Sect II: The two Witnesses (section 7.3a)

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Sect II.
The two Witnesses.

The Dragon & Beast have their proper churches true & false. The false Church of the Dragon is the two horned Beast as above & his true Church is the seven Churches of Asia. The fals church of the Beast is Whore of Babylon & his true Church is the two Churches called the two Witnesses For the Witnesses are called two Candlesticks & two Olive trees & Candlesticks signify Churches Apoc 1.20 & so do Olive trees Rom. 11.17 Therefore while the whole Empire continues undivided & is both Dragon & Beast, the Church of the whole Empire is both the seven Churches & the two Witnesses: But when the Empire becomes divided & the Dragon is put for the Greek Empire & the Beast for the Latin Empire, the seven Churches signify the true Church of God in the Eastern Empire & the two witnesses are his true Church in the western. For the Beast makes war with the two witnesses & overcomes them & kills them & their dead bodies lye in the streets of the great city Babylon & therefore they are in the western Empire & the seven Angels or Angels of the seven Churches sound the Trumpets & pour out the Vials or drink offerings at the seven sacrifices while the Empire continues divided, & therefore the seven Churches do not cease when the Woman separates from them & flyes into the wilderness, but continue in being & by consequence remain in the Dragons Kingdom .

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Now as the Dragon & Beast by the number of their heads & horns tally one another as a mark of their being originally { _, } united: so the seven Churches of Asia & the Woman in the Wilderness tally{ . } one another in the number of Churches. For the heads of the Beast are called seven mountains where the woman sitteth & mountains are a type of royal Cities the seats of kingdoms & every kingdom has its Church. After the little horn of Daniels fourth Beast which is this woman, had in its rise {rooted} up three of the ten kings she reigned over the remaining seven ( such from their first number are also called ten ) & the seven Churches of these kingdoms answer in number to the seven Churches of Asia . Before she separated she was the seven Churches of Asia: by separation every Church became two, a true one & a false one & the seven false ones fled into the wilderness & reigned over the seven mountains in the form of a great Whore.

In like manner the two Witnesses & two horns of the second Beast tally one another as to the number of Churches. For as the Witnesses are two Churches so also the two horns of this beast are Churches being like the Lambs', seven horns which represent the seven Churches of Asia. Whence it seems to me that the two Witnesses & two horns of this Beast were originally united the two Witnesses being the sincere part of Christs visible Church from the beginning & the two horned Beast the dissemb{l}ing hypocritical part corrupt part called Nicolaitans & fals Apostles & the fals Prophet Balaam.. For as the ten horned Beast was from the beginning & his rising out of the sea signifies only his separating from the Dragon so the two horned Beast was from the beginning, being the Fals Prophet called Balaam whose doctrine is the doctrine of the Nicola{i}tans. & his rising out of the earth signifies only his separating from the two Witnesses. Now the Church of the whole Empire was distinguished from the beginning into Greeks & Latines & this distinction was improved by the building of Constantinople & dividing the Empire between this city & Rome & still further improved by divi{s}{d}ing the Empire between the sons of Constantine the Great: whereby the Woman received two wings of a great Eagle that She might fly into the Wilderness. And as the four wings of the Leopard signify the division of the kingdom of the Greeks into four kingdoms so the two wings of the Woman signify her division into the Greek & Latin Churches which churches are in different respects the two {w}itnesses & the two horns of the second Beast. So then as the first Beast had his heads & his wound before he rose out of the Sea so the second Beast had his two horns before he rose out of the earth & as the Dragon separated from the Beast and retired into the Eastern Empire without losing any of his horns so the second Beast separated & retired into the Eastern Empire without losing either of his horns, & so the two Witnesses continue to be called two notwithstanding their retiring into the west, there being a mixture of Greeks & Latines in both Empires & names & characters once imposed remaining to the end of the Prophesy.

So then as the Dragon & first Beast do each of them signify the whole Roman Empire from the beginning untill it becomes divided & then separaate from one another & signify the two parts: so the Seven Churches, the Woman, the two Witnesses & the two horned Beast are all of them from the beginning & do in several respects signify the Church of the whole Roman Empire untill it becomes divided into four parts two true Churches & two fals ones, & then separate from one another & signify those parts. Before the division the seven Churches & Woman do each of them signify the whole Church: the seven Churches have Nicolaitans among them & the Nicolaitans hold the doctrine of Balam the fals Prophet represented by the two horned {B}{b}east & they that oppose & testify against the Nicolaitans are the two Witnes{s}es.

Now as the separation of the ten horned Beast is represented by his rising out of the sea & that of the two horned Beast by his rising out of the earth, so the separation of the two witnesses is represented by the building of a new Temple

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Sect II
The two Witnesses

When the Church of God ceases to be represented by the seven Churches of Asia it begins to be represented by the two Prophets or Witnesses. For at that time as many of the Churches as will not worship the Image of the Beast are mystically killed & by being killed become the Martyrs or Witnesses of Iesus & the 144⁰⁰⁰ who are then selected out of all the twelve tribes of Israel and sealed with the seale of God in their foreheads stand on Mount Sion with the Lamb & sing a new song before the throne in the Temple of God & before the four Beasts & the Elders & by reason of their being killed are called the first fruits unto God & to the Lamb in respect of the following harvest & in their mouth was found no lye & therefore they are true Witnesses . They also stand on the sea of glass in the Temple before the throne having gotten the victory over the Beast & over his Image by not worshipping them & by being sealed with the seal of God , & there they sing the song of Moses the servant of God & the song of the{e} Lamb with harps , that is, they prophesy & henceforward are the Prophets of God. . For the sons of Asaph Heman & Ieduthun who were appointed by David to sing in the temple at the sacrifices with Harps & other musical instruments are said to prophesy with Harps 1 Chron. 25.1, 2, 3 And Saul met a company of Prophets prophesying with a psalter{y} & a tabet & a pipe & a harp before them. 1 Sam. 10 Now these {W}itnesses or Prophets being the people of God throughout the whole Roman Empire they are by the division of this Empire into the Eastern & western Empire distinguished into two bodies of Witnesses or Prophets & are thence called the two witnesses & the two Prophets. For these two Empires have their Churches false & true. Their false Churches are the Whore of Babylon or Woman Iezebel who calleth her self a Prophetess & the two– horned Beast called also the fals Prophet. And in opposition to to the two fals Churches represented by this fals Prophet & false Prophet{e}ss God has his two true churches represented by two true Prophets. For these two Prophets are called Candlesticks & Olive trees & Candlesticks signify Churches Apoc. 1.20 & so do Olive trees Rom. 11.17 . The remnant of the womans seed whom the Dragon went to make war upon & who keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus are the true witness or Prophet in the kingdom of the Dragon & the martyrs of Iesus with whose blood the Woman is drunken are the true Witness or Prophet in the kingdom of the Beast. These are the two leggs of the son of man who in the beginning of the prophesy of the seven thunders set his right foot upon the sea & his left foot upon the earth. [ As the two leggs of Nebuchadnezzar's Image{s} represent the Western & eastern {R}oman Empires so the two leggs of the son of Man represent their Churches. ] And as the seven eyes of the lamb & seven lamps or stars represent the seven spirits of God or seven Angels or teachers of the seven Churches, so the two eyes of the son of Man represent the teachers of the two Churches.

Now in calling these two Prophets the two Olive trees & two Candlesticks standing before the God of the earth there. there is a plain allusion to Zechary's vision of two Olive trees emptying their oyle into a Candlestick in the second Temple. And in Iohn's measuring the {T}emple & Altar & them that worship therein ( that is the court of the Temple with its buildings & the Court of the Altar with its buildings & the Court of the people ^{[Editorial Note 1]}

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The two witnesses were in being before they were killed for not worshipping the Image of the Beast: & therefore the Church of the whole Empire was both the seven Churches & the two Witnesses untill that killing.

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called the weomens court ) , & leaving the outward court unmeasured & giving it to the Gentiles who tread down the Holy City; & in the two Prophets attending this Temple there is a plain allusion to the Babylonian captivity & rebuilding the Temple , & particularly to Ezekiels vision of measuring the temple in the beginning of captivity in token that it should be rebuilt & to the subsequent rebuilding of the Courts of the Temple & Altar & weomen's court by the pro{ph}esying of Haggai & Zechary & leaving the outward court unbuilt all the reign of the kingdom of Persia which was about 200 years & then building it for the gentiles in the days of Simeon Iustus & calling it the Gentiles court. And all this

After the Babylonians had killed all those who would not worship the Image of the Beast & thereby put an end to the first Temple wherein were seven Candlesticks representing the seven Churches of Asia: the barbarous nations invading the western Empire brake it into ten kingdoms & reigning over nine of them put an end to the Roman laws against liberty of conscience in those kingdoms. For the laws of the Roman Emperors ( Theodosius & his sons ) still extant in the Theodosian Code were exceeding severe against meeting to worship God in any assemblies whatever but those of the saint worshippers. The places where they met were confiscated, the persons meeting were carried before the judges to be transported {repelled} or otherwise punished, the Bishops Priests & Deacons were banished human society. Inquisitors were appointed to find out offenders & Iudges were punished who neglected to put the laws in execution. And all separation from the communion of the saint worshipper upon the least difference or occasion whatever was by these laws declared Heresy, the word Heresy being taken in a large sense so as to comprehend what we call schism. But in the kingdoms Erected in the western Empire by the barbar{o}us nations these laws being laid aside & liberty of conscience revived, the true Christians would meet aga{in} to worship God in their own way & many of them would fly from the eastern empire where they were persecuted & escape into these kingdoms for the sake of this liberty, especially the Bishops Presbyters & teachers who were more persecuted than the rest, so that both the witnesses worshipped God in this Temple. And its probable that the Barbarians would favour them the more because they were persecuted by the Romans with whom{ . } they were at war. And a new Temple being thus erected would continue as long as any of the barbarous kingdoms differed in religion from the Roman Catholicks, that is till about the beginning of the Woe–trumpets or perhaps a little longer. For the barbarous kings upon {their} conversion to the Roman Catholic religion did not presently begin to persecute their subjects.

Now the ten Kings by being converted to the {Ro}man Catholic religion became the Whore's Beast & the Bea{st} began to act under her. By {t}hat conversion They became also . the gentiles which trode down the Holy City & worshipped in the outward court of the Temple; especially after the setting up the worship of Images. For by the worshipping of Images they become Gentiles in the most proper signification of the word & the Woman thereby became a Whore in the same sense that the Churches of Iudah & Israel were said to go a Whoring. And it's to be conceived also that at the setting up of Image worship the two Witnesses put on sackcloth & began to sigh & mourn for the standing of the abomination. Then also the Woman arrived to her place of honour in the wilderness upon the back of her Beast & began to be fed by kings & other great men the merchants of the earth, who for Empires & Kingdoms & principalities & Bishopricks & dispensations pardons & indulgenc{i}es & privileges & titles of honour & reliques & canonizations & Masses & sermons gave her Peters patrimony & tythes & gold & silver & gemms & all manner of things valuable. And in this state things continued till the Beast made {w}ar upon the two witnesses who worshipped in the second Temple & were to prophesy principally in the streets of the great city within the dominion of the Beast.

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For the building of a second Temple is signified by Iohn's measuring the Temple & Altar & them that worship therein, & leaving out the outward court unmeasured because it is given to the gentiles who shall tread down the Holy City 42 months. For all this alludes to Ezekiel's measuring the Temple in the Babylonian captivity in token that it should be rebuilt & to the building of the second Temple with its three courts in the reign of Cyrus & Darius & leaving the outward court unbuilt all the reign of the Persians which was 200 years & then building the outward court for the Gentiles in the reign of the Greeks & calling it the Gentiles court. And it relates to the western Empire because the great Cit{y} in whose streets the Beast killed the witnesses is called the City where our Lord was crucified, that is where the second Temple was built & where the Gentiles trode down the holy city & worshipped in the outward court of this Temple.

When the Woman fled into the Wilderness & the Dragon went from her to make war with the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus {i}ts to be understood that the Western Empire into which the Woman fled was become a spiritually barren Wilderness & that the remnant of the womans seed who kept which Commandments of God were left in the eastern Empire where the Dragon could make war upon them. And when the two horned Beast rose out of the earth or eastern Empire & caused an oracle to be erected by whose dictate all that would not worship the Oracle or image of the Beast to be killed, its to be understood that they lived among the people of the two horned Beast & that this Beast by the Oracle caused his king the Dragon in whose kingdome they lived to make war upon them & kill them. The Beast was the Western Empire, the people of the Eastern Empire were compelled to worship his Image & those that would not worship it were mystically killed in the war which the Dragon made upon them.

Now this distinction of the Christians into those that worshipped the Image & those that were killed for not worshipping it signifies the same thing with the distinction of the twelve tribes of Israel into those that received the mark of the Beast & those that were sealed with the seal of God. The Western Empire was a spiritually barren wilderness, the 144000 were sealed in the Greek Empire or being sealed in both Empires were translated with the Dragon & seven Churches {into} the Greek Empire being the true Church in his kingdom. For they stand upon mount Sion before the four Beasts & those Beasts were only in the Tabernacle & first Temple. They stand also on the Sea of glass in the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony & this Temple & Tabernacle was only within the kingdom of the Dragon. For the seven Churches by rejecting the hypocrites become the 144000 & are always within that kingdom.

Thus the Western Empire being left destitute of a Temple & true Church in the kingdom of the Beast, a new Temple is built there, that is, the true Christians which at the final division of the Empire remained among the latines & before this division were a part of the Temple of the Dragon are considered as a second Temple newly built by this Division.

In the reign of Theodosius the great & his successors, the Roman laws still extant in the Theodosian Code, were exceeding severe against meeting to worship God in any assemblies what{e}ver except those of the Saint-worshippers. The places

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So also the Church of the Whole Empire is from the beginning represented by both the Tabernacle & the Temple, {F}or it is called the Temple Apoc 11.      & the four Animals with the faces of a Lyon, Ox, Man & Eagle allude to the encampment of the four squadrons of Israel about the Tabernacle each under their own banner. But when the Empire become divided & the Dragon retires from the West & for the future signifies only the Eastern Empire the Temple & the Tabernacle retire with him: for they are the true church in his kingdom. So long as he is the whole Empire so long they are the church of the whole but when he is restrained to signify only the Eastern Empire they are also restrained to signify only the true Church within the Eastern Empire. For the Temple in which the seven Angels appear with the seven last plagues & by consequence in which the seven lamps {&} the seven candlesticks or seven Churches of Asia are placed while those Angels pour out the seven vials of wrath, is called the Temple of the Tabernacle; & upon the rising of the Beast out of the Sea there is a new Temple built to represent the true Church in the new kingdom of the Beast.

For the building of a second Temple is signified

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Sect 2.
The two Witnesses

When the Woman fled from the Temple of heaven on mount Sion into the Wilderness & left a remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God: it is to be conceived that this remnant were the remnant of the seven churches & stayed in the Temple being the 144000 which were sealed out of the 12 Tribes & stand with the Lamb on mount Sion, before the throne & before the four animals & the Elders: & & continue to be represented by the seven candlesticks in this Temple. They are also the Victors which stand upon the sea of Glass in the same Temple. And the seven Angels which sound the Trumpets & pour out the vials of wrath are the Angels of this remnant of the seven Churches represented by the seven lamps in these candlesticks {F}{} It is also to be conceived that the Woman in fleeing from Mount Sion into the wilderness changed her Metropolis. She fled from the seven golden candlesticks which represent the seven churches of Asia her first Metropolis & in flying she went through the wilderness of Arabia to the great city called Babylon her new Metropolis. This Babylon is the seven hilled city opposed to the seven churches, the city Rome which to this day is the Metropolis of the Woman claims a supreme metropolitan power over all the Christian Churches. The seven hills or mountains where the woman sitteth are literally the seven hills on which Rome stood, but mystically they are the seven heads of the Beast that is they are the seven royal cities or head cities of the seven kingdoms represented by those seven horns of the Beast which remained after the little horn of Daniels fourth Beast had rooted up three of the ten first horns . For mountains in sacred prophesy signify cities, & the Spirit gives a double interpretation of the seven heads of the Beast calling them both mountains & kings, saying: Here is the mind that hath wisdome. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the Woman sitteth Also they are seven kings: five are fallen & one is & the other is not yet come &c. According to the first interpretation the seven heads are contemporary to one another like the four heads of Daniels Leopard & signify seven contemporary kingdoms, the seven mountains upon which the great City is seated being made a type of the imperial cities of these kingdoms & the seven churches of these seven cities are set in opposition to the seven Churches of the seven cities of Asia. According to the second interpretation the seven heads are seven successive dynasties of the Roman Empire five of which wer{e} fallen before the Beast rose out of the abyss or sea. In this last sense the heads belong more properly to the Dragon than to the Beast: in the other sense they belong more properly to the Beast than to the Dragon.

Now when the woman fled from the Temple on mount Sion & arrived at her place in the wilderness, it is to be conceived that a new Temple was built for her there. For the building of this temple is signified by the <6r> Angels saying to Iohn. Rise & measure the temple of God & the altar & them that worship therein, ( that {i}s their three courts ) but the court which is without the Temple leave out & measure it not{ . } for it is given unto the Gentiles & the {–} holy city shall they tread under foot forty & two months. And I will give power to my two witnesses & they shall prophesy 1260 {days} in sackcloth All this alludes to the Babylonians captivating the Iews, & treading Ierusalem under foot & to Ezekiels measuring the Temple in token that it s{hould} be rebuilt & to the building of the inner Temple in the reign of Cyrus & Darius, that is, the court of the House & the court of the altar & the court of the people called the weomens court, & leaving unbuilt the outward court which in Solomons Temple was the peoples Court but in the second Temple was given to the gentiles, & remained unbuilt all the reign of the Persians but the Gentiles came into it to worship both in the reign of the Persians while it remained unbuilt & also in the reign of the Greeks & Romans when it was built. It alludes also to the two Prophets Haggai & Zecchary who prophesied in the second Temple.

Now upon the final division of the Roman Empire into the Eastern & western Empires, as the Dragon which till then had signified the whole Empire retired into the east & {thence forward}{thenceforward} signified only the Eastern Empire & in its room the ten-horned Beast rose out of the earth to signify the western Empire, & as the woman which till then had signified the Church of the whole Empire fled from the Greek Empire into the wilderness & thenceforward signified only the national Church of the western Empire & in its room the two horned Beast rose out of the Earth to signify the {national}{rational} Church of the Eastern Empire: so the Temple of the Tabernacle in heaven with its Candlesticks & lamps all which till then had signified the true Church of God diffused throughout the whole Empire, retired from signifying the true Church in the western Empire & thenceforward signified only the true Church of God in the Eastern Empire, & in its room a second Temple is built with two Candlesticks to signify the true Church of God in the western Empire.

The two witnesses o{r} Prophets are therefore the people of God which worship in this Temple. For they are the two Candlesticks standing before the God of the earth, that is before his throne in the Temple: And in allusion to Zechary's ^[1] vision of two Olive trees emptying their oyle into the Candlesticks in the second Temple they are also called two olive trees. And the Candlesticks in the Temple signify the Churches of God who worship him in his Temple Apoc. 1.20, & { . } so do Olive trees Rom. 11.17, 24. They are the Churches of God in the western Empire because they are slain by the Beast, & lye dead in the streets of the great City, the city Babylon which in form of a woman rides upon the Beast.

If any man will hurt them fire proceedeth out of their mouth & devoureth their enemies . These have power over the waters to turn them to blood, & to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will ; that is, these two Churches inflict the plagues of the seven trumpets. They joyn with the seven Angels or Angels of the seven Churches in smiting the earth wi{t}h all the seven plagues of the Trumpets & Vials of wrath, And therefore they worship in the second Temple all the time of th{e}{o}se plagues.

These two Churches are the mystical body of the mighty Angel which came down from heaven cloathed with a cloud & a rainbow upon his head & his face as it were the Sun & his feet as pillars of fire, & which had in his hand a little book open & set his right foot uponthe sea & left upon the earth, & cried with a loud voice. When all the seven seals of this book were opened then the son of man in the form of this Angel appears with it open in his hand to prophesy out of it & for that end hold{s} it open all the time that the seven thunders utter their voices, that is all the time that his mystical body the two Witnesses prophesy. As the seven eyes & seven horns of the <7r> Lamb represent the same thing with the seven lamps & seven candlesticks in the first Temple so the two eyes & two leggs of the son of man represent the same thing with the two lamps & two Candlesticks in the second Temple. And hence the witnesses are called two. By the building of Constantinople & division of the Roman Empire between the two cities of Rome & Constantinople & distinguishing the territories of those cities by the names of Earth & Sea. , the Woman received two wings of {a} great eagle upon which she flew into the wilderness, the two horned Beast received his two horns & the witnesses became two: for christ set his right foot upon the sea & his left upon the earth. And these characters being given t to the two-winged Woman, two-horned Beast & two Witnesses, before the final division of the Empire, they retained them after it As the ten-horned Beast rose out of the sea with seven heads, five of which were fallen & one of them wounded before he rose so The two horned Beast rose out of the earth with two horns which grew upon his head before he rose . And as the Dragon retains the ten horns after he is retired from the western Empire whose horns they are: so two horned Beast may keep both his horns & the woman both her wings & the two witnesses the number two after they are retired into one of the Empires.

But to remove all difficulty from these figures it is further {to} be considered that the two Empires were never so far parted but that they remained united in interest & {next} heirs to one another. When the western empire fell being invaded by barbarians, the Greek Emperor claimed a right to it & by vertue of that ri{g}ht recovered Afric from the Vandals & Italy from the Ostrogoths. And the western Emperors had the same right to the Eastern Empire. It is therefore to be conceived that even after the final division of the Empire the Dragon & Beast are {next} heirs to one anothers dominions & in token of that right partake of one anothers heads & horns And the same right which the Dragon & ten horned Beast have severally to be the whole Empire their Churches have under them ( the two horned Beast under the Dragon & the woman under the ten horned Beast ) to be the Church of the whole Empire & in token & claim of that right they partake of the binary division of the whole, the Woman by her two wings & the Beast by his two horns: for two wings & two horns have one & the same signification as is manifest by Daniels visions where the four wings of the Leopard & the four horns of the Goat signify one & the same division of the Greek Empire into four kingdoms. And much more is {it} to be conceived that the mystical body of Christ whether in the form of the son of man with two eyes & two leggs & seven stars in his hand, or in form of a Lamb with seven horns & seven eyes signifies the whole Church of Christ in all ages , & that after the division of the Empire, the septenary number is applied to the affairs of the Church in the Eastern Empire & the binary to her affairs in the western Empire without making a rent in Christs mystical body.

For the 144000 who were sealed our of all the twelve tribes of Israel stand on mount Sion with harps & sing a new song. They stand also on the sea of glass with harps and sing the song of Moses & the Lamb; & singing with musical instruments is prophesying <8r> ( 1 Sam. 10.5. 1 Chron. 25.1, 2, 3 ) & therefore they are Prophets, & Prophets are God's witnesses ( 2 Chron 24.19. ) From the time that the prophetic Book is opened all Gods people prophesy out of it. They are the mystical body of the mighty Angel who comes down from heaven cloathed with a cloud & the book open in his hand to prophesy out of it & sets his right foot upon the se{a}{æ} & his left foot upon the earth. A cloud is the symbol of a multitude. The Angel is cloathed with a cloud of witnesses or Prophets. The two horned Beast is called a fals Prophet & the great Whore is the woman Iezebel which calleth her self a Prophetess. In opposition to these two fals Prophets God has his two true Prophets in the earth & Sea represented by the two leggs of the mighty Angel: & these two true Prophets prophesy out of the sealed book from the time that the book is opened, & comprehend all Gods people in the whole Roman Empire, as well the 144000 as the two witnesses prophesy out of it against the Fals Prophet & against the fals Prophetess. The 144000 & the two witnesses are but two names of one & the same Church of God. And if after the final division of the Empire one of these names be used in describing the affairs of this Church within the eastern Empire & the other name be used in describing the affairs of this Church within the Western, yet for preserving the unity of Gods Church both these names are still to be taken for names derived from the whole & properly significant of the whole but applied to the several parts for the conveniencee of describing the affairs of those parts severally. Tis an usual figure to call a part by the name of the whole ( as when we call a dead body by the name of a man & every part of a river by the name of the river & the ten Tribes by the name of Israel ) & this figure is here made use of. As in the history of the Bible the ten tribes are distinguished from the two Tribes by the name of Israel & yet the two tribes are at the same time a part of Israel: so in the Apocalyps the people of God in the western empire may be distinguished from his people in the eastern by the names of the two witnesses & the 144000, & yet at the same time his people in the {e}astern empire may be a part of the two witnesses & his people in the western a part of the 144000. So far as the people of the eastern & western empires are distinguished from one another & considered in this prophesy distinctly, so far they are represented distinctly by the Dragon, Beast, Fals Prophet, Woman, 144000 & two witnesses: & so far as they are considered without distinction, so far each of those types extend to the people of the whole Empire without distinction. And therefore before the final division of the Empire, they extend each of them to the whole; after that division while they all continue together they are taken distinctly & particularly: but s{o} soon as any of them cease & thereby the distinction begins to be taken away the survivors so far as the distinction is taken away begin again to be taken generally & extend to the whole without distinction. During the reign of the Woman Babylon the great is her proper name written in her forehead, & She & the two horned Beast or fals Prophet are considered distinctly: but so soon as the Woman is burnt with fire, & this Babylon is fallen, the names of great Babylon & the fals Prophet extend to the whole without distinction. For after the woman is burnt its said that three unclean spirits like froggs came out of the mouth of the Dragon Beast & fals Prophet to gather the nations together to the battel of the great day of God Almighty, & the Beast & fals Prophet & kings of the earth ( or kings of the east whose way was prepared to this battel by the drying up of Euphrates ) were gathered together against the army of heaven, & the Beast & fals Prophet were taken & cast alive into the lake of fire & the remnant ( the kings of the earth or east ) were slain with the two edged sword. Here the woman is not named because she was burnt before, & the remnant of her seed who continue to worship the Beast & his Image are comprehended under the name of the fals Prophet he being next heir to the woman. It is also said that in this battel the great city was divided into three parts & great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fiirceness of his wrath: & here great Babylon doth not signify the woman, for she was burnt before: but it <9r> comprehends all the three remaining parts of that great city the whole Roman Empire, two of which parts are cast alive into the lake of fire & the third is slain with the two edged sword. And in like manner, after the Beast is cas{t} alive into the lake of fire, the Dragon who is his next heir is no longer limited to the eastern Empire but extends into the whole. For when the Dragon that old serpent called the Devil & Satan is shut up in the bottomless pit that he should deceive the nations no more till a thousand years are expired, we are thereby to understand that the spirit of error ceases a thousand years in all the nations & kingdoms of this world which at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet become the kingdoms of our Lord & his Christ, that is, in all the kingdoms within the compass of the four monarchies. So also the two Witnesses which are opposed to the two winged Woman, upon the burning of that woman are no longer restrained to the western empire but ascending up to heaven in a cloud preach the everlasting gospel to every nation & kindred & tongue & people. And at the same time the 144000 grow into a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations & people & kindreds & tongues with palms in their hands, & thereby become one & the same Ch{u}rch catholic with the two witnesses. This is that Church called the Lamb's wife at whose marriage the kingdoms of the earth like sheep & oxen are mystically sacrificed by the victorious two edged sword & all the fowls of heaven invited to the marriage supper ( that is, the army on white horses ) are, not literally but mystically, filled with their flesh. For by this victory the Palm-bearing multitude come out of the great tribulation. So then the Woman & two Witnesses, & the two horned Beast & 144000 signify the Churches false & true of the whole Empire: but yet during the division of the Empire untill the fall of Babylon, for expressing that division & describing the actions of the churches in either part, the names of the two first are applied in a more especial manner to the Churches in the western empire & the names of the two first to the Churches in the eastern.

Now the two Witnesses prophesy in sackcloth 1260 days, & the Gentiles tread under foot the holy City 42 months & so long also the woman is fed in the Wilderness & the Beast acts as long. . The times are equal & by their equality are known to be coincident. When the Gentiles begin to tread under foot the holy city & the Beast begins to act & the Woman is arrived at her place of honour in the wilderness & begins to be fed there by the merchants of the earth, then the two Witnesses put on sackcloth. They prophesyed before, but now they begin to prophesy in mourning. But the period when they begin, is not yet known, because it involves the knowledge of the end of the 1260 days which are not yet expired. For the designe of this Prophesy is not to enable us to foreknow things, but by the fulfilling thereof to enable us to know certainly that it is a true prophesy & by consequence that there is a God above who foreknows all things & governs the world by his providence, & that Iesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain, rose again from the dead & received this prophesy from God & that he alone was worthy to receive it & became worthy by his death whereby he has also washed away the sins of his people in his blood & made them kings & Priests, having merited a kingdom for as many as he shall chuse to be his subjects when he comes to revive the dead & reward every man according to his works.

But tho the end of the 1260 days cannot yet be justly known, yet there is reason to believe that the days are not yet expiring. For the Gentiles which tread under foot the holy city, are called Gentiles with respect to their idolatry, & idolatry is not complete without the worshipping images. Invocation of dead men is a breach of the first commandment <10r> worshipping of Images is a breach of the second, & this is properly Idol-worship or idolatry. All the heathen Roman Empire w{e}re exceedingly addicted to the worship of images & this worship seems to be the principal character of heathenism {o}r gentilism, & therefore the Gentiles which tread under foot the Holy City might not begin to be Gentiles in the sense of the prophesy before the setting up of Idols in the Pantheon at Rome A.C. 610 , perhaps not before the setting up of Images in the Greek Empire { . } by the Empress Irene & her Council the second Council of Nice A.C. 787, perhaps not before the reign of the Empress Theodora & her son Michael & their setting up Images in the Greek Empire by the Council of Constantinople A.C. 842

The ten kingdoms into which the western Empire was divided were at first of different religions, & their kings were not all of them converted to the Roman catholic faith till about the beginning of the Woe-Trumpets & after that it was sometime before the generality of the people of some of those kingdoms were converted to that faith. And before such conversion, the tenn kings or kingdoms could not be said to have one mind & to agree & give their kingdom to the Beast, & before they did so the Beast might not be said to act in the sense of the Apocalyps nor to carry the Woman upon his back. & perhaps this agreement & acting might not begin before the erecting of the western Empire by Charles the great, & perhaps not before the breaking of this Empire into smaller parts at the death of his son A.C. 440, whereby the Pope might reign over them with more power than {o}ver the whole.

When the woman fled into the wilderness she did not presently arrive at her place or dignity where she is nourished 1260 days. In the Papacy of Gregory the great she was at the lowest ebb of fortune. Rome was then & or a long time after governed by a Duke & did not come into the hands of the Pope till the year 726. This Church did not obtein Peters patrimony & tiths for her nourishment till the reign of Pipin & Charles the great, nor arrived to its full dignity before the subjects of the Pope began to swear allegiance to him & he was declared above all humane judicature & took upon him to create Charles the great an Emperor A.C. 800 & even after that he grew still greater.

The little horn of Daniels fourth Beast had times & laws given into his hand for a time & times & half a time, which is the same interval of time with that of feeding the Woman in the wilderness. But before this horn began to act in such an absolute manner it is to be conceived that he established himself by rooting up three of the first horns which fell before him as he rose & this was not compassed before the fall of the kingdom{s} of the Lombards which was one of the three & fell A.C. 774.

And upon comparing all these things it seems to me that the witnesses did not p{u}t on sackcloth before the beginning of the Woe-trumpets & most probably not till some time after.

Now from the prophesying of the two witnesses & 144000 out of this book ever since it was opened, it follows that it is the duty of every Christian to understand as much as he can of th{i}s book & explain it to his neighbour, As for instance

That he that sits upon the throne is the God of the Iews. For the Iews worshipped him sitting upon the throne in the Temple.

That he is the God who created heaven & earth Apoc 4. {&} [ & by consequence who said in the fourth commandment In six days The Lord made heaven & earth & in the first Thou shalt have no other Gods but me, that is, so as to worship them Tho There be Gods many, yet thou shalt not worship them. Thou shalt worship no other God but me the creator of heaven & earth ] .

That this God has all knowledge of future things originally in his own breast