Assorted materials concerning the prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John along with calculations relating to the Mint (section 7.2i)

Chap X.
Of the relation which the Apocalyps hath to the propheses of Daniel.

The Apocalyps is written in the same style & language with the prophesies of Daniel & hath the same relation to them which they have to one another, so that all of them together make but one complete prophesy. The Dragon signifies the same dominion with the He Goat in the reign of his last horn that is the whole Roman Empire untill the Empire becomes divided; & after the division the Dragon signifies the Eastern part thereof descended from Iavan, & the Beast the wetsern part thereof represented by Daniels fourth Beast. in the reign of his ten horns The Woman riding upon the Beast is represented in Daniel by the last horn of the Beast which had eyes & a mouth & whose look was more stout then his fellows. and before her flight into the wilderness she is represented in Daniel by the host of heaven. # < insertion from f 21v > # When the Woman fled from Mout Sion into the wilderness she left a remnant of her seed who kept the commandments of God & had the testimony of Iesus; And out of whom (in the war which the Dragon made upon them) were sealed the 144000 whom Iohn saw remaining on mount Sion, & in whose mouth was found no lye. These witnesses are in Daniel called the saints of the most High whom the little horn of his fourth Beast shall weare out during a time times & half a time & to whom the kingdom & dominion & greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall afterwards be given < text from f 21r resumes >

The scene of the visions is the Temple. There God is represented sitting upon a throne above the Ark between the Cherubims, & the Princes of the 24 courses of the Priests in their chambers in the Priests court are represented by 24 Elders crowned sitting on thrones, & the people in the four sides of the peoples court by the four Beasts which were the standards of the four squadrons of the people of Israel encamped on the four sides of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. And the book of the law, whose ceremonies & festivals were prophetic, & which was laid up in the right side of the Ark, was reprented in the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And the morning sacrifice was represented by a Lamb as it were slain at the foot of the altar. Daniel was commanded to seale up the book of prophesy, & the Lamb of God takes this book out of the hand of him that sits upon the throne & opens the seven seales thereof successively & by doing so distinguishes the times to come into seven successive parts. And the visions which appear upon opening the seales denote the things to be done in the time of every seale. The visions at opening the first four relate only to the temporal affairs of the Roman Empire, & the fift begins with the affairs of the Church. For the Churches founded by the preaching of the Apostles lasted in their fervency during the opening of the first four seales & needed no new admonitions before the opening of the fift.

The morning service of the Iews began with dressing of the Lamps. And in the festival of the seventh month the High Priest dressed them. And in allusion thereunto Iohn saw one like unto the son of man in the High Priests habit, in the midst (or over against the midst) of the seven golden Candlesticks. And he had in his right hand a rod of seven starrs, the seven lamps appearing in a right line like a rod of seven starrs in his right hand while he dressed them. And the seven Candlesticks are said to be the seven Churches of Asia which were under the care of Iohn the Apostle, & the seven starrs the Angels of those Churches, that is the Bishops; & he dressed them by seven admonitory epistles sent to those Angels against the approaching apostacy. And these admonitions relate to the times of the fift & sixt seales.

At the opening of the fift seal followed a signal persecution which was that of Dioclesian: & at the opening of the sixt followed the end of a world polytic which was that of the heathen Roman Empire. This Empire fell in the reign of Constantine the great & his sons, was revived by Iulian the Apostate fell again in the reign of Valentinian & Valens & revived no more. The time which follows the opening of the seventh seal is divided into seven successive parts by the sounding of seven Trumpets successively. And the same division is represented also by the seven thunders & by the pouring out of seven Vials of wrath. This is done with allusion to the great sacrifices on the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles, the seven Trumpets alluding to the sounding of Trumpets by the Priests at the sacrifices of those seven days, the seven thunders to the singing of the Priests at the same sacrifices & the seven Vialls of wrath to the drink offerings poured out at the same sacrifices on those seven days. And as all Daniels Prophesies consist of two parts; an introductory Prophesy & an Interpretation: so doth Iohns. The Prophesy ends with the sounding of the seventh Trumpet, & the Interpretation <21v-a> begins with the words: And the Temple of God was opened in heaven, & there was seen in his Temple the arc of his testament.

In the primitive times of Christianity these seven Candlesticks by their Lamps illuminated the temple, that is the Church catholick. And in dressing these lamps five of them are found faulty & admished to repent & threatned to be removed out of their places or spewed out of Christs mouth & punished with death & with the sword of his mouth if they repented not: but two of them which were in affliction (viz (the Churches of Smyrna & Philadelphia) were without fault & those remained on Mount Sion to illuminate the second Temple & are called the two Witnesses. & There are the 144000 on Mount Sion who had the testimony of Iesus & in whose mouth was found no lye. And their adversaries who prophesy against them & speak as the Dragon being his Church, are called the fals Prophet & the Prophet Balaam who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, & & to eat things sacrificed to idols, & to worship the Beast & his Image

And lotts were cast upon them, & Gods lot was sacrificed. There was also a bullock offered for the sins of the people. And the H. Priest cloathed in linnen garments took a censer of burning coals of fire from the golden Altar & his hands full of sweet incense – – – continued in silence at their devotion. Then the High priest went into the Holy place & put off his linnen garments – – – – – earth to burn them. And as the people went home from the temple they said to one another God seale you to a good new year. And in allusion to all this at the opening of the seventh seale there is silence in heaven for half an hour, & incense is offered with the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar. And the Angel fills a censer with fire of the altar & casts it to the earth. And 144000 are sealed out of all the twelve tribes of Israel for Gods lot & the woman flyes into the wilderness with those that receive the mark of the Beast & gets upon his back. And hence the seating of the 144000 is synchonal to the silence in heaven for half an hour & to the incense offered with the prayers of the saints.

And on the tenth day, the people was represented by two goats, & lots were cast upon them & the goat which fell to Gods lot was sacrificed to him, & the other goat loaded with the sins of the people was sent into the wilderness. And in allusion thereunto the twelve tribes of Israel, or Church catholic, is now divided into two lots, the woman which now flies from the temple into the wilderness with those that receive the mark of the Beast & worship his image & the other lot the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus, & remain on mount Sion with the name of God on their foreheads. One lot the twelve tribes of Israel except the 144000 which are sealed are sealed out of them foreheads, the other 144000 sealed in their foreheads with the seale of God. These at length put on sacloth & prophesy 1260 days in sack-cloth, & at the same time the women arrives at her place of riches honour & power upon the back of her beast in the wilderness & reigns over him all the same 1260 days or 42 months or a time times & half a time. This Beast is Daniels fourth Beast. And the Dragon is Daniels He-goat, that is the whole Roman Empire untill it becomes divided into the Greek & Latine Empires; & after that division, he is the Greek Empire alone. And the Image of the Beast is a Council against the seven churches of Asia.

On the tenth day of the month two Goats were brought into the temple to represent the people one the elect & the other the reprobate & lots were cast upon them, & Gods lot was sacrificed to him, & the other Goat called Azazel or the scape-Goat was sent into the wilderness loaded with the sins of the people And in allusion to this — seven churches of Asia

When the Goat for the Lord was slain, together with a bullock, for a sin offering, the High Priest took a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar & his hands full of sweet incense beaten small & went into the most holy place within the vail & sprinkled the blood of bullock with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward seven times & then killed the goat of the sin offering & brought his blood within the vail & sprinkled it also upon the mercy seat & before the mercy seat. And then he went out to the Altar & sprinkled it seven times with the blood of the bullock & as often with that of the goat. And after this he laid both his hands upon the head of the scape Goat & confessed over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel & all their transgressions in all their sins putting them upon the head of the Goat & sent him into the wilderness. And while the high priest was doing these things in the most holy place & at the Altar, the people continued in silence at their private devotion. And to this alludes the silence in heaven for half an hour which followed upon opening the seventh seale. Then the High priest went into the holy place & put off his linnen garments & put on other cloaths & came out & sent the bullock & the Goat of the sin offering to be burnt without the camp. And a censer was filled with fire of the alter & carried with them & cast on the earth to burn them. And at this sacrifice there were voices & thundrings (of the music of the temple) & lightnings (of the sacred fire) & an earthquake. And as the people departed from the temple they said to one another: God seale you to a good year. And these things are alluded unto in the Apocalyps before the Angels which were to {hurt} the earth & the sea begin to sound their trumpets.

In the interpretation of this prophesy the woman before she flyes into the wilderness, represents the primitive church catholic illuminated with the seven lamps in the seven golden candlesticks which are the seven churches of Asia. And the Dragon signifies the same empire with Daniels He goat in the reign of his last horn, that is, the whole Roman empire untill it become divided into the Greek & Latin empires; & after that division the Greek Empire alone. And the Beast is Daniels fourth Beast, that is the Empire of the latines & is included in the body of the Dragon before the division, & after the division is the Latin Empire alone. And hence the Dragon & Beast have the same heads & horns, but the heads are croned upon the Dragon & the horns upon the Beast. Before the woman fled into the wilderness she being with child (of a Christian Empire) cried travailing (in Dioclesians persecution,) & pained to be delivered & the Dragon (the heathen Empire) stood before her to devour her child as soon as it was born And she brought forth a man child who (at length) was to rule all nations with a rod of <22r> iron. And her child was caught up unto God & to his throne (in the Temple) & the woman fled (from the temple on mount Sion) into the wilderness [of Arabia to Babylon] where she hath a place (of riches honour & dominion upon the back of the Beast) prepared of God, that they should feed her there 1260 days. And there was war in heaven (between the heathen & new Christian Empire) And the Dragon was cast out that old serpent which deceiveth the whole world (the spirits of heathen idolatry) he was (by the victory of Constantine over Maxentius & Maximinus) cast out to the earth. to the earth (the regions of Asia under Licinius. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb & by the word of their testimony. And they loved not their lives unto the death. And when the Dragon saw that we was cast down he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child (& this he did in the reign of Licinius.) And to the woman (by the building of Constantinople & equalling it to Rome) were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place [upon the back of the Beast) where she is nourished a time times & half a time from the face of the serpent (or Dagon.) And the serpent [upon the death of Constantine the great] cast out waters as a flood [the western Empire under Constantine junior & Constans] after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth [the nations of Asia now under Constantinople] helped the woman & [by conquering the Western Empire under Magnentius] swallowed up the flood which the Dragon cast out of his mouth. And the Dragon was wroth with the Woman & went to make war with the remnant of her seed which kept the commandments of God & had the testimony of Iesus, & which in that war were sealed out of all the twelve tribes of Israel & remains upon mount Sion in the temple with the lamb being in number 144000 & having his fathers name written on their foreheads.

And when the earth had swallowed up the flood & the Dragon was gone to make war with the remnant of the womans seed, Iohn stood upon the sand of the sea & saw the beast with seven heads & ten horns rise out of the Sea; & the Beast was like unto a Leopard & his feet as the feet of a Bear & his mouth as the mouth of Lyon. Iohn here names Daniels four Beasts in order beginning with the fourth & going upwards to the first, to signify that this Beast is the same with Daniels fourth beast. And the Dragon gave him his power & his throne & great authority by relinquishing the Western Empire to him. And one of his heads was as it were wounded to death (by the sword of the Earth which swallowed up the waters,) & his deadly wound was healed. It was healed at the division of the Empire between Valentinian & Valens A. C. 364. Iohn saw the Beast rise out of the sea at the division thereof between Gratian & Theodosius A. C. 379. And the Dragon gave the Beast his power & his throne & great authority at the death of Theodosius when he gave the western Empire to his younger son Honorius. After which the two empires were no more united. But the western Empire beame presently divided into ten kingdoms as above, & these kingdoms at length united in religion under the woman & reigned with her forty & two months.

And Iohn beheld another Beast coming out of the earth. When the woman fled from the Dragon into the kingdom of Beast, & became his church, this other Beast rose up out of the earth to represent the church of the Dragon. For he had two horns like the lamb the Bishpricks of Alexandria & Antioch , & he spoke as the Dragon in matters of religion. And he causet the earth or nations of the Dragons kingdom to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed, that is, receive his religion. And he doth great wonders so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, that is, he excommunicated those that differ from him in point of religion. For in pronouncing their excommunications they used to swing down a lighted torch from above. And he said to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the Bestst which had the wound by a sword & did revive, that is, that they should call a Council of men of the religion of this beast. And he had power to give life to the Image {lent} the image should both speak & cause that as many as would not worship the image of the Beast should be killed viz mystically by dissolving their churches. And he causeth all both smal & great, rich & poor, bond & free to receive a mark in their right hands or in their foreheads, that no man might by y or sell save he that had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name: all others being excommunicated. And while the twelve tribes that received the mark of the Beast: & the candlesticks of the churches of Asia <21v-b> were removed out of their places, there were 144000 sealed out of all the twelve tribes . And these remain with the Lamb on mount Sion having the name of God on their foreheads. And they sing a new song before the throne which no man else could learn & are not defiled with weomen such as are the whore of Babylon & other idolatrous churches. And these are the two witnesses or prophets, which, after the first temple by the flight of the woman & the war which the Dragon made upon the remnant of her seed, is destroyed, do prophesy at the building of a second temple like the two prophets Haggai & Zechary. And at length when the woman arrives at her place of riches & dominion upon the back of her Beast, they put on sackcloth & prophesy in sackcloth all the time that she reigns over the Beast, that is, 1260 days, or 42 months or a time times & half a time. These are the two Olive branches that supply the lamps with oyle. These are the two candlesticks, that is two of the seven golden candlesticks. For five of the seven churches of Asia (those in prosperity) are found fault with, & exhorted to repent, & threatned to be removed out of their places, & spewed out of Christ's mouth, or punished with the sword of his mouth or otherwise except they repent; & the other two (the Churhces of Smyrna & Philadelphia) which were under persecution remain in a state of persecution to illuminate the second temple. When the primitive Church catholick represented by the Woman in heaven apostatured & became divided into two corrupt Churches represented by the Whore of Babylon & the two horned Beast, the 144000 which were sealed out of all the twelve tribes being diffused into the two empires of the Greeks & Latines, became the two witnesses in opposition to the two fals churches represented by the whore of Babylon & the two horned beast: & the name of two witnesses once imposed remains to the true Church of God in all places & times to the end of this prophesy.

Chap. IV.
Of the Kingdoms & Churches which are the subject of sacred Prophesy.

The Iews & the nations by which they were to be captivated and particularly the nations within the bounds of the four Monarchies are the subject of sacred Prophesy in the old Testament, & the nations through which the Christian religion was to be propagated are the subject of sacred Prophesy in the new & especially of the Apocalyps. ^[4] And so far as the new Testament has relation to the old, the two last of the four monarchies are the principal subject of this Prophesy. For they composed the old Roman Empire & the Christian religion has been propagated into all the Roman Empire on this side Tigris. And from thence it has spread also into all the nations on the north side of the Empire, Dacia, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, . Dacia being conquered by Trajan received the Christian religion very early, sent its Patriarch to the Council of Nice, & was generally converted before its inhabitants the Goths & Vandals invaded the Empire Irenæus lets us know that the Christian religion was in a flourishing state in Germany in the middle of the second century. Afterwards Charles the great propagated the Roman religion into all Germany by conquest & from thence it began at the same time to spread into Denmark Suedeland & Poland.

So then the Christian world which is the subject of this Prophesy consists of three parts or Tribes:: the third Monarchy or Greek Empire, the fourth Monarchy or Latine Empire, & the northern nations. And these three parts being pretty nearly equal, you may know by this division that the third part of the earth, sea, rivers, sun, moon & stars is the third part of this Christian world, or the earth, sea, rivers, Sun, Moon & Stars of one of these three parts. And this unfolds to us the mystery of counting the number of the Beast. For the name & number of the Beast is opposed to the name of God & to the number of his servants who stand on mount Sion with his name of their foreheads. And in that respect the number of the Beast 666 is to be counted in such a manner as the number of Gods servants 144000 was counted. This number was counted by multiplying 12000 by its' divisor 12 the number of Tribes of Israel (Apoc. 7) & therefore 666 is to be counted by multiplying some number by a divisor of that number. And there is but one way of counting it in this manner, which is, by multiplying 222 by 3 the number of the Tribes of them that worship the Beast.

The four Monarchies are still in being & the four Beasts representing them are still alive. For the lives of the three first Beasts were prolonged after their dominions were taken away. They continue till a stone cut out of a mountain without hands brake in pieces at once all the four parts of Nebuchadnezzar's Image, the gold, the silver, the brass & the iron. And since all Daniels Beasts were alive in Iohn's days & still continue alive & therefore are synchronal to Iohn's Beasts, & <24r> Iohn's prophesy was given by the same Holy Ghost with Daniels & is very full of Allusions to the Prophesies of the old testament: we may expect to find Daniel's Monarchies in Iohn's prophesy so far as they relate to the Christian religion. And therefore we ought to compare the prophesies of Daniel & Iohn, & agree them together so far as they can be made to agree without straining. For there is no better way of interpreting scripture then by comparing the parts of it, & reconciling all the synchronal & all the analogous parts of prophesy which can be reconciled without force. Tis certain that the same things are described again & again in prophesy. And all the descriptions of one & the same thing must be conjoyned that they may interpret one another; & supply one anothers defects, & joyntly make one complete description which cannot be misapplyed. And those interpretations are always to be preferred which reduce the parts of scripture to the greatest consent & harmony. Daniel has described the same monarchies, again & again in four several prophesies, & yet the words of those descriptions were shut up & sealed till the time of the end. Iohn's prophesy is a Revelation of what was shut up & sealed before, & therefore must be compared with Daniel's that all may be understood.

The people of the first & second Monarchies beyond Armenia & the river Tigris were never yet converted to Christianity. The third Monarchy founded by Alexander the great, was propagated through the Roman Empire & after separation from the Latines was seated at Constantinople & is now under the dominion of the Turks. This was the principal seat of the Christian religion in the primitive times & is represented in the Apocalyps by the great red Dragon. The fourth Monarchy being founded by the Latines conquered the Greeks then separated from them & breaking into ten kingdoms has ever since continued in a divided form. This received the Christian religion from the Greeks in the primitive times, & is represented in the Apocalyps by the Beast rising out of the sea with ten horns. When the Greek & Latine Empires are united the Dragon & Beast are united & the whole is both Dragon & Beast; but when they are divided, the Greek Empire is the Dragon & the Latine the Beast. At first the Dragon signifies the whole Roman Empire: but when the Empire become divided the Dragon signifies only the Greek Empire, & the Beast rises out of the Sea to signify the Latine. Before the division the Dragon reigns over the inhabitants of the Earth & sea, & the Beast is latent in him. Upon the division the Beast rises out of the inhabitants of the Sea in a distinct & separate form, & succeeds the Dragon in his marine

Chap. IV.
Of the Kingdoms and Churches which are the subject of the Prophesy.

The nations within the bounds of the four Monarchies are the subject of sacred Prophesy, & consist of three equal parts: the nations of the western Roman Empire or Empire of the Latines, the nations of the eastern Roman Empire or Empire of the Greeks & the nations of the Persian Empire including Chaldea & Assyria. And wherever this Prophesy mentions a third part of any thing, as a third part of the earth, sea, rivers, Sun, Moon or stars, it relates to one of these three parts.

This prophesy being given by Christ, is a Revelation of such things as principally concern the Christian religion, & therefore relates chiefly to those kingdoms in which the Christian religion flourished most & which were converted to Christianity, that is to the Roman Empire. This Empire was at first united under one Monarch & afterwards became divided into the Greek & Latin Empires. The Latin Empire is the fourth Beast of Daniel or fourth Monarchy strictly so called which was to stand till the judgment should sit & the Son of man should come in the clouds to the ancient of days & the saints should take the kingdom. The Greek Empire is the third Monarchy or third Beast whose life is still prolonged tho its dominion hath been taken away. This Monarchy comprehending the nations of Greece, Asia Minor, Syria & Egypt was represented at first by the four heads & four wings of the Leopard & by the four horns of the He-goat, & afterward by the little horn of the He-goat or kingdom of Pergamus, which by the last will & testament of Attalus descending to the Romans grew mighty but not in its own power & then separating from them became the Greek Empire reigning at Constantinople till the Turks subdued it. The Persian Empire comprehends the remainder of the four Monarchies & is still in being but hath little to do with the Christian religion.

In this prophesy the scene of the visions is the Temple & the worship of Christians is described in the Temple under the form of the Iewish worship, as we shwewed above. And hence the Christian Churches are represented in this Prophesy by the twelve tribes of Israel, & when some are numbered out of the twelve tribes & sealed with the seale of God, the rest of the tribes who are not sealed become the synagogue of Satan who say they are Iews & are not, that is, who profess themselves Christians but are the Church of Satan. For all men whose names are not written in the book of life, that is, all who are not sealed with the seale of God, wonder after the Beast & worship him & his Image & receive his mark. When the saints are numbered & sealed out of the twelve tribes the rest of the <26r> tribes receive the mark of the Beast & become the Synagogue of Satan, & therefore they that have the mark of the Beast & worship him & his Image are Christians in outward profession.

And as the tribes of Israel & Iudah are in the old Testament represented by weomen, so the Church of Christ signified by those Tribes is here represented by the Lamb's wife & by the glorious Woman in heaven. For this woman has a crown of twelve stars which are the twelve Apostles & her seed keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus & therefore she is the Church. This woman flys into a spiritually barren wilderness & commits spiritual fornication when the main body of the twelve Tribes receive the mark of the Beast & become the synagogue of Satan; the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God being at the same time sealed with the seale of God in their foreheads. And therefore after her flight into the Wilderness when she commits fornication with the kings of the earth & makes all nations drink of the wine of her fornication & is drunken with the blood of Saints, she signifies an apostate idolatrous persecuting Christian Church Catholic.

And since the Woman is the visible Church first in a state of purity & afterwards in a state of apostacy; the great red Dragon who persecutes her & stands before her to devour her child & the Beast upon whom she afterward sits, that is over whom she reigns, must be the Roman Empire through which she is diffused & which is the subject of the prophesy. For the Dragon & this Beast have several heads & horns like Daniel's Beasts which signify kingdoms, & to confirm that they are kingdoms the Dragon has crowns upon his heads & the Beast has crowns upon his horns & the heads & horns of the Beast are called kings, & the Dragon gives his throne & power & authority to the Beast & therefore they are successive kingdoms in one & the same throne.

In the armies of the Roman Empire both before & after the Empire became Christian a flying Eagle was the standard of a Legion & a Dragon the standard of a Company & in every Legion there were ten companies & by consequence ten Dragons. These Dragons were of a purple colour & so fastened to the top of a long pike as like weathercocks to turn their tayles from the wind & to hiss by means of the wind blowing into their open jaws. The bearers of these two sorts of standards were called Aquiliferi & Draconarij. And from these badges of the Roman Empire this Empire is represented in the second book of Esdras by an Eagle & in this prophesy by a great Eagle whose two wings were given to the woman that she might fly into the wilderness, & by a great red Dragon who persecutes her. And to represent the idolatrous religion & large extent of the Empire this Dragon is called the Devil & Satan who deceives the whole world.

The first Beast by the number of his horns & other characters is manifested to be the same with Daniels fourth Beast. For both had ten horns & Daniel's had an eleventh horn which answers to the Woman on the back of Iohn's Beast. For this horn was an Animal distinct from the Beast, having eyes like the eyes of a man & a mouth speaking great things against the most High, & so was a Seer & a Prophet or Prophetess exercising a jurisdiction in matters of religion & having power to change time & laws & the woman (Iezebel) calleth her self a Prophetess & deceives all nations with her sorceries & inebriates them with the wine of her fornication. The horn made war upon the saints & prevailed against them & the Woman was drunken with the blood of saints & of the martyrs of Iesus & in her was found the blood of Prophets & Saints & of all that were slain upon the face of the earth. The horn had a look more stout then his fellows & the woman reigns over the ten horns, for she sits upon the Beast & is called the great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. The Horn reigned with power to change times & laws a time times & half a time & the woman was fed in her place in the Wilderness a time times & half a time. And further, Iohn's Beast is like a Leopard & hath feet as the feet of a Bear & a mouth as the mouth of a Lion Apoc. 13. 2: which is the description of Daniels fourth Beast. For that Beast was dreadful & terrible as a Leopard is & fought & stamped with his feet as a Bear doth & had great iron teeth wherewith he devoured & broke in pieces like a Lion. Daniel's three first Beasts are here named backwards & Iohn's is named in the room of the fourth to signify that he is the fourth, & is described also of lke shape. And as Daniel's Beast reigned in the little horn a time times & half a time, or three years & an half so Iohn's reigned 42 months' which is also three years & an half. And lastly as Daniel's fourth Beast has Rome for its metropolis so has Iohn's; for the heads of Iohn's Beast are called seven hills where the Woman sitteth, which is as much as to say that the head city or metropolis of the Beast is the seven-hilled city over which the Woman reigneth. She sits on the Beast, that is, reigns over him, & therefore is his Metropolis. She is also called the great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth & Babylon the great city: which name imports that she is that great city which should beseige Ierusalem, burn the Temple & captivate the Iews as Babylon had done before. And therefore Peter writing from Rome in the time of that siege & alluding in many things to the Apocalyps, calls Rome by the name of Babylon. For all antiquity agree that Peter wrote his epistles from Rome & by Babylon understood that city.

When the ten horned Beast rose out of the sea, the Dragon gave him his power & his throne & great authority, Apoc 13. 2: And therefore the Dragon reigned first in the Roman Empire. He reigned <28r> alone over the whole Empire while the Empire continued in one Monarchy, & when it became divided into the eastern & western Empires, the Beast rose out of the sea by that division & the Dragon gave his old throne the city Rome with its dominion, that is, his western power & throne, to the Beast, & retained only his eastern power to himself. For the Dragon did not cease at the rise of the Beast. After the Beast was risen they worshipped the Dragon & Beast together (Apoc. 13. 4) & at length three unclean spirits like froggs came out of the mouths of the Dragon & Beast & fals Prophet (Apoc 17. 13) & in the end, when the Beast is cast into the Lake of fire, the Dragon is cast into the bottomless pit (Apoc. 20. 2) The Dragon & Beast therefore after the division of the Roman Empire continue in being together & by consequence signify the eastern & western or Greek & Latine Empires. This Dragon is the Devil & Satan (Apoc. 12. 9) that Satan who had his seat in Pergamus (Apoc. 2. 13) that is, the Kingdom of Pergamus represented by the last horn of Daniel's He-Goat, whose dominion by the last Will & testament of Attalus descended to the Romans & who grew mighty in their power & at length separating from them became the Greek Empire reigning over the nations of Greece, Asia minor, Syria & Egypt; which made up the proper body of Daniel's He-Goat, & of his Leopard or third Beast. The little horn of the He Goat waxed great even to the host of heaven, & it cast down of the host & of the stars to the ground & stamped upon them & the Dragon's tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, & cast them to the earth. These actions are the same signification: for the horn of the Goat & tail of the Dragon are their fighting members & signify their military powers or armies commanded by their kings By the agreement of their actions you may know that they are one & the same kingdom.

The Greeks called themselves Romans & gave the name of Romania to the Region about Constantinople, & distinguished themselves from those of the Western Empire by the names of Greeks & Latines. Whence the word ΔΑΤΕΙΝΟΣ is the proper name of the western Empire. This is the name of a man (an ancient king from whence the Latines had their name) & the number of this name is 666 & this is the number of the name of the Beast.

The nations of the Roman Empires are also distinguished into two parts by the names of earth & sea: as where the first plague falls on the earth, the second on the sea, & where the Devil comes down to the inhabitants of the earth & sea & where the ten-horned Beast rises out of the sea & the two horned Beast out of the earth. And this distinction seems occasioned by the language of the Iews who called these countries the earth to which they travelled by land & those the Isles of the sea & Isles of the Gentiles to which they went by sea. And according to this language, the Sea in Iohn's days was Europe & the Earth was Asia & Afric, & the Mountains & Islands are the reigning cities of the earth & sea with their territories. And because the eastern Empire was seated chiefly in this earth & the western chiefly in this sea: by the earth & sea we may sometimes understand these Empires. And since the <29r> ten horned Beast rises out of the sea you may know also by that character that he reigns in Europe & is the Western Empire.

Every kingdom has its Church & the national visible Churches of the Greek & Latine Empires are the two horned Beast & Whore of Babylon. For the Whore is the seven hilled city the western Babylon, & sits upon the ten horned Beast or Latine Empire. & in Daniels Prophesies is one of his horns & therefore is the Church catholic of the Latines: & the other Beast rises out of the earth or nations of the eastern Empire & hath two horns like the Lamb that is two churches like the seven churches of Asia signified by the seven horns out of the Lamb, & speaks as the Dragon or eastern Empire & therefore is of the Dragon's idolatrous religion them that dwell on the earth & for doing so is called the fals Prophet & therefore is of an ecclesiastical kind, & this fals Prophet survives the Whore beign cast alive into the Lake of fire after the ten kings have eaten the flesh of the Whore & burnt her with fire, & therefore this Prophet differs from the whore & signifies another idolatrous Church & by consequence the Church of the Greek Empire. Conceive therefore that while the Roman Empire continues entire the whole is signified by the Dragon & the church in the whole by the glorious woman in heaven: but when the Empire becomes divided, the woman degenerates & flyes from the Dragon into the western empire called a wilderness for its spiritual barrenness, & leaves a remnant of her seed in the eastern empire which keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus; & that the Dragon at the same time goes from the woman into the eastern empire to make war with the remnant of her seed, & a ten-horned Beast rises out of the sea or western nations to succeed the Dragon in the western empire, & a two-horned Beast rises out of the Earth or Eastern nations to succeed the woman in the eastern empire, & a new Temple is measured in order to be built with two Candlesticks in it to represent the saints within the empire of the Beast of whom it is said that power was given unto him to make war with the Saints & to overcome them. For Candlesticks are Churches & the two Candlesticks are two Churches called the two Witnesses & the Beast makes war against these Witnesses & overcomes them & kills them in the streets or provinces of the great City Babylon which in the form of a woman reigns over him, & therefore they are those saints. And by analogy, the seven candlesticks in the first Temple are Gods people in the empire of the Dragon, a finite number being put for an indefinite. For these Candlesticks are the churches of Asia & by consequence within the Dragons kingdom. Conceive therefore that when the Dragon is the whole Roman empire the seven Candlesticks signify the Churches of the whole Empire: but when the Empire becomes divided & <30r> & the Dragon retires into the east, the Candlesticks become the remnant of the womans seed with whom the Dragon makes war, & are succeeded in the Western Empire by two Candlesticks placed in a new Temple to signify the saints with whom the Beast makes war. For the seven Candlesticks do not cease at the division of the Empire but continue in the first Temple to the end of the prophesy; the seven Angels which sound the Trumpets & pour out the Vials bring their lamps, & the Church of Pergamus lasting till Christ comes & fights against the Nicolaitans with the sword of his mouth & that of Sardis till Christ comes as a thief, & the Church of Thyativa being to hold fast what they have till Christ comes. So then the Greek & Latine Empires with their Churches false & true are represented by the Dragon & first Beast, the fals Prophet & Whore, the seven Candlesticks in the first temple & the two Candlesticks in the second. For it was fit that all these things should be represented distinctly. They have also their joynt representation. For the twelve Tribes of Israel represent all Christians good & bad in both Empires; & the 144000 servants of God represent all the good, they being numbered & sealed out of the nations of the earth & sea which were to be hurt by the four winds as soon as the sealing was finished; & they that worship the Beast & receive his mark represent all the bad, he being worshipped as well by the Dragons subjects as by his own.

We shewed above that the first six heads of the Beast fell before he ascended out of the abyss. For before he ascended he was latent in the Dragon's body, being the water which the Dragon cast out of his mouth as a flood after the woman to cause her to be carried away of the flood. For waters are peoples & nations & multitudes & tongues & aggregate of waters as a river or flood or sea is a body politique or kingdom, & the western Empire has a particular relation to the watry element, the Beast afterwards rising out of the sea & the Woman sitting upon many waters. As the woman was flying westward he cast this flood after her & therefore the flood is a western kingdom. She fled into the wilderness by a division of the Empire & the Dragon cast out of his mouth this flood after her to cause her to be carried away by it, & therefore the casting of this flood out of his mouth signifies that division & while the water was in the Dragon's belly the Beast was latent in him & for that reason has all the Dragons heads. This Beast was Daniel's fourth Beast & that Beast was the Roman Empire from the time that the Romans subdued the Greeks & in that respect the whole Roman Empire is the Beast as well as the Dragon before the division thereof. And thence it is that the Dragon & Beast have common heads & common horns; but with this difference that the Dragon has crowns upon his heads & not upon his horns to signify that he reigns in all the heads & not in the horns, & the Beast which is the eighth & of the seven has crowns upon his horns & <31r> not upon his heads to signify that he is not considered in this prophesy as reigning before he rises out of the sea by the division of the Empire & the Dragon gives him his throne & his horns receive power as kings by a new division of the western Empire into ten kingdoms.

The occasion of the division of the Empire into the eastern & western Empires was the building of Constantinople by Constantine the great A. C. 330, & endowing it with a senate & privileges like those of Rome & making it the Metropolis of all the eastern part of the Empire as Rome had hitherto been of all the Empires & was hence forward of all the western part thereof. By this division of the Empire between two imperial cities, the woman received two wings of a great Eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, & at the death of Constantine the great A. C. 337, the Dragon cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman to cause her to be carried away of the flood. For the Empire at that time became divided between the sons of Constantine, his second son Constantius reigning over the East & his other two sons reigning in the West & the survivor of them reigning over all the west and being succeeded by Magnentius in the end of whose reign A. C. 353 the earth or eastern empire opened her mouth & swallowed up the flood by a victory over the western Empire whereby the Beast was wounded to death with a sword & ceased to be for a time, both Empires becoming unitd under Constantius & his successors till the reign of Valentinian & Valens between whom the Empire became again divided A. C. 364 & by this division the deadly wound was healed & the Beast revived. Then by the death of Valens the Empire became united again under Gratian the successor of Valentinian for about five months & by the next division which was between Gratian & Theodosius A. C. 378 the Beast rose out of the sea. Gratian reigned with his brother Valentinian in the west. Maximus compassed the death of Gratian & made Valentinian fly into the east. Theodosius A. C. 388 conquered Maximus & restored Valentinian. Eugenius A. C. 392 compassed the death of Valentinian & invaded the western Empire but Theodosius made his younger son Honorius emperor of the west in the room of Valentinian, conquered Eugenius A. C. 394 died three months after & by his last Will & testament left the Empire divided between his two sons Arcadius & Honorius. After which the two empires were united no more. By conquering the west & resigning the conquests to Valentinian & Honorius, the Dragon gave the Beast his <32r> power & throne. The Beast revived before he could ascend out of the sea & asended before the Dragon who stood upon the land could give him his power & throne. These were three distinct successive acts & imply three successive divisions of the empire & can agree to no other then the three last divisions, those three to which we have applied them. And now the Beast being revived & risen out of the sea & having received the Dragon's ancient power & throne became at once divided into ten kingdoms A. C. 408 409 & 410 which kingdoms are the Beast in his last reign which is called the eighth.

Before the woman received two wings of a great Eagle there was war in heaven Michael & his Angels fought against the Dragon & the Dragon fought & his Angels & prevailed not neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great Dragon was cast out, that old Serpent called the Devil & Satan which deceiveth the whole world, he was cast out into the earth & his Angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation & strength & the Kingdom of our God & the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down who accused them before our God day & night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb & by the word of their testimony; & they loved not their lives unto the death. This is a very plain description of a great conflict between the Roman heathen empire & the army of Christ. For Michael & his angels are Christ & his army such an army as was accused by the Dragon day & night & loved not their lives unto the death, & as overcame the Dragon by the blood of the Lamb & by the word of their testimony; that is, an army of martyrs & confessors. And therefore this war between Michael & the Dragon was managed on the Dragon's part by accusing & persecuting the Christians & putting them to death for their religion & on the Christians part by confessing & testifying the truth of their religion & persisting in their confession & testimony without fearing to lose their lives for the same. And by this conflict the Dragon that old serpent called the Devil & Satan, that is, the heathen Roman empire in respect of its religion was overcome & cast out of heaven to the earth & was succeeded in the throne by a new kingdom called the kingdom of our God. For the conflict ended with a voice from heaven saying, Now is come salvation & strength & the KINGDOM of our GOD for the accuser of our brethren is cast down. And all this can agree to nothing else then the last of the heathen Persecutions which began in the reign of Dioclesian & lasted <33r> almost two years over all the Roman Empire & ten years together with great violence over all the east, & was greater then all the former heathen persecutions taken together; & which ended in the ruin of the heathen Roman Empire & the setting up a Christian Empire in its room under Constantine the great.

The same revolution is predicted also by the vision of the woman who being great with child cried travailling in birth pained to be delivered, & by the Dragon's drawing the third part of the stars of heaven with his tail & casting them to the earth and standing before the woman ready to be delivered for to devour her child so soon as it was born, & by her bringing forth a Man-child who was to rule all nations with a rod iron & was caught up unto God & his throne from the jaws of the Dragon, & her flying into the wilderness. For since this parable ends with the flight of the woman into the wilderness, & that of the war between Michael & the Dragon ends also with the same flight, both these parables ending at the same time must be synchronal & concern the same revolution of the Empire. For describing & pointing out this grand revolution more clearly & fully the description is repeated. The woman travailing in birth & pained to be delivered signifies the Church in affliction by a great persecution which ended in the birth of a Christian kingdom & therefore was Dioclesian's persecution: & the same persecution is signified by the Dragon's drawing the third part of the stars of heaven & casting them to the earth. This act shews that the Dragon is the persecutor & the other of the woman's being pained in childbirth that she is the person persecuted. The third part of the stars of heaven, or starrs of the third part, are the Martyrs & Confessors of the provinces of the Greek Empire where the persecution was very vehement & lasted ten years together being carried on by Dioclesian, Galenius & Maximinus successively, besides what the Christians of that part of the Empire suffered afterwards under Licinius. For in the Western part of the Empire where Herculius, Constantius & Constantine reigned successively the persecution lasted scarce two full years being stopt by Constantius & the Martyrs & confessors were so few & made so small an appearance that before the end of the two years there were pillars set up by the heathens in several parts of Spain with inscriptions signifying that the superstition of Christ & name of Christians were everywhere extinguished. The Man-child which the woman brought forth is not a single person but a kingdom as Isaias ^[6] interprets the type. For the woman is a body polytick & the child must be a body of the same kind with the mother. And this kingdom was Christian because it was the son of the woman & was to rule all nations with a rod of iron which in this prophesy is the scepter of Christ's kingdom. The persecution <34r> began by an Edict for demolishing the Churches & burning the sacred books throughout the Empire A. C. 302, & the Man-child was born in the western part of the Empire by the victory of Constantine the great over Maxentius in the end of the persecution A. C. 312, Constantine being encouraged by a vision of a cross in the heavens with this inscription In hoc signo vinces.. And six years after by the victory of Constantine over Licinius a heathen persecuting Emperor who reigned in the east the Man-child was caught up to the throne of the whole Empire A. C. 318. And soon after by the building of Constantinople A. C. 330 the Woman received two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness. Conceive that when the Man-child was caught up to God, he soon vanished out of sight being hereafter to return from heaven & rule all nations with a rod of iron. But before he vanished there was a voice from heaven saying, Now is come salvation & strength & the KINGDOM of our GOD – – – – Therefore rejoyce ye heavens & ye [saints] that dwell in them. Wo to the [vulgar Christian] inhabiters of the earth & sea [] for the Devil is come down amongst you having great wrath. When the Dragon was newly cast down & the Man-child caught up to the throne; the Empire in several respects was both the Manchild & the Dragon: the Man-child in respect of the genuine christians who governed & the Dragon in respect of the inferior multitude who were heathens. And this multitude out of temporal ends making hast to profess the Christian religion corrupted it with their vicious lives & superstitious & idolatrous principles & practices, & the Man-child at the same time vanished out of sight & left the Dragon that old serpent reigning amongst the inhabitants of the earth & sea. And the Dragon soon after gave his ancient western throne & authority to the Beast & reigned only in the east untill the Man-child returned from heaven to rule all nations with a rod of iron For Michael & his angels who in the persecution of Dioclesian fought for the Church against the Dragon, returne in the end of ages under the name of the King of kings with his army on white horses, to fight for the Church against the Beast & the kings of the earth & their armies. Michael I say the great Prince when standeth for the people of Daniel, shall stand up in the great tribulation as he did before in Dioclesians persecution (Dan. XII. 1) & the Beast & fals Prophet being taken & cast into the lake of fire, & the Dragon into the bottomless pit, the Manchild takes the kingdom & governs all nations with a rod of iron. For he that overcometh & keepeth my works unto the end, to him, saith Christ, will I give power over the nations & he shall rule them with a rod of iron (Apoc. 2. 26) & therefore all they that overcome & have this power are such a mystical body as is represented by the man-child.

How the Empire after it became Christian grew exceeding vicious would require a large discourse to describe fully: & you may satisfy yourself about this matter by reading only the book of Salvian de gubernatione Dei written about the year 440 to convince the

<36r> reigned in the east the Man-child was caught up to the throne of the whole Empire A. C. 318. And soon after by the building of Constantinople A. C. 330 the woman received two wings of a great Eagle that she might fly into the wilderness. Conceive that when the Manchild was caught up to God he soon vanished out of sight being hereafter to return from heaven & rule all nations with a rod of iron But before he vanished there was a voice from heaven, saying, Now is come salvation & strength & the KINGDOM of our GOD – – – – – Therefore rejoyce ye heavens & ye [saints] that dwell in them. Wo to the inhabiters of the earth & sea [who are Christians in outward profession only] for the Devil is come down amongst you having a great wrath. When the Dragon was newly cast down & the manchild caught up to the throne the Empire in several respects was the Manchild & the Dragon, the Man-child in respect of the sincere christians who governed & the Dragon in respect of the multitude below who were heathens. And this multitude out of temporal ends making hast to profess the Christian religion corrupted it with their vicious lives & superstitious & idolatrous principles & practices & the Man-child at the same time vanished out of sight, & left the Dragon reigning amongst the vulgar christians the inhabitants of the earth & sea, ☉ < insertion from f 35v > ☉ the Romans that they were more vicious in all repsects then the northern heathen nations who invaded them & that therefore God was just in making the heathens Lords over them. The author was Bishop of Marseils & an old man & wrote with , great modesty in a sober historicall manner without oratoricall flourishes describing the state of his own times from before the beginning of the fift century. And what he writes is confirmed by several passages in some other authors who wrote before him, & by the book of Gildas. Let this therefore remain a truth that after the Empire became Christian as it increased in the number of people & in wealth & power & outward glory so it decreased in virtue ‡ < insertion from lower down f 35v > ‡ before the end of the 4^th century the Christian Empire became as vicious as the heathen empire had been before And I may add that it has ever since continued as vicious. < text from higher up f 35v resumes > What he writes is confimed by several passages in Gregory Nazianzen Ierome & Austin who wrote before him. How the Empire after it became Christian became in a short time superstitious & idolatrous would also require a large discourse to describe fully & I shall content my self with the following short account . It may suffice for the present purpose to give the following account of the beginning of Idolatry. Gregory of Nyssen tells us – – – – vino placatis et dapibus. < text from f 36r resumes >

These things being understood it will not be difficult to describe the seven heads of the Dragon. The four first are the four horsmen which the four Beasts standing towards the four winds of heaven call Iohn to come & see & which therefore stood in the regions of the Beasts, the first horsman to the east, the second to the west the third to the south & the fourth to the north. Riding signifies reigning & the four Beasts with their faces of a Lion Ox Man & Eagle allude to the armies of Israel encamped about the tabernacle in the wilderness in four bodies under their banners; the tribes of Iudah Issacher & Zebubulum being on the east side under the standard of a Lion, those of Reuben Simeon & Gad on the south side under the standard of a Man, those of Ephraim Manasseh & Benjamin on the west side under the standard of an Ox & those of Dan Asher & Naphtali on the north side under the standard of an Eagle. The encampment is described in the book of Numbers & the Iews keep a tradition of the standards. Every ^[7] Hors-man therefore with the horse he rides upon & the Beast which appears in the same region with him, is a fit emblem of an Emperor or race of Emperors with his Empire & his army under its standard. And thus the four hors-men with their Beasts very fitly represent four reigns or dynasties of Emperors.

The first Emperors were Italians called the twelve Cæsars. Of these there were two dynasties the first of the family of Iulius Cæsar which lasted till the death of Nero, the next the family of Vespasian which lasted till the death of Domitian the last of the twelve Cæsars. The <37r> Apocalyps was written in the end of the first & is of things future & therefore we are to being with the next. Of this Dynasty there were only three Emperors, Vespasian & his two sons Titus & Domitian. Vespasian was created Emperor in the East in the time of the Iewish war. And there being then a rumor in all the east of a prophesy that a great Monarch should arise about that time in Iudea the Romans interpreted it of him. Peverebuerat Oriente toto vetus & constans opinio, esse in fatis ut eo tempore Iudæa profecti rerum potirentur. Id de Imperatore Romano, quantum eventu postea patuit, prædictum Iudæi ad se trahentes rebellarunt. Suetonius in Vespasiano. Pluribus persuasio in erat antiquis sacerdotum literis contineri eo ipso tempore fore ut valesceret Oriens profectique Iudæa rerum potirentur. Quæ ambages Vespatianum et Titum prædixerunt. Tacitus Hist. l. 5. Quod Iudæos ad bellum maxime excitaverat responsum erat ambiguum itidem in sacris libris inventum, quod eo tempore quidam esset ex eorum finibus orbis terræ habiturus Imperium. Id enim illi quidem quasi proprium acciperunt, multique sapientes interpretatione decepti sunt. Hoc autem plane responso Vespansiani designabatur Imperium qui apud Iudæam creatus est Imperator. Ioseph. de bello Iud. l. 7. c. 12.

The second Dynasty was a Western family of Spaniards, Trajan Hadrian, Antoninus, Marcus & Commodus. Trajanus homo Hispanus nec Italus erat nec Italicus; ante eum nemo alterius nationis imperium Romanum obtinuerat, (Dion.) Natus Italicæ in Hispania (Victor de Cæsar.) Hadriani origo posterior ab Hispaniensibus manat, ejus pater Ælius Hadrianus consobrinus Trajani Imperatoris, mater Gadibus orta (Spartian in Hadriano) Ipse Trajani municeps & Nepos (Spartian in Severo) natus Italicæ in Hispania (Victor et Euseb. Chron) Ἠν μὲν γάρ πολίτης ἀυτοῦ, καὶ ἐτραπεύθη ὑπ' ἀυτοῦ, γένους θ' ὁι ἐκοινώνει, καὶ ἀδελφιδῆν ἀυτοῦ ἠγηγαμήκει, τὸ τη σύμπαν συνῆν ἀυτῷ καὶ συνδιητᾶτο (Dion.) Hispania Principum mater est; hæc Trajanum hæc deinceps Hadrianum misit Imperio (Pacatus Paneg. ad Theodos.) Antonius Pius, cui paternum genus e Gallia transalpina, Naummasense scilicet (Capitolinus) ab Adriano in filium adoptatus cujus gener fuerat (S. Aur. Victor. Epitome) ea tamen lege ut is Marcum fratris uxoris suo filium similiter adoptaret (Capitolin.) Marcus Hadriani consan guineus (Dion in Hadriano) & Antonini gener (Eutrop.) filiusque per adoptionem (Dion. Capitolin. Euseb. Hist. l. 4. c. 14.) Ipse Adrianum vocat avumo suum & Trajanum proavum (Spartian. in Piscen. nigro.) Ejus amita Galeria Faustina Antonini uxor, Proavus paternus Annius Verus ex Luccubitano Mancipio ex Hispania factus Senator (Capitolin.) Unde Themistius Theodosium ex Hispania ^[8] Imperatorem alloquens vocat Trajanum & Marcum et Antoninum πολίτας καὶ ἀρχηγέτας ἀυτοῦ populares & majores ejus. Commodus Marci filius (Capitolinus alijque) ultimús Trajanidum.

The third Dynasty was a southern family of Africans Severus, Antonius Caracalla, Macrinus, Heliogabalus & Alexander: to which may be added the three Gordians & Philip. Severus oriundus ex Africa, Provincia Tripolitana, oppido Lepti. solus omni memoria & ante & post ex Africa Imperator fuit (Entrop.) nativita te scilicet et genere proximo. Ipse cano capite et crispo Afrum quiddam usque ad senectutem sonans (Spartian.) Caracalla Severi filius (Sparian.) Macrinus natione Maurus e Cæsarea Stifensi obscuris <38r> natus est parentibus. Habuit enim præter cætera, alteram aurem perforatam ut est Maurorum consuetudo (Dion.) Sub Commodo relegatus in Africam, ubi ut in famiam damnationis tegeret fertur lectioni operam dedisse, egisse causulas, declamasse, jus postremo dixisse; deinceps advocatum fuisse fisci ex quo officio ad amplissima quæque pervenit (Capitolin.) Heliogabalus Caracallæ filius (S. Aur. Victor. & Euseb. Chron.) et Alexander consobrinus ejus & filius adoptivus ex familia Severi etiam prognatus (Lamprid. Zosem. l. 1) Iulia utique Severi conjux sororem habuit Mœsum cui duœ erant filiæ Soænis et Mammœa. Hæc Alexadrum, illa a Caracalla compressa Heliogabalum edidit. Maximinus Thracia oriundus, in Gallia sabutatus Imperator, ex corpore militari primus ad imperium accessit sola militum voluntate cum nulla Senatus interessisset authoritas nec ipse Senator esset (Eutrop. Capitolin. Euseb. Oros.) Contra eum Gordianus pater Proconsul Africæ una cum filio Gordiano in Africa salutati Imperatores & a Senatu confirmati damnato Maximino ut hoste reipublicæ. Iamque Gordianum Africanum appellarunt (Capitolin. Herodian. Zosimus) Hic post annum et dimidium in Africa transactum Carthagini perijt una cum filio, & mox tertius Grodianus, sive ex filio sive ex filia Gordiani senioris natus, in imperium a senate sufficitur, & Maximinus deinde post triennium in vasæ tyrannid is occiditur (Capitolin.) Gordiano tertio successit Philippus Arabs Vostris Arabiæ urbe obscuris parentibus natus (Pompon. Læt.) In this race of southern Emperors the family of Severus lasted till the death of Alexander. Amongst them reigned Macrinus of another southern family, & to Macrinus I add the three Gordians & Philip, as Emperors of the same kind & neglect Maximinus as contemporary to the Gordians.

The fourth Dynasty was of many northern short lived Emperors Decius, Gallus with his son Volusian, Valerian with his son Gallienus, Claudius, Aurelian, Tacitus, Probus, & Carus with his sons Numerian & Carinus. Decius e Pannonia inferiore Bubulæ natus (Aurel. Victor alijque) in Pannonia etiam imperator factus (Zosimus.) Gallus juxta Tanaim fluvium Imperator factus (Zosim.) Valerianus natus Romæ, sed in Rhætia et Norico agens factus est imperator (Euseb. Eutrop. Iornand.) Claudius Dalmatia oriundus (Treb. Pollio) Aurelianus ortus Sirmij in Pannonia inferiore parentibus obscuris: ut nonnulli Dacia Ripensi (Vopisc.) Tacitus Italus imperavit menses tantum sec. Carus aut Naronæ in Illyrico (Aurel: Victor. et Cerilianus apud Vopiscum) aut Romæ sed Illyricis natus est parentibus (Onesimus apud Vopiscum)

The fift Dynasty was of several Emperors reigning together & sharing the Empire amongst them by common consent. This Dynasty began with the reign of Dioclesian & Maximianus & ended with the dethroning of the Dragon by the victory of Constantine the great over Licinius. sometimes four or five Emperors reigned at the same time in several parts of the Empire. This Dynasty the Romans distinguished from the reigns of the former Emperors by dating from the beginning of it an Æra called the Æra of Dioclesian & the Æra of the Martyrs. For this Æra commenced with the reign of Dioclesian A. C. 284 Aug. 29, & was in use till the Æra of Dionysius prevailed, that is, about 250 years. Scaliget saith it is still in use among the Christians of Afric & Ethiopia. This Æra I consider as a <39r> sufficient argument of the beginning of a new Dynasty, the Romans looking upon Dioclesian as the restorer of their Empire. For in the fourth Dynasty it was in great danger of falling, but was restored by Dioclesian & his Colleagues to its former greatness & tranquility & enlarged by the addition of Assyria & the five Provinces beyond Tigris

The sixt Dynasty began with the victory of Michael over the Dragon, the the manchild being caught up to God & to his throne & the coming down of the Dragon from his throne in heaven to reign in a new throne among the inhabitants of the earth & sea, that is, it began with the dethroning of heathenism by the victory of Constantine over Licinius whereby the Empire was reduced to a monarchical form. It continued in the family of Constantine till the death of Iulian the Apostate. After Iulian reigned Iovian seven months & then the Beast which had been slain with a sword revived by a division of the Empire between Valentinian & Valens & rose out of the sea by another division of it between Gratian & Theodosius & at the death of Theodosius received the Dragons Throne, by which acts a new Dynasty commenced gradually.

The seventh Dynasty was therefore of the Empire divided into the Greek & Latine empires or of the Dragon & Beast reigning together. And after this division of the Empire there being no more changes common to both Empires to make a new Dynasty of the whole the Dragon & Beast have no more common heads then seven. But soo after this division the Latin Empire became further divided into ten kingdoms which made a new Dynasty of that Empire called the eighth & of the seven. & this was the last Dynasty of the Latin Empire there being no more changes common to those kingdoms to make a new Dynasty of them all. So then in the whole Roman Empire after the writing of this Prophesy there were seven successive Dynasties & no more, & in the Latin Empire there was an eighth & no more: all which Dynasties answer perfectly to the seven common heads of the Dragon & Beast & to the Beast which is the eighth & of the seven & received power as a king at the same time with the ten horns, being a composition of them all

The subject of the Prophesy being described, let us now go over the whole Prophesy in due order of time & see how it agrees with history.

Chap.
Of the Kingdoms & Churches which are the subject of the Prophesy.

The nations within the bounds of the four Monarchies are the subject of sacred Prophesy, & consist of three equal parts: the nations of the Western Roman Empire or Empire of the Latines, the nations of the eastern Roman Empire or Empire of the Greeks, & the nations of the Persian Empire including Chaldea. And wherever this Prophesy mentions a third part of any thing, as a third part of the earth, sea rivers, sun or stars, it relates to one of these three parts.

This Prophesy being given by Christ is a Revelation of such things as principally concern the Christian Religion & therefore flourished most & which were con
verted to Christianity, that is to the Roman Empire which was at first united under one monarch & afterwards became divided into the Greek & Latine Empires. The Latine Empire is the fourth Beast of Daniel or fourth Monarchy strictly so called, which was to stand till the judgment should sit & the son of man should come into the clouds to the ancient of days & the saints should take the kingdom . The Greek Empire is the third Monarchy or third Beast whose life is still prolonged tho its dominion hath been taken away. This monarchy comprehending the nations of Greece, Asia minor, Syria & Egypt was represented at first by the four heads & four wings of the Leopard & by the four horns of the He-Goat & afterwards by the little horn of the He Goat or kingdom of Pergamus which by the last will & Testament of Attalus descending to the Romans grew mighty but not in its one power & then separating from them became the Greek Empire reigning at Constantinople till the Turks subdued it The Persian Empire comprehends the remainder of the four Monarchies, & is still in being. The scene of the visions is the Temple, & the worship of Christians is, in this prophesy described in the Temple under the form of the Iewish worship as we shewed above. And hence the Christian Churches are represented in this prophesy by the twelve tribes of Israel & after a separation of the tribes into two parties the sincere party is represented by those who are numbered out of the 12 tribes & sealed with the seal of God & the synagogue of Satan the Synagogue of Satan who say they are Iews & are not, is put for the Church of Satan the remainder of the twelve tribes who profess themselves Christians but have the mark of the Beast.

And as the Tribes of Israel & Iudah are in the old Testament represented by weomen, so the church of Christ signified by those Tribes is here represented by the Lambs wife & by the glorious woman in heaven. For this Woman has a crown of twelve stars which are the twelve Apostles & her seed keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus & therefore she is the Church. This woman flyes into a spiritually barren wilderness when the main body of the twelve tribes receive the mark of the Beast & become the synagogue of Satan, the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God being at the same time sealed with the seale of God in their foreheads. And therefore after her flight into the Wilderness when she commits fornication with the kings of the earth & makes all nations drink the wine of her fornication, & is drunken with the blood of saints she signifies an apostate idolatrous persecuting Christian Church catholick

& when some are numbred out of the 12 tribes & sealed with the seale of God the rest of the tribes who are not sealed are called the synagogue of Satan who say they are Iews & are not, that is who profess themselves Christians but are the Church of Satan. For all men whose names are not written in the book of life that is all who are not sealed with the seale of God, wonder after the Beast & worship him & his image & receive his mark. When the saints are numbered & sealed out of the twelve tribes the rest of the Tribes receive the mark of the Beast & become the synagogue of Satan & therefore they that have the mark of the Beast & worship him & his Image are Christians in outward profession.

And as Daniels reigned in the little horn a time times & half a time or three years & an half so Iohns reigned 42 months which is also three years & an half. And lastly as Daniels Beast was the Roman Empire whose Metropolis was Rome so Iohn's has Rome for its Metropolis: for the heads of this Beast are called seven hills where the woman sitteth [[ & the Woman is called the great city sitts on the Beast that is reigns over him &. which reigneth over the kings of the earth that is over the ten kings. She is therefore his Metropolis & this Metropolis is the seven hilled city. Upon her forhead was a name written Babylon the Great which name imports that she is that great city which should take take Ierusalem burn the Temple & captivate the Iews as the Babylonians had done before, And therefore when the Romans were beseiging Ierusalem Peter being then at Rome with Paul & Silvanus the companion of Paul & writing to the converted Iews of his flock who upon the approaching of the Iewish war had fled from Iudea into Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia & Bithynia, & in his Epistles alluding in many things to the Apocalyps which was then newly written; he calls Rome by the name of Babylon, implying by that name that Rome was then treating the Iews as Babylon had done before & should in like manner destroy their city & Temple & captivate their nation as Christ had predicted before his death.] Which is as much as to say that his head City or metropolis is the seven hilled city over which the woman reigneth. She sits on the Beast, that is reigns over him & therefore is his Metropolis. She is also called the great city which reigns over the Kings of the earth & therefore is their Metropolis . Upon her fore head was a name written Babylon the great which name imports that she is that great city which should take Ierusalem burn the Temple & captivate the Iews as Babylon had done before. And therefore when the Apostles & churches of the circumcision in Iudea upon the approaching of the Iewish war fled from Iudea & dispersed themselves into all nations & Iohn went into Asia & there wrote the Apocalyps & Peter & Mare went to Rome where Mare wrote his Gospel & Peter wrote his Epistles to the strangers dispersed throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia & Bithynia that is to the christian Iews who & were his flock lately fled with him from Iudæa, sending his first epistle to them by Silvanus the companion of Paul & mentioning ing his second Epistle how Paul had also written to them meaning in the epistle to the Hebrews: Peter in these his Epistles alluding in many things to the Apocalyps calls Rome by the name of Babylon, intimating by that name that Rome which was then besieging Ierusalem should like old Babylon take & destroy the city & temple & captivate the nation of the Iews, as Christ had predicted before his death, & therefore was the great City Babylon so often mentioned in the Apocalyps. For all antiquity agree that Peter wrote his Epistles from Rome & by Babylon understood that city. And therefore Peter writing from Rome in the time of that siege & alluding in many things to the Apocalyps calls Rome by the name of Babylon. For all antiquity agree that Peter wrote his epistles from Rome & by Babylon understands that city.

The seven candlesticks & twelve Tribes & glorious woman in heaven of them are each put for the true visible church of Christ throughout the whole Empire before it becomes divided into the eastern & western empires; & when it becomes divided & the woman flies into the west & is succeeded in the east by the two horned Beast & the Dragon goes from her into the east & is succeeded in the west by the ten horned Beast, ‡ < insertion from lower down f 40v > ‡ ‡the woman leave a remnant of her seed in the east which are the 144000 numered & sealed out of the 12 tribes & the residue of the seven Churches, or the major part of them < text from higher up f 40v resumes > the few sincere christians remaining in the western Empire being scarce considered in this recconing. For the western Empire is at this time compared to a spiritually barren wilderness. yet his Empire not being who ly destricts of good Christians the inner courts of the Temple & Altar & them that worship therein are at this time measured rebuilt to signify that they should be into a new spiritual Temple & two candlesticks are placed in this second Temple to signify two churches or wittnesses which in the days of this Temple should prophesy in sackcloth. And thus the Eastern & Western Empires with their churches false & true are signified by the Dragon & first Beast, the fals Prophet & Whore, the seven Candlesticks in the first Temple & two candlesticks in the second. For it was fit that these two Empires with their churches fals & true should have their distinct & proper representations in this Prophesy.

— glorious woman in heaven & also by 12 tribes & seven candlesticks: but when – – – & conceive further that the remnant of the womans seed which the Dragon makes war upon is the / & makes w

— And that the saints whore the Beast which rose out of thesea makes war with & overcomes are the true churches of the western empire otherwise represented by the two Witnesses. For the two Witnesses are two Candlesticks that is Churches & the Beast which ascends out of the abyss makes war against them & overcomes them & kills in the streets of the great city & therefore they prophesy in the kingdom of the Beast & in the streets or provinces of the <41r> great city Babylon which in the form of a Woman reigns over him.

— & that the Candlesticks in the first Temple are moved out of their place & hence forward signify the remnant of the womans seed whom the Dragon makes war with in the eastern empire & that a new temple is measured in order to be built with two Candlesticks in it to represent the saints whom the Beast makes war with & overcomes in the western Empire. For the For Candlesticks are churches & the two Candlesticks signify two churches called the two witnesses whom the Beast makes war against & overcomes & kills in the streets or provinces of the great City Babylon which in the form of a woman reigns over him. And the seven Candlesticks are the seven churches of Asia & the churches of Asia are seated within the kingdom of the Dragon & by their lamps illuminate his empire But the twelve Tribes of Israel signify all the Christians both good & bad in the whole empire from the beginning to the end, & the 144000 all the tru christians in the whole.

— And a new Temple is measured in order to be built with two Candlesticks in it to represent the saints whom the Beast makes war with & overcomes in his kingdome For Candlesticks are Churches & the two Candlesticks are two Churches called the two Witnesses & the Beast makes makes war against these witnesses & overcomes & kills them in the streets or provinces of the great city Babylon which in the form of a woman reigns over him, & therefore they are those saints And by analogy The seven Candlesticks in the first Temple, are Gods people And by analogy in the empire of the Dragon. ‡ < insertion from the bottom of the page > ‡ a finite number being put for an indefinite. For these candlesticks are are the Churches of Asia & by consequence within the Dragons kingdom Thus the eastern & western Empires which their churches fals & true are represented by the Dragon & first Beast, the fals Prophet & Whore, the seven Candlesticks in the first Temple & two Candlesticks in the second. For it was fit that all these things should be distinctly represented They have also their joyal representation. For the twelve tribes of Israel represent all Christians good & bad in both Empires & the 144000 servants of God represent all the good they are sealed out of the Earth & the sea which were to be heard by the 4 winds, & they that worshipp the Beast & have his mark represent all the bad, he being worshipped as well by the Dragons subjects as by his own. < text from f 41r resumes > Conceive therefor that when the Dragon is the whole Empire the seven candlesticks signify the Churches of the whole empire, but when the Empire becomes divided & the Dragon retires into the east the Candlesticks are moved out of their place & become the remnant of the womans seed with whom the Dragon makes war & are succeeded in the western Empire by two Candlesticks which are placed in a new temple & signify the saints with whom. For the seven Candlesticks do not cease at the division of the Empire but continue in the first Temple to the end of the Prophesy, the seven Angels which sound the trumpets & pour-out the vials of wrath being their lamps; & the church of Pergamus lasting till Christ comes & fights against the Nicolaitans with the sword of his mouth & that of Sardis till Christ comes as a thief.

✝ &

The wars of the first four are represented in general words by the lightnings & voices & thundrings & earthquakes & great hail in the beginning of this vision as was said above. The fift reign or Dynasty began with the first appearance of the woman travelling in birth & of the Dragon in heaven standing before her to devour her child as soon as it was born. This reign ended with the casting of the Dragon out of heaven to the earth & a sixt reign began with his coming down to reign amongst the inhabitants of the earth & sea. And this reign ended & a seventh began when the Beast rose out of the sea & the Dragon gave him his power & throne, &

X Maximus slew Gratian & expelled the younger Valentinian out of the western Empire, but was conquered by Theodosius A. C. 388 & the whole Empire became united under Thedosus reigned three years in the west making the younger Valentinian partaker of his Empire & then going back into the east left Valentinian the west who within a few months after was slain in Italy by the contrivance of Eugenius & thereupon Theodosius made his younger son Honorius Emperor of the west having made his elder son Assadius Emperor of the east before & after two years conquering Eugenius he three months over the whole Empire & then by his last will & testament left the Empire divided between his two sons. / Theodosius by his victores over Maximus & Eugenius reunited it & by his last will & testament ment left it divided between his sons.] And the western Empire being invaded by the Tyrants Maximinus & Eugenius Theodosius conquered them & gave tho

Gratian reigned with his brother Valentinian in the West. Maximus slew Gratian & made Valentinian fly to Thessalonica. Theodosius A. C. 388 conquered Maximus & restored Valentinian. Eugenius A.C> 392 contrived the death of Valentinian & invaded the western Empire but Theodosius made his younger son Honorius Emperor of the west in the room of Valentinian, & conquered in October A. C. 394 & died three months after & by his last will & testament left the Empire divided between his two sons Arcadius & Honorius. After which the two Empires were united no more. [By this last division the Dragon gave his throne to the Beast. This Beast revived] By conquering the West & resigning it to Vale{n}tinian & Honorius the Dragon gave the Beast his power & throne

In this prophesy of the eighth leaf of the sealed Book, which began with the reign of the seventh head, Iohn took a prospect of the Beast which from the times next proceeding that prophesy that is from the time of the sixt head, the head in which the Beast was slain with a sword & lay dead of his wounds, & in respect of that time says of the heads five are fallen & one is & another is not come & when he comes he must continue a short space, & the Beast which was & is not he is the eighth & of the seven & the ten horns have received no kingdom as yet but receive power as kings at the same time with the Beast that Beast which is the eighth & therefore the eight reign or king begins with the division of the western Empire into ten kingdoms being a composition of all those kingdoms.

This act shews that the Dragon is the persecutor, the other of the Womans being pained in childbirth that she is the person persecuted. The third part of the stars stars are the martyrs & confesors of the Greek Empire where the persecution lasted ten years together with great violence besides the following persecutions of Licinius. For in the western Empire the persecution lasted scarce two full years & the Martyrs & confessors were so few & made so small an appearance that before the end of the two years there were pillars set up by the heathens in several parts of Spain with inscriptions signifying that the superstition of Christ & name of Christians were every where extinguished. And from this coldness in religion & scarcity of sincere Christians the western nations are compared to a spiritually barren wilderness. The Manchild

In this face of southern Emperors the family of Severus lasted till the death of Alexander excepting that Macrinus of another southern family reigned amongst & to Macrinus I add the the short reigns of the three Gordians & Philip & reject Maximinus as a Tyrant contemporary to the Gordians.

The fourth Dynasty is of many northern short lived Emperors in very troublesome times Decius, Gallus with his son Valusian, Valerian with his son Gallienus, Claudius, Aurelian, Tacitus Probus & Carus with his sons Numerian & Carinus.

Eli was high Priest 40 years in the days of Ibzon Elon Abdon & Sampson & the Philistins reigned over Israel 40 years, viz^t 20 years with Sampson & Eli & twenty years more with Samuel.

that is Sodom Egypt & Babylon. Sodom for whoredom & uncleanness, Ægypt for persecution & Babylon {for} captivating & reiging over Iudea &

And when they shall be finishing their testimony the Beast which ascends out of the abyss or Sea, shall make war against them & shall overcome them & kill them or dissolves their bodies ecclesiastically nobly. And their dead bodies shal lye in the street [or province] of the great city which is spiritually called Sodom & Egypt & [Babylon] where (or in whose street) our Lord was crucified, Sodom for its spiritual whoredome Ægypt for its persecution & Babylon for it captivating & treading under foot the holy city & setting up an Image to be worshipped by all nations upon paid of death. Afterwards these Witnesses rise again, defright their enemies & ascend up to heaven in a cloud [or multitude] & a tenth part of the great city fell & [whether a 10^th part of old Rome or

About the same time that the woman fled into the wilderness there arose up two Beasts ✝ such power as he had not before his death — one out of the sea the other out of the earth. The first Beast had seven heads & a mortal wound in one of them & his wound was healed & he revived before he arose & in allusion to the custome of the heathens of deifying & worshipping their kings after death & erecting Images & oracles to them & marking the part of a nest & maketh all the power of the first Beast that is he deifys this man of sin & causeth the earth & them that dwell therein to worship this & attributes to him divine powers ✝ first Beast whose deadly wound was healed, & says to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to this Beast which had the wound by a sword & revived, & he gave breath to the image

And all that are not marked are by the Image interdicted buying & selling that is they are excommunicated the two horned Beast by seven

One of the 10 Kings, or the tith, time will discover] a 10^th part of the great city falls which puts an end to the second wo & the third wo comes quickly not immediately but in in such a little time as in this prophesy is in considerable

Chap.
Of the Kingdoms & Churches which are the subject of the Prophesy.

This prophesy is a revelation of such things as were to come to pass in the Churches & in the kingdoms or nations through which the churches are diffused, that is, in the nations of the Roman Empire, & the subject of it are The four Beasts of Daniel representing the four monarchies are all of them still alive & so are his Ram & He Goat & Iohn's Prophesy is a revelation of what was concealed or obscurely predicted in Daniels, & therefore concerns the nations signified by those beasts & chiefly by those who reign last that is by the ten horned beast & the he-Goat in the reign of his last horn, both which are the Roman Empire, & comprehend the churches which are the main subject of this prophesy.

These Churches are represented in this prophesy by the twelve tribes of Israel. For the scene of the visions is the Temple & the worship of Christians is here described under the form of the Iewish worship in the temple as we shewed above. And hence the synagogue of Satan who say they are Iews & are not, is put for the Church of Satan who who profess themselves Christians but are fallen away to idolatry.

And as the Tribes of Israel & Iudah are in the old Testament frequently represented by a weomen so the Church of Christ signified by those Tribes is here represented by the Lambs wife & by a glorious woman in heaven. For this woman has a crown of 12 stars which are the 12 Apostles & her seed keep the Commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus, & therefore she is the Church.

And since the woman is the Church in a state of purity & afterwards in a state of Idolatry, the great red Dragon who persecutes her & stand stands before her to devoure her child & the Beast upon whose she sits, that is, over whom she reigns, must be the Roman Empire through which she is diffused & which is the subject of the prophesy. For the Dragon & first Beast has several heads & horns like Daniels Beasts which signify kingdoms & to confirm this signification he has crowns upon his heads & the Beast has crowns upon his horns & the heads & horns of the Beast are called kings, & the Dragon gives his throne & power & authority to the Beast & therefore they are successive kingdoms in one & the same throne.

In the armies of the Roman Empire, both before & after the <42v> Empire became Christian, a flying Eagle was on the standart of a every Company Legion & a Dragon on the standarts of a Company, & in a Legion there were ten companies & by consequence ten Dragons. These Dragons were of a purple colour & so fastened to the top of a long pike, as, like weathercocks, to turn their tayle from the wind & to hiss by means of the wind blowing into their open jaws. The bearers of these two sorts of standards were called Aquiliferi & Draconarij. And from these badges of the Roman Empire, this Empire is represented in the second book of Edras by an Eagle & in this prophesy by a great eagle upon whose two wings the woman flyes into the wilderness & by a great red Dragon who persecutes her.

The first Beast by the number of his horns & other characters is manifested to be the same with Daniel's fourth Beast. Both had – – – – – Isles of the sea.

Every kingdom has its Church, & the national visible Churches of the Greek & Latine Empires are the fals Prophet & Whore of Babylon. For the Whore sits upon the ten horned Beast or Latin Empire & reigns over the kings of the earth represented by his horns & is at length hated & made desolate by them & therefore is the church of this Empire & the other Beast: [& the fals Prophet survives the woman & therefore differs from her, being the other Beast which] arises out of the earth or nations of the east & hath two horns like the Lamb that is two churches like the seven churches of Asia signified by the seven horns of the Lamb & , speaks as the Dragon or eastern Empire & therefore is the church of the eastern Empire. This Beast by false miracles deceiveth them that dwell on the earth & for his fals miracles & idolatrous doctrine is called the fals Prophet & therefore is of an ecclesiastical kind, & this fals Prophet survives the Whore, being cast alive into the Lake of fire after the ten kings have eaten the flesh of the Whore & burnt her with fire, & therefore this Prophet differs from the Whore & signifies another idolatrous church & by consequence the Church of the Greek Empire. Conceive. therefore that while the Roman Empire continues entire, the whole is signified by the Dragon & the Church of the whole by the glorious woman in heaven but when the Empire becomes divided, the Woman degenerates & flyes from the Dragon into the western Empire called a wilderness for its spiritual barrenness & leaves a remnant of her seed in the eastern empire which keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus & that the Dragon at the same time goes from the Woman into the eastern Empire to make war with that remnant of her seed: and a ten-horned beast arises out of the sea or western nations to succeed the Dragon in the western Empire & a two horned beast rises out of the earth or eastern nations to succeed the woman in the eastern Empire. And further, to represent the true Christians or Churches of Christ in both kingdoms, conceive that in opposition to the seven hilled City or Woman, the tabernacle & first Temple have in them seven Candlesticks which are put for the true Church of Christ throughout the Empire represented by the Dragon, & in opposition to the two horned Beast there is a second Temple measured in order to be built with two Candlesticks in it which are put for the true Church of Christ throughout the Empire represented by the Beast. For the seven Candlesticks are the seven Churches of Asia & the Churches of Asia are seated within the kingdom of the Dragon & by their lamps illuminate his Empire & the two Candlesticks are the two Churches called the two witnesses & two Prophets whom the Beast which ascends out of the abyss makes war upon & kills in the streets of the great city & therefore they prophesy in the kingdom of the Beast & in the streets or provinces of the great city Babylon which in the form of a woman reigns over him.

We shewed above that the first six heads of the beast fell before he ascended out of the abyss. For before he ascended he was latent in the Dragons body, being the water which the Dragon cast out of his mouth as a flood after the woman to cause her to be carried away of the flood. For Waters are peoples & nations & multitudes & tongues, & an aggregate of waters as a river or flood or sea is a body politique of kingdom & the western Empire has a particular relation to the watery element the Beast rising out of the sea, & the woman sitting upon many waters.. As the woman was flying westward he cast this flood after her & therefore the flood is a western kingdom. She fled into the wilderness by a division of the Empire & the Dragon cast out of his mouth this flood after her to cause her to be carried away by it, & therefore the casting of this flood out of his mouth sifnifies that division, & while the water was in the Dragons belly the Beast or Western Empire was latent in him & for that reason has all the Dragons heads.. This Beast was Daniels fourth Beast & that Beast was the Roman Empire from the time that the Romans subdued the Greeks & in that respect the whole Roman Empire is the Beast as well as the Dragon before the division thereof & thence it is that the Dragon & Beast have common heads & common horns, But with this difference that the Dragon has crowns upon his heads & not upon his horns to signify that he reigns in all the heads & not in the horns, & the Beast has crowns upon his horns & not upon his heads to signify that he is not considered in the Apocalyps as reigning before he rises out of the sea by a division of the Empire & receives the Dragons ancient throne & power & his horns by a new division of the western Empire into ten kingdoms receive power as kings.

The occasion of the division of the Roman Empire into the eastern & western Empires was the building of Constantinople by Constantine the great A. C. 330 & endowing it with a senate & privileges like those of Rome & making it the Metropolis of all the eastern part of the Empire as Rome had hitherto been of all the Empire & was hence forward of all the western part thereof. By this division of the Empire between two imperial Cities the Woman received two wings of a great Eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, & at the death of Constantine the great the Dragon cast out of his mouth waters as a flood after the woman to cause her to be carried away of the flood. For the Empire at that time became divided between the sons of Constantine, his second son Constantius reigning at Constantinople over the east & his other two sons reigning in the west & the survivor of them reigning over all the west & being suceeded by Magnentius in whose reign the earth or eastern Empire opened her mouth & swallowed up the flood by a victory over the western Empire whereby the Beast was wounded to death by a sword & ceased to be for a time, both Empires becoming united under Constantius & his successors till the reign of Valentinian & Valens between whom the Empire became again divided & by this division the deadly wound was healed & the Beast revived: Then by the death of Valens the Empire became united again under Gratian the successor of Valentinian for about five months & by the next division which was between Gratian & Theodosius the Beast rose out of the sea ^‡ < insertion from the right margin of f 43r > ‡ After which the two Empires became fully united no more. Theodosius indeed in the last three months of his reign united them under himself by conquering Eugemius out at the same time they continued divided between his two sons his elder son Arcadius being created Emperor of the East & his younger son Honorius Emperor of the west before this union, & Theodosius in his life time leaving Arcadius in the east & sending for Honorius to reign in the west & at his death confirming this division by his last will & testament. And from thence forward the Dragon relinquished his ancient western Throne entirely to the Beast the two Empires being united no more. < text from f 43r resumes > <43v> sea & ascended before the Dragon who stood upon the land could give him his power & Throne. These were three distinct successive acts & imply three successive divisions of the Empire & can agree to no other then the three last divisions, thos three to which we have applied them. And now the Beast being revived & risen out of the sea & having received the Dragons ancient power & throne becomes at once divided into ten kingdoms [nine of which are rent from him & [the tenth is the remainder of his former body.] This came to pass in the year 408 or within three or four years after as we explained above. Before the Beast ascended out of the Abyss they had received no kingdom but by this division received power as kings at the same time with the Beast, that Beast who is called the eighth & of the seven & therefore the reign of his eighth he The seventh head or dynasty of the Beast commenced at his rising out of the sea. This dynasty continued in a monarchical form till the division of this empire into ten kingdoms & then began a new dynasty or head which is called the eighth & of the seven, it being the latter part of the seventh, & this eighth head is the Beast which was & is not & which receives power as a king at the same time with the ten horns, being a kingdom composed of all the ten. This eighth head being peculiar to the Beast I apply it rather to this division into ten kingdoms then to any other chance which was common to him & the Dragon.

A. C. 408, 409 & 410 by which act the ten horns receive power as kings at the same time with the Beast which [was & is not &] is the eighth & of the seven or latter part of the seventh head. In the prophesy of the eighth leaf of the Book which began with the reign of the seventh head/ which kingdoms are the Beast in his last reign which is called the eighth.

A little before the Woman received two wings of a great Eagle there was war in heaven Michael & his Angels fought against the Dragon & the Dragon fought & his Angels; & prevalied not . . . . . & they loved not their lives unto the death. This is a very plain description of a great conflict between the Roman heathen Empire & Army of of Christ. For Michael & his Angels are Christ & his army wuch as army as was accused by the Dragon day & night & loved loved not their lives unto the death & as overcame the Dragon by the blood of the Lamb, & by the word of their testimony that is an army of martyrs & confessors. And therefore this war between Michael & the Dragon was managed on the Dragons part by accusing & persecuting the Christians & putting them to death for their religion & on the Christians part by confessing & testifying the truth of their religion & persisting in their confession & testimony without fearing to lose their lives for the same And by this conflict the Dragon that old serpent called the Devil & Satan, that is the heathen Roman Empire in respect of its religion, was overcome & cast out of heaven to the earth, & was succeeded in the throne by a new kingdom called the kingdom of our God. For the conflict ended with a voice from heaven saying Now is come salvation & strength & the KINGDOM of our GOD, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down. And all this can agree to nothing else then the last of the heathen persecutions that under Dioclesian which lasted almost two years over all the Roman Empire & ten years together over all the east, & was greater then all the former heathen persecutions taken together & which ended in the ruin of the heathen Roman Empire & the setting up a Christian Empire in its roome under Constantine the Great. A. C. 312.

The same revolution is predicted also by the woman's being with child who cryed travelling in birth & pained to be delivered & by the Dragon's drawing the third part of the stars of heaven with his tail & casting them to the earth & by his standing before the woman ready to be delivered that he might devour her child as soon as it was born & by her bringing

The whole scene of sacred Prophesy is considered in the Apocalyps as composed of three principal parts: the regions beyond Euphrates represented by the two first Beasts of Daniel; the Empire of the Greeks on this side Euphrates represented by the Leopard & his heads & by the He Goat in the reign of his last horn; & the Empire of the Latines represented by Daniels fourth Beast. To these three parts the phrases of the third part of the Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth, Seas, Rivers, Trees, & Ships relate The two last of these three parts are sometimes called the earth & sea. For by the earth the Iews understood the great continent of Asia & Afric to which they had access by land, & those places to which they had access by sea they called the isles of the sea.

The He Goat in the reign of his last horn when he was mighty but not by his own power is in the Apocalyps represented by a great red Dragon the old Serpent called the Devil & Satan. For this Satan is there said to have his throne in Pergamus. He continued mighty by the power of the Romans will their Empire became divided into the Greek & Latine Empires. And then he remained alone in the Greek Empire & gave his Latin throne to the Beast which then rose out of the sea with ten horns. Before that division of the Empire the Dragon included the nations of the Latines in his mystical body, they being the waters which he cast out of his mouth as a flood after the woman at the division of the Empire between the sons of Constantine the great. Then the Earth opened her mouth & swallowed up the waters by a reunion of the two Empires at the conquest of Magnentius by Constantius. By that conquest the Beast was wounded to death by a sword. He revived by a new division at the death of Iovian, & rose out of the sea at the division of the Empire between Gratian & Theodosius, & the Dragon gave him his western throne & power & great authority at the death of Theodosius by a division of the Empire between his sons. And then by a further division of the western Empire into ten kingdoms the ten horns received power as kings the same hour with the Beast. Before this division of the Empire the horns were on the Dragons head, but without crowns. After this division they received power as kings & therefore are crowned only on the head of the Beast. The seven heads are successive as may be gathered from the saying: Five are fallen & one is & another is not yet come, & when he cometh he must continue a short space; And the Beast which was & is not (being wounded to death with sword in his sixt head) he is the eighth & is of the seven. I take these seven heads to be seven successive reigns of the Roman Empire commencing <45r> at the opening of the seven seales. They are all crowned on the Dragon but not on the Beast because six of them reigned before the division of the Roman Empire into the Greek & Latin Empires; & the Greek Empire was the seventh, & the Latin Empire was the eighth & of the seven because contemporary to the seventh as a collateral part thereof.

The Woman who appeared in heaven cloathed with the sun & crowned with twelve stars whose seed keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus, represents the primitive Church of Christ within the whole Roman Empire untill it became divided into the Greek & Latin Empires. Then she fled from the Dragon into the Latin Empire & sat upon the ten-horned Beast, & left the Greek Empire to the other Beast which then rose out of the earth with two horns like the Lamb that is ecclesiasticall ones, & is called the fals Prophet & in matters of religion it spoke as the Dragon & therefore was his church. And since it rose out of the earth its two horns at its first rise were the Churches of Alexandria & Antioch. And when the woman fled from the Dragon he went to make war with the remnant of her seed which kept the commandments of God & had the testimony of Iesus. And from them proceeded the two Witnesses.

In this Prophesy allusion is had to the worship of God in the Temple of Ierusalem in the feast of the seventh month. The first Temple is alluded unto in describing the times of the primitive Church: the second is alluded unto in describing the times which followed the captivity of that church by the Babylonians who worshipped Mahuzzims. The first Temple had an Ark & an outward court, the second had none. The first in the prophesy had seven golden candlesticks, the second had only two. The first Temple stands till the opening of the seventh seale, the building of the building of the second is represented by Iohn's measuring the Temple & Altar & them that worship therein (that is, their Courts) & leaving the Court without the Temple unmeasured. And this Temple is afterwards called the Temple of the Tabernacle because the Tabernacle had no outward Court.

In the beginning of the Prophesy in allusion to the High Priest's dressing the lamps in the morning of a festival Christ walked in the habit of the High Priest {close} behind the seven gold candles with his right hand behind their lamps, so that they appeared to Iohn as if he walked in in the midst of the candlesticks & held a rod of seven stars in his right hand, & Iohn is there told that the seven stars are the Angels of the seven Churches of Asia, that is their Bishops, & that the seven Candlesticks are the seven Churches. And these Lamps he dresses by directing Iohn to send seven admonitory Epistles to the seven Angels of the seven Churches. And since these Candlesticks with their Lamps were in the first Temple, it signifies that the primitive Church was represented & illuminated by the seven Churches of Asia during all the times of the first Temple.

After the Lamps were dressed the celebration of the morning sacrifice is alluded unto in the following manner. Iohn saw a <46r> door opened in heaven, the door of the Temple on mount Sion & was called up thither, that is to the eastern gate of the great court to see all things from thence. And a throne was set in heaven, the throne of God upon the Ark between the Cherubims. And one sat on the throne in a glorious appearance with a rainbow about him. And about the Throne appeared twenty four seats, the chambers of the twenty four Princes of the Priests, & upon the seats twenty four Elders sitting in white raiment with crowns of gold on their heads. And by reason of the sacrifices on the altar & the Levites singing at the eastern gate of the Priests court, there seemed to Iohn to proceed out of the throne, lightnings & thunderings & voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, the lamps newly dressed, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne was a sea of glass like unto crystall, the great bazen sea polished like a lookingglasses & filled with water clear as crystal. And in the midst of the throne that is before & behind as it were in the midst of it, & in the circuit of the throne that is on either side, were four Beasts full of eyes before & behind. By the multitudes of their eyes they represent multitudes of people, the multitudes of the people of Israel in the four sides of the great Court or Court of the people. And the first Beast was like a Lion & the second Beast like a Calf & the third Beast had the face of a man, & the fourth Beast was like a flying Eagle. For in these shapes were the four standards of the four squadrons of the children of Israel encamped on the four sides of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. And each of them had six wings, in allusion to the Seraphims about the throne in Isaiah's vision. ch. 6. 2. And these wings represent the 24 courses of the stationary men chosen out of all Israel. And they rest not day & night, or at the morning & evening sacrifices, saying Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was & is & is to come. And when those Beasts, (that is the people of Israel represented by them) give glory & honour & thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever & ever; the four & twenty Elders (going into the holy place) fall down before him that sat on the throne & worship him that liveth for ever & ever, & cast their crowns before the throne saying Thou art worthy, ô Lord to receive glory & honour & power: for thou hast created all things & for thy pleasure they are & were created. And this is the worship which the primitive Christians gave to God the father while they continued to worship in the first Temple.

And Iohn saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within & on the backside sealed with seven seales : the Book of the law laid up in the right side of the Ark, as it were in the right hand of him that sitteth on the throne; the book of Prophesy which Daniel was commanded to seale up; the Book of the revelation of Iesus Christ which God gave unto him. And none was found worthy to open & read the book or look thereon till the Lamb appeared before the midst of the throne & in the midst of the four Beasts & of the elders, as it had been slain at the foot of the Altar, having seven horns & seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth, & signify the same thing with the seven lamps & seven stars, & the seven horns signify the same thing with the seven Candlesticks. And the Lamb came <47r> & took the book out of the right hand of him that sitteth upon the throne And when he had taken the book the four Beasts & four & twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb having every one of them harps & golden vials full of odours which are the prayers of the saints And they sung a new song saying Thou art worthy to take the Book & to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain & hast redeemed us to god by thy blood out of every kindred & tongue & people & nation; & hast made us unto our God kings & priests & we shall reign on the earth. And Iohn heard the voice of many Angels round about the throne & the Beasts & the Elders, & the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand & thousands & thousands, saying with a loud voice: worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power & riches & wisdome & strength & honour & glory & blessing. And every creature which is in heaven & on the earth & under the earth & such as are in the sea & all that are in them Iohn heard saying, Blessing & honour & glory & power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne & unto the Lamb for ever & ever; unto the one because he sitteth upon the throne & hath created all things, & unto the other because he is the Lamb of God which was slain & hath redeemed us with his blood. And the four Beasts said Amen. And the four & twenty Elders fell down (in the Holy place) & worshipped him that (cannot be slain but) liveth for ever and ever. And this was the worship of God & Christ practised in the primitive Church

In this Prophesy the festivalls of the seventh month are alluded unto. ✝ < insertion from f 46v > ^✝ And the first day of this month was the feast of Trumpets, & in allusion thereunto Iohn was called up to the Temple by the sound of a Trumpet. < text from f 47r resumes > Upon the tenth day of this month usually called the great fast & the day of expiation the High Priest read the law of Moses to the people & for this end he studied it seven days together viz^t upon the third, fourth, fift, sixt, seventh, eighth, & ninth days: & in allusion to this practice the Lamb opens the seven seals of the book successively. And when he had opened the seventh seal there was silence in the Temple of heaven for half an hour, the people praying silently without in the time of incense Luke 1. 10. And an Angel representing the High Priest, came & stood at a great Altar having a golden Censer to take fire from thence. And 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. And the smoke of the Incense with the prayers of the saints ascended up also before God out of the Angels hand, that is, when he went into the most holy place & put incense on the censer. And after this the Angel took the censer & filled it with fire of the Altar & cast it upon the earth without the sanctuary for burning the Bullock & Goat for the sin offering Levit. 16. 12, 13, 27. And there were voices & thundrings & lightnings & an earthquake the voices & thundrings alluding to the singing of the Levites at the sacrifices, & the lightnings to the flaming of the fire.

The day of Expiation was followed by the feast of the seventh month, which began on the fifteenth day of the month & was kept seven days together with great sacrifices, at which the Priests sounded their Trumpets & the Levites sang with loud voices & played upon musical instruments. And in allusion to this, seven Angels sound their trumpets & seven Thunders utter their voices at seven great warrs considered as sacrifices

But it is to be observed that the times between the opening of the seventh seal & the sounding of the seventh Trumpet are described four times. First by the sealing 144000 of of all the Tribes of Israel & by the Palmbearing multitude. Secondly by the incense & the sounding of six of the Trumpets. Thirdly by the seven <48r> Thunders uttering their voices & by a declaration that when the seventh Trumpet should begin to sound the mystery of God should be finished. And fourthly by measuring the Temple & Altar & them that dwell therein.

The first beginns with the words: And after these things, (that is after the visions of the first six seals,) I saw four Angels stand on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds that they should not blow on the earth nor on the sea nor on any tree. And they were commanded that they should not hurt the earth & the sea & the trees till the servants of God were sealed in their foreheads. They were therefore the Angels of the first four Trumpets which preceded the Wo-trumpets. And this sealing was perfomed when the Angels of the Trumpets upon opening of the seventh seale appeared with their Trumpets & stood ready to sound so soon as the servants of God should be sealed

The sealing of the 144000 out of the twelve Tribes of Israel & leaving all the rest unsealed signifies the same thing with measuring the Temple & Altar & them that worship therein & leaving out the Court which is without the Temple. And therefore these two visions are synchronal & commence at the same time with the opening of the seventh Seal. The Trumpets & Thunders are synchronal because they accompany the same sacrifices.

The measuring of the Temple & Altar & them that worship therein (that is the Court of the Temple & Court of the Altar & Court of them that worship therein called the weomen's Court) & leaving the outward Court unmeasured signifies the building of a new Temple without an outward Court. And therefore the times of the second Temple begin with the opening of the seventh seal. In this Temple were only two Candlesticks standing before the God of the earth, & these were supplied with oyle by two olive trees & are called the two witnesses. In the first Temple were seven golden Candlesticks representing the seven churches of Asia. Five of these in the Epistles to the seven Churches were found fault with & exhorted to repent. These were laid aside when the times of the first Temple expired, & only the other two which were blameless & in a state of affliction persecution & poverty were propagated down into the second Temple. For the Church which worshipped in the second Temple was not a new Church but was propagated down from the Church which worshipped in the first Temple.

After these things the seventh Angel sounded, & the time of the dead came that they should be judged. And thus ended the prophesy of the Seales & Trumpets. But as in Daniel every Vision is followed with an Interpretation: so here in Iohn this vision of the seals & Trumpets is followed with an Interpretation & the Interpretation begins with these words.

And the Temple of God was opened in heaven, & there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Testament. By the Ark you may know that this was the first Temple. In this Temple the actions between the primitive Church represented by a Woman & the heathen Roman Empire represented by a Dragon are described untill the Empire becomes divided, & a ten horned Beast rises out of the Sea to <49r> represent the western Empire & a two horned Beast out of the earth to represent the Eastern Church, & all men are killed who will not worship the image of the Beast. This mystical killing puts an end to the times of the first Temple & begins the times of the second. Then all men receive the mark or name of the Beast except the 144000, who are sealed at the same time with the name of God in their foreheads, & then stand (in the Temple) on mount Sion with the Lamb. Then follows the preaching of the Gospel to all nations by the Palm-bearing multitude, & the double fall of Babylon, & the harvest & vintage or first & second resurrection successively.

Then the Prophet returns back to the time of opening the seventh Seal, & sees those that get the victory over the Beast & his Image & mark standing on the sea of glass, that is, the 144000 who stood on mount Sion with the Lamb & who were sealed out of all the twelve tribes of Israel. ☉ < insertion from f 48v > ☉ These standing in the Court of the weomen & at the eastern gate of the Priests Court appear to Iohn as if they stood on the sea of glass. < text from f 49r resumes > These are they who worshipped in the second Temple & were measured therein & called the two Candlesticks & the two witnesses. And while these stand on the sea of glass, seven Angels pour out seven Vials of wrath, which are the seven drink offerings to the seven sacrifices at which the seven Trumpets sounded & seven thunders uttered their voices. And this was in the Temple of the Tabernacle, or Temple which wanted an outward Court.

Then the Prophet returns back to the time of the sixt seal when five of the heads of the Beast were fallen & the sixt was, & describes the reign of the Woman upon her Beast untill the double fall of Babylon; & then goes on to the resurrection of the just called the first resurrection & represented before by the harvest, & farther unto the general resurrection represented before by the vintage, & unto the reign of the saints in the New Ierusalem.

Chap. 1.
Of the kingdoms & Churches represented in the Apocalyps.

1. The whole scene of Sacred Prophesy is considered in the Apocalyps as composed of three principal parts; the regions beyond Euphrates represented by the two first Beasts of Daniel; the Empire of the Greeks on this side of Euphrates represented by the Leopard, & by the He Goat in the reign of his last horn; & the Empire of the Latines represented by the Beast with ten horns. To these three parts the phrases of the third part of the sun, Moon, stars, earth, seas, rivers, trees & ships relate. The second & third are in this Prophesy represented by the Earth & Sea. For by the Earth the Iews understood the great continent of Asia & Afric to which they had access by land & called those places to which they had access by sea & particularly Europe the isles of the sea.

< insertion from f 50v > 2 By the earth the Iews understood the great continent of Asia & Afric to which they had access by land, & by the Isles of the sea they understood the places to which they sailed by sea & particularly all Europe. And hence in this prophesy the Earth & Sea are put for the nations of the Greek & Latine Empires. < text from f 50r resumes >

3. The Dragon reigned alone untill the Roman Empire became divided into the Greek & Latine Empires. Before that division the Dragon included the nations of the Latines in his mystical body, they being the waters which he cast out of his mouth as a flood after the woman. Then the earth opened her mouth & swallowed up the waters by a reunion of the two Empires at the conquest of Magnentius by Constantius. By that conquest the Beast was wounded to death by a sword. He revived by a new division at the death of Iovian & rose out of the sea at the division of the Empire between Gratian & Theodosius & the Dragon gave him his western throne & power & great authority at the death of Theodosius by the division of the empire between his sons. And then by a further division of the western empire into ten kingdoms the ten horns received power as kings the same hour with the Beast. Before this division of the Empire the horns were on the Dragons head but without crowns. Presently after the division they received power as kings & therefore are crowned only on the last head of the Beast. The seven heads are successive as may ‡ < insertion from f 50v > ‡ may be gathered from the saying: Five are fallen & one is & another is not yet come & when he cometh he must continue a short space & the Beast which was & is not [being wounded to death with a sword in his sixt head] he is the eighth & is of the seven. I take these seven heads to be seven successive reigns of the Roman Empire commencing at the opening of the seven seals. They are all crowned on the Dragon but not on the Beast because six of them reigned before the division of the Roman Empire into the Greek & Latin Empires, & the the Greek Empire was the seventh & the Latin Empire was the eighth, & of the seven because contemporary to the seventh as a collateral part thereof. 4 When the Temple of God was opened in heaven & there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his testament, this is to be understood of the first Temple, for the second Temple had no Ark. < text from f 50r resumes >

4 The Woman which appeared in the Temple in heaven cloathed with the sun & crowned with twelve starrs whose seed keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus represents the primitive Church of Christ during the times of the first Temple. When she had brought forth a man-child or Christian Empire, she fled from this Temple into the wilderness, & the heathen Dragon was cast out into the earth by the army of Michael & came down fro' the throne to the inhabitants of the earth & sea or common people of both Empires & persecuted the Woman & by the division of the Roman Empire two wings of a great Eagle were given to her that she might fly into the wilderness unto her place. For as upon the destruction of the first Temple the captivated Iews went through the wilderness of Arabia to Babylon. The great city seated upon the many waters of Euphrates: so the women fled from the first Temple of Christ into the spiritually barren wilderness to her place in the great city seated upon many waters, where she is nourished a time times & half a time from the face of the serpent. And the waters where the woman sitteth are peoples & multitudes & nations & tongues, the inhabitants of the sea over which the city reigneth. And the Dragon cast out of his mouth the western And the Dragon cast out of his mouth the western Empire as a flood after her to cause her to be carried away by the flood into the west. And the earth or Greek Empire opened <51r> her mouth & swallows up the flood by conquest. And the Dragon went from the woman to make war with the remnant of her seed. And gave his western throne to the Beast which then rose out of the sea with ten horns. And the woman sat upon the Beast & reigned ove him with an inscription on her forehead: Babylon the great the mother of harlots & abominations of the earth. For she is the great city seated upon the seven hills the city which reigned over the kings of the earth. ‖ And when the woman fled into the west, she was succeeded in the east by the Beast which rose out of the earth & had two horns like those of the Lamb in form of government & spoke as the Dragon in matters of religion being his Church. The seven horns of the Lamb answer to the seven Churches of Asia, & the two horns of this Beast to the Churches of Alexandria & Antioch, Constantinople not being made a Patriarchal seat till after this Beast rose up. ‖ And the remnant of the woman's seed who kept the commandments of God & had the testimony of Iesus became the two witnesses & at length put on sackcloth while the Woman was arrayed in purple & scarlet & adorned with gemms. She reigned in purple over the ten kings, they mourned in poor apparrel among the common people. In allusion to the two Olive trees which in the visions of Zechary supplied the Lamps in the second Temple with oyle these are called the two Olive trees. They are those that dwell in the second Temple & were measured therein. They are the 144000 who were sealed with the seale of God on their foreheads they are the 144000 who stood on mount Sion with the name of God in their foreheads they are those who get the victory over the Beast & over his Image & over his mark & stand on the sea of glass having the harps of God, & they sing the song of Moses for their escape out of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom & Egypt, & the song which the Lamb sang with the 144000 on mount Zion.

3 As in the Prophesies of Daniel, to every vision is added an interpretation, so to the vision of the seales & Trumpets is added an Interpretation. The Vision ends with the sounding of the seventh Trumpet & the time of the dead that they should be judged, & the Interpretation beginns with the words And the Temple of God was opened in heaven & there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Testament, & continues to teh end of the Prophesy.

4. The whole time of the prophesy is distinguished into two parts, the first part is of the primitive Church in the first Temple during the opening of the seales, the second part is of the remnant of her seed in the second Temple during the sounding of the Trumpets. The two Temples are distinguished from one another by the Ark & by the outward Court. For the second Temple had no Arc nor outward Court. In the Vision When Iohn saw a door opened in heaven & being called up saw through the door a throne set in heaven & one sitting thereon & seven lamps & a sea of o: this throne is the Arc & therefore the door was in first Temple. And when he was commanded to measure the Temple & Altar & them that worship therein (that is, their courts.) & to leave out the Court which is without the Temple or outward Court of the first Temple this relates to the times of the second Temple after the first is thrown down. And in the Interpretation when the Temple of God was opened in heaven & there was seen in his Temple the ARk of his testament: this was the first Temple because the second had no Ark. & when the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony in heaven was opened, this was the second Temple because the Tabernacle had no outward court.

5 When the door of the first Temple or Temple of the primitive Church was first opened, the worship of that Church is thus described. Behold a throne was set in heaven, & one sat thereon with a rainbow about him, & round the throne – – – – same in both cases.

6 And I saw saith Iohn in the right hand – – – & redeemed us with his blood.

2 Before the Prophesy of the seales & Trumpets commences, when that part of the primitive Church which was governed by Iohn & represented by the seven Churches of Asia left their first love & began to decay in piety & grow cold, Christ admonishes them by seven Epistles sent to their Angels or Bishops with respect to seven successive states or conditions which they went through untill for want of repentance he spewed them out of his mouth. For every Epistle is an admonition to all the seven Churches of Asia as may be understood by the words at the end of it: He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the Churches. The first Epistle relates to the time when – – – – spewed them out of his mouth.

1 The whole scene – – – Europe the Isles of the sea.

7 Upon the tenth day – – – reading of the law.

8 Upon the fifteenth day — contemporary to one another.

9 The Dragon reigned reigned alone – – as a collateral part thereof.

10 The woman which upon opening the first Temple appeared in heaven cloathed with the sun & crowned with 12 starrs whose seed keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus, represents the primitive Church of Christ within the whole Roman Empire represented by the Dragon untill she flyes from the face of the Dragon & he goes from her to make war with the remnant of her seed. At that time by the division of the Roman Empire into the Greek & Latin Empires, the Woman flys from him into the Latin Empire & the Dragon goes from her into the Empire of the Greeks & gives his western throne to the Beast which then rises out of the sea or isles of the sea. And at the same time another Beast rises out of the earth or nations of the Greek Empire with two horns like the horns of the Lamb or two original Churches like the seven Churches of Asia in outward appearance or form of government. These I take to be the churches of Alexandria & Antioch, that of Constantinople not being made a Patriarchal till after the rise of this Beast. And this Beast spoke as the Dragon, that is in matters of religion & so was his Church while the Woman sat upon the ten-horned Beast as his Church. For the two horned Beast is called a fals Prophet & so was of an Ecclesiastical kind. And thus the Roman Empire became divided into two Empires represented by the Dragon & the Beast with ten horns, each with his own Church represented by the two horned Beast & woman. And while the Dragon made war with the remnant of her seed which kept the commandments of God, the two horned Beast causeth <51r> them that dwell on the earth or nations of the Greek Empire to worship the first Beast, that is to receive his religion, & that they should erect an Image or Council to set it up, & all both small & great rich & poor free & bond should receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead. And that no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark or name of the Beast or the number of his name, all the rest being excommunicated. And while this is doing the rest to the number of 144000 receive the name of God in their foreheads & then stand on mount Sion with the Lamb. Thus the first Temple is thrown down by excommunicating the worshippers & a second Temple is built for the worship of the 144000.

These that in this conflict get the victory over the Beast & over his Image & over his mark & over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass having the harps of God & they sing the song of Moses for their dliverance from the bondage of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom & Egypt & the song of Lamb with the 144000 on mount Sion. And this is done just before the pouring out of the seven Vials of wrath, & by consequence just before the sounding of the seven Trumpets. And therefore these Victors are the very same with the 144000 sealed in their foreheads after the opening of the sixt seal & before the hurting of the earth & sea & trees at the sounding of the Trumpets. This sealing & numbring signifyes the same thing with the measuring of the Temple & Altar & them that worship therein, that is, their Courts. And this measuring signifies the building of a second Temple. And they that worship therein are the two Witnesses, for in allusion to Zacharys vision of a Candlestick with seven lamps in the second Temple & two olive trees supplying it with oyle: these Witnesses are called <50v> = two Candlesticks that is Churches (Apoc. 1. 20) & two Olive trees, (that is also Churches Rom. 11. 17, 24) The two Witnesses are therefore the Churches which worship in the second temple, the 144000 who were sealed out of the twelve Tribes of Israel, & stand on mount Zion with the Lamb & on the sea of glass in the second Temple built on mount Zion: There are those that were sealed out of the remnant of the womans seed when the Dragon made war upon them & the two-horned Beast caused all to be killed who would not worship the ten horned Beast & his image & thereby put an end to the first Temple.

In the first Temple there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne

An Account of the Empires & Churches represented by Iohn, & of the Scene & synchronizing parts of his Prophesy
N^o. 56.

Sect. III.
Of the division of the Empire & Church into two Empires & two Churches.

When the Temple was opened in heaven for Iohn to see the visions in it, he saw there the Ark of the Testament & the child-bearing woman & the Dragon standing by her, & how her child was caught up to the throne of God above the Ark, & the Dragon was cast out of this Temple of heaven by Michael into the outward court or court of the people, which people are here called the inhabitants of the earth & sea, & how the Woman fled from this Temple through the wilderness of Arabia to serve other Gods wood & stone, & became seated in the great city Babylon which reigneth over the kings of the earth, & left a remnant of her seed with the Dragon in the outward court of the Temple. There he saw the two Beasts rise out of the sea & earth & the second Beast deify the first & cause me to erect an Image to him & to worship the Image. There the Dragon by the dictates of the speaking Image (before he gave his throne to the Beast) made war upon the remnant of the Womans seed & mystically killed at that would not worship the Image: & there all men received the mark or name of the Beast or number of his name except the 144000 who were sealed with the name of God & being forbid to buy & sell & by consequence interdicted society by excommunication, retire from the multitude in the outward court of the Temple, & stand on mount Sion with the Lamb singing a new song before the throne & the four beasts & the Elders & by consequence in the inner Court at the eastern border therefore called the court of Israel. For there the singing used to be performed. And when the Dragon had expelled those that would not worship the Image of the Beast in the outward Court he there gave the Beast his power & his throne & great authority. And all the world wondred after the Beast, & power was given him over all kindreds & tongues & nations & all that dwell upon the earth worship him [& his image] whose names are not written in the book of life

In the beginning of the visions in the Temple which was opened in heaven the Ark was seen in it & therefore it was the Tabernacle or first Temple or temple of the tabernacle as it is afterwards called. Now they that worshipped in the tabernacle & first temple were the twelve tribes of Israel, & the Woman which appeared in this temple had upon her head a crown of twelve stars to represent these tribes, & out of all these tribes the 144000 were numbered & sealed, & twelve tribes being all Israel represent the Church catholick, & this Church inhabited the earth & sea because the Angel which had the seal of God cryed with a loud voice saying: Hurt not the earth & sea till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. These tribes are the inhabiters of the earth & sea to whom the Dragon came down from his heathen throne with great wrath; the earth & sea upon which the son of man stood with the little book open in his hand, the earth out of which the two-horned Beast arose & the sea out of which the ten-horned Beast arose, the first with horns like the Lamb, the second subject to the woman. For then earth & sea with their inhabitants are <54r> the subject of this prophesy. / The Church catholick therefore by the sealing of the 144000 out of the twelve tribes suffers a great alteration & becomes divided into two parties. The multitude receive the mark or name of the Beast or number of his name & continue in the outward court of the Temple where they used to worship, & there worship the Beast & his image & receive his mark; & the 144000 are sealed with the name of God & being excommunicated by the multitude retire into the court of Israel in the eastern border of the Priests court. The Beast was slain with a sword & revived before he rose out of the sea with the wound healed in one of his heads . And To worship the Beast & his Image is to deify him after his death & resurrection, & to receive his mark or name or the number of his name is to be initiated in this his worship as the heathens were initiated in the worship of their God by being marked in the arm or ne{ct} with the mark or name or number of the name of those Gods. And because those that are initiated were of the twelve tribes of Israel, by this initiation they fall away from the worship of God & depart from the communion of his worshippers & are initiated in the worship of the B. & his Im. &c. the synagogue of Satan who say they are Iews & are not & in the worship of the Beast & his image. And in like manner to be sealed with the name of God & Christ in their forehead is to be initiated or at least confirmed in the Church of God & Christ in a state of separation from those that receive the mark of the Beast.. By the apostasy of the twelve Tribes to the worship of the Beast & his Image & the killing all those that would not worship the Image, the mysticall body of the primitive Church of Christ was dissolved & by the sealing of the 144000 with the name of God & Christ in their foreheads a new Church or a church in a new form was instituted, & this is represented by measuring the second Temple & the Altar & them [the 144000] that worship therein & by changing the form of the Candlesticks, & by the Lamb's chaning his shape into that of the High Priest & coming down from heaven with the book open in his hand & standing upon the earth & sea, & by the dedication of a new temple signified by the smoke with which the temple of the Tabernacle was filled from the glory of God, & by the Womans flying from the Temple into the Wilderness & being succeeded in the Temple by the two Witnesses, & in S^t Pauls Epistles by the revelation of the Man of Sin. Before the sealing of the twelve Tribes the Church catholick including the Woman was represented by one golden candletick with seven branches called the seven golden candlesticks, but upon that sealing the Candlestick ceases to represent the Woman & is therefore changed & two candlesticks of olive tree are put to represent the 144000 along. For then the Empire becomes divided into two Empires represented by the Dragon & Beast, & the Church becomes divided accordingly into two churches seated in the two empires & is thenceforward represented by two candlesticks & called two witnesses or martyrs as above. For when the Image spoke as an Oracle & caused all that would not worship it to be killed, then the 144000 were killed; not litterally, but by dissolving their bodies ecclesiastick, abrogating their outward form of government taking away their daily worship, & expelling them the outward court of the temple: & being killed for not worshipping the Image, they became in a particular manner the two martyrs or Witnesses of Iesus. The two wings of a great Eagle which were given to the Woman are the Greek & Latin churches, & these Churches are the twelve tribes of Israel. When the two Beasts arose, one out of the sea, the other out of the earth, then did these churches receive the mark of the Beast, except the 144000, who being the remnant of the two wings of the woman are still considered as two churches & accordingly represented by two candlesticks & for their sufferings & testimony against the Dragon & the worshippers of the Beast are called the two witnesses & the multitude of those signified by the two wings, by apostatizing & committing fornication with the Whore & receiving the mark of the Beast become two fals churches represented by the whore of Babylon & the two horned Beast, & these are the churches of the two Empires represented by the first Beast & the Dragon. For when the first Beast rises out of the sea, the Empire becomes divided between him & the Dragon, & the Church becomes divided into the Churches of the two Empires, the worshippers of the Beast into two fals Churches, & the worshippers of God into two true ones. For all kingdoms have their Churches.

The Temple being the scene of the visions, I conceive that it remains the <55r> same from the beginning to the end; & that in allusion to the times of the tabernacle or first temple or those of the second, for representing the various states of the Church, the things which appear in the temple are only changed. The Ark being the throne of God remains the same unless perhaps in representing the second Temple which wanted it. The four Beasts representing the Church catholick in all conditions, remains the same. In allusion to the Babylonian captivity, to signify the like captivity of the Christian Church the form of the Candlesticks is changed & the eastern border of the Priests court is made the court of Israel, & the Woman flyes into the wilderness & becomes seated in the great city Babylon which reigns over the kings of the earth, & the Babylonian gentiles captivate the people of God invade the outward court of the Temple, place the abomination of desolation & tread under foot the holy city & sanctuary; & the people of God being forbidden to buy & sell by those who say they are Iews & are not, that is, being excommunicated by the synagogue of Satan & expelled their society, retire into the court of Israel in the eastern border of the Priests court & there sing a new song standing as it were on the sea of glass, or on the vessel made of looking-glasses & on the water therein, that is, on the earth & sea. For this was the earth & sea upon which the son of man stood in the form of an Angel with the book open in his hand, & they that stand thereon as it were in flames of fire are the mystical body of the Son of man who stands thereon with his leggs like pillars of fire burning as it were in a furnace, & his leggs by standing on this earth & sea denote the two churches called the two Witnesses. To signify a new state of the Church they sing a new song at the dedication of a new Temple. For their song on mount Sion is called a new one. Singing is prophesying & therefore they are Prophets.. And while they stand singing on the sea of glass seven Angels appear in the Temple with the seven last plagues, & upon their coming out of the Temple, one of the four Beasts gives them seven Vials of wrath for the drink offerings of the sacrifices, & the Temple is filled with smoke from the glory of God so that no man was able to enter into the Temple as at the dedication of the Tabernacle & Temple of Solomon. The four Beasts joyntly & severally represent the Church of God, & so do the two Candlesticks; & the seven Angels are the Angels of the seven Churches & are represented by the seven lamps. And while the seven Angels have the seven last plagues & one of the four Beasts gives them seven Vials of wrath, it signifies that the two Witnesses have power by the hand of the seven Angels to smite the earth with all plauges as often as they will. For the seven last plagues are the plagues last mentioned in the prophesy & those are the plagues with which the two Witnesses had power to smite the earth.

Dacia being conquered by Trajan became a part of the Roman Empire, & the Church of Dacia was subordinate to the Greek Church & sometimes sent her bishop to the Councils of the Greeks. Dacia was also mixed with many Greeks carried captive from Thrace & Asia minor in the reign of Gallienus & afterwards & many fled thither from the Greek Empire in time of the tenth persecution, & from this country came the Goths & Vandals who invaded the western Empire, & with their associates seating themselves in both Illyricum's, Noricum, Gallia, Spain, Italy & Afric, made a mixture of the two witnesses in those countries.

Whether the Beast with his worshippers at the end of the 1260 days, shall make war upon the Witnesses & kill them in both Empires or only in the Western Empire time will discover.

Sect. IV.
A further account of the division of the Roman Empire.

Iohn tells us that before the Beast ascended out of the abyss five of the kings represented by his heads, were fallen & the sixt was then in being. For before he ascended he was latent in the Dragons mystical body & therefore partakes of all his heads. For he was the water which the Dragon cast out of his mouth as a flood after the Woman to cause her to be carried away of the flood. For waters are peoples & nations & multitudes & tongues, & an aggregate of waters as a stream a river a flood or a sea, is an aggregate of men, a body politick or ecclesiastick, a kingdom or a church. The waters which Christ spewed out of his mouth signify a body ecclesiastick (the Church of Laodicea) first united to Christs mystical body as a part thereof & afterwards in a state of separation or schism: & in like manner the waters which the Dragon casts out of his mouth must signify a body politick first united to the Dragons body as a part thereof & afterwards divided from it. And the western Empire hath a particular relation to the watry element. For the Beast rises out of the sea & the Woman sitts upon many waters: which waters signify the peoples nations multitudes & tongues over whom the Woman reigneth & which compose the horns & body of the Beast on whom she sitteth. Her floating upon the flood & sitting upon many waters & upon the Beast are types of one & the same signification & represent her reigning over the flood in her way into the wilderness & over the many waters & the Beast in the wilderness. She fled from the Dragon westward to reign at Rome the great city Babylon the city upon seven hills, & therefore the flood which the Dragon cast out of his mouth after her is a western kingdom.

And as the flowing of the flood out of the Dragons mouth signifies a division of the Empire into two Empires one of which during the division is represented by the Dragon & the other by the flood so the flying of the Woman from the remnant of her seed signifies the division of the Church into two Churches one of which is the Woman the other the remnant of her seed. When she received two wings of a great Eagle she became distinguished into two Churches in communion with one another. Upon these wings she fled into a spiritually barren kingdom represented by the Wilderness. When she began to fly, the Dragon cast out water as a flood after her that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood, that is, that by the division of the Empire he might promote the division of the Church & cause the Woman to separate from the remnant of her seed. The earth helps her & prevents the separation for a time by swallowing up the flood, but at length she separates & escapes into the barren wilderness, & the Dragon goes to make war with the remnant of her seed who keeps the commandments of God. And henceforward none are permitted to buy & sell, that is to be in communion with her & the Dragon & two Beasts but those that are initiated in their religion by receiving the mark or name of the Beast or the number of his name. The Dragon

^[9]same from the beginning to the end; & that in allusion to the times of of the tabernacle or first temple or those of the second, for representing the various states of the Church, the things which appear in the temple are only changed. The Ark being the throne of God remains the same, unless perhaps in representing the second Temple which wanted it. The four Beasts representing the Church catholick in all conditions remain the same. In allusion to the Babylonian captivity to signify the like captivity of the Christian Church, the form of the candlestick is changed & the eastern border of the Priests court is made the court of Israel, & the Woman flyes into the Wilderness & becomes the great city Babylon which reigns over the kings of the earth & the Babylonian gentiles captivate the people of God, invade the outward court of the Temple place the abomination of desolation & tread under foot the holy city & sanctuary; & the people of God being forbidden to buy & sell by those who say they are Iews & are not, that is, being excommunicated by the synagogue of Satan & expelled their society, retire into the court of Israel in the eastern border of the Priests court & there sing a new song, standing as it were on the sea of glass or on the vessel of glass & the water therein, that is, on the earth & sea. For this was the earth & sea upon which the son of man stood in the form of an Angel with the book open in his hand, & they that stand thereon as it were in flames of fire are the mystical body of the son of man who stands thereon with his leggs like pillars of fire burning as it were in a furnace, & his leggs by standing on this earth & sea denote the two churches called the two witnesses. To signify a new state of the Church they sing a new song at the dedication of a new Temple. For their song on mount Sion is called a new one, & while they stand singing on the sea of glass, seven Angels appear in the temple with the seven last plagues, & upon their coming out of the Temple one of the four Beasts gives them seven Vials of wrath for the drink offerings of the sacrifices, & the Temple is filled with smoke from the glory of God so that no man was able to enter into the Temple. The four Beasts joyntly & severally represent the Church of God, & so do the two candlesticks, & the seven Angels are the Angells of the churches, & are represented by the seven lamps. And while the seven Angels have the seven last plagues & one of the four Beasts gives them seven vials of wrath, it signifies that the two Witnesses have power by the hand of the seven Angels to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will. For the seven last plagues are the plagues last mentioned in they prophesy, & those are the plagues with which the two Witnesses had power to smite the earth.

Dacia being conquered by Trajan became a part of the Roman empire, & the Church of Dacia was subordinate to the Greek Church & sometimes sent her bishop to the Councils of the Greeks. Dacia was also mixed with many <58r> Greeks carried captive from Thrace & Asia minor in the reign of Gallianus & afterwards, & many fled thither from the Greek Empire in the time of the tenth persecution. And from the country came the Goths and Vandals who invaded the western Empire & seating themselves in Pannonia Gallia Spain Italy & Afric made a mixture of the two witnesses in those countries.

Whether the Beast at the end of the 1260 days shall make war upon the Witnesses & kill them in both Empires or only in the Western time will discover.

& called the two witnesses. These Witnesses were in being before being included in the womans two wings & began not to be represented apart before the multitude separated from them. While they are in communion with the multitude the whole is represented by the seven golden Candlesticks & by the Woman in heaven & by the mystical body of the Lamb with seven horns. But when Lamb has opened all the seals & the Woman flyes into the Wilderness & the Church of Laodicea is spewed out of Christs mouth & the Candlesticks are removed out of their places: the Church in this new state is represented in a new manner & the Lamb changes his shape into that of the Son of Man with two flaming eyes & two burning leggs standing on the earth & sea with the book open in his hand. And in allusion to the Babylonian captivity the destruction of the first Temple the measuring of the Temple by {Ezra} the building of the second Temple the Woman flies to Babylon the Temple is measured & the two Candlesticks of olive trees succeed the seven as in the second Temple Zech 5. [ And in allusion to the dedication of the Tabernacle of Moses & Temple of Solomon the Temple of the Tabernacle is dedicated with great sacrifices & filled with smoke from the glory of God. By these allusions a new state of the Church is represented & this state commences with the opening of the last seal, &

Sect. IV.
A further account of the division of the Roman Empire.

Iohn tells us that before the Beast ascended out of the abyss, five of the kings represented by his heads were fallen & the sixt was then in being. For before he ascended he was latent in the Dragons mystical body & therefore partakes of all his heads. For he was the water which the Dragon cast out of his mouth as a flood after the Woman to cause her to be carried away of the flood. For waters are peoples & nations & multitudes & tongues, & an aggregate of waters, as a stream a river, a flood, or a sea, is ‡ an aggregate of men < insertion from f 57v > ‡is an aggregate of men a body politick or ecclesiastick a kingdom or a church. The waters which Christ spewed out of his mouth signify a body ecclesiastick (the Church of Laodicea) first united to Christs mystical body as a part thereof & afterwards in a state of separation or schism: & in like manner the waters which the Dragon casts out of his mouth must signify a body politick first united to the Dragons body as a part thereof & afterwards divided from it. And the western Empire hath a particular relation to the watry element; For the beast rises out of the sea & the woman sitts upo many waters, which waters signify the peoples nations multitudes & tongues over whom the woman reigneth, & which compose the body & horns of the Beast on which she sitteth. Her floating upon the flood & sitting upon many waters & upon the Beast are types of one & the same signification & represent her reigning over the flood in her way into the wilderness & over the many waters & the Beast in the wilderness. She fled from the Dragon westward to reign at Rome the seven hilled city the great city Babylon & therefore the flood which the Dragon cast out of his mouth after her is a western kingdom & the remaining body of the Dragon is an eastern. And as the flowing of the flood out of the Dragons mouth signifies a division of the Empire into two Empires one of which during the division is represented by the Dragon & the other by the flood, so the flying of the woman from the remnant of her seed signifies the division of the Church into two Churches one of which is the Woman the other the remnant of her seend. When she receives two wings of a great Eagle she becomes distinguished into two churches in communion with one another. Upon these wings she flies into a spiritually barren kingdom represented by the wilderness. When she begins to fly the Dragon casts out water as a flood after her that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood, that is, that by the division of the Empire he might promote the division of the Church & cause the Woman to separate from the remnant of her seed. The Earth helps her & prevents the separation for a time by swallowing up the waters: but at length she separates & escapes into the wilderness her by breach of communion. <58v> These keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus under the persecuting Dragon while she flies into a state of spiritual barrenness & becomes the Whore of Babylon, & makes her seat drunken with the blood of the martyrs of Iesus, & therefore in flying she separates from the communion of the remnant of her seed & by separation is spewed out of Christs mouth. For those of her communion worship the Beast & his Image & are d^runken with the wine of her fornication & are initiated in her religion by receiving the mark of the Beast. And the Dragon in making war upon the remnant of her seed causeth all to be mystically killed that will not worship the Image of the Beast, & the other Beast with two horns causeth all to receive a mark & that no man may buy or sell save he that hath the mark or name of the Beast or the number of his name: that is, he excommunicates all those who will not forsake the communion of the remnant of the womans seed , & by a new initiation enter into the communion of those who worship the Beast & his Image. And at the end of this persecution there stand an hundred & forty four thousand with the Lamb on mount Sion sealed with the seal of God out of all the twelve tribes of Israel, the rest having received the mark of the Beast. These are Gods true Witnesses: for they have the testimony of Iesus & in their mouth there was found no lye. The Dragon persecutes first the Woman & then the remnant of her seed, & they that persevere in these persecutions are said to keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus & to receive the name of God in their foreheads, & in relation to their testimony & veracity & to the two Wings of the Woman whose ofspring they are they are henceforward called the two witnesses of Iesus Christ. < text from f 57v resumes > a body politick or ecclesiastick, a kingdom or a Church,

The occasion of this division was the building of Constantinople by Constantine the great A. C. 330, & endowing it with a Senate & privileges like those at Rome, & making it the Metropolis of all the eastern part of the Empire, as Rome had hitherto been of all the Empire, & was henceforward of all the western part thereof. By this division of the Empire between two imperial cities, the Woman received two wings of a great Eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, & at the death of Constantine the great A. C. 337 the Dragon cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the Woman to cause her to be carried away of the flood. For the Empire at that time became divided between the sons of Constantine, his second son Constantius reigning over the <59r> east, & his other two sons Constantine & Constans reigning in the west. But Constantine was quickly slain & then his Brother Constans reigned over all the west, making Rome his imperial seat as Constantinople was the imperial seat of Constantius. And this division of the Empire tended to make the like division of the Church. For the Bishop of Rome began now to claim the universal Bishopric & his claim was submitted unto by the western Churches & supported by the western Empire against the eastern Churches & almomst made a schism between them. For in the year 341 this Bishop began to receive appeals from the Councils of the Greek church & proudly summoned the bishops of that Church to appear before him in a Council at Rome but was stoutly opposed & reprimanded by those bishops for his ambition. Then by the favour of the western Emperor Constans he prevailed to have a Council summoned by Imperial authority out of both Empires to meet at Serdica in the year 347. About eighty eastern Bishops came to Serdica but finding that matters were prejudged by the western Bishops in favour of the pretended authority of the Bishop of Rome they went back & the remaining part of the Council decreed appeals from all the Churches to the Bishop of Rome, & thereby gave him the supremacy over all the west. For the western churches submitted to that decree. And these proceedings almost made a schism between the Churches of the two Empires the people of the western Churches beginning now to avoid the communion of the eastern but those of the eastern not yet avoiding the communion of the western. And this tendency to a schism is represented by the endeavour of the flood to carry away the Woman, & her new dominion in the west is represented by her floting upon the waters. This did the Woman soon after she had received two wings of a great Eagle begin to fly into the wilderness. For the western churches headed by the Church of Rome are the woman reigning in the wilderness.

But the force of the flood to carry away the woman was but of short continuance. For Magnentius slew Constans and succeeded him in the west A. C. 350 & within a year or two was conquered by Constantius. And by that victory of the eastern Empire over the western the earth or eastern Empire helped the Woman & opened her mouth & swallowed up the flood & thereby retarded her flight for a time. For by the union of the two Empires a stop was put to the impending schism, & the Woman with her two eagles-wings continued to represent the undivided Church of the whole Empire for some time longer, & the new dominion of the Bishop of Rome was suspended during that time, the western Bishops being forced to allow the authority of the Eastern Churches over their own members in matters judicial without appeal to the Bishop of Rome.

By the same victory of Constantius over Magnentius the Beast was wounded to death with a sword & ceased to be for a time both Empires becoming united under Constantius & his successors Iulian & Iovian till the reign of Valentinian & Valens. Between them the Empire became again divided A. C. 364, & by this division the deadly wound was healed & the Beast revived & soon after rose out of the sea, & the Woman by a new schism commencing continued her flight into the wilderness. Then by the death of Valens the Empire became united again under Gratian the successor of <60r> Valentinian for about five months, & by the next division which was between Gratian & Theodosius A. C. 378 the Dragon went from the flying Woman to make war with the remnant of her seed & the ten horned Beast rose out of the sea to succeed him in the west ; & the two horned Beast rose out of the earth to succeed her in the east. And at the same time the Bishop of Rome recovered the universal Bishopric over all the west & began to govern the Churches of the Western Empire by Vicars & to write decretal Epistles: & by this dominion she began to sit upon the Beast & to change times & laws. And in those days the invocation of Saints overspread all the churches & thereby she became the Whore of Babylon.

Theodosius reigned in the east & Gratian with his young brother Valentinian in the west. Maximus compassed the death of Gratian & made Valentinian fly into the east & succeeded them. Theodosius A. C. 388 conquered Maximus & restored Valentinian & reigned with him three years in the west & returned into the east A. C. 391. Eugenius A. C. 392 compassed the death of Valentinian & succeeded him in the western Empire, but Theodosius made his younger son Honorius Emperor of the West in the room of Valentinian, conquered Eugenius A. C. 394, died three or four months after; & by his last will & testament left the Empire divided between his two sons Arcadius and Honorius. After which the two Empires were united no more. By conquering the west & resigning the conquest to Honorius the Dragon gave the Beast his power & throne. The Beast revived before he could ascend out of the Sea, & ascended before the Dragon who stood upon the land could give him his power & throne. These were three distinct successive acts & imply three successive divisions of the Empire, & can agree to no other then the three last divisions, those three to which we have applied them. Theodosius by conquering Maximus reigned over both Empires, over the east with Arcadius & over the west with Valentinian & Honorius. Thus the Empire was united under him in the last seven years of his reign, & yet at the same time divided between Arcadius who was Emperor of the east & Valentinian & Honorius who were successive Emperors of the west. The Dragon therefore in some respect reigned over the whole Empire even after the Beast was risen & this reign is to be referred to his seventh head. And when Theodosius by his last will & testament left the Empire divided between his sons & was succeeded in the eastern Empire by his eldest son Arcadius, the Dragon gave the Beast his western throne & power. And this reign of the Beast is the eighth & of the seven. And now, the Beast being revived & risen out of the abyss & having received the Dragons ancient throne, we are to expect the reigns of the ten horns. For they were to receive power as kings at the same time with the Beast, that is, at that time when the Dragon gave the Beast his power & throne & great authority. And accordingly the Western Empire became divided into ten kingdoms in the reign of the Emperors Arcadius & Honorius as we shewed above.

Before the Woman received two wings of a great Eagle there <61r> was war in heaven, Michael & his Angels fought against the Dragon, & the Dragon fought & his Angels & prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great Dragon was cast out, that old Serpent called the Devil & Satan which deceiveth the whole world, he was cast out into the earth & his Angels were cast out with him. And Iohn heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation & strength & the kingdom of our God & the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down who accused them before our God day & night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb & by the word of their testimony, & they loved not their lives unto the death. This is a very plain description of a great conflict between the Roman heathen Empire & the army of Christ. For Michael & his Angels are Christ & his army, such an army as was accused by the Dragon day & night & loved not their lives unto the death, such an army as overcame the Dragon by the blood of the Lamb & by the word of their testimony, that is, an army of martyrs & confessors. And this war between Michael & the Dragon was managed on the Dragon's part by accusing & persecuting the Christians & putting them to death for their religion & on the Christians part by confessing & testifying the truth of their religion & persisting in their confession & testimony without fearing to lose their lives for the same. And by this conflict the Dragon that old Serpent called the Devil & Satan, that is, the heathen Roman Empire in respect of its religion, was overcome & cast out of heaven to the earth & was succeeded in the throne by a new kingdom called the kingdom of God. For the conflict ended with a voice from heaven saying: Now is come salvation & strength & the KINGDOM of our GOD, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down. And all this can agree to nothing else then the last of the heathen persecutions which began in the reign of Dioclesian A. C. 302 & lasted almost two years over all the Roman Empire, & ten years together with great violence over all the east, & was greater then all the former persecutions taken together, & which ended in the ruin of the heathen Roman Empire & the setting up of a Christian Empire in its room under Constantine the great.

The same revolution is predicted also by the vision of the Woman who being great with child cried travelling in birth & pained to be delivered, & by the Dragons drawing the third part of the stars of heaven with his tail & casting them to the earth, & standing before the Woman ready to

of the heathen Roman Empire & the setting up a Christian Empire in its room under Constantine the great.

The same revolution is predicted also by the vision of the Woman who being great with child cried travailing in birth & pained to be delivered, & by the Dragon's drawing the third part of the stars of heaven with his tail & casting them to the earth and standing before the woman ready to be delivered for to devour her child so soon as it was born, & by her bringing forth a Man-child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron & was caught up unto God & his throne from the jaws of the Dragon. For since this Parable ends with the flight of the Woman into the wilderness, & that of the war between Michael & the Dragon ends also with the same flight, both the Parables ending at the same time must be synchronal & concern the same revolution of the Empire. For describing & pointing out this grand revolution more clearly & fully the description is repeated. The woman travailing in birth & pained to be delivered signifies the Church in affliction by a great persecution which ended in the birth of a Christian kingdom & therefore was Dioclesian's persecution. And the same persecution is signified by the Dragon's drawing the third part of the stars of heaven & casting them to the earth. This act shews that the Dragon is the persecutor & the other of the Woman's being pained in childbirth, that she is the person persecuted. The third part of the stars of heaven or stars of the third part of the Christian world are the martyrs & Confessors of the Provinces of the Greek Empire where the persecution was very vehement & lasted ten years together being carried on by Dioclesian Galerius & Maximinius successively, besides what the Christians of that part of the Empire suffered afterwards under Licinius. For in the western part of the Empire where Herculius, Constantius & Constantine reigned successively the persecution lasted scarce two full years being stopt by Constantius; & the Martyrs & Confessors were so few, & made so small an appearance, that before the end of two years there were pillars set up by the heathens in several parts of Spain, with inscriptions signifying that the superstition of Christ & name of Christians were every where extinguished. In Dalia & such other Provinces as had newly revolted from the old Roman Empire & make another third part there was no persecution at all. The Man-child which the Woman brought forth is not a single person, but <63r> a kingdom as Isaias interprets the type. For the Woman is ^[10] a body politick & the child must be a body of the same kind with the mother. And this kingdom was Christian because it was the son of the Woman & was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, which in this Prophesy is the scepter of Christs kingdom. The persecution began by an Edict for demolishing the Churches & burning the sacred books throughout the Empire A. C. 302, & the Man-child was born in the western part of the Empire by the victory of Constantine the great over Maxentius in the end of the persecution A. C. 312. . And six years after by the victory of Constantine over Licinius a heathen persecuting Emperor who reigned in the east, the Man-child was caught up to the throne of the whole Empire viz^t A. C. 318. And the Dragon at the same time being cast out of heaven by Michael, began to come down among the inhabitants of the earth & sea with great wrath knowing that he hath but a short time, that is, the heathens being cast out of their old throne flowed into the Christian Churches of the earth & Sea, making an outward shew & profession of the Christian religion for temporal ends but retaining their vicious lives & heathen principles & inclinations to superstition, & thereby they soon corrupted the Christian religion & filled it full of the vices & superstitions of the heathens, making hast to do this because the Dragon had but a short time to reign among the Christians before he should be cast into the bottomless pit. When therefore the Dragon that old serpent the spirit of error saw that he was cast down he troubled persecuted the Woman & by the building of Constantinople A. C. 330 she received two wings of a great Eagle that she might fly into the wilderness where she is nourished from the face of the serpent, & after he had put her to flight & oppressed the remnant of her seed he reigned a short time.

 The heathens < insertion from f 58v > The heathens supposed the souls of dead men to be either parts or powers of the supreme God & under that pretense worshipped them by various names as divine persons & called those persons Gods. The Dragon in respect of this spirit of error & idolatry of the heathens is called that old serpent the Devill & Satan who deceiveth the whole world. When that old Serpent saw that he was cast out of the heathen Roman throne he came down among the Christian inhabitants of the earth & sea. For at that time the doctrine that the son was λόγος ἐνδιάθετος the inherent reasong wisdom & understanding of the father without which the father would be ἄσοφος & ἄλογος void of wisdom & understanding spread much in the Churches This was the doctrine of Basilides Valentinus & the Gnosticks, or Tatian & the Encratites, of Tertullian, Proculus Æchines & the Montanists, of Praxeas, Artemas, Paul of Samosat, Hermogenes, Sabellius & the Patripassians; & Constantine the great with some bishops about him lapsed into this opinion. And the waters which the Dragon cast out of his mouth after the Woman were much infected with it. For the Council of Serdica were of this opinion as appears by their Epistle as it is recited entire by Theodoret. But God Witnesses prophesied against it and the earth also helped the woman: for when Constantius came against Magnentius he called a Council at Sirmium which condemned this doctrine in Photinus & put a stop to its growth. For the decrees of this Council were universally approved & received by the Churches of the whole Empire both then & afterwards & the language of one hypostasis of the father son & holy Ghost which was then in fashion soon changed into that of three hypostases. Afterwards the inhabitants of the earth & sea represented by the two wings of the Woman were interdicted buying & selling untill they received the mark or name of the Beast or number of his name & as many of them as kept the commandments of God & persisted in the testimony of Iesus were sealed with the name of God in their foreheads & by reason of their testimony are called the two witnesses, & continue in affliction & dispersion while the old serpent called the Devil & Satan reigns amongst the inhabitants of the earth & sea with great wrath knowing that he hath but a short time, & all men whose names are not written in the book of life worship the Beast & wonder when they behold him. < text from f 63r resumes > ^[11] <64r>

Sect. V.
Of the seven heads & ten horns of the Dragon and Beast

The Dragon & Beast being the subject of the Prophesy & signifying the Roman Empire sometimes united & sometimes divided & the relation which they have to one another & to the Empire with is parts being understood being understood, it will not be difficult to describe <65r> their heads. The four first are the four horsmen which the four Beasts standing towards the four winds of heaven call Iohn to come & see & which therefore stood in the regions of the Beasts, the first horsman to the east the second to the west the third to the south & the fourth to the north. Riding signifies reigning & the four Beasts with their faces of a Lion, Ox, Man & Eagle allude to the armies of Israel encamped about the tabernacle in the wilderness in four bodies under their banners; the tribes of Iudah Issachar & Zebulon being on the east side under the standard of a Lion, those of Reuben Simeon & Gad on the south side under the standard of a Man, those of Ephraim Manasseh & Benjamin on the west side under the standard of an Ox, & those of Dan Asher & Naphtali on the north side under the standard of an Eagle. The encampment is described in the book of numbers & the Iews keep a tradition of the standards. Every Horsman therefore with the horse he rides upon & the Beast which appears in the same region with him is a fit emblem of an Emperor with his Empire & his army under its standard. And thus the four hors-men with their Beasts very fitly represent four reigns or dynasties of Emperors.

The first Emperors were Italians called the twelve Cæsars. Of these there were two dynasties, the first of the family of Iulius Cæsar which lasted till the death of Nero, the next of the family of Vespasian which lasted till the death of Domitian the last of the twelve Cæsars. The Apocalyps was written in the end of the first & is of things future, & therefore we are to begin with the next. Of this dynasty there were only three Emperors, Vespasian & his two sons Titus & Domitian. Vespasian was created Emperor in the East in the time of the Iewish war. And there being then a rumor in all the east of a prophesy that a great Monarch should arise about that time in Iudea, the Romans interpreted it of him. Percrebuerat Oriente toto vetus & constans opinio, esse in fatis ut eo tempore Iudæa profecti rerum potirentur. Id de Imperatore Romano quantum eventu postea patuit, prædictum Iudæi ad se trahentes rebellarunt. Suetonius in Vespasiano. Pluribus persuasio inerat antiquis sacerdotum literis contineri eo ipso tempore fore ut valesceret Oriens, profectique Iudæa rerum potirentur. Quæ ambages Vespatianum et Titum prædixerunt. Tacitus Hist. l. 5. Quod Iudæos ad bellum maxime

But thou o Daniel shut up the words & seale the book even to the time of the end Here the book of the scripture of truth is shut up & sealed. And this is that book which is sealed with seven seales & opened in the Apocalyps. It is sealed even to the time of the end, & therefore the time of the end commences so soon as all the seals are open, & not before. But the time times & half a time do not take up all the time of the end. The time of the end begins before that period & After that period is ended there remains a further time till God shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people & have brought them back out of all nations into their own land. And this shall be at the end of 1290 days counted from the time that the daily worship of Gods people shall be taken away so as to set up the great abomination that maketh desolate. Blessed is he that waiteth to the [end of] 1335 days. But go thy way [Daniel] till the end be: for thou shall rest [in the dust] & stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

This prophesy therefore of the scripture of truth takes in the time times & half a time which is the reign of the last horn of Daniels fourth Beast. It takes in also all the time of the Iewish captivity untill that captivity be at an end & the sanctuary be cleansed that is all the 2300 days of the He Goat from the time of his taking away the daily worship & casting down the sanctuary. And thence it seems to me that the Dragon & ten-horned Beast in Iohn, are the same with the He-Goat & fourth Beast in Daniel. . The Beast hath ten horns in both cases. Iohns Beast carries a Woman upon his back & Daniels hath an eleventh horrn horn with eyes & a mouth which make it a different animal. The Goat represents the Greek Empire alone till the rise of its last horn, & then it includes the Roman Empire till the Greeks & Latines separate & upon that separation the Empire of the Latines becomes represented by the Beast which rises out of the Sea & that of the Greeks remains represented by the Dragon. And the Dragon, like the three first of Daniels beasts, hath his life prolongued after his dominion is taken away. The Dragon & Beast have each of them seven heads & ten horns: but the heads of the Dragon & horns of the Beast are only crowned because the heads reign upon the Dragon before the Beast separes from him & the horns reign upon the Beast after that separation. The separation of the Beast from the Dragon is represented by his rising out of the sea or isles of the sea, & by the Dragons giving him his power & throne & great authority, & yet continuing to be worshipped himself. And they worshipped the Dragon which gave power unto the Beast & they worshipped the Beast saying Who is like unto the Beast? who is able to make war with him? Apoc XIII. 1, 2, 4. And this Beast & Daniels three first beasts the Leopard, the Bear & the Lion are named together in continual order, & assimilated to one another in same respect or other, to shew that he is the fourth Apoc. XIII. 2.

and took away the revenues of the sacrifices & salaries & authority of the Priests. And Theodosius followed his example. And Heathenism afteward recovered it self no more, but decreased so fast that Prudentius about ten years after the death of Theodosius called the heathens vix pauca ingenia & pars hominum rarissima: Prudent. l. 1 adv. Symmach.

The things predicted in the first six seales are again predicted in the Prophesy of the woman & Dragon, which as we told you, is a repetition of the prophesy of opening the seales. First there are lightnings & voices & thunderings & an earthquake & great hail, & these express in general the wars made by the four horsmen at the opening of the first four seales. Then to represent the persecution of the Church by Dioclesian & his Collegues & the subsequent overthrow of the Heathen Empire by Constantine; a woman appears in heaven who being with child cried travelling in birth & pained to be delivered, & a great red Dragon appeared also in heaven & his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven & cast them to the earth, & he stood before the woman to devour her child as soon as it was born, & at the same time there was war in heaven between Michael & the Dragon & the Dragon was overcome with his angels & cast out of heaven to the earth & the Manchild was caught up to God & to his throne, & there was a voice from heaven saying, Now is come salvation & the kingdom of our God & the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down – & they over came him by the blood of the Lamb & by the word of their testimony & loved not their lives unto the death. The Dragon appears in heaven to represent the height of his power & dominion at his first appearance. For Isaiah in prophesying of the king of Babylon uses the phrase in the same sense: How art thou fallen from heaven O Lucifer son of the morning – which didst weaken the nations. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God – I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most high: yet thou shalt be brought down to Hell, to the sides of the pit. Isa. 14. Upon the opening of the fourth seal the Empire fell into the greatest disorder & confusion & became the kingdome of Death & Hades. Upon opening the fift seale the Empire was raised from this very low estate by Dioclesian & his Collegues & exalted up to heaven, & there Iohn saw the Dragon casting down the stars to the grownd & standing before the woman in travel & making war with Michael & the saints by a great persecution of the Church.. Upon opening the sixt seal the Dragon was cast out of heaven to the earth by the victories of Constantine the great over the Heathens & the Manchild which the Woman brought forth was caught up to the throne of heaven & a Wo is denounced to the inhabitants of the earth & sea because the Devil is come down unto them having great wrath because he knoweth that he <68r> hath but a short time. We have shewed how upon opening the sixt Seal the Dragon was cast out of heaven to the earth it remains now that we shew how at the same time he came down among the inhabitants of the earth & sea with great wrath.

Gregory of Nyssen tells us that after the persecution of Decius, Gregory Bishop of Neocœsarea in Pontus instituted among all people, as an addition & corollary of devotion towards God, that festival days & assemblies should be celebrated to them who had contended for the faith, that is, to the Martyrs. And he adds this reason for the institution. When he observed that the simple & unskilful multitude by reason of corporeal delights remained in the error of Idols; that the principal thing might be corrected among them, namely that instead of their vain worship & superstition they might turn their eyes upon God: he permitted that at the memories of the holy Martyrs they might make merry & delight themselves & be resolved into joy. The heathens were delighted with the festivals of their Gods & unwilling to part with those delights & therefore Gregory to facilitate their conversion instituted annualy festivals to the Christian saints & Martyrs. And hence it came to pass that the principal festivals of the Christians succeeded in the room of the principal festivals of the Heathens. as keeping of Christmas in the room of the Saturnalia, the celebrating of May day with flowers in the room of the floralia, & the keeping of festivals to the Virgin Mary, Iohn the Baptist & most of the Apostles at the entrance of the Sun into the signes of the Zodiac in the old Iulian Calendar. In the same persecution of Decius Cyprian ordered the passions of the Martyrs in Afric to be registered in order to celebrate their memories annually with oblations & sacrifices. And Felix Bishop of Rome a little after, as Platina relates, Martyrum gloriæ consulens constituit ut quotannis sacrifica eorum nomine celebrarentur, consulting the glory of the Martyrs ordeined that sacrifices should be celebrated annually in their name. By the pleasure of these festivals the Christians increased much in number & decreased as much in vertue untill they were purged & made white by the Persecution of Dioclesian. And this was the first step made in the Christian religion towards the veneration of the martyrs. And tho it did not yet amount to an unlawfull worship yet it disposed the Christians towards such a further veneration of the dead as in a short time ended in the invocation of Saints

The next step was the affecting to pray at the sepulchres of the Martyrs & the bringing their bodies as holy things into the Oratories or Churches of the Christians, which practice began at the end of Dioclesians persecution. The Council of Eliberis in Spain celebrated in the third year of Dioclesians persecution A. C. 305 has these Canons Can: 34, Cereos per diem placuit in Cæmeterio nom incendi. Inquietandi enim spiritus sanctorum non sunt. Qui hæ non observarint arceantur ab Ecclesiæ commumone. Can: 35, Placuit prohiberi ne fæminæ in Cæmeterio pervigilent, eò quod sæpe sub obtentu orationis latentur scelera commitant. <69r> Presently after that persecution suppose about the year 314, the Council of Lodicea in Phrygia which then met for restoring the lapsed discipline of the church has the following Canons. Can: 9, Those of the Church are not allowed to go into the Cæmeteries or Martyries (as they are called) of hereticks for the sake of prayer or recovery of health: but such as go, if they be of the faithfull shall be excommunicated for a time. Can: 34, A Christian must not leave the martyrs of Christ & go to fals Martyrs, that is, to the martyrs of the hereticks. For these are alien from God. And therefore let those be anathema who go to them. Can: 51, The birth days of the martyrs shall not be celebrated in Lent, but their commemoration shall be made on the sabbath days & Lords days. The Council of Gangra in Paphlagonia celebrated in the year 324 made this Canon: If any man being arrogant, abominates the congregations of the Martyrs or the Liturgies performed therein or the memories of the Martyrs let him be anathema. By all which it's manifest that the Christians in the time of Dioclesians persecution used to pray in the Cæmeteries or burying places of the dead for avoyding the danger of the persecution, & after the persecution was over continued that practise in honour to the Martyrs & affected it as advantageous to devotion & for recovering the health of those that were sick; and that in these burying places they commemorated the Martyrs yearly & accounted all these practises pious & religious & anathematized those men as arrogant who opposed them or who prayed in the Martyries of hereticks. And hence came the custome of translating the bodies of the saints & martyrs into such Churches as were new built after the persecution & of dedicating the new churches to the saints buried in them. And in Egypt they did not only bury them in their Churches but kept them unburied upon beds in their private houses ‡ < insertion from higher up the right margin of f 69r > ‡ & told stories of their souls appearing after death & ascending up to heaven. < text from lower down f 69r resumes > as Athanasius relates in the life of Antony. All which gave occasion to the Emperor Iulian (as Cyril relates) to accuse the Christians in this manner. Your adding to that ancient dead man [viz^t Iesus] many new dead man who can sufficiently abominate? You have filled all places with sepulchres & monuments although you are no where bidden to prostrate your selves to sepulchres & to respect them officiously. And a little after: since Iesus said that sepulchres are full of filthiness how do you invoke God unto them. And in another place <70r> he saith that if Christians had adhered to the precepts of the Hebrews they would have worshipped one god instead of many & not a man or rather not many unhappy men, & that they adored the wood of the cross, making its images on their foreheads & before their houses.

< insertion from f 69v > A superstition of the same kind with the worship of saints & their reliques is the adoration of the wood of the cross as a relique of Christ & ascribing to it & to the signe of the cross a supernatural power. Christians – – Christians at first signed themselves with the signe of the cross only to ^[13] signify that they were Christians, & this custome was very ancient in the west & grew there into superstition very early.. For Tertullian tells us: Ad omnem progressum atque promotum ad omnem aditum & exitum, ad vestitum et {caluatum}, a lavacra, ad mensas, ad lumina, ad cubilia, ad sedilia, quacunque nos coversatio exercet, frontem crucis signaculo terimus. Harum et atiarum huj usmodi disciplinarum, si legem expostules scripturarum, nullam invenies: traditio tibi prœtenditur auctrix, consuetudo confimatrix, & fides observatrix. Lactantins writes that by the signe of the cross the ^[14] gods of the heathens are put to flight & their sacrifices disturbed so as not to give the usual signes to the Auruspices & that this was the cause of Dioclesian's persecution. Athanasius in his first Oration against the Gentiles written before the Arian controversy began suppose about the year 320, tells us that by the signe of the cross all apparitiory of Devils disappear. And in his second Oration written at the same time on the same subject he saith that Christ gives victory against death & weakens death in all those who have his faith & carry the signe of the cross. And again: By the signe of the Cross all magic ceases – < text from f 70r resumes > < insertion from f 69v > < text from f 70r resumes > By the signe of the cross all magic ceases, all enchantments are dissolved, all Idols are deserted all base pleasure vanishes. And again By using only the signe of the cross all apparitions of Devills are driven away. — Whoever desires to try what we have said, let him come & upon the appearing of Devils & the delusions of Oracles & the miracles of sorcery let him use the derided signe of the Cross naming only the name of Christ & he shall see how thereby the Devils are put to flight, the Oracles cease & all Magick & sorcery is dissolved. The same Athanasius in the life of Antony the founder of the sect of the Monks tells how Antony in the reign of Dioclesian taught those that came to him to fortify themselves with the signe of the cross against the apparitions of Devils & how in the 10^th persecution & afterwards he signed himself with the cross for that purpose. And Eusebius tells us

The same Athanasius in the life of Antony the common father of all Moncks, tells how this Antony in the reign of Dioclesian taught those that came to him to fortify themselves with the signe of the cross against the apparitions of Devils & how in the tenth persecution & afterwards he signed himself with the cross for that purpose. And Eusebius tells us how Constantine the great declared that his soldiers who warred under this signe in their standards were protected in battel while others at a distance from it lost their lives. And if the Christians began so early to attribute a miraculous power to the signe of the cross, much more would they afterwars idolize the wood of the cross which was found at Ierusalem by Hellena the mother of Constantine A. C. 326 & distinguished from the crosses of the two thieves by curing a sick woman (as was pretended) & dispersed by little pieces into all the Empire insomuch that Cyril who was bishop of Ierusalem in the reign of Constantius Valens & Theodosius wrote that the whole world was filled with the cross by pieces carried from that city. And the devotion which Christians paid to these miracle-working pieces of the cross made the Emperor Iulian say that they adored the wood of the cross making its images in their foreheads & before their houses.

After Christians began thus to ascribe miracles to the signe of the Cross & to disperse pieces of the wood as venerable & wonder-working reliques of Christ, the next step was to ascribe the like miracles to the reliques of the Saints & Martyrs. And such miracles began to make a noise in the reign of the Emperor Iulian, being set on foot by some Christians in opposition to his proceedings against the Christian religion. For when he opened the heathen temples & consulted the Oracle of Apollo Daphneus in the suburbs of Antioch & pressed by many sacrifices for an answer the Oracle , at length told him that <70v> the bones of the Martyr Babylas which were buried there hindered him from speaking. This was in the year 362 & Hibary in his book against Constantius written in the fift year of his banishment which I think was the same year, makes this mention of what was then done in the east Sane martyrio persequeris - - - - - fidei. And Gregory Nazianzen - - - - - - - aspernaris. These things made the Heathens in the reign of the same Emperor demolish the sepulchres of some of the old Prophets in Phœnicia & burn their bones, & some Christians mixing themselves with the heathens gathered up some of the bones & carried them to Athanasius in Ægypt who hid them in a wall of a church as things which might be profitable to a future generation.

The cry of these miracles being once set on foot continued for many years & increased & grew more general. For Chrisostom in his second Oration on S^t Babylas twenty years after the silencing of the Oracle of Apollo Daphnæus as above, saith of the miracles done by the Saints & their reliques: Nulla est nostri hujus orbis – – – – – was about the year 384. ‡ Chrystom in his Oration – – – & the Moncks were they that laboured most in propagating these superstitions. ‡Ambrose < insertion from the left margin of f 70v > ‡ Ambrose was at first free from these superstitions but A.C. 387 in dedicating a Church without Martyrs was admonished by the people how he should dedicate & thereupon dreamt of two martyrs Gervasius & Protasus whose bodies being dug up were translated into the church & did many miracles & part of them were distributed to other churches. Of the miracles Ambrose makes this mention Cognovistis inò vidisti upsi multos a dæmonijs purgatos, plurimos etiam ubi vestem sanctorum manibus contigerunt his quibus laborabant debili tactibus absolutos. Reparata vetusti temporis miracula. The whole story you have described by Panlinus of Nola in the life of Ambrose; by Austin of Hippo in several parts of his works & by Ambrose himself in his 85^th Epistle & 91^st Sermon. (The distributing of reliques occasioned many under the habit of Moncks to carry the members of martyrs or pretended martyrs up & down the Empire to sell: which occasioned the Emperor Theodosius A. C. 386 to put out this Edict. < text from f 70v resumes >

Now by these miracles the invocation of Saints was presently set on foot. Superstitious Christians in the reign of Constantius began to tell stories of the souls of the dead saints appearing to them & ascending up to heaven in a visible form as may be seen in the life of Antony. And as this doctrine of Dæmons was the foundation of the heathen Idolatry so it made way for the like practices among the Christians. For the miracles done by the reliques of the dead being ascribed to the powers of their separate souls & their souls being therefore looked upon as Divi which had a knowledge of humane affiars & could pray for us & do us good or hurt & dayly exerted this power, it was natural to desire them to pray for us & do us good. And that they did begin presently to invoke them for that end is very evident . Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory Nyssen Ephrem Syrus &c set this practice on foot in the east in the reign of Valens, & Pope Damasus, did the like in the west as may be seen in their writings. I shall content my self with a few instances. Basil who died in the year 378 in his oration on the martyr Manas, saith: Be ye mindfull of the Martyr as many of you as have enjoyed him in your dreams, as many of you as in this place have been assisted by him in prayer, as many of you as upon invoking & calling him by name have had him present in your works, as many as he has reduced into the way from wandering, as many as he has restored to health, as many as have had their dead children restored by him to life, as many as have had their lives prolonged by him. And in his Oration on the 40 Martyrs These are they, saith he, who obteining our country, like certain Towers afford us safety against the incursions of our enemies. Neither are they shut up in one place only, but being distributed are sent into many regions & adorn many countries. — You have often endeavoured you have often laboured to find one who might pray for you: these are forty emitting one voice of prayer. — He that is in affliction flies to these, he that rejoyces has recourse to these the first that he may be freed from the evil, the last that he may continue in happiness. Here a woman praying for her children is heard: she obteins a safe return for her husband from abroad, & health for him in his sickness. – – – O common keepers of mankind the best companions of our cares, suffrages & coadjutors of prayer, most powerful embassadors to God, &c.

Trumpets are sounded, & seven thunders utter their voices, & seven Vials of wrath are poured out. And therefore the sounding of the seven Trumpets, the voices of the seven thunders, & the pouring out of seven Vials of wrath are synchronal, & relate to one & the same division of the time of the seventh seale following the silence, into seven successive parts. The seven days of this feast were called the feast of Tabernacles. And during those seven days, the children of Israel dwelt in booths & rejoyced with palm-branches in their hands. And to this alludes the multitude with palms in their hands which appeared after the sealing of the 144000, & came out of the great tribulation with triumph at the battel of the great day to which the seventh trumpet sounds. The visions therefore of the 144000 & of the palmbearing multitude extend to the sounding of the seventh trumpet & therefore are synchronal to the times of the seventh seale.

☉ When the 144000 - - < insertion from f 71v > ^☉ When the 144000 are sealed out of all the twelve tribes of Israel & the rest receive the mark of the Beast, & thereby the first temple is destroyed: Iohn is bidden to measure the temple & altar, that is their courts, & them that worship therein, that is the 144000 standing on mount Sion & on the sea of glass: but the court that is – – – – – – – – – – – remains to the true church of God in all times & places to the end of the prophesy. In the interpretation of this prophesy – – – – – – – or sell save he that had the mark ✝✝✝, or the name of the Beast ΔΑΤΕΙΝΟΣ, or the number of his name χξς, 666: all others being excommunicated. When the seven Angels had poured out the seven Vialls of wrath, & Iohn had – – – – – – – Beast was wounded. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings – – – – over the kings of the earth. < text from f 71r resumes > In the interpretation of this prophesy the woman in heaven cloathed with the sun, before she flyes into the wilderness, represents the primitive church catholic illuminated with the seven lamps in the seven golden candlesticks which are the seven churches of Asia. And the Dragon signifies the same empire with Daniels He goat in the reign of his last horn, that is, the whole Roman Empire untill it become divided into the Greek & Latin Empires; & all the time of that division it signifies the Greek Empire alone. And the Beast is Daniels fourth Beast, that is the empire of the Latines. And the Beast is Daniels fourth Beast, that is the empire of the Latines. Before the division of the Roman empire into the Greek & Latine empires, the Beast is included in the body of the Dragon; & from the time of the division it is the Latine empire alone. And hence the Dragon & Beast have the same heads & horns, but the heads are crowned upon the Dragon & the horns upon the Beast. The horns are ten kingdoms into which the Beast becomes divided presently after his separation from the Dragon, as hath been described above. The heads are seven successive Dynasties or parts into which the Roman empire becomes divided by the opening of the seven seales. Before the woman fled into the wilderness she being with child of a christian empire, cried travailing (viz^t in the ten years persecution of Dioclesian) & pained to be delivered. And the Dragon (the heathen Empire) stood before her to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child who (at length) was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God & to his throne (in the temple, by the victory of Constantine the great over Maxentius) & the woman fled (from the temple) into the wilderness (of Arabia to Babylon where she hath a place of riches & honour & dominion upon the back of the Beast, prepared of God that they should feed her there 1260 days. And there was war in heaven (between the heathens under Maximinius & the new Christian Empire,) & the Dragon was cast out that old serpent which deceiveth the whole world, the spirit of heathen idolatry, he was cast out of the throne to the earth. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, & by the word of their testimony. And they loved not their lives unto the death.

And when the Dragon saw that he was cast down, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child, stirring up a new persecution against her in the reign of Licinius. And to the woman, by the building of Constantinople & equalling it to Rome, were given two wings of a great Eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place upon the back of her beast, where she is nourished a time times & half a time from the face of the serpent. And the serpent, upon the death of Constantine the great, cast out waters as a flood (viz^t the western empires under Constantine junior & Constans) after the Woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth (the nations of Asia now under Constantinople) helped the woman &, by conquering the western Empire now under Magnentius, swallowed up the flood which the Dragon cast out of his mouth. And the Dragon was wroth with the woman, & went to make war with the remnant of her seed which kept the commandments of God & had the testimony of Iesus, & which in that war were sealed out of all the twelve tribes of Israel, & remained upon mount Sion with the Lamb being in number 144000 & having his fathers name written in their foreheads.

And when the earth had swallowed up the flood, & the Dragon was <72> gone to make war with the remnant of the Womans seed, Iohn stood upon the sand of the sea, & saw the Beast with seven heads & ten horns rise out of the sea. And the Beast was like unto a leopard, & his feet as the feet of a Bear, & his mouth as the mouth of a lion. Iohn here names Daniels four Beasts in order, putting his Beast in the room of Daniels fourth Beast to shew that they are the same. And the Dragon gave this Beast his throne & power & great authority by relinquishing the western Empire to him. And one of his heads (the sixt) was as it were wounded to death, viz^t by the sword of the earth which swallowed up the waters cast out of the mouth of the Dragon, & his deadly wound was healed. It was healed by a new division of the empire between Valentinian & Valens AN. Chr. 364. Iohn saw the Beast rise out of the sea at the division thereof between Gratian & Theodosius A. C. 379. And the Dragon gave the Beast his power & his throne & great authority at the death of Theodosius when he gave the western empire to his son Honorius. After which the two Empires were no more united. But the western Empire became presently divided into ten kingdoms as above; & these kingdoms at length united in religion under the woman, & reign with her forty & two months.

And I behold, saith Iohn, another Beast coming out of the earth. When the Woman fled from the Dragon into the kingdome of the Beast & became his church, this other Beast rose up out of the earth to represent the church of of the Dragon. For he had two horns like the Lamb, (such as were the bishopricks & Alexandria & Antioch) & he spake as the Dragon in matters of religion. And he causeth the earth, or nations of the Dragons kingdom, to worship the first Beast whose deadly wound was healed, that is to be of his religion. And he doth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men; that is, he excommunicates those that differ from him in point of religion. For in pronouncing their excommunications, they used to swing down a lighted torch from above. And he said to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the Beast which had the wound by a sword & did live, that is, they should call a Council of men of the religion of this Beast. And he had power to give life to the image, that the image should both speake, & cause that as many as would not worship the image of the Beast should be killed, viz^t mystically by dissolving their churches. And he causeth all both small & great, rich & poor, bond & free, to receive a mark in their right hands or in their foreheads, that no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark, ✝, or the name of the Beast ΔΑΤΕΙΝΟΣ, or the number of his name χξς, 666: all others being excommunicated.

[When by the flight of the woman & the warr which the Dragon went to make upon the remnant of her seed, the 144000 are sealed out of all the twelve tribes of Israel, & the rest receive the mark of the Beast & thereby the first temple is destroyed: Iohn is bidden to measure the temple & altar, that is, their courts, & them that worship therein, that is the 144000 standing on mount Sion & on the sea of glass: but the court that is without the temple, that is, the peoples court, to leave out & measure it not because it is given to the gentiles (those that receive the mark of the Beast) & the holy city they shall tread under foot forty & two months, that is, all the time the Beast acts under the woman Babylon. And the two witnesses prophesy 1260 dyas, that is, all the same time cloathed in sackcloth. These have power, like Elijah, to shut heaven that it rain not at the sounding of the first trumpet, & like Moses to turn the waters into blood at the sounding of the second, & to smite the earth with all plagues (those of the Trumpets) as ofter as they will. These prophesied at the building of the second temple like Haggai & Zachary. These are the two Olive trees, or churches, which supplied the lamps with oyle Zech. IV. These are the two Candlesicks, or churches standing before the God of the earth. Five of the seven churches of Asia (those in prosperity) are found fault with & exhorted to repent, & threatned to be removed out of their places or spewed out of Christs mouth or punished with the sword of his mouth, or otherwise except they repent: the other two (the churches of Smyrna & Philadelphia) which were under persecution, remain in a state of persecution to illuminate the second temple. When the primitive Church catholick represented by the woman in heaven, apostatized & became divided into two corrupt churches represented by the Whore of Babylon & the two horned <73r> Beast, the 144000 which were sealed out of all the twelve tribes, became the two witnesses in opposition to those two fals churches. And the name of two witnesses once imposed, remains to the true Church of God in all times & places to the end of the prophesy.

When the seven Angels had poured out the seven Vials of wrath, & Iohn had described them all in the present time, he is called up from the time of the seventh Viall to the time of the sixt seal to take a view of the woman & her Beast who were to reign in the times of the seventh seale. And in respect of the later part of the time of the sixt seale then considered as present, the Angel tells Iohn: The Beast that thou sawest was & is not & shall ascend out of the abyss or sea & go into perdition. That is to say, he was before Constantius conquered Magnentius & reunited the western Empire to the eastern. He is not during the reunion; & shall ascend out of the sea at a following division of the Empire. The Angel tells him further: Here is the mind which hath wisdome: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the Woman sitteth, Rome being built upon seven hills & thence called the seven hilled city. Also they are seven kings: five are fallen & one is & another is not yet come, & when he cometh he must continue a short space; & the beast that was & is not even he is the eighth & is of the seven & goeth into perdition. Five are fallen, the times of the first five seales being past; & one is, the time of the sixt seale being considered as present; & another is not yet come, & when he cometh, which will be at the opening of the seventh seale, he must continue a short space: and the Beast that was & is not he is the eighth (viz^t by means of the division of the Roman Empire into two collateral Empires) & is of the seven (being one half of the seventh,) & shall go into perdition. The words, Five are fallen, & one is, & another is not yet come are usually referred to the time of Iohn the Apostle when this prophesy was given. But it is to be considered that in this prophesy many things are spoken of as present which were not present when the prophesy was given, but which were present with respect to some future time considered as present in the visions. So where its said upon pouring out the seventh Vial of wrath, that great Babylon received the cup of the wine of the fierceness of Gods wrath: this relates not to the time of Iohn the Apostle, but to the time of pouring out the seventh Vial of wrath. And so where its said Babylon is fallen is fallen; & thrust in thy siccle & reap for the time is come for thee to reap; and the time of the dead is come that they should be judged; and I saw the dead small & great stand before God: these sayings relate not to the days of Iohn the Apostle, but to later times considered as present in the visions. And so the words, five are fallen & one is & another is not yet come, & the Beast that was & is not he is the eighth, are not to be referred to the age of Iohn the Apostle, but relate to the time when the Beast was wounded to death with a sword, & shew that this wound was given him in his sixt head. And without this reference we are not told in what head the Beast was wounded. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings the same hour with the Beast. These have one mind, being of the Whore's religion, & shall give their power & strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb & the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords & King of kings and they that are with him are called & chosen & faithfull. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth, are peoples & multitudes & nations & tongues: composing the ten horns And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the Beast, these shall hate the whore & shall make her desolate & naked, & shall eat her flesh & burn her with fire as the end of the 1260 days.. For God shall put in their hearts to fulfill his will, & to agree & give their kingdom unto the Beast untill the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth, that is the great city of the Latines which reigneth over the ten kings.

Beast, the 144000 which were sealed out of all the twelve tribes, became the two witnesses in opposition to those two fals churches. And the name of the two witnesses once imposed, remains to the true Church of God in all times & places to the end of the prophesy.

When the seven Angels had poured out the seven Vials of wrath & Iohn had described them all as successively present in the visions untill great Babylon received the cup of the wine of the fierceness of God wrath: he is called up from the time of the seventh Vial to the time of the sixt seale to take a view of the Woman & her Beast who were to reign in the times of the seventh seale & in & in respect of the time then considered as present, (suppose in the reign of Iulian the Apostate or Iovian,) the Angel tells Iohn: The Beast that thou sawest, was & is not & shall ascend out of the abyss or sea & go into perdition. That is to say, he was before Constantius conquered Magnentius & reunited the western Empire to the eastern. He is not during the reunion, & shall ascend out of the sea at a following division of the Empire. The Angel tells him further: Here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the Woman sitteth, Rome being built upon seven hills & thence called the seven hilled city. Also they are seven kings: five are fallen & one is & another is not yet come, & when he cometh he must continue a short space. And the Beast that was & is not he is the eighth, & is of the seven, & goeth into perdition. Five are fallen, the times of the first five seales being past; & one is, the time of the sixt seale being considered as present; & another is not yet come, & when he cometh which will be at the opening of the seventh seal, he must continue a short space; And the Beast that was & is not he is the eighth (by means of the division of the R. Empire into two collateral Empires) & is of the seven, & shall go into perdition. The words: five are fallen & one is & another is not yet come are usually referred by interpreters to the time Iohn the Apostle when this prophesy was given: but it is to be considered that in this prophesy many things are spoken as present which were not present when the prophesy was given but which were present with respect to some future time considered as present in the visions. So where its said upon pouring out the seventh vial of wrath, that great Babylon received the cup of the wine of the fierceness of Gods wrath this relates not to the time of Iohn the Apostle but to the time of pouring out the seventh vial of wrath. And so where its said, Babylon is fallen is fallen, & Thrust in thy siccle & reap, for the time is come for thee to reap, & the time of the dead is come that they should be judged & I saw the dead small & great stand before God, these saying relate not to the days of Iohn the Apostle but to later times considered at present in the visions. And so the words five are fallen & one is & another is not yet come or the Beast that was & is not he is the eighth, are not to to be referred to the days of Iohn the Apostle but to the time when the Beast was wounded to death with a sword, & shew that this wound was given him in his sixt head: And

Chap. VIII
An Account of the Empire of the Romans according to the description given of it by Iohn.

The great red Dragon & the ten horned Beast in the Apocalyps signify the same thing with the third & fourth Beast in Daniel. The Dragon is the third Beast or Leopard, Leopard that is He Goat reigning in his last horn not his own power but in that of the Romans. While the Latines reigned over the Greeks the whole is the Dragon, but with relation chiefly to the Greeks: but after the division of the Empire into the Empires of the Greeks & Latines, the Dragon represents the Empire of the Greeks, & the ten horned Beast the Empire of the Latines. They both have ten horns because they were united for a time but the Dragons horns are without crowns because they did not arise within the nations comprehended in the body of Daniels third Beast. The Dragon is called the Devil & Satan, & Satan is said to have his throne (or royal seat) in Pergamus: & the He Goat in the reign of his last horn is the kingdom of Pergamus. The Beast was wounded to death with a sword by the victory of Constantius over Magnentius, his deadly wound was healed by the new division of the Empire between Valentinian & Valens he arose out of the sea at the new division thereof between Gratian & Theodosius, & he gave the Beast his power & throne by retiring into the east at the division of the Empire between the sons of Theodosius. And the Woman upon his back signifies the same thing with the little horn of Daniels fourth Beast. In allusion to the Babylonian captivity in which the Iews were carried captive through the wilderness of Arabia deserta to Babylon she is called Babylon & said to fly from the temple through the wilderness unto her place upon the back of the Beast where she is fed & nourished, that is, unto her state of riches & honour at which she arrived in the reign of Charles the great or not long after. At the division of the Empire she became the Church of the Beast The book in the right hand of him that sitteth upon the Throne is the scripture of truth said by Daniel to be sealed untill the time of the end. The Lamb opens the seals thereof successively untill the Beast rises out of the sea. The seven Epistles sent to the seven churches of Asia refer to seven successive states of the true Church before she flies into the wilderness; the opening of the seven seals referrs to seven successive states of the Empire during the same time, that is untill the Beast rises out of the sea: & the sounding of the seven Trumpets <76r> denotes seven successive great wars the first of which begins with the death of the Emperor Theodosius teh great, & the last is that by which Christ with his two edged sword smites the nations & the stone cut out without hands fall upon the feet of the Image & puts an end to the four monarchies. The seven thunders are the seven wars to which the Trumpets sound. And the seven viols of wrath are poured out at the sounding of those Trumpets. These things allude to the feast of Tabernacles kept in the Temple seven days together by great sacrifices at which the Trumpets sounded, the Levites sang loud with Thundering voices, & the Priests poured out Vials of drink offerings. Thus the six intervalls between the first & last Trumpet, Thunder, & Vial, answer to the number of the Beast 666. In sounding the first four Trumpets, the scene of sacred prophesy comprehending all the nations of the four Monarchies is considered as divided into three parts, which are the fourth Beast or nations of the Latine Empire, the third Beast or nations of the Greek Empire & the two first Beasts or nations beyond Euphrates under the king of Persia. The first Viol was poured upon the Earth, that is, upon the nations of of which the two horned Beast arose & this Beast is called a fals Prophet to signify that he was of an ecclesiastical kind, & spake as the Dragon, that is, in point of religion, & so was his Church. When the Empire became divided into the Greek & Latine Empires, the Church of the whole Empire became divided into the Churches of the Greek & Latine Empires; & this is represented by the Womans flying from her first station headed by the seven Churches of Asia, to her new station in the west under the Bishop of Rome to whom the Emperor Gratian now granted appeals from all the western Churches, & thereby made her the Church of the western Empire; & by the rise of the two horned Beast representing a new Church in the East headed by the Bishops of Antioch & Alexandria. And when the Woman fled she left a remnant of her seed which kept the commandments of God & had the testimony Iesus Christ & in opposition to the two horned Beast are called the two witnesses.

In allusion to the Temple of Solomon & to Gods sitting therein upon a throne above the Ark between the Cherubims, & to the chambers of the 24 Princes of the Priests (1 Chron. 24) & to the golden Candlestick & brazen sea & to the people in the four sides of the great court: Iohn sees a throne & him that sat thereon & round about the throne 24 Elders sitting on thrones with Crowns on their heads, & before the throne seven lamps & a sea of glass & round the throne four Beasts full of eyes to represent multitudes. And in allusion to the book of the Law in the side of the Ark & to the morning sacrifice Iohn saw a book sealed with seven seals in the right hand of him that sat upon the throne, & a Lamb at the altar as it were slain. And when the four Beasts give glory & honour & thanks to him that sitteth upon the throne, the Elders also worship him saying, Thou art worthy o Lord to receive glory & honour & power because thou hast created all things & for thy pleasure they are & were created. And the Beast & Elders worship also the Lamb saying Thou are worthy to take the book & open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain & hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred & tongue & people & nation & hast made us unto our God kings & Priests & we shall reign on the earth. And the Angels about the throne & the Beasts & Elders said with a loud voice: Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power & riches & wisdome & strength & honour & glory & blessing. And every creature said Blessing & honour & glory & power be unto him that sit upon the throne & unto the Lamb for ever & ever. And the four Beasts said, Amen. And the 24 Elders fell down & worshipped him that liveth for ever. This is the form of worship here prescribed to Gods people.

And after his death his successor Abubecre in the first year of his reign prosecuted the war & enlarged the kingdom, in Arabia in the second year he sent an army to invade Chaldea, in the there he began to invade Persia & sent anotehr force to invade Syria & they took Bosra the metropolis of the Idumeans at the entrance of Syria that summer but before he died they took it at Media in August A. C. 634. The next year his successor Omar sent fresh forces into Syria which put the Romans to flight & after half a yearse siedge took Damascus, & the year following they won several battels & beseiged Ierusalem.

Hitherto the Califs reigned at Medina but the next year A. C. 637 they translated the seat of their kingdom from Arabia into Syria. For Omar made his son Governour of Medina & went himself into Syria & took IeruSalem & all Phœnicia & send a great army to invade Egypt. And the same year they took also the royal city of the king of Persia with his Treasures & Crown & conquered a considerable part of Persia putting the Persians to flight. Which successes may be recconed the beginning of their Empire. Before this year they were only kings of Arabia but now they began to be emperors of the East having conquered Phœnicia, Syria Damascena, Chaldea , part of Persia & some part of Egypt & beginning to reign at Damascus & Omar being the first Calif to whom they gave the title of Imperator fidelium. He was also the first who used the years of the Hegyra & dated letters from that æra, & who assembled men yearly under one prince in the month Ramadan.

The next year A. C. 638 he took Antioch with all Syria. The year following his army became masters of Gran Cairo in Egypt & besieged Alexandria & after 14 months siege they took Alexandria A. C. 641 & in a year or two more carried on their conquests into Libya as far as Barca. And while these things were doing westward his armies extended their conquests eastward over Mesopotamia Assyria & Persia as far as Bactria, All this was done in the ten years reign of Omar. And his successors conquered to the western bounds of Afric & then invaded Spain France Italy Greece Asia minor & all the sea coasts of Europe vexing all Europe with frequent incursions & besieging Constantinople several times.

Omar made Damascus the seat of the Empire: But Almansor A. C. 762 gave commandm^t for the building of Bagdat

While the reigned at Damascus the Monarchy rose up to its full growth & flourished in its vigour At length Almansor A. C. 762 gave commandm^t for the building of Bagdat, & after this city was built it became the seat of the Empire & Damascus remained only the metropolis of the upper Syria, its walls being pulled down before Bagdat was founded at a time agreed on by Astronomers; in what year I know not; nor in what year it was finished: nor whether Almansor reigned there. He died near Meccha A. C. 775 & his son was then made Calif as Bagdat & reigned there & Monarchy flourished under that Metropolis till about the year 870 & then began to be shaken with some intensive broiles but overcame then & continued almost entire till about the year 900. The governour of

And this reign of the Turks puts a fuller period to the Empire of the Locusts under the in king the Angel of the bottomless pit.

Now from the year of Christ A. C. 637 in which the Calif trans

Now since the Califs reigned at Medina as kings of Arabia or some part thereof till the year 637 & in that year translated the seat of their kingdom into Syria & began to enlarged it into a great Empire Ierusalem & all Palestine & part of Persia & Egypt: if we date their Empire from that year (for naming their king a destroyer in the languages of the Hebrews & Greeks is implied that he should receive his name from destroying their counties) ) & if we extend the reign of this monarchy under the Angel of the bottomless pit from that year inclusively to the end of the year 936 in which the Calif lost all his temporal power & ceased to torment the Romans. the whole duration of this great Monarchy will be just 300 years, or ten prophetick months, putting days for years & recconing 30 days to a month But because there were two successive Dynasties of this Monarchy the one at Damascus in Syria the other at Bagdad in Chaldea, & because the Monarchy is represented by Locusts & the nature of Locusts is to live but five months: they being hatched annually about a month after the vernal Equinox & laying their eggs & dying about the autumnal Equinox: the Prophet for the

Elmacinus distinguished – – common period. The first of these Dynasties began some years before the reign of the line of Omnia & I measure it rather by the reign of all the Califs at Damascus, extending that reign to the building of a new Metropolis And this was the first five months. The second I measure with Elmacinus by the reign of the Abasides at Bagdad untill they subjected themselves to <77v> temporal Princes, that is until the middle of November A.C 936. & this was the second five months & the thirdDynasty lasted from that time to the invasion of the Tartars A. C. 1258. of the Tartars A. C. 1258. For For the Empire of the Saracens continued all this time divided into many kingdoms & the Calif of Bagdad continued the first two hundred years of this time without any temporal dominion & then recovered the the Province of Bagdat & reigned there as a temporal Prince till the year 1258

How much the Romans [Catholicks both Greeks & Latines] were plagued & tormented by the the Saracens during all these three Dynasties, is sufficiently related in the histories of those times. And this plague fell upon the Latins as well as upon the Greeks was predicted. For the fift Angel poured out his Vial upon the seal of the Beast. The Men who had not the mark of God in their foreheads that is those who by the influence of the two horned Beast received the mark of the ther Beast are still most properly the Greeks & the Beast himself is the Latines & both together comprehend the people of the whole Roman Empire. This plague fell upon the whole Empire. And they gnawed their tongues for pain & blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains & sores & repented not their deeds. This plague was inflicted upon them for their idolatry & yet the more they were plagued the more they worshipped their Idols & false Gods which in this prophesy is called blaspheming God. For after the use of Images was defended by Gregory the Great & by the authority of the P. & Gr. Emp. the images of the Virgin Mary & the Martyrs were set up in the Pantheon at Rome the images of the saints were set up by degrees in all churches being consecrated & called Holy imgaes & the catholicks grew more & more superstitious towards them till many of the people worshipped them with such a worship as others took for idolatry whereupon the Greek Emperor Leo Isaurus A. C. 725 ordered all Images to be demolished & forbad the invocation of Saints & was excommunicated for it by the Pope. And after a long & sharp controversy between the Pope & Greek Emperor (in which controversy some of Latine Churches sided with the Greeks) the Pope at length got the victory & Images have ever since been worshipped by the Roman Catholicks. This victory for images was gained in the ninth century & in the same century the Canonizing of Saints & the doctrine of transubstantiation began. And before the times of this Trumpet expired, the idolatry of the Roman Catholicks arrived to the height. Afterwards Togrulbec had severall wars for establishing himself in his kingdom & conquering Iraca & then died A. C. 1063 & was succeeded by his brothers son Olub Arslan (called also Asan Axan Olbarsatan

While this Empire continued divided into many kingdom the Turks under the conduct of Togulbec otherwise called Togra Tangrolipix Dogrissa & Sadoc conquered Chorasan & Persia & A. C. 1055 added Bagdad to their Empire & made that city the seat thereof, the Calif sending for Togrulbec & crowning him there & A. C. 1058 Afterward Togrulbec conquered the king of Iraca A. C. 1058 & successor Olub' Arslan (who was his brothers son & was called also Asan Axan Olbarsalan Alpasalem Aspasalem & Muhammed Adaduddaulas) who began his reign A. C. 1063 & added Mesopotamia to his Empire & A. C. 1070 besieged & took Aleppo but left it in the hands of the former king as viceroy & the next year took the Greek Emperor Diogenes Romanus prisoner & was slain A.C> 1071 & succeeded by his son Melech Malechsah Melicosah or. The third Sultan Melech Malechsah Malicjah or Melecla the third sultan of this new Empire Malechsah, invaded Syria & Asia minor & took Damascus Aleppo Cæsaria & winning many batells extended his dominion from the utmost borders of the Turks to Ierusalem & the bounds of Arabia fælix. He took Damascus A. C. 107980 by the conduct of his brother Tagjuddaulas, & the same year he took Aleppo by the conduct of Sjarfuddaulas governor of Masul. And the next year by the conduct of Sedijduddaulas he took Cæsarea & soon after Iconium from the Romans. And now this Empire of the Turks during the reign of these three Sultans being arrived to its ακμη & upon the death of Melechseh A. C. 1093 being left to his son Mahmed a child six years old brake into several smaller kingdoms or Sultanies of the Turks, the governours of Provinces revolting & making themselves absolute. One of these Sultanies continued at Bagdat in the line of Togrulbec till about the year 1160 & then came into the hands of the Calif & his Saracens. And four others of these Sultanies were seated upon the great river Euphrates. These were the Sultans of Mesopotamia, the Sultany of Armenia, the <78r> sultany of Syria & the Sultany of Cappadocia.

And the law invaded

— dissolved & an end put to Empire of the sarracens. For the Calif had for the last hundred years reigned over Bagdad & its dominions with a power both temporal & spiritual, but after this conquest all the east was in the hands of the Turks & Tartars, Ægypt in the hands of the Mamaluks & Mauritania in the hands of the Moors, & little or nothing remand any longer in the hands of the Sarracens. And therefore this is the period of time to with we are to apply the saying: One Wo is past & behold there come two Woes more hereafter

Sect II
The second Woe.

conquering al & his successors Abubecre & Omar reigned there five years more carrying on their conquests the first year in Arabia, & then sedning captains to invade Chaldea & Syria. In the second year or 12 year of this kingdom Abubecre sent an army to invaded Chaldea, & in the 13^th A. C. he 634 invaded he sent another army at Medina in August the same year Syria & died the same year in August & before the end of the year his forces took Bosra a city of the Edomites at the entrance into Syria. The 14th year Omar sent more forces into Syria which put the Romans to flight & after half a years siege took Damascus. The 15^th year they won several battells & beseiged Ierusalem the 15^th year A. C. 637 Omar came in person from Medina into Syria leaving his son Governour of Medina & his forces took Ierusalem with all Palestine & invaded Ægypt with a great army & the same year they put the persians to flight & conquered part of Persia & took the royal City of the king of Persia with his treasures & Crown. In the 17^th year they took Antioch with all Syria In the 18^th year they became masters of Gran Cairo in Ægypt & beseiged Alexandria. In the 20^th year he took Alexandria after 14^th months siege & in this & the two following years he carried on his conquests into Libya as far as Bacra. And while these things were doing westward they extended their conquests eastward over Mesopotamia Assyria & Persia as far as Bactria All this was in the ten years reign of Omar. And his successors carried on the conquest throughout all Afric & Spain And infested all the sea coasts of Europe with frequent invasions.

After the Califs left Medina they reigned first at Damascus & then at Bagdat. In the year 762 The Calif Almansor gave commandment for the building of Bagdad. It was founded at a time agreed upon by Astronomers, the year I know not, & after it was built it became the seat of the Califs & Damascus remained only the metropolis of the upper Syria, its walls being pulled down before Bagdad was built. Almansor died near Mecha A. C. 775 & his son was made Calif at Bagdad & reigned there, After the monarchy was translated to Bagdat it was sometimes shaken by in{te}stine divisions for a while but continued almost entire till about the year 900 & then began to fall in pieces began to fall in pieces. The governour of Egypt revolted A. C. 882 but was reduced A. C. 905. The Fatamides under Mahadis revolted A. C. 910 & rent away Afric & Sicily, & Mahad was succeeded there by his son Caijmus. The Caramites revolted A. C. 899 & rent away Arabia Felix & Petræa. In the year 927 the Dailamites revolted & A. C. 931 extended their kingdom over a great part of Media & Hyrcamia & in three or four years more under the conduct of Mardawigus & Amaduddaulas took from the Calif Chorasan & all Persia. The Calif A. C. 930 granted Mesopatamia & Miagarekin to Nasiruddaulas the grandson of Hamedan for an annual tribute, & A. C. 933 he made Abubecre Achsijd Prefect of Egypt & then deposed him making Ahmed Prefect in his room. But Achsijd having obteined Syria invaded Egypt in August A. C. 935 & set up a new dominion over both regions which lasted many years. And now the Empire of the Saracens being broken into many kingdoms & divided among temporal Princes & the remaining dominion of the Calif at Bagdat being disturbed & small & & in danger of falling, the Calif sent for Mahumet the son of Rajic from Wasitus a city of Chaldea where he reigned, & He came to Bagdat in November A. C. 936 & the Calif made him Emperor of Emperors & surrendred to him the army & treasury & all the temporal power of the Califate, as is related by the Arabic historians. FOr Abul-Phragius relates the matter thus

And Ehneasinus relates the story more at large as follows.

Eutocius upon the first four Books of Apollonius's Conicks.

And when the Dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth he persecuted the woman which brought forth the Man-child. This he did by raising & fomenting vexations disputes among the Christian Churches. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness into her place [of honour] where she is nourished [by the merchants of the earth] for a time & times & half a time from the face of the serpent. An Eagle was the symbol of the Roman Empire & two wings of this Eagle were given the woman at the founding of Constantinople whereby the Empire became divided into two governments under two imperial Cities the western under Rome & the eastern under Constantinople, which governments are henceforward the wings of the great Eagle. Hitherto the woman represented the Church of the whole Empire typified also by the seven Churches of Asia, but after the division of the Empire she ceases to comprehend the Church of the Eastern Empire & signifies only the Church of the Western, & this quitting her first Ecclesiastical seat among the seven Churches in Asia minor to seat her self on the seven hills at Rome is represented by her flying into the wilderness.

And the Serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. A flood is the type of a kingdom & this kingdom is the western empire. And because the Dragon came down among the inhabitants of the earth & sea the name of Dragon is again is some respect given to the Roman empire. This Serpent by a new division of the Empire at the death of Constantine the great cast out of his mouth the western Empire as a flood that by this division he might cause the Woman to be carried away from being a type of the Church of the whole Empire to be a type of the Church of the Western Empire only.

And the Earth [or Eastern Empire] helped the woman & [to prevent her being thus carried away of the flood] the earth opened her mouth & [by the victory of the Eastern Emperor Constantius over the western Tyrant Magnentius reunited the Empire & thereby] swallowed up the flood which the Dragon cast out of his mouth.

And the Dragon was wroth with the Woman [in the reign of Iulian the Apostate, & by a new division of the Empire which began with the reign of Valentinian & Valens, the woman went into the wilderness & the Dragon retired from her into the Eastern Empire] & went to make war [there] with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandm^ts of God & have the testimony of Iesus Christ. Whence its certain that the Woman is the Church of Christ

And he [the Dragon] stood upon the sand of the Sea that is upon the Earth or in the Eastern Empire. For. In all this Prophesy where land or water are name together, the land is put for the eastern Empire & the water for the western; as where the Dragon comes down to the inhabitants of the earth & sea, & where the earth opens her mouth & swallows up the flood & where the 4 winds hurt the Earth & the Sea. And Iohn saw a Beast rise up out of the sea [or nations of the western Empire] having seven heads & ten horns & upon his horns ten crowns & upon his heads the names of blasphemy. At the next division of the Empire which was between Gratian & Theodosius The Dragon stood upon the land & the Beast rose out of the sea. And because the Empire was sometimes united & in the time of union the whole Empire is both Dragon & Beast; therefore the Beast <80r> has the same heads & horns with the Dragon, but the Dragons heads are crowned to signify that he reigns in the heads & the Beasts horny are crowned to signify that he reigns in the horns. These horns are the ten kingdoms into which the western Empire became divided at the sounding of the second Trumpet A. C. 408.

And upon his heads were the names of blasphemy. Blasphemy is put for idolatry as above & the names of Blasphemy for the names of fals Gods.

And the Beast which Iohn saw was like unto a Leopard & his feet were as the feet of a Bear & his mouth as the mouth of a Lyon Here Daniels four Beasts are named in a contrary order & Iohn's Beast is put in the room of Daniels fourth to shew that they are the same.. He was like the Leopard, that is fierce & terrible, his feet were as the feet of a Bear that is fit for fighting & stamping things, & his mouth was as the mouth of a Lyon that is with great teeth for devouring & he had ten horns: All which is a description of Daniels fourth Beast.

And [after the Beast was risen out of the sea] the Dragon gave him his [Imperial] power & his throne [or old imperial city the city of Rome with its dominions] & great authority. For the Emperor Theodosius by his last Will & Testament left the Empire divided between his two sons & gave the Western Empire to his younger son Honorius.

And Iohn saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death, & his deadly wound was healed. To express in what head the Beast was wounded to death its said of the Beast that he was & is not & shall ascend out of the abyss or sea & of his heads that five are fallen & one is & the other is not yet come & the Beast that was & is not he is the eighth. It was therefore in the time of the sixt head that the Beast ceased to be, or that he lay dead of his mortal wound. In the reign of this head he appeared in the form of a flood cast out of the Dragon's mouth, & then was conquered & slain by the sword of the Eastern Empire A. C. 353, & by a new division of the Empire between Valentinian & Valens A. C. 364 his deadly wound was healed & he revived; & being now alive, the next thing he did was to ascend out of the Sea, which he did at the opening of the seventh seal A. C. 378, 379 & 380 by a third division of the Empire. For at the death of Valens the whole Empire came into the hands of Gratian who after five months created Theodosius Emperor of the East A. C. 378 And Theodosius falling sick at Thessalonica A. C. 380 Gratian again took care of the Eastern Empire sending forces thither against the Barbarians & going himself to Thessalonica. But after the recovery of Theodosius Gratian left the eastern Empire to his care. And Now the Beast being risen out of the Sea the Dragon in the next place gives him his old Throne. For For Theodosius preparing to make war upon Eugenius Emperor of the west, created his younger son Honorius Emperor designing the western Empire for him & the eastern for his eldest son Arcadius whom he had made Emperor before. And when he had conquered Eugenius, which

The fift Seal opened.

When the Lamb had opened the fift seal Iohn saw under the Altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God & for the testimony which they held. And they cryed with a loud voice saying How long a Lord holy & true dost thou not judge & avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth. And white robes were given unto every one of them & it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow servants also & their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled. This is a very plane description of a very great persecution of the Church as was said,, & answers to Dioclesians Persecution which was notably sharp & great above all the former persecutions. & seems to have exceeded them all put together, & to have been the only persecution which was universal so that in respect of this the former deserve but little to be considered Amongst the former that of Decius is accounted the greatest being much more sharp & general then the rest & yet that was not universal nor lasted above one year & three months, whereas this continued with unexpressible violence almost two years over all the Empire & eight years more over all the east beyond Italy. It began in Spring anno 303 & was so vehement that in about 30 days were slain 170000. And yet It was sharper in the second year then in the first & after it ceased in the west it grew notably sharper under Maximinius in the east & did not begin to mitigate before the end of the seventh year. In Egypt alone were slain (saith Ignatius of Antioch) 144000 & seventy thousand banished: [Whence the Æra of Dioclesian was called the æra of martyrs]. And if you peruse the description which Eusebius gives of it you will scarce find it milder in other Provinces. From this Persecution the Æra of Dioclesian was called the Æra of Martyrs. These martyrs are represented as sacrifices lying under the Altar that is at the foot of it where the sacrifices used to be slain & they are told that they must rest for a little season untill the sufferings of their brethren who should be killed as they were should be accomplished, that is untill the end of the great tribulation, or untill the times of the seventh seale be expired. For The little season is the reign of the seventh head or king called a short space Apoc 17. 10 & a short time Apoc 12. 12.

The sixt Seale opened.

And when he had opened the sixt seal there was a great earthquake (or shaking of the kingdom so as to remove it Heb. 12. 26, 17, 28.) & the Sun )the Emperor which became black as sackcloth of hair & the whole Moon (the Empire the Emperors wife) became as blood (that is they were totaly eclipsed & the glory of the king & his people put out) & the stars of heaven fell unto the earth as a fig-tree casteth her green figgs when she is shaken of a mighty wind & the heaven departed as a scrol when it is rolled together that is the host of the kingdome fell down by {ceasures} & the throne & dominion thereof {fled} away (Isa. 34. 4. Nahum 3.12) & every mountain & Island were moved out of their places that is the cities of the earth & sea changed their dominions Dan 9. 16, 20. Ier 51. 24, 25) . And the Kings of the earth & the great men & the mighty men & every bond man & every free man, hid themselves in the dens & in the rocks fo the mountains (or buildings of the cities) & said to the mountains & rocks Fall on us & hide us (in rubbish) from the face of him that sitteth on the throne from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come & who shall be able to stand. <81v>

What this means may be understood by comparing it with the following places. Enter into the rock & hide thee in the dust for the fear of the Lord & for the glory of his majesty – For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud — & upon all the high mountains — & the Idols he shall utterly abolish, & they shall go into the holes of the rocks & into the caves of the earth for fear of the Lord & for the glory of his majesty when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver & his idols of Gold which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles & to the bats to go into the tops of the ragged rocks for fear of the Lord & for the glory of his Majesty when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. Isa. 2. 10, 12, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21. The High places of Aven the sin of Israel shall be destroyed: the thorn & the thistle shall come upon their altar & they shall say to the mountains Cover us & to the hills fall on us. Hosea 10. 8. Men are here put for idols, as in divers other places of scripture Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers yet return to me saith the Lord – She committed adultery with stones & with stocks. Ier. 3. 1, 9. So Baalim are called the lovers of Israel Hosea 2. 12, 13 & the Idols of Egypt, Assyria & Babylonia are called Egyptians Assyrians & Babylonians wherewith Israel & Iudah commit fornication. Ezek 16 & 23. The men therefore who hid themselves in dens & rocks of the mountains & said to the rocks fall on us & hide us, are idols of all sorts which were now laid aside in private places of the cities untill the buildings fell on them & covered them in rubbish.

So then at the opening of the Sixt Seal is predicted the shaking eclipsing, falling, departing & vanishing of the whole heathen Roman world & the abolishing of their idols. And this came to pass in the reign of Constantine the great & his successors, & can be applied to no other period of time. Constantine & his sons shut up the heathen TEmples threwn down ✠ < insertion from f 81v > ✠ Constantine & his sons shut up the heathen Temples, threw down the Idols & interdicted the worship, Iulian restored it, Iovian resigned but seven months, Valentinian tolerated all religions permitting all men both heathens & Christians to worship their own Gods, & his brother Valens tollerated the Heathen It was the custome for the heathen Priests so soon as any man was made chief Emperor to offer him the title & habit of the Pontifex maximus: & all the Emperors had hitherto accepted this dignity. But Gratian & Theodosius the successors of Valentinian & Valens refused it, interdicted the heathen worship & took away the revenues of the sacrifices & the slaries & authority of the Priests, & made it a capital crime to worship the heathen Gods & heathenism after this recovered no more. The times of the sixt seal therefore lasted at least from the victory of Constantine over Licinius till the commor reign of till the reign of Gratian & Theodosius. < text from f 81v resumes >

These things predicted in the first six seals are again predicted in the prophesy of the Woman & Dragon which is an interpretation of the prophesy of the seven seales. First there are lightnings & voices & thundrings & an earthquake & great hail, & these express in general the wars made by the four horsmen at the opening of first four seales. Then there appears a glorious Woman in heaven who being with child cried travailing in birth & pained to be delivered: & a great red Dragon whose tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven & cast them to the earth stood before the woman to devour her child so soon as it was born. The woman is the Church of Christ: for her seed keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus Christ Apoc 12. 17. She was in pains of childbirth in Dioclesians persecution & at that time the Dragon threw down the third part of the stars or saints of heaven with his tail or army that is he persecuted & threw down the saints of the Greek Empire.. For For this Empire was one third part of all the nations comprehended within the compass of the four monarchies which are the subject of sacred Prophesy, another third part is the western Empire & another third part is the Empire of Persia including Babylon In the last year of the persecution Constantine the great was converted to Christianity & overcame Maxentius & became Emperor of the west & contracting affinity with Licinius they wrote to Maximinus to stop the persecution in the east. Thus the woman brought forth a Manchild & at his birth her pains ceased. <82r> By the manchild understand not a single person but a christian kingdom. So Isaiah: Before her pain came she was delivered of a ^[17] man-child. Who hath heard such things? Shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed she brought forth her children. After seven or 8 years Licinius began to renew the persecution in the East, whereupon Constantine the great made war upon him & overcame him & by this victory the child was caught up to God & to his throne the throne of the whole Empire. This war between Constantine & Licinius is represented by war in heaven between Michael & the Dragon. As the Angel told Daniel that Michael assisted him against the Prince or Angel of the kingdom of Persia, & that he had assisted Darius & went forth to fight with the king of Persia & that Michael the great Prince standeth for the children of Israel (Dan 10 & 12) so in the Apocalyps Michael is represented as standing up for Constantine & the Christians against Licinius whose kingdom is the Dragon assisted by the Devil. This war is in heaven that is in the throne of the Empire And the great Dragon was cast out that old serpent [heathenism] called the Devil & Satan he was cast out of heaven into the earth & his angels were cast out with him. And Iohn heard a loud voice saing in heaven Now is come salvation & strength & the KINGDOM of our God & the power of his Christ: for the accuser [or Persecutor] of our brethren is cast out sho accused them before our God day & night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb & by the word of their testimony & they loved not their lives unto the death Therefore rejoyce the heavens & ye that dwell in them. Apoc 12. 9. These words are so very plane an interpretation of the Prophesy as to leave no room for doubting.

Wo be to the inhabiters of the earth & sea: for the Devil is come down unto you having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. From the very time that idolatry was dethroned the devil or spirit of delusion came down among the common people to seduce them anew, having great wrath, (that is making hast to seduce them) because he knoweth that he hath but a short time before he shall be cast into the bottomless pit & shut up so that he can decive the nations no more for a a 1000 years. This Devil is therefore the spirit of the great Antichrist that mystery of iniquity which began to work in S^t Pauls days, but was not to be revealed till the Roman heathen Empire which then letted should be taken out of the way, & then that wicked one the man of sin the son of perdition should be revealed whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power & signes & lying wonders & with all deceivableness & unrighteousness & whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of his mouth [signified by the two edged sword] & shall destroy with the brightness of his coming 2 Thess. 2. While the heathen Empire stood the Church was preserved from corruption by persecutions & afflictions which purged her from hypocrites & bad men, so that the sincere part of the Christians were always the most numerous & prevailed over the mystery of iniquity: but after the Empire became christian the heathens flowed into the Church in great numbers making an outward profession of Christianity for temporal ends without recieving the love of the truth, & in these the mystery of iniquity worked <82v> till by their numbers it prevailed against the truth. For at or about the time of opening the seventh seale then brought into the Church the invocation of dead men & the ascribing of supernatural powers & miraculous operations to their soules & reliques & shrines & & also to certain ceremonies such as were signing with a cross, sprinkling with holy water & annointing with consecrated oyle. And by daily inventing & crying up such miracles & writing Legends of them to be read in Churches they deceived the people & reestablished these heathen practices under the name of Christianity & at length set up pictures & images in their Churches & worshipped them as the heathens had done before, & at length pretending the bread in the Eucharist to be transubstantiated into the body of Christ they worshipped that as the supreme God.

In the reign of Constantine & his sons the Christians by an unwary zeale began to use the signe of the Cross with too much superstition & to to pray at the tombs of the martyrs in honour to the Martyrs and to translate the bodies of the martyrs into their Churches turning the Christian Churches into sepulchres as the heathen Temples were before. And in the reign of Constantius they began to tell stories of their seeing the souls of dead men. And in the reign of Iulian the Apostate before there began to be a rumour of miracles done by the reliques of the martyrs & in the reign of Valentinian & Valens those miracles were every where preached up & reliques were sent into all the Empire from Egypt & Syria where the mischief began & the invocation of Saints was at the same time set on foot by Oratorical flourishes between jeast & earnest & by stories of the good effects of such devotion until the doctrine that the saints did hear & help was brought into the Churches & the Oratorical flourishes ended in direct & positive prayers: so that in the reign of Theodosius this heathen doctrine that the saints did hear & help us & the idolatrous practice of praying to them overspread as well the western as the eastern Churches & before his death or at the furthest in the reign of his sons was generally received & fully established in all the Roman Empire, the whole world ringing with the noise of the miracles said to be done every where at the shrines of the Saints. And in setting up these new religion the ringleaders were the Monks who feigning miracles & pretending by extraordinary dreams & revelations to discover where the bodies of the saints & martyrs were buried, eug up the bones of the dead & carried them up & down the empire & did it so very much that some recconed this to be the first resurrection spoken of in the Apocalyps & that the Emperors at length forbad these practises by publick Edicts. They set up altars also over the graves of such pretended saints in the fields as on the High ways for the devotion of travellors. And Thus did the Devil come down amongst the Inhabiters of the earth & sea having great wrath & making hast to set up the Abomination of desolation because he knew that he had but a short time.

To prosecute this matter fully would require a large discourse. I shall content my self with noting the beginning of these mischiefs. Hilary in his book book against Constantius written in the 5^t year of his banishment A. C. 361, makes this mention of what was then done in the East. Sine martyrio persequeris. Plus crudelitati vestrœ Nero Deci Maximiane debemus Dabolum enim per vos vicimus. Sanctus ubiqe beatorum martyrum sanguis exceptus est: Dum in his Dæmones mugiunt dum ægritudines depelluntur

For the better understanding of all this you are to remember that the scene of the visions is the first Temple This Temple was opened in heaven for Iohn to see the visions in it & there he saw the ark of the Testament & the Child bearing Woman & the Dragon standing by her, & how her child was caught up to the throne of God above the Ark & the Dragon was cast out of this Temple of heaven by Michael through the Priests Court, into the outward court or court of the people which people are here called the inhabitants of the earth & sea, & the Woman fled from this Temple through the Wilderness of Arabia to the great city Babylon & left a remnant of her seed with the Dragon in this Temple. There the how the two Beasts arose out of the sea & earth & the second Beast deified the first & caused men to erect an Image to him & to worship the image, There the Dragon by the dictates of the speaking Image made war upon the remnant of the womans seed & mystically killed all that would not worship the Image & all there received the mark or name or number of the Beast except the 144000, who being excommunicated retire from the multitude in the outward court & standing upon mount Sion with the Lamb sing a new song in the midsts of the four Beasts & the elders & by consequence in the inner court of this Temple. Thus the Primitive Church Catholic represented by the glorious woman in heaven, was by degrees diminished & reduced to the small number of 144000,. And now the ten-horned Beast [upon the final division of the Empire] going from this temple into the wilderness where Iohn saw him & with the woman upon his back, the Dragon & two-horned Beast remain alone in the outward court of this Temple & the 144000 worship in the inward court thereof.

Now since this Temple had in it the Ark of the Testament it was the first Temple, or as it is afterwards called, the Temple of the Tabernacle that is, a Temple framed & furnished afer the manner of the Tabernacle & by consequence with a candlestick of seven branches called in this prophesy the seven candlesticks. For in such a Temple all the visions appeared <84r> untill Iohn was carried from this Temple into the Wilderness to see the Woman & her Beast who were gone thither. And the seven Angels which sounded the Trumpets & coming out of this Temple poured out the Vials of wrath are the seven spirits of God & the Angels of the seven Churches, which Churches are the seven Candlesticks in this Temple which Angels or spirits are the seven lamps burning before the throne & appearing like a rod of seven stars in the right hand of the son of Man who walketh in the midst of the seven Candlesticks. Apoc 1. 20 & 2. 1 & 3. 1 & 4. 5

When Iohn had seen in this Temple all the visions from the opening of the first seal to the pouring out of the last vial, one of the seven Angels carried him away from this Temple into the wilderness to see the great Whore that sitteth upon many waters, that is, to see the great city Babylon seated upon the many waters of Euphrates, which waters are said to be peoples & multitudes & nations & tongues. And there he saw the Woman sitting upon the ten horned Beast, that is, reigning over the body politics composed of those peoples & multitudes & nations & tongues. For the ten horns of the Beast are ten kingdoms over which the Woman reigneth & kingdoms are peoples & multitudes & nations & tongues. Now this woman being a church separated departed & fled from the first Temple & the Beast being the laity of this Church, & every Church having a place of worship, a second Temple is built whose outward court is given to these Babylonia gentiles & inward Court to the people of God whom these gentiles carried away captive to Babylon. For when a measuring reed was given to Iohn & the Angel said to him Rise measure the Temple & altar & them that worship therein (that is the Courts of the Temple & Altar & the little court of the people called the Weomens Court) but the court which is without the Temple leave out & measure it it not for it is given to the Gentiles & the Holy city shall they tread under foot 42 months: this is a plain allusion to the Babylonian captivity & to the building of the second Temple in the time of that captivity, & signifies the building of a new Temple The measuring of a city or building being a type of building it. For when Zechary saw an Angel with a measuring reed go to measure Ierusalem – – – – – – – & was called the Gentiles court. And as Haggai & Zechary prophesied at the building of Zerubbabels Temple so in allusion to those two prophets there are two Prophets or Witnesses which prophesy in the second Temple of the Apocalyps & these two Prophets are represented by two Candlesticks standing in this Temple before the God of the earth (Apoc 11. 4) & they prophesy in the kingdom of the Beast & Woman because they are slain by him & lye dead in the streets of the great city Babylon. < insertion from higher up f 83v > which city is spiritually called Sodom because of its whoredom & Egypt where also our L^d was crucified because of its cruelty & it treading the holy city under foot & worshipping in the outward court of the second Temple.

So then the Dragon the Woman & the first Temple with seven candlesticks continue from the beginning to the end of the Prophesy & relate each of them to the whole while the Empire continues intire Empire: but but when the Empire becomes divided into the Greek & Latin Empires, that each Empire with its churches true & false may be distinctly represented, there arise two new Beasts & a a new Temple is built with two candlesticks in it; & the Dragon & two-horned Beast worship in the outward court of the first Temple to & represent the Empire & Church of the Greeks the woman & ten-horned Beast worship in the outward court of the new Temple & represent the Church & kingdoms of the Latines including Germany The Apostates worship in the outward courts of the two Temples to represent that they have an outward form of religion & are Christians in name & appearance. And in the inward Courts of the same two Temples are the Saints or true Churches of God diffused through both Empires & represented in the Temple of the Laintes by the two Candlesticks & two Witnesses & in the Temple of the Greeks by the seven Candlesticks & by them that have the name of God on their foreheads & sing on the Sea of glass, For the seven candlesticks do not cease at the division of the Empire. The Churches of Pergamus Sardis Thyatum & Philadelphia are four of the seven, & . . . . . till Christ comes. < text from f 84r resumes >

# Now.... < insertion from f 83v > # Now for understanding what is meant by the two Candlesticks - - - - - all their dominions.

So then upon the division of the Roman Empire into & < text from f 84r resumes > So then upon the division of the Roman Empire into the Greek & Latine Empires, each Empire has its Temple. The Greek Empire has a Temple with seven Candlesticks which are the seven Churches of Asia & in the inner court of this Temple are the 14400 servants of God standing upon the sea of Glass on mount Sion with the name of God in their foreheads in the outward court are the Dragon & two horned Beast or nations of the Greek empire which under an outward form of a Christian Church worship the Image of the tenhorned Beast & have his mark. The Latine & German Empire has a Temple with two Candlesticks < insertion from f 83v > – which are the true Churches of God within the nations of the Latin Empire & the German Empire. And in the inward court of this Temple are the worshippers of God < text from f 84r resumes > & in its outward Court the Gentiles represented by the Whore & her Beast. The inner courts of both Temples are given to the Saints & the outward courts to the apostates. And its to be conceived that the saints in the inner Courts of both Temples are exactly of the same religion & worship God in the same manner & keep the same festivals & offer the same sacrifices at those festivals. For the two Witnesses consume their enemies with fire at the sounding of the first Trumpet & turn the waters to blood at the sounding of the second & smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will that is with all the seven plagues & therefore we are to conceive that the plagues of the seven Trumpets & Vials of wrath are inflicted by the joynt power of the saints in both Temples. For this is represented by the mighty Angel cloathed with a cloud & standing with his right foot on the sea & left foot on the earth, while the seven Thunders utter their voices from that cloud. For the sea & earth comprehend both Empires.

After the 7 Thunders there is time no longer but the mystery of God is finished & the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord & his Christ & therefore they are the plagues of the seven thunders. These plagues were mentioned after those of the first six seales & first six Trumpets & therefor they are called the last. They were left unwritten before & therefore they are written now

For And thereby is insinuated an allusion to the victory of Moses over the Egyptians. For in the Prophesy of the Woman & Dragon,     – & host of Egypt./ Conceive therefore that by reason of this allusion to the history of Moses the new song which the 144000 sang with the Lamb upon Mount Sion & now sing upon the sea of glass is called the song of Moses. Conceive that they that the 144000 Victors sing this song at the end of the half hours silence when the Angel with the golden Censer cast fire on the earth & Iohn heard voices & thundrings & that these voices & thunderings are the song it self . For they sing it. for the victory which they had just gotten by their prayers offered up to God with much incense by the Angel at the golder A. in the time of that silence; be sealed with the name of God in their foreheads while the rest of the 12 tribes were overcome by the temptation & which victory was to overcome the temptation of that time & prevail to be carried away with the multitude to worship the beats & his image & receive his mark. For a victory over the mark of the Beast & over the n. of his name can be nothing else then a victory whereby they escaped the receiving that mark & number & prevaled to receive the seal of God. And so By the victory over the Beast & over his Image is to be understand a victory over their worship or whereby the Victors escaped worshipping them & persevered in the worship of God.

So then the 7 Trumpets & seven Thunders are but several names of the one & the same temple-music & are synchronal to the seven seven Vials of wrath, as may also appear by the their being the prophesy of one of the same page of the sealed book & also by the following comparison.

which leaf conteins an interpretation of the prophets of the 7^th leaf & continuation of that prophesy for a 1000 years longer & above

There Iohn was told that the the Beast which ascends out of the abyss or sea shall make war against the two witnesses & kill them & their dead bodies shall lye in the street of the great city which spiritualy is called Sodom & Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified, that is in the street or territory of the great city or spiritually called Babylon within which was the place where our Lord was crucified: here he sees this Beast with the great city in the form of a woman sitting upon him drunken with the blood of saints. This is that blasphemous Beast with seaven heads & ten horns whom Iohn saw rising out of the sea with       a mortal wound in one of his heads & that woman who fled from the Dragon into the wilderness to her place which place is to sit upon the back of the Beast, that is to reign over him. Her place is her state & dignity & her dignity is to sit a Queen & live deliciously with the kings of the earth. For she is the great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. In this place she is fed & nourished by the merchants of the earth 1260 prophetic days which are so many years. Her Beast was & is not.

man cloathed in linnen (a seventh) scatters over the city coats of fire to consume it.

The scene of the Prophesy of the second Book.

After the six Angels had sounded their Trumpets Iohn saw a mighty Angel come down from heaven cloathed with a cloud & a rainbow upon his his head, & his face as it were the Sun & his feet as Pillars of fire & he had in his hand a little Book open. This Angel by his form & the Book in his hand is Son of Man, for he alone was worthy to take the book & to look thereon. He had opened it before & now he appears with it open in his hand. Til a little book because it conteins only a part of the former prophesy, that part which followed after all the seals were open. Tis a short repetition of the Prophesy of the seventh seal in another form. There Iesus appeared in the form of a Lamb with a sealed book in his hand to be opened: Here he appears in his firet form the form of the the Hight Priest with a little book open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea & his left foot on the earth. Conceive him standing in the day of Expiation in an elevated place without the eastern gate of inner Court of the Temple with the book of the Law in his hand in such manner that his right foot might appear as it were standing upon the sea of Glass & his left upon the land. And he cried with a loud voice as when a lyon roareth. that is he read out of the book to the people with a very loud voice as was the custome on the day of expiation while the Heifer & the Goat which was the Lords lot were burning without the Temple as was the practise. And when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. Thunders are put for thundering voices & signify the loud vocal music of the Temple. And seven thunders are the Temple music at the sacrifices of the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles. At each sacrifice the Trumpets sounded & the Levites sung alternately. In the prophesy of the first Book the Trumpets sounded to these sacrifices; in that of this second Book the thunders utter their voices to the same sacrifices: yet with this difference that the scene of the visions in the prophesy of the first book is the first Temple & in that of the second book it is the second Temple, For the outward court of this Temple is given to the Gentiles, as was that of the second Temple.

The scene of the visions for interpreting the prophesy of the first Book.

As Daniel's two Visions of Beasts & Nebucadnezzars of the Tree & the Image have interpretations annexed to them so have Iohn's prophesies of the two books. These prophesies end with the sounding & prophesy of the seventh trumpet. Their interpretation begins with the words: And the Temple of God was opened in heaven & there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Testament In the second Temple there was no Ark & therefore this is the first Temple. Conceive therefore that the woman & Dragon appear in this Temple & that the 144000 are seen in it with the Lamb on Mount Sion & sing at the sacrifices before the throne & before the four Beasts & the elders, & that the Woman flyes from this Temple into the deserts of Arabia to her place at Babylon upon the many waters of Euphrates where she worships other Gods, wood & stone, & is nourished. By the Ark & the Lamb & the four Beasts & the 144000 sealed in their foreheads, you may know that these visions relate to the prophesy of the first book & have their scene in the same Temple with that Prophesy. What is wanting in that Prophesy is here supplied, namely a description of the subject of the prophesy under the forms of a Woman & Dragon & two Beasts, & the marking the worshippers of the east in opposition to the sealing of the servants of God. In the solemnity of the great fast <86v> the Attonement for the sins of the people was made by two Goats – – – – – harps. All which is a description of the musick & singing in the Temple. Conceive this singing to be at the sacrifices of the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles, the seven Angels sounding their Trumpets & the 144000 singing alternately at the sacrifices each day.

In the end of this scene of Visions when two Angels come out the one from the Temple with a sharp sickle the other from the Altar having power over the fire; by these Angels you are to understand the two great Officers who had the charge of the Temple & the Altar. It was the custome for the Priests who were to perform any part of the service of the Temple not to do it till the Officer who had the direction of the service called to them to do it. And in allusion to this custom, an Angel coming out of the Temple calls to the son of man the great High Priest to thrust in his sickle & reap, & an Angel coming out from the Altar who had power over the fire that is an Officer who had the direction of the sacrifices calls to the sacrificer represented by the Angel with a sharp sickle to thrust in his sickle & gather the clusters of the vine of the earth. The harvest is of the martyrs in the great tribulation, the vintage is of the wicked in the battel of the great day when the Word of God smites the nations with his two edged sword & treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of Gods wrath. And blood came out of the winepress by the space of 1600 furlongs. This was reputed the length of Iudea & therefore you are to conceive that Iohn saw Iudea overlowed with the blood.

The scene of the visions for interpreting the Prophesy of the second Book.

The next scene of visions begins with these words. And I saw another signe in heaven [that is in the temple of heaven] great & marvellous seven Angels having the seven last plagues that is the plagues of the last times & the plagues last mentioned those in the prophesy of the second Book wherewith the two Witnesses smite the Earth & which were declared to Iohn by the voices of the seven Thunders, tho not written. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire [the great brazen lover appearing as it were mingled with the fire of the Altar] & them that get (or had gotten] the victory over the Beast & over his image & over his mark & over the number of his name] &c [that is, a spiritual victory over them whereby they escaped the mark of the beast & were sealed with the seal of God in their foreheads . them I saw] stand on the sea of glass having the harps of God & they sing the song of Moses & of the Lamb. Iohn saw them standing at the eastern gate of the Priests court Temple the song of Moses & the Lamb for their victory over the great city which spiritually is called Sodom & Egypt & where our Lord was crucified. And after that 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. By its being called the temple of the Tabernacle you may know that it was the second temple. For the Tabernacle was destitute of an outward court & so was Zerubbabels Temple. And one of the four Beasts gave unto the seven Angels seven golden Vials full of wrath of God. Conceive these Vialls to be the drink offerings at the sacrifices of the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles at which the seven Trumpets sound & seven thunders utter their voices & that the Beast who gave these Vials to the Angels is the people in the weomens court of this Temple. For they are those that worship in this Temple & smite the earth with all plagues as ofter as they will. This Temple continues in the scene of the visions till all the Vials of wrath are poured out: For it was filled with smoke from the glory of God & from his power & seven Angels were fulfilled.

After the Vials were poured out, one of the seven Angels <87r> who had the seven Vials of wrath called Iohn up & carried him in the spirit into the wilderness to see the woman who was fled thither. Conceive that she fled through the wilderness of Arabia to Babylon in the time of the Babylonian captivity & that he see her there sitting upon the many waters of Euphrates in the time of the second Temple. For this vision is an interpretation of that of measuring the Temple & Altar & them that worship therin & giving the outward court to the Gentiles untill the two witnesses be killed by the Beast upon which the woman sitteth.

^{[Editorial Note 2]}o. Lord holy & true dost thou not judge & avenge our blood on them that dwell on earth & it was not said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow servants also & their brethren should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. A little season & a short space are in this prophesy phrases for the duration of the great apostacy: as where tis said that the Dragon hath great wrath knowing that he hath but a short time & that the 7^th head of the Beast must continue a short space. The martyrs were to rest till during this little season in the end of which there was to be another great persecution which Daniel calls a time of trouble such as there never was since there was a nation & Christ in Matthews gospel a great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world & in the Apocalyps it is called the great tribulation out of which the palm bearing multitude come In this tribulation their brethren were to be killed as they were in Dioclesians persecution &, & so soon as this harvest is reaped Christ revenges the blook of the martyrs on their persecutors by treading the vine of the earth in the winepress of Gods wrath so that blood came out of the winepress even to the horse bridles by the space of 1600 furlongs. Conceive therefore that Iohn saw all Iudea overflowed with blood for 1600 furlongs was reported the length of Iudea.

SYNCHRONISMS

For understanding this prophesy it is further necessary to know in what order of time the several parts of this Prophesy are to be read. For things that are contemporary illustrate one another, but untill it is known that they are contemporary they render the Prophesy intricate & confused. By what has been said it is evident that the Prophesy consists of these principal parts. 1 The Introduction conteining Epistles to the seven Churches. 2^dly The prophesy of opening the sealed book proceeding in a continual series of time from the Apostles days to the end of the world by opening seven seales & sounding seven Trumpets in order; excepting that the times of the seventh seale are twice described; first by the visions of sealing the servants of God in the Fast & of the Palmbearing multitude appearing in the great Hosannah, & again by opening the seventh seal in the fast & sounding the seven trumpets in the feast of Tabernacles which ends with the great Hosannah. The holding of the winds while the saints are sealing causes the silence in heaven for half an hour so soon as they are sealed the winds are let loos to hurt the earth in the first Trumpet & sea in the second. 3^dly 3^dly As the Prophesy of the 144000 & the palm-bearing multitude is inserted between the sixt & seventh seale & is contemporary to the seventh, so the prophesy of the little open book is inserted between the sixt & seventh Trumpet) after the manner of a parenthesis) & is also contemporary to the seventh seal. For the Angel who holds this book in hand & the lamb who took the first book out of Gods hand & opened the seales thereof are one & the same person in a different form & the Books are also the same. There he took the book & opened it here he appears with it open in his hands & therefore it conteins here a repetition of the prophesy from the time that it is open; that is all the time of the seventh seal. And as the prophesy of the first book in the time of the seventh seal consists of two contemporary parts, first the visions of the four Angels holding the four winds while the 144000 are sealed & of the 144000 when they sealed & the winds are let loos to hurt the earth & the sea & of the Palmbearing multitude; & then the visions of opening the seventh seal & sounding the Trumpets in order: so the prophesy of the little open book being a repetition of the prophesy of the first book during the time of its being open consists of two contemporary parts answering to the two contemporary parts of the prophesy of the first book of which they are a supplemental repetition in a contrary order. The first part is the prophesy of the book in the Angels hand, the second part is the prophesy of the same book in Iohns belly. The first part consists in the Angel's crying with a loud voice as a lyon roareth & in seven thunders uttering their voices which Iohn is bid to seal up. By the scene of the visions explained above, the Angel's crying in the High Priest's reading out of the Book in the day of Expiation. & the seven thunders are the singing & musick of the Temple which was intermixt with the sounding of Trumpets at the great sacrifices of the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles, & therefore <87v> the 7 Thunders & the 7 Trumpets are but various modes of expressing the same thing. When these Thunders have uttered their voices its added that there shall be time no longer but in the voice of the seventh Angel when he shall begin to sound the mystery of God shall be finished: which is as much as to say that the thunders end with the sounding of the seventh Trumpet.

As Nebuchadnezzars vision of the the Image & of the Tree & Daniels of the 4 B & of the Ram & Goat have interpretations annexed to them so hath Iohn's prophesy of the seals & Trumpets & this interpretation is the prophesy of the little book with which Iohn was inspired anew by eating it, & which new inspiration is a repetition of the prophesy of the whole book in the same order as before & in a manner more full & more open & intelligible as is signified by Iohn's eating & digesting the whole book & thereby becoming inspired with the whole prophesy more fully & perfectly then when he only saw it at a distance. [After Iohn had eaten it a short time was allowed him for digesting it before he began a new prophesy out it & in this short time the Angel prophesied to him till the 7^th Trumpet had sounded] It begins thus.

And the Temple of God was opened in heaven & there was seen in his temple the Ark of his testament. This was therefore the first temple, for the second temple had no ark As the former prophesy began with a door opened in heaven so doth this.

And there were lightnings & voices & thundrings & an earthquake & great hail a short representation of the wars of the four horsmen which appeared at opening the first four seales.

And there appeared a great wonder in [the temple of] heaven, a woman cloathed with the Sun & the moon under her feet she appearing through the flames of the Altar with her feet upon the burning coals as the Altar as upon an half moon & upon her head a crown of twelve stars representing the 12 Apostles & therefor she is the Church from the days of the 12 Apostles. For her seed keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus. And she being with child cried travelling in birth & pained to be delivered: which came to pass at the opening of the fift seal by the great persecution there described

The Dragon called the Devil & Satan has his seat in Pergamus < insertion from the right margin of f 86v > This Dragon called the Devil & Satan has his seat in Pergamus & so is Daniels He Goat in the reign of his last horn which was mighty but not in his own power but in the power of the Romans. His his heads being crowned are seven kings or Dynasties of kings or successive reigns of the kings such as commence to {verify} that he of the king at the opening of the seven seales. For the first four of these reigns are represented by four horsmen with armies & standards & a crown is given the first horsman & it is to be conceived that all the 7 are of a kind. The reign of the Dragon therefore so far as it considered in this prophesy begins with the opening of the first seal. < text from f 87v resumes >

And the great red Dragon was cast out of heaven that old serpent called the Devil & satan who deceiveth the whole world, he was cast out of the earth & his angels were cast out with him as is signified by the smiting of the sun moon & stars, & the passing away of heaven at the opening of the sixt seal.

And the woman fled into the wilderness & left a remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus Christ. Conceive that this division was made at the opening of the seventh seal when 144000 were numbered & sealed out all the twelve tribes. And that Iohn sees the woman flying from the Temple through the Wilderness or desert of Arabia to the city Babylon or the ‡ < insertion from the left margin of f 87v > ‡ many waters of Euphrates where she committs spiritual fornication with the great men of Babylon, in worshipping Dæmons or dead mens & souls images of gold & silver & {ivory} & wood & stone which can neither hear nor s{ee} nor walk < text from f 87v resumes >

About the same time rose up two Beasts one out of the sea the other out of the earth & all men received the mark of the first beast & then the Lamb stood on mount sion with the 144000p having his name & his fathers name on their foreheads. Conceive that between the opening of the seventh seal & sounding of the first trumpet the twelve tribes became divided into two parties one of which is numbered & sealed with the seale of God the other was marked with the mark of the Beast & that so soon as this sealing & marking was finished, that is, at the sounding of the first Trumpet, the Lamb stood on mount Sion with the 144000 who were newly sealed. N3. The two Goats

And I heard a voice from [the temple of] heaven as the voice of many waters [or much people] & as the voice of a great thunder: & I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: & they sung as were a new song before the throne & before the four Beasts & the elders, & by consequence in the midst of the tabernacle or first temple which had the four Beasts about it. Conceive this harping & singing with a thunding voice to be the Temple musick performed at the eastern gate of the Priests court during the sacrifices of the six first days of the feast of tabernacles & to be intermixt with the sounding of the six first Trumpets. And that while these things are doing or some very considerable part of that time the Gentiles tread down the holy city 42 months, the two witnesses prophesy in sacklth 1260 days, the woman is fed in the wilderness 1260 days & a time & times & half a time & the Beast speaks great things & blasphemies 42 months. For all these times are of a length & agree in the nature of the things & therefore are coincident to one another & make but one period of time.

After these things follow the preaching of the everlasting gospel to all nations which began at the resurrection of the witnesses or perhaps a little before their death; the fall of Babylon the great City otherwise called the tenth part of the great city & the harvest of Martyrs in the great tributats on as the vintage of the wicked by a great victory of the saints in token of which the innumerable multitude of all nations come out of the great tribulation with Palm branches in their hands crying Salvation to our God. In the pesecution described at the opening of the fift seal. the martyrs who lay slain at the foot of the Altar cried with a loud voice saying How long

Sect. VII
Of the Devil's coming down amongst the inhabitants of the earth & sea in respect of superstition & idolatry.

The Devil that old Serpent who deceived the whole world & was thrown down by the victories of Constantine the great was not only spirit of immorality but more especially the spirit of superstition & idolatry. For idolatry was the religion of all the world & in scripture is called the worship of Devils. It consisted in in giving honour & worship to dead men, & to such things as were dedicated to them & named from them & as the ghosts or the souls of the dead were feigned to reside in, as to the Sun Moon Stars Elements Birds, Beasts, Fishes , gravestones Vegetables or altars & at length pictures & statues with which sepulchres were adorned. Families Cities & kingdoms out of love for flattery built monuments & altars to their dead ancestors & & kings kings, (at first more rudely at length more sumptuously) & appointed annual menstrual or daily solemnities with incence & sacrifices & various ceremonies & initiations & Priests to perform them, & built Temples over the sepulchres of kings & great men for people to meet in. Whence it came to pass that every kingdom, & every city, had its proper Gods & every family their {Dij} penates. They agreed in religion & differed only in their particular Gods & in some ceremonies of their worship & therefore upon being conquered by one another they easily received the Gods of the conquerers. And , when the heathens were conquered by the Christians, as many of them as thought it their interest to make a profession of of the Christian religion, & were prone to the worship of dead men soon found out plausible pretenses to worship [set up such Gods among the Christians as they had been used to worship] & began to worship the Apostles & Martyrs & such other dead men as the Christians had most in honour, & by their great numbers they prevailed to set up this worship in all the Empire turning the Christian Temples into the sepulchres of the saints. And the hypocritical part of the Christians being inclined to superstition & & many of them having been educated in the heathen religion & retaining from their ancestors the heathen doctrines about the souls of dead men & being fond of many of them of paying honour to the Apostles & Martyrs, & desirous to increase the number of their party, they readily complied with the humour & inclination of the new converts. And thus under the colour of converting the heathens to the Christian religion, the Christian Churches were in a little time converted to the religion of the heathens, & Christ & his Apostles & Martyrs became the Gods of the Heathens, as Iehova or Iove, & Noah & his sons & the other fathers & great men of the nations had been before, or as Christ would have been before had he been received into the Canon of the Roman Gods by the Senate at the Request of the Emperor Tiberius, & baptism been made the ceremony of initiating his worshippers, & eating a sacrifice of bread & wine the mystery of his worship. By such a worship the whole Empire might have become Christian without ceasing to be heathen. And they might afterwards have exchanged the worship of Saturn & Iupiter & the other heathen Gods for that for that of Peter & Paul & the other Christian Divi without being less heathens then before. For all worship of dead men is heathenism. [ The Idolatry of the heathens consisted in the worshipping of ghosts which {were} mere phantasms, vanities, nothings, fals Gods, Gods which were no Gods, mere nothings. And this is called worshipping of Dæmons or Devils]

The four Beasts of Daniel being all of them still alive, the two last of them within whose countries the Christian religion was propagated, are the subject of Iohn's Prophesy, & are in that Prophesy represented by the Dragon & ten-horned Beast.

For Iohn's Beast by the number of his horns & other characters is known to be the same with Daniel's fourth Beast. Both had ten horns. Daniels had an eleventh horn which was an animal with eyes like the eyes of a man & a mouth speaking great things against the most High & so was a Seer & a Prophet or Prophetess exercising a jurisdiction in matters of religion & it made war upon the saints & prevailed against them & changed times & laws, & had a look more stout then the other horns & therefore was the chief & most powerful city of the Beast & in lieu of this ecclesiastical blasphemy persecuting Animal Iohn's Beast has a woman on his back the mother of Harlots & abominations of the earth who deceives all nations with her sorceries & commits fornication with the kings of the earth & makes all nations drunk with the wine of her fornications & who is drunken with the blood of saints & the martyrs of Iesus, & in whom was found the blood of Prophets & Saints & of all that were slain upon the face of the earth & who sitteth on seven mountains & is the great city which reigneth over the kings of the Earth that is the city Rome which was the metropolis of the 4th monarchy & was famous for being seated on seven hills. And further, Iohn's Beast is said to be like a Leopard & to have feet as the feet of a Bear & a mouth as the mouth of a Lyon (Apoc 13. 2) which is the description of Daniel's fourth Beast. For that was dreadfull & terrible exceedingly as a Leopard is, & fought & stamped with his feet as a Bear doth & had great iron teeth wherewith he devoured & brake in pieces like a Lyon. Daniel's three first Beasts are here named backwards & Iohn's is named in room of the fourth to signify that it is the fourth. And as the little horn of Daniels Beast reigned & prevailed untill a time & times & half a time that is three times or years & an half so the woman on Iohns Beast was nourished a time & times & an half in the wildernes & the seven mountains on which the woman sitteth are called the seven heads of the Beast & therefore the city Rome which was the metropolis of the 4^th monarchy & was famous for being seated on seven hills he is that Empire whose Metropolis was the seven hilled city. Iohn's Beast continued forty & two months which is also three years & an half. ✝ < insertion from the right margin of f 89r > < text from f 89r resumes > When the ten horned Beast rose out of thea, the Dragon gave him his power & his throne & great authority (Apoc. 13. 2) & therefore the Dragon reigned first in the Roman Empire. He reigned alone over the whole Empire while this Empire continued monarchical & when it became divided ✝ < insertion from the right margin of f 89r > ✝ into the eastern & western Empires, the < text from f 89r resumes > the Beast rose out of the sea by that division & the Dragon gave his old throne the city Rome with its dominion that is his western power & throne to the Beast & retained only his eastern power to himself. For the Dragon did not cease at the rise of the Beast but still continued in being. For after the Beast was risen they worshipped the Dragon & Beast together, (Apoc 13. 4) & at length three unclean spirits like froggs came out of the three mouths of the Dragon Beast & false Prophet (Apoc 17. 13) & in the end when the Beast is cast into the lake of fire the Dragon is cast into the bottomless pit (Apoc 20. 2) The Dragon & Beast therefore after the division of the Roman Empire <90r> signify the eastern & western or Greek & Latin Empires. This Dragon is the Devil & Satan (Apoc 12. 9) that Satan who had his seat in Pergamus (Apoc. 2. 13) that is the kingdom of Pergamus represented by the last horn of Daniels He-Goat whose dominion by the last will & testament of Attalus descended to the Romans & who grew mighty in their power & at length separating from them became the Greek Empire reigning over the nations of Greece, Asia minor, Syria & Egypt which made up the proper body of Daniels Hee Goat & of his Leopard or third Beast.^✝ < insertion from f 89v > ✝ The little horn of the He Goat waxed great even to (or against) the Host of heaven & it cast down some of the host & of the stars to the grownd, & stamped upon them & the Dragon's tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven & cast them to the earth. These actions are of the same signification for the horn of the he Goat & the tail of the Dragon are their fighting members, & signify their military powers or armies commanded by their kings By the agreement of their actions you may know that they are one & the same kingdom. The Greeks called themselves Romans & gave the name of Romanic to the Region about Constantinople, & distinguished themselves from those of the western Empire by the names of Greeks & Latines. Whence the word ΛΑΤΕΙΝΟΣ is the proper name of the Western Empire. This name is the name of a man & the number of this name is 666 which is the number of the name of Beast. 30 1 300 5 10 50 70 200 Λ Α Τ Ε Ι Ν Ο Σ is the proper name of the Latine Empire & the number of this name 666 is the number of the name of the Beast. The nations of these two Empires are distinguished by the names of earth & Sea, as when the first plague falls on the earth, the second on the sea & where the Devil comes {illeg} down to the inhabiters of the earth & Sea & where the ten horned Beast rises out of the Sea & the two horned out of the earth. And in this respect the cities of the Eastern Empire are called mountains & those of the western Islands. This distinction seems occasioned by the language of the Iews who called the eastern countries earth & the western the Isles of the Sea. And since the ten-horned Beast rises out of the Sea you may know also by that character that he is the western Empire. Every kingdom has its church & the false church of the ten-horned Beast – < text from f 90r resumes > These two Empires being distinguished from one another by the names of Greeks & Latines, the word

The false church of the ten-horned Beast is represented by the whore of Babylon. For she sits upon him & reigns over the kings of the earth represented by his horns & is at length hated & made desolate by them.

The false Church of the Dragon is represented by the other Beast which arose out of the Earth & hath two horns like the Lamb & spake as the Dragon & by false miracles deceiveth them that dwell on the Earth & causeth them to worship the ten horned Beast & his image & for his false miracles & idolatrous doctrine is called the false Prophet.

# < insertion from f 89v > #The true Church within the kingdom of the Dragon is represented by the tabernacle & first Temple, & by the four Beasts & 24 Elders & the seven Candlesticks therein or Candlestick with seven branches, & by the seven horns of the Lamb & by the seven churches of Asia in opposition to the seven hilled city, & also by the glorious woman in heaven before she fled into the wilderness & afterwards by the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God. The true Church within the kingdom of the ten horned Beast is represented by the second Temple & them that worship therein & by the two Candlesticks therein & two Olive trees & the two Witnesses in opposition to the two horned Beast. For the Beast makes war upon these witnesses & kills them in the streets of the great city represented by the woman on his back. The twelve tribes of Israel represent the true Church of the whole Empire during the opening of the first six seales. At the opening of the seventh there is a division made & out of the 12 tribes are sealed 144000 to represent the true Church of the whole Empire & the rest are the fals church of the whole Empire marked with the mark of the Beast & called the synagogue of Satan which say they are Iews & are not. < text from f 90r resumes >

In opposition to the seven hilled City the true Church within the dominion of the Dragon is represented by the seven Churches of Asia & by their types the seven Candlesticks or Candlestick with seven branches & the seven horns of the Lamb & by the seven Candlesticks This Church is represented also by the Woman in heaven before she fled into the Wilderness from the Dragon which persecuted her.

And in opposition to the Beast with two horns, the true Church within the dominion of the Ten-horned Beast is represented by the two burning leggs of the son of man & by the two witnesses which are called the two Candlesticks & two Olive branches & upon which the Beast makes war & who being slain by the Beast lye dead in the streets of the great City signified by the Whore of Babylon.

While the whole Roman Empire as descended from the kingdom of Pergamus is signified by the great red Dragon, the Church diffused through this Empire is represented by the woman in heaven cloathed with the Sun. This woman during Dioclesians persecution was pained in travel & at length brought forth a manchild or Christian Empire which was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, & then by the building of Constantinople & making it the metropolis of the East as Rome was of the West, received

In the armies of the Roman Empire both before & after the Empire became Christian a flying Eagle was on the standart of every Legion & a Dragon on the standart of every Company & in every Legion there were ten companies & by consequence ten dragons. These Dragons were of a purple colour & so fastened to the top of a long pike, as, like weathercocks, to turn their tails from the wind & to hiss by means of the wind blowing into their open jaws. The bearers of these two sorts of standarts were called Auilifers & Draconarij. And from these badges of the Roman Empire, this Empire is represented in this Prophesy by a great Eagle upon whose two wings the woman flyes into the wilderness & by a great red Dragon in heaven

Spicilegia Variantium Lectionum in Apocalypsi ex Mss. Sin Cov. 2.

Cap. 1. v. 5. d. ἐκ deest Sin. v6. μ καὶ deest Sin. v. δ. κ. Αλφα Sin. ib. γ ἀρχη καὶ τέλος deest Sin. v. 9. b. καὶ deest Sin. ib. c κοινωνὸς Cov. 2. v. 11. c. Pro Ἐγὼ εἶμι το Α καὶ το Ω, πρῶτος Cov. 2. habet Ἐγὼ Α καὶ το Ω, πρῶτος. v. 11. h in var. lect. dele Cov. 2. v. 12. m. Ἐλάλ{ει} Sin. v. 20. e ἃς εἶδες deest Sin.

Cap. 2. v. 1. f ἐν Ἐφέσιν Sin. v. 7. d ἐν τῷ παραδείσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ μου, Cov. 2. ib. e in var. Lect. dele Cov. 2. v. 14. z. In var. lect. dele Ἐδίδασμε τὸν Βαλὰκ Cov. 2. dele etiam Εδιδαξεν ἐν τῶ Βαλὰκ Sin. et scribe ἐδιδαξε τὸν Βαλὰκ Sin. Cov. 2. v. 17. c ὀιδεν Cov. 2. 19. l καὶ deest Sin. v. 21. s in var. lect. scribe μετανοήσῃ, καὶ οὐ θελει (ἠθελησεν Α lex.) μετανοῆσαι ἐκ τῆς πορνειας ἀυτῆς Α lex. &c. v. 22. t ἐγὼ deest Sin. 24 k Βαθέα Cov. 2. v. 26. και ante νικῶν deest Cov.2.

Cap 3. v. 1. τὰ ἑπτὰ Sin. v. 2. n στρήζων Cov. 2. ib. p. ἔμελλες Sin. ib. q. αποβάλλειν Sin. v. 3. z. in var. lect. dele Cov: 2, et eundem scribe post Barb. 1. v. 8. f. pro καὶ legit ἥν Sin. v. 11. ν. Ιδοὺ deest Sin. Cov. 2. ib. s. in var. lect. lege μὴ λάβῃ τις τακὺ Cov: 2. v. 12. y. ἥ καταβάινει Sin. v. 17. d οτι deest Sin. v. 18. Pro ἀισχύνη scribe ἀκημοσύνη Cov. 2. ib. h. in var. lect. pro. Steph. ε Scribe Steph. ιε. et post Hunt ι dele Sin. et inter Alex et Cov. 2. dele Κολλύριον εγχρισαι. v. 19 post ζήλωσον deest ὀυν Cov. 2. ib. n. Καὶ præfigit Sin.

Cap. 4. v. 3. y. ἦν deest Sin. v. 4. f. in var. lect. dele κύκλῳ Cov. 2. v. 4. c. θρόνους τοὺς ἐικοσι τεσσαρας πρεσβυτέρους Cov. 2. Sin. ib. in. var. lect. dele Sin. v. 5. Pro εκπορθυονται Cov. 2. habet ἐξεπορθύοντο. ib. i. Ἀυτοῦ Sin. v. 10. i – προσκυνήσουσι Sin. Ib. k. Βαλουσι Sin.

Cap. 5. v. 6. f τα αποστελλόμεινα Sin. v. 10. g. in var. lect. dele Sin et – scribe sin. post βασιλειυσυυσιν. v. 11. 2. ὡς præfigit Sin. Ib. n. præfigit καὶ ἐν ὁ ἄριθμὸς ἀυτῶν μυριάδες μυριάδων Sin. v. 13. u. ἀυτοῖς πάντας ἠκουσα. Cov. 2. v. 14. b. ἔλεγον τὸ Ἀμήν Cov. 2.

Cap. 6. v. 1. k. Pro φωνὴ in var. lect. scribe φωνὴ vel φωνῇ. v. 2. m. Και ἒιδον omittit Sin. v. 4. l. tῆς γῆς ἵνα Cov. 2. v. 5. n. in var. lect. dele Sin. et scribe Sin. post Και ἴδε. Ib. o. in var. lect. dele Cov. 2. v. 7. y. φωνήν omittit Sin. v. 8. b. Κὰι ἐιδον omittit Sin. Ib. f. in var. lect. dele Cov. 2. et scribe ηκολόυθη μετ' ἀυτοῦ Cov. 2. v. 11. d οὖ deest Sin. v. 12. k. ὅλη addit Sin.

Cap. 7. v. 5. g.... {μείνουν} Cov. 2. v. 9. t. ἀυτὸν omittit Cov. 2 v. 10. τοῦ Θεὸῦ ἡμῶν deest Cov. 2. v. 14. e στλὰς ἀυτῶν omittit Cov. 2. v. 16. ὀυδ' οὐ μὴ Cov. 2.

Cap. 8. v. 3. b. δωσι Sin. v. 5. h. τον Sin. v. 5. l. ἀυτὸν Sin. v. 7. b. ἐν præfigit Sin v. 11. Pro λέγεται Cov. 2. habet ἐλέγετο. ib. l. ἐγένετο Sin. Ib. m. τῶν ὑδάτων Sin.

Cap. 9. v. w. v. Κέντρα ἐν ταῖς ὀυραῖς ἀυτῶν τοῦ ἀδικῆσαι Cov. 2. v. 11. x. in var. lect. post ἔκουσιν deleatur et post ἔκουσαι scribatur Cov. 2. Ib. v. 12. in textu dele literam g post ἔτι et scribe eandem ante ἔτι. v. 18. εκπορευομένον deest Cov. 2. v. 21. x. in var. lect. dele Cov. 2.

Cap. 10. v. 3. pro φωνῇ μεγάλῇ scribe φονὴν μεγάλην Sin. v. g. i. βιβλιδαριον Sin.

Cap. 11. v. 5. y. θέλει ἀυτοὺς Cov. 2. v. 6. f ἐν πάσῃ Sin Cov. 2. v. 14. a. ἰδοὺ – ponitur post τρίτη Sin. Pro ἰδοὺ legitur καὶ Cov. 2. v. 19. h. καὶ σεισμος deest Sin.

Cap. 12. v. 3. v. ἑπτὰ διαδήματα Sin. Cov. 2. Ib. dele Cov. 2. in lect. var. v. 7. i. in var. lectl post τοῦ πολεμῆσαι deleatur et post πολεμῆσαι deleatur Cov. 2. Ib. k. μετα Sin. v. 12. Ante ὀυρανοι deest ὁι Sin Cov. 2. v. 14. η ἁι δύο Cov : 2.

Cap. 13. v. 3. l. ἐκ τῶν Sin. v. 4. t. δυνατòς Sin Cov. 2. v. 7. in var. lect ante καὶ λαὸν scribe ε . v. 10. a. ἔκει ἀικμαλωσίαν ὑπαγει Sin. v. 11. e. τῷ ἀρνίῳ Cov. 2. v. 12 f. in var. lect. dele Sin. v. 16. f. τὸ μέτοπον Sin.

Cap. 14. v. 3. h. ὡς omittit sin. v. 7. i. ἀυτῶ τῶ ποιήσαντι Cov. 2. Ib. k. in var. lect. dele Cov. 2. v. 8. e. τὰ ἔθμη Sin. v. 12. u. Articulum ἡ præfigit Sin. v. 16. o. τῆ – νεφέλῃ Cov. 2. v. 19. i. τὸ μέγαν Sin. v. 20. m. ᾳχ Sin.

Cap. 15. v. 2. τὰς ante κιθαρας legunt Sin Cov. 2. v. 6. b ὁι ἦσαν præfigit Sin.

Cap. 16. v. 2. x. εἰς Sin Cov. 2. v. 3. ὡς ante ἇιμα habet Cov. 2. v. 5. Post κύριε deest εἶ Cov. 2. v. 9. b. οἱ ἄνθρωποι Cov. 2. v. 14. p. δαιμονιων Cov. 2. ib. q. ἅ εκπορευονται Cov. 2. ib in var. lect. post ἅ εκπορευεται dele Cov. 2. v. 18. h. in var. lect. dele Cov. 2. et scribe C 2. post ασταπαι καὶ βροντὰι καὶ φωναι.

Cap. 17. v. 2. Pro ἐμεθύθησαν habet ἐμέθυσαν Cov. 2. v. 5. a. πόρνον Cov. 2 ib. v. 8. Pro τὸ θηρίον ὁ, τι ἦν lege ὁτι ἦν τὸ θηριον Cov. 2. v. 16. 9. in var. lect. Post επεσαν ὁ dele Cov. 2. Ib. ἔπεσον ὁ Cov. 2. v. 16. Post γυμνήν adde ποιήσουσιν ἀυτήν Cov. 2. Sin. v. 17. m. In var. lect. dele Sin. Ib. τελεσθῶ.. ὁι λόγοι Sin.

Cap. 18. v. 1. a. Και deest Sin. v. 2. g. Ἔπεσενεν deest Sin. v. 3. m. τοῦ ὄινου deest Sin. Ib. o. πεπτώκασι Sin. Cov. 2. v. 6. d. τὰ Sin v. 12. l. βυσσινου καὶ πορφυρας Cov. 2. v. 16. p. deest ἐν Sin. v. 19. h. καὶ præfigit Cov. 2.

Cap. 19. v. 1. i. ὡς præfigit Sin. v. 3. d εἴρηκειν Sin Cov. 2. v. 14. i. τῶ θρόνω Cov. 2. v. 12. s. ὡς deest Sin. v. 14. Pro λευκὸν ὴς καθαρόν legit καθαρὸν λευκον Cov. 2. v. 15. l.πατάξῃ Cov. 2. v. 16. o. deest Cov. 2.

Cap. 20. v. 4. x. ὀυδὲ Cov. 2. Ib a. τὰ præfigunt Sin Cov. 2. – v. 11. m. ἀυτὸν Cov. 2. v. 12. s. in var. lect dele – Cpv 2. v. 13. u. τοὺς νεκρους τοὺς 'εν ἀυτῇ Sin. v. 14. a. ὁ θάνατος ὁ δευτερος Sin. Cov. 2.

Cap. 21. v. 6. s. καὶ ἡ ἀρΧὴ καὶ τὸ τέλος Sin. Cov. v. 7. e. ὁ deest Sin. v 12. f τὰ ὀνόματα addit Sin. v. 13. l. in var. lect. dele deest Cov. 2. v. 14. Deest καὶ ἐν ἀυτοῖς Cov. 2. errante scriba. v. 23. e in var. lect. quære utrum scribendum sit – ἀυτὴ γαρ vel ἀυτῇ γαρ.

Cap. 22. v. 2. b. ἥνα deest Sin. Ib. c. ἀποδιδοὺς ἕκαστον Cov. 2. v. 6. b. Δέγει Sin. v. 13. h. εἰμι deest Sin.