Apocalypsis Apocalypseos OR THE REVELATION OF S t JOHN the Divine unveiled CONTAINING A Brief but perspicuous and continued EXPOSITION From Chapter to Chapter and from Verse to Verse of the whole Book of the APOCALYPSE By HENRY MORE D. D. Ecclesiastic Chap. 39. He that giveth his mind to the Law of the most High and is occupied in the Meditation thereof will seek out the Wisdom of all the Ancient and be occupied in Prophecies Ezech. Chap. 43. vers 10. Thou Son of Man shew the House to the house of Israel that they may be ashamed of their Iniquities and let them measure the pattern LONDON Printed by I. M. for I. Martyn and W. Kettilby at the Bell and the Bishops-Head in S t Paul's Church-yard 1680. THE PREFACE TO THE READER READER THat thou mayest with better acceptance peruse my Exposition of this Book of Prophecies the Apocalypse I thought fit to say something by way of Preface First concerning the Book it self not only the Authentickness and Intelligibleness but also concerning the Excellency thereof Secondly concerning the grounds I go upon and the Truth of my Exposition And thirdly and lastly concerning the great Usefulness thereof That this Book is Canonical and of Divine Inspiration is confirmed by the Authority and Suffrage of the Church Universal both Roman and Reformed And though it had no external Confirmation the truth of Predictions in that large comprehension of things that it reacheth to and the holiness of that Spirit that breaths in it to any intelligent Reader will certainly prove it to be a Book Divinely inspired Not to add that the very Wit as I may so say and Artifice in it seems not to be Humane but Angelical It was indeed doubted of at first and the Authority thereof called into question but the occasion of questioning it was because it was in the hands of very few it being dangerous for the Christians to let this Book of the Apocalypse that does plainly predict as it might seem the burning of the City of Rome situated on seven Hills and having Rule then over the whole Earth so freely to go about as those others of the New Testament did And therefore this Book being so generally unknown when they began to determine what Books were Authentick and what not they might very well be at a loss concerning it Besides that Cerinthus and others overmuch Judaizing Christians who drew those things written of the first and second Resurrection and the New Jerusalem and the thousand years Reign of Christ to their Carnal Iudaical conceits made them more shie how they admitted this Book for Authentick Nay some as Gaius an ancient Author in Eusebius relate that Cerinthus the Chiliast was the writer of it Others who yet thought well of the Book that John the Presbyter a Disciple of the Apostle not John himself was the Author thereof The occasion of which might be as Grotius ingeniously conjectures because that John the Presbyter had the Book in his custody whence some out of mistake might deem him the Author thereof But by the Authority of the chiefest Fathers and upon a more narrow search and examination of the business it is now out of question with all Christian Churches that this Book of the Apocalypse is Authentick and Canonical and writ by John the Evangelist and Divine so called for his more plainly and peculiarly declaring the Divinity of Christ beyond any other of the Evangelists Now for the Intelligibleness of the Book Though there is a marvellous artifice of Concealment in it yet there is as sure an artifice of Revealment as I hope will appear by this our Exposition And why Prophecies should be obscurely writ and in what this obscurity consists I have sufficiently elsewhere declared The chief obscurity is in the Prophetick stile which when it is opened to a Man the sense will run clear As he that understands any other Language different from the Vulgar if the Book it is writ in be good sense he without difficulty will find it out And as it would be absurd in him that understands not that language to complain of the obscurity of the Book so it is as childish for him that will not take the pains which is not much to understand the Prophetick stile to complain of the obscurity of the Apocalypse But that it is intelligible all sorts of Christians Reformed and Unreformed have given their suffrage thereto in writing Commentaries upon it And it is no less than blasphemy against the Holy Ghost that inspired this Prophecy to say it is simply unintelligible as if Christ trifled with his Church in a thing so exceeding serious as this Book of Prophecies seems to be The Excellency whereof is notably set out if not also the necessity of reading and understanding it chap. 1. vers 3. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this Prophecy and keep those things that are written therein which they cannot do unless they understand them And so chap. 22. vers 7. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the Prophecy of this Book Which is chiefly performed by Faith and Constancy to the True Church of Christ against either the Dragon or Antichrist which he cannot do if these Prophecies were unintelligible nor can there any blessedness accrue to a man from reading a Book he understands not But the sayings thereof understood and kept being so effectual a way to blessedness it must needs argue the excellency of the Book But there is yet a further illustration of the Excellency thereof from what occurrs chap. 5. vers 2. which concerns the greatest part by far of this Book and that which some phansie the only Prophetical part thereof namely the Visions of the Sealed Book and of the Opened Book For what was contained in the Opened Book lay open by virtue of the breaking up of the Seals In that Chapter is the highest Encomium of this Book of Prophecies that the Wit and Rhetorick of men or Angels can invent or utter For first it is said vers 2. And I saw a strong Angel proclaiming with a loud voice Who is worthy to open the Book and to loose the Seals thereof And no man in Heaven nor in Earth neither under the Earth was able to open the Book neither to look thereon This therefore must be a most excellent and transcendent Book of Secrets and Predictions that neither Angels Men nor Infernal Spirits can reach to the knowledge of by virtue of their own faculties And then it follows And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and read the Book and to look thereon Which further argues that it is a Book not only of rare secrets and vast comprehensive Predictions but more than ordinary desirable if not necessary to be known And lastly when the Lion of the Tribe of Judah that is Christ the Lamb under another expression and figuration was found worthy and had taken the
Book what acclamations in Heaven were there thereupon For the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours which are the prayers of the Saints And they sung a new Song saying Thou art worthy to take the Book and open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood As if this priviledge of obtaining such a wonderful power of predicting things to come and communicating such a Book as this of the Apocalypse unto his Church were one special fruit of his Passion and the shedding his most precious blood upon the Cross. And therefore let them take heed that despise this Book of the Apocalypse so much and all endeavours to understand it aright that they be not found in the number of them that tread under-foot the Son of God even in those things for which he is the most highly admired and extolled by the blessed Saints and Angels which is the greatest slight and affront of him imaginable and count his precious blood shed upon the Cross whereby he procured this transcendent priviledge to himself and them of fore-knowing things that concern all Ages of his Church an unholy thing and do despite to the Spirit of Prophecy In the mean time this may at least excuse them that seriously and soberly endeavour rightly to understand the Visions of this Book from being reputed men less judicious or else very unfortunate to spend their time and labour on so mean and obscure an argument as this Book of the Apocalypse as some for want of judgement or good will have perstringed that excellently learned and pious person M r Joseph Mede But what a vast difference is there betwixt the Spirit of the holy Evangelist John and the great Spirits or Wits as they would be accounted of this Age He wept out of an eager desire of understanding the Prophecies of this Book they laugh at any one for a fool that pretends the endeavouring to understand them or thinks they are to be understood But I hope that will be found true that Solomon sayes Prov. chap. 14. vers 6. A scorner seeketh wisdom and findeth it not but knowledge is easie to him that understandeth Which I distrust not but will be made good in any intelligent Reader of my Exposition of this Book It will prove easie to him upon his taking notice of the meaning of the Prophetick stile and supposing the grounds I go upon which are but few and allowed generally by all Protestant Churches that I know of viz. That the Church of Rome is Idolatrous which will imply that the Greek Church also was so as is plain from the second Nicene Council which the Romanists alledge That the said Church is murderous as having put to death many and many thousands of innocent Souls because their consciences would not allow them to joyn with this Church in their Idolatrous Worship And lastly that she is Imposturous in pretending to many miraculous Acts that exceed the power of Nature or the faculties of any ordinary men As changing the Elements as they call it of Bread into real Flesh and of Wine into real Blood by saying certain words over it In exorcising or enchanting of Statues or Images and of Water Oyl and other things by certain words into a power of keeping off Enemies repelling Diseases ceasing Thunder and Lightening and driving away the Devil nay in pretending to a Power of thunder-striking men down into hell which is only in the hand of God Almighty to do at his pleasure and not for men to do at their pleasures because others will not joyn with them in their gross Doctrines and Idolatrous Worship This if it were true were a stupendious Miracle indeed thus to bring fire from heaven to thunder-strike innocent men into the pit of hell But such pretended feats as these this Book elegantly expresses by the phrase of Sorcery or Magick as it may be called as being an imitation of the pretences of Magicians thus to act above Nature by words and charms These are the main things that are supposed concerning the Church of Rome which if they be admitted the sense of the Apocalypse will run as glib as may be upon a little knowledge of the Prophetick stile And I shall wonder at any one that is satisfied concerning these that shall stick at the truth of our Interpretation which as touching this part is so throughly demonstrated in my Joynt-Exposition or rather in the eight last Chapters of the first Book of my Synopsis Prophetica that I cannot tell what can be more fully evidenced to the reason of a man namely That the Beast that was and is not and yet is is the Roman Empire and the Woman that rides him the Roman Hierarchy after the times of the seventh King that was to stay but a little while which are the pure Christian Caesars Wherefore the Roman Hierarchy after that time being set out by the symbol of a Whore for so that Woman is called viz. the Whore of Babylon and the Beast she rides on said to be full of Names of Blasphemy it is manifest that both the Empire and Hierarchy are become Idolatrous Besides that if the Apocalypse were silent in this matter of their being Idolatrous the Writers of the Protestants have over and over again demonstrated them to be so and for them that are so perswaded not to acknowledge their condition to be predicted in the Apocalypse but to conceit it silent therein is to envy God and Christ the Glory of foretelling things to come and the Church the priviledge of having them foretold her and the advantage of confounding her enemies thereby And now for the state of the Reformed Church that it will be at last so well Reformed and so largely amplified that Peace Truth and Righteousness shall at last over-spread as it were the face of the earth and that herewith the Iews will be called and make one part of the Catholick Church this is a thing both believed and hoped for by all good men and expresly pointed at in several places of Scripture as well as in the Apocalypse And lastly for the first Resurrection the proper priviledge of the Martyrs at the entrance of the Millennial Reign of Christ upon Earth that this was the general Opinion of the Primitive Church is made out notably by M r J. Mede in sundry places of his Writings And that way that I have explained it here in my Exposition it cannot have the least scandal or offence the Martyrs according to my Explication not living upon Earth but being revivificated into their Glorious Bodies reign with Christ in Heaven Wherefore the things that I suppose being so certain or unexceptionable and my Exposition consequential to these and perpetually made out according to the known meaning of the Prophetick stile and agreeably to the truth of History without any violence done to either
Grammatical Criticisme or the Rules of Rhetorick and observable Genius of the very stile of this Book of the Apocalypse it self if such an Exposition for so far as the time of Prophecies is already past be not true what Exposition of any Prophecy or of any thing else can be thought to be true And the things that are to come as the Calling of the Jews and the utter breaking in pieces of the Roman Idolatrous Hierarchy sore against their will considering the sweet relish of domineering and imposing upon the world and their obdurate pretence of Infallibility it were a Miracle indeed to think they will ever confesse themselves convinced of those enormous Errours and Crimes that are so justly laid to their charge And being they would fall of themselves did not some Secular Power support them it therefore is rational to conceive that some Remnant of the Roman Empire may stick to them to the last Vial So solid is our Exposition in that part also And concerning the Calling of the Jews I have noted already how generally the Opinion is allowed of and how often intimated in the Scriptures To which I may add that it does not seem probable that they are preserved a distinct People from the rest of the world all this time for nought And then for the flourishing of Peace and Truth and Righteousness in the times of the New Jerusalem so universally over the face of the Earth It is a thing that has been so little done already and so fully and repeatedly inculcated by the ancient Prophets as well as set down so exactly in the Apocalypse that unless a man will question the Truth of Scripture he cannot but admit it to be true From which considerations I hope it will appear that our Exposition of the Apocalypse is throughout true and that I have not rashly called it Apocalypsis Apocalypseos it being a plain and true unveiling of the Apocalypse or stripping it of all those coverings and disguisings contained in the Prophetick stile and whatever other Artifices of Concealment and laying the sense bare and open to the eyes of all that will not wilfully wink that they may not see the Truth And that there may be no distrust of the assuredness of our Interpretation by pretending that others have interpreted the Apocalypse another way I shall give notice here by the bye that I have with all care and diligence perused other Interpreters and the very best of them Grotius and Ribera for as for some Modern Buffoones rather and abusers of the Apocalypse than serious Interpreters of it no sober man will think-himself obliged to take notice of them and in those two chefest Chapters as to the Controversie betwixt the Church of Rome and us whether they are not to be proved from thence Idolaters I mean the thirteenth and seventeenth Chapters of which I have made a Joynt-Exposition in my Synopsis Prophetica I have shewed how absurd and impossible both Ribera's and Grotius his Interpretations of those Chapters are And in Grotius his Exposition of them who yet is now accounted the Chiefest Interpreter and most accommodate to baffle the true and genuine meaning of those Prophecies I have noted near fourscore such flawes as I should be loth any one should be able to find one in my whole Exposition of the Apocalypse besides his absurd mis-timing of the Visions which would show though otherwise his Expositions were more tolerable that they were nothing to the purpose And that they are mis-timed I have abundantly demonstrated in my Synopsis Prophetica Book II. Chap. 2. So that there is the greatest assurance imaginable of my Exposition of the thirteenth and seventeeth Chapters of the Apocalypse as you may be fully satisfied by the reading of my Joynt-Exposition of them Synops. Prophet Book I. Chap. 12 13 14 15. And if this Bulwark of my Joynt-Exposition stand impregnable as most certainly it will none that perceives the force thereof but will easily admit of the rest of our Interpretations as solid and true And thus much briefly of the Truth of our Exposition of the Apocalypse Now the usefulness thereof which I proposed in the third and last place it is exceeding considerable First against Atheists and those that believe neither Angel nor Spirit for there being a deduction of things foretold from the beginning of the Church to the end of all so natural so solid and so true and every way unexceptionable to any Rational Man this is the greatest Evidence desirable to evince a Divine Providence over the Church and the Affairs of Mankind and consequently the existence of a God as also of Angels the Ministers of his Providence which is all along inculcated in this Book of the Apocalypse And particularly it is asserted in the beginning of the Book that this Revelation was made to S t John by the Ministry of an Angel And that this can be no imagination of S t John 's as the prophane Hobbians and Spinozians would be ready to suggest out of the Principles of their stupid and incredulous minds but a real thing the Book it self is an ample Testimony and plain demonstration it being out of the reach of any man by his own natural wit or fore-sight to write a Book of such comprehensive Prophecies and so continuedly true to say nothing of the manner of writing it the very Wit and Artifice thereof which seems to imply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Stile and Wit is not the Stile and Wit of a Man but certainly of an Angel Nor does the Apocalypse only support the truth of Natural Religion which is the belief of the Existence of a God and of Spirits or Angels good and bad and of a Blessed Immortality after this life but it is a most special and extraordinary confirmation of the truth of the Revealed Religion of Christianity and the most assured Argument and most lasting and satisfactory of the Apotheosis of Christ that the Wit of Man can excogitate or his heart desire For reading this Book and comparing it with the History of the Affairs of the Church and of the Nations so far forth as they have had any thing to do with the Church or the Church with them he may as it were see with his own eyes and feel with his hands the Truth of our Religion in the veracity of our Great Prophet and Saviour and in the exact completion of the Predictions he has communicated to his Church as hitherto Which standing Miracle is of as much weight with the Intelligent for the confirmation of their Faith in Christ if not more than if they lived in our Saviours time to see his Miracles or conferr with the eye-witnesses of them And it is an extraordinary glorious priviledge of the Christian Church to have such a Book of Prophecies as these and peculiar to her above all Religions else in the world that ever was and so easie and naturally applicable to the events predicted And
therefore they deserve very ill of the Christian Church who either rashly or out of design instead of the true and genuine meaning of the Visions of the Apocalypse give unnatural forced senses of them disterting them from their intended scope applying mean sapless insignificant useless and inept meanings to them instead of those that are proper and adequate Which not to dissemble the Truth Grotius though otherwise a Learned Writer has most wretchedly done For this makes the very pretense of understanding Prophecies ridiculous and deprives Christ of his Glory and of one of the most Illustrious Fruits of the Passion and Apotheosis and the Church of her so Eminent Priviledge above all other Religions For such meager dry distorted and contradictions Expositions as Grotius has given of the Apocalypse if there were no other to be had than those would never argue it a Book Divinely Inspired but to be rather a confused heaping up of vagrant thoughts and fortuitous imaginations And yet these fond conceits of Grotius forsooth must stifle the genuine meaning and due efficacy of the Apocalypse that is We must rob Christ of his Glory and the Christian Church of her high peculiar Priviledge above any other Churches or Religions nay take take away that extraordinary support which not only Christianity but even Natural Religion it self has from this Book of the Apocalypse in a meer Complement to the Church of Rome that she may not seem as well by Divine Testimony as by Humane Reason guilty of Idolatry See my Synopsis Prophetica Book II. Chap. 2 3 4. and my Mystery of Godliness Book V. Chap. 16. Which Chapters if you attentively read though with the Favourers of Rome and Grotius you may think me not over-civil yet you will certainly conclude me very true and just in this my censure This I thought fit though it is against my Genius to lessen any ones performances plainly to declare that no man may be fobbed off from embracing the Truth by the specious name of Hugo Grotius prefixed to such weak and imperfect Essayes upon the Book of the Apocalypse where amongst other things it is to be noted that the six first Seals and the six first Trumpets which are indeed all the Visions of the Sealed Book he interprets of things which were transacted before the Prophecy was writ than which nothing can be more wild and preposterous A third considerable Usefulness of our Exposition is that it is a plain justification of all Reformed Churches Prince and People for their having left the Communion of the Church of Rome and a discharging of them of that perverse and unjust imputation of Schism which the Church of Rome would fain cast upon them For though they do loudly miscall them by the name of Hereticks yet they have nothing to lay to their charge but the disowning those things which it were Heresie for them to embrace and are nothing but unsound Doctrines and foul Trumperies and Principles of Idolatry which pretended Holy Church holds up for her unholy and secular ends or worldly interest For the main Body of Protestants hold all that were accounted Articles of Faith in the first Ages of the Church about the first four hundred years while the Church was deemed Symmetral as is intimated in the Apocalypse Chap. 11. whence it is impossible they should be Hereticks And that neither Prince nor People in the Reformed Churches are guilty of Schism besides the nature of the thing it self that no man is bound to disobey God under pretence of obeying a Church that is Idolatrous there is not only a Commission but a Command to all to leave her Communion Apoc. Chap. 2. ver 20. and Chap. 18. vers 4. And I heard a voice from Heaven saying Come out of her my people c. So that both Prince and People every where have a Commission from Heaven to leave her Communion so far are they from being Schismaticks for leaving it A fourth Usefulness may be and that again to the Reformed Churches which are the Church in Sardis who are reprehended by Christ in his Epistle to that Church for having a name of living as having a zeal one against another about things of smaller consequence and from thence making Schisms and Dissentions in the Reformed Churches but being even dead otherwise to that which is the onely Life of a True Christian which is Charity or Love the character of the Philadelphian Church Which the Sardian Church is heartily to breath after that all their breaches may be healed and defects made up and that Peace and Truth and Righteousness may flourish amongst them But as yet it is too true that her works are not found perfect before God as Christ complains of her in his Epistle Which Epistle of Christ to the Church in Sardis I wish all the Reformed Churches would seriously peruse and take notice of the heavy Commination against them If they do not watch and stand upon their guard and endeavour to strengthen the things that are ready to dye namely true Faith in God and in Jesus Christ and the promised asssistances of his Holy Spirit to subdue our Corruptions to the Scepter of his Kingdom and a sincere Zeal against all scandal and debauchery of Life and gross Superstition and Idolatry and against hankering after the Flesh-pots of Aegypt as thé Israelites did when God had brought them out of the House of Bondage into the Wilderness Which state is something analogous to the Sardian Interval in respect of the Philadelphian which is as it were the taking possesssion of the Holy Land and more analogous than we could wish in murmuring against their Governours and that Government which obtained in the Church even in those times which by the Spirit of God were accounted Symmetral Apoc. cap. 11.1 If they do not remember how they have received and heard and hold fast and repent namely how they have received from the Apostles themselves by their Writings and from Apostolick men raised up in the late Reformation who generally declared against the Idolatries of the Church of Rome and declared the Pope with his Hierarchy to be that Man of Sin the Antichrist even those that professed themselves not to know what to make of the Book of the Apocalypse as Luther and Calvin whom Cornelius à Lapide affirms to have cast it out of the Canon which is a sign that the Idolatry and Antichristianisme of the Roman Church was to their judgements so gross that they wanted no such helps to assure them thereof How they have received from S t Paul Children obey your Parents in the Lord as well as Fathers provoke not your Children to wrath Ephes. 6.4 And that Love is the fulfilling of the Law Galat. 5.14 For all the Law is fullfilled in one word even in this Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self but if ye bite and devour one another take heed that ye be not consumed one of another These and the like sins is
Since this Book of the Apocalypse is so Excellent and transcendant a Book as well as Authentick and Intelligible and our Exposition thereof so sound and assured and the use of it so manifold and so great I hope that every Intelligent Man that is a Well-willer to the Truth and a sincere Lover of the Church of Christ will allow of my design of publishing it as a thing laudable at least if not indispensable For though in things of mere speculation it is a piece of prudence for a man to seem no wiser than others can bear lest instead of being admired he be looked upon for a fool or a man of extravagant conceits yet in such points of knowledge as we are assured of and as assured of their manifold usefulness for the Church and the good of mankind it is a piece of Conscience that we communicate them to the world it being a Depositum we are intrusted with from God and of which we must give an account to him at that great day And thus much I think is competently well for a Preface What may further occurr I shall reserve for an Epilogue Where amongst other things I shall exhibit to thy view the Ichnography of the Temple with the Inner and Outer Court for the better understanding of the eleventh Chapter of the Apocalypse as also a Table of Synchronismes with a Defence of them Which will both refresh thy memory after thy reading my Exposition and the more fully assure thee of the truth thereof As will also that admirable Key of the Visions of the Sealed and Opened Book Prophecies viz. the Angels Interpretation of the Beast Chap. 17. and the Woman that rides him And lastly the wonderfull Harmony that is to be observed of the Antemedial Medial and Postmedial Synchronals the Harmony of all of them in each Order amongst themselves and with the Times to which in virtue of the Interpretation of the Angel they are necessarily affixed so far namely as the Prophecies have been already fulfilled or are in fulfilling which is a pledge of the Truth or Credibility of our Exposition touching what is to come This Harmony I say is so admirable and surprizing that unless thou hast a Genius dead or stupid to matters of this nature thou canst not fail to be enravished with the consideration thereof as also with the Divine Artifice of the whole Book of the Apocalypse Much whereof is opened in the said Epilogue So that it may go for a kind of Technology to our Exposition In the mean time I will only advertise thee That I have taken care that the entire Text of the Apocalypse go along with my Interpretation printed in a black English Letter the more easily to be distinguished from the Comment that thou having it so entirely in thy sight and continuedly with the Comment thou mayest with the more ease and assuredness judge of the Faithfulness and Agreeableness of our Exposition ERRATA sic corrige PReface Page xviii Line 21. read His Passion Page 10. l. 11. r. Spondanus p. 26. l. 9. r. Sardian p. 30. l. 9. r. Churches especially let p. 40. l. 17. r. Paronomastical p. 41. l. 14. dele the. p. 47. l. 20. r. him Sealed with seven Seals p. 67. l. 34. r. comes p. 77. l. 12. r. Narses p. 81. l. 29. r. Scorpio-locusts p. 86. l. 2. r. a voice l. 21. r. and Iconium p. 93. l. 11. r. good p. 98. l. 9. r. Trumpet suppose as p. 108. l. 16. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 122. l. 7. r. Cruelty p. 128. l. 24. r. Lolhards p. 140. l. 8. r. decrees l. 11. r. Iconomachus p. 147. l. 18. r. Lineaments p. 152. l. 11. r. enlargment p. 200. l. 24. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 211. l. 26. r. and briefly p. 227. l. 1. r. Topazos p. 257. l. 4. r. Antemedial p. 260. l. 12. r. Assenter p. 270. l. 2. r. he p. 272. l. 1. p. 283. l. 2. r. Antemedial p. 293. l. 24. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 298. l. 3. r. R. H. Ch. 9. p. 315. l. 4. r. Hills p. 331. l. 7. r. with these p. 346. l. 5. r. that is One APOCALYPSIS APOCALYPSEOS OR THE Revelation of S t John UNVEILED CHAPTER I. 1. THe Revelation of Iesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass Not therefore the Revelation of things * manifestly foreshewn by him already or that are already past so that any entire Visions or Prefigurations should be here expected of them which would but make them more obscure but of things which are to come some sooner and some later but all of them shortly in respect of some successions of Ages in the Church or other that they may perpetually be advertised of their concerns and stand upon their guard And he sent and signified it by his Angel unto his servant Iohn This Revelation I say was made to Jesus Christ by God that he might communicate it to his servants for which end he sent his holy Angel by whose ministry these things through prophetick Visions and Prefigurations wrought and impressed upon his Inward Man were conveyed to Iohn 2. Who bare record of the Word of God and of the testimony of Iesus Christ and of all things that he saw This is he who is usually called Iohn the Divine for giving that Record of the Word of God in the beginning of his Gospel and of the Divinity of Jesus and who declared that which was from the beginning which he had heard seen and handled of the Word of Life and did testifie in writing the Actions of Jesus and all things that he faw 3. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things that are written therein That are written in the volume of these Prophecies consisting chiefly of three parts the Vision of the Seven Churches the Vision of the Seven Seals the seventh whereof contains the seven Trumpets all which belong to the sealed Book and the Visions that appertain to the opened Book amongst which are the seven Vials and all the rest of the Visions of this Volume that some way or other are reducible to these Blessed is he that observes the things written in this Book of Prophecies that he may order his life accordingly and alwayes approve himself such as he is by these Visions admonished to be and adhere to Christ sincerely and to his True Church in all conditions For the time is at hand namely for the fulfilling of such Vision as appertain to the earlier Scene of the Affairs of the Church and will ever be at hand to the end of the world for the fulfilling of some Visions of this Book or other 4. Iohn to the seven Churches which are in Asia To the * truly Catholick and Apostolick Church distinguished into seven successions reaching from the beginning of the Church to the end of the world * and dispensed on
the face of the Earth Grace he unto you and peace all favour happiness and prosperity From him which is and which was and which is to come from the Eternal Jehovah who graspeth all past present and to come in the eternity of his Wisdom and Power And from the seven spirits which are before his throne And from all his holy Angels that are assisting at his Throne and in a readiness to be sent upon messages and to minister for the good of his people 5. And from Iesus Christ who is the faithful Witness and the first-begotten of the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth From Jesus Christ that faithful Witness of the Will of his Father when he was upon Earth and the first-begotten of the dead the first-fruits of them that slept to whom is given the right of all the Kingdoms of the Earth to be Prince over them all and to rule them in Righteousness and Peace To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood That so loved us that he laid down his life for us for a propitiation for our sins and to wash us from all the silth thereof through sincere repentance and mortification of our lusts out of a due and gratefull return of love to him that died for us 6. And hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father namely by this victory over our corruptions through faith in him to offer spiritual sacrifices of Prayers and Thanksgiving with an utter resignation of our selves to the will of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. To him be glory and Dominion for ever and for ever Amen 7. Behold he cometh in the clouds so vast a prospect have the prophecies of this Book and will judge the whole world at the last day And every eye shall see him and they also that pierced him either in his own person or wounded him and killed him in the persecution and murdering of his living members And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him namely all those that have thus outragiously sinned against him Even so Amen This is a certain truth let scoffers and unbelievers say and imagine what they please 8. And that this may not seem strange that his Providence and Power reaches so far as to the very last there is presently added I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the Ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty whose administration therefore of Affairs and the presence of his Power is palpably to be felt and plainly to be discerned from the beginning of the Church to the end of the world He is the Almighty grasping all things in the hand of his All-comprehending Providence 9. I Iohn who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Iesus Christ both which he hath bequeathed to his faithfull followers Was in the Isle that is called Patmos one of the Cyclades so called in the Aegean Sea for the word of God and for the testimony of Iesus Christ thither banished for the preaching the Word of God and bearing witness to the Truths of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus 10. And it came to pass in this Island that I was in the spirit on the Lords day actuated and impressed upon in my inward man my mind being vacant from this earthly body and external senses and wholly seised by this Divine and Angelical Power which caused in it the following Visions and Prophetical Impressions but as lively and clear as any objects to the outward or corporeal senses And when I was thus in the Spirit and had as it were left the body in this ecstasie I heard behind me a great voice as of a Trumpet 11. Saying I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last and shall declare unto thee such things as concern the Church continuedly from the first beginning thereof to the end of the world And what therefore thou seest write in a Book and send it unto the Seven Churches which are in Asia unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna and unto Pergamus and unto Thyatira and unto Sardis and Philadelphia and unto Laodicea that is to say send it to the truly Catholick and Apostolick Church dispread upon the face of the Earth and divided into seven successions unto the Ephesine succession and unto the Smyrnean succession and unto the Pergamenian succession and unto the Thyatirian succession and unto the Sardian succession and unto the Philadelphian succession and unto the Laodicean succession Which seven successions one after another fill up the whole time of the Church Universal from the beginning thereof to the end of the world 12. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me to see who it was that spake thus to me And being turned I saw seven golden Candle-sticks 13. And in the midst of the seven golden Candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man the Representation namely of Christ as he is also one with his Church For we are Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones They two shall be one flesh This is a great Mystery saith the Apostle but I speak of Christ and his Church Cloathed with a garment down to the foot and girt about the pops with a golden girdle in token that he is our High Priest this habit alluding to the High Priests Vestments 14. His head and his hairs were white like wool as white as snow for the greater venerableness of this High Priests person and in token he is that Christ that the Prophet calls Councellour the Mighty God the Everlasting Father For these are the symbols of his Wisdom and Paternal Authority And his eyes were as a flame of fire to signifie the penetrancy of his Providence and spirit of discerning both in himself and in his Church 15. And his feet like unto fine brass as if they burned in a furnace which shews the stability and purity of his wayes in himself and the constancy of his Church in the furnace of affliction and fiery tryals And his voice as the sound of many waters Which plainly discovers that Christ is here represented in union with his Church Waters signifying a Multitude in the prophetick stile as most certainly they do 16. And he had in his right hand seven stars The seven stars according to his own Interpretation are the seven Angels of the seven successions of the Church whom he bears up sustains and strengthens throughout all Ages And out of his mouth went a hard two-edged sword a Symbol of Christ as he is the Living Word of God quick and powerfull and sharper than any two-edged sword And denotes also the powerfull Word of the Gospel preached by the Living Members of his Church And his countenance was as the Sun that shineth in his strength This is spoke in reference to him as he is called the Sun of Righteousness or in reference to
the Church in the state of the New Jerusalem of which it is said There shall be no night there and they need no candle nor the light of the Sun For the Lord God giveth them light and they shall reign for ever and ever 17. And when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead as being exceedingly afraid that this fight might portend some great evil to the people of God And he laid his right hand upon me saying unto me Fear not I am the First and the Last And though there may be some great Afflictions and Tryals of my Church represented to thee in what thou seest yet thou must remember nothing shall come to pass without my Providence who am the First and the Last and will carry you through all Persecutions and Deaths and make you at length more than Conquerours 18. I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the Keys of Hell and of Death as if he should say For I am now alive though I was my self dead once and crucified but behold I am alive for Ever Amen This is most certainly true of him whom this Vision represents and that he has the Keys of Hell and Death And therefore no man need fear to undergo martyrdom for his Cause who will certainly make him partaker of a Blessed Immortality and plunge his barbarous persecutors into everlasting perdition Wherefore after this encouragement to Iohn he sayes 19. Write the things which thou hast seen and the things which are and the things which shall be hereafter that is write the things which thou hast seen and known already as being past and the things that are present and the things that are to come after viz. The affairs of the first succession of the Church which is the Ephesine succession the affairs of the present succession of the Church in which S t Iohn wrote these Visions which is the Smyrnean and of the rest of the successions of the Church which are to come afterwards 20. Which affairs thus distributed into seven successions or intervals are indeed the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks For the seven stars are the Angels of the seven Churches that is the seven successions of Bishops and Pastors that are to shine forth in the brightness and purity of their Life and Doctrine in the seven successions of the Churches And the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven successions of the Apostolick Church here called seven Churches NOTES CHAPTER I. Vers. 1. Manifestly shewn already by him or that are past c. This is spoken in reference to the absurd Interpretations of Grotius in the first six Seals and the first six Trumpets who fixes the Scene of all those Visions in Judea and ends them with the sacking of the City which was before S t John wrote the Apocalypse for he wrote it in Domitian's time But what will not prejudiced Wits imagine rather than stoop to the Truth See my Mystery of Godliness Book 5. chap. 16. And Synops. Prophetic Book 2. chap. 2. sect 4 5 c. Vers. 4. Truly Catholick and Apostolick Church c. This I conceive to be comprehended in the name Asia in allusion to the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Asia signifying Fundamentum as if he should say To all the Churches that keep the Apostolical Foundation in Doctrine and Practice that keep in it and swerve not from it by admitting any thing contrary thereto And dispersed on the face of the earth c. This also is comprised in the word Asia by allusion to another Hebrew word of a like nearness of sound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Asia again and is the lowest of those four Worlds notoriously known amongst the Cabbalists Aziluth Briah Jetzirah Asia of which last the lowest part is this Earth we tread upon So evidently is the allusion to the nearness of sound in words made use of in this Book of the Apocalypse See another reason from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my Exposition of the seven Churches Vers. 19. The affairs of the first succession of the Church which is the Ephesine succession the affairs of the present c. That the affairs of the Ephesine succession were past when S t John received those Visions in Patmos is plain from hence because he received them about the end of Domitians Reign But the beginning of the Smyrnean succession is in the tenth of Nero or not long before which is about thirty years before S t John received the Visions in Patmos Besides that the Ephesine succession is described amongst other characters as not yet being stained with the doctrine and deeds of the Nicolaitans But the Nicolaitans appeared in the twelfth year of Nero as you may see in Spandanus the Epitomizer of Baronius Therefore the Ephesine succession was to expire before that time So plain is it that it was past when S t John was in Patmos But hence emerges a difficulty that well may stumble some viz. Being the Ephesine succession was then past why should there be an Epistle directed to it which is as if one should write to the deceased To which I answer That this Book of Prophecies being designed a Representation of the State of the Church or of the Empire in reference to the Church from the very beginning of the Church that the Representation might be the more compleat by not leaving out that little Time that was then past to the end of the world in that way I say it is comprized whether Epistolar or other it is to be begun and continued throughout And therefore in the Prophetical Vision of the Seals as the first Seal is rather an History than a Prophecy though disguised under Prophetick Iconismes For the time of the thing signified there by the Rider of the White Horse which the whole stream of Interpreters understand of Christ guiding and assisting the Apostles and his Church in the Apostolick times was in a manner quite expired when John wrote the Apocalypse So this Epistle to the Ephesine succession of the Church is to be conceived an Historical Description of that State of the Church rather than an Epistle though for conformity-sake it is put into this Epistolar disguise And since it is not so proper to write Epistles to any but those who are in present Being surely they who are satisfied there is no absurdity in writing in this Epistolar way to the successions of the Church not yet come ought to think the using this Epistolar form to a succession already past the more tolerable But supposing the Apocalypse a designed Representation as I hinted above of the affairs or state of the Church set out by a triple Prophecy this of the Seven Churches the second of the Sealed Book and the last of the Opened Book and that the Prophecy of the Sealed Book and of the Opened Book each
I have not found thy works perfect before God For you do not go on towards perfection nor are ye in a growing state though ye have not yet reached your due stature approvable before God which is a sign you are in a state of languishment and vergency towards death 3. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent Since you profess your selves reformed into a true Apostolick Church remember what you have heard out of the Apostles writings How that I so loved my Church that I gave my self for it that I might sanctifie it that I might make it a glorious Church having neither spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish And let not the vain glosses of any faint-hearted hypocrites deceive or discourage you Remember also what ye heard of Antichrist That man of sin that exalts himself above all that is called God and worshipped and for ever abandon that wicked and Idolatrous Communion And take heed of that nauseous and detestable ingratitude of not setting a due value of my redeeming you from that worse than Aegyptian or Babylonian Captivity into the Gospel-liberty And be not imposed upon by the fine words and subtil sophistry of either known enemies or perfidious brethren These and such like things as these taught by my Apostles and repeated again by the first Reformers be sure to hold fast and repent of your slipperiness and remisness of your easiness and inclinableness again to the flesh-pots of Aegypt the carnal entertainments under that mystical Pharaoh at Rome If therefore thou shalt not watch I will come on thée as a thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee These things therefore I strictly command thee and charge thee to do which if thou wilt not carefully and diligently observe and have a due watch over thy wayes I will come on thee of a sudden and surprize thee with some terrible judgement for thy gross ingratitude and thou shalt not know what hour I come upon thee before the storm certainly overtake thee God make the Reformed Churches sensible of this sad commination which is foretold them for no other purpose than that by their timely repentance and carefull watchfulness they may avoid it 4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy There be some few excellent persons and of a true Christian Spirit scattered up and down in the Reformed Churches though the generality be so bad and imperfect who have not defiled their Garments the inward nor outward cloathing of their Soul nor spotted the decency of their conversation by any scandal of the flesh With these innocent and spotless souls not soiled or stained with the filth of the usual tinctures of the flesh will I converse by my spirit whereby they shall be able to walk with me with all innocency and integrity of heart for ever For they are persons meet and fit for such converse 5. He that overcometh the same shall be cloathed in white raiment They that overcome all difficulties inward and outward and persist in purity and true holiness they shall be cloathed in white rayment that is they shall be successfull and prosperous in the affairs of my Kingdom which they endeavour to propagate And I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life that is this sort of men shall continue to the Philadelphian succession and onwards to the end of the world And this Book of Life to them shall be as the Crown of Life to the Smyrnean succession shall be their security from persecution and death That Church which they introduce into the world which is the Philadelphian shall never be brought again under the Subjection Tyranny and Persecution of any Power whatsoever But I will confess his Name before my Father and before his Angels I will in a special manner recommend them to the good Providence of God and the watchful Ministry of his holy Angels 6. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches The Reformed Churches especially let them take particular notice what the Holy Ghost has here delivered That Christ who holds the seven Stars in his right hand and appears thus to the Reformed Churches as he did to the Ephesine or first Apostolick Church is as ready and serious in the renewing and the reforming of his Church as he was then in setting it on foot first in the world And he appears as then walking in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks which signifies his helpfull presence to his Church so here with the succour of his Divine Graces and Ministry and assistance of his holy Angels So that nothing is wanting to rouse us effectually out of this carnal drousiness toward the attainment of the dispensation of the Spirit and Power except our own sincerity and diligent attention to and firm belief of the Oracles of God So that the main success of things hitherto as to the effect of Religion in the Reformed Churches lies at our own doors God give us grace to consider it 7. And to the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia write To the Bishops and Pastors especially but together with their Charge of the Philadelphian succession which begins where the Sardian ends and reaches to the fourth Thunder * and discovers its nature and condition in its name write thus These things saith he that is holy and speaks to a Church that willingly listens to such monitions as these Be ye holy for I am holy and Be ye perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect He that is true And will verifie all his glorious promises in the Philadelphian succession or blessed Millennium to all those that trust in his Word He that has the key of David He that is the Chief Minister of State to the Eternal God * whom the Apostle Iohn calls LOVE He that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth He that when he will can open the door of success to his own and shut it again when he will against his Enemies and so administer all things prosperously 8. I know thy works and designs and highly approve of them I know thou doest nothing out of bitter zeal faction or self-seeking nothing out of vain-glory or any other worldly end but simply out of love of Me and of my Righteousness and out of love to all Mankind for the promoting of whose both present and future happiness thou dost all thy endeavours and therefore Behold I have set before thée an open door and no man can shut it against thee For thou hast a little strength and hast kept my Word and hast not denyed my Name Though thou hadst but a little Force or Army in comparison of the rest of the world yet thou hast been valiant and stood for my Word stoutly and couragiously
Chap. 8. The Apostle Iohn calls Love And so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Amor as also dilectus amatus which will answer to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Platonists which is the highest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all Vers. 14. And whose name denotes the nature thereof c. For Laodicea signifies either the Righteousness of the People that is an external popular mode of Righteousness the inward Life and Spirit decaying which is too much the state of Laodicea Or it signifies the judging of the People because in this Interval of the Church namely at the end thereof Christ will come visibly to Judge and Sentence all People to their final doom CHAPTER IV. HItherto reaches the first part of this Book of Prophecies which has this peculiar and distinctly from the other two that follow That as they run altogether upon real Symbols or Iconismes Representations or Images of what is foretold taken from Things this first part did most what run upon Nominal or Paranomastical Iconismes or Images consisting in allusion to Words or Names that signified the condition of things foretold as was obvious to observe in the explication of that first part of this Book The second part now begins and that as high and reaches as far as the first that is it reaches from the beginning of the Christian Church to the end of the world And it is to be observed that as this former part the so far extended Prophecy of the Churches was ushered in by a voice like a Trumpet and the glorious Representation of Christ in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks so here in this sealed Book-Prophecy here is again the voice like a Trumpet and Christ again represented in a glorious manner to shew the parity of these two Prophecies and that they are of the like concern and extent Which will appear more plain in the Interpretation after the Introduction in this Sealed Book-Prophecy which takes up the fourth and fifth Chapters is explained 1. After this I looked and behold a door was opened in Heaven After this Vision of the Seven Churches was past and I come to my self again having occasion to look upwards behold a door seemed to be opened in Heaven And the first voice which I heard was as if it were of a Trumpet talking with me And lo the first voice which I heard before the Vision of the Seven Churches as of a Trumpet talking with me saying Come up hither and I will shew thee the things which must be hereafter that is the Representations or Prefigurations of those future things 2. And immediately I was in the spirit which is a sign he was again come to himself before And behold a Throne was set in Heaven and one sat on the Throne Being thus caught up in Spirit in this Ecstasie I presently saw a Throne set in Heaven and one sitting on that Throne with great Majesty 3. And he that sat was to look upon like a Iasper and a Sardine Stone A Iasper and Sardine Stone the one famous for the firmness thereof denoting the strength or rather the Omnipotency of the Divinity the other for the red fiery colour of it denoting the piercing activity of the Divine Nature or the colour of Fire is here made choice of as being the root of Light to show that he that sits here on the Throne is God the Father Which answers to that appearance of Fire in him that sits on the Throne in Ezechiel's Vision to whom the Rainbow belongs Which is there God the Father with which this Vision has no small affinity as may appear because the Rainbow is seen also here about the Throne in sight like an Emerald that imitates the most pleasing colour of the Rainbow or Halo as it follows in the Text And there was a Rainbow round about the Throne in sight much like unto an Emerald 4. And round about the Throne were four and twenty seats and upon the seats I saw four and twenty Elders sitting cloathed in white rayment and they had on their heads Crowns of Gold Here it also varies from that Vision of Ezechiel as being framed for a Type of the future State of the Church when the New Ierusalem descends from Heaven and the Tabernacle of God is with men And therefore the four and twenty Elders are here said to sit round about the Throne as the Priests and Levites were pitched next the Tabernacle But in that they wear Crowns as well as white Rayment it implies the sanctity of the Kings in that State of the Church which this Type points at those renewed Apostolick Times in the New Ierusalem when the Conversion of the Jews will add the Heads of their twelve Tribes to the number of the twelve Apostles which these twenty four Elders or Princes of Nations may answer to And in that there is no one besides God and the Lamb here that appears to be Supream over them it signifies that in those Times the Popes Pretenses will vanish and that Kings and Princes then of the Christian Profession will know themselves and be acknowledged by all to be in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil within their own Dominions next and immediately under Christ Supream Heads and Governours 5. And out of the Throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices and there were seven Lamps of fire burning before the Throne which are the seven Spirits of God There is also mention of Lamps and Fire and Lightning though no Thundring in the Vision of Ezechiel which is the Representation of the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ which is here again typified but as a State to come of the Church here on Earth And the seven Lamps of Fire are either * all the ministring Angels or all the living and quickening Graces of the Spirit of God 6. And before the Throne there was a sea of glass like unto Crystal This is not found neither in the Vision of Ezechiel but is an Emblem also of the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ it being the pure laver of Regeneration the being baptized with the Holy Ghost and with Fire which the seven Lamps also betoken And in that it is called a sea of glass it may signifie the pure transparent condition of the Church which is a multitude as Sea signifies the fixed purity thereof being ever penetrated by the presence of the seven Lamps of Fire which are the seven Spirits of God And * in the midst of the Throne and round about the Throne were four Beasts full of eyes before and behind These four Beasts full of eyes before and behind have plainly a resemblance of the four Beasts in Ezechiel's Vision but may here more particularly relate to the four Camps of Israel which was a Type of the New Israel of God But in that they are said to be full of eyes before and behind it implies they look backward and forward into the Histories of Times past and unto the Prophecies and Predictions of things to
come for the better managing the Affairs of Christs Kingdome 7. And the first Beast was like a Lion which was the Standard of Iuda on the East side of the Camp The second Beast like a Calf which was the Standard of Ephraim on the West side of the Camp The third Beast had the face of a man which was the Standard of Reuben on the South side And the fourth Beast was like a flying Eagele which was the Standard of Dan on the North. And note that these four Beasts were thus situated in the Vision of Ezechiel And that this only is a Type of that Church that shall be cast thus into four parts the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ signified in both Visions 8. And the four Beasts had each of them six wings about him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is but hard sense if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it must signifie in a circle about him And therefore Grotius judiciously joyns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 together And so the Text runs thus Had each of them six wings And they were full of eyes without and within And they rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Now that the four Beasts are said each of them to have six wings as the Beasts in Ezechiel's Vision also have undoubtedly they have them for that use the Seraphims are said to make of them in the Prophet Esay With twain to cover their faces with twain to cover their feet and with twain to fly Which implies a Reverence of the Divine Majesty an activity and readiness in his Service and a carefulness over our Affections that we walk in clean paths And whereas they are presently said to be full of eyes without and within it implies that with one eye regarding outward objects and the other their own nature and so comparing them together they will ever behave themselves decorously and becomingly with due reverence to that which is above them in dignity and excellency and at a due distance from those things that are unworthy of them and beneath them And therefore if any such thing be offered them from without as is repugnant to the innate Light and immutable Principles of an Intellectual Creature their eyes within will easily discern the Proposer to be either a Fool or an Impostor This is the state even of the whole People of God in those dayes But as for their Reverence and devotional sense of their Maker and Redeemer it is in a manner perpetual they rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come who fills all things and times with his Presence and Providence And as the People are so are their Priest-like Princes and Rulers For it follows immediately in the next Verses 9. And when those Beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the Throne who liveth for ever and ever 12. The four and twenty Elders also Prince and People being of one heart and mind fall down before him that sat on the Throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever and tast their Crowns before the Throne in humble acknowledgment from whom and for whom they Reign even for the manifesting of the Glory and Honour and Power of God in the Kingdom of his Saints And therefore they are introduced Saying 11. Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast Created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were Created NOTES CHAPTER IV. Vers. 5. All the Ministring Angels or all the Living c. For Seven we substitute All in this place the Septenary Number with the Cabbalists signifying Universality whence of the Pythagoreans it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the full comprehension of the numbers of sundry things in this Book of the Apocalypse is terminated in Seven Vers. 6. In the midst of the Throne and round about the Throne c. The Beasts seem to have been placed to S t John 's sight so as that one appeared just in the midst before the Throne and the spectacle being exhibited to him shelvingly another appeared beyond the Throne in the same line and two other the one on this side and the other on that side in a line cutting that other in right Angles so that they at due distances encompassed the Throne in a Circle exteriour to the twenty four Elders And in that they were not only seen as it were in the middle of the Throne in the sense abovesaid but on each side also and so encompassed the Throne placed in the common sections or conterminations of the four quadrants of the Circle drawn about it they are said to be not only in the midst of the Throne but about the Throne in a Circle at equal distances Or else in the midst that is within the Circle of the Throne which is thus conceived to be drawn about it but so near that the Beasts supposed like those in Ezechiel will have the same faces appear within the verges of the Throne that appeared without but in opposite places But then the Elders must be placed in a Circle without the Beasts which will make these Priestly Kings less answer to the Levites But thereby we are the better assured that they are Kings and not Priests It 's possible both these wayes may be glanced at in the Vision and that it may reflect both on the Camp of Israel and Vision of Ezechiel at once CHAPTER V. 1. ANd I saw in the right hand of him that sate on the Throne that is in the hand of God a Book written within and on the backside viz. A Book that had a more outward sense in the meer Letter which consists of Representations Symbolical or Hieroglyphical of Iconismes or Images of things future and a more inward sense which is the sense of the future things themselves thus represented in Symbols or Images This Book of Prophecies was in the hand of God the Father in his power to impart it to whom he pleased as it is intimated in the beginning of the Apocalypse which is said to be the Revelation of Jesus Christ but that God gave it unto him sealed with seven seals And in that this Book is said to be sealed with seven seals it shews what a great Arcanum or Secret it was it being a Representation of a Scene of Affairs reaching from the beginning of the Church to the end of the world 2. And I saw a strong Angel proclaiming with a loud voice Who is worthy to open the Book and to loose the Seats thereof And that the inestimable worth of this Book of Prophecies which sottish and prophane Spirits so much slight and vilifie and crafty Politicians so much harden themselves against may appear here is proclamation made by a strong Angel with a loud voice Who is worthy to open c. that is Who is worthy to have so vast
a foresight of things communicated to him from God as to endite such a Book of Prophecies as this 3. And no man in Heaven nor in Earth neither under the Earth was able to open the Book neither to look thereon And this proclamation being made there was none found neither of the Angels in Heaven or Men upon Earth or Infernal Spirits under the Earth who are vulgarly accounted so wise and cunning and in whom Witches and Wizards so confide for the knowledge of things to come that were able to open the Book or look thereon i. e. That had so reaching a foresight as to pierce through such a large series of future things as is contained in this Book which intimates that nothing but the holy Power of God could be the Author thereof 4. And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the Book neither to look thereon That is to say I was sorely grieved that there was none found meet or worthy to have imparted to him so stupendious a faculty of foretelling things to come in such a manner as they are in this Book So useful a gift of Prophecy Where Iohn personates every good Christian that is solicitous for the affairs of the Church and thoughtfull what will become of her 5. And one of the Elders saith to me wéep not Cease to be so grieved and troubled in spirit Behold the Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda the root of David hath prevailed to open the Book and to loose the seven Seals thereof Christ hath by his courageously fulfilling the will of his Father obtained this priviledge That he may open the Book and loose the Seals thereof that is to have so wonderfull a comprehension of future things and piercing foresight by the gift of his Father as to foresee all that is contained in this Book and to communicate it to his Church 6. And I beheld and lo in the midst of the Throne and of the four Beasts and in the midst of the Elders That is betwixt God the Father and the Church stood a Lamb as it had been slain and with bleeding wounds upon him the blessed Jesus Mediator betwixt God and Man as he is here placed betwixt the Throne and the four Beasts Having seven horns which are the Emblems of Power as being he to whom All Power is given in Heaven and in Earth And seven Eyes All manner of Wisdom and Counsel and all the Angels of God at his beck to execute his Counsel and his Will which is implied in what follows which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth unto all the Earth 7. And he came and took the Book out of the right hand of him that sate upon the Throne That is it was given to him of his Father to have so vast a foresight of things to come from the beginning of the Church even to the end of the World and Power to effect what was foreknown according to the beginning of this Book of the Apocalypse The Revelation of Iesus Christ which God gave unto him c. which shews that the whole Book of the Apocalypse the Epistles to the seven Churches as well as the Visions that follow is a Prophetical Revelation of things to come 8. The consideration of which wonderful Gift and Power signified by this receiving of the Book being made so exceeding manifest in the times of the Spiritual Reign of Christ in the New Ierusalem which Times this pompous Introduction to the Prophecy of the sealed Book does typifie For the four and twenty Elders belong to that state of the Church will raise a wonderful strain of Faith and Devotion in them and admiration of the stupendious Providence of Christ over his Church as it is signified by what follows And when he had taken the Book the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb having every one of them Harps and golden Uials full of Odours which are the praises and prayers of the Saints 9. And they sing a new Song saying And then will they sing a new Song namely they will then praise their Creator and Redeemer for that new constitution of things in the Reign of the Spirit as it is written Chap. 21. And he that sate upon the Throne said Behold I make all things new And he said straightway to Iohn It is done I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end I will give him that is a thirst of the fountain of life freely that is I will communicate unto him my Spirit here and make him partaker of Eternal Life hereafter in my heavenly Kingdom and they will say as follows Thou O Christ wert worthy to take the Book and open the seals thereof that is to have communicated unto thee so vast a comprehension of the futurity of things as is contained in this Book of Prophecies and Power to carry on things as they are predicted For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation This is but a just reward of thy endearing sufferings upon the Cross for the salvation of Mankind 10. And hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reign upon Earth In this blessed Millennium which thou hast long ago shown to thy Church in that admirable Book of Prophecies which by the Ministry of an Angel thou communicatest to thy beloved Disciple Iohn 11. And to show further how holy heavenly and Angelical those Times will be and what an Union and Agreement betwixt the Church of Christ and the Angelical Hosts it is further added And I beheld and I heard the voice of many Angels round about the Throne and the Beasts and the Elders which Beasts and Elders signifie the Church of Christ consisting of men upon the Earth And the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands 12. These innumerable companies of Angels joyn themselves to the Quire of the Church saying with a loud voice Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing as by whom the State of the Church is brought to such a blessed condition upon Earth according to the predictions of this Book of Prophecies Let all therefore be ascribed to him 13. Nay the completion of this Book of Prophecies in those Times will be such an Universal conviction of the Divinity and Sonship of Christ that he was really and in truth the foretold Messias the Beginner and Finisher of the Works of God to his Church that that will come to pass that follows And every Creature which is in Heaven and on the Earth and under the Earth and such as are in the Sea and all that are in them heard I saying Blessing Honour Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever All intelligent Beings and Spirits whether belonging
to Heaven Earth or Sea even the Infernal Spirits themselves shall in the inward powers of their minds and consciences be forced to break out and confess upon the completion of this Book of Prophecies That all Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power is due unto him that sits on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever 14. And the four Beasts said Amen Unto this the four Beasts that is the Church of Christ here upon Earth we may be sure will say Amen that is consent to such a doxologie And the four and twenty Elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever that is All the Kings and Princes of this truly Catholick and Apostolick Church will fall down and worship him that was dead but is now alive and behold he liveth for evermore that is they will devotionally adhere to him serve him and obey him who according to the promise made to his Church has brought things at last to such an Admirable Heavenly Holy Righteous and Peaceful Constitution So Glorious an Effect will there be of the completion of the Prophecies of this Book both as to Christ and also as to his Church Which shows how detestable the ingratitude is of such either shallow and frivolous or prophane Spirits or cunning obdurate Politicians that phancying it not to sute with their worldly Interest vilifie and decry it when as indeed this Book of Prophecies will prove the most effectual instrument in the hand of Providence that may be for the rooting all Atheism and Infidelity out of the world and Converting all the Kingdoms of the Earth to the Faith and Profession of our Lord Jesus Christ. CHAPTER VI. 1. HItherto the Introduction to the Prophecies of the Sealed Book we come now to the Prophecies themselves And I saw says Iohn when the Lamb opened one of the Seals that is the first Seal And I heard as it were the noise of thunder one of the four Beasts that is the first of the four Beasts the Lion whose place is towards the East saying Come and see Where we may observe how some parts of the Introductory Representation are made use of in this following Vision as some parts of the description of him that was seen amongst the golden Candlesticks are made use of in the Prefaces of the Epistles to the Churches 2. And I saw and behold a white Horse and he that sate on him had a Bow Which Heros on horseback and on a white Horse signifies a great Commander or Emperour Righteous Prosperous and Glorious in his undertaking And in that he is said to appear upon the first Beast the Lion placed on the East side his saying Come and see it is a sign that he is an Emperour from the East part of the World and in a word it is the Lion of the Tribe of Iuda that Captain of our Salvation Jesus Christ who being ascended into Glory was yet present with his Church affording them all succours to carry on their Spiritual Warfare And these Gospel-soldiers came from Iudea in the East And in that he is said to have a Bow it denotes that he aimed at something of no mean importance And this Heros on Horseback with his Bow answers to the Ephesine succession of the Church whose name imports earnest purpose or desire but the thing aimed at or designed is specified in the following words And a Crown was given unto him to wit the right of it even the Roman Imperial Crown and this Bow-man hat the mark when the Emperour Constantine turned Christian This is also the Crown promised to the Church in the Smyrnean succession Be thou faithfull unto death and I will give thee the Crown of Life the Crown of security from Pagan persecution And he went forth conquering and to conquer This Heros on the white Horse went forth conquering and to conquer till he obtained this Crown under the sixth Seal 3. And when he had opened the second Seal I heard the second Beast that is the Calf or Oxe say Come and sée 4. And there went out another Horse that was red a colour significant enough of the effusion of blood as the Oxe also of the great slaughter that was to be under this Seal and what follows plainly implies so much And power was given to him that sate thereon to take peace from the Earth and that they should kill one another and there was given to him a great Sword as a token of exceeding much blood-shed on the Earth under the second Seal This Seal therefore begins with Trajan a Spaniard and therefore an Emperour from the West In his Reign and Adrian's his successor there were so great commotions in the Empire that there were slain in those Tumults and Rebellions at least fifteen hundred thousand men 5. And when he had opened the third Seal I heard the third Beast that had a face like a man and was placed on the South say Come and see And I beheld and lo a black Horse and he that sate on him had a pair of balances in his hand The black colour betokens Gravity Severity Justice which Justice also is intimated by the face of a Man this third Beast is said to have Prudence and Justice being the proper characters of a Man Which sutes well with the last part of the description the pair of Balances in the Riders hand which argues him Severe Just Frugal and Provident 6. Which accordingly is exprest by that voice in the midst of the four Beasts And I heard a voice in the midst of the four Beasts say A measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny and see thou hurt not the oyl and wine that is the Rider of the black Horse will take special care 1. That if one Choenix of wheat be sold for a penny that three of barley shall be sold for a penny 2. That men shall live by their honest labours not by theft or rapine For Choenix signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the food for a day and Denarius the wages for a days labour 3. There shall be no stealing nor robbing but buying by measure though it should prove so hard a time that their dayes labour will but find them food 4. He will provide that they shall have a Choenix for a penny viz. that the price of bread-corn and necessary victuals shall not exceed a dayes wages And so of Wine and Oyl he will take care that there be no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no fraud in buying and selling there neither nor spoil and wast by unruly Soldiers Which prediction was egregiously fulfilled in Septimius Severus an African and therefore an Emperour from the South and in Alexander the Son of Mammea both of them notorious lovers of Justice and severe punishers of Thieves and Robbers To the latter the sight of an unjust Judge was so nauseous that he was ready to vomit at him and he was famous for that Christian Motto Do as
and the beginning of the Creation of God and therefore he who could also put an end to it And so here there is the like vehement asseveration that the stage of the Earth must have an end at the last Thunder which will bring upon it the Conflagration For so he saith That there should be time no longer that is That there shall be here no more time upon Earth 7. Saving in the dayes of the voice of the seventh Angel when he shall sound and the mystery of God be finished as he has declared to his servants the Prophets that is Those predictions be fulfilled which in such a mystical and symbolical stile God hath foretold by his Prophets Isaiah Daniel and Ezechiel and others which reach to the very end of the world or of the stage of things on this Earth And this is the first part of this marvellous Transition from the Prophecy of the Sealed Book to that of the Opened Book 8. And the voice which I heard from Heaven namely at the beginning of the Sealed-Book-Prophecy spake unto me again in the tone of a Trumpet suppose as it did before And said Go and take the little Book which is open in the hand of the Angel which standeth upon the Sea and upon the Earth Namely in the hand of Christ now in the form of an Angel as before in the form of a Lamb but the same person still under another form as it is the same Book though opened now when sealed before But this new change in both denotes a new series of Prophecies from the beginning of the Church to the end of the world as those of the Sealed Book were 9. And I went unto the Angel and said unto him Give me the little Book And he said unto me Take it and eat it up and it shall make thy belly bitter but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey that is Though the knowledge of future things may be pleasant and tempting to the curious Reader of this Book yet when he shall throughly digest it or understand it it will be bitter by reason of the several sad and bitter things contained in it As the sad persecution of the Primitive Christians in the Smyrnean succession of the Church and the foul Apostasie of the Church into gross Idolatry under the Reign of Antichrist or the Whore of Babylon and the most barbarous persecutions of them that will not submit to her wicked and Idolatrous Tyranny And there is bitterness enough for her too at the last which makes her paramours so loth to understand this Book of Prophecies aright 10. And I took the little Book out of the Angels hand and ate it up and it was in my mouth sweet as honey and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was bitter that is my stomach was bitter which is a prefiguration of the condition of those that shall read this Book and rightly digest it that is truly understand it Though there be pleasure in the understanding it yet when these sad things touching the Church were to come it could not but be bitterness to them that is the Book is of that nature that it would so affect a Christian. 11. And he said unto me Thou must prophecy again that is Thou must run over again from the same Epocha of time this race of prophecying that is foretell as before the fate or state of the Empire so now the fate or state of the Christian Church from the beginning thereof to the end of the world Before many Peoples and Nations and Tongues and Kings that is to their faces so that they may all understand how they are concerned in this Prophecy of the opened Book And thus is the Transition from the Sealed-Book-Prophecy to the Opened-Book-Prophecy in both the parts thereof fully finished Now follow the Visions themselves of the Opened-Book-Prophecy and that in a sufficiently natural and rational order those Visions that reach from the beginning of the Church being placed first NOTES Chapter X. Vers. 7. Saving in the dayes of the voice of the seventh Angel when he shall sound c. Instead of But in the dayes I have rendered it Saving in the dayes the sense of this verse in the Original being exceeding imperfect and ungrammatical unless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be supposed to be put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saving or except And that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies so sometimes is abundantly plain out of several instances in the New Testament Mat. 20.22 But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 except to those for whom it is prepared of my Father And Mat. 7.8 compared with Mark 9.8 where the former has it And when they lift up their eyes they saw no man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 save Jesus only the latter has it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is plainly put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and our English Translation renders it save Jesus only These and other such like places has Grotius himself noted to our hand which makes it manifest that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifies as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 except or saving And being the sense is maimed in this place of the Apocalypse unless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be so rendred it is plain that it is the sense of this particle here And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have rendred when he shall sound not when he shall begin to sound as if it were restrained to the beginning of the sounding because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implies no such thing See my Ratio Synchronistica cap. 2. sect 3. Wherefore it is plain that the Angel swears there shall be no more Time on Earth saving in the space of the seventh Trumpet and that therefore there will be an end of this terrestrial Scene of things contrary to the confident conceit of those scoffing Atheists 2 Peter 3.3 And moreover that since we are at the end of all in this seventh Verse that there is a beginning of a new series of Prophecies from the first Epocha afterwards CHAPTER XI 1. ANd there was given to me a réed like unto a Rod and the Angel stood saying Rise and measure the Temple of God and the Altar and those that worship therein That is all that space that is contained within the inward Court. In the first part whereof is the Temple which consists of the Sanctum and Sanctum Sanctorum and in the latter part thereof stands the Altar of Holocausts which whole space therefore is Thysiasterion or the place of sacrificing and was not to be rendred Altar but the place where the Altar stands For the Priests did not worship in the Altar but in the place where the Altar was erected Which place the Greek Text calls Thysiasterion And in that it is said Measure them that worship therein it
was trodden without the City that is this powerful conviction neither began in nor reached to the City of Babylon the Roman Hierarchy or Polity for wood and stone is not here meant but a Polity or Society of men as is observable in the seventh Vial that though the Cities of the Nations fell by those powerful Boanerges's yet this Babylon the great though hail-stones of a Talent weight fell upon them were not converted or convinced in their consciences but blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail it was so exceeding great And in the Vision of the Rider of the White Horse the false Prophet and his adherents were taken and their power abolished as to that Tyranny and Idolatry they exercised before but it was the rest only that were slain with the Sword that proceeded out of the mouth of him that sate on the white Horse it was they only that were converted and convinced by the powerful preaching of the Everlasting Gospel the pure Gospel of Christ cleansed from all the filth and trumperies all the Idolatries and Superstitions of Antichrist And they are the same that are pressed here by Christs Vintagers or Grape-pressers but the City of Babylon proves obdurate and uncapable of any such pressure of conscience or true contrition for her Abominations so strongly is she hardened in her pretense of Infallibility And blood came out of the Wine-press even to the Horses bridles This again shows plainly that the Vision of the Rider of the white Horse and his Company and this of the Wine-press is all one But this signifies a full conviction in the convicted and a perfect victory over the contumacious which is further illustrated by what follows By the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs which signifies the exceeding largeness and universality as it were of the victory if we read as we may sixteen Hecatontads or Centuries of furlongs And then as in the number 666 and as in the 144 Chiliads by extracting the square root we find the symbolical meaning of them so by the extracting the square root of sixteen which is four we find the symbolical meaning of this * For four is the symbol of Vniversality with the Pythagoreans and Cabbalists Which construction sutes wonderfully well with the Visions this is a parallel to namely that of the seventh Vial and the Battel of the Rider of the White Horse Which is the Battel of that Great Day of God Almighty to which the Kings of the Earth and of the whole world are gathered together and the defeat is proportionable For upon this defeat all the Kingdoms of the World will become the Kingdoms of God and of his Christ. NOTES CHAPTER XIV Vers. 20. For four is the symbol of Universality with the Pythagoreans and Cabbalists c. That the Ancient true Cabbalists held the number Four to be a symbol of Universality is plain from the fourth dayes Creation Which is indeed the Creation of the whole world in general according to the Philosophick Cabbala And as for the Pythagoreans it is frequent with them to call their Tetractys that is the number four 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All Number as Photius observes because all number is made up in Ten and the putting together of every number in Four viz. 1 2 3 4. makes up Ten 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this reason the Pythagoreans called the number four All number or the whole number And Suidas reports the same almost in the very same words concerning the Pythagoreans For the abovesaid reason saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they called the number Four All number as universally comprehending all Number in it And Philo Judaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The number Four is called All number or the whole Number because it comprehends what reaches to Ten and the Number Ten it self Which again he asserts but with that distinction that Ten is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All number or the whole entire Number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 actually but Four 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 potentially which Hierocles expresseth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whereby he would insinuate that before we make up explicitly Ten by the Numbers contained in Four viz. 1 2 3 4. there is notwithstanding an implicite or complicate entireness of Ten in the Number Four Which is sufficient to make it a symbol of Universality See Meursius his Denarius Pythagoricus This therefore being the symbolical significancy of Four the root of Sixteen I do not doubt but that I have hit upon the genuine sense of the sixteen hundred furlongs But before I was aware of this Mystery I was fain to take up with M r Mede 's conceit that they relate to Stato della Chiesa and to the Holy Land but so as I understood it mystically For the literal sense of sixteen hundred furlongs overflown with blood so that it reached to the horse-bridles never seemed to me either credible or tolerable CHAPTER XV. IN two several setts of Visions the one contained in the eleventh Chapter the other in the twelfth thirteenth and fourteenth Chapters and each of them beginning from the first Epocha of the Christian Church and ending with the last Vial or first thunder have the Prophecies of the Opened Book hitherto been contained as being most general and comprehensive taking in all the five intervals of the Ephesine Smyrnean Pergamenian Thyatirian and Sardian Churches together with the beginning of the Philadelphian Now according to right method some particulars are more copiously or clearly explained As for example the transition out of the Thyatirian condition into the Sardian the Joy and Triumph thereof is competently set out Chap. 11. vers 15 16 17. and more sparingly Chap. 14. vers 8. but most clearly and illustriously in this 15 th Chapter vers 2 3 4. Which plainly demonstrates that before the effusion of the Vials there is a considerable victory over the Beast For that Doxologie Chap. 11. is after the rising of the Witnesses And that triumphant acclamation Chap. 14. vers 8. not before the fall of Babylon And here most expresly of all in this Chapter there is thanks for a notable lately gotten victory over the Beast and over his Image c. before we come to the effusion of the Vials so that these things notably confirm one another To say nothing how the very name Sardis signifies Canticum laetitiae a Song of Ioy. 1. And I saw another sign in Heaven great and marvellous seven Angels having the seven last plagues for in them is filled up the wrath of God Namely against the Beast or Roman Hierarchy that was punished considerably by the Reformation but before there Vials be over In the cup that she has filled it will be filled to her double The seven last plagues which therefore in all reason are to be in the last Wo-trumpet and the second Wo-trumpet was past at the rising of the Witnesses And therefore the effusion of
Cabbalists that saying of R. Moses Corduero will evince Quando Neschamah exit in hunc mundum duas Aves id est duos Angelos custodes ex arbore volitare cum ea And Tertullian himself briefly and smartly Omnis Spiritus ales est hoc Angeli Daemones Every Spirit is a Fowle or Bird whether they be Angels or Devils CHAPTER XX. HItherto none of the Visions of the Opened Book have reached any further than to the last Vial which takes up the forepart of the Philadelphian Interval To which Church it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou hast a little Army so Grotius Which Army is that which is under the Command of that victorious Heros on the White Horse And the effect of his victory will make good what Christ promises to the Philadelphian Church Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Sathan which say they are Iews that is Christians and are not but the slaves of Antichrist Behold I will make them come and worship before thy feet The residue of the Visions of the Opened Book take up the following part of the Philadelphian Interval and the whole Laodicean and so reacheth to the end of all Or for more distinctness it takes up the space of the six last Thunders as the effusion of the Vials did the first 1. And I saw an Angel come down from Heaven whose Commission therefore must be from God having the key of the bottomless pit the supposed habitation or prison rather of Evil Spirits And the having the Key thereof signifies the having Power and Authority to do things there For the very Kingdom of the Devil is subject to the Power of God And a great chain in his hand which is the Power of Legislation or making Laws as some as to the sense well though not so critically derive Lex à ligando which are bonds and iron chains to tye up the wicked from doing mischief By this Angel therefore according to the Apocalyptick stile after the abolishing the Antichristian and Infidel Power are those persons understood that are impowered from God to make Laws for the more sure support of the recovered Kingdom of Christ. 2. And he said hold on the Dragon that Old Serpent which is the Devil and Satan that is the surviving wicked Ones of the Earth for whom the Dragon the Old Serpent and the Devil is here put as the Angel before for those Evangelical Legislators And the Dragon is here explained by the Devil and Old Serpent that the sense might not be restrained to the remainder of Pagans but reach also to those of the Antichristian Party now subdued which were the two-horned and ten-horned Beast to whom the Dragon yet gave his power By these express severe Laws touching the indispensable duties of a Christian not insignificant trifles and superstitions is the Dragon that is the wicked ones of what denomination soever to be laid hold on This is the constitution of the New Polity after the abolishing of the Antichristian Tyranny where it was more safe to serve the Devil and Antichrist than to approve a mans self the faithful Servant of Christ. This Constitution of things being setled which is dispatched within the space of the second Thunder then it follows And bound him a thousand years which is the Time of the third Thunder and of the blessed Millennium properly so called Which reaches to the end of the Philadelphian Interval 3. And cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he deceive the Nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled Therefore during the happy Millennium of the Reign of Christ he is as close a prisoner as can be imagined or expressed Which is a demonstration this Millennium is not yet come The Parable is of the Devil but so as to be understood of his Children here on Earth that they shall be kept under with iron or adamantine chains of rigid severe and inviolable Laws nor be permitted to do any thing that is really Profane Wicked or Antichristian nor to tempt or seduce others to do it They shall have no publick permission or connivance for such things And after that he must be loosed a little season namely in the Laodicean Interval the Evangelical Party growing more coole and remiss and the Church degenerating in many from the state of Philadelphia to that of Laodicea of whom Christ complains in his Epistle to her This loosing of Satan is conceived for order and distinctness sake to happen under the fourth Thunder 4. And I saw Thrones and they sate upon them and Iudgment was given unto them This Vision runs back as it was usual in the former to do and commenceth with the second Thunder Then were there Judges sitting upon Thrones and they gave judgement touching the Christian Confessors and Martyrs whether under Antichrist or the Red Dragon as follows And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Iesus and for the Word of God * And I saw also those which had not worshipped the Beast nor his Image neither had received his Mark upon their foreheads or in their hands Of these two distinct sorts it is said in common 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they lived as being true of them both and reigned with Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a thousand years but the thousand year viz. of the blessed Millennium but it is not said where and therefore it is to be understood the Martyrs in Heaven where Christ is personally and visibly present the other with their Successours on Earth where Christ is also present but by his Spirit these in bodies Terrestrial those Revivificated into their bodies Coelestial and Glorified an early priviledge peculiar to the Martyrs And therefore it follows 5. But the rest of the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lived not again much less were thus revivificated as the Martyrs were till the thousand years were finished Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being made use of and it being unproper to be said of the Confessours with those that succeed them they being considered as alive on Earth must needs respect those that are said to have been beheaded to insinuate their priviledge or different condition from all others and that though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might be truly said of them as being they that were to be revived into their glorified bodies at the beginning of the Millennium yet it was not to be said of any other men it not being to be fulfilled of them until the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till the thousand years of the Millennium be expired nay till the end of the Laodicean Interval under the sixth Thunder This is the first Resurrection This namely of the Martyrs according to the Opinion of the Primitive Fathers and that intimation to the Church of Smyrna Chap. 2. vers 11. when so many Christian Martyrs suffered He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death as to whom
death is the death of this body Wherefore it is here a seasonable monition Fear not them which kill the body but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell which is the second death infinitely worse than the former 15. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life that is in the Book of Life of the Lamb as a faithful Soldier and true Member of his Kingdom was cast into the lake of fire and underwent the same doom with the Apostate Spirits which implies that those which were found in that Book of Life were adjudged to the enjoyment of Eternal Life to reign with Christ for ever in Heaven in the Kingdom of his Father as he promises in his Epistle to the Church of Laodicea NOTES CHAPTER XX. Vers. 4. And I saw also those that had not worshipped the Beast c. That the beheaded and these are two distinct sorts of persons methinks is plainly enough insinuated in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and those who had not worshipped c. David Pareus supposes an Ellipsis which he would supply thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so secure is he that two several sorts are meant If this be not the sense why is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had been sufficient without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Text should have run And besides why is it said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they lived and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they lived again if both the Beheaded and the Not-worshippers of the Beast were of the same kind But indeed Interpreters do generally understand them to be of two sorts though otherwise they cannot hit it among themselves about the sense of this place the one sort Martyrs the other Confessours And I add surviving Confessours who with their Successours survive the Cruelty of the Beast and his Image See my Mystery of Godliness lib. 5. cap. 15. sect 6. CHAPTER XXI 1. ANd I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth One would think upon the Conflagration of this Earth immediately mentioned before But this is but the artificial embellishing of the outward Cortex of this Book of Prophecies in this place * by a Lemmatosynechia as it is called in my Synopsis Prophetica For the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away namely the former Heaven and Earth or World in the sense of the Prophetical stile according to which they denote a Polity which therefore intimates here that the Tyrannical and Idolatrous Polity of the Beast and the false Prophet which is the great Whore or great City of Babylon was now abolished as appears by Chap. 19. vers 20. And there was no more Sea no unquiet multitudes of the wicked who are like the raging waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame Tumults War and Bloodshed was under that Polity that is cast into the Lake of Fire Chap. 19. vers 20 which was the Reign of Antichrist But now the Reign of Christ is at hand who is the true Melchizedec King of Salem or Ierusalem King of Righteousness and Prince of Peace This Vision therefore goes back to the second Thunder 2. And I Iohn saw the Holy City New Ierusalem The truly Holy City not pretended Holy Church and the New Jerusalem not that Old Prophet-killing Jerusalem which is also spiritually called Sodom and Aegypt the Roman Hierarchy where Christ in his Faithful Witnesses were persecuted to death This sight therefore of the City Ierusalem is exhibited as a Polity succeeding the great City of Babylon and in opposition thereto Coming down from God out of Heaven which shows it is a Polity here upon Earth and of Divine Institution and to be setled after the utter destruction of the Whore of Babylon by a Council truly Holy and truly Oecumenical being persons of pure and upright Spirits and without all worldly interest and moreover inspired extraordinarily by the Spirit of God This is the meaning of this descent of Ierusalem from God out of Heaven all things then being to be ordered by that Wisdom which is from above when as the Constitution of the City of Babylon was from that Wisdom which is from beneath and is earthly sensual and devilish Prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband Not as a Whore to commit Fornication with the Kings of the Earth as Babylon did This Constitution of things is setled under the second Thunder after which immediately follows the Millennial Reign of Christ and is described in the following Verses 3. And I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people And God himself shall be with them namely by his Spirit whose presence shall sensibly and feelingly be acknowledged by all the Inhabiters of this New Ierusalem For this is the Reign of the Spirit or the Reign of Christ in the Spirit of which the Apostles of old witnessed Know ye not that your bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost But in the City of Babylon instead of being taught and guided by the Holy Ghost they were forced to follow their blind Guides that led them into all manner of Superstition and Idolatry and gross Disobedience to the Laws of God and Christ unless they would be persecuted and barbarously murthered And be their God that is their Protector and Defender from all manner of Evil As it follows 4. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes This Reign of Christ in the Millennium will be with that equity goodness and sweetness that no mans heart that is good shall need to be oppressed with grief or express his grief by his tears And there shall be no more death no more bloody massacrings of the Faithful Witnesses of Christ or burning them at the stake with fire and fagot as was done under the Tyranny of the Great Whore neither sorrow for the loss of Friends thus barbarously and inhumanely murthered nor crying no clamours against gross injustice and cruelty or crying out for the tortures that are inflicted on poor innocent men for keeping a good conscience towards God Neither shall there be any more pain by noisom and wearisom imprisonments or what other hardships they are put to for the testimony of a good conscience For the former things are passed away The bloody Whore or false Prophet with the Beast are now in the Lake of fire burning with brimstone And Babylon the Great like a milstone sunk into the bottom of the Sea never to rise again Such is the state of the blessed Millennium when it comes nor shall Gog and Magog prevail against the Holy City in the Laodicean Interval 5. And he that
Horns of the Lamb falsly pretending to be his Vicar but spoke like the Dragon decreeing Idolatries and barbarous persecutions And his servants shall serve him they shall serve him with a willing and prompt mind in this day of his power 4. And they shall see his face They will enjoy the full light of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. His Life and his Spirit will be most palpably and sensibly revealed in them And his name shall be in their foreheads It shall also be plain to all from their outward Conversation whose they are and to whom they belong viz. That they are the faithful Servants of Jesus 5. And there shall be no night there No ignorance nor any persecution for not being ignorant and for not admitting of things blasphemous and impossible That ignorance is the Mother of Devotion will be out of date in those days which Principle sate like the darkness of midnight on the Church during the time of the Idolatrous Hierarchy And they need no candle no factitious lights or false Instructions of carnal men Nor the light of the Sun no pretended Infallibility of the Pope whom his flatterers make the Universal Sun of the Christian World and put the Emperour like the Moon under his feet For the Lord God giveth them light namely by his Word and by his Spirit and they shall be no longer slaves to the cunningly contrived Opinions of men And in this freedom of the Light of the Word and Spirit they shall reign for ever and ever that is this Kingdom of Christ shall never be subjected again to the power of the wicked Nor shall that numerous rabble of Gog and Magog be able to take this City but it shall continue to the visible Coming of Christ to judgement and his sentencing all the Ungodly to the Lake burning with fire and brimstone which is the second Death 6. And he said unto me These things are faithfull and true namely these predictions of the Excellent state of the Church in the Philadelphian Interval described or set out by the New Ierusalem and as stupendious as it may seem to flesh and blood yet is a most certain truth And the Lord God of the holy Prophets sent his Angel to shew unto his Servants both this great Mystery of the New Ierusalem and other things the things which must shortly be done namely under the first six Seals 7. Behold I come quickly to support my Church in her Smyrnean condition under the second third fourth and fifth Seals and to deliver her from her Persecutions under the sixth Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the Prophecy of this Book that is That observeth what is writ therein for his own Direction and Comfort 8. And I Iohn saw these things and heard them and when I had heard and seen I fell down to worship before the feet of the Angel which shewed me these things and amongst other things the great Glory of the Catholick or Universal Church set out by the description of the New Ierusalem Which did so overcome him with joy as that assurance of the Conversion of his own Countrey-men the Jews that again he was carryed away into the greatest Affection and Veneration for the Messenger of such enravishing news 9. Then saith he unto me See thou do it not For I am thy fellow-servant and the fellow-servant of they Brethren the Prophets viz. of those that truly believe in and bear witness of Jesus Christ by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost And of them which keep the sayings of this Book That observe them understand them and believe them and have faith and courage to act accordingly which no man can do but by the power of the Spirit of God Worship God Accordingly as our Saviour has prescribed Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve 10. And he saith unto me Seal not the sayings of the Prophecy of this Book as if it concerned onely Times afar off or many ages to come For the time is at hand that is The time of exercising the Faith of the true Followers of Christ in the Smyrnean Interval of the Church and of discovering the barbarous and brutish cruelty of Paganism against them Which Tragedy will be acted over again in the Pergamenian and Thyatirian Intervals of the Church by a Pagano-christian Synagogue whereby the Faith of the True Church will be exercised and more illustriously appear and the wickedness of a false hypocritical Hierarchy more notoriously manifested to the World Divine Providence administring occasion for the discovering both in their colours not forcing the Wills of either by his Absolute Omnipotency Whence it follows in the next Verse 11. He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he that is filthy let him be filthy still Let their unjust cruelty and barbarous persecution and foulness of Life and filthiness of Idolatry go on in the Pagan and afterwards in the Pagano-christian Polity till they are ripe for Judgment I will not stop them And he that is righteous let him be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still that is increase more and more in honesty of Conversation unblameableness of Life and purity in Religion and in Zeal against all Idolatry not refusing the assistances of my Spirit and Grace 12. And behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be I will demolish or abolish the Pagan Religion and set up the Christian under the sixth Seal in the Reign of Constantine and judge the Whore the Idolatrous Hierarchy under the sixth Trumpet and utterly destroy her under the seventh Vial and he that is righteous growing still more righteous and he that is holy still more holy introduce the glorious State of the New Ierusalem under the second Thunder These things are within the compass of my Providence and Power and therefore will certainly come to pass For 13. I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End the First and the Last My Kingdom shall out-last all Kingdoms neither shall any Power upon Earth survive my Reign in the Holy City Ierusalem Whence follow the words of Saint Iohn as relating to those Times 14. Blessed are they that do his Commandments that walk uprightly according to the external Word or Law That they may have right to the Tree of Life that is be baptized at last into the dispensation of the Spirit of Life in the New Birth And may enter through the Gates into the City that is be baptized and admitted Citizens in order to the aforesaid attainment to be true Members of this Living Church of Christ the New Ierusalem and enjoy all the holy and healing priviledges thereof which have been above described 15. For without are Dogs and Sorcerers and Whoremongers and Murderers and Idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lye that is brutish obscene and Atheistical men and jugling pretenders to
Miracles and Kainish Persecutors had they but Power and in the mean time gross Idolaters and either lovers of lying Legends or Inventours of them These unclean Birds are kept out of the New Ierusalem but have their dismal haunts in the rubbish and ruines of the demolished Babylon as has been observed above 16. I Iesus have sent my Angel to testifie unto you these things in the Churches alluding to the Churches in Asia which signifie the whole succession of the truly Catholick and Apostolick Church to the end of the world The Churches therefore for whose use this Book was written are the Churches in Smyrna Pergamus Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia and Laodicea The whole Book of the Apocalypse is as it were an Epistle to them all as they are concerned in their several Successions Which passage is a farther confirmation of the Prophetical sense of the Epistles to the seven Churches in Asia I am the Root and the Off-spring of David * Which may denote his Divinity and Humanity as also his being the Off-spring or Son of David the true Messias his Right to the Kingdoms of the Earth as it is foretold in the second Psalm Ask of me and I will give thee the Nations for thine Inheritance and the utmost parts of the Earth for thy possession And therefore because of the greatness and glory of his Kingdom it follows And the bright Morning-Star In the Sardian Interval he was onely the Morning-Star here the bright Morning-Star which is a sign this saying glances at the Philadelphian Interval in the commencement thereof under the last Vial which sutes with the saying of S t Iohn in the next Verse 17. And the Spirit and the Bride say Come The Spirit because this is the commencement of those Times that are properly called the Reign of the Spirit by the Cabbalists And the voice of the Bride is added as a Testimony of the Churches desire of the settlement of things into the Glorious Condition of the New Ierusalem upon the destruction of the blood-drunken Idolatrous Babylon And let him that heareth say Come that is Let him pray for the acceleration of so glorious a settlement of things And then our Saviour speaks for this latter part of the Chapter from vers 10. to the end is a kind of Dialogue as both Peganius and Grotius have observed And let him that is athirst come that is He that sincerely hungers and thirsts after Righteousness And whosoever will that is whosoever has a Will and Desire let him take the waters of Life freely Let him enjoy the happy priviledge of this Living City of God and so grow up in all true Holiness and Godliness in Communion of the Spirit This priviledge shall he enjoy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gratis or freely without money as the Prophet speaks 18. For I testifie unto every man that heareth the words of the Prophecy of this Book If any one shall add unto these things Interpreters and not without reason take this to be a commination to terrifie men from being so negligent as to let any Errata slip into the Copies of this Book of Prophecies where every word was so curiously weighed by the Pen-man thereof or from being so bold as on purpose to alter any thing therein by adding or taking away * But I conceive also there is besides this a 〈◊〉 sense and that it is a prohibition from bringing in their carnal Inventions to add inconsistently with the pure Apostolick Doctrines and Institutes of this City Whosoever would do any such thing God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this Book whether they concern this Life or that which is to come the sulphurous lake of fire which is the second Death 19. And if any man will take from the words of the Book of this Prophecy and be faint-hearted or of little or no Faith and contend there never will be such an Excellent State of the Church upon Earth God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life and out of the Holy City and from the things that are written in this Book He shall never be able to enter into the blessed New Ierusalem state by reason of his unbelief 20. He that testifieth these things saith Surely I come quickly that is for the fulfilling of the Visions of the first six Seals and what contemporizeth with them to assist his Church and support them in their Smyrnean Affliction and to defeat the Enemy under the sixth Seal To which Saint Iohn answers Amen Even so Come Lord Iesus This was seasonable for Saint Iohn to say in his time in reference to Christs Coming to subvert the Power of the old Dragon and abolish Paganical Idolatry and Tyranny As it was also in the Pergamenian and Thyatirian Intervals for the oppressed and afflicted Church to say in respect of his coming to judge the Great Whore the Pagano-christian Hierarchy who had been drunk with the blood of the Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus And in the Sardian that he would consummate the Judgement begun to be executed on the false Prophet who is perfectly to be consumed under the seventh Vial. And lastly in the Laodicean Interval it will be again very seasonable by reason of the inclining of things again to worse to pray Come Lord Iesus come quickly to that general judgement when Death shall be swallowed up into Victory and all the Saints shall be translated into the incorruptible state of heavenly Bliss and Glory And this whole Book of Prophecies being as it were one entire Epistle Monitory to the Church of God throughout all Ages of the world as there is mention Vers. 16. of witnessing these things to the Churches in Asia no doubt that is over the face of the whole Earth and successively through all Ages or Intervals from Saint Iohn's time to the end of the world Smyrnean Pergamenian Thyatirian Sardian Philadelphian and Laodicean This whole Book I say being such a general Monitory Epistle it is but sutable that he conclude with that usual form of valediction in the Epistles of the Apostles 21. The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with you all Amen NOTES CHAPTER XXII Vers. 16. Which may denote his Divinity and Humanity c. This any one that firmly believes the Divinity of Christ and that he is the Eternal Logos united with the Humane Nature will easily admit to be suggested here though Grotius is content to understand no more by Radix Davidis than Surculus Davidis and I must confess that according to the use of the Hebrew word Radix is sometimes the same with Surculus But being that Root ordinarily signifies that from which another grows not that which grows from another and that this sense here is both true and more ample and sublime and therefore more sutable to the Genius of the Apocalypse I thought it was more probable to be meant here as also in the fifth Chapter And generally the Ancients go
that way Ambrosius Aretas Andreas Caesareensis and others See Ribera on the place Vers. 18. But I conceive also there is besides this a further sense and the truth is that other sense does very hardly agree with the beginning of the Verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For I testifie In so much that Ribera is fain to acknowledge that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is only an expletive Particle and signifies nothing at all And adds further how several MSS. are without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Grotius follows those Copies But if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the force thereof be retained and we read For I testifie unto every man it involves a reason why every man should close with this free Invitation made before implying that this excellent state of things is really intended by Christ a state so pure and so perfect and that all other things condemned in this Book are to be rejected And therefore he that would either admit or foist in any of those rejectaneous things or hypocritically diminish the Faith or Belief of so great perfection of the Church as there is set out by the description of the New Jerusalem the Commination is to him And this threatened punishment is also an argument of the truth and seriousness of Christs proposal which I would have them seriously to consider that make it their business to decry all hope of those good Times when Peace and Truth and Righteousness shall Reign upon Earth to lull themselves and others asleep in their sins And farther to confirm this sense of ours D r Hammond upon this and the following Verse Whosoever sayes he shall go about to infuse any other expectations into men than what are agreeable to these Visions God shall bring on him the Judgments that are denounced against Gods greatest Enemies And whosoever shall derogate any thing from the Authority of this Prophecy or occasion mens not receiving the admonitions of Christ he might have added also or their not believing his promises contained here in every part thereof of which that of the State of the New Jerusalem is one of the chief God shall cast him off and account him uncapable of all the blessings which are here promised to the faithful Christians Which Paraphrase of this Learned and Pious Doctor of our Church on these two Verses is not much unlike ours which is no small Argument for the naturalness of the Interpretation in that though we disagree in other things we both agree in this THE EPILOGUE I Have now Reader I hope made good the promise of my Title Page and exhibited to thy view and judgment as well a plain and perspicuous as continued Exposition of the Apocalypse from the beginning to the end Which whole Exposition though it be intirely of one piece yet that more be not attributed to my performance than I deserve the invention of every part thereof is not from one man but whatever I have drawn in from others it is like well concocted food made a congruous and congenerous part of the whole body of my Exposition I admitting nothing but what I first carefully considered and if need was rectified polished illustrated and amplified And he that I am most of all beholden to is that incomparably Pious and Learned person M r Ioseph Mede once one of the Fellows of our Colledge in whose steps where he treads right I thought I was bound to insist as also in any others so far as they are in a true path For I account it a juvenile piece of pride and wantonness in any one to innovate where things seem right already unless he bring that which is plainly truer For this affectation of bringing of something new in interpreting Scripture does but dissettle the minds of those that are to be informed and makes the Holy Writt to lose its scope and efficacy and to seem more uncertain and obscure than indeed it is And therefore Enthusiasts that attempt any Expositions of this Book without carefully consulting the most likely Interpreters before them it is no inspiration of the Spirit in them but a blind puff of pride and vanity of mind a blast of self-conceitedness that drives them upon such rash and dangerous enterprises out of a bold presumption that others have not attempted these things as much in the fear of God and with as good assistances of his Spirit as they can pretend to Such men as these seek not the interest of the true Apostolick Church but do sacrifice to their own pride and seek to be accounted somebody amongst men or to make a confusion of all But for my own part I can call God and my own Conscience to witness and I think the circumstances of the times we are in may assure any one of my integrity in this protestation that nothing but the mere service of the truly Catholick and Apostolick Church has invited me to publish this my Exposition of the Apocalypse as being full perswaded of the truth and manifold usefulness thereof which I have showed in my Preface to the Reader and that especially amongst the rest that it does so plainly demonstrate both the Protestants freeness from the guilt of Schism as to the Church of Rome and the Church of Rome's guiltiness of that hainous and intolerable crime of Idolatry which is a further confirmation of the Protestants freeness from the guilt of Schism I confess that our Writers by sound and irrefutable Reason have proved the Church of Rome guilty of this crime But by reason of the hardness of the hearts or foreheads of our Adversaries God himself has set his hand again and again in the Apocalypse to this Accusation or rather as a truly infallible Moderator has decided the Controversy on the Protestants side expressly and repeatedly against the Church of Rome I will hint some few examples as in the Prophecy of the Seven Churches my Exposition whereof is so confirmed in the tenth Chapter of it to omit other arguments that I think it is impossible for any man that is not prodigiously laden with prejudice not to be convinced there in the Epistle to the Church in Pergamus and again in the Epistle to the Church in Thyatira both which successions of the Church succeed the Smyrnean which are those ages of the Church in which the Church suffered bitter Persecutions from the Pagans doth the Spirit of God complain of their eating Idolothyta which is turning the Lords Supper which is a Feast upon a Sacrifice into an Idolatrous Solemnity like the eating of things Sacrificed unto Idols In which the Idolatry of their Mass is plainly perstringed And this is evidently in the successions of the Church after she had got the victory over crude Paganism Again in the Sealed-Book-Prophecie where such an Exposition we have given out of M r Mede of the six first Seals as against which neither Papist nor Protestant can justly except and whence the six Trumpets must needs shoot into the Pergamenian
is a manifest commendation of the order of Episcopacy rather than any reproach thereto as Cornelius à Lapide himself has observed upon the place And as for the sharpness of stile in my Exposition against the Idolatry and blood-thirstiness of the Roman Hierarchy I am satisfyed in my self that I have not the least ill will to the persons of any Romanists though I utterly abhor their Religion and I had not been a faithful Interpreter of the Apocalypse which in a great part of it is a very keen but just Satyr against the gross wickednesses of the Roman Church if my Exposition had not had also a due keenness and sharpness with it to awaken them if it were possible out of their errours into the acknowledgment of the truth And that a main body of them will continue obdurate even to the effusion of the last Vial the clearness of the Vision has driven me to acknowledge such a comminatory prediction too likely to come to pass unless a timely and sincere Repentance open a way to them for the embracing of the truth These few things I thought not amiss to take notice of Christian Reader that thou mayst take no offence at any thing nor be entangled Now according to my promise at the end of my Preface I will present to thy view my general Table of Synchronisms wherewith thou mayst refresh thy memory as to the right order of the Visions whose Interpretation thou hast perused In the Table therefore presented to thy sight let there be noted that principal Line of the whole Apocalyptick Scheme AD. divided into three parts AB BC. CD and let the whole Semicircle AZD. contain the Prophecy of the Sealed Book but the Semicircle AND. the Prophecy of the Opened Book But of those two particular Semicircles ALB. and BRD the former contains the first six Seals the latter the seventh which comprehends the seven Trumpets The six first of which Trumpets the Semicircle BMC includes and the Semicircle CND. the seventh distributed into seven Thunders orderly distinguished by numbers I. II. III. IV c. as is done in the Seals and Trumpets And to this Line or row of Seals Trumpets and Thunders all the rest of the Visions not only of the Opened Book but of the Seven Churches may some way be annected and applyed by Synchronismes either proper and perfect or by imperfect and partial as we shall advertise as we go through them We shall begin with the Antimedial Visions where AEB is the Woman in travail cloathed with the Sun and Crowned with twelve Stars Rev. Chap. 12. vers 1. AFB the Court of the Temple and Altar Commensurate or Symmetral Chap. 11. vers 1. AGB the fight of Michael with the Dragon about the Woman in travail Chap. 12. vers 4 7 8. AIR the Church of Ephesus or the Ephesine Interval contemporizing in part with the first Seal Chap. 2. v. 1. RHK. the Smyrnean Interval which contemporizes with the latter part of the first Seal and with the second third fourth and fifth Seal and with the forepart of the sixth Chap. 2. vers 8. The Medial Visions now follow where BC. is the company of the 144000. Servants of God sealed with the Seal of the living God in their foreheads Chap. 7. vers 3. BDC the outward Court incommensurate or asymmetral troden down of the Gentiles for forty two months Chap. 11. BEC the two witnesses clad in Sackcloth and mournfully prophesying for 1260. days Chap. 11. B e C. the same witnesses slain and lying in the street of the great City for three days and an half BFC the Woman in the Wilderness there to be nourished for 1260. days or for a time and times and half a time Chap. 12. vers 6 and 14. BGC the seven-headed Beasts with ten Horns whose deadly wound is healed Chap. 13. vers 3. BHC the two-horned Beast or false Prophet the restorer or healer of the Beast Chap. 13. vers 11. BIC the Virgin Company of the 144000. Sealed of the Lamb Chap. 14. vers 1. BKC that great City the Whore of Babylon sitting upon the seven-headed Beast with ten Horns which was and is not and yet is Chap. 17. vers 3.8 KPR. the Pergamenian Interval contemporizing with the latter part of the sixth Seal and with the five first Trumpets RQC. the Thyatirian Interval Synchronizing with some small part of the fifth and with the whole sixth Trumpet As for LNC and MC in these Visions and CEH and gH. in the following they respecting the voices of the three Angels and Anapleroses of them I shall take no notice of them here nor is their placing nor Anaplerosis so sound as what I have intimated in this my present Exposition of the Apocalypse where these three Angels Chap. 14. the first is assigned to the times of the Turks taking Constantinople the second to the appearing of the Reformation and the third to about the times of the fourth Vial which being a more simple way to me seems more assured But we proceed to the Postmedial Visions Where CAH HYP. PZQ QqR. RrS. SpT. and ToD. are the seven Antisynchronals of the seven Thunders CAH the Interval of the seven Vials Chap. 16. CFH. the compendium of the Vials Chap. 11. vers 16. to the end of the Chapter CBO the Interval of the Sardian Church contemporizing with the Interval of the six first Vials Chap. 3. vers 1. GH comprehends three Combinations of Synchronal Visions the Vision of the Harvest and the Winepress Chap. 14. vers 15 18. The Vision of the sixth and seventh Vial Chap. 16. vers 12. and the Vision of the preparation of the Bride and of the Battle of the Rider of the white horse Chap. 19. vers 7 11. VISIONVM APOCALYPTICARVM TABVLA GENERALIS This is the description of all my Synchronisms belonging to the Apocalyptick Visions which differ from the Synchronisms of M r Mede only in this that I place all the Vials after the middle Synchronals under the first Thunder of the seventh Trumpet he six of them before the seventh Trumpet and that he does not distinguish the seventh Trumpet into seven Thunders in his Table as I have done and therefore makes the binding of Satan and Millennial Reign of Christ c. to commence immediately and consequently the Raign of the Beast quite to expire at the beginning of that Trumpet when as in truth the Entireness of his Kingdom only then expires But being that else the main of the Synchronisms of M r Mede so far as he has gone for he never medled with the seven Churches nor was aware that the three days and an half the Witnesses lye slain are the same with 1260 days of their Prophesying agree with this description I have proposed I will vindicate the truth of his Synchronisms so far as they agree with the said description against the cavils of a late writer R. H. of Salisbury Because some men phansie though his Interpretations of the
Reader for the taking notice of it by makeing use of it here as a Note of the ending of the time of the first wo-Trumpet Wherefore the sense is Chap. 11. vers 14. of The second wo is past Here ends the time of the second wo-Trumpet or sixth Trumpet namely with the Rising of the witnesses or inchoative destruction of the Beast or expiration of his 42. Months Whence this Note is plainly intended for a Note Synchronistical to show that the end of the fourty two Months of the Beast and the end of the sixth Trumpet do Synchronize Which therefore is a thing of admirable importance For the Beast and 144000 sealed Virgins Synchronizing Synch 4. Part. 1. and the commencing of the sealed ones being just at the beginning of the first Trumpet Chap. 7. the Beast also begins and ends with the six first Trumpets whence the time of the sealing of these Virgins and this Note The second wo is past are as it were the two hinges on which all the middle Synchronals hang as M r Mede has very well observed And this I think is a sufficient answer to R. H. his question wherefore were those remarkable closes added to the fifth and sixth Trumpets But the ends he would have them added for I have demonstrated cannot be Which is the greater confirmation they were added for this which is a most worthy and admirable end and becoming the stupendious artifice of this Book To the third argument of M r Mede he answers Admit that passage Thou must prophesie again c. to emply two main Prophecies one of the Sealed Book the other of the Opened Book or that the Book maybe divided into two Tomes and the second begin at Chap. 10. vers 8. yet it does not follow that the second part must begin ab ovo or from the same Epocha with the former But I answer the Vision reaching to the very utmost Goal of the Apocalyptick race from such a time before we come at the eighth verse as I have clearly proved there is all the reason in the world S. Iohn being bid to prophesie again that his prophesying should commence from the same Epocha As if one should intend to write two Tomes of the affairs of any Kingdom the one Secular the other Ecclesiastical and that in his first Tome he had deduced his secular History to the last year it is impossible to imagin but in his next Tome he would begin his Ecclesiastick story from the same Epocha that the secular began from To the fourth and last he answers not unappositely We read not saith he that the voice Chap. 10. vers 8. was as the sound of a Trumpet and therefore not likely to relate to the voice Chap. 4. vers 1. but rather to the voice Chap. 10. vers 4. For that voice Chap. 4. vers 1. is said to be as the sound of a Trumpet but this not This is the first part of his answer but he proceeds But to what purpose he would have the Reader saith he to take notice of this I cannot tell Is this an Index that the Prophecy of the little Book as he calls it doth contemporate with the Prophecie of the Seals No more than the voice Chap. 4. vers 1. is an Index that the Prophecy of the Seals doth contemporate with the Vision of the Seven Churches c. But I briefly reply to the first That seeing Ellipses are so usual in the Apocalypse that the sense may not lye over bare M r Mede has with judgment made this supplement as of a Trumpet it being in all likelihood the same voice that spoke to him at the beginning of the Vision of the seven Churches and of the Prophecy of the Seals Chap. 4. v. 1. Nor is it said here not to be as the sound of a Trumpet but only that qualification is not mentioned for the reason abovesaid But that it should be the voice mentioned vers 4. of this tenth Chapter is not at all likely First because then it would have been only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. And the voice which I heard from Heaven said unto me and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 would be superfluous But then in the second place it being added there ought to be understood something more or different in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 than simply in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and methinks it is very obvious to conceive what it is if we recur to Chap. 1. vers 10. where Iohn is said to hear behind him a great voice as the sound of a Trumpet that is a loud sonorous or canorous voice And then to Chap. 4. v. 1. where the voice he there hears from Heaven is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as of a Trumpet talking loudly or canorously with him Here the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to speak aloud is put instead of the great voice Chap. 1. vers 10. and that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 has sometimes this peculiar signification not to speak simply but to speak aloud is observable in that verse of the Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is loudly speak out thy letters as the following words also imply And let the inscription on thy leaves be more than ordinary express But what is yet more to the purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which besides the usual signification is very often by the Seventy rendred by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He cryed also in my ears with a loud voice Ezek. 9.1 so is it also in the same sense rendred by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proclaim in the ears of the people saying Judg. 7.3 And so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which has no other signification but of loud clamour or vociferation yet by the Seventy Esa. 58.9 it is rendred by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clamabis dicet Thou shalt cry and he shall say Here am I. And to come nearer to the present Chapter vers 3. The voices of Thunder I think are loud and sonorous enough and yet the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The seven Thunders uttered their voices From whence we see plainly that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 8. is not there prefixed for nought but that it signifies a speaking to Iohn with a loud and sonorous voice such as was the voice Chap. 1. vers 10. and Chap. 4. ver 1. expressed by a Trumpet Now therefore being it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which implies a speaking thus sonorously to him again and that voice vers 4. of this Chapter is not said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it cannot be said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to speak in such a loud tone again it having not done so yet once and therefore of necessity it must be referred to Chap. 4. vers 1. From whence it is evident that that supplement of
as of a Trumpet made by M r Mede is added with judgment and truth To the second part of his objection I answer briefly and confess that this canorous voice like a Trumpet in this Chapter vers 8. is no more an index that the Prophecy of the little Book doth contemporate with the Prophecy of the Seals than the voice Chap. 4. vers 1. is an Index that the Prophecy of the Seals doth contemporate with the vision of the seven Churches But withal I affirm that the voice Chap. 4. vers 1. is an Index that the Prophecy of the Seals does contemporate with the Vision of the seven Churches and that the Vision of the seven Churches is a Prophecy commencing with the beginning of the Church and reaching to the end of the world as I have made good by no less than twenty firm arguments in the last Chapter of my Exposition of the Vision of the seven Churches So fitly do all things fall in together M r Mede's way But no sense to be made of them any other way Nor is that which R. H. takes notice of Disp. II. Ques 5. that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Preface to the Vision of the Seven Churches Rev. 1. but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Preface to the Prophecy of the Seven Seals Chap. 4. vers 1. as if the events of the Seals should be after the events of the Vision of the Seven Churches and begin a good while after them of any validity against the contemporizing of the Vision of the Seven Churches with the Prophecy of the Seven Seals For this is but another notable example of which I have given several in my Notes of that Apocalyptick figure which we call Lemmatosynechia or the holding together of the external cortex of the Apocalyptick narrations But according to the sense of all Interpreters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 has no reference here to the things of the Seven Churches but only signifies things which shall be hereafter which hinders not but that they may contemporize with the future things of the Seven Churches All take it in that sense which Beza translates it in Quae oportet fieri posthac which must be hereafter as our English rightly renders it Which had been good sense though it had been said in the very beginning of the Apocalypse according to Ribera his own interpretation who without any reference to what belongs to the Seven Churches understands by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things which must be hereafter Decursum Ecclesiae à tempore Iohannis ad finem seculi Aperit saith he argumentum sequentis Prophetiae To which I may add that it is a mistake in R. H. that he makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a proper Preface to the Vision of the Seven Churches whenas it is rather a general Preface to all the three Prophecies of this Book and true of them all that they contained some things that were then to come to pass quickly as it is true of them all that they are the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him c. And what I was a going to say That there can be no sense made of the Apocalypse but M r Mede's way a notable pledge of the truth thereof is in that that egregious learned writer Hugo Grotius who so humanely when he saw the Romish Interpreters so foully stick in the mire and make such pitiful sense of things offered his helping hand in their behalf but with so little success that R. H. himself to give him his due has all along notably well confuted the Grotian way though to enemy at all to the Romanists but out of like kindness to them that Grotius seems to have born he to wipe off that charge from the Church of Rome that she might not be taken for the Whore of Babylon by a marvellous invention makes her as innocent and clear of that fault as the Child yet unborn namely by laying the Scene of the affairs of the Apocalypse not in Europe no by no means but in Asia and by affirming that all the Visions are to be fulfilled in their litteral sense and that there is no mystical meaning of them in any place but where they are explained and acknowledged to be such in the very Book it self and consequently that none of these Visions are yet fulfill'd and he adds not to be fulfilled but in such order as they are set And therefore no Whore of Babylon to appear upon the stage no not so much as in Asia it self much less in Europe at Rome in Italy till there be a great shaking and concussion in the Heavens and the Sun it self become as black as Sackcloth made of Goats Hair and the Moon as red as blood and the Stars fall from Heaven in clusters to the Earth and that there be such great Earthquakes that every Mountain in the Earth shall be moved out of its place and every Island in the Sea also which be the events of the sixth Seal Rev. Chap. 6. vers 12. And that there be just 12000. young men of every Tribe of Israel sealed with the Seal of God in their foreheads Chap. 7. Moreover it must rain hail and fire and blood upon the land of Asia and a sulphureous mountain burning with fire must be cast into the Asiatick Sea and the third part of that Sea be turned into blood And a great blazing Star fall from Heaven burning and flaming like a torch which shall break asunder and fall into the third part of rivers and into the third part of the springs of waters throughout the land of Asia And the third part of the Sun shall be smitten with darkness and the third part of the Moon and the third part of the Stars Chap. 8. There shall be also a bottomless Pit opened out of which such a smoke shall arise that men shall not see the light of the Sun in the land of Asia And strange kind of Locusts with tayls of Scorpions heads with crowns of gold on them faces like men and hair like women and with wings that make such a dreadful noise as if it were the noise of Chariots drawn with horses running furiously to battle these shall swarm in the land of Asia and sting and vex men very sore There will also appear in the said Land an innumerable number of strange kind of Horses with their Riders upon them The heads of the Horses in shape like the heads of Lyons and out of the mouths of every one of them shall come forth fire smoak and brimston Their tayls also shall be like Serpents with heads and mouths and by the fire smoak and brimston coming out of their mouths and by the Serpents heads and mouths at the end of their tayls shall the third part of men be slain in Asia about the river Euphrates Paraph. R. H. 9. Furthermore before the Whore of Babylon be in being that Emperess of the World and debaucher of the Kings of the
Earth with her cup of Fornication the Temple will be rebuilt and the Inner Court at Ierusalem and there will then appear two inspired Witnesses doing such Miracles as Moses and Elias did and after three years and an half they will be slain by the Scarlet Beast and their dead bodies lye three days and a half in the open streets of Ierusalem and at the half days end they will be revived again stand upon their feet and ascend visibly in a cloud to Heaven their enemies beholding them Chap. 11. The Jews also before that time shall be converted to Christianity in despight of the Devil who will persecute them so that part of them will fly into the wilderness and the Devil send a great flood of water after them Chap. 12. There will also appear before the time of the said Whore a two-horned beast like a Lamb and that speaks like a Dragon who besides that he will do strange miracles as being a Magician or Witch and make a molten Image to the ten-horned Beast which shall breath and speak he will cause also his subjects to be marked in their right hands or in their foreheads with the capital or Acrostick letters of his name and the letters of that mark shall contain the value of 25. the root of 666. Chap. 13. And when this Queen of Babylon shall be in being that she may sit secure and at ease like a Queen and never dream of any sorrow she is not concerned in any one of the Vials but the seventh which are all litterally to be understood nor any of the Vials to be poured out till there be such a slaughter of the people of the Beast in Iudaea without Ierusalem that the blood shall reach even to the horses bridles in height for the space of a thousand six hundred furlongs in length Chap. 14. v. 20. and Chap. 15. So tender and dear a friend does this R. H. approve himself to this Whore of Babylon if she be already in being to shelter her thus from all suspicion from all peril of both dammage and disgrace This it is to have a friend in a corner to help at a dead lift And when both her own proper Champions and Grotius himself fails to take up the buckler so dexterously for her But certainly you will say It is either a piece of madness or a piece of Drollery in him to comment in this sort on the Apocalypse Whether it be a piece of Drollery in him to jear and insult over the desperateness of the Romish cause as to this point that have no safer Sanctuary at last than this to betake themselves to to free themselves from that grand accusation of Idolatry and Murder that is so plainly cast upon them by the true and genuine meaning of the Apocalypse he himself best knows But if he be mad he pretends cum ratione insanire he offering his reasons for all those extravagant positions he goes upon The first whereof is That the scene of the affairs of the Apocalypse is not in Europe but in Asia The second That the Visions are to be fulfilled not in a Mystical but in a bare Litteral sense The third That the Visions are to be fulfilled in such order as they lye in the Apocalypse The fourth and last is That none of the Visions of the Sealed Book nor Opened Book are yet fulfilled Which is a necessary Consectary from the second and third position We shall now examine the reasons he builds these Positions upon so many and so far as is requisite I. The reasons that he alledges for his first Position occurr Disp. 1. Quest. 3. And the chief of them are these two 1. The Prophecies saith he were written unto Asia and not unto Europe Rev. 1. vers 4. Iohn to the seven Churches in Asia and vers 11. What thou seest write in a Book and send it to the Seven Churches in Asia 2. His second argument is taken from Chap. 22. vers 16. I Iesus have sent mine Angel to testify unto you these things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning the Churches saith he and Grotius himself expounds it ecclesiarum bono in the behalf or for the good of the Churches And saith R. H. what is meant by the Chuches but the Churches of Asia Rev. 1. vers 4. And therefore Asia is the scene of the Visions of the Apocalypse I confess comparing the citations of the first Chapter with that of the last and which to me is highly probable allowing that the same Churches are meant in both Chapters these two arguments of his make a fair show But those that expound the Vision of the Seven Churches litterally will deny that the same Churches are understood in the last Chapter but that that passage signifies indefinitely all or any of the Christian Churches for whose use this Book of Prophecies was writ But I will easily allow R. H. this liberty to expound it of the same Churches in my Prophetical sense and of the same Churches of Asia too in the Cabbalistical sense of that word which signifies this lower region of the world or terrestrial Globe containing not only Asia but Europe and Africk and America too if need were Which spoils the conceit of his making Asia only in the usual sense the scene of the Apocalyptick Visions though his conceit in the mean time gives countenance to my understanding the Churches Chap. 22. to be the very Churches in Asia in my sense and to my making the Epistles to the Seven Churches to be a Prophecy II. The reasons for his second Position the principal of them are these 1. A Revelation cannot be a Mystery nor a Mystery a Revelation They are as contrary each to other saith he as light is to darkness Wherefore the whole Book of the Apocalypse being a Revelation it cannot be a Mystery or be expounded in a Mystical sense but only in a litteral unless where the Spirit of God himself tells us it is a Mystery and renders to us the mystical sense of the Letter To this effect is his first argument Disp. 1. Quest. 4. and Disp. 11. Quest. 2. 2. The second Where things are mystically to be understod they are afterwards interpreted in the Apocalypse or in other Texts of Scripture which speak of the same or the like matter As Rev. Chap. 1. vers 20. Rev. Chap. 17. vers 7 8 9. c. Dan. Chap. 7. vers 17 23 24. Wherefore when there is no such interpretation the Text is litterally to be understood Ibid. 3. His third is No Scripture is mystically to be understood without evident necessity but there is no necessity much less any evident necessity of understanding those things in a mystical sense which himself has interpreted in a litteral Wherefore the things above mentioned and all the rest where the Spirit or Angel does not interpret them to a mystical sense ought to be understood in a litteral Ibid. 4. The fourth and last This mystical way of interpreting
yet lapsed into those gross Superstitions and Pagan-like Idolatries And lastly for the first six Seals though the Sealed Book-Prophecy respects the Fate and Affairs of the Empire rather than of the Church yet the first Vision viz. of the first Seal namely the Heros on the White Horse I doubt not but it is Christ more particularly guiding and assisting the Apostles and other Agents for the enlarging of his Kingdom in those Times by sending of the Holy Ghost and enabling them to do True Miracles one of the greatest whereof is this Apocalypse written by S t Iohn and the mention of a Bow and a Crown of which the Right was given him denotes him aiming at the possession of the Imperial Crown the making the whole Roman Empire his Church or Kingdom which causing such great mutations in the Empire the fate of the Empire may very well be conceived to be concerned therein The three next Seals how exquisitely they fit with those Times of the Riders of the Red Black and Pale Horses the Exposition makes good and they are in a manner merely touching the Affairs of the Empire though useful also to the Church to know where or in what Times they were and what to expect next But the fifth Seal exhibiting the Souls of the slain under the Altar martyred or sacrificed for their bearing Witness to the Christian Truth is hugely congenerous with the sharp throes of the Womans Child-bearing and the Affairs of the Empire are here also concerned great Calamities being to come upon it for the effusion of this Innocent Blood And lastly that great Earthquake under the sixth Seal which brought the confusion and subversion of the Old Pagan Religion as the Fate of the Empire could not but be concerned therein so also it doth fitly fall in with the Victory of Michael over the Dragon and his casting him down unto the Earth So agreeable are the Primitive Times of the Church to all these Antemedial Synchronals And what is still more admirable we may further observe how exactly the Ephesine and Smyrnean Interval of the Church agree with those Times and with the said Antemedial Synchronals of the Sealed and Opened Book For as in the first Seal the Heros on the White Horse is brought in earnestly aiming with his Bow and Arrow at a Crown the Right of which is given to him so the first Interval of the Church viz. the Ephesine has its name from a Paronomastical Allusion to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies an earnest desire after a thing and in the Smyrnean Interval which with the Ephesine equalizes the Time of the Fight of Michael with the Dragon till his Victory over him under the sixth Seal and is the Interval of the Ten noted Persecutions of the Church it is said to the Church in that Interval Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee the Crown of Life that is the Imperial Crown Constantine turning Christian under the sixth Seal at the expiration of the Smyrnean Interval so called from the bitterness of Persecution in that succession of the Church But the great Encomiums of the Church in those two Intervalls answer handsomly to the Inner Court of the Temple and Altar which is said to be symmetral and allowed and the Altar there to the many Martyrdoms of the Primitive Christians sacrificed for the profession of the Christian Faith in the Smyrnean Interval of the Church So wonderful an harmony is there of these Antemedial Synchronals of all sorts with the History of those Primitive Times and with one another So that it must be mere stupidity or obstinate perverness that hinders any one from assenting to the Truth in this point We have seen what a fit and effectual Key the Interpretation of the Angel has been for the opening the true meaning of all the Antemedial and Medial Visions of the Apocalypse Which since they concern things past the sense of the Visions is the more assured and certain to us But the Postmedial Visions being all of them in a manner to come the sense cannot be so precise fixt and certain But thus much is manifest out of the Interpretation of the Angel that they are to succeed the Rising of the Witnesses or the expiring of the seventh Semitime of the forty two Prophetical months of the Beast which seventh Semi-time or seventh Semiday or Half-day by the Interpretation of the Angel reaching to our Times or the Times of the Reformation it is evident that the Reformation is the Rising of the Witnesses After which immediately succeeds the seventh Trumpet within which in gross or at large are contained The Millennial Reign of Christ The Ligation and Incarceration of Satan The Palm-bearing Company The time of the New Ierusalem or of the Lambs Wife And this is so firmly proved by M r Mede's Synchronisms that there can be no doubt but that those glorious and happy times of the Church upon Earth are yet to come which is the main scope of the Postmedial Visions But in our Table of Synchronisms things are delineated more distinctly and particularly and it mainly differs from that part of M r Mede's Table in that I have divided the Seventh Trumpet into Seven Thunders and placed the Seven Vials under the First Thunder For in that they are the Seven last Plagues that they should belong to the last Wo-Trumpet there is all the reason in the world And that the Vials must of necessity follow the Rising of the Witnesses I have elsewhere sufficiently demonstrated It remains only that we briefly note the Reasonableness of the order of the Postmedial Visions in my Table and the Congruity of those that are set down as Synchronizing one with another all which I have referred to the order of the Seven Thunders And that we also observe how the expiration of the time of the Beast and his destruction and so likewise of the Whore at the Rising of the Witnesses is to be understood only of the Entireness of their Kingdom or Rule And that according to that analogy all the rest of the Synchronals are to be understood namely as there is but a partial destruction of the Kingdom of the Beast and the Whore so there is but a partial and imperfect advance toward the Millennial Reign of Christ and the New Ierusalem c. This being premised we will take notice of the order of the Seven Thunders and what Visions Synchronize with them As with the first Thunder Synchronizeth the effusion of the Seven Vials as the Seven Thunders with the Seventh Trumpet and the Seven Trumpets with the Seventh Seal With the Sixth Vial synchronizeth the Harvest and also the Preparedness of the Spouse of the Lamb. Whereby the conversion of the Iews is intimated to be under the Sixth Vial as also in part at least by the Sixth Vial it self And if this be not the time of their conversion there appears none in the Apocalypse for them And R. H. himself is very
earnest for the conversion of the Jews though he is utterly mistaken in the application of the Apocalyptick Visions to that event With the Seventh Vial synchronizeth the Treading of the Wine-press and also the Battle of the Rider of the White Horse and how necessarily these three Visions are tied together in one time my Exposition of the Apocalypse does clearly demonstrate that the fulfilling of all these three Visions are an utter destruction of Babylon the Roman Hierarchy and as it were an universal conversion of the heathenish Unbelievers to the Faith of the Gospel Wherefore the City Babylon being thus destroyed with the Second Thunder naturally synchronizeth the Descent of the New Ierusalem that City or Polity coming down from Heaven and quite contrary to the carnal and tyrannical City or Polity of Babylon Under the Second Thunder therefore is the constitution of Laws for universal Christendom by a truly holy and truly Oecumenical Council really inspired from Heaven With which time therefore naturally synchronizeth the Laying hold of Satan And this City or Polity the New Ierusalem thus constituted being the Kingdom of Christ the duration thereof does of necessity immediately follow under the next that is the Third Thunder and is that Millennial Reign of Christ properly so called wherein his Laws and Discipline are vigorously and faithfully executed and observed Whence with this Millennial Reign the close Imprisoning of Satan for a thousand years is rightly conceived to synchronize Which time of his Imprisonment his letting loose again immediately following it is evident that his letting loose synchronizeth with the Fourth Thunder And the besieging the Holy City by Gog and Magog as an effect of this with the Fifth And the coming of Christ to judgment to defeat the Besiegers with the Sixth Thunder From whence it follows that the New Ierusalem or Holy City continues all the time of the Third Fourth Fifth and Sixth Thunders though the Millennial Reign of Christ properly so called is contained within the space of the Third Thunder and the Palm-bearing Company within the space of the Second and Third For when the Devil has got loose again their Palms may be justly conceived to wither in their hands and yet considering they are still in their hands you may phansy if you will that they reach from the Second Thunder to the Seventh as the Exclusion of the Wicked Rabble out of the Holy City reaches through the Third Fourth Fifth and Sixth Thunders And lastly with the Seventh Thunder synchronizeth the Conflagration of the Earth by Thundering and Lightning properly so called as also the consummate Salvation of the Saints or their transvection into those eternal Mansions of glory These are the main Postmedial Visions of the Opened Book-Prophecy and you see how natural their order is thus disposed under the Seven Thunders which fill the Seventh Trumpet of the Sealed Book and what cognation there is betwixt those Visions that are made to synchronize one with another We will only add how they correspond with the Intervals of the Churches And it is observable that as the Ephesine and Smyrnean Interval did totally symbolize with the Antemedial Visions and eight of nine parts of the Pergamenian and the whole Thyatirian Interval with the Medial so the Sardian Philadelphian and Laodicean Intervals do most conspicuously symbolize will these Postmedial Visions For as the effusion of the Vials is ushered in with Musick Chap. 15. so the very name of Sardis is as much as Canticum laetitiae a Song of joy And as the state of the first Six Vials is but an unsetled imperfect state in comparison of what is to come so the Interval of the Church of Sardis whose Works are said not to be perfect before God is terminated with the Sixth Vial. But Philadelphia that excellent state of the Church that Interval reaches through the Seventh Vial and the Second and Third Thunder it being the Philadelphian Army which Christ so commends in his Epistle to that Church that atchieves that notable victory under the Seventh Vial and it being expresly said to that Church That the name of the City New Ierusalem should be writ upon her which cometh down from Heaven which cometh to pass under the Second Thunder And lastly The Interval of Laodicea synchronizing with the Fourth Fifth and Sixth Thunders The First whereof is the loosing of Satan The next the Siege by Gog and Magog and the last The coming of Christ to Iudgment how congenerous this is to the remisness of Laodicea who brought this Siege upon her self by her lukewarmness and laziness is obvious to observe And also how well the name of Laodicea which signifies the Iudging of the People agrees with Christs coming to judge the people under the Sixth Thunder Wherefore in virtue of the Angels Interpretation Chap. 17. that Royal Key of the Apocalypse with the addition of irrefutable Synchronisms there being given such a coherent Mystical sense throughout all parts so wonderfully harmonizing one with another And according to the Angels Interpretation a litteral sense being impossible in the middle Synchronals whereby we are assured also of the mystical sense of the Antemedial and Postmedial Visions I dare appeal even to R. H. himself if there be not more rhythme than Reason in those drolling Verses of his made in imitation of Martials upon Sabidius O litteral sense I love thee not the cause I cannot tell This only I can say of thee I love thee not farewel And whether it had not been more advisable for him to have abstained from medling with these holy and mysterious Oracles of God than to have rushed upon them with so little reverence and fear and to have bethought himself that a person so Learned and Pious as M r Mede and pursuing these studies with that Care and Devotion could not easily be mistaken in the main Nor has R. H. produced any thing material against any part of M r Medes Interpretations no more nor so much as against his Synchronisms I will only give a taste of one or two of his best Objections that you may judge thereby of the rest For my Epilogue is swollen too big already Against the Rider of the White Horse in the first Seal his being Christ miraculously assisting his Church in the Apostles Times he objects That it is Christ viz. the Lamb that showeth the Rider of the White Horse by opening this Seal and the Revealer and the Revealed cannot be the same As if a man could not show himself in person if he will and so be both the Revealer and the Revealed much more in representation or Image Not to add that it is the Angel that is the shower of the whole Scene of this Vision and makes a double representation of Christ here the one as he is the chief Revealer of the Vision the other as a Principal Person beginning that Scene that the Vision of the Seals represents That Objection is more material touching the first Trumpet
who is the Authour of the Prophecy and revealed it to John would reveal the Truth to him as if the Reader was to find it in this his new and rare Litteral way But to examine now as briefly as we may the three grand causes or grounds of his betaking himself to this new Invention never yet met with in any other Writer whatsoever as he but truly and justly boasts of himself in the beginning of his Preface Concerning the first therefore I answer That I commend Civility and fair Language so far as is consistent with Truth But if by the Interpretation of the Angel the Whore of Babylon that rides the Beast Chap. 17. is necessarily and inevitably the Roman Hierarchy debauching the Empire with Idolatry I will ask R. H. whether he takes himself to be a more wise and just Nomenclator than the Holy Ghost speaking by the voice of an Angel and whether we have not sufficient warrant to call Rome or the Roman Hierarchy the Whore of Babylon we having the Example of such an infallible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or imposer of names and whether he himself is not to take the less offence at it he expresly declaring at the end of his Book that God may permit the Turk for the punishment of Idolatry to take the City of Rome and possess himself of it To the second I answer That I dearly embrace that Christian good Nature in him and great abhorrence from War and Blood-shed especially upon account of Religion but withall I affirm that with this Christian temper my Exposition of the Apocalypse though I follow M r Medes Synchronisms for the main and interpret it Mystically better agrees than R. H. his Litteral Interpretation which seems framed in a tenderness to the worldly peace of the Church of Rome only but mine tends to a peace and cessation of Wars and Persecution in all Christendom Let R. H. read my Preface Sect. 12. and then tell me whether his Litteral sense or my Mystical sense is more abhorrent from persecution war and bloodshed and better consists with Christian peace and charity But he while he seems so solicitous for the Church of Rome in his Litteral Interpretation of the Apocalypse cares not to disarm all the Reformed Churches of that just defence which apparently they have out of the Apocalypse rightly understood for their separation from Rome whereby they can demonstrate themselves neither Schismaticks nor Hereticks nor ought to have been massacred and burnt for such to the exhausting of the lives of several hundred thousand innocent Souls that could not stoop to their Idolatries What a preposterous piece of Charity therefore is it in R. H. that in a tenderness to the peace of the Church of Rome he will despoil his own Church and all the Reformed Churches of their just and most effectual defence against that blood-thirsty Hierarchy who have drunk the blood of so many hundred thousands of innocent dissenters and if their Interest require it and opportunity give leave are it is to be feared ready to drink as much more But for my own part I am against all War upon account of Religion and all bloody Persecutions of one Party or other nor doth my Interpretation of the Apocalypse require any such thing But that they that are unjustly assaulted may defend themselves R. H. himself allows against the Papists in the Conclusion of his Book in these express words And so stands the Case betwixt Vs and Rome if they assault us we may assault them if they begin with us we may defend our selves and offend our foes until they be minded to be quiet and agree on peace upon safe terms and firm foundation And the Mystical Interpretation of the Apocalypse implyes no more against the persons of the Romanists than thus But that their Policy quatenus Idolatrous and persecutive will be confounded methinks R. H. should conceive there is no inconvenience in that unless he were a lover of Idolatry and Persecution more than of the purity of Gods Worship Goodness Equity and Truth Therefore the second cause of his adhering to a Litteral Exposition of the Apocalypse is thus quite blown away And for his third and last though the Church of England cannot but take in good part his kindness and well-meaning in her behalf against such phancy-full Sectaries as would prove her Antichristian out of the Mystical Interpretation of the Apocalypse yet the most Orthodox the most Pious and the most Learned Clergy-men of the Church of England to whom he dedicates his meaning of the Revelation will easily understand that he does our Church a great disservice by exploding all Mystical Interpretations of the Apocalypse the true Mystical Explication thereof such as I have pitched upon and such as I challenge R. H. or any man else living to show any flaw of moment therein excusing our English Church from all suspicion of that Antichristianism which is deciphered in the Apocalypse as doth appear by the second Consectary of my Ioynt-Exposition Synops. Prophet Book 2. Chap. 5. Besides what occurrs in my Preface to my Synopsis Sect. 17. of a peculiar Attestation to the Church of England from the completion of the Prophecy of the rising of the Witnesses Not to omit also that according to our mystical Interpretation Episcopacy was in the Church in the Symmetral times thereof And that there is no warrant for separation from the Church of England it being so considerable a part of the Reformed Church or the Church of Sardis So plain is it that R. H. doth disservice to our Church by decrying all Mystical Interpretations of the Apocalypse In the mean time I have abundantly shown how altogether groundless as well as how extravagant R. H. his Hypothesis is who would have the Apocalypse expounded in a litteral sense and supposeth the visions must be fulfilled in the same order they occurr in the Text And how weak his objections have proved against M r Mede's Synchronisms But as weak as they are they were the best his cause could afford him and his way more laudable thus to combate with his adversary in the open field to try if he could vanquish him than to use those small arts and petty tricks that is usual with a party of men that think any thing just that is for their Interest and stick not to report of men when they are dead that they had changed their opinions whom they being fixed upon firm grounds they could never move when they were alive And thus as I have heard has M r Mede been served His singular Learning and Piety being a great countenance to what tenents he held and therefore the most plausible as well as the most compendious confutation being his own disapproving of them upon better thoughts there has been a report raised that himself before he died was out of conceit with his own Synchronisms Which that it is a meer figment any unprejudiced man may be satisfied from these brief
and prophane in these words vers 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Outer Court of the Temple leave out and measure it not as being to be trodden down by the Gentiles and to be defiled by a new kind of Gentilism and Idolatry contrary to the Word of God which is the true measure of all Christian Rites and Usages with which these times not squaring they are called Incommensurate or Asymmetral So fitly do these two Courts denote these two different States of the Church But they signifie not only the order of Dignity or Worth of one before the other but of Time also for the Inner was before the Outer And moreover there is the same proportion betwixt the Inner and the Outer Court which is as two to seven according to Villalpandus his compute that there is betwixt the Symmetral times of the Church and the Asymmetral Thus have I crowded in more than could be well contained within the ordinary compass of an Epilogue but it was out of an extreme solicitude that nothing might be wanting to the clear understanding and certain assuring of the truth of this our Exposition of the Apocalypse it being of so mighty concernment for the Christian World that this Book be rightly understood that men may know what Religion they ought to adhere unto and what to forsake and that the great Potentates and Prelates of Christendom seeing the State of the Church thus lively and truly represented in this Looking-glass of Divine Providence may conscientiously guide their Affairs accordingly with judgment and prudence removing what is an offence in the eyes of God and like Fathers of their People and true Sons of the most High after so long a Tyrannical Reign of Antichrist bethink themselves of the further introducing and enlarging the Righteous and Comfortable Kingdom of Christ which according to the Romish Expositors themselves is thus described Isai. Chap. 32. Behold a King shall reign in Righteousness and Princes shall rule in judgment And a man shall be that is men shall be and especially they in power an hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest as rivers of waters in a dry place as the shadow of a great rock in a weary Land Such nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers will the Higher powers be in the Reign of Christ to all his True and Living Members whenas in the Reign of Antichrist or the Roman Hierarchy they are the only men that are exposed to danger and have been slaughtered and massacred and burnt with fire and faggot some hundred thousands of them for keeping Faith and a good Conscience towards God upon pretence of their being Hereticks Whenas there can be no Heresie but it must be the profession of something contrary to the truly Catholick and Apostolick Faith whereas the Reformed Churches generally hold all those points of Faith that were professed in the Symmetral Times of the Church about four hundred years after Christ before the Apostasie came in And certainly the Christian Faith was abundantly complete in those Primitive Ages and wanted nothing But the Dissenters from the Church of Rome are held Hereticks by them for not embracing such Articles and Rites and Usages as are maintained by them for mere worldly Interest for encreasing the Power and Revenue of Holy Church as they call it though in what it differs from the Reformed Churches suppose this of England for Example Holy Church or the Roman Hierarchy are nothing else but a Body Politick of Men that drive on a Secular Design under a Religious pretense and so may be looked upon rather as a Secular Polity than Spiritual but Christian no further than as to the profession of that Christianity we both agree in a subserviency to their worldly designs For if they did in good earnest believe and love the Ancient Apostolick Christianity which obtained in the Symmetral Ages of the Church which was then consummate and abundantly sufficient to Salvation they could not murder those that do heartily profess it the rest being no part of that consummate Christianity but at best mere moss and filth added to it From whence it follows that no one that suffers in the cause of the Roman Hierarchy or Church of Rome as opposite to the Reformed Churches suffers as a Martyr for Christianity but as a Souldier of fortune that espouses the cause of a worldly Polity that guilds it self over with a specious Title of holy Church And truly it were very well if they quitted their lives thus as mere Souldiers of a secular Power But they giving testimony to all the Abominations of the Roman Religion by their thus suffering for they suffer not for the primitive Apostolick Faith wherein we are all agreed they giving testimony I say to all their Idolatries gross superstitions wicked and Tyrannical Laws against the true Members of Christ whom they nickname Hereticks which things make the Roman Hierarchy the real Antichrist they are not only not the Martyrs of Christ but the real Martyrs of Antichrist they suffering for such Doctrines and Practices as are against the law of Christ and are the very support constitution and peculiar interest of Antichrist But as many as suffer by this Roman Hierarchy as the faithful servants of Christ in Obedience to his Laws that are contrary to the Institutes Doctrines and Practices of Antichrist they die as the real Martyrs of Christ and faithful witnesses against Antichrist their witnessing serving no Secular design but the keeping faith and a good Conscience and the approving themselves the sincere servants of Christ. The main thing therefore that I aim at is this That they that suffer by the Roman Hierarchy instigating the Princes of Christendom to persecute the conscientious being the real Martyrs of Christ and their persecution only for such things as are both against the Laws of Christ and only for the Interest of the Antichristian Hierarchy nothing for the secular Powers themselves such as are the Invocation of Saints the Worshipping of Images the Adoration of the Host the Doctrine of Transubstantiation than which nothing can be imagined more reproachful and blasphemous against the person of Christ it exposing him to be swallowed down into that bag of filth the bodies of men or to be imprisoned in a Pyxis to be gnawn with rats and mice or if fallen to the ground and he cannot stay himself I mean this Deus Panaceus this Breaden-God of the Pontificians to be licked up by every obscene dog And yet as glibly as he goes down he is a whole man with head arms and legs with flesh and bones and thus all swallowed down at once without gnawing or chawing nay and that which is still more prodigious it is a whole living man in health and vigour with arms and legs able to run away from either mouse rat or dog or chase them away from himself and yet he suffers himself to be gnawn and eaten up by these vermin I say these
Condensationis Examinatio cum Responsione ad ejusdem Objectiones Quaestionésve circa Principium Hylarchicum sive Spiritum Naturae quae est prior Enchiridii Metaphysici Appendix Adnotamenta in duas ingeniosas Dissertationes alteram Tentamen de Gravitatione Non-gravitatione corporum Fluidorum alteram Observationes circa Experimentum Torricellianum quae est Enchiridii Metaphysici Appendix posterior Ad clarissimum eruditissimum virum Christianum Knorrium de usu decem Sephirotharum c. Epistola Trium Tabularum Cabbalisticarum decem Sephirothas sive Numerationes exhibentium viz. Tabulae Iudaicae vulgaris Tabulae Knorrianae vel Lorianae in sublimioris Cabbalae Clavem Zoaristicam destinatae Tabulae Sephirotharum Graecanicae sive Pythagoricae ab H. M. restitutae Descriptio Expositio Quaestiones Considerationes paucae brevésque in Tractatum primum Libri Druschim quibus accessit ad Cl. eruditissimum virum Christianum Knorrium de rebus in Amica sua Responsione ad dictas Quaestiones c. contentis ulterior Disquisitio Visionis Ezechielis sive Mercavae Expositio ex Principiis Philosophiae Pythagoricae praecipuÃsque Theosophiae Iudaicae Reliquiis concinnata mirâque cum locis quibusdam S. Scripturae hactenus obscuris luculentâque congruitate consolidata Catechismus Cabbalisticus sive Mercavaeus quo in Divinis Mysteriis Mercavae Ezechielis explicandis memoriâ retinendis decem Sephirotharum usus egregiè illustratur Fundamenta Philosophiae sive Cabbalae Aeto-paedo-melissaeae quae omnem Creationem propriè dictam negat Essentiámque supponit Divinam quasi Corporeo-spiritualem Mundúmque Materialem aliquo modo Spiritum cum brevi ac luculenta praedictorum Fundamentorum Confutatione Philosophiae Teutonicae Censura sive Epistola ad Amicum quae Responsum complectitur ad Quaestiones quinque de Philosopho Teutonico I. B. illiúsque Philosophia Ad V. â— Epistola altera quae brevem Tractatûs Theologico-politici Confutationem complectitur paucáque sub finem annexa habet de libri Francisci Cuperi scopo cui Titulus est Arcana Atheismi revelata Demonstrationis duarum Propositionum viz. Ad substantiam quatenus substantia est necessariam Existentiam pertinere Vnicam in mundo substantiam esse quae praecipuae apud Spinozium Atheismi sunt Columnae brevis solidáque Confutatio Divinorum Dialogorum tres priores qui de Attributis Dei tractant ejúsque Providentia in genere Rerum ac verborum locorúmque Scripturae in hoc primo Tomo Voluminis Philosophici occurrentium Index Collectio Philosophica in qua continentur Praefatio generalis Antidotum adversùs Atheismum Appendix ad dictum Antidotum Enthusiasmus Triumphatus sive de Natura Causis Generibus Curatione Enthusiasmi brevis Dissertatio Immortalitas Animae Conjectura Cabbalistica sive Mentis Mosaicae in tribus primis capitibus Geneseos secundùm triplicem Cabbalam Literalem Philosophicam Divino-moralem Interpretatio cum singularum Cabbalarum Defensione Ad Defensionem Cabbalae Philosophicae Appendix Scholiis multùm aucta ubi inter alia Examini respondetur Cl. viri S. Andreae S. S. Theologiae Doctoris Philosophiae Professoris Herbornensis Divinorum Dialogorum duo posteriores qui de Regno Dei tractant de speciali illius Providentia per Christum super Ecclesiam à principio ad finem seculorum Rerum ac verborum locorúmque Scripturae in hoc altero Voluminis Philosophici Tomo contentorum Index Praefatio ad Lectorem Visionum Apocalypticarum Ratio Synchronistica Magni Mysterii Pietatis Explanatio sive Vera ac fidelis Repraesentatio Aeterni Evangelii Domini ac Servatoris nostri Jesu Christi Dei Filii unigeniti Hominúmque Principis ac Angelorum Mysterii Iniquitatis Pars prior sive Diligens justáque Delineatio verae Ideae Antichristianismi in Realibus genuinÃsque illius membris Mysterii Iniquitatis Pars posterior sive Synopsis Prophetica compendiosum continens Prospectum in illa sacrae Scripturae Vaticinia quibus Regnum Antichristi insignÃsve lapsus seu Degeneratio Ecclesiae in eis rebus omnibus quae in Idea Antichristianismi comprehenduntur praefiguratur vel praedicitur Expositio Prophetica septem Epistolarum ad septem Ecclesias Asiaticas De veris Rationibus sive Fundamentis Certitudinis Fidei in rebus Religionis brevis Dissertatio Antidotus adversùs Idololatriam sive Dissertatio brevis multa complectens Theoremata ad dignoscendum quid sit haberÃve debeat Idololatria apud Christianos apprimè utilia cum Applicatione ad doctrinam Concilii Tridentini Antidoti Appendix in qua vera adaequata Notio seu Definitio Idololatriae communiter sic dictae proponitur Exempla plurima istiusmodi Idololatriae in Romana Ecclesia per propositam Definitionem examinantur Consuetudines quaedam in Ecclesia Anglicana vindicantur seriaeque aliquot Monitiones de Idololatria Spirituali demum annectuntur Divinorum Hymnorum Heptachordon Carmina quaedam in Scriptis Philosophicis Anglicè occurrentia Latinè hîc per Authorem reddita Rerum ac Verborum locorúmque Scripturae in hoc Volumine Theologico explicatorum Index locupletissimus Praecipuorum Membrorum Antichristianismi Descriptionum simul Praedictionum eisdem respondentium Index particularis FINIS 1 The Authentickness of the Apocalypse II The Intelligibleness of the Apocalypse * Synops. Prophet Book 1. chap. 2. III The Excellency of the Book of the Apocalypse IV The peril of slighting the Apocalypse and the study of understanding it V The grounds the Authour goes upon in his Exposition of the Apocalypse how assured they be VI How grosly Grotius has overshot himself in his Interpreting the Apocalypse VII The Usefulness of the Authors Exposition against Atheism and for the defence of Natural Religion VIII The usefulness of it for the confirming of Christianity IX And for the justifying the Reformed Churches from all imputation of Schism X And for moving them to repentance and amendment of their lives XI The Usefulness of his Exposition in reference to the Jews XII A particular usefulness for the undeceiving the Fifth-Monarchy-men XIII The usefulness of it in the behalf of the Pontifician Party XIV The Conclusion XV Of his Epilogue to be annexed at the end of his Exposition * See Notes vers 4. Eph. 5.30 * Chap. 1. Sect. 6. * Chap. 10. Matt. 16.23 John 14.20 23. Cap. 6. vers 2. 2 Esdr. 13.38 * See Synops Prophetic Book 2. c. 12. sect 3. Dan. 9.24 Jer. 10.11 Acts 4.19 Dan. 7.14 Joh. 4.35 2 Corinth 7.11 1 Sam. 16.14 Esai 25.7 2 Esdr. 13.38 Mat. 21.13 Rom. 11.15 1 Corinth 12.3 Isai. 63.1 Matt. 10.28 Jude 13. 1 Corinth 6.19 Rom. 8.17 Joh. 5.44 Acts 10.47 * See Mr. Potters Interpretation of the Number 666 cap. 21. * See Mystery of Godliness lib. 5. cap. 16. sect 8. * Chap. 5. vers 24. I Of what Writers and in what way the Author has made use of in his Exposition of the Apocalypse with a Monition not rashly to attempt the expounding of that Book without consulting former Writers II The repeated Testimony of the Spirit of God in the Apocalypse against the Idolatry of the Church of Rome III The Authors Answer to certain invidious Cavils against the Protestant Exposition of the seven Heads of the Beast IV His Answer touching his interpreting the two Horns of the Beast of the Episcopal Mitre and his sharpness of stile in his Exposition V The Authors Table of Synchronisms proposed and explained VI The main difference betwixt M r Mede 's Table of Synchronisms and the Authors VII The Authors Defense of M r Mede ' s Synchronisms against R.H. so far as they agree with his own VIII The Authors Defence of Mr. Mede ' s opinion that a new set of Prophecies begins Rev. 11. whereof some commence from the same Epocha the Prophecy of the Seals does IX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no arguments that the Vision of the Seven Churches the Prophecy of the Seven Seals do not Synchronize X No good sense to be made of the Apocalypse but Mr. Mede 's way The ridiculousness of R. H. his way whereby he would gratify the Church of Rome XI R. H. his extravagant Positions touching the Interpretation of the Apocalypse together with his Reasons of them and their Confutation XII The Key of the Prophecy of the Seven Churches XIII The Key of the Sealed Book and Opened Book Prophecies which is the Angels Interpretation of the Beast and the Woman sitting on him Revel chap. 17. XIV R. H. his Objections against this Key proposed and answered XV The admirable usefulness of the abovesaid Key for the certain unlocking of the Sealed and Opened Book Prophecies XVI The Cognation and Identity or correspondent Opposition of the Middle Synchronals XVII The Antemedial Synchronals how well they sute with the Times they run into XVIII The Post-medial Visions their Order and the Congruity of those that are made to Synchronize one with another XIX R. H. his groundless drolling against the Mystical sense of the Apocalypse with an Answer to some chief Objections of his against Mr. Medes Expositions XX What the Motives were that drove R. H. to reject the Mystical way of Interpreting the Apocalypse and embrace the Litteral and how insufficient XXI That Mr. Mede never disapproved or was out of conceit with his own Synchronisms XXII A confutation of a novel conceit of R. F. that the Number of the Beast is not 666. but 42. XXIII The number twenty five in what regard a character of the Roman Hierarchy or Church of Rome XXV What a true and clear Looking-glass of Providence the Apocalypse is and of what great consequence it is for all Christians high and low to have a right understanding thereof XXVI Of Heresie and of the secularity of the Roman Hierarchy and how they that suffer for that Church are no Christian Martyrs XXVII That they that suffer for conscience sake by the Church of Rome are Christian Martyrs and how much their sufferings are against the Interest of the Secular Powers And what a weight of guilt lies upon them that have gratified the Papal Hierarchy by such persecutions of the conscientious XXVIII What assurance the Author himself has and others also may have concerning him that nothing but the meer Evidence of Truth has cast him upon such sentiments touching the Church of Rome Vol. Philosop Tom. 1. Vol. Philosop Tom. 2. Volum Theologic