Brides place and when Christ grants this Pattent of Power 〈◊〉 Bride he seems to have respect to the time of the Whores 〈◊〉 for though it is but for a Thousand Years certain 〈◊〉 is a little season uncertain 't is very probable this litâ—â—â— season may be 260 years to make up the Thousand 1260 〈◊〉 ballances the Lease Satan granted the Whore and the 〈◊〉 is said to be loosed after the Thousand years were ended it 〈◊〉 not follow it was just after and this little season seems to 〈◊〉 uncertain that Men might always be on their watch 〈◊〉 prepared for the coming of the Great Judge there is a 〈◊〉 Rom 5. 10 19. importing That as by one mans disobedienoe sin 〈◊〉 into the VVorld and Death by sin so by the Obedience of one 〈◊〉 shall be made Righteons which is directly applicable to 〈◊〉 case for as the world became dead by Satans Rebellion so 〈◊〉 are raised to life not all by Christs Victory All Rise 〈◊〉 for the Text saith The Rest of the Dead Lived not again c. 〈◊〉 plain without all contradiction that the Life and Death 〈◊〉 hinted are of a Civil Nature and that it is only the Life 〈◊〉 Death of Power and Dominion and this Daniel wonderfully confirms saying as to the Rest of the Beasts their Dominion was 〈◊〉 but their Lives were prolonged for a season and time Satan and his crew are overcome and their Dominion is taken aâ—â—â— but still like the conquered Canaanites of old they live for season and time which plainly implies the Death is not Literal this Rest of the Dead answers to the Rest of the Beasts exactly All the world are supposed to be Dead those that Rise are said to Live and those that rise not are said still to be Dead where Truths are weighty and have long been hid as this has Tautologies and Repetitions are not only excusable but necessary and therefore yet once more the Pencil shall go over it least I should not make good the Title fully explained The Rest the other or remaining part or number of the Vanquished Slain or Dead Lived not received no Power or Dominion Again after their Vanquishment or Death or Again received no power or dominion again as formerly after their death or defeat in the first battle in Constantines time but still lie dead without the life of Power and Dominion during the space of a Thousand Years all which time Satan their Generalission lies in the Ineurabile for Non est medicabile vulnus as formerly but when the Thousand Years are ended They live Again then Satan being loosed these dispersed Canaanites are headed by him and attack the Israelites Camp and the issue is Fire comes down from Heaven and consumes them These are plain words as Truth always requires and I hope easily to be understood In the Explaining of things Eloquence and fine words are not so much to be consulted as Perspecuity When the Thousand Years are ended the Wicked Satannical defeated Troops live Again and receive Power with Satan for a little season but till then They lie Dead The Text saith But the rest of the dead lived not AGAIN until the Thousand Years were ended This is the First Resurrection 'T is as plain as the Sun in the Firmament that this Resurrection is of a Civil Nature being only a Resurrection of Power and Preferment and that it belongs to Gods Church or Good and Holy Men the Members of the Church Regenerate and yet in one sence it may seem to be Litteral for 't is a Ressurrection from a Bloody Violent and Vnnatural Death for the Dispensers of the Restorative Gospel are not to be Martyred and Butchered by Persecuting Emperors Those 〈◊〉 are drove off from the Stage and a New Series of Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers arise in the going back of the Emâ—â—â— which will be so far from Persecuting her as the former that they will assist the Church in all her Administrations and therfore dividing Death into two parts Death Violent and Death Natural the Church being free'd and delivered from the first this Deliverance may very well be called The First Resurrection the First Death is Persecution Deprivation of Power and Death Violent from these the Church is Free'd and therefore is said to have her First Resurrection Death Natural is the Seund Death and whosoever shall so Adorn himself with Holiness to be a sharer in this First Resurrection or to be admitted as a Member into the Church Regenerate on him the Second Death shall have no power that is the Grave shall have no power ever him but he shall Rise to Life Eternal and in a good measure it may be understood in a Literal Sence for whoever are â—ound True Members of this Church Regenerate when Christ 〈◊〉 come to Judge the Quick and the Dead they shall not Dye but be Changed so in a literal sence the Second Death has no power over them Now should we enquire How this Life of Power and Dominion now in Christs Possession shall be Shared The Scriptures are plain the Text saith And thou O Tower of the Flock to Thee it shall come even the first Dominion the Kingdom shall come to the Daughter of Jerusalem The rest of the Flock or other Christian Nations shall have Sister like shares but She as the Heiress and Eldest Daughter shall have the first Dominion But it must not be forgot to be observed That the Priviledges of the Millennium are rather Priestly than Kingly and belong more to the Bride or the Church then the State for the Text saith They shall be Priests of God and of Christ c. and in another place A Royal Priesthood a Peculiar People Zealous of good Works and 't is said The Kings of the Earth shall bring their Glory and Honour into the New Jerusalem of whose particular way and method of Administration I could be very large but this sheet will not give me leave As to single persons if they would have any share in this Life or Dominion of the Millennium they must get themselves cloathed in the White Linnen of Holiness for the Text saith Blessed and Holy are they that have part in this Resurrection c. And as for Nations They must first help to kill the Bear and then they may share the Skin of his Power and sure I am at this moment the Ten Kings are just in a readiness to fall upon the Whore to eat her flesh and burn her with fire the signal from Heaven is just ready to be given them Come Lord Jesus Come quickly But some would willingly know When the Millennium Commences I 'll therefore tell them It will begin with a Septenary-Day of Years known to the Lord and to him that he shall reveagit in which it shall be neither Day nor Night but in the Eveninit shall be Light This Septenary-Day is betwixt Easter and Whitsontide or betwixt the Resurrection of the Witnesses and the pouring
within The Inward Powers being purified and set to rights the Outward Powers fall in of course and so the whole Creation quickly recovers its Native Beauty Therefore the first Act of Soveraignty which Christ will exercise will be to purifie the Heart there he begins his Reign of the Millennium If he should come in Person and be in the Air accompanied with an innumerable Company of Saints and Angels as some imagine Alas what would this sight do It would surprize us and we should gape for a little while but it would quickly wear off for we have the glorious Body of the Sun Moon and Stars and all the Beauty of the Creation without us but they have but little influence over us one small Ray of God in the Heart is more than all the Outward Aypearances whatsoever Satan therefore being a cunning Adversary when he came to conquer the World observed the Heart to be the chief Post and made his first Attack upon it and having conquered it and placed his Black Guards there he quickly became Master of the whole World But Christ comes to destroy the Works of the Devil to heal where he has wounded and to build up what he has pulled down and to raise the Creation out of that confusion in which Satan by a long Mis-rule has put it The first Act therefore of his Reign is to regain the Heart and that being secured all the rest come into due subjection And this consideration brings me to my Text. There has been a continual War fince the Creation berwixt Christ and Satan but in this Book particular mention is made of Three Great Battels if the last may be called one In the first Satan is thrown out of Heaven in the second he is thrown out of Heaven Earth taken Prisoner and bound and in the last he is thrown into Hell But this last is not so much a Battel as a Siege or Assault Satan in allusion to Ahaziah sending some of his Captains of Fifty to attack the Saints Camp and Fire comes own from Heaven and destroys them all At the First Battel or at least at the Mustering and Raising his Soldiers Christ was 〈◊〉 a White Horse and at the Second upon a White Horse and 〈◊〉 White-Linnen-Followers and at or after the last upon White Cloud But before I proceed any further I must note Christ's Wars are always of a two-fold Nature by the Word and Sword the Word first proclaims them and then retires into the Rear and the Sword in the Van leads the Armies was Lieutenant As for instance in this Second Battel First the Word gets upon the white Horse and proclaims the War raising an Army of white-Linnen-Followers which are his own Peculiar Army And these are nothing else but Preachers proclaiming a New Dispensation as is self-evident by their Swords being in their Mouths instead of their Hands and of being cloathed in Fine Linnen instead of Steel And tho' the Word's Garments are dipt in Blood 't is of the wicked Soldier 's and not of he own drawing These I say march at first in the Van proclaim the War and bid Defiance and then draw off into the Bear then comes up the Sword or Lieutenant or the Angel in the 〈◊〉 who is the Champion or Goliah of the Word who like him having first summoned the Fowls of the Air to a Treat presently fall on upon the Dragon or Satan and his Armies and Totally Routs them and when he has Routed them then comes up the Word in the Rear and compleats the Victory Preselyting the rest of the World by Preaching for the Text saith The Remnant were stain by the Sword of him that sat upon the Horse whose Sword proceeded out of his Mouth 'T is plain the Angel in the Sun or Constantine the second doth the Rough Work and is the Great Executioner He levels the Mountains and forces open the City Gates that the King of Glory may come in the VVord is nothing but the Word Preached and not a Person as some would have as is plain by the Sword in his Mouth which is the Sword of the Spirit Not by power or by might but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts Things standing thus the Forces of Satan who is Prince of this World being Routed and himself their Generalissimo taken Prisoner he 's not ransomed or bailed since none will be accepted but sent to Prison for a Thousand Years So All the World become the Kingdoms of the ord and his Christ who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords The whole Earth is his now as well by Conquest as by Right of Inheritance all the Inhabitants of the Earth become his Vassals and lie Civilly dead before him The whole Race of Mankind are All concluded under Death their Power and Dominion which is their Life not only devolved on him as of Right the Usurper being Expulsed but also by Conquest by force being taken from them Now the first thing this Mighty Conqueror doth as is the custom of Conquerors He has a respect to his own Trusty Followers and Servants who assisted him in his Conquest to them therefore in the first place he saith Rise and Live That is He Invests them first with Power and they being the first of the Civilly Dead which receive any Power are said first to Live and Rise and this is called the First Resurrection which truly and really is so in a double sence because they are the first Receivers of Power and because 't is the first time that ever Holy and Good Men were so Solemnly Advanced they being to this time not much better than Civilly Dead always labouring under the death of Perfection Tribulation and Affliction Now as to The Rest of the Dead the Text saith They lived not again until the Thousand Years were ended That is The 〈◊〉 of the Conquered received no Power which is Life till the Thousand Years of Satans Imprisonment is ended as the 〈◊〉 and Holy Men do Rise and Live in Christ so the Wicked at dead in or with Satan for Imprisonment is a Civil Death and Christ will let the defeated vanquished or dead crew of Satan to have no Life or Power whilst his Saints Reign and He gives his Saints the Church Regenerate or New Risen Witnesses a Royal Lease or Pattent of Power for a Thousand Years and 〈◊〉 they may have no Rival but be undisturbed all the time 〈◊〉 their great Adversaries to their good behaviour during 〈◊〉 time and here is the greatest reason for this immagiâ—â—â—â— For after his defeat in the last or rather in the first 〈◊〉 by Constantine this cunning Quack healed his Wounds and 〈◊〉 Again creeping into Heaven or the power of Empire in 〈◊〉 of the Church which Power he has Usurped for 1260 〈◊〉 therefore sufficient caution is now taken by binding him 〈◊〉 he Live not Again as before and that he may not palm upon the World any more Whores laying them like changlings in the
in the Earthquake were slain of Men seven Thousand and the Remnant were afrighted and gave Glory to the God of Heaven Now though the Witnesses are already Risen which the more Judicious may easily discern by the Characteristicks before hinted and so my labour of Proof might seem to be spared yet to satisfie others and to make the Copy agree with the Original I find my self obliged to compare them one with the other in the ensuing Explication The Time of Harvest or of finishing their Testimony to cut down the whole Earth being Come There are Two Angels with Sickles One is commanded to cut down the Harvest the other the Vintage Now the Corn is always Ripe before the Grapes and where should the Angel begin the Harvest but in a Corn Countrey We have only Corn England Scotland and Ireland the Grapes are beyond Sea where the Vintage is to be gathered 'T is plain therefore That 〈◊〉 Angel should begin his Harvest first in these parts I think 〈◊〉 not mention when our Harvest was Gathered in England there being now so many on the Premises who helped to get it in By Harvest is meant Constitutions Civil and Ecclesiastical and a Reaping is a Cutting them down Now 'T is plain they have been all Cut down in England as well the Vine of the Church as the Cedar of the State First Monarchy and Episcopacy were Cut down then they Returned and Cut down the Republick and Presbytery and all other Models growing on that Stock These were but Pangs of a New Birth and though they now are both upon the Stage and exist together yet 't is but upon sufferance They are but Trespassers upon the Premises The Promises the Power and Government belongs to the New Birth the Heiress of which they are at present but Guardians An Infant that cannot go must have some body to look after it and who more proper than its own Parents the Old Witnesses But they are certainly civilly extinct Their Cutting down and being Reaped is an undeniable Symbol of Rejection and Abolition The Lease of Old Power being Expired the Head of Monarchy was Cut off and the Head of Episcopacy too and the Head of the Republick and Presbytery had they had any would have been cut off too for Heaven designed to shew some signal Tokens of Abolition The House of Power and Symbol of the Old Dispensation was Burned This was a true Type of the last Conflagration but more particularly of the Expiration of the Old Dispensation when the Harvest is Cut down the Stubble is usually Burned A New Aera Commencing 't was fit there should be New Habitations and God himself designing to Visit the New Powers 't was fit a Purgation by Fire should be used There was an Harvest in our Saviours Time which was nothing else but a Cutting down all the Constitutions of the World as the effect has plainly declared And this is the Second Harvest and will have the same effects This Harvest then being first got in in these Countreys there was reserved some of the Good and Best Wheat for Seed to be thrown into the Ground to raise a New Crop This has been done and it comes up Green and Kindly and is in a very Hopeful and Flourishing Condition not Rising BARE GRAIN but with a New Body such as God has been pleased to give it but of this more hereafter The Old Witnesses observing the time of the Beasts power Expiring made an Attack upon the Whorish Retinue and drove them out of all Power and Dominion This is THEIR DEATH and they ought to Dye first the Time of their end being Come but This Retinue returns with New Vigor and again Assaults the Witnesses driving THEM out of all Power and Dominion This is the Witnesses Death and there is great Insulting and Rejoycing over them because they had Tormented them so much before and many Gifts are sent and much Rejoycing there is at their Re-settlement but they who were their Friends prevailed so much that they should not be Buryed in hopes they would Revive the Text saith They suffered them not to be put in their Graves this argues their Death was not Literal and that the Tree was not pulled up by the Roots only cut off by the Stumps that there might be a new Ingrafting They lie thus Civilly Dead expulsed out of all Employment and Power in the Streets of the Great City which is Spiritually called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was Crucified This City can by no means be meant Rome as some would have it for it was never known that Jerusalem was called Rome and 't is plain Jerusalem is meant hereby Now Jerusalem was a Friendly City belonging to Christs Kindred and Nation and so ought this City in which his Body or Witnesses are to be Slain and no City in the World can claim such a Title as Lond n being the very shadow of it in a Line directly drawn as also doth answer the same in all other Respects of Kindred and Affinity to the Witnesses and though it be the Chief Protestant City yet in a Spiritual Sence Rome almost in a Literal it may be called 〈◊〉 and Egypt nothing hinders this In this City therefore for Three Days and a Half They lie Thrown out of all Power Spiritual and Temporal and some of them were really and Literally cast out into the Street this was in the last Persecution just before the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience when the Spirit of Life from God entered into them and they stood upon their Feet and Great Fear fell upon them which saw them And they leard a Great Voice from Heaven saying Come up hither and they Ascended up to Heaven in a Cloud and their Enemies beheld them This was a grievous sight to their Enemies they had taken all care imaginable not only to kill them but to keep them dead But their Death was their Victory as of old their Saviours was for now they rise again to the Amazement of them all Alas Their care extended no farther than to the Old Witnesses with whom they had fought and who had tormented them so much And when they see New Witnesses standing in the Court of Heaven they stand amazed as if they had seen a Spectrum These we know and These we know say they But who are Ye These New Enemies they never dream'd of There 's no Feeing the Soldiers to say they are not risen for they are seen of all the World These then as soon as they appear being the First Fruits of God and to the Lamb all other old Fruit becomes intollerable to Prophecy A sudden Hurricane arises And the Text saith There was a great Earthquake and the Tenth part of the City sell and in the Earthquake was slain of Men Seven Thousand It should not be of Men tho' this Version is so this favours a literal Death too much Other Versions have it the Names of Men or Men of Note The Latin