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

called the weomens court ) , & leaving the outward d court unmeasured & giving it to the Gentiles who tread down the Holy City; & in the two Prophets attending this Temple there is a plain allusion to the Babylonian captivity & rebuilding the Temple , & particularly to Ezekiels vision of marking those that mourned for the abominations done in Ierusalem & slaying the rest & burning the city, & to his other vision of measuring the temple in the beginning of captivity in toqken that it should be rebuilt & to the s subsequent rebuilding of the Courts of the Temple & Altar & weomen's court by the direc prophesying of Cyrus EHaggai & Zechary & leaving the outward court unbuilt all the reign of the kingdom of Persia wchwhich was about 200 years & then building it for yethe gentiles in the days of Simeon Iustus at the charge & calling it the Gentiles court. And all this

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

Now the ten Kings of by being converted to the Roman Catholic faith religion gave their kingdoms to became the Whore's Beast & yethe Beast began to act under her. By that conversion They became also . And began to tre the gentiles wchwhich trode down the Holy City & worshipped in the outward court of the Temple; especially after the setting up the worship of Images. For by the worshipping of Images they become Gentiles in the most proper signification of yethe word & the Whore thereb Woman thereby becoames a Whore in the same sense that the Churches of Iudah & Israel were said to go a Whoring. And itsit's to be conceived also that at the setting up of that Image worship the two Witnesses put on sackcloth & began to sigh & mourn for the standing of the abomination. Then & also the Woman arrived to her place of honour in the wilderness upon the back of her Beast & I was began to be fed by kings & other great men the merchants of the earth, who for eEmpires & Kingdoms & principalities & Bishopricks & dispensations & pardons & indulgencies & privileges & titles of honour & reliques & canonizations & Masses & sermons gave her Peters patrimony & tythes & Peter pence & gold & silver & gemms & all manner of things valuable. And in this state things continued till the Beast made war upon the two witnesses who worshipped in the second Temple & were principally in the to prophesy principally in yethe streets of the great city within the dominion of the Beast.

As the Eastern & Western Empires are represented by the two leggs of Nebuchadnezzars Image: so the true Churches of these Empires are represented by the two leggs & their teach of the son of man. & their teachers by his two eyes. And this is signified by his setting his right foot upon the sea & his left foot upon the earth in the beginning of the prophesy of the seven Thunders. And as the seven eyes of the Lamb signify the seven spirits of God or Angels of the or teachers of the seven Churches, so his two eyes signify the teachers of the two churches. The two Witnesses are called Candlesticks & Candlesticks signify Churches, & I can meet wthwith no other churches then those of the two Empires to wchwhich these two witnesses can be so well applied. The two Empires have their churches true & fals & true & their fals churches have their representatives, the one being represented by the Woman in the wilderness & the other by the two horned Beast or fals Prophet & therefore their true Churches ought also to have their representatives, the one & I meet with nothing else so proper to represent them as the two leggs of the son of man & the two Candlesticks & two Prophets. For if the fals Prophet signifies the fals Church of the Greek Empire, the true Prophet ( by waey of opposition ) must signify the true Church thereof, & since there are two true prophets & two Empires the other true Prophet must signify the true Church of the other Empire The remnant of the womans seed whom the Dragon went to make war upon & who keep the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus are the true Witness in the Dragons kingdom & the saints whom the Beast made martyrs Martyrs of Iesus wthwith whose blood the Woman is drunken are the other true KWitness in the kingdom of the Beast.

Now when the [ Woman separates from the Dragon & retires into the western empire & this retiring is called flying into the Wilderness it imports that this Empire is baecome a spiritually barren wilderness. And ] when the seven Churches retire into the Eastern Empire it is to be conceived that the Temple wherein they worship & whose Candlesticks they are, retires into the same empire & leaves the Western Empire a spiritua a spiritually barren wilderness. made desolate by the destitute of a Temple untill a new one be built, For the building of a new one second Temple is signified by IohnsIohn's measuring the Temple & Altar & them that worship therein, & leaving out the outward court unmeasured because it is given to the gentiles who shall tread down the Holy City 42 months. For all this alludes to EzekielsEzekiel's measuring the Temple in the Babylonian captivity in token that it should be rebuilt & to the building of yethe inner Tem the second Temple with its three courts of the second Temple in the reign of Cyrus & Darius & leaving the outward court unbuilt all the reign of the Persians wchwhich was 200 years & then building the outward court in the 11 for yethe Gentiles in the reign of yethe Greeks & calling it the Gentiles court. And it relates to the western Empire because the great Cithy in whose streets the Beast killed the witnesses is called the City where our Lord was crucified, that is where the second Temple stood was built & & where the where the Gentiles trode down the holy city & worshipped in the outwdoutward court of this Temple.

Now wWhen the Woman fled intho yethe Wilderness & yethe Dragon went from her to make war with the remnant of her seed who havekeep the commandmtscommandments of God & have yethe testimony of Iesus its to be understood that the Western Empire into wchwhich the Woman fled was become a spiritually barren Wilderness & that the remnant of the womans seed who keept wchwhich Commandments of God remained were left in the eastern Empire where the Dragon could make war upon them. And when the two horned Beast or rose out of the earth or pe eastern Empire & caused by the dictate of the O an oracle to be erected by whose dictate all that would not worship the Oracle or image of the Beast to be killed, its to be understood that they lived among the people of the two horned bBeast & that this Beast by the Oracle caused his king the Dragon in whose kingdome they lived to make war upon them & killed them. The Beast was the Western Empire, the people of yethe Eastern Empire were compelled to worship him & his Image & those that wol would not worship his Image it were mystically killed in the war wchwhich the Dragon made upon them.

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

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

When the Barbarous nations invaded the western Empire & brake it into ten kingdoms they In the reign of Theodosius the great & his successors, the Roman laws still extant in the Theodosian Code, were exceeding severe against meeting to worship God in any assemblies whatever except those of the Saint-worshippers. The places

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

For the building of a second Temple is signified

When the Woman fled into fliesed from the Temple of heaven on mount Sion into yethe Wilderness & leavesft left a remnant of her seed wchwhich keep yethe commmandmtscommandments of God: it is to be conceived that this remnant were the remnant of the seven churches & stayed in the Temple being the 144000 wchwhich stand wchwhich were sealed out of yethe 12 Tribes & stand wthwith the Lamb on mount Sion, that lamb wchwhich appeared before in this same Temple as it were slain & took the book out of the hand of him that sat upon the throne or Ark in this same Temple. & those are [ yethe [ 144000 sealed out of the 12 Tribes of Israel & ] before the throne & four animals & Elders before the four animals & yethe Elders: & that they are also & continue to be represented by the seven candlesticks in this Temple. They are also the Victors wchwhich stand upon the sea of Glass in the same Temple. of the tabernacle And the seven Angels wchwhich sound the seven Trumpets & pour out the seven vials of wrath are the Angels of this remnant of yethe seven Churches represented by yethe seven lamps in thisese Temple candlesticks F It is also to be conceived that the Woman fliesed from the light of the seven lamps into a state of darkness, & in fleeing from Mount Sion into the wilderness changed her Metropolis. She fled from the seven golden candlesticks wchwhich represent the seven churches of Asia her first Metropolis & goes F in flying she went through the wilderness of Arabia to the great city the great city called Babylon the great city her new Metropolis. seated upon seven hills mountains. This Babylon the is the seven hilled city opposed to the seven churches, the city Rome wchwhich to this day is the Metropolis of the Woman claimings a supreme motropolitanmetropolitan power over all the Christian Churches. of Christ. the Christian religion The seven hislls or mountains where the woman sitteth are opposed to the seven churches of Asia. They are sitteth are literally the seven hills Fon wchwhich Rome stood, byut mystically they are the sitteth are ( mystically ) the seven heads of the Beast that is seve they are the seven k imp regal cities royal citesies or chief ci head cities of the seven kingd of kingdoms represented by those seven horns of the Beast wchwhich remained after the little horn of Daniels fourth Beast hasd rooted up three of the ten first horns of this Beast . For moutainsmountains in sacred prophesy signify cities, & the Spirit gives a double interpretation of the seven heads of the Beast saying calling them boathboth mountains & kings, saying: Here is wisdome. The the mind that hath wisdome. The seven heads are seven mountains on wchwhich the Woman sitteth Allso they are seven kings: five are fallen & one is & the other is not yet come &c. According to the first interpretation the seven heads import are contemporalry to one another like yethe four heads of Daniels Leopards & signify seven kingdoms as contemporary kingdoms, the seven mountains upon wchwhich the great City is seated being made a type of the imperial cities of these kingdoms & the seven churches & of these seven cities are set in opposition to the seven Churches of the seven cities of Asia. According to yethe second interpretation the seven heads are seven successive dynasties of the Roman Empire five of wchwhich were fallen before the Beaset rose out of the abyss or sea. T In theis last sense the heads belon belong more properly to the Dragon thenthan to yethe Beast: in the other sense they belong more properly to the Beast thenthan to the Dragon. [ Thus the Woman by flying into the wilderness changed her metropolis, & deserting the seven churches of Asia represented by the seven candlesticks in the first Temple on Mount Sion, became the sevenfold Church of Rome the great City Babylon in the sp wilderness. seated herself on the seven mountains arrived at the sitting on sev the woman the city seated on seven mountains & beamebecame the sevenfold Church of Rome. seated her self at Rome on seven mountains a metropolis threpresented by the great city Babylon in the wilderness & reigned over the seven of the ten kings after wchwhich remained kings wchwhich remained after three of them the ten were rooted up: wchwhich seven are also still called the ten horns in respect of their first number.

Now as Nebuchadnezzar when he captivated Israel carried away the people good & bad together into & then setting up an image in the plane of Babylon commanded all nations to worship it upon pain of death: so the Roman Emperors upon ]

Now when the woman by flying into the wilderness, deserted the Temple of heaven on Mount Sion & wthwith it Candlesticks, ]

Now when the woman fled from the Temple on mount Sion & arrived at her place in the wilderness, it is to be conceived that a new Temple was built for her there. And For the building of this temple is thus described signified by theAngels6rAngels saying to Iohn. Rise & measure the temple of God & yethe altar & them that worship therein, ( that is their three courts ) but the court wchwhich is without the Temple leave out & measure it not . for it is given unto the Gentiles & the – holy city shall they tread under foot forty & two months. And I will give power to my two witnesses & they shall prophesy 1260 days in sackcloth All this alludes to the Babylonians captivating the Iews, & treading Ierusalem under foot & to Ezekiels measuring the Temple in token that it should be rebuilt & to the building of the inner Temple in the reign of Cyrus & Darius, that is, the T court of the House & the court of the altar & the court of yethe people called the weomens court, & leaving unbuilt the outward court unbuilt wchwhich in Solomons days was Temple was the peoples Court but in the second court Temple was given to yethe gentiles, & remained unbuilt all the reign of the Persians & was built but the Gentiles came into it into it to worship ab both in the reign of the Persians while it remained unbuilt & also in the reign of the Greeks & Romans when it was built. It alludes also th to yethe Pro two Prophets Haggai & Zecchary who prophesied at all the time that yethe in of building the inner Temple. in the second Temple.

Now as upon the final division of the Roman Empire into yethe Eastern & western Empires, as the Dragon wchwhich before till then had signified the whole Empire retriredretired into the easte & thence forwardthenceforward signified only the Eastern Empire & in its room the ten-horned Beast rose out of the earth to signify the western Empire, & as the wowman wchwhich till then had signified the whole Church fled into of the whole Empire &fled from yethe Greek Empire into the wilderness & thenceforward signified only the national Church of the western Empire & in its room the two horned Beast rose out of yethe Earth to signify the west nationalrational Church of the Eastern Empire: so the Temple in heaven of the Tabernacle in heaven with its Candlesticks & lamps all wchwhich till then had signified the true Church of the God diffused throughout the whole Empire, retired from signifying the true Church in the western Empire & thenceforward signified only the true Church of God in the Eastern Empire, & in its room a new church was second Temple is built in the west to with two Candlesticks to signify the true Church of God in the western Empire.

The two witnesses T or Prophets are therefore signify are the people of God wchwhich worship in this Temple. For they are the two Candlesticks standing before the God of the earth, that is before his throne in thies Temple: that is the two Churches wchwhich worship therein And in allusion to ZechariesZechary's Zech. 4. vision of th two Olive trees emptiying their oyle into the Candlesticks in yethe second Temple Ioh they are also called two olive trees. And yethe Candlesticks in the Temple signify the Churches of God who worship him in his Temple & Apoc. 1.20, & . so do Olive trees Rom. 11.17, 24. They are called two the Churches of God in the western Empire because they are slain by the Beast, & lyed dead in the streets of the great City, the city Babylon wchwhich in form of a woman reiides upon the Beast.

They If any man will hurt them fire proceedeth out of their mouth & devoureth their enemies , . These have power to shut heaven over the waters to turn them to blood, & to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they wills ; that is, they these two Churches inflict the plagues of the seven trumpets. They joyn wthwith yethe seven Angels or Angels of yethe seven Churches in smiting the earth with all the seven plagues of yethe Trumpets & Vials of wrath, And therefore they worship in the second Temple all the time of theose seven Trum plagues.

These two Churches are the mystical body of the mighty Angel wchwhich came down from heaven cloathed wthwith a cloud & a rainbow upon his head & his face as it were the Surn & his feet as pillars of fire, & wchwhich had in his hand a little book open & set his right foot oruponyethe earth & sea & left upon the earth, & cried with a loud voice. When all the seven seals of this book were opened then the son of man in the form of this Angel appears wthwith it open in his hand to prophesy out of it & for that end holds it open all the time that the seven thunders utter their voices, that is all the time that his mystical body the two Witnesses prophesy. As the seven eyes & seven horns of yethe Lamb7r Lamb represent the same thing wthwith the seven lamps & seven candlesticks in yethe first Temple so the two eyes & two leggs of the son of man represent the same thing wthwith the two lamps & two Candlesticks in the second Temple. And hence the witnesses are called two. They By the building of Constantinople & division of the Roman Empire between yyethe two cities of Rome & Constantinople & distinguishing theose territories of those cities by yethe names of Earth & Sea. , the Woman received two wings of a great eagle upon wchwhich she flew into yethe wilderness, the two horned Beast received his two horns & the two witnesses ha became two: for christ set his right foot upon yethe searth & his left upon the searth. AnAnd these characters being once given tthe to yethe two-winged Woman, two-horned Beast & two Witnesses, they retained them even after before the final division of the Empire, they retained them after it As the ten-horned Beast rose out of the sea wthwith seven heads, five of wchwhich were fallen before he rose so & one of them wounded before he rose so The two horned Beast rose wthwith two h out of yethe earth wthwith two horns wchwhich grew upon his head before he rose , . And as the Dragon hasretains all the the ten horns after he is But least the figure may seem hard of retired from yethe western Empire whose horns they are: so two horned Beast may keep both his wings horns & the woman both her wings & the two witnesses the number two after they are retired into one of the Empires.

But to remove all difficulty from these figures it is further to be considered that the two Empires were never so far parted but that they remained united in interest & next heirs to one another. When yethe western empire fell being invaded by barbarians, the Greek Emperor claimed a right to it & by vertue of that riight recovered Afric from the Vandals & Italy from yethe Ostrogoths. And the western Emperors while they lasted had the same right to yethe Eastern Empire. It is therefore to be conceived that even after the final division of the Empire the Dragon & Beast have a right are next heirs to one to one anothers dominions & upon that account in token of that right partake of one anothers heads & horns [ & for the so it may be said that the two horn Beast, & seven Churches two-winged woman & two witnesswitnesses continue always affected wthwith the binary division of the Empire because in some respect they are each of them extended over the whole even after the binary divisio final division into both parts of the division Empire division. The two winged wo Dragon, two horned Beast & seven Churches reign in reside & act & & reign in the east without quitting their interest in the west & the tenhorned Beast Woman & two Churches reside & act & reign in the west without quitting their interest in the east. And therefore by the final division of the Empire they do not lose their names titles & characters wchwhich they had borrowed from the state of the whole Empire before that division. The mystical body of Christ whether in yethe form of a lamb with seven eyes & It is further to be considered seven horns or in the form of the son of man wthwith two eyes & two leggs & seven stars in his hand signifies is the whole Church of Christ in both Empires from the beginning to the end of the prophesy but yet after the final division of the Empire : but yet for describing distinctly the different affairs of the eastern & western parts of this Church, the septenary division is number is used as a type & character of the Eastern Church & the binary of the western. from the time of the final division of the Empire ] They are brothers They are twins & in token of their They are twins growing to one another & in token of their being so bear the same coat of arms of Seven heads & ten ho ] & H And the same right wchwhich the Dragon & ten horned Beast have to the w severally to be yethe whole kingdom Empire their Churches have under them ( the two horned Beast has under the Dragon & the woman & two has under the ten horned Beast ) to be the Church of the whole kingdom Empire & in token & claim of that right they partake of the binary division of the whole, the Woman by her two wings & the Beast by his two horns: for two wings & two horns signify have one & the same being signification as is manifest by the Daniels visions where the four wings of the Leopard & the four horns of the Goat signify one & yethe same division of yethe Greek Empire into four kingdoms. And so much more is it to be conceived that the mystical body of Christ in th whether in the form of the son of man with two eyes & two leggs & seven stars in his hand, or in form of a Lamb wthwith seven horns & seven eyes signifies the whole Church of Christ in all ages : ; , And theo & that after the division of the Empire, the septenary number division number is applied to the affairs of Chr the Church in the Eastern Empire & the binary to ther affairs in the western Empire without making a rent in Christs mystical body.

For the 144000 who were sealed our of all the twelve tribes of Israel stand on mount Sion with the Lamb harps & sing a new song. They stand also on the sea of glass with harps and sing the song of Moses & the Lamb; & singing with musical instruments is prophesying 1 Sam. 10.58r ( 1 Sam. 10.5. 1 Chron. 25.1, 2, 3 ) & therefore they are Prophets, & Prophets are God's witnesses ( 2 Chron 24.19. ) These s From the time that the seven seals of the prophetic boo prophetic Book is opened all Gods people begin to prophesy out of it. as soon as all the seals are opened loosed They are the mystical body of the mighty Angel who comes down from heaven cloathed with a cloud & the book open in his hand to prophesy out of it & sets his right foot upon the seaæ & his left foot upon the earth. The cloud is a cloud of wit A cloud is always put a m A cloud is the symbol of a multitude. The Angel is cloathed with a cloud of witnesses or Prophets. The Fa two horned Beast is called th a fals Prophet & the Who great Whore is the woman Iezebel wchwhich calleth her self a Prophetess. In opposition to these two fals Prophets God has his two true Prophets in the earth & Sea represented by the two leggs of the mighty Angel: & these two true Prophets prophesy out of the sealed book from the time that the book is opened, & comprehend all Gods people in both e the whole Roman Empire, as well the 144000 as the two witnesses prophesy out of it against the Fals Prophet & against the fals Prophetess. The 144000 & the two witnesses are but two names of one & the same Church of God. And if after the final division of the Empire one of these names be used in describing the affairs of this Church within the eastern Empire & the other name be used in describing the affairs of this Church within the Western, yet for preserving the unity of Gods Church both these names are still to be taken for names of the whole derived from the whole & properly significant of the whole & only but th but applied to yethe several parts for the convenientscee of describing the affairs of those parts severally. Tis an usual figuere to call a part by the name of the whole ( ras when we call a dead body by the name of a man & every part of a river by the name of the river & the ten Tribes by the name of Israel ) & this figure is here made use of. As in the history of the Bible the ten tribes are distinguished from the two Tribes by the name of Israel & yet the two tribes are at yethe same time a part of Israel: so in the Apocalyps the people of God in the western empire may be distinguished from his people in the eastern by the names of the two witnesses & the 144000, & yet at the same time theis people in the eastern empire may be a part of the two witnesses & his people in the western a part of the 144000. So far as the peop easter people of the eastern & western empires are distinguished from one another & considered in this prophesy distinctly, so far they are represented distinctly by the Dragon, Beast, Fals Prophet, Woman, 144000 & two witnesses: but & so far as they are considered without distinction, so far each of those types extend to the whole people of the whole Empire without distinction. And therefore before the final division of the Empire, they extend each of them to the whole; after that division while they all continue together they are taken distinctly , for a part of yethe but & particularly: but so soon as any of them cease & by the ceasing the thereby the distinction begins to be taken away the survivors so far as the distinction is taken be away begin again to be taken generalygenerally & exten be extend to yethe whole without distinction. So The During the reign of the Woman & Two horned B Babylon the great is her proper name written in her forehead, & tShe fals Prophet is the name of two horned Beast: but & the two horned Beast or fals Prophet are considered distinctly: but so soon as this Babylon is fallen & the Woman is burnt with fire, the & this Babylon is fallen, the names of great Babylon & the fals Prophet extend to the whole without distinction. For after yethe woman is burnt its said theat three unclean spirits like froggs came out of the mouth of the Dragon Beast & fals Prophet to gather the nations together to the battel of the great day of God Almighty, & the Beast & D fals Prophet & kings of the earth ( the or kings of the east here called the Dragon whose way was prepared to this battel by the drying up of Euphrates ) were taken gathered together to against the army of heaven, & the Beast was taken & fals Prophet were taken & cast alive into the lake of fire & the remnant ( the kings of the earth or east ) were slain wthwith the two edged sword. Here the woman is not named because she was burnt before, & the remnant of her seed who continue to worship the Beast & his Image are comprehended under the name of the two horned fals Prophet he being next heir to the woman. T It is also said that in this battel the great city was divided into three parts & great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the firirceness of his wrath: & hereby great Babylon doth not signify the woman, for she was burtnt before: but it signifies the whole extends comprehendsto9r comprehends all the three remaining parts of theat th great city yethe whole Roman Empire, two of wchwhich parts are cast alive into the lake of fire & the third is slain wthwith the two eddged sword. And in like manner, after the Beast is cast alive into the lake of fire, the Dragon who is his next herir is no longer limited to the eastern Empire but extends into the whole. For when thise Dragon called a theat old serpent called the Devil & Satan is shut up in the bottomless at pit that he should deceive the nations no more till a thousand years are expired, we are thereby to understand that the spirit of error ceases a thousand years in all theese kingd nations & kingdoms of this world wchwhich at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet become the kingdoms of orour Lord & his Christ, that is, in all the kingdoms wthinwithin the compass of the four monarchies. So also the two Witnesses wchwhich are opposed to yethe two winged Woman, upon the burning of that woman are no longer restrained to yethe western empire but ascending up to heaven in a cloud preach the everlasting gospel to all n every nation & kindred & tongue & people. And the 144 at the same time the 144000 grow into a great multitude wchwhich no man could number, of all nations & people & kindreds & tongues with palms in their hands, & thereby become one & the same Chiurch catholic wthwith the two witnesses. This is that Church called the Lamb's wife at whose marriage the kingdoms of the earth like sheep & oxen are sacrificed mystically sacrificesd by the victorious two edged sword & all the foulsfowls of heaven ( the army on white horses ) invited to the marriage supper ( that is, the army on white horses ) are, ( not literally but mystically, ) filled wthwith their flesh. For tby this victory the Palm-bearing multitude come out of the great tribulation. So then the Woman & two Witnesses, & Woman the 144000 & t twoh horned Beast & 144000 signify the Churches true & false & true of the whole Empire: but yet during the division of the Empire untill the fall of Babylon, for expressing that division thes & describing the actions of either pa the churches in either part, the names of the two first are applied in a more especial manner to the Churches in the western empire & the names of the two first to the Churches in the eastern.

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

But tho it would be great rashness to pretend to deter the period of time when the Witnesses put on sackcloth [ be not yet sufficiently determined ] cannot yet be known, yet something

But tho the end of the 1260 days cannot yet be justly known, yet there is reason to beleivebelieve that the days are not yet expiring. For the Gentiles wchwhich tread under foot the holy city, & worship in the outward are called Gentiles with respect to their idolatry, & idolatry is not complete without the worshipping images. Invocation of dead men is a breach of the first commandmtcommandment Idolatry worshipping10r worshipping of Images is a breach of the second, & idolatry or Idol-worship is properly a the worshipping of idols images this is properly Idol-worship or idolatry. All the heathen Roman Empire were exceedingly addicted to the worship of images & this worship seems to be the principal character of heathenism or gentilism, & those in wchwhich respect the & therefore the Holy City might did might might not begin to be trodentrodden under foot by the Gentiles truly & properly so called & therefore the Gentiles wchwhich tread under foot the Holy City might not begin to be Gentiles in the sense of the prophesy before the setting up of Idol Idols in the Pantheon at Rome A.C. 610 , perhaps not before the setting up of Idols Images in the Greek Empire . by Im the Empress Irene & her Council the second Council of Nice A.C. 787, perhaps not before the the reign of the Empress Theodora & her son Michael & their setting up Images in the Greek Empire by the Council of Constantinople A.C. 842

The ten kingdoms into which the western Empire was divided were no at first of different religions, & their kings were not all of them converted to the Roman catholic faith till about the beginning of the Wo-trumpetsWoe-Trumpets & after that it was sometime before the generality of the people of some of those kingdoms were converted to that faith. And before such conversion, the tenn could kings or kingdoms could not be said to agree & have one mind & to agree & give their kingdom to the Beast, & before they did so the Beast might not be said to act in the sense of the Apocalyps nor to carry the Woman upon his back. & perhapts this act agreement & acting might not begin before the erecting of the western Empire by Charles the great, & perhaps not before the breaking of this Empire into smaller parts at the death of his son A.C. 440, whereby the Pope might reign over them wthwith more power than over the whole.

The woman

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

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

And upon comparing all these things it seems to b me that the witnesses did not put on sackcloth before the beginning of the Wo-trumpetsWoe-trumpets & most probably not till some time after.

Now if you would know what it is that the two Prophets & the 144000 may have been prophesying out of this book ever since it was opened or

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

As That he that sits upon the throne in the temple of heaven is the God of the Iews. Fore there the Iews worshipped him sitting upon the throne in the Temple.

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

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