ready to assent hereunto even to stop the mouth and to kill Truth And this is cruelty the flesh would not have Truth to live but is still heart-burning against it Truth must be kild because it testifies against the flesh that the deeds thereof are evill If thou be vain-glorious and the flesh be proud of Learning gifts preaching praying actings and set a man tell thee never so mildly of thy pride coveteousnesse and oppression or self-worship and blind devotion and though the inward conscience tell thee thou art scuh a one yet thy flesh burnes and swels presently and nothing wil satisfie thy disquiet flesh if it might have its will but the imprisonment and death of him that speakes the truth And is glad to heare of any Glosse or subtill invention or authoritative Law that doth seem to kill Truth and countenance a vain and empty form of Gods worship If God give thee a discerning heart thou wilt acknowledge that thy own flesh within as well as the flesh of other men is very cruel against truth and rejoyces in its death And when the Flesh gets a power into his hand as it hath a power when the Kings of the earth give their authority and power to it then it puts all politick Lawes and Ecclesiasticall Constitutions into execution to kill the appearances of Truth every where The Jewes by the envy and policy of their flesh first made a Canon-Law that whosoever acknowledged Iesus the Anointed should be put out of the Synagogue And within a littie time after did put this Law into execution and did cast the poor man out whom Christ had cured of his blindnesse because he testifies love to Christ and said he was no sinner whom their flesh said was a sinner Likewise they did imprison and beat the Apostles by the same Ecclesiasticall Law because they preached the Name of Iesus And have we not all experience how this selfe-honoring Beast in her three shapes already past hath mightily suppressed martyred and worn out the Saints of the most high God by executing her Canon-Lawes by Inquisitions High Commissions and Classicall Censures upon those innocent Lambs of Christ that could not conform through their love to God unto her fleshly forms of worship and Carnall Customes which he hath with a great confidence declared to be according to the Scriptures which upon examination appears to be her own invention and fancy and not agreeable to the sense of the Scriptures in any kind And here lies the great mystery of all God the Father will have his Son Iesus Christ to be advanced King Priest and Prophet for God in Flesh must rule and this is Gods Kingdome But the corrupt felsh or rather the Serpent in flesh would be God therefore all the wisdome and power of it sets it selfe as God and strives to advance it selfe â—above God and denies and persecutes Gods Anointed ones in whom God delights And this Mystery of iniquity did work in Daniels time by envy and craft against the appearances of God in Daniel And it prevailed in the time of Caiaphas the High Priest to kill the Man Christ Iesus who was Gods faithful and true Witnesse And as the Beast had got a humane corrupted power to put Christ to death yet an illegal law for the Judge confessed he found no fault in Christ yet the Beast had no law to put such to death as acknowledged or beleeved in Christ for the Anointing in Saints was not yet known so manifestly in the world Therefore she began to creep in in Rauls time to spy out the Saints liberty and to bring them into bondage and after some few years she commits fornication with the Kings of the earth and they gave their authority and power to the Beast and then an universall Bishop was set up at Rome and a compulsive power was put into his hands to compell all men and women to conforme to what Divine government or worship he and his Colledge made or else to suffer punishment And now the Beast makes Directories and Church-governments not according to Scripture but by her Conclusions and Inferences from Scripture that agree not with the Mystery of God but with her own Being maintenance And likewise she hath power in her hand to make laws and Canons and Ecclesiastical censures to inforce a conformity hereunto The first of these is to insnare the Saints and to catch them within the limits of a law and in the next place to kill them And thus the Beast hath killed and worn out the Saints and made warre with Christ Gods two Witnesses a long time And the Beast hath killed them by her Ecclesiasticall lawes an ordinance of government which God never made but is a corrupt power cunningly juggled out of the hands of civill Magistrates of the earth which is Gods Ordinance which he appointed for the government of the world And by this Ecclesiasticall Bastardly power which was got in fornication with the Kings of the Earth The Beast hath reigned and lived in pomp like a delicate Whore first killed and then trod the Witnesses under her feet For now she doth what she will she sits like a Queen and knowes no sorrow for she hath a power from the Kings of the earth and this power is permitted and limited by our God to tread them under foot 42 months which beare testimony of her ruine For this is the testimony of the two Witnesses That God will reigne and dwell in Flesh and tread the Beast under his feet And this is Gods Kingdome but this the Beast cannot indure to heare of Therefore she envies Gods two Witnesses and uses all her policy to kill them and tread them under her Whorish feet that she might prove God a liar and reign her selfe as God in Gods Temple It is not any particular man or office that kils Gods witnesses but it is the Serpentine flesh in every man that advances it self in men and offices above God and this must be till God take him away or tread this wicked one under his feet But one thing note that the slayiug of the witnesses is not a slaying of the Bodies of their flesh onely but a slaying of their actions and testimonies by reproaches oppression and Ecclesiasticall laws not suffering them to act ike themselves according to their testimony of the Father in the view of the world so that they ly like dead bodies in the worlds account though they be still living in themselves and will appeare to the world to be alive ere long For first the humane body of Christ was kild by the Jews that was the History but this is not the onely killing for afterwards when the Beast had committed fornication with the Kings of the Earth then he killed the Lawes Ordinances and Commands of Christ by seting up Lawes Ordinances and Commands of his
God dwels who is the light of lights that is called Heaven in the mystery And this leads us to the sanctified Humane Nature Jesus Christ in whom God dwels bodily And I beleeve this is the Heaven here spoken of So that God the Father speakes out of his beloved Sonne Jesus Christ and calls his Witnesses that have been trampled upon under the feet of them that were not in covenant with God fourty two months that is the three dayes and halfe of the Beasts reigne and bids them come up hither into the same condition of Nature Life Liberty Peace Victory Kingdome and Glory of his beloved Son Jesus Christ And this Paul having some experience of gives God thanks that had called him into his Kingdome and glory For seeing the men of the World will have no communion with these lights of God his Witnesses but mightily oppresse them and weare chem out therefore God takes them up into fellowship with himselfe and so the Anointing in the man Iesus and the Anointing in the Saints are made one with the Father and the Father entred into Iesus and the Saints so they likewise enter into the Father and partake of his rest and peace And this is Gods Kingdome even God thus manifested in flesh And so humane flesh is changed into the image of God and the vile bodies of the Saints are made glorious by the in-dwelling of the holy breathings of Almighty God Come up hither faith God into the same height of glory you shal lie no longer under the feet of the Gentiles for the appointed time is accomplished And they ascended up to heaven in a Cloud Now this Cloud is the combustions delusions oppressions and troubles which the foure evill Angels before spoken of raise up For mind and you shall see that when the sixth Angel began to blow the Trumpet the foure evill Angels were loosed out of the great River Euphrates and they went forth killing and doing hurt And thus they continued untill the Witnesses ascended up to heaven and then this second woe ceased And the third woe to the inhabitants of the earth cometh presently after as you may read So the loosing of the four evill Angels and the troubles that they stir up and the ascending up of the Witnesses into heaven were all to be acted under the sound of the sixth Angel which is the second woe By Cloud note four things First what the Cloud is Secondly it darkens the Sunne from our sight Thirdly It sends down rain Fourthly the effects that follow Now by Cloud in this spirituall sense I conceive is meant a conjunction of the seven thousand which Iohn mentions which I shall speak somthing of anone either in whole as they live in all Nations or in part as they have power in one Nation to manage the cause of the Beast by preferring the wisdome power and learning of the flesh in either upholding old corrupt formes and customes or in making new ones of pretended divine worship By reason whereof in the Second place the light of the Son of Righteousnesse Iesus Christ is hid from the generality of men where these bear sway for the immediate teachings of God must not be preached neither must any be suffered to write thereof but the seven thousand or such as they tollerate And so the wisdome of men is taught for the wisdome of God by reason whereof a dark veil is drawn over the mindes of men so that the whole world wonders after the Beast saying Who is like the Beast who is able to make warre with him Or Thirdly by Cloud may be meant the two effects that follow as first the falling of the could in a showr of rain for when the usurped authority of the seven thousand is slighted by the Saints and these Mordecaies will not bow to that proud Haman and indeed none dare encounter with the wisdome power customes formes directories and abominations of the Beast but the Saints in whom the holy breathings of God dwell and the weakest of these dares throw him the glove I say when that cloud of false witnesse is scattered it showres down threatnings oppressions prisons punishments death like a flood of water to drown the woman the Spouse of Christ upon every one that will not conform for truly the King of a fierce countenance the Prince of darknesse rules in the cloud who through policie makes craft to prosper in his hand and he destroyes the holy people mightily and then the second effect But in the Fourth place the falling of the Cloud makes men to run under some shelter And so when this Cloud of false witnesses falls either in self-seeking and false doctrines in threatnings or punishments upon all that will not conform or in forcing people to conform or in restraining people from such wayes of Divine worship â—s God hath perswaded their hearts unto and â—o taking peace from the earth In the falling of this Cloud or in this showre of rain God calls upon his two faithfull witnesses bids them come up to him shelter themselves in heaven even in the glory kingdome and beauty of Jesus Christ And they ascend up to heaven in this cloud that is God takes up his Saints to him is their refuge and shelter their life liberty and comfort he dwels in them and they dwell in him And now they live above the wisdome malice sorrows of the world in the joy rest peace of the Father as Iesus the Anointed did And their enemies beheld them that is those that were the upholders of the Beast shal be coÌ„vinced in their consciences that the Saints whom God so takes up into fellowship with himselfe though they be not bred Schollars inhumane Arts yet they are more righteous then they and at this sight they shall be offended and very angry And in the same hour there was an Earthquake By Earthquake mind two things First when God shakes down all the corrupt flesh in a Saint and treads it under his feet making that subtile proud coveteous envious and unclean Serpent his foot-stoole shaking down either more visible or lesse visible in the eye of the world old Adams building that he may set up his own new building the Anointing And this shaking is that which vnbelievers scoff make a laughing-stock at in these dayes but they can do no otherwise for they are slaves to the Serpent and he makes them do so and they will do so till God pul them out of that power of darknes But this is not the shaking onely which is pointed out by Johns vision though without this the other that follows cannot be done Therfore Secondly the Earthquake here pointed at is this When God shakes down corruption in Magistracy which the Beast brought in and so restores that ordinance of God to purity in justice and when he shakes down all false shews forms customes of
men that were guided by God to walk sincerely according to what they knew and understood and durst not do any thing because others do it or said it was a truth unles they saw it to be a truth likewise I wish this were seriously minded in these our dayes And as it was raised by deceived Magistracy so in every change of time the maintainers of that stolen usurped power did not rely upon God to preserve and carry on Church-work but still they were petitioned to Kings and Parliaments to establish this Ecclesiastical power to enforce men to a uniformity in Religion but self-love and temporal livings were the bottom of that zeal And so by the precepts of men they have taught or rather by compulsion have enforced men to pretend a fear of God for theiâ— Ecclesiastical power makes men fear men morâ— then God and so makes hypocrites which hath been a power God hath since Esay prophesied threatned and executed wrath upon the mannagers So that ever since this Ecclesiastical power was raised up it hath been a troubler of Godly Magistrates a troubler and silencer of godly Ministers a troubler of common people in High-Commission Courts Sessions and by Classical censures making men hypocrites to act contrary to their knowledg for fear of punishment But if it please God to put it into the heart of Magistrates in Kingdomes to take back their power from this Beast and to let the government of Church-work lie only upon the shoulders of our Lord Christ for it is his due right he is King of Saints Then the pure reformation of civill Magistracy would soon appeare confusion and Babylon would die and there would be peace among men Indeed the main cause of all our Nationall troubles is the discontent of the whorish spirit in men that wonder after the Beast but when once it is faln really in Common-wealths as it is faln in some Saints then men will be freed from bitternesse and rejoyce because the Lord God omnipotent reigneth And Magistracy which is Gods Ordinance will run in its right channell to be a terror to the wicked and to protect them that doe well whereas by this Ecclesiasticall power established by deceived Magistracy the sincere in heart that worship God in spirit and truth according as God hath taught them and they understand These are and have been troubled in Sessions in Courts and punished by Fines and prisons c. But the loose-hearted that will be of any Religion that the most is of these have their liberty without restraint and so Magistracy hath acted quite backwards in punishing them that do â—â—ell and protecting in a hypocriticall liberty them that do evill O that our Magistrates would let Church-work alone to Christ upon whose shoulders they shall find the government lies and not upon theirs and then in the wisdom and strength of Christ they would govern Common-wealths in justice love and righteousnesse more peacebly All that I shall say in conclusion is this Wait patiently upon the Lord let every man that loves God endevour by the spirit of wisdome meeknesse and love to dry up the river Euphrates even this spirit of bitternesse that like a great River hath over-flowed the Earth of man-kind For it is not revenge fines fightings that will subdue a tumultuous spirit but a soft answer love and meeknesse tendernesse and justice to doe as we would be done unto This will appease wrath When this Son of righteousnesse and love arises in Magistrates and people one to another then these tumultuous Nationall stormes will cease and not till then This Son is risen in some or else these tumultuous stormes would have made it a cold and uncomfortable season before this time This Sonne will rise higher and must rise higher and the bright shining of it will be Englands liberty Well I am confident that those that are very violent in spirit without double-dealing acting outwardly what meerly is in their hearts and knowledge though for the present they are tormented even in Hell night and day by that unquiet Spirit yet these 〈…〉 make and enjoy a peaceable quiet and righteous spirit and I beleeve within a short time and they shall be delivered from this Serpents bondage and Gods kingdome shall enter into them and when men have wearied out themselves in following their lusts then is Gods time to take them up into his rest and liberty This work God maniests in some that are scattered up and down like a few drops of haile before the showre fall in force And when he workes in generall then the showre of haile shall fall in force and sweep away all the refuge of lies before it that is plentifull discoveries of God in every man burns up the drosse of the flesh and plentifull increase of Saints in a Kingdome is like a showre of haile that sweeps away all abominations in States and Churches And such a time as this is coming on when the seventh Angel sounds And I shall leave with you one Scripture with which I will conclude And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven and there was seen in his Temple the Arke of his Testament and there were lightnings and voyces and thundrings and an earth-quake and great haile Commander in chiefe is God himselfe who rules the Spirits of men Wait then on him up-roares to quell and setle peace again Those that doe rise for fleshly ends a Kingdome for to trouble Shall lose their pains undoe themselves and vanish like a bubble Gods shaking Nations trying men and changing times and customes Ruining the Beast and saving men amidst these great combustions Cease striving then ye sons of men Destroy not one another God will avenge him that 's opprest by Christ our elder brother His turn is next the Realm to take and rule the sons of men And Beast and Devill Pope and Sin Shall never rise again But yet mens hearts disquiet are and bitter as we see Hot times have been hot times yet are but hotter yet may be For now the Image of the Beast appeares to act his part But he 's a falling and Saints shall sing Haleluja with joy of heart FINIS 1. Kinâ— 18. Psal. â— Num. â— 12. Dan. 24. Dâ—â— 6. 5. 〈…〉 II â—n 19. â—hn â—et 〈◊〉 â—e 〈◊〉 12. Jer. 23 â— 6 2 Thes 2. 8. Luke 17. 21. Heb. 4. 3. 1 John 4. 4. Esa. 1. Esa. 1 Rev. 〈◊〉 Dan. 7. 6. 27. Rev. 11. 5. Rev. 16. 7. Rev. 14. 〈◊〉 1. Esa. 60. 4. â—ev. 11. â—3 Cor. 〈◊〉 4. â—a 4. 4. Esa. 49. 22. Rev. 1â— 7. 8. chap. 19. 6. 1 Pet. 4. 13. ☜ John 18. â—ev. 22. 1. â—ev. 5. â—3 Act. 4. 12. Gen. 3. 15. Chap. 18. 18. Gal. 3. â— 16. Gal. 3. â—20 Heb. 10. 5 Exod 20. 19. Deut. 5. 28. Heb. 8 Deut. 1 18. Acts 3. 21. 22 Heb.
he was the Son of God when he was supposed to be about 30 years of age as Luke speaks we read not of any thing that he did till this time that he was baptized and the Spirit descended upon him And from that time till he was crucified as I have gathered by books it was supposed to be about three years a half which is about this account which the Spirit calls 1260 days according to the days of a week it is but about 17 dayes difference The like number of dayes is spoken of Rev. 12. And the woman fled into the Wildernesse where she hath a place prepared of God 1260 dyes This I conceive was the same tearm of dayes according to the number of the dayes in a week that one Saviour did prophesie here in the world among men And this points out unto us the time of the battell that was fought between Michael our Prince the seed of the woman and the Dragon or the power of darknesse ruling in the corrupt posterity of Adam For if the Serpent and his seed could have made Jesus Christ to have sinned by their temptations then the Serpent had conquered him and had broken Gods head But Jesus Christ held out to the end and sinned not as he that saw it bore witnesse and his witnesse is true therefore he broke the Serpents head and became a faithfull witnesse to his Fathers counsell Now all the time of this bettell the church was kept by the power of God at a stand and there Were no voyces heard but silent for the space of halfe an houre that little time of 1260 dayes and God and Angels Saints and Men were spectators of this great battell between the Serpent and Christ But when Christ had finished his testimony he laid down his life and the Serpent and his seed thought they had conquered him and began to rejoyce and make merry as Revel. 11. 10. And then was made manifest in heaven that is in and to the Church by the Father the Spirit of truth That Christ by death had overcome him that had the power of death which was the Devill Then there was heard a loud voyce in heaven in the Kingdome and victory of Christ Now is come Salvation and Strength an◠〈◊〉 Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for the accuser of our Brethren is cast down which accused them before God day and night And they the Church overcame him the Serpent by the blood of the Lambâ— the death 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ and by the word of their testimony the Fathers promise That the seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpents head And they loved not their lives unto death They would rather dye as the Martyrs did then they would deny this testimony of Jesus One thing note here That as the silence in heaven for the space of halfe an houre points out the time of tine battell between the Serpent and Christ in the flesh so likewise it points out the spirituall combat between the Spirit of Christ and the flesh or the Serpents power in every beleever For so long as the Flesh and Serpent accuses their consciences before God day and night and every disobedient action that will breake their peace is laid before them they cannot sing praises but mourn bitterly for as yet God hath given them no testimony of his love in pardoning of them and of receiving them into his enjoyment this is the writing time or the halfe houres silence till God give deliverance But when the Anointing sets the poor souls free from these accusations by a satisfying discovery of his love then there arise voices of â—raises and thundrings-forth of thankesgiving â—o God day and night even as the accusation formerly was day and night And truly here is great comfort to every particular member of Zion to know that the wisdome and power of their corrupt flesh which fights against the Anointing and accuses their consciences day and night before God presenting God to be an angry God to them when as indeed he is loving yea and love it selfe to poore sinners I say for them to know that it is conquered and the life and power of it is taken away by Christ the Anoiuted it is comfort And when Christ who is the Lord our righteousnesse is pleased to cast the Serpent out of your flesh and to take possession and dwell in you himselfe then you shall be freed from all those accusations and from the malice of the accuser and be made able to sing by experience Now is come salvation and strength and the Kingdome of our God and the power of his Christ to my soule for the Prince of Darknesse and powers of my flesh that fought in me against the Anointing or Spirit of truth is now cast out For God hath pardoned all my disobediences and taken me into his own rest Therefore honour and glory be to him that sits upon the Throne and to 〈◊〉 Lamb for evermore And now the Dragon being vexed and 〈◊〉 of wrath because he is conquered and câ—st out of heaven even every particular member of Zion he rules strongly still in the children of disobedience or in the Serpents 〈◊〉 in whom he dwels and raises all cruell perâ—â—cutions against the church out of whom he is cast and in whom the Anointing rules And of whom according to the flesh the Lamb Jesus Christ was born And as Paul spake of Isaac and Ismael that he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that Was born after the Sprit even so it is now he or they in whom the Serpent rules persecutes him or them out of whom the Serpent is cast and in whom the Anointing rules who is the Lord our Righteousnesse But saith John unto the woman or church was given two wings of a great Eagle that she might flie into the wildernesse into her prepared place where she is nourished for a time times and halfe a time from the face of the Serpent I conceive that the soule by the wisdome and love of God is carried into a condition of sensible barrennesse both in it selfe and in others in which condition the soule is under Gods protection from the face of the Serpent so that this Wildernesse spoke of is a very safe condition or hiding-place from the Serpent wherein the soul is fed and nourished by God and not by any creature for a lime times and halfe a time that is the Church and every particular member is fed and protected by God all the severall degrees of the dayes of The Beast as hath been shewed And here I shall mind two things First what this Wildernesse is not Secondly what it is First ☞ when men are in a good conceir of their own Wisdome Learning and Strength as the Jewes were that thought they had all knowledge to discerne Truth from Errour and therefore when Christ
together be manifest in them call you this likewise what you will I am confident it speaks like the Dragon and is of the Image of the Beast and part of the half day But I will speak one work of comfort to the Saints your captivity under the Antichristian power is come to the half day or half time and the Lamb will nourish and feed you before the Throne or under the eye and protecting care of God in this half time as he hath fed the Church with love and watchfull care in the 3 dayes that are past And the power of this blaspheming horne that will not acknowledge Christs testimony nor suffer others to acknowledg him this day of his is and shall be shortned for the elects sake And I believe ere long we shall heare the Angel say it is done her 3 dayes and half or her time times and half time is now accomplished And the stone which is cut 〈…〉 Mountains without hands even 〈…〉 Christ our righteousnes shall destrâ—â—◠〈…〉 workings and Kingdom of darkne◠〈…〉 in the Saints and likewise 〈…〉 power that Satan exercised over 〈…〉 he trod them under foot the 42. 〈…〉 now Christ will reigne himself for 〈…〉 ever for of his Kingdom there shal1 〈…〉 And then the world shall see by experience that word of Solomon to be made good That when the wicked that is the flesh rules the City mournes but when the righteous that is Jesus Christ rules the City Zion rejoyces and there is great shouting for joy among the Saints when they can speak by experience and say O rejoyce rejoyce for the Lord God Omnipotent reignes And now doth the Sonne of righteousnes rise higher in the bright manifestations of himself upon the soules of his Saints And the day of Christ begins to shine more clear even that one day as Zachariah calls it which did appear in the hearts of Saints formerly for Abraham saw it and David saw it and rejoyced to see it And truly this day of Christ this sweet discovery of the Fathers love to poor sinners began to dawne upon the seventh day in course after the Creation of all things for Adam sinned upon the sixth day towards the close of the day or cool of the evening And then the seventh day in course should have been a day of punishment or destruction to Adam for his disobedience I but the Son of our righteousness rises presently and love appeared in this promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpents head and so stopped the breakings forth of wrath and made it a day of joy and gladness unto lost sinners And therefore when the Jews told Christ he was a finner because he had broke the Sabbath-day when he had but cured the lame Man upon that day Why saith Christ my Father worketh hitherto and I work that is All the six dayes was my Fathers time of working and making all things but the seventh day is my day and now I work to bruise the Serpents head and to save that which was lost And therefore I say this one day of Christ did dawn upon the seaventh day from the creation and the Sonne of righteousnes hath rose higher and higher in the discoveries of himself or his Church though the thick and cold clouds of flesh and self-love both in our selves and in the world hath darkened the beames of it from us I but now the Winter is near past the Summer is come the flowers appear in the earth that is the glorious workings of the Anointing in the spirit of Saints The time of the singing of birds is come that is all the Saints begin to sing Halelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth within and begins to reign in the world and the voice of the turtle is heard in our Land that is the voice of the Lord Christ our rightousnes is heard and seen to rule in our flesh And now the Beast or wisdom and power of our corrupt flesh or Serpent within us is wounded to death and she shall reign no more And so by the multitude of divine discoveries self-love and confusion shall be destroyed in the flesh of Saints and their very flesh shall be made that land of righteousnes even the branch or the Lords own planting the Inheâ—â—tance of their Father in whom the King of Righteousnes and the King of Peace shall dwell and rule for ever And by the multitude of these Saints whom Christ will raise up like drops in a shoure of raine for number All the oppression injustiee false shewes and formes of Gods Worship shall all be destroyed in the World and judgement shall run down our streets like a stream and righteousnes like a River And though there be a people still on earth in whom the wisdom and power of the flesh dwells as yet there must be yet the power of it shall be kept under and suppressed by the power of Christ the Anoining in the Saints for a certain terme of years appointed by the Father And then he will let Satan loose again who shall stir up those children of disobedience in whom he dwells to joyn together in one mind and spirit of malice and of fleshly wisdom and force which is Gog and Magog 〈◊〉 destroy the holy City the Saints the body of Christ and house of God But then shall the wrath of the Lamb be made manifest to their destruction and then comes the End That the Son shall deliver up the KINGDOM unto the Father CHAP. V. The Witnesses were to be slain when they had finished their Testimony NOw in the next particular we are to mind the time when the Witnesses are to be slain and that is when they have finished their Testimony as John speaks When they shall have finished their testimony the Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomles pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them These two Witnesses I conceive may be said to have finished their testimony when by manifest experience they have made it appear that the seed of the Woman hath broken the Serpents head and so have proved the Word of the Father to be true And this they have done for first Jesus Christ in his own person he broke the Serpents head when he trod under his feet all the subâ—â—wit and power of the Serpent and prevailed over all his temptations so that Satan could find nothing in him and so by death overcame him that had the power of death which was the Devil Secondly Jesus Christ breaks the Serpents head in the Saints when he makes them able to speak out of experience I was proud saith the soul now God hath made me humble I was envious now God hath made me love even my enemies I loved and acted injustice now God hath made me to hate injustice and to love truth in my heart and to
own invention in stead thereof and would not suffer the practicall directions of Jesus Christ to have a Being on earth but turnes the Scriptures that testifie of Christ up-side down advancing the Mysterie of Iniquity that is the Serpent in the flesh in stead of the mystery of godlinesse God manifest in the flesh and hath drawn a dark veil over the free grace of Gods absolute workings as the witnesses testifie God to be all in all and carries sinners back again to a ceremoniall Jewish and legall way of worship to seek salvation not by faith onely but as it were by the workes of the law As for instance in 8. particulars 1. Jesus Christ said Wee should bee all taught of God and that he would send the Spirit of truth to lead us into all truth But the Beast saith we must be taught by men and calls the teachings of God without mens teachings a delusion 2. Jesus Christ sends forth his servants to preach the Kingdome of God that is to speak of what they have heard and seen of the indwelling and in-working of God in themselves and in the man Jesus Christ But the Beast will suffer none to preach though they be taught of God unlesse they come out of her Schools of learning first and so speak what they have seen and heard from Commentaries Books and ancient Authors 3. Jesus Christ commands his servants to love their enemies and pray for such as doe despitefully use them But the Beast though she pretend love to God by outward profession will not onely oppresse and kill despiteful enemies but such as are peaceable men under the name of factious and men of errors if they cannot conform to her principles and practices 4. Iesus Christ calls his Church out of the world makes them to beleeve in God by his own almighty power but the Beast will have a whole Parish a whole kingdome and so the whole world to be his Church in her time or else she wil suffer him to have no church at all 5. Iesus Christ speakes honourably of the Saints and calls them his sheep his little flocke his peculiar ones But the Beast speakes bitterly of them evill intreats them prisons whips oppresses and murders them and thinks she doth God good service in so doing 6. Jesus Christ commends the Communion of Saints such as worship the Father sincerely in spirit truth The Beast commends the communion of bare professors for Saints whose worship lies in forms and customes onely 7. Jesus Christ declares that his Sabbath or day of rest to a Saint is his indwelling in the soul and the souls indwelling in him which is continuall and not an observation of one seventh day in the week after the Jewish type But the Beast being unacquainted with the substance observes one day in seven after the manner of the typicall worship and condemnes the soules continuall resting in Christ and Christ in it for an error 8. And so for Baptiâ—me breaking of Bread and Saints communion Ministers maintenance as Jesus Christ left direction the Beast by her usurped authority and fleshly inferences quite altered and practices clean contrary things of her own invention and hath deceived the whole earth that all the world wonders after the Beast and judges her wayes more wise more holy more orderly and more decent then the Directory of Jesus Christ And thus we see the Beast hath killed one of Gods Witnesses Jesus Christ both in his humane Body and in his testimony and Christ hath lain like a dead body under the power of the Beast three dayes and upwards of the halfe And then for the Saints in whom the same Anointing dwels who are Gods second Witnes for they hold the testimony of Jesus to acknowledg the Lord their God and him onely will serve First the Beast hath killed the bodies of their flesh by martyrdom in several ages of the world by-past in her three dayes that are by-past And so all along since the Beast hath slain them in their actings and testimony and would not suffer them to receive Christ and his testimony And whereas the Anointing teaches them to worship the Lord their God only acknowledge him all in all in binding and loosing the Conscience The Beast hath usurped this power which she got by craft from the Kings of the earth to appoint directories Ordinances and Ecclesiastical Governments to inforce every one upon pain of prisons and death not to deny these but to own them to submit to them as Gods Directories Ordinances and Government to the binding and loosing of Conscience when the plain truth is they are but the thresholds of the Beast laid equal with Gods thresholds and the Posts of the Beasts house set equal with the Posts of Gods house and brought in on purpose to pollute Gods Sanctuary for which God will consume the Beast and all that worship both him and his Image CHAP. VI The Witnesses were slain long agoe have lien dead in the street of the great City three dayes and almost the half and are now upon their rising NOw consider that this slaying of the two Witnesses is past long agoe and they are lying in the street of the great City like dead bodies three dayes and an half but I believe they have lien dead well nigh their full time if not compleat for I believe they are upon their rising But are the Witnesses then slain for certain I answer by the experience that we have of the fulfilling of Johns Vision and Prophesie it appears clear to me that they are slain And that the troubles of the world at this very day is but the Cloud in which the Witnesses doth ascend up to God after that the spirit of life from God was entered into them This is partly seen by some already but for the time and season when God will make this manifest to the view of the world I am silent God hath the times and seasons in his own power yet I have perswasions in me from experimentall grounds of Gods own working that ere long within few years God will make this visible to the world but they shall be filled with great feare and be offended at it A mans own sight and perswasion will not satisfie others therefore I shall add a few things more that lies in my spirit to confirm this grounded upon Johns Vision for the fulfilling of a Prophesie shews the meaning of a Prophesie In Revel. 8. 13. There are three woes denounced to the Inhabitants of the earth the first woe is past already and I have nothing to speak of it but only this That when the bottomlesse pit or corrupt flesh was opened made manifest and had a liberty to act it self it brought forth woe and sorrow to the Inhabitants of the earth that is to such as lived below God meerly in the use of creatures of this world such as lived seemingly
a little higher and yet below God too in the use of Gods Ordinances but in an outward profession to the flesh living by sense through a meer form and custome and humane These meet with woe sorrow for a literall profession exposed them to the lash but to worship God in spirit carries away the smart when the flesh is let loose it prepares misery to it self and to all that live after the flesh The third woe is yet to come and I have nothing to say of it only I greatly rejoyce in expectation of that universall glory which God will reveal to his Saints and into which they shal be taken up when those dayes come But the middle woe or the second in course is now in being And there are great troubles to be acted in the world but yet for the comfort of the Saints two things are to be noted First that under the sound of the sixth Angel that pronounces the woe The death of the Beast is declared and that his determinate time is quite finished and though he strive mightily like a dying hog for life at the last gaspe yet he shall never reign again in Majesty established by an usurped Law over Christ and his Saints as he hath done for his time times and dividing of a time his 42. months and his three dayes and half are upon the point of expiring And the Lord Christ is beginning nay hath begun to take the Kingdom and to reign of whose Kingdom there shall be no end Secondly note that under the sound of the sixth Angel the Witnesses are to be killed but to arise from death and ascend up to God in the Cloud And their rising is the Inhabitant of the earths woe even to such as have no hope but in this life it will be and it begins to be a time of woe to them for all creature comforts helps and communion shall be taken away and dead to them And I believe we are under that sound oppression and injustice doth so mightily abound in the Kingdoms and Magistracy of the world for when the seventh Angel sounds then Christ or the Anointing â—ho is King of righteousnes and King of Peace shall reign in the Kingdoms and Magiâ—tracy of the world for a certain space or a thousand years as the Scripture speaks which yet generally doth not appear though this Kingdom of Christ doth begin to appear in among the Saints that are scattered abroad The Beast is giving up his last breath and his violent kicking and sprawling troubles the whole world for a little time for the spirit of the Beast is the life of the Inhabitants of the Earth therefore I believe the Witnesses are not in killing but in rising from death and that the world must see ere long which will be a third woe to them when they shall see poor despised Saints whom no man regards to partake of the glory of the City of God and they themselves put by There is one passage of Johns Vision while â—his sixth Angel sounds which gives light hereunto the words are these Loose the four Angels that are bound in the great Riverâ—uphrates And the four Angels were loosed c. These are four evill Angels as I conceive which stir up the four quarters of the Earth to enmity against every appearance of God so that there shall be risings up of much bitternes in the East West North and South among the Sons of men against God though they think not so for they think their cruelty is godlines and they think their malice is zeal and they think their oppressing imprisoning murdering the Saints under the name of erroneous Round-heads doth God good service And it appears they are four evill Angels because they were bound up like prisoners in so bad a place as in the River Euphrates and they were prepared for this time that is For an houre a day a moneth and a year to slay the third part of men It appears they are four evill Angels if we consider first what the great River Euphrates is I believe this Euphrates is the spirit of the Beast or the very Serpent himself which like a great River overflowes every Son and Daughter of the first Adam And this River Euphrates is to be dried up when the sixth Angel powres out his Violl so that the way of the Kings of the Earth might be prepared The meaning to me is this That when this spirit of the Beast is dried up destroyed and subdued then the Kings of the East or such in and upon whom the Son of righteousnes rises first which are the Elect or City Sion they come and take the Kingdom and the Anointing in them who is the Lord our righteousnes reigns in the earth that is in mankind forever and ever The spirit of the Beast or Serpent is called Euphrates because as the River Euphrates in the History overflowed a great part of the Earth So this spirit of darknes overflowes man-kind and drownes them in ignorance pride covetousnes malice disobedience discontent deceived zeale but when this is dryed up as it must be when the seaventh Angel sounds then the Nations appeare for God And the Saints are called Kings of the East for their knowledg and for their faithfulnes to God for as the wise men or Kings of the East found out where Jesus Christ lay when he was born but would not tell Herod who laid wait to kill him but went another way So these spiritual Kings of the East or as Daniel calls them the wise or understanding people They know where the Anointing appears and they know that the Kingdom of Christ is spirituall for the Anointing teaches them all things and they have experience of the love sincerity humility peace and the like which are the Laws and walls of that Kingdom And likewise they know that the spiritual powers of darknes as ignorance pride envy discontent hypocrisie self-love and the like is the Serpent that would destroy Christ or the Anointing for if pride ruled which is the Serpent in the Children of disobedience then humility which is Christ in the Saints must be destroyed And if malice reign then love which is Christ in the Saints must die And so of all the rest And the Saints knowes this therefore in the second place they are called Kings of the East because they do not betray Christ into the hands of Herod the Serpent but they hold forth the power of Christ in faith and patience till God finish his work thereby destroys the enemies Now when pride covetousnes injustice envy self-love and the like is dried up like a River that cannot run Then the way is prepared for these Kings of the East to take the Kingdom and to reign in with Christ and righteousnes for ever and these four Angels were bound up in this River Euphrates and were
in the Earth-quake which are these very master-builders and upholders of the Beast as I shall shew anon Well here is a great Cloud of trouble arises nay it is risen And these four evil Angels subtilty hypocrisie malice and cruelty are very bitter in the spirits of men whom they torment day and night and kill And they have condemned to death all the Saints of God in the Kingdom under the name of Round-heads and they are boldly confident they shall compasse their murther-intent but they shall never do it For the day of the Beast is ended his reign is done and the Saints shall sing that Song in experience Babylon is faln is faln For the spirit of life appears in some already and will appear in more ere long when the showre of hayl falls And God takes up his Saints to himself for the Witnesses are not in killing bnt in rising from death and ascending up to God in this Cloud the Cloud of woe shall not now fall upon them but upon the Inhabitants of the earth who have no other hope or comfort but in this life There are a few words more mentioned in Johns Vision in that eleaventh of the Revelatiticons which being fulfilled declare that the witnesses are not in killing but in rising from death It is said That they of the Nations Kinred Tongues and People shall see their dead bodies lie in the street of the great City three dayes and an half c. These two appearances of God in flesh which testifie of God that is The appearance of God in the man Jesus and the appearance of God in the Saints are said to be dead bodies when they do not act and operate like themselves in the view of them whose names are not written in the Lambs book of life so long as the Beast hath a time to fit in the Temple of God and to shew himself as God no more then the dead bodies of men can do the actions of living men God the Father hath made Christ his Anointing the King Priest and Prophet to bring sinners to God but these Offices of Christ have been trampled upon by the Lawes Canons Acts and Ordinances of the Beast and have not visibly appeared to the world but the anointing of the Father in Jesus and the Saints have been like dead bodies in respect of such operations and have not acted publikely like themselves but have lain all the time of the Beast dead in the eye of the unbelieving world who have rejected them and stumbled at them till the spirit of life from God rayses them up and sets them upon their feet that is till God subdue all enemies under Christs feet the Anointing and give all rule and all authority to him But though the Beast have allowed Christ the name of King Priest and Prophet yet he hath denied Christ both the operation and honour of these three Offices and hath set the Crown of these upon his own head For whiles the Beast declares himself to be so quick-sighted that he can presently discerne what is truth and what is errour and take upon him by his usurped power to punish errours with plundering prisons and death Does he not thereby declare himself to be as God in knowledg knowing good and evil And as God likewise in Majesty by punishing every one that opposes his beastly being and so he declares himself to be an absolute infallible prophet to teach men A King to rule and punish men and a Priest to save men from death by his skil and operation And thus the Beast hath a long time acted these three Offices of Christ as himself pleased and the Anointing in Jesus and the same in the Saints have lain like two dead bodies killed under the hand of the Beast And these two dead bodies were to lie dead three dayes and an half that is the whole reign of the Beast in his three ages and an half As first the time and age of the Dragon which was Majestracy out of joynt that persecuted Christ and his Saints by open violence before the universal Bishop was lifted up by the Dragon and this is the first shape or time or age in which the Serpent appeared to kill the Witnesses Secondly The time and age of the Leopard which is that we call grosse Popery when the universall Bishop bare rule by the authority of the Dragon before there was any Church reformation And this was not so down-right violent but kils the Witnesses by a pretended Law under the names of error for indeed the appearance of God in flesh is far different from the appearance of the Serpent in flesh And the Serpent having a time to act himself and to maintain his being labours to destroy the being of God and calls the appearance of God an errour or deceiver Thirdly The time and age of the Beast with two horns like a Lamb but spake like a Dragon And this is that we call reformed Episcopacy which was of the same nature and had the same authoritive power from the deceived Kings of the earth to make war with Christ his Saints as the former had though a little more hypocritical for it came in sheeps cloathing but it spake like a Dragon for it devoured the sheep by his common Lawes Ecclesiasticall power and high Commission Courts And these two shapes of Popery and Episcopacy are called times because they are two ages or dayes of the Beast maintaining one and the same nature and compulsive and coersive power the one being more grosly abominable the other more hypocritically abominable so that here is time the Dragon and times Popery and Episcopacy faln in the world or three dayes which are visibly past and gone already in this one tenth part of the Citie England c. Here remains in being the dividing of time or halfe day which is called the Image of the Beast because it hath not the Authority of the Beast though it have the Nature and Spirit of the Beast in it And this halfe day or this dividing of time is the age of the Beast under which England Scotland and Ireland doe now groan and it may be a very hot time for the length of it but it will be but short And I have some hopes that God will make this three-fold kingdome being under one Magistracy the tenth part of the City Babylon that shall fall off first from the Beast And this is called the dividing of time because the witnesses are neither under an absolute bondage by Ecclesiasticall Lawes as formerly neither in absolute freedome because the boylings of the foure evill Angels mentioned before in mens spirits both in Magistrates common people and such as they call Ministers are so opposite against them And I beleeve that Gods two witnesses do yet lie dead publickly under the heart-burning power of discontent both of out-side professing
Presbyters and out-side professing Independents but this will not last long for the sincere-hearted that worship God in spirit and truth are reproached thereby and are not much visible in the eye of the world And then again it is called the halfe-day in regard of the shortnesse of it and when it shall end our God onely knowes but there are two things that give me great perswasion that this halfe-day is neer an end First because our Lord Jesus the Anointed told us by his own mouth that these days should be shortned for the elects sake Secondly the rejoycing in hope which God hath put into my heart grounded upon experience of his love which I see in my self and in others of his servants and of his power in shaking Kingdomes and things in the world agreeable to the prophesy of Ezekiel which was fore-told to be in the latter dayes gives me great perswasion that this halfe-day is neer an end Now it is clear to me that the time times or the three dayes which are but one and the same thing are already past and therefore I beleeve that the Witnesses are not in killing but are upon their rising Then further it is said That they of the nations kinreds tongues and people shall see their dead bodies lie in the street of the great City three dayes and a half that is the Saints or Elect that lived â—n all the three ages and dayes of the Beast shall â—ee the appearance of God in the Man Jesus and the appearance of God in the Saints to be suppressed reproached killed and not suffered to act like themselves by the Ecclesiasticall Laws and Canons of the Beast And these three dayes and a halfe cannot be three single dayes nor three single yeares and half according to mens account of dayes and yeares as some think for then the Saints that were scattered in all nations kinreds tongues people could not have seen them lie dead in regard of the shortnesse of time and the great difficulty of travell to see experience But in the three ages and halfe of the Beast all the Saints of God through the whole dominions of the Beast have suffered more or lesse by the Beast and have seen doe see and shall see the captivity end The testimony of God in those two-fold appearances to be suppressed and not suffered to act visibly in the world but to lie like a patient long-sufferer till Christ come and destroy his enemies by the word of his mouth and by the brightnesse of his coming Another thing mind that though these of the nations kinreds tongues and people do see the dead bodies of the two Witnesses so lie in the street yet they will not suffer them to be put in graves that is though the City Babylon look upon the manifestation of God in the flesh of Jesus and in the flesh of the Saints as two dead bodies yet the Saints see them to be living and looks upon them with pretious thoughts And though the City Babylon would have these two witnesses put in graves that is quite buried forgotten and put out of memory by their sharp Lawes to advance the learning of the flesh and to suppresse the teachings of God yet the City of God the Saints will not forget Christ nor put him out of memory For though they cannot acknowledge Christ and his testimony publickly for feâ—r or by restraint of those lawes as the Disciples durst not meet publickly for feare of the Iewes yet they will acknowledge and remember Christ among themselves and speak of him and rejoce in him and so will not suffer these two Witnesses to be put in graves or to be forgotten From hence likewise it appeares that the Witnesses were killed long agoe and in these troublesome daies are upon their rising for they must rife in a cloud And by the great City which is called spiritual Sodom Egypt is meant that wicked Babylon or that Serpent which hath over-spread mankind and keeps it in bondage which God will destroy and cast into the Lake And by the street of the great City it is clear to me to be the limited time wherein God hath determined the Beast to reign would not call him to account but let him doe what he will to advance himselfe and in all this determinate time the Beast walkes up and downe at liberty as a man walkes up and down in a street of a Citie where there is no stop and knowes no sorrow And here is both a time limited to the Beast and the wicked power of the Beast limited in this time For the Beast does not doe his own will but Gods will and that is comfort for the Saints Well all this limited time or the full length of this street or the length of the chain in which the Beast is tied God hath suffered the Beast to walk at liberty up and down Thus long thou shalt reign over my Saints and no longer saith God And all this limited time the two Witnesses are first killed and then lie dead under the Lawes Canons and bastardly Ecclesiasticall power for God never made it though he suffer ir â— or it is the power which the Beast makes use of all his limited time and by this power the Beast keeps the Witnesses under and wil not suffer them to act like living bodies publickly But there is one clause may raise a scruple It is said they lie in the street of the great City where also where also our Lord was slain This implies may some say that Iesus Christ was neither of the two witnesses but that they were to be slain a long time after his departure hence and in the same City where also he was slain I answer when I say that Jesus Christ is one of Gods witnesses I doe not look upon the body of his flesh onely but upon the manifestation of God in that flesh of his And the witnesses If you observe all along I judge them to be these two First the manifestation of God in the man Christ Iesus And secondly the manifestation of God in the flesh of Saints for hereby God makes good his ancient word of promise That the seed of the woman shall breake the Serpents head And therefore though the flesh of Christ was killed in that City Babylon or by the spirit of Babylon which is indeed the meaning yet the manifestation of God in the flesh was not killed by the Dragon and Leopard till divers yeares after Iesus Christ was crucified For the Saints had a liberty to acknowledge and professe God openly and to practice what God in Christ had made known to them for a long time after Christ was departed and their testimony was not suppressed by any humane deceived power for in Pauls time which was after Christ the spirit of Babylon began to work to bring the Saints into bondage but
pretended divine worship that he may advance himsel to be the onely teacher of truths in the hearts of his Saints And in the effecting of this great work God shakes and will yet shake Kings Parliaments Armies Counties Kingdomes Universities humane learnings studies yea shake rich men and poore men and throwes down every thing that stands in his way opposing him in his work And this is the earthquake here spoken of which is the history of things which followes the other which is the mystery For as all outward abominations in mens practises came from the indwelling of the Beast in every mans heart so when God first shakes down and casts out the Beast out of mens hearts the outward abominations and unjust practises in church and State shake together and fall presently And truly this is one main testimony that God is shaking down the corrupt flesh in many and is in raysing of his Witnesses in regard we see so much shakings of Kingdoms Assemblies Churches and corruptions out of them which have been brought in and upheld by the Beast all the time of his Reign And in the Earth-quake the tenth part of the City Babylon fell off from the Beast and begins to submit to the Scepter of Jesus Christ and the wisdom love justice and peaceablenes of the Saints or rather of Gods indwelling and teaching of them shall appear so bright and the Government in their hands becometh so righteous more peaceable and more safe for the well-being of men then the former Customs Laws and Directories were all walking in love and justice as Members of one body Christ knit together by the same Anointing that the very enemies shall give glory to God and say his wayes and actings are more righteous then mens And then multitudes shall come in and enquire after Sion with their faces thither-wards the beauty of Sion shall be so glorious By tenth part of the City that fell in the Earth-quake I believe it is a tenth part of the Nations of the world that have been deceived by the Beast and that have acted for the Beast against Christ and wondered after the Beast for when the ten horns or ten Kingdoms that formerly had given their power to the Beast begin to hate the whore and to take back their power out of the hand of that Ecclesiastical whorish spirit the forty two months being now ended and the words of God fulfilled Then the whole ten Kingdoms shall joyn together to advance God in Christ and shall make the beastly whore desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire And there is some good hopes that these three Kingdoms England Scotland Ireland though three yet united under one State-Government is the tenth part of that great City that shall first fall from the Beast and submit to Christ and then we shall see the witnesses are in rising which I believe with rejoycing that God is raising of them and that this violent storming of the Beast in this tenth part of the City Babylon shall ere long droop and hang the head like a dead man that hath no strength to strive any longer the discoveries and manifestations of God in his Saints shall come in so plentifully like a showre of Hayl that shall sweepe away all the refuge of lies before it But if this threefold Kingdom be not the tenth part nor the Land which God will honour the first of Nations in raising up his Witnesses in and in casting off their Sack-cloth here The Saints must wait but a little longer with patience upon their God for I am mightily perswaded and filled with a sweet joy in the expectation of it That there is a tenth part of the City Babylon falling off from the Beast and striving to set the Crown with shouting upon the head of Jesus Christ And in this tenth part the two witnesses must first throw off their mourning Garment and Sack-cloth but whether it shall be these three united Kingdoms or no I leave that to our Father and submit to him wishing in my heart that England Scotland and Ireland might live before God in this glory I rejoyce inwardly that this shall be the tenth part I have no doubting in my heart about it I have strong perswasions in my spirit that it shall be I greatly desire in my soul that this Land may be the tenth part Yet not my will but the will of my Father be done And as there fell in the Earth-quake the tenth part of the City so in the same Earth-quake were slain of men seaven thousand By seaven thousand I conceive are pointed out the compleat number of those false Witnesses for seaven implies a perfect number whereby the Beast hath deceived the people so that all false Prophets false Ministers either of Justice of Divinity which have reigned with the Beast shall be destroyed with the Beast in this Earth-quake or as John speaks in Revelations 19. in that great battel of God-Almighty the beast was taken and with him the false Prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had the marke of the Beast and them that worshipped his Image These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone That which he called the seaven thousand in the eleventh Chapter he calls the false Prophet in this nineteenth for it is one and the same conjunction of power that doth mannage the cause of the Beast in his severall shapes in his three dayes and half I do not believe that Kingly Authority or Parliamentary Authority is reckoned in the number of the seaven thousand for these two Authorities are Gods Ordinances or the higher Powers which God hath ordained for to preserve peace in the World But all usurped powers from these are Clergical Ecclesiastical Classical which are stolen by craft from those kings of the earth on purpose to make war with the Saints and to stand up against the Prince of Princes these are the seaven thousand and this is the false Prophet that must be broken without hand even the bright appearing of God in Saints shall consume that Beast And by the number of seven thousand as God points out the compleat number of such â—as do mannage the cause of the Beast so he points out that the number that shall be deceived are not a few in the rank of hundreds but many very many in the rank of thousands so many as he calls them the whole World but all that seaven thousand or compleat number that upholds that cause of the Beast are to be slain in the Earth-quake But this slaying is not meant the killing of their bodies though it may possibly fall out that in so great troubles of he world some may be slain in that sense For their slaying points out the slaying of their Cause the destroying of he Beast with all the wisdom Authority