having suffered like a Lamb was to be again advanced to the Throne of God Some such sense quoth he as this we shall be obliged to put upon it forasmuch as it exceeds all belief to think that when the Book aforesaid shall be to be opened God himself in Person shall appear amongst us sitting on a Throne with a Book in his right hand and that after Proclamation made for one to open it in the Ears of all the World his Son Jesus shall appear coming to his Father and take it out of his hand c. Or which is equally absurd the four Beasts and twenty four Elders shall be taken up into Heaven to see the same things acted there Whence it is concluded That the sealed Book is not to be opened by the Lamb himself in person but by some mortal man or other whom he shall imploy in this service Answ This is argued handsomly enough were it not upon a double false Foundation The first is That opening the Seals is explaining the Prophecies which I have already shown to be a mistake The other is That this Vision is an absolute Vision not an Introductory Vision to the Book-Prophecy which point I have cleared Chap. 21. nor need I here repeat things And in the third and last place The individual Person of Christ is so exquisitely described that no other but himself can be meant For besides that he is said to be slain and to have redeemed us with his Blood and to have made us Kings and Priests he is stiled the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Root of David How is it possible that any one but Christ himself can be meant by this description This is no description of a mystical Christ but of the very Person of Christ himself I am thus brief in answering this last Question because there will be an abundant supplement made in the answering the Confutatory part of his Papers where he endeavours to entangle my Hypothesis with as many difficulties as he can Wherefore I will in the next Chapter give a summary Account of my sense of this Vision and then answer to his Allegations against it CHAP. XXXIV A summary Account of the fore-mentioned Vision and the sense of several Particulars acknowledged by the Expositor Ten Objections to entangle the abovesaid Account and the sense of the Particulars Distinct Answers to the said ten Objections COncerning this Introductory Vision comprized in the fourth and fifth Chapter of the Apocalypse I have spoke so fully in the twenty first Chapter of this Treatise that I may well be allowed to content my self only with a summary Account of that Vision here which is this This Vision impressed on the raptured Imagination of S. John is a Theatrick Representation of the Glory of the God of Israel in his Angelical or spiritual Kingdom in Heaven which besides that common use of all the Introductory Visions which is to signifie that the succeeding Prophecy as this Book-Prophecy in counterdistinction to the Epistolar Prophecy is the Revelation of Jesus Christ obtained of God and communicated to his Servant John it is framed in such a Dramatical way as both to be prefigurative of several things appertaining to the glorious and joyful state of the blessed Millennium and also significative what a dear regard God has to his Son Christ even according to his humane Nature and what an inestimable value is to be put upon this Book-Prophecy in which is comprehended both the sealed Book-Prophecy and the opened Book-Prophecy This is a brief summary Account of this Vision In which we admit that the four Beasts and twenty four-Elders though they represent the spiritual or Angelical Kingdom in Heaven are also prefigurative of Believers some time to be on Earth We likewise further assert That he that sits on the Throne is God Almighty himself and no other That the slain Lamb is no other than Christ in his own Person That the seven-sealed Book is a Symbol of the secret Counsel and Foreknowledge of God touching the affairs or state of his Church and of the World as much as concerns his Church from the beginning thereof to the last Judgment And God his giving this Book to Christ signifies his communicating these his Secrets to him And the Lamb or Christ his opening the Seals in the sight of John denotes his imparting this Scene of future things to his Servant John though no man yet understood the meaning of those Typical Prefigurations All this for my part I owne whatever other Interpreters do And now let us see what the ingenious Objector can say to entangle so solid an Hypothesis 1. I demand only says he these few things First Where was ever any such loud Proclamation made at God's delivering this Book to his Son as is spoken of Rev. 5.2 2. Secondly How unlikely a thing is it that the things therein contained being only in the Mind of God as is supposed there should be any such Proclamation made at all to find out one that was worthy to know them For it may seem to be too much trifling in a weighty matter 3. Thirdly But if any such Proclamation were ever made who-ever heard it For it must needs be supposed that the Proclamation was made in the ears of a great many 4. Fourthly And where was Christ when this Proclamation was made that it is said No man in Heaven in Earth or under the Earth was found able to open the Book or look on it 5. Fifthly But if the meaning be that none but Christ was found able how comes S. John to weep for that Who could he expect or desire should do it besides 6. Sixthly How comes an Elder to know of Christ's taking the Book out of his Father's hand sooner than S. John himself 7. Seventhly What Elder was that that gave the first notice to S. John that Christ had prevailed to do it 8. Eighthly Who are they all that are set so near the Throne of God and of Christ as these Beasts and Elders are said to have been when God communicated the knowledge of these things to his Son and who are said upon that occasion to have sung a new Song with Harps c. to this effect Thou art worthy to take the Book and to open the seven Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God c. and hast made us Kings and Priests unto God and we shall reign upon the Earth And there is the like reason of the Angelical Address that follows c. 9. Ninthly Interpreters interpreting this Angelical Address of Angels literally so called as they also interpret the strong Angel v. 2. contradict themselves and all Interpreters in other places who expound Angels to be meant of men 10. Tenthly and lastly But the greatest and most manifest Omission of all saith he is that whereas in the next place it is said That every Creature in Heaven in Earth and under the Earth c. I John heard
into the last Semi-time or Hexamenon that is into the third month thereof Though this is but a defectuous scambling thing in comparison of what falls out according to the true Epocha I have pitched upon But that your Epocha is false I have in my former demonstrated it being not pitched in the beginning of the Apostasie and of the War of the Beast with the Witnesses And in the mean time you see plainly even according to your own Epocha that the seventh Semi-time is not superfluous and that the reckoning not by Years but by Semi-times is necessary 8. And now eighthly Whereas you say you hope the more the time of the End of the Churches affliction from her Enemies draws near the more God will stir up here and there some to look more diligently into those Divine Prophecies which tell us how long and no longer it shall last and to enlighten his people that they better understand them for the encouragement and consolation of his Church I do not question but this may be a pleasing and pious hope in you But if this respect any of the Numbers of the Medial Visions and the true Epocha of the two thousand and three hundred Evening-Mornings in Daniel taken in a Typical sense defers the cleansing of the Sanctuary till about four hundred years hence I must ingenuously confess I think your hope is groundless for any one to tell to a year or thereabout from any of the Medial Numbers when the affliction of the Church shall cease And my Reasons are these First That computing from the true Epocha as I have proved it the Medial Numbers twelve hundred and sixty days or forty two months expired above thirty years ago Secondly The number of three days and an half or three times and an half Synchronal to the twelve hundred and sixty days or forty two months are assigned to indicate only the time of the ending of the prevailing War of the Beast or little Horn against the Witnesses by a partial Fall of Babylon and a commensurate Rising then of the Witnesses Which I have demonstrated as clearly as any thing is demonstrated in Euclide Wherefore the Medial Numbers cannot possibly tell us nor any one from them how long and no longer the Churches Afflictions shall last Thirdly It is better and more expedient for the Church not to know so precisely for a year or thereabout how long and no longer her afflictions shall last lest upon a lazy confidence that God will then be as good as his word and deliver them they neglect the fitting themselves for that deliverance and the prosperity thence ensuing Which fitting themselves consists in an hearty Holiness of life by virtue of real Regeneration in an inviolable Loyalty to their Prince in prudent Conversation and sincere Benignity to all men Fourthly This predicting how long and no longer to a year or thereabout the afflictions of the Church should last is a Priviledge that was not granted to the Primitive Christians themselves who yet lay under more grievous Persecutions than the Mercy of God is like to permit his Church to suffer during the space of the pouring out of the Vials that is yet to come And yet they had no more precise notice how long and no longer than the order of the six Visions under the first six Seals could indicate to them And such an indication have we and every whit as certain from the Order of the seven Vials And when the true Christianity shall more generally appear in the Reformed Churches accompanied with a most faithful and fast Loyalty to their Sovereigns and ready and chearful obedience to all lawful Commands for Peace Order and Safety in Church and State this will be an indication of the near approach of the pouring out of the fourth Vial on the Sun and of the greatest Potentates in Christendom their inclining to reform and to shake off the servile Yoke of Antichrist and all the Idolatrous Trumperies thereunto belonging and of ordering things so that a great deadness and darkness will seize upon the Seat of the Beast and prove the pouring forth of the fifth Vial. And the sixth is manifestly touching the Conversion of the Jewâ—â— And when the lovely Philadelphian Spirit shall more universally break forth and shine in all the Enjoyers of or Well-willers to the Reformation then let them look up and lift up their Heads for that more consummate Redemption and vast enlargement of the true Church draweth nigh and will be atchieved in the Battel of that great Day of God Almighty under the auspicuous Conduct of that mighty Heros on the white Horse out of whose mouth goeth a sharp Sword and whose Title is the Word of God which is sharper than any two-edged Sword and this is to fall out under the seventh Vial. And after this is the descent of the New Jerusalem or Creation of the New Heaven and New Earth wherein Righteousness shall dwell upon the dissolution of the former Constitution of Things whether Pagan Infidel or Antichristian Polities Wherefore then seeing as the Apostle speaks that all those things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness not only looking for but hasting on as the Original has it the coming of the day of God even of that great day of God Almighty in the Battel above-mentioned But if this Day was fixt to a certain year or thereabout how could we be said to either hasten it or slacken it But there is no such fixt time set that we be not tempted to wanton security and laziness but reminded of our duty may hasten as much as in us lies that great day we expect and desire by perfecting Holiness in the fear of God if we be sincere and not Hypocrites But this thing I have touched upon already In the mean time it appears we have at least as certain indications of the Time of the Churches deliverance as the Primitive Christians had before us in which we are to acquiesce with humility and thankfulness and improve them to our best advantage to confirm our Faith and support our Courage And therefore fifthly and lastly There being so visible and palpable an order of Revolutions of the Affairs of the World under the Series of the Vials whereby the nearer and nearer approach of the consummate deliverance of the Church of Christ and enlargements of his Kingdom may plainly be discerned it seems altogether needless that the Numbers of the Medial Visions should signifie any thing more than the terminating the forty two months prosperous War of the Beast in his unprosperous counterbuff by Divine Providence in the partial Fall of the great City and commensurate Rising of the Witnesses in the last Semi-time current according to what I contend for and have so manifestly demonstrated 9. And now in the last place to answer to what occurs in what I will call your ninth and last Paragraph where you say You cannot but
saying Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth on the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever no Interpreter shews this to have been done after Christ's taking of the Book more than before From whence it is plain to me saith he that they go upon a wrong Hypothesis For if there had been any such things done on Earth no doubt some footsteps of it would have been found in History These few things as he calls them being thought by him pressing and weighty I am concerned to answer that the truth of my Exposition may not seem to be obscured thereby 1. To the first then I answer That this Proclamation was made only in this Dramatical Vision and is no more than a visionary Proclamation and brought in in this Dramatical manner to signifie the singular Prerogative of Christ given to him by his Father that he should have the ability of predicting and effecting such things as no Creature besides in the World had the like general Proclamation being made to find them out if there were any such And the Angel is said to be strong and his Voice loud that it might pierce as it were through the Universe to summon any one that would pretend to such a Prerogative as has been described 2. To the second I say There is neither any unlikeliness nor trifling in this Proclamation because it sets off the peculiarness of Christ's Prerogative in that it was given to him to open the sealed Book And it being not yet opened but being known in general to be a Book of Secrets as yet only in the Mind of God what unlikeliness or Indecorum is it that Proclamation be made who he is that shall be vouchsafed this power of opening the Book and distinctly knowing those Secrets which were only in the Mind of God before 3. To the third I answer as to the first That the Proclamation is only visionary and of what it is significative I have already said nor need again repeat 4. To the fourth I say it seems a kind of capricious Query as if it implied from that account of the Proclamation made that no man in Heaven on Earth or under the Earth was found able to open the Book that Christ was no where then else he would have been found able But as S. Paul says 1 Cor. 15.27 But when he saith all things are put under him it is manifest he is excepted which did put all things under him so say I whenas this Proclamation was made to remonstrate to the World that no man in Heaven nor Earth nor under the Earth was found able saving Christ himself to open the Book it is manifest he is to be excepted out of that Negative Catalogue as being the only Creature that was able 5. To the fifth Incogitancy I think suggested this Query to the Objector For it implies S. John wept after he understood that Christ had obtained the power of opening the sealed Book whenas his weeping was before He says so plainly himself v. 4. And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and read the Book neither to look thereon Which is also a Dramatical passage on this Theatre intended to signifie nothing else but the great Needfulness and Desirableness of such a Book of Prophecies for the use of God's Church and their guidance in all the Tossings Changes and Revolutions in this transitory World Such a Book was so necessary and requisite that it would grieve any good Christian at the very heart who is solicitous for the Church to want such a Load-star or Cynosura 6. To the sixth I answer That these crowned Elders though they be prefigurative also of the Millennial Kings or Monarchs they are here some principal Angels of the spiritual Kingdom of the God of Israel in Heaven And why may not such an Angel be thought to be wiser than John and able to instruct him There is nothing incongruous or indecorous in this Dramatical passage and John was called up into Heaven to be instructed by his Betters This celestial Actor may well be conceived to know how the Scene would go though John in the mean time was as yet ignorant thereof 7. To the seventh Truly this is a very curious Question if it imply that one should declare who this crowned Elder was by Name It is sufficient to say it was one of the Elders that was next him and so most conveniently placed to instruct John and comfort him upon his weeping and so take that kue to carry on this Divine Scene from v. 4. to v. 8. till the slain Lamb had taken the Book out of the hand of him that sate on the Throne and had obtained power to open it By which no Event is prefigured that was to come to pass some Ages after John's receiving the Apocalypse but it is only signified in this pompous Dramatical way That this Book-Prophecy is the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him and which he imparted to his Servant John So that the curiosity of naming the Party whom this Elder may prefigure vanisheth 8. To the eighth I say Those that are set so near the Throne of God are Members of his spiritual or Angelical Kingdom in Heaven but prefigurative withal of his Millennial Kingdom on Earth which is the main scope of his Providence over his Church that it shall at last come to pass that the Heavenly Jerusalem in Image and Resemblance shall descend from God on this Earth and his Tabernacle be with men And therefore the glory of the God of Israel is here so represented that it may also prefigure the State of the Church under the New Jerusalem as the other Introductory Visions have some glances or more general strokes at Prophetick Events in some passages And now for the new Song sung by the four Beasts and twenty four Elders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dignus es qui acciperes Thou wert worthy to receive the Book for so the Original is interpretable and to open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God and made us Kings and Priests to reign upon Earth This new Song is prefigurative of the Joy and Happiness of that State of the Church of which it is said Apoc. 21.5 Behold I make all things new which is the New Jerusalem state In which there will be such triumphant Praises sung unto the Lamb when it will be so evident he has carried his Church safe for whom he gave his Life and Blood through all the predicted conditions thereof and at last has placed them in that happy and glorious Millennial State by his faithful Conduct Wisdom and Power Which are included in the Faculty granted him by his Father of opening the Seals of the Book as I have noted elsewhere And whenas presently afterwards the whole Universe is made to ring with a loud Doxology from numerous Quires of Angels and of all Creatures in Heaven and Earth and under
the Earth and such as are in the Sea and all that are in them to him that sits upon the Throne and unto the Lamb to what times possibly can this belong but to the holy happy and glorious Millennial Reign of Christ in his Saints upon Earth The Song of the twenty four Elders and four Beasts prefigure the Joy of the Millennial Monarchs and People that of the Angels the Joy of the Angels in Heaven at this flourishing State of the Church on Earth and that of the rest of the Creatures the Conviction of all the World that the Lord Jesus was no less than he declared himself to be the Son of God and Saviour of the World to whom the Father had given all Power in Heaven and Earth of which this Millennial State of the Church is a most illustrious and glorious Effect filling all the World with wonder and amazement And this I hope may satisfie the eighth Query 9. Ninthly To the ninth Allegation I answer That the Doxology of the Angelical Quires does prefigure the Joy of Angels in Heaven for that blessed condition of the Church in the New Jerusalem state on Earth So that though this Vision which is a Representation of the glory of the God of Israel in his Spiritual or Angelical Kingdom in the Dramatical frame of things is so contrived that the four and twenty crowned Elders and four Beasts prefigure also the Monarchs and People of the Millennium yet there are left numerous Quires of Angels in counterdistinction to these to signifie Angels literally so called and the Song is to signifie their Joy at this State of the Church on Earth Nor has that strong Angel that makes the Proclamation any other sense than so that he was one of the Angelical Retinue of the God of Israel in Heaven Nor is that Rule of interpreting Angels of men in the Apocalypse universally true I am sure not in the Introductory Visions The word Angel occurs in several places of the Introductory Visions where it stands for an Angel literally so called not for a man to say nothing of other places So little force has this ninth Allegation 10. And lastly for the tenth which urges That if there had been any such universal Doxology to Him that sits on the Throne and to the Lamb after he had taken the Book that there would have been some traces or footsteps of it in History To this I answer That it is a marvellous groundless conceit and expectation that what is here Parabolically and Dramatically set down only to express that Joy and Happiness which would redound to the whole Creation from Christ's being invested with this Power of opening the seven-sealed Book that is to be enabled both to foretel and guide the affairs of his Church so as that the state thereof will be so glorious and prosperous at last here upon Earth that all the World will be convinced of his stupendious Foresight Wisdom and Power that therefore there shall be such an universal Te Deum sung to him throughout the whole Universe at once so that the Solemnity might be recorded in History This is not the meaning of the Prophetick Stile And besides if it were the time is not yet come when this is to be For such expressions as these can suit with no meaner State of the Church on the Earth than that of the Millennial Reign when the four and twenty Millennial Monarchs including both the Jewish and Gentile Sovereigns or Princes may seasonably sing this Song Thou hast redeemed us with thy blood and made us Kings and Priests and we shall reign upon Earth viz. in Christ's Millennial Empire But to expect Records of such a Doxology in History before the Doxology has been is a great Incongruity Wherefore I hope any indifferent eye may easily discern that notwithstanding all these ten Allegations my Exposition of this Vision comprized in the fourth and fifth Chapters of the Apocalypse is unexceptionably true CHAP. XXXV Three Objections from a considerate hand The first against our making the three Times and an Half the forty two months and twelve hundred and sixty days to be the same time The second against oun affirming the Euphratean Horsemen to have subdued the Eastern Roman Empire with Fire-Guns The last against our making the Aegyptian year to consist only of three hundred and sixty days in Arithmetica Apocalyptica but in Apocalypsis Apocalypseos of three hundred and sixty five with Answers to all three THE first Objection Every day in the forty two months signifying a year makes in the whole twelve hundred seventy seven years at least there being really in every year not three hundred and sixty but three hundred and sixty five days This seems to make the three Times and an Half or forty two months and twelve hundred and sixty days not to be the same Answ That the forty two months are Aegyptian Months and consist of just thirty days apiece is manifest in that thirty times forty two make just twelve hundred and sixty days And these days and those months are the time of the mourning of the Witnesses and of that which all along occasions their mourning viz. the outer Court being trodden down by the Gentiles which is a plain indication that the twelve hundred and sixty days are a note of no more nor less time than the forty two months and that therefore they must be Aegyptian Months And as it is plain that the months are Aegyptian so we must conceive that the years in the three Times and an Half are so many Aegyptian years and an half consisting of Aegyptian Months which therefore make each of them three hundred and sixty days See Rev. Chap. 12. v. 6 14. This is their solid Year consisting of so many months to which they add the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they are called the Dies adjectitii which are five which here the Spirit of Prophecy takes no notice of but resolving the forty two Aegyptian months which is three solid Aegyptian Years and an half into just twelve hundred and sixty days shows that no more years than so are to be understood thereby And this not respecting at all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or five adjectitious days in this Compute of the Time of the Medial Visions all which synchronize one with another complies excellently well with that Truth which I have made out viz. That the eventual measure of the Medial Visions is not a Year which has been thought hitherto so to be but a Semi-time in respect of which seventeen years or more is not at all considerable So that there was no need of being so precise as to take the Dies adjectitii into the Reckoning and so to make the whole twelve hundred and seventy seven years at least as you would infer Wherefore though every day in the forty two months stands for a year yet these months being Aegyptian months and consisting of just thirty days apiece and there is the
the just and honourable Revenues of it to shrink into the poor arbitrarious Pittances of either the appointment of the State or uncertain benevolence of the fickle People That Scene of things I say cannot but harden their hearts against listening to never so just a Reformation for the further enlargement of Christ's Kingdom and hazard the very Being of the Reformed Churches Whenas this way I wish may obtain would silence Atheism and Fanaticism at once and be the readiest means of bringing on those happy Times of the Church which God has promised and predicted by the mouth of his holy Prophets But this is the gross iniquity and madness of the Sectaries that they think so goodly and choicely every one of their own Party that they think it worth the while to hazard the safety of Reformed Christendom to support any how and keep up for the present the small freaks and conceits of their own self-chosen Way and Sect. Than which nothing can be conceived more enormous and outragious amongst the dealings of the Sons of men to bring into imminent danger so solemn and sacrosanct a Constitution as the Reformation for the Dreams and Opinions of private Spirits which no sober Christian would hazard for small indifferent dispensable things though they had the stamp of publick allowance upon them which it is and ought to be in the hand of the Sovereign Power to alter for the common good And verily this Fanatical distemper is so heinous and abominable that they that are on the right side ought to take heed how in the least shew they imitate it For a man may be factiously affected in a right Cause and bear an over-proportionated zeal for things of smaller concern out of an over-heightned Animosity against the present Sects to the hazarding the quiet settlement of the whole And if any one be so affected I appeal to the sober if he may not justly be reputed to play the Sectarian himself though it be against the Sectaries No such Cure for our Breaches and Wounds as the most profound Humility in all Parties and unfeigned mutual Love and Charity Of which Vertues or Graces whosoever is found destitute let him call himself of whatever denomination Christian as loud as he please be has really in him not one spark of saving Christianity This or to this sense at least and most what in the very same words I wrote and published about two or three years ago to fence Peoples minds from Popery and reclaim them from Schism and perswade them to adhere to the ancient Primitive Church according to which our English Church is reformed and whose Principles she professes and hath ever practised as to the point of the Primitive Christians their not resisting the Sovereign Power though with undaunted Courage they professed the Truth of Christianity against the Vanities and Idolatries of Paganism and now for its present seasonableness and usefulness I have here transcribed it if the sincere vehemence wherewith I writ it may but have a suitable effect for the perswading the Sectaries to leave off their Schism and reconcile themselves to the Church of England Whereby besides the Purity and Decency of Divine Worship and soundness in the Faith Loyalty and Monarchy may be secured and they become good Christians and good Subjects at once Thus much I thought fit to write by way of Preface to intimate the more particular Usefulness of this present Treatise Other things are taken notice of in the Introduction in which then I was not aware that I should have so much to do with those affected Rationalists who pretend that Prophecies especially those of Daniel and the Apocalypse are utterly unintelligible In which conceit though they may applaud themselves as more special Admirers of dry Reason yet I cannot see how their Opinion can well comport with serious Piety and a sound Mind For in their thus oddly adhering to their imagined Reason in this thing they point-blank contradict the Scripture which declares Dan. 12. That the wicked indeed shall not understand but the wise shall understand And that is but a sorry Triumph of Reason that is pretended to be over true Wisdom And then for the Apocalypse let us but consider what Pomp and Applause the Communication of the Visions of the Book-Prophecy to our Saviour from his Father is set out by Apoc. Chap. V. and then judge of the unreasonableness of this Imputation of Unintelligibleness And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the Throne a Book written within and on the back-side sealed with seven Seals And I saw a strong Angel proclaiming with a loud voice Who is worthy to open the Book and to loose the Seals thereof And no man in Heaven nor in Earth nor under the Earth was able to open the Book neither to look thereon And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the Book neither to look thereon But at last the slain Lamb v. 7. came and took the Book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the Throne and thereupon the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders fall down before the Lamb and to their Harps chant out this new Song v. 9. Thou art worthy to take the Book and open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God c. And immediately upon this v. 11. there is heard the voice of many Angels about the Throne even of ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice Worthy is the Lamb that was slain c. Let us therefore in the fear of God consider not only how ridiculous but how blasphemous a thing it is to think that this pompous Introduction than which nothing can be contrived more highly solemn and pompous should be to a Book of Prophecies that are utterly unintelligible As if the incarnate Wisdom did not only sport with the Children of men but delude and mock them What can be conceived more horrid and impious Wherefore without doubt the Visions of the Book-Prophecy are clearly intelligible And for the Epistolar Prophecy the Epistles to the seven Churches that they are also clearly intelligible may appear from the Introductory Vision there also For Christ in his Pontifical Habit there dictates them And therefore they are as so many Oracles given out from the Urim and Thummim of our High-Priest Christ Jesus which the Seventy interpret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is clear declaration and certain Truth in counterdistinction to the obscure and ambiguous Answers of the Heathen Oracles and the Uncertainty of their Event And this is an Argument for the Intelligibleness and Truth of the whole Book of the Apocalypse it being all the Revelation of Jesus Christ the true High-Priest with his Urim and Thummim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clear Declaration to them that understand the Prophetick Stile Synchronism and History and such as will be accompanied with Truth and certainty of Event
Jerusalem is here upon Earth To the third I say That that high expression of the Heaven and Earth flying away or vanishing from the face of him that sate upon the Throne and that there was found no place for them is only to set out the exceeding great Glory of him that sate upon the Throne that they could neither see Earth nor the Azure Sky their eyes being so filled and taken up with the great resplendency and brightness of that light But the real stress of the Argument if there be any in it is That there is a new Heaven and a new Earth after the Conflagration which accompanies the last Judgment mentioned in the beginning of the ensuing Chapter But from what has been faid to the second Argument it is apparent that it is a mere Lemmatosynechia that is the continuing together of the Visions in the outward Cortex of the Apocalypse as if that were the very order of time in the things they prefigure when it is quite otherwise in the true sense of the Visions This is one part of the artifice of Concealment affected by the Apocalypse of which there are many instances As that Chap. 4.1 where after the Vision of the seven Churches John is bid to come up that he might be shown what things must come to pass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after these things Which Lemmatosynechia has so imposed upon some otherwise learned and of notable parts that they have joined the beginning of the sealed Book-Prophecy with the ending of the affairs of Laodicea That also seems to be a Lemmatosynechia Chap. 13.14 where the two-horned Beast is said to make an Image to the Beast that had the wound by the Sword and did live as if the ten-horned Beast in the immediately foregoing Vision were meant which is a glib correspondency in the Cortex when the inward sense is otherwise But there is not a more elegant Lemmatosynechia than that Chap. 11.9 where the three days and an half of the Witnesses being dead are immediately placed after the twelve hundred and sixty days of their mournful prophesying when yet the three days and an half are the same time or Synchronal to the twelve hundred and sixty days as I have elsewhere proved by impregnable Arguments I will only add one instance more Chap. 16. v. 18 19. where the City is said to be divided into three parts upon the Earthquake there mentioned whenas that Tripartition of the City was before but it is a very smooth and trim Lemmatosynechia in the Cortex And such a Lemmatosynechia is this in naming a New Heaven and a New Earth immediately after the Conflagration which is a wonderful smooth connexion in the Cortex when yet in truth this New Heaven and New Earth is a Political Heaven and Earth answering to that of Isaiah Chap. 65.17 and created in the beginning of the Millennium This is the promised New Heaven and New Earth mentioned by S. Peter alluding to that of Isaiah wherein dwelleth righteousness whenas the Polity of Babylon was full of persecution injustice and blood Wherefore Alcazar being not aware of this usual Artifice of Concealment intended in the Apocalypse which I call Lemmatosynechia has produced that for a strong Argument which the matter rightly understood has no strength in it at all To his fourth I answer That we are both agreed in this that the 7. and 8. verses of Chap. 21. respect the state of men to come after the Day of Judgment the Lake of fire and the Inheritance of Heaven For I declare in my Exposition That from the second verse to the ninth is a brief description of the affairs of the Church from the second Thunder to the last or to the end of the World to the last Reward of the Godly and Punishment of the Wicked But as after a brief mention of the destruction of Babylon Chap. 16. v. 19. there is a large description of her and her destruction in the two following Chapters 17. and 18. so here after a brief intimation of the emersion of the New Jerusalem into being there is a full and glorious Description thereof from the ninth verse of this 21. Chapter to the sixth of the next And I may here further add that as in the foregoing Chapter v. 9 10. the Conflagration is glanced at in the destruction of Gog and Magog by fire who besieged the holy City but the Judgment of the wicked and fiery Lake or Conflagration more fully prosecuted from v. 11. to the end of the Chapter So here after the brief mentioning of the state of the New Jerusalem in the five first verses it is more fully described from the ninth verse to the end of this Chapter and some part of the next So small force has this fourth Argument to infer that these descriptions of the New Jerusalem belong to the state of the Church in Heaven The fifth Argument makes a pretty show but it is grounded upon a gross mistake as if the twelve thousand furlongs were the side of the Square Area of the New Jerusalem whenas it is a solid Number whose Cubick root multiplied by four gives the same Perimeter in a manner that Ezekiel's four thousand five hundred multiplied into four do give that is eighteen thousand not Reeds but Cubits as both Gaspar Sanctius and Villalpandus conceive them to be both of them learned and industrious Commentators upon Ezekiel By which solid account the seeming force of this fifth Argument quite vanisheth See Mr. Potter's Interpretation of the Number 666. Chap. 5. And the Equality of Perimeters of the Square Area of Ezekiel's and S. John's Cities supposing the solid measure of S. John's City to be twelve thousand furlongs as the Text it self seems to intimate and he measured the City with a Reed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all twelve thousand furlongs and he presently thereupon adding the length breadth and height of it are equal implies they are solid furlongs this Equality I say added to the twelve Gates in each City twelve Tribes the River and the Trees and Fruit is a plain Argument that S. John's City and Ezekiel's are Figures of the same thing and Ezekiel's being of the State of the Church on Earth S. John's must be so also And now for his sixth Argument from I saw no Temple there It consists very well with the state of the Church in those best and most glorious times thereof in the Millennial Reign of Christ which the Cabbalists also call the Reign of the Spirit when God will find in abundance such Worshippers as he seeks for viz. such as shall worship him in Spirit and in Truth And this passage seems inserted on purpose to be a Key to the Jews that will then be converted how to understand Ezekiel's Prophecy of the same state of the Church by the City he describes and makes so much to do with the Temple and Rituals thereof they will by this Note understand that it is an Hylastick Parable
observe that the event of that War is an actual but partial overthrow of the Beast or Babylon called the great City as is manifest from Chap. 11. v. 11 12 13. unto which answers the actual Fall of Babylon in the second Vision Which must needs be Actual else the Angel would speak an untruth in saying Babylon is fallen is fallen Chap. 14. v. 8. and but partial because it both answers to that in the first Vision and precedes the seventh Vial in the second before which the full and final overthrow of Babylon is not And whereas Prophecy is anticipatory History and yet no actual success of the forty two months War but this Fall of Babylon is prefigured in this second Vision it is plain that this is the success thereof and immediately before menaced by the first Angel declaring the Judgments of God against the Idolatrous Bestians and therefore the very same with the partial Fall of the great City and the Rising of the Witnesses in the first Vision which was in the last Half-Day of the three days and an half or in the last Half-Time of the three times and an half Whence the Fall of Babylon the Angel brings news of must be so too and not before because the upshot of that War also was not till then We see therefore what a perfect Correspondency the middle parts of the two Visions which parts are terminated in the success of the Beast's War with the Saints or Witnesses have one with another Thirdly therefore Forasmuch as the Fall of Babylon in the second Vision is the same with the Fall of the great City and Rising of the Witnesses in the first and this latter viz. the Fall of the City and the Rising of the Witnesses is just at the close of the sixth Trumpet the former must be so too viz. the Fall of Babylon must be at the close of the sixth Trumpet also and the third or remaining part of each Vision must be after the sixth Trumpet for the same reason Fourthly Forasmuch as this Fall of Babylon and Rising of the Witnesses is an ample object of Joy and Thanksgiving to the Evangelici the Witnesses and sealed Souldiers of the Lamb against whom the Beast warred and was too hard for them all along though they held out through Patience and Faith and Hope of promised success at last Chap. 13. v. 9 10. these being encouraged as well as the Bestians menaced by the first Angel therefore as there is a joyful Message by the second Angel of the actual Fall of Babylon in the second Vision Chap. 14. v. 8. so it is impossible but those Acclamations in Heaven and Doxology of the Elders Chap. 11. v. 15 16 17. should respect the partial but actual Fall of the City and Rising of the Witnesses it being so ample an Object of those joyful Acclamations and of that thankful Doxology and there being nothing betwixt but the graceful ushering them in with the sound of the seventh Trumpet For though they may glance at more enlarged hopes of future Accessions yet the principal Object and Occasion of this Thanksgiving is the actual Rising of the Witnesses For were it not so this signal Providence and illustrious Victory would be without any Doxology or Thanksgiving which is grosly absurd that there should be no shout nor sign of Joy at such a surprizing Providence as this namely at the reviving of the two Witnesses when they had lyen slain three days and an half in the streets of the City nor at their ascending in a Cloud into Heaven in the view of all the people the tenth part of their City who slew them falling in the mean time by an Earthquake and many thousands of their Enemies buried in the Ruines How incredible how unsuitable a thing is it that so happy a Catastrophe of the Witnesses sufferings as this should pass without a Plaudite Therefore it is a sensless thing not to make the Rising of the Witnesses and the Fall of the City the Object of those Acclamations and of the Doxology of the Elders and contrary to the usual Mode of the Apocalypse that ever closeth the good success of the Church with some indications of Joy and Thankfulness as Chap. 12. v. 10 12. Chap. 19. v. 1. and again v. 21. which concludes with a Feast of Joy and Thanksgiving for the Victory of the Rider of the white Horse Wherefore it is abundantly plain that those Acclamations and the Elders Doxology respect this event of the Rising of the Witnesses And is yet further manifest from that passage in the Doxology it self v. 27. where thanks is given to God Almighty because he has taken to him his great Power and hath reigned viz. in that Fall of the great City and Rising of the Witnesses in this he resumed a considerable part of his Kingdom which Antichrist had usurped But if it respect not this the very Assertion is false and Thanks is given for nothing Fifthly therefore We being so well assured that the partial Fall of Babylon and Rising of the Witnesses is the Object of the joyful Annunciation of the second Angel Chap. 14. and of the Doxology of the Elders Chap. 11. and meeting in the very next Vision to these viz. that of the Vials with a Song prefixt thereto of Praise and Thanksgiving by the Victos over the Beast for an actual but partial Victory such as that was over him in the two foregoing Visions and this in this Song discovers it self to be actual because it is said therein Chap. 15. v. 4. For thy judgments are made manifest viz. in that late Fall of Babylon and yet the Victory implied in this Song is but partial because the Song is prefixt before the Vials which are to bring to pass the full and final ruine thereof and there being no precedent actual and partial Victory but this in the Fall of the City and Rising of the Witnesses which may be the Object of this Song of Thanksgiving like that of Moses upon the Overthrow of Pharaoh at the Red Sea it is impossible but this Song must be to the same effect with the Doxology of the Elders and synchronize with it Sixthly therefore It is as clear as Noon-day that that Doxology of the Elders immediately following the sixth Trumpet this Song of Moses and the Lamb must immediately follow the sixth Trumpet And now Seventhly and lastly All the Vials following the Song of Moses and the Lamb it is apparent that they all follow the sixth Trumpet and the Rising of the Witnesses and consequently there being no part of the two first Visions of the Opened Book which begin from one Epocha and end with the seventh Vial which prefigures that notable and indeed stupendious Atchievement of Providence which therefore cannot but be predicted within this space in causing so many Provinces Principalities Nations and Kingdoms to cast off the Pope in the late Reformation begun by Luther unless this of the partial Fall of Babylon and
would have it by this very Vision But the mistake of this Opinion I shall manifestly discover in the following Chapter The next thing I will consider here is this Whether the Vial-Angels received their Vials before or after the Song of Moses and the Lamb Chap. 15. That they received them after any one may be well assured that observes First That one continued Vision is divided sometimes into several Chapters As the Introductory Vision to the Sealed Book-Prophecy Chap. 4 and 5. as also that one Vision comprized in the 12.13 and 14. Chapters Which answers to that contained in the eleventh Secondly That in like manner the Vision of the vial-Vial-Angels is contained in the 15. and 16. Chapters Thirdly That to so large a Vision the first verse of Chap. 15. And I saw another sign in Heaven great and wonderful seven Angels having the seven last Plagues c. is but the general Title thereof and the Vials are not so much as mentioned in this Title Fourthly That before he falls upon the Vision it self there is an Introduction thereto a kind of Dramatical Interlude which is not as in ordinary Plays merely for delight but for some weighty instruction else there can be no sense of clapping it immediately after the summary Title of this Vision What then can it be but to intimate that the Order of the Vials is to be after this Song of Moses and the Lamb. Wherefore it being said v. 5. After that that is after the singing of this Song I looked and behold c. viz. After this the seven Vial-Angels came out of the Temple having the seven Plagues but not yet said to have the Vials but immediately to receive them of one of the four Beasts and in the beginning of the next Chapter bid to pour them on the Earth If the sense of this express order of things be not that the Angels received their Vials after the Song of Moses and the Lamb we cannot be assured of the certain sense of any passage of the Apocalypse nor of the whole Bible no nor of any Writing whatsoever Insomuch that I have been amazed that it ever came into any mans mind to think otherwise A third thing is What the adequate Visum is of the sixth Trumpet i. e. what affairs in the World or Church are noted to fall out during the sounding of that Trumpet To which I answer That it is that which is set down Chap. 9. from v. 13. to the end of the Chapter Whereby is signified the Over-running of the Eastern Empire and the Church by the Turks with the possessing themselves of Constantinople and the general Impenitency of the Western Church and Empire notwithstanding this notorious Judgment of God upon the Eastern Which latter part is fully exprest v. 20 21. And the rest of the men that were not killed with these Plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship Daemons and Idols of Gold and Silver and Brass and Stone c. Neither repented they of their Murders nor of their Sorceries nor of their Fornication nor of their Thefts That this is the adequate object of the Vision of the sixth Trumpet I conceive is plain from hence First That immediately after this instead of the Angel of the sixth Trumpet that sounded steps in a mighty Angel to roar out the next Interval the last of the seven divided also into seven Thunders as the seventh Seal into seven Trumpets Secondly Because if this be not the precise Visum or Object of the Vision of the sixth Trumpet there will be no stop till you come to the 14. verse of Chap. 11. The second we is past c. Which is the most outragious wild thing to be conceived as can be the Vision of the Witnesses in sackcloth running up as high as the first Trumpet to say nothing of the measuring the Court of the Temple and Altar And thirdly and lastly which nicks the business methinks marvellously well The Rising of the Witnesses and Fall of the City is a Prophecy of a considerable Reformation that is of the Repentance of a considerable part of the Western Church and Empire or of their ceasing to be impenitent which was the latter part of the Visum of the sixth Trumpet Wherefore immediately upon this Rising of the Witnesses and Fall of the City that is upon the ceasing of that general Impenitency it being said the second Wo is past it is manifest that the Turks over-running the Eastern Empire and the general Impenitency of the Western thereupon was the adequate Visum of the sixth Trumpet And these three Points respect the foregoing Chapter There are three Points behind that have no such reference The first is what may be the full meaning of the Lamb 's being found worthy to open the Seals of the Seven-sealed Book For the fulness of this meaning being rightly understood we shall therewithal better discern how well the Doxologies of the four Beasts and twenty four Elders and after of those numerous Quires of Angels and indeed of the whole Creation in this Dramatical Theatre in Heaven are made to prefigure the Joy and Rejoycing which will be in the blessed Millennium on Earth when the Power given to the Lamb of opening the Seals shall have that glorious effect in introducing those times of the New Jerusalem which these Angelical Actors on an Heavenly Stage are made to prefigure in the sight and hearing of S. John after his being caught up into Heaven in his Divine Rapture mentioned Chap. 4. v. 2. Wherefore in brief I conceive that the Lamb 's receiving the Book and therewith a power of opening the Seals implies these two things The first is the representing to John by way of Prophetical Vision the state of the Church and of the World so far forth as the Church is concerned in the affairs thereof through a long Series of time to the end of all even to the very Conflagration That this is one meaning of this power of opening the Seals is plain from Chap. 6. v. 1 3 5 7 9 12. and Chap. 8.1 in which seven places the Lamb is said orderly to open the Seals one after another and upon the opening each Seal a Prophetick Vision follows Whence it is manifest that his Power of opening the seven Seals is the Power of imparting this whole Book of Visions to his Servant John For at the Opening of the seventh Seal all the whole Book of the Prophetick Visions was opened as is to be understood from the frame of the Book above described But now forasmuch as the truly opening of the Seals would not be absolutely put into the hand of Christ unless he had also Power given from him that sits on the Throne to guide the affairs of this sublunary World so as that he might bring to pass by permission or impulsion and positive motion the things that are prefigured For the Effect brought to pass both argues the truth and
sound Off-spring this with Peacefulness will cause Populousness And for Plenty which depends upon the Clouds and timely and seasonable Showres they have ever been and will be at the Command of the invisible Powers in the Air. So that that will be no insititious Change in the Natural World but the effects of free Actions in those invisible Agents But that indeed of Isaiah Chap. 65.20 if not fitly interpreted may seem to argue a Change of things more than what depends upon what is Free and Moral For after God had promised he would create a new Heaven and a new Earth v. 17. he adds a little afterwards That there shall be no more thence an Infant of days nor an Old man that has not filled his days For the Child shall dye an hundred years old but the Sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed Here the Child dying an hundred years old to the heedless may import that they shall be more longaevous then than the Patriarchs before the Floud an Hundred being to a Thousand as Seven the Age of a Child to Seventy which would imply a strange Change in the Natural World indeed But to give W. A. his due he has pitched upon the most likely sense of this Verse viz. That there shall no Child ordinarily dye by any untimely death nor an Old man that has not lived so long as in the course of Nature he might well reach That the space from Childhood to old Age shall ordinarily be an hundred years c. But I deny that this argues any more than what depends upon a Divine Morality or real Regeneration in their Parents who will transmit a sound and wholesom constitution to their Posterity Which if any one of them do not improve to the like Vertue and Piety and yet by the Benefit of their Constitution live an hundred years content mainly with the things of the Animal life such a Sinner as this notwithstanding his Longaevity is accursed both because he for the present deprives himself of the enjoyments of the Divine life and must expect also but a bad Reception when he dyes into the other State The next Text of moment which he urges is Rom. 8.21 The Creature it self also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Children of God Which he would have to argue that there will be a Change of the World Natural in the blessed Millennium as well as in the World Moral he supposing that Creature there signifies the whole sublunary Creation at least And the Apostle v. 22. says For we know that the whole Creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now Where the whole Creation is the same with the Creature it self not Christians quatenus Christians but the very Creature or Creature it self groaneth and is in pain But then it is to be understood as Dr. Hammond also will have it of the whole Humane Creature which he makes out rationally and judiciously And what Creatures but humane or Men can expect to be delivered into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God This therefore does not respect the Jerusalem-state of the Church here on Earth but the State of the Resurrection For then only will this deliverance from the bondage of Corruption be and the attainment of the freedom of the Sons of God which is the Title of the Angels For then in our incorruptible glorified bodies we shall become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal to the Angels And this is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is mentioned v. 23. which we groan after and wait for viz. the redemption of our bodies that they may be glorified and made Angelical such as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have the Angels or Sons of God as is declared in the Answer to S. E. Something like this Text is that alledged out of the Acts Chap. 3.21 where S. Peter speaking of our blessed Saviour saith Whom the Heaven must receive until the Times of Restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world began W. A. to give him his due manages this Text ingeniously enough to his present purpose upon supposition that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were to be rendred as our English Translation renders it Restitution implying thereby Restauration or Renovation But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a completed Circuit or Period properly relating to Astronomical Revolutions It signifies also the effecting of a thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore signifies either the Periodical Times that is to say the Times brought to a Period or the Times of effecting of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of his holy Prophets Which easie sense implies no such Change in the World Natural in the Millennium as our Author would deduce therefrom And this is not my sense only on the Text but Grotius his also or something in him near akin to it As for that Isai 66.22 For as the Heavens and Earth which I will make shall remain before me saith the Lord so shall your seed and your name remain This Heaven and Earth as that Chap. 65.17 is a Political Heaven and Earth that Divine Polity which will constitute the New Jerusalem-state of the Church in which the Jews or Israelites will have a portion as long as that Polity stands which is to the end of all But I have made so much haste that I have omitted a prime Text alledged by this ingenious Author Isai Chap. 65. The Wolf and the Lamb shall feed together and the Lion shall eat straw like the Bullock and dust shall be the Serpents meat they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain saith the Lord. And a fuller description to the same purpose there is Chap. 11. which he produces to prove that there will be a Change in the World Natural in the Millennium as well as in the Moral World he urging the literal sense of these places for these three Reasons following First Because the Wolf and Lamb the Lion and Bullock are supposed to retain their Original proper Natures still For if not then the Wolf would become a Lamb and the Lion a Bullock and then in the mystical sense which he opposes it would only be that the Lamb and the Lamb would feed together and the Bullock eat straw like other Bullocks The second Reason is That we cannot well imagine for what other purpose that saying The Lion shall eat straw like an Ox should be added but only to give some account how those Creatures shall live and how they shall be fed when they shall cease to prey upon other living Creatures Which implies that the sense is literal The third is Because it is further added That dust shall be the Serpent's meat which further confirms the foregoing Reason as if the Prophet did persist in instructing us how these Creatures when their noxious properties are taken away shall feed and sustain themselves Nor
from the Order of the Apocalypse which having set down at the end of the preceding Chapter a description of the Day of Judgment and punishment of the Wicked it necessarily follows that in the next place should be set down a description of the everlasting glory and happiness of the Elect in Heaven The third is from that it is said Chap. 20. v. 11. That the Heaven and the Earth fled away from the face of him that sat upon the white Throne and there was found no place for them and this to have been in the last day of Judgment Wherefore the New Heaven and the New Earth mentioned in the beginning of the next Chapter forasmuch as the Universe cannot be without an Heaven and Earth must be the renewed Heaven and Earth after the Day of Judgment in which the glorified Saints enjoy themselves in their Heavenly state which is called the New Jerusalem The fourth is taken from Chap. 21.7 8. He that overcometh shall inherit all things but the fearful and unbelieving c. shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death Whence says he it is manifest that it is the Heavenly Bliss that is here promised to the Victor and that this Jerusalem therefore is a state in Heaven not on Earth Fifthly The side of the Square Area of Ezekiel's City by which the Church Militant is prefigured is but four thousand five hundred reeds or forty five furlongs but the side of the Square of the Area of the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse is extended unto twelve thousand furlongs which makes the Area of the New Jerusalem seventy one thousand and an hundred and eleven times bigger than the Area of Ezekiel's City and therefore Ezekiel's City being the Church Militant this New Jerusalem by reason of the vast difference in their capaciousnesses and S. John's City containing not the Elect of some one time but of all Ages must needs be the Church Triumphant Sixthly Those words I saw no Temple there imply That this description of the New Jerusalem is not of the Church Militant but Triumphant For the Church Militant is not without Temples Seventhly and lastly In that it is said There is no Night no Death no Pain no Curse That without are Dogs c. And that the Inhabitants of this City shall always enjoy the sight of the Face of God and the Lamb these are manifest indications that the state described is not of the Church Militant but Triumphant These are the notable Arguments of Alcazar which Pareus also applauds or approves as stiff in Alcazar's Opinion as himself But I shall answer them in order To the first therefore I say That the true understanding of the Apocalypse being by Divine Providence reserved for these latter times as it is manifestly intimated in Daniel Chap. 12.9 As it is no disparagement for the ancient Fathers not to be knowing in matters which the Wisdom of God thought fit to conceal from them so it is no rudeness or injury to their Authority that it is not admitted in cases wherein they are no competent Judges They had not the advantage we have who have so much of the Prophecies of the Apocalypse so clearly fulfilled before our eyes the fulfilling of Prophecies being the most certain Key for the opening of them It is not likely that S. Austin understood that the Whore of Babylon is the Apostatized Church that great City or Polity Antichristian and Idolatrous that was to be destroy'd by the pouring out of the Vials upon the destruction whereof one of the Vial-Angels showed this City or Polity the New Jerusalem to John as that Power or Polity that was to succeed in the others room in which the Servants of God that adhered to the pure Gospel nor would submit to the Roman Superstitions and Idolatries were cruelly persecuted tortured and murdered many hundred thousands of them which could not be without the tears of them that were concerned These things I say S. Austin being ignorant of we may well excuse him for his confident mistake who if he had known them would have easily discerned the Speech to have been figurative when it is said there shall be no more death nor crying nor sorrow nor pain and that God will wipe all tears from their eyes viz. that by a Synecdoche generis those kinds of death sorrow pain crying and tears are pointed at that were caused by that Antichristian Polity that so barbarously persecuted the Saints of God that in this New Jerusalem state they should be free from these Which is an easie and obvious sense thus understood And indeed the observing that the description of the New Jerusalem is in opposition to the Polity of Babylon which it succeeds is a special Key for the rightly opening the meaning of the Description all along as may be observed in my Exposition thereof To the second I answer 1. That the Object of the opened Book-Prophecy of which the Description of the New Jerusalem is part is not the state of the Church in Heaven but the state thereof on Earth And therefore though a description of the state of the Church in Heaven would follow here handsomly yet it being quite Heterogeneous to the nature of this Prophecy we may be sure it is not here described but a state on Earth in the Millennium and that therefore there is a going back into those times in this Description the placing of the Visions being no certain Argument of the order of time they belong to as all know that know any thing in the Apocalypse Again That there is an holy and happy state of the Church of Christ in his Millennial Reign on Earth is plain and that that State or Polity opposite to the Polity or City of Babylon is no where so fully described as the Whore of Babylon is Chap. 17. is as plain Wherefore what can be more likely than that this City the New Jerusalem is described as a Polity opposite to the City of Babylon which was drunk with the blood of the Saints and the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus from which barbarous Persecutions the Saints are secured in this New Jerusalem state Whence it is said There shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying but that God will wipe all tears from their eyes c. Chap. 21.4 Thirdly Those many passages noted in my Exposition of this Description of the New Jerusalem which is needless here to repeat plainly demonstrate it to be a description of the state of the Church on Earth And lastly The vial-Vial-Angel the last doubtless as being nearest to this time that shews John the Bride the Lamb's Wife in opposition to the bloody Whore of Babylon destroy'd by him under the seventh Vial how naturally does his showing John the City New Jerusalem upon his having destroy'd the City of Babylon imply that he shows him that Polity that is to succeed that of Babylon and that therefore this New