belongeth the first Resurrection accordingly as here followeth 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath no power Namely the Lake of Fire vers 14. into which Hades or the whole Region of Mortality is cast the Earth being all on fire But they that have obtained their glorified body as the Martyrs do in the first Resurrection they are sped already and are safe from this fate But they shall be Priests of God and of Christ that is Holy and Divine Souls cloathed in glorified bodies serving God in his Heavenly Temple And shall reign with him viz. with Christ in the Kingdom of his Father not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the thousand years of the Millennium but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thousand years symbolically understood which being the Cube of Ten which comprehends all number signifies a steady permanent Reign even to all Eternity 7. But when the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the thousand years of the Millennium are expired that is at the expiration of the Philadelphian Interval and the beginning of the Laodicean Satan shall be loosed out of his prison that is to say the ancient zeal of the Philadelphian Church and strictness of Discipline will be much relaxated and wickedness will get head again namely under the fourth Thunder 8. And he shall go out to deceive the Nations which are in the four quarters of the Earth Gog and Magog that is the whole rabble of men that are disposed to wickedness and have an enmity against the Holy and Just which are the true Israelites indeed in whom there is no guile And Gog and Magog are those notorious enemies of the People of Israel Ezech. Cap. 38. and 39. who therefore here typifie the enemies of the Holy Christian and Apostolick Church of which Israel was a type To gather them together to battel to fight against Israel the true Church of Christ The number of whom is as the sand of the sea So much had wickedness increased by the not still endeavouring with that wonted vigour the amplification of Christs Kingdom and by relaxation of Discipline in the Laodicean State of the Church though purity of external worship was still retained among them neither had they contaminated themselves with course Superstitions and Idolatries 9. And they went up on the breadth of the Earth which indicates the swarming and the spreading of their Forces and compassed the Camp of the Saints about The Camp wherein there were many Saints and right Philadelphian Spirits but all Saints as to the purity of external worship And the beloved City The mystical Ierusalem or pure Church of Christ and beloved of him for the reasons even now intimated Here is an attempt of bringing again the Righteous under the Power and Tyranny of the wicked which attempts are made toward the latter end of the Laodicean Interval under the fifth Thunder But before they could effect their wicked enterprise the Day of judgement overtakes them And fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them 10. And the Devil that deceived them was cast together with them into the lake of fire and brimstone even that Lake which is afterwards called the second death where the Beast and the false Prophet the whole Antichristian Rabble shall be and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever 11. For I saw a great white Throne for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And does ordinarily signifie for as the sense may require and him that sate on it namely Christ coming to judgement at the end of the Laodicean Interval in the sixth Thunder from whence the Church of Laodicea also has its name From whose face the Earth and the Heaven fled away and there was found no place for them that is the Glory of his Majesty was so great that Heaven and Earth seemed to vanish before him the eyes of the spectators at first being so wholly filled with the brightness of the presence of his Glory 12. And I saw the dead small and great good and bad stand before God This is the General Resurrection which is not till the thousand years of the Millennium be expired but a good while after it though but a little time compared with the thousand years in the latitude of the sense thereof And the Books were opened the Rolls and Records of their actions this is spoken in allusion to Law-proceedings in Courts of Judicature amongst men And another Book was opened which is the Book of Life An auspicious Title signifying that they whose names were found there should be sentenced worthy of Eternal Life and escape the second death And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their Works As is done in Righteous Courts of Judicature where the Judge gives Sentence according to what is alledged and proved And so it is in this General Assizes none shall be condemned for what he is not guilty of but be judged according to his works 13. And the Sea gave up the dead which were in it The Souls here appear of them that were drown'd in the Sea as being not extinct thereby as some fondly imagine and actuate their bodies And death or pestilence all manner of death by diseases is intimated by it and briefly Hell that is Hades the whole Region of deceased Souls or this sphere of Mortality into which they are congregated at this General Assizes delivered up the dead that were in them that is exhibited them to the view of all And they were judged every man according to their works The Divine Nemesis proportioned punishments or rewards to every one according to their doings Hitherto are the transactions of this General Assizes and the passing of judgement on those that were called to the Bar which takes up the sixth Thunder But in the seventh there is Thundering and Lightening properly so called as is intimated vers 9. And fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them So here 14. And Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire that is this whole Region of Mortality above which the Spirits of Devils and damned Souls cannot emerge but are chained and confined to this caliginous Atmosphere will be set on fire at the last Thunder which together with eruptions from beneath will cause a dreadful Conflagration and turn the Earth as it were into one great lake of fire This is the sense of these words And Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire Which is a very figurative expression First by a Prosopopoeia making Death and Hell as it were two persons as in Chap. 6. vers 8. and then by an Hypallage casting them into the fire when as the fire is rather cast into them it occupying all this Region of Mortality and putting an end to dying by consuming all the species of mortal Creatures and giving a stop to their propagation This is the second Death As the first
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
the little Book is past but the second wo is past This is the very strength and quintessence of his first second third and sixth argument And the fifth is but a toy fetched from a Supposition that if they that divided the Apocalypse into Chapters had begun the tenth Chapter at vers 13. of the ninth and continued it to vers 14. of the eleventh none would have questioned but all that were the Visum of the sixth Trumpet To all which I shall answer in order And I. That there was no need of setting down at the end of the ninth Chapter a note of the close of the sixth Trumpet it being to be observed in every one of the five foregoing Trumpets that each have but one Visum belonging to them Wherefore the description of the Vision of the Euphratean Horsemen which is the Visum of this sixth Trumpet being dispatched it was obvious to any one that is not over oscitant to conclude the sixth Trumpet is past without its being said so But again to awaken his oscitancy immediately after the Visum of this sixth Trumpet which the Interval of the seventh necessarily succeeds is there the mention of seven Thunders to fill the space of the seventh Trumpet as the seven Trumpets fill the space of the seventh Seal And he must be in a great dulness if not a dead sleep whom these seven Thunders will not awake into a certain assurance that the sixth Trumpet ended with the Vision of the Euphratean horsemen And that he may not think there are any Visions appertaining to any times beyond this Interval or that the space of the seventh Trumpet was not indigitated before the Angel swears there shall be no more time saving that wherein the seventh Angel sounds and in which the mystery of God is finished v. 7. whence what follows vers 8. must needs be in order to a new System of Prophecies beginning from the same Epocha with that of the Seals the race of the Seals being arrived at the utmost goal already 2. There is no reason that the close of the sixth Trumpet should be set at the sixth verse the sense being there imperfect nor at the seventh it being not to be understood of the time and times and half a time expiring but of the whole seventh Trumpet as the grammatical sense requires and therefore it had been absurd to put the close of the sixth Trumpet after the seventh 3. Nor does the note of the ending of the second wo-Trumpet set Chap. 11. vers 14. argue the Visum of that Trumpet to reach thither but only the Vision there to end with the ending of the second wo-Trumpets time For the seven Trumpets are rather notes of the Intervals of time than of the Visions of those Intervals the Trumpets being nothing like them though figuratively they may denote either But here where it is said the second wo is past the time of the second wo-Trumpet is understood to give notice that the Vision of the mournful Witnesses c. did expire with the end of that time Besides if it were to be understood of all that occurrs from Chap. 9. vers 13. to this Chapter vers 14. there is more woes than one the woful condition of the Witnesses as well as of those the Euphratean horsemen vex and destroy 4. And what follows methinks is an argument against himself For the things here that he would have all of them the Visum of the sixth Trumpet none of the other Trumpets being charged with such heterogeneous stuff do the better assure us that the Euphratean horsemen are the only Visum of the sixth Trumpet 5. And to have put Chap. 11. vers 14. The first Vision of the little Book is past instead of the second wo is past had been too bare and bald contrary to the genius of this Book of the Apocalypse which was not writ for either a prophane or stupid Reader And besides it would not have served the end that the second wo is past does Which is to be of the main hinges upon which all the middle Synchronisms hang as shall be seen anon 6. And lastly as to the toy I mentioned though such a division of Chapters might have the more firmly fixt M r R.H. in his gross conceit yet it could never have imposed upon so pious and sagacious a person as M r I. Mede But it is plain that they that did divide the Chapters as they are and begin the tenth immediately after the Vision of the Euphratean Horsemen took that to be the sole Visum belonging to the sixth Trumpet The other argument of R. H. which he calls his fourth I will set down in his own words Of all the six Trumpets none have a remarkable close added to them but the fifth and sixth Trumpets only And wherefore were these closes added to them but that we might exactly know as well where they end as where they begin Now the fifth Trumpet ends where the close thereof is set and that is Rev. 9. vers 12. And therefore also the sixth Trumpet ends where the close thereof is set and that is Rev. 11. vers 14. and not before This looks most like an argument of any thing that he has brought yet But I briefly answer that the fifth and sixth Trumpets have not that remarkable Close added to them to know where they end there being no need of adding them for that purpose forasmuch as the ending of them is so easily to be known without it Are not the endings of the four first Trumpets well enough known without any such remarkable close For they are known to end where the next Trumpet begins Now it is evident that the fifth Trumpet needs no such remarkable close because the sixth Trumpet immediately follows it which shews the ending thereof And yet there is added as a close to the fifth Trumpet The first wo is past This is undeniably true of the fifth Trumpet And that the Visum of the sixth Trumpet that is the Euphratean Horsemen have no need of any such remarkable close I have proved abundantly already in my answer to the first particular of his first argument From whence it is manifest that these remarkable closes of the fifth and sixth Trumpets must be for some other use And to answer R. H. his demand wherefore they were added I shall tell him not as Notes of the ending of the Visions of those two Trumpets but as Notes of the expiration of the time of them as I distinguished above For the former I have demonstrated to be needless but this latter admirably useful In brief therefore though the adding that Note Chap. 9. vers 13. The first wo is past in that place is needless as to the determining the time of the fifth Trumpet yet because the spirit of Prophecy intended to make use of the like Note Chap. 11. vers 14. to denote the ending of the time or Interval of the sixth Trumpet he prepared the mind 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
makes the Scripture a nose of wax which a man may turn which way he will subjecteth it to our vain lusts and humours and leaves us partially to apply the good things to ourselves and our own party and the bad things to our enemies Disp. 11. Quest. 2. These be the main arguments for his second Paradox 1. But to the first I answer That a Revelation may be a Mystery that is mystically or hiddenly conveyed but yet plainly to be known by them that have the Key As it is in Steganography by which Secrets are certainly conveyed or revealed but in such a mysterious way that none but they that know the clavis or Key shall be ever the wiser Wherefore it is not at all repugnant that the Apocalypse may be a Revelation and yet a Mystery that is a Revelation Mystically conveyed But where is that clavis will you say that will so certainly unlock the Mystery To that I shall answer after I have answered his three following arguments for this present Paradox 2. And therefore I proceed to the second which I say does not prove that where the Holy Ghost does not interpret the Text is litterally to be understood but that the Interpretation of those Texts that are interpreted are made with that skill and judgment that they give sufficient light to the rest of the Prophecies suppose of the Seven Churches or of the Sealed and Opened Book Prophecies And of this kind is that clavis offered Rev. 1. vers 20. and Rev. 17. vers 7 8 9. 3. And concerning the third I demand when he will allow that there is evident necessity of interpreting a Text mystically when the letter it self is simply impossible But this then argues his ignorance of the Apocalyptick stile and of the artifice of the external Cortex of the Prophecies in which so carefully is observed the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in speech which figure you may call Pithanologia or Logoprepia if you will that no representation be over extravagantly incredible in the very Letter much less impossible But if he mean by an evident necessity a moral incredibility or impossibility in the litteral sense I say there is such an evident necessity the litteral sense putting him upon such an extravagant Hypothesis as that none of the Prophecies are yet fulfilled nor will be God knows when Which is little less than blasphemy against the Divine Providence as if he had neglected his Church in this point for sixteen hundred years together Besides that the Synchronisms demonstrable out of the intrinsecal characters in the Prophecies themselves do necessarily imply that most of the Visions are fulfilled already but not in a litteral sense wherefore there is evident necessity they be interpreted in a sense Mystical To all which you may add that the Holy Ghost his interpreting some parts mystically may justly be an intimation and animation to us to follow his example in the rest 4. To the fourth and last I answer This is but the old Popish allegation against all the Scripture unless it be fixt by the sense of the Infallible Chair as R. H. would have the Apocalypse by the litteral sense that so it may not be a nose of wax but a brasen nose or the same mettle that their foreheads are that can plead for such absurd Hypotheses But I say this mystical way of interpreting the Apocalypse will not make it a nose of wax if men will but make use of those helps that the intrinsecal characters of the Visions do afford to cast them into orderly Synchronisms so as M r Mede has done And those that have neglected this necessary help what pitiful Interpretations they have made R. H. himself can witness Nay certainly To the skilful the Mystical sense of the Apocalypse is as certainly determinable one way as any Scripture is in the Litteral sense thereof And if R. H. thinks it such a nose of wax I challenge him or any one else whosoever to make a nose of wax if he can of my Ioynt Exposition of the thirteenth and sevententh Chapters of the Apocalypse in my Synopsis Prophetica and to show that the sense which I have given is not the determinate sense of them And that R. H. himself has so shroudly confuted the Grotian way of interpreting the Apocalypse it may be an argument to him if he please that it is not such a nose of wax that will stand any way but that all false Interpretations like a frozen Muscovian nose before the fire will drop off But there is one certain true way as firm as Adamant which the fiery subtilty of no mans wit will be able to melt or dissolve And those that go this Synchronistical way to them the Prophecies are not left to interpret according to their own humour in favour to their own party and to the disgrace or disadvantage of their adversaries but the time of the Prophetical Vision being known and the acknowledged meaning of the Prophetical Iconisms observed in the application of History belonging to that time the Synchronism makes the Vision point to they are necessitated whether it be for or against their own party or others to render the certain clear and determinate sense thereof so little fear is there that this mystical way will make the Prophecies a nose of wax or leave men to the wantonness of their own humours to interpret as they please But in pretense of taking away this abuse to allow none but a litteral sense of the Apocalypse is indeed to take away all the use thereof which those that favour the Church of Rome full willingly would do III. As for his third Position he pretends Disp. 6. Ques 2. by many arguments to make it good but I shall take notice only of the chiefest by which you may judge of the rest 1. The first is That things revealed at once and not at several distant times must come to pass in order as they are revealed but the Apocalyptick Visions were revealed at once or at one continued time to Iohn without ceasing or intermission of his Ecstasy and therefore they must come to pass in order as they were seen 2. The Prophecies of the Revelation were all of them written in one Book and therefore they are to be fulfilled in that continued order they are written as Histories written in order as they come to pass 3. First second third fourth c. are Ordinal numbers not Cardinal and shew not only the number of things spoken of but their order also Now the Prophecies of the Revelation do all of them consist of these numbers Seven Seals Seven Trumpets Seven Vials and he might have prefixed Seven Churches too and therefore they being set in order and called first second third Seal Trumpet and Vial shows plainly they are to be fulfilled in the order they are mentioned 4. The fourth and last arguments is where no instance can be given to the contrary there things
shall come to pass in order as they are revealed and such are the Prophecies of the Revelation says he no instance can be given of any Prophecy that comes to pass before or after the order of its Revelation And therefore they shall come to pass Prophecy after Prophecy as they were revealed and presented unto Iohn in Vision 1. But to the first I answer The argument will not hold good there if at all where there are special Notes given of a new beginning of prophesying For that is as much if not more than if the Visions had been exhibited to Iohn at several distant times or days And that there are such Notes it is plain namely of a new beginning of prophesying For as the Prophecy of the Seven Churches was ushered in with a sound of a Trumpet so is the Prophecy of the Sealed Book betwixt which two Prophecies there was an intermission of Iohn's Ecstasy as you may see Chap. 4. vers 2. And then before the Prophecy of the Opened Book besides other certain indications of the beginning of a new Prophecy as I have above shewed there is again that voice like a Trumpet that talked with him at the beginning of the Sealed Book-Prophecy which is a greater assurance that there are three distinct Prophecies than if they had been revealed to him at three distinct times or days 2. To the second I answer That there is no harshness at all to conceive two Prophecies beginning at the same Epocha to be writ in the same Book one after another it being impossible according to the usual writing of Books that they should be written together no more harshness I say than to conceive that an Historian in one Volume may write the lives of all the Secular Governours and Bishops of a City from the first times thereof to his own times Is it any thing harsh or rather not necessary when he has gone through all the times of the Governours that he begin at the first Epocha to write the lives of the Bishops of the said City 3. To the third I answer That the argument proves only that the Seals and Trumpets are to be fulfilled in that order they are mentioned and the Trumpets after the six first Seals they being the parts of the seventh Seal But this does not at all hinder but that the Seven Churches in that order they are set may commence with the Seven Seals as also the measuring the Inner Court and the fight of Michael and the Dragon as is plain to any one that attends to what is said 4. And lastly to the fourth and last I answer That it is demonstrable by vertue of M r Mede's Synchronisms that there are many instances of things coming to pass not in the order they are revealed but before and after This is most evidently true if M r Mede's Synchronisms be true as most certainly they are and I have mentioned them to be so against all the pretended cavils of R. H. IV. As for his last Position all the proof it has is from the arguments of the three former which being so false and weak and this last Paradox but a Consectary of them it is manifest it falls to the ground with them if they be sufficiently confuted as they will all without question be deemed to be after I have perfected my answer to the first argument for the second paradox and shown what is the Clavis to the Apocalyptical Steganography which is such a mystical or occult way of Revelation I briefly therefore here answer Those two places R. H. himself notes viz. Rev. 1. vers 20. and Rev. 17. vers 8 9 c. are the two keys the one of the Prophecy of the Seven Churches the other of the Prophecies of the Sealed Book and Opened Book in vertue whereof we may come to a clear and certain knowledge of this Steganographical Revelation called the Apocalypse For as for the first that is the Interpretation of the Mystery of the Seven Stars and of the seven Golden Candlesticks it is a plain intimation to any one that is not stupid that there is something more meant by these Seven Churches in Asia than seven particular Churches in Asia minor at that time and that indeed the Vision of the Seven Churches represented by the seven Golden Candlesticks is a Prophecy concerning the whole Succession of the Church to the end of the world divided into seven Intervals For if it were not so what needed all the pomp of this Vision and the explication of it if concerning the seven particular Churches in Asia whenas Chap. 1. vers 4. there was mention of the seven Churches in Asia and after seven Epistles writ to them by name Wherefore he must be exceeding stupid and slow-witted or of a course perverse Spirit that cannot at least being advertised of it discern the scope of the Spirit in this Vision of the Seven Stars and Seven Golden Candlesticks and the Interpretation thereof that it is a Prophecy in so large a sense as I have shown in my Exposition and proved that it is such a Prophecy by twenty solid Arguments in the tenth Chapter thereof Such intimations suffice to the pious free and sagacious Reader But for profane Drolls carnal Politicians or prejudiced Superstitionists if seeing they see not and hearing they understand not the fault lies at their own doors Now for the Key of the other two Prophecies of the Sealed Book and of the Opened Book let us briefly observe the use thereof and how effectual it is for the purpose intended and what the clear result thereof will be Revel Chap. 17. vers 8. there begins the Interpretation of the Vision of the Whore of Babylon and the Beast with seven Heads and ten Horns ridden by her The Beast that thou sawest saith the Angel was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition And here it is remarkable how the Angel does not go about to explain what a Beast is it being so well known that according to the Prophetick stile it is a Kingdom State or Empire Cruel and Idolatrous such as they were that are described in Daniel and called there by the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as this Beast is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as to say a Cruel wild Beast Wherefore the Angels Interpretation plainly imports thus much That the Beast which Iohn saw denotes a Kingdom State or Empire Cruel and Idolatrous and withall whose condition is such that at some time it might be said of it truly that it was a Cruel Idolatrous Kingdom State or Empire but is not but will be again a Cruel Idolatrous Kingdom State or Empire and then afterwards quite perish at least as to its Cruelty and Idolatry that is the Bestiality of it shall perish This is the name or nature of this Beast in general And though it may already very well be