words seem naturally to imply such a seeing of him as S. Paul had by Vision from Heaven whereby he was converted and forced to say Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord to recant his Judaism and sing Hosanna to Christ the Son of David and profess himself a Christian And accordingly which is the third place pointed at by Mr. Mede S. Paul 1 Tim. 1.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But for this very reason says he I who out of ignorance had been a Blasphemer a Persecuter and Injurer of Christ obtained mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in me first as the Primitiae of the Jewish Nation that is to be converted in such a miraculous manner as I was Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as our English has it for a pattern to them for then it should have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but for a representative Figure or Type of them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting This seems to be the natural sense of the place For why should he say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in me first if others were not to follow that should be converted in such a miraculous manner as he was by Vision and Voices from Heaven For in other ways of Conversion he was not the first of the Jews that were converted Wherefore there must be a Conversion of the Jews by such a mean as S. Paul was converted and of which the manner of Paul's Conversion was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Prophetick Type or Figure These three Scriptures may incline a rational man to believe that some chief of the Jews the most able the most noted and most zealous of them for the Jewish Religion may be called as Paul was Whose Testimonies will awake all the Jewish Nation and cause them more impartially to consider the Truth of Christian Religion And the Completion of Prophecies and their genuine Interpretation the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church and the lives of the Reformed Christians a sort of them at least may be so considerably perfected by that time those few Names in Sardis by that time being well increased that things being so fitly prepared it may seem a Miracle for any honest sincere Jew in those days not to be converted These are my own proper thoughts on these three places of Scripture But for fuller satisfaction you may consult Mr. Mede I do not love to dwell long on an Argument that I cannot so certainly and assuredly master CHAP. XIX The last part of the Letter The Reinforcement of his Objection against the literal or physical sense of the first Resurrection from two parallel places of Daniel and John An Answer to that Reinforcement from those very parallel places The Genius of the Prophetick Stile in Daniel and John in intimating one Antitheton by another What Antitheton to those awakened into Eternal life in Daniel is to be found in the Apocalypse What is meant by the Devil's detrusion into the Abyss That the first Resurrection is Physical not Political proved from the Text it self Apoc. 20. v. 4. That the Judgment there did pass upon those that were either naturally or politically dead before the Millennium when the wicked were not politically so and therefore cannot be those revived in a Political sense after the Millennium Further Arguments that the first Resurrection is Physical THUS far I wrote before I received your last which contains a Reinforcement of your former Objection against the taking the first Resurrection Apoc. 2◠in a literal or Physical sense and not in a Political What you add I confess is sober and ingenious and may suit with some mens palates the best but though I have thought several times of this very thing afore of my self yet mine ever refused it I will set it down in your own words that I may not disadvantage the strength of the sense you aim at You ask Whether since my self make that place of Daniel Chap. 12. parallel to that of Apoc. 20. the first Resurrection mentioned there by S. John may not be understood rather in a Political sense of the state of the Church in the Millennium than in a natural and Physical concerning the Martyrs For those others say you in Daniel which awake to shame and everlasting contempt perhaps may be answerable to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Apocalypse and the awakening there parallel to the living here c. And whereas it is said by S. John The rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished what hinders say you but it may be understood of the wicked getting into Political power again after the expiration of the Millennium That is briefly your sense if not your very words To this I answer That though the attempt be ingenious to object thus from those two parallel places yet the places themselves that are parallel will jointly bear off the force of the Objection and show that a mere Political sense for these places is harsh and forced For what can be more violent and harsh than to interpret Dan. 12.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Political sense This is the main place that the Jews alledge for their Article of the Resurrection in a Physical sense as also the Christians And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the very Gospel-phrase again and again inculcated that signifies a blessed Immortality in a glorified body And besides this as Apoc. 20.12 there is mention of Books being opened at the general and Physical Resurrection as all well in their wits must needs understand it so before this Resurrection in Daniel there is mention of the Book in which those whose Names are written are to be saved as it is said Apoc. 20.15 that those whose Names are not found in the Book of Life were cast into the Lake of fire These things considered methinks make it certain that the awaking here in Daniel into everlasting life signifies not a Political but Physical Resurrection let Porphyrius and Grotius phansie what they please And therefore in this parallel place of the Apocalypse the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their living and reigning with Christ must have a Physical sense not a Political and signifie their Vivification into celestial bodies and their reigning with him in Heaven And so those that had not worshipped the Beast nor received his mark c. they answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in eodem genere that is to say in a Political sense to those that in Daniel are to be in shame and everlasting contempt one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implying the opposite thereto and the opposite to that in Daniel is here made choice of in the Apocalypse For it is the Genius of the Prophetick stile in these two Prophets Daniel and John to intimate one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by another I have observed several Examples though I have not the command of them in my memory for the present That in
the just and honourable Revenues of it to shrink into the poor arbitrarious Pittances of either the appointment of the State or uncertain benevolence of the fickle People That Scene of things I say cannot but harden their hearts against listening to never so just a Reformation for the further enlargement of Christ's Kingdom and hazard the very Being of the Reformed Churches Whenas this way I wish may obtain would silence Atheism and Fanaticism at once and be the readiest means of bringing on those happy Times of the Church which God has promised and predicted by the mouth of his holy Prophets But this is the gross iniquity and madness of the Sectaries that they think so goodly and choicely every one of their own Party that they think it worth the while to hazard the safety of Reformed Christendom to support any how and keep up for the present the small freaks and conceits of their own self-chosen Way and Sect. Than which nothing can be conceived more enormous and outragious amongst the dealings of the Sons of men to bring into imminent danger so solemn and sacrosanct a Constitution as the Reformation for the Dreams and Opinions of private Spirits which no sober Christian would hazard for small indifferent dispensable things though they had the stamp of publick allowance upon them which it is and ought to be in the hand of the Sovereign Power to alter for the common good And verily this Fanatical distemper is so heinous and abominable that they that are on the right side ought to take heed how in the least shew they imitate it For a man may be factiously affected in a right Cause and bear an over-proportionated zeal for things of smaller concern out of an over-heightned Animosity against the present Sects to the hazarding the quiet settlement of the whole And if any one be so affected I appeal to the sober if he may not justly be reputed to play the Sectarian himself though it be against the Sectaries No such Cure for our Breaches and Wounds as the most profound Humility in all Parties and unfeigned mutual Love and Charity Of which Vertues or Graces whosoever is found destitute let him call himself of whatever denomination Christian as loud as he please be has really in him not one spark of saving Christianity This or to this sense at least and most what in the very same words I wrote and published about two or three years ago to fence Peoples minds from Popery and reclaim them from Schism and perswade them to adhere to the ancient Primitive Church according to which our English Church is reformed and whose Principles she professes and hath ever practised as to the point of the Primitive Christians their not resisting the Sovereign Power though with undaunted Courage they professed the Truth of Christianity against the Vanities and Idolatries of Paganism and now for its present seasonableness and usefulness I have here transcribed it if the sincere vehemence wherewith I writ it may but have a suitable effect for the perswading the Sectaries to leave off their Schism and reconcile themselves to the Church of England Whereby besides the Purity and Decency of Divine Worship and soundness in the Faith Loyalty and Monarchy may be secured and they become good Christians and good Subjects at once Thus much I thought fit to write by way of Preface to intimate the more particular Usefulness of this present Treatise Other things are taken notice of in the Introduction in which then I was not aware that I should have so much to do with those affected Rationalists who pretend that Prophecies especially those of Daniel and the Apocalypse are utterly unintelligible In which conceit though they may applaud themselves as more special Admirers of dry Reason yet I cannot see how their Opinion can well comport with serious Piety and a sound Mind For in their thus oddly adhering to their imagined Reason in this thing they point-blank contradict the Scripture which declares Dan. 12. That the wicked indeed shall not understand but the wise shall understand And that is but a sorry Triumph of Reason that is pretended to be over true Wisdom And then for the Apocalypse let us but consider what Pomp and Applause the Communication of the Visions of the Book-Prophecy to our Saviour from his Father is set out by Apoc. Chap. V. and then judge of the unreasonableness of this Imputation of Unintelligibleness And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the Throne a Book written within and on the back-side sealed with seven Seals 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 nor under the Earth was able to open the Book neither to look thereon And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the Book neither to look thereon But at last the slain Lamb v. 7. came and took the Book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the Throne and thereupon the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders fall down before the Lamb and to their Harps chant out this new Song v. 9. Thou art worthy to take the Book and open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God c. And immediately upon this v. 11. there is heard the voice of many Angels about the Throne even of ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice Worthy is the Lamb that was slain c. Let us therefore in the fear of God consider not only how ridiculous but how blasphemous a thing it is to think that this pompous Introduction than which nothing can be contrived more highly solemn and pompous should be to a Book of Prophecies that are utterly unintelligible As if the incarnate Wisdom did not only sport with the Children of men but delude and mock them What can be conceived more horrid and impious Wherefore without doubt the Visions of the Book-Prophecy are clearly intelligible And for the Epistolar Prophecy the Epistles to the seven Churches that they are also clearly intelligible may appear from the Introductory Vision there also For Christ in his Pontifical Habit there dictates them And therefore they are as so many Oracles given out from the Urim and Thummim of our High-Priest Christ Jesus which the Seventy interpret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is clear declaration and certain Truth in counterdistinction to the obscure and ambiguous Answers of the Heathen Oracles and the Uncertainty of their Event And this is an Argument for the Intelligibleness and Truth of the whole Book of the Apocalypse it being all the Revelation of Jesus Christ the true High-Priest with his Urim and Thummim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clear Declaration to them that understand the Prophetick Stile Synchronism and History and such as will be accompanied with Truth and certainty of Event
the Feast of Expiation though it was not fit nor could be that Aaron who yet doubtless was a Type of Christ should dye and rise again and ascend into Heaven of which the Sanctum Sanctorum is a Type even of the highest and purest part thereof yet instead of his own Blood he entred into the Sanctum Sanctorum with the blood of a Bullock and Goat which was a Type of the Bloodshed of Christ of whom Aaron was also a Type which therefore plainly implies the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ who out-did the Type and with his own Blood entred into the Holy of Holies And whereas both the Spiritual or Immortal Nature of Christ and his Terrestrial and Mortal could not be set out by one thing two Goats are made to typifie them the sacrificed Goat his crucified Flesh or Body on the Cross which likewise lay dead in the Grave while the Scape-Goat an Emblem of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plotinus somewhere calls it his Immortal part was sent free into the Wilderness the Won of Spirits and Ghosts to Azazel if that be a proper Name a mighty Prince in those Regions of the Dead according to that Clause in the Creed if rightly understood He descended into Hell Or that of the Apostle 1 Pet. 3.18 Being put to death in the flesh but alive in the Spirit by which he also went and preached to the Spirits in prison These were the weighty Negotiations of the Scape-Goat the Immortal part of Christ till his visible Resurrection by resuming his Body out of the Grave And there is the like reason of the two Birds one killed and the other let fly into the fields Levit. 14.4 These the more we search into them the more easie and natural Types they will be found of those Passages touching Christ his Death and Resurrection as the entring of Aaron with the blood of the Goat a Type of Christ as to his Suffering as well as Aaron was a Type of him into the Sanctum Sanctorum is a plain Type of his Ascension into Heaven and Intercession there in virtue of his own Blood shed on the Cross in his Crucifixion But it is besides my present Scope to insist on these things I will only give one Instance more and that is of Aaron in his Priestly Habiliments In which Spectacle we may so plainly read not only those three Offices of Christ whose Type he is King Priest and Prophet his golden Diadem denoting the first his Vestments in common with other Priests the second and his Urim and Thummim the last The durable effect whereof is discovered in those Visions especially of Daniel and the Apocalypse that run through all the conditions of the Church to the End of the World but there is yet a further Mystery discernible viz. the Divinity of Christ in that he is cloathed with the Universe which is a Vestment cannot belong to Aaron as a man but as he is a Type of the Eternal Logos that made the World See the Appendix to the Defence of my Philosophick Cabbala Chap. 5. Sect. 3 4. And the Name Jehovah viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 engraven on his golden Diadem an Orthodox Cabbalist will be prone to conceive and not without better reason perhaps than any can bring to the contrary that the Triplicity of those Letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denote the Trinity of Hypostases in the Godhead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Platonists also term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we Christians call Father Son and Spirit Which Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is set after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if we were to be instructed thereby that the Spirit proceedeth as well from the Son as from the Father Though I do not hope that such a Cabbalistical Notion will suddenly end the Controversie betwixt the Greek Church and the Latine But I must beg my Reader 's pardon for this not altogether I hope useless Digression I had before made a competent Supply for my not bestowing one entire Chapter in my Paralipomena to prove the Intelligibleness of the Visions of Daniel and the Apocalypse without which all endeavour to interpret them is ridiculous and vain And I need the less here expatiate on this Argument Phililicrines Parrhesiastes in his Reflexions on R. B. having done so much of that work to my hand but in a way that partakes much of Mirth and Satyr for which he may haply incur the Censure of the more grave and sowre and it may be more for being merry than Satyrical And the first I must confess is the greatest infirmity I have observed in that Party But it is a sign he has all this time served a good Master and that it is not the deepness of Melancholy as some superficial Souls may be prone to phansie that has plunged his mind into such serious studies as the searching out the right sense of inspired Visions and Prophecies and the like but that there is such a Life and Spirit in him that loves the exercise of Reason Wit and Divine Speculation at once And if by that of Satyr any contempt fall upon R. B. for his contempt of the ancient Primitive Times of the Church and for his presumption of making himself a Guide to People upon his private Spirit against the wholesom Instructions of the Homilies of the Church of England and Authority of both Crown and Mitre and for his foul slurring as much as in him lyes the peculiar Priviledge and Glory of the Christian Religion as to have its state from the beginning to the end so certainly prefigured by Divine Visions and Prophecies he hypocritically pretending the Apocalypse to be altogether unintelligible now it is so clearly to be understood against Fanaticism and Bloodshed thus cancelling the seasonable usefulness thereof and casting dirt upon the pious and learned Labours of the best Writers of our Church I say if any contempt fall upon him from what of Satyr is found in those Reflexions of Phililicrines Parrhesiastes he may as I conceive fairly thank himself there being nothing I dare say intended by that free Satyrist but the peace and good of the Church and the reducing of R. B. to a better Judgment and exposing the profane and frivolous Spirit of those that pride themselves in a boastful profession that to them forsooth great Wits as they are the holy Visions of the Divinely inspired Prophets are altogether Unintelligible Books written by the same Author and printed for Walter Kettilby at the Sign of the Bishop's Head in S. Paul's Church-yard HEnrici Mori Opera Theologica Philosophica 3. Vol. Fol. His Exposition on Daniel Quarto His Exposition on the Apocalypse Quarto His Answer to several Remarks on his Expositions on Daniel and the Apocalypse His Illustration of those two abstruse Books in Holy Scripture the Book of Daniel and the Revelation
of S. John by continued brief but clear Notes from Chapter to Chapter and from Verse to Verse with very useful and apposite Arguments prefixed to each Chapter framed out of the Expositions of Dr. Henry More Quarto 1685. His Confutation of Judiciary Astrology against Butler Quarto His Reply to the Answer to his Antidote against Idolatry with his Appendix Octavo His Remarks on Judge Hales of Fluid Bodies Octavo Paralipomena Prophetica THE INTRODUCTION The occasion of the Author's writing his Paralipomena Prophetica His design in writing them to show there is but one true way of interpreting Daniel and the Apocalypse How himself was discouraged in his younger days by the variety of Interpretations with a solution of that fallacy His Apologie for his great care and diligence in managing this Province of rightly interpreting the above said Prophecies WHEN I wrote my Expositions of the Visions of Daniel and the Apocalypse I was solicitous only of these two things that my continued Interpretations should be unforced natural and coherent solid true and agreeing with History And that I might dispatch them as timely as I could for present publick use Which latter therefore made me more compendious than otherwise I might have been my main anxiety being that nothing should pass my Pen but what was sound and true not being at all careful to bring all into view which might give further strength and light to what I had written or to obviate all objections which by scrupulous Wits might be made What therefore I may seem to have omitted then I shall make a supply of now And those Omissions which I therefore call Paralipomena they being then passed by for the present but now for the further confirmation or illustration of several passages in those Expositions compiled into one Book I offer thus collected unto thy serious Perusal In which compilement I have observed no order as in this case being needless but as matters came into my mind or occasion was given I writ and have set them down They are easily referred to the passages of the Expositions themselves whether on Daniel or the Apocalypse which are sufficiently orderly and coherent My main design in general is to make those Expositions as setled and unexceptionable as possibly I can that the Reader may perceive that the Interpretation of Prophecies is no such uncertain and lubricous thing but that there is one sense of them genuine and natural and far beyond any other pretended Interpretations whatever That so he may be released from that distraction and confusion of multiplicity of Interpretations which weakens the belief of any and makes the pretence of understanding Prophecies either heartless or ridiculous I must confess when I was young that very thing hugely turned my stomach from those studies But it might as well have done so from the study of Philosophy the reasons of the Phaenomena of Nature which Philosophers give being as various and repugnant as the Interpretations of a Prophecy But that which is solid and sound in either when it is once light on will plainly by the impartial and judicious be discerned to be such and he will rest fully satisfied therein That I should manage this Province with so much care and solicitude no man that has any kindness for Christian Religion can take amiss Prophecy being the peculiar strength and glory of Christianity no Religion in the World being able to produce the like Which being to many of so great moment and of so clear and indubitable Interpretation in virtue of demonstrable Synchronisms and palpable Applicability and exquisitely suitable significancy of the Visions to the Events they do not only put the truth of Christianity beyond all doubt but is one of the most irrefragable Arguments for Natural Religion viz. for the Existence of God and of Angels and for a Divine Providence over the affairs of men and a reward after this life according to what we have done whether it be good or evil that can be desired But having more fully suggested these things in my Prefaces to my Expositions I shall detain the Reader no longer here with them but fall upon my present design CHAP. I. Tho. Lydiat 's Epocha of the twentieth of Artaxerxes Longimanus for the compute of Daniel 's weeks more fully to be insisted on Two undeniable Postulatums in order thereto The passage of the Prophecy that respects the Epocha of the weeks Four Decrees but only two of them Competitors for the Epochate viz. that of the seventh and that of the twentieth of Artaxerxes the one granted to Ezra the other to Nehemiah The Commissions granted to each and some circumstances of the execution of them The comparing of them with the Epocha described in the Prophecy That Nehemiah 's nuncupatory Commission does the more exactly agree with the said description That the Jews had never any Decree to build the walls of Jerusalem till that of Nehemiah Further Arguments to the same purpose In what sense the City may be said to be built before the Commission of Nehemiah An Answer to an Objection from those words Ezra 9.9 to give us a wall Further Reasons to prove that Ezra had no Commission to build the walls of Jerusalem The testimony of the Son of Sirach No Commission but that of Nehemiah had the Title of building the walls That it is so plain a case that Nehemiah 's Commission is the true Epocha of the weeks that learned men have betaken themselves to Lunar years to compute by rather than desert it The unsuccessfulness of that device WE shall begin with that passage of the Exposition of Daniel's Weeks that notable Prophecy concerning the coming of Christ and as clear if rightly managed as notable for its weight and importance The passage is the placing the Epocha of these seventy Weeks in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Longimanus Funccius and several others would fix it in the seventh of his Reign which Opinion I was once inclined to my self till I was convinced of the truth of the other I have produced something for the confirmation thereof out of Thomas Lydiat in my Notes upon my Exposition of that Prophecy But the business being of so great moment I shall here resume it again afresh that I may do him right by more fully bringing into view and yet as briefly as may be whether out of himself or from elsewhere what makes for the confirmation of his Opinion And this I shall do gradually First by setting down two Postulatums which I hope no reasonable man will ever deny me Secondly I shall represent out of the Prophecy it self that part that respects the Epocha of the Weeks and out of the History of Ezra and Nehemiah the state of the Controversie Whether of these two Epocha's bid the fairer to be the Epocha of the seventy Weeks And lastly I will consider the twentieth of Artaxerxes in Thomas Lydiat's sense what grounds he has for it The two Postulatums are these The first
Synchronal thereto reacheth to the end of the World and consequently the Sealed Book-Prophecy reacheth thither also which is the thing that was to be demonstrated And it suits mighty well with the last Thunder reaching to the end of the World which falls in with the Conflagration or Lake of Fire and with the Exit of the Laodicean interval so called in allusion to Ptolemy's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laodicea combusta Wherefore the distribution of the main of the Apocalypse into those three Prophecies which from the beginning of the Church reach unto the end of the World viz. the Epistolar Prophecy the Sealed Book-Prophecy and the Opened Book-Prophecy and the Introductory Visions belonging to each of them being thus demonstrably true I do again pronounce as at first whoever goes about to interpret the Apocalypse repugnantly to this grand Principle he must necessarily run himself into the Briars and fall into such Labyrinths as he will never be able handsomly to get out of CHAP. XXII A Mechanical frame of the Seven-sealed Book so contrived as is requisite for no more Writing than what belongs to the present Seal to be seen at once The different Opinions of Interpreters what this Book signifies The mistake of the Ancients in conceiving it to be the Bible What this Book really is the Symbol of That this Book its being said to be written within and without denotes a twofold sense that of the Symbolical Letter and that of the inward Prophetical meaning of those Symbols Arguments to prove this to be the right sense of being writ within and without Ezekiel 's Roll writ within and without compared with this Seven-sealed Book of the Apocalypse Three useful Consectaries deduced therefrom IT is a matter of no slight moment to understand clearly and assuredly what is the right meaning of the Book in the right hand of him that sits upon the Throne Apoc. 5. its being said to be writ within and without to be Liber Opisthographus In order to which we are first to take notice what was the fashion of the Books of the Ancients viz. that they were one Membrane some longer some shorter rolled upon a round stick or some stiff thing as we sometimes do Maps Which makes me conceive that this Book with seven Seals consisted of at least twice seven such Membranes Parchments or Papers fastned together so at one end that it might be stiff enough to have all those leaves of paper rolled about it And I say there must be at least twice seven that no more Writing may be seen than what belongs to each Seal in their order by opening Therefore there is to be a leaf of paper with a Label at it to cover the leaf that has the Vision of the first Seal and then another leaf with a Label at it to cover the leaf of the Vision of the second Seal and so a Label-leaf before the Vision-leaf till you come to the Number of seven in each that no more of the Writing may be seen at a time than what belongs to each present Seal saving in the last where you breaking open the Seal that belongs to the seventh Label not only the Vision of the seventh Seal is discoverable which are the seven Trumpets and the seven Thunders but all the Visions of the Opened Book-Prophecy So that there must be as many leaves without Labels placed after the seventh Label-leaf as will serve to contain all the Visions of the seven Trumpets and also all the Opened Book-Prophecy Which must be some number of leaves though writ within and without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 within and on the back-side as the foregoing Vision-leaves are conceived to be that is written on the concave and convex side of this Roll of leaves And thus in the breaking open the Seals the convex side of the Vision-leaf will occur first in every unsealing This I conceive is the most probable Mechanical frame of this Book written within and without and sealed with seven Seals But what this Book is a Symbol of there is a wide difference amongst Expositors The generality of the Ancients as A Lapide has noted take it to be the Bible and that which is writ without to be the Old Testament and that within the New the Old Testament being as it were the Velamentum or Covering of the New Or that which is writ without to be the literal sense that within the Spiritual or Mystical But this general Conceit of the Ancients is but a general Mistake because this Book was sealed up till the Apocalypse was communicated to S. John which was at the end of Domitian's Reign and therefore would imply that the Old and New Testament or Gospel were a sealed Book not to be understood till then Which yet certainly the Apostles understood and taught the people rightly to understand it so that it was no sealed Book to them But that this sealed Book is a Book that contains all the Prophetick Visions set down after the opening of it in the Apocalypse is so exceeding plain that it would amaze a man how it should come into the thoughts of so many of the Ancients that this Book with seven Seals should be the entire Bible whenas it is not so much as the entire Apocalypse but contains only the sealed Book and the Opened Book-Prophecies but that the being written within and without intimates a literal and mystical sense of the Book how near they come to the Truth therein we shall observe in the main Point we drive at In the mean time I cannot but approve of Cornelius A Lapide's Verdict in the Case who says Liber hic non est aliud quà m Divinae Providentiae consilium praefinitio c. This Book is nothing else but the Counsel and Determination of Divine Providence whereby God has purposed with himself either to permit or effect things in the World wherein his Church is concerned in such a way as is prefigured in this Book of Prophecies Which is to the same sense that the Answerer to S. E. has declared touching the Prophecy of the Scripture of Truth that it is what is decreed and recorded in the Divine Mind The standing Intellect of God in which are described all the Laws and Decrees of his Providence is that Writing or Book of God which is so often mentioned in the Bible as Exod. 32. Psal 56. and 139. And this Book represented to John sealed and unsealed is but a Symbol of part of this Book or Writing as I may so speak And to the Scripture of Truth in Daniel as well as to the Roll in Ezekiel in all likelihood may this Apocalyptick sealed and unsealed Book allude And now to come more near to the main Point in hand though I have given such a Mechanical account of this sealed Book written within and without yet I am still utterly of the mind of the Answerer to S. E. his Remarks Apoc. Chap. 5. that it is a childish thing to think that
the Book seen by John was written with all those words contained in that part of the Apocalypse but it was a Symbol of the Compages of those Prophetical Representations and of the inward meaning of them contained in the Mind of Christ and the holy Angel sent to John And that as the Book in general was a Symbol of the figurative Representations and the inward meaning of them in the mind of the Angel or of the inward Prophetical sense of them so the being writ within and without distinctly signifies the latter the external Representations or Symbols of the Prophecies and the being writ within the real Prophetick sense of those Figures That this is the necessary sense of this Book 's being writ within and without may appear from hence because there is no evasion from it but supposing the Visions and Prophecies so large that the inside or concave side of this Roll of papers would not contain them to denote the exuberancy or fulness of this Spirit of Prophecy as that of Poetry Scriptus in tergo necdum finitus Orestes This is the general account of Interpreters which is a very lank empty and an useless account But this intimation of those two senses I have noted is useful and weighty the wildness and vanity of those Interpreters being discovered thereby that confound the Symbolical sense with the real or Prophetical as R. H. has done See my Epilogue to my Exposition of the Apocalypse Sect. 10. And there are those so weak as to give credit to his Expositions Whence we see how needful it was to give this intimation for this twofold sense of this Book and worthy the Spirit of Prophecy so to do But that this being writ within and without is not said in regard of the exuberancy of the matter or scantness in the concave sides of the Vision-papers to contain it all may appear from that necessary Mechanical account I have given of this seven-sealed Roll if any Mechanical account is to be lookt after For the largest of the Visions of the first six Seals are so little that they cannot well be conceived to fill so much as one side viz. the Concave of each Vision-paper Wherefore how can the exuberancy of the matter cause them to be writ as well on the convex side as concave or what account can there be of making use of both sides so needlesly but that it may be said to be writ within and without as a Symbol of a twofold sense belonging to these Prophecies that of the Cortex or Letter and that of the things prefigured And as the Cortical or literal sense is first and most obvious so according to our Mechanical frame of this Seven-sealed Book the Convex or outward side of the Vision-leaf upon opening each Seal offers it self first to the eye of the Beholder the Concave is underneath not to be seen but by the turning up of the Vision-leaf and so reading downwards But if John's declaring the Book sealed with seven Seals was written within and without before any of the Seals were opened insinuate that there was really no such Mechanical frame of this seven-sealed Roll within as we have described then it is a plain indication to any one of an ordinary sagacity that this is said merely to intimate those two senses of the Visions the external Cortical sense which is so contrived as if it were a complete thing of it self and the real Prophetical sense that lies hid under this Symbolical Cortex Nor does it seem likely that John at the opening each Seal saw in the Book those Visions mentioned at each Seal opening but they were represented to him as other Visions were and that he saw them no more in the Book at the opening of the Seals than he read the Opened Book when it was given him before he ate it but the opening of the Seals by the Lamb and the Angel giving him the Book unsealed to eat are only to signifie that both those Prophecies of the Sealed Book and Opened Book are the Revelation of Jesus Christ to his Servant John as you heard in the foregoing Chapter But if it may be thought that when John received the Opened Book he might then observe that there were things written on the convex sides and concave sides of what I called the Vision-leaves and from hence pronounce in the beginning that this Seven-sealed Book was writ within and without according to some such Mechanick way as I have described then our former reasoning will take place and so every way we may be assured that this is the right meaning of the Book in the hand of him that sate on the Throne its being said to be writ within and without that thereby is intimated an external Literal sense and internal Mystical sense of which the other is but an Hieroglyphick Type or Figure And this being so plain and assured in this Apocalyptick Seven-sealed Book or Roll that to be writ within and without signifies an external or literal sense and a sense internal and mystical And we finding in Ezekiel a Roll so described Chap. 2.9 And when I looked behold an hand was sent unto me and lo a Roll of a Book therein And he spread it before me and it was written within and without which answers with strange exactness to this of the Apocalypse and still more full if you read the following Chapter where he is bid to eat this Roll and does so accordingly and declares it was in his mouth as sweet as Honey As if what we find Apoc. Chap. 10. v. 9 10. were transcribed out of Ezekiel And as this happened to John after the sight of the Angel with a Rainbow viz. Christ or the God of Israel so this happened to Ezekiel immediately after he had seen the appearance of the glory of the Lord which was as the appearance of the Bow which is in the Cloud in the Day of Rain which is a further confirmation that it is the God of Israel that is signified by this Note of the Rainbow in both places Wherefore I say this being so plain that to be writ within and without bears such a sense in this place of the Apocalypse viz. an exteriour and interiour meaning of the Visions or Prophecies and this of the Roll in Ezekiel being so exactly parallel thereto and set at the beginning of his Prophecies after the Introductory Vision how can we avoid concluding that the Prophecies of Ezekiel the main of them are parts of the Roll written within and without and have an interiour sense as well as an exteriour And so those Visions or Prophecies that in their first or exteriour sense may seem only to concern Jerusalem suppose and Samaria Edom and Mount Seir the Prince of Tyre and Pharaoh King of Egypt the Army of Gog the Jewish City and Temple and the like may in their interiour sense concern the state of the Christian Church or of its Enemies and prove Types of their condition
saying Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth on the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever no Interpreter shews this to have been done after Christ's taking of the Book more than before From whence it is plain to me saith he that they go upon a wrong Hypothesis For if there had been any such things done on Earth no doubt some footsteps of it would have been found in History These few things as he calls them being thought by him pressing and weighty I am concerned to answer that the truth of my Exposition may not seem to be obscured thereby 1. To the first then I answer That this Proclamation was made only in this Dramatical Vision and is no more than a visionary Proclamation and brought in in this Dramatical manner to signifie the singular Prerogative of Christ given to him by his Father that he should have the ability of predicting and effecting such things as no Creature besides in the World had the like general Proclamation being made to find them out if there were any such And the Angel is said to be strong and his Voice loud that it might pierce as it were through the Universe to summon any one that would pretend to such a Prerogative as has been described 2. To the second I say There is neither any unlikeliness nor trifling in this Proclamation because it sets off the peculiarness of Christ's Prerogative in that it was given to him to open the sealed Book And it being not yet opened but being known in general to be a Book of Secrets as yet only in the Mind of God what unlikeliness or Indecorum is it that Proclamation be made who he is that shall be vouchsafed this power of opening the Book and distinctly knowing those Secrets which were only in the Mind of God before 3. To the third I answer as to the first That the Proclamation is only visionary and of what it is significative I have already said nor need again repeat 4. To the fourth I say it seems a kind of capricious Query as if it implied from that account of the Proclamation made that no man in Heaven on Earth or under the Earth was found able to open the Book that Christ was no where then else he would have been found able But as S. Paul says 1 Cor. 15.27 But when he saith all things are put under him it is manifest he is excepted which did put all things under him so say I whenas this Proclamation was made to remonstrate to the World that no man in Heaven nor Earth nor under the Earth was found able saving Christ himself to open the Book it is manifest he is to be excepted out of that Negative Catalogue as being the only Creature that was able 5. To the fifth Incogitancy I think suggested this Query to the Objector For it implies S. John wept after he understood that Christ had obtained the power of opening the sealed Book whenas his weeping was before He says so plainly himself v. 4. And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and read the Book neither to look thereon Which is also a Dramatical passage on this Theatre intended to signifie nothing else but the great Needfulness and Desirableness of such a Book of Prophecies for the use of God's Church and their guidance in all the Tossings Changes and Revolutions in this transitory World Such a Book was so necessary and requisite that it would grieve any good Christian at the very heart who is solicitous for the Church to want such a Load-star or Cynosura 6. To the sixth I answer That these crowned Elders though they be prefigurative also of the Millennial Kings or Monarchs they are here some principal Angels of the spiritual Kingdom of the God of Israel in Heaven And why may not such an Angel be thought to be wiser than John and able to instruct him There is nothing incongruous or indecorous in this Dramatical passage and John was called up into Heaven to be instructed by his Betters This celestial Actor may well be conceived to know how the Scene would go though John in the mean time was as yet ignorant thereof 7. To the seventh Truly this is a very curious Question if it imply that one should declare who this crowned Elder was by Name It is sufficient to say it was one of the Elders that was next him and so most conveniently placed to instruct John and comfort him upon his weeping and so take that kue to carry on this Divine Scene from v. 4. to v. 8. till the slain Lamb had taken the Book out of the hand of him that sate on the Throne and had obtained power to open it By which no Event is prefigured that was to come to pass some Ages after John's receiving the Apocalypse but it is only signified in this pompous Dramatical way That this Book-Prophecy is the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him and which he imparted to his Servant John So that the curiosity of naming the Party whom this Elder may prefigure vanisheth 8. To the eighth I say Those that are set so near the Throne of God are Members of his spiritual or Angelical Kingdom in Heaven but prefigurative withal of his Millennial Kingdom on Earth which is the main scope of his Providence over his Church that it shall at last come to pass that the Heavenly Jerusalem in Image and Resemblance shall descend from God on this Earth and his Tabernacle be with men And therefore the glory of the God of Israel is here so represented that it may also prefigure the State of the Church under the New Jerusalem as the other Introductory Visions have some glances or more general strokes at Prophetick Events in some passages And now for the new Song sung by the four Beasts and twenty four Elders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dignus es qui acciperes Thou wert worthy to receive the Book for so the Original is interpretable and to open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God and made us Kings and Priests to reign upon Earth This new Song is prefigurative of the Joy and Happiness of that State of the Church of which it is said Apoc. 21.5 Behold I make all things new which is the New Jerusalem state In which there will be such triumphant Praises sung unto the Lamb when it will be so evident he has carried his Church safe for whom he gave his Life and Blood through all the predicted conditions thereof and at last has placed them in that happy and glorious Millennial State by his faithful Conduct Wisdom and Power Which are included in the Faculty granted him by his Father of opening the Seals of the Book as I have noted elsewhere And whenas presently afterwards the whole Universe is made to ring with a loud Doxology from numerous Quires of Angels and of all Creatures in Heaven and Earth and under
is to be attributed to the bloody Passion of Christ only and to his promised Spirit in his Followers on white Horses powerfully urging the Passion of Christ in this Conflict to a wonderful ample Conversion of the Nations See my Notes on the place To the second I say That the Armies of the Beast and false Prophet are not said to be slain by the Sword proceeding out of the mouth of him that sat on the white Horse there 's not a word of that touching them but they are said to be taken alive and cast alive into the Lake of fire burning with brimstone So that they were not slain by that Sword But it is said that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rest of those Armies those that under the Dragon fought against the Heros on the white Horse that is the Infidel Party they were slain by the Sword of him that sat on the Horse which proceeded out of his mouth And that there is not one word of their being slain by his Souldiers is because his Passion alone and his Spirit whereby he speaks and powerfully pleads the Merit of his own Passion does all in all This is that which will so successfully subdue the Nations to him as he said of himself when he was in the flesh When I am lifted up I shall draw all men unto me intimating thereby what death he should dye To the third That though this Conversion is no Plague to the converted yet it is so to the Beast and false Prophet For such a world of people being converted to the Purity of the Gospel that Polity unconverted will necessarily be over-run melted and dissolved and the seven Plagues are properly designed for the destruction of Antichrist or the Beast To the fourth That if by the Phrase slaying by the Sword of God's mouth or breath of his lips is never understood any thing but the denouncing or executing evil against men then the Beast and false Prophet were slain by the Sword coming out of the mouth of him that sat on the white Horse for certainly nothing is here done without his Command which is a perfect contradiction to the Text. For the Beast and false Prophet were cast alive into the Lake of fire not slain by that Sword which is a plain demonstration of the Battel here typified it's being mainly spiritual And it is a wonder to me that any one that takes notice that the very Title of this Heros is the Word of God and that the Word of God is said to be sharper than any two-edged Sword and that there is no Weapon appears here either on himself or his Followers to oppose his Enemies with but this sharp Sword going out of his mouth should doubt but that this War is mainly spiritual as I have interpreted it And that slaying by the Sword of God's mouth or the breath of his lips signifies Conversion there are several Examples in Scripture thereof Isai Chap. 11.4 And he shall smite the Earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked Which Forerius and A Lapide interpret and Calvin also of the Victory of the Word of God over wicked men slaying them as such and converting them to a quite contrary state And thus is Christ said by the Spirit of his mouth 2 Thess 2. to consume the man of sin that is by the power of the Word as Calvin expresly interprets it and compares it with that of Esay See also 2 Esdr Chap. 13. v. 4 10 38. And undoubtedly that Prediction Apoc. 2.16 I will fight against them with the Sword of my mouth respects the Conversion and separation of whole Kingdoms and Nations at the end of the Thyatirian Interval from the Church of Rome which came to pass in the Reformation But we are to remember that this Conversion which is a Blessing to the Converted is a Wound and Cutting to the Body of Antichrist and therefore not inconsistent with the state of that War To the fifth I say the great City divided into three parts cannot be that City spiritually called Sodom and Aegypt sorasmuch as that City is the same with Babylon the great Which as great as it is is but part of the great City there said to be divided into three parts of which the Cities of the Nations are one as the Text plainly intimates which were Thunder-struck by the Evangelical Boanerges's and fell that is were converted as the slain by the Sword in the other Vision And as the unconverted Beast and false Prophet are cast into a Lake of fire there so Babylon here impenitent blasphemes their Power and Polity being broken apieces with a storm of Hail-stones of a Talent weight apiece So easie and natural a congruity is there of things interpreting these Visions of a spiritual Warfare And for the three parts which the City is divided into understanding it of one great Oecumenical City as it were there is plainly the Evangelical Party and the Antichristian Party and the Infidel Party the same with the three great Parties of the Armies in Armageddon But of any three parts that Babylon is divided into there is not the least intimation in the Vision To the sixth and last I say it is very absurd in this Book of the Apocalypse so thoroughly Symbolical to interpret Hail-stones and Earthquakes and the like Literally And to give the Author his due he is not over-confident in the case But saving some few such things as these his Book is excellently well writ and of very good use and service to such as have Genius to these Studies CHAP. XLIX An Answer to several Arguments from an ingenious Hand that the Intervals of the Vision of the seven Churches do not reach to the end of the World but to the beginning of the Vision in Chap. 4. which according to him respects the Times of Queen Elizabeth Two difficulties from the same hand touching the placing the twenty four Elders and four Beasts about the Throne briefly answered THough the thing the Author of the following Arguments drives at is to make the Vision of the 4. and 5. Chapters of the Apocalypse to concern the Affairs of England from the Time of Queen Elizabeth to this present Age yet they seeming to have some colour to prove in general that the Laodicean Interval does not reach to the end of the World and it being a thing of moment to wipe away all pretences to this mistake I thought fit to produce them and answer them and to insert the Answer into the number of my Paralipomena Prophetica His Arguments therefore out of his Papers I had are these 1. As often as those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 4.1 do occur they never suffer the Vision they belong to to be expounded of any Event antecedent to the Event of the Vision next before For this I appeal saith he to your own Exposition of the Apocalypse in all other places and why this only
of him yet the generality of the Vision is applicable to him properly and the Text says expresly the Vision does belong to Tyre and consequently Tyre may be a Type of Rome But then as to the latter Horn of the Dilemma though all the expressions were competible to Tyre which they are not and therefore do more certainly assure us that the Vision has a further completion in the concerns of Rome yet there is a very good ground for stretching the sense of the Vision to a further completion than in Tyre it self from that intimation in the beginning of Ezekiel's Book of Prophecies of which the Roll written within and without is a Symbol or Figure This hint is sufficient you may collect a more full Answer out of Chap. 22. of these Paralipomena toward the end of the Chapter Query 12. Whether the joyful Annunciation of the Fall of Babylon Rev. 14.8 be not before the beginning of the sounding of the seventh Trumpet because the Fall it self was at the close of the sixth Trumpet and a Prophetical Annunciation can respect no time but at which the Fall happens Answ A prophetical Annunciation of an Event respects the Time of the Annunciation of the Event For what can it respect else But the Event that it annunciates is the Fall of Babylon or of the City at the Rising of the Witnesses at the Close of the sixth Trumpet So that it is plain there is nothing hinders but that though the Fall of Babylon be at the Close of the sixth Trumpet the joyful Annunciation thereof may be just at the entrance of the seventh Because the mention of the Annunciation of the Event is a Prediction or Prophecy of the Annunciation not simply of the Event it self but implies only that the Event has lately happened Query 13. Whether the second Vial Rev. 16.3 may not be a Vision or Prediction of the Reformation it self as well as of the Settlement of it in the respective places where it was the Reformation being not too great a change to be typified thereby because the Settlement seems a perfecting thereof and so as great or greater a thing than the Reformation it self Answ It is impossible the second Vial should predict the Reformation because all the Vials follow the Rising of the Witnesses and therefore if the second Vial were a Type of the fresh appearance of the Reformation there would be no Event answering to the preceding Rising of the Witnesses which would be infinitely absurd And though it be true that the Settlement of the Reformation is a further Perfection added thereto yet that is but a modificative Addition to it but that which is the main the form and substance of the Reformation was before And was like the taking of a City of huge consequence upon which would follow loud shouts and signs of Joy but the repairing and further fortifying this great City taken by storm that would be carried on in a more silent or less Triumphant way Query 14. Whether the two Witnesses their 1260 days prophesying does not plainly imply that they could not at all be slain till the 1260 days were expired especially it being supposed that their being slain puts an absolute end to the tormenting the World by their prophesying and there is solemn rejoycing and sending gifts one to another at their being slain as if the business then were quite dispatched at once Answ It is gross Rudeness and Ignorance for any one to imagine thus And he that so does he sets his teeth only in the Cortex but reaches not the Pith of this Parabolical Vision of the two Witnesses This Conceit is a perfect Contradiction to the Truth of History which amply relates to us the slaying of the Witnesses in more senses than one long before the Expiration of the 1260 days Wherefore this Cortical sense is utterly impossible But that assured Prophetick figure which we call Henopoeia which as it represents a succession of men under the Type of one single Man single Woman or single Beast so it does likewise the successional Actions Sufferings or Occurrences appertaining to the said single Typical Man Woman or Beast under one single Action Suffering or Occurrence this is the only true and genuine Key to unlock this Mystery by which I having done to the Reader 's hand already in my Answer to a learned and ingenious Friend touching the difficulties of the Vision of the Witnesses in Chap. 39. of this present Treatise I will send him thither to receive the same satisfaction with that learned and pious Person and so conclude my Paralipomena Prophetica 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS