BEAST I beheld the pleasant Field and fruitful Garden working up the form of what indured and continued patient under those fiery Tryals until they became past over though many therein did dwell on a barren Heath who could not see when good comes whereby they perished in the Night of Obscurity and worldly sorrow that overtook them in their way wherein the power of DEATH wrought and became strong in the WORLDS CXIII And in the place of the fifth Head of the Beast in the midst of four which I had beheld Wounded as it were unto death were sprung up three other Heads And the Horns on that fifth Head which had received that deadly Wound were increased through the healing up of the Wound wherein a little Horn that sprung up between the Eyes of the Beast received Voice and began to speak great swelling words against the God of Heaven and his SAINTS that dwell on the Earth and the little Horn waxed strong towards the four Winds of the Heavens wherein the BEAST appeared with seven Heads and ten Horns which had Power in in the Beast to reign with him as Kings for their hour CXIV And whereas after I had seen the fall of five Horns on that fifth Head of the Beast I beheld remaining four Heads from whence sprung up four Horns in the dispersing abroad the Kingdom and Power of the BEAST under the four Winds of the Heavens so in the reviving of his power that which became exalted in the reducing of four to its first subjection ruled over five in which the wound was received and wherein the Beast came forth first manifest and in the discovery of both the rise and fall of the BEAST though through the great Horn of the Hee-Goat who did not touch the ground until he had accomplished his design after he had power given him in the awakened fury of the West-Wind the two Horns of the RAM from the EAST were broken and stampt in pieces that great Horn was also broken when its fury was accomplished CXV Yet was the power of the four Horns on those four Heads of the BEAST bound down in the four Heads of the great River until the time of the loosing of their four Angels that stood on the four Corners of the EARTH to hold the four Corners of the WINDS from blowing on the EARTH while the little Horn was magnified whereby the third Head which sprung up in the midst of the seven recovered four Horns from that which was dispersed under those four Winds of the Heavens and on the other six Heads were manifest six Horns CXVI Thus was the BEAST more monstrous then all those other Beasts that passed before him with Iron Teeth by which he did break and stamp in pieces And his Face was like unto a Leopard with the form of a third part of the Stars in the constellation of the HEAVENS on his Back but he had the Feet of the great Bear and discovered his power through the four Heads of the great River EUPHRATES in the loosing of those destroying Angels who came first out from the WATERS but the reviving of his strength from those deceitful healings proceeded out of the Earth through the power of the RAM in Nature CXVII And in the time of the sounding of the sixth Trumpet this BEAST came forth through the loosing of those destroying ANGELS out of the great River and through those earthquakes and shakings that were come into the WORLD wherein fell that tenth part of the great City God had returned unto himself his Tenths to be eaten as a Teyl-Tree and as an Oak whose substance was in it these were the remnant of the Holy Seed who worshipped the Lord with a pure Heart even in Spirit and in Truth and whose Garments were washed White in the Blood of the Lamb. CXVIII For they came to pass through great tribulations and Tryals in their WAY because they could not Worship the BEAST nor receive his Mark but they were preserved blameless before the Lord in that hour wherein Iniquity was not found in their HEARTS neither was there guile in their MOUTHS to be uttered with their Tongue And I beheld until the sin of MANASSEH became ripened and was filled up and the high Altars in both Courts whereon had been offered Sacrifice to IDOLS and Incense burnt to strange Gods which neither we nor our Fathers have heard of were pulled down because of the God of FORCES who was worshipped neither was the desire of Women regarded CXIX And after I came to see the WOMANS deliverance from the rage and fury of the great Red DRAGON who had cast his floods of Water after her in the time and times wherein she had been helped by the EARTH and sheltered by the Wings of the EAGLE with which she had fled into the Wilderness as the Dragon came to give up his Power to this monstrous Beast the remnant of her Seed was persecuted in the World for the space of full forty dayes And wherein the Sun had gone back ten Degrees for the prolonging of Life in the Just after he came to discover and reveal the glory in which was his safety before Babylons King who wrought by subtilty and much craft whereby fifteen dayes were added to his dying state CXX Those dayes were again doubled in the renewed Zeal wherein the Favour of God was multiplyed to the purging his House and Sanctuary according to the fifty-five dayes wherein Manasseh had caused the Israel of God to err in following after Idols And for ten days the Devil had power to cast many into Prison that they might be tryed and sifted by his cunning devices until their Garments became thus made white in the Blood of the slain Lamb of God CHAP. XI Describing the Form of the WHEELS in the VISION according to their MOTION wherein are numbred the dayes that the BEAST hath yet to reign and continue on the Earth CXXI AS to the form of the Wheels as they wrought and moved one within the other as a Wheel within a Wheel like unto the form of the Worlds which are moved the one within the other the WHEELS never rested but went streight forward towards Eternity wherewith they were tinctured and moved in the power thereof as though they crossed each other and yet there was no crossness in the Will and Wisdom of Eternity from whence they were moved in the power of him that first wrought and laboured in the motion thereof CXXII For all crossness that appeared in the motion thereof wrought in the Earthly ground wherein the World 's laboured to Center in a Glory below the power of Eternity from whence every thing first proceeded and was brought forth to a day of Tryal in the FRAME under which the Body of Nature was constituted to exercises from the Glory of the HEAVENS wherein the Will of the Creature was subjected to a change through vanity that entered the WORLD in a state of corruptible Glory which was
as it is in themselves though many have learned in this day to adde to their Faith Vertue and Patience and all good Fruits of the Spirit of God because of the Experience of the Work of Faith which through Patience they are kept in the sence of in the midst of Fiery Tryals and they hold fast the begettings of God thereby in a confidence of good in him XI And then as they increase in Knowledge it is on a good ground and foundation that hath learned them to rejoyce in the FLAMES of DEVOURING FIRE whose devouring QUALITY cannot reach their SENCE with any BITTERNESS of its Sting but through Patience and Submission thereto it is made sufferable and the Cross is made easie therein and the BURDEN light because of a quenching property in that love against whatever maketh the Judgement of God to be unsufferable Torment to his Creature for part of their Knowledge is that it is not only given them to believe but to suffer for the namesake of God though in the beginning of the Work of Faith the belief that was wrought by the Spirit of God in them is a Convincer of sin under which there was and is a suffering in the nature that hath contracted the guilt thereof on the Soul by unity of Spirit therewith even the Spirit and God of the World XII Further knowing and being perswaded in patience to wait for the perfecting of the Work of God in the Heart in that Faith and belief of the love of God therein shed abroad that they are kept sensible of a good experience of the Work thereof having the Testimony of a good Conscience to manifest the same in the World these can shew their Faith by its Works and have a birth thereof that makes not ashamed of a good CONFESSION among Men and the fained Humility and appearances of Love from the untimely Fruit of the Womb that can never come to see the glory of the Sun of this day withereth in its way for that which can indure and hold out to the End worketh by the love of God that hath begotten into a lively hope concerning the Resurrection from the Dead having a Life tinctured in the Souls reach after true Charity in God and Love unfained which is the highest attainment in a Christians state and the greatest Gift that can be attained by men under the Bond of Perfection XIII Sealing the Work in which God doth glory and delight in that which is made able to pass through the stroke of Death to leave an Earnest of the expectations of the Creature after the day of Redemption in that which is much more pretious than that of Gold that perisheth But how have I seen many in this day loading themselves with the Fancy and Imaginations of their disquieted Mind and then being burdened with a Fear and Jealousie that ariseth from the Unbelieving Heart and distrustful ground they are ready to cry out of the Burden of the Lord whereas their own words and thoughts are become their Burden who have taken that on them which God never layd on them and yet they make the concern for the Lords sake that lays no more on any than they are made able to bear in the Life of Patience XIV And in this ground stand all the several Separations and hasty receivings into Fellowships with sudden hands laid on Proselytes for herein is the ground of prejudice swayed by the creaturely affection yet in this mind may be maintained a fierce and fiery Zeal for the opiniatedness that may often call for fire to come down from Heaven and to have Vengeance and Plagues speedily executed on such against whom their Spirit is bent for having wished evil in their Hearts and mischief against the Persons of such towards whom they cannot admit of any CHARITABLE thoughts they proceed in a hasty Prophecy of their utter confusion and then would they rather that both Soul and Body of the subject over whom they seek to be avenged in that rejoycing should for ever perish than that they should be found False Prophets so evil a thing it is to be engaged in a Spirit of Enmity and Envy XV. But such Extremities many have this day put themselves on through rash censure and then run back to former Ages and Generations of the World for a President and Example to help them out as they think whereby they oft are ready to plead the lawfulness of cursing their Adversary who standeth not justified in their sight and approbation because ELISHA was once acted in that Ministration through the heat and zeal of his Spirit it being so far from their nature to live in that which is wayting for the Worlds redemption from sin and reconciliation to God that they rather strengthen their FURY in the expectation of utter Consumption and Destruction on all that cannot for wraths sake stoop to their perswasions and it is the end of such willings to see a People perish in their sins XVI Because of that mis-informed Zeal under which their Spirits are acted against the Enemies and Foes of that Cause for which they have found the life imboldened towards God according to the quickning of his Spirit as tinctured with that Power before which the Heavens have opened and do shut and in the like desire THEY are moved as was HE before whom Fifties were destroyed whose Spirit resteth Judgement on a Ground wherein God hath prepared Messengers to go before his face But considering the difference in Administrations that Zeal which runneth out after an Object to maintain the heat of Spirit against which it is enkindled is not now held and retained in the like Cause and Ground as that in which it first appeared XVII For God is gone out of that Administration as acted towards the Persons of Men in their Generations and cannot own any glory therein but as that which had a Testimony of his day in the Prophecy thereof wherein the Messengers went before his Face in a sence of that terror that was come on the Wicked World because such that wear the soft Cloathing are got into Kings Houses and they shall no more wear a rough Garment or prophesie in their Sackcloth Robes therefore whom would men go out to see since Times are come that the Sacrifice of the Rebellious savoureth of the Work of Death and there is not fire enough to kindle the combustible matter in the House on the top of which they are exalted while the Displeasure of God continueth unawakened in the Pleasure and Will of Men that bring Wood but where is the Flame of that other Spirit which God requireth even of Reconciliation to Himself in the Life of Forgiveness in that which is able to Appease and Quench the Wrath and Rage of the devouring Enemy and make Friends in the Well-Beloved Life XVIII Yet where is Love and Forgiveness enough to heap Coals of Fire on the Heads of Enemies the Gift hath been first left at the Altar and such
greeting to the four Churches in EUROPE I. SInce the WORLD is faln under the power of Corruption and Affliction hath overtaken the Inhabitants of the Earth in its divided Quarters let this Epistle be sounded throughout thy Borders O ASIA wherein is Power communicated to an Instrument in the Hand of God to raise up and awaken the sence of what hath overtaken thee in the Glory of thy seven Churches now dispersed abroad over the Earth that it may be known throughout the whole Land of JUDEA that our God is King in Israel who is come to Rule and Reign in RIGHTEOUSNES and is arisen as a Giant refreshed with WINE for he hath taken unto him VENGEANCE for a Cloathing and is cloathed with ZEAL as with a Cloak before his face goeth a consuming Fire and it is very tempestuous round about him II. For he hath raised up unto himself a Horn of Salvation which is a Witness awakened out of the Dust and from the Holy Place wherein it hath slept in the Earth and hath commended his love unto us while we were yet sinners having laid down his Life for his Enemies that he again might come to take it up in as many as are willing to joyn to his SPIRIT in the Work of Redemption and Reconciliation of the WORLDS to himself III. Whereby the Worlds are convinced of their SINS and their RIGHTEOUSNES in that Life of Sufferance wherein the Spirit of Reconciliation is manifested as a witness against the Spirit God and Spirit of the World in several sorts of Judgment for which the World is reproved that remains in unbelief and continues joyned to that cursed Spirit of Enmity being subject to sore Tryals of Bondage and Captivity to the Spirit of Darkness in which the Curse first wrought and therein is caused the groaning and waiting of the whole Creation of God IV. And thou O Europe let this have its free passage throughout thy quarters lest I tear thy flesh with Thorns saith the Mighty One that is High and Holy in the midst of this the day of his Exaltation as his Beloved becometh raised out of the dust a beautiful Daughter of dejected Zion whose glory hath been covered with Ashes while she hath sat mourning on the Floar of Corruption and all that are Enemies to my WORK and stand in my WAY shall be made like unto ZEBA and ZELMANA saith the FORMER of great Nations mighty and strong for by the Breath of his NOSTRILS and through the BRIGHTNES of his Appearance he will consume and destroy the Man of Sin and where will the WICKED appear since the Day of God is come on all the pleasant PICTURES and upon all that is lifted up above its SPHEAR and ORB to the staining of the beauty and glory of all FLESH that all high Oaks and sturdy Cedars in LEBANON may be made to bend to the Power of God which is the subjecter of all forms in Nature to their first servitude V. And unto the ANGEL of the Churches in EUROPE write these things saith the first born of every Creature under the Heavens The day and hour of thy Tryals is come therefore let thy Rulers hear and let thy Priests give ear for their Sacrifice hath been defiled while their Hands are full of Blood in the right Hand of thy Prophets is a lie and they feed upon Ashes Remember therefore the Day of God that hath measured the Ground in which thou hast been exalted in a time of prosperity because of the night that hath overtaken thy Glory and say no more I am prosperous in that strength which is the help of Nations VI. For because of transgression in JUDAH the Land doth mourn and through the iniquity of BENJAMIN they are scattered in ISRAEL and the ten Tribes have lost their name wherein the Glory of SAMARIA is rooted out of the Earth Hear therefore you that can for if your breaking off was that which made way for the reconciling the World unto God in the Life of the Sons Glory what will be your reconciling again but life from the dead Oh alas that I am born to see your Rebellion ye stiff-necked people and gainsaying house VII Ye have cast others out of your Synagogues and places of Worship and now are you cast off by all and made a scorn to the Inhabitants of the Earth and are become a Song of the Prophane for wherein you have despised the Servants of the Lord and slighted his Messengers that were sent unto you rising up early because the Lord did send them God hath given you up to be tormented by that Spirit of despite Yet are his Bowels again turned towards you and though you could not come up unto him nor receive him that came down unto you to suffer your contempt in a Servants state yet in the last day of the Worlds visitation he hath taken notice of your calamity and hath prepared a way for your return through the everlasting Gates of Glory set open that the Nations of the EARTH might enter in thereby VIII And unto the Angel of the Churches in ROME saith the searcher of all Hearts what hast thou done for thy nakedness is discovered and thy shame is seen though thou hast imboldned thy self in the calamity of Nations and in the destruction of mighty People great in their Generations Alas for thee that hast been cast out of the fellowship and community of a People that were more antient in Name to God then thy self and in like manner hast thou been found casting out of thy Temples and excommunicating from thy Church-Fellowship such that for Conscience sake could not conform to thy invented and superstitious Ceremonies IX But now what is come upon thee that art rejected by thy lovers For although the time is come that God will laugh at thy calamity and mock when thy fear cometh yet is there pitty to a handful of People that are in thee and the yearning Bowels are towards that which is ready to die under such Oppressors that are found in the cause of what hath stained the Day of thy Excellency my Heart my Bowels I am pained for thee in whose currant are centring all the divided streams that have been boasting themselves in what hath caused the breaking off the Branches from the Root in which they were first planted but they run in that wide and open way that leads to everlasting destruction that are boasting against the Root which first bore them Oh that thou mightest be yet helped X. But you have hardned your selves in the way that leadeth thither and therein you are become blind and cannot see the danger before you Is Italy strong enough to support thee or what defence is the House of Austria to that which is broke forth against thee See you not the flames the flames thereof in the Heavens and the glory of its brightness amongst the Stars in their Constellations I am weary I am weary of your ways saith the Lord but what shall
Glory became manifest in the WOLDS while the STUMPS thereof remained bound down in the Earth with an Iron BAND after seven times had passed over his HEAD which was wet with the Dew of the Night V. Wherefore from the time wherein the dayly Sacrifice was made to cease after the restoring of that breach on the Walls of Jerusalem to the finishing of the outward Court of the Holy City which was given into the hands of the Gentiles to tread under foot those forty two months or an hundred and forty two days being the concluding of a time times and the dividing of times which is seventeen hundred and fifty days wherein the Woman hath been nourished in the place that is there provided for her for the space of one thousand two hundred and threescore days that the two Witnesses have appointed them to finish and fulfil their PROPHECY in sackcloth in which time the Earth doth help the WOMAN It is now eighteen days since the Commandment of God came forth for the rebuilding and restoring those outward Courts of the CITY TIME on a Prophetical account wch is the Language of the holy Scripture is five hundred years according to the life of Noah before he began to build his Family in the EARTH which was saved in the Ark of God and so long is accounted the days of Shem after the Flood of Waters as the mystical Number in which is contained ten Jubiles of years under the Law VI. And after thirty one days it shall be finished then shall be a WEEK to renew the Zeal of God and expiate sin to the sealing and binding down the power of the WICKED for evermore and in the midst of that Week those Witnesses shall seal their Testimony concerning the Life of the Lord of all Glory in Heaven and Earth who hath been crucified and lain slain in the streets of that great City spiritually called Sodom and Egypt but after three days and a half which is the concluding of the 1290 days they shall be seen to ascend up into Heaven in the sight of all their ENEMIES VII For it is now eighteen dayes since the WOMAN hath regained a sence of her deliverance from her great Captivity in that WILDERNESS-State in which the forty two months of her travel are expired and the Birth is brought forth in the EARTH which hath been preserved and delivered from the fury and rage of the great red Dragon by the Floods of Water which he hath cast out of his BELLY after her in the one thousand four hundred and forty and four thousands that are found standing on Mount Zion with their Harps harping but until the end of two days the Judgment of God set up in ISRAEL shall quicken the sealed number of Gods chosen and holy Ones who have remained as dry Bones in the Valley of Jehosaphat where the spirit of God hath breathed on the slain that from the third day will be found to live in his sight to seal the testimony of that birth which hath thirty days more to accomplish its growth into the power by which it is anoynted to finish that great Work in that Week wherein the dead are made able to stand on their Feet by the sound of the seventh and last Trump VIII And he that hath WISDOM let him count the time and number those days from whence the number of the BEAST which is the number of a MAN is compleat DCLXVI for from that day will the four destroying Angels of God stand loosed out of the great River EUPHRATES according to the hour day month and year for which they were prepared which after a month wherein those five months will be expired will leave seven months for the Dead to bury their Dead in the concluding of the year wherein Destruction is come forth against the WICKED IX Therefore count thou from the year 1656 wherein the Devil did exercise his power for ten days by casting many into Prison since the expiration of the WOMANS Tryals and sore TRAVEL that the forty days wherein the Seed of the Woman was left to be persecuted and tried by the fury and rage of the Devourer and his Angels that great Red DRAGON will make way for the power of God to be glorified after the third day in ten thousand of his SAINTS for from the expiration of those months wherein the striving continued between two Nations the King of BABYLON who had looked into the Glory of the Temple which God hath built in Israel wherein are many goodly Vessels of Gold and Silver hath been letted from spoyling and laying utterly waste the HOUSE in which are appointed those rich Treasuries about his Sanctuary X. Yet the Daughter of the NORTH suffereth Oppression under a strange KING unto whom the QUEEN of the SOUTH is joyned to corrupt their Seed though unto them the Mystery of that which pertaineth to the KINGDOM of GOD is opened in those that run to and fro to increase in knowledge and from the extirpation of the fifteen years from whence the WORLD hath been warned one hundred and twenty days and wherein the EXECUTION of that which was detained from the Earth and WORLDS in their third part to the prolonging of Life in the Government of Nature in which ISRAEL had their choice is to be MANIFEST the substance of what standeth in the end of time and place which is near to be revealed XI Therefore for the purging forth the Sin of MANASSEH through whom the HIGH ALTARS were erected in both Courts of the City for those fifty five days wherein the number seventy was accomplished in the concluding of fifteen years which discovered the Judgement that revived and was come on the Worlds that on whom the Image of JEALOUSY came forth manifest forty five days are yet determined from the midst of the WEEK wherein the Testimony of GOD will receive its everlasting Seal and it shall be the Joy of many to understand the Mystery of what is concluded in one thousand two hundred and ninety days but blessed are those that live attain to the end of those eighty five days which are the concluding of one thousand three hundred thirty and five dayes from those ninety five days before the Sacrifice was offered up wherein the ROMANS obtained their Conquest over JUDEA and throughout ASIA in which the Jews were scattered which was sixty two days before the BABE was brought forth through whom it became accepted XII For from the Conception and Birth of the MAN-CHILD through whom the LIGHT of GOD broke forth with which the NATIONS of the EARTH and REGIONS of the WORLDS that have sat under the SHADOW of Death are ENLIGHTENED on whom is come the GLORY of GOD to the GENTILES Their number is fulfilled and compleat wherein TIME and TIMES are past and HALF A TIME is divided in those Figures 1750 and yet the EXPIRATION of those SIXTY TWO Weeks wherein the GENTILES had power to erect their GLORY in the