THE HARMONY CHRONICLE AND ORDER OF THE New-Testament The Text of the Four EVANGELISTS Methodized Story of the ACTS of the APOSTLES Analyzed Order of the EPISTLES Manifested Times of the REVELATION Observed All Illustrated With variety of Observations upon the Chiefest Difficulties TEXTUALL TALMUDICALL For clearing of their Sense and Language With an Additionall DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Fall of JERUSALEM AND THE Condition of the Jews in that Land afterward By IOHN LIGHTFOOT D.D. LONDON Printed by A.M. for Simon Miller at the Starre in St Pauls Church-yard M.DC.LV. Dr Lightfoots Harmony on the N. Testament THE HARMONY CHRONICLE AND ORDER OF THE New-Testament The Text of the Four EVANGELISTS Methodized Story of the ACTS of the APOSTLES Analyzed Order of the EPISTLES Manifested Times of the REVELATION Observed All Illustrated With variety of Observations upon the Chiefest Difficulties TEXTUALL TALMUDICALL For clearing of their Sense and Language With an Additionall DISCOURSE CONCERNING The Fall of JERUSALEM AND THE Condition of the Jews in that Land afterward By IOHN LIGHTFOOT D.D. LONDON Printed by A.M. for Simon Miller at the Starre in St Pauls Church-yard M.DC.LV. SERENISSIMO OLIVERO Reipub. Angl. Scot. Hybern c. Domino PROTECTORI J. L. Devotissimus Cliens Munusculum hoc Literarium In se quidem Nihilum At Summi Officii omnimodaeque Observantiae Sincerum Pignus ac Indicium Humillimè meritóque Dicat Dedicatque TO HIS HIGHNESS Honourable COUNCIL IT is not presumption that hath induced me to this address but sense of duty and of that obligation that lies upon me For besides that homage which I owe in common with the whole Nation to his Highness whom the Lord hath placed over us and raised up a Healer and Deliverer in the needfull time a peculiar and redoubled bond of fealty obligeth me as living in a Rectory that belongeth to his Patronage and Donation Which tenancy and dependance as I cannot but own in all submissiveness thankfulnesse and duty so in acknowledgement thereof and of my hearty Loyalty to his Highnesse I have assumed the humble boldness to present this poor Tribute and Oblation to Him having no better thing to offer His Clemency and Goodness will not despise the Offering of a willing minde though it be but mean especially one of this nature I dare not call the Subject that I have handled Mean because it is the summe of the New Testament but the failings and meannesse of the handling of it as it is the more excusable because aiming at so worthy a Subject and who is sufficient for these things so may I hope that it will finde the more easie pardon and some acceptance for the Subjects sake With this most humble addresse to his Highnesse I was desirous to leave an humble memoriall also with your Honours who stand so near Him not only of profession of that service and observance that with all the Nation I owe to your Lordships but also of special thankefulnesse and acknowledgement of goodnesse and favour received from your Honourable Table in a matter of mine own particular concernment I can adde no more but my prayers to the Father of mercies for his gracious Protection of his Highnesse and your H.H. and that he will guide you in all your Councels and in all your waies Devoted to Your H. H. in all Service I. L. TO THE READER I Shall not trouble the Reader with any long discourse to shew how the Scripture abounds with transposition of stories how the holy Ghost doth eminently hereby shew the Majesty of his style and Divine wisdome how this is equally used in both Testaments what need the student of Scripture hath carefully to observe those dislocations and what profit he may reape by reducing them to their proper time and order I shall only in brief give account of what I have done in the ensuing Treatise which refers to that way of study of the New Testament Some years ago I published The Harmony Chronicle and Order of the Old Testament observing what transpositions may be observed there the reason of their dislocating and where in Chronicall account is their proper time and place and accordingly manifesting the genuine Order of the Books Chapters Stories and Prophesies through the whole Book The New Testament being Written and Composed after the very same manner of texture requireth the like observation and having made the Assay upon the one I could not but do the like by the other I have therefore first observed the proper Time and Order of the Texts of the Evangelists and how all the four may be reduced into the current of one Story and thereby evidences taken out of them themselves I could willingly have published the Text it self in that Order for so I have transcribed it from end to end and so I offered it to the Press but found its passage difficult So that I have been forced to give directions for the so reading of it only by naming Chapters and verses It would have been both more easie and more pleasant to the Reader had the Text of the four been laid before him in severall Columes but his examining and ordering it in his own Bible by the intimations given will cost more labour indeed but will better confirm memory and understanding The Acts of the Apostles do not much scruple the Reader with dislocations but the taking up of the times of the Stories is not of little difficulty and yet in some particulars of some necessity These are observed where most materiall according to what light and evidence may be had for them either in the Text it self there or elswhere Especially I have indeavoured to observe the times of the writing of The Epistles both those that fall in in those times that the Story of The Acts of the Apostles handleth and those that were written afterward For the fixing of some there is so plain ground from the Text that the time is determined certainly for others we are put to probability and conjecture yet such ground to build conjecture on that I hope there hath not been much roving from the mark I must stand at the Readers censure I was unwilling to have medled with The Revelation partly because I have no minde to be bold in things of that nature I see too much daring with that Book already and partly because I could not go along with the common stating of the times and matters there yet being necessitated by the nature of the task that I had undertaken I could not but deal with the Times and Order of things spoken of in that Book and that could not be done neither without some speaking to the things themselves which I have conjectured at referring all to better Judgements by the best propriety of the Language and Dialect used I could observe where literally and where allusively to be understood Now because it would have been but a tedious task for the Reader only to study upon the meer dislocations and the ordering
adjures him to tell whether he were the Christ or no he confesseth it and withall tels them that the time should come that they should finde the truth of this by experience when he should shew his power and vengeance in his judgement against them and their City coming in clouds c. This confession and words they account blasphemy and that they might have the surer impression of so construing them Caiaphas rents his garments and by that action would as it were force them to agree with him that it was so when his garments had paid so dear for the confirming of it Their custom and reason of renting their cloathes upon the hearing of blasphemy is handled in Ierus in Sanhedr fol. 25. col 1. 2. and in Maym. in Avodah Zarah per. 2. where those two Canons being observed Every one that hears Gods name blasphemed is bound to rent his garments And The Iudges hearing blasphemy must stand up upon their feet and must rent their cloathes and may not sew them up again It will cause us to observe something in it that the Highpriest only rent his clothes and not the rest of the Bench with him Which though they did not yet they vote with him that it was blasphemy and therefore he was guilty of death which had it been executed must have been by stoning Sanhedr per. 7. halac 4. And now they begin to spit on him to buffet him and abuse him Peters deniall Here Peter first denies him for being challenged as he sate by the fire by the damsell porter for one of his company he denies it and shrinks away into the porch and then the first Cock crew Luke saith that the maid came to him as he sate by the fire Matthew and Mark that he was now beneath in the Palace and without in the Palace meaning beneath or without from that place or room where the Bench sate Betwixt this first deniall and the second there was but a little while Luke 22.55 In the space between the Highpriest is questioning Iesus of his Disciples and Doctrine and because he answers Ask them that have heard me c. an officious Officer smites him as if he had not answered with reverence enough Peter this while was in the porch where he was when the Cock crew after his first deniall and there another maid sees him and brings him to the company that stood by the fire and challenges him for one of his Disciples and now he denies with an oath And about an hour after Luke 22.59 which space of time the Bench took up in examining Christ about his Disciples and Doctrine a kinsman of Malchus challengeth him and tels the company he saw him with Iesus in the Garden and he pleading the contrary is discovered to all the company to be a Galilean by his Dialect but he denies with execrations and presently the second Cock crew And Jesus looking back upon him he remembers what he had done and goes out and weeps bitterly And so presently after the second Cock the Bench riseth and leaveth Iesus in the hands of their Officers by whom he is taunted stricken and shamefully used His being delivered up to the Roman power In the morning the Sanhedrin met formally in their own Council chamber and again question Iesus brought there before them and they resolved to put him to death Whether he were the Messias or no he giveth the same answer as before that though they would not beleeve him if he told them he was which was the truth yet the time was coming when they should finde it true They question him again Art thou the Son of God which he not denying they judge him a blasphemer again and deserving to die and so deliver him up to the secular power It is observable in both these questionings of him upon this point both in the night and now in the morning how convertible terms the Son of God and the Son of man are made In the night they question him Art thou the Son of God He answers Ye shall see the Son of man c. Mat. 26.63 64. And now in the morning again he saith Ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and they reply Art thou then the Son of God Luke 22.69 70. Iudas his Recantation and Ruine Iudas unquiet in minde for what he had done in betraying attends the trials and waits the issue and when he now saw that he was condemned by the Bench to be delivered up to the Heathen power he steps in and offers his money again and confesseth he had betrayed innocent blood and this probably as Christ stood by Having received a surly answer again from them he flings down his money in the Temple where they sat Gazith or Hhavoth it is not seasonable to question here and departing is snatched by the devil who was bodily in him into the air and there strangled and flung down headlong to the earth and all his bowels burst out With the thirty pieces of silver his wages of iniquity the Priests consult to buy the Potters field And here a quotation of Matthew hath troubled Expositors so farre that divers have denied the purity of the Text. His words are these Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Ieremy the Prophet And they took the thirty pieces of silver c. Matth. 27.9 Whereas those words are not to be found in Ieremy at all but in Zechary they are found Zech. 11.13 Now Matthew speaks according to an ordinary manner of speaking used among the Jews and by them would easily and without cavil be understood though he cited a text o◠Zechary under the name of Ieremy For the illustration of which matter we must first produce a record of their own The Babylon Talmud in Bava Bathra fol. 14. facie 2. is discoursing concerning the order in which the Books of the old Testament were ordered and ranked of old And first they shew that there was this generall division of it into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law the Prophets and the Hagiographa By the last meaning The Psalmes Proverbs Ecclesiastes Canticles Iob Ruth Esther c. Then do they tell that the Books were particularly thus ranked The five Books of Moses Ioshua Iudges Samuel Kings and then the Prophets among whom Ieremy was set first and then Ezekiel and after him Esay and then the twelve But they object was not Esay long before Ieremy and Ezekiel in time Why should he then be set after them in order And they give this answer The last Book of Kings ends with destruction and Ieremy is all destruction Ezekiel begins with destruction and ends with comfort and Esay is all comfort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore they joyned destruction and destruction together and comfort and comfort together And thus in their Bibles of old Ieremy came next after the Book of Kings and stood first in the volume of the Prophets So that Matthews alleadging of a Text
taken from the third Epistle Gaius to whom that Epistle is directed by that encomiastick character that Iohn giveth of him seemeth to be Gaius the Corinthian the host of the whole Church Rom. 16.23 for since he is commended for entertainment and charity both to the Church and strangers particularly to those who had preached among the Gentiles taking nothing of them we know not where to finde any other Gaius to whom to affix this character but only this and we have no reason to look after any other And upon this probability we may observe these other I. That that third Epistle was written when those that preached to the Gentiles and took nothing of them were still abroad upon that imployment for he urgeth him to bring them forward on their journey ver 6. Now under that expression of taking nothing of the Gentiles we can understand none but Paul and Barnabas and those that were of their severall companies for the Scripture hath named none other And if it referre to Paul and his company for we finde not that Barnabas had any thing to do with Gaius then we must conclude that it was written a good while before this time that we are upon unlesse we will suppose Paul after his freedom from imprisonment at Rome was got travelling and preaching in those parts again But I should rather suppose that Iohn sent this third Epistle to Gaius to Corinth by Timothy from Ephesus who was setting away thence for Rome upon Pauls sending for him to come to him thither 2 Tim. 4.9 11 21. In which journey as we have shewed before he was to call at Corinth and to take Mark along with him who was there And of them may Iohns advice to Gaius be well understood Whom if thou bring forward on their journey thou shalt do well For for his sake they went out taking nothing of the Gentiles Mark with Barnabas and Timothy with Paul II. Before Iohn wrote this Epistle to Gaius he had written another Epistle to some Church it may be that of Corinth of which Gaius was I wrote saith he unto the Church but Diotrephes who loveth to have the preminence receiveth us not This must needs be understood of The first Epistle of Iohn unlesse we will conceive unwarrantably that I may say no worse that any of Iohns Writings are lost III. Upon and with the forementioned supposall that Iohn sent his Epistle to Gaius by Timothy from Ephesus we cannot but also suppose that Iohn spent some time in the Asian Churches to which afterward from Patmos he writes his Epistles And if any one be not satisfied with that interpretation that was given before about the Epistle written from Laodicea Coloss. 4.16 let him rather understand it of The first Epistle of Iohn as written by him from Laodicea then think it was an Epistle written by Paul from Laodicea and that that Epistle is lost In both his later Epistles he intimateth his hopes and purpose shortly to come to them from which we may construe that his intention was to travell from Asia the lesse where he now was and from whence he wrote all his three Epistles westward into Greece and in this journey you have him got into Patmos Rev. 1. from whence he writes back to Asia again In all his Epistles he exhorteth to love and constancy in the truth a lesson most needfull in those divided and Apostatizing times He giveth notice of many Antichrists now abroad and these he sheweth to have been such as had once professed the truth but were Apostatized from it They went out from us but they were not of us c. And this Apostacy he calleth The sinne unto death To such he adviseth they should not so much as say God speed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their vulgar language Jerus Taamith fol. 64. col 2. The Rabbins saw a holy man of Caphar Immi and went to him and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God speed But he answered them nothing Id. in Sheviith fol. 35. â— 36.1 R. Chinna bar Papa R. Samuel bar Nachman went by a man that was plowing on the seventh year the year of release R. Samuel saith to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God speed R. Chinna saith Our master did not teach us thus for it is forbidden to say God speed to one that is plowing on the sâ—venth year Iohn stileth himself an Elder and so doth Peter 1 Pet. 5.1 not as laying aside their Apostolicall power but as dealing with those to whom they write in a Ministeriall way and by this very title that they assume to themselves they closely intimate that thenceforward the extraordinary Function and gifts Apostolick must not be expected but the Ministeriall in the ordinary way of Elders or Ministers as the title had been long and vulgarly known And yet when he speaks of Diotrephes and his abusivenesse he then threatens to shew his Apostolick power and himself A son of thunder against him THE REVELATION OF JOHN AS it will be easily admitted to place this Book last of all the New Testament because it stands so in all Bibles so on the other hand it will be cavilled at that I have brought in the writing of it so soon as before the fall of Ierusalem since it hath been of old and commonly held that it was penned in the reign of Domitian farre after these times that we are upon But the reasons by which I have been induced thereunto will appear out of some passages in the Book it self as we go through it As God revealed to Daniel the man greatly beloved the state of his people and the Monarchies that afflicted them from his own time till the coming of Christ so doth Christ to Iohn the beloved Disciple the state of the Church and story in brief of her chief afflicters from thence to the end of the world So that where Daniel ends the Revelation begins and Iohn hath nothing to do with any of the four Monarchies that he speaketh of but deals with a fifth the Roman that rose as it were out of the ashes of those four and swallowed them all up The composure of the Book is much like Daniels in this that it repeats one story over and over again in varied and inlarged expressions and exceeding like Ezekiel's in method and things spoken The style is very Propheticall as to the things spoken and very Hebraizing as to the speaking of them Exceeding much of the old Prophets language and matter adduced to intimate new stories and exceeding much of the Jews language and allusion to their customs and opinions thereby to speak the things more familiarly to be understood And as Ezekiel wrote concerning the ruine of Ierusalem when the ruining of it was now begun so I suppose doth Iohn of the finall destruction of it when the Warres and miseries were now begun which bred its destruction REVEL CHAP. I II III. THe three first Chapters referre to that present time when Iohn wrote
Representatives of the whole Church built from twelve Tribes and twelve Apostles In the hand of him that sate on the Throne was a Book sealed which no creature could open This justly cals us back to Dan. 12. v. 4. where words are shut up and a Book sealed unto the time of the end and now that that is near drawing on the Book is here opened REVEL CHAP. VI. THe opening of the six Seals in this Chapter speaks the ruine and rejection of the Jewish Nation and the desolation of their City which is now very near at hand The first Seal opened ver 2. shews Christ setting forth in Battell array and avengement against them as Psal. 45.4 5. And this the New Testament speaketh very much and very highly of one while calling it his coming in clouds another while his coming in his Kingdome and sometime his coming in Power and great Glory and the like Because his plagueing and destroying of the Nation that crucified him and that so much opposed and wrought mischief against the Gospel was the first evidence that he gave in sight of all the world of his being Christ for till then he and his Gospel had been in humility as I may say as to the eyes of men he persecuted whilest he was on earth and they persecuted after him and no course taken with them that so used both but now he awakes shews himself and makes himself known by the Judgement that he executeth The three next Seals opening shew the means by which he did destroy namely those three sad plagues that had been threatned so oft and so sore by the Prophets Sword Famine and Pestilence For The second Seal opened sends out one upon a red Horse to take Peace from the earth and that men should destroy one another he carried a great Sword ver 4. The third Seals opening speaks of Famine when Corn for scarcity should be weighed like spicery in a pair of ballances ver 5 6. The fourth Seal sends out one on a pale Horse whose name was Death the Chaldee very often expresseth the Plague or Pestilence by that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so it ' is to be taken Revel 2.22 and Hell or Hades comes after him ver 8. The opening of the fifth Seal reveals a main cause of the vengeance namely the blood of the Saints which had been shed crying and which was to be required of that generation Matth. 23.35 36. These souls are said to cry from under the Altar either in allusion to the blood of creatures sacrificed poured at the foot of the Altar or according to the Jews tenet that all just soules departed are under the Throne of Glory Answer to their cry is given that the number of their Brethren that were to be slain was not yet fulfilled and they must rest till that should be and then avengement in their behalf should come This speakes sutable to that which we observed lately that now times were begun of bitter persecution an hour of temptation Rev. 2.10 3.10 the Jews and devil raging till the Lord should something cool that fury by the ruine of that people The opening of the sixth Seal ver 12 13. shews the destruction it self in those borrowed termes that the Scripture useth to expresse it by namely as if it were the destruction of the whole world as Matth. 24.29 30. The sunne darkened the starres falling the heaven departing and the earth dissolved and that conclusion ver 16. They shall say to the rocks fall on us c. doth not only warrant but even inforce us to understand and construe these things in the sense that we do for Christ applies these very words to the very same thing Luke 23.30 And here is another and to me a very satisfactory reason why to place the shewing of these visions to Iohn and his wring of this Book before the desolation of Ierusalem REVEL CHAP. VII IN the end of the former Chapter was contained the intimation of the desolation of Ierusalem and in the beginning of this the ceasing of Prophesie under the similitude of the four windes restrained from blowing upon the earth Compare Cant. 4.16 Ezek. 37.9 only a remnant of Israel are sealed unto salvation and not to perish by that restraint and with them innumerable Gentiles Ezekiel helpeth here to confirm the explication that we have given of the Chapter before for he hath the very like passage upon the first destruction of the City Ezek. 9. 10. 11. Compare the marking in the foreheads here with Exod. 28.38 Dan not mentioned among the Tribes in this place Idolatry first began in that Tribe Iudg. 18. 1 King 12. REVEL CHAP. VIII THe opening of the seventh Seal lands us upon a new scene as a new world began when Ierusalem was destroyed and the Jews cast off The six Seals in the two former Chapters have shewed their ruine and the appearing of the Church of the Gentiles and now the seven Trumpets under the seventh Seal give us a prospect in generall of the times thence forward to the end of all things I say in generall for from the beginning of the twelfth Chapter and forward to the end of the nineteenth they are handled more particularly Silence in heaven for a while and seven Angels with seven Trumpets may call our thoughts to Ioshua 6.4 10. and intimate that the Prophetick story is now entred upon a new Canaan or a new stage of the Church as that businesse at Iericho was at Israels first entring on the old Or it may very properly be looked upon as referring and alluding to the carriage of things at the Temple since this Book doth represent things so much according to the scheme and scene of the Temple all along And in this very place there is mention of the Altar and Incense and Trumpets which were all Temple appurtenances It was therefore the custom at the Temple that when the Priest went in to the Holy place the people drew downward from the Porch of the Temple and there was a silence whilest he was there yea though the people were then praying incomparably beyond what there was at other times of the service for the Priests were blowing with Trumpets or the Levites singing The allusion then here is plain When the sacrifice was laid on the Altar a Priest took coals from the Altar went in to the Holy place and offered incense upon the Golden Altar that stood before vail that was before the Ark and this being done the Trumpets sounded over the sacrifice Here then is first intimation of Christs being offered upon the Altar then his going into the Holy place as Mediatour for his people and then the Trumpets sounding and declaring his disposals in the world His taking fire off the Altar and casting it upon the earth ver 5. is a thing not used at the Temple but spoken from Ezek. 10.2 which betokeneth the sending of judgement which the Trumpets speak out These seven Trumpets and
we touched before The Babylon Talmud in Sanhedrin in the Chapter Helek doth shew their full opinion about the daies of Messias and amongst other things they say thus as Aruch speaks their words in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a tradition of the house of Elijah that the righteous ones that the blessed God shall raise from the dead they shall no more return to their dust but those thousand years that the holy blessed God is to renew the world he will give them wings as Eagles and they shall flee upon the waters The place in the Talmud is in Sanhedrin fol. 92. where the text indeed hath not the word thousand but the marginall glosse hath it and shews how to understand the thousand years And Aruch speaks it as a thing of undeniable knowledge and intertainment And so speaks R. Eliezâ—r in Midras Tillin fol. 4. col 2. The daies of the Messias are a thousand years As Iohn all along this Book doth intimate new stories by remembring old ones and useth not only the Old Testament phrase to expresse them by but much allusion to customs language and opinions of the Jews that he might speak as it were closer to them and nearer their apprehensions so doth he here and forward This later end of his Book remembers the later end of the Book of Ezekiel There is a resurrection Ezek. 37. Gog and Magog Ezek. 38. 39. and a new Ierusalem Ezek. 40. and forward So here a resurrection ver 5. Gog and Magog ver 8. and a new Ierusalem Chap. 21. 22. There a resurrection not of bodies out of the grave but of Israel out of a low captived condition in Babel There a Gog and Magog the Syrogrecian persecutors Antiochus and his house and then the description of the new Ierusalem which as to the place and situation was a promise of their restoring to their own Land and to have Ierusalem built again as it was indeed in the daies of Ezra and Nehemiah but by the glory and â—â—rgenesse of it as it is described more in compasse then all the Land of Canaan they were taught to look further namely at the heavenly or spiritual Ierusalem the Church through all the world Now the Jews according to their allegoricall vein applied these things to the daies of Christ thus that first there should be a resurrection caused by Messias of righteous ones then he to conquer Gog and Magog and then there must come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The brave world to come that they dreamed of Beside what they speak to this tenour in the Talmudick Treatise last cited there is this passage in Ierus Megillah fol. 73. col 1. They are applying particular parts of the great Hallel to particular times what the great Hallel was we shewed a little before And that part say they I love the Lord because he hath heard me refers to the daies of Messias that part Tye the sacrifice with cords to the daies of Gog and Magog And that Thou art my God and I will praise thee refers to the world to come Our Divine Apocalyptick follows Ezekiel with an Allegory too and in some of his expressions alludes to some of theirs not as approving them but as speaking the plainer to them by them Here is a resurrection too but not of bodies neither for not a word of mention of them but of souls The souls of those that were beheaded for the witnesse of Iesus lived and reigned ver 4. and yet this is called The first resurrection ver 5. The meaning of the whole let us take up in parts There are two main things here intended First to shew the ruine of the Kingdom of Satan and secondly the nature of the Kingdom of Christ. The Scripture speaks much of Christs Kingdom and his conquering Satan and his Saints reigning with him that common place is briefly handled here That Kingdom was to be especially among the Gentiles they called in unto the Gospel Now among the Gentiles had been Satans Kingdom most setled and potent but here Christ binds him and casts him into the bottomlesse pit that he should deceive no more as a great cheater and seducer cast into prison and this done by the coming in of the Gospel among them Then as for Christs Kingdom I saw Thrones saith Iohn and they sate upon them c. ver 4. here is Christ and his inthroned and reigning But how do they reign with him Here Iohn faceth the foolish opinion of the Jews of their reigning with the Messias in an earthly pomp and shews that the matter is of a farre different tenour that they that suffer with him shall reign with him they that stick to him witnesse for him dye for him these shall sit inthroned with him And he nameth beheading only of all kindes of deaths as being the most common used both by Jews and Romans alike as we have observed before at Acts 12. out of Sanhedr per. 7. halac 3. And the first witnesse for Christ Iohn the Baptist died this death He saith that such live and reign with Christ the thousand years not as if they were all raised from the dead at the beginning of the 1000 years and so reign all together with him those years out as is the conceit of some as absolute Judaism as any is for matter of opinion but that this must be expected to be the garb of Christs Kingdom all along suffering and standing out against sinne and the mark of the Beast and the like whereas they held it to be a thousand years of earthly bravery and pompousnesse But the rest of the dead lived not again untill the thousand years were finished This is the first resurrection Not that they lived again when the thousand years were finished but it means that they lived not in this time which was the time of living when Satan was bound and truth and life came into the world The Gentiles before the Gospel came among them were dead in Scripture phrase very copiously Ephes. 2.1 2. 4.18 c. but that revived them Ioh 5.25 This is the first resurrection in and to Christs Kingdom the second is spoken of at the 12th verse of this Chapter that we are upon Paul useth the same expression to signifie the same thing namely a raising from darknesse and sin by the power of the Gospel Rom. 11.15 Now when this quickning came among the Gentiles Satan going down and Christs Kingdom advanced and the Gospel bringing in life and light as Ioh. 1.4 those that did not come and stick close to Christ and bear witnesse to him but closed with the mark of the Beast sin and sinfull men these were dead still and lived not again till the thousand years were finished that is while they lasted though that were a time of receiving life Blessed therefore and holy are they that have part in this first resurrection for on them the second death hath no power ver 6. The second death is a
Vision He sware by him that liveth for ever that there should be delay of time no longer but in the daies of the seventh Trumpet the mystery of God should be fulfilled The mystery of God is his gathering in of his Elect more especially of the Gentiles Rom. 16.25 26. Ephes. 3.5 6. and hitherto there had been great hinderance by Rome Heathen by Heresies Papacy Turcism but at last Christ swears that there should be no more delay the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be taken so here and not unconsonant to the signification of the word and very consonant to the context and to the place from whence this verse is taken That is Dan. 12.7 where the Angel is brought in swearing as here that the trouble of Antiochus and his persecution and hindrance should be so long and there should be no delay further but there should be a restoring That place laid to this and Antiochus looked upon as a figure of Antichrist the construction of this place is easie Only the great Angel would have the speech of the seven thunders which referre to these times to be concealed The Prophesie in generall intimates the restoring of the Gospel in these later times which is handled in the next Chapter but very generally and very briefly Iohns eating of the little Book as Ezek. 2.8 and the words to him Thou must Prophesie again before many Peoples and Nations and Tongues and Kings do not so much inferre Iohns going abroad after this to preach to many Nations himself as it doth the progresse of the truth that he preached through Nations and People which had been supprest so long aiming at these times when the Gospel last broke out from under Popery The passage is parallel to the last words in the Book of Daniel Go thy way till the end be for thou shalt rest and stand in the lot at the end of daies Not that Daniel should live till the end of those miseries by Antiochus but that his doctrine and the truth should stand up and be restored in those times The phrase is such another as when Christ telleth his Disciples that they should sit on twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel which is not meant of their personall sitting to judge but that their doctrine should judge and condemn that unbeleeving Nation REVEL CHAP. XI THe Vision of this Chapter is in order to the accomplishing of the mystery of God which was spoken of Chap. 10.7 As Ezekiels measuring of a new Temple shewed the restoring of Religion and of the Lords people and foretold of the new Ierusalem and calling of the Gentiles To the same purpose is the measuring of the Temple here The Church was under the mysticall Babylon Chap. 9. as the Jews were under the Eastern when Ezekiel wrote those things now as that description of the measures of the Temple was a prediction and pledge of their coming forth so this speaketh to the same tenour Iohn is commanded to leave the Court which is without the Temple forth and not to measure it Because it was given to the Gentiles and they should tread the holy City fourty and two moneths Not in an hostile way but as the flock of the Lord tread his Courts there worshipping him as see the phrase Isa. 1.12 Psal. 122.2 and the meaning seemeth to be this Measure not the Court of the Gentiles for their multitudes that come to attend upon the Lord shall be boundlesse and numberlesse The two and fourty moneths and a thousand two hundred and sixty daies ver 3. and Chap. 12.6 and a time and times and half a time Chap. 12.14 are but borrowed phrases from Daniel who so expresseth the three years and an half of Antiochus his persecution and treading down Religion Dan. 7.25 12.7 11. and they mean times of trouble and are used to expresse that but not any fixed time The Jews themselves have learned to make the same construction of it when they say Advianus besieged Bitter three years and an half Jerus Taanith fol. 68. col 4. And this also that comfort might stand up against misery was the time of our Saviours Ministry when he restored decaied and ruined Religion in so happy a manner Dan. 9.27 And this the Jews also have observed in that saying we have mentioned before The divine glory shall stand upon mount Olivet three years and an half and shall preach c. So that according to this interpretation of the numbers the things they are applied unto are facil The Gentiles shall tread the Lords Courts fourty two moneths and the two Witnesses shall Prophesie a thousand two hundred and sixty daies clothed in sackcloth Meaning that the Gentiles shall worship God and attend upon him in a Gospel Ministry and for that allusion is made to the space of time that Christ administred the Gospel but this ministring and attending shall not be without persecution and trouble and for intimation of that allusion is made to the bitter times of Antiochus Two Witnesses is a phrase taken from the Law In the mouth of two or of three witnesses every word shall stand and it means all that should bear witnesse to the truth in the times spoken of But more especially the Ministry which is charactered by the picture of Moses and Elias the two great Reformers in their severall times the former the first Minister of the Jews the later of the Gentiles These are two Olive trees See Zech. 4.3 Rom. 11.17 24. and two Candlesticks See Chap. 1.20 gracious in themselves and having light and holding it out to others They must finish and accomplish their work that they had to do and then be overcome by Antichrist and slain Their case is clearly paralleled with Christ their Masters by comparing it with which it is best understood He preached three years and six moneths in trouble and sorrow so they in sackcloth He having finished his Ministry was slain so they He revived and ascended so they likewise Now this that especially states the case and the counting of the progresse of procedings intended here is this That as Christ laid the foundation of the Gospel and when he having finished his Ministry was slain risen and ascended the Gospel was not extinct with him but increased more and more by the Ministry that followed after So seems this that alludes thereunto to be understood As that the two Witnesses should mean the first Ministry and bearing witnesse to the truth at the first breaking of it out of Popery which was followed with horrid persecutions and multitudes of Martyrdoms but these first Witnesses having so done their Testimony and vast numbers of them having sealed it with their blood and being gone to heaven yet the Gospel increased and shook down a part of Rome even at these first beginnings Their dead bodies must be cast in the streets of the great City where our Lord was crucified The term The great City resolves that Rome is meant if there were no
most like to be his chief and most able agent to act his fury She is described here a Beast bearing the shape of all the four bloody Monarchies Dan. 7. in power and cruelty matching nay incomparably exceeding them all There is but little reason to take Rome for the fourth Monarchy in Daniel and the so taking it bringeth much disjoynting and confusion into the interpreting of that Book and this and into the stating of affairs and times spoken of in them The Jews like such a glosse well as whereby they do conclude that the Messias is not yet come because the fourth Monarchy the Romane say they is not yet utterly destroyed And truly I see not how they can conclude lesse upon such a concession For it is plain in Daniel that the four Kingdoms there spoken of must come to nothing before the first appearing of Messias and that the Romane is not is most plain since this Book makes Rome Heathen and Papal but as one The Holy Ghost by Daniel shews the four Monarchies the afflicters of the Church of the Jews till Messias his first coming The Babylonian The Mede-Persian The Grecian and The Syrogrecian and Iohn now takes at him and shews a fifth Monarchy the afflicter of the Church of Jews and Gentiles till his second coming Daniel indeed gives a hint of the Romane but he clearly distinguisheth him from the other four when he cals him the Prince that was to come Dan 9.26 beyond and after those four that he had spoken of before Him Iohn describes here as carrying the character of all those four A Beast with ten horns such a one had been the Syrogrecian Dan. 7.7 like a Leopard as the Grecian was ver 6. his feet as a Bears such the Persian ver 5. his mouth like a Lion such the Babylonian ver 4. This therefore could not be any of those when it was all and by this description of it by characters of them all it shews the vast power and incomparable cruelty and oppression of it equalling them all nay it infinitely went beyond them put all together in extent of Dominions Power Continuance and Cruelty both to the Church and to the world Balaam long before Rome was in being doth set it out for the great afflicter Num. 24.24 Ships shall come from the coasts of Chittim and shall afflict Assur and shall afflict Eber That Chittim means Italy or Rome is granted even by some Romanists themselves it is asserted by the Jews and confirmed by other places of Scripture and even proved by the very sense and truth of that place It afflicts both the afflicted and the afflicter Eber and Assur and that hath been the garb of it since its first being How may this be read in her own stories in her bloody Conquests over all the world in the titles of honour but which speak oppression Britannicus Germanicus Africanus and the like And to take up all in Epitome and that you may conjecture ex ungue Leonem what whole Rome hath done in all her time for slaughter oppression and destroying take but the brief of one of her Commanders Pompey the Great of whom Pliny speaks to this purpose Nat. Hist. lib. 7. cap. 26. He recovered Sicily subdued Africk subjected 876 Towns about the Alpes and coasts of Spain routed and slew 2183000 men Sunk and took 846 Ships took in 1538 fortified places and triumphed from his Conquest of Asia Pontus Armenia Paphlagonia Cappadocia Cilicia Syria Iudaea Albania Iberia Creet and Basterna What hath Rome done by all her agents in all her time And she is this year 1654 two thousand four hundred and eight years old She is described here with seven heads and ten horns as the Dragon whose deputed she is is pictured Chap. 12.3 the horns crowned with power and the heads with blasphemies One of his heads had been wounded to death but his deadly wound was healed This seemeth to mean her Monarchicall or Kingly power which was extinguisht with the Tarquins but revived in the Caesars and hereby is given intimation from whence to account the beginning of this fifth Monarchy namely from Romes beginning again to be Monarchicall and we may well take a hint of this from Luk. 2. where at the birth of Christ all the world is taxed by Caesar Augustus Not that Monarchicall Government is therefore the worse because thus abused by Rome Heathen no more then Religion is the worse for being abused by Rome Papall Another Beast ariseth like this for power and cruelty but farre beyond him in consonage and delusion Rome Heathen dealt alwaies openly and in down right tearms of bloodinesse professedly setting it self to destroy Religion But Rome Papall is a mystery of iniquity it goes to work by deceiving and carrying fair pretences therefore it is said that it spake as a Dragon but had horns like a Lamb. It revives the tyranny of Rome Heathen and Imperiall and none must thrive before it that will not bear its badge either some mark or its name or the number of its name which number was the number of a man and his number is 666. In Hebrew numerals Sethur the name of a man in Num. 13.13 comes just to this number and which being interpreted signifies Hidden or Mystery the very inscription of Rome it self Chap. 17.5 In Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fits it which is the old name of the Roman And in Genealogicall Arithmetick the number of Adonikams family suits with it Ezra 5.13 which mans name signifies A Lord rising up REVEL CHAP. XIV THe warring twixt Michael and his Angels and the Dragon and his Angels and the Dragons making warre with seed of the Woman Chap. 12. receiveth illustration in the thirteenth Chapter and in the beginning of this For in Chap. 13. he resignes his Power and Throne to the Beast Rome and makes him chief leader in his Warres and his Angels are men that receive his mark Here the Lamb upon mount Zion is Michael and his Angels and followers are marked with his Fathers Name in their foreheads as Chap. 7. And now as in the eight ninth tenth and eleventh Chapters the relation is concerning those things that should be against the Church from henceforth the Prophesie is more especially of things that make for the Church and against her enemies As 1. The preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles ver 6 7. 2. The proclaiming of the ruine of the mysticall Babylon proclaimed even from its first rising up a persecutor as Isaiah did Prophesie against the Eastern even before its tyrannicall being 3. The Ministry of the Word giving caution against joyning with the Beast and his Image and the danger and damnation that should follow upon joyning with him and the torments described ver 9 10 11. Here the patience of the Saints tried ver 12. and Iohn by a voice from heaven commanded to write them blessed that die in the Lord from thenceforth ver 13. at once shewing the bitternesse of
the persecution caused by the Beast that even death should be desirable to deliver the Saints from that trouble and incouraging to stand out against the Beast and his Image even to the death These bitter dealings against the Church ripen the sinnes of the world ready for cutting down and thereupon Christ is described coming as against Egypt Isa. 19.1 riding upon a cloud and with a sickle in his hand to reap the earth As Ioel 3.13 betokening his vengeance against his enemies So the earth is reaped Harvest and Vintage and all This is a generall intimation of Gods judgement and vengeance which is more particularly handled in the pouring out of the Vials Chap. 16. It is observable that the word for reaping of the earth comes out from the Temple yea though Christ have the sickle in his hand yet an Angel out of the Temple cals to him to reap and another Angel comes out of the Temple with a sickle and a third out of the Temple cals to him to reap As this may be understood to Doctrinall information that the cries and urgencies of the Church to Christ stirre him up to avenge them on their enemies Luke 18.7 so the expressions may be explained by allusive application The putting in of the first sickle to reap the first corn in Iudaea was by the word and warrant of the Priests and Rulers sitting in the Temple and they that were to reap when they were come to the corn put not in the sickle till the word was given Reap The manner and managing of this businesse viz. the reaping of the first sheaf is recorded and related by the Talmud Menachoth per. 10. and in Tosaphta ibid. These three men say they that were appointed by the Sanhedrin to reap went out into the valley of Kidron with a great company following them on the first day of the Passeover week when now it grew towards evening with three sickles and three baskets One when they came to the place said to them On this Sabbath on this Sabbath on this Sabbath In this basket in this basket in this basket With this sickle with this sickle with this sickle Reap to whom the three answer Well well well I will reap The other saies Reap then Then they reap c. Thus phrases taken from known customs do speak the plainer And so is the expression taken from common speech and opinion when it is said in ver 30. The wine-presse was troden without the City and blood came out of the wine-presse even to the horse bridles Here is treading a wine presse of blood a◠Christ treadeth in Edom Isa. 63.1 3. Edom is the common name by which the Hebrew Writers call the Romans The wine-presse was without the City alluding to the wine and oyl presses which were without Ierusalem at the foot of mount Olivet Blood came up to the horse bridles An hyperbole by which they expressed great slaughter and effusion of blood So Talm. Ierus in Taanith fol. 69. col 1. describing the wofull slaughter that Hadrian made of the Jews at the destruction of the City Bitter saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The horses waded in blood up to the nostrils by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs Of that space and extent doth R. Menahem on gen fol. 60. reckon the largenesse of the Land of Israel REVEL CHAP. XV. WHat was spoken in generall in the conclusion of the preceding Chapter concerning the treading of the wine presse of Gods wrath is here more particularly prosecuted in the story of the seven Vials At the beginning of which Iohn again cals us to reflect upon the scheme of the Temple in heaven which all along speaks according to the platform of the Temple at Hierusalem Here is a sea of glasse mingled with fire and harpers harping by it c. singing the song of Moses which as it cals to minde Moses and the peoples singing upon the red sea shore upon their delivery from Egypt Exod. 15. so doth it plainly allude to the musick at the Temple by the laver or sea and which standing near the Altar was as a sea of glasse mingled with fire Moses and Israel sing after the destruction of Egypt for their deliverance was by her destruction but those here that have got victory over the Beast sing before he is destroyed for they are delivered from him and prevail against him though he stand in his strength and his destruction be not yet come The Gospel grew and Sanguis Martyrum was semen Ecclesiae do Satan and Antichrist what they can After this song The Temple of the Tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened ver 5. All the whole building upon Mount Moriah was called the Temple the Courts and Cloisters and Chambers c. but the very house it self The Holy and Holy of Holies was only and properly The Temple of the Tabernacle of Testimony And the song mentioned before ver 2. is represented as being in the Court near the Altar and laver but now the very House it self is opened Parallel to what is spoken Chap. 11.19 The Temple of God was opened in heaven and there was seen in his Temple the Ark of his Covenant The Lord in pouring out vengeance upon Antichrist will manifest his judgements as ver 4. and open his Counsels and Covenant for while the enemy raged and raved and destroyed those that would not worship him and when even all the world in a manner did worship him the Lords judgements were hid and his Covenant with his people as it were out of sight or as if no such thing had been but when this vengeance shall come then all will be plain The seven Angels that pour out the seven Vials are charactered in the garb of Priests coming out of the Temple in white linen and girded over the breasts as the Priests were One of the living creatures gives the Vials into their hands the very same sense and carriage with that Ezek. 10.7 REVEL CHAP. XVI WEre the Stage where the things of this Book were to be acted and the time of their acting of as little compasse as was that of the things of Daniel one might with more probability allot the severall things mentioned to their severall times as the things in him may be done But since the scene here is as large as all the world where the Gospel was to come and the time as long as time shall be 1600 years past already and how much behinde none knoweth to undertake to apply every thing in this Book to its particular time place and occasion is to runne a hazardous undertaking In some places indeed the things are so plain that they speak themselves but in many so obscure that he that will venture to bring them to particular application doth it more upon his own venture then upon any good textuall warrant And amongst those obscurities these Vials are not the least Take them in a generall interpretation as I beleeve they are
phrase used by the Jews Onkelos renders Deut. 33.6 thus Let Reuben live and not die the second death And Ionathan Isa. 65.6 thus Behold it is written before me I will not grant them long life but I will pay them vengeance for their sins and deliver their carcases to the second death And ver 15. The Lord will slay them with the second death Observe in the Prophet that these verses speak of the ruine and rejection of the Jews now a cursed people and given up to the second death and in Chapter 66. ver 29 30 31. is told how the Lord would send and gather the Gentiles to be his people and would make them his Priests and Levites And then see how fitly this verse answers those In stead of these cursed people these are blessed and holy and might not see the second death and Christ makes them Priests to himself and his Father In this passage of Iohn scorn is put again upon the Jews wild interpretation of the resurrection in Ezekiel They take it litterally think some dead were really raised out of their graves came into the Land of Israel begat children and died a second time Nay they stick not to tell who these men were and who were their children Talm. Babyl in Sanhedr ubi supra After the thousand years are expired Satan is let loose again and fals to his old trade of the deceiving the Nations again ver 8. Zohar fol. 72. col 286. hath this saying It is a tradition that in the day when judgement is upon the world and the holy blessed God sits upon the Throne of judgement then it is found that Satan that deceives high and low he is found destroying the world and taking away souls When the Papacy began then Heathenism came over the world again and Satan as loose and deceiving as ever then Idolatry blindnesse deluding oracularities and miracles as fresh and plenteous as before from the rising of the Gospel among the Gentiles these had been beating down and Satan fettered and imprisoned deeper and deeper every day and though his agent Rome bestird it self hard to hold up his Kingdom by the horrid persecutions it raised yet still â—he Gospel prevailed and laid all flat But when the Papacy came then he was loose again and his cheatings prevailed and the world became again no better then Heathen And if you should take the thousand years fixedly and literally and begin to count either from the beginning of the Gospel in the preaching of Iohn or of Peter to Cornelius the first inlet to the Gentiles or of Paul and Barnabas their being sent among them the expiring of them will be in the very depth of Popery especially begin them from the fall of Ierusalem where the date of the Gentiles more peculiarly begins and they will end upon the times of Pope Hildebrand when if the devil were not let loose when was he He cals the enemies of the Church especially Antichrist Gog and Magog the title of the Syrogrecian Monarchy the great persecutor Ezek. 38. 39. Pliny mentions a place in Caelosyria that retained the name Magog lib. 5. cap. 23. So that Iohn from old stories and copies of great troubles transcribeth new using known terms from Scripture and from the Jews language and notions that he might the better be understood So that this Chapter containeth a brief of all the times from the rising of the Gospel among the Gentiles to the end of the world under these two summes first the beating down of Idolatry and Heathenism in the earth till the world was become Christian and then the Papacy arising doth Heathenize it again The destruction of which is set down ver 9. by fire from heaven in allusion to Sodom or to 2 King 1.10 12. and it is set close to the end of the world the Devil and the Beast Rome imperiall and the false Prophet Rome Papall are cast into fire and brimstone ver 10. where Iohn speaks so as to shew his method which we have spoken of The devill was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the Beast and the false Prophet are He had given the story of the beast and false Prophet the devils agents and what became of them Chap. 19. v. 20. And now the story of the devill himself for it was not possible to handle these two stories but apart and now he brings the confusion of all the three together and the confusion of all with them that bare their mark and whose names were not written in the Book of life REVEL CHAP. XXI THe Ierusalem from above described The phrase is used by Paul Gal. 4.26 and it is used often by the Jews Zohar fol. 120. col 478. Rabbi Aba saith Luz is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ierusalem which is above which the holy blessed God gives for a possession where blessings are given by his hand in a pure Land but to an impure Land no blessings to be at all Compare Rev. 21.27 22.15 Midras Till in Psal. 122. Ierusalem is built as a City that is compact together R. Iochanan saith The holy blessed God said I will not go into Ierusalem that is above untill I have gone into Ierusalem that is below c. Ezekiels Ierusalem as we observed was of a double signification namely as promising the rebuilding of the City after the Captivity and foretelling of the spirituall Ierusalem the Church under the Gospel and that most especially At that Iohn taketh at here and that is the Ierusalem that he describeth And from Isa. 65.17 18. joyneth the creating new heavens and a new earth and so stateth the time of building this new Ierusalem namely at the coming in of the Gospel when all things are made new 2 Cor. 5.17 A new people new Ordinances new Oeconomy and the old world of Israel dissolved Though the description of this new City be placed last in the Book yet the building of it was contemporary with the first things mentioned in it about the calling of the Gentiles When God pitched his Tabernacle amongst them as he had done in the midst of Israel Levit. 26.11 12. That Tabernacle is pitched in the fourth and fifth Chapters of this Book And now all tears wiped away and no more sorrow death nor pain ver 4. which if taken litterally could referre to nothing but the happy estate in heaven of which the glory of this Ierusalem may indeed be a figure but here as the other things are it is to be taken mystically or spiritually to mean the taking away the curse of the Law and the sting of death and sinne c. No condemnation to be to those that are in Christ Iesus The passages in describing the City are all in the Prophets phrase Ezekiel and Isaiah as compare these The Bride the Lambs wife ver 9. Sing O barren Heathen that didst not bear c. Thy Maker is thine Husband thy Redeemer c. Isa. 54.1 5. Ver. 10. He carried me away in the
Spirit to a great and high mountain Compare Ezek. 40.2 That great City holy Ierusalem c. This referres to great dimensions of Ezekiels Ierusalem as also to the squarenesse the three gates of a side c. The glory of it described from thence and from Isa. 58.8 60.2 3. 54.11 12 c. The wall of it 12000 furlongs square or 1500 miles upon every quarter East West North and South 3000 miles about and 1500 miles high Wall of salvation Isa. 26.1 60.14 The foundations of the wals garnished with twelve precious stones see Isa. 54.11 as the stones in the Ephod or holy Breastplate three upon every side as these were three and three in a row The first foundation stone here is the Iaspar the stone of Benjamin for Pauls sake the great agent about this building of the Church of the Gentiles The Ierus Talmud in Peah fol. 15. col 3. saith expresly that the Iaspar was Benjamins stone for it saith Benjamins Iaspar was once lost out of the Ephod and they said Who is there that hath another as good as it Some said Damah the sonne of Nethina hath one c. And I saw no Temple therein c. ver 22. here this Ierusalem differs from Ezekiels that had a Temple this none and it is observable there that the platform of the Temple is much of the measures and fashion that the second Temple was of but the City of a compasse larger then all the Land which helpeth to clear what was said before of the double significancy of those things they promised them an earthly Temple which was built by Zerobabel but foretold a heavenly Ierusalem which is described here REVEL CHAP. XXII FRom Ezekiel Chap. 47. and from severall passages of Scripture besides Iohn doth still magnifie the glory happinesse and holinesse of the new Ierusalem Lively waters of clear Doctrine teaching Christ and life by him flowing through it continually Ezek. 7.1 9. Cant. 4.15 The Tree of Life lost to Adam and Paradise shut up against him to keep him from it here restored Then a curse here There shall be curse no more ver 3. See Zech. 14.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anathema non erit amplius c. He concludeth These sayings are faithfull and true so he had said before at the marriage of the Lamb Chap. 19.9 and again at his beginning of the story of the new Ierusalem Chap. 21.5 referring to the severall Prophecies that had been of these things and now all those sayings and Prophecies were come home in truth and faithfulnesse He is commanded not to seal his Book as Daniel was Dan. 12.4 because the time of these things was instantly beginning and Christs coming to reveal his glory in avengement upon the Jewish Nation and casting them off and to take in the Gentiles in their stead was now at the door within three and an half or thereabout to come if we have conjectured the writing of this Book to its proper year There are two years more of Nero and one of confusion in the Roman Empire in the Warres of Otho Vitellius and Vespasian and the next year after Ierusalem fals And thus if this Book of the Revelation were written last of the Books of the new Testament as by the consent of all it was then may we say Now was the whole will of God revealed and committed to writing and from henceforth must Vision and Prophesie and Inspiration cease for ever These had been used and imparted all along for the drawing up of the minde of God into writing as also the appearing of Angels had been used for the further and further still revealing of his will and when the full revelation of that was compleated their appearing and revelations to men must be no more So that this Revelation to Iohn was the topping up and finishing of all revelations The Lord had promised that in the last daies of Ierusalem he would pour down of his Spirit upon all flesh Act. 2.17 And Christ promised to his Apostles that he would lead them into all truth Ioh. 16.12.13 To look for therefore the giving of those extraordinary gifts of the Spirit beyond the fall of Ierusalem there is no warrant and there is no need since when the inspired penmen had written all that the holy Ghost directed to write All truth was written It is not to be denied indeed that those that had these extraordinary gifts before the fall of Ierusalem if they lived after had them after for the promoting of these ends for which they were given but there is neither ground nor reason whereupon to beleeve that they were restored to the next generation or were or are to be imparted to any generation for ever For as it was in Israel at the first setling of their Church so was it in this case in the first setling of the Gospel The first fathers of the Sanhedrin in the wildernesse were indued with Divine gifts such as we are speaking of Numb 11.25 but when that generation was expired those that were to succeed in that Function and imployment were such as were qualified for it by education study and parts acquired So was it with this first age of the Gospel and the ages succeeding At the first dispersing of the Gospel it was absolutely needfull that the first planters should be furnished with such extraordinary gifts or else it was not possible it should be planted As this may appear by a plain instance Paul comes to a place where the Gospel had never come he staies a moneth or two and begets a Church and then he is to go his way and to leave them Who now in this Church is fit to be their Minister they being all alike but very children in the Gospel but Paul is directed by the holy Ghost to lay his hands upon such and such of them and that bestows upon them the gift of tongues and Prophesying and now they are able to be Ministers and to teach the Congregation But after that generation when the Gospel was setled in all the world and committed to writing and written to be read and studied then was study of the Scriptures the way to inable men to unfold the Scriptures and fit them to be Ministers to instruct others and Revelations and Inspirations neither needfull nor safe to be looked after nor hopefull to be attained unto And this was the reason why Paul coming but newly out of Ephesus and Crete when he could have ordained and qualified Ministers with abilities by the imposition of his hands would not do it but left Timothy and Titus to Ordain though they could not bestow those gifts because he knew the way that the Lord had appointed Ministers thence forward to be inabled for the Ministry not by extraordinary infusions of the Spirit but by serious study of the Scriptures not by a miraculous but by an ordinary Ordination And accordingly he gives Timothy himself counsell to study 1 Tim. 4.13 though he were
the seven Vials in Chap. 16. in many things runne very parallel how farre they Synchronize will be best considered when we come there The first Trumpet sounding brings hail and fire and blood upon the earth and destroys grasse and trees a third part of them Fire and hail was the plague of Egypt Exod. 9.23 but fire and blood with hail is a new plague By these seemeth to be intimated what plagues should be brought upon the world by fire sword dreadfull tempest unnaturall seasons and the like The second Trumpet sounds and a great burning mountain is cast into the sea and the third part of it becomes blood The sea in the Prophetick language doth signifie multitudes of people as Ierem. 51.36.42 And Babylon that was Monarch was a burning mountain in the same Chapter ver 35. So that the Imperiall power seemeth to be the mountain here which made bloody and mischievous work not only by the persecution of Christians but even among their own people As Nero at present Vitellius instantly after Domitian Commodus and indeed generally all of them either bloodily destroy their own people or at least for their covetousnesse ambition revenge or humour bring disquietnesse oppression misery Warres and blood upon all the world in one place or other The third Trumpet brings the starre Wormwood upon the rivers and fountains of waters which seemeth to denote the grievous Heresies that should be in the Church which should corrupt and imbitter the pure springs of the Scripture and fountains of Truth A starre in the language of this Book is a Church-man Chap. 1.20 Ben Cochab was such a Wormwood starre among the Jews called most properly Ben cozba the lier And the phrase A starre falling from heaven alludes to Isa. 14.12 How art thou fallen from heaven O Lucifer c. The fourth Trumpet shews the darkning of the Sunne and Moon and Starres for a third part By which seems to be understood the wane and decay both in the glory of the Church by superstition and of the Empire by its divisions within and enemies from without and this before the rising of the Papacy which appears under the next Trumpet and these things were great advantages to its rising The darkning of the heavenly luminaries in the Prophets language signifieth the eclipsing of the glory and prosperity of a Kingdom or people Isa. 13.9 10. Ioel 2.10 How it was with the Church and Empire in these respects before that time that the Papacy appeared he is a stranger to History both Ecclesiasticall and Civil that remembreth not upon this very hint The three Trumpets coming are the Trumpets of Wo wo wo though these things past were very wofull but those much more that are to come REVEL CHAP. IX A Description of the Papacy under the fifth Trumpet Another starre falling from heaven and that a notable one indeed the He that hath the Key of the bottomlesse pit committed to him A vast difference from the Keys given Peter The Keys of the Kingdom of heaven The setting of these in their just distance and opposition will illustrate the matter before us When the world is to come out of darknesse and Heathenism to the knowledge of the Gospel Christ gives Peter the Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven to open the door and let light come in among them for he first preached to the Gentiles Act. 10. 15.7 The world under the Papacy returns as it were to Heathenism again and not undeservedly for its contempt of the Gospel and unproficiency under it which is very fitly described by hell opened by the Keys of the bottomlesse pit and darknesse coming and clouding all The Claviger or Turnkey is The childe of perdition Abaddon and Apollyon a destroyer and one that is surely and sorely to be destroyed Chittim Italy or Rome afflicting and perishing for ever Num. 24.24 Antichrist of the second edition much augmented and inlarged The Jews the first as we observed at the second Epistle to the Thessalonians and this the second Antichrist at his full stature It is true indeed that Rome Heathen is one part of him but observe how little a part reputed in comparison of Rome Papish the starre fallen from heaven So that though that did wofull things yet you see the first wo is fixed here The way of his bringing wo upon the earth is by filling the world with smoke and darknesse of ignorance and humane traditions and inventions and out of this smoke come his locusts of his votary orders The locusts described much like those in Ioel 1. for their terrour and destroying only their having the faces of men speaks them men-caterpillers and their Nazarite-like hair long as the hair of women speaks them votaries or such as take on them vowed Religion Their trading is not with grasse or the green things of the earth as other locusts do but with men and they are locusts in name but scorpions in action wounding with the sting of their tailes the teacher of lies is the tail Isa. 9.15 but not killing leaving men indeed in a Religion and a profession of Christ but no better then a venomed and dying one The time of their tormenting is five moneths the time of locusts ravening ordinarily from the spring well shot forth to harvest This is the first wo. These locusts stings minde me of a story or two in the Roman History which let me mention here though I cannot apply them hither Dion in his story of the life of Domitian saith thus About that time divers began to prick many whom they pleased with poysoned needles whereof many died hardly feeling what was done to them And this was practised not only at Rome but almost through all the world And again in the life of Commodus About that time saith he there was so great a mortality that oft times there died two thousand in Rome in one day And many not only in the City but also through the whole Roman Empire were killed by mischievous men who poysoning needles pricked others with them as also it had been in Domitians time and so innumerable people died by this means But there was no greater plague then Commodus himself c. The sounding of the sixth Trumpet begins another wo. Four Angels loosed which were bound in Euphrates and come with a terrible Army and horses breathing fire and smoke and brimstone and having stings in their tailes c. The Turks and Mahumetans coming as a plague upon the Eastern part of the world as the Papacy on the Western These hurt with their tailes false doctrine as well as the other did in the former Trumpet but these have also heads in their tailes which the other had not for these hold out another Head and Saviour Mahomet REVEL CHAP. X. A Little Book in the hand of Christ speaketh the restoring of Religion and Truth after all the darknesse and confusions mentioned before The words in ver 6 7. do help to state the intent of this