Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BS2096.A1 1701 .P3

Ch. r 3. The Bee" with Revelation. Setieñ Heads, &c, Ch. r I was the healingof it, To .wander oiler him' is, to follow him in blind Devotion, 4. And they worfhipped the dra- gon which gave power unto the beaft, and they worshipped the beaft, fayin4, Who is like unto the beaft ? who Is able to make war with "him ? 4. That is, fay force, they worfltip the De_ vil, under the name of Heathen Gods, for ma- king their Empire fo great, and repairing the Wound oftheir Religion. Say others, They honoúr'd and ferv'd the Papacy, and hire that erected it, thinking it had been God, when it w s the Devil, admiring theSaiedtity and Power of the Papacy. 5. And there was given unto him a mouth fpeaking great things, and blafphenüs ; and power was given tento hint to continue forty and two Months. s. This the Ancients expound of an Anti- thrift not yet come: and others, ofDcmitian; And others, of tilt: Pope. give againít each other, Teem ftronger that' the affertive Reafons ofeither fide, of which many Volumes are written. Some fry, that the (even Heads are 'even Kings, which went im- mediately before Antichrift ; and that the name of Blafphemy is, fay fòme, the Titles given the Pope, (as God, and Vniverfal Head or Bi- fbop, and Chrifl'sVniverfalVicar, that can for- give Sin, and bring Souls from Purgatory, be.) Or,,as others, his Idolatry. 2. And the beaft which I faw was like unto a leepard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion : and the dragon gave himhis power, . and his feat, and great authority. 2. The Leopard was theType of the Greeks, She Bear of the Perfians, and the Lyon of the .6'ab5lonians; and all are let together to fignifie the cruelty of the fìrft Beat}, and variety ofits Exercife. This was the Heathen Idolatry, as exercifed by Dominian, be. fay fame, to which Sat n made the Imperial Power to contribute is utmoft elp. Or, as others, it was the. Pa- pal Idolatry and Cruelty, which Satan now 6 And he opened his mouth in propagated by Chriftian Names and Pretences, blafphemy againft God, to blafpheme as before he had promoted the like in the name his name, and his tabernacle, and them pfHeathens Gods. that dwell to heaven. 3. And I faw 'oneof his head;, as it 6. Say fame, He blarphem'd the true God were wounded to death, and his dead- ànd chi;It diee&ly, (that is, Damitian perfect!. Iv wound was healed : and all the tin! Chriftians.) Say others, 'cis the Papal world wondered after the beaft. B1Tphemy by bftantiation, Ima a-wor- ihip, arrogating God's Prerogatives,perfecuting 3. To pars by thole that expound this ofthe them that obey his Word, etc. Son of eafroe King of Perfia, Ilene take it fear 7. And it was given unto him to the burningof the Capitol at Rome, the head make war with the faints,'and fo ever- Temple of Idols, either in t teliius's Stirs,when after Pefßafian rebuilt it ; or in miss's Reign, come them : and power Wasgiven him when, being burnt by Lightning, Dominan re- over all kindreds, and tongues, and built ir. But it feemeth unlikely, that all this nations. should be fpoken of fo fmall a matter as a Tern. ple. Othersexpound it of theTacking and ta- e Thafé that take the firf} Beall a Saracen Man g homer ltimfèlf, with his .ifrabian kingof flame five times in forty two years, by the Goths and Vandals ; and the recovery by Ya¡linian, and Belifarisss, and Zharfes. The molt Learned Proteftants fay, the deadly Wound of the Beaft was, the Overthrow Of the Heathen, Roman, Religion and Power ; but what the healing was, is theDoubt : yulian's Cure was too :heft to be meant 4molt think that the very ere#ing of the Papacy is meant, ac rcfto-. ring Devilifm or Idolatry under the Christian naine. Other Protcftauts think that the many Schifies in the Papacy was the deadly Wound, and that it was heal'd by the Councils of Con- fiance and Bafil. And others think, that the Reformation gave the Pope the Wound, and Oat the Revolt to Popery in France, by. Henry the Fourth in Englandby Queén Mar inGer- many, by the Overthrow órthe pair, r eve, t c. owers; and the fecond to be the TurkifhMa- 1emetans s do eafily tell when and how thé Saints were overcome, and Nations fubje6led to him. But feveral ObjeDions lie againft Cilia, and fo there do ag;ainit thole that apply it to Dominion : And way it may not more plaufihly be applied to Tome following Perfecu_tors, efpe_ daily Diocletii,an, I fee not yet. But that it is meant ofthe Papal Tyranny, is the moreeafily heliev'd by many that know the truth of the Hiftory, that all the ten Heathen Perfecutions fet together, were a little thing, rompar'd eh the Papal Bloodfhed. Mede truly tells us, that P.erien reporreth, (anddivers fecond him) that in France alone a million of the ..eltigenfer and 6 aldenRs were kill'd 5 and thatSanders, de Vif. Man 1. 6. dem. 34, confeffeth, , that infinite Latlardswere burnt in Europa ; and that Verge rias,

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