that is given to him that sitteth on the throne is thankesgiving in which the Beasts goe before as the captaines standerd-beates of the publike congregation ver 9. Afterward the other body of the Elders followeth both in adoration ver 10. also in consent to the same glorifying ver 11. after that custome wherby God is worshipped in the christian congregations Such is the congregation of the Godly before God and some such might be alwayes although not evident and visible to the world in equall glory at all times Scholions Afterward J saw Those things being declared which are of some short time nowe the Spirit those boundes being enlarged pursueth with a continued order those thinges which should shewe the comon and entyre face of things from the time of this writing unto the last ende The handling of which things wil be admirable neither wil be accomplished and performed without his ayde alone which shewed these thinges first to his servant Trusting therefore to his grace I will proceed in the worke begun Vnto the finishing whereof howsoever other things shal be wanting certenly faithfulnes and diligence in searching out to my power shall not be wanting These first wordes are perteining to a newe preparation unto a newe prophesy For Iohn is noe more conversant on the earth but is taken up into heaven where through a doore opened he beholdeth wonderfull changes of things that were to be knowne by noe other way Therfore the manner of the Prophesy following is divers from the former That former is straighter even as also the place where it was seen a small Iland compassed with the sea this spred farre and neere passing all measure even as also the heaven it selfe containing all things within his compasse Furthermore a certen visible print and signe of thinges to come was there to be seene in those seaven cityes For the Churches that after were to be inlarged increased should be pourtrayed and drawne out by the will of God according to the present image and figure of them but there was noe token or shew among mortall men of the things to be spoken of in this second prophesy For the peculiar iudgements of which there is most speach here are to be fetched from that secret revelation alone Vnto the heaven then where liberty of this vision was given is added afterward the booke sealed with seaven seales then noe creature sufficient to open the same nor any sufficient power of any one except of the Lambe onely as wee shall see in his place All which things as they declare the excellency of this Prophecy so they require our greater attention and earnest bending of our mindes to them As touching the wordes the first voice is heard because there is the same author of both Prophecies and soundeth like a trumpet wherby the thinges heard may be made more certen and out of doubte might be perceived the better of Iohn as hath ben observed at chap. 1.10 It biddeth to come up hither where onely the things might be seene of which there was noe tracke or path made in the earth And he would not that he should see a farre of as through the doore by which meanes he might be deceaved or not see the thinge playnely enough but that he should be present and before him that he might have a certen undoubted knowledge of the things But that which followeth is not voyde of doubting howe he may say that he will shewe a vision of things which must be done after these For whether should the following Prophesy not take her beginning before that former of the seaven Churches should attayne his ende But in them wee see is intreated of thinges of our time or if wee respect the bare types many thinges to come were fore shewed moreover in those thinges that followe it shall noe lesse appeare that Iohn doth tell of things agreeing with their owne times so that the wordes cānot be so understood by any meanes Wherfore neither is that distribution firme wherein the whole Prophecy is distinguished into thinges present and future The Spirit followeth not such distribution but mixeth many future thinges with present as they are counted Wherfore these wordes after these thinges are not refferred in respect of their beginning to the end of the former prophecy but unto the present age of Iohn yea unto that very moment wherin the Spirit revealed these thinges from whence a newe beginning be in taken he describeth the continuall course and terme of time of the whole Church and annexeth those things which could not be understood sufficiently from the former types Therefore Theod. Beza well translated heta tauta by and adverbe hereafter But in respect of the end not without cause this second Prophecy is counted after the former as being of a farre longer time reaching unto the last cōming of Christ wheras that former is termined with farre narrower boundes Frō these things therfore there are as wee take it two things chiefly to be observed First that from this place those things onely are handled which doe follow the tyme of the revelation made For so he speaketh playnely And J will shew thee the thinges that must be done hereafter Which being marked of certen Interpreters I mervayle was not observed in their expositions But the times through the whole treatise to be confounded so by a whirlewinde that all thinges were wrapped in most thicke darcknes Wee being taught by their exemple wee will borowe light from hence for the exposition following The second that this Prophesy belongeth to the whole Church which is neither tyed to any particular Churches nor is ended with any other boundes then the whole frame of the world The Spirit set in the first place that particular Prophesy that he might relate comon thinges commonly without interrupting of the narration 2 Therfore I was suddenly ravished in the Spirit Here is the same authority altogither which was before as well from the person calling as from the persone called For it is the same holy inspiration of God which he mentioned in the first chapter verse 10. But what neede was there of a newe inspiration Had the former ceased that in a certen distance of time it might be kindled a fresh Without doubt the instinction was continuall without intermission but he saith that it was suddenly in the Spirit because the Spirit did frame him to receave newe visions unto which he perceived himselfe prepared forthwith The whole Revelation seemeth to have ben finished in that one Lords day chap 1.10 and therefore that there fell out noe intermission after that it began once to be exhibited ¶ And beholde a Throne was placed in heaven Such was the preparation by a newe calling now he cometh to the cōmon type of the holy Church The description of which was necessary before he should enter into the other Prophesy For when as her manifolde dangers and notable alteratiōs were to be rehearsed her flight returne
unskilfull multitude or of the base people and that he might either be present or absent at his pleasure but let him beholde here Kinges attending to the voice of the Beasts nor that once or twice and at certen tymes but whensoever the Beasts give glory that is as often as they doe execute their publike office The praysing of God of these and their adoration of God are ioyned allwayes togither so that neither may any thinke that he is free and discharged from his duty neither to have performed it enough at some fewe times 11 Thou art worthy o Lord The praysing which the Elders use in wordes is noe other thing then a subscribing to the crying out and shouting of the Beasts these celebrate the holines Dominion omnipotency and trueth of God The Elders nowe doe singe togither thou art worthy indeede o Lord to receave glory and honour which wee and all thy creatures worthily doe give to thee as though unto the sung of prayses of the Ministers the people should give their consent saying Amen But howe may God receive power They meane the prayse of all vertue and power Power can not be given to God otherwise but onely by acknowledging and praysing Which then shineth forth most cleerly when he sheweth his strength extraordinarily both in delivering his owne and also in destroying his enemyes ¶ For thou hast created all things The people ought not onely to consent to the thankes given by the Ministers in the meane time themselves being voyde of all knowledge of their owne as it commeth to passe in the Papacy where after the prayers not understood is sung Amen by the unskilfull common people or some as they will supplying their place but their consent ought to come from a true faith and that not confused and implicite but of which a true sense and feeling is setled in every on s harte peculiarly For the God of reason requireth a reasonable worshippe not unknowne rash and voyd of counsell Whereupon not without cause is added from what fountayne the declaration of the consent of the Elders to wit froÌ„ their owne acknowledging of the exceeding power of God both in creating all thinges and also in preserving the same and noe lesse from the sense of his most free good will by which alone being moved he made all thinges in the beginning and governeth and preserveth the same at this day according to that saying Who worketh all thinges after the counsell of his will Ephe. chap. 1. ver 11. For which cause there is repeated in the ende of the verse they have ben created that wee may understande that the will of God not onely hath rule in governing things at this time but also that it gave the first originall to the same And so is the patterne of the Christian Church so much the more famous then that of the Lawe by how much heaven in which Iohn sawe this figure is more excellent then the Mountaine where Moses sawe the Tabernacle There is the same ende and purpose of both of this that it might be a patterne of the worshippe to the Legall people which should holde even to the time of reformatioÌ„ of that that it might be a type unto Christians according to what square they should frame all their assemblyes both generally and specially Graunt O most high God that wee may be founde as faithfull in bringing backe all thinges unto the Heavenly patterne as Moses was unto that earthly Chap. 5. AFTER I sawe in the right hande of him that sate upon the Throne a booke written within and on the backe side sealed with seaven seales 2 And J saw a stronge Angell preaching with a lowde voice who is worthy to open the booke and loose the seales thereof 3 And noe man was able neither in heaven nor in earth nor under the earth to open the booke nor to looke theron 4 Therfore I wept much because none was founde worthy to open and reade the booke neither to looke thereon 5 Then one of the Elders sayd unto mee weepe not beholde that Lion of the tribe of Juda that roote of David hath obtained to open the booke and to loose the seaven seales thereof 6 Then J behelde and loe betweene the Throne and those Beasts and betweene those Elders a Lambe standing as though he had ben killed having seaven hornes seaven eyes which are those seaven spirits of God sent forth into all the world 7 He came and tooke the booke out of the right hande of him that sate upon the Throne 8 And when he had taken the booke those foure Beasts and those foure and twenty Elders fell downe before the Lambe having every one harpes and golden vials full of odours which are the prayers of the saints 9 And they sung a newe song saying thou art worthy to take the booke and to open the seales thereof because thou wast killed and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kinred and tongue and people and nation 10 And hast made us to our God Kings and Priests and wee shall reigne on the earth 11 Then J behelde and I heard rounde about the Throne and of the Beasts and Elders the voice of many Angels and the number of them was a thousande hundred thousands and ten hundred thousandes 12 Saying with a lowde voice worthy is that Lambe that was killed to receive power and riches and wisdome and strength and honour and glory and blessing 13 And every creature which is in heaven and which is on the earth in the sea and all thinges that are in them I heard saying unto him that sitteth on the Throne and to the Lambe be prayse and honour and glory and power for ever more 14 And those foure beasts sayed Amen And those foure and twenty Elders fell downe on their faces and worshipped him that liveth for ever more The Analysis I have spoken summarily of the common type the speciall Prophecy coÌ„prehendeth both the excellent dignity of this Revelation in this chapter and also the evâ—nts themselves in the rest of the booke That thinge is declared first in respect of the Creature secondly of the Lambe In respect of the Creature it is altogither unsearcheable as appeareth partly from the signing of seaven seales ver 1 partly from the testimony of all creatures which after the inquiry proclamed and the thing was caused to be cryed by the voyce of the Angell as it were of a common cryer ver 2. then also after tryall made at last ver 3. all doe acknowledge their owne unablenes Of which lastly there is a sorowfull consequente the weeping of John which this imbecility and despaire to enioye so excellent a good thing did wring out from him ver 4. In respect of the Lambe onely it is able to be searched out as first an Elder sheweth who conforteth Iohn ver 5. Secondly the LaÌ„be comming at the same instant and taking the booke ver 6.7 from whence at length aryseth the
plentifull leave to enioy his presence then in the times going next before Yet howsoever he came downe from heaven he was clothed with a cloude not knowne indeede plainly to the world but covered yet with so great darkenesse that he was to be seene as it were through a lattice He carrieth the rainebowe on his head a notable messenger of the olde covenant and of faire weather both that wee may understand him to be faithfull and constant in his promises and also that the former stormes shal be driven away dayly more and more by little and little untill at length a cleare sky shall returne on every side His face shineth like the Sunne Christ indeede being most glorious at least in that parte in which he is knowne and perceived of men but his feete doe yet burne with fire because his lowest members on the earth must burne yet with a great heate of affliction Although there should be noe danger of perishing in this fire for the feete are pillars yea and that also of Brasse chap. 1 15. For these thinges belong to the same time see chap. 2.18 So therefore Christ carrieth in his owne person an image of the present Church under the sixt Trumpet Which began to encrease againe about the yeere 1300 yet covered with much darkenesse which notwithstanding gave hope of a more perfit restoring in due time in the meane while revealed the most sweete face of Christ which the world had not seene a long time although the faithfull in the meane season were troden downe with manie calamityes 2 And he had in his hande a little booke open To whom fitteth better an open booke then to him who hath opened the seales of it chap 5.5 Because therefore Christ commeth forth with an open booke it is taught that nowe againe after longe ignorance leave shal be given to men to knowe the trueth as wee knowe it came to passe about that time For at once the Turkes began to wax strong in the East and most learned men to arise in the West who maintained the trueth boldly But it is onely a little booke which he hath in his hande to wit a small booke either because the ende nowe approching there should not remaine so many alterations but that they might be contained in a little booke as after in the sixt verse delay shal be no more or rather because the knowledg of men in this time should be slender and small whereunto perteineth the clothing with a clowde as wee have shewed at the former verse ¶ And he put his right foote upon the Sea This grosse Sea of the inferiour world is the doctrine of the corrupt Church as chap. 8.8 No lesse also perteining to them whose is the administration of this doctrine The Earth conteineth the rest of the common people who in name are Christians But the feete are the members of Christ to wit his faithfull servants by whom as it were by feete he walketh on earth Of these the right foote is the stroÌ„ger by which being set upon the Sea it is declared that Christ nowe at length will chuse out some from that vile sorte of Ecclesiasticall men for to be his feete and faithfull members Also the left foote placed on the earth sheweth that he will take out likewise some from the lay people who although they could not compare with the Ecclesiasticall those right feete in excellency of giftes yet they should be made his true members enioy the same honour with them Such right feete were Iohannes de Poliaco Martinus Patavinus Iohannes de Ganduno Michael Cicerius Michael de Coriaria Guilielmus Ockam Gerardus Ridder Iohannes Rochetalada Armachanus an Jrish Bishop Ioannes Wtcklefus and others Christ drew them out of the salt sea of the Popish doctrine whom hee tooke out from the company of Ecclesiasticall men and brought them to sweeter and wholsomer waters of the trueth Out of the lay people he had for his left feet Ludovicus Bavarus the Emperaur Marsilius Patavinus Dantem Aligherium and many others who defended to their power the trueth seene and acknowledged 3 And he cryed with a loude voice as as Lion roareth Hitherto hath ben the description of the Angel nowe the chiefe cause of the things that were to be sealed up is set forth to wit the crying out of an Angell like a bellowing Lion for so the Greeke word signifyeth properly that which belongeth to Oxen and the like beasts Lions are properly said to roare albeit some times it is attributed to Asses and Camels as Hesichius sheweth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to make a roâ—ring like unto Asses Camels and oxen But the Angell belloweth bccause he must speake softly and dared not to lift up his voice for there is ioined togither with it he cryed with a loude voice but that he might shewe that the meekenes and patience of the oxen is nowe to be mixed with the courage of the Lion And so indeede Christ as it were revived againe then in his members cryed out strongly which crying out neverthelesse carried a shewe of the bellowing oxen onely neither yet made any man greatly afraid Those first springing up Christian Worthies strove by lamentings and complaining speaches yet neverthelesse they bare a grievous yoke of bondage which they could not shake of whatsoever strugling they made against it ¶ The seven thunders uttered their voice Which as an Echo answered this lowing And these seven thunders are I suppose those Angels of which afterward in chap. 14.6 c. Surely the time agreeth fitly as wee will shew at the place then also their office may worthily be likened to thunder which sounded againe when this roaring was uttered For taking their beginning from thence they made a noise with so great roaring that such as despised the lowing of the Angell should at length begin to tremble for feare of this thunder But it is an excellent thing that the thunders speake not but at the crying out of the Angell even as also the Echo hath noe voice of it selfe but onely yeeldeth againe the voice which it hath received so those restorers of the truâ—th howsoever the world condemned them of novelties brought notwithstanding nothing but that which themselves had learned of God 4 And when the seven thunders c. Such were the causes now is shewed the care of Iohn whom when the seven thunders were heard being about to write a voice from heaven prohibiteth biddeth to seale them up These misteries were to be kept secret as before the booke could not be read as long as it was sealed chap. 5. For these times knewe not what those thunders did speake neither did they marke whereunto at length they would come ¶ And write them not So Aretas the Common translation and other Greeke Copies as though these wordes should declare what that Seale should be to wit not to put in writing but to have it secret for himselfe alone But is any thing revealed privately to Iohn which
from them But by these meanes he will declare and manifest howe greatly wee ought to reverence his secrets 2 And J saw a strong Angell publishing There is a great dignity of the Prophesy from the certenty largenes scaling up but nowe a greater appeareth seeing the highnes thereof surmounteth every created Spirit For it is not of that kinde which the more prudent sorte of men can comprehende by any skilfull foreknowledg but wherein all must needes confesse their ignorance The which for to shewe he alludeth to the manner of Princes who in difficult thinges are wont by great rewards to provoke their subiects by the voyce of a Cryer to try their strength and there is almost none whoÌ„ in such businesse some small hope will not thrust forward to make tryall If so be that noe man cometh forth what is this else than an open confession of their imbecillity So the Angell is sent to enquire who is worthy to opeÌ„ the booke If noe man offereth himselfe let us acknowledge our owne impotency and the power of our Mediatour and togither also let us honour with due reverence these holy mysteryes for which cause God causeth in us this feeling of our owne want of power as of old in Adam before whoÌ„ ere he gave him a wife he set all creatures that noe fit helper being found he might make the more accounte of the wife given him ¶ Who is worthy He maketh not inquiry of the power and strength but of the deserte and worthynes For even all the creatures if they should coÌ„spire togither are able to doe nothing to wringe out perforce the things from God Whatsoever wee obtayne wee enioye it at his will and pleasure and by entreaty and the Lord being iust in giving his thinges regardeth their worthynes upon whom he bestoweth his benefits whom unlesse either their owne or an others iust dignity shall commende they can hope for noe good thinge from him But if a bare foreknowledge of future thinges shal be of so greate importance in what estimation is the knowledge of salvation to be had 3 And noe man was able A free confession of the creature that it is able to doe nothing herein Let them therefore looke to it who doe make her a patronesse for theÌ„selves in matters of greater moment Why then should wee mervayle if noe man understandeth any of these thinges not onely among the Gentiles although the most quickwitted of them but also not in the whole Kingdome of the Papists noe not that blasphemously unerring Pope himselfe with all his Seraphicall Doctours arrogating to them selves the victory of all knowledge learning prudence and wisdome These thinges surmount all humane sharpenes of witte least peradventure thou reiect rashly that which shall not please those our maisters And the distribution of thinges in heaven in earth and which are under the earth may be understood froÌ„ the proclaiming of the Angell he made enquiry who was worthy Therfore the inquisition perteined not to the Devils and soules punished for sinnes For what hope or shewe of worthynes could be here Therfore the thinges in Heaven are the Angels they in the earth Men living they which are under the earth are the Saints sleeping in their graves Whom he signifyeth in this manner by that one part which cometh neerer to our sense In which respect Iacob sayeth and I shall goe downe to my sonne mourning into the grave Gen. 37.35 In these alone their might be some question Therfore that place is to colde for to kindle a Purgatory ¶ Nor looke thereon for so hath Theod. Beza the common translation hath looke upon I should rather turne looke in For so the sentence encreaseth seeing this is greater then not to open The booke could not be looked in so long as it did remaine sealed whereupon the addition would be superfluous in this sense 4 J wept therefore It is a lamentable thing in deede that the Church should wante the gift of Prophecy But Iohn bewrayed his infirmity having forgot or at least wise not minding that nothing is so hidden that could be unknowne to our chiefe Prophet of which he would not teach his Church so farre as should be expedient for his Wherefore one of the Elders warning him that he should not weepe doth togither with gentlely reprove his ignorance or rather forgetfulnes as though it were a shamefull thinge for a teacher not to knowe that which the common sorte of the faithfull should not be ignorant of 5 Beholde he hath obtayned Many as it were contending but one obtayning the victory before the rest He seemeth to speake after the manner of the former proclamation wherby the thing was put as it were to a publike strife and tryall and in which Christ bare away the chiefe prayse yea the whole ¶ That Lyon of tâ—e A circumlocution of Christ the King fetched from Gen. 49.9 But what hath the Lyon to doe with seales Our sinnes did remove farre froÌ„ us all the mysteries of God Which when Christ hath by his mighty power abolished and conquered for ever the enemyes the Devill and death worthyly with this name as a badge of the victory he cometh forth to obtayne that for us which our enemyes kept away ¶ The roote of David So hath Th. Beza translated rightly the Hebrewe word to which the Greke worde answereth and is some time taken for a roote as is in Isaiah He groweth up as a tender plante before him and as a roote out of a dry ground chap. 53.2 But a roote properly groweth not out of the ground but that which springeth from the roote neverthelesse this in deede is such a roote that also togither it is the roote of David that is the fountayne and welspring from whence salvation and life flowe unto David so that nothing can be more significant then this word neither hath there bene at any time any roote besides of this kinde See Psalm 101.1 Mat. 22.43 c. 6 Then J looked and beholde betweene the Throne Word for word in the Greeke is in the middes of the Throne as before in chap. 4.4 c. The Lambe is in the middes of the Beasts and Elders to wit in the assembly of the faithfull in the middes of the Church ¶ A Lambe standing as though he had ben killed The Lambe is described by his triple offâ—â—e These wordes as thâ—â—gh he hath ben slame perteine to his Priesthood being eternall through the eternall power of his death Seaven hornes declare him to be a Kinge Seaven eyes which are so many Spirits and the taking of the booke shewe him to be the chiefe Prophete The skarre of a deadly wound is a token that he once dyed and teacheth that the Father doth give all things to his Church for the merite and through the beholding of it For this is it wherby our Priest once entring into the holy place hath obtained eternall redemption Heb. 9.12 And in that he hath once gat redemption for the
were 12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixt seale and loe there was made a great earthquake the Sunne became blake as sack cloth of haire the moone was like blood 13 And the starres of heaven fell to the earth as a figge tree casteth her greene figges whē it is shaken of a mighty winde 14. And heaven departed away as a scroule when it is rolled every mountayne Yle were moved out of their place 15 And the Kings of the earth the Peeres the rich men the Tribunes the mighty men every bondman every free man hid themselves in dennes among the rockes of the mountaines 16 And sayd to the mountaines and rockes fall upon us and hide us from the presense of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lambe 17. For the great day of his wrath is come and who cā stande The Analysis SVCH is the Excellency of this Revelation The Events doe follow which first are the Seales secondly the Trumpets lastly the Vials For all the rest of the Prophecy is distinguished into three notable periode◠which containe the chiefe alterations to come in the world even unto the coming of Christ every one of which againe is divided into seaven points so as from the last of the former aryseth alway the whole sequent period As touching the Scales there is in every one a certen preparation afterward the type of the future thinges And the preparation is partly common wherby the Lambe openeth each one in order partly proper to the foure first which besides have an inviting by one of the foure Beastes to come and see There be sixe types of this chapter for so many seales are opened a white horse ver 2. a read ver 4. a blacke ver 5. a pale ver 8. The cry of the soules ver 9.10.11 and great earthquake to the ende of the chapter Analysis After J beheld when the Lambe had opened the first of the seales Nowe the Spirit entreth into the events which will instruct us touching all the changings succeeding by course in the world as farre as is expedient for the Church and which are of any moment unto the last end of all thinges A great matter and chiefly necessary to be knowne but such as into which noe understanding of mortall man can penetrate Therefore whom in the beginning I have prayed unto him doe I call upon againe having gone forward in some part by his alone grace that he will graunte mee happily to make an ende of the thinges that remayne who hath graunted mee so to beginne as I am persuaded is agreeing with his trueth Thou therfore most holy and most wise Lambe who alone hast deserved to take unscale the booke and not to that ende that thou shouldest have these secretes for thy selfe alone but that thou shouldest communicate them with thy Church as farre as shal be for her profit graunt I pray thee unto mee thy most unworthy servant according to thy bounteousnesse that perceaving cleerely what hidden and secrete things these seales conteine I may reveale the same holily unto the world to the edification of thy Church the ruine of Antichrist and the glory of thine owne name to be published unto all ages Amen In that wee have distinguished the Events into three rankes wee have the Spirit himselfe for our authour ioyning the trumpets to the seales the vials to the trumpets in such sorte as that alwayes the first thing of that which followeth doe aryse out of the last of that which wente before Therefore they bring in darkenes upon themselves who doe thrust togither into one the seales the trumpets the vials and also the seaven Candlestickes so as each one of every order should be ioyned one to another in equall degree as if the Father the Sonnes should be equall should runne togither the same terme of yeeres Furthermore seeing the seales ar as it were promises of future thinges the trūpets adversities approaching with great noise the vials things that are powred upon men by little and little and come upon them unwarres as wee shall after see overwhelme them it seemeth not to be convenient to cōfounde these contrary things togither so that the thinge should be promised and accomplished all at once and that the same thing should be done openly and secretly at the same moment of time but let us come to the wordes ¶ When he had opened saith he one Seale that is to say the first as Theod. Beza translateth it for after followeth the second third c. And so the Hebrewes every where use to speake But before I proceede to the thinges that are behinde that cold comment of the Jesuite is to be removed who thinketh that the opening of the booke is something diverse from opening of the seales as though nothing in the booke could be read and shewed unto us before that all the seales should be opened Which opinion verily faineth unto us I knowe not what booke of which wee have received never a word written neither doe wee understand from thence ought touching thinges to come For the Revelation hath nothing more besides the opened seales For out of them the trumpets come forth and againe out of them the vials as wee have advertised in the resolution so as all the rest of the Prophecy is limited with those thinges that are conteined in the seales as wee shall proove by manifest argumēts in their places If therfore after all the seales opened he hath found out some booke to be read it is Apocryphe that is a hid booke the originall and authority whereof is not known which peradventure may lie hid in the coffer of the breast of their Pope but which to reade and knowe the Church hath nothing to doe Furthermore it is needfull for the clearer understanding of the periodes first the termes of time wherein thinges are finished and every severall article of them to set downe some entrāce from whēce wee must begin which surely wee iudge to be by and by after this writing of John For that saying of the fourth chapter ver 1. I will shew thee the things that must be done hereafter calleth backe Iohn both to that moment of the Revelation given also teacheth to count from thence all thinges which are delivered in the booke following Therefore there is noe neede to have recourse unto the first ages of the world nor unto the Monarchies nor unto the times of Christ or the Evangelists or in any such thinge of the age past but John writing this Revelation by the commaundement of God about the ende of the Empire of Domitian as Ireneus sheweth in his 5 booke against heresies Eusebius out of Ireneus in the 3 booke of his Ecclesiasticall History chap. 18. At the ende of the raigne of Domitian about the ninety seaventh yeere from the birth of Christ wee thinke the beginning of the Seales to wit of
A REVELATION OF THE APOCALYPS that is THE APOCALYPS OF S. IOHN illustrated vvith an Analysis Scolions Where the sense is opened by the scripture the events of things foretold shewed by Histories Hereunto is prefixed a generall View and at the end of the 17. Chapter is inserted a Refutation of R. Bellarmine touching Antichrist in his 3. Book of the B. of Rome BY THOMAS BRIGHTMAN Blessed he that doeth reade and blessed are those which doe heare the wordes of this Prophecy and which keepe the things that are written therein Iren. 4. Book chap. 43. All Prophecy before it have his efficacy be reiddles and ambiguitye unto men But when the tyme is come that that which is prophecyed is come to passe then have the Prophecyes a cleare and certen exposition AMSTERDAM Printed by Iudocus Hondius Hendrick Laurenss Anno 1611. To the holy reformed Churches of Britanny Germany France grace peace from God our father from Iesus-Christ our Lord. Thincke it not strange o most holy spouse of Christ that a new interpretatiō of the Apocalyps is presented unto thee considering that among so many both of olde late writers it is the judgement of all that the Revelation needeth stil another Revelation and that these wordes be continually sounding in thyne eares The Lord hath spoken who shall not prophecy For the Lord hath not onely spoken of old by dreames visions but also he speaketh daily so often as he vouchsafeth to illuminate the mindes of his servaunts for to manifest the hiddē truth of his word to expose the same openly And with whōsoever God doeth thus communicate he thincketh that necessitie is laid upon him for to manifest unto others that which himself hath receaved And in deed should the candel be lightned for to be putt under a bushell should the comon danger of all be privily declared for the benefitt of one onely Is it not rather for this that being put in the watch tower he must give warning to the rest for to avoide with all speed the present danger The Lepers knew this well they could say that if they had kept the joyfull tydings untill the daye light evel should have come upō them But what and if any should conceale the eminent danger of what punishment should he be guilty Verely of so much the more greater as the difference is between one altogether lost and one that is deprived of joy but for a few houres And therefore having learned from this Apocalyps that shortly a great tentation shall invade all Christendome in so much as the sword of the Lord shall be made droncken in heaven all the host of them shall be overthrowne that you the Christian Churches of Germany France Britanny are by name favorably admonished of this tempest by written Epistles I finding by the will of God these Epistles which doe shew this thing understanding by the inscriptions to whom they were written I durst not otherwise doe but to render them to whom they belong least by the intercepting keeping of them secret by me I should both betraye your welfare and be condemned as guilty of treason against God There is no godly man but he seeth that the Divine worship despised the most holy word of God derided the great securitye pride of the Pastors the altogether corrupt and dissolute maners of all of whas order and condition soever they be doe foretell of some horrible calamitye shortly to come Now these Epistles doe not foretell the thing by ambiguous cōjecture but by most plaine wordes doe teach a goulf full of miseries to be at hand readye to invade us Thou spouse see I pray thee the seale knowe the hand the wordes the style of the writter thou knowest well the voice of the Bridgroome yf the letters be sent unto thee by him as they doe shewe it is more then tyme to cast off those defylements which thou hast drawen to thy self by a to much to long securitye least otherwise yf thou continue to be negligent unto this thing thou maiest at the last be suddenly purged with great sorowe by the fyre of the refyner Notwithstāding least thou shouldst thinck that I bring onely such great sorowe morning beholde also a great joye a great triomphe For after this tempest shall presently followe joyfull dayes greatly to be desired for what can be more pleasant unto the chaste spouse driven out by the Romish whore vvho vauntes her self to be the true vvyffe by the same vexed so manye aages by all maner of contumelies in juries then to see finally that impudent harlott her nose slit spoiled of her clothing ornaments defiled vvith dung adle egges finally butnt consumed by fyre Lift up thyne eares a little receave of this Prophecy not some obscure signes but most certen arguments of the Bridgroomes short coming to avenge thy greif deliver into thine hands the vvhore that thou maiest poure out upon her all the heat of jelousie And for the increase of thy joy receave vvithall the last destruction of the Turcks soone follovving the destruction of Rome for this must first be abolished the fevvell onely matter of the barbarous tiranny of them the sinevves of vvhich shall altogither be disolved cutt off after that Christendome shall be purged by an exceeding great destruction of her of her hainous vvickednesses as the Apocalyps plainely shevveth And that thy joy maie be full knovve also the uniting together of the Ievves vvith the Christian nations and so unto the end a most happy tranquillitie Thinges indeede very great greatly to be admyred parte vvherof hath already bin manifested in some sorte to the Christian Church in so much as vvas fitting those tymes yet far from the end of the Prophecy unto vvhich approching is reserved a more full knovvledge the other parte is so strange so unexpected as I could not ever finde in any not so much as a probable suspiciō of it out of this Apocalyps All vvhich effects notvvithstanding vvill yeilde unto us this nevv centurie of tymes vvhich novv vve enter into as our exposition yf I be not deceaved doth make plaine For novv is begun the last acte of a most long most dolfull Tragedie vvhich shall overflovv vvith scourges deaths ruines But this Scene being removed shall come in the place of it the pleasant prospect of a perpetuall peace accompanied vvith abondance of all good things Thus then thou hast most deare Spouse of Christ the residue of the course of thy vvarrfarre stand novv in the hatches after long tossing at lenght beholde the Iand hitherto the cloude seen a farre of hath deceaved thee but novv beholde the sea shore knovv the mouth of the haven it self Let thy eies judge vvhether I be vvorthie to vvhō the revvard of good nevves be givē For so farr of is it that I thinke that vve must stād
guidance arriving at the very truth I may holily and religiously reverence maintaine it being found out not conceale it through any shamefull fearfulnes corrupt it for any eyther hatred or favour but may bring it forth purely and syncerely into the viewe of every man to the glory of thy most great name and consolation of thy Church yet grievously mourning graunt this through our Lord Iesus Christ AmeÌ„ The Resolution THE Revelation after the Proheme is included whole in an Epistle The Proheme in the three first verses declareth the Argument Authours both principall and also Ministers and the Fruit. The Epistle is speÌ„t about an Inscription Propheticall narration and conclusion The InscriptioÌ„ is excellent for the person of the wrighter and of those to whom he writeth of him especially from whom salvation is wished the eternall verity of which one God the Father the manifold grace of the Holy Spirit vers 4. of the Sonne as the triple office vers 5. so especially his very great benefitâ— on the elect both present vers 6. to be expected in his glorious comming is celebrated which the kinreds of the earth shall receive with wailing and the saints in the meane time desyre most earnestly as is expressed in those wordes even so Amen vers 7. The Propheticall narration respecteth eyther the particular Churches or the whole Them partly jointly in the rest of this chapter partly severally in the two next The thinges which are declared ioyntly are to the end that the seaven Churches may knowe that Iohn undertooke not this wriring at his owne pleasure but was called and commanded of God Wherof the person calling may cause a full persuasion which cannot be of any other but of God himself vers 8. Lykewise the person called vers 9.10 Lastly the manner of calling him by hearing vers 11. theÌ„ by visioÌ„ The type wherof is shewed v. 12.13.14.15.16 certeyne things following therof are declared on Iohns parte a great feare and astonying on Christs part a consolation ver 17.18 then a commaunding to write ver 19. and the interpretation of the vision ver 20. A shorte exposition ver 1. Apocalyps The Argument of the booke signifying a Revelation made of God the coverings being taken away which before did hinder the eyes of mortall men Which sort of thinges were wont to be called in old time visions and prophesyes but in the writings of the Apostles the word of Revelation is more frequent I will come saith Paul to Visions and Revelations of the Lord 2 Cor. 12.1 And againe that J should not be lifted up above measure with excellency of Revelations ver 7. So whosoever of you hath a song hath doctrine hath a tongue hath a Revelation 1 Cor. 14.26 Furthermore the knowledge of the Gospell is attributed to Revelation of seeing which there is no greater power before it shall be revealed then of understanding future thinges I give thee thankes saith Christ O Father because thou hast hidden these thinges from the wise revealed them to babes Mat. 11.25 Whether is then this not the sense of this word that no new thing is published but as the Gospell is an open revealâ—d lawe so the coverings being removed that onely to be shewed which before lay hydde under the olde shadowes And so it might paradventure be thought unlesse this were also a word of the olâ—e testament The saying of him saith Balaam that heareth the wordes of the strong God which seeth the vision of the Almighty falling downe but having his eyes opened or revealed Num. 24.4 So the man of God spake unto Heli in the name of the Lord Did not I reveale my selfe playnâ—ly to the house of thy father 1 Sam. 2.27 Wherfore there is no argumeÌ„t from heÌ„ce to this purpose This may be without doubt that this kinde of speaking used as well here as there doth shewe that it neither was in the beginninge nor yet is proper to the witte of mortall men to finde out such mysteries by searching Neverthelesse that now all things are easy to be passed through by the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ so farre as is behoveable for his Church Doe thou therfore most high Day-starre open our eyes that we may behold thy wonderfull things ¶ Of Iesus Christ Who is one of the chiefe authours of the Revelation the Mediatour betweene God and men All the olde Prophecies flowed alwayes from the same Christ but in these last dayes God hath spoken unto us by his Sonne after a singular and speciall manner Heb. 1.1 Wherupon there is a difference betweene the auncient inscriptions of the the Prophecies and of this There the vision of Isaias the vision of Obadias the booke of the vision of Nahum The Prophecy which Habbakuke saw never before the vision or Revelation of Iesus Christ This Prophecy must needes be most full of maiesty which is notable before others for the title neither is it to be doubted but that according to the proportion of the light of the Gospell all things are delivered here more distinctly and more clearely then ever before ¶ Which God gave unto him To wit the Father the authour fountayne of all things And he gave these thinges to Jesus Christ in asmuch as he is Mediatour not as to his coessentiall Sonne For these thinges doe shewe rather the order in which God doth give knowledge to his Church then the originall of knowing in respect of his Sonne as Th. Beza declareth most learnedly He is the pipe by vvhom is derived unto us men from the unmeasurable depth of his goodnes whatsoever may be profitable for us Although the verbe to give ioyned with the infinitive mode signifyeth often to permitte as thou wilt not give thy holy one to see corruption that is thou wilt not suffer him to see Psal 16.10 And Edom râ—fused to give to passe through that is permitte Num. 21.21 After which manner Demosthenes speaketh the word of permitting being ioyned with it Give and permitte me to speake of these thinges unto you But it comes all to one whether we make it the beginning of knowledge or of power Therefore we must rest in the first answere ¶ That he might shewe to his servants Therefore the understanding of those thinges is peculiar to these You prophane be ye farre o be ye farre fâ—om hence Why o ye Iesuites doe ye touch this booke These mysteries are shutte and sealed to you whatsoever diligence in interpreting you may pretend Here is nothing for the sworne slaves of Antichrist Leave off to trouble your selves and to deceave others Yf yee desyre indeed to understande these thinges renounce the Lord whom yee serve to the end that he whose name ye counterfaite may impert these secrets to you returning againe into his family ¶ Which must shortly be done An explication of the thinges whereof it is a Râ—velation not of those which were past a good while since but which should be done afterward and shortly For he
Ioh. 1.12 He againe entertaineth us that wee maye suppe togither with him as often as with pure mindes wee come to the Sacrament of the Supper wherin he feedeth us with his owne flesh and blood most sumptuous delicious dainties above all that can be spoken or thought In which sense it is spoken in Luke chap. 13.29 Then they shall come from the East and from the West and from the North and from the South and shall sit downe in the kingdome of God that is men shall assemble togither to the Gospell from all quarters shall embrace the doctrine of the kingdome and shall be partakers of Chr. truely whose pledges they shall take bread wine sitting downe at his table in celebrating his sacred supper For he speaketh of the calling of the Gentiles whose faith and assenting to the whole truth he signifyeth by one sacramentall action These guests now Christ would call when in the meane tyme the Iewes of whom he speaketh in the parable did abhorre and despise the way of salvation as wee see it hath come to passe now for the space of many ages Wherto pertaineth that which in the same place the Iewes excluded doe alleadge requiring an entry for thēselves because of their former familiarity in eating drinking in his sight ver 26. as though they should say O Lord wee communicating at thy table have feasted merrily with thee in eating of thy sacrifices wilt thou locke the doore nowe against us For in this respect the meate of the sacrifices was the same thinge to the Iewes that the bread and wine is to us Neither are these thinges notwithstanding so to be taken as though the elect were limited within the boundes of this life but because the supper which is made on earth is a pledge of the eternall feast in the heavens These thinges therfore proove that a double and great good thing doe abyde in the English Church that is to say the preaching of the word and the lawfull administration of the sacraments In both which Christ bestoweth him selfe upon hispeople keeping a mutuall feast with them he first being received of us by hearing secondly entertaining us againe with the supper-of his body O wee therefore most impure as often as wee fly from and forsake hearing of the word for wee refuse Christ to be our guest O wicked despisers that wee are as often as wee withdrawe our selves from receaving the sacrament with our brethren For wee despise Christ bidding us to supper But these thinges are added for the singular confort of the godly For who would not quake and thinke of flying very quickly from this Church when they should heare that the condition of the Ministers is hated of Christ whom not repenting he will vomit out of his mouth shortly unlesse by the words of Christ himselfe they were assured of their communicating with him Praise be to thee therfore most meecke Lambe who finding the dore shutte against thee dost not departe quickly being moved with anger and fury and deprive us of all meanes of salvation but leavest yet an abondance of thy selfe to all that doe open to thee knocking by the word and despise not thy most sweete inviting by the Sacrements Therefore wicked and blaspehmous is their errour who doe fall away so from this Church aa if Christ were banished wholy from hence and that there could be no hope of salvation for them that tarry there Let them minde here Christ feasting with his people Will they be ashamed to sit downe there where they see Christ not be ashamed Are they holier purer then hee But why doe they not convince themselves by their owne experience They cannot deny but that they beleeved in Christ before they made a separation from us whence came this faith Cam it not from our preaching in our Church Can any then preach except he be sent Rom. 10 13. c. Why then doe they so perversly refuse for some blemish in the outward calling that worde whose divine force they feele in their harts Althoug the fruict it selfe doth noe more free from blame our corruptions then a true childe adultery And therefore neither may wee eyther take pleasure in them nor they forsake and fall away from us for some blemishes Wherefore returne to the unity of the Church which hath begate and nourished you Yf you fly from this Christ who suppeth with is elect in our assemblyes and welcometh them againe yee shall finde him no were In the meane time let us also minde how great evill wee call for upon our selves who by holding hard our superstitions doe throwe our brethren into so great danger Certenly if that hath any weight which the truth himselfe once confirmed it were better for such men that a milstone being hanged about their necks they were drowned in to bottome of the sea Mat. 18 6. I wish health of minde to both But more over this place is to be delivered from the fraude of the Papists who will have it to be in the power of men to open to Christ knocking Whether saith Bellarmine doth he not know that they cannot open Should he not be a foole who would knocke at the doore of his niggbour if he knewe certēly that none were within who could opē in his first book of grace and free will chap. 11. I answere he should not without cause be a foole if his onely end of knocking were that he mitght enter in But Christ knocketh at the doore of the reprobates whom he knoweth neither to be willing nor able to open not that he may enter in but partly that he may upbride thē with their impotency gotten by their owne fault partly that he may encrease their condemnation For so speaketh the Evangelist expressely Therfore they could not beleeve Iohn 12.34 Why then useth he wordes to them who have not ability to beleeve Christ himselfe sheweth If I had not come saith he and spoken unto them they should not have had sinne but now they have no cloke for their sinne Ioh. 15.22 Therefore he spake unto them that for the contempt and hatred of his onely begotten sonne their condemnation migh be the greater Such are the powers of the naturall man as is the love of the trueth in the Papists who seeing it refuse it wickedly 21 To him that overcometh J will give to sit word for word in the Greeke is He that overcometh I will give him in stead of I will give to the overcomer by the nominative case absolute as was observed before chap. 2.26 This third reason is taken from the reward of being a companion and partaker of his throne Not because the glory of every one of the children shal be equall to the honour of the Man Christ but because the glory maiesty of the head shall redounde to every one of the membres Therefore the thrones are not peculiar to the twelve Apostles of which see Mat. 19.28 but common to all the elect Althoug in a certen
singular ioy and thankesgiving of the whole Creature but apart first of the Church ver 8.9.10 and of the Angels ver 11.12 After of the rest of the Creature ver 13. Last of all the Church togither subscribing to the common ioy reioycing of all thinges ver 14. Scholions Afterward I saw at the right hand the cōmon translation hath In the right hande as also the Interpreter of Aretas but all the Greeke copies with one consent have at the right hande They peradventure have put it in the ablative case because it followeth after in the seavēth verse that the Lambe tooke the booke from the right hand But this is noe sufficient cause to departe from the naturall property of the wordes when it may be that the weaknes of the creatures might be made to appeare the more the booke at the first was not in the right hande but at the right hande from whence if there were noe power to open it being offered and layd before without asking much lesse would there have ben any if he had held it in his handes Afterward when the debility of the Creatures was found out the booke was taken into his handes that the dignity of the Lambe might be the better knowne not taking it up hastily lying at his side but receaving it from hande to hande As touching the intent of this vision it seemeth good to the Spirit after the lively representation of the true Church in the former chapter which was to be layd as the fundamēt of all the building following before that he should come to the particular Prophesyes to put men in minde of the incomprehensible excellency of this Prophecy For wee are wont such is our slouthfulnes to passe by very greate and excellent thinges carelesly and sleepingly unlesse peradventure some body pull us by the eare and require instantly diligence mentioning the greatnes of the thing Least perchance the same thing should fall out in this place he setteth before our eyes that this is a Prophecy of that kinde which conteineth in it all the dāgers that at to be undergone of the Church through her whole race on earth yet wrapped in so great obscurity that no created minde can beholde it a farre off much lesse unfolde the same to others An argument in deede most worthy to be knowen and farre most pleasant of all thinges opening to us the hidden Mysteries with exceeding great desyre whereof men are inflamed or otherwise in searching out of them they torment themselves rashly and in vayne And yet neverthelesse it is not to be desyred onely for this cause to knowe it but because also it conteyneth events of that moment that it would be very hurtfull and for rowfull to the Church if they should wholy be concealed Therefore Iohn wept being privy to the dangers and togither therewith also minding the lacke of a guide And in deede the Church hardly holdeth on her course though this lampe be given her Howe miserable had shee ben left utterly in darknes and not perceiving sufficiently eyther which waye shee should goe forward or where to set her foote safely Iohn therefore had had iust cause to weepe if there had ben hope noe where of opening the sealed booke But the sudden assault of griefe bereft the holy man of understanding and suffered him not to thinke in whom there was ability while at length he knewe by the putting in minde of an other Therefore this Prophecy is famous for the worthynes of the argument excellency of the Mystery plēty of fruict but farre way most excellent because he alone was founde worthy to open the same who by his death founde out a redemption for the elect This is that thing for which the Church on earth the Angels in Heaven lastly the universall Creature reioyceth greatly and that not for a glorious shewe without the trueth of the thinge as the manner is in humane writinges in which the thinges are amplifyed for to adorne and set them forth but from a true feeling and iust cause of reioycing as hereafter wee shall see through Gods his helpe In the meane time shall not this exceeding great ioye of Heaven and Earth kindle in men a diligence to reade a desyre to understand and an endevoure to observe It is in deede a thing worthy of our serious meditation into which I have digressed and discoursed in many wordes because I see that the Interpreters eyther not to have marked the intendement of this chapter or at the least otherwise then was meete to have spoken nothing at all of a matter very needfull and necessary ¶ A Booke written within and on the backeside The first commendation of the Prophecy is from a Booke a copious writting and Seaven Seales in this verse That which is recorded in a Booke must without all controversy be certē being a faithfull helper of the memory whereas that which is noe otherwise grounded then onely upon the memory may easily in continuance of time eyther be utterly extinguished or at the least wise corrupted Whereupon GOD biddeth Ieremy for the greater credit of that Prophecy to write all the wordes that he spake unto him in a Booke in the thirty chapter of Ieremy and in the 2. verse So carefull is he to provide against our doubting that wee should not thinke otherwise of the things then of such as are written in publike bookes graven as it were in brasse so as they can neyther be altered nor forgotten The plenteous writing is shewed in that the booke was written within and on the backe side on both sides of the leafe And he speaketh after the olde māner of writing in somewhat lōge parchments which afterward were wounde about some rounde smooth peece of wood frō whence they were called volumes Christ is sayd to have unrolled the booke and rolled it up againe as in Luke chapter 4 verse 17. And the outside that I may use the wordes of the most learned Theod. Beza alway remayned cleane unlesse the inside was not able to containe the whole writing for then they wrote on the outward part which sorte of writinges were called exteriour writings as being written on the backe side This so great prolixitie therefore did containe not onely the chiefe points which peradventure might be included in some narrow place but also every most small thinges so that neither is there any neede to seeke and fetch ought from any other place which perteineth to the knowledge of future thinges and that wee knowe also that nothing can be done without the will of God The Complutent edition and some others read without but on the backe side is more often used from whence is written on the backe side as wee have shewed a little before Finally howe pretious are these Mysteryes which God hath with himselfe sealed up with so many seales The creatures could not so much as to looke on the BOOKE as is in the fourth verse much lesse was there neede of seales for to hidde
out as much as thou wilt that these speaches ar blasphemous and after thy manner accuse the holy trueth of God of ungodlines But it is not to be expected that wordes should teach thee whom stripes can not teach Yet neverthelesse though thou shalt receive noe profit here of all the godly shall detest thee who by these abominations bringest a most cruell fiend upon the Christian world Art thou not ashamed to exhorte the Christian Princes unto warres against the Turke whom thou makest invincible by thy Idols To pretende a minde to fight against a cruell enemy but to minister privily unto him that aide wherby all our forces ar made a pray unto him Yf thou desirest from thy heart that this spoiler of the world should be repressed or rather extinguished cast away thy dung hill Gods forsake thy sacrilegious Primacy amende the rest of thy corruption according to the rule of true godlinesse then shalt thou see this mortall and cruell mōster covered indeede with all villanies to fall of his owne accord which could not stand surely one moment unlesse he were holden up by these thy sinnes But neither wilt thou be admonished neither can he be overcome before thou beest overcome as after shal be manifest 21 Neither repented they An other kinde of sinnes which are foure murders sorceries formcation thefts of which he that knoweth not Rome to be the shoppe he seeth but a little in the cleere sunne shine at noonetide CHAP. 10. THEN I sawe an other Angell comming downe from heaven clothed with a cloude the rainebowe upon his head his face was as the Sunne his feete as pillars of fire 2 And he had in his hande a little booke opened and he put his right foote upon the Sea and his left on the earth 3 And cried with a loude voice as a Lion roareth and when he had cryed sevē thunders uttered their voices 4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices I was about to write but I heard a voice from heaven saying unto mee seale up those thinges which the sevē thunders have spoken and write them not 5 And the Angell which J saw stande upon the sea and upon the earth lift up his hand to heaven 6 And sware by him that liveth for evermore which created heaven things that are therein the earth and the things that are therein the sea and the things hat are therein that time shal be noe more 7 But in the dayes of the voice of the seventh Angell when he shall beginne to blowe the trumpet even the mysterie of God shal be finished as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets 8 And the voice which J heard from heaven spake unto mee againe and said goe and take the little booke which is open in the hande of the Angell standing upon the sea and upon the earth 9 So J went unto the Angell saying unto him give mee the little booke and he said unto mee take it and eate it up and it shall make thy belly bitter but it shal be in thy mouth as sweete as honie 10 Then J tooke the little booke out of the Angels hande and ate it up and it was in my mouth as sweete as honie but when I had eaten it my belly was bitter 11 Then he said unto mee thou must prophecy againe among the people and nations and tongues and to many Kinges Analysis SVCH then is the first part of the sixt trumpet to wit the evill the comfort followeth consisting partly in the authority of the revealer partly in the thinges revealed His authority appeareth from the power of a certen Angell coming downe from heaven notable by his clothing ornament of his head shining of his face bright burning of his feete ver 1. Likewise knowledge which the booke open in his hande sheweth and his presence everie where declared by so great a pulling asunder of his feete ver 2. The thinges revealed are either to be Sealed up or to be communicated Those have their principall cause the voice of the Angell their instrumentall cause Seaven thunders ver 3. Likewise their consequent which conteineth both the endevour of Iohn in writing also the prohibition that he should not write ver 4. The things to be commumicated are either touching the finishing of the mystery of God in the times of the seventh trumpet confirmed by an othe ver 5.6.7 or of the gift of prophecy restored againe to the Church the preparation whereunto is set downe in the rest of the chapter Prophecy it selfe followeth in the eleventh chapter The Preparation is occupied either about the Signe or about the Interpretation that before the booke received hath a commaundement to take it in the eight verse and the obedience of Iohn in the ningth verse After the same delivered both a commaundement to eate it up and also an instruction touching the diverse tast of it in the ningth verse and the triall made by Iohn in the tenth verse Last of all is added the Interpretation in the eleventh verse Scholions Then I sawe an other Angell Wee referre these thinges in the Analysis 〈◊〉 the confort of the sixt trumpet which is fitly added For who would not almost faint through wearinesse of so long continuing trouble hearing noe other thing in the Church for a long rowe of yeeres then violent stormes of haile burning mountaines falling starres the Sunne darkened troupes of Locusts serpents with a head at both endes casting out flames of fire wherby an infinite number of men should burne miserably Nowe therefore to them that have ben as it were a long time and much tossed on the maine sea is the land pointed at and the haven shewed in which at length there might be rest from these troubles neither this onely but also in the meane time a prosperous winde is breathed forth which may cause a readier sayling For which purpose a most mighty Angell came downe from heaven divers frō those who blewe the trumpets or of whom mention was made long agoe elsewhere For they were servants this is the very Lord Christ as whose clothing countenance voice whole decking is more imperiall then can befall to any creature Neither doth so strange a forme and unlike to the true nature of man hinder considering that it hath ben manifest from the first chapter that he taketh upō him that outward shew especially which may serve most to the declaring and confirming of the things propounded Therefore as touching the description of him he is called strong because he hath strength sufficiēt to deliver the Church from those adversities wherwith it shal be oppressed He cometh downe from Heaven because nowe at length after a long distance of time he would visit his Church from which he seemed to have ben absent now a long time And about the blowing of the sixt Trumpet when the foure Angels were loosed in the yeere 1300 as was sayd before Christ began to give a more
of the Iewes the which other scriptures shewe that it shall surely come to passe before that there be an ende of the whole frame of the world Neither in examining every minute of the seventh trumpet shall wee finde that the Revelation goeth any further then to the restauration of this people as with Gods helpe wee shall make it apparant in his fit place Which restoring doublesse may well be called a mystery because it is so farre removed from all humane uÌ„derstanding of which there is almost noe hope in them to whom the very benefit perteineth as in many places the Prophets shew Why speaketh the Lord by Isaiah should thou say o Jacob and speake O Israell my way is hid froÌ„ the Lord and my cause is passed over of my God chap. 40.27 And againe Yf so be that Sion saith the Lord hath forsaken mee and my Lord hath forgotten mee chap. 49.14 Therefore I suppose that this calling of the Iewes is this mystery Doubtlesse it is sure that in the time of this trumpet the last ende shall be put to all thinges and therefore wee shall finde noe such conclusion of the seventh trumpet the third woe is past as of the fift one woe is past chap. 9.12 likewise of the sixt chap 11.14 for the Revelation leadeth not thither because neither perteineth it to us to knowe neither is it to be imperted to any creature which the sonne himselfe knewe not as farre as he was a maÌ„ Marc. 13.32 ¶ As he hath declared to his servants the Prophets To whom this mystery was revealed plenteously but which is not understood of our expositours wherby it cometh to passe that the things which the Prophets foreshewe to come the common sort so interpret as if they were past Moses in his most famous songe about the ende singeth this Mysterie Deut. 32. David every wherein the Psalmes So Isaiah Ieremiah Ezechiell and the rest it would be too long even to recken the places Learned men wil be content with this bare disclosing whom it is sufficient to admonish even in one worde that they would seeke another meaning of many places in the Prophets then hitherto they have followed in their expositions If these things are to be understood of the last comming of Christ to iudgement there are not very many words or at the least cleare enough in the Prophets touching this thing But froÌ„ hence wee learne that the old prophecies are not to be finished either in the first comming of Christ or in the calling of the Gentiles but that they reach even unto the perfit accomplishing of the Mistery Wherefore they that doe restraine them into the narrowe straightes of the calling of the Gentiles stoppe up to themselves the way to understand them and take away much comfort from the Church 8 Goe thy waye and take the little booke An other thing to be communicated is Prophecy restored againe to the Church For this commandement sheweth what should come to passe to the Ministers of the word in the times of this sixt trumpet Iohn himselfe for his part seemeth before nowe to have ben furnished sufficiently for the receaving of the Revelâ—tion both by those thinges which he sawe and heard and also endued with the inspiration of the Spirit extraordinarily And if the passing from one matter to an other had ben set forth onely for to teach he would have used the same in their fit places in the rest of the treatise Wherefore I doubt not but that here a type is set forth of the Ministers of that time as in many places elsewhere Iohn representeth the faithfull Therefore as here the booke being received from the Angell and eaten up he should play the Prophet againe so about these times should be raised up faithfull Ministers which should declare the trueth to the world Wee made mention that some godly men about the time that the Turkish tyrannie beganne and the feet of the Angell set upon the Sea the Earth arose forthwith who undertooke boldly the charge of prophecying Which was a notable benefit of God this office had ben banished a long time from the earth put to flight by the hellish smoke which the bottomelesse pit opened by the Romish Starre sent forth nowe it came againe by the grace of God and men were bidden to take the little booke open which the former times had shutte the force of which commandement raised up those which I spake of and many others which followed whom unlesse an heaveÌ„ly desire had inflamed they would not have offerred their lives to so many daÌ„gers which necessarily were to be undergone in so great envie hatred almost of all men But from this coÌ„mandement wee draw this coÌ„mon sentence that men are slow loath to take the paines to Prophecy not otherwise to settle themselves to this office except they be stirred forward of God 9 Therefore I went unto the Angell saying to him give mee the little booke This gifte is to be obtained by intreatie even also of them who have abilitie giveÌ„ them thereunto Wee must desire earnestly of God with Iohn that he will give us the little booke albeit wee be nowe entred into this office And the little booke is given when greater abondance of knowledge is ministred which was most excelleÌ„t in this age now first of all the art of printing bookes being found out by a great gift of God But further these things declare that the men of that time being awaked once of God from their drowsines shall greatlie endevour to profit more in the kindled trueth And surely their industry was notable and their increase in all kinde of knowledg chiefly of divinity so swift that thou mayest say not without cause that they had not so much read as devoured the bookes After Wickliefe the barbarousnes of the Scholastiques being reiected the liberall artes were revived through so happie aboundance of most famous witters that there is none but he must coÌ„fesse that to be the time of devouring bookes ¶ And it shall make thy belly bitter The word tasted in the mouth is sweet but bitter in the bellie that is the knowledge of Gods will is verie sweete pleasant of it selfe but the publishing of it wherby fruite may come to the rest of the meÌ„bers even like the digestion of meate when it is concocted in the stomake is full of troubles and anguish Which thing sometime Ieremy tryed and complained of chap. 15.16 Likewise Ezechiell chap. 3.3 And all none excepted who have runne togither in this race but those newe champions especially I meane of this time To whom doubtlesse the word was so much the sweeter by howe much they came with a more sounde hunger to wit having ben stollen away from the world for some ages and nowe first againe restored by the favour of God whore Ambassage contrariwise was so much the more bitter by how much men were plunged in more thicke darkenesse whom because of the long custome of
his scourges These seven thousande Papists are slaine their bodies being not killed but they deprived of their great revenues of Monasteries Collegies and such yeerly rents without any hope of recoverie Was it not as death to those idle bellies to be bereaved of their delights that men who lately gave their mindes to feede themselves onely should be constrained nowe to feede others by word life or some profitable labour or themselves to be an hungred But by the Angustane decree the right of such possessions was confirmed to the Princes of the Protestants and that afterward without danger the same might be bestowed upon the Ministres of the word Schooles the poore and other godly uses without any feare of extortion This doubtlesse was the thing that slewe them that nowe they should be brought to poverty in trueth who before abounding in all riot onely counterfaited the same But to what ende is the number of the slaine lesse then according to the certaine portion of the falling city For seven thousande onely were killed but the tenth parth of the city falleth surely because the calamity of the ruine should be greater then that of the death For that perteined to the whole multitude of the Popish name the killing was peculiar to the Ecclesiasticall men whom this alteration vexed most of all bringing with it the losse of their goods The common people who suffered the losse onely of their former opinion bare it more patiently Therefore whose griefe was small noe death of theirs is mentioned Howe doeth the Spirit declare unto us these events one after an other and conveniently He doth all things alone who before the things come to passe doth tell the condition of them so distinctly and exquisitely The rest of the Popish religion before acknowledging the iust vengeance of God in the destruction and calamity of those Church men gave glory to the God of Heaven that is were converted to the true creatour in whose stead they worshipped late Images made of some matter and Idols And who knoweth not that almost an infinite number of men stirred up by these scourges opening their eyes to the shining light did forsake their former superstitions Wee see thē from the beginning to the ende howe this whole Prophecy agreeth exactly with the event The seven last bookes of Sleidans Commentaries doe afforde a more full declaration both of the battell and death and resurrection of the Prophets The whole Prophecy is of about a thousand two hundred fifty Julian yeeres from Diocletian unto the yeere 1555. how farre also Sleidane proceeded both in writing and living Analysis And thus farre is the sixt trumpet second Periode the last followeth declared by the seventh trumpet which is declared summarily in the rest of this chapter afterward particularly through al the rest of the booke The summarie exposition commendeth the Kingdome of Christ partly by word partly by a signe that is both of the Rulers of the Christian assembly ver 15. and also of the foure and twenty Elders whose gesture is mentioned in ver 16. Secondly their speach ver 17. which setteth forth the glory of this Kingdome by the rage of the enemyes the manifest wrath of God in subduing them and finally by the rewarding of the good and evill ver 18. Last of all the signe is the temple open the Arke seene lightnings sent forth and voices ver 19. Scholions The second woe is past A transition from the second more grievous trumpet to the last But whereas he saith that the second woe is past it is not to be understood as though nothing of it at all should nowe remayne but onely that the strength of it was broken and much weakened which should decay more also every day while at length it should be utterly destroyed For those foure Angels of the ninth Chapter whom wee have shewed to be the Turkes are not altogither destroyed at the sounde of the seventh Trumpet but are onely hastening to destruction So they came after the LOCVSTS not expecting till not one Locust should remaine but when they waxed olde rushing in furiously as wee have shewed in the ninth chapter at the 12. verse And beholde the third woe willcome anon Why is the last Trumpet called a voice which shall give a full and right forme to the Church In regard of the wicked whose ende nowe appeareth and the rewarding of all their sinnes both by punishements begun on earth and also eternall in hell It is said to come anon because of that small delay which should come betweene that resurrection of the Prophets which even nowe he spake of and the last sound of the Trumpet and also because shortly the last calamity of the wicked is brought to passe which shal not stay so long a time as the former Trumpets but shall come quicly with swift winges 16 Therefore the seventh Angell blewe the Trumpet and there were great voices in heaven Blewe the Trumpet to wit in the yeere 1558. as the events doe make manifest for then were there great voices in heaven that is great ioy arose in the reformed Church for so the word heaven doth signify as often before neiter are these voices terrible such as are ioyned with the thunder and lightnings after and else where but of praise and thankesgiving as their argement is shewed in the next following wordes Whose voices they are is gathered from that which is said by and by that when they were heard the Elders fell downe upon their faces in the next verse which they are wont to doe at the voices of the foure beasts chap. 4.19.20 Therefore they are the Rulers of the Churches who for some notable benefit which the sound of the seven Trumpet brought doe provoke their flockes to the praysing of God They shewe what manner of benefit this is when they say the Kingdomes of the world are become our Lords and his Christ c. What meaneth this Doth Christ nowe first reigne Surely he shall reigne alwayes even in the middes of his enemies But nowe chiefly his Kingdome is to be praised when he maketh his maiestie visible after a sorte in the very Kinges in so fashioning and forming their harth that they cast downe their crownes and scepters at his feete and wholly doe give their minde to the promooting of his glory But neither is this any newe thing He raigned so in olde times by Constantine and other godly Emperours Also in these last ages those famous Princes of Germany had restored this Kingdome long since Tho whom may be ioyned Gustavus King of Suevia and Christian King of Dennemarke who in the yeere a thousande five hundred thirty eight changed away the Antichristian impiety for the Ghospell I answere that the Prophecy meaneth not that the Kingdomes nowe first became of the Christian name but onely that they should be greatly encreased at the sound of this Trumpet for then especially wee doe say that one doth raigne when wee see the boundes of his
the Inhabitans of the earth shall wonder In giving all honour and service to him being astonied with the renowne of his false dignity which before was sayd to wonder after the Beast chap. 13.3 Yet notwithstanding least wee should thinke that all men should be caryed away into this destruction he numbreth among this cōpany the inhabitans onely of the earth to weet the citizens of the false Church whose names are not written in the book of life O good God how much concerneth it you ô yee Papists to deliver your Pope from all likenesse to this Beast If he be found covered with his hide which this chapter will make more cleare then the light at noone tide you are utterly lost unlesse you shall flee very quickly all fellowshippe with him I pray you as you regarde your owne salvation that lying aside all hatred preiudice and bitternesse of mindes you weigh the matter with mee in equal ballances A great matter is in hande either the vantage or losse of eternall life See you not that the Pope and the Beast did tread in the same steppes alwayes even hitherto Attend to those things which follow wee finde both of them to walke in the same path which the Spirit hath marked out with equall pases and hand in hand But you will cry out that this is a new interpretation yet appointe not the Spirit at your pleasure he stistributeth most wisely according to his pleasure a measure of knowledge to every time Rather regard the consent of the whole Prophecy which will yeeld a most cleare proofe of the truth and esteeme that most auncient which you shall finde true VVhy doo yee suffer your selves to be deceived with the names of them whom the most certen event declareth to have bene verie greatly deceived in very many things of this Revelation This is the notable craft of the Iesuites to call foorth cheifly those witnesses and Interpreters by whose reverend ignorance they may cover and hid the impiety of the Pope there was not so much danger from him to those auncient Fathers living eyther before Antichrist or by and by after his beginning They understood sufficiently that which perteined unto them other things God would have to be wrapped in darkenesse while the fore appointed time should come that the reprobat seing might not see a way so be made opē for his decree awake yee therfor at lēgth opē your eyes to the shining truth which if yee shall behold glistering more clearly then that it can be obscured by false remote calumnies remember that those are not written in the booke of life which have the Beast in great admiration then take advise according to the greatnesse of the thing You also my brethrē for so I esteeme you as long as any hope remayneth I would admonish in a few wordes who through lightnesse of minde desire of novelty within two or three dayes space become Papists It seemeth a pastime to you casting away the truth to fall to the Pope but take heed that in your sport yee perish not in earnest And willingly wipe your names out of the book of life You pretēd that you will be Catholikes but cōsider that whom you hold for Catholiks are reprobates unlesse they shall escape at length frō these tents into which yee fly for salvation But these pretenses of salvation are toies I know what grieveth you eyther want or dishonour at home or a greater reputation of other men But what gaine shal be even the most ample stipend if yee shall loose your soules What dishonour can be greater then to be added in the company of cast awayes Or who hath not honour inough which is counted the childe of God Minde I pray you these things such like and think it not a light matter forsaking the true God to associate your selves with the Divill Behold also what mischievous persons yee doo nourish in your bosome who gladly doo intertaine the Iesuits He which ioyneth you to the friendship of the Pope procureth unto you certen and undoubted destruction How miserable a thing is it with the hazzard of this life to seeke an undoubted losse of eternall life Doo not iudge any longer a thing of so great moment rather by the painted lies of those men then by the very manifest truth Neither doo yee despise my admonition I am ad adversary onely to your errours I desire from my hart that your selves shoul be saved by Jesus Christ Try the things that I say I require not otherwise to be beleeved and when the things are throughly knowen by searching acknowledge the fraud of the Iesuits thrust them out of doores detest these pestiferous men perceive your owne danger and if you have any regard of salvation now at length be yee wise ¶ From the foundation of the world So before was shewed the eternall Decree touching the death of Christ and the force and efficacy thereof in chap. 13.8 Now the same kind of speaking noteth out the eternall election of them that shal be saved Which two things are most neerely coupled togither ¶ Beholding the Beast which was and which is not and yet is Those last words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet is seeme that they are thus to be read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is present The difference is that those signify that the Beast remaineth alive in the very destruction as though he should say although in mens opinion he is not yet he is and so both members are referred to the same time as before Iohn saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death which yet was not wholly killed in chap. 13. The other reading noteth out more plainely the third time in which after the hurt endured the Beast should recover which thing Aretas the Complutent edition and other copies distinguish plainely which reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and shall be present and as Primasius translated shall come Yet that former reading of Theod. Beza may cary the same sence albeit in mens opiniō the Beast of late was not yet now he is In which sense they are to be taken that they may have respect to the Beast comming forth from calamity not continuing in the same For they are answerable to the third distinct time in the beginning of the verse and shall ascend out of the bottomlesse pit as is cleare from the men admiring the Beast who admire not the same contemned and afflicted which should be necessary if the words respected the same time with the member going next before but recovering his dignity contrary to mens expectation and the same greater then he had before as it came to passe in his third change after he was recovered of his wound chap. 13.3 Wherfore the vulgar Latine reading corruptly passeth over this third member making men to wonder at the Beast when he is not which is contrary to the truth of the thing Furthermore it is certaine that it is not to be read in
which so solemne commandement he teacheth that there is in it a great and strange matter We commit to writing things the credit wher of we will have to be confirmed unto all posterity for which cause lawes were graven once in Brasse and set up in a publike place Also God speaking to Ieremy concerning this same thing Write saith he for thy selfe all the words which I speake unto thee in a book chap. 30.2 As if God providing for our infirmity should give us sealed writings from which wee might cal upon him for helpe more freely and boldly if peradventure he should seem to forget his promise But not onely Iohn is confirmed hereby but also the event is respected as we have seen from the like places before as if it should come to passe that by the authority of some holy man some publike writing should be set forth which most plainly should cōfirme this thing not to be new but foreshewed of God from the furthest times and that therfore the goodnesse and truth of God is to be acknowledged and praised in the same But the time wil manifest what at length is to be thought concerning this matter But what is it which he is commanded to write That they are blessed which ar called to the marriage supper of the Lābe a thing indeed wonderful never heard off before that al should be blessed which are called Before time this rule was in force many are called few chosen which thing example also hath prooved true when the calling fell not out prosperously to the auncient ghests who being called refused to come But now it shal be otherweise Al the called shal come gladly neither shal alledge for their excuse things of smal importance as did those former Mat. 22. So great now shal be the efficacy and grace of the Spirit that they shal obey at the first hearing Before saith Isaiah shee travailed she brought forth and before her paine came shee was delivered of a man childe Who hath heard such a thing Who hath seen such things Shal the earth be brought forth in one day Or shall a nation be borne at once For assoone as Zion travailed shee brought forth her children c. So Psal 110.3 Thy people most voluntary of all men in the time of thine armies in the beautiful places of thy holinesse frō the wombe of the mourning shal be to thee dewe of thy youth Many such things might be brought and peradventure it would be profitable at least weise that occasion might be given to our men to consider diligently of those places from the true meaning wherof I feare that wee erre by interpreting the things that are to come as if they were past This sentence therfore which is commaunded to be written taketh away al scruple frō Iohn He might have minded the former obstinacy of the nation and for that cause have doubted of their conversion But the Angel commandeth this care to depart There shal be so great diligence of the people that it shal be sufficient for them to be called away It is to be observed that the Iewes both here and elsewhere in many places are called keclemenous in the preterperfect tence by a certain prerogative of calling as it seemeth as who were called ever since the first times of the world Mat. 22.3.4.8 But the Gētiles kletous Mat. 22.14 because they were first called at Christ coming or rather after his death Which difference seemeth to be observed in this revelation from whence chap. 17.14 they who the Lambe being their Captaine doo subdue the tenn Kings are named called and chosen whom it is manifest to be the faithfull among the Gentiles ¶ These words are true The second confirmation taken from the principal authour as though he should say respect not mee as reporting any thing of mine owne but be so perswaded that this is the decree of the most High God as thou thy selfe heardest even now with thyne own ears ver 5. but the natural placing of the words hath an emphasis as it is in the Greek which by the displacing is lost these are the true words of God himselfe that is of most divine most excellent and most certen truth True are also some words of men but there is some infirmity in our most true things Wee alwayes speake from the earth Iohn 3.31 Therfore some preferment is attributed to this truth which appeareth not if we change the order of the words It is no strange thing that the words of God should be true 10 And I fell down before his feet VVhy now more then before VVas he abashed with the maiesty of the Angel But he had bin accustomed now a long time to wonderful sights Or was it for ioy of the conversion of his nation so in deed it seemeth For Iohn being ravished as it is clear frō the answer of the Angel with the sweetnesse of this Prophecy for sudden ioy wherwith he was carried away would give more worship then was meet to so welcome a messenger ¶ See that not to weet that thou worship mee not a defective speach noting out the grievousnesse of the naughty act for he maketh speed and finisheth not the sentence for hast Even as wee are wont to prohibit a thing eyther by sudden crying out or by the hand when the thing permitteth not any time for words He confirmeth the prohibition by two reasons first from the equal dignity of the Ministers of Christ J am saith he thy felow servant and not onely of the Apostles but also of thy brethrē which have the testimony of Iesu Al our office is equal they who preach Christ salvation by him are in equal dignity with them which reveale things to come The office of preaching is equal to the office of revealing this is the meaning of that which is said in the ende of the verse For the testimony of Iesu is the Spirit of Prophecy The second reason is because adoration belongeth to God onely Worship him saith he to whom alone such worship is due Doo not ye ô Popish Idolaters tremble at these words Ye take great paines about devising reasons why the Angel prohibited adoration as though he himselfe hath not rendred most cleare ones in his own words But what reasons bring yee To weet that after our flesh taken of Christ the Angels are greatly afraid to see the same prostrate before them as Gregory the Great wil have it Moreover because beside this dignity men are also Ministers of Christ Prophets and messengers of the Evangelical doctrine and Martyrs for the same Be it so doo ye not perceive that you are killed with your owne swords If they feare much to see our nature prostrate to them after the same taken of Christ why do ye cast down your nature to stones and painted Images and put the holy Angels in feare If they wil not be worshipped of the Ministers of Christ either at length cease to doo wickedly or at least confesse
to men is translated unto the state and condition of men shewing as before was said that not onely men shal be punished with some greevous punishment but also that the thing it selfe shal be utterly taken away never for to raise againe even as they who are cast to hell must not expect any returning or setting free Certenly we may gather and that not rashly from this strange and unacustomed taking of vengeance that God will shew by some visible signe how damnable and detestable he hath alwayes esteemed the Papacy And this last is that destruction of which in chap. 17.18 shal goe into destruction a iust reward of the Antichristian tyranny 21 And the rest were slaine with the sword Such then is the destructiō of the Prince of wickednesse now of his armies and souldiers Of whō ther is a differing punishment not so horrible at least in shew they shal be slaine with the sword of him that siteth on the horse that is by the word comming out of his mouth as though he should say they shal undergoe the punishments threatned in the word against the disobedient and such as resist the truth as in Ieremy Behold I wil make my words as fire in thy mouth and this people as wood and it shal devoure them chap. 5.14 What singular thing thē shal the destructiō of the Pope have For he also hath bin slaine with this sword That is true indeed but the word threatneth divers punishments according to the manner of the wickednesses the most greevous to the greatest the lighter to the lesse Peradventure because the ruine of the Papacy shal be more horrible than wee think it is exempted from the common order not because it is not denounced in the word but perhaps because it is lesse regarded of us and that we suspect it to be lighter then the event will shew Or as we have declared in ver 15. it may be that these souldiers after the overthrow received shall yeeld their vanquished forces to the truth and subiect their neckes to her yoke ¶ And all the foules were filled with their flesh The Victory being obtained the foules gather to the pray doo fill themselves with the spoiles That whole late Popish natiō shal be subiect afterward to the reformed Churh Every country being a nourrisson of the purer truth shal have some part of the regions before time given up to superstition made subiect to them Which thing seemeth to be signifyed by the foules satiated with the flesh of the slaine army Such then is the end of the Romish Pope and Papacy that remained a few yeeres after the city yet at length so much the more miserable because shee had such as did adorne her funerall with their teares and performed the last duties by weeping But ther shal be none left for the Pope to bewaile his misery but he shal die infamous without mourners or other funeral pompe Wherby at last is accomplished that prophetical parable of the ghests called to the marriage Mat. 22. Doubtlesse those good and evill sent for out of the high wayes are the Gentiles that embraced the calling after that the Iewes had refused it Among them the man that had not a wedding garment is the Church of Rome which despiseth the righteousnesse of faith neither regardeth to be clothed with the merit of Christ by imputation The King comming in and beholding her clothed with her ragges but not with that garment which onely he approoveth now at length biddeth his servants to bind her hād and foote and to cast her into utter darkenesse where is weeping gnashing of teeth For Christ speaketh not there of any one man but collectively of a very great multitude as the sentence added in the end declareth that many are called but few are chosen ver 14. From which at length we understand that the bright comming of the Lord with which Paul foreshewed that the man of sinne should be abolished 2 Thes 2.8 is not his last coming to iudgement but that wherby Christ shal take the Iewes into the fellowship of his holy Church at which time his Kingdome shal flourish most gloriously and shal exceed by infinite degrees all the brightnesse of the ages past as shal be made more evident from the things following After the Pope is destroyed the Dragon shal be abolished many other things accomplished on earth CHAP. 20. AFTER I saw an Angel comming down from heaven having the keye of the bottomlesse pit and a great chaine in his hande 2 And he tooke the Dragon that old serpent which is the Divill and Satan he bound him a thousand yeeres 3 And cast him into the bottomlesse pit which he shut up and sealed upon him that he should deceive the nations no more til the thousand yeeres were fulfilled for after that he must be loosed for a little season 4 And J saw seats and they sate upon them and iudgement was given them I saw the soules of them which were beheaded for the witnes of Iesus and for the word of God and which did not worship the Beast neither his Image neither had taken his marke upon their foreheads or on their hands and they lived and raigned with Christ a thousand yeeres 5 But the rest of the dead men lived not againe until the thousand yeeres wereful filled this is the first resurrection 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection for on such the second death hath no power but they shal be the Priests of God and of Christ and shall raigne with him a thousand yeeres 7 And when the thousande yeeres are expired Satan shal be loosed out of his prison 8 And shall goe out to deceive the nations which are in the foure quarters of the earth Gog and Magog to gather them togither to battell whose number is as the sande of the sea 9 And they went up into the plaine of the earth and they compassed the tentes of the Saints about and the beloved city but fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them 10 And the Divill that deceived them was cast into a lake of fire and brimston where was both that Beast and also that False Prophet and they shal be tormented day and night for ever more 11 Then I saw a great white throne and one that sate on it from whose face fled away both the earth and heaven and their place was no more founde 12 And I saw the dead both great and smal stand before God and the bookes were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were iudged of those things which were written in the books according to their workes 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in her and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were iudged every man according to their workes 14 And hell and death were cast into the lake of fire this is the second
else where fully declared in this book wee hope that wee doo no violence to the truth if that we shal ioyne this place unto the meaning of other the like But some man wil say that wee have made mention of this calling in the former chapter it is true but that of the sixt viall was but begun not perfit and absolute as that of the last viall shall be wheÌ„ all the enemies shal be destroyed VVhich distinction of calling the former words doo manifest when in that first Iohn was commanded to write blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lambe chap. 19.9 VVherby it is taught that the first was not perfit where need was of such confirmation the office wherof is to seale up a thing not yet sufficiently known and to come which all being called had bin superfluous But Daniel writeth most plainly who hath distinguished both the callings by their times He setteth the first at the ende of a thousand two hundred ninetie daies The second at the ende of a thousand three hundred and five The distance between both is of fourty five dayes that is of so many yeeres as in an other place with Gods helpe wee will shew Dan. 12.11.12 VVee shall see likeweise in Ezechiel in the place before spoken off that the dry bones being covered with flesh and skinne did move themselves alike and approach one to an other Moreover after some time during which they were destitute of Spirit at length being quickened by the same doo live a true life and doo performe all those offices of life peculiar unto bodies endued with soules That approaching of the dry bones is that first calling of the former chapter The comming to of the Spirit giving to those bones perfit life is the latter calling this resurrection to which nothing shal be wanting unto perfit salvation Both which though Ezechiel comprehendeth in the same chapter yet he handleth the more distinctly afterward For first before that warre with Gog and Magog he mentioneth the resurrection as also Iohn that which was begun in the former chapter afterward when Gog was destroyed he describeth a most glorious building of the temple in the 40. chapter c. which is this secoÌ„d and full resurrection Therfore the first resurrection of the Iewes of the Iewes I say for the first resurrection of this chapter ver 5. is of the Gentiles into which notwithstanding shal fall at length this first of the Iewes that every way it may be the first shal be by and by after the destruction of Rome The second shal be straite after the Romish Pope and the Turke be destroyed This resurrection is a power to enter into the temple which the smooke did hinder to all untill all the seven last plagues were accomplished ch 15. the which is spent in destroing the Pope of Rome and the Turke as was spoken sufficiently before If I seeme to any to weaken the gâ—neral resurrection by taking so notable a foundation from it let him understand that it taketh no dammage from hence This place hath yet left a most strong ground to confirme the same For the Spirit doth not deceiv with a fained similitude but of which ought to be a most certen persuasion among Christians Otherweise certenly he had lost his labour if he had brought any thing lacking credit Moreover he should have driven to defperation in propounding that which must not be done for they would have thought that even so they had bin past hope but using a tipe of a thing that should most certeÌ„ly come to passe in his time he both maketh the calling undoubted and also declareth the manner wherby at length the resurrection shal be accomplished And thus much of the true sense of this argument now we wil prosecute the rest ¶ Then I saw a great white throne The preparation of God the iudge setting his people at liberty taken from a similitude of the general resurrection For the power and mercy of God shal be no lesse cleare in the molifying of men hardened by so long a revolting and in bestowing salvatioÌ„ upon them so past recovery then at length shal appeare in raising out rotâ—en bodies out of the graves The throne therfore is white most pure most gratious most comfortable in the very forme having a demonstration of mercy Great to declare the most imperial maiesty of God which now shal be made evident in this assembly of his people he sitteth also upon a throne ready to iudge because ther shal be no more any delay of rewarding the stay wherof before brought men into that opinion as if God regarded not the earth there fled from the face of him that sitteth on the throne both earth and heaven a great alteration of al things being made both the false Church plucked up by the rootes and also the true augmented with so great fruitfulnes that her former sorrowful face may seem to have fled away 12 And J saw the dead both smal and great Such then was the iudgment now at described those that shal be iudged These smal and great ar Iewes who before hated the faith and were spent with such calamities that they might seeme to differ nothing from the dead Now al of them shal appeare before God every one to undergo the iudgement either of life or death For now it shal be made manifest who ar elect and who reprobate They which yet shal resist the truth obstinatly shal be numbred amoÌ„g the last sheepe No remedy shal be used afterward wherby their stubburne minds may be subdued But why saith he small and great Whit her in the last resurrection according to the maner wherof al things are here applyed shal every one appeare in that stature in which they departed this life For this cause some have affirmed too rashly that every one shal rise againe in that talnesse in which Adam was created Which opinion both resisteth evidently this place and also taketh away the truth of the restored body if ther shal not be that iust stature in which they dyed ¶ And the books were opened The forme of iudging by books opened which are the consciences endued with the true light of Gods wil with a lively feeling of all their actions These shal now openly manifest to all men them in whom there is a syncere minde given of God and in whom lay hid hitherto the seed of election ¶ Then an other book Of Gods decree and election these things ar spoken after the manner of men considering that it is our manner for the helpe of our memory to recorde in books things done and in iudgmeÌ„ts to give sentence according to the truth of them Therfore election is no new thing neither dooth it depend on our pleasure but is founded on the eternal decree of God ¶ And the dead wer iudged c. After or according to those things which wer writteÌ„ in the books as once in the return froÌ„ BabyloÌ„s captivity
them which keepe the wordes of this book Worship God 10 After he said unto mee seale not the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand 11 He that hurteth let him hurt still and he that is filthy let him be filthy stil and he that is iust let him be iustifyed stil and he that is holy let him be holy still 12 And behold I come quickly and my reward is with mee to render to every one as his worke shal be 13 J am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending the first and the last 14 Blessed are they that doo his commaundements that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city 15 But without shal be dogges and enchanters and whoremongers and murtherers and Idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh lies 16 J Iesus sent my Angel to testify these things unto you in the Churches J am the roote and that generation of David that bright and morning starre 17 And the Spirit and the bride say come and he that heareth saith come and let him that thirsteth come and let him that will receive of the water of life freely 18 For I testify there withall unto every one that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book if any man shall add unto these things God shall adde unto him the plagues that are written in this book 19 And if any man shall take away of the words of the book of this prophecy God shal take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from those things which are written in this book 20 He which testifyeth these things saith ye I come quickly Amen Even so come Lord Iesus 21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you al. Amen The Analysis THVS farr the two first outward arguments wherby the glory of this city is set forth the two last follow the aboundance of things necessary continuance The first handleth two things which comprehende all other plenty the most pure water proceeding out of the throne ver 1. and the tree of life ver 2. whose fruite is described and how many foulde it is partly in the kinde for thete are twelve fruits partly in the time bearing every moneth and how profitable which appeareth from thence that also the leaves are for the health of the Gentils ver 2. and thus much of the aboūdance the continuance is declared by remooving of the corrupting causes ver 3. and by setting downe of the preserving causes ver 3.4 5. And hitherto hath bin a prophetical narration both of special things and also of common things to the whole Church There foloweth the conclusion of all the Revelation and of the Epistle partly consisting in a confirmation partly in a salutation The confirmation first takes in hand a recounting and collecting of things before spokē that being put as in a patterne ūder one view they might have greater force for credit And this recounting is cōtinued even to the eighteen verse relating the authour of the Revelation ver 6. the happines of the keppers ver 7. the ministers ver 8.9 a publishing commanded wherby ther should be a free examination ver 10. with an answer of a secret obiection ver 11. the upright nature of the revealer ver 12. eternall ver 13. the thing revealed ver 14.15 the plaine testimony of Iesus ver 16. and lastly the desire of the Spirit and bride ver 17. Every one of which apart is of great weight to establish the authority of this Prophecy but al togither are very much greater Next Iohn of his owne part addeth some new thing when he uttereth certain destruction to them which shall corrupt this prophecy never so little ver 18.19 then testifying his most earnest desire of a speedie finishing ver 20. The salutation lastly concludeth the whole Epistle with a praier ver 21. Scholions 1 Afterward he shewed mee That wholesome fruite dooth more declare the excellent glory of this city which not onely the citizens but also forreiners doo receive Wherunto also apperteine this river and tree of the which both they drinke and also are fedde unto life both which the Angel sheweth to Iohn For he saith he shewed mee But who is he that shewed That sevēth Angel which manifested the city to him in the former chapter ver 9.10 and therfore neither as yet are we come to the heavenly blessednes of the saincts after the last resurrection when we shal not use Angels or any other masters But as touching the water it is not some litle fountaine but a river neither corrupted and troubled as Nilus but flowing with most pure waters as Kidron Gallirrhoe making glad the citie of God Psal 46.5 Furthermore it is a river of water of life not onely because of the continuance for it runneth alwayes with new waters as is the water of a fountaine or spring which also in the Scriptures is called living but because it bringeth life to the drinkers Iohn 4.14 The river is shining as Chrystall farre exceeding the clearnes of the fountaines Lastly it proceedeth out of the throne of God and of the Lambe which it hath for chiefe fountaines and to which againe as a companion it doth leade or rather being a forerunner goeth before as a streeme to the sea In Ezechiel the same flood issueth out of the temple altar chap. 47.1 But in this new Ierusalem there is no temple as hath bin spoken in chap. 21.22 therfore the throne of God is set in the place thereof Whether it runneth here is no mention but the Prophets plentifully teach it namely towards the East from the South side of the altar first towards Galily and into the plaine then the waters come to the Sea and by emptying themselves into the same sea the waters therof are healed Ezech. 47.1.8 So in Ioel there shal issue forth a fountaine from the house of the Lord and shall water the valley of Shittim chap. 3.18 That is the plaine of Moab where the Israelites committed whordome with the Moabitish wemen Numb 25.1 Zacharie also There shal be saith he in that daie waters of life going forth out of Ierusalem part of them to the East sea and parte of them to the uttermost sea which shal be both in somer and winter chap. 14.8 This river is the most fruitfull doctrine of Christ which shall flowe forth towards the East because the people watered with the moisture hereof shall grow and at last true life shall budde forth For every living creature that creepeth whersoever these rivers come shall live and there shal be a very great multitude of fishes for by the comming of these waters thither they are cured and live whersoever this river commeth Ezech. 47.9 For this Prophet and Iohn speake of the same things and times of the state and condition of the Church in earth as those things which in so many places we have
which keepe the words of this book Therfore to keepe the words of this book is to have the testimony of Iesus ¶ Seale not The publishing of a commaundement wherby ther should be free power to every one to examine and by the successe to iudge of the Prophecy Iohn might not have it for himselfe alone but should offer it to the trial of a publique examination as forthwith from the beginning he was bidden That which thou seest write in a booke and send it to the seven Churches chap. 1.11 And againe write these things which thou hast seen which are and which shal be that is hide it not from others but publish it But if the publicke publishing of it be onely respected how was Daniell commaunded to shut up his words and to seale the booke who also brought into open view his Prophecy Therfore this prohibition of not sealing includeth some other thing namely that things to come are in such sorte set downe that men by the events present and neere at hande might be ledde as by the hand fully to understaÌ„d the same Prophecie which chauÌ„ced otherweise to Daniell who was not manifest to every age for he lightly touching things interlaced is chiefly imployed in things that should lastly come to paste and therfore should expect the appointed time before which it was not to be unfolded which partly is to be understood of those more difficult visions partly of the people of the Iewes whom that Prophecy doth chiefly respect That which followeth confirmeth this interpretation for the time is at hand as if he should say shutte not up this Prophecy because the time neare at hand shall reveale it but Daniels was sealed up for the event farre to comme caused that for a great time it should lie hidden Therfore these words have the same force as the former Behold I come quickly 11 He that hurteth let him hurt still A preventing of a secret doubt wherby the mindes of the weake might be weakened for they see that the ungodly goe forward in their ungodlines and their punishment for many ages is differred Therfore they might demaunde how he would come quickly who so long forbeareth the wicked He then meetes with it and warneth that no man take this in ill part but minde that the ungodly will continue in their wickednes and the righteous will follow after righteousnes but that there are certen boundes set them beiond which they cannot goe neither must they wonder that a certaine increase of wickednes is permitted for a determined time for the greater condemnation of the ungodly but they are to leave those men and to turne their eies to the elect whose constant study of godlines ought to strenghten our wavering mindes against all stiffenes of the reprobate Therfore these are not the words of one exhorting but of one conforting and admonishing that by those scaÌ„dales our expectatioÌ„ be not diminished seeing that ther shall be such a state of things even to the last end ¶ And he that is iust shal be iustified still Let him be imployed in those workes wherby he may prove both to himselfe and others that he is iust but he doth not so much exhort as shew the perseverance of the saincts which being planted in Gods house bring forth more planteous fruites in their old age 12 And behold I come quickly But it was repeated before in the seventh verse but againe it is now pressed as an excellent remedy against the offense of the extreeme hardnes of the reprobate as if he should say as often as the wickednes of men doth stirre up the minde be thinke yee that shortly shal be the coming of the Lord. He hath promised it that cannot deceive nor measure you not the delay by your owne sense but beleeve stedfastly that that which he hath promised shall not be so long differed Yee consider that the Lord is present in those same things which are dayly done see that he now forthwith hasteneth his promises that ye may not complaine of his overmuch delay or may thinke that those things whiâ—h have bin foretold shall not come to passe Therfore these things doo very well accord with the former nor by any meanes are they to be referred to an other place albe it if this coupling togithe were not wee ought not to be much troubled about the consequence The rehearsall made which we have spoken off may containe in one full sentence divers things sundry persons without any light of bandes and transitions ¶ And my reward is with mee These words belong to the same comfort and set before our eyes Christ the rewarder against the offense both of the felicity of the wicked also those troubles which in the meane time the saincts doe finde God is iust neither can it be but that it shal goe well at length with the good ill with the wicked as hath bin declared in this same book in expresse words chap. 13.10 and 14.13 13 I am Alpha Omega They ar the words of Christ but not speaking in this place in his owne person but rehearsed by Iohn They confirm the Prophecy froÌ„ the eternity of Christ or rather froÌ„ his power as before wee have interpreted How should we not credit him so wel in pronouncing of things to come as past who is eternal or who hath given beginning to al things and at his pleasure caÌ„ reduce them to nothing chap 1.8 14 Blessed are they c. These things belong to the authority of Christ testifying to whoÌ„ whosoever obey is blessed He hath power over the tree of life the liberty wherof he giveth to them that obey him ch 2.7 of this ver 2. Moreover he giveth a right to enter into the city by the gates by which alone the way is open seing the wall is so hie that there is not any hope ever to climbe over chap. 21.17 15 But without shal be doggs Men of doggish impudeÌ„cy virulency who alwayes barke at every good things it shal be a grea felicity to be delivered from their society Concerning the troupe of the excluded see ch 21.8 16 I Iesus c. A confirmatioÌ„ froÌ„ a manifest testimony of Iesus himselfe not spoken here by his owne voice but by Iohns repeated froÌ„ ch 1.1 Christ speaketh never in this book in his own person without some significatioÌ„ of his most great maiesty wherby he may testify his presence ¶ That bright c. The morning starre is most clear sheweth the day following at her backe so Christ in this life shineth most brightly to the faithful being also a pledg to theÌ„ of a greater light shortly to coeÌ„ But morover he shineth to them by the first fruits of the truth of which he wil giv them shortly a ful abuÌ„ndaÌ„ce This praise is takeÌ„ froÌ„ ch 2.28 see mor there 17 But the Spirit c. A confirmation from the desire of the sanctified to whom nothing is so deare as to see these things