come for the better managing the Affairs of Christs Kingdome 7. And the first Beast was like a Lion which was the Standard of Iuda on the East side of the Camp The second Beast like a Calf which was the Standard of Ephraim on the West side of the Camp The third Beast had the face of a man which was the Standard of Reuben on the South side And the fourth Beast was like a flying Eagele which was the Standard of Dan on the North. And note that these four Beasts were thus situated in the Vision of Ezechiel And that this only is a Type of that Church that shall be cast thus into four parts the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ signified in both Visions 8. And the four Beasts had each of them six wings about him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is but hard sense if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it must signifie in a circle about him And therefore Grotius judiciously joyns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 together And so the Text runs thus Had each of them six wings And they were full of eyes without and within And they rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Now that the four Beasts are said each of them to have six wings as the Beasts in Ezechiel's Vision also have undoubtedly they have them for that use the Seraphims are said to make of them in the Prophet Esay With twain to cover their faces with twain to cover their feet and with twain to fly Which implies a Reverence of the Divine Majesty an activity and readiness in his Service and a carefulness over our Affections that we walk in clean paths And whereas they are presently said to be full of eyes without and within it implies that with one eye regarding outward objects and the other their own nature and so comparing them together they will ever behave themselves decorously and becomingly with due reverence to that which is above them in dignity and excellency and at a due distance from those things that are unworthy of them and beneath them And therefore if any such thing be offered them from without as is repugnant to the innate Light and immutable Principles of an Intellectual Creature their eyes within will easily discern the Proposer to be either a Fool or an Impostor This is the state even of the whole People of God in those dayes But as for their Reverence and devotional sense of their Maker and Redeemer it is in a manner perpetual they rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come who fills all things and times with his Presence and Providence And as the People are so are their Priest-like Princes and Rulers For it follows immediately in the next Verses 9. And when those Beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the Throne who liveth for ever and ever 12. The four and twenty Elders also Prince and People being of one heart and mind fall down before him that sat on the Throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever and tast their Crowns before the Throne in humble acknowledgment from whom and for whom they Reign even for the manifesting of the Glory and Honour and Power of God in the Kingdom of his Saints And therefore they are introduced Saying 11. Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast Created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were Created NOTES CHAPTER IV. Vers. 5. All the Ministring Angels or all the Living c. For Seven we substitute All in this place the Septenary Number with the Cabbalists signifying Universality whence of the Pythagoreans it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the full comprehension of the numbers of sundry things in this Book of the Apocalypse is terminated in Seven Vers. 6. In the midst of the Throne and round about the Throne c. The Beasts seem to have been placed to S t John 's sight so as that one appeared just in the midst before the Throne and the spectacle being exhibited to him shelvingly another appeared beyond the Throne in the same line and two other the one on this side and the other on that side in a line cutting that other in right Angles so that they at due distances encompassed the Throne in a Circle exteriour to the twenty four Elders And in that they were not only seen as it were in the middle of the Throne in the sense abovesaid but on each side also and so encompassed the Throne placed in the common sections or conterminations of the four quadrants of the Circle drawn about it they are said to be not only in the midst of the Throne but about the Throne in a Circle at equal distances Or else in the midst that is within the Circle of the Throne which is thus conceived to be drawn about it but so near that the Beasts supposed like those in Ezechiel will have the same faces appear within the verges of the Throne that appeared without but in opposite places But then the Elders must be placed in a Circle without the Beasts which will make these Priestly Kings less answer to the Levites But thereby we are the better assured that they are Kings and not Priests It 's possible both these wayes may be glanced at in the Vision and that it may reflect both on the Camp of Israel and Vision of Ezechiel at once CHAPTER V. 1. ANd I saw in the right hand of him that sate on the Throne that is in the hand of God a Book written within and on the backside viz. A Book that had a more outward sense in the meer Letter which consists of Representations Symbolical or Hieroglyphical of Iconismes or Images of things future and a more inward sense which is the sense of the future things themselves thus represented in Symbols or Images This Book of Prophecies was in the hand of God the Father in his power to impart it to whom he pleased as it is intimated in the beginning of the Apocalypse which is said to be the Revelation of Jesus Christ but that God gave it unto him sealed with seven seals And in that this Book is said to be sealed with seven seals it shews what a great Arcanum or Secret it was it being a Representation of a Scene of Affairs reaching from the beginning of the Church to the end of the world 2. And I saw a strong Angel proclaiming with a loud voice Who is worthy to open the Book and to loose the Seats thereof And that the inestimable worth of this Book of Prophecies which sottish and prophane Spirits so much slight and vilifie and crafty Politicians so much harden themselves against may appear here is proclamation made by a strong Angel with a loud voice Who is worthy to open c. that is Who is worthy to have so vast
Apocalypsis Apocalypseos OR THE REVELATION OF S t JOHN the Divine unveiled CONTAINING A Brief but perspicuous and continued EXPOSITION From Chapter to Chapter and from Verse to Verse of the whole Book of the APOCALYPSE By HENRY MORE D. D. Ecclesiastic Chap. 39. He that giveth his mind to the Law of the most High and is occupied in the Meditation thereof will seek out the Wisdom of all the Ancient and be occupied in Prophecies Ezech. Chap. 43. vers 10. Thou Son of Man shew the House to the house of Israel that they may be ashamed of their Iniquities and let them measure the pattern LONDON Printed by I. M. for I. Martyn and W. Kettilby at the Bell and the Bishops-Head in S t Paul's Church-yard 1680. THE PREFACE TO THE READER READER THat thou mayest with better acceptance peruse my Exposition of this Book of Prophecies the Apocalypse I thought fit to say something by way of Preface First concerning the Book it self not only the Authentickness and Intelligibleness but also concerning the Excellency thereof Secondly concerning the grounds I go upon and the Truth of my Exposition And thirdly and lastly concerning the great Usefulness thereof That this Book is Canonical and of Divine Inspiration is confirmed by the Authority and Suffrage of the Church Universal both Roman and Reformed And though it had no external Confirmation the truth of Predictions in that large comprehension of things that it reacheth to and the holiness of that Spirit that breaths in it to any intelligent Reader will certainly prove it to be a Book Divinely inspired Not to add that the very Wit as I may so say and Artifice in it seems not to be Humane but Angelical It was indeed doubted of at first and the Authority thereof called into question but the occasion of questioning it was because it was in the hands of very few it being dangerous for the Christians to let this Book of the Apocalypse that does plainly predict as it might seem the burning of the City of Rome situated on seven Hills and having Rule then over the whole Earth so freely to go about as those others of the New Testament did And therefore this Book being so generally unknown when they began to determine what Books were Authentick and what not they might very well be at a loss concerning it Besides that Cerinthus and others overmuch Judaizing Christians who drew those things written of the first and second Resurrection and the New Jerusalem and the thousand years Reign of Christ to their Carnal Iudaical conceits made them more shie how they admitted this Book for Authentick Nay some as Gaius an ancient Author in Eusebius relate that Cerinthus the Chiliast was the writer of it Others who yet thought well of the Book that John the Presbyter a Disciple of the Apostle not John himself was the Author thereof The occasion of which might be as Grotius ingeniously conjectures because that John the Presbyter had the Book in his custody whence some out of mistake might deem him the Author thereof But by the Authority of the chiefest Fathers and upon a more narrow search and examination of the business it is now out of question with all Christian Churches that this Book of the Apocalypse is Authentick and Canonical and writ by John the Evangelist and Divine so called for his more plainly and peculiarly declaring the Divinity of Christ beyond any other of the Evangelists Now for the Intelligibleness of the Book Though there is a marvellous artifice of Concealment in it yet there is as sure an artifice of Revealment as I hope will appear by this our Exposition And why Prophecies should be obscurely writ and in what this obscurity consists I have sufficiently elsewhere declared The chief obscurity is in the Prophetick stile which when it is opened to a Man the sense will run clear As he that understands any other Language different from the Vulgar if the Book it is writ in be good sense he without difficulty will find it out And as it would be absurd in him that understands not that language to complain of the obscurity of the Book so it is as childish for him that will not take the pains which is not much to understand the Prophetick stile to complain of the obscurity of the Apocalypse But that it is intelligible all sorts of Christians Reformed and Unreformed have given their suffrage thereto in writing Commentaries upon it And it is no less than blasphemy against the Holy Ghost that inspired this Prophecy to say it is simply unintelligible as if Christ trifled with his Church in a thing so exceeding serious as this Book of Prophecies seems to be The Excellency whereof is notably set out if not also the necessity of reading and understanding it chap. 1. vers 3. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this Prophecy and keep those things that are written therein which they cannot do unless they understand them And so chap. 22. vers 7. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the Prophecy of this Book Which is chiefly performed by Faith and Constancy to the True Church of Christ against either the Dragon or Antichrist which he cannot do if these Prophecies were unintelligible nor can there any blessedness accrue to a man from reading a Book he understands not But the sayings thereof understood and kept being so effectual a way to blessedness it must needs argue the excellency of the Book But there is yet a further illustration of the Excellency thereof from what occurrs chap. 5. vers 2. which concerns the greatest part by far of this Book and that which some phansie the only Prophetical part thereof namely the Visions of the Sealed Book and of the Opened Book For what was contained in the Opened Book lay open by virtue of the breaking up of the Seals In that Chapter is the highest Encomium of this Book of Prophecies that the Wit and Rhetorick of men or Angels can invent or utter For first it is said vers 2. And I saw a strong Angel proclaiming with a loud voice Who is worthy to open the Book and to loose the Seals thereof And no man in Heaven nor in Earth neither under the Earth was able to open the Book neither to look thereon This therefore must be a most excellent and transcendent Book of Secrets and Predictions that neither Angels Men nor Infernal Spirits can reach to the knowledge of by virtue of their own faculties And then it follows And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and read the Book and to look thereon Which further argues that it is a Book not only of rare secrets and vast comprehensive Predictions but more than ordinary desirable if not necessary to be known And lastly when the Lion of the Tribe of Judah that is Christ the Lamb under another expression and figuration was found worthy and had taken the
Since this Book of the Apocalypse is so Excellent and transcendant a Book as well as Authentick and Intelligible and our Exposition thereof so sound and assured and the use of it so manifold and so great I hope that every Intelligent Man that is a Well-willer to the Truth and a sincere Lover of the Church of Christ will allow of my design of publishing it as a thing laudable at least if not indispensable For though in things of mere speculation it is a piece of prudence for a man to seem no wiser than others can bear lest instead of being admired he be looked upon for a fool or a man of extravagant conceits yet in such points of knowledge as we are assured of and as assured of their manifold usefulness for the Church and the good of mankind it is a piece of Conscience that we communicate them to the world it being a Depositum we are intrusted with from God and of which we must give an account to him at that great day And thus much I think is competently well for a Preface What may further occurr I shall reserve for an Epilogue Where amongst other things I shall exhibit to thy view the Ichnography of the Temple with the Inner and Outer Court for the better understanding of the eleventh Chapter of the Apocalypse as also a Table of Synchronismes with a Defence of them Which will both refresh thy memory after thy reading my Exposition and the more fully assure thee of the truth thereof As will also that admirable Key of the Visions of the Sealed and Opened Book Prophecies viz. the Angels Interpretation of the Beast Chap. 17. and the Woman that rides him And lastly the wonderfull Harmony that is to be observed of the Antemedial Medial and Postmedial Synchronals the Harmony of all of them in each Order amongst themselves and with the Times to which in virtue of the Interpretation of the Angel they are necessarily affixed so far namely as the Prophecies have been already fulfilled or are in fulfilling which is a pledge of the Truth or Credibility of our Exposition touching what is to come This Harmony I say is so admirable and surprizing that unless thou hast a Genius dead or stupid to matters of this nature thou canst not fail to be enravished with the consideration thereof as also with the Divine Artifice of the whole Book of the Apocalypse Much whereof is opened in the said Epilogue So that it may go for a kind of Technology to our Exposition In the mean time I will only advertise thee That I have taken care that the entire Text of the Apocalypse go along with my Interpretation printed in a black English Letter the more easily to be distinguished from the Comment that thou having it so entirely in thy sight and continuedly with the Comment thou mayest with the more ease and assuredness judge of the Faithfulness and Agreeableness of our Exposition ERRATA sic corrige PReface Page xviii Line 21. read His Passion Page 10. l. 11. r. Spondanus p. 26. l. 9. r. Sardian p. 30. l. 9. r. Churches especially let p. 40. l. 17. r. Paronomastical p. 41. l. 14. dele the. p. 47. l. 20. r. him Sealed with seven Seals p. 67. l. 34. r. comes p. 77. l. 12. r. Narses p. 81. l. 29. r. Scorpio-locusts p. 86. l. 2. r. a voice l. 21. r. and Iconium p. 93. l. 11. r. good p. 98. l. 9. r. Trumpet suppose as p. 108. l. 16. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 122. l. 7. r. Cruelty p. 128. l. 24. r. Lolhards p. 140. l. 8. r. decrees l. 11. r. Iconomachus p. 147. l. 18. r. Lineaments p. 152. l. 11. r. enlargment p. 200. l. 24. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 211. l. 26. r. and briefly p. 227. l. 1. r. Topazos p. 257. l. 4. r. Antemedial p. 260. l. 12. r. Assenter p. 270. l. 2. r. he p. 272. l. 1. p. 283. l. 2. r. Antemedial p. 293. l. 24. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 298. l. 3. r. R. H. Ch. 9. p. 315. l. 4. r. Hills p. 331. l. 7. r. with these p. 346. l. 5. r. that is One APOCALYPSIS APOCALYPSEOS OR THE Revelation of S t John UNVEILED CHAPTER I. 1. THe Revelation of Iesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass Not therefore the Revelation of things * manifestly foreshewn by him already or that are already past so that any entire Visions or Prefigurations should be here expected of them which would but make them more obscure but of things which are to come some sooner and some later but all of them shortly in respect of some successions of Ages in the Church or other that they may perpetually be advertised of their concerns and stand upon their guard And he sent and signified it by his Angel unto his servant Iohn This Revelation I say was made to Jesus Christ by God that he might communicate it to his servants for which end he sent his holy Angel by whose ministry these things through prophetick Visions and Prefigurations wrought and impressed upon his Inward Man were conveyed to Iohn 2. Who bare record of the Word of God and of the testimony of Iesus Christ and of all things that he saw This is he who is usually called Iohn the Divine for giving that Record of the Word of God in the beginning of his Gospel and of the Divinity of Jesus and who declared that which was from the beginning which he had heard seen and handled of the Word of Life and did testifie in writing the Actions of Jesus and all things that he faw 3. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things that are written therein That are written in the volume of these Prophecies consisting chiefly of three parts the Vision of the Seven Churches the Vision of the Seven Seals the seventh whereof contains the seven Trumpets all which belong to the sealed Book and the Visions that appertain to the opened Book amongst which are the seven Vials and all the rest of the Visions of this Volume that some way or other are reducible to these Blessed is he that observes the things written in this Book of Prophecies that he may order his life accordingly and alwayes approve himself such as he is by these Visions admonished to be and adhere to Christ sincerely and to his True Church in all conditions For the time is at hand namely for the fulfilling of such Vision as appertain to the earlier Scene of the Affairs of the Church and will ever be at hand to the end of the world for the fulfilling of some Visions of this Book or other 4. Iohn to the seven Churches which are in Asia To the * truly Catholick and Apostolick Church distinguished into seven successions reaching from the beginning of the Church to the end of the world * and dispensed on
the face of the Earth Grace he unto you and peace all favour happiness and prosperity From him which is and which was and which is to come from the Eternal Jehovah who graspeth all past present and to come in the eternity of his Wisdom and Power And from the seven spirits which are before his throne And from all his holy Angels that are assisting at his Throne and in a readiness to be sent upon messages and to minister for the good of his people 5. And from Iesus Christ who is the faithful Witness and the first-begotten of the dead and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth From Jesus Christ that faithful Witness of the Will of his Father when he was upon Earth and the first-begotten of the dead the first-fruits of them that slept to whom is given the right of all the Kingdoms of the Earth to be Prince over them all and to rule them in Righteousness and Peace To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood That so loved us that he laid down his life for us for a propitiation for our sins and to wash us from all the silth thereof through sincere repentance and mortification of our lusts out of a due and gratefull return of love to him that died for us 6. And hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father namely by this victory over our corruptions through faith in him to offer spiritual sacrifices of Prayers and Thanksgiving with an utter resignation of our selves to the will of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. To him be glory and Dominion for ever and for ever Amen 7. Behold he cometh in the clouds so vast a prospect have the prophecies of this Book and will judge the whole world at the last day And every eye shall see him and they also that pierced him either in his own person or wounded him and killed him in the persecution and murdering of his living members And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him namely all those that have thus outragiously sinned against him Even so Amen This is a certain truth let scoffers and unbelievers say and imagine what they please 8. And that this may not seem strange that his Providence and Power reaches so far as to the very last there is presently added I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the Ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty whose administration therefore of Affairs and the presence of his Power is palpably to be felt and plainly to be discerned from the beginning of the Church to the end of the world He is the Almighty grasping all things in the hand of his All-comprehending Providence 9. I Iohn who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Iesus Christ both which he hath bequeathed to his faithfull followers Was in the Isle that is called Patmos one of the Cyclades so called in the Aegean Sea for the word of God and for the testimony of Iesus Christ thither banished for the preaching the Word of God and bearing witness to the Truths of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus 10. And it came to pass in this Island that I was in the spirit on the Lords day actuated and impressed upon in my inward man my mind being vacant from this earthly body and external senses and wholly seised by this Divine and Angelical Power which caused in it the following Visions and Prophetical Impressions but as lively and clear as any objects to the outward or corporeal senses And when I was thus in the Spirit and had as it were left the body in this ecstasie I heard behind me a great voice as of a Trumpet 11. Saying I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last and shall declare unto thee such things as concern the Church continuedly from the first beginning thereof to the end of the world And what therefore thou seest write in a Book and send it unto the Seven Churches which are in Asia unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna and unto Pergamus and unto Thyatira and unto Sardis and Philadelphia and unto Laodicea that is to say send it to the truly Catholick and Apostolick Church dispread upon the face of the Earth and divided into seven successions unto the Ephesine succession and unto the Smyrnean succession and unto the Pergamenian succession and unto the Thyatirian succession and unto the Sardian succession and unto the Philadelphian succession and unto the Laodicean succession Which seven successions one after another fill up the whole time of the Church Universal from the beginning thereof to the end of the world 12. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me to see who it was that spake thus to me And being turned I saw seven golden Candle-sticks 13. And in the midst of the seven golden Candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man the Representation namely of Christ as he is also one with his Church For we are Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones They two shall be one flesh This is a great Mystery saith the Apostle but I speak of Christ and his Church Cloathed with a garment down to the foot and girt about the pops with a golden girdle in token that he is our High Priest this habit alluding to the High Priests Vestments 14. His head and his hairs were white like wool as white as snow for the greater venerableness of this High Priests person and in token he is that Christ that the Prophet calls Councellour the Mighty God the Everlasting Father For these are the symbols of his Wisdom and Paternal Authority And his eyes were as a flame of fire to signifie the penetrancy of his Providence and spirit of discerning both in himself and in his Church 15. And his feet like unto fine brass as if they burned in a furnace which shews the stability and purity of his wayes in himself and the constancy of his Church in the furnace of affliction and fiery tryals And his voice as the sound of many waters Which plainly discovers that Christ is here represented in union with his Church Waters signifying a Multitude in the prophetick stile as most certainly they do 16. And he had in his right hand seven stars The seven stars according to his own Interpretation are the seven Angels of the seven successions of the Church whom he bears up sustains and strengthens throughout all Ages And out of his mouth went a hard two-edged sword a Symbol of Christ as he is the Living Word of God quick and powerfull and sharper than any two-edged sword And denotes also the powerfull Word of the Gospel preached by the Living Members of his Church And his countenance was as the Sun that shineth in his strength This is spoke in reference to him as he is called the Sun of Righteousness or in reference to
the Church in the state of the New Jerusalem of which it is said There shall be no night there and they need no candle nor the light of the Sun For the Lord God giveth them light and they shall reign for ever and ever 17. And when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead as being exceedingly afraid that this fight might portend some great evil to the people of God And he laid his right hand upon me saying unto me Fear not I am the First and the Last And though there may be some great Afflictions and Tryals of my Church represented to thee in what thou seest yet thou must remember nothing shall come to pass without my Providence who am the First and the Last and will carry you through all Persecutions and Deaths and make you at length more than Conquerours 18. I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the Keys of Hell and of Death as if he should say For I am now alive though I was my self dead once and crucified but behold I am alive for Ever Amen This is most certainly true of him whom this Vision represents and that he has the Keys of Hell and Death And therefore no man need fear to undergo martyrdom for his Cause who will certainly make him partaker of a Blessed Immortality and plunge his barbarous persecutors into everlasting perdition Wherefore after this encouragement to Iohn he sayes 19. Write the things which thou hast seen and the things which are and the things which shall be hereafter that is write the things which thou hast seen and known already as being past and the things that are present and the things that are to come after viz. The affairs of the first succession of the Church which is the Ephesine succession the affairs of the present succession of the Church in which S t Iohn wrote these Visions which is the Smyrnean and of the rest of the successions of the Church which are to come afterwards 20. Which affairs thus distributed into seven successions or intervals are indeed the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks For the seven stars are the Angels of the seven Churches that is the seven successions of Bishops and Pastors that are to shine forth in the brightness and purity of their Life and Doctrine in the seven successions of the Churches And the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven successions of the Apostolick Church here called seven Churches NOTES CHAPTER I. Vers. 1. Manifestly shewn already by him or that are past c. This is spoken in reference to the absurd Interpretations of Grotius in the first six Seals and the first six Trumpets who fixes the Scene of all those Visions in Judea and ends them with the sacking of the City which was before S t John wrote the Apocalypse for he wrote it in Domitian's time But what will not prejudiced Wits imagine rather than stoop to the Truth See my Mystery of Godliness Book 5. chap. 16. And Synops. Prophetic Book 2. chap. 2. sect 4 5 c. Vers. 4. Truly Catholick and Apostolick Church c. This I conceive to be comprehended in the name Asia in allusion to the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Asia signifying Fundamentum as if he should say To all the Churches that keep the Apostolical Foundation in Doctrine and Practice that keep in it and swerve not from it by admitting any thing contrary thereto And dispersed on the face of the earth c. This also is comprised in the word Asia by allusion to another Hebrew word of a like nearness of sound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Asia again and is the lowest of those four Worlds notoriously known amongst the Cabbalists Aziluth Briah Jetzirah Asia of which last the lowest part is this Earth we tread upon So evidently is the allusion to the nearness of sound in words made use of in this Book of the Apocalypse See another reason from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my Exposition of the seven Churches Vers. 19. The affairs of the first succession of the Church which is the Ephesine succession the affairs of the present c. That the affairs of the Ephesine succession were past when S t John received those Visions in Patmos is plain from hence because he received them about the end of Domitians Reign But the beginning of the Smyrnean succession is in the tenth of Nero or not long before which is about thirty years before S t John received the Visions in Patmos Besides that the Ephesine succession is described amongst other characters as not yet being stained with the doctrine and deeds of the Nicolaitans But the Nicolaitans appeared in the twelfth year of Nero as you may see in Spandanus the Epitomizer of Baronius Therefore the Ephesine succession was to expire before that time So plain is it that it was past when S t John was in Patmos But hence emerges a difficulty that well may stumble some viz. Being the Ephesine succession was then past why should there be an Epistle directed to it which is as if one should write to the deceased To which I answer That this Book of Prophecies being designed a Representation of the State of the Church or of the Empire in reference to the Church from the very beginning of the Church that the Representation might be the more compleat by not leaving out that little Time that was then past to the end of the world in that way I say it is comprized whether Epistolar or other it is to be begun and continued throughout And therefore in the Prophetical Vision of the Seals as the first Seal is rather an History than a Prophecy though disguised under Prophetick Iconismes For the time of the thing signified there by the Rider of the White Horse which the whole stream of Interpreters understand of Christ guiding and assisting the Apostles and his Church in the Apostolick times was in a manner quite expired when John wrote the Apocalypse So this Epistle to the Ephesine succession of the Church is to be conceived an Historical Description of that State of the Church rather than an Epistle though for conformity-sake it is put into this Epistolar disguise And since it is not so proper to write Epistles to any but those who are in present Being surely they who are satisfied there is no absurdity in writing in this Epistolar way to the successions of the Church not yet come ought to think the using this Epistolar form to a succession already past the more tolerable But supposing the Apocalypse a designed Representation as I hinted above of the affairs or state of the Church set out by a triple Prophecy this of the Seven Churches the second of the Sealed Book and the last of the Opened Book and that the Prophecy of the Sealed Book and of the Opened Book each
I have not found thy works perfect before God For you do not go on towards perfection nor are ye in a growing state though ye have not yet reached your due stature approvable before God which is a sign you are in a state of languishment and vergency towards death 3. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent Since you profess your selves reformed into a true Apostolick Church remember what you have heard out of the Apostles writings How that I so loved my Church that I gave my self for it that I might sanctifie it that I might make it a glorious Church having neither spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish And let not the vain glosses of any faint-hearted hypocrites deceive or discourage you Remember also what ye heard of Antichrist That man of sin that exalts himself above all that is called God and worshipped and for ever abandon that wicked and Idolatrous Communion And take heed of that nauseous and detestable ingratitude of not setting a due value of my redeeming you from that worse than Aegyptian or Babylonian Captivity into the Gospel-liberty And be not imposed upon by the fine words and subtil sophistry of either known enemies or perfidious brethren These and such like things as these taught by my Apostles and repeated again by the first Reformers be sure to hold fast and repent of your slipperiness and remisness of your easiness and inclinableness again to the flesh-pots of Aegypt the carnal entertainments under that mystical Pharaoh at Rome If therefore thou shalt not watch I will come on thée as a thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee These things therefore I strictly command thee and charge thee to do which if thou wilt not carefully and diligently observe and have a due watch over thy wayes I will come on thee of a sudden and surprize thee with some terrible judgement for thy gross ingratitude and thou shalt not know what hour I come upon thee before the storm certainly overtake thee God make the Reformed Churches sensible of this sad commination which is foretold them for no other purpose than that by their timely repentance and carefull watchfulness they may avoid it 4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy There be some few excellent persons and of a true Christian Spirit scattered up and down in the Reformed Churches though the generality be so bad and imperfect who have not defiled their Garments the inward nor outward cloathing of their Soul nor spotted the decency of their conversation by any scandal of the flesh With these innocent and spotless souls not soiled or stained with the filth of the usual tinctures of the flesh will I converse by my spirit whereby they shall be able to walk with me with all innocency and integrity of heart for ever For they are persons meet and fit for such converse 5. He that overcometh the same shall be cloathed in white raiment They that overcome all difficulties inward and outward and persist in purity and true holiness they shall be cloathed in white rayment that is they shall be successfull and prosperous in the affairs of my Kingdom which they endeavour to propagate And I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life that is this sort of men shall continue to the Philadelphian succession and onwards to the end of the world And this Book of Life to them shall be as the Crown of Life to the Smyrnean succession shall be their security from persecution and death That Church which they introduce into the world which is the Philadelphian shall never be brought again under the Subjection Tyranny and Persecution of any Power whatsoever But I will confess his Name before my Father and before his Angels I will in a special manner recommend them to the good Providence of God and the watchful Ministry of his holy Angels 6. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches The Reformed Churches especially let them take particular notice what the Holy Ghost has here delivered That Christ who holds the seven Stars in his right hand and appears thus to the Reformed Churches as he did to the Ephesine or first Apostolick Church is as ready and serious in the renewing and the reforming of his Church as he was then in setting it on foot first in the world And he appears as then walking in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks which signifies his helpfull presence to his Church so here with the succour of his Divine Graces and Ministry and assistance of his holy Angels So that nothing is wanting to rouse us effectually out of this carnal drousiness toward the attainment of the dispensation of the Spirit and Power except our own sincerity and diligent attention to and firm belief of the Oracles of God So that the main success of things hitherto as to the effect of Religion in the Reformed Churches lies at our own doors God give us grace to consider it 7. And to the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia write To the Bishops and Pastors especially but together with their Charge of the Philadelphian succession which begins where the Sardian ends and reaches to the fourth Thunder * and discovers its nature and condition in its name write thus These things saith he that is holy and speaks to a Church that willingly listens to such monitions as these Be ye holy for I am holy and Be ye perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect He that is true And will verifie all his glorious promises in the Philadelphian succession or blessed Millennium to all those that trust in his Word He that has the key of David He that is the Chief Minister of State to the Eternal God * whom the Apostle Iohn calls LOVE He that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth He that when he will can open the door of success to his own and shut it again when he will against his Enemies and so administer all things prosperously 8. I know thy works and designs and highly approve of them I know thou doest nothing out of bitter zeal faction or self-seeking nothing out of vain-glory or any other worldly end but simply out of love of Me and of my Righteousness and out of love to all Mankind for the promoting of whose both present and future happiness thou dost all thy endeavours and therefore Behold I have set before thée an open door and no man can shut it against thee For thou hast a little strength and hast kept my Word and hast not denyed my Name Though thou hadst but a little Force or Army in comparison of the rest of the world yet thou hast been valiant and stood for my Word stoutly and couragiously
a foresight of things communicated to him from God as to endite such a Book of Prophecies as this 3. And no man in Heaven nor in Earth neither under the Earth was able to open the Book neither to look thereon And this proclamation being made there was none found neither of the Angels in Heaven or Men upon Earth or Infernal Spirits under the Earth who are vulgarly accounted so wise and cunning and in whom Witches and Wizards so confide for the knowledge of things to come that were able to open the Book or look thereon i. e. That had so reaching a foresight as to pierce through such a large series of future things as is contained in this Book which intimates that nothing but the holy Power of God could be the Author thereof 4. And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the Book neither to look thereon That is to say I was sorely grieved that there was none found meet or worthy to have imparted to him so stupendious a faculty of foretelling things to come in such a manner as they are in this Book So useful a gift of Prophecy Where Iohn personates every good Christian that is solicitous for the affairs of the Church and thoughtfull what will become of her 5. And one of the Elders saith to me wéep not Cease to be so grieved and troubled in spirit Behold the Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda the root of David hath prevailed to open the Book and to loose the seven Seals thereof Christ hath by his courageously fulfilling the will of his Father obtained this priviledge That he may open the Book and loose the Seals thereof that is to have so wonderfull a comprehension of future things and piercing foresight by the gift of his Father as to foresee all that is contained in this Book and to communicate it to his Church 6. And I beheld and lo in the midst of the Throne and of the four Beasts and in the midst of the Elders That is betwixt God the Father and the Church stood a Lamb as it had been slain and with bleeding wounds upon him the blessed Jesus Mediator betwixt God and Man as he is here placed betwixt the Throne and the four Beasts Having seven horns which are the Emblems of Power as being he to whom All Power is given in Heaven and in Earth And seven Eyes All manner of Wisdom and Counsel and all the Angels of God at his beck to execute his Counsel and his Will which is implied in what follows which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth unto all the Earth 7. And he came and took the Book out of the right hand of him that sate upon the Throne That is it was given to him of his Father to have so vast a foresight of things to come from the beginning of the Church even to the end of the World and Power to effect what was foreknown according to the beginning of this Book of the Apocalypse The Revelation of Iesus Christ which God gave unto him c. which shews that the whole Book of the Apocalypse the Epistles to the seven Churches as well as the Visions that follow is a Prophetical Revelation of things to come 8. The consideration of which wonderful Gift and Power signified by this receiving of the Book being made so exceeding manifest in the times of the Spiritual Reign of Christ in the New Ierusalem which Times this pompous Introduction to the Prophecy of the sealed Book does typifie For the four and twenty Elders belong to that state of the Church will raise a wonderful strain of Faith and Devotion in them and admiration of the stupendious Providence of Christ over his Church as it is signified by what follows And when he had taken the Book the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb having every one of them Harps and golden Uials full of Odours which are the praises and prayers of the Saints 9. And they sing a new Song saying And then will they sing a new Song namely they will then praise their Creator and Redeemer for that new constitution of things in the Reign of the Spirit as it is written Chap. 21. And he that sate upon the Throne said Behold I make all things new And he said straightway to Iohn It is done I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end I will give him that is a thirst of the fountain of life freely that is I will communicate unto him my Spirit here and make him partaker of Eternal Life hereafter in my heavenly Kingdom and they will say as follows Thou O Christ wert worthy to take the Book and open the seals thereof that is to have communicated unto thee so vast a comprehension of the futurity of things as is contained in this Book of Prophecies and Power to carry on things as they are predicted For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation This is but a just reward of thy endearing sufferings upon the Cross for the salvation of Mankind 10. And hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reign upon Earth In this blessed Millennium which thou hast long ago shown to thy Church in that admirable Book of Prophecies which by the Ministry of an Angel thou communicatest to thy beloved Disciple Iohn 11. And to show further how holy heavenly and Angelical those Times will be and what an Union and Agreement betwixt the Church of Christ and the Angelical Hosts it is further added And I beheld and I heard the voice of many Angels round about the Throne and the Beasts and the Elders which Beasts and Elders signifie the Church of Christ consisting of men upon the Earth And the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands 12. These innumerable companies of Angels joyn themselves to the Quire of the Church saying with a loud voice Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing as by whom the State of the Church is brought to such a blessed condition upon Earth according to the predictions of this Book of Prophecies Let all therefore be ascribed to him 13. Nay the completion of this Book of Prophecies in those Times will be such an Universal conviction of the Divinity and Sonship of Christ that he was really and in truth the foretold Messias the Beginner and Finisher of the Works of God to his Church that that will come to pass that follows And every Creature which is in Heaven and on the Earth and under the Earth and such as are in the Sea and all that are in them heard I saying Blessing Honour Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever All intelligent Beings and Spirits whether belonging
to Heaven Earth or Sea even the Infernal Spirits themselves shall in the inward powers of their minds and consciences be forced to break out and confess upon the completion of this Book of Prophecies That all Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power is due unto him that sits on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever 14. And the four Beasts said Amen Unto this the four Beasts that is the Church of Christ here upon Earth we may be sure will say Amen that is consent to such a doxologie And the four and twenty Elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever that is All the Kings and Princes of this truly Catholick and Apostolick Church will fall down and worship him that was dead but is now alive and behold he liveth for evermore that is they will devotionally adhere to him serve him and obey him who according to the promise made to his Church has brought things at last to such an Admirable Heavenly Holy Righteous and Peaceful Constitution So Glorious an Effect will there be of the completion of the Prophecies of this Book both as to Christ and also as to his Church Which shows how detestable the ingratitude is of such either shallow and frivolous or prophane Spirits or cunning obdurate Politicians that phancying it not to sute with their worldly Interest vilifie and decry it when as indeed this Book of Prophecies will prove the most effectual instrument in the hand of Providence that may be for the rooting all Atheism and Infidelity out of the world and Converting all the Kingdoms of the Earth to the Faith and Profession of our Lord Jesus Christ. CHAPTER VI. 1. HItherto the Introduction to the Prophecies of the Sealed Book we come now to the Prophecies themselves And I saw says Iohn when the Lamb opened one of the Seals that is the first Seal And I heard as it were the noise of thunder one of the four Beasts that is the first of the four Beasts the Lion whose place is towards the East saying Come and see Where we may observe how some parts of the Introductory Representation are made use of in this following Vision as some parts of the description of him that was seen amongst the golden Candlesticks are made use of in the Prefaces of the Epistles to the Churches 2. And I saw and behold a white Horse and he that sate on him had a Bow Which Heros on horseback and on a white Horse signifies a great Commander or Emperour Righteous Prosperous and Glorious in his undertaking And in that he is said to appear upon the first Beast the Lion placed on the East side his saying Come and see it is a sign that he is an Emperour from the East part of the World and in a word it is the Lion of the Tribe of Iuda that Captain of our Salvation Jesus Christ who being ascended into Glory was yet present with his Church affording them all succours to carry on their Spiritual Warfare And these Gospel-soldiers came from Iudea in the East And in that he is said to have a Bow it denotes that he aimed at something of no mean importance And this Heros on Horseback with his Bow answers to the Ephesine succession of the Church whose name imports earnest purpose or desire but the thing aimed at or designed is specified in the following words And a Crown was given unto him to wit the right of it even the Roman Imperial Crown and this Bow-man hat the mark when the Emperour Constantine turned Christian This is also the Crown promised to the Church in the Smyrnean succession Be thou faithfull unto death and I will give thee the Crown of Life the Crown of security from Pagan persecution And he went forth conquering and to conquer This Heros on the white Horse went forth conquering and to conquer till he obtained this Crown under the sixth Seal 3. And when he had opened the second Seal I heard the second Beast that is the Calf or Oxe say Come and sée 4. And there went out another Horse that was red a colour significant enough of the effusion of blood as the Oxe also of the great slaughter that was to be under this Seal and what follows plainly implies so much And power was given to him that sate thereon to take peace from the Earth and that they should kill one another and there was given to him a great Sword as a token of exceeding much blood-shed on the Earth under the second Seal This Seal therefore begins with Trajan a Spaniard and therefore an Emperour from the West In his Reign and Adrian's his successor there were so great commotions in the Empire that there were slain in those Tumults and Rebellions at least fifteen hundred thousand men 5. And when he had opened the third Seal I heard the third Beast that had a face like a man and was placed on the South say Come and see And I beheld and lo a black Horse and he that sate on him had a pair of balances in his hand The black colour betokens Gravity Severity Justice which Justice also is intimated by the face of a Man this third Beast is said to have Prudence and Justice being the proper characters of a Man Which sutes well with the last part of the description the pair of Balances in the Riders hand which argues him Severe Just Frugal and Provident 6. Which accordingly is exprest by that voice in the midst of the four Beasts And I heard a voice in the midst of the four Beasts say A measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny and see thou hurt not the oyl and wine that is the Rider of the black Horse will take special care 1. That if one Choenix of wheat be sold for a penny that three of barley shall be sold for a penny 2. That men shall live by their honest labours not by theft or rapine For Choenix signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the food for a day and Denarius the wages for a days labour 3. There shall be no stealing nor robbing but buying by measure though it should prove so hard a time that their dayes labour will but find them food 4. He will provide that they shall have a Choenix for a penny viz. that the price of bread-corn and necessary victuals shall not exceed a dayes wages And so of Wine and Oyl he will take care that there be no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no fraud in buying and selling there neither nor spoil and wast by unruly Soldiers Which prediction was egregiously fulfilled in Septimius Severus an African and therefore an Emperour from the South and in Alexander the Son of Mammea both of them notorious lovers of Justice and severe punishers of Thieves and Robbers To the latter the sight of an unjust Judge was so nauseous that he was ready to vomit at him and he was famous for that Christian Motto Do as
you would be done to Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris which he caused to be set up in his Palace and other publick places They are both taken notice of for their care and provision in Bread-corn and other necessaries of life 7. And when he had opened the fourth Seal I heard the fourth Beast that was like a flying Eagle and was placed on the North say Come and sée 8. And I looked and behold a pale Horse which colour of the Horse is very sutable to the Name of the Rider For it follows And his name that sate on him was Death And Hell followed him that is the Grave which is made a person here as Death is and as it were his Lackey to follow him And Power was given unto them over the fourth part of the Earth that is over almost all the Roman Empire which upon due compute was then a third part of the Earth as if this Power reached three fourths of the Empire To kill with the Sword and with Hunger and with Death that is with Famine and Pestilence and with the Beasts of the Earth Which ordinarily invade the Land in those Eastern and Southern parts in extream Famines and Pestilences to increase the mortality The beginning of this Seal is from Maximinus the Thracian and consequently an Emperour from the North as the place of the flying Eagle denotes that notable bird of prey and feeder on dead carcasses and therefore significant of the condition of this Seal under which concur so various modes of vast Mortality the Sword Famine Pestilence and wild Beasts Which Pestilence raging and over-running in a manner the whole Empire for the space of fifteen years and ending Anno CCLXIII from Maximinus to this year is the extent of this Seal And now for the Sword in the Interval of this Seal besides that in the Reign of Gallus and Volusianus Emperours the whole Empire in a manner was exhausted with rapine and slaughters by the Barbarians and consequently Tillage did fail and Famine ensue there were not two more bloody Beasts in the world than Maximinus and Gallienus the former for his cruelty being called Cyclops Busiris Phalaris and what not who without accusers or defence caused to be killed and spoiled of their goods no less than four thousand men and the latter his cruelty was such that he killed all the Male Sex of whole Cities and made nothing of slaying three or four thousand of his Soldiers in a day And there are many more examples of horrid cruelty by the Sword under this Seal according to the prediction thereof So admirably fully was accomplished what was predicted by these four Seals of which it is to be noted that not only parts of the Introductory Vision are made use of namely the four Beasts which usher in each Seal I mean the Visions thereof as parts of the description of him that appeared in the midst of the seven golden Candlesticks in the salutation of each Epistle are again made use of but as those parts of his description were sutable to the things signified concerning the Church the Epistle was wrote to so each Beast is sutable to the things predicted in each Seal in these four first Seals which strengthens the certainty of the Epistles being a Prophecy reaching from the beginning of the Church to the end of the World as well as this of the Sealed Book 9. And when he had opened the fifth Seal I saw under the Altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the Testimony which they held that is he saw them lye at the foot of the Altar as Sacrifices that are slain use to do slaughtered or martyred for their couragiously professing Christianity For by Faith and an invincible Firmness of mind and unspeakable Patience they had made themselves an Oblation or Sacrifice for the carrying on the Affairs of the Kingdom of Christ. Here is predicted the bloody ten years persecution begun by Dioclesian and continued by his successor which was the most terrible that befell the Church of God This is the dregs of bitterness in the Smyrnean succession of the Church where by the ten days of Tribulation this persecution may be more particularly glanced at as well as all the Ten Persecutions usually so called 10. And they cryed with a loud voice saying How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the Earth that is the Persecution of the Church under this Seal was so exceeding grievous that they called aloud for Divine Vengeance on this persecuting Empire 11. And white Robes were given to every one of them and they were adopted into the Society of the Blessed which white Robes allude to the custome under the Jewish Temple Where after a due search into their Pedigree and the unblemishedness of their body by giving them or putting on them a white Vesture they were admitted into the Court of Priests as these to serve God in Heaven And it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow-servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled that is till their fellow-Christians under Licinius Iulian and under the Arians should be slain after which due vengeance should be taken of the bloody Empire under the time of the Trumpets 12. And I beheld when he had opened the sixth Seal and lo there was a great Earthquake The Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and may have a more general signification and denote a concussion shaking and commotion of the frame of things which things are here the constitution of the Pagan Hierarchy as I may so call it or Gentilism the Religion of the Roman Empire as Pagan And the Sun became black as sack-cloath of hair and the Moon became as blood that is they were both eclipsed both the Dragon himself the Sun as Head of that Religion and the Office of their Pontifex Maximus which is next to the Draconick Majesty and there intimated by the Moon These plainly suffered an Eclipse when the Roman Emperours by professing Christianity renounced Satan with all the wicked crew of evil Spirits under him and would serve him no more nor exercise the Office of his Pontifex Maximus as is recorded of Constantine Constantius Valentinianus and Valens and Gratian would not so much as retain the name of Pontifex Maximus 13. And the stars of Heaven fell unto the Earth even as a Fig-trée casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken with a mighty wind that is all the false gods of this Diabolical Polity the frame of the Pagan Religion they fell from that Religious Honour and Worship which was given them and were trampled under-foot by the prevailing Christians as also their Priests that served them 14. And the Heaven departed as a scrowl when it is rolled together that is this Pagan Hierarchy shrivelled
and the beginning of the Creation of God and therefore he who could also put an end to it And so here there is the like vehement asseveration that the stage of the Earth must have an end at the last Thunder which will bring upon it the Conflagration For so he saith That there should be time no longer that is That there shall be here no more time upon Earth 7. Saving in the dayes of the voice of the seventh Angel when he shall sound and the mystery of God be finished as he has declared to his servants the Prophets that is Those predictions be fulfilled which in such a mystical and symbolical stile God hath foretold by his Prophets Isaiah Daniel and Ezechiel and others which reach to the very end of the world or of the stage of things on this Earth And this is the first part of this marvellous Transition from the Prophecy of the Sealed Book to that of the Opened Book 8. And the voice which I heard from Heaven namely at the beginning of the Sealed-Book-Prophecy spake unto me again in the tone of a Trumpet suppose as it did before And said Go and take the little Book which is open in the hand of the Angel which standeth upon the Sea and upon the Earth Namely in the hand of Christ now in the form of an Angel as before in the form of a Lamb but the same person still under another form as it is the same Book though opened now when sealed before But this new change in both denotes a new series of Prophecies from the beginning of the Church to the end of the world as those of the Sealed Book were 9. And I went unto the Angel and said unto him Give me the little Book And he said unto me Take it and eat it up and it shall make thy belly bitter but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey that is Though the knowledge of future things may be pleasant and tempting to the curious Reader of this Book yet when he shall throughly digest it or understand it it will be bitter by reason of the several sad and bitter things contained in it As the sad persecution of the Primitive Christians in the Smyrnean succession of the Church and the foul Apostasie of the Church into gross Idolatry under the Reign of Antichrist or the Whore of Babylon and the most barbarous persecutions of them that will not submit to her wicked and Idolatrous Tyranny And there is bitterness enough for her too at the last which makes her paramours so loth to understand this Book of Prophecies aright 10. And I took the little Book out of the Angels hand and ate it up and it was in my mouth sweet as honey and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was bitter that is my stomach was bitter which is a prefiguration of the condition of those that shall read this Book and rightly digest it that is truly understand it Though there be pleasure in the understanding it yet when these sad things touching the Church were to come it could not but be bitterness to them that is the Book is of that nature that it would so affect a Christian. 11. And he said unto me Thou must prophecy again that is Thou must run over again from the same Epocha of time this race of prophecying that is foretell as before the fate or state of the Empire so now the fate or state of the Christian Church from the beginning thereof to the end of the world Before many Peoples and Nations and Tongues and Kings that is to their faces so that they may all understand how they are concerned in this Prophecy of the opened Book And thus is the Transition from the Sealed-Book-Prophecy to the Opened-Book-Prophecy in both the parts thereof fully finished Now follow the Visions themselves of the Opened-Book-Prophecy and that in a sufficiently natural and rational order those Visions that reach from the beginning of the Church being placed first NOTES Chapter X. Vers. 7. Saving in the dayes of the voice of the seventh Angel when he shall sound c. Instead of But in the dayes I have rendered it Saving in the dayes the sense of this verse in the Original being exceeding imperfect and ungrammatical unless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be supposed to be put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saving or except And that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies so sometimes is abundantly plain out of several instances in the New Testament Mat. 20.22 But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 except to those for whom it is prepared of my Father And Mat. 7.8 compared with Mark 9.8 where the former has it And when they lift up their eyes they saw no man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 save Jesus only the latter has it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is plainly put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and our English Translation renders it save Jesus only These and other such like places has Grotius himself noted to our hand which makes it manifest that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifies as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 except or saving And being the sense is maimed in this place of the Apocalypse unless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be so rendred it is plain that it is the sense of this particle here And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have rendred when he shall sound not when he shall begin to sound as if it were restrained to the beginning of the sounding because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implies no such thing See my Ratio Synchronistica cap. 2. sect 3. Wherefore it is plain that the Angel swears there shall be no more Time on Earth saving in the space of the seventh Trumpet and that therefore there will be an end of this terrestrial Scene of things contrary to the confident conceit of those scoffing Atheists 2 Peter 3.3 And moreover that since we are at the end of all in this seventh Verse that there is a beginning of a new series of Prophecies from the first Epocha afterwards CHAPTER XI 1. ANd there was given to me a réed like unto a Rod and the Angel stood saying Rise and measure the Temple of God and the Altar and those that worship therein That is all that space that is contained within the inward Court. In the first part whereof is the Temple which consists of the Sanctum and Sanctum Sanctorum and in the latter part thereof stands the Altar of Holocausts which whole space therefore is Thysiasterion or the place of sacrificing and was not to be rendred Altar but the place where the Altar stands For the Priests did not worship in the Altar but in the place where the Altar was erected Which place the Greek Text calls Thysiasterion And in that it is said Measure them that worship therein it
Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may signifie both the bottomless pit and the sea the latter denoting multitudes of people of which this Beast would consist the other the original of this horrid Apostasie into Idolatry again as coming from the pit of hell it self and the deceits of the Devil But to mitigate S t Iohn's wonderment there is at last added And go into perdition This Apostasie shall not continue alwayes but the Empire as to its Idolatry shall perish quite and so cease to be any longer a Beast the Idolatry and Tyranny therein against the Saints of God being utterly abolished Whence it is plain that not the Pagan Empire but the Empire Paganochristian is here to be understood by the Beast and that the Times of the Apostasie of the Church are here prefigured And they that dwell on the Earth shall wonder As Chap. 13. vers 3. And all the world wondered after the Beast which is the same Beast with this in this Chapter that is were so wonderfully taken with the Beast that they were in love with him and enslaved to him and to the Paganochristian Idolatry which he countenanced whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world that is all are seduced unless the elect of God such as are afterwards termed the called chosen and faithful When they behold the Beast that was and is not and yet is Which is the very same Beast that is called the Image of the Beast Chap. 13. vers 14. For the Empire becoming Paganochristian and exercising their Idolatry upon other objects than the old Pagans did could not be properly said to be the same Pagan Empire revived again but rather the Image thereof that is an Idolatrous Empire bearing an analogie or similitude to the old Pagan Idolatrous Empire in a manner in all their strokes of Idolatry From whence it is rightly termed that was as being Idolatrous as the Pagan Empire was and is not that is to say is not that very Pagan Empire their Idolatry now having new objects and yet is viz. because the Idolatry is the same though disguised under new titles and objects This is the easie and natural sense of this description of the Beast and which necessarily imports that the Roman Empire is here understood in that succession of Time wherein it had apostatized from the pure Christian worship into Idolatry And that therefore the Woman that rides this Beast can be no Pagan Polity but the Paganochristian Hierarchy 9. And here is the mind which hath wisdom that is here lies a meaning of a great Arcanum or secret For so the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to insinuate For wisdom is according to her name and is not manifest to the vulgar Ecclesiastic 6.22 The seven Heads are the seven Mountains on which the Woman sitteth Which haply has a glance at Constantinople as well as Rome both these Cities having seven Mountains and the Greek Clergy having defiled the Eastern Church with Idolatry as well as the Latine Church the Western And the horns of the two-horned Beast we did above interpret of these two Patriarchates Rome and Constantinople 10. And there are seven Kings viz. seven forms of Soveraignty or Supreme Magistracy in the Roman Common-wealth or Empire the division of the succession of which is naturally made thus The Soveraignty is either in many or in one in many as Consuls Tribuni militum Triumviri in one as Kings Dictators and Emperours Which Emperours may be again divided into Pagan Christian Paganochristian So that according to this distribution the Beast will have just seven Heads of Blasphemy as he is described Chap. 13. vers 1. Kings Consuls Tribunes Decemviri Dictators Pagan Caesars or Emperours and Emperours Paganochristian Five are fallen viz. Kings Consuls Tribunes Decemviri Dictators these Sovereign Magistrates had past away in S t Iohn's time And one is viz. the Pagan Caesars or Emperours these were in being in his time And the other is not yet come viz. the other King for the enumeration now is of Kings in the largest sense Therefore this other King is the Christian Caesar or Emperour who had not appeared upon the stage yet And when he cometh he must continue a short space The succession of the pure Christian Emperours will last but a while the Apostasie not long after being to come in 11. And the Beast that was and is not which above was called the Beast that was and is not and yet is the Head suppose of this Beast he is the eighth King or Soveraign which are the Paganochristian Caesars at least till the Pope make himself Caesar or Supreme Paganochristian for Paganochristian Supremacy constitutes the eighth King or seventh Head of Blasphemy As it follows And is of the seven that is and is of the seven Kings that are the seven Heads of the Beast and consequently Idolatrous For though there be eight Kings yet there are but seven Heads of the Beast the Beast ceasing to be under the Christian Caesars who therefore could be no head of the Beast as being not Idolatrous themselves and the Idolatrous Empire then ceasing And goeth into perdition The Beast that was and is not and yet is or the Image of the Beast though it reign to the last Semitime of the forty two months yet his Jurisdiction about that time was to be cut shorter which happened in the Reformation when so many Provinces Principalities and Kingdoms fell off from him and at last his Idolatrous Power and Tyranny shall be quite abolished As is supposed in several passages in the lamentation over Babylon in the following Chapter 12. And the ten Horns which thou sawest are ten Kings which have received no Kingdom as yet namely in S t Iohn's time who lived in the reign of the sixth Head under which the Beast fought and was slain by Michael In which battel he is also represented with seven Heads and ten Horns but no Crowns upon the Horns their actual Coronation being not till the seventh Head But Chap. 13. vers 1. there are Crowns on his Horns because the Beast there in that Vision is the healed or revived Beast the same that the Beast that was is not and yet is And yet no mention of any Crowns in this Chapter because it had been a repugnancy to this passage which have received no Kingdom as yet and there are other infallible arguments of this Beast being the Beast under the seventh Head without that so that that indication was needless though fit and requisite in the Vision of this Beast in the thirteenth Chapter But here that which follows supplies the omission of the Crowns on the Horns But receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast that is about the same time that the Church degenerates into paganish superstitions and Idolatries will the Empire be divided into many Kingdoms the entireness of the Empire being a lett to the appearing of Antichrist according
Miracles and Kainish Persecutors had they but Power and in the mean time gross Idolaters and either lovers of lying Legends or Inventours of them These unclean Birds are kept out of the New Ierusalem but have their dismal haunts in the rubbish and ruines of the demolished Babylon as has been observed above 16. I Iesus have sent my Angel to testifie unto you these things in the Churches alluding to the Churches in Asia which signifie the whole succession of the truly Catholick and Apostolick Church to the end of the world The Churches therefore for whose use this Book was written are the Churches in Smyrna Pergamus Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia and Laodicea The whole Book of the Apocalypse is as it were an Epistle to them all as they are concerned in their several Successions Which passage is a farther confirmation of the Prophetical sense of the Epistles to the seven Churches in Asia I am the Root and the Off-spring of David * Which may denote his Divinity and Humanity as also his being the Off-spring or Son of David the true Messias his Right to the Kingdoms of the Earth as it is foretold in the second Psalm Ask of me and I will give thee the Nations for thine Inheritance and the utmost parts of the Earth for thy possession And therefore because of the greatness and glory of his Kingdom it follows And the bright Morning-Star In the Sardian Interval he was onely the Morning-Star here the bright Morning-Star which is a sign this saying glances at the Philadelphian Interval in the commencement thereof under the last Vial which sutes with the saying of S t Iohn in the next Verse 17. And the Spirit and the Bride say Come The Spirit because this is the commencement of those Times that are properly called the Reign of the Spirit by the Cabbalists And the voice of the Bride is added as a Testimony of the Churches desire of the settlement of things into the Glorious Condition of the New Ierusalem upon the destruction of the blood-drunken Idolatrous Babylon And let him that heareth say Come that is Let him pray for the acceleration of so glorious a settlement of things And then our Saviour speaks for this latter part of the Chapter from vers 10. to the end is a kind of Dialogue as both Peganius and Grotius have observed And let him that is athirst come that is He that sincerely hungers and thirsts after Righteousness And whosoever will that is whosoever has a Will and Desire let him take the waters of Life freely Let him enjoy the happy priviledge of this Living City of God and so grow up in all true Holiness and Godliness in Communion of the Spirit This priviledge shall he enjoy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gratis or freely without money as the Prophet speaks 18. For I testifie unto every man that heareth the words of the Prophecy of this Book If any one shall add unto these things Interpreters and not without reason take this to be a commination to terrifie men from being so negligent as to let any Errata slip into the Copies of this Book of Prophecies where every word was so curiously weighed by the Pen-man thereof or from being so bold as on purpose to alter any thing therein by adding or taking away * But I conceive also there is besides this a 〈◊〉 sense and that it is a prohibition from bringing in their carnal Inventions to add inconsistently with the pure Apostolick Doctrines and Institutes of this City Whosoever would do any such thing God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this Book whether they concern this Life or that which is to come the sulphurous lake of fire which is the second Death 19. And if any man will take from the words of the Book of this Prophecy and be faint-hearted or of little or no Faith and contend there never will be such an Excellent State of the Church upon Earth God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life and out of the Holy City and from the things that are written in this Book He shall never be able to enter into the blessed New Ierusalem state by reason of his unbelief 20. He that testifieth these things saith Surely I come quickly that is for the fulfilling of the Visions of the first six Seals and what contemporizeth with them to assist his Church and support them in their Smyrnean Affliction and to defeat the Enemy under the sixth Seal To which Saint Iohn answers Amen Even so Come Lord Iesus This was seasonable for Saint Iohn to say in his time in reference to Christs Coming to subvert the Power of the old Dragon and abolish Paganical Idolatry and Tyranny As it was also in the Pergamenian and Thyatirian Intervals for the oppressed and afflicted Church to say in respect of his coming to judge the Great Whore the Pagano-christian Hierarchy who had been drunk with the blood of the Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus And in the Sardian that he would consummate the Judgement begun to be executed on the false Prophet who is perfectly to be consumed under the seventh Vial. And lastly in the Laodicean Interval it will be again very seasonable by reason of the inclining of things again to worse to pray Come Lord Iesus come quickly to that general judgement when Death shall be swallowed up into Victory and all the Saints shall be translated into the incorruptible state of heavenly Bliss and Glory And this whole Book of Prophecies being as it were one entire Epistle Monitory to the Church of God throughout all Ages of the world as there is mention Vers. 16. of witnessing these things to the Churches in Asia no doubt that is over the face of the whole Earth and successively through all Ages or Intervals from Saint Iohn's time to the end of the world Smyrnean Pergamenian Thyatirian Sardian Philadelphian and Laodicean This whole Book I say being such a general Monitory Epistle it is but sutable that he conclude with that usual form of valediction in the Epistles of the Apostles 21. The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with you all Amen NOTES CHAPTER XXII Vers. 16. Which may denote his Divinity and Humanity c. This any one that firmly believes the Divinity of Christ and that he is the Eternal Logos united with the Humane Nature will easily admit to be suggested here though Grotius is content to understand no more by Radix Davidis than Surculus Davidis and I must confess that according to the use of the Hebrew word Radix is sometimes the same with Surculus But being that Root ordinarily signifies that from which another grows not that which grows from another and that this sense here is both true and more ample and sublime and therefore more sutable to the Genius of the Apocalypse I thought it was more probable to be meant here as also in the fifth Chapter And generally the Ancients go
are occurr we are carefully to distinguish when they signify the nature of a thing and when existence As when it is said And there are Seven Kings it does not signify the present existence of them for it were a contradiction to what follows but that there are seven several kinds of Governours that appertain to the Roman State or Empire whereby its nature or condition is illustrated as to this point but nothing yet is defined touching their present Existence or Non-existence But when it follows Five are faln and one is is here plainly signifies existence and because it is in the present Tense present existence namely at the time he was to whom it was spoken And so it is vers 18. And the Woman which thou sawest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that great City which raigneth There 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put together signify present existence in this Interpretation of the Angel there being no indication to the contrary but rather a forcible urging thereunto by that repeated demonstrative Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which the full sense in English cannot be otherwise rendred than thus that great City that City that raigneth c. Which plainly denotes a known City then existent and pointed to But I cannot insist on these things I hasten to the last objection 5. To which I briefly answer That the more true those particulars are the more they confirm my Mystical Interpretation of the Whore of Babylon which Chap. 18. I interpret not of Rome against which Interpretation all these Particulars run but of the Roman Hierarchie Whom I understand also by Babylon Chap. 17. So that all this hailshot flyes quite over my head and touches not an hair thereof We having thus brightened this Key and smoothed it as it were and freed it from all those flaws and rust that R. H. phansied to stick to it we shall now show what an excellent Key it is for the unlocking the meaning of the Sealed and Opened Book-Prophecies For as that Key of the Prophecy of the Seven Churches by taking notice only of the obvious order of the Churches as they are set down and of the meaning of the Paronomastical allusions of the names of them and of the persons concerned in them and applying them to History gives the assured sense of that Prophecy So by this present Key of the Prophecies of the Opened and Sealed Book taking notice of the order into which the Visions of these Prophecies are cast by vertue of the Synchronisms which I have maintained to be true we are enabled to apply every Vision to its proper time in History as there by Paronomastical allusions so here by the knowledge of the Prophetical Iconismes And so with judgment to discern what events answer such and such Visions And now more fully and orderly to illustrate the admirable use of this Key that is of the Interpretation of the Angel Chap. 17. vers 8. First we may observe how it assuring us that the Beast that was and is not and yet is is the Roman Empire divided into many Kingdoms and tainted again with new Paganlike Superstitions and Idolatries which his very description also makes good And that the Paganochristian head of this Empire should shortly succeed the Seventh King the purely Christian Caesars how it is manifest I say from hence that this Beast with the Whore riding him began many hundred years ago even as soon as the Empire was dividing into many Kingdoms and apostatizing into a Paganochristian kind of Idolatry which was about four hundred and odd years after Christ. Now let us see what further comes of this Secondly By carefully comparing the ten-horned Beast Chap. 13. with the ten-horned Beast Chap. 17. and the two-horned Beast with the Whore in this Chapter we shall find that the two Beasts be one and the same Beast and that the two-horned Beast and the Whore denote the same thing This I have demonstrated in my Synopsis Prophetica Book 1. Chap. 10. by no less than eighteen agreements betwixt the two ten-horned Beasts and by nine agreements betwixt the two-horned Beast and the Whore So that no man that is in his wits can be so sceptical as not to be convinced of it But Thirdly Of the ten-horned Beast Chap. 13. it is said vers 5. That power was given unto him to continue forty two months I demand here of R. H. has the Roman Empire since the time of its being divided into many Kingdoms continued but forty two months or three years and an half Is this a likely measure of time for the continuance of an Empire Nay is it not plain that this divided Roman Empire thus apostatizing and apostatized more and more into a Paganlike Idolatry had continued so near forty two Prophetical Months that is months of years viz. 1260. years till in the last Semitime of these 1260. years the Reformation broke out which was the expiration of the Entireness of the raign of the Beast But in the mean time by vertue of this Key of the Angel it is exceeding evident that the forty two months are not to be understood litterally but of Prophetical Months forty two whereof make 1260. years And consequently that all the Visions that Synchronize with this ten-horned Beast have the same extent of duration As the Two-horned Beast The Whore The Woman in the wilderness The Sealed company of Virgins The Outer Court troden down by the Gentiles The two Witnesses mourning in Sackcloath and The dead bodies of the witnesses lying three days and an half in the street of the great City For I conceive that as the Womans abode in the wilderness is first denoted by 1260. days and after in the same Chapter by a Time and Times and half a Time so the continuance of the sad condition of the Witnesses is first set down by 1260. days but after by three days and an half to answer to a Time and Times and half a Time which is three Times and an half And that three Times and an half are signified by three days and an half on purpose to teach us to reckon the duration of all these Synchronals not by the curiosity of a Prophetical month much less of a Prophetical day but as it is originally in Daniel by semidays or half-days after the beginning of the expiration of the seventh of which Half-days the Witnesses were to rise as they did But this by the bye but very worthy the noting All these Synchronals I say of the Prophecy of the Opened Book are necessarily to be measured by Prophetical Semitimes that is the duration of every one of them is to be about seven Semitimes a Semitime consisting of one hundred and eighty years And so must also those two Synchronals of the Sealed Book-Prophecy The six first Trumpets and the one hundred forty four thousand sealed Servants of God they being synchronal to these Fourthly from whence it will further follow that
and prophane in these words vers 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Outer Court of the Temple leave out and measure it not as being to be trodden down by the Gentiles and to be defiled by a new kind of Gentilism and Idolatry contrary to the Word of God which is the true measure of all Christian Rites and Usages with which these times not squaring they are called Incommensurate or Asymmetral So fitly do these two Courts denote these two different States of the Church But they signifie not only the order of Dignity or Worth of one before the other but of Time also for the Inner was before the Outer And moreover there is the same proportion betwixt the Inner and the Outer Court which is as two to seven according to Villalpandus his compute that there is betwixt the Symmetral times of the Church and the Asymmetral Thus have I crowded in more than could be well contained within the ordinary compass of an Epilogue but it was out of an extreme solicitude that nothing might be wanting to the clear understanding and certain assuring of the truth of this our Exposition of the Apocalypse it being of so mighty concernment for the Christian World that this Book be rightly understood that men may know what Religion they ought to adhere unto and what to forsake and that the great Potentates and Prelates of Christendom seeing the State of the Church thus lively and truly represented in this Looking-glass of Divine Providence may conscientiously guide their Affairs accordingly with judgment and prudence removing what is an offence in the eyes of God and like Fathers of their People and true Sons of the most High after so long a Tyrannical Reign of Antichrist bethink themselves of the further introducing and enlarging the Righteous and Comfortable Kingdom of Christ which according to the Romish Expositors themselves is thus described Isai. Chap. 32. Behold a King shall reign in Righteousness and Princes shall rule in judgment And a man shall be that is men shall be and especially they in power an hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest as rivers of waters in a dry place as the shadow of a great rock in a weary Land Such nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers will the Higher powers be in the Reign of Christ to all his True and Living Members whenas in the Reign of Antichrist or the Roman Hierarchy they are the only men that are exposed to danger and have been slaughtered and massacred and burnt with fire and faggot some hundred thousands of them for keeping Faith and a good Conscience towards God upon pretence of their being Hereticks Whenas there can be no Heresie but it must be the profession of something contrary to the truly Catholick and Apostolick Faith whereas the Reformed Churches generally hold all those points of Faith that were professed in the Symmetral Times of the Church about four hundred years after Christ before the Apostasie came in And certainly the Christian Faith was abundantly complete in those Primitive Ages and wanted nothing But the Dissenters from the Church of Rome are held Hereticks by them for not embracing such Articles and Rites and Usages as are maintained by them for mere worldly Interest for encreasing the Power and Revenue of Holy Church as they call it though in what it differs from the Reformed Churches suppose this of England for Example Holy Church or the Roman Hierarchy are nothing else but a Body Politick of Men that drive on a Secular Design under a Religious pretense and so may be looked upon rather as a Secular Polity than Spiritual but Christian no further than as to the profession of that Christianity we both agree in a subserviency to their worldly designs For if they did in good earnest believe and love the Ancient Apostolick Christianity which obtained in the Symmetral Ages of the Church which was then consummate and abundantly sufficient to Salvation they could not murder those that do heartily profess it the rest being no part of that consummate Christianity but at best mere moss and filth added to it From whence it follows that no one that suffers in the cause of the Roman Hierarchy or Church of Rome as opposite to the Reformed Churches suffers as a Martyr for Christianity but as a Souldier of fortune that espouses the cause of a worldly Polity that guilds it self over with a specious Title of holy Church And truly it were very well if they quitted their lives thus as mere Souldiers of a secular Power But they giving testimony to all the Abominations of the Roman Religion by their thus suffering for they suffer not for the primitive Apostolick Faith wherein we are all agreed they giving testimony I say to all their Idolatries gross superstitions wicked and Tyrannical Laws against the true Members of Christ whom they nickname Hereticks which things make the Roman Hierarchy the real Antichrist they are not only not the Martyrs of Christ but the real Martyrs of Antichrist they suffering for such Doctrines and Practices as are against the law of Christ and are the very support constitution and peculiar interest of Antichrist But as many as suffer by this Roman Hierarchy as the faithful servants of Christ in Obedience to his Laws that are contrary to the Institutes Doctrines and Practices of Antichrist they die as the real Martyrs of Christ and faithful witnesses against Antichrist their witnessing serving no Secular design but the keeping faith and a good Conscience and the approving themselves the sincere servants of Christ. The main thing therefore that I aim at is this That they that suffer by the Roman Hierarchy instigating the Princes of Christendom to persecute the conscientious being the real Martyrs of Christ and their persecution only for such things as are both against the Laws of Christ and only for the Interest of the Antichristian Hierarchy nothing for the secular Powers themselves such as are the Invocation of Saints the Worshipping of Images the Adoration of the Host the Doctrine of Transubstantiation than which nothing can be imagined more reproachful and blasphemous against the person of Christ it exposing him to be swallowed down into that bag of filth the bodies of men or to be imprisoned in a Pyxis to be gnawn with rats and mice or if fallen to the ground and he cannot stay himself I mean this Deus Panaceus this Breaden-God of the Pontificians to be licked up by every obscene dog And yet as glibly as he goes down he is a whole man with head arms and legs with flesh and bones and thus all swallowed down at once without gnawing or chawing nay and that which is still more prodigious it is a whole living man in health and vigour with arms and legs able to run away from either mouse rat or dog or chase them away from himself and yet he suffers himself to be gnawn and eaten up by these vermin I say these