denounced Judgments againſt his People, to comfort them by a PrediCtion of the Ruin of their Enemies ; ſo here, by this his New- Teſlament-Prophet, he affureth his Church, that Antichriſt alſo ſhould have his Period, and have the ſame Meaſure meeted to him, which he had meeted out to others by leading into. Captivity, and killing with the Sword; and indeed there are no Sins which God doth ſo ordinarily puniſh by Retaliation, as Sins againſt Zuſtice and Mercy, (of which nature Perſecutions are the moſt eminent,) 7/a. 33- 1,2. f That is, there is a time for God's People to exerciſe their Faith and Patience. Patience, becauſe they are like to: wait tor deliverance a long time, and to ſuffer many ſharp things in the mean time; and Faith, becauſe their deliverance will be a thing out
" hight, of which they will have no ſecurity but from the Promiſe
of God,
11 And I beheld another beaſt * coming up out of *Chap. 11. the earth. g, and he had two horns like a lamb þ, and 7:
he ſIpake as a dragon 2.
£ There are great Diſputes about this other Beaſt, whois repre- ſented or ſignified by it: The Popiſh Writers ſay it is ſome emi- nent Impoſtor, who ſhall appear in the World before the coming of Antichriſt. - Others would have it to be Magick praftiſed by Apollenius Thyaneus (the vanity of which Notion Dr. Moor . hath ſufficiently demonſtrated,) the generality of Prote#ant Writers agree it to be Antichriſt himſelf, the ſame Beaſt which was before ſpoken of, only in another form, The deſign, and time, and power of both 15 the ſame ; neither hath this other Beaſt any other figure. aſſigned to him; and in the end of this Chapter we ſhall find men- tion but of one Beaſt, the Marh, Name, and Number of the Beaſt mentjoned, ver. 16, 18. is but of one Beaſt; and we ſhall find the power of both to be the ſame; only he is called another, becauſe appearing 1n another form, or under another Type. The former | Beaſt typified the civil power of Antichriſt ; this his FccleſiaSical power. He 1s faid to have come up out of the Farth , either, be- ' cauſe he was of a meaner extration than the other; or, becauſe he ſtole upon the World inſenſibly. The Pope and his Clergy are judged by the beſt Interpreters to be here meant. þ He pretends to the Power .of Chriſt as his Vicar, and therefore is ſaid to have Horns as a Lamb. 7 But he ſhould ſpeak terribly; or his Doftrines ſhould be ſuch as the Apoſtle calls Do&#rines of Devils. Or his words and prattice ſhould be like thoſe of the great Red Dra- gON.
12 And he exerciſeth all. the power of the firſt beaſt before him &, and cauſtth the earth, and all that -. dwell therein, to worſhip the firſt beaſt, * whoſe + ver. 3.
deadly wound was healed 7. kþ The powet of the firſt Beaſt, was to ſpeak great Words and Blaſphemies, and to make War with, and overcome the Saints, ver. 6, 7. This power alſo ſhould be exerciſed by the Papacy (accard- ing to this Prophecy) and time hath witnefled the truth of it. 2 And as before he arrived at the heighth of Power, he had per- ſwaded the latter Emperors to eſtabliſh ſdolatry and Superſtition ; ' ſo having now tne power in his own hands, and 'being by the firſt Beaſt made Head of the Church, he now vigorouſly cauſeth all un- der his power to obey the Edits, Decrees and Commands of that Nature, which thoſe Emperors had publiſhed ; chufing tather to do this in the Name of others, than from himſelf; that in caſe of non-compliance of any, he might- charge them with Sedition or Diſobedience to the Imperial Laws, or. diffenting from Antiquity, Gr. Hence he cauſeth them to. worſhip the firſt Beaſt rather than himſelt. | 13 And * he doth great wonders », ſo that he, maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in 2,, the ſight of men 7; | Chap. 16. m Lying Wonders, 2 Theſſ.-2. 9. ſuch as by God's permiſſion falſe 14. Prophets might do, Dent. 10, 1,-2. Prophets were to be judged true or falſe not from any -Signs\,or Wonders which they did, but from the Doftrine they taught, and would by thoſe / ſigns eſtabliſh. 7 Wonders as great as thoſe which '#/ia3 wrought. / 14 And * deceiveth them"that dwell on the earth, * chap. r. by the'mreans of thoſe miracles which he had power to do in the ſight of the beaſt o, ſaying to them that dwell of the earth, that they ſhould'make an Image
to the beaſt, which had a wound by a ſword, and
did live p. o The
t, 24 . 16.
4p. I,
C hap. X11.
fTGrBreath
+ Gr. To «and poor, free and bond, Þ to receive a mark in their
give.
*Chap.14. I I,
*Chap.1 7. 9. +Chap.1 5.
' Which the Old Beaſt again lived ; he gave life to it by his Decrees