be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy Angels and before the Lamb and that to all eternity for if the smoke of their torment shall ascend for ever and ever as the Angel plainly affirmeth it is necessary that the torment it self from whence the smoke ariseth should also continue as long and if the torment then also the tormented So that it ought at no hand to be denyed that the worshippers of the Beast shall live for ever in the torments of hell fire Neither is it to be feared least any one should thence argue that by this account they may be truly said to have Eternal life For Eternal life according to the true and usual notion of the Scripture doth not signifie a bare living for ever but a living for ever in joy and in the favour of God And therefore Eternal life Matth. 25.46 is opposed to Eternal punishment when it is said These shall go away into everlasting punishment which implyeth that they remain alive for ever otherwise how are they capable of being punished for ever all punishment supposing the existence of the subject that is punished But the righteous into life eternal And to the abiding of Gods wrath upon men John 3.36 When it is said He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him and to damnation John 5.29 when it is said They that have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life but they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation These things being so such interpreters are not to be heard as go about to impose a figurative sense upon what is here in the Revelation clearly spoken concerning the everlasting torment prepared for the worshippers of the Beast for they not onely weaken the force of the Angels commination which all must needs confess to be far more efficacious to deterr men from committing so great wickedness if the words be plainly and properly taken but also open a way to evacuate all other passages of the Scripture where mention is made of the everlasting torment of Hell fire But perhaps some one will object that these tormented ones are said to have no rest day and night and consequently their torment is to be restrained to such a duration where there is a vicissitude of day and night which ceaseth together with the world and so is not properly and truly everlasting To which I answer that this expression of having no rest day and night inasmuch as it followeth those words wherein it is said that the smoak of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever is used to shew that they shall at no time have any respiration from their torment and not that there shall be an end thereof namely when day and night shall cease For seeing all the time of men in this world is part either of the day or of the night that which cometh not to pass in either of them is not at all hence it is that the Angel intending to shew that the worshippers of the Beast shall be tormented without intermission saith that they have no rest day and night Thus is it said of the four living creatures in Heaven with six wings apeice Chap. 4.8 That they have no rest day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty though there be no vicissitude of day and night in Heaven namely to signifie that they never cease at any time whatsoever to praise God in that maner To conclude therefore As those words He shall be tormented for ever and ever import that there shall be no end of their torment so these They have no rest day and night imply that there shall be no intermission of them Vers 12. Here is the patience of the saints here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus This acclamation of the Angel doth intimate that during the tyranny of the Beast the patience of the Saints will have a most ample occasion to shew it self there having never been before so furious a monster that did so openly set his mouth against the Heavens and bend all his forces to extirpate the Religion of Christ So that then it will appear more then in any former age how admirable the constancy of the Saints is who notwithstanding all the Machinations whether of force or fraud that Satan and his instruments can contrive to wrest the crown of piety out of their hands do in the midst of a general Apostacy still adhere to the Commandments of God and firmly believe in Jesus Christ Vers 13. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them Here John relates a certain voice which he heard out of Heaven pronouncing them happy in particular that should from thenceforth die namely under the tyranny of the Beast which particular happiness of them as we are taught Chap. 20.4 consists herein that they shall be partakers of the first Resurrection For that resurrection is there appropriated to them that suffer death for the testimony of Christ and for the word of God in the time of the Beast And the more to incourage the Saints to die for the truth of Christ in those perillous times the holy spirit doth second that voice from Heaven and render the reason thereof namely because they rest from their labors and their works follow them and therefore since their works have been more eminent then those of former times no marvel if their reward be so also Vers 14. And I looked and behold a white cloud and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle This vision together with that other in the 17 18. verses do like the two dreams of Pharaoh Gen. 41.25 26. tend to the same effect and so are indeed but one intimating that the time was now at hand when Christ should execute judgement on the inhabitants of the earth because their sins denoted by the ripe fruits of the earth were come to maturity And that this interpretation is true and certain appeareth from that passage Joel 3.12 13. from whence these two visions of John seem to be modelled where it is said Let the Heathen be wakened and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat For there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about put ye in the sickle for the harvest is ripe come get you down for the press is full the fats overflow for their wickedness is great Now forasmuch as Christ is to be a principal agent in the execution of this judgement he is therefore brought in sitting upon a cloud as God in like cases was wont to be in the Old Testament See Isay 19.1 Behold the Lord
so far from being a Divine by way of excellency for so John of right is styled as that he would not deserve a rank among sober Writers Neither am I a little troubled when I see men thus to dally with the Word of God and make choice of no fitter a subject whereon to vent their follies than this incomparable Prophecy I have the more largely insisted upon the History of the two Witnesses because of the frequent injury offered to that part above all the rest of the Revelation For if some Christian State or Potentate crush any party whatsoever pretending to Religion or some eminent persons of the same then it is presently given out by the favourers of that party that now the the Beast is risen hath slain the Witnesses Thus the sacred Word of God that was given to a far better purpose must interess it self in our private Quarrels and be forced to speak as we stand affected But it will perhaps be here objected that I who am so ready to observe the strange glosses that other men impose on the History of the two Witnesses seem not in the mean time to take notice how uncouth mine own opinion is concerning the Beast that slayeth them whilest I hold him as appeareth by the following Treatise to be such a man as shall arise from the Dead to reign before he embrueth his Hands in the Blood of the said Witnesses To which I answer that though my Tenet be strange as to the Apprehensions that Men generally have touching the Beast yet is it very facile and obvious if you respect the words of the Text it self For seeing the Angel explaining the Mystery of the Beast Chap. 17.9 10 11. plainly telleth us that he is a King when John saith of the two Witnesses Chap. 11.7 that the Beast which ascendeth out of the bottomless Pit shall slay them what other sense can rationally be put upon the words than that the King which is decyphered by the Beast and ariseth from the Dead shall kill the Witnesses And into what Absurdities must he plunge himself that goeth about to fasten another meaning on the place But of this matter I discourse at large in the ensuing Exposition to which I refer the Reader for further satisfaction therein Having thus given a taste of the exotick Interpretations that are usually forced upon the Reve ation I will now open the original Causes from whence they proceed reducing them to three Heads namely that men think the whole Book to be an Allegory and to contain a Prediction of that which shall happen to the Churches in all Ages of the World and to have for its principal scope the discovery of Antichrist To the first of which three Particulars I answer that the Revelation cannot be a meer Allegory seeing it is fraught with Evangelical Precepts Promises and Threats and also with sundry clear and evident passages touching the Exaltation and Government of the Christ the Universal Judgement and the Glorification of the Saints in the new Jerusalem which last being the chiefest point of all the Gospel is no less than three times confirmed by the testimony partly of Angels and partly of God himself which assureth us that the sayings recorded concerning the same are faithful and true Which as I afterwards evince in mine Exposition is no other than if it had been said They are perspicuous and plain and to be taken as the words sound To the second I say that it is presumption for us to devise with our selves how much it is meet for God to discover touching things to come and so to change days into years and years into ages and particular men into a succession of men continued throughout many generations as it hath been the custom of interpreters to do we ought rather to content our selves with what is recorded in the Scripture and to follow the plain doctrine thereof as knowing that if God vouchsafed to foretell but one remarkable event which was to happen in all the intermediate space between the penning of this book and the consummation of the world it was a great favour and which we could not have required of him How much more then doth it become us to rest satisfied and thank Almighty God who hath been pleased to reveal so many choice secrets as are contained in this book touching the state of future times whosever therefore shall consider well the sixth Chapter where the prediction of things to happen after the days of Domitian whose Tyranny had been hinted Chap. 3.10 doth begin and compare it with History shall finde that it reacheth no further than Constantine the great Likewise the things foretold from the beginning of the seventh Chapter to the end of the nineteenth are all save somewhat that shall happen before the death of the Beast and whereof mention is made in the tenth verse of the seventeenth Chapter to be accomplished within the compass of that age wherein he shall rise again from the dead And of this I give a touch in the following exposition So that from the Reign of Constantine unto the age aforesaid is a vast gap without the intimation of any thing that shall intervene To the third I answer that if John in penning the Revelation had intended to detect Antichrist he would no doubt have named him else how could he expect that any man should ever be able to fathome his meaning as to this matter Which reason is the more forceible in that we see him so frequently make mention of Antichrist in his Epistles And would there think ye have been so deep silence concerning him throughout the Revelation had John there designed to paint him out more fully then before But as men have been too quick sighted in spying Antichrist where he was not indeed to be found so have they on the contrary been very purblinde when they came to those places wherein he was exposed to open view Wherefore that we may at length attain to the right notion of Antichrist let us mark in the first place that John did not by Antichrist intend any particular person but many deceivers to which purpose let us hear what he saith 1 Epistle 4.3 4. This is that spirit of Antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should come and even now already is it in the world Ye are of God little children and have overcome them The word them as will easily appear by examining the circumstances of the place hath no other antecedent but Antichrist and therefore no single person was meant by him But if this allegation should seem to any one to carry some doubt and uncertainty with it the seventh verse of the second Epistle will soon remove all scruple and clearly prove our assertion For it is there said Many deceivers are come into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh This is the deceiver so the Greek hath it
and let us serve them Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul Neither can any one justly say that the Wonders to be performed by the false Prophet are onely seeming Miracles and not real ones For besides that neither the Scripture nor the common use of speaking doth by great Wonders understand meer Illusions and Deceptions of the sight the particular Wonder that John allegeth for an instance putteth the matter out of all question for he saith that the false Prophet causeth fire to come down from Heaven before men But if fire coming down from Heaven be not a true Miracle I would fain learn what is Vers 15. And he had power to give life unto the Image of the Beast that the Image of the Beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the Image of the Beast should be killed The false Prophet who had done sundry Miracles to make Men erect an Image to the Beast doth at length cause the Image it self to speak with words tending to this purpose that whosoever refuseth to worship the Image of the Beast shall be put to death Of such a Miracle as this we sometimes read in the Scripture as namely Zech. 10.2 The Idols or Images for so the Hebrew word Teraphim is rendred 1 Sam. 19.13 have spoken vanity Wherefore there is the less reason why any man should in the explication of this place betake himself to a figurative sense and so impose upon the words an uncouth and uncertain Interpretation as men love to do when they comment upon this Book of the Revelation Vers 16. And he causeth all both small and great rich and poor free and bond to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads Vers 17. And that no man might buy or sell save he that had the Mark or the Name of the Beast or the Number of his Name The false Prophet thinketh he can never sufficiently engage Men to the impious Worship of the Beast and his Image which he hath undertaken to settle to which end he addeth another device causing them of what rank or quality soever they be to receive a Mark upon their right hand or their forehead and permitting none to buy or sell that hath it not Now what this Mark is were it not here set down would easily appear to us by comparing two other passages of this Book the one Chap. 14.11 Whosoever receiveth the Mark of his Name The other Chap. 15.2 over his Mark over the word and set in the English before this second over is not in the Greek the number of his Name Whence it is manifest that by the Mark of the Beast is meant either his Name or the Number of his Name and accordingly those words Chap. 13.17 are to be rendred thus Save he that hath the Mark either not or the Name of the Beast or the Number of his Name Neither is it a new thing in the Scripture that a Mark should be set on the Bodies of Men for Protection Thus God is said to have set a Mark on Cain lest any one finding him should kill him Gen. 4.15 He also caused a Mark to be set on the foreheads of them that sighed and cryed for all the Abominations that were done in Jerusalem that the Destroyers might not come near them when they in the Vision slew all the rest of the Inhabitants of that City Ezek. 9.4 6. Finally we read in this very Book of the Revelation Chap. 7.3 that the Servants of God are by an Angel sealed or marked on the forehead to secure them from the Plague of the Locusts Chap. 9.4 and this Mark is the Name of the Lambs Father Chap. 14 1. We see then by these Allegations out of the Scripture that there is no need to fly to a mystical Interpretation in explaining the Mark of the Beast set upon Men that they may be thereby licensed to buy and sell without molestation especially because this Mark is said to be imprinted upon certain parts of their Body and that as the Devil is wont to be God's Ape in imitation of the Name of God set upon the foreheads of his servants for their security Of which thing no man shall ever be able to render a good account if he once depart from the Letter of the Text. Vers 18. Here is Wisdom Let him that hath understanding count the Number of the Beast for it is the Number of a Man and his Number is is six hundred threescore and six As touching the Number of the Beast that is of the first Beast as this Expression doth in the Revelation perpetually signifie or of his Name to such as are not acquainted with the Greek Tongue wherein the Revelation was written this seemeth very difficult but to those who know that the Greeks in Numbring make not use of Figures but reckon by the Letters of the Alphabet putting the first Letter for one the second for two c. the thing is obvious and easie For when it is said that the Number of the Beast by whom as John himself expounded it a Man is understood is six hundred sixty six it is all one as if it were said Write the Name of this Man in Greek the Language of this Book and then calculate the Letters thereof according to the custome of the Greeks and it will amount to the Number of Six hundred sixty six And this very thing is hinted by expressing the Number of six hundred sixty six in Greek not by words but letters Thus much then God is pleased to make known to us but what the Name it self is he hath concealed reserving the knowledge thereof for them that shall live in the time of the Beast So that besides Irreverence towards God it is also lost labour for us in these times to spend our conjectures upon it Chap. 14 Vers 1. And I looked and so a Lamb slood on the Mount Sion and with him an hundred forty and four thousand having his Fathers Name written in their foreheads The Exposition BY the Lamb here standing on Mount Sion is meant Christ Jesus the Son of God both because the Name of his Father is writ upon the foreheads of the Saints here mentioned and because he is brought in as their Leader and finally because no other person besides him is wont to be designed by the Name of a Lamb. By Mount Sion it self is under slood Jerusalem For though Mount Sion if you speak strictly and properly was but a Castle in Jerusalem taken by David in the beginning of his Reign over all Israel 1 Chron. 11.4,5 yet is it as being the chiefest part of that City frequently in Scripture put for Jerusalem it self as Isai 33.29 Look on Sion the City of our solemnities thine eys shall see Jerusalem a quiet
heat Nevertheless we according to his Promise look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness 2 Epist 3.10 11 12 13. Is it possible that any thing should more plainly and positively be delivered to shew that the Heavens and the Earth which now are shall be dissolved by Fire and abolished and new Heavens together with a new Earth be created of God in their room Yea was not this Doctrine long before taught by two sacred Writers of the Old Testament to the latter of which the words of Peter whilest he speaketh of Gods Promise touching a new Heaven and a new Earth seem to relate For the divine Authour of the 102. Psalm directing his speech to God saith in the 25. and 26. Verses thereof Of old thou hast laid the Foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the Work of thine Hands They shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall wax old like a Garment as a Vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed Which passage doth not onely tell us in plain words that the Heavens and the Earth shall perish but with all intimate that new Heavens and a new Earth shall be created whilest it saith that God shall change the Heavens and the Earth when grown old as a Vesture For in the change of an old Vesture a new one is taken in its stead Likewise the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 65.17 bringeth in God saying Behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into minde and Chap. 66.22 God to comfort the Jews speaketh thus As the new Heavens and the new Earth which I will make shall remain before me so shall your seed and your name remain Are not three such Witnesses as these sufficient to confirm the Exposition that we have given on the foresaid passage of the Revelation yea doth not the very close of the Verse evince it when it is said The Sea is no more For seeing in the World to come there is no place for Commerce and Traffique to what purpose should there be any Sea which serveth for a more easie and compendious passage from one Countrey to another that so Men may be supplyed with such Commodities as they want But if any one here object that he cannot imagine any more need of a new Heaven and a new Earth than of a new Sea I answer that it doth not therefore follow that they are all alike in that it is expresly denyed that there shall be any more Sea but on the contrrary it is plainly affirmed that there shall be a new Heaven and a new Earth Neither hath God left us wholly ignorant concerning the use of the new Earth and consequently of the new Heaven which will in likelihood be subservient thereunto as the old Heaven is to the old Earth as appeareth from the words of the Apostle Paul Rom. 8.19 20 21 22. where he saith The earnest expectation of the Creature waiteth for the Manifestation of the Sons of God For the Creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope Because the Creature it self also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Children of God For we know that the whole Creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now Now seeing the Creatures that here expect so earnestly and groan to be delivered from vanity are twice plainly distinguished from the Saints and Children of God is it not thereby manifest that the other living Creatures which God created shall after the Saints are once clothed with immortality be though not in their former Individuals yet in others of the same kinde made immortal as well as they and consequently live upon the new Earth or can any other sense be put upon the words of Paul without running into Absurdities Vers 2. And I John saw the holy City new Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband In the same manner that John had before seen the new Heaven and the new Earth doth he here see the new Jerusalem onely this Jerusalem is already in being and therefore called New because it is so to the Saints when admitted thereinto in the life to come Thus Paul before Ananias was in very deed come to him had already seen him in a vision entring in and laying his hand upon him that he might receive his sight Acts 9.11 12. But forasmuch as the knowledge or the New Jerusalem is of so great importance without which neither can the happiness of the saints be rightly apprehended nor their faith as wanting a solid foundation be firm and stable we will evince out of the Scripture that by the New Jerusalem is not meant the Church but as it is here expresly termed a City which God hath reserved in heaven for the Saints To omit therefore the observation that may to this effect be rightly deduced from the very name of Jerusalem which being in the Hebrew of the dual number sign fieth that there are two Cities known by that appellation the Testimonies taken out of the divine Author to the Hebrews will abundantly confirm our assertion For he saith Chap. 11.9 10. By faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange countrey dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob heirs with him of the same promise For he looked for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God Certainly a City that is opposed to Tabernacles as having foundations whereof they are destitute and whose builder and maker is God himself is a City truly and properly so called Again in the 13.14 15. and 16. verses of the same Chapter he speaketh thus All these namely Abraham Isaac and Jacob died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them a far of and were perswaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a countrey And truly if they had been mindful of that countrey from whence they came out they might have had opportunity to have returned but now they desire abetter countrey that is an heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God For he hath prepared for them a City You see by this that God hath provided for the Saints a City which is their heavenly Countrey and that the Patriarchs believed and longed for the same although they had received no promises of it but only seen them a far off and that they shewed their faith and longing by confessing themselves to be strangers and pilgrims on the earth How much then doth their practice condem many Christians who having received express promises of such a City and Kingdome are so far from longing after it as that they deny that there is any such place turning it into an allegory
it not without manifest absudity be said to issue out of the Throne it self 4. The River of this Water hath Trees growing on both sides thereof which agreeth not to Water figuratively so taken Thus have we asserted the Doctrine touching the Water of Life plainly and properly so called which doth not onely give light to that passage of David Psal 36.8 9. but receive attestation from it for it is there said Thou shalt make them drink of the River of thy pleasures for with thee is the Fountain of Life But this River of pleasures is here in the Revelation said to have two Springs the one rising out of the Throne of God the other out of the Throne of the Lamb that we might acknowledge our selves indebted not onely to God but also to Christ whom God hath exalted to be a Prince and Saviour Acts 5.31 For the benefit of eternal Life Suitable whereunto is that acclamation of the Saints glorified in the Kingdom of Heaven Chap. 7.10 Salvation to our God that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb. Vers 2. In the midst of the Street of it and of either side of the River was there the Tree of Life which bare twelve manner of Fruits and yielded her Fruit every Moneth and the Leaves of the Tree were for the healing of the Nations As in the former Verse the Water of Life was shewn unto John so also is the Tree of Life in this Verse which Circumstance as I before reasoned sufficiently argueth that it is a Tree plainly and properly so called otherwise it could not have been presented to his view Again this Tree is said to grow in a certain place namely in the midst of the Street pertaining to the new Jerusalem and on each side of the River that runneth through the same But this never cometh to pass when the Tree of Life is to be figuratively understood See Prov. 3.18 Wisdom is a Tree of Life to them that lay hold upon her And Chap. 11.30 The Fruit of the Righteous is a Tree of Life And Chap. 13.12 When the Desire cometh it is a Tree of Life And Chap. 15.4 A wholesom Tongue is a Tree of Life In all which Texts the Tree of Life being confessedly taken after a figurative manner there is no place mentioned where it groweth Whereas in the Revelation the place of its growth is also expressed as appeareth both from the passage under discussion and from the 14. Verse of the same Chap. where it is said Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and may enter in tâ—â—ough the Gates into the City And also from the 7. Vers of the 2. Chap. where Christ saith to the Angel of the Ephesine Church To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Which last passage doth further confirm our assertion in that it stileth the heavenly Jerusalem for that we were even now taught to be the place where the tree of life groweth by the name of the paradise of God For the true signification of a Paradise is an Orchard or Garden set with fruit trees as appeareth from Eccles 2.5 Where the Greek version runneth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is I made me Gardens and Orchards and planted trees in them of all kinds of fruits Thus that Garden or Orchard which God planted in Eden for Adam is described in this manner Gen. 2.9 Out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food the tree of life also in the midst of the garden Where the Greek version hath the same words that are used by Christ in the second Chapter of the Revelation namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that none can with reason deny that there was a tree of life plainly and properly so called which grew in the earthly Paradise or Orchard where God placed Adam no more may he deny that there is such a Tree in the heavenly Paradise or Orchard the New Jerusalem It is further here told us to the end we should rest in the plain and obvious sence of the place that the Tree of life beareth a different kinde of fruit every moneth which must needs tend to the great delight of them that shall eat thereof in that men are much taken with the variety of their food where by the way let it be observed that the Tree of life is the measure of time in the world to come for putting forth twelve sorts of fruits successively it maketh the twelve moneths and consequenrly the year that consisteth of them But it will perhaps be objected in opposition to what I affirm out of this Chapter about eating and drinking in the New Jerusalem that Paul 1 Cor. 6.13 saith Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall destroy both it and them To which I answer that Paul speaketh of worldly meats and that vessel which God hath made in the natural body to receive them so that this pertaineth not to the spiritual body whereof mention is made in the same Epistle Chap. 15.44 nor to those heavenly cates whereof John here discourseth For certainly that there shall be eating and drinking in the kingdom of heaven is elsewhere so plainly delivered that interpreters shew themselves ridiculous whilst they go about to impose another sence upon the words Hear therefore what Christ himself saith Luke 22.15.16 17 18. I have exceedingly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer For I say unto you I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God And he took the cup and gave thanks and said take this and divide it among your selves For I say unto you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God shall come Doth not this place signifie that Christ shall eat of an heavenly passover with his Disciples as he did of an earthly one a little before his death and shall also drink wine with them To the same purpose he speaketh to them afterwards in the 28.29 and 30. verses of the same Chapter saying Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations And I appoint unto yon a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me That ye may eat and drink with me in my Kingdom And also Math. 26.29 saying I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom Doth not this shew as I before argued out of Luke that Christ shall drink with his Disciples new wine in the kingdom of God as formerly he drank old wine with them at his last supper before his death and consequently the tree of life is for one moneth a vine yielding a liquor so excellent that it needeth not age to bring it to perfection but being only
pressed out of the grapes into the cup is the most rich and delicate wine that can be imagined but the tree of life affordeth to the Nations of them that are saved for only such Nations are here understood as appeareth from the four and twentieth verse of the precedent Chapter it doth I say afford not only meat and drink but medicine also For when any distemper beginneth to creep on the Citizens of the New Jerusalem the leaves of this tree being used do discharge the same By which means they remain for ever free from sickness and death Howbeit the manner how these leaves are used whether they be inwardly taken which is the more probable opinion or outwardly applied is uncertain and so ought to be passed over as also the business of evacuation For there is no mention thereof in the Scripture much less of the maner wherein it should be performed So that it becometh not us to make any further inquiry thereinto But if any shall yet reply and say that what hath been spoken of meat and drink and medicine to be in the New Jerusalem doth make the future happiness of the Saints to appear somewhat gross I answer it is not for us to devise what is suitable for the condition of them that shal inherit the Kingdom of heaven but to restin that which God hath prepared for them He could no doubt have given them such an immortality as needed no outward supply but could have sustained it self upon its own inward principles without either meat or drink or medicine but he hath thought it fit to order the matter otherwise as appeareth by the declaration that he himself hath made thereof in the Scripture And shall we presume to be wiser than he and accuse him as not knowing how to make his people happy in the compleatest manner by imagining such a felicity as is not recorded in his word and wresting that which is there described by our exotick interpretations Certainly seeing the Scripture testifieth that the foolishness of God is wiser then men it becometh us to assent to that which he hath revealed though seeming foolish to us rather then affecting to be wise above what is written to follow the groundless imaginations of our own heart Vers 3. And there shall be no more curse but the Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him How truly I said even now that the leaves of the tree of life shall keep the Nations of them that are saved free from sickness and death for ever appeareth from the beginning of this verse For when it is there said There shall be no more curse it is the same as if it had been said There shall be no more utter destruction for so the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifieth a curse is wont in the Scripture to be taken See Zech. 14.11 from whence these words in the Revelation seem to be borrowed For whereas it is there read in English There shall be no more utter destruction the Greek hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is There shall be no more curse And lest any one should perhaps imagine that there may possibly be a difference in the signification between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which latter is the word used in the Revelation the collation of Matth. 26.74 with Mark 14.71 in the Greek will soon remove that scruple Though the tree of life be a great benefit to the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem yet is the presence of God a greater as being better then life it self without which indeed life is not lively and therefore it is said that the Throne of God and the Lamb shall be in the New Jerusalem namely that the Saints may enjoy his presence and be thereby inflamed to serve and honour him with the greatest affection But least any one should turn that which is here delivered concerning the Throne of God into an allegory because a Throne is sometimes put for Royal power let us evince both out of the circumstances of the place and also from other passages of the Scripture that God hath in very deed a throne in heaven For first if by the Throne of God should here be only meant Royal power the words would carry no emphasis with them when it is said that the Throne of God shall be in the New Jerusalem seeing the Royal power of God extendeth it self to all places alike 2 The Throne of God is here as properly taken as that of Christ whilest it is said The Throne of God and the Lamb. But Christ being the son of man cannot be denied to sit as a King upon a throne properly so taken Wherefore neither can God likewise Both which are confirmed by that passage of the divine Author to the Hebrews Chap. 12.2 Where it is said That Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God 3. The throne of God hath been seen and so is properly to be understood as those things that fall under the sence are wont to be This is manifest from the first verse of this Chapter where John saith I saw a River of water of life proceeding out of the Throne of God and the Lamb. And also from the eleventh verse of the twentieth Chapter where the very colour of his Throne is also expressed for so John saith I saw a great white Throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away And finally from that notable vision of Micajah 1 Kings 22.19 who saith to Ahab King of Israel Hear thou the word of the Lord I saw the Lord sitting on his Throne and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left 4. It is said of Christ as we before cited it out of the Epistle of the Hebrews Chap. 12.2 that Christ sat down on the right hand of the Throne of God which could not be true were the Throne of God any other then a seat 5. God is in the Book of the Revelation frequently known by the appellation of him that sitteth upon the throne See Chap. 5.13 and 6.16 and 7.15 But this would be an impertinent description of God were there in very deed no Throne in heaven whereon he sitteth 6. God is said to have prepared his Throne in the heavens Psalm 103.19 which will not admit any other sence but that he hath made there a Royal seat for himself By all these arguments it appeareth that to say God doth not in very deed sit on a Throne in heaven is to contradict both the Scripture and our very senses Vers 4. And they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads That these words They shall see the face of God are to be taken as they sound I have in effect already proved by evincing out of the Scripture that God doth in very deed sit upon a Throne in
heaven before which the glorified Saints shall come and adore him For it doth of necessity follow from thence that they shall see his face Neither do those words of Paul 1 Tim. 6.16 where speaking of God he saith Whom none of men hath seen nor can see a whit derogate from the truth of that which we assert For he himself elsewhere comparing the condition of men in this life with that which shall be in the life to come saith Now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now I know in part but then shall I know even as I am known I Cor. 13.12 Wherefore in that fore quoted passage of Tim. he speaketh of men conversing in this world between whom and God there is not only a vast distance of place forasmuch as he is in heaven and they on earth Eccles 5.2 but also sundry bodies interposed obstructing their sight of him Yea were they now admitted to the very person of God their eyes were not fit of themselves to behold so spiritual and glorious an object Whereupon the Apostle John concludeth 1 Epist 3.2 That in the world to come We shall be like unto God because we shall see him as he is And this passage which we have last cited together with that other of the Corinthians gives clear attestation to our opinion as also doth that saying of Christ Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God So that we have no need to dwell longer on this subject we pass therefore to the second thing here mentioned which is The inscribing of Gods name upon the forehead of the Saints This is performed by Christ as he himself testifieth Chap. 3.12 where speaking to the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia he saith Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple of my God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the name of my God and it denoteth that they are the ministers of God and so are continually to serve him in his Temple Thus as we have above discoursed the name of the Beast was set upon the foreheads of men to signifie that they were such as served and worshipped him Neither can any man alledge a sufficient reason why this also shall not be fulfilled according to the letter of the holy Text. Vers 5 And there shall be no night there and they need no candle neither light of the sun for the Lord God giveth them light and they shall reign for ever and ever John here repeateth what he had before spoken in the one and twentieth Chapter concerning this that there shall be no night in the heavenly Jerusalem nor need either of the sun or of a candle because God is the luminary thereof For inasmuch as God dwelleth in light 1 Tim. 6.16 and covereth himself with light as with a garment Psalm 104.2 Yea is light it self having no darkness at all in him 1 John 1.5 and shall abide with the Saints continually 1 Thes 4.17 It cannot otherwise be but that he should by his presence make perpetual day in the New Jerusalem As for the Reign of the Saints mentioned in the close of this verse it cannot be understood of ruling over the Nations for that ceaseth after the day of judgement wherefore it is meant of their Reigning in life as the Apostle Paul phraseth it Rom. 5.17 and so of reigning over death for ever as death had for some time reigned over them Vers 6. And he said unto me These sayings are faithful and true And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his Angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done This is the third time that either God himself or the Angels confirm the plain literal and down right meaning of those things that are spoken concerning the New Jerusalem and the happiness of such as are to dwell therein For I have before proved Chap. 21.5 that when it is said These sayings are faithful and true it is all one as if it had been said These sayings are evident and certain and such as do of themselves leave no place for dispute To establish which exposition of mine consider further that the Apostle Paul doth in four several places namely 1 Tim. 1.15 and Chap. 3.1 and Chap. 4.9 and Titus 3.8 tell us that such a point is a faithful saying when the thing whereof he speaketh conteineth in it self no hard and mystical sence but is to be understood according to the plain purpose of the words Why then should we prefer the imaginations of men before the express language of the Scripture and adhere to such interpretations of this prophecy as have no other ground but the bare word of those that obtrude them When the Angel further addeth that the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his Angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done this ought not to be understood of the same Angel that here talketh with John otherwise he would rather have said The Lord God of the holy prophets hath sent me Again the things which this Angel shewed to John are so far from being done shortly after that they are not as yet come to pass Wherefore this saying as will easily appear from the same words used in both places hath relation to that other Angel which is mentioned in the very entrance of the Revelation and who shewed such things to John as began a little after to be put in execution Set Chap. 3.10 where it is said Because thou hast kept the word of my patience I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the wold to try them that dwell upon the earth See also the opening of the Seals whereof we read in the sixth Chapter Vers 7. Behold I come quickly blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book Here the Angel speaking in the person of Christ saith Behold I come quickly which is not meant of that notable coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven to judge the quick and the dead for the event sheweth it to be otherwise inasmuch as to this very day he is not come in that manner wherefore he speaketh of some nearer and more improper Coming namely when he would visit the lnhabitants of the World for their wickedness by bringing a great calamity upon them And such a Coming of Christ hapned in the days of Domitian the Emperour not long after the Penning of this Prophecy which I have before proved in the Exposition of the 17. Chapter to have been written in the Reign of Vespasian the Emperour of Rome Which Judgement to be inflicted on the whole World in the Reign and by the Hands of that cruel Monster Domitian when Christ had foretold to the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia Chap. 3.10 He useth the same words in the following Verse that he doth here For thus the whole passage soundeth Because