"Tis confeft that the Antichriftian Kingdom is to be a temporal Kingdom at the bottom, whatever it may be as to outward appearance. 'Tis agreed that he shall establish this Empire two ways, the firft is by fword & violence, the fecond by cheating & feducing. 'Tis acknowledg'd that he fhall be a great Perfecutor of the Church.

Laftly, 'tis confeft, all this must come to pafs in that Period which the H. Scripture calls the later times. "Tis acknowledged that the 11th. Ch. of the Revelation contains an Epitome of the Hiftory of Antichrift, that it is he that is to tread under foot & prophane the Holy City for 42 Months, & afflict the two Witnesses that fhall prophefy clothed in fack-cloth for 1260 Days; & that he is to kill the two Witneffes, which are to remain dead on the places of the Great City three Days & a half, after which they fhall rise again. It appears by this account of the points wherin the Papifts are agreed to, that we are all of the fame mind firft, as to all thofe places whence the main ftrokes of Antichrifts picture are to be taken; and fecondly, as to almost all the main ftrokes of which this Picture is to be compofed. It will appear afterwards, that these truths wherin our enemies are agreed with us, do quite overthrow thofe things wherin they differ from us.

CHAP.

CHAP. XII.

The Characters of Antichrift, which we are not agreed about. The falfe Antichrift of the Papists.

T

He things in which we are not agreed, are the falfe Characters of Antichrift, which the Papifts endeavour to establish, with a defign to hinder our fight of the true Characters of him and to obfcure them. The falfe Characters are thefe:

1. That Antichrift must be only one fingle Man, and not a fucceffion of Kings and Tyrants.

11. That the duration of his Kingdom is to be only three Natural years and a half, and not three Prophetical years and a half, which make up 1260

years.

III. That he must style himself the Meffiah and that the Jews must look upon him as fuck.

IV. That his Seat fhall be Jerufalem, that he fhall rebuild the Temple there; and that he shall re-establish the Mofaical Service.

V. According to Bellarmine, & Cotton the Jefuite, he is not to be an Idolater. For he is not to worship any Idol, but fhall worship the Devil in Secret.

VI. He is to be of the Tribe of Dan, of an obfcure place, and to raise himself by Arms.

VII. He is to deny the coming of Chrift in the flesh.

VIII. He fball do nothing in the name of Chrift.
IX. He shall abolish the facrifice of the Mafs.

Of these

23. Arti

cles, there

áre not above four

X. He shall compel the Chriftians to renouns their Baptifm.

XI. He is to overcome three Kings, the Ke of Lybia, of Egypt and Ethiopia.

XII. He shall caufe fire to come down fres Heaven, and feign himself to be dead, to counter feit a refurrection.

XIII. He is to hate Idols.

XIV. He is to conquer the whole World by Arms.

XV. Enoch and Elias shall be the two wit nefles of the eleventh of the Revelation, that shal be fent against him.

XVI. He is to kill the two witnesses, Enoch and Elias.

XVII. Thefe two witneffes mußt rife again, after they have lain dead three days and a half. XVIII. He is to poffefs all forts of Treasures. XIX. He shall not only call himself God, but the only God.

XX. He is not to come, till the Roman Ger man Empire be deftroyed.

XXI. His coming is not to be till juft at the end of the World; he shall be defeated five and fourty days before the end of it.

XXII. Before he comes, the Gofpel must have been generally preached in all parts of the World. XXIII. He is to be a Magician.

It would be very tedious to confute all these falfe characters; and it would be a work more unprofitable than long. There is a very fmall or five of parcell of them that are the principal ones, which any impor. when they are destroyed, all the reft fall to the ground of course naturally and neceffarily. For inftance. I. That he is to be only one fingle perJon. II. That he is to reign only three natural

tance.

years

ears and a half. III. That he is to come preifely at the end of the World. IV. That he is

be an open enemy of God and Christ, ftyling imfelf Meffiah and the King of the fews. J. That he is not to come before all that bears he name of the Roman Empire is deftroyed. These five points being proved to be falfe, all the reft confequently will be fo too. Thefe

are the only things that are worth our taking hotice of. For as for the reft, that Antichrift must be of the Tribe of Dan, born in an obscure place; that he fhall caufe fire to come down' from Heaven; that he fhall feign himself dead, that he may counterfeit a Refurrection; that Enoch and Elias muft come out of that earthly Paradise, where they are kept in referve, to fight with him; that he is to kill them; that they must rise on the fourth day : All this I fay is fo fabulous, that it would be an injury to fo understanding an Age as ours, formally to confute fuch idle vifions, and fo wholly destitute of any foundation:

and

the fingle

three years

of Anticbrifts duras

This controverfy may be reduced to one only All may be point; and it is that of the duration ofthe Anti- reduced to chriftian Empire. If it can be made very plain queftion. and certain, that the three years and a half of about the the duration of this Empire muft not be taken for and a half natural years, but for three prophetical years a half, it will also be very certain, that all which tion, the Papifts fay concerning Antichrift, is falfe. For if the Antichriftian Empire muft laft 1260 years, Antichrift can never be only one fingle man; feeing there is no man that hath lived, doth, or can live 1260. years. Nor will it be more true, that Antichrift muft not come, but juft at the end of the World: For the duration of

Antichrift

is not only

1260. years, and the end of the World are not
one and the fame thing: Neither will it be
more true, that the Gospel must have been
preached in all the Nations of the World, be
fore the coming of Antichrift. For there is no
prophesy that faith, or doth fo much as infinuate,
that the Gospel must be preached every where
1260. years, before the laft coming of our Lord
Jefus Chrift. It will be as falfe, that Anti-
chrift is not to come, till after the total ruin
of the German Empire. For although we do not
exactly know the time of the coming of our Lord
Jefus Chrift, however this is held for certain,
that the World is not to endure yet two or 3000.
jears longer, as it must do if Antichrift be not
yet come, and muft reign 1260. years. For be-
fides thefe 1260. years, we must find out a 1000.
years of peace for the Church, before the end of
the World. Neither will it be true, that Anti-
chrift must be a falfe Meffiah, received by the
Jews, an enemy of God and of all Religion. For
God would not fuffer that, His wisdom would
not permit it. There is nothing in the Scripture
that gives us any ground to prefume, that an
Infidel, an open enemy of Jefus Chrift
his Religion muft remain mafter of all the
World for 1260. years.

and of

'Tis plain therefore, this is the principal controverfy, on which all the reft do depend. Let this be remembred: We will handle this controverfy in its proper place. In the mean time, we fhall fay fomething in this Chapter, to lay open the falfeness of the other pretended characters of Antichrift.

I. He must be onely one fingle person, and not a Sue fingle feries of men. If this be fo, why did Saint Paul

fay,