Works, Treatise · Chapter 14

Works · Treatise · Chapter 14

p. 658CHAP. XIV.

That we are not to reckon the Latter Times, or the Times of the Empire's ruine and the Apostasie attending, from the full height thereof: This illustrated from other Computations in Scripture. The Three main Degrees of the Roman Empire's Ruine. Who are those 3 Kings whom the Little Horn (or Antichrist) is said (in Dan. 7.) to have displanted or deprest, to advance himself. About what time Saint-worship began in the Church. That we are not too curiously to enquire from which of the 3 degrees of the Empire's ruine the Apostatical or Latter Times take their beginning.

BUT you will say, The Imperial Sovereignty of Old Rome fell not all at once, but had divers steps and degrees of Ruine; so that the doubt will be notwithstanding, from which of these steps of the Fall thereof these Latter times must be reckoned.

I answer, From any of them. For as the Imperial Sovereignty fell by degrees, so the Apostasie under the lattermost Sovereignty grew up also by degrees; and for every degree which the ruinous Empire decayed, was the rising Son of perdition a degree advanced. Secondly, All the main and evident degrees of the Empire's ruine fell in the compass of an Age; and the knowledge and observation of that Age only, within which the Times of this Fall are comprehended, was sufficient both to warn them who then lived that that which should come was then a coming, and to inform us who now live that it is already come.

Now which were these main and evident degrees of the Empire's falling, and at what time, I will tell you as soon as I have removed an usual mistake in this business, which is to reckon the times of the Empire's ruine, and so likewise of the Apostasie attending it, only from the foreign or full height thereof. But this is too much against Reason, and not agreeable to the course we otherwise use in the like. For as when we reckon the Age of a man, we reckon not from the time since he came to mans estate, but from the time of his birth: so should we do here for the Times of the Man of sin. I say not, we should begin to count his Age from his conception, for that we use not in other things; but from the time he was first editus in lucem, when he first began to appear in the world: and so likewise the Fall of the Empire and the Apostasie, not from the time they were consummate, but from the time they first evidently appeared. As therefore I hold their opinion the best, and most agreeable to truth, who begin the 70 years of the Iewish captivity in Babylon, not from the consummation thereof under Zedekiah, when the City and Temple were utterly rased, for that is impossible, (there being not**As infallibly appears in that long-wanting Mathematical Canon of Pro… l…m…, now of late brought to light out of o… of our own Libraries. 60 years in all between the nineteenth of Nebuchadnezzar and the last of Cyrus) but from the beginning thereof under Iehojakint eighteen years before, or at the most but from Iehojachin: So are these foreign Latter times of the Roman State to begin when the Empire first began p. 659to fall, and not when it was utterly rooted up. Take for another example the computation of the Time allotted to the Calamity of the Iews under Antiochus; which I the rather alledge, because he is commonly counted for a Type of Antichrist: The beginning of that 2300 evenings and mornings, or six years and somewhat more than a quarter, which that Calamity was to continue, from the beginning thereof until the Temple should again be cleansed, Dan. 8. 13, 14. was not to be reckoned from the height thereof, when the daily Sacrifice should be taken away, (for thence it is but three years, 1 Mac. 1. 54, &c. with chap. 4. 52.) but from the beginning of the Transgression which occasioned this desolation, and is described 1 Mac. 1. 11, &c. So likewise the End of the Kingdom of the Greeks, wherein this Calamity was to happen, is not to be counted only then when AEmilius the Consul had quite finished the conquest of Macedon, (for this points out only the height of that calamity) but from the beginning of that last fatal**Bellam Maced micum sec…dum. War which put an end to that Kingdom; which was about some three years and an half before, and jumps with the beginning of the Transgression of desolation, as the finishing of the Conquest doth with the taking away of the daily sacrifice.

But leaving this, let us return again and see which were those main and evident degrees of the Empire's downfall, and when they befell; which I suppose may not unfitly be sampled by those of the Babylonish captivity.

As therefore the Babylonish captivity had Three steps or degrees, the first in the days of Iehojakim, when Daniel went captive; the second under Iehojachin or Iechonias, when Ezechiel went captive; the last under Zedekiah, when the Temple and City were wholly rased and consumed: So (omitting the Political change under Constanstine) the chief and principal moments of the Ruine of the Empire by the sword (and by the sword the Beast had his deadly wound, Apocal. 13. 14.) may fitly be reduced unto Three.

1. The First was presently after the death of Iulian, the last of Heathen Emperors, about the year 365, ominously marked with that universal, stupendious and never-but-then sampled Earthquake,aaAmmia…. Marcel lib. 26. c. 31. Horrendt tremores per omnem o… bis ambiti…m grassa…sam subitd, qua…s nec fabul…e nec veridicae nobis antiquitates exponunt, &c. Hieron. in vita Hilationis. whereby the waters of the Sea were rolled out of their chanels, and left ships hanging upon the tops of houses. From this time forwards all the Nations on every side seem as it were with one consent to have conspired the Ruine of the Empire.bbHe… tempore velut per universum Orbem Romanum canentibus buccinis, excitae gentes, savissimae, limites sibi proximos persultabant: Gallias Rhaetidsque simul Alema…ni populabantur; Sarmatae Pannonias & Quadi; Picti, Saxones & Scoti, & Attacotti Britannos aerumnis vexav…re continuis; Thracias diripi…bant praedatorii globi Gethorum, &c. Ammian. ibid. cap. 10. Now that terrible and fatal storm of the Nations of the North, Almaenes, Samaritans, Quades, Picts, Scots and Saxons, especially the Coths, began to break in upon it; almost without intermission harrying, burning, wasting, destroying the most part of the provinces thereof almost forccHie…. Ep. 3. Ante annum 400. vig…n…i & …o ampliùs anni sunt, cum inter Constantinopolin & Alpes Iulias quotidie Romanus sanguis essunditur. S…ythiam, Thraciam, Macedoniam, Daciam, Dardaniam, Thessaliam, Achaiam, Epires, Dahna…iam, cunctdsque Pannonias Gothus, Sarmata, Quadus, Alanus, Hunni, Vandali, Marcomanni vastant, rapiun…: Romanus Orbis ruit. Quid putas nunc animi habere Corinthtes, Athenienses, Lacedaemmios, Arcadas, cunctdnique Graeciam, quibus imperant Barbari? 45. years together. And to mend the matter, the Goths soon after their coming were admitted as Inhabitants, and dispersed as free Denizons into the bowels and heart of the Empire, advanced to be Commanders, and bore the greatest sway in their Armies.ddSynesius Orat. ad Arcadium August. Quomodo enim ferre possumus partes viriles in nostra Republica alienorum & externorum esse, & fortissimum Imperium concedere aliis bellicae gloriae principatum? Neque enim dubitandum est fore, ut illi aliquando armis instructi hominum urbanorum se D…minos esse velint. Quod priusquam eveniat, revocandi sunt nobis: Romanorum animi, & ita assuefaciendi, ut ipsi suo Mario vincere & possim & velint: nec omnino societatem cum Barbaris ineant, sed eos omnes despiciant, omnique loco funditus pellant. Primùm igitur Magistratu ejiciantur, & procul à Curiae honoribus arceantur, quibus per summum dedecus ea obvenerunt quae diu apud Romanos habita sunt, & reipsa fuerunt apud eos honestissima. Nam & Deam Themid…m, quae Senatui, & Bellonam, quae Exercitui praesidet, obvelare se arbi…ror, cùm cernant hominem penulá scorteâ indutum ducem esse chlamydatorum, & villosam penulam ex…entem togam sumere, & de summa rerum cum Romano Magistratu consulere, prope ipsum Consulem sedentem, longè post eum sedentibus iis quibus bonos ille jure optimo debebatur. Paulo post, Apud nos Exercitus magni sunt, nostrisque servis Scythis sanguine conjuncti, qui nescio quo infelici fato in Romanum Imperium irrne… unt; lle su…s duces habent magnae authoritam v…r…s non sol…m apud eos ipsos, sed etiam apud nos: quod malum nostra dedit socordia nobis—Paulo post de Theodosio, Ille su…plicantes (scil. Gothos) erexit, & b…lli so…ios ascivit, & civitate donavit, & omnium honorum participes fecit, & partem Romani agri iis attribuit. At illi, quòd pater tuus …tem seus praebuit, nos in hunc usque diem derident. Sed id primus feceratVid. Socratem l. 4. c. 27 Valens, Anno 374. de quo sic Paulus D…aconus Hist. Mis…ll. lib. 12. cap. 14. Hunnes Gothi transito Danubio fugientes, à Valente sine ulla foederis pactione suscepti sunt, qui tribuit eis …ora… Thrac…arum ad habitandum, arbitratus praeparatum solatium ab eis habere contra omnes Barbaros: hac pr…re M…es d… caetero negligebat, & eos qui dudum contra hostes elaboraverant, Imperator despiciebat, &c.—Hoc ergo fuit ivitium, ut … tempore Romana Respublica calamitatibus subderetur. Barbari namque cùm Thracias ten…issent, licenter Romanorum vostabant provincia…, &c. By which fatal error the Empire received her bane, and the Romans were no longer masters of their own strength; which they quickly and often repented; but even that cost them dear, when they had indeed eyes to see it, but never ability to mend it. This was the First degree of the Empire's ruine.

2. The Second was about the year 410, when Alaricus the Goth sacked Rome it self, the proud Lady of the world; when, as S. Ierome saith, Capiebatur urbs quae totum cepit p. 660Orbem, imò fame periit antequam gladio, & vix pauci qui caperentur inventi sunt; The City which had conquered the whole world was it self taken, being undone by famine before it was by the sword, insomuch that there were but few left to be taken prisoners. And from this very year the Plurality of Kings foretold of began to come upon the stage; Five or Six new Kingdoms presently appearing within the Territories of the Empire: Of the Goths, of the Burgundians, and, though somewhat later, of the Franks in Gallia; of the Suevians and Alans and of the Vandals in Spain; and, as Sigonius thinks, of the Hunnes in Pannonia; certainly they could not be much later than this very year. But this number of Kings we will leave till they be better increased, as continually they did. And thus you see the Second degree of the ruine of the Empire.

3. The Third was about the year 455, presently upon the death of the third Valentinian, the last (as Sleidan well observed) of the Emperors of the West, and consequently of the ancient Rome; then when Gensericus the Vandal took the City now the second time, fired it, and spoiled it of all the goodly and glorious ornaments which Alaricus had spared, amongst which were the golden and silver vessels of the Temple of Ierusalem, **Paulus Diaconus Hist. Misc. prout ex codice Palatino edidit Ianus Gruterus, Quatuor decim interim di…s secutâ & liberâ dir…ptione omnibus opibus suis & miracu…is Rom… vacuata est; … in quibus erant Ecclesiastica foreign tota ex auro & lapidibus pretiosis ornata, & vasa Hebraica quae Titus Vespasiani filius post captivitatem Hi…rosolymitarum Romam detul…rat: mul…dque milli… captivorum—cum Regina Eudoxia, quae Gensericum ad hoc facinus invitav…rat, duabùsque ejus filiabus, Carthagi…m abducta sunt.brought thither by Titus: All which, with an innumerable multitude of Roman captives, he carried away with him. Now was the Prediction, which Varro reports that Vectius Valens the Augur made of 12 Vulturs to Romulus the Founder, That his City should continue 1200 years, fulfilled, and those years newly expired: And, which is more to be heeded, now was the Plurality of Kings lately risen in the ancient Territory of the Empire, as Daniel and S. Iohn had prophesied, increased unto the full number of Ten; which, together with the Provinces wherein they were seated, and the Names of the Kings which reigned the next year after the City was taken, are these which follow.

p. 661ANNO DOMINI 456.

Thus was the Empire divided and shared Anno 456. the year after Rome was sacked by Gensericus, and the off-spring of these Nations, through many alterations, (partly by the inconstancy of humane things, unions and disunions, partly by the further enlargement of the Christian Faith) are the body of most of the Kingdoms and States of Christendom at this day. Three of these Kings, saith**Chap. …. Verse 8, & 24. Daniel, should the Antichristian Horn depress and displant, to advance himself; which Three are those whose Dominions extended into Italy, and so stood in his light.

1. That of the Greeks, whose Emperor, Leo Isaurus, for the quarrel of Images, he excommunicated, and revolted his subjects of Italy from their allegiance.

p. 6622. That of the Longobards, (successors of the Ostrogoths) whose Kingdom he caused (by the aid of the Franks) to be wholly ruined, thereby to get the Exarchate of Ravenna (which since their revolt from the Greeks they were seized on) for a Patrimony to S. Peter.

3. The last was the Kingdom of the Franks it self, continued in the Empire of Germany, whose Emperors from the day of Henry the Fourth he excommunicated, deposed and trampled under his feet, and never suffered them to live in rest, till he made them not only quit their interest in Election of Popes and Investitures of Bishops, but that remainder of Iurisdiction in Italy, wherewith, together with the dignity of the Roman name, he had once inseoffed their Predecessors.

These are the Kings, by displanting or (as the Vulgar hath) by humbling of whom the Pope got elbow-room by degrees, and advanced himself to the height of Temporal Majesty and absolute Greatness, which made him so terrible in the world.

This Third blow therefore I suppose is to be counted the Last of the Ruine of the Empire; the Imperial power of the ancient Rome (until the Pope some 345 years after revived the name) henceforth ceasing. For as for those who yet some twenty years after our date scuffled for that Name, one of them deposing another, they were indeed but shadows of Caesars, and as it were struglings with the pangs of death, until with Augustulus it gave up the ghost. Yea it is to be observed, that two of them, Avitus (the very next) and Glycerius, being deposed from the Empire, were made Bishops, the one of Placentia or Piacenza, the other of**Salona Iornandes, quem vide cum Paulo Diacono. Portus; as a sign perhaps that the Emperor of Rome henceforth should be a Bishop, and a Bishop the Emperor.

To conclude therefore with the application of our Apostle's Prediction: Whether the Christian Apostasie in worshipping new Daemon-Gods began not with the First of these degrees, notably increased with the Second, and was established by the Last, I leave you to judge, when you shall have surveyed the Monuments and Records of those times.

It is commonly and truly affirmed by our Ecclesiastical**Vide Can. 9. Concil. Laodicen. An. 364. foreign. Antiquaries, That before the year 360 there is no word to be found of the Invocation of Saints glorified, or Worshipping their Reliques; to which I add, no not of any Miracles done by them: But presently after that year, when our first date of the Empire's ruine began, search and you shall find. I spare to name the Authors, not willing to discover the nakedness of the Fathers: But whoso reads them, will admire to see so truly verified what the Spirit foretold should be foreign in the latter times. And to make an end; If any shall think this Speculation of Times to be a needless curiosity, I desire him to remember how our Saviour reproved the Iews for neglect hereof, Matth. 16. 3. O ye Hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the skie, but can ye not discern the signs of the times? or as S. Luke 12. 56. How is it that ye do not discern this Time? They through neglecting the Signs of the Times, when Christ came, received him not: How many through ignorance of these foreign Latter Times, when the Apostasie hath appeared, eschewed it not?

From which of these Three Beginnings of the Apostatical Times, or whether from some other moment within or between them, the Almighty will reckon that his Computation of these foreign, which ended shall finish the days of the Man of sin, I curiously enquire not, but leave unto him who is Lord of times and seasons: Nor do I think that the Iews themselves could certainly tell from which of their Three Captivities to begin that reckoning of LXX years, whose end should bring their return from Babylon, until the Event assured them thereof.