A34679:752
An exposition upon the thirteenth chapter of the Revelation by that reverend and eminent…
An exposition upon the thirteenth chapter of the Revelation by that reverend and eminent servant of the Lord, Mr. John Cotton ... ; taken from his mouth in short-writing, and some part of it corrected by himself soon after the preaching thereof ; and all of it since viewed over by a friend to him ... wherein some mistakes were amended, but nothing of the sense altered.
London: printed for Tim. Smart, 1656
Title page typeset from the transcription.
AN EXPOSITION Upon the thirteenth Chapter of the REVELATION. › Part
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
And further I add, it will be found to be but the number of a man: What is the meaning of that? I will not trouble you with variety of interpretations, briefly the number of a man: I suppose it is here opposed to that which ye read of in Rev. 21. 17. where he tells us, The new Jerusalem was measured, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is of the Angel: here he doth not say so, the number of a man, that is of the Angel: but it is the number of a mere man, a carnal man, and therefore in sum this number will prove but an humane invention, it is therefore called the number of a man.
And further I adde, it will be found to be but the number of a man: What is the meaning of that? I will not trouble you with variety of interpretations, briefly the number of a man: I suppose it is here opposed to that which ye read of in Rev. 21. 17. where he tels us, The new Jerusalem was measured, an hundred and fourty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is of the Angel: here he doth not say so, the number of a man, that is of the Angel: but it is the number of a meere man, a carnal man, and therefote in sum this number wil proove but an humane invention, it is therefore called the number of a man.
And finally, he saith this number is six hundred threescore and six. Six hundred sixty six is not in the Original in so many words, only three greek letters are put for these three numbers, [Greek or Hebrew]. Now it is true in the Greek account they do reckon numbers by the letters of the Alphabet, and from the first letter Alpha to Iota, they are for singular units, for Alpha is one, and Beta is two, &c. and they put in Sigma and make that six, Iota is the tenth letter, and so is ten in number; and from Iota to Rho, they are reckoned by tens, as Kappa is twenty, Lambda thirty, Mu forty, &c. and so till you come to Rho and that is one hundred, and then the rest that follow are so many multiplied, as Sigma is two hundred, Tau three hundred, &c. and [Greek or Hebrew] six hundred. So that if these be understood as holding out the numbers, as here the words express, then [Greek or Hebrew] is six hundred, [Greek or Hebrew] is sixty, [Greek or Hebrew] is six; which being summed