25 is most admirably applicable to the Antichristian Roman State it being the only Conspicuous and Remarkable number in that Hierarchy describing the Papacy in its most Essential Parts that Church having been Fatally led to lay its very Foundations upon it it having at first Five and Twenty Cardinals and its Creed consisting of Five and Twenty Articles as the Apostles doth of Twelve as Mr. Potter hath accurately shewn in these and many other Particulars 7. It may be observed That as the Number 666. can by no means be made out of 12 whatsoever Number you multiply it by so neither can the Antichristian State any way arise out of the Apostles Doctrine Lastly The Number 666. consisting of the same number in all its places from Vnits to Hundreds is upon that account as Grotius observes on the place very Remarkable according to the Opinion of the Wise Pagans who made their Vows in the same proportion And because it consists of an entire (a) Poli Synops in locum Senary of numbers arising by degrees from Vnits to Tens and from thence to Hundreds and that in a proportion very agreeable by the multiplication of 6 by 10 so as that 6 are found 10 times in 60 and 60 10 times in 600 it may from thence be thought to signifie the seeming Comeliness and Proportion of the Antichristian State which is so great that it is apt to deceive those who do not exercise Wisdom to discern things it being at first sight a Number more proportionable than 144 the Number of Christ's Kingdom So necessary is it to count numbers and to extract the Roots of them by stripping things of their Outward seeming Appearances although never so Comely and searching into the very intimate nature and Essence of them CHAP. XIV The Text. 1 AND I looked or was in Vision and lo a Lamb i. e. Christ stood to import his settlement in his Government and his Rule and Defence of his people Psalm 2.6 Mic. 5.4 on the Mount 1 Zion i. e. appeared in an exalted and an established State in his Kingdom Psalm 48. Mic. 4.1 Heb. 12.22 and with him an 2 Hundred Forty and Four Thousand i. e. a Body of Apostolical Pure Christians Chap. 7.4 having his i. e. Christ's Fathers Name 3 written in their Foreheads i. e. openly adjudged by God and professing themselves to be the true Followers of Christ See on Chap. 7.3 Annotations on CHAP. XIV 1 Zion (a) Josh 15.63 2 Sam. 5 1-10 1 Chron. 11 1-9 2 Chron. 3.1 Psalm 48.2 was the Mountain or upper part of Jerusalem on one side of which stood the House or Palace of David as the Temple did on the North side of it called Mount Moriah which was reckoned as a part of Mount Zion This Mountain was taken by David from the Jebusites whom the Children of Judah were not able to drive out because of their Vnbelief and was the first Exploit undertaken by him after his being anointed King over all Israel upon the Submission paid unto him by all the Tribes of Israel and their acknowledgment of their being his Bone and his Flesh wherein they were Types of the Obedience that all Nations are to pay to Christ and of their becoming Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones Ephes 5.30 David took it when he began to (a) 2 Sam. 5.4 Luke 3.22 23. Reign being Thirty Years old according to the Age when our Saviour began to preach gather Members for his Kingdom and cast out Devils as David also dispossessed the (b) 2 Sam. 5 6-8 Gregories Observat Chap. 7. Jebusites and cast out their Tutelary Idols the Hatred of his Soul called by him and his Followers by way of Sarcasm and Contempt the Blind and the Lame as having Eyes but seeing not and Feet but walking not according to the like Expression used by him Psalm 115. When he had taken it he fortified the Strong Hold of it and afterwards built there and made a Beautiful City calling it the City of David In all which he was a Type of Christ as that Mountain Strong Hold and City were of the Strength Stability and Beauty of Christ's Kingdom especially as it shall appear at last in a most glorious manner triumphing over all Heathen and Antichristian Idols when the Lord shall set his King upon his Holy Hill of Zion and Christ shall stand and feed his People and be great unto the Ends of the Earth Psalm 2.6 Micah 5.4 Only here it may be observed 1. That as the taking of this Mountain was the first Atchievement of David after he came to the Kingdom before he was fully established in it and had built his City so may this Appearance of Christ be some Preparatory State of his Kingdom called the Kingdom of David in Scripture rising (a) Micah 4.1 2. to the Tops of the Mountains and exalting it self above the Hills that so the Everlasting Gospel might be heard and People might flow unto it but somewhat different from the State of its full Establishment when his Kingdom shall appear in its utmost Glory as in the Description of it given Heb. 12.22 they first come unto Mount Sion before they come unto the City of the Living God and the Heavenly Jerusalem as is more fully shewn on the Three last Chapters where this whole matter is largely considered 2. That here is represented some Exalted State of the Heavenly Tabernacle it self typified by Mount Sion which was not yet of so high and so exalted a Nature as that which it shall afterwards arrive to when it shall appear as in the highest Heavens or in its Heavenly State it being probable that there are Exaltations of Christ's Kingdom in the Archetype of it in the Heavenly Places of which the several Advances it receives here on Earth are the Counterpart Patterns and Example according to what hath been already discoursed on Chap. 12.1 and will be shewn more largely hereafter it being very difficult to give Account of many things in this Prophecy without this Supposition 2 As this Vision relates to the State of Christ's Kingdom upon Earth there is hereby signified a Body of Apostolical pure Christians appearing in a State of open and publick profession of Christ's pure Religion but as it refers to the State of things in the Heavenly Places hereby is denoted an appearance of the very 144000. mentioned in the seventh Chapter who are the Saints and Witnesses departed in the Lord. 3 They were before sealed and in a hidden and invisible State but now they have a Name written that is appearing legible upon their Foreheads and that the Name of God whereby may be understood some Approbation of them and Declaration on God's part before whose Throne they are Verse 5. as to be judged and approved by him that they were Holiness unto the Lord in allusion to the Inscription on the High-Priest's Frontlet Exod. 20.36 and that they were worthy of the Exalted State they now
Souls to call them back or retain them when they are departed out of the Body and of Death it self to keep men from it and therefore fear not for if you were really Dead I could raise you up again All which looks with a Full Eye on that great First Resurrection c. 20. 28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Hammond on Matth. 11. and Bishop Pearson on the Creed 19 And upon this assurance stand up upon thy Feet and be of good Courage and Write in a Book unto the seven Churches as I before commanded thee vers 11. the things which thou hast seen already 29 in the representation of the seven Stars and seven golden Candlesticks vers 12 13 16. and 30 write also the things which are now in being in my present Apostolical Church and the things which shall be hereafter successively to the very end of Time 29 It is manifest from the next Verse that this is the true sense of these Words where it is expresly said that the Seven Stars were Seen by him in his Right Hand which are therefore the things he had Seen and were written with the rest of the Preface in a Book to the seven Churches verse 11. 30 Here he is commanded to write the Epistles to the seven Churches the first of which viz. that to Ephesus as we have there shewn refers to the State of the then Apostolical Church beginning at Christ's Resurrection the others to the following successive States of the Churches to the End of the World 20 Which things present and future are the 31 Mystery or the Prophetical and Mystical sense of the seven Stars which thou sawest in my right hand which are the things thou hast seen and not the Mystery to be written concerning them and write the seven Golden Candlesticks i e. the mystery or mystick sense of them also The seven 32 stars are or signifie and represent Gen. 41.26 the Angels 33 or Pastors of the seven Churches and the seven Candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven Churches or are 34 seven Churches that is Bodies of Christians under their several Pastors as well those which are now as those which shall be successively hereafter 31 These words which are of the Accusative Case and put by way of Apposition plainly refer only to the things which are and shall be which are here said to be the Mystery or mystical meaning of the seven Stars which therefore are not referred to as being not themselves the Mystery but the things which were to be mystically explained in the following Epistles And from hence also we are plainly given to understand that the Subject Matter of these Epistles is Mystical and not barely Literal and that they concern things future as well as the present 32 Here is explained what is meant by Stars and Candlesticks whose further mystical meaning as they relate to Churches then in being and to future Successions of them and their Pastors is largely delivered in the following Epistles 33 The Ministring Spirits which attend on God are called Angels in Scripture from their being employed as Messengers in his Service and therefore by the Angels of the Churches must be meant the Pastors of them which are here clearly distinguished from the Churches themselves from their like Office of delivering God's Messages to the People and putting up their Prayers unto him Upon which Account the Jewish Priest is called The Messenger or Angel of the Lord of Hosts Malach. 2.7 where Angel that I may observe this by the way is evidently taken collectively as Dr. Pocock on the Place confesses for the Succession of the whole Jewish Priesthood comprehended there under the common Name of Levi their Father and spoken of as one Person because they were all of the fame Stock and all separated to the same Function And as they are upon this Account called Angels so are they called Stars from their Office of enlightning or instructing others By Angels therefore in this and the following Chapter is meant the Evangelical Ministry represented by Angels as all other Ministerial Agents are in this Prophecy because the present World is subject to Angels under Christ the Head of them and the Angel of the Covenant Whereas the World to come that is the Kingdom of Christ at his last coming as the Apostle speaks Heb. 2.5 is to be ruled by Christ and his Saints and is not to be in subjection unto Angels 34 It is here said That the seven Candlesticks are or signifie seven Churches for so it is in the Greek not the seven Churches which might seem to have determined them to the seven in Asia The Epistles are indeed to be sent to the seven Churches of Asia ver 11. But the mystical meaning of them is not here said to belong to the Angels or to the Seven Churches of Asia only but to Seven Churches and to the Angels of them from whence it is plain that they are prophetical relating to Seven Successions of the Vniversal Church See Mr. * Book 1. Disc 52. and pag. 905. Doctor Moor's Exposition of the Epistle to the Seven Churches Mede CHAP. II. The Text. UNto the Angel or Evangelical Ministry Chap. 1. 20. of the Church of Ephesus that is now planted there and of that Period 1 of the Church which is mystically represented by it write these things saith he that holdeth the Seven Stars in his Right Hand who walketh in the midst of the Seven Golden Candlesticks i. e. Christ the Light of the World who is more immediately present with them to enlighten guide and support them Chap. 1. 13 16 20. Annotations on CHAP. II. 1 This I shall hereafter endeavour to make out to be the principal if not only drift of these Epistles from such Characters and Arguments as shall arise from the Text it self Very good Interpreters and particularly Grotius on Revel 1.11 have thought that the several Successions of the Church here represented are intimated in their very Names according to a way of Allusion made use of in Scripture as well as in Heathen Authors For thus the God of Ekron whose True Name is thought to have been Baal zebachim or the Lord of Sacrifices is called in derision Baal zebub or the Lord of Flies and Belzebul or the Dunghil God And the Prophet Micah 1.14 15. manifestly alludes to the Names of Cities calling Achzib a Lie as if its Name were derived from Cazab which in Hebrew signifies to Lie and the City Mareshah is threatned to be disinherited in allusion to its Name and Adullam is called the Glory of Israel perhaps says Doctor Pocock on the Place from its Situation its Strength or its Beauty or some other Reason probably taken from its Name as the others are although now unknown And such Paronomasia's or Allusions may be more frequent in Scripture than we think for by reason of our Ignorance in the Premitive Language and of the Story and Circumstances of the Places whose Names are alluded to 2
I know observe and approve Psalm 1.6 thy good works and thy labour 2 in the work of the Gospel in converting instructing and governing those whom thou art set over 1 Thes 5.12 1 Tim. 5.17 and thy patience and perseverance in it and under sufferings for it and how thou canst not endure or 3 bear with them which are evil in Life or Doctrine but castest them when they prove incorrigible out of the Church and thou hast tryed 4 them by the Gospel Gal. 1.8 1 John 4.1 by their Works Matth. 7.20 and by the Gift of discerning Spirits 1 Cor. 12.10 which say they are Apostles sent and commissioned to preach the Gospel and are not and hast found them liars or False Apostles Acts 20.29 30. and 15.1 24. 1 Cor. 15.12 2 Cor. 11.13 Gal. 1.6 1 and 2 Epist to Timothy 1 John 4.1 2 Labour also may here signifie a zealous and unwearied profession of the Gospel amidst the greatest Discouragements as the Word is taken 1 Cor. 15.58 3 These Words refer to the zealous Execution of Discipline for which the Church was at first very remarkable as appears from 1 Cor. 5. 1 Tim. 1.20 Tit. 3.10 2. John 10. 4 It appears from Scripture that there were many False Apostles foretold by our Saviour Matth. 24.11 and by the Apostle Paul in his Admonition to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus Acts 20.29 30. Who generally seem to have insinuated themselves into the good Opinion of the People by specious pretences of being Brethren and by creeping into their Houses and Assemblies unawares and privily and by communicating with them in their Feasts of Charity as appears from 2 Cor. 11.26 Gal. 2.4 1 Tim. 3.6 Jude 4.12 and from this place where they are said to pretend to be Apostles when they were not For the Hereticks seem to have acted more closely and subtily while the Apostles were living than afterwards which made i◠〈◊〉 task to try and detect them which yet the Apostolical Church did with great Zeal and Care by examining their pretences by the Doctrine they had received of Christ and by Gifts of discerning False Spirits as Clemens Romanus attests in his Epistle to the Corinthians And this place seems to determine this Succession of the Church to the Times of the Apostles the Pretence of being Apostles or Messengers sent and commissioned by God to preach New Doctrines being peculiar to that Age and made use of by Simon Magus and his Followers particularly by Cerinthus against whom John wrote his Gospel who pretended to New Revelations And it being not peculiar to Ephesus alone but to most other Churches we may reasonably conclude that by Ephesus is not understood that Church alone but the Church-State of the Apostolical Age which began on the Day of Pentecost next following the Ascension of our Saviour in the Thirty Third Year of our Lord about the Twenty Fourth Day of May as Bishop Pearson has stated the Aera of the Apostolical Church in his first Lecture on the Acts. From this place we may learn That strict care ought to be taken in trying and examining those who are to be sent to teach others and that the Canon of Scripture was setled by this Apostolical Church she having duly tried and rejected all other Pretenders to Apostolical Doctrines and that the first State of the Church was purely Apostolical 3 And yet thou hast born 5 Afflictions although thou canst not bear 5 with them which are evil and hast still patience 6 and for my Names sake i. e. for me and upon the Account of my Gospel hast laboured 6 in it and hast not fainted under it nor under thy sufferings for it Gal. 6.9 2 Thes 3.13 5 Such kind of Allusions are frequent in Scripture as Rom. 1.24 25 26 28. 6 This being a Repetition of what was said in the foregoing Verse seems to intimate that their Labour and Sufferings were Great and very Remarkable a Repetition sometimes denoting so much in Scripture 4 Nevertheless I have somewhat of 7 complaint against thee because thou hast left or 8 remitted and abated something of thy first 9 or former fervent and intense Love of me my Gospel and Kingdom 7 So the Phrase is taken Matth. 5.23 8 So this word is rendred by Grotius and Doctor Hammond and I think rightly And as Grotius thinks that Love and Desire may by way of Allusion be signified by the Word Ephesus so may also the Greek Word here made use of intimate some Remission or Coolness of their First Love by the same Figure which the Prophet Micah makes use of Chap. 1. 13 14. and which Grotius thinks the Apostle uses Rom. 1.17 28 29. where also in the 29th Verse there is a manifest Allusion to the Name Judah which signifies Praise Gen. 29.35 9 The First Love which the Prophet Jerem. 2.2 calls the Kindness of Youth and the Love of Espousals is usually very fervent but is wont soon to cool and abate in the best of Men. And accordingly the Church at first when as Hierom speaks the Blood of our Lord was warm and the Faith of the New Converts was Fervent was very Zealous in all its Duties and Offices as appears from the Acts of the Apostles particularly from Chap. 2 41-47 and Chap. 4 31-37 where we have a perfect Pattern of the First Love of the Apostolical Church in the Church of Jerusalem especially in their having all things common and calling nothing their own And yet in a very short space as soon as the Number of the Disciples and with them the Church-Revenue was multiplied there arose a murmuring of the Graecians against the Hebrews even in the Infant-Church as we read Acts 6. occasioned by the Pride of the Hebrews as Bishop Pearson has shewn in his Third Lecture on the Acts wherein as also in the Behaviour of Ananias and Saphira there are early Tokens and Types given of a Declension in the Church which proceeded so far as to this matter even in those First Times of the Gospel that Paul tells the Philippians Chap. 2. 21. of his Epistle to them supposed to be written about A. D. 59 or 62. that all Men sought their own and not the things of Jesus Christ For not only Demas forsook Paul out of Love to this present World but Mark grew weary of the Labour of the Gospel and went not with Paul and Barnabas to the work Acts 15.38 and Peter himself for fear of the Jews was guilty of Dissimulation Gal. 2.11 12. And the Galatians had generally departed from the True Notions they had received of Christian Liberty and a Working Faith Gal. 5.1 6 7. and were grown very remiss in their Acts of Charity Gal. 6.9 And the Churches mentioned in Scripture are frequently reprehended for great Enormites so that it is no wonder that the Churches in After-Ages proved guilty of them the Love of many waxing cold betimes as our Saviour foretold Matth. 24.12 and Paul complained 2 Tim. 1.15
and 4.16 But this Prophecy respecting principally the Apostacy which crept into the Visible Church by this passage is chiefly meant some degrees of it which were then advancing John at the close of his first Epistle written not long after the Revelations warning the Christians to keep themselves from Idols and the Mystery of Iniquity of which Worshiping of Angels was a part already working even when St. Paul wrote his second Epistle to the Thessalonians about the year 49. as some think or 53. according to Bishop Pearson from whose Opinion that of a Judicious Person well skilled in Scripture Chronology does not much differ who dates the Conception of Antichrist A. D. 55. which may very well be called an abating or remitting of Love a cleaving to the One God being so often described in Scripture by Metaphors taken from Chaste Love and Espousals and Idolatry being so often likened to its contrary Adultery and Fornication However it is certain That in the Times of the Apostles something was even then working which made way by degrees for the Following Apostacy Such perhaps were 1. A Natural Love of Quiet and Ease and Fear of Trouble and Displeasure whereby by Degrees their Zeal was abated which was the Fault of Mark and Peter who yet returned to their First Love and Works 2. An excessive Esteem for some Pastors for their Gifts to the despising of others which was the Cause of the Divisions in the Church of Corinth as appears from Paul's Epistles to them 3. A Domineering and ambitious Temper in the Pastors themselves which was the Fault of Diotrephes 3 John 9 10. 4. A Want of mutual forbearing one another the Jewish Christians Judging and Condemning the Gentiles and the Gentiles despising the Jewish 5. Divers False Opinions brought by the Jewish and Gevtile Converts into the Church especially with relation to Angels and Departed Souls which are the usual Subject of Paul's Epistles and of which he treats particularly 2 Thes 2. 1 Tim. 4.1 Col. 2. 6. And lastly God out of his infinite Wisdom permitted even in the pure Church of the Apostolical Age not only Errors and Heresies to arise through the Common Imperfections of Men and Churches but also a Foundation to be laid for the Grand Visible Apostacy which began very early and rose to a great heighth not long after the Departure of Paul from Miletum and that from amongst the Christians themselves as the Apostle plainly asserts Acts 20.28.30 And was to be carried on by some of them or by the man of sin that is by a Visible Body or Succession of Men under the pretence of Mystery and Godliness and of Antiquity and Apostolicalness as appears from 2 Thes 2. 1 Tim. 4.1 and from the second Verse of this very Chapter 5 Remember 10 therefore from whence or from what degrees of Love thou art fallen and repent and do the first Works with the like Zeal or else I will come unto thee quickly and that on a sudden and unexpectedly and will remove thy Candlestick 11 or Church out of its place and give it unto another Matth. 21.43 except thou repent 10 Here is laid down the True Way of Reforming the Church and of its escaping Destruction viz. by her considering wherein she hath deviated from the Gospel by which Rule the False Apostles were tryed Verse 2. and in repenting of or forsaking her Faults and in a zealous practice of her first good Works according to the Model of the Gospel And we have here given us two different States of the First Churches viz. of their First Love or Purity and of their Remission of it and Deviation from it 11 This Removal is not to be understood of the particular Church of Ephesus which is noted by Bishop Vsher to have continued and to have preserved its Metropolitical Preheminence entire until the time of Constantine whilst others of the Seven had been deprived of it And although there be not now at Ephesus so much as One Christian which Mr. Spoon looks upon as a fulfilling of this Prophecy yet the Judgment here threatned was to come quickly and must therefore refer to something more early than its present State And therefore Ephesus mystically here representing a Church-State the removing of its Candlestick must signifie its ceasing to be such a Church-State as it was before the Pure Primitive and Apostolical State of the Church degenerating by degrees and that very soon from its First Love and becoming a Synagogue of Satan in the following Succession and its Priviledges and Preheminences in the Kingdom of Heaven being taken from it and given to other Church-Successions according to the Denunciation of Christ Matth. 21.43 6 But yet notwithstanding this defect this thou hast commendable in thee that thou hatest so far art thou from suffering and conniving at the unclean deeds or practices of the 12 Nicolaitans which I also hate 12 A sort of impure Hereticks who about the year 80 or 90 after Christ much about the Time of Cerinthus taught that it was lawful to eat things sacrificed unto Idols and that Matrimony was a mere Humane Institution not obliging the Conscience and asserted the Lawfulness of Fornication and all manner of Vncleanness fathering their Doctrine as the Hereticks then were wont to do upon Nicholas one of the seven Deacons in the Acts from which Opinions and Practices the Church was as yet free although it afterwards fell into some of them and there were some even then who forbad Marriage which was one step to the increase of this Impurity of the Nicolaitans 1 Tim. 4.3 7 He that 13 hath an understanding ear let him hear attentively consider and understand what 14 the Spirit speaking by the Prophets saith by me in this Prophetical and Spiritual Epistle unto the Churches of God in all Ages and Successions of them for whose Uses it was written And to him or that person that overcometh the Remissness of Love which is to be found in this Church-State will I give to eat of the 15 Tree of Life which is in the Paradise of God i. e. the Enjoyment of a happy State in Christ's Kingdom Rev. 22.2 Ezek. 47.12 13 From this Verse it seems to appear that these Epistles are Spiritual and Mystical because the same Sentence is annexed to them which Christ makes use of at the Close of his Parables or Mystical Discourses to engage Attention and to teach That all men were not capable of understanding them but those who had their Minds duly exercised in Spiritual Things And the manner of speaking being here altered from what it was at the first Verse viz. from these things saith Christ into hear what the Spirit saith Hereby seems to be intimated that these are Spiritual and Prophetical Epistles spoken by the Divine Spirit in Christ which was to teach the Apostles all things and shew them things to come John 16.12 13. Part of which are here revealed relating not to the single Church of Ephesus alone but
interpreted thus to come and worship God before thy Feet according to a parallel place of the Apostle 1 Cor. 14.25 10 Because thou hast kept and observed the word 25 or precept of my patience i. e. of the Patience which I taught and practised especially in expecting with me the coming of my Kingdom and that in a low and mean condition I also will keep thee or this Church State entire from the hour or suddain and unexpected time of 26 Temptation or general Tryal which shall come upon all the World to try them that dwell on the Earth whether their Church States are pure or no and to purify some and destroy others Dan. 12.1 Malach. 3.2 3. 2 Pet. 2.9 1 Cor. 3 11.-15 25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a Precept or Doctrine of Patience in the sense that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Word is taken 1 Cor. 1.18 and to keep the Word as the Phrase is frequently used in John's Gospel is to observe that Precept and that chiefly with reference to a patient Expectation of Christ's Coming as the Phrase is taken 2 Thes 3.5 and Rev. 1.9 26 This I suppose is to be understood concerning the pouring out of the Vials as shall be endeavoured to be shewn when they come to be considered 11 Behold I come to try and judg them quickly or on a sudden after this period of the Church begins to appear hold that fast which thou hast received and kept that no man take 27 thy Crown i e. rob thee of that reward thou shalt have in my Kingdom 27 No Churches so perfect but that it is possible for them if left to themselves to be perverted and no Man so nigh the Goal but he may lose the Prize if he be not by the Grace of God made watchful and careful And here we are to observe that these Promises are taken from the New Jerusalem-state in Christ's Kingdom and that they are made after the most ample and plainest manner to this Church-state because of its greatest purity and patience in expecting that Kingdom and its fitness to receive it in the near approach of it in the New Jerusalem 12 For Him that overcometh the temptations of this poor and despised Church State will I make a 28 Pillar in the Temple of my God i. e. he shall be a Member of a strong fixt and stable Church State and he shall go no more out of it for it shall not be changed And I will write 29 upon him or upon this Pillar the Name of my God Jehovah and the Name of the City of my God The Lord is there Ezek. 48.35 which is 30 new Jerusalem i. e. the prefect Gospel State in Christ's Kingdom Hebr. 12.22 which cometh down out of Heaven from my God i. e. shall be established by God's more immediate Power and by abundant Manifestations of Gifts and Graces Ezek. 43.4 5 6 7 8. Gal. 4.26 see on Rev. 21.2 3. and I will write upon him my new Name Rev. 19.16.22 4. i. e. he shall be 31 a Member of my Kingdom who am King of Kings and Lord of Lords See before on verse 8. and Isa 56.5 Rev. 19.12 28 In allusion to the Two Pillars before Solomon's Temple called Iachin and Booz from their strength and stability 1 Kings 7.15 21. The Apostles also are called Pillars Gal. 2.9 and the Church the Pillar of Truth 1 Tim. 3.15 and Christians are compared to a Temple and its Stones or Pillars Eph. 2.21 1 Pet. 2.5 29 This may perhaps be an Allusion to the Inscriptions which were used to be put upon Pillars Hence the Title of the sixteenth Psalm is in the Greek rendred An Inscription upon a Pillar and Absalom's Pillar 2 Sam. 18.18 might have probably his Name graven on it 30 New is often in Scripture put for excellent or perfect And this State may be called New because the visible Glory of it did then first appear and it was a strange or new thing it being known or believed before by few 31 For to be called and to be are of the same import in the Hebrew Phrase 13 He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches 14 And unto the Angel of the Church of the 32 Laodiceans write these things saith the Amen 33 i. e. The God of Truth Isa 65.16 who will perform what he has promised 2 Cor. 1.20 and will in this period put a final end to all things the Faithful and True Witness who hath performed punctually what hath been hitherto promised by the Father and will go on to do so to the end although the Truths he hath delivered may seem never so incredible Chap. 1.5 the beginning 34 of the Creation of God i. e. of the First Creation of all things and of the New Creation or Constitution of things after the Resurrection of which he was the first Born from the Dead Col. 1.18 Rev. 1 5.21 1. 32 This State succeeds the Philadelphian State and therefore must be after the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ or the New Jerusalem of which Philadelphia is a Type as appears from Verse 12. It seems to be a State in which there was a great Remissness of the extraordinary Zeal which was shewn in the former Succession during Christ's Kingdom and its Name denoting as Grotius remarks The Judging of the People it may from thence be probably concluded that it is that State during which the great Judiciary Act of Judging the People or Nations is to be performed Rev. 20 8-15 where occasion will be given of discoursing more largely of this Matter It was once a most Famous and Rich City as this Church-state is described to be at the seventeenth Verse but is now only a heap of Ruines and inhabited by none but wild Beasts so that Monsieur Spoon after all his search could not find out where its Church stood Christ having spewed it utterly out of his Mouth 33 Amen signifies Truth and denotes also the End or Conclusion and being put before what follows concerning the beginning of the Creation of God implies that what concerns the End of Church-states is the chief thing typified by this Church 34 Christ is said to be the beginning of the Creation of God 1. Because he was in the beginning with God when all things were made by him John 1.1 as being the first born of every Creature that is being above and before all Creatures whatsoever and the Cause of them Col. 1 15-17 2. because he was the beginning of the New Creation or Constitution of things under the Gospel Col. 1.18 2 Cor. 5.17 and the Author of the New Heavens and New Earth or the New and Excellent State of things in his Kingdom upon Earth And 3. because he is the Beginning the First Born from the dead Colos 1.18 which Title he here takes because this Church-Period extends until the End of all Earthly Things when follows the beginning of the New Creation or Constitution of
Cardinal Points of Heaven 12 For so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ought to be translated as it is Ezek. 1.5 that so they may be the better distinguished from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Antichristian Beast These Four living Creatures are called Cherubims Ezek. 10.2 By which is meant Active Beings of an Angelical Nature employed in the Ministration of God's Providence as appears from their Description given by Ezekiel Now the Representations here given figuring something analogous to them in the Church they cannot be supposed to signifie any thing more properly than the pure Christian Church represented by the Apostles who were so extraordinarily active in the propagating of the Gospel into the Four Quarters of the World and were Twelve making up Four Ternaries of Living Creatures or Zealous Active Ministers of Christ according to the Number of the Four Ternaries of the Twelve Tribes under the Four Standards in the Wilderness For we are to take notice that this Representation of the Throne of the Majesty of God or this Theatre or Stage of the Apocalyptick Visions as Mr. Mede calls it exactly answers the Encampments of the Israelites God's Throne being here placed in the middle as the Tabernacle was there the Four and Twenty Elders next to answer the Station of the Priests and Levites and the Four Beasts at each Angle Diametrically opposite to each other against the Four Cardinal Points of the Wind representing Christians in the Four Quarters of the World in analogy to the Four Standards of the Camp of the Israelites having in them Figures of these Four Living Creatures taken from the Cherubims of the Chariot or Glorious Throne of Almighty God 1 Chron. 28.18 For which see Mr. * Pag. 437 594 917. Mede Dr. Hammond on the Place Grotius on Numb 10.15 and Mr. Ainsworth on Numb 2. where he has given us the Figure of the Encampments and has discoursed largely on them and Dr. ‖ De legibus Hebraeorum lib. 3. Dissertat 5. Spencer 7 And the first Beast or living creature was like a Lion 13 denoteing the Power and strength of the Gospel and Apostolical Ministry Gen. 49.9 Psal 103.24 and the second Beast like a Calf 14 or Ox denoting their Laboriousness and Usefulness Prov. 14.4 and the third Beast had the face of a Man 15 signifying Reason and Prudence and the fourth Beast was like a flying Eagle 16 noteing their activity and quick-sightedness into the Mysteries of the Gospel 13 This was the Standard of Judah on the East side compared to a Lyon Gen. 49.9 And the Qualities of these Living Creatures do denote the like Gifts and Graces required in the Ministry which were after an extraordinary manner eminent in the Apostles the Representatives of the Christian Church and of its State in the Kingdom of Christ to which this appearance relates 14 The Standard of Ephraim on the West side of the Camp who is resembled to an Ox Deut. 33.17 15 Reuben's Standard on the South side 16 The Standard of Dan on the North side 8 And the four Beasts had each of them six 17 Wings noteing their speed their Reverence in God s Presence and their humble sense of themselves Isa 6.2 about 18 him and they were full of Eyes within 19 to observe themselves as well as to be vigilant over others and they 20 rest not day and night but are constant and incessant in the Worship and Service of God Isa 60 11.62 6. saying Holy 21 Holy Holy i. e. infinitely and superlatively Holy Isa 6.3 Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Rev. 1.4 17 With Two they covered their Faces out of Reverence with Two their Feet or Nakedness out of a sense of their own shame and impurity and with Two they flew to execute God's Commands Isa 6.2 18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 round about them that is perhaps at several Distances on each side as the Israelites are said to encamp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or round about the Tabernacle that is at distant Points of the several sides of the Square encompassing it So here each of the Living Creatures is said to have Six Wings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is on each side Three one against another one pair on their Shoulders with which they flew another on each of their Breasts stretched upwards to cover their Faces and the Third about their Hips to cover their less honourable parts or appearances Andreas Caesariensis reads as our common Copies do but if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be to be joyned to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Grotius and Dr. Hammond think then their Exposition may be consulted as more commmodious 19 The inward Eyes of these Creatures were represented unto John the Figure or Appearance which was perhaps diaphanous being contrived accordingly 20 This was the Practice of the Apostolical Church as appears from Acts 2.42 46.20 31. Luke 2.37 2 Tim. 4.2 21 Here it is acknowledged by the Apostolical Church with the Joynt Consent of the Israelitish Church that God is a Supereminent Being and that he is to be worshipped incommunicably according to his most eminent and unparallell'd Holiness and perhaps the Divine Being in Father Word and Spirit may be intimated in the Threefold Repetition of the Word Holy But howsoever in this First Doxology the Lord God Almighty who is Father Son and Holy Ghost God blessed for ever is only mentioned and not the Lamb to shew that the Belief of One God who created all things is the First Fundamental Principle of Religion Christ as Redeemer the Lamb slain being not acknowledged and worshipped until the Second Doxology after he had appeared before the Throne of the Father and had received his Kingdom acccording to the Original Model of these Visions in the Book of Daniel where Chap. 7. the Son of Man is brought near to the Father and then had Dominion and Glory given him 9 And when soever these Beasts 22 or representatives of the Apostolical pure Church give or shall and are wont to give glory i. e. acknowledgment of God's glorious Majesty and Excellency and Honour to God's Authority and Preheminence and thanks for his bounty and gracious gifts to his Church to him that sat on the Throne who liveth for ever and ever i. e. to the Eternal and Living God not a dead Idol who will open his Kingdom of Eternal Life to all true Christians 22 At the fourth Verse the Twenty four Elders are placed before the Living Creatures to signifie the Primogeniture of the Jewish Church Here they are placed after them to signifie that the Truths here acknowledged were first clearly made known to the Christian Church and shall be at last communicated by them to the Jewish which shall be excited and provoked to Jealousie by them and shall at their Conversion joyn with them in an acknowledgment of these and all other Truths of Christianity 10 The four and twenty Elders or Heads of the pure Jewish Church testifying
propagated from the Twelve Apostles as the Israelitish Church was from the Twelve Patriarchs And the Number 144000. is a square Number arising out of Twelve the square Root of it denoting the Apostolical Doctrine to be the Root Twelve times Twelve Thousand amounting to One Hundred and Forty Four Thousand and Foundation of the Church and that the pure Church is a square Body because 1. It can admit of no other Foundation than that of the Apostles as this square Number can admit of no other Root than Twelve that is it can be produced by no other Number multiplied into it self which is what is meant by a square Root in Arithmetick 2. Because the Church is to be built in all After-Ages upon this Doctrine multiplied by it self only as the square Number arises from the Root multiplied into it self And this is not to be accounted a groundless Fancy but is no small part of the Knowledge of the Eastern Nations in which Solomon and Moses were skilled who were wont to wrap up Mysteries in Hieroglyphicks and Numbers that they might be hid from the Vulgar and known only by Persons fitted and capacitated for them and at suitable Times and Opportunities it not being convenient that some Truths should lie exposed to all and at all Seasons And accordingly it hath pleased God for the same Reasons and that Humane Search and Diligence might be exercised and encouraged to make use of the same way of Concealment to shew that all Humane Knowledge is to be subservient to Divine and to his Church Whereupon he hath made frequent use of the Number Twelve in things pertaining to his People and the Church the Patriarchs being Twelve the Tribes Twelve the Gates of Jerusalem Twelve and the Apostles Twelve and the Measures of the New Jerusalem being adapted to this Number for the Reasons before hinted and for others which we shall have a fitter occasion to mention hereafter See the Notes on Chap. 1.20 and 20 4. By these sealed ones are meant a pure Apostolical Church preserved from the time of Constantine under the Calamities of the Empire and during the continuance of the Apostasy so as to be Witnesses against it but in a hidden and concealed Condition For 1. They are said to be sealed that is preserved as we have shewn but in a hidden Condition as the Law is commanded to be bound up and sealed Isa 8.16 and the Words of Prophecy to be closed up and sealed Dan. 12.4 9. And the Church is said to be a Spring shut up and a Fountain sealed Canticl 4.12 of which the Seven Thousand which God had reserved to himself in secret and had preserved from the Idolatry of Baal 1 Kings 19.18 are a Type 2. This sealing immediately follows the Downfall of Paganism under Constantine at the opening of the Sixth Seal in the former Chapter whereby is signified that some great danger was then near that Christ should seal and secure his True Church so soon after their Delivery from Persecution And the History of those Times clearly testifie that the True Spirit of Christianity soon decayed upon the Peace Honours Priviledges and Prosperity which the Church then enjoyed and that the excessive Veneration they had for Saints and Martyrs gave Rise to the Apostasie upon which the pure Church became sealed that is shut up and concealed and a stop was put to its appearance in that true spiritual Glory which it shall have under Christ's Kingdom for its degenerating by degrees into a Satanical Synagogue For sealing denotes also the Hindrances and Lets which Christ's Kingdom has met with by its being over-powered by the Apostasie which at last advancing to a Throne wholly covered and hid it in an obscure and sealed State no Church being at last visible but the Apostatized one 3. It appears from the Third Verse that the time of this sealing lasted from Constantine until the sounding of the first Trumpet i. e. until the Irruptions of the barbarous Nations after the Death of Theodosius the Great during which time the Apostolical Church was under a continual sealing i. e. it s Visible State was daily obscured and covered until at last by the destruction of the Empire and the rise of the Apostasy upon it it was closely sealed up in an invisible State 5 Of the 10 Tribe of Judah 11 were sealed twelve thousand Of the Tribe of Reuben 12 were sealed twelve thousand Of the Tribe of Gad 13 were sealed twelve thousand 10 The Number of each Tribe is particularised and determined to shew that the Members of God's pure Church are not chosen casually and at all Adventures but are determined by God and that out of every Tribe or part of the Catholick Church And the Numbers of each Tribe are equal viz. Twelve Thousand to each to shew that each particular Church is to be Apostolical in the profession of the entire and perfect Doctrine delivered to them and that they are to be firm and stable in themselves which is the (a) See the Notes on Chap. 20.4 Mystical signification of a Cubical (b) Dr. Moor's Cabbala Nicom Gerasen Arithmet Theolo apud Photii Biblioth pag. 459. Number such as the Chiliads or Thousands are out of which each Tribe consists 11 It is the Opinion of Mr. Mede that the Nature Qualities and Circumstances of the pure Church are included in the true Scripture-import and mystical meaning of the Names of the several Tribes which I shall therefore in submission to his Opinion insist upon more particularly because there is good ground in (c) Micah 1.14 Matth. 2.23 Rom. 2.29 Scripture for such Mystical Allusions taken from Names Judah is placed first because the Government was given to him in David and Christ came of that Tribe which for the Generality kept to the publick Worship of God and the Rightful Kingly Succession when the others had cast it of Hos 11.12 1 Chron. 5.2 Heb. 7.14 His Name signifies Confession or Praise Gen. 29 35.49 8. whereby is signified that the pure Church ought to pay a Eucharistical Service of Praise and Thanksgiving to God and confess him openly and publickly in his Worship 12 Reuben is the next because although he lost his Birth-right for defiling his Father's Bed Gen. 49.4 1 Chron. 5.1 yet he shewed great Courage together with Gad in that Noble Resolution they made of passing over Jordan ready Armed before their Brethren Numb 32. The Name signifies See the Son whom God out of his (a) Joseph Antiq. 1.19 Mercy sent when he saw and had a respect unto our Afflictions Gen. 29.32 Whereby is intimated that the Church ought to look up unto Christ in their afflicted State as God did upon them in their desperate Condition when he sent his Son to redeem them 13 Gad signifies a Troop as is plain from Gen. 30.11 compared with Gen. 49.19 called so because that being situated on the Borders of the Countrey it was to be always ready in Arms and so
(d) Hooker's Preface to Eccles Polit. over-weening Opinion for his own Discipline endeavouring every where to introduce it as Necessary and of Divine Original which yet was at first very imperfect the first (e) Synodic Gall. Reform Tome 1. page 16. Plat form of it as it is received in the Church of France having been altered and augmented in Three and Twenty Synods before it could be brought to that Model in which it now is which it must be confessed is very excellent and fit to be diligently perused by all whose Thoughts are employed in restoring Church-Discipline But yet to deal impartially I cannot think but that the Natural Severity of the Temper of this Great and Good Man to whose indefatigable pains and great Parts we are endebted for the true Sense of the Scriptures gave sometimes a Tincture to his Opinions or at least to his Expressions in the Praedestinarian Controversies which his Followers urged with too great warmth and harshness towards Dissenters in France and the Netherlands Neither have the (f) Histoire abregee de l' Europe Tome 1. page 528 663 667. Lutherans been less rigorous in imposing their Opinions who having retained several Errors as in the point of Consubstantiation Images Vbiquity and the like would not admit the Reformed to their Communion without their subscribing to some of those controverted Articles and denied them Churches in their Cities even when they were forced to retire unto them for succour in the heat of the last French Persecution In which seems to be some Relicks of that Spirit which at first much retarded the progress of the Reformation in Germany the Lutherans being then so wedded to their Opinion about the Sacrament that the (a) Sleidan 122 151. Confederates would not admit the Switzers and those that followed Zuinglius into their Leagues thinking their Assistances to be unlawful and that they would be as dismal in the Events as Confederacies with Idolaters in Scripture and the Ten Years Imprisonment of (b) Histor Carcerum per Pezelium Casparus Peucerus about the same Controversie shews that they did not afterwards much abate of their Rigor Furthermore I cannot but be perswaded that the many Wars and Confusions which the Reformation hath been engaged in which were (c) Mezeray 951 952. The Account of the Persecution of thâ— Vaudois Printed at Oxford often the Occasions of their Persecutions argue it to have fallen short in producing that Exemplary Patience and Resignation to the Cross which Christianity designed and which it at first wrought in the Primitive Christians And the many Errors and Divisions which sprung up with the Reformation plainly prove that there were many Tares mixt with it which yet God hath been pleased to make use of to many good Ends there being scarce any Erroneous Perswasion in Religion which hath not some Truth mixt with it and which was not occasioned by some Neglect in the Church which God by those Extreams punishes them for and calls upon them to reform Even the Extravagancies of (a) Sleidan page 52 79 83 90 96 190. Munster and the Boors to whose Demands Luther gave too sharp and bloody an Answer as his own Historian confesses have a mixture of some important Truths and the (b) Sleidan page 244. Antinomians who first appeared about A. D. 1538. seem to have been permitted to admonish the Reformers of more Exalted Thoughts of the Riches of God's free Grace in Christ which they seemed not at first sufficiently to admire as God by permitting the Extreams of Arminiauism on the other side calls upon Men to make use of their own hearty Endeavours when Morality decays and Men do not as much as they are able upon the pretence of Impotency which was the Plea of (c) Vossii Histor. Pelag. page 21 22. Pelagius who except in the point of Grace and those Controversies which depend upon it was for the most part Orthodox and of a very good Life and especially thereby admonishes warm Zealots to take care lest in the Heat of their Disputes about difficult and inexplicable matters they make God at least indirectly the Author of Sin and lessen the Extent of his Grace The Fifth-Monarchy-men upbraid the Reformation with its Ignorance in the Nature of Christ's Kingdom and their inordinate Zeal and furious Opposition of Civil Authority upon pretence of its contrariety to the Gospel ought to be an Admonisbment to Christian Magistrates to endeavour after a more Holy way of Government than the World hath yet arrived to Enthusiasm is permitted when Formality and Deadness in Devotion too much encrease And even the Behaviour of the Quakers may put Christians in remembrance of the Duties of Patience and bearing of Injuries and may be designed by Providence which makes use of the Sins and Follies of Men to Good Ends to witness against common Swearing and Perjury Deceit and Equivocation in point of Trade Pride and Superfluity in Cloaths Vain Complements Flattering and Swelling Titles and an Vnnecessary Vse of Words and Names taken from Idolatrous Opinions and Customs and those Plays and Sports which nourish Lightness and Debauchery The like Observation may be made upon the other Subdivisions amongst Protestants All of which carry something in them to upbraid the Reformation of its Imperfection and may be made use of to Excellent Ends it being as useful to the Church to consider what is good in them as to confute them and of greater benefit to the State to amend the Faults which occasioned them than to prosecute them with Rigor which hath been seldom (a) See Thuanus's Preface to his History successful 3. The Reformation is Imperfect in what relates to Christian Practice as not having been able to bring in Everlasting Righteousness and abundance of Righteousness with Peace Truth and Glory according to what is prophesied of Christ's Kingdom Dan. 9.24 Psalm 72. and 85. 4. Neither hath it arrived to the perfection of a Church-State as it is laid down in Scripture especially in the Model of the Church of Jerusalem given in the Acts of the Apostles which was the first Christian Church built according to our Saviour's Promise upon Peter and called The Church by way of Emphasis and Eminence as if it were the Pattern by which others were to be tried and modelled For the First Apostolical Churches are the Standard of all Reformation and not the following Churches even of the First Ages which degenerated very soon from their Primitive Purity and Simplicity But because the Particulars of the Defects of the Reformation as to this Head are too many to be considered as they ought to be in this place I shall leave them to a particular Treatise on that Subject only desiring the Judicious and Conscientious Readers to lay aside the great Fondness which the best of Men are wont to have for the Constitutions of the particular Churches of which they are Members and to consider impartially the several places of (a) Consider
(a) Allix Du Pin de antiq Eccles Disciplin pag 23. 27. 82-96 from that of Rome and have witnessed in all Ages against the Apostasy (b) Allix Remark on Albig Chap. 19. on the Church of Piedm pag. 188. 207-210 286. Mede's Works 517 721. 722. Usher de Succession Eccles pag. 78. from the beginning of it always asserting the Pope to be The Antichrist and attributing to him the Characters of him given in this Prophecy of which they were diligent Readers Upon which Account alone their Adversaries having nothing else to object against them they were severely persecuted becoming thereby after a most remarkable manner Antipas Christ's faithful Martyr and Witness against the Papal Corruptions 3. These faithful Churches were placed by Providence like Candlesticks on a Hill being situated as Mr. Allix remarks amongst the Alps and Pyraenean Mountains that they might be exposed to the view of Four or Five Kingdoms all at once one of them being planted in Italy the very Seat of the Beast and shining there according to their own Motto and Device as a Light in the midst of the Aegyptian darkness of the Apostacy surrounding them and the other possessing the Southern parts of France that it might the better convey the Purity of the Gospel into Spain over the Mountains and into England and other places from the Sea-Coasts which was actually performed (a) Allix's Remaaks on the Albig pag. 222-237 by them with great success some Remains of their Doctrine continuing in Spain until the times of the Reformation and the Lollards and the Followers of Wickliff in England having been instructed by them 4. As no Churches can shew a fairer Account from the most early times of faithful VVitnesses against the Apostacy so can none parallel the Persecutions they have undergone from the Papacy or pretend to a better Title to prophecying in Sackcloath for 1260 Years being warred with by the Beast killed by him and lying dead in his great City than they can Insomuch that although the Title of Witnesses may be justly given to all the other Bodies of Christians who have testified through all Ages of the Church against Antichristian Corruptions yet they must be confess'd to have the Preheminence upon many Accounts but especially by reason of their Visibility and uninterrupted Succession from the Times of the Apostles their Constancy Zeal Courage and Success most Nations having received the purity of the Gospel from them their Sackcloath and mournful condition and their dreadful and unparallell'd sufferings from the Papacy under which they are still in a state of Death 5. But although these Churches are the most Eminent and most Conspicuous Body of Christians concerning which it can most properly be said that they have prophesied as Candlesticks or Churches regularly and orderly constituted in a continued Succession of Pastors and People and that by emptying the Oyl out of themselves into other Churches most of which owe the Reformation to them Yet they are not the only Body of Christians which are to be accounted VVitnesses and of whom it may be said that they shall prophesie 1260 Days For the Albigenses or Churches of Gaul are accounted one of the Witness-Churches which yet cannot shew an orderly continued Succession from the beginning of the Apostacy which is clear and uninterrupted only in the Succession of the Churches of Piedmont And all the faithful Christians in the Communion of the Apostacy but not of it who have through the Succession of all Ages witnessed against it are to be accounted Witness-Churches that is States or Successions of Faithful Witnesses as Church is used in the Vision of the Church-Prophecy For by the Two VVitnesses are meant as appears from the Notes on Chap. 2 12-29 and on Chap. 11.4 num 18. in general Two Successions of Faithful Christians witnessing from the Beginning of the Apostacy the one in the Communion of it typified by Pergamus the other in a distinct Communion from it typified by Thyatira the Emblem of those pure Reformed Churches which are under the power of Anti-christian Princes and are not Established by Laws and maintained by Reformed Magistrates as the Sardian and Philadelphian Churches are which rose out of the other Two Successions at the beginning of half Time and are still Witnesses but VVitnesses risen to an imperfect State altho under Reformed Princes Whereas the other are Witnesses still lying dead in the Streets of the City as the French Churches do or else risen only to some Favour and Protection but within and under the Dominion of Princes of the Apostacy as the Churches of Piedmont For during the space of Half Time until the Three Years and a Half are fully ended many of the Witness-Churches may lie dead and none will be raised to a perfect State by the Spirit of Life from God But as for those Churches of the Reformation who are under Reformed States they being already raised to Life cannot again return to Popery or be utterly extinguished by it because they having been raised by Christ cannot die again Only as to whatsoever remains of Antichristianism may be in any of them 6. God (a) Alcazer in locum pag. 420 421 439. hath ordained that the Persecutions of wicked and Antichristian Tyrants should sometimes end after three Years and a half in congruity to the three times and three years and a half of the continuance of Antichrist and to the Resurrection of our Saviour after three days this being the time in which the Church may have hope of deliverance according to the Type of Christ's deliverance from the Grave a longer continuance of Persecutions being apt to make the Church despond which expects according to Hosea 6.2 a Revival and Resurrection on the third day and is out of ordinary hopes if it last a day longer as Martha despaired of the Revival of Lazarus because he had been dead four days And thus it is observed that (b) Grot. in Dan. 7.25 Antiochus a Type of Antichrist oppressed the Jews for three years and a half and that the Persecution under (c) Alcazer pag. 420 421. Nero and that in (d) Poli Synops in Apoc. 11.19 England under Queen Mary and in the Netherlands under Duke D'Alva lasted for the same space of time That it was much (e) Jurieu's Pastor Let. Tom. 3. Let. 21. about that time from the Coronation of the late King James to the Arrival of King William into England and from the Revocation of the Edict of Nants October 12 22 1686. unto Their Majesties Coronation April 11 21 1689. when a Spirit of Zeal and Courage entred into the Protestants of France That it was about that time from Tyrconnel's entring upon the Government of Ireland Feb. 6 or 12. 1686 7. unto his Majesties signal Success in Ireland in July and August 1690. And lastly that the Protestants of the Valleys (a) See Monsieur Jurieu's Pastoral Letters An account of the Vaudois Printed at Oxford A. D. 1688.
(a) See Mr. Mede on this place and Pag. 613. Poli Synops in Gal. 4.3 Coloss 2.8 20. Moon the lowest of the Planets and nearest to the Earth Paganism also one and the same Symbol having divers significations in Scripture as Grotius observes on Heb. 9.11 may be very well signified by it but Antichristianism is here chiefly intended the main Subject of these Visions denoted by the Moon because of the Paganism it introduced into Christianity whose Idolatrous Rites were Works of the Night or of Darkness of which the Moon is the Governess and whose Festivities depended upon the Motions and Aspects of that Planet as hath been already observed on Chap. 11. num 12. And by the Moon 's being here under the Sun as it is when it Eclipses it seems to be pointed out the critical time of this Vision viz. that it was when the pure Apostolical Church typified by Ephesus was about to leave its first Love and to receive a (b) Compare Luke 21.24 with Rom. 11.12 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Deminution or Eclipse from the increasing Apostasy for the Lustre of the Christian Church of the Gentiles was diminished upon the coming in of the Apostasy and is not to have its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Full Light of Graces Knowledge and Converts until the Paganizing Times of the Gentiles in the Antichristian Apostasy are fullfilled 2 To shew that the Apostolical Doctrine is the Chief Ornament Crown and Glory of the Church Thus the Word Crown is used Isa 28.5 Phil. 4.1 1 Thes 2.19 And in this Verse there is an Excellent Description of the pure primitive Church enlightned and adorned by Graces Gifts and Communications from Christ and with the pure Apostolical Doctrine but yet capable of having its Light eclipsed by Antichristianism rising from under its Feet and of having its Crown of pure Gold fall from off its Head except Christ hold it in his Right Hand Chap. 1.16 3 Hereby is signified that the Church was Apostolical the Twelve Apostles being represented by Twelve Stars because they enlightned the Church and were constant and sixt in their Doctrine not variable and unconstant as the Moon is in its Appearances and Motions whereby it is the fitter Type of Antichristianism See the Notes on Chap. 7. 4 5. and 21 15-21 And perhaps the Twelve Stars may be symbolical of the Twelve Tribes as they shall be in the New Jerusalem State Predicted and Typified by this State of the Church as the Glorious Kingdom of Christ is by the Christian Empire 2 And she i. e. the Church being with 4 Child i. e. very Fertile and Fruitful with true Christians Is 54 1.60 22.66 8. Ezek. 16.20 cried travailing in Birth and pained to be delivered i. e. laboured with her utmost endavours to bring forth set up and propagate Christ's Kingdom Isa 66.7 Gal. 4.19 4 The Metaphors in this Verse are chiefly taken from Isaiah's Description of the Perfect Church consisting of Jews and Gentiles united into One Body as it shall be in Christ's Kingdom Isa 66 5-24 3 And whilst the Women was in Travail there appeared another Wonder in 5 Heaven and behold a 6 great 6 red 7 Dragon i. e. the bloody and Persecuting Pagan Roman Empire of a great Jurisdiction and Extent having seven 8 Heads or Forms of chief Government successively one after another See Chap. 17. 9 10. and ten 9 Horns or Kings Dan. 7.20 24. Chap. 17.12 and seven 10 Crowns or Diadems upon his Heads noting the seven successive Forms of Government in the Roman State to have been Imperial and Supreme 5 The Dragon appears as in Heaven because he was reputed as God by the Heathens and was now worshipped and in power in the Pagan Empire 6 6 7 Pharaoh Aegypt and other Idolatrous and Persecuting Powers and Empires are represented by (a) Psal 74.13 14. Is 27 1.51 9. Ezek. 29 3.32 2. Dragons in Scripture and by Leviathan and other monstrous Creatures for so the Word translated (b) Dr. Pocock on Mic. 1.8 Malac. 1.3 Dragons signifies in general in the Old Testament And accordingly the Roman Pagan Empire is set forth by a Dragon because it was a Satanical Kingdom shewing a Diobolical Spirit in its Persecution Idolatry Tyranny and Unjust Enlargement of Dominion Upon which also the Dragon is represented as of a great Size and red or bloody and because Satan called a Dragon or Serpent from his tempting our first Parents in that shape ver 9.2 Cor. 11.3 really influenced and presided over that Empire as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Governing and Assisting Daemon and was indeed worshipped by them when they sacrificed to their Idols 1 Cor. 10.20 8 Rome indeed stood upon seven Hills which yet are not here meant because Head signifies in Scripture the Governing Part Isa 7.20 Dan. 7.6 1 Cor. 12.21 and therefore by these seven Heads are appositely denoted the seven successive Governments of the Roman State viz. Kings Consuls Decemvirs Dictators Tribunes Caesars or Emperours and the Antichristian King the seventh Head See the Notes on Chap. 17. 9 10. 9 Horns as hath been shewn on Chap. 5.6 signifie Kings and Kingdoms and the Roman Empire is represented with Ten Horns that it may bear proportion with the Description of it given Dan. 2.41 where the Fourth Kingdom hath the Toes of a Man which are Ten. See Chap. 17.12 10 Crowns are an Emblem of Imperatorial and Supreme Power and therefore the Ten Horns do not appear crowned because they were not as yet in being as Kings but were Subjects to the Roman Empire See on Chap. 13 1. 17 12. 4 And his 11 Tail i. e. his Power and Subtility drew after him and reduced under his Power the third 12 part of the Stars of Heaven i. e. the Potentacies and Governments of the world and did 13 cast them to the Earth i. e. Subdued them and the Dragon stood watching and ready fierce and hungry 1 Pet. 5.8 before the Woman or Christian Church which was ready to be delivered of the Kingdom of Christ for to devour 14 her Child as soon as it was Born i. e. to destroy the Kingdom of Christ as soon as it appeared 11 Some Dragons or Serpents particularly those which are called Rattle-Snakess have monstrous and prodigious long Tails which are an (a) Moor's Oper. Theol. pag. 601. Hammond on the place emblem of a great retinue and a long Military Train of Souldiers and Armies the Tail also signifies in Scripture Subtility and may here denote the Policy of the Devil and his pretences to Miracles Prophecy Magick and the like whereby he corrupts and deceives the minds of Men. See Chap. 9.10 12 By the third Part is meant the Grecian Monarchy the third Monarchy in Daniel whereby we have a remarkable Note of Time given us viz. that it was now upon the point of time in which the Seat of the Roman Empire was to be transferred from Rome to Byzantium by Constantine upon
amongst the Branches of the River Nile ready to devour the Israelites as the Dragon here stood before the Woman to devour her Child And here the Paucity and Obscurity of the Members of the pure Church upon the Growth and Increase of Antichristianism after the Empire became Christian is set forth by a Wilderness state or condition which is an obscure and retired but a safe (a) See Dr. Pocock on Hos 2.14 one to which Men betake themselves when they are threatned and pursued by Enemies as the Israelites in the persecution of Antiochus 1 Maccab. 2. 28 31. when the Gentiles had prophaned the Sanctuary fled into the Mountains and into the secret places of the Wilderness And yet as when the Israelites fled from Pharaoh into the Wilderness they soon murmured and apostatized from God so was the Church no sooner delivered from the persecutions of the Pagan Empire but the Antichristian and Paganizing Apostacy began to increase amidst which yet the pure Church was preserved although small in Number and in an obscure condition as the few true Israelites were amongst the Numerous Apostatizing ones in the Wilderness who were corrupted (b) Exod. 12.38 Numb 11.4 by the mixt Multitude of Idolaters who went up with them out of Aegypt as the Christian Church was by the Converted Pagans * This by a frequent Hebraism may signifie no more than that she shall be fed ot nourished as the Phrase is explained at the 14 verse But perhaps hereby may be meant the Two Witnesses from whom the Woman only differs as the Vniversal doth from all its Particulars or the Body from its Members taken collectively by whom the Church may be said to be preserved and maintained because of their Preaching the Word of God and distributing the hidden Manna as the Israelites were fed in the Wilderness with Manna and miraculous Food by the Hands of Moses and Aaron Two Old Testament Witnesses Numb 33.1 Psalm 77 20.78 52. 19 The Witnesses chap. 11.3 and the Woman have the same number of Days assigned them as being not really different one from the other only the Woman or Church in general is to be understood as the Mother and the Witnesses as the Seed and Children begotten as it were in the Womb of the Church in which they were Baptized and Regenerated And here it is fit to be observed 1. That a Day began first to be reckoned for a Year in the Wilderness Numb 14.34 whereby the like reckoning of a Day for a Year in this place is much enforced 2. That there were but just Forty Two Encampments of the Children of Israel in the Wilderness reckoned up in the 33d Chap. of Numbers whereby may be fitly typified the Forty Two Months of the Gentiles and the Twelve hundred and sixty days of the Woman which differ only as Solar and Lunar time do one from another as hath been shewn on the former Chapter sojourning together in the Wilderness as the Few true Israelites did with the Numerous Apostatizing ones in a latent obscure and almost invisible manner 3 From hence also may be illustrated the Epocha or beginning of the Twelve hundred and sixty days from A.D. 437. For as the (a) Exod. 12.40 Gal. 3.17 Israelites went out from Pharaoh into the Wilderness at the End of Four hundred and thirty years from the Promise and the Covenant renewed by Sacrifice so in correspondence to its Type may the Christian Church be well thought to have fled from the Dragon Antichristianizing the Church about the same time from Christ's coming to give the Promise of Salvation and to enact the New Covenant by the Sacrifice of himself upon the Cross 7 And there was War 20 i. e. enmity and opposition Eph. 6.12 in Heaven 21 and in the Christian Church and Empire Michael i. e. Christ Dan. 10.13 21.12 1. and his Angels i. e. the Christians in the Empire fought 22 against i. e. opposed and resisted the Dragon i e. the Devil and Paganism and the Dragon Fought to hinder the progress of Christianity and his 23 Angels i. e. the Pagans in the Empire 20 There has been always an Enmity betwixt the good and the bad in the Church the latter persecuting the former as Cain did Abel and Ishmael Isaac from whence the Apostle dates the Persecution of the Church the Woman with her Children and the Mother of us all Gal. 4 22-31 So that the Four hundred Years Affliction of Israel Gen. 15.13 may be very well dated from about that time 21 The Christian Church is vety appositely called by the Apostle Gal. 4.26 Jerusalem which is above or the heavenly Jerusalem by which also may be signified the Archetypal Church or Kingdom in Heaven mentioned on Verse 1. in the Administration of which there is something like a VVar betwixt good and bad Angels who are represented as fighting in Scripture Dan. 10.13 20 21. But here seemeth also to be pointed out unto us the downfall of Paganism in the Empire which had its deadly Blow given it by Theodosius the Great as hath been before observed Whence it also follows that this War is Contemporary with the Times of Constantine and Theodosius 22 An Expression taken from Dan. 10.13 20. 23 Such were Licinius Julian Argobastes and Eugenius the Roman Senate and all other Opposers of Christianity in the Empire 8 And prevailed not i. e. they were conquered and subdued neither was their place found any more in Heaven i. e. Paganism was cast out of the Church and Empire and lost all its power and Authority in it as being adjudged by him that sitteth on the Throne to have no longer continuance in it See num 1. and 21. 9 And the great Dragon was cast out of Heaven by Divine Sentence and out of the Christian Church and Empire that old Serpen i. e. cunning and subtile who had been used to deceit ever since the time of our first Parents Gen. 3. called the Devil i. e. the slanderer and calumniator of God to Men and of Men to God and Satan i. e. the Adversary and Accuser of Christians Job 1.9 Zech. 3.1 2. which deceiveth the whole World into Idolatry and Wickedness 1 John 5.19 he was cast out of a state of rule and dominion and reputed Godship in the Pagan Empire into the * Earth i. e. into a mean condition in respect of his former state and to rule in the Hearts of Earthly minded Men and of the Apostatizing part of the Church and his Angels i. e. his Agents and Instruments were cast out with him i. e. Paganism was destroyed in the Empire now become Christian * The State and Condition of the Dragon under Antichristian Idolatry may be very well express'd by his being cast from Heaven to Earth because Polytheism or the VVorship of many Gods being extirpated at the Overthrow of Paganism he was no more worshipped as a God in the Empire and the Worship of Saints and Angels succeeded to it an Idolatry inferiour to
of his Name seems to denote the Number which shall shew his Nature Essence and Being Name and Thing to be and to be called being very frequently used promiscuously in Scripture and the Number of the Beast seems to be different from that of his Name and may signifie the Number which shall shew the Time of his becoming The Beast as will appear more clearly in the following Annotations 46 Hereby is not signified that Antichrist is a Man but that it is the Number of Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or of the same kind that other Numbers are which Men make use of as Isaiah Chap. 8.1 is commanded to write with a Man's Pen that is with such a one and in such Characters as are in use amongst Men and as the Word is used Chap. 21.17 47 The Man of Understanding is not bid to calculate the Numeral Letters of the Beast's Name but to calculate 666. the Number of the Beast which Arithmeticians know can be done no other way but by extracting the Root of it which seems wholly to overthrow the conceit which (a) Lib. 5. Cap. 30. Irenaeus has delivered from Ancient Tradition that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Numeral Value of the Letters of which word make up 666. is the Name of the Beast and that the counting of the Number of the Beast consists in nothing else but in the counting of the Value of the Letters of his Name which is no great piece of Wisdom and Vnderstanding And although the Authority of Irenaeus is not to be altogether contemned yet it being notorious that he was mistaken or imposed upon in some things for which he vouches the Traditions of Apostolical Men as particularly concerning our Saviour's Age when he died he is not to be followed when there are so considerable Reasons to be brought against the Opinion he relates and those from the very Text it self For besides that the Numeral Letters of several other Names amount to 666. the Apostasy is no where set forth unto us in Prophecy under Types which have any reference to the Name of Latins but only to that of Romans which has also swallowed up for a long time the other Name which is now out of use And therefore I cannot but acquiesce in what Mr. Potter has said in his Admirable Discourse upon this Number where he has shewn that the counting of it consists in the extracting the Root of it which is 25 the Number (b) 25 25 125 50 625 41 666. 25. being the only Number which by being multiplied into it self makes up the Square Number 666. when the Fraction which is 41 in this Operation is added to it which is what is meant by the Square Root of a Number And this Opinion I acquiesce in 1. Because it is the only way of counting or calculating this Number and is withal a piece of Ancient Wisdom and Vnderstanding perhaps in use amongst the Eastern Sages from whom the Greeks derived their Skill 2. Because the Root of it 25 gives us the Number of the Year when the Beast first had a Name or a Being Concerning which we are to observe that the Epocha of all the Numbers in this Prophecy are to be taken from the time of our Saviour's Resurrection A. D. 33. to which if you add this Number the Conception of the Beast will fall upon A. D. 58. about the time in which the second Epistle to the Thessalonians (a) 2 Ep. 2.7 thought by Mr. Dodwell and Dr. Cave to have been written 49. by Bp. Pearson A.D. 53. and by several others A. D. 57. was written when the Apostle affirms that the Mystery of Iniquity was working For as 12 the Root of the Number of the pure Church may denote that the Church continued pure until Twelve Years after the Resurrection viz. until A.D. 45. so may also the Root 25. lead us after the same manner to the Beginning of the Apostasy at A. D. 58. 3. Because the Square Number arising out of this Root gives us the time when the Apostasy came to be the Image of the Beast For if we add 666. to A. D. 58. the time of its Conception we shall arrive to A. D. 724. when the Beast which rose about A. D. 600. as hath been before observed came to his Manly Age as an Idolatrous Power being then warmly engaged in the War about Images Which Observation is much illustrated by the Beasts being represented as an Image in this Chapter in which 25 may be considered as the Root or Basis and 666 as the Heighth of it And as Nebuchadnezzar's Image Dan. 3.1 the Type of the Image in this Chapter was an irregular Figure contrary to the Rules of Proportion as Interpreters have shewn on that place and consisted of Sixes as this does so is 25 the Basis of this Image a Surd Number out of which a regular and perfect Square cannot arise but one mixt with Fractions to shew that the Apostasy is in Truth an Irregular Religion consisting of many unequal Additions as 25 is an uneven Number and 666. is not a square and perfect Number arising out of 25 only but is made up of Fractional Additions Whereas on the contrary the Number 12. the Root of the pure Church is an even number making One hundred and Forty Four Thousand its Square perfectly and entirely to shew the Perfection Entireness and Agreeableness of its Doctrines 4. Except this be the meaning of the Number of the Beast there will want an anti-numerus or opposite number to the number of Christ's Kingdom which is agreed on by all Interpreters to be 12. the square Root of One hundred and Forty Four Thousand and thereby that graceful Antithesis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Correspondent Opposition which is observed in this Prophecy betwixt the things which relate to Christ's and Antichrist's Kingdom will be violated and broken and the Anti-Apostolicalness of this Church will not be so appositely signified See Mr. Potter 's Discourse 5. The Number 25. may very well be put to express the beginning of Antichrist's Kingdom because it hath been always accounted by Sacred and Prophane Writers who have thought nothing of Antichrist to be mysteriously evil and to be an Hieroglyphical Character of some unhappy desperate deplorable and Apostatical Estate of Christ's Church because it is an oddly uneven number which is unevenly measured by an odd Number as Mr. Potter (a) Chap. 12. hath proved out of Jerom and others in his Excellent Discourse on this Subject an Exquisite Piece of Mysterious Knowledge For which Reason also 666 may be a Number expressing things belonging to Antichrist's Kingdom because it consists of Sixes a Number relating to the Pagan Kingdom the Sixth Head of which Antichrist is the Image And also as (b) On this Verse Grotius observes denotes the Things of this World as Seven does the Things of the Better World the Kingdom of the Messias 6. The Number
12 the New things i. e. Graces and Blessings of my New Kingâ—om under which is comprised all that is really desirable and all the Promises made to the Churches Chapters 2 and 3. and I Christ God-Man 12 will be his God and Father as having begotten him to this New Life Eph. 2.10 and he shall be my Son i. e. the Promises of the New Covenant and the Priviledges of Adoption shall be bestowed upon him in the highest and fullest Sense of them Sâ—e on Verse 3. 12 12 Here is declared that the (a) Rom. 8. Restauration of all things and the Adoption to the Inheritance and Redemption of Bodies will be fully compleated only in the Kingdom of Christ who is the Father of the New World the World to come 8 But all the 13 fearful of the Antichristian State especially who dare not hold fast the Profession of their Faith without wavering but for fear forsake the assembling of themselves drawing back unto Perdition Heb. 12.23 25 38 39. and unbeleiving in the Promises of Christ's Coming because of his long delay and who upon that draw back from the true Faith and scoff at it Heb. 12 35-39 2 Pet. 2 and 3 Chapters the abominable and defiled in their Mind Conscience and Practises and to every good work reprobate Tit. 1.15 16. and murderers especially of the Witnesses and Saints Chap. 18.24 and Whoremongers who practise and advance Doctrines which promote uncleanness Chap 2.6 15 and Sorcerers who bewitch Souls Chap. 18.23 and Idolaters as the Antichristian Party are by way of Eminence and all Liars who belâ—eve and make a Lye especially the great one of Antichristianism Rev. 3.9 2 Thes 2.9 1 Tim. 4.2 shall have their part not in the first Resurrection to Blessedness and Holiness but in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second Death and that Eternal See on Chap. 20.6 10 14 15. 13 All sorts of Sinners are here understood but most especially the Antichristian to whom the Characters agree Antichrist being the Man of Sin and Shinar or Babylon which is Antichristian Rome being the very House and Base of all Wickedness Ezek. 5.8 11. Rev. 18.24 9 And there came unto me 14 one or the first and principal of the seven Angels which had the seven Vials full af the seven last plagues the very same who shewed me the Jâ—dgment of the Great Whore Chap. 17.1 and talked with me saying Come hither I will shew thee the (a) Chap. 19 7-9 Bride the Lamb's Wife i. e. the New Jerusalem State and thou shalt plainly and more distinctly see the Nature of it and the vast difference there is betwixt it and the Antichristian State which I before shewed thâ—e Chap. 17. 14 The same Angel that shewed him the Judgment on the great Whore shews him also the New Jerusalem State to manifest that the Destruction of Antichrist and the pouring forth of the Vials are highly and immediately preparatory to Christ's Kingdom 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit i. e. I was in a Spiritual Extasie and was carried in Vision Chap. 1 10.17 3. to a great and high mountain to denote the State of Christ's Church and Kingdom now become a Mountain Dan. 2.35 established in the Tops of the Mountains and exalted above the Hills and to shew that this was the City seen by Ezekiel when he was set upon a very high Mountain Isa 2.2 Ezek 40.2 and shewed me not the Antichristian City of the Whore Chap. 17.3 but that truly great City the (b) Burnet's Theory 4.9 general Assembly consisting of all true Believers and of the Spirits of all just men made perfect Heb. 12.22 23. the Holy and Heavenly Jerusalem the City of the Living God and not the impure Idolatrous City of the Whore descending out of Heaven i. e. the highest Heavens into the lower Regions of it Verse 2. from God by whom it was built and the Kingdom was set up Dan. 2.44 Heb. 11.10 16. 11 Having the Glory of God i. e. the 15 glorious Presence of Christ and of his Saints Matth. 17 2. John 1.14 Heb 1.3 and her Light (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that which enlightned her was like unto a Stone most precious even like a Jasper Stone clear as Chrystal i. e. the Presence of Christ was (a) Of which the Jasper is an Emblem See Grot. on Chap. 4.3 and on this Verse firm and lastâ—ng dwelling and abiding in it and it was full of Glory Purity and Holiness See on Chap. 4 3. 15 For this is the most proper Representation of the Divine Glory of which the Glorious Appearances of Fire Light and Bright Clouds the Schekinah under the Old Testament were but faint Images and Types 12 And had a Wall great and high i. e it was under the immediate protection of Divine Omnipotency and those which were without were excluded from it Isaiah 26 1-5 60 18. Zech. 2.5 Rev. 22.15 and had twelve Gates for free access to all true Israelites or Saints and at the Gates Twelve Angels as Cherubims to guard this New Paradise that nothing which had not right to Life might enter therein Gen. 3.24 Ezek. 48.31 and Names written thereon which are the Names of the Twelve 16 Tribes of the children of Israel to shew that none but God's People the true Israelitism had a right to this New Jerusalem State See on Chap. 7 4-10 16 These are the very 14400 who were sealed Chap. 7. 13 On the East three Gates on the North three Gates on the South three Gates and on the West three Gates i. e. there were Twelve Gates answerable to the Twelve Tribes Three on each side of the Four square City towards each Corner of the Heavens to shew that the whole Israel of God or all true Believers from every quarter of the World have a right to the Kingdom of Heaven Luke 13.29 See Ezek. 48 31-35 14 And the Wall of the City which was the Security and Protection of it and excluded every thing which was unclean had Twelve Foundations and in them thâ— Names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World to shew that the Kingdom and Church of Christ was secured and protected by the Apostolical Doctrine upon which it was built Jesus Christ the Lamb of God whose Blood is the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant by which all things are secured unto us ratified and confirmed being the chief Corner-stone Eph. 2 19-22 15 And he that talked with me i. e. the 17 Angel Verse 9. had a golden not a common Reed to shew that this was the glorious pure precious and refined State of the Church of which that measured by Ezekiel with a common Reed was but a Type Ezek. 40.3 to measure the Dimensions and Contents of the Holy 18 City or whole Visible Church which was now rescued out of the hands of the Heathens and Antichristian Enemies and might therefore be measured as being