does alfo St. Auguftin, Lib. 20. Cap. 8. St. Ferom in the 11th and 12th Chapters of Daniel, St. Cyril, Lib. 11. in Gen. St. Gregory, Lib. 14. Moral. and Lib. 32. Cap. 12.

Some Ob

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21. UPON the aforegoing Quotations fervations I cannot but obferve, I. That Hippolytus upon the afferts, that the Means whereby the Church preceding Quotati (or Chriftans of that time, which are not ons, and counted worthy to escape) fhall be deceiconcerning ved by Antichrift, will be by his offering the Mark them Food in that great Famine. Which of the fame thing is attefted by Anaftafius Sinaita Beaft. (Contempl in Hexaemer. Tom. I. Bib. Patr. P. 327.) in these Words: God faid to the Serpent, He shall bruife thy Head, and thou fhalt bruife his Heel; i. e. The extreme Parts of the Body of Chrift, which is his Church; fo that the Heel fhall be the Prefence of Antichrift in the laft Times; C and the evil Serpent waits for that Time, when he may again fupplant the Church C by offering them Food, when there fhall 5 be a great Famine. So that they who have not Faith to believe that Man doth not live by Bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of God, fhall not have Patience to expect God's Accomplishment of his Promifes, that God will at laft be Jealous for his Land, and pity his People, and fend them Corn, and Wine, and Oil, to fatisfie them therewith, Joel 2. 18, 19, They, I fay, that will not for this wait upon God, fhall trangrefs the Law of their God, and pollute the Holy One, for handfuls of Barley and pieces of

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Bread, Ezek. 13. 19. II. That those who thus Apoftatize and go over to the Enemy, fhall be fealed with the Mark of the Beaft; concerning which the Holy Scriptures and Fathers fpeak exprefly, only with this difference, that as the Scripture attributes this Sealing to the Eastern Beaft, or Falfe Prophet, Rev. 13. 16. The Fathers attribute it to Antichrift himself; underftanding, I fuppofe, the Falfe Prophet, as being in the Spirit of Antichrift, to be as the Inftrument by which he Seals them (even as we are fealed by the Spirit of God to the Day of Redemption, Eph. 4. 30.) That the Impreffion of this Seal, and the Number of the Beaft, are both one, is generally fuppofed by Ancient Writers (as may be feen at large) who therefore use them promifcuously. But what that Seal, Mark, or Number is, or wherein it confifts, is hard to determine. Most of the Ancients fuppofed that it was to be a Name compofed of the Numeral Letters which compofe 666. Of which fort many are reckoned up by Hippolytus, Irenæus and others, to the Number of Sixteen or Seventeen, many of which are moft violently. drawn in; and there is indeed fo great a Latitude in that way of Interpretation, that fome of the later Writers of the Church of Rome have made Luther and Calvin bear the Name of the Beaft: And when Monfieur Jurieu, Minifter of the French Church at Rotterdam, upon the Authority of Irenæus, had afferted that Aaler was it, his Adverfaries

verfaries found that Rotterdam was comprized in the fame Number, and afferted that to be the Name of the Beaft. In fhort, by this way we may make any thing out of any thing; for which very Reason Hippolytus, p. 39. owns he does not underftand it. A very probable Hypothefis was that of the Learned Dr. Potter, who afferted that the counting of it confifts in extracting the Root of it, which is 25, that being the only Number, which by being multiplied into it felf, makes the Square Number 666, when the Fraction (which is 41 in this Operation) is added to it, which is what is meant by the Square Root of a Number. And this, as for many other Reasons reckoned up by that excellent Writer, fo efpecially for this, that the Number 25 has always been esteemed by Sacred and Prophane Writers, who had never thought of Antichrift or his Kingdom, to be myfterioufly Evil; and to be an Hieroglyphical Character of fome unhappy, defperate, deplorable, and apoftate State of the Church, because it is an oddly uneven Number, which is unevenly meafured by an odd Number, fo uneven indeed, that no fquare perfect Number can arife out of it, but what is made up of fractional "Additions. Whereas, on the contrary, the Number 12, the Root of the Pure Church, is an even Number making 144000, it's Square perfectly and entirely, to fhew the Perfection, Entirenefs, and Agreeableness

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of its Foundation and Structure. And this way of counting or calculating this Number (a venerable Piece of the Ancient Oriental Learning) is certainly much more agreeable to the Sublime Stile of this Myfterious Book, than the forming technical Words out of numeral Letters, which is a piece of Wisdom not fo profound as that which I believe is referred to, Rev. 13. 18. But the moft probable Opinion is, that as the Number Seven is the Number of Reft and Perfection, as may be largely feen in Holy Scriptures; fo the Number Six fignifies Labour, Affliction and Perfecution: Six being the Days of Labour preceding the Seventh Day of Reft and Refreshment. So we have seen, Ezek. 9. there were Six Perfons appointed to execute Vengeance upon the Apoftate Church, whereas the Business of the Seventh was to fet the Mark of Deliverance upon those that were to be preferved from Deftruction. So as we beforecobferved, the Ufurpation of Athaliah lafted Six Years, when in the Seventh Year Jehoiada the Prieft made a Covenant with. the Rulers of the Army, and destroy'd that wicked Woman, and Jeboafh was establish'd on his Throne. Many other Inftances might be produced to ftrengthen this Obfervation, but thefe fhall fuffice: This Number then thrice repeated, may exprefs the most defperate and deplorable State of the Church.

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of the Two S22. WHILST Antichrift fhall be thus Witnees. domineering and lording it over the Earth, God hath promised to fend forth his Two Witneffes,who fhall prophecy and bear their Teftimony against him; and not only that, but torment him and his Followers for the fpace of 1260 Days, or 42 Months, the whole fpace of the Antichriftian Kingdom, Rev. 11. That by thefe Two Witneffes are meant Enoch and Elias, who never faw Death, but were tranflated alive, was a common Opinion of the Fathers: Of Hippolytus in thefe Words, As John the Baptift was the Forerunner of our Bleffed Lord's First Coming, fo fhall Enoch and Elias be of his Second. Tertullian Enoch ، and Elias were tranflated and never faw Death, but are referved to the time of C the End, that they may deftroy Antichrift by their Blood. St. Cyprian, in his Tract. de Montib. Sion & Sina+; Enoch was translated alive to a certain Place known to God, and fhall come from thence to oppofe and confound Antichrift. Ephrem Syrus, Serm. de Antichrifto; The merciful God fhall fend Enoch and Elias, who fhall preach to the People, and warn them not to believe Antichrift, boldly crying out and faying, This is Antichrift the 'Deceiver, the Son of Perdition; O yet

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Men, let none of you believe him, or
C hearken to this Tyrant fighting againft
God: Be not afraid of him, for he fhall
foon be deftroyed, and his Power broken.
St. Ambrofe upon that Paffage, 1 Cor. 4. 9. I

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Lib. de Animâ, Cap. 50.

P. 36. opufc. Edit.

Oxon.