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Howel Pt. 4.

P. 56, 57. See aljo p. 58.

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temperaturos jurarunt. Ita Roma Romanufque Ducatusa Gra-
cis ad Romanum Pontificem, propter nefandam eorum hærefin im-
pietatemque pervenit. Sigon. De Regn.Ital. A.D.724,726,727.
Luitprand having prepar'd all things beforehand for fo great an
Enterprize, Invades the Exarchate on a fudden, and lays Siege
to Ravenna, the Seat of the Governor. Paul, who at prefent,
by favour of Leo the Emperor held that place, we are told by Si-
'gonius, was very much furpriz'd, as from the highest profperity
being on a fudden caft down into the greatest difficulty. But there
was no fuch cause of his being furpriz'd, if we confider but what
the fame Author had related but a little before. He tells us in
many words, that Leo the Emperor being at odds with Gregory
the Roman Bishop, upon the account of Images, took several
* courses to make him away, and for that purpose fent Paul as Ex-
"arch into Italy who having once attempted it, but to no purpose,
the Emperor the following year fent him a Message that if he cou'd
not kill, yet he should remove him from his Office, and put another
in his room. &c. (as in Sigonius.) -This happen'd but the year
before the Siege of Ravenna: and therefore whether the Exarch
had reafon to be furpriz'd, or rather ought not to have expected
"Some fuch matter; and whether the Bishop of Rome, who had al-
ready join'd the Lombards with him, was not concern'd, we
leave the Reader to judge.

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But that the Popes call'd in the Franks to fubdue the Lombards; is too well known in Hiftory to need any particular Quotations and that the Popes alfo at laft, by abundance of Arts and Tricks, and Excommunications wearied out the Kings of Italy, and the Emperors, till they were forc'd to lose their Dominion there, and acquiefce, is too much the Subject of the History of several Centuries together to be call'd in question by any. And the pernicious and lafting Factions of Guelfes for the Pope, and Gibellines for the Emperors, are but too fad Monuments of that matter.

Corollary 2. Since alfo we have already afferted that St. Paul's Man of Sin is the fame with the Little Horn, or Second Beast, we are oblig'd to enquire into his Defcription and Characters, to fee whether they agree to the Pope and his Ecclefiaftical Hierarchy, as

upon a

bare read

well as the former defcriptions have done. And
ing of the Text, we shall easily find that it is the most clear and live-
ly defcription of that Antichriftian Preeminence of all the reft; and
the least wanting of any Illustration or Explication of all others.
The words are thefe..

Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Je- 2Theff. 2. 1. fus Chrift, and by our gathering together unto him,

2. That ye be not foon (baken in mind, or be troubled, neither by Spirit, nor by word, nor by Letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

3. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day fhall not come, except there come an apoftacy first, and that man of fin be revealed, the fon of perdition:

4. Who oppofeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; fo that he as God, fitteth in the temple of God, Phewing himself that he is God.

5. Remember ye not that when I was jet with you, I told you these things?

6. And now ye know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time.

7. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth, willlet, untill he be taken out of the way.

8. And then fall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lordfball confume with the Spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.

9. Even him whole coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and figns, and lying wonders.

10. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be faved.

11. And for this cause God fball send them frong delufions that they should believe a lie.

12. That they all might be damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

This defcription is fo lively and clear, that I look upon it fo far from needing any large Paraphrafe it felf, that it will ferve very well for a Paraphrafe on all the other Prophecies hereto relating. On which account, I cannot but wonder at our late

excellent

&c.

execilent Commentator Dr. Whitby, who allows the agreement of this description to that great Antichrift mention'd in the Revelation, and yet applys it to the Apoftacy of the Jews, either from the Romans, or from Christianity at this time, and fo expounds this day and coming of Christ, of the Destruction of Jerusalem only. I can't here ftand to confider his Arguments at large: and I Sealed Book Co- need not, because they are built on a great mistake,which I've alroll. 12 after ready corrected. I fhall only in fhort hint at a few Reasons, which the Preface. will thew his Expofition to be fufficiently unaccountable. (1.) What need of all this Sollicitude of St. Paul,to free himfelf from the fcandal of having affirm'd,that the destruction of Jerufalem was at hand, when the greateft part of that Generation was already past, Matt. xxiv. 34 within which yet our Saviour had exprefly afferted that Deftru&tion was to come; and when the Dr.allows that it was but 16 years then future at the writing of this Epiftle? (2.) How abfurd is it to interpret the agrola, or folemn coming of Chrift in the former Epiftle, nay in this Epiftle, and in the first verfe of this very Chapter, in the beginning of this very Difcourfe, of his coming to judgment at the laft day; and yet in the eight verfe to expound it of his coming to destroy Jerufalem only? efpecially when no example can be shown that ever St. Paul ufes that word in that acceptation; nay when 'tis very doubtful whether ever it be fo us'd in the whole New Teftament. (3.) How comes the Apostle to have fuch a concern to inform the Theffalonians, who were Act. xvij. 4. almost all Gentiles, of the Deftruction of Jerusalem in Judea, at a thousand Miles diftance? which was of little more confequence to them than the Destruction of any other Church or City in a remote Country. (4.) Lastly, How comes the Church of the Theffalonians to be in fuch a Confternation and Disturbance Oegan at the fuppofal that Jerufalem would foon be destroy'd: fince therein none but the unbelieving Jews, and the Enemies of Chrift were to perifh; and fince it was a place and City fo remote from them? I do not think that if we in England, were apprehenfive that theCity and Territory of Rome, was to be fo deftroy'd in a dozen or 16 years, that we should be in a great Confufion and Confternation thereupon,and want fuch pathetic Admonitions and Dehortations as the Apoftle ufes in the prefent cafe: which indeed are as folemn as almoft any

in the whole Bible, and can by no means refer to any other coming of our Saviour than that famous one fo often spoken of by this Apoftle, to fet up his Kingdom,and therein to Judge the World at the last day. But if it be ftill wonder'd at that St. Paul fhould here fay that the Mystery of Iniquity did already work in Ver.7. his time, I fay, It is not ftrange that one who knew that the great Man of Sin was to corrupt and fpoil the Purity of the Chriftian Religion, and turn the Mystery of Godliness into a Mystery of Iniquity; and who found already the beginning of fuch Mifchiefs creeping into the Church; and that in fome of the very fame points which Antichrift was to corrupt; looks upon fuch beginings of Antichriftianifm as Preludes, Preparations, and Forerunners of that grand Corruption to come afterward. And this is the obvious meaning of his words: which are almost the very fame with thofe of St. John, in all probability written after the Destruction of Jerufalem, and fo not capable of any fuch Evafion as is us'd here, as we shall fee prefently. And it must be obferv'd that fuch Expreffions came the more naturally from these Apoftles; because they knew not but the great Antichrift was to arife very foon afterward; as we have already Coroll. 1, & 2. at large obferv'd in the Second Part of this Essay.

led Book.

after the PreCorollary 3. Since we have therefore hinted at fome Expreffions face to the Seal in St. John, which feem to relate also to this great Antichrift, it will be fit not to pass them over upon this occafion. The words are thefe. Little children it is the last time: and as ye have heard 1 Joh. ij. 1 8. that antichrift fhall come, even now are there many antichrifts, whereby we know that it is the laft time. Who is a liar but Ver. 22. he that denyeth that Jefus is the Chrift? He is antichrift that denyeth the Father and the Son. Every fpirit which confeffeth Chap. iv. 3. not that Jefus Chrift is come in the flesh, is not of God: and this is that fpirit of antichrift whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world. Now in order to understand these words, to place this Epiftle before the DeftruEtion of Jerufalem, when on other accounts it appears to have been written after it; and to interpret Axess, the grand Antichrift of the Nation of the Jews in general; and mooi 'Artixes many Antichrifts of particular Seducers of that Nation with Dr. Whitby, feems to me a begging of the queftion, and not a little

abfurd.

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abfurd. Whereas without any fuch inconveniencies the whole may easily be thus Paraphras'd, q. d. The Age or Period we are now in, is certainly the last Age or Period of the World, the last days fo often spoken of by the Prophets. And this appears by the Preludes and Preparations for that great Antichrift, whofe Period belongs to this time, and is to last to the very conclufion of this Age; and " of whom you have fo often heard us difcourfing. For you may already fee many of his temper already corrupting and spoiling the 'pure Doctrine of Christianity, and fo by degrees making way for bim; which is an Indication that we are in those last days wherein "he is to appear. And indeed we have reason enough to believe the coming of fuch an Antichrift, or Oppofer of the true and pure ends of Chriftianity, when we already have those, who in effect deny their Saviour; and thereby deny in some fence the Father, which fent him. And fure every one of thefe may as well deferve the name of the Antichrift, the Oppofer of Chrift and his Religion, as even that famous Antichrift who is to come hereafter can do. fo that I think, notwithstanding Dr. Whitby's attempts to the contrary, both St. Paul and St. John do defcribe and hint to us the Same great Antichrift which we meet with in the Revelation; and if the Dr. had not wav'd the Explication of that Book, which affords fo much light to these places, he could hardly have avoided joining with us in our prefent Interpretation of them.

Scholium. 1. We having at the end of the defcription of the Second Beaft, or Antichrift in the Revelation, an Account of the Name of the First Beaft myftically hinted to us by its number 666. we cannot here omit to take notice of it. And indeed I find no better Conjecture hitherto about it than that which Irenaust himself, foon after the feeing of these Visions, fhrewdly fufpected to be it. viz. Aan. The Roman or Latin Empire; as diftinguish'd from the Greek, the Perfian, the Babylonian, or any other Empire. For as that name does by its Numeral Letters amount to just that Number fix hundred fixty fix, as

↑ Sed & LATEINOS nomen habet Sexcentorum fexaginta fex numerum; & valde verifimile eft quoniam noviffimum Regnum hoc habet vocabulum: Latini enim funt qui nunc regnant. p.449.

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