68 ~n ExPosiTioN ~ exprefs Time; the very definition which the. Philofophcr makes of Time, is, pAR 'f I. NHmertH fJIOtiH fecundum pri(H & prflerim: It IS the Number of 1\1.utioll. And ~ therefore ]ohannes Viterbienjis (in h_is Glofs upon _thi~ pla~e) plainly renders it thus ; Numerus eft illill! TempuJ; Thts hiS Number IS h1s T1me. Therefore fome havemade this Number to defign dut the Year of the Bea!rs beginning, or ·con– ·firmation in his Kingdom, iri the Year after Chrift, 666. But Number, when it is put to lignify Time, cloth not fo proper!y ligmfy . the begmnmg of tt, as the ending of it, when the Numq~r is finifh'd and made compleat, and cafi up (as I may fd fpeak ), for then his Time_is numbred; and the account of,it fum– med, and not before. And thereforeDaniel ( whofe phraf~ (as whofe Vilions) this Vi!ion in this qth Chapter exaCtly follows) ufeth th1s phrafe to note out the ending of the Time of a Kingdom, and not the Beginning, [thy Dap are >mmbred]. And (which is ftrange) lreneus himfelf, who was the firft that in– terpreted this 666, to contain_ the Numerali:eters of AoxT~Y@-, as the Name of this Latin Kmgdom, does wtthal feem to thmk, that the end of the T1mes of the Beaft, fhould in a Myftery be h1ddenly conramed, ( L.b.j. adver. Ha:rejes; towards the end of the Book) refert h1mc Numerum 666, ad fexies Millenos an– nos M11 ndi in quibus (ait) Diabolica malitia confom.mabitur. He miftakes indeed, referring it to the lixth Thou(and Year of tlie World, (according to the Old Tradition of the Rabbins, commonly tece1ved .among the Fathers) but yet in this he agrees that it fhould lignify the Time df the Confummation ~nd ending of the Beaft's Reign, and the Devil's Malice, as tHat which is to determine with the end of the World. And I obferve the Holy Ghofi puts an efpccial Wifdom on it, to reckon this Number; which if it had lain in Numeral Letters only; had been no great point of Wifdom to have fuch an Emphalis put upon it 3 the like whereof is uled but once more in this Book, and that in Ch•p. I 7· 9· when the Beaft, and the Time of his riling with the Ten Kings, is fet forth, as there, from the 9th to the 12thVerfe; and fo now here, when his Ending is fpoken of, for thisWifdom indeedlay in r~ckoning the Time of_his beginning with the Ten Kmgs: and fo the T1me of h1s Endmg; by compuung the whole Time of his Reign I 2 6o Years. The vulgar Computation of Years kept now in the World, is (as we all know) from theYear of Chrifi's Birth ; by an Ac– count from whi~h, we difference one Year from onother: And that is the Stile of the w~ole Chri(\ianWorld, to f:!y, luch a Year of our Lord, (reckoning from Chrtfl ). And th1s ComputatiOn IS called the NHmber of a M.;n, for it is the ordinary vulgar way of reckoning Years, and the meafure of Time ufed by Men : and therefore fo called, in that Man cloth ule fo to number the Years. E.ven as the meafure of the Wall of the City, Chap. n . I7. is faid to be I44 Cubits, according to the meafore of a Man; that is, the ordinary Cubits in ule with Men, or taken from the proportion of the mealure of Man's Stature. So here, fay they, the Beafi's Year of ending, when his Number fha!l be cornpleat will be in the Year, which, according to Man's Computation of the Years fro~ Chrift, fhall be ordinarily termed 666. Now the Number ofthe Thoufand is not mentioned,as in vulgar phrafe among theGreek!andHebrerVI,it feldom was,neither among other Nations_ isiwrdinarily ufed to this Day; we uling to fay,in 88,for I 588. And hereefpectally 1t was needlefs; for 1fh1s Number was to end in a Year which according to Man's account, fhould .be called 666, it could be no other' according to them, but that of I 666 after Chrift; for the Year 666 after Chrifr (which is paft) it coqld not be, there being not 2wof his Years (allowed him to continue) as then run out ; and in the Year o666, (to come) theYears al– lotted him, would have been well nigh doubly tun out ; his Years from his firft riling to this his ending being to be but I 260 Years. Now then,according to this their Account, fo as to e~d his Time in I666, hi; Time <;>f Riling muft begin in the Year 406 after Chnft; and that the Popes R1fe d1d about that Time be– gin, we are not alto~ether without the Holy Ghoft's Warrant, who tells U<, that the Ro'!'an ~mp~re (lea~ed at Rome) over the Weft, muft begin to beta– ken away, ere this Man of Sm co_uld be revealed, or corn~ up and appear in the World, 2 1heff. 2. 7, 8. . And lt was. the Weftern Emp1re which was that which letted, whereof Rome 1t felf was the Head and Seat ; and therefore the Holy ,
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