hence Let us then consider the Importance of this Voice and it is plainly the Separation of the People of God and so of every Person among us if we are of his People from any Communion with that City or Community concerning which we shall by the Light of this Prophecy duly weigh'd and consider'd be convinc'd that It is the City symboliz'd or set out by this Mystical Woman And our Separation must be proportionable to the danger of being tainted or struck with the Contagion of its Sins or Apprehended and Reach'd by the Thunder-shaft of its Plagues For so is the Charge Come out of her my People And so is the Enforcement Lest ye be partaker of her Sins and lest ye Receive of her Plagues Now that we may do this It is highly Expedient at least to use the utmost Enquiry into this Prophecy that we may know by the Characters of it What and what manner of City the Spirit of God in it doth signifie and what or what manner of Time also It hath denoted or else we cannot so well judge what is 1 Pet. 1. 11. our Duty or what our Danger For though I would allow with as much Largeness of mind as can be desir'd that by the General Rules of Universal Scripture we may without the particular Understanding of this Prophecy be secur'd from both the Impurities and from the Judgments of this City by Adhering to the Truth and Purity and Mercy of the Christian Religion in Doctrine Discipline Worship and Practise according to the just measures of the Word of God yet we cannot do it with those particular Evidences of that Divine Reason nor with those vigorous Emotions of Zeal against such an unclean Communion as this Prophecy rightly apprehended would arm us with For certainly The Pen of this Divine Scribe was not made in vain I will therefore use the highest Diligence of Research and close Enquiry into the Prophecy concerning the City and the Times appointed to it and then concerning the Comming out of it and enforce the Charge here given to come out of it and all this as peculiarly deriv'd from this Holy Oracle in comparison of which all the Streams deriv'd from Antiquity are Low and Flat in shewing the Great Abominations of that City But Blessed is he that Readeth and They who Hear the Words of this Prophecy for now the Time is more at hand as to what we are now to Treat of than when the Oracle was first given although each part of this Prophecy was in its own Time and Order at Hand according to the Line wherein each Thing was to come to pass and which Line began in the Things that were first to come to pass and did come to pass from the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ which are but one Time in the Account of Prophecy as we say in Law The whole of each Term is but one Day and from thence the Revelation is dated as from its Epoch or Beginning-Point First therefore concerning the City there are such Characters as undeniably assure us This City can be no other than the City Rome that is here thus describ'd The City resembled by a Woman a not only Imperious but Charact. 1 Imperial whorish Woman is plainly Expounded by the Angel to be a City And it is usual in Prophecy to Figure Cities by that Embleme of a Woman and not only Cities but Churches as Revel c. 17. c. 18. Zion by a Woman grieved in Spirit the True Church in this Prophecy is often Typ'd by a Woman the New Jerusalem by the Bride the Lambs Wife And Adulterous Churches by Adulterous Women as Aholiab and Aholibah are the Pictures of Samaria Ezek. 23. and Jerusalem both as Adulterous Cities and Churches But this Woman this Imperial and Imperious whorish Woman is affirm'd to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all the Emphasis and Force of Expression that can be The City The Great That hath now saith the Apostle John that I am in writing it at this very present Time the Kingdom over the Kings of the Earth Now a City that had then the Kingdom over the Kings of the Earth undeniably imported a Capital City the Seat of an Vniversal Monarchy at that Time. For as a Monarch hath in the very nature of a Monarch all subordinate Magistrates under him and accountable to Him so an Universal Monarchy hath States and Kingdoms under it that however in their particular Kingdoms They may be over and above all others yet still their Power is Limitable and accountable to and may be Appealed from to the Universal Monarchy and Power When therefore This City is said to be The City The Great Having at that Time a Kingdom over the Kings of the Earth It is to say the City spoken of was at the Time when the Revelation was given the Seat of an Vniversal Monarchy and that some Supreme Power had its Imperial Residence there took its Title from that City exercis'd its Power under that Title and as the then present Head of that City bore up the City by such Title so that it is said to have a Kingdom over the Kings of the Earth because such a Power so related to it had a Kingdom over all other Kingdoms far and near or had sueh an Universal Monarchy or Kingdom Now what City that was that had then a Kingdom over the Kings of the Earth in the sense now declared besides the Notices of Universal History in that matter it is most evident from Scripture that it must be even that very City Rome for Augustus at that time the Emperour of Rome when our Lord was Born made a Decree that All the World viz. the World of the Roman Empire which Aspir'd as it were to equal the very Habitable Earth in Extent should come under a particular Census Luc. 2. 1. or be describ'd that so an Account of the large Bounds of the Dominion the Numerousness Strength and Riches of the Subjects might be render'd to Him. We read in the History of the Acts of the Apostles how great the Honour was for any City to be accounted a Member of that City that its Natives might be the Free-Born of that City It made such a City no mean City The Immunity of being so Free-born was so great that many purchas'd it at an exceeding Rate who had it not by Birth We find the Apostle Paul though he was a Jew and immediately subject to the Jewish Law yet as it were directed by an Impulse of Providence Appeals to Caesar's Tribunal as the Highest upon Earth These and Acts 22 28 many other Expressions assure us what City it was that at that Time Reigned over the Kings of the Earth And it was very necessary the Scripture that loves most in all weighty matters to be serv'd by its own Records should take this great Notice of the Roman Empire Because as the Fourth Monarchy it was of the Four the most Remarkable For
disorder in Time as here no Gap in the Succession For thus only could the Succession of these Kings exactly Lead the Course of the Cities Time So that the Spaces of it might be measur'd thereby But if Those Seven Kings only that were Heads had been nam'd while there was Another between that was no Head and he had not been Nam'd There must have been a Leap of Time from the sixth to the seventh Head and no Account of the Seventh King making the seventh Head the eighth King to have swell'd up that space of the seventh King's Time into Appearance and Notice From whence it is Evident that the Seventh King no Head of the Beast that Carries the Woman and yet A King of the City is cast in to keep the Course and Current of the Prophetic Time strait and tight For if the very exact Pourtraicture of the Beast had been only design'd It had been more Just and Even without any mention of the Seventh King that pertain'd not to the Beast nor to the Woman as carried by the Beast But It was absolutely necessary that King also should be mention'd that the Time of the Prophecy with Relation to the Beast and the City might be under just Computation which it could not have been except the Seventh King being King of the City as before said and Coming between the sixth King and Head and the Eighth King but seventh Head had been plac'd in his Regular Succession however it seem to interrupt the state of the Beast who for that time as we shall see lay wounded and so was to suffer that Disorder in this his prophetical Representation The King that was no Head can have no room in the Order Proposit 3 of Succession but just in that Seventh Place For the Seven Heads are seven Kings viz. Seven that are also Heads Seeing then there are Eight Kings although but seven Heads There must be one of these Kings who is no Head Else there must be eight Heads which contradicts the Prophecy Which Place then the King No Head holds must be enquir'd It cannot be any of the Five Fallen For they are in Construction of Speech necessarily Heads For those seven Heads are Seven Kings Five of which Kings who were Heads are Fallen So the very Frame of the Words requires But besides the Five are put together and so must be of a Kind and therefore All alike Heads or All alike no Heads if All no Heads where then can be the Seven therefore of necessity All Heads And There is nothing more in the Mind and Design of the Prophecy than to assure us the Eighth King is a Head For whereas He is the Eighth in Number of Kings He is Transpos'd backward and made the Seventh viz. Head. For so he must be when of the Seven Seven Take them either as Kings or Heads both which as together and in one are Sevens and no other are Sevens but they who are both Kings and Heads For the seven Heads are seven Kings And it is plain He is last of the seven and so must be the seventh viz. Head and King. The Dispute then can only lye betwixt the seventh and the sixth Kings which of those Two shall be the King who yet is no Head. Now the very Contexture of the Words necessarily determines us upon the sixth as Head as well as King or at least strongly enclines us For Five Kings that are Heads are Fallen And One is One what but of the Heads who are Kings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Another is not yet Come Another what but King Yet not Head For He is Another For when such a Point of difference is to be decided there is great Reason to give the word Another a greater weight of Sense then only a casual Word of Order but it seems the Spirit of Prophecy chose that word One that the word Another might fall emphatically and yet concealedly as possible to be casually where He would have it just Fall. Further when He Comes He must continue but a short space which is said only of the seventh King and no Head For the Five are put together The Sixth is The Eighth goes indeed into Perdition but after how long Time is here but Intimated Only the seventh is of short space who being no Head of the Beast that Carries the City ought to be of short space only For neither the Beast nor such a City could have survived long if the King no Head had been of long duration But they were to survive long Lastly the Eighth is expresly said to be of the Seven immediately after the Seventh had made an Interruption between the Heads being no Head Himself but if the seventh King had been a Head and the sixth none we might have expected what Falls so on the seventh King would have been fix'd on the sixth King to distinguish it from being a Head and what is set on the Eighth King to assure Him to be a Head would have been in the same measure Communicated to the seventh King to assure Him to be a Head as well as King if the sixth King had made a Chasm or Breach betwixt the Heads whereas All falls fit on the seventh King on all sides to be no Head. But though All This be enough yet we shall have much more to Assure us when we come to know who these Heads are that of all most indisputably the sixth must be a Head and the seventh could be no Head seeing the heads are Full of the Names of Blasphemy These seven Kings are not seven particular Kings or single Proposit 4 Monarchic Persons but seven Governments having each a Number or Succession of such single Kings under them For Kings in Prophetic Scripture signifie Kingdoms and not only single Kings So Dan. 7. 17. what are call'd Four Kings no one doubts Mean Four Kingdoms Accordingly v. 23. the Fourth King is Interpreted to be the Fourth Kingdom In this Prophecy proportionably the Beast with Seven Heads is the whole Roman Empire or Kingdom according to the old Prophetic Emblem of Heathenish Monarchies from its first Foundation and Beginning to its last Overthrow in which Rome the Imperial City hath been always by the Seven Headed Beast Exalted and borne on High. The Heads are the several Governments and Forms of Empire that have each in their several Seasons exercised Supremacy and Sovereign Authority in that Monarchy State or Kingdom Five of which the Prophecy as before nam'd binds up together as uninteressed in their Duration or Succession The Last of these Heads which is the Seventh and Eighth King is eminently styl'd the Beast because His Supremacy is chiefly treated of by this Prophecy and in which the whole City and All goes into Perdition with Him. Now to demonstrate that these Heads and Kings must be Forms of Government let us consider one and the same City the City Rome is Carried upon the Beast of these Seven Heads together with the Cast-in-King its whole
Consideration absolutely fixes the Succession and the Time of it And they are call'd Ten not to raise a Scruple about their exact Number Ten neither more nor less but being several into which the One Empire sprouted against its will as All History well knows that at that Time the Empire was so Torn into Pieces But they are called Ten to preserve Regard to that First Image in which this Roman Empire came down to the Feet and was divided into the Ten Toes And this being the State of that Empire under its Seventh Head the Horns or Kings seated in it are called Ten with respect to that First Statue given of the Four Empires and of the last Form of the Last Empire And they are call'd Horns because notwithstanding They were Absolute Independent Kings Yet as Horns give offensive and defensive force to the Head and that hath Supreme Mannagement of them so these Horns gave their Power to the Seventh Head. So making Him an Universal Monarch or eighth King till the Words of God are fulfill'd Now I know not how a firmer Settlement of the Beginning of these Months just at the Cessation of the Christian Imperialism can be made than is now made by this last Addition But because it may be said the Name of Pope is no Kingly or Object 1 Imperial Name It seems to overthrow the whole Frame laid It is Admirable the Care Prophecy hath taken to tell us The Answer Beast of the Roman Idolatrous Empire is continu'd in Life and is healed of his deadly Wound by making an Image to Him who is the Seventh Head and Eighth King. The Papacy is not a real Martial Civil Sovereignty but it is the Image only of One It is yet nevertheless Haughty for it is Ador'd and Worshipped It Assumes Power over Princes and disposes Kingdoms It is nevertheless Cruel and Enforcive for it Kills All who will not Worship that Image It Causes All to receive its Mark or proscribes them how great or small soever It Arrogates not only a Crown but a Tripple Crown This Beast in an Image is therefore the Beast that is not yet is viz. is not the same yet the same the same in Real Power yet in an Image too viz. Spirituality of Power is an Image of Power but enforcing that Power by its Horns it is a Real Power and so Is not yet Is c. 17. 8. But It may be said it was long er'e these Kings gave their Object 2 Power thus to the Beast It is most true it was so even as It was er'e He came to his Answer Number For therefore Prophecy sets this Beast in View Rising with his Ten Crowned Horns first out of the Sea those Troublesome Commotions in the World when Rome Fell as a Burning Mountain into the Sea. But at the Rising of this Beast out of the Bottomless Pit whither He went down when He became a Fallen Star * When Phocas gave Him the Title of Vniversal An. 606. with the Key of it to Open it and Ascended Rev. 9. 1 2. Then did He Receive the Kingdom and Power of these Horns till He goes into Perdition For the once noting Him to Rise out of the Sea and Twice to Ascend from the Bottomless Pit shews He had a double Rising One by way of meer Providence as out of the tumultuous Sea of worldly Affairs that necessitated the Emperour to abdicate Empire and to leave Him the only Name of Supreme Eminency in Rome but then He was not till after as an Antichristian False Spiritual Power or Vicar of Christ He assum'd a Kingdom an Universal Kingdom as having the Keys of Eternal Damnation in his Hand viz. of the Bottomless Pit. If the Pope be an Eighth King a Roman Supreme Power and the Head to whom the Ten Kings give their Power Why is it Object 3 not then Lawful to acknowledge Him as the Roman Caesar was to be acknowledg'd by Christ's own Command and as the Crowned Horns or Ten Kings are to be acknowledg'd who give Him their Kingdom and Power No Kings or Powers may be acknowledg'd in their Idolatrous Answ 1 or Superstitious Commands No Caesars no Kings and much more no Popes can be so Obey'd 2. But upon this very Account He ought not at all to be acknowledg'd because He is a King only in an Image and in reality a Fallen Star a Corrupted Antichristian False Spiritual Power Undermining and Usurping the Kingdom of Christ and so to be abhorr'd and detested and his Adulterous Idolatrous Church or City to be separated from and to be Come out of And thus I have I Trust evinc'd the Settlement of the Epoch or Beginning of these Fourty Two Months both by the Prophecy and by the Event and come now to fix the latter Branch or what Prophecy hath determin'd concerning the End or Period of these Months although that cannot be declar'd in the Particulars or manner of the Event but must be waited for till He shall shew them who hath Reserved them in his own power till their appointed Season But in the mean time He hath given us the Bulk of the Events which at the end of these Months shall be in their Motion and continual Progress till all be Accomplished and no Iota of the Prophecy Fall to the Ground Now to make this Point as plain as Prophecy hath made it It is to be consider'd in the two Grand Oracles that are given of it and Relate to the very End of the Twelve hundred sixty Days and so consequently to the End of the Months or to the End of the Months themselves implying the End of the 1260 Days As to the End then of the Twelve hundred sixty Days since the Witnesses are to be in Sackcloth during them whenever the Witnesses come into a splendid State It is certain They can be no longer in Sackcloth For such a State and such a Sackcloth can by no possible means Agree And then it will as certainly follow the Twelve hundred sixty Days are at an End when they change their Sackcloth for Garments of Praise For all those Twelve hundred sixty Days they are to be in Sackcloth Although therefore the Prophecy does not positively say the Twelve hundred sixty Days are at an End yet in that It says they were Called up to Heaven in a Cloud and their Enemies beheld Them It must needs be that the Sackcloth must be dropp'd when they are Chariotted in a Cloud and Ascend and so then It does by necessary Implication say that the Twelve hundred sixty Days are at an End For else the Witnesses could not part with their Sackcloth being determin'd to it for so long And so long the Womans the Churches Twelve hundred sixty Days last For as their Times are equal so their States Reciprocate When therefore the Twelve hundred sixty Days are by Consequence absolutely necessary ended the Fourty Two Months are wheeled along with them to their Period And that affects the City the Great Spiritually