C AP.17. ÁT evelatiof oftheApocalypfe. 579 This Article container in it both the healingof the wound by !u- f inian and Phocas, as alto his uprifing out of the Earth by Gregory the fecond, , of both which we have fpoken, Chap. 13. 3. i i. and I I. 7. andy. 2. I I. This Gregory exercifed that power, which his ance(l:ors had obtained from the Emperoter,yea far greater,bcing,be- come not only an univerfall Birop, but alfo a Soveraign commander of all commanders diatatorlihe, one that could give and take away the Empire at his pleafure. It is enough tonote out the fait begin- nings ofmatters in this place; we have (hewed elfewhere whowas the firft Pope that conferred upon men the name of the Emperour o- ver the Weftern people. Then therefore did the Beaft plunge upout of the Pit, when the Popes hadgotten this earthlypower to themlelves, as we have fhewed,Chap.13.11. Which earthhe calleth the bottom- leffe Tit here,as it is alto called elsewhere as Pfal. 71. 2o. Thou ma- k;,ft me to arife out of thebottomlefe places of the earth; and fo much of the third time. Thefourth is, be (hallgo into deftrultion, which teacheth that this new revived dignity (hall not remain for ever, but that it is to be di minifhed by little and little,and to bewafted leifurely, till it bequite extinguished at length; as we have heard before in the fecond chap- ter that Ietabcll theparamour of this Beafi,lay tick and languishing with an incurable consumption, even as we fee at this das', it is come toFa(fe both in Tome and in the Pope, but their funeral! and exequies remaine to be kept as yet, and this Revelation will teach us after- wards, at what time that (ball be. Thefe are the foure notable chan- ges, by observing of which the Beaft might be clearly known of men that are not wilfully blinde, as out of which we have a mofb prong argument both ofthe time When Rome is the Whore, and of the perfon of Antichrif . For that City is the Whore, wherein Antichrift raigneth, that is, the Beaft Which Was,Which Was not,Which afcendedout ofthe deepe,and WhichJhall ÿo into desruétion. But Rome is the City wherein from the time of Confiantine thegreat, the Pope r ignedMichWas, which Was not, which rofe up oat ofthe deep, and(hall gee into deftruilion. Therfore Rome is the whore from Conftantines time, and the Pope ofRome is the Beall and Antichrif from the fame time, in whom we fee all these changes to be at this day, as far as it can be, while he is not quite carried away out of this world, ,into the bottomlefhe Pit ofHell,from whence he carne; whence we conclude that it is not tobe doubted,but that he is that adverfarr., that maa of. Scene,` That great
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