us, to be taken away from the evil to come, and to prevent, if God fees it good, those extremities of fuffering which are coming upon the world.

These seem now to be begun in fome part of it. They in our neighbour nation have a bitter cup put into their hands; a cup of aftonishment to all thofe that hear of it. Whether this be that last and extreme perfecution fpoken of here by St. John, I fhall not pretend pofitively to determine. It is plainly distinguished in the vifions, from that under the first beast, described Rev. xiii. from y 1. to y II.; and chap. xvii. there is a defcription of the beaft upon which the woman fitteth, on whofe forehead is a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT. And this beast is there faid to have feven heads and ten horns; which are thus explained by St. John, chap. xvii. 9. 10. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The feven heads are feven mountains, upon which the woman fitteth. And there are feven kings; that is, as is gene, rally agreed by interpreters, a fucceffion of feven governments; and y 12. 13. 14. And the ten horns which hou faweft, are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beaft. Thefe have one mind, and shall give their power and ftrength unto the beast; and fball make war with the Lamb: and y 18. And the woman which thou faweft, is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

So that this beaft is plainly the Roman empire: and the woman that fitteth upon her, is the great city ftanding upon feven mountains, which reigneth over the kings of the earth which can be no other than Rome; as is agreed by interpreters on all fides. Bellarmine (l. 2. c. 2. de Rom. Pontif.) confeffeth, that St. John in the Revelations every where calleth Rome Babylon; as Tertullian, faith he, hath noted; and as is plain from chap. xvii. where Babylon is faid to be feated on feven mountains, and to have dominion over the kings of the earth; there be, ing no other city than Rome, which in the time of St. John had dominion over the kings of the earth and that Rome was built upon feven hills, is famous. Thus much Bellarmine acknowledgeth, conftrained by the force of truth; and for another fmall reafon, namely, because St. Peter writes his first epistle from Babylon; by which,

VOL. IV.

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if Rome be not meant, they have no proof from fcripture that St. Peter was ever there.

Indeed they of the church of Rome would have it to be only Rome Pagan. But that cannot be; because this beaft, after his last head was wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, had power given him to continue two and forty months, or, as it is elfewhere expreffed, twelve hundred and fixty days, that is, in the prophetick ftyle, fo many years; and likewife because it was not to begin till the ten kingdoms, into which the Roman empire upon its diffolution was divided, were fet up, which was not till after the Western empire was overthrown and deftroyed by the Goths and Vandals; and, laftly, because this is that Rome or Babylon, which should finally be deftroyed, and caft as a milftone into the bottom of the fea, never to rife again; which is yet to come. And of this beaft it is faid, that he fhould make war with the faints, and overcome them, chap. xiii. 7.; that is, that he should raife a long and great perfecution against them, which fhould try their faith and patience: y 10. Here is the patience and the faith of the faints. The beaft then with ten horns mult be Rome, governing the ten kingdoms, into which the Roman empire was broken; and this can be nothing else but Rome Papal, to which the ten kings are faid to give their power, and to which they were in a most fervile manner fubject for feveral ages; as is plain from history.

And to confirm this, it is very obfervable, that the ancient fathers generally agree, that that which hindered the revealing of the wicked one, spoken of by St. Paul, 2 Theff. ii. 7. 8. was the Roman empire; and that being removed, the man of fin, or antichrift, was to fucceed in its room. I fhall produce a few teftimonies to this purpose, but very remarkable ones. Tertullian, expounding what St. Paul means by him that with-holdeth or letteth, hath these words: Quis nifi Romanus ftatus, &c. "Who is that but the Roman ftate, which, being bro"ken into ten Kings, fhall bring on antichrift? and then "the wicked one fhall be revealed." And in his Apology, he gives this reason why the Chriftians fhould pray for the Roman Emperors, and the whole state of the empire; "because the greatest mischief hanging over the "world,

"world, is hindered by the continuance of it." St. Chryfoftom speaking of that which hinders the revelation of the man of fin: "This (fays he) can be no other than "the Roman empire: for as long as that ftands, he "dares not fhew himself; but upon the vacancy or cea<< fing of that, he fhall affume to himself both the power "of God and man." St. Austin, in his book De civit. "No man (fays he) doubts, but that the fucceffor to the Roman Emperor in Rome fhall be the man of ❝ fin; and we know who hath fucceeded him.

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But now, after this, another beast is reprefented coming out of the earth; not fucceeding in the place of the first beaft, but appearing during his continuance, y12.; and he hath thefe remarkable characters by which he may be known.

1. He is faid to have but two horns; by which (according to the interpretation of the ten horns, fignifying the ten kingdoms, into which the Roman empire, after its diffolution, fhould be divided) we are in all reafon to understand two of thefe kingdoms, of which this beaft, whoever he be, fhall be poffeffed.

2. He is faid to be like a lamb, but to Speak like a dragon; that is, to pretend and make a fhew of great lenity and mildness in his proceedings, but that really he fhall be very cruel. It fhall be pretended, that he does all without violence, and without arms; but he fhall Speak as a dragon: that is, in truth fhall exercife great force and cruelty; either alluding to the cruelty of the dragon, literally fo called; or perhaps prophetically, pointing at a particular fort of armed foldiers, called by that name of dragons; or, as we, according to the French pronunciation, call them dragoons.

3. He fhall arife during the continuance of the first beaft, and engage in his caufe; but the first beast hall only stand by, and look on: y 12. And he exercifeth all the power of the first beast before him, and caufeth the earth, and them that dwell therein, to worship the beast, whofe deadly wound was healed; plainly declaring, that this perfecution fhould not immediately arife from the first beast, which is faid to come out of the fea, which in this prophecy denotes the ftate ecclefiaftical; but from the fecond beast, which comes out of the earth, and denotes the temporal power. But yet, all this ought to be Hh2

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Ser.80. acted in the fight of the first beast, and in his behalf, to compel men to worship him.

4. That he shall be remarkable for caufing fire to come down from heaven to earth in a wonderful manner, to the great terror and amazement of men: y 13. And he doth great wonders; so that he maketh fire to come down from heaven on the earth, in the fight of men.

5. That he would interdict all thofe who would not worship the beast, all commerce with human fociety, the exercife of civil trades and profeffions: y 17. And he caufeth, that no man might buy or fell, fave he that had the mark of the beaft.

6. and laftly, (which feems to be the most peculiar and characteristical note of all the reft), That his number fhould be fix hundred threescore and fix; that is, (as most of the ancients understand it), that the numeral letters of a certain word or name fhould, being computed, amount to that number. And it is exprefsly faid to be the number of a man, y 18. Let him that hath underftanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man. And, in the verse before, it is faid to be the number of his name.

Now, to whom all these characters do agree, and efpecially the laft, concerning the number of his name, I fhall not prefume to conjecture; much lefs pofitively to determine, whether he be now in being; because it is faid to require a particular wisdom and understanding to find it out: Here is wisdom. Let him that hath underftanding, count the number of the beaft. However, the event, when the thing is fully accomplished, will clearly difcover it. Thus much is certain, that this extreme perfecution, whenever it fhall be, will forerun the final deftruction of Babylon, which will not then be far off. And concerning this it is that St. John fpeaks, chap. xiv. 12. when he fays, Here is the patience of the faints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jefus and then he immediately adds, as it is in the text, And I heard a voice from heaven, faying unto me, Write, Bleffed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth: Yea, faith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do accompany them. Thus much may fuffice to have been spoken on this text.

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LXXXI.

The vanity and wickedness of honouring dead faints, and perfecuting the living.

Preached on All-Saints day.

LUKE xi. 49. 50. 51.

Therefore also faid the wisdom of God, I will fend them prophets and apoftles, and fome of them they shall flay and perfecute: that the blood of all the prophets which was hed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I fay unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

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HE latter part of this chapter is a very sharp, but juft invective, made by our Saviour against the hypocrify of the fcribes and Pharifees; of which he gives many inftances; and this, among the reft, for one, that they pretended a great honour and refpect for the righteous men and prophets of former ages, whom their fathers had perfecuted and flain; but yet were of the fame fpirit and temper, and as ready to perfecute good men as their fathers were. They raised indeed ftately monuments to the memory of thofe faints and martyrs, and adorned them with great art and cost, and it is likely made a great fhew of esteem and veneration for them but all this while they were of the fame difpofition with their fathers, and bare the fame implacable hatred and malice againft the prophets and righteous men who then lived among them, yea against that great Prophet whom God had fent into the world, Jefus the Son of God, which their fathers did againft the good men of their times. And though they difclaimed the wickedness and cruelty of their fathers, with never fo much zeal and vehemency; yet, for all that, they were ready

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