to be there detained for a certain time but into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone to be there tormented for ever and ever From whence it may be gathered 1. That Satan after this time shall not tempt the Sons of Men any more and consequently as we have before discoursed they shall have no other inward sollicitation to sin then what issueth from the natural pravity of their own hearts which is nothing in comparison of that malignity which is infused into them by the artifice of Satan 2. That the reason why the Beast was formerly thrown into Hell-fire and not Satan also that stirred him up is this because God intended to make no further use of the Beast whereas Satan was a thousand Years after to seduce Gog and Magog Which being done and so the wrathfull Ministery of Satan accomplished he likewise is flung into Hell-fire to be there for ever tormented together with the Beast 3. That Hell-fire for that is the same with the Lake of Fire and Brimstone is already in being and not to be created at the Day of Judgement otherwise how should Satan be thrown thereinto before the coming of that Day 4. That Satan though a Spirit yet is not therefore immaterial otherwise how should a true real and material fire as that of the Lake is seeing the smoke of men therein tormented is said to ascend for ever and ever Chap. 14.11 be capable of working on him For he is no less said to be tormented therein than the Beast and the false Prophet who being both Men as I before proved must needs consist of matter as all will grant As for the place where Hell-fire is we shall see concerning that towards the end of this Chapter Vers 11. And I saw a great white Throne and him that sat on it from whose Face the Earth and the Heaven fled away and there was found no Place for them Vers 12. And I saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the Dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their Works Vers 13. And the Sea gave up the Dead which were in it and Death and Hell delivered up the Dead which were in them and they were judged every Man according to their Works The Prophecies of the Revelation if we look rightly on them considering them in their own plainness and not as they are disguized and tangled with the far-fetcht Opinions of Men will be found to have been set down in an orderly manner those things being usually delivered first that are first to be accomplished Hence the casting of the Devil into Hell-fire being once dispatcht the universal judgement which was to follow whether in a little or a large distance of time is uncertain cometh here in its own place very fitly to be described God therefore is the supreme Judge is said to sit upon a great white Throne By which words the colour of his Throne which had been hitherto concealed seemeth to be here made known unto us For seeing God as David testifieth hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens for Judgement Psalm 9.7 103.19 and whiteness therein doth for its purity and lustre as well comport with the glory of God if not better than any other colour why should we not believe that the Throne of Judgement whereon God sitteth in the Heavens is as it is here described white But as the glory of God is set out in some measure by the greatness and colour of his Throne so is it infinitely more by the action that is here ascribed to him namely the Annihilation of the heaven and earth For to make them so fly away from before his face as that there is no more place found for them is indeed to reduce them into nothing Otherwise had they any being they would also have a place and be somewhere This reduction of the world into nothing leadeth us to believe the more easily that it was at first created out of nothing For had the matter thereof been from all eternity coexisting with God it would like him be ens necessarium and so likewise of necessity continue for ever with him John having seen the sovereign judge sitting on his throne doth in the next place see them also that stand before him in judgement and they are the dead of all sorts whether they be of high or low degree For that this expression of great and small doth so signifie is evident from Deuteronomy 1.17 Where Moses saith to the Judges of Israel Ye shall not respect persons but ye shall hear the small as well as the great And also from the nineteenth Chapter of this book verse 18. Where an Angel inviteth all the fowls of the heaven to come that they may eat the flesh of all men both free and bond both small and great For the trial of the persons aforesaid are opened certain books containing not their actions for the words import the contrary but the laws by which God proceedeth in judging them and consequently they are the books of the Old and New Testament For Paul plainly telleth us that as many as have sinned in or under the law shall be judged by the law Rom. 2.12 And Christ saith John 12.48 He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day These therefore must needs be the books and out of the things written in them the dead shall be judged according to their works For the inspection of these books doth presently discover both of what kind the works themselves are and what reward is appointed to them From whence it may be collected that they to whom God never made known his will nor imparted any of those laws recorded in the Old and New Testament but suffered them to walk in their own waies albeit they shall perish for their wickedness yet shall they not undergo any trial And thus much are we taught by the Apostle Paul who saith 2 Thes 1.7 8. That the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that knew not God And Rom. 2.12 As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law That is without having any law proposed whereby they should be tried and cast Moreover that we might have a more full knowledge of the foresaid judgement both the resurrection of the dead which is a preparative thereunto and also the several places from whence the dead come forth are here described For the Sea giveth up the bodies of them that were drowned therein and the Grave giveth up the bodies of them that were buried in the earth For that the Grave is here to be understood by death is evident in that it is a place of the dead distinguished both from the Sea and also from Hell But there is
have eternal Life but they whom he had given unto Christ as Christ himself witnesseth John 17.2 saying of himself to the Father As thou hast given him Power over all Flesh that he should give eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him and it was necessary that God should by some means reveal to him who they were that had been given to him he chose this way of Discovery providing a Book of Life wherein all their Names are written by the inspection whereof Christ might understand who were to be saved Thus Christ attaineth to the knowledge of the Decrees of God touching sundry other matters by opening a Book sealed with seven Seals that was in the Hand of God Chap. 5.1 8 9. And lest any one should think that this is to be taken in a figurative sense let him consult the Prophecy of Daniel where he shall finde an Angel plainly signifying that the Decrees of God are set down in writing for thus he saith to Daniel Chap. 19.21 being about to declare the purpose of God touching the Kingdoms of the World I will shew thee that which is noted in the Scripture of Truth It is further said in that passage of the Revelation that is now under discussion that the Lamb Christ Jesus was slain from the Foundation of the World which must of necessity be understood of the purpose of God touching the Death of Christ for Christ was actually slain in the Reign of Tiberius Caesar as the Scripture elsewhere testifieth Vers 9. If any Man have an Ear let him hear This Acclamation is never added in the Scripture but when there hath preceded some notable thing that requireth a more diligent reflexion to be made upon it But what is more remarkable than this that the constancy of the Saints and their resolute denial to worship the Beast when all the World doth the contrary is at no hand to be ascribed to the Saints themselves as men are apt to do but onely to the Decree of God who had before chosen them to Salvation without which they also as well as others would have committed that great transgression Vers 10. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity He that killeth with the Sword must be killed with the Sword Here is the patience and the Faith of the Saints The equal Judgement of God is here set forth who usually plagueth Men in the same kinde wherein they had offended so that the punishment carrieth the footsteps and resemblance of their sin For the Beast who had brought many of the Saints into captivity is himself at length taken captive and thrown alive into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone Chap. 19.20 and the ten Kings who had assisted him in killing the Saints Chap. 17.12 13. are themselves slain with the Sword proceeding out of the Mouth of Christ Chap. 19.20 21. And hereby is the Faith and Patience of the Saints made conspicuous whilest they believe and patiently wait for the vengeance of God to be poured forth upon the Enemy in the time appointed Vers 11. And I beheld another Beast coming up out of the Earth and he had two Horns like a Lamb and he spake as a Dragon Now John cometh to the Description of the second Beast whereby is understood a false Prophet for so is he expresly called Chap. 16.13 and Chap. 19.20 And he is seen to ascend up out of the Earth because he ariseth from the Dead who have their place in the lower parts of the Earth Thus when the Witch of Endor had raised up Samuel she said to Saul I saw gods or rather a god as appeareth from the following Verse ascend out of the Earth 1 Sam. 28.13 Now that the Dead are placed in the lower parts of the Earth is evident from sundry Texts of Scripture See Psal 63.9 10. But those that seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the Earth They shall fall by the Sword they shall be a Portion for Foxes See also Ezek. 32. from Verse 18. to the end of the Chapter And this is the reason why the false Prophet together with the Beast who as I shall clearly prove in my Exposition of the 17. Chapter ought also to be raised from the Dead to act all those horrid things that are spoken of him in this Book of the Revelation are not slain in the Battel of Armageddon as all the rest are but taken alive and thrown into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone as having been once dead already When this second Beast is said to have two Horns as a Lamb this argueth that he maketh a shew of Lamb-like meekness and innocency in his outward garb but in his Doctrine hisseth like a Dragon uttering such things as tend to the ruine and destruction of Men as appeareth by the sequel of this Chapter Vers 12. And he exerciseth all the Power of the first Beast before him and causeth the Earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first Beast whose deadly Wound was healed See how this second Beast which in shape of Horns resembleth a Lamb begins to act like a Dragon in exercising all the Power of the first Beast in his presence that he may thereby force the Inhabitants of the Earth to worship the first Beast whose deadly wound was healed Thus Nebuchadnezzer brought all Peoples Nations and Languages to fall down and worship the golden Image which he had set up by threatning to cast Refusers into the midst of a burning fiery Furnace Dan. 3.6 9. Vers 13. And he doth great wonders so that he maketh Fire come down from Heaven on the Earth in the sight of Men Vers 14. And deceiveth them that dwell on the Earth by the means of those Miracles which he had Power to do in the sight of the Beast saying to them that dwell on the Earth that they should make an Image to the Beast which had the Wound by a Sword and did live As the false Prophet made use of Power to drive Men to the Worship of the Beast so doth he also of subtilty t odraw then to a further degree of impiety inciting them by great Wonders which it is given him to do to erect an Image to the Beast which received a deadly Wound by the Sword but afterward recovered of the same For of all Impostures whereby Men are wont to be seduced to a false Worship there is none so powerful as that of working Miracles Hence Christ saith in the Gospel Matth. 24.24 There shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect And Moses long before in the Law Deut. 13.1 2 3 If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee saying Let us go after other gods which thou hast not known
Wilderness a Name inscribed on her Forehead which lest any one should think it to be that very Name whereby she was commonly known amongst Men hath the word Mystery set before it intimating that the following Name agreed to this Woman not in a proper but in a mystical sense The reason and elegancy of which borrowed Appellation given to Rome for she according to the Angels Interpretation Verse 18. is meant by this Woman I have already discovered in the Exposition of the 14. Chapter to which I send back the Reader for further satisfaction in this point Now Rome is here deserved'y called the Mother of Harlots and the Abominations of the Earth For it is evident from the testimony of Writers that no City did ever so abound with Whoredom and also other abominable practices as Rome both in those times and ever since Vers 6. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the Saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus and when I saw her I wondred with great admiration Ver. 7. And the angel said unto me Wherefore didst thou marvel I will tell thee the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carrieth her which hath the seven heads and ten horns Though the filthiness of this woman was very great and her actions abominable above those of all other women yet would not God have poured out his wrath upon her in so signal a maner as is related in the two following chapters had she not above all her other evils defiled her hands with the blood of Saints and Martyrs For this is one of those sins that make the lowdest cry in the ears of God as the History of righteous Abel testifieth Gen. 4.10 11. But this woman had already swallowed and was before her ruine to swallow so much of this precious blood that John here already perceiveth her to be drunk therewith which drunkenness of hers might easily appear to him as he looked upon her but that it was caused by quaffing the blood of Saints and Martyrs the knowledge hereof must needs proceed from Revelation whether of the Angel as it is most likely or of some other heavenly person And here by the way let the difference between the Saints and the Martyrs or witnesses of Jesus be well observed For the Saints are meerly pious men but the Martyrs or Witnesses of Jesus are such as besides their piety have also the Spirit of Prophecy and so become capeable of bearing testimony to Jesus For if as this very Angel asserteth chap. 19.10 the Testimony or Witnessing of Jesus be the Spirit of Prophecy then a Martyr or Witness of Jesus must be such a one as is indued therewith Howbeit though John had received that Spirit yea understood the cause of the womans drunkenness yet as prophesying but in part he could not for all this tell who the woman her self should be And therefore as admiration is wont to proceed from Ignorance he doth exceedingly wonder at her In which wondring condition he was likely to have continued had not the Angel disclosed to him the Mystery of the woman as he doth also that of the Beast with seven heads and ten horns that carried her which description plainly sheweth that this Beast is the same that formerly was seen to arise out of that Sea Chap. 13.1 And therefore he is as formerly simply called the Beast whensoever he is afterwards mentioned As for his carrying of the woman the reason hereof as will further appear from what shall presently be spoken is because the Government of the City which the woman represents did sometimes rest upon him and so he was the support thereof Vers 8. The beast that thou sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is The Angel beginning to discover somewhat obliquely unto John the Mystery of the Beast whom we shall afterwards finde to be Domitian saith of him that he was and is not Wherby is meant that he was sometimes in power but now at the time of this Vision was not so For that it must not be understood of his being alive is evident from the close of the Verse where it is said of him that he was and is not and yet is The meaning of which words then would be that he was alive and is not alive and yet is alive Which every one seeth to be a flat contradiction But according to the other Interpretation which is indeed that of the Angel himself as may be seen in the 11. Verse the words carry in themselves no contradiction but a marvellous divine elegancy amounting to this sense that though the Beast had formerly been in power and now was not so yet was he still in being But that which exceedeth all imagination of men and would surpass their belief also were it not so plainly delivered both here and Chap. 11 7. is that the Beast shall ascend out of the bottomless Pit Which being spoken of one that was then alive doth imply that he should dy and afterward arise from the Dead to act those stupendious things that are foretold of him in this Book of the Revelation For that the bottomlest Pit is the Mansion of the Dead and so to ascend from thence is to arise from the Dead is evident from that Passage of the Apostle Paul Rom 10.7 where he saith Who shall descend into the deep Greek Abyss or bottomless Pit the same word that is used in the Revelation concerning the Beast that is to bring up Christ from the Dead For what relation would the Descent into the deep or bottomless Pit have to the bringing up of Christ from the Dead if the Dead had not there their abode In the next place mention is made of the Beasts going into perdition which being here set down as a thing that is to follow his Ascent out of the bottomless Pit shall then be fulfilled when he is thrown alive into the Lake burning with fire and brimstone above a thousand years before the Judgement of the great day as may be seen in the 19. and 20. Chap. Which yet new and unusual punishment is to be imputed to the strangeness of his offences afore related in the 13. Chapter which he as shall by and by be proved will perpetrate after he is risen from the Dead Last of all the Angel speaketh of the Admiration wherein all the Inhabitants of the Earth will have the Beast that was and is not and yet is namely when they shall see him after his Resurrection invested with so vast an Empire and cured of his deadly Wound as is expressed in the 13. Chapter For that the things related of the Beast in that Chapter are to be performed by him when he is risen from
the Dead is evident in that the very chief of them came not to pass in the time of his former life as will appear to any one that peruseth what hath been written of him by ancient Authours For where is it said of him in story that he received a deadly Wound and recovered Yea we finde on the contrary that when he had been wounded by one Stephanus he was so far from being cured thereof that he was by others coming in presently after killed outright See Suetonius in the History of Domitian cap. 17. Where that his Image was erected and made to speak that they might be put to death that refused to worship it Where that he did set a Mark upon either the fore-head or the right hand of Men without which none might buy or sell These and sundry other remarkable things recorded of the Beast in the Book of the Revelation were never yet acted by him nor indeed by any other person whatsoever that we read of since this Prophecy was written wherefore if the Beast that was long since slain must do them as this Prophecy plainly testifieth it will unavoidably follow that he must be raised from the Dead to that purpose But though the Inhabitants of the Earth in general shall admire the Beast yet some will refuse to do so namely They whose names were written in the book of life from the foundation of the world By which passage it is clear that there is a certain number of men ordained by name to eternal life from the foundation of the world And this Ordination is alledged by the Angel as the true cause why they above others consent not to the epidemical impiety that is committed in admiring the Beast Neither did I ever meet with any man who denying such a particular and peremtory Ordination could give a clear and satisfactory answer to this passage which in my judgement now that I have made a more diligent search thereinto seemeth sufficient to decide the so much agitated controversie about Predestination especially if you add that other invincible argument taken from the Ordination of Christ himself For if Christ were unchangeably Ordained to glory not only from but also before the foundation of the world as the Scripture attesteth and all Christians grant why should not we by like reason affirm the same of his people it being altogether absurd to imagine that the head should be designed and not also the body pertaining thereunto inasmuch as they have a mutual relation the one to the other For whereas some indeavour to decline the dint of the foresaid passage in the Revelation by referring those words from the foundation of the world to the book it self and not to the writing of the names therein this can by no means consist for then to exclude all ambiguity an Article would have been prefixed to them in the Greek and accordingly the words have run thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Again I would demand of any man well skilled in that language how the Angel could speak otherwise then he doth were it his intention as I affirm to shew that certain mens names were from the foundation of the world written in the book of life But if he meant to signifie that the Book onely was from the Foundation of the World that as I before shewed might easily have been done by setting an Article agreeing in Greek with the word Book before these words From the Foundation of the World Vers 9. And here is the minde which hath wisdom The seven Heads are seven Mountains on which the Woman sitteth 10. And they are seven Kings five are fallen and one is and the other is not vet come and when he cometh he must continue a short space 11. And the Beast that was and is not even he is the eighth and is of the seven and goeth into perdition Here the Angel cometh directly to the matter making way to the discovery that he had promised to John with a so emn Preface whereby he intimateth that the Interpretation which he was about to deliver was so ordered that none but a wise and intelligent man could apprehend it Then beginning to declare the Mystery of the Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns whereon the Woman sitteth he saith that the seven Heads are both seven Mountains whereon the Woman sitteth which Description the wise and learned know denoteth Rome that was built upon seven Mountains and also seven Kings so the Roman Emperours are elsewhere styled in the Scripture for the Jews John 19.15 say We have no King but Caesar And that he here meaneth Roman Kings or Emperours is evident in that they are coupled with the seven Mountains of Rome and represented as they before had been by the seven Heads of the Beast of which Kings five namely Claudius Nero Galba Otho Vitellius are fallen that is are taken away by a violent death Thus David 2 Sam. 4 38. saith to the Israelites concerning Abner whom Joab had slain Know you not that there is a Prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel And God saith to the murmuring Israelites against whom his hand was lifted up to destroy them from among the Host until they were consumed As for you your carcases shall fall in this wilderness Numbers 14.32 but one is namely Vespasian the other is not yet come and when he cometh he must continue but a little while That is Titus the elder son of Vespasian who Reigning after his Father continued but two years two moneths and twenty days as Suetonius in his life witnesseth And the Beast that was and is not even he is the eighth and is of the seven and goeth into perdition This is meant of Domitian the younger son of Vespasian who was the eighth King or Emperour from Claudius if you consider him as reigning after the death of his Father and his elder brother But if you look upon him as Reigning in the absence of his Father who was not yet come out of the eastern parts unto Rome to manage the Empire he was one of the seven Kings from Claudius namely the sixth For that Domitian after the death of Vitellius the Emperour did in the absence of his Father Reign at Rome as Emperour is manifest from the words of Tacitus Hist lib. 3. Cap. ult Domitianum postquam nihil hostile metuebatur ad duces partium progressum Caesarem consalutatum miles frequens utque erat in armis in paternos penates deduxit that is Domitian when no further hostility was feared presented himself to the Captains of the party and being saluted Cesar that is Emperour for this was the Title of all the Roman Emperours after Julius Cesar was brought by the Souldiery in their arms to his Fathers house And lib. 4. cap. 1. Nomen sedemque Caesaris Domitianus acceperat that is Domitian had assumed to himself both the Title and the seat of Cesar ib. cap. 4. Ipsi consulatus cum Tito filio proetura
and he that sitteth upon the horse with his Army on the other side Which last clause clearly sheweth that there shall be an Army in the field siding with Christ and having him for their Captain against which the Kings of the earth do directly bend their force as being capable of hurt For it is inconceiveable that all the kings of the earth should draw their Armies together into the land of Israel to fight against the person of Christ in heaven which should it descend from thence as nevertheless it shall not do until the day of the universal judgement would be altogether impassible Neither can it be said that this Army of Christ consisteth of Angels for to omit the difficulty even now mentioned and which hath place in Angels as well as in Christ the Angels are ranged in several Armies as the fourteenth verse of this Chapter signifieth whereas the Army of Christ here mentioned is but one Again the Angels are in the place aforesaid called the Armies in heaven that followed Christ But his implieth that there is some other Army of his upon the earth even that whereof I now dispute and which must needs consist of the Saints as was also before hinted Chap. 17.14 The Issue of the Battel is here set down in this manner namely that the Kings and their Armies are all slain with the Sword of Christs mouth but the Beast and the false Prophet are taken and thrown alive into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone All which is so plain that it needeth no Interpretation Onely let it by the way be observed that from hence it undeniably followeth that the Beast and the false Prophet are two particular Men otherwise how should they be present at the Battel of Armageddon and there be taken and thrown alive into Hell fire Certainly this doth intimate that they are Men who might as well have been slain as others but were not because as I have before evinced they had been once dead already and were restored again to life to act the things in this Book related of them Which if any one should chance to scrupleat as a thing very uncouth although it be altogether unreasonable so to do for as much as I have before out of the Scripture demonstrated the same let him on the contrary confider with himself how suitable it is that they whose actions are prodigiously wicked and such as were never practised in the World before should likewise in an unusual way be raised up to perform them As for those words in the very Close of this Chapter where it is said that all the Fowls were filled with the Flesh of the slain this argueth that a true and real Battel is here to be understood and that the Exposition which I gave upon the 17. and 18. Verses affirming that all manner of ravenous Birds should flock to the Land of Israel to feed upon the Corpses of slaughtered men is firm and certain so that it would be ridiculous to fasten another sense upon the place Chap. 20. Vers 1 2 3. And I saw an Angel come down from Heaven having the Key of the bottomless Pit and a great Chain in his Hand And he laid hold on the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Devil and Satan and bound him a thousand Years And cast him into the bottomless Pit and shut him up and set a Seal upon him that he should deceive the Nations no more till the thousand Years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season The Exposition SAtan that old Serpent so called and here represented because of his subtilty for the Serpent is in the Scripture noted to be the wisest of all the Beasts that God created Gen. 3.1 had now for many thousand Years abused the World at his pleasure and of late knowing his time to be short had vented more than ordinary malice against the Saints in stirring up the Beast to persecute and kill many of them Yea in conclusion he had with his wiles so inveigled the Kings of the Earth that at his instigation they attempted with joint Forces to cut off the remainder of the Saints from being a People Wherefore to prevent the like mischief in the future and to the end that the Saints may enjoy a long Tranquillity after so hot a Persecution an Angel here descendeth from Heaven and with the Chain that is in his Hand bindeth Satan for a thousand Years that he may no more deceive the Nations till the said term be expired At which time though he be again let loose to seduce and instigate the Nations against the Saints yet shall that seduction continue but a little while as the sequel of this Chapter doth declare Certainly the binding of Satan must needs cause so happy a revolution over all the World that we may rather guess at it than comprehend it For consider how peaceable and glorious the Times must needs prove when Satan the great Incendiary of all those Dissentions Outrages and Cruelties wherewith the World is so much infested shall be kept in Prison for a thousand Years together and Men after the Extinction of that Generation in whom Satan had sown the Seeds of Discord shall have no other inward Incentive to sin than the Disposition of their own Heart which though it be naturally evil from their youth yet may it being alone more easily be resisted nor will without the concurrence of Satan produce so grievous Disorders as now it doth This therefore is the time when that shall truly be fulfilled which God so long ago foretold by the Prophet Micah Chap. 4.3 4. where he saith of the Nations that they shall beat their Swords into Plough-shares and their Spears into Pruning-hooks Nation shall not rise against Nation neither shall they learn War any more But they shall sit every man under his Vine and under his Fig-tree and none shall make them afraid for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it But the World now is and hath hither to been so far from enjoying such felicity that I cannot sufficiently wonder how any man who is neither a stranger to the Records of Antiquity nor to the condition of the present times should ever imagine that Satan hath already been bound namely in the Reign of Constantine the Great and so withheld from deceiving the Nations For it is apparent that since the said Emperour ruled as notorious Impostures have been set on foot to delude and blinde the World as are reported to have been hatched in any former Ages Which Impostures we must either confess to have proceeded from Satan and consequently that he hath not yet been bound or most absurdly hold that Men may be as shamefully gulled when Satan hath ceased to seduce them as they were before and so that his labor in this kinde hath hitherto been superfluous Nor need I any difficult reasoning to prove what I even now asserted For to omit others the Mahumetans and Papists
no other receptacle of the dead besides these twain save only the Grave Thus we finde that Job doth by death understand the Grave Chap. 27.15 When he saith of the wicked man that those that remain of him shall be buried in death and his widows shall not weep Finally Hell not Hell-fire giveth up the souls both of them that were drowned in the Sea under which name all waters are comprehended and also of them that were buried in the earth For that Hell is designed to be the mansion of separated Souls appeareth from the words of Peter Acts 2.31 Who speaking out of the Psalms concerning the resurrection of Christ saith that his soul was not left in hell neither did his flesh see corruption And also from that passage of David Psalm 30.3 O Lord thou hast brought up my soul from Hell thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down into the pit For that I have rightly rendred the words in saying from hell and not from the Grave is manifest both from the Greek version which here hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and also from the Hebrew original not using the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is proper to denote a Grave or Sepulchre See Gen. 23.6 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby Hell is wont to be expressed and which lieth in the lower parts of the earth See the Hebrew context of Numb 16.30.33 Besides it is apparent to common sense that not the souls but only the bodies of men are laid in the grave Vers 14. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire This is the second death Vers 15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire What the second death is and consequently those words mean which we read in the second clause of the sixth verse foregoing as also those Chap. 2.11 where it is said He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death is here by John explained for he expresly telleth us that the lake of fire and brimstone is the second death So that to be cast into that lake and to be under the power of the second death or hurt of it are expressions of the same import Thus had we the testimony of Jesus expounded to us in the nineteenth Chapter Nevertheless how Death and Hell being both of them places and receptacles of the dead should be cast into the said lake is hard to comprehend Yea were it not for a certain passage in the sixth Chapter of this prophecy I should be inclineable to think that this was a mystery which God would not have us pry into as we have above shewn that sundry such mysteries are to be met withal in the Book of the Revelation But forasmuch as in the Chapter aforesaid verse 8. Death is brought in riding upon a pale horse and Hell following him and consequently both of them are represented in the similitude of persons we may from thence rationally collect that in the passage here under debate the Holy Ghost intending to intimate that after the universal Judgement there shall be neither burial nor separation of the soul from the body doth exhibit two persons representing Death and Hell which are thrown into the lake of fire as resigning up their Office to it and being swallowed up therein according to that of the Prophet Hosea Chap. 15.14 O death I will be thy plague O Hell so it is in the Hebrew and not Grave I will be thy destruction Besides the books of the Old and New Testament which are the rule by which the actions of men that have had some form of Religion delivered by God shall at length be examined there is yet another Book opened in the day of judgement to wit the Book of life wherein whosoever have not their names written are said to be cast into the Lake of fire From whence it may be rightly concluded that as the want of being enrolled in that Book was above in the thirteenth and also in the seventeenth Chapters alleged as the Cause why so many erred most grosly in admiring and worshipping the Beast so is it here why so many are thrown into the Lake of Fire in that it is altogether impossible for such persons to attain that piety to which the Promise of eternal Life is annexed As for the place of the Lake of Fire that is here so much spoken of were it part of the World it would of necessity perish with the World which as we have before evinced is to be abolished Wherefore seeing it abideth for ever we ought in reason to conceive that it is without the compass of the World in the Description of which the Scripture doth perpetually omit it And hence it seemeth to be called by Christ the outer Darkness Matth. 22.13 as being without the Verge of Heaven and Earth Chap. 21. Vers 1. And I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away and there was no more Sea The Exposition WHat I before said touching the orderly course held by John in setting down his Prophecies is here worthy again to be observed For having in the precedent Chapter described the abolition of Heaven and Earth he now mentioneth the new Heaven and the new Earth that are to succeed in their place And he therefore affirmeth that he had seen this new Heaven and this new Earth though to this very day the old ones still continue because they were represented to him in a Vision Thus Christ saith to his Disciples Matth. 16.28 There be some of them that are standing here who shall not taste of Death till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom Not that any of them were to remain alive to the end of the World for both the Scripture and the Ecclesiastical History testifie the contrary but because about eight days after he vouchsafed to three of them a sight of that glory wherein he shall come as King to judge the World Luke 9.27 28 29 30. But for as much as many endeavour to obscure this passage of the Revelation with their forced Allegories let us confirm the plain and literal meaning thereof by what the Scripture elsewhere speaketh concerning this matter The Apostle Peter describing the Day of Judgement and the alteration that shall happen to the World thereby telleth the pious Jews to whom he directeth his Letters that the Day of the Lord will come as a Thief in the Night in the which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the Works therein shall be burnt up Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness looking for and hasting unto the coming of the Day of God wherein the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the Elements shall melt with fervent