Mr. Mede's Interpretation of the Rider of the white Horse with a bow in his hand to whom a Crown was given the Imperial Crown no doubt For the aim of his War was to turn the Roman Empire Christian which was effected under the sixth Seal Which Rider of the white Horse Mr. Mede understands of Christ. Wherefore when Christ upon his powring down the Holy Ghost had fitted his chief Commanders in this Evangelical warfare to carry on the design of converting the Empire to Christianity why should not he be this noble Heros on the white Horse not F. Vespasianus nor Titus his Son who sack'd Ierusalem thus making the Prophecy to commence forty years later than it should The warfare therefore of this Conqueror is both Spiritual or Evangelical and Political that is to say the external guidance of affairs as his moving Vespasian to his Wars against the Iews and giving him that success is in order to the propagation of the Gospel through the Empire And it is well known that Iulian to hinder the growth of the Gospel encouraged the Iews to rebuild their Temple But this noble Heros on the white Horse by his invisible Powers miraculously defeated the design as you may see in Ammianus Marcellinus The stretching his going forth conquering and to conquer to the seven Trumpets and Vials seems to me a forcing of the Text beyond its proper intention needless and impertinent Christ was so far from a conquering condition under the Trumpets that his two great Enemies Mahomet and Antichrist had in a manner over-run his Kingdom in those times Vers. 8. Fourth part is not here used because the destruction did not reach over all the Empire for some of the Trumpets which reached but part of the Empire are said to fall upon the third part of the Earth c. because a third part is used as a Symbol of the Empire Ans. But where is a fourth part used for a Symbol of the Empire Wherefore it is plain there is not the like Reason in both And a fourth part of the Earth being less than a third part of the Earth it is plain that a portion less than the whole Empire is intimated thereby Vers. 12. The Civil Autority and not the Draconick Majesty is the Sun and the Priesthood is the Moon and the Draconick Majesty exercising its Autority in both is included in both Ans. This is dictated not proved If the Draconick Majesty influence by his Autority both the Priesthood and the Secular Magistracy there is then one Sun and two Moons For derived Autority is mutuatitious as the light of the Moon and that which derives it is as the light of the Sun innate and Original But the secular Moon is not considered in this Vision It lay upon the Remarker to prove it Vers. 14. The Heavens departing as a scroll signifies a dissolution of the Pagan Magistracy as well as of the Hierarchy and therefore it is said in the following verse The Kings of the Earth and great men and chief Captains c. called to the Rocks and Mountains c. Ans. The Kings of the Earth and great Men and chief Captains calling to the Rocks and Mountains c. does not signifie a dissolution of the Secular Magistracies but it sets out the fear of those great Men that would support by their Arms the Pagan Religion who though they perished some of them in the quarrel yet the constitution of the Empire as to Seculars continued still the same the same Orders and Offices Emperours Consuls c. Chap. 7. Introduction THE first six Trumpets cannot as the Introduction to this Chapter makes them be a vengeance on the Roman Empire for persecuting the Primitive Christians because it was destroy'd viz. The Western Empire which is here intended by the three first of them The fourth is upon Rome under the seventh Head viz. The Ostrogothian Kings the fifth and sixth do concern both the Greek Empire and the Ten-horned Beast under the eighth Head Also it is unagreeable with the making the Christian Emperours the seventh Head by reason of the Church being then Symmetral For it is unreasonable that the Empire being then in so regular a condition as is supposed should be punished for its former Irregularities But the Ostrogoths were indeed the seventh Head as will be afterward shewed Ans. If the Expositor had said all the six Trumpets were a vengeance on the Roman Empire for persecuting the Primitive Christians the Objection had been the more valid But he says onely In the time of the six Trumpets vengeance is taken c. And I think if the Western Empire was destroy'd by the three first of them vengeance is pretty well taken of the Empire And if the Greek Empire and Ten-horned Beast of which the Greek Empire is part be concerned in the fifth and sixth Trumpets vengeance is farther taken of that Empire that was the Murtherer of the Primitive Martyrs In which many of the Pagans remaining at first and the Empire degenerating so generally into new Paganick Superstitions and Idolatries it is no wonder these plagues of the six Trumpets should thus fall upon them But there are two farther mistakes in the Remarker The first is that the Church about the commencement of the Trumpets was Symmetral which is contrary to the Expositor's Hypothesis and when the Church became Asymmetral the Christian Emperours who followed the guidance of the Church in the same measure became Asymmetral also and were the Head of the Beast that was is not and yet is in that measure it had degenerated into that form The second is that it is unreasonable that God should punish the Empire while it was in so regular a condition For to omit how the marked or sealed company were safe and that there are several passages in History testifying thereto that which Mr. Mede has here noted is considerable Neque sera saith he Christianorum Imperatorum ibi rerum potiuntium pietas justitiae Dei intercedere debuit non magìs quà m Pietas Iosiae ut regnum Iudae sanguinis à Manasse effusi reum excidium à Deo decretum effugeret See 2 King 2.16 And the making the Ostrogoth Kings one head of the Beast how vain a conceit that is I shall note in its proper place Vers. 2. Christ is not called the East but the Day-spring c. And the naming him from a quarter of the Heavens is an improper Appellation though to name him from the light arising there is proper And the Angel's ascending from the East was because he came to seal those that were the Children of light faithfully keeping the doctrine of the Sun of righteousness and therefore did sutably to his office come from the Region of light Ans. There wants no farther answer to this Exception than what may be read in the Notes on this second verse When Christ is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here rendred the East a quarter of the World is not understood
but the light arising in that quarter Vers. 9. The Palm-bearing Multitude are not the Victors over the Beast but the Primitive Martyrs who slain under the Altar cryed for vengeance in the fifth Seat and being there comforted with white Robes given them and told that they should rest a little whilst their brethrens sufferings were accomplished that time being expired they in their white Robes come in Triumphant Acclamations entering into the happy state here described which is the Reward of their sufferings as the first Resurrection is the Reward for the Sufferers under the Beast But for the Victors over the Beast to be here signified is improbable both from the unseasonableness of it before the sounding of the Trumpets and the needlesness of it Because what is said here if meant of those Victors is more fully set forth after the sounding of the Trumpets Nor is there mention here of their advancement to Rule or of judgment being executed upon their Adversaries which are the chief burthen of those Songs and Acclamations after the seventh Trumpet Also here they are said to be without fault before the Throne of God and to serve him day and night in his Temple whereas of the Victors over the Beast in the New Ierusalem state it 's said the Throne of God and the Lamb is in it and I saw no Temple there The cry here also of salvation to our God v. 10. does answer to that loud voice in Heaven ch 12.10 Now is come salvation and strength c. Which seems to be uttered by an Angelical quire but is a rejoicing at the same salvation wrought by the Devil 's being cast out as is intended by this cry c. There 's also no coherence or connexion betwixt the sealed company and the Palm-bearers to make the sense here given allowable For the sealing is before the beginning of the Trumpets and the other not till the end of them And though the signification of the sealing may reach to the end of the Trumpets yet the coherence of all Prophecies being primarily in the Cortex or Schemes and Symbols and secondarily in the sense contained in them there being no such coherence here in the former neither can there be in the latter Ans. The making the Palm-bearing multitude the Souls of the Primitive Martyrs is a mere conceit and quiet out of the Rode of Prophetical Interpretation of the Apocalypse which insisteth not upon the Description of the State of Souls in Heaven but of the State of the Church on Earth That short hint touching the Souls of the Primitive Martyrs under the Altar that they should rest that is expect a little while and their bloud would be revenged and that in the mean time they were put in an happy condition signified by their white Robes is sufficient what more can be expected to be said of them But the description of the Palm-bearing company does not sute with separate Souls in Heaven but with the Inhabitants of the New Ierusalem on Earth as may appear to any unprejudiced Reader of the 15 16 and 17 verses of this Chapter The conceit is so extravagant that according to the Remarker instead of having but two Resurrections we shall have three So that instead of Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first Resurrection it should be said Blessed and holy is he that has part in the second Resurrection if there was a Resurrection before it answering to the first Resurrection of them that suffered under the Beast as this passage in the Remark implies And that the Victors over the Beast should be here intimated is neither unseasonable it being upon the Excursion of the time of the sealed and forearmed against the plagues of the six Trumpets Nor needless it being the Artifice of the Apocalypse to represent the same time and state of things more and less perfectly or fully and to supply in one Vision what was omitted in another So that it is no wonder that this Vision notes onely their Peace Holiness and Security from Persecution Consider the Expositor's Explication of those verses And for their serving God day and night in his Temple that is no other Temple than that in the New Ierusalem of which it is said The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb is the Temple thereof And certainly the Cry of Salvation may well be as loud among the Victors over the Beast upon the Rising of the Witnesses and the seventh Vial as on the defeat of Paganism in Constantine's time And as for the Sealing though it be declared before the sounding of the Trumpets yet the nature of the thing does necessarily imply that it is performed all along the succession of the Church through the first six Trumpets And lastly the coherence of all Prophecy is primarily and radically in the things predicted But the coherence of the Cortex is a slippery hold it being framed and fitted very often merely for external ornament and embellishing This is so obvious and frequent in the Apocalypse that it is needless to name any example Wherefore this sealing and sealed ones reaching to the end of the sixth Trumpet a mention of the Victors over the Beast the Witnesses rising at the Exit of the sixth Trumpet is seasonably and orderly placed and with all imaginable dueness of coherence which was the thing to be demonstrated Chap. 8. Vers. 8. SEA is not used here as signifying Three or Third and so being a character of the Roman Empire but signifies the universal dominion of the Earth as it does in Daniel's Vision of the four Beasts where the four Winds are said to strive upon the great Sea c. And the Roman Empire being reputed a third part of the then known dominions of the Earth it 's therefore called a third part of the Sea Ans. The Expositor does not here say that Sea signifies Three or Third but that it signifies the Terretories and Jurisdiction of Rome the Number Three or Third being the character of the Roman Empire But the ill pointing of the place made the Remarker mistake the sense and make so wise a Remark Vers. 12. The Sun signifies not the King onely but the Legislative Autority wherever it resides that being the Light whereby the affairs of all Dominions are guided and governed the Moon signifies those who have the Rule and administration of matters in Religion and the Stars the Grandees or chief Ministers in the Government Ans. The Remarker is of one mind but Achmetes and the Indian Persian and Aegyptian Onirocriticks of another who say the Sun does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 constantly and immutably signifie the King the Moon the next in power to him But that it signifies the Legislative Power in abstracto is the private fancy of the Remarker for which he has neither Reason nor Example And the same is to be said of the Moon 's signifying the Priesthood That it signifies next in Autority is warranted by the Interpretation of Ioseph's
Dream of the Sun and Moon and eleven Stars worshipping him where the Moon is interpreted his Mother though no Priest as the Sun his Father Chap. 9. Vers. 2. THE Sun darkned here is not the Gospel but the Autority or Legislative Power of those Dominions over-run by the Saracens and Religion but secondarily concerned as it suffers by the suffering of the Autority which upheld it And as the Sea denotes the many Dominions of the Earth so does the Sun here signifie the various Powers or Autorities that governed them Ans. That the Sun does not signifie Legislative power in abstracto but the highest person in Autority I have noted already And though one great Sea may signifie a comprehension of several distinct Kingdoms subject to tumultuate or rather War one against another as having no union under one Head yet the several Heads of these Kingdoms cannot so properly be represented by one Sun which naturally implies one Head over them all Wherefore being that the Saracens over-run so many Kingdoms and Principalities if this must be the darkning of them it would then have been said that the smoak of the Abyss darkned the Stars For when Multitudes of Kings and Princes are concerned together that have no dependence one of another they are then signified by Stars Whence the Red Dragon is said to have pulled down so many Stars with his tail that is to have subjected so many Kings and Princes to the Roman Empire Wherefore it is rashly pronounced That the Sun-shine of the Gospel of the Sun of righteousness is not meant by the Sun that is here said to be darkned whenas the smoak of the pit must be Mahometism And therefore in this passage Religion most certainly is related to and is the main concern of the whole Book of the Apocalypse and other things predicted merely in order to it viz. to the right worship of God through Jesus Christ. And therefore that sense which is easie and natural and tends that way is most assuredly the true sense of any passage of these Prophecies See the spiritual signification of Sun in the Expositor's Alphabet of Iconisms Chap. 10. Vers. 2. THE Ten-horned Beast did rise out of the Sea and two-horned Beast out of the Earth and our Saviour setting his right foot on the Sea and his left foot on the Earth does signifie here his coming down from Heaven to put down all Autority and power under his feet the Earthly Powers within his Kingdom being within the seventh Trumpet to be abolished and all things to become new by forming a new Heaven and a new Earth or establishing the Kingdom of Heaven upon Earth and so making the Kingdoms of the World become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Ans. This Remark is not much amiss saving that it lears toward that foul conceit that there will be no Monarchy nor Princes over their respective Principalities and Kingdoms where the Kingdom of Christ is set up whenas the twenty four crowned Elders do most certainly denote the pure Apostolick Christianity of those many Kings and Princes that will be contained within the Kingdom of Christ in the Millennium And setting one foot on the Sea and another on the Earth refers particularly to the vanquishing the ten-horned Beast that came out of the Sea ch 13. and the false Prophet or two-horned Beast that came out of the Earth v. 11. out of a Clay-pit for the Clay in Daniel signifies the Ecclesiastick regenerating party which two ch 19.20 are taken alive and cast into the lake of fire and brimstone Vers. 3. The sounding of the seventh Trumpet is plainly not at the time of the roaring of the mighty Angel and therefore cannot be branched into the seven Thunders For after his roaring and the seven Thunders uttering their voices thereon and the other matters after declared there is a Regress to begin a new Prophecy of the Contents of the opened Book and to bring the same down to the seventh Trumpet also that the affairs of the six Trumpets and the opened Book viz. during the time of the Antichristian and worldly Powers being connected as synchronizing the seventh Trumpet might close both together The seven Thunders therefore seem symbolically to signifie a preparation of the Christian party against the great day of God at the seventh Trumpet as the three unclean spirits like Frogs are of the Antichristian party That as the latter bestir themselves with miraculous deceits to excite the Princes of the Earth to battel so the former signifies a miraculous power of spirit that shall exert it self in many Christian Heroes whereby they shall become exciters and conductors of the Christian party to the same and hereunto shall also become Boanerges's thundring out such powerfull convictive testimonies against the abominations of their Enemies and such denunciations of God's judgments against them for the same as were not meet before that time to be uttered and therefore were to be sealed up c. Some such meaning seems to be signified in Micah ch 5. v. 5 6. Ans. The more clearly to decide this point let us consider that the Apocalypse consists of three Prophecies The Prophecy of the seven Churches The Prophecy of the sealed Book and the Prophecy of the opened Book And that as it less derogates from their perfection to be conceived each of them to reach from the beginning of the Church to the end of the World viz. of the affairs of this Earth so of the first of them I have proved the same as also shown that the second commenceth from the beginning of the Church and that it reaches to the end of the world is plain from hence The whole time of the Book consists but of seven Seals and some things of the book reach to the end of the world therefore the seventh Seal must reach to the end of the world And the seventh Seal being divided into seven Trumpets the seventh Trumpet must reach to the end of the world Wherefore it is plain that the Prophecy of the sealed Book reaches to the end of the world And if this Reasoning will not serve I will anon confirm it by the Oath of the Angel But in the mean time let us farther note that the sounding of each of these seven Trumpets and the Visum of each Trumpet do synchronize or are of equal extent begin and end together As for example The Visum of the sixth Trumpet which contains the over-running of the Turks and the general Impenitency of the Western Christian World for their Idolatry c. c. 9.20 The sixth Trumpet I say is conceived to sound all the while this Visum continues Now the seventh Trumpet belonging to the Prophecy of the sealed Book it was before we come to the Prophecy of the opened Book immediately to succeed the sixth and to sound all the time its Visum is exhibited But it is manifest the roaring of the Angel immediately succeeds the sounding of the sixth Trumpet wherefore
Bloud of the Lamb so as to be exalted to the Heavenly station of ruling by the Man-child being caught up unto God and his Throne c. and obtained sentence against their Adversary to be cast out c. yet was that sentence executed as before by the War v. 7. Ans. See what head-strong prejudice will doe As if the Remarker shou'd say though this eleventh verse does imply that the War was betwixt the Primitive Christians and their Persecutors yet it was not But it does most certainly demonstrate that the War was betwixt the Primitive Christians and their Persecutors For the words are these For they overcame viz. the red Dragon by the bloud of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto death What can be a more express description of Martyrdom than this This is not a description of a War of Emperours against Emperours with their armies in the field where they fight upon equal terms but of Martyrs with the word of their testimony passively undergoing for their witnessing to the truth what their cruel Persecutors would inflict upon them Vers. 12. The Dwellers in Heaven are bid to rejoice by reason of the salvation and strength and Kingdom of God and power of his Christ which was to come and therefore surely must signifie them to whom the same came whose particular concern this matter of joy was whereas Angels and Martyrs are no farther concerned in it than in general as they are concerned for the welfare of the Church Nor can those that were exalted by preferments to the Political Heaven of the Empire be concerned in it farther than they were in such a state as to have the coming of salvation and strength and the Kingdom of God fulfilled in them For it onely respects those that are in such a state who are called dwellers in Heaven in respect of the Heavenly station that they were exalted to thereby after the Devil and his Angels were cast out and the autority of Christ established as Prince of the World For then they became the joyfull company with the Lamb on Mount Sion singing the Song of the victory c. who as they are there markt on their foreheads for preservation so they are the worshippers in the Temple and Altar or the two Witnesses meted for the same purpose and are the same that are called dwellers in Heaven Ch. 13.6 and are thus distinguished from those dwellers on Earth against whom the woe is pronounced by reason of the power the Devil will have over them still after he is cast out Ans. The Expositor has taken in both senses of Heaven political and natural they being both sure and consistent one with another and the joy of Angels and Martyrs at the welfare of the Church is too great to be slighted or omitted But to ramble into mystical senses and reach out to the company of the Lamb on Mount Sion is not to interpret by rule but to trifle All Apostolick Christians were concerned in this victory of the Church and most of those in high place in the Empire turned Christian. But the foregoing verse so plainly determining this joy to the victory of the Church in the times of Constantine which shews that the Kingdom of God and power of his Christ was come already and is said to be so v. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. not yet to come it is a strange vagary to ramble from the Antemedial synchronals to the middle synchronals which undoubtedly the company on Mount Sion belong to And for the Remarker's groundless conceit touching the worshippers in the Temple and Thysiasterion the vanity thereof has been above sufficiently shewn And for the dwellers in Heaven Ch. 13. v. 6. we shall consider it when we come at it But for this present place if the Dwellers in Heaven be those in high degree the Dwellers on Earth must naturally signifie those in low degree or common people as the Expositor has interpreted it Vers. 15. Arianism cannot be here intended more than the Catholick doctrine they both running into extremes and each maintaining their cause with like fumous Animosity But by the Serpent's casting out water like a floud seems to be signified the frequent tumultuating of the common people and Magistrates that continued Pagans against the Christians whereby great outrages were oft committed But such Arians and Catholicks may be also included who under a cloak of Religion did violently prosecute each other out of enmity or self-interest to the great reproach and ruine of Religion Ans. The contention betwixt the Arians and Catholicks is most certainly included and is that which History most of all rings of and most highly concerned the Church and therefore could not be omitted in this Opened-book-prophecy which concerns the state of the Church As for any other contests less notable betwixt Christians and Pagans they were such as could not hazard the Woman's being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 her being carried away with the sloud None but a contention betwixt the Christians themselves and such as shaked the very foundation of their Religion could put her in that hazard So that this is a very lank sense which the Remarker gives of this passage Vers. 16. The Earth that helped the woman by swallowing the sloud may signifie the sober stayd sort of people who being either seasoned with principles of Religion or being of peaceable spirits and obedient to authority did endeavour to asswage all such tumults and discountenance and oppose all such furious Animosities and were for composing all differences in a legal orderly and peaceable manner Ans. Undoubtedly that sloud of contention was the hot Contest betwixt the Arians and Catholicks Could therefore the soberer sort of common people Christians or Pagans compose this difference What an absurd conceit is this The Earth that swallows up this sloud does not signifie the common people here though sometimes it is a Symbol of them But the sense is onely this That this floud of contention was swallowed down and dried up by the help of Oecumenical Councils as some rapid Torrent is suck't down by the gaping of the Earth This is enough But farther curiosity might invite a man to fanfie that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is included in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence Oecumenical comes is alluded to or Earth in general put for clayish Earth which in Daniel is a symbol of the Ecclesiastical Power of which Councils did consist And then it fits obviously and exquisitely Chap. 13. Vers. 1. THE name of Blasphemy if it does intend Idolatry yet it hath a farther signification as All sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven men but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost c. Where the malignant reproach of God's Spirit evidencing it self in the works of our Saviour is said to be unpardonable blasphemy And the like reproaching of the holy Spirit manifesting it self in the Saints is likewise blasphemy though not of so heinous a
degree Which kind of blasphemy seems here to be chiefly intended Also our Saviour says to the Philadelphian Church I know the blasphemy of those that say they are Iews c. viz. Spiritual Jews or Christians The belying the Truth and Righteousness of God in believers in making that to be it which is not is there called blasphemy And so this Beast is v. 5. said to speak great things and blasphemies and v. 6. to blaspheme the name of God and his Tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven whereby seems to be signified his enmity against the Saints with whom v. 7. he makes war but doth v. 6. discharge his wrath against them with blasphemous scoffs and reproaches to overwhelm them with contempt c. Of which see v. 6. Ans. That the Name of Blasphemy does chiefly if not onely intend Idolatry is the current sense of Expositors Papists and Reformed And Blasphemy being an Iconisme of Idolatry that sense is more probable for its being Iconistical the Genius of the Apocalyptick style being such as to signifie things Iconistically rather than plainly See Blasphemy in the Expositor's Alphabet of Iconisms Moreover this Vision sets out the state of the visible Church which visible state of things in the Church is the main object of those Visions of the Apocalypse that concern the Church as this Prophecy of the opened Book does wherefore the Vision in this 13 th Chapter comprizing those times of the Church wherein she was so visibly apostatized into Idolatry some Iconistical passages or other must particularly indicate that nor the Vision be content with that more slight and unobservable intimation by calling the two Beasts that appear here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which does more palpably denote their cruelty than Idolatry and therefore there is this farther Intimation and plainer in saying there was the name of Blasphemy on his seven Heads and that his mouth spoke great things and blasphemies v. 5. Where great things being joined with blasphemies it is a plain Indication that blasphemy here has no such dwindling sense as the Remarker would put upon it And lastly that it does not signifie Blasphemy in the Remarker's sense viz. reproaching and speaking evil of the Saints may appear from hence because this Title of Blasphemy is set in common upon all the seven Heads whenas several of them as the Kings and Decemviri had nothing to doe with the Saints or any of the Church of God Nay six of these Heads were gone before the Saints which the Remarker means were on the Stage and so had no occasion to blaspheme them But that they are all seven Idolatrous Heads is unquestionable with those that understand sense Wherefore Blasphemy and to blaspheme in several other places of Scripture signifying Idolatry as well as here as is abundantly made out by Mr. Mede and Peganius upon the place see also the Alphabet of Iconisms it seems to me an homoursome business in the Remarker that he should balk the Exposition of that excellent Interpreter Mr. Mede and take up with one so little approvable with any unless with some conceited touchy souls that fansie themselves Saints before they be so and love separation and cry out Stand off I am more holy than thou that when they are sharply though justly reproved for their real Hypocrisie factiousness and other vices and miscarriages they may imagine themselves to be blasphemed by the Beast or his Worshippers and so be the more confirmed in their presumed Saintship and in all the enormities that attend such a delusion So little edifying is such a precarious Exposition as this There wanted no prophetical Monitions or Prefigurations that wicked men will speak ill of good men from that Antipathy which is betwixt them But that the pretended Church of Christ still professing Christianity and declaring against Idols should really become Idolatrous and establish Idolatries by a Law to be able to predict this was becoming the Prescience of God and to predict it his Goodness it being so usefull for the Reformation of the Church There is nothing more that is material in this Remark unless I should take notice of that Assertion which seems to insinuate that mens speaking evil of the fruits of God's Spirit appearing in good men though of a private and ordinary quality not special Missionaries from God as Christ and his Apostles were nor publick persons or Grandees in Government that reproaching such is termed Blasphemy in Scripture Which I dare say is false let him search all the English Bible and find a place if he can And if so then this Interpretation of the Remarker is quite out of doors Vers. 2. The Dragon's power here given to the Beast is the same with the Beast's power v. 8. Over all that dwell on the Earth whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb c. viz. All who by entrance into life by faith do not attain to become members of Christ's Kingdom are shut out under the powers of darkness and so become subject not onely to Idolatrous delusions but to cruel bondage also c. The Dragon's seat and great Autority is not the Imperial Crown for that he lost being cast out of Heaven but it 's his dominion over those dwellers on Earth whose names are not written in the book of life c. Which is like the Dominion which a Rebel may gain over a great part of the Prince's Subjects that revolt from him though the Prince keep his Crown Ans. The Dragon's power here in this verse does not signifie the same that the Beast's power in the 7 th and 8 th verses For here the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here signifies Military forces and what they are the Expositor has explained And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used here also and rendred Autority shews that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Military forces or else it were a needless tautology Indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here may well be parallel to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in v. 7. and explained thereby For this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this great Autority is said v. 7. to be an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a power or autority over Kindreds Tongues and Nations and that is a great Autority indeed saving that there is made that diminution from it It does not reach those to make them submit to the unlawfull edicts of it whose names are writ in the book of life of the Lamb. That the Dragon could not give the Imperial Throne to the Beast because he was cast out of it himself is wittily observed But you must understand he surrendred it not willingly but because he could not keep it It signifies onely that the Beast succeeded the Dragon and that is imputed to the Dragon as done by him which was done onely upon occasion of the condition he was in by a Zoopoeia of the second kind But the furthering of
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deut. 9.15 Testimony And this other is called the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony And Exod. 25.21 it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also before v. 16. the same thing is said and Vatablus from the Hebrew renders it Ponésque in arca Testimonium quod dabo tibi upon which Cornelius excellently well Hinc says he dicta fuit Arca Testimonii id est Legis Arca Testamenti id est Foederis Continebat enim legem quae erat conditio foederis inter Deum Hebraeos initi Consequenter Tabernaculum ab Arca quam continebat vocatum est Tabernaculum Foederis Tabernaculum Testimonii So Cornelius à lapide Whence we see plainly that the Temple in these two places named is one and the same Temple which Temple stood open out of which the Vial-angels came as well after the Doxology of the Elders ch 11. as after the Song of the Harpers in this Chapter But ch 11.19 the Ark of the Testament is said to be seen in it because this points at the sixth Vial which synchronizeth with the Harvest by both which is understood the calling of the Jews And therefore by the Ark of the Testament being seen in Heaven is signified that that was the time in which God would have an eye to his everlasting Covenant made with the Jews and resume them again to be his People which sense is worthy the taking notice of though it was omitted before c That sense which the Remarker would put upon the Ark of the Testament being seen in Heaven ch 11.19 I have shewn the vanity thereof sufficiently above nor need I here repeat it His conceit therefore sailing and there being no mention of opening the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony or Testament in Heaven but in these two places ch 11. and ch 15. and they both being after a Song of Thanksgiving it is a shrewd Indication d That the times of the opening the Temple here and those in ch 11.19 are one though the mention of the Temple being opened ch 11. be deferred till v. 19. that it may set off the appearing of the Ark of the Covenant with a greater grace but the time of seeing the Ark of the Covenant differs from the time of the opening of the Temple for the former is at the sixth Vial the latter just before the first Wherefore in brief The opened Temple in Heaven ch 11. and this opened here being one and the same and this in order to the effusion of the Vials this is no small confirmation of the Expositor's Interpreting the two last verses of ch 11. touching the affairs of the Vials which was worth noting by the bye Vers. 6. The seven Angels coming out of the Temple may signifie that it 's by the Worshippers in the Temple and at the Altar viz. the two Witnesses that they pour forth their Vials and that they minister to them in that service Their being cloathed in white linen and girt with golden girdles signifies the righteousness and holiness of their administration for the advancement of Christ's Kingdom which though spiritual extends to the executing Justice and upholding true Worship and they are the Ministers of God's wrath for transgressions against both Ans. That the Worshippers in the Temple and at the Altar are not the two Witnesses I have shewn above and therefore the Angels coming out of the Temple here cannot denote them and if the two Witnesses be the Ministers of God's wrath it is the more unlikely that that effusion of bloud from the Wine-press so that it would reach to the Horses bridle for sixteen hundred furlongs together should be understood Literally and not Parabolically else these Ministers of God's wrath must shed the bloud of an Army nine thousand times bigger than that of Xerxes as was noted above A Butchery incredible to be perpetrated by the Saints and holy Witnesses of God Chap. 16. Vers. 2. a TO understand the pouring forth of the first Vial on the Earth in such a general sense as the command is to pour all the Vials on the Earth so that it is onely to correspond with the other Vials in the Cortex is to make it signifie nothing and therefore the effect of the first Vial viz. the grievous sore on the Worshippers of the Beast is imputed to another cause viz. to their exulcerate rage at the Rising of the Witnesses b These are but sorry conceits for which one should reject Mr. Mede's far more current account of this Vial viz. that it signifies the Bohemian War that ensued the sufferings of Huss and Ier. of Prague whereby great ruine fell on the Popish Clergy and the religious houses in that and the adjoining Countries and miraculous defeats on the great Popish Armies sent against the Bohemians c. Which plague is aptly signified by the Vial poured on the Earth the two-horned Beast rising out of the Earth And that there was then the like spirit in agitation in other Countries though it did not break forth may appear by our Commons Petitioning in Parliament about the same time Henry the fourth and the Lords that he may have the Temporalties of the Bishops and Clergy which were consumed in unnecessary courses c. And also by the Parliaments importuning Henry the fifth to suppress the Religious houses as being Nurseries of Idleness and Cages of unclean Birds To divert which storm the Clergy set on foot the claim of the Crown of France and the War thereon c. c Also there could be no such exulcerated rage at the Rising of the Witnesses because the Reformation was not the Rising of them For though thereby the Pope's Supremacy was rejected and some gross corruptions reformed yet did the Reformed Churches retain generally the same Political state of Government and so much of the Popish Leaven in Matters of Religion that they did not cease to continue members of the Beast d Nor did there appear any such Spirit of life in them to set them on their feet and cause them to ascend c. they continuing in the same worldly state and station though freed from some Popish Grievances Ans. a Though the first Vial were poured out on the Earth in that general sense doth its pouring forth signifie nothing It will necessarily hit some particular thing or person or other and it particularly hits the marked slaves of the Beast and inflicts a sore on them and so every Vial the pouring it forth will mediately or immediately concern the Terraqueous Globe namely the Inhabitants thereof But for that special meaning of Earth which the Remarker takes notice of and I have noted to answer to the Clay in Daniel and to signifie the Ecclesiastick Rank of men if this in general were understood by the Earth v. 1. it were an Hypothesis very allowable yea laudable being these Vials concern the Pontifician Hierarchy which Mr. Mede calls Bestiam Antichristianam and all reach him either immediately or mediately
diligence courage and resolution to make all sure against them for the future The second Vial therefore is not the Rising of the Witnesses or the first appearance of the Reformation but it bears that analogy to the Rising of the Witnesses that the descending of the New Ierusalem under the second Thunder which comprizes the settlement of the Millennial Empire of Christ does to the victory of the Rider of the white Horse under the first Vers. 8. The word of God is no subject capable of pouring a Vial thereon And as for the clear convictive Explications thereof this as to those that are convinced thereby is not a punishment viz. a Vial of wrath but a blessing And so if it be taken to signifie the conversion of any Emperour or Potentate c. Ans. I noted at first that all the Vials are commanded to be poured on the Earth which if we consider seriously must needs be understood in the inward sense of the two-horned Beast that came out of the Earth or Clay And therefore on whatever they are said to be poured they must reach this Earth either mediately or immediately directly or indirectly that is reflexively or else the Angels do not obey the Divine Command But if the effusion of the Vial reach the two-horned Beast to detriment him whether mediately or immediately it is poured on the Earth and the Divine Command is fulfilled And in this sense a Vial may be poured on the Word of God which may illuminate Emperours Kings or Princes to the great damage of the two-horned Beast and so rightly be said to be poured on the Earth though it be first discharged on the Sun in those senses the Expositor intimates Vers. 10. a It was to the Ten-horned Beast that Satan gave his seat and so the Vial poured here on the seat of the Beast does signifie that Beast Hereby the root of the Beast's Autority seems to be struck at viz. That whenas the precedent Vial poured on the Sun and scorching men with great heat seems to signifie mens being zealously incensed and so sharply inveying against and reproving the corruptions and oppressions of the Antichristian Powers then ruling this Vial seems to proceed farther and to strike at the Root of their Autority c asserting the right of Christ to rule and his Laws of Truth to be obey'd and so all powers that obstruct the advancement of his Kingdom to be enemies c. Therefore it 's likely to be the Result of the Rising of the Witnesses Ans. This is an Assertion quite contrary to that necessary Hypothesis in explaining the effusion of the Vials whose Object is the two-horned Beast Besides if this seat signifie Rome as Mr. Mede would have it this indeed the Dragon gave to the ten-horned Beast but it is plain the two-horned Beast possesses it nay he has usurped the secular power also in ordine ad spiritualia so that it is a vain thing to understand here any Beast but the two-horned at whom the whole Vision of the Vials does aim The Residue of the Remark is marvellous unless I misunderstand the Remarker's meaning which supposes bitter Invectives against the Sun that is the secular Powers Antichristian like the barking of dogs against the Moon to be the pouring forth of the Vial upon the Sun Certainly that Angel that does thus mistakes his Instructions For he was to pour his Vial upon the Earth from that general command and here he pours it upon the Sun without any reference to the Earth Besides that this account of this fourth Vial by the Remarker is very dilute and indistinct he making the Sun to signifie any secular Antichristian Power and the effusion of this Vial upon it nothing but the grumbling of some male-contents against their Governours and inveying against their administration of affairs because they sute not with their humour or interest Which is a thing done by some or other so repeatedly or continually in all Governments which are never free from such spirits that it is impossible this should be a particular character of any of the Vials And moreover it is a plain contradiction to the Text it self which runs thus The fourth Angel poured out his Vial on the Sun and power was given him to scorch men with fire Whom then can he be thought to scorch but those that have so incensed him So that the plague will be on them that invey against the Antichristian Powers or the Beast which is contrary to the drift of the Vision and to the mention of the blasphemy of them that are scorched This is fond enough I think But something follows still worse and more foul and fond if as I said before I rightly understand him b What Achmetes what Artemidorus ever taught the Remarker that the seat of a secular Potentate signifies the root of his Autority This must be in some Countrey pardon the pleasantness of the conceit where mens Chairs grow to their Breech even as the Root and the Trunk or Stalk of a Plant grow together But as the fancy is forced so the doctrine therein implied is unsound in his exposition of these two Vials fourth and fifth And besides that gloss on the fifth is nothing but that stale Calvinistical or rather Iesuitical Principle a weak and wicked falshood not a stinging truth that should make them gnaw their tongues for pain viz. Dominium sundatur in gratia Which Vial has been pouring out so long that methinks it should be empty by this or never be empty till the Millennium and so this Application will have the same diluteness and indistinctness that the former To rail against the Autority one lives under is against the duty of a Christian The Apostle Paul says Thou shalt not speak evil of the Ruler of thy people Act. 23.5 The Apostle Peter describes the worst of men thus 2 Pet. 2.10 They despise Government presumptuous are they self-willed they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities To which add that of Iude yet Michael the Archangel when contending with the Devil he disputed about the body of Moses durst not bring against him a railing accusation though you may be sure he was in the right but said the Lord rebuke thee Certainly none of the Antichristian Powers can be worse than the Devil the Prince of Darkness nor any of the reprehensive Saints greater or more holy than Michael which I note that they that take themselves to be Saints may learn good manners of him c And then for the striking at the root of Autority in pretence of Christ's right to rule and his Laws of Truth to be obey'd If this be the result of the Rising of the Witnesses to come God be thanked that they are risen already and that this is but a dream and are ready to instruct all the world and have done it upon occasion That every soul is to be subject to the higher powers For the powers that be are ordained of God whosoever therefore
founded yet not excluding an allusion to such qualities in any of the stones as will bear an apt application But straining here to give a particular account of them all hath caused a strange luxuriancy of fancy Ans. To slubber over the Mystery of the twelve stones with those two significations onely in general of splendour and solidity is again to make the Spirit of Prophecy to trifle And being thus niggardly as to admit of but two properties it is still worse in that one is less proper for a Wall which is a structure for defence rather than for beauty and ornament But take them both in if this were the business one kind of stone would have served better than all twelve and that is the Diamond which out-does them all for solidity and splendour What stone so hard and invincible as it What stone so beautifull and splendid But yet in a better mood he seems inclined to admit of an allusion to such qualities in any of the stones as will bear an apt application But if in any why not in all He saith straining here to give a particular account of all hath caused a strange luxuriancy of fancy But how can that fancy be luxuriant that is not exorbitant but keeps within a prescribed compass and takes notice of no virtues in any of these stones but what tend to the safety and security of the City to preserve the Philadelphian State therein and hinder it from lapsing into the Laodicean But that is the very thing that the Remarker has a pique at the presumption of the Expositor for that he would give an account of every stone in the Wall they several of them supposing and so aptly complying with his Hypothesis of making the Philadelphian state and New Ierusalem state all one and the Laodicean to succeed so that he cannot endure it and upon that account calls that strained fancy in the Expositor which is strickt and unexceptionable Reason as any one that examines it without prejudice will find it Vers. 23. Christ's Kingdom being Spiritual the Kings or Rulers there will rule by a Spiritual Power by which they will be also Priests such as the twenty four Elders are to the four Beasts and such as they and the four Beasts to those they shall reign over And therefore to suppose as here is done that Monarchs or crowned Heads who rule by worldly power shall be Kings or Rulers in Christ's Kingdom shews little understanding of the state of it or something worse Of that Lordship which the Kings of the Gentiles exercise and of their being called Benefactors our Saviour says It shall not be so among you but he that is chief as he that serveth Luk. 22.25 And their profession of Christianity while they rule by the same Worldly and Political Government cannot make them Christian but rather the more complete Antichristian Rulers But the Autority that those Spiritual Kings and Priests will have in the Millennial State over those they govern may be likened to that Rule and sway which the Nobility Gentry and Clergy have over the Commonalty saving the great difference that whereas the one is gained by worldly means and managed for worldly interest to the much grievance and oppression of the people the autority of the other will be exercised with a true Christian spirit to the full satisfaction and joy of those who are governed and so will cause the fulfilling of what was told at our Saviour's Birth of great joy and gladness that should be to all people and of that Doxology ch 5.13 of every Creature in Heaven and on Earth Blessing honour glory and power c. Ans. This is one of the oddest Remarks of the whole pack We will therefore consider each passage therein more strictly Christ's Kingdom being spiritual says the Remarker the Kings or Rulers there will rule by a spiritual power by which they will be also Priests Here we are first to consider in what regard the Kingdom of Christ upon Earth may be called spiritual in such sort as to be inconsistent with its being a Kingdom Political which is settled by Councils and ordered by Laws and Decrees For certainly the Kingdom of Christ was a spiritual Kingdom from the Apostles times and onward at least till the Christian Religion became the Religion of the Empire and yet the affairs of the Church were regulated by Laws and established by Councils There was at least twenty Councils before Constantine's time So that the Church was both a Spiritual and Political Kingdom of Christ at once In what regard therefore was it spiritual It was spiritual first in regard of its Erection which was not by an arme of flesh or worldly forces as other Kingdoms ordinarily are raised but by the Spirit of God in powerfull preaching of the Gospel and in doing of Miracles Secondly It is an holy spiritual Kingdom antistoechal to the Kingdom of evil spirits against which this Kingdom of Christ was erected to rescue us from their Temptations and the thraldom of sin and wickedness under them And St. Paul declares Ephes. 6.12 That we wrestle not against flesh and bloud as if we had any carnal or worldly design of wrestling the dominion of the World into our own hands that we might enjoy the World but against Principalities against Powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the present Princes of the dark World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syrus legit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Grotius against the evil spirits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the airy Regions which is an Hellenism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answering to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which often signifies no more than the air And Drusius on the place cites one of the Commentators on Liber Aboth who tells us A terra usque ad firmamentum omnia plena esse turmis praefectis infra plurimas esse creaturas laedentes accusantes omnésque stare ac volare in Aere c. Which shews plainly that Drusius is of the same mind with Grotius In this sense therefore is the Kingdom of Christ a Spiritual Kingdom in that by the working of the Spirit in his servants it wrestles with opposes and finally overcomes the Kingdom of evil spirits tempters to all manner of wickedness and debauchery under which the Souls of men were enslaved Thirdly and lastly The Kingdom of Christ is a Spiritual Kingdom because the proper aim and scope thereof is merely spiritual viz. the end and aim of it is not worldly and temporal things but things spiritual and eternal The Polity Laws and administration thereof by those that have the Spirit of God tend to this scope that all the Subjects thereof may advance in the state of Regeneration by the power and working of the Spirit of God in them here that they may be Heirs of that Heavenly invisible spiritual and eternal Kingdom in the world to come Whatever more than this is imagined of the spirituality of Christ's Kingdom will end I fear
whereof the Nations which are saved shall walk is signified by the leaves of the tree of life healing the Nations In like manner did other Nations borrow light from the Iudaical Worship and the Heathen Priests and Philosophers did rectifie their Theology by the Christian doctrine And though this healing of the Nations by the leaves will be much more verified in the people subject to the Dominion of the New Ierusalem than in those neighbouring Nations yet that verifying of it is signified by the description given of his righteous Dominion who is to judge the World in Righteousness and minister Judgment to the people with Equity Ans. The Tree of life the Remarker here will have to signifie the same thing that the pure River of water of life What a tautological Bungle is this and slurring this distinct Political description of the state of the New Ierusalem as if in all that is said nothing is understood but onely in general that the Citizens of this City are in the Dispensation of life But this is the effect as I said of his Aziluthick Dream These trees therefore that signifie Grandees in the Ierusalem Polity whether Ecclesiastick or Civil are such as answer to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Magnates of the Polity of Babylon who were Merchants and did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sold Justice for money being earthly-minded and as to the life of God trees quite dead and withered As for the Tree of life in Paradise it was the sincere union of our wills with the will of God and the Tree of knowledge of good and evil is the following our own will and the not keeping in that former union But what this is to the explication of the present Text I see not Trees here according to the Prophetick style signifie Men and that Grandees If they had been the Commonalty of the City or all the Citizens Grass and Flags growing by the River sides had better represented them than Trees That not neighbouring Nations but converted Nations become parts of the Kingdom of Christ are understood by Nations I have above sufficiently proved And it is a strange Paradox that those Nations that are capable of healing were not capable of being converted to such a frame of Polity and Religion which so palpably tended to both the present and future Happiness as well of Prince as People and was intended by Providence for the common Religion of Mankind whenas the Iewish was onely Topical And therefore the ancient Philosophers borrowing of the Jews without turning to their Religion signifies nothing here Vers. 3. There shall be no more curse signifies not Papal Curse but the curse of God for sin and therefore it follows But the Throne of God and the Lamb shall be therein and his servants shall serve him viz. By the Throne of God and the Lamb being therein they shall be established in righteousness and holiness whereby his servants shall serve him c. Ans. If the curse of God for sin is taken away in the Mellennium then there will be no more neither diseases nor death no Briars nor Thorns nor labour of tillage c. This is another Aziluthical whimsie or dream of a golden Age in which Ovid makes the Earth to bring forth all manner of fruit yea Corn it self without plow or tillage Mox etiam fruges tellus inarata ferebat Nec renovatus ager gravidis canebat aristis But it is a childish conceit to think that in the Millennium external Nature will be changed though men will then have more healthfull bodies by reason of their Regeneration into true Holiness and Righteousness The judgment of R. Moses Aegyptius is far more sober and sound touching the state of things in the reign of the Messias than the Remarker's who writes thus Non ascendat saith he in cor tuum c. Let not such a fond conceit arise in thy mind as if in the days of the Messias any thing would vary from the usual custome of this natural World or any thing be innovated in the work of the six days Creation But the course of Nature will then be no otherwise than now it is See Munster on Esay ch 11. whose expressions touching the times of the Messiah v. 6 7 8. that Wolves Lions Bears and Leopards will then lose their salvageness gave some Jews occasion to deny that the Times of the Messiah are yet because these Beasts still retain their old nature Which shews the danger of extravagant interpretations of Prophecy To set the sense of things upon such a strange rack and incredible that they that shall believe it will be hindred from acknowledging Prophecies to be fulfilled when yet really they are And therefore as ch 21.4 where it is said And there shall be no more death the meaning is not that the Citizens of the New Ierusalem shall never dye but there shall be no such death as in the Polity of Babylon no more bloudy massacrings of the faithfull witnesses of Christ so likewise here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And there shall be no more curse is to be understood not that the curse of sin shall be taken from external Nature but such curses as were most notorious in the Polity of Babylon those Papal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or excommunicatory Denunciations that often did set all Christendom on fire and embroiled it in bloudy and destructive Wars The true Key of rightly explaining the State of the New Ierusalem is the interpreting things in way of opposition to the State of Babylon and the condition of the faithfull servants of Christ under it Which is worthy of any intelligent person's observation And what follows in this verse exquisitely well agrees with this exposition But the Throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it The Pope before had usurped the Throne of God from whence be thundered and lightened so with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Excommunicatory curses to the disturbance of all Christendom but now this Throne of God is taken from the Vsurper and become the Throne of the Lamb to the peace and refreshment of the Vniversal Church of Christ. Such is the State of his Millennial Empire AN ANSWER To Several REMARKS UPON Dr. Henry More HIS EXPOSITION OF THE VISIONS of DANIEL Written By. S. E. MENNONITE And Published in English by The ANSWERER Together with his ANSWERS thereunto LONDON Printed by M. F. for Walter Kettilby 1684. REMARKS UPON THE EXPOSITION OF THE VISIONS of DANIEL Vision 1. Vers. 33. THIS Image being to represent the four great Kingdoms that were to arise successively on the Earth and which is said to be terrible in the same sense as the four Beasts in the next Vision are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or wild Beasts it 's very incongruous to understand any part of it of any other than secular power So that the feet being part of Clay and part of Iron cannot signifie the Roman Empire its becoming partly Ecclesiastical and
if Constantine in virtue of the Christian doctrine wherewith he was embued ruled more righteously than his Predecessors this was no abridgment of his absolute Power but merely a right use thereof And the same may be said of the ten Kings or Monarchs the ten Horns of the Beast They were trepan'd out of their Right when they acknowledged any Sovereign in causes Ecclesiastick as well as Civil besides themselves And I wonder whenas the Remarker produces such a notable example in the case of Carolus Calvus of the Ecclesiastick encroachments upon the Secular Power that he should at all doubt but that the Clay is the Ecclesiastick Power as well as the Iron the Secular and such a Power as alone is fitly set out by the Clay in full distinction to the Iron or Secular Power in Kings Nobles and Gentry c. Vision 2. Vers. 2. a SEA in the Prophetick style signifies not simply vast multitudes of people for then There was no more Sea Rev. 21.1 must signifie there was no more multitudes But by Sea is meant such multitudes united in a Political State under the Powers that rule them b And that Power which does overflow and so subject them to its Dominion is rather the Sea as appears by the second Trumpet and the second Vial and they as the Fish moving in it By reason whereof and the fluctuating condition they are in thereby they are represented by Waters Rev. 17. c This Power is the Spirit of the World ruling in them Their thraldom under which is that bondage of corruption which subjects them to the Prince of this World Of which Spirit Solomon saith He hath set the World in their hearts c. And Paul We have not received the Spirit of the World but the Spirit of God c. And by reason of the rule of which in us we are said to be of the World and so under the power of darkness in opposition to that Spiritual state which Believers are begotten into whereby they cease to be of the World and are translated from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of our Lord. This Spirit of the World therefore is the like Principle of the natural Life in man's heart as the Spirit of God is of the spiritual Life therein and by the one do the Devils bear the like sway in natural or unregenerate men as Christ does by the other in the Regenerate Hence is ascribed to the Devil that power over those who are delivered to him for the destruction of the flesh and also the power of Death through fear of which he makes men all their life subject to bondage And hence did he make that claim to all the Kingdoms of the World which our Saviour did not gainsay For he by the power mentioned being the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience Ephes. 2.2 which all mankind are till they are recovered out of their lapsed state he can as Paul says take them captive at his will and so rules as he pleaseth in the world save wherein God as supreme Governour of the World does interpose in the behalf of his servants and for bringing to pass what Changes and Revolutions he hath determined The four Winds striving on the great Sea and four Beasts coming out of it signifie the four great Kingdoms that were to arise successively on the Earth and the great commotion and combustion they would cause in the World by their vanquishing one another d But the Aerial Genii or Angels are not concerned therein as Ministers of God's Providence farther than they are a part of the Powers of those Kingdoms that are so to arise Such are the Presidentiary Angels of the Kingdoms of Persia and Graecia in Vision 5 th Ans. The Expositor does not say that a Sea signifies multitudes of people simply but that the great Sea in this place signifies so according to the Prophetick style which does not denote the determinate Dominion of any one Potentate but the people of adverse Potentates who are so far from being held under one Government that they are the people of opposite Governments or Empires and therefore cannot be called one great Sea as under one Government but as one great Multitude which is called a great Sea by reason of the greatness of the Multitude and is well represented by the great Sea with Winds ruffling the waves thereof by reason of the Commotion and War one against another b But that a multitude under one Government is not called Sea unless it be overflowing some other Government I deny to appear either out of the second Trumpet or second Vial. The Remarker should have spoke out more clearly But I say the Sea though it be not actually overflowing another being so subject to fluctuations from several cross Winds and unexpected occasions is properly a Symbol of worldly Governments that are obnoxious to these Commotions and Mutations Whence that passage Revel 21.1 is fitly understood And I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth where Heaven signifies the governing Part and Earth the Multitude governed which being expressed by Earth there was no want of Sea to signifie the same but to denote the stability of this new constitution of things it is added And there was no more Sea which does not signifie there was no more multitudes but no more tumultuating multitudes and that firm Peace and Tranquillity possest the Millennial Empire of Christ and his holy and righteous people From whence come wars and fightings amongst you come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members Jam. 4.1 c What follows in this Remark is something prolix and mysterious but may be well meant for ought I know but so far as I see enervates nothing that the Expositor has writ on this verse For the Spirit of the World which he discourses of certainly Ambition which the Expositor names is the chief effect of it and most chiefly considered in this place d Nor does the Remarker deny but that the Aerial Genii are concerned in these Mutations and Revolutions in Kingdoms which is all I care to have granted This looks like a desire of saying something contrary to the Expositor when there is nothing to be said But I cannot let pass one passage of Scripture amongst the many he has cited viz. that Eccles. 3.11 where he insinuates that in He hath set the World in their hearts by He is understood the Spirit of the World whenas it is plain from the foregoing words He hath made every thing beautifull in its time that it 's God that has set the World in mens hearts viz. in their understandings For the Heart is the seat of the Understanding in the Scripture-phrase in virtue of which they take more notice thereof than Brutes but yet are far from being Masters of the Mysteries of his Providence as is intimated in the following words of that verse