
The Pope on the other side confirms the Emperor's Faith to be the only true Faith, and that which the Roman Church did always hold; and that whosoever should contradict that Faith, must judge himself to be none of the Catholic Church. And all this Intercourse betwixt the Pope and the Emperor is inserted into the Code of the Imperial Law, as the Standard and Rule for all to conform to, under the Penalty of being judged to be Heretics, that should either deny the Faith, or the Authority of the Church that enjoined it; and the 
q L. 5. c. de Haereticis.  Penalties against Heretics was banishment.  
Though the Emperor's Faith should be accounted Orthodox, yet the inducing such a new Penalty, which should force it upon the Consciences of all men, as so necessary to salvation, that a man could not possibly be a Member of the Catholic Church without the profession of it, was certainly unwarrantable, and the first beginning of that Tyrannising Power in the Roman Church, which made the whole World to conform to all its Arbitrary Decrees, and to worship it with a blind obedience to all its most unreasonable Commands.  
But the most public Instances of the effects of the Emperor's zeal for Uniformity, are the Synods that were called by him. The first was that under Mennas, against Anthimus, Severus, and 
Petau. Ration. Temp. part. 1. lib. 7. c. 7.  others, where after the condemnation of their Opinions, they, and all the other Heretics with them, were banished by the Emperor's Edict, and very great Penalties, says Evagrius, l. 4. c. 11. were enjoined for all such as maintained their Opinions: This indeed was the only means to arrive at a general Uniformity, and Justinian had the first glory of it.  
But this was nothing to his Behaviour in the Controversy about the three Chapters, and in the fifth General Council, as it is called, which being after his Conquests of Africa and Italy, found his Spirit in a right disposition to affect to exalt the Imperial Authority in the Church.  
He first publishes a Book about those things, and passes a censure 
Petau. Ration. Temp. ibidem.  upon the three Chapters against the will and solicitations of his Clergy; then forces Mennas, the Patriarch of Constantinople, with the rest of the Patriarches, to subscribe to it; sends for Pope Vigilius, and after much reluctance he at last gets him to subscribe with the rest.  
The next year Vigilius publishes a Decree, in which, with a Salvo to the Council of Chalcedon, he does expressly condemn the three Chapters. Justinian not content with this, uses all means with Vigilius, by threats and contumelies, to condemn them absolutely without any mention of the Synod of Chalcedon; but being not able to break him to it, to show him that the Bishop of Rome was set up for nothing but to be the Emperor's Property, and to promote a general Conformity to the Imperial Religion; Against the Pope's will he calls a General Council at Constantinople for this end; which had always been the method of the former Emperors to unite the Differences about Religion, and to make the whole Church conformable to their minds.  
The Pope in the mean while declares against this Assembly, not upon the account of any claim of a Superior Authority in himself above that of the Emperor; but because he judged the Emperor's mind to be contrary to the Council of Chalcedon; And it was accounted a kind of Sacrilege to revoke any thing that was decreed in Council.  
But neither could the Authority of the Pope, nor of the rest of the Clergy, hinder the Council from doing, as Councils used to do, that is, from being of the same mind with their Emperor; And so, as Justinian would have it, they condemned the three Chapters, and pronounced an Anathema upon all those who should defend them, or any part of them, by the Authority of the Council of Chalcedon: Whereas it is manifest, that in that Council, the chief of these things were particularly examined, and Ibas, and Theodoret, the Authors of these Writings, were received by the Synod as Orthodox, and the 
r 
Concil. Chalcedon. Action. 8 va.— Which when he had said, All the Bishops cried out, Theodoret is worthy of his Seat in the Church; Let the Church receive its Orthodox Pastor, etc. And Action. 9 c. 10. The Pope's Legate Paschasius, in the name of all the rest, pronounces, That upon reading the Votes of the most Reverand Bishops, Ibas was approved by them. For upon a review of his Epistle, we acknowledge him to be Orthodox; and for this, Decree him to be restored to his Bishopric, and that the Church, from whence he was unjustly put out, be repaired.  
And this Approbation of the Council of Chalcedon, is quoted by Pope Vigilius, against Justinian in his Constitution— And decrees the contrary to him, with this preamble,— We, following the judgement of the Holy Fathers— And afterwards— These things therefore we having ordered with caution and diligence.   Epistle of Ibas in particular, declared to contain in it no heretical Opinion.  
Here was as great an instance of Imperial Authority over a Council, as could well be given, to make them define his Will to be an Inspiration of the Holy Ghost, contrary to matter of fact. And the Pope, and his own Clergy, were sufficient Witnesses of it to the World, by refusing to subscribe to that falsehood about a thing, which their Eyes might be the Judges of in the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon.  
In that Synod does Justinian also Authorise a new way of anathemas in the Church; and that was to curse the dead, whom he judged not to have been right in the Faith, which was a practice never before heard of; And therein among the rest he curses Origen, who in his time was accounted one of the most eminent Fathers of the Church for sanctity of life, for profound Learning, and his great Services to the Church. So that if it has pleased God to pardon him, and some of the rest, their Speculative Errors, they possibly may be those Saints in Heaven, against which the Beast is said to open his mouth in blasphemy, Rev. 13. 6.  
But besides this, he brings in fashion another way of cursing in the Council, which all the Rational World cannot but look upon as very strangely extravagant; and that was to anathematise all such, who did not damn all those whom they called Heretics: Which certainly was one of the highest Acts of Tyranny over the Consciences of the Universal Church, and which of all their Injunctions was the most difficult to subscribe unto. For whatsoever accommodating Interpretations men may find out to subscribe to a form of Faith, which they do not believe in the common sense of the words, yet they can never justify themselves in pronouncing the Curses of God upon all those who do not subscribe to it. And yet both this and the former way of Cursing was from that time continued in the Church.  
Never was there before, such an appearance all at one time of a new assuming Power over the Church of God, as in the conduct of all that business of the three Chapters; insomuch that it was generally enough taken notice of to make the worship of the Beast appear a very strange, and new thing, and to make the World wonder after the Beast, as it is said of him. The Books of Facundus, Bishop of Hermiana, against that Emperor, for these Arbitrary Proceed, are a sufficient Testimony, what noise these things did at that time make in the World; and nothing could have made them to be so slightly passed over in History, but the greater Extravagancies of the Popish Councils that came afterwards.  
That Bishop tells him, 
s Facundus Hermianens. ad Justinian. Lib. 12. c. 3. & cap. 5.  That it was not lawful for the Emperor to intermeddle in this manner in the Office of the Priest: shows him the Example of Vzziah and Dathan, and that none but Christ alone can have a Kingdom together with a Priesthood; That his Book was against the Decrees of the Council of Chalcedon; and that no Emperor but he, did ever before change the Decrees of a Council of his own head; bids him look up into Heaven with the Eye of Faith, and there see all those Blessed Fathers, which he had accursed, now Inhabitants of Heaven: And speaking of the like haughtiness of the Emperor Zeno— As if, says he, the Faith of all the Churches did depend upon the Emperor's Will, and as if none must believe otherwise than the Emperor should command him to believe.  
Baronius also does censure him, as guilty of great Arrogance in presuming to set forth these Decrees concerning the Catholic Faith. Anno 546.  
However, we find Justinian still keeping his point against them all; he defends this cursing of the Dead in a public Edict of the Confession of his Faith, and turns the Council into a Law of the Empire, Novel. 42. The Pope all this while, whose Authority is pretended to be so absolutely necessary to the making of a Council, declared himself contrary to all this, was banished 
Petau. Ration. Temp. part. 1. l. 7. c. 7.  for it, and so ill handled in it, that it was at last the cause of his Death. So that here was a very clear appearance of the Imperial Roman Authority in the Church, which appears to be the only soul and head of this, which is called the fifth General Council. For it could not have its name of a Council of the Roman Church from any at that time, but the Bishops there assembled, and the Imperial Authority, which confirmed it.  
To pretend that it was afterwards confirmed by another Pope, and so made a Council, is to give the Pope a power to change the nature of things; For if it wanted its due Authority at that time, it must be no Council at all; and the Pope may as well be allowed to turn all the Religious Meetings of Bishops, that ever were, into Councils at his pleasure.  
There was then nothing here, but the worship of the Beast alone, without the False Prophet to assist him. But that all the Irregularities of these Procedures are chargeable upon the Roman Church as the beginning of the Tyrannical Exercise of their Power, is manifest enough from the confirmation of this Fifth Council, by almost all the Roman Councils after.  
And now came those Laws about Heretics and Apostates, in fashion, which were always found to do the greatest service to Uniformity in the Roman Religion; and those were such as had a sufficient Penalty in them to oblige all to obey them; such as these, 
t 
Lib. 5. Cod. de Haereticis.  
It is a good observation of Du Plessis Mornay, in his Mystery of Iniquity, page 100 That Pelagius the first, in Justinian's days, who confirmed the 5th Council, and desired the aid of Justinian against the Bishops of Milan. and Aquileia, was the first Pope, that made a Decree to employ the Secular Arm against those who should be condemned of Schism, or Heresy.   that Heretics were not to continue within the bounds of the Roman Empire: And Heretics were defined by Justinian's Law, to be all such who did not communicate in the Church, although they did call themselves Christians; But those who were of the Church, were enjoined by 
u See Note ᵈ on this Chapter.  another Law, to be called Catholics.  
Of the same kind is that 
x Cod. Justinian. de Apostatis.  other Law against Apostates, that their Estates should be exposed to sale; and another, That 
y Lib. 19 Cod. de Haereticis.  none but the Children of Orthodox Parents should be capable of the right of succession to the Estates of their Parents. And Petavius is sufficient Authority to make any believe, that he did by an innumerable 
Petau. Ration. Temp. part. 1. l. 7. c. 5.  company of Edicts press the Faith and Discipline of the Roman Church. And of what nature those Edicts were to force Conformity, may be apprehended from the Character of him, which Petavius does immediately add to it, viz. That in the whole course of his life, he was eminent for 
z 
See Note ᵐ on this Chapter, Vitiges to Chosroes Procopius.  
Tribonianus his great Counsellor in the making his Laws, etc. is set out by Historians, as a contemner of all Religions. Cuspinian de Caesaribus, pag. 141.   Oppression, Covetousness and Perfidiousness. 
Ibidem.   
If we put all these things together, and consider that all the Imperial Edicts were generally published with the Style of 
aa 
See Note ᵖ on this Chapter, and Novel. Justiniani 126. in particular— A manifest constitution of our Deity, Nostri numinis. And Novel. 114. Jussionis Divinae. And Panirollus observes, That Justinian gave the usual Character of the Emperor's Subscriptions (A. M. D.) the name of a Divine Mark, Divinam subnotationem.  
Constantine the Father of Justinianus junior, Anno. Dom. 683. orders the Archbishop of Ravenna to go to Rome to be Consecrated; Divali jussione, by his Divine, or Sacred Command, Lib. Pontifical.   Our Divinity, Our Godhead; and that Justinian does in particular turn 
bb See Onuphtius Panvinius' Observation in Pelagio 1. in Note ⁱ on the 4th Chapter.  all the Erroneous Canons of the Church into Imperial Law; And that he was the first that made the 
cc Novel. 45. the Episcop. & Cler. We Decree, that those things that are defined by the Holy Canons, have as much force amongst them, as if they were written in Civil Laws.  Bishop of Rome's Creation to depend upon the Emperor's Confirmation. And that 
dd Novel. 131.— And therefore we decree according to their (the Council's) Determinations, that the most Holy Pope of Old Rome be the first of all Bishops; the most blessed Bishop of Constantinople, which is New Rome, to have the next place after the Holy Apostolic See of Old Rome.  he 
Novel. 45.  was the first that made the Primacy of the Pope, a Law of the Empire. It will not be thought to be an hard Censure of him to think, that the Character of sitting in the Temple of God, and showing himself there as God, may be fitly enough applied to him as the first appearance of that Antichristian Supremacy in the Christian Church, after the division of the Empire amongst so many Sovereign Absolute Princes. It is certain, That by his Conquests of the Western Empire, and his suppression of Arrianism in all the parts of it, and by the conversion of the Arrian Kingdoms in France and Spain, about the same time, to the Roman Faith; There was a very fair Appearance of a General Submission to the Roman Religion, for which the Ten Kings are said to give their Kingdoms to the Beast, and to be of one mind, and to agree together in it.  
'Tis certain, that his 
ee 
Justinian's Example was upon all occasions quoted afterwards for the Imperial absoluteness in Church-Affairs, and for his Obligations upon the Church of Rome. See Sigonius in Note ⁿ on this Chapter — ceu fecit Justinianus. So for all Commemorations of Donations to the Church, he is ordinarily put in with Constantine and Charlemaigne, as the three remarkable Raiser's of that Church.  
Cardinal Zabarella de Schismate, about the Year 1406. contends that it belongs to the Emperor to summon the Council, as Justinian and Charlemaigne did.   Example was so taking, that the design of an Universal Conformity was ever after prosecuted with great success.  
Gregory the Great, the best Bishop that they ever had after those times, did 
ff See Baronius, Ann. 591. & Bolerus Rel. Univer. part. 2. lib.. 4. for these Exploits of Gregory the First.  not long after clear Egypt of the Agnoitae, Africa of the Donatists and Arrians, and by Gennadius, the Emperor's Exarch, converted the Arrian Goths, and banished the rest out of Italy.  
The Successors of Justinian continued also to be acknowledged the Supreme Governors of the Roman Church, and were so acknowledged 
gg 
See Note the 23d on the 21st Chapter, especially that of Guicciardin there.  
Benedict. the Second obtained of the Emperor by Letters-Patents— That he that should be chosen Bishop of Rome by the common Agreement in full Assembly, should be owned for Bishop, without expecting either the Emperor's, or the Exarch's Consent— which was never known since the time of Justinian the First. Mornay, Mystere d'inquite, pag. 128:  
Justin Junior, to Pope Constantine, he sent him (sacram) his Letter to command him to come to Constantinople, and the Pope is said to have obeyed the Imperial Commands in it. Anastas. Biblioth. Constantius.  
Guicciardin shows, that the Popes always dated their Bulls according to the year of their Lord the Emperor's Reign, Imperante N. Domino nostro.  
Anno 1046. Gregory the Sixth is deposed by a Council held in Lombardy by the Emperor's Order— The words of the Council are, That he was deposed by a Canonical, and Imperial Censure. Sigebert. in Chronic.  
Anno 1160. Frederick, upon a Schism betwixt two Popes, Victor the Fourth, and Alexander the Third, summons a Council at Pavia, according to the Custom of the Ancient Emperors; And thus summons the Bishops to meet, Having understood by the Decrees of the Popes, and the Decrees of the Church, that when there happens a Schism in the Roman Church by the dissension of two Popes, we ought to summon the one, and the other, and to determine the difference by the Advice of the Orthodox — at the day of meeting declares, that the right of assembling them, did belong unto him. For so, says he, did Constantine, Theodosius, Justinian, Charlemaigne. Radevicus, l. 2. à cap. 52. ad c. 65.  
Grotius Respons. de Antichristo. Gregory the Great acknowledges the Emperor to be His Lord, and obeys his Edicts. And the Imperial Power was very magnificently exercised upon the Popes themselves by the Otho's; And Rome had its Magistrates set over it, that were sworn to the Emperor.  
Onuph. Panvin. l. de Fastis, pag. 61. From the time of Justinian the Power of the Consuls ceased at Rome; And it was governed by the Emperor's Exarches, and by a particular Duke over the City of Rome. Hieron Rubeus Histo. Ravennat. Anno 590.  
Alberic. de Rofat. a Famous Lawyer shows, in verbo Roma— that Rome was under the Emperor's disposal to the time of Innocent the Second, and that the Popes acknowledged the Emperors their Lords.   by the Bishops of Rome; Their ordinary Style was, Our Lords the Emperors, and themselves their meanest Servants. They got indeed not long after the Title of Universal Bishop over all the whole Church; but it was then known to be got 
hh 
See Note ᵐ on Chap. 4. and the Note ᵍ, ibidem.  
Ludovic. Bebenburg de jurib. Reg. & Imp. Rom. Edit. Heidelbergi, pag. 46.— The Greeks a long while before the Translation of the Empire to Charlemaigne, were departed from the obedience of the Roman Church, setting up the Church of Constantinople for their Head. And because that Church did write itself the first of all Churches: Phocas the Emperor — at the request of Boniface the Third, decreed that the Church of Rome should be the Head of all Churches.   by the Emperor's Allowance, and Protection in it; And the very opening the Pantheon for the worship of the Saints, was wholly 
ii 
Anastas. Bibliothec. in Bonifacio Quarto.  
At the same time he begged of the Emperor Phocas, the Temple called Pantheon, which he made the Church of the Blessed Virgin, and all the Martyrs.   by the Emperor's Grant and Favour.  
But notwithstanding this Grant, we see 
kk See Note ᵇ, c, e, x, on this Chapter.  the Imperial Jurisdiction over the Councils still continuing; 
ll See the Sixth General Council in Note ᵇ on this Chapter.  The Sixth General Synod is acknowledged in the Acts of it, to be called by the Emperor Constantine, to be wholly managed either by himself, or such as he deputed in his absence, to be confirmed by him, and to be made an Imperial Law by his Edict, for the observance of it. 
Concil. Univers. 6. Action. 18.  Therein also do we find Pope Honorius anathematised for an Heretic; But Justinian's Fifth Council, with all the Extravagancies of it, though called, managed, and enforced by the Emperor's sole Power against the will of Pope Vigilius, is there made a perpetual 
Concil. 6. in Trullo Action. 18. Edit. Constantin.  Rule for the Church, and of equal Authority with the first four famous Councils, which Gregory the Great did reverence like the four Gospels, and Justinian's Faith there celebrated by Pope Agatho, as a great Pattern.  
Thus did things continue till that famous Breach betwixt the East and the West about the Point of Image-worship; and yet at that time did Gregory the Second, who rebelled against the Emperor Leo Isaurus, call him the King and Head of the Christians.  
And long after that, did the 
mm 
See Notes ⁱ, l, xx, on this Chapter  
Platina in Pelag. 2. [Pelagius having been elected by the Clergy, and People, without staying for the Emperor's leave, because the Lombard's did then besiege the City, sent Gregory his Deacon to excuse it to the Emperor at Constantinople] Because, says Platina, the Election of the Clergy signified nothing in those days without the approbation of the Emperor.  
Blondus, Decad. 1. l. 9 de Severino 1. & Honorio— Then was that Custom observed, that he that was chosen Bishop of Rome, was not crowned till the Exarch came from Ravenna to confirm him.  
D. 63. c. Hadrianus. 22. & Sigonius de Reg. Ital. l. 4. By the Consent of all the Great Men of Rome, there assembled, it was agreed that Charlemaigne should have the power of electing the Pope, and of ordering the Roman Church.  
D. 63. c. in Synodo 23.  
Pope Leo the Eighth, Anno 963. in a Synod at Rome, consents to that Canon, That none shall be elected Pope but by the Emperor's leave. The Title of the Canon in Gratian is— The Election of the Bishop of Rome belongs of right to the Emperor.  
And also two years before, at his reception at Rome, Ann. 961. the Romans swear Fealty to him, and that they would never elect a Pope without his leave, nor ordain him without the Consent and Election of the Emperor Otho, and the King his Son. Luitprand. l. 6. c. 6.  
Aventin, l. 5. Annal. Boiar. Till his time (Gregory the 7th) the Popes used to be chosen by the Clergy, Nobility, People, and Senate; and above all came in the Emperor's Authority to confirm it.  
The Council of Worms says the same of Gregory. Sigonius de Reg. Ital. lib. 9  
The Diet of Ratisbonne 1322. published a long Decree against Pope John XXII. and amongst other things declare against the Pope's Election without the Emperor. Aventin. l. 7.   Popes not only continue to be confirmed by the Emperors, but also to be chosen by them. But since it was necessary for this universal conformity to the Roman Worship, to be managed by a Church-Head after the division of the Empire into so many absolute Civil Sovereigns, there can be no dispute in this case about the Imperial share in the worship of the Beast, though the Papal Power should afterwards appear to be the almost only active thing in this Affair. For it must necessarily be so, to fulfil that which is said of the False-prophet, that he did exercise all the power of the first Beast, and caused the World to worship that Beast, and made men make an Image to it, which they must worship under pain of death; For the power of the Roman Church under the Pope, does exactly answer these things; and this being all done in honour of the Imperial Command of the City of Rome, makes it still the worship of the Imperial Power.   

CHAP. VIII. 
Rev. XIII.   
The first date of the Idolatry of the Roman Church very early. The worshipping of Images, or Saints, in honour of the True God, Idolatry, shown from Hosea 4. 15. and chap. 8. 13. compared with chap. 13. 2. So also chap. 8. 5. Idolatry begun in Justinian 's days, proved from the Second Council of Nice. The 82 d Canon of the Synod in Trullo. From the Zeal of Serenus. From the 26. c. Episc. & Clero. Saint-worship in use before St. Augustin 's days, and unquestionably in his time shown from the Accusation of Faustus the Manichee. The occasion of this. Idolatry not enforced by effectual Laws till Justinian 's Reign.  
I Have been the more particular in the Explication of the worship of the Beast, because that is made in the Prophecy to be the chief malignity of his Power. For the exercise of his Tyranny over the Consciences of Men is that which gives life and spirit to all the Corruptions of the True Religion, which the Roman Church sets up for the indispensable Laws of the Christian Faith. The Idolatry of the Church of Rome alone by itself would want the greatest part of the frightful Appearance, in which the Beast is described; and which the enforcing it upon the Consciences of all men by the secular Arm, has set it forth into the sense and feeling of the World.  
But besides the Characters of the Malignity of the Beast which are generally summed up in the Worship of him, there is also a particular description in the 17th Chapter of the Idolatrous state of the Roman Church under the name of Babylon, the Great Whore, which is a known term amongst the Prophets to express the Idolatry of a Nation, which had been the True Church of God.  
And this charge of Idolatry is brought against the Church by the Prophets, not only when they worshipped strange Gods, but also when they worshipped the True God by corporeal Representations; as it has been sufficiently made out of late by the disputes about Aaron's and Jeroboam's Calves; and may be sufficiently shown from that one place in Hosea, chap. 4. 15. Though thou Israel play the Harlot, yet let not Judah offend, and come ye not 
See the Dean of St. Paul's Discourse of the Idolatry of the Church of Rome; and Papists not misrepresented.  to Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven nor swear the Lord liveth— where their Idolatry is made to consist in a Religious Oath to Jehovah, or to the true God in the places where the Calves were placed.  
And that they did really intent all that worship to the True God, appears further from Chap. 8. v. 13. They sacrifice flesh for the Sacrifices of my Offerings, and eat it; but the Lord accepteth them not.— And that they applied themselves to the Calves in those Sacrifices, appears from Chap. 13. 2. They say of them, Let the men that sacrifice, kiss the Calves— which does all belong to Ephraim, and to Samaria, who had just before been mentioned for their Calves; so that their swearing by the Lord, and their sacrificing of his Offerings— which are said before to be done at Gilgal, and Bethaven, the places of the worship of the Calves, cannot possibly be understood of any other intention of worship, than to the True God in the presence of those Calves. So again Chap. 8. v. 5. Thy Calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine Anger is kindled against thee— where the kindling God's wrath against them is called their being cast off by their Calf, as they had represented the presence of God in his House by that figure.  
Now for this kind of Idolatry we need not be long in seeking, after the recovery of the Western Empire by Justinian.  
We find, that in the Second Council of Nice, about 200 years after, that they insisted, Act. 7. upon the old Tradition and practice 
An. Dom. 787. Petau.  of the Universal Church for the use of Images; which though it cannot be verified of so long a practice of the Church as they pretend, nor (it may be) of that degree of honour, which they defined, for any time before, yet we cannot think such an Assembly of men, from all parts of the World, so impudent, as to plead ancient Tradition, and long practice for that, to which there had been nothing like in use of the Church before their time.  
But the proof of it, which they allege out of the 82d Canon of the Sixth Council in Trullo, which was near an hundred years before that time, is a very clear instance of such practices in the 
An. Dom. 707. Petau.  Church so little a while after Justinian. That Canon ordains, That the Image of Christ, as the Lamb of God, should be received amongst the rest of the Venerable Images— which gives us to understand, that Images were then frequent in Churches. And the 73d Canon of that Council does intimate to us, what use was made of the Images that were made to represent the Person of Christ; For it ordains, That Adoration should be given to Christ by the figure of the Cross; and to show their reverence to it, that it should never be engraven upon the Church-floor, lest it should seem to be trampled under foot, and triumphed over.  
By both these Canons it did appear, that Images were then commonly used with great veneration, if not adoration, in the service of God.  
So common a practice as this, not much above 100 years after the Reign of Justinian, may very safely be concluded to have been begun in his days; And indeed it is evident to have been then in use by that celebrated Act of 
* Baronius, Anno 591.  Screnus Bishop of Marseils, in breaking the Images that he found to be adored in his Churches; And this was but about 40 years after the death of Justinian, and must be supposed to have been some while in use before it came to be so grossly abused, as to stir up the zeal of Serenus to break them, which Pope Gregory the First tells him never any Bishop before him ever did.  
And Hospinian's Account of the first occasion of Images in the Church, Histor. Monachatus, pag. 49. does agree well with this. He makes the Irruption of the Barbarians upon all the Roman Empire, to have been the occasion of introducing the custom of Images, which they had been always used to in their Paganism, and were indulged in it upon their conversion in a new way: and their Irruption was long before the time of Justinian. There also he affirms, that Gregory himself was the Establisher of the Invocation of Saints, and of the use of Images, which might well be looked upon as the earnest of spiritual fornication in the Church, before they came to be openly adored; and therefore might denominate the Church an Harlot, as that name may well enough be given to an Adulteress, from her first entertaining of the solicitations of her Paramour.  
But even in the days of Justinian, according to Caranza's Explication of the second Canon of the Second Synod of Tours, it appears, that Images were so commonly received in the Church, that there was a place set a part for them upon the Altar, called by the name of the Armarium; Caranza Annotat. on 2d Canon▪ Synod the Second.  
And it appears from the 26th Law of Justinian's Code, Tit. de Episcop. & Clero, that the Image of the Cross, and the Relics of the Saints, were looked upon to be so holy, as to be thought fit to have an Imperial Law made, that they should not be set up in any Profane, or Common Places, but only in Religious Houses. We decree, says that Law, that none shall endeavour to bring in the Venerable Cross, or the Relics of the Holy Martyrs, into places made use of for the People's Sports, or into the Temple of Fortune— For now there is no want of Consecrated, or Religious places to put them in.  
But there was another kind of spiritual Fornication, which was certainly in common use before the beginning of the Sixth Century; and that was, The Invocation of Saints; And this Mr. Mede has given an excellent account of, in his Discourses upon the Doctrine of Devils, 1 Epist. Timoth. 4. 1.  
And St. Augustine does acquaint us what the rest of the World thought in those days, of the practices of the Orthodox of this kind, Lib. 20. cap. 2. contra Faustum. Faustus the Manichee is there represented by him as accusing the Orthodox Party of being perfectly like the Pagans, in these words— 
* Idola Paganorum vertistis in Martyrs, quos Votis similibus colitis.  You have turned the Pagan Idols into Martyrs, which ye worship with the same kind of Invocation.  
And Vigilantius was a known Stickler in those days against the Superstition of Saint-worship in the Church: And his Adversary St. Hierom himself does commend him for it; and many Bishops were there of his Party.  
Indeed it may easily be observed, that with the conversion of the Empire from Heathenism to Christianity, after that the Imperial Throne was come into the Church, were by degrees introduced most of the Ancient Ways of the Heathen Worship, with a new name only of some Christian Ceremony to cover it. So that in effect, it was Heathenism new christened, or with a Christian name upon it. As may be more at large seen in the Third Part of the Church-Homily against Idolatry. And thus came in first the Invocation of Saints in imitation of the lesser Gods of the Heathens, of which there was afterwards a most remarkable Instance of Boniface the Third's Consecration of the Pantheon for the worship of the Virgin and of all the Saints, which had been before dedicated to the Worship of the Mother of the Gods, and all the Lesser Gods.  
But till the Reign of Justinian, these Idolatrous Customs were not pressed upon the Consciences of men; whereas in his time it was made a Law, that all that did not communicate in the Church, where these things were practised, should be 
† L. 5. Cod. de Haereticis.  banished the Roman Dominions under the name of Heretics. And thus, though there might have been the worship of the Devil in these Adorations of Daemons, or of Souls departed, as Mr. Mede does very critically observe, yet it was not the worship of the Beast, and of the Dragon, till it was enforced by that Power and Authority which the Dragon resigned up to the Beast, and which has been found to have had the first beginning of its uninterrupted Settlement in the Reign of Justinian. Before that time, as it has been shown, all the endeavours that were made for it, were by some means or other put a stop to, and forced to be laid down again. But Justinian, upon his reuniting the most considerable part of the Western Empire with the Eastern, was in a very fit capacity to accomplish the Design of an Universal Conformity to the Worship of the Roman Church; And he did accordingly lay hold of that advantage, and by his Laws, and the execution of them, did very effectually compass his Design.  
The Ten Kings also, or the rest of the Crowned Heads, within the compass of the Roman Empire, were not wanting on their parts to contribute their assistance to him at that time. They did so unanimously give their Kingdoms, and their Power and Strength to this Design of the Roman Head or Beast (as the Prophecy expresses it) that at the end of that Age, there was no considerable appearance of any other Faith and Worship in public all over the extent of the old Roman Empire, but only that of the Roman Church.    

APPENDIX.  
THE CONSENT OF THE ANCIENTS Concerning the Fourth Beast In the VIIth Chapter of Daniel; AND THE BEAST In the REVELATIONS.  
LONDON: Printed for Thomas Cockerill, at the Three Legs in the Poultry over-against Stock-market. M DC XC.   

APPENDIX.  

CHAP. I.  
Testimonies of the best Learned Men amongst the Jews, and Christians, both of the Roman and Reformed Church, concerning the General Agreement of the Ancients in making the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel, to be the Reign of the Romans.  
IT may seem to have been very evidently demonstrated from a full and close Examination of the Prophetical Schemes in the Book of Daniel, That the Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter, is the Kingdom of the Romans. But all the rational proof that can be brought for it, will not be able to free it from very strong suspicions, if that be true which 
* Prophetica pars libri Danielis, sive posteriorasex capita, quatuor illius Visiones continent, quibus res quidem una eademque sed diversis modis indicatur.— Primam, secundam & quartam Visionem (i. e. cap. 7, & 8, & 11, & 12.) de Antiochi Epiphanis temporibus intelligunt ferè omnes, qui post Josephum eâ de re scripserunt.  Sir John Marsham has positively affirmed about it in his Canon Chronicus, pag. 610. Edit. Lips. viz. That almost all those who wrote after the time of Josephus, about the Visions in that 7th chapter, as well as those in the 8th and 11th chapter of Daniel, did understand them of the Exploits of Antiochus Epiphanes: For this would make any think, that are swayed by great Authorities, (as the generality of the world are), That this general agreement of the Ancients in their Applications of the Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter, to the Grecian Monarchy, must in all reason be thought to be the most obvious and natural signification of the place; and this would shake the whole foundation of all that has been demonstrated of the Beast in the Revelations, which relies all upon the uniform Acceptation of the like Schemes in Daniel, from the Certainty of the signification of the Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter.  
Wherefore, besides the close Proof of it from the Prophecy itself, it will be very requisite to show, in further confirmation of this Conclusion, That it is so far from being the general agreement of the Ancients, that the Fourth Beast in Daniel does signify any thing else, that it is certainly their almost unanimous Consent, That it is nothing but the Empire of the Romans. This will both take off all suspicion of the strength of the proof that has been given for it, and add a new confirmation of it, from Authority, from the general Consent of all Writers of different Parties, Opinions, and Interests, That it is the most easily offered from the Prophecy, and the most obvious of any other Interpretation of it.  
But that also which makes this Design the more necessary, is, the Rule that the Roman Church has set up for the Orthodox way of interpreting Scripture, in the second Session of the Council of Trent, Can. 3. viz. That none should presume to interpret Scripture against the unanimous Consent of the Fathers: By which we have the Approbation of the chief Adversary in our present Case, for the soundness of any thing that has this Authority for it; and the mouths of all its Members are hereby stopped from opposing that which is so confirmed.  
For a clearer satisfaction in this, I will give the Tradition of it from the several Writers in every Century of the first Ages after Christ. But for those that may account that either tedious or uncertain, it will be sufficient to hear what the Modern Authors of all Parties have delivered as the common Consent of the Ancients.  
As for the Judgement of the most Learned of the Roman Church, it has been particularly shown, in the Preface to my 
Judgements of God upon the Roman Church.  Second Part, That their best Commentators, Malvenda, Viega, Alcazar, Pererius, do with a great deal of Heat and Zeal affirm, That All find it unquestionable, both Jews and Christians; That it is commonly agreed upon by all that profess the Name of Christ, That it is the common Road, and the King's Highway; That it is the common Opinion of the Learned; That all do interpret it so; viz. That the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel, is the Roman Empire; and look upon it as a perfect madness, and to show one's  void of sense, to think otherwise. Gaspar Sanctius gives a remarkable reason to this purpose, why it is needless to name any of the Ancients of this Opinion; and that is, Because there is no Body that says otherwise. And this Testimony of the Romanists is so much the more unquestionable, because they can make no advantage of it by affirming it, but, on the contrary, do thereby grant the main Foundation of their Adversaries Applications of the Revelations to their Church, which makes their Judgement about the Consent of the Ancients in this, appear to be clear and impartial.  
Mr. Mede may be more reasonably suspected of partiality, because of his particular engagements in the Interpretations of the Apocalypse: but yet never do we find his Integrity questioned for misrepresenting the Opinions of the Authors that he quotes. And thus does he speak of the Application of the Fourth Kingdom in the 7th of Daniel, pag. 964. — This has been the constant Tradition of the Church, since the Apostles days to this last saeculum, and was of the Church of the Jews, before and at our Saviour's time, viz. That it was the Roman Empire.  
Rabbi Abarbenel's Testimony is sufficient for the Consent of the 
Comment in Dan. Pag. 42. Col. 1.  Jewish Writers, being known to be one of the most Learned of their Nation. — Our Masters (says he) are right in THEIR TRADITION, That the Fourth Beast does signify the Roman Emperors; whereby it appears to have been the common Tradition of the Learned Jews.  
Here then have we the most impartial Judgement of the Learned Moderns of All Parties, Jews and Christians, That both the Ancient Fathers, and the Ancient Rabbi's are all unanimous in this Interpretation of the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel.  
But the most authentic Testimony of the Consent of the Ancients in this, is that of St. Jerom, who is known to have been the most curious and diligent in his search into the Writings of the Learned in his time, as appears from his Book De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis.— In his Explication of the 7th Chapter of Daniel, after he had animadverted upon Porphyry's Opinion as a perfect madness, who would have the Fourth Beast to be a part of the Grecian Monarchy, he concludes thus: — Let us therefore affirm that which ALL ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS have delivered to us, That about the end of the World, when the Kingdom of the Romans is to be destroyed, there shall be Ten Kings, who shall divide the Roman Empire amongst themselves; and there shall arise after them an eleventh small King, etc. Where we see plainly, that by the Beast its self was universally understood the Roman Empire. This he affirms to have been an Universal Tradition of Church-writers before him. And what is there almost in the whole Body of our Religion, that has a more Authentic Testimony of being an unquestionable Tradition of the Universal Church?  
And this is further confirmed by the general Custom of the Christians in the first Ages to pray for the Safety of the Roman Empire, lest the Ruin of that should bring on the times of Antichrist, and the end of the world, as Tertullian does affirm of them in that known place of his Apology; and Lactantius, Theophylact, St. Jerome, and Oecumenius, are cited by Bellarmin in confirmation 
Lib. 3. De Pontif. Cap. 5.  of the same general Custom of the Church in Aftertimes. And it is apparent from all the mentions of Antichrist amongst the Fathers, That they make him to be the same with the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel; which shows, that they made the Fourth Beast to be certainly after the time of the Greek Monarchy, because the end of it with the Little Horn was to bring on the end of the World. Therefore does Erasmus, in his Comment upon cap. 29. lib. 20. Augustin. ad Marcellin. reckon up Lactantius with St. Jerom to affirm, That all Writers had agreed in that Opinion, That the times of Antichrist was to be after the division of the Roman Empire, as it is set out by the Ten Kings and Little Horn of the Fourth Beast.  
These Testimonies about the general Sense of the Ancients of all Churches about this Point, may seem to be a sufficient proof of their Judgements about it: But because some of late very * eminent for Learning and Ingenuity, have fancied another Interpretation of the Fourth Beast; and especially, because one of them, † as much famed for an Antiquary as any of them, has positively affirmed it to be the general Judgement of the Ancients, That the Fourth Beast is quite another thing than the Romans; it may be more satisfactory, to set down here the Tradition of every Century of the Christian Church concerning this, almost ever since the Romans came to be that Fourth Beast, at their Conquest of the Greek Monarchy.   

CHAP. II.  
The particular Tradition of the Consent of the Ancients in every Century since the time of Christ, in their Application of the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel, to the Reign of the Romans.  

FIRST CENTURY.  
THE Chaldee Paraphrast on the Prophets, is the most ancient Evidence, but Scripture, what was the current Opinion of the times near our Saviour about the Four Monarchies of Daniel; for he both lived about those times, and his Exposition was always reverenced by the Jews, as of so unquestionable Authority, that none ever dared to contradict it, says Lyranus, in Comment. on cap. 8. Isai. And Galatinus,— That they reverence it almost as much as the Text itself. So that this may be very well accounted the Sense of the whole Body of the Jews in those days.  
He has not, indeed, any Comment upon the Book of Daniel: But in his Paraphrase upon the four last Verses of the first Chapter of Zechariah, the Four Horns there, that scattered the Men of Judah and Jerusalem, he determines to be Four Kingdoms captivating the Jews. And so also on the 6th Chapter, v. 5. he mentions the same four Kingdoms coming after one another. What he did particularly understand by these four Kingdoms, is plainly expressed in the Paraphrase upon Habakkuk 3. 17. concerning the end of the Nations that should captivate the Jews: For, says he, the Kingdom of Babel shall not remain, nor exercise Dominion in Israel; the Kings of Media shall be slain, and the strong Ones of Grecia shall not prosper; the Romans shall be rooted out, nor shall they gather Tribute at Jerusalem. Now it was always agreed, That whatsoever the Four Kingdoms in the 7th of Daniel were in particular, yet that they were four successive Monarchies that should measure out the whole time of the Captivity of the Church of God from the Babylonian Conquest of the Jews, to the time of the Kingdom of the Son of Man; and that the end of this Captivity was to be at the end of the Times of the Little Horn, as it is also expressly said, Dan. 12. 7. When therefore Zechariah, who was one of the next Prophets to Daniel in the Captivity, is by the Paraphrast determined to signify four successive Kingdoms captivating the Jews, or scattering them (which is Daniel's own expression for it, ibid.) And when the only Conquerors and Enslavers of that Nation are mentioned by the same Paraphrast to be the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman Monarchies; it is manifest, That he does thereby determine the four Kingdoms captivating the Church of God in the 7th of Daniel, to be those four Monarchies only; and therefore, That the last of the four is the Roman Monarchy. And this is sufficient to show it to be then the general Opinion of the Jewish Church at that time, That the fourth Kingdom in the 7th chapter of Daniel, was the Roman Monarchy.  
And this Opinion of the Jews in those times, was made to be the Faith of Christians also in those days by our Saviour himself, (so far, at least, as to assure that fourth Kingdom not to belong to the Greek Monarchy, which is all the present Concern), in his Prophecies  about the Kingdom and Coming of the Son of Man; which has been found unquestionably to be meant of the same Kingdom that in the 7th of Daniel is also called, The Kingdom of the Son of Man, and of the Saints, as may be seen in the Proof of the 13th and 14th Propositions. And then that Kingdom of the Son of Man being signified by Christ not then to be come, nor to be expected till at least some while after his Death, that is, not till long after the end of the Greek Monarchy; and yet being described in Daniel to come to the destruction of the Fourth Beast, or Kingdom there, does make it sure, That that Fourth Beast, and Kingdom, could not certainly be any part of the Reign of the Greek Empire; and therefore must it be that which succeeded the Reign of the Greeks, or the Reign of the Romans, if the Third Beast before it were the beginning of the Greek Empire, as it is here by all acknowledged to be.  
A still more particular Determination of the Fourth Beast and Kingdom in Daniel, to the time of the Romans, is that exact Picture of the same Kingdom in the Revelations of St. John; and that also fixed to Rome, as the Seat of its Empire. See Propos. 15. Which all the Ancients before Constantine looked upon to be so plainly set out as a Roman Domination, that there was no doubt of it. And this is a lasting Testimony of the Sense of the Christian Church about it in those times. And when St. Paul, before this, describes the last Coming of Christ, as the Son of Man in his Kingdom, 2 Thes. 2. he does it with just the same description of it, and of that eminent Opposer of the Church of God, just before his Coming, as the Coming of the Son of Man is set out in the 7th chapter of Daniel, by the Destruction of the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast, which therefore could no ways belong to the Greek Monarchy that was passed. And then, by his appeal to their knowledge of what it was, that did then withhold that Enemy from appearing, he plainly intimates, That that Antichrist must come after the time of that Ruling Power of the Romans, which was then Reigning. This also does show, That it was a commonly-known thing amongst the Christians of those days, that the time of the Fourth Beast, or Kingdom that was next before the Second Coming of Christ, was not then past, as the Greek Empire was. And this may suffice for the Judgement of the Apostolical times, about the Fourth Beast in Daniel.  
All these places in the New Testament are still further confirmed by the general Sense of Antiquity about them.  
Whether the fourth Book of Esdras be of so ancient a date as the first Century, or no; yet that it was writ not long after, may reasonably be presumed from St. Ambrose's Quotation of it in several places, (as a Book of ancient Tradition in his time); As in Epist. ad Horontian. 2. ad Lucam Commentar. And especially in Libro de Bono Mortis; where he questions, Whether that Esdras were not older than Plato?— And the 4th Book of Esdras doth plainly determine the Fourth Beast in Daniel, to be the Roman Empire. 2 Esdr. 12. 11. where the Roman Eagle is called, The Kingdom that was seen by Daniel; and called, chap. 11. 39, 40. The last Remainder of the Four Beasts, etc.   

CENTURY II.  
It is easy now to demonstrate the Consent of almost every one of the Ecclesiastical Writers in the following Ages, for the Application of the Fourth Beast in Daniel to the Roman Empire, from their Agreement about the time of the Coming of the Son of Man in the 7th of Daniel: For they generally understanding that of the Second Coming of Christ Jesus into the World, must make the Fourth Beast, or Kingdom that it is there described to destroy, to continue till that time, and therefore certainly not possible to be the Greek Monarchy; and then, since it is as manifest that the first of those four Beasts is said to be Nebuchadnezzar's 
Dan. 2. 44. & 7. 2.  Kingdom, or the Babylonians, the fourth from thence must at farthest be the Romans.  
But I will only pick out those amongst them that have mentioned something relating to this Fourth Beast, together with that Coming of the Son of Man.  
Justin Martyr is the next considerable Remainder of Antiquity after the times of the Apostles: In his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, he citys the 7th chapter of Daniel to prove the Second Coming of Christ in Glory to be generally expected by all Christians after the times of that ACCURSED One, who is there set out as speaking great words against the Most High; and who is there by Justin judged to be just then at hand, whose time, times, and half a time, he says, Daniel had foretold.— By which it appears, That the Opinion of Justin Martyr was, That the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast did signify some King, who should appear out of the Empire in which he himself lived; and so did suppose the Fourth Beast to be the Roman Empire. — Trypho does also acknowledge, That that Prophecy did make the Jews expect one like the Son of Man, who should take upon him an Eternal Kingdom; that is, their Messiah; which did plainly exclude the Greek Empire from being any thing of the fourth Kingdom. For upon the end of the Fourth Beast, or Kingdom, in that place of Daniel, immediately succeeds the Kingdom of the Son of Man; whereas the Greek Empire had then been past for near 200 years, and yet there had been no appearance of their Messiah. And thus have we, in this Testimony, both the Judgement of the Jewish Church in those days about this matter, in Trypho's words; and the Consent of All Christians at that time, in Justin's.  
Irenaeus, not long after Justin, lib. 5. cont. Haeres. cap. 21. does first mention Daniel's description of the end of the last of the four Kingdoms, by the division of it amongst the Ten last Kings,— signified by the Ten Horns of the fourth Beast.— And then a little after,— But yet still much more manifestly hath John, a Disciple of our Lord, set out to us in the Apocalypse, the last time of it; and the Ten Kings, who are in it, amongst whom that Empire, which NOW REIGNETH, shall be divided, declaring what were those Ten Horns that were seen by Daniel.— And again, — Daniel did diligently foresignify the dividing and sharing of the fourth Kingdom at the end of it, by the Ten Toes of the Image.— And speaking of the Number of the Beast, which he had before made to be a time of the fourth Beast in Daniel, cap. 24. he pitches upon Latino's, — Because his Kingdom, says he, hath that Name; which we know must be the Roman Monarchy.— And Irenaeus' Testimony may pass for the Sense of the most judicious of the Fathers at that time; for he appears to have been the most diligent Searcher into the Book of Daniel, and the Revelations, of any of the first Ages. See lib. 5. contra Haeres. cap. 24. He had 
Lib. 3. cap. 3.  enquired of those that had seen St. John face to face, and of those that had given the clearest Reasons for their Expositions of the Revelations, and had examined all the ancient and approved Copies of it.   

CENTURY III.  
Tertullian, presently after Irenaeus, in his Book against the Jews, after having quoted Daniel cap. 2. about the Second Coming of Christ, adds: — Of which Second Coming, the same Daniel also says, And behold one like the Son of Man, coming in the Clouds of Heaven; which is in the 7th chapter of Daniel, and must therefore by him be expected to come at the end of the Fourth Beast there, of which he says, in his Apology to the Emperor, — The Division of the Roman Empire into Ten Kings, brings on Antichrist.— According to the description of the rising up of the 11th Horn of the 4th Beast after the Ten. And again says, That that time of Antichrist was at hand; which therefore must be in the time of the Roman Kingdom, and so must the Fourth Beast, to which that Horn did belong, be the same Kingdom.  
Hippolytus Martyr. de consummatione Mundi.]— I bring, says he, the testimony of a Witness worthy to be believed, the Prophet Daniel, cap. 2, & cap. 7. where he says, That the first Beast signifies the Babylonian Kingdom, and the fourth signifies the Romans. And then, about the Ten Horns,— Who are these, but the Empire of the Romans, and the Little Horn, Antichrist? — And a little before,— This Prophecy will persuade all that have any judgement in them, That the four Kingdoms in the 2d and 7th chapter, are the same.  
St. Cyprian. lib. 2. adversus Judaeos,— speaking of the Stone, Christ, who in the last times shall become a Mountain in reference to the Kingdom of the God of Heaven, Dan. 2. which was to succeed the 4th Kingdom there.— And ad Novatianum, upon that of St. Judas, ver. 14. Behold the Lord cometh with Thousands of his Saints, says, It is just the same with the Description in Daniel, cap. 7. v. 9, 10. Which shows his Opinion of the Fourth Kingdom, which was to come before it, to be, That it was not yet past, and therefore not the Greek Empire; and there was nothing else that it could then be, but the Roman.  
Lactantius, soon after him, hath a particular Application of the times of the Fourth Beast, and of all the Account of it in Daniel, to the Roman Empire, lib. 7. cap. 16.   

CENTURY IU.  
Methodius in his Revelations upon that of St. Paul, 2 Thes. 2. 6. — What is it then (says he) that shall be taken away, but the Roman Empire? Which refers to that Man of Sin, who is there described by the Apostle, as the same with the little Horn of the Fourth Beast in Daniel.  
Athanasius in Synops. de S. Scriptor.— Daniel also (says he) saw Visions of the Consummation; two about the Kingdoms, (viz. cap. 2, & 7.) and two more about the Coming of Christ, and the Destruction of Jerusalem, and about the Coming of Antichrist, (viz. cap. 9, & cap. 11.)— So that by the Consummation-Visions of the Kingdoms, he must understand the Prophecies of the Successions of the Four Monarchies to the end of the World; and therefore that the Fourth could not be the Grecian, but the Roman.  
Eusebius Caesariensis is said by Jerom to have wrote three Volumes, and Apollinarius five, against Porphyry, who made the Fourth Beast to be the Reign of the Greeks after Alexander, against all the current of Interpreters before, who had determined it to be the Roman. See Jerom 's Preface before Daniel.  
Victorinus (supposed to be Afer) in Apocalypsin. c. 13. upon the mention of the Ten Crowned Horns, chap. 13.— These Ten Horns (says he) and Ten Crowns, Daniel also did set forth before, and that Antichrist should pull up Three of them.— After he had before interpreted that Beast and its Horns of the Roman Empire.  
Chrysostom on 2 Thessalon. 2. 6. speaking of that that did withhold the coming of the Man of Sin, after he had determined it to be the Roman Empire, adds:— For as the Babylonians and Medes were destroyed, who were before the Roman Empire, so shall this Empire itself be ruined by Antichrist, and He by Christ. — And this doth Daniel deliver to us with great Evidence.   

CENTURY V.  
Isidorus Pelusiota, in his 218th Epistle, says thus of the Vision of the Four Beasts in the 7th of Daniel:— That Vision of the Divine Daniel, so generally known and talked of in all places, does compare the Monarchies of the Assyrians, the Medes, and Macedonians, to a Lion, a Bear, and a Leopard. But the Fourth Beast sets forth the Roman Empire.  
And Sulpicius Severus Sacr. Histor. lib. 2. has the same Four Kingdoms specified, as foretold by Daniel in the four Metals of the Statue in the 2d Chapter, which have the same Characters with those in the 7th.  
Jerom is so much of this Opinion himself in his Comment upon Daniel, that almost all his design in it is to expose Porphyry the Philosopher, for interpreting the Fourth Beast, and the Little Horn of it, to be the Greek Empire, and Antiochus Epiphanes in it: And to show the Paradoxicalness of that Interpretation, he says upon the latter-end of the 11th Chapter, That all Ecclesiastical Writers did understand the Fourth Beast, and the Ten Horns, and Eleventh little One in it, of the Roman Empire, and the dividing it among Ten Kings, and of Antichrist that should subdue Three of them.  
And when he heard that Rome was taken by the Barbarous Nations, he concluded, that the Man of Sin was just at hand, in relation to the Ten Kings, and the Little Horn. Epist. ad Gaudentium.  
Theodoret, after him, is so clear in this, all over his Comment upon Daniel, that it must be transcribed, to take all that he says about it.— He Wonders how any Men of Learning could make the Fourth Beast to be the Macedonian Kingdom, when the Greek Empire was so expressly represented in the 8th Chapter, by the He-Goat with the Four Horns, and applied to it by the Angel, and when the Third Beast in the 7th Chapter had four Heads to set out the same thing. Comment. in cap 7. Daniel.  
But what can our Modern Interpreters answer to that of his, against the Jews in his time, who were much of the same Opinion in their Application of the Fourth Beast, and the Little Horn, to the Greek Empire, and that of the Kingdom of the Son of Man to the return of the persecuted Jews?— Very properly (says he) may that be applied to these Jews, that which the Prophet hath long since said of them, — And thou hast put on an Whore's forehead, and refusest to be ashamed, Jeremiah 3. 3. Ibidem.  
Cyril. Hierosolymitanus, and Ambrose upon the 2 Thessalon. 2. 6, 7. speaking of the time that the Man of Sin was to be revealed, — When the times of the Roman Empire shall be fulfilled, says one; and the other, That he should appear after the falling of the Roman Empire into pieces.  
Andrea's Bishop of Caesarea, some while at least after the time of St. Basil, whom he quotes cap. 44. in Apocalyps. at the mention of the Ten Horns of the Beast in the Revelations, chap. 17. — These Ten Horns, or Kings, (says he) Daniel also saw.— And then determines Babylon (the City of the Beast, and the Kings) to be Rome, according to the Opinion of the ANCIENT DOCTORS, for many reasons; but CHIEF, because on the Fourth Beast in Daniel, that is, the Roman Empire, were seen the Ten Horns;— And also because Antichrist, when he comes, is to appear as King of the Romans, UNDER PRETENCE OF RESTORING THEIR EMPIRE. Whence he makes it the Consent of the Ancient Doctors, That the Fourth Beast is the Roman Empire, an Argument to prove the Beast of the Revelatious, that was like it, to be so too; and therefore Babylon to be Rome.  
So also does Arethas Bishop of Cappadocia, in his Comment upon the Revelat. chap. 13. refer the show of the Beast with the Ten Horns there, to that of the Fourth Beast in Daniel; and applies it to the Roman Empire.  
But Pope Gregory the Great does more positively apply the 
N. B.  Reign of the Little Horn, to his own times; which was certainly a time of Roman Rule. In his 38 Epist. ad Constant. lib. 4. he applies all the Prophecy of Daniel concerning the Little Horn, or Antichrist, to those that would arrogate to themselves the Title of the Bishops of the whole Roman Empire, as the Bishop of Constantinople did then pretend.— The King of Pride, says he, is near at hand; And, which ought hardly to be spoken, he has also an Army of Priests prepared for him; in allusion to the Little Horn, as the same with The Beast in the Revelations, who was accompanied, and assisted by the False Prophet.  
Because after this, there is no different mention of any other Interpretation of the Fourth Beast in Daniel, Ambrose Ausbertus may be the general Representative of the Opinion of all those of latter date, till the time of the Reformation— He, upon the 13th Chapter of the Revelations, makes the Beast under the healed Head, to be the same with the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast in Daniel.— And upon the 17th Chapter compares that Beast with the Fourth Beast in Daniel;— And there adds — For what can be understood by the Fourth Beast, but the Roman Empire, in which those Ten Kings are mentioned, after whom Antichrist is to arise?  
It may therefore now be safely concluded, as the least that can be inferred from these Testimonies of the Ancients, That never was any Learned Man more mistaken about a matter of Fact, of which he could hardly avoid the having a clear satisfaction about, than Sir John Marsham has been in his Judgement about this part of the Visions of Daniel.    

CHAP. III.  
What the Ancients do expressly agree in about the Schemes of the Fourth Beast. in the 7th of Daniel. Why they much differed from one another in some particular Characters of it. The Use that is to be made of their unanimous Agreement in some things. The Necessary Consequences of what the Ancients do expressly agree in.  
FRom the preceding Testimonies of the Fathers, it appears, That however different the Ancients might have been in particular Opinions about the Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel, yet they are found unanimously to agree in these General Conclusions.  

1. That the notion of the Fourth Beast in general, as 
CONSENT of the Ancients.  the common subject of all its Horns, is, The Roman Monarchy.  
2. That the Ten Horns of it, are a division of that Monarchy into so many several Kingdoms under Ten Kings.  
3. That the Little Horn of that Beast is Antichrist, that should have a Kingdom within the bounds of the Roman Empire.  
4. That the Kingdom of Antichrist should continue, till it should be destroyed by the Second Coming of Christ, after the time that they wrote in.   
Victorinus was indeed singular about the last of these. For he judged Antichrist to have been a single Emperor of Rome about the time of the Vision. But that was esteemed as very extravagant by others. Some think (says Augustine ad Marcellin. Lib. 20. cap. 19) that Nero is meant by the Man of Sin, 2 Thessal. 2. 4. But I extremely admire at their presumption, or their rash Conjectures.  
Many other Agreements of the Ancients about these matters are instanced in by Bellarmine, Lib. 3. de Pontifice, some of which must indeed be granted; But they are such, as are no ground of concluding upon the sense of the place to which they refer; because they themselves do often acknowledge themselves to be incapable Judges of the determinate Signification of those things, upon the account of their ignorance of the Event, that they referred to, and by which alone they apprehended them capable of being certainly known.  
Thus Theodoret upon the 12th Chapter of Daniel 8, 9 where the Prophet professes he understood not what he heard; And the Angel confirms it to be, because the words were sealed up; but afterwards many should understand— explains it thus— But when the thing shall come to pass, they shall plainly understand the things that were foretold.  
So also Andrea's Caesariensis, concerning the number of the name of the Beast, Revel. 13.— The exact knowledge (says he) of the number, and of every thing else besides, that is delivered about Antichrist, Time and Experience will discover to Prudent and Sober Enquirers.  
And Irenaeus upon the same matter judges it to have been on 
Lib. 5. cont. Haeres. cap. ult.  purpose concealed, that it might not be known, till it came to be fulfilled— And after Cautions put in against Conjectures— 'Tis therefore, (says he) much the surer way to stop our Conjectures till the Prophecy be fulfilled.—  
And this is given as a general Rule for every thing of this nature, that is not very plain and clear before the Event; By which it appears, That the Fathers did not think themselves in a capacity to determine the meaning of the particular Circumstances in the Prophecies about Antichrist, because they were generally agreed, that he was still to come; And that therefore the particular Characters of his appearance did depend upon Events in aftertimes for the clear understanding them.  
Now all those Opinions, for which Bellarmin citys the Consent 
N B.  of the Fathers, are such as depend upon this Supposition; That the Time, Times, and the dividing of Time, which is the time assigned to the continuance of the Little Horn in the 7th of Daniel, 
Dan. 7. 25.  do not signify any longer time than Three years and an half, according to the common acceptation of A Time in the Prophecy of Daniel.  
Upon this account it is, that many Fathers have agreed, that Antichrist must be a single Person; and consequently, That the Ten Kings signified by the Ten Horns, must also be so many single Kings, as well as the Little Horn, that denotes Antichrist; It is also for this reason, that they agree, That the Roman Empire must be ruined at his appearance, by the Ten Kings, viz. because by this his Time is made to be but Three years and an half before the end of the World, or the Second Coming of Christ, unto which the time of the Little Horn is described to continue.  
The Fathers indeed might easily be induced to take the Times, or 1260 days of Antichrist, in the literal sense; because they living under the Reign of the Sixth Head of the Beast, which had ruled from the time of the Vision, they saw no necessity for that sense, in which days and weeks are used amongst the Prophets, and so were then obliged to judge according to the First Rule of all sound Interpretation. Chap. 2. Book I. of this Part.  
But the Agreement of the Fathers in these things, is not so perfectly unanimous, as Bellarmin would make it to be.  
Justin Martyr, in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew concerning this very place in Daniel, tells him, That by A Time, the Jews themselves understand sometimes an 100 years, according to which (says he) the Man of Sin must needs reign 355 years.  
And Augustin. ad Marcellin. Lib. 20. cap. 19— Some (says he) understand by the Man of Sin, not one Prince only, but, as it were, an whole Body, that is, a great Multitude of Men.  
And Primasius, speaking of the Beast, and the False Prophet, 
●● c. 19 Apoc.  that is, says he, the Devil, and Antichrist, or his Chief Rulers, and his whole Body.  
So also do we find in the Testimonies of Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Lactantius, Victorinus, Jerom, that they made the Ten Horns of the Beast to be no more than a Division of the Roman Empire; whereas Bellarmin pretends, that the Fathers are agreed, that they signify the utter destruction of that Empire.  
And Andreas Caesariensis does expressly contradict him in this in his Testimony; where he says, That most of the Ancient Doctors did understand Ten Kings of the Roman Empire, by the Ten Horns of the Beast.  
There are many other things, for which Bellarmin brings the Consent of the Fathers, in which he has been found to be much mistaken; particularly by Bishop Andrews. Respons. ad Bellarmin.  
Now from the former Considerations about the Agreement, and the differences of the Opinions of the Ancients, it may be observed, That their Testimonies about things that the Church has not positively defined, as the present case is, are of the nature of all other humane Testimony. Where they all agree in a sense of which they were capable Judges in their time, it is a very great presumption, that it is the plain and obvious sense of that place; But where they differ from one another, their Authority is to be resolved into the strength of the grounds of their particular Opinions: And those amongst them who in any particular circumstances speak things contradictory to what was so generally agreed on from the plain evidence of the Text, may be as little our concern, as the Paradoxical Opinions of some Learned Men in our own Age. They themselves, we have seen, do acknowledge themselves uncapable Judges of most of the things in the Prophecy of Antichrist, and the absolute need there was of further time and experience of the Events, to be able to speak with any likelihood of truth about them.  
The use therefore that is to be made of these Agreements of the Ancients about the places of the Prophecy, of which they were capable Judges at that time, is, To confirm the natural sense that is offered from the Text, and not to give any a prejudice against new senses of the Prophecy about such things in this Age, so many Ages since it was wrote: And as strong a presumption is it against the fixing of the full accomplishment of the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Revelations, to any Events before, or in the 
Grotius. Dr. Hammond.  time of the Fathers, to see them so generally to agree in their silence about any such Interpretation. It would indeed be matter of astonishment to us, if the things of these Prophecies should have been passed before the times of these Learned Inquirers into the meaning of them; And yet that they should unanimously agree, that they were not to be fulfilled till a long time after.  
From the General Agreement of the Ancients in the things at first mentioned, these seem to be necessary Consequences, that they must be supposed to own.  
1. That by the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel, must be 
Consequences.  understood a Kingdom of the Romans to the last end of the Beast, with all its Horns. For by the same reason that they took that Beast to be the Roman Monarchy in any part of its time, they must also own it to be the same in all the mentions of it, or in any time of its Horns; As the Third Beast is the Kingdom of the Greeks in in all the time of its four Heads, or its four Horns, cap. 7. & cap. 8. They were all said in the 8th Chapter, to be the King of Grecia: that is, One Ruling Nation at first united, and afterwards divided. And therefore the Little Horn, and the Ten of the Fourth Beast, must be as much Roman Sovereigns, as the Little Horn, and the five other in the He-Goat, Chap. 8. were Grecian Rulers.  
And this shows how contradictory it was to the notion of the Fourth Beast, in which all the Fathers agreed, to make the Ten Kings in it, to be Destroyer's and Ruiners of the Roman Kingdom, as some of the Fathers did imagine. And therefore by the Ruin of the Roman Empire, they must be understood to mean nothing but the ruining the entire form of it, as the breaking a thing in pieces is called the ruin and destruction of it; but no more the end of the Roman Kingdom, than the four Horns of the Goat were the end of the Kingdom of the Greeks.  
2. From hence also does it follow, That the Ten Horns, and the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast, are a time of Roman Rule.  
3. That the Kingdom of Antichrist, or the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast, is to begin among the Romans, after the division of that Monarchy into Ten Kingdoms, and is to continue from its first Rise to the Second Coming of Christ in Glory. For the Little Horn continues with the Fourth Beast till it is destroyed by the Kingdom of the Son of Man.  
4. That the notion of a Beast all over Daniel, is the Monarchy of one Conquering Nation only from the time of its Conquest to the last end of it. For there is a general Agreement, that the other Three Beasts in the 7th of Daniel, do signify the Babylonian, Persian and Grecian Monarchies, till they came to be subdued. And the Two Beasts in the 8th Chapter are said expressly to be of the same kind; The Ram is called the Kings of Media and Persia; 
V 20. V 3.  and the Two Horns, are represented as rising up the one after the other, to denote the succession of the Persian to the Median Line, till he is there subdued by the He-goat: The He-goat also, though he be called the King of Greece in the single Person, yet is said to have four Kings succeeding after one great one, set forth by a 
V 21, 22.  first great Horn, and four rising up after it, and is described to continue to the latter time of that Kingdom, whose Character is 
V 23.  owned to be the fourfold Kingdom.  
5. That the signification of Heads and Horns of Beast all over Daniel, is, The several Supreme Powers in that Nation, which is represented in general by the Beast. If these Heads, or Horns, be said to come one after another, they denote a succession of so many different Supreme Magistracies in the same place; But if represented as rising up altogether, they signify the division of that Nation into so many distinct Sovereignties, or Kingdoms; And also the continuance of each Succession of the Successive Heads, or Horns, and the continuance of each division of the Contemporary Heads, or Horns, till the change of either of them.  
This all agree in, about the four Heads of the Leopard in the 7th Chapter, which signify so many distinct Kingdoms in the Greek Monarchy; and about the successive Horns of the Ram in the 8th Chapter, which signify the Succession of the Persian to the Median Government in the same Nation of the Medes and Persians; according as that Kingdom is called both under the 
V 8, 12, 15.  Median, and under the Persian Kings, as thrice in Daniel 6. under the Medes, and all over the Book of Esther in the time of the Persians. The Horns of the He-goat also in the 8th Chapter, are agreed to represent first the united Monarchical Government of the Greeks under one King, and then the Succession of the fourfold Kingdom of the Greeks after it.  
'Tis true, the Little Horn coming out of one of the four in the 8th Chapter (agreed to be but one single King) makes no change in that fourfold Kingdom, though he be described as coming after the four. But than it is plainly intimated, that he is not an Horn distinct from the other four, but only a part of that, out of which he is said to come, and not to come after it.  
Wherefore here are eleven acknowledged Instances of the proof of the beforementioed Rule about the signification of Heads, and Horns; And then for the remaining Ten Horns of the Fourth Beast, and Little One after them in the 7th Chapter, there wants nothing to assure their conformity to it, but to prove, that they belong to the same Nation that is represented by the Fourth Beast there. And that is assured from the preceding Consequence. For these Horns are but parts of that Beast, which in the whole time of it, signifies but one Nation only.  
The Fathers indeed do seem generally to agree, That the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast, and consequently the Ten before him, can be nothing but Roman Powers, whatsoever is pretended to the contrary. Andrea's Caesariensis, in his Testimony before-cited, expressly says, That the Ancient Doctors made Babylon in the Revelations to be Rome, because they looked upon the Beast there (whose City Babylon is) to be the same with the Little Horn upon the Fourth Beast, or the Roman Empire. And Bellarmin does as good as say the same, Lib. 3. de Pontif. c. 16. The Fathers say, that Antichrist was to come as a Monarch of that Empire, the Seat of which had been at Rome.  
Thus for instance, When Justin Martyr tells Trypho that Antichrist (signified by the Little Horn) was just at hand when the Roman Empire was then flourishing, who could understand that of any thing but the Roman Empire? When Irenaeus guesses his name to be Latino's, because that, he says, was the name of his Kingdom, he does plainly fix him upon the Romans. When Tertullian makes the Ten Kings of the Roman Empire to bring on Antichrist, and says, That his time is at hand, that is, in the height of the Roman Empire, he intimates the same thing. Hippolytus makes him to arise amongst the Ten Kings, whom he calls the Kings of the Roman Empire. Cyprian, and all the Fathers, that make the Kingdom of the Stone, or of the God of 
V 44.  Heaven, in the 2d Chapter of Daniel, the same with that of the Son of Man in the 7th Chapter, must also judge the Fourth Kingdom before it, in each to be the same; And the Fourth Kingdom in the 2d Chapter is said to be the same Kingdom in substance, when it was entire, and when divided, verse 40, 41. Lactantius applies the whole account of the Fourth Beast to the Roman Empire. Victorinus doth certainly seat Antichrist, or the Little Horn, amongst the Roman Rulers.  
Those indeed that came after the time of Augustine, did many of them think, that Antichrist was to destroy all the Power of Rome. The only ground that they allege for it, is, That in the Second Epistle of the Thessalonians, chap. 2. where it is said, That that did withhold at the present time, must be taken away, and then should the Man of Sin be Revealed. This that did withhold, they Interpreted to be the Roman Empire. And yet since they afterwards Interpret Babylon in the Revelations, to be Rome, which is openly described to be the City of Antichrist (the same with the little Horn) whom they agreed to continue till about the end of the World, they did thereby plainly show, that they meant nothing else by the taking away of the Roman Empire in the forecited place, but only the change of the Monarchical Imperial form of it, not the last end of all Roman Rule; According as Tertullian says, that they prayed for the Lives of the Emperors to put off the coming of Antichrist in the end of the World. As for those amongst them that did not understand Rome by Babylon, 
See the References to the 1st Chap. Book 1.  we see that the Jesuits themselves look upon them as extravagant in it.  
Wherefore the Ten Horns, and the Little one after them, may now be counted by the express Consent of the Fathers, as conformable to the General Rule for all the rest of their kind.  
6. It does also now appear from this Agreement of the Father's concerning Beasts, and their parts, signifying Dominion, That they had no other mark for their difference betwixt either Successive, or Contemporary Horns, but only the different Changes of the Supreme Civil Power of Monarchies.  
7. Nor any other constitutive difference betwixt Successive Heads or Horns, but a different name or title of the Supreme Power. The second Horn of the Ram was distinguished from the first only by the name of the King of Persia, instead of that of Media, over the same Nation, Dan. 8. 3, 20.  
8. And by their Agreement, that the four Heads of the Leopard in the 7th Chapter, was the same time of Grecian Empire with the four Horns of the He-goat in the 8th Chapter, it appeared, That they made Heads and Horns to be promiscuously used for the same thing in different Schemes of the same Monarchy.   

CHAP. IU.  
The Agreements of the Ancients about the Beast in the Revelations. Eight Queries about the Necessary Consequences of the Ancients Consent concerning the Fourth Beast in Daniel, and the Beast in the Revelations, for the more particular determination of the Characters of the Beast in the Revelations. The Reason of the Contrariety of some of the Opinions of the Fathers, to their general Agreements about the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel, and the Beast in the Revelations. The Application of the Beast, to the Roman Church in all Ages.  
THE Consent of the Ancients about the nature of the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel, and the necessary Consequences of what they expressly consent in, do discover what they must agree in concerning the Beast in the Revelations. For,  
1. The Fathers are well enough known to make that which from the 13th, to the end of the 19th Chapter of the Revelations, is peculiarly called The Beast (as one particular state of it only in the latter time of it) to be that, to which they give the name of Antichrist. See Andreas Caesariensis.  
2. They do upon this account make that particular Reign of the Beast in the Revelations, to be the same with the Reign of the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast in Daniel, the same with the Man of Sin in the 2d Chapter of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, the same also with the Bustling King in Daniel 11. 36. For as they called all these by the name of Antichrist, so Bellarmin assures us, lib. 3. de Pontif. cap. 1. That by the common consent of all Christians, by Antichrist is understood but one certain Eminent False Christ. In the Testimony also of Andreas Caesariensis may be seen the Agreement of the Ancient Doctors, That The Beast in the Revelations, and the Little Horn in the 7th of Daniel, were the same thing, because they accounted them both to be Antichrist.  
3. The Fathers do also own with the Text, the seven Heads of 
Rev. 17. 10, 11.  the Beast to be successive Ruling Powers, five of which were passed at the time of the Vision, one of them at that time in being, and two Kings more which were to come to make up the whole Seven, the latter of which Two was to be such an Eighth, as should be one of the Seven.  
4. They did also agree that Babylon, that went along with the Beast in the Revelations, was the City of Rome. This appears from Andrea's Caesariensis' Testimony, and Bellarmin's Quotations of the Fathers for this Exposition, Lib. 2. de Pontif. cap. 2. where he concludes it to be the Opinion of the Fathers, That John in the Apocalypse did  call Rome, Babylon.  
Now from the forementioned Particulars, in which the Ancients are found generally to agree about the Fourth Beast in the 7th Chapter of Daniel, and the Beast in the Revelations; and from the immediate, and necessary Consequences before deduced from them, I would propound it to the Impartial Consideration of all the World, whether to make the Ancients constant to themselves, they ought not to be judged to agree also in those unavoidable Consequences of the Conclusions, in which they are so unanimous.  
That the general Notion of the Beast in the Revelations, as it Query 1 is the common subject of its Heads and Horns, must signify, the Particular Monarchy of the Romans, till the last ruin of it. This does necessarily follow, 1st, From the fourth Consequence of 
Chap. 3.  their Agreements about the Fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel. For by that the general Notion of every Beast is to be some Particular Monarchy to the last end of it. And 2dly, From their 
See 4th Agreement in this Chap.  Unanimous Agreement about Babylon in the Apocalypse , which does necessarily determine it to be the Roman Monarchy.  
Wherefore if some of the Fathers have interpreted the Beast in the Revelations to signify, a great Multitude of Kingdoms, tyrannising over the Church of God, They do plainly contradict that, which before they had agreed to be the natural and obvious signification of A Beast in Prophecy, by the almost Unanimous Consent of all Interpreters, that is, a particular Kingdom only; Whereas in this way, they make one Beast signify as many, as a multitude of Beasts  else; and for which also they do not allege any the least warrant from the Text.  
Whether the Ancients must not, according to their other general Query 2 Agreements, make the Heads and Horns of the Beast in the Revelations to be so many Sovereign Powers amongst the Romans; and the Heads to be so many several kinds of Supreme Magistracy over the same Jurisdiction of the Romans? For they are described to succeed one another. Revelat. 17. 10, 11. And the Ten Horns of the Beast to be the Division of the Roman Monarchy into Ten really distinct Kingdoms. (For they are represented to be in power all at a time. Revel. 17. 12, 13.) According to the fifth Consequence of their Agreement about the Figure of 
CHAP. 3.  Daniel.  
Those therefore of the Fathers, who make the seven Heads to be either so many Ages of the World, or so many distinct Monarchies, do contradict their Agreement with the rest about the like Figures in Daniel; And when others make the Ten Horns to be the dissolution of the Roman Empire, though they were the Ten Horns of that Beast, that signifies the Roman Empire to the last end of it, they forget how inconsistent they are with themselves.  
Whether by the common Consent of the Fathers in their other Query 3 Agreements, the Beast in the Revelations, as it is the particular state of the Beast under its last Ruling Head, can be any thing but a Roman Sovereign? For it is an Head of the Roman Beast, 
By Conseq. 4. Chap. 3.  and therefore by the former Consequence must be a Sovereign of the Romans: It is also the same with the Little Horn of the Fourth Beast in Daniel, which by Consequence the second, Chapter the 3d, is a Roman Sovereign.  
Whether the Agreements of the Fathers do not necessarily Query 4 make the 6th Head of the Beast to be the whole Imperial Government of Rome? They agree, that the 6th Head 
3d Agreement in this Chap.  was (according to the Text) in power at the time of the Vision; And it must then be either the Roman Emperor, or the Imperial Government; but it could not possibly be the single person of any Roman Emperor. For then the next single Emperor but one must have been the 8th King, called the Beast; Whereas the Fathers are found to agree, that Antichrist, the 
4th Agreement, Chap. 3.  same with the Beast, or 8th King, was not come into power in their time, which was never the succession of many single Emperors from the time of the Vision. Besides, By the 5th Consequence of their Agreements about the Figures of Daniel. Chap. 3. They make every Head and Horn of Beast to contain in it all the single Rulers of the same kind.  
Whether, according to the agreeing Judgement of the Ancients, Query 5 the Sixth Head of the Beast must not be the Imperial Government of Rome, till at least the taking away of that Form of Government in that Jurisdiction? For by the 5th Consequence of their Agreements. Chap. 3. An Head, or Horn of Beast signifies a kind of Supreme Power in a Nation to the last end of that kind of Magistracy, or Kingdom.  
And therefore those of the Fathers, that made the Sixth Head to be at an end at the Change of the Imperial Power from Paganism to Christianity, did contradict the Unanimous Consent of all the rest with themselves about the nature of every Head and Horn in Daniel, which they made to be one kind of Supreme Civil Power to the last end of it, without any regard to the different behaviour of some of the single Persons of that kind towards the Church of God, in comparison with others. The Favour and Protection of the Jews from some of the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian Kings, did not in the Father's Opinion make different Heads, or Horns of the Beasts, to which they did belong.  
Whether, according to the Opinions of the Ancients, in Query 6 which they unanimously agreed, The Seventh King, or Head, must not be that which changed the Imperial Power of Rome at the end of the Western Emperors? For the Imperial Government Query 4 of the Romans was certainly the Sixth Head; and that must then necessarily be either that Imperial Government only, which was particularly owned by the Senate, and People, and Clergy of Rome; or the whole Imperial Government of the Roman Empire, over Rome, Constantinople, Britain, etc. Now at the Fall of the Western Emperors in Augustulus, there was a Change of the Imperial Form of Roman Government, whichsoever of these kinds was the Sixth Head. For the Barbarous Kings, that succeeded, were owned as the sole Sovereigns of Rome, by the Pope, Senate, People and Clergy. And if it were the whole Imperial Government at Rome▪ and Constantinople, which was the Sixth Head, than the Change of it into the mixed form of Imperial, and Kingly Government of Rome, or of the Romans, by the owning the Gothish Kings as the Sovereigns of the Western Part, must be the Seventh King. For they were as much a part of the Supreme Power of the Romans, as the Western Emperors, which they succeeded. And it has been found by the 6th and 7th Necessary 
Chap. 3.  Consequences of the Agreeing Opinions of the Fathers, That a new Name of the Civil Sovereign Power of a Nation, does constitute a new Successive Head or Horn of a Beast. So is it in the last Horn of the Ram, Chap. 8. which is agreed by the Fathers to be the Change of the name of the King of Media, to that of the King of Persia, though the King of Persia was also King of Media, who was the first Horn. And so was it in the four Horns of the He-goat, ibidem. Though one of these four be the same with the first Horn. And the Change of the whole pure Imperial Government into that of either Kingly alone at Rome, or into that of the mixed form of Kingly and Imperial, over the whole remaining Empire, was as real a new appearance of the Sovereign Power of the Romans, as either of those two Instances.  
After this, it is not to be questioned, but that according to Query 7 the Fathers, The Eighth King called the Beast, and Antichrist, must be that Sovereign Civil Power of the Romans, which succeeded 
Agreements.  the Barbarous Kings at Rome. For that must be the King that was next to the Seventh. And this exactly agrees with the Text; For the Eighth King, called The Beast, is said to be of the Seven; As the Imperial Government restored by Justinian, who subdued the Italian Kings, was the Eighth Change of the Sovereign Power of Rome, but really nothing but the Sixth Head restored again.  
It does also as necessarily follow from the Agreements of the Query 8 Fathers about the constitutive difference of Heads and Horns from one another; That that which is represented by the False Prophet, cannot be the same thing with that which is called the Beast; viz. Because the Beast is really nothing but an Head of the Beast, which by consequence the 6th, Chap. 3. does denote 
Prop. 6.  a Civil Power of the Romans; whereas the False Prophet is described as an Ecclesiastical Power, employed in the service of that Civil Power. See Revelat. 13, 12, 14.  
But yet they might very well agree, That the Beast, and the False Prophet, might be used promiscuously to signify the really distinct Actions of one another; because they were joined together in one Confederacy; And the names of any Confederates, or Partners, in any thing, are commonly used to express the Actions of one another in the common Design. So Primasius upon the 13th of the Revelations, concerning them both— Both of them, says he, are  to be understood in conjunction— And presently after— It is manifest, that both the Beasts are one and the same body (of men) and exercise the same wicked Worship; so that the First is said to fight for the false Shows of the Second.  
Thus I have drawn down the Consequences of the General Consent of the Ancients, to mine own particular Opinion concerning the first date of the Rise of the Beast, and the particular Roman Power that is now signified by that Term.  
But that which is to be observed for the General Confirmation of the Conclusion, in which almost all Protestants agree in, is, That if it be sure, as may appear from the 4th Query, That the Sixth Head of the Beast is the Imperial Government at the time of the Vision, than there need nothing be granted to prove the Beast and the False Prophet to be the Civil and Ecclesiastical Power of Rome at this present, but only to demonstrate from History, That there has certainly been two Changes of the Sovereign Power of the Romans since the time of St. John. For they did agree, That Antichrist, from his first appearance, must continue 
4th Agreement, Chap. 3. 3d Agreement, this Chap.  till the Second Coming of Christ; and that the next Change of the Sovereignty of the Romans but one, after the time of the Vision, must be the Eighth King, or the Beast, and Antichrist; And therefore at the beginning of the last of those two Changes of the Government of the Romans, since the time of St. John, must the Kingdom of Antichrist have begun, whensoever that does appear from History to have happened.  
And whatsoever the Fathers have delivered contrary to this, concerning the Time, Times, and half a Time of the Beast, as but three years and an half, must have been acknowledged by them to contradict their General Agreements in other things more plain; and from Experience, which they often mention, as the only means to determine the meaning of some Mystical Expressions that regarded future Times, they would have learned that those Times were necessarily to be understood in a Mystical Sense, and not as they ordinarily signify; according to the frequent Examples in Scripture of such a Mystical Signification of parts of 
See Corol. 1. Prop. 23. Rule 2.  time, and the true Rule of Interpretation in such like Cases.  
For a clearer satisfaction about the contrariety and inconsistency of some of the particular Opinions of the Fathers, with the Conclusions in which they agree with the Unanimous Judgement of the rest; it may be convenient to inquire into the grounds, or reasons of their Paradoxical Fancies about the Beast in the Revelations, which contradicted the General Agreement about the signification of A Beast, and its Ruling Parts, in the Prophecy of Daniel.  
For this purpose it is in the first place to be considered, That it is a true Observation of the Learned Grotius, That the Reason why the Apocalypse was not added at first to the rest of the Books 
In Praefat. ad Apocal.  of the New Testament, which did afterwards give ground for questioning the Canonical Authority of it, was, That it did so openly point at the Roman Government, as the great Enemy of God, that it lay concealed in a few hands amongst the Christians of the first times, for fear of exasperating the Romans against them. This does St. chrysostom, and Augustine make to be the ground, why St. Paul spoke so mysteriously about the Roman Empire in 
In 2. Ep. Thess.  his Prophecy about Antichrist, 2 Thess. 2. 6. when he says, And now ye know, what doth withhold; the Reason they give for it, is, That if the Apostle had openly named the Romans, they would have accounted him, and all the Faithful, very pestilent Members of their Government.  
This fear of the then Ruling Power, together with the Professions of their ignorance of the application of the Characters of Antichrist, because they looked upon their times as not at all concerned in those things, may be very reasonably judged to be the cause of the little care that the Fathers took to be wary in the Interpretations that they gave of this Book. For they esteemed it to be both a dangerous study, and also relating to things that they could not well judge of; and also to future times, in which they should not share; And might therefore (as chrysostom, and Augustine do expressly say) bring themselves unnecessarily into great danger. And Jerom, in his Answer to 11. q. ad Algasiam, and Primasius upon 2 Thess. 2. 6. to the same purpose. This Account may the more easily be allowed from the general neglect of the Book of the Apocalypse, even in this Age, to which the chief things in 
Mr. Mede, Bp. Usher, etc.  it are by the severest Examiner's of the Sense of Scripture judged to belong; so as to be even laid aside out of the Calendar for 
* Homilies of the Church of England, p. 69, and p. 316.  the daily readings of Scripture by Protestants themselves, † who nevertheless do give the present Church of Rome the name of Babylon.  
It is then no great wonder, That Irenaeus, and Hippolytus, and some other of the Fathers, whilst the Roman Government continued Pagan, should be so willing to make the Beast in general to be the World, and the Seven Heads of it to be seven Wicked Ages of the World, as the sum, or Recapitulation (as Irenaeus calls it) of all the Apostate times; For in that way, the Sixth Head, said in the Prophecy to be then in being, was not more applied to the Romans, than to all the other Wicked Nations in the World at that time; and the last Head, called the Beast, would not concern the than Roman Empire, because it was not to come till after the end of that present Reigning Age.  
And their willingness to take this safe way, might make them easy to be satisfied with such small grounds as these for it, viz. 1. That the Beast in the Revelations is signified, Chap. 13. 2. to 
1. Dan. 2. 40. and 7. 7, 23.  contain all the Four Beasts of the 7th of Daniel, in his own Body; though that be the same with what is said of the Fourth Beast alone, that is, that he had devoured the other three. But this Apprehension might easily induce them, first to fancy the Beast to be at least all those Four Monarchies that are mentioned in Daniel; And 2. when that was done, they might as easily thereupon be brought to extend the notion of it to contain the whole World in it, from the representation of the Seven Heads upon it, the number seven being then generally accounted in the Learning of the Jews and Christians, to be a signification of the whole sum of the kind of things, with which it was joined; And than it was obvious to fancy the Seven Heads to be some seven parts of time, that should measure out that blasphemous, or ungodly time of the World, from the first beginning of it, to the last end of it. And yet all the ground for this was nothing but that mention of the parts of the Four Beasts in the 7th of Daniel, in the make of the Body of the Beast in the 13th Chapter of the Revelations, which the Fourth Beast in Daniel is said to have devoured.  
The Fathers that came after the time of Constantine, and that saw the Roman Empire turned Christian, could not, it seems, ever bring it into their minds to think, That God would ever suffer the Roman Empire to relapse again into Infidelity, or to appear in the dreadful Characters of the Tyranny of the Beast against the Church; And yet they must stand to that, if they allowed Babylon to be Rome, or the future times of the Beast to belong to the Roman Empire. They therefore interpret Babylon to be the General City of all Wicked Men all the World over, and the Beast to be the World of Wicked Men; and the Seven Heads to be either all the Tyrannical Powers of the World that had, or should persecute the Church of God, or all the Wicked Emperors only of that Time, Heathen, or Arrian.  
That which might the more easily dispose them to this, was the Clamours of the Arrians and Donatists against the then Orthodox Party, that they were the People of that Babylon, that is so dreadfully set out in the Revelations. For it was very obvious for any, that had zeal enough, to make the Change of Religion to be the Change of one of the Heads of the Beast; and so to account the Sixth Head to be the Heathen Emperors only, the Seventh King to be the short continuance of Imperial, and professed Arrianism, under Constantius, Valens, etc. as the time of the Seventh King is described; And the Eighth King, called The Beast, to be the return of that which these called Idolatry and Blasphemy (but others Orthodoxy) under the rest of the Emperors that succeeded, and that were in the time of this Charge in power.  
If we consider, That by some of the best Learned, and Cautious 
Mr. Mede. Dr. More.  Interpreters of this present Age, the change of Religion in the Imperial Head, is made to be the end of the Reign of that Head, it will appear very reasonable to judge, That these Clamours of their Adversaries might be thought to have some ground for them, if they should allow The Beast, and Heads, to be Roman Powers only: And this Consideration might very well make them conclude, that Babylon could not be Rome, nor the Heads of the Beast to be so many Successions of Roman Government, at least if they thought it to be undoubted, That the then called Orthodox Party could not possibly be concerned in the Characters of the Beast. For,  
That the Orthodox were then charged by their Adversaries with the Application of Babylon, and the Beast, to them, is evident. That which is the clearest Instance of this nature, is that which Bede, in his Preface to his Comment upon the Revelations, says of Tyconius, an Eminent Donatist, and whom he commends for his Interpretation— He there says, That Tyconius, who had suffered in the Cause of the Donatists with the rest of his Brethren, That he did apply all the Persecutions in the Revelations to the Actions of the then present Church of Rome, against those of his Party: And Primasius, another of his Followers, does also in his Comment upon this Book, affirm much the same of him in his Preface. So also does the Imperfect Work upon St. Matthew (wrongly attributed to chrysostom) charge the Governing party of the Roman Church about the same time, with much the same accusations in several places of it; and Bellarmin informs us, Lib. 3. de Pontif. c. 11. That the Orthodox Africans were called Romanists by the Arrians, as a name of reproach.  
Whatever was the true Reason of this new Interpretation of the name of Babylon, it is certain, that it was against the opinion of all the Fathers before, as the most Learned of the Roman Interpreters do often acquaint us; and as may be seen from Irenaeus in particular, Lib. 5. Contra Haeres. And from Tertullian in Apolog. Victorinus, etc. And there could be no greater Reason to move them to it, than the clamours of that discontented Party.  
But after the inundation of the Barbarous Nations all over the Roman Empire, and the settlement of their several Kingdoms within the Bounds of it, Andreas Caesariensis, and Arethas, as if they had now plainly seen the division of that Empire amongst the Ten Kings, represented by the Ten Horns of the Beast, seem to be not so well satisfied about the Mystical way of Interpretation, which they had received from those before them. But yet for fear of fixing the Characters of Babylon upon the then present times of the Roman Church, they are very cautious of determining any way: They show how many meanings Babylon may have in it; it may either be the whole World of the Wicked in general, or Babylon in Persia, or Old Rome, or New Rome; and the Seven Heads of the Beast may be either all the wicked Emperors, or Seven Ages of the World, etc. And yet when they come to bethink themselves again, Babylon must sometimes be Rome with them, according to the Ancient Fathers; and yet that it cannot be Old Rome, because that had lost all Majesty of Empire, (And than what Rome can it be else?) And that Antichrist, when he comes, must be a Monarch of Rome. See Andreas Caesariensis on the 13th and 17th Chapters of the Revelations.  
All which shows, That the only thing that can be depended upon, as the Authoritative sense of the Ancients, is their Geneneral Agreement about the nature of the 4th Beast in Daniel, and about the relation of the Beast in the Revelations to it; And the immediate consequences of that unanimous consent.  
If now it should be thought to be a great prejudice against the clearness and easiness of the Protestant Applications of the Apocalypse to the Church of Rome; That that Interpretation was never heard of for many Ages together, after the time that the beginning of the Apostasy of the Roman Church is dated from by Protestants: Baronius' Testimony concerning it, is a sufficient Answer to that, who (as 
* Divers Discourses, p. 119.  Dr. Barnard observes) does acknowledge, That there was not an Age in which some Learned Man or other did not appear in this charge of Antichristianism upon the Church of Rome. And we have already seen the Charge of the Donatists and Arrians; and if that should be esteemed to be nothing but the unreasonable clamours of Heretics, Pope Gregory's 
Lib. 4. Epist. 38.  complaint of the same nature, against that Antichristian Supremacy of the Bishop of Constantinople, which came afterwards to be the Title of the Bishop of Rome, is unexceptionable. 
Lib. 6. Ep. 28.   
But presently after that Age, when Baronius himself says, 
An. 900. Art. 1, 2, 3.  That the Abomination of Desolation seemed to have been brought into the Church, Arnulphus, Bishop of Orleans, in his Speech to the Synod of Rheims, appeals to the whole Synod, whether 
Synod. Rheim. Cap. 25, 26, 27, 28. A. D. 991. Mornay Myster. Iniquity. p. 213.  the behaviour of the Bishops of Rome did not in their opinion fully answer the Character of Antichrist sitting in the Temple of God?— And thereupon applies the 2 Thess. 2. 4, 6, 7. to the Falling in pieces of the Roman Empire, and the Elevation of the Papacy upon the ruins of it.  
But after that Pope Gregory the 7th, called Hildebrand, had a while shown himself, there were frequent clamours of this nature. Aventinus, an Historian of that Church, says, That the 
Lib. 5.  Greatest part of Good, Ingenuous, Faithful, and Clear-spirited Writers did hold, That THAN begun the Empire of Antichrist. And accordingly do we find the whole Clergy of the Diocese of Liege, in their Answer to Pope Paschal's Letter, who had been Hildebrand's Scholar, applying the Rage of the Devil in 
2. Vol. Concil. p. 809. Edit. Colon.  the Apocalypse, against the true Church, to the Pope's Actions; And the Emperor Henry (who was with them) in his Letters to the Christian Princes, does also in express words apply the Characters of Antichrist in the Thess. 1 Ep. 2. to Paschal. The Bishop of Florence also at the same time did publicly Preach, that Antichrist was then born, which made Pope Paschal go in person 
Platina in Paschal. 2.  to Florence, and call a Council there to admonish him to desist.  
Their own St. Bernard tells us first, That he had heard Norbart, 
About the Year 1125. Epist. 56.  of great repute for Holiness, affirm with a protestation, That he did most certainly know that Antichrist should be revealed in that Generation. And Bernard himself does also call 
In Cantic. Serm. 33. Epist. 125.  the Pope Antichrist; and says, That the Beast of the Apocalypse, to whom was given a Mouth speaking Blasphemies, and to make War against the Saints, does sit in the Chair of St. Peter.  
But Everhard, Bishop of Saltzburg, in the time of Gregory the 
About A. D. 1230.  9th, at the Assembly at Ratisbonne, doth the most particularly prove the Time of the Beast, as the 8th King of the Romans, to have been come ever since the time of Hildebrand at least, from the end of the Imperial Power that was the Sixth Head, and the division of the Empire amongst the Ten Kings. Aventin. Lib. 7. 545.  
This was the judgement of such as were of the Roman Communion: But ever since the first great appearance of the Albigenses, which was before the year 1170. there has been a continuation of this Accusation against the Roman Church, by whole Bodies of Churches, divided from that Communion.  
Those that have the curiosity to see a more particular account of the Tradition of the Charge of Antichrist upon the Roman Church, from the best Learned of its own Members, may consult Du Plessis Mornay, in his Mystery of Iniquity; and Dr. Bernard in his Fourth Discourse, from page 119. where there is an account more particularly of the Learned Men of this Opinion in the Church of England, both in the times of its Papal state, and since the Reformation.   
FINIS.   

Books Printed for Thomas Cockerill, at the Three Legs in the Poultry.  
THE Works of the Late Reverend Divine Mr. Stephen Charnock, B. D. sometimes Fellow of New College in Oxon. Folio, 2 Vol.  
Speculum Theologiae in Christo: or, A View of some Divine Truths, which are either practically exemplified in Jesus Christ, set forth in the Gospel, or may easily be deduced from them: By Edward Polhill of Burwash in Sussex, Esq; 4ᵒ.  
Precious Faith considered in its Nature, Working and Growth; By Edward Polhill, Esq; in 4ᵒ.  
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Christus in Cord: or, The Mystical Union between Christ and Believers, considered in its Resemblances, Bonds, Seals, Privileges and Marks: By Edward Polhill, Esq; in 8ᵒ.  
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Some Sermons upon Regeneration, Faith and Repentance, preached at the Merchant's Lecture in Broadstreet. By Thomas Cole.  
Marriage Promoted. In a Discourse of its Ancient and Modern Practice, both under Heathen and Christian Commonwealths; and how far it may be practicable and commodious to the preservation of these Kingdoms. By a Person of Quality.