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Chap. VIII

In the language of Prophesy Beasts & Birds are put for nations & kingdoms & their several parts for the analogous parts of the kingdoms: as their heads for the governing parts, their horns for the military powers, their wings for the armies & governments which they streach over nations, their bodies for the common people, their flesh for the riches, their bones for the fortified cities & strong holds, their teeth nails & hoofs for bands of soldiers, such as are Legions & Regiments, the number of the heads horns or wings of any Beast for the number of governments dominions & particular kingdoms in that Beast, & the life of the Beast for the continuance of the nation even after its dominion is taken away. And because shortlived Beasts are put for long lived kingdoms, the days of the Beasts are put for the yeares of the kingdoms.

The four Empires are represented by Daniel in two several Visions, the first of which is Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the Image composed of four metalls. In expounding this, Daniel tells us that the golden head, the silver breast, the brazen belly & thighs, & the iron leggs signify four successive kingdoms whereof the first is that of Babylon. Thou o king, saith he to Nebuchadnessar, art king of kings, for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom power & strength & glory & wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the feild & the fowls of the heaven [that is the kingdoms of the world] hath he given into thine hand & hath made the ruler over them all: Thou art this head of gold. And after thee [that is, after thy kingdom] shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee [the Persian] & another third kingdom of brass [the Greecian] which shall beare rule over all the earth, & the fourth kingdom [the Roman] shall be strong as iron forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces & subdueth all things. – And whereas thow sawest the feet & toes part of potters clay & part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided but there shall be in it of the strength of iron – & as the toes of the feet were part of iron & part of clay so the kingdom shall be partly strong & partly broken,

The other is Daniels vision of the four Beasts, & in expounding this Daniel tells us that the Lion, the Bear, the Leopard & the dreadfull terrible & exceedingly strong ten horned Beast which arose successively out of the great sea, are four kingdoms which shall arise out of the earth. And all interpreters agree that these kingdoms are the same with those signified by the four parts of the Image, the ten horns of the fourth beast answering to the <2r> ten toes of the iron leggs, & the everlasting kingdom of the son of man which reigns after the four Beasts & is over all nations & shall not pass away (Dan. VII.14) answering to the stone which smote the Image upon its feet & brake it to pieces & became a great mountain & filled the earth & signifies a kingdom which God shall set up & which shall break in pieces & consume the former kingdoms & not be left to other people but stand for ever. Dan. II.44, 45.

The Greeks & Latines recconed the great Empires of the world in this order; the Assyrian, the Medic, the Persian, the Grecian & the Roman. If with Daniel we omit the Assyrian the four great Empires will be the Medic, the Persian, the Grecian & the Roman. The Medic & Babylonian arose together out of the Assyrian Empire & were contemporary, & being brothers & twins may either of them or both together be taken for the first of the four Empires. In the vision of the Ram & He-Goat Daniel reccons the Medic in the first place & the Persian in the second putting the Rams two horns for those two Empires. In the vision of the Image Daniel puts the Babylonian in the first place saying to Nebuchadnezzar; Thou art this head of gold. In the vision of the four Beasts Daniel seems to represent both together by the first Beast with two Eagles wings. For the wings of a Beast represent the kingdoms of which the Beast is composed, as is manifest by the four wings of the Leopard.

The first Beast, saith Daniel, was like a Lion [magnanimous & strong] & had eagles wings, stretching out its dominion over two large kingdoms the Babylonian & the Medic. And I beheld, saith Daniel, till the wings thereof were pluckt, that is, till its dominion was taken away. And then it was not slain but only fell down from that exalted state of glory in which its kings were worshipped as Gods, & being below on the earth it was lifted up [before] & made to stand on its [hinder] feet as a man & a mans heart was given unto it. Its life was therefore prolonged after its dominion was taken away.

The second Beast which was like a Bear, raised it self up on one side to signify that it arose by raising one part of its people above the other, the Persians above the Medes. And it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it, as if it was eating them that is Sardes Babylon & Memphys the three imperial fenced cities of the conquered kingdoms of Lydia Babylonia & Egypt. These it had in its mouth to distinguish them from its proper body. And they said unto it, Arise devour much flesh, that is, devour the flesh upon the ribs, or the riches of the three kingdoms. For the Medes & Persians were poor people & fared hardly & were cloathed in leather untill they conquered those three rich & flourishing kingdoms, whereby they grew very rich; as Daniel notes also in another Prophesy, saying that the fourth king of Persia shall be far richer then all the former & by his power through his riches he shall stirr up all against the realm of Greece.

The third Beast was like a Leopard (nimble & fierce) & had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl. The Beast had also four heads, & <3r> dominion was given to it. It was therefore the Empire of the Greeks which after the reign of Alexander the great & his sons, brake into four great kingdoms to the four winds of heaven (Dan. XI.4) which kingdoms are here represented by the four wings & four heads of this Beast.

The fourth Beast was therefore the Empire which reigned next after the Greeks & subdued them. This Beast was dreadfull & terrible & strong exceedingly & had great iron teeth & nails of brass & devoured the whole earth & trode it down & brake it in pieces, & therefore it was the biggest the strongest & the most warlike of all the Empires: & such was the Roman. This Beast was divers from all the former kingdoms. They were governed by kings this by a Senate & Consuls. And it had ten horns in its head, & the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kingdoms which shall arise. This fourth beast is properly the Empire of the Latines . For all the four Beasts are still in being. The three first had their dominions taken away by the Beasts which rose up next after them, but their lives were prolonged. The Lion had a mans heart given to it & is still the nations of Babylonia & Media. The Bear is still the nations of Persia. The Leopard is still the nations of Greece Asia minor Egypt & Syria, and the nations of the Roman Empire on this side Greece are the proper body of the fourth Beast. This Beast trode down the nations represented by the third Beast & stamped upon them & reigned over them till the building of Constantinople & the erecting of the Constantinopolitan Empire: & as the second Beast had three ribs in his mouth to distinguish his conquests from his proper body so the nations of the former Empires conquered by the fourth Beast are to be distinguished from the proper body of that Beast. Now that Beast upon the erecting of the Constantinopolitan empire being separated from the nations of the other Beast which he had trode down & conquered, reigned alone in the west & there brake into ten kingdoms A.C. 408 & 409 as we shewed above, & these kingdoms are its ten horns.

Now Daniel considered the horns & behold there came up among them another little horn before whom there were three of the first horns pluckt up by the roots & behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man & a mouth speaking great things & its look was more stout then its fellows, & it made war with the saints & prevailed against them. And one that stood by & made Daniel know the <4r> interpretation of these things told him that the ten horns were ten kings that should arise & another [king] should arise after them & be divers from the first [kings] & subdue three kings & speak great words against the most High & wear out the saints & think to change times & laws & that [after he had subdued the three kings] they should be given into his hand for a time times & half a time. This little horn in being numbred amongst the other horns & called a king must be a little kingdom: for by horns & kings Daniel understands kingdoms. But it was of a different kind from the other ten kingdoms having a life or soul peculiar to it self with eyes & a mouth. By its eyes it was a Seer & by its mouth speaking great things & changing laws it was a Prophet as well as King. And such a Seer a Prophet & a King was the Church of Rome. This was a dominion very divers from all other dominions, & the only dominion among the ten kingdoms to which the prophesy of this horn can be applied

A Seer Ε᾽πίσκοπος is a Bishop in the litteral sense of the word, & this Church claims the universal Bishopric.

With his mouth he gives laws to kings as an Oracle & pretends to infallibility & that his dictates are binding to the whole world which is to be a Prophet in the highest degree. He claims a power of dispensing with Gods laws, of forgiving or retaining sins, of remitting or relaxing the pains of Purgatory & Hell, of granting indulgencies, of canonizing saints, of dispensing of kingdoms by divine right, of absolving subjects from their oaths of allegiance & of depriving all his opposers of heaven by excommunication. This is his mouth. This is his look more stout then his fellows. And he is the only dominion in the world who pretends to such an universal dictatorship & who speaks such great words against the most High. How he rose up with such a spiritual power we have shewed above. It remains that we shew how he subdued three of those kings of kingdoms which from their first number were called the ten kings & how he became a kingdom himself with a temporal power.

The Francks were heathens till the reign of Clodovæus their king. He being converted to the Roman religion A.C. 496 subjected his kingdom to the Pope, & the Pope made Remigius Archbishop of Rhemes his deputy Bishop over France.[1] This was the first considerable step gained by the Pope towards the Vniversal Bishopric over the barbarous nations who had invaded the Empire. Then Clodovæus having gained a great victory over the Goths received from the Greek Emperor Anastasius a splendid crown adorned with gemms besides other presents: & having worn it one day for that victory A.C. 507, sent it seven years after a present to the Pope, as more fit to adorn that august head then his own. This crown, as Sigebert tells us, was afterwards called Regnum, the Kingdom. And this was the first instance of the Popes wearing a temporal crown as king of Rome. But he had not yet a kingdom for which he should wear it. He was now Lord of the Province called the Alpes Cottiæ but his Metropolis Rome with all Italy was under the dominion of the Ostrogoths.[2]

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In the year 524, the Greek Emperor Iustin put out an Edict that the Churches of the Arians should be every where consecrated to the Catholick religion Whereupon Theodericus the Gothick king of Italy, sent Pope Iohn I with some of the Senators of Rome to the Emperor to tell him that unless he restored the Churches to their owners, he would treat the Catholicks in Italy in the same manner. The Pope going the next year upon this Embassy, was received very honourably by the Emperour & received great presents from him, & instead of perswading the Emperour to restore the Churches, conspired with him against restoring them, & consecrated as many of them as he could to the use of the Catholicks: & upon his return to Italy was imprisoned for it by Theodericus his king, & wrote from prison to the bishops of Italy to arm themselves with the sword of the spirit against the Arian religion for extirpating it, & to consecrate all the churches of the Arians (that is of the Goths) wherever they could find them, for the use of the Catholicks, as he had done at Constantinople. He was therefore confederate with the Greek Emperor against his king.

Iustinian succeeded Iustin, & in the year 532 designing to make war upon the Vandals sent to Pope Iohn II great presents with an Epistle conteining a profession of his faith to be approved by his Holiness, & represented therein that he had always a desire to keep the unity of the Apostolic seat & therefore made hast to subject & unite all the Priests of the whole eastern territory to the seat of his Holiness – which was the Head of all the Churches. This he did to engage all those of the Church of Rome in his party during the wars which he was going to make against those of another religion.

When he had conquered the Vandals & was beginning a war upon the Goths, Theodahatus their king the successor of Theodericus sent Pope Agapetus upon an embassy to Iustinian for putting a stop to the war. Agapetus went very unwillingly, being in the Emperors interest & was received very splendidly by the Emperor & against the mind of the Emperor & Empress, deposed Anthimius Patriarch of Constantinople, & substituted Mennas into that bishopric. Whence it is manifest that the Emperor for keeping the Church of Rome in his interest against the Goths still suffered the Bishop of Rome to act in the east as universal bishop.

The next year A.C. 536 Bellisarius having taken Sicily , sailed into Italy with the Emperors forces & landing at Regium, the people in all the villages out of hatred to the Goths immediately came over to him. Thence he marched to Naples & the Neopolitans were inclined to surrender, but the city being garrisoned by Goths held out a seige of 20 days. Thence he marched to Rome, the Romans by the perswasion <6r> of Pope Silverius inviting him, & promising to surrender their city so soon as he came near it. And this was done in December A.C. 536, the garrison of the Goths withdrawing when they found themselves betrayed. Sammicum, Calabria, Apulia Beneventum & all Italy southward of Rome revolted also to Belisarius: & so did Tuscia, Narnia, Spoletum, Perusia & some other places. The next year the Goths besieged Rome with an army of an hundred & fifty thousand men. Belisarius had but a small army of about 5000 men having left the greater part of his army in garrisons but being assisted by the Romans he held out the siege a whole year & 9 days & ruined the army of the Goths so that the Goths out of desperation were forced to raise the siege. Then Dacius Bishop of Millain with the chief men of that city went to Belisarius desiring him to send them a small force because Millain & all Liguria were ready to revolt. And accordingly a force of a thousand men being sent, Millain with the greatest part of Liguria revolted, & put the Goths upon besieging that City. And at the same time the garrison of the Goths in Ariminum suspecting the fidelity of the citizens retired & left that city to the forces of Belisarius: which put the Goths upon besieging that city also. ✝ < insertion from f 5v >

✝ They took Millain the next winter, levelled it even with the grownd, slew all the male citizens to the number of three hundred thousand for revolting, & gave the weomen to their allies the Burgundians for servants; but were forced to raise the siege of Ariminum & retire to Ravenna their capital city, where they were besieged by Belisarius & forced to surrender A.C. 539, & their King Vitiges with his Queen were sent prisoners to Constantinople. Thus the Church of Rome by conspiring with the Greek Emperor against the Goths on account of religion, & causing the Latines to revolt to the Greeks, gave such a turn to this war as enabled Belisarius with a small force assisted by the revolting Latines to ruin the Gothick Kingdom. And this was the first of the three horns which fell before the little horn. This Kingdom reigned over the Pope & therefore was to be removed to make way for his rise.

After this Belisarius being recalled, the Goths took up arms again & revived the war for a time & in this contention Rome was almost dispeopled & laid in ruins, & the bishop of Rome lost his authority in the east till the Emperor Phocas restored it, & the Lombards A.C. 568 invading Italy, took from him the Alpes Cottiæ & restored them not till the reign of Pope Iohn VI A.C. 704.

The Emperor Leo Isaurus A.C. 726 to put a stop to the worship of Images, which had been long overspreading the east, called a meeting of Councellours & Bishops in his palace, & by their advice put out an edict against that worship, & wrote to Pope Gregory the 2d that a general Council might be called. But the Pope thereupon calling a Council at Rome, confirmed the worship of < text from f 6r resumes >

<7r> Images, excommunicated the Greek Emperor, absolved his subjects in Italy from their obedience & forbade them to pay tribute to him & thereby got the City & Duchy of Rome into his own hands & caused a great part of the Exarchate or kingdom of Ravenna to revolt & kill Paul the Exarch. And the Lombards also being Zealous for the worship of Images & pretending to favour the cause of the Pope invaded the cities of the Exarchate.

[3]At length Pope Zechary A.C. 752 fearing the power of the Lombards deposed Childeric a sloathfull & useless king of France & the last of the race of Merovæus, & absolving his subjects from their oath of allegiance gave the kingdom to Pipin the Maior of the Pallace, hoping thereby to strengthen himself by making a new & potent friend. [4]And The same year in March this Pope died, & Stephen succeeded, & before the end of the year the Lombards took Ravenna & put an end to the Exarchate. And this is the second of the three kingdoms that fell before the little horn.

[5]Then Pope Stephen knowing better how to deale with the Greek Emperor then with the Lombards, went the next year to their king to perswade him to return the Exarchate to the Emperor, but this not succeeding he went into France & perswaded Pipin to take the Exarchate & Pentapolis from the Lombards & give it to Saint Peter. And accordingly Pipin A.C. 754 came with an army into Italy & made Aistulphus king of the Lombards promise the surrender. But the next year Aistulphus on the contrary, to revenge himself on the Pope besieged the city of Rome. Whereupon Pope Stephen sent letters to Pipin wherein he told him that if he came not speedily against the Lombards, pro datâ sibi potentia alienandum fore a regno Dei et vita æterna, he would excommunicate him. Pipin therefore fearing a revolt of his new subjects & being indebted to the Church of Rome came speedily with an army into Italy, raised the siege, besieged the Lombards in Papia & forced them to surrender the Exarchate & region of Pentapolis to the Pope for a perpetual possession. And now Ravenna & the rest of the Exarchate were surrendered some few cities excepted, & the keys sent to Rome & laid upon the Confession of Saint Peter, that is, upon his Tomb at the high Altar, in signum veri perpetuique dominij sed pietate Regis gratuita, as the inscription of a coin of Pipin has it. This was in <8r> the year of Christ 755. And hence forward the Popes left off in their Epistles & Bulls to note the years of the Greek Emperors as they had hitherto done.

[6]Afterwards the Lombards invading the Popes countries, Pope Adrian sent to Charles the great the son of Pipin to come to his assistance, and accordingly Charles entred Italy with an army, invaded the Lombards, overthrew their kingdome, became master of their countries, & restored to the Pope not only what they had taken from him but also the rest of the Exarchate which they had promised Pipin to restore to the Pope but had hitherto deteined, & also gave him some cities of the Lombards & was mutually made Patricius by the Romans. These things were done in the years 773 & 774. And this is the third kingdom which fell before the little horn.

[7]The Pope reigned now over the Exarchate & part of the kingdom of the Lombards, but some of his subjects being desirous to shake off his government & recover their ancient liberty raised a great commotion against him, accused him of certain crimes & made him fly to the king of France. Whereupon Charles the great went again to Rome with an armed force to resettle him, & upon a day appointed presided in a Council of Italian & French Bishops to hear both parties. But when the Popes adversaries expected to be heard the Council declared that he who was the supreme Iudge of all men was above being judged by any other then himself. And thereupon the Pope made a solemn declaration of his innocence, & in recompence for the service & honour done him created Charles Emperor of the Romans & Charles at his coronation took this oath of Fealty to the Pope: In nomine Christi spondeo atqque polliceor Ego Carolus Imperator coram Deo & beato Petro Apostolo me protectorem ac defensorem fore hujus sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ in omnibus utilitatibus quatenus divino fultus fuero adjutorio prout sciero poteroque. This was done in December A. C. 800.

Thus the Pope & his friend the king of France conspired to raise one another & the Pope rose up among the ten kings by rooting up three of them before him. The kingdom of the Ostrogoths he helped the Greek Emperor to subdue as Arian; the kingdom of Ravenna he gained to himself; & the kingdom of Lombardy he divided between himself & the King of France. And in token that he is a king as well as a Bishop, he weares the crowns of three kingdoms upon his head in form of a triple crown & carries the keys of the cities of the two last kingdoms in his hand. And being exalted above Kings & Emperors & declared by a Council above all humane judicature & the supreme Iudge of all <9r> men, he has reigned ever since amongst the other horns with a peculiar soul & a look more stout then his fellows. And having rooted up two of the three kings in favour of the worship of Images, he has changed times & laws, & set up the abomination in the western Empire.

His kingdom they call Peter's patrimony because given by Charles the great to Saint Peter. And for the same reason the keys of the cities of his kingdom they call Saint Peter's keys, they being offered to Saint Peter upon his Confession or Altar. But some turning history into an Allegory tell us that the keys represent the power of binding & loosing & are the keys of heaven & that the three crowns relate to heaven earth & hell as if the Pope was crowned king of those three regions. These are whimsies which I need not stay to confute. Others come nearer the truth who tell us that the crowns denote the Pontifical Imperial & Royal power of the Pope. For Peter's patrimony was taken partly from the Greek Emperor & partly from the king of the Lombards.

After Daniel had described the rise & reign of the fourth Beast & of his horns, he proceeds to describe their fall by a vision of God sitting in judgment in the Temple in the most holy place in his throne above the Ark between the Cherubims, Daniel standing before the Temple & seing this vision as it were through the flames of the Altar. I beheld, saith he, till the thrones were set & the Ancient of days did sit whose garment was white as snow & the hair of his head like pure wooll. His throne [seen through the fire] was like the fiery flames, & his wheels [the wheels of his throne as in the like vision of Ezekiel] a burning fire. A fiery stream [the flame of the Altar] issued & came forth from before him & thousand thousands [represented by the Cherubims] ministred unto him, & ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him [& from his face the heaven & earth fled away.] The judgment was set & the books were opened & I beheld till the [fourth] Beast was slain & his body given to the burning flames [upon the Altar.] And one like the son of man [Michael the great Prince who standeth for the children of Daniel's people, the word of God & king of kings with a two edged sword,] came in the clouds of heaven to the ancient of days & [at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet] there was given him dominion & glory & a kingdom that all people & nations & languages should serve him.

<10v>

In the year 524 the
Greek Emperor Iustin

<11r>

Chap.
Of the four Monarchies.

1 In the language of Prophesy Beasts are put for nations – – – – for the years of the kingdoms.

2. The four Monarchies are represented by Daniel in four visions, that of the Image, that of the four Beasts & that of the Ram & He goat & that of the Angel Gabriel telling Daniel what is written in the scripture of truth.. For the reign of the first horn of the Ram comprehends all the time of the reign of the first monarchies & the reign of the last horn of the Goat comprehends all the time of the reign of the last monarchy, & the Prophesy of the scripture of truth is a comment upon the Vision of the Ram & He Goat.

3. In expounding Nebuchadnezzars vision of the Image Daniel tells us that the Golden head the silver breast the brazen belly & thighs & the iron leggs signify four successive kingdoms whereof the first is that of Babylon. Thou o king, saith he to Nebuchadnezzar, art king of Kings, for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom power & strength & glory, & wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field & the fowls of the heaven [that is, the kingdoms of the world] hath he given into thine hand & hath made the ruler over them all: Thou art this head of gold. And after thee [that is, after thy kingdom] shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee [the Persian] & another third kingdom of brass [the Grecian] which shall bear rule over all the earth & the fourth kingdom [the Romans] shall be strong as iron, for as much as iron breaketh in pieces & subdueth all things. – And whereas thou sawest the feet & toes part of potters clay & part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, but there shall be in it of the strength of iron – & as the toes of the feet were part of iron & part of clay so the kingdom shall be partly strong & partly brittle: that is it shall be divided into many kingdoms & principalities some of which shall be firm & potent & some of them infirm & weak.

4 In expounding his own vision of the four Beasts Daniel tells us that the Lion the Bear the Leopard & the dreadfull terrible & exceedingly strong ten horned Beast, which arose successively out of the great sea are four kingdoms which shall arise out of the earth. And All interpreters agree that these kingdoms are the same with those signified by the four parts of the Image: the ten horns of the fourth Beast answering to the ten toes of the iron leggs, & the everlasting kingdome of the son of man which succeeds the four & is over all nations & shall not pass away (Dan. 7 . 14) answering to the stone which smote the Image upon its feet & brake it to pieces & became a great mountain, & filled the whole earth, & signifies a kingdom which God shall set up & which shall break in pieces & consume the former kingdoms & not be left to other people but stand for ever. Dan.

5 In describing & expounding his vision of the Ram & He-Goat, he tells us that the Ram had two horns & the two horns were high but one was higher then the other & the higher came up last & that the Ram having two horns are the kings of Media & Persia, that is, the horn which came up first is the kingdom of Media & the horn which came up last & was higher then the other is the kingdom of Persia. This kingdom of Persia is the second Monarchy & the kingdom of Media is contemporary to the first monarchy, & therefore the Ram in the reign of his two horns comprehends all the times of the two first monarchies. The kingdoms of Babylonia & Media arose out of the Assyrian Empire & as collateral branches of that Empire may either of them or both together be taken for the Empire which reigned <12r> next after the Assyrian & next before the Persian, that is for the first Empire when the Persian is accounted the second. The Greeks & Latins accounted the Assyrian Empire the first, the Medic the second, the Persian the third, the Grecian the fourth & the Roman the fift, & according to this recconing, if with Daniel we omit the Assyrian, the four Empires will be the Medic, Persian, Grecian & Roman. Daniel therefore puts the collateral Empire of the Medes & Babylonians indifferently in the first place. In the vision of the Image he puts the Babylonian Empire in the first place saying to Nebuchadnezzar Thou art this head of gold. In the vision of the Ram & Goat he omitts the Empire of Babylon & puts the Empire of the Medes in the first place saying the Ram with two horns (one of which rose up before the other) are the kings of Media & Persia. In the vision of the four Beasts he puts them both together in the first place, representing them by the two great wings of the Lyon like Eagles wings. For the wings of a Beast signify the kingdoms of which the Beast is composed as is manifest by comparing the four wings of the Leopard with the four horns of the He Goat, both which signify the division of the Greek Monarchy into four kingdoms to the four winds of Heaven.

< insertion from f 11v >

The Greeks & Latines recconed the great Empires of the world in this order: the Assyrian, Medic, Persian, Grecian & Roman. If with Daniel we omit the Assyrian the four great Empires will be the Medic, Persian Grecian & Roman. The Medic & Babylonian rose together out of the Assyrian Empire & were contemporary & so may either of them or both together be taken for the first Empire. In the vision of the Ram & He Goat Daniel reccons the Medic in the first place & the Persian in the second, putting the Goats two horns for those two empires. In the vision of the metallic Image Daniel puts the Babylonian in the first place saying to Nebuchadnezzar, Thou art this head of gold. In the vision of the four Beasts Daniel seems to represent both together by the first Beast with eagles wings. For the wings of a Beast represent the kingdoms of which the Beast is composed as is manifest by the four wings of the Leopard. The first Beast, saith Daniel was like a Lion (magnanimous & strong) & had eagles wings, streatching out its power over two large kingdoms the Babylonian & the Medic. And I beheld saith Daniel, till the wings thereof were pluckt, that is, till its dominion was taken away, & when its dominion was taken away it was not slain but only fell down from that exalted state in which its kings were worshipped as Gods, & it was lifted up [before] & made to stand on its [hinder] feet as a man & a mans heart was given unto it.



For the power by which the king of fierce countenance is mighty being not his own power must be a power forreign to himself that is the Greeks, & this power must be a greater power then his own & so can be only the power of the Romans . For if it had been any power of the Greeks it would have been one of the Goats horns & this horn would have been then the little horn which came up last & waxed exceeding great So then the Goat in the reign of his last horn was great by a forreign power & therefore reigned under such a power. He signifies the same thing with the Leopard. In the reign of his first horns he is the Leopard reigning by his own power: In the reign of his last horn he is the Leopard reigning by another's power in this last reign he comprehends all the time that the life of the Leopard reigning is prolonged after his proper dominion is taken away, that is all the time of the fourth Empire untill a stone cut out without hands falls upon the feet of the Image & breaks in pieces at once all the four parts of the Image. And therefore its said that the vision is at the time of the end & in the last end of the indignation Dan. VIII.17, 19, that is, it reaches to the end of all Daniels visions & to the last end of the Iewish captivity. It reaches to the end of 2300 days & days in all Daniels prophesies signify years // The last horn of the Goat is described great above all the former horns, exceeding great in breadth by conquering eastward & southward, great up to the host of heaven & therefore can signify nothing less then the mighty power of the Greeks under the administration of the Romans, this being the only power in the world that has hitherto been greater then the power of Alexander the great. [For where the parts of prophesy are not adapted to the parts of history in due proportion the interpretation is frivolous & trifling.]

As a Beast may continue after its dominion is so may a horn. For the Rams first horn continued upon his head after the Medes were conquered by the Persians. And tho the Persian Empire had but one Monarch yet the Ram had two horns till he was vanquished by the Goat. And in like manner we are to conceive that the Goat has four horns till the end of the reign of the Leopard or third monarchy notwithstanding any conquests that the horns may make upon one another. And when Daniel tells us that in the end of their kingdom when the transgressors are come to the full a king of fierce countenance shall stand up: we are to understand <12v> that this king stands up in the end of the third Empire & beginning of the fourth. But these things will be best understood by comparing them with the prophesy of the scripture of truth which is a commentary upon the vision of the Ram & He Goat For there Daniel describes the breaking of the Greek monarchy into four great kingdoms to the four winds of heaven & tells the actions of the kings of the north & south which are two of the four, & prosecutes their history down to the eighth year of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, the year in which Antiochus came east out of Egypt & set up the religion of the heathens in the Temple & in all Iudæa, & there Daniel concludes the history of the kings of the north & south with these words: For the ships of Chittim . . . . forsake the holy covenant. There Daniel breaks off & in the next words passes to the Romans reigning over the Greeks. saying, And after him arms shall stand up. For in this very year the Romans & king of Pergamus conquered the kingdom of Macedon which being the mother kingdom of the Greeks , the fall thereof may be recconed to put an end to the Greek Empire & give a beginning to the Roman. ‡

Symbol (2 inside a square) in text In the first year of Antiochus, the High Priest & other transgressors against the holy covenant set up a place of exercise in Ierusalem to teach the young men the customes of the heathen & in the eighth year of his reign when he{illeg} set up the abomination in the Temple & cities of Iudea, many of the Iews consented to his religion & sacrificed unto Idols; so that this seems to be the period of time when the transgressors were come to the full, & by consequence when the king of fierce countenance was to stand up.

Symbol (1 inside a square) in text When the hebrew particle מז relates to time it signifies from & after or after & from thence forward as מצח from the time ① Dan. XII.11, & X.27. ③ מז מצא from the going forth Dan IX.25 ② מז חיום from the day Dan. X.12. ממלד from & after the king Dan XI.8 And so here ממגו signifies from & after him, arms after him shall stand up or from that time arms shall stand up.

or from thence forward a king of fierce countenance shall stand up.

Symbol (3 inside a square) in text Daniel in this Prophesy of the Scripture of truth had upon less occasions mentioned the Romans twice before. In the very last words He had mentioned their ships coming with an embassy against Antiochus: & therefore we need not wonder if he mentions them again when they conquered the Kingdom of Macedon, For he he afterwards sets down a period of time which relates to the reign of the fourth Empire saying, It shall be for a time times & half a time, which would have been improper if he had not been speaking of the affairs of that Empire before.

3 Daniel in this prophesy of the scripture of truth had upon less occasions mentioned the Romans twice before. He mentions their war against Antiochus the great & in this very year he mentions their embassy against Antiochus Epiphanes in Egypt. And can we think that he would make no mention of their conquering the Greeks? & extending their dominion over all the east & And yet he mentions it not unless in these short words And after him arms shall stand up. Arms in this prophesy are every where used for the military power of a kingdom. Standing up is growing great & powerfull by conquest And Daniel is here speaking of the kingdom of the Greeks or third Monarchy & had brought the description of the affairs of this kingdom to a period. And therefore by saying that after him arms shall stand up he means that a new dominion should stand up over the nations of the Greeks by conquest. He tells us afterwards that it should be for a time times & half a time. This is a period of the fourth Empire: & these Daniel in this prophesy had been describing the rise & reign of that Empire, & might comprehended its rise in the words: and after him arms shall stand up.

When These arms stand up they take away the daily sacrifice & so doth the little horn of the Goat after it is grown great, & therefore they are the same.

< text from f 12r resumes >

6 Daniel tells us further that the rough Goat is the king of Greece (that is the kingdom) & had a notable horn between his eyes & smote – Sandracottus in India.

7 Daniel sayth further that out of one of the four horns came forth a little horn which waxed exceeding great toward the south & toward the east & toward the pleasant land. And it waxed great even to the host of heaven & it cast down some of the host & of the stars to the grownd Ye he magnified himself to the Prince of the host & by him the dayly sacrifice was taken away & the place of his sanctuary was cast down and an host was given him against the daily sacrifice in transgression [of desolation] & it cast down the truth to the grownd & it {practiced} & prospered &c And in the interpretation of this vision he saith that in the latter time of their kingdom [the kingdom of the four horns] when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce

<13r>

{The ex}plication of the four
{Mon}archies.

{The pro}phesy of the scripture of truth is a commentary upon the {Ram & t}he vision of the Ram & He-Goat, & Daniel comprehends {the times} of the two first Monarchies in the Ram & the times {of the} two last in the Goat. For he tells us that the Ram had {two horns} & the two horns were high but one was higher {then} the other & the higher came up last & that the Ram {havi}ng two horns are the kings of Media & Persia, that is, the {ho}rn which came up first is the kingdom of Media, & the horn which came up last is the kingdom of Persia. The kingdom of Persia is the second Empire & the kingdom of Media was contemporary to the first. And as the Ram in the reign of his first horn comprehends the times of the first Empire & in the reign of his second horn is the second Empire so the Goat in the reign of his first horns is the third Empire & in the reign of his last horn comprehends the times of the fourth.

For Daniel tells us that the Goat had a notable horn between his eyes & waxed very great & when he was strong the great horn was broken & for it came up four notable ones towards the four winds of heaven. And in explaining this he saith that the rough Goat is the king of Greece & the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. In all this Prophesy Daniels kings are kingdoms. The kings of Media & Persia are the kingdoms of Media & Persia & the king of Greece is the kingdom of Greece & the first king is the first kingdom. It is not the person of Alexander the great but his kingdom in a monarchical form during his own reign & the reign of his brother Aridæus & son Alexander. For this king was succeeded by four kingdoms & kingdoms did not come up in the room of Alexanders person but in the room of his kingdom. Now by all this it's manifest that the Goat in the reign of these horns is the Greek Empire or third Monarchy represented by the Leopard, the four horns of the Goat & the four heads & four wings of the Leopard signifying one & the same thing.

Daniel tells us further that out of one of the four horns came forth a little horn which waxed exceeding great, & in explaining this he saith that in the latter end of their kingdom when the transgressors are come to the full a king of fierce countenance & understanding dark sentences shall stand up, & his power shall be mighty but not by his own power. All Which is as much as to say that in the end of the kingdom of the Leopard when his dominion shall be taken away by the fourth beast, his life shall be prolonged & he shall still be mighty but not by his own power, or that the Greeks after their proper dominion is taken away by the Romans shall flourish under the administration of Romans & be mighty by their power . The Goat therefore in the reign of his last horn signifies the Greeks reigning by {illeg} under power of the Romans & so is contemporary to the fourth Empire. For the power by which the last horn is mighty being none of the Goats horns must be a power foreign to the Greeks [& there is & the power of the Romans is the only forreign power which grew up in the end of the Greek empire & by which the Greeks became a mighty] <14r> reig{ning} under the administration of the {Romans. And the power} by which the king of fierce countenance is {mighty being not his own} power {but another power} greater then his own, must be a {power distinct from that of the Gree}ks & {so can be no} other power then that {of the Romans. For if it had been} the power of the Greeks it {would have been one of} the horns & this horn would have {been greater then the little} horn {illeg} last & waxed {exceding great: whereas the} Goat had no such horn.

{Now since the Goat} in the reign of his last horn was mighty {but not by his own po}wer & therefore reigned under such a power {he} signifies the same thing with the Leopard: In the {reig}n of his first horn he is the Leopard reigning by his {ow}n power: In the reign of his last horn he is the Leopard {re}igning by anothers power & by consequence comprehends all the time in which the life of the Leopard is prolonged after his proper dominion is taken away, that is all the time of the fourth Empire untill a stone cut out without hands falls upon the feet of the Image & breakes the whole in pieces at once. And therefore its said that the vision is at the time of the end & in the last end of the indignation (Dan. VIII.17, 19,) that is, it reaches to the end of all Daniels visions & to the last end of the Iewish captivity. // It reaches to the end of 2300 days & in all Daniels prophesies days are put for years. The Iews kept no account of time by days longer then a month. They counted the age of the Moon or days of the month, & the months or Moons in a year, but their months & years consisted of no certain number of days; & for Daniel to tell the Iews of an exact period of 2300 natural days when they had no method in use of counting that number nor could determin by their years & months the number of days in any period of time past, would have been very improper & therefore days in this prophesy as well as in all the rest of Daniels prophesies are types of years, & 2300 years are not yet expired.

The last horn of the Goat is described great above all the former horns, exceeding great in length & breadth eastward & southward, & great in height up to the host of heaven: and therefore can signify nothing less then the mighty power of the Greeks under the administration of the Romans, this being the only power in the world that has hitherto been greater then the power of Alexander the great.

The little horn of the Goat is by some taken for Antiochus Epiphanes but very injudiciously. A horn of a Beast is never taken for a single person. A new horn always signifies a new kingdom & the kingdom of Antiochus was an old one. Antiochus reigned over one of the four horns, & the little horn was a fift under its

<13v>

The Goat & the Leopard are one & the same kingdom reigning by their one power untill their dominion is taken away, & surviving the loss of their dominion & by consequence after their own dominion is taken away, reigning by & under the power of another. In this vision of the four Beasts Daniel describes only the reign of the Leopard by his own power & tells you that after his dominion is taken away his life should be prolonged: here in the vision of the Goat he first repeats the reign of the Leopard by his own power untill the end of the kingdom of the four horns of the Goat & then under the type of the Goat reigning in a new horn he describes the life & actions of the Leopard after his dominion is taken away & tells you that his power should be mighty but not by his own power. He represents this horn great above all the former horns, exceeding great in breadth eastward & southward, & great in height up to the host or stars of heaven but not by his own power., & this can signify nothing less then the mighty power of the Greeks by & under the administration of the Romans, this being the only – – – Alexander the great. So then the Goat in the reign of his last horn is the Leopard surviving the loss of his dominion & being still mighty but not by his own power & living in this state till the stone falls upon the feet {illeg} of the Image & brakes in pieces all the four parts of the Image at once that is till the end of the fourth monarchy. For the nations of the Greeks in Europe Asia Syria & Egypt are still mighty but not by their own power. They were formerly mighty by the power of the Romans & they are now mighty by the power of the Turks & Daniel tells us that the vision of the Goat reigning in his last horn is at the time of the end & in the last end of the Indignation Dan VIII.17, 19), that is it reaches to the end of all Daniels visions & to the last end of the Iewish captivity.

The last horn of the Goat is by some

The character of the little horn answers much better to the kingdom of Pergamus then to Antiochus Epiphanes. For this was a new kingdom different from the four. It came out of the western side of the king of the north

[Editorial Note 1]

so the arms grew out of the substance kingdom of the north untill they had conquered the whole kingdom, & this conquest was made partly before partly after the reign of Antiochus. so that you may understand the phrase arms out of him shall stand up to signify arms which came out of him shall stand up or arms shall stand up out of him & in either sense it signifies the kingdom of Pergamus waxing great out of the kingdom of the north.

<14v> [Editorial Note 2]

Daniel tells us that the little came out of one of the fourth horns that is out it side as a branch so that the horn & its branch appeared together in the form of two horns upon one base the lesser of which grew out of the greater & this signifies the division of one of the four kingdoms into two the lesser of which arises & increases out of the substance of the greater. Daniel tells us also that this little horn waxed exceeding great towards the south & towards the east & therefore it arose in the northwest corner of the Greek monarchy & conquered southward & eastward. And in expounding this vision he tells that in the end of the kingdom of the four horns when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance should stand up & be mighty but not by his own power, that is, the little horn should then stand up over the nations of the Greeks by conquering southward & eastward, & thereby become exceeding great but not by his own power. And by all this I conclude that the little horn is the kingdom of Pergamus. For that kingdom arose on the western side of the northern horn. It was at first only a castle with a small district in the western border of Asia minor. By degrees it increased in power & at length took from the kingdom of the north allmost all Asia on this side the mountain Taurus & beating also the Gauls to whom it had been tributary the governor of Pergamus was saluted king by his army. Thus it grew by the side & out of the substance of the Northern horn in form of a little horn. Afterwards it lost part of its territories to Antiochus the great but recovered all again by the assistance of the Romans. And continuing in strickt league with the Romans it assisted them in conquering the kingdom of Macedon an Philip 156 An. Sam. 933 [which was one of the four horns, [& in the same year the transgressors of the holy covenant conspired with the Greeks to set up the abomination in the Temple & cities of Iudea. This was in the 8th year of Antiochus an. Philip. 156. an. Sam. 933 Then the kingdom of Pergamus which had hitherto been a little horn, was by the last will & testament of its last king Attalus an. Sam. 969 & thereby became a king of fierce countenance It was not conquered & broken in pieces but continued in the hands as a gift The Romans succeeded Attalus in the throne of this kingdom by a legal right & reigned over it in the room of {illeg} kings & by their administration it became a king or kingdom of fierce countenance. Then it conquered the kingdom of Syria, An. Sam. 1037 & the kingdom of Iudea the next year & the kingdom of Egypt An. Sam. 1071 & by conquering those three kingdoms it stood up & became exceeding great towards the south & towards the east & towards the pleasant land, but not by its own power.

After this the little horn grew up to the host of heaven & cast down of the host & stars to the grownd. Then it magnified it self to the Prince of the host & took away the dayly worship. But for understanding these things its necessary to compare this vision of the Ram & Goat with the Prophesy of the Scripture of truth. For they both concern the nations of the Greek Empire reigning first by their own power & then by the power of others till the end of the four Monarchies, & the last is a commentary upon the first

In the prophesy of the scripture of truth Daniel tells us how the first Monarchy of the Greeks should be broken into four great kingdoms to the four winds of heaven, & then describes the history of the kings or kingdoms of the north & south which are two of the four & prosecutes the description down to the 8th year of Antiochus Epiphanes & there breaks of & passes to the description of the little horn or king of fierce countenance in these words, And arms out of him shall stand up. Arms are every where in this prophesy put for the military force of a kingdom & setting up is put for making war & growing great & powerfull by conquest & here it signifies standing up {over} the kingdoms of the north & south of which Daniel had been hitherto speaking. {Arms} shall stand up & a king of fierce countenance shall stand up are phrases of the same signification & they stand up over the kingdoms of the north & south or Syria & Egypt when the little horn waxes exceeding great towards the south & towards the east. Arms out of him shall stand up, that is out of the substance of his kingdom. As the little horn grew out of the northern horn by converting the substance of the horn into its own sub–

[1] Sigon. de Occid. Imp. lib. XVI. an. 496, 507.

[2]

Sigon. de Regno Italiæ lib. i. sub initio. Paul. Diac. de gestis Langobardi lib. 6. c. 2 7, 43. Anastas. bibliothecar.

[3] Sigon. de Reg. Ital. lib. III. an. 750

[4] Sigon. de Reg. Ital. lib. III. an. 752

[5] Sigon. ib. an. 753, 754, 755.

[6] Sigon. ib. an. 773.

[7] Sigon. de Regno Italiæ l. IV. an. 799, 800, 801.

[Editorial Note 1] The remainder of the text on this page is written upside down.

[Editorial Note 2] All the text on this page is written upside down.

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