Treatise on Revelation (Section 2)
The Second Book
Concerning the method & synchronisms of the Apocalyps & the allusions therein to the Law & History of the Iews
Chap. 1
Of the daily sacrifice spoken of by Daniel & the feast of the Passover.
The Preface
As the Prophesies of Daniel consist of two parts an enigmatical vision & an interpretation so doth this of the Apocalyps. The AEnigma reaches to the end of the Trumpets, the interpretation thence to the end of the Prophesy. The first is a continuall allusion to the law, the second to the history of the Iews: intimating that by history & the event of things the types of the law are at length to be unridled. For the Temple & ceremonies of the law were types & shadows of things to come Coloss. 2.16, 17. Heb. 9.9, 23, 24 & 10.1. The allusions to the law are partly in describing the Christian worship & partly in predicting things future. The first is done by allusions to the Iewish daily worship, the second by allusions to the Feast of the seventh month. The allusions to the daily worship are as follows.
Sect. 1
The Lamps drest
The Iewish service a[2] began every morning with the sounding of Trumpets & opening of the Temple & killing of the morning sacrifice together, & dressing of the Lamps immediately after. The Lamps were dressed by the Priests in their lots & on the Fast of the seventh month & seven days before by the High Priest. In allusion to all this the Prophet in the beginning of the Prophesy hears a great voice as of a Trumpet (a singular being put for a plural as is usually in this Prophesy) & turning to the voice sees one like the Son of man (our great High Priest) cloathed with a robe reaching down to the foot & girt about with a golden girdle For this was the High Priest's habit. In allusion to the Temples being now opened, for the people to enter from below, he saith he hath the keys of Death & of Hades, that is the Keys of the gates from death into the Kingdom of heaven. For they are b[3] afterward called the Key of David with which Christ opens & no man can shut, & shuts & no man can open & opens a door to the Church of Philadelphia that is with which he lets into the Kingdom of David & shuts out of it whom he pleases. And therefore they are the Key of the door in heaven so often opened in the following prophesy, that is the Key of the Temple or Tabernacle in heaven wherein God has his Throne & worship. For Keys must respect the doors of buildings & there is no other building or door in all this prophesy. Now the door of the Kingdom of heaven represented by this Temple or Tabernacle he had newly opened with these keys by his resurrection from the dead, & this he intimates by having them in his hand as if he had been newly using them & by calling them the Keys of death & Hades, & saying He was dead & is alive for evermore. In allusion to the morning sacrifice newly slain he was dead, & in allusion to the High Priest dressing the Lamps he is alive & walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks in the Temple or Tabernacle. For as the Son of Man by his High Priests habit & the Keys is known to be within the courts of the Temple or Tabernacle so the Candlesticks by their being of Gold & sacred ones & placed in their places Apoc. 2.5. are manifested to be the Candlesticks of the Temple. The face of the Son of Man shining as the Sun & the seven stars in his right hand have respect to heaven & the Apocalyptic heaven is the Tabernacle or Temple. Nor is it any just objection that the Temple is not mentioned here; for tis certainly to be understood in the 4th & 5t Chapters of the Apocalyps without being mentioned there. The Tabernacle or Temple is the common scene of all the apocalyptic visions & therefore to be understood as well here as in other places. Conceive therefore that the son of man appears in the Tabernacle or Temple in the region of the Candlesticks, & that the Prophet standing before the Temple sees him there through the fire of the Altar, with his feet as it were upon the coals of the Altar & his face in the bright flames therof. For this the Prophet intimates by describing his eyes like flames of fire & his countenance as the Sun shineth in his strength & his feet like c[4] amber as if they burned in a furnace that is like coales of burning fire. The seven golden Candlesticks you may conceive to be the sevenfold candlestick of the Tabernacle. For as Moses gives the name of Candlestick to the middle branch of the seven Exod 25.34, so may the other six branches be accounted the candlesticks of their proper lamps. These lamps were placed on the south side of the holy place at a little distance from the wall in a right line inclined from it towards the Ark. Whence the High Priest in dressing them would stand between them & the most Holy & so might look with his face towards the Prophet standing beyond the fire of the great Altar. He is said to appear & walk in the midst of these candlesticks that is over against the midst of them. For so the Prophet afterwards uses the phrase when he saith that the Lamb & two of the four Beasts were in the midst of the Throne. He hath in his right hand seven starrs that is the seven lamps of the candlesticks. For these stars are the seven Angels of the Churches Apoc. 1.20 that is the seven spirits of God Apoc 3.1 & consequently the seven lamps Apoc. 4.5. The candlesticks are the Churches Apoc. 1.20 & therefore the starrs in being the Angels of the Churches are the lights of the Candlesticks & the Churches in being the candlesticks of the Angels Apoc. 2.5 are the candlesticks of the starry lights. These Lamps being viewed at a distance would appear like starrs & therefore in a vision are fitly called so, & that the rather because the Tabernacle is made the type of heaven. For the starrs of this heaven are no other then are the lamps. They are said to be in his right hand to signify that they appeared on that side of the tabernacle towards his right hand & that his hand was employed in dressing them. For being almost in a right line with the Prophets' eyes, they might appear to him neare one another so as to seem to be in the right hand of the son of man. Now these lights he dresses & trims in the seven Epistles by telling them that he knows their works & faith & patience, searcheth the reins & hearts, & by commending, reproving, instructing exhorting & threatning every one according to his condition. As the Lamps used to be in a decayed condition before dressing, so were the Angels of the Churches. One had left his first love, another was infected with the idolatrous doctrine of the Nicolaitans, a third suffered the woman Iezabel, a fourth was ready to dy, a fift grown luke warm. And therefore he endeavours to correct & restore these to their first lustre, admonishing them to repent & do their first works. Into the other two which were faultless, he instills the oyl of exhortations encouragments and promises for preserving their light.
Conceive all this to be done on the Lords day, as the Prophet tells you, that is a[5] on the solemnity of his resurrection whether the weekly or the annual & so to respect both the weekly christian worship on that day, & the resurrection of Christ on the first of those days. For therefore he saith, I was dead & behold I am alive for evermore, as if he was just risen; & calls his keys the Keys of death & Hades rather then of heaven, as if he had newly brought 'em with him from the dead. The design of the Prophesy here is to delineate the Christian worship by allusions to the Iewish, & therefore he tells you in the beginning that it was on the Lords day (the day of our worship) that these visions appeared. First by Epistles sent to the Angels of the Churches for them to instruct the people, he describes & gives directions for the Christian preaching on the Lords day. And in the next place he proceeds to describe the Christian worship in the Churches as you shal presently hear. For seeing the seven Angels of the Churches are here writ unto, & told of their faith, charity, patience, works, and labour in their Churches, & instructed, exhorted, commended, reproved, as men set over them, & afterwards described in the {people} cloathed in white Linnen & girt about their breasts with golden girdles which was the Priests habit {Apoc} 15, 6 & blew the Trumpets (Apoc. 8) which none but the Priests did. {the} Iewish Priests are alluded unto in these Angels & so the Christian Bishops are signified by them. The Iews used to call their Doctors of the Law the Candles of the Lord & the Christian Doctors are the light of the world (Matt. 5.14) & therefore they are fitly signified by stars & Lamps. But the meaning of the Candlesticks & Stars & of some other visions which follow will best appear by considering the constitution of the Churches which they represent. And this will be best understood by considering the constitution of the Iewish Synagogues from whence they were propagated. For the government of the Churches {by Bishops} Presbyters & Deacons was not instituted by Christ & his Apostles but by Ezra & approved by Christ, & afterwards used by the Christian Iews before the conversion of Cornelius, while they were yet all of them zealous of the law & continued as much one & the same Church with the rest of the Iews as the several sects of the Iews did with one another the nation of the unbeleiving Iews being not yet rejected from being the Church of God. Now the government of the synagogues was on this manner.[6] A synagogue might be instituted (say the Iews) in any City where there were ten men of leasure & learning in the Law, whereof three are the Magistrates & were called Rulers of the Synagogue & the Bench of three. This counsel was to those of the Synagogue what the great Sanedrim was to the whole nation . They judged of controversies, of crimes, of the admission of Proselytes, of laying on of hands & the like. This was the proper office of the Presbyters. Whence the Apostle saith, Let the Elders that rule well &c. A fourth person was the publick Minister of the Synagogue, whose office was to read the publick prayers & to take care of reading the Law, & sometimes he preached when there were not other fit persons at hand to do it. He did not read the law himself but called any seven fit persons out of the congregation to do it, every one reading a part & he inspecting the reader, & correcting him if he read any thing falsly or improperly; whence he was called חזן the Chazan, that is the overseer or Bishop of the congregation. They called him also שליח ציבזר the Angel of the Church. Besides these there were three Deacons or Almoners on whom was the care of the poor. Two of them demanded alms of the townsmen, & the third distributed it: & these three were called Parnasim, Pastors, & by the Christian Greeks Διάκονοι Deacons or Ministers from the ministration of Alms & serving of Tables Act. 6.1, 2. There might be more then three if needfull, as in the first Christian synagogue, where there were seven, but three was the usual number, & fewer then three there might not be. And the same is to be understood of the Presbyters. There were other three officers of less note to make up ten: one of which was the interpreter whose office was to speak aloud to the people in the vulgar tongue what the Reader whispered to him in the sacred. To him Christ alludes, when he saith, what ye hear in the ear that preach on the house tops. But the first seven comprehended the constitution of a Christian Church, & seem to be those whom the Iews called the seven good men of the city, of which saith Dr Lightfoot there is frequent mention in the Talmudists. And of these seven the Bishop being the Doctor of the Law, was in their language called the Lamp or Candle of the Lord, as well as the Angel of the Church. So then the Bishops of the seven Churches are the seven lights represented by the seven stars. & seven lamps, & called the seven Angels of the Churches & seven spirits of God. Thus are they but seven, & yet every Bishop if you either refer to his mystical body the three Presbyters & three Deacons, or consider him in respect of the seven Readers, is a sevenfold light of each Candlestick. In several respects you may therefore consider them either as the seven Lamps of the Mosaicall Candlestick, or as the seven sevenfold lights of seven such Candlesticks. In both cases there are seven Churches and seven Bishops, Angels, Spirits or Stars & no more. They are numbred as single persons by the seven Lamps & Seven Stars & Seven Spirits of God, & yet are not merely single persons but have each of them their mystical bodies of Priests & Deacons & other assistants & attendants so that a star or Angel may signify the whole body of Teachers & Ministers of every Church. For all single persons in this Prophesy have their mystical bodies. To such Angels as these are the Epistles sent, and not only to them, but to the whole Churches. For therefore is it said in every Epistle, He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. This exhortation to hear, being repeated in every epistle is a sufficient insinuation that the spirit preaches in these Epistles. This preaching . . . This preaching to the Churches consists in stirring them up to works, faith, charity, patience, perseverance under tribulation, & labour for the truth, and mainly in exhorting them against the idolatry of the the times, & instructing them in sacred prophesy, by the study of which they may learn who the Idolaters are, and wherein their idolatry consists, and so by avoiding it obtain the eternal reward set before them. This preaching to the Churches on the Lords day being ended, the divine worship on the same day now follows.
Sect. II.
The morning sacrifice
After this, saith the Prophet; I looked and behold a door [not opening but already] opened in heaven, and I heard the first voice as the voice of a Trumpet talking with me, and saying: Come up hither. This voice being the second sounding of the Trumpet called the Prophet to see the solemnity of the morning sacrifice. For the Trumpets every day sounded thrice: first at the opening of the gates of the Temple, then at the morning, and lastly at the evening sacrifice. The door opened in heaven was the door of the Temple. For the land of Iudea & therein the Temple is the common scene of all the Apocalyptic visions: & the Temple as being God's dwelling place, and a representation of heavenly things (Heb. 8.5 & 9.9, 23, 24) is put for heaven . Conceive that the Prophet in the former vision stood without the temple before the east gate, & was then shewn only what was pertinent to be observed; but now upon a fuller shew of all things is called up into the court of the Temple & came up into the east gate of the outward court to view the whole before him.
And immediately saith he, I was in the Spirit, & behold a throne set in heaven, & one sat on the throne The throne is the Adytum or most holy place in the Temple. The seat of the throne is over the Ark, between the Cherubims, & he that sits thereon the great God of Israel, the creatour of all things as he is afterwards called. For the Iewish Church considered God as dwelling amongst them, first in the Tabernacle, & then in the Temple (Exod. 25.8 & 25.42, 43, 44 & Levit. 26.11, 12.2 Sam. 7.5, 6. 1 King. 8.13, 17) not in the holy place which was enlightened with lamps, but in the thick darkness of the most holy place 91 King. 8.12. 2. Chron. 6.1) over the Mercy Seat between the Cherubins (1 Sam. 4.4. 2 Sam. 6.2, 2 King. 19.15. 1 Chron. 13.6. Psal. 80.1, & 99.1. Isa 37.16.) Whither Moses always went to speak with God (Exod. 25.22. Num 7.89) & therefore the Iews considered all things done before the most holy place as done before the Lord (Levit 24.4, 6. Exod. 30.8. Levit. 1.3. Num. 16.16, 17 &c) & always prayed towards the Temple as toward the place of Gods presence (1 King. 8.30, 33, 35, 38 &c. Dan. 6.10.) So Isaiah in a vision like this of the Apocalyps saw the Lord sitting upon his throne & his train filled the Temple (Isa. 6.) And in Ezekiels vision of the Temple the Lord upon a throne of Cherubims entred into the house & filled it with his glory & said: Son of man, the place of my throne & the place of the soles of any feet where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, Ezek. 43. So in the Apocalyptick visions, the throne is in the temple. For the Temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God & consequently from the throne within it, ch. 15.8. There came a voice out of the Temple of heaven from the Throne ch 16.17 & the Palm bearing multitude being before the throne serve God day & night in his Temple ch 7.15. Whence also we have the utensils & parts of the Temple described about the Throne, namely the seven Lamps burning before it Apoc 4.5, the Laver or brazen sea of crystalline water, called here the sea of glass like unto crystall ch. 4.6 the golden altar whereon incense is offered before the Throne with a golden censer ch 8.3, 4 & 9.13 the great Altar ch 6.9 & 11.1 the Ark of the Testament ch. 11.9 & the outward Court ch. 11.1. All which plainly shew the Scene of the Visions to be Iudea & in Iudea, the Temple.
And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper & a sardine stone [the last & the first of & the gemms in Aarons brest-plate to shew that he is the Α & Ω the beginning & & the end:] & there was a rainbow about the throne in sight like unto an Emrald By the rain-bow you may know that the Sun was in the East before the throne & consequently that it was the time of the morning sacrifice. Thereby you may know also that there was a cloud of falling rain in the region of the throne. Clouds suit well with the throne of God in heaven & rain is the embleme of his blessings on mankind. Out of this cloud conceive the thunders to proceed which are afterwards said together with the lightnings to proceed out of the throne. The green colour of the rain-bow represents well the vegetable faculty of the rain. For all vegetables are green & tis by rain that they spring up & grow. To denote that God is the author of their life & growth his appearance is like a jasper & a Saphire, that is of a celestial green & red the green colour referring to the vegetable rain, water the mother or passive principle out of which all things grow & are nourished & the red to the naturall fire & heat, the form & life or active principle of all growing things. For the red is that which Ezekiel & Daniel in the like visions describe by the colour of amber & appearance of fire & this red fiery colour you may conceive to arise from the fire of the Altar through which the throne appeared. Ezek. 1.27 Dan. 7.10. Now all this is to represent him that sits upon the throne to be the eternal author & maker of all things in answer to the title & worship which is afterwards given him, where the Elders worship him that liveth for ever, & cast their crowns before the throne saying: Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory & honour & power, for thou hast created all things & for thy pleasure they are [daily] & were [at first] created. For 'twas fit that the attributes for which he is worshipped & come first of all he described nor the seven spirits signified by the seven eyes & by the seven Lamps or Stars being the seven Angels of the Churches to whom the Epistles were sent, are men set over the Churches & the two eyes appearing like flames of fire & so being both eyes & lamps have much the same signification.
And in the circuit of the throne were four & twenty seats & upon the seats were four & twenty Elders sitting cloathed in white raiment & they had upon their heads crowns of gold. These Elders by their numbers twenty four, by their distinct seats about the throne, by their white garments which were worn only by the Priests in the Temple, by their crowns upon their heads which denote them Princes, by their having Harps & Vialls of incense ch 5.8 & by their being called Kings & Priests ch 5.10 are the four & twenty Princes of the Priests each with his course of Priests & Levites under him, & their thrones are their chambers in the circuit of the inner court. For the [7] Priests & Levites were divided each into four & twenty courses or families which served in their turns in the Temple by weeks each course one week. Only upon festival days they seemed all together. Each course of Priests had its course of Levites under it & over it a Prince, & their seats in the Temple were on this manner. The Court of the Priests was a square an hundred cubits long & as mann broad having the altar in the middle & over against the middle of the Altar eastward northward & southward three gates, one in the middle of each side. On the west side was the separate place being another square equal to the former & conteining the Temple. Both squares together made a rectangle an hundred cubits broad & two hundred long, surrounded with the buildings of the Priests chambers on three sides but on the fourth side which was west, there were neither chambers nor a Gate but only a wall. The chambers of greatest dignity were before the Throne on that b[8] east side of the court next the east Gate, & from thence they decreased gradually in dignity in their progress on both sides the court & separate place to the west end. From the east Gate c[9] on both sides down to the north & south gates were the Chambers of the high Priest & his chief officers who had the charge & government of the Temple & Altar & whom the d[10] Iews place before the Princes of the courses. From those Gates to the separate place were the four & twenty chambers of the Princes of the Priests, twelve on each side, four below stairs with a cloister before them looking into the court, & eight above. And from thence a[11] on their side the separate place to the said western wall reached the chambers of the four & twenty courses of the Priests when they ate the sacred things. I speake of Solomons Temple whose form & constitution is described by Ezekiel & was in some measure preserved in the second Temple: Concerning which I may perhaps on some other occasion give a fuller account, those who have hitherto wrote on this subject much mistaking the form of both Temples. Single persons in this Prophesy every where signifying mystically comprehend multitudes in their mystical bodies. So the Lamb by his horns & eyes & the son of man in the High Priests habit by his voice as the voice as the voice of many waters ch 1.15 represents a multitude. For waters signify multitudes ch. 17.15. But chiefly & most immediately in this High Priests mystical body were included his ministers in the government of the Temple, those who being seated in the Temple with him above the four & twenty Princes, sat together dayly in Councel in one of his Chambers for ordering the affairs of the Temple. These were the Counsel of the Temple as the Sanedrim was the Counsel of the nation, & sat in the seat of Aaron as those did in the seat of Moses; & so being the High Priests Counsel & bearing his authority are properly referred to his family & person, as distinct from the four & twenty Princes. These Counsellours were first two fellow officers called Katholikim & then seven fellow officers called Imarcilia: over all which presided the High Priests vicegerent called the Sagan. These having the whole inspection & care of the Temple were to the High Priest instead of eyes. To the seven with their under officers answer the seven eyes of the Lamb & to the two the two eyes of the Son of man. For the ✝ And as the High Priest has his mystical body so have the four & twenty Elders their several mystical bodies, each comprehending the course of Priests under him together with the course of Levites under them. For the Levites were given to the Priests to minister under them Num. 3.6, 9, 32 & 4.19, 27 & so belong to them as servants to the parishes of their masters. Whence the Elders have every one of them a harp as well as a vial of incense ch 5.8. As Priests them offer incense & as Levites they handle the Harp in the song of the Temple. And thus in the high Priest & four & twenty Elders together we have represented the whole inward Court.
And out of the throne proceeded high things & thundrings & voices Thundrings are in this prophesy put for loud voices of a multitude. They are the voice of a cloud & a cloud signifies a multitude. So when the Prophet had heard a great voice of much people in heaven (that is aloft in the Temple) saying Alleluiah, in describing further what that multitude said he addeth that he heard as it were the voice of a great multitude & as the voice of many waters, & as the voice of mighty thundrings saying Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth &c. ch 19. So again the Prophet heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters & as the voice of a great thunder & also the voice of harpers harping with their harps: & they sang as it were a new song before the throne & before the four beasts & the elders ch. 14.3. This voice therefore came from the Priests court in the Temple in heaven & so was the musick of the Temple consisting partly of the voices of singers called the voices of many waters that is of many people & partly of the noise of harps. The song was sung by the articulate voice of the many waters accom panied with the inarticulate Musick of the Harps. And this articulate voice being called a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters & as the voice of a great Thunder shews that thunder is put for the loud vocal Musick of the Temple. So then the thundrings & voices which proceed out of the Throne are the thundring voices of the Temple musick, called thundrings to express the loudness & voices to express the articulateness thereof. Where tis obvious thereof the lightnings are the fire of the Altar now Disturbed by the morning sacrifice laid thereon. At this sacrifice the Priests blew the Trumpets & the Levites sang by turnes. The Prophet by the voice of the Trumpets sounding together as one Trumpet being called up into the temple & having now from the east gate the prospect of the whole Temple before him, sees the fire of the Altar over against the throne & heares the song of the Levites from the same region, as if they were lightnings & thundrings proceeding from the throne, & describes them according to their appearance. Whence we may learn that wherever voices thundrings & lightnings are mentioned they denote a sacrifice accompanied with the Temple.
From this appearance of the throne behind the fire of the Altar are taken also ♁ see the backside also the descriptions of the throne of God in the old Prophets. For in Daniel the head & garments of the Ancient of days appeared white like the top of the flame or as smoke useth to do above the flame, & under his throne was like the fiery flames & under it the wheels of his throne as burning fire, & a fiery streame issued [from below] & [ after the manner of flame ascending upward] came forth from before him, Dan 7. And in Ezekiel the Cherubins which supported the throne appeared like burning coales of fire & sparkled like the colour of burnished copper & out of the fire went forth lightning (that is a flame flashing like lightning, that lightning which in the Apocalyps proceedeth out of the throne & in Daniel is called a fiery streame issuing from before him) & the wheels of the throne (whose rings here appeared very high) were like unto the colour of beryl, that is inclining to green or the faint colour of flame on either side; & between the wheels under the Cherubims were coales of fire. Upon the throne was the appearance of a man & within it the colour of amber as the appearance of fire; & about the throne a brightness like the bow that is in the clouds in the day of rain. And when Ezekiel stood at the north gate of the temple the throne stood not in its place in the most holy but on the right side of the house Ezek 10.3 that is on the south side of the altar, ch. 47.1, & so still appeared through the fire of the altar. All which compared with the appearance of the throne in the Apocalyps, illustrates & sufficiently confirms our exposition. The sacred fire is an embleme of the Deity; for God is a consuming fire: & for that reason tis always joyned with the ark & cherubins in the description of his throne. For the same reason also the son of man standing in the region of the fire of the altar is represented in a fiery form, his leggs appearing like pillars of fire burning as in a furnace, or as Daniel expresseth it like burnished copper, his eyes & countenance like flame & his haire white as is the top of flame.
And there were seven Lamps of fire burning before the Throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal. The {illeg} of the golden Candlestick within the temple before the most holy place, & the great Laver or Brasen sea of Solomon filled with crystalline water & standing in the Priests Court between the Temple & the Altar a little to the South side Whence this sea appearing in the region of the fire of the Altar, is afterward said to be mingled with fire, ch. 15.2. By the four & twenty Elders or Presbyters, are the Presbyters or Magistrates of the Christian Churches & by the seven spirits the Bishops or teachers thereof to be understood. For the original office of Presbyters was to govern & therefore these Presbyters are crowned as Princes & the original office of Bishops was to pray & to preach or prophesy & therefore they are represented by the prophetick spirit of God called the seven spirits in respect of so many Bishops in which he prophesies to the seven churches To so every Bishop as again represented seven fold by the seven lamps of every candlestick because he prophesies by the mouth of seven subordinate readers.
And in the midst of the throne & circuit of the throne were four Beasts full of eyes before & behind The Prophet having hitherto described the Temple & inner Court proceeds now to the outer. For he proceeds in order beginning at the throne of God or most holy place & then describing the Priests court & lastly proceeding to the great Court or Court of the People, represented here by four Beasts in the four sides thereof. And presented here by four Beasts in the four sides thereof. And In the midst of the throne & circuit of the throne were four beasts that is one before & another behind the throne, both which to the Prophet standing at the eat gate appeared in the midst of the throne & two in the circuit on either hand. It seems to be an Hebrew way of speaking for so in the Gates of the Temple which had arches on either hand with little chambers in their Posts, Ezekiel (chap 40) saith there were windows in the arches round about within. And so the thrones of the Elders which were only on both sides the Prophet Iohn saith were in the circuit of the Throne & the wings of these Beasts which were not in the middle before & behind but on their sides he saith were about them. So also the Lamb who was over against the middle of the throne he saith was in the middle & a[12] Iosephus an Hebrew contemporary to the Prophet, to expres that the temple was over against the middle of the Eastern side of the outward Court saith it was in the middle of it. These Beasts because they worship God together with the Elders & say that Christ hath redeemed them to God by his blood out of every kindred & tongue & people & nation &c do plainly signify the Christian Church & so allude to the people of Israel assembled in the four sides of the great Court of the Temple. Beasts are the proper type of multitudes & because such multitudes seen from above appeare with heads & eyes all over, these beasts are described full of eyes: which eyes are said to be before & behind to express the quicksightedness of the people of God in discerning divine mysteries in reference to times before & behind us or future & past. But whilst I place the people of Israel in the four sides of the outward Court I understand it of the first Temple when all the twelve tribes of Israel were in the land together. For all the tribes are alluded to in these Beasts & the great court which was the court of Israel in the first Temple, became the court of the Gentiles in the second as shal be shewed hereafter.
The first Beast was like a Lyon, the second like a Calf, the third had a face like a man & the fourth was like a flying Eagle, These representations of the four quarters of Israel are taken from the standards of the tribes in the wilderness. For the frame of the Temple is analogous to their encamping there. The Priests & Levites encamped next about the Tabernacle answerable to the inward Court of the Temple, & round about them were the twelve Tribes in four quarters to the four winds answerable to the outward Court, & in each quarter were three tribes under one standart as you may read in Numb. 1 & 2. The names of the standarts are not there set down, but the Iewish Doctors [13] by tradition teach that the eastern standart was a Lyon, the western an Ox, the southern a man & the northern an Eagle. So Ezekiel (chap 1).[14] looking northward & seing a vision of four beasts each with four faces which looked four ways & turned not from their quarters; & naming their faces in order, puts first the face of a man, then the face of a Lyon to the right side that is eastward & the face of an ox to the left side that is westward & the face of an eagle last. The face he first names was doubtless that most in view & consequently the southern which looked full upon him. Whence the Eagles face was to the north. These Beasts Ezekiel afterwards (chap. 10) calls Cherubins & describes them to be full of eyes: so that they resemble the Apocalyptick beasts, but yet with this difference that one Cherubin with four faces to the four winds signifies what all four Apocalyptick Beasts (each with but one of those faces) do together, that is, all the four quarters of the Church. Whence they are placed not at a distance from the throne to the four winds like the Apocalyptick beasts but in the center even in the throne it self as supporters thereof like the two Cherubins on either end the Ark. For as those two joyn their wings together so do Ezekiels four & as God is said to sit & dwell between those two & ride upon their wings so his throne is placed upon Ezekiels four his sitting & riding upon them denoting his reigning over Israel. As those two are called the Chariot of the Cherubins, 1 Chron 28.18, so these have wheels to signify that they are the Chariot of the Lord & as those were in the most holy place so Ezekiel sees the vision of these entering into the house & God speaking from thence: Son of man the place of my throne Ezek. 43. And as Ezekiels had each of them four faces, so I conceive had those in the temple, seing the cherubins carved on the walls of the temple had each of them two faces extant, the other two being (as it were) hid within the wall, Ezek 41.18. There is a difference also between the Cherubins & Apocalyptic Beasts in their wings. A Cherubin has four wings to signify the distribution of the whole Church into four quarters, a beast six to signify the subdivision of a greater into six parts.
And the four Beasts had each of them six wings about him & they were full of eyes within & they rest not day & night saying Holy, holy, holy Lord God almighty which was & is & is to come. Whence I gather these Beasts are the same with the Seraphins which appeared to Isaiah[15] in a vision like this of the Apocalyps. For there also the Lord sate on a throne in the Temple & the Seraphins each with six wings cryed holy, holy, holy Lord of hosts. So then they are noble enough to represent the four quarters of the Church. They have each of them six wings, that is in all four & twenty And these are the four & twenty stations of the people of Israel answering the four and twenty courses of the Priests. For f[16] because the morning & evening sacrifices were offered for all the people & they whose sacrifices were offered were obliged to be present in the temple, the people had their representatives distinguished into four & twenty stations or courses to attend each their week in order & each station had its President calld the President of the station. Further to signify that these Beasts have internall intellectual eyes tis said that they have eyes within, that is in their bodies under their wings. / And they rest not day & night [that is morning & evening at the sacrifices,] saying Holy, holy, holy Lord God almighty. And when they give glory to him that sitteth upon the throne the four & twenty elders fall down & worship him. At the morning & evening sacrifices so soon as the sacrifice was laid upon the Altar, & the drink offering began to be poured out the trumpets sounded & the Levites sang by courses three times, & every time the trumpets sounded the a[17] people fell down & worshiped. Three times therefore did the people worship; to express which number the Beasts cry holy, holy, holy; & the song being ended the people prayed standing till the solemnity was ended. In the meane time the ✝[18] Priests went into the Temple & there fell down before him that sat on the Throne & worshipped.
Sect III. . The evening sacrifice.
And the Prophet saw in the right hand of him that sat upon the Throne a Book written within & on the backside & sealed with seven seales. This was the book of the Law b[19] which was layd up in the most holy place that the c[20] right side or south side of the Ark & so was placed, as it were, in the right hand of him that sat between the cherubins. The Book of the Law the Iews distinguish into Sections & call some of these sections open others shut up, meaning that some are intelligible others mysterious & scarce to be understood before the day of the Messias. So the last section of Genesis wherein Iacob in blessing his sons, predicts the actions captivities & returns of their posterity & the coming of Shiloh, they note for a section shut up. Whence they had this distinction of sections I know not nor of what moment it is. Tis more to our purpose that the book of the Law with other prophesies relating to it, tis considered by the old Prophets as a book bound up & sealed. So Isaiah: [21] Bind up the testimony, seale the Law among my disciples, And again: The Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep & hath closed your eyes & the Prophets your Rulers hath he covered, & the vision of all is become as a book that is sealed which men deliver to one that is learned saying Read this I pray thee & he saith, I cannot for it is sealed. So Daniel [22] whose visions concern the things prefigured in the Law is bid to shut up the vision of the Ram & Goat, & again in his last vision wherein the Angel comes to shew him what is noted in the scripture of truth he is bid to shut up the words & seale the book. This book of the scripture of truth continuing therefore sealed in the hand of God that is understood by him alone, & being written within & on the back side, within by hidden predictions of things to come, on the back side by open allusions to things past, the Lamb now comes to receive & open: whence this Prophesy is called the Revelation of Iesus Christ which God gave unto him, being a Revelation or opening of the scripture shut up & sealed before.
For loe in the midst of the throne of the four beasts & in the midst of the Elders stood a Lamb as it had been slain. That is to the Prophet standing at the East gate of the Temple the Lamb appeared in the midst of the throne & of the Beasts & Elders. For this Lamb is the daily sacrifice & therefore stood at the Altar. seven ecclesiastical dynasties or Churches of Asia, & seven eyes which are their Angels the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth, that is the Angels or Presbytery of the seven churches. For as the Metropolis of the Apostacy that woman Babylon represents the whole apostate church so the seven churches of Asia are put a type of the true church diffused through the whole earth. The morning sacrifice was finished before the appearance of this Lamb & therefore 'tis the evening sacrifice. Christ died at the ninth Iewish hour which was the time of evening sacrifice & therefore his death is here represented by this sacrifice.
And he came & took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. The high Priest in the Fast of the seventh Month & seven days before as he dressed the Lamps so he offered the morning & evening sacrifices. And when he had laid the evening sacrifice upon the Altar he went thence into the temple to burn incense & to worship & also on this day as it were to take For the Lamb & high Priest in the Apocalyptick language are one & the same thing. Christ the Lamb was also the High Priest, who (as the Apostle Paul expresseth it) offered himself.
[23] Now it was the custome for the High Priest seven days before the Fast to continue constantly in the Temple, & not only to exercise himself in the service of the Temple all these days but also to study the book of the Law that he might be perfect in it against the day of expiation wherein the service which was various & intricate was wholly to be performed by himself & of which service one part was reading the Law to the people And to promote his studying it there were certain of the Priests appointed by the Sanhedrim to be with him these seven days in one of his chambers in the Temple, & there to discourse with him about the law & read it to him & put him in mind of reading & studying it himself. And this his opening & reading the Law these seven days is alluded to in the Lambs opening the seven seales. In the time of the second Temple when there was no Ark in the most Holy, the book of the Temple was laid up in an Ark or chest in some other place & handed to the High Priest by inferior officers: but how it was taken out of the most holy in the time of the Tabernacle & first Temple I do not find recorded. By the Law of Moses a[24] it was to be taken thence upon occasions to copy it for the Kings use & the Iews affirm also it was consulted upon disputes arising about the reading in any other copies. When Moses had wrote it he c[25] charged it should be read every seventh year in the Feast of Tabernacles & then ordered it to be put in the side of the Ark to be kept there for a witness against them, that is to be taken out & read upon occasions; for without being read it could no t be a witness And if it was taken out on certain occasions & particularly at the feast of Tabernacles much more against the day of expiation, that being the greatest solemnity in all the year & the only time the High Priest was enjoyned to peruse it. But the book now used was taken out or whether it was that very book kept in the most Holy, or some copy of it which the High Priest now used is not much material both being the same book in reality. It suffices that the High Priest went in now into the Temple to worship before the throne & (either really) or as it were to take the book out of the right hand of God & after the solemnity ended, applied himself to the reading. Twas the Book of the Temple no question which he used, & I do not find that there were more such books then one. And if he used the book of the Ark, this was the time for him to go into the most Holy & take it. For on the day of Expiation, d[26] this was the time that he sat in thither to bring out the golden censer.
And when the Lamb had taken the Book the four Beasts & four & twenty Elders fell down before him having every one of them harps & golden Vials full of incense which arethe prayers of Lambs & they sung a new song. When the High Priest having offered the incense came out of the Temple, he poured out the drink offering at the food of the Altar & then the trumpets sounded & the people in the outward cause fell down & worshipped & the Priests went into the Temple & there fell down before the Throne & worshipped. The Vials are the Priest's who offer incense morning & evening with the prayers of the people & the Harps are the Levites for the Musick of the Temple now alternately intermixed with the vices of the Trumpets. Every Elder hath a Vial & Harp to signify that he consists of both Priests & Levites. The evening incense was joyned with the evening sacrifice e[28] coming in between the offering of the members of the Lamb & the drink offering as I now said, & therefore it is here joyned with song.
And they sung a new song saying Thou art worthy to take the book & open the seales thereof. For thou wast slain & hast ye deemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred & tongue & people & nation & hast made us to our God Kings & Priests & we shall reign on the earth. This is the Temple song alternately intermixed with the voices of the Trumpets at the evening sacrifice. Tis called a new one because an act of worship not payd the Lamb before our redemption: & it plainly shews, as I said, that these Elders & Beasts are the men redeemed by Christ out of all nations & consequently that they are the Church catholick of Christians on Earth represented by the Church of the Iews worshipping in the Temple. Tis an Eucharistical song & represents the commemoration of the death of Christ in the Lords supper among Christians. As the Lamb slain is the daily sacrifice of the Iews so the Lords supper celebrated in this evening worship is the daily sacrifice of Christians. For anciently it was celebrated not only monthly or weekly but even daily in many places.
And I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne & the Beasts & the Elders & the number of them was ten thousand time ten thousand & thousands of thousands. These being so numerous & placed without the Court & superadded to the worshippers at the morning sacrifice, denote the Gentiles called & superadded to the Church after the resurrection of Christ. Falling down & worshipping signifies conversion to the true worship. First the Beasts & Elders alone fall down & worship with a song, that is the Iews alone are converted & then all the angels or Gentiles, are superadded. And by the same type is the final conversion of the Iews & Gentiles signified in other places of the Apocalyps, chap. 7 & 19.
And every creature which is in heaven & on the earth & under the earth & such as are in the sea & all that are in them &c. Every creature was a[29] a phrase usual amongst the Iews to signify all men & chiefly the Gentiles, & heaven & Earth & the sea that is the whole natural world are put to signify the whole political or Ecclesiastical world. After the four Beasts & four & twenty Elders had sung a new song to the Lamb risen from the dead & then an innumerable multitude of Angels gave glory to him; the whole creation Iews & Gentiles, joyn in giving glory to God & the Lamb together. And then the four Beasts say, Amen. & the four & twenty Elders as at the morning sacrifice conclude the solemnity by falling down & worshipping him that liveth for ever & ever. In the b[30] Temple the people never answered Amen, but said, Blessed be the name of the glory of his kingdome for ever & ever: In the b[31] Synagogues & houses instead of this clause they said Amen, And therefore seeing the Beasts instead of that doxology say Amen it shews that under the form of worshipping in the Temple the worship in the Synagogues & houses of Christians is delineated.
Thus under the type of the Iewish daily worship in the Temple (hitherto from the beginning of the Apocalyps set down in order from morning to night is the true Christian preaching & worship delineated the preaching being deciphered in the Epistles or sermons to the seven churches & the worship in the sacrifices doxologies & Hymns to God & Christ for {illeg} & redemption & in the prayers of the saints represented by the odors which the Beasts & Elders offer in golden Vials.. For as the Beasts & Elders allude to the Iewish Church and signify the Christian so under the type of the Iewish daily worship is the Christian delineated. And hence we may understand that the blaspheming synagogue of Sathan who say they are Iews & are not but do lye (apoc 2.9 & 3.9) are a Synagogue or Church of men who say they are Christians & are not but do lye: a Church Christian in name & outward appearance but in truth & reality not a Christian but a blasphemous that is an idolatrous Church of Sathan. These are the Gentiles in the outward Court of the Temple (Apoc 11) who by worshipping in that court, the place where the people of God used to worship, say they are Iews but do lye. Twas the designe of this Prophesy to describe & distinguish from one another the true Church & the Synagogue of Satan that the elect by considering these things might emerge out of the universal idolatry of the last times & be saved. Hitherto we have had the worship of the true Church delineated by that of the Iews & hereafter we shall have that of the fals blaspheming Church deciphered by the name of blasphemy on the Beast & by his blaspheming God & those that dwell in heaven, by the nations wondring after & worshipping the Beast & his Image, & receiving his mark & the number of his name , & by the Whore riding upon this Beast with the Cup of the wine of spiritual fornication in her hand & that idolatrous name Mystery in her fore head & committing spiritual fornication with the Kings of the earth & making the nations drunk with the wine of her fornication, & by their being termed idolaters & abominable & sorcerers & by the Angels forbidding the Prophet to worship him The understanding of all which is of so great moment, that it made the spirit say: blessed is he that readeth & they that hear the words of this Prophesy & keep those things that are written therein. He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the Churches. For this name & fals worship is the daily sacrifice & the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet as shal be here after explained.
Sect III
The Feasts of the seventh Month
< insertion from f 13v >
Chap. II
Of the Feasts of the seventh month.
< text from f 14r resumes >
The evening sacrifice was offered about three hours or three houres & an half after noon. And now the solemnity of the day being finished the Lamb opens the first Seale. For the High Priest now betakes himself to the study of the law as was said) & so on for seven days. The seales are opened therefore in the evenings that is in the beginnings of the Iewish days & the seventh seale is opened in the beginning of the day of Expiation.
We began the Prophesy with the High Priest's entring into the Temple ✝[32] We began the Prophesy with the high Priest's entring into the Temple on the third day of the seventh month to dress the Lamps & receive the book of the Law. For in describing the worship on the Lords day by allusions to the Iewish daily worship, the morning & evening sacrifices ought to fall on one & the same day. The Lord's day is the day of the resurrection & the resurrection is here typified by the Lamb's rising as it were from the dead to take the book out of the hand of him that sat upon the Throne & therefore the Lamb's receiving the book & the concomitant worship given to him & the Father together must fall upon the Lords day on which he drest the Lamps & so respect the evening worship of that same day. Thus it is in delineating the Christian worship by the dayly worship of the Iews. But in predicting things future by allusions to the seventh month, if regard be no longer had to the worship on the Lords day, we may set apart the prophesy of the seven Epistles & consider the Prophesy of the Seales & Trumpets by it self as interpreters use to do, & begin it with the first day of the seventh month, wherewith the Iewish civil yeare began. For the Trumpet which talked with the Prophet in the beginning of this Prophesy & said, Come up hither & I will shew thee things which must be hereafter, may allude to the sounding of Trumpets on the first day of the month, thence called the feast of Trumpets. And if the Lamb be supposed slain on this day whether in the morning sacrifice to which this Trumpet sounds or in the evening sacrifice thereof & to rise again on the third day when he goes to take the book out of the hand of him who sat upon the throne, the passion & resurrection will be more truly represented & the seventh seale will be opened on the beginning of the feast of expiation as above. And so far as the passion & resurrection is hereby represented it may have respect also to the Feast of the Passover & even to every Fryday & Lords day in the year.
When the visions which follow upon the opening of the first six seales are described & those of the seventh are to follow, the Prophet tells first the seale of the Peoples & then the solemnity performed by the Priests.
The people celebrating the Fast & Feast of Tabernacles.
The state of the people he describes in two successive multitudes. First a smaller multitude numbred & sealed out of the twelve Tribes of Israel, then a numberless multitude with palmes in their hands crying Salvation (that is in the Hebrew, Hosanna) to our God. The first are sealed in the day of expiation the last cry Hosanna in the following Feast of Tabernacles.
The sealing of the first alludes to that place in Ezekiel [33] where the man cloathed in linnen with a Writers inkhorn by his side is commanded to go through the midst of Ierusalem & set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh & cry for all the abominations done in the midst thereof; & then other six men, the Angels of the first six Trumpets, are commanded to slay those who are not marked, & after them the man cloathed in linnen, the Angel of the seventh Trumpet is commanded to scatter over the city coales of fire, a type of the war of that Trumpet whereby the great city Babylon should be utterly consumed. Now the men that are sealed being such as sigh & cry for the wickedness of the people, their condition suits fully with the day of expiation or great Fast wherein all Israel were to fast from morning to night & humble & afflict themselves for their sins under pain of being cut off, & to have an attonement made them for their sins by the High Priest. This attonement is their sealing. The few who truly lament & mourn for the sins of the people are numbred & sealed, that is selected & accepted of in the attonement & as it were marked out by the spirit for God's elect: the rest being omitted as Hypocrites. For so the Apostle Paul useth the phrase.[34] In Christ, saith he, after that ye believed ye were sealed with the spirit of promise. And to all this agrees well a passage in Esdras,[35] where he speaks first of a number of those that are sealed as in the Feast of the Lord, and then describes a great people appearing on mount Sion which he could not number, praising God with songs, & having palms in their hands, like that numberless palm-bearing multitude in the Apocalyps which in like manner follow the number sealed out of every Tribe.
In the solemnity of this Fast the attonement for the sins of the people was made by two Goates, the one Gods lot, the other reprobate. One was to be sacrificed a sin offering to God to make an attonement for the sanctuary & cleanse it from the sins of the people: the other to have the sins of the people confest over him & put upon his head & so loaden with their sins to be let go into the Wilderness for an attonement for the people, that is for a cleansing of them from their sins thus carried away by this Goat. The Goates therefore signify the people, the one the elect, the other the reprobate. For Beasts are always put for multitudes. While the good & bad are together the people are full of sins & defile the Sanctuary. By separating the more sinfull from the Church & through schisms & heresies, as it were sending them away from the sanctuary, the remaining Church becomes more clean; & this Church (the living Sanctuary of God) is in time of persecution by the sacrificing of the Martyrs & Confessors attoned for. This Goate, to signify that it refers to the times of Christianity was burnt without the Camp Heb 13.10, 11. Killing & burning a body of men signifies the dissolving their body as to its outward government, & making war upon them by persecution. Which of the two Goats should be Gods was determined by lot. The lots were of gold, one with the inscription For God, the other with the inscription For Azazel. Whence they named the Scape Goat Azazel. These lots were put into a box & shaken & the High Priest, one of the Goats being set at his right hand & the other at his left, put both hiss hands together into the box, took out the Lots & laid the right-hand lot on the head of the left hand Goat. To this taking out of the lots & laying them on the heads of the Goats allude the seale of God & the mark of the Beast set on the foreheads of their worshippers. For the seale of God is called the name of God in their foreheads Apoc 14.1 & the mark of the Beast is called the name of the Beast Apoc.13 17. The selecting & sealing some with Gods seale implies that others at that time, as reprobates, receive the mark of the Beast. For those are relatives by way of opposition & so contemporary. Lots are cast to signify that God makes the choice. The sinfull Lot is sent into the wilderness loaden with the sins of the people by the flight of the degenerating Woman thither Apoc 12 & 17, those who do not worship the Image of the Beast & receive his mark Apoc 13.15, 16 & consequently have the mark of God in their foreheads) is sacrificed & burt by the fire of persecution to make an attonement for the sanctuary Apoc 12.17 & 13.7, 15.
The sacrifices of the Fast & Feast of Tabernacles.
The sealed & palmbearing people being described the Prophet proceeds next to the solemnity of the Fast & Feasts performed by the Priests. And when, saith he, the Lamb had opened the seventh Seale there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. The silence denotes the time of offering incense in the morning when the Lamps were dressed. For in the brick of incense the people were always praying in their court without & so in silence. [36] Whence the incense is here said to be offered with the prayers of the Saints & in another place called their prayers. The Angel who offered it is the High Priest. For on other days the Priest brought down fire from the great Altar in a Silver censer & emptied it into a golden one, & took up the golden one & went into the Temple with him that was to offer the incense & there gave him the fire. But on this day the High Priest himself took fire from the great Altar in a golden censer & then being come down from the Altar took incense of one that brought it to him & so went to the golden Altar. And according to this latter way 'tis here said that the Angel came & stood at the Altar having a golden censer (that is to take fire from thence) & there was given him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar which was before the Throne. The ceremony therefore shews that the Angel was the High Priest performing the service of the Temple, & that on the day of Expiation.
And whereas tis said, There was given the Angel much incense & that the smoke ascended up before God out of his hand, that is out of the censer in his hand: this also seems to point out the day of Expiation. For on other days, there was an equall measure of incense morning & night; on this day there was an excess for the most Holy. On other days it being all laid on the fire upon the golden Altar ascended only from thence, on this, after it had been offered (with the prayers of the people) upon that Altar the incense was offered, the Angel took a censer & filled it with fire from the Altar & cast it into the Earth & there were voices & thunderings & lightnings & an Earthquake. That is he cast it down to the Earth from heaven where he was. As the holy Temple with all things in it is in this Prophesy considered as in heaven, The earth is in the prophane region without. This was that fire therefore which was taken from the great Altar & carried out of the Temple & thrown down to burn the Goat which was the Lords lot. The High Priest went not thither himself but did it by his Ministers. As tis usuall to ascribe to a Prince what ever he doth by his servants, so here, the High Priest may be said to do what he doth by the hands of inferior Priests members of his mysticall body. While the Goat & a Bullock offered by the High Priest for himself was burning the High Priest {illeg} had the Law to the People {illeg} offered a ram for himself & a ram for the people & seven lambs together with evening sacrifice: And to his voice & the fire of the Sacrifices & the concomitant song of the Levites allude the voices thundrings & lightnings which followed upon the casting of the fire to the earth.
The solemnity of this day being finished the seven Angels which had the seven Trumpets prepared themselves to sound. They appeared all together before when there was silence in heaven for half an hour that is in the beginning of the solemnity of this day, and by that appearance shew that one of the Iewish great days was then commencing. For they signify the whole body of the Priests which never came altogether to the Temple but on solemn days. This solemnity being over they prepare for the next which is the Feasts of Tabernacles. For as in the Chapter above the Saints sealed on the Fast are followed by the great multitude with Palms in their hands crying Hosannah, which solemnity was that of the Feast of Tabernacles: so here after the Fast, is that Feast described. This Feast lasted seven days & consisted every day of great multitudes of burnt offerings (as you may see described in Numb. 29) which occasioned an extraordinary blowing of the Trumpets by the Priests. And this is signified by the seven Angels sounding their Trumpets successively. For seeing amongst the Iews none blew Trumpets but Priests, these Angels must be Priests & so their sounding seven times will fitly signify the successive soundings on the seven days; each Angel being a type of all the Priests who sounded together, according to the use of prophesy which commonly puts a singular for a multitude. That Angels are sometimes put for Priests is plain by Mal. 2.7 7. & accordingly the ancient Iews delivered that the Angel of the Lord who came to proclaim spake to the People (Iud. 2.1, 4) was Phineas.
I said that the Prophet in describing the times of the seventh seal tells first the state of the people & then the solemnity of the Priests, the first in the sealed servants of God & Palmbearing multitude & second in the incense & seven Trumpets: whence those two narrations are of things contemporary. The servants of God were sealed in the day of the Fast & that Fast began at the opening of the seventh seale & ended before the Trumpets began to sound being the time of incense between them. The sacrifices of the seven days of the Feast are types of the slaughters in seven wars to which the trumpets sound; &. The four winds which hurt the earth & sea & trees are also four wars & hurt the earth & trees at the sounding of the first Trumpet to war & the sea at the sounding of the second & so on, & therefore are the wars of the first four Trumpets. Whence the Angels of the four winds are the Angels of the first four Trumpets & by consequence this first appearance is contemporary to the first appearance of the seven that is to the opening of the seventh seal. These appear before the servants of God are sealed & do not hurt the earth & the sea & trees till they are sealed, & therefore their sealing must fall in with the time between the opening of the seventh seale & sounding of the first Trumpet. The following hosanna of the Palm bearing multitude alluding to the the hosanna of the Iews on the Feast of Tabernacles, must necessarily fall in withthe times of the Trumpets sounding in that Feast on all the even even days of the Feast the Iews during their stay in the Temple carried palm branches in their hands & every day compassed the Altar crying hosanna, gave now I beseech thee O Lord, O Lord I beseech thee now send prosperity, & while they did this the Trumpets sounded. But the solemnity & acclamations were greatest on the seventh day, & therefore they called that the great hosanna. For on each of the first six days the people compassed the Altar but once, but on the seventh day they compassed it seven times. Whether the Apocalyptick hosanna include the hosannas of all the seven days or be only palm-bearing multitude must end with that of the seventh seale & seven Trumpets, & so is synchronal to it from the beginning to the end.
Now considering that in the plague of the fift Trumpet none were hurt but those who had not the seale of God in their foreheads, & consequently that the sealed ones continued till then in being; that numbring amongst the Iews signified fewness, whence a[37] they used the phrase Men of number to signify a few men, & therefore the numbring of the sealed ones is a symbol of their fewness; that in being numbred they are but few in comparison of the innumerable multitude; that they are numbred out of all the twelve Tribes & therefore signify the {illeg} true Church & so leave no place for the innumerable multitude till their times be run out; that the desolate times of the Church signified by the prophesying of the two witnesses in sackcloth continue almost till the seventh Trumpet sounds, & then the witnesses ascend up to heaven in a cloud, that is in a great multitude, & at the fall of the tenth part of the great city the Nations are converted, & at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet become universally victorious, & that at the numbred Israelites were inconsiderable in respect of the innumerable multitude, to the first six hosannas were inconsiderable in respect of the seventh for these reasons I place the numbred Israelites in the times of the first six hosannas or Trumpets, & the innumerable Palm-bearing multitude in the time of the seventh only. There is but one hosanna of this multitude described in the Apocalyps, & that was at the time of their coming out of the great tribulation & no doubt the greatest hosanna of the seven is hereby alluded unto The compassing of the Altar once every day with palm branches & Trumpets for six days, & then seven times on the seventh day was done in memory of the like compassing of Iericho with Trumpets in order to its taking (Iosh 6 as is the Iews tradition & therefore it is a symbol of victory & triumph: whence they were to keep this solemnity with great rejoycing Levit 23.4. Deut 16.14, 15. Nehem 8.15, 17 & the Iews upon victories rejoyced with Palm branches in their hand 1 Mac. 13.51. Iud {illeg}. The compassing Iericho the first six days was but preparatory to its taking, on the seventh day they became victorious & took it with a great shout, & in like manner in the Apocalyps at the great hosanna of the seventh Trumpet the Church becomes universally victorious & triumphant with great joy . The fist six hosannas being but preparatory to the victory which was to happen at the last & greatest, it was sufficient in typifying that victory to mention the last alone . Iericho was taken at the very entrance of Israel into the land of Canaan, & therefore the hosannas kept in memory of the victory against it is a type of the future victory of the Church at her entrance into the promised land, & this victory happens at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet when the Kingdoms of this world become the Kingdoms of Christ & he from thenceforth reigns for ever & ever. The palm bearing multitude after their coming out of the tribulation does hunger no more nor thirst any more, but the Lamb feeds them & leads them into living fountains of water, & God dwells among them & wipes away all tears from their eyes which cannot be said of the Church before the last days, that great day when the last Trumpet sounds & puts an end to time, & the great mystery of God is finished & the dead are judged & the saints rewarded, Apoc. 10.6, 7 & 11.18. For the Church continues till {illeg} condition, but then the tabernacle of God begins to be with men & he dwells with them & wipes away all tears from their eyes & gives unto him that is a thirst the fountain of water of life freely & feeds them with the tree of life & there is no more hurt. Apoc 21.3, 4, 6 & 22.2, 3. The description of this multitude coming out of the great Tribulation respects most plainly that place of Isaiah ch 49.10 where tis said that the Prisoners that go forth, & they that were in darkness shal shew themselves & they shal no more hunger nor thirst neither shal the heat nor sun smite them for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them And this is there conjoined with the return of the Iews from captivity. When they return from captivity & the dead are raised then doth God wipe away tears from off all faces & take away the rebuke of his people from off the earth Isa 25.8 & then also do the saints come out of the greatest of all tribulations Dan. 12.2, 3. For immediately after this tribulation, the kingdoms of the world fall & Christ comes in the clouds to judgment Matt 24. The souls under the Altar slain at the opening of the fift seal were to rest a little season until their fellow servants should be killed as they were & God should at once avenge the blood of all his martyrs on them that dwell on the earth, that is until the end of the great tribulation & therefore when they rise again & God avenges their blood, the Palm-bearing multitude come out of that tribulation. And this is at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet when the kingdoms of this world being vanquished become the Kingdoms of Christ & the time of the dead is come that they should be judged & God rewards the saints & destroys them that destroyed the earth. A little season in the language of this Prophesy where days are put for years is a long time in the language of the vulgar & so may reach down from the fift seal to the last Trumpet. So then So then the sealed servants of God are the universal Church militant numbred out of all the 12 Tribes at the opening of the 4th Seal & continue few in number till the last Trumpet be ready to sound, & then the two Witnesses ascending up to heaven in a cloud, they grow to a great multitude which no man could number of all Nations & peoples & kindreds & tongues & become the Church triumphant coming out of the great tribulation with palms in their hands & beginning their reign at the great hosanna of the last Trumpet when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of Christ, & he begins to reign for ever & ever. Whence in Esdras they are crowned by the son of God at the same time that they receive palms in their hands. 2 Esdr. 2. I mention Esdras not as a Prophet but as a collector of some old Iewish Traditions.
The prophesying in the Fast & Feast of Tabernacles,
When six of the Trumpets had sounded & the seventh was ready to sound the Prophet saw a mighty Angel come down from heaven cloathed with a cloud & a rainbow was upon his head & his face was as it were the Sun & his feet as pillars of fire, & he had in his hand a little book open. This mighty Angel appearing so glorious above the other Angels with a rainbow about his head, can be no other but the Son of God. You may know him by his face appearing as the Sun, & his feet as pillars of fire. For this was the appearance of the Son of God in the beginning Apoc. 1.15, 16. His face was as the Sun to signify that he is a king & his feet as pillars of fire to insinuate that they appeared in the region of the fire of the altar, like pillars burning in the flame of {illeg} in a fire Apoc. {illeg} He calls the witnesses his witnesses Apoc. 11.3, & they are not the witnesses of any other Angel then Christ. He had before in the form of a Lamb opened the Seales of the book that he might read it, & now he comes in the form of an Angel with the book opened in his hand to read it. For a Lamb to read was improper & therefore he now appears in the form of a Man. As the opening of the seventh seale he changed his shape from the form of a Lamb to that of Angel & stood at the Altar with a golden censer inn his hand to do the High Priests office in the day of expiation, & now that Angel appears again in a more glorious form to do another part of his office in reading the law to the people on that day. For the first appearance of the book open ought to follow immediately the opening of the last seale, & therefore to fall in with the day of expiation. At the times of the Fast & Feast of Tabernacles were described first by the sealed saints & Palm-bearing multitude, & then again by the solemnity of incense & sounding of the Trumpets, so they are now described a third time by the reading of the Law & the ensuing thunders. Tis usual with Historians when they have several collateral actions to describe, which cannot be so well told in order, to describe first one series of things & then another collateral in time to the former; & the same method is used in this Prophesy.
And he set his right food on the sea [of glass above mentioned] & his left foot on the earth. Conceive that he is the High Priest and came down from the throne of heaven where he had be offering incense & performing other sacred rites on the day of expiation Chap. 8.3, & came through the east gate of the Priests court into the Court of the people to read the Law to them while the heifer & that Goat which was the Lords lots were burnt without the Temple, & that he stood in the Court without the East gate upon the stairs of the gate or some other conveniently elevated place to read with his face looking towards the Prophet & towards the people whilst the Prophet standing directly before the throne saw him over against the middle of the throne & both his feet in the region of the fire of the altar like pillars burning in it, & the sea of glass behind his right foot. For, it is to be conceived that the Prophet stood so as to see the fire of the Altar through the East gate of the Priests Court like lightning proceeding out of the Throne Apoc. 4.5, & to have the prospect of the whole Temple before him, all impediments being removed which make nothing to the purpose of the Prophesy. For as he tells us that the lightning proceeded out of the throne thô it was upon the Altar, & that the singers stood upon the sea of glass mingled with fire Apoc. 15.2 thô the fire was not upon the sea but upon the Altar over against the sea, & the singers were neither upon the sea nor upon the altar but in a right line between him & them at the East Gate of the Priests Court where they used to sing: so by the same was of speaking he might tell us also that the Angel stood on the sea with his right foot & on the earth with his left thô his right foot was only in a right line between the Prophet & the sea, & only appeared to stand upon the sea. For the sea was between the Altar & the Porch & the Temple, not directly in a right line but verging a little to the south, & so would appear behind his right foot whilst his left foot stood besides it as it were upon the earth. And whilst the Prophet standing eastward saw him to the west with a rainbow upon his head, suppose in the cloud wherewith he was cloathed, you may thence learn that the sun was in the east, & consequently it was in the morning that he first appeared in heaven & began to come down from thence. For that was the time that he offered incense on the Golden Altar & in the most Holy (Apoc. 8.3) & came down from thence to send away the scape Goat & then to read in the court of the people.
And he cryed with a loud voice as when a Lyon roareth, that is in reading the Law to the people. This was the book of Prophesy which the Lamb had received at the hand of God to open the seales thereof that he might prophesy out of it & now having opened all the seales he prophesies out of it to the people, & this his prophesying is typified by the High Priests' reading in the book of the Law. For as Christ prophesied in telling the Angel what he had received of God Apoc. 1.1 & 22.6 & 19.10, & the Angel prophesied in shewing Iohn what he had received of Christ, & Iohn prophesied in telling it to the Churches; so every man who reads or truly interprets any Prophesy to others may be said to prophesy to them, & therefore the High Priest in reading the Law, whose ceremonies are prophetical, did prophesy to the people, & that his prophesying out of it is a proper type of Christ's prophesying out of it to the world by his mystical body. For here the mighty Angel represents Christs prophesying to the people, not in his own person when he sent the prophesy to Iohn, but afterwards in his mystical body when the times of opening the seventh & last seale commence.
And when he had cryed the seven Thunders offered their voices. These thunders conceive to be the voices of the cloud wherewith the Angel is cloathed that is of the multitude about them, & so denote the song of the Temple alternately intermixed with the soundings of the Trumpets at the sacrifices of the seven day s of the Feast of Tabernacles. For these thunders speaking articulately so that the Prophet understood what they spake they must be humane voices, & we shewed above the Thunders signify the land voices of a Multitude singing: & as the description of the dayly sacrifice above was accompanied in the morning with the voice of a Trumpet Apoc. 4.1, & in the evening with the voice of singing Chap. 5.9, so the description of the sacrifices of the Feast of Tabernacles is first done by the voices of seven Trumpets, & then by the voices of seven Thunders representing the song of the Temple And as in the daily sacrifice the voices of the Trumpets & singers are alternately intermixed, so it is here. For Thunder as well as the sound of a Trumpet signifies war, & therefore the seven Thunders as well as the seven Trumpets are seven successive wars, & because these wars end together (as is said a little after) they must be coincident, & so refer to the same sacrifices.
Yet is there this difference between the voices of Trumpets & the voices of thunder that the one is prophesying & the other not. For all praising & glorifying God is prophesying & such is singing in the Temple. For so the sons of Asaph & Heman & Ieduthun who were appointed by David for the song in the house of the Lord with Cymbals, Psalteries & Harps are said to prophesy with those musical instruments 1 Chron. 25.1, 2, 3, & Heman from having the charge over his sons in these matters is calls the Kings seer in the works of God to life up the horn vers 5, & so are Asaph & Ieduthun 2 Chron. 29.30 & 25.15. So also where Samuel saith to Paul a Choir of Prophets shal meet thee with a Psaltery, a drum, a pipe & a harp & they shall prophesy, the Chaldee interprets it & they shal sing or praise: & again 1 Sam. 19.25, he went forward singing, he put off his garment & sung. So for a man & woman's praying or prophesying in 1 Cor. 11.4, 5 the Apostle seems to put praying or singing in chap. 14.15. For a woman is not otherwise to prophesy in the Church then by singing. So then thundering in the Temple is prophesying and the cloud which thunders signifies a company of Prophets. The voices of the Thunders were articulate & all articulate speaking in this prophesy of the Apocalyps is a part of the Prophesy. And since the whole Prophesy is the Prophesy of the Book which Christ received at the hand of God, the seven thunders are a prophesying out of that book. And of this the song at the sacrifices of this Feast was a fit type, a[38] it being taken out of the Law. There is also another type of prophesying in the times signified by the seven days of this Feast. For such is the pouring out of water in the drink offerings of the morning & evening sacrifices of these seven days, as the Iews & even Christ himself (in alluding to this pouring out of water) interprets Iohn 7.37, 38. A third type is the reading out of the Law by the King to the people in their Court on these seven days The Angel is both King & Priest & stands all the while with the book open in his hand in a reading posture. And if the seven thunders comprehend all the prophetick voices of the seven days, the voices of the King as well as the voices of the singers must be comprehended in them.
When the Thunders had uttered their voices the Prophet is bid to seal them up & write them not, to signify that although the book of the Law was opened by the Lamb & read by the Angel & proclaimed aloud by the prophetick thunders to the people, yet the whole prophesy is heretofore sealed up in obscurity & needs an interpretation to make it intelligible: the book being sealed till the opening of the last seal, & now the contents of it being sealed anew. Hitherto therefore the whole prophesy is a dark obscure ænigma sealed up in difficult types & figures. In the next words an end is put to this ænigma by declaring that it is brought down to the end of time, & then follows the interpretation.
And the Angel sware by him that liveth for ever & ever that there should be time no longer (that is after the Thunders) but in the days of the voice of the seventh Angel when he shal begin to sound the mystery of God should be finished as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets. This alludes chiefly to the like oath of the same glorious Angel appearing in the High Priests habit in Daniel, [39] who in answer to the question how long it should be to the end of the wonders there prophesied of, held up his hands to heaven & sware by him that liveth for ever & ever that it shal be for a time time times & an half, & at the ending of the dispersion of the power of the holy people all these things shal be ended. The Thunders seing after them there shall be time no longer, last to the end of ages, that is of those times called by Daniel a time times & a half: at the end of which the seventh Trumpet shal sound, & the great mystery of God which the old Prophets have chiefly spoken be fulfilled: the Iews then returning from captivity & the greatness of the kingdom under the whole end at the end of those three times & a half (as Daniel chap. 7 describes) being given to the saints of the most High whole kingdome is an everlasting kingdom; & the kingdoms of this world at the sounding of that Trumpet (as Iohn tells us) becoming the kingdoms of our Lord & of his Christ, who shal reign for ever. The prophesies therefore of the Thunders is contemporary to that of the Trumpets (as I newly affirmed) because it ends together with them.
The interpretation of the prophesying in the Fast & Feast of Tabernacles.
The Spirit having under the types of the Law brought down the sealed prophesy to the end of time, passes on now to give the interpretation of the whole under various allusions to the Iewish history. And the voice, saith he, which I heard from heaven (that is the first voice of a Trumpet) spake to me again & said: Go take the little book that is open in the Angels hand &c. And I took the little book out of the Angels hand & ate it up, & it was in my mouth sweet as honey, & as soon as I had eaten it my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again, before many peoples & Nations & tongues & Kings.[40] This is an introduction to a new prophesy and a repetition of all the former, & alludes to Ezekiels being sent to the wicket Iews to prophesy by eating a book spread open, & written within & without, & full of lamentations & wo, but sweet in his mouth. Eating & drinking signify acquiring. For so eating flesh is put for acquiring riches Dan. 7.5, 23. Eating Christs flesh & drinking his blood is beleiving on him & receiving his doctrine Ioh. 6. & the leaven of the Pharisees is their doctrine Matt 16 12 eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledg is acquiring knowledge by doing something interdicted Gen. 3.5, 7. The tree of life & water of life are wisdome & understanding Prov 3.18 & 13.14 & 15.4 & 14.27 & 16.28. Drinking the water of life is receiving the spirit Iohn. 7.39, & so eating the book is becoming inspired with the prophesy conteined in it, & is a type of his prophesying out of it. How the book in his hand may signify his prophesying out of it needs no explication, but how he should speak out of his belly may seem something strange, & yet was it a phrase used by the eastern Nations. So Iob,[41] I am full of words, the spirit of my belly constraineth me: Behold my belly is as is as wine which hath no vent, it is ready to burst like new bottles. And Solomon:[42] It is a pleasant thing if thou keep the words of the wise in thy belly; they shall withall be fitted in thy lips. And Christ:[43] If any Man thirst let him come unto Me & drink: He that beleiveth on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, that is words of life by vertue of the spirit which his disciples were to receive. The Prophet ate the open book & therefore is to prophesy again of the times which to come it being opened & by consequence the ensuing prophesy of the measure Temple & two Witnesses commences with the opening of the last seal. It was was sweet in his mouth & bitter in his belly, to denote the bitter state of the Church after the Gentiles should begin to tread under foot the holy City.
Now because the Prophesy of the seales & Trumpets respected the worship in the Temple this prophesying again begins with a new Temple. That respected either the tabernacle or first temple as you may know by the throne or Ark withing it & by the four beasts or twelve tribes about it & by the sealing the servants of God out of all the tribes there being in the second Temple no Ark nor any more tribes then two: this begins with the building of the second Temple, as you understand by the following history of this Temple. The Iews at their return from captivity were but few & poor & so needed not all the great court which was before built by Solomon for the whole nation in prosperity, nor were able to rebuild it. Cyrus his decree was only for the Temple to be built with three rows of stone & a row of cedar becaus Ezra 6.4, that is for the Temple with the inner Court 1 Kings 6.36. And instead of the great Court there was walled in at the east end of the inner Court, a little court for the people which they called the weomans Court to distinguish it from the Eastern border of the inner Court which border was called the court of Israel. For into this border Men alone, into the other Court weomen as well as men were admitted. And the littleness of this Court compared with the former great one was the cause that they who had seen the former Temple wept when they saw the foundation of this new one laid Ezra 3.12, & that Haggai asked them Who is left amongst you that saw this house in her first glory & how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Haggai 2.3.
In this state continued this Temple till the time of the Greek Empire when Simeon Iustus the High Priest repaired the House & built from the foundation the perimeter of the outward Court, being a high double building (Eccles. 5.1, 2) that is with double Cloysters and double chambers over them parted by a row of pillars below between the Cloysters & a wall above between the Chambers. This building continued till Herods time who rebuilt part of it more splendidly: but yet the custome which had long confirmed the weomens Court to the Iews & given away the ground of the great Court to the Gentiles, remained as before: so that the great Court which before the Captivity was the peoples was now accounted the Gentiles, & the people continued to use only the weomen's Court & Eastern border of the Priests: Whence God in Ezekiel's vision of the Temple complains prophetically that they had admitted strangers & Men uncircumcised into his Temple & tells them that this shall be the Law of the house: Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy, And makes the wall round about the four sides of the outward Court, to separate between the sanctuary & the prophane place, & places the people in the outward Court, & charges that no stranger uncircumcised in flesh be admitted into his Sanctuary Ezek. 44.7, 9, 19 & 42.20 & 43.12. Where it is to be noted that Ezekiels outward Court answers in dimensions to the Gentiles Court; each side being 500 cubits long, viz. fifty from the outward face to the inward face of each gate of the outward Court, 100 from thence to the outward face of the gate of the inward Court, fitly from thence to the inward face of the same gate, & fifty from thence to the center of the inward Court; all which doubled make 500 cubits (Ezek 40) by mistake in some versions called reeds Ezek. 42.
Now to this history & constitution of the Temple (though not understood by the Iews & Christians of those ages) alludes the divine Apocalyps. The Temple & Altar & they that worship therein, being here opposed to the outward court, do signify the Courts of the Temple & Altar with their buildings & the peoples court called the court of the weomen. For by the Temple the a[44] Iews frequently understood Zerubbabels Temple alone, that is all the buildings belonging to the inward Court wherein they had worshipped from Zerubbabels time. The outward Court they called the mountain of the house. And hence 'tis called here the Court without the Temple. The inward building therefore the Prophet is commanded to measure, that is to build &, let the outward lye wast. For because builders first sett out the measures of what they build, therefore measuring is used as a type of building. So Ezekiel to signify that the Temple delineated by him should be built, measures every part thereof with a reed. So the Angel for the like reason measures the new Ierusalem in the Apocalyps. And so Zachary sees an Angel with a measuring line going to measure Ierusalem, & another Angel tells him that Ierusalem should be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men & cattel therein Zech. 2. And so Ieremy (chap. 21.20) describes building by measuring. The command therefore to measure the Temple & Altar & them that dwell therein (that is their Courts) & to leave the outward court unmeasured alludes to Ezekiel's measuring the Temple in the Babylonian captivity, & to Zerubbabels rebuilding the inward part of that Temple while the outward court was left out & remained unbuilt & open to the Gentiles. And whilst the prophesy has hitherto respected the worship of the Temple, this building of a new Temple is a plain indication that Iohn here begins by vertue of the eaten book to prophesy again.
Now this prophesy of the Second Temple respects that same anniversary solemnity of the seventh month which was before described in the times of the first Temple. For it ends with the first day of the month, but respects only the solemnity of the seventh seale, For 'tis an interpretation of the prophesy of the vision & voices of the Angel & thunders immediately preceding it, & that prophesy being the prophesy of the little book opened in the Angels hand commences with the opening of the last seale thereof & so respects the times of the Fast & Feast of Tabernacles as was explained above. The prophesy of the second Temple commences therefore with the opening of the seventh seale. The building of a new Temple signifies the building of the Church anew or in a new state & by consequence implies her fall from her first condition. And to this answers the descent of the mighty Angel from heaven with the little book open in his hand. For all ascent & descent signifies the exaltation & depression of the thing ascending & descending & the mystical body of this Angel together with the thundering cloud wherewith he is cloathed is the Church.
And that this is so will more fully appeare by comparing the measuring of this Temple & them that worship therein with the numbring & sealing the servants of God. For this Temple being not wood & stone but the living Church of God, the measuring of it & them that worship therein & leaving out the outward Court of unholy Gentiles unmeasured, is a type of the same kind with numbring & sealing the servants of God out of all Israel & leaving the rest unsealed, & signifies the very same thing. For as that signifies the selecting of a few to be a holy people to God, while the multitude are rejected: so this signifies the building up the Elect a spiritual house an holy Priesthood to offer up sacrifices to God by Iesus Christ (as Peter expresses it)[45] while the outward Court of unholy nations lies spiritually unbuilt. These therefore are but several types of one & the same thing, & by consequence this measuring begins at the same time with the numbring & sealing, that is presently after the opening of the seventh seale; & they who worship in the measured Temple are the same with those saints whose prayers the Angel in the solemnity of the Temple worship presently after the opening of that seal offers with much incense upon the golden Altar. The sealing of the servants of God alludes to Ezekiels vision of sealing or marking the best of the people in the commencing Babylonian captivity to be preserved & continue the remnant of Gods Church in the times of the second Temple. And therefore the sealed lived in the times of that Temple, & their sealing as well as the measuring of that Temple commences at the Babylonian captivity. For seing the Church never ceases but is built up in a new form & seale so soon as demolished in an old one, the interval between the fall of the first Temple & building of the second is not here to be considered.
There are therefore four contemporary prophesies, the first begins with the four Angels holding the four winds, the second with the measuring of the Temple. For as they begin together, so we have already proved that they end all together at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet. The three first are descriptions of contemporary things done in one & the same Fast & Feast of Tabernacles, the fourth is an interpretation of those three & more especially of the third. For as this was most hidden & therefore most needed an interpretation, so it has most affinity with the fourth. For the prophesies of the seven Thunders & two witnesses are the prophesy of one & the same Angel standing all the while with his right foot upon the sea & his left upon the left, & of one & the same opened book first held in the Angels hand to prophesy, & then eaten by the Prophet to prophesy again, & they are put also together between the sixt & seventh Trumpets after the manner of a sentence within a parenthesis, & therefore like two clauses of such a sentence, have a particular relation of one to another. & seing the first is a prophesy sealed up, & the second a prophesying again out of the same book by way of interpretation, the relation which they have one to another must be this that the second is an interpretation of the first. And for this reason 'tis that the interpretation begins no higher then with the times of the seventh seale. The first of these two prophesies begins with the same book newly eaten to prophesy again out of it; the fist is a prophesy of reading out of that book, the second a prophesy of that book in the Prophets mouth a fit type of reading; in the very beginning of the first the Angel came down & stood upon the earth & sea, in the very beginning of the second the Angel stood again in the same posture: And the Angel stood & Said Arise & measure the Temple of God &c. The Angel did not go to Iohn to give him the book, but Iohn went to the Angel to take it. He kept his place, & when Iohn had eaten the book, stood up as at first & began to prophesy anew.
The persons prophesying are the two witnesses. For in those his witnesses doth the mighty Angel (our High Priest & King) perpetually prophesy. And they in being called two olive trees allude to the two olive trees or anointed ones in Zachary Chap. 4, that is to Zerubbabel & Ishua the Prince & High Priest who read the law, & in their having power over the waters to turn them to blood, & to smile the earth with a curse as oft as they will, they allude also to Moses and Aaron the Prince & High Priest who taught the people the Law in the beginning. Yet are not these witnesses single persons but (like all other persons in the Apocalyps) have their mystical bodies. The mighty Angel (our High Priest & King) begin Christ has his mystical body & is cloathed with a cloud of Prophets, & all these compose the two witnesses. For they are called the two Candlesticks & two olive trees & therefore are two Churches. For Candlesticks are Churches Apoc. 1.70 & so are olive trees Ier. 11.16, Rom. 11.17, 24. And in being Churches they are the mystical body of that Angel distinguished into two Churches by the double prophetical person he bears of Priest & King & by his two leggs. For the circumstance of setting his two feet upon the earth & sea is not insignificant, & if it signify any thing his feet must signify some thing, & what they signify may be learnt from Nebuchadnezzar's Image. For as the two leggs of that Image were put to signify the twofold kingdoms of the last times the Greek & Latine Empires, so Christ's mystical body being the Churches his two leggs must signify the twofold Church of the last times, that is the churches of the earth & sea upon which the Angel stands with the book of the Law open in his hand to prophesy, or the Churches diffused through that earth & sea to whose inhabitants the Devil came down with great wrath Apoc. 12. The descent from heaven of the Angel cloathed with a cloud & the ascent of the two witnesses to heaven in a cloud are evidently relatives by way of opposition & signify the fall & rise of the Church or beginning & ending of her law & afflicted condition. For the prophesy of the two Churches whereby she is represented during that condition begins with the first & ends with the last. In the representation of these two Churches by the Angel their original is described but not their end; for 'tis not said what became of that Angel, & in the representation of the same Churches by the two witnesses their end is described but not their beginning; for 'tis not said whence those two witnesses were. Both prophesies apart are incomplete & must be conjoyned to make the description of the two Churches entire & perfect. These are the persons prophesying & they prophesy by teaching & interpreting the apostolick scriptures. προφητεύειν to prophesy signifies not only to predict & foretell but also to interpret things difficult which relate to religion as you may see in the Lexicographers. So Achiors religious discourse is called prophesying Iudeth 6.2, & the Apostle call the Poet Epimenides a Prophet Tit. 1.12 & in general he calls expounding the scriptures prophesying 1 Cor. 14 & Rom. 12.6. So Plutarch in his book of the defection of Oracles & Plato in his Timæus & Festus use the word prophesying for interpreting of Oracles & others use it for interpreting of dreams.
The people in the outward court to whom the mighty Angel prophesies are here called the Gentiles or Nations to whom that Court is given. These tread under foot the holy city & therefore are enemies to the Church. And since the Temple is the scene of all the visions, the outward court with the Nation therein & the earth & sea, on which the Angel stands to prophesy to them must represent all the regions of the Nations of the whole earth & sea prophesied against in this book. These are they that dwell upon earth whom the two witnesses tormented by their prophesying & who therefore rejoyced at their death. They of the peoples & kindreds & tongues & Nations who see their dead bodies three days & an half, the people of the great city in whose streets they are slain & lye dead, the many peoples, & Nations, & tongues & Kings before whom the Prophet is sent to prophesy again. For he prophesies in the two witnesses to those Nations. The place is either the streets of the great city, that is its dition & provinces, or the outward court of the Temple. In respect of the Angel's standing upon the earth & sea to read the Law in all places (as well in the synagogues as in the Temple) the two witnesses prophesy in the streets of the great city. In respect of Laws being read in the Temple the Nations are placed in the outward court. For it was read in the court of the people, & that court was the outward court in Solomon's Temple.
The seven Thunders are not only the articulate voices of reading & prophesying, but also signify wars, namely those to which the Trumpets sound, & those wars are described in the prophesy of the two witnesses by fire proceeding out of their mouths. Thunder fire & blowing of Trumpets are all of them types of war; & the war represented by all these is of one & the same kind. For it is occasioned by the loud cry of the oppressed Church, & is inflicted upon her enemies. For as the fire proceeds out of the mouth of the two witnesses or Churches, so the Thunders are the voices of the cloud wherewith the Angel or Church is cloathed, & the Trumpets are blown by the seven Angels of the seven Churches, their mystical bodies are those Churches. The seven Angels, the cloud, & the two witnesses are all of then types of the same prophetick people, & do all of them send out of their mouths the symbols of the wars. Tis in answer to the two first that the fire comes out of the mouth of the last. In the prophesy of the seales & Trumpets where Christ is represented by Lamb with seven horns & seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God or seven Angels, his mystical body the Church is represented sevenfold by those seven Angels sounding the Trumpets. In the prophesy of the open book where he is represented by a mighty Angel standing with his right foot on the sea & his left foot on the earth, his mystical body in respect of his two eyes & two feet is represented (as we said) by two witnesses. In both cases Christ is the same & his mystical body the Church is the same, thô in several respects represented by several numbers. In what respect this Church is represented sevenfold & in what two fold shal be explained hereafter. This Church thunder & breaths out fire & blows the Trumpets to these wars not by faction & sedition but by calling for the divine vengeance upon her persecutors in such a manner the soules of the Martyrs under the Altar cryed out with a loud voice How long O Lord holy & true dost thou not judge & avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth Apoc. 6.10. For if any Man will hurt the witnesses fire proceeds out of their Mouth & devoureth their enemies, & if any man will hurt them he must in this manner be killed, that is as oft as they are hurt by their persecuting enemies their blood crys out for vengeance. For he that leadeth into captivity must go into captivity, & he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword here is the patience of the faith of the saints Apoc. 13.10.
I have here considered the fire which comes out of the mouth of the two witnesses with respect in general to the wars of the Thunders or Trumpets. But yet it seems to have a more particular respect to the war of the first Trumpet. For there this fire is cast upon the earth & the third part of the trees are burnt up. In the second Trumpet or Thunder the two witnesses exercise their power over the waters to turn them to blood & in the rest of the Trumpets & Thunders they smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will. And thus in a few words is described both generally & particularly how the witnesses execute the plagues of the Trumpets & Thunders upon their enemies. For these enemies in being the people of the earth & sea upon which the Angel stood with the book open in his hand to prophesy, they are the earth & sea upon which the plagues of the two first Trumpets fell: and in being the Nations in the outward court which was left out unmeasured they are those of the twelve Tribes who were left out unsealed, & on whom the plagues of the Trumpets fell as is exprest both in the fift Trumpet & in Ezekiels vision of sealing or marking a few & learning out the rest to be slain by the six men answering to the Angels of the first six Trumpets. And thus the prophesies agree also in the subject of the plagues.
So then in all the times of the seventh seale there are but two sorts of people described, the true Church & her enemies; the first in an afflicted condition, the last prosperous & potent; & these two are described under various types. They are represented first by the twelve Tribes of Israel distinguished into two parts, the sealed servants of God, & the unsealed multitude; then by the Angel with the book open in his hand & by the earth & sea upon which he stands; afterwards by those that worship in the measured Temple, & by the Nations in the outward unmeasured Court; also by the holy city & by the same nations who tread it down; then by the two witnesses & the Nations or great city to whom they prophesy; & lastly by Christ crucified & the same city crucifying him. For in calling the great city Sodom & Egypt where also our Lord was crucified, the people of that city are compared not only to the unclean & persecuting Gentiles of Canaan & Egypt, but also to the Iews who crucified Christ, & the two witnesses slain in their streets are compared to Christ crucified.
Sec. IV.
The interpretation of the Seales & Trumpets
The first part of the interpretation
Hitherto I have explained the Prophesy of the Book in the Prophets mouth. This & the prophesy of the seales & Trumpets and both together with the sounding of the last Trumpet, & then begins the bitter prophesy of the same Book in the Prophets belly, which Prophesy is a repetition of the whole Prophesy of the seales & Trumpets by way of interpretation. The last Trumpet sounds to the day of judgment, & the description of that day ends with these words; Thy wrath is come & the time of the dead that they should be judged & that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the Prophets & to the saints & to them that fear thy name both small & great, & shouldst destroy them that destroy the earth. And the repetition begins with the next words, And the Temple of God was opened in heaven. As the prophesy of the seales & Trumpets began with a door opened in heaven through which the Prophet might see the ensuing visions there so doth the repetition. A door is opened in the Temple of heaven to let the Prophet see the ensuing Visions of the woman & dragon there. For these appear in heaven & heaven is every where in this Prophesy put for the Temple of heaven. For it is to be conceived that the war between Michael & the Dragon was above in the inner court of the Temple of heaven that the Dragon was cast out thence into the outward court, that the heavens & they that dwell in them who are led to rejoyce it this victory are the Saints who worship in the Inner court Apoc. 8.3 & 11.1 & are now freed from the tyranny of the persecuting Dragon there, that the inhabitants of the Earth & Sea to whom the Dragon comes down are the Nations to whom the outward court is given Apoc. 11.2, & to whom the Mighty Angel prophesied in that court standing there upon the Earth & Sea (Apoc 10.2, 3 & 11.3,) that the ten horned Beast & two horned Beast arose in that court out of the Sea & Earth upon which the Angel stood, that the woman fled through that court into that wilderness into which the Scape Goat used to be led, that in the beginning of her flight the Dragon cast out waters as a flood after her in that court , & that the well of the abyss out of which the Locusts ascended & into which the Dragon was cast was the common sink or shore of the Temple. For this was an abyss of uncleanness & at the foot of the Altar had a mouth like a well with a stone cover to it.
The woman in heaven is plainly the Church of God, because her seed keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Iesus Apoc. 12.1, 17. By the Sun wherewith she is conteined; by that moon under her feet the Pontifical power of the kingdom trampled upon by her, & by the twelve stars wherewith she is crowned the Bishops & Presbyters of the Church successors of the twelve Apostles. For the Sun Moon & Stars together signify all the powers & parts of a kingdome: & therefore if the Stars signify the Princes of the Church, the Sun & Moon are to signify the rest; the Sun being the King with his mystical body the kingdom, & the Moon being the Pontifex Maximus with his mystical body of Priests & others his subjects in religious affairs.
The great red Dragon,, since his heads are crowned, & he makes war & persecutes the woman or Church, & gives his power & throne & great authority to the Beast, plainly signifies a Kingdom as Beasts in prophesy generally do, & this kingdom is hostile to the Church, & by his persecuting her must be that kingdom through which she is diffused, signified before by the Sun. His seven crowned heads signify his reign under seven successive Kings or Dynasties as is explained in the like heads of the Beast Apoc. 17 & so answer to the seven successive Dynasties of the seven seales. For these in the Apocalyptic language are Kings. The four first are represented by horsmen, & a horsman in the prophetic language is a King, riding being put for reigning & the hors for the people of the Kingdom, & therefore if all the seven heads be of a kind, they are seven successive Kings. And that they are so will appear by the prophetical history of the woman & Dragon, for therein are the three last seales repeated & described by three successive Kings of the Dragon whereof the third is the Dragons seventh head as you will understand by considering the repetition of the whole prophesy in order as follows.
The prophesy of the seales began with the opening of a door in heaven, & with the throne of God set in heaven which the Prophet saw through the door, & with lightnings & thunderings & voices proceeding out of the throne (Apoc. 4.1, 2, 5) & the repetition begins with the like visions in these words: And the Temple of God was opened in heaven & there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Testament, & there were lightnings & voices & thundrings & an earth quake & great hail. In this repetition & door of the Temple is put for the door of heaven, & the Ark for the throne of God by way of explication, & so confirms the interpretation of that door & throne we gave above. To the lightnings & thundrings & voices which there came out of the throne, & only allude to the sacrifices of the Temple, are here added earthquakes & great hail to inculcate that here they are prophetick, & consequently typifie the first wars of the prophesy, that is the wars of the four horsmen with which the prophesy begins. For those horsmen are warriors, the first having a bow, & going forth conquering & to conquer, the second having a great sword, & all of them having armies typified by the four Beasts. For those Beasts being squadrons of men encamped each under banners, may when conjoyned with the horsmen fitly typifie their armies, the same type in divers respects & circumstances having divers significations. And thus each horsman with his hors & one of the four Beasts will represent a Soveraign Commander or Emperour with his Empire & army.
After the wars of the Kingdom follow the affairs of the Church, & these begin to be described in the fift seale & in the vision of the woman and Dragon. In the fift seale is described a great persecution of the Church there appearing under the Altar (that is at the foot of it were the sacrifices were slain) the soules of them that were slain for the word of God by those that dwell on the Earth against whom they cry for vengeance. And this persecution is repeated by the womans crying in pain of travail, & by the Dragons drawing the third part of the Stars (or Saints) of heaven with his tail (or army of Souldiers & Magistrates) & casting them to the Earth: of which persecution the woman's being cloathed with the scorching hot Sun is also a very proper Emblem. Now where the history of the Dragon & woman begins, there ought we to begin the reign of one of the Kings or heads of the Dragon, & so this King falls in with the fift seale, & is the fift King reconing the horsmen for the first four.
In the sixt seale is described the overthrow of the persecuting idolatrous Kingdom the Stars which there fall like figgs & the Men which had hid themselves being Idols & the Mountains & Rocks idol Temples, & the Sun & Moon which are smitten being the Kingdom and Priesthood. And this is repeated by the overflow & dethroning of the Dragon (that old Serpent called the Devil & Satan who deceiveth the whole world) & his Angels by Michael & his Angels who overcome them by the blood of the Lamb, & by the word of their Testimony, which they gave in the preceeding persecution wherein they loved not their lives unto the death. And now the Dragon being cast down to the earth from his old throne in heaven begins a new reign among the inhabitants of the Earth & Sea, whereupon a wo is denounced to them: Wo be to the inhabitants of the Earth & Sea, because the Devil is come down amongst you, here then begins a new head of the Dragon. For the better understanding of which it is to be conceived that the Manchild succeeded the Dragon in his throne in heaven, being then caught up to God & his throne, that is to the throne of the kingdom, when the Dragon was cast down. For so soon as he was caught up the woman fled into the wilderness Apoc. 12. v. 5, 6) & thither she fled not till after the Dragon was cast down v. 14. As every Child is of the same kind with his Parents, so the Manchild must be a body of the same kind with the Woman, the difference of sex only excepted, & therefore not a single person but a body of men, a masculine body of Christians as she is a feminine, & consequently When therefore the saints enter into the temple to worship God be sealed with his seale then do the nations enter into the outward Court to worship the Beast & his Image & receive his mark. For things related to one another by way of opposition are always synchronal. In the time of this worship was the sacrifice of Gods lot offered upon the Altar & therefore the temple & altar & they that worship therein are now measured whilst the outward court is left out & not measured. For this measuring (as I said) denotes the same thing with numbring & sealing the servants of God & leaving all rest unsealed. And the temple & altar which were measuring are mythical & denote one the saints who worship in it called in next words the holy City & the other the martyrs who are sacrificed upon it called in the next words the two martyrs or witnesses For these witnesses are not single persons but the churches of God because in the next words they are called Candlesticks. For Candlesticks are Churches Apoc. 1. So then these witnesses & the Altar & Temple & holy City & the sealed servants of God & remnant of the womans seed are but severall names given in several respects to one & the same people of God & in so many respects & in so many respects is the apostasy opposed to them under as many names & considerations. To the two prophesying witnesses is opposed the two horned fals Prophet to the holy City the great city of the nations which treads it under foot that great city Babylon, to the measured Temple & altar & them that worship therein the unmeasured outward court & the nations who worship in it & by persecutions & murders tred under foot the holy city, to the sealed servants of God the unsealed twelve tribes who receive the mark of the Beast the womans seed . Who keep the commandments of God, & are slain for not worshipping the Image all those that turn aside from those commandments to keep the commandments of the fals Prophet & of that Image which speaks as an Oracle. All these things are related to one another by way of opposition & therefore are synchronal. The great Apostasy together with the two wicked Beasts arose at the opening of the seventh seal & therefore the Prophet is very elaborate in the description of the things which belong to this period.
So then the vision of the 144000 sealed servants of God & of the Lamb opening the seals is repeated & interpreted in the remnant of the womans seed who receive not the mark & name of the Beast but immediately after the worshippers of the Beast & of his image have received his mark & name stand on Mount Sion with the Lamb & have name of God in their foreheads, & are in number 144000. By this standing on Mount Sion they are known to be Israelites & therefore were numbered & marked with the name of God out of the twelve tribes as the others were numbered & sealed out of then. Whence the rest who receive the mark of the Beast are the rest of the twelve tribes, such as say they are Iews & are not & worship in the outward Court of the Temple but by worshipping the Dragon & Beast are become the Synagogue of Satan as has been shewed. The 144000 stand with the Lamb on mount Sion & by a sequence in the Temple where the Lamb was, & opened the seals. For there all the visions appear & there they sing the new song before the throne & before the four Beasts & the Elders &c. – – – as shall be proved hereafter -- that plague fell upon the men who had the mark of the Beast & worshipped his Image, Apoc 16 & therefore the twelve Tribes as many as were not sealed which the seale of God receive the mark of the Beast. The twelve tribes or Church there as I said above became now separated into two parts. the one Gods {illeg} the other the the Beasts & at the separating of the one from the other each part received the mark or name of his master in their foreheads, & from then forward worshipped him whose mark & name he had received. And thence the worshippers of the Beast are called the synagogue of Satan who say they are Iews & are not but do lye.
Now from these things it's evident first that at the opening of the seventh Seal there is a great Apostasy of the 12 Tribes & secondly that the 144000 are excommunicated by the rest & thereby numbered out & separated from them. for the Beast which hath two horns like the Lamb (that is ecclesical ones like the Lambs seven horns & so is the Church of the Apostates) causeth all men to receive a mark & that no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark or the name of the Beast or the number of his name; that is he excommunicates them, & thereby causeth the aforesaid separation of those who will not receive the Beasts mark from those that do receive it.
.
Thirdly that the execution of this excommunication commenced with a dissolution of the bodies ecclesiastic of all For the two horned beast doth greet miracles so that he causeth fire come down from heaven (that is war from the throne) in the sight of men, & that the Image he then sets up should speak as an Oracle & cause that as many as would not worship it should be killed, that is not by a natural death for so the true church would have been at an end but by a dissolution of their societies or bodies whether civil or ecclesiastic So then those that were killed & those that were prohibited buying & selling & those that immediately after stand on mount Sion are one & the same men in different respects. For they are all of them the whole true Church. And for the same reason they are also the same with the remnant of the womans seed whom the Dragon went to make war upon. She being the Church catholic her seed who kept the vow with God were all the faithfull & all those & none others were killed because all were killed who would not worship the Image & all worshipped the beast & his Image whose names were not written in the book of life. Fourthly that the temporal sword by which these things are now put in executing is the Dragons. For it was he that at this time went to make war with the remnant of the womans seed, & they in that war kept the commandments of God & had the testimony of Iesus, that is by keeping Gods command became his witnesses or Martyrs whilst the multitude of the twelve tribes fell away to the worship of the Beast & his Image. For the faithfull martyr Antipas was slain where Satan dwelleth, that is in the Kingdom of the Dragon that old serpent called the Devil and Satan.
So then at the opening of the seventh Seal the saints fell into great affliction & therefore this time (as was shewed above) is represented there by the great Fast or day of expiation wherein the prayers of the afflicted saints are offered with incense upon the golden altar & in allusion to the two goats on whose heads the high Priest laid the names of God & Azazel sending the lot of Azazel into the wilderness laden with the sins of the people, & sacrificing the Lords lot, the twelve tribes are sealed in their foreheads partly with the seale & name of God & partly with the mark & name of the Beast & whilst the one goes away into the Wildernesse the other is sacrificed in the war which the Dragon made upon them, & so becomes the Martyr Antipas..
As the seal of God is opposed to the mark of the Beast so the worship of God in this Fast is opposed to the worship of the Beast & his Image, & therefore all these are synchronal.
In the next place appear the four Angels of the first four Trumpets holding the four winds wherewith they were at the sounding of those Trumpets to hurt the earth & the sea & the trees: & upon their appearance the 144000 servants of God are numbred out of the 12 Tribes & sealed in their foreheads. Now these things being done at the opening of the seventh seal which is one of the main periods in all the Apocalyps, they answer to divers contemporary things & first to the womans flying into the wilderness & having a remnant of her seed. For the twelve tribes are the Church catholic & consequently answer to the Woman crowned with a crown of 12 stars, & the servants of God numbered & sealed out of the tribes answer to the remnant of the womans seed who keep the commandments of God. The numbering & sealing a few out of all the tribes denotes a division of the church into two parts: the select number of sealed ones & the rest left unsealed: & the like division of the Church is signified by the Woman's flying into the Wildernesse & leaving a remnant of her seed For she fled from the face of the serpent into the wilderness unto her place that they should feed & nourish her there, that is she fled from persecution into the wilderness barren of saints (who are the green trees ) unto her place of honour & glory there that the Merchants of the Earth should feed her luxuriously (as they did the great Whore) while the remnant of her seed kept the commandments of God & under the persecuting Dragon had the testimony of Iesus. So then there is the like division of the Church catholic into two parts in both prophesies & therefore the prophesies answer to one another.
In the next place the said things done at the opening of the seventh seal answer to the beginning of the seventh head of the Dragon & Beast & consequently to the time when the Beast rose out of the Sea & the Dragon gave him his throne & power & great authority. For when the Dragon left his old throne his former reign or head ceased & a new one began & the Beast which rose out of the abyss or Sea he is the eighth & of the seven. But of this more hereafter.
In the third place they answer most plainly to the two horned Beasts causing all men to receive the mark or name of the Beast & to the 144000 on mount Sion with the name of God in their foreheads. When the 144000 servants of God are sealed in their foreheads & numbered, then do the servants of the beast receive his mark in their foreheads or his name & number: for immediately after do the 144000 sealed ones stand on mount Sion with the name of God in their foreheads. The sealing the one & marking the other are opposites & therefore synchronal. The servants of God were sealed before the four winds hurt the earth & sea & trees in the Trumpets that they might escape being hurt & therefore the rest of the Tribes who were not sealed were the men hurt by those winds. For it is exprest that the plague of the fift Trumpet fell upon the men who had not the seal of God in their foreheads. So then the men upon whom the plague of the first wind or Trumpet fell were those who had not the seal of God in their foreheads Now the plague of this Trumpet is the same with that of the first Vial. a Christian Kingdom. This Kingdom the Dragon endeavoured to devour so soon as it was born, & thereupon arose the war in heaven. 'Twas improper to represent a Child a Warrior, & therefore his Angel Michael is put in his stead. For in what respect the Kingdom of the Dragon is called by the name of his Angel that old Serpent the Devil & Satan in the same respect is the Kingdom of the Manchild called by the name of his between their Angels, Michael & his Angels fighting against the old Serpent & his Angels. And upon the Dragon's being cast down to signify that the Manchild was then caught up to the throne, there was heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now is come salvation & strength & the Kingdom of our God. So then the succession of the Manchild puts an end to the reign of the Dragon in heaven, & with his new reign on Earth amongst the inhabitants of the Earth or sea begins a new dynasty or head. For the Dragon a little after gave the Beast his throne & power & great authority, & therefore reigned on Earth after he was cast down. Seing therefore that at the opening of the sixt seale this fall of the idolatrous Kingdom is described, the sixt had of the Dragon will fall in with the times of that seale.
In the next place appear the four Angels of the first four Trumpets holding the four winds wherewith they were in those Trumpets to hurt the Earth & Sea & trees. And their first appearance being synchronal to the opening of the seventh seale answers to the beginning of the seventh head, & consequently to the time when the Beast rose out of the Sea, & the Dragon gave him his throne & power & great authority. For when the Dragon left his old throne, his former reign or head ceased & a new one began. But of this more hereafter.
#While these Angels hold the winds the 144000 servants of God are sealed that is those who now serve God in his Temple & thereby are opposed to the rest who now worship the Dragon & the Beast & his Image & for that reason are left unsealed. For at ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ the opening of the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for half an hour & during that silence the prayers of the saints were offered up to God with incense on the golden altar: & to this worship of God in the Temple is opposed mens beginning now to worship the beast & his Image. For these are the Gentiles or nations to whom the outward court of the temple was now given for their worship. When therefore the saints enter into the inward Temple to worship God, then do the nations enter into the outward court to worship the beast & his Image. For things related to one another as opposites are always synchronal. At that time the Image spake & caused that as many as would not worship it should be killed, that is mystically by a dissolution of their bodies ecclesiastic & thereby all the saints became the martyrs or witnesses of Iesus that is the two Witnesses. For those witnesses are the Candlesticks that is the Churches of God, & being first mentioned at the measuring of the Temple & Altar & them that worship therein that is at the numbring of the saints whose prayers are offered up with incense, commence with the opening of the seventh seal. For when the saints worshipped in the temple then were these martyrs offered up a sacrifice to God upon the Altar. For the Temple & Altar which were measured are mystical & signify the one saints who worship in it called in the next words the holy city & the other the martyrs who are sacrificed upon it, called in the next words the two martyrs or witnesses. Now these martyrs or witnesses are the remnant of the womans seed who kept the commandments of Iesus when she fled away into the spiritually barren wilderness, & whom the Dragon then went to make war with. For now at the sentence of the speaking Image it si to be conceived that the Dragon makes that war upon them & kills them. For in that war they keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus that is are his witnesses or martyrs. As many as would not worship the image are killed & by consequence all the womans seed. She being the Church catholic her seed were all the faithfull & therefore they were all that were killed So then the Prophet after the Dragon went to make war with the remnant of the womans seed is very large in the description of things done at the opening of the seventh seal & spends all his time therein till he has told how the Image of the Beast was made & by speaking causes all those to be killed who will not worship it. For this period is a very notable one & therefore deserved to be elaborately described. And having noted the time of all these things I now proceed.
In the next place therefore the 144000 servants of God are numbred & sealed -- -- # the 144000 servants of God are numbred & sealed# in their foreheads out of all the tribes of Israel & there by separated from the rest and this is repeated partly by the separation of the Church into the woman & her seed, partly by the marke or name & number of the Beast which the two horned Beast causeth all the wicked to receive in their foreheads & right hands in opposition to the numbered & sealed saints & partly by the 144000 standing immediately after on mount Sion with the name of God on their foreheads: which have the seale of God & are numbred by his number & those which have the mark & number of the Beast are related to one another by way of opposition: the one must be sealed when the other were marked. By their standing on mount Sion they are known to be Israelites, & therefore were marked with the name of God out of the twelve Tribes, as the others were sealed out of them. Whence the rest who receive the mark of the Beast are the rest of the twelve tribes, such as say they are Iews & are not & worship in the outward court of the Temple but by worshipping the Dragon & Beast are become the synagogue of Satan. The 144000 stand with the lamb once mount Sion & by consequence in the Temple where the Lamb was. For there - - - . For there all the Visions appear, & there they sing the new ‡ song ‡ song before the throne & before the four beasts & the elders, which song no man could learn but themselves. They are therefore the Quire of the Temple which sang the sacred song in the time of the sacrifices, & so are contemporary to the sacrifices to which the seven Trumpets sound as the sealed servants of God also are. For Iohn hears them as the voice of many waters & as the voice of a great thunder & the voice of harpers harping with their harps, & singing this new song: all which is a plain description of the musick of the Temple as we shewed above.
In the next place appears an innumerable multitude with palms in their hands, coming out of the great tribulation; suppose that tribulation which Matthew describes to follow the preaching of the Gospel to all nations in the end of the world Matt. 24. And in like manner in the repetition after the preaching of the gospel to all nations Apoc 14.6 there is a great tribulation first ushered in with an inhibition to worship the Beast & his Image vers. 9, & with these exclamations, Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the Commandments of God & the faith of Iesus Blessed are the dead which dy in the Lord vers 12,13; & then described by the Harvest of the Earth vers 14. For the first fruits of this Harvest were the 144000 sealed servants of God vers 4, & the Harvest must be of the same kind with the first fruits, & consequently a holy people reaped or cut down by persecution. And therefore as in the like Parable of the harvest in Matt. 13 Christ commands Christ commands the reapers to gather the wheat into his barn, so here the Son of man reaps the Harvest with a sharp sickle to shew that it is his. And as the tribulation is described by the harvest, so the delivery of the Palm-bearing multitude out of it is described by the ensuing vintage of the wicked who are cut down with another sharp sickle & whose blood comes out of the wine press of the wrath of God to the hors bridles of the Victors. For as the palms in the hands of the great multitude are an Emblem of victory & triumph, so the vintage denotes a great victory of the saints over the wicked obtained by the armies of him who smites the nations & treadeth the winepress of the fierceness & wrath of almighty God, (Apoc. 19.15) as shall be explained hereafter.
The second part of the interpretation
After this Palm-bearing multitude the Prophet sees the seven Angels which stood before God & to them were given seven Trumpets upon the sounding of which there ensued seven great plagues of war: all which the Prophet (next after the Vintage) thus repeats, I saw saith he another sign in heaven great & marvellous seven Angels having the seven last plagues, for in them is filled up the wrath of God. For these are called the seven last plagues to signify that they are the last mentioned plagues wherewith the two witnesses smite the earth as often as they will, or the plagues of the last times & the same with the prophesy of the seals & trumpets whereof the last is inflicted at the sounding of the last Trumpet. The seven seales are the first plagues inflicted upon the Iews heathens & true Christians & the seven Trumpets or Thunders the last inflicted upon the Apostates of the last times. πληγη is properly a plague inflicted by striking a stroke or wound & thence is sometimes taken for slaughter: so that the seven last plagues are plagues of war or plagues of trumpets sounding to war & therefore they are joyned with them who get a victory thereby. These plagues fall upon the Beast (chap. 16.2, 10, 13, 19) & tis over him that the Victors get the victory.
In the time of the plagues of the Trumpets, a mighty Angel cloathed with a cloud (that is the mystical body of Christ cloathed with a multitude) stood upon the Sea & earth & the seven thunders of that cloud uttered their voices, . And this is repeated in the vision of the Sea of glass & of them that get the victory over the Beast & over his Image standing on the sea of glass with harps & singing the song of Moses & the Lamb. For you are to conceive that these Victors stand at the last gate of the Priest's court where the Quire of the Temple used to stand & that the Prophet standing at the east gate of the outward Court sees them there with their feet standing as it were upon the top of the great brazen sea & that this sea appears mingled with the fire of the Altar through which the Prophet sees it. By the posture therefore of these victors & by their singing with Harps you may know that they are the Quire of the Temple singing at the burnt sacrifices there offered & by consequence their song is the voice of one or more of the seven thunders & that the wars in which they get the victory are one or more of those signified by the burnt sacrifices at which the Trumpets always sounded & the Quire sang alternately, that is the wars of one or more of the seven Trumpets here called the seven last plagues, as you may understand also by the song it self which concludes thus: For all nations shall come & worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest, that is the judgments of the seven plagues mentioned immediately before This song is called the song of the Lamb & sung with harps to intimate that it is the song of the 144000 which stand on mount Sion the Lamb & sing a new song with harps chap. 14 which song we told you was sung in the Temple at the sacrifices of the Trumpets & Thunders. Tis also called the song of Moses to insinuate that in the Victor's standing on the sea of glass mingled with fire whose colour is red, the Israelites passing over the frozen red sea (Exod. 15.8) are alluded unto & that the Beast over whom they get the victory is that Beast which makes war upon the two witnesses in the streets of the great city spiritually called Egypt (Apoc. 11.8) & that the Victors are the mystical body of the two witnesses, Moses & Aaron who turn the waters of this Egypt into blood & smite the land thereof with all plagues as often as they will (vers 6) untill in the last plague, after the Beast has hurt them in the war which he was to make upon them, their enemies be devoured by the fire which comes (as it were) out of their mouth (vers 5) & is mingled with the sea of glass & then for this victory & final deliverance of Gods people out of bondage they sing the song of Moses. So then they plague their enemies with many wars but get the victory in the last. For tis properly in respect of the battel of the great day of God Almighty at the last Vial (ch. 16.14) that they are said to get the victory. For in that Battel & not before the Beast is vanquished & the cities of the nations fall, as shall be explained hereafter. Yet do they before this time get a spiritual victory over the worship of the Beast & over his image & over the number of his name: For there are those who in all the Epistles to the seven Churches are said to overcome it. But in the last Vial they get a victory both spiritual & temporal & become the Church triumphant represented by the Palm-bearing multitude.
When the Prophet is to describe collateral things, his method is to interweave them. So here to signify that the vision of the Victors is collateral to that of the seven Angel, he interweaves them, mentioning first the appearance of the seven Angels with them, mentioning first the appearance of the seven Angels with their plagues & then describing the vision of the Victors & their song & afterwards returning to describe in a new vision the history of the seven Angels from their very first appearance in these words. And after these things I looked & behold the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony in heaven was opened & the seven Angels came out of the Temple having the seven plagues. When the Temple was opened that they might come out & be seen then was their first appearance, & therefore the Victors are later then the opening of the Temple & so fall in which the Vials, or which the last of them. For tis by the seven plagues that they get the victory.
We said that these plagues are a repetition of the plagues of the Trumpets. For as the Angels sounding the Trumpets are the Priests sounding at the Iewish sacrifices, so the Angels inflicting the seven plagues & pouring out their golden Vials of wrath are the Priests offering seven burnt sacrifices & pouring out the drink offerings of those sacrifices out of the golden vials of the Temple. For by their being cloathed with white linnen & having their Breasts girded with golden girdles, which was the Priests habit & by their coming out of the Temple which none entred into but Priests it is evident that they are Priests serving in the Temple & by consequence that in pouring out their golden Vials they offer drink offerings. For these Vials as they are of gold likea[46] those in the Temple so they are filled with wine which was the b[47] drink offering of the Iewish sacrifices. For the seventh Vial is called the cup of the wine of the fierceness of the wrath of God & given great Babylon to drink because she made all nations drink out of the golden cup of the wine of her fornication, that is in their idolatrous sacrifices to a fals God represented by their worshipping the Beast & his Image Apoc. 16.19 & 14.8, 9, 10. And hence you may learn that whilst all the Vials are called Vials of God's wrath, the meaning is that they are vials of the wine of God's wrath. This wine is called the blood of the grapes troden, in the great winepress of God's wrath (Apoc. 14.20) & therefore the pouring out the Vials of wrath is a fit emblem of effusion of the blood of the wicked nations in the wars to which the Trumpets sound & hath much the same signification with treading out the blood of grapes in a winepress. For this sense is affixt by the Prophet Ieremy to both these phrases there where he makes all nations drink of the wine-cup of God's fury that they may be drunken & spue & fall & rise no more because of the sword which he will send amongst them & saith that the Lord shall roar from on high & give a shout as that tread the grapes against allthe inhabitants of the earth & the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth to the other end thereof. Ier. 25. And whilst the Vials are the drink offerings of the sacrifices the plagues being slaughters must be the sacrifices themselves. For sacrifices are the proper type of slaughters in war Isa. 34.6 Ier 46.10. Ezek. 39.17, 19. Zeph. 1.7, 8. And thus you may understand how the Angels had the seven last plagues before they received the Vials. First they had sacrifices & the one of the four Beasts gave them the Drink offering. To describe the Temple - musick & drink offerings as is done in the Trumpets Thunders & Vials & omit the sacrifices themselves would have been improper.
We shewed that the seven Trumpets allude to the sacrifices of the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles & so do the plagues & Vials. For considering that immediately after the seven Angels come out of the temple they received their Vials & then the Temple was filled with smoak from the glory of God & from his power so that no man was able to enter into the Temple untill the seven plagues of the seven Angels were fulfilled: the dedication of the Temple by Solomon is herein plainly alluded unto. For in that dedication so soon as the Priests had placed the Ark in the most holy & came out thence & lift up their voice with Trumpets & musical instruments to praise the Lord the Temple was filled with a cloud (1 Kings 8.10, 11, 12) & fire came down from heaven & consumed the burnt sacrifices & the glory of the Lord filled the house, & the Priests could not enter into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord has filled the house (2 Chron. 7.1, 2). Now this solemnity of the dedication was kept on the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles. For all Israel assembled at the Feast of the seventh month to bring the Ark into the Temple (1 Kings 8.2. 2 Chron. 5.3) & kept the dedication of the Altar seven days & at the same time they kept the Feast seven days & in the eighth day made a solemn Assembly, & on the three & twentieth day of the month which was the ninth day Solomon sent the people away 2 Chron. 7.8, 9, 10. The seven days of the dedication & seven days of the feast are indeed in respect of the different sacrifices of the Dedication & Feast reconed distinctly, & in 1 King. 8.65 summed up as if they were fourteen days in all. And thô the Hebrew now extant, by reason of its' great freedom from various lections, be thought by many to be very accurate; yet all the Hebrew copies now extant seem to spring from the first edition of the Hebrew with point, & to owe their consent with one another to the great care of conserveing & following this edition ever since, whereby the various lections of former copies have been lost: & therefore the seventy following an earlier & by consequence a more correct copy are not always to be despised especially since the present Hebrew is inconsistent with it self. For if Israel assembled one the Feast or fifteenth day of the month and departed on the three and twentieth day, they stayed but eight days at Ierusalem. Nor indeed does the fast on the tenth day of the month with its preparation days leave room for other seven days of the dedication then those of the feast. Tis true the dedication of the Second Temple was kept on other days then the Feast of Tabernacles, and thence perhaps might the later Iews think it was so in the first Temple, and make some marginal notes in their books to that purpose which might afterwards creep into the text. But their keeping the Dedication eight days with gladness & palm branches in their hands as in the feast of Tabernacles (2 Mac. 10) is a mark of those Feasts being at first the same. So then the seven Vials as well as the seven Trumpets relate to the sacrifices of the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, and in that respect also they agree and the one are a repetition of the other. In every burnt sacrifice when the drink offering was poured out the Trumpets began to sound, and so they being contemporary circumstances of the same sacrifices are fitly used for one another as equipollent emblems of those sacrifices, each Angel with his Trumpet or Vial being put for the body of all the Priests with their Trumpets & Vials who serve on the Temple on the same day. For in this prophesy every singular person has his mystical body consisting of many persons. And thus the prophesy of the Trumpets being by this repetition of it affixed to the solemnity of the Feast and Dedication together, is made more Emphatical then before; every Trumpet being put for the 120 Trumpets which sounded on each day of the fast, and the sacrifices at which they sounded being the greatest that ever were. For sacrifices offered by fire are a type of slaughter made by war, and therefore the Trumpets sounding seven times to such sacrifices denote seven successive courses of war, & these being the seven great plagues of the last times wherein is filled up the wrath of God upon his enemies, it was fit that they should be represented by the greatest solemnity of trumpeting & sacrificing that ever was. And that the prophesy of the Trumpets is thus repeated illustrated & improved in that of the vials will further appear by comparing them as follows.
All ✝✝ The people prophesied of in the Apocalyps are here distinguished into three parts, & these are the inhabitants of the Heavens Earth & Sea. Rejoyce ye heavens & they that dwell therein, wo be to the inhabitants of the earth & Sea Apoc. 12. One of these three parts is in the Vials called the Earth, the Sea, the rivers, the Sun, & in the Trumpets the third part thereof & the third part of men, & in the prophesy of the Woman & Dragon the third part of the stars.
Now whilst the seven trumpets & seven thunders joyntly represent the musick of the Temple at the sacrifices & the seven plagues & seven vials are the sacrifices themselves with their drink offerings: we are to conceive that the two last do joyntly & severally answer to the two first by way of interpretation. And thus much of the seven last plagues & seven vials.
The third part of the Interpretation.
The third part of the Interpretation.
In the next place the Prophet is called unto the mighty Angel of the seven thunders & the Angel gives him the open book to eat & tells him he must prophesy again & then discourses to him about the Nations who tread under foot the Holy City & thereby turn it to a wilderness as Babylon did Zion of old Ier 12.10. Isa. 64.10 & 14.17; & about the two Witnesses in whose days it rained not to fructify the spiritually barren earth of this desolate region; & about the great City of the nations seated where the Lord was crucified, that is in the Wilderness which they had made by laying the Holy City wast; & about the Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit & killeth the witnesses in the streets of that great City Babylon. And all this is plainly repeated in the prophesy of the Angel of the seven Vials who calls the Prophet to him & carries him away in the spirit into the barren wilderness whether the Holy City represented by the glorious Woman in Heaven was fled by persecution Apoc. 12 & there shews him many waters which are peoples & multitudes & nations & tongues & the Whore of Babylon that great City sitting on these drunken with the blood of the witnesses of Iesus, & the Beast which ascendeth out of the bottomless pit & makes war with the Lamb; & discourses to him about these things.
Afterwards in the Prophesy follows the fall of the tenth part of that great City, (that is of the City then under one of the ten Kings,) & the slaying of the seven thousand names of men at her fall (that is the dissolution of so many societies) whereat the remnant were affrighted & gave glory to the God of heaven. And this is repeated in the Interpretation in the solemn description of - - -
& in the solemn description of the fall of Babylon ch. 18 & subsequent voice of much people in heaven saying Alleluia salvation & glory & honour & power unto the Lord our God, for he hath judged the great whore & avenged the blood of his servants at her hand ch. 19. Here in comparing the fall of the tenth part of the city to the fall of Babylon I conceive the tenth part of the city to signify the city under one of the ten Kings. For Babylon falls twice. For the ten Kings eat the flesh of the Whore & burn her with fire that consume her riches & destroy her by war, & then the tenth part of the city falls by the Euphratean horsmen. For with its fall the second wo concludes, proclamation being then made that the second wo is past & therefore its fall is a part of the second wo & consequently effected by the Euphratean horsmen. And to signify this double fall of the great city 'tis every where proclaimed twice saying Babylon is fallen is fallen Apoc. 14.8 & 19.2. To which double fall answers a double conversion of the people, the first at the resurrection or ascention of the witnesses the last at the fall of the tenth part of the Great City. For the feeding of the woman in the wilderness is commensurate to the prophesying of the {witnesses} both lasting 1260 days & during her being fed in the {illeg} she {is} the {Whore} of Babylon, as shall be shewed hereafter.
In the last place the seventh Trumpet sounds to the {battel} of the great day, & the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdoms of Christ & he shal reign for ever, & the nations were angry ({suppose} in the war) & Gods wrath then came & the time of the dead that {they} should be judged, & that God should give reward unto his servants the {Priests} & to the saints & destroy them who {destroyed the earth. All which is} repeated at {illeg} in the {armies} of heaven {testify} the word of God who comes to smite the nations with a sharp sword & thenceforward to rule them with a rod of iron & in the Beast & Kings of the earth with their armies {making war} upon them, & in the perdition of the Beast & fals Prophet in the Lake of fire & smiting the rest of the nations with the sharp sword & imprisoning the Dragon & in the {thrones} & {shew} the {illeg} on them to whom judgment was given, & in the first resurrection {the Kings judgment the} {illeg} reign {illeg} in Christ For the general judgment commences with the 1000 years of {only} that judgment in Daniel wherein that book was opened the fourth Beast was condemned to the {burning} flames & the {new} heaven & earth then created {being} the new kingdom founded at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet, & the new Ierusalem which {illeg} came down from heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband being the Lambs wife who had made herself ready for marriage before the war between the Lamb & the Beast & whose marriage supper was celebrated in that war.
< text from f 45r resumes >The time of the reign of the Beast here {considered} is {here} defined There are, saith the Prophet, seven King, five are fallen & one is {is} & the other is not yet come & when he cometh he must continue a short space & the beast that was & is not even he is the eight & is of the seven & goeth into perdition. Prophesy is not of things past or present but of things to come, & therefore this prophesy is not of the five heads past & the one present, nor of the Beast when he was or is not & yet is; but of the seventh head which is to come, & of the Beast when he shall ascend & become the eight & of the seven. It begins therefore with the seventh head, & ascent of the Beast out of the Abyss or sea, that is with the opening of of seventh seale, & consequently with the measuring of the Temple & Altar & so is synchronal to that prophesy of the Temple & altar & two Witnesses from the beginning to the end.
If it be objected that according to this interpretation the first six seals must be opened before the Prophets age & so be a prophesy of things then past; I answer No. For in what respect it is said of the Beast that he as & is not & yet is in the same it is said of the heads that five are fallen & one is. These sayings five are fallen & one is & the Beast which was & is not are relatives & do not relate to any actual time but only one another, they being for that reason put together in one & the same sentence. And therefore least it should be said that, Five are fallen & one is doth not answer to the Beast which was & is not, he is a little before called the Beast which was & is not & yet is, that is to say in several respects. When five Kings or heads are fallen & the sixt is, then the Beast is called the Beast which was & is not; & when the seventh king comes the Beast, which was & is not, shall ascend out of the bottomless pitt. For he is the eight King & of the seven, being a collateral part of the seventh. And so on the contrary when it may be truly said of the Beast that he was & is not & yet is, then it is to be understood of the heads that five are fallen & one is. Now all sober Interpreters take the saying that the Beast was & is not to relate not to the days of the Prophet, but to the future vicissitudes of the Beast & to be only a character of the Beast in respect of his being at sometime or other wounded to death with a sword & reviving. This wound they seek for long after the days of the Prophet, & therefore they are also upon the same grounds to seek for the sixt head of the Beast long after those days. When the Lamb has opened the last seale of the prophetick book, then begin the times of prophesying out of it in the visions: & therefore this Angel considers the times of the sixt seale as present that his prophesying may respect the times of the seventh as next to come.
Sect. VIII.
Allusions to The passing of Israel out of Egypt through the Wilderness into Canaan; to Their Idolatry in Canaan, & to the Babylonian captivity
The sealed prophesy alluding to the sanctuary & worship therein, 'tis reasonable to expect that the history alluded unto in the interpretation should be the history of the sanctuary. Now the sanctuary was threefold, the Tabernacle, the first Temple built by Solomon, & the second Temple built by Zerubbabel & to these three belong a threefold history: to the first that of Israel's passing out of Egypt through the wilderness into the promised land of Canaan, to the second that of the ten tribes revolting & Israel & Iudah growing Idolatrous; to the third that of the Babylonian captivity. In the interpretation all these are alluded unto. For the two witnesses or Prophets in being called two Candlesticks & two olive trees respect the prophesy of Zechary chap. 4, & so allude to Zerubbabel & Ieshua & to Haggai & Zechary who prophesyed at the building of the second Temple; in their devouring their enemies by fire proceeding as it were out of their mouths, & in causing that it rain not in the 1260 days of their prophesy they allude to Elijah & Elisha who prophesied in the time of the first Temple, & at whose word their enemies were devoured by fire & it rained not fora[48] three years & an half. & in their turning the waters to blood & smiting the earth with a curs as oft as they will they allude to Moses & Aaron who turned the waters into blood in the first Egyptian plague & in the other nine smote Egypt as often as they would, & erected the Tabernacles. And so in the repetition of this prophesy, the great whore in being called Babylon respects the times of the Babylonian captivity & second Temple, in being compared to the merchandising city of Tyre respects the time of the first Temple, & in being placed in the wilderness respects time of Israels committing spiritual fornication in the wilderness in the time of the Tabernacle. I shall begin with the history of the Tabernacle.
A dragon is in sacred prophesy the great dragon that lyeth in the midst of his river.[49] and in another place he is compared to a Dragon in the sea who troubleth the waters of other Nations with his feet. And Isaiah thus describes the coming of Israel out of Egypt:[50] Art not thou he that hath cut Rahab (that is a[51] Egypt) in pieces & wounded the Dragon? Art not thou he which dried the sea - for the ransomed people to pass over? And in the Psalms the coming of the Church out of Egypt & making a pray of the drowned Egyptians is thus exprest. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength, thou breakest the heads of the Dragons in the waters, thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces & gavest him to be meat to thy people inhabiting the wilderness.
Now to this history of many headed Egyptian Leviathan, does the parable of the seven headed Dragon allude. The woman in heaven crowned with a crown of twelve stars, seeing she was persecuted by the Dragon & her seed kept the Commandments of God & had the testimony of Iesus (Apoc. 12.13, 17) is the Church crowned with the twelve Apostles, & alludes to the Church of Israel in bondage crowned with the twelve Apostles, & alludes to the Church of Israel in bondage crowned with the twelve Princes of the Tribes Num. 1.16. For crying in pains of travail alludes to the Church afflicted in Egypt & Fruitfull under bondage. The Dragon's standing before her ready to devour her child as soon as it was born, alludes to Pharaoh's command to slay the new born men children of Israel. The Man child she bare who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, to new born Moses who was to rule Israel with his rod. The childs being caught up to God's throne, to Moses his being delivered from eminent death by Pharaohs daughter & made Ruler over Israel. The war wherein Michael overcame the Dragon & the Dragon with his Angels were cast out of heaven, to the contest wherein Moses by the power of God overcame the magical powers of Egypt, & as it were cast them out of Pharohs court, so that the Magicians could not stand before him. After that victory the woman fled from the Dragon & Israel from Egypt, both of them into the wilderness, & both of them on Eagles wings, Exod. 19.4, Deut. 32.11. Apoc. 12.14 and both of them through the sea: For in allusion thereto are the people of the Apocalyptic woman now called inhabitants of both earth & sea Apoc. 12.12. Then as the Dragon cast out waters as a flood (that is an hostile multitude) after the woman, & the earth opened her mouth & swallowed up the waters, so Egypt sent out an Army after the Church of Israel & the earth opened her mouth the alveus or pit pit of the red sea dried up, & swallowed up those waters. If you conceive the flood to be swallowed up at the right foot of the mighty Angel, as it were into the sea of glass, the mouth of the earth will answer better to the abyss of the red sea. For as every sea is an abyss or mouth of the earth, so the round cavity of the sea of glass may be fitly considered as such. Further the woman fled into the wilderness that they should feed her there 1260 days, & so Israel was fed a long time in the wilderness with manna. Then rise up the ten horned Beast with crowns upon his horns, & the two horned Beast uncrowned, which are afterwards called the Beast & fals Prophet, & this fals Prophet dictates that an Image be made to the crowned Beast & gives life to the Image that it should be worshipped, & in like manner when the Church of Israel was in the wilderness, there arose Balac a King with his confederates, & Balaam a fals Prophet, & by the counsel of that fals Prophet the Israelites were induced to worship the Idol of Balac called Baal-Peor: whence the Beast & fals Prophet are in the Epistle to the Church of Pergamus called Balac & Balaam as shall be explained hereafter. The beast by his many crowned horns signifies an aggregate of several Kingdoms, & so against Israel conspired a body of many Kings; viz. Balac King of Moab & Evi, Rekein, Zur, Hur, Reba, five Kings of Midian. In the wilderness the whore commits fornication with the Kings of the earth, & lives deliciously with them, & so the people of Israel in the wilderness commit spiritual fornication with the Kings of Midian & feast on the sacrifices of their Gods Num. 25.1, 2, & 31.16. Afterwards the armies in heaven make war upon the Beast & Kings of the Earth & in those wars the Beast & fals Prophet are first taken & destroyed, & the rest slain with the two edged sword of Iesus Christ, & the saints under his conduct enter into the promised Kingdom & reign with him: & to Israel in their entrance into the land of promise first made war upon the Kings of Midian & destroyed them & their people together with the fals Prophet Balaam, & then by the sword of Ioshua or Iesus vanquished the Kings of Canaan worshippers also of Baal & under his conduct entred into the promised land of Canaan. Thus full are the allusions of this prophesy to the passage of Israel out of Egypt into Canaan. Some little differences there are in their circumstances: but it is not necessary that similitudes & allusions should agree in all points with the things alluded to. In an allusion nothing more is required then an agreement in the main.
In the next place we are to consider the allusions to sacred history in the times of the first Temple. In respect of these times the two witnesses (as we said) are compared to Elijah & Elishah & the whore of Babylon that great city to the Idolatrous merchandizing city of Tyre. Whence the Apostacy of the Church of Israel to the worship of Baal is in these times alluded unto. For of all their apostacies this was the greatest, & Baal being the God of the Canaanites or Phœnecians, where of Tyre & Zidon were the head cities, the whore that great City who tempted Gods people to Idolatry is fitly represented by Tyre the greatest of the cities of the Canaanites. For in describing the fall of Babylon the merchandize & fall of Tyre is in many things alluded unto. The inhabitants of Zidon & Arrad were the Mariners of Tyre, & all the ships of the sea with their Mariners were employed in her merchandize, & the Men of Tarshish, Iavan, Tulal, Meshach, the house of Tagarmah, the Isles Syria, Iudah, Damascus, Iavan, Dedan, Arabia, Sheba, Raasnah, Haran, Canneh, Eden, Ashur, Chilmad wereher Merchants Ezek. 23, & in general the merchants of Tyre were Princes, & her {Trafickers} the honourable of the earth Isa. 23.8, & so were those of the great city the Whore Apoc. 18.23. The merchandize of Tyre was of all kinds of Riches, Gold & Silver, & all precious stones, & a[52] pearles, & find linnen, & purple, & embroidered work, & Silk, & Ebony & Ivory, & Chests of Cedar, & vessels of brass and bright iron, & {cassia} & all sweet smelling spices & b[53] balsom & wine & oyl, & wheat, & Lambs, & rams, & horses, & cloathes for Chariots, & horsmen, & souls of Men Ezek. 27, & such also was the Merchandize of the great city Apoc. 18.12. 13. Tyre filled many people & enriched the Kings of the earth with the multitude of her riches & of her merchandize Ezek. 27.33, & so did the great city Apoc. 18.3, 15, 19. Tyre was covered with {fine linnen} & purple {& bearyls}, & adorned with Gold & all sorts of precious stones Ezek. 27.7 & 28.13, & so was the great city Apoc 18.16. At the {fall of} Tyre all the Princes of the Isles come down trembling, & take up a lamentation for her, saying, How art thou destroyed that wast inhabited of seafaring Men, the renowned City which was strong in the sea Ezek. 26.16, 17, & thus also do the Kings & great Merchants of the Earth stand far off, & lament the fall of the great city Apoc. 18.9, 10, 11. Also the Mariners & Priests of the {sea} came down from {their ships} & stood upon the sand, & cast {ash} on their heads, & lamented over her, saying, What city is like Tyrus the destroyed in in midst of the sea Ezek. 27.29, 32, & the like to the shipmakers and Mariners, & all that trade by sea at the foot of the great city Apoc. 18.17, 18, 19. And least it should be said that Tyre is not in scripture represented a Whore like the great city; Isaiah has thus remove the objection: It shall come to pass, saith he, in that day that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one King: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot, Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten, make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou maist be remembred. And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre, & she shall turn to her hire, & shall commit fornication with all the Kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth. And her Merchandise, & her hire shall be holiness to the Lord: it shall not be treasured, nor laid up: for her merchandize shall be for them that dwell before the Lord to eat sufficiently, & for durable cloathing Ch. 23.15, 16, 17, 18. How all this can litterally agre to old Tyre, I must confess, I do not see; but if it agree to the great city, 'tis more to our purpose. Nor is there any great difficulty in the 70 years, the great city being the seven hilled city which in the time that Prophet Iohn reigned over the Kings of the earth Apoc. 17.9, 18, & there being an interregnum of 70 years between the desolation of that city in the wars of Belisarius, whereby her old imperial government under the Senate & Consuls fell, & the setting up her new dominion of the universal Bishopric by the grant of the Emperour Phocas.
The worship of Baal the God of the Canaanites was set up in Israel in the reign of Ahab by the influence of Iezabel daughter of the King of Zidon, & lasted till the reign of Iehu. Iezabel reigning all that while in Israel. And hence the great whore is also called Iezabel, as you may see in the Epistle to the Church of Thyatira. For there Iezabel is represented to call herself a Prophetess, & to teach & seduce God's servants (that is by prophesying falsly) to commit fornication, & to eat things sacrificed to Idols, & therefore that fornication is spiritual, such as is that of the whore of Babylon. For carnal whores tempt their Lovers by other arts then prophesying. Iezabel was a whore & a Queen, and reigned over the ten Tribes all the time of their worshipping Baal, & seduced the people by her witchcrafts Apoc. 2.20 & 2 Kings 9.22) & sew the Prophets of the Lord & in all these things answers to the whore of Babylon who committed fornication with the Kings of the earth sat a Queen & reigned over the ten horned Beast, & deceived all nations by her sorceries, & in whom was found the blood of Prophets, & of saints, & of all that were slain upon the earth.
While Iezabel seduced the ten tribes her daughter Athaliah the Grandchild of Omri seduced the two tribes to the same worship. For she caused her husband Iehoram & her son Ahaziah Kings of Iudah to walk in all the ways of the house of her father Ahab, & caused Baal to be worshipped in Iudah till the time of her death 2 Kings 8. & 2 Chron. 21 & 22 & 23. And this general defection of Israel and Iudah is alluded unto in the sealing of only an hundred & forty four thousand out of all the twelve tribes of Israel. And as the Idolatrous twelve tribes were distinguished into two tribes the ten tribes under Iezabel, & the two tribes under Athaliah; so the twelve tribes in the Apocalyps are distinguished into the ten horned Beast under the whore & the two horned Beast. For the ten tribes are alluded unto in the ten horned Beast, not only by calling the whore Iezabel, but also by comparing the wilderness where the Beast reigned to the Kingdom of Israel under Ahab in saying that it rained not there in the days of the {prophesies} of the two witnesses: & the two tribes were alluded unto {by the two} horned Beast, as I gather from its being called {the synagogue} of Satan who say they are Iews & are not but do lye. For this synagogue of Satan or Church {of} the Dragon is the two horned Beast (as I shall shew {the} matter) & by the {name} of Iews the two tribes are alluded unto.
In the third & last place we are to consider the allusions to the Babylonian captivity & second Temple. And by what was seen already said its evident that the measuring the Temple & Altar and them that worship therein alludes to the desolation of the first Temple & building of the second; that the leaving the outward Court unmeasured alludes to the leaving the outward court of the Temple unbuilt during the reign of the Kings of Babylon, & that the Nations who tread down the holy city & to whom the outward court is given allude to the Babylonians captivating & treading down Ierusalem, & after the rebuilding of the inner Temple {Priests} entring into the wast region of the outward court, thence called the court of the Gentiles. So then these Nations or Gentiles are Babylonians, & consequently citizens of the {g}reat city, in whose streets the two witnesses lye dead. For the great city is every where in the {Apocalyps from these} allusions called Babylon & Babylon the great, & here it is {called the} great city where out Lord was crucified, that is the city where the Nations were who trod down the holy city, or the city of these Babylonian Nations. Th{illeg}, where also our Lord was crucified, & so is not a bare city but a Kingdom, a city with its whole dominion, Egypt where the Church was in bondage, The Roman Empire where our Lord was crucified & the Nations of the Babylonian Empire which trod down the holy city. For Rome is in this prophesy called Babylon, as you may see in the interpretation, where the seven hilled city, the great city, which in the Prophets time reigned over the Kings of the earth, is that woman called Babylon the great. And as here the Beast which ascendeth out of the bottomless pitt makes war in the streets of the great city, so there the great city Babylon & this Beast are conjoyned, that city being represented to reign over him in the form of a woman riding upon his back.
Now as old Babylon is alluded unto in this great city, so the analogy between them is very full. Old Babylon was the Lady of Kingdoms (Isa. 47.5) cloathed with scarlet & Gold & precious stones (Dan. 5.29, Esther 8.15 & 15.6, Iudeth 10.21, Ioseph. Antic. l. 10 c. 12 & l. 11. c. 6.) made the world a wilderness & destroyed the Cities thereof Isa. 14.17 was seated upon the many waters of Euphrates, & is thus further described in the old Prophets: O thou that dwellest upon many waters abundant in treasures Ier. 51.13. A drought is upon her waters, for it is the land of graven Images, & they are mad upon their Idols Ier. 50.38. Babylon hath been a cup in the Lords hand that made all the earth drunken, the Nations have drunken of her wine, therefore the Nations are mad Ier. 51.7. And her fall they describe thus, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, & all the graven Images of her Gods he hath broken unto the ground. Isa. 21.9. The wild Beasts of the desert with the wild Beasts of the Islands shall dwell there, & the owles shall dwell therein, & it shall be no more inhabited for ever. Ier. 50.39. Flee out of the midst of Babylon & deliver every Man his Soul. Be not cut off in her iniquity; for it is the time of the Lords vengeance, he will render unto her a recompence. My people go ye out of the midst of her, & deliver ye every Man his Soul from the fierce anger of the Lord Ier. 51.6, 45. For her judgment reacheth up to heaven & is lifted up even to the skies Ier. 51.9. Recompence her according to her work, according to her that {hath done do} unto her, for she hath been {proud against} the Lord Ier. 50.29. Thou art given to pleasures & dwelleth {carelessly & sayest} in thine heart, I am, & none {else} besides me. {I shall not sit a widow neither shal} I know the loss of Children. But these two things shall come to thee in a moment, in one day; the loss of Children & widdowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection, for the multitude of thy sorceries, & for the great abundance of thine enchantments. Isa. 47.9. Thou shalt bind a stone to this book & cast it into the midst of Euphrates, & thou shalt say, thus shall Babylon sink & shall not rise from the evil I will bring upon her. Ier. 51.63. In all these circumstances Babylon is alluded to in the description of the Whore. She reigns over the Kingdoms of the earth, is arrayed in scarlet & decked with Gold & precious stones, sits in a wilderness upon many waters, abounds in treasures, is a great Idolatress, makes the Nations drunken with her cup of wine, her sins reach up to heaven, & according to her deeds she is to be rewarded. She glorifies her sect & lives deliciously & saith in her heart I sit a Queen & am no widdow & shall see no sorrow. Her plagues come in one day: By her sorceries were all Nations deceived: at her fall Gods people are called out of her, & she is thrown down as a great stone into the water with a proclamation Babylon is fallen is fallen. And Babylon is thus alluded in the prophesy as the Whore both Babylon & the whore are in most of these things alluded to in describing that great city where the witnesses are slain. Apoc. 11. She has the Beast & peoples & kindreds & tongue & Nations within the dition & dominion of her streets. For there they kill & view the witnesses. She sits upon waters, the waters which the two witnesses turn into blood; which waters are those peoples, kindreds, tongues & Nations Apoc. 17. She is in a region where it rains not & which is therefore barren like a wilderness. Her fall like Babylons is proclaimed immediately before the Kingdomes of the world become the Kingdoms of Christ, in saying the tenth part of the city fell: & before her fall the witnesses call many people out of her so as to ascend up to heaven in a cloud of believers.
These great cities agree also in lasciviousness & uncleanness & in their ruin. For the great city here to {express} her land uncleanness to the hight & her perishing by fire is called Sodom. And so in the following Chapters the great city Babylon is called the great whore & mother of harlots with whom the Kings of the earth commit fornications & live deliciously, and who inebriates the Nations with her love cup of fornication, & is burnt with fire that is perishes by war. And in like manner old Babylon perished by war & was above all other cities addicted {to} whoredome & luxury for so Quintus Curtius[54] mentioning how the Army of Alexander the great was corrupted by her soft manners {saith}, Nothing is more corrupt then the manners of that city nor more apt to entice unto immoderate pleasures. Parents & husbands for money permit their Children & wives to lye with strangers. Feasting recreations are the singular delight of Kings & Nobles throughout all Persia: but chiefly the Babylonians are addicted to wine & those things which follow drunkenness. The habit of their weomen in feasts is at first modest, then they put of their upper garments & by degrees profane their modesty & at last throw way the undermost covering of their body, stripping themselves stark naked. Nor is this the infamy of harlots only but even of their Matrons & Virgins, who account it civility to make vile their prostituted bodies. And Strabo saith of them,[55] that it is the custome of all their Weomen to prostitute their bodies in the Temple of Venus to strangers for money; they sitting there & in the ways with cords about them till strangers passing by chuse whom they like, & then they reproach their fellows because not thought so worthy as themselves. Baruch 6.43.
Conceive therefore that the great city as it is distinguished from the Beast & represented by a great whore riding upon him alludes to the Weomen of Babylon reigning over the hearts of Princes by the influence of their whoredomes & love-cup wherewith they inebriate the people in feasting; & that the Beast with his ten horns or kingdomes alludes to the temporal Kingdome of Babylon compacted of many Nations or Kingdoms called Beasts of the field Ier. 27.6, 7 & 28.14 one Beast with many horns in the Apocalyps being put for those many Beasts; & that the worshipping of this Beast alludes to the divine worship which those Nations paid to the Kings of Babylon & Persia. For they worshipped their Kings with divine worship as Gods falling prostrate on their faces before them. Whence Arrianus (lib. 7 Exped. Alexand.) saith that Alexander the great would be worshipped as a God in compliance with the Persian custome. And Cleo Siculus (as Q. Curtius lib. 8 relates) in persuading the Greeks to imitate the Persians in worshipping Alexander the great as a God, useth this argument, that the Persians did not only piously but also prudently in worshipping their Kings amongst the Gods: because the majesty of Empire is the Princes safegard. And when the Emperour Domitian had arrogated to himself divine honours & was dead Martial in the 22th Epigramm of his 10th book banishes such worship of Kings from among the Romans to the Persians so Isocrates in his Panegyric inveighs against the Persians for worshipping a mortal man as a God, & thereby conceiving amiss of the God more then of Men. And Quintus Curtius (lib. 8. c. 6) saith of Darius, Rex curru paulo auta vectus & Deorum a suis honoribus cultus. And Æschylus saith that the Persians had their Kings in the place of Gods. And the Author of the story of Iudeth makes a decree that all nations should worship Nebuchodnosor only & call upon him as God Iudeth. 3.8. And when King Ahasuerus set Haman in his own seat & commanded he should be worshipped & Mordecai refused to do it; Iosephus (lib. 11. Antic. c. 6) saith that he refused to give Haman that worship that he gave to God. And Mordecai himself (in the Apocryphal book of Ester ch. 13) saith that he refused to worship Haman that he might not prefer the glory of Man before the glory of God, & because he would not worship any but God. And to the same purpose it is that Nebuchadnezzar when he would honour Daniel as a great man, fell on his face & worshipped him, & commanded that they should offer an oblation of sweet odours unto him. Daniel. 2.46. Conceive also that the Image of the Beast, whose worship was enjoyned upon pain of death, alludes to the great golden Image which Nebuchadnessar sett up in the province of Babylon for the peoples & nations & the languages upon pain of death Lastly conceive that the two horned Beast or fals Prophet (opposed to the two true Prophets & so contemporary to them) alludes to the Chaldeans or Babylonian Priests, who were generally educated in Astrology and Magick, the science whereof as divine they wrapt up in Tables of the Gods to magnifie it, & by these factitious ways of prophesying & southsaying sett up & promoted the heathen Idolatry of the starrs Elements & Men under the Names of Gods, & particularly the worship of Nebuchadnessars Image Dan. 3.8, besides the lewd & most unclean practices of the weomen in the Temple of Venus & other places. For they being the Priests of those Gods & getting a livelihood thereby, were induced out of interest to use all kinds of fals & cheating Arts & tricks to keep up and promote the heathen Idolatry.
In describing these allusions I take it for granted that the two ten horned Beasts in the Apocal. ch. 13 & 17 are the same. For they agree in their heads & horns. The one was wounded to death with a sword & revived, the other was & is not & shall ascend. The one rises out of the sea, the other out of the Abyss not out of the deep well which was locked up Apoc. 9 but out of an open Abyss, which may be taken for the sea. The one has on his head the Names of blasphemy, & the other is full of the Names of blasphemy. The one all the world wondred after & worshipped the other all whose Names are not written in the book of life wondred after. The one was in being at the end of the 1200 days Apoc. 11.3, 7, 8 outlived the Whore or great city Ch. 17.16 & soon after perished, the Kingdoms of this world becoming the Kingdoms of Christ, & those being destroyed who destroyed the earth Ch. 11.15, 18: the other reigned the 1260 days or 42 Months Ch. 13.5 & perished also soon after the fall of the great city Ch. 14.9, 10, 19 & 19.2, 20. They are therefore alike & universal & contemporary & perish together & so must be the same. All the difference is that in the 13th Chapter the Beast is described in in his first rise & reign before the woman got upon his back, & in the 17th Chapter he is described in the time of her reign over him. Lastly that they are the same is certain by this that the one together with the Kings of the Earth makes war against the King of Kings & Lord of Lords riding on the white horse, & against his army & perishes in the war Apoc. 19 & the other is that Beast who with his horns or Kings makes war with the same King of Kings & Lord of Lords, & with them that are with him, & is overcome in the war Apoc. 17.
By what has been said it is manifest that in the same parts of the Apocalyps several histories of the sanctuary are together alluded unto. How in the prophesies of the two witnesses & whore of Babylon the histories of all three sanctuaries are alluded unto has been already explained. So the prophesy of numbring & sealing the servants of God out of all the twelve tribes in respect of Ezekiels vision of marking those who sigh & mourn for the abominations done in the midst of Israel, alludes to the times of the Babylonian captivity & second Temple; in respect of the number of twelve tribes it alludes to the times of the first Temple or Tabernacles whom all the tribes were together; & in respect of the Scape Goat, representing the flight of the woman into the wilderness it alludes to the times of Tabernacle. So the prophesy of the two Beasts & the Image of the Beast in respect of the woman flying into the wilderness & being afterwards found there with the ten horned Beast, the history of Israel, Balac, Balaam, & the Idols of Baal Peor in the wilderness, in respect of the 144000 on Mount Sion & the twelve horns of the two Beasts together, & Iezabel reigning over the ten tribes it alludes to the Prophets & saints selected out of all the twelve tribes, & the division of those tribes into the Kingdoms or Churches of the ten tribes & two tribes & their worshipping Baal in the time of the first Temple; & in respect of the worship given to the Beast & his Image & the whore of Babylon riding upon him it respects the Babylonian Empire in the line of the captivity & second Temple. And so the prophesy of the seven Thunders in the Victors standing upon a Sea of Glass & singing the song of Moses alludes to Israel coming out of Egypt {illeg} the a[56] frozen sea & singing the song of Moses at the drowning of the Egyptians, & in the seven Angels coming out of the Temple, & the Temples being filled with smoke while they poured out their Vials it alludes both to the Dedication of Solomons Temple & to the {illeg}d remaining upon the Tabernacle from the time of its dedication all the while Israel was in the wilderness. Whence this sanctuary is called the Temple of the Tabernacle in allusion to both. The history of any one of the sanctuaries did not suffice to express all things, & therefore those of all three sanctuaries are alluded unto. And least the succession of the things signified should be inferred from the succession of the sanctuaries alluded unto, they are all three alluded unto together in the very same parts of the prophesy. And yet some respect is also had to the successive order of the sanctuaryes For in the interpretation of the prophesy of the seales & Trumpets, which I told you consisted of three contemporary parts, the first part conteining the woman & Dragon in heaven & the two Beasts respects most the times of the Tabernacle. The second part conteining the seven Vials respects most the history of the dedication of Solomons Temple, & the third conteining the whore of Babylons reign & fall respects most the times of the Babylonian captivity & second Temple, & is an interpretation of the Prophesy of the two witnesses wherein the building of the Second Temple & treading down of the holy city by the Babylonian Gentiles is plainly described.
Sect. VIII.
The two Churches true & fals together with the two Kingdomes whose Churches they are in
By what has been hitherto said, much light is given to the rise, number, & qualities of the Apocalyptic persons. These at first are only two, the Dragon & the woman in heaven cloathed with the sun, that is the Kingdome prophesied of from the beginning & the true Church diffused through that Kingdome. Afterwards by division of that Kingdome conjoyned with an Apostacy, they become six; two Kingdoms each with their proper Churches as well fals as true. These Kingdoms are the Dragon & ten horned Beast & their fals Churches , the two horned Beast & woman in the wilderness. For Churches are the Churches of Kingdoms, & according to the number & bounds of Kingdoms are numbred & bounded. [The Catholick Church is distributed into particular hierarchies according to the number of Kingdoms, provinces, & cities through which it is diffused, but the first & principal division is according to the number of Kingdoms. This Prophesy was given for the use of Christians & respects no other Kingdoms then such as have to {do} with the Church, & all such Kingdoms have their Churches, & therefore the collateral Kingdoms of the Dragon & Beast must have theirs.]
The division of the Kingdome & it's church
The division of the whole Kingdome signified by the great red Dragon into two collateral parts, called afterwards the Dragon & Beast, is described by the Beasts rising out of the sea & the Dragon's giving him his throne & power & great authority. For thence it appears that the Beast rejoyned in that seat or throne which was the Dragon's before, & consequently was a part of the Dragon's old Kingdome. Not the whore but a part, for the Dragon did not thereupon cease. He was from that time worshipped together with the Beast Apoc. 13.4, & at length when one frog came out of the Beasts mouth another came out of the Dragon's, & when the Beast is cast into the lake of fire the Dragon is cast into the bottomless pitt. They continued therefore both together till the end, & therefore both together till the end, & therefore were two collateral Kingdoms propagated from the Dragons old Kingdome by divisions. When the Dragon was dethroned by Michael, he came down to reign amongst the inhabitants of the Earth & sea. Out of this sea rose the Beast. The Earth remained to the Dragon. For which reason it is represented that at that moment of time when the Beast rose out of the sea, the Dragon stood upon the sand of the sea, that is upon the earth. The Beast is not said to leave the inhabitants of the sea & come upon the land to the Dragon for so he would leave his Kingdom which is all one with himself: but the Dragon stands upon the shore to give his marine dominion & throne to the Beast in the sea, & so both continue in their proper regions for the future. This is that earth & sa whose Mountains & Islands {in the sixt seale & seventh Vial are moved out of their places, & on which the Angel with the open book in his hand sets his feet, & which were smitten in the two first trumpets & vials.
So then the Dragon & Beast are one & the same Kingdom branched into two, & this is further intimated by their having common heads & horns. The Dragons heads & Beasts horns are crowned to signify that the Dragon reigns in all the heads & the Beast in all the horns. The Beast has the same heads without crowns to signify that the body of the Beast was conteined in the reigning Dragon from the beginning though not actually divided from him so as to reign distinctly before he rose out of the Sea. And the Dragon has the same horns without crowns to signify that those horns once belonged to his body but reigned not actually before the Beast became divided from him. And this is further confirmed by the Angels interpretation of the Beasts heads & horns. The heads, saith he, are seven Kings, five are fallen, & one is, & the other is not yet come, & when he cometh he must continue a short space, & the Beast that was & is not he is the eighth & is of the seven, & the ten horns are ten Kings which have received no Kingdome as yet, but receive power as Kings the same hour with the Beast, & give their Kingdome to him. The horns therefore reigned not till after the sixt head, & then began their reign about the same time with the Beast or eight King. To him they give their Kingdome, & therefore are crowned on his head. In the raign of the sixt head he was not, but rose afterwards out of the bottomless pit, and therefore the first six heads reigned before him & so were the Dragon's. The seventh is also the Dragon's, for the Character of his head is, that he should continue but a short space, & this relates to the devils or Dragon's coming down amongst the inhabitants of the earth & & sea with great wrath knowing that he hath but a short time. Apoc. 12.12. Whence you may understand that the reign of the seventh head lasts untill the Dragon be cast into the bottomless pitt & shut up. The Beast is the eighth, not the eighth head but the eighth king. He is of the seven & consequently a part of the seventh. Not a successive part, for so there would be eight heads. He is therefore a contemporary part of the seventh head, & so the seventh head is a cloven one, the Beast is reconing his heads being taken in a large sense for the whole Kingdom including the Dragon, but in respect of his rise out of the bottomless pit being taken strictly for but one of the two contemporary parts of the last head.
Now this division of the Kingdome was accompanied with the like division of the Church. For when the woman fled into the wilderness she left a remnant of her seed behind her. She then fled from the Dragon, & was nourished a time times & half a time from his face, & he mutually, after the exercise of his last anger against her, went away from her to make war with that remnant & therefore she left that remnant in his Kingdom, the only place where he could make war with them, & went away both from the Dragon & from that remnant into some other place where she might live free from his persecution. This place was the Beasts Kingdome. For she fled into the wilderness where we find the Beast afterwards; the sea out of which he rose, & the waters of the wilderness in which he reigned being one & the same people called in different Names in different respects. For as the Church of Israel by division of the Kingdom became two churches, & these were signified by two several weomen, Aholah & Aholibah E{zek.} 23, so the Christian Church by division of the dragons Kingdome becomes two Churches or Weomen; & therefore the woman which at first signified the undivided whole, is after the division fitly transferred to signify one of the parts. So then upon the division of the Kingdome with it's Church, as the name of the Dragon was transferred from signifying the whole undivided Kingdom to signify that part of it called the Earth, & the Name of the Beast is given to the other part represented by water, so the name of the woman is at the same time transferred from signifying the whole undivided Church to signify that other part of it in the waters & the rest of the Church remaining in the Earth is called the remnant of her seed. And by means of this pasting of the woman & Dragon from one another she is said upon his persecuting her to flee (from him) into the wilderness, & there to be nourished from his face, & he is said to go (from her) to make war with the remnant of her seed. All which will be better understood by considering the prophetical history of the division.
The prophetical history of the division.
When the Dragon saw he was cast down, that is presently after the opening of the sixt seal, & consequently upon his first coming down amongst the inhabitants of the earth & sea, he persecuted the woman and to her were given two wings of a great Eagle that she might fly into the wilderness. By the Eagle understand the Kingdom of the Dragon. For Beasts & ravenous Birds signify Kingdoms, & an Eagle, as it was the Ensign of the Roman Empire, so in 2 Esdras 12 it is used as a type of that Empire, & may have the like signification, the Apocalyps by the consent of all Interpreters, respecting that Empire. Wings, as in Daniels vision of the Leopard, signify the contemporary parts of a divided Kingdome, such as for instance were the Eastern & western parts of the Roman Empire The two wings in being given to the woman signify that she participates the division of the Kingdome, & by means thereof at length arrives into the wilderness. But first the Dragon casts out of his mouth waters as a flood after her, that is he becomes divided into two Kingdoms, the flood & himself. For a flow or river is the type of a Kingdome & swallowing up & casting or spewing out are types of conquering & setting at liberty again. So the King of Babylon upon captivating Iudah is said to swallow her up like a Dragon Ier. 51.34. Lam. 2.16, Ezek. 36.3 & upon the return of the captivity God brings forth out of his mouth that which he had swallowed up Isa 51.44. So also swallowing the nations is put for conquering them. Isa 25.7 & 42.13, 14. And so: & so the Church of Laodicea after she is spewed out of Christs mouth belongs no longer to his mystical body, but becomes an erroneous Schismatical Church, & in like manner the waters when spewed out of the Dragons belly become another Kingdom. These waters being cast out towards the wilderness after the woman to cause her to be carried away by them, as by a river, seen to have much the same relation to the woman here as the many waters in the wilderness have to the Babylonian Whore filling upon them, & consequently to signify the Beast in his first rise before he was wounded to death by a the Beast in his first rise before he was wounded to death by a sword. For the waters on which the whore sitteth signify the Kingdome of her beast. As the Dragon reigning amongst the inhabitants of the earth & sea signifies their Kingdoms, the waters in his belly are the most proper type of the inhabitants of the watery Elements, & therefore when cast out of his mouth will signify the Kingdome of the waters, and the Dragon Emptied of the waters will signify the Kingdome of the earth alone.
The waters being thus cast out of the Dragon's mouth, this earth opened her mouth & by conquest swallowed up the floor, & so the Kingdom & Church became one again. Then was the Dragon wrath with the woman, that is the whole undivided Kingdome persecuted among the whole undivided Church. For all prophesy is of eternal visible actions, & therefore this anger denotes not a bare internal act of the mind but an external visible persecution, so that the woman was not yet fully escaped from him into the wilderness. But now upon a new division of the Kingdom & Church she escaping thither & leaving behind her a remnant of her seed, he mutually went from her to persecute that remnant, & left this region of the sea to the Beast rising out of it.
And hence we may understand how the Beast was wounded to death with a sword & revived. When he rose out of the sea then he lived again, & therefore the time of his death was in the sixt head. Whence it is said in the time of that head that he was & is not & shall ascend out of the Angels. He was before the earth, swallowed up the flood, & then he ceased to be till his rise out of the sea, & so the wound was made in the middle of the sixt head by the victorious Earth, she wounding & conquering him with a sword, and thereby subjecting his Kingdom & uniting it to hers which is called her swallowing up the waters. For the wound is not said to be made by chopping off either side of the head but to be made in it, that is not in the beginning or end of the raign of any head but in the middle time of the raign. We shewed above how the earth's opening the abyss of her mouth & swallowing up the flood alluded to the opened pit or alveus of the frozen red Sea into which the Egyptians were swallowed up: whence it is to be conceived that the sea or Abyss out of which the Beast arose was that same mouth or abyss of the earth
into which he sank before in the form of a flood; the descent expressing his descending into Hades at his death & the ascent his resurrection from the dead. This Abyss out of which he arose could not be that well out of which the Locusts arose, for that was locked up when the Beast ascended, & there is no other pitt or Abyss in all the Apocalyps out of which the should arise, except that mouth which the earth opened.
From the division of the Kingdome & Church we may learn also why the prophesy of the seventh seal or head is so often repeated. The prophesy of the seals & Trumpets descends by one single continual series of things to the end of that sixt seale, & then that of the seventh is split into collateral narratives, the affairs of the Church being described first in the sealed Israelites & palm bearing multitude, & then again in the measured Temple & two witnesses, & the affairs of the Kingdome in the seven Trumpets & those repeated in the seven Thunders. The description of both Church & State is doubled to shew that the Kingdom & the Church are both divided during all the times of this head or seal & division began together. And so in the Repetition the Prophesy of the woman & Beasts is split into two by the interposition of the seven Vials, they being described both before in the 13th & 14th Chapters & after in the 17th 18th & 19th.
Of the two fals churches signified by the two-horned Beast & Woman which fled into the Wilderness & that this Woman became the Whore of Babylon
So then at the opening of the seventh seal the Beast rose out of the sea, & the Kingdom became divided between him & the Dragon, & the woman fled into the wilderness from the face of the Dragon, & left in his Kingdom a remnant of her seed. This remnant keep the commandments of God, & therefore are the true Church of his Kingdom. At the same time or soon after, the two horned Beast rose out of the earth, that is out of the inhabitants of the earth or people of the Dragons kingdom, & therefore this Beast is the fals Church of that Kingdome. For in having two horns like the Lamb (that is like the seven Churches of Asia which are the horns & mystical body of the Lamb) & in being called a fals Prophet, & thereby opposed to one or both the two witnesses, which are true Prophets & signify Churches, he must be of an Ecclesiastical kind. Whence some understand his imitating Elias in bringing down fire from heaven to be meant of excommunication & that partly because in the pronouncing thereof the Bishop swings a lighted torch from above his head downwards, & partly because fire signifies war, & for one Church to excommunicate another is to proclaim an Ecclesiastical war between them. Now the whore, seeing she rides upon the Beast, is plainly his fals Church reigning over him, & therefore the fals Prophet must be the Church of the Dragon. For this Prophet survives the whore Apoc. 19.2, 20, & is therefore different from her. He acts before the face of the first Beast, Apoc 13, 12, that is in a neighbouring Kingdom, & there is no other Kingdom described in the Apocalyps besides the Dragon's. There is a Synagogue of Satan Apoc. 2.9 & 3.9, that is an idolatrous Church of the Dragon, & there is no other idolatrous Church described among the Apocalyptic persons which can be his besides the fals Prophet. These two therefore are belated to one another as a Kingdome & it's Church. And this is further intimated by saying that the two horned Beast spake as the Dragon. The ten horned Beast rose out of the sea, the two-horned out of the earth, & therefore they belong to the different regions of the earth and sea, & the earth is the Dragon's territory as the sea is the Beasts. So then there are two Churches of the Dragons kingdom, a true one called the remnant of the woman's seed, & a fals one called the two horned Beasts or fals Prophet, & in like manner there are two Churches of the Beasts Kingdome, a true one called the saints, whom the Beast makes war upon & overcomes Apoc. 13.7, & a fals one called the whore of Babylon. These are the six persons I told you of. For the better understanding of which it remains now that I shew that the whore is that same woman who before appeared in heaven & fled into the wilderness.
The flying of the woman into the wilderness from the face of the serpent must consist in one or more of these four things, either that the people of the woman became few in number so as to escape the Dragons persecution by flying hid among his people as among trees in a wilderness, or that she fled by local motion out of the Dragons Kingdome into some foreign place called the wildernes, or that her name without local motion of the people was translated from signifying the whole Church in the whole kingdom before division to signifie afterwards that part only which was in the Beasts kingdom, or that she escaped the persecution by changing her religion & fled into a state of spirituall barrenness.
The first of these four ways it cannot be. For whilst the woman in flying left a remnant of her seed, it is to be conceived that the name of the woman or Church went along with the greater part, or at the least that the woman was not less then the rem{nant} that the remnant were not so few but that the Dragon after the woman was fled from his into the wilderness could see them, & so to make war upon them, Apoc. 12.17. Nor does the Dragon only make war upon this remnant, but the Beast also makes war upon the saints in his kingdom, whilst the woman rests in her place in the wilderness & is fed & nourished there, that is grows rich & wealthy. Also the people of the two witnesses prophesy to the Nations during the 1260 days of the womans staying in the wilderness, & by their prophesying torment them, that dwell upon the earth, & are so visible that the Beast makes war upon them, & they of the peoples & kindreds & tongues & Nations see their dead bodies & rejoyce at their death.
The second of four ways it cannot be. For the wilderness is the region of the Beast Apoc. 17, & consequently was the Dragons territory before Apoc. 13.2. For the people of the wildernesses they are divided into many kingdoms, are signifyed by the many waters or streams of Euphrates upon which Babylon the great whore {sitteth} Apoc. 1.15 & as they are collected into one body of many kingdoms subjecting themselves to the whores dominion are represented by the Beast with ten horns upon which the Whore sitteth. The whore sitting on the waters & on the Beast signifies her reigning over the people signified by the waters & by the Beast. The waters signify in general the peoples or kingdoms of the wilderness subject to the whore, & the Beast with his ten horns signifies that there are ten kingdoms in the wilderness subject to the whore & no more. Seing then the territory of the Beast is the wilderness, & the dragon gave the Beast his power & seat Apoc 13.2, its plain that the wilderness is that territory which the Dragon gave the Beast, & by consequence possest himself before when he began first to persecute the woman. Nor can it be said that the woman fled from the Dragon into the territory of the Beast to escape persecution seing the Beast was as great an enemy to the saints as the Dragon, making war with them & overcoming them during the 42 months or 1260 days that the woman rested in her place in the wilderness free from persecution.
There remain therefore only the third & fourth ways of flying. And the third way I have explained & admitted above, but the fourth way is that which I here contend for. It may seem indeed a blessing that God prepared the woman a place in the wilderness, & that she should be fed there 1260 days & that two things were given her to fly thither from the persecution & so it might be a temporal blessing ordained of God, & yet her flight thither might be an evil action. For God hardened Pharaoh's heart & put into the heart of the ten Kings to agree & give their kingdom to the Beast, & yet that agreement was a bad action. Also God raised up a[57] Baasha & b[58] Zimri, & by a Prophet annointed c[59] Iehu to slay & succeed their Kings, & yet David thô annointed as much as Iehu, thought it unlawfull to slay the Lords annointed what ever is done be it good or evil is done by the counsel of God, for which reason we pray dayly that God would not lead us into temptation & therefore whether it be good or evil is not determined by God's determining it, but must be learned from the circumstances of the thing. Now that the woman by flying into the wilderness did evil so as to change her religion, & degenerate into the whore of Babylon, I gather from the following arguments.
First because the woman fled from heaven where she appeared in the beginning. For heaven, when it respects the Church, is the symbol of holiness & truth. And secondly because the place into which she fled is spiritually called a wilderness. For this is as much as to say a region spiritually barren or which brings forth no fruits of the spirit. Translation from place to place in the world natural signifies translation from state to state in the world politique as we explained above & therefore the flight of the woman from heaven into the wilderness denotes her passing from a state of holiness & truth into a state of spiritual barrenness. ,
A third reason is because the persecution of the woman by the Dragon is represented to be the cause of her flight from him into the wilderness. For a persecution can make her fly but in these three respects, either in becoming thin & few in number, or in shifting her country, or els in changing her religion to escape him, & thereby becoming spiritually barren. The two first ways we have already confuted, & therefore it might be the third.
Another reason is because the woman began to fly into the wilderness upon the Devils coming down amongst the inhabitants of the earth & sea. These inhabitants could not be heathens, because the Devil was among them before. they must be such as he was not amongst before that is Christians: & consequently the people of the woman. Upon the Devils coming down he persecutes the woman, & to usher in this persecution a wo is at the same time denounced to those inhabitants. Wo to the inhabitants of the earth & sea, for the Devil is come down amongst you, having great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a short time. And therefore these inhabitants are most certainly the people of the woman whom he persecutes upon his coming down, & yet are they not all the people of the woman. For at the same time that the wo is denounced to these inhabitants the heavens & they that dwell therein are bid to rejoyce, & that because they had overcome the Dragon by the blood of the Lamb, & by the word of their testimony, & saved not their lives unto death. The inhabitants of the heavens were therefore Christians as well as the inhabitants of the earth & sea: & therefore the woman was composed of them all; they being one Church outwardly & visibly, but inwardly distinguished into the inhabitants of the heavens, & the inhabitants of the earth & sea, that is into true saints & mere external professors of Christianity. Whence a wo is denounced only to the last. For in persecution the wo is not to the faithfull who endure it, but to outward professors who fall away from the faith to avoid it. 'Tis not agreeable to the honour of the scriptures to denounce a wo to martyrs & those who persevere in suffering for the truth. We are exhorted again & again to rejoyce at such sufferings for the truth. We are exhorted again & again to rejoyce at such sufferings as in the greatest happiness Matt. 5.10, 11, 12. Iames 1.3. 1 Pet. 4.12, 13. The wo is to hypocrites who in time of tryal fall away, & therefore implys the inhabitants of the earth & sea to be such. So then the woman in respect of the saints is here represented in heaven, in respect of the hypocrites or her communion is below on Earth where the Dragon persecutes her & consists of the inhabitants of the earth & sea, & upon persecution flees into the wilderness. And therefore her translation from heaven to the wilderness on Earth denotes her becoming hypocritical and apostate. Now the devils coming down amongst the inhabitants below with great wrath denotes the coming in of Idolatry and then after when the Dragon is called the Devil 'tis to express the {difference} he is cast out of heaven by his feet {illeg} down amongst the inhabitants below & {put upon respect} of Idolatry, as appears by the description of his coming out: The great Dragon was cast out that old serpent called the Devil & Satan which deceiveth the whole world. A wo therefore is denounced to the inhabitants of the earth & sea, because the Devil or Idolatry is by persecuting the woman from the in amongst them. And seing those inhabitants are the hypocritical part of the Church & the wo belongs to them all, they all become idolatrous, that is the woman so far as she is below on earth & flees into the wilderness, becomes a Whore such as is the Whore of Babylon.
Another reason is because there is this distinction put between the woman & her seed that they keep the Commandments of God, & have the testimony of Iesus: which is as much as to say that she in her flight forsakes those commandments & has not that testimony. Understand this of the outward profession & form of religion, the people of the Sea or Beasts Kingdom being most propense to the Apostacy, & upon division of the Kingdom falling {over them} in outward profession, & those of the Earth which helped the woman justly persevering in the true outward profession untill the Dragon make {war upon} them, & partly falling away with the whore & by {Dragon coming the} wo {arises} {illeg} who rises out of the earth at or soon after the division of the Kingdom.
A sixt reason is that the Woman was fed & nourished in the wilderness all the 1260 days from the face of the serpent. {illeg} and food signify riches, & therefore {to} be fed is to be {supplied} with riches & wealth. It alludes (as I told you) to Israel's being fed in the wilderness with Manna & Quailes, & their falling away through fullness of bread. The Lord's portion, saith Moses is his people. He found him in a desert land & in the wast howling wilderness. He made him to ride on the high places of the earth that he might eat the encrease of the fields, & he made him to suck honey out of the rock & oyle out of the flinty rock. Butter of kine & milk of sheep with fat of Lambs & Lambs of the breed of Bashan & Goats with the fat of kidnies of wheat & thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape. But Iesurun waxed fat & kicked, thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick with fatness: then he forsook God which made him & lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. They provoked him to jealousy with strange Gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. They sacrificed to Devils not to God, to Gods whom they knew not, to new Gods that came newly up whom your fathers feared not. Deut 32. Now to this feeding of the wilderness & her concomitant Apostacy to the worship of Baal Peor does the Apocalyps (as I told you) allude. For as in the 12th Chapter the Prophet tells you how the woman fled into the wilderness the they should feed her there; so in the 17th & 18th Chapters he goes after her into the wilderness to shew you how the Merchants the earth feed her there of with all kinds of fruits the her soul lusted after, & with all things the were dainty & goodly Apoc. 18.14, & enrich her with all things the were precious vers 12, 13, & how she lives deliciously with the Kings of the Earth, & through luxury commits fornication vers 7, 9. The description of the affluence & feeding of the great whore in the wilderness is nothing else then a commentary on the feeding of the Woman which in the 12th chapter fled thither. This Woman, seing she fled from the face of the serpent into the wilderness where the whore is, & the Kingdom {illeg} fals {one}. But the true Church are of the Saints whom the {Beast} makes war upon & overcomes {Apoc.} 13.5, 7. & by the power given him over all nations oppresses all the time of his reign Whilst these are afflicted & opprest she is fed from the face of the persecuting serpent, the is grows rich & continues free from persecution & therefore is a fals Church, a corrupt Woman or Whore in the wilderness.
Another reason is the the Whore in the wilderness denotes the Church in a state of Idolatry, & this Church before it grew idolatrous must have been the pure & true Church of God, & consequently the same woman with the in the 12th chapter. For the Church under the Law did not use to be signifyed by one woman when pure, & by another when corrupt, but by one & the same Woman from first to last, the wife of God sometimes chast, but very frequently playing the Whore, as you may see in Ier. 3. Ezek. 23. Hosea 2 & 3. And so under the Gospel the Church from the beginning to the end is one & the same woman first chast, & afterwards forsaking her husband, & playing the Whore with other lovers the Kings of the earth. In the Church under the Law a woman is made the type of the multitude thereof. Whither pure or impure, & when the multitude degenerates the rest cease to be signifyed by the woman, & are called either Prophets or servants of God, or by some such other Name, & so in the Church under the Gospel, the type of the Woman goes along with the multitude, & when the multitude fall away the rest are signified by the Names of {Provosts, {illeg} servants} of God, Witnesses, Martyrs & the like. {Since} therefore the Inhabitants of Earth & Sea to whom the Devil came down were Christians, & by the coming down of the Devil degenerated into Idolatry as has been explained, & the woe is denounced not to some few, but to the inhabitants in general, & consequently the generality of Christians signifyed by the first Woman did at her flight into the wilderness fall into Idolatry, & therefore was a Whore in the wilderness, & seing also the Whore is such a Whore, & before she became a Whore was a true Church, & consequently such a woman as the in heaven, & seing there are not two true Weomen nor two Whores described in the Apocalyps, it remains the they be the same. The woman was fed in the wilderness 1260 days Apoc. 12.6, & all this while the Whores Beast reigned Ch. 13.5, & therefore if the Whore was different from the Woman, they would have been both together all the time in the wilderness, whereas the Prophet saw but one woman there & describes her to the universal Church of the wilderness {sitting} upon the Beast & when the when the many waters there & reining over {the King of the Earth {illeg} & signify} the faithfull from her by no other {illeg} then the of Saints & martyrs or Witnesses of Iesus.
An eighth reason is because this prophesy of the Woman & Dragon being a commentary upon the prophesy of the Seales, the woman signifies the Church Catholick in the prophesy, & consequently is the same Church with the twelve tribes out of which a few are numbred & sealed. Now the Church by the sealing is divided into two sorts of people, the few sealed out of all the tribes, & the tribes themselves out of which those few are selected & sealed. Those tribes are the Church signified by the Woman as wel after the selecting & sealing a few out of them as before: the case being exactly the same as in the Church of Israel divided into the servants of God which were but few in number & into the erring multitude represented in the old Prophets by a Woman going a whoring. I told you the this sealing answers to the loss of the two Goats in the Fast. These sealed are the Lords lot to be sacrificed, & the unsealed are the scape Goat which bears away the sins of the people into the wilderness; & to these two answer the Woman flying into the wilderness, & the remnant of her seed left behind her to be sacrificed in the war which the Dragon at her flight goes to make war upon.
And lastly as the Beast on which the whore sitteth is no new Beast, but was described before in the 13th Chapter, so by analogy the Whore is no new Woman out the same with her described before in the 12th & 13th Chapters, & finisheth it in the 17th & 18th. There he tells the beginning of both & the end of neither: here he begins with the beginning of neither but goes on to tell the end of both. There he carries on the Womans history unto her flight into the wilderness & so leaves it: here he goes after her into the wilderness to see her there, & tells us her behaviour in the place & how she should at length be destroyed by the ten Kings. There he tells us how the Beast rose out of the sea, & began to act, here he goes on to tell us how after the ruin of the Whore, the Beast perished in the war with the Lamb. And so in both places together we have a compleate description of both.
It may indeed seem strange the so glorious a Woman should degenerate into so vile a Whore, but this strangness is no argument against the truth. For the Prophet himself wondred at it with great admiration. He wondred not at her rich apparell. Such sights are common enough in the world. The monstrous shape of the seven headed & ten horned Beast was a much stranger sight, & yet he expressed no wonder at that. 'Twas at the Woman's drunkenness with the blood of the Saints that he wondred. I saw, saith he, the Woman drunken with the blood of the Martyrs of Iesus, & when I saw I wondred with great admiration. That the Church should be persecuted was no wonder, but that this woman should do it; that this Woman, whom he had seen before gloriously in heaven suffering persecution under others, should herself turn such a bloody persecutrix of the Saints, this was sufficient to make him wonder (as he expresses) with great admiration. And if it seemed so wonderful to him, there is more reason we should think it true because wonderfull, then too wonderful to be true.
So then the Whore of Babylon being that woman which fled into the wilderness, there are but four wicked persons in the Apocalyps, the Dragon & ten horned Beast & their erring Churches the two horned Beast or fals Prophet & the Whore. For the fals Prophet is plainly the two horned Beast. For this Beast spake as the Dragon & a speaking Ecclesiastical body is a Prophet. By speaking he caused the Earth to worship the first Beast, & therefore was a fals Prophet. {After} we did miracles in the sight of the first Beast, & by those miracles deceived them that dwell on the Earth & caused them to make an Image to that Beast & worship it & to receive his mark, & therefore he is that same fals Prophet with that spoken of afterward who together with the Dragon & ten horned Beast sent out froggs out of their mouths to gather men to the battel of the great day & in that battel was taken & together with the ten horned Beast cast into the the lake of fire. For this fals Prophet is not only conjoyned with the ten horned Beast as the two horned beast was before but is also expressly called the fals Prophet who wrought miracles before this beast with which he deceived them that had the mark of the Beast & then that worshipped his Image, which is all one as to call him the two horned Beast. In the 13th Chapter is described the rise of the ten horned Beast & two horned Beast or fals Prophet but not their ruin, & here in the 19 Chapter is described their ruin but not their rise. In either prophesy apart their description is incomplete, & to complete it they must both be conjoyned. In the 12th 13th Chapters where the original of the Apostacy is described, there is described the rise of four wicked persons & no more; the Dragon, the Woman riding in the wilderness, the ten horned Beast & two horned Beast & their history is here left incomplete in the 18th, 19th, & 20th Chapters where the fall of the Apostacy is decimated there is told the ruin of these four persons & no more; the whore of Babylon is burnt with fire, & her desolation & fall proclaimed, the Beast & fals Prophet is cast into the lake of fire & the Dragon into the bottomless pitt. What became of the four persons is not said in the 12th & 13th Chapters, & therefore we are to look for that afterwards in the 18th, 19th & 20th Chapters where the end of the Apostacy is described, & whence those four per; therefore we are to look for that before in the 12th & 13th Chapters where the beginning of these times is described.
Of the two true Churches signified by the two Witnesses
Now besides these four persons there are the remnant of the woman's seed whom the Dragon makes war upon in his kingdom, & the saints whom the Beast (taken in a strict sense). makes war upon in his kingdom & overcomes, & these as I said are the two true Churches of those Kingdoms. These two are in all things opposed to the two fals Churches, & therefore the fals Churches being called the fals Prophet & the Prophetess Iezebel, in opposition to them the true ones are called the two Prophets that is the true ones. And as the old Prophets in teaching are said to signify or witness against Iudah & Israel (2 King. 17.13, 15. 2 Chron. 24.19. Nehem. 9.26, 30 Isa 43.10, 12) So these two Prophets are also called witnesses. The remnant of the woman's seed in being said to have the Testimony of Iesus have the Character of one witnesses & the saints whom the Beast makes war upon & overcomes in being called the martyrs of Iesus with whose blood the whore is drunken have the Character of another witness. For the whore shew those martyrs by the temporal sword of the Beast she rides upon. These are therefore the two witnesses with prophesy in sackcloth. For those two Witnesses are synchronal to the two fals Churches & are placed the one in the Earth & the other in the sea as the fals Churches are. For they prophesy all the 1260 days that is all the time that the woman is fed in the wilderness, & that the Beast reigns; & they answer to the two Eagle's wings of the woman spread into the earth & sea, as was explained, & are the mystical body of the Angel who sets his right food upon the sea, & his left foot upon the earth, & lye dead in the streets of the great City which is spiritually called Sodom & Egypt that is the Whore & the Dragon or the sea & the earth. These two witnesses therefore are the Saints whom the Dragon & Beast make war upon. For true Churches coincident in time & place are necessarily the prophesy of the book sweet in the Prophets mouth the state of the true Church is more fully & distinctly described then that of the fals ones. In that of the {same} book bitter in his belly the fals Churches & erring kingdoms are described at large, & the state of the true Church only glanced at; but both being prophesies of the same book, & the first an introduction to the last, the Churches of the same times regions and kingdoms are prophesied of in them both.
Some interpret the words ὅταν τελεσωσι not when they shall finish their prophesy, but when they shall perform it, & so make them ly dead all the time of their prophesying in sackcloth. The interpretation is hard & yet may deserve some consideration. For The persons spoken of in the Apocalyps being not single personsbut bodies of men, killing every where in this prophesy taken not in a litteral sense for killing of single persons, but in a mystical one for dissolving those bodies: & so killing these two Churches is dissolving their Ecclesiastical government, & dispersing their people. When they were thus mystically dead they were in the same state with the old Prophets in Israel in the worship of the two calves, and therefore in allusion to the Prophets & holy men of those times they are here fitly represented by men prophesying. And to express this the better, they are said to be in the funeral habit of sackcloth (black as hair Apoc. 6.12) all the time they prophesy, & to be not put in graves, but seen of them that dwell on the earth all the time they are dead. During the 42 months that the nations trod under foot the holy city, they worshipped in the outward Court, that is, had the outward face & form of a Church, & the saints who were expelled the outward Court & all that time worshipped only in the outward Temple were in a state of dissolution & death as to Ecclesiastical government & polity. And after they were once thus killed they were not so capable of being mystically killed again while their prophesy in sackcloth casted. The witnesses might be better able to torment the nations before they put on sackcloth then at any time afterward, & the Nations more likely to rejoice at the first mystical killing of the witnesses, & to continue rejoicing all the time they were in sackcloth then to begin to rejoice at any time afterwards. So long as the Kings of the earth lived deliciously with the whore & the Nations drank of the wine of her fornication, so long they rejoiced & made merry at the death of the witnesses. Their being witnesses in sackcloth & martyrs unburied may be signified by one & the same word μαρτυρες & so may be taken for one & the same thing.
And thô in allusion to Christ crucified in the streets of the great city they are said to prophesy 1260 days or three years & am half, & lye dead only three days & an half, yet may these days be really equall to the years. For Christ calls his life time his day (Ioh. 5.56) & Iob the life time of the wicked his day Iob 15.20, & Ieremy interprets the day of the visitation of Babylon to the time thereof, Ier.50.27, 31 & in the Psalms the day of temptation in the wilderness is interpreted to be forty years Psal. 95.8, 9, 10, & Ezekiel calls the time of Iuda's prosperity the day of their pride Ezek. 16.56, & the time of Iuda's captivity & distress is called the day thereof Obad. 11.12, 13, 14. Lament. 1.12, & latter times are frequently called the latter days, & the time of judgment the day of judgment & so I take the six days in the creation of the world to be put {mystically} for six long times whether those times be six thousand years as the Tyrrhenian historian in Suidas (in voce Τυ᾽ρρ῾ηνια) affirms, or of other lengths. For the history of the creation is not in all things litteral. In that Paradise the flaming sword & the trees of life & knowledge may be as much figurative descriptions of something we now understand not, as the tree of life is in the Paradise to come: & in a parabolical description of the creation a day may be used figuratively as well as other things are. How three natural days & an half are too short a time for those of the peoples & kindreds & tongues & Nations to see the dead bodies of the witnesses in the streets of the great city, & for those that dwell in the earth to rejoice over them & make merry & send gifts to one another. These things require a longer time, & therefore three days & an half are here put for three times for three years & an half & consequently according to the language of Daniel & Iohn for three years & an half, for Daniel uses seven times for seven years (Dan. 4) & Iohn interprets a time times & an half to be 1260 days Apoc 12.6, 14, that is three years and an half or so many days as the witnesses prophesy. And this [is still confirmed by the frequent use of a day for a yeare, as in Amos 4.4 where three days are in the Hebrew put for three years, in Isa. 61.2 & 63.4 where a day & a yeare are used one for another, in Num. 14.34. where 40 days are made a type of 40 years, in Ezek 4.5, 6 where 40 days & 390 days are used as types of so many years, in Ionah 3.4 where some conceive the prophesy of 40 days to have been fulfilled at the end {of} 40 years, in Apoc 2.20 where a tribulation of ten days is put for a persecution of ten years, a persecution of ten days (if there were any so short) being too inconsiderable to be mentioned in this Prophesy. So also Suidas Grammaticus tells us that the Egyptians on the contrary called a day a yeare. And that the three days & an half are so many times or years] may be gathered also from the analogy between the prophesy of the two witnesses & that of the woman fed in the wilderness. For these, as true & fals Churches, are related by way of opposition. The time of the womans being fed in the wilderness is twice described. First they feed her there 1260 days, & then she is nourished there a time times & an half. And so the time of the witnesses being in afflictions is twice described. First they prophesy in sackcloth (the emblem of mourning & death) 1260 days then they lye mystically dead above ground in the sight of men three days & an half. To the three times & an half in that prophesy of the woman the three days & an half do answer in this of the witnesses. // Now the killing of these witnesses by the Beast in the beginning of their prophesying {is} described in the 13th {Chapter} of the Apocalyps. For the Beast in respect of his heads as sometimes taken in a large, for the whole dominion of both Dragon & Beast. Stricktly he is the kingdom of the sea, but by the instance of the two-corned Beast his worship is propagated into the earth & whore he kills both the Witnesses he is taken in a large sense for himself & his worshippers together. When the two Beasts were newly risen the one out of the sea, the other out of the earth, the latter made all the {Authority} of the first Beast before him, that is not his civil & regal power in the sea, for the Dragon gave him that power {illeg} his authority in matters of Religion in the earth where the two horned Beast (a body Ecclesiastical) acted. This Beast made the authority of the other not within him but before him or in the adjacent region of the earth which lay as it were before his eyes. For he causeth the earth & them that dwell therein (the inhabitants of that earth out of which he rose & where he acted) to worship the first Beast whose deadly wound was healed (that is to adore his authority in point of Religion to receive & worship his Gods & to commit spiritual fornication with him) And he doth great Miracles, so that he maketh the fire (of excommunication & religious war) come down from heaven (of the regal throne) on that earth in the sight of Men. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he hath power to do (not within but) in the sight of the Beast, saying to them that dwell on that earth that they should (assemble & by assembling) make an Image to the Beast which had the mortall wound by a sword & revived And he had power to give breath unto the image of the Beast that the image of the Beast should both speak (as one of the heathen Oracles) and (by it's decree as by a sentence of divine authority) cause that as many as would not (by obeying that decree commit idolatry &) worship the image of the Beast should be killed (that is by the temporal sword of his worshippers in that earth) And he causeth all (in that earth) both small & great, rich & poor, free & bond to receive a mark or sign in their right hand or in their foreheads & that (through Excommunication no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark or name of the Beast, (that mark which the people in the Beast's kingdom had received before or that name of blasphemy which was written upon the heads of the Beast, that is the name of his fals Gods opposed to the Name of God & Christ written on the foreheads of the 144000 Saints on mount Sion) or the number of his name Χξστ, 666.
This is the religion & worship of the Beast & Image propagated by the fals Prophet into that earth out of which he arose & the true Church in that earth overthrown thereby. For those who were killed for not worshipping the Image of the Beast were the true Church of the Earth, because all the rest worshipped it, & since all were killed who would not worship that Image, their killing cannot be litteral least the true Church case, but must be understood mystically of dissolving the bodies Ecclesiastical of all their particular Churches by abrogating their government & outward form in every City & Town. For the time of their killing they were interdicted buying & selling, & appeared on Mount Sion with the Lamb, & therefore were killed only mystically. Now all this was done before the sounding of the first Trumpet. For the plague of the first vial fell upon the Men who had received the Mark of the Beast & worshipped his Image, & is the same with that of the first Trumpet. When the servants of God were sealed in their foreheads, then did the worshippers of the Beast receive his mark by way of opposition, & this was (as we shewed) between the opening of the Seventh Seale & sounding of the first Trumpet. Whence you may understand that those who are killed for not worshipping the Image are the remnant of the woman's seed whom the Dragon at the opening of the Seventh Seale went to make war upon, & that their killing is performed in that war, the two horned Beast propagating the worship of the other Beasts & his Image into the earth which is the Kingdom of the Dragon, & by excommunication causing the fire of that war to come down from the throne in the sight of Men. Whence also you may understand that those who are killed in this war are the Martyr Antypas. For Antipas was slain there where Satan dwelleth, that is in the Dragon's kingdom & (as the signification of the word implies) is one Martyr for all or a single person put for all that were killed. All the Apocalyptic persons have their mystical bodies, & so Antipas has his, & therefore he is the true Church of the Dragon's kingdom mystically slain in the war of the Dragon. For his being conjoyned with the Church of Pergamus & with Salam, Balac & Balaam, that is with the woman, Dragon, Beast & fals Prophet, shews that he has relation to the history of those four described in the 12th & 13th Chapter of the Apocalyps. Thus have you the Martyrdome of one of the Witnesses distinctly described, & the Martyrdome of them both seems to be comprehended in these general words that it was given to the Beast to make war with the saints & to overcome them, & power was given him over all kindred & tongues & Nations & all that dwell upon the Earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life. If any man hath an Ear let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall goe into captivity. He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience & the ,faith of the Saints. By the extent of his power over all Nations in this war so a to cause all that dwell upon the earth to worship him, the war is extended to the earth as well as to the sea & so takes in the Martyrdome of both witnesses, the Beast in the description of this war being taken in a general sense so as to comprehend the Beast & his worshippers or the whole dominion of both Beast & Dragon together; the people of the Dragon being the worshippers of the Beast, & in that respect referred to this mystical body. And in their general sense the words here it was given to the Beast to make war with the saints & to overcome them & he {that} killeth with the sword must be [in the end] killed with the sword {answers to the words} in the 11th Chapter that when the Witnesses shall perform their prophesy the Beast which ascendeth out of the Abyss, shall make war against them & shall overcome them & kill them. So then the witnesses are mystically slain before they prophesy in the mourning habit of Sackcloth, & this is the reason why their Martyrdome is described in the 12th and 13th Chapters of the Apocalyps rather then in the in the 17th & 18th; those conteining the rise, these the fall of the Apostacy.
The 144000 Saints on Mount Sion, in having the Name of God on their foreheads are opposed to those {who} received the mark of the Beast in their foreheads, & worshipped his Image, & therefore are the true Church which would not worship the image & was therefore mystically slain. These are they which are not defiled with women, for they are Virgins Apoc. 14.4, that is they are the Saints as many as are not defiled with the Whore of Babylon, & therefore they they signify the true Catholick Church in the reign of the Whore & her Beast & so are the two Prophets or Churches killed by that Beast. Whence 'tis said also that in their mouth was found no lye, that is that in teaching they do not deceive the people, (as the Prophetess Iezabel & the fals Prophet doth, whose people are therefore called lyars, deceivers & Sorcerers Apoc. 13.14, & 18.13, & 21.8 & 22.15) but are the true Prophets. These are they who were sealed out of all the twelve tribes, while the rest received the mark of the Beast, & therefore they are the whole true Church opposed to those unsealed signifying all the rest of the Church in Apostacy which tribes distinguished into the two tribes & ten tribes or Church of Iuda & kingdom of Israel, being alluded unto in the two horned Beast & ten horned Beast; the servants of God sealed out of them are in opposition to them distinguished into two Churches called the two Prophets or witnesses. The whole we told you was represented by the two Goats in the Fast, sealed in their foreheads by the two lots, the one inscribed To the Lord, the other to Azazel. This word Azazel signifies separation & departing away (as Bochardus derives (from the Arabic) & the departing here typified is from the faith to the worship of fals Gods. For such Gods (whether the Idols or the Dæmons to which the Idols were dedicated) are in the scripture termed Goats Levit. 17.7. And some Iews tell us that Azazel was the Name of one of the Princes of the Devils. Whence also some ancient Hereticks used it as the Name of an evil spirit & so do Conjurers to this day, & Iulian the Apostate took it for an evil Genius or Deus averruncus to whom the Scape Goat (as he thought) was offered by way of attonement. The wilderness into which this Goat was sent away was the wilderness of the Nations or Gentiles spoken of by Ezekiel Chapt. 20.25: which wilderness accordingly as the Beast is taken strictly for the dominion of the sea, or generally for the dominion of both earth & sea may be taken for one or both those regions. And whereas upon the departure of this Goat the other Goat was sacrificed, this denotes that the sealed servants of God are sacrificed at the time of their sealing or presently after, that is that the two witnesses are mystically killed in the beginning of their prophesy. But whether their killing be complete before the sounding of the first Trumpet or not till sometimes after deserves further consideration.
And since the sealed servants of God, the measured spiritual Temple, those that worship therein & the holy city of those worshippers are all one with the two witnesses, & consequently the whole true Church in the times of of the Seventh Seale is comprehended in those witnesses: its evident that in these six persons, the Dragon & ten horned Beast, the two horned Beast & the Whore of Babylon & the two Witnesses (representing two collateral kingdoms with their Churches fals & true) the whole subject of the Prophesy, during the times of the seventh Seale, is comprehended.
The seven churches are the Churches of the seven horns which renamed after the little horn had rooted up three of the ten.
Sect. IX
The seven Churches
We explained above how the prophesy of the Seventh Seale was described seven times, first in the sealed & unsealed Israelites & the following Palmbearing multitude then in the seven Angels appearing & sounding their Trumpets, next in the mighty Angel roaring like a Lyon & in the following seven Thunders, afterwards in the measured Temple & two Witnesses, fiftly in the prophesy beginning with the woman & Dragon in heaven & ending with the Seven last plagues & {pouring out} the {Vials} of wrath, & lastly in the prophesy: of the Beast & whore of Babylon reigning in the wilderness. And these seven descriptions of the {last times are sold} {illeg}, were the seven Churches of Asia to which the Epistles are sent, as I gather from the following reasons.
First they are to be accounted seven Churches. For the Church Catholick, as we have shewn, was at the opening of the Seventh Seale divided into two Churches both true & {fals}; & to express this division the Prophesy which was single & linear during the opening of the first six seales, because double in the Seventh being described first in the twelve Tribes of Israel & Palm bearing multitude, & then in the seven Angels appearing & sounding their Trumpets. These are the two first Churches which repeated in the Prophesies of the seven Thunders & two witnesses make four, & three of these repeated in the general interpretation make seven. The first Church is the twelve tribes of Israel together with the 144000 servants of God sealed out of them, the second is the saints whose prayers the Angel offers with incense upon the golden Altar, the third is the mystical body of the mighty Angel standing upon the earth & sea, the fourth is the measured Temple of God & they that worship therein, the fift is the woman flying into the Wilderness together with the remnant of her seed, the sixt is the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven out of which the seven Angels come with the vials of wrath, the seventh is the Church of the saints & martyrs with whose blood the Whore is drunken called the Lamb's wife which after the fall of Babylon doth make her self ready for marriage.
Secondly it is to be considered that Asia signifies mud or earth & that mountains are the type of Cities & Temples. And in this respect the seven Cities & Churches of Asia may typifie the sevenfold Church of the whole earth in the last times & be accounted seven mountains opposite to seven mountains on which the whore sitteth in those times.
Thirdly the Angels of the Church to which the Epistles are sent are the seven Angels which sound the Trumpets & pour out the Vials, & therefore the Epistles respect the times when those Angels appear, that is the times of the Seventh Seale, & are sent to the Churches of which those are the Angels. In the prophesy of the first Church four of those Angels appear holding the four winds, in the second they appear all seven & sound their Trumpets, in the third the plagues of their Trumpets are repeated in the seven Thunders. In the fourth the two Prophets execute the plagues of their Trumpets & so are in their stead. For the seven Angels are the spirit of prophesy & prophesy in those Prophets. {In} the fift the Lamb appears on Mount Sion whose seven Eyes are the seven Angels. In the sixt the seven Angels pour out the seven Vials. In the last one of the seven Angels shews Iohn the Visions in the wilderness. The seven Churches are ready but one & the same Church Catholick seven times described & therefore 'tis no wonder if all the Angels be sometimes to be {illeg} with in one of the Churches. For so also are all the seven {stars} & seven spirits of God to be met with in one of the Epistles. Yet there is some analogy between the several Angels & the several Churches. For the Angels of the first four Trumpets which hold the four winds answer to the first four, Churches in the prophesy of the Seales & Trumpets & the Angels of the three wo-Trumpets answer to the three last Churches in the prophesy of the eaten Book which was litter in the Prophets belly.
Fourthly it is to be considered that the seven Angels are the spirit of prophesy & do prophesy in the Prophets of the la{illeg}ines & that their prophesy is the {priest Ezekiel. As the seven} {illeg} one Church seven times described so {their Angels are the one} one spirit {seven} times repented. For {they are} the seven Spirits & for the throne from whom Iohn wishes grace to the Churches & grace is given by no Spirit inferior to the Holy Ghost Whence in Epist ad Himesium, c. 1. same purpose. Pope Siricius calls that holy Ghost spiritum septiformem, & others have written to the same purpose. They are the spirit which speaks to the Churches in every Epistle. For Christ sends the Epistles to the seven Angels to be communicated or preached by them to their Churches, & in every Epistle commends the Churches to hear their Angels: He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches. This Spirit is most most certainly the Holy Ghost, & therefore by a sevenfold appearance & repetition of his name is called the seven Spirits or Angels. For they are the seven Lamps interpreted in Zechar. in these words: Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord. Zech. 4. They are that Angel or Messenger which Christ sent to shew Iohn the Revelation which God had given unto him. For the Angel which shewed Iohn these visions (Apoc. 22.8 & 19.10) is called one of the Seven Angels Apoc 17.1 & the other six are the same with him because Christ sent no more Angels then one. Now this Angel must needs be the Holy Ghost, because he shewed Iohn this Prophesy, & 'tis the Holy Ghost by whom all Prophesy is given. 'Twas by the operation of this Angel that Iohn was in the Spirit on the Lords day, & none but the holy Ghost could put Iohn in the Spirit. 'Twas this Angel who in the form of the Son of of Man dictated the Seven Epistles to Iohn, & of whom 'tis said in every Epistle, He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirits saith unto the Churches. 'Twas this Angel of which Christ saith: I Iesus have sent mine Angel to testify unto you these things in the Churches & the Spirit & the Bride say come Apoc. 22. This Angel is the Spirit joined with Christ the bride in testifying to the Churches & of whose Testimony 'tis said: He that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches. 'Twas this Angel of whom Iohn saith, The Lord God of the Holy Prophets hath sent his Angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done, which is as much as to say, The Lord God who heretofore sent his Spirit to the Holy Prophets hath sent the same Messenger to his Prophet Iohn to shew unto his servants things to come. The Holy Ghost could appear in the form of a Dove or of cloven Tongues & by consequence in any form, as in the form of a Man or of seven Men together, & in that respect he might be called the seven Spirits & seven Angels or any one of the seven When he inspires the Prophets without appearing to them he is called the Spirit & when he appears in the form of a man he is usually termed an Angel. As this Angel received the Prophesy of Christ & was sent with it from him to Iohn, so the Comforter the Spirit of {truth} spake not of himself, but what he heard, that he spake & was sent by Christ to the Apostles to shew them things to come. He received of Christ & was sent by Christ to shew it to the Apostles Iohn 16 & in respect of his mission is properly called an Angel or Messenger For an Angel Αγγελος signifies nothing els then a Messenger. So Christ as he is sent by the Father is sometimes called an Angel, & so the old Prophets sometimes call the Spirit by which they spake an Angel 1 King. 13.18, 2 King. 1.3, 15, Iudg. 5.23. And the Angel of the Lord which appeared to appeared to Philip Acts 8.26 is afterwards called the Spirit of the Lord vers 29.39. And in the first six Chapters of Zechary the Spirit by which he prophesyed is called an Angel; & in 2 Esdras 7.60 the Archangel Uriel (so called 2 Esdr. 4.36 & one of the seven) saith They believed not Mose, nor yet the Prophets after him, no nor me which have spoken unto them. And in Tobit one of the seven saith, When thou didst pray & Sarah thy daughter in law, I did bring the remembrance of your prayers before the holy one; I am Raphael one of the seven holy Angels which present the prayers of the saints (the office of none under Christ besides the Holy Ghost) & go in & out before the glory of the holy one Tob. 12. And so the prophetick Spirit by whom Daniel prophesyed is called the Angel Gabriel, I will shew thee saith thy Angel that which is noted in the Scripture of truth, & there is none that holdeth with me but Michael your Prince. Michale the Prince of God's people (both in Daniel & the Apocalyps) is Christ, & therefore the Angel who saith there is none that holdeth with me in Matters of prophesy, but Michael, can be no Spirit inferior to the Holy Ghost. As God gave Christ the Revelation & he sent his Angel with it to Iohn, so 'tis an universal rule that God never speaks to us immediately by himself but always by his Son (whence his Son is called the word of God) & his Son sends his Messenger or Angel the Spirit to reveale to the Prophets what he receives of his Father: & besides these two Christ & the Holy Ghost there are none other that hold together in Matters of Prophesy. For otherwise it could not be universally true (as it is) that all prophesy is by inspiration of the holy Spirit 2. Pet. 1.21, & that there is but one prophetick Spirit. Now the Prophesies of Daniel & Iohn are of a kind, & the Angel which shewed them appears in the same form & shape to both the Prophets: whence you may know him to be the same prophetick Angel in both cases, & consequently that the Angel who was sent to Iohn is that spirit who alone holds with Michael the Prince of God's people in matters of prophesy. As the Seven Angels & the Seven Spirits are words of the same signification, so are a prophetick Angel & a prophetick Spirit, & the last is the proper Name of the Holy Ghost. If all Prophesy be of the Holy Ghost much more those of Daniel & Iohn which are the principal & especially that of Iohn who expressly saith, he was in the Spirit, & therefore the Angel, who was sent by Christ to show it him, & by whose influence he was in the Spirit, can be no other then the Spirit of Prophesy. Nor is there any other representation of the holy Spirit in all the Apocalyps then by this Angel & by the Seven Spirits or Angels & types the Seven Lamps & seven eyes of the Lamb. So then the holy Spirit being this Angel, & he being one of the Seven Angels or Spirits, & consequently all of them in a sevenfold appearance, the office of the Seven Angels is not only to sound the Trumpets & pour out the Vials, but also to prophesy in the Churches all the time of their appearance. For during all the time of their appearance the true Church (in whom they prophesy) is represented by two witnesses prophesying, & the office of the witnesses is not only to prophesy, but also to execute the Iudgments of the Trumpets & Vials in smiting the Earth with all plagues as often as they will. They are the mystical body of the Angels; & therefore have the same office, & do the same things, & by their office the office of the Angels is known whichis to prophesy as well as to smite the earth with plagues. Now the prophesy of the Seven Angels is the seven Epistles. For therefore are they written to the Angels that they should teach them to the Churches, & the Churches are commanded in every Epistle to hear the Spirit. These epistles therefore represent the prophesying of the Seven prophetick Angels in their mystical body the prophetick part of the Catholick Church signifyed by the two Prophets. That Angel is the Angel of that Church, because that Church is his mystical body: & that Church seven times repeated becomes the seven Churches described above, which therefore are the seven Churches of the Angels to which the Epistles are sent.
In the fift place it is to be considered that in the seven Epistles together with the morning & evening Sacrifices the dayly worship of the Iews is alluded unto, & the worship of Christians signifyed, & that the description of this true dayly worship is opposed to the fals worship exercised by the fals Churches in the times of the Seventh Seale, and therefore relates to those times. This dayly worship consisted in preaching, praying, & praising God whereof the preaching is prefigured by the seven Epistles as was explained in the beginning, & therefore the Epistles are a type of preaching the Gospel in the times of the Apostacy, which times are those of the Seventh Seal & for that reason they are sent to the Churches of those time. Those are the times of prophesying (as is signifyed by the prophetick Angels then appearing, & by the book of prophesy then open in the Angels hand, & by Iohn eating the book to prophesy again to the Nations, & by the two prophesying witnesses) & this preaching is that prophesying.
Sixtly it is to be considered that the seven Epistles allude to the dressing of the Lamps, & that they were dressed at the time of the morning incense five of them immediately before the incense was offered & two afterwards. Now presently after the opening of the seventh Seal, when the Seven Angels of the Churches appear with their Trumpets, this incense is offered, & no where els in all the Apocalyps, and therefore the dictating of the Epistles to the Angels must respect that very time of incense, & those very Angels then appearing. As the dressing of the Lamps preceded the morning Sacrifice, & was a part of the dayly worship described in the beginning it may indifferently respect all times, because the dayly worship is perpetual, & for the reason above it respects the times of the Seventh Seal in general: {As} it is conjoyned with the time of incense 'tis limited the time of {incense} immediately following the appearance of the Seven Angels, & therefore upon their first appearance {is to be incense} that the Epistles are written to them & sent to the Churches.
Sevently it is to be observed that what is declared openly in the beginning of the Apocalyps in these words The revelation of Iesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his Servants things which must shortly come to pass; & he sent or signified it by his Angel unto his Servant Iohn; who bare record of the word of God. Iohn to the seven Churches &c is repeated several times afterwards: as in the last Chapter in these words The Lord God of the holy Prophets sent his Angels to shew unto his Servants things which must shortly be done, & again in {these} I Iesus have sent mine Angel to testify unto you these things in the Churches, that is in the Seven Churches. Also in the prophesy of the Seven Epistles 'tis repeated by the Son of Mans dictating or inscribing the Epistles to the Seven Angels of the Churches & sending {them by {illeg} unto} the Churches & commanding him that hath an ear to hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches. These seven Angels (as hath been shewed) being that signifyed the Revelation to Iohn & by {Iohn to the Churches}. And again it is repeated in the prophesy of {the Seales & Trumpets & the} Lamb's receiving the book of {prophesying of the hand of him that} sat upon the Throne & opening the Seales thereof {& read it &} holding it open while he roared like a Lyon, & the Seven prophetick Thunders (answering to the voices of the Trumpets of the seven Angels & in some respect to the voices of the Son of Man dictating the Seven Epistles) had uttered their voices & then giving it Iohn to prophesy again out of it before many Nations. So then the prophesies of the Son of Man dictating the Epistle to Iohn and sending him with them in a book to the Churches is analogous & Synchronal to the prophesy of the Son of Man to prophesying to Iohn in the voices of a Lyon, & of the Seven Thunders, & sending Iohn with the book in his belly to prophesy before many Nations. The Son of Man appears in the same glorious shape in both cases, & 'tis the same book in both cases. For the book which the Son of Man held open in his hand alludes to the book of the Law, & signifies the book of the Revelation thereof, & the book in which the Epistles were written by Iohn & sent to the Churches is also the book of the Revelation. This Revelation which Christ received of God is twice described: first in the seven Epistles, & then again in the prophesy of the Seales and Trumpets with its interpretation: & each of these descriptions is the whole Revelation & signifies the whole contents of one & the same Book. I speak not of the Letter but of the Sense & substance of the Prophesy. These Epistles therefore being written by Christ to the Angels of the Churches of vertue of that revelation, which God gave unto him & sent by Iohn to the Churches must be dictated & sent to the Churches after Christ had received the book of that revelation of God, & opened the Seales thereof to read the contents, & consequently after the opening of the Seventh Seale. While the book was in the hand of God 'tis said that no Man was worthy to open & to read the book or to look thereon. The Lamb took the book, that he might open the book in order to read it, & before he had opened it he could not read it, & dictate the Epistles to the Churches out of the Revelation thereof. There were indeed certain visions appeared at the opening of the first Six Seales, but no reading of the Revelation nor dictating out of it could be before the Seales were opened. When Christ had opened the book, then he dictated the revelation thereof to the Angel which he sent to Iohn or, which is all one, then he dictated the sevenfold prophesy of the Epistles to the Seven Angels of the Churches, & when he gave Iohn the open book to eat & by vertue of it to prophesy before many Nations, then he sent Iohn with the revelation thereof to the Seven Churches in the form of Epistles, & both these things (the first appearing of the Son of Man with the book open in his hand, & the giving Iohn the book to eat & prophesy out of it to the Nations or Churches immediately followed the time of the opening of the last Seale.
It being thus manifested that the Seven Epistles are sent to the Churches of the times of the Seventh Seale, & by consequence to the Seven Churches of those times described above; in confirmation thereof I shall add but one more consideration. In calling the two Churches two Candlesticks & two olive trees, the prophesy of Zechary concerning the Candlestick & two olive trees is plainly alluded unto. Now that Candlestick had seven Lamps like that Candlesticks in the Temple, & for this reason we are to conceive the two Candlesticks to have each of them seven lamps & there is the same reason of all the Seven Candlesticks, because they spring from the multiplyed types of the two as was explained in the first of these arguments. Now these lamps, in every candlestick are thus represented. In the beginning or head of the Epistles to the first & fift of the Churches are set down the seven stars & seven Spirits of God. In the beginning of the second & sixt Churches appear the Seven Angels. They appear also in the beginning of the seventh when one of the seven Angels leads Iohn into the wilderness. The third Church is a repetition of the Second, & the seventh a commentary upon the fourth, & these two the third and fourth are most properly the two Candlesticks as was explained above. And thus by the sevenfold light in the head of each Candlestick, the seven Candlesticks are known, & these Candlesticks are the seven Churches. The whole Church hath seven lights, & ever Candlestick is the whole or at least one of the two Witnesses which in a large sense may like the Dragon & Beast whose Churches they are) be taken for the Whole. But as the Angels & Churches are numbred in order every Angel hath his Church.
So then the Apocalyps consists of three main parts the Prophesy of the Seales & Trumpets whichis the {middle part the interpretation} thereof which is the last part, & the prophesy of the Seven Epistles which is introductory to the other two & respects them both those two together making up the Seven Churches to which the Epistles are sent. And all three parts respect the last times or times of the Seventh Seal; the times of opening the Seales of the book being only introductory to the times of the book opened. And as the dressing of the Lamps in the Temple was partly to make them burn clearer & partly to supply them with what oyl was wanting so the design of these Epistles is partly to illustrate the prophesies of the Seven Churches & partly to supply what ever is wanting in them the Epistles answering to the Churches in the order they are named. For by comparing the Epistles with their corresponding Churches you will plainly see that what is mainly wanting in the prophesy of every Church is supplied in the Epistle to that Church: so that the Epistles are as necessary to the lights of their Churches as oyle to a Lamp, & both must be conjoyned to make one complete prophesy.
In the prophesy of the first Church there appeared but four of the Seven Angels, & 'tis not said upon what occasion a certain number are sealed out of all the Tribes, nor what became of the unsealed multitude or what was their conditions: but in the Epistle to this Church all these things are supply'd by the seven stars in the right hand of the Son of God, & by describing a great conflict between the Church & a sort of fals Teachers termed fals Apostles & Lyars & Nicolaitans, & by the removal of the Candlestick out of its place because she had forsaken her first love. Unto the Angel of the Church in Ephesus (that is in a state of commotion & remissness) write, these things, saith he, who holdeth the seven stars in his right hand. I know thy works & thy labour & thy patience & how thou canst not bear them which are evil, & thou hast tryed them which say they are Apostles (that is teachers or Prophets sent from Christ) & are not, & hast found them lyars (that is fals Prophets:) & hast born & hast patience, & for my names sake hast laboured & hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have something against thee because thou hast left thy first love. Repent or els I will come unto thee quickly & remove thy Candlestick out of its place. But this thou hast that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, that is of spiritually fornicating Christians, the idolatrous disciples of those fals Apostles against whom thou labourest, & who for their committing spirituall fornication with the whore of Babylon are represented by those carnally fornicating Christians the Nicolaitans. This conflict of the Church with these Apostates is also {obscurely hinted} in the signification of the Names of the twelve Tribes out of which the 144000 are sealed. For 'tis not without a meaning that those Tribes are {there represented} in {such an} order as is no where else in {Scripture} to be met with the Sons of the mistresses & handmaids {illeg} in {mixed}, no regard had to the order of their birth or habitation, & besides Dan & Ephraim omitted, & for them Levi & Ioseph inserted. All which seems to be done to make up the following sentence by interpretation of the Names thus noted by Mr. Mede.
| Iudah – – – | confitetur | |
| Reuben – – – | intuendo filium | Fidelium |
| Gad – – – – | Cœtus | cultus |
| Aser – – – | benedictus |
| Nephthalim | Luctantur [cum] | |
| Manasses – – | Obliviscentibus | Lucta |
| Simeon – – – | Obedientiam |
| Levi – – – – – | Adhærentibus [sc fidei] | |
| Issachar – – | Mercedem | |
| Zebulum – – | habitaculi [sc. æterni] | Prœmium. |
| Ioseph – – – – | adijciet | |
| Benjamin – – | filius dextrae. |
At length in this conflict, it is to be conceived that when all the Tribes, except a few sealed servants of God were left unsealed or as is exprest in the Interpretation, when the woman fled into the wilderness, & all men were compelled to receive the mark of the Beast, then was the Candlestick of this Church by the prevailing of the fals Apostles removed out of its place.
In the prophesy of the Second Church, the times are described to the end of the sixt Trumpet, but the sounding of the seventh together with the great tribulation out of which the Church at that time comes, is there omitted & in the Epistle to this Church the defect is thus supplied. Unto the Angel of the Church in Smyrna [that is in bitterness of affliction. For so Smyrna signifies] write, These things saith the first & the last, which was dead & is alive [& so is a type of the Martyrs, both the first which are the two witnesses the first fruit unto God, & the last which suffer in the great tribulation:] I know know thy works & tribulation & poverty (but [in grace] thou art rich) & I know the blasphemy [that is idolatry] of them who say they are Iews & are not but are the Synagogue of Satan [that is who profess themselvs Christians & are not but are the Church of the Dragon represented by the two horned Beast or fals Prophet] Feare none of these things {that thou} shalt suffer [under this persecuting Synagogues] Behold the Devil [that is the persecuting Ægyptian Dragon] shall cast some of you into prison that ye may be tryed & ye shall have tribulation ten days [that is a persecution ten prophetick days which are so many years] Be thou faithfull unto death & [at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet] I will give the a crown of life.
The prophesy of the third Church is wholly sealed up & therefore in the Epistle to that Church 'tis supplied by a complete description of the whole. For there the Church in Pergamus is said to dwell where Satan hath his throne, & to have hold fast the faith in those days when Antipas was Gods faithful witness, who was slain amongst them in the kingdom of the persecuting Satan; & to have those that hold the doctrine of Balaam who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the Children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto Idols & to commit fornication, & is exhorted to repent least Christ come unto her & fight against them with the sword of his mouth, & they that overcome these temptations to fornication are promised the hidden Manna & a white stone with a new Name. All which plainly answers to the Woman in heaven where the Dragon that old serpent called the Devil and Satan hath his abode (Apoc. 12.1, 3, 9) & to her holding fast the faith in those days when the Dragon persecuted her, & went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who had the testimony of Iesus Christ, that is who were his faithful witness Apoc 12.13, 17) being killed for not worshipping the Image of the Beast (Apoc. 13.15) & to those Apostates who hold the doctrine of the two horned Beast that fals Prophet (as he is afterwards called) who taught the men that dwell on the earth, the worshippers of the Beast, to make an Image to him for all men to worship, & to the Whores committing fornication & that in the wilderness where the Church was fed with the sword of his mouth Apoc 19, & to the following reward of those who do not worship the Beast & his Image, namely their being made Priests to God & reigning with Christ Apoc. 20.
Πέργαμον in the a[60] Ionic dialect signifies in general a city and so may be taken for the great city so often mentioned in this prophesy. It signifies also any {city} & lofty structure & in either sence the Church & Satan in Pergamus answer to the Woman & Dragon in heaven. For {seing the Dragon is in} {illeg} to be the old Serpent called the Devil & Satan we are every where in the Apocalyps by the Devil & Satan to understand the Dragon. {Hereafter} we shall shew that the kingdome of this Dragon was really founded in Pergamus. Antipas, as the name imports is the type of all the witnesses or Martyrs slain in that persecution by Satan & answers to the seed of the woman who have the testimony of Iesus Christ (Apoc 12.17) that is are his witness. Then the Dragon goes to persecute in those days when he had been persecuting the woman, & their Martyrdome is a little after described Apoc. 13, 15 & said to be done for not worshipping the image of the Beast, that is, for not following the doctrin of Balaam. This Prophet counseled Balac to entice Israel to the worship of his Idol Baal Peor Num. 31.16, & so answers to the fals Prophet who said to the men that dwell on the earth that they should make an Image to the Beast. And Balac the King answers to the crowned Beast, & those of the Church of Pergamus who commit fornication, suppose with the confederate Kings Moab & Midian, & eat sacrifices offered to Baal Peor, answer to the whore committing fornication with the Kings of the earth, and living deliciously with them & to the peoples worshipping the Images of the Beast. For this fornication called also the doctrine of the Nicolaitans is here made a type of spiritual fornication or idolatry. For seeing Christ here threatens those who held their doctrine to fight against them with the sword of his mouth, if they repent not, they cannot be the old Nicolaitans long since ceased, but must be such a sort of Men as he is at length to fight against with that sword, that is worshippers of the Beast & his Image Apoc 19.19, 20, 21, or rather they must be that generation of men he then fights against. For prophetical threats of Iudgment to those who repent not are always predictions that the judgment to those who repent not are always predictions that the judgment shall for want of repentance come to pass upon some or all the people threatened. Ψηρος signifies {little} stone such as they cast accounts with, & is used for the stones by which Iudges in Courts of Iudicature & in the Agones gave their votes & sentence, & is thence put sometimes for the suffrages themselves. In Courts of Iudicature the stones were white and black, the first for absolution, the other for condemnation. In the Agones a white stone was given the victor with his name & the reward or prize he was to receive write upon it; & this is alluded to here in giving such a stone to him that overcometh. The new name here seems to allude to a new title of honour, such as that of Iudge, Lord, Duke, Priest, Prince, King. For so the name written on the garments of the Rider on the white Horse is expounded to be King of Kings & Lord of Lords & the word of God. Apoc. 19. And so Isaiah (Ch. 62.4) to express the new reign of Ierusalem after her return from captivity, saith she shall be called by a new name, & shall be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, & a royal Dyadem. So then the white stone denote the judging & rewarding the Saints & making them Kings & Priests to God (Apoc. 1.6) a name which no man knows the vertue of but he that receives it. And here it being promised to him who overcometh in the conflict with Balaam & Balac, that is who doth not commit fornication with him nor eat things sacrificed to his Idols, it refers to the reward of those who do not worship the Beast & his Image described in Apoc. 20.4, 6, namely that they shall in the first resurrection be made Priests to God & Christ & reign with him. And thus in this short Epistle to the Church of Pergamus is the whole Summ of the Apocalyps elegantly comprehended, namely the woman & Dragon in heaven, the remnant of her seed and their persecution by the Dragon, the Beast, fals Prophet, worship of the Beast & his Image, fornication with the Whore in the wilderness, final destruction of the fornicators by the sword coming out of the mouth of the River on the white horse, & the following reign of the Saints with Christ.
In the prophesy of the fourth Church the Angel's setting his fiery feet on the earth & sea is a sufficient insinuation that his feet do there signify something: namely the two Churches of the last times in a state of persecution. For the species of fire is a type of war upon the Churches. To impress the like signification upon the same Angel's feet in the prophesy of the fourth Church. The Epistle to that Church begins thus. To the Angel of the Church of Thyatira (that is in Martyrdome) write These things saith the Son of God who hath his eyes [the Angels of the two Churches] like unto a flame of fire, & his feet [the two Churches] like unto {Calcholimium} [that is, as is expressed above Chap. 1.15) like amber as if they burned in a furnace] I know thy works & charity & service & faith & thy patience & thy works & the last [in the great & final tribulation] to be more then the first [at the beginning of the apostasy] In the Prophesy of the fourth Church there is also wanting the whore upon the back of the Beast who there makes war upon the Witnesses: & to supply this defect the Whore is described in the Epistle to this Church, by the name of the woman Iezabel, & the Beast & Kings of the Earth by them that commit adultery with her. This Iezabel as a Prophetess teaches & seduces Gods servants to commit fornication, & to eat things sacrificed to Idols, & therefore her fornication is spiritual. In being called Iezabel she is a Queen like the whore of Babylon, & her reign lasted a long time. For Christ saith, I gave her space to repent of her fornication & she repented not. Then comes her judgment, Behold I will cast her into a bed [of everlasting torment for her bed of pleasure] & them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her Children with [the Second] death, & all the Churches shall then know [by the manifestation of the secrets of the hearts of her & her lovers and Children at my coming to judgment] that I am he which searcheth the reins & the hearts, & [at that time] I will give unto every one of you according to his works. This lofty & majestick description of the judgment of the Whore & her lovers at the last day so as to make her an example before all the Churches, shews that she is no single person but a very great Ecclesiastical body of spiritual fornicators. But unto you I say & unto the rest of Thyatira as many as have not this doctrine [of committing fornication with Iezabel & eating things sacrificed to Idols] & which have not known the depths of Satan [the mysterious religion of that Devil who came down among the inhabitants of the earth & sea] I will put upon you no other burden [then abstinence from those things] but that which ye have already hold fast till I come [to judgment at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet] He that overcometh I will [them] give him power over the Nations [which shall then become the Kingdom of God] & he shall rule them with a rod of iron.
The fift Church is the woman flying from heaven into the wilderness & the chief things wanting in the prophesy of this Church are the seven Angels & a description of the state of that woman in the wilderness. Now these are thus supplied in the Epistle to that Church. And unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis [that {is the woman} adorned with pretious stones Apoc. 17] Write these things {saith he that} hath the seven Spirits of God & the Seven Stars. I know thy works & thou hast a name that thou livest [an outward {sign} & profession of a glorious Christian Church] and [in the inward man] art dead. Be watchfull & strengthen the things which remain, & that [in thy flying into the widening] are ready to dye: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received & heard [the true faith] & hold fast [the same from whence thou art departing] & repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch I will [at the last day] come on thee as a thief, & thou shalt not know what hour I shall come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis [the Saints composing the two witnesses] which have not defiled their garments [with thy whoredom] & they shall walk with me in white &c. By Christs threatening to come upon this Church as a thief in the night, its manifest that she is an apostatizing Church continuing till the last day, & consequently the Whore {of} Babylon.
In the prophesy of the sixt Church the chief thing wanting is a description of the great tribulation & kingdome of God commencing at the pouring out of the Seventh Vial & the meaning of the Temple's standing open. And this is thus supplied in the Epistle to this Church. And to the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia [that is in charity the greatest of the graces] write these things saith he that is holy, he that is true [& so a fit type of this Church] he that hath the Key of David [to the Temple of heaven] he that openeth [it to let out the seven Angels of the apostacy] & no man shutteth [it till the last day & then letteth in his Church again Apoc. 15.8] & shutteth [it] & no man openeth [it to turn them out any more for ever] I know thy works: behold I have set before thee an open door [the door which was opened for the seven Angels to come out of the Temple Apoc. 15.5 & stands for {illeg} to enter at the last day] & no man can shut it [to exclude thee:] for thou hast not denyed my name. Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Iews & are not but do lye [the members of the Church of the Dragon which say they are Christians & are not but do lye] behold I will make them [at the pouring out of the last Vial] to come & worship before thy feet, & to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast [in the great tribulation] kept the word of my patience I also will preserve thee out of the hour of [that tribulation or] temptation which [in the end] shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth [so that in the end thereof thou shall overcome thy persecutors & cause them to come & worship before thy foot] Behold [when that persecution shall begin] I come quickly [to destroy those Antichristian persecutors in that time] hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I [cause to enter in at the open door &] make a pillar in [the court of] the Temple of my God, & he shall go no more out [of the Temple as the seven Angels did;] & I will write upon him the name of my God. &c. The phrase of entering into an open gate used here for entering into the Kingdom, you may see used in the like sense in several other places of scripture Is. 45.1, 2, & 26.1, 2, & 62.10, Psalm 24.
In the prophesy of the seventh Church the chief things wanting are the original of the Whore of Babylon & the true Church opposite to her which is one of the two witnesses, & these are thus supplied in the Epistle to this Church. And unto the Angel of the Church in Laodicea [that is the Church in a state of judging & reigning over the people] write, These things saith the Amen the faithful & true witness [prefiguring the witness opposed to the whore] the beginning of the creation of God [& in that respect prefiguring this witness martyred in the beginning of the times of this Church] I know thy works & that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm & neither cold nor hot I will [by thy apostacy from the truth] spew thee out of my mouth [Thy candlestick shall be removed out of its place. Thou shalt be separated from my mystical body & become the waters in the wilderness where the whore sitteth] Because thou [gloriest in thy outward from & splendor as a Church] & sayest I am rich & increased with goods & have need of nothing, & knowest not that thou art [inwardly] wretched & miserable & poor & blind & naked, I counsel thee to buy of me [true faith which endureth like] Gold tried in the fire, that thou mayst be rich [1 Pet. 1.7] & white raiment [of righteousness Apoc. 19.8] that thou mayst be cloathed & that the shame of thy nakedness [by committing spiritual fornication] do not appear & anoynt thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayst see [the {illeg} & {illeg} in it] As many as I love I rebuke & chasten, {be zealous therefore} [{illeg} my admonition] & repent. Behold, I {stand at the door & knock if any man hear} my voice & open the door, I will come in to him [at the last day] & sup with him & he with me [Blessed are {they which are} {called} unto the marriage {supper} of the Lamb. Apoc. 19.9] To him that overcometh will I [then] grant to sit down with me in my throne [& reign with me Apoc. 20] even as I also overcame & am set {down} with my Father in his throne.
Thus do all the Epistles suit with their Churches & like oyl poured into Lamps supply their defects, mend their light & make their sense more clear & manifest. And since the Seven Churches are but repeated descriptions of one & the same Church catholic during the times of the seventh seale, & the seven Epistles are supplemental descriptions of one & the same Church catholick in the times of that seal. To describe the times of Apostacy was the main design of the Apocalyps, & therefore the description thereof is many times repeated. For this multiplicity of descriptions {seems} both to hide & obscure the prophesy till the mystery of the these {illeg} descriptions {illeg} found out least the understanding the prophesy too soon should hinder the fulfilling thereof; & then after it was found out {illeg} & {illeg} the meaning of the prophesy by comparing all those descriptions with one another. For by {such} comparison we may now more clearly understand the religion rise duration & fall of the Apostacy then we could before.
Sect. X
The Apostacy of the latter times described in the Prophesies of the old & New Testament
By what has been hitherto said it is manifest that the designe of the Apocalyps is nothing else then to describe one great Apostacy in the kingdom at first represented by the Dragon & then by the Dragon & Beast together. The qualities of this Apostacy are. // First that its religion is Christian in outward form & profession, as we have already shewn by many Characters. For the apostates the fals Churches of the Dragon & Beast represented by the two horned Beast & Whore of Babylon, whereof the two horned Beast exercises excommunication & is called a fals Prophet, that is a preacher of fals doctrine to Gods people, & has two horns like the Lamb whose seven horns & mystical body are the Churches of Asia & therefore is a church composed of two subordinate Churches & Whore in being called a Whore is an idolatrous Church, She is that woman who fled from heaven into the wilderness & left a remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus. Those Apostates are the inhabitants of the earth & sea amongst whom the Devil of idolatry came down & consequently who had him not among them before. They are the Nations worshipping in the outward Court of the Christian Temple or Church They are all the Tribes out of which a few servants God are sealed, & ten of which tribes are the ten horned Beast & the other two the two horned one. They are the synagogue of Satan who say they are Iews & are not but do lye, that is the idolatrous Church of the Dragon, who outwardly professe themselves Christians & inwardly are not what they profess but do prophesy falsly of themselves. They are Nicolaitans or spiritually fornicating Christians. They are the disciples of those who say they are Apostles & are not but do lye, that is who falsly pretend they are Christian teachers of the Gospel sent by Christ. They are the Church of Ephesus at length seduced by these fals Apostles, & after seduction represented by the Candlestick of this Church removed out of its place. They are those of the Church of Pergamus who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans & against whom {illeg} threatens to fight with the sword of his mouth if they repent not. They are God's servants in the Church of Thyatira whom the fals Prophetess Iezabel seduceth to spiritual fornication. They are the Church of Sardis who is spiritually dead & whose people (a few excepted) defile their garments & upon whom Christ threatens to come at the last day as a thief if they repent not. Lastly they are the Church of Laodicea first grown luke warm and then spewed out of Christs mouth. These are the characters of their being Christians.
In the next place they are a Church very Catholick or universal. For power was given to the Beast over all kindreds & tongues & Nations, & all that dwell upon the earth do worship him whose names are not written in the book of life Apoc. 13.7, 8 & 17.8, & Babylon made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication Chap. 14.8 & 18.3, & by her sorceries were all nations deceived chap. 18.23 & the last persecution or tryal which the Churches of Smyrna & Philadelphia suffer under the synagogue of Satan & their confederates, comes upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth Apoc. 3.10. And the preaching the Gospel against these apostates is as general Apoc. 14.7.
Thirdly this catholick Church is idolatrous. For this is many ways signifyed, as by the womans being a great whore & inebriating the Nations with the wine of her fornication by the fals Prophet speaking as the Dragon. By their people's worshipping the Beast & his Image. By the name of blasphemy in the heads of the Beast opposite to the name of God in the foreheads of the 144000 saints. By the Devil's coming down amongst the inhabitants of the earth & sea with great wrath, because he hath but a short time. By the Angels preaching the everlasting Gospel amongst them in these words Worship God that made heaven & earth &c If any man worship the beast & his Image the same shall drink the wine of the wrath of God. By their being called the Synagogue of Satan & Nicolaitans, that is spiritual fornicators & being taught by Balaam & Iezabel to eat things sacrificed to Idols & commit fornication, & lastly by this description of their idolatry in the times of the wo-Trumpets. By these three were the third part of Men killed [that is the third part of all men considered in the prophesy] And the rest of Men [the other two third parts] which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship Dæmons [or the souls of dead Men] and Idols of Gold & Silver & brass & stone & of wood which neither can see nor hear nor walk. They repented not at God's judgments on others for worshipping Dæmons & Idols, & therefore are the three parts of Men on whom the plagues of the wo Trumpets are inflicted, did worship them before in the times of the fift Trumpet, & those who were not killed in the plague continued to worship them till they perished at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet & great Babylon for her fornication came in remembrance before God Apoc. 15.19. There the people of that Iezabel of whom God saith I gave her space to repent of her fornication & she repented not Apoc 2.21: Neither repented they of their Murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts Apoc. 9.21. By their sorceries you may know them to be mystical members of the great Whore by whose sorceries all nations were deceived.
In the fourth place therefore they were sorcerers, that is addicted to pious frauds, fals miracles & jugling tricks in matters of religion, using all kinds of fraudulent Arts & delusions for deceiving Men into their idolatrous religion & carrying on the interest of their Church. Whence the Whore is said to make the inhabiters of the earth drunk with wine of her fornication, & the fals Prophet to deceive them with fals miracles; three of which are thus described. First he makes fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, that is by a sophisticated excommunication of the Saints, he makes the giddy world believe them to be reprobates & hereticks. Secondly he gives breath to the Image of the Beast, that the Image should speak & cause all that would not worship it to be killed, that is he inspired an idolatrous Counsel (such as was the second counsel of Nice, an Image or representation of the people of the Beast taken in a large sense) to decree Idolatry & cause that as many as would not religiously obey its decree should be expelled the Churches & dissipated & persecuted as hereticks. This is recconed a miracle in allusion to the heathen Oracles who by the impostures of their Priests spake as it were miraculously by the spirit of the Gods, to the seduction of the world & advancement of idolatry. To these miracles may perhaps be referred that the fals Prophet caused all men to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads. Of this kind is the Cross or Crucifex adored in the right hand for its miraculous powers & effect, & the signe of the cross when made with the right hand in the forehead or any where els in nomine Pa✝tris et Fi✝lii & Spiritus ✝ Sancti to scare away the Devil, or produce any other supernatural effects. So the consecrating Images Pictures Holy water, Agnus Dei's, Psalters, rings, Beads wooden crosses & the like by crossing them or touching that with religious or performing any other ceremonies with indications & prayers for endowing them with any kind of supernatural powers & vertues is a superstition of the same kind with the Charmes & spells of the Heathen, & even without a figure may be truly called enchantment & sorcery: as may also the turning a wafer into a man by the words Hoc est corpus meum. For sorcery & magick is nothing else then the making & using certain figures & characters with ceremonies & invocations to make spirits come & go, appear & disappear & to produce any other supernatural effects. To make the figures is innocent, but to place a supernatural power in them is sorcery be it in any religion whatever, & Christians who do so are sorcerers, thô they do not know it. For sorcery had its rise among the many superstitions of the heathen religion & was as well thought of by those that used it as Christian superstitions are by Christians. To their sorcery are also to be referred the miracles whereby the fals Prophet & the three froggs deceive men & those spoken of by the Apostle Paul in his prophesy of the apostacy & mystery of iniquity which hee calls the Man of Sin. For that mystery (the mystery on the Whores forehead) beginning to work in his time & after the Man of Sin was revealed lasting till the Lord consume him with the breath of his mouth & destroy him withthe brightness of his coming, that is till the end of the world, can be no other then that one great Apostacy prophesied of in the Apocalyps. And the coming of this mystery, saith the Apostle, is after the working of Satan with all power & signes & lying wonders & with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send a strong delusion that they should [fall away from the truth &] believe a lye, that they all [in erring from the faith to worship lying Vanities] might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness, or as is expressed in the Apocalyps the all who dwell upon the earth should worship the Beast whose names are not written in the book of life. And these miracles are the sorceries of the whore & her confederates by which all nations were deceived Apoc. 18.23.
Fiftly the Apostates are great persecutors. For the whore was drunken with the blood of saints & in her was found the blood of Prophets & of Saints & of all that were slain upon the earth. The Dragon made war upon the remnant of the womans seed & from his persecuting & oppressing the Church he is termed Egypt. The first Beast also made war upon the Saints & overcame them & killed the two witnesses or Churches of God, & the other Beast made the Image to speak & cause that as many as would not worship it should be killed. These are the great city called Egypt where also our Lord was crucified Apoc. 11, & the horns of the Beast who make war with the Lamb (chap. 17.14) & the Beast & Kings of the earth & their armies who are gathered together to make war against the word of God that sat on the white hors & against his army (chap. 19.19) Whence you may understand that they are Antichristians: For they who make war against Christ & crucify him in his mystical body are Antichristians. So then the Dragon & Beast with their Churches the fals Prophet & Whore being a real Antichristian state & the only Antichristians prophesied of in the Apocalyps, they can be no other then the great Antichrist which {has} to come. Nor {doth} it hinder that they are Christian. For Antichrist was to be a Christian state. For Iohn describing the Antichrists of his time whichwere the forerunners of the great Antichrist saith, As ye have heard that [inthe last time] Antichrist {shall} come, even now there are many Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the [ approaching of] the last time. They went from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have conjoyned with us (1 Ioh. 2) which is as much as to say that they were hereticks heretofore members of the Church but now departed from it. And again, Many deceivers [that is not the heathen world but fals Christians or hereticks] are entred into the {world} who confess not that Iesus Christ came in the flesh: this is a deceiver & an Antichrist.
Lastly these Apostates are guilty of the greatest immoralities as of Murders, fornication [] & theft Apoc. 9.21. Without are dogs & sorcerers & whoremongers & murderers & idolaters & whatsoever loveth & maketh a lye chap. 22.15. The fearfull & unbelieving & the abominable and Whoremongers & Sorcerers & all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire & brimstone chap. 21.8. To the same purpose Paul writing of the last times in which Iohn tells us the great Antichrist was to come: This know also, saith he, that in the last days perillous times shall come. For Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemous, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, fals accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more then lovers of God. having a form of godliness [an outward shew & profession of Christianity] but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses & lead captive silly weomen, laden with sins, led away with divers lusts: ever learning [the Gospel] and [{illeg}ch errors] never able to come to the knowledge of the truth-me{illeg} corrupt minds, reprobate [erronious, heretical] concerning the faith And a little after: Preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season: reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering & doctrine, but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, & they shall turn away their ears from the truth & shall be turned into fables. The Apostle here speaks not of a few (such there were in his time) but of a general defection of Christians (in respect of faith & manners) to happen in the last times: & this can be no other then that one great defection described in the Apocalyps. The coming of this Apostacy, it seems, made a great noise in the Church in the age of the Apostles. For Iude thus mentions it. Beloved, saith he, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ how that they told you that there should be mockers in the last times who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who [through error in the faith] separate themselves [from the Church] sensual having not the spirit. These are the Apostacy of whose teachers it is said that In the lattertimes [the times of the apocalyptic defection] some [τίνες not a few as we frequently use the English word some but a many as the word τίνες often signifies a sort of men, such a many as are those τίνες some in Rom. 11.7 & 1 Cor. 10 which were almost all] shall apostatise from the faith attending to erroneous spirits [the spirits or doctrines of fals teachers of which Iohn saith, Believe not every spirit but try the spirits if they be of God, because many fals Prophets are gone out into the world, - every spirit that confesseth not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, & this is the Spirit of Antichrist] & to doctrines of Dæmons [the old theology of dead mens souls walking about in the air & influencing the affairs of mankind, which therefore the heathens worshipped by the name of Dæmons, Dij Manij & Divi, using the word Dæmon always in a good sense, but Iews & Christians abominated & out of abhorrence used the word Dæmon for Devils, calling those souls or spirits Devils which the heathens called Divi & worshipped. These doctrines of Ghosts we see now not in among Christians some worshipping them by the name of Saints, & others superstitiously believing that they walk. These are those Dæmons or Devils which the Apostates worship in the Apocalyps Chap. 9.20] through the hypocrisy of liars having seared consciences [in feigning miracles done by Saints alive or by their Ghosts & reliques & in writing legends of them for promoting this doctrine & worship of Dæmons whence in the Apocalyps they are again and again called lyars & fals Prophets] forbidding to marry [whence tis said in Daniel that this Apostacy shall not regard the {illeg}re of weomen Dan 11.37] & commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe & know the truth. For every creature of God is good [as well fish as flesh] & nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving. This is the character of the great mystery of iniquity opposite to the mystery of godliness spoken of in the words next before.
From what hath been said it is obvious that the Apostacy was to grow up in the Roman Empire. For {they were the Churches of the} Empire of whom the Apostle Paul saith that the mystery of iniquity worketh & shall work till the Man of Sin be revealed & the time shall come when they will not endure sound doctrine & in the last days perillous times shall come & the spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith. To the Churches of this empire Iude in his general Epistle {to those} Churches applies the tradition of the Apostles that there should be mockers in the last times. And of the same Churches writes Iohn in his general Epistle where he speaks of many Antichrists then in being the forerunners of the great Antichrist. These were the mystery of iniquity that should work in the empire till they produced the Man of Sin. By him that letted or withheld the appearing & revealing of the Man of Sin the first Christians (by tradition surely from the Apostles) understood the Roman Empire, & therefore in those first ages prayed publickly for the standing of this Empire. Where the revelation of the Man of Sin was letted, there it was to be. 'Twas Rom of whom the Prophet Iohn saith, The seven heads are seven Mountains on which the woman sitteth. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the Kings of the earth. For Rome was the city which in the Prophets age reigned over the Kings of the earth, & which was here famous for standing upon seven hills, being thence called Urbs Septicollis the sevenhilled city. The woman in heaven crowned with a crown of twelve stars, whose seed keeps the commandments of Iesus is the Primitive Church crowned with a crown of the twelve Apostles. And therefore seing this Church began in the Roman Empire, & was diffused through it the flight of this woman into the wilderness is a general apostacy of the Churches of this Empire, & the great red dragon whose Church this woman was & by whom she was persecuted must be that empire. The prophesy of the Apocalyps was written both within this empire & to the Churches thereof & therefore must respect it.
The same is also manifest by comparing the prophesies of Daniel with the Apocalyps. For the Apocalyptic ten-horned Beast is the same with Daniels fourth Beast. For he was like unto the Leopard & his feet as the feet of the Bear & his mouth as the mouth of the Lyon Apoc. 13.2. {Here} Daniel's {three} first Beasts, the Lyon, the Bear & the Leopard are named in order backward & the Apocalyptic Beast to shew that he {is} of their kindred & the fourth of them as assimilate to them & put in the fourth place in the room of Daniel's fourth. He was like the Leopard, that is fierce & terrible his feet were as the feet of the Bear, that is flat & fitted to stamp things with in fighting as a Bear doth. His mouth was as the mouth of the Lyon, that is armed with real & long teeth to break & devour with as a Lyon doth, & by partaking of all their qualities he was neither Lyon Bear nor Leopard but a strange monster of a different species, & besides he had ten horns. All which are the manifest characters of Daniels fourth Beast. For that Beast was dreadful & terrible & strong exceedingly & had great iron teeth, & devoured & brake in pieces & stamped the residue with its feet, & {was} divers from all the Beasts that were before it & had ten horns. Dan. 7.7.
That Daniel's fourth Beast was the same with Iohns & both of them the Roman Empire has been the universal opinion of all Christians in all ages some few of the present age excepted. For Porphyrius a heathen {pretending} that Daniels prophesies were no prophesies but feigned by the Iews in the times of the Maccabees in hatred to Antiochus Epiphanes & fulfilled in him before they were written, represented that the fourth Beast was the successors of Alexander the great in Egypt & Syria & the ten horns the Kings of Egypt & Syria together, numbred down to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes, & that Antiochus was the wicked little horn which rose up after the ten. And in our age somebody under the specious pretence of peace & unity, labouring for an accommodation between the Reformed Churches & the Church of Rome (that is in plain terms for a return of the reformed Churches to the Church of Rome) & for this end endeavouring to whiten the Church of Rome, hath revived the interpretation of Porphyrius, as if the prophesy of Daniel did not at all respect the Roman Empire. But how extravagant & petulant this fansy is may appear by the following considerations. The Leopard by four heads & four wings not for nothing but to signify the four Grecian Kingdoms succeeding Alexander the great as Daniel describes them ch. 8.22 & 11.4, & therefore the fourth Beast which comes after them must be the next empire to those kingdoms & consequently the Roman. This Beast is described terrible dreadful & strong above the former Beasts & so has the Roman Empire above the former Empires but the Grecian kingdoms between Alexander & the Romans were far weaker then any of the former. The number of kings in Syria & Egypt agrees not with the number of the Beasts horns. For before the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes there were seven kings in Syria & five in Egypt which make twelve horns & not ten as they ought to do. Neither are those Kings such as horns are used in prophesy to signify. For horns denote always not the persons of Kings but the number of Kingdoms in the Beast: which number of Kingdoms was to be found in the Apocalyptic Beast but not in the Grecian Empire before the Roman. And seing the little horn came up among the ten (Dan. 7.8) & they were its fellows (vers 20) & it humbled three of them, they were contemporary kingdoms & so were the ten horns of the Apocalyptic Beast (Apoc 17.12, 16, 17) but so were not any ten Grecian Kingdoms before the Roman. Nor did Antiochus Epiphanes root up three of the former ten horns. The little horn being of a different kind from the rest & having eyes & a mouth and speaking great things against the most High, that is, being a seer and fals Prophet & blasphemous or idolatrous & a living creature upon the Beast, answers well to the woman upon the Apocalyptic Beast, called Babylon for her idolatrous doctrine & Iezabel the Prophetess. This living horn reigned a time times & half a time Dan. 7 & so did both the woman in wilderness Apoc 12.14 & her Beast after this victory over the saints Apoc. 13.5. But Antiochus Epiphanes did not so. He reigned twelve years & polluted the Sanctuary but three years precisely 1 Mac. 1.54 & 4.52, 54. This horn warred against the saints till the time came that the saints possessed the everlasting kingdome, Dan. 7.22, 26, 27 & so did the Apocalyptic woman, but Antiochus Epiphanes ceased not only long before any Christian Kingdom but even 190 years at least before Christianity began. Daniels fourth Beast reigned till God sat in judgment & the books were opened, & the Son of Man came in the clouds of heaven to receive an everlasting kingdom that all Nations should {obtain} & at that time the body of the Beast was given to the burning flame, & the rest of the beasts had their dominion taken over but their times were prolonged & the kingdom & dominion under the {whole} heaven was given to the Saints of the most High Dan. 8.10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 21, 22 & so the Apocalyptic Beast reigned till the first resurrection & reward of the dead Apoc. 20.4 when the Son of Man came in the clouds Apoc 19.11 & at that time the beast was cast into the lake of fire & the rest of the kingdoms were slain with the two edged sword, that is as to their bodies politic by the taking their dominions away while their lives in a litteral sense were prolonged. Apoc 19.20, 21 & then there appeared thrones & they sat up them Apoc 20.4, that is the Saints of the most High received the everlasting kingdom. So you see the analogy between Iohn & Daniel is full & accurate, & therefore the Beast is the Roman Empire.
And as the Apocalyptic Beast was prophesied of by Daniel, so was also the Apocalyptic Dragon. For the Dragon is Daniels Goat in the reign of his last horn & both are the Roman Empire. For the little horn which came forth out of one of the four horns of the Goat & waxed exceedingly great towards the south & towards the East & towards the pleasant land was the Kingdome of Pergamus, & by consequence the Roman Empire. For this Kingdom came forth out of the Kingdom of Asia acknowledge by all Interpreters to be one of the four horns, & after it had stood an hundred & fifty years was by Attalus King thereof in his last will & Testament wherein he made the Romans his heir committed to their care & government & continued in their Empire as one Kingdome with the rest of their territories & being in respect of Iudea & of the four Kingdoms or horns of the Goat a north west kingdom waxed exceeding great towards the south & towards the East & towards the pleasant land of the Iews: & after that the Roman Empire became divided again into the Greek & Latine Empires was continued downwards in the Greek Empire now subject to the Turks. This Empire of the Greeks is the Apocalyptic Dragon & was thus founded. First Philetarus revolting from Lysimachus made himself Governor of Pergamus for 20 years, & then his brothers Son Emmenes succeeded him. By this time they were Lords of the territories round about, so that Emmenes beat Antiochus Soler King of Asia in battel. He held Pergamus 22 years & after him Attalus held it 43 years. This Attalus upon beating the Gallogræci in a great battel by the assistance of the Romans was first of all the Governours {illeg} King, & afterwards assisted the Romans in beating Philip King of Macedon. Eumenes his Son reigned after him 49 years & assisted by the Romans beat Antiochus the great in a very great & {illeg} battel, & took all his countries from him on this side the mountain Taurus from which time he & his successors were called a Kings of Asia, {that is of the lower Asia. These assisted} the Romans {in conquering Perseus} King of Macedon. And after him reigned his brother Attalus as Guardian to his son Attalus 21 years, & assisted both Alexander the son of Antiochus Epiphanes in conquering Seleucus, & the Romans in subduing Pseudophilippus, & then in an expedition into Thrace took Dieglis King of Thrace prisoner, & afterwards slew Prusias King of Bythinia placing his son in his Throne> Then the younger Attalus reigned 5 years, & by his last will & Testament made the Romans his successors, leaving them as Iustin saith a most flourishing [61] Kingdome, whereby Asia becoming theirs transmitted to them its vices together with its riches a proper character of this wicked horn. The history of this Kingdome you may see in Strabo lib. 13 Eutropius & others. // Concerning the aforesaid wars; as the Romans on the one hand speak most of their own actions therein so {on} the other hand Mithridates King of Pontus (as Iustin relates)[62] said that the Romans were first carried into Asia in the ships of this Kingdome of Pergamus, & by their arms more then their own beat Antiochus the great & the Gallogræci in Asia & Perseus in Macedon. And is deserves further to be noted that Florus distinguishing the Roman Empire by the changes therein, into successive ages, makes the first age to be that of their Kings, the second that under Consuls within Italy alone, the third that of their wars abroad beginning with the first Punick war & ending with the legacy of Attalus, the fourth the following age till Iulius Cæsar, & this fourth age in comparison of the former he calls an iron age by reason of it's vices & intestine discords. The three first fall in almost with the three first Monarchies in respect of time, & the third (which alone of the three deserves here to be considered) began about the same time with the Kingdom of Pergamus. Thus the Roman Empire was two headed & by their own recconing a new age or Dynasty thereof began when those heads became united. Seeing therefore one of those heads was Monarchichal like the Grecian Kingdome, which Daniel by the type of horns & Name of Kings had been describing, & to the Romans almost swallowed up the horn it came out of & then under the Romans grew exceeding great, & the other head was democratical & far remote from the Prophets Country & forreign to the Kingdoms he had been describing before: no wonder if the Prophet in recconing up all the considerable horns of the Goat mentioned this amongst the rest, & described it by a little horn growing out of one of the four & waxing great, & took no notice at all of the other head before he was led to it by the adoption thereof into this. For in this Prophesy of the ram and Goat, as the two successive Kingdoms of the Medes & Persians by reason that the latter reigned over the people of both, are represented by the two horns of one & the same Ram, whereof the longer horn rose up first & was contemporary to the Babylonian Monarchy; so all the great successive kingdoms of the Greeks were most fitly represented by the several horns of the same Goat rising up one after another notwithstanding that the Pergamenian & Constantinopolitan was sometimes contemporary or coincident to the Roman Empire. For while the times of the two first Monarchies are comprehended in the Ram, 'twas an elegant analogy to comprehend those of the two last in the Goat: Nor is it any objection to say that the kingdom of Pergamus fell to the Romans & so ceased. For if the Medes did not cease to be a horn by the {illeg} of Cyrus, {illeg} they & the Pergamus though under one common King were till the reign of the Greeks represented by two horns upon the Ram: Much less did the Kingdom of Pergamus by its union with the Roman dominions cease to be a horn, seing the Romans were adopted into this Kingdom as legal heirs & successors of their Kings, Yea the interpretation we have given is altogether confirmed by that union. For that it should be thus is a part of the Prophesy. His power, saith the Prophet, shall grow mighty but not in his own power Dan. 8.24, that is he shall grow great & flourish under anothers power, as did the Kingdom of Pergamus under the power of the Romans.
And that this interpretation is true will further appear by comparing this Prophesy of the Goat with that of Daniel 11. For there the last King of the forth is, by the {consent} of all interpreters, Antiochus Epiphanes, & the Prophesy saith that Arms out of him shall stand up & they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength & take away the dayly sacrifice. Out of him that {illeg} of his Kingdom. For a {King} every where in these Prophesies includes his Kingdom & therefore the Arms which pollute the sanctuary are not those of Antiochus but a power distinct from him which arose out of the Kingdom over which he reigned, & in his reign or soon after began to stand up or grow great. Seing therefore these arms are the power which polluted the Sanctuary, they must be the little horn, & so that horn is a power or kingdom risen out of Antiochus his Kingdom & distinct from it. And such was the Kingdom of Pergamus. For the four horns were kingdoms situated to the four winds Dan. 11.4, that is in respect of Iudea. Of these the Egyptians & that of Syria & Asia were by Daniel called the kingdoms of the South & North. The western was the Macedonian, the Eastern that of Babylonia & Persia. This eastern founded by Seleucus was at first the greatest of all, but after a while became united to that of Syria & Asia founded by Antigonus, & yet as the united Kingdoms of Media & Persia are represented by two horns of the Ram, so are these united ones still to be accounted two horns. Afterwards by the defection of the Parthians the northern horn was left alone & descended to Antiochus Epiphanes. out of this horn came kingdom of Pergamus & soon after the reign of Antiochus stood {up} & grew great but not {in its own} power & took away the dayly sacrifice. For the {taking away the dayly sacrifice} & placing the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel was to be after the death of Christ Matt 24.15 & consequently under the Romans. Whence Daniel tells you that the Prophesy of the little horn was for many days (Dan. 8.26) that is for a very long time, & that it should be in the time of the end & in the last and of the indignation, Dan. 8.17, 19, that is in the end of Gods indignation against the Iews during their captivity. For so the Prophets use the words {anger} & indignation to signify as you may see in Deut. 29.24, 27, 28 & 31.29 {illeg}. 23.10. Psalm 85. Isa. 26.20. Ier. 23.20. Ezek. 5.13. Mica 7.9, 18 & other places. And that Daniel understands it so is plain by his saying that the King who does according to his will (that is the arms who took away the dayly sacrifice) shall prosper till the end when the {indignation} be ac{complished} Dan. 11.36 & then adding by way of interpretation that when God shall have added the {dispersion} of the holy people all these things shall be ended Dan. 12.7. Agreable to all this is also the long continuance of the vision of the dayly sacrifice & {transgression whether named} for 230 nights & days which kind of days Daniel in his 70 weeks uses for years. I might add the authority of Antiquity. For Ierom in his commentary on this 8th chapter of Daniel tells us that many Christians refer this {illeg} to Antichrist & this Number I find Origen Cont. Cels. l. 6 Irenaus l. 5. c. 25. Effrem Syrus. Epiphanius. And indeed the name of Antichrist seems to have been first taken from this horns standing up against the Prince of Princes. Lastly let those who are for making this horn to be Antiochus {illeg} consider how little it agrees with him. For he was no new horn but one of the many Kings of an old one. He did not wax great towards the east & south nor grow from a little horn to a great one, but was as great at first as at last. He was so far from growing greater then the four horns (as the little horn did) that he was always less & more inconsiderable then most of his Ancestors. He was great in no other power then his own. He reigned not in the time of the end, nor in the last end of the indication. Nor did he prosper in his practises against the sanctuary till the end of his reign but was beaten & bafled by the Iews. And Daniel himself saith that in his plots & designes to do mischiefe he should not prosper because the end was not then, Dan. 11.27. He only took away the dayly sacrifice & did not cast down the place of the sanctuary as the Romans did & as the little horn is said to do Dan. 8.11: nor did the pollution of the sanctuary by him continue so much as 2300 natural days, or six years & four months. It lasted but three years from the pollution of the Altar 1 Macc. 1.54, & if it be dated Antiochus his taking away the vessels of the Temple which was two years before 1 Mac. 1.20, 29 it will be but five years but if from Iasons apostacy and setting up a place of exercise for the heathen customes (1 Mac. 1.11, 14 & 2 Mac. 4.9) it will be above eight. For Iason did that above three years before Antiochus took away the vessels of the Temple 2 Mac. 4.23 & 5.15, 16. So then the conditions of this little horn do not at all agree to Antiochus, & if he be excluded, the Kingdom of Pergamus to whom they fully agree must necessarily be admitted.
The knot of these Prophesies being untied, which has hitherto been been the great stumbling block to Interpreters, you may now by comparing Daniel & the Apocalyps together much better understand them both. For now you may see clearly why the throne of Satan that old serpent the Dragon is said to be in Pergamus Apoc. 2 & that this Dragon reigning in Pergamus is the Goat's little horn grown exceeding great. As the Dragon that old serpent is the Devil & Satan & signifies a kingdom addicted to the worship of Dæmons: so Goats are the type of Dæmons or Devils worshipped by Idolaters as you may see in the Hebrew text of Levit. 17.7, 2 Chron. 11.15, Isa. 34.14 Whence grew the custome of painting Dæmons in the form of satyrs. A Dragon & a Goat are types of the same kind, both signifying Dæmons & idolatrous kingdoms, & therefore the Kingdom represented by Daniel's Goat is in the Apocalyps most fitly called the Dragon & that old serpent the Devil & Satan. Conceive therefore the Apocalyptic Dragon to be Daniel's Goat reigning in his last horn & to signify the Greek Empire first seated in Pergamus, then growing great not in his own power but in the power of the Romans, afterwards reigning apart & lately conquered by the Turks. Now you may understand also that the spiritual fornication of the Kings of the Earth with the Whore in the wilderness is the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel. For the abomination of desolation is as much as to say, the Idolatry of the wilderness, or the abominable Idolatry of those who make desolate the people of God, & turn the world into a spiritually barren & desolate wilderness. Now you may also perceive more clearly why the Roman Empire is described double by a Dragon & Beast participating one anothers heads & horns. For seing it was double & was so represented by the two leggs of Nebuchadnezzars Image, much more ought it be so represented in the larger & fuller Prophesy of the Apocalypse. In Daniels two visions of Beasts 'tis also represented double, the fourth Beast respecting chiefly the western Empire of the Romans & the Goat in the in the Apocalyps by the Names of the Beast & the Dragon, as is manifest by their horns compared with the Empires. For the Western Empire was divided into ten kingdoms or horns ascribed to the Beast both in Daniel & in the Apocalyps, & the Eastern was alwayes solitary or Monarchical as is represented by the Goats left horn, & also by the ten horns being uncrowned on the Dragons head & consequently not reigning in his proper body. While the Eastern & Western Empires were united the whole was both Beast & Dragon with common heads & horns but the horns were then only types of the kingdoms into which their people were to be afterwards divided & therefore they are not {crowned} on the Dragon. Again you may from the comparison of these Visions learn why in the Apocalyps the region of the Dragon is called the earth & the region of the Beast the sea. For in Daniel the Beast rose out of the sea & the Hee Goat came from the west upon the face of the earth. There is also another reason of this distinction. For the Iews called the western European regions the Isles of the Sea, & Asia wherein the Dragon had his throne in Pergamus, signifies the earth. Lastly you may hence understand what is meant in the Apocalyps by the third part of the stars, earth, trees, sea rivers, sun, Moon & {illeg}. For the Goat in his horns comprehends all the four Monarchies, {illeg} one third part is the Latin or Western Roman Empire another third part is the Eastern Roman Empire, & another third part the more Eastern kingdomes {conquered} by Alexander the great & so belonging to the Goats body but not to his left horn because not conquered by the Romans. For the better understanding of which it is to be observed that as the two horns of the Ram continue distinct horns till the end of the Medo-Persian Empire notwithstanding their union under one King; so all the four parts of Nebuchadnezzars Image continue till the end & then by the stone smiting the Image upon its feet are all of them together (the God & the silver & the brass & the Iron) broken in pieces & dispersed, & in the interpretation thereof the stone is said to be a kingdom which shall break in pieces all those kingdoms signifyed by the Image, & so the four Beasts continue till the fourth be cast into burning flames & then have their lives prolonged after their dominions of the four beasts were successive, yet we are not to end each Beast at the rise of the next, but to conceive them all still in being in their conquered people notwithstanding the various changes & intermixing of their dominions & more especially in their proper people & countries which conquered the rest. So then the Goat in a large sense signifies to the end of the world all the kingdoms at any time belonging to his horns, that is all the conquests of the Greeks & Romans beginning from the times of Alexander the great: & therefore while the Apocalyps in the prophesy of the Dragon alludes to this Goat, & this Goat consists of three parts, the Beast & the Dragon strictly so called & Persia with the rest of that Goats body not conquered by the Romans 'twas natural to call these the third part. In calling them so, some whole consisting of all three parts is alluded unto, & such is the Goat, the whole subject of sacred prophesy. The earth or territory of the Dragon's Kingdom, that earth out of which the two horned Beast arose is the third part of the whole earth upon the face of which all the four Beasts came up, & so of the rest. In a strict sence one third part of the whole is the earth, & another third part the sea; but in a large sence the whole is both earth & sea in several respects. Whence in the Vials those regions are called the earth & sea which in the Trumpets are called the third parts thereof.
Now within this Empire the Apostacy rose by these steps, first it began in the Apostles dayes to work in the forerunners of the great AntiChrist, & was to work in them till his appearance. Secondly it began to work more vigorously at the opening of the first seale. For then the Dragon came down among the inhabitants of the earth & sea with great wrath knowing that he had but a short time, that is a short time to reign amongst them till his being cast in chains into the bottomless pitt. Thirdly after some struggling in the time of that seale between the Dragon & the woman, it arrived to some degree of perfection at the opening of the seventh. For then the woman arrived into the wilderness & the Beast or eighth King rose out of the sea, & began his wicked reign & then begins the elaborate sevenfold description of the times of the Apostacy by the seven Churches & their Epistles. Fourthly the Apostacy reigns in its height in the time of the wo-Trumpets. For as it is to be conceived that the plagues of the Trumpets are proportional to the wickedness of the times, so the plagues of the Wo-Trumpets are described much greater then the rest Hence the twice times & half a time are to be dated not from the opening of the seventh seale but rather from sounding of the first Wo-Trumpet. For the Beast after his rise out of the sea or Abyss, first makes war with the witnesses for some time till he has overcome them both, then he continues forty two months (the time of the Nations in the outward Court) & the witnesses prophesy as long in sackcloth. The woman first flies into the wilderness, & then in the wilderness she flies unto her place where she is fed, that is she arrives by degrees unto her place upon the back of the Beast where the Merchants of the earth free her, or under her state of dominion where in she grows rich. Whether the flight of the Eagle through the midst of heaven crying Wo, wo, wo, &c may not in some respect allude to the period of the flight of the woman upon Eagles wings I leave to be considered. The Apostle Paul tells us that when that which letted should be taken out of the way, then should the Man of Sin be revealed, & by the tradition of the first Christians the Roman Empire was that which letted. Now The proper symbol of the overthrow & ruin of kingdoms is the smiting of the sun, Moon & stars, & this is twice done in the Apocalyps: first at the opening of the sixt seale, & then follows the revelation of the Apostacy at the opening of the seventh, & secondly at the sounding of the fourth Trumpet, & then follows its farther revelation at the sounding of the fift. The first seems to be a succession of the Apostacy to the Empire in respect of religion, the second in respect of dominion. The Empire falls & the apostacy rises by degrees, & as the Empire falls the Apostacy rises. For the religion is first taken out of the way & then in the wars of the four first Trumpets the earth, sea, rivers, Sun, Moon & stars out of the Roman world are gradually smitten, & at the same time the Apostacy gradually advances till at the sounding of the fift the whore gets upon the back of her Beast, the place where she is fed a time times & in half.
These things are made yet clearer by comparing the Visions of Daniel & Iohn. For the ten horns being crowned only on the Beasts head do not begin their reign before he rises out of the Sea. At his rise the waters out of which he riseth were one undivided Sea & continued so till by the wars of the second Trumpet the Sea was turned into blood; & then by those wars they became divided into the kingdoms signified by those rivers of water on which the plague of the third Trumpet fell. Here we have the ten Kingdoms represented by the horns or some of them, & Daniel tells us that the little horn shall rise after them & think to change times & laws & that they shall be given into his hand untill a time times & the dividing of time. This is the duration of his wicked reign, & therefore beginning sometime after the rise of the ten horns it is to be dated from some later Epocha then the sounding of the second Trumpet. Now this interval of the time times & an half is the most signal one in all the prophesies; & therefore should have a very signal Epocha, & after the sounding of the second Trumpet there is none other more signal one then that of the Wo-Trumpet solemnized by the voice of the Eagle flying through the midst of heaven & crying Wo, Wo, Wo to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three Angels which are yet to sound.
Again in Daniel (ch. 11.40) the reign of the Kings of the South and the North is called the time of the end, & the question being put How long shall be the end of the wonders the answer is made that it shall be for a time & times & half a time. Now the King of the North who comes against the Man of Sin like a Whirlwind with Chariots and horsmen & ships & enters into the countries & overflows & passes over & reigns till the great tribulation, & then plants the tabernacle of his palace between the seas in the holy mountain of delight, & comes to his end, is the kingdom of the Euphratean horsmen in the time of the Wo-Trumpet. For this kingdom is the Northern King called in Ezekiel Gog of the Land of Magog & comes against the dominion of the Apostates with a very great army of horsmen & politically slays third part of Men & reigns till the second Wo be past, & then together with the Beast at the time of the great tribulation makes war against the word of God & his armies in the land of delight & is slain with the two edged sword, as we shall shew in the next Chapter. Now so great an agreement in their time & qualities is a sufficient indication that they are the same: & thence also the King of the South which precedes the King of the North must be the King or Kingdom of the Locusts, which precedes that of the horsmen. For Locusts frequent hot southern Countries, & as the King of the South only pushed at the Men of Sin, & did not overflow the King of the North; so the Kingdom of the Locusts only tormented Men but did not kill them politically as the Euphratean horsmen did. So then the reign of the Kings of the Locusts & Euphratean Horsmen in the Wo-Trumpets is Daniels time of the end, & therefore this time of the end, that is that interval of the time times & half a time begins with the Wo-Trumpets.
The King who doth according to his will, & whom the Kings of the South & North come against, I called the Man of Sin. For to him doth the Apostle Paul allude in saying that the Man of Sin opposeth & exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God. For all this doth Daniel affirm of the King that shall be according to his will. He exalts & magnifies himself above ever God & speaks marvellous things against the God of Gods that is (as Paul expresseth it) exalteth & opposeth himself. Also he pollutes the sanctuary of strength & takes away the dayly sacrifices & places the abomination of desolation & therefore he sits in the Church or Temple of God, & in magnifying himself above every God he shews himself that he is a God. He prospers also till the indignation be accomplished, that is till Christ's second coming as Paul saith of the Man of Sin, & thence you may understand that he is the little horn of the Goat grown exceeding great. For the vision of that horn was at the time of the end & in the last end of the indignation Dan. 8.17, 19. Thence also you may certainly understand that 'tis he that takes away the dayly worship & places & abomination of desolation. For this is the Idolatry of the wilderness in the Apocalyps placed during the great Apostacy by the Man of Sin. I here take the Man of Sin & the King that doth according to his will in a large sence for the whole Apostacy. For in such a large sence the Dragon is sometimes taken, so as to comprehend the Beast, as you may understand by the ten horns of the Beast being also planted upon his head. And in the same large sence is the Beast sometimes taken so as to comprehend the Dragon as we shewed above, & then the wilderness is taken in a sence as large. Now considering that this Man of Sin begins his wicked reign at the opening of the Seventh Seale, & doth according to his will for some time before the time of the end wherein the King of the South & North push at him & come against him, it confirms to us that the time of the end begins sometimes after the opening of the seventh Seale, & so suits well with the time of the Wo-Trumpets. All the wars of those Trumpets are plagues inflicted upon this Man of Sin & those of the Wo-Trumpets are the greatest. Now such plagues also are the wars of the Kings of the South & North against him & while Daniel describes only these two together with the fall of the King of the North, the time of trouble & deliverance of the Saints by Michael which is a third, no doubt these three are the three greatest plagues & consequently the plagues of the three wo-trumpets especially since the third is evidently the plague of the third Wo-trumpet, & the two first precede it in continual order.
The times of this prophesy of the Scripture of truth being stated we may now be comparing it with other prophesies understood it better. And because we are now describing the Apostacy of the latter times, & this prophesy is the fullest description thereof in all Daniel, it will not be amiss now to explain a little further.
As the prophesy of the four Beasts is a commentary on that of Nebuchadnezzars image, so this Prophesy of the Scripture of truth is nothing else then a commentary on that of the Ram & Goat. First the prophetic Angel names these two Beasts or Kingdoms of the Ram & Goat in these words, I will return, saith he, to fight with the Prince of Persia, & when I am gone forth to the Prince of Greece shall come. Then he shews how the King of Persia shall make war upon the King of Greece, & how a mighty King of Greece (the first horn of the Goat) shall stand up, & his kingdom be broken off & divided towards the four winds of heaven but not to this posterity nor according to the greatness of his dominion. These are the four horns of the Goat which rose up when the first & greatest horn was broken off. Then he tells the history of the Kings of two of these horns (the southern & the northern) down to the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, as Interpreters have sufficiently explained. And of Antiochus & the King of the south he tells us that their hearts shall be to do mischiefe, & they shall speak lies at one table, but it shall not prosper because the end is not yet (Dan. 11.27) which is as much as to say that Antiochus is not the little horn of the Goat. For that horn reigns in the time of the end & in the last end of the indignation, & casts down the truth to the ground, & destroys wonderfully, & practises & prospers, & through his policy causes craft to prosper in his hand (Dan. 8.12, 17, 19, 24, 25) Daniel therefore after he has declared that Antiochus is not that King who reigns in the end nor doth prosper in his designs, mentions in the next place his unprosperous indignation against the holy covenant, & then passes on to describe the little prosperous horn. And out of him, saith he, arms shall stand up, & they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, & shall take away the daily worship, & shall place the abomination which maketh desolate.
It may seem at first sight that this taking away of the daily sacrifice or worship might have some relation to the desolation of the Iewish Temple by the Romans. And to make this suspition the more plausible it may be alledged that the Law was not abrogated by Christ's death. He came not to dissolve the Law but to fulfill it. Some part of it is not yet fulfilled, & therefore not abrogated, & the which he did fulfill by his passion was not thereby abrogated, because it might as reasonably be observed afterwards in commemoration of his passion as it was before in prediction of it. Types are of an eternal nature, being as fit to represent things past as things to come & therefore are not abrogated by their being fulfilled, but require as positive a comand for their abrogation as their was for their institution. Paul tells us that we do not make void the Law through faith Rom. 3.31, & that the Law is not sin (ch. 7.7) but holy & good (vers 12,16, & 1 Tim. 1.8) & that circumcision profiteth if one keep the Law Rom. 2.25, & that every man that is circumcised is a debter to the whole law, Gal. 5.3. For circumcision is the seale of a covenant to keep the law, & every covenant to do any thing which in it self is indifferent or not unlawfull is obligatory & binding & cannot be broken without sin. Whence the first Christians of the circumcision were all zealous of the law, the Apostles even Paul himself kept the law as long as the Temple stood, as you may see by several instances in the Acts of the Apostles. Amongst the Gentiles they had a dispensation to convers as the Gentiles for the Gospel's sake, but amongst the Iews the Apostle Paul himself was a Iew & accordingly he commands, If any man be circumcised, let him not become uncircumcised. And if he any where speak of the law as dissolved or abrogated, he doth it in one of these respects, either because the abrogation of it by the destruction of the Temple was at hand, or because it was not required that the converted Gentiles should by circumcision bind themselves to the observance of it, or because the putting trust & confidence in it and resting upon the fulfilling of it for justification was abrogated by faith in Christ. The Iews were bound to observe it by vertue of their covenant of circumcision, but were not to lay the stress of their Iustification & Salvation upon the observance of it; because that was to frustrate & make void the faith in Christ. And the Gentiles were not to be circumcised in order to Salvation, because that was to lay the stress of their Salvation upon the law, & thereby make void the faith in Christ, by which alone he is to be saved. This is the sence & summ of Paul's discourses on this matter. For that he means nothing more you may know by this circumstance, that in the law he disputes against, he includes the ten Commandments, as you may see in Rom. 2.21, 25 & 7.7. Gal. 5.14 1 Tim. 1.9, 10. For he doth not mean that the ten commandments are all of them abrogated but only that our Iustification by the observance of them is abrogated by faith. So then the Law continuing in force to the Iews at least till the destruction of the Temple by the Romans, it may seem reasonable to think that Daniel in predicting the taking away of the daily sacrifice might have some respect to that destruction of the Temple: & that the rather because the worship was not only ceremonial but also spiritual consisting in praying & adoring God, not only by the unbeleiving Iews but also by the beleiving. Daniel was a Iew & so the more likely to have some respect to the nation of the Iews. But yet when I consider that the Iewish Nation upon the calling of the Gentiles was rejected the few beleivers only excepted; that the worship in the Temple was performed by the unbeleivers, & therefore not acceptable to God unless so far as the beleivers were concerned in it, that the worship of the beleivers there consisted mainly in praying & praising God, & so the same with that of the Christians in Synagogues & Churches all over the world, & ceased not by the destruction of the Temple, that the host of heaven which the little horn of the Goat cast down to the ground, & together with the sanctuary trade under foot are Christians & therefore the daily worship here spoken of is Christian, & that the abomination or transgression of desolation was placed in the sanctuary a long time even untill the cleansing of the Sanctuary, which cannot be understood of the Temple all these things incline me to think that nothing els then the Christian daily sacrifice or worship in their synagogues or Churches (collectively called the sanctuary) is here intended & I am confirmed in this opinion by comparing these visions with the Apocalyps as follows.
In the prophesy of the Goat, the little horn first waxed great toward the South & toward the East & toward the land of delight by the incorporation of the Romans & the growth of their Empire, then it waxed great to [or against] the half of heaven & cast down of the host & of the stars to the ground & stamped upon them. As it made war upon the South & the East & the pleasant land for enlarging its dominion, so now it made war upon the host of heaven & cast down of the stars to the ground. And this came to pass when the woman in heaven was pained in travail of a Manchild, & the Dragon drew the third part of the stars of heaven, & cast them to the Earth. Then the horn magnified himself to [or against] the Prince of the host: & this came to pass when the Dragon & his Angels made war against Michael (the Prince of the host) & his Angels Then by him the daily worship was taken away & the place of his same {Mary} cast down, & an host was given him against the daily worship by reason of transgression, & it cast down the truth to the ground, & it practised & prospered. And this came to pass by the Dragon's coming down amongst the inhabitants of the earth & sea with great wrath, & beginning to prevail & take away the daily worship at the opening of the seventh seale, & completely casting down the truth to the ground & setting up the abomination of desolation at or before the sounding of the first wo-Trumpet. For against the host or Church of heaven an host or fals Church was given him when the two horned Beast rose out of the earth & the Woman fled into the Wilderness. The worship he & his host took away is the daily sacrifice described in the first five chapters of the Apocalyps as we explained in the ✝ section of this Treatise. The idolatrous worship sett up by his host, that is the worship of the Beast & his Image set up by the two horned beast & the Whoredom of the woman in the wilderness is the abomination of desolation. They that embrace it are called the abominable Apoc. 21.8, & therefore 'tis the abomination of the wilderness or as Daniel expresseth it, the abomination of desolation. This worship the host begins to set up at or soon after the opening of the seventh seale. Then follows a war of the Dragon & Beast against the {two} witnesses, & when they are overcome & slain & put on the mourning habit of sackcloth, that is {at} the beginning of the thousand two hundred & sixty days or sounding of the first wo-trumpet, the truth is fully cast down to the ground, & the abomination com{illeg} set up in place of the daily worship. Now the conflict between this horn & the host of heaven is in the prophesy of the scripture of truth thus described.
And out of him arms shall stand up, & they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength & shall take away the daily worship & they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. And the transgressors of the covenant shall he cause to dissemble, [ hypocritically to adhere to him] with flattering speeches: but the people of those that do know their God shall be firm & active. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many, yet they shall fall by the sword & by flame by captivity & by spoile [many] days [even to the end.] And when they shall [by the Dragons coming down amongst the inhabitants of the earth sea & persecuting the woman which brought forth the Man-child, & casting out waters as a flood after her, begin to] fail, they shall [by the earth helping the woman & opening her mouth & swallowing up the waters] be holpen with a little help: But many shall [hypocritically] adhere to them with flattering speeches & those of understanding shall [in the war of the Beast upon the witnesses] fall for a tryal amongst them & {to} large & to make them white unto the time of the end: for yet [even after the witnesses are overcome & slain] there is a certain time And the King [by whom they shall fall] shall do according to his will & he shall exact himself & magnify himself above every God & shall speak marvellous things against the God of Gods & shall prosper till the indignation [of God against the captivated & dispersed Iews] shall be finished for the determined time shall be fulfilled. Neither shall he regard the God of his Fathers, nor the desire of weomen, neither shall he regard any God for he shall magnify himself against them all. And together a[63] with a God shall he honour b[64] Guardians in his seat: even with a God whom his fathers knew not shall he honour [their] with Gold & with silver & with pretious stones & with valuable things. And he shall make the holds [by fortresses] of [his] Guardians together with a strange God; whom acknowledging he shall increase with glory & shall make them Lords over many & shall divide the earth [amongst them] for a [reward or] patrimony. And at the time of the end [when he shall have overcome the witnesses & those of understanding among the people are fallen] the King of the South [at the sounding of the first Wo-Trumpet] shall push at him & the King of the North [at the sounding of the second] shall come against him like a whirlwind - & enter into his countries & overflow & pass over [politically killing or conquering the third part of Men] and [at the sounding of the third] shall go forth with great fury to {destroy} & utterly to make away many & shall plant the Tabernacle of his palace between the seas [of Tiberias & the Mediterranean] in the Mountain of delight & holiness but [by the power of Michael the great Prince who is set over the children of thy people & in the great tribulation of the Saints shall stand up against him] he shall come to his end & there shall be none to help him - & at that time thy people shall be delivered [out of his hand & from their long captivity] every one that shall be found written in the book & many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to lasting life & some to lasting shame & contempt, & they that understand shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, & those that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever & ever. But thou Ô Daniel shut up the words & seale the book even to the time of the end many shall run to & fro & knowledge [of these things] shall be increased.
Then I Daniel looked & behold - one said to the Man cloathed in linnen - How long is it to the end of these wonders? [Or, for how long is the end of these wonders] And I heard the Man cloathed in linnen who was upon the waters of the rivers, & he held up his right hand & his left hand up to heaven & sware by him that liveth for ever that [from the time that the arms which stand up out of the King of the North shall have fully taken away the daily worship & placed the abomination which maketh desolate untill the Sanctuary be cleansed] it shal be for a time & times & an half [or 1260 days] & [after that] when the dispersion of the power of the holy people shall be ended then all these things shal have an end. And I heard but I understood not: then said I what are the last of theses things? And he said, Go thy way Daniel for the words are closed up & sealed. Even untill the time of the end many shal be purified & made white & tried, but the wicked shal do wickedly & none of the wicked shal understand but the wise shal understand. And from the time that the daily worship shal be taken away & the abomination that maketh desolate set up [until the captivity or dispersion of thy people begin to return] there shal be a thousand two hundred & ninety days. Happy is he that waiteth [forty & five days longer] & cometh to the thousand three hundred & five & thirty days [for then shal the great tribulation be ended & thy people as many as are written in the book shal be delivered & fully return from the dispersion & the dead be rewarded] But go thy way Daniel till the end [of these days] be: for thou shall rest [in the dust] & stand in thy lot [amongst the rest of the dead raised again to life] at the end of the days.
The end of the world day of Iudgment & world to come
By what has {been} said it is manifest that the end of the world is described in the last Chapter of Daniel newly explained. For there is predicted the resurrection of the dead, and that in such a manner that it cannot be interpreted allegorically. 'Tis said that they who sleep in the dust shall rise again some to reward and some to punishment and Daniel himself in person is named for one of those who shall then rise again. At that time is also predicted the end of the King of the North the fall of the great Apostacy, the return of the Iewish captivity and the great tribulation, and therefore in describing the end of the world we are now to give an account of these things as the immediate forerunners thereof. The periods of time we have in Daniel, but the order of the things is more distinctly described in the Apocalyps, and by comparing them together we shall better understand them both. Now in the Apocalyps the fall of the Apostasy is described by these steps.
At the end of the 120 days the ten Kings burn the whore of Babylon, and at the same time the spirit of life enters into the two witnesses, Prophets or Preachers, and they stand upon their feet, and ascend up to heaven in a cloud of converts, or as is exprest in the fift Church, An Angel flies in the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach [or testify] unto them that dwell on the earth and to every Nation & kindred and tongue & people, saying with a loud voice, Hear God & give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment [of the great Whore] is come & [worship no longer the Beast & his Image but] worship him that made heaven & earth & the sea & the fountains of Waters. This is the preaching of the Gospel to all Nations spoken of in Matthew chap. 24 & the Nations now to be converted are the fullness of the Gentiles to come in at the end of the Iewish captivity when all Israel shall be converted and saved, as Paul describes Rom. 11.25.
In the next place follows the second fall of Babylon called the fall of the tenth part of the great city & proclaimed both in the fift & in the seventh Church, saying Babylon is fallen is fallen &c. And this fall is followed with the conversion of a greater multitude: as is thus briefly exprest in the fourth Church; The remnant were affrighted & gave glory to God, & in the seventh Church is thus described at large – After these things [that is after the second fall of Babylon] I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying Allelujah salvation & glory & honour & power unto the Lord out God, For true & righteous are his judgments; For he hath judged the great Whore &c. At the same time also are the Iews converted which return from captivity as I gather from the next words. And the four & twenty Elders & the four Beasts fell down & worshipped God that sat on the throne saying, Amen, Allelujah. For I told you that in the worship of God in the Temple, the Christian Iews are described by the Elders & Beasts & the Christian Gentiles by all the Angels round about the throne & round about the Beast & the Elders & that by the falling down of the one or the other, & worshipping God, the conversion of the Iews or Gentiles is signified.
In the next place come three unclean spirits like frogs (croaking Spirits of deceivers out of the Mouths of the Dragon, Beast & fals Prophet working miracles to seduce the Kings of the earth, and of the whole world, & to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty, perswading them perhaps that the new converted Iews are the great Antichrist which was to come in the end of the world and reign at Ierusalem, & that the reformed Christians all over the world of their Communion are Antichristians, & by such pretences & their fals miracles seducing many to the worship of the Beast & his Image. At the same time therefore it is to be conceived that in the fift Church the third Angel flies through the midst of heaven, saying, with a loud voice: If any man worship the Beast & his Image & receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God &c. By the voice of this & the two former Angels understand the voice of those that preach the Gospel. Whether the three frogs are opposed to the three Angels and so come forth successively or come forth all together at the flight of the third Angel time will discover.
In the next place follows the time of trouble or great tribulation spoken of by Daniel & Christ in Matthews Gospel, & described in the prophesies of all the seven Churches. For this is the great tribulation out of which the Palm-bearing Multitude come in the first Church, the tribulation of ten days or prophetick years in the Epistle to the second Church, the war in which Christ fights against the Nicolaitans with the sword of his mouth in the Epistle to the third Church, & the anger of the Nations in the fourth Church at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet, thus described: And the Nations were angry & thy wrath [against them] is come & the time of the dead that they should be judged & that thou shouldest give the reward unto thy servants the Prophets & to the saints & them that fear thy Name small & great, & shouldest destroy them [the Beast & fals Prophet & Kings of the Nations] which [in the great tribulation] destroy the earth. This anger & destruction of the angry Nations is that war to which the seventh Trumpet sounds described at large in the seventh Church between the armies in heaven & the armies of the Beasts & kings of the earth. In the fift Church the tribulation is ushered in by this acclamation; Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the Commandments of God, – Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord, & then is described by the harvest whereof the hundred & forty four thousand Saints are called the first fruits. In the sixt Church 'tis involved in the battel of the great day of God Almighty to which the three frogs gather the Nations: & in the Epistle to this church 'tis called the hour of tentation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. In the seventh Church it is involved in the war between the two armies & delineated by the Angel standing in the Sun. For this is a type of the same kind with the Womans being cloathed with the Sun. The mystical body of the Angel is the Church, & the Sun is the aggregate of kingdoms through which the Church is diffused & who by his great heat scorches & burns her, that is makes war upon her in this persecution head & fire being the symbols of war: & the loud voice of this Angel saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven come & gather your selves together unto the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, &c, is the voice of the Church crying for vengeance. This voice is the same with that of the Angel in the fift Church who came out from the Altar & had power over the fire that is over the fire of the Alter where the Martyrs were sacrificed) & cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle saying thrust in thy sharp sickle to gather the clusters of the Vine of the Earth.
In the last place follows at the end of the great tribulation an universal Victory of the Church over all the persecuting Nations, & this is described in Matthew & the old Prophets by the smiting of the Sun, Moon & stars, & sometimes by other modes of speaking & in the Apocalyps in the first of the seven Churches by the coming of the Palm-bearing multitude out of the great tribulation, at which time all the Angels fall down before the throne & worship God, that is the Nations are universally converted. In the Epistle to the second Church by this exhortation; Be thou faithful unto death & I will give thee a crown of life; in the third Church by the finishing of the great mystery of God spoken of by the old Prophets; in the fourth by the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdoms of God & his Christ at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet; in the fift by the Vintage & treading of the great wine-press of the wrath of God; in the sixt by the voice at the pouring out of the last Vial, saying, It is done, & by the concomitant voices & thunders & lightnings & a greater earthquake then ever was before upon the face of the earth, & an exceding great hail the plague of which caused men to blaspheme God & Babylon's coming then in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wind of the fierceness of his wrath: & in the Epistle to this Church, by the door of the kingdom of David set upon for her to enter & by the promise to make the persecuting synagogue of Satan come and worship before her feet: & in the seventh Church by the victory of the armies in heaven against the armies of the Beast and Kings of the earth. This victory being the great mystery of God mainly spoken of by the old Prophets & being also the common period of the seven Churches: for continuing the synchronism of those Churches, & giving light to the old Prophets, it will not be amiss now to explain it more fully.
<127r>Now this war between the word of God & the Beast will be best understood by comparing it with the war between Michael & the Dragon. For Michael or Christ is this word of God, there Michael was represented by a Man-child who was to rule all Nations with a rod of iron & here being grown to maturity he comes to smite them with a sharp word & rule them with a rod of iron Apoc. 19.15. But as by the Dragon & his armies & by the Beast & by his armies we do not understand a single person & his armies but a kingdom & its armies: So we shewed that the Man-child or Michael & his armies not Christ in heaven but his mystical body, a Christian kingdom & its armies is to be understood, & therefore by the word of God & his armies a Christian kingdom with its armies is also to be understood. This kingdom to express the greatness of its dominion & its rise from the universal preaching of the word of God by the two Prophets is rather called King of Kings & the word of God rather then by any other name of Christ.
Against this King & his army come the Beast & the Kings of the Earth & their armies. The Beast & the Kings of the earth are not the Beast & his horns but the Beast & the Dragon. For the horns of the Beast go along with him into the lake of fire while the remnant called Kings & captains & mighty Men & horses & them that sit on them & all men both free & bond small & great, that is the flesh of the Kings of the earth & their people are slain & their flesh given to the fowls of heaven. The horns of a Beast always signify the kingdoms of which the Beast is composed. They gave their kingdom to the Beast & by that gift the kingdome was his kingdome, every one gave his kingdom to be one of his members. The ten horns are ten kings which make war with the Lamb, but these are kings of the waters comprehended in the name of the Beast; & in that respect differ from the Kings of the earth. The three frogs went forth of the mouth of the Dragon Beast & fals Prophet to the Kings of the earth & of the whole world to gather them to this Battle, & therefore the Dragon is engaged in the war together with the Beast & fals Prophet, & by consequence comprehended in the kings of the earth. The earth whereof these are kings is here taken but for a part of the whole world: & what the other part is you may know by the next words: And ever Island fled away & the mountains were not found. The mountains are of the earth, & the Islands of the sea, & therefore in the time of this battel the two parts of the world are the earth & sea or Dragon & Beast, The kings of the earth are to be referred to the Dragon. These are the Kings of the east whose way at the pouring out of the sixt Vial was prepared against the battel of the great day of God Almighty. For those kings are the kings of the Euphratean horsmen by whose serpentine tails you may known them to be of the Dragons family. By killing the third part of Men politically, that is by conquering the men of the Dragons kindome, they became Kings of the earth. And therefore in the army of Kings & Captains & mighty men to whose flesh all the fowls of heaven are invited, you have horses & them that sit on them, that is the Euphratean horsmen: and when these are slain the Dragon that old Serpent called the Devil & Satan (that is not the Men of his kingdome but his fals religion) is cast into that same bottomless pitt, out of which the Locusts (the predecessors of the Euphratean horsmen) arose before. This pit was then unlocked & opened to let out the seduction of the Locusts & after the Devil & opened to let out the seduction of the Locusts & after the Devil of seduction was cast into it lockt up again for a thousand years. If that error which before arose out of it remained in the world till the Dragon was shut up that he should deceive the Nations no more, its ceasing must be signifyed by its shutting up.
Now the armies of these Kings were gathered together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Ar-ma geddon. By the language of the people the country is designed. In the prophesy of the fift Church where the scene of the visions is at Ierusalem in the Temple, 'tis said that the winepress was trodden without the City (that is without) Ierusalem the phrase alluding to the wine & oyle presses, which were without Ierusalem at the foot of mount Olivel, & blood came out of the winepress even unto the hors bridles by the space of 1600 furlongs, that is unto the hors bridles of the armies of the word of God, who treadeth the winepress of the fierceness & wrath of Almighty God Apoc. 19.15, by the space of the region of Iudea. For of that length do a[65] Ierome & b[66] R. Menachem on Gen. fol. 60 reccon the land of Israel. Whence also the c[67] Ierusalem Talmud in describing the great slaughter of the Iews made by Hadrian at the destruction of the city saith that the horses waded in blood up to the nostrils by the space of a thousand & six hundred furlongs. But whether Iudea be here meant literally or as a type of the region of the whole Church I leave to be considered. Perhaps the persecution of the whole Church may end with a war upon the converted Iews.
The armies & the seat of the war being described, there remains the manner of it to be understood. The word of God being put for a Christian Kingdom, the sharpe sword which comes out of his mouth must signify the power of this kingdome. It comes out of the mouth of the word of God to express the rise & growth thereof from preaching. As upon the first fall of Babylon the Gospel began to be generally preached, & upon the second fall to be more preached, so upon the more signal judgment of destroying the Beast & Fals Prophet the preaching & converting of the remnant of the Nations must be much quickened. For the removal of the Beast & Fals prophet (the great enemies of the Gospel) will give a much greater liberty to its preaching then before, & the judgment will startle & incline men much more to hearken to it. And when the truth is grown strong enough the kingdoms or Cities of the Nations must fall of course, as is exprest at the pouring out the last Vial. And this is their being slain with the two edged sword. For slaying is every where in this prophesy used in a litteral sense for killing single persons but mystically for dissolving bodies politic. Then are all the fowls of the air filled with their flesh, that is the armies of heaven become possessed of their wealth & dominions, & the Dragon that old serpent called the Devil & Satan is bound & cast into the bottomless pitt that he should deceive the Nations no more. A violent conquest without the preaching of the Gospel would not put an end to error. The conquering sword, to have this effect on the Nation, must come out of the mouth of the word of God.
The Apostle Paul tells us that the Iewish sabbaths & Feasts were types of things to come. The Passover was a type of the first coming of Christ. Is not the Feast of the seventh month a type of his second coming? For the first day of the month called the Feast of Trumpets, wherein Trumpets sounded all over the land, answers well to the first yeare of the great tribulation, wherein the war between the word of God & the Beast & Dragon begins; & that tribulation lasting ten prophetick days, which are years, may end with the fast on the tenth day. For that Fast expresses well the great affliction & distress of Gods people in the end of the persecution immediately before the Beast & Fals Prophet be destroyed. And on this day began the Iubile or year of release, the Trumpets sounding all over the Land Levit. 25.19. Then follows four or five days until the Feast of Tabernacles, which may be a time of preaching the Gospel until the kingdom of the Nations begin to fall. Then the Feast lasts seven days, & is a very lively Emblem of war, victory & triumph. For the dwelling in Tabernacles expresses the encamping of armies abroad. The great sacrifices of all seven days, & the great sounding of Trumpets at them express great wars, & so answer to the killing of Men with the two edged sword called by Ezekiel a great sacrifice on the Mountains of Israel Ezek. 39.17. For these sacrifices the a[68] Iews accounted offered for the Nations. At the division of the earth there were accounted seventy Nations & in all the seven days seventy bullocks were offered, & the Iews accounted one bullock offered for every Nation They were burn sacrifices offered by fire & so denote a sacrifice of the Nations by war. Further the feasting of Israel on those seven days answers to the supper of the great God to which the fowls of the heaven are invited that they may eat the flesh of the slain. The crying Hosanna with palm branches every day is a type of victory & triumph. The pouring out of water upon the Altar all the seven days expresses the pouring out of Gods spirit upon all flesh until all seduction and error be cast into the bottomless pitt. The great rejoycing in the Temple with musick & singing & dancing in so excessive a measure as to occasion the proverb among the Iews, that he who has not seen the rejoycing at drawing of water had not seen any rejoycing at all, is a full expression of such joy as may be conceived at the conquest of the Nations. And the great Hosanna of the last day may express the completion of their victories. Considering therefore that the circumstances of the feast are so well fitted to represent the war of the great day, & that the Apocalyps which is a prophesy of Christs second coming alludes to almost nothing else in the law but this Feast, it inclines me much to suspect that there is some such mystery in it as I have explained. The truth I must leave to be discovered by time.
In the next place the Apostle saw thrones, the soules of the Martyrs and those who had not worshipped the Beast & his Image nor received G{ods} mark, & they lived & reigned with Christ a thousand years, & then Satan is losed & deceives the Nations Gog & Magog & they compass the beloved city & are consumed by fire from heaven & the Devil is cast into the lake of fire where the Beast & Fals Prophet are & shall be tormented day & night for ever & ever. Concerning all which I observe, first that since the Dragon is cast into the lake of fire where the Beast & fals Prophet were before, therefore the war of God & Magog is not that war wherein the Beast & fals Prophet were cast into the Lake, but another which comes after it by the space of a thousand years. Error reigned in the Dragon till he gave the Beast his throne, & then in the Dragon Beast & fals Prophet till the two last were cast into the lake of fire, & therefore the ceasing of all error for a thousand years signifyed by the shutting up of the Dragon must come afterwards. Secondly I observe that the Lake of fire into which the Beast & fals Prophet are cast is really hell, and that partly because the Devil is cast into the same lake of fire where they were before, & all three are therein tormented together for ever & ever, & partly because in the general judgment described in the next words, all the dead as many as are not found written in the book of life are cast into the same Lake, & their punishment therein is called the second death, a phrase used by the Iews to signify Hell torments, & certainly used in this sense in other places of the Apocalyps ch 28.8 & 2.11. A little before the Beast and fals Prophet are cast into the Lake of fire, they are thus threatned. If any man worship the Beast & his Image & receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation & he shall be tormented with fire & brimstone in the presence of the Lamb, & the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever & ever, & they have no rest day nor might who worship the Beast & his Image, & whosoever receiveth the mark of his Name. That Hell is here threatned is indisputably evident, & the subsequent casting out of the Beast & fals Prophet into the Lake of fire burning with brimstone is the putting this threat in execution. Thirdly I observe that the resurrection of the dead & day of judgment begin with the casting of the Beast & fals Prophet into the Lake of fire, & that for these reasons. First because their enduring the pains of hell presupposes the immortality of their bodys & by consequence either their resurrection or (which is all one) the change of their bodies. Th{is is} because their punishment presupposes their being judged: for no man is justly executed before sentence pass. Next because the harvest & vintage is synchronal to the time & is a known type of the day of judgment Matt. 13, Ioel 3.12. Also at the Trumpet (which sounds to this war of the Beast & Fals Prophet with the Lamb) it is said that the time of the dead is come that they should be judged & that God should give reward to his servants the Prophets, & to the Saints & then that fear his name both small & great. And here after the resurrection & judgment is exprest by dooming the Beast & Fals Prophets to the Lake of fire, tis exprest also by the reward & judgment of the Saints. And I saw thrones saith he, & they sat upon them & judgment was given them, & I saw the soules of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus and for the word of God & which had not worshipped the Beast nor his Image &c, & they lived [that is rose again from the dead] & reigned with Christ a thousand years: but the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished. In what sence the rest of the dead were dead & lived again after the thousand years were finished, in the same sence these were also dead, & at this time lived again. For these & the rest of the dead are here spoken of as two parts of the same whole both which rise again but not at the same time.
Now the rest of the dead are acknowledged to rise again really & truly in the last judgment thus described in the next place. And I saw saith the Prophet, a great white throne & him that sat on it from whose face the earth & the heaven fled away, & there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead small & great stand before God & the books were opened, & another book was opened which is the book of life & the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it & death & the grave delivered up the dead which were in them, & they were judged every man according to their works. And death & the grave were cast into the Lake of fire. This is so full & express a description of the last judgment as nothing can be more. But whilst interpreters date this from the end of the thousand years & make it respect only the second resurrection. I find it begins with the battel of the great day when the Beast & Fals Prophet are cast into the Lake of fire & so comprehends both resurrections. For it is the very same judgment with that described by Daniel in these words: I beheld the thrones [of the Kingdoms of this world] were cast down & the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow & the hair of his head like pure wool & his throne was like the fiery flame, & his wheels [those wheels of his throne described by Ezekiel] as burning fire. A fiery streame came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministred unto him & ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was sett & the books were opened. I beheld them because of the voice of the great words which the horn spoke. I beheld till the Beast was slain & his body given to the burning flame.
The general judgment is both of the living & the dead, & begins with Christs appearing & his kingdom 2 Tim. 4.1, 1 Pet. 4.5. The first act of this coming & judgment is to destroy the Man of sin which is a judgment of the living & this is done by these steps. First the whore is burnt with fire & then the Beast & fals Prophet cast into the Lake of fire, & the rest slain with the two edged sword & the Dragon shut up. For Daniel's begins the great judgment with the end of the reign of the little horn. I beheld, saith he, & the same horn made war with the Saints & prevailed against them untill the ancient of days came, & judgment was given to the saints of the most High, & the time came that the Saints possessed the kingdom. And so in the Apocalyps at the burning of the Whore when the witnesses rose again & the Gospel begins to be universally preacht an Angel proclaiming: Fear God for the hour of his judgment is come Apoc. 14, & then at the fall of Babylon 'tis said, she shall be utterly burnt with fire for strong is the Lord God that judgeth her ch. 18.8: & again; Alleluja, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth ch. 19.6. This is the period of time which Christ speaks in saying, when the Son of Man comes, shall he find faith on the earth? This is, as I may say, the dawning of the day of judgment. Then arises & breaks forth the Son of righteousness in the clouds of heaven to the ancient of days & receiving dominion & a kingdom, that all people Nations & languages should serve him for ever & ever, & in Iohn by the word of God the King of Kings & Lord of Lords coming in the clouds with the armies in heaven on white horses. For he comes now in a double power & dominion; in his mystical body of an army & kingdom of Mortals led on & ruled by a mortal king his vicegerent on Earth, & in his own person attended with an innumerable host of Angels who gather out of his kingdom all things that offend & them which do iniquity [the Beast & fals Prophet] & cast them into a furnace of fire; There shall be wailing & gnashing of teeth: & then shall the righteous shine forth as the Son in the kingdom of their Father (Matt. 13.41) being gathered by the same Angels from the four winds, & caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air & reign with him in heaven Matt 24.31. 1 Thes. 4.16, 17. And now thrones are set & they sit upon them & judgment is given them Apoc. 20: or as Daniel expresses it, The judgment was set & the books were opened. Now all this is thus repeated in the general judgment of the Apocalyps.
And I saw, saith he, a great white throne & him that sat on it, from whose face the earth & the heaven fled away, & there was found no more place for them. Heaven & earth are here taken in such a sence as they use to signify in prophesy & as they are taken at the opening of the sixt seale where the Sun Moon, & stars are smitten, & heaven departs as a scroll & every mountain & Island are moved out of their places, that is for the politic world. This heaven and earth departs away at the ruin of the Whore, Beast, fals Prophet & Kings of the earth, & sending up of the Dragon: And then follow the Vision of thrones & them that sat on them & the judgment given unto them: & the resurrection of those who reign with Christ. And I saw; saith he, the dead small & great stand before God & the books were opened &c, & from this judgment commences the reign of the Saints with Christ or kingdom of heaven, And I saw, saith he, a new heaven & a new earth, for the first heaven & the first earth were passed away & there was no more sea; & I saw the holy City the new Ierusalem, coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband The heaven wherein the Dragon & the woman were seen, & the earth & Sea to which he came down are now passed away, & in their place succeed the heaven & earth of a new kingdom, whose regal city is the new Ierusalem. So then every part of the Apocalyps has its repetition & interpretation. The prophesy of the Seals & Trumpets is repeated in that of the Dragon & Beasts, & the prophesy of the fall of Babylon & the casting of the Beasts & Fals Prophet into the Lake of fire, & the throne & judgment & reign of the Saints with Christ is repeated in that of the old heaven and earth passing away, the great white throne & general judgment & the new heaven & new earth & new Ierusalem.
But you will say how can the general judgment be in the beginning of the thousand years, since it is said that the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished. Understand therefore that there is a first death & a second death, a first resurrection & a second resurrection. The first resurrection is from the first death, the second resurrection from the second death. The first death is of mortal bodies cast into the grave, the second of immortal ones cast into the Lake of fire; & therefore as the first resurrection is from the grave, so the second is from the Lake of fire. The first resurrection is in the beginning of the thousand years, the second not before the end. From the time of the first resurrection the Saints lived & reigned with Christ a thousand years, but the rest of the dead [rose not then to live but died the second death &] lived not again till the thousand years were finished. Blessed & holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second wrath [burning the thousand years] hath no power [as it hath on all the rest] but they shall be Priests to God & Christ & reign with him a thousand years. He doth not say that at the end of the thousand years all shall rise again; for the Beast & fals Prophet remain still in the Lake to be tormented with the Devil for ever & ever. For there are degrees of reward & degrees of punishment. Some are great in the kingdom of heaven & others are the least therein Matt. 5.19. It shall be more tollerable for Tyre & Sidon & the day of judgment then for Charazin & Bethsaida, for Sodom then for Capernaum Matt. 11.21, 23. Every Man shall be rewarded according to his works. If any man build upon the true foundation Gold, Silver, pretious stones, wood, hay, stubble, the fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is. If any mans work abide which he hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward: if any man's work be burnt, he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire 1 Cor. 3.15. Is not this Christ's baptizing Men with fire? Is it not the prison out of which the debter comes not till he has paid the farthing? For so the ancient Christians understood it as Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, Cæsarius, also Gregory Nyssen, Ierom, Ambrose, Austin, & from this tradition corrupted might spring the Purgatory of the Church of Rome.[69] The souls of Men are often put for men living in the body (as here where the Souls of Men lived & reigned with Christ) which language being understood by few the erring multitude made a purgatory of the Souls of Men before the resurrection. We are buried with Christ in Baptism, & therefore the baptism with water is a type of the first death & first resurrection: why may it not be so of the second also? and why may not Iohn the Baptist indicate as much in saying, I baptize you with the Holy Ghost & with fire? If it may be so, then the argument against the general judgment's beginning with the thousand years ceases, & if the general judgment begins with the thousand years it must be also.
Now that it begins with the thousand years is further confirmed by the following considerations. In its beginning the old heaven & earth flee away from the face of him that sits upon the throne, & then appear new heaven & new earth & a new Ierusalem: & he that sat upon the throne said Behold I make all things new. These new things appear after the first heaven & earth are fled away Apoc. 21.1, & after God begins to sit upon the great white throne & therefore they begin not before the general judgment. But they begin with the thousand years, for these reasons. First it is said before the battel of the word of God & the Beast, that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, & the marriage of the Lamb is come & his wife hath made her self ready Apoc. 19.6, 7, & in answer to this God is represented in the beginning of the general judgment sitting upon a great white throne that is reigning in his new kingdom, & the new Ierusalem then coming down from God out of heaven is said to be prepared as a bride adorned for her husband Apoc. 21.2. The marriage of the Lamb therefore did not precede the descent of the new Ierusalem, & yet it was at the beginning of the thousand years, because it was come, & his wife had made her self ready when those years were commencing. Secondly at the descent of the new Ierusalem there is a great voice from heaven saying, the tabernacle is with men & he will dwell with them & be their God, & God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, & there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. It descends therefore at the end of the troubles, afflictions & persecutions of the Saints in this world when God wipes away all tears from their eyes, & begins to dwell with Men, & this is at the coming of the Palmbearing multitude out of the great tribulation. For they from thence forward are before the throne of God & serve him day & night in his Temple, & he that sitteth on the throne dwelleth [or hath his Tabernacle] amongst them & they hunger no more neither thurst any more, & God wipes away all tears from their eyes Apoc. 7.15. At the sounding of the seventh Trumpet when the Kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of God & of his Christ, & he begins to reign for ever & ever, then does he that sits upon the great white throne place his Tabernacle among men & begin to dwell with them & to be their God, & to wipe all tears from their eyes. Then are the former things [the first heaven & the first earth] passed away, & God makes all things new. Thirdly the words, It is done, coming after the words the former things are passed away & behold I make all things new, are of the same signification with the same words It is done spoken at the pouring out of the seventh Vial & relate to them. This is the great mystery of God to be finished at the sounding of the Seventh Trumpet, & therefore the new heaven & new earth are then created. Fourthly the fountains of living water to which the Lamb leads the Palm-bearing Multitude & the food wherewith he feeds them (Apoc. 7.17) are the fountains of water of life which God (at the descent of the new Ierusalem) gives to them that are athirst Apoc. 21.6 the pure river of water of life which proceeds out of the throne, & the fruits and leaves of the tree of life ch. 22.1, 2. Lastly the words which follow the descent of the new Ierusalem, He that overcometh shall inherit all things & I will be his god, & he shall be my Son: but the fearfull & unbeleiving & the abominable & whoremongers and sorcerers and Idolaters & all lyars shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire & brimstone which is the second death respect that overcoming spoken of in the end of every one of the Epistles to the seven Churches, & the punishment of the Beast & fals Prophet & their people called Idolaters & Whoremongers and Sorcerers & fornicators & theives Apoc. 9.20, 21 & Lyars & fals Prophets ch. 2.3 & 3.9. When therefore the one are rewarded & the other punished, then does the new Ierusalem descend from heaven, & this is at the beginning of the thousand years when the Beast & fals Prophet are cast into the Lake of fire, & thrones are set & they sit {upon} them, & judgment {illeg}& {illeg} & they who had not worshipped the Beast {illeg} This is at the sounding of the seventh {Trumpet} {illeg} the {illeg} the dead is come that they should be judged [{not} a few but all of them] & that God should give rewards unto his Servants the Prophets & Saints & them that fear his Name Small & great & should destroy them which destroy the earth. The {general judgment} therefore begins at the Sounding of this Trumpet.
But you will say how then comes it to pass that in the thousand years there are Mortals on earth? For the Nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog & Magog, those whom Satan is loosed out of prison to deceive & gather together to battel &c. are mortal men & therefore the camp of the Saints, & the beloved city which they compass are also mortals. Doth the earth last after the day of judgment & do mortals live on it, & do the Sons of the resurrection live among them like {other} Men & reign over them in the beloved city? I answer that is true the beloved city is a city of Mortals & say further that the glorious description of the new Ierusalem under the types of pretious stones is a commentary upon this City. For the Kings of the earth who {bring their} glory & honour into it & the Nations whose glory & honour they bring into it (Apoc. 21.24, 26) are Mortals. But to conceive that the children of the resurrection shall live among other men and converse with them daily as mortals do with one another, & reign over them after the way of temporal kingdoms is very absurd & foolish. Do Men convers with Beasts & Fishes or Angels with Men? Christ after his resurrection was invisible to Men unless when upon extraordinary occasions he was pleased to appear to them, since his ascension he has been seen but once, & such as his body, such shall ours be. In the resurrection they are as the Angels of God in heaven Matt. 22.30) And as Christ comes attended with an innumerable company of Angels, & by that conversation he has with them sends them whither he will, so the children of the resurrection shall have their conversation with the Angels. And such as has been the government of the world by the Angels, such may be their dominion over Mortals in the world to come. Ye are come, saith the Apostle, unto Mount Sion & unto the city of the living God the heavenly Ierusalem & to an innumerable company of Angels, to the general assembly & Church of the first born which are written in heaven, & to God the Iudge of all & to the spirits of just Men [by the resurrection] made perfect Heb. 12. This is that general assembly at the last day before God the Iudg of all described in the Apocalyps by the last judgment & the new heaven new earth & new Ierusalem. For the new Ierusalem doth not only signify a local city on Earth, but also comprehends mystically the whole assembly of Christ and his Angels with the Saints raised from the dead & reigning with him in heaven. If you ask where this heavenly city is, I answer, I do not know. It becomes not a blind Man to talk of colours. Further then I am informed by the prophecies I know nothing. But this I say that as Fishes in water ascend & descend, move whether they will & rest where they will, so may Angels & Christ & the Children of the resurrection do in the air & heavens. 'Tis not the place but the state which makes heaven & happiness. For God is alike in all places. He is substantially omnipresent, & as much present in the lowest Hell as in the highest heaven, but the enjoyment of his blessings {illeg} {various} according to the variety of places, & according to this variety he is said to be more in one place less in another, & where he is most enjoyed and most obeyed, there is heaven & his Tabernacle & Kingdom in the language of the Prophets. We usually conceive it to be above. When Paul & Stephen saw him in the clouds he was in heaven. Whether he ascended after his resurrection where he is now with the Angels, & from whence he shall together with them descend to judgment, there may the saints after the resurrection & judgment reign with him, & at the same time invisibly exercise dominion over Mortals on earth. For Paul tells us that at the last day the Lord shall descend from heaven & the dead shall rise & together with the Saints which then remain alive be caught up in the clouds (as Elijah was) to meet the Lord in the air & so shall be ever with the Lord. 1 Thes 4. And Christ tells us that the Saints after the resurrection shall reign on the earth. He that overcometh, saith he, & keepeth my works unto the end to him will I give power over the Nations, & he shall rule them with a rod of iron: as the Vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers. Apoc. 2.26. For Christ has redeemed us & made us unto our God Kings & Priests & {shall reign on the earth chap.} 5.10 & he himself is the King of Kings, & the Prince of the Kings of the earth chap. 1.5. {illeg} reign below are replenished with living creatures (not only the earth with beasts, & sea with {fishes} & the air with Fowls & Insects, but also standing waters, vineger, the bodies & blood of Animals & other juices with innumerable living creatures too small to be seen without the help of magnifying Glasses) so may the heavens above be replenished with beings whose nature we do not understand. He that shall well consider the strange & wonderful nature of life & the frame of Animals will think nothing beyond the possibility of Nature, nothing too hard for the omnipotent power of God. And as the Planets remain in their orbs, so may any other bodies subsist at any distance from the earth, & much more may beings who have a sufficient power of self motion, move whether they will place themselves where they will, & continue in any regions of the heavens whatever, there to enjoy the society of one another & by their {own sences} or Angels to rule the earth & convers with the remotest regions. Thus may the whole heavens or any part thereof whatever be the habitation of the Blessed & at the same time the earth be subject to their dominion. And to have thus the liberty & dominion of the whole heavens & the choise of the happiest places for abode seems a greater happiness then to be confined to any one place whatever. But the truth & manner of these things we shall not understand before the resurrection. I only speak of the possibility.
And thô 'tis become the common opinion that the globe of the earth shal at the day of judgment be burnt up & have an end, yet upon considering the matter I cannot find any sufficient ground for the concept. The original of it seems to be thus, that they to whom the day of judgment was first revealed deciphered it to the common people in the prophetick language, representing the world politic of the nations by the world natural of the heaven & earth & that the common people & some of the heathen Philosophers who understood not the prophetick language took it in the litteral sence. The tradition is that as the world once perished by water so it should perish again & that by fire. So some of the heathen Philosophers & so also the Author of the second epistle commonly ascribed to Peter. Now the world which perished by water was the world politique, & therefore 'tis the world politique which perisheth by fire, & as the Natural heaven & earth remained after the first perishing, so it may remain after the second. When the Whore is burnt with fire, & the Beast & fals Prophet together with all the world, whose Names are not written in the book of life, are cast into the lake of fire, & the heaven & earth fly away from the face of him that sits upon the throne, & God creates all things new; then doth this present world perish by fire & the heavens pass away with a great noise, & the elements (the Gold, Silver, pretious stones, wood, hay, stubble, as Paul expresseth it) melt with fervent heat, & then the Saints according to Gods promise look for new heavens & a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. For as Noah was saved out of the waters, so in the judgment by fire a remnant may be preserved to replenish the earth a second time.
And that you may be assured that this is the meaning of this Epistle or else that Peter was not the Author of it, hear what Peter himself saith. Ye denyed the holy one, saith he to the Iews, & killed the Prince of life, Repent ye therefore & be converted that your sins [that is the sins of your Nation in crucifying Iesus] may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the Lord, & he shall send Iesus Christ which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive untill the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken of by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world began. – Peter here describes at the coming of Christ to judgment, not the conflagration & final destruction of the world, but on the contrary the refreshing & restitution of all things.
Now the truth of this & of all the foregoing interpretations will more fully appear by comparing the Apocalyps with the prophesies of the old Testament to which it alludes. For since the mystery of God, which is to be finished in the days of the voice of the seventh Angel when he shall begin to sound, hath been declared by him to his servants the Prophets (Apoc. 10.7) there is no question but we may find it in them, & that very copiously, it being spoken of, as Peter saith, {by} the mouth of all the Prophets since the world began.
<142r>At the sounding of the seventh Trumpet that mystery is thus described. The kingdoms of this world are {become the} Kingdoms of our Lord & of his Christ {& they shall reign} for ever & ever & this alludes to the prophesies of Daniel (where the Kingdom which God sets up at the end of the four Monarchies is again & again affirmed to be an everlasting kingdom, which shal consume all the former kingdoms & continue from generation to generation (& therefore is to be a kingdom of Mortals) & which shal never be destroyed nor left to other people, but shal stand for ever; Dan. 2.44 & 4.3, 34 & 6.26. The judgment shall sit & the kingdom & dominion & greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given unto the people of the Saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom & all dominions shall serve & obey him. Dan. 7.27. are like the Son of Man [the world of God leading on the armies of heaven] came with the clouds of heaven & came to the ancient of days & they brought him neare before him & there was given him dominion & glory & a kingdom that all people, Nations & languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shal not pass away shal not pass away & his kingdom that which shal not be destroyed vers 13.14. For he shall reign over the house of Iacob for ever & of his kingdom there shal be no end. Luke 1.33. In that day will I raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen, & close up the breaches thereof, & I will raise up the ruins, & I will build it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom [that is of the Roman Empire whereof Edom (as all the Iews interpret) is a frequent type] & of all the heathen which are called [Christians] by my name, saith the Lord that doth this. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shal overtake the reaper & the treader of grapes him that soweth seed, & the mountains shal drop sweet wine, & all the hills shal be cultivated . And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel: & they shal build again the waste cities & inhabit them & they shal plant vineyards & drink the wine thereof: they shal also make gardens; & eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, & they shal no more be pulled out of their land, which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God. Amos 9.11. 'Tis not the return from the Babylonian captivity here spoken of. For they were then soon pluckt out of their land again, but after the return here spoken of they shal be pulled out no more. Nor did they then possess the remnant of Edom, & of all the heathen as they do now, & therefore we are here to understand the universal & eternal kingdom of God & Christ spoken of by Iohn Daniel. Further the same kingdom of God is thus described in Micah. Zion shal be plowed as a field, & Ierusalem become heaps & the mountain of the house, as the high places of the forrest. But in the last days [spoken of by Daniel] it shal come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shal be established in the top of the Mountains, & it shal be exalted above the hills; & people shal flow unto it. And many Nations shal come, & say come, & let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, & to the house of the God of Iacob, & he shal teach us of his ways, & we will walk in his paths: for the Law shal go forth of Zion & the word of the Lord from Ierusalem: And he shal judge among many people, & rebuke strong nations afar off, & they shal beat their swords into plowshares, & their spears into pruning hooks: nation shal not life up a sword against nation, neither shal they learn war any more. But they shal sit every man under his vine, & under his figtree, & none shal make them afraid: for the month of the Lord of hosts has spoken it. For all people shal walk every one in the name of his God, & we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. In that day, saith the Lord, I will assemble her that is a[70] dispersed, & I will gather her that is driven out & her that I have afflicted: & I will make her that is is dispersed to be neare, & her that was cast afar off a strong nation: & the Lord shal reign over them in mount Zion from hence forth even for ever. And thou, o tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shal it come, even the first dominion, the kingdom, shal come to the daughter of Ierusalem – He shal gather the Nations as sheaves into the floor. Arise, & thresh, o daughter of Zion: I will make thy horn iron, & I will make thy hoofs brass, & thou shalt beat in pieces many people: & I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, & their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. Mica 4. Tis in the last days that this is to be fulfilled & then the captivity shall return & become a strong nation & reign over strong nations afar off, & the Lord shal reign in mount Zion from thenceforth for ever, & many nations shal receive the law of righteousness from Ierusalem, & they shall beat their swords into plow-shares & their spears into pruning hooks & Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shal they learn war any more: all which never yet came to pass.
<144r>Further their return from the long captivity (not from the Babylonian but in the latter days) & the founding of the kingdom of God is by Hosea thus described: The children of Israel shal abide many days without a King, & without a Prince, & without a sacrifice, & without an Image, & without an Ephod, & without a Teraphim. Afterwards shal the children of Israel return & seek the Lord their God, & David their King, & the fear of the Lord, & his goodness in the latter days Hosea 3.4. And how this kingdom shal flourish in righteousness & last for ever is thus described by Ezekiel: Son of Man, take thee one stick, & writ upon it, for Iudah, & for the children of Israel his companions; then take another stick, & writ upon it for Ioseph the stick of Ephraim, & for all the house of Israel his companions. And joyn them one to another into one stick & they shal become one in thy hand. – And be in thy hand before the eyes of the children of thy people. And say unto them, thus saith the Lord God, behold I wil take the children of Israel from among the heathen whether they be gone, I will gather them on every side, & bring them into their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, & one King shal be King to them all, & they shal be no more two nations, neither shal they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. Neither shal they defile themselves any more with their Idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions, but I wil save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned & wil cleanse them: so shal they be my people and I will be their God. And David my servant shal be king over them, & they all shal have one shepherd: they shal also walk in my judgments & observe my statutes, & do them. And they shal dwel in the land that I have given unto Iacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt, & they shall dwell therein, even they, & their children, & their childrens children for ever, & my servant David shal be their Prince for ever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them: I wil place them, & multiply them, & wil set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My a[71] Tabernacle also shal be with them: yea, I will be their God; & they shal be my people. And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shal be inthe midst of them for evermore. This righteous and everlasting kingdom of David will easily I think be allowed to be the Kingdom of the Messiah, & consequently to be Christian, & therefore since it is of the two tribes & ten tribes returning from a long captivity into the land of Israel which God gave to Iacob, even into that same promised land wherein their Fathers dwell, & therein becoming reunited under one King & reigning for ever without apostatizing any more from God: it can be no other kingdom then that of God & Christ which commences at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet, & is founded by the conversion of the Iews & their return from captivity as almost all the prophets describe. And this prophesy is the more to be taken notice of & confided in, because in the Apocalyps upon the coming down of the new Ierusalem from heaven it is thus alluded unto: Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men & he will dwell with them, & they shal be his people, & God himself shal be with them & be their God Apoc. 21.3. But let us hear how Ezekiel goes on to describe the founding of this kingdom by its victory over the Nations. Son of Man set thy face against b[72] Gog in the land of Magog the chief prince of Meshech & Tubal & prophesy against him & say – I will bring thee forth & all thine army c[73] horses & horsmen all of them cloathed with all sorts of armour even a great company with bucklers & shields, all of them handling swords Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer, & house of Togarmah of the north quarters & many people with thee [Asia & Greece & the isles of the Sea mentioned afterwards & represented in the Apocalyps by the Beast.] – In the latter days thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword & is gathered out of many people against the mountains of Israel which [during the long Roman captivity] have been always wast but is brought forth out of the Nations & they shal dwell safely all of them. And thou shalt ascend & come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land thou & all thy bounds & many people with thee. – And thou say: I will go up to the land of unwalled villages, I will go up to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, & having neither bars nor gates; to take a spoile, & to take a prey, to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, & upon the people that are gathered out of the Nations, which have gotten cattel & goods that dwell in the midst of the land. – And thou shalt come from thy place out of the d[74] North parts, thou & many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company & a mighty army. And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land: it shall be in the latter days, & I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me when I shall be sanctifyed in thee, O God, before their eyes. Thus saith the Lord God art thou he of whom I have e[75] spoken in old times by my servants the Prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years, that I would bring thee against them? And it shal come to pass at the same time, that God shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shal come up in my face – & all things f[76] shall shake at my presence & the mountains shal be thrown down. And I will call for a g[77] sword against him, throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God; every mans sword shal be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence & with blood, & I will rain upon him, & upon his bands, & upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain & h[78] great hailstones, fire & brimstone. Thus will I magnify my self, & sanctify my self & I will be known in the eyes of many Nations, & they shall know that I am the Lord. Zion shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, & all thy bands, & the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the k[79] ravenous birds of every sort, & to the beasts of the field to be devoured. Thou shalt fall upon the open field, for I have spoken it saith the Lord God. I will send a fire on Magog, & amongst them that dwell carelessly on the Isles [the European kingdoms of the ten horned Beast] & in the midst of my people Israel: & I will not let them pollute my holy Name any more, & the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the holy one in Israel. Behold, l[80] it is come, & it is done, saith the Lord God, m[81] this is the day whereof I have spoken. And thou son of Man n[82] speak unto every feathered fowl, & to every beast of the field, Assemble your selves & come, gather your selves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh & drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, & drink the blood of the Princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs & of Goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, & drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. Thus ye shall be o[83] filled at my table with horses & chariots, with mighty men, & with all men of war, saith the Lord God. And I will set my glory among the heathen, & all the heathen shall see my judgments that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day and forward. – When I have brought them again from the people, & gathered them out of their enemies lands, & am sanctified in them in the sight of many Nations. Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen; but I have gathered them unto their own land, & have left none of them any more there. Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God. Ezek. 40 & 41. This prophesy I have recited the more fully because 'tis pointed at in the Apocalyps by divers allusions (as you may see noted in Margine) & contains a fully & distincter description of the battel of the great day of God Almighty then is any where else in scripture to be met with. For by all those allusions it is determined to be the battel of the great day to which the seventh Trumpet sounds; & more especially by this circumstance that it presently follows the return of the Iews from their captivity, & lays the foundation of their dominion over the Nations. Afterwards at the end of a thousand years follows such another war of the Nations against the holy city, whence those Nations to denote the resemblance which that war hath to this are also God & Magog.
Now since Ezekiel tells us that the war of Gog described by him was prophesied of by the former Prophets of Israel, we may expect it in the other Prophets, & if we look into the prophesy of Ioel we shal find a very lively description of it there. And first describing the invasion of Iudea by a Nation strong & numberless & how they lay the land wast, he adds. Sanctify ye a Fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the Elders & all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, & cry unto the Lord: Alas for the day, for the day of the Lord is at hand, & as a destruction from the Almighty become: which confirms what I said above of the year of this war being represented by the Fast of the fourth day of the seventh month. Then {illeg}the description of this war Blow ye the Trumpet in Zion, & sound an alarm in all my holy mountain [the voice of the seventh Trumpet] let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand. A day of darkness & gloominess, a day of clouds & thick darkness as the morning spread upon the mountains, a great people & strong, there hath not been ever the like, neither shal be any more after {illeg} even to the years of many generations [for this is a time of trouble such as never was since there was a Nation even to that same time Dan. 12.1, & after that shal be no more such insurrection of the Nations for a thousand years. The earth shal quake before them, the heaven shal tremble, the Sun & the Moon shal be dark, & the Stars shal withdraw their shining & the Lord shal offer his {illeg}fore his army. for his camp is very great, for he is strong {illeg} for the day of the Lord is great & very terrible & who can abide it – Blow the Trumpet in Zion, sanctify a Fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the people, – let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the porch & the Altar, & bid them say Spare thy people, o Lord, & give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them. Wherefore should they say among the people, where is their God? then will the Lord be jealous for & pitty his people – & will remove far off from them the northern army – The Sun [of the Nations] shal be turned into darkness & the Moon into blood [by the overthrow of their kingdoms] before the great & the terrible day of the Lord come: & it shal come to pass that whosoever shal call on the name of the Lord, shal be delivered: for in mount Zion & in Ierusalem shal be deliverance. For behold in those days, & in thattime when I shal bring again that captivity of Iudah, & Ierusalem, I will also gather all nations I will bring them down into the valley of Iehosaphat & will plead with them there for my people & for my heritage Israel whom they have scattered among the Nations & parted my land – The Children of Iudah & the children of Ierusalem have ye sold unto the Greeks that ye might remove them far from their border. Behold I will raise them out of the place whether ye have sold them, & will return your recompence upon your own head. – Assemble your selves & come all ye heathen & gather your selves together round about. Let the heathen be wakened & come up to the valley of Iehosaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest [of Gods people] is ripe;[84] come get ye down, for the press [of the wicked nations, the great wine-press of the wrath of God] is full, the fals overflow [with bloody for the space of one thousand & six hundred furlongs] for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, Multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The Sun & the Moon [of the heathen kingdoms] shal be darkened, & the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shal roar out of Zion, & utter his voice from Ierusalem, & the heavens & the earth shal shake; but the Lord shall be the hope of his people, & the strength of the children of Israel. So shal ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shal Ierusalem be holy, & there shall no strangers pass through her any more. And it shal come to pass in that day, that the mountains shal drop down new wine, & the hills shall flow with milk, & all the rivers of Iudah shal flow with waters, & a fountain shal come forth of the house of the Lord, & shal water the valley of Shittim. Egypt [the great Apocalyptic Dragon] shall be a desolation & Edom [the Roman dominions signifyed by the ten horned Beast] shal be a desolate wilderness [for the abomination which maketh desolate &] for the violence [of the Greeks & Latines of the Roman Empire] against the children of Iudah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Iudah shal dwell for ever & Ierusalem from generation to generation. Thus far Ioel. When the Iews shal return from captivity (not from the Babylonian but from among the Greeks whither they were by the armies of the kingdom of Pergamus the Apocalyptic Dragon in the time of the Roman Empire dispersed then, saith Ioel, the northern army (the King of the North in Daniel & Ezekiel) with all the heathen round about shall come against them & be overthrown in Iudea with a very great overthrow, & that immediately before the great & terrible day of God, the day of judgment, & from thence forward Ierusalem shal flourish & reign for ever. And it is very observable that the mystery of the harvest & vintage described in the Apocalyps is here applied to the slaughters made in the war, the people of God falling in the harvest by the hand of the Nations invading them & the chapters of the wicked invaders by being gathered & squeezed in the vintage. For the allusion of the Apocalyptic harvest & vintage to this of Ioel is so evident that by this circumstance alone we might be assured that Ioel here speaks of the people prophesied of in the Apocalyps. But how the harvest precedes the vintage is more distinctly described by Isaiah in his prophesies annexed to those of Zechary chap. 14. Behold, saith he, the day of the Lord cometh, & the spoile shall be divided in the midst of thee For I will gather all nations against Ierusalem to battel, & the city shal be taken [& the abomination of desolation stand where it ought not, Matt. 24] & the houses rifled, & the weomen ravished, & half of the city shal go forth into captivity, & the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shal the Lord go forth & fight against those Nations as when he fought in the day of battel – And the Lord my God shal come [to judgment] & all the saints with thee – & it shal be in that day that [the law of God signifyed by ] living waters shall go out from Ierusalem – & the Lord shall be King over all the earth – & there shal be no more utter destruction but Ierusalem shal be safely inhabited – And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Ierusalem, their flesh shal consume – & a great tumult from the Lord shal be among them – & Iudah also shal fight at Ierusalem – And it shal come to pass that every one that is left of all the Nations which came against Ierusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King the Lord of hosts & to keep the feasts of Tabernacles &c. Thus far Isaiah. Now the enjoyning the feasts of Tabernacles & by consequence the Fast also) to be from thence forwards kept by the conquered nations, is plainly in memory of the victory & foundation of the new kingdom, & therefore confirms what I said of that Fast & Feast's being a type of the conquest of the Nations at Christs second coming. Tis the way of all kingdoms to keep anniversary solemnities of signal blessings & great deliverances. The Iews kept the Passover partly in memory of their coming out of Egypt, partly as an anniversary type of the passions of the Messiah to come: & we now keep it in memory of his Passion past. And so the feast of the seventh month kept by the Iews as a type of Christs second coming of the kingdom of God then to be founded may be hereafter kept in memory of that coming & as the anniversary or birth-day of the kingdom of God which from thence forward shal stand for ever. But after what manner it shal be kept belongs not to us to enquire. At that time God will pour out his spirit upon all flesh (as Ioel tells us) & what he shal appoint that shall be done.
Of the same kind with the prophesies of Ezekiel & Ioel are the eight last chapters of Isaiah. These are pointed at in the Apocalyps by many allusions & therefore tis proper here to note them. For by comparing them & the Apocalyps together both will be illustrated. The prophesy is long & therefore I will content my self with noting only some of the more material passages. According to their deeds, accordingly will he repay fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies, to the Islands [the European kingdoms of the Beast] he will repay recompence. So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, & his glory from the rising of the Sun: when the enemy shall come in like a flood the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, & unto them that turn from transgression in Iacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with Men, saith the Lord, my spirit that is upon thee, & my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed saith the Lord, from henceforth & for ever. – surely the Isles [whether thou hast been scattered] shall wait for me, & the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy Sons from far, their Silver & their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God; & to the holy one of Israel because he hath glorified thee. And the sons of strangers shal build up thy wals, & their Kings shal minister unto thee:[85] for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. Therefore my gates shall be open continually, they shal not be[86] shut day nor night, the men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles & that their Kings may be brought. For the Nations & kingdome that will not serve thee, shall perish: yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted. – the sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending to thee & all they that despise thee shall bow down at the soles of thy feet, & they shal call thee the city of the Lord the Zion of the Holy one of Israel. Whereas thou hast been forsaken & hated {so the woman went through} thee, I will make thee an eternal excellence a son of many generations. – The Sun shal be no more thy light by day, neither for[87] brightness shall the Moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light & thy God thy glory. Thy Sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, & the days of {thy burning} shall be ended.[88] Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever. – And they shall build the old wasts, they shal raise up the former desolations & they shall repair the wast cities the desolations of many generations – And thou shalt be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall[89] name, – thy land shal be married[90] – & as the bridegroom rejoyceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoyce over thee. – Say ye to the daughter of Zion, behold thy Salvation cometh & his reward is with him, and his work before him. – Who is this that cometh from [the Roman Nation typified by] Edom, with died garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thy apparel, & thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine fat? I have[91] troden the winepress alone, & of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, & trample them in my fury, & their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, & I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, & the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, & there was none to help; & I wondred that there was none to uphold: therefore my own brought salvation unto me, & my fury, it upheld me. And I will tread down the people, in mine anger, & make them drunk in my fury, & I will bring[92] down their strength to the earth – When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. – I said behold me, behold me, unto a [Christian] nation that was not called by my name. I have spread out mine hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts. A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face, that sacrificeth in [temples built in places inclosed like] gardens, & offereth the incense [of their prayers] upon bricks which remain among the graves, & lodge in the monuments, which eat swines flesh, & broth of abominable things in their vessels: which say, stand by thy self, come not near to me, for I am holier then thou, these are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day. Behold, it is written before me, I will not keep silence, but will recompence, even recompence into thy bosome. Your iniquities, & the iniquities of your father together, saith the Lord, which hath offered incense upon the mountains, & blasphemed me upon the hills[93] therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom. Behold my servant shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shal cry for sorrow of heart, & howl for vexation of spirit. And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord God shall slay thee, & call his servants by another name.[94] That he who blesseth himself in the earth, shall bless himself in the God of truth, & he that sweareth in the earth, shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, & because they are hid from mine eyes. For behold I create new heavens, & a new earth; & the former shal not be remembred, nor come into minde.[95] But be ye glad & rejoyce for ever in that which I create: for behold I create Ierusalem a rejoycing, :& her people a joy. And I will rejoyce in Ierusalem & joy in my people, & the voice of weeping shal be no more heard in her, nor the voice[96] of crying. There shal be no more thence an Infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shal dye an hundred years old, but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, & inhabit them; & they shall plant vineyards, & eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, & another inhabit, they shall not plant, & another eat: for as the days of a tree, are the days of my people, & mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. – Hear the word of the Lord ye that tremble at his word. Your brethren [the Edomites or Romans] that hated you, that cast you out for my name sake, said, let the Lord be glorified; but he shall appear to your joy, but they shall be ashamed. A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the Temple, a voice of the Lord that rendreth recompence to his enemies. Before she travailed, she brought forth, before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child. Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day, or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. – And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoyce, & your bones shall flourish like an herb, & the hand of the Lord shall be known towards his servants, & his indignation towards his enemies. For behold, the Lord shal come with fire, & with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, & his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire, & by his sword, will[97] the Lord plead with all flesh: & the slain of the Lord shall be many. They that sanctify themselves, & purify themselves in [the Temples of the] Gardens [drawing two lines] one after another in the middle [of each] eating swines flesh, & the abomination, & the mouse, shal be consumed together, saith the Lord. For I know their works & their thoughts: it shal come, that I will gather all Nations, & tongues, & they shall come & see my glory. And I will set a sign among them, & I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul & Lud, that draw the bow, to Tabal & Iavan, to the Isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; & they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. And they shal bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord, out of all nations, upon horses & in chariots, & in litters, & upon mules, & upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Ierusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. And I will also take of them for Priests, & for Levites, saith the Lord. For as the new heavens & the new earth which I will make,[98] shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed & your name remain. And it shal come to pass, that from one new moon to another, & from one sabboth to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. And they shal go forth & look upon the carkasses of the men that have transgressed against me [the Beast & fals Prophet who shal be tormented in the presence of the Lamb, & in the presence of his holy Angels] for their worm shall not dye, neither shall their fire be quenched, & they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. In this prophesy of Isaiah as there are several passages which tend to the illustration of the Apocalyps so more especially those of the new heavens & new earth & new Ierusalem, & of treading the winepress of Gods wrath. For the meaning of these types is fully explained. The type also of making the Nations drunk with the cup of the wine of Gods wrath is here sufficiently declared to be of the same signification with that of treading the winepress. But this type is more fully explained by Ieremiah chap. 25. For he there prophesies of the cup of the wine of God's fury given first to the Iews & then to all Nations to drink, saying Drink ye & be drunken, & spue and fall & rise no more because of the sword which I send among you – For lo I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, & should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished, for I will call fro a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of Hosts. Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The Lord shall roar from on high, & utter his voice form his holy habitation, he shall mightily roar upon his habitation, he shall give a shout as they that treat the grapes against all the inhabitants of the earth – for the Lord hath a controversy with all nations – he will give them that are wicked to the sword – & the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth. Here you see again the treading of the winepess, & the drinking the wine-cup of God's fury made types of the same signification. For the cup of the wine of the wrath of God is nothing else then the blood of the grapes trod out of the great winepress of the wrath of God.
In the aforesaid prophesy of Isaiah the resurrection & judgment of the dead about the time of battel of the great day is insinuated both in the flourishing of their bones as an herb, & in the vision of the carcasses of the transgressors whose worm dieth not, and whose fire is not quenched: but the resurrection at this time is more clearly predicted by Isaiah in another place. In this mountain, saith he, shall the Lord of Host make unto all people a Feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the Lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face othe covering cast over all people, & the vail that is spread over all Nations. He will swallow up death in victory, & the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, & the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth; fro the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, & he will save us: this is the Lord, we have waited for him, we will be glad, & rejoyce in his salvation. Open ye the gates that the righteous Nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. – Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise: awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for the dew is as the dew of herbs, & the earth shall cast out the dead. Come my people, enter thou into thy chambers, & shut thy doors about thee; hide thy self as it were for a little moment, untill the indignation be overpast. For behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, & shall no more cover her slain. In that day the Lord with his sore & great & strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent, & he shall slay the Dragon that is in the sea. You have here ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ You have here not only the time of the resurrection stated, but also the duration of the indignation spoken of by Daniel, & the slaying of the people of the Apocalyptic Dragon with the two edged sword. For the crooked Serpent or Dragon here spoken of is the same with that in the Apocalyps. In respect of his religion he is cast into the bottomless pitt, but in respect of his people he is slain with the sword being the Gog of Ezekiel & the Egypt of Iohn & Ioel. The Iews have a tradition that at the coming of the Messiah they shal feast upon two great Beast, Leviathan & Behemoth, & for this they are much derided by Christians, but their Leviathan is the Leviathan of Isaiah, & their Behemoth the dreadful beast of Daniel, called in the Apocalyps the Dragon & Beast, & their feeding upon them is the Feast to which the fowls of the air are invited in Iohn & Ezekiel, & which in Ezekiel & in this prophesy of Isaiah is called a feast of fat things.
To the prophesies hitherto explained may be added others to the same purpose. As the promise to Abraham to give the land of Canaan (that land which he then beheld, & walked through)_ to him & his seed for ever Gen. 13.16 for an everlasting possession by an everlasting covenant with his seed in their generations chap. 17.7, 8. Also the prophesy of Moses that if Israel would not be diligent to keep the law (as he knew they would not Deu. 31.20) they should be afflicted with great plagues & be rooted out of their land in great indignation & dispersed into all nations, & afterwards when they should repent & turn to the Lord their God, then the Lord should turn their captivity & gather them from all the nations whither he had scattered them & bring them into the land which their Fathers possessed, & bless them & their seed therein Deut. 20.29. 30. Other prophesies to the same purpose there are in the Psalme (as in Psal 2, 22, 45, 46, 47, 48, 53 and some others) & in Isaiah chap. 1, 2, 4, 11, 15 &c. Ieremiah chap. 3, 16, 23, 30, 31, 34. Ezek 16, 28, 34, 36, 37. Hosea 14 Obadiah, Micah 5, 14, Nahum 1, Habak 3, Zeph. 3. Haggai 2. Zech. 2, Mal. 4. So that the great mystery of God to be fulfilled at the voice of the seventh Angel when he shal begin to sound is the main thing spoken of by the old Prophets. But those which I have produced are sufficient to shew the consent of sacred prophesy, & ascertain the truth of the foregoing interpretations of the Apocalyps. Yet there are some prophesies of the new Testament not to be omitted.
The Apostle Paul tells us that if the casting away of the unbelieving Iews be the reconciling of the world, the receiving them again shal be life from the dead, & that if they abide not still in unbelief they shal be again grafted into their own olive tree, & that he would not have us ignorant of this mystery (least we should be wise in our own conceipts) that blindness in part is happened to Israel untill the fulness of the Gentiles enter, & so all Israel shal be saved, as it is written, There shal come out of Sion the deliverer & shal turn away ungodliness from Iacob, for this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins. Hence I observe these things, first that the restauration of the Iewish nation so much spoken of by the old Prophets respects not the few Iews who were converted in the Apostles days, but the dispersed nations of the unbeleiving Iews to be converted in the end when the fulness of the Gentiles shal enter, that is when the Gospel (upon the fall of Babylon) shal be in to be preached to all the Gospel (upon the fall of Babylon) shal begin to be preached to all Nations. Secondly that the prophesies of Isaiah described above by being here cited by the Apostle is limited to respect the time of the future conversion & restitution of the Iewish Nation, & thirdly that the humour which has long reigned among the Christians of boasting our selves against the Iews, & insulting over them for their not beleiving, is reprehended by the Apostle for high-mindedness, & self-conceipt, & much more is our using them despightfully, Pharisaicall & impious.
Conformable to this of Paul is the prophesy of Christ as it is reported by Luke. there shal be great distress in the land & wrath upon this people, & they shal fall by the edge of the sword & shal be led away captive into all nations & Ierusalem shal be troden down of the Gentiles untill the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. But because Luke who wrote his Gospel by information others doth often alter the order of things, as may be seen in the sermon on the mount which he breaks into several pieces & disperses them into several parts of his Gospel as if spoken on several occasions, & because he doth not relate this prophesy of Christ entire but sets down part of it in the 21th part in the 12th part in the 17th & part in the 19th Chapters of his Gospel & varies the phrase from what we find it in Matthew, who was an eye-witness of what he wrote & had the promise of his spirit to strengthen his memory & wrote first of any Man, & seems to keep a good order in the things & relate them entire, & therefore I had rather take the prophesy as it lives in Matthew.
The prophesy was in answer to this question, When shal these things be [vizt the destruction of the Temple?] & what shal be the sign of thy coming & of the end of the world? & therefore in the Prophesy we are to expect an answer to all these things. And by consequence these words in the end of the prophesy [And then shal appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven & then shal all the tribes of the earth mourn & they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power & great glory & he shal send his Angels with a great sound of a trumpet & they shal gather together his Elect from the four winds from one end of the heaven to the other] are to be understand of Christ's coming to judgment in the end of the world.
The circumstance of sending his Angels with the sound of a Trumpet to gather his Elect from the four winds is that which Paul speaks of when he saith that Christ shal descend from heaven with the Trumpet of God, & the dead in Christ shal rise first, & then we which are alive shal be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So in the parable of the harvest where the Master saith the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares & bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn: & the harvest is interpreted to be the end of the world & the reapers to be the Angels. As therefore the tares are gathered & burnt in the fire, so shal it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shal send forth his Angels & they shal [first] gather out of his kingdome all things that offend & them which do iniquity & shal cast them into a furnace of fire. There shal be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shal the righteous [also gathered from the four winds by those reapers the Angels] shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Matt. 13. Then shal two be in the field one shal be taken & the other left. Two weomen shal be grinding at the mill & one shal be taken & the other left. Matt. 24.40 In that night there shal be two men in one bed the one shal be taken & the other left – And they answered & said unto him where Lord? and he said unto them wheresoever the body is thither will the Eagles [that is the Angels] be gathered together. Luke 17.34, 37. Matt. 24.28. And this gathering of the elect by the Angels is a second reason why I think the coming of Christ in the clouds cannot be understood by any other coming then that real one in the end of the world.
Another reason is the great mystery that is made of this day & our being commanded to watch because of it, & that some are then rewarded others cast into hell. Of that day & hour saith he knoweth no man, no not the {illeg} But as the days of {illeg}watch therefore for ye {illeg}Lord doth come – Blessed is he whom the Lord when {illeg} find so {illeg} Verify I say unto you that {illeg} goods, But & if the evil servant shal say {illeg} Lord delayeth his coming I shal begin to smite his fellow servants & to eat & drink with the drunken, the Lord of that servant shal come in a day when he looketh out for him, & in an hour that he is not aware of & shal cut him off & appoint him his portion with the hypocrites, there shall be weeping & gnashing of teeth Matt. 24.36, 42, 48. To these may be added the three Parables which follow in the next chapter & were spoken at the same time concerning the same coming. And he that shal interpret all these things of any thing else then Christs coming to judgment in the end of the world, lays a foundation for perverting all the prophesies of Christ's real coming to judgment & of the resurrection of the body and of heaven and hell and of eluding and ridiculing them all.
A fourth reason is the full & express description of his coming compared with the like descriptions in other places of scripture. Then, saith he, shal appear the sign of the son of man in heaven & then shal all the tribes of the earth mourn & they shal see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power & great glory. Can any description of Christs second coming & personal appearance be more exprest? & is not this the same with that in the Apocalyps? Behold he cometh with clouds & every eye shal see him & they also which pierced him & all kindred of the earth shal wail because of him: Even so, Amen. Those who pervert these prophesies & apply them to the siege of Ierusalem by the Romans as if Christ here came only to judgment in the Roman armies against the Iews make this mourning of all the tribes of the earth to be nothing else but the lamenting of the Iews at the desolation of Ierusalem. But if they would but compare the Scriptures they might find it otherwise in Zechary. Behold, saith he, I will make Ierusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about when they shal be in the siege both against Iudah & against Ierusalem. And in that day I will make Ierusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shal be cut in pieces thô all the people of the earth I will defend the inhabitants of Ierusalem & he that is feeble among them at that day shal be as David, & the house of David shal be as God, as the Angel of the Lord before them. And it shal come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Ierusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, & upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of grace & of supplications, & they shal look upon me whom they have pierced, & they shal mourn for him as one mourneth for his only begotten son & shal be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first born – & all the land shall mourn every family apart – & all the families that remain every family apart. Zech. 12. This is the seing the Son of Man & mourning for him described in Matthew & Iohn, & this is not at the captivity of Ierusalem but when all the Nations who come against it are cut in pieces; not of the wicked incredulous & captivated Iews but of the pious converted & victorious; not for their desolation & captivity, but for the piercing of him whom they looked upon: nor was the Son of Man who here appeared to them a Roman heathen Emperor, but Christ himself whom the nations of the mourners had pierced.
Another reason is the manner of Christs coming which is said to be not after the manner of fals Christs gathering armies in the deserts or hiding themselves for a time in the secret chambers, not after any such humane way but in the clouds with great glory like lightning with cometh out of the east & shineth into the west. I would fain understand how any man could by this description of his coming know that he came in the Roman armies against Ierusalem.
Another reason is that in applying this Prophesy to the siege of Ierusalem, the great tribulation must be in the siege, & so Christs coming in the Roman armies against the Iews must precede the great tribulation: which is downright to contradict a prophesy. For his coming described in Matthew is not till some time after the tribulation be ended. But it is easier to {illeg} men to swallow contradictions then to forego their prejudices.
And lastly this coming of Christ is limited to the end of the world by the whole series of the things in the prophesy they being the same with those described in the Apocalyps & old Prophets & succeeding in the same order. For next before this coming of the Son of Man in the clouds is the smiting of the Sun Moon & Stars, & shaking the powers of the heavens & this is that which Ioel saith; The Sun shall be turned into darkness, & the Moon into blood before the great & terrible day of the Lord come. The same is insinuated in the Apocalyps by the passing away of the first heaven & earth before the resurrection of the dead, & before a new heaven & earth & new Ierusalem be created, & then adding that the new city had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God did enlighten it, & the Lamb is the light thereof: that is the city had no other King thou God and the Lamb with his vicegerent on earth.
Immediately before the smiting of the Luminaries is the great tribulation in Matthew, & therefore 'tis the same with the great tribulation at the end of the world in Daniel & Iohn. When the Palm-bearing multitude come out of the great tribulation 'tis said that they shal no more nor thirst any more, neither shal the Sun light on them nor any heat, & God shal wipe away all tears from their eys. Which is as much as to say that in that tribulation they shal hunger & thirst & lament & the Sun shal light on them, but immediately after the tribulation (as Matthew expresses it) the Sun shal be darkened & light on them no more. So again in the war between the word of God & the Beast which begins (with begins with this tribulation) an Angel (the type of the Church) stands in the hot burning sun & calls all the fowls of heaven to the supper of the great God, but after that war is ended the new Ierusalem has no need of the Sun, neither of the Moon to shine in it. In the tribulation is the harvest of the Saints, & in the smiting of the terrestrial luminaries the vintage of the wicked & the harvest immediately precedes the vintage.
Next before the tribulation (as well in Matthew as in the Apocalyps) is the general preaching of the Gospel in all the world, & next before that the great apostacy introduced by the many fals Prophets & the abounding of iniquity & the waxing cold of the love of many. All which will be left understood by perusing the prophesy in order.
And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? & what shal be the sign of thy coming [to restore the Kingdom of Israel Act. 1.6. Luke 24.21] & of the end of the world? And Iesus answered & said unto them take heed that no man deceive you: for many shal come in my name, saying, I am Christ, & shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars & rumors of wars [wherein this nation shal be led captive:] see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end [of the world] is not yet. For [Ierusalem must be troden down of the Gentiles till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, &] Nation shall rise against nation, & kingdom against kingdom, & there shall be famines & pestilences & earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then shal they deliver you up to be afflicted & shal be hated [not only of the Iews as at the first preaching of the Gospel but even] of all nations for my Names sake. And then shall many [of my own disciples] & shal betray one another and shall hate one another, & many fals Prophets [which say they are Apostles & are not but do lye Apoc. 2.2, fals teachers which men shall heap to themselves having itching east 1 Tim. 4.3 & which shall become the great fals Prophet spoken of in the Apocalyps, these] shal rise & shall deceive many [& thereby bring in the great Apostacy] & because iniquity shall abound [in the Churches, they shall leave their first love Apoc. 2.4 &] the love of the multitude shall wax cold, but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And [after those times of deceipt & coldness are run out] this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world [Apoc. 14.6 & 11.11] for a witness unto all nations, & then shall the end [of the world] come. When ye therefore shalt see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the Prophet Daniel [which shall be sett up in all the Roman world during the time & times & half a time, & afterwards when all nations come against Ierusalem shall] stand in the holy place (whoso readeth let him understand) then let them which be in Iudea flee into the mountains, & let him which is on the house top not come down to take away thing out of the house, neither let him which is in the field return back to take his cloaths, & wo to them which are with child & to them which give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in winter neither on the Sabbath day [For ye shall not have the space of some months to fly in as formerly when the city had been compassed with the Roman army of Cestus Gallus, but unless you fly speedily without staying to order your affairs, or so much as to return into your houses for things necessary, you shall scarcely escape the enemy] For then shal be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shal be. And except those days [the days of that tribulation] should be shortened, there should no flesh [of the Iewish nation & true Church] be saved, but for the elects sake [who are the people that suffer in that tribulation] those days [by the darkning of the terrestrial Sun & Moon & shaking the powers of their heaven] shall be shortned. Then [after these signs of my coming are come to pass they shall be in great expectations of it, but] if any man shall say unto you Lo here is Christ or there: believe it not. For there shall [then again] arise fals Christs & fals Prophets, & shall shew great signs & wonders, insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect. Behold I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold he is in the desert, go not forth; behold he is in the secret chambers, believe it not. For [the Son of Man cometh not after the manner of a mortal man, but] as the lightning cometh out of the east & shineth into the west, so shal also the coming of the Son of Man be [And the Saints shall meet him in the air] For wheresoever the carcass is thither will the Eagles be gathered together. But immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the [terrestrial] Sun be darkned & the [terrestrial] shall not give her light, & the [terrestrial] stars shall fall from heaven & the powers of [their] heavens shall be shaken [so as to fall] & then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: & then shall al the tribes of the earth mourn, [for him whom their fathers have pierced, the spirit of Grace & of supplication being poured out upon them] & they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with power & great glory. And he shal send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet, & they shall gather his elect from the four winds from one end of the heaven to the other [to meet him in the air] Now learn a Parable of the figtree. When his branch is yet tender & putteth forth leaves ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things [the preaching of the Gospel, the great tribulation & the smiting of the terrestrial Sun, Moon & Stars] know that it is near even at the doors. Verily I say unto you this [evil & faithless] generation shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven & earth shall pass away [before I come Apoc. 20.11] but my words shall not pass away [till all be fulfilled by my coming] But of that day and hour knoweth no man &c
The word γενεὰ generation is here ambiguous & may signify either an age or a stock, race & progeny of men. Christ would have his disciples always upon the watch, & therefore to put his auditors in the greater expectation chuses such a word, as by being misinterpreted, might make them expect it even in that age. He went up & down preaching The kingdom of heaven is at hand & sent his disciples to preach the same doctrine, & always worded his discourses so as to put his disciples upon expectation. In the Apocalyps, he saith, Behold, I come quickly; & my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. When his disciples askt him, will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? because the knowledge of the time would cross the design of his preaching he tells them it was not for them to know the times & seasons which God had put in his own bosom. Whom Peter asked what Iohn should do, Iesus answers, If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee? The ambiguity of which answer made the disciples think that Iohn should live till the coming of Christ & by consequence not dye. Yet Iohn informs us that Christ meant no such thing. Christ doth not say that Iohn should tarry till his coming, & if he had said so, Iohn might tarry as well after death as before it. Again in sending the twelve to preach he tells them that they should not finish the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come. Ὀυ μὴ τελέσητε, ye shall not finish, is an ambiguous expression & may signify either that they should not preach to all the cities or that they should not finish the conversion of all Israel before the Son of Man be come. In the first sense they finished the cities long enough before the siege of Ierusalem, in the second they have not done it yet nor shall have fully done it before the Son of Man be come. Son in another place speaking of eternal life & eternal death he saith: whosoever will save his life [in this world] shall lose it [by the tasting the second death in the world to come] & whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world & lose his own soul? For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his Angels & then he shal reward every man according to his work Verily I say unto you there be some standing here which shal not last of death till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. This last sentence is plainly designed to put his hearers in expectation of his coming even while some of them remained alive, & yet the context plainly shews that he speaks of the second death, that death which some there should dye when he came to reward every man according to his works, the death of those who should lose their lives by saving them, the losing of their soules spoken of immediately before, the death of which Christ speaks at other times when he said: If a man keep my saying he shal never last of death Iohn 8.51, 52. He that beleiveth in me shal never dye, Iohn 11.26. Your fathers did eat Manna in the wilderness, & are dead: this is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof & not dye. Iohn 6.50. So then in describing his coming to judgment to put them upon the watch he useth the ambiguous saying. This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled; & by this generation means this people or progeny of the Iews; or more strictly this wicked & adulterous generation, this faithless & perverse generation, this generation of vipers, this generation by which the Son of Man should be rejected. When all these things shall be fulfilled them shall this generation, by the finall & total conversion of Israel, pass away, & not before. In a word I do not know why any one place in the scripture where the coming of the Son of Man is taken otherwise there literally for one of his two personal comings.
And what I say of the coming of the Son of Man is also to be understood by the coming of the kingdom of Heaven. He & his kingdom come together. For he shal judg the quick & the dead at his appearing in his kingdom 2 Tim. 4.1. This was the expectation of the Iews and Christ never confutes it, thô he sometimes corrects their notions about it. But then there is a great difference between his two comings & the kingdoms belonging to each. For he came not the first time as a King over Men, & therefore the kingdom of God or Heaven is never spoken of the Church at his first coming, but only of the invisible powers of heaven then commanded by him. This was all the regal power & kingdom he then came with & therefore when ever the kingdom of heaven is spoken of his first coming, which is but seldome, 'tis to be understood of this invisible one. Thus when the Pharisees said he cast out Devils by the Prince of Devils: he answers that if Satan cast out Satan his kingdom is divided & cannot stand, but if I, saith he, cast out devils by [the authority not of Beelzebub their Prince, but of] the Spirit of God [to whom the Angels are subject] then [tis not the kingdom of Satan, but the kingdom of God whose Regal power I exercise in casting them out, & by this you may know that the Messias is come & that I am he because] the kingdome of God is come upon you. Or els [if I did not use the power of a stronger kingdom then that of Satan how should I cast not those of his kingdom for] how can one enter into a strong mans house & spoile his goods except he first bind the Strong Man Matt. 12.28. And in the same sense Christ tells the Pharisees that the kingdom of God was among them Luke 17. The Iews were of opinion that the Messiah should come after the manner of victorious Kings with the pomp & outward shew of a conqueror. To obviate this error Christ tells them that the kingdom of heaven [which they are expectation of] cometh not with outward shew: neither shal they [then] say to here [cometh the Messiah] or to there [he is] for behold the kingdom of heaven [which shal then come, even the Messias with his armies of Angels and invisible heavenly powers] is [even now] among you [For I am that Messiahs & by the present invisibility of my kingdom you may learn how it shal come hereafter. For my present coming is not that which you expect. I must now leave you again &] the days will come when ye shal desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, & ye shal not see it. And they shal say to you see here [he cometh] or see there: go not after them nor follow them. For as the lightning that lightened out of one part under heaven shineth unto the other part under heaven, so shal also the Son of Man be in his day [when he cometh in his kingdom of the Angels & Saints] but he must first suffer many things & be rejected of this generation. Luke 17.20. This I take to be the true meaning of these places & I think these are almost the only ones where the Kingdom of heaven is applied to Christs first coming. For when he saith that the kingdom of heaven shal be taken from the Iews & given to another Nation the meaning is only that many shal come from the East & from the West & sit down with Abraham & with Isaac & with Jacob in the kingdom of heaven while the children of the kingdom are cast out. Where he speaks of the Gospel of the kingdome, he means the Gospel concerning the future kingdom. Where any Parables concerning the kingdom of heaven include the Saints on earth 'tis only with respect to the kingdom which they are to inherit. When he saith the kingdom of heaven is at hand 'tis nothing more then when he saith, Behold I come quickly & my reward is with me: or the Devil came down with great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time or the rerelation of Iesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. That which is a long time with us is a short one with God, for with him a thousand years is but as one day & as a watch in the night. Psal. 90.4. So then they are much mistaken who by the kingdom of heaven in the Gospels under stand any state of Men before the Second coming of Christ.
If it be objected that lathô the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven with power & great glory (Matt. 24) be his coming to the last judgment, yet the great tribulation may be that of the Iews in the siege of Ierusalem. For part of the description of that tribelotion is in Luke's Gospel conjoyned with the war of the Romans against Ierusalem. I answer that another part of the description of the same tribulation is by Luke in the end of the 17th Chapter of his Gospel conjoined with Christs second coming, & therefore his Gospel makes as much for as against the interpretation we have given. 'Tis therefore to be considered that the Prophesy is an answer to a double Que'sSion; the one concerning the destruction of the Temple, the other concorning the coming of Christ to restore the kingdom of Israel. The last question as the most material is most insisted upon by Matthew, the first as being nearest at hand & perhaps (whatever the ancients write to the contrary) brought to pass before Luke published his Gospel, is only proposed by Luke & most insisted upon by him. Both might be described by expressions much of a kind as are the fals Christs in both comings, & how to distinguish the expressions may be now difficult, nor can we say how far he kept the due order of the sentences & form of expressions.
[1] NB the preceding 8 pages much the same as Ch. 1. viz Synopsis of Prophetic figures
[2] a Maimon. de cultu divino. Tractæ cap. 7. sec. 3, 5 & Tract. 6. c. 6. sect. 1, 3.
[3] b Apoc. 3.7
[4] c. Suidas tells us that χαλκολίβανον is a sort of Electrum or Amber more valuable than Gold; being Gold in another form mint with glass & steel The word is as much as to say, χαλκοειδὴς λίβανος (as Andreas Cæsariensis notes) that is amber of the colour of Copper & consequently like a coal of fire. For nothing resembles fire so much as amber doth. Whence in Ezek. the fiery appearance of the throne of God is also represented by the colour of Amber.
[5] a Κυριακη της ἀναστεος Χριστου μνημόσυνον φέρουσα Andr. Cæsar that is the Lords day is that which carries the memorial of Christ's resurrection.
[6] See Lightfoot's description of synagogues out of the Talmudists in his Horæ Hebr. upon Matth. 4.23.
[7] Chron. 24 & 25 Josephus Antiq. 6. 11 & in vita sua sub initio. Maimonides De Cultu Divino Tract. 2, c. 3. 8 9 & c 4 3, 4. & tract 6, c. 7 , 5. 12
[8] b Num 2.3 & 3.38
[9] c Ezek. 40.45, 46.
[10] d See Lightfoot's Prospect of the Temple service, c. 2.
[11] a Ezek. 42.13.
[12] a στὰν ἔχον διπλην ἐν μέσω του νεὼ τετυχη κότος, ἀφορωσαν εἰς τὰς θύρας ἀυτου Ioseph. Antiq. lib. 15. c 14.
[13] See Mr Mede
[14] The contents of this note are only visible in the diplomatic transcript because they were deleted on the original manuscript
[15] Isa. 6.
[16] f Maimon. Cult. Div. Tract 2. c 6 § 1. 5
[17] a Ecclesiastic 50 17. Maimon. De cultu Divino tract. 6 c. 6. S. 7.
[18] ✝ Maimon. cult. Div. Tr. 2. c. 5 & c. 2. & Tr. 6 c. 6 S. 5. & Tr. 3, c. 2, s. 2.
[19] Deut. 31.26.
[20] Targam Ionathan in Deut. 31.26.
[21] Isa. 8.16 & 29.10, 11.
[22] Dan. 8 & 12.
[23] Maimon. Cult. Div. tract 8. c 1 2. 3, 5. Talmud Hierosol. in Ioma c. 1
[24] Deut. 17.48. a, b. Vide Buxtorfii Vindic. Verit. Heb. p. 906.
[25] Deut 31.10, 11, 26.
[26] Talmud Hieros. Ioma c. 7, 5. 4. Maimon. Cult. div. Tract. 8, c. 4, S. 2
[27] The contents of this note are only visible in the diplomatic transcript because they were deleted on the original manuscript
[28] e Mane inter sanguinem et membra suffiebat, vesperi inter membra et libamina. Talmud Hierosol. in Ioma cap 3, sec. 5.
[29] a See Mark 16.19 & Lightfoot upon the place.
[30] b See Lightfoot Vol. 1. p 1139.
[31] b See Lightfoot Vol. 1. p 1139.
[32] See the backside
[33] Ezek. 9 & 10
[34] Eph. 1.13.
[35] 2 Esdr. 2.38, 40, 41, 42.
[36] Luke 1.
[37] a Scriptores Hebræi paucitatem indicaturi dicunt Numerus sunt. Et viri numeri sunt viri pauci. Sic Dies memini et populus numeri id est paucus. Theocritus quoque ἀριθματοὺς pro paucis usurpat. Drusius in Apoc. 13.8.
[38] a Maimon. de Cult. div. tr. 2, c. 3, s. 5.
[39] Dan. 12
[40] Ezek. 2 & 3
[41] Iob. 32.18.
[42] Prov. 22.18
[43] Iohn 7.38.
[44] a See Iosephus Antiq. l. 8. p. 265, 26{illeg} & de Bel. Iud. l. 6. c. 14, p. 916 & l. 7. c. 10, p. 949, 950.
[45] 2 Pet. 5.
[46] Maimon
[47] Exod. 29.40. Maimon.
[48] Iames 5.17 1 King. 17.
[49] Ezek 29.3 & 32.2
[50] Isa. 51.9
[51] see Bochart's Geog. sac. l. 4. c. 2. p. 294. Psal. 74.13, 14
[52] vers. 16, כדכד pearls according to the Chalde Paraphrast.
[53] vers. 17. צרי.
[54] Q. Curt. l. 5. c. 1.
[55] Strabo l. 16
[56] Exod. 15.8.
[57] 1 Kings 4.14 & 15.28, 29.
[58] 1 Kings. 16.2
[59] 2 King. 9.6, 7
[60] a Suidas in Πέργαμον
[61] Iustin lib. 36
[62] Iustin l. 39
[63] לאלה, To or together with
[64] Mahuzzim, strengths, strong ones, Protectors Defenders, Guardians, mighty Patr{ons.} See Medes apostacy of the latter times.
[65] See Mede's computation out of Ierom
[66] See Lightfoot on Rev. 13.
[67] Talm. in Taawith fol 69 col. 1.
[68] See Lightfoot on Iohn 7.37.
[69]
Clem. Alexandr. Strom. 5. p. 549. c {illeg}
Tertull de anima c. 35 &
Origen in Exod 11.10 quæaer 2
Cypr. Epist. 52 Cæsar hom. 7
Greg. Niss. orat. Catech. {8}
Hieron. in Is. c. ult. in fin. & in Oseam c. 14 & in Amos c. 7, & in Matt c. 3.
Ambros in Psalm 118 serm 3 & serm 20 in fin. & in Luk c. 12.
Augustin Enchir ad Lurent. c. 67, 68, 69 & de civit. Dei. 21 c. 13 & sequ. et alibi.
[70] חצלעח one placed in the side, the outcast. See the Chald. Paraph
[71] Apoc 21.3
[72] b Apoc. 20
[73] c Apoc. 19.18 & 9.17
[74] Dan. 11.40, 45.
[75] Apoc 10.7
[76] Apoc 16.18, 20
[77] Apoc 19.21.
[78] Apoc. 16.18, 21
[79] Apoc. 19.17, 21
[80] Apoc 16.17
[81] Apoc 16.14
[82] Apoc 19.17, 18
[83] Apoc. 19.
[84] Apoc 14.14
[85] Apoc 21.24
[86] Apoc. 21.25, 26
[87] Apoc. 21.23. & 22.5
[88] Apoc. 7.17 & 21.4
[89] Apoc 22.4 & 3.12.
[90] Apoc 29.7 & 21.2
[91] Apoc 19.15 & 14.28
[92] Apoc 14.10
[93] Apoc 13.1, 6.
[94] Apoc 22.4 & 3.12
[95] Apoc 21.1
[96] Apoc 21.4 & 7.17
[97] Apoc. 19.21.
[98] Apoc 25.1
