Numb 2. A Paraphrase upon Rev. 1. The Plain Meaning of the First Chapter of the Revelation set forth in way of Paraphrase and Notes Being also an Exhortation not to Rest in the Literal Sense of the Epistles but to seek out for such a one as may be Answerable to the Stateliness of their Common Frontispiece I Know Thy Works Line upon line line upon line here a little and there a little Esay XXVIII 10 13. Which things are an Allegory Gal. IV. 14. THE Reader is here suppos'd to have had a sight of the former Sheet where I explain the three first Verses and so I proceed to the Business in hand which is A Paraphrase upon Rev. 1. V. 1. The Revelation whereof Jesus Christ is Author as God and not as Man for no Man is Capable of such Fore-knowledge The Main End and Scope of it being this viz. To Fore shew unto His Servants some things of Great Importance near approaching to wit Those Things which in the XXI and XXII Chapp are said to have bin Shewed to John by one of the Vial-angels The same Joh. who V. 2. has Recorded the Doctrin and Miracles of Jesus Christ and was himself a Present Witness of them V. 3. Now for Encouragement to the Studious of these Mysteries Blessed is he that Interpreteth saith the Spirit and they that attend to the words of This Prophecy and Live answerably and Observe the wonderful Workings of God's Providence in bringing to pass the said great Things Predicted in it For the Time of their Accomplishment is Now at hand it being the latter end of the Vial-times which the Revelation chiefly addresses to before which Times it could not be rightly Understood and in respect of which Only it is properly call'd a REVELATION Notes Observe here that although the Blessedness may after a sort be so interpreted as to belong to the Reader even of the Literal sense of this Prophecy there being many Excellent things appearing in its very Superfice yet those words for the time is at Hand which are assign'd as the Reason of the Blessedness cannot be applied but only with regard to the Mystical or Prophetic sense of it But here we are to note also That the Visions of this Book begin at V. 9. All before that is but a Preface containing the Title the Author the main Scope and Design the Scribe the Benefit of Reading it All which are compris'd in the 3 first verses Afterwards as John had received a Commandment at V. 11. to write what he had seen or should see and send it to the Churches c. so in the 4th verse he begins his Epistle to them in these words V. 4. John to the seven Churches which are in Asia Grace be unto you and peace from God who in these Visions has bin represented to me under the Title of Which is and Which was and Which is to come Chap. 4.8.16.5 and from the Holy Ghost who has bin Represented to me as Seven Spirits before the Throne of God Chap. 4.5 Notes One Church consider'd as divided into Seven Intervals is represented in this Prophecy as seven Churches just as One Empire for the like reason is set forth as Seven Beasts or Empires Chap. XVII For that Empire under its sixth Head is represented as a Dragon Chap XII 3. under its seventh as a Leopard c. Chap XIII 2. So a Book with One Seal consisting of One Continued Mystery all along is call'd Chap. V. 1. a Book with 7 Seals Because the Book is there Consider'd as Divided into Seven Parts And in like manner the Ministers of the Church who in this Prophecy are Usually call'd the Angel of it if the Church it self be consider'd as Divided into seven Intervals or Churches are call'd Seven Angels These Angels are also called Spirits Chap. 4. 5. V. 6. And as the Lamb is sometimes Christ and sometimes his Church see my Notes on Chap. 4.9 and the Sitter on the Throne sometimes God and sometimes the King according as the sense Directs so a spirit is sometimes the Ministers of the Church and sometimes the Holy Ghost himself under whom they Minister who has constituted them his Overseers and who acts in them and by them Lastly as one Church is 7 Churches one Angel seven Angels so one Spirit is seven Spirits according to the seven-fold Division of the Church in which he is And whereas these seven Spirits are said to be before the Throne which argues them to be Ministring Spirits it will come all to one if we understand them of the Holy Ghost as I have said consider'd as the Actuater and the influencer of his Ministers that is as making good our Saviours Promise that he should Abide in and with the Church for ever John 14.16 c. For God is represented no otherwise according to the Mystical sense of this Prophecy than as Ruling in and by some King nor Christ than as suffering or Triumphing in his Church nor the Holy Ghost than as Acting in his Ministers V. 5. And from Jesus Christ who is the Faithful Witness who laid down his Life for the Truth 's sake and is Risen again as the First-fruits of them that sleep in him 1 Cor. 15.20 and who by his Faithful servants has frequently done the same as hath bin shewed me in these Visions Who presently after his Resurrection became in his Own person The Prince of the Kings of the earth and in these Visions has bin Exhibited as such in his Vicegerents on Earth Chap. 22.3 4 5.21.23 24 25 26. Unto him who in his Own Person hath Loved us and Washed us from our sins in his own Blood V. 6. And as hath bin shewed me in the following Representations hath by the Ministry of Reformed Princes and particularly of those of England highly Honour'd us both Laics and Clergy-Men with great Power and Large Revenues to be employed in the service of God and his Father and now no more after the Restauration of the Church of England to be taken from us To Him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen Notes The main Business of the Revelation being to set-forth the Honour of Christ its Author V. 1. may be conceived as the Reason why St. John singles Him out from the other Persons of the Trinity contenting himself with a Bare Mention of the Father and the Holy Spirit and expresly ascribing Glory and Dominion to Christ only a thing very well worth our Observation For this is well accommodated to the Business in hand which is per varios casus Discrimina to bring us in the End to that most Glorious and most Desirable Establishment of Christ's Eternal Kingdom in the world Chap. XXI and XXII and withall to assure us of our Saviour's Divinity With relation to which things to wit the Kingdom of Christ on earth and his Equality with the Father we are also to understand the next two verses thus V. 7. Behold he is Coming speedily
in his Chosen servant to take Vengeance of his Enemies attended with a great Retinue His Glory shall be very Manifest Then to Every body even to those that had a hand in his Own or in any of his servants Death to His and their Persecutors and Murderers And it shall be matter of Remorse to all Earthly Sensual and Degenerate Professors that ever they or their Fathers had bin concern'd in any such Injurious and Destructive Practices They shall then Repent and give Glory to God by their Unfeigned Conversion And so the Tyranny of Antichrist shall be Abolished and the Kingdom of Christ Establisht in the World Even so Amen says every Pious Soul Notes The Subjects of Rome being noted by Waters Rev XVII 15. the Regnant Part is left to be understood by the Earth which like an Island Overlooketh Presideth over or as the Spirit himself there expresseth it sitteth upon those Waters And thus is that Type of Earth constantly taken wherever it occurs throughout the Prophecy And we may Observe also That as this verse has Relation to the Kingdom of Christ on Earth so the Next as has bin said is a Declaration of his Divinity according to the Letter and of his Never-ceasing Care of his Church according to the spiritual meaning of it Thus V. 8. I am that Very God to whom belong all Titles of Honour to Him ascribed by the Ancient Prophets More particularly with respect to my Church I am Alpha and Omega the the Deginning and the Ending saith the Lord Jesus Christ compare V. 11 13 17 18. the First and the Last a Title by the Prophet Esay Appropriated to the only True God that is to Me for he saw my Glory and spake those words of Me which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty And accordingly as will be seen evidently from the following Visions I continue with my Church as I have promised them throughout All Ages Mat. XXVIII ult Notes These verses hitherto we are to look upon as the Preface setting-forth the Main Scope of the Book and particularly Insisting on the Chief Vision of all Which had also bin represented to the Prophet Last from Chap. XXI 9. c. to the end of the Revelation and which for both those Reasons to wit both as the Last and the Chiefest may well be conceiv'd to have left the strongest Impression on his Mind and to have lien Uppermost in his Meditations when having bin a Spectator of the whole scene he came to send an account of it accorning to Order to the seven Churches The following verses to the 12th are a Plain Declaration of some Circumstances relating to St. John's Receiving the Visions and of great Use for our Understanding the meaning of them Especially that Circumstance of his being in the Isle of Patmos as will appear by and by V. 9. I John who also am your Brother and Companion in Tribulation and in the Kingdom and Patience of Jesus Christ was in the Isle that is called Patmos for the Word of God and for the Testimony of Jesus Christ Which my Desolate and Disconsolate Condition as an Instance of his Tender Care over All that are Afflicted for his sake he was pleased to make an Opportunity of imparting Great and Glorious Mysteries to me in the following manner V. 10. I was in a Rapture or Ecstasy on a certain Sunday of all the days in the week which the Lord will have to be observed in a peculiar manner and to be employed to his own Honour in holy Exercises and Meditations and I heard behind me a great Voice as of a Trumpet resembling the Voice of the Ministers of Christ Esay LVIII 1. Saying I am Alpha and Omega the First and the Last the Church before the Reformation and the Church Reformed and what 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 unto Philadelphia and unto Laodicea V. 12. And being thus posited in the Isle of Patmos and turning the Byes of my Mind as directed by the Bare sound of the words towards Asia I could not perceive the Voice that spake to me For which cause it was that the Voice spake Behind me that thereby I might be obliged to turn my Mind Westward towards Rome by which was intimated to me and in Me to Every Reader of the following Epistles That there are Two Senses of the Name of Every Church the One Litteral which is the Fore right sense and the Other Mystical which sounds Behind us as it were so that we must Turn our Imagination from the Letter ere we can Discern the True Purport of the Epistles The same thing which is also signified in the Sealed Book by the writing within the Book which could not be read without Unsealing the Book and the writing on the Back side Obvious to Every eye Rev. 1. Wherefore being thus Turned towards Rome I perceived what I lookt for to wit an Appearance of seven Golden Candlesticks of Asia a very Faint Resemblance as may appear from All accounts that are given of the Epistles in the Literal way but of the Church of Rome consider'd as Divided after the Custom of this Prophecy in other Cases into seven Intervals a most Bright and Lively one Notes This I hope to make appear by the following Exposition Only we may observe that as the Empire of Rome is set forth by the Mystical name of Babylon Chap. XVII so the Church of Rome here by the Churches of Asia And as the Mystical Babylon has some Resemblance to the Real one so no doubt the Mystical Churches of Asia to their Prototypes So that the Epistles may be accommodated to the Real Churches of Asia after a sort and as the Vision Rev. XVII may be to Real Babylon but there appears no Life nor Spirit in them til they are applied to the Mystical Churches V. 13. And in the midst of the Seven Candlesticks I saw the Lord Jesus represented in the Form of the Rulers of his Church his Immediate Ministers and Vicegerents from the Beginning to the ending which we are to consider as an Exemplification of the Title he had just before assum'd of being the First and the Last In which the first thing that offer'd it self was his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint calls one of the Priestly Habits Exod. XXVIII 4. a Long Garment down to the foot implying that Government of the Church of Rome and Inspection and Care of the Faithful in that Communion from first to last should be for the far greatest part in the hands of Priests next under Christ And those Grave Ancient Men agreeing to the Representation of the Head and Hair of the Apparition which were White like Wool as White as Snow And his Eyes were as a Flame of Fire burning with Zeal against Idolatry compare Deut. XIII 8. Acts. XVII 16. Ps
LXXIX 5. c. which was the great Offence that still exercis'd the Patience of the Faithful all along till in the Latter times of that Church for Rome is not reckon'd as a Church in this Prophecy after the Reformation which are signified by the Feet of this Appearance for which comp Dan. II. 33. c. Burning the servants of Christ alive became the Stated Revenge of their Opposing Idolatry And therefore were the Feet of the Son of Man represented like unto Fine Brass as if they burned in a Furnace and his Voice was as the sound of many Waters that is Peoples and Nations of which the Church of Rome the great Metropolis of the Empire all along but especially since the Constantinian Revolution has consisted V. 16. And by Miracles Signs and Mighty Deeds and Extraordinary Providences as with his Right Hand he still Supported his Faithful servants the Preachers of his Word and for the more effectual Enlargement of his Kingdom rais'd up Emperors and other Potentates to joyn their Temporal Power with the Spiritual of his Priests which like a Two-edged sword might Cut Both ways And the splendor of his Countenance whereby he brought Men under his Obedience Acts. IX 3.4 XXVI 13.14 Psal LXVII 1 2. and signifies here the Light of his Glorious Gospel was as the San shineth in his Strength Which being both the Uppermost or First part of the Image and yet the Last thing I was directed to take Notice of is a sign That it ought to be referr'd both to the First and Last Times of the Church signified by the Image to wit That as she was at first Converted and Particularly her first Bishop St. Paul by such a Glorious Light so she should be at Last Reform'd by such a nother Spiritually understood Notes The Right Hand of God is used in Scripture 1. For Gods Miraculous Power Exod. XV. 6. Acts. 11.33 V. 31. 2. For Regal Power God's Peculiar Blessing and Direction Isal XVII 7. XVIII 5. Rev. V. 1. 3. For Both Psal XLIV 3. LXXVIII 54. And thus also Christ or any Good King that fights his Battels may be call'd The Man of God's Right Hand Psal LXXX 17. wherefore by its Place in the Image before us where the Voice as the sound of many Waters on the one side has a Manifest Aspect upon the Mighty Encrease of the Church of Rome upon Constantine's coming to the Empire and the Two-edged Sword on the other side to the Two-fold Power that the Church thereby attain'd I cannot but think that the Right-Hand ought to be referred Principally to that Notable Deliverance of the Church by Constantine the Great and to the Favour of many Pious Princes afterwards consequent thereupon who shew'd themselves Nursing Fathers to the Family of Christ V. 17. Whereupon I fell at his Feet as Dead and was therein a Type of the Reformation that is of those who by the Zealous Preaching of Wickliff Luther Calvin and many other Godly Ministers of the Gospel the Light of Learning also breaking-out with a surprizing Lustre at the same time were brought-off to Purity of Religion from the Romish Superstitions Notes The Feet of Christ are very fitly set to denote the Stanch Stable and suffering part of his Church by reason of that Ancient Prediction which they manifestly allude to concerning the Serpents bruising the seed-of-the-Womans Heel Gen. III. 15. Now there is in this Hieroglyphic a three-fold mention of Christ's Feet One in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Garment down to the Foot in the First part of the Description Which may be referr'd to the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul the Basis or Foundation of this Church of Rome as the Apostles are call'd Eph. 11.20 The next just after the Description of his Fiery or Jealous Eyes which is very appositely seconded with that of his Feet like unto Fine Brass as if they burned in a Farnace For they that could not endure to see the True God dishonoured by Idolatry were sure to be cast into a Burning Fiery Furnace This therefore signifies the Fiery Trials of that Church both before Constantine and also before the Reformation It signifies those before Constantine by vertue of its place in the Description For it is follow'd by that Voice like the sound of many Waters which refers as has bin observed already to that Vast Augmentation of the Churches Numbers made by Constantine's coming to the Roman Throne which Advancement of his came just to Close-up the Hottest of all the Ten Persecutions And it signifies also the Persecutions that immediately Preceded the Reformation in vertue of the place that the Feet have in the Body which is the Last and Lowest of all whereby are signified the Last times of that Church that is represented by the Image Dan. 11.33 The third mention of Christ's Feet is in the words we are now upon to wit next after that of the Glorious Light whereby the Reformation was effected When I saw his Countenance so exceeing bright and dazling I fell saies the Prophet at his Feet as dead Whereby is implied That the Reformation was to be brought in immediately upon that horrid Burning of the Faithful in Queen Mary's days for their constant Profession of the Faith Which is here expressed by the Feet of Christ like fine Brass as if they Burned in a Furnace And he laid his Right hand upon me that is And by the Ministry of Kings particularly of the English he laid as it were his Right hand upon me see the Notes on the former verse and bid me not to Fear for He would certainly stand by me in the Profession of his Holy Truth For says he again to me I am the First and the Last am Present with my Church throughout All Ages both with the Primitive and the Reformed both with the Church of Rome and with the Church of England c. I am he that liveth and was dead both in my own Person and in the King and Church of England Chap. V. 6. and behold I am now alive again in both respects for evermore it being not possible that either I or the said Church should suffer Death again a second time Amen And have the Keys of Hell and of Death whereby I am empour'd to destroy all Enemies and am now about to put in use the Power I am invested with Notes These Keys are an Emblem of Christ's Kingdom which when he comes to settle in the world he brings in his hand the Key of the Bottomless Pit to shut Satan up into it that he may no longer have his Liberty to deceive the world Chap. XX. 1 3. And thus we see in this Hieroglyphic a Notable Representation of the Church and of the Lord Jesus in it and with it all along from First to Last In the Church of Rome first and upon her Rejection whereof more in the Epistle to Laodicea see also Rom. XI 20 21 22. in the Church of England But here we