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
the Sardian Church to repent of and to stand upon their watch lest the judgement of God suddenly surprize them before they be aware Apoc. 3.3 A fifth Usefulness of our Exposition is in reference to the Jews for the facilitating their before in Jesus the true Messias For that perverse Objection of theirs against the Messias having been already come above sixteen hundred years ago seeing such gross Idolatry and bloody persecution has been so long a time in the Church against those men that have had the most Conscience touching the Purity of Gods Worship and the greatest Zeal against Idolatry This Objection I say is easily answered out of our Exposition of the Apocalypse that these things are no otherwise than the True Messias has predicted they would be whence the Argument is retorted against themselves that it is the greater Demonstration that Jesus is the True Messias and not only this but moreover which is the chiefest of all That all things predicted in the Apocalypse from the beginning of the Church to this day have exactly come to pass which is a pledge of Christs veracity touching the future state of the Church that is That this bloody and Idolatrous Hierarchy will be put an end to and that both Jew and Gentile will become One Fold under One Shepherd Jesus the True Messias namely at the descending of the New Jerusalem out of Heaven from God in which will be accomplished al the Glorious Promises of God touching his Church predicted by the mouths of his Holy Prophets Which cannot but be a full Answer to this Objection of the Jews The sixth is a particular Usefulness for the undeceiving the Fifth-Monarchy-Men as they are called and any others that are inclinable to such Opinions as they are of viz. That upon the Rising of the Witnesses a Fifth Monarchy must be erected in which Jesus Christ is personally to Reign with the revived Martyrs in the Millennium here upon Earth and that the way to these Times is to be made by the Sword For according to our Exposition the Witnesses are already risen in the late Reformation and the Time of the One thousand two hundred and sixty dayes expired that no watch-word may be taken to any Tumults from any such indication of Time But the most certain sign of the downfall of Antichrist will be the raising again in the Reformed Churches a sincere and fervent Zeal after Truth and Holiness hearty Love and Amity amongst themselves and a Conversation unspotted and unexceptionable and such as will convince their very Adversaries that they are in good earnest Christians and demonstrate their faith by their works and that they have not shaken off the Yoke of the Pope to serve themselves or to turn Slaves to their own Lusts but to be the Faithful Servants of him that redeemed them out of that House of Bondage If this were seriously minded in the Reformed Churches and due discipline kept up to that purpose the Papacy would melt away like a bank of snow in the summer-sun or consume as the fat of Lambs as the Psalmist speaks yea even as the smoak would they consume away And as for any Fifth Monarchy in which Jesus Christ shall visibly and personally Reign as the Monarch thereof or any one else as an Universal Monarch over all those many and large Kingdoms that shall then be Christian that the Fifth-Monarchy-men may not substitute this instead of the other our Exposition is not at all favourable to any such conceit as neither to that of the Reign of the revived Martyrs upon Earth in the blessed Millennium And I am so far from countenancing the Opinion that these Times are to be brought in by the Sword unless it be by the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God that that most dismal Prophecy Chap. 14. vers 20. where it is said that blood came out of the Wine-press even unto the horse bridles by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs and that Prophecy of the battel of that Great Day of God Almighty Chap. 16. and the other of the rider of the white horse Chap. 19. where the Fowles of the Air are called unto the Supper of the great God to eat the flesh of Kings of Captains and of Mighty Men c. that I interpret I say all these not litterally but mystically not of slaying of bodies but of converting and saving of souls And I hope the Reader will be convinced when he considers the places that my interpretation is true The seventh and last Usefulness of my Exposition redounds to the Pontifician party themselves as many as are predisposed to hear plain and evident truth For according to our Exposition which how true it is I have above made good and it will approve it self true to any Intelligent and unprejudiced Reader those that stay in the Communion of the Roman Church when as they should be the faithful Members of Christ they are ipso facto the Members of an Harlot that is of an Idolatrous Church which the stile of the Apocalypse calls the Whore of Babylon And how assured a man can be of his Salvation in such a state I 'le leave to himself to judge Or rather let him hear what the Angel sayes Chap. 18. vers 4. Come out of her my People lest ye partake of her sins and of her plagues As also what another Angels sayes chap. 14. vers 9 10. If any one worship the Beast and his Image and receive his Mark in his forehead or in his hand the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his Indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb and the smoak of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever This is the doom of those that forsake not the Communion of the Church of Rome but obey the Two-hundred Idolatrous Beast that has the horns of a Lamb but the voice of a Dragon decreeing gross Idolatries and bloody Persecutions This plain therefore and evident Exposition of the Apocalypse I hope may be an Instrument to bring off those that are any thing well disposed out of those gross and damnable Errours into the way of Saving Truth and keep those more stedfast that are in it For though there will be those and they not a few that will remain obstinate and unconvinced especially of the Roman Hierarchy it self even until the effusion of the last Vial yet there may be many particular gleanings and some larger harvests in the mean time to which so sound and faithful a sense of the Apocalypse as our Exposition exhibits to the Reader may be effectually subservient And truly this one usefulness thereof may very well seem a sufficient compensation for my labours to any sincere lover of the Souls of Men. Wherefore to come to a Conclusion
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
shew how nauseous and loathsome thou art to me in a torrent of Reproof as a sign of my disgust against thee and upon thy impenitence at length being weary of thee as concerning God it is said before his bringing the deluge of water on the Earth that it repented him that he had made man I will spew thee out from my self who fill all things and exterminate thee out of Being by a deluge of Fire that shall put an end to this Terrestrial Scene of things and the Laodicean Church shall be no more 17. But in the mean time that I may faithfully admonish thee Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have néed of nothing whilst thou considerest that Peace and Plenty that Power and Rule and security from Enemies which thou enjoyest and the purity of Doctrine and Worship free from Superstition and Idolatry and the abundance of both Natural and Divine Knowledge and clear understanding of Prophecies by reason of their completion now and skilfull Interpretations of thy Predecessors and Universal Freedom from all persecution I tell thee notwithstanding all these thou art mistaken in thy condition And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked in that thou art destitute of the Glories and Treasures of the Inward Man and art ignorant of the mysteries of Regeneration and of the Spirit of Life in the New Birth and art content with a covering but not of my Spirit whereby thou dost but add sin to sin 18. I counsel thée therefore to buy of me Gold tryed in the fire that thou mayest be rich Gold refined in the fire and so pure that it is transparent like glass New Jerusalem Gold which is the New Nature or Creature mine own Image And the price is thy sincere endeavouring and breathing after that state that thou mayest possess those durable Riches which shall not be melted when the Elements shall melt with fervent heat and the Earth and the works therein shall be burnt up namely at the Conflagration And white rayment that thou mayest be cloathed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear And buy of me white rayment that is groan in thy self O spiritless Laodicea and desire to be cloathed with thy Spiritual Tabernacle from Heaven that being so cloathed thou mayest not be found naked and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear at the last day And anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou mayest see Clear thy judgement and understanding by a diligent purification of thy Soul from all corruptions of flesh and spirit and perfect holiness in my fear that thou mayest see and have a right discerning in all things 19. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and repent As many as I love I chasten and I have a love to thee even for thy outward resemblance of thy deceased Sister Philadelphia and therefore I chastise thee with sharp reproofs to bring thee to an inward sense of things and shall further afflict thee by outward straits and distress to awaken thee For thine Enemies Gog and Magog by reason of thy remisness in Religion security and neglect of the Interest of my Kingdom will grow upon thee and at last encompass the Beloved City Be zealous therefore and repent thee of thy dead formality and remisness in the affairs of my Kingdome that so thou mayest recover the Philadelphian love and fervency 20. And do not complain of difficulties Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me I offer my aid unto you and solicit you ever and anon by good monitions and suggestions and if you obey sincerely my dictates and succours of Light and Grace I offer you and by this your sincerity open me the door I will sup with you I will communicate my Nature and Spirit unto you You shall feed on my flesh which is meat indeed and drink of my blood which is drink indeed and that saying shall be fullfilled in you I in my Father and you in me and I in you If any man love me and keep my Word my Father will love him and will come to him and abide with him 21. And that I may the more effectually rouse thee up out of this dead formality and tepidity out of this dulness and lethargy I add further To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne You shall not only enjoy Me and my Father in this life but if you will stand to the conflict and so attain to the state of the Spirit of Life and real Regeneration into the Living Image of my self I will exalt you to the same happiness with my self your bodies being transformed into the Image of my glorious Body and so fitted to ascend into the Throne that he has given me whose Throne is Heaven as Earth his footstool Nay you shall sit with me in my Throne and judge the Apostate Angels at the last day This is a great and stupendious promise but you ought to consider that he has promised it who is the Amen the true and faithfull Witness and the Beginning of the Creation of God and therefore both will and can bring all his counsels purposes and promises to pass Even so Amen 22. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches NOTES CHAPTER III. Vers. I. Whose condition is notified in their name c. Namely by way of allusion to the Lapis Sardius whose vertue is to exhilarate the mind of him that wears it and make him couragious and is an Amulet against witchcraft and poyson Which may intimate the comfortable doctrine of Iustification by Faith and the defeating the poyson of that cup of Fornication in the hand of the Whore of Babylon that the Sardian Church is not infected with that poyson of Idolatry as being out of the reach of that inchanted Cup of the Whore Sardis also signifies Canticum Laetitiae which sutes well with the Ioy of the Reformed Churches at the rising of the Witnesses signified by those Harpers with the Harps of God in their hand ch 15. But being the Sardius Stone is in Hebrew called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Odem which sounds near to Edom and by the Latines termed Carnalina this insinuates the defectuousness of the Sardian Church and her Carnality in several points of Doctrine and Practice Concerning which see my Exposition of the seven Churches Chap. 7. Vers. 7. And discovers its nature and condition in its name c. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Love of the Brethren and indeed consequently the Love of God and all Men these Vertues are so nearly linked together when they are sincere and in a due degree See my Exposition of the Seven Churches
Chap. 8. The Apostle Iohn calls Love And so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Amor as also dilectus amatus which will answer to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Platonists which is the highest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all Vers. 14. And whose name denotes the nature thereof c. For Laodicea signifies either the Righteousness of the People that is an external popular mode of Righteousness the inward Life and Spirit decaying which is too much the state of Laodicea Or it signifies the judging of the People because in this Interval of the Church namely at the end thereof Christ will come visibly to Judge and Sentence all People to their final doom CHAPTER IV. HItherto reaches the first part of this Book of Prophecies which has this peculiar and distinctly from the other two that follow That as they run altogether upon real Symbols or Iconismes Representations or Images of what is foretold taken from Things this first part did most what run upon Nominal or Paranomastical Iconismes or Images consisting in allusion to Words or Names that signified the condition of things foretold as was obvious to observe in the explication of that first part of this Book The second part now begins and that as high and reaches as far as the first that is it reaches from the beginning of the Christian Church to the end of the world And it is to be observed that as this former part the so far extended Prophecy of the Churches was ushered in by a voice like a Trumpet and the glorious Representation of Christ in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks so here in this sealed Book-Prophecy here is again the voice like a Trumpet and Christ again represented in a glorious manner to shew the parity of these two Prophecies and that they are of the like concern and extent Which will appear more plain in the Interpretation after the Introduction in this Sealed Book-Prophecy which takes up the fourth and fifth Chapters is explained 1. After this I looked and behold a door was opened in Heaven After this Vision of the Seven Churches was past and I come to my self again having occasion to look upwards behold a door seemed to be opened in Heaven And the first voice which I heard was as if it were of a Trumpet talking with me And lo the first voice which I heard before the Vision of the Seven Churches as of a Trumpet talking with me saying Come up hither and I will shew thee the things which must be hereafter that is the Representations or Prefigurations of those future things 2. And immediately I was in the spirit which is a sign he was again come to himself before And behold a Throne was set in Heaven and one sat on the Throne Being thus caught up in Spirit in this Ecstasie I presently saw a Throne set in Heaven and one sitting on that Throne with great Majesty 3. And he that sat was to look upon like a Iasper and a Sardine Stone A Iasper and Sardine Stone the one famous for the firmness thereof denoting the strength or rather the Omnipotency of the Divinity the other for the red fiery colour of it denoting the piercing activity of the Divine Nature or the colour of Fire is here made choice of as being the root of Light to show that he that sits here on the Throne is God the Father Which answers to that appearance of Fire in him that sits on the Throne in Ezechiel's Vision to whom the Rainbow belongs Which is there God the Father with which this Vision has no small affinity as may appear because the Rainbow is seen also here about the Throne in sight like an Emerald that imitates the most pleasing colour of the Rainbow or Halo as it follows in the Text And there was a Rainbow round about the Throne in sight much like unto an Emerald 4. And round about the Throne were four and twenty seats and upon the seats I saw four and twenty Elders sitting cloathed in white rayment and they had on their heads Crowns of Gold Here it also varies from that Vision of Ezechiel as being framed for a Type of the future State of the Church when the New Ierusalem descends from Heaven and the Tabernacle of God is with men And therefore the four and twenty Elders are here said to sit round about the Throne as the Priests and Levites were pitched next the Tabernacle But in that they wear Crowns as well as white Rayment it implies the sanctity of the Kings in that State of the Church which this Type points at those renewed Apostolick Times in the New Ierusalem when the Conversion of the Jews will add the Heads of their twelve Tribes to the number of the twelve Apostles which these twenty four Elders or Princes of Nations may answer to And in that there is no one besides God and the Lamb here that appears to be Supream over them it signifies that in those Times the Popes Pretenses will vanish and that Kings and Princes then of the Christian Profession will know themselves and be acknowledged by all to be in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil within their own Dominions next and immediately under Christ Supream Heads and Governours 5. And out of the Throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices and there were seven Lamps of fire burning before the Throne which are the seven Spirits of God There is also mention of Lamps and Fire and Lightning though no Thundring in the Vision of Ezechiel which is the Representation of the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ which is here again typified but as a State to come of the Church here on Earth And the seven Lamps of Fire are either * all the ministring Angels or all the living and quickening Graces of the Spirit of God 6. And before the Throne there was a sea of glass like unto Crystal This is not found neither in the Vision of Ezechiel but is an Emblem also of the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ it being the pure laver of Regeneration the being baptized with the Holy Ghost and with Fire which the seven Lamps also betoken And in that it is called a sea of glass it may signifie the pure transparent condition of the Church which is a multitude as Sea signifies the fixed purity thereof being ever penetrated by the presence of the seven Lamps of Fire which are the seven Spirits of God And * in the midst of the Throne and round about the Throne were four Beasts full of eyes before and behind These four Beasts full of eyes before and behind have plainly a resemblance of the four Beasts in Ezechiel's Vision but may here more particularly relate to the four Camps of Israel which was a Type of the New Israel of God But in that they are said to be full of eyes before and behind it implies they look backward and forward into the Histories of Times past and unto the Prophecies and Predictions of things to
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
Iuda were sealed twelve thousand Of the Tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand Of the Tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand The order is much inverted and confounded in this numbring of the twelve Tribes besides that Dan is left out and Ephraims name is suppressed because those two Tribes were the ring-leaders to Idolatry Iudges chap. 17.18 But Iuda is here put before Reuben because Christ was of the Tribe of Iuda but Reuben keeps the second place as by birthright it being fit he should yield to no other especially his courage having been so notable in battles for the Lord Numb 33. and Ios. 4. Gads valour also has purchased him the next place besides that Elias and Iehu the destroyers of Baal and his worship were of the Tribe of Gad. 6. And of the Tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand This Tribe also is notable for the woman of Sarepta that entertained Elias that great Champion against the Baalitish Idolatry and for Anna the Prophetess that gave testimony to Christ when he was presented in the Temple And these are the first four Sons of Leah Of the Tribe of Nephthali were sealed twelve thousand Of the Tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand Nephthali is here placed and Manasses before their Seniours Simeon Levi Issachar and Zabulon the former because that Tribe is so much ennobled by the story of Barac the Conquerour of Sisera and for Capernaum that See as it were of that great Bishop of Souls Jesus Christ whose residence was so much at Capernaum a City of Galilee that belongs to Nephthali insomuch that he was called a Galilean And the later for the feats of Gideon the destroyer of the Altar of Baal who was of the Tribe of Manasses as was also Elisha upon whom the Spirit of Elias rested and who was sent to anoint Iehu King that sore executioner of Iezebel 7. Of the Tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand Of the Tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand Of the Tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand 8. Of the Tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand These four last Sons of Leah were ranked according to their birth there being nothing eximious in them or if there was it being blotted again by some contrary miscarriages so that there was no extraordinary merit to break the order of their birth Of the Tribe of Ioseph were sealed twelve thousand Of the Tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand Which two Tribes nominated from the other two Sons of Rachel as the Tribe of Nephthali and Manasses before from her other two are thrust down into this lowest place and the Tribe of Ioseph here put for the Tribe of Ephraim whose name is here suppressed because of the foul faults of that Tribe of Ephraim in Micha Ieroboam and Ahab all Ephraimites And Benjamin juniour of all is rightly placed last But upon the account of the whole we see the ranking and ordering of the names of the Tribes is so fitted as to represent a company zealous for Christ and as zealous against Antichrist as being that very Virgin Company with the Lamb on Mount Sion Chap. 14. and against Spiritual Whoredom which is Idolatry This pure Apostolick Church did Christ seal and keep safe even during all that dangerous time under the sounding of the first six Trumpets 9. After this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the Throne and before the Lamb Namely before that Throne above described in Heaven For Iohn is supposed to see all these Visions in Heaven though they concern things here on Earth Clothed in white robes and palms in their hands This part of the Vision therefore shoots beyond the Pergamenian and Thyatirian Interval of the Church and begins with the Sardian Which enjoyes that promise to him that overcomes that he shall have power over the Nations that is whole Nations Tongues and People are now become open professors of the pure Apostolick Faith this is the effect of their victory and the sign thereof the Palm-branches in their hands They are the same with them that have got the victory over the Beast his Image and his Mark and the number of his Name and sing the Song of Moses and of the Lamb Chap. 15. Which is the commencement also of the Sardian succession which signifies a Song of Joy 10. And it is here said And they cryed with a loud voice saying Salvation unto our God which sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb Namely because he has thus delivered his Israel from the Antichristian bondage and persecution they were under in the Pergamenian and Thyatirian successions 11. And all the Angels stood round about the Throne and about the Elders and four Beasts and fell before the Throne with their fates and worshipped God This may seem to strike further into those Ages of the Church that come near to or are in the Blessed Millennium to those of the Philadelphian Interval which are as it were the Succession and Off-spring of the Apostolick Church that held out in the most persecuting times of Antichrist and are all held as one continued Church but growing and spreading further In which Angelical Times the consent and harmony of Heaven and Earth will be more full and more perfectly united and accorded So that it is no wonder it is said that the Angels joyntly with the Elders and four Beasts did fall before the Throne on their faces and worship God 12. Saying Amen Blessing and glory and wisdome and thanksgiving and honour and power and might by which these happy and heavenly Times are brought upon Earth be unto God for ever and ever Amen 13. And one of the Elders answered saying unto me What are these that are arayed in white Robes and whence came they that is to say how come the true Apostolick Church in these dayes that are here foreseen to be so prosperous and successfull and victorious For to be clothed in white signifies so in the Prophetick stile 14. And I said unto him Sir thou knowest And he said to me These are they which come out of great tribulation and have washed their Robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb that is these times of the Church that are thus prosperous as well as holy it is in vertue of the great tribulation and affliction their predecessors endured under the cruel and bloody persecutions of Antichrist So that they have washed their Robes as it were and made them white in the blood of the Lamb that is the sufferings of Christ in his true and living members under Antichrist were the Instrumental Cause of the splendid and prosperous condition of the blessed Times that are here prefigured in or near the Millennium as the blood of the Lamb in the usual sense is justly deemed the meritorious cause thereof 15. Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve him day
also upon a pretense then too lamentably true because they had so wretchedly corrupted the Ancient Apostolick Christianity with many intolerable Superstitions and gross Idolatries adding the persecution of all those that would not submit to them and their wicked Inventions For which gross degeneracy of the Church this scourge of the Turks especially was sent in upon them as is plainly implyed in what follows 20. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues that is of the Scorpio-Locusts and Euphratean Centaures as I may so speak but were only vexed with them by which is plainly meant the Western part of the Roman Empire which the Turk could never possess himself of yet as he has of the Eastern Yet for all this sad Example of Gods severity for the like crimes this Western part of the Empire repented not of the works of their hands their wicked and impious Inventions whereby they corrupted the Ancient Apostolick Christianity That they should not worship Devils * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Original has it that is Demons or middle invisible Powers betwixt God and Men whether Angels or Souls of men departed And in reference to these Idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood which neither can see nor hear nor walk and yet they lift up their eyes and hands to them and pray before them as if they could see their posture hear what they said and were able to go and bestir themselves to accomplish their requests But in that the mode of their Idolatry here is by Statues not by Pictures this is another insinuation that the Western Church is here understood 21. Neither repented they of their murthers that is of their murtherous persecution of innocent Souls for not submitting to their Idolatrous Rites and Customs nor of their sorceries their imposturous exorcismes and enchantments of several things to holy pretended uses nor of their fornication their unnatural uncleannesses of all sorts upon an Hypocritical profession of a single life nor of their thefts their cunning tricks of cheating the people of their money by setting up Images for them to bring Oblations to their merchandises of hallowed Crosses Beads Medals and the like trumperies and deceits For such like wickednesses as these was the wrath of God poured down upon the Eastern part of the Empire by letting loose the Euphratean Horsemen upon them so as to quite over-run them and vanquish them and yet the Western Church the more the pity did not lay it at all to heart while those Judgments were thundring against the Eastern and these Euphratean Horsemen were let loose upon them Which happened a little before the year 1300 after the Caliphate of Bagdad with which the first Wo expired had in the year 1258 been abolished by the Tartars and the Remainder of the Turks who had Reigned in Persia on the other side of Euphrates were cast out as out of a sling into the parts of the Roman Empire on this side Euphrates by the said Tartars namely in the year 1289 who winning Syria and Palestine and dividing amongst themselves the greater part of Asia minor at last joyning in one Othoman Empire broke also into Europe nor ceased till they took Constantinople and quite abolished the Constantinopolitan Empire and made themselves fully Masters thereof But as for the close of this second Wo-trumpet the most natural extent I discern thereof is the Universal Impenitency of the Western parts of the Roman Empire till some Country or Kingdom appeared converted from such Crimes as the Eastern Empire was destroyed for by these Euphratean Horsemen And so we shall clearly observe with what succession of the Churches this sixth Trumpet or second Wo-Trumpet expires namely it ends with the Thyatirian succession The six Trumpets added to the six Seals reach just so far and no further So that the seventh Trumpet must be contemporary with the Sardian Philadelphian and Laodicean successions and equalize the succession of them all which is worth the remembring for the better understanding what follows NOTES CHAPTER IX Vers. 1. Fallen from Heaven to the Earth c. The Original has it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which though our English Translation renders I saw a Star fall from Heaven as if it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then falling yet I have made bold to translate it according to Grammatical truth fallen from Heaven But I understand it of a fallen Angel according to the warrantable sense of the Cabbalists See my Synopsis Prophetica Book 1. ch 8. sect 14. Vers. 5. The nature of the Scorpion perpetually to attempt to sting c. Semper cauda in ictu est nulloque momento meditari cessat ne quando desit occasioni Plin. Histor. Natur. lib. 11. c. 25. Her taile is alwayes a striking nor ceases she any one moment to endeavour to sting that she may be sure to miss no opportunity Vers. 14. Four Turkish Sultanies or Tetrarchies c. These four Sultanies their number is learnedly and ingeniously made out by M r J. Mede on this Text But besides this if they were not just four and the business is not their Number but their Office what they are to do and when yet by a Prophetick Diorisme they might be called four Four standing for a note of Vniversality in the Cabbalistick Mysteries And D r Hammond on this place would have Four not to signifie just four but indefinitely to be put for the number of the Angels concerned in this affair Which he might the better have adventured on if he had been acquainted with the Cabbalistick stile Vers. 17. Belongs to the times since the Invention of Gunpowder and the use of Guns in War Which Berchtoldus Niger a Franciscan Monk and Alchymist is said first to have divulged to the world about the year 1380 which was after the plague of the Saracens upon the Empire And shews also how vain the attempts of those are who would draw back these Visions to the times of Titus and the besieging of Jerusalem by the Roman Armies Vers. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Original has it c. And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 has the same signification that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Spirits whether the Souls of Men or Angels and that either good or bad This is certainly the sense of the word in the Greek Language And therefore it is not so justifiably and fitly translated here Devils which none amongst the Pagans themselves are said to worship unless Witches and Magicians and therefore it had been more safe to have retained the Greek word which also the Latines use and called them Demons which signifies as well goods Angels and the souls of good men departed this life as bad Angels or bad Souls or if you will Devils which in all Idolatrous worship are in all likelihood busie Assistants and several times make a show of Miracles and so attract the worship of Idolaters to themselves they worshipping
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
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
not markt with the name of this Beast or the number of his name that has not either his name in letters plainly writ or in figures that contain the number that the letters of his name make according to their numeral value for every Greek letter has such a numeral value those that are not thus marked that is profess not themselves of the Faith of this Sacerdotal Hierarchy signified by the two-horned Beast may neither buy nor sell but are excommunicated for Hereticks with whom by the very Sentence of their Synods there is to be no Negotiation Now who this Beast this two-horned Beast or Sacerdotal Hierarchy more particularly is is enigmatically expressed in the following Verse 18. Here is wisdom let him that hath understanding count the number of the Beast Here is a dark riddle let him that has skill that way number the number of the Beast For it is the number of a Man that is not so strange a number but that it may be numbred by the Art of man And his number is six hundred threescore and six which is to be numbred no otherwise than by the extraction of the square Root which is 25 * which is marvellously applicable to the City and Church of Rome as 12 the root of 144 to the New Ierusalem And that you may be sure this Sacerdotal Hierarchy of Rome is more specially aimed at in this Vision take another easie sense of It is the number of a Man that is of a mans name For above there is mention of the number of his name And his name will prove 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lateinos for those letters in their numeral value make just 666. And it is notoriously known that the Fathers of this Western Church of which Old Rome was the Head were stiled in subscriptions at Councils the Latin Fathers and the Eastern Fathers Roman from New Rome and the Eastern Roman Empire in those parts So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that name of a Man of that Man of Sin or Antichrist and 666 the number of this Man that is of his name which is a Cabbalistical device and by the Cabbalists called Gematria From whence we see that the pinch of this Prophetick Vision at last lights more particularly on the Pope of Rome and his Clergy NOTES CHAPTER XIII Vers. 13. Were rent off from the Church and made obnoxious to eternal fire c. That thunder is fire from Heaven is plain as also that the Popes Excommunications are compared to Thunder and that Heaven in the Prophetick stile are the high places in any Polity Wherefore his Thundering Excommunications against Princes is very fitly set out by that phrase That he causeth fire to come down from Heaven as if he thundered against them Which Analogy is still more accurate if we consider what Artemidorus saith of Thunder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For thunder and lightning does not unite but disjoyns things that are united So does Excommunication that rives off a member from the Church And there is still a further congruity that Excommunication should be called Thundering and Lightning or fire from Heaven in that it is the Commination of Hell fire of which the destruction of Sodom was a Type which was burnt by fire from Heaven as M r J. Mede has judiciously observed See my Synopsis Prophetica lib. 1. cap. 6. sect 14. Vers. 18. Which is marvellously applicable to the City and Church of Rome c. Concerning this applicableness of this number 25 by way of counter-correspondency if I may so speak to the number 12. see my Mystery of Godliness lib. 5. cap. 16. sect 8. For it were too long and tedious to transcribe those things into these brief Notes CHAPTER XIV 1. THere was mention in the foregoing Chapter of the Wars of the Beast and his marked Soldiers and of his continuance viz. in his entire state to the seventh Semitime of forty two months of years which is one manner of expressing Daniel's time and times and half a time Now in counter-correspondency to those Soldiers and that War in this very first Verse there is exhibited the Lamb and his Soldiers And I looked and Lo a Lamb stood on Mount Sion which is Christ against Antichrist And with him an hundred forty four thousands that is to say an hundred forty four Chiliads or Regiments consisting of a thousand a piece Having his Fathers Name written in their foreheads that is making open profession of Christ and of God his Father against the pretended Holy Father of Rome the Pope as the word signifies Instead of receiving the mark of the two-horned Beast in their right hand or on their foreheads they have the name of God the Father and of his Son Christ marked on their foreheads that you may see whose Soldiers they are And in that they are said to be 144 Regiments it denotes that they are pure Apostolick Christians the square root of 144 being 12. Here therefore the number 144 from its root 12 denotes the Apostolick Church as the number 666 from its root 25 the Church Apostatizing 2. And I heard a voice from Heaven as the voice of many waters and as the voice of a great thunder and I heard the voice of Harpers harping with their harps This is a description of the Angelical Musick in Heaven where multitudes of Angels praise God and the Lamb the voice of many waters and thunder being symbols of a multitude speaking or singing together But it is further said of this Angelical Quire 3. And they sung as it were a new song before the Throne and before the four Beasts and the Elders and no man could learn that song but the hundred forty four thousand which were redeemed from the Earth This Song of the Angelical Quire which is the Joy that ariseth from the New Nature or the Divine Nature superadded to the Animal Nature and is the same in Men and Angels I mean regenerate men who thereby are made partakers of the Divine Nature as well as the Angels None could learn this Song that is none could know what belongs to the Joys of the New Birth or Divine Life raised in us that state of Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost but the hundred forty four thousand redeemed from the Earth that is from the earthy sense and wisdom that savours only the things of this world and of the flesh 4. These are they which were not defiled with women namely with the Daughters of Babylon that famous strumpet the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth These would not submit themselves to the lewd debaucheries of that Idolatrous Church For they are Uirgins For they have so holy and chaste a sense in the duties of Divine Worship that they abhor from every thing that has any shew of violating that loyalty and fidelity they owe to God or Christ to whom alone they are betrothed These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth These are
belongeth the first Resurrection accordingly as here followeth 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath no power Namely the Lake of Fire vers 14. into which Hades or the whole Region of Mortality is cast the Earth being all on fire But they that have obtained their glorified body as the Martyrs do in the first Resurrection they are sped already and are safe from this fate But they shall be Priests of God and of Christ that is Holy and Divine Souls cloathed in glorified bodies serving God in his Heavenly Temple And shall reign with him viz. with Christ in the Kingdom of his Father not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the thousand years of the Millennium but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thousand years symbolically understood which being the Cube of Ten which comprehends all number signifies a steady permanent Reign even to all Eternity 7. But when the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the thousand years of the Millennium are expired that is at the expiration of the Philadelphian Interval and the beginning of the Laodicean Satan shall be loosed out of his prison that is to say the ancient zeal of the Philadelphian Church and strictness of Discipline will be much relaxated and wickedness will get head again namely under the fourth Thunder 8. And he shall go out to deceive the Nations which are in the four quarters of the Earth Gog and Magog that is the whole rabble of men that are disposed to wickedness and have an enmity against the Holy and Just which are the true Israelites indeed in whom there is no guile And Gog and Magog are those notorious enemies of the People of Israel Ezech. Cap. 38. and 39. who therefore here typifie the enemies of the Holy Christian and Apostolick Church of which Israel was a type To gather them together to battel to fight against Israel the true Church of Christ The number of whom is as the sand of the sea So much had wickedness increased by the not still endeavouring with that wonted vigour the amplification of Christs Kingdom and by relaxation of Discipline in the Laodicean State of the Church though purity of external worship was still retained among them neither had they contaminated themselves with course Superstitions and Idolatries 9. And they went up on the breadth of the Earth which indicates the swarming and the spreading of their Forces and compassed the Camp of the Saints about The Camp wherein there were many Saints and right Philadelphian Spirits but all Saints as to the purity of external worship And the beloved City The mystical Ierusalem or pure Church of Christ and beloved of him for the reasons even now intimated Here is an attempt of bringing again the Righteous under the Power and Tyranny of the wicked which attempts are made toward the latter end of the Laodicean Interval under the fifth Thunder But before they could effect their wicked enterprise the Day of judgement overtakes them And fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them 10. And the Devil that deceived them was cast together with them into the lake of fire and brimstone even that Lake which is afterwards called the second death where the Beast and the false Prophet the whole Antichristian Rabble shall be and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever 11. For I saw a great white Throne for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And does ordinarily signifie for as the sense may require and him that sate on it namely Christ coming to judgement at the end of the Laodicean Interval in the sixth Thunder from whence the Church of Laodicea also has its name From whose face the Earth and the Heaven fled away and there was found no place for them that is the Glory of his Majesty was so great that Heaven and Earth seemed to vanish before him the eyes of the spectators at first being so wholly filled with the brightness of the presence of his Glory 12. And I saw the dead small and great good and bad stand before God This is the General Resurrection which is not till the thousand years of the Millennium be expired but a good while after it though but a little time compared with the thousand years in the latitude of the sense thereof And the Books were opened the Rolls and Records of their actions this is spoken in allusion to Law-proceedings in Courts of Judicature amongst men And another Book was opened which is the Book of Life An auspicious Title signifying that they whose names were found there should be sentenced worthy of Eternal Life and escape the second death And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their Works As is done in Righteous Courts of Judicature where the Judge gives Sentence according to what is alledged and proved And so it is in this General Assizes none shall be condemned for what he is not guilty of but be judged according to his works 13. And the Sea gave up the dead which were in it The Souls here appear of them that were drown'd in the Sea as being not extinct thereby as some fondly imagine and actuate their bodies And death or pestilence all manner of death by diseases is intimated by it and briefly Hell that is Hades the whole Region of deceased Souls or this sphere of Mortality into which they are congregated at this General Assizes delivered up the dead that were in them that is exhibited them to the view of all And they were judged every man according to their works The Divine Nemesis proportioned punishments or rewards to every one according to their doings Hitherto are the transactions of this General Assizes and the passing of judgement on those that were called to the Bar which takes up the sixth Thunder But in the seventh there is Thundering and Lightening properly so called as is intimated vers 9. And fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them So here 14. And Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire that is this whole Region of Mortality above which the Spirits of Devils and damned Souls cannot emerge but are chained and confined to this caliginous Atmosphere will be set on fire at the last Thunder which together with eruptions from beneath will cause a dreadful Conflagration and turn the Earth as it were into one great lake of fire This is the sense of these words And Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire Which is a very figurative expression First by a Prosopopoeia making Death and Hell as it were two persons as in Chap. 6. vers 8. and then by an Hypallage casting them into the fire when as the fire is rather cast into them it occupying all this Region of Mortality and putting an end to dying by consuming all the species of mortal Creatures and giving a stop to their propagation This is the second Death As the first
death is the death of this body Wherefore it is here a seasonable monition Fear not them which kill the body but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell which is the second death infinitely worse than the former 15. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life that is in the Book of Life of the Lamb as a faithful Soldier and true Member of his Kingdom was cast into the lake of fire and underwent the same doom with the Apostate Spirits which implies that those which were found in that Book of Life were adjudged to the enjoyment of Eternal Life to reign with Christ for ever in Heaven in the Kingdom of his Father as he promises in his Epistle to the Church of Laodicea NOTES CHAPTER XX. Vers. 4. And I saw also those that had not worshipped the Beast c. That the beheaded and these are two distinct sorts of persons methinks is plainly enough insinuated in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and those who had not worshipped c. David Pareus supposes an Ellipsis which he would supply thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so secure is he that two several sorts are meant If this be not the sense why is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had been sufficient without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Text should have run And besides why is it said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they lived and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they lived again if both the Beheaded and the Not-worshippers of the Beast were of the same kind But indeed Interpreters do generally understand them to be of two sorts though otherwise they cannot hit it among themselves about the sense of this place the one sort Martyrs the other Confessours And I add surviving Confessours who with their Successours survive the Cruelty of the Beast and his Image See my Mystery of Godliness lib. 5. cap. 15. sect 6. CHAPTER XXI 1. ANd I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth One would think upon the Conflagration of this Earth immediately mentioned before But this is but the artificial embellishing of the outward Cortex of this Book of Prophecies in this place * by a Lemmatosynechia as it is called in my Synopsis Prophetica For the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away namely the former Heaven and Earth or World in the sense of the Prophetical stile according to which they denote a Polity which therefore intimates here that the Tyrannical and Idolatrous Polity of the Beast and the false Prophet which is the great Whore or great City of Babylon was now abolished as appears by Chap. 19. vers 20. And there was no more Sea no unquiet multitudes of the wicked who are like the raging waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame Tumults War and Bloodshed was under that Polity that is cast into the Lake of Fire Chap. 19. vers 20 which was the Reign of Antichrist But now the Reign of Christ is at hand who is the true Melchizedec King of Salem or Ierusalem King of Righteousness and Prince of Peace This Vision therefore goes back to the second Thunder 2. And I Iohn saw the Holy City New Ierusalem The truly Holy City not pretended Holy Church and the New Jerusalem not that Old Prophet-killing Jerusalem which is also spiritually called Sodom and Aegypt the Roman Hierarchy where Christ in his Faithful Witnesses were persecuted to death This sight therefore of the City Ierusalem is exhibited as a Polity succeeding the great City of Babylon and in opposition thereto Coming down from God out of Heaven which shows it is a Polity here upon Earth and of Divine Institution and to be setled after the utter destruction of the Whore of Babylon by a Council truly Holy and truly Oecumenical being persons of pure and upright Spirits and without all worldly interest and moreover inspired extraordinarily by the Spirit of God This is the meaning of this descent of Ierusalem from God out of Heaven all things then being to be ordered by that Wisdom which is from above when as the Constitution of the City of Babylon was from that Wisdom which is from beneath and is earthly sensual and devilish Prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband Not as a Whore to commit Fornication with the Kings of the Earth as Babylon did This Constitution of things is setled under the second Thunder after which immediately follows the Millennial Reign of Christ and is described in the following Verses 3. And I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people And God himself shall be with them namely by his Spirit whose presence shall sensibly and feelingly be acknowledged by all the Inhabiters of this New Ierusalem For this is the Reign of the Spirit or the Reign of Christ in the Spirit of which the Apostles of old witnessed Know ye not that your bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost But in the City of Babylon instead of being taught and guided by the Holy Ghost they were forced to follow their blind Guides that led them into all manner of Superstition and Idolatry and gross Disobedience to the Laws of God and Christ unless they would be persecuted and barbarously murthered And be their God that is their Protector and Defender from all manner of Evil As it follows 4. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes This Reign of Christ in the Millennium will be with that equity goodness and sweetness that no mans heart that is good shall need to be oppressed with grief or express his grief by his tears And there shall be no more death no more bloody massacrings of the Faithful Witnesses of Christ or burning them at the stake with fire and fagot as was done under the Tyranny of the Great Whore neither sorrow for the loss of Friends thus barbarously and inhumanely murthered nor crying no clamours against gross injustice and cruelty or crying out for the tortures that are inflicted on poor innocent men for keeping a good conscience towards God Neither shall there be any more pain by noisom and wearisom imprisonments or what other hardships they are put to for the testimony of a good conscience For the former things are passed away The bloody Whore or false Prophet with the Beast are now in the Lake of fire burning with brimstone And Babylon the Great like a milstone sunk into the bottom of the Sea never to rise again Such is the state of the blessed Millennium when it comes nor shall Gog and Magog prevail against the Holy City in the Laodicean Interval 5. And he that