The Name Mark and Number of the Beast, Postscript
POSTSCRIPT.
Courteous READER,
ALthough about two years since, at the request of a Friend I lately reviewed it; yet this Treatise of mine was finished certain years ago: Since that, it hath met with many hindrances; and now I believe (had not another occasion brought me up to the City) it had neither at this time come into publick view.
All things considered, the whole series and continual succession of impediments of years past, and now onelyonly the opportunity offered: By this I am induced to believe, the publishing of these things, is not so much by Humane Counsel, as by Divine Providence.
Perhaps, Gods Work is now set on foot, for the deliverance of his poor afflicted People: and it may be, in this juncture of time, some passages in this Treatise may be subservient to such ends. The Wise-man saith, Words spoken in due season, are like Apples of Gold in pictures of Silver. By the things that I have written, thou mayest understand how, and in what manner, those Princes and Potentates of the Earth do sin, Whosoever they be, that hold up the Name and Headship of the Beast, in direct opposition to the Name and Headship of the Lamb. Thou mayest further understand, how greatly they do aggravate their sin, that compass Sea and Land, that make search and inquisition into every corner, and persecute unto the death, all that will not live in subjection to this Name or Headship. Hereby also thou mayest be informed, what sympathy, what bowels of affection thou shouldst shew to those that live under the Tyranny of the Beasts Kingdome. For i… on the one side, poor Souls do Worship the Beast, receive his Mark and Name; Christ (as he hath cause enough) doth denounce the most grievous Judgements against them; On the other side, if they refuse to subject their Consciences to his Papal determinations; such is the hard condition of many Countreys, that it is the loss of all, yea of life it self. This is the Glassie Sea mingled with fire, through which the Saints have passed; which also they are yet in passing. But how few of us are sensible of their hard condition? How few do mourn for the affliction of Ioseph? If that be true, that the Members of the Protestant Churches abroad are in imminent danger; If they have been lately Massacred in Piedmont, without sparing Age or Sex; If they are bleeding in Switzerland, divers there having been put to death for no fault, but being Protestants; If the designes be upon the whole Interest by the Popish Party, almost in all places of Europe: Then we have reason to condole with our Brethren in their Sufferings. And the reading of the present Treatise, will help us more clearly to see, and judge of that which is the cause of the Quarrel. We shall see also, what is the Minde of Christ concerning these things, and to what issue they will be brought at the end of all.
Hereby also thou mayest be advertised, to beware of the Opinion of such, that make the Christian Magistrate the Fountain of all Church-Power: This is to set up a Civil Anti-Christ, in the stead of a Spiritual. Christ is the Head of his own Church; and therefore he hath appointed Laws, by which his Kingdome is to be governed; Censures, by which his rebellious Subjects are to be punished; and Officers, to dispense those Censures. If there be no such Name or Headship, What should be the meaning of the Apostle, when he speaketh of the Incestuous Corinthian? Concerning him that hath done this deed; in the Name of the Lord Iesus Christ, when you are gathered together, and my Spirit, with the power of the Lord Iesus, to deliver such a one to Satan, 1 Cor. 5. 4. And in that other place, Now we command you, Brethren, in the Name of the Lord Iesus, that you withdraw your selves from every Brother that walketh disorderly, 2 Thess. 3. 6. And in that Scripture, Whatsoever ye shall binde on earth, shall be bound in heaven: for where two or three are gathered together in my Name, I will be in the midst of them, Matth. 18. ver. 18, 19, 20. In these several places, the Name of Christ is his Power and Headship in and over the Church his own House: which is not onelyonly opposite to the Name of the Beast, but in an inferior degree, to that Spiritual Power and Supremacy which some would give to Princes and Potentates of the Earth. The London-Ministers in their Vindication, do speak to good purpose, when they say, Christ Iesus is the onelyonly Head of the Church, governing it not onelyonly inwardly and invisibly, by the working of his Spirit, but outwardly also and visibly, as a Political Ministerial Body. In which he hath appointed his own proper Ambassadors, Assemblies, Laws, Ordinances, and Censures, to be administred in his Name, and according to his own way, pag. 4. By this account then, they must be judged to come neer a very dangerous Errour, whosoever they be, that take this Name and Headship from him, and give it to Temporal Princes. Calvin and other friends of ours, have been much offended at the Title that was given to Henry the Eighth and his Successors: And our Adversaries also have hereby taken occasion to insult over us. For these are the words of Wadesworth, in a Letter of his to Mr. Bedell: N…r will I (saith he) insist upon the passions that moved King Henry violently to Divorce himself from his lawful Wife; to fall out with the Pope his Friend; …o Marry Lady Anne Bullen, and soon after to Behead her; to disinherit Queen Mary, and to inable Queen Elizabeth; and presently to disinherit Queen Elizabeth, and to restore Queen Mary; to hang Catholicks for Traytors, and to burn Protestants for Hereticks; to destroy Monasteries; to pill Churches: Were these fit beginnings for the Gospel of Christ? I pray was this man a good Head of Gods Church? For my part, I pray our Lord to bless me from being a Member of such a Head, or such a Church, pag. 11. Now what saith Mr. Bedel to all this? You demand, saith he, if this man King Henry were a good Head of Gods Church? What if I should demand the same touching Alexander the sixth, Julius the second, Leo the tenth, or twenty more of the Catalogue of Popes, in respect of whom King Henry might be Canoniz'd for a Saint? But there is a story in Tullies Offices, of one Lutatius, that laid a Wager, That he was (bonus vir) a good man, and would be judged by one Fimbria, a man of Consular Dignity. He, when he understood the case, said, He would never judge that matter, lest either he should diminish the reputation of a man well esteemed of; or set down that any man was a good man, which he accounted to consist in an innumerable sort of excellencies and praises. That which he said of a good man, with much more reason may I say of a good King; one of whose highest excellencies, is to be a good Head of the Church. And therefore it is a question which I will never take upon me to answer, Whether King Henry was such or no, unless you will before-hand interpret, &c. pag. 131. He hath some other passages concerning the use of the Authority of the said King, in doing things that were good, and in removing the Popes Tyranny: Which Acts of his (saith he) whosoever shall impartially consider of, may well esteem him a better Head to the Church of England, then any Pope these thousand years, pag. 132. But for my part, I conceive here are two Questions to be answered; Whether that King were rightly and truly a Head of the Church at all? That being granted; the second, Whether he were a good one, yea or no? To determine these Questions, I am clearly of Fimbria's judgement in that other case. As on the one part, I am loth to diminish the lawful Power of Princes, which they have, they ought to have, and ever had, in disposing the affairs of the Church: so on the other side, I conceive, That it is too high to call Hen. 8. or any other Supreme Magistrate, an Head, much more a good Head of the Church; the eminency, transcendency and sublimity of that Prerogative belonging to Christ alone. Our Princes have used such a Title; and in the sense of the Statute, in a moderate way, the people have ascribed it to them, to wit, a Spiritual Power, Authority and Jurisdiction, that ever have belonged to Kings and Princes, which David, Solomon, the Kings of Iudah, and Christian Emperours have ever exercised in their respective Dominions. This, no doubt, hath been the sense of wellmeaning men; and so Mr. Bedel doth expound it in the forementioned place, and pag. 56. But for my part, being inlightned and better informed, I pray God such Titles be no more used; and let that passage, Next under thee and thy Christ, in all Causes Ecclesiastical, in these His Majesties Dominions, Supreme Head and Governour; Let the exuberancy of such a Title, pass among the iniquity of our holy things. Our godly Friends have been offended at it; our Enemies have insulted; Experience hath shewed much danger in the use of it; and the present Treatise, I doubt not, will shew what an evil thing it is, to take away the Prerogative of Christ, and to make other Heads of the Church in his room. Of all men living, the Erastians have greatest cause to look to this: For let Princes be once told, That there is no Church-Government in the Word of God, and that they themselves are the sole Fountains of Church-Power; By this means it will be effected, That the Name and Power of Christ over his own Church will be plucked down, and the Name and Headship of Princes will be onelyonly set up. In matters of this nature, if you give an Inch, men will take an Ell. Rather for acts past, we should often think upon that expression of the Prophet, I will pour upon the House of David, and the inhabitants of Ierusalem, the Spirit of grace and supplication; and they shall look to him whom they have pierced, Zach. 12. 10. Christ is not onelyonly pierced in a literal sense, when his body is run thorow with a Spear; but he is pierced also, when his Name and Headship is taken away from him, and given to another. So far as a whole Nation have been mediately or immediately, directly or indirectly implicated and involved in such a sin; so far I believe they ought to mourn. If this be not done, God perhaps may rebuke us, when our Armies go forth against those that Worship the Beast, and uphold his Name and Headship, in enmity to the Government of Christ. Though not in the favour of the enemy, yet we may be chastised for our own faults, and the Lord may be provoked to appear against us. When the Lamb went forth on his white Horse against the Beast and his Armies, the Armies that followed, were upon white Horses cloathed in fine linen, white and clean, Rev. 19. 14.
Further also, by the process of this Discourse, information may be given to certain in these Times, who being led by the meer shew and colour of some passages in the Prophesies, do think it a part of their duty, to level Magistracy, abolish Laws, and to turn all things up-side down, in Church and Commonwealth. Of such I may say, That they mingle the precious Truths of God, with Fables of their own commenting. In the Metamorphosis of Ovid, we reade of the Beginning of the World, of the Chaos, of the Giants heaping of Pelion upon Ossa, of Deucalions Flood, of the Four Ages, of the Golden, the Silver, the Brazen, and the Iron Age. These things are not all Fictions, because they have some ground of truth in the Scripture; neither are they all truths, because they are mingled with Fictions of the invention of man. Of the same kinde are some Authors, who are for the Fifth Monarchy; they think, that the setting up of the Kingdome of Christ, will be the Dissolution of all Earthly Kingdomes. But by the purport and whole drift of the present Discourse, they may understand, That the Kingdome of Christ is not contrary to Governments, Powers and Authorities, purely as such; but onelyonly to Governments as Idolatrous, as Tyrannical, as contrary to the Laws of Christ, and of his Church. In the Prophecy of Daniel, the Empire of Babel is resembled to a Lyon; of Persia, to a Bear; of Greece, to a Leopard; of Rome, to a Beast of divers shapes. All these Monarchies erected and set up on the ruines of the Davidical Kingdome, are parallell'd to so many Beasts. Bu… to what Beast shall we resemble (in its right constitution) the Davidical Kingdome it self? In the Book of the Revelation, the Angel doth expresly say, That there were eight Kings; and yet the Beast had but seven Heads, Chap. 17. How can this be? I have fully proved, That the Dynasty, Race and Succession of the Christian Caesars, do make the seventh Roman King, but no Head of the Beast. Therefore the Mediatori…n Kingdom of Christ is not contrary to Governments, as such; neither is nor ever shall be built upon the ruines of Governments, as Governments, but upon the ruines of Governments onelyonly as Tyrannical, and opposite to the Laws of the Gospel. There is no such cause then, why solid and judicious men in these dayes, should set aside this kinde of Learning, which is so much for the Credit & Authority of the Christian Magistrate. And for the Government of the Church in some Points (if I am not mistaken) there is in this Prophecy as strong, if not stronger proof then in any other Book of the New Testament. As for Example: Though Bishops are put down, the Service-Book taken away, the Ordination of Ministers brought neerer the Rule; all this being done, men are not pleased. What is the cause of the Difference? The difficulty lies in the Church-state. Robinson and others of that way, do plead, That we have no Example for a National Church in the New Testament; and the bringing in of whole Nations by the power of the Magistrate, this is the principal Rock of Offence. I confess it is true, that we have no Example of a National Church in the Apostles time. For how could all Nations come in at that particular instant, when the greater part of them did still remain in their Idolatries, and the Emperors themselves were the greatest Enemies of the Church? Now if we apply our selves to the Book of the Revelation, we shall plainly see, how the Spirit doth foretel, That after the Preaching of the Gospel, the Church should fall under grievous Persecutions, in all the times of the Pagan Caesars: when that time is ended, the Empire it self shall become Christian. What else should be the meaning of that expression? Now is come Salvation and Strength, and the Kingdome of our God, and the Power of his Christ, Rev. 12. 10. This doth note no other, but the setting up of the Gospel in the Throne, in the times of Constantine the Great. After these things, he sheweth the fall of the Empire, and the rising of the Ten Kings, by the Emblem of a Beast with ten Horns, that came up out of the Sea, Chap. 13. ver. 1. This Beast doth signifie the Roman Tyranny in the last and the Antichristian Edition. And he further addeth, in the latter times of this Kingdome, that the Eternal Gospel shall be preached to every Kindred, Tongue and Nation, Chap. 14. ver. 6. & 7. Then also, the deceived Kings shall be undeceived; and, The Kingdomes of this world, shall become the Kingdomes of our Lord, and of his Christ, Chap. 11. 15. That is, those Kingdomes which formerly were the Kingdomes of the Beast, shall become subject to the Laws of Christ, and of his Gospel. Here is a plain Example (though not in the Age of the Apostles) of whole Christian Nations in the times of the Gospel. I willingly yield, That the preaching of the Gospel is that by and through which, primarily, and immediately, Churches are gathered: yet by the Authority of the Magistrate, the same Gospel also is countenanced, Laws are made, Parishes are divided, Ministers maintained, and the Body of the Nation brought to attend to that which is, or at least may be, the mean of their Salvation. I cannot think, but with great horrour, what would ensue, if the Designs of some men should take place: It would be the very Abaddon and Apollyon to the Church of God. But let us look what is spoken of the Kings of Europe, They shall hate the Whore, and make her desolate and naked, and shall burn her flesh with fire, Chap. 17. If they shall hate the Whore, then they shall destroy the Idolatries and Superstitions of that Church, which they did formerly so love and admire: and on the contrary part, they shall countenance the Gospel, bring in their People, and do as much for the Church of Christ, which they did formerly persecute and hate. Of the New Ierusalem it is said, The Kings of the Earth shall bring their glory to her, Chap 21. But lest any should think, That this is meant onelyonly of the Glory of the Church in Heaven; Let sundry passages of the Prophet Esay be considered: The scope of all whi…h is to shew, That the Kings of the Earth shall bring their Glory unto the Church. There is much spoken also of the coming in of whole Nations, of the Conversion of Kings, and the adorning of the Church by the bounty of Kings: Reade Chap. 60. per totum, with many other places.
If these things were rightly considered, men would not have such prejudices against a National Constitution, and setting up of the Gospel, by the Authority, Power and Command of Kings and Princes. What shall we make of the Reign of Christ upon the Earth? Is it not directly and diametrally opposite to the Reign of the Beast? And the Reign of the Beast, let the Angel himself, together with our own experience, shew, wherein the formality and the being thereof doth consist. So he speaketh: The Horns which thou sawest are ten Kings, which have received no Kingdome as yet; but receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast: These have one minde, and shall give their power and strength unto the Beast: These shall make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb shall overcome them; for he is the Lord of lords, and King of kings, Rev. 17. ver. 12, 13, 14. The effence of the Kingdome of the Beast lyeth in the Confederacy of Kings, and in their yielding themselves to the Name and Headship of the Bishop of Rome. This is the Reign of the Beast upon the Earth. So by the Rule of Proportion, the Reign of Christ and of the Lamb shall be in the holy association and concurrence of Christian Princes, to set up the Gospel of Christ, his Name and Headship, as the Regent-Law among the Nations. From all that hath been said, it is cleer, That this Doctrine is not contrary to the Authority of Magistrates; nay, it is most forcible and effectual to establish the Laws and Government of the Church.
Upon the same grounds I do here desire to speak a word or two; and Oh that I could speak it with tears! The Reformation in Germany, and now lately in England, hath been, and yet is much deformed, by abalienation of the Churches Revenue, and in passing away that which former Ages have bestowed (I may speak of a great part at least) upon the preaching of the Gospel. These are Scandals to the Enemy. Let our Consciences in the mean while judge, Whether this be not a Scandal given, rather then a Scandal taken: Whether we do not open the mouthes of the Enemies of the Lord to speak evil of the Reformation: And whether we are not faulty in this Point. Moses went in Gods way, and by his Command, and it was a glorious work to deliver Israel from the Bondage of Egypt: yet withall, when he was in the discharge of so excellent a work, then the Lord stood in the Way to kill him, Exod. 4. 24. Our Armies are going forth against the Enemies, and the Prote…ant Armies are like to go forth more and more: These are the times, or at least do border upon the times of the Su…per of the Fowls, of the great Vintage, of th… Bat…el of Armageddon. There are like to be great Commotions of State, Army against Army, in the times of the end of the Beasts Kingdome. And therefore by collation of all Circumstances, we cannot be fat off from the performance of all that hath been foretold. It is meet for us to see our own sins, and specially that which I have hinted, before we go on in the Lords work.
These things I have thought good to annex by way of Appendi…. My purpose is not to speak any thing to please, or di…please any Party: Neither can I tell, how any Party will be pleased with me: it may be I may displease all. However, I do desire to please mine own Conscience, in delivering that which I conceive to be a Truth of God.
There is one thing whi…h I think meet more …ully to explain my self in. I have, in the preceding Treatise, made it a good part of my work, to prove the Roman to be the Fourth, and the last Metal Kingdome; and that the Roman doth begin in the consideration and notion of such a Kingdome, when the Church, and the Con…inent of the Church, came under the Dominion and Soveraignty of the People of Rome. This I know the followers of Iunius will not away with; and many learned men in these times do follow this way of Interpretation. But because we will not unnecessarily controvert, and make our selves more enemies then needs; we will be content to say, That the Roman doth begin at the end or ending of all four Metal-Kingdomes; and where they end, in the method, order, and way of account, the Roman doth begin. And whereas we have endeavored, Chap. 6. pag. 116. to prove the beginning of the Roman as The fourth Metal-Kingdome, to be at that instant of time, when the Church came under the Dominion of that People; the same Arguments (mutatis mutandis) will prove the beginning of the Roman, at the end of all four Metal-Kingdomes. And so the followers of Iunius and we shall agree in the substance of the Interpretation. Let us compute the Name or Universal Headship of the Bishop of Rome, (as Decreed and Enacted under the Emperor Phocas) and in that series and way of account, it will be 666 years from the beginning of the Roman, as that great Empire doth succeed, at the end of the four Metal-Kingdomes. Here is the Name of the Beast, and the Calculation according to the Number of a Man, according to the Divisions and Parts of the Body of Man in Daniels Image. If we go either way, the Account will be made good.
FINIS.
End of the text · Nathaniel Stephens, The Name Mark and Number of the Beast (1656)