Ch. 13. The Number of Reve and Worship;. fame (as Mr. Potter) make it thé member of 25, as the fquare Root of666, and he largely tells us how many ways it fiiteth Rome. But how is this number of 25 receiv'd as a badge by Reprobates? Some fay, that Pa- triirchal and Metropolitan (and fuch-like) Ido- laters and Perfecutors are the Image of Papacy, and that PERJURY is the mark of the BeaR, who by falle Oaths bindeth;all to him, and to his Prelates, fo that whoever will not be per. jur'd by falle and wicked Oaths, are not re- ceiv'd into his Church, nor toleratedby them. And I-read not in Hiftory that ever any Party on Earth did fo long and fo violently bind men by wicked Oaths, and involve all forts in hei- nous Perjury, as the Popeattd his Prelates have long done and do. Abbot T1/fergenfis lament- eth it in hisdays, that Priefts and People were commonly involv'd in Perjury. Swear orfuffer is their Law, and when Iutereft requireth it; unfwearin"and for'fwearing is as violently im- pófed, and whole Countries abfolv'd from their Oaths to their Sovereigns. Perjury, Perfsdiouf- refs' and Perfecurion Teem to be the mark ofthe Papal Dominion; And (as my,old fellowMini. fler in the faine Congregation) Mr. Nath. Ste. phena faith, Thename of theBeaft feemeth liken to behis aoesm'd Power, or pretended Authari. ty, to which it is that he maketh all to fwear: And the Oath or Subjection is not to the Nom. Ger, but to the Power orPerfons mark'd by that Number; the Number being but the Name abbreviated, and the' Name the notification of the Party or Policy to which men content. But Mr. N. Stephens thinks that 666 is the time between the beginningof the Roman Mo- narchy, according to Daniel's computation as.it relpepted the Church,inPompey's time, and the rifeofAutichriR, which he thinks was in 666, (.Anne Dom.) and fo is juil 666 years: for he taketh (as many others do) the title ofVniver- fal Rift], given toBoniface the third, by Phocae, to let up Antichrift firl ; and the antecedent Fall of the RemanEmpire to be that by the Garhs,&e. but :I am pan doubt, that neither wicked Planeen nor Boniface themf°lves didmean that the Univerlalityfhould extend over all the World, but only over the Empire; for what pretence couldPlane& have to give power or titles to his Sttbjeíts, to rule in all Princes Do- minions on Earth ? They only meant that he ,fhould be before the Bithop of Conftaneinop/e, --the prime Biffop in theTiniverfal Empire; and that Leo challeng'd before Phacai a but the -claim of governing all the World eame.up by degrees long after both, and it was about 700 years before the Popes cart off theirSubjehión to Emperors and Kings. On the other fide, thole that appropriate all this to Heathen Rome, are not of one mind. Some take ahe.Beaft to be the Heathen Wor(hip as it Rood at Rome, and the Roman Empire flip. latfot. the ;Bed!. Ch. 13 porting it, to be reprefented by leven Heads, that is, particular Emperors or Hills, and the tenHorns to be ten confederate Kings,and Ti butary : And that Dámitian is'fpeciallymeant, ás a Pelf- idolizing Blafphemer and Perfecutor, for threeyears and a half; and that the Magick Auguries and Oracles are the fecond Beaft, and 'fpecially ,Apollonim : That the Image is the Idol-wgrfhip let up in the reEof the Empire in imitation of Rome: And all were compell'd to bear Tome Markof their God, or his Name, or Come Numeral Letters figeifying_his Name, branded on them, but that it being not reveal'd then what there Letters liignifie, k e, it can. not be known now, fave that it was a difcrimi- nating Note receiv'd by Come, and not by o- thers. But others think thatVefpafian was the Reali and Antichrifi, T. Becaufe Tome fooliflt 7eoais took him ( asthey had done Herod) at firft to be the Mefah. a.Becaufe he aufwer'd tointiac. Spiph. who before him violated and-.profnd the ,Temple andWorlhip. 3. Becaufe Chrift feetn'd to lead them to that interpretation, Matt. r.24, by affimulating the cafe to that in Daniel. 4. Becaufe he was laid to work Miracles, to cure a blind man, &c. t. Becaufe he fo de- ftroy'd the leered Nation, and inflav'd the re- mainder ; which the Chriftians were fir from rejoycitag in, being Rill much inclirid to the honour of jerufalem, atad thinking that a glo- riousThrone ofChrift was there to,be ereoled, and grieving for them, as Paul did, Rom. io, & r r. 6. And thefe gather the name front the Letters of Teiras,, as if Pities had been fo call'd by allufion toTitan. AndHefycbius faith, that Than was to be written as of old TH7áv, as containing the number of666. Others rather lay the Name and Mark on all the Heathen Emperors, as Idolaters and Perle- tutors, or Enemies at lean to Chriftians. And r. Theymay well prove that it was very ordii nary with them to ufurp Come degree of Deity while they liv'd, or to be Deified by the Se. nate or their Succeflòrs when they were dead, and to have Altars ereótedto or for them, and Sacrifices offer'd accordingly. Of .Augrafias himfelf there is full Evidence, Virgil and Horarr Deifie him, andmentionhis devoted Sacrifices and Altars. So Both Ye/arises Maximus invo- cate Tiberius, and Properties calls him God, Claudius is cadDivus in an old Monument. TheCelf-deifyingof Caius, Caligula and Domi- tian is commonly known. It is no wonder that the great worth of the .Antonines,'fpecial- ly M..Aurel. Philofophus, made the Romans Deifie himwhen he was dead, and would have 'döne lo, for his fake, by his Succeffors of the ..AntonineRace, had not they, by the inhumane VillaniesofCommodue and Heliagabalsaa ching'd their ynptds, -( tho' ,Antosine accepted not this while he 1iy'd). Many Emperors prefum'd to Deifie
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