belongeth the first Resurrection accordingly as here followeth 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath no power Namely the Lake of Fire vers 14. into which Hades or the whole Region of Mortality is cast the Earth being all on fire But they that have obtained their glorified body as the Martyrs do in the first Resurrection they are sped already and are safe from this fate But they shall be Priests of God and of Christ that is Holy and Divine Souls cloathed in glorified bodies serving God in his Heavenly Temple And shall reign with him viz. with Christ in the Kingdom of his Father not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the thousand years of the Millennium but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thousand years symbolically understood which being the Cube of Ten which comprehends all number signifies a steady permanent Reign even to all Eternity 7. But when the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the thousand years of the Millennium are expired that is at the expiration of the Philadelphian Interval and the beginning of the Laodicean Satan shall be loosed out of his prison that is to say the ancient zeal of the Philadelphian Church and strictness of Discipline will be much relaxated and wickedness will get head again namely under the fourth Thunder 8. And he shall go out to deceive the Nations which are in the four quarters of the Earth Gog and Magog that is the whole rabble of men that are disposed to wickedness and have an enmity against the Holy and Just which are the true Israelites indeed in whom there is no guile And Gog and Magog are those notorious enemies of the People of Israel Ezech. Cap. 38. and 39. who therefore here typifie the enemies of the Holy Christian and Apostolick Church of which Israel was a type To gather them together to battel to fight against Israel the true Church of Christ The number of whom is as the sand of the sea So much had wickedness increased by the not still endeavouring with that wonted vigour the amplification of Christs Kingdom and by relaxation of Discipline in the Laodicean State of the Church though purity of external worship was still retained among them neither had they contaminated themselves with course Superstitions and Idolatries 9. And they went up on the breadth of the Earth which indicates the swarming and the spreading of their Forces and compassed the Camp of the Saints about The Camp wherein there were many Saints and right Philadelphian Spirits but all Saints as to the purity of external worship And the beloved City The mystical Ierusalem or pure Church of Christ and beloved of him for the reasons even now intimated Here is an attempt of bringing again the Righteous under the Power and Tyranny of the wicked which attempts are made toward the latter end of the Laodicean Interval under the fifth Thunder But before they could effect their wicked enterprise the Day of judgement overtakes them And fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them 10. And the Devil that deceived them was cast together with them into the lake of fire and brimstone even that Lake which is afterwards called the second death where the Beast and the false Prophet the whole Antichristian Rabble shall be and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever 11. For I saw a great white Throne for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And does ordinarily signifie for as the sense may require and him that sate on it namely Christ coming to judgement at the end of the Laodicean Interval in the sixth Thunder from whence the Church of Laodicea also has its name From whose face the Earth and the Heaven fled away and there was found no place for them that is the Glory of his Majesty was so great that Heaven and Earth seemed to vanish before him the eyes of the spectators at first being so wholly filled with the brightness of the presence of his Glory 12. And I saw the dead small and great good and bad stand before God This is the General Resurrection which is not till the thousand years of the Millennium be expired but a good while after it though but a little time compared with the thousand years in the latitude of the sense thereof And the Books were opened the Rolls and Records of their actions this is spoken in allusion to Law-proceedings in Courts of Judicature amongst men And another Book was opened which is the Book of Life An auspicious Title signifying that they whose names were found there should be sentenced worthy of Eternal Life and escape the second death And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their Works As is done in Righteous Courts of Judicature where the Judge gives Sentence according to what is alledged and proved And so it is in this General Assizes none shall be condemned for what he is not guilty of but be judged according to his works 13. And the Sea gave up the dead which were in it The Souls here appear of them that were drown'd in the Sea as being not extinct thereby as some fondly imagine and actuate their bodies And death or pestilence all manner of death by diseases is intimated by it and briefly Hell that is Hades the whole Region of deceased Souls or this sphere of Mortality into which they are congregated at this General Assizes delivered up the dead that were in them that is exhibited them to the view of all And they were judged every man according to their works The Divine Nemesis proportioned punishments or rewards to every one according to their doings Hitherto are the transactions of this General Assizes and the passing of judgement on those that were called to the Bar which takes up the sixth Thunder But in the seventh there is Thundering and Lightening properly so called as is intimated vers 9. And fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them So here 14. And Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire that is this whole Region of Mortality above which the Spirits of Devils and damned Souls cannot emerge but are chained and confined to this caliginous Atmosphere will be set on fire at the last Thunder which together with eruptions from beneath will cause a dreadful Conflagration and turn the Earth as it were into one great lake of fire This is the sense of these words And Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire Which is a very figurative expression First by a Prosopopoeia making Death and Hell as it were two persons as in Chap. 6. vers 8. and then by an Hypallage casting them into the fire when as the fire is rather cast into them it occupying all this Region of Mortality and putting an end to dying by consuming all the species of mortal Creatures and giving a stop to their propagation This is the second Death As the first
things of the greatest importance makes men careless and remiss and destroyes all order and discipline weakens the health of the body and makes the soul incapable of the holy influences of the Spirit of God So necessary a stone therefore for the safety of the City is this Amethyst to be placed in the wall thereof 21. And the twelve Gates were twelve pearls every several Gate was of one pearl which shows plainly the thing cannot be literally understood unless there were Oisters or other Conchae bigger than one of these Gates or Porches But in that the Gates viz. Inletts into the City are said to be Pearles that Gemm sets out the condition of them that are fitted to enter into the City For the colour of the Pearle shows the mild innocent child-like meekness of them that are fit to enter as our Saviour has declared Vnless you be converted and become as one of these Children you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The Notation of the word also intimates what is requisite to Baptism viz. Repentance For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnio from whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived alludes to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mixture of bitterness which denotes the wholesome cup of Repentance But the whiteness of the Pearles may insinuate also the washing away of the guilt and stain of Sin in the Sacrament of Baptism which Interpreters make these Gates to be a symbol of And the street of the City was pure gold as it were transparent glass The street that is Forum Vrbis as Grotius notes the publick place where they meet and transact businesses It is said to be pure gold like to transparent glass because they converse one with another bonâ fide in pure love and sincerity as if they were transparent to one another and could see one anothers hearts and thoughts 22. And I saw no Temple there No such Temple as was amongst the Jews which together with the Divine Residence supposed in it as being deemed the house of God is properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such a Temple as this there was none in the New Ierusalem For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it The eternal Deity is the object of their worship and the Lamb the body of Christ the Holy Catholick Church is the house wherein he resides the same with the City it self which from his presence there is called Iehovah Shammah Ezech. 48.35 God therefore immediately residing by his Spirit in the hearts of his people the Citizens of this New Ierusalem this is instead of the Temple of the Ancient Jews And according to the Prophetick stile Lamb will more naturally though it does not so usually signifie the body of Christ his Church than Christ himself 23. And the City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it This may allude to Isai. 60.19 The Sun shall be no more thy light by day c. But the more peculiar sense of the place I conceive according to the Prophetick stile which makes the Sun the highest Power in any Polity and the Moon next to it as an Emperour and an Emperess in an Empire or an Vniversal Patriarch and Emperour as the Popish Interpreters expound the two great Lights the Sun and the Moon the one of the Pope the other of the Emperour the Ecclesiastick Power being the Sun the Secular the Moon the sense I say is this That no man imagine any necessity in those dayes when the Kingdoms of the World shall become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ that there should be any such Oecumenical Patriarch Pope or Bishop over the Church of Christ or any Vniversal Monarch or Emperour over his whole Empire it is expresly said that the City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it no need of any one Vniversal Prelate and Vniversal Monarch as some would fancy the Pope and the Emperour to have been For the Glory of God did lighten it that is the Spirit of God which is compared to the Iasper-stone vers 11. which is said to be the Luminary thereof this is the Sun or Supreme Power thereof which is to hold all together And the Lamb is the light thereof namely by shedding the promised efficacy of his Spirit into it The Kings therefore of those many Kingdoms that in those dayes become the Kingdom of Christ shall have no other Supreme Head over them but Christ himself but be as the four and twenty Crowned Elders before the Throne of the Lamb and have no other Superiour neither Patriarch nor Monarch but he Of those times is said that of Isai. chap. 24.23 Then the Moon shall be confounded and the Sun ashamed all that have born themselves as Universal Monarchs in Church or State hitherto when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Sion and Ierusalem namely in this New Ierusalem and before his Ancients gloriously those Ancients described Chap. 4. as cloathed with white rayment and sitting upon Thrones with golden Crowns on their Heads which signifie the Kings of those Times when Jew and Gentile shall make one Fold and the Church be reduced to her Apostolick purity in the blessed Millennium over whom there will be no Head but God and Christ nor will they have need to be held together in one Universal Kingdom of Christ by any other Tye than his Laws and the Union of his Holy Spirit which will be so abundantly shed forth in their hearts in those days namely in the Philadelphian Succession 24. And the Nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it Extra Ecclesiam nulla est salus is a maxime amongst the Pontificians confining Salvation to a blind implicit Faith in the Infallibility of their Pope and Church But the Iasper-stone the influence of the Holy Spirit which is the Light of this City is that by whose guidance the Nations now walk in the wayes of Salvation And the Kings of the Earth do bring their Glory and Honour into it that is turn Converts to this dispensation of the Spirit where the Word and the Spirit is the Rule not the blind Decrees of both a fallacious and fallible Polity of men that adulterate Doctrine for their worldly interest 25. And the Gates of it shall not be shut at all by day Their prosperity and great knowledge and illumination will not make them proud disdainful or careless of others happiness and salvation but they will be ever ready to embrace and admit by Baptisme all Converts from all quarters of the World upon their sincere Repentance and Conversion For there shall be no night there no Adversity nor Ignorance in this Philadelphian Interval while the Eternal Spirit of Love shines upon them And therefore they will be alwayes ready at every one of their twelve Gates standing open to all the four quarters of the world to admit all single-hearted and sincere Proselytes 26. And they shall
and Thyatiran Successions of the Church it is manifest that Saracens and Turks under the fifth and sixth Trumpets invade the Empire as a Scourge for their Idolatry as plainly appears from Ch. 9. v. 20. where the rest of the men that were not killed by these Plagues are said not to repent them of their worshipping 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Daemons and Idols of Silver and Idols of Gold c. Where Daemons according to the Greek idiom signify either Angels or the Souls of men any Spirits out of Terrestrial bodies the Souls of Saints and Spirits of Angels And lastly in the Opened-Book-Prophecy Chap. II. what is the treading under-foot the outward Court by the Gentiles for fourty two months but the over-running the Empire again with Idolatry and Persecution of which Gentilism or Paganism consists for so many months or Semitimes of months of years And what the 7000. names of men vers 13. but Idolatrous Titles or men of those Titles that belong to the seventh head of the Beast which is an Idolatrous head And Chap. 13. vers 1. the Beast there rising out of the Sea with ten Crowned Horns plainly shows it is the Empire after its division into so many Kingdoms Which therefore is under the seventh head And all the seven heads there are said to have names of Blasphemy upon them that is of Idolatry Besides this Beast is said to be the healed beast and the image of the Dragon that received the deadly wound in his fight with Michael and the Martyrs Which plainly shows that the Empire after Christanity was setled in it became again an Idolatrous persecuting Beast as the old Pagan Empire was And lastly not to number up all we might Chap. 17. the Whore of Babylon with her cup of Fornication that is of Idolatry in her hand as Grotius himself cannot but interpret it and sitting upon a Beast full of Names of Blasphemy that is of Idolatry again even according to Grotius what can this be but the City of Rome and the Roman Empire become Idolatrous But they put it off by saying it is the Pagan Empire and Rome Pagan which is a thing impossible For the Woman here sitting upon the Beast that was is not and yet is which was never true of the Roman Empire till after it had been Christian it cannot be understood of the Roman Empire Pagan And that conceit of Domitian being this Beast it is such a childish trifle or sleight whiffle that it is a wonder to me that any one that had any freeness of judgment or soundness of reason should ever fancy such a thing but having spoken of this in my Preface I will say no more of it here From these few places to omit several others it is abundantly evident that that truely infallible Moderator even the Spirit of God himself has decided the controversie concerning the Idolatry of the Church of Rome and has declared them guilty of that crime and the Protestants guiltless of any crime of Schism in leaving the Communion of that Church Which is a thing seriously to be considered by all the Potentates of Christendom that they may not listen to the voice of the blood-thirsty Iezabel when she shall solicite the Kings of the Earth to the persecution of the Servants of God and Christ because they cannot bow down to stocks and stones with her nor submit to any other of her points of Idolatry Now for any invidious cavils against this firm Protestant Exposition of the Apocalypse I hope Reader thou wilt set as little by them as I do my self For it may be it will be thought by some an high piece of Rudeness and Incivility in that this Protestant Exposition of the seven heads of the Beast makes all the Emperours since the Apostasie of the Church into Idolatry to be part of the seventh head which is one of the heads of Blasphemy though otherwise never so noble and vertuous And the like cavils may be raised touching the Popes of Rome though they be never so Learned and Pious that they will make part of the two Horned Beast that has the Horns of a Lamb but the voice of a Dragon And I must confess the same may be alledged against making those six forms of Pagan Government Kings Consuls Dictators Decemviri Triumviri and Emperours six heads of Blasphemy When amongst the Emperours it is well known what an excellent example of vertue Marcus Antoninus was and that Tully a Roman Consul for Wit Vertue and Eloquence was the glory of the Roman Empire But I can briefly answer for my self that I never since I understood Tully and Marcus Antoninus to be part of those two heads of Blasphemy had in the least the more diminishing thoughts of their Vertues and Perfections I had observed in them before For I knew before they were Pagan Idolaters and that it was the privilege of their nature to bear up so stoutly against the disadvantages of their Religion they were born under And there is the same reason of excellent Emperors and other Princes of the Pontifician Religion The profession of an Idolatrous Religion ought not to derogate from their natural or acquired perfections only all good men will heartily and solicitously wish that their souls were as safe as their personal reputation And I charitably judge of them of the Roman Church who do not stick to call all Protestant Kings and Princes be they never so great or never so good Hereticks and by the punishment they allot to those they call so any one may judge what wretches and vile persons they deem them that they intend notwithstanding no derogation thereby to their personal worth or vertue But here is the great difference that we call them nothing but what the Scripture calls them but they nickname others against all reason and Scripture adding to false and bitter words unjust and barbarous persecutions And what we have said concerning Emperours and Kings the same is to be said of the Popes of Rome No Popes personal perfections and vertues are touched but the Idolatrous and Antichristian constitution and frame of things such as every Pope is to succeed into and which make a Pope a Pope But as for my interpreting the two Horns of the Beast of the Episcopal Mitre that no Protestant Bishop take exceptions the interpretation is not mine but Iosephus Acosta's as Cornelius à Lapide cites him De Tempor Noviss Lib. 2. c. 17. Duo cornua Episcopalis putà Mitrae sive Infulae haec enim est bicornis insigne sunt Videtur ergo quòd hic Pseudopropheta erit Episcopus quispiam Apostata simulator religionis Ecclesiastici honoris proditor qui draconis venenum suis sermonibus populo propinabit So near to the mark is the Interpretation of this Romanist But in the mean time the making the two Horns of the Mitre the two Horns of the Lamb Lamb always signifying in the Apocalypse either Christ himself or his true Church it
the face of the Earth Grace he unto you and peace all favour happiness and prosperity From him which is and which was and which is to come from the Eternal Jehovah who graspeth all past present and to come in the eternity of his Wisdom and Power And from the seven spirits which are before his throne And from all his holy Angels that are assisting at his Throne and in a readiness to be sent upon messages and to minister for the good of his people 5. And from Iesus Christ who is the faithful Witness and the first-begotten of the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth From Jesus Christ that faithful Witness of the Will of his Father when he was upon Earth and the first-begotten of the dead the first-fruits of them that slept to whom is given the right of all the Kingdoms of the Earth to be Prince over them all and to rule them in Righteousness and Peace To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood That so loved us that he laid down his life for us for a propitiation for our sins and to wash us from all the silth thereof through sincere repentance and mortification of our lusts out of a due and gratefull return of love to him that died for us 6. And hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father namely by this victory over our corruptions through faith in him to offer spiritual sacrifices of Prayers and Thanksgiving with an utter resignation of our selves to the will of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. To him be glory and Dominion for ever and for ever Amen 7. Behold he cometh in the clouds so vast a prospect have the prophecies of this Book and will judge the whole world at the last day And every eye shall see him and they also that pierced him either in his own person or wounded him and killed him in the persecution and murdering of his living members And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him namely all those that have thus outragiously sinned against him Even so Amen This is a certain truth let scoffers and unbelievers say and imagine what they please 8. And that this may not seem strange that his Providence and Power reaches so far as to the very last there is presently added I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the Ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty whose administration therefore of Affairs and the presence of his Power is palpably to be felt and plainly to be discerned from the beginning of the Church to the end of the world He is the Almighty grasping all things in the hand of his All-comprehending Providence 9. I Iohn who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Iesus Christ both which he hath bequeathed to his faithfull followers Was in the Isle that is called Patmos one of the Cyclades so called in the Aegean Sea for the word of God and for the testimony of Iesus Christ thither banished for the preaching the Word of God and bearing witness to the Truths of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus 10. And it came to pass in this Island that I was in the spirit on the Lords day actuated and impressed upon in my inward man my mind being vacant from this earthly body and external senses and wholly seised by this Divine and Angelical Power which caused in it the following Visions and Prophetical Impressions but as lively and clear as any objects to the outward or corporeal senses And when I was thus in the Spirit and had as it were left the body in this ecstasie I heard behind me a great voice as of a Trumpet 11. Saying I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last and shall declare unto thee such things as concern the Church continuedly from the first beginning thereof to the end of the world And what therefore thou seest write in a Book and send it unto the Seven Churches which are in Asia unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna and unto Pergamus and unto Thyatira and unto Sardis and Philadelphia and unto Laodicea that is to say send it to the truly Catholick and Apostolick Church dispread upon the face of the Earth and divided into seven successions unto the Ephesine succession and unto the Smyrnean succession and unto the Pergamenian succession and unto the Thyatirian succession and unto the Sardian succession and unto the Philadelphian succession and unto the Laodicean succession Which seven successions one after another fill up the whole time of the Church Universal from the beginning thereof to the end of the world 12. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me to see who it was that spake thus to me And being turned I saw seven golden Candle-sticks 13. And in the midst of the seven golden Candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man the Representation namely of Christ as he is also one with his Church For we are Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones They two shall be one flesh This is a great Mystery saith the Apostle but I speak of Christ and his Church Cloathed with a garment down to the foot and girt about the pops with a golden girdle in token that he is our High Priest this habit alluding to the High Priests Vestments 14. His head and his hairs were white like wool as white as snow for the greater venerableness of this High Priests person and in token he is that Christ that the Prophet calls Councellour the Mighty God the Everlasting Father For these are the symbols of his Wisdom and Paternal Authority And his eyes were as a flame of fire to signifie the penetrancy of his Providence and spirit of discerning both in himself and in his Church 15. And his feet like unto fine brass as if they burned in a furnace which shews the stability and purity of his wayes in himself and the constancy of his Church in the furnace of affliction and fiery tryals And his voice as the sound of many waters Which plainly discovers that Christ is here represented in union with his Church Waters signifying a Multitude in the prophetick stile as most certainly they do 16. And he had in his right hand seven stars The seven stars according to his own Interpretation are the seven Angels of the seven successions of the Church whom he bears up sustains and strengthens throughout all Ages And out of his mouth went a hard two-edged sword a Symbol of Christ as he is the Living Word of God quick and powerfull and sharper than any two-edged sword And denotes also the powerfull Word of the Gospel preached by the Living Members of his Church And his countenance was as the Sun that shineth in his strength This is spoke in reference to him as he is called the Sun of Righteousness or in reference to
So that the meaning in short is this That no sooner shall they begin to perform their office of witnessing to the Truth but they shall be assaulted suppressed kept out of power and politically killed as their Resurrection also is Political as you shall hear anon 8. And their dead bodies shall lye in the stréet of the great City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified that is to say These Witnesses as to any Political power and life being dead karcasses as it is said of the people of the Jews in a political sense shall these dry bones live shall be in being still though in this Political death in the large Jurisdiction of that great City which is spiritually or mystically called Sodom and Aegypt and the City where our Lord was crucified that is Ierusalem that killeth the Prophets that far extended Idolatrous Church that for their uncleannesses upon their pretense of vowed Celibate is here called Sodom Aegypt for the slavery they keep the people of God in which agrees well with the plagues of Aegypt abovementioned and the Old Ierusalem for persecuting the true Prophets and Servants of God that is the true professors of the Apostolick Christianity 9. And they of the People and Kindreds and Tongues and Nations shall sée their dead bodies thus devoid of all Political life and power thrée days and an half that is for three Times and an half Day signifying the same that Time in some cases and here it is said Three dayes and an half for decorum sake that in the out-side of the letter they may not seem to prophesie and be dead at the same time nor lye too long unburied or unrevived But these three times and an half or a time and times and half a time is the same that three years and an half prophetically understood or 1260 years which is the time of the Political death of these Witnesses and of their prophecying in sackcloth And whereas it is said And shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves that implies that they are kept safe in being though kept out of all Power and so politically dead 10. And they that dwell on the Earth shall rejoyce over them and make merry that is they whose hearts and minds dwell upon earthly things these will rejoyce when the two Witnesses are slain their free rebukes out of the Word of God being very disquieting and tormenting to these worldly and carnally minded men And they shall send gifts one to another and more jollily and freely congratulate one another the enjoyment of their Honours and Church-preferments shared amongst them because these two Prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth but could now do so no more they being put out of place and power These two true and faithful Prophets are slain in this sense who tormented them whose minds were set upon the Earth that is savoured nothing but earthly things 11. And after thrée dayes and an half that is after a time and times and half a time was now currant that is in the last Semitime the spirit of life from God entered into them that is Divine Providence so brought it about that they began to have some Political Power and Favour and Interest with the Great Ones And they stood upon their feet they stood on their own legs and they were countenanced and supported even for the very profession sake of the pure and Apostolick Faith in opposition to that Paganochristianity and new-coined Idolatry that had got into the Church and great fear fell upon them which saw them suspecting what might be the issue thereof 12. And they heard a great voice from Heaven saying unto them Come up hither There was a powerfull command from the Political Heaven in which Political Suns and Moons and Stars Kings Princes and Governours shine there was I say an express and effectual Command from these Higher Powers that the more pure and Apostolick Religion should be established and that Idolatrous and Paganochristian superstition that so long domineering and persecutive Papal Hierarchy should be abolished and the long persecuted profession of the Apostolick Faith and Practice be advanced to the highest degrees and dignities whether Ecclesiastical or Civil For it is said And they ascended up to Heaven in a cloud Their riding thus in a cloud is an emblem of rising into Honour and Power and that they were to be employed in the highest offices and places whether in Church or State And their enemies beheld them and you may be sure with a malicious and envious eye 13. And the same hour was there a great earthquake A mighty change and commotion in affairs And the tenth part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the City fell that is Tithes the holy Revenue of the City that Papal Hierarchy or Idolatrous Roman Clergy fell was shaken off from them and as to their any longer enjoying of them lost And in this earthquake were slain seven thousand names of men that is Politically slain as the Witnesses resurrection to life is Political But neither seven nor thousand signifie here Arithmetically but Symbolically And they are called Names of men rather than Men denoting that they are Titles Dignities Offices or Orders of Men belonging to the State of Christendome under the seventh head of the Beast which Apoc. cap. 17. is an Idolatrous Head and Antichristian and therefore shews their Nature to be Idolatrous and Antichristian And they are said to be slain as ceasing to be in that Power they were before But this seven is multiplyed into a thousand to show what a solid overthrow this Hierarchy had and for adorning the outside of the Vision And the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of Heaven When so great a part of the Roman Hierarchy had fallen in the late blessed Reformation it is no wonder if the rest of that party were affrighted and surprized they sitting before as a Queen in the Thyatirian Interval which thought she should find no sorrow But now they could not but acknowledge the hand of God was upon them and understand that the God of Heaven or the most high God ruleth in the Kingdoms of men 14. The second Wo is past viz. In the resurrection of the Witnesses or the late blessed Reformation And that general Impenitency in this Western part of the Empire is now expired with this second Wo so many parts thereof ceasing to worship Demons and Idols of Gold and Silver c. And here likewise the Thyatirian succession expires and Iezebel the false Prophetess the Roman Hierarchy is no longer permitted to seduce the people to commit fornication and eat things sacrificed to Idols and that promise to the Church in Thyatira is fulfilled He that overcometh and keepeth my works to the end to him will I give Power over the Nations or Gentiles those that had trod down the outward Court to the latter part of the last semitime of the seven which
bring the Glory and Honour of the Nations into it The best Spirits and the most Noble and Considerable Persons of all Nations will flow in to them and be proselyted by them be admitted Citizens of the New Ierusalem and Members of this truly Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church of Christ. 27. But for so may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie there shall in no wise enter into it * any thing any person that defileth or is of a scandalous conversation neither whatsoever whosoever worketh abomination that is committeth Idolatry though the Whore of Babylon would admit none but such or maketh a lye No Legend-mongers nor obtruders of absurd and impossible Doctrines such as the Artificers of Babylon forged for filthy lucre-sake no such may be admitted to come into this City whose Gates are pure Pearl But they only who are written in the Lambs Book of Life as breathing after a Life sutable to his But the description of this Glorious City is not yet finished it reaches further into the five first Verses of the following Chapter NOTES CHAPTER XXI Vers. 1. By a Lemmatosynechia as it is called c. Lemmatosynechia is an Apocalyptick Scheme or Figure whereby as the word signifies the Cortex or outward Letter of the Text is held together or continued in such sort as if there were a real connexion and dependance of one part upon the other when as in the inward sense there is no such matter An elegant instance of this is to be found Chap. 16. vers 18 19. where upon the mention of the great Earthquake it is presently said And the great City was divided in three parts as if that Division had been a diruption caused by that Earthquake when as what is meant by that great City were three distinct parties before A like example of this figure is also Chap. 11. vers 7 8 9. where the two Witnesses are said to be slain as it were at the ending of their witnessing and their dead bodies to lye three dayes and an half unburied where the three dayes and an half are set at the end of the One thousand two hundred and sixty dayes as if they were the latter end of them when as they in truth commence as high as the One thousand two hundred and sixty dayes and the same time with them But the Parable runs smooth in the outward Cortex as if they were distinct and the death of the Witnesses for three dayes and an half together occasioned by their One thousand two hundred and sixty dayes prophesying See also Chap. 19. vers 5. But as eximious as any is this present example of a Lemmatosynechia the mention of a New Heaven and a New Earth being immediately made upon the burning of this Natural Earth Which therefore in the Cortex implyes that the destroying of that gave occasion of making a New Heaven and a New Earth when as they are not Natural but Political as both Grotius and Doctor Hammond acknowledge and the Text will extort it from any one that reads this twenty first Chapter considerately Vers. 27. Any thing any person c. It is usual with S t John to put the Neuter Gender for the Masculine as Joh. 6. vers 36 38 40. See Grotius upon the place CHAPTER XXII 1. AND he shewed me a pure River of Water of Life clear as crystal proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb What this River may signifie that in Amos may be a Key to Let Iudgement run down as water and Righteousnesse as a mighty stream Again touching the uttering of Divine and Holy Doctrines it is said of God Ecclesiastic 24.25 He filleth all things with his Wisdom as Phison and as Tigris in the time of the new fruits He maketh the Vnderstanding to abound like Euphrates and as Jordan in the time of Harvest c. Wherefore this River of water of Life from the Throne of God is the faithfull and effectual Administration of Justice and pouring forth Holy and Wholesom Doctrines and Monitions in the demonstration of the Spirit by them that are in highest Authority in this City of God which Authority is understood by the Throne of God and of the Lamb who in right of his Father is Supreme Governour over all and the immediate actuator of his Vicegerents 2. In the midst of the street of it that is in the midst of the Forum of the City or broad open place where their meetings were to serve God consult of their Affairs and administer Justice And of either side of the River which ran from thence through the City was there the tree of Life that is Trees of Life else how could they be in rowes on this side and that side the River By which Trees according to the Prophetick stile must be understood Men and that not of the meaner sort but Grandees in Church and State And being they are called Trees of Life it intimates a state quite contrary to that of the wicked Iud. 12. Trees whose fruit withereth without fruit twice dead c. beside that it signifies that the Life of the Lamb is in them Which bare twelve manner of fruits and all worthy the profession of the pure Apostolick Faith and yielded her fruit every month of the year So uncessant are they in the bringing forth the fruits of true Faith which are good Works Here seems to be an allusion to the description of the Righteous Man Psalm 1. He shall be as a Tree planted by the Rivers side c. And of these happy times of the Messias in the expected Millennium is that Psalm 72.7 understood In his dayes shall the Righteous flourish like a Palm Tree as it is elsewhere said or like a Cedar in Lebanon The sense therefore is That by the free current of Justice and the countenancing pure Doctrine from the Higher Powers which the Throne of God intimates Holy and Good Men both in Church and State will be in Authority and Esteem to manage the Affairs of Christ's Kingdom obliging all unto them by their Christian Goodness and Equity which is the constant Fruit which they bear And the leaves of the Tree were for the healing of the Nations that is the People of those several Nations which are then brought under the Empire of Christ Which is an insinuation of the gentle but effectual Healing Discipline which will be in this Philadelphian Interval Those are the leaves of these Trees to heal the sores of the People by gently drawing away the corruption whatever may be remaining in them 3. And there shall be no more curse no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No more furious Papal Anathema's or Excommunications to depose Kings and Princes and to involve the Christian World in blood But the Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it that is Christ shall be in it The meek Empire of the Lamb of God shall obtain after the Tyranny of the bloody Antichrist or two-horned Beast who wore the
Earth with her cup of Fornication the Temple will be rebuilt and the Inner Court at Ierusalem and there will then appear two inspired Witnesses doing such Miracles as Moses and Elias did and after three years and an half they will be slain by the Scarlet Beast and their dead bodies lye three days and a half in the open streets of Ierusalem and at the half days end they will be revived again stand upon their feet and ascend visibly in a cloud to Heaven their enemies beholding them Chap. 11. The Jews also before that time shall be converted to Christianity in despight of the Devil who will persecute them so that part of them will fly into the wilderness and the Devil send a great flood of water after them Chap. 12. There will also appear before the time of the said Whore a two-horned beast like a Lamb and that speaks like a Dragon who besides that he will do strange miracles as being a Magician or Witch and make a molten Image to the ten-horned Beast which shall breath and speak he will cause also his subjects to be marked in their right hands or in their foreheads with the capital or Acrostick letters of his name and the letters of that mark shall contain the value of 25. the root of 666. Chap. 13. And when this Queen of Babylon shall be in being that she may sit secure and at ease like a Queen and never dream of any sorrow she is not concerned in any one of the Vials but the seventh which are all litterally to be understood nor any of the Vials to be poured out till there be such a slaughter of the people of the Beast in Iudaea without Ierusalem that the blood shall reach even to the horses bridles in height for the space of a thousand six hundred furlongs in length Chap. 14. v. 20. and Chap. 15. So tender and dear a friend does this R. H. approve himself to this Whore of Babylon if she be already in being to shelter her thus from all suspicion from all peril of both dammage and disgrace This it is to have a friend in a corner to help at a dead lift And when both her own proper Champions and Grotius himself fails to take up the buckler so dexterously for her But certainly you will say It is either a piece of madness or a piece of Drollery in him to comment in this sort on the Apocalypse Whether it be a piece of Drollery in him to jear and insult over the desperateness of the Romish cause as to this point that have no safer Sanctuary at last than this to betake themselves to to free themselves from that grand accusation of Idolatry and Murder that is so plainly cast upon them by the true and genuine meaning of the Apocalypse he himself best knows But if he be mad he pretends cum ratione insanire he offering his reasons for all those extravagant positions he goes upon The first whereof is That the scene of the affairs of the Apocalypse is not in Europe but in Asia The second That the Visions are to be fulfilled not in a Mystical but in a bare Litteral sense The third That the Visions are to be fulfilled in such order as they lye in the Apocalypse The fourth and last is That none of the Visions of the Sealed Book nor Opened Book are yet fulfilled Which is a necessary Consectary from the second and third position We shall now examine the reasons he builds these Positions upon so many and so far as is requisite I. The reasons that he alledges for his first Position occurr Disp. 1. Quest. 3. And the chief of them are these two 1. The Prophecies saith he were written unto Asia and not unto Europe Rev. 1. vers 4. Iohn to the seven Churches in Asia and vers 11. What thou seest write in a Book and send it to the Seven Churches in Asia 2. His second argument is taken from Chap. 22. vers 16. I Iesus have sent mine Angel to testify unto you these things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning the Churches saith he and Grotius himself expounds it ecclesiarum bono in the behalf or for the good of the Churches And saith R. H. what is meant by the Chuches but the Churches of Asia Rev. 1. vers 4. And therefore Asia is the scene of the Visions of the Apocalypse I confess comparing the citations of the first Chapter with that of the last and which to me is highly probable allowing that the same Churches are meant in both Chapters these two arguments of his make a fair show But those that expound the Vision of the Seven Churches litterally will deny that the same Churches are understood in the last Chapter but that that passage signifies indefinitely all or any of the Christian Churches for whose use this Book of Prophecies was writ But I will easily allow R. H. this liberty to expound it of the same Churches in my Prophetical sense and of the same Churches of Asia too in the Cabbalistical sense of that word which signifies this lower region of the world or terrestrial Globe containing not only Asia but Europe and Africk and America too if need were Which spoils the conceit of his making Asia only in the usual sense the scene of the Apocalyptick Visions though his conceit in the mean time gives countenance to my understanding the Churches Chap. 22. to be the very Churches in Asia in my sense and to my making the Epistles to the Seven Churches to be a Prophecy II. The reasons for his second Position the principal of them are these 1. A Revelation cannot be a Mystery nor a Mystery a Revelation They are as contrary each to other saith he as light is to darkness Wherefore the whole Book of the Apocalypse being a Revelation it cannot be a Mystery or be expounded in a Mystical sense but only in a litteral unless where the Spirit of God himself tells us it is a Mystery and renders to us the mystical sense of the Letter To this effect is his first argument Disp. 1. Quest. 4. and Disp. 11. Quest. 2. 2. The second Where things are mystically to be understod they are afterwards interpreted in the Apocalypse or in other Texts of Scripture which speak of the same or the like matter As Rev. Chap. 1. vers 20. Rev. Chap. 17. vers 7 8 9. c. Dan. Chap. 7. vers 17 23 24. Wherefore when there is no such interpretation the Text is litterally to be understood Ibid. 3. His third is No Scripture is mystically to be understood without evident necessity but there is no necessity much less any evident necessity of understanding those things in a mystical sense which himself has interpreted in a litteral Wherefore the things above mentioned and all the rest where the Spirit or Angel does not interpret them to a mystical sense ought to be understood in a litteral Ibid. 4. The fourth and last This mystical way of interpreting
are occurr we are carefully to distinguish when they signify the nature of a thing and when existence As when it is said And there are Seven Kings it does not signify the present existence of them for it were a contradiction to what follows but that there are seven several kinds of Governours that appertain to the Roman State or Empire whereby its nature or condition is illustrated as to this point but nothing yet is defined touching their present Existence or Non-existence But when it follows Five are faln and one is is here plainly signifies existence and because it is in the present Tense present existence namely at the time he was to whom it was spoken And so it is vers 18. And the Woman which thou sawest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that great City which raigneth There 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put together signify present existence in this Interpretation of the Angel there being no indication to the contrary but rather a forcible urging thereunto by that repeated demonstrative Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which the full sense in English cannot be otherwise rendred than thus that great City that City that raigneth c. Which plainly denotes a known City then existent and pointed to But I cannot insist on these things I hasten to the last objection 5. To which I briefly answer That the more true those particulars are the more they confirm my Mystical Interpretation of the Whore of Babylon which Chap. 18. I interpret not of Rome against which Interpretation all these Particulars run but of the Roman Hierarchie Whom I understand also by Babylon Chap. 17. So that all this hailshot flyes quite over my head and touches not an hair thereof We having thus brightened this Key and smoothed it as it were and freed it from all those flaws and rust that R. H. phansied to stick to it we shall now show what an excellent Key it is for the unlocking the meaning of the Sealed and Opened Book-Prophecies For as that Key of the Prophecy of the Seven Churches by taking notice only of the obvious order of the Churches as they are set down and of the meaning of the Paronomastical allusions of the names of them and of the persons concerned in them and applying them to History gives the assured sense of that Prophecy So by this present Key of the Prophecies of the Opened and Sealed Book taking notice of the order into which the Visions of these Prophecies are cast by vertue of the Synchronisms which I have maintained to be true we are enabled to apply every Vision to its proper time in History as there by Paronomastical allusions so here by the knowledge of the Prophetical Iconismes And so with judgment to discern what events answer such and such Visions And now more fully and orderly to illustrate the admirable use of this Key that is of the Interpretation of the Angel Chap. 17. vers 8. First we may observe how it assuring us that the Beast that was and is not and yet is is the Roman Empire divided into many Kingdoms and tainted again with new Paganlike Superstitions and Idolatries which his very description also makes good And that the Paganochristian head of this Empire should shortly succeed the Seventh King the purely Christian Caesars how it is manifest I say from hence that this Beast with the Whore riding him began many hundred years ago even as soon as the Empire was dividing into many Kingdoms and apostatizing into a Paganochristian kind of Idolatry which was about four hundred and odd years after Christ. Now let us see what further comes of this Secondly By carefully comparing the ten-horned Beast Chap. 13. with the ten-horned Beast Chap. 17. and the two-horned Beast with the Whore in this Chapter we shall find that the two Beasts be one and the same Beast and that the two-horned Beast and the Whore denote the same thing This I have demonstrated in my Synopsis Prophetica Book 1. Chap. 10. by no less than eighteen agreements betwixt the two ten-horned Beasts and by nine agreements betwixt the two-horned Beast and the Whore So that no man that is in his wits can be so sceptical as not to be convinced of it But Thirdly Of the ten-horned Beast Chap. 13. it is said vers 5. That power was given unto him to continue forty two months I demand here of R. H. has the Roman Empire since the time of its being divided into many Kingdoms continued but forty two months or three years and an half Is this a likely measure of time for the continuance of an Empire Nay is it not plain that this divided Roman Empire thus apostatizing and apostatized more and more into a Paganlike Idolatry had continued so near forty two Prophetical Months that is months of years viz. 1260. years till in the last Semitime of these 1260. years the Reformation broke out which was the expiration of the Entireness of the raign of the Beast But in the mean time by vertue of this Key of the Angel it is exceeding evident that the forty two months are not to be understood litterally but of Prophetical Months forty two whereof make 1260. years And consequently that all the Visions that Synchronize with this ten-horned Beast have the same extent of duration As the Two-horned Beast The Whore The Woman in the wilderness The Sealed company of Virgins The Outer Court troden down by the Gentiles The two Witnesses mourning in Sackcloath and The dead bodies of the witnesses lying three days and an half in the street of the great City For I conceive that as the Womans abode in the wilderness is first denoted by 1260. days and after in the same Chapter by a Time and Times and half a Time so the continuance of the sad condition of the Witnesses is first set down by 1260. days but after by three days and an half to answer to a Time and Times and half a Time which is three Times and an half And that three Times and an half are signified by three days and an half on purpose to teach us to reckon the duration of all these Synchronals not by the curiosity of a Prophetical month much less of a Prophetical day but as it is originally in Daniel by semidays or half-days after the beginning of the expiration of the seventh of which Half-days the Witnesses were to rise as they did But this by the bye but very worthy the noting All these Synchronals I say of the Prophecy of the Opened Book are necessarily to be measured by Prophetical Semitimes that is the duration of every one of them is to be about seven Semitimes a Semitime consisting of one hundred and eighty years And so must also those two Synchronals of the Sealed Book-Prophecy The six first Trumpets and the one hundred forty four thousand sealed Servants of God they being synchronal to these Fourthly from whence it will further follow that
neither the one hundred forty four thousand sealed Ones are the same individual persons continuing all the space of time near one thousand two hundred and sixty years nor the Two-horned Beast some one particular Witch or Magician nor the Two Witnesses two particular persons as R. H. with his litteral sense would have all these expounded but all of them successions of such and such Bodies or Companies of Men for such a space of time together And before we go any further let us observe of those Synchronals we have noted hitherto what either correspondent opposition or else close cognation or identity they have one with another which is a further marvellous confirmation of their Synchronizing That the Two-horned Beast and the Whore signifie one and the same thing and that the Ten-horned Beast Chap. 13. and the Ten-horned Beast Chap. 17. are one and the same Beast I have noted already and the cognation of the one two with the other two is apparent the former being the Ecclesiastical part of the Roman Empire and more particularly the Roman Hierarchy as appears by the Name and Number of the Two-horned Beast and the Seven Hills the seat of the Whore for which Rome is most remarkable as also that it is the City that ruled over the Kings of the Earth in S t Iohn's time according to the Interpretation of the Angel and the latter the Secular part of the Roman Empire debauched chiefly by the Roman Hierarchy with gross Pagan-like Superstition and Idolatry And the Secular and Ecclesiastick part together thus Paganizing in a new Mode are the Gentiles that tread under foot the Holy City or Outer Court of the Temple till the seventh Semitime of the forty two Prophetical months that is till the Rising of the Witnesses And these are the Synchronals of the debauched part of the Roman Empire for this time But the Apostolick Church never failed notwithstanding in this Apostasie This sincere part therefore that run in correspondent opposition to the former are set out by The Woman viz. crowned with twelve Stars to denote her Apostolicalness though now in the Wilderness The two Witnesses prophesying in Sackcloth The Servants of God sealed in their foreheads The bodies of the Witnesses lying dead three dayes and an half and unburied which showes that the Apostolick Christians though in being could not be a Living Body Politick that is invested with Open Power and Rule during the seven half-dayes or semitimes of the Beast till they were in the seventh Semitime expiring As the two mournful Witnesses could only protest and witness against the cruel Idolatrous proceedings of the Beast and denounce the judgements of God against them but proceed no further For that the three dayes and an half of their bodies lying unburied is the same with the one thousand two hundred and sixty dayes of their mournful Prophecy is plain from hence that else no war was made against them nor they either Politically or Naturally slain till the last three years and an half of their prophesying whenas they were Politically slain all the while and some hundred thousands of them in a Natural sense slain at times some by the sword others by fire and faggot c. Which is a demonstration that the three dayes and an half must be understood in the same sense that three times and an half or one thousand two hundred and sixty dayes The Virgin Company also by their avowed and resolved Virginity was a perpetual reproach to the Whore of Babylon and the one hundred forty four thousand marked with the Lambs Name and the name of his Father in their forehead are in an apparent opposition to the marked slaves of the two-horned Beast And this being the state of the Roman Empire for about something more than four hundred years after Christ till the seventh Semitime was expiring it is no wonder that the Judgements of God thundered upon them under the sounding of the six first Trumpets and that at the beginning of their sounding one hundred forty four thousand Servants of God are marked to save them both from these Judgements and also from the debauchings of the Two-horned Beast or Whore of Babylon which signifies that God would preserve to himself a pure Apostolick Church notwithstanding all the Calamities Persecutions and gross Superstitions and Idolatries raging in the Empire And conformable to the account of this period of time are the Pergamenian and Thyatirian Intervals For during eight parts of nine of the Pergamenian Interval and all the Thyatirian was this Pagan-like Superstitious and Idolatrous State of the Church and there is express mention of the Idolothyta in both those Intervals but in none else and the persecuting the Pure Christians by the sword in one and by fire and faggot in the other is plainly made out in our Exposition So admirably do the Visions correspond belonging to this Time and State of the Roman Empire which the Angels Interpretation hath pitched upon So that there is all the assuredness of the truth of the thing hitherto that Humane Reason can desire and that the middle Synchronals are to be expounded in such a sense as I have expounded them in my Exposition of the Apocalypse But let us now proceed and see how the Antemedial Synchronals will sute with the Times which they necessarily run into for that they all precede these middle Synchronals and so Synchronize one with another has been plainly proved in my Defence of M r Mede which Antemedial Synchronals are The six first Seals immediately preceding the six first Trumpets The Inner Court which is the Court of the Temple and the Altar symmetral or commensurate The Woman clothed with the Sun and crowned with twelve Stars not yet gone into the Wilderness and The fight of Michael with the Dragon while this Woman is in travail These are the Antemedial Synchronals and therefore all of them necessarily run into the Primitive Times of the Church before its Apostasie and reach up to its very first beginning as soon as the Church assisted by the promised aids of Christ after his ascending to his Father began to propagate his Kingdom There was the beginning of the parturient state of the Woman whose throes were great and sharp till Constantines Time and the Dragon spued out a flood after her while she was making into the Wilderness that flood of Contention about the Arrian Points Here I will appeal to R. H. or any man else living what a fit resemblance the sharp throes of the Woman is of those fierce resistances and cruel persecutions the Church of Christ found in preaching his Gospel and in their endeavouring to enlarge his Kingdom And how naturally the conflict betwixt Christianity and the Old Roman Paganism is expressed by the Fight of Michael with the Seven-headed Dragon And how significative the Inner-Court that is said to be measured and allowed but the Outer rejected as incommensurable is of the first Ages of the Church not