1Add. 3989
Of the Church.
The Introduction.
When Manasses2 Chron. 33.5, 6, 7. set up a carved image in the house of the
Lord & built altars in the two courts of the house to all the Host of heaven
& used inchantments & witchcraft & familiar spirits & for his great wick
edness was invaded by the army of Assarhadon king of Assyria & carried cap
tive to Babylon, the book of the law was lost till the eighteenth year of his
grandson Iosiah. Then Hilkiah2 Chron. 34. the high Priest upon repairing the Temple
found it there, & the King lamented that their fathers had not done after
the words of the book & commanded that it should be read to the people
& caused the people to renew the holy covenant with God. This is the
book of the law now extant.
When Sesak2 Chron. 12.2, 3, 4, 8, 9. & 15.3, 5, 6. came out of Egypt & spoiled the temple & brought
Iudea into subjection to the monarchy of Egypt (wchwhich was in fift year
of Rehoboam,) the Iews continued under great troubles for about twenty
years; being without the true God & without a teaching Priest &
without the law; & in those times there was no peace to him that
went out nor to him that came in, b
all the inhabitants of the countri
& city of city, for God did vex them with all adversity. But when
Sesak2 Chron. 14.1, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12. was dead & Egypt fell into troubles, Iudea had quiet ten years
& in that time Asa built fenced cities in Iudea & got up an army of
4580000 men wthwith wchwhich in the 15th year of his reign he met & overcame
Zerah the Ethiopian who had conquered Egypt & Libya & Troglodytica &
came out wthwith an army of 1000000 Egyptians & Libyans & Troglodytes
& Ethiopians to recover the countiescountries formerly conquered by Sesak. And
after this victory Asa dethroned his mother for idolatry, & he renewed the altar & brought new vessels of gold & silver into the Temple2 Chron. 15.8, 13, 16, 18., & he & the
people entered into a new covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers
upon pain of death to those who worshipped other Gods; & his son Iehosa
phat took away the high places & in the third year of his reign
sent some of his princes & of the priests & levites to teach in the cities
of Iudah, & they had the book of the law with them, & went about
throughout all the cities of Iudah, & taught the people. This is that book
of the law wchwhich was afterwards lost in the reign of Manasses & found
again in the reign of Iosiah, & therefore it was written before the
third year of Iehosaphat.
The same book of the law was preserved & handed down to posterity
by the Samuaritans in another character & therefore was received by the
ten tribes before their captivity. For when the ten tribes were captivated2 King. 17.27, 28, 32, 33., a
Priest of the captivity was sent back to Bethel by order of the king of
Assyria to instruct the new inhabitants of Samaria in the manner of the
God of the land, & the Samaritans persisted had the Pentateuch from this
Pristest as conteining the law or manner of the God of the land wchwhich he
was to teach them. For they persevered in the religion wchwhich he taught them2 King. 17.34, 41.
joyning accepting that they joyned joyning with it the worship of their own Gods, & by persevering in what they
had been taught they preserved this book of their law in the original character
of the Hebrews, while the two tribes after their return from Babylon
changed the character to that of the Chaldees wchwhich they had learned at
Babylon.
And while the Pentateuch was received as the book of the law both by the two2 two tribes & by the ten tribes, it follows that they received it be
fore they became divided into two kingdoms. For after the division
therye was received not laws from one another, but continued at
variance. Iudah could not reclaim Israel from the sin of
Ieroboam & Israel could not bring Iudah to it. The Pentateuch
therefore was the book of the Law in the days of David &
Solomon. The affairs of the Tabernacle & Temple were
ordered by David & Solomon according to the law of this
book, & David in yethe 78th Psalm admonishing the people to give
ear to the law of this book God means the law of this
book. For in describing how their forefathers kept it not
he quotes many historical things out of the books of Exodus & Num
bers.
The race of the kings of Edom before there was a reigned any king
king oinver Israel is set down in the book of GenesisGen. 36.31., & there
fore that book was not written entirely in the form now extant before the reign of Saul.
The writer set down the race of those kings till his own
time & therefore wrote before David conquered Edom.
The Pentateuch is composed of the Law & the history of Gods
people together, & the history hath been collected from se
veral books, such as were the history of the creation com
posed by Moses (Gen. Exod. 20.11.) the book of the generations of Adam
(Gen.5) & the book of the wars of the Lord, Num. 21.14. This
book of wars conteined what was done at the red sea & ain the
journeying of Israel through the wilderness, & therefore was begun
by Moses. And Ioshua might carry it on in writing h to the conquest
of Canaan. For Ioshua wrote some things in the book of the
law of God (Ios. 24.26.) & therefore might write his own wars
in the book of wars, those being the principal wars of God. These
were publick books & therefore not written without the authority
of Moses & Ioshua. And Samuel had leasure in the reign of
Saul to put them into the form of the books of Moses &
Ioshua now extant inserting into yethe Book of Genesis, the race of the kings of Edom, until their reigned a king in Israel.
The book of the Iudges is a continued history of the Iudges
down to the death of Sampson & therefore was compiled after
his death out of the Acts of the Iudges. Several things are said
to be done in this book are said to be done when there was no
king in Israel (Iudg. 17.6 & 18.1 & 19.1 & 21.5) & therefore this
book was written after the beginning of the reign of Saul.
When it was written, the Iebusite dwelt in Ierusalem (Iud. 1.
21) & therefore it was written before the seventh eighth year of David
2 Sam. 5.8. & 1 Chron. 11.6. The books of Moses, Ioshua, & Iudges
cot contein one continued history down from the creation to the death
of Sampson. Where the Pentateuch ends the book of Ioshua begins
& where the book of Ioshua ends the book of Iudges beginns. And
therefore all these books have been composed out of the writings of
Moses Ioshua & other records by tone & the same hand after the
beginning of the reign of Saul & before the eighth year of David.
And Samuel was a writer sacred writer (1 Sam. 10.25) & acquainted wthwith
the history of Moses & the Iudges (1 Sam. 12.8, 9, 10, 11, 12) & had leasure
in the reign of Saul & sufficient authority to compose these books. He was
a prophet, & the Iudged of Israel & all the days of his life & was in the greatest esteem with the people; and3 & the law by wchwhich he was to judge the people was not to
be published by less authority then his own the law-maker being not inferior to the judge. And the book of Iasher
wchwhich is quoted in the book of Ioshua (Ios. 10.13) was in being at the
death of Saul, 2 Sam. 1.18.
At the dedication of the Temple of Solomon when the Ark
was brought into the most Holy, there was nothing in it but the
two tables (1 King. 8.9) & therefore when the Philistines took the
Ark, they took out of it the Book of the Law & the golden pot
of manna & Aarons rod. And this & other losses
on of Israel by the conquering Philistims, might give occasion to Sa
muel, after some respite from those enemies, to recollect the scattered
writings of Moses & Ioshua & the Records of the Patriarchs & Iudges & compose
them in the form now extant.
The book of Ruth is a history of things done in the days
of the Iudges & may be looked upon as an addition to the book of the Iudges written by the same author & at the same time.
For it was written after the beginning of the reign of Saul
(Ruth 1.1) birth of David (Ruth IV.17, 22) & not long after because the history of Booz & Ruth the great
grandfather & great grandmother of David & of Ruth & his grea that of their contemporaries could not
well be remembred above two or three generations. And since this
book derives the genealogy of David from Booz & Ruth & opmits
Davids elder brothers & his sons; it was written in honour
of David after he was annointed King by Samuel & before
he had children in Hebron & by consequence in the reign of
Saul. It proceeds not to the history of David & therefore seems
to have been written presently after he was annointed. They
judge well therefore who ascribe to Samuel the books of Ioshua
Iudges & Ruth.
Samuel is also reputed the author of the first book of Sa
muel till the time of his death. The two books of Samuel cite no
authors & therefore seem to be originals. They begin with his gene
alogy birth & education & therefore might be writ in honour of him
by his disciples the sons of the Prophets of Naioth in Ramah. Or if he began then his disciples might continue
them to the last sickness of David might be writ by himself & his
disciples the Prophets at Naioth in Ramah & continued b might be be
gun by himself & continued by might be written partly in his life time by himself or his disciples begun his disciples the Prophets at Naioth in Ramah (1 Sam. 19. 18, 19, 20) & partly after his death by the same disciples.
The books of the kings cite other authors, as the book of the
Acts of Solomon, the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel &
the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Iudah. The books of the
Chronicles cite the book of Samuel the Seer, the book of Nathan the
prophet, & the book of Gad the Seer, for the acts of David; the book
of Nathan the prophet, the prophesy of Ahijah the Seer for Shilonite & the
visions of Iddo the Seer for the Acts of Solomon; the book of
Shemajah the prophet, & the book of Iddo the Seer concerning
generalogies, for the Acts of Rehoboam & Abijah; the book of
the kings of Iudah & Israel for the acts of Asa, Ionaash, Ama
ziah, Iotham, Azaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, & Iosiah; the book of
Hanani the Seer for the Acts of Iehosaphat; & the visions of Isaiah
for the Acts of Vzziah & Hezekiah. C pm 9.[These books were therefore
collected out of the historical writings of the ancient Seers & Prophets.
And because the books of the Kings & Chronicles quote one another
they were written at one & the same time. And this time was after
the return from the Babylonian captivity because they bring down
the history of Iudah & the genealogies of the Kings of Iudah &
of the high Priests to that captivity. And the book of Ezra was
originally a part of the book of the Chronicles & has been divided from4 from it. For it begins with the two last verses of the books of
Chronicles, & the first book of Esdras begins with the two last chap
ters thereof. Ezra was therefore the compiler of the books of
Kings & Chronicles & brought down the history to his own time.
He was a ready Scribe in the Law of God, & for assisting him
in this work Neemias founded a library & gathered together
the Acts of the kings & the Prophets & of David & the Epistles
of the Kings concerning the holy gifts, 2 Maccab. 2.13. By
the Acts of David I understand here the two books of Samuel
or at least the second book. Out of the Acts of the Kings com
posed written from time to time by the Prophets he composed the books of
the Kings of Iudah & Israel, the Chronicles of the Kings of Iudah
& the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. And in doing this he joyned those
Acts together in due order of time, copying the very words of the
authors, as is manifest from hence that the books of the kings
& Chronicles frequently agree with one another in words for
many sentences together. Where they agree in sense there they
agree in words.
And So also the prophesies of Isaiah written at several times he has
collected into one body. And the like for those of Ieremy & the
rest of the prophets down to the days of the second Temple
The book of Ionah is the history of Ionah written by another
hand. The book of Daniel is a collection of papers written at
several times. The six last chapters contein prophesies written
at several times by Daniel himself: the six first are a collec
tion of pa historical papers written by others. The fourth
chapter is a decree of Nebuchadnezzar. The first chapter
was written after Daniels death: for the author saith that
Daniel continued to the first year of Cyrus; that is to his
first year over the Persians & Medes & third year over
Babylon. And for the same reason the fift & sixt chapters
were also written after his death. For they end with these
words: So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius & in
the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Yet these words might be added
by the collector of the papers whom I take to be Ezra.
The Psalms composed by Moses David & others seem to
have been also collected by Ezra into one volume. I reccon him
the collector because in this collection I meet with Psalms
as late as the Babylonian captivity, but with none later.
After these things Antiochus Epiphanes spoiled the Temple
commanded the Iews to forsake the law upon pain of death & caused the
sacred books to be burnt wherever they could be found, & in these troubles
the book of yethe Chronicles of the kings of Israel was entirely lost. But
upon recovering from this oppression, Iudas Maccabeus gathered together
all those writings that were to be met with (2 Maccab. 2.14) & in reducing
them into order, part of the prophesies of Isaiah or some other Prophet have been added to the
end of the prophesies of Zechary & the book of Ezra has been separated
from the book of Chronicles & set together in two different orders; in
one order in the book of Ezra received into the Canon & in another
order in the first book of Ezdras.
And after the Roman captivity the Iews for preserving their tra
ditions put them in writing in their Talmud, & for preserving their scriptures agreed5 agreed upon an edition & pointed it & counted the letters of
every sort in every book. And by preserving only this Edition
the ancienter various lections, except what can be discovered
by means of the Septuagint Version, are now lost, & such
marginal notes or other corruptions as by the errors of yethe
transcribers before this Edition was made, have crept into the text, are
now scarce to be corrected.
The Iews before the Roman captivity, distinguished the
sacred books into the Law, the Prophets, & the Hagiographa or Holy writings, &
read only the Law & the Prophets in their Synagogues. And Christ
& his Apostles laid the stress of religion upon the Law & the
Prophets, Matt. 7.12 & 22.4. Luke 16.16, 29, 31, & 24.44. Acts 24.
14 & 26.22. Rom. 3.21. By the Hagiographa they meant the histo
rical books called Ioshua, Iudges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles,
Ezra, Nehemiah, & es
of the Solomon, & the Lamentations. The Samaritans read only
the Pentateuch. And when Iehosaphat sent men to teach in yethe
cities they had with them only the book of the Law: for the
Prophesies now extant were not then written. And upon the
return from the Babylonian captivity Ezra read only the book
of the Law to the people from morning to noon on the first
day of the seventh month & from day to day in the feast of
Tabernacles: for he had not yet collected the writings of the
Prophets into the form of the books volume now extant but instituted the reading of them after the collection was made. By reading the
Law & the Prophets in the Synagogues those books have been
kept freer from corruption than the Hagiographa.
② Amongst the old Prophets Daniel is most distinct in order of time
& most easy to be understood. And therefore in those things wchwhich
relate to the last times he must be made the key to the rest.
And in order to understand him I designe in the following discourse
to explain some of his types & phrases wchwhich relate to the state
of the Church in the last ages, & particularly, what is to be un
derstood by Ancient of days, the son of man, the saints of the most High, the Host of heaven, the Prince of the Host, the Prince
of Princes, Messiah the Prince, Michael the great Prince of Daniels
people, the Holy Covenant, the sanctuary of strength, those that forsake the holy Covenant the Host
wchwhich was given to yethe last horn of the Goadt in transgression against
the Holy Covenant, ② the desolation of the Host of Heaven by the transgressors, the
① transgression of desolation or abomination of desolation, ③ the indigna
tion against the holy Covenant, the last end of the indignation,
& the time of the end. For these are general heads of divinity religion
relating to the Church state of the Church & may be considered without undertaking to interpret the pro
phesies.
② In the infancy of the nation of Israel when God had given them
a law & made a covenant with them to be their God if they would keep
his commandments, he sent Prophets to reclaim them as often as they
revolted to the worship of other Gods: & upon their returning to him
they sometimes renewed the covenant upon oath wchwhich they had broken.
These prophets he continued to send till the days of Ezra: but after
their prophesies were read in the synagogues, those prophesies were
thought sufficient. For if the people would not hear Moses & the old
Prophets, they would hear no new ones, no not tho they should rise
from the dead. At length when a new truth was to be preached to the6 the Gentiles, namely that Iesus was the Christ, God sent new Prophets
& teachers: but after their writings were also received & read in the
synagogues of the Christians, prophesy ceased a second time. We have
Moses the Prophets & Apostles & the words of Christ himself, & if we
will not hear them we shall be more inexcusable then the Iews. For
the Prophets & Apostles have foretold that as Israel often revolted & brake the
covenant & upon repentance renewed it
away among the Christians soon after the days of the Apostles, & that in the latter days God would destroy
the impenitent revolters & make a new covenant wthwith his people.
And the giving ear to the prophets is a fundamental character of the
true Church. For God has so ordered the prophesies that th in the time of yethe
end latter days the wise may understand but the wicked shall do wickedly & none of the wicked shall understand,
Dan. 12.9, 10. The authority of Kings & Emperors is humane & P
Emperors Kings & Princes is humane. The authority of Coun
cils, Synods, Bishops & Presbyters is humane. The authority of the
Prophets is divine & comprehends the summ of religion, for recconing
Moses & the Apostles wasere a among the prophets. And if an Angel from heaven preach
any other gospel then what they have delivered let him be accursed. Their writings con
tein the covenant between God & his people, with instructions for
keeping this covenant,
break it, & predictions of things to come. While the people of God
keep the covenant they continue to be his people: when they
break it they cease to be his people people or Church & became the synagogue
of Satan who say they are Iews & are not. And no power on
earth is authorised to alter this covenant.
The predictions of things to come relate to the state of
the Church in all ages. And amongst the old Prophets Daniel is
most distinct in order of time & easiest to be understood: & there
fore in those things wchwhich relate to the last times he must be
made the key to the rest. And in order to this I designe in the
following discourse to explain some of his types & phrases wchwhich relate
to the religion & state of the Church in the last ages, & particularly
what is to be understood by the Ancient of days sitting on a throne, the
Son of man coming in the clou
High, the 1 Host of Heaven, the 2 Prince of the Host, the Prince of
princes, Messiah the Prince, Michael the great Prince of Daniel's
people, the holy 3 Covenant, the Sanctuary of strength, those that
forsake the holy covenant, the Host wchwhich was given to the last horn
of the Hee-goat in transgression against the holy covenant, the
transgression of desolation called also the abomination of desolation, the
the desolation of the Host of heaven by the transgressors, the indignation
against the holy covenant, the last end of the indignation, & the time
of the end. For these are general heads of religion relating to the
state of the Church, & may be considered without undertaking to
interpret the prophesies.
71
Chap
1. 2
Of the prophetic language.
For understanding these prophesies we are in the first place to
acquaint our selves with the figurative language of the Prophets. And this
language is taken from the analogy between the world natural & an
or kingdom considered as a world politiqꝫue
Accordingly the whole world natural consisting of heaven & earth signifies
the whole world politiqꝫue consisting of thrones & people, or so much of it as is con
sidered in the prophesy: & the things in that world signify the analogous things in
this. For the heavens & the things therein signify thrones & dignities & those that
enjoy them; & the earth with the things therein the inferior people, & the lowest
parts of the earth called Hades or Hell, the lowest or most miserable part
of the people. Whence ascending towards heaven & descending to the earth are
put for rising & falling in power & honour: Rising out of the earth or wa
ters & falling into them, for the rising up to any dignity or dominion out
of the in[feriorD pma 17 state of the people or falling down from the same into that
inferior state. Descending into the lower parts of the earth for descending
to a very low & unhappy estate. Speaking with a faint voice out of the
dust for being in a weak & low condition. Moving from one place to
another for translation from one office dignity or dominion to another. Great earthquakes & the shaking of heaven & earth for the shaking of kingdoms
so as to distract or overthrow them. The creating a new heaven & earth &
the passing away of an old one, for or the beginning & end of the world, for
the rise & ruin of the body politique signified thereby.
In the heavens the Sun & Moon are by interpreters of dreams put for the per
sons of QKings & Queens, but in sacred prophesy wchwhich regards not single persons, the sun
is put for the whole species & race of kings in the kingdom or kingdoms of the world
polytic shining with regal power & glory: the Moon for the body of the common people
considered as the kings wife: the starrs subordinate Princes & great men, or for
Bishops & Rulers of the people of God when the sun is Christ. Light for the glory
truth & knowledge wherewith great & good men shine & illuminate others. Darkness
for obscurity of condition, & for error blindness & ignorance. Darkning, smiting, or
setting of the Sun Moon & Starsrs for the ceasing of a kingdom, or for the desolation
thereof proportional to the darkness. Darkning the Sun, turning the Moon into blood,
& falling of the starrs, for the same. New Moons for the return of a dispersed
people into a body politiqꝫue or ecclesiastiqꝫue.
Fire & Meteors refer to both heaven & earth, & signify as follows. Burning
any thing with fire is put for the consuming thereof by war. A conflagration there of
the earth or turning a country into a lake of fire, for the consumption of a
kingdom by war. The being in a furnace for the being in slavery under another nation.
The ascending up of the smoak of any burning thing for ever & ever for the continu
ation of a conquered people under the misery of perpetual subjection & slavery.
The scorching heat of the sun for vexations warrs persecutions & troubles inflicted
by the king. Riding on the clouds for reigning over much people. Covering the Sun
with a cloud or with smoke, for oppression of the king by the armies of an enemy.
Tempestuous winds (that is, the motion of clouds) for warrs. Thunder (that is
the voyce of a cloud) for the voyce of a multitude. A storm of thunder lightning82 lightning hail & overflowing for a tempest of warr descending
from the heavens & clouds politiqꝫue on the heads of their enemies. Rain
if not immoderate, & dew, & living water, for the graces & doctrines
of the spirit. And the defect of rain for spiritual barrenness.
In the earth, the dry land & congregated waters (as a sSea, a River,
a Flood) are put for the people of several regions nations & dominions.
Embittering of waters for great affliction of the people by war & per
secution. Turning things into blood for the mystical death of bodies politiqꝫue,
that is for their dissolution. The overflowing of a sea or river for the
invasion of the earth politiqꝫue by the people of the waters. Drying up
of waters for the conquest of their regions by the earth. Fountains
of waters for cities the permanent heads of rivers politiqꝫue. Moun
tains & Islands for the cities of the earth & sea politiqꝫue with the terri
tories & dominions belonging to those cities. Dens & Rocks of mountains
for the Temples of cities. The hiding of men in those Dens & Rocks for
the shutting up of Idols in their Temples. Houses & Ships for families
assemblies & towns in the earth & sea politiqꝫue. And a navy of war-ships
for an army of the kingdom signified by the sea.
Also animals & vegetables are put for the people of several regions
& conditions; & particularly, Trees, hearbs, & land animals for the people of
the earth politique. Flaggs, reeds & fishes for those of the waters politique.
And Birds & Insects for those of the politiqꝫue heaven & earth. A forest for a
kingdom. And a wilderness for a desolate & thin people.
If the world politiqꝫue considered in prophesy consists of many king
doms, they are represented by as many parts of the world natural. As the
noblest by the celestial frame, & then the Moon & Clouds are put for the
common people. The less noble by the earth sea & rivers, & by the animals
or vegetables or buildings therein; & then the greater & more powerfull
animals & taller trees are put for kings princes & nobles. And because the whole
kingdom is the body politiqꝫue of the king, therefore the Sun, or a Tree, or a Beast,
or Bird or a man whereby the king is represented, is put in a large significa
tion for the whole kingdom; & several animals, as a Lion, a Beare, a Leopard,
a Goat, according to their qualities, are put for several kingdoms & bodies
politique; & sacrificing of Beasts for slaughtering & conquering of king
doms; & friendship between Beasts for peace between kingdoms. Yet sometimes
vegetables & animals are by certain epithites or circumstances extended to
other significations; as a Tree when called the tree of life or of knowledge,
& a Beast when called the old serpent, or worshipped.
When a Beast or Man is put for a kingdom, his parts & qualities are
put for the analogous parts & qualities of the kingdom. As the head of a Beast
for the great men who precede & govern. The tail for the inferior people
who follow & are governed. The heads, if more then one, for the number of
capital parts or dynasties or dominions in the kingdom whether collateral
or successive with respect to the civil government. The horns on any
head for the number of kingdoms in that head with respect to military
power. Seeing for understanding, & the eyes for men of understanding
& policy, & in matters of religion for Ἐπίsσκοποι Bishops. Speaking
for making laws. The mouth for a lawgiver, whether civil or sacred.
The loudness of the voice for might & power. The faintness thereof
for weakness. Eating & drinking for acquiring what is signified by the
things eaten & drunken. The hairs of a beast or man, & the feathers
of a bird for people. The wings for the branches of a people spread
abroad by con number of kingdoms represented by the beast. The arm of
a man for his power or for any people wherein his strength & power
consists. His feet for the lowest of the people or for the latter end of
the kingdom. The feet nails & teeth of beasts of prey for armies &
squadrons of armies. The bones for strength & for fortified places. The
flesh for riches & possessions. And the days of their acting for years. And
when a tree is put for a kingdom, its branches leaves & fruit signify as
do the wings feathers & food of a bird or beast.
When a man is taken in a mystical sense, his qualities are often
signified by his actions, & by the circumstances of things about him. So a Ruler93 Ruler is signified by his riding on a beast: a Warrior & Conqueror by his
having a sword & bow: a potent man by his gigantic stature: a Iudge by weights
& measures: a sentence of absolution & or condemnation by a white or black
stone: a new dignity by a new name: moral or civil qualifications by gar
ments: honour & glory by splendid apparel: royal dignity by purple or scarlet,
or by a crown: righteousnes by white & clean robes: wickedness by spotted
& filthy garments: affliction mourning & humiliation by cloathing in
sackcloth: dishonour shame & want of good works by nakedness: error
& misery by drinking a cup of his or her wine that causeth it: propagating
any religion for gain by exercising trafick & merchandise with that
people whose religion it is: worshipping or serving the false Gods of
any nation by committing adultery with their princes, or by worshipping
them: a Council of a kingdom by its image: idolatry by blasphemy:
overthrow in war by a wound of man or beast: a durable plague of war
by a sore & pain: the affliction or persecution wchwhich a people suffers
in labouring to bring foursrth a new kingdom by the pain of a woman
in labour to bring forth a manchild: the dissolution of a body politick
or ecclesiastick by the death of a man or beast: & the revival of a
dissolved dominion by the resurrection of the dead.
Chap. II.
3.
Of the vision of the Image
composed of four metals.
The prophesies of Daniel are all of them related to one another
as if they were but several parts of one general prophesy given at several times.
The first is the easiest to be understood, & every following prophesy adds something
new to the former. The first was given in a dream to Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon; in the second year of his reign; but the king forgetting his dream, it was given again to Daniel
in a dream & by him revealed to the king. And thereby Daniel presently
became famous for wisdome & revealing of secrets: insomuch that
Ezekiel his contemporary in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar spake
thus of him to the king of Tyre. Behold, saith he, thou art wiser then
then Daniel, there is no secret that they can hide from thee. Ezek
XXVIII.3. And the same Ezekiel in another place joyns Daniel with
Noah & Iob as most high in the favour of God. Ezek. XIV.14, 16, 18, 20.
And in the last year of Belshazzar, the Queen mother said of him to
the king. Behold there [E pma 25is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of
the Gods holy Gods, And in the days of thy father, light & understanding
& wisdom like the wisdome of the Gods, was found in him; whom the king
Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father made master of the
magitcians, astrologers, Caldeans & soothsayers: forasmuch as an excellent
spirit was found in him & knowledge, & understanding, interpreting of dreams,
& shewing of hard sentences, & dissolving of doubts, were found in him the
same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshaszzar. D Dan. V.11, 12. Daniel
was in the greatest credit amongst the Iews till the reign of the Roman Em
peror Hadrian: & to reject his prophesies is to reject the Christian religion.
For this religion is founded upon his prophesy concerning the Messiah.
Now in this vision of the Image composed of four metals the foundation
of all Daniels prophesies is laid. It represents a body of four great nations
which should reign over the earth successively: vizt the people of Baby
lonia, the Persians, the Greeks, & the Romans. And by a stone cut out without
hands, which fell upon the feet of the image, & brake all the four metalls to pieces104 to pieces & became a great mountain & filled the earth, it further represents that a new kingdom
should arise after the four & conquer all those nations & grow very great
& last to the end of ages.
The head of the image was of gold, & signifies the nations of Baby
lonia who reigned first, as Daniel himself interprets. Thou art this head
of gold, saith he to Nebuchadnezzar. These nations reigned till Cyrus conquered
Babylon, & within a few months after that conquest revolted to the Persi
ans & set them up above the Medes. The breast & arms of the image were
of silver & represent the Persians who reigned next. The belly & thighs
of the image were of brass & represent the Greeks who under the domi
nion of Alexander the great conquered the Persians & reigned next
after them. The leggs were of iron & represent the Romans who reigned
next after the Greeks, & began to conquer them in the eighth year of
Antiochus Epiphanes. For in that year they conquered Perseus king of
Macedon the fundamental kingdom of the Greeks, & from thence forward
grew into a mighty empire & reigned with great power till the days of
Theodosius the great. Then by the incursion of many northern nations
they brake into many smaller kingdoms which are represented by the
feet & toes of the image composed part of iron & part of clay. For then,
saith Daniel, the kingdom shall be divided, & there shall be in it of
the strength of iron, but they shall not cleave to one to another.
And in the days of these kings, saith Daniel, shall the God of heaven set up a
kingdom which shall never be destroyed nor left to other people, but it shall break in
pieces all & consume all these kingdoms, & it shall stand for ever: For
thou sawest the stone was cut out of the mountains without hands, & that it brake
in pieces the iron, the brass, the silver & the gold.
115
Chap.
III 4
Of the vision of the four Beasts.
In the next vision, which is of the four Beasts, the prophesy of
the four empires is repeated, with several new additions; such as are the
two wings of the Lion, the three ribs in the mouth of the Bear, the four
wings & four heads of the Leopard, the eleven horns of the fourth Beast,
& the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven to the ancient of days
sitting in judgment.
The first Beast was like a Lion, & had eagles wings, to denote the
provinces kingdoms of Babylonia & Assyria of which the first of the four Empires,
from the time of the fall of the Assyrian empire, was composed this was
the empire of Nebuchadnezzar & his successors which reigned at the time
of this prophesy. Media, wchwhich overthrew the Assyrian Empire & divided it between them, & thereby became considerable, And I beheld, saith DanielCh. vii.4., till the wings thereof were
pluckt, wherewith it was lifted up from the earth, & made to stand upon
the feet like as a man, & a man's heart was given to it; that is, till it was
humbled & subdued, & made to know that it was its humane state.
The second Beast was like a Bear, & represents the empire which
reigned next after the Babylonians, that is, the empire of the Persians.
Thy kingdom is divided or broken, saith Daniel to the last king of Babylon,
& given to the Medes & Persians, Dan. V.28. This Beast raised it self
up on one side; the Persians being under the Medes at the fall of Ba
bylon, but presently rising up above them. And it had three ribs in
the mouth of it between the teeth of it,Ch. vii.5. to signify the kingdoms of Sardes,
Babylon & Egypt, wchwhich were conquered by it, but did not belong to its
proper body. And it devoured much flesh, the riches of those three king
doms.
The third Beast was the kingdom which succeeded the Persian; & this
was the empire of the Greeks, Dan. VIII.6, 7, 20, 21. It was like a Leopard
to signify its fierceness, & had four heads & four wings to signify that
it should become divided into four kingdoms Dan. VIII.22. For it conti
nued in a monarchical form during the reign of Alexander the great
& his brother Aridæus, & young sons Alexander & Hercules; & then brake
into four kingdoms, by the governours of provinces putting crowns on
their own heads, & by mutual consent reigning over their provinces. Cassander reigned
over Macedon, Greece & Epire; Lysimachus over Thrace & Bithynia; Ptolomy
over Egypt, Liybyia, & Ethiopia Arabia, Cœlosyria, Cœlosyria, & Palæstine;, & Seleucus over Syria.
The fourth Beast was the Empire wchwhich succeeded that of the Greeks, & this
was the Roman. This Beast was exceeding dreadfull & terrible, & had great
iron teeth, & devoured & brake in pieces, & stamped the residue with its feet.
And such was the Roman Empire. It was larger, stronger, & more formi
dable & lasting thean any of the former. It conquered the kingdom of
Macedon, the fundamental kingdom of the Greeks, (together with Illyricum
& Epire) in the eighth year of Antiochus Epiphanes, Anno Nabonass. 500;Qu vid. oth MS.
& inherited that of Pergamus Anno Nabonass. 615; & conquered that of
Syria Anno Nabonass. 679, & that of Egypt, Anno Nabonass. 718. And by
these & other conquests it became greater & more terrible then any of the
three former Beasts. This Empire continued in its greatness till the reign
of Theodosius the great; & then brake into ten kingdoms, represented
by the ten horns of this Beast; & continued in a broken form, till the aAntcient
of days sat in a throne like fiery flame, & the judgment was set, & the
books were opened, & the Beast was slain & his body given to the burning
flames; & one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven & was
brought before the Ancient of daysCh. vii.13., & received dominion over all nations, & judgment126 & judgment was given to the saints of the most high, & the time came
that they possessed the kingdom.
I beheld, saith DanielCh. vii.11, 12., till the Beast was slain, & his body destroyed, &
& given to the burning flames. As concerning the rest of the Beasts, they
had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a
season & a time. And therefore all the four Beasts are still alive, theo
the dominion of the three first are still be taken away. The nations
of Chaldea & Assyria are still the first Beast. Those of Media & Persia
are still the second Beast. Those of Macedon, Greece & Thrace, Asia
minor, Syria & Egypt,××× Sec. before. Lybia are still the third. And those of Europe on this
side Greece are still the fourth. Seeing therefore that the body of the third
beast is confined to the nations on this side
body of the fourth Beast is confined to the nations on this side Greece; we
are to look for all the four heads of the third Beast, among the nations on
this side of the river Euphrates; & for all the eleven horns of the fourth
Beast, among the nations on this side of Greece. And therefore, at the breaking
of the Greek empire into four kingdoms of the Greeks, we include no part of
the Chaldeans, Medes & Persians in those kingdoms, because they belonged to
the bodies of the two first Beasts. Nor do we reckon the Greek empire
seated at Constantinople among the horns of the fourth Beast, because
it belonged to the body of the third.
137
F pma 33.[Chap.
IV.
Of the kingdoms represented by the feet
of the image
composed of iron & clay.
Dacia was a large country bounded on the south by the Danube, on the east by
the Euxine sea, on the north by the river Neister & the mountain Crapac, & on
the west by the river Tibesis, or Teys, wchwhich runs southward into the Danube a little
above Belgrade. It comprehended the countries now called Transylvania, Mol
davia, & Wallachia, & the eastern part of Hungary the upper Hungary. Its ancient
inhabitants were called Getæ by the Greeks, Daci by the Latines, & Goths by
themselves. Alexander the great attaqued them, & Trajan conquered them, &
reduced their country into a Province of the Roman Empire: & thereby the
propagation of the Gospel among them was much promoted. They were composed
of several Gothic nations, called Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Gepides, Lombards,
Burgundians, Alans, &c: who all wchwhich agreed in their manners, & spake the same
language, as Procopius represents. While they lived under the Romans the Goths
or Ostrogoths were seated in the eastern parts of Dacia, the Vandals in the
western part upon the river Teys, where the rivers Maresh & Keresh run
into it. The Visigoths were between them. The Gepides, according to Ior
nandes, were upon the Vistula. The Burgundians (a Vandalic nation) were
between the Vistula & the southern fountain of the Boristhenes, at some
distance from the mountain Crapac northwards, where Ptolomy places them,
by the names of Phrugundiones & Burgiones. The Alans (anotheraa Procop. l. 1 de Bello Vandalico. Gothic
nation) were between the northern fountain of the Boristhenes & the mouth
of the river Tanais, where Ptolomy placeth the mountain Alanus, & western
side of the Palus Mæotis.
These nations continued under the dominion of the Romans till the second
year of the emperor Philip, & then for want of their military pay began to revolt;
& the Ostrogoths set up a kingdom, which, under their kings Ostrogotha, Cniva,
Araric, Geberic, & Hermaneric, increased till the year of Christ 376; & then by an
incursion of the Huns from
brake into several smaller kingdoms. Hunnimund, the son of Hermaneric,
became king of over the Ostrogoths; Fridigern over the Visigoths; Winithar,
or Vinithar, over a part of the Goths called Gruthungi by Ammian, Go
thunni by Claudian, & Sarmatæ & Scythians by others; Athaneric over
another part of the Goths in Dacia, called Thervingi; & Box over the Antes
in Sarmatia. And the Gepides had also their king. The Vandals fled over the
Danube from Geberic in the latter end of the reign of Constantine the great,
& had seats granted to them in Pannonia by that Emperor, & there lived
quietly forty years, vizt till the year 377, when several Gothic nations
flying from the Hunns came over the Danube, & had seats granted them
in Mæsia & Thrace by the Greek Emperor Valens.,. But the next year
they revolted, & called in some Goths, Alans & Hunns, from beyond the
Danube, & routed the Roman army, & slew the emperor Valens, & spread
themselves into Greece & Pannonia as far as to the Alps. But in the years
379 & 380 they were checkt by the arms of the Emperors Gratian &
Theodosius, & made a submissive peace; & the Visigoths & Thervingi
returned to their seats in Mæsia & Thrace, & the Hunns retired over
the Danube, & the Alans & Gruthungi obteained seats in Pannonia.
About the year 373, or 374, the Burgundians rose from their seats in
upon the Vistula with an army of eighty thousand men to invade Gallia; &
being opposed, seated themselves upon the northern side of the Rhine over
against Mentz. And iIn the year 358, a body of the Salian Franks, with
their king, coming from the river Sala, were received into the empire by
the emperor Iulian, & seated in Gallia between Brabant & the Rheine. And148 And their king Mellobaudes was made Comes domesticorum & Magister by the
emperor Gratian. And Richomer, another noble Salian Franck, was made
Comes domesticorum, & Magister utriusqꝫue Militiæ, by Theodosius; & A.C. 384
was Consul with Clearchus. He was a great favourite of Theodosius, &
& accompanied him in his warrs against Eugenius, but died in the expedi
tion, & left a son called Theudemir, who afterwards became king of the
Salian Franks in Brabant. In the time of this war some Fraknks from
beyond the Rheine invaded Gallia under the conduct of Genobald, Marcomir
& Suno, but were repulsed by Stilico; & Marcomir being slain, was suc
ceeded in Germany by his son Pharamund.
While these nations remained quiet within the Empire subject
Romans, many others continued beyond the Danube till the death of the empe
ror Theodosius, & then rose up in arms. For Paulus Diaconus in his Historia
Miscella. Lib. XIV, speaking of the times next after the death of this Empe
ror, tell us: Eodem tempore erant Gothi et aliæ gentes maximæ trans Danu
bium habitantes: ex quibus rationabiliores quatuor sutnt, Gothi scilicet,
Huisogothi, Gepides & Vandali; et nomen tantum & nihil aliud mutantes.
Isti sub Arcadio et Honorio Danubium transeuntes, locati sunt in terra
Romanorum: et Gepides quidem (ex quibus postea divisi sunt Langobardi
et Avares) villas, quæ sunt circa Singidonum & Sirmium, habitavere. And
Procopius in the beginning of his Historia Vandalica writes to the same pur
pose. Hitherto the western Empire continu'd entire, but now brake into
many kingdoms.
Theodosius died A.C. 395; & then then
of Alaric the successor of Fridigern, rose from their seats in Thrace, &
wasted Macedon, Thessaly, Achaia, Peloponnesus, & Epire with fire & sword
five years together; & then turning westward, invaded Dalmatia, Illyricum &
Pannonia; & from thence went into Italy A.C. 402, & the next year were
so beaten at Pollentia & Verona by Stilico the commander of the forces
of the western Empire, that Claudian calls the remainder of the forces
of Alaric, tanta ex gente reliquias breves, & Prudentius Gentem deletam.
Thereupon Alaric made peace with the Emperor, being so far humbled
that Orosius saith, he did pro pace optima & quibuscunqꝫue sedibus simpli
citer et suppliciter & simpliciter orare. This peace was ratified by mu
tual hostages; & Ætius was sent hostage to Alaric; & therefore Alaric
continued a free Prince in the seats now granted to him.
When Alaric took up arms, the nations beyond the Danube began to be
in motion; & the next winter (the winter between A.C. 395 & A.C. 396) a
great body of Hunns, Alans, Ostrogoths, Gepides, & other northern nations,
came over the frozen Danube, being invited by Ruffin: & their brethren
also, who had obteained seats within the Empire, took up arms. Ierome
calls all this great multitude, Hunns, Alans, Vandals, Goths, Sarmatans,
Quades, & Marcomans; & saith, that they invaded all places between Constan
tinople & the Iulian Alps, wasting Scythia, Thrace, Macedon, Dardania,
Dacia, Thessaly, Achaia, Epire, Dalmatia, & all Pannonia. And the
Suevians also invaded Rhætia. For when Alaric ravaged Pannonia, the Romans were defending Rhætia; wchwhich gave Alaric an opportunity
of defend invading Italy, as Claudian thus mentions.
Non nisi perfidia nacti penetrabile tempus,
Irrupere Getæ, nostras dum Rhætia vires
Occupat, atqꝫue alio desudant Marte cohortes.
And when Alaric went from those parts into Italy, some other barbarianrous nations
invaded Noricum & Vindelicia, as the same Poet Claudian thus mentions.
Iam fœdera gentes
Exuerant, Latijqꝫue audita clade feroces
Vendelicos saltus & Norica rura tenebant.
This was in the years 402 & 403. And among these nations I reccon the Suevians,
Quades, & Marcomans; For they were all in arms at this time, & the Quades
& Marcomans were all in arms at this time, & The Quades & Marcomans
were Suevian nations; & they and the Suevians came originally from Bohemia,
& the river Suevus or Sprake in Lusatia, & were now united under one common
king called Ermeric, who soon after led them into Gallia. The Vandals & Alans might159 might also about this time extend themselves into Noricum. Also Vldino with
a great body of Hunns passed the Danuble about the time of Chrysostom's ba
nishment, that is, A.C. 404, & wasted Thrace & Mœsia. And Radagaisus king
of the Gruthunni & successor of Winithar, inviting over more barbarians
from beyond the Danube, invaded Italy with an army of above two hun
dedhundred thousand Goths; & the next year within a year or two (A.C. 405 or 406) was overcome by
Stilico, & perished with his Army. In this wasr Stilico was assisted with a
great body of Huns & Ostrogoths under the conduct of Vldin & Sarus: They were
hired by Emperor Honorius. And in all this confusion it was necessary
for the Lombards in Pannonia to arm themselves in their own defence, &
assert their liberty, the Romans being no longer able to protect them.
And now Stilico purposing to make himself Emperor, procured a military
prefecture for Alaric, & sent him into the east in the service of Honorius the
western Emperor, committing some Roman troops to his conduct to strengthen
his army of Goths, & promising to follow soon after with his own army. His pretence
was to recover some regions of Illyricum, which the eastern Emperor was
accused to detain injuriously from the western; but his secret designe
was to make himself Emperor, by the assistance of the Vandals & their
allyies: For he himself was a Vandal. And for faciliating this designe, he
invited a great body of the barbarous nations to invade the western Empire,
while he & Alaric invaded the eastern. And these nations under their seve
ral kings, the vVandals under Godegisilus, the Alans in two bodies, the one
under Goar, the other under Resplendial, & the Suevians Quades & Marcomans
under Ermeric, marched through Rhetia to the side of the Rheine, G pma 41[leaving
their seats in Pannonia to the Hunns & Ostrogoths, & joyned the Burgundians
under Gundicar, & ruffled the Franks in their further march. And oOn the
last day of December A.C. 406, they passed the Rheine at Ments, & diffused××Spread
themselves into Germania prima & the adjacent regions; & amongst other
actions the Vandals took Trevirs×Triers. Then they advanced into Belgium, & began
to ruffle×waste that country. Whereupon the Salian Franks in Brabant took up
arms, & under the conduct of Theudemir, the son of Ricimer, or Richomer,
above mentioned, made so stout a resistance, that they slew almost twenty
thousand of the Vandals, with their king Godegesilus, in battel; the rest escap
ing only by a party of Resplendial's Alans coming which came timely to their assistance.
Then the British soldiers, allarm'd by the rumour of these things, re
volted, & s
Gratian, whom they slew within four months; & lastly Constantine, under whom
they invaded Gallia A.C. 408, being favoured by Goar & Gundicar. And Constan
tine having possessed a good part of Gallia, created a good par his son Constans
Cæsar, & sent him into Spain to order his affairs there, A.C. 409.
In the mean time Resplendial, seing the aforesaid disaster of the
Vandals, & that Goar was gone over to the Romans, led his armiy from the
Rheine; & together with the Suevians, & residue of the Vandals, went towards
Spain; the Franks in the mean time prosecuting their victory so far as to
retake Trevirs×Triers, wchwhich after they had plundered it, they left to the Romans.
The Barbarians were at first stopt by the Pyrenaean mountains, which made them diffusespread
themselves into Aquitain: but the next year they had the passage betrayed unto
them by some soldiers of Constans; & entring Spain 4 Kal. Octob. A.C. 409, every
one conquered what he could; & at length (A.C. 411) they divided their conquests
by lot, & the Vandals obteained Bœtica, & part of Gall
rest of Gallæcia, & the Alans Lusitania & the Carthaginensian Province: the
Emperor for the sake of peace confirming them in those seats by grant A.C. 413.
Also the Roman Franks above mentioned, having made Theudemir their
king, began streight after their conquest of the Vandals to invade their neigh
bours. The first they set upon were the ✝✝ Galli Arborici: Whence the region was named Arboriebant, & contractly Brabant. Galuls of Brabant: but meeting with no
table resistance, they desired their alliance. And so those Galuls fell off from the
Romans, & made an intimate league with the Franks to be as one people,
marrying with one another, & conforming to one another's manners, till they
became without distinction. Thus by the access of these Galuls, & of the
forreign Franks also, who afterwards came over the Rheine, the Salian
kingdom soon grew very great & powerfull.
Stilico's expedition against the Greek Emperor was stopt by the order of
Honorius; & then Alaric came out of Epire into Noricum, & requested a summ of1610 of money for his service. The Senate were inclined to deny him, but by at by Stilico's
mediation granted it. But after a while Stilico being accused of a traiter
ous conspiracy with Alaric, & slain 10 Kal. Sept. A.C. 408, & Alaric thereby
disappointed of his money, & reputed an enemy to the empire; he brake streight
into Italy with his army which he brought out of Epire, & sent to his brother
Adolphus to follow him with what forces he had in Pannonia, wchwhich were not
great but yet not to be despised. Thereupon Honorius fearing to be shut up
in Rome, retired to Ravenna in October A.C. 408. And from that time Ravenna
continued to be the seat of the western Emperors. In those days the Hunns also
invaded Pannonia; & seizing the deserted seats of the Vandals, Alans & Goths,
founded a new kingdom there. And Alaric advancing to Rome besieged it, &
9 Kal. Sept. A.C. 410 took it: & afterwards attempting to pass into Afric, was ship
wrackt. After which Honorius made peace with him, & got up an army to send
against the Tyrant Constantine.×
At the same time Gerontius, one of Constantine's captains, revolted from him, & set
up Maximus Emperor in Spain. Whereupon Constantine sent Edobec, another of
his captains, to draw to his assistance, beside the barbarians under Goar & Gun
dicar in Gallia, supplies of Franks & Alemans from beyond the Rheine; & com
mitted the custody of Vienna in Narbonne to his son Constans. Gerontius advancing,
first slew Constans at Vienna, & then began to besiege Constantine at Arles. But
Honorius at the same time sending Constantius with an army on the same er
rand, Gerontius fled, & Constantius continued the siege, being strengthned by the
access of the greatest part of the soldiers of Gerontius. After four months
siege, Edobec having procured succours, the barbarian kings at Ments, Goar
& Gundicar, constitute Iovinus Emperor, & together with him set forward
to relieve Arles. At their approach Constantius retired. They pursued, &
he beat them by surprise; but not prosecuting his victory, the barbarians
soon recovered themselves; yet not so as to hinder the fall of the tyrants
Constantine, Iovinus & Maximus. But Britain could not be recovered to
the empire, but remained ever after a distinct kingdom.
The next year (A.C. 412) the Visigoths being beaten in Italy, had
had Aquitain granted them to retire into: & they invaded it with much violence,
causing the Alans & Burgundians to retreat, who were then depopulating it.
At the same time the Burgundians were brought to peace; & the Emperor
granted them for inheritance a region upon the Rhene which they had in
vaded. And the same I presume he did with the Alans. But the Franks not
long after retaking & burning TrevirsTriers, Castinus, A.C. 415, was sent against them
with an army, & routed them & slew Theudomir their king. This was the second
s taking of TrevirsTriers by the Franks. It was therefore taken four times, once by the
Vandals & ththen
tahe Prince or King of the Salian Franks in Germany. From thence he brought
new forces, reigned over the whole, & had seats granted to his people neare
within the empire neare the Rheine.
And now the Barbarians were all quieted, & settled in several kingdoms
within the Empire, not only by conquest, but also by the grants of the emperor
Honorius. For Rutilius in his Itinerary, written in Autumn, Anno Vrbis 1169,
that is (according to Varro's computation then in use) A.C. 416, thus laments
the wasted fields:
Illa quidem longis nimium deformia bellis; & then adds,
Iam tempus laceris post longa incendia fundis
Vel pastorales ædificare casas. And a little after
Æternum tibi Rhenus aret.
And Orosius in the end of his history, which was finished A.C. 417, represents
now a general pacification of the barbarous nations by the words comprimere,
coangustare, addicere gentes immanissimas; terming them imperio addictas,
because they had obteined seats in the empire by league & compact; &
corangustatas, because they did no longer invade all regions at pleasure,
but by the same compact remained quiet in the seats then granted them.
And these are the kingdoms, of wchwhich the feet of the Image were hencefor
ward composed, & which are represented by iron & clay intermixed, which
did not stick one to another, & were of different strength.
1711
Chap.
V. 6
Of the ten kingdoms represented by
the ten horns of the
fourth Beast.
Now by the warrs above described the western empire of the
Romans, was about the time that Rome was besieged & taken by the Goths, became broken into the following ten kingdoms.
• 1 The kingdomse of the Vandals & Alans in Spain & Afric
• 2 The kingdom of the Suevians in Spain
• 23 The kingdom of the Visigoths.
• 4 The kingdom of the Alans in Gallia.
• 5 The kingdom of the Burgundians.
6 The kingdom of the Franks.
7 The kingdom of the Burgundians Britains.
• 8 The kingdom of the Hunns.
9 The kingdom of the Lombards
10 The kingdom of Ravenna.
Seven of these kingdoms are thus mentioned by Sigonius. ×1 Honorio reg
nante, in Pannoniam 2 Hunni, in Hispaniam 3 Vandali, 4 Alani, 5 Suevi &
6 Gothi, in Galliam 4 Alani 7 Burgundiones et 6 Gothi, certis sedibus permis
sis, accepti. Add the Franks, Britains, & Lombards, & you have the then.
For these arose about the same time with the ten seven. But let us view
them severally.
1. The kings of the Vandals were, A.C. 4067, Godegisilus, 407 Gunderic,
426 Geiseric, 477 Hunneric, 484 Gundemund, 496 Thrasamund, 523 Geiseric,
5350 Gelimer. Godegesilus led them into Gallia A.C. 406, Gunderic into Spain
A.C. 409. Geiseric into Africa A.C. 427, & Gelimer was conquered by Be
lisarius A.C. 533. Their kingdom lasted in Gallia, Spain & Africa together
126 years; & in Africa they were very potent. The Alans had only two
kings of their own in Spain, Resplendial, & Ataces, Vtacus or Othacar.
Vnder Resplendial they went into France A.C. 407, & into Spain A.C. 409.
And Ataces was slain with almost all his army by Vallia king of the Visi
goths A.C. 419. And then the remainder of these Alans subjected them
selves to Gunderic king of the Vandals in Bœtica, & went afterwards
with them into Africa, as I learn out of Procopius. And tWhence the kings
of the Vandals stiyled themselves kings of the Vandals & Alans; as may
be seen in the Edict of Hunneric recited by Victor in his Vandalic per
secution. In conjunction with the H pma 49[Chatti, these Alans gave the name of
Cathalaunia, or Catth-Alania, to the Province which is still so called.
These Alans had also Gepides among them; & therefore the Gepides
came into Pannonia before the Alans left it. There they became
subject to the Hunns till the death of Attila A.C. 454, & at length
were conquered by the Ostrogoths.
2. The kings of the Suevians were A.C. 4066 Alaric 406 407 Er
meric, 483 Rechila, 448 Rechiarius, 458 Maldra, 460 Frumarius,
463 Regismund. And after some other kings who are unknown, reigned
A.C. 558 Theodemir, 568 Miro, 582 Euboricus, & 583 Andeca. This
kingdom, after it had been once seated in Spain, remained always in
Gallæcia & Lusitania. Ermeric after the fall of the Alan kingdom,
enlarged it into all Gallicia, forcing the Vandals to retire into Bœtica &
the Carthaginensian Province. This kingdom after it had been once
seated lasted 177 years according to Isidorus, & then was subdued by Leo
vigildus king of the Visigoths, & made a Province of his kingdom A.C. 585.
3. The kings of the Visigoths were A.C. 400 Alaric, 410 Athaulphus,
415 Sergeric & Vallia, 419 Theoderic, 451 Thorismund, 452 Theoderic, 4651812 465 Euric, 482 Alaric, 505 Gensalaric, 526 Amalaric, 531 Theu
dius, 548 Theudisclus, &c. I date this kingdom from the time that Alaric
left Thrace & Greece to invade the western Empire. In the end of the
reign of A
ted to pass out of France into Spain. Sergeric reigned but a few days.
In the beginning of Vallia's reign they assaulted the Romans afresh, but
were again repulsed, & then made peace on this condition, that they
should on the behalf of the empire invade the barbarian kingdoms in
Spain. And this they did, together with the Romans, in the years 417 &
418, overthrowing the Alans & part of the Vandals. And tThen they
received Aquitain of the Emperor by a full donation, leaving their
conquests in Spain to the Emperor: Aand thereby the seats of the conquered
Alans came into the hands of the Romans. In the year 455, Theoderic
(assisted by the Burgundians) invaded Spain, wchwhich was then almost all
subject to the Suevians, & took a part of it from them. A.C. 506, the Goths
were driven out of Gallia by the Franks. A.C. 585, they conquered the
Suevian kingdom, & became Lords of all Spain. A.C. 713, the Saracens
invaded them, but in time they recovered their dominions, & have reigned
in Spain ever since
4. The kings of the Alans in Gallia were Goar, Sambida, Eocharic,
Sangibanus, Beurgus, &c. Vnder Goar they invaded Gallia A.C. 4067, & had
seats given them neare the Rheine, A.C. 412. Vnder Sambida (whom
Bucher puts makes the successor, if nont the son of Goar) they had the territories
of Valence given them by Ætius the Emperor's
Eocharic they conquered a region of the rebelling Galli Arborici, given them by
Ætius. This region was from them named Alencomium, quasi Alanorum con
ventus. Vnder Sangibanus they were invaded, & their regal city Orleans besieged
by Attila king of the Hunns, with a vast army of 500000 men. And Ætius & the
barbarian kings of Gallia came to raise the siege, & beat the Hunns in a very
memorable battel, A.C. 451, in cap ×quilil campis Catalaunicis, so called from these
Alans mixt with the Chatti. The region is now contractly called Campane.
In that battel were slain on both sides 162000 men. A year or two after,
Attila returned with an immense army to conquer this kingdom, bust was
again beaten by them & the Visigoths together in a battle of three days con
tinuance, with a slaughter almost as great as the former. Vnder Beurgus, or Bi
orgor, they infested Gallia round about, till the reign of Maximus the Emperor; &
then they passed the Alps in winter, & came into Liguria, but were there beaten,
& Beurgus slain, by Ricimer commander of the Emperor's forces, A.C. 464. Afterwards
they were again beaten, by the joint force of Odoacer king of Italy & Childeric king
of the Franks, about the year 480, & again by Theudebert king of the Austrian
Franks about the year 511.
5. The kings of the Burgundians were A.C. 407 Gundicar, 436 Gundioc, 467
Bilimer, 473 Gundobaldus with his brothers, 510 Sigismund, 517 Godomarus. Vnder
Gundicar they invaded Gallia A.C. 407, & had seats given them by the Emperor
neare the Rheine in Gallia Belgica, A.C. 412. They had Saxons among them, &
were now so potent, that Orosius A.C. 417 wrote of them: Burgundionum esse
prævalidam manum, Galliæ hodieqꝫue testes sunt, in quibus præsumpta possessione con
sistunt. About the year 435 they received great overthrows by Ætius, & soon after
by the Hunns: but five years after had Saxony Savoy granted them to be shared
by the iwith the inhabitants; & from that time became again a potent kingdom, being
bounded by the river Rhodanus, but afterwards extending much further into the
heart of Gallia. Gundobald conquered the regions about the rivers Araris & Rho
danus, with the territories of Marseilles; & invaded Italy in the times of the Emperor
Gliycerius, & conquered all his brethren. Godomarus made Orleans his royal seat:
Regnum Aurelianorum. He was conquered by
Clotharius & Childebert, kings of France the Franks, A.C. 526. And fFrom thence
forward this kingdom was sometimes united to the kingdom of the Franks,
& sometimes divided from it, till the reign of Charles the great, who made
his son Carolottus king of Burgundy. And from that time, for about 3
years together, it enjoyed its proper kings; & was then broken into the
Dukedome of Burgundy, & County of Burgundy & County of Savoy; &
afterwards those were broken into other lesser Counties.
6. The kings of the Franks were A.C. 407 Theudemir, 417
Pharamund, 428 Clodio, 448 Merovæus, 456 Childeric, 482 Clodo
væus &c1913væus &c. Windeline & Bucher, two of the most diligent searchers
into the originals of this kingdom, make it begin the same year with
the Barbarian invasions of Gallia, that is, A.C. 407. Of the first
kings there is in Labbee's Bibliotheca M.S. this record.
Historica quædam excerpta ex veteri stemmate genealogico Regum Franciæ
Franciæ.
Genobaldus, Marcomerus, Suno, Theodemeris. Isti duces vel Reguli ex
titerunt a principio gentis Francorum diversis temporibus. Sed incertum
relinquunt historici quali sibi procreationis lineâ successerunt.
Pharamundus: Sub hoc rege suo primo Franci legibus se subdunt,
quas Primores eorum tulerunt Wisogastus, Atrogastus, Salegastus.
Chlochilo. Iste, transito Rheno, Romanos in Carbonaria sylva devicit,
Camaracum cœpit & obtinuit, annis 20 regnavit. Sub hoc rege Franci
usqꝫue Summam progressi sunt.
Merovechus. Sub hoc rege Franci Trevirim destruunt, Metim succen
dunt, usqꝫue Aurelianum perveniunt.
Now for Genobaldus, Marcomer & Suno, they were capitains of the
Transrhenane Franks in the reign of Theodosius, & concern us not. We
are to begin with Theudemer the first king of the rebelling Salij, called
Didio by IIvo Carnotensis, & Thediedo & Theudemerus by Rhenanus. His face
is extant in a coyin of gold found with this inscription, THE
published by Petavius; & still or lately extant, as Windeline testifies: which
shews that he was a king, & that in Gallia, seeing that rude Germany under
stood not then the coining of money, nor used either Latin words or letters.
He was the son of Richemer, or Richomer, the favourite of the Emperor
Theodosius; & so being a Roman Franck, & of the Salian royal blood, they
therefore upon the rebellion made him king. The whole time of his reign
you have stated in Excerptis Gregorij Turonentsis e Fredigario, cap. 5, 6,
7, 8, where the making him king, the tyranny of Iovinus, the slaughter of
the associates of Iovinus, the second taking of TrevirsTriers by the Franks, & their
war with Castinus in which this king was slain, are as a series of
successive tExtinctis Ducibus in Francis,
denuo Reges creantur ex eadem stirpe qua prius fuerant. Eodem
tempore Iovinus ornatus regios assumpsit. Constantinusq If in shd.should nh. be in fugam versus
Italiam dirigit; missis a Iovino Principe percussoribus super Mentio flumine
capite truncatur. Multi nobilium jussu Iovini apud Averniso capti, et a
ducibus Honorij crudeliter interempti sunt. Trevirorum civitas, factione
unius ex senatoribus nomine Lucij, a Francis capta & incensa est. —
— Castinus Domesticorum cComes expeditionem accipit contra Francos, &c.
Then returning to speak of Theudemir, he adds: Franci electum a se
regem|, sicut prius fuerat|, crinitum|, inquirentes diligenter ex genere
Priami, Frigi et Francionis, super se crearunt nomine Theudemerum
filium Richemeris, qui in hoc prælio quod supra memini, a Romanis inter
fectus est; that is, in the battel with Castinus his army. Of his death Gre
gory Turonensis makes this further mention: In consularibus legimus
Theodemerem regem Francorum & filium Ricimeris quondam, et Ascilam
matrem ejus, gladio intercfec.
Vpon this victory of the Romans, the Franks & rebelling Galuls, who
in the time of Theudemir were in at war with one another, united to
strengthen themselves, as Ordericus VitalisaaCum Galli prius
contra Romanos rebellâssent, Franci ijs sociati sunt, et pariter juncti
Ferramundum Sunonis Ducis Filium, sibi regem præfecerunt. Prosper
sets down the time; Anno 25 Honorij, Pharamundus regnat in Francia. This
Bucher well observesing, referrs to the end of the year of Christ 416, or the beginning
of the next year, dating the years of Honorius from the death of Valen
tinian; & argues well, that at this time Pharamund was not only king
by the constitution of the Franks, but crowned also by the consent of Ho
norius, & had a part of Gallia assigned to him by covenant. And this might
be the cause that Roman writers recckoned him the first king: Which some
not understanding, have reputed him the founder of this kingdom by an army
of the transrhenane Franks. And he might come with such an army, but
he succeeded Theudemir by right of blood & consent of the people. For the above2014 above cited passage of Fredegarius, Extinctis Ducibus in Francis denuo
Reges creantur ex eadem stirpe, quâ prius, implies that the kingdom con
tinued to this new elected family, tduring the reign of more kings thean
one. If you date the years of Honorius from the death of his father, the
reign of Pharamund might begin two years later thean is assigned by
Bucher. The Salique laws made in his I pma 57[reign, which are yet extant, shew
by their name that it was the kingdom of the Salij over which he reigned;
& by the pecuniary mulcts in them, that the place where he reigned, abound
ed much with money, & consequently was within the Empire, rude Ger
many knowing not the use of money, till they mixed with the Romans. Also
in the Preface to the Salique laws (written & prefixed to them soon after the
conversion of the Franks to the Christian religion, that is, in the end of the
reign of Merovæus, or soon after,) the original of this kingdom is thus described:
Hæc enim gens, quæ fortis dum esset, et robore valida, Romanorum jugum
durissimum de suis cervicibus excussit pugnando, &c. This kingdom there
fore was erected, not by invasion but by rebellion, as was describebd above.
Prosper in regestring their kings in order, tells us: Pharamundus regnat
in Francia; Clodio regnat in Francia; Merovæus regnat in Francia:
& who can imagin but that in all these places he meant one & the same
Francia? And yet it's certain that the Francia of Merovæus was in
Gallia.
Yet the father of Pharamund, being king of a body of Franks in Germany
in the reign of the Emperor Theodosius, as above, Pharamund might reign
over the same Franks in Germany before he succeeded Theudemer in the
kingdom of the Salians within the empire, & even before Theudemer began
his reign; suppose in the first year of Honorius, or when those Franks
being repulsed by Sticolico, Stilico, lost their kings Marcomir & Suno, one of whichom
was the father of Pharamund. And the Roman Franks, after the death of
Theudemer, might invite Pharamund with his people over from beyond the
Rheine. But we are not to regard the reign of Pharamund in Germany:
We are to date this kingdom from its rise within the empire, & to look upon
it as strengthedned by the access of other Franks coming from beyond the
Rheine, whether in the reign of this king or in that of his successor Clodio.
For in the last year of Pharamund's reign, Ætius took from him a part
of his possession a part of his possession in Gallia: but his successor Clodio
(whom Fredigarius represents the son of Theudemer, & some call Clogio,
Cloio, & Claudius) inviting from beyond the Rheine a great body of Franks,
recovered all, & carried on their conquests as far as the river Some. And
tThen those Franks dividing conquests with him, erected certain new kingdoms
at Colen & Cambray, & some other cities: all which were afterwards con
quered by Clodovæus, who also drave the Goths out of Gallia, & placed fix'd his
seat at Paris, where it hads continued ever since. And this was the original
of the present kingdom of France.
7. The kings of Britain were A.C. 407 or 408, Marcus, Gratian,
& Constantine successively; A.C. 425 Vortigern, 466 Aurelius Ambrosius,
4978 Vther Pendraco, 508 Arthur, 542 Constantinus, 545 Aurelius
Cunanus, 578 Vortiporeus, 581 Malgo, 586 Careticus, 613 Cadwan,
635 Cadwalin, 676 Cadwallader: The first three were Roman Tyrants,
who revolted from the empire. Orosius, Prosper & Zosimus connect their
revolt with the irruptions of the barbarians into Gallia, as consequent
thereunto. And Prosper (with whom Zosimus agrees) puts it in the year wchwhich
began the day after that irruption. The just time I thus collect: Marcus
reigned not many days, Gratian four months, & Constantine three years.
He was slain the year after the taking of Rome, that is A.C. 411, 14 Kal
Octob. Whence the revolt was in Spring A.C. 408. Sozomen joyns Con
stantine's expedition into Gallia with Arcadius's expedition death, or the
times a little after, & Arcadius died A.C. 408 May 1st. Now tho the reign
of these Tyrants was but short, yet they gave a beginning to the kingdom
of Brittain, & so may be recckoned the three first kings, especially since
the posterit his sons sons Aurelius Ambrosius, & Vther Pen
draco, & his grandson Arthur) reigned afterwards. For from the time of the
revolt of these tyrants Britain continued a distinct kingdom absolved
from subjection to the Empire, the Emperor not being
by unquestionable records. For Prosper tells us: A.C. 410, Variane Co
pestate præ valetudine Romanorum vires funditus attenuatæ Britanniæ. And Sigebert,
conjoyining this with the siege of Rome, saith: Britannorum vires attenuatæ, et
substrahunt se a Romanorum dominatione. And Zosimus lib. 6: The Transrhe
nane Barbarians invading all nations places, reduced the inhabitants of the island
of Britain, & also certain Celtic nations to that pass, that they fell off from the Roman
Empire; & being no longer obedient to the Roman laws κατ᾽ ἑαυτὸν βιατεύειν,
they lived in separate bodies after their own pleasure. Therefore the Britains
taking up arms, & hazzarding themselves for their own safety, they freed their
cities from the imminent Barbarians. In like manner all Brabant & some
other Provinces of the Gaulls imitating the Britains, freed themselves after
the same manner, ejecting the Roman Presidents, & forming a certain com
mon wealth according to their own pleasure. This rebellion of Britain & the
Celtic nations happened when Constantiane usurped the kingdom. So also Pro
copius, (lib. 1. Vadal Vandal.), speaking of the same Constantine, saith: Constantine being
overcome in battel, was slain with his children: Βρετταννίαν μέν τοι Ρωμᾶιοι
ἀνασώσασθαι οὐκέτι ἔχον αλλ᾽ οὖσα ὑπὸ τυραννοςτυράννους ἀπ᾽ ἀυτοῦ ἔμενε: Yet
the Romans could not recover Britain any more, but from that time it remain
ed under Tyrants. And Beda, (l. 1, c. 11.) Fracta est Roma a Gothis anno 1164
suæ conditionis; ex quo tempore Romani in Britannia regnare cessaverunt.
And Ethelwaldus: A tempore Romæ a Gothis expugnatæ cessavit imperium
Romanorum a Britannia insula, et ab alijs, quas sub jugo tenebant servi
tutis tenebant, multis terris. terris. And Theodoret (Serm. 9. de curand. Græc.
affect.) about the year 424, recckons the Biritaeins among the nations which
were not then in subjection to the Roman Empire. And sSo Sigonius, (ad annum
411), Imperium Romanorum post excessum Constantini in Britannia nullum fuit.
Between the death of Constantine & the reign of Vortigern was an interreg
nugm of about 14 years, in which the Britains had warrs with the Picts & Scots,
& twice obteained the assistance of a Roman Legion, whicho draove out the
enemy, but told them positively at their departure that they would come no
more. Of Vortigern's beginning to reign there is this record in an old Chro
nicle in Nennius, quotbden & others: Guortigernus tenuit imperi
um in Britannia, Theodosio & Valentiniano Coss [vizt A.C. 425.] & in quarto
anno regni sui Saxones ad Britanniam venerunt, Fœlice & Tauro Coss.
[vizt A.C. 428.] This coming of the Saxons Sigebert referrs to the 4th year
of Valentinian, which falls in with the year 428 assigned by this Chronicle:
And two years after, the Saxons totgether with the Picts were beaten by the Bri
tains. Afterwards in the reign of Martian the Emperor, that is, between the
years 450 & 456, the Saxons under Hengist were called in by the Britains,
but six years after revolted from them, & made war upon them with various
success, & by degrees succeeded them. Yet the Britains continued a flourishing
kingdom till the reign of Careticus; & the war between the two nationsaa Rolevinc's Antiqua Saxon. l. 1. c. 6. continued
till the reign of Pope Sergius A.C. 688.
8. The kings of the Hunns were A.C. 406 Octar & Rugila, 433 Bleda
& Attila. Octar & Rugila were the brothers of Munzuc king of the Hunns in
Gothia beyond the Danube, & Bleda & Attila were his sons, & Munzuc was the
son of Balamir. The two first, as Iornandes tells us, were kings of the Hunns, but
not of them all, & had the two last for their successors. I date the reign of the Hunns
in Pannonia from the time that the Vandals & Alans relinquished Pannonia to them, A.C. 4067: Sigo
nius from the time that the Visigoths relinquished PanConstat,
saith he, quod Gothis ex Illyrico profectis, Hunni successerunt, atqꝫue imprimis
Pannoniam tenuerunt. Neque enim Honorius viribus ad resistendum in
tantis difficultatibus destitutus, prorsus eos prohibere potuit, sed meliore
consilio, animo ad pacem converso, fœdus cum eis, datis acceptisqꝫue obsidibus
fecit; ex quibus qui dati sunt, Ætius, qui etiam Alarico tributus fuerat,
præcipue memoratur. How Ætius was hostage to the Goths & Hunns is relat
ed by Frigeridus, who when he had mentioned that Theodosius emperor of
the east had sent grievous commands to Iohn, who after the death of Honorius
had usurped the crown of the western empire, he subjoyins: Iis permotus Iohan
nes, Ætium id tempus curam palatij gerentem cum ingenti auri pondere
ad Chunnos transmisit, nostos sibi obsidiatûs sui tempore & familiari amicitia
devinctos — And a little after: Ætius tribus annis Alarici obses, dehinc Chun
norum, postea Carpilionis gener ex Comite domesticorum et Ioannis Cura palatij.
Now Bucher shews that Ætius was hostage to Alaric till the year 410, when Alaric2216 Alaric died, & to the Hunns between the years 411 & 415, & son in law to Carpilio
about the year 417 or 418, & Curopalates to Iohn about the end of the year
423. Whence it's probable that he became hostage to the Hunns about the
year 412 or 413, when Honorius made leagues with almost all the barbarous
nations, & granted them seats. But I had rather say with Sigonius, that Ætius
became hostage to Alaric A.C. 403. It's further manifest out of Bucher
Prosper, that the Hunns were in quiet possession of Pannonia in the year 432.
For in the first book of Eusebius's Chronicle Prosper writes: Anno decimo
post obitum Honorij, cum ad Chunnorum gentem cui tunc Rugila præerat;
post prælium cum Bonifacio se Ætius contulisset, impetrato aduxilio ad Ro
manorum solum regreditur. And in the second book: Ætio et Valerio Coss: Ætius
deposita potestate profugus ad Hunnos in Pannonia pervenit, quorum
amicitia auxilioqꝫue usus pacem principum interpellatæ potestatis obtinuit.
Hereby it appears that at this time Rugila (or as Maximus calls him,
Rechilla) reigned over the Hunns in Pannonia; & that Pannonia was not
now so much as accounted within the soils of the Empire, being formerly granted
away to the Hunns; & that these were the very same body of Hunns with
which Ætius had, in the time of his being an hostage, contracted friendship:
by virtue of which, as he sollicited them before to the aid of Iohn the tyrant
A.C. 424, so now he procured their intercession for himself with the Empe
ror. Octar died A.C. 430; for Socrates tells us, that K pma 65[about that time the Bur
gundians having been newly vext by the Hunns, upon intelligence of
Octar's death seeing them without a leader, set upon them suddenly with
so much success×vigour, that 3000 Burgundians slew 10000 Hunns. Of Rugila's
being now king in Pannonia you have heard already. He died A.C. 433, & was
succeeded by Bleda, as Prosper & Maximus inform us. This Bleda with his
his brother Attila were before this time kings of the Hunns beyond the Danube,
their father Munzuc's kingdom being divided between them; & now they
united the kingdom of Pannonia to their own. Whence Paulus Diaconus
saith, they did regnum intra Pannoniam Daciamqꝫue gerere. In the year 441, they
began to invade the Empire a fresh, adding to the Pannonian forces new
& great a
then Attila seing Bleda inclined to peace, slew him A.C. 444, inherited
his dominions, & invaded the Empire a fresh. At length after various
great warrs with the Romans, Attila perished A.C. 454; & his sons quar
relling about his dominions, gave occasion to the Gepides, Ostrogoths & other
nations who were their subjects, to rebell & make war upon them. And
tThe same year the Ostrogoths had seats granted to them in Pannonia,
by the Emperors Marcian & Valentinian; & with the Romans ejected
the Hunns out of Pannonia, soon after the death of Attila, as all histo
rians agree. This ejection was in the reign of Avitus, as is mentioned in
the Chronicum Boiorum, & in Sidonius, Carm. 7 in Avitum, which speaks
thus of that Emperor
— cujus solum amissas post sæcula multa
Pannonias revocavit iter, jam credere promptum est
Quid faciet bellis.
The Poet means, that by the coming of Avitus the Hunns yielded more
easily to the Goths. This was written by Sidonius in the beginning of the
reign of Avitus: And his reign began in the end of the year 455, & lasted
not one full year.
Iornandes tells us: Duodecimo anno regni Walliæ Walliæ post pene
quinquaginta annos invasa Pannonia, Hunni a Romanis & Gothis pulsi sunt.
And Marcelline: Hierio et Ardaburio Coss. Pannoniæ quæ per quinqua
taquinquaginta annos ab Hunnis retinebantur, a Romanis receptæ sunt. Whence it
should seem that the Hunns invaded & held Pannonia from the year 378
or 379 to the year 427, & then were driven out of it. But this is a plane
mistake: For it is certain that the Emperor Theodosius left the Empire
entire. And we have shewed out of Prosper, that the Hunns were in quiet
possession of Pannonia in the year 432. The vVisigoths in those days
had nothing to do with Pannonia, & the Ostrogoths continued subject to the
Hunns till the death of Attila, A.C. 454; & Wallia king of the Visigoths did not2317 did not reign twelve years. He began his reign in the end of the year
415, reigned three years, & was slain A.C. 419, as Idacius, Isidorus, &
the Spanish manuscripts Chronicles seen by Grotius testify. And Olympio
dorus, who produceth his history only to the year 425, sets down therein
the death of Valia king of the Visigoths, & conjoyins it with that of Con
stantius which happened A.C. 420. Wherefore the Valia of Iornandes,
who reigned at the least twelve years, is some other king. And I suspect
that this name hath been put by mistake for Valamir king of the Ostro
goths: For For the action recorded was of the Romans & Ostrogoths dri
ving the Huns out of Pannonia after the death of Attila; And its is not
likely that the historian would referr the history of the Ostrogoths to the reign years of the Visigothic
kings. This action happened in the end of the year 455, wchwhich I take to
be the twelfth-year of Valamir in Pannonia, & which was almost fifty
years after the year 406, in which the Hunns succeeded the Vandals &
Alans in Pannonia. Vpon the ceasing of the line of Hunnimund the son
of Hermaneric, the Ostrogoths lived without kings of their own nation
about forty years together, being subject to the Hunns. And when Alaric
began to make war upon the Romans, wchwhich was in the year 444, he
made Valamir, with his brothers Theodemir & Videmir the grandsons of
Vinethar, captains or kings of these so Ostrogoths under him. And in
the twelfth year of Valamir's reign dated from thence, the Hunns
were driven out of Pannonia.
Yet the Hunns were not so ejected, but that they had further con
tests with the Romans, till the head of Denfix the son of Attila, A.C. 469,
(in the Consulship of Zeno & Marcian as Marcelline relates) was car
ried to Constantinople. Nor we
For besides their reliques in Pannonia, Sigonius tells us, that when the
emperors Marcian & Valentinian granted Pannonia to the Goths, (which
was in the year 454) they granted part of Illyricum to some
of the Hunns & Sarmatans. And in the year 526, when the Lombards
removing into Pannonia made warr there with the Gepides, the Avares
(a part of the Hunns, who had now taken the name of Avares from one
of their kings) assisted the Lombards in that war; & the Lombards after
wards, when they went into Italy, left their seats in Pannonia to the
Avares in recompence of their friendship. And fFrom that time the Hunns
grew again very powerfull, their kings (whom they called Chagan)
troubling the empire very much in the reigns of the Emperors Mauri
tirus, Phocas, & Heraclius. And this is the original of the present
kingdom of Hungary, which from these Avares & other Hunns mixed
together took the name of Hun-Avaria, & by contraction Hungary.
9. The Lombards, before they came over the Danube, were command
ed by two Captains, Ibor & Ayon: after whose death they had kings, Agil
mundus, Lamisso, Lechu, Hildehoc, Gudehoc, Claffo, Tato, Wacho, Walter,
Audoin, Alboin, Cleophis, &c. Agilmundus was the son of Aiyon;
their king (according to Prosper) in the Consulship of Honorius & Theo
dosius A.C. 389, & reigned 33 years, according to Paulus Warnefridus,
& was slain in battel by the Bulgarians. Prosper places his death in the
Consulship of Marinianus & Asclepiadorus, A.C. 423. Lamisso routed
the Bulgarians, & reigned theree years, & Lechu almost forty. Gudehoc was
contemporary to Odoacer king of the Heruli in Italy, & led his people
from Pannonia into Rugia, a country on the north side of Noricum next
beyond the Danube; from whence Odoacer then carried his people into
Italy. Tato overthrew the kingdom of the Heruli beyond the Danube. And
Wacho conquered the Suevians, a kingdom then bounded on the east by Ba
varia, on the west by France, & on the south by the Burgundians. Audoin
returned into Pannonia A.C. 526, & there overcame the Gepides. Alboin
A.C. 551 overthrew the kingdom of the Gepides, & slew their king Chunnimun
dus;: & A.C. 563 he assisted the Greek emperor against Totila king of the Ostro
goths in Italy; & A.C. 568 led his people out of Pann
where they reigned till the year 774.
According2418
According to Paulus Diaconus, the Lombards with many other Gothic nations came
into the Empire from beyond the Danube in the reign of Arcadius & Honorius, that is,
between the years 395 & 408. But they might come in a little earlier. For we are
told that the Lombards, under their captains Ibor & Ayon, beat the Vandals in battel; &
Prosper placeth this victory in the Consulship of Ausonius & Olybrius, that is, A.C. 379.
Before this year war the Vandals had remained quiet forty years in the seats granted
to them in Pannonia by Constantine the great. And therefore if these were the same Van
dals, this war was
over the Danube into Pannonia a year or two before the battel; & might must have put an end to that
quiet which had lasted forty years. And after Gratian & Theodosius had quetieted the
barbarians, they might either retire over the Danube, or continue quiet under the
Romans till the death of Theodosius; & then either invade the Empire anew, or throw
off all subjection to it. By their warrs, first with the Vandals & then with the Bulgarians, a Scythian
nation so called from the river Volga whence they came; it appears that even
in those days they were a kingdom not contemptible.
10. These nine kingdoms being rent away, we are next to consider the residue
of the western empire. While this epmpire continued entire, it was the Beast himself:
but the residue thereof is but only a part of him. And if this part be considered as a
horn, the reign of this horn may be dated from the translation of the Imperial
seat from Rome to Ravenna, which was in October A.C. 408. For then the
Emperor Honorius, fearing that Alaric would beseige him in Rome if he staid
there retired to Millain, & thence to Ravenna: & the ensuing siege & sacking
of Rome confirmed his residence there, so that he & his successors ever after made
made it their home. And aAccordingly Macchiavel in his Florentine history
writes, that Valentinian having left Rome, translated the seat of the empire to Ravenna.
Rhætia belonged to the western Emperorsrs so long as that Empire stood; & then
it descended, with Italy & the Roman Senate, to Odoacer king of the Herulij in
Italy, & after him to Theoderic king of the Ostrogoths & his successors, by the grant
of the Greek Emperors. Vpon the death of Valentinian the second, the Ale
mans & Suevians invaded Rhætia A.C. 455. But I do not find that they erected
any standingsettled kingdom there: For in the year 457, while they were yet depo
pulating Rhætia, they were attaqucked & beaten by Burto Master of
the horse to the Emperor Majoranus; & I heare nothing more of their
invading Rhætia. Clodovæus king of France, in or about the yeare 496, conquered
a kingdome of the Alemans, & slew their last king Ermeric. But this
kingdome was seated in Germany, & only bordered upon Rhætia: For
its people fled from Clodovæus into the neighbouring kingdome of the Os
trogoths under Theoderic., And Theoderic who received them as friends, & wrote
& a friendly letter to Clodovæus in their behalf. And by this means they
became inhabitants of Rhætia, as subjects under the dominion of the
Ostrogoths.
When the Greek Emperor conquered the Ostrogoths, he succeeeded them
in them in the kingdom of Ravenna, not only by right of conquest but also
by right of inheritance, the Roman Senate L pma 73[still going along with this
kingdom. And therefore we may reccon that this kingdome continued
in the Exarchate of Ravenna & Senate of Rome. For the remainder
of the western eEmpire went along with the Senate of Rome, by reason
of the right whhich this Senate still retained, & at length exerted, of
chusing a new western Emperor.
I have now enumerated the tenn kingdoms, into which the wes
tern Empire became divided at its first breaking, that is, at the time of
Rome's being besieged & taken by the Goths. Some of these kingdoms at
length fell, & new ones arose: but whatever was their number after
wards, they are still called the ten kings from their first number.
2519
Chap.
VI
Of the eleventh horn of Daniel's
fourth Beast.
Now DanielCh. 7 vii.8. considered the horns, & behold there came up
among them another horn, before whom three of the first horns
were pluckt up by the roots; & behold in this horn were eyes like
the eyes of a man, & a mouth speaking great things, & its look was
more stout then its fellows, & it made war with the saints & pre
vailed against them:Ver. 20, 21. And one who
terpretation of these things, told him, that Ver. 24.the ten horns were ten
kings that should arise, & another [king] should arise after them,
& be divers from the first [ten kings] & subdue three kings, & speak great
words against the most High, & wear out the saints, & think to change
times & laws, & that they should be given into his hands for a time
times & half a time.Ver. 25. Kings are put for kingdomes, as above; & there
fore the little horn is a little kingdom. It was a horn of the fourth
Beast, & rooted up three of his first horns; & therefore we are to look
for it among the nations of the Latine Empire, after the rise of the
ten horns. But it was a kingdom of a divfferent kind from the other
ten kindgdoms, having a life or soul peculiar to it self with eyes
& a mouth. By its eyes it was a seer; & by its mouth speaking
great things & changing times & laws, it was a aProphet as well as a
King. And such a Seer, a Prophet & a King, was the Church of Rome.
A Seer, Ἐπίσκοπος, is a Bishop in the litteral sense of the
word; and this Church claims the universal Bishoprick.
With his mouth he gives laws to kings & nations as an Oracle;
& pretends to infallibility, & that his dictates are binding to the
whole world,: which is to be a Prophet in the highest degree.
In the eighth century, by rooting up & subduing the Exarchate
of Ravenna, the kingdom of the Lombardsq this not one of the ten mention'd in p. 11., & the Senate & Dukedome
of Rome, he acquired Peter's Patrimony out of their dominions; &
thereby rose up as a temporal Prince or King, or horn of the fourth
Beast.
In yethe margnmargin here shdshould be put yethe reference in 23 binicu by altering yethe pages thereIn a small book printed at Paris A.C. 1689, & entituled;, An historical
dissertation upon some coines of Charles the great, Ludovicus Pius, Lotha
rius, & their successors stamped at Rome, it is recorded, that in the days of
Pope Leo X, there was remaining in the Vatican, & till those days exposed
to public view, an Inscription in honour of Pipin the fateher of Charles
the great, in these words: Pipinum pium primum fuisse qui amplificandæ
Ecclesiæ Romanæ viam apperuerit, Exarchatu Ravennate, & plurimis
alijs oblatis; that Pipin the pious was the first who opened a way to the
grandure of the Church of Rome, conferring upon her the Exarchate of
Ravenna & many other oblations. In & before the reign of the Empe
rors Gratian & Theodosius, the Bishop of Rome lived splendidly; but
this was by the oblations of the Roman Ladies, as Ammianus describes.
After those reigns Italy was invaded by forreign nations, & did not get
rid of her troubles before the fall of the kingdom of Lombardy. It was
certainly by the victory of the seae of Rome over the Greek emperor,
the king of Lombardy, & the Senate of Rome, that she acquired Peter's
patrimony, & rose up to her greatness. The Donation of Constantine
the great is a fiction, & so it the donation of the Alpes Cottiæ to the Pope
by Aripert king of the Lombards. For the Alpes Cottiæ were a part
of the Exarchate, & in the days of Aripert belonged to the Greek Em
peror
The invocation of the dead, & veneration of their images, being gradually2620 gradually introduced in the 4th, 5th, & 6th & 7th centuries, yethe Greek Emperor
Philippicus declared against the latter, A.C. 711 or 712. And the Emperor
Leo Isaurus, to put a stop to it, called a meeting of Counsellours & BishopsSigonui
in his Palace A.C. 726, & by their advice put out an Edict against that
worship, & wrote to Pope Gregory the second, II. that a general Council might
be called. But the Pope thereupon called a Council at Rome, confirmed the
worship of Images, excommunicated the Greek Emperor, absolved
the people from their allegiance, & forbad them to pay tribute, or other
wise to be obedient to him. And the people of Rome, Campania, Ravenna
& Pentapolis, with the cities under them, revolted & laid violent hands
upon their magistrates, killing the Exarch Paul at Ravenna, & laying
aside Peter Duke of Rome who was become blind. And when Exhilera
tus Duke of Campania incited the people against the Pope, the Romans
invaded Campania, & slew him with his son Hadrian. Then a new Exarch,
Eutychius, coming to Naples, sent some secretly to take away the
lives of the Pope & the Nobles of Rome: but the plot being discovered, the
Romands revolted absolutely from the Greek Emperor, & took an oath
to preserve the life of the Pope, & to defend their state, & be obedient to
their authority in all things. Thus Rome with its Dutchy, including
part of TusciaTuscany & part of Campania, revolted in the year 726, &
became a free state under the government of the the senate of this city. And the autho
rity of the Senate in civil affairs was hence absolute henceforward
absolute, the authority of the Pope extending hitherto no farther thean
to the affairs of the Church.
At that time the LombardsSigonius de Regno Italiæ ib. ad ann. 726, 752. also being zealous for the worship of
images, & pretending to favour the cause of the Pope, invaded the cities
of the Exarchate: & at length (vizt A.C. 752) they took Ravenna & put
an end to the Exarchate. And this was the first of the three king
doms which fell before the little horn.
In the year 751 Pope Zechary deposed ChildericSigon. ib. Ann. 750., a slothfull
& useless king of France, & the last of the race of Merovæus; & absolv
ing his subjects from their oath of allegiance, gave the kingdom to Pipin,
the Major of the Palace; & thereby made a new & potent friend. And
his successor Pope Stephen IIISigon. ib. Ann. 753, 754, 755. knowing better how to deale with the
Greek Emperor thean with the Lombards, went the next year to the
king of the Lombards, to perswuade him to return the Exarchate to the
Emperor. But this not Succeeding, he went into France, & persuaded
Pipin to take the Exarchate & Pentalpolis from the Lombards, & give
it to St. Peter. And accordingly Pipin A.C. 754 came with an army
into Italy, & made Aistulphus king of the Lombards promise the surrender.
But the next year Aistulphus, on the contrary, to revenge himself on
the Pope, besieged the city of Rome. Whereupon the Pope sent letters to
Pipin, wherein he told him that if he came not speedily against the Lom
bards, pro data sibi potentia aliendandum fore a regno Dei & vita æter
na, he should be excommunicated. Pipin therefore, fearing a revolt
of his subjects, & being indebted to the Church of Rome, came speedily
with an army into Italy, raised the siege, besieged the Lombards in PapiaPavia,
& forced them to surrender the Exarchate & region of Pentapolis to the
Pope for a perpetual possession. Thus the Pope became Lord of Ravenna,
& the Exarchate, some few cities excepted; & the
& laid upon the confession of St Peter, that is upon his tomb at the High
Altar, in signum veri perpetuiqꝫue dominij, sed pietate Regis gratuita, as
the inscription of a coin of Pipin hath it. This was in the year of Christ
755. And henceforward the Popes being temporal Princes, left off in their
epistles & Bulls to note the years of the Greek Emperors, as they had hither
to done.
After this the Lombards invading the Pope's countries, Pope AdrianSigon. ib. Ann. 773. sent to
Charles the great, the son & successor of Pipin, to come to his assistance.
And accordingly Charles entered Italy with an army, invaded the Lombards, overthrew2721 overthrew their kingdom, became master of their countries, & restored
to the Pope, not only what they had taken from him, but also the rest
of the Exarchate which they had promised Pipin to surrender to him,
but had hitherto detained; & also gave him some cities of the Lombards, &
qwas mutually made Patricius by the Romans, & had the authority of con
firming the elctionselections of the Popes conferred upon him. These things
were done in the years 773 & 774. And this kingdom of the Lombards was the second kingdom
which fell before the little horn. But Rome, which was to be the seat of
his kingdom, was not yet his own.
In the year 796, Leo IIISigon. de Regno Stal. ad Ann. 796 being made Pope, notified his election
to Charles the great by his Legates, sending to him for a present, the
golden keys of the Confession of Peter, & the Banner of the city of Rome:
the first as an acknowledgment of the Pope's holding the cities of the
Exarchate & Lombardy by the grant of Charles; the other as a signifi
cation that Charles should come & subdue the Senate & people of
Rome, as he had done the Exarchate & the M pma 81[kingdom of the Lombards.
For the Pope at the same time desired Charles to send some of his
[Princes to Rome, who might subject to the Roman people to him, & bind
them by oath in fide & subjectione, in fealty & subjection, as his words
are recited by Sigonius. An anonymous Poet, as published by Boecle
rus at Strasburg, expresseth it thus:
Admonuitqꝫue pijs precibus, qui mittere vellet
Ex proprijs aliquos primoribus, ac sibi plebem
Subdere Romanam, servandaqꝫue fœdera cogens
Hanc fidei sacramentis promittere magnis.
Hence arose a misunderstanding between the Pope & the city. And the
Romans about two or three years after, by assistance of some of the
Clergy, raised so great tumults against him, as gave occassion to a
new state of things in all the West. For two of the Clergy accused
him of certain crimes, & by with an armed force of the Romans, seized
him, stript him of his sacerdotal habit, & imprisoned him in a monastery.
But by assistance of his friends he made his escape, & fled into Germany
to Charles the great, & to wmwhom he complained to him of against of the Romans for acting
against him out of a designe of to throwing off all authority of the Church,
& to recovering their ancient freedom. And iIn his absence his accusers
with an armed their forces ravaged the possessions of the Church, & sent
the accusations to Charles. And before the end of the year Charles
sent the Pope back to Rome with a large retinue. And tThe Nobles &
Bishops of France who accompanied him, examined the chief of his
accusers at Rome, & sent them into France in custody. This was in the
year 799. And tThe next year Charles himself went to Rome, & upon
a day appointed presided in a Council of Italian & French Bishops
to hear both parties. But when the Pope's adversaries expected to be
heard, the Council declared that he who was the supreme judgeVide Anastasium of all
men, was above being judged by any other thean himselfe. And tWhere
upon the Pope made a solemn declaration of his innocence before all
the people, & by doing so was looked upon as acquitted.
A few days Soon after, when upon Christmas day, was arrived, the people of
Rome, who had hitherto elected their Bishop, & reckoned that they & their
Senate inherited the rights of the ancient Senate & people of Rome, voted Charles
their Emperor, & subjected themselves unto him in such manner
as the old Roman Empire & their Senate were subjected to him the
old Roman Emperors. And tThe Pope crowned him, & annointed him with
holy oyile, & worshipped him on his knees after the manner of adoring
the old Roman Emperors; as the aforesaid Poet thus mentions:
Post laudes igitur dictaus et summus eundem
Præsul adoravit, sicut mos debitus olim
Principibus fuit antiquis.
And2822
And the Emperor mutuallyethe other hand,× took the following oath to the Pope: In nomine
Christi spondeo atqꝫue polliceor Ego Carolus Imperator coram Deo et beato
Petro Apostolo me protectorem ac defensorem fore hujus sanctæ Romanæ
Ecclesiæ in omnibus utilitatibus quatenus divino fultus fuero adjutorio
prout sciero poteroqꝫue. The Emperor was made Consul of Rome, &
his son Pipin was crowned king of Italy. And henceforward the Empe
ror styled himself: Carolus serenissimus, Augustus, a Deo coronatus,
magnus, pacificus, Romæ gubernans imperium, or Imperator Romanorum;
& was prayed for in the Churches of Rome. And hHis image was hencefor
ward put es of Rome. And the enemies of the Pope, to the
number of three hundred Romans & two or three of the Clergy, were
sentenced to death; & the three hundred Romans were beheaded in
one day in the Lateran fields; but the Clergy-men at the intercession
of the Pope were pardoned & banished into France. And thus the right
of the Roman Emperors, which had hitherto been in the Greek Emperors,
was by this Act transferred in the west to the kings of France.
After these things Charles gave the City & Dutch Dutchy of RomeSigon. De Regn. Italiæ.
to the Pope, subordinately to himself as Emperor of the Romans; spent
the winter in ordering the affairs of Rome, & those of the Apostolic sea &
of all Italy, both civil & ecclesiastical, & in making new laws for them; &
returned the next summer into France: leaving the city under its
senate, & both under the Pope & himself. And hearing that his new
laws were not observed by the judges in dictating the law, nor by the
people in hearing it; & that the great men took servants from free men,
& from the Churches & Monasteries, to labour in their vineyards, fields,
pastures & houses, & continued to exact cattel & wine of them, & to
oppress those that served the Churches: he wrote to his son Pipin to
remedy these ab
be executed.
Now the Senate & people & principality of Rome I take to be the third
king whom the little horn overcame & even the chief
For this people elected the Pope now now, by electing the Emperor & making him
Consul, was acknowledged to retain the authority of the old Roman Em
peror Senate & people. This city was the Metropolis of the old Roman
Empire, represented in Daniel by the fourth Beast; & by subduing
the Senate & people & Dutchy, it became the Metropolis of the little
horn of that Beast, & completed Peter's Patrimony, which was the
kingdom of that horn. And this victory was attended with greater con
sequences then any those over the other two kings. For it set up the
western Empire, which continues to this day. It set up the Pope
above the judicature of the Roman Senate, & above that of a Council
of Italian & French Bishops, & even above all humane judicature;
& gave him the supremacy over the western Churches & their Councills
in a high degree. It gave him a look more stout then his fellows; so
that when his new religion began to be established in the minds of
men, he grappled not only with kings, but even with the western
emperor himself. It is observable also, that the custome of kissing
the Pope's feet, an honour superior to that of kings & Emperors,
began about this time. There are some instances of it in the ninth
century. Platina tells us, that the feet of Pope Leo IV were kissed
according to ancient custome by all that who came to him: & some
say that Leo III began this custome, pretending that his hand was in
fected by the kiss of a woman. The Popes began also about this time
to canonize saints, & to grant Indulgences & pardons. And some
represent that Leo III was the first author of all these things. And
iIt is further observable, that Charles the great, between the years
775 & 796, conquered all Germany from the Rheine & Danube northward
to the Baltic sea, & eastward to the river Teis; & extended his conquests
also into Spain as far as to the river Eber,: & by these conquests he laid the2923 the foundation of the new empire; & at the same time he propagated
the Roman Catholic religion into all his conquests, obliging the Saxons
& Hunns who were heathens, to receive the Roman faith, & distributing
his northern conquests into Bishopricks, & granting tithes to the Clergy
& Peter-pence to the Pope: by all wchwhich the Church of Rome was highly
enlarged, enriched, exalted, & established.
In a small book printed at Paris 1689, & entituled,, An hsistorical
dissertation upon some coins of Charles the great, Ludovicus pPius, Lo
tharius, & their successors, stamped at Rome,Vide Actorum Erudit. Suppl. Tom 2. Sect. 1. pag. 37, 38. In yethe Historicall dissertation above mentioned upon ethe Great &c — It is pbuily desribed above there is a draught of a piece
of Mosaic work wchwhich Pope Leo III caused to be made in his Palace neare
the Church of Iohn Lateran, in memory of his sending the standard or
banner of the city of Rome curiously wrought, to Charles the great,
& which still remained there at the publishing of the said book. In the
Mosaic work there appeared Peter with three keys in his lap, reaching
the pallium to the Pope with his right hand, & the banner of the city
to Charles the great with his left. By the Pope is this inscription,
SCISSIMVS D.N. LEO PP; by the king this, D.N. CAROLO REGI; & under the
feet of Pet
VICTORIAM CAROLO REGI DONA. This Monument gives the title of
King to Charles, & therefore was erected before he was Emperor. It was
erected when Peter was reaching the Pallium to the Pope, & the Pope was send
ing the banner of the city to Charles, that is, A.C. 796. The words above, vizt
Sanctissimus Dominus noster Leo Papa Domino nostro Carolo Regi, relate
to the message; & the words below, vizt Beate Petre, dona vitam Leoni Papæ
& victoriam Carolo regi dona, are a prayer that in this undertaking God
would preserve the life of the Pope, & give victory to the king over the Ro
mans. The three keys in the lap of Peter signify the keys of the three
parts of his patrimony, vizt that of Rome with its Dutchy, which the Pope claimed & was
conquering, & those of Ravenna with the Exarchate, & of the territories
taken from the Lombards; both which he had newly conquered. These
were the three dominions, whose keys were in the lap of S. Peter, & whose
Crowns are now worn by the Pope, & by the conquest of which he became
the little horn of the fourth Beast. By Peter's giving the Pallium to
the Pope with his right hand, & the banner of the city to the king wthwith
his left, & by naming the Pope before the king in the inscription, may
be understood that the Pope was then reckoned superior in dignity to the
kings of the Earth.
After the death of Charles the gretat, his son & successor Ludovicus
Pius, at the request of the Popeaa Confirmationem recitat Sigonius, lib. 4. de Regno Italiæ ad An. 817., confirmed the donations of his Grandfather
& father to the seae of Rome. And in the confirmation he names first Rome
with its Dutchy extending into TusciaTuscany & Campania; & then the Exar
chate of Ravenna, with Pentapolis; & in the third place, the territories
taken form the Lombards. These are his three conquests, & he was to
hold them of the Emperor for the use of the Church sub integritate,
entirely, without the Emperor's medling therewith, or with the
jurisdiction or power of the Pope therein, unless called thereunto
in certain cases. This ratification the Emperor Ludovicus made
under an oath. And as the king of the Ostrogoths, for acknowledging for acknow
ledging that N pma 89[he held his kingdom of Italy of yethe Greek Emperor, stamped the effigies
of the Emperour on one side of his coins & his own on the Reverse; so the Pope
made the like acknowledgement to the western Emperor. For the Pope began
now to coyine money, & the coyins of Rome are hence forward found with the
head of the Emperors (Charles, Ludovicus Pius, Lotharius, & their successors)
on the one side, & the Pope's inscription on the reverse, for many years.
3127
Sect. IV. Chap. 8 –
Of the power of the eleventh horn of Daniel's
fourth Beast to change times & laws.
In the reign of the Greek Emperor Iustinian, & again in the
reign of the Greek Emperor Phocas, the Bishop of Rome obteined
some dominion over the Greek Churches, but of no long continu
ance. His standing dominion was only over the nations of the west
ern Empire, represented by Daniel's fourth Beast. And this juris
diction was set up by the following Edict of the Emperors
Gratian & Valentian. — See the Annals of Baronius Anno 381. sec. 6.Volumus ut quicunqꝫue judicio Dama
si, quod ille cum Concilio quinqꝫue vel septem habuerit Episcoporūum,
vel eorum qui Catholici sunt judicio vel Concilio condemnatus
fuerit, si juste voluerit Ecclesiam retentare, ut qui ad sacerdo
tale judicium per contumeliam non ivisset: ut ab illustribus vViris
Præfectis Prætorio Galliæ atque Italiæ authoritate adhibitâ ad
Episcopale judicium remittatur, sive a Consularibus vel Vicarijs;
ut ad Vrbem Romam sub prosecutione perveniat. Aut si in longin
quioribus partibus alicujus ferocitas talis emerserit, omnis ejus
causæ edictio ad Metropolitæ in eadem Provincia Episcopi
deduceretur examen. Vel si ipse Metropolitanus est, Romam
necessariò, vel ad eos quos Romanus Episcopus judices dederit;
sine delatione contendat. — Quod si vel Metropolitani
Episcopi vel cujuscunqꝫue sacerdotis iniquitas est suspecta, aut
gratia; ad Romanum Episcopum, vel ad Concilium quindecim
finitimorum episcoporum accersitum liceat provocare; modo
ne post examen habitum, quod definitum fuerit, integretur.
This Edict was mantingde in the tiname of both Valens & Theodosius
in the Title, was made in the time between their reigns, that is,
in the end of the year 378, or in the beginning of the year fol
lowing 379 379. It was directed to the Præfecti Prætorio ,
& therefore was general. For the Præfectus Prætorio Italiæ
governed Italy, Illyricum occidentale & Africa; & the Præfectus
Prætorio Galliæ governed Gallia, Spain, & Britain.
The granting of this Iurisdiction to the Pope gave occasion
to several Bishops to write to him for his resolutions upon doubt
ful cases, & to his answering them by Decretal Epistles. And
henceforward he gave laws to the western Churches by
such Epistles. Himerius Bishop of Tarraco, the head city
of a Province in Spain, writing to Pope Damasus for his
direction about certain Ecclesiastical matters, & the Letter
not arriving at Rome till after the death of Damasus, A.
C. 384: his successor Siricius answered the Letter with
a legislative authority, telling him of one thing: Cum hoc
fieri — missa ad Provincias a venerandæ memoriæ præde
cessore meo Liberio generalia Decreta prohibeant. Of
another: Noverint se ab omni ecclesiastico honore, quo
indignè usi sunt, Apostolicæ sedis auctoritate dejectos.
Of another: Scituri posthac omnium Provinciarum summi
Antistites quod si ultrò ad sacros ordines quenquam de
talibus esse assumendum, et de suo, et de aliorum statu
quos contra Canones et interdicta nostra provexerint, con
gruam ab Apostolica sede promendam esse sententiam. And
the Epistle he concludes thus: Explicuimus, ut arbitror,
frater charissime, universa quæ digesta sunt in quæerelam: et3228 et ad singulas causas, de quibus ad Romanam Ecclesiam, utpote
ad caput tui corporis, retulisti, sufficientia, quantum opinor, re
sponsa reddidimus. Nunc fraternitatis tuæ animum ad servandos
canones, et tenenda decretalia constituta magis ac magis inci
tamus ad hæc quæ ad tua consulta rescripsimus in omnium
coepiscoporum perferri facias notionem; et non solum eorum
qui in tua sunt diæcesi constituti, sed etiam ad universos
Carthaginenses ac Bœticos, Lusitanos atqꝫue ✝✝ populos Galliciæ. Gallicos, vel eos qui
vicinis tibi collimitant hinc inde Provincijs, hæc quæ a nobis
sunt salubri ordinatione disposita, sub literarum tuarum pro
secutione mittantur. Et quanquam statuta sedis Apostolicæ
vel Canonum venerabilia definita, nulli Sacerdotum Do
mini ignorare sit liberum: utilius tamen, atqꝫue pro antiqui
tate sacerdotij tui dilectioni tuæ esse admodùm poterit glo
riosum, si ea quæ ad te speciali nomine generaliter scripta
sunt, per unanimitatis tuæ sollicitudinem in universorum
fratrum nostrorum notitiam perferantur, quatenus et quæ a
nobis non inconsultè perferantur sed providè sub nimia
cautela et deliberatione sunt salubriter constituta, inte
merata perm
aditus, qui jam nulli apud nos patere poterit, obstruatur.
Dat. 3 Id. Febr. Arcadio et Bautone viris clarissimis
Consulibus, A.C. 385. Pope Liberius in the reign of Iovian
or Valentinian I, sent general Decrees to the Provinces,
ordering that the Arians should not be rebaptized. And
this he did in the favour of the Council of Alexandria, that
nothing more should be required of them than to renounce
their opinions. Pope Damasus is said to have decreed in
a Roman Council, that tithes & tenths should be paid upon
pain of an Anathema; & that Glory be to the father; &c
should be said or sung at the end of the Psalms. But
the first Decretal Epistle now extant is this of Siricius
to Himerius. And by this Epistle the Pope made Himerius his
Vicar over all Spain for promulging his Decrees, & seing
them observed. The Bishop of Sevill was also the Pope's Vicar
sometimes; For Pope Simpliuscius wrote thus to Zeno Bishop
of Sevil: Talibus idcirco gloriantes indicijs, congruum
duximus vicariâ Sedis nostræ te auctoritate fulciri:
cujus vigore munitus, Apostolicæ institutionis Decreta,
vel sanctorum terminos Patrum, nullatenus transcendi
permittas. And Pope HormisdaHormisda Epist 24 & 26. made the Bishop of Sevill
his Vicar over Bœtica & Lusitania, & the Bishop of
Tarraco his Vicar of over all the rest of Spain, as appears
by his Epistles to them.
Pope Innocent the first, in his Decretal Epistle to Victricius
Bishop of Rouen in France, A.C. 404, in pursuance of the
Edict of Gratian, made this Decree. Siquæ autem causæ vel
contentiones inter Clericos tam superioris ordinis quam etiam
inferioris fuerint exortæ, ut secundum Synodum Nicenam
congregatis ejusdem Provinciæ Episcopis jurgium terminetur,
nec alicui liceat (✝Verba [sine auctoritate] deesse videntur. Romanæ Ecclesiæ, cujus in omnibus causis
debet reverentia custodiri,) relictis his sacerdotibus qui in
eadem Provintia Dei Ecclesiam nutu Divino gubernant, ad
alias convolare Provincias. Quod siquis fortè præsumpserit;
et ab officio Clericatûs summotus, & injuriarum reus judicetur.
Si autem majores causæ in medium fuerint devolutæ, ad
sedem Apostolicam sicut Synodus statuit, et beata consuetudo
exigit, post judicium Episcopale referatur. By these Letters
it seems to me that Gallia was at this time subject to the Pope, and3329 and had been so for some time, & that the Bishop of Rouen
was his Vicar or one of them: For the Pope directs him to
refer the greater causes to the seae of Rome, according to
custome. But the Bishop of Arles soon after became the
Pope's Vicar over all Gallia: For Pope Zosimus A.C. 417,
ordeining that none should have access to him without the
credentials of his Vicars, conferred upon Patroclus the Bishop
of Arles this authority over all Gallia, by the following Decree
Zosimus universis Episcopis per Gallias et
septem Provincias constitutis.Placuit Apostolicæ sedi ut siquis ex qualibet Galliarum
parte sub quolibet Ecclesiastico gradu ad nos Romæ venire contendit,
vel alio terrarum ire disponit, non aliter proficiscatur nisi Me
tropolitani Episcopi Formatas acceperit, quibus sacerdotium suum
vel locum Ecclesiasticum quem habet, scriptorum ejus adsti
pulatione perdoceat: quod ex gratia statuimus quia plures
episcopi sive presbyteri sive ecclesiastici simulantes (quia
nullum documentum Formatarum extat, per quod valeant
confutari,) in nomen venerationis irrepunt, et indebitam reveren
tiam promerentur. Quisquis igitur, fratres charissimi, præter
missa supradicti Formata, sive Episcopus, sive Presbyter, sive
Diaconus, aut deinceps inferiori gradu sit, ad nos venerit:
sciat se omnino suscipi non posse. Quam auctoritatem ubiqꝫue
nos mississemisisse manifestum est, ut cunctis regionibus innotescat
id quod statuimus omnimodis esse servandum. Siquis autem hæc
salubriter constituta temerare tentaverit sponte suâ, se a nostra
noverit communione discretum. Hoc autem privilegium For
matarum sancto Patroclo fratri et coepiscopo nostro, merito
rum ejus speciali contemplatione, concessimus. And that the
Bishop of Arles was sometimes the Pope's Vicar over all France,
is affirmed also by all the Diocess Bishops of the Diocess of Arles
in their Letter to Pope Leo I. Cui id etiam honoris dignitatisqꝫue
collatum est, say they, ut non tantum has Provincias potestate
propriâ gubernaret, verum etiam omnes Gallias sibi Apostolicæ
sedis vice mandata sub omni ecclesiastica regula contineret.
And Pope Pelagius I, A.C. 556, in his Epistle to Sapaudus Bishop
of Arles: Majorum nostrorum operante Dei misericordiâ,
cupientes inhærere vestigijs et eorum actus divino examine in
omnibus imitari: cCharitati tuæ per universam O pma 97[Galliam
sanctæ sedis Apostolicæ, cui divinâ gratiâ præsidemus, vices
injungimus.
By the influence of the same Imperial Edict, not only
Spain & Gallia, but also Illyricum became subject to the Pope.
Damasus made Ascholius, or Acholius, bishop of Thessalonica the
Metropolis of Oriental Illyricum, his Vicar for hearing of
causes; & in the year 382 Acholius being summoned by
Pope Damasus, came to a Council at Rome. And Pope Siricius
the successor of Damasus, decreed that no Bishop should be ordein
ed in Illyricum without the consent of Anysius the successor
of Acholius. And the following Popes gave Rufus the successor
of Anysius, a power of calling Provincial Councils: For in the
Collections of Holstenius there is an account of a Council of Rome
convened under Pope Boniface II, in wchwhich were produced Letters of
Damasus, Syricius, Innocent I, Boniface I, & Cælestine Bishops of
Rome, to Ascholius, Anysius & Rufus, Bishops of Thessalonica: in
which Letters they commend to them the hearing of causes in Illyricum
granted by the Lord & the holy Canons to the Apostolick sea to
thro'ughout that Province. And Pope Siricius saith in his Epistle
to Arysius: Etiam dudum, frater charissime, per Candidianum Epi
scopum, qui nos præcessit ad Dominum, hujusmodi Literas dederamus
ut nulla licentia esset, sine consensu tuo in Illyrico Episcopos ordinare3430 ordinare præsumere, quæ utrum ad te pervenerint scire non
potui. Multa enim gesta sunt per contentionem ab Episcopis
in Ordinationibus faciendis, quod tua melius caritas novit.
And a little after: Ad omnem enim hujusmodi audaciam cocompri
mendam vigilare debet instantia tua, spiritu in te sancto
fervente: ut vel ipse, si potes, vel quos judicaveris episcopos
idoneos, cum literis dirigas, dato consensu qui possit in ejus
locum qui defunctus vel depositus fuerit, Catholicum Episco
pum vitâ et moribus probatum, secundum Nicænæ Synodi
statuta, vel Ecclesiæ Romanæ, Clericum de Clero me
ritum ordinare. And Pope Innocent I saith in his Epistle to
Anysius: Cui [Anysio] etiam anteriores tanti ac tales viri
prædecessores mei Episcopi, id est, sanctæ memoriæ Damasus,
Siricius, atqꝫue supra memoratus vir ita detulerunt, ut omnia
quæ in omnibus illis partibus gererentur, Sanctitati tuæ quæ
plena justiciæ est, traderent cognoscenda. And in his Epistle
to Rufus the successor of Anysius: Ita longis intervallis
disterminatis a me ecclesijs discat consulendum, ut pruden
tiæ gravitatiqꝫue tuæ committendam curam causasqꝫue, siquæ
exoriantur, per Achaiæ, Thessaliæ, Epiri veteris, Epiri
novæ, et Cretæ, Daciæ mediterraneæ, Daciæ ripensis, Mæsiæ,
Dardaniæ et Prævali ecclesias, Christo Domino annuente,
censeam. Verè enim ejus sacratissimis monitis lectissimæ
sinceritatis tuæ providentiæ et virtuti hanc injungimus
sollicitudinem: non primitùs hæc statuentes sed Præcessores
nostros Apostolicos imitati, qui beatissimis Acholio et Anyssio
injungi pro meritis ista voluerunt. And Boniface I. in his
Decretal Epistle to Rufus & the rest of the Bishops in Illy
ricum: Nullus, ut frequenter dixi, alicujus ordinationem citra
ejus [Episcopi Thessalonicensis] conscientiam celebrare præsumat:
cui, ut supra dictum est, vice nostrâ cuncta committesimus.
And Pope Cælestine in his Decretal Epistle to the Bishops thro'ughout
Illyricum, saith: Vicem nostram per vestram Provinciam nove
ritis [Rufo] esse commissam, ita ut ad eum, fratres carissimi,
quicquid de causis agitur, referatur. Sine ejus consilio nullus ordi
netur. Nullus usurpet, eodem inconscio commissam illi Provinciam.
Ccolligere nisi cum ejus voluntate Episcopus non præsumat.
And in the cause of Perigenes, in the title of his Epistle, he thus
enumerates the Provinces under this Bishop: Rufo et cæteris
Episcopis per Macedoniam, Achaiam, Thessaliam, Epirum veterem,
Epirum novam, Prævalin, et Daciam constitutis. And Pope Xistus
in a Decretal Epistle to the same Bishops: Illyricanæ omnes Ecclesiæ,
ut a decessoribus nostris recepimus, et nos quoqꝫue fecimus, ad curam
nunc pertinent Thessalonicensis Antistitis, ut suâ sollicitudine,
siquæ inter fratres nascantur, ut assolent, actiones distinguat atqꝫue
definiat, et ad eum quicquid a singulis sacerdotibus agitur, referatur.
Sit Concilium, quotiens causæ fuerint, quotiens ille pro necessitatum
emergentium ratione decreverit. And Pope Leo I in his Decretal Epistle
to Anastasius Bishop of Thessalonica: Singulis autem Metropolitanis sicut
potestas ista committitur, ut in suis Provincijs jus habeatnt ordinandi, ita
eos Metropolitanos a te volumus ordinari; maturo tamen et decocto
judicio.
Occidental Illyricum comprehended Pannonia prima & secunda,
Savia, Dalmatia, Noricum mediterraneum, & Noricum ripense;
& its Metropolis was Sirmium till Attila destroyed this city.
Afterwards Laureacum became the Metropolis of Noricum & both
Pannonias, & Salona the Metropolis of Dalmatia. Now the
Bishops of Laureacum & Salona aa Vide Caroli a S.Paulo Geographiam sacrāam p. 72, 73. received the Pallium from the
Pope. And Pope Zosimus, in his Decretal Epistle to Hesychius
bishop of Salona, directed him to denounce the Apostolic decrees as well3531. as well to the bishops of his own Province as to those of
the neighbouring. The subjection of these Provinces to the
seae of Rome seems to have begun in Anemius, who was
ordeined bishop of Sirmium by Ambrose bishop of Millain,
& who in the Council of Aquileia subject to under Pope Damasus, A.C. 381,
declared his sentence in these words: Caput Illyrici non nisi
civitas Sirmiensis: Ego igitur illius civitatis Episcopus sum. Eum
qui non confitetur filium Dei æternum & coeternum patri,
qui est sempiternus, anathema dico. The next year Anemius
& Ambrose, & with Valerian bishop of Aquilea, & Acholius
bishop of Thessalonica with & many others, went to the Council
of Rome, which met for overruling the Greek Church by the
majority of votes, & exalting the authority of the Apostolick
seaes as was attempted before in the Council of Serdica.
Aquileia was the second city of the western Empire, &
was by some called the second Rome. It was the Metropolis of
Istria, Forum Iulium, & Venetia; & its subjection to the seae of Rome
is manifest by the Decretal Epistle of Pope Leo I, directed to
Nicetas bishop of this city; For the Pope begins his Epistle thus:
Regressus ad nos filius meus Adeodatus Diaconus Sedis nostræ,
dilectionem tuam poposcisse memorant ut de his a nobis autho
ritatem Apostolicæ sedis acciperes quæ quidem magnam
difficultatem dijudicationis videntur afferre. And tThen he
sets down an answer to the questions proposed by Nicetas,
& concludes thus: Hanc autem Epistolam nostram quam
ad consultationem tuæ fraternitatis emissimus, ad omnes
fratres & comprovinciales tuos Episcopos facies pervenire,
ut in omnium observantia, data prosit authoritas. Data 12
Kal. Apr. Majorano Aug. Cos. A.C. 458. Gregory the greatGreg. M. lib. 1 Iudic. 9 Epist. 16.
A.C. 591, cited Severus Bishop of Aquileia to appear before
him in judgment in a Council at Rome.
The Bishops of Aquileia & Millain created one another;
& therefore were of equal authority, & alike subject to the
seae of Rome. For Pope PelagiusApud Gratia num de Mediolan), testi
fied this in the following words: Mos antiquus fuit, saith he,
ut quia pro longinquitate vel difficultate itineris, ab Apostolico
illis onerosum fuerit ordinari, ipsi seinvicem Mediolanensis
et Aquileiensis ordinare episcopos debuissent. These words
imply that the ordination of these two Bishops belonged to the
seae of Rome. When Laurentius bishop of Millain had ex
communicated Magnus, one of his Presbyters, & was dead, Gregory
the greataa Greg. M. lib. 3 Epist. 26 & lib. 4 Epist. 1. absolved Magnus, & sent the Pallium to the new
elected Bishop Constatntius,; & whom the next year he bb Greg. lib. 5. Epist. 4 reprehended him
of partiality in judging Fortunatus, & commanded him to send
Fortunatus to Rome to be judged there: & fFour years after he cc Greg. lib. 9. Epist. 10 & 67. ap
pointed the Bishops of Millain & Ravenna to hear the cause
of one Maximus; & two years after, (vizt A.C. 601), when
when Constantius was dead, & the people of Millain had elected
Deusdedit his successor, & the Lombards had elected another, dd Greg. lib. 11. Epist. 3, 4.Gregory
wrote to the Notary Clergy & people of Millain, that the autho
rity of his Letters Deusdedit should be ordained, & that he whom
the Lombards had ordeained was an unworthy successor of Am
brose. Whence I gather, that the Church of Millain had conti
nued in this state of subordination to the seae of Rome ever
since the day of Ambrose; For Ambrose himself acknowledged
the authority of the seae of Rome: Ambros. l. 3. de sacramentis, c. 1 Ecclesia Romana, saith he,
hanc consuetudinem non habet, cujus typum in omnibus sequimur,
& forman. And a little after: In omnibus cupio sequi ecclesiam
Romanam. And in his Commentary upon 1 Tim. 3. Cum totus mun
dus Dei sit, tamen domus ejus Ecclesia dicitue cujus hodie rector est3632 est Damasus. And iIn his Oration on the death of his brother Satyrus,
he relates how his brother coming to a certain city of Sardinia,
advocavit Episcopum loci, perconitatusqꝫue est ex eo utrum cum
episcopis catholicis hoc est cum Romana Ecclesia conveniret?
And in conjunction with the synod of Aquileia A.C. 381, in a
synodical Epistle to the Emperor Gratian, he saith: Totius orbis
Romani caput Romanam Ecclesiam, atqꝫue illam sacrosanctam
Ecclesiam Apostolorum fidem, ne turbari sineret, obsecranda
fuit clementia vestra; inde enim in omnes venerandæ com
munionis jura dimanant. So then tThe Churches therefore of Aquileia
& Millain were subject to the Seae of Rome from the days
of the Emperor Gratian. Auxentius the predecessor of
Ambrose was not subject to the Seae of Rome, & therefore consequently the
subjection of the Church of Millain began in Ambrose. This
Diocess of Millain conteained Liguria with Insubria, the Alpes
Cottiæ & Rhætia; & was divided from the Diocess of Aquileia
by the river Addua. In the year 844, the Bishop of
Millain revolted broke off from the Seae of Rome, & continued in
this revolt separation about 200 years, as is thus mentioned by ✝✝ Signonius de Regnus Italiæ lib. 5. Signo
nius: Eodem anno Angilbertus Mediolanensis Archiepiscopus
ab Ecclesia Romana parum comperta de causa descivit,
tantumqꝫue exemplo in posterum valuit, ut non nisi post
ducentos annos Ecclesia Mediolanensis ad Romanæ obedientiam
auctoritatemqꝫue redierit.
The Bishop of Ravenna, (the Metropolis of Flaminia
& Æmilia) was also subject to the Pope: For Pope Zosimus
(A.C. 417), excommunicated some of that Church the Presbyters of
that church, & wrote a comm
the Clergy of that Church as a branch of the Roman Church:
In sua, saith he, hoc est, in Ecclesia nostra Romana. And
wWhen those of Ravenna, having elected a new Bishop, gave
notice thereof to Pope Sixtus, bb See Baronius Anno 433. Sect. 24 the Pope set him aside, & ordeained
Peter Chrysologus in his room. And Peter Chrysologus in his
room. And Peter Chrysologus in his Epistle to Eutyches, extant
in the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon, wrote P pma 105[thus: Nos pro
studio pacis & fidei, extra consensum Romanæ civitatis Episcopi,
causas fidei audire non possumus. And Pope Leo I. being consulted
by Leo Bishop of Ravenna about some questions, answered him
by a Decretal Epistle A.C. 451. And Pope cc Greg. M. l. 3. Epist. 56, 57 & c. 5, Epist. 25, 26, 56.Gregory the great
reprehending Iohn Bishop of Ravenna about the use of the
Pallium, tells him of a pPrecept of one of his Predecessors, Pope
Iohn, commanding that all the Priveileges granted by his Pre
decessors to the Bishop & Church of Ravenna should be kept.
And× tThis Bishop Iohn returned a submissive answer. And after
his death Pope Gregory ordered a visitation of the Church of
Ravenna, sent the pallium to his successor Marinian, as of
ancient custome, & confirmed the privileges heretofore granted
to this Church. Yet this Church revolted sometimes from the
Church of Rome, but returned again to its obedience.
The rest of Italy, with the Islands adjacent, conteining the
suburbicarian regions, or ten Provinces under the temporal
Vicar of Rome, (vizt 1Campania 2Tuscia & Vmbria, 3Picenum
suburbicarium 4Sicily, 5Apulia & Calabria, 6Brutij & Lucania,
7Samnium, 8Sardinia, 9Corsica, & 10Valeria,) constituted the
proper Province of the Bishop of Rome. For the Council of
Nice in their fifth Canon ordeained that Councils should be
held every half-ye spring & autumn in every Province; &
according to this Canon, the Bishops of this Province met every
half year at Rome. For iIn this sense Pope Leo I. applied this Canon3733 Canon to Rome in a Decretal Epistle to the Bishops of
Sicily, written Alippio et Ardabure Coss. A.C. 447. Quia
saluberrime, saith he, a sanctis patribus constitutum est
binos in annis singulis episcoporum debere esse conventus,
terni semper ex vobis ad diem tertium Kalendarum Octobris
um Romam æterno consilio sociandi occurrant. Et indissimu
lanter a vobis hæc consuetudo servetur, quoniam adjuvante
Dei gratia facilius poterit provideri ut in Ecclesijs Christi
nulla scandala nulli nascantur errores cum coram Aposto
lo Petro semper in communione tractatum fuerit ut omnia
Canonumqꝫue Decreta apud omnes Domini sacerdotes inviolata
permaneant. The Provicence of Rome therefore comprehended
Sicily, & with so much of Italy & the neighbouring Islands as sent
Bishops to the annual Councils of Rome; but extended
not into the Provinces of Ravenna, Aquileia, Millain, Arles, &c
those Provinces having Councills of their own. For tThe
Bishops in every Proinvince of the Roman Empire were convened
in Council by the Metropolitan or Bishop of the head city of
the Province, & this Bishop presided in the Council,: & the
Bishop of Rome did not only preside in his own Council of the
Bishops of the suburbicarian regions, but also gave Orders to
the Metropolitans of all the Provinces in the western Empire
as their universal governour, as you may further perceive
by the following instances
Pope Zosimus A.C. 417 cited Proculus Bishop of Mar
seilles to appear before a Council at Rome for illegitimate
Ordinations; & condemned him, as he mentions in several
of his Epistles. Pope Boniface I. A.C. 419, upon a complaint
of the Clergy of Valentia against Maximus a Bishop, sum
moned the Bishops of all Gallia & the seven Provinces to
convene in a Council against him; & saith in his Epistle to
them, that his Predecessors had done the like. Pope Leo I. called
a general Council of all the Bishops Provinces of Spain to meet
in Gallæcia against the Manichees & Priscillianists, as he men
tions in his Decretal Epistle to Turribius a Spanish Bishop.
And in one of his Decretal Epistles to Nicetas Bishop of Aqui
leia, he commands him to call a Council oth of the Bishops
of that Province against the Pelagians, which might ratify
all the Synodal Decrees wchwhich had been made against them ratifyed
by the Seae of Rome against this heresy. And in his Decretal
Epistle to Anastasius bishop of Thessalonica, he ordeined that
that Bishop should hold two Provincial Councils every year, &
refer the harder causes to the Seae of Rome: and if upon any
extraordinary occasion it should be necessary to call a Council,
he should not be troublesom to the Bishops under him, but be
content with two Bishops out of every Province, & not detein
them above fifteen days. And iIn the same Epistle he descripbes
the form of Church Government then set up, to consist in a
subordination aof all the Churches to the Seae of Rome:
De qua forma, saith he, Episcoporum quoque est orta distinctio, &
magna dispositione provisum est ne omnes sibi omnia vin
dicarent, sed essent in singulis Provincijs singuli quorum inter
fratres haberetur prima sententia, et rursus quidam in
majoribus urbibus constituti sollicitudinem sumerent amplio
rem, per quos ad unam Petri sedem unversalisuniversalis Ecclesiæ cura
conflueret et nihil usqꝫue a suo capite dissideret. Qui
scit se quibusdam esse præpositum, non moleste ferat aliquem
sibi esse præpositum. Sed obedientiam quam exigit etiam
ipse dependat. Et sicut non vult gravis oneris sarcinam ferre,
ita non audeat alijs importabile pondus imponere. These words sufficiently3834 sufficiently shew the monarchical form of governtment then set up
in the Churches of the western Empire under the Bishop of Rome,
by meanes of the Imperial Decree of Gratian, & the appeals & decretal
Epistles grounded thereupon.
And tThe same Pope Leo having in a Council at Rome passed
sentence against Hilary bishop of Arles, for what he had done by a a
Provincial Council in Gallia, took occasion from thence to procure the following
Edict from the western Emperor Valentinian III. for establishing more
absolutely the authority of his Seae over all the Churches of the western Empire.
Impp Theodosius & Valentinianus AA. Aetio Viro illustri,
Comiti et Magistro utriusqꝫue militiæ et Patricio.Certum est et nobis et imperio nostro unicum esse præsidium in super
næ Divinitatis favore, ad quem promerendum præcipue Christiana
fides et veneranda nobis religio suffragatur. Cum igitur sedis Apostolicæ
Primatum sancti Petri meritum, qui princeps est Episcopalis coronæ &
Romanæ dignitas civitatis, sacræ etiam Synodi firmavit auctoritas, Ne
quid præter auctoritatem sedis istius illicitum præsumptio attemperare
nitatur. Tunc enim demum Ecclesiarum pax ubiqꝫue servabitur, si
Rectorem suum agnoscat Vniversitas. Hæc cum hactenus inviolabiliter
fuerint custodita, Hilarius Arelatentsis (sicut venerabilis Viri Leonis
Romani Papæ fideli relatione comperimus) contumaci
dam præsumenda tentavit, et ideo transalpinas Ecclesias abominabilis
tumultus invasit, quod recens maxime testatur exemplum. Hilarius enim
qui Episcopus Arelatensis vocatur, Ecclesiæ Romanæ urbis inconsulto
Pontifice indebitas sibi ordinationes episcoporum sola temeritate
usurpans invasit. Nam alios incompetenter removetremovit, indecenter
alios invitis et repugnantibus civibus ordinavit. Qui quidem, quo
niam non facile ab his qui non elegerant, recipiebantur, manum
sibi contrahebantcontrahebat armatam, & claustra murorum in hostilem
morem vel obidioneobsidione cingebantt, vel aggressione reserabat, et ad
sedem quietis pacem prædicaturus per ordinem religiosi viri
Vrbis Papæ cognitione discussis, certa in eum ex his quos male
ordinaverat lata sententia est. Erat quidem ipsa sententia
per Gallias etiam sine Imperiali Sanctione valitura. Quid
enim Pontificis auctoritate non liceret? Sed nostram quoqꝫue
præceptionem hæc ratio provocavit. Nec ulterius vel Hilario
(quem adhuc episcopum noncupare sola mansueta Præsulis
permittit humanitas) nec cuiquam alteri arma miscere
ecclesiamsticis rebus arma miscere, aut præceptis Romani
Antistitis liceat obviare. Ausibus enim talibus fides et
reverentia nostri violatur Imperij. Nec hoc solum quod
est maximi criminis submovemus: verum ne levis saltem
inter ecclesias turba nascatur, vel in aliquo minui religi
onis disciplina videatur, hoc perenni sanctione discerni
mus, nequid tam Episcopis Gallicanis quam aliarum Pro
vinciarum contra consuetudinem veterem liceat sine viri
venerabilis Papæ Vrbis æterææternæ auctoritate tentare. Sed illis
omnibusqꝫue pro lege sit, quicquid sanxit vel sanxerit Apo
stolicæ sedis auctoritas, ita ut quisquis Episcoporum ad judicium
Romani Antistitis evocatus venire neglexerit, per Modera
torem ejusdem Provinciæ adesse cogatur, per omnia servatis
quæ Divi parentes nostri Romanæ Ecclesiæ detulerunt, Aetij
pater carissime Augusti. Vnde illustris et præclara magni
ficentia tua præsentis Edictalis Legis auctoritate faciet quæ sunt
superius statuta servari, decem librarum auri multa proti
nus exigenda ab unoquoqꝫue Iudice qui passus fuerit Præcepta
nostra violari. Divinitas te sevetservet per multos annos parens
carissime. Dat. VIII Id. Iun. Romæ, Valentiniano A. VI Consule.
A.C. 445. By this Edict the Emperor Valentinian enjoyned an
absolute obedience to the Pope will of the Bishop of Rome thoughro'out
all the Churches of his Empire; & declares, that for the Bishops to
attempt any thing without the Pope's authority is contrary to ancient
custome, and that the bishops summoned to appear before his judica
ture must be carried thither by the Governour of the Province; & ascribes
these privileges of the Seae of Rome to the concessions of his dead Ancestors, that is,3935 that is, to the Edict of Gratian & Valentinian II. as above: by
which recconing this dominion of the Church of Rome was now
of 66 years standing. And if in all this time it had not been
sufficiently established; this new Edict was enough to establish
it in all the western Empire beyond all question.
Hence all the Bishops of the Province of Arles in their
Letter to Pope Leo A.C. 450, in petitioning the Pope for a resti
tution of the privileges of their Metropolitan, say: Per beatum
Petrum Apostolorum principem, sacrosancta Ecclesia Romana
tenebat supra omnes totius mundi ecclesias principatum. And
Ceretius, Salonius & Veranus, three bishops of Gallia, in their
epistle to the same Pope Leo, say: Magna præterea & ineffa
bili quadam nos peculiares tui gratulatione succrescimus,
quod illa specialis doctrinæ vestræ pagina ita per omnium
ecclesiarum conventicula celebratur, ut vere consona om
nium sententia declaretur merito illic principatum sedis
Apostolicæ constitutum, unde adhuc Apostolici spiritus
oracula reserentur. And Pope Leo himself, in his EpistleEpist. 25 apud Holstanium. to
the metropolitan bishops through'out Illyricum: Quia per
omnes Ecclesias cura nostra distenditur, exigente hoc a nobis
Domino, qui Apostolicæ dignitatis beatissimo Apostolo Petro
primatum, fidei sui remuneratione commisit, universalem
ecclesiam in fundamenti ipsius soliditate constituens.
Q pma 113[While this Ecclesiastical Dominion was rising up, the northern
barbarous nations invaded the western Empire, & founded several
kingdoms therein of different religions from the Church of Rome.
But these kingdoms by degrees embraced the Roman faith, & at
the same time submitted to the Pope's authority. The Francks in
Gaul submitted in the end of the fifth Century, & the Goths in
Spain in the end of the sixth, & the Lombards in Italy were
conquered by Charles the great A.C. 774: & between the years
775 & 794, the same Charles extended the Pope's authority
over all Germany & Hungary as far as to the river TeisTheysse & the
Baltic sea; & then set him above all humane judicature, &
at the same time assisted him in subduing the last of the three kings
whereby he became a temporal Prince above the Senate of Rome
& reigned as a little horn of the fourth Beast. & And by overcoming all those adversaries times & laws were
henceforward given into his hand. the cCity & Dutchy of
Rome. By the conversion of the ten kingdoms to the
Roman religion, the Pope only enlarged his spiritual
dominion, & did not yet rise up as a horn of the Beast.× NB
It was his temporal dominion wchwhich made him one of
the horns: And this kingdom he acquired in the latter
half of the eighth century, by subduing three of the
former kings horns, as above. And now being arrived at a
temporal dominion & a power above all humane judicature, he reigned Dan. vii.20. Ver. 25 with a
look more stout thean his fellows, & times & laws were
henceforward given into his hands, for a time times
& half a time, or times three times & an half; that
is, for 1260 solar years, recconing a time for a Calendar
year of 360 days, & a day for a solar year. After
which the judgment is to sit, & they shall take away
his dominionVer. 26. (not at once, but by degrees) to consume,
& to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom &
dominion, & greatness of the kingdom under the whole
heaven shall (by degrees) be given unto the people
of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is
an everlasting kingdom, & all dominions shall serve
& obey him.Ver. 27.
4037
Sect. V. Chap. 9
Of the kingdoms represented in Daniel
by the Ram & the He-Goat.
The second & third Empires, represented by the Bear
& Leopard, are again represented by the Ram & He-Goat; but
with this difference, that the Ram represents the kingdoms
of the Medes & Persians from the beginning of the four Empires,
& the Goat represents the kingdom of the Greeks to the end of
them. And bBy this means, under the type of the Ram & He-Goat,
the times of all four Empires are again described: I
lifted up mine eyes, saith Daniel,Ch. 7. 3 & saw, & behold there stood
before the river [Vlai] a Ram wchwhich had two horns, & the two
horns were high, but one was higher thean the other, & the
higher came up last. — And the Ram having two horns,
are the kings of Media & Persia: not two persons but two
kingdoms, the kingdoms of Media & Persia; & the kingdom
of Persia was the higher horn & came up last. The king
dom of Persia rose up, when Cyrus having newly conquered
Babylon, revolted from Darius king of the Medes, & beat him
at Pasargadæ, & set up the Persians above the Medes. This
was the horn wchwhich came up last. And the horn wchwhich came up
first was the kingdom of the Medes, from the time that Cy
axeres & Nebuchadnezzar overthrew Nineiveh, & shared
the Empire of the Assyrians between them. The Empires
of Media & Babylon were contemporary, & rose up together
by the fall of the Assyrian Empire; & the Prophesy of
the four Beasts begins with one of them, & that of the
Ram & He-Goat with the other. And as the Ram represents
the kingdom of Media & Persia from the beginning of
the four Empires; so the He-Goat represents the Empire
of the Greeks to the end of those Monarchies. In the reign
of his four horns great horn, & of the four horns which
succeeded it, he represents this Empire during the reign
of the Leopard: & in the reign of his little horn, wchwhich
stood up in the latter time of the kingdom of the four, & at
fall became mighty but not by heis repre own power, he
represents it during the reign of the fourth Beast.
The rough Goat, saith Daniel, is the king of Greece,
that is, the kingdom; & the great horn between his eyes
is the first king: not the first Monarch, but the first kingdom,
that wchwhich lasted during the reign of Alexander the great,
& his brother Aridæus & two young sons, Alexander &
Hercules. Now that [horn] being broken off, whereas four
[horns] stood up for it; four kingdoms shall stand up out
of the nation [of the Greeks], but not in his [the first horn's]
power. The four horns are therefore four kingdoms; & by
consequence, the first great horn wchwhich they succeeded is
the first great kingdom of the Greeks, that which was
founded by Alexander the great, An. Nabonass. 414, & lasted
till the death of his Son Hercules An. Nabonass. 441. And the
four are those of Cassander, Lysimachus, &Antigonus, &
Ptolomy, as above.
And in the latter time of their kingdome, when the
transgressors are come to the full, a king [or new kingdom] of fierce4138 fierce countenance, & understanding dark sentences, shall
stand up: And his power shall be mighty, but not by his
own power. This king was the last horn of the Goat, the
little horn wchwhich came up out of the four horns,
& waxed exceeding great. And tThe latter time of their
kingdom wchwhich was when the Romans began to conquer them,
that is, when they conquered Perseus king of Macedonia, the
fundamental kingdom of the Greeks. And at that time
the transgressors came to the full: For then the High-
priesthood was exposed to saile, & the Vessels of the Temple
were sold to pay for the purchase; & the High-priest, with
some of the Iews, procured a licence from the king Anti
ochus Epiphanes to do after the ordinances of the heathen,
& set up a school at Ierusalem for teaching those
ordinances. Then Antiochus took Ierusalem with an
armed force, slew 4000 Iews, took as many prisoners
& sold them, spoiled the Temple, interdicted the wor
ship, commanded the Law of Moses to be burnt, & set
up the worship of the heathen Gods in all Iudea. And iIn
the very same year (An. Nabonass. 580) the Romans conquered
Macedonia, the chief of the four horns. Hitherto the Goat
began to
began to be under the Romans. And Daniel distinguishes the
times, by describing very particularly the actions of the kings
of the north & south, (those two of the four horns which bordered
upon Iudea) untill the Romans began conquered Macedonia,
& thenceforward only touching upon the main revolutions
which happened within the compass of the nations repre
sented by the Goat. And iIn this latter period of time the
little horn was to stand up & grow mighty, but not by his
own power.
The three first of Daniel's Beasts had their dominions
taken away, each of them at the rise of the first next Beast;
but their lives were prolonged, & they are all of them
still alive. The third Beast, or Leopard, reigned in his
four heads, till the rise of the fourth Beast or Empire
of the Latines; & his life was prolonged under their
power. This Leopard reigning in his four heads, signifies
the same thing with the He-goat reigning in his four
horns: & therefore the He-goat reigned in his four
head horns till the rise of Daniel's fourth Beast, or
Empire of the Latines: And then its dominion was
taken away by the Latines, but its life was prolonged
under their power. The Latines are not comprehended
among the nations represented by the He-Goat in this
Prophecy: Their power over the Greeks is only named
in it to distinguish the times in wchwhich the He-Goat was
mighty by his power, from the times in wchwhich he
was mighty but not by his own power. He was mighty
by his own power till his dominion was taken away
by the Latines; & after that, his life was prolonged under
their dominion, & this prolonging of his life was in the
days of his last horn: For in the days of this horn the
Goat became mighty but not by his own power.
Now because this horn was a horn of the Goat, we
are to look for it amongst the nations wchwhich composed the body4239 body of the Goat. Among those nations he was to rise up & grow
mighty: He grew mighty Dan. viii.9.towards the south & towards the east &
towards the pleasant land; & therefore he was to rise up in
the north-west parts of those nations, & extend his dominion
towards Egypt, & Syria & Iudea. In the latter time of the king
dom of the four horns, it was to rise up out of one of them
& subdue the rest, but not by its own power. It was to be assisted
by a forreign power, a power superior to it self, the power wchwhich
took away the dominion of the third Beast, the power of the fourth
Beast. And such a little horn was the kingdom of Macedon from
the time that it became subject to the Romans. This kingdom by
the victory of the Romans over Perseus king of Macedon, Anno Nabonass 580, ceased
to be one of the four horns of the Goat, & became a dominion of
a new sort; not a horn of the fourth Beast, for Macedon be
longed to the body of the third: but a horn of the third Beast
of a new sort, a horn of the Goat wchwhich grew mighty but not
by his own power, a horn wchwhich rose &up & grew potent under a
forreign power, the power of the Romans.
Thise Romans, by the legacy of Attalus the last king of
Pergamus, An. Nabonass. 615, inherited that kingdom, including
all Asia minor on this side mount Taurus,: & An. Nabonass.
683, 684 & 685 they conquered Armenia, Syria & Iudæa; & An.
Nabonass. 718, they subdued Egypt. And by these conquests
the little R pma 121[horn waxed exceeding great towards the south,
& towards the east, & towards the pleasant land. And it
waxed great even to the host of heaven; & cast down of the
Host & of the starrs to the grownd, & stamped upon them,Ch. viii.10.
that is, upon the people & great men of the Iews. Ver. 11.Yea, he
magnified himself even to the Prince of the Host, the
Messiah, the Prince of the Iews, whom he put to death An.
Nabonass. 780. And by him the daily sacrifice was taken
away, & the place of his Sanctuary was cast down; vizt
in the warrs wchwhich the armies of the eastern nations under
the conduct of the Romans made against Iudea, when
Nero & Vespatsian were Emperors, An. Nabonass. 816, 817,
& 818. And an host was given him against the daily sa
crifice by reason of transgression, & it cast down the truth
to the grownd, & it practised & prospered.Ver. 12. This transgressi
on is in the next words called the transgression of desolaltion;
& in Dan. XI.31 the abomination of desolation which maketh
desolate; & in Matth. XXIV.15 the abomination of desolation,
(spoken of by Daniel the Prophet,) standing in the holy place.
And iIt may relate chiefly to the worship of Iupiter Olym
pius in his Temple built chiefly by the Emperor Hadrian, in
the place of the Temple of the Iews, & to the revolt of
the Iews under Barchochab occasioned thereby, & to the
desolation of the Iews Iudæa which followed thereupon, all
the Iews being thenceforward banished Iudæa upon pain of
death. Then I heard, saith DanielVer. 13., one saint speaking, &
another saint said to him that spoke, How long shall be the
vision concerning the daily sarificesacrifice, & the transgression of
desolation, to give both the sanctuary & the Host to be trodden
under feet? And he said unto me,
Vnto two thousand & three
hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. Daniel's days
are years; & these years may perhaps be
from the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in the reign of4340 of Vespasian, or from the pollution of the Sanctuary by
the worship of Iupiter Olympius, or from the desolation of
Iudea made in the end of the Iewish war by the banishment
of all the Iews out of their own country, or from some other
period wchwhich time will discover. Henceforward the last horn of the
Goat continued mighty under the Romans, till the reign of
Constantine the great & his sons:
of the Roman Empire between the Greek & Latin Empires,
it separated from the Latines, & became the Greek Em
pire alone, but yet under the dominion of a Roman
family; & at present it is mighty under the dominion of
the Turks.
This last horn is by some taken for Antiochus Epiphques,
but not very judiciously. A horn of a Beast is nevertakennever taken
for a single person: It always signifies a new kingdom,
& the kingdom of Antiochus was an old one. Antiochus
reigned over one of the four horns, & the little horn
was a fifth under its proper kings. This horn was at
first a little one, & waxed exceeding great, under its
proper kings & so did not Antiochus. It is described
great above all the former horns, & so was not Antio
chus. His kingdom on the contrary was weak, & tri
butary to the Romans, & he did not enlarge it. The
horn was a king of fierce countenance, & destroyed
wonderfully, & prospered & practised &; that is, he prospered in his
practises against the holy people: but Antiochus was
frighted out of Egypt by a mere message of the Romans,
& afterwards routed & baffled by the Iews. The horn was
mighty by another's power, Antiochus acted by his own.
The Horn stood up against the Prince of the Host of
heaven, the Prince of Princes; & this is the character
not of Antiochus but of Antichrist. The Horn cast down
the Sanctuary to the grownd, & so did not Antiochus;
He left it standing. The Sanctuary & Host were
trampled under foot 2300 days; & in Daniel's pro
phesyies days are put for years: but the profana
tion of the Temple in the reign of Antiochus did
not last so many natural days. These were to last
till the time of the end, till the last end of the In
dignation against the Iews; & this Indignation is not
yet at an end. They were to last till the Sanctuary
wchwhich had been cast down should be cleansed, & the
Sanctuary is not yet cleansed.
This Prophesy of the Ram & He-Goat is repeated
in the last Prophesy of Daniel. There the Angel tells
DanielDan. xi.1, 2., that he stood up to strenghthen Darius the Mede,
& that there should stand up yet three kings in Persia,
[Cyrus, Cambyses, & Darius Hystaspis] & the fourth
[Xerxes] should be far richer then they all; & by his
wealth through' his riches he should stir up all against
the realm of Greece. This relates to the Ram, whose
two horns were the kingdoms of Media & Persia. Then
he goes on to describeVer. 3. the horns of the Goat by the stand
ing up of a mighty king, which should rule with great
dominion, & do so according to his will; & by the breaking of4441 of his kingdom into four smaller kingdoms, & not to his
posterity. Then he describes the actions of two of those king
doms which bordered upon Iudea, vizt the kingdoms of
Egypt & Syria, calling them the kings of the south & north,
that is, in respect of Iudea; & he carries on the description till
the latter end of the kingdom of the four, & till the reign of
Antiochus Epiphanes, when transgressors were come to the
full. And iIn the eighth yeare of Antiochus, the year in
wchwhich Antiochus he spoiled the Temple prophaned the Temple prophaned prophaned the Temple & set up the heathen Gods in all Iudæa, & the Romans conquered
the kingdom of Macedon, the prophetic Angel leaves off describing the affairs
of the kings of the South & north, & eose
affairs of the Greeks under the dominion of the Romans,
in these words. And after himDan. xi.31 Arms [The Romans] shall
stand up, & they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength
As ממלך signifies after the king, Dan XI.8; so here ממנו
may signify after him: & so תן־תחאחהאחת may signify
after one of them, Dan. VIII.9. Arms are every where in
these prophesies of Daniel put for the military power of
a kingdom, & they stand up when they conquer & grow
powerfull. The Romans conquered Illyricum, Epire & Mace
don, in the year of Nabonassar 580; & 35 years after, by the
last will & testament Attalus the last king of Pergamus,
they inherited that rich & flourishing kingdom, that is, all
Asia on this side mount Taurus: & 69 years after, they con
quered the kingdom of Syria, & reduced it into a Province,: &
34 years after they did the like to Egypt. And bBy all these
steps the Roman arms stood up over the Greeks. And after
95 years more, they by making war upon the Iews, they
polluted the sanctuary of strength, & took away the dayly
sacrifice, & [in its room soon after they] placed the abomi
nation wchwhich made [the Land] desolate. For this abo
mination was placed after the days of Christ, Matth.
XXIV.15. In the 16th year of the Emperor Hadrian,
A.C. 132, they placed this abomination by building a
Temple to Iupiter Capitolinus, where the Temple of
God in Ierusalem had stood. For tThereupon the Iews
under the conduct of Barchochab rose up in arms
against the Romans, & in the war had 50 cities demolish
ed, & 985 of their best towns destroyed, & 580000 men
slain by the sword: & in the end of the war, A.C. 136, they
were banished Iudea upon pain of death; & thencefor
ward the land hath remained desolate of its old inhabitants.
Now that the prophetic Angel passes in this manner
from the four kingdoms of the Greeks to the Romans reign
ing unovder the Greeks, is confirmed by from hence, that in the
next place he describes the affairs of the Christians unto the
time of the end, in these words:Ch. xi.33, &c. And they that understand
among the people shall instruct many, yet they shall fall
by the sword & by flame, & by captivity & by spoile many days.
Now when they shall fall they shall be holpen with a little
help, [vizt in the reign of Constantine the great,] but many shall
cleave to them with flatteries dissimulation. And of those of
understanding there shall fall to try them, and to purge [them
from the dissemblers] & to make white unto the time of the end.
And a little after, the time of the end is said to be a time, times,
& half a time: which is the duration of the reign of the last horn4542 horn of Daniels fourth Beast, & of the Woman & her Beast
in the Apocalyps.
473
Chapt. X
Of the Prophesy of the seventy Weeks
The Vision of the Image composed of four metals was given first to Nebuchad
nezzar, and then to Daniel in a dream: and Daniel began then to be celebrated
for revealing of secrets, Ezek. XXVIII.3. The Vision of the four beasts, and
of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, was also given to Daniel
in a dream. That of the ram and the hee-goat appeared to him in the day
time, when he was by the bank of the Ulay; and was explained to him
by the prophetic Angel Gabriel. It concerns the Prince of the host, and
the Prince of Princes: and now in the first year of Darius the Mede over Baby
lon, the same prophetic Angel appears to Daniel again, and explains to him
what is meant by the Son of man, and by the Prince of the host, and the Prince
of Princes. The Prophecy of the Son of Man coming in the clouds of
heaven relates to the second coming of Christ; and that of the Prince of the
host relates to his first coming: and this prophecy of the Messiah in ex
plaining them relates to both comings, and assigns the times thereof.
S pma 129[This Prophesy, like all the rest of Daniel's, consists of two parts, an Int
introductory prophesy and an explanation thereof; the whole I thus translate
and interpret.
Seventy Weeks &c # pag 3
The History
of
the four Monarchies
compared with
Sacred ProphesyChap. 1.
The History of the Persian Monarchy
compared wthwith Daniel's weeks.The Prophecy of Daniel's weeks I translate &
interpret thus.
# Seventy weeks are aa Cut upon. A phrase in Hebrew, taken from the practise of numbring by cutting notches.cut out upon thy people, & upon
thy holy City, to finish transgressiobb. Heb. to seal, i.e. to finish or consummate: a metaphor taken from sealing what is finished. So the Iews compute, ad obsignatam Misna, ad obsignatum Talmud, that is, ad absolutum.to make an end of
sins, & to expiate iniquity, & to bring in everlasting righte
ousness & ccthe Prophet not yethe prophesy.the d
annoint the most Holy.
Know also & understand, that from the going forth
of the commandment to cause to return & to build
Ierusalem that unto dd Heb. the Messiah ytthat is, in Greek yethe Christ, orin English yethe Annointed. I use the english word, ytthat yethe relation of this clause to yethe last former may appear.yethe Annointed the Prince, shall
be the seven weeks.
Yet threscore & two weeks shall dede Ierusalem.Let these marginal notes be put in a somewhat less character at the bottom of the pageit return, &
the street be built & the wall; but in troublesome times
& after the threscore & two weeks, yethe Ml Annointed shall
be cut off, & de
the Prince to come shall destroy the city & the sanctu
ary: & the end thereof shall be with a flood, & unto
the end of the war desolations are determined.
Yet shall he confirm the covenant wthwith many
for one week. And in half a week he shall cause
the sacrifice & oblation to cease: & upon a wing
of abominations he shall make it desolate., And even untill
the consummation e and that wchwhich is determined shall be
poured upon the desolate.
Seventy weeks are cut out &c upon thy people, & upon thy thy holy City, to finish transgression, &c. Here by putting
a week for seven years as in Gen. XXIX.27. 28, are recconed 490 years from
the time that the dispersed Iews should be reincorporated
into aaiol the death & resurrection of Christ; whereby transgression should be finished & sins ended, & iniquity expiated, & everlasting righteousness
brought in, & this Vision accomplished, & the Prophet
consummate, that Prophet whom yethe Iews expected; & the
most Holy annointed, he who is therefore in the next
words called the most Annointed, that is, the Messiah, or the
Christ. For by joyning the accomplishment of the vision
wthwith yethe expiation of sins, the 490 years are ended
wthwith yethe death of Christ. Now the dispersed Iews
became a people & City when they first returned
into a polity or body politick; & this was in the
seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimagnus, when Ezra returned
wthwith a body of Iews from captivity, & revived the Iews
worship, & by the King's commission created Magistrates
in all the land, to judge & govern the people according
to the laws of God & the King, Ezra 7.25. Till this
they were no polity: for There were but two returns from captivity, Zerubbabel's & Ezra's; & in Zerubbabel's
they had only commission to build the Temple, in Ezra's
they first became a polity or city by a government of their
own. Now the years of this Artaxerxes began about
tawo or three months or two after the summer solstice, & his
seventh year fell in wthwith yethe third year of the
Iulian Period 80th Olympiad; & the latter part
thereof, wthwith wherein Ezra went up to Ierusalem, was
in the 4257th year of the Iulian Period. Count
the time from thence death to yethe death of Christ,
you will find it just 490 years. If you count
in Iudaic years commencing in autumn, & date yethe
recconing from yethe first autumn after Ezra's coming
to Ierusalem, when he put yethe King's decree in ex
cution; the death of Christ will fall on the year
of the Iulian Period 4747, anno Domini 34; & the
weeks will be Iudaic weeks, ending with sabbatical
years: & this I take to be the truth. But if you
had rather place yethe death of Christ in the year be
fore as is commonly done, you may include the year of
Ezra's journey in the recconing.
485
Know also & understand, that from the going forth
of the commandment to cause to return & to build
Ierusalem unto the Annointed the Prince, shall be
seven weeks. The former part of the Prophesy
related to yethe first coming of Christ being dated to his coming as a Prophet; this being
dated to his coming to be Prince or King, seems to
relate to his second coming. There yethe Prophet
was consummate, & the most holy annointed: here he
that was annointed comes to be Prince & to reign. For
all Daniel's prophesies reach to yethe end of the world;
& there is scarce a prophesy in yethe old Testament
concerning Christ, wchwhich doth not in something or other
relate to his second coming. If divers of the ancients
as aa Iren. l 5 Hær. c 25.Irenæus, lib 5 bb apud Hieron. in h. l.Iulius Africanus, Hippolytus yethe martyr,
& Apollinaris bBishop of Laodicea, applied the half
week to the times of Antichrist, why may not
we by the same liberty of interpretation apply
the half seven weeks to yethe time when Antichrist shall
be destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming?
This clause therefore I had rather leave to be
explained by time then venture upon a rash
interpretation of what I do not yet understand.see the paper Ⓧ pag 2. Let the Messiah be considered as a Prophet in his lifetime, as an High Priest making
intercession for us in the heavens from the time of his death and resurrection and ascension,
according to the following interpretation will be predicted all the main periods of
time relating to him and his Kingdom, so that the interpretation is full. It
determins the
Ⓧ The Israelites in the days of the ancient pProphets, when the ten tTribes were led into
captivity, expected a double return; and that at the first the Iews should build
a new Temple inferior to Solomon's, untill the time of that age should be fulfilled
and afterwards they should return from all the places of their captivity & build Ierusalem
and the Temple gloriously, Tobit xiv.54. 56: and to express the Glory and excel
lence of this City, it is figuratively said to be built of precious stones, Tobit
xiii.16. 17. 18 Isa. liv. 11.12. Rev. xi; and calld the nNew IerusalemHeavenly Ie
rusalemrusalem, the Holy City, the Lamb's Wife, the City of the Great King, the City
into which the Kings of the earth do bring their glory & honour. Now while
Israel, even before the
times of Daniel, I know not why Daniel should omit it in this Prophesy. This
part of the Prophesy being therefore not yet fulfilled, I shall not attempt
a particular interpretation of it, but content my self with observing, that
as the 70 seventy weeks and the sixty two weeks were Iewish
with sabattical years; so the seven weeks are the compass of a Iubilee
and begin and end with actions proper for a Iubilee, and of the highest
nature for which a Iubilee can be kept,: and that since the commandment
to return and to build Ierusalem, precedes the Messiah the Prince 49 years
it may perhaps come forth not from the Iews themselves, but from some
other kingdom friendly to them, & precede their return from captivity, and
giue occasion to it; and lastly, that this rebuilding of Ierusalem and the waste
places of Iudah is predicted in Micah vii.11. Amos ix.11. 14, Ezek. xxxvi.1133. 35. 36. 38.
Isa. liv.3. 11. 12 & lv.12. & lxi.4. & lxv.18, 21. 22. & Tobit xiv.5; and the return from the captivity
and coming of the Messiah and his kingdom are described in Daniel vii. Rev. xix.
Acts I. Mat xxiv. Ioel iii. Ezek. xxxvi. xxxvii. and Isa. Isa. lx. lxii. lxiii. lxv. & lxvi and many
other places of scripture. The manner I know not. Let time be the in
terpreter.
Yet threescore & two &cas the copy pag 5. Yet threescore & two weeks shall it return, & the street be built & the wall, but in troublesome times: & after the threscore & two weeks, yethe Messiah shall be cut off, & it shall not be his, but the people of a Prince to come shall destroy yethe city & yethe sanctuary, &c. Having foretold both comings of Christ, & dated yethe last from the returning & building Ierusalem; to prevent the applying that to yethe building Ierusalem by Nehemiah, he distinguishes this from that, by saying that from this period to yethe Annointed shall be, not seven weeks, but threscore & two weeks, & this not in prosperous but in troublesome times; & at yethe end of these weeks the Messiah shall not be the Prince ## See his mark of the Iews, but be cut off, & the Principality not Ierusalem not be his, but the city & sanctuary be destroyed. Now Nehemiah came to Ierusalem in the 20th year of this same Artaxerxes, while Ezra still continued there (Nehem. 12.36.) & found the city lying waste, & the houses & wall unbuilt (Nehem. 2.17.& 7.4) & finished yethe wall, saith Iosephus6sephus, in the 28th year of the King the 25t day of yethe month Elut (Nehem. 6.15) in dd Ioseph.yethe 28th year of yethe King, that is in September in the year of the Iulian period 42778. Count now from this year threescore & two weeks of years, that is 434 years, & the recconing will end in September in the year of yethe Iulian period 4712 that is at the birth of Christ in yethe 42th year of Augustus & 28yethe of yethe victory at Actium conquest of Egypt two years before the vulgar account, where the last year of wchwhich recconing is the year in wchwhich Christ was born according to Clemens Alexandrinus, Irenæus, Eusebius, Epiphanius, Ierome Orosius Cassiodorus & other anctients. place i For this was the general opinion of the anctients, till Dionysius Exiguus invented the vulgar account in which Christs birth is placed two years later. If wthwith some you reccon that Christ was born 3 or 4 years before yethe vulgar account, yet his birth will fall in the latter part of the last week, wchwhich is enough.. You may reccon by Iewish years inclusively & so place the birth of Christ 3 or 4 years before the vulgar account How after these weeks Christ was cut off, & the City & Sanctuary destroyed by the Romans, is well known.
Yet shall he confirm the covenant wthwith many for one week. For he kept it (notwithstanding his death) till the rejection of the Iews, & calling of Cornelius & the Gentiles in the seventh year after his death passion. break|And in half a week he shall cause the sacrifice & oblation to cease, that is, by the war of yethe Romans upon the Iews; wchwhich war after some commotions began in the 13th of year of Nero, A.D. 67 in spring, when Vespasian wthwith an Aarmy invaded them, & ended in the 3second year of Vespasian, A.D. 70, in autumn, Sept. 7, when Titus took yethe City, having burnt yethe Temple 27 days before; so that is lasted three years & an half. break| Whe In reference therefore to these & other following wars he subjoyns And upon a wing of abominations he shall make it cause desolation, even untill the consummation & that wchwhich is determined be poured upon the desolate. The Prophets, in representing Kingdoms by Beasts & Birds, put their wings stretcht out over any country for their armies sent out to invade & rule over these countrieys. And hence a wing of abominations is an army of fals Gods. For an abomination is often put in scripture for an fals God; as where Chemosh is called yethe abomination of Moab & Molech yethe abomination of Ammon. The meaning therefore is, that the people of a Prince to come shall destroy the sanctuary, & abolish the daily T pma 137[worship of the true God, & invade overspread yethe land wthwith an army of fals Gods; & by setting up their dominion & worship, & cause desolation to yethe Iews, untill the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. For Christ tells you, that the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel was to be set up by in the Romans times of the Roman Empire, Matt. 24.497 Matt. 24.15.
Thus have you predicted in this short prophesy, as it is here interpreted, | a prediction of all the main periods relating to the coming of the Messiah, predicted: the time of his birth, that of his death, that of the rejection of the Iews, the duration of the Iewish war whereby he caused the City & sanctuary & perished & the to be destroyed, & the time of his second coming: & so the interpretation here given is more full & complete & adequate to the designe, then if we should restrain it to his first coming only, as Interpreters usually do, we avoyd also the doeing violence to yethe language of Daniel, by taking the seven weeks & sixty two weeks for one number. Had that been Daniel's meaning, he would have said sixty & nine weeks, & not seven weeks & sixty two weeks, a way of numbring used by no nation. In orour way the years are Iewish Luni-solar years;aa at the bottom of this page and if occasion be of yethe next insert by way of note in a somewhat less character, what follows * in the next p. 9.* The first ancient solar solar years of the eastern nations & Greeks consisted of 360 days there being 12 months, in yethe year & & every month of 30 days: in every month & hence came yethe division of a circle into 360 degrees & hence came the division of a circle into 360 days degrees.. And tThis year seems to be used by Moses in his history of the flood, & by Iohn in yethe Apocalyps, where a time times & half a time, 42 months & 1260 days, are put equipollent. But in recconing by mayny of there years together, an accompunt is to be kept of the odd days wchwhich were added to yethe end of these years. For the Egyptians & Chaldeans added five days to the end of this year; & every 4th year they added a day more. This computation being followed in the æra of Nabonassar, was used by the Chaldeans long before they captivated the Iews. & so did the Chaldeans long before the did the Chaldeans as times of Daniel, as appears by the æra of Nabonassar: & the Persians Magi used used the same year of 365 days, till the empire of the Arabians. The ancient Greeks also used the solar year used to yethe same solar year of 12 equal months, or conteining or 360 days; but every other year added an intercalary month, consisting of 36 10 & 11 days alternately. And this is the yearof the Greeks mentioned by Herodotus tho he by mistake (if the place be not corrupted) attributes 30 days to yethe intercalary month.
The year of yethe Iews, even from their coming out of Egypt, was Lunisolar. It was solar, for the Passover in yethe middle of the first month always harvest always followed the Passover & the fruits of the land were always gathered before yethe feast of Tabernacles, in yethe middle of yethe 7th month the fruits of yethe land were always gathered. Levit 23. Yet But the months of this year were lunar, For the people were commanded by Moses to bl in the beginning of every month to blow with Trumpets, & offer burnt offerings & are the wthwith their drink offerings, Num. 10.10. & 28.11, 14 & accordingly this solemnity was kept on yethe new moons 1 Sam. 20.5, 18. 2 King. 4.23. Psal. 81.3, 4, 5. Isa 66.23. Amos 8.5. 1. Chron 23.31. These months were called by Moses the first, 2d, 3d 4th month &c. And the first month he was also called Abitb, the sevecontdh was called Zif, the seventh Ethanim, the eighth Bull, Exod. 213.154. 1 King 6.37, 38 & 8.2. But in the Babylonian captivity the Iews used the names of the Babylonian Chaldean months, & by those names understood the months of their own year; so that yethe Iewish months lost their old names, & are now called by chaldean names. They Iews began their civil year from yethe autumnal Equinox, & their sacred year frōom yethe vernal: & the first day of yethe first month was on the visible new moon, wchwhich was nearest the equinox.
Whether Daniel used the Chaldaick or Iewish year, is not much material; there being but a day difference in four years 30 the difference being but 30 days in 120 years a qua six hours in a year, & 4 months in 480 years. But I take his months to be Iewish: partly first, because Daniel was a Iew, & the Iews even by the names of the Babylon Chaldean months understood the months of their own year: &c partly also secondly, because his prophesy is grownded on Ierehmiah's concerning the 70 years captivity, & Ieremiah therefore must be understood of the same sort of years with yethe seventy: & those are Iewish, because since that prophesy was given in Iudea before the captivity, Ier & the years are I called sabbaths in yethe language of Moses (2 Chron. 36.21. Levit. 26.34, 35. & lastly, becaus Daniel reccons by weeks of years, wchwhich is a way of recconing peculiar to the Iewish years. For as their days ran by sevens, & wer the last day of every seven was a sabbath; so their years ran ran by I sevens, & the last Ieyear of every seven was a sabbathical year, & seven seuch weeks of years made a Iubile., as they ought to be; & the seventy weeks of years are Iewish weeks ending wthwith sabbatical years, wchwhich is very remarkable. For they end either with the year of the birth of Christ or wthwith his deat two years before yethe vulgar account, or wthwith yethe year of his death, or with yethe seventh year after it: all wchwhich are sabbatical years. Other's either count by Lunar years, or by weeks not Iudaic: &, wchwhich is the worst, they ground their interpretations on erroneous Chronology, excepting the opinion of Funccius wchwhich about yethe seventy weeks, wchwhich is the same wthwith the ours. For they place Artaxerxes Mnemon Ezra & Nehemiah in the reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon, & yethe building of yethe Temple in the reign of (Darius Nothus, & yethe weeks of Daniel from theose two reigns.
The grounds of the Chronology here followed, I will now set down as briefly as I can. The Peloponnesian war &c.see pag. 13.
11.509
Chronological Observations upon the foregoing Interpretation.
1 On yethe years used by Daniel.
1. That yethe years used by Daniel are Iewish Lunisolar years.
10
2 That Ezra & Nehemiah flourished under Artaxerxes Longimanus.
For making this appear & clearing up the history of yethe Iews conteined in the books of Ezra & Nehemiah I lay down the following considerations. First that the history book of Nehemiah from yethe 1st year of 65t vers of yethe 7th chapter to yethe ninth verse of yethe 12th chapter iwas copied by Nehemiah out of the Chronicles of yethe Iews & conteins the histotry of yethe Iews at their return from captivity under Zerubbabel in yethe first year of Cyrus. For this will appear by reading the place & considering that the men who who sealed the covenant in yethe 24th day of yethe Fir seventh month were yethe very same wthwith the men who came up wthwith returned from captivity wthwith Zerubbabel in yethe first year of Cyrusas you may perceive by comparing the following comparison of their names.
Secondly I observe consider that soon after these things the Temple was finished in yethe sixt year of Darius Hystaspis. For it was finished in the High Priesthood of Ieshua & Ieshua was not long lived beyond the usual age of old men. For he outlived not the age of his contemporaries. For in his days the first year of Cyrus the chief Priests were Serajah, Ieremiah Ezra, Amariah, Mallach, Shiehaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, Iddo, Ginetho, Abijah, Iedaiah (Nehem 12) & their sons Merajah th all their eldest sons of them all (Merajah yethe son of Serajah, Hanamiah the son of Ieremiah, Meshullam the son of Ezra &c) were chief Priests in the days of Iojakim the son of Ieshuah. Nehem 12. & therefore the High Priesthood of Ieshua was but of an ordinary lenght.
5113
commotions duration of yethe Iewish war, & yethe time of his second coming. & so it is more full & complete & adequate to the designe then if we should restrain it to his first coming only, as interpreters usually do. besides that that their interpretation is made very harsh In our way there is no violence done to the language, in theirs a very great one by joyning the seven weeks & sixty two weeks into one number, as if put for sixty & nine weeks. Had that been Daniel's meaning he would have gathered said sixty & nine weeks & not seven weeks & sixty two weeks: a way of numbering used by no nation. In our way the years are Iewish Luni-solar years as they ought to be & the 70 weeks of years & are Iewish The same may be said also of the weeks ending with sabbatical years; wchwhich is very observable remarkable. For they end either wthwith yethe birth of Christ or wthwith his death or wthwith yethe rejection of yethe Iews: all wchwhich we place in sabbatical years. Others either count by Lunar years or by weeks not Iudaic. And wchwhich is worst, they ground their computa interpretations on erraoneous chonologychronology, excepting yethe opinion of Funccius about yethe 70 years wchwhich differs from orsours but in a year. For they place ezra & Nehemiah in yethe reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon [The grounds of yethe Chronology here followed, I will set down as briefly as I can.
The Pelopponnesian war began in spring an 1 Olymp 87 as Diodorus, Eusebius & all authors agree. It began two months before Pythodorus ceased to be Archon (Thucyd. l. 2.) that is, in April, two months before yethe end of yethe Olympic year, that is April.. And the years of this war are most certainly determined by the 450 years distance of its beginning first year from the transit of Xerxes inclusively, (Thucyd. l. 2.) or 48 years exclusively. (Eratosth. apud Clem. Allex.) by the 69 years distance of its end, or 27th year, from the beginning of Alexander in Greece; by the acting of the Olympic games in its 4th & 12th years; & 67 (Thucyd. l. 5) & by three eclipses of the Sun, & one of the moon, mentioned by Thucydides & Xenophon. Now by yethe unquestionable testimony of Thucydides, an unquestionable witness, tells us, that the news of the death of Artaxerxes Longimanus was brought from to Ephesus, & from thence by some Athenians to Athens, in yethe 7th year of this Peloponnesian war, when yethe winter half year was running; suppose about mid-winter & & therefore since the a month or two would be spent in bringing the news month or two before he died an. 4 Olymp. 88, suppose about mid-winter, an. Per. Iub. 4290 in the endof I.P. 4289 suppose a month or two before mid-winter; For so long the news would be in coming.. Now Ar after Xerxes reigned Artabanus 7 months, wchwhich, saith Eusebius, in ordine annorum reputantur, in computing yethe years duration of yethe Persian Monarchy by years are recconned for a year. Then reigned Now Artaxerxes Longimanus reigned 40 years, by the consent of all Chronologers who reccon up yethe year of Artabanus apart. But Ptolomy who in his Canon puts the reign of Artaxerxes 41 years. For he does not reccon the5215 the year of Artabanus apart but includes it in the reign of Artaxerxes & therefo puts his reign 41 years. Diodorus, Eusebius, Ierome, Sulpitius; & shall then almost or 41 according to Ptol. in Clemens Alexandr. l. 1. Strom. Chron: Alexandr. Abul-Pharagius, Nicephorus includingcluding therein the reign of his successors Xerxes & Sogdian, as Abulpharajius informs us. After Artaxerxes reigned his son Xerxes two months, & Sogdian 7 months; but their reign is not summ recconed apart in summing up yethe years of the Kings, but is included in yethe 40 or 41 years reign of Xerxes Artaxerxes. Omit these 9 months, & the precise reigne of Artaxerxes will be 39 years & 10 months. And therefore since his reign ended in the beginning of winter I.P. 4289, it began in between midsummer & autumn, I.P. 4260 4250.
The same thing I gather also thus. Cambyses began his reign spring I.P. 4185, & reigned 8 years, including yethe seven five months of Smerdes; & then Darius Hystaspis began in spring & reigned 3 I.P. 4193, & reigned 36 years, by yethe unanimous consent of all Chronologers. The reignessreigns of these th two kings are determined by three eclipses of yethe moon observed at Babylon, & recorded by Ptolomy; so ytthat they it cannot be disputed. One was of yethe more in yethe 7th year of Cambyses, an. Nabonass 225 I.P. 4191, Iul. 16, hora una ante me at 11 of yethe clock at night; in Babylon, another in yethe 20th year of Darius, I.P. 4212, Nov. 19, at 11h. 45′ b at night; a third in yethe 31th st year of Darius, I.P. 4223, Apr. 25, at 11h. 30′ at night. By these eclipses, & the Prophesies of Haggai & Zecchary compared together, it's manifest that his years began after the 24th day of the 11th month & Iewish month, & before yethe 25t day of April, & by consequence about March. Xerxes therefore Xerxes therefore began in spring I.P. 4229: Ffor he began Darius died in the fifth year after yethe battel at Marathon (as Herodotus lib. 7, & Plutarch mention) & that battel was in October I.P. 42254, ten years before yethe transit battel at Salamsis. There Xerxes spent Xerxes therefore began wthwithin less than a year after October I.P. 4228, suppose in yethe spring following: For he spent his first five years, & something more, in preparations for his great expedition against the Greeks; & this expedition was in the time of the Olympic games, an. 1 Olymp. 75, Calliade Athenis Archonte, 28 years after yethe Regifuge, & Consulship of yethe first Consul Iunius Brutus, anno Vrbis conditæ 273, Fabio & Furio Coss. The passage of hisXerxes's Xerxes's army over the hellespont began in yethe end of the fourth year of yethe 74th Olympiad, & (that is, in Iune) & I.P. 4234) & took up one month; & in autumn, after three months more, die Munychionis 16 Plenilunio was yethe battel at Salamis, & a little after that an Eclips of the sun, wchwhich by yethe calculation fell on Octob. 2. His sixt5417 sixth yeare therefore began a little before Iune (suppose in Feb. or March spring) an an. I.P. 4234 & his first year in spring I.P. 4229, as above. Now he reigned almost 21 years, by the consent of all writers. & therefore died in Add the seven months of Artabanus, & the summ will be 21 years & thre f about 4 months or 5 months, wchwhich end in the beginning of yethe between midsummer & autumn I.P. 4250. And then begins the aAt this time therefore begins the reign of his successor Artaxerxes, as was to be proved. T
The same thing is also confirmed by Iulius Africanus, who informs us out of former writers, that yethe 20th year of this Artaxes Artaxerxesq was yethe 115th year from yethe firs beginning of Cyrus in Persia, & fell in with an. 4 Olymp. 83. It It began therefore wthwith yethe Olympic year, soon after the summer solstice, I.P. 4269,. & by consequence Subduct 19 years, & his first year will beganbegin at yethe same time of yethe year I.P. 4250, as above.
His 7th year therefore began after midsummer I.P. 4256; & the Iourney of Ezra to Ierusalem the full the next was in yethe spring following was was in yethe fspring following was fell on yethe beginning of I.P. 4257, as above.See the M.SS. at pag 40
Chap. XI Of the Times of the Birth and Passion of Christ SECT. I.
The times of the birth & passion of Christ, & with such like niceties, being not material to religion, were little regarded by the first Christians of yethe first age. They that who began first to celebrate then, placed them in yethe cardinal periods of the year, as yethe birth of Christ on yethe winter solstice wchwhich in the Iulian Kalendar was then Decemb. 25, & wthwith yethe feasts of St Thomas, St Stephen, St Iohn, & Sts Innocents as neare it as they could the feast of St Thomas on yethe 21yethe wchwhich in yethe 4th century was the solstice, also: the annunciation of yethe Virgin Mary, on & yethe death of Christ on yethe 25t of March, wchwhich when Iulius Cæsar corrected yethe Calendar was then at first the vernal equinox; the feast of Iohn Baptist on yethe 24th of Iune, wchwhich was the summer solstice; & the Feast of S. Michael on Sept. 29, wchwhich was the autumnal equinox; & the birth of Christ on Dec 25 December yethe winter Solstice, wchwhich was Decemb 25, wthwith yethe Feasts of St Stephen, St Iohn & St Innocents, as near it as they could place them & yethe feast of St Thomas on Dec. 21 wchwhich in yethe 4th century was the solstice. And because yethe equinoxsolstice rem in time removed from yethe 25th of December by degres to yethe 24th, 25th, 26th & so 24th, yethe 23th d, yethe 22th d & so on backwards, hence some in the following centuries placed the death passion birth of Christ on yethe Decemb 23, & at length on Decemb. 20: U pma 145[& for the same reason they seem to have set the feast of St Thomas on Decemb. 21, & that of St Matthew on Sept. 21. So also at the entrance of yethe sun into all the the several sinthe all the signes in yethe Iulian CaledarCalendar, they placed yethe days of so into yethe other Saints, as yethe conversion of Paul on Ian 25, when yethe sun entred ♒,, St Matthias on Feb 25, when ☉ entred ♓; St Mark on Apr. 25, when ☉ entred ♉; Corpus Christi on May 256, when ☉ entred ♊; St Iames on Iuly 25, when ☉ entred ♋; St Bartholomew on Aug. 24, when ☉ entred ♍; Simond & Iude on Octob. 28, when ☉ entred ♏. And if there were any other remarkable days in yethe Iulian Calendar they placed the birth or de saints on them, as St Barnabas on Iune 11, where Ovid seems to place yethe feast of Vesta & Fortuna, & the goddess metuta; St St Philip & Iames on M yethe first of May, a day dedicated both to yethe Bona the Goddess of flowers, & still celebrated wthwith her rights rites all wchwhich shews that in fixing these days were fixed at pleasure wthoutwithout any tradition ground in tradition. & St Barnabas on Iun 11 where Ovid seems to place yethe feast of Vesta, & Fortuna & yethe Goddess Matuta. Goddess whom tho called by some magna mater deorum & magna mater & by the Romans goddess Bona Dea called Bona Dea, Fauna, Fortuna, magna & by other mater Dea, or mater De magna Dea mater, & to yethe gGoddess of flowers Flora, & still celebrated wthwith her rites. All wchwhich shews that these days were fixed in the 1st Christian CalendrsCalendars by Astronomers Mathematicians at pleasure, wthoutwithout any ground in tradition; & that yethe Christians took up wchwhich what they found in the calendars. Neither was there any certain tradition about yethe years of Christ. For yethe Christians who first began to enquire into these things, as Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Tertullian, Iulius Africanus, Lactantius, Ierome
Sect 2 Of The time year of Christ's death birth stated determined
Ierome, St Austin, Sulpitius, Severus, Prosper & & & as many as many as place yethe death of Christ in yethe 15th or 16 year of Tiberius) make Christ to have preached but one year, T or at most but two. At length Eusebius discovered four successive Passovers in y yethe Gospel of Iohn, & thereupon set on foot an opinion that he preacht 3 years & an half, Then & so died in the 19th year of Tiberius. Others afterwards, finding yethe opinion that he died in yethe equinox Mart. 25, more consonant to the rec Iewish account times of their Iewish Passover fixt in yethe 17y & 20th years, have fixt placed his death in one of those two years. Neither is there any greater certainty in yethe opinions about yethe time of his birth. The first Christians placed his birth baptism neare yethe beginning of yethe 15th year of Tiberius; & thence recconning 30 years backwards, placed his birth in the 42th year of Aug 43th d Iulian year, yethe 42th of Augustus & 28th of the Actiac victory. All And this was the opinion wchwhich obteined in the first ages, till Dionysius Exiguus, invented the op placing the biraptihsm of Christ in the 16th year of Tiberius, & misinterpreting the text of Luke, ch.13. 23, as if Iesus was only beginning to be 30 years old when he was baptized, made b invented yethe vulgar account vulgar account, in wchwhich his birth is placed two years later thean before. Laying aside therefore all the prejudices of pretended tradition let us now see what So then the about as to these things there is not certainty nothing of certainty in tradition worth considering; & therefore laying aside these prejudices, I let us see whether any thing can be gathered from records of good account.
Iosephus tells us
The fifteenth year of Tiberius began in September Aug. 18th return to the other M.S. pag 17. The fifteenth year of Tiberius began, Aug. 28, in September I.P. 4727. So soon as yethe winter was over, & yethe weather became warm enough, to baptize we may reccon ytthat Iohn began to baptize; & ytthat before next winter his fame went abroad, & all the people came to hims baptism, & Iesus among yethe rest. Whence the first Passover after his baptism mentioned Iohn 2.13. was in yethe 16th year of Tiberius. After this feast Iesus came into the land of Iudea, & staid there baptizing, whilst Iohn was baptizing in Enon, (Iohn 3.22) But when he heard that Iohn was cast into prison, he departed in Galilee, (Mat 3.12) being afraid, because he heard the Pharisees had heard that he baptized more disciples than Iohn, (Iohn 4.1.) & in his journey he passed throough' Samaria four months before yethe harvest that is in the ninth month (Iohn 4.35) that is, in about yethe ninth or tenth month which answers to our December November. time of the winter Solstice. For their harvest was in the second month answering to orour April between Easter and whitsonday, & began about a month after the vernal equinox.. Say ye not, saith he, that there are yet four months, to & then cometh yethe harvest? Behold I say unto you, lift up yoryour eys, & look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest; meaning, that yethe people in the5544 q I don't find any connection for this.Sect 3: the fields were ready for conversion, as his next words shew Iohn therefore was imprisoned about October October or November in yethe 17th year of Tiberius, & the next feast mentioned Iohn 5.1, was either the next Passover to or the feast of Tabernacles next after that & the Passover following mentioned Iohn 6.4, was either the third Passover, & fell in yethe 18th year of Tiberius. After this saith Iohn Iesus the miracles of the loaves wchwhich Iesus did in the mountain neare by the Sea of Tiberias when this Passover was nigh, at hand he walked in Galile: for, saith Iohn, he would not walk in Iewry because the Iews sought to kill him. He went not up therefore to his feast on Passover nor to any more of their feasts till that last feast of Tabernacles mentioned Iohn 7.2, when his brethren upbraided him for walking secretly & not showing himself at yethe feasts, & th yet he went up tho he went up at this feast yet it was not openly but as it were in secret (Iohn 7.3, 10.) What he did all the time he walked in Galile Iohn tells not nor what feast passed in that time. after this was the feast of Tabernacles Iohn 7.1 & then the fourth Passover in wchwhich he suffered. These are all the Passovers mentioned in Iohn. But in Matthew's Gospel I find find one more. Let us see if we can find that in of yethe other Evangelists Gospels. Luke to Mark & Luke not being eye witnesses keep no certain order of things. What we find in or d must Let us consider Matthew And here Matthew relates things in due order & therefore we must let us consider him since he names not the feasts we must pursue them by an a new method. But this defect is supplied in Matthews Gospel. For he being an eye witness relates things in due order as Iohn doth, but Matthew k Mark & Luke keep no certain order of time. The difficulty is to trace the series of the times in Matthew & this we must do by a new method. 5819 the fields were ready for conversion the Gospel as his next words shew.aa Inscribe bottom by of note as follows mark in pag. Know I observe, therefore that Christ & Iohn his forerunner Iohn in their parabolical discourses were wont to allude to things present. The old Prophets, when they who would describe things emphatically, did not only free draw parables from things wchwhich offered themselves, (as from the rent of a garment, 1 Sam. 15. from yethe Sabbatick year, Isa 37. from the pots vessels of a Potter, Ier. 18, &c.) but also when such fit objects were wanting, they supplied them by their own actions, as by rending a garment, 1 King. 11,.. by shooting, 2 King. 13,. by baring making bare their body, Isa. 20., by imposing significant names to their sons, Isa. 8. Hos. 1,. by hiding a girdle in yethe bank of Euphrates, Ier. 13. by breaking a Potter's vessel, Ier. 19. by putting on fetters & yoakes, Ier 27. by binding a book to a stone, & casting them both into Euphrates, Ier. 531., by besieging a painted city, Ezek 4., by dividing hair into three parts, Ezek.5. by making a chain, Ezek. 7. by carrying out household stuff like a captive & trembling, Ezek. 12, &c. By such kind of types the Prophets loved to speake. And Christ being endued wthwith a nobler Prophetick spirit thean the rest, excelled also in this kind of speaking, yet so as not to speak by his own actions, (that was less grave &5646 grave & decent) but to turn all into Parables a such things wchwhich as offered themselves. On occasion of the Harvest approaching, he admonishes his disciples once & again of yethe spiritual harvest, Iohn 4.35. Matt. 9.37. Seeing the Lillys of the field, he admonishes his disciples about gay cloathing, Mat. 6.28. In allusion to the present time season of fruits, he admonishes his disciples about knowing men by their fruits, Matt. 7.16. In yethe time of yethe Passover, when trees sent forth leaves, he said bids ×his disciples Learn a parable from the figg tree: when its its branch is yet tender & putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh, &c Matt. 24.32. Luke 21.19.29. The same day, alluding both to yethe stimeeason of yethe year & to his passion wchwhich was to be two days after, he formed a Parable of yethe time of fruits approaching, & yethe slaugh murdering of yethe heir, Mat. 21.33. tho aAt At the same time, alluding both to yethe money-changers wchwhichwmwhom he had newly driven out of the Temple, & to his passion at hand; he made a parable of a Noble-man going into a far country to receive a kingdom & return, & delivering his goods to his servants, & at his return condemning yethe sloathfull servant because he committed put not his money to the exchangers, Mat. 25.14. Luc. 19.12. Being neare the Temple where sheep were kept in folds to be sold for yethe sacrifices, he spake many things parabolically of sheep, of the sheepherd, & of yethe door of yethe sheepfold; & discovers that he alluded to the sheepfolds which were to be hired in yethe market place, by speaking of such folds whose doors as yethe a theif could not enter in at by yethe door, nor yethe sheepherd himself opened, but a porter opened to yethe sheepherd, Iohn 10.1, 3. Being in yethe mount of Olives, (Matt. 36.30. Iohn 14.31) wchwhich a place so fertile ytthat it could not want vines, he spake many things mystically of the Husbandmen, & of yethe vine & its branches Iohn 15. Meeting a blind man, he admōnishedadmonished of spiritual blindness, Iohn 9.39. At yethe sight of little children, he described once & again yethe innocence of his the elect, Mat. 18.2 & 19.13. Hearing of Vnderstanding Knowing ytthat Lazarus was dead & should be raised again, he discourses of the resurrection & life eternal, Iohn 11.25, 26. Hearing of yethe shlaughter of some whome Pilat had slain, he admonished of eternal death, Luk. 13.1. To his fishermen he speaks of fishers of men, Mat 4.10 & composes another parable about fishes, Mat. 13.47. Being by the Temple, he spake of the Temple of his body, Iohn 2.19. At supper he spake a parable about the mystical supper to come in the kingdom of heaven, Luk 14. On occasion of temporal food, he admonished his disciples of spiritual food, & of eating his flesh & drinking his blood mystically, Iohn 6.27, 53. When they his disciples wanted bread he bids them beware of5748 of the leaven of the Pharisees, Matt. 16.6. Being desired to eat, he answered that he had other bread meat, Iohn 4.31. In the great day of the feast of Tabernacles, when the Iews, as their custome was, brought a great quantity of waters from yethe river Shiloah into the Temple, Christ stood & cried, saying, If any man thirst let him come to me & drink. He that believeth ion me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, Iohn 7.37. The next day, in allusion to yethe servants wchwhichwowho by reason of the sabbatical year were newly set free, he said, If ye continue in my word, the truth shall make you free. Which yethe Iews understanding litterally of wthwith respect to yethe present manumission of servants, answered, We are the seed of Abraham be Abraham's seed, & were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, ye shall be made free? Iohn. 8. They assert their freedom by a double argument: first, because they were the seed of Abraham, & therefore newly had been newly made free, had they been ever in servitude; bondage; & then, because they never were in bondage. In the last Passover, when Herod led his army thro'ugh Iudæa against yethe Aretas the King of Arabia, because Aretas was aggressor & the stronger in military forces, as appeared by yethe event; Christ alluding to that state of things, composed the Parable of a weaker King leading his army against a stronger who made war upon him, th Luke 14.31. And I doubt not but that div divers parables were formed upon divers other occasions the history of wchwhich we have not.end of the note.
Now Iohn therefore was imprisoned about November, in yethe 17th year of Tiberius; & Christ went thereupon went from Iudea into Cana of Galilee & & was in December, & was received there of the Galileans, who had seen all he did at Ierusalem at yethe Passover: & when a nobleman of Capernaum heard heard he was returned into Galilee, & went to him to cure & desired him to come & cure his son, he be answered Go th went not with him thither yet, but only said, Go thy way, thy son liveth; & the Nobleman returned & found it so, & believed he & his house, Th Iohn 4. This is the beginning of his miracles in Galile; & thus far Iohn is full & distinct in relating the actions of his first year, omitted by the other evangelists. from this he time he beg The rest of his history is from this time related more fully by the other evangelists then by Iohn; For what they relate he omitts.
From this time therefore Iesus tought in yethe Cittes Synagogues of Galilee on the Sabbath-days, being glorified of all: & coming to his own city Nazareth, the & preaching to all his citizens in their synagogue, they were offended, & thrust him out of yethe city, & led him to yethe brow of the hill on wchwhich yethe city was built to cast him headlong; but he passing through' yethe middst of them, went his away, & came & dwelt at Capernaum, Luke 4. And by this time we may reckon ytthat the second Passover was either past or at hand.
All this time Matthew passeth over in few words, but now & here begins to relate the preaching & miracles of Christ. When Iesus, saith he, had heard ytthat Iohn was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee: & leaving Nazareth, he came & dwelt at Capernaum, & From from that time began to preach & say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Mat 4.12 & Afterwards he called his disciples Peter, Andrew, Iames & Iohn; & then went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, & healing all manner of signckness: & his fame went thourogh'out all Syria; & they brought to him all sick people, & great multitudes followed him from Iudæa Galilee & Decapolis, & Ierusalem & Iudea, & from beyond Iordan, Matth. 4.38, 25. All this was done before yethe sermon in yethe mount: & therefore we may certainly reccon that yethe second Passover was past before the preaching of that Sermon & gave occasion to those multitudes to follow him from Ierusalem & Iudea. ☉pag. 20☉ The multitudes that followed him from Ierusalem & Iudea, shew ytthat he had lately been there at yethe Feast. The sermon being in yethe mountain in yethe open fields upon occasion of great multitudes following him thither was made when great multitudes came to him from all places, & followed him in the open feilds; wchwhich is an argument of yethe summer season: & in this sermon he pointed at the lillies of the feiield then in the flower before yethe eyes of his auditors. Consider, saith he, the lillies of yethe feiield, how they grow; tThey toil not, neither do they spin, & yet Solomon in all his glory was not arayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so cloathe yethe grass of the feiield, wchwhich to day is & to morrow is cast into the oven, &c Matt. 6.28. So then the grass of yethe field was now in the flower, & by consequence the month of March wthwith the Passover was past. [Let us see therefore how the rest of the feasts follow in order in Matthew's Gospel: For he was an eye-witness of what he relates, & so tells all things in due order of time, wchwhich Mark & Luke do not.
Some time after the sermon in the mount, when the time came that he should be received,q that is at are of yethe that is at Ierus that is, when yethe time of a Feast came, that he should be received by the Iews he set his face to go to Ierusalem: wthwith his & as he went wthwith his disciples in yethe way, when the Samaritans, in his passage through' Samaria, had denyed him logdgings, & a certain scribe said unto him Master5921 Master I will follow thee whethersoever thou goest, meaning that he would him in his journeys Iesus said unto him, The Foxes have holes, & the birds of the air have neasts, but the Son of man hath notno where to lay his head, Mat. 8.19. Luke 9.51, 57. The scribe told Christ he would beare him company in his journey, & Christ replied that he knew not where to have lodgings had no lodging wanted a lodging. This is the Whether the feast Christ was now going to be the first Passover after yethe imprisonment of Iohn or yethe o now. This feast I take to be the feast of Tabernacles, X pma 153[[because soon after I find Christ & his apostles on the sea of Tiberias in a storm on yethe sea of Tiberias so great, ytthat yethe ship was covered wthwith water & in danger to sink, For this storm shews that the ship was in danger of sinking till Christ rebuked yethe winds & yethe sea, Matt 8.23. Luke 3 For theis storms shews that winter was now come on. After t
After this Christ did many miracles, & went about all the cities & villages of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues & healing diseases, Mat. 9. & sent forth yethe twelve to preach in the cities & cure diseases to do the like, Mat 10. & then went ag departed again to do the same in their cities:, Matt & at length when he had received the a message from Iohn & answered it, Mat. 11. In that answer he & he said to the multitudes, The Kin From the days of Iohn yethe Baptist untill now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence; & & the violent take it by & upbraided the cities (Chorazin, Bethsaida, & Capernaum) wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not, Mat. 11. Both wchwhich passages shew, that from yethe days imprisonment of Iohn till now there time run was of a considerable length qof time past. For now the winter was past, & the next Passover was at hand. For immediately after this, Matthew (in Chap 12) subjoyns, that Chris Iesus went on the Sabbath through' yethe corn, & his disciples were an hungred, & began to pluck yethe ears of corn & to eat, rubbing it, saith Luke, wthwith their hands. So then the corn now was not only in the ear, but ripe: & yethe pPassover was therefore the Passover, in wchwhich the first-fruits were always offered before yethe harvest, was now come or past. Luke calls this Sunday sabbath δευτερόπρωτον, the second prime sabbath, that is, the second of the two great feasts of yethe passover. As we call Easter day high eEaster, & it octave low eEaster or lowsunday: so Luke calls the feast on the seventh day of unleavened bread the second of the two prime sabbaths.
In one of the sabbaths following he went into a synagogue, & healed a man wthwith a hand witheredwithered hand, Mat 12.9. Luke 6.6. And when6023 when the Pharisees took counsel to destroy him, he withdrew himself from thence, & the great multitudes followed him; & he healed them all, & but charged them that they should not make him known, Mat. 12.14. Afterwards being in a ship, he to & the multitude standing on yethe shore, he spake to them three parables together, g sowing take about taken from the seedsmen sowing of the fields, (Matt. 13:) by wchwhich you may know that it was now seed-time, & by consequence that the feast of tabernacles was past. After this he went into his own country, & did not m the taught them in the synagogue, but did not many mighty works there because of their unbeleif. Then Herod beheaded Iohn in P the twelve having been abroad a year, returned when they were returned, & told Iesus all that they had done: & at the same time Herod beheaded Iohn in prison, & his disciples came & told Iesus; & when Iesus heard it, he took the twelve & departed thence privately by ship into a desert place belonging to bBethsaida: & the people when they knew it, followed him on foot out of the cities, the winter being now past; & he healed their sick, & fed them in the desert fed them to yethe number of five thousand men besides weomen & children wthwith only five loaves & two fishes, (Mat. 14 Luke 9.) at wchwhich t time at the doing of which miracle the Passover of the Iews was at hand nigh, (Iohn 6.4) But Iesus went not up to this Passover feast; but after these things walked in Galilee, because the Iews sought to kill him ( Iohn 7.1) havin in the Passover before had taken counsel to destroy him, & still sought to kill him, (Iohn 7.1.) Henceforward therefore he is found first in the coast of Tyre & Sidon, Mat. 15.21 then by the sea of Galilee, afterwards in the coast of Cæsarea Philippi; & lastly at Capernaum, (Mat. 15.21, 29 & ch. 16.13. & 17.34.
Afterwards when the feast of Tabernacles was at hand, his brethren upbraided him because for walking secretly, & urged him to go to yethe feast. But he went not till they were gone, & then went up privately, Iohn 7.2. & when they Iews sought to stone him, escaped, Iohn 8.59. After thatis he was at the feast of the dedication in winter, (Iohn 10.22) & when they sought again to take him he fled beyond Iordan (Iohn 10.39, 40. Matt. 19.1): where he stayed till the death of Lazarums, (Iohn. 10.39, 40) & when & then came to Bethany neare Ierusalem, & raised him, (Iohn 10.39, 40 & Iohn 11. 7, 18.) whereupon yethe Iews took counsel again from that time to kill him: & therefore he walked no more openly but among yethe Iews, but went thence iunto a country near yethe wilderness, to a city called Ephraim; & there continued wthwith his disciples till the last Passover, in wchwhich the Iews put him to death, Iohn 11.53, 54.
Thus have we, in the Gospells of Matthew & Iohn compared together, the history of Christ's actions in continuall order during five passovers. Iohn is more distinct in the beginning & end; Matthew in the middle. What either omits, the6125 the other supplies. The first Passover is was between the bap The first passover was between yethe baptism of Christ & the imprisonment of Iohn, (Iohn 2.13) the second within four months after yethe imprisonment of Iohn, & Christ's beginning to preach in Galilee (Iohn 4.35.) & therefore it was either that feast to wchwhich Iesus went up when yethe Scribe desired to follow him, (Matt 8.19 Luke 9.51, 57) or the feast before it. The third was the feast next feast after it, when yethe corn was eared & ripe, (Mat. 12.1. Luke 6.1.) The fourth was that wchwhich was nigh afterwards when Christ did †at hand where Christ wrought yethe miracle of the five loaves, Matt. 14.15. Iohn 6.4, 5. & the fifth is that in wchwhich Christ suffered, Mat. 20.17. Iohn 12.1.
Between the first & second Passover Iohn & Christ baptized together, till the imprisonment of Iohn,, a little wchwhich was four months before yethe second. Then Christ began to preach, & calle his disciples; & after the had instructed them a year, sent them to preach in the cities of yethe Iews: & at yethe same time Iohn hearing of yethe fame of Christ, sent to him to know who he was. At the third, the Priests chief Priests began to consult about the death of Christ. A little before yethe fourth, the twelve after they had preached a year in all yethe cities, returned to Christ; & at the same time I Herod beheaded Iohn in prison, after he had been in prisoforn two years & a quarter imprisonment & therefupon Christ fled into yethe wilderness desert for fear of Herod. A little The fourth Christ went not up to for fear of yethe Iews, who at yethe Passover before had consulted his death, & because his time was not yet come. Thenceforward therefore till the feast of Tabernacles he walked in Galilee, & that secretly for fear of Herod: & after the feast of Galile Galee he walked Tabernacles he returned no more into Galilee, for fear of Herod but sometimes was at Ierusalem, & sometimes be retired beyond Iordan, or to yethe city Ephraim by the wilderness, till the passover in wchwhich he was betrayed, & apprehended, & crucified. Three years therefore were the th Apostles wthwith Christ. The first year they were instructed by him in order to their preaching about the cities, the second they went about
Iohn therefore baptized two summers, & Christ preached three. The first summer Iohn preached to make himself known, in order to give testimony to f Christ. Then, after Christ came to his baptism & was made known to him, & he baptized another summer, to make Christ known by his testimony; & Christ also baptized the same summer, to make himself yethe more known:, & by reason of Iohn's testimony there came more to Christ's baptism thean to Iohn's. The winter following Iohn was imprisoned; & Christ now his course being at an end, Christ began to p entred upon his of proper office of preaching in the cities. In the beginning of his preaching he completed the number of the twelve Apostles, & kept th instructed them all the first a all the first year in order to send them6227 them abroad. In And now Before the end of this year, his fame by his preaching & miracles his fame was so far spread abroad, that the Iews at yethe passover in the end of this year following consulted how to kill him. In yethe second year of his preaching, it being no longer safe for him to converse openly in Iudea, he sent these disci twelve to preach in all their cities: & in yethe end of the year they returned to him, & told theim all they had done. IoAll the last year the twelve continued with him to be instructed more perfectly, in order to their preaching & first the Iews & then to all nations to all nations after his death. both to yethe Iews & Gentiles And now upon the news of Iohn's death, being afraid of Herod as well as of the Iews, he walked this year more secretly thean before, frequenting deserts, & & spendsing the last half of the year in Iudea without the dominions of Herod.
Thus have you in the Gospels of Matthew & Iohn all things told in due order, from yethe beginning of Iohn's preaching to the death of Christ, & the years distinguished from on another by such essential characters that they cannot be mistaken. The second Passover is distinguished from yethe first, by the interposition of Iohn's imprisonment. The third is distinguished from yethe second, by a double character: first, by the interposition of the feast to wchwhich Christ went up, Mat. 8.19 Luke 9.57 & then secondly, by the distance of time from the beginning of Christ's preaching: For the second was in the beginning of his preaching; the third so long after, that before it came Christ said, Ffrom yethe days of Iohn yethe Baptist untill now, &c. & upbraided the Cities of Galilee for their not repenting at his preaching, & mighty works done in all that time. The fourth is distinguished from yethe 3d, by the mission of the twelve from Christ to preach in the cities of Iudea in all the intervall. The fifth is distinguished from yethe fourth by the ab continuat all the former by the twelve's being wthwith Ch returned from preaching, & continuing wthwith Christ in all the intervall, & by y other infallible characters between the fourth & fifth, untill & by the passion & other infallible characters.
Now since the first summer of Iohn's prea baptizing fell in the fifteenth year of Tiberi yethe Emperor Tiberius, & by consequence the first of these five passovers in his sixteenth year; the f last of them; in wchwhich Iesus suffered will fall on the twentieth year of yethe same Emperor, C in yethe year of orour Lord 34 & by consequence in the consulship of Fabius & Vitellius, in the 79th Iulian year, & year of Christ 34, wchwhich was the sabbatical year of the Iews. And that it did so, I further confirm by these arguments. First because
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In the last Passover but two when Christ walked through yethe corn & his disciples plucked yethe ears & rubbed them with their hands to eat: this ripeness of the corn shews that the Passover fell late in yethe year For the havestharvest wchwhich by this ripeness of the corn was now ready to begin, was always later did never begin till after the first fruits were offered at yethe Passover & yethe days of unleavened bread were ended, wchwhich sometimes was not till the end on yethe 16th of yethe first Nisan & by consequence not till aboveut five weeks a month after yethe equinox. For so late might yethe last 17 17 day of yethe passover Nisan sometimes fall. Now if the passion was oin yethe year of Christ 34, the last day of passover 16ytthat day of Nisan two years before fell on will fall on April 216 about the equinox fell on March 24 so that the & the last day of the passover two years before about a that is about a ab month 23 days after the equinox wchwhich fell on March 24. And this agrees well wthwith the history. But if you place yethe passion on the year 33, the last 16th day of the passover Nisan two years before will fall on April March 30 wchwhich is too soon for the corn to be then so ripe.
Aga A
I take it for granted that the passion was on friday preparation of yethe Passover yethe 14 day of the month Nisan. & the great feast of the Passover on satturday the 15th day of Nisan, & yethe resurrection on yethe day following. Now the 14th day of Nisan always fell on the full moon next after yethe vernal Equinox; & the month began at yethe new moon before, not at the true conjunction, but at yethe first appearance of yethe new moon. For the Iews referred all the time of the silent moon (as they phrased it, (that is, of yethe Moon's disappearing) to yethe old moon. And because the first appearance might be abou usually be about 18 hours after yethe true conjunction, therefore they began their month from the sixth hour Y Pma 161[at evening, wchwhich that is, at sunset, next after yethe eighteenth hour from yethe conjunction. And this rule they called יה Iah, designing by the letters י & ה the number 18.
— I know that Epiphanius tells us (if some interpret his words rightly) that yethe Iews anticipated the used a vitious cycle, & thereby anticipated the legal new moons by two days. But this he spake certainly not as a witness, (for he neither understood Astronomy nor Rabbinical learning) but by way of to defend his erroneous hypothesis about by arguing from his erroneous hypothesis about the time of the passion. For the Iews did not anticipate, but postpone their months. They thought it lawful to begin their months a day later ynthan the first appearance of yethe new moon, but because yethe new moon continued for more days thean one; but but than our; but not a day sooner, lea least they should celebrate the new moon before there was any. And the Iews still keep a tradition in their books, that the Sanhedrim used todiligently to define the new moons by sight: sending witnesses into mountanous places, & examining them about the moon's appearing, & changing translating the new moon from the day they had agreed on to yethe day before, as often as witnesses came from distant regions, who had seen it a day sooner than it was seen at Ierusalem. So Iosephus a man of that age And aAccordingly Iosephus, one of the Iewish6431 Iewish Priests who had ministred in the temple,aa Ioseph. lib. 3, Orig. c. 10. tells us that the Passover was kept on yethe 14th day of Nisan κατὰ σελήνην according to the moon, when the Sun was in Aries. & the foll And tThis he is confirmed also also by two instances, wchwhich totaly overthrow the hypothesis of yethe Epiphanius recorded by him wchwhich totally overthrow yethe hypothesis of yethe Iews using a vitious cycle. For For ytthat year in wchwhich Ierusalem was taken & destroyed, he saith, yethe Passover was on yethe 14 day of yethe month Xanticus, wchwhich to Iosephus is orour April; & that ytthat five years before, it fell on yethe 8th day of yethe same month. Which two instances agree wthwith yethe course of the moon.
Computing therefore the new moons of the first according to the course of the Moon & yethe rule Iah, & thence counting 14 days, I find that the 14th day of this month in the year of Christ 31, fell on Tuesday March 27: In the year 32, on sunday Apr. 13. In the year 33, on Friday Apr. 3. In the year 34, on wednesday March 24, or rather by reason of the (for avoiding the equinox wchwhich fell on the same day, & for having a fitter time for harvest) on Thursday Apr. 22. Also in the year 35, on Tuesday Apr. 12., And in yethe year 36, on Satturday March 31.
But because the 15th & 21thst days of Nisan, & the a day or two of Pentecost, & yethe 10th 15th & 22thd of Tisri, were always sabbatical days or days of rest, & it was inconvenient on two sabbaths together they could not to be prohibited burying their dead & not to makeing ready their meate fresh meate, nor & nor in that hot region preserve to have it often corrupted was very inconvenient to keep always from corrup & in that & in that hot region to have their meat would be would be apt in two days to corrupt: T to avoyd these & such like inconveniences, the Iews postponed their months a day, as often as often as yethe first day of yethe month Tisri, or (wchwhich is all one) the third of the month Nisan, was Sunday, Wednesday or Friday: & so the 14th of Nisan this rule they called אדו Adu, by the letters א, ד, ו, signifying the numbers 1, 4, 6 that is, the 1st 4th & 6t days of the week: or wchwhich wchwhich days we call Sunday, Wednesday & Friday. Translating therefore the months foun Postponing therefore by this Rule the months found above; mentione the 14th day of the month Nisan will fall in yethe year of Christ 31, on Wednesday March 28; In the year 32, on Munday Apr. 14; In the year 33, on Friday Apr. 3; In the year 34, on satturday Ap Friday Apr 23; In the year 35, on Wednesday Apr. 13; And in the year 36, on March 31 fr Satturday March 31. So then the passion could By
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By this computation therefore the year 32 is absolutely excluded, because the passion cannot fall on friday wthoutwithout postponing yethe month five days from yethe astronomical account or anticipating it two days. So also the years 31 & 35 are excluded because in them yethe passion cannot fall on friday wthoutwithout postponing yethe month 3 days from yethe astronomical account or anticipating it fivour days. making it five days after the full moon, or two days before it; & for yethe same reaso whenreas it ought to be upon yethe day of yethe full moon, or yethe next day. And fFor yethe same reason the years 31 & 35 are excluded, because in them yethe passion cannot fall on friday, without making it three days after the full moon, or four days before it: The only question is Errors so enormous, that they would be very conspicuous in the heavens to every vulgar eye. So then yethe only dispute is between the 33th & 34th years after years 33 & 34. For Now tThe years 36 is contended for by few or none, & both this & the year 35 may be thus excluded.
When About the time of Christs
In the reign of Tiberius the High Priestshood wasere for yethe most part yethe r for yethe most part created yearly by the Romans Iosephus writes that Gratus the predecessor of Pilate made Ismael yethe successor of Ananus or Annas & after a while (suppose a year) deposing him he substituted Eleazer & after a year Simon & after another year Caiphas & then gave place to Pilate.
The Emperor Tiberius reigned 22 years & 7 months & died March yethe 16th in yethe beginning of yethe year of Christ 37. & the news thereof then President of Syria wnwhen he was at Ierusalem at Ierusa at one of yethe fe Vitellius then President of Syria was going wthwith an army against Aretas King of Arabia & in yethe way called at Ierusalem to sacrifice at yethe Feast wchwhich was then to be celebrated.
Tiberius in the beginning of his reign made Valerius Gratus President of Iudea; & after 11 years, made substituted Pontius Pilate, his successor, & after 10 years more who & after 10 years more who governed 10 years Vitellius, newly made President of Syria, deprived him of his honour, substituting Marcellus, & at length sent him to Rome: but (by reason of delays) Tiberius died before Pilate got thither. In the mean time Vitellius, after he had deposed Pilate, came to Ierusalem in the time of the Passover, to ingratiate himself wthwith visit that Provinsce as well as others in the beginning of his office; as yethe custome of yethe Presidents was & in the place of Caiaphas, then High Priest, created Ionathas the son of Ananus, or s when yethe or Annas as he is called in scripture. calle Annas Afterwards, when Vitellius was returned to Antioch, he6635 he received letters from Tiberius to make peace wthwith Artabanus king of the Parthians. At the same time the Alans, by the sollicitation of Tiberius, invaded yethe kingdom of Artabanus; & his Subjects also, by the procurement of Vitellius, were prevailed wthwith by Vite revol soon after rebelled. For Tiberius thought ytthat Artabanus, thus pressed wthwith difficulties, would more readily accept yethe conditions of peace. Artabanus therefore streightway gathering a greater army, opprest the rebells; & then meeting Vitellius at Euphrates, made a league wthwith yethe Romans. After this Tiberius commanded Vitellius to make war upon Aretas King of Arabia. He therefore leading his army against Aretas, went together wthwith Herod to Ierusalem, to sacrifice at yethe publick Feast wchwhich was then to be kept celebrated: Where being received honourably, he stayed three days, & in yethe mean while translated yethe P high Priesthood from Ionathas to his Brother Theophilus: And the fourth day, receiving letters of the death of Tiberius, swore made yethe people sweare allegiance to Caius the new Emperor; & recalling back his army, sent them into the back into their quarters. All this is related by Iosephus lib. 18 Antiq. c. 6, 7. Now Tiberius reigned 22 years & 7 months, & died March 16 in yethe beginning of yethe year of Christ 37; & yethe feast of yethe Passover fell on April 20 following, that is, 35 days after yethe death of Tiberius: so that there were about 36 or 38 days for yethe news of his death to come from Rome to yethe Vitellius at Ierusalem; wchwhich being a convenient time for that that message, confirms that yethe Feast wchwhich Vitellius now & Herod now went up to was yethe Passover. For hatd it been yethe Pentecost, (as is usually supposed) the news would have been Vitellius would have continued three months ignorant of yethe Emperor's death: wchwhich is not to be supposed. However, the things done between this Passover Feast & the passover at wchwhich Vitellius was at before, could not take up required much more time then yethe fifty days between the last Passover & the Pentecost of this year pres & therefore the Passover at wchwhich Vitellius offer after (namely, the stirring up a sedition in Parthia, the quieting of that sedition, the making a league wthwith after that wthwith yethe Parthians, &the sending news of ytthat league to yetheRome, &, yethe receiving new order frōom thence to go against yethe Arabians, & putting those orders in execution) required much more time thean yethe fifty days between the Passover & Pentecost of yethe same year; & therefore the Passover at wchwhich Vitellius first went up to, was in the yeare before. So then Pilate was deposed before the Passover A.C. 36, & by consequence the passion of Christ was before the passover: For he suffered not under Vitellius, nor under Vitellius & Pilate together, but under Pilate alone.
6737
Now its observable ytthat yethe high Priesthood was at this time become an annual office, & the Passover was the time of making a new High Priest. For Gratus yethe predecessor of Pilate, saith Iosephus, made Ismael High Priest after Ananus; & a while after depos (suppose a year) deposed him, & substituted Eleazar, & after year after Simeon, & after another year Caiaphas; & then gave way to Pilate. So Vitellius at yethe first one Passover he was at deposed Ananus & created Ionathas his success at the High at the nex made Ionathas successor to Ananus Caiaphas, at& at the next he made Theophilus suc to Ionathas. S And hHence Luke tells you, ytthat in yethe 15th year of Tiberius, Annas & Caiaphas were High Priests, that is, Annas till the Passover, & Caiaphas afterwards. And Iohn Accordingly Iohn speaks of the High Priesthood as an annual office: For he tells you ytthat Caiphas was again & again, in ytthat last year of Christ's preaching, that Caiaphas was High Priest for that year, Iohn 11.49, 51. & 18.13. And the next year Luke tells you, ytthat Annas was High Priest, Act. 4.6. So then the High Priest wa Theophilus was made High Priests in yethe first year of Caius, Ionathas in yethe 22th year of Tiberius, Ananus or Annas & Caiaphas in yethe 21thst year of yethe same emperor: Ananus to at yethe year after yethe passion & Caiphas at yethe Passover before. And & therefore, the year supposing th allotting a year to each, the passion when Annas was suceede successoreded to Caiaphas, must could not be later then A.C the 20th year of Tiberius, A.C. 34.
So then the only question remaining is between yethe years 33 & 34. And the
So then there remain only yethe years 33 & 34 to be considered; & of these yethe year 33 I exclude by this argument. In yethe last passover but two years before the passion, when Christ went through' yethe corn, & his disciples pluckt yethe ears, & rubbed them with their hands to eat; this ripeness of the ears corn shews that the passover then fell late. And this agrees wthwith yethe Passover two A And this agrees wthwith And so did yethe Passover A.C. 32 but that A.C 31 (Now if the passion was A.C 33 the passover two years before was And this agrees wthwith yethe Passover of A.C. 32 wchwhich fell on Apr. 14, but not wthwith that of A.C. 31 March 28. And so did the Passover A.C. 32, Apr. 14. But yethe Passover A.C. 31, March 28th fell very early. It was not therefore two years after yethe year 31, but two years after 32 that Christ suffered.
So then all the characters of yethe Passion agree to yethe year 34; has all th & this is yethe only year to wchwhich they all agree:
6843
Sect. VI. I pm. 169.[Chap. 11–12 Of the Prophesy of the Scripture of truth.
The kingdoms represented by the second & third Beasts, or the Bear & Leopard, are again described by Daniel in his last Prophesy written in the third year of Cyrus over Babylon, the year in which he conquered Persia. For this Prophesy is a commentary upon the Vision of the Ram & He-goat.
Behold, saith he,Ch. xi. 2, 3, 4. there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia, & [Cyrus Cambyses, & Darius Hystaspes] & the fourth [Xerxes] shall be far richer then they all: & by his strength & through' his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece. And a mighty king [Alexander the great] shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, & do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, & shall be divided towards the four winds of heaven; & not to his posterity [but after their death,] nor according to the dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be pluckt up, even for others besides those. Alexander the great having conquered all yethe Persian Empire & some part of India, died at Babylon a month before the summer solstice in the year of Nabonassar 425,: & his captains gave the monarchy to his bastard brother Philip Aridæus, a man disturbed in his understanding; & made Perdiccas Administrator of the kingdom. And Perdiccas with their consent made Meleager commander of the army, Seleucus master of the horse, Craterus treasurer of the kingdom, Antipater governour of Macedon, & Greece, Ptoloemy governour of Egypt; Antigonus governour of Pamphiylia, Lycia, Lycaonia, & Phrygia major; Lysimachus Then governour of Thrace, & other captains governours of other Provinces, as many as had been so before in the days of Alexander the great. And tThe Babylonians began now to count by a new Æra, wchwhich they called the Æra of Philip, using the years of Nabonassar, & recconing the 425th year of Nabonassar to be the first year of Philip. And Rhoxanea the wife of Alexander being left big with child, & about three or four years months after brought to bed of a son, they called him Alexander, & saluted him king, joyining him with Philip in the throne of the kingdom. Philip reigned three years under the administratorship of Antipater & above a year more under the administratorship of Poly Perdiccas, two years more under the administratorship of Antipater, & above a year more under the administratorship of Polysperchon;q in all six years & four months; & then was slain with his Queen Eurydice in September by the command of the Olympias the mother of Alexander the great. And tThe Greeks being disgusted at the cruelties of Olympias, revolted to Cassander the son & successor of Antipater. Cassander affecting the dominion of Greece, slew Olympias; & soon after shut up the young king Alexander with his mother Roxanea, in the castel of Amphipolis, under the charge of Glaucias, An. Nabonass. 432. The6944 The next year Ptoloemy, Cassander & Lysimachus, by means of Seleucus, made form'd a league against Antigonus; & after certain warrs they made peace with him, An. Nabonass. 438, upon these conditions, that Cassander should command the forces of Europe till Alexander the son of Rhoxanea came to age; & that Lysimachus should govern Thrace, Ptoloemy Egypt & Liybyia, & Antigonus all Asia. Seleucus had possest him self of Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Susiana & Media, the year before. About three years after Alexander's death he was made governour of Babylon by Antipater; then was expelled by Antigonus; & now he recovered & enlarged his government over a great part of the east: wchwhich gave occasion to a new Æra, called Æra Seleucidarum. Not long after the peace made with Antigonus, (Diodorus saith the same Olympic year) Cassander seing that Alexander the son of Rhoxanea grew pup, & that it was discoursed through'out Macedonia that it was fit that he should be set at liberty, & take upon him the government of his father's kingdom; commanded Glaucias the governour of the Castel to kill Rhoxanea & the young king Alexander her son, & conceale their deaths. Then Polysperconq set up Hercules, the son of Alexander the great by Barsine, to be king; & soon after, at the sollicitation of Cassander, caused him to be slain. And sSoon after that, upon a great victory at sea got by Demetrius the son of Antigonus over Ptoloemy, Antigonus took upon himself the title of king, & gave the same title to his son. This was An. Nabonass. 441. And after his example, Seleucus, Cassander, Lysimachus & Ptoloemy, took upon themselves the title & dignity of kings, having absteained from this honour while there was any remained any of Alexander's race to inherit the crown. And tThus the Monarchy of the Greeks for want of an heir was broken into several kingdoms; four of wchwhich, seated to the four winds of heaven, were very eminent. For Ptoloemy reigned over Egypt, Liybyia & Ethiopia; Antigonus over Syria & the lesser Asia; Lysimachus in Thrace; & Cassander over Macedon, Greece & Epire, as above.
Seleucus at this time reigned over the nations which were beyond Euphrates, & belonged to the bodies of the two first Beasts: but after tensix years he conquered Antigonus, & thereby became one of the four kingdoms: For Cassander being afraid of the power of Antigonus, combined with the power Lysimachus, Ptoloemy & Seleucus, against him. And while Lysimachus invaded the parts of Asia next the Hellespont, & Ptoloemy subdued Phœnicia & Cœlosyria, & with the sea-coasts of Asia.
Seleucus7045
Seleucus came down with an army a powerfull army into Cappadocia, & joyning the confederate forces, fought Antigonus in Phrygia & slew him & seized his kingdom, Ann. Nabonass. 447. After wchwhich Seleucus built Antioch, Seleucia, Laodicea, Apamea, Berrhæa, Edessa, & other cities in Syria & Asia; & in them granted the Iews equal privileges with the Greeks.
Yet Demetrius the son of Antigonus retained but a small part of his father's dominions, & at length lost Cyprus to Ptoloemy; but killing Alexander, the son & successor of Cassander king of Macedon, seized his kingdom Ann. Nabonass. 454: & sometime after, preparing a very great army to recover his father's dominions in Asia, Seleucus, Ptoloemy, Lysimachus & Pyrrhus king of Epire, combined against him; & Pyrrhus invading Macedonia, corrupted the army of Demetrius, put him to flight, seized his kingdom, & shared it with Lysimachus. And aAfter seven months, Lysimachus beating Pyrrhus, took Macedonia from him, & held it five years & an half, uniting the kingdoms of Macedon & Thrace. Lysimachus in his warrs with Antigonus and Demetrius, had taken from them Caria, Lydia, & Phrygia; & had a treasury in Pergamus, a castle on the top of a comicall hill in Phrygia, by the river Caicus, & had committed the custody thereof of wchwhich he had coomommitted to one Philetærus, who was at first faithfull to Lysimachus, but in the last year of his reign revolted; For Lysimachus, by at the instigation of his wife Arsinoe, slew first his own son Agathocles, & then those that lamented him. Vpon wchwhich the wife Agathocles fled with her children & brothers, & some others of their friends, & sollicited Seleucus to make war upon Lysimachus. And Philetærus also, grieving at the death of Agathocles, & being accused thereof by Arsinoe, revolted, & sided with Seleuchus. On this occasion Seleucus & Lysimachus met & fought in Phrygia; & Lysimachus being slain in the battel, lost his kingdom to Seleucus, Ann. Nabonass 465. Thus the Empire of the Greeks, wchwhich at first broke into four great kingdoms, became now reduced into four two notable ones henceforward, called by Daniel the kings of the south & north. For Ptoloemy now reigned over Egypt, Liybyia, Ethiopia, Arabia, Phœnicia, Cœlosyria, & Cyprus; & Seleucus, having united three of the four kingdoms, had a dominion scarce inferior to that of the Persian Empire, conquered by Alexander the great. All which is thus represented by Daniel: Ch. xi. 5.And the king of the south [Ptoloemy] shall become strong, & one of his Princes [Seleucus, one of Alexander's Princes] shall become strong above him, & have dominion: his dominion shall be a great dominion.
After Seleucus had reigned seven months over Macedon, Greece, Thrace, Asia, Syria, Babylonia, Media, & all the East as far as India; Ptoloemæus Ceraunus, the younger brother of Ptoloemæus Philadelphus king of Egypt, slew him treacherously, & seized his dominions in Europe,: & Antiochus Soter, the son of Seleucus, succeeded his father in Asia, Syria, & most of the east; & after 19 or 20 years was succeceded by his son Antiochus Theos; who having a lasting war with Ptoloemæus Philadelphus, composed the same by marrying Berenice the daughter of Philadelphus,: & but after a reign of fifteen years, his first wife Laodice poisoned him, & set her son Seleucus Callinicus upon the throne. And Berenice Callinicus in the beginning of his reign, by the impulse of his mother Laodice, besieged Berenice in Daphne near Antioch, & slew her with her young son & many of her weomen. Whereupon Ptoloemæus Euergetes, the son & successor of Philadelphus, made7146 made war upon Callanicus, took upon him Phœnicia, Syria, Cilicia, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Susiana, & some other regions; & carried back into Egypt 40000 talents of silver, & 2500 Images of the Gods, amongst which were the Gods of Egypt carried away by Cambyses. Antiochus Hierax at first assisted his brother Callinicus, but afterwards contended with him for Asia. And in In the mean time time Attalus the son of Eumenes governour of Pergamus beat Antiochus, & took from them both all Asia on this side the mountain Taurus. This was in the fifth year of Callinicus, who after an inglorious reign of 20 years was succeeded by his son Seleucus Ceraunus; & Euergetes after four years more (Ann. Nabonass. 527) was succeeded by his son Ptoloemæus Philopator. All wchwhich is thus signified by Daniel:Ch. xi.6, 7, 8. And after certain years they [the kings of the south & north] shall make friendship: for the king's daughter of the south [Berenice] shall come to the king of the north to establish an agreement, but she shall not retain the power of the arm; & she shall Aa pma 177[not stand nor her seed, but she shall be delivered up, & he [Callinicus] that brought her, & he whom she brought forth, & they that strengthned her in [those] times, [or defended her in the siege of Daphne.] But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his seat [her brother Euergetes] who shall come with an army, & shall enter into the fortress [or fenced cities] of the king of the north, & shall act against them & prevail: And shall carry captives into Egypt, their Gods with their Princes and pretious vessels of silver & gold; & he shall continue some years after the king of the north.
Seleucus Ceraunus, inheriting the remains of his father's kingdom, & thinking to recover the rest, raised a great army against the Governour of Pergamus, now king thereof, but died in the third year of his reign; & his brother & successor, Antiochus magnus, carrying on the war, took from the king of Pergamus almost all the lesser Asia, & recovereding also the Provinces of Media, Persia & PabyloniaBabylonia, from the Governours who had revolted: & in the fifth year of his reign invadeding Cœlosyria, & with little opposition he possest himself of a good part thereof; & the next year returneding to invade the rest of Cœlosyria & Phœnicia, he beat the army of Philopator near Berytus; & then he invaded Palæstine & the neighbouring parts of Arabia, & the third year returned with an army of 78000: & but Ptoloemy coming out of Egypt with an army of 75000, fought & routed him at Raphia neare Gaza, between Palæstine & Egypt; & recovered all Phœnicia & Cœlosyria, Ann. Nabonass. 532. And bBeing puffed up with this victory, & living in all manner of luxury, the Egyptians revolted, & had warrs wthwith him, but were overcome; & in the broiles sixty thousand Egyptians Iews were slain. All which is thus described by Daniel. Ch. xi.10, &cBut his sons [Seleucus Ceraunus, & Antiochus magnus, the sons of Callinicus] shall be stirred up, & shall gather a great army; & he [Antiochus magnus] shall come effectually and overflow, & pass through' & return, & [again the next year] be stirred up [marching even] to his fortress, [the frontier towns of Egypt,] & the king of the south shall be moved with choler & come forth, [the third year] & fight with him, even with the king of the north; & he [the king of the north] shall lead forth a great multitude, but the multitude shall be given into his hand. And the multitude being taken away, his heart shall be lifted up, & he shall cast down many ten thousands; but he shall not be strengthned [by it:] For the king of the north shall return, &c
About7247
About twelve years after the battel between Philopator & Antiochus, Philopator died, & left his kingdom to his young son Ptoloemæus Epiphanes, a child five years old &. tThereupon Antiochus magnus confederated with Philip king of Macedon, that they should invade the dominions of Epiphanes which lay next to each of them. And hHence arose a various war between Antiochus & Epiphanes, they seizing Phœnicia & Cœlosyria by turns; whereby those countries were much afflicted by both parties. First Antiochus seized those countries; then one Scopas being sent with the army of Egypt, recovered them from Antiochus,: & the next year, (Anno Nabonass. 550,) Antiochus fought & routed Scopas neare the fountains of Iordan, besieged him in Sidon, took the city, & recovered Syria & Phænicia from Egypt, the Iews coming over to him voluntarily. But about three years after, upon preparing for a war against the Romans, he came to Raphia in the borders of Egypt, & made peace with Epiphanes, & gave him his daughter Cleopatra,: & the next autumn he passed the Hellespont to invade the cities of Greece under the Roman protection, & took some of them, but was beaten by the Romans the summer following, & forced to return back with his army into Asia. And bBefore the end of the year the fleet of Antiochus was beaten by the fleet of the Romans near Phocæa. And aAt the same time Epiphanes & Cleopatra sent an embassy to Rome to congratulate the Romans for on their success against their father Antiochus, & to exhort them to prosecute the war against him into Asia. And tThe Romans beat Antiochus again at sea near Ephesus, & past their army over the Hellespont, & gr obtain'd a great victory over him by land, & took from him all Asia on this side the mountain Taurus, & gave it to the king of Pergamus who assisted them in the war, & thus imposed a large tribute upon Antiochus. Thus the king of Pergamus, by the power of the Romans, recovered what Antiochus had taken from him; & Antiochus retiring into the remainder of his kingdom, was slain two years after by the Persians as he was robbing the Temple of Iupiter Belus in Elymais, to raise money for the Romans. All wchwhich is thus described by Daniel.Ch. xi.13–19. For the king of the north [Antiochus] shall return, & shall set forth a multitude greater thean the former; & shall certainly come (after certain years) with a great army & much riches. And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south, [particularly the Macedonians] also the robbers of thy people [the Samaritans, &c] shall exalt themselves to establish the vision, but they shall fall. So the king of the north shall come, & cast up a mount, & take the most fenced cities; & the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand. But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, & none shall stand before him. And he shall stand in the glorious land, wchwhich shall fail in his hand. He shall also set his face to go with the strength [or army] of all his kingdom, & make an agreemtagreement with him [at Raphia;] & he shall give him the daughter of weomen corrupting her; but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him. And he shall turn his face unto the Isles, & shall take many: but a Prince for his own behalf [the Romans] shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease; without his own reproach shall he cause it to turn upon him. Then he shall turn his face towards the fort of his own land, but he shall stumble & fall, & not to be found.
Seleucus Philopator succeeded his father his father Antiochus anno Nabonass. 561, & reigned twelve years, but did nothing memorable, being sluggish & intent upon raising money for the Romans to whom he was tributary. He was slain by Heliodorus, whom he had sent to rob the Temple of Ierusalem. Daniel thus describes his reign.Ch. xi.20. Then shall stand up in his seat a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom, but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battel.
A little7348
A little before the death of Philopator, his son Demetrius was sent hostage to Rome in the place of Antiochus Epiphanes, the brother of Philopator; & Antiochus was at Athens in his way home from Rome, when Philopator died: Whereupon Heliodorus the Treasurer of the kingdom, stept into the throne. But Antiochus so managed his affairs, That the Romans kept Demetrius at Rome; & their ally the king of Pergamus expelled Heliodorus, & placed Antiochus in the throne. And wWhile Demetrius the right heir remained an hostage at Rome, Antiochus by the friendship of the king Pergamus reigned powerfully over Syria & the neighbouring nations. Now Antiochus being made king, carried himself much below his dignity, stealing privately out of his palace, & rambling up & down the city in disguise with one or two of his companions; conversing & drinking with people of the lowest rank, & with forreigners & strangers; frequenting the meetings of rakes to feast & revel; cloathing himself like the Roman candidates & officers, & acting their parts like a mimick; & in publick festivals jesting & dancing, & hearding himself with servants & mimicks & light people, & behaving himself with all manner of ridiculous gestures: wchwhich made some take him for a madman, & call him Antiochus Ἐπιμένης. In the first year of his reign he deposed Onias the High Priest, & sold the High-Priesthood to Iason the younger brother of Onias: For Iason had promised the king to give him 440 talents of silver for the High-Priesthood, & 150 more for a license to erect a place of exercise for the training up of the youth in the fashions of the heathen: which license was granted by the king, & put in execution by Iason. Then the king sending one Apollonius into Egypt to the coronation of Ptoloemy Philometor, the young son of Philometor & Cleopatra, & knowing Philometor not to be well affected to his affairs in Phœnicia, provided for his safety in those parts, & for that end came to Ioppa & Ierusalem, where he was honourably received; & from thence he went in like manner with his little army to the cities of Phœnicia, to establish himself against Egypt, by courting the people, & distributing extraordinary favours amongst them. All wchwhich is thus represented by Daniel.Ch. xi.21, &c. And in his [Philometer's] seat, shall stand up a vile person, to whom they [the Syrians who set up Heliodorus] shall not give the honour of the kingdom. Yet he shall come in peaceably, & obteain the kingdom by flatteries [made principally ×to the king of Pergamus;] & the arms [wchwhich in favour of Heliodorus oppose him] shall be overflowed with a flood from before him, & be broken; yea also [Onias the High Priest] the Prince of the covenant. And after friendship made with him, [the king of Egypt by sending Apollonius to his coronation] he shall work deceitfully [against the king of Egypt,] for he shall come up & become strong [in Phœnicia] with a small people. And he shall enter into the quiet & plentiful cities of the Province [of Phœnicia] & [to ingratiate himself with the Iews of Phœnicia & Egypt, & with their friends] he shall do that wchwhich his fathers have not done, nor his fathers fathers: he shall scatter among them the prey & the spoile, & the riches [exacted from other places;] & shall forecast his devices against the strong holds [of Egypt] even for a time.
XI These things were done in the first year of his reign, anno Nabonass. 573. And thence forward he forecast his devices against the strong holds of Egypt, untill the sixth year. For three years after, that is in the fourth year of his reign, Menelaus bought the High-Priesthood from Iason, but not paying the price was sent for by the king; & the king, before he could hear the cause, went into Cilicia to appease a sedition there, & left Andronicus his deputy Antioch; Bb pma 185[& then the brother of Menelaus, to make up the money, conveyed several vessels out of the Temple, selling some of them at Tyre, & sending others to Andronicus. And when Menelaus was reproved for this by Onias, he caused Onias to be slain by Andronicus: for which fact7449 fact the king at his return from Cilicia caused Andronicus to be put to death. And tThen he prepared his second expedition against Egypt, wchwhich he performed in the sixt year of his reign, An. Nabonass. 578. For upon the death of Cleopatra, the governours of her son the young king of Egypt claimed Phœnicia & Cœlosyria from Antiochus2 Maccab. III.5, 8 & IV.4. as her dowry; & to recover those countries raised a great army. Antiochus considering that his father had not quitted the possession of those countries, denyed that they were her dowry; & with another great army met & fought the Egyptians in the border of Egypt, between Pelusium & the mountain Casius; And when he had beaten, & might have destroyed the army of the Egyptians, rode up & down, commanding his soldiers not to kill them, but to take them alive. By which humanity he gained Pelusium, & soon after all Egypt, entring it with a great vast multitude of foot & chariots, & Elephants & horsmen, & a great navy. And seizing the cities of Egypt as a friend, he marched to Memphyis, laid the whole blame of war upon Eulæus the king's governour, entred into outward friendship with the young king, & took upon him to order the affairs of the kingdom. In the mean time a report being spread in Phœnicia that Antiochus was dead, Iason to recover the High-Priesthood assaulted Ierusalem with above a thousand men, & took the city: Whereupon Antiochus thinking that Iudea had revolted, came out of Egypt in a furious manner, took the city, slew forty thousand of the people, took as many prisoners, & sold them to raise money, went into the Temple, spoiled it of its treasures, ornaments, utensils, & vessels of gold & silver, amounting to 1800 talents, & carried all away to Antioch. This was done in the year of Nabonassar 578, & is thus described by Daniel.Ch. XI.25, &c. And he shall stirr up his power & his courage against the king of the south with a great army; & the king of the south shall be stirred up to battel with a very great & mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they [Antiochus & his friends] shall forecast devices against him [as is represented above;] Yea, they that feed of the portion of his own meat, shall [betray &] destroy him, & his army shall be overthrown, & many shall fall down slain. And [upon the news of the commotion at Ierusalem] both these kings hearts shall be to do mischief; & they [being now made friends] shall speak lyes at one Table [against the Iews & against the holy covenant;] but it shall not prosper: for yet the end [in wchwhich the setting up of the abomination of desolation is to prosper] shall be at the time appointed. Then shall he return into his land with great riches, & his heart shall be against the holy covenant; & he shall act [against it by spoiling the Temple] & return into his own land.
The Egyptians of Alexandria seeing Philometor educated in luxury by the Eunuch Eulæus, & now in the hands of Antiochus, gave the kingdom to Euergetes, the younger brother of Philometor. Whereupon Antiochus pretending to restore Philometor made war upon Euergethes, beat him at sea, & beseiged him & his sister Cleopatra in Alexandria: & the beseiged Princes sent to Rome to implore the assistance of the Senate. Antiochus finding himself unable to take the city that year, returned into Syria, leaving Philometor at Memphis to govern Egypt in his absence. But Philometor made friendship with his brother that winter; & Antiochus, as he was returning the next spring An. Nabonass. 580, to besiege both the brothers in Alexandria was met in the way by the Roman Ambassadors, Popilius Lænas, & C. Decimius, & C. Hostilius; & offered them his hand to kiss. But Popilius delivering to him the Tables wherein the message of the Senate was written, bad him read those first. When he had read them, he replied the he would consider with his friends what was fit to be done. But Popillius7550. Popillius drawing a circle about the king, bad him answer before he went out of the circle. At which blunt & unusual imperiousness the king being astonished, made answer that he would do what the Romans demanded. And tThen Popillius gave the king his hand to kiss, & the king returned out of Egypt; & the same year (An Nabonass. 580) his captains by his order spoiled & slaughtered the Iews, prophfaned the Temple, set up the worship of all the heathen Gods in Iude all Iudea, & began to persecute & make war upon those who would not worship them. Which actions are thus described by Daniel.Ch. xi.29, & 36. At the time appointed he shall come [again] towards the south, but the latter shall not be as the former. For the ships of Chittim shall come [with an Embassy from Rome] against him. Therefore he shall be grieved, & return, & have indignation against the holy covenant. So shall he do; he shall even return, & have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.
In the same year that Antiochus by the command of the Romans retired of Egypt, & set up the worship of the Greeks in Iudæa, the Romans conquered the kingdom of Macedon, the fundamental kingdom of the empire of the Greeks, & reduced it into a Roman Province, & thereby began to put an end to the reign of Daniel's third Beast. And tThis is thus exprest by Daniel. And after him Arms [the Romans] shall stand up. As ממלך signifies after the king, Dan xi.8; so ממנו may signify after him. Arms are every where in this prophesy put for of Daniel put for the military power of a kingdom: and they stand up when they conquer & grow powerfull. Hitherto Daniel described the actions of the kings of the north & south; but upon the conquest of Macedon by the Romans, left off describing the actions of the Greeks, & began to describe those of the Romans in Greece. They conquered Macedon, Illyricum & Epire, in the year of Nabonassar 580. And 35 years after, by the last will & testament of Attalus the last king of Pergamus, they inherited that rich & flourishing kingdom, that is, all Asia on this side the mountain Taurus; & 69 years after they conquered the kingdom of Syria, & reduced it into a province, & 34 years after they did the like to Egypt. And bBy all these steps the Roman Arms stood up over the Greeks: And after 95 years more, by making war upon the Iews, they polluted the sanctuary of strength, & took away the daily sacrifice, & began to then placed the abomination of desolation. For this abomination was placed after the days of Christ, Matth. XXIV.15. In the 16th year of the Emperor Adrian, A.C. 132, they ✝✝ placed this abomination by building a temple to Iupiter Capitolinus where the Temple of God in Ierusalem had stood. For thereupon the Iews under the conduct of Barchochab rose up in arms against the Romans, & in the war lost had 50 cities demolished and 985 of their best towns destroyed & lost 580000 men slain by the sword; & in the end of the war, A.C. 136, were banished Iudea upon pain of death, & thenceforward the land remained desolate of inhabitants its old inhabitants.
In the beginning of the Iewish war in Nero's reign the Apostles fled out of Iudea with their flocks; some beyond Iordan to Pella & other places, some into Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia mainor, & other places. Peter & Iohn came into Asia, & Peter went thence by Corinth to Rome; but Iohn staying in Asia, was banished by the Romans into Patmos, as the head of a party of Iews whose nation was in war with the Romans. By this dispersion of the Christian Iews, the Christian religion, wchwhich was already propagated westward as far as Rome, spread fast into all the Roman Empire, & under it suffered many persecutions under it till the days of Constantine yethe great & his sons. And this is thus described by Daniel.Ch. xi.32, &c. And such as do wickedly against the covenant, shall he [who places the abomination] cause to dissemble [& worship the heathen Gods;] but the people among them who do know their God, shall be strong & act. And they that understand among the people, shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, & by flame, & by captivity, & by spoil many days. Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help [vizt in the reign of Constantine the great,] & [at that time by reason of their prosperity] many shall [come over to them7651. them from among the heathen, and] cleave to them of under with dissimulation. But of those of understanding there shall [still] fall to try [God's people] by them, & to purge [then from the dissemblers] and to make them white to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.
Hitherto the Roman Empire continued entire, and under this dominion, the little horn of the He-Goat continued mighty but not by his own power. But now, by the building of Constantinople, & endowing it with a Senate & other like privileges with Rome, & by the division of the Roman Empire into the two Empires of the Greeks & Latins, headed by those two cities, a new scene of things commences, in wchwhichCh. xi.36, &c. a King [the Empire of the Greeks] doth according to his will, and [by setting his own laws above the laws of God] exalts & magnifies himself above every God, & speaks marvellous things against the God of Gods, & shall prosper till the Indignation be accomplished. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the [lawful] desire of weomen [in matrimony,] nor any God, but shall magnify himself above all. And in his seat he shall honour Mahuzzims [strong guardians, the souls of the dead;] even with a God whom his fathers knew not shall he honour them [in their Temples] with gold & silver, & with pretious stones & valuable things. All wchwhich relates to the overspreading of the Greek Empire with Moncks & Nunns, who placed holiness in abstinence from marriage; & to the invocation of saints & veneration of their reliques, & such like superstitions, wchwhich these men introduced in the fourth & fift centuries.Ch. xi.40, &c. And at the time of the end the king of the south [or empire of the Saracens] shall push at him; & the king of the north [or Empire of the Turks] shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots & with horsmen, & with many shipps; & he shall enter into the countries [of the Greeks], & shall overflow & pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, Cc pma 193[& many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom & Moab, & the chief of the children of Ammon [vizt. to whom his Caravans pay tribute.] He shall stretch forth his hand also upon also upon the countries, & the land of Egypt shall not escape; but he shall have power over the treasures of gold & silver, & over all the pretious things of Egypt; & the Lybians & Ethiopians shall be at his steps. All these nations compose the Empire of the Turks, and therefore this Empire is the king of the north. They compose also the body of the He-Goat; & therefore the Goat still reigns in his last horn, but not by his own power.
7753.
Sect. VII. Chap.12 13. Of the King who did according to his will, & magnified himself above every God, and honoured Mahuzzims, and regarded not the desire of weomen.
In the first ages of the Christian religion the Christians of every city were governed by a Council of Presbyters, & the President of the Council was the Bishop of the city. And tThe Bishop & Presbyters of one city medled not with the affairs of another city, except by admonitory Letters or Messages. Nor did the Bishops of several cities meet together in Council before the reign of the Emperor Commodus: For they could not meet together without the leave of the Roman governours of the Provinces. But in the reign of that Emperor they began to meet in Provincial Councils, by the leave of the Governours; first in Asia in opposition to the Cataphrygian heresy, & soon after in other places & upon other occasions. And tThe Bishop of the head-city, or Metropolis of the Roman Province, was usually made President of the Council. And hHence came the authority of Metropolitan Bishops above that of other Bishops within the Province. Hence also it was that the Bishop of Rome in Cyprian's days called himself the Bishop of Bishops. And as soon as the Empire became Christian, the Roman Emperors began to call general Councills out of all the Provinces of the Empire; & by prescribing to them what points they should consider, & influencing them by their interest & power, they set up what party they pleased. And hHereby the Greek Empire , upon the division of the Roman Empire into the Greek & Latine Empires, became the king who [in matters of religion] did according to his will, & [in legislature] magnified exalted & magnified himself above every God; & at length, by the seventh General Council, established the worship of the Images & Souls of dead men, here called Mahuzzims.
The same king placed holiness in abstinence from marriage. Eusebius in his ✝✝ Lib. 4: c. 28, 29.Ecclesiastical history, tells us that Musanus wrote a Tract against those who fell away to the heresy of the Encratites, wchwhich was then newly risen, & introduced a pernicious error; & that Tatian, the disciple of Iustin, was the author thereof; & that Irenæus in his first book against heresies teaches this, writing of Tatian & his heresy in these words: A Saturnino et Marcione profecti qui docuerunt vocantur Continentes, docuerunt non contrahendum esse matrimonium; reprobantes scilicet primitivum illud opificium Dei, et tacitet accusantes Deum qui masculum et fœminam condidit ad procreationem generis humani. Induxerunt etiam abstinentiam ab esu eorum qua animalia appellant, ingratos se exhibentes erga eum qui universa creavit Deum. Negant etiam primi hominis salutem. Atqꝫue hoc nuper apud illos excogitatum est, Tatiano quodam omnium primo hujus impietatis auctore: qQui Iustini auditor, quamdiu cum illo versatus est, nihil ejusmodi protulit. Post martyrium autem illius, ab Ecclesia se abrumpens, doctoris arrogantia elatus ac tumidus, tanquam præstantior cæteris, novam quandam formam doctrinæ conflavit: Æonas invisibiles commentus perinde ac Valentinus: asserens quoqꝫue cum Saturnino et Marcione, matrimonium nihil alisud esse quam stuprum corruptionem atc stuprum: nova præterea argumenta ad subvertendam Adami salutem excogitans. Hæc7854 Hæc Irenæus de Hæresi Encratit quæ tunc viguit Encratitarum. Thus far Eusebius. But altho the followers of Tatian were at first condemned as hereticks by the name of Encratites, or Continents; yet their principles could not be quite exploded. Montanus refined upon them, & made only second marriages unlawfull; & he introduced frequent fastings, & annual fasting days, & Lent, & feeding upon dryed meats. The Apostolicyi, about the middle of the third Century, condemned marriage, & were a branch of the disciples of Tatian. The Hierocitæ in Egypt, in the latter end of the third Century, also condemned marriage. Paul the Eremite fled into the wilderness from the persecution of Decius, & lived there a solitary life till the reign of Constantine the great, but made no disciples. Antony did the like in the persecution of Diolesian, or a little before, & made disciples; & many others soon followed his example.
Hitherto the Principles of the Encratites had been rejected by the Churches; but now being refined by the Monks, & imposed not upon all men, but only upon those who would voluntarily undertake a monastick life, began to be admired, & to overflow first the Greek Church, & then the Latin Church, like a torrent. Eusebius tells usIn vita Constantini l. 4. c. 28. that Constantine the great had those men in the highest veneration, who dedicated themselves wholly to the divine philosophy; & that he almost venerated the most holy company of Virgins perpetually dedicated devoted to God, being certain that the God to whom he had consecrated himself did dwell in their minds. In his reign & that of his sons, this profession of a single life was propagated in Egypt by Antony, & in Syria by Hilarion; & spread so fast, that soon after the reign of Iulian the apostate a third part of the Egyptians were got into the wilderness desearts of Egypt. They lived first singly in cells, then associated into cœnobia or convents; & at length came into towns, & filled the Churches with Bishops, Presbyters & Deacons. Athanasius in his younger days poured water upon the hands of his master Antony; & finding the Monks faithfull to him, made many of them Bishops & Presbyters in Egypt,: & these Bishops erected new monasteries in their cities, out of which they chose Presbyters of their own cities, & sent Bishops to other cities. And tThe like was done in Syria, the superstition being quickly propagated thither out of Egypt by Hilarion a disciple of Antony. Spiridion & Epiphanius of Cyprus, Iames of Nisibis, Cyril of Ierusalem, Eustathius of Sebastia in Armenia, Eusebius of Emisa, Titus of Bostra, Basilius of Ancyra, Acacius of Cæsarea in Palestine, Elpidius of Laodicea, Melitius & Flavian of Antioch, Theodorus of Tyre, Protogenes of Carrhæ, Acacius of Berrhæa, Theodotus of Hierapolis, Eusebius of Chalcedon, Amphilochius of Iconium, Gregory Nazieanzen, Gregory Nyssen, & Iohn Chrysostom of Constantinople, were both Bishops & Monks, in the fourth Century. Eustathius, Gregory Nazienzen, Gregory Nyssen, Basil, &c had Monasteries of Clergimen in in their cities, out of which Bishops were sent to other cities, who in like manner erected Monasteries in their cities, till the Churches were supplied with Bishops out of the Monasteries. Whence Ierome, in a Letter written about the year 385,Epist. 10 saith of the Clergy, Quasi et ipsi aliud sint quam Maonachi, & non quicquid in Monachos dicitur redundet in Clericos qui patres sunt Monachorum. Detrimentum pecoris pastoris ignominia est. And in his book against Vigilantius: Quid facient Orientis Ecclesiæ? Quæ aut Virgines Clericos accipiunt, aut Continentes, aut si uxores habuerint mariti esse desistunt. And even the Emperors commanded the Churches to chuse Clergy-men out of the Monasteries by this Law.
Impp.7955
Impp. Arcad. et Honor. AA. Cæsario PF.P.
L. 32 de Episcopis.Seiquos forte Episcopi deesse sibi Clericos arbitrantur, ex monachorum numero rectius ordinabunt: non obnoxios publicis privatisqꝫue rationibus cum invidia teneant, sed habeant jam probatos. Dat. VII Kal. Aug. Honorio A. iv & Eutychianio Coss. A.C. 398. And tThe Greek Empire being now in the hands of these Encratites, & having them in great admiration, Daniel makes it a characteristic of the King who doth according to his will, that he should not regard the desire of weomen.
Thus the Sect of the Encratites, set on foot by the Gnosticks & people refered & propagated by Tatian & Montanus near the End of the second century, & wchwhich was condemned by the Churches of that & the third Century, & refined by their followers, overspread the eastern Churches in the fourth Century, & before the end of that Century it began to overspread the western. And hHenceforward the Christian Churches having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof, came into the hands of the Encratites; the heathens, who in the fourth century came over in very great numbers to the Christians, embracing more readily this sort of Christianity, as having a greater affinity with their old superstitions thean that of the sincere Christians, who by the lamps of the seven Churches of Asia, & not by the lamps of the Monasteries, had illuminated the Church Catholick during the three first centuries.
V The Cataphrygians brought in also several other superstitions, such as were the doctriene of Ghosts, & of their punishment in Purgatory, & with prayers & oblations for mitigating that punishment, as Tertullian teaches in his books De Anima & De Monogamia. They used also the signe of the cross as a charm. So Tertullian in his book de Corona militis: Ad omnem progres[sumDd pma 201 atqꝫue promotum, ad omnem aditum et exitum, ad vestitum, ad calceatum, ad lavacra, ad mensas, ad lumina, ad cubilia, ad sedilia, quacunqꝫue nos conversatio exercet, frontem crucis signaculo terimus. And aAll these superstitions the Apostle referrs unto, where he saith: Now the spirit speaks expresly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, & seducing spirits & doctrines of Ghosts, [the Devils worshiped by the heathens] speaking lyes in hypocrisy [about their apparitions, & the miracles done by them, & their reliques, & the signe of the cross] having consciences seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, & commanding teaching to abstein from meats. 1 Tim. IV.1, 2, 3. And fFrom the Cataphrygians these Principles & Practisces were propagated down to posterity. For the mystery of iniquity began to work in the Apostles days in the Gnosticks, & continued to work very strongly in their offspring the Tatianists & Cataphrygians, & was to work till the man of sin should be revealed, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power & signes, & lying wonders, & all deceivableness of unrighteousness; coloured over with a form of Christian godliness, but without the power thereof.
For tho some power stop was put to the Cataphrygian Christianity, by Provincial Councils, till the fourth Century; yet the Roman Emperors then turning Christian, & great multitudes of heathens coming over to the Christian religion in outward profession, & finding the Cataphrygian Christianity more suitable to their old Principles, of placing religion in outward forms & ceremonies, & holy-days, & doctrines of Ghosts, thean that of the sincere Christians:8056 Christians: they readily sided with the Cataphrygian Christians, & set up that Christianity before the end of the fourth century. And bBy this means those of understanding, after they had been persecuted by the heathen Emperors in the three first Centuries, & were holpen with a little help by the conversion of Constantine the great & his sons to the Christian religion, fell again into new persecutions, to purge them from the dissemblers, & to make them white to the time of the end.
8157
Sect. VIII Chap. 13–14 Of the Mahuzzim's, honoured by the King who doth according to his will.
In scripture we are told of some trusting in God & others trusting in idols, & that God is our refuge, our strength, our defense. And iIn this sense God is the rock of the people, & false Gods are called the rock of those that trust in them, Deut. 32.4, 15, 18, 30, 31, 37. And iIn the same sense the Gods of the King who doth according to his will are called Mahuzzims, munitions, fortresses, protectors, defenders. In his estate, saith Daniel,Ch. xi.38, 39. shall he honour Mahuzzims [Guardians;] even with a God whom his fathers knew not, shall he honour them with gold & silver, & with pretious stones, & things of value. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds [or Temples] — & he shall make them to rule over many, & divide the land [among them] for a possession. Now this came to pass by steps in the following manner.
Gregory Nyssen tells us,Orat. de vita Greg. Thaumaturg. T. 3. p. 574. that after the persecution of the Emperor Decius, Gregory bishop of Neocæsarea in Pontus instituted among all people, as an addition or corollary of devotion towards God, that festival days & assemblies should be celebrated to them who had contended for the faith, that is, to the Martyrs. And he adds this reason for the institution: When he observed; saith Nyssen, that the simple & unskilful multitude, by reason of corporal delights, remained in the error of idols; that the principal thing might be corrected among them, namely, that instead of their vain worship they might turn their eyes upon God; he permitted that at the memories of the holy martyrs they might make merry & delight themselves, & be resolvedqdissolved into joy. The heathens were delighted with the festivals of their Gods, & unwilling to part with those delights; & therefore Gregory, to facilitate their conversion, instituted annual festivals to the saints & martyrs. And hHence it came to pass, that for exploding the festivals of the heathens, the principal festivals of the Christians succeeded in the room of the principal festivals of the heathens; as the keeping of Christmas with ivy & feasting, & playing & sports, in the room of the Bacchanalia & Saturnalia; the celebrating of May-day with flowers in the room of the fFloralia;F & the keeping of festivals to the Virgin Mary, Iohn the Baptist, & divers of the Apostles, in the room of the solemnities at the entrance of the Sun into the signes of the Zodiac in the old Iulian Calendar. In the same persecution of Decius, Cyprian ordered the passions of the Martyrs in Afric to be registred, in order to celebrate their memories annually with oblations & sacrifices. And Felix Bishop of Rome, a little after, as Platina relates, Martyrum gloriæ consulens, constituit ut quotannis sacrificia eorum nomine celebrarentur; consulting the glory of the Martyrs, ordeined that sacrifices should be celebrated annually in their name. By the pleasure of these festivals the Christians increased much in number, & decreased as much in vertue, untill they were purged & made white by the persecution of Dioclesian. And this was the first step made in the Christian religion towards the veneration of the Martyrs. And tho it did not yet amount to an unlawful worship; yet it disposed the Christians towards such a further veneration of the dead, as in a short time ended in the invocation of Saints8258 Saints
The next step was the affecting to pray at the sepulchres of the Martyrs: which practisce began in Dioclesian's persecution. The Council of Eleberis in Spain, celebrated in the third or fourth year of Dioclesian's persecution, A.C. 305, hath these Canons. Can. 34; Cereos per diem placuit in Cœmiterio non incendi. Inquietandi enim spiritus sanctorum non sunt. Qui hæc non observarint, arceantur ab Ecclesiæ communione. Can. 35; Placuit prohiberi ne fœminæ in Cœmeterio pervigilent, eò quod sæpe sub obtentu orationis latenter scelera committant. Presently after that persecution, suppose about the year 314, the Council of Laodicea in Phrygia, which then met for restoring the lapsed discipline of the Church, has the following Canons. Can. 9: Those of the Church are not allowed to go into the Cœmeteries or Martyries (as they are called) of hereticks, for the sake of the prayer or recovery of health: but such as go, if they be of the faithful, shall be excommunicated for a time. Can. 34: A Christian must not leave the Martyrs of Christ, & go to falsse Martyrs, that is, to the Martyrs of the Hereticks; For these are an alien from God. And therefore let those be anathema who go to them. Can. 51: The birth-days of the Martyrs shall not be celebrated in Lent, but their commemoration shall be made on the sabbath-days & Lords days. The Council of Paphlagonia, celebrated in the year 324, made this Canon: If any man being arrogant, abominates the congregations of the Martyrs, or the Liturgies performed therein, or the memories of the Martyrs, let him be anathema. By all which its manifest that the Christians in the time of Dioclesian's persecution used to pray in the Cœmeteries or burying-places of the dead, for avoiding the danger of the persecution, & for want of Churches, wchwhich were all thrown down: and after the persecution was over, continued that practisce in honour to the Martyrs, till new churches could be built; & by use affected it as advantageous to devotion, & for recovering the health of those that were sick: & that in these burying-places they commemorated the martyrs yearly upon days dedicated to them, & accounted all these practisces pious & religious, & anathematized those men as arrogant who opposed them or prayed in the Martyries of the Hereticks. They also lighted torches to the Martyrs in the day-time, as the heathens did to their Gods; which custome before the end of the fourth century, prevailed much in the west. And they sprinkled the worshippers of the Martyrs with holy-water, as the heathens did the worshippers of their Gods: & went in procession to see Ierusalem & other holy places, as if the places conferred sanctity to the visiters. And fFrom the custome of praying in the Cœmetaeries & Martyries, came the custome of translating the bodies of the saints & martyrs into such Churches as were new built: &the Emperor Constantius beginning this practisce about the year 359, by causing the bodies of Andrew the Apostle & Luke & Timothy to be translated into a new Church at Constantinople. And before the Act of Constantius, the Egyptians kept the bodies of their Martyrs & Saints unburied upon beds in their private houses, & told strories of their souls appearing after death & ascending up to heaven, as Athanasius relates in the life of Antony. All which gave occasion to the Emperor Iulian (as CyrillCyril relates) to accuse the Christians in this manner: Your adding to that antcient dead man [vizt Iesus] many new dead men, who can sufficiently abominate? You have filled all places with Sepulchres & monuments, altho you8359 you are no where bidden to prostrate your selves to sepulchres, & to respect them officiously. And a little after: Since Iesus said that sepulchres are full of filthiness, how do you invoke God upon them? And in another place he saith, that if Christians had adhered to the precepts of the Hebrews, they would have worshipped one God instead of many, & not a man, or rather not many unhappy men: And that they adored the wood of the cross, making its images on their foreheads, & before their houses.
After the sepulchres of Saints & Martyrs were thus converted into places of worship like the heathen Temples & the Churches into sepulchres, & a certain sort of sanctity was placed in the dead bodies of the Saints & Ee pm̄a 209[Martyrs [buried in them, & annual festivals were kept to them, with sacrifices offered to God in their name; the next step towards the invocation of Saints, was the attributing to the dead bodies & bones & other reliques of the saints, a power of working miracles, by means of the separate souls, who were supposed to know what whe do or say, & to be able to do us good or hurt, & to work those miracles. which This is the very notion that the heathens had of the separate souls of their antcient kings & heros, whom they worshipped under the names of Saturn, Rhea, Iupiter, Iuno, Mars, Venus, Bacchus, Ceres, Osiris, Isis, Apollo, Diana, & the rest of their heathen Gods: what For these Gods being male & female, husband & wife, son & daughter, brother & sister, are thereby discovered to be antcient men & weomen. And as the first step towards the invocation of saints was set on foot by the persecution of Decius, & the second by the persecution of Dioclesian; so this third step seems to have been set on foot by the proceedings of Constantius & Iulian the Apostate. When Iulian began to restore the worship of the heathen Gods, & vilify the saints & martyrs; the Christians of Syria & Egypt seem to have made a great noise of the miracles done by the reliques of the Christian Saints & Martyrs, in opposition to the powers attributed by Iulian & the heathens to their Idols. For when Sozomen & Ruffinus tell us, that when he opened the heathen Temples, & consulted the Oracle of Apollo Daphnæus in the suburbs of Antioch, & pressed by many sacrifices for an answer, the Oracle at length told him that the bones of the martyr Babylas wchwhich were buried there hindred him from speaking. By wchwhich answer you may understand, that some Christian was got into the place where the heathen Priests used to speak through' a pipe in delivering their Oracles. And before this, Hilary in his book against Constantius, written in the last year of that Emperor, makes this mention of what was then doing in the east where he was. Sine martyrio persequeris. Plus crudelitati vestræ Nero, Deci, Maximiane, debemus. Daiabolum enim per vos vicimus. Sanctus ubiqꝫue beatorum martyrum sanguis exceptus est, dum in his Dæmones mugiunt, dum ægritudines depelluntur, dum miraculorum opera cernuntur, elevari sine laqueis corpora, & dispensis pede fœminis vestes non defluere in faciem, uri sine ignibus spiritus, confiteri sine interrogantis incremento fidei. And Gregory Nazianzen, in his first Oration against the Emperor Iulian then reigning, writes thus: Martyres snon extimuisti quibus præclari honores & festa constituta, a quibus Dæmones propelluntur et morbi curantur; quorum sunt apparitiones & prædictiones; quorum vel sola corpora idem possunt quod animæ sanctæ, sive manibus contrectaentur, sive honorentur: quorum vel solæ sanguinis guttæ atqꝫue exigua passionis signa [i.e. Signa Crucis] idem possunt quod corpora. Hæc non colis sed contemnis et aspernaris. These things made the Heathens in the reign of the same Emperor demolish the sepulchre of Iohn the Baptist in Phœnicia, & burn his bones. And some Christians mixing themselves with the heathens, gathered up some of his bones; which being sent to Athanasius, he hid them in the wall of a Church, foreseeing by a prophetick spirit, as Ruffinius tells us, that they might be profitable to a future generation.
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The cry of these miracles being once set on foot, continued for many years, & encreased & grew more general. For Chrysomstome, in his second Oration on St Babylas, twenty years after the silencing of the Oracle of Apollo Daphnæus as above, [vizt. A.C. 382] saith of the miracles done by the Saints & their reliques:Vide et Hom. 47 in S. Iulian Nulla est nostri hujus Orbis seu regio, seu gens, seu Vrbs, ubi nova et invidita inopinata miracula hæc non decantaentur: quæ quidem si figmenta fuissent prorsus in tantam hominum admirationem non venissent. And a little after: Abunde Orationi nostræ fidem faciunt quæ quotidiana a martyribus miracula eduntur, magna affatim ad illa hominum multitudine affluente. And in his 66th Homily, describing how the Devils were cast tormented & cast out by the bones of the Martyrs, he adds: Ob eam causam multi plerumqꝫue Reges peregre profecti sunt ut hoc spectaculo fruerentur. Siquidem sanctorum martyrum templa futuri judicij vestigia et signa exhibent, dum nimirum Dæmones flagris cæduntur, hominesqꝫue torquentur et liberantur. Vide quæ sanctorum vita functorum vis sit? And Ierome oin his Epitaph on Paula, thus mentions the same things.Epist. 27 ad Eustochium. Paula vidit Samariam: ibi siti sunt Elisæus et Abdias prophetæ, & Ioannes Baptista, ubi multis intremuit consternata miraculis. Nam cernebat varijs dæmones rugire cruciatibus, et ante sepulchra mortuorum sanctorum ululare homines more luporum, vocibus latrare canum, fremere Leonum, sibilare serpentum, mugire taurorum, alios rotare caput & post tergum terram vertice tangere, suspensisqꝫue pede fœminis vestes non defluere in faciem. This was about the year 384. And Chrysostom in his Oration on the Egyptian Martyrs, seems to make Egypt the ringleader in these matters, saying:Edit. Frontonis Ducæi, Tom. 1. Benedictus Deus quandoquidem ex Ægypto prodeunt martyres ex Ægypto illa cum Deo pugnante ac insanissima, et unde impia ora, unde linguæ blasphemæ; ex Ægypto martyres habentur; non in Ægypto tantum, nec in finitima vicinaqꝫue regione, sed VBIQUE TERRARVM. Et quemadmodum in annonæ summa ubertate, cum viderunt urbium incolæ majorem quam usus habitatorum postulat esse proventum, ad peregrinas etiam urbes transmittunt: cum et suam comitatem & liberalitatem ostendant, tum ut præter horum abundantiam cum facilitate res quibus indigent rursus ab illis sibi comparent: sic et Ægyptij, quod attinet ad religionis athletas, fecerunt. Cum apud se multam eorum Dei benignitate copiam cernerent, nequaquāam ingens Dei munus sua civitate concluserunt, sed in omnes OMNES TERRÆ PARTES bonorum thesauros effuderunt: cum ut suum in fratres amorem ostenderent, tum ut communuem omnium dominum honore afficerent, ac civitati suæ gloriam apud omnes compararent, totiusqꝫue terrarum ORBIS esse METROPOLIN declararent. — Sanctorum enim illorum corpora quovis adamantino et inexpugnabili muro tutius nobis urbem communiunt, et tanquam excelsi quidam scopuli undiqꝫue prominentes, non horum qui sub sensus cadunt et oculis cernuntur hostium impetus propulsant tantum, sed etiam invisibilium dæmonum insidias, omnesqꝫue diaboli fraudes subvertunt ac dissipant. — Neque vero tantum adversus hominum insidias aut adversus fallacias dæmonum utilis nobis est hæc possessio, sed si nobis communis dominus ob peccatorum multitudinem irascatur, his objectis corporibus continuo poterimus esum propitium reddere civitati. This Oration was written at Antioch while Alexandria was yet the Metropolis of the east, that is, before the year 381, in wchwhich Constantinople became the Metropolis. And it was a work of some years for the Egyptians to have distributed the miracle-working reliques of their Martyrs over all the world, as they had done before that year. EÆgypt abounded most with the reliques of saints & Martyrs, the Egyptians keeping them embalmed upon beds even in their private houses; & Alexandria was eminent above all other cities for dispersing them, so as on that account to acquire glory with all men, & manifest her self to be the Metropolis of the world. And Antioch followed the example of Egypt, in dispersing the reliques of the forty martyrs: & the examples8561 examples of Egypt & Syria were soon followed by the rest of the world.
The reliques of the forty martyrs at Antioch were distributed among the Churches before the year 373; For Athanasius who died in that year, wrote an Oration upon them. This Oration is not yet published, but Gerard Vossius saw it in MS in the Library of Cardinal Ascanius in Italy, as he mentions in his commentary upon the Oration of Ephræm Sirus on the same 40 martyrs. And since Alexandria sent the reliques of the Martyrs of Egypt into all parts of the Earth, & thereby acquired glory to their city, & declared her in these matters the Metropolis of the whole world, as you have heard out of Chrysostom; it may be concluded, that before she received the 40 martyrs from Antioch, she began to send out the reliques of her own martyrs into all parts, setting the first example to other cities. And therefore this practiscethis practice therefore began in Egypt some years before the death of Athanasius. It began when the miracle-working bones of Iohn the Baptist were carried into Egypt, & hid in the wall of a Church, that they might be profitable to a future generation. It was restrained during the reign of Iulian the Apostate: And then it spread from Egypt into all the Empire, Alexandria being the Metropolis of the whole world (according to Chrysostom) for propagating this sort of devotion, & Antioch & other cities soon following her example.
In propagating these superstitions, the ringleaders were the Moncks, & Antony was at the head of them: For in the end of the life of Antony, Athanasius relates that therse were his dying words to his disciples who then attended him. Do you take care, saith Antony, to adhere to Christ in the first place, & then to the saints, that after death they may receive you as friends & acquaintance into the everlasting Tabernacles. Think upon these things, perceive these things; & if you have any regard to me, remember me as a father. This being delivered in charge to the Moncks by Antony at his death, A.C. 356, could not but inflame the whole body of the Moncks in devotion towards the sSaints, as the ready way to be received by them into the eternal tabernacles after death. And hHence came that noise about the miracles done by the reliques of the saints in the reign of Constantius: THence came the dispersion of the miracle-working reliques into all the Empire, Alexandria setting the example, & being renouned for it above all other cities. Hence it came to pass in the reign of Iulian (A.C. 362) that Athanasius by a prophetic spirit (as Ruffinus tell us) hid the bones of Iohn the Baptist from the heathens, not in the ground to be forgotten, but in the hollow wall of a church before proper witnesses, that they might be profitable to a future generation. Hence also came the invocations of the saints for doing such miracles & for assisting men in their devotions, & mediating with God. For Athanasius, even from his youth, looked upon thise youth dead saints and Martyrs as mediators of our prayers: For in his Epistle to Marcellinus, written in the days of Constantine the great, he saith that the words of the Psalms are not to be transposed or any wise changed, but to be recited & sung without any artifice, as they are writ[ten,Ff pm̄a 217 that the holy men, seing his own words with which he inspired them may joyn [with them] in assisting us se who delivered them, knowing them to be their own words, may pray with us, or rather that the Holy Ghost who spake in the Holy men, seing his own words with which he inspired them, may joyin [with them] in assisting us.
And whilst Egypt abounded with Monks above any other country, the veneration of the saints began sooner & spread faster there then in other places. Palladius going into Egypt in the year 388 to visit the Monasteries, & visiting the sepulchre of Apollonius & other Martyrs of Thebais who had suffered under Maximinus, saith of them: Iis omnibus Christiani fecerunt ædem unam, ubi nunc multæ virtutes peraguntur. Tanta autem fuit viri gratia, ut de ijs quæ esset præcatus statim exaudiretur, eum sic honorante Servatore. Quem etiam nos in martyrio precati vidimus, cum ijs8662 ijs qui cum ipso fuerunt Martyrio affecti; et Deum adorantes, eorum corpora salutavimus. And Eunapius, a heathen, but yet a competent witnes of what was done in his own times, relating how the soldiers delivered the heathen temples of Egypt into the hands of the Moncks, (wchwhich was done in the year 389) rails thus in an impious manner at the martyrs, as succeeding in the room of the old Gods of Egypt. Illi ipsi [milites] Monachos Canobi quoque collocarunt, ut pro Dijs qui animo cernuntur, servos et quidem flagitiosos & quidem flagitiosos divinis honoribus percolerent, hominum mentibus ad cultum ceremoniasqꝫue obligatis. Ii namqꝫue condita et salita eorum capita, qui ob scelerum multitudinem a judicibus extremo judicio fuerant affecti pro Divis ostentabant, ijs genua flectebant submittebant, eos in Deorum numerum receptabant, ad illorum sepulchra pulvere sordibusqꝫue conspurcati. Martyres igitur vocabantur, et Ministri quidem et Legati precum Arbitriqꝫue precum apud Deos, cum fuerint servitia infida et flagris pessime subacta, quæ cicatrices scelerum ac nequitiæ vestigia corporibus circumferunt; Ejusmodi tamen Deos fert tellus. By these instances you may understand that Saint the invocation of Saints was now of some standing in Egypt, & that it was already generally received & practised there by the common people. as
Thus Basil a Monck, who was made bishop of Cæsarea in yethe year 3609, & died in the year 378, in his Oration on the martyr Mamas, saith: Be ye mindful of the Martyr, as many of you as have enjoyed him in your dreams, as many as in this place have assisted him been assisted by him in prayer, as many of you as upon invoking him by name have had him present in your works, as many as he has restored to health, as many as have had their dead children restored toby him to life, as many as have had their lives prolonged by him. And a little after, he thus expresses the universality of this superstition in the regions of Cappadocia & Bythinia: At the memory of the martyr, saith he, the whole region is moved; at his festival the whole city is transported with joy. Nor do the kindred of the rich turn aside to the sepulchres of their ancestors, but all go to the place of piety. And in the end of the Homily he prays, that God would preserve the Church, thus fortified with the towers great towers of the martyrs. And in his Oration on the forty martyrs: These are they, saith he, who obteiningstet our country, like certain towers, afford us safety against our enemies. Neither are they shut up in once place only, but being distributed are sent into many regions, & adorned many countries. — You have often endeavoured, you have often laboured to find one who might pray for you; these are forty emitting one voice of prayer. — He that is in affliction flyies to these, he that rejoyices has recourse to these: the first, that he may be freed from the evil, the last that he may continue in the happiness. Here a woman praying for her children is heard; she obteins a safe return for her husband abroad from abroad, & helalth for him in his sickness. — O common keepers of mankind, the best companions of our cares, suffragans & coadjutors of prayer, most powerfull embassadors to God, &c. Now by all this it is manifest, that before the year 378, the Oration & Sermons upon the Saints went much beyond the bounds of mere Oratorical flourishes, & that the common people in the East were already generally corrupted by the Moncks with saint-worship.
Gregory Nazianzen a Monck, in his sixth Oration written A.C. 373, when he was newly made Bishop of Sasima, saith: Let us purify our selves to the Martyrs, or rather to the God of the Martyrs. And a little after he calls the Martyrs mediators of obteaining an ascension or divinity. And tThe same year in the end8763 end of his Oration upon Athanasius then newly dead, he thus invokes him: Do thou look down upon us propitiously, & govern this popeople, a perfect adorer of the perfect Trinity, wchwhich in the Father Son & Holy Ghost is contemplated & adored: And if there shall be peace, preserve me, & feed my flock with me; but if war, reduce me, & place me with your self & with such as you are, altho it be great which I desire. And in the end of the funeral Oration upon Basil, written A.C. 378, he thus invokes Basil: But thou, O divine & sacred hHead, look down upon us from heaven; & by thy prayers either take away that thorn of fl the flesh which is given us by God for exercise, or perswuade that we may bear it with courage, & direct all our life to that which is most conducible. And when we depart this life, receive us there in your Tabernacles, that living together & beholding the holy & blessed Trinity more purely & perfectly, whereof we have now but an imperfect view, we may there come to the end of our desires, & receive this reward of the warrs wchwhich we have waged or suffered. And in his Oration upon Cyprian, (not the Bishop of Carthage, but a Greek,) he invokes Cyprian him after the same manner; & tells us also how a pious virgin called Iustina, was protected by invoking the Virgin Mary, & how miracles were done by the ashes of Cyprian.
Gregory Nyssen, another eminent Monck & Bishop, in the life of Ephræm Syrus, tells how a certain man returning from a far country, was in great danger, by reason that all the ways were intercepted by the armies of barbarous nations; but upon invoking Ephræm by name, & saying, Holy Ephræm assist me, he escaped the danger, neglected the fear of death, & beyond his hope got safe home. And iIn the end of this Oration Gregory invokes Ephræm after the following manner: But thou [o Ephræm] assisting now at the divine altar, & sacrificing to the Prince of life, & to the most holy Trinity, together with the Angels, remember us all, & obteain for us pardon of our sins, that we may enjoy the eternal happiness of the kingdom of heaven. The same Gregory, in his Oration on the martyr Theodorus written A.C. 381, thus describes the power of the Martyr, & the practisce of the people. This Martyr, saith he, the last year quieted the barbarous tempest, & put a stop to the horrid war of the fierce & cruel sScythians. — If any one is permitted to carry away the disust with which the tuomb is covered, wherein the body of the martyr rests; the dust is accepted as a gift, & gathered to be laid up as a thing of great price. For to touch the reliques themselves, if any such prosperous fortune shall at any tineme happen; how great a favour that is, & not to be obteained without the most earnest prayers, they know well who have obteined it. For as a living & florid body, they that who behold it embrace it, applying to it the eyes, mouth, ears, & all the organs of sense; & then with affection pouring tears upon the Martyr, as if he was whole & appeared to them,: they offer prayers with supplication, that it would intercede for them as an advocate, praying to him as an Officer attending upon God, & invoking him as receiving gifts whenever he will. And at length Gregory concludes the Oration with this prayer: O Theodorus, we want many blessings; Intercede & deprecate for your country before the common King & Lord: For the country of the martyr is the place of his passio n, & they are his citizens, & brethren & kindred, who have him, & defend, him & adorn & honour him. We fear afflictions,. We expect dangers: The wicked Scythians are not far off, ready to make war against us. As a soldier fight for us, as a Martyr use liberty of speech for your fellow-servants. Pray for peace, that these publick meetings may not cease, that the furious and wicked8864 wicked barbarian may not rage against the Temples & altars, that the profane & impious may not trample upon the holy things. For we who acknowledg it a benefit received from you, that we are preserved safe & entire, & and we pray for freedom from danger for in time to come. And if there shall be need of greater intercession & deprecation, call together a Quire of your brethren the Martyrs, & in conjunction with them all intercede for us. Let the prayers of many just ones attone for the sins of the multitudes & peoples. Exhort Peter, excite Iohn Paul, & also Iohn, the divine & beloved disciple, that they may be sollicitous for the Churches which they have erected, for which they have been in chains, for which they have undergone dangers & deaths, that the worship of idols may not lift up its head against us, that heresies may not spring up like thorns in the vineyard, that tares grown up may not choak the wheat, that no rock void of the fatness of true dew may be against us, & render the fruitfull power of the word void of a root; but by the power of the deprecation of your self & your companions, ô admirable man & eminent among the Martyrs, the common-wealth of Christians may become a field of corn. The same Gregory Nyssen, in his sermon upon the death of Meletius bishop of Antioch, preached at Constantinople the same year, (A.C. 381) before the bishops of all the east assembled in the second General Council, spake thus of Meletius. The Bridegroom, saith he, is not taken from us: He stands in the middle of us, tho we do not see him: He is a Priest in the most inward places, & face to face intercedes before God for us & the sins of the people. This was no oratorical flourish, but Gregory's real opinion, as you may understand by what we have cited out of him concerning Ephræm & Theodorus. And whilst as Gregory preached this before the Council of Constantinople, you may thence know, (saithaa Baron Ad an. 381, sect. 41. Barronius) that he professed what the whole Council, & therewith the whole Church of those parts believed, namely, that the saints in heaven offer prayers for us before God.
Gg pma 225[Ephræm Syrus, another eminent Monck, who was contemporary to with Basil, & died the same year with him, in the end of his Encomium or Oration upon Basil newly dead, invokes him after this manner: Deprecate for me, a very miserable man; & recall me by thy intercessions, o father [Basil;] thou courageous forfor me a weak one; thou diligent, for me a negligent one; thou chearfull forfor me a sloathful one; thou wise for me a foolish one. Thou who hast treasured up a treasure of all vertues, reduce me who am empty of every good work. And iIn the beginning of his Encomium upon the 40 Martyrs, written at the same time, he thus invokes them. Help me therefore, o ye saints, with your intercession; & o ye beloved, with your holy prayers; that Christ may guide you by his grace may guide my tongue to speak, &c. And aAfterwards mentioning the mother of one of these 40 Martyrs, he concludes the Oration with this invocation. I entreat thee, o holy faithfull & blessed woman, pray for me to the Saints, saying,: Intercede ye triumphers of Christ, for the least & the miserable Ephræm, that I may find mercy, & by the grace of Christ may be saved. And aAgain, in his second Sermon or Oration on the praises of the holy Martyrs of Christ, he thus invokes them. We entreat you most holy Martyrs, to deprecate the Lord for us miserable sinners, beset with the squallor of negligence, that he would infuse his divine grace into us. And afterwards neare the end he intvokes them again in the same manner. Now ye most holy men & glorious Martyrs of God, help me a miserable sinner with your prayers, that in that dreadfull hour I may obtein mercy, when the secrets of hearts shall be made manifest. I am to day become to you, o ye most holy martyrs of Christ, as it were, an unprofitable & unskilful cup-bearer: for I have delivered to the sons & brothers of your faith, a cup of the excellent wine of your8965 your warfare; & with the excellent table of your victory, replenished with all sorts of dainties. I have endeavoured, with the whole affection & desire of my mind, to recreate your fathers & brothers, kindred & relations, who daily frequent the table. For behold they sing, & with exultation & jubile glorify God, who has adorned the most sacred heads of your vertue with incorruptible & celestial crowns; & with excessive joy they stand about the sacred reliques of your martydome, wishing for a blessing, & desiring to carry away the holy medicines of body & mind. As good disciples & faithfull ministers of our benign Lord & Saviour, bestow therefore a blessing on them all. And I also, theo weak & feeble, having received strength by your merits & intercessions, with the whole devotion of my mind, have sung a hymn of your praise & glory glory before your holy reliques. Wherefore I beseech you stand before the throne of the divine majesty for me Ephræm, a vile & miserable sinner, that by your prayers I may deserve to obtein salvation, & with you enjoy eternal felicity by the grace & benignity & mercy of our Lord & Saviour Iesus Christ, to whom with the Father & Holy Ghost be praise, honour, veirtue & glory for ever & ever. Amen.
XIII By what has been cited out of Basil, the two Gregories & Ephræm, you may understand that saint-worship was established among the Moncks & their admirers before the year in Egypt, Phœnicia, Syria & Cappadocia before the year 378, this being the year in which Basil & Ephræm died. Chrysostom was not much later; hHe preached at Antioch almost all the reign of Theodosius the great, & in his sermons are many exhortations to this sort of superstition, as you may see in the end of his Orations on S. Iulia, on St Pelagia, on the martyr Ignatius, on the Egyptian martyrs, on Fate & Providence, on the martyrs in general, on SS. Berenice & Prosdoce: on Iuventinus & Maximus, on the name of Cœmetery, &c. So in his Sermon on SS. Bernice and Prosdoce: Perhaps, saith he, you are inflamed with no small love towards these Martyrs; Therefore with this ardour let us fall down before their reliques, Let us imbrace their coffins. For the coffins of the Martyrs have great veirtue, even as the bones of the martyrs have great power. Neither let us only on the day of this festival, but also on other days apply to them, invoke them, beseich them to be our patrons: For they have great power & efficacy, not only whilst alive, but also after death, & much more after death. For now they bear the marks or brands of Christ; and when they shew these marks, they can obteain all things of the king. Seing therefore they abound with so much efficacy, & have so much friendship with him; when we by continual attendance & perpetual visitation of them, have insinuated ourselves into their familiarity, by their assistence we may obtein the mercy of God.
Constantinople was free from these superstitions till Gregory Nazianzen came thither A.C. 379; but in a few years was inflamed with it. For Ruffinusaa Ruffin. Hist. Eccl l. 2. c. 23. tells us, that when the Emperor Theodosius was setting out against the tyrant Eugenius, (which was in the year 394) he went about with the Priests & people to all the places of prayers, layd prostrate in haircloth before the shrines of the martyrs & Apostles, & pray'd for assistance by the intercession of the Saints. And Sozomenbb Sozom l. 4. c. 24. adds, that when the Emperor was marched seven miles from Constantinople against Eugenius; he went into a church wchwhich he had built from to Iohn the Baptist, & invoked the Baptist tfor his assistance. And Chyrysostom sayscc Chry. Hom. 66 ad populūum circa finem. Vide et Hom. 8, 27 in Matth. Hom. 42, 43 in Gen Hom. 1 in 1 Thess &c: He that is cloathed in purple, approaches to embrace these sepulchres; & laying aside his dignity, stands supplicating the saints to intercede for him with God. And he who goes crowned with a diadem, offers his prayers to the tentmaker & the fisher as his Protectors. And in dd Chrys. Exposit in Psal. 114 sub finem.another place: The cities run together to the9066 the sepulchres of the martyrs, & the people are inflamed with the love of them.
The practisce of sending reliques from place to place for wokrking miracles, & thereby inflaming the devotion of the nations towards the dead saints & their reliques, & setting up the religion of invoking their soulds, lasted only till the middle of the reign of the Emperor Theodosius the great; For he then prohibited it by the following Edict. Humatum corpus, nemo ad alterum locum transferat, nemo martyrem distrahat, nemo mercetur. Habeat vero in potestate, si quolibet in loco sanctorum est aliquis conditus, pro ejus veneratione, quod Martyrium vocandum sit, addant quod voluerint fabricarum. Dat. IV Kal. Mart. Constantinopoli, Honorio nob. puero & Euodio Coss. A.C. 386. After this they filled all the fields & high-ways with altars erected to Martyrs, wchwhich they pretended to discover by dreams & revelations. And this occasioned the making of the fourteenth Canon of the fifth Council of Carthage, A.C. 398. Placuit ut altaria quæ passim per agros aut vias, tanquam memoriæ martyrum constituuntur, in quibus nullum corpus aut reliquiæ martyrum conditæ probantur, ab Episcopis qui illis locis præsunt, si fieri potest evertantur. Si autem hoc propter tumultus populares non sinitur, plebes tamen admoneantur ne illa loca frequentent, ut qui recte sapiunt nulla ibi superstitione devincti teneantur. Et omnino nulla memoria martyrum probabiliter acceptetur, nisi ibi aut corpus aut aliquæ certæ reliquiæ sint, aut ibi origo alicujus habitationis vel possessionis vel passionis fidelissima origine traditur. Nam quæ per somnia, et per inanes revelationes quorumlibet hominum ubiqꝫue constituuntur altaria, omnimode reprobentur. These Altars were for invoking the Saints or Martyrs buried or pretended to be buried under them. First they filled the Churches in all places with the reliques or pretended reliques of the Martyrs for invoking them in the Churches; & then they filled the fields & high-ways with altars for invoking them every where. And this new religion was set up by the Moncks in all the Greek Empire before the end of the fourth Century expedition of the Emperor Theodosius against Eugenius, & I think before the above mentioned Edict of the Emperor A.C. 386.
The same religion of worshipping Mahuzzims quickly spread into the Western Empire also: but Daniel in this Prophescy describes only chiefly the things done among the nations comprehended in the body of his third Beast.
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Hh pm̄a 233[Part. II.Let there be at the end of the first part on a leaf by itself this title OBSERVATIONS VPON THE APOCALYPSE of St Iohn.
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Then in the next leaf.Observations upon the A Apocalypse of St Iohnrunning title observations &c.
Chap. I. Introduction, concerning the time when the Apocalypse was writ
Irenæus introduced an opinion that the Apocalypese was writ in the time of Domitian; but he also postponed the writing of some others of the sacred books, and was to place the Apocalypse after them: he might perhaps have heard from his master Polycarp that he had received this book from Iohn about the time of Domitians death; or indeed Iohn might himself at that time have made a new publication of it, from whence Irenæus might imagin it was then but newly written. Eusebius in his Chronicle and Ecclesiastical History follows Irenæus; but afterwardsaa Dem. Evang. l. 3 in his Evangelical Demonstrations, he conjoyns the D banishment of Iohn into Patmos, with the deaths of Peter and Paul: and so doesbb Parnetii Not Vid. Parnetium in notis ad Tertull. de Præscriptionibus. n. 215. & Hieron. l. 1. contra Iovinianum c. 14. Edit. Erasmi Tertullian and Pseudo-Prochorus, and the first author, whoever he was, of that very ancient fable that Iohn was put by Nero into a vessel of hot oyle, and coming out unhurt, was banished by him into Patmos. Tho this story be no more than a fiction, yet was it founded on a tradition of the first Churches, that Iohn was banishd into Patmos in the daies of Nero. Epiphanius represents the Gospel of Iohn as written in the time of Domitian and the Apocalypse even before Nero's. cc Areth. c. 18. 19.Arethas in the beginning of his Commentary quotes the opinion of Irenæus from Eusebius, but follows it not: for he afterwards affirms the Apocalypse was writ before the destruction of Ierusalem, and that former commentators had expounded the sixth seal of that destruction.With &c. pag. 1.
Chap. I The Introduction concerning the time when the Apocalypse was writ.
Irenæus has set on foot an opinion that yethe Apocalyps was writ in the reigntime/ of Domitian: but he postpones the writing of other sacred books & was to place the Apocalyps after them. Perhaps his master Polycarp might say he had it from Iohn in yethe end of Domatian's reign or Iohn might at that time put out a new edition of it & Irenæus might thence frame a notion of its being written then at that time. Eusebius in his Chronicle & Ecclesiastical History follows Irenæus: b. But afterwardsaa Dem. Evang. l. 3 in his Evangelical Demonstrations he conjoyns the banishment of Iohn into Patmos with the death of Pether & Paul: & so doesbb Vide Pamellium in notis ad Tertul. de Præscriptionibus n 215 et Hieron l. 1 cont. Iovinian c 14. Edit Erasmi Tertullian & Pseudo-prochorus & whoever he was the first authorthe first author whoever he was of that very ancient story fable that Iohn was put by Nero into a vessel of hot oyle & coming out without hurt was banished by him into Patmos. Tho this be but a fiction yet it was founded in a tradition of the first Churches that Iohn was banished into Patmos in Nero's reign Epiphanius represents the Gospel of Iohn written in Domatian's reign & the Apocalyps before Nero's. Arethas in the beginning of his Commentary mentions out of Eusebius the opinion of Irenæus but follows it not: Forcc Areth. cap. 18, 19. afterwards (he affirms that the Apocalyps was writ before the destruction of Ierusalem & that former Commentators expounded the sixt seal of that destruction. Br. With the opinion of the first Commentators agrees the tradition of yethe Churches of Syria, conserved preserved to this day in the little of the Syriac Version of yethe Apocalypsse, wchwhich title is this: The Revelation of Iesus Christ wchwhich Io wchwhich was made to Iohn the Evangelist by God in yethe Island Patmos, into wchwhich he was banished by Nero the Cæsar. The same is confirmed by a story told by EusebiusEuseb Hist. Eccl. l 3. c 23 out of Clemens Alexandrinus, & others anctient authors, concerning a youth, whom Iohn sometime after his return from Patmos committed to yethe care of a certain Bishop of a certain city. The Bishop educated, instructed, & at length baptized him, but then remitted of his care. The young man thereupon by degrees got into ill company, & began by degrees first to revell & grow vitious, & then to abuse & spoile those he met in the night; & at length grew so desperate, that his companions turning a band of High-way men, made him their Capitain &, saith Chrysostom, Chrysost. ad Theodorum lapsum. he continued their capitain for a long time. At length Iohn returning to that city, & hearing what was done, rode to the Thief; &, then the Thief out of reverence to his old Master fled, rode after him, recalled him, & restored him to yethe Church. This is a story of942 of many years, & requires that Iohn should have returned from Patmos rather after at yethe death of Nero thean after at that of Domitian; because between the death of Domitian & that of Iohn there were but two years & an half; & Iohn in his old age wasff Hieron. in Epist ad Gal. l. 3. c. 6. so infirm as to be carried to Church, dying above 90 years old., & therefore could not there × × be suppos'd then to ride after thief.
This opinion is further confirmed ✝✝ by the allusions in the Apocalypsse to the Temple & Altar, & Holy City, as then standing; & to yethe Gentiles wchwhichwowho were soon after to tread under foot the Holy City & outward Court. Tis confirmed also — by the stiyle of the Apocalyps, wchwhich is fuller of Hebraisms then his Gospel.. For thence I seem to it may be gathered that it was writ when Iohn was newly come out of Iudea, & had not yet where he had been used to the Syriac tongue; & that he did not write his Gospel till by long converse with the Asiatick Greeks belearn that purity of stile in wchwhich he wrote his Gospel used himself to that purer stile he had left off most of the Hebraisms.. It is confirmed also by the many false Apocalypses (those of Peter, Paul, Thomas, Stephen, Elias, Cerinthus) writ in imitation of the true one. For as the many fals Gospels, fals Acts, & fals Epistles were occasioned by true ones; & the writing many fals Apocalyses, & ascribing them to Apostles & Prophets, argues that there was a true Apostolick one in great request with yethe first Christians: so this true one might may well be suppos'd to have been written early, that there may might be room for in the Apostlic age for yethe writing of so many fals ones afterwards, & fathering them upon Peter, Paul, Thomas & others who were dead before Iohn.. Caius (who was contemporary to wthwith Pope Zepherine Tertulliang)gg Apud Euseb. Eccl Hist. l c tells us that Cerinthus wrote his Revelations as a great Apostle, & pretended the visions were shewn him by Angels, asserting a millennium of carnal pleasures at Ierusalem after death the resurrection; so that his Apocalyps was plainly writ in imitation of Iohn's: & yet he lived so early, thathh Epiphan. Hæres. 28. he resisted the Apostles at Ierusalem in or before yethe first year of Claudius,(that is, 26 years before the death of Nero) & ii Hieron. adv. Lucisdied before Iohn.
These reasons may suffice for determining yethe time; & yet there is one more, wchwhich to considering men may seem a good reason, to others not. I'lell propound it, & leave it to every man's judgment. For yethe Apocalypsse seems to be alluded unto in yethe Epistles of Peter & that to the Hebrews, & therefore to have been written before them. Such allusions I take to be in yethe Epistle to yethe Hebrews, the discourses concerning the High Priest in the heavenly tabernacle who is both Priest & King, as was Melchisedeck; & those concerning, the Word of God, wthwith the sharp two-edged sword; the σαββατισμὸς or millennial rest, the earth whose end is to be burned (suppose by the Lake of fire), the judgment & fiery indignation wchwhich shall devour yethe adversaries the heavenly City. wchwhich hath foundations whose builder & maker is God, the from the yethe cloud of witnesses, Mount Sion, heavenly Ierusalem, general assembly, spirits of just men made perfect, (vizt by the resurrection) & the shaking of of heaven & earth, & removing them, that the new heaven, new earth, & new kingdom wchwhich cannot be shaken, may remain. In the first of Peter occur these:aa Apoc. 13 1 Pet. 1.7, 13. See also 1 Pet 4.13 & 5.1 The Revelation of Iesus Christ, twice or thrice repeated;bb Apoc. 13.8. the blood of Christ as of a Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world,cc Apoc 21. the spiritual building in heaven ✝(1 Pet. 2.5) an inheritance incorruptible & undefiled & that fadeth not away reserved heaven for us who are kept unto yethe salvation ready to be revealed in yethe last time (1 Pet. 1. 4, 5.),dd Apoc. 1.6 & 5.10 the royal Priesthood, ee Apoc 20.6.the holy Priesthood, ff Apoc. 20.4, 12the judgement beginning at the house of God, & gg Apoc 17 the Church953 Church at Babylon. These are obscurer allusions; but the second Epistle, from yethe 19th verse of yethe first Chapter to the end, seems to be a continued Commentary upon the Apocalypsese. For in writing to the Churches of Asia to whom Iohn was commanded to send this Prophesy, he tells them they have a sure word of Prophecsy to be heeded as a light shining in a dark place untill they begin to understand it. For no prophecsy, saith he, is of yethe Prophets own interpretation: the Prophets of old spake not by their own will but as they were moved by the holy spirit (Daniel himself professes that he understood not his own Prophesies. Dan 8.15, 16, 27 & 12.8, 9), & therefore the Churches were not to expect yethe interpretation from their Prophet Iohn but to study yethe prophesy themselves. This is the scope of what hePeter saith in the first chapter, & then in the second he goes on to describe out of this sure word of prophesy how there should come to fals Prophets or fals teachers in the Church (collectively the fals Prophet) who should deny yethe Lord that bought them (the character of Antichrist) & aa Apoc. 13.7, 12. many shall follow their pernicious ways ×× ἀσελγείας juxta codices plures et melioris notæ. lusts (for yethe fals Prophet makes yethe earth & them that dewll therein worship yethe Beast) [for they that dwell on the earth are deceived by the fals Prophet & made drunk with the wine of the whores fornication] by reason of whom yethe way of truth shall be bb Apoc. 13.1, 5, 6.blasphemed (for the Beast is full of blasphemy) [for the Beast is full of blasphemy] & through covetousness shall they with feigned words cc Apoc. 18.12, 13.make merchandicse of Christians (for their merchandise wthwith yethe great Whore is all things of price wthwith the bodies & souls of men) [for these are merchants of the Earth who trade wthwith yethe great Whore & their merchandice is all things of price, wthwith yethe bodies & souls of men] d Apoc. 19.20.whose judgement & damnation lingereth not but shall come upon them at yethe last day suddenly as yethe flood upon yethe old world & the fire & brimstone upon Sodom & Gomorrha, & ee Apoc. 21.3, 4.yethe just shall be delivered like Lot (To inherit the new heaven & new Ierusalem) for yethe Lord knoweth how to deliver the just godly & reserve yethe unjust to yethe day of judgment to be punished (in yethe lake of fire) [in the lake of fire] but chiefly them that ff Apoc 9.21 & 17.2.walk after yethe last of the flesh in the lust of uncleanness (being made drunk wthwith yethe wine of yethe Whores fornication) [being made drunk wthwith the wine of the Whores fornication] & despise dominion & gg Apoc. 13.6blaspheme glories (for the Beast opened his mouth against God to blaspheme his name & his tabernacle & them that dwell in heaven) [for the Beast opened his mouth against God to blaspheme his name & his Tabernacle & them that dwell in heaven.] These as natural bruit Beasts [the tenhorned Beast & two horned Beast or fals Prophet or fals Prophet] made to be taken & destroyed [in the lake of fire] sp blaspheme yethe things they understand not. They take pleasure to riot in yethe day time sporting themselves wthwith their own deceivings while they hh Apoc 18. 3, 7, 9feast (fat wthwith yethe Church Christians, having eyes full of an ✝✝ μοιχαλίδος. Adulteress (for the Kingdomes of the Beast fare deliciously wthwith (the great Whore) [for the kingdomes of the Beast live deliciously wthwith the great whore] & the nations are made drunk wthwith the wine of her fornication] & following the way of ii Apoc. 2. 1.Balaam. (the fals Prophet who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before Israel.) [the fals Prophet who taught Balac to cast a stubling block before Israel] These are [not fountains964 fountains of living water) but] wells without water, &c [not such clouds of saints as Christ & the two witnesses are ascend in, but] clouds carried with a tempest &c * Thus does yethe author of this Epistle spend all the second chapter in describing the qualities of the Apocalyptic Beasts & False Prophet: & then in the third he goes on to describe their destruction more fully, & the future kingdom. He saith, that because the coming of Christ should be long deferred, they should scoff, saying, where is the promise of his coming? Then he describes the sudden coming of the day of the Lord upon them, as a thief in the night, (for that's the Apocalyptick phrase); & the millennium, or thousand years, wchwhich are wthwith God but as a day; & the passing away of yethe old heaven & earth, by a conflagration in the lake of fire; & our looking for a new heaven & new earth, wherein dwellseth righteousness.
Seing therefore Peter & Iohn were Apostles of the circumcision, it seems to me that they staid with their churches in Iudea & Syria till the Romans made war upon their nation, that is, till yethe twelfth year of Nero; that they then followed the maidn body of their flying churches into Syria Asia, & Peter went thence by Corinth to Rome; that yethe Romans Empire looked upon theirose churches as enemies, because Iews by birth; & therefore to prevent insurrections, secured their leaders, & banished Iohn into Patmos; & that soon after the writing of yethe Apocalypse, the epistle to yethe Hebrews & those of Peter were written to these Churches,. with reference to this Prophecsy as a thing they were particularly concerned in. For it appears by the epistles, that they were written in times of general affliction & tribulation under the heathens & by consequence when the Empire made war upon the Iews. For till then the Heathens were at peace wthwith yethe Christian Iews, as well as wthwith yethe rest.. The epistle to yethe Hebrews, mentioning since it mentions Timothy as related to those Hebrews, must be written to them after their flight into Asia, where Timothy was Bishop,. & by consequence after the war began, & the Hebrews in Iudea being strangers to Timothy. And Peter seems to call Rome Babylon, as well with respect to the war made upon Iudea & yethe approaching captivity like that under old Babylon, as with respect to ytthat name in the Apocalypse: & in writing to yethe strangers scattered through'out Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia & Bithynia, he seems to intimate that they were the strangers newly scattered by the Roman wars; for those were the only strangers there belonging to his care.
✝✝ And this account of things agrees best with history duly rectified. For aa Iustin Apol. ad Antonia. Prium.Iustin & bb Iren Hæres. l. 1. c. 20. Vide etiam Apol. c. 13.Irenæus say, that Simon Magus came to Rome in the reign of Claudius, & exercised juggling tricks there. Pseudo-clemens adds, that he endeavoured there to fly, & but broke his neck by thro' yethe prayers of Peter. Whence cc Euseb ChronEusebius, or rather his interpolator Ierom, has recorded, that Peter came to Rome in the second year of Claudius. But dd Cyril Statin Cathech. 6 Philastr. de hæres. cap. 30. Sulp. hist. l. 2. Prosper de promiss dimid. temp. cap.13. Maximus serm. 5. in natal. Apost. Hegesip. l. 2. c. 2.Cyril Bishop of Ierusalem, Philastrius, Sulpitius, Prosper, Maximus Taurinensis, & Hegesippus junior, place this victory of Peter in the reign of Nero. For Indeed tThe former ancienter tradition was, that Peter came to Rome in the reign of this Emperor, as you may see in eeLactantius. ff Chrysost Hom. 70 in Matt. c. 22. Chrysostom tells us, that the Apostles continued long in Iudæa, & then being driven out by the Iews went to yethe Gentiles. This dispersion was in yethe first year of yethe Iewish war, when yethe Iews, as ttIosephus tells us, began to be tumultuous & violent in all places. For all agree that yethe Apostles were disposed into several regions at once; & Origen has set down the time,gg Origen apud Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 2. c. 25. telling us that in yethe beginning of yethe Iudaic war, the And this account of things agrees best with history. For aa Chrys. Hom. 70 c. 22 in Mat. c. 22. Origen Chrisostom tells us ytthat yethe Apostles staid long in Iudea & were forced thence. Tis agreed that they went from thence into several regions at once, & Origen has set down the time. For bb EusApud Euseb Eccl Hist l. 2. c. 25. he tells us that in the beginning of the Iudaic war the Apostles & disciples of orour Lord were scattered into all nations, Thomas into Parthia, Andrew ionto Scythia, Iohn into Asia975 Asia, & Peter first into Asia where he preacht to yethe dispersion, & thence into Italy; & Caius ll Dionys apud Euseb. Hist. l 2. c 25.Dionysius Corinthius saith, that Peter went from Asia by Corinth to Rome;: & Nay, & all antiquity agree that Peter & Paul were martyred at Rome in yethe end of Nero's reign. Mark went with Timothy to Rome, (2 Tim. 4.11 & Colos. 4.10) & Sylvanus was Paul's assistant; & by these companions of Peter mentioned in his 1st Epistle, you may know that he wrote from Rome; & therefore all antiquity generally agrees, that in this Epistle he understood Rome by Babylon. His second epistle was writ to yethe same dispersed strangers wthwith yethe first (2 Pet. 3.1) & therein he saith, that Paul had writ of the same things to them, & also in his other Epistles, (v. 15, 16) Now as there is no epistle of Paul to these strangers besides that to yethe Hebrews, so in this epistle (chap. 10, 11, 12) you will find at large all those things wchwhich Peter had been speaking of & refers to, & particularly the passing away of yethe old heaven & earth, & establishing an inheritance immoveable, with an exhortation to grace, because God (to yethe wicked) is a consuming fire. Heb. 12.25, 26, 28, 29.
Having determined the time of writing the Apocalypse, I need not say much about the truth of it, It was in was since it was in such request wthwith yethe first ages, ytthat yethe Apostles themselves studied many endeavoured to imitate it, by feigning Apocalypses under yethe Apostles names; & the Apostles themselves as I have newly just nowq shewed) studied it, & used its phrases, by wchwhich means the stiyle of the Epistle to yethe Hebrews became more mystical thean that of those Paul's other epistles, & the stiyle of Iohn's Gospel much more figurative & majestical thean ytthat of yethe other Gospels. I do not find that Christ was called the word of God in any book of yethe new Testament written before yethe Apocalypsse; & therefore am of opinion, the language was taken from this Prophecsy, as were also many other phrases in this Gospel, such as were those of Christ's being the light wchwhich enlightens the world, the lamb of God wchwhich taketh away the sins of yethe world, the Bridegroom, he that testifieth, he that came down from heaven, the Son of God, &c. Iustin Martyr, assert who within 30 years after Iohn's death became a Christian, asserts the Apocalyps expressly to Iohn w one of writes expresly that a certain man among yethe Christians whose name was Iohn, of yethe 12 Apostles of Christ, in yethe Revelation wchwhich was shewed him, prophesied that those who beleived in Christ should live a thousand years at Ierusalem. And a few lines before he saith: But I, & as many as are Christians in all things right in their opinions, beleive both that there shall be a resurrection of the flesh, & a thousand years at Ierusalem built & adorned & enlarged. Which is as much at to say, that all true Christians in that early age received this Apocalyps. For all the millenaries Prophecsy: For in all ages, as many as beleived the thousand years, received the Apocalypsse as the foundation of their opinion. I do not know an instance to yethe contrary. And Iustin who Papias Bishop of Hierapolis986 Hierapolis, a man of the Apostolic age, & on̄eone of Iohn's own disciples, did not only assert teach the doctrine of the Millenn thousand years, but also aa Arethas in Proæm. Apoc comment in Apoc.asserted yethe Apocalypsse as written by divine inspiration. Melito, who flourished next after Iustin, bb Euseb. Hist. l 4. cap. 26. Hieronwrote a particular commentary upon this prophesy; & he, being bishop of Sardis one of the seven churches, could neither be ignorant of their tradition about it, not impose upon them. Irenæus, who was contemporary to with Melito, wrote much upon it, & said, that yethe number 666 was in all the anctient & approved copies; & that he had it also confirmed of to him by those of that who had seen Iohn face to face, meaning no doubt his master Polycarp for one. At the same time cc Euseb. Hist l 4 c. 24.Theophilus bishop of Antioch asserted it, & so did Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus, & Origen soon after; & a while after their contemporary Hippolytus the martyr, bishop of metropolitan of the Arabians, dd Hieron.wrote a commentary upon it & so did Victorinus Pictabionensis. All these were anctient men, flourishing within an hundred & twenty years after Iohn's death, & men of greatest note in yethe Churches of those times. & sSoon after did Victo[rinusKk pma 249 Pictabviensis write another commentary upon it; He lived in the reign of Dioclesian. And this may suffice to shew how much this book was received & studied in the first ages: For nay, I do not find any other book of yethe new Testament so strongly attested; nor commented upon so early as this. The Prophesy said: Blessed is he ytthat readeth, & they that hear yethe words of this Prophesy, & keep the things wchwhich are written therein., & tThis animated the first Christians to study it above yethe other scriptures so much h, till the difficulty made them remit, & comment more upon yethe other books of yethe new testament. And this was the state of the Apocalypsse, till the opinion thousand years being misunderstood, brought a prejudice against this book: & Dionysius of Alexandria, by noting how it abounded wthwith barbarisms, that is wthwith hebraisms, promoted the prejudice so, as to cause many Greeks in the fourth Century to doubt of it. But whilst yethe Latines, & a great part of yethe Greeks, always retained the book, & the rest doubted only out of prejudice, it makes nothing against its authority.
This Prophescy is called the Revelation, with respect to the Scripture of truth, wchwhich DanielDan. 10.21. & 12.4, 9. was commanded to shut up & seal, till the time of the end. Daniel sealed it untill yethe time of yethe end; & when untill ytthat time comes, the Lamb is opensing yethe last seals: Then d & Aafterwards the two witnesses prophesy out of it a long time in sackcloth of, before they ascend up to heaven in a cloud. All wchwhich997 wchwhich is as much as to say, that these prophescies of Daniel & Iohn should not be understood till the time of the end: but then some should prophesy out of tithem in an afflicted & mournfull state for a long time, & that but darkly, so as to convert but few. But in yethe very end, the prophesy should be so far interpreted as to convince many. Then, saith Daniel, many shall run to & fro, & knowledge shall be increased. For the Gospel must be preached in all nations before the great tribulation, & end of the world. comes. The palm-bearing multitude, wchwhich come out of this great tribulation, cannot be innumberable out of all nations, unless they be made so by the preaching of the Gospel before it comes. There must be a stone cut out of a mountain wthoutwithout hands, before it can fall upon yethe toes of yethe Image, & becomes a great mountain & fill the earth. And Angel must fly through' yethe midst of heaven wthwith yethe everlasting Gospel to preach to all nations, before Babylon falls, & yethe son of man reaps his harvest. The two Prophets must ascend up to heaven in a cloud, before the kingdoms of this world become yethe kingdoms of Christ. 'Tis therefore a part of the Prophesy, that it is not to be understood before the last age of the world; & therefore it makes for yethe credit of the Prophesy, that it is not yet understood. But if the last age, the age of opening these things, be now approaching, (as by the great successes of late Interpreters it seems to be,:) we have more encouragement than ever to look into these things. If the general preaching of the Gospel be approaching, it is to us & orour posterity that those words mainly belong: Dan. 12.4, 10.Blessed is he that readeth & they that hear the words of this Prophesy. Apoc. 1.3.In the time of the end the wise shall understand, but none of the wicked shall understand. Blessed is he that readeth, & they that. keep th hear the swords of this Prophesy, & keep those things wchwhich are written therein.
The folly of Interpreters has been, to foretell times & things by this Prophesecy, as if God designed to make them Prophets. And bBy this rashness they have not only exposed themselves, but brought the Prophesy it self into contempt. The designe of God was much otherwise. He gave this & the Prophesies of yethe old Testament, not to gratify men's curiosities by enabling them to foreknow things, but that after they were fulfilled they might be interpreted by the event, & his own Providence (not the Interpreters) then manifested thereby to the world. TheFor yethe signal event of things will at length predicted many ages before, will then be a convincing argument that yethe world is governed by providence. For as the few & obscure prophesies concerning Christ's first coming were for setting up the Christian religion, wchwhich all nations have since corrupted1008 corrupted; so the many & clear prophesies concerning the things to be done at Christ's second coming, are not only for predicting but also for effecting a recovery & reestablishment of the long-lost truth, & setting aup new a kingdome wherein dwells righteousness. The event will prove the Apocalypse; & this prophesy, thus proved & understood, will open all the old Prophets, & all together will make known the true religion, & establish it. For he ytthat will understand the old Prophets, must begin with this. But the time is not come for understanding them perfectly, because the main revolution predicted in them is not yet come to pass. In the voice of the seventh Angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets: & then the Kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of orour Lord & his Christ, & he shall reign for ever Apoc 10 & 112. There is already so much of the Prophesy fulfilled, mthat as many as will take pains may in this study, may see sufficient instances of God's providence: but then the signal revolutions predicted by all yethe holy Prophets, will at once both turn mens eyes upon considering the predictions, & plainly interpret them. Till then we must content orour selves with interpreting what hath been already fulfilled.
Amongst the Interpreters of the last age there is scarce one of note who hath not made some discovery of worth knowing; & thence I seem to it seems to me one mayq gather that God is about opening these mysteries. The success of others put me upon considering it; & if I have done any thing wchwhich may be usefull to following writers, I have any designe.
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Old Copy –Chapt. first of the second part.Sect. IX. Chap. II – Of the relation which the Prophesy of Iohn hath to the Book of the Law of Moses, and to the worship of God in the Temple.
The Festivals of the Iews prescribed by the Book of the Law were shadows of things to come, & that of the seventh month is much alluded unto in the Apocalyps.
On the first day of that month the High Priest dressed the Lamps in the morning. And this is alluded unto in the first Vision where the Son of man in the habit of the High Priest appears (or over against) the midst of the seven candlesticks with seven starrs in his right hand, wchwhich are the seven lamps appearing like a rod of seven starrs as it were in his right hand while he dresses them. And this dressing is performed by sending seven Epistles to the Angels of the seven Churches represented by the Seven Candlesticks. ✝✝ or Angels of the seven Churches. These Epistles contein admonitions against the approaching Apostacy, & therefore relate to the times when the Apostacy began to work strongly & before it prevailed. It began to work in the Apostle days, & was to continue working till the man of sin should be revealed,. It began to work in the disciples of Simon, Menander, Carpocrates, Cerinthus & such sorts of men as had imbided the Metaphysical philosophy of the Gentiles & Cabalistical Iews & were thence called Gnosticks. Iohn calls them Antichrists saying that in his days there were many Antichrists. But these men being condemned by the ApstlesApostles & their immediate disciples, put the Churches in no danger during the opening of the first four Seals. And therefore tThe visions at the opening of these Seales relate only to the civil affairs of the heathen Roman Empire. So long the Apostolic traditions prevailed & preserved the Church in its purity. And therefore the affairs of the Church do not begin to be considered in this Prophesy before the opening of the fift Seal. She began then to decline & to want admonitions, & therefore is admonished by these Epistles till the Apostacy prevailed & took place wchwhich was at the opening of the seventh seal. So then the admonitions in these seven Epistles relate to the state of the Church in the times of the fift and sixt seals. At the opening of the sfixft Seal ll pma 257[the Church is purged from hypocrites by a great persecution. At the opening of the sixt, stheat which letted is taken out of the way, namely the heathen Roman Empire. At the opening of the seventh, the Man of Sin is revealed. And to these times the seven Epistles relate.
The seven Angels, to whom these Epistles were written, answer to the seven Amarcelim, who were Priests & chief Officers of the Temple, & had joyintly the keys of the gates of the Temple, & also those of the Treasuries, in& the direction, appointment & oversight of all things in the Temple.
After the Lamps were dressed, Iohn saw the door of the Temple opened; & by the voice as it were of a Trumpet, was called up to the eastern gate of the great Court, to see the visions: & behold a throne was set, vizt the Mercy-seat upon the Ark of the Testament, wchwhich the Iews respected as the throne of God between the Cherubims, Exod. 25.2. Psal 99.1. And he that sat on it was to look upon like Iasper & Sardine stone, that is, of an olive colour, the people of Iudea being of that colour. And (the Sun being then in the east) a rainbow was about the throne, the embleme10268 embleme of glory. And round about the throne were four & twenty seats; the chambers of the four & twenty Princes of the Priests, twelve on the south side, & twelve on the north side of the Priest's Court. And upon the seats were four & twenty Elders sitting, cloathed in white rayment, with crowns on their heads: the Princes of the four & twenty courses of the Priests cloathed in linnen. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings & thunderings, and voices, viz the flashes of the fire ofrepresenting upon the Altar at the morning-sacrifice, & the song of the Levites at the eastern gate of the Priest's Court, Aappearing to Iohn like lightnings & thunderings proceeding from the throne. And there were seven lamps of fire burning [in the Temple] before the throne, wchwhich are the seven spirits of God, represented in the beginning of this Prophesy by seven starrs. And before the throne was a sea of glass clarclear as crystall: the brazen sea between the Porch of the Temple & the Altar, filled with water clear as crystall. And in the the midst of the Throne, & round about the Throne, were four Beasts, full of eyes before & behind: that is, one Beast before the throne & one behind it, appearing to Iohn as in the midst of the throne, one in either side in the circle about it, to represent by the multitude of their eyes the people standing in the four sides of the peoples court. And the first Beast was like a Lion, & the second was like a calf, & the third had the face of a man, & the fourth was like a flying eagle. The people of Israel in the Wilderness encamped round about the Tabernacle, & on the east side were three tribes under the standard of Iudah, on the west were three tribes under the standard of Ephraim, on the south were three Tribes under the standard of Reuben, & on the north were three tribes under the standard of Dan. Num. 2. And the standard of Iudah was a Lion, that of Ephraim an Ox, that of Reuben a man, & that of Dan an Eagle, as the Iews affirm. Whence were framed the hieroglyphicks of Cherubims & Seraphims, to represent the people of Israel. A Cherubim had one body wiith four faces, the faces of a Lion, Ox, Man & Eagle, looking to the four winds of heaven, without turning about, as in Ezekiels Vision, ch. 1. And four Seraphims had the same four faces with four bodies, one face to every body. The four Beasts are therefore four Seraphims standing in the four sides of the peoples court, the first in the eastern side with the head of an Ox a Lion, the second in the western side with the head of an Ox, the third in the southern side with the head of a Man, the fourth in the northern side with the head of an Eagle: & all four signify all the twelve tribes of Israel, out of whom the hundred forty & four thousand were sealed, Apoc VII.4. And the four Beasts had each of them six wings, two to a Tribe, in all twenty & four wings, answering to the twenty & four stations of the people. And they were full of eyes within, or under their wings. And they rest not day & night (or at the morning & evening sacrifices) saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was, & is, & is to come. These animals are therefore the Seraphims, which appeared to Isaiah in a Vision like this of the Apocalyps, chap. VI. For there also the Lord sat upon a throne in the Temple; & the Seraphims each with six wings cried, Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts. And when those Animals give glory & honour & thanks to him that sitteth upon the throne, who liveth for ever & ever, the four & twenty Elders [go into the Temple, & there] fall down before him that sitteth on the throne, & worship him that liveth for ever & ever, & cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, o Lord, to receive10369 to receive glory & honour & power: for thou hast created all things, & for thy pleasure they are & were created. At the morning & evening-sacrifices, so soon as the sacrifice was laid upon the Altar, & the drink-offerings began to be poured out, the trumpets sounded, & the Levites sang by course three times; and every time when the trumpets sounded, the people fell down & worshipped. Three times therefore did the people worship; to express which number, the Beasts cry Holy, holy, holy. And the song being ended, the people prayed standing, till the solemnity was ended. And iIn the mean time the Priests went into the Temple, & there fell down before him that sat upon the throne & worshipped.
And Iohn saw, in the right hand of him that sat upon the throne, a book written within & on the backside: ✝✝ sealed with seven seals, in tthethe book which Daniel was commanded to seal up, and which is here represented by the prophetic book of the lLaw laid up on the right side of the Ark, which by the Festival as it were in the right hand of him that sat on the Throne,: For the Festivals and ceremonys of the Law prescribed to the people in this book, adumbrated those things which were predicted in the book of Daniel; and the writing within within and on the backside of this book, relate to the synchronal prophecies,. And none was found worthy to open the book but &c. (1)(1) Apoc. v. Vid other copy vizt the prophetic book of the Law laid up in the right side of the Ark, which by the festival of the seventh month predicted these things. The writing within was seen at the opening of the seals & on the backside relate to the synchronal prophesies: And the Book was sealed with seven seales, wchwhich none was worthy to open but the Lamb of God. And lo, in the midst of the throne & of the four Beasts, & in the midst of the Elders, that is, at the foot of the Altar, stood a Lamb as it had been slain [the morning-sacrifice] having seven horns [which are the seven Churches] & seven eyes, wchwhich are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And the Lamb came, & took the book out of the hand of him that sat upon the throne: And when he had taken the book, the four Beasts & four & twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them Harps, & Vials full of odours, wchwhich are the prayers of the saints. And they sig sing sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the Book, & open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, & hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, & tongue, & people, & nation; & hast made us unto our God kings & priests, & we shall reign on the earth. The Beasts & Elders therefore represent the primitive Christians of all nations, & the worship of these Christians in their churches is here represented under the form of worshipping God & the Lamb in the Temple: God for his benefaction of creating all things, & the Lamb for his benefaction of redeeming us with his blood: God as sitting upon the throne & living for ever, & the Lamb & the Lamb as exalted above all by the merits of his death. And I heard, saith Iohn, the voice of many Angels round about the throne, & the Beasts & the Elders,: & the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, & wisdom, & riches, & strength, & honour, & glory, & blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, & on the earth, & under the earth, & such as are in the sea, & all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, & glory, & power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, & unto the Lamb for ever & ever. And the four Beasts said, Amen. And the four & twenty Elders fell down & worshipped him that liveth for ever & ever. This was the worship of the primitive Christians.
It was the custome for the High Priest, seven days before the Fast of the seventh month, to continue constantly in the Temple & study the book of the Law, that he might be perfect in it against the day of Expiation, wherein the service, wchwhich was various, & intricate, was wholly to be performed by himself; part of which service was reading the Law to the people. And to promote10470 promote his studying it, there were certain Priests appointed by the Sanhedrim to be with him those seven days in on of his chambers in the Temple, & there to discourse with him about the Law, & read it to him, & put him in mind of reading & studying it himself. And this his opening & reading the Law those seven days, is alluded unto in the Lamb's opening the seales.q Conceive that those seven days begin in the evening before each day (for the Iews began their day in the evening,) & that the solemnity of the Fast begins in the morning of the seventh day.
The seventh Seal was therefore opened on the day of Expiation, & then there was silence in heaven for half an hour. And an Angel [the High Priest] stood at the Altar, having a golden Censer; & there was given him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints, upon the golden Altar wchwhich was before the throne. The custome was on other days, for one of the Priests to take fire from the great Altar in a silver Censer; but on this day, for the High Priest to take fire from the great Altar in a golden Censer. And when he was come down from the great Altar, he took incense from one of the Priests that who brought it to him, & went with it to the golden Altar: & while he offered the incense, the people prayed without in silence, wchwhich is the silence in heaven for half an hour. And when the High Priest had laid the incense on the Altar, he carried a Censer of it burning in his hand, into the most holy place before the Ark. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the Angels hand hand. On other days there was much incense a certain measure of incense for the golden Altar: on this day there Mm Mm pma 265[was a greater quantity for both the Altar & the most Holy, & therefore it is called much incense. After this the Angel took the Censer, & filled it with fire from the golden Altar (great) Altar, & cast it to the earth; that is, by the hands of the Priests who belong to his mystical body, he cast it to the earth without the Temple, for burning the Goat which was the Lord's lot. And at this & other concomitant sacrifices, untill the evening sacrifice was ended, there were voices, & thunderings, & lightnings, & an earthquake; that is, the voice of the High-Priest reading the Law to the people, & other voices and thundrings of the Trumpets & temple-musick at the sacrifices, & lightnings of the fire of the Altar.
X The solemnity of the day of Expiation being finished, the seven Angels sound their Trumpets at the great sacrifices of the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles; & at the same sacrifices, the seven thunders utter their voices, which are Musick of the Temple, & singing of the Levites, intermixed with the soudings of the Trumpets,: & the seven Angels pour out their Viols of wrath, wchwhich are the drink-offerings of those sacrifices.
When six of the Seals were opened, Iohn said: Apoc. vii.And after these things [that is, after the visions of the sixth Seal] I saw four Angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another Angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four Angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth & the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. This sealing alludes to a tradition of the Iews, that upon the day of Expiation all the people of Israel are sealed up in the books of life & death. For the Iews in their Talmud tell us, Buxtorf in Synagoga Iudaica c 18, 21.that in the beginning of every new year, or first day of the month Tirsri, (the seventh month10571 month of the sacred year) three books mowere opened in judgment; the book of life, in wchwhich the names of those are written who are perfectly just; the book of death, in wchwhich the names of those are written who are Atheists or very wicked; & a third book, of those whose judgment is suspended till the day of f Expiation, & whose names are not written in the book of life or death before that day. The first ten days of this month they call the penitential days; & all these days they fast & pray very much, & are very devout, that on the tenth day their sins may be remitted, & their names may be written in the Book of life, wchwhich day is therefore called the day of Expiation. And upon this tenth day, in returning home they from the Synagogues, they say to one another, God the creator seal you to a good year. For they conceive that the books are now sealed up, & that the sentence of God remains unchanged hence forward to the end of the year. And the same thing is signified by the two Goats, upon whose foreheads the High Priest yearly, ion the day of expiation, lays the two lots inscribed, For God & For Azazel; God's lot signifying the people who are sealed with the name of God in their foreheads; & the lot Azazel, wchwhich was sent into the wilderness, representing those who receive the mark & name of the Beast, & go into the wilderness with the great Whore.
The servants of God being therefore sealed in the day of expiation, conceive that this sealing is synchronal to the visions wchwhich appear upon opening the seventh seal; & that when the lamb had opened six of the seals & seen the visions relating to the inside of the sixth, he looked on the backside of the seventh leaf, & then saw the four angels holding the four winds of heaven, & another Angel ascending from the east with the seal of God. Conceive also, that the Angels wchwhich held the four winds were the first four of the seven Angels, wchwhichwowho upon opening the seventh seal were seen standing before God; & that upon their holding the blustering noisy winds, there was silence in heaven for half an hour; & that while the servants of God were sealing, the Angel with the golden Censer offered their prayers with incense upon the golden Altar, & read the Law: & that so soon as they were sealed, the winds hurt the Earth at the sounding of the first Trumpet, & the sea at the sounding of the second; these winds signifying the warrs, to which the first four Trumpets sounded. For as the first four Seals are distinguished from the three last by the appearance of four horsmen towards the four winds of heaven; so the warrs of the first four Trumpets are distinguished from those of the three last, by representing these by four winds, & the others by three great Woes.
In one of Ezekiel's Visions, when the Babylonians captivity was at hand, six men appeared with slaughter weapons; & a seventh, who appeared among them cloathed in white linnen & a writer's inkhorn by his side, is commanded to go through' the midst of Ierusalem, & set a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh & cry for all the abominations done in the midst thereof,: & then the six men (like the Angels of the first six Trumpets) are commanded to slay those men who are not marked. Conceive therefore that the hundred & forty & four thousand are sealed, to preserve them from the plagues of the first six Trumpets, & that at length by the preaching of the everlasting gospel to all nations10672. nations they grow into a great multitude, & at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet come out of the great tribulation wthwith Palms in their hands: the kingdoms of this world, by the war to which that Trumpet sounds, becoming the kingdoms of God & Christ. For the solemnity of the great Hosannah was kept by the Iews upon the seventh or last day of the Feast of Tabernacles; & the Iews upon that day carrying Palms in their hands, & crying Hosannah.
After six of the Angels (answering to the six men with slaughter-weapons) had sounded their Trumpets, the Lamb in the form of a mighty Angel came down from heaven cloathed with a cloud, & a rainbow upon his head, & his face was as it were the sun, & his feet as pillars of fire [the shape in wchwhich Christ appeared in the beginning of this Prophesy,] & he had in his hand a little book open; [the book wchwhich he had newly opened; For he received but one book from him that sitteth upon the throne, & he alone was worthy to open & look on this Book.] And he set his le right foot on the sea & his left foot on the earth, & cryied with a loud voice, as when a liyon roareth. It was the customee for the High Priest on the day of expiation, to stand in an elevated place in the peoples court, at the eastern gate of the Priests court, & read the Law to the people, while the Heifer & the Goat wchwhich was the Lord's lot, were burning without the Temple. Conceive We may suppose him standing in such a manner, that his right foot might appear to Iohn as it were standing on the Sea of glass, & his left foot on the ground of the House; & that he cried with a loud voice, in reading the Law on̄on the day of Expiation. And when he cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. Thunders are the voice of a cloud, & a cloud signifies a multitude; & this multitude may be the Levites who sang with thundering voices, & played with musical instruments at the great sacrifices, on the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles: at wchwhich times the Trumpets also sounded. For the Trumpets sounded, & the Levites sang alternately, three times at every sacrifice. And therefore the Prophescy of the seven Thunders is nothing else then a repetition of the Prophescy of the seven Trumpets in another form. And the Angel which I saw stand upon the sea & upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, & sware by him that liveth for ever & ever, that [after the seven thunders] there shaoulld be time no longer; but in the days of the voice of the seventh Angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets. The voices of the Thunders therefore last to the end of this world, & so do those of the Trumpets.
And the voice wchwhich I heard from heaven, isaith Iohn, spake to me again & said, Go & take the little Book, &c. And I took the little Book out of the Angel's hand, & ate it up; & it was in my mouth sweet as honey, & as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, & nations, & tongues, & kings. This is an Introduction to a new prophescy, to a repetition of the Prophescy of the whole book, & alludes to Ezekiel's eating a roll or book spread open before him, & written within & without, & full of lamentations & mourning & wo, but sweet in his mouth. Eating & drinking signify acquiring & possessing; & eating the book is becoming inspired with the prophescy contained in it. It implies being inspired in a vigorous & extraordinary manner with the prophescy of the whole book, & therefore signifies a lively repetition of the whole prophesy by way of interpretation, & begins not till the first Prophesy, that of the Seals & Trumpets, is ended. It was sweet in Iohn's mouth, & therefore begins not with the bitter prophesy of the Babylonian captivity, & the Gentiles being in the outward court of the Temple, & treading the holy city under foot, & the prophesying of the10773 of the two Witnesses in sackcloth, & their smiting the earth with all plagues, & being killed by the Beast: but so soon as the prophesy of the Trumpets is ended, it begins with the sweet prophesy of the glorious woman in heaven, & the victory of Michael over the Dragon; & after that, it is bitter in Iohn's belly, by a large description of the times of the great Apostasy.
And the Angel stood [upon the Earth & Sea] saying, Rise and measure the Temple of God & the Altar, & them that worship therein, that is, their Courts with the buildings thereon, vizt the square court of the Temple called the Separate place, & the square court of the Altar called the Priests Court, & the Court of them that worship therein the Temple called the new Court: but the [great] Court which is without the Temple, leave out & measure it not, for it is given to the Gentiles, & the Holy City shall they tread under foot forty & two months. This measuring hath reference to Ezekiel's measuring the Temple of Solomon: There the whole Temple (including the outward Court) Nn pma 273[iswas measured, to signify that it should be rebuilt in the latter days. Here the Courts of the Temple & Altar, & them that who worship therein, are only measured, to signify the building of a second Temple, for those that are sealed out of all the twelve tribes of Israel, & worship in the inward Court of sincerity & truth,: & Iohn is commanded to leave out the outward Court, or outward form of religion & Church-Government, because it is given to the Babylonian Gentiles. For the glorious Woman in heaven, the remnant of whose seed kept the commandments of God, & had the testimony of Iesus, continued the same woman in outward form after her flight into the wilderness, whereby she quitted her former sincerity & piety, & became the great Whore. She lost her chastity, but kept her outward form & shape. And while the Gentiles tread the holy city under foot, & worship in the outward Court, the two Witnesses (represented perhaps by the two feet of the Angel standing on the sea of & earth) prophesied against them, and had power, like Elijah & Moses, to consume their enemies with fire proceeding out of their mouth, & to stop heaven that is rain not in the days of their prophesy, & to turn the waters into blood, & to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will, that is, with the plagues of the seven Trumpets & Vials of wrath; & at length they are slain, rise again from the dead, & ascend up to heaven in a cloud, & then the seventh Trumpet sounds to the day of judgment.
The Prophesy being finished, Iohn is inspired anew by the eaten book, & begins the Interpretation thereof with the words, And the Temple of God was opened in heaven, & there was seen in his Temple the Ark of the testament. By the Ark, you may know that this was the first Temple; for the second Temple had no Ark. And there were lightnings, & voices, & thundrings, & an earthquake, & great hail. These answer to the warrs in the Roman Empire, during the reign of the four horsemen who appeared upon opening the first four Seals. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, A Woman cloathed with the Sun. In the Prophescy, the affairs of the Church begin to be considered at the opening of the fifth Seal; & in the Interpretation, they begin at the same time with the Vision of the Church in the form of a Woman in heaven. There she is persecuted, & here she is pained in travail. The Interpretation proceeds down first to the sealing of the servants of God, & marking the rest with the mark of the Beast; & then to the day of judgment, represented by a harvest & vintage. Then it returns back to the times of opening the seventh seal, & interprets the prophesy of the seven Trumpets by the10874 the pouring out of seven Vials of wrath. And tThe Angels whicho pour them out, come out of the Temple of the Tabernacle; that is, out of the second Temple, for the Tabernacle had no outward Court. Then it returns back again to the times of measuring the Temple & altar, & of the gentiles worshipping in the outward Court, & of the Beast killing the Witnesses in the streets of the great city; & interprets these things by the Vision of a Woman sitting on the Beast, drunken with the blood of Saints; & proceeds in the Interpretation downwards to the fall of the great city & the day of judgment.
The whole prophesy of the Book, ×× represented by yethe book of the Law, is therefore repeated, & interpreted in the Visions which follow those of sounding the seventh Trumpet, & begin with that of the Temple of God opened in heaven. Only the things which the seven Thunders uttered, were not written down, & therefore not interpreted.
10975
Sect. X. Ch. 3. Of the relation which the Prophesy of Iohn hath to those of Daniel; & the Subject of the Prophesy.
The whole scene of sacred Prophesy is composed of three principal parts,: the regions beyond Euphrates, represented by the two first Beasts of Daniel; the Empire of the Greeks on this side of Euphrates, represented by the Leopard & by the He-Goat; & the Empire of the Latines on this side of Greece, represented by the Beast with ten horns. And to these three parts, the phrases of the third part of the earth, sea, rivers, trees, ships, stars, sun, & moon, relate. I place the body of the fourth Beast on this side of Greece, because the three first of the four Beasts had their lives prolonged after their dominion was taken away, & therefore belong not to the body of the fourth. He only stamped them with his feet.
By the Earth, the Iews understood the great continent of all Asia & Africa, to which they had access by land,: & by the Isles of the sea, they understood the places to which toheyey sailed by sea, & particularly all Europe. And hence in this Prophesy, the earth & sea are put for the nations of the Greek & Latin Empires.
The third & fourth Beasts of Daniel are the same with the Dragon & ten-horned Beast of Iohn, but with this difference: Iohn puts the Dragon for the whole Roman Empire while it continued entire, because it was entire when that Prophesy was given; & the Beast he considers not till the Empire became divided: & then he puts the Dragon for the Empire of the Greeks, & the Beast for the Empire of the Latines. And hHence it is that the Dragon & Beast have common heads & common horns: But the Dragon hath crowns only upon his heads, & the Beast only upon his horns; because the Beast & his horns reigned not before they were divided from the Dragon,: & when the Dragon gave the Beast his throne, the ten horns received power as kings, the same hour with the Beast. The heads are seven successive kings. Four of them were the four horsmen which appeared at the opening of the first four seals. In the latter end of the sixt head, or seal, considered as present in the visions, it is said, Five of the seven kings are fallen, & one is, & another is not yet come; & the Beast that was & is not, (being wounded to death with a sword) he is the eighth, & of the seven. He was therefore a collateral part of the seventh. The horns are the same with those of Daniel's fourth Beast, described above.
The four horsmen which appear at the opening of the first four Seals, have been well explained by Mr Mead; excepting that I had rather continue the third to the end of the reign of the three Gordians & Philip the Arabian,× those11076 those being kings from the south, & begin the fourth with the reign of Decius, & continue it till the reign of Dioclesian. For the fourth horsman sat upon a pale horse, & his name was Death; & Hell followed with him; & power was given them to kill unto the fourth part of the earth, with the sword, & with famine, & with the plague, & with the Beasts of the earth, or armies of invaders & rebells: & such were the times during all this interval. Hitherto the Roman Empire continued in an undivided monarchical form, except rebellions; & such it is represented by the four horsmaen. But Dioclesian divided it between himself & Maximianus, A.C. 285; & it continued in that divided state, till the victory of Constantine the great over Licinius, A.C. 323, which put an end to the heathen persecutions set on foot by Dioclesian & Maximianus, & described at the opening of the fift seal. But this division of the Empire was imperfect, the whole being still under one & the same Senate. The same victory of Li Constantine over Licinius a heathen persecutor, began the fall of the heathen empire, described at the opening of the sixt seal. And the visions of this seal continue till after the reign of Iulian the Apostate, he being a heathen emperor, & reigning over the whole Roman Empire.
V The affairs of the Church begin to be considered at the opening of the fift Seale, as was said above. And tThen she is represented by a Woman in the Temple of heaven, clothed with the Sun of righteousness, & the Moon of Iewish ceremonies under her feet, & upon her head a crown of twelve stars relating to the twelve Apostels & tp the twelve tribes of Israel. When she fled from the Temple into the wilderness, she left in the Temple a remnant of her seed, who kept the commandments of God, & had the testimony of Iesus; & therefore before her flight she represented the true primitive Church of God, though afterwards she degenerated like Aholah & Aholibah. In Dioclesian's persecution she cried, travelling in birth, & pained to be delivered. And in the end of that persecution, by the victory of Constantine over Maxentius A.C. 312, she brought forth a Man-child, such a child as was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, a Christian Empire. And her child, by the victory of Constantine over Licinius, A.C. 323, was caught up to God & to his throne. And the Woman, by the division of the Roman Empire into the Greek & Latine empires, fled from the first temple into the wilderness, or spiritually barren empire of the Latines, where she is found afterwards sitting upon the Beast & upon the seven mountains; & is called the great city wchwhich reigneth over the kings of the earth, that is, over the ten kings which give their kingdome to her Beast.
But before her flight there was war in heaven between Michael & the Dragon, (the Christian & heathen religions,); & the Dragon, that old Serpent, called the devil & Satan, who deceiveth the whole world, was cast out to the earth, & his Angels were cast out with him. And Iohn heard a voice in heaven saying, nNow is come salvation & strength, & the kingdome of our God, & the power of his Christ: For the accuser of orour brethren is eastcast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, & by the word of their testimony. And they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoyce ye heavens, & ye that dwell in them. Wo be to the inhabiters of the earth & sea (or people of the Greek & Latine Empires,) for the11177 for the Devil is come down amongst you, Oo pma 281[having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
And when the Dragon saw that he was cast down from the Roman throne, & the Man-child caught up thither, he persecuted the Woman which brought forth the Man-child, & to her (by the division of the Roman Empire between the cities of Rome & Constantinople A.C. 330,) were given two wings of a great Eagle (the symbol of the Roman Empire) that she might fly [from the Tem first Temple] into the wilderness of Arabia, to her place at Babylon mystically so called. And the Serpent (by the division of the same Empire between the sons of Constantine the great, A.C. 337,) cast out of his mouth waters as a flood (the western Empire) after the Woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the [Outflood. And the earth (or Greek Empire) opened her mouth helped the Woman, & opened her mouth, & swallowed up the] flood (by the victory of Constantius over Magnentius, A.C. 353) & thus the Beast was wounded to death with a sword. And the Dragon was wroth with the Woman, (in the reign of Iulian the aApostate A.C. 361) and (by a new division of the Empire between Valentinian & Valens, A.C. 364) went from her [into the eastern Empire] to make war with the remnant of her seed, which she left behind her when she fled. And thus the Beast revived. And by the next division of the Empire, wchwhich was between Gratian and Theodosius A.C. 3679, the Beast with ten horns rose out of the sea, & the Beast with two horns out of the earth; & by the last division thereof, wchwhich was between the sons of Theodosius, A.C. 395, the Dragon gave the Beast his power and throne, & great authority. &And the ten horns received power as kings, the same hour with the Beast.
At length the Woman arrived at her place of temporal as well as spiritual dominion upon the back of the Beast, where she is nourished a time times & half a time, from the face of the serpent; not in his kingdom, but at a distance from him. She is nourished by the Merchants of the earth, three times or years & an half, or 42 months, or 1260 days: & in these prophescies days are put for years. During all this time the Beast acted, & she sat upon hism, that is, reigned over him, & over the ten kings who gave their kingdom to him; & she was drunken with the blood of the saints. And by all these circumstances she is the eleventh horn of Daniel's fourth Beast, who reigned with a look more stout then the other ten, & was of a different kind from the rest, & had eyes & a mouth like the Woman; & made war with the saints, & prevailed against them, & wore them out, & changed times & laws, & had them given into his hands untill a time times & half a time. The characters of the Woman, and little horn of the Beast, agree perfectly. In respect of her temporal dominion, she was a horn of the Beast; in respect of her spiritual dominion, she rode upon him in the form of a Woman, & was his Church, & committed fornication with the ten kings.
And the second Beast, wchwhich rose up out of the earth, was the Church of the Greek Empire: For it had two horns like those of the Lamb, & therefore was a church; & it spake as the Dragon,11278 Dragon, & therefore was of his religion; & it rose up out of the earth, & by consequence in his kingdom. It is called also the fals Prophet that wrought miracles before the first Beast, by which he deceived them that received his mark, & worshipped his image. When the Dragon went from the Woman to make war with the remnant of her seed, this Beast arising out of the earth assisted in that war, & caused the earth & them that dwell therein to worship the authority of the first Beast, whose mortal wound was healed, & to make an Image to him, that is, to assemble a body of man like him in point of religion. And he had power to give life & authority to the Image, so that it could both speak, & by dictating cause that asll many religious bodies of men, who would not worship the authority of the Image, should be mystically killed. And he causeth all men to receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead, & that no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark or the name of the Beast, or the number of his name; all the rest being excommunicated by the Beast with two horns. And his mark is ✝ ✝ ✝, & his name ΛΑΤΕΙΝΟΣ, & the number of his name 6 6 6.
Thus the Beast, after he was wounded to death with a sword & revived, was deified, as the heathens used to deify their kings after death, & had an Image erected to him; & his worshippers were initiated in this new religion, by receiving the mark or name of this new God, or the number of his name. And by killing all that will not worship him & his Image, the first Temple, is demolished illuminated by the lamps of the seven churches, is demolished, & a new Temple is built for them that who will not worship him; & the outward Court of this new Temple (or outward form of a Church,) is given to the Gentiles, who worship the Beast & his Image. And they that who will not worship him, are sealed with the name of God in their foreheads, & retire into the inward Court of this new Temple. And tThese are the 144000 sealed out of all the twelve Tribes of Israel, & called the two Witnesses, as being derived from the two wings of the Woman while she was flying into the Wilderness & represented by two of the seven churches candlesticks.. These appear to Iohn, in the inward Court of the second Temple, standing on mount Sion with the Lamb, & as it were on the sea of glass:. These are the saints of the most hHigh, & the Host of heaven, & the holy people spoken of by Daniel, as worn out & trampled under foot, & destroyed in the latter times by the little horns of his fourth Beast & He-Goat.
And while the Gentiles tread the Holy city under foot; God gives power to his two Witnesses, & they prophesy in sackcloth all the 1260 days. They are called the two Olive-trees, with relation to the two Olive trees, wchwhich in Zechary's Vision (ch. 4) stand on either side of the golden candlestick to supply the lamps with oyle,: & Olive-trees, according to the Apostle Paul, represent Churches, Rom. XI. They supply the lamps with oyile, by maintaining teachers. They are also called two Candlesticks; & Candlesticks in this Prophesy signify churches, the seven Churches of Asia being represented by seven Candlesticks. Five of these Churches were found faulty, & threatned if they did not repent; the other two were without fault, & so their Candlesticks were fit to be placed in the second Temple. These were the Churches in Smyrna & Philadelphia. They were in a state of tribulation & persecution, & the only11379 the only two of the seven in such a state: & so their candlesticks were fit to represent the Churches in affliction in the times of the second Temples, & the only two of the seven that were fit. The two Witnesses are not new churches. They are the posterity of the primitive Church, the posterity of the two wings of the Woman, & so are fitly represented by two of the primitive Candlesticks. We may Conceive therefore, that when the first Temple was destroyed, & another new one built for them that who worship in the inward Court, two of the seven Candlesticks were placed in this new Temple.
#turn over# The affairs of the Church are not considered during the opening of the first four seals. They begin to be considered at the opening of the fift Seal, as was said above; & are further considered at the opening of the sixt seale; & the seventh seal contains the times of the great apostacy. And therefore I refer the Epistles to the seven churches unto the times of the fifth & sixth Seals: For they relate to the Church when she began to decline, & contein admonitions against the great Apostacy then approaching. When Eusebius had brought down his Ecclesiastical History to the reign of Dioclesian, he thus describes the state of the Church. Qualem quantamqꝫue gloriam simul ac libertatem doctrina veræ erga supremum Deum pietatis a Christo primùm hominibus annunciata, apud omnes Græcos pariter et barbaros ante persecutionem nostrâ memoriâ excitatam, consecuta sit, nos certè pro merito explicare non possumus. Argumento esse possit Imperatorum benignitas erga nostros: quibus regendas etiam provincias committebant, omni sacrificandi metu eos liberantes ob singularem, quâ in religionem nostram affecti erant, benevolentiam. And a little after: Iam vero quis innumerabilem hominum quotidiè ad fidem Christi confugientium turbam, quis numerum ecclesiarum in singulis urbibus, quis illustres populorum concursus in ædibus sacris, cumulatè possit describere? Quo factum est, ut priscis ædificijs njam non contenti, in singulis urbibus spatiosas ab ipsis fundamentis exstruerent ecclesias. Atqꝫue hæc progressu temporis increscentia, et quotidiè in majus et melius proficiscentia, nec livor ullus atterere, nec malignitas dæmonis fascinare, nec hominum insidiæ prohibere unquam potuerunt, quamdiu omnipotentis Dei dextera populum suum, utpote tali dignum præsidio, texit atqꝫue custodijt. Sed cum ex nimia libertate in negligentiam ac desidiam prolapsi essemus; cum alter alteri invidere atqꝫue obtrectare cœpisset; cum inter nos quasi bella intestina gereremus, verbis, tanquam armis quibusdam hastisqꝫue, nos mutuò vulnerantes; cum Antistetes adversus Antistetes, populi in populos collisi, jurgia ac tumultus agitarent; deniqꝫue cum fraus et simulatio ad summum malitiæ culmen adolevisset: tum divina ultio, levi brachio ut solet, integro adhuc ecclesiæ statu, & fidelium turbis liberè convenientibus, sensim ac moderatè in nos cœpit animadvertere; orsa primùm persecutione ab ijs qui militabant. Cum verò sensu omni destituti de placando Dei numine ne cogitaremus quidem; quin potius instar impiorum quorundam res humanas nulla providentiâ gubernari rati, alia quotidiè crimina alijs adjiceremus: cum Pastores nostri, spretâ religionis regulâ, mutuis inter se contentionibus decertarent, nihil aliud quam jurgia, minas, æmulationem, odia, ac mutuas inimicitias amplificare studentes; principatum quasi tyrannidem quandam contentissimè sibi vindicantes: tunc demùm juxta dictum Hieremiæ, obscuravit Dominus in ira sua filiam Sion, et dejecit de cælo gloriam Israel, — per Ecclesiarum scilicet subversionem, &c. This was the state of the Church just before the subversion of the Churches in the beginning of Dioclesian's persecution11480 persecution. And to this state of the Church agrees the first of the first of the seven Epistles to the Angells of the seven Churches, that to the Church in Ephesus. Apoc. ii.4, &c.I have something against thee, saith Christ to the Angel of that Church, because thou hast left thy [first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, & repent, & do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, & will remove thy Candlestick out of its place Pp pma 289[except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. The Nicolaitans ☉ ☉ are the Continentes above described, who placed religion in abstinence from marriage, & abandoned their wives if they had any. These are here called Nicolaitans, from Nicolas one of the seven deacons of the primitive Church of Ierusalem; who having a beautiful wife, & being taxed with uxoriousness, abandoned her, & permitted her to marry whom she pleased, saying that we must disuse the flesh, & thenceforward lived a single life in continency, & so did his children. But the Continentes afterwards embraced the doctrine of Æons & Ghosts male & female, & were avoyided by the Churches till the fourth Century; & the Church of Ephesus is commended for hating their deeds. used weomen in common & coloured over their practises by pretending the authority of Nicolas one of the seven Deacons of the primitive Church of Ierusalem. But here in this Prophesy they are put figuratively for the disciples of Tatian & Montanus, who refined the philosophy of the Gnosticks & coloured over their spiritual fornication with a pretence of Christianity & under that pretence crept silently into the Churches.
The persecution of Dioclesian began in the year of Christ 302, & lasted ten years in the eastern Empire & two years in the western. And tTo this state of the Church the second Epistle, that to the Church of Smyrna, agrees. Apoc. ii.9, 10I know, saith Christ, thy works, & tribulation, & poverty, (but thou art rich;) & I know the blasphemy of them (the Nicolaitans) who say they are Iews & are not, but are the Synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: Behold, the Devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; & ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithfull unto death, & I will give thee a crown of life. The Tribulation of ten days can agree to no other persecution thean that of Dioclesian, it being the only persecution which lasted ten years. By the blasphemy of them that say they are Iews & are not, but are the synagogue of Satan, I understand the Idolatry of them Nicaolaitans, who falsly said they were Christians.
The Nicolaitans are complained of also in the third Epistle, as men that Ver. 14.held the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac [the king] to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to Idols, & to commit spiritual fornication.Num. XXV.1, 2, 18 & XXXI.16. For Balaam taught the Moabites & Midianites to tempt & invite Israel by their weomen to commit fornication, & to feast with them at the sacrifices of their Gods. The Dragon therefore began now to come down among the inhabitants of the earth & sea.
The Nicolaitans are also complained of in the fourth Epistles, under the name of the Woman Iezabel, whicho calleth herself a Prophetess, & teacheth & seduceth the servants of Christ to commit fornication, & to eat things sacrificed to Idols. The Woman therefore began now to fly into the wilderness.
The reign of Constantine the great from the time of his conquering Licinius, was monarchical over the whole Roman Empire. Then the Empire became divided between the sons of Constantine. And then it was united under Constantius, by his victory over Magnentius. And to the affairs of the Church in these three successive periods of time,11581. of time, the third fourth & fift Epistles, that is, those to the Angels of the Churches in Pergamus, Thyatira, & Sardis, seem to relate. And tThe next Emperor was Iulian yethe Apostate.
In the sixth Epistle, that to the Angel of the Church in Philadeplphia, Christ saith: Apoc. iii.10, 11, 12.Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, wchwhich shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. — Him that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the Temple of my God, & he shall go no more out; & I will write upon him the name of my God, &c. that is, Because in the reign of the heathen Emperor Iulian, thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which by the Woman's flying into the Wilderness, & the Dragon's making war with the remnant of her seed, & the killing of all that who will not worship the Image of the Beast, shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell on the earth, and to distinguish them by sealing the one with the name of God in their foreheads, & marking the other with the mark of the Beast. And hHim that overcometh, I will make a pillar in the Temple of my God; & he shall go no more out of it. And I will write upon him the name of my God in his forehead. So then the Christians of the Church of Philadelphia, as many of them as overcome, are sealed with the seal of God, & placed in the second Temple, & go no more out. And tThe same is to be understood of the Church in Smyrna, wchwhich also kept the word of God's patience, & was without fault. These two Churches, with their posterity, are therefore the two Pillars, & the two Candlesticks, & the two Witnesses in the second Temple.
XIX After the reign of the Emperor Iulian, & his successor Iovian who reigned but five months, the Empire became divided again between Valentinian & Valens. And tThen the Church Catholick, in the Epistle to the Angel of the Church of Laodicea, is reprehended as Apoc. iii.16, 17.lukewarm, & threatened to be spewed out of Christ's mouth. She said, that she was rich & increased in goods, & had need of nothing, (being in outward prosperity,) & knew not that she was (inwardly) wretched, & miserable, & poor, & blind, & naked. She is therefore spewed out of Christ's mouth at the opening of the seventh Seal. And this puts an end to the times of the first Temple.
About one half of the Roman Empire turned Christians in the reign of Constantine the great & his sons. After Iulian had opened the Temples, & restored the worship of the heathens, the Emperors Valenitinian & Valens tolerated it all their reign; & therefore the prophecy of the sixt Seal was not fully accomplished before the reign of their successor Gratian. It was the custome of the heathen Priests, in the beginning of the reign of every sovereign Emperor, to offer him the dignity & habit of Pontifex maximus. This dignity all Emperors had hitherto accepted of: but Gratian rejected it, threw down the Idols, interdicted the sacrifices, & took away the revenues of the sacrifices, & salaries & authority of the Priests. And the next Emperor Theodosius the great followed his example. And heathenism afterwards recovered itself no more, but decreased so fast, that Prudentius, about ten years after the death of Theodosius, called the heathens, vix pauca ingenia11682 ingenia & pars hominum rarissima. Whence the affair of the sixth seal ended with the reign of Valens, or rather with the beginning of the reign of Theodosius Gratian, when he rejected the dignity of Pontifex maximus. For the Romans were very much infested by the invasions of forreign nations in the reign of Valentinian & Valens, & Valens perished in those warrs Hoc tempore, saith Ammianus, velut per universum orbem Romanum bellicum canentibus buccinis, excitæ gentes sævissimæ limites sibi proximos pessultabant:q Gallias Rhætiasqꝫue simul Alemanni populabantur: Sarmatæ Pannonias et Quadi: Picti Saxones & Scoti & Attacotti Britannos ærumnis vexavere continuis: Austoriani, Mauricæqꝫue aliæ gentes Africam solito acriùs incursabant: Thracias diripiebant prædatorij globi Gotthorum: Persarum Rex manus Armenijs injectabat. And whilst the Emperors were busy in repulsing these enemies, the Hunns & Alans & Goths came over the Danube in two bodies, overcame & slew Valens, & made so great a slaughter of the Roman Army, that Ammianus saith: nec ulla Annalibus præter Cannensem ita ad internecionem res legitur gesta. But these warrs were fully stopt on all sides by in the beginning of the reign of Theodosius, A.C. 379 & 380. And tThenceforward the Empire remained quiedt from forreign Armies, till the death of Theodosius A.C. 395. So long the four winds were held: & so long there was silence in heaven. And the seventh Seal was opened when this silence began.
Mr Mead hath explained the Prophesy of the first six Trumpets not much amiss: If he had observed, that the Prophesy of pouring out the Vials of wrath is synchronal to that of sounding the Trumpets, his explanation would have been more complete.
The name of Woes are given to the warrs to which the three last Trumpets sound, to distinguish them from the warrs of the four first. represented by the four winds. And tThe sacrifices on the first four days of the feast of Tabernacles, at which the first four Trumpets sound, & the first four Vials of wrath are poured out, are slaughters in four great warrs; & these warrs are represented by four winds to the four corners of the earth. The first was an east wind, the second a west wind, the third a south wind, & the fourth a north wind, with respect to yethe city of Rome, the Metropolis of the old Roman Empire. These four plagues fell upon the third part of the Earth, Sea, Rivers, Sun, Moon & Stars; that is, upon the Earth, Sea, Rivers, Sun, Moon & Stars of the third part of the whole scene of these Prophesies of Daniel & Iohn.
The plague of the eastern wind at the sounding of the first Trumpet, fell was to fall upon the earth, that is, upon the nations of the Greek Empire. And aAccordingly, after the death of Theodosius the great, the Goths, Sarmatans, Hunns, Isaurians, & Austorianq Moors invaded & miserably wasted Greece, Thrace, Asia minor, Armenia, Syria, Egypt, Liybia, & Illyricum, for ten or twelve years together.
That of the western wind at the sounding of the second Trumpet, was to fall upon the Sea, or western Empire, by means of a burning mountain cast into it, & turning it to blood. Accordingly in the year 407, that Empire began to be invaded.11783 invaded by the Visigoths, Vandals, Alans, Sueves, Burgundians, Ostrogoths, Heruli, Quadi, Gepides; & by these warrs was broken into ten kingdoms, & miserably wasted,: & Rome (the burning mountain) was besieged & taken by the Ostrogoths, in the beginning of these miseries.
That of the southern wind at the sounding of the third Trumpet, was to cause Apoc. viii.10, 11.a great star, burning as it were a lamp, to fall from heaven upon the rivers & fountains of waters, [the western Empire now divided into many kingdoms] & to turn them to Wormwood & blood, & make them bitter. And aAccordingly Geiseric, the king of the Vandals & Alans in Qq pma 297[Spain, A.C. 427, invaded Africa with an army of eighty thousand men; & seating himself in Afric invaded the Moors, & made war upon the Romans there, & on the sea-coasts of Europe, fifty years together, almost without intermission, taking Hippo A.C. 431, & Carthage the capital of Africa A.C. 439. And A.C. 455, with a numerous fleet of containing three hundred thousand Vandals & Moors, he invaded Italy, took & plundered Romae, Naples, Capua, & many other cities; & carried thence the wealth of the cities, & flower of the people, into Africa. And tThe next year (A.C. 456) he rent all Africa from the Empire, expelling the Romans. Then they invaded & took the Islands of the Mediterranean, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Ebusus, Majorca, Minorca, &c Then Ricimer besieged the Emperor Anthemius in Rome, took the city, & gave his soldiers the plunder, A.C. 472. And tThe Visigoths about the same time ejected the Romans out of Spain. And now the western Emperor (the great star wchwhich fell from heaven, burning as it were a lamp) having by all these wars gradually lost almost all his dominions, was invaded, & conquered in one year by Odoacer king of the Heruli, A.C. 476. After this the Moors revolted A.C. 477, & weakened the Vandals were weakened by several warrs with the Moors And these the Vandals And at length were Belissarius invaded Afric & took Mauritania from them. These warrs continued till the Vandals were invaded & conquered by Bellisarius A.C. 534.. And by all these wars Africa was almost depopulated, as Procopius represents When the as Procopius represents who reckons that above five millions of men perished in them. When the Vandals first invaded Africa, that country was very populous, consisting of about 700 bishopricks, wchwhich wasere more thean in all France, Spain & Italy together: but by the warrs between the Vandals, Romans & Moors, it was depopulated to that degree, that after the warr with Belisarius (as Procopius tells us) it was next to a miracle for a travellouer to see a mandin the fields..
In pouring out the third Vial it is said: Apoc. xvi.5, 6.Thou art righteous o Lord because thou hast judged thus: For they have shed the blood of thy servan Saints & Prophets, & thou hast given them blood to drink;, for they are worthy. And hHow they shed the blood of Saints, may be understood by the following Edict of the Emperor Honorius, procured by four Bishops sent to him by a Council of African Bishops, who met at Carthage 14 Iune, A.C. 410.
Impp. Honor & Arcad Theod. AA. Heracliano Com. Afric.
Oraculo penitus remoto, quo ad ritus suos hæreticæ superstitionis obrepserant, sciant omnes sanctæ legis inimici plectendos se pœnâ & proscriptioneis & sanguinis, si ultra convenire per publicum, execrandâ sceleris sui temeritate temptaverint. Dat. VIII Kal. Sept. Varaneo V.C. Cons. (A.C. 410.)
And this Edict was five years after fortified by the following.
Impp. Honor & Theod. AA. Heracliano Com. Afric.
Sciant cuncti qui ad ritus suos, hæresis superstitionibus obrepserant sacrosanctæ legis inimici, plectendos se pœnâ et proscriptionis et sanguinis, si ultra convenire per publicum exercendi sceleris sui temeritate temptaverint: nequâ vera divinaqꝫue reverentia contagione temeretur. Dat. VIII Kal. Sept. Honorio X. & Theod. VI. A.A. Coss. [A.C. 415.]11884 Coss. A.C. 415.
These Edicts being directed to the governour of Africa, extended only to the Africans. Before these there were many severe ones against the Donatists, but they did not extend to blood. These two Edicts were the first that wchwhich made their meetings, & the meetings of all dissenters, capital: For by hereticks they meant in these Edicts, are meant all dissenters, as may be un is manifest by this Edict against Euresius a Luciferan Bishop.
Impp. Arcad. et Honor AA. Aureliano Proc. Africæ.
Hæreticorum vocabulo continentur, & latis adversus eos sanctionibus debent succumbere, Qui vel levi levi argumento a judicio Catholicæ religionis & tramite detecti fuerint deviare: ideoqꝫue experientia tua Euresium hæreticum esse cognoscat. Dat. III Non. Sept. Constantinop. Olybrio & Probino Coss. A.C. 395.
The Greek Emperor Zeno adopted Theoderic King of the Ostrogoths to be his son, & made him a Master of the horse & Patricius, & Consul of Constantinople; & recommending to him the Roman Senate & people & Senate, gave him the Western Empire, & sent him into Italy against Odoacer King of the Heruli. Theoderic thereupon led his nation into Italy, conquered Odoacer, & reigned over Italy, Sicily, Rhætia, Noricum, Dalmatia, Liburnia, Istria, & part of Pannonia Suavia,Sueviaq Pannonia & Gallia. Whence Ennodius, in a Panegyric to To Theoderic, said: aAd limitem suum Romana regna remeasse. Theoderic reigned with great prudence, moderation & felicity; treated the Romans with singular benevolence, goverened them by their own laws, & restored their Empire under their Senate & Consuls, he himself supplying the place of Emperor, but absteining from the title. Ita sibi parentibus præfuit, saith Procopius, ut vere Imperatori conveniens decus nullum ipsi abesset: Iustitiæ magnus ei cultus, legumqꝫue diligens custodia: Terras a vicinis barbaris servavit intactas, &c. Whence I dot not reckcon the reign of this king, amongst the plagues of the four winds.
The plague of the nothern wind, at the sounding of the fourth Trumpet, was to cause the sun moon & starrs to be darkned (that is, the king, kingdom & Princes of the western Empire) to be darkned, & to continue sometime in darkness. And aAccordingly Bellisarius, having conquered Italy the Vandals, invaded Italy A.C. 535, & made war upon the Ostrogoths in Dalmatia, Liburnia, Venetia, Lumbardy Tuscia, & other regions northward of Rome from Rome, twenty years together. In this war many cities were taken & retaken. And iIn retaking Millain from the Romans, the Ostrogoths slew all the males young & old, amounting (as Procopius reccons) to three hundred thousand, & sent the weomen captives to their allies the Burgandians. Rome her self was taken & retaken severall times, & thereby her people were thinned; her old government by a Senate ceased, her nobles were ruined, & all her glory was extinct,: & A.C. 552, after a war of seventeen years, the kingdom of the Ostrogoths fell, whose kings had been her husband & her Sunq. Yet the remainder of the Ostrogoths & an army of Germans called in to their assistance, continued the war three or four years longer. And tThen ensued a war of the Heruli, who, as Anastasius tells us, perimebant cunctam Italiam.11985 Italiam, slew all Italy. And this was followed by a war of the Lombards, the fiercest of all the Barbarians. This war began A.C. 6568, & lasted 38 years together; facta tali clade, saith Anastasius, qualem a sæculo nullus meminit. It ended in the Papacy of Sabinian A.C. 605, by a lasting peace then made with the Lombards. And tThree years before it ended, Gregory the great, an eye-witness then Bishop of Rome thus mentions it: Qualiter enim et quotidianis gladijs & quantis Longobardorum incursionibus, ecce jam per triginta quinqꝫue annorum longitudinem premimur, nullis explere vocibus suggestionis valemus. And in one of his sermons to the people, he thus expresses the great consumption of the people by these warrs Romans by these warrs: Ex illa plebe innumerabili quanti remanseritis aspicitis, et tamen adhuc quotidiè flagellæ urgent, repentini casus opprimunt, novæ res & improvisæ clades affligunt. And iIn another Sermon he thus describes the desolations: Destructæ urbes, eversa sunt castra, depopulati agri, in solitudinem terra redacta est. Nullus in agris incola, penè nullus in urbibus habitator remansit. Et tamen ipsæ parvæ generis humani reliquiæ, adhuc quotidiè et sine cessatione feriuntur, et finem non habent flagella cœlestis justitiæ. Ipsa autem quæ aliquando mundi Domina esse videbatur, qualis remansit Roma conspicimus innumeris doloribus multipliciter attrita, desolatione civium, impressione hostium, frequentiâ ruinarum. — Ecce populi defecerunt — jam de illa omnes hujus sæculi potentes ablati sunt. — Ecce populi defecerunt. — Vbi enim Senatus? Vbi jam populus? Contabuerunt ossa, consumptæ sunt carnes. Omnis enim sæcularium dignitatum ordo extinctus est, et tamen ipsos nos paucos qui remansimus, adhuc quotidiè gladij, adhuc quotidiè inn umeræ tribulationes premunt. — Vacua jam ardet Roma. Quid autem ista de hominibus dicimus? Cum ruinis crebrescentibus ipsa quoqꝫue destrui ædificia videmus. Postquam defecerunt homines etiam parietes cadunt. Iam ecce desolata, ecce contrita, ecce gemitibus oppressa est. &c. All this was spoken by Gregory to the people of Rome, who were witnesses of the truth of it. And thus by the plagues of the four winds, the Empire of the Greeks was shaken, & the Empire of the Latines fell; and Rome remained nothing more than the capital of a poor dukedome, subordinate to Ravenna, the seat of the Exarchs.
XXXI The fifth Trumpet sounded to the warrs, which the king of the south (as he is called by Daniel) made in the time of the end, in pushing at the king who did according to his will. This plague began with the opening of the bottomless pit, which denotes the letting out of a false religion; the smoke wchwhich came out of the pit, denoting signifying the multitude wchwhich embraced that religion; & the Locusts wchwhich came out of the smoke, the armies wchwhich came out of that multitude. This pit was opened, to let out smoke & locusts into the regions of the four monarchies, or some of them. And tThe king of these locusts was the Angel of the bottomless pit, or chief governour as well in religious as civil affairs, such as was the Calif of the Saracens. Swarms of Locusts arise in Arabia fælix, & from thence infest the neighbouring nations: & so are a very fit type of the numerous armies12086 armies of Arabians invading the Romans. They began to invade the Romans A.C. 634; & to reign at Damascus A.C. 637. & they built Bagdat A.C. 766, & reigned over Persia, Syria, Arabia, Egypt, Africa & Spain. They lost Africa to Mahades, A.C. 910; Media, & Hircania, Chorasan, & all Persia to the Dailamites, between the years 927 & 935; Mesopotamia & Miafarekin to Nasiruddaulas, A.C. 930; Syria & Egypt to Achsijd, A.C. 935. [And now being in great distress, the Calif of Bagdat, A.C. 936, surrendred all the rest of Rr pma 305[his temporal power to Mahomet the son of Rajici, King of Wasit in Chaldea, & made him Emperor of Emperors. But Mahomet within two years lost Bagdat to the Turks; & thenceforward Bagdat was sometimes in the hands of the Turks, & sometimes in the hands of the Saracens, till Togrulbec (called also Togra, Dogrissa, Tangrolipix, & Sadoc) conquered Chorasan & Persia; & A.C. 1055, added Bagdat to his empire, making it the seat thereof. His successors, Olub-Arslan & Melechschah, conquered the regions upon Eufphrates; & these conquests, after the death of Melecsah, brake into the kingdoms of Armenia, Mesopotamia, Syria, & Cappadocia. The whole time that the Califs of the Saracens reigned with a temporal dominion at Damascus & Bagdat together, was 300 years vizt from the year 637 to the year 936 inclusively. ButNow Locusts live but five months; & therefore, for the decorum of the type, these Locusts are said to hurt men five months & five months, as if they had lived about five monthmonths at Damascus, & again about five months at Bagdat, in all ten months, or 300 prophetic days, wchwhich are years
The sixth Trumpet sounded to the warrs, which Daniel's king of the north made against the king above-mentioned, who did according to his will. In these warrs the king of the north, according to Daniel, conquered the Empire of the Greeks, & also Iudea, Egypt, Liybyia, & Ethiopia,: & by these conquests the Empire of the Turks was set up, as you may know by the extent thereof. These warrs commenced A.C. 1258, when the four kingdoms of the Turks seated at Miyapharekin, Megarkin or Martyropolis upon Euphrates, that of Armenia major seated at Miyapharekin, Megarkin or Martyropolis, that of Mesopotamia seated at Mosul, that of all Syria seated at Aleppo, & that of Cappadocia seated at Iconium, were invaded by the Tartars under Hulacu, & driven into the western parts of Asia minor, where they made war upon the Greeks, & began to erected the present Empire of the Turks. & extended it over all those regions described by Daniel. Vpon the sounding of the sixth Trumpet, Iohn Apoc. ix.13, &c.heard a voice from the four horns of the golden Altar wchwhich is before God, saying to the Angel wchwhich had the Trumpet, Loose the four Angels wchwhich are bound at the great river Eufphrates. And the four Angels were loosed, wchwhich were prepared for an hour & a day, & a month & a year, for to slay the third part of men. By the four horns of the golden Altar, is signified the situation of the head cities of the said four kingdoms, Miyaphfaraekin, Mosul, Aleppo, & Iconium, wchwhich were in a quadrangle. They slew the third part of men, when they conquered the Greek Empire, & took Constantinople, A.C. 1453. And they began to be prepared for this purpose, when Olub-Arslan began to conquert the nations upon Eufphrates, A.C. 1063. And tThe interval is called an hour & a day, & a month & a year, or 391 prophetic days, wchwhich are years. In the first thirty years Olub Arslan & Melecsah conquered the nations upon Eufphrates, & reigned over the whole. Melecsah died A.C. 1092, & was succeeded by a little child; & then this kingdom brake into the four kingdoms above mentioned.
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worship of the people was ended, the princes of the priests went into the temple & there fell down & worshipped.
And Iohn saw in the right hand of him that sat upon the throne a book written within & on the backside, sealed with seven seales, (the book wchwhich Daniel was commanded to seal up, & which is here represented by the book of the law laid up in the side of the Ark, as it were in the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. For the festivals & ceremonies of the law prescribed to the people in this book, adumbrated those things wchwhich are predicted in the book of Daniel. ‖V. pag. 263. ‖ And none was found worthy to open the book till the Lamb of God appeared, the great high-priest represented by a lamb slain at the foot of the altar in the morning-sacrifice. And he came, & took the book out of the hand of him that sat upon the throne. For the High-Priest, in the feast of the seventh month in the seventh year, went into the most holy place, & took the book of the law out of the right side of the Ark to read it to the people. And in order to read it well, he studied it seven days, that is, upon the 4th, 5t, 6t, 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th days, in the morning, being attended by some of the Lig priests to hear him perform. And these seven days are alluded unto, by the Lamb's opening the seven seales successively.
Vpon the fift tenth day of the month, a young bullock was offered for a sin-offering for the High Priest, & a Goat for a sin-offering for the people: & lots were cast upon two Goats to determin which of them should be God's lot for the sin-offering; & the other Goat was called Azazel, the scape-goat. And tThe High Priest in his linnen garments, took a censer full of burning coales of fire from the altar, & his hands full of sweet incense beaten small; & went into the most holy place within the veile, & put the incense upon the fire, & sprinkled the blodod of the bullock with his finger upon the mercy-seat & before the mercy-seat seven times: & then killed the Goat wchwhich fell to God's lot, for a sin-offering for the people, & brought his blood within the vaeil, & sprinkled it also seven times upon the mercy-seat & before the mercy seat. And tThen he went out to the altar, & sprinkled it also seven times with the blood of the bullock, & as often with the blood of the goat. And aAfter this he laid both his hands upon the head of the scape live goat, & confessed over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, & all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the Goat; & sent him away into the wilderness by the hands of a fit manby the hands of a fit man into the wilderness,: & the Goat carried with him bore upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited. Levit ch. IV & ch. XVI. And wWhile the High-Priest was doing these things in the most holy place & at the Altar, the people continued at their devotion quietly & in silence. Then the High Priest went into the holy place, & put off his linnen garments, & put on other garments; & then came out, & sent the bullock & the goat of the sin-offering to be burnt without the camp, with fire taken in a censer from the Altar. And as the people returned home from the Temple, they said to one another:, God seale you to a good new year.
And iIn allusion to all this, upon opening of when he had opened the seventh seale, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an half an hour. And an Angel stood at the Altar having a golden Censer, & there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the Angel's hand. And the Angel took the Censer, & filled it with fire of the Altar, & cast it to the earth, suppose without the camp, for sacrificing the Goat wchwhich fell to God's lot. For the High-Priest being Christ himself, the bullock is omitted. And aAt this sacrifice there were voices & thunderings, suppose of the musick of the Temple, & lightnings of the sacred fire, & an earthquake. And synchronal to these things was the sealing of the 144000 out of all the twelve tribes of the children of Israel with the seal of God in their foreheads, while the rest of the twelve tribes received the mark of the Beast, & the Woman fled from the temple into the wilderness to her place upon this Beast. For this sealing & marking is represented by casting lots upon the two goats, sacrificing God's lot on mount Sion, & sending the scape-goat into the wilderness loaden with the sins of the people.
Vpon the fifteenth day of the month, & the six following days, there were very great sacrifices. And in allusion to the sounding of trumpets, & singing with thundering voices, & pouring out drink-offerings at those sacrifices, seven Trumpets12235 Trumpets are sounded, & seven thunders utter their voices, & seven Vialls of wrath are poured out. And therefore the sounding of the seven trumpets, the voices of the seven thunders, & the pouring out th of the seven vialls of wrath, are synchronal, & relate to one & the same division of time the time of the seventh seale following the silence, into seven successive parts. The seven days of this feast Ss pma 313[were called the feast of Tabernacles. And during these seven days the children of Israel dwelt in booths, & rejoyced with palm-branches in their hands. And tTo this alludes to the multitude with palms in their hands, wchwhich appeared after the sealing of the 144000, & came out of the great tribulation with triumph at the battel of the great day, of to wchwhich the seventh trumpet sounds. The visions therefore of the 144000, & of the palm-bearing multitude, extend to the sounding of the seventh trumpet, & therefore are synchronal to the times of the seventh seale.
When the 14400 are sealed out of all the twelve tribes of Israel, & the rest receive the mark of the Beast, & thereby the first temple is destroyed; Iohn is bidden to measure the temple & altar, that is, their courts, & them that worship therein, that is, the 144000 standing on mount Sion & on the sea of glass: but the court that is without the temple, that is, the peoples court, to leave out & measure it not, because it is given to the gentiles, (those that who receive the mark of the Beast;) & the holy city they shall tread under foot forty & two months, that is, all the time that the Beast acts under the woman Babylon, And the two witnesses prophesy 1260 days, that is, all the same time, cloathed in sackcloth. These have power, like Elijah, to shut heaven that it rain not, at the sounding of the first trumpet; &, like Moses, to turn the waters into blood at the sounding of the second; & to smite the earth with all plagues, (those of the Trumpets,) as often as they will. These prophesied at the building of the second temple, like Haggai & Zaechary. These are the two Olive-trees, or churches, wchwhich supplied the lamps, wthwith oyile, Zech. IV. These are the two candlesticks, or churches, standing before the God of the earthe. Five of the seven churches of Asia, (those in prosperity,) are found fault with, & exhorted to repent, & threatned to be removed out of their places, or spewed out of Christ's mouth, or punished with the sword of Christ's mouth, except they repent: the other two (the Churches of Smyrna & Philadelphia), wchwhich were under persecution, remain in a state of persecution, to illuminate the second temple. When the primitive Church catholick, represented by the woman in heaven, apostatized, & became divided into two corrupt churches, represented by the whore of Babylon & the two-horned Beast, the 144000 wchwhichwowho were sealed out of all the twelve tribes, became the two witnesses, in opposition to those two false churches. And the name of two witnesses once imposed, remains to the true Church of God in all times & places to the end of the prophescy.
In the interpretation of this prophescy, the woman in heaven cloathed with the sun, before she flyies into the wilderness, represents the primitive church catholick, illuminated with the seven lamps in the seven golden candlesticks, wchwhich are the seven churches of Asia. And the Dragon signifies the same empire with Daniel's He-goat in the reign of his last horn, that is, the whole Roman empire, untill it became divided into the Greek & Latin Empires; & all the time of that division it signifies the Greek empire alone: And the Beast is Daniel's fourth Beast, that is, the empire of the Latines. Before the division of the Roman Empire into the Greek & Latine Empires, the Beast is included in the body of the Dragon; & from the time of that division, itthe Beast is the Latin Empire alone. And hHence the Dragon & Beast have the same heads & horns; but the heads are crowned upon the Dragon, & the horns upon the beast. The horns are ten kingdoms, into wchwhich the Beast becomes divided presently after his separation from the Dragon, as hath been described above. The heads are seven successive Dynasties, or parts, into which the Roman Empire12336 Empire becomes divided by the opening of the seven seales. Before the woman fled into the wilderness, she being with child of a christian Empire, cried travelling, (vizt in the ten years persecution of Dioclesian) & pained to be delivered. And the Dragon, (the heathen Roman Empire), brought forth a man child, who (at length) was to rule all nations wthwith a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God, & to his throne (in the temple, by the victory of Constantine the great over Maxentius;) & the woman fled (from the temple) into the wilderness of Arabia to Babylon, where she hath a place of riches & honour & dominion, upon the back of the Beast, prepared of God, that they should feed her there 1260 days. And there was war in heaven, (between the heathens under Maximinus & the new Christian empire); & the Dragon was cast out, that old serpent, which deceiveth the whole world, the spirit of the heathen idolatry; he was cast out of the throne to the earth. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, & by the word of their testimony. And they loved not their lives unto the death.
And when the Dragon saw that he was cast down, he persecuted the woman wchwhich brought forth the man-child, stirring up a new persecution against her in the reign of Licinius. And to the woman, by the building of Constantinople & equalling it to Rome, were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place upon the back of her beast, where she is nourished a time times & half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent, (upon the death of Constantine the great,) cast out waters as a flood, (vizt the western empires under Constantine junior & Constans) after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth (the nations of Asia now under Constantinople) helped the woman; & by conquering the western empire, (now under Magnentius), swallowed up the flood wchwhich the Dragon cast out of his mouth. And the Dragon was wroth with the woman, & went to make war with the remnant of her seed, wchwhich kept the commandments of God, & had the testimony of Iesus, & which in that war were sealed out of all the twelve tribes of Israel, & remained upon mount Sion with the Lamb, being in number 144000, & having their fathers name written in their foreheads.
And when the earth had swallowed up the flood, & the Dragon was gone to make war with the remnant of the woman's seed, Iohn stood upon the sand of the sea, & saw the Beast with seven heads & ten horns rise out of the sea. And the Beast was like unto a Leopard, & his feet as the feet of a Bear, & his mouth as the mouth of a Lyon. Iohn here names Daniel's four Beast in order, putting his Beast in the room of Daniel's fourth Beast, to shew that they are the same. And the Dragon gave this Beast his throne, & power & great authority, by relinquishing the western empire to him. Andd one of his heads (the sixth) was wounded to as it were wounded to death, vizt. By the sword of the earth, which swallowed up the waters cast out of the mouth of the Dragon; & his deadly wound was healed. It was healed by a new division of the empire between Valentinian & Valens, An. Chr 364. Iohn saw the Beast rise out of the sea, at the division thereof between Gratian & Theodosius A. Chr 379. And the Dragon gave the Beast his power, & his throne & great authority, at the death of Theodosius, when tTheodosius gave the western empire to his son Honorius. After which the two empires were no more united: But the western Empire became presently divided into ten kingdomes, as above; & these kingdoms at length unitd in religion under the woman, & reign with her forty & two months.
And I beheld, saith Iohn, another beast coming out of the earth. When the woman fled from the Dragon into the kingdom of the Beast, & became his church, this other Beast rose up out of the earth, to represent the Church of the12437 of the Dragon. For he had two horns like the Lamb, (such as were the Bishopricks of Alexandra & Antioch;) & he spake as the Dragon in matters of religion. And he causeth the earth, or nations of the Dragon's kingdom, to worship the first Beast, whose deadly wound was healed, that is, to be of his religion. And he doth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men; that is, he excommunicateth those thatwho differ from him in point of religion. For in pronouncing their excommunications they used to swing down a lighted torch from above. And he said to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the Beast, which had the wound by a sword & did live, that is, that they should call a Council of men of the religion of this Beast. And he had power to give life to the image, that the image should both speak, & cause that as many as would not worship the Image of the Beast should be killed, vizt mystically, by dissolving their churches. And he causeth all both small & great, rich & poor, bond & free, to receive a mark in their right hands or in their foreheads, that no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark of or the name of Beast, or the number of his name, that is, the mark ✝, or the name ΛΑΤΕΙΝΟΣ, or the number thereof Χξ5, 666. All others were excommunicated.
When the seven Angels had poured out the seven Vials of wrath, & Iohn had discovered them all in the present time, he is called up from the time of the seventh Vial to the time of the sixt seal, to take a view of the woman & her Beast, who were to reign in the times of the seventh seale. And in respect of the latter part of time of the sixth seale, then considered as present, the Angel tells Iohn: The Beast that thou sawest, was & is not, & shall ascend out of the Abyss, & go into perdition; That is, to say, He was in the reign of Constantsius & Magnentius, untill Constantius conquered Magnentius, & reunited the western empire to the eastern. He is not during the re-union, & he shall ascend out of the abyss or sea at a following division of the empire. The Angel tells him further: Here is the mind wchwhich hath wisdome: The seven heads are seven mountains, on wchwhich the woman sitteth; Rome being built upon seven hills, & thence called the seven-hilled city. Also they are seven Tt pma 321[kings: five are fallen, & one is, & another is not come; & when he cometh, he must continue a short space: & the Beast that was & is not, even he is the eighth, & is of the [seven, & goeth into perdition. Five are fallen, the times of the first five seales being past; & one is, the time of the sixth seal being considered as present; & another is not yet come, & when he cometh, wchwhich will be at the opening of the seventh seale, he must continue a short space: and the beast that was & is not, even his is the eighth, (vizt. by meanes of the division of the Roman Empire into two collateral Empires;) & is of the seven, (being one half of the seventh,) & shall go into perdition. The words, Five are fallen & one is & another is not yet come, are usually referred by interpreters to the time of Iohn the Apostel, when the prophescy was given. But it is to be considered, that in this prophesy many things are spoken of as present, which were not present when the prophescy was given, but wchwhich were present with respect to some future time, considered as present in the visions, So where it's said upon pouring out the seventh Vial of wrath, that great Babylon received the cup of the wine of the fierceness of God's wrath; this relates not to the time of Iohn the Apostel, but to later the time of pouring out the seventh vial of wrath. And so where it's said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; & thrust in thy sicckle & reap, for the time is come for thee to reap; and the time of the dead is come, that they should be judged; and I saw the dead small & great stand before God: these sayings relate not to the days of Iohn the Apostel, but to the latter times considered as present in the visions. And so the words, five are fallen, & one is & another is not yet come, & the Beast that was & is not he is the eighth, are not to be referred to the age of Iohn the Apostle, but relate to the time when the Beast was wounded to death with a sword, & shew that this wound was given him in his sixth head. And without the reference we are not told in what head the Beast was wounded. And the ten horns wchwhich thou sawest, are ten kings wchwhich have received no kingdome as yet, but receive power as kings the same howuer with the Beast. These have one mind,12538 mind, being of the whore's religion, & shall give their power & strength unto the Beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, at the sounding of the seventhe trumpet; & the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords & King of kKings; & they that are with him are called & chosen & faithfull. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth, are peoples & multitudes & nations & tongues, composing her Beast. And the ten horns wchwhich thou sawest upon the Beast, these shall hate the whore, & shall make her desolate & naked, & shall eat her flesh, & burn her with fire, at the end of the 1260 days. For God shall put in their hearts to fulfill his will, & to agree & give their kingdom unto the Beast, untill the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman wchwhich thou sawest, is that great city wchwhich reigneth over the kings of the earth, &or the great city of the Latines, wchwhich reigneth over the ten kings till the end of those days.