to swimm in this Sodomitish lake as many doo which make no conscience to asseÌ„t unto any religion This then is the estate of this filthy sea which wel becometh the ulcerous flock to be fed with the rotten bloud therof as it were with rivers 4 And the third Angel powred out his vial upon the rivers Th' effect of the third vial belongeth to the fountayns rivers The event turneth the same into bloud Fountayns and rivers are as the breasts wherewith the sea is nourrished and which borow their nourishment from it againe And the sea being the Doctrine the Fountayns are the Masters which have charge of the doctrine and these no mean fellowes and footstools so to speak but principal Doctours on whose mouth the rest of the troup doo depend These now by al mens iudgment are the Iesuites from whose distributioÌ„ the rest of the multitude gathereth like babes taking the meat into their mouthes which they chewed for them Dominicus of old appeared unto Pope Innocent in his sleep to hold up with his shoulders the Lateran Church that was in danger of ruine but at this day the Iesuites be the chiefest propps of the Popes throne which neverthelesse they shall not hold up long who long synce have begun to faulter and fayl as overcharged with the weight For under this third vial the rivers shal be turned into bloud that is those Masters of Popish doctrine the Iesuites shal be put to death that the Church of Rome which in time past was wont to kill with the sword may at length be killed her selfe as the Spirit hath foretold chap 13.10 Which power this vial began to exercise about the year 1581. when in our realm of England by the common decree of the States in Parliament it was enacted that whosoever should goe about any manner of way to draw the mindes of the subiects from obedience towards their lawful and natural Prince unto the Bishop of Rome or unto the Romish religion for the same end they should be put to death as guilty of high treason What is this may some say to the Iesuites Very much when they al mind nothing els indevour nothing els being traytors to their country killers of Princes seducers of subiects the plagues and bane of al Kingdomes and common weals Therfore the powred out vial wanted not effect but in the same yere Everard Ducket Edmund Campion Ralfe Sherwin Alexander Brian Iesuites and nourissons of the Seminaries being convincted of the breach of the law were worthily punished And after them folowed Iohn Paynes Thomas Ford Iohn Sherret Robert Iohnson many other of that leven Thus by Gods grace the wickednes of wretched men was somewhat restreyned that though it were not quite taken away for who can require of the Leopard to change his skin yet did it not so freely range abroad but was forced to lurk in darknes to disguise it selfe to counterfeit dissemble al things that so both the venim might be dispersed more secretly and the mischeevous heads therof be provided for 5 And I heard the Angel of the waters We have seen the first event the second is a twofold testimony wherby the fact is approved of which the first is by the Angel of the waters who is not one of these rivers fountayns as the Angel of the bottomlesse pit before chap. 9.11 but one that is over the rivers and fountayns to execute this iudgement of God In which respect the rest may be called the Angel of the earth the Angel of the sea the Angel of the sun c. to whom power is given over these things For in that he saith in the next verse thou hast given them blood to drink he playnely exeÌ„pteth him from the number of them This Angel therfore is some civil Magistrate which had power or rather which was author and Counsellor for turning these waters into bloud namely for killing and putting to death the Iesuites Whom if I should note by name to have been that noble maÌ„ of blessed memory S. William Cicil late high Tresurer of England the words folowing wil shew I doe it not without ground ¶ Iust art thou o Lord This testimony adorneth God with the prayses of his Iustice Truth and annexeth a reason from the present thing in putting the murtherers to a deserved death And a like celebration of Gods iustice was verily made by him whom even now I named S. William Cicil For he in the yere 1584. to stop the mouth of gaynsaying raylers rendred a reason in a book set forth of putting the Iesuites to death among us VVhich book is intituled the Iustice of Britany wherby is clearly manifested that some lewd fellowes in England were for shamefull treasoÌ„s put to death He published the book almost in all languages that all might hear the Angel celebrating Gods iustice and others that would procure the safety of their realmes and peoples might be stirred up by this most worthy president to doo the like The book hath the very same argument that these two verses have neither can the summ of it be comprised in any words more fitt ¶ Which art aâ—d which wast and which shalt be Thus dooth Theod. Beza set it down out of an ancient hand-written copie Aretas the vulgar Latine and Montanus in sted of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shalt be doo read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy The former celebrated God for coÌ„stancie in his promises that he is alwayes like himselfe avenging wicked deeds in like sort now as he punished theÌ„ in ages past This latter togither with coÌ„staÌ„cie ioyneth holines as if he should say which for thy constancy and holines canst let this wickednes goe no longer unpunished but where a title is used from the distribution of time the two first articles are not wont to be put without the third therefore the first reading seemeth to be the more true ¶ Because thou hast judged thâ—se things That thou hast shewed such a iudgment that is hast inflicted such a punishment on the rivers fountayns According to the Hebrew metonymie for with them to iudge signifieth to punish and avenge as the nation whom they shal serve I iudge that is I will punish Gen. 15.14 So Deut. 32.36 1 Sam. 25.39 6 For they shed the bloud of the Saincts These words shew reason of the former celebration But where have the Iesuites shed bloud As though this were hard to know Are not these the spyals for the holy fathers of the Inquisition as they that for the most part cary Christians to their boucherie from whence no not the guiltlesse as they say is let goe but eyther it costeth him his life or at least al his goods But besides this al the world now knoweth that these men are the plotters of al treasons against Princes and the troublers of publike tranquilitie which absteyn not their hands no not from sacred Princes for whom they devise death sundry wayes as we with great
he reproveth also Kings for their sakes saying touch not myne annointed and doe my Prophets noe harme Psalm 105.14.15 For the Lord shall roare out of Zion and his voyce out of Ierusalem Amos 1.2 Why thē is not the world wise at last when it seeth that this is the fountaine of all evills because it doth entreate so contemptuously and unworthyly the Church And the lightnings and terrible thunders doe signify punishments and not to be avoided by any meanes as which doe fall violently upō men from heaven But to what ende are voyces added Surely voices doe note out often times the craking of thunders as Exod. 19.16 And there were voices and lightnings and a thicke cloude upon the mount and the voyce of a trumpet very lowde So in chap. 20.18 And all the people did perceive the voyces and the voice of a trumpet But seeing in this place there is expresse mention of thunders the voices are referred to some other thinge namely to the sounde of the trumpet For he doth allude unto that fearfull sound of the trumpet in giving of the lawe wherby the Israelites were summoned to appeare at the Tribunall seat and iudgement The sounde whereof when it continued and waxed very stronge Moses sayd I doe feare and quake Exod. 19.19 Heb. 12.21 For the expectation of iudgement did more abash and trouble their minde then the present horrour of some terrible spectacle the feare of which the minde can susteine in some sorte unlesse it be troubled with the conscience of sinne when it shall be cast downe with the feeling of this it quaketh at every shewe of evill as if torments were prepared and by and by to be undergone The voices then here are some strange things betokening some evill to come or stinges of conscience with which the mindes are allwayes tormented with expectation of some more grievous thing to come This feare shal be as a torture to the wicked tearing and vexing with greater torment of minde then any present though grievous calamity Such then are the weapons which are layd up in this armory which in deede are drawne out and brought forth in a readines for taking of vengeance even as the use either of the whole Church or the necessity of any of the saints privatly doth require Wherfore there is no caufe why they should feare the wicked world for whose defense so grievous punishments are prepared ¶ And seaven lampes of fyre After the grace of protection are declared the giftes of sanctification of which the inward are signifyed by the seaven burning lampes after the account of the seaven spirits which are before the throne chap. 1.4 For by the flame of these those lampes doe burne with that difference onely wherby the river differreth from the fountayne The which thinge the lampes doe signify vessels of a certen and limitted measure whereas the Spirit himselfe is unmeasurable and cannot be included in any straight vessels For which cause he was before most free not limited by any addition of any measurable quantity where mention was made of him as of the third person of equall glory and maiesty with the Father and the Sonne chap. 1.4 And these lampes are called the seven spirits of God both because they are gifts that flowe from the Spirit and also there is a most straite ioyning togither of the effect with his cause For they be most sweete fruites which the Spirit created in the hearts of the saincts in giving them faith hope charity peace ioye praye and the other things with which the elect are sanctifyed They are likened to lampes of fyre according to the custome of the lightes in the Temple which were to be lighted every day of Aaron and his sonnes Exod. 27.20 For the Spirit will have them to be kindled in the hartes of the elect by the labour of the Ministers through the worde and sacraments and not to be expected contrary to the order delivered to us of himselfe There is the number of seaven because of the manifold varietie of giftes wherewith he adorneth the faithfull as every where that number is used to note an infinite number Last of all these giftes are compared to fyre for the lampes are of fyre burning before the throne because they inlighten the minde burne up the stubble of the inbread corruption and kindle a desyre of all godlines which Iohn calleth the Babptisme of fyre Mat. 3.11 And howe great confort ariseth from thence that the name of the Spirit himselfe is attributed to those giftes Which are saith he the seaven Spirits of God From which the faithfull may understand that that force which they feele in their hearts raysed up of God is a most sure pledge of God dwelling in them Such then are the inward giftes of which the Church shall never be destitute but some congregation of the Godly shal be remayning alwayes in which those seaven lampes shall burne 6 There was also before the Throne a Sea of glasse The first outward gift which serveth for those inward as the instrumentall cause is the Sea of glasse which seemeth to be some very great vessell and huge lake after the likenes once of the Sea in the Temple of which 1 King 7 23. Likewise he made a molten Sea This Sea is to be understood of such a vessell For howe can that which is before the Throne compassed with a company of Elders standing rounde aboute be spred abroad on every side like the sea properly so called The circuite in deede of the Elders may extende so farre as the compasse of the earth yet it behoveth us to remember that the thinge was shewed to Iohn in a type that wee should not thinke of any such unmeasurable space Both the name and the largenesse of the vessell doe shewe the fulnes of all giftes which the Church doth drawe from Christ unto her salvation who received the Spirit without measure and from whose infinite riches it is bestowed upō us Iohn chap. first ver 16. For to what ende otherwise was there so bigge a vessell at which Aaron and his sonnes should wash their handes and their feete For cleansing whereof some small pitcher or cruse would had sufficed And in deede this Sea sheweth very fitly a certen resemblance of the whole outward worship which is to be performed to God The doctrine often time is compared unto waters Hoe saith Isaiah whosoever thirsteth come yee to those waters For the carrying away of which he commendeth no other buckets to be brought then the eares Jnclyne your eare saith he chap. 55.1.3 From whence the Ministers are called waterers 1 Cor. 3.6 Baptisme also is signifyed by the Sea through which the Fathers passed and were all baptised unto Moses in the cloude and in the Sea 1 Cor. 10.1.2 Furthermore the water noteth the spirituall drinke of the holy Supper And all sayth he dranke the same spirituall drinke ver 4. By the same also prayers are signifyed as the Israelites being
place ¶ Holding the foure windes of the earth Wee have seene the Angels their standings their endevour is to take away the winde from the earth the foure saith Iohn windes of the earth which yet is one by nature but divers according to the countryes from whence it bloweth But this winde is not properly to be understood seeing such a calamity hath never befallen albeit many ages now are past since this Prophecy was accomplished For if it were proper howe should not the stopping up hurt as well the sealed as the reprobate who dwelt togither and one with an other I therefore understand the winde to be the force and faculty of the Holy Ghost whom Christ coÌ„pareth to the winde Iohn 3.8 the winde saith he bloweth whither it listed so is every one that is borne of the Spirit For as of olde that disordered Chaos and seed of this our world could not otherwise consist then as it was quickened of the Spirit who moved himselfe upon the waters Gen. 1.2 So neither doth this earth nor sea nor trees come to the feeling of any vitall strength unlesse that sanctifying winde doth lye upon them from whose breathing they doe as it were drawe their life It is not indeede in the power of any creature to restraine the force of the heaveÌ„ly Spirit yet the trueth being stopped which he used as his chariot not without cause the passages may be sayd to be stopped wherby he should blowe to our good ¶ That the winde should not blow upon the earth nor upon the sea c. Nowe the thinges are reckoned up from which they would had restrayned the winde to wit from the Earth the Sea the Trees The Earth before were the Heathen Nations as chap. 6.4.15 Afterward it seemeth to signify alway not men wholy repugnant to the name of Christ but the common sorte mixt company of the corrupt Church which hath succeeded in the place of the Gentiles as chap. 8.13 12.9.12.13.16 13.11 c. The Sea signifyeth the doctrine sometime true and then it is placed before the Throne within the coÌ„pas of the Elders where it is of glasse like to Chrystall most cleare most pure as chap. 4.6 More often it is brought to shew false doctrine in which sense it resteth and is quiet as in his channell in the bosome and embracing of this earth which it doth fasten togither with his humidity though grosse and brinish through secret passages least being by nature easy to be reduced in powder and not cleaving togither it should be dissolved through her atidity For unlesse there were some bande of consent amonge the counterfeit citizens even the wicked assemblyes could not stande The trees wee understaÌ„de to be meÌ„ froÌ„ ch 9.4 wher coÌ„maÌ„demeÌ„t is giveÌ„ to the Locusts that they should not hurt any tree but onely the meÌ„ that hav not the seale of God in their foreheads Now the exception is alway of the same kinde of which that is froÌ„ wheÌ„ce the exception is made therefore when as men are excepted it must needes be that the trees also are men not indeed of the basest sorte condition but who shewe theÌ„selves above others with their high dignityes and lift up their heades among the rest being more famous in the Christian Assemblyes But if the Angels would have hurt onely this earth sea and trees why was there not free leave graunted them Because in that vile heape many of the elect lay hidden who were to be provided for for their sakes the Angell from the East would have the confused multitude to be spared neither any hurt to be done to any untill order was taken for them for whom it was necessary The wicked gaine the deferring of punishment for those fewe good whom they have dwelling among theÌ„ ¶ And I sawe an other Angell which was come up from the East in greeke which did ascend some copyes doe reade coming up the Hebrewes figuratively doe take these wordes to ascende and descende for to departe to goe forth to goe to returne as he went up from Ierusalem that is he returned and left of to assault it 2. King 12.18 But it is well ioyned with the rysing of the Sunne because the Sunne seemeth to ascende from the East untill he be come to the middes of heaven The first occasion of sealing being declared there is now described by what Minister it was done Whom both the respect of the time and all circunstances doe proove to have ben Constantine the Great He succeeded in the Empire after that the Lambe had thrust out Diocletian and the other Jdolatrous Tyrants But he came up from the rising of the Sunne having come from the Easterne countryes to receive the Empyre For being a yong man he served in warre under Diocletian in Syria But after his vertu had procured him envy so as often through secret trecheries he was in perill of his life he was compelled to get himselfe out of the East as speedily as he could and to goe to his Father So Eusebius writeth he was provoked to flight for his safety in the life of Constantin orat 1. Zonaras saith that he was given of his father for an hostage to Galerius of whom when he sawe that he was hated through envy and that in the battell at Sarmatia he was cast forth of set purpose to danger and againe for the same intente commaunded to fight with a Lion both which battells he executed with good successe by flight at length he escaped away to his Father togither also by these meanes avoided the danger and obtayned his Fathers Empire the seate whereof afterward he placed at Bizantium Therefore whether wee respect his first returne from the East or minde the decrees which after the Empire was established touching the worshipping of the true God by Christ did fly often from thence into that part of the world that was under Rome the History agreeth very well with the Prophecy but that former seemeth to come nigher to the meaning of the Holy Ghost because of those thinges that follow ¶ Having the Seale of the living God Both himselfe instructed in the true knowledge of God and endued with very great authority to spread abroad the same unto others whom while by his owne exemple and zeale he provoked to embrace the trueth he is sayd to marke them with the seale of the living God and to take them for Gods chiefe treasure He cryed with a lowde voice promoting the trueth by Edicts published removing farre of to his power all that which might hinder the amplifying of it He did represse for a time according as it was appointed of God those foure Furies of Hâ—ll which were prepared to hurt whereof wee have heard at the first verse He restreined the Ambition of other men by his owne maiesty Howe great labour did he take to pull up by the rootes all contentions who esteemed nothing more excellent then to seate peace among the Bishops
gathered togither to Mizpa drew water and powred it out before the Lord to wit rivers of teares with earnest repentance wrunge frō them 1 Sam. chap. 7. ver 5. And noe lesse is it a signe of thankesgiving as in the Revelation they that got the victory over the Beast stood at the glassy Sea having the Harpes of God wherewith they sunge his prayses chap. 15.2 Therefore this Sea sheweth by right the whole worship which in respect of the lāpes is like a Sea of oyle wherewith their heavēly fyre is nourrished cōtinually But what māner of one this Sea is wee must see frō the Epithets the first of which he sayth that to be glassy How is this Is it in respect of the colour There is a glassy colour agreable to the Sea Wherupon Virgille describing the Fairies attributeth the same to the Godesses of the Sea The Nymphes did spinne the fleeces of woll of Miletus dyed with a deepe colour of glasse Geor. 4 And againe a little after and all in their glassy seates were astonished glassy not in respect of the matter but of the colour clearnes So Ovid. There is a cleare river more bright then glasse a sacred fountaine Epist Sapph But glassy in this place is even as of glasse shewing rather a shining matter that one may see through then a colour without matter wherto serveth the other Epithet like unto Chrystall Glassy to wit for a difference from the legall Sea Which being made of brasse a thick darke matter could not be seen through of any sight 1 King 7 23. The face of God did shine upon his but under those rites ceremonyes somewhat darkly which thing also Moses declared putting a vayle over his face that the children of Jsraell should not looke into the ende of that which was to be abolished 2 Cor. 3.13 But contrarywise all wee beholde with uncovered face the glory of the Lord as in a glasse In the same place ver 18. Therefore their Sea is of Brasse and ours of Glasse and great is the dignity of the Christian Church in comparison of that under the Lawe considering that our worship doth shew us the most pleasant face of God as it were through a most cleare glasse how amiable are thy Tabernacles cryed the Psalmist in that darknes Psal 80.1 But how admirable ought the most sweete countenance of Christ to be unto us whom wee with Peter and those two disciples doe see shyning as the Sunne his garments made white as the light Mat. 17.1.2 O wee blessed men if wee could have allwayes our eyes fixed on this glasse There is a certen incomprehensible maiesty of God to be seen in that very creature but this knowledge is common to the reprobate there is noe where any meanes to enioy a saving sight unlesse by this glassy Sea God hath replenished it with most pure waters both of knowing and worshipping him truly of both which he hath layed up such aboundant plenty in this sea that there is no neede to fetch any thing from any other ditches And this ought to be the scope of all worship that it may shewe us GODS face By howe much the more eyther the doctrine or the ceremonyes doe hurt or stop up our eyes in this matter by so much the more doe both of them swerve from the right The other Epithete is Like unto Chrystall What neede is there of this seconde In deede that he may teach that that Glasse is not onely bright but even also most purely bright which noe other mixed colour doth in noe sorte darken For Chrystall is as it were voyde and free of any colour approaching the neerest to the purity of the ayre which the eyes doe pearse through almost as easily Therefore noe humane devise and invention is powred into this Sea but it is pure from all filth added to it and also perfite and absolute without any thing detracted from it As it is taught in Deut 4.2 Such is the worship of the Saints in Christ in whom God the Father beholding his elect faithfull findeth noe thing in them coloured nothing maymed and imperfect nothing filthy and defiled All worship ought to levell hereto and be framed after this patterne Others doe interprete these things otherwise some doe referre this Sea to the iudgements of God but enough was fore shewed touching them in the thunders and lightnings Others thinke that it signifyeth a multitude of men living on the earth But if this multitude be holy it was noted before in the foure and twenty Elders But if it be wicked what doth it before the throne or howe may the purity of Chrystall agree unto it There is noe need that I should confute other mens interpretations in many wordes The very order of the thinges doth shewe easily what cometh nighest to the trueth This onely I will say which is common to this whole booke in every allegoricall interpretation before all thinges the purpose of the allegory it selfe is to be regarded without which every interpretation shal be doubtfull and uncerten and of noe weight but if wee shall knowe that well and shall adde to it prudently the other circumstances wee may drawe noe lesse constant sense from an allegory then frō any other playne place ¶ And in the middest of the throne and which compassed the throne foure Beasts The second outward gift are Beasts whose qualityes come first to be considered which respect the preparation to their office if in a fewe wordes wee shall first see of what sortes the beasts are Which is heard to be knowē from the iudgement of the Interpreters they are in so manyfold difference wee will propounde in a word as wee have begun and intended that which seemeth to be most neerly ioyned with the trueth They are servāts and Ministers of God all whose labour is bestowed in preaching the word and in looking to the other things which belonge to the Ecclesiasticall policy For first it is manifest that they are men for so they sing together with the Elders thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood chap. 5.9 Secondly seeing there is two sortes of Redeemed one of the people another of the Ministers the very place in which they serve sheweth that they belonge to this second degree For they are conversant betweene the hyghest Throne and the Elders set rounde aboute Therefore they approch neerer unto God and are as his messengers betweene both Hereunto is added that they are leaders of the publike action as is manifest after at the ninth ver Lastly they are represented so in winges eyes and their whole shape that they may be most furnished to performe this office Neither are they any of the excellent men of the age passed but Ministers to come to which sorte of thinges this whole Prophecy is applyed as that of the first verse hath taught I will shewe thee the things that must be done hereafter They are called Beasts because of that lively force of the Spirit
any adversity trouble them which is signifyed by hunger and thirst moreover also all causes of calamityes shal be driven farre away the Sūne shall not burne them neither shall there be any heat which shall bring scarsity the whole creature shall consent to further the happines of the holy people Here the things are set before us in fewe wordes for a tast which shal be declared more at large afterward 17 For the Lambe that is in the middes of the Throne shall governe them Now the cause is rehearsed of the former happines to every part of which it is distributed conveniently shall governe answereth to those wordes shall not hunger shall lead them to the lively fountaines of waters respecteth the thirst which he said should be sufferred no more and shall wipe away all teares hath regarde to the heate of the Sunne which he promiseth shall not be trobelsome afterward ¶ From their eyes The teares falling from the eyes Montanus hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were abiding in the eyes as if God by drying thoroughly the eyes should leave no faculty to weepe Isayah the teares from all faces ch 25.8 So then is the common type while the trumpets and viols endure that is even to the last ende About the beginning and proceeding of the Trumpets the number of the elect should be sealed about the ende there should be a more ioyfull more plentifull and more evident multitude which afterward under the viols encreasing every day at length should have their brethren the Iewes ioyned togither with themselves when there shal be a full happines at last so great as can be expected on earth which shall not be discontinued againe by any generall miseries of the times untill Christ himselfe shall come to iudgement This common type is to be declared by every member in those thinges that are behinde according to the severall mutations and notable events that shall happen this whose space CHAP. 8. AND when he had opened the seaventh seale there was silence in heaven about halfe an houre 2 And I saw the seaven Angels which stoode before God to them were given seven trumpets 3 Then another Angell came stood before the altar having a golden censer much odours were given unto him that he should offer with the prayers of all the Saints upon the golden altar which is before the throne 4 And the smoke of the odours with the prayers of the Saints wēt up before God out of the Angels hande 5 Afterward the Angell tooke the censer and filled it with fire of the altar cast it into the earth there were voices thundrings lightnings an earthquake 6 And the seaven Angels which had the seaven Trumpets prepared themselves to blowe the trumpets 7 So the first Angel blew the trumpet and there was haile and fire mingled with blood and they were cast into the earth and the third part of the earth was burnt the third part of the trees was burnt and all the greene grasse was burnt 8 And the seconde Angell blewe the trumpet and as it were a great mountaine burning with fire was cast into the sea and the third part of the sea became blood 9 And the third part of the creatures which are in the sea the livings things I say dyed and the third part of the shippes were destroyed 10 Then the third Angell blew and a great starre fell from heaven burning as a torche and it fell into the third parte of the rivers and into the fountaines of waters 11 And the name of the starre is called wormwood therefore the third part of the waters was turned into wormwood and many men dyed of the waters because they were made bitter 12 Afterward the fourth Angell blewe the trumpet and the third part of the Sunne was smitten and the third part of the Moone and the third part of the starres so that the third part of them was darkened and the third part of the day was darkened and likewise of the night 13 And I beheld and heard one Angell flying through the middes of heaven saying with a lowde voice woe woe woe to the inhabitans of the earth because of the soundes to come of the trumpet of the three Angels which shall blow Analysis THE cōmon type being declared the Silence which is proper to the seaventh seale remayneth Which of what it is is declared in the first ver Afterward he proceedeth to the following period of the trumpets which is cōprehended in the compasse of this and is distinguished into seaven trumpets the preparation of which is double common and speciall that cōsisteth first in the seaven Angels furnished with so many trumpets ver 2. Afterward in one other Angell who executeth the office of the High Priest as it appeareth from the furniture in respect both of the instrument and ende ver 3. and also of his ministery toward the elect ver 4. and against the enemyes partly by casting fire into the earth partly in raysing up from thence voices thundrings and great perturbation ver 5. The speciall preparation is of the seaven Angels making themselves ready unto the businesse appointed to them The Execution also hath likewise some thing comon to wit a warning by the blowing of the trumpets and also something speciall even the proper effect of every blowing of the trumpet which is distributed in the foure first lighter and the last three heavier They are handled in the rest of the chapter by their distinct articles At the first blowing of the trumpet there was hayle and fire ver 7. At the second a burning mountaine is cast into the sea ver 8. At the third a starre fell from heaven into the rivers ver 10.11 At the fourth the third part of the sunne was smitten ver 12. As touching the three last more grievous trumpets the preparation commō to them is had in ver 13. where the Angell flying through the middes of heaven denounceth with a mourning voice more horrible calamityes from them following Scholions 1 But when he had opened the seaventh seale Such then is the sixt the sevēth seale followeth whose effect which proceedeth from the opening is called Silence which sometime is used for any resting as why are yee silent in bringing home the King that is why doe yee rest 2 Sam. 10.11 Sometime it is opposed unto tumulte from whence the still waves of the waters Psal 107.29 Of which sorte is this silence made in Heaven that is in the Church on earth which often times is called of Christ the Kingdome of Heaven The space of this silence is about halfe an houre surely very shorth which should almost ende assoone as it should beginne In which is taught that the Church afterward shall enioy for a small time happy rest after that the open enemies should be driven away and that confortable Angel Constantine the great should arise from the East For this silence is ioined togither with that subduing
or any other way to exercise marchandize in this Sea the third part of all those should perish that is all that execute this corrupt ministery in Europe the third part of the world by drinking up this redde blood they should be destroyed who puffed up with ambition despise the simplicity of their office and neglect all maner of dutie through desyre of attaining a better dignity In the East the overflowing of the Barbarians quenched this flame In the West the times being some what more quiet gave leave to it to spread abroad at her pleasure The greatnes of which burning by which are burned all the Mariners Watermen Maisters of Shippes Pilottes sayling in the middland Sea betweene Europe and Afrique from the gulfe of the Sea Ionium unto the Iles called Gades that is the Ecclesiasticall men of this our world may be comprehended more easily in minde and thought then declared by wordes of him that followeth brevity I would to God that the broken peece of this Mountaine did not yet styll trouble the Chrystall Sea in Christi an Churches But how agreeth it to this Sea-evill that in the same tempest as sayth Hierome by an earthquake of the whole world which befâ—ll after the death of Iulian the Seas passed their boundes and as if God did threaten a floode againe or that all things should returne to the olde Chaos the shippes being carried to the unapprocheable places of the Mountaines did hange upon them In the life of Hilar. Eremit Annian Marcell booke 26. at the ende reported the same mentioning that this came to passe the 12. day of the Calendes of August when Valentianus was first Consull with his brother 10 Then the third Angell blew the trumpet The Primarie effect of the third sounding of the trumpet is a starre falling from heaven into the third part of the rivers and of the fountaines burning like a torch called wormewood The Secondary effect is bitternesse procured thereof and the death of men drinking of the wâ—ters Wee ought to remember that which is cleare ynough from the things before said but it is to be set downe againe and againe because of them who to the ende that they may darken the thinges doe often repeate the contrary that the wordes are not to be taken properly Yf one great starre should fall wee should not need to expect any further evill following Neither would it fall into the third part of rivers onely but cover the whole earth wherupon they that urge the property are constrained to goe from the words and to faine a certaine multitude of exhalations gathered togither But it shall be manifest from the whole Prophecy that he speaketh not of that which is to come but of that which is past in respect of our age Therefore they who call us backe to the naturall signification of the wordes doe of set purpose desire to hide the trueth so that it may never shew it selfe Let us come to the matter Wee have heard that the starres are the Ministers of the word in the Churches chap. 1.20 Although the word doth not so appertaine to theÌ„ alone but that also it may be applyed sometime to others Howe saith the Prophet speaking of the King of Babylon art thou fallen froÌ„ heaven o Lucifer the Sonne of the morning Isaiah 14.12 Therefore the word fitteth them who glister aloft as it were in heaven especially if they shine with the light of trueth This is a great starre not darke and cloudy but of a notable greatnes It fell from heaven by falling from the true Church through Heresy or some other ungodlines Jt burneth as a torch because the fire of it should be flaming mounting up coming forth openly abroad not burning onely with a secrete heate as even nowe the Mountaine did burne whose flame yet should not continue longe but the nourishemeÌ„t failing as of a lampe it should be cleane put out It falleth into the rivers and fountaines that is upon those men from whom as from fountaines the doctrine should flowe unto others of which sorte are the Bishops disposers of the word the divers consideration of whom doth procure unto them divers names Even nowe they were Shippes carrying hither and thither the marchandizes of the word nowe because by their continuall flowing they doe maintaine that universall Sea of doctrine and increase that which abideth in the multitude worthyly are they compared unto rivers and fountaines The starre falleth into them peradventure the common people remaining more syncere which comprehendeth not so great subtilityes Although howe shall the river flowe cleare where the fountaine is corrupted Vnles peradventure as the Sea waxeth not sweete by the watering of the rivers so neither doe the multitude gather bitternes from the corruption of these But the matter is otherwise here seeing a little leaven leaveneth the whole lumpe and albeit the fountaines should be most corrupt yet it should not be without daunger to them who should drinke thereof but they should perish even as well The name of the starre is wormood not because it should be called so commonly but because it should shewe her selfe to be some such thing by the effect And wormwood some time noteth the bitternes of afflictioÌ„ as beholde I will feede my people with wormwood Ier. 9. that is most bitter corrections some time the deadly poison of hereticall wickednes as take heede that there be not in you a roote bringing forth hemlock or wormewood Deut. 29.18 that is least your minde be the seedeplot of any Idolatry and wretched life as the most learned Tremelius and Iunius doe expounde it Both seemeth to be ioyned togither here that the bitternesse of the calamity may be mixed with the vitious and corrupt doctrine Now for the application The third Angell did blowe about an eleven yeeres after the former When Constantius to whom befell the Easterne Empire and by and by after the death of his Father through the fraude of a certaine Elder whom he used familiarly was cast from heaven into the Arian Heresy The impiety began before through Arius and gotte some patrons as before wee have said but Arius forthwith counterfaited a recantation by the same cunning Eusebius and Theognis recovered their chaires Neither durst any openly make any stirre while Constantine remained alive This furour enraged the mindes of some and drove them to worke the orthodoxes what troubles they were able but they made shewe of an other thing Furthermore these were lesser starres but Constantius was a great starre flaming as a torch bringing forth the thing out of lurking corners into the cleare light and endevouring with very great desyre to amplify it The same account is to be made of Valens the Emperour who followeth after Iulian Iovinian By their meanes Wormewood fell into the third part of the rivers and into the fountaines of waters Before time the Bishops were sicke of this disease but nowe they began to rage having got such rulers The whole East
vilely apparelled were yet notwithstanding armed with a power not to be despised The same is the condition of the rest of the Prophets 6 These have power to shutte heaven He cometh to another very great power and wonderfull wherein they are equall to the olde even the chiefe Prophets Renowmed is Eliah at whose praiers God did shut the heaven so that for three yeeres and sixe moneths the earth was not watered with any showre of raine 1 King 18.1 Luke 4.25 But wee have not reade any such thing done of these Prophets It is true it may be if wee take the wordes properly but if wee transferre them to spirituall things after the manner of other thinges which have ben spoken before how great a proportion shall wee finde That drouth was for three yeeres and sixe moneths at the prayer of Eliah so the time of this power granted to these Prophets should be for so many great yeeres and moneths For two and fourty moneths or a thousand two hundred and three score dayes doe fulfill this distance of yeeres and moneths but great ones as I have said and hath ben already proved sufficiently before not those common ones such as were those of Eliah every one containing three hundred three score common yeeres and the halfe one hundred and foure score yeeres How great drouth and lack of spirituall dewe was there all this time through want of which godlinesse withered in every place But they that bring every thing to the letter and will have the three yeeres and an halfe to be meant of common yeeres doe they dreame also of such a staying of rayne which they must needes doe Surely they get for Antichrist a Kingdome ill favoured hungerstarven every way wretched and unhappy altogither contrary to that excesse wherewith the Spirit saith that he should abounde Neither shall Antichrist have any leasure to carrie about armour to subdue the nations but rather shall leave droves of beasts and cattell to the water as wee read that Ahab did long since But it is no marvell that they fall into many such absurd things who had rather followe their owne conceived opinions then the trueth it selfe ¶ And they have power over waters As Moses who turned the waters of Egypt into blood and as these Prophets have done in very deede when the third part of the Sea became blood chap. 8.8 For all this power was shewed forth in those plagues of which wee heard in chap. 8.9 It is iust with God that all that will not beleeve the trueth should beleeve lies 2 Thes 2.11 Which indeede is noe other thinge then to have their pure and cleare waters turned into blood The next wordes which follow and 10 smite the earth with all maner of plagues as often as they will in a short summe comprehende the other plagues which are not mentioned in this place to wit of the Sunne smitten of Locusts sent and the foure Angels loosed From which power is manifest that which wee have taught in the beginning that this whole Prophecy of the temple measured of the court cast out and of the two Prophets doth apperteine to the same time of the sixe former trūpets which doe recite one after an other the plagues in that order wherein they came to passe But this Prophecy rehearseth the causes to wit the puritie of the Scriptures violated and Gods worship in the assemblies of the faithfull defiled These thinges call forth scourges upon the world and come not either by chance or by fortune These have power to afflict the earth with any kinde of plague whatsoever as often as they will Because God ruleth and governeth the world according to his will revealed in the scriptures and all things for the benefite of the Church In the beginning he delivered the earth unto Adam uncorrupted and now againe he will have all thinges to doe service to his children which are restored in their integrity through Christ 7 But when they have finished their testimony The second limited time as wee have distinguished them in the Analysis taketh his beginning after that of profecying went out to wit in the yeere one thousand five hundreth fourtie sixt Howe farre the thousand two hundred and three score dayes doe extende every ech one being taken for one yeere as wee have said at the second verse and if wee count from the yeere of the Lord three hundred and fourth in which CONSTANTINE tooke unto him the rule of the Empire as Cassiodorus saith prooving that the yeeres of CONSTANTINE should be reckened from thence and as Onuphrius having made a most exact account seemeth to have collected For a thousand two hundred threescore yeeres eighteene being taken out how many the counting of yeeres which the Angell followeth laketh of the Iulian as before at the second verse doe make a thousand two hundred two and fourty Iulian yeeres which from the beginning of the reigne of Constantine doe ende in the sayd yeere 1546. ¶ That Beast which cometh out of the bottomlesse pit So expresse a noting by Articles sheweth that this Beast knowne and declared long since which can be no other then the Angell of the bottomlesse pit of whom wee heard in the ninth Chapter and eleventh verse to wit the Bishop of Rome For wee reade of noe other comming out from the bottomelesse pit when he sent the Locusts out of the pit being opened but that hee rose up long before wee shall understand from the things which follow Therefore he shall not be a Beast onely of three yeeres and an halfe continuance He hath gained 5 moneths mor at the least wherin he should reigne with the Locusts From hence there is an other argument also to confirme this Prophecy to belong to the former trumpets because the Beast with whom the Prophets have to doe in the last course of their time perteineth to the fift trumpet Furthermore also that of the thirteenth chapter belongeth to the same period of the trumpets For this and that is the same beast and both againe is the same Angell of the bottomlesse pit of the nine chapter ¶ Shall make warre against them Shall the Beast now first of all call unto weapons He shall assay to doe violence the whole thousand two hundred threescore dayes chap. 13.5 But this battell which he shall make when that time is finished deserveth before others the name of warre both for the very kinde of preparation and hostile cruelty and also for the notorious slaughter done to the Prophets And the thing it selfe proveth that at this very time there was very little warre For as touching the Scriptures the Councill at Trent began in the yeere 1546 the 7 day of February to wit after those thousand two hundreth and three score dayes were ended in their third session the eight daye of Aprill pierced and murdered them most pittifully For here the Hebrewe and Greeke fountaines were refused and the Latine corrupt translation established for Authentique Here unwritten traditions were
falsly bragged of wherein the Bishop of Rome glorieth almost in every word and which the auncient holy men Tertullian Cyprian and the rest knowing not for what impiety they prepared a way extolled with excessive praises But then chiefly the Sea was visible and the rising out of water might appeare to mens eyes wheÌ„ the Nicene Fathers cast the burning mountaine into the Sea as hath ben said in the 8. chap. ver 8. that is when they confirmed by their Decree that whatsoever preeminence there was should be given to Rome over the neighbour Bishops For the Sea noteth togither with the Doctrine the Clergie whose office is to take paine in ministring the Doctrine Those holy men were farre from bringing in the Tyranny which was after stablished yet they unwares gave a notable increase to it by this their constitution Before the Nicene Councill every one lived to himselfe and little regard was had to the Church of Rome as Aeneas Silvius confesseth This then especially was the rising of the Beast not that he began not to rise up before but because now first he could be seen and marked of men ¶ Which had seven heads Such was his rising His integrall partes are first his Heads which are as many and the same which the Dragon had in ch 12.3 For there is the same seate dignitie of them both For these heads are Hilles and Kings as in chap. 17.9 17 He hath also ten hornes as the Dragon and ten crownes set on his hornes Which ten crownes are ten Kings chap. 17.11 Yet neverthelesse differing in two sorts from the hornes of the Dragon First in the crownes with which these are adorned as which doe note out Kings not to be subject to the Empire of an other man but who should have a free and supreme menaging of things The Hornes of the Dragon had no such adorning but this honour did belong onely to the heads as in chap. 12.3 Whence commeth the difference Because the Heathen Emperours placed the seat of the Empyre at Rome whereof they are the seaven heads establishing her the Empresse and Queene of all And therefore the crownes being taken away from all other Kings and Provinces they have imposed them upon the seven heads or hills of this But nowe there should be an other face of things Antichrist at length shewing himselfe For the maiesty of the Empire should not remaine at Rome but should have her seate in some other country for which cause the crownes which before did belong to the heads now for a newe respect are tranferred to the hornes Secondly they differ in time For the hornes of the Beast were not yet bred when John wrote chap. 17.12 The hornes of the Dragon even before Iohn was borne were lifted up on high spread with many branches as wee have seen in chap. 12.3 Therefore although they agree in nuÌ„ber yet they are not the same in all things neither should one doe well if he should apply to the head of that things that belong to this But finally what are these hornes All things being diligently coÌ„sidered I thinke that they were the ten first Christian Emperours Of counting whom there may be a double way one of every severall by himselfe and of them onely in whose power was either the universall Empire or that of the West Into which Catalogue doe come Constantine the Great Constantine Coâ—stans Constantine his sonnes IVLIANVS Iovianus Valentinianus Gratianus Valentinianus the second Theodosius And so there is a great conseÌ„t of the things done and of the Prophecy For while these ten did raigne the Beast was defended excellently his dignity much increased Which at length being taken away the hornes being as it were broken for a time the succeeding Emperours were not able to maintaine the same authority of the Romish Beast which those predecessours had gotteÌ„ Honorius the soÌ„ne of that Theodosius sufferred Rome to be taken and spoiled of the Gothes And although for the space of two yeeres it was beseeged by Alaricus he abiding at RaveÌ„na either was not able or durst not succour it the streÌ„gth of the Hornes was so much abated VVhere was his Fathers valiantnesse which killed and put to flight enemies in so great numbers even in the furthest boundes of Rome But neither from the East was there now any aide but the hornes being as it were broken wherby the former Emperours removed so farre of the Barbarous people the Beast with his Rome was a pray to the most contemptible nations But there seemeth to be a more full accord and in every part more agreable from a conjoyned reckening of the Emperours both of the west and of the East after the usuall manner of all the Chronicle writers Thus they are numbred 1 Constantine the Great 2 Constantine Constans Constantius his sonnes 3 Iulianus 4 Iovinianus 5 Valentianus and Valens 6 Gratianus Valentinianus the second and Theodosius the first 7 Theodosius the first with Arcadius and Honorius his sonnes 8 Archadius and Honorius alone 9 Honorius and Theodosius the second 10 Theodosius the second and Valentinian the third Concerning whom there shal be a more large declaration in the 17. chap. 12. ver In the meane time let no man trouble us with words out of season and cry out that it is a thing haynous wicked and unheard that I make those first Christian VVorthies the Hornes of Antichrist Shall he now at length become a member and maintainer of Antichrist who of late came forth with the Seale of the living God who stood at the Altar with the Golden censer who was the man childe of the Church and that Michaell who drove the DragoÌ„ out of Heaven But that the malitious detractour may holde his peace it is one thing advisedly and of set purpose to doe a thing an other unwittingly and through ignorance Constantine advanced the state of Christians to his power neither was it in his minde to further Antichrist even the least that might be but rather wholly to stop up all the passage against him yet neverthelesse by adorning advauncing defending the Bishop of Rome he made a more ready way for him ignorantly and contrary to his meaning Is this any strange thing that a man not knowing what he cherished in his bosome should lend him his help VVere not his first beginnings hidden even from the most sharpsighted Certenly seeing most holy men have offended some time most grievously and that deliberately it shall not I thinke be strange that both he and other men have uÌ„warres bestowed their labour ill I desire not to detract the least that may be from any most excellent men that deserved well But I am not mine owne but the Spirits Interpreter who bendeth the whole description of the hornes to this point as it shall appeare in his places I will follow him gladly who can finde out to whom they may agree more fitly I seeke the trueth and not slaundering But I doubt not but whosoever shall view
cast into the sea by Luther himselfe but quenched agayn both by his own modesty and godlines and by Melanchtons others that have wel deserved of the Church Til afterwards Iohn Brentius and Iames Andrewes about the year 1561. did again with much payns as with bellowes styrr up the flame Neyther was the contention about these cheif points onely but about Gods grace Predestination Baptisme and other things also as errour for the most part never goeth alone without some company The Churches which are further off from the brenn of this fyre doo burn with an other no lesse fervent flame of ambition wherupon have arisen very sharp contention for dignities and honours as for necessary ornaments of the Church though purer times doe sufficiently teach that nothing ever brought more certayn destruction therunto Neither doth ambition suffer so free a preaching of the word as should be nor manners to be restreyned with that bridle which being taken away a liberty foloweth to al manner wickednes or such at least as abolisheth Christian pietie This kinde of fyre raungeth throughout the whole renewed Church and eyther consumeth many or molesteth the rest whiles they labour to quench it Neither is ther sound quietnes in any place this wild-fyre living even in midds of the waters Which thing the Spirit diligently here dooth intimate least any man for the contentions should reject the truth For thanks be to our God who although fyre be mingled with our sea dooth yet vouchsafe it to be glassy still that is transparent and clear through which we may beholde the most sweet grace of salvation obteyned for us by Christ We ar farr from the Christian purity that should be yet let us be glad for this good we doo injoy and earnestly begg of God that he would give us that which is wanting But it is to be feared he wil take away that which we have such be our sinns as we have shewed in the particular Churches chap. 3. ¶ And them that had gotten victory of the Beast Hitherto of the things the Persons are the victours in the latter part of this verse and the Harpers ver 3. The Greeke phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is from the Hebrew Goberim mechajah for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answereth to the Hebrew min which is often joyned with gaber and noteth out a comparison as mearajoth gaberu they were stronger then Lions 2 Sam. 1.23 so wicked deeds got victory of me that is prevayled against me Psal 65.4 In like manner they that get victorie of the Beast are such as prevayl against him his image mark and number of his name These al are set downe severally for that the victory should be ful and absolute though the Beast remayn yet a litle while For they should not onely reject Antichrist himselfe but abhorre also al his mark yea and not suffer themselves to be called by the number of his name VVe have shewed that the number of his name which is to be called a Latine is the least bond of society wherewith men are tyed to Antichrist which was proper to the Greeks who by admitting this symbol obteyned mutual trafique But the inhabitans of the VVest which long agoe easily sufferred themselves to be made his marked soldjers and to be called Papists and of the Popes religion doo now detest the very name Latine which the Greeks so hardly lately received This victory therfore is full as is signifyed by this particular rehersal of Image mark number of name But thou wilt say when fell out this victory At the sound of the seventh trompet when the Protestant Princes in Germany which had wrong out from Charles to have their proffession of religion free did soon after his death get it to be confirmed stablished by th'Emperour Ferdinandus in the yere 1558. at which time our gracious Queen Elizabeth being also crowned did manifest to the world that the Beast was overcome in England who a few yeres afore had begun to reign a fresh and was never before fully vanquished but reserved of God unto this time for to honour the charrot and triumph of our good Queen The yere next after they trode down the Beast in Scotland Before these times the truth did fight but in doubtfull battel now it did plainly beat down and overthrow the enemies Vnto these many other are to be added as in France Sweveland Denmark Suecia Prussia al which being joyned togither doo make up this company that stand at the glassy sea ¶ Standing at the glassy sea Holding the true and syncere doctrine to the voice whereof they stand and hearken continually He alludeth to the Israelites which stood on the sea shore beholding the marvelous salvatiō which God had given them their enemies being destroyed Seing therfore wee all whom God hath freed from Antichrists tyranny doo yet stand on the brink newly escaped out of danger what evil fury vexeth us that wee should rave brethren against brethren with al kinde of reproches raylings and contumelies How shamefull yea how wicked a thing would it have bin if the Israelites for whose sake the waters were cleft asunder and whiles they escaped by a passage unheard off through the midds of the sea so soon as they came safe to the shore their enemies were drowned if they I say should have stuck and killed one an other Yet this ungodly prank doo we play at this day VVhich seing it is most unworthy them that are adorned with so notable and singular a good I intreat by God our avenger and saviour that we may seriously weigh the thing and letting passe our brawles and contentions may get us harps with one consent to sing prayses unto God rather then to strike up terrible drumms for to move intestine warr VVe stand on the shore but the enemy is not yet altogither drowned and if he were overwhelmed yet should they be no place for this bitternes But unawares I have strayed from my purpose how be it I trust not without reason ¶ Having harpes of God That is divine sweet and excellent harps according to the manner of the Hebrewes who call al that of God which is in it kind most cheif and excellent as a Prince of God Gen. 23.6 Mounteyns of God Psal 36.7 trees of God c. for most excellent men high moūtayns noble trees See the observations of the learned Ian Drusius Or be they not caled harpes of God because God gives the joy of his Spirit into their harts wherby they give God meet thankes for this his notable mercy Perhaps this is the righter But both of them doe signify alike the great pleasure that is felt by this victory such as we have shewed was in the Tigurines who wrote upon a pillar with letters of Golde the year and day when reformation began among them With what precious stone should this day be graven of much fuller victory and triumph But we are in special to respect the Confessions set forth
chap. 13.2 which wee have shewed to be Rome and wil be playner yet by the things that folow Therfore after the evideÌ„ce of the Scriptures wherby the Beast swelted in heat in such marvelous maÌ„ner that which now next is to be looked for is calamity that shal come upon this very city Not any light adversity wherby her former dignity shal be a little lessened but her last overthrow wherby shee shall utterly be ruinate as after shal be manifest when that saying of Sibylla shall come to passe Then Rome shalt thou be wasted quight as thou hadst never been This therfore toucheth Antichrist neerer then the former The farr-darting Sun did scortch but it was from farr now the tops of his sacred Pallace shall fal down wherby the brightnes of the Popes Kingdome shal be turned into darknes For how should it not be covered with mournfull blacknes when the Princely Court is cut down and Chaire overthrown which they were wont to vaunt should be eternal and that Hel gates should not prevayl against it To prove which point Bellarmine bringeth many reasons but the speedy event wil teach how he was deceived Although some Iesuites being forced hereunto by the truth doo now beginn to speak of the destruction of it VVich yet they wil have to be not because of Antichrist but before his birth or at least before he shal begin his reign But this fiction we wil take away in his place We may hence observe how loÌ„g-suffering God is and slow unto wrath A thousand times hath he now already convinced this whore of her filthynes yet will he not quight destroy her until he hath set out her wickednes in a clearer light VVhich when it also shal be doon in vayn what remayneth but the last punishment when ther is no hope at al of any amendement But after the ruine of the City the Beast shal remayn a while not to recover his former dignity but to perish soon after with a greater destruction And therfore he sayth his kingdome was made darke not altogither extinct but bereft of the former brightnes ¶ And they gnawed their tongues for payn The second event they shal gnaw their tongues for rage and madnes Huge and intolerable shal be the payn such as is noted elswhere by weeping and gnashing of teeth Mat. 22.13 Vnlesse perhaps by a proverbial manner of speaking so great anguish be signified as wil they nil they they are compelled to refreyn their malapert toÌ„gues to renounce their own writings and speak thenceforth more modestly which is commonly caled the biting of the tongue and eating of ones own words But because in the next verse it is sayd they repented not of their works the former exposition is more simple Although they may faighnedly and for fear temper their evil speakings so as they repent not from the hart and truly yet I choose rather the former That speech of Zachary seemeth to agree fitly with this Their tongue shal consume in their mouth Zach. 14.12 And that phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for payn is an Hebraisme mehhamal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answereth to the preposition min as elswhere for sighting Psal 102.6 11 And they blasphemed the God of heaven Infinite is the hardnes of maÌ„s hart which cannot be tamed by any afflictions Graunt that the Papists be not convicted by the increased light of the scriptures will not the destruction of their holy city move them to acknowledge the truth VVil they now burst out agayn into blasphemy wher ther is no hope but by asking forgivenes But it is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth God striketh and softneth what harts he thinketh good And where it is sayd for their soares by it is signifyed that these are the same men on whom the former vials were powred But mention is made specially of soares because every calamity caused not sensible payn The Sea changed into blood was so farr from working any sorow that it rather ministred matter of reioycing to men that knew not their misery Furthermore it is hereby manifest that the former vials doo yet reteyn their force and vanish not streight way when new ones come in place But above all Envie which we sayd was the soares doth most torment which causeth greater greif by the felicity of their enemies then by their owne destruction VVho would look for any feeling of the former soares when the sorow for their wasted throne was upon them O envy great is thy power ¶ And repented not of their workes For this Beast is the Pantheresse chap. 13.2 it cannot change the skin But the power of God should not have bin so eminent in times past if Pharaoh had repented at the first miracles So shal ther be many subtil devises after the throne is overthrown Antichristian religioÌ„ shal stil be reteyned amoÌ„g the Papists But let none be afraid the Beast is reserved onely for the triumph 12 And the sixt Angel powred out his vial on the great river Euphrates This river is not eyther the Tyber or any other fortresse of Rome whose destruction was taught us by the former vial and why should the thing doon be now doon agayn but it is that which runneth through Mesopotamia Eastward from Iudea as before chap. 9.14 which notwithstanding is used figuratively for any impediment that may hinder the passage into this country The first event is the drying up of the waters therof as of old the Red Sea was by the Eastern winds and as Iarden was to the Iewes when they passed into the Land of Canaan Exod. 14. Ios 3. The end of drying up these waters is that the way of the Kings from the East may be prepared But who be these Kings Are they those foure Angels spoken of chap. 9.15 The counpt of the time wil not bear it For the troÌ„pet sounded many yeres agone but this vial is not yet begun to be powred out it foloweth after Rome is wasted which yet flourisheth and which the trompet saw flourishing long Are they those Kings of the earth and of the whole world mentioned in the 14. verse of this chapter But these to whom Euphrates giveth place are the Kings of the Eâ—st onely not of the whole world It would be long to recken al the interpretations of other men much more to refute them It seemeth unto me that they are here meant for whose sake alone the scripture mentioneth the waters of old to have bin dryed up namely the Iewes unto whom the read sea yeilded passage and Iarden stayed his course til every one were gone over journying on foot through the deep This miracle is proper to this people onely for that which Iosephus writeth that the sea of Pamphilia gave way to the Macedonians when Alexander led his host that way Antiquit. b. 2. chap. 7. Other writers doo playnly shew how the thing is to be understood Plutarch in Alexand. sayth that Historie-writers amplifyed the thing beyond al credit and
that AlexaÌ„der himselfe never boasted of any such wonder in his Epistles Arianus writeth that usually ther is no way to passe through the sea neer Phaselis but when the North winds blow which blew vehemently when Alexander went that way that they seemed not without Gods power to have yeilded them an easy passage But Strabo book 14 writeth most playnly that the soldiers traveiled al the day even up to the navel in the waters So then Alexander passed through the waters that were shollow and not quite dryed up Neyther doo I think can it be found in any record that such a thing did ever happen to any other people then the Iewes The vanity of writers may feign many things but the Scriptures doo challenge this as peculiar to this nation onely I will say sayth God to the deep be dry and I wil dry up thy flouds Isa 44.27 And againe Art not thou the same which dryed up the sea even the waters of the great deep making the deeps of the Sea to be a way for the redeemed to passe over Isa 51.10 And least some should thinke this miracle was onely for the time passt and not such to be looked for ever after he addeth in the next verse So the redeemed of the Lord shal returne and come with joy into Sion c. And in Isa 63.11 where should he be that brought these up out of the sea with the shepheard of his flock which cleft the waters for thâ—se to make himselfe an everlasting name which led these through the deepe as an horse in the wildernes so that they stumbled not It is no marvel therfore if the peculiar note ensigne of this nation onely be putt for the men themselves But what need there a way to be prepared for them Shal they returne agayn to IerusaleÌ„ Ther is nothing more sure the Prophets playnly confirme it and beat often upon it Yet not to the end that the ceremonial worship should be restored but that the mercy of God may shine unto al the world in giving to a nation now scatered over al the face of the earth dwelling no where but by leave their fathers habitations wherin they shal serve Christ purely and sincerely according to his owne ordinance onely A thing of old commonly spoken of by the ancient Iewes which they understood by the Prophets although but narrowly and through the lattisse Wherupon it was berayed with old wives fables both in ages past and so is now at this day The feighned Esdras saw some sparkles of this truth which he overwhelmed with so many and great fictions that he had need be a wary and attentive reader and one of no mean judgement that would gather gold out of that confused heap They entred in saith he speaking of the ten tribes that were led captives at the narrow passages of the river Euphrates for the most high then shewed them signes and stayed the springs of the river til they were passed over 4. Esdras 13.43.44 A Iewish fable but neerer to the truth is that which there foloweth ver 47. The most high shal hold stil the springs of the river agayn that they may goe through c. which agreeth with this place may both of them be understood metaphorically though nothing letteth why it may not please God agayn to shew his ancient power of drying waters up extraordinarily Seing therfore it is certayn that this nation shal earnestly flock unto the Gospel and that in the last times as Paul teacheth Rom. 11.25 and the last period of things is of the vials it is not likely that such a wonderful matter should have no mention at al in this clear Prophesie unto which also here is added the proper ensigne of this nation for whose onely sake both sea river as we read were dried up I am not altogither unadvised in supposing that this is the onely matter here in hand which must eyther be fouÌ„d in this place or be wholly omitted in this book VVherfore after Rome is overthrown and cut off there shal be a common bruit of this new Christian people at the hearing wherof the Gentiles shal be astonished But what are the Iewes Kings why not seing al Christians are Kings Rev. 1.6 and the fowr and twenty Elders which represente the whole company of the faithful doe all wear crownes chap. 4.4 And this magnificent name doth the Spirit give them because it shal be very honourable after so many ages and so stiff stubbornes of that nation for them to come againe as it were by recovery of law unto the truth and religiously and holily with al observance to honour the same having their incredulous and obstinate harts subdued But besides this the whole East shal obey them that not without cause ar this people caled Kings in respect of their long and large dominion Empire But they seem to be called playnly Kings in Isay 24.21 if we diligently mark the words and meaning of the place And it shal be saith he in that day the Lord wil visit the host of the high in the high place and the Kings of the earth upon the earth And they shal be gathered with a gathering as a prisoner into a pit and shal be closed up in the close-place and after many dayes shal they be visited And the Moon shal be abashed and the Sun ashamed when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Sion and in Ierusalem and shal be glorious before his Ancients the Kings of the earth are al one who after are gathered into the pit after many dayes are visited and at whose deliverance the Moon is abashed c. VVhich last words are certenly meant of the ful restoring of the Iewes wherfore the first words intend also the same VVhom God in heavy indignation because they refused his Son did thrust into the pit or dungeon for many ages togither and kept them closed up in a very hard prison But at length after many dayes he will visit these prisoners and bring them out of the gayl for whose ferveÌ„t zele and singular study of true godlines the Churchches of the Gentiles as the Moon Sun shal be abashed at this greater brightnes They ar caled the host of the high in the high because the Iewes were the peculiar people of the high God and of his Church which is heavenly wherupon they ar often caled in Daniel qaddische hheljonin the Saincts of the high Dan. 7.22 c. But this is inough to find out the meaning of this place I may not now stand longer upon it I have handled it the more at large for to give occasion unto our men to mind these things more diligently These Kings come from the East because the greatest multitude of Iewes is in those countries and these first of all shal see the truth and embrace the study of it But thou wilt say The Temple is shut until the seven plagues be fufilled which we shewed to be
earth but for to bear the yoke onely for never shal they be able to hurt the Church more which now shal have the cheifty throughout al the earth And thus have we a breif and distinct representation both of things present and to come even until the end CHAP. 17. AND ther came one of the seven Angels which had the seven vials talked with me saying unto me come I wil shew thee the damnation of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters 2 With whom the Kings of the earth have committed fornication and the inhabitans of the earth are drunken with the wine of her fornication 3 So he caryed me away into the wildernesse in the Spirit and J saw a woman sit upon a skarlet coloured Beast full of names of blasphemy which had seven heads and ten hornes 4 And the woman was arayed in purple and skarlet and gilded with golde and pretious stones and pearles and had a cup of golde in her hand full of abominations and filthines of her fornication 5 And in her forehead was a name written a Mysterie that great Babylon that mother of whoredomes and abhominations of the earth 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the Saincts with the blood of the Martyrs of Iesus and when I saw her J wondred with great marveile 7 Then the Angel sayd unto mee wherfore marvailest thou J wil shew th eeth◠mysterie of the woman and of that Beast that beareth her which hath seven heads and ten hornes 8 The Beast that thou hast seen was and is not and shal ascend out of the bottomlesse pit and shall goe into perdition and they that dwel on the earth shall wonder whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they behold the Beast that was and is not and yet is 9 Here is the minde that hath wisedome the seaven heads are seven mountaines wheron the woman sitteth 10 They are also seven Kings five are fallen one is and an other is not yet come and when he shall come he must continue a short space 11 And the Beast which was and is not is even the eight and is one of those seven and goeth into destruction 12 And the ten hornes which thou sawest are ten Kings which yet have not received a Kingdome but shal receive power as Kings one houre with the Beast 13 These have one minde and shall give their power and authority to the Beast 14 These shall fight with the Lambe and the Lambe shall overcome them for he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings and they that are on his side called and chosen and faithful 15 After he sayd unto mee the waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth are people and multitudes and nations and tongues 16 And the tenne hornes which thou sawest upon the Beast are they that shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eate her flesh burne her with fire 17 For God hath put in their hartes to fulfill his will and to consent and give their Kingdome to the Beast until the words of God be fulfilled 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great citie which reigneth over the Kings of the earth The Analysis THVS farre hath bin the distinct Prophecy of the last Period divided in to his seven articles after the manner of the Seales and trumpets ther followeth a continual narration and more large explication of the three last vials as which are of greatest waight and special moment The fift of which is handled in this chapter and also in the whole chapter following and in the first five verses of the nineteenth the sixt is comprehended in the next fifteene verses of the same nineteenth chapter unto the twentith verse The seventh is continued through chap. 20. and 21. and unto the sixt ver of the two and twentieth And from thence followeth the conclusion of the whole book It maketh much for perspicuity to know what things agree to the time and nature of the matter As touching the fift it is wholly bestowed against the throne of the Beast as in the chapter afore ver 10.11 partly in declaring what and of what sort this throne is in this whole chapter partly in relating what things doe goe togither with the ruine of it in the chapter following and in the beginning of the nineteenth The declaration of the throne hath first a preparation inviting to know the damnation of the whore ver 1.2 And the better to know it carying him away into the wildernesse ver 3. Secondly a description by a double type one of the Beast ver 3. the other of a woman setting on the Beast sumptuous and most filthy ver 4. the mother of all whoredomes ver 5 a Murtherer of the Martyrs ver 6. The interpretation wherof is set forth by the occasion of it which Iohns wondering ministred ver 6.7 afterward it is propounded in very deed shewing what the Beast is in respect of his whole ver 8 attention being stirred up the disclosing might not passe without fruit ver 9. Secōdly in respect of the parts and heads ver 9.10.11 and hornes whose rising up is shewed in verse 12. the humble service which they shall giv to the Beast ver 13. and at length their overthrow by the Lambe ver 14. Such is the Beast Of the woman the interpretation is first of her dominion both flourishing ver 15. also afflicted by ten hornes as instruments and the will of God as the principal cause ver 16.17 afterward of her palace ver 18. Scholions 1 Then came one of the seven Angels We sayd in the Analysis that this cōtinuall declaration which is contained in the chapters following even unto the conclusion of the whole booke belongeth onely to the three last vials Which how true it is the thing it selfe will shew In the meane time it may be demaunded why the explication of the former is omitted The reason wherof seemeth to be this because those former partly were before past partly present at what time the vial was powred out upon the throne and therfore had no neede of a larger exposition then eyther the late memory or present use and condition of things should give but the other to come did need a more ample declaration and for the same cause all the labour remayning is converted to that point Therfore as touching the Angel one of the seven this is the fift who shall bring calamity to the throne chap. 18.10 Of which calamity neverthelesse there be certaine degrees so as by the labour of some certaine easie sprinklings are made before that the whole vial is powred forth Who yet all are reckened in the common name of the fift Angel VVhich thing appeareth from that chapter which is wholly spent in declaring the damnation of the whore although her last destruction is reserved unto the next These things set downe in this wise let
with very great dignity and maiesty Which marchandise the more rare it is the more glorious it shal at length be 19 20 And the foundation of the wall of the city He commeth to declare the foundations of the wall one after an other in describing wherof he resteth not in the very lowest ground sellings but teacheth that the matter of the whole frame is farre most pretious as altogether consisting of most noble pearles neither is it any thing inferiour to that most divine forme of which wee heard before I am not ignorant how greatly the Interpreters labour in applying every one of these to the auncient Apostles which difficulty this so exquisite order increaseth considering that there is not any certain order of the Apostles kept eyther in the Ghospels or in the Actes but sometime one Apostle sometime another is reckened first frō whence it becometh altogither uncertaine what stone may be answerable to which But it seemeth that the Holy Ghost intendeth another thing in this place not purposing to describe unto us the first twelve Apostles but the future teachers of the Iewes Church who carry the names of the Apostles whom they shall succeed both in office and fellowship of rewards as before in the 14. verse and in chap 18.20 All faithful teachers are the Apostles ofspring as also the former verse taught which made the greatnes of the wall of the number of twelve multiplyed in it selfe It is certain that the excellency of gifts by which the teachers doo excell abov the rest are signified here by most pretious earthly things by which more over it is taught both in what reckening they are with God and also in what estimation they ought to be with men And it is no lesse certen that every one of these excellent vertues shined forth in the old Apostles long time past but I thinke that the order belongeth properly to the future Teachers which if we shal apply to those auncient ones perhaps we shall erre greatly by attributing to every each one that which is unfit Wherefore resting as much as in us lay in the proper drift of this place beside that excellency which is common to all the pearles we think that so exact a reckening doth perteine to the order in which at length these new preachers of the Ghospell shall arise that even as the situation of the gates shewed the order of the countreyes in which the Iewes shal be converted to the truth so this manner of stones so set in order may signify the rising of the teachers in what order they shal rise up from every place Although there is this difference between the people and the teachers that the people assemble by troupes in every side of the city and therfore shall have three gates opened to them on every side the Teachers being fewer shall not gather togither by multitudes but shal be numbred man by mā according to the state of the places where God shal rise them up Yet we may not think that these shal be but twelve but that there shal be perhaps so many chiefe to whom the other multitude shal be wholly like Let us see therfore where these Gemmes growe and of what sort they are that in some measure wee may coniecture of the originall and disposition of those excellent men whom the divine bounteousnes wil give within these few yeeres The first foundation is a Iasper a divine stone often representing as we have seen the Image of God himselfe worthily occupying the first place because he that shal beginne the first restoring of the Iewes as an other Moses shal come most neere to God himselfe by a singular excellency of gifts The beginnings are most hard and require men very greatly furnished It is a Scythian and Persian Gemme of a celestial brightnes in which respect a certen kind of it is called Borea Aerizusa the beautie whereof can more easily be admired than declared it hath a pleasantnesseful of variety which the most sharpe eyed can not distinguish It may therfore represent a mixt riches of gifts wherein a manifold excellency is seen yet it cannot be diserned which most of all excelleth in which respect it figureth the Godhead as in chap. 9.3 in that so mixt fairenesse should signify in some measure that incomprehensible depth The Saphyre glistereth with golden points in great account among the Medes which sheweth a certen distinct kind of delectablenesse such as shal be in the next teachers after the first whom the excellency of some singular gift shall make famous A Chalcedonie is of a simple colour like to a Carbuncle shining with a fiery brightnesse it is a Northern Iewell found about the narrow sea of Chalcedon beaond Chrysopolis night to the rockes called Symplegades from whence it hath the name this betokeneth zeale fervency The most noble Emeraude groweth in Scythia it is of a most pleasant green neither doth any thing more delight the eyes But seeing here inward graces are more regarded then outward this greennesse is a most divine knowledge of things upon which the minde desireth to fasten the eyes before all things It is set after the Chalcedone that knowledge may accompany zeale The fift foundation is a Sardonix which is an Indian Iewel shining like the naile of a man set upon flesh it sheweth a certen kinde of humanitie having whitenesse mixed with rednesse The Sardius is found in Sardes it is wholly redde with bloody colour it may betoken a certen severity profitably ioyned with the Sardonix least perhaps gentlenesse should be despised without this companiō And these sixt first stones are belonging to the East and North which doo shew a happy encrease of Teachers from these regions which wee see how it agreeth with the former thinges when the first people shall be revived out of these same countreyes The seaventh foundation is a Chrysolite which shineth through with a golden colour It is a Iewell ful of dignity and maiesty AETHIOPIA bringeth forth the same PLINIVS affirmeth that the Beryll is found in INDIA DIONYSIVS in his book intituled Perieg saith that it groweth also in the land of BABYLON of a skie and water colour as the same describeth the skie coloured stone of the wet Beryll which groweth in the field of Babylon The watery colour belongeth to lenity and humility as is the water it selfe which easily giveth place to every thing a most fit companion of the maiesty of the Chrysolite that it may containe it within measure The ninth foundation is a Topaze which with Plinie is a green Iewel it is found among the Troglodites which dwel by the redde sea Dionysius saith that it is found in india or the stone of the bright Topaze shining with a skie colour writing of India But it is not of a simple and pure greennes but yellowish and glistering like gold From whence Eustachius attributeth unto it a golden colour chrusoeides yellow saith he sendeth forth a golden colour which
playnly to Christians al coverings being removed as on whom the noone Sunne of truth shineth and all things are naked and open And indeed he openeth most significantly in one word that long obscure description in Ezechiel saying that that temple so magnifically gloriously prepared is in truth none at all not as though the Prophet had uttered so many words vainly but to shewe that we must not stick in the bark of the lettre but that the kernell of the Spirit is to be found out Let the Iewes heare neither let them expect a renewed temple as hitherto they doo amisse and obstinately but let them with minds and harts aspire in that right way which shal need no temple Let them look for the omnipotent God and the Lamb to dwel among them in comparison of which glory whatsoever can be built of men shal be vile 23 Neither hath this city any need of the Sunne or Moone For in very deed the Moone shall be ashamed and the very Sunne shall blush when the Lord of hosts shall reigne in mount Sion and Hierusalem and shall be glorious before his auncients Isaiah 24.23 And why may it not be ashamed of her former darkenesse when the light of the Moone shal be as the light of the Sunne and the light of the Sunne seven folde as the light of seven daies Isay 30.23 Which thinges are not spoken to that ende as though there should be no use then of the Scriptures but because all shall so understand Gods will as if they had no need to learne wisdome from books Full saith the Prophet shall this land be of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters covering the chanell of the Sea Isay 11.9 Neither shall they anie more teach everie man his friend and everie man his brother saying know yee the Lord for they shall all know mee from the least of them even to the greatest of them saith the Lord that J doo forgive their inquity and remember their sinne no more Ier. 31.34 From hence let us observ that that Church is most glorious in which the sunne of righteousnesse shineth with most open face covered with no cloudes of ceremonies therfore let them see in how great errour they are whom bring in a pompous shew of ceremonies to procure authority to religion with the people Furthermore let us note to what times Iohn applyeth the sentences of the Prophets that we may know the things are yet to come which we interpret commonly to be past and not onely in the heavenly countrey whose happinesse needeth the words of no man but here in earth in that restoring wherof we have spoken ¶ And the Lambe is the light therof Therfore this light the most bright of all godly times shal not yet be perfit as it shal be after this life but a candle onely in respect of that least peradventure wee should rest in our iourney as if we had come to the last ende 24 And the Gentiles that shal be saved The second outward argument is glory from the Gentils Before time the Iewes have alwayes found the GeÌ„tiles most hatefull who left no meanes unattempted to doo them hurt now contrariweise ther shal be no cause to feare that they will doo them any harme yea rather why should they not expect all good at their hands who shal apply al their forces to the advancing of them But these Gentiles are not al generally but are limited with a certain kinde which saith he shal be saved which word is inserted for an exposition The place is taken out of Isaiah 60.3 where it is thus and the Gentiles shall walke to thy light which Iohn draweth to the elect by putting in of one word least any should think it was spoken of every one generally And see how Iohn traÌ„slate that seÌ„teÌ„ce they shal walke to thy light thus they shal walke in the light of it the senteÌ„ce being well expressed For to walke at the light is not to come only to the light which one may doe depart again by by being at once both seen despised but to walke after or according to the light as to walke at the feete is alone with to follow serve one 1 Sam. 25.42 Neither-hath this place in the heavens that the people should walke at the light of the Church when Prophecyings shal be abolished and tongues shall cease and God shal be all in all 1 Cor. 13.8 and 15.28 But it may be doubtful how it can have place on earth For shal this difference remaine of some people which are saved and of other that are lost in this most happy government of the Church It seemeth indeed that there shal be many which yet still shal contemne the truth obstinately for the day of the Lord shall come cas a share upon all that dwell on the face of the earth Luke 21 35. But the children of the Church are not in darkenesse that that day should take them as a thief in the night 1 Thess 5.4 Moreover it was said before that the haile of a taleâ—t weight of the last vial shall drive men to blasphemy chap. 16.21 Neverthelesse those despisers shal be of so feeble strength that wil they nil the they shal be compelled to yeeld their necks The Complut edition and the Kings bible doo omit these words which are saved and so doth Aretas and the vulgar Latine neither doo they reade in the light of it but by the light ¶ And the Kings of the earth shal bring their glory unto it Then the Kings borderers on the Ocean and of the Yles shall bring a present the Kings of Sheba and Seba shall bring a gift finally all Kings shall worship him and all nations shall serve him Psal 72.10.11 And Isay The labour of Aegypt and marchandize of Aethiopia and of the Sabean Princes shall come unto thee and they shall be thine and shall follow thee they shall come in chaines and shall fall down before thee and shall make supplications unto thee saying onely the strong God is in thee there is none besides no where else is God chap. 45.14 Againe Kings shal be thy nurcing fathers and their Queenes shal be thy nurces they shall worship thee with their faces toward the earth and shall lick the dust of thy feet chap. 49.23 For then shal be given unto Christ a dominion and glory and Kingdome that all people nations and tongues should serve him whose dominion is an everlasting dominion which passeth not away his KingdoÌ„ a KingdoÌ„ which shall not be destroyed Dan. 7.14 It shal not also be from the purpose to add here in what words the Sybille hath described this same thing that at least wee may help tthe Iesuite if he will who in expounding the same is cleane out of the way thus therfore shee Prophecyed in the 3. book of the oracles of Sibyll And then the world by womans hands shall rul'd be and obey But when the widow over all the world
them which keepe the wordes of this book Worship God 10 After he said unto mee seale not the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand 11 He that hurteth let him hurt still and he that is filthy let him be filthy stil and he that is iust let him be iustifyed stil and he that is holy let him be holy still 12 And behold I come quickly and my reward is with mee to render to every one as his worke shal be 13 J am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending the first and the last 14 Blessed are they that doo his commaundements that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city 15 But without shal be dogges and enchanters and whoremongers and murtherers and Idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh lies 16 J Iesus sent my Angel to testify these things unto you in the Churches J am the roote and that generation of David that bright and morning starre 17 And the Spirit and the bride say come and he that heareth saith come and let him that thirsteth come and let him that will receive of the water of life freely 18 For I testify there withall unto every one that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book if any man shall add unto these things God shall adde unto him the plagues that are written in this book 19 And if any man shall take away of the words of the book of this prophecy God shal take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from those things which are written in this book 20 He which testifyeth these things saith ye I come quickly Amen Even so come Lord Iesus 21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you al. Amen The Analysis THVS farr the two first outward arguments wherby the glory of this city is set forth the two last follow the aboundance of things necessary continuance The first handleth two things which comprehende all other plenty the most pure water proceeding out of the throne ver 1. and the tree of life ver 2. whose fruite is described and how many foulde it is partly in the kinde for thete are twelve fruits partly in the time bearing every moneth and how profitable which appeareth from thence that also the leaves are for the health of the Gentils ver 2. and thus much of the aboūdance the continuance is declared by remooving of the corrupting causes ver 3. and by setting downe of the preserving causes ver 3.4 5. And hitherto hath bin a prophetical narration both of special things and also of common things to the whole Church There foloweth the conclusion of all the Revelation and of the Epistle partly consisting in a confirmation partly in a salutation The confirmation first takes in hand a recounting and collecting of things before spokē that being put as in a patterne ūder one view they might have greater force for credit And this recounting is cōtinued even to the eighteen verse relating the authour of the Revelation ver 6. the happines of the keppers ver 7. the ministers ver 8.9 a publishing commanded wherby ther should be a free examination ver 10. with an answer of a secret obiection ver 11. the upright nature of the revealer ver 12. eternall ver 13. the thing revealed ver 14.15 the plaine testimony of Iesus ver 16. and lastly the desire of the Spirit and bride ver 17. Every one of which apart is of great weight to establish the authority of this Prophecy but al togither are very much greater Next Iohn of his owne part addeth some new thing when he uttereth certain destruction to them which shall corrupt this prophecy never so little ver 18.19 then testifying his most earnest desire of a speedie finishing ver 20. The salutation lastly concludeth the whole Epistle with a praier ver 21. Scholions 1 Afterward he shewed mee That wholesome fruite dooth more declare the excellent glory of this city which not onely the citizens but also forreiners doo receive Wherunto also apperteine this river and tree of the which both they drinke and also are fedde unto life both which the Angel sheweth to Iohn For he saith he shewed mee But who is he that shewed That sevēth Angel which manifested the city to him in the former chapter ver 9.10 and therfore neither as yet are we come to the heavenly blessednes of the saincts after the last resurrection when we shal not use Angels or any other masters But as touching the water it is not some litle fountaine but a river neither corrupted and troubled as Nilus but flowing with most pure waters as Kidron Gallirrhoe making glad the citie of God Psal 46.5 Furthermore it is a river of water of life not onely because of the continuance for it runneth alwayes with new waters as is the water of a fountaine or spring which also in the Scriptures is called living but because it bringeth life to the drinkers Iohn 4.14 The river is shining as Chrystall farre exceeding the clearnes of the fountaines Lastly it proceedeth out of the throne of God and of the Lambe which it hath for chiefe fountaines and to which againe as a companion it doth leade or rather being a forerunner goeth before as a streeme to the sea In Ezechiel the same flood issueth out of the temple altar chap. 47.1 But in this new Ierusalem there is no temple as hath bin spoken in chap. 21.22 therfore the throne of God is set in the place thereof Whether it runneth here is no mention but the Prophets plentifully teach it namely towards the East from the South side of the altar first towards Galily and into the plaine then the waters come to the Sea and by emptying themselves into the same sea the waters therof are healed Ezech. 47.1.8 So in Ioel there shal issue forth a fountaine from the house of the Lord and shall water the valley of Shittim chap. 3.18 That is the plaine of Moab where the Israelites committed whordome with the Moabitish wemen Numb 25.1 Zacharie also There shal be saith he in that daie waters of life going forth out of Ierusalem part of them to the East sea and parte of them to the uttermost sea which shal be both in somer and winter chap. 14.8 This river is the most fruitfull doctrine of Christ which shall flowe forth towards the East because the people watered with the moisture hereof shall grow and at last true life shall budde forth For every living creature that creepeth whersoever these rivers come shall live and there shal be a very great multitude of fishes for by the comming of these waters thither they are cured and live whersoever this river commeth Ezech. 47.9 For this Prophet and Iohn speake of the same things and times of the state and condition of the Church in earth as those things which in so many places we have
alone but also it shal be writteÌ„ on the horses belles Holines to Jehova as are the pottes of the house of Iehovah as the bolles before the altar Zachar. 14.20 he wil undertake their patronage and defense of all their things even of the least 5 And ther shal be no night They shall not be afflicted as in the former ages neither shal they need light coÌ„forts of the light and the lik things which before they were wont to use but they shall receive of God himselfe exceeding joye neither shall they care for or seeke other meanes to ease their griefes Isay 60.19.20 But how saieth he they shall not neede the light when above he said the Lambe shal be their light chap. 21.2 here he denieth not altogither that they shall not neede the light but onely no other but the Lambe ¶ Because the Lord God giveth them light they shall reigne for ever ever Ther shall appeare greater kindnes of God than can be attributed to any meanes For so great shal be the increase of knowledge that men shall seeme to be made wise not so much by hearing of the word as by divine inspiration The like shal be of all other giftes whose excellency shal farre exceed all meanes which they might use in getting them In the ende of the verse there is set downe in plaine words what is the summe of these 3. verses to weet that this kingdome of Saints shal be eternal which shall be begunne in the earth neither shal it ever be interruptep but shall be finally translated into heaven 6 Then he said to mee Hitherto hath bin the propheticall narration now ther foloweth a conclusion of the Epistle the shutting up of the whole Revelation which in few wordes mentioneth certaine chiefe heades whereby every one maye confirme and strengthen himselfe of the credit and authority of this Prophecy It is a most profitable conclusion and full of heavenly maiesty The Spirit knew how this Revelation should not be regarded of men and certaine should call into question the credit thereof beyond his wonted manner he labourâ—th in a few more words to take away all this doubt But who is this Angel which now talkes with Iohn An other as it seemeth than he who in the beginning of the chapter shewed the river of the water of life or that manifested the city For thiâ— is the seaventh Angell that is of those to whom the busines was committed of administring the seven last plagues chap. 21.9 whose charge was certaine and conteined in the limites of a certaine parte not endued with power of the whole Revelation But this confirmation is common to the whole booke and therfore seemeth to be of that Angell which was sent in the beginning that manifested these things to Iohn Next also it is likely that here are not againe words uttered by the voice of the samâ— ngell but they are related of Iohn under the person of the Angel of whom first he had received them Certainly the coniunction of things without any copulatives or any necessary coherence between themselves seemeth to approve of such an account Which meaning if we follow the words ar not to be translated then he said to mee which declare the time of a new speach begunne after the sight of the city but and he said to mee as though he should say seeing that now I have fully delivered to you al things which are revealed to mee that shal be now ther remaineth nothing but that with sure faith ye embrace the same which that you may the more easilie doo bethinke ye how holily and religiouslly the Angel hath confirmed the same to mee those words are faithfull and true Wherfore this confirmation of the Angel apperteineth not onely to those things which went next before of the new Ierusalem although the demonstrative proouune be so used often but likewise to the whole booke as also that threatening which followeth ver 18.19 universally challengeth credit to the whole Prophecy and not for the authority of some certaine part of it These things are repeated out of the 19 chap. ver 9. by the words of Iohn speaking which the Angel had before spoken they are applyed to approve the whole Revelation ¶ And the Lord God of the holy Prophets sent his Angell Neither did the Angel of his owne accord utter these words are faithful true but by the coÌ„maundement and authority of God the sander The same God which inspired the auncient Prophets that they might most certenly forespeake of things to come he sent this Angell which might reveale those thinges to Iohn for the use of the Church These things are repeated out of the 1. chap. 1 ver which Revelation he signified when he sent by his Angell to his servant Iohn But thou maiest observe that this latter member of the verse is so inferred that it may clearly shew that these now are not the words of the Angell speaking but of Iohn repeating the arguments of this Prophecy delivered from heaven 7 Behold I come quickly The testimony of Iesus concerning the speedy execution of these things fetched out of the 11. chapter which must shortly be done and againe the time is neare ver 3. The event of things next past should give credit to things that follow and therfore he maketh mentioÌ„ of a speedy execution as if he should say take every one of you for every of your ages a pledge and as it were a fuerty of things to come by the present things which thou shalt see to come to passe These things assure you that the things to come are no lesse certain But we who now for a thousand and five hundred yeares to weet from Iohn have seen the consent of the event and Prophecy may not any more doubt of these few other things which as yet remaine See how these things are heaped up togither as but now we saied without any bandes of speach as for the most part it is done in numbring of things ¶ Blessed is he that keepeth A confirmatioÌ„ of the happines of them which keepe this Prophecy which nothing can bestow on man but the truth in spired from heaven as before in chap. 1.3 from whence these are fetched 8 And J Iohn A confirmation from the Ministers It is a most sure prophecy whose Minister the Angel was and of so great maiesty that Iohn the Apostle thought to worshippe him and of that holines that he forbad the worshippe offered Iohn telleth what first befell chap. 19.10 he falleth not downe againe into the worshippe forbidden him ¶ But he said to mee in the greek it is and he saieth to mee for he said to mee or hath saide as well the interpreters do translate it he relateth not a new but a thing past But we must marke that which he spake before and of thy brethren which have the testimony of Jesus chap. 19.10 here it is uttered in other words and of thy brethren the Prophets of them