ed them thus: The Campagnia of Rome, the exarchate of Ravenna, and the region of Pentapolis.b These were plucked up by Pepin and Charlemagne, kings of France, and given to the Pope, and were confirmed to him by their successor, Lewis the pious, and make up what is called the patrimony of St. Peter. "In memory of this transaction a piece ' of Mosaic work was made for the Pope's palace, in which was represented St. Peter with three keys in his lap, signifying the keys of the three parts of his patrimony ;c and to show his sovereignty over them, the pope to this very day wears a triple crown. How surprisingly does the prophecy open ' unto us! an event is here predicted above a thousand years before it was accomplished !" : 3. The little horn is further described by its eyes and look : its eyes were like the eyes of man, strange for a horn to have eyes like a man! These seem to denote his sagacity, penetration and craft ;particularly they may refer to the order of the Jesuits, who were as his eyes, or spies, in all kingdoms and courts. It is not said in the prophecy, how many eyes the horn has the pope has more than Argus, and these sharp and piercing. His look also is said to be " more stout than his fellows ;"-i. e. either than his fellow bishops, over whom he claimed authority; or than his fellow princes, over whom he assumed power to depose them and to absolve their subjects from their allegiance. 4. The horn is described by its mouth, as speaking great things." This the pope has done by asserting himself to be the head of the Church, Christ's vicar on earth, infallible, and having power over kings and princes: yea, he is said to speak great words against the Most High ; and this he does by setting himself on an equality with him, taking upon himself to forgive sin, to make laws contrary to the Scriptures and preferring his own decrees to the word of God. (See Rev. XIII. 5, 6.) 5. The horn is described as " making war with the saints," "prevailing against them" "and wearing them out;" which respects the wars of the popes against the Albigenses and Waldenses, whom they slew in great numbers and got the victory over; and also the oppression, persecution and massacre of the saints at various other times. And whereas the beast (who is the same with the little horn) shall hereafter make war with the two witnesses, and overcome and slay them, the saints will then seem to be quite worn out, and will be thought by the papists to be all destroyed; and hence their rejoicing and sending gifts one to another. (Rev. xI. 8-10.) 6. Also he shall "think to change times and laws," which in Chap 11. 21 is declared to be the prerogative of God, and joined with removing and setting up kings. But the pope has nevertheless taken to himself to alter the forms and constitutions of kingdoms, and to set up and pull down kings at his own pleasure ;· to change the use of times and seasons also, by setting apart days for the commemoration of saints and seasons for fasting;-and he has dispensed with the laws of God, and changed them. 7. And this power of his was to continue "until a time and times and the dividing of a time"-or half a time as in Rev. xII. 14: i. e. three years and a half, the same as the forty months and the 1260 days of Rev. XIII. 5 and x1. 2, 3;-by which are meant so many years. And when b"Impartial Enquiry into the time of the coming of the Messiah," p. 28. this time is up, then his dominion shall be taken away and be consumed and destroyed, &c. (Dan. vII. 11, 26)" the whole empire shall be destroyed, the capital of it shall be burnt with fire, the ten kings shall hate the whore, eat her flesh and burn her with fire."-The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. Another famous prophecy of Antichrist we have in 2 Thess. 11. 3— 12, where he is described 1st. By his names and characters. He is called the man of sin-one guilty of all manner of wickedness in high places, as lying, perjury, incest, adultery, sodomy, simony, sorcery, as the popes of Rome have been. Hence their seat is called Sodom and Egypt, and the whore the mother of harlots,—all abominations centering there. He is therefore with great propriety called, in Rev. xvII. 11, Apollyon, being the destroyer of the souls of men, and he is the Son of perdition, and goeth into perdition. He is also the wicked (or lawless) one"-giving out that he is not subject to any human judicature; that he judges all and is judged by none; and that though he should send millions to hell, yet none ought to say, O Lord the pope, what doest thou?" 2. He is also represented as he that opposeth Christ, being his adversary, and therefore called Antichrist. He opposes him in his kingly office, by making himself the head of the church;-he opposes him in his priestly office, by pretending to offer up Christ again, in the sacrifice of the mass, when by one offering Jesus has perfected for ever the whole work of the atonement;-and in his prophetic office, by coining new articles of faith. Moreover "he exalteth himself above all that is called God,”—viz. above the angels, who are called gods in Ps. VIII. 4,* for in his bulls he has commanded angels to take such or such a soul out of purgatory, and to carry such a one to heaven;†-and above all civil magistrates, who are called gods, Ps. LXXXII. 6: assuming, as before stated, power to depose them at pleasure; making an emperor to hold his stirrup whilst he alighted from his horse or got upon it, trampling on his neck, and using these words in Ps. xcI. 13 as he did it"Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet;" and throwing a king under his table to lick bones whilst he was eating.-Yea "he sitteth in the temple of God as God, shewing himself that he is God;"-admitting his creatures and flatterers to call him God on earth" and "Our Lord God the pope ;" receiving worship from them, and assuming to forgive sin, which is the peculiar prerogative of God. 3. He is described in this prophecy by his manner of entrance. There was something which at first let or hindered his appearance which being removed he was to be revealed. This was the undivided Roman Empire; for whilst the emperors kept their seat, he could not take his place and appear in his pomp. This was in part taken away by the removal of the seat of empire from Rome to Byzantium, which made way for the bishop of Rome to take his place; and then by the division of the empire into eastern and western ; "when the latter be came extinct in Augustulus, the last ' of the Roman emperors, who resign'ed to Odoacer, who took upon him 'the title, not of emperor of Rome, 'but king of Italy, and retired from Rome to Ravenna; and thus the * This is a misquotation: perhaps he means Ps. XLIII. 7.—Ed. He refers here to his Exposition of 2 Thess. II, 4, in his Commentary. , 'seat being empty, it was soon filled by the Pope of Rome, who appear'ed in his grandeur and glory." His coming was "after the working of Satan," like a deceiver, a liar, and a murderer, and by Satan's influence and assistance ;—" with all power," i. e. with pretensions to all power both in heaven and earth ;and by signs and lying wonders," pretending to work miracles, of which the papist legends are full; whilst under a shew of righteousness "he deceived many." In another famous prophecy of of him (1 Tim. iv. 1-3,) he is described as teaching the "doctrines of devils," or demons. Demons were a sort of middle beings between God and men, who mediated between them; and such are the angels and departed saints to whom the papists direct men to pray; which is called in Rev 1x. 20 "worshipping devils (or demons) and idols of gold, silver, &c." Forbidding to marry" also, which, though God's ordinance, is prohibited to priests, and is the source of much debauchery. "Commanding to abstain from meats," as on their various fast days. And now whereas it is most clearly manifest, that all these cha'racteristics of antichrist, predic⚫ted of him so long before his appearing, exactly answer to the Pope of Rome, and have been punctually accomplished; there can 'be no reason to doubt the certain performance of what the same prophetic Spirit has declared in the same prophecy of his destruc'tion :-viz. "that the Lord shall consume him with the Spirit of his mouth, and destroy him with 'the brightness of his coming."This is confirmed by a prophecy of Isaiah delivered many hundred years before this of St. Paul's—“ he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he destroy the wicked;that wicked or lawless one, Antichrist. (Isa. xi. 4.) The Targum interprets this of the wicked Armillus, the name of the Antichrist of the Jews, and which is either a corruption of Romulus, the first king of the Romans, (for they suppose he will come from Rome,) or of the Greek word ɛpnuoλaos a waster of the people; so Philip Aquinas interprets it (in Lex. fol. 36. 2) and it agrees well with what is said of Antichrist, Rev. XI. 18. I will finally just observe of him in brief, that in Rev. XIII. he is described both in his civil and ecclesiastical capacity by two beasts, the one rising out of the sea, or commotions of the nations, when he appeared as a temporal prince; the other rising out of the earth, i. e. from the dregs of Christians, who had become earthly, carnal, corrupt, apostate. This latter has " two horns like a lamb;" for he pretends to great humility, calling himself servus servorum ; but he spake like a dragon" in his bulls and anathamas. He causes all to worship him, or be deprived of the common privileges of buying and selling, &c. (all which has been done by the Romish Antichrist,) and the account is concluded with the number of his name 666, "about which there have 'been many conjectures; but none bid fairer than the ancient one of 'Irenæus, which is LATEINOs, the letters of which amount to this number, and it was the name of a 'man, a king of Italy. For the 'Church of Rome is the Latin 'Church, its service is in the Latin tongue, and the Pope is the head of it, whose seat is in the Latin empire." In chap. xvII. he is represented by a woman sitting on a beast, which designs him in his two-fold capacity as before; and as sitting on many waters, which is interpreted of people and nations; and she is described as a great whore by her dress and attire, by her fornication, filthiness and murder, all which exactly points at, and has been fulfilled in, the church of Rome." 66 And now who that considers these things, and observes the exact accomplishment of them, but will see abundant reason to believe, that what is said of the ruin of this Antichrist shall be performed; that the seven vials of God's wrath shall be poured out on the antichristian states; that the whore shall be burnt with fire; and that her seat, Rome, mystical Babylon, shall meet with the same fate, and the beast go into perdition; as is predicted? (Rev. xvI. 1, and XLII. 8, 16, and XVIII. 10.) The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." II. But, secondly, the verse containing the text foretels the increase of the kingdom of Christ in the latter day; which will be owing to the vast number of Gentiles that will be called, and to the conversion of the Jews. 1. Many and ancient are the prophecies concerning the calling of the Gentiles as that, when Shiloh should come, to him should be the gathering of the people-see Gen. XLIX. 10; Isaiah XI. 10; XLII. 6 and LX. 4, 5; of which, though we have had a partial completion, yet not a full one; but this we shall have when all kings and nations shall serve and worship him. 2. The conversion of the Jews as a nation will greatly tend to accomplish this. Their captivity in Egypt and Babylon, with their deliverance from each, have been foretold and fufilled. (See Gen. xv. 13, 14; Jer. xxv. 11 and XXIX. 10.) And their dispersion over the world, and this by means of enemies whose language they should not understand, are likewise foretold P in Deut. xxvIII. 20-68, at the distance of two thousand years, and have had their full accomplishment. But what is most surprising is, their continuance, notwithstanding all their afflictions, as a distinct people, down to the present times. (Lev. xxvI. 44; Jer. xxx. 2.) Several of the nations among whom they have been scattered have been, since that scattering, so mixed and confounded with other people, as that they cannot trace their original; as in Spain, France and England: yet these remain distinct! The reason of which is, evidently, that they may at their conversion be manifest to the world. Seeing then that all these things have been accomplished, we may be assured that what concerns their future restoration will likewise be fulfilled ;-see Hos. III. 5; Zech. XII. 10; 2 Cor. 111. 16; Rom. xi. 25, 26; Ezek. xxxvII. 21, 22.The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. 3. By the above means the Author thinks the kingdom of Christ will be set up in the world in great glory. The seven seals which he considers to have been opened, and the six trumpets which have been blown, he views as so many steps toward the prevalence of the kingdom of Christ in the world. The sixth seal he interprets of the conversion of the Roman empire from Paganism to Christianity, in the time of Constantine; but the glory was prevented by the worldly riches brought into the Church, which issued in corruption and apostasy; and this brought in the papacy, which now stands in the way of Christ's kingdom. The seventh seal opened brings in seven angels with seven trumpets to blow, six of which are blown already. The first four brought in the northern nations, viz, the Goths, Huns, Vandals, &c. into the western empire. These over-ran several countries, entered Italy, sacked and burnt Rome itself, (signified by the burning mountain,) and spread darkness and ignorance over all the empire, (designed by the smiting of the sun, moon and stars ;) and this broke it to pieces, and divided it into ten kingdoms, signified by the ten toes in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and by the ten horns in Daniel's vision. The fifth trumpet brought in Mahomet and his Saracens, the locusts, and the sixth trumpet the Turks, the four angels loosed at the river Euphrates, into the eastern empire, which set up a kingdom there that still continues. And now, since six of these trumpets have been blown, and the effects have followed predicted by them; why should we not most firmly believe, that the seventh trumpet will be blown, when the mystery of God will be finished; when the kingdoms of this world will become our Lord's; when he will take to himself his great power and reign; when he will destroy them that destroy the earth, and give a reward to his servants, and to all that fear his name: (Rev. x. 7 and x1. 15-18.) The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." And as, by the above events, the spiritual reign of Christ will take place in the world, so, by his second coming, the personal reign will be introduced and last a thousand years.* For since all things concerning his first advent were so completely fulfilled, what reason have we to doubt, "that he will appear the second time without sin unto salvation.' The angels at his ascension assured us he would; the apostle Paul declares he shall descend from heaven with the voice of the archangel; and he himself has said no less than three times-Behold I come quickly. Let us believe therefore that he will come and make all things new, produce new heavens and a new earth, set up his tabernacle among his people and dwell with them, and they reign with him. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this." By the zeal of the Lord we may understand both his indignation against his enemies, (for he puts on zeal as a cloak when he comes to take vengeance on them ;) and it may signify his fervent love and zeal of charity towards his people. By the one he is moved to destroy Antichrist, being jealous for his own honour; by the other he is prompted to deliver his friend and to exalt his Son, whose glory he likewise seeks. And being the Lord of hosts, and armies,-the creator of all the hosts of heaven, he has power to do all this and will assuredly perform. What has been said will serve greatly to support the credit of divine revelation. The sacred word will appear from hence to be indeed the word of God, and not the word of men. We may be assured the Scriptures are divinely inspired, and a sure word of prophecy : for what else could have foretold such numbers of events, which have been exactly fulfilled;-particularly what relates to Jews and Papists, who are two living and standing proofs of the truth of the divine revelation, which all the deists in the world are not able to set aside? Likewise, this may serve to encourage our faith, as to the performance of whatever has been spoken by the Lord; for if he performs all things for us in providence, (as he does for particular persons, as Job, David, and others,) then much more may we believe that he will perform all that he has said he will do for Him *The defectiveness of the Author's view on the subject of the spiritual reign has already been noticed in the note at page 58.-ED. |