Christ shall Reign after an eminent manner upon the Earth for a thousand years 'T is this second Marriage which is spoken of here in the 19. chap. Which Chapter may be called an Epithalamium or a Wedding Song because St. Iohn say's that he heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thunders saying Alleluja for the Lord God omnipotent Reigneth Let us be glad rejoice give honor to him for the Marriage of the Lamb is come his Wife hath made her self ready to her was granted that they should be arayed in fine linnen which is the Righteousness of the Saints The Spouse of this Marriage is the Christian Church being filled up with the fulness of Iews and Gentiles The Iews refused to come to the Marriage of the Son of God Matth. 22. 2. c. but they are here represented coming with joy And that is doubtless the reason why the Term Allelujah is four times used in this chapter as a Term familiar unto the Iews and ordinarily used by them in their Synagogues This Marriage is stiled a Supper blessed are they who are called unto the Marriage Supper of the Lamb v. 9. Because it is to be celebrated in the evening of the worlds duration The Marriage to which the Iews were first invited by their Lord is called a Dinner Matth. chap. 22. v. 4. but here at this second Marriage they are called to a Supper as being the last Invitation The Iews rejected the first Invitation because Christ left the Roman Empire in the state he found it whereas the Iews had strongly hop'd that the Messiah would have delivered them from its domination And now the same Roman Empire become Papal doth as much and more keep them off from Christianity because they cannot imagine that Idolaters can be the people of the Messiah and they have reason for it But when the Papal Empire shall come to be destroyed as it assuredly shall upon the Effusion of the Vials and when the Beast and the False Prophet shall be cast into the bottomless pit in a word when the Papacy shall be abolished with all its Idols then the Iews will be no longer deaf to Gods call but will come to the Supper of the Marriage of the Lamb shall unite with Christians to worship together the God of Abraham and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ The Church of Rome boasteth herself to be the Church of God but her vanity therein doth appear after such a manner that she might blush if she were capable being so vastly different from the Church which Jesus Christ acknowledgeth for his Spouse and which is called here the Spouse of the Lamb. There is as great a difference between the Church of Rome and the Church of Iesus Christ as there is between Babylon and Jerusalem between a Harlot and the Spouse of the Lamb. She discovereth herself by her gaud'ries and costly habit 's which serve for nothing but to gratify the sight and please the senses The Church of Christ manifesteth her self by another kind of Dress which is nothing but Righteousness and holiness For to her was granted that she should be arayed not in purpl ' and scarlet as Babylon but in fine linnen which is the Righteousness of the Saints XXIV ILLUSTRATION Of the holy Jerusalem REV. CHAP. 21. v. 10. ALL Interpreters do agree that this Ierusalem described Chap. 21 is the Church of God but they differ in this that some do believe it to be the Church of God glorified in Heaven whereas others do take it to be the Church Militant on Earth but victorious over all her Enemies and enjoying an universal peace during the 1000 years which have been spoken of This last opinion is the truest 1 Because the Angel entreth upon this description of the Church of God as he had entred upon the description of Babylon chap. 17. 'T is there said v. 1. One of the seven Angels which had the seven Vials talked with me saying I will shew thee the whore and her judgment The same is said here One of the seven Angels which had the seven Vials talked with me saying come hither and I will shew thee the Bride the Lambs Wife After the same manner that the glory of Babylon is represented there is the glory of the Church of God described here but such as she shall have afier the destruction of her Enemy 'T is in the prospect and hope of this that the Church do's rejoice Mica 7 8. c. Rejoice not against me O mine Enemy tho I be fallen I shall arise tho I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he plead my cause then she that is my Enemy shall be covered with shame and mine eyes shall behold her troden down as the mire of the streets 2 The Church of God is here called the great City a Title which had been given to Babylon in the 16 17 and 18 Chapters Because the whole Earth went after Babylon while the Church of God did hardly appear being brought into a narrow compass and to a small number but now Babylon hath abandon'd the field and appeareth no more and now the Jews are brought again in and the fulness of the Gentiles is entred into the Tents of Jerusalem which being forced to stretch out her curtains by reason of the conversion of all nations is therefore called that great City This is exactly the little Stone in the Prophesie of Daniel which was to become a great Mountain And this Prophecy is to be fulfilled on the Earth before the day of judgment 3 'T is said in the 24 th verse that the Nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it and the Kings of the Earth do bring their glory and their honor into it Which can no way's be applied to the Church triumphant in heaven but agrees unto her as she is victorious on the Earth over the fury of the Beast and as she is in the enjoyment of her Millennian tranquillity It will be then that the Prophecy of Isaiah will be fulfilled chap. 49. v. 22 23. Behold I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles and set up my standard to the people And they shall bring thy Sons in their arms and thy Daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders And Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and their Queens thy nursing Mothers they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the Earth and lick up the dust of thy feet Moreover the Church of God as she shall be glorified in heaven having been described in the beginning of the Chapter as well as the frightful state of the damned is in the 8th verse it is evident that in the 9. verse and forward the Angel describeth a glory of the Church different from that of heaven which
considered two ways First more grossly and in the bulk as it comprehendeth all the Seven Heads and in that sense it is nothing but a Regency under the seven Forms of Government which Rome hath passed throw since its Foundation and so it indefinitely and at large designs the Roman Empire Secondly As it is used precisely or strictly to denote the Beast under the seventh Head which is the Pope or Papal Power and so it is represented by the Beast with Two Horns 'T is most evident that it is Rome under the seventh Head which is the Pope that is here spoken of in that it is the Healing of the Wound which the Beast had received under the sixth Head. For he both speaks of this Wound in the third Verse and then of the Healing of it by the Beast with two Horns which is the Papacy in the 12. Verse Now that the Papal Empire is the Seventh Head or the Beast with Two Horns will be demonstratively proved by observing the conformity which is between that Beast and the Papal Kingdom 1. For whereas the Term Beast does signify a Domination and an Empire it cannot be denied but that the Romish Church is an Empire and that it may be stiled the Papal Kingdom and the Roman Empire 2. Forasmuch as Horns according as we have proved do denote Iurisdictions and Powers so the Papal Authority comprehends a twofold Power and two kinds of Domination one over that which is Temporal and another over that which is Spiritual One over this Life and another over that which is to come So that the Papal Kingdom must be that which is meant by the Beast with Two Horns 3. Whereas 't is said Rev. 13. 11. that the Two Horns of the Beast were like the Two Horns of the Lamb. All do know that Jesus Christ hath a twofold Authority or two kinds of Soveraignty One over the Soul and another over the Body One over that which is Temporal and another over that which is Spiritual And seeing the Pope boasts of this twofold Authority under pretence of being the Vicar of Jesus Christ it does therefore follow that he is the Beast with the Two Horns 4. And whereas 't is said Rev. 13. 11. that the Beast with two Horns spake as a Dragon 't is undeniable that the Pope speaks in the same manner and not only like the Devil Matth. 4. 9. assumeth to himself a Right of Disposing of all the Kingdoms of the World and of forbidding men to obey the Commandments of God but as the calumniating Spirit he reproacheth Gods Word both by accusing it of falsehood and by robbing it of its perspicuity integrity perfection sufficiency and of its Authority which he challengeth to himself 5. It being said Rev. 13. 12. that the Beast with two Horns exerciseth all the power of the first Beast whose deadly wound was healed This does perfectly agree to the Papal Power For the Roman Empire that flourished in St. Iohn's time having received a Deadly Wound it became healed thro the application of the Papal Authority as a Plaister unto it Now that Wound consisted in two things in the Subversion of the Pagan Idolatry and in the Abatement of the Glory of Rome And the Heathens were wont to observe in their Disputations against the Christians that as the ancient Religion fell from its splendor so the Glory of Rome did proportionably decay And as the Pagan Idolatry became in effect destroyed by the conversion of Constantine and the care of his Successors so Rome as to its Glory being first much darkned and almost extinguished and then being destroyed by the Goths tho it came afterwards to be restored yet it was never honored to be the Residence of the Emperors in that they fixed their abode at Ravenna and Millan These two Wounds seemed to be incurable but the Papal Soveraignty did perfectly heal them both For in the room of the God's Worshipped under Paganism there was set up the Adoration of Angels Saints the Consecrated Bread and of Relicks So that by this new Idolatry Panagism became again restored And withal Rome hath recovered a Glory not only equal unto its former but greater than what it had seeing the Pope thro having made it the Seat of his Empire appears there as the true Successor of the Heathen Emperors as the Commander of Kings and as the Supream Pontife as well as Chief Cesar who hath united the Priesthood to the Imperial Dignity In a word the Pope is the Head of a Senate attired in Purple and challengeth a Right of Deposing Kings and of disposing Crowns and who receives Tribute from all People and makes himself to be adored not only with a Civil but with a Religious Adoration as the Emperors of old used to be Both Blondus and Steuchus Bishop of Egubium do ingenuously describe without being aware of it how the Wound which Rome had received is again healed thro means of the Soveraignty that is come to be vested in the Pope The first says That the Majesty of Rome is now greater than ever it was because the Princes of the Earth do now worship the Successor of St. Peter as perpetual Dictator that is as Soveraign Pontife and as Vicar of the High Priest Jesus Christ And the other tells us That if after the Subversion of the Roman Empire God had not raised up the Papacy in which the ancient Majesty of Rome is revived that City had been a Habitation of Brute Beasts whereas by the establishment of the Papacy it hath recovered a grandure very little different from that which it had in the time of the old Empire seeing all Nations do now no less Reverence the Bishop of Rome than heretofore they obeyed the Roman Emperors So that by this it appears that the Beast with Two Horns is nothing but the Papacy forasmuch as the Papal Power hath healed Rome of the Wound she had received under the Emperors and rendred her again both Idolatrous and Mistriss of the World as she was heretofore 6. Whereas 't is said of the Beast with Two Horns Rev. 13. 12. That he causeth the Earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first Beast this agrees also to the Papacy which causeth that Rome being healed of its Wound is as much if not more reverenced than ever it had been upon an alledged pretence of having been the Chair and Seat of St. Peter As the Pagans made a Goddess of Rome Heathen by consecrating a Temple and dedicating a Feast unto her which they called Septimontium so Christians do no less make a Goddess of Rome Christian both by stiling her the Mistriss of the World and thro attributing to her the Priviledg of Infallibility that does belong to none save unto God. 7. 'T is further said Rev. 13. 13. That the Beast with two Horns doth great Signs and Wonders so that he maketh Fire come down from Heaven Now all men do not only know that the Romish Legends are full
the Adoration that all men should be laid under an obligation unto 3. The Body of Christ is according to the Papal Doctrine shut up in a Ciborium or Cupboard And this the Greek word here used doth signify 4. Nor is the Body of Christ according to the Doctrine of the Romish Church shut up meerly in one Cupboard which they call a Pix but in many which the Term here being in the plural number doth also denote 5. The Real Presence is built upon Miracles This every one knows by the many stories which we have of the Hosts having appeared in the Form of an Infant and that it hath been seen all Bloody Which our Saviour also foretold in saying that they who should teach this Real Presence should shew great Signs and Wonders insomuch that if it were possible they should deceive the very Elect. Moreover our Saviour forbids us to believe this invisible Presence of his Body Behold says he I have told you before believe it not And withal he declares that the Presence of the Son of man shall be like unto Lightning which shineth from one end of Heaven unto the other And forasmuch as he declareth that they shall be false Prophets who shall teach this Doctrine it does necessarily follow that tho the Pope through putting it into the Romish Creed and entorcing it by Anathema's is that very same False Prophet of whom St. John speaks in the Apocalypse Nor is the Real Presence of Christ's Body upon their Altars and that singular Adoration which they give unto the Sacrament the only false Doctrine in the Papacy whereby to prove the Pope to be this false Prophet But there are many more which serve to give evidence unto it And particularly that of the Worshipping of Images than which there cannot be a Doctrine more notoriously false 'T is most certain that God had forbid three things in his Law the making Images of things that are in Heaven or things that are in the Earth the bowing down before them and the serving them see Exod 20 4 5. Deut. 5. 8 9. All which the Church of Rome not only practiseth but persecutes all those as Hereticks and wicked persons who do in reference to this matter both obey the Injunctions of the Law and imitate the Example of the Jews since the time they returned from the Babylonish Captivity Is it not a false and an Heretical Doctrine to apply to the Virgin Mary in order to our being saved and to invocate her as the Gate of Paradise the Fountain of Grace and the Mother of Mercy If that Doctrine which overthroweth the Foundation be a Heresie Then it cannot be denied but that this is a gross one in that the Foundation of all Salvation is Iesus Christ alone Other Foundation saith St. Paul can no man lay than that that is laid which is Iesus Christ 1 Cor. 3. 11. And St. Peter saith that there is not Salvation in any other nor any other Name given among men save that of Iesus Christ whereby we may he saved Act. 4. 12. Beside can there be a Doctrine more evidently false than that of Popery which affirmeth the Mass to be a proper Sacrifice wherein our Redeemer is every day sacrificed Seeing the Apostle tells us expresly in the Epistle to the Hebrews chap. 10. v. 10. that we are sanctified through the offering of the Body of Iesus Christ once for all And he maketh this difference between the Sacrifices of the Law and that of our Saviour that they by reason of their imperfection were dayly offered whereas that of our Saviour because of its being infinitely perfect was offered but once And he addeth further in the same place v. 18. that there being under the Gospel Remission of Sins there is no more offering for Sin. So that here is enough to make it appear that the Pope who teacheth Doctrines so notoriously false and Heretical as these are can be no other than that False Prophet whom the Revelation of St. Iohn threatneth the World with VIII ILLUSTRATION Of the Dragon with Seven Heads and ten Horns REV. CHAP. 12. v. 3. IF we should take up with Appearances we should presently believe that this Dragon is the Devil and the rather seeing he is in the ninth verse called the Old Serpent the Devil and Satan who deceiveth the World. But yet the seven Heads and ten Horns which the Dragon is here said to have will not suffer us to doubt its being the same Roman Empire which is spoken of in the 13. Chap. because they are the same Heads and the same Horns of the Beast upon which the Woman sitteth in the 17. Chapter There is this only difference that the Horns of the Beast upon which the Woman sitteth are adorned with Crowns i. e. are Kings whereas the Horns of the Dragon have not these Marks of Soveraignty Which doth not prove them to be two different Beasts and two different Powers but only that the same Beast and the same Power is represented in relation to two different Times and two different Estates The ten Horns of the Beast upon which the Woman sitteth are according to the Explication given by the Angel ten Kings i. e. many Dominions formed out of the Ruins of the Roman Empire Which serveth to prove that Beast to be Rome and its Empire under the seventh Head and making profession of the Christian Religion Whereas the ten Horns of the Dragon are not adorned with Crowns because they were nothing save bare Provinces of Heathen Rome under the Emperors From whence it doth appear that the Dragon with his seven Heads and his ten Horns must necessarily represent the old Roman Empire and exactly denote Rome under the Emperors who are the sixth Head. 'T is called by the name of a Dragon which is a Beast because it is a Dominion and an Empire 'T is stiled Satan and the Devil by reason of the Devil 's being there worshipped under the name of Mars And from hence we see upon what ground Rome was called Martia and the City of Mars namely because the Devil was there as the Soul which acted that vast Body Even as he is called the Serpent in the seduction of the first Woman because he was as the Soul of the Serpent and that it was he that spake to Eva and who seduced her But the question is what is meant by the Tail of the Dragon drawing the third part of the stars of Heaven and casting them to the Earth They who understand the Scripture-stile of speaking cannot be detained a moment by this difficulty Seeing it appears in Isaiah chap. 9. v. 14 15. and chap. 19. v. 15. that whensoever the Scripture speaks of Head and Tail it does by Head intend a person of Rule and Authority and by Tail meaneth a False Prophet Therefore as the seven Heads signify the seven sorts of Rulers that have Governed Rome so the Tail signifieth the Lies False Doctrines Frauds and Impostures upon which the
Papal Empire is erected This Kingdom is constituted of Errors False Worship and Tyranny And according to the Language of Isaiah Tyranny is denoted by the Head and Errors and False Worship are figured out to us by the Tail. And this is that which maketh up the Mystery Iniquity Dionysius Carthusianus tells us in his Commentaries that the Tail of the Dragon is Antichrist which is a notion as solid as it is ingenious For as the Tail is the End of the Dragon's Body so Antichrist is the End and Tail of the Roman Power And after that the Viols come to be poured out there shall be no more mention neither of Pope nor of Roman Empire neither of Roman Religion nor of Rome As to that which is intended by the third part of the Stars which the Tail of the Dragon cast to the Earth we are to know that the Roman Empire contained about the third part of the World and therefore that this third part of the Stars do signify all the Rulers and Doctors of that part of the world that have been drawn away and ensnared by the Papal Superstitions IX ILLUSTRATION Of the Woman cloathed with the Sun. REV. CHAP. 12. v. 1. THIS Woman whom St. John saw cloathed with the Sun having the Moon under her Feet and upon her Head a Crown of twelve Stars can be nothing but the true Church forasmuch as this Sun is Iesus Christ who is called by Malachy chap. 4. 2. the Sun of Righteousness and whom St. Paul in the 13. chapt to the Romans v. 14. requireth Believers to put on The Moon is the Pedagogy of the Law which as it was changeable so the Church hath trampled it under her Feet This St. Paul plainly intimates in the second chapt of the Epist to the Coloss For as most of the Legal Feasts such as the Passover Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles depended upon the motion of the Moon so the whole Legal Pedagogy is very well represented by the Moon as well as all the changeable things of this world which Believers thro being Citizens of Heaven do despise The Twelve Stars with which this Woman is crowned must signify the Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles which the true Church maketh her Glory and her Crown And this in Opposition to the Antichristian Church which may be said to have the Moon upon her Head and to be crowned with her Forasmuch as by the establishment of Priests Sacrifices Altars Purifications and Moveable Feasts she may be said to have revived the Synagogue rebuilt the Tabernacle of Moses and set up again the whole Legal Oeconomy And she may also be said to have the Sun and the Twelve Stars under her Feet both through her subjecting Jesus Christ to her Priests who do Sacrifice him and the Doctrine of the Apostles to her unscriptural and invented Traditions The Churches being with Child and crying and being in pain to be delivered represents the Persecutions that She suffered during the first three Centuries The Man Child which She brought forth is not Jesus Christ as might seem at the first view because in that sense She must have been the Judaick Church and not the Christian whereas this alone is the Subject of the Revelation But it is Christ Mystical the Church formed of those that were Gentiles which St. Paul in the first to the Cor. chap. 12. v. 12. stiles Christ And this is the more evident because this Man Child is distinguished from Michael v. 7. from the Lamb v. 11. from Iesus v. 17. and is said to overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and to have the Testimony of Iesus And whereas it is said that the Dragon stood before the Woman to devour her Child as soon as it was born That is by way of Allusion to the Birth of our Saviour and the Persecution he suffered from Herod who endeavoured to destroy him So that this Woman is properly the Christian Church which being made up at first of Iews travailed and was in pain to bring forth a Church composed of Gentiles And forasmuch as it is said of this Man Child that he was to Rule all Nations with a rod of Iron the same is promised to all Believers in the Epistle directed to the Church of Thyatira Rev. 2. 26 27. And whereas it is said of this Male Child that he was caught up unto God and to his Throne this doth not hinder us from understanding it of the Christian Church composed of Gentiles Since as such it was exalted to the Throne of the Empire in the person of Constantine and his Successors and was delivered from the Persecutions of Pagan Rome It is an Allusion to the Ascension of Jesus Christ for the Holy Spirit puts that Honour upon the Church when he is speaking of her Combats and Victories as to borrow Expressions which refer to the Combates and Victories of her Divine Husband X. ILLUSTRATION Of the Combate between Michael and the Dragon REV. CHAP. 12. INterpreters are divided about who this Michael should be who fought with the Dragon Some will have it to be Michael the Archangel who disputed with Satan about the Body of Moses and who durst not bring against him a railing accusation as St. Jude tells us v. 9. The same Michael being called by Dan. chap. 10. v. 13. one of the Chief Princes of the People of God. But others will have it to be Christ himself who in his own person fights against the Dragon And this opinion seems to be the truest because the Victory obtained in this Battel is above the power of a created Angel. The defeat given to Satan and his Angels in casting them out of Heaven unto the Earth is a work that belongs properly to none save to Jesus Christ who as he is here stiled by the name of Angel because he is the Angel of the covenant the Angel of the Great Council so he is called Michael that is one who is like unto God because he is the true God the Brightness of the Fathers Glory and the lively and express Image of his Person And of whom the Michael spoken of in Daniel was a Type We have already shew'd in the foregoing Explanations that the Dragon is the ancient Roman Empire or Rome under the sixth Head which was the Emperors but called the old Serpent the Devil and Satan because the Devil was as the Soul that enlivened that Empire and was worshipped in it as a Deity under the name of Mars so that Rome was surnamed Martia the City of the Idol-God Mars This being laid down there is no difficulty in the Vision It being nothing but a Description of the Persecutions which lasted under the Emperors for about the space of three hundred years It was then that Satan had justly the name of the Accuser of the Bretheren according as he is called v. 10. For the Christians during the time of 300 years could not assemble openly but were forced to keep their Mettings in Dens or
in Woods or in Holes of Rocks and were accused of committing there execrable Crimes and Murders and of being guilty of Conspiracies against the Government and of Uncleannesses and incestuous Converses as doth appear by the Apologies of Tertullian and other Writers of that time And whereas it is said that the Dragon was cast out of Heaven unto the Earth and that there was no place found any more for him in Heaven nor for his Angels this was verified by the conversion of Rome and her Emperors because Paganism being then destroyed both in Rome and through the whole Empire and the Devil being neither any more Worshipped under the name of Mars nor his Angels which are they that were his persecuting Emissaries respected and dreaded as they had been before there was no place found any more for him in heaven ` For in Rome he had no more a Temple where he was worshipped nor were there throughout the whole Roman Empire any more Pagans who did adore him so that he is thenceforth accounted of as fallen from Heaven to Earth according to the Prediction of the Son of God Luc. 10. 18. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven And forasmuch as St. John farther says I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now is come salvation and the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for the Accuser of our Brethren is cast down This is a description of the joy that was among believers when they saw Iesus Christ victorious and triumphant over the Dragon the subversion of Idols the down fall of paganism and the Church come out of Caves Woods and the Holes of Rocks and to assemble openly in the very Temples where the Dragon had been worshipped and there to worship the true God Creator and Redeemer So that if it be asked who those Angels of the Dragon are that fought for him I answer that they are the Philosophers the Orators the Priests of the Idols Gods and Magistrates who made use of all sort of Tricks Frauds Outrages of blind Zeal Violence Fines Banishments Imprisonments and Executions As upon the other hand Michaels Angels are the Pastors and Teachers who made use of no other Weapons nor Defence but that of the Sword of the Word of God of Faith of a holy Life and of Patience As it is said v. 11. that they overcame the Dragon by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of their Testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death XI ILLUSTRATION Of the Flight of the Woman REV. CHAP. 12. v. 14. THis Flight of the Woman had been mentioned v. 6. where it is said that after the Man child was caught up unto God and to his Throne the Woman fled into the Wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore Days But it appeareth by the 14 verse that this was spoken there by way of Anticipation and that the Flight of the Woman fell out after the fall of the Dragon that is after the destruction of Heathenism and the conversion of the Emperors Which gives us to understand that the Birth of Atichristianism followed soon after the deliverance from the Persecutions of the Pagan Emperors For ever since the Church decayed in her Purity the prosperity which She enjoyed under the Christian Emperors having suddenly and insensibly corrupted her And Platina tells us that a voice was then heard Hodie venenum funditur in Ecclesiam i. e. Poison is now poured forth upon the Church Nevertheless this Flight of the Church did not lye in a change of Place but in a change of her external State. In a word it was an Eclipse rather than a proper Flight a Darkness rather than a Retreat and discovered it in the pride Covetousness Luxury and Dissoluteness of the Churches Guides and in the Doctrines Worship and Ceremonies which She borrowed from the Pagans The Place which God had prepared for her was a little Corner of that Temple which is spoken of Rev. 11. 1. when the outward Court was trodden under foot by the Gentiles that is by those who had adopted and brought in Human Traditions and Heathenish Rites and Ceremonies into the Christian Religion The Two Wings given unto the Woman to forward her Flight and to render it the more expeditious and safe do denote the same thing that the measuring of the Temple doth in the eleventh chap. For he speaketh here of the same persons to wit the Church and of the same Time namely that which succeeded soon after the End of the Churches Persecution by the Heathen Emperors and of the same Design which is the Preservation of Believers against the Calamities threatned by the Trumpets The Wilderness into which She fled Intimateth unto us the Churches Obscurity Poverty and Distress of which there were different degrees For at some seasons the Church was not so much as visible no more than the seven thousand of the ten Tribes were under Ahab and Iesabel that were unknown to the Prophet Elias She fled into the Wilderness with the Wings of an Eagle as the Church of Israel is said to have been carried upon Eagles Wings Exod. 19. 4 which both shews the speediness and the safety of her Flight and that She should remain and be entertained within the Bounds of the Roman Empire And as the Eagle's being the Arms of the Roman Empire putteth this out of all doubt so the Two Wings of the Eagle do denote the Empire of the East and that of the West where the Church of God hath been kept hidden and had been fed during the time of her Poverty and great Distress And She hath been Fed not with the unsavoury and poisonous Food of Human Traditions and Ceremonies or Doctrines drawn from the Pagan Religion but with the sound and wholsom Food of the Word of God. Nor can She be fed with any other Nourishment so that this is the same thing with that which is said in the 11. chap. v. 2 3. viz. that while the Holy City should be trodden under foot by the Gentiles the Lord should cause his two Witnesses to prophesie a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes cloathed in Sack-cloth For this Prophecy of the two Witnesses is nothing else save the Bread and Food of the Church which he speaketh of here From which it necessarily followeth that this Flight of the Woman into the Wilderness is of the same Date with the treading down of the City by the Gentiles which is mentioned chap. 11. v. 2. The Time that the Church was to be nourished in the Wilderness is expressed by Time Times and half a Time. Which amounts to the 1260. dayes of the sixth verse Nor can this be gainsaid in that no man can deny but that the Flight spoken of v. 6 is the same with the Flight that is discoursed of v. 14. Now we shall see elsewhere what is meant both by the 1260. Dayes and
of the Militant Church forasmuch as the Church Militant and Triumphant are but one and the same Mystical Body Tho in the mean time they be not in the Church Militant but retired and withdrawn For they are not any more upon the Sea but they are gotten upon the Shore XX. ILLUSTRATION Of the opening of the Temple and of the Smoak where-with it was filled REV. CHAP. 15. v. 5 10. THe whole House built upon Mount Moriah is called the Temple and yet only that Appartment called the Holy of Holies where the Ark stood was properly the Temple and which is otherway's stiled the Tabernacle of Witness The opening of the Temple which is here spoken of is an allusion to the Church of the Iews For under the Reign and Idolatry of Ahaz the Temple was shut up but under Hezekiâ— the Reformer it was again opened So that this is as if St. John should say I saw the time of the Reformation when the Idolatry and Superstition of Rome were condemned and the Truth of the Gospel was publickly preached From thence these three things are to be gathered 1 That the Vials which are mentioned in this 15 chapter and poured out in the following do belong to this state of the Church wherein Antichrist is made manifest and wherein there shineth a measure of light in the Church 2 That the Vials are all contained under the seventh Trompet seeing we have the same fact that is here mentioned repeated under that Rev. chap. 11. v. 19. And 3 the Temple is not here Represented open in order to give a passage to the seven Angels that pour out the Vials but to give way for all Nations to enter in according as it is said v. 4. that all Nation shall come and worship before God. And this may be collected from v. 8. where it is said that no man could enter into the Temple till the seven plagues of the seven Angels were fulfilled Which plainly shews that the Temple is therefore opened that there may be a way made for men to enter into it against whom it had been so long shut The Smoak that filled the Temple answereth to the Cloud that covered the Tabernacle of Moses and to the Divine Glory which so filled the Tent of the Congregation that Moses himself was not able to enter into it Exod. chap. 40. v. 34. which thing is also reported of the Temple of Solomon 1 Kings chap. 8. v. 10 11 Now as the Cloud was a Symbol ' of Gods gracious presence in the midst of Israel so the Smoak here spoken of is a presage of the Lords Return again into his Temple which he had for so song time abandoned to the Gentiles i. e. to the followers of the Beast and to the Citizens of Babylon chap. 11. v. 2. 'T is added that this Smoak caused that no man was able to enter into the Temple till the seven plagues of the seven Angels were fulfilled Which intimateth that tho the time of the destruction of the Churches Enemies draweth near and the time wherein the Gospel shall shine bright in the world yet that the Gospel will not be universally received and followed of all Nations till after the Subversion of Babylon which will not be until the Vials have been poured out XXI ILLUSTRATION Of the fall of Babylon and the Time when REV. CHAP. 18. THe Destruction of Babylon is described at length in the 18th Chapter But whereas Babylon may be taken either for the City of Rome or for her Empire which is the Papacy or Popery the Destruction described in the 18th chap. do's respect her only in the first sense to wit as She is the Seat of the Beast According as She is intended in the effusion of the fifth Vial that is as She is the Seat of the Papal Kingdom For after that the Angel had said that her plagues shall come in one day death and mourning and famine and that she shall be utterly burnt with fire because strong is the Lord God who judgeth her he then addeth that the Kings of the Earth who have committed fornication and lived diliciously with her shall bewaile her and lament for her when they shall see the smoak of her burning that the merchants also shall mourn over her because none buyeth her Merchandise any more and that every Ship-master and all Sailers in Ships shall cast dust on their heads when they shall see the smoak of her burning Now who are these Kings these Merchants these Shipmasters and these Sailors that do thus mourn and lament upon the seeing the subversion of Rome and the total ruin of her that was both the mother of their Faith and of all Churches The Kings are partly the Cardinals who do esteem themselves equal to Princes and partly Kings themselves and Soveraign's that are Secular The Masters of Ships are Archbishops and Bishops The Sailers are the inferior Clergy The Merchants are the Friers that sell the dispensations the Indulgences the Relicks the Agnus Dei's c. and who do vend those Triffles as the most precious of all commodities making people believe that the peace of their consciences and the salvation of their Soul 's pend upon them So that there shall be papists and Roman Catholicks subsisting after that Rome is destroyed and who shall worship that Idol tho reduced into ashes Thus 't is said in the 16th chap. v. 10. that the fifth Angel poured out his Vial upon the Seat of the Beast and his Kingdom became full of darkness The Seat of the Beast is the City Rome which is now the Seat of the Papal Kingdom as it was heretofore of the Roman Empire But this Kingdom shall subsist for a while after that Rome it self is destroyed Forasmuch as it is said that after the pouring out of the fifth Vial the Kingdom of the Beast became full of darkness i. e. sorrowful dejected full of affliction and mourning without that pomp and splendor which it had enjoyed before the effusion of that Vial. Yea St. Iohn tells us in the 19. chap. v. 19. that he saw the Beast and the Kings of the Earth and their Armies gathered together to make war against him that sat upon the white Horse and against his Army And that the Beast was taken and with him the false Prophet that wrought miracles before him with which be deceived them that had received the mark of the Beast and them that worshipped his Image and that these two were cast alive into a Lake of fire burning with brimstone So that it shall be after the destruction of the City of Rome ere the Papal Hierarchy and the Pope come to be entirely abolished The Time that is to run out between the one and the other is not expresly marked by the H. Spirit no more than the Time wherein Rome is to be destroyed But in all probability this destruction can not be far off For of the two signs which are to precede it we do already see one
hast to put it into practice which succeeded to them according to their desires Calcondyla reports that Mahomet II. being besieging Constantinople caused Canon to be cast of so extraordinary a bigness that there needed seventy couple of Oxen and two thousand men to draw one of them 7. The Third part of men killed intimateth the Progress and Spreading both of the Turkish Empire and of their Religion which reunited all their different principalities in the person of Tangrolipix To him succeeded Asan in the year 1059. just about the time that Pope Gregory VII raised the Papacy to the highest top of grandure And it was this Asan that rendred himself Master of all the Countries from the City of Laodicea in Syria even to the Hellespont of Antiochia of Cappadocia of Bithynia of Lycia of Pesidia of Lycaonia of Paphlagonia of Galatia of both the Celicia's of Pontus and of Anatolia And from that time the Sultans have alway's advanced their conquests and have destroyed the Roman Empire in the East having made Constantinople which was formerly the Imperial Seat of it to be that of the Turkish and Mahometan Empire 8. It was upon the Christians that the Turks made all their Conquests and of this the Holy Spirit gives such a reason as might serve to open the eyes of the Papists because it convinceth them of being guilty of Idolatry This accusation the Papists do account the most sensible injury that can be done them but it is a condemnation that they must bear For saith the Holy Spirit The rest of the men that were not killed by these plagues repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship Devils and Idols of Gold and Silver and Brass and Stone and of Wood which neither can see nor hear nor walk At whose cost was it that the Mahometans erected their Empire Against whom were they the Scourges of God for the punishment of their Idolatry It was not against the Heathens for there were none such within the whole extent of the Eastern Roman Empire It was at the expence of Christians that the Turks extended both their Empire and their Religion And therefore seeing the Holy Ghost declareth that the punishing the Idolatry of Christians was the reason of loosing of the four Angels in the River Euphrates to commit so many Murders it is from thence evident that the Christians who were subdued were Idolaters and also apparent wherein their Idolatry consisted Namely in this that they worshipped Devils and Idols of Gold of Silver of Brass of Stone and of Wood. Nor can it be denied but that the Roman Church is guilty of the same crime If it shall be said that the Roman Church doth not worship Devils as those mentioned in the Text are said to have done I answer first that the word in the Original is Demons which signifieth properly inferior and lower Gods Gods who are Mediators between men and the Supream God which is a Title liberally given to the Saints in the Church of Rome And in which sense the Word used in this place ought necessarily to be expounded seeing there were never any Christians that made profession of worshipping Devils neither could the very Heathens be said to do that forasmuch as Devils were wholly unknown among Pagans I answer secondly that all Religious worship given to a Creature is judged by the Scripture to be rendred to Devils This appeareth fully Ps 106. v. 37. where it is said that they sacrificed their Sons and Daughters unto Devils The Roman Church does believe that She worshippeth God in worshipping Images of Gold of Silver of Brass of Stone and of Wood but the Prophets do instruct us by the example of the Israelites that this Worship is given to Devils They sottishly flatter and deceive themselves in distinguishing betwixt an Idol and an Image foraâ— much as the Greek Term Idol signifieth the same that the word Image doth in our vulgar languages Moreover they who were killed by the Turks worshipped not Devils They only did as the Roman Church doth towards her Images of Gold and Silver c. Yea She doth worse than those Oriental Idolatrous Christians did For she worshippeth as God the Sacrament which must therefore necessarily be a Creature because it is a Sacrament and which cannot be Jesus Christ because it is Instituted by him For that which is Instituted must necessarily be something different from him that Ordains it XVII ILLUSTRATION Of the Angel with the Book Open. REV. CHAP. 10. V. 1. And I saw another mighty Angel come down from Heaven clothed with a Clowd and a Rain-bow was upon his Head and his Face was as it were the Sun and his Feet as Pillars of Fire V. 2. And he had in his hand a Little Book Open and he set his right foot upon the Sea and his left foot on the Earth THe Rain-bow which appeared upon the Angels Head doth place Him out of the rank of created Angels and gives us to understand that this is the Angel of the Covenant the Angel who is the Creator of whom there is mention at the opening of the Seventh Seal namely Iesus Christ And whereas it is added that his Face was as the Sun and his Feet as Pillars of Brass that is a demonstration that he is the same with him who revealed himself to St. Iohn in the first Chap. to wit the Son of God. He appeareth having in his hand a Book open Which Book is not that of the Apocalypse but that of the Holy Scripture in general For the Six Trompets having represented the spoil which popery had done in the Western Church and Mahometanism in the Eastern this Vision doth foretell how this ravage shall be repaired by the preaching of the Gospel For this is an open Book to all such as do in sincerity seek to be instructed in what it revealeth and who seek for nothing besides what is there If our Gospel be hid saith St. Paul it is hid to them that are lost whom the God of this world hath blinded 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. Mahometanism and Popery have shut this Book by exacting a blind Obedience by forbidding the examination of their Doctrine and by interdicting people from reading of the word of God. But the time will come that this divine Book shall be opened and when all men shall be allowed to read it in order to the Reforming those abuses which through the impudence of Mahometanism in the East and the craft of the Papacy in the West have abounded in the Church XVIII ILLUSTRATION Of the Voice of the Angel that had his Right Foot upon the Sea and his left upon the Earth and of the seven Thunders REV. CHAP. 10. V. 2. And he set his right Foot upon the Sea and his left foot upon the Earth V. 3. And cried with a loud Voice as when a Lion roareth and when he had cried Seven Thunders uttered their voices V. 4. And when the Seven thunders had
Iohn expresseth these two effects when he saith that he found the Book sweet in his mouth as honey and that it made his belly bitter Therefore Luther and all those others who have travelled in the work of the Reformation have executed the order which the Angel gave here to St. Iohn Thou must Prophesie again before many peoples and Nations and Tongues and Kings The Term to prophesie signifies not only the foretelling things to come as if this order had respected only St. Iohn but it signifies likewise to Instruct to teach to preach the Gospel in which sense the word to prophesie is applied in the 1 Cor. chap. 14. v. 24. c. XXI ILLUSTRATION Of the Measuring of the Temple and of the Outward Court to be trodden under foot of the Gentiles REV. CHAP. II. V. 1. And there was given me a Reed like unto a Rod the Angel stood saying Rise measure the Tewple of God the Altar them that worship therein V. 2. But the Court which is without the Temple leave out and measure it not for it is given unto the Gentiles and the Holy City shall they tread under foot forty and two Months HEre we have represented unto us the Reformation of the Church For this is the execution of the Order which St. Iohn had received Thou must prophesie i. e. thou must preach the Gospel afresh to many peoples Nations Tongues and Kings And St. Iohn as hath been observed represents therein all those whom God was to imploy in that great work For the Execution of this commission there is given unto St. Iohn a Reed like unto a Rod and there is an Angel saying unto him Rise and measure the Temple of God and the Altar and them that worship therein This Reed is the Word of God called a Rod or a Scepter Ps 45. v. 6. and a Rule Gal. 6. 16. Because neither errors nor manners can be otherway's reformed than by the application of the word of God which condemneth both Errors and vices and lay's before us what we ought to believe and what we ought to practice As often as the Church of Israel was Reformed it was done by the application of no other Rule Iosiah and Hezekiah made use of no other no more did Ezra and Nehemiah There is here an Allusion to the 40. chap. of Ezekiel v. 5. c. where the prophet received Order to measure the Temple to assure him of the deliverance from the Babylonish Captivity And Iews as well as Christians are agreed that the Temple described by Ezekiel is not the Material Temple of Jerusalem but that of the Messiah which neither is nor can be any other than his Church which St. Paul calls the Temple of the Lord 2 Cor. 6. 16. And consequently this is the Temple which is to be re-established by the destruction of Antichristian Babylon that so there may be a correspondence between St. Iohn and Ezekiel He is commanded to measure both the Temple aud the Altar because there is nothing in the Church but what stands in need of being Reformed Since all Nations have been made drunk with the Wine of Babylon both Religion and manners Faith and Worship Head and Members in a word every thing ought to be measured every thing stands in need of Reformation The Court without the Temple trodden under foot by the Gentiles is the Christian Church but become Antichristian by its Idolatry The Gentiles that is to say the Pagans are represented treading that is frequenting the outward Court of the Temple because almost all the Ceremonies of the Roman Church are borrowed from the Heathen And for this cause also it is called the Court without which was no part of the Temple For the Roman Church is not properly the Temple and Church of our Lord it is but the outward Court where the Gentiles have liberty to come Whereas it is given in command to leave the outward Court out it is as much as the enjoyning all those who are measured and Ruled by the Word of God and who are elsewhere called the Sealed of God to withdraw and actually separate from the Church of Rome and to make a Society apart in order to their worshipping God according to his word So that is the very same command with that given Rev. 18. 4. Come out of Babylon my People Babylon ought to subsist 42. Months after that the outward Court of the Temple is given to the Gentiles that they may tread the holy City under foot so long but of that time we shall speak in another place XXII ILLUSTRATION Of the two Witnesses their Sackcloth State the Time of their Prophecying and their Dignity REV. CHAP. 11. V. 3. And I will give power unto my two Witnesses and they shall prophesie 1260 day 's cloathed in sackcloth V. 4. These are the two Olive Trees and the two Candlesticks standing before the God of all the Earth V. 5. And if any man will hurt them fire proceedeth out of their Mouth and devoureth their Enemies and if any man will hurt them he must in this manner be killed V. 6. These have power to shut Heaven that it rain not in the days of their Prophecy and have power over waters to turn them into blood and to smite the Earth with all plagues as often as they will. THEY who by the two Witnesses do understand the old Testament and the New have not hit the meaning of this place They have not come home to the sense but they have touched a little on the side of it The word of God is the Testimony for it is frequently so called Psa 119. So St. Paul stiles also the Gospel 1 Cor. chap. 2. v. 1. But they who profess the Truth and are the defenders of it are properly the Witnesses here spoken of They who since the birth of Antichristianism have cried against its Errors and Idolatry And we must observe that these Witnesses are stiled also Candlesticks which is the Title given by Jesus Christ to the seven Churches is the Epistle which he writ to them Rev. 1 20. Nor is it strange that he speaks only of two Witnesses altho he be speaking of a numerous Society seeing in all language both divine and humane great Bodies of men do make but one Mystical person Thus the Israelites are considered in Hosea as one Woman Thus likewise all sincere Christians are stiled in the Revelation the Lambs Wife and all false Christians are called the great Harlot And the Historian Florus represents the whole Roman people as a man that had past through the different Stages of human life These Witnesses are precisely two neither more nor less They are not fewer that their Testimony may be sufficient they are not more through an Allusion to the History of the ancient people of God whose conduct had been committed two to Moses Aaron to Iosuah and Caleb to Elijah and Elisha to Zerobabel and Jehashua to Ezra and Nehemiah to Haggai and
but we shall be extreamly surprised at the re-establishment of the Reformed Churches in France because we know the King to be of opposite Sentiments to them But as it is the King of France who contributeth most to the Glory of the Papacy So it shall be the King of France that shall contribute most to its ruin It was a Louis XII who in the last age threatned to destroy the Romish Church perdam Babylonis nomen And it shall be a Louis who will execute the threatning of that generous King. The God of heaven and Earth the King of Kings who has the hearts of Kings and of people in his hand raiseth in us this hope because it is further added in the Prophecy 5 That the same hour there was a great Earthquake and the tenth part of the City fell It may be doubted whether this Earthquake may come to pass according to the letter But it is most certain that Earthquakes in scripture signify great alterations that fall out in States And to bring no other example save one that relates nearly to this matter Whosoever remembers that Earthquake which was in France when the King returned from the Pyrenees after the Treaty of Peace and the consummation of his Marriage and considers the great alterations which have since fallen out in that Kingdom not only in reference to Religion as well Popish as Reformed but in reference to Justice to Policy to the Finances and to War will no longer question but that the Earthquake which is to be after the Witnesses have lyen three days and a half dead doth promise as surprising a change in France as to all those regards and an alteration wherewith all the world will be contented except it be the Clergy the Monks and the Jesuites Some will doubless ask what reason I have to understand France rather than any other Kingdom by this tenth part of the City which is to fall after the Eartquake My reasons are these 1 I presuppose that the City here spoken of is Babylon or the Papal Empire or the Romish Church which is the Empire of Antichrist This Truth we have already proved 2 I presuppose that France is One of the ten Horns of the Beast One of the ten Kingdoms that were to be formed out of the ruins of the Roman Empire according to Daniel and which was to begin at the same time with the Beast according to St. John that is to begin with the Papal Empire This is evident in History 3 I presuppose France is one Street and one part of the City i. e. of the Papal Kingdom Nor can any deny but that the Gallican Church or the Church of France stiles it self by the Title of the Catholick Apostolick Roman Church that the Pope Reigns there over what is called Spiritual that he hath there his Ministers and Agents that he receiveth Annates from thence and that there is no Arch-Bishop or Bishop in France but who receives his Mission and Authority from the Pope 4 I suppose that France is the most beautiful and glorious Kingdom of all those Kingdoms which are Tributary to the Pope They do so account it by calling the King of France the most Christian King and the eldest Son of the Church And it is worthy of remark that even in St. Johns time France was by way of excellency stiled the Province because of all the Provinces of the Roman Empire France which was then called Gaul was the best and the most powerful This is so certain that the name do's yet remain and is attributed to the Southern part of France which is stiled Province from the latin Provincia It being therefore said in the Text that the tenth part of the City fell the Holy Spirit did questionless intend by that expression the most excellent part of all So that it is from thence very natural to understand France by the tenth part of the City Lastly we have already observed that it is not said that the two Witnesses were killed and that they lay unburied in the places or Streets in the plural number but in the Street of the great City in the singular which is as much as to say a Popish Kingdom marked out by way of excellency And therefore seeing the Holy Spirit had the most excellent of all the Popish Kingdoms in his Eye and seeing we have seen the death which in so surprising a manner hath befallen the Witnesses in France we may without any difficulty conclude that it is France which is this tenth part of the City that is to fall 6 'T is said that the tenth part of the City shall fall This may at the first view appear a dreadful prediction against France But yet it is not so For we must observe that this threatning is not as it would at first seem denounced against the tenth part of the City but against the City it self Because as that is the alone cause of the death of the two Witnesses so that is also the object of Gods vengeance 'T is then the City the Papal Kingdom which is to receive a terrible loss by the falling away of France Whereas France it self will increase both its strength and Glory by that falling off and withdrawing So that upon the whole I do not doubt but that it is the conversion of that beautiful Kingdom which is promised in this place And that which confirmeth me the more in this conjecture is what followeth namely that there i. e. in the tenth part of the City which was to fall by an Earthquake there shall be slain of men seven thousand and that the remnant shall be affrighted and give glory to God. In which words we have two Events represented unto us whereof the one is very different from the other both of them worthy of observation The one is an effect of the vengeance of God the other an effect of his Mercy The first event is the death of seven thousand names of men Which is a figure where seven thousand names of men are put for seven thousand men of name that is of quality reputation and dignity These Men of Name are doubtless either the Doctors who make a great deal of noise in France in the Sorbone in the Society of the Oratory in the Society of the Jesuites and among the Clergy or else persons of quality who are distinguished from others by their birth and by their honor The Number of seven thousand denotes an indefinite number but very considerable And the death of these men will be a death parallel to the Death of the Witnesses that so like may be returned unto them for like For that the same shall be rendred unto Babylon which She rendred unto Sion is both threatned in the Prophesies of Isaiah and in the Revelations of St. John Isa 14. 6. Rev. 18. 6. Not that these seven thousand men shall be compelled by the fury of Missionary Dragoons to abjure Popery and to embrace the Reformed Religion For
of the plague of the Hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great We have already observed in the Explication of the fifth Trumpet that the Air signifies Religion But there it signified Religion darkned by the Smoke which came out of the bottomless pit whereas here it signifieth Religion it self which was begotten by that Smoke namely the Papal and Antichristian Religion For it shall be drove away as Smoke by this last Vial. Then there was the Voice of the Angel heard saying it is done that is the Mystery whereof there was mention chap. 10. v. 7. namely the Mystery of the total ruin of the Papacy of the Conversion of the Jews of the reduction of all the Kingdoms of this world to Jesus Christ and of the universal peace of the Church As this will be the greatest and the most happy Change that ever was seen in the world therefore it is not only said that there shall be Lightnings and Thunders but that there shall likewise be a great Earthquake such as was not since men were upon the Earth For Earthquakes as we have already taken notice signify always in Scripture a change that shall fall out in the world in reference to Religion And therefore there was both an Earthquake at the gioing of the Law and at the publication of the Gospel because by that the Iudaick Religion was established and by this the Christian So that we are not to be surprised to find in this prediction a greater Earthquake than ever had been before seen from the beginning of the world because the Iews are now to be recalled the Mahometans are to be converted all Nations are to be Enlightned with the splendor of the Gospel and the Papacy is irrecoverably to be destroyed The Division of the City into three parts threatneth the Papacy which is this great City with three plagues of the Wrath of God. It hath been already observed that Rome which is the Seat of the Papal Empire shall be destroyed by three different Judgments of God to wit as Sodom as Egypt and as Babylon And the same shall befall the Papacy which shall be subverted by three means which we do not yet know The Prophet Daniel says that after the fourth Beast which representeth the Romam Empire shall be slain and after that his body shall be given to the burning flame that then the Dominion shall be also taken away from the other Beasts and that after the Image by which the Empire of the world are represented shall be broken into pieces the other Beasts shall have domination no more chap. 7. v. 12. chap. 2. v. 44. That is the very same which St. Iohn fore-tells in this place and every Island Fled away and the Mountains were not found For by Islands are understood Commonwealths Kingdoms are meant by Mountains All which is as if he should have said that there shall be no more any State neither Republick nor a Kingdom but what shall be governed by the holy Laws of the Gospel and which shall be a Theocracy as the State of Israel was under the Government of the Judges So that this here is not the last and Universal Iudgment no more than that chap. 11. v. 18. but it is the particular Judgment of Babylon that is the Antichristian Empire which the peace of the Church shall follow The Hail of an extraordinary bigness that shall fall at the effusion of this last Vial ' can no way 's agree to the last judgment forasmuch as that being the day of the Resurrection of the Dead no Hail shall fall to kill men Whereas it is here said that the Hail fell upon men that unquestionably signifieth the overwhelming them by reason of their obduration For it will come to pass that some men upon their seeing the vengeance of God against Babylon and against its Empire will instead of being converted break forth into blasphemies These hardned men are such as have no sense of Religion but are tied to Babylon by the bonds of gain and by the alone chains of interest There are at this time a great number of these who savour nothing of the word of God who have no more knowledg than Babel of the Christian Religion and yet they pass in the Church of Rome for great Devoto's They are the men of this complexion that shall be overwhelmed by the Hail of the seventh and last Vial. This Hail may be very well said to threaten the rich and innumerable Benefices of the Roman Clergy For the vast riches of the Prelates and of the other Ecclesiasticks being the strong Buttresses of the Papacy the loss of their Revenues may very well be one of the Means which God in his providence will make use of to destroy and abolish them For this is the property of Hail to destroy Revenues and the Papacy being adhered unto only for its riches when it comes to be stript the whole world will abandon it which will cause its ruin XXVII ILLUSTRATION Of the Time that the Beast's Reign is to continue THE Holy Spirit marketh the duration of the Reign of the Beast in five several places In the 11. Chap. v. 2. 't is said that the Gentiles shall tread the Holy City under foot forty and two Mon'ths And in the 3d verse of the same chapter 't is said that the two Witnesses shall prophesie a thousand two hundred and threescore days clothed in sackcloth And in the 12 Chap. v. 6. 't is said that the Woman fled into the Wilderness where she had a place prepared of God to be fed there 1260 days And in the 14th verse of that Chapter She is said to be there fed for a Time Times and half a Time. And chap. 13. v. 5. 't is said power is given unto the Beast to continue forty and two Mon'ths From all which we are to observe 1 That the 42 Mon'ths and 1260 Day 's are one and the same thing Because according to the Greeks whose language the Revelation was written in every Mon'th contained thirty day's and 42 times thirty make 1260. 2 That one Time Times and half a Time are one year two years and half a year which making three years and a half amounteth just to sorty and two Months and to 1260 Day 's 3 That whereas it is expresly said that power was given unto the Beast to continue 42 Months this declareth his Duration during the Time that the Gentiles shall tread the holy City under foot and during the Time that the Woman shall be in the Wilderness where she is to be fed while that the Witnesses prophesie clothed in Sackcloth 4 That the 1260 Days are not to be taken literally for common Days but Mystically for so many years This we cannot doubt of when we have considered that Days are applied so in the Books of the Prophets In the 4th Chap. of Amos v. 4. the Prophet bids them bring their Sacrifices and Tyths after three Days i. e. after three years as