two so is of Witnesses the righteousness of Gods wonderful works might be made manifest confessing Gods hand herein and the same to be most righteous in the doing of them 2 The persons bearing this testimony are 1 The Angel of the waters that is the instruments themselves that God will use to do these great things by who shall in their consciences be abundantly satisfied and bear publick testimony that the things are righteous 2 Another out of the Altar i. e. Saints in a suffering condition from some more remote place who hearing these things shall also cry Lord thou art righteous Why do these two bear witness only and no other The Reason may be this To teach us that the effects of this Vial shall be such that hardly any but those who are either deeply ingaged in pouring of it out their hands hearts or prayers going with the work or such who are under great persecutions for Christ and thereby dis-ingaged from all worldly interests shall be able to say concerning the things done Lord thou art righteous in the doing of them Object If it be said That there are Saints in Scotland and Holland who in the time this Vial is pouring forth do suffer much why do not they with these other come â—n and cry Lord. True and righteous are thy judgements I Answer 1 Because though they suffer yet are not they upon the Altar under suffering for the cause of Christ but rather upon the Stage of this world suffering for love to a worldly interest which fain they would uphold when God is throwing it down 2 Because they are mixed in the crowd with those men and have shaken hands with that interest upon which this Vial falls and therefore it is no wonder that the righteousness and justice of it should be hidden from their eyes Quest If any now shall ask me What Nations I judge those are that are more immediately subject to the Vial I answer England with its Territories the Low Countries and France And my reason is because where the bâ—ood of Saints hath been in a more eminent manner poured out there in all likelihood is this vial to fall this being the reason of pouring it forth they have shed the blood of thy Saints vers 6. but setting Germany and Italy aside which come under the two next Vials and therefore not to be brought in here it is in England the Low Countrâ—es and France that the blood of Saints hath been most eminentlâ— shed Witness the blood of Saints spilt in England in the dayes of King Henry 8. Queen Mary I need not say King Chartes his â—eâ—gn too In the Low Countries in the dayes of Duke dâ— Alva who made it his boast that he had there put to death 36000 Protestaâ—ts besides many that suffered there likewise under other Princes In France the cruel barbarous slaughter which continued for many yeers of the Waldenses Albingenses the late horrid massacre at Paris and in many other parts of that Kingdome therefore though possibly the droppings of this Vial may afflict some other Nations so far as the blood of Saints hath been spilt in them and by them yet more immediately and directly in such manner as to break their whole frame and alter their Civil constitution this Vial falls upon England with its present Territories the Low Countries and France whereof the first hath already felt it the second now feels it and he who is coming to render recompences for the blood of Saints shed in the other stands at the door Object If it be said But since the time that blood hath been shed in these lands there have been especially in England and the Low Countries very great Alterations the ruling powers who then were Papists being now Protestants yea the generation of persecutors is now extinct and in their graves How then can it be just with God to pour out the Vials of his wrath upon these Nations and their present Heads for what was done formerly seeing these powers cannot help what their forefathers did yea are reformed and do disclaim whatsoever in this way was done by them To that I answer out of the words of Christ to the hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees Matth. 23. who out of respect to the Prophets and righteous men that suffered by their forefathers did build the Tombs and garnish the Sepulchres of the Martyrs vers 29. saying If we had been in the dayes of our Fathers we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets vers 30. And not only so but also they were a mighty reformed generation in respect of those Idolatrous wayes their Forefathers walked in yet because they did still retain that hatred to Christ and true holiness in their hearts which was in their Forefathers and the reformation they gloried in was only outward and hypocritical therefore saith Christ vers 35 36. upon them and that generation should come all the righteous bloodshed upon the earth So may I say though England of late yeers reformed to what it was in Queen Maries dayes and Holland at present is to what it was in times of Popery Yet because the late Head and Heads of England had and the present Rulers in Holland have the same malice and hatred in their hearts against the Truths and People of Christ that was in the hearts of their Forefathers and the Reformation that was in the one and is in the other only outward and hypocritical therefore it is just exceeding just with God to recompence the blood of the Saints shed in the times of their Forefathers or former Rulers upon the Heads of the Rulers and People of this Generation Yea God will the rather do it because itâ—s his way as our instance proves to punish the sins of a prophane and Idolatrous Generation upon a formal and lukewarm Generation who have a shew of holiness but are enemies to the power Thus much as touching the third VIAL Hitherto the Vials foretel things past and events answerable to the things foretold we have seen save only that part of the third Vial which doth more especially relate to the Low Countries France which is yet behind The events whereof begin already to shew themselves but will in due time more fully appear As for England it having drunk of this cup in the first place and that so deeply as that its old constitution is thereby destroyed and withall the same being passed from us it gives me some ground to â—ope though not for our worthiness that the day of Gods wâ—ath upon England is over though yet for ought I know some refining fire being as the after-drops to purge out the remaining dross if otherwise it bee not done may notwithstanding be kindled amongst us The following Vials speak of things yet to come and the events of them are Prophetical and therefore as we have great reason to be very jealous lest through any contrived mould of Gods workings beforehand sutable to somewhat
sate upon them and judgement was given unto them Isa 31.1 A King shall rule in righteousness and Princes shall rule in judgement and we may read Luke 19.15 16 17 18 19. that at the time when Christ receives his Kingdome the faithful servant who hath improved his ten Talents well is then made ruler over ten Cities hee that well improved five over five Cities expounding that 1 Cor. 6.2 Do yee not know that the Saints shall judge the world 2 The sentence passed at the last day shall concern eternal life or death Mat. 25.46 the result of the General Judgement is the wicked go into everlasting punishment the righteous into life eternal but now the judgement in the time of the one thousand years shal be a judging of the world that is those wicked ones that shall bee suffered to live in this day as to outward punishments and servility in way of requital of what Christs people in all Ages have suffered from the world which is expressed Psal 140.6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouths and a two-edged sword in their hands vers 7. To execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people vers 8. To bind their Kings with chains and their Nobles with fetters of Iron vers 9. To execute upon them the judgement written This honour have all his Saints Halelujah So Isa 61.5 6. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks and the sons of the Alien shall be your Plow-men and your Vine-dressers expressions which note a servility But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord men shall call you the Ministers of our God Chap. 14.2 They shall take them captive whose captives they were and they shall rule over their oppressors All which places as is most clear to him that views the context and compares them with other Scriptures have respect to the glory of the last times as the day where in they are to have their accomplishment and a type of this I conceive the Gibeonites might be who as a remnant of those Canaanites destined to destruction were yet spared by Joshna who in entring Canaan was a notable type of Christ taking possession of his Kingdome to be hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of God and this is as I also conceive one reason of it why Daniel Chap. 7. after the destruction of the fourth Beast i. e. the Roman Monarchy as under Antichrist and casting him into the burning flame vers 11. yet addeth vers 12. that the rest of the Beasts i.e. those powers of the world whose dependance was not upon Antichrist had their Dominion taken away but their lives were prolonged for a season and time Why so namely That Saints to whom now the Kingdome was to be given vers 27. might rule over them And here as I judge are to be brought in those Scriptures which speak of the Saints Ruling and Reigning Rev. 5.10 And hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reign on the earth Chap. 20.6 they shall be Priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years agreeing exactly to that of Isa Chap. 61.5 6. which was named but now strangers shall stand and feed your flocks but ye shall be named Priests of the Lord 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him which cannot bee meant of a Spiritual Reigning on earth because in that fense Timothy and other Saints Reigned then but this is a promise of a thing for future nor can it be a Reigning with Christ in Heaven because where is no Rule nor Authority there can be no Reigning but the Apostle tells us plainly speaking of heavenly glory 1 Cor. 15.24 that there all Rule and Authority and Power shall be put down it must be therefore at some other time which is this I am speaking of And what dangerous consequences will follow hereupon in case we say that as Christ himself after his resurrection continued some time on earth doing his fathers work before he entred into his rest so the Saints that herein also they might be like him shall after their resurrection continue here on earth doing the work of their Redeemer and that some time before they enter into their rest doth not as yet appear to me Object In case it be said How can these things be seeing upon Christs second coming the world that now is shall perish by fire as did the old by water that yet after this a seed of wicked men should remain for Saints to rule over Ans True the Scriptures which speak of this coming mention a coming with fire Isa 66.15 The Lord shall come with fire to render his rebuke with flames of fire Mal. 4.1 The day cometh that shall burn as an Oven 2 Thes 1.8 In flaming fire rendring vengeance and Rev. 19.20 immediately upon the battel of Armageddon before the thousand years begin we read of a Lake of fire into which the Beast and false Prophet are cast which fire that it shall be material fire Peter implys plainly 2 Epist 3. in saying that as the old world was drowned with water viz. material water so is this reserved to fire against the day of Christs coming Yet that this fire which whether it shall be general in all places at once or onely in that place where Christ shall appear and his enemies be gathered together whither the dross of the world shall be gathered as into one Lake is a question too nice to dispute shall not destroy the being of the World is clear First Because it is a fire for another end viz. refining not destroying Mal. 3.2 Who may abide the day of his coming for he shall he as are finers fire Secondly The New Heavens and New Earth that Isay and John speak of wherein shall dwel Righteousness and in which the Saints shall regin with Christ Peter makes mention of as a thing to be after this fire which as I have said he therefore brings in with a nevertheless 2 Pet. 3.13 Now what if we should say that as when the old world was destroyed by water not onely righteous Noah and godly Shem and Japhet but also cursed Cham yea the kinds of all the creatures were spared from that deluge to replenish the new world so at this day not onely the Saints in the world shall be preserved but even some of the wicked yea of all the creatures to serve the glorious ends and designs of God and that in the new Heavens and Earth which seems not without all ground because the Apostle Paul tels us plainly Rom. 8.20 21 22. That the creatures earnest expectation waits for that day in which the Sons of God shall be manifest when the creature Devils and wicked men on whom the curse shall still remain excepted shall be delivered from that bondage of corruption that now it groans under and that not by a total dissolution or annihilation of it but
11.15 now the doing of this is the proper and peculiar work of the seventh Vial as our discourse on that Vial proveth 3 The seventh Angels sounding is the time of rewarding Saints not some onely but all of them small and great ver 18. this comes under none of the Vials but the seventh onely which comprehends within it the time of the New Jerusalem the time of rewarding the dead and living Saints 4 Upon the seventh Angels sounding there are lightnings and voyces and thundrings and an earthquake and great hail ver 19. This is peculiar to the seventh and last Vial and answers to the plague of it almost verbatim Revel 16.18 21. Therefore I say the seventh Trumpet is contemporary with the seventh Vial and no other The matter of the Objection is therefore a mistake 2 For the ground of it which lyes in these words Thy wrath is come Ans This wrath is not to be understood of the wrath of all the Vials but onely of the last which because it shall be the greatest wrath hath an emphasis put upon it Thy wrath as if Christ had never been angry till now that is comparatively the former wrath was but a Flea-bite to this Hence which confirms our sense the day of the seventh Vial which is all one with the Battel of Armageddon is called the day of Christs wrath Psal 110.5 The fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God Revel 19.15 The day of vengeance Isa 63.4 Of indignation chap. 66.14 The great and terrible day of the Lord Joel 2.31 Mal. 4.5 all confirming this that this dreadful time of the Lambs wrath doth more properly relate to the last Vial onely than to all the Vials in general From all the three former Conclusions put together I make up this viz. That the day of the Witnesses killing must in all likelihood be already begun and not much more than begun For sith from our first Conclusion their rise must be concurrent with the end of Daniels 1290 days which beginning from Julians time expire A.D. 1656. as see Generation work part 1. p. 51 52 53 54. And sith from our second Conclusion their killing must be a little before Romes ruin which for what I have said under our first doth in a manner contemporise with the other And sith from our third Conclusion their killing must be under the Third Vial which is manifest from our discourse upon the Vials to be the Vial we stand under at present I therefore from the whole conclude That this black day is in all probability begun and the Witnesses do at this present time lye dead Hence it is a thing we must expect that yet a little while until this cloud is toward blowing over the work of Christ in the world wil go on but heavily for there is reason for it as I shall shew anon that within the day the Witnesses lye dead though their killing be a particular act an act restrained to one place onely yet that the work and cause of Christ in general should the greatest part of that day labour under a Cloud SECT VI. THe Beast killing the Witnesses the Text tells us is the Beast ascending out of the bottomless pit ver 7. of which Beast I have discoursed upon the Vials p. 97 98 99 100. where this Beast is proved to be the Roman Civil and Ecclesiastical State or the Antichristian Magistracy and Ministry both laying heads together and joyning hands to kill the two Witnesses of Christ viz. The true Magistracy and Ministry And here it is observable that Antichrists Magistracy and Ministry though two yet are called but one Beast as also Rev. 13. last One number is assigned to both the Beasts whereas the Magistracy and Ministry of Christ take them in the time of their Prophecie when they are killed or when they rise they are still two and spoken of in the plural number What may be the reason hereof Ans Christs Magistracy and Ministry keep their powers distinct and therefore they are two Antichrists mix their powers and therefore they are one That Magistracy and Ministry therefore which weave and intermixe their powers making and using in a manner but one sword whereas they should do two are neither of them Christs but both the Limbs of Antichrist nor are they in the account of the Holy Ghost witnesses but beasts who calls them so Rev. 13. yea layes down this as the principal character of the two Beasts that notwithstanding they were two yet did the one exercise the others power for the second Beast exerciseth all the power of the first vers 12. Now though the power of a Beast is ordinarily stronger then the power of a rational witness yet by how much the rational creature is more honorable then the sensitive by so much are those in whom the witnessing power remains more honorable then those whose power is only the power of Beasts SECT VII AS touching the Nature of the Witnesses death we are not to conceive thereof as though the same were to be a corporal killing which no way agrees with this Prophecy for 1 Such as is their resurrection and ascension such their death but their resurrection and ascension is not corporal therefore not their death 2 This Killing must be such a Killing as that they may in the time of their being Killed lye dead as witnesses for otherwise we cannot distinguish their killing from their Prophecying if we suppose them in both to give testimony and bear witness for Christ against the Beast But a corporal killing of witnesses doth not make them cease to bear witness but rather to bear witness in a more eminent manner as hath been before observed It is not a corporal killing therefore which is here meant Quest What manner of Death then is it Answ A Death as I conceive partly Civil and partly Spiritual 1 Partly Civil which shall be a deprival of the witnesses in a very great measure if not totally of their Civil Liberties and the free exercise of their Religion The godly Magistracy shall be put out of office and so be in no capacity as Magistrates to bear witness the godly Ministry by penal Laws have their mouths stopped and not suffered as Ministers of Christ to bear witness This shall be their death as to the Civil part of it 2 This death shall be partly spiritual and herein as I conceive the blackness of the day shall principally lye and not in Bloodshedding for observe though the Beast hath a will to this latter viz. to kill the witnesses outright yet is he not permitted to do it vers 9. Now this spiritual death shall consist chiefly in this viz. That the witnesses shall all this three yeers and a half be so left of God as that they shall not have that courage that was in the people of God al the time of the witnesses Prophecie who then did not love their lives to the death but mantained the truth and opposed the Beast with their blood
into the Divinity so as that Christ shall be God-man no longer for the Apostle in saying the Humane Nature shall be subject denotes plainly that the same shall even in Heaven hereafter have a being for how can that be subject which hath no being And as the Lambs having a Throne in the New Jerusalem proves clearly that it cannot be meant of Heavenly glory after the day of Judgement so doth it as strongly prove what before I have laid down that not a Spiritual onely buth a Personal presence of Christ shall be with his people in the New Jerusalem all the time of the thousand years for Christ as the Lamb hath his Throne in it but Christ Spiritually onely is not the Lamb nor was he sacrifised in that sense Seventhly and lastly Because Isa 60. which Chapter as is most evident speaks not of heavenly glory but of a glorious state of the Church here on Earth is for time one and the same with this as plainly will appear by comparing one with the other Isa Rev. 60.11 the Gates shal be open continually they shall not be shut day nor night 21.25 And the Gates of it shall not be shut at all by day Verse 3. The Gentiles shall come to thy light and Kings to the brightness of thy rising Verse 24. The Kings of the Earth do bring their glory and honor into it Verse 10. Their Kings shall minister unto thee Verse 11. That men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles and that their Kings may bee brought Verse 26. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the Nations into it Verse 1. Violence shall no more be heard in thy Land Verse 20. The dayes of thy mourning shall be ended Verse 4. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor cryâ—â—â— neither shall there be any more pain Verse 19. The Sun shall be no more thy light by day neither for brightness shall the Moon give light unto thee but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light and thy God thy glory Verse 23. And the City had no need neither of the Sun nor of the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb was the light thereof Verse 21. Thy people also shall be all righteous Verse 27. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lye but they which are written in the Lambs Book of life Yet because it would be a thing hard to be beleeved that the New Jerusalems glory should be here on Earth therefore it is said chap. 21.5 These words are true and faithful and again chap. 22.6 These sayings are faithful and true One thing here is of special concernment to be opened to the end the words of the seventh Vial may be brought to a reconciliation with the description of the New Jerusalem chap. 21. both as I have shewed being to be referred to one and the same time which is this Seeing John in describing the New Jerusalem saith I saw no Temple therein Chap. 21.22 and the contrary is here intimated There came a great voyce out of the Temple of Heaven how can these things agree or the one be made Expository of the other when they speak things contradictory I answer John saw no material Temple such as was in Jerusalem of old to which here new Jerusalem is opposed Or secondly which I rather incline to John saw no such Temple as was the former Temple or Church-state under the Gospel But that a Temple there shall be is manifest for saith he in the next words which are given as a reason why no such Temple as formerly had been should be in this New state because indeed they should now have a better Temple The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb is the Temple of it So that a Temple there is but this shall not be such a Temple in which Christ through outward Ordinances as a medium is conveyed to his and they by faith enjoy him as now for what need of these things when Christ is with his people and to be enjoyed in another way of Visionâ— yea the duration of these things is but untill his coming 1 Cor. 11.26 For as oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup yee shew the Lords death till he come And the Apostle is clear in this that all injoyments of God by faith cease when sight takes place 2 Cor. 5.7 1 Cor. 13.8 9 10 11 12 13. And indeed what use will there be of 2 Glass to see Christ in when he shall present himself face to face which he will do at the day of his appearing 1 John 3.2 It doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is yea to behold the Lamb thus shall be a principall part of the New Jerusalems glory Rev. 22.3 4. They shall see his face and his name shall be in their fore-heads So that this Temple shall not be a worshipping of Christ and an injoyment of him through outward ordinances but rather a more immediate worshipping and injoyment of him in himself who therefore in this New Jerusalem is not onely the person worshipped but the very Temple we worship in And this which now I am speaking of is I taâ—◠〈◊〉 clearly held forth in those words of the Apostle Heb. 12.26 Yet once more I shake not the earth onely but also Heaven which place he quotes from Haggai chap. 2.6 7. which before I have proved relates to this time Now as Christ at his first coming shook the legal worship which the Apostle tels us stood in meats and drinks and carnal Ordinances imposed on them until the time of Reformations Heb. 9.10 for which reason the shaking hereof is called ashaking of the earth and did at his resurrection establish another way of worship far more spiritual than the former yee having also some outward Ordinances and Institutions as the former had which in Scripture is frequently called as opposed to the other Heaven and the Kingdom of Heaven so at his second coming will he shake this worship cast this Temple though more spiritual than the former to the ground also for saith he yet once more I shake not earth onely but Heaven also i.e. all the worship that now is I mean outward is upon Christs second coming to be removed and such a Kingdom and Worship instead thereof is to be set up as can never be shaken i.e. shall never be broken in peeces any more as the former worships have been but shall be the same for kind being as I have said a more immediate worship with that which shall be in Heaven hereafter And not darkly is this hinted Isa 60.19 20. The Sun that is those outward things which before were as a Sun under which are comprehended outward
Magistates and Ministers that he hath raised up to maintain his cause against Antichrists Magistrates and Ministers They are said to be clothed in sackcloth to note thus much That all the time of the 1260 days their condition shall be outwardly low they being trampled upon and trâ—den under foot by the Beast But more especially to fignifie how that these Two Witnesses should all this time be inwardly law wearing sackcloth the mourning attite in times of old mourning before God because as I have said they hear his glorious Name blasphemed behold the Holy City trodden under foot and the whole world deceived by the Beast They are said by fire to destroy their Enemies ver 5. To shut Heaven that it rain not in the days of their Prophecy ver 6. both which things are taken out of the History of Elijah 1 King 1.10 1 King 17.1 Farther they are said to have power over waters to turn them into blood and to smite the earth with plagues as often as they will ver 6. which is taken out of the Story of Moses and Aaron in Aegypt The whole as I conceive sets forth this the great damage that the Antichristian party shall sustain all the time of the 1260 days by means of these two Witnesses who shall have such power with God as oftentimes to bring down his heavy wrath upon the persons of their persecutors which is the thing noted ver 5. by their devouring and killing their enemies by fire and also upon their principal interests which I take to be the thing specially intended ver 7. by their shutting Heaven turning waters into blood smiting the earth with plagues i.e. The Popish Heaven waters earth shall all suffer by means of these two Witnesses in the time of their prophecy By the whole description of the two Witnesses as saith our German Author in his Cl. p. 66 67. God doth declare that what mercies in times of old he hath shewed unto his people the Children of Israel the same he will also shew in the New Testament unto them that beleeve He will give them Joshuahs and Zerubbabels saithful Teachers and religious Rulers and Governors who shall fit and edifie them unto the Temple of God and as Candlesticks give light unto them with their pure doctrine and as Olive trees assist them with powerful consolation He will give them zealous Elija's and Elisha's who shall fight against the whore Jezabel the Priests of Baal and other persecutors He will also at length send them his Moses's and Aarons who shall deliver them and bring them forth out of Antichristian bondage SECT IV. THe Witnesses their testimony finished are to be killed v. 7. And when they shall have finished their testimony the Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pâ—t shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them In this state they are to continue three days and a half ver 9 11. Though our discourse of the three days and a half according to the strictness of order should come in afterwards yet in regard the opening hereof will afford us light into some things that follow I have chosen to place it before That these three days and a half cannot be as is the opinion of many worthy men who look upon the death of the Witnesses to be a corporal death a time equivalent to the 1260 is evident 1 Bec. then there should be no distinction at all betwixt the time of their Prophecying and their being killed if through all the 1 260 daies which is the time of their Prophecy we should suppose them to be killed Now the Text hath made a manifest distinction betwixt these two times 2 Becanse it s improper to say that Christs witnesses against Antichrist should prophecy all the 1260 days and yet be killed too For put case the Beast all this time did put some to death yet so long as Christ at the same time and in the same place had always others in their room his witnesses were not killed A man is not without witness though some witnesses are taken away in case others stand up and appear in their room Nay those witnesses which all the 1260 dayes were put to death by the Beast did most ominently in dying bear witness for Christ for to dis for the truth is a living standing testimony to it That killing therefore could not be a killing as witnesses he who for truths sake loves not his life to the death is even in dying a most glorious witness of the truth 3 It s said ver 10. that when the two witnesses lie dead the dwellers on the earth rejoyce for this reason because they are dead who tormented them Now did the dwellers on the earth thus rejoyce all the â—260 days when were they then tormented Will the Text bear it to say they were tormented all this time and yet rejoyced too This the Authors or upholders of this opinion must necessarily assert Nay why do they rejoyce at their death why because being dead they fear no hurt from them which whilst they prophecyed they did for they felt of them as ver 5 6. therefore their prophecying and killing must be as two distinct things and so at two distinct times 4 Because How could they be witnesses all this time if dead Doth a man when he hath a cause to be tried go to dead men that they would stand witnesses for him or to living Or how did they Prophecy if dead Can dead men prophecy or are prophecying men dead 5 Why are they said to be killed onely in the street or one street of the great City ver 8. and not in the whole City seeing in this sense they have been within the 1260 days more or less killed all over the great City i.e. throughout the whole Papal Jurisdiction 6 What difference will there be according to this opinion betwixt their being killed and put into graves if we take both for a bodily death which this opinion doth 7 And lastly How according to this opinion are they all the three days and a half kept unburied or how at the end of these three days and a half shall those Witnesses which were killed rise again for shall we think thus that the bodies of Saints martyred by divers means and in sundry places for the space of 1260 years together shall all that time lie unburied be kept out of graves And then 2. This time expired life enters into these bodies and they rise again The Text according to this interpretation doth strongly inforce both for if we conceive their killing to be corporal by the same reason must their burial and their resurrection also We are necessitated therefore from the clear Text and reason it self to reject this opinion and seek another That therefore which is more consonant to the words and doth not wrap us up in such a labyrinth of Intricacies is to interpret the three dayes and a half which is the time of their being killed of
Papals which is expressed by making merry sending gifts one to another Rev. 11.10 And what was that but the death of the Witnesses as the Text tells us Upon this Victory over the Witnesses that had been but a little before struggling with her and like to have ruined her the Whore is now so imperiously proud that as Nebuchadâ—ezzar of old a little before his fall speaks out Is not this great Babel that I have built so she also in her pride cries out I sit as a Queen am no widow and shall see no sorrow as to say I was lately afraid I should have been spoyled of my glory been made a widow and seen forrow but now it is otherwise my enemies are under my feet I am Mistress and Ruler therefore I sit as a Queen c. And that the killing of the Witnesses should be here noted is yet more clear if we consider how that as those words are spoken in the present tense and therefore cannot relate to former past boastings so do they admirably agree in point of time to the killing of the Witnesses for that as I have said is to be in the very last three days and a half of the Beasts Tyranny and the Witnesses wearing Sackcloth which time is no sooner expired but as one of the first things Rome is ruined accordingly this boast is immediately before Romes ruine And therefore observe the words themselves and you shall find that even whilst the Whore is in this jolly fit instantly and unexpectedly comes her ruine upon her and the downfal of Rome her chief City Rev. 18.8 Therefore shal her plagues come upon her in one day death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burnt with fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her Vers 10. For in one hour is thy judgement come So Vers 17.19 One day one hour that is from the time of her glorying whilst she is thus glorying over the dead Winesses up start the Witnesses down falls Rome 3 CONCLVSION That the killing of the Witnesses shall be in the latter end of the third Vial. Two things proved make this Conclusion firm 1 That some Vials shall be poured out before the slaughter of the Witnesses 2 That the Vials poured out shall be only the three first The first of these is sufficiently proved by Mr. Woodcock in his Treatise of the two Witnesses p. 20 21 22 23. I shal not here repeat his Arguments but refer the Roader to the Author himself with adding this farther word that John being by one of the seven Angels which had the 7 Vials carried away into the Wilderness there to have the interpretation of the Vials is to me a manifest Argument that some of the Vials are poured out whilst yet the Woman remains in the wilderness why else should the Angel of one of the Vials carry John into the wilderness there to learn the meaning of this mystery if the true Spouse of Christ to whom he reveals these secrets were not and that even in the time of some of the Vials abiding there Yea let me adde which will something more help us that I conceive this Angel to be no other but the Angel of the third Vial my reason is because the interpretation of the Vials which is the thing revealed to John Chap. 17. Chap. 18. c. begins with the third Vial for the first thing after the description of the Whore her self which is to be judged that relates to her judgement is the Lambs overcoming some of the Horns vers 14. which act is to be referred to the third Vial as I shall shew presently And indeed the reason why in the explication of the Vials the two first are left out and the Angel begins with the third is because as I have observed upon the Viols p. 260 261 262. Christ in the two first Vials is but regaining his own not yet invading his Enemies Dominions till the third Now because all that John in the explication hath shewed him is only the judgement of the Beast and Whore which as I have said are first described then their judgement peece by peece declared therefore the two first Vials are omitted as being another thing rather I say Christs getting his own then as yet judging his Enemy and he begins with the third where the judgemens of the Where the work of breaking the Great Image casting down the Thrones of the Fourth Beast begins This being so as it teacheth us that the discovering-time of the Great Whore in her true Colours and the judgements oâ— God to be executed on her and the glorious Kingdom of Christ to follow thereupon is to be looked for under the third Vial the Angel of that Vial shewing John these things So also it teacheth us that under the third Vial the Church is to be in the wilderness therefore John is carried thither to learn these things But beyond this Vial she is not to be there as also I shall shew by and by The term therefore of the Womans being in the wilderness expiring under the third Vial it hence follows That the death of the witnesses which is the concluding time of that long term should likewise fall under the third Vial. And indeed because the blackest day one of them that ever the Church of Christ met with is to befal her under the third Vial in the latter part of it therefore as I conceive are the glorious discoveries of the judgement of the Great Whore and the Beast her Enemy and of the Kingdom of Christ following thereupon made known to the Saints under the third Vial to bear up their spirits in this day it being the way of God with his people whâ—n he brings any fore sufferings on them to forelay them with somewhat which may make them able to bear it This I adde in the general only I come now more particularly to prove the thing viz. That the killing of the Witnesses is to be under the third Vial at the latter end thereof My Reasons are these 1 Because the Angel of the fourth Vial hath this work committed to him by special dispensation over and besides the pouring forth of his Vial though he performs it together with that viz. To give call to and assist the Witnesses rising See my Discourse upon the fourth Vial. By consequence therefore the Witnesses must lye dead in the latter end of the third because the Angel of the fourth Vial no sooner begins to pour out his Vial but immediatel they are rising 2 Because the particular acts of the Witnesses immediately preceding their killing which killing therefore is recorded in the next verse after these acts Rev. 11.6 7. seem to me to have a peculiar look unto the three first Vials agreeing with them most exactly according to that interpretation I gave of them whilst yet I had no such thing in mine eye both in their subjects and effects also As let us compare each with other 1 The subject of
But I say now they shall want this courage choosing rather cowardly to lye down though stript of Liberty and Religion both as men quite bereaved of spirit and life then boldly as did their famous Predecessors stand up for Christ and protest against the Beast And such a day as this is by far a worse day then to see Saints killed with the sword for whilst it is thus with them they are honouring their Lord and Master by bearing testimony though with their bloods but now they are shaming of him yea Religion it self by deserting their Colours And the Reasons why I conceive of the thing after this manner are 1 Because they cannot in any other way be said to lye dead as witnesses which must be because otherwise as I have said there is no distinction at all betwixt their Prophecying and their Killing 2 Because their resurrection at the end of the three dayes and a half is by a spirit of life from God entring into them vers 11. i.e. a spirit of courage and boldness now to stand up for Christ and Protest against the Beast put into them by God which before was wanting Therefore I say the death here spoken of is not a corporal but another manner of death and the wee of the day shall lye more in being forsaken of God within this time then in being tormented or martyred by man SECT VIII THe place in which the Witnesses lye dead is not the whole Papal Kingdom but some particular Nation or some one of the ten Horns The Reasons are 1 Because as our German Author in his Cl. p. 73. hath well observed they are said to lye dead not in the streets of the Great City in the plural number but in the street in the singular Rev. 11.8 And their dead bodies shall lye in the street 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Great City Noting that their killing shall be in one street not in all the Papal Kingdom 2 Because upon their resurrection the whole City i.e. all the Papal Kingdom is not overthrown but only a tenth part vers 13 And the same hour the tenth part of the City fell Now observe There where the witnesses lye dead three dayes and a half there this time expired they arise where they rise in that place doth the Papal power fall before them upon their rise or otherwise they could not rise for that power would keep them down so that look how far we extend the killing and rising again of the witnesses so far must we extend the ruine of the Papal power and that in the very same hour they rise But now the Great City or Papal power is not wholly destroyed upon the witnesses rise but a tenth part only falls therefore the rise of the witnesses and so consequently their lying dead which goeth before it is not to be looked for all over the Papal Kingdom but in a tenth part only Or thus we are not to conceive that all the witnesses Christ hath within any of the ten Horns shall at this time lye dead But Christs witnesses only in one of the ten Horns the death of a part being here put for the death of the whole and well may it considering how remarkable this death shall be for the nature of it It would therefore be inquired into seeing that this is to be but in one tenth part what part or place that is Answ I have in my Discourse upon the Vials Vial 4. affirmed the place to be Germany and I may truly say that what I then affirmed more doubtfully I am by looking more intently upon this subject of the witnesses much perswaded of and confirmed in One reason which swayes with me is because the Holy Ghost seems to speak of the place by way of eminency as being the most noted place of the whole Papal Kingdom vers 8. The street of the great City i.e. the noted street the Market-street or as I may say the Thorow-fare so vers 10. The tenth part of the City fell the Original reads the words with an Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That tenth part of the City i.e. the most eminent noted part of all the Ten. Now the place being spoken of by way of eminency it must be understood either in relation to the witnesses or the Beast that kills them that is it must be either the most eminent place for witnesses or the most eminent Kingdom belonging to the beast one of the two Now take either of these and it doth not so properly agree to any place in all Europe as Germany for 1 In respect of Witnesses Our Question now is not where at this present day are most Witnesses but the thing we must look after is what place that is which through all the time of the Beasts reign hath been the most noted place for Witnesses and there must we fix our Standard Now that is Germany which in this respect until at this present day hath ever excelled all the Nations in Europe The Witnesses there began to appear for Christ openly against the Beast before the year 900 against whom suddenly after was raised a most bloody persecution by the Beast which per secution is the highest I can find in any History that was made to speak properly by the Beast Notwithstanding this persecution the witnesses as Ecclesiastical Writers affirm grew and increased and like fire in a thatch spread themselves over Germany and neighbouring Countries Yea from that day to this there ever have been more or less witnesses standing up and sacrificing their lives for the cause of Christ against the Beast in Germany so that Germany it hath been in a manner the Seed-plot of truth and the very Nursery of witnesses throughout all ages 2 Look upon it in respect of the Beast and it is also the most noted place and above all deserves to be called the street that tenth part by way of eminency being indeed the principal street of the great City the first horn of the Beast the chief Kingdom of the fourth Monarchy as under Antichrist as saith my worthy German Author in his Cl. p. 78. giving these three Reasons for it 1 Because It is called the Roman Empire 2 Because It is as it were a figure and Image of the old Roman Empire having seven Heads in regard of the seven Princes Electors and ten Provinces in respect of the ten Circles into which it is distributed 3 Because The Head of the German Empire hath still the name of a Roman Emperor and hath the preeminence above all other Kings adhering to the Papal State And truly when I cast mine eie upon what hath about half a year or three quarters of a year ago been done in Germany and also how the Saints there seem at present bereaved of life lying down and couching under their burden it appears to me the time place and thing compared together to be more than an ordinary dispensation And farther let me say Though the Saints there at
this day seem to have lost that noble spirit that was in their Ancestors who for Christs sake loved not their lives unto death yet surely this consideration That they are the Children and Off-spring of those famous blessed Witnesses who with undaunted resolution appeared for Christ when our Fore-fathers yea and the whole world wondered after the Beast should not a little draw out the Bowels of our compassion towards them Notwithstanding what I have said of Germany as the place yet let me add this in the conclusion that I conceive withall that the condition of the people of God in other places will not be so prosperous but a cloud will be upon them their comforts and expectations a great part if not the greatest of this time for though the thickness and blackness of this cloud is to hang over Germany yet may it not be thought but that so great a cloud will cast a shadow further and thereby afflict at the same time though not in the same measure the people of God elsewhere And indeed it is very reasonable to think it should be so for if when but a member suffers in the natural body all the members suffer with it then surely when not a member onely but a principal part of the mystical Body lies under so fore a pressure as the body of Christ never before lay under cannot we think the other members should at that time have such cause of rejoycing as those who feel no smart at all How could there then be a sympathy in the mystical body Nay it is not onely reasonable but a thing of great concernment and special use it should be so to the end the other members by feeling smart and anguish from a few onely of the scattered drops lighting upon them might hereby be made the more sensible of the condition of their fellow brethren who lie under the furious rage of the tempest and also might from hence be stirred up to cry aloud to the Father of Mercies for their poor Brethren who now being thunder-struck have for the present neither sense nor life in a manner and so cannot cry for themselves SECT IX TWo things we have in an especiall manner noted by the Holy Ghost both which concern the Witnesses and are to have their fulfilling within the three days and a half of their lying dead First They of the People Kindreds Nations and Tongues see their dead bodies three days and a half and will not suffer their dead bodies to be put into graves vers 9. The putting of the dead bodies of the Witnesses into graves notes a corporal death it being Scripture phrase to put the grave for bodily death 1 Cor. 15.55 1 King 14.13 2 King 22.20 This would the Beast do but he is hindred Here a Controversie ariseth Who those People Kindreds Nations and Tongues should be Some will have them to be the Popish party some a reformed people if the one the act is an act of dis-favor if the other of favor Both these opinions you may see with the reasons of either laid down by Mr. Woodcock in his Treatise of the Two Witnesses who himself is for the first that they are the Popish party To bring here the Arguments on both hands to the Touchstone would be more tedious than profitable in regard the thing it self is not a matter of so great moment but that without any prejudice to all my other Principles there may be an allowance of different conjectures and therefore to make a great contention for a little gain I shall not do it for it will not quit time and cost I shall therefore onely offer to consideration my own thoughts hereof viz. That neither the Popish party nor a reformed people properly so called or so esteemed by Christ are here meant but indeed a third party a party that cannot properly be said to worship the Beast because him they disown Nor a party that may properly be called a reformed people because Reformation is a thing they have little regard unto But if you would see them in their proper Character They shall be persons of a worldly interest or to speak plainly pure Statists who walking by the rules of State-policy shall neither professedly own the Cause of Antichrist nor Christ beyond these principles And therefore very emphatically hath the Scripture as seems to me set them forth by people and Kindreds and Nations and Tongues which as it is a middle name neither so odious as the name of the worshippers of the Beast nor so honorable as that of the Witnesses so doth it excellently agree to such persons whose main design is a meer worldly interest for of such the great thing in their eye is the good of Common-wealths the regulating and ordering the affairs of People and Nations and Kindreds and Tongues and though they may own and favor the cause of Christ yet will they not appear for it a step farther than will stand with National interests the good of People and Nations and Kindreds and Tongues Now such there shall bee in the world in the time the Witnesses lie dead who shall take notice of the Witnesses slaughter and have a cast of their eye that way and by their power so far awe the Beast as that he shall not satisfie his lusts upon the Witnesses Secondly Besides these we have another sort of people spoken of who formerly being such as were tormented by the Witnesses in the time of their prophecy shall now upon their death be jovial make merry send gifts one to another as hoping they are now delivered from that danger they feared they should sustain by these Witnesses These are called the dwellers on the Earth ver 10. And they that dwell on the earth shall rejoyce over them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another because these two Prophets tormented them that dwelt on the Earth The phrase needs no other interpretation than what we have Chap. 13.8 And all that dwel upon the Earth shall worship him i.e. the Beast Ver. 14. And deceiveth them that dwel on the Earth clearly shewing that the dwellers on the Earth are the Popish party such as worship the Beast and are deceived by him These as well as the other see the Witnesses lie dead The difference is the other see them with an eie of care and some kind of pitty these with an eie of scorn and triumph Hence it is said that at the Witnesses rise great fear fell on them that saw them vers 11. which words relate to these latter sort of beholders who therefore vers 12. are called enemies these at the Witnesses rise shall fear Why Because having been tormented by them before they shall now expect the same again The demeanor and carriage of this latter sort of beholders set forth by their rejoycing making merry sending gifts one to another c. hath sometimes made me conceive that there should be within these three days and a half a great calm
lower into the time of the Beasts Kingdom Now that the time times and a half should be a number distinct from the 1260 days appears to me upon these Reasons 1 Because the different expressions used of the womans abode in the wilderness the first and the second time argue them not to be one and the same but two distinct numbers for 1 Of her first going into the wilderness the 1260 days it is said v. 6. The woman fled into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God Of the second the time times and a half it is said She fled into her place v. 14. as seeming to intimate her having been there before 2 Of the first it is said They should feed her ver 6. noting a feeding by instruments and means she should have the enjoyment of Instruments Means and Ordinances though in a low and mournful condition all this time Of the second it is said She is nourished ver 14. noting that God by some immediate way of working would all this time keep a principle of grace alive in his though they should lye as dead taking little or no food outwardly by Instruments Means or Ordinances 2 Because the Dragon by the war in Heaven being cast down to the earth is said to have great rage ver 12. because he knoweth he hath but a short time But if this war in Heaven were at the beginning of the 1260 days as holds the common opinion which makes application of this to Constantines war he should then have a long time if after they were begun then must the time times and a half which are the consequent of this war be a distinct number from the 1260 days which is the thing I am proving And certainly the calling of the time times and an half a short time must be with respect to the fore-mentioned time of 1260 years which was a long time and if so then will it follow they cannot be one and the same number 3 Because the first going into the Wilderness is leisurely by degrees as the Beast by little and little crept in being not so much a forced act by outward violence offered to her as a voluntary act the woman retiring her self into a corner that so by a separation she might be kept pure and free from the defilements of that Beast she saw now rising But the second is on the sudden and she is forced to it by the exasperated rage of the Dragon and therefore she hath given to her two wings of a great Eagle v. 14. to note her quick and speedy slight lest she should be destroyed by the serpent 4 Because upon the womans first going into the wilderness the earth was no friend to the woman but rather the Barbarous Nations invading the Roman Empire did prove her Enemy by aiding the Beast and giving their strength to him But now upon this second going into the wilderness the turth is the womans friend and swallows up the flood the Serpent casts out of his mouth to cause the woman to be carried away therewith vers 15.16 agreeing to that chap. 11.9 These things added to the former grounds and method perswade me to think that the time times and an half ver 14. are not the same with the 1260 days ver 6. but a distinct number and in a word the very same with the three days and a half Chap. 11.9 signifying three years and a half a time notes one year times in the plural number two years half a time half a year in all three years and a half and to put a time for a year is as well Scripture phrase as a day for a year as Dan. 4.25 it is said of Nebuchadnezzar he should eat grass like Oxen till seven times should pass over him i.e. seven years SECT III. AGainst this it may be objected This cannot be because the war spoken of here which precedes the time times and a half and that war Chap. 11. which precedes the three days and a half are vastly different 1 That war against the Saints is headed by the Beast but this by the Dragon Answ This difference will be none at all let but this be considered that Chap. 11. speaks of the state or power acted by the Devil but Chap. 12. of the Devil as acting that state or power If this Answer be not sufficient he that shall observe our future discourse may find a farther and more full 2 Iâ— that war chap. 11. the Beast evercomes but in this is overcome and the Dragon cast down Answ True the immediate success and issue of the war chap. 12. is the vanquishing of the Dragon and casting of him out but yet the conclusion of the day is the subtil Dragon though cast out to the Earth finds a way and means to persecute the Woman and to drive her into the wilderness notwithstanding immediately before she had vanquished him and cast him out vers 13 And when the Dragon saw that he was cast unto the Earth he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child Vers 14. And to the woman were given two wings of a great Eagle that she might flee into the wilderness In conclusion therefore the Dragon or the Beast acted by the Dragon overcomes and so as to drive the woman upon this War into the wilderness and that for a time times and a half which is no contradiction at all but rather a more full opening of that war which is hinted chap. 11.7 as the immediate forerunner of the three days and a half Onely the Witnesses victory at first over the Beast is passed over in silence chap. 11. and the Beasts overcoming and killing them the thing expressed but chap. 12. their victory over the Beast is recorded first and yet afterwards his persecuting of them and driving them into the wilderness for a time times and a half or three days and a half If now the Question be put What war I conceive this to be Ans I judge it to be the war made by Gustavus Adolphus in Germany which war for the remarkableness of it hath been by many accounted the pouring forth of a Vial but though for some Reasons I have given in opening the Subject of the Second Vial it could not be so yet was it as remarkable under another consideration namely as it was a forerunner of the Witnesses being killed The Reasons of this my conjecture are 1 Because the time of this War agrees exactly to the time of that War which is the forerunner of the death of the Witnesses that War is a war in the finishing time of their testimony that is in the last 60 dayes or years of the 1260. which properly is the concluding time of their testimony Accordingly this War made by Gustavus Adolphus fell out within that time 2 Because this War must be supposed to be such a War as shall be headed by some eminent Christian Head on the one side raised up and acted by Christ which Head
is therefore represented by Michael i. e. Christ himself who acts him and the principal Head of the Beast on the other set on and acted by the Devil and therefore represented by the Dragon Now this can be applied to no other War so aptly as to the German War for where hath there ever been since the first rise of the Beast the like viz. of a War betwixt him and the Professors of the true Religion headed by the Beast himself of the one side and a religious godly Prince of the other 3 Because this War which precedes the killing of the Witnesses must be such a War as shall have great acclamations of Saints going along with it and great expectations founded upon it and that both as touching their deliverance from Antichristian bondage and also concerning the setting up of Christs Kingdom by it Therefore they cry vers 10. Now is come salvation and strength and the Kingdom of our God and the power of Christ i.e. Now the day of our deliverance of Babylons downfal is come Now the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus shall bee exalted in the world O now is the power of Christ manifested indeed Such was the Swedish War in Germany It is not yet out of the memory of many of Gods people what high expectations were raised upon that War in all the Protestant Churches How did every eye almost then look for the downfal of Rome presently conceiving no other than that that most worthy Prince would be the ruine of the Antichristian Where What wonderful triumphs and rejoycings were there upon the reports of his Victories by all the godly party within our Gates And how heavy a load did the news of his being cut off lay upon the hearts of Gods people every where Though the Author cannot testifie these things of his own knowledge his age not serving him to remember things of this nature beyond the sadding news of his death yet from what he hath read of this good Prince and the reports he hath had from persons aged and faithful he supposeth he may assert the thing and doubts not but many this day alive will witness it 4 Because the effect and issue of this War in Heaven is the casting down of the Dragon from Heaven to Earth who yet by this and partly for rage to see himself cast down finds out a way to persecute the Woman anew Accordingly the issue of the Swedish War was this The proud German Emperor who before in his pride was lifted up to Heaven would stoop and buckle to none is now glad by means of this War to come down from his greatness to condescend and stoop to such terms as he can for himself make with the Swede by which agreement notwithstanding and partly for madness to see himself made to creep on the earth i.e. condescend to terms who thought ever to have sate in Heaven i. e. rule as absolute Lord over Christs heritage doing to them what he list he finds out a way to persecute the Woman drive her into the Wilderness for a time times and a half i.e. kill the Witnesses for three dayes and a half So that the Swedish War agrees exactly and fully to this War here mentioned as the forerunner of the killing of the Witnesses And because the Witnesses were by this War to be killed and every death hath some struglings and girdings that attend it answerable to that life and strength in the thing killed that therefore the Beast might feel what life and strength is in the Witnesses he himself is almost broken to peeces at first by this War i.e. by the very struglings and girdings of the Witnesses whilst he is going about to kil them Object But it may be said more likely our late War in England should be this War Answ I have sometimes thought that this War in Heaven might comprehend the whole War within the last 60 years of the Beast and so take in the Swedish War and our English War too And this I confess that in most things this War doth carry a likelihood as well to the English as the Swedish War And farther I find my self much inclining to make this War and the War betwixt the Lamb and the Kings of the Earth Chap. 17.14 which War as I conceive points at our English War and no other one and the same but this I must also say that I am more satisfied to look upon them as two Wars both within the 60 years and the one following the other And so this War to be the German War only and the other betwixt the Lamb and the Kings of the Earth to be the English War yet both to fall within the last 60 years and to be forerunners of the killing of the Witnesses And the Reasons why I conceive this War to be the German War only and not the English also are 1 Because the English War hath been betwixt Protestants only but this War is a War betwixt some eminent Protestant Head on the one side and some eminent and professed Popish Head on the other as hath been before observed 2 Because this War being made by the Dragon is not so fitly appliable to any one Nation under Heaven as the German Empire which is as I may say the very Picture of the Old Dragon for the Dragon is set forth as having seven heads ten horns v. 3. And there appeared another wonder in heaven and behold a great red Dragon having seven heads and ten horns Accordingly the German Empire as upon another occasion hath been before observed consists of seven Electoral heads and ten horns i.e. so many Provinces The Prophecy therefore of this Chapter may without any forcing be applied in part to the Old Roman Empire and also in part to the present German Empire both of them bearing and giving the arms of the Dragon So that by the ruine of the old Roman Empire the Dragon only changed his Seat forsook Rome his old Seat leaving that to the Beast and betakes himself to Germany where the Beast for his willingness to surrender his old Seat to him provides him a new And indeed there may be these two Reasons given of it why the Dragon who governs the whole Papal Kingdom doth yet betake himself to Germany rather then any other place choosing that for his Seat 1 Because of all the Nations subjected to the Beast none was found so like his old Seat the Pagan Empire as the new erected German Empire 2 Because the Woman had in a manner for many ages together taken up her dwelling there bringing forth children and sending them abroad from thence into other parts therefore this old Persecutor of the Woman that he might the more trouble her peace placeth his Throne there What I have said is a good confirmation of our method before laid down that this Chapter brings us to the end of the Beasts Kingdom and is not to be limited within the first four hundred yeers after Christ for
that it can be no other coming but Christs Personal Now because at the time of Christs personal coming the dead Saints are so to be raised up as that they may be ready to come with Christ 1 Thess 3.13 1 Thess 4.14 Zech. 14.5 Therefore we have the resurrection of the dead intimated in the verse before Christs coming vers 13. And I heard a voyce from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them The Emphasis of the Text lyes in those words from henceforth about which I find Expositors not applying this to the time of Christs coming and the resurrection but to a time past to be much puzled And indeed there is cause for as it is a forced Translation and besides the Etymologie of the word to translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 otherwise than from henceforth or from this time so cannot any solid reason be given for it without a supposal of the resurrection to be here intimated why the dead from this time should be pronounced Blessed more than from any other time why from this time they should rest from their labours and have their works following them more than from any other time To say they go to Heaven by Death and there rest from their labours Answ But why from this time rather than any other are they blessed seeing all that dye in the Lord throughout all Ages are equally made partakers of the blessing in this sense To say the reason of the special blessing ariseth from the Cause they dye in they dye in Christs Cause and suffer as Martyrs Ans But why is the speciality of the Blessing annexed to this time seeing as Martyrs many had suffered for Christ long before To say as do some others because the Gospel began now to be preached in the world which only makes men dye happily Answ But why from this time seeing a Soul cannot dye happily or in the Lord at any time without some knowledge of Christ and the Gospel To restrain this as do some others to the pains of Purgatory which they say till about this time did cause fear even in good people at their deaths but now the Gospel being preached clearly and the vanity of that opinion laid open the people of God dye comfortably with assurance of going straight-way into Paradise will not help us with an interpretation for who can think otherwise but that the vanity of this most grose opinion was laid open before even when the everlasting Gospel was preached vers 6.7 and if so why then are they said to be blessed from this time and not rather from that time when the everlasting Gospel began to be preached To say yet as do others because great Persecutions were now to arise so that it was a blessing to be dead before they came Ans 1. Whether is it a greater blessing to die in the Lord a Martyr or to die of a mans natural death 2. Let it be considered Whether the time of the Waldenses Albigenses which time Expositors place higher making application of the thing spoken of vers 6 7. to them were not a time of as sore yea sorer Persecutions than the time to which they make application of these words and if so that this be the onely reason why then should not the blessing be placed there rather than here or as well there as here For my own part I do conceive that the thing here intimated is the Resurrection which opinion as it cuts off a multitude of uncertainties so doth it agree most fitly to the circumstance of time according to the method I have observed and is clear also from the Context consent of other Scriptures and the words themselves taken in their natural sense without straining or forcing of them being in effect thus much as if the Holy Ghost should say The children of God untill this day have been ever accounted the worlds Fools who have counted their life a burden and toyl their death a loss of their expectations but now at this day of the Resurrection when the fruit of Gods peoples patience their faith and obedience of which was spoken in the foregoing verse which hath a necessary dependance on this and had we conjoyned them in our exposition as they are in the Text it might possibly have been better shall be manifested before all men it shall then be seen that those who in former ages from the very beginning of the world did live to the Lord and dye in the Lord are the onely blessed men who from this day in Soul and Body both are made partakers and that in recompence of their former toyl and labours of the glorious rest of Christ having now their good works following them i. e. the reward of all their former good works which the world looked upon as things lost and cast away given to them Hence which serves to expound these words the time of the seventh Angels sounding which is contemporary with this both looking to the time of Christs coming is called the time of Gods giving a reward unto his Servants the Prophets and to the Saints and to them that fear his name smal and great Rev. 11.18 which answers punctually to this of their works i.e. the reward of their works following them By these two Scriptures I am further confirmed in what I have writen upon the Vials viz. That not Martyrs onely but all the Saints shall rise in the first Resurrection and come with Christ for the blessing here pronounced is common to all that dye in the Lord yea to all that have kept the patience faith and commandements of Christ and not peculiar to Martyrs onely the rewarding Saints in the time of the new Jerusalem is not a rewarding Martyrs onely but all that fear Gods Name a qualification common to Saints smal and great As for the double similitude in the following words 1. Of a Harvest vers 15 16. 2. Of a Vintage vers 18 19 20. whether the Harvest signifie Christs gathering his Elect in the world which are his Corn together to him 1 Thes 4 17. 2 Thes 2.1 Mat. 24.31 And the Vintage Christs destruction of those of his Enemies that he finds gathered together upon his appearing or whether one thing viz. The ruin of his enemies be intended in both which seems best to agree to Joel 3.13 Put ye in the Sickle for the Harvest is ripe come get you down for the Press is full the Fat 's over-flow which Prophecy as it is the same for time with this so this seems to be taken thence I shall not undertake possitively to determine Further whether the Angel with a Sickle who gathers the Vintage ver 19. be any Angel that Christ makes use of at his coming to destroy his enemies as God by an Angel destroyed the Host of Senacherib or whether this Angel be Christ himself who before
likewise it is said vers 26. after 62 weeks that is 62 added to the other seven spoken of vers 25. which make 69 shall the Messiah be cut off and not after 70 weeks shall the Messiah be cut off because indeed Christs sufferings came before the 70 week was fully and compleatly expired These four deducted there remains to be accounted upon only 486 years which passed from the 20 of Artaxerxes Mnemon until Christs Passion THESIS LVIII Our third part or period comprehends the number of years from the year of Christs Passion until the end of the year 1655 or which is all one the beginning of that noted year 1656. THESIS LIX Within this Period we are to account upon 1622 years thus Christ was thirty years old when he began to preach Luke 3.23 from the time he began to preach until his Passion the common opinion holds three years and a half but we are to account three years only as is clear from Christs own words Luke 13.32 Go ye and tell that Fox Behold I cast out Devils and I do cures to day and to morrow and the third day I shall be perfected vers 33. Nevertheless I must walk to day and to morrow and the day following Shewing us that Christ in preaching spent three full years and yet but three for as he is baptised at the very beginning of the seventieth week i.e. at the beginning of the first day or year of that week so he is perfected at the end of the third day of that week or the third year from the time he began to preach Christ then at the day of his Passion was three and thirty years old which three and thirty years because our common account begins from the year of Christs Nativity we are to deduct these deducted of 1655 there remains only 1622 which we are to account upon THESIS LX. Let us now reckon up the three last periods that wee have gone through and see what number of years of the 2300 we have already gained those yet behind will fall in of themselves The first period from the first of Cyrus to the twentieth of Artaxerxes Mnemon contains 147 years The second from thence to Christs Passion 486 years Both together makes up 633 The third period from Christs Passion to the year 1656 contains 1622 The total Sum is 2255 It follows then that with the beginning of the year 1656 there are 2255 of Daniels 2300 years expired the remaining years are only 45 which will expire A.D. 1701 the very year in which Daniels 1335 dayes doth also expire THESIS LXI The 2300 dayes of Daniel are the best and surest Chronologie of the Number of the worlds years that have passed since the first of Cyrus or the beginning of the Persian Monarchy until this present day THESIS LXII The 2300 years ending according to our former Computation at the same point with the 1335 is a good Argument to prove that our course by a good hand of Providence hath been steered aright both as to the beginning of either number and also the carrying on of this great number for should we seek after any other beginning of the 1335 dayes then what we have before stated the 1335 dayes could never be brought to end with the 2300. Or in case the head of the 2300 dayes were to be placed either higher or lower or the Computation to be made otherwise than what hath been laid down then would not the 2300 dayes concur in their end with the 1335. And such a Computation it is necessary should bee made as may bring both these to end together THESIS LXIII The Harmony that is betwixt all those Mystical Numbers we have passed through is a thing very glorious and admirable to behold for there is not any one of them but affords a beam of light to the other The 1290 dayes affords a great beam of light to the 1260 and contrariwise the 1260 to that again The 1335 dayes affords a glorious beam of light to the 2300 and contrariwise the 2300 to that again Finally as the beginning of the 1260 proves our beginning of the 1335 to be true so our beginning of the 1335 proves the beginning of the 2300 to be true And contrariwise as the beginning of the 2300 proves the beginning of the 1335 to be true so the beginning of the 1335 the beginning of the 1260 to be true So that which is glorious to consider the Mystical Numbers of Daniel and the Revelations though diverse and having diverse beginnings yet have within themselves such an universal Harmony that each one serves to inlighten the other and the other him again THESIS LXIV The final Conclusion is That the rise of the Witnesses the end of the Beasts reign and treading underfoot the Holy City and the first stirring of the Jews will in greatest likelihood be in the year 1656 with which year ends the 1290 dayes the 1260 the 42 months The Personal coming of Christ the final destruction of the four Beasts or Monarchy and the compleat deliverance of the Jews in the year 1701 with which year ends Daniels 2300 dayes and his 1335. Matth. 24.48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart My Lord delayeth his coming 49. And shall begin to smite his fellow-servants and to eat and drink with the Drunken 50. The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of 51. And shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the Hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth A Concluding Word WHen Daniel understood by Books the number of the years whereof the Lord had said He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem he set himself to seek the Lord by fasting weeping and mourning When Moses understood the time of the delivery of Gods people out of Egypt to be at hand he not only strengthned his Brethren but took courage and went in unto Pharaoh Though it is far from entring into my thoughts to compare my self with these yet is it my duty and desire to imitate them in their grace As to the first my hearts desire and prayer to the Father of mercies is That a Daniels praying Spirit might abound in my self and all the people of God at this day As for the second my intents and purposes were to have closed up this discovery with a solemn Exhortation First To the Higher Powers of this Commonwealth Secondly To all those who have fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ within it But considering how poor and vain a thing the words of the Creature are and how little where much is spoken reacheth the heart if the Holy Spirit apply it not in my after thoughts I judged it better to leave it to the Spirit of God to set home these truths than to undertake to do it my self and therefore resting in these thoughts I shall only in a word or two deliver a Message and I hope not my own First To the Higher Powers the Message is this THIS PEOPLE SAY THE TIME IS NOT COME the time that the Lords work should be carried on Is it time for you O yee to dwell in your cieled houses and this work of Christ lye waste Now therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts Consider your wayes Yea thus saith the Lord Consider your wayes For if at this time you lay aside that work wherein the cause and glory of our dear and blessed Redeemer is so neerly and immediately concerned and attend to work of another nature which comparatively he calls you not to he will assuredly in sore displeasure with shame and contempt lay you aside ruine shall come to Babylon salvation and deliverance unto Mount Sion another way Secondly To the people of God in this Common-wealth the Message is this That although you are verily as unworthy a generation of Saints considering how formal the profession of some is how loose the Principles of others how unlike Saints of old yea Saints but of yesterday we are all of this so great Grace now ready to be revealed as ever the earth bore Yet that the whole world may see and know the exceeding riches of his grace and that by the sheddings abroad of his love which is a way more suitable to Gospel administrations your over-grown corruptions may be rooted out and the breaches of Sion made up and you made to remember your own evill wayes and doings that were not good and to loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities and abominations his grace shall with a notwithstanding triumph over all this your unworthiness and he will yet redeem his cause from the Grave carry on his work among you before you and by you as Instruments gloriously and speedily yea with a high hand for his Name sake Thirdly in particular to the Imprisoned Saints together with all those who in this day suffer the reproaches of men the scorn and censures of Brethren for the testimony of Jesus and upon the account of his Kingdom my Message is Your Brethren that hated you and cast you out for Christs name sake said LET THE LORD BE GLORIFIED but he shall appear unto your joy and they shall be ashamed Lastly To all Sions Children wheresoever they may be that take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof let me say Lift up your heads with joy for your redemption draweth nigh For yet a little while and behold the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the Inhabitants of the earth for their Iniquity when as he hath purposed he will stain the pride of all glory and bring into contempt the honorable of the earth For it is the day of the Lords vengeance and the year of recompences for the controversie of Sion And though the scarlet Whore begins now to say in her heart I sit as a Queen am no Widow and shall see no sorrow yet shall her plagues come upon her in one day death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burnt with fire for strong is the Lord our God that judgeth her FINIS