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Hom. 10.

in Hexaëm. Lib. II.

Cap. 18.

?n. 49. So does alfo Anaftafius Sinaita ** Gregory mentioning that afore-cited en. 49. fays, That Antichrift fhall come Biblioth. it of the Tribe of Dan; for which reafon, Patrum. ys he, in the Divifion of the Camp of Tom. I. rael, Dan pitched firft towards the North, Lib. 31. in Job, hereby to fignifie him who faid in his deart, I will afcend into the Sides of the North, will be like the most High, Ifa. 14. 13. of whom also another Prophet fpake, faying, The Snorting of his Horfes fhall be heard from Dan, Jer. 8. 16. And this I think is fairly inted in the Prophecy of Jacob, Gen. 49, 7. Dan is a Serpent in the way, biting the Horfes Heels, that the Rider shall fall backward which when he had faid, pointing at Antichrift, he adds, by way of Confidence in the Promifes and Mercies of God, I have waited for thy Salvation, O Lord! i. e. The Coming of the Meffiah, Luke 2. 30. as if he had faid, Dan, out of thee fhall arife the laft and greatest Enemy of the Church of God; but this is my Confolation, that the Meffiah fhall come upon thee and deftroy thee, and bring Salvation unto Ifrael, and unto the Ends of the Earth. And this the Jews are fo fully perfuaded of, that Ben-Dan, or a Son of Dan, is a proverbial Expreffion amongst them, to fignifie a notorious Villain, or Murderer, as David de Pomis obferves in his Lexicon upon the Word Dan. $10. As for the Stature, Shape and Fea- of his In tures of his Perfon, his Education in his fancy. Infancy, . which have been with great Confidence defcribed by fome Writers of

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the

The Region where he Shall first appear.

the middle and later Ages, I fhall omit them as things that have no footsteps in Scripture (excepting only Dan. 8. 23. capable of divers Constructions) nor Primitive Antiquity; and fhall only obferve, that as it is recorded of our Lord Jefus Chrift, Luke 2. 52. that from his Childhood be encreafed in Wisdom, and Stature, and Favour both with God and Man; fo it is highly probable that Antichrift, during his Minority, fhall be continually improving in Magical Diabolical Arts, and converfe with Evil Spirits, by which he fhall be accomplifhed and fully inftructed for the great Work which he is to do.

SII. As for the Place of his Birth, there are Reafons (tho' not equally convincing to all) why we may think he fhall be born in the East, tho' his firft Appearance may be in the West. But that not being very clear, we fhall pafs on to confider what St. John fays of him, Apoc. Chap. 13. that he fhall arife out of the Sea (for of him * Lib. 5. that Place is interpreted by Irenæus *) by Cap. 28. which, upon a two-fold Account, we are to underftand the Weft. First, Because the Sea, and the Ifles of the Sea, have been conftantly fo understood by the few's: And, 2dly, Becaufe it agrees with the Prophecy of Daniel, that he fhall arife out of the Ten Horns of the fourth Beaft; that is, the Roman or Western Empire. The Region of the Western Empire, from whence he fhall come, is the North as appears by comparing Jer. 4. 6. and Joel 2. 20. Joel 1. 2. 2.2. Matth.

Is not France likely to be the Country?

Matth. 24. 21. not to mention many other Places, for the fame Reasons probably that were mentioned Part I. that Region being more particularly expreffive of the Vengeance and Judgment of God.

12. A his firft Appearance in the His first World he fhall (as we obferved before) Appear. feem to be very Religious, Wife, Tempe- World and ance in the rate and Peaceable, fo fays Cyrill *,by thefe Conqueft of counterfeit Virtues, joined with the great the Ten Powers of Magical Knowledge, he shall Kings. (fays he) deceive the World, especially the Cat. 15. $5. Jews, (who according to the line of Time, fhall then begin to expect their Meffiah and Redeemer) into an Opinion that he is the very Chrift. Upon which (fays Hippolytus aforecited,) they fhall offer to make him their King, which he fhall craftily refufe, but they fhall force him to accept it. Here then we find him invested in the Royalty and Majefty of a Kingdom, to whom by degrees fhall be gathered from all parts thofe whofe Iniquities are full, and who are qualified for a nearer converfe with him, by partaking of his Magical Power, which he, (in imitation of our Bleffed Lord's fhedding forth his Spirit upon his Difciples) fhall probably impart to fome felect Followers, as the First Fruits, to be as Head Powers and Rulers of his Magical Army defcribed by Joel, Nahum, &c. as I fhall prove, of which they fhall all be in a lefs degree Partakers. Now it is probable that the first Act of Power that he fhall perform, fhall be revenging upon Rome,(which is Ba

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bylon,

bylon, fay the Reformed Commentators) the Ancient Ruines of Jerufalem, at the Inftiga

tion of the Jews his Followers. This is the *P. 439. Opinion of Irenæus. * and Hippolytus, 1.23:449.5 56..and to this both of them apply the 2.7. Parable of the Unjuft Judge that feared not

God, neither regarded man, to whom the Widow, that is, the Earthly Jerusalem applied her felf, entreating him to avenge her of her Adverfary, meaning Rome, which he accordingly did. The Manner, in which he fhall punish her, is thought to be that he shall invade the ten Kings, into whofe Hands the broken and divided Power of the Roman Empire fhall be delivered. These had not received a Kingdom at the writing this Prophecy. Rev. 17. 12. but Shall receive Power as Kings one hour, (or in the fame hour or time) with the Beast. We are not therefore to imagine that by the Roman Empire is to be understood the Empire as it was, then, or as it is now, but as it fhall be at that time when the Beaft or Antichrift fhall arife, plainly alfo intimated to be the laft Kings by being called Toes, Dan. 2. 41. Three of thefe Kings Antichrift fhall fet upon and overcome, and they fhall fubmit to him, Dan. 7. 24. And the reft being afrighted fhall give up their Kingdoms and Authority to him. Whence St. John fays of them all, that they have one mind, and give their Strength and Power to the Beast. Rev. 17. 13. Because the first three fubmitted by Force, the other feven through Fear: Thefe he fhall make his Executioners

cutioners to punish the Romans by making them Slaves and Vaffals, and deftroying their Polity, and bringing them into fo fevere a Condition, as may be understood by making her defolate and naked, and eating her Flesh and burning her with Fire. * Which Expreffion of burning her with Fire Vid. Ibidh may perhaps have a particular regard to the Manner of befieging her, viz. by bombard ing her. Rev. 17. 16. Which is not to be understood of the utter Deftruction of the City, for that is to continue till the pouring forth of the last Vial, when it will perifh in the great Earthquake that precedes or accompanies the Deftruction of Antichrift; and fo far even the Roman Catholick Writers agree, that Antichrift fhall deftroy Rome, though none of them say he fhall doe it in Perfon. Which when he has done, it is not improbable that he fhall receive Divine Homage and Worfhip, perhaps in the very Cathedral of St. Peter. Even as Mahomet II. when he had taken Conftan tinople and entred it in Triumph, placed himself blafphemously upon the Altar of St. Sophia, to receive a fort of Divine Worfhip from his military Slaves. And this will feem more likely when we fhall confider what Effects fuch a Conqueft will have upon the Minds of his Followers, who shall fee him Triumphant in that City where once Religion flourished gloriously, and in which at this time, there is more of the Pomp and external Grandeur of the (fo called) Chriftian Church to be seen than

any

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