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Popes must be understood, as by Antichrift in the Eaft a fucceffion of Saracen Caliphs and Turkish Emperors. The firft Ages believ'd that Nero was a Type of Antichrift, and this was St. Chryfoftom's Opinion, and the Sibylline Oracles call him fo.

The Mahometans are the Antichrift in the Eaft, who by their Oppreffions forc'd Chriftians to forfake Chrift to follow Mahomet's Doctrin. Antichrift will conquer Nero,when he fhall at laft furprize and burn Rome, as the Sibylline Oracles affirm. The Mahome tans ufe Circumcifion; they built a Mofch on the Ruins of Solomon's Temple; they fortified the City, and it has been in their hands ever fince, except in the time of the Holy War; they conquer'd many Nations, and the Revelations fay, Power was given him all Nations.

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We find by the Event, that St. Martin gave the cleareft Account of Antichrift and the Pope, and rightly diftinguifh'd the Reafons of the Perfecutions in the Eaft from that in the Weft; his only Mistake is the placing the Seat of his Empire at Jerufalem. The Turk's Subjects give him the Titles of God on Earth, Shadow of God, Brother of the Sun and Moon, the Giver of all Earthly Crowns.

Tho' St. Jerome derides the Millennium, yet in his Comment onJeremiah he confeffes, Non fe audere damnare, quòd multi Ecclefiafticorum virorum, & Martyrum id dixerint; and fpeaks of Antichrift in his Notes on Daniel. Such fhall be his Pride, Ut leges Dei

& ceremonias mutare conetur, and he fhall raise himself above all that is call'd God (Chrift); Religionem cunctam fua fubjiciens poteftati.

Theodoret fays, That about the End of the World ten Kings ihall rife, and after them Antichrift, who, ftriving for the Kingdom, fhall fubvert three of 'em: He shall speak Blafphemies against God, [i. e. Chrift]; he fhall punish the Saints, overthrow the establish'd Religion, and change the Govern

ment.

Luther's Opinion concerning Antichrift, in his Military Sermon, quoted by Sleidan, in his Hiftory of the Reformation, lib. 14.

HE Scripture prophefieth of two cruel Tyrants, who are to lay wafte and plague the Chriftian World before the last Day of Judgment; the one by false Doctrin, of whom Daniel, and after him St. Paul, fpeaks, and this is the Pope; and the other by Force and Arms, (viz. the Turk) of whom Daniel fpeaks in the 7th Chapter, the little Horn fprung up among the ten of the fourth Beast; and tho' it be grown to a great bignefs, yet it can never reach to the Power of the Roman Empire. And because Daniel affigns it three Horns, which it must pull off from the ten, its Power will not proceed much farther, for these three Horns

are

are long fince pull'd off, Greece, Afia, Ægypt, three vaft Provinces of the Empire which the Turks now poffefs; and within thefe Limits it is now confin'd: He may poffibly get fome footing in Hungary, but tis not to be thought he can long enjoy it, as he doth in Afia, Agypt, and Greece.

Note, All this is come to pafs as Luther truly interpreted the Prophecy; and all the modern Proteftants ought to follow his diftinction of the two Tyranrs in the Eaft and Weft: The Revelation has join'd 'em into one Beaft, in Chap. 13, but gives a separate account of them,of the Eaftern Beaft, in the 9th, 11th, and 13th Chapters, and of the Western Beaft in the 17th Chapter. 'Tis plain the Fate of the Eastern Empire and Church differ from the Western.

An Answer to Opfopaus's Objections against the Sibylline Oracles, and those of Ifaac Voffius, That they were writ by the Jews.

TH

'Ho' the Events in History fufficiently prove the Oracles to be from a divine Inspiration, yet I think my self oblig'd to anfwer the Common Objections against

'em.

Object. 1. There was no Sibyl before Mofes, how then can fhe predict the Flood, or pretend to be in the Ark before Noah?

Anfw.

Anfw. The Sibyl fays, fhe will relate things paft as well as thofe to come; and this Mofes alfo did; but neither could have done it without an Infpiration concerning things paft as well as thofe to come: And as Mofes made ufe of the old Histories, brought down from Noah by the direction of the Holy Ghoft, fo the Sibyls were directed to use the Hiftories of the Gentiles, because thefe Prophefies were to be deliver'd to them; and they were well acquainted with their own Hiftories, but not thofe of Mofes, concerning the Creation, Paradife, and the Flood.

Obj. 2. The Sibyl fays, 'tis 1500 Years fince the idolatrous Princes of Greece; and therefore the Sibyl muft write 1500 Years after the Grecian Empire.

Anf The Sibyl here only reckons the time fince the laft King of Greece, Perfeus, who was carried to Rome 159 Years before Chrift, till the Ottomans conquer'd Greece, and Amurath conquer'd Theffaly, 1430; and this makes 1589, the odd Years are feldom reckon'd by the Prophets: And the Turks had fome footing in Greece before, in 1373.

Obj. 3. The Sibyl fays, fhe faw the second Veftal Temple burnt, which was in Commodus's reign, ann. 199.

Anf The Sibyl does not fay fhe faw the fecond Vestal Temple burnt, but a Temple which was built by the Saints at Rome; for this is not mention'd till after Christianity was fetled in the Empire, and not long be

fore

fore the last ruin of Rome. The Sibyls, like other Prophets, ufe à Poetical Figure in defcribing both paft and future Actions, as if they were present at 'em; fo the Sibyl reprefents the Fear of Noah and his Family in the Ark, as if she had been amongst 'em; and the fpeaks of her felf as if he were prefent at the burning of the World.

Obj. 4. After Adrian, there will be but three Emperors, Antoninus Pius, Antoninus Philofophus, and Commodus, and then the end of the World shall be.

Anf. The three to reign after Adrian are to continue the Years of the numeral Letters of God, which are 1736. Conftantine is the firft; the Caroline Family, which fet up for the Western Empire, the fecond; and the Turk, call'd Nero, the third. And under the Western Empire the German Empire must be reckon'd; and the Saracens and Turks are the fame Empire. The Hiftory in the fifth Book, after Adrian, could not come to pafs in Commodus's Reign; therefore this Surmife is abfurd, that the World should laft no longer, according to the Sibyl's Writing.

Obj. 5. That the Sibyls held fome Opinion of Origen's, That the Wicked fhould be deliver'd from Torment after fome Ages. Anf. This is a Miftake, for the Sibyls say, no fuch thing, but the contrary.

Obj. 6. The Story of Nero's Flight is falfe, and his coming over Euphrates to be Antichrift.

Anf.

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