and night in his Temple ever thankfully mindfull of the Evil they are delivered from and the great good they enjoy In vertue of the former sufferings of the true Apostolick Church under the Antichristian Tyranny shall the Church in these dayes here described enjoy peaceably their Religion and make their addresses to God continually in safety in his Holy Church which is his Temple And he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them For these are the times of Iehovah Shammah Of the Tabernacle of God amongst Men the times of the New Ierusalem 16. They shall hunger no more nor thirst any more They shall not be false-fed nor hunger-starved by deceitful Teachers that cannot impart to them the bread of Life nor raise the Spirit of Life in them by their Ministry as being devoid of it themselves whereby their thirst may be satisfied Neither wall any Sun light on them nor any heat There shall no Political Power whatsoever tyrannize over their consciences and by their persecution force them as was usuall under Antichrist to a sapless senseless heartless nay grosly Superstitious and Idolatrous Religion against their own judgement and inward sense of things 17. For the Lamb that is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters that is Christ himself by his Spirit and by true Spiritual Guides and Governours to whom he has communicated his Spirit shall feed them that is guide and govern them and shall lead them unto Living Fountains of waters shall conduct them into and guide them in the Dispensation of Life the renovation of their inward Man into the Living Image of God And God shall wipe all tears from their eyes They shall be no more calamitous by the wrongs and persecutions of bloody Tyrants whether Spiritual or Temporal For the true Apostolick Church shall then be an impregnable City or Polity of it self the New Ierusalem as it is described in the 21 Chapter of the Apocalypse This is the sense of this transition from the six first Seals to the opening of the last and reaches from the beginning of the corrupt part of the Pergamenian Interval to the end of the Laodicean NOTES CHAPTER VII Vers. 2. One of whose Titles is the East This is D r Hammonds sense upon the place and it is I think not only ingenious but true For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the East is with the Cabbalists the Eternal Wisdom of God that is the Eternal Word which is Christ. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the very word in the Text the same that occurrs Luke 1. vers 78. whereby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Day-spring from on high has visited us which is there understood of Christ as also Zachar. 3.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and chap. 6.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecce vir Oriens nomen ejus And Jerem. 23.5 he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also chap. 33.14 All which places not only the Christians but the Iews understood of the Messias So plain is it that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Oriens the East or Day-spring is a Name or Title of Christ. And though in those places of the Old Testament it is translated Germen a Branch as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most ordinarily signifies yet being it may also signifie light or shining and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in what sense soever is a Title of Christ and yet does usually signifie the East that the word here may be allusively used to signifie Christ is to me abundantly rational See Doctor Hammond upon Luk. 1. v. 78. CHAPTER VIII 1. ANd when he had opened the seventh Seal there was silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour This is spoken in allusion to the custome in the service of the Temple where though in the former part of their Service while the Sacrifices were offered the Temple rang again with their loud Musick yet in the time of Incense all were silent and in their tacit devotions 2. And I saw seven Angels which stood before God and to them were given seven Trumpets This he saw during this silence or at the beginning thereof 3. And another Angel came and stood at the Altar having a golden Censer and there was given unto him much Incense that he should offer it with the prayers of the Saints upon the golden Altar which was before the Throne Things thus represented in Heaven prefigure things here on Earth and these Ceremonies of the Temple the Devotions of the Christians whose prayers are here represented as coming up in remembrance before God Which is expressed in this Judaical way or Ceremony of the Temple by the giving to this Angel as to a Priest much Incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar which was before the Throne answering to the Altar of Incense overlaid with Gold that stood before the Sanctum Sanctorum 4. And the smoke of the Incense which came with the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand that is the desire of the true Church who are of one mind with God ascended up before God as Incense out of a Priests hand and was known and accepted with him Their prayers in all likelihood were in general for the preservation of the Church and suppression of both the old and new growing abominations of the Empire 5. And to the end that you may know what the will of God was in order hereunto it is further added And the Angel took the Censer and filled it with the fire of the Altar and cast it into the Earth and there were voices and thundrings and lightnings and an earthquake Which things betoken the wrath of God to be poured upon the bloody persecuting Roman Empire against whom the souls of the slain under the Altar had called for vengeance chap. 6.10 The great tempests and commotions that should befall it are thus expressed in the general and as an effect of the foregoing groans and cryes of his aggrieved people 6. And the seven Angels that had the seven Trumpets prepared themselves to sound And therefore those Tempests and Calamities will now more particularly be described in the several soundings of those Angels that have the seven Trumpets 7. So the first Angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood that is a thundring hail-storm with fire whereby is signified the furious Invasion of the Barbarians into the Empire And the mention of blood seems on purpose to be added that there may be no mistake as if this storm was to be upon trees and grass and not upon men though it follows And they were cast upon the earth and the third part of trees was burnt up and all green grass was burnt up Which the mention of blood shows not to be understood of earth trees and grass that bleed not but of the men of the
a foresight of things communicated to him from God as to endite such a Book of Prophecies as this 3. And no man in Heaven nor in Earth neither under the Earth was able to open the Book neither to look thereon And this proclamation being made there was none found neither of the Angels in Heaven or Men upon Earth or Infernal Spirits under the Earth who are vulgarly accounted so wise and cunning and in whom Witches and Wizards so confide for the knowledge of things to come that were able to open the Book or look thereon i. e. That had so reaching a foresight as to pierce through such a large series of future things as is contained in this Book which intimates that nothing but the holy Power of God could be the Author thereof 4. And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the Book neither to look thereon That is to say I was sorely grieved that there was none found meet or worthy to have imparted to him so stupendious a faculty of foretelling things to come in such a manner as they are in this Book So useful a gift of Prophecy Where Iohn personates every good Christian that is solicitous for the affairs of the Church and thoughtfull what will become of her 5. And one of the Elders saith to me wéep not Cease to be so grieved and troubled in spirit Behold the Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda the root of David hath prevailed to open the Book and to loose the seven Seals thereof Christ hath by his courageously fulfilling the will of his Father obtained this priviledge That he may open the Book and loose the Seals thereof that is to have so wonderfull a comprehension of future things and piercing foresight by the gift of his Father as to foresee all that is contained in this Book and to communicate it to his Church 6. And I beheld and lo in the midst of the Throne and of the four Beasts and in the midst of the Elders That is betwixt God the Father and the Church stood a Lamb as it had been slain and with bleeding wounds upon him the blessed Jesus Mediator betwixt God and Man as he is here placed betwixt the Throne and the four Beasts Having seven horns which are the Emblems of Power as being he to whom All Power is given in Heaven and in Earth And seven Eyes All manner of Wisdom and Counsel and all the Angels of God at his beck to execute his Counsel and his Will which is implied in what follows which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth unto all the Earth 7. And he came and took the Book out of the right hand of him that sate upon the Throne That is it was given to him of his Father to have so vast a foresight of things to come from the beginning of the Church even to the end of the World and Power to effect what was foreknown according to the beginning of this Book of the Apocalypse The Revelation of Iesus Christ which God gave unto him c. which shews that the whole Book of the Apocalypse the Epistles to the seven Churches as well as the Visions that follow is a Prophetical Revelation of things to come 8. The consideration of which wonderful Gift and Power signified by this receiving of the Book being made so exceeding manifest in the times of the Spiritual Reign of Christ in the New Ierusalem which Times this pompous Introduction to the Prophecy of the sealed Book does typifie For the four and twenty Elders belong to that state of the Church will raise a wonderful strain of Faith and Devotion in them and admiration of the stupendious Providence of Christ over his Church as it is signified by what follows And when he had taken the Book the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb having every one of them Harps and golden Uials full of Odours which are the praises and prayers of the Saints 9. And they sing a new Song saying And then will they sing a new Song namely they will then praise their Creator and Redeemer for that new constitution of things in the Reign of the Spirit as it is written Chap. 21. And he that sate upon the Throne said Behold I make all things new And he said straightway to Iohn It is done I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end I will give him that is a thirst of the fountain of life freely that is I will communicate unto him my Spirit here and make him partaker of Eternal Life hereafter in my heavenly Kingdom and they will say as follows Thou O Christ wert worthy to take the Book and open the seals thereof that is to have communicated unto thee so vast a comprehension of the futurity of things as is contained in this Book of Prophecies and Power to carry on things as they are predicted For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation This is but a just reward of thy endearing sufferings upon the Cross for the salvation of Mankind 10. And hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reign upon Earth In this blessed Millennium which thou hast long ago shown to thy Church in that admirable Book of Prophecies which by the Ministry of an Angel thou communicatest to thy beloved Disciple Iohn 11. And to show further how holy heavenly and Angelical those Times will be and what an Union and Agreement betwixt the Church of Christ and the Angelical Hosts it is further added And I beheld and I heard the voice of many Angels round about the Throne and the Beasts and the Elders which Beasts and Elders signifie the Church of Christ consisting of men upon the Earth And the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands 12. These innumerable companies of Angels joyn themselves to the Quire of the Church saying with a loud voice Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing as by whom the State of the Church is brought to such a blessed condition upon Earth according to the predictions of this Book of Prophecies Let all therefore be ascribed to him 13. Nay the completion of this Book of Prophecies in those Times will be such an Universal conviction of the Divinity and Sonship of Christ that he was really and in truth the foretold Messias the Beginner and Finisher of the Works of God to his Church that that will come to pass that follows And every Creature which is in Heaven and on the Earth and under the Earth and such as are in the Sea and all that are in them heard I saying Blessing Honour Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever All intelligent Beings and Spirits whether belonging
in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon both which words signifie a Destroyer which is a fit title he being a Captain of such numerous Troops that destroyed so many mens bodies by war and their souls by bringing a false Religion along with him contrary to Christianity reproaching it as if it maintained the worship of more Gods than One Which malicious pretense seems also to be glanced at in both the name of Abaddon and also of Apollyon Abaddon alluding to Adad as if it were Ab-Addon and Apollyon to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apollo both which names according to this allusion signifie ONE As if this Angel of the Abysse and his Locusts stood up for the worship of one God and that the Christians worshipped many because they worship the holy Trinity which nothing but their ignorance of the Mystery and their malice could make them conclude to be inconsistent with the Unity of the Deity Which passage therefore of the Vision is no small countenance to the Doctrine of the Trinity of the Godhead 12. One wo is past and behold there come two woes more hereafter namely under the sounding of the next two Trumpets which therefore as the former may well be called Wo-Trumpets 13. And the sixth Angel sounded and I heard voice from the four horns of the golden Altar which is before God For Iohn rapt thus into Heaven the Temple and the Throne of God was as it were continually represented to him and so the golden Altar which is the Altar of Incense And Incense is the Symbol of the prayers and breathing of the pure Apostolick Church oppressed and afflicted under that Antichristian or Pseudochristian and Idolatrous Constitution of things established by the second Nicene Council 14. Saying unto the sixth Angel that had the Trumpet Loose the four Angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates That is let loose the Turks upon the Idolatrous Empire For that Angels signifie Men under their conduct is a frequent Apocalyptical Figure And that the Turks are here meant is plain from those more notable four * Turkish Sultanies or Tetrarchies on that and this side of Euphrates that of Bagdad that of Caesarea Cappadocie or Iconii that of Aleppo and that of Damascus 15. And the four Angels were loosed which were prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year for to slay the third part of men Which term of time is another indication that the Turks are meant here For Togrulbec Prince of the Turks the City Bagdad being taken by him had his Imperial Robes put upon him and was inaugurated Emperour of the Turks by the Caliph Chaiim Biamrilla in the year 1057. From this time was the Turk invested in the Saracenical Empire And from this year to the year 1453 when Constantinople was taken and the remainder of the Roman Empire in the East utterly lost is a Prophetical day and a month and a year that is 396 years So notable an Indication is this that the Turks are here meant and the sense is this That these Turks were prepared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against a determined appointed time even to the expiration of 396 years for to slay the third part of men that is that about that time they might not vex only as the Saracens did but put an end to the Eastern Roman Empire For third is a character of the Roman Empire as I have already noted Which accordingly came to pass at the taking of Constantinople and swallowing thereupon the whole Roman Empire in the East 16. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand and I heard the number of them whereby I understood how exceeding numerous they were which is another note of their being Turks it being well known what vast Armies they bring into the field And this number does not signifie Arithmetically that is precisely that number but figuratively is put for a vast number in general and so vast that it could not be discovered by the eye so well as signified by speech And that there is no mention of Foot may be an allusion to their known name in Greek Historians who usually call them Persians which name signifies Horsemen which is another note of their being Turks 17. And thus I saw the Horses in vision and them that sate on them having breast-plates of fire and Iacinth of Iacinth that is of a blue colour and of Brimstone by reason that when they shot off the air betwixt them and the sight of the beholder seemed fiery at the flashing of the powder and then coloured with a blue smoke and after filled his nostrils with the scent of sulphur which shows that this Vision * belongs to the times since the Invention of Gunpowder And the heads of the horses were as the heads of Lions not for their shapes but for the roaring noise that seems to come from them at the riders discharging their Carbines or Pistols as what follows plainly intimates And out of their mouths issued fire smoke and brimstone 18. By these three was the third part of men killed that is the Roman Empire in the East was not only vexed and annoied but utterly subdued vanquished and destroyed by these Centaures as I may so call them the Turks who are called Persae in the Greek Historians from the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paras which signifies a man on horseback including both the shapes in one Appellation as if that Country bred such Monsters which are usually called Centaures Which Centaures here are set out still more monstrously as killing men by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone which issued out of their mouths as it may seem at a distance when they let off their Fireguns and Pistols 19. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails As in the Scorpio-Locusts before a monster made up of a Locust and of a Scorpion to signifie the Saracens so here is a Monster made up of a Horse and a Man a Centaure as it were to signifie the Turks and have tails whereby they are said to hurt men signifying the same venome or mischief of Mahometism The power of these Centaures is in their mouths and in their tails the Turks playing two parts viz. of a Warriour in the field discharging fire and shot against the Enemy and of a Religionist after the victory all their War according to their Alchoran being a kind of Holy War to propagate Mahometisme and Paradise is promised to them that dye in the Cause and therefore it is said For their tails were like unto Serpents and had heads and mouths too I warrant you to speak and tempt the vanquished as the Old Serpent did Eve from their obedience to God and his Christ and so with them they do hurt not only upon that false pretense as if we Christians were guilty of Polytheisme or of worshipping more gods than one because we profess the Trinity of the Godhead but
them that do these miraculous feats when any are done so that the sense is easie enough either way Not to add that by a just reproach to their worshipping of Saints and Angels they are said to worship Devils For who but a Devil would receive Religious Worship or at least to worship false Objects according to that of Psalm 98. v. 5. All the Gods of the Heathen are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the very word here in this verse And the Hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no gods but vain objects of worship called in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there being no true objects of worship but he that made the Heavens See my Synopsis Prophetica Book 2. cap. 10. And M r Mede 's Apostasie of the latter Times ch 3 and 4 CHAPTER X. THe Euphratean Horsemen having over-run and destroyed and fully seized on the Eastern part of the Roman Empire natural method will prompt us to expect that what follows in this Prophecy of the sealed Book should refer to the Western parts of the Empire and concern the highest Dominion there to wit the Bloody Idolatrous Papal Hierarchy that Antichrist that exalts himself above all that is called God or worshipped the Prophet Balaam Lord of the People and who had made the Secular Power a Balak an empty cypher or an Ahab that is wholly guided or directed by the Prophetess Iezebel So that this Papal Hierarchy in the West being in reality the Highest Power by Usurpation and the Antichrist exalting himself against Christ and above him we may rationally expect that the last Wo-trumpet which contains the residue of the Sealed-Book-Prophecy carries in it such things or alterations as tend to the downfall of Antichrist and restoring and enlarging the Kingdom of Christ in these parts of the Roman Empire and over the whole Earth And therefore accordingly it is said 1. And I saw another mighty Angel come down from Heaven one distinct from the seven Trumpet-Angels cloathed with a cloud that is clouds and darkness were round about him a thick cloud charged with thunder And a Rain-bow was on his head which betokens he came in the Glory of the Divinity even in the Glory of God the Father for the Rainbow in the Vision of Ezechiel so signifies And therefore this mighty and victorious Angel must be Christ and a further intimation hereof is from what follows And his face was as it were the Sun For so he appeared to Saul when he cryed out to him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me and such was his description when he appeared in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks And his feet as Pillars of fire as it were coming out of the cloud and reaching to the Earth which are tokens of the great wrath of the Son of God or Christ and his coming to judge and take vengeance of his Enemies His feet was as fine Brass in the Thyatirian Interval here they are like a Pillar of fire 2. And he had in his hand a little book open which contains all the Visions of the Prophecy of the opened Book as we at first noted And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the earth standing in that Majestick manner and laying claim to or seizing himself as it were on his right by Sea and Land See ch 12.9 ch 13.11 3. And cryed with a loud voice as when a Lion roareth which is another intimation that it is Christ the Lion of the Tribe of Iudah And who in this majestick posture and terrible roaring could so well be said to set himself against Antichrist or the Papal Hierarchy as Christ The Roman Empire Eastern and Western too was sorely vext and scourged by the Scorpio-Locusts the Saracens and Eastern quite destroyed after by those Euphratean Centaures the Turks But the Papal Empire or Hierarchy here in the West Christ himself with his Apostolical Legions of Reformed Christians will utterly demolish and destroy as it is elsewhere said of the Ten Horns or Kings that at last they shall hate the Whore make her desolate eat her flesh and burn her with fire This loud roaring therefore of this Lion of the Tribe of Iudah sets off in general the anger and victorious terrour of Christ in assaulting and overcoming the Kingdom of Antichrist or the Papal Hierarchy and glorious Erection of his own Kingdom These in general are the affairs of this last space of the Sealed-Book-Prophecy And whereas it is said when he cryed or while he cryed seven thunders uttered their voices This is a distribution of the aforesaid space into seven parts which will be very serviceable for the orderly disposing of the Visions of the Opened-Book-Prophecy These seven Thunders may be seven Bath-Cols that is seven Oracles or Voices delivered in the midst of a Thunder and the last Thunder which betokens the turning of the Earth into a Lake of Fire by thundering and Lightning might happily send out some such voice as this Go ye accursed into everlasting fire This is the doom of them that adhere to the bloody imposturous and Idolatrous Papal Hierarchy 4. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices I was about to write namely what they said And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Seal up those things that the seven thunders uttered with an allusion to this Sealed Book of Prophecies as if he should say Though the seventh Seal be opened yet as to this part thereof let it be as sealed again for it is needless here so particularly to declare things touching the destruction of the Papal Hierarchy which agrees very well with what follows according to the reading of the Biblia Regia Andreas and others And thou shalt write them hereafter not And write them not namely in the Opened-Book-Prophecies where these affairs of the destruction of Antichrist and of the advancement of Christs Kingdom shall be more fully and particularly delivered which is a marvellous manner of transition from the Sealed-Book-Prophecy to the Opened-Book-Prophecy and sutable to the usual majestickness of this Book of the Apocalypse 5. And the Angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven as using that usual Ceremony of posture in swearing 6. And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever who created heaven and the things that therein are and the earth and the things that therein are and the sea and the things that are therein This is a mighty and vehement asseveration but it is concerning a thing that sunk flesh and blood are too too incredulous of which makes Christ in his Epistle to the Church of the Laodicean Interval which includes his coming to judgment and his putting an end to the Scene of things here on Earth use as vehement asseveration as might be by calling himself the Amen the faithful and true Witness
is they were quite vanquished neither was their place found any more in Heaven 9. And the great Dragon was cast out that old Serpent with whom Christ had had no small combating long before called the Devil and Satan the reproacher and opposer of the Kingdom of Christ in all places and ages which deceiveth the whole world and seduceth them into false and idolatrous worship He was cast out into the earth and his Angels were cast out with him This appearance thus in Heaven signified the destruction of the Empire as Draconick and Idolatrous that none of that foul stamp should be in high places of the Empire but such as were professed Christians 10. And I heard a loud voice saying in Heaven Now is come salvation and strength and the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. This is contemporary to the affairs of the sixth Seal or rather with the close thereof and the commencement of the Pergamenian Interval For the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before God day and night What the Devil is said to do concerning Iob accuse him before God the Pagans are here understood to do before the Emperour and other Magistrates of the Empire to raise most wicked calumnies concerning the Christians objecting against them Thyaestean Suppers Incests Adultery promiscuous Lusts Murders Conspiracies against Princes Plagues Famine Mischiefs by Fire or what other calamity happened in the Empire 11. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb through the merits of Christ crucified on the Cross and by the word of their Testimony and spending their own blood also in way of Martyrdom For it is said And they loved not their lives unto the death This Verse makes it plain that the Battel that is said to be in Heaven denotes a Battel here on Earth betwixt the Christians and their Persecutors 12. Therefore rejoyce ye Heavens and ye that dwell in them Ye Angels and Holy Martyrs not without an intimation also to the Political Heaven in the Roman Empire to those in high Places and Offices under the Christian Emperour Wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth and of the Sea that is to the lower multitude For the Devil is come down unto you having great wrath and will stickle to do as much mischief as he can amongst you while he may because he knoweth that he hath but a short time For though the Great Ones of the Empire were turned Christians yet many of the Common People were still Pagans wherefore the Devil will find out a fetch to strengthen those in their Paganism and dissettle the other in their Christian Profession 13. And when the Dragon saw that he was cast unto the Earth and reduced to such a low base condition He persecuted the Woman which brought forth the Man-child An envious revengefull persecuting temper rose in him against her 14. And to the Woman were given two wings of a great Eagle that is by reason of the Roman Empire becoming Christian and now divided into two parts Eastern and Western and that the Eagle is the Ensign of the Roman Empire is notorious enough which these wings might represent she was in such a state that by a Prophetick Hypallage it might be said of her That she might fly into the Wilderness into her place that is the wilderness condition of the Church would come shortly upon her wherein she should by Divine Providence be ever safe from the red Pagan persecuting Dragon as it follows where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the face of the Serpent That is for three Prophetick years and an half which is seven Prophetical half years or semitimes which are the measures intended as seems to be insinuated by expressing the one thousand two hundred and sixty days vers 6. by a Time and Times and half a Time 15. But before the commencement of the Time as if he had a mind to overwhelm her before she could reach the appointed place it is said And the Serpent cast out of his mouth water as a stood after the Woman that is the water of Heresie and Contention that sore division of the Church by reason of that Heresie of Arianisme That he might cause her to be carried a way of the Flood That the Church which stood out the hottest persecutions with invincible valour against the red Dragon may now perish by the over-speading of Heresie and Intestine Division this furious controversie hardening the hearts of the unconverted people and staggering the converted in their Faith and Profession 16. And the Earth helped the Woman and the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the Dragon cast out of his mouth that is the Church was delivered from this overflowing Heresie and Dissension by the Decree of an Oecumenical Council viz. the first Nicene Council their opening their mouth in a Decree against Arianisme and condemning it for an Heresie was like the opening of the mouth of the Earth to a flood that presently sinks and never is seen any more Partly this real Analogie is alluded to and partly there may be an allusion to the title Oecumenical which is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which implies in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Earth For such gentle touches and glances at the signification of words are not unusual in the Prophetick stile 17. And the Dragon was wroth with the Woman and went to make war with the remnant of her Séed which kéep the Commandments of God The former wicked project failing the wrath of the Dragon was again incensed against the Woman viz. the Woman with the Crown of twelve Stars on her head and the Moon under her feet the pure Apostolick Church and went to make war with the remnant of her Seed those namely that she was to bring forth while she abides in the Wilderness which will approve themselves her genuine Off-spring by keeping the Commandments of God who forbids us making any graven Image to bow down to it or worship it and bids us worship serve and pray to himself alone And have the Testimony of Iesus Christ. For the Testimony of Jesus is the spirit of Prophecy in which sense the two Witnesses are said to prophecy as well as to witness The Testimony therefore of Jesus is to witness to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ not from mere custom or education because others have told us it is true but because we are assured of the truth thereof from the spirit of God and in virtue of the spirit of life in the new birth From this living Principle do these faithful Servants of Christ bear witness of the truth of his Word revealed in the Gospel and witness against the wicked inventions of an Apostatized Church and loath them and detest them For they are not dead vessels that will receive wholesome liquor and poyson alike but the Living Creation of God and therefore have an antipathy against all the
Apocalypsis Apocalypseos OR THE REVELATION OF S t JOHN the Divine unveiled CONTAINING A Brief but perspicuous and continued EXPOSITION From Chapter to Chapter and from Verse to Verse of the whole Book of the APOCALYPSE By HENRY MORE D. D. Ecclesiastic Chap. 39. He that giveth his mind to the Law of the most High and is occupied in the Meditation thereof will seek out the Wisdom of all the Ancient and be occupied in Prophecies Ezech. Chap. 43. vers 10. Thou Son of Man shew the House to the house of Israel that they may be ashamed of their Iniquities and let them measure the pattern LONDON Printed by I. M. for I. Martyn and W. Kettilby at the Bell and the Bishops-Head in S t Paul's Church-yard 1680. THE PREFACE TO THE READER READER THat thou mayest with better acceptance peruse my Exposition of this Book of Prophecies the Apocalypse I thought fit to say something by way of Preface First concerning the Book it self not only the Authentickness and Intelligibleness but also concerning the Excellency thereof Secondly concerning the grounds I go upon and the Truth of my Exposition And thirdly and lastly concerning the great Usefulness thereof That this Book is Canonical and of Divine Inspiration is confirmed by the Authority and Suffrage of the Church Universal both Roman and Reformed And though it had no external Confirmation the truth of Predictions in that large comprehension of things that it reacheth to and the holiness of that Spirit that breaths in it to any intelligent Reader will certainly prove it to be a Book Divinely inspired Not to add that the very Wit as I may so say and Artifice in it seems not to be Humane but Angelical It was indeed doubted of at first and the Authority thereof called into question but the occasion of questioning it was because it was in the hands of very few it being dangerous for the Christians to let this Book of the Apocalypse that does plainly predict as it might seem the burning of the City of Rome situated on seven Hills and having Rule then over the whole Earth so freely to go about as those others of the New Testament did And therefore this Book being so generally unknown when they began to determine what Books were Authentick and what not they might very well be at a loss concerning it Besides that Cerinthus and others overmuch Judaizing Christians who drew those things written of the first and second Resurrection and the New Jerusalem and the thousand years Reign of Christ to their Carnal Iudaical conceits made them more shie how they admitted this Book for Authentick Nay some as Gaius an ancient Author in Eusebius relate that Cerinthus the Chiliast was the writer of it Others who yet thought well of the Book that John the Presbyter a Disciple of the Apostle not John himself was the Author thereof The occasion of which might be as Grotius ingeniously conjectures because that John the Presbyter had the Book in his custody whence some out of mistake might deem him the Author thereof But by the Authority of the chiefest Fathers and upon a more narrow search and examination of the business it is now out of question with all Christian Churches that this Book of the Apocalypse is Authentick and Canonical and writ by John the Evangelist and Divine so called for his more plainly and peculiarly declaring the Divinity of Christ beyond any other of the Evangelists Now for the Intelligibleness of the Book Though there is a marvellous artifice of Concealment in it yet there is as sure an artifice of Revealment as I hope will appear by this our Exposition And why Prophecies should be obscurely writ and in what this obscurity consists I have sufficiently elsewhere declared The chief obscurity is in the Prophetick stile which when it is opened to a Man the sense will run clear As he that understands any other Language different from the Vulgar if the Book it is writ in be good sense he without difficulty will find it out And as it would be absurd in him that understands not that language to complain of the obscurity of the Book so it is as childish for him that will not take the pains which is not much to understand the Prophetick stile to complain of the obscurity of the Apocalypse But that it is intelligible all sorts of Christians Reformed and Unreformed have given their suffrage thereto in writing Commentaries upon it And it is no less than blasphemy against the Holy Ghost that inspired this Prophecy to say it is simply unintelligible as if Christ trifled with his Church in a thing so exceeding serious as this Book of Prophecies seems to be The Excellency whereof is notably set out if not also the necessity of reading and understanding it chap. 1. vers 3. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this Prophecy and keep those things that are written therein which they cannot do unless they understand them And so chap. 22. vers 7. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the Prophecy of this Book Which is chiefly performed by Faith and Constancy to the True Church of Christ against either the Dragon or Antichrist which he cannot do if these Prophecies were unintelligible nor can there any blessedness accrue to a man from reading a Book he understands not But the sayings thereof understood and kept being so effectual a way to blessedness it must needs argue the excellency of the Book But there is yet a further illustration of the Excellency thereof from what occurrs chap. 5. vers 2. which concerns the greatest part by far of this Book and that which some phansie the only Prophetical part thereof namely the Visions of the Sealed Book and of the Opened Book For what was contained in the Opened Book lay open by virtue of the breaking up of the Seals In that Chapter is the highest Encomium of this Book of Prophecies that the Wit and Rhetorick of men or Angels can invent or utter For first it is said vers 2. 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 neither under the Earth was able to open the Book neither to look thereon This therefore must be a most excellent and transcendent Book of Secrets and Predictions that neither Angels Men nor Infernal Spirits can reach to the knowledge of by virtue of their own faculties And then it follows And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and read the Book and to look thereon Which further argues that it is a Book not only of rare secrets and vast comprehensive Predictions but more than ordinary desirable if not necessary to be known And lastly when the Lion of the Tribe of Judah that is Christ the Lamb under another expression and figuration was found worthy and had taken the
Book what acclamations in Heaven were there thereupon For the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours which are the prayers of the Saints And they sung a new Song saying Thou art worthy to take the Book and open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood As if this priviledge of obtaining such a wonderful power of predicting things to come and communicating such a Book as this of the Apocalypse unto his Church were one special fruit of his Passion and the shedding his most precious blood upon the Cross. And therefore let them take heed that despise this Book of the Apocalypse so much and all endeavours to understand it aright that they be not found in the number of them that tread under-foot the Son of God even in those things for which he is the most highly admired and extolled by the blessed Saints and Angels which is the greatest slight and affront of him imaginable and count his precious blood shed upon the Cross whereby he procured this transcendent priviledge to himself and them of fore-knowing things that concern all Ages of his Church an unholy thing and do despite to the Spirit of Prophecy In the mean time this may at least excuse them that seriously and soberly endeavour rightly to understand the Visions of this Book from being reputed men less judicious or else very unfortunate to spend their time and labour on so mean and obscure an argument as this Book of the Apocalypse as some for want of judgement or good will have perstringed that excellently learned and pious person M r Joseph Mede But what a vast difference is there betwixt the Spirit of the holy Evangelist John and the great Spirits or Wits as they would be accounted of this Age He wept out of an eager desire of understanding the Prophecies of this Book they laugh at any one for a fool that pretends the endeavouring to understand them or thinks they are to be understood But I hope that will be found true that Solomon sayes Prov. chap. 14. vers 6. A scorner seeketh wisdom and findeth it not but knowledge is easie to him that understandeth Which I distrust not but will be made good in any intelligent Reader of my Exposition of this Book It will prove easie to him upon his taking notice of the meaning of the Prophetick stile and supposing the grounds I go upon which are but few and allowed generally by all Protestant Churches that I know of viz. That the Church of Rome is Idolatrous which will imply that the Greek Church also was so as is plain from the second Nicene Council which the Romanists alledge That the said Church is murderous as having put to death many and many thousands of innocent Souls because their consciences would not allow them to joyn with this Church in their Idolatrous Worship And lastly that she is Imposturous in pretending to many miraculous Acts that exceed the power of Nature or the faculties of any ordinary men As changing the Elements as they call it of Bread into real Flesh and of Wine into real Blood by saying certain words over it In exorcising or enchanting of Statues or Images and of Water Oyl and other things by certain words into a power of keeping off Enemies repelling Diseases ceasing Thunder and Lightening and driving away the Devil nay in pretending to a Power of thunder-striking men down into hell which is only in the hand of God Almighty to do at his pleasure and not for men to do at their pleasures because others will not joyn with them in their gross Doctrines and Idolatrous Worship This if it were true were a stupendious Miracle indeed thus to bring fire from heaven to thunder-strike innocent men into the pit of hell But such pretended feats as these this Book elegantly expresses by the phrase of Sorcery or Magick as it may be called as being an imitation of the pretences of Magicians thus to act above Nature by words and charms These are the main things that are supposed concerning the Church of Rome which if they be admitted the sense of the Apocalypse will run as glib as may be upon a little knowledge of the Prophetick stile And I shall wonder at any one that is satisfied concerning these that shall stick at the truth of our Interpretation which as touching this part is so throughly demonstrated in my Joynt-Exposition or rather in the eight last Chapters of the first Book of my Synopsis Prophetica that I cannot tell what can be more fully evidenced to the reason of a man namely That the Beast that was and is not and yet is is the Roman Empire and the Woman that rides him the Roman Hierarchy after the times of the seventh King that was to stay but a little while which are the pure Christian Caesars Wherefore the Roman Hierarchy after that time being set out by the symbol of a Whore for so that Woman is called viz. the Whore of Babylon and the Beast she rides on said to be full of Names of Blasphemy it is manifest that both the Empire and Hierarchy are become Idolatrous Besides that if the Apocalypse were silent in this matter of their being Idolatrous the Writers of the Protestants have over and over again demonstrated them to be so and for them that are so perswaded not to acknowledge their condition to be predicted in the Apocalypse but to conceit it silent therein is to envy God and Christ the Glory of foretelling things to come and the Church the priviledge of having them foretold her and the advantage of confounding her enemies thereby And now for the state of the Reformed Church that it will be at last so well Reformed and so largely amplified that Peace Truth and Righteousness shall at last over-spread as it were the face of the earth and that herewith the Iews will be called and make one part of the Catholick Church this is a thing both believed and hoped for by all good men and expresly pointed at in several places of Scripture as well as in the Apocalypse And lastly for the first Resurrection the proper priviledge of the Martyrs at the entrance of the Millennial Reign of Christ upon Earth that this was the general Opinion of the Primitive Church is made out notably by M r J. Mede in sundry places of his Writings And that way that I have explained it here in my Exposition it cannot have the least scandal or offence the Martyrs according to my Explication not living upon Earth but being revivificated into their Glorious Bodies reign with Christ in Heaven Wherefore the things that I suppose being so certain or unexceptionable and my Exposition consequential to these and perpetually made out according to the known meaning of the Prophetick stile and agreeably to the truth of History without any violence done to either
against all gainsayers and hast never behaved thy self otherwise than becomes a sound and faithfull Christian and such as is resolved never to dishonour that Profession or Name 9. Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Iews and are not but do lye Behold I will make them that are the Synagogue of the Devil for their pride falsities and murderous cruelties and yet call themselves Iews that is Christians nay Holy Church the Type as above being used for the Antitype but are so far from being so that really they are but Pseudochristians or rather the Synagogue of Antichrist who under pretence of professing Christ do most wickedly oppose him by nulling his Laws and barbarously murthering his true and faithfull Subjects for not committing Idolatry and other abominations they would force upon them whereby it is manifest though they call themselves Holy Church and Christians they are counterfeits and lyars Behold I will make them to come and worship before thy féet and to know that I have loved thée Behold I will make them to come instead of kissing the Popes Slipper to worship before thy feet to be subjected unto thee and to do thee homage And to acknowledge how much I have loved thee and set thee above all the other Princes of the Earth 10. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience I also will kéep thée from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the Earth Because thou hast showen all along such invincible meekness and patience in maintaining my cause and undaunted faithfulness in that great confusion commotion and temptation under the last Vial which shall come upon all the world to try the Inhabitants of the Earth I will keep thee and protect thee and thou shalt be safe and victorious in all 11. Behold I come quickly Even in this last Vial into which thou art already entred Hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy Crown Thou art a Church after my own hearts desire O Philadelphia nor do I accuse thee of any thing thou carriest thy self with that integrity and sincerity only hold fast to that perfection thou hast attained that thou mayst not be deprived of the Crown I intend for thee For in thee shall be accomplished all the glorious Promises concerning my Kingdome upon Earth 12. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple of my God and he shall go no more out To you that overcome to you it shall be given to be Pillars in the Temple of my God you shall be an holy fixt and stable People the true holy Catholick Church that shall never fail but shall endure till I come in the clouds to judgement at the last day All other forms and denominations shall perish but this shall obtain the Dominion unto the end And I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the City of my God which is New Ierusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from my God and I will write upon him my new Name And on these lasting Pillars shall the Name of my God be written and the new Nature in you shall be visible and legible as it were to all how heavenly it is and Divine and how you are really that Church represented by the City in Ezechiel which is called Iehovah Shammah God is there For your conversation will be such that every man will be ready to say God is amongst you of a truth and that you are really as well as called the New Ierusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from my God And lastly I will write upon you my New Name not the Morning Star but the Bright Morning Star or that newly purchased Title in the Battle where the Beast and False Prophet are taken and cast into a lake burning with brimstone and the rest slain with the sword of him that sate on the White Horse which sword cometh out of his mouth viz. the Title of King of Kings and Lord of Lords For it is then that you shall be the greatest Empire upon Earth 13. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches 14. And unto the Angel of the Church in Laodicea write Unto the Bishops and Pastors especially and the charge under them in the Laodicean succession which reaches from the fourth Thunder till Christ visibly appear in the clouds of Heaven * and whose name denotes the nature thereof write thus These things saith the Amen the faithfull and true witness in whom all the Promises are Yea and Amen Whose faithfulness is seen in bringing to pass the Philadelphian Estate that marvellous purity and external prosperity of that succession of the Church and therefore we are to believe his Promises of the Eternal Felicity he reminds us of in this A Blessed Immortality after this Life and his visible coming to judge the quick and the dead and his putting an end to this Terrestrial Scene though in this declining Age of the Church in the Laodicean succession some may be too slow to believe it And therefore these Titles of assuredness and veracity are here used And he is called a Faithful Witness also because he so impartially witnesses of the State of the Laodiceans and does not flatter them The beginning of the Creation of God It may be well understood of the New Creation or Constitution of things under the Gospel which he having carried on all along hitherto according to Prophecy and Prediction he is the more certainly and readily to be believed in this last Catastrophe of things Or taking the beginning of the Creation of God with an higher reference to that Title of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which respects his Divinity or the Eternal Logos without whom nothing was made or created Then the importance of of it is this That as sure as he made this Earth this habitable round world so we may be as sure that he both can by the same power and also will destroy it again in this Laodicean succession by a final Conflagration taking vengeance of the wicked and resetling all true Believers in an Eternal State of Glory 15. I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot But that you are careless formal luke-warm Christians Thou retainest indeed still the external form of the Philadelphian Church as to Doctrine and Worship but thou art destitute of that Spirit of Life in the New Birth which was the proper character of thy deceased Sister Philadelphia I would thou wert cold or hot For though it be not better in it self to be quite cold yet it were for thee that thou mightest the more easily be convinced of thine own wants and by repentance and mortification enter into the state of Regeneration and be made partaker of my Spirit 16. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spew thée out of my mouth I will
Roman Empire great and small Trees signifying the Great Ones and the Grass the Common People And that it is understood of the Roman Empire is plainly intimated from hence that the third part is said to be burnt up Which third part does not signifie the third part of the Roman Empire but simply the Roman Empire the Empire being the third part of the known world in S t Iohn's time So that here as in other places hereafter Third part is not to be taken numerally or proportionally but symbolically * as a character of the Roman Empire The Impletion of this Trumpet began about the year 395 when Alaricus invaded the Empire with an infinite number of Gothes and other Barbarians especially the Eastern part thereof harassing it for five years together And in the year 401 the same Alaricus with Gothes Alans Hunnes broke into Italy also and besieged Honorius the Emperour at Hasta and so terrified the Inhabitants of Italy that they were in a manner all ready to leave their dwellings But with much ado partly by the valour of Stilico Honorius his General partly by the fair treaty of Honorius he was content to recede into Illyricum a Province of the Eastern Empire But Alaricus being quiet for a while there was Anno 404 a notorious irruption of the Barbarians into Italy to the number of two hundred thousand under their General Radagaisus a Scythian who yet was slain by Stilico And yet there was a third and that the most grievous irruption of all An. 406 into the west an innumerous multitude of Vandals Alans Marcomans Herules Suedes Alemans Burgundians and other Barbarians with which France Spain and lastly Africk were filled and miserably afflicted So punctually is this prediction of the hail-storm under the first Trumpet here fulfilled 8. And the second Angel sounded and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea and the third part of the sea became blood that is to say a great City namely Rome it self for so Mountain signifies in the Prophetick stile and Sea the extent of Jurisdiction or Dominion by its being taken by Alaricus King of the Gothes who after the death of Stilico Anno 410 made a new and more fatal expedition into Italy This case I say of this City being taken by Alaricus was as if a burning Mountain had been cast into the Sea the earthiness and fieriness thereof being so contrary and mischievous to water And so was this condition of the City of Rome to the Territories and Jurisdiction thereof Which Sea signifies the number Three or Third being the character of the Roman Empire For upon this taking of the City did presently ensue the dilaceration or tearing in pieces of the Roman Jurisdiction into many Kingdoms So that the entireness of the Roman Dominion was plainly destroyed Whence the Sea is said to become blood that is to be dead and to be dead is to cease to be what a thing was before namely the Romanum Imperium properly so called and as to the former sense thereof failing when it was now divided into so many Kingdoms Which division Honorius was forced to begin by his Covenant which he made with Alaricus for the regaining the City of Rome again and the Empire to himself as he was likewise forced to make such like Covenants with others and so the Roman Empire was still more and more divided till about the year 455 when Rome was again sacked by Gensericus the Vandal or a little after it was plainly divided into ten Kingdoms 9. And the third part of the Creatures which were in the Sea and had life died and the third part of the ships were destroyed that is the Roman both Men and profitable constitutions of things were altered and ceased to be what they were Which here in Analogie to Sea are intimated to be Fishes they being the living Creatures proper to the Sea and plainly said to be Ships These now had lost their former propriety and they are no longer the entire Roman Empire 's but each respective Kingdom 's to which they belong to say nothing of the real destruction of many And this I think is a fair Impletion of the second Trumpets prediction 10. And the third Angel sounded and there fell a great Star from Heaven burning as it were a Lamp As if it were a fair Comet called Lampadias which betokens the greatness of the Prince it denotes and also the shortness of his Reign And it fell upon the third part of the Rivers and upon the Fountains of waters The burning of it denotes the mischief to the Rivers and Fountains it is said to fall into Which Rivers are Provincial Magistrates or Armies and the Fountains of Waters Provincial Cities And here is mention again made of the Third part that you may know the prediction belongs to the Roman Empire And it is no wonder this falling Star or Comet should be looked upon as so mischievous to Rivers and Waters when Natural History speaks of falling Comets that have drunk up whole Rivers so decorous is the representation 11. And the name of the Star is called Wormwood and the third part of the waters became Wormwood and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter that is the condition of this Princes Reign was such that the Roman Territories were so full of affliction and calamity that their life was bitter to them besides the slaughter of many in wars Now this Prince was the Western Caesar who from the time that Gensericus sacked and pillaged Rome which was Anno 455 strugling with Death for a while in the succession of those inconsiderable and unfortunate Caesars Avitus Majoranus Severus Anthemius Olybrius Glycerius Nepos at last expired in Augustulus into which Name the Western Caesar had dwindled and under which that Caesareat was quite extinguished by Odoacer King of Herules to the bitter misery of the Fountains and Rivers the Cities and Magistrates Provincial Thus did the third Trumpet sound the sad final fate of the Western Caesareat under the figure of a great falling Star called Wormwood which Odoacer cast down and extinguished and reigned himself King of Italy sixteen years who restored to Rome her Consulate which he had taken away before And King Theodoricus that vanquished him and succeeded him so rebuilt Rome and restored to it all the Ancient Magistracies Honours and Priviledges belonging to it that bating the memory of her misery and infamy she seemed perfectly restored to her former Glory and Felicity and thus she continued through the Reign of several successors of Theodoricus 12. But the fourth Angel sounded and the third part of the Sun was smitten and the third part of the Moon and the third part of the Stars so as the third part of them was darkened and the day shone not for a third part of it and the night likewise that is there is nothing of the Roman lustre of the lower or higher degree left
For that this belongs to Rome the wonted character Third plainly shews Therefore under this Trumpet there is no longer at last any King of Rome denoted by the Sun nor Consular Power nor Senatorian nor the Power of other known Ancient Magistrates of Rome denoted by the Moon and Stars but the City at last namely after that from the year 542 in the Ostrogothick War by Belisarius and Narsus Iustinian's Generals it was deprived of the Consular Power and after taken twice by Totilas and burnt and retaken by Narses and a little after struck to the ground by thunder and lightning and tempest being despoiled of all Ancient Ranks of Roman Magistracy sunk to that ignoble and obscure Title of the Dutchy of Rome and after was forced to pay Tribute to Ravenna under the Exarchate a City that before had been subject to her In which inglorious state she continued till the year 750 Which year is the Epocha of that notable Interval of the Kingdom of the Saracens from the beginning of the Caliphate of the Abasidae who first made Bagdad their Imperial Seat to the taking of the said Bagdad by Togrulbeck King of the Turks which was in the year 1055. And this is the easie and natural sense of the fourth Trumpet and perfectly fills up the scope thereof 13. And I beheld and heard an Angel flying through the midst of Heaven saying with a loud voice Wo wo wo to the Inhabiters of the Earth by reason of the other voices of the Trumpet of the three Angels which are yet to sound These Woes are denounced against the Roman Empire who by this time besides the guilt of the blood of the Primitive Martyrs had in a gross manner lapsed into a kind of Paganochristian Idolatry which they would be found in under these following Trumpets and in cruel persecutions of the Apostolick Members of the Church that would not submit to their Idolatrous Paganochristianisme Wherefore vengeance proportionable to their redoubled wickedness shall be poured down upon them under the voices of the Trumpet of the three Angels that are to come NOTES CHAPTER VIII Vers. 7. As a character of the Roman Empire c. That the third part or subtriple proportion is a character of the Roman Empire will appear from Chap. 12. vers 4. where the Dragon with seven Heads and ten Horns which is undoubtedly the Roman Empire Pagan is said with his taile to have drawn the third part of the Stars of Heaven and cast them to the Earth Which in the Prophetick stile is as much as to say that he had brought down a third part of the Princes or Rulers of the known world in that time and subjected them to himself that is that the Roman Power had subdued a third part of the Powers and Principalities of the World to her self For Heaven and Earth are the parts of a Political World as well as of a Natural And the Stars of the Political World are the several Princes or Rulers thereof But when they are subjected to some other great Potentate then they cease to be fixed Stars but fall to the Earth that is to the low estate of subjection or are utterly extinct And in that they are said to be cast down by the taile of the Dragon by his taile is understood his Retinue his Train Military especially his Armies and Forces whether by Land or by Sea This is a most assured sense of the Prophetick stile and that therefore the amplitude of the Roman Dominion is hinted by the third part of Stars cast down to the Earth by the Dragons Taile as if it were about the third part of the known world in S t John 's time And that consequently this subtriple proportion is an intended character of the Roman Empire whereby we may know that such or such a Vision belongs to it And thus to give characters from Numbers and Proportions is according to the Cabbalistical mode and the very Genius of this Book which is Cabbalistical And it is absurd to think there should be so repeated a mention of a third part so perpetually of things as if Divine Providence had a peculiar pique against the third part of things or persons more than any other part as it may seem in at beast a dozen places in the Apocalypse were it not there were this mystery under it CHAPTER IX 1. ANd the filth Angel sounded and I saw a Star * fallen from Heaven to Earth that is a lapsed Spirit or Angel a Devil if you will For as a Star signifies an Angel so a fallen Star a lapsed Angel And to him was given the Key of the bottomless pit That is he had great Power in the Kingdom of darkness of which a Key is a Symbol 2. And he opened the bottomless Pit and there rose a smoke out of the Pit as the smoke of a great furnace That is there arose a hot and hellish zeal conjoyned with dark Ignorance for the Imposturous Religion of Mahomet And the Sun and the Air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the Pit That is the Gospel of the Sun of Righteousness was endeavoured to be clouded and eclipsed by the over-running force and false pretenses of Monotheisme and of a more pure worship in Mahometisme 2. And there came out of the smoke Locusts upon the Earth That is under this dark ignorant and false pretense the Saracens professors of the Mahometan Religion spread themselves over the Earth And unto them was given power as the scorpions of the Earth have power to have their sting and poison in their taile which deadly sting and poison in the Saracens was the falseness of their Religion which they transfused at the end of their conquests That was the poisonous sting to all conscientious Christians and to others it was at least poison if not a sting 4. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the Earth neither any green thing neither any tree Which here in Analogie stand for several orders of Men as the Locusts for the Saracens But only those men that have not the seal of God in their foreheads which intimates that notwithstanding the grassations of these Impostors the truly Apostolick Church would be kept safe And there is mention made of Men to insinuate that these Locusts were also men not mere insects For Locusts do not fall upon Men but upon Grass and Trees 5. And to them it was given that they should not kill them That is that these Saracens should indeed infest the Roman Empire sore but not destroy it quite as after happened by the Euphratean Horsemen But that they should be tormented five months that is during their time of lying upon it called here five months in allusion to the time of Locusts who live about that space of time as Naturalists relate But their continuance in vexing Italy was not much above five months of years if that may be particularly glanced at And their torment was as
are equal to the forty two months wherein they are said to have trod it down So that the residue of this Vision runs up into the Sardian succession of the Church into the time of the seven Vials And already I think it is manifest in this Opened-Book-Prophecy that this Lion of the Tribe of Iudah did not roar in vain he having rescued so considerable a prey out of the jaws of Antichrist in the last notable Reformation And behold the third Wo cometh quickly which is the pouring forth of the Vials The first whereof is that intoxicating cup of envy rage and exulceration of spirit against the risen Witnesses by which their enemies being dementated it would make them impotently attempt such things as would render them execrable odious or despicable to all the world Which wrath of theirs and malice so naturally flowing from the prosperity of the Witnesses it is no wonder it is said That the third Wo cometh quickly 15. And the seventh Angel sounded and there were great voices in Heaven namely where S t Iohn was wrapt up in Spirit Saying The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ that is several Kingdoms and Principalities as pledges of the rest are recovered already by Christ out of the hands of the Tyrannical Antichrist by the late blessed Reformation And he shall reign for ever and ever that is whatever chastisements may come upon the Church of Sardis for her neglects and imperfections this Kingdom of Christ which has begun shall for certain take place and he shall reign to the end of the world through the Sardian Philadelphian and Laodicean successions 16. And the four and twenty Elders which sate before God on their seats fell upon their faces and worshipped God These Princes in Heaven are said thus to do betokening what those Princes and Potentates on Earth that were our Noble Reformers would do or how devoutly they would be affected for so blessed a Reformation which God by his gracious Providence had brought to pass for they were in a manner slaves to the Pope before 17. Saying We give the thanks O Lord God Almighty which art and wast and art to come because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned that is given so glorious a specimen of thy power and that thou rulest in the Kingdoms of men and hast thus happily begun the reign of thy Christ for the subduing utterly at last the Kingdom of Antichrist The beginning of the seventh Trumpet is the beginning of the Sardian succession of the Church and of the seven Vials and the commencement of them all are with praises and acclamations for this first auspicious victory of Christ over the Papal Hierarchy or Antichrist For the word Sardis signifies a Song of Ioy and here is the thanksgiving of the Elders and at the beginning of the Vials there is sung the Song of Moses and of the Lamb. What follows here are some scatterings and obscure hints of the affairs under the seven Vials and plainly ends with the seventh 18. And the Nations were angry that is the Gentiles that had trodden down the outward Court and defiled it by a new kind of Idolatrous Gentilism the minds of these were exasperated and exulcerated with wrath and envy at this sudden resurrection of the Witnesses which is a short glance at the first Vial. And thy wrath is come and the time of the dead that is of those that this Tyrannical Roman Hierarchy had so often and in such multitudes so barbarously murthered for their witnessing to the Truth the time is now come that Christ is to judge and revenge their Cause which seems to allude to the third Vial where it is said Thou art righteous O Lord which art and wast and shall be because thou hast judged thus For they have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets and thou hast given them blood to drink for they are worthy which is an easie comment upon what follows That they should be judged and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy Servants the Prophets and to thy Saints and them that fear thy Name small and great The meanest that have died Martyrs and been murdered for the profession of the Truth that thou shouldest judge their Cause though they were despised by this Proud Imperious Iezebel And shouldest destroy them that destroy the Earth that is the men upon the Earth for of this Iezebel or Whore of Babylon it is said And in her was found the blood of Prophets and of Saints and of all that were slain upon the Earth into such an Akeldama has that lofty Prelate the Pope ever and anon turned Christendom by his restless ambition and tyranny 19. And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven Out of which the seven Angels having the seven last plagues are seen to come Chap. 15. And there was seen in his Temple the Ark of the Testament Which answers to the great voice out of the Temple of Heaven from the Throne Chap. 16.17 under the seventh Vial So that this time reaches to the very Sanctum sanctorum or Holy of holies betokening a most powerfull pure and Apostolick State of the Church as if we were come into the first Apostolick Times again in the beginning of the Church as the outward Court is an emblem of the latter Apostated Times thereof By which is notified the beginning of the Philadelphian succession which commences with the seventh Vial. To which what follows seems to allude And there were lightnings and voices and thunderings and an earthquake and great hail which is plainly a description of the seventh Vial. So that this whole Vision in this Chapter begins with the first Epocha of the Church and endeth with the seventh Vial or first Thunder Which is also the very space of the Sett of Visions comprized in the three following Chapters which are a more ample description of the same state of things in the same time and we shall note what parts answer each other NOTES Chapter XI Vers. 6. By a Prophetical Metalepsis or Zoopoeia c. Metalepsis is a Figure whereby an effect or event is translated or communicated to some Person or Thing because the Place and Time is coincident with them That there is such a Figure and that it is made use of in the Apocalypse I have proved in my Synopsis Prophetica lib. 1. cap. 4. sect 10. But a Zoopoeia of the second kind is when free Actions are attributed to free Agents of which notwithstanding they may be no more the cause than if they were inanimate Beings or not in Being at all This figure also I have proved to be made use of in the Apocalypse as well as in other Authors lib. 1. cap. 3. sect 10. See my Synopsis in the places cited For particular occasions answer in Analogy to particular acts of will c. And the Analogie is very exact the Figure being but once admitted which I have
they who are only led by his Word and Spirit not by a blind and implicite Faith in a Church not only fallible but fallacious or deceitful most of their corruptions both in Doctrine and Worship being upheld for their own worldly interest These were redeemed from among men were rescued from being carried away with the stream of the rest of the Superstitious and Idolatrous Rabble hood-winked and captivated by the false showes and subtil enticements of the most cunning Polity in the world Being the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb namely the first pure Apostolick Christians after the Apostasie and but an handful in comparison of those multitudes that will appear after the dissolution of the Papal Tyranny 5. And in their mouth was found no guile that is there was no hypocrisie nor dissembling in them but they professed the Truth from their hearts and concealed it not For they are without fault before the Throne of God that is in the judgment of God they are holy and upright men though at the Tribunal of Antichrist they are condemned for Hereticks and deemed men not worthy to live or dye an ordinary death Nay besides what they call Heresie in them though according to that they do worship in purity the God of their Fathers as S t Paul speaks even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ they add a multitude of abominable lies to make them odious to the people but the God of Heaven knows they are guiltless whence it is said They are without fault before the Throne of God 6. And I saw another Angel distinct from that Quire of Angels taken notice of before fly in the midst of Heaven that he may be seen and heard over all the Christian world as well the Western as Eastern Empire as is intimated in what follows Having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the Earth and to every Nation and Kindred and Tongue and People that is to preach the Everlasting Righteousness Law or Religion that Christ according to Daniel was to bring in Which is the pure and Apostolick Doctrine unsophisticated with the Superstitions and Idolatries of either Greek or Roman Church which hay and stubble is to be burnt up but that Apostolick Gospel to be Eternal never to fail and to spread over all 7. Saying with a loud voice Fear God and give Glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come And worship him that made Heaven and Earth and the Sea and the fountains of waters And therefore none but God the Father and the Son with the Spirit who Created all things is to be worshipped The Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth they shall perish from the Earth and from under the Heavens as the Prophet Ieremiah foretells This is a plain declaration against giving any Religious Worship to any but God alone And therefore a commination against all Saint-worshippers and Image-worshippers or whatever other Idolatry in the Greek or Roman Church That this voice of the Angel respects the Edicts and Degrees of those Greek Emperours that protested so zealously against Saint-worship and Image-worship namely the Decrees of Leo Isaurus Constantinus Iconomaches Leo Armenius Michael Balbus and Theophilus I do not deny but this Angelical Monition was the most loudly and earnestly urged upon the Christian World at the dreadfull siege and storming of Constantinople and the subduing the whole Eastern Church and Empire to the Turk This was a plain manifestation that the hour of his judgement was come against such gross Idolaters And yet though his judgements flew so high and sounded so loud as to give notice to all Christendome yet the Western Church would take no notice thereof as it is predicted Chap. 9. vers 20. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues from the Euphratean Horsemen which are the Turks yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship Demons and Idols of Gold and Silver c. And therefore if we hear news of the hand of God upon the Western Church also I mean upon the Idolatrous Hierarchy thereof which is more particularly stiled Babylon we need not be much surprized And thus we read in the next verse 8. And there followed another Angel saying Babylon is fallen is fallen that great City or Polity bicause she made all Nations the Eastern as well as the Western Church as may be observed in the Popes activity at the second Nicene Council and in excommunicating the Iconoclast Emperours drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication of the Philter she had mingled for them the Love-poison or Love-potion of her fornication by which is plainly understood Idolatry To the voice of this Angel belongs the Reformation when so many Provinces and Principalities fell off from the Church of Rome and was a pledge of her further ruine Here therefore ends the Thyatirian Interval and that of Sardis begins in which is contained the effusion of the Vials all but the last 9. And the third Angel followed them saying with a loud voice If any man worship the Beast and his Image that is give obedience to the Secular and Spiritual Power in such things as are Idolatrous and are the very strokes and lineament of the Image of the Beast and receive his the Beasts mark in his forehead or in his hand that is make profession of or promote and countenance the Romish Idolatrous Religion 10. The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation He shall drink of the cup of bitterness and malediction from the Lord. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever that is all they shall be condemned to those infernal and eternal flames who under the voice of this third Angel shall persist in the gross Idolatries and other foul corruptions of the Church of Rome For under the voice of this Angel the abominations of that Church will be so fully discovered and convincingly that the adherers thereto will be generally deemed uncapable of salvation with any that have any remainders of judgment and conscience in them And they have no rest day nor night who worship the Beast and his Image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his Name Truth against the Church of Rome will be then so dear that no man that has any Conscience can be of that Religion and Profession but it will lye exceeding unevenly in his mind it will put him in restless and unsatisfied condition it appearing so manifestly against all sense all reason all honesty and loyalty and against all those sound and sacred Principles that God hath implanted in the nature of man Wherefore in those dayes no honest-hearted man can endure to submit to the Church
of Rome From whence it follows 12. Here is the patience of the Saints This is the time wherein the patience of the Saints will be tryed the external carnal power of the enemy endeavouring to force them against so great Light to submit to their Idolatrous and Antichristian usages by cruel and barbarous persecutions Wherefore this answers to that passage in the Epistle to the Church of Sardis which contains a commination for their more general deadness and degeneracy whereby the better sort amongst them are brought to this jeopardy and distress Here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the faith of Iesus that is Here are they that will say unto their persecutors Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge you Here are they that keep to the pure Faith and Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles and will not submit to any new-coined forms invented for worldly Interest and contrary to the Faith and Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles And surely God will give at last to the sufferings of such holy and sincere souls sutable victory and success as is intimated in the following Verse 13. And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord That dye as Martyrs in witness to his Truth against the abominable corruptions of that Idolatrous Church From henceforth are they blessed that is from this time of the Sardian Interval that here is intimated a time when the Scales begin to turn and nearer approach is made to the Philadelphian State which commenceth with the Reign of the Spirit as the Cabbalists call it and therefore it follows Yea saith the Spirit The Spirit that is to bring on these days sets his Seal thereto That they may rest from their labours For their martyrdom puts an end to their pains and toyles in this world And their works do follow them that is the effect and success of their works and labour here which are the hoped consequences thereof Which expected effect and success is the restoring of the Kingdom of Christ upon the overthrow of the salvage and barbarous tyranny of a bloody Idolatrous Church which murders and massacres men and does all imaginable despight to them because they will not sin against the manifest Laws of Christ to serve the lewd worldly ends and interest of Antichrist 14. And I looked and behold a white cloud and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man having on his head a golden Crown This is Christ that Son of Man in Daniel who is said to come with the Clouds of Heaven as if they were his Chariot and Dominion and Glory and a Kingdome as here a Crown is said to be given unto him And in his hand a sharp sickle That Christ himself here appears with his sickle in his hand ready to reap is very agreeable to what was intimated before of the Reign of the Spirit and the approaching thereof For what he is said to do by himself is by the Ministry of his Spirit in counterdistinction to humane and carnal means This is about the time of the sixth Vial. 15. And another Angel came out of the Temple representing the holy Church and her earnest and sincere Devotions for the enlargement of the Kingdom of Christ And therefore it is added Crying with a loud voice to him that sate on the Cloud Thrust in thy sickle and reap for the time is come for thee to reap for the harvest of the Earth is ripe Like that of our blessed Saviour himself Lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest 16. And he that sate on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the Earth and the Earth was reaped namely that crop that belonged to that season which as I said is about the sixth Vial which contemporizeth with the Vision of the Lambs Bride And therefore by this Harvest happily may be prefigured the gathering of the Jews to the Faith of Christ which will prove a further enlargement of his Kingdom But the most universal conquest of all follows in the next Vision which contemporizeth with the seventh or last Vial. 17. And another Angel came out of the Temple which is in Heaven which is in Heaven is omitted vers 15. as needless because the Reaper there is Christ himself which implies his immediate assistance in that work But this Angel being himself to be Vintager there is mention made of Heaven to intimate his heavenly mission that he is sent from God and immediately assisted by his Spirit The appearance of which Reign of the Spirit will be eminent under this seventh Vial which contemporizeth with the Vision of the Rider of the White Horse with a sharp two-edged sword coming out of his mouth this Angel also having a sharp sickle which fitly answers to the sharp two-edged sword coming out of the mouth of the Rider of the white Horse Both of them signifie the cutting convictiveness of the Word and Spirit in the powerful Ministers of Christ in those days 18. And another Angel came out from the Altar which had power over fire The Altar as elsewhere in the Apocalypse is a symbol of the sacrifice of Martyrdom And here is mention of Fire because that kind of Martyrdom was so frequently inflicted by that Murderous and Idolatrous Church of Rome upon the Faithful Witnesses of Christ who bore Testimony against the abominations of that bloody Synagogue And cryed with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle namely for vengeance against this den of cruel Murderers and Idolaters saying Thrust in thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the Uine of the Earth for the Grapes are fully ripe that is some are in full ripeness and readiness for Conversion and for others their sins are fully ripe for utter destruction and confusion But I conceive this Vision respects more especially the former which yet involves the destruction and confusion of the latter 19. And the Angel thrust in his sickle into the Earth and gathered the Uine of the Earth and cast it into the great Wine-press of the wrath of God that is men were pressed in conscience upon the sharp convictions of the powerful Ministers of Christ with sorrow for their sins and the wrath of God against themselves was kindled in them As the Apostle writes to the Corinthians concerning the like conviction What carefulness it wrought in you what indignation what vehement desire what revenge Here Christ who is said to tread the wine-press of Gods wrath alone treads and squeezeth out the corrupt blood of Edom. And in the Vision which is parallel to this Chap. 19. his Vesture is said to be dipt in blood and that he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God which plainly shows that these two Visions tend to one and the same thing 20. And the Wine-press
the Vials must be after the rising of the Witnesses and the rising of the Witnesses the Protestant Reformation when so many Provinces and Principalities had cast off the Yoke and freed themselves from the sad bondage of that Roman Pharaoh the Papal Hierarchy as the Israelites of old were delivered from the slavery of Aegypt And therefore it follows 2. And I saw as it were a Sea of glass mingled with fire This seems to have a double allusion either to the Sea of Glass like unto Crystal before the Throne Chap. 4. vers 5. which the light of the seven Lamps there shined upon or else to the Red Sea congealed as it were into two walls of Glass or Ice on which the Angel in a pillar of Fire going before the Israelites shined also and the redness of the sand of the Sea made the mixture more like fire And them that had gotten the victory over the Beast and over his Image such as had got free from both the Sacerdotal and Secular Idolatrous Power that they could not longer persecute them for not submitting to their Pagan-like Abominations And over his mark and over the number of his Name that is That now could neither be forced to swear into the forms of that false Church by a slavish implicite faith nor to profess himself a Latin or Roman Catholick but a free Apostolick Christian Stand on the sea of Glass on the shore of that Sea that was converted into Glass or Ice when they passed through it as newly escaped the persecution of that Roman Pharaoh who was overthrown Horse and Man in the Red Sea that is by the Protestants profession that they were only justified by the blood of Christ and the sanctification of his Spirit which is resembled by fire Having the Harps of God that is Holy or large Harpe 3. And they sing the Song of Moses the Servant of God and the song of the Lamb that is They sing the Song of the Lamb of which the Song of Moses was but a Type but the occasions so like one another that the Song may indifferently serve both But in the mean time it is plain here that Rome is that Spiritual Aegypt wherein the Witnesses were slain and the Bishop of Rome the Pharaoh thereof Saying Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways O King of Saints 4. Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name for thou only art holy for all Nations shall come and worship before thee for thy judgments are manifest Shall come and worship before thee which implies that this first victory is but the first-fruits of that elargement God intends for the Kingdom of his Son Christ. 5. And after that I looked namely after this Triumphal Song of the Harpers that had gotten the victory over the Beast and over his Image and over his Mark and over the number of his Name For it is absurd to conceive a triumphal Song before the victory or this victory to be of the Primitive Christians over the Pagans because of the Image of the Beast and his Mark and the number of his Name And therefore it must be the victory of the Protestants over the Paganochristians Whence it is impossible that the first Vial and the first Trumpet should contemporize And behold the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony in Heaven was opened Which answers to that Chap. 11. vers 19. And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven which again assures us that the effusion of the Vial is after the rising of the Witnesses namely out of what follows 6. And the seven Angels came out of the Temple having the seven plagues that is designed to that Office Cloathed in pure and white linnen and having their Breasts girded with golden girdles that is being clothed in priestly attire as being heavenly Priests belonging to that Heavenly Temple that is to say as being so represented 7. And one of the four Beasts the Lion haply it being the most military Beast and a Beast of anger and courage Gave unto the seven Angels seven golden Uials full of the wrath of God who liveth for ever and ever Whence it is intimated that these Ministers were to be actuated not by any private spleen but by the just wrath of God which burneth only against obstinate Hypocrites and Sinners 8. And the Temple was filled with smoak from the glory of God and from his power that is to say from the glorious power of God in taking vengeance of the Beast or false Prophet in reference to whom chiefly is the pouring out of the Vials till he be taken and cast out into the lake of fire and brimstone and so all Idolatrous and Tyrannical power be abolished No settlement till then but all filled ever and anon with confusion dust and smoak And no man was able to enter into the Temple till the seven plagues of the seven Angels were fulfilled that is there is no recovery of the Church into that state thereof which is decyphered by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Temple of God Chap. 11. vers 1. till the seven plagues of the seven Angels be fulfilled accordingly as has been signified Then will the Temple become symmetral again and commensurable not only to the Reed of a Man but of an Angel nor to a Reed any way combustible but to a Golden Reed This is to be under the second Thunder that immediately follows the last Vial at the descent of the New Ierusalem from Heaven of which state it is said Lo the Tabernacle of God is with men and they will become his Living Temple pure and undefiled otherwise There is no Temple there but God Almighty and the Lamb is the Temple thereof This setled state of the Church which is the Temple of God will not appear till after the effusion of the Vials CHAPTER XVI SOme strictures there were and glances at the things that appertain to the Vials after the Rising of the Witnesses Chap. 11. and after the fall of Babylon Chap. 14. but hinted very maimedly obscurely and interruptedly But the Vials in this Chapter are more fully and orderly set down as we shall see by perusing the Chapter 1. And I heard a great voice out of the Temple out of which the Angels had come forth Chap. 15. vers 6. saying to the seven Angels Go your wayes and pour out the Uials of the wrath of God which ye received from one of the four Beasts upon the Earth that is upon this Terrestrial or Terraqueous Globe 2. And the first went and poured out his Uial upon the Earth viz. in that sense of Earth that was intimated before for it means no more than on this Terraqueous Globe unless there be an allusion to the ashes of the furnace from which the Aegyptian blains and boiles did arise as certainly there is an allusion to those Aegyptian plagues both in this and in other Vials whereby we may be assured that
as nakedness before God or they will be stript of it and made naked Whence it follows Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame that is who is so watchful over his ways and intent on the work of real Regeneration which will appear also in his outward Conversation that he becomes cloathed in such a garment as shall not be taken from him in this time when God will pluck off the covering from all Nations and the veil of Hypocrisie from off the People as Esay somewhere foretells Which is a plain intimation that this Battel is not Carnal but Spiritual 16. And he gathered them together into one place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon that is by the over-ruling Providence of God they were brought into this place which in the Hebrew tongue signifies the destruction of their Armies but there is nothing yet done toward their discomfiture for the seventh Vial is not yet poured out * And therefore by a Commutation of Iconismes the event of this Congress is set out in another form this huge Camp of all the Armies of both sides being turned into one mighty City which is called the Great City consisting of the Universality of Cities considered as one as it follows in the Prophecie 17. And the seventh Angel poured out his Uial into the Air namely over this great Company and there came a great voice out of the Temple of Heaven from the Throne saying It is done This is a firm Decree from him that sits on the Throne and a full assurance by his Spirit universally in the hearts of his Servants the Evangelical Party that their Ministry shall succeed And as to the utter overthrow of Antichrist and the enlargement of the Kingdom of Christ by the conversion of the Gentiles the mystery of God shall be consummate under this seventh Vial The thing is as sure as it were done already 18. And there were voices and thunders and lightenings and there was a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon Earth so mighty an earthquake and so great that is there was such a strange Commutation of Affairs in the world as was never known or recorded in any History of former Times Of such mighty efficacy was the preaching of the Gospel in the power of the Spirit by the speaking party of the Army of Christ against the Forces of the Infidels and Antichrist For this is the meaning of those Voices and Thunders and Lightenings that it was the promulgation by these Boanergers's of the Law of the Son of God which is like unto fire as is related in Esdras 19. And the great City was divided into three parts as there were three parts in the great Camp before The Antichristian party the Infidel or purely Heathen party and the pure Evangelical party But this Tripartition is named immediately after this great Earthquake as if it were the effect of it for the more handsom embellishing the outward Cortex of the Prophecy * And the Cities of the Nations fell that is the Heathenish or Infidel party were thunder-struck by these Boanerges's and converted to the Faith of the Gospel of Christ in the simplicity and purity thereof And great Babylon came in remembrance before God that is the Antichristian Hierarchy with her adherents the Whore of Babylon as she is called in the following Chapter To give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath viz. of the wrath of God that is to be arraigned and judged that condign punishment and vengeance may be taken of her 20. And every Island fled away and the Mountains were not found Their Temples and other consecrated places were taken from them and they were deprived of their Dignities or of the Assistances of the great Ones of the Earth 21. And there fell upon men a great hail out of Heaven every stone about the weight of a Talent namely upon Babylon or the Antichristian party So that all her goodly trees were spoiled and stript of their both leaves and fruit their boughs broke down and their stocks beaten bare even to the inmost bark And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great that is the hearts of this Antichristian party were still hardened even in this last Aegyptian plague inflicted on them and their rage and impatience under their calamity made them speak evil of the ways of God which yet are altogether righteousness and truth Or if in these miseries they took themselves to their devotions * their very prayers were blasphemy in the stile of the Apocalypse they being so mingled with various sorts of Idolatry NOTES CHAPTER XVI Vers. 16. And therefore by a Commutation of Iconismes c. This is called Iconismorum Metallaxis in my Synopsis Prophetica And it is a Prophetick Figure whereby the Image or Representation that is begun with is not continued but changed and yet the same matter still pursued See Synops. Prophet lib. 1. cap. 4. sect 15. But in the mean time the letting go the first Iconisme in this place which is of a Camp and not persuing it to the event of the Battel is here done with great consideration and prospection because this Battel is fully afterwards described and the Commander also or General which is here omitted in the 19 th Chapter vers 11. Which is one of the main pieces of the artifice of concealment intended in this admirable Book of Prophecies Vers. 19. And the Cities of the Nations fell c. There is mention at first but of one great City and yet here besides Babylon there is mention of many Cities viz. of the Nations Which seems to be a destined Key whereby we might understand that by that great City is meant the Vniversality of a number of Cities considered as one in which Babylon it self was also comprized according as we have expounded it Vers. 21. Their very prayers were blasphemy c. This is the sense which that Learned and Pious Author Peganius gives in this place which I thought worth the taking notice of if it may effectually force any one to make a more serious reflexion on the hainousness and horridness of the Romish Religion CHAPTER XVII IN the nineteenth Verse of the foregoing Chapter there was a short glance at the Arraignment Accusation and Condemnation of the Whore of Babylon But the destruction of this Babylon being the main scope of all the Vials this Argument may well seem to deserve a more full and copious prosecution I mean the Arraignment Accusation and Condemnation of the great Whore contained in these two next Chapters namely the 17 th and 18 th And therefore it follows 1. And there came one of the seven Angels which had the seven Uials and talked with me saying unto me Come hither I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great Whore that is the Arraignment Accusation and
I have given of this Chapter here is true and that the Roman Hierarchy is that Great Whore riding the Beast that was and is not and yet is viz. The Empire since it was corrupted from pure Christianity and relapsed again to a kind of Idolatrous Paganochristianism For what Roman Polity can rule this Empire but what is contemporary to it Wherefore the Woman that rides the Beast is not Pagan but Paganochristian that Paganochristian Hierarchy of Rome NOTES CHAPTER XVII Vers. 8. His Name is c. This I intersert because it is a Prophetical Ellipsis which is one of the Figures that make up the artifice of Concealment in this Book of Prophecies But such an Ellipsis is so natural that it is used where there is no such design as Exod. chap. 3. vers 13 14. And Moses said unto God Behold when I come to the Children of Israel and shall say unto them The God of your Fathers hath sent me unto you and they shall say unto me what is his Name What shall I say unto them And God said unto Moses I am â—hat I am Where there is plainly an Ellipsis instead of My Name is I am that I am as is obvious at first sight But in this place of the Apocalypse such an Ellipsis is made use of but purposely in such a way as that it is not obvious to discern there is an Ellipsis the sense seeming so perfect and running so glibly without one which therefore is the artifice of concealment in this place and without which it had not been a Prophetical Ellipsis but a common one See Synops. Prophet chap. 4. sect 6. and chap. 13. vers 8. sect 13. Whence you may more fully understand how certain it is that such an Ellipsis is to be acknowledged in this place and that there is to be interserted His name is c. CHAPTER XVIII 1. THe Arraignment and Accusation of the Great Whore was in the preceding Chapter now follows her doom or Condemnation And after these things I saw another Angel come down from Heaven having great power which intimates that those Agents that are prefigured by him and are to effect what he predicts are Persons of high place And the Earth was lightened with his glory that is the Earth was enlightened with his brightness which signifies that these great persons being themselves fully illuminated through the Spirit by the light of the Gospel did most effectually enlighten others of the meaner sort by their example and godly profession of the pure Apostolick Faith 2. And he cryed mightily with a strong voice He predicts the doom or pronounceth the sentence against the great Whore with a strong and strenuous voice in token of the assuredness and certainty of the execution thereof saying Babylon the Great is fallen is fallen which words though they be the same with those Chap. 14. vers 8. yet they are not to be restrained to that time which was but the partial fall of Babylon in the first Reformation at the Rising of the Witnesses but to be extended further to the final destruction of the Whore and the Beast under the seventh Vial when the Beast is to go into utter perdition which time of his final overthrow is not limited in Chap. 17. as it is in the Vision Chap. 13. of his partial overthrow viz. to the seventh Semi-time of the forty two Prophetical months And therefore this doom of Babylon contains both her partial and final destruction And is become the habitation of Devils and the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird The desolation and destruction of Babylon which is the Roman Idolatrous Hierarchy or Polity not a City of Stones or Brick a thing childish to be conceived is set out by the description of ruined and desolate Cities and particularly of Babylon literally understood Isai. 13.2 And their houses shall be filled with dolefull Creatures and Owles shall dwell there and Satyrs that is shaggie-haired Devils shall dance there c. But the mystical meaning of this place as I conceive is that when the power of this Hierarchy is utterly destroyed yet in the ruines thereof there will be lurking assemblies of such kind of persons as are deciphered by Devils or foul Spirits in that sense that unclean Spirits are said to come out of the mouth of the Dragon Beast and false Prophet and by hateful and unclean Birds The character of whom and who are said to be without the Holy City which appears after the destruction of this Babylon is set down chap. 22. vers 15. For without are Dogs and Sorcerers and Whoremongers and Murderers and Idolaters and whosoever loveth or maketh a lie This is the Cage of unclean Birds or impure Spirits that the ruines of Babylon are the habitation of who having now no power over others will exercise a power amongst themselves And one Aethiopian or Leopard will wash and absolve another 3. For all Nations have drunk of the Wine of the wrath of her fornication that is of her poisoned Philter or Love-Cup whereby they have been intoxicated And the Kings of the Earth have committed fornication with her She has corrupted the Ten Kings of the Empire with the Abominations of her Idolatry And the Merchants of the Earth that is the Ecclesiastical Merchants that prog'd for great Dignities and Preferments under her which she chaffered for the maintaining or advancing her own interest and greatness who are here called Merchants of the Earth in reproach to their false pretense of spirituality and of acting still in behalf of Holy Church when their designs are really sensual worldly and earthly Are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies that is from the luxuriancy of her wealth and from their accustomed luxury the later an incitement to get wealth that they may be in the mode and the other a supply to their desire 4. And I heard another voice from Heaven saying which therefore is a commission nay a command from Heaven to the first Reformers and all others after to forsake the Communion of the Church of Rome Come out of her my people that you be not partakers of her sins by being at her Masses and other Idolatrous worship And that you receive not of her plagues Whether in this world or in the world to come 5. For her sins have reached unto Heaven and called for vengeance there in the ears of God And God hath remembred her Iniquities and will repay her in part at the Rising of the Witnesses but pay her home under the seventh Vial when her power shall be utterly abolished as it follows 6. Reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double that is spare her not but punish her severely for all her abominations and wickednesses which is a prediction of what will come to pass notoriously under the seventh Vial. 7. How much
Cabbalists that saying of R. Moses Corduero will evince Quando Neschamah exit in hunc mundum duas Aves id est duos Angelos custodes ex arbore volitare cum ea And Tertullian himself briefly and smartly Omnis Spiritus ales est hoc Angeli Daemones Every Spirit is a Fowle or Bird whether they be Angels or Devils CHAPTER XX. HItherto none of the Visions of the Opened Book have reached any further than to the last Vial which takes up the forepart of the Philadelphian Interval To which Church it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou hast a little Army so Grotius Which Army is that which is under the Command of that victorious Heros on the White Horse And the effect of his victory will make good what Christ promises to the Philadelphian Church Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Sathan which say they are Iews that is Christians and are not but the slaves of Antichrist Behold I will make them come and worship before thy feet The residue of the Visions of the Opened Book take up the following part of the Philadelphian Interval and the whole Laodicean and so reacheth to the end of all Or for more distinctness it takes up the space of the six last Thunders as the effusion of the Vials did the first 1. And I saw an Angel come down from Heaven whose Commission therefore must be from God having the key of the bottomless pit the supposed habitation or prison rather of Evil Spirits And the having the Key thereof signifies the having Power and Authority to do things there For the very Kingdom of the Devil is subject to the Power of God And a great chain in his hand which is the Power of Legislation or making Laws as some as to the sense well though not so critically derive Lex à ligando which are bonds and iron chains to tye up the wicked from doing mischief By this Angel therefore according to the Apocalyptick stile after the abolishing the Antichristian and Infidel Power are those persons understood that are impowered from God to make Laws for the more sure support of the recovered Kingdom of Christ. 2. And he said hold on the Dragon that Old Serpent which is the Devil and Satan that is the surviving wicked Ones of the Earth for whom the Dragon the Old Serpent and the Devil is here put as the Angel before for those Evangelical Legislators And the Dragon is here explained by the Devil and Old Serpent that the sense might not be restrained to the remainder of Pagans but reach also to those of the Antichristian Party now subdued which were the two-horned and ten-horned Beast to whom the Dragon yet gave his power By these express severe Laws touching the indispensable duties of a Christian not insignificant trifles and superstitions is the Dragon that is the wicked ones of what denomination soever to be laid hold on This is the constitution of the New Polity after the abolishing of the Antichristian Tyranny where it was more safe to serve the Devil and Antichrist than to approve a mans self the faithful Servant of Christ. This Constitution of things being setled which is dispatched within the space of the second Thunder then it follows And bound him a thousand years which is the Time of the third Thunder and of the blessed Millennium properly so called Which reaches to the end of the Philadelphian Interval 3. And cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he deceive the Nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled Therefore during the happy Millennium of the Reign of Christ he is as close a prisoner as can be imagined or expressed Which is a demonstration this Millennium is not yet come The Parable is of the Devil but so as to be understood of his Children here on Earth that they shall be kept under with iron or adamantine chains of rigid severe and inviolable Laws nor be permitted to do any thing that is really Profane Wicked or Antichristian nor to tempt or seduce others to do it They shall have no publick permission or connivance for such things And after that he must be loosed a little season namely in the Laodicean Interval the Evangelical Party growing more coole and remiss and the Church degenerating in many from the state of Philadelphia to that of Laodicea of whom Christ complains in his Epistle to her This loosing of Satan is conceived for order and distinctness sake to happen under the fourth Thunder 4. And I saw Thrones and they sate upon them and Iudgment was given unto them This Vision runs back as it was usual in the former to do and commenceth with the second Thunder Then were there Judges sitting upon Thrones and they gave judgement touching the Christian Confessors and Martyrs whether under Antichrist or the Red Dragon as follows And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus and for the Word of God * And I saw also those which had not worshipped the Beast nor his Image neither had received his Mark upon their foreheads or in their hands Of these two distinct sorts it is said in common 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they lived as being true of them both and reigned with Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a thousand years but the thousand year viz. of the blessed Millennium but it is not said where and therefore it is to be understood the Martyrs in Heaven where Christ is personally and visibly present the other with their Successours on Earth where Christ is also present but by his Spirit these in bodies Terrestrial those Revivificated into their bodies Coelestial and Glorified an early priviledge peculiar to the Martyrs And therefore it follows 5. But the rest of the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lived not again much less were thus revivificated as the Martyrs were till the thousand years were finished Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being made use of and it being unproper to be said of the Confessours with those that succeed them they being considered as alive on Earth must needs respect those that are said to have been beheaded to insinuate their priviledge or different condition from all others and that though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might be truly said of them as being they that were to be revived into their glorified bodies at the beginning of the Millennium yet it was not to be said of any other men it not being to be fulfilled of them until the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till the thousand years of the Millennium be expired nay till the end of the Laodicean Interval under the sixth Thunder This is the first Resurrection This namely of the Martyrs according to the Opinion of the Primitive Fathers and that intimation to the Church of Smyrna Chap. 2. vers 11. when so many Christian Martyrs suffered He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death as to whom
come for the better managing the Affairs of Christs Kingdome 7. And the first Beast was like a Lion which was the Standard of Iuda on the East side of the Camp The second Beast like a Calf which was the Standard of Ephraim on the West side of the Camp The third Beast had the face of a man which was the Standard of Reuben on the South side And the fourth Beast was like a flying Eagele which was the Standard of Dan on the North. And note that these four Beasts were thus situated in the Vision of Ezechiel And that this only is a Type of that Church that shall be cast thus into four parts the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ signified in both Visions 8. And the four Beasts had each of them six wings about him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is but hard sense if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it must signifie in a circle about him And therefore Grotius judiciously joyns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 together And so the Text runs thus Had each of them six wings And they were full of eyes without and within And they rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Now that the four Beasts are said each of them to have six wings as the Beasts in Ezechiel's Vision also have undoubtedly they have them for that use the Seraphims are said to make of them in the Prophet Esay With twain to cover their faces with twain to cover their feet and with twain to fly Which implies a Reverence of the Divine Majesty an activity and readiness in his Service and a carefulness over our Affections that we walk in clean paths And whereas they are presently said to be full of eyes without and within it implies that with one eye regarding outward objects and the other their own nature and so comparing them together they will ever behave themselves decorously and becomingly with due reverence to that which is above them in dignity and excellency and at a due distance from those things that are unworthy of them and beneath them And therefore if any such thing be offered them from without as is repugnant to the innate Light and immutable Principles of an Intellectual Creature their eyes within will easily discern the Proposer to be either a Fool or an Impostor This is the state even of the whole People of God in those dayes But as for their Reverence and devotional sense of their Maker and Redeemer it is in a manner perpetual they rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come who fills all things and times with his Presence and Providence And as the People are so are their Priest-like Princes and Rulers For it follows immediately in the next Verses 9. And when those Beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the Throne who liveth for ever and ever 12. The four and twenty Elders also Prince and People being of one heart and mind fall down before him that sat on the Throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever and tast their Crowns before the Throne in humble acknowledgment from whom and for whom they Reign even for the manifesting of the Glory and Honour and Power of God in the Kingdom of his Saints And therefore they are introduced Saying 11. Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast Created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were Created NOTES CHAPTER IV. Vers. 5. All the Ministring Angels or all the Living c. For Seven we substitute All in this place the Septenary Number with the Cabbalists signifying Universality whence of the Pythagoreans it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the full comprehension of the numbers of sundry things in this Book of the Apocalypse is terminated in Seven Vers. 6. In the midst of the Throne and round about the Throne c. The Beasts seem to have been placed to S t John 's sight so as that one appeared just in the midst before the Throne and the spectacle being exhibited to him shelvingly another appeared beyond the Throne in the same line and two other the one on this side and the other on that side in a line cutting that other in right Angles so that they at due distances encompassed the Throne in a Circle exteriour to the twenty four Elders And in that they were not only seen as it were in the middle of the Throne in the sense abovesaid but on each side also and so encompassed the Throne placed in the common sections or conterminations of the four quadrants of the Circle drawn about it they are said to be not only in the midst of the Throne but about the Throne in a Circle at equal distances Or else in the midst that is within the Circle of the Throne which is thus conceived to be drawn about it but so near that the Beasts supposed like those in Ezechiel will have the same faces appear within the verges of the Throne that appeared without but in opposite places But then the Elders must be placed in a Circle without the Beasts which will make these Priestly Kings less answer to the Levites But thereby we are the better assured that they are Kings and not Priests It 's possible both these wayes may be glanced at in the Vision and that it may reflect both on the Camp of Israel and Vision of Ezechiel at once CHAPTER V. 1. ANd I saw in the right hand of him that sate on the Throne that is in the hand of God a Book written within and on the backside viz. A Book that had a more outward sense in the meer Letter which consists of Representations Symbolical or Hieroglyphical of Iconismes or Images of things future and a more inward sense which is the sense of the future things themselves thus represented in Symbols or Images This Book of Prophecies was in the hand of God the Father in his power to impart it to whom he pleased as it is intimated in the beginning of the Apocalypse which is said to be the Revelation of Jesus Christ but that God gave it unto him sealed with seven seals And in that this Book is said to be sealed with seven seals it shews what a great Arcanum or Secret it was it being a Representation of a Scene of Affairs reaching from the beginning of the Church to the end of the world 2. And I saw a strong Angel proclaiming with a loud voice Who is worthy to open the Book and to loose the Seats thereof And that the inestimable worth of this Book of Prophecies which sottish and prophane Spirits so much slight and vilifie and crafty Politicians so much harden themselves against may appear here is proclamation made by a strong Angel with a loud voice Who is worthy to open c. that is Who is worthy to have so vast
demonstrated in my Synopsis Prophetica Nor can any man wonder that the Apocalypse affects such high figures as these are if he consider that this is one part of the artifice of Concealment which is so studiously intended in it But if we understand this power given to these Witnesses of the oral denunciation of these Aegyptian plagues that also is very plausible from Jer. 1.10 where God speaks thus to Jeremiah See I have this day set thee over the Nations and over the Kingdoms to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down and to build and to plant Which is not to do these things but to denounce them CHAPTER XII 1. ANd there appeared a great wonder in Heaven a Woman cloathed with the Sun and the Moon under her féet and upon her head a Crown of twelve Stars This is the primitive Apostolick Church before the Apostasie Where being clothed with the Sun signifies her being environed with the pure Light of the Gospel or the Sun of Righteousness communicated to her And her being crowned with twelve Stars denotes that it was her Glory and her Crown that she was not yet degenerated from the True Apostolick Faith and practice nor did as yet either Iudaize or Paganize but trod under-foot both the Carnality of the Judaical Rites whose Feasts and Legal Observances were appointed according to the course of the Moon and also the gross Superstitions and Idolatries of the Pagans which are rightly deemed the works of darkness or of the night of which the Moon is Governess 2. And she being with Child cryed travailing in birth and pained to be delivered These sharp throes signifie the cruel cutting persecutions the Primitive Church was under and the many martyrdoms they did suffer before that promise of Christ was made good to them Fear not little stock for it is my Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom This state therefore of the Church is contemporary with that of the earnest Ephesine and bitter Smyrnean succession and with the inward Court where also stood the Altar of Holocausts betokening the Primitive Christians frequent sacrificing their lives in Testimony to the Truth 3. And there appeared another wonder in Heaven namely while this Woman was thus in travail And behold a great red Dragon that is bloody and cruel having seven Heads and ten Horns on his seventh head suppose but without Crowns to intimate they are not yet in being though the heads be said to be crowned as well the five past and that one to come as the present sixth head the better to understand thereby that they are Men or Magistrates not Hills that are intimated in this place that is the reason it is said And seven Crowns upon his heads 4. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of Heaven and did cast them to the Earth that is his Military Train or Armies had subdued in S t Iohn's time the third part of the Kingdoms and Principalities of the then known world And the Dragon stood before the Woman which was ready to be delivered to devour the Child as soon as it was born The Dragon that is the Roman Empire Pagan known by its seven Heads which allude also to the seven Hills Chap. 17. as well as to the sevenfold succession of Government in it but Pagan in that it is in the shape of a Dragon as being under the Dominion not of Christ but Satan and also because seven Heads are only named and the Horns of the seventh Head yet uncrowned Wherefore this Vision belongs to the Empire while it was yet purely Pagan and the sense of that last clause is briefly this That the Roman Pagan Emperours and their Ministers the Devil assisting watched as close as they could that the Church of Christ never should come to such Power as to have an Emperour of their own Religion and so the Roman Empire come into their hands but so soon as any such thing appeared they endeavoured to quash it and defeat it 5. And she brought forth a Man-child who was to rule all Nations with a rod of Iron But notwithstanding all their envious and malicious watchfulness the Woman brought forth a Man-child a Mystical Christ or Christian People that at last would make themselves Masters of the Empire and Rule the wicked persecutive Pagans with such severity as they deserved which is intimated by what follows And her Child was caught up unto God and to his Throne He was advanced to the Imperial Dignity which is called here the Throne of God in such a sense as Supreme Magistrates are called Elohim Gods in the Hebrew Idiom because they are Gods Vicegerents and Representatives here on Earth whence their Majesty is also called Sacred And this was plainly fulfilled when Constantine turned Christian. The watchfulness therefore of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this quick-sighted vigilant Dragon seems to be contemporary with the Travail of the Woman till she had brought forth a Man-child that might rule all Nations with a Rod of Iron 6. And the Woman fled into the Wilderness But a little after this external prosperity of the Church and deliverance from the present Pagan persecution she was yet fain to take shelter in the wilderness the outward Catholick Church becoming little better in a short time For which reason she is said to fly into the Wilderness being more safe in this Christiano-gentilism than in that open furious oppression of the Pagan red Dragon thought in propriety of speech the desart or Christiano-paganism came swiftly upon her rather than she by any will of her own fled into it but it is a Prophetical Hypallage Where she hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her there The Apostolick Church should be preserved by Gods Providence all the time of this her abode in the Wilderness or Christiano-gentilism namely about the time of a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes Prophetical that is years Or the time and times and half a time as they are afterward called and sometimes resolved into Dayes sometimes into Months for * particular symbolical meanings and for the embellishing of the Cortex of the Apocalypse but to be understood alwayes seven Semitimes in whatever other disguise expressed whether of Dayes or Months These 1260 dayes therefore is the same time with forty two months of the treading down the outward Court by the Gentiles 7. And there was war in Heaven which betokens the like affair to come upon Earth Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon and the Dragon fought and his Angels which implies the invisible assistances and oppositions of Angels good and bad the one on the Primitive Christians side the other on the Pagan Empires side during that strong conflict betwixt the Church and the Pagans their persecutors in the Ephesine and Smyrnean succession with which the pangs of the Woman in travail also is contemporary 8. And the Dragon and his Angels prevailed not that