itself ill a variety of ways, as to which of the emperors is to be re- garded as the last in this point of view : Is it Domitian, whom foreign emperors began to succeed ; or Diocletian, in whom Paganism ended ; or Constantine, who ought (to accord with their theory) to have remained a u short space,” namely, at Pome : or Augustulus, conquered by Odoacer ? Y. In the seventh head they do not escape the difficulty of introducing a too long continuance of it, and a too great difference between it and the eighth, which is nevertheless of the seven ; as when they refer to this head Constantine, who was the first to have the seat of empire in the east ; or Odoacer and the Heruli, together with the Goths and Longobards; or Boniface III. or Charlemagne, with the successors of both. More things suitable for the refutation of such opinions, if it is necessary, can be taken from those things which follow.
For in this place especially my German Exegesis , and the Epi- crisis of Lange , are to be compared with one another. And, first of all, it should be agreed upon what is the subject of inquiry. We both admit, I. That the beast is one person, and the whore another : II. That Babylon is Pome, and that too especially in the last part of her time : III. That some things which are spoken of the beast in the Apocalypse, are also spoken of the fourth beast in Daniel: IY. That the beast is described both as a body and as an individual : Y. That the Papacy also is pointed out in the Apocalypse : YI. That the impious one, who is called antichrist , is an individual. But the chief difference consists in this, that the Divine of Halle says that the Papacy is held forth under the picture of Babylon ; I maintain, that it is under the description of the beast , and this in such a man- ner, that its heads denote the papal succession from lltli century, and in the last time that Wicked one [2 Thess. ii. 8], at once both wields the Papacy, inasmuch as he is of the seven, and adds new malignity from the bottomless pit, inasmuch as he himself is the eighth. Very great weight therefore is attached by us to this part of the prophecy , the event of which belongs to the present day. First of all, I will repeat the Propositions which are laid down in that Exegesis on this passage, and which are examined in the Epicrisis, and I will partly explain them more fully, and partly vindicate them. I will act carefully and plainly: do you, Reader, if you judge that it at all concerns you (and it does greatly concern you), see that you attend to me. For it is wretched, when in an important matter there is much of words, but no profit. He who shall, word by word, weigh in turns that treatise of mine on each Proposition, and the