o The Lord ſheweth his Prophet by what nieans the Papacy ſhould | cheat the World, viz. by pretences of Miracles, which it had a pow- | er to work { the Dodtrines of the Church of Rome to this afe ſufficiently known,) all which are done in the fight of the Beaſt, that 1s, to his Honour, and to gain him a Reputation. As God gave his Prophets and Apoſtles a Power to work true Miracles for the confirmation of their Miſſion from him, and of the Do&rines which they brought; ſo he pertnitted. others to work Lying Wonders for the Confirmation of their falſe Dofrine. - The Apoſtle therefore deſcribeth the coming of Antichrift to be with all Power and Signs, and Lying Wonders, and with all decervableneſs of unrighteouſneſs, 2 Theſſ. 2. 9, 10. þ Theſe words ſhew the deſign of this laſt men- tioned Beaſt, viz. To make an Image to the Beaſt which had a wound by the Sword; Mr. Mede's notion here ſeemeth beſt to me, that by the Beaſt which had a wound by the Sword, 1s to be un- derſtood the Dragon, of whoſe Wound we read, Chap. 6. He was the Type of the Pagan Emperors, whom God rooted out. Anti- chriſt's Defign was to make an Image of that Old Beaſt, in which it might again live; which he did by his ſetting up the Venera- tion of Images, and the Invocation of Saints; the Pagan Idolatry ly- ing chiefly in their adoration of Perſons (who had been famous amongſt them) when they were dead, making them their Mediators to their Supream Gods; and in the Veneration of their Images and Statues ; The making the Image of this Beaſt, was the reſto- ring of the ſame Idolatry, changing only the Names of Princes. and great Soldiers, whom the Pagans worſhipped after their Death, into the Names of Saints ; in which Image the Dragon lived again; and it is ſufficiently known how the Romiſh Clergy deceiveth Peo- = into this Idolatry by their Stories of Miracles done by ſuch
aints,
15 And he had power to give + life unto the image of the beaſt 9, that the image of the beaſt ſhould both ſpeak, and cauſe that as many as would not worſhip the image of the beaſt, ſhould be killed 7.
9 The Beaſt mentioned ver. 11- had a power to give life unto this new formed Idolatry, conformable to that of the Pagans, in
and Bulls, and Cation Laws. 7 And by his Excommunications and Cenſures of thoſe that would not comply with his Idolatry as He- reticks ; after which the Perſons ſo adjudged, were delivered up to the ſecular Power to be put to Death.
16 And he cauſeth all, both ſmall and great, rich
right hand, or in their foreheads / :
f No particular CharaQer is here to be underſtood, but only the general impoſition of the Romiſh Faith upon all ſorts of Per- ſons. His marh was nothing elſe but either the Profeflion of his Faith and Religion, or a vowed fubjeftion to his commands, which we know is the praQtice of the Papacy where it obtaineth in any Country. ;
17 And that no man ſhould either buy or ſell, fave
he that had the * mark, or the name of the beaſt, or
the number of his name . WEE t This the Popiſh Church .effe&ts by its Excommunications , 1t was begun in the Councel of Lateran, anathematizing all who enter- tained any of the Waldenſes, or traded with them ; and the late Learned Biſhop of Armugh, in his Book de Succeſfione Eccleſie, hath iven us an account of ſuch a Canon of a Synod in France, which in expreſs terms forbad any Commerce with Hereticks in buying or felling. Pareus tells us Pope Martin the Fifth, hath beſt inter- preted this Prophecy, in his Bull added to the Council of Conſtance, where he prohibits Roman Catholicks, to ſuffer any Hereticks to have any Dwellings in their Countries, or to make any Bargains, or uſe any Trades, or to perform to them any Civil Offices. u There have been great diſputes about the Name and Number of the Beaſt. T muſt profeſs my ſelf not able to diſtinguiſh betwixt the Mark, Name, and Number of the Beaſt, they may all fignifie the ſame thing, viz. the Profeſſion of the Romiſh Religion. Some think the Num- ber is contained in the Name, and that the Name is AATEINOZ, in which the Number 665 is contained ; of which we ſhall ſpeak more by and by. : 138 * Here is wiſdom w. Let him that hath un-
derſtanding x count the F number of the beaſt : For it is the number of a man y-: and his number is Six
hundred threeſcore and fix x. | w That is, herein is the Wiſdom, the unſearchable Wiſdom of, God ſeen in the tryal of his Church. Or (which is more probably the ſenſe) this is a point will exerciſe the Wiſdom of Men. x Let him that is ſpiritually wiſe, count the number of the Beaſt. » It is ſuch as may be numbred after the way Men ufe to Number. x What this meaneth hath exerciſed the Wits of the greateſt Divines in all Ages. A late Learned and valuable Writer thinks that 666 doth not fignifie a certain definite number, but an indefinite number, and that not of years, but of pernicious Errors, by the broaching and upkolding of which Antichriſt may be known. But the mo Interpreters think a number, and that a definite certain number of years is to be underſteod here: But they are again divided ; ſome thinking them determining the time of the fall of this Beaſt; others judzing them to determine or define the year or time of his | beginning to reign, the time from whence his period and term of 42 months or 1260 years, commenceth : Moſt of thoſe who think this number determinative of the time when he ſhould fall, under- ſtood by it 16655, which raiſed the expeRation of marry good and ſome Learned Men (though we ſee in this thing they were decei- ved) upon that year. A Countryman of our own, who hath wrote
an Eng/iſh Diſſertation about the Natne, Number, and Chatadter of the Beal}, hath with much more probability judged this number deti- nitive cf the time when he began to Reign ander the Title of Vn:-
REFELATION.
verſal Biſhop, which was abcut the year 606; but there ſeemeth to: | (
OW ae; £4 ? Chap. A k Y >