Questions and Inquiries / in which once again

the Bohemian situation / is clearly enough decided from the prophecy of Scripture / from the beginning to the end.

I.

How it can be proved in detail / that the Roman Empire is indeed the Beast / and the Fourth Monarchy /

Although I have, through GOD’S grace, clearly enough proved in my other writings that the Roman Emperor is the Beast A reference to the "Beast from the Sea" in Revelation 13, often interpreted by Protestant reformers as the political power of Rome. and the Roman Pope is the Whore Referring to the "Whore of Babylon" from Revelation 17. upon the Beast, there are still found, and may yet be found, other fellows who do not understand even the smallest part of the mysteries of God. These people interpret the Beast and the Whore differently and thus darken the right truth with their own understanding—especially the Jesuit-furies original: Jesuwüten; a derogatory pun common in 17th-century polemics, combining "Jesuit" with the German verb wüten (to rage or act with fury)., who surely will not want to tolerate the claim that the Roman Pope is the Whore and the Roman Empire (or rather the Roman Emperor) is the Beast which blasphemes God and His tabernacle, along with those who dwell in heaven, and which destroys, overcomes, and kills His saints. First, we will take up the Beast, and then the Whore.

As for what now follows—that we should irrefutably prove, especially against the Papists A 17th-century term for Roman Catholics, used here to emphasize their loyalty to the Pope., that the Roman Empire itself, with its always-Papal Emperor, is the Beast—we must not persuade the Papists out of our own heads. Instead, we must convict them from the Scripture, which they cannot deny. If they should indeed deny it, they will be condemned and judged for it by their own associates as such reckless people who are worse than the heathens. But regarding their scholars: although they are stubborn enough, they will nonetheless be unable to reject the Scriptures, which will testify clearly enough regarding this matter.