form of a white horse it is not much material for it the spirit will call the righteousness of Saints a white horse who shall gainsay it But however the white Robes of the Saints who are washed in the blood of the Lamb are as a white horse for God their King to ride upon So that if you understand the interpretation of this white horse you may the more easily know the meaning of the other three horses Also it is necessary to know who doth ride or sit upon this white horse I declare by Revelation from the holy Spirit that he which John saw sit on the white horse it was no other but Christ himself It was he that had a bowe and a crown was given unto him it may be said the crown was given unto him as he was the Redeemer For this crown of Glory that was given unto him it was as he was the Redeemer and not as he was the Creator And as he was the Redeemer he sate or rode upon the white horse And he went forth conquering and to conquer That is he being the author of the righteousness of Faith as he was the Redeemer that he made the Saints so pure and white that they became a white horse for him to sit upon So that they were able by their faith in the blood of the Lamb to suffer tribulation and death it self So that they became more then conquerors for he that suffereth persecution for the name of Jesus he doth conquer more then he that doth persecute and put to death So likewise Christ that sate upon this white horse as he was the Redeemer he went forth conquering and to conquer That is he went forth in the power of faith by which he created all things he went forth to redeem the Seed of Adam that was fallen under death and the fear of eternal damnation So that death and hell got power over Adam and his Seed so that Christ riding upon the white Horse of innocency or the righteousness of Faith he went forth conquering and to conquer That is he went forth to die to shed his most precious blood and by his giving himself up unto death He conquered over sin death and hell Therefore it is said in Scripture Oh death I will be thy death oh grave I will be thy victory That is he will get victory over the grave as he did over death for he destroyed death in that death could not keep him under it for ever in that he passed thorow it He got victory over the grave in that the grave could not keep him inclosed in the earth So that he went forth conquering and to conquer never leaving off until he had conquered all his enemies That is to say sin death devil hell the grave these all were his enemies and he hath conquered over them all by his becoming flesh and by his suffering of death upon the Cross as he was a Redeemer or as he was God the Son and these enemie did Christ which sate upon the white horse go forth conquering and to conquer to redeem the Seed of Adam And this is the true meaning what is meant by the white horse and by him that sate thereon and by his conquering and to conquer And the bowe which he had it signified the power he had to shout and kill those spiritual enemies which is sin death hell and devil Which could no ways have been killed but by giving his life up unto death and by his passing thorow death and quickening into life again he killed death sin hell and the devil With this dart of offering up his soul unto death it being shot thorow sin death and hell by the strength or bowe of the power of faith in God And as for the Crown that was given him it is spoken with relation to the Son-ship of God as he is a Redeemer So that the Crown of Glory that he hath given him it is attributed unto him as he is a Redeemer For the work of Redemption is counted by the redeemed ones more worthy of a Crown of glory then the work of creation So that this Crown of glory that is given to Christ that sate upon the white Horse it is in relation to his work of Redemption in that he conquered over all those spiritual enemies as aforesaid So much for the first and second verses CHAP. XVI IN the 3 verse it is said And when he had opened the second Seal I heard the second Beast say Come and see And in the 4 verse There went out another horse that was red and power was given to him that sate thereon to take peace from the earth and that they should kill one another and there was given unto him a great Sword These four beasts which John saw in the vision did signifie unto him those wonderful Transactions which were and should be acted here on earth in the state of mortality in the time of the four Monarchies And signified unto John in the way of vision by four horses Now the second horse that did appear to John in the vision was a red horse and power was given to him that sate thereon to take peace from the earth and that they should kill one another This Monarchical Government went forth upon a red horse that is shedding of blood should be the greatest work he that sate thereon should do It was called a red Horse because of the much shedding of blood so that the blood of men is called a red Horse even as the righteousness of faith is called a white Horse And as the souls of the Saints were made white with the blood of the Lamb so are these souls made red with shedding of one anothers blood So that every mans soul became a red horse and he that sate upon this red horse had power given him to take peace from the earth and for that purpose theâ—e was given unto him a great sword Now this great Sword it was to kill and in killing one another peace must needs be taken from the earth So that this Kingly Power though they were many Kings yet they are called but him that sate upon the red horse So likewise though there were many thousand slain and had their blood shed yet they are all called but A red horse so that there is but the horse and his rider for Kings and Magistrates do ride upon the people in that they command the people to kill one another So that people which go to fight to shed one anothers blood may well be called A red horse for they make their souls as red as scarlet with blood-shed And the power of the Magistrate doth ride and sit upon this red horse for he hath a great sword given unto him to command persecutors to kill one another and they must obey and become a red horse or else they must be killed themselves Thus in short I have given you the signification of the red horse and of him that sits thereon For
â—hat is all creatures according to the instinct of nature do shew forth honor and glory unto a Divine Being who hath created all things for his own glory So that there is an exceeding great Crown of glory upon the head of Christ Jesus as he is the Creator and the other Crown of glory upon his head it is as he is the Redeemer For Redemption in all those that are concerned in it is of more worth and of higher esteem than the work of Creation is So that this work of Redemption it hath procured to himself a a Crown of glory of more weight then the work of Creation So that all Crowns of glory he hath upon his head they are all included in these two and the white horse he doth fit upon it is the righteousness of Faith For by this righteousness of Faith he conquered death hell and devil and by this Faith he hath made war with these spiritual enemies and by the same power of Faith he will overcome and destroy all temporal enemies with an eternal destruction as John doth speak of as if it were already done as aforesaid Verse the twelfth His eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head were many Crowns and he had a Name written that no man know but he himself As for his eyes being as it were a flame of fire that is onely to signifie the exceeding glory and brightness of his eyes They are so piercing that he can see thorow Angels and men so that no mortal man can look upon him no more then the eyes of a man are able to look upon the Sun in its brightness and as for the many Crowns upon his head I have spoken of that in the verse before But it is said And he had a Name written that no man knew but he himself The meaning is this there was no man knew his Name that was written upon him but he himself until he did reveal it to some man For who knew him by the Name of Jehovah God Almighty until he revealed it to Moses Also who knew his name was the Word of God as in the thirteenth verse had he not revealed it unto John As it is said in the Gospel of John In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God So that his name must needs be the Word of God and how should any man know this but he himself until he did reveal it unto some man so that when the Name of God was known to no man but to he himse f The thing was then a secret thing but now it is revealed unto man it doth belong unto us and to our children For secret things belong unto God and revealed things to us and our children So that when God hath revealed any secret or heavenly mystery unto man it may not then be called no more secret but man may know it in a measure even as God doth himself So that the Name of God is known by his servants the Prophets Apostles and Witnesses of the Spirit and by his Saints to their exceeding great joy and glory so that his name is known to others now besides himself CHAP. LXXIV VErse the thirteenth And he was clothed with a vesture dipt in blood and his Name is called The word of God The Reader may remember that when I came to the thirteenth verse of the first Chapter of Johns Revelation I found such a like saying as this that is John saw in the midst of the seven golden Candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man clothed with a garment down to the foot Which garment I said I would open hereafter so that now being come to it again I shall open what is meant by this garment down to the foot and by his vesture dipt in blood This Son of Man John saw in the middest of the seven golden Candlesticks it was no other but Jesus Christ and this Jesus Christ is the onely wise God as I have shewed before And it is he that John saw clothed with a garment down to the foot and it is he that is clothed with a vesture dipt in blood Now the word Vesture and the word Garment signifie both one thing onely this is to be minded by the Reader what the Spirit doth mean by this garment down to his foot and his vesture dipt in blood The meaning of the Spirit is this The eternal Spirit it became flesh so that the flesh of Christ was a garment or a vesture that did clothe the God-head Spirit with So that he being clothed with flesh from the head to the foot this flesh is called by the Spirit a garment down to the foot So that this garment of flesh is that vesture dipt in blood according to that saing of Isaiah the Prophet Isaiah 63.1 Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments So in the second verse Wherefore art thou red in thy apparrel and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat This prophesie of Isaiah is that God would become flesh and so clothe himself with a garment of flesh so that this garment might be made red with blood That is the whole body of flesh which is called the garment of the God-head-life might be made red even as one that treadeth the wine-fat For if a man should tread the wine fat of the grapes with no other apparel on but his flesh onely it would make him look red as if he had been treading in a pool of blood Even so doth the Prophets words signifie when he saith Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat As if the Prophet should say Wherefore doth thy flesh which is thy apparel or thy garment look red for thou hast been treading the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God like unto him that treadeth the wine fat of the grape So that thy flesh which is thy garment down to the foot must needs look red with blood for the garment of his flesh is that vesture dipt in blood This the Prophets did see by the eye of Faith and so they called the flesh of Christ a Garment red like the wine of the ripe grape in regard he had not yet suffered death in the flesh but was to suffer But the revelation of John saw that he had suffered death in that flesh and therefore saith And he was clothed with a vesture dipt in blood meaning his flesh was dipt in blood in that he had trodden the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God that is he trod the wine-press of his own wrath against sin For he is the Almighty God himself though he clothed himself with a garment of flesh that he might be capable to die and that ason the devil might be the more capable to put him to death r That the garment or vesture of flesh he had on him might be dipt in blood for the redemption of the Seed of Adam to an
God himself onely So that as he was the Creator of all things he had this Name written on him as he was the Creator Jehovah God Almighty I am that I am this was the Name of God as he was the Creator and this name was written on his Spiritual body which was his vesture for his God-head Spirit to live in but now God is become flesh and hath cloathed the Godhead Life with a garment of flesh as a vesture and shed his most precious blood he being in the condition of a Son or a Servant he made himself capable of the pains of death and so died unto Sin that is to satisfie sin for nothing could satisfie sin but the blood of God And by his dying unto it he destroyed sin in that death could not keep him under it For if death could have kept that body of Christ in the grave so that it might not have risen again then sin and death would have lived for ever and ever and this world would have had no end So that by this death of God he hath conquered sin death and hell for the Seed of Adam that they shall have no power over them not as to keep them under eternal torments But on the contrary he hath by his death overcome sin death and hell so as to make them serve for the eternal torment of the seed of the serpent who have acted sin So that as he hath gone thorow the condition of a Redeemer and overcome sin death and hell upon those two considerations aforesaid By the body of his flesh he hath purchased to himself as he is the Redeemer a name written on that body of flesh which is called his vesture King of kings and Lords of lords But here is one thing more to be minded that this death of Christ was that which treadeth the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God For God was wrath with sin and nothing could punish sin but an eternal death so that God having no way to destroy sin and to be even with the serpent that brought sin and death into the world not onely to himself and his own seed but also to Adam and his seed So that God being willing to avenge himself of the serpent and his seed and to restore Adam and his Seed again he took upon him the Seed of Abraham which is the nature of Adam and not the nature of Angels of whose nature the serpent was of And so clothed the eternal spirit with a body of flesh and so offered up the eternal spirit unto death that he might destroy him that had the power of death which is the devil which devil is no other but the spirit of reason in man So that as death was in the devils hands before Christs death yet now by his death he hath gained the power of death himself â—nto his own hands So that now he will deliver his own seed from it and will inflict the same death eternal upon the devil and his seed as he would have done upon God and his seed So that the wrath of Almighty God it was against sin and death which the serpent brought into this world upon all the seed of Adam and the body of God by the assistance of the eternal spirit must tread the wine-press of it That is the eternal spirit was the life of the blood that was in that blessed body so that he poured out his soul unto death and was offered up throw the eternal spirit and this was the treading the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God he being the Almighty God himself and by this work of Redemption he hath a Name written upon that body of flesh he suffered death in King of kings and Lord of lords I confess these things are deep mysteries hard for me to explain in words and more hard to be understood by those who know not what revelation doth mean For things of this nature cannot be explained with that ease as other matters may which is more easie to understand but the Seed of Faith may see what is meant by the wine-press of Gods wrath and who it was that treadeth it in that his soul was made an offering forsin and so hath a Name by his sufferings King of kings and Lord of lords as aforesaid CHAP. LXXVII IN this sixteenth verse John hath concluded the marriage of the Lamb with the joy and glory the Saints shall have in heaven over the destruction of Babylon that is over the destruction of all wicked persecuting men from the beginning of the world to the latter end thereof and by what means these things hath been accomplished Even by that sharp Sword that goeth out of Christs mouth in giving his Angels command to pour out the vials of his wrath upon the earth and by his own garment dipt in blood hath he accomplished glory and eternal happiness to the Saints and shame and endless misery to the reprobate So that in the latter part of this chapter the Spirit doth call to rememberance the great destruction of that great City Babylon and doth incite the Saints in heaven to increase their joy in heaven by feeding upon the destruction of that great whore who caused all the nations of the earth to drink the wine of her fornication as you may see in the seventeenth verse Verse the seventeenth And I saw an Angel standing in the Sun and he cryed with a loud voice saying to all the fowls that she in the midest of heaven Come and gather your selves together unto the Supper of the great God These fowls that fly in the midst of heaven are the Saints they are called by the Spirit the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven and these fowls are invited to Supper with the great God Hâ—â—â— the Reader may see that Christ is the great God for they sup with him they were married unto that is the Lamb they were married unto and he the fowls of heaven must sup with Also this is he that is King of kings and Lord of lords even the great God and that which the great God and the fowls of heaven must have to supper it is set down in the 18 verse Verse the eighteenth That ye may ear the flesh of Kings and the flesh of Captains and the flesh of men and the flesh of horses and of them that fit on them and the flesh of all men both free and bond both small and great This verse doth imply all both great and small that fought under the banner of the beast and the false prophet which false prophet signifies the spiritual Power of the whore as aforesaid and the beast signifies the Civil Power or Head-magistrate who committed fornication with the woman and so joyned together to fight against God and his Saints And these Kings Captains and mighty men and small and great they were all authorized by these two Powers aforesaid to fight against God and his Saints and so they did persecute and kill
sufferings for truth he cometh to have the witness in himself that his name is written in the Book of Life and that his name shall not be blotted out no not by God himself 6. Him that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the Name of my God and the name of the City of my God which is New Jerusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from my God and I will write upon him my new Name This Pillar in the Temple of God it signifies the great strength of faith and patience that was in the Church of Philadelphia So that their great faith should enable them to suffer with such patience that they should become a Pillar in the Temple of God that is their faith should be as a Pillar to encourage and strengthen and bear up those that were more weak in faith and more fearful to suffer But he that overcometh shall be as a Pillar to bear up the weak even as a Pillar of a Church of stone doth bear up the building that standeth upon it For the Temple of God is no other but true Believers they are called by the Spirit The Temple of God and he that is strong in faith and doth overcome all persecution by patient suffering for his faith in God he shall be made a Pillar to help bear up the Church of God And he shall go no more out That is he shall go no more out from being a Pillar but he shall be esteemed of God a standing Pillar in his Temple to all Eternity So that God will write upon him his own Name and the name of the City of God The Name of God is to be a King Priest and Prophet So that he that overcometh as aforesaid shall have this name written upon his heart King Priest and Prophet unto God And as for the name of the City of God New Jerusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from God which New Jerusalem I have opened what it is in the Interpretation of the Eleventh of the Revelation And as for the New Name God will write upon him I have shewed what it is before 7. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am sate down with my Father in his Throne Here the Reader may see what the Spirit doth mean by overcometh That is he overcometh sin death and hell within himself these being principalities and powers within a man Also he overcometh all persecution and the malice of the devil the spirit of reason without a man These things I say are overcome by the power of Faith in suffering patiently for truth as aforesaid For this was the way that Christ did overcome all his enemies and when he had overcome by his death sin in that he dyed unto sin And he overcome death in that he was deaths death Also he overcame hell in that the grave was not able to hold him under Therefore it is said by the spirit Oh death I will be thy death oh grave I will be thy victory Also he overcame by his sufferings the spirit of reason the devil who always persecuted the Prophets and Saints I say he overcometh by his death this spirit of reason the devil in that he hath procured by his death an eternal damnation to all persecuting spirits So that he hath overcome them and will kill them with a second death where will be weeping and gnashing of teeth for evermore And he overcometh these enemies aforesaid he is sate down in the Throne of the Father That is he is sate down in the same Glory as he had when he was the Creator or the same Glory which he had before the world was Even so in like manner shall every Prophet Apostle and Saint that overcometh those enemies aforesaid by the power of his Faith and his patient sufferings for truth To him will Christ grant to sit with him in his Throne that is he shall sit with Christ or be with Christ in the Kingdom of Eternal Glory Even as he himself after his sufferings is sate down in the kingdome which he had before the world was Which is called by the spirit the Throne of the Father in relation to that twofold condition in God as I have shewed in this Treatise following Thus in short I have given the Interpretation what is meant by those seven several Blessings given by the Spirit to the seven Churches of Asia and how they all differ one from another and yet all have relation to one and the same thing even to eternal happiness joy and glory in the presence of Almighty God their God their King and Redemeer CHAP. IV. I Would have the Seed of Faith also to understand that Christ the onely God is he which did send forth these seven Spirits unto the seven Churches Therefore called by the Revelation of John the seven Spirits which are before his Throne The seven Spitits I declare by Revelation that they are but one Spirit even the Spirit of Jesus Christ the onely wise God blessed for ever and ever Onely this I would have the Seed of Faith to understand that this one spirit of Christ it hath seven several operations or workings in the seven Churches Therefore called by the Revelation of John seven Spirits before the Throne Therefore you may read that John in his writing to the seven Churches of Asia giveth seven several Blessings as aforesaid So likewise he cometh with his message to the seven Churches with seven several titles and yet all from one God and one Spirit As thus First he writeth to the Church of Ephesus with this title Saith he that holdeth the seven Stars in his right hand who walketh in the middest of the seven Golden Candlestickâ— These Golden Candlesticks are the seven Churches Is there any spirit that can walk in the middest of the hearts of the seven Churches but the Spirit of Christ which is God surely no. Secondly John writeth to the Church of Smirna These things saith the first and the last which was dead and is alive Is not Jesus Christ the first and the last Was not he dead and rose again And so is alive Surely it is This was the saith of John and the rest of the Apostles and it is my faith also Thirdly John writeth these things unto the Church in Pergamos Saith he who hath the sharp Sword with two edges This Sword with two edges it cometh out of Christs mouth I suppose all men that profess the Scriptures will confess it Fourthly Unto the Church in Thyatira he writeth These things saith the Son of God who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire and his feet are like fine brass Here the Spirit of Christ gives himself forth under the title of his Son-ship but to the former Churches he gives himself forth under the title of the Father-hood Yet under the title
in his right hand And no man in heaven nor in earth could open it nor read it There was cause enough for John to weep because that Book was the Book of Life And many thousands and millions of souls were written in that Book As he afterwards maketh mention of and many that had suffered persecution unto the death which were slain under the altar who suffered for the testimony of Jesus whose names were written in the Book of Life And if this Book should not have been opened the condition of the Saints would have been sad which suffered all those things for the name of Jesus who loved not their lives unto death who had their names recorded in the Book of Life That at the general day of Gods Account when he shall make up his Jewels their names being written in the Book of Life They may have that blessed reward which God did promise and they did faithfully believe and expect But if none could have opened the book neither in heaven nor in earth what benefit would they have had for all their faith and sufferings This was enough to make John and all other Prophets and Believers to weep also if there should be none found neither in heaven nor in earth that can open the Book of Life But in the 5 verse one of the Elders said unto John in the vision Weep not behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David hath prevailed to open the Book and to loose the seven Seals thereof One of the Elders puts John in good comfort again for there is one found now that can open the Book and read it also This is that Lion as Jacob prophesied of Gen. 59. ver 9 as I have spoken of before This Lion hath prevailed to open the book He openeth the Book as he is God the Son And as he became a Son he is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah and as he is God the Son he is called a Lamb. And as he was God the Son he suffered death to redeem his people And as he is a Redeemer he hath prevailed to open the Book and to loose the seven Seals thereof That is as he is the Redeemer he hath power to raise every one of them again that are written in the Book of Life That is all the Seed of Faith which are elected in the secret decree and councel of God as he was the Creator And as he is the Redeemer he hath power to give life everlasting to every one of the Seed of Faith who were written in the Book of Life And when John saw there was one found in heaven that could open the book he gave over weeping For one of the Elders had shewed him in the vision one that could open the Book and looâ—e the seven Seals thereof For in the 6 verse John beheld and lo in the midst of the Throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the Elders stood a Lamb as it had been slain having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth This Lamb which John saw in the vision in the midst of the four beasts and the Elders it was Christ This I suppose all men that profess the Scriptures will confess it Now observe that this Lamb which stood as it had been slain it was no other then God himself For this Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes now these seven horns which the Lamb had it was the faith and patience which the seven Churches of Asia had which did inable them to go thorow their sufferings with cheerfulness For when a man doth suffer for his Faith in God patiently and willingly he destroyeth his enemy more in submitting unto suffering or death it self than if he should resist his enemy And this doth become a horn to push the persecutors soul Thus it was with the seven Churches of Asia they were by their faith and patience made able to suffer persecution and death it self Which became as seven horns to push and gall the souls of their persecutors For though the horns of a Lamb doth but little harm to the outward flesh yet when they get within the flesh they will gall very much That is when the horn of suffering for righteousness gets into the minde and soul of the persecutor it doth gall his soul exceedingly with the fear of eternal damnation This I think experience will shew the truth of it For the Quakers and others which suffer for a lye yet they think they suffer for truth and the persecutors knows no other but that they do suffer for truth Therefore the sufferings of the Quakers cannot chuse but push and gall the persecutors Consciences The Quakers being so stedfast and confident in their way which do not fear their lives unto the death This suffering of theirs doth trouble and molest the mindes of the Civil Powers which doth shew that suffering in innocency though for a lye it will be a horn to push and gall the souls of the persecutors Then how much more would they push and gall if they suffered for Truth That is if their Ministery which provoke them to meet contrary to the Parliaments Order were true as the Ministery of the seven Churches of Asia were But it is not therefore they suffer for a lye yet the persecutor not knowing it he is and will be pushed and galled in his soul with the fear of eternal death for doing it CHAP. XIII NOw it is to observed that this Lamb that was slain had the seven horns and the seven eyes Now these seven horns as I said before which the Lamb had they were the sufferings of the seven Churches of Asia in the ten Persecutions According to that saying of Johns Revelation the second and the 10th he giving an exhortation to the Church in Smirna that they should fear none of those things which they should suffer Behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison that ye may be tryed and ye shall have tribulation ten days Now this devil that shall cast some of them in prison I shall shew what he is hereafter But as for the ten days tribulation which the Saints should suffer it was spoken with relation to the ten Persecutions And they are called by the revelation of the spirit but ten days When as it was at times a matter of three hundred years that their tribulation did last which was the ten Persecutions yet called by the spirit but ten days tribulation And the faith and patience which these seven Churches of Asia had being made able to suffer with chearfulness those ten days tribulation it being the ten Persecutions aforesaid They are called the seven horns which the Lamb had For they by their sufferings did push and gall the souls of the persecutors as the Lamb himself did when he did suffer death For he did procure no less then eternal damnation to his persecutors by his suffering
Chap. 58. How the spiritual Babylon is compared unto the temporal and how false worship may be and is called Mystery Babylon in opposition to the mystery of God with many other things opened And how and when the Scepter departed from the Jews and how the Gentiles worship is idolatrous and so becomes or makes up that great City Mystery Babylon the Mother of harlots and what is meant by her fornication Chap 59. How the Kings of the earth may be said to commit fornication and how the Saints do drink the wine of the wrath of her fornication how the scarlet coloured beast doth carry the whore and how she fits upon the beast and what is meant by the beast and why called a scarlet coloured beast Chap. 60. The Interpretation of the woman how she is arrayed in scarlet colour and purple and precious stones with a golden Cup in her hand and what these things do signifie and how the woman may be said to be drunken with the blood of the Saints Chap. 61. The Interpretation of the beast that was and is not and yet is and how he may be called the eighth and is of the seven with other deep secrets Chap. 62. How the woman may be said to sit upon seven mountains and what the mountains are Chap. 63. The Interpretation of the ten horns and what is meant by their having power one hour with the beast and how they make war with the Lamb and what weapons they fight with and with what weapons the Lamb doth overcome them Chap. 64. How the ten horns received power from the beast to persecute the Saints and how the same ten kings received power from God to make the whore desolate to fulfil Gods will yet all but wicked kings yet they did his will Chap. 65. How all this 17th Chapter was shewed unto John by vision and none could interpret it but he that hath a Commission from God Chap. 66. The difference between the temporal Babylon and the spiritual Babylon and how this spiritual Babylon is called an habitation of devils and a cage of every hateful bird and a hold of every unclean spirit and how the kings of the earth and all nations committed fornication with her Chap. 67. How the Saints may be said to come out of her and how she must drink her own blood and what is meant by filling her cup and giving it her double to drink and what maner of famine and fire she shall be destroyed with Chap. 68. What is meant by the Merchants standing afar off for fear of her torment Chap. 69. How the Prophets and Apostles are bid to rejoyce over the destruction of the great City in that God hath avenged himself on her Chap. 70. How the seed of Reason doth walk in the paths of the Scriptures yet cannot finde out the true God but the Seed of Faith can finde out God in all those narrow paths where he doth walk and how the voice of mirth did cease when Babylon is destroyed and the blood of Prophets and Saints is found in her Chap. 71. How the four beasts and four and twenty Elders and Saints do sing praise unto God for the perpetual downfall of spiritual Babylon Chap. 72. What is meant by the voice of many waters and the voice of mighty thunderings and how the Saints are married unto God Chap. 73. What is meant by the white horse and by the many Crowns that he had on his head and of the difference of glory between the work of Creation and the work of Redemption and how it may be said that no man knew his name but himself Chap. 74. The Interpretation of the garment of Christ down to the foot and his vesture dipt in blood what is meant by treading the wine-fat Chap. 75. What is meant by the Armies in heaven that followed Christ and how they al sat upon white horses and how Christ trode the fierceness of the wiâ—â—-press of Almighty God and yet not his Fathers wrath Chap. 76. The Interpretation of the Name of Christ written upon his thigh and how he may be called King of kings and Lord of lords in respect of the power of his Creation and the power of his Redemption and how his death got power over sin death and hell so that he can dispose of death now as he pleases for his own glory Chap. 77. What is meant by the fowls of heaven and what the Supper is they are invited unto and what it is they must have to Supper and how the Saints may be said to eat the flesh of Kings and of Captains and of mighty men Chap. 78. How the temporal Power signifies the Beast and the spiritual Power signifies the false Prophet and how they are both cast alive into a lake of fire and brimstone and what is meant by the remnant that were slain with the sword that came out of his mouth with the end of the nineteenth Chapter Chap. 79. The Prophets prayer and thanksgiving unto Jesus Christ the onely God who became very man and yet was very God at the same time Chap. 80. What is meant by Gog and Magog and how the Camp of the Saint may be said to be compassed about in all the four quarters of the earth and what that fire is that came down from heaven Chap. 81. How Non-commissionated men are those that do add unto the Prophecy of this Book of the Revelation and to all the Scriptures and 〈◊〉 the plagues written in that Book will be added unto them for going before they were sent of God Chap. 82. How men are said to diminish or take away from this Book and how he hath his part taken out of the Book of Life All the Chief HEADS of the most Divine MYSTERIES plainly opened in the several Chapters of this Book CHAP. I. THe first Chapter of the Revelation of John doth speak of things which must shortly come to pass John calls it The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass John might well say that God did give it unto him because Jesus Christ is God as he doth make it appear in his following Discourse in this Chapter Also those servants which he was to declare this Revelation of Jesus Christ unto I declare it was unto the Ministers of those Seven Churches in Asia and from them to the Churches themselves Also John doth speak much of this Book of the Revelation by way of vision as well as revelation and that doth make this Book of the Revelation to be the more difficult and hard to be understood or to be interpreted Therefore many wise and learned men have gone about to interpret some places of it but have left the greatest part of it as a sealed Book which cannot be opened and have left that which they have writ upon as dark to the Reader as it was at first And the cause is they do not know what
of death And being slain by them And these seven Churches having their power and strength to suffer from Christ the Lamb slain they walked in his steps in the way of suffering Therefore called the seven horns of the Lamb or the Lambs seven horns And as for the seven eyes which the Lamb had they are called the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth You may remember that I have shewed before what the seven spirit before the Throne is And these seven spirits which the Lamb hath are the very same That is they are all but one spirit of Christ onely this one spirit doth operate and work seven several ways to wit in the seven Churches of Asia Therefore said to be sent forth into all the earth Because the sound of these seven Churches of Asia of their gifts and suffering went thorow all the earth Therefore called the seven spirits of God yet I would have the Reader to understand thus much That the Lamb that had power to open the book the same Lamb had the seven horns and the seven eyes Now if these seven eyes were the seven Spirits of God then the Lamb must needs be God For the Lamb had the seven Spirits in him and he sent them forth unto the seven Churches of Asia Onely this I would have the Reader to understand that here he is called God as he is a Lamb slain Or as he was in the condition of a Son and a Redeemer So that what power honor or glory soever be attributed to God by the redeemed ones It is with relation to the Son-ship of God He being a Son he is called a Lion and called a Lamb which titles belongeth onely to the Son-ship of Christ He being the onely God though in a two fold state and condition as aforesaid And in the 7 verse it is said And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sate upon the Throne This he that took the book out of his right hand that sate upon the Throne It was the Lamb and this Lamb is Christ and Christ is God and Christ is called the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world He may well be called the Lamb of God because he is God For who can take away the sins of the world but God But God must become a little childe of flesh blood and bone and grow up to a man that he may be capable to suffer the pains of death In that he shed his most precious blood before he could take away the sins of the world And this Lamb which was slain here spoken of by John was no other but God himself But he being now in the condition of a Son in that he had been slain and was now risen again and had accomplished the work of Redemption he was able to sit down in the midst of the Throne And to take the book out of his own right hand as he was the Father and Creator of all things And as he was the Son or Lamb which shed his precious blood to redeem his people from their sins it was his proper work and place to take the book out of his own right hand as he was the Creator and to open the book and loose the seven Seals thereof For in his opening the Book of Life he found the names of all the elect seed written therein which were washed and redeemed with his precious blood Therefore it is said That no man in heaven nor in earth nor under the earth could open the Book but the Lamb onely So that this Lamb must needs be God the Father as well as God the Son for who can open the Book of Life but God himself But he must open it as he was God the Son therefore said to take it out of the right hand of him that sate upon the Throne c. CHAP. XIV ANd in the 8 verse The four beasts and the four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb. And in the 9 verse They sung a new Song saying Thou art worthy to take the book and open the Seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood c. I would have the Reader to mind these words why the four beasts and the Elders did sing a new Song Observe it is called a new Song in opposition to the old song As the Gospel of Jesus is called the New Testament and the Law of Moses is called the Old Testament So likewise there is the song of Moses and of the Lamb that is the song of the Lamb. Now the Song of Moses may be called the old song or the first song because Moses the Prophets and Elders of Israel and Saints under that Testament I say they gave praise honor and glory unto Christ as he was God the Father and Creator And as he was the Creator he blessed them with temporal blessings and temporal deliverances So that Moses and the people of Israel sing praise unto God for his wonderful works which he had wrought by the hand of Moses As you may read in the Scriptures in the Song of Moses how wonderfully he doth praise honor and magnifie the God of Israel who had gotten himself a great and terrible name among the heathen And this is called the song of Moses or the old or first song because it was the first manifestation of God as he is the Creator For Moses was the first man that gave us to know any difference of the God of Israel from the God of the Heathen And this manifestation as Moses gives us is that we might know God as he was the Creator and did deliver his people in a more wonderful manner then any other heathen gods could do And in this regard Moses and the Elders of Israel gave praise honor and glory unto the God of Jacob He delivering them out of so many temporal dangers and not onely so but blessing them with many temporal blessings which caused this song of Moses to be sung by the children of Israel And in this regard the song of Moses may be said to be old or the first song he being the first commissionated man to write that which we call the Old Testament Therefore the song of Moses may be called an old Song Because the song of the Lamb is more new for redemption was after creation therefore called a new Song It is called a new Song in relation to a new condition as the Song of Moses was with relation to temporal blessings as aforesaid But this new Song of the Lamb is with relation to spiritual and eternal Blessings So that John in his vision was sensible upon what account this new Song was sung And he seeing in the vision the four beasts and the four and twenty Elders fall down before the Lamb. Having every one of them Harps and golden Vials full of odours which are the prayers of Saints Now these golden Vials are meant
Prophet Elijah For the worshippers of Baal were so numerous that Elijah thought there was none but himself that did worship the God of Jacob. But there was seven thousand that had not bowed their knee to Baal And these were the oyl and the wine that should not be hurt by compelling of them to hurt their consciences by worshipping a false God as the generality of the people did thorow the darkness of their mindes They being the black horse for the ignorant dark power of the Head-Magistrate to ride or sit upon For as the horse is black so is the rider with ignorance and darkness in spiritual worship Onely he that sits upon the black horse is the dark power of reason Therefore the Apostles calls it the power of darkness for it is the dark reason of man that doth act deeds of darkness Therefore called the power of darkness and the deeds of spiritual darkness in point of worship is called by the Revelation of John he that sits upon the black horse Because he commandeth all people to worship his imaginary God And the people thorow the darkness of their understandings they do obey and so they become in point of spiritual worship a black horse For the dark power of reason to sit or ride upon c. CHAP. XVIII ANd in the 7 verse it is said And when he had opened the fourth Seal I heard the fourth beast say Come and see and in the 8 verse John looked and behold a pale horse and his name that sate on him was Death and hell followed with him and power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth to kill with sword and with hunger and with death and with the beasts of the earth I would have the Reader to minde the interpretation of this pale horse because everyone of us must be a pale horse for death to sit upon Except we be swallowed up of life as Moses and Elijah was Which I nor no man else at this day doth know he shall So that death must ride upon all sinful flesh Now to give you the meaning what this pale horse is it is no other but the sinful soul of man and woman Therefore as the Scriptures saith When sin entred into the world then death entred in upon it So that as soon as ever the souls of Adam and Eve had let sin enter into their souls Then death entered for death did ride upon sin and sin did ride upon the soul of ours first parents According to that saying of God in the day that thou eatest thereof meaning the forbidden fruit thou shalt dye the death So that as soon as sin entred into their souls death entred also So that the souls of Adam and Eve became as a pale horse for death to ride upon For there was not onely the fear of this first death but the fear of eternal death also Which made the soul of Adam to fear therefore he went to hide himself For the fear of death will make the soul to look pale so that it will become a pale horse for death to ride upon For by sin entering into the world death got power over all life So that death sits upon all life both upon man and beasts For the beasts are made subject to death by reason of the fall of man Onely I would have the Reader to understand this secret that the creatures the beasts were created of God on purpose to be killed for the nourishment of man But if sin had never been committed by man death would never have entered upon the life of man nor beast That is no beast would have died naturally as they do now But what were killed on purpose for some use so that no man would have had such lose as some men now have Some are undone by the dying of Horses others by Cows and others by Sheep and this is death that hath entered into the world upon the beasts For the sin of Adam brought death upon all his posterity and upon the beasts also as aforesaid So that the life of man and beasts is become a pale horse for death to sit upon And the fear of death in Adam did make his soul to look pale And so it doth in all mankinde the fear of death it makes the stoutest heart to look pale especially when the fear of eternal death is not taken away As very few men in the world have the fear of the second death taken from them So that their souls look pale indeed so that the generality of men and women have the fear of eternal death that sits upon their souls so that they are that pale horse that death rideth upon And hell follows immediately after the first death the second death and hell go both together hand in hand These things I say will make any soul to look pale This I can experience both by my self and others before I came to know the true way of redemption And because you the Seed of Faith may know that the soul of man is that pale horse that death sits upon Which sin did cause to enter upon all life I say this death it entered upon the life of God himself So that God died unto sin that is to satisfie sin that sin which brought death with it might enter upon the life of God and kill that life in God for a moment But the life of God being more strong then death it pierced thorow the body of death and quickened a new life again So that he overcame death in that death could not keep him under it As it doth the first Adam and his posterity It is much like unto a valiant soldier who by his valor and strength passeth thorow a body of men well armed And by his getting thorow that body of men he comes to rout and scatter them and gets the victory over them So was it with Christ the onely God he laying down his Godhead life it being in the Manhood unto death he passed thorow death and killed that which did kill him to wit sin death and hell These being mighty strong enemies too strong for any created soul or life to encounter with None could do it but the life of the eternal God himself For sin lyeth heavy upon the soul of man and death is the king of fears it maketh kings to fear and tremble at the sight of it And hell is worse then death it self yet these strong enemies are overcome by the blood of the Lamb and in all those that have faith in it and doth truly understand it So that you that have faith may see what this pale horse is John speaketh of and what death is that sits upon the pale horse And what power they have given unto them over the four parts of the earth Even to kill with the Sword and with hunger and with death and with the beasts of the earth The pale horse and death hath power given them over all life in the four
parts of the earth So that some being so affrighted at death they shall kill with the sword And others again shall be so fearful of death that they shall starve themselves for hunger Others again shall come under death by natural diseases even as the beasts of the earth dieth So that death that rideth upon the pale horse hath power given as long as this world doth last over all flesh that hath life For it is life that must die and death must take it into his custody and swallow up life into the belly of death Else he cannot be called death except death doth utterly annihilate life it cannot properly be called death For while life is in being death is utterly annihilated in life So that there is no being for death at all not in that mans body But when death entreth into that mans blood who was so full of life before Then death groweth more and more in the blood and eateth up the life quite into death So that there is nothing to be seen in all that life but a dead body For death hath got the life of that body in the body for the body was life before as well as the soul But death having overcome them both they are both swallowed up of death So that you may see death as he is As you did see life as he was before And not that the life goes out of the body as men do vainly imagine so that death is he that rideth upon the pale horse as I shewed before And these four horses as John speaketh of in his vision are the same horses as Zechariah speaketh of in his vision Zechariah the 6 and the 3 verse the Prophet saw in his vision four Charrets and Horses the first Charret had red horses and the second had black horses and the third had white horses and the fourth had grizled and bay horses Now the Prophet expresseth in his vision the horses in the plural number to be more horses then one of a sort But John declares them in his vision in the singular number Therefore though there be more exprest by the Prophet yet the matter and substance is all one For all horses are comprized under those four So that there needeth no further opening of the horses then there hath been For there is enough said concerning those four horses and their riders to satisfie the Seed of Faith But if one should speak never so much the seed of reason will not be satisfied Onely this I would have the Reader not to scruple because the Prophet calls the fourth horse grizled and bay when as John calls it a pale horse For grizled doth signifie death sitting upon the life as paleness doth So that the thing is all one though differing something in words So that there needeth be no further interpretation upon those four horses therefore I shall pass by them and come to the next thing of concernment CHAP. XIX IN the 9 verse of this chapter At the opening of the fifth seal John saw in the vision the souls of them that were slain under the altar for the word of God and for the testimony which they held Now I would have the Reader to consider that visions doth many times present to him that seeth it Things that are at a distance and far off as at present or neer at hand As if the thing were in present being This hath been the usual custom of those that write those visions in the Scriptures They being presented to the chosen Prophets and Messengers of the most high God Those visions so presented were to signifie either some extraordinary happiness and deliverances to a particular person or people or nation or else some great judgement and destruction to a person people or nation in the temporal as aforesaid Or else visions are presented to the understanding of man to signifie spiritual and eternal blessings To a number of people or else to signifie spiritual and eternal miseries unto a number of people So that what visions be declared by chosen men of God though the thing be not immediately at hand whether the vision doth signifie temporal or spiritual things Yet the Seed of Faith doth look upon it as if it were in present being Because they believe the truth of the thing as those Prophets of old did prophesie of Christs coming in the flesh as Isaiah saith in the 9 chapter To us a Childe is born and to us a Son is given meaning Christ c. Now the Prophet saith he is born when as he was not borâ— many hundred years after that And so other of the Prophets looked upon the birth of Christ the Redeemer as in present being For as I have said in my other Writings that faith doth look at things afar off and at a distance as neer at hand and in present being But because the seed of reason cannot do so therefore they do not prevent neither the temporal nor the eternal judgement that will come upon them But you the Seed of Faith may know that John did see in the vision by the eye of Faith the souls of them that were slain under the altar And he heard the cry of them when the fifth Seal was opened That God their Redeemer would avenge their blood on them hat dwell on the earth That is upon the persecutors that dwell on the earth Now I would have you the Seed of Faith to understand how these that were slain under the altar could cry for vengeance seeing they were dead under the altar and yet is said to cry aloud for vengeance on them that persecuted and put them to death The meaning is this that the blood of those that were slain for the testimony of Jesus it did cry vertually and efficaciously unto God that he would avenge it according to his will and promise And so God doth hear the cry of their blood that was slain under the altar I say God doth hear their cry as he did the cry of the blood of Abel it came up unto God as in Gen. 3. and 10. And God said unto Cain What hast thou done the voice of thy brothers blood cryeth unto me from the ground So that the blood of Abel did cry from the ground unto the Lord for vengeance and who must the righteous Judge be avenged of but he that shed his brothers blood And in this manner did the souls of them that were slain under the altar for the word of God and the testimony they held cry for vengeance upon those that persecuted and put them to death So that you the seed of reason may see that there is power in blood that is shed for conscience sake in point of worship to cry unto the Lord for vengeance upon those that do murder and kill upon that account And no persecutor of that nature will escape vengeance to come no more then Cain did escape that slew his brother For the blood of those that are slain in such a
Reason hath got power in man so as to be the chief and head of many people he may be said to be an Angel though an Angel of darkness because he is in chains of darkness for the spirit of Reason is in chains of darkness almost in all men So that all men that are ignorant of the devil and of themselves may be said to be in chains of darkness And in this sense all men that are ignorant of the true God and of the right devil may be said to be the devils angels and so the devil and his Angels may be said to be reserved in chains of darkness unto the Judgement of the great day This is onely to give the Seed of Faith a little to know the difference of Angels But these four Angels that were bound at the great river Euphrates were of the Heathen Kings that did succeed after Herod the Dragon spoken of Rev. 12. And as for the great river Euphrates where these four Angels were bound the meaning is this these four Angels did border or inhabit near and about this great River Euphrates For this River was in the land of Canaan where Canaanites and other nations did dwell which Moses and Joshua did give to the children of Israel to inhabit but through their rebellion and idolatry they were disinherited and the Gentiles had it again And these four Angels did inhabit about that great River for there was abundance of land that did belong to that great river Euphrates whereby these four Angels could raise many thousand horses and horsemen as doth afterwards appear But why is it said that these four Angels were bound The meaning is this they were bound by the secret providence of God from going forth to battel to kill and slay men For they had prepared themselves with such a mighty Army thinking to destroy and slay the third part of men that should come against them in an hour if not in an hour then in a day if not in a day then in a month if not in a month then in a year So that these four Angels were prepared to accomplish all this their design in a years time But these four Angels were bound some certain time before they could do this The time they were bound it was so long as from the sounding of the fifth Angel to the sounding of the sixth Angel For there was great Plagues at the sounding of every Angel as I have shewed before And now at the sounding of the sixth Angel these four Angels that were bound are loosed And when they were loosed you may see what effect they wrought The meaning is this when the sixth Angel sounded there was leave given to those four Angels that were bound before the time being not come to go forth Now they were loosed to slay the third part of men as they would willingly have done before And for that purpose they muster up their Army as in the 16 verse John saw the number of the Army of the horsemen and they were two hundred thousand thousand And in the 17 verse John saw the horses in the vision and them that sate en them having brest plates of fire and brimstone And the heads of the horses were as the heads of Lions and out of their mouthes issued fire and smoak and brimstone by this great Army was the third part of men killed as in the 18 verse That is by the fire and the smoak and the brimstone that issued out of their mouthes And as for their horses heads being like the heads of Lions it was onely to signifie the strength and dreadfulness of them Because men are more afraid of Lions then they are of horses and as for the fire smoak and brimstone that issued out of the riders mouthes it signifies a three-fold destruction of men As thus when a man is burnt with fire alone Secondly a man may be smothered with smoak so that he die And if a man be burnt with brimstone that is a more terrible death then the other two Now by one of these three was the third part of men killed onely to signifie that some died a more cruel death then other some That is there issued out of their mouthes a more cruel usage or sentence of death to some then to others so that they had a threefold way to put them to death But all of them issued out of their mouthes onely to signifie that had a Commission to kill three several ways CHAP. XXIX SO in the nineteenth verse For their power is in their mouth and in their tayls for their tayls were like unto serpents and had heads and with them they do hurt So that the power of this great army to kill with fire and smoak and brimstone it was in their mouth and in their tails That is there issued out of their mouth fire smoak and brimstone that many men were killed of these three as I have shewed before But why is it said They had tails like serpents and had heads and with them they did hurt They may be said to have tails like serpents because the most wisest and most moderate men in reason were the hindmost part of the Army And the most Lion-like men in the fore-front So that the fore-front of men were so dreadful their horses being so numerous and so pampered that they seemed more like unto the heads of so many Lions rather then horses they were so dreadful And the horsemen that sate upon them came with such fire wrath and vengeance which issued out of their mouth which became like unto fire smoak and brimstone And these were in the fore-front of the Army and did act as if they had been Lions and as if there had been nothing else in their mouthes but fire smoak and brimstone But the tail or hinder part of the Army did act more like subtile serpents for the tail of the Army had heads and they had stings in their heads That is they had a Commission to act like serpents and to sting and hurt men as the fore-front had which had brest-plates of fire So that the fourth part or head of this great Army were to act like Lions and the tail or hinder part of this great Army were to act like serpents They having Commission so to do from these four Angels which were loosed by the great river Euphrates and in this sense it may be said that the power was in the mouth and in their tails For whosoever did escape the mouth or fore-front of fire smoak and brimstone they were sure to be stung with the tail for the tails had heads and stings in them So that if the mouth of the Lions did not kill them the heads of the serpents that were in the tails would So that what with the mouth and what with the tails the third part of men were killed For the sting of Serpents lieth in the head but the sting of Scorpions lieth in the tayl Therefore it is
Sword of the Spirit which was in the Saints Even the faith of Jesus which enabled them to suffer with cheerfulness the spoyling of their goods and not loving their lives unto the death rather than to worship the beast or his image And this was that deadly wound that the beast had in his head and this was the first day and one of the ten days tribulation the Saints did undergo For when men suffer meerly for their faith of Jesus or in innocency of minde in matter of worship they do by their sufferings wound the persecutors soules more than if they should turn again and fight with a sword of steel So that it wa◠the Saints patient sufferings that did give this beast as John speaketh of that deadly wound in his head But after a season his deadly wound was healed That is after the plague of his heart was over that he saw he should not die He grew more worse much like Pharaoh when Moses had taken away the Plague from him and his people his heart was hardened and made more cruel and worse So was it with this Beast when his conscience had the fear of the present death taken off him so that he was healed as to that Then he grew worse then he was before For now his mouth uttered blasphemy and power was given unto him to continue forty two months as in verse the fifth These forty two months hath relation to the Ten Persecutions which did last a matter of three hundred years For the spirit and power of this beast did run thorow the loins of all them seven heads they all being partakers of the Dragons power seat and authority For it runs thorow the loins of al wicked Beasts or wicked Head-Magistrates For they have all the spirit of Reason even the spirit of the Dragon though not in such a measure as the Dragon hath So that the power of this beast should continue in himself and in others forty two months That was all the days of the Ten Persecutions which time was the same as the two Prophets did prophesie which is said to be forty two months Which time was as long as the Apostles Commission did last about three hundred years as aforesaid And as I have shewed in The Interpretation of the eleventh of the Revelation CHAP. XXXVI BUt in the sixth verse the 〈◊〉 that was healed of his deadly wound he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his Name and his Tabernacle and them that dwelt in heaven So that you may see now this Beast was healed of his wound he was worse and blasphemed more against the living God and against his Tabernacle Which Tabernacle was the body of Christ And those that dwelt in heaven are the Saints who worshipped by faith in the Tabernacle of God which is in heaven Therefore said to dwell in heaven and in the seventh verse It was given him that is the Beast aforesaid to make war with the Saints and to overcome them and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations Now the Beast being recovered of that wound the Saints did give him he comes on a fresh and makes war against them Not onely in blaspheming against the living God or living Jesus whom the Saints did worship and serve and would not worship and serve him Therefore he makes war with the Saints and overcomes them That is causeth all those he could light of to deny their Faith in Jesus and worship as he would have them or else they must be put to death So that he did overcome many of the Saints and put them to death For power was given him over all kindreds tongues and nations That is he had power over all other people but those that worshipped Jesus To command them to worship him and that worship he did set up and all people but the Saints did obey Some for fear and some for love but all did obey to worship the beast onely those that had faith in Jesus therefore they were overcome and killed by this beast But the others the kindreds tongues nations saved their lives for the world wandred after the beast his power was so great So that all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world as in the eighth verse The meaning is this that the spirit of reason in this beast and in all other beasts or Head-Magistrates that are of the seed of the serpent should have such power over the dark reason of man to worship him and the image he doth set up And the whole world lying in ignorance and darkness they are thorow their ignorance ready and willing to worship any thing that the spirit of Reason in the Head-Magistrate shall command them And the ignorance and darkness of men in point of worship is so numerous that hardly any can be seen in the world but idolaters So that it may be said that all that dwell on the earth doth worship the beast none excepted but those whose names are written in the book of Life which are but few in comparison For the worshippers of the true God are but few in comparison of those that worship the devil For the spirit of reason is the devil and what image or form of worship is set up by the spirit of reason in the Head-Magistrate having no Commission from God it is but of the devils setting up And who ever doth bow down to worship in that manner and form they do but worship the Beast and his image and so worship devils And is not the whole world at this day as well as at that time as well those that profess themselves Christians as well as Heathen Turks and Pagans under that darkness of minde as to worship false gods idols and devils So that the whole world may be said to worship the beast and his image though not all one kinde of image For every Opinion of Religion in the world hath one image or other to worship in stead of God And it must needs be so because the world doth not know the true God in his form and nature therefore they worship devils in stead of God though in divers forms and manner But I would have the Seed of Faith to mind that when I say all the world the Elect Seed are excepted For the Seed of Faith are not counted the world though they be in the world As Christ said I pray not for the world but for them thou hast given me out of the world and that thou wouldest keep them from the evil of the world So that the Scriptures doth never count the Saints the world though they be in the world So that the Scriptures may say that all the world wandred after the beast for all the world doth wander after one false worship or other but those that have their names written in the book of Life Now
how shall a man know that his name is written in the book of Life but in that he knoweth the true God and how to worship the true God without any idolatry Can he know things of this nature but by a Commission from God surely no. And here lieth the comfort that the Seed of Faith have in this life by a Commission from God By faith they know their names were written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world That is they are to look no further than the beginning of the world that is to the first Adam they being of his seed are not counted by the revelation of Faith to be the world It is the seed of the serpent that is called by the Spirit the world and not the seed of Adam So that the Seed of Faith are those that died in the first Adam yet their names were written in his Seed and Christ the second Adam he being the quickening Spirit of that Seed And as the Seed of Faith was dead in the first Adam so likewise the same Seed is quickened again by the second Adam And so made alive again and may be said to be written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world It is said from the foundation of the world with relation to righteous Abel being slain So that who ever is of Adams seed is of Abels seed and who ever is of Abels seed he may be said to have his name written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world For the Seed of Faith doth go no further to finde his name written in the Book of Life than to righteous Abel For who ever goeth further to finde his eternal Life he will come short of it and never finde it I give this hint to the Seed of Faith onely to let them see where the Book of Life is and where they may finde their names written and not to go at rovers beyond the foundation of the world But go to the first Adam as Moses speaketh of and not as the imagination of Reason doth For who ever goeth beyond Adam to finde his name written in the Book of Life he will never finde it So much for the interpretation of the eighth verse CHAP. XXXVII I Shall pass by the two following verses there being nothing in them but what is commonly known therefore in the next place I shall come to the eleventh verse where it is said And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a Lamb and he spake as a Dragon This beast is said to come out of the earth because his power and dominion was most upon dry land Therefore said to come up out of the earth as the other beast did arise out of the sea But this beast had the same spirit of reason in a high nature as the other beast bad and as the dragon had and walked in the same steps or worse than the other beast did and exercised the same authority or worse than the dragon did Yet he had two horns like a Lamb. That is he did appear at his first coming into his Seat more Lamb-like than the other beast whose deadly wound was healed did That is he made a shew at his first appearance as if he would have been more meek and merciful to the Saints that worshipped Jesus than the other beast was So that the Saints had some little hopes that he would have let them exercise their Worship buy and sell and trade without taking the mark of the beast in their foreheads or in their hands And it is very like they had some little space of time at his first coming in to worship buy and sell and trade For it is not to be understood that the Saints were always persecuted and put to death if they had they would have been all extirpated out of the world before three hundred years were expired So that there was sometimes more liberty than at others as there hath been in all Ages So that the two horns of his power did seem to be like a Lamb as if they would do but little hurt for no man doth so much fear the horns of a Lamb as they do the horns of a Bull for the horns signifie Power Now these two horns like a Lamb they did signifie quietness in Religion and peace in the Civil State So that this beast appearing with two horns like a Lamb it gave great hopes to the Saints that they should have liberty of Conscience to worship Jesus And peace in the natural or temporal State to buy and sell and trade freely one with the other As these two Powers did signifie the spiritual power and the temporal power they being the two horns like a Lamb. But this beast he spake as a Dragon And in the twelfth verse He exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him and causeth the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed Now what the power of the first beast was I have shewed before But in the thirteenth verse And he doth great wonders so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men Now these wonders that was done by this beast who had two horns like a Lamb they were but counterfeit Wonders and no real thing For the imagination of man may do seemingly great things to the sight of the dark minde of man There may be wonderful strange things produced by the imagination of reason When the minde is exercised upon a Religious score they may do seeming Wonders and Miracles as they do by their imagination upon a natural account Did not the Magicians and Southsayers in Egypt by their imagination do many seeming miracles as Moses did Did not they cause Frogs seemingly to appear before Pharaoh as Moses did and many other things as Moses did But this the Reader may understand that the Frogs that Moses brought upon Pharaoh they were real substances alive But the Magicians Frogs which they brought up in the sight of Pharaoh they were but shadows like Frogs without substance But the minde of Pharaoh and his people being ignorant and dark took the shadow for substance But if mens mindes be not as dark as pitch they may know that the Egyptians miracles were nothing else but shadows presented to the dark phantasie of man by the imagination of natural art and figure For if the things the Magicians did before Pharoah and the people had been any thing but shadows The people of the land and the King would have been as much troubled to get away the Frogs and other things that the Magicians brought upon Egypt as they were with those Frogs and other things that Moses brought upon Egypt But it may be clear to those that are not as dark as pitch that all those things which the Magicians of Egypt did were
that cloud the Son of Man sate upon they all expecting by faith Gods coming in flesh they being afar off That is their faith in them was satisfied that he would come though it was many hundred years after they were dead the apostles and saints afterwards were witnesses that the Son of Man was risen from the dead So that their faith was a cloud of witnesses also and the faith of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the Prophets Apostles and Saints it was that cloud the Son of Man did sit upon It is called a white cloud by the Spirit because they were never defiled with the fornication of Idols But worshipped the true God according to the Law of Moses and according to the faith of Jesus or the Gospel they not receiving the mark of the beast neither in the forehead nor in the hand That is they were not defiled with worshipping of any Images Idols or false gods whatsoever and in this regard they may be called A white cloud and this is that white cloud the Son of Man even Jesus the onely God doth sit upon As the whore in another case is said to sit upon many waters which I shall have an occasion to speak of when I come to it And as for that golden Crown that was upon his head I declare it was that honor and glory which the Prophets Apostles and Saints do attribute unto him as he is a Redeemer The work of redemption being wrought by him as he was a man he being in the form of a servant so that all the redeemed ones who are sensible of their redemption they do praise and magnifie the man Jesus the only God for his great love towards them in that they had faith to receive the benefit of his death And this honor glory and praise which is attributed unto the man Jesus by his Prophets Apostles and Saints is that golden Crown upon his head and in his hand a sharp sicle Now this sharp sicle in his hand it signfies his great power that when the end of the world shall be that he will send his Angels to reap the world even as Reapers doth corn when the harvest is ripe So when the worlds sins are ripe the harvest will be and much like unto a master of the harvest of Corn he will thrust in his sicle first then all his servants until the harvest is reaped So is it with him that sate under the white cloud when the time is accomplished and the harvest ripe he will thrust in hiâ— sicle first and then all his servants the Angels shall fall to reaping the harvest of this world And shall thrust in their sicles and reap until all be cut down that is Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven with all his holy Angels to destroy this world for ever Then will he thrust in his sicle indeed and this is the meaning of the sicle in his hand And those Angels that cryed to him that sate upon the cloud to thrust in the sicle are the holy Angels aforesaid that must help to reap the world for they have sicles also That is the Angels have power from Christ to destroy and cut down this wicked world when their sins are at the full then are they ripe fit to be destroyed even as the temporal Babylon was when their sins was ripe as in Joel the 3.13 verse Put you in the sicle for the harvest is ripe come get you down for the press is full the fats overflow for the wickedness is great The Prophet Joel spake this in relation to the reaping of Babylon the enemies of the Jews that after the seventy years captivity of Israel their enemies sins of cruel usage was at the full or ripe So that now the sicle that is the power of the sword temporal must utterly destroy Babylon the Jews enemies or reap it for the harvest of their sins and cruelties were fully ripe And the press was full that is their bodies were so full of wickedness and cruelty that they did overflow with wickedness their wickedness was so great So will it be with this spiritual Babylon when the harvest is ripe for this spiritual Babylon is so full of idolatry of idols images and worshipping false gods and persecution of the Saints That the press is full that is their bodies are so full of spiritual wickedness or spiritual fornication and persecution for conscience sake as aforesaid that their wickedness doth overflow even as the aforesaid Babylon did So that in the account of the spirit of faith this spiritual Babylon is as really destroyed and reaped their sins being ripe as the other Babylon was And as the sicle was thrust into them that they were destroyed and reaped so will it be with this as in the nineteenth verse of this chapter And the Angel thrust in his sicle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God The earth signifies the people and the vine of the earth signifies the wicked idolatrous worship of the people and the great wine-press of the wrath of God signifies that eternal death and destruction upon all idolatrous people who worship false gods This eternal or second death is the great wine-press of the wrath of God and in the twentieth verse of this Chapter it is said And the wine-press was troden without the City and blood came out of the wine-press even unto the horse bridles by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs The meaning is this the wine-press was troden without the City that is the destruction of the enemies of Judah and Israel it was without the City of Jerusalem so will the eternal destruction of all idolaters at the end of the world be without the City New-Jerusalem That is none of the Seed of Faith who are the holy City in the spiritual shall see their destruction For blood shall come out of the wine-press even to the horse bridles the blood signifies the extream torment it being for ever The wine-press signifies the great wrath of God pressing their souls for their wickedness to eternity Unto the horse bridles signifies the extream fulness of wickedness so that the wrath of God might walk in their souls even as an horse may do thorow blood even up to his bridle For Gods wrath will he as many horses to crush and trample his enemies under feet so that their miseries may break forth as blood for Gods horses that is his vengeance to walk thorow to eternity As for the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs that signifies a great space and distance from the City of God that is from the spiritual City of God to wit the true believers So that this spiritual mystery Babylon who made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication as aforesaid I say she must undergo the wrath of God and be troden without the spiritual City the Seed of Faith
spiritual the Son of God whose eyes are like a flame of fire and his feet like unto fiue brass This is he that treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God as in Revel 19.15 Now as the vial of Gods wrath was poured out upon the natural Sun in that the Sun had power to burn up Sodom and Gomorrah as aforesaid So likewise the Son of righteousness had the vial of Gods wrath poured out upon him also In that he treaded the fierceness of Gods wrath that is his own wrath as he was the Creator So that he suffered death at the hands of his creatures which death is called by the spirit the wine-press of Gods wrath And this wrath being poured out upon the Son of Righteousness he hath power given him to scorch men with fire That is he hath power to scorch the consciences of wicked men with the fire of hell This power also doth he give to every true Prophet and Apostle and Minister whom he doth chuse And as the death of Christ is called the fierce wrath of God so likewise it may be called a fire for the wrath of God may be called a fire though executed in several other ways So that this death of the Son it being charged upon the consciences of all wicked persecuting idolatrous men and women by the Apostles Prophets and Ministers chosen by them It doth scorch their consciences with the fear of eternal death which is the fire of hell as in the nineth verse And men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the Name of God which hath power over these Plagues So that every true Messenger of Christ hath power to scorch the consciences of men and to kindle the fire of hell in all persecuting spirits and false worshippers who worship false gods And this fire and heat was very much poured out by the Apostles and those Ministers ordained by them in the primitive times so called For none knows what those persecuting beasts and false worshippers who received the beasts mark did suffer nor how their consciences were scorched with the fire of hell even whilest they were in this world which was but a taste of what shall be hereafter But this taste it made them blaspheme against him that had power over these Plagues For the minde of man is so desperately wicked that if he could destroy that God that hath power over these Plagues even as they did those his messengers and the Saints that believed them But the Saints may see that there is a secret spiritual power in every true Messenger of God to scorch the souls of persecuting and despising men and women with the heat of hell fire this I know to be true by experience as well as by faith For the doctrine of the true God and his true Worship it doth torment the souls of the seed of the serpent inwardly as the heat of the Sun doth outwardly to a mans body and men are more subject to blaspheme for the torment within then they are for torments without Because the one is but for a time but the other is for eternity So that the spiritual scorching with great heat is that John chiefly intends in this chapter in relation to the torment of mind that was upon those beasts that persecuted the Saints and all those that received his mark as aforesaid In the time of the Apostles Commission and with relation to the end of the world Thus in some measure I have given the litteral and spiritual meaning of the fourth Angel pouring out his vial upon the Sun and of the 8. and 9. verses CHAP. XLIX VErse the tenth And the fifth Angel poured our his vial upon the seat of the beast and his kingdom was full of darkness and they gnawed their tongues for pain This fifth vial it hath a twofold meaning that is a litteral and spiritual meaning The litteral meaning is in relation to the vial or plague that Moses poured out upon Egypt as you may see Exodus the 10.22 23 And Moses streched forth his hand towards heaven and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days and in the 23. verse They saw not one another neither rose any from his place for three days c. Here the Reader may see that this vial was poured out in the natural upon Egypt and upon the seat of the King of Egypt Pharâ—ah being king Therefore called the beast and the seat of the beast signifies the power and authority that Pharaoh had over all the land of Egypt And this Vial being poured out upon the seat of the beast it signifies upon all those that were under his government That is that were of his own people so that there was thick darkness in the Kings palace and upon his servants no place free as there was upon the inhabitants of Egypt so that darkness was all over the land of Egypt no place free For if any place had been free from darkness in the land of Egypt then I say the vial had not been poured out upon the seat of the beast So that this vial Moses poured out of thick darkness it was upon the seat of the beast that is upon King Pharaoh in whom the power and authority of Egypt did stand So that when darkness was poured out upon the King in whom the light of all the Laws of Egypt did shine forth upon the people if the Seat in whom the Law is placed be darkned then the people which must obey must needs be darkned also For where a King or Head Magistrate hath power given him either from God or from man to make Laws for people to obey that power and authority is called by the Spirit the Seat of the beast And when God doth pour out the vial of his wrath upon this Authority then I say the vial may be said to be poured out upon the Seat of the Beast so that the Reader may see what is meant by the Seat of the Beast Now I have opened a little what is the litteral or natural meaning of the fifth Angel pouring out his vial or plague upon Egypt and what the Plague was and what the Seat of the Beast is I shall now also give you to understand the spiritual meaning of these things aforesaid Observe there was many Pharaohs that were Kings of Egypt in those four hundred years that Israel was in bondage in Egypt yet all these King Pharaohs are included in that one King Pharaoh unto whom Moses was sent So that all the Kings of Egypt are counted by the Spirit but one King Pharaoh And all those Plagues which Moses poured out upon Egypt it was upon this King Pharaoh even until God had utterly consumed him and he did in the Red-sea these things were fulfilled in the history and in the natural at the beginning of Moses Commission And that beast Pharaoh king of Egypt his actions of oppression to the Israelites they were upon the temporal
patience they are called by the Spirit Kings of the east So that Christ his Prophets Apostles and Saints are those Kings of the East who have the aforesaid waters dryed up that the way for these Kings of the East might be prepared That is there is no natural rivers upon earth that shall hinder or keep from being dryed up neither temporal nor spiritual For the vial of Gods wrath it will dry up all the rivers of waters upon earth natural and all rivers of waters spiritual when Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven with all his Saints the Kings of the East to put an end to this bloody persecuting unbelieving world And to dry up all the waters of peace in mens souls And the Kings of the East by their faith and patience shall walk upon the waters of wicked persecuting mens souls as upon dry ground That is the Kings of the East shall rejoyce in the eternal destruction of their enemies even as their enemies did over them when they persecuted and put them to death So that the way that is the hearts of the Saints enemies may be as a way for the Kings of the East to tread and trample upon all that joy peace and comfort that the Dragon beast and false prophet had when they persecuted the Saints Which Saints are the Kings of the East and that faith and patience the Saints had it prepared themselves to suffer with chearfulness the persecution and death it self So that the waters of the great river Euphrates even the waters of their persecutors souls was dryed up that the Kings of the East that is the Saints might be prepared to fight that good fight of Faith as the Saints did in the time of the Ten Persecutions So much for the interpretation of the twelfth verse CHAP. LII VErse the thirteenth And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs came out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet These three unclean spirits like frogs they are said to come out of the mouthes of three several persons to wit the Dragon beast and false prophet yet these three proceed all from one spirit even the spirit of the fallen Angel or as I may say the spirit of Cain that Dragon-devil who was the first murderer And the spirit of Cain remaining in the seed it bringeth forth many Dragon-devils like himself So that all Dragon-devils make up but one Dragon and so all wicked beasts make up but one wicked beast so all false prophets and false priests or false speakers they make up but one false prophet Now they are called three unclean spirits like frogs in regard of the threefold operations and workings of them For they proceeded from that one spirit of reason the devil Onely this one spirit of reason it doth work three several ways and by three several persons yet all three of them were like frogs They were all alike for wicked idolatry and persecution of the Saints and to deceive the people For they are the spirits of devils working miracles which go forth unto the Kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battel of that great day of God Almighty as in the 14 verse of this chapter So that these three spirits like frogs that came out of the Dragons mouth and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet They were to go forth to all the Kings of the earth and not onely so but to all great men in the whole world to invite them to persecute and to fight against the Saints with a sword of steel and with other cruel deaths When as the Saints had no other weapons of war but those that were spiritual to wit the sword of the spirit the shield of faith the helmet of salvation these and such like weapons of war the Saints do fight withal But the Dragon beast and false prophet they by their councel power and authority did invite all the kings of the earth and of the whole world to fight against the Lord Jesus and the remnant of the Seed of Faith who are the Saints With persecution and death as aforesaid with carnal weapons and inventions of cruel deaths as the Scriptures and History doth make mention of But the Revelation of John gave him to see that the last battel that will be fought between God Almighty and the dragon beast and false prophet it will be at the end of the world That is Jesus Christ he is God Almighty he and his Saints and Angels shall fight with the dragon beast and false prophet and with all the Kings of the whole world And he and his Saints shall give them an utter overthrow that is an eternal overthrow so that the dragon beast and false prophet with all the adherents unto them shall be destroyed with a second death which shall burn as a lake of fire for even and ever CHAP. LIII IT will be necessary to open something more of the dragon beast and false prophet and of those three unclean spirits like frogs that came out of their mouths The Reader may remember that I shewed before that there was many dragons since Cain yet all counted by the spirit but one dragon and so of the beast and false prophet all are included into one Now this dragon spoken of he is meant the same great red dragon spoken of in the 12. of the Revelation who persecuted the woman namely Herod though there was many dragons after him yet it is called all but one dragon they being all partakers of the same spirit and acted in the same persecution of the Saints So likewise that beast that did arise out of the Sea with seven heads and ten horns as in the thirteenth chapter verse the first Is that beast spoken of here by the spirit though there was divers other beasts after him yet they acting by the same spirit of persecution of the Saints they are all called by the spirit but one beast So likewise the false prophet is meant that government of worship that was established upon the Chief or High-priests of the nations so that there was a spiritual government of worship which did belong to those Images and Idols that was set up by the Power and Authority of the Beast As all Forms of Worships let them be true or false there must be some particular Head as Aaron was High-priest of the Worship of the Law and Christ the Head of the Gospel Worship yet there was many more High-priests besides Aaron yet all called but Aaron the High-priest Even so it was with the false prophet the same spirit of idolatry and persecution for conscience sake for not submitting to worship the beast and his image it did run thorow the spirits of all the false priests as it did in him that was the chief who was set up by the power of the beast at the
of people that are deceived by them who were the first brothers of this idolatrous worship set up by non-commissionated men I say they are all counted by the spirit but a whore in that they and all people who doth joyn in worship with them they do commit fornication in their spirits with idols So that who ever doth worship false gods by the instigation of the false prophet or false priest he doth commit fornication or whoredom with idols So that this is to be minded that all opinions in worship that people are in who hath not a true Commission from God to be a Minister or Preacher he and they do all commit fornication with idols For every opinion in religion that doth not worship the true God they do commit fornication with idols Neither can they do otherways because their teachers are false like priest like people Also this is to be observed by the Reader that the Revelation of the Spirit it hath onely relation to those peoples that do profess and confess the Scriptures So that Johns Revelation hath relation to all those that confess the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Gospel of Jesus and the Apostles and not relating to the heathen who never heard of the Scriptures So that all those false worshippers under the Law of Moses and all those false worshippers under the Gospel of Jesus they are called by the spirit that great City Babylon or mystery Babylon or a scarlet whore It is called mystery Babylon in relation to the mystery of God as aforesaid Likewise it may be called mystery Babylon in relation to that Babel that men would have built that should have reached up to heaven after Noahs flood in respect of the confusion there was in the building of it so that it all came to utter confusion and destruction So likewise there is such a confusion in all false worship and worshippers that at the last that Babylon they have built with idols thinking to reach in that superstitious way up to heaven But they shall be confused in their understandings and in the true knowledge and worship of the true God So that they shall be utterly destroyed both them and their Babel that is their worship with an eternal destruction But this is to be minded that the first mention of this temporal Babel Genes 11.4 where the sons of Noah said Go to let us build us a City and a Tower whose top may reach unto heaven And in the seventh verse God consumed this tower by confounding their language So likewise the first rise of this mystery Babylon it was amongst the Jews That is when the Jews would worship other gods besides that God which Moses did declare unto them even the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob to wit the God of Israel yet nevertheless those Jews who were the seed of the serpent they would have other gods as the Amorites and the heathen had to go before them Therefore they would have a Calf to be their God to worship as Exodus chapter 32.1 this Calf was the first false god the people of the Jews did worship Though they murmured against God and Moses many times before yet they never fell to worship idols as Gods before So that this was the first beginning of the setting up or the building of a false worship in opposition to that worship that Moses set up which was but a little before So that as soon as ever God did set up his worship by the hand of Moses that the people might come to know the true God I say the spirit of reason which is the devil in man he doth set up his worship in like manner to worship gods of his own imagination even the works of his own hands even a Calf For this Calf doth signifie all idols or false worship whatsoever For though the idols of men are many and their forms of worship many yet they all being false not worshipping the true God they do but worship a calf in stead of God And as these Jews who made this calf for a God were the first that began to build up a Babel of false worship this spirit of idolatry it did run thorow the line of the seed of the serpent until it got great power For after Moses and Joshua were gone the seed of the serpent grew in great power and did punish those that would not bow down to Baal For Baal signifies all false worship or all false gods so that when the serpents seed got power to set up his worship as Moses had power to set up the worship of God And as Moses did plague and punish those serpents for making that calf and worshipping it or any other idols in that many of them were destroyed by death So hath the false worshippers served the Prophets and Saints ever since that would not bow down to their false worship witness Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin and Ahab Manasses with divers other wicked kings and rulers and head-magistrates in the time of the Law who persecuted the Prophets and put them to death For telling them of their forsaking of the worship of the Law of Moses and worshipping of idols And the same spirit of reason the devil it continued in that nation of the Jews until Christ came according to that prophesie of Jacob the scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come So that there was a Scepter of Government that did remain upon the people of the Jews though they had no Jews kings a long time before So that a matter of forty years after Christs death in the destruction of Jerusalem the Scepter did depart from Judah That is from that nation of the Jews so that they are ever since a scattered people in many parts of the earth So that the Scepter that is the Government is departed from them indeed and the same spirit of persecution and idolatry it doth run along in the seed of reason the devil in the Gentiles So that the Gentile Kings and Head magistrates have been given mightily to idolatry imitating the worship of the Gospel And hath persecuted and put to death many Saints for not bowing down to that worship set up by these Gentile-Kings or Head-magistrates ever since the destruction of Jerusalem even to this day So that this is to be minded by the Reader that this mystery Babylon or great city or whore who hath committed fornication with the Kings of the earth The meaning of the Spirit is this that all Kings and Head-magistrates in the time of the Law and in the time of the Gospel who profess the Scriptures even to the end of the world That have or shall set up a false worship or idols by their power and cause the people to do the same they may be said to commit fornication with idols So that whoever doth worship false gods let it be in what form or manner it will it is all counted by the spirit but
eternal happiness and that his blood might keep down the reprobate seed to endless misery So that the Reader may see what the Spirit doth mean by Christ being clothed with a garment down to the foot and his vesture dipt in blood For I think none are so ignorant as to think that it was any woollen or linnen or silk garment that was dipt in blood that would have been little benefit to any man But the ignorance of people is so great that they will think and believe any thing though never so contrary to reason and yet seem to be wise men in reason but the greater is their darkness in spiritual and heavenly things Yet the Seed of Faith may see what this vesture dipt in blood is and who it was that was clothed with this garment down to the foot It was no other but God himself as is said in the same verse And his Name is called The word of God for there is none can truly be called the Word of God but God for the Word was with God and the Word was God as I have shewed before CHAP. LXXV VErse 14. And the Armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linnen white and clean These armies which were in heaven they are the Saints and the Prophets Apostles and Witnesses of the Spirit are the Captains over these armies that is all true Believers in every Commission are in these three armies and there is one Chief General in all the armies in heaven and that is God himself So that all these armies in heaven follow him upon white horses For as the General hath a white horse to sit upon so likewise have all the armies in heaven that is to say all the Saints white horses to sit upon also The Reader may remember that I shewed before what is meant by a white horse and how that God himself had a white horse to sit upon to wit his own righteousness of faith By which power of faith God created all things and by the power of faith he fulfilled the Law and by the power of faith he laid down his life unto death and by the power of faith did rise again so that this righteousness of faith is that white horse that Christ doth sit upon Likewise the armies in heaven they follow him upon white horses also that is all the Saints as aforesaid being true Believers in Christs death that his blood was the blood of God so that this blood hath washed their souls in it that their hearts are purified by faith in the blood of the Lamb so that they have the righteousness of faith in them and this righteousness of faith is called by the Spirit A white horse So that all the armies in heaven that is all true Believers they have white horses to sit upon to follow their God their King and their Redeemer And as for their being clothed in fine linnen white and clean that signifies their souls being purified by faith the guilt of all sin is cleansed from them so that though their souls were as red as scarlet with the guilt of sin yet now being purified by faith they are made as white as snow So that their souls are clothed now with peace joy and glory which is as fine linnen white and clean c. Verse 15. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God This sharp sword that goeth out of his mouth it is out of the mouth of Christ that is when he shall command his Angels to pour out their vials of wrath or plagues upon the enemies of truth It may be called a sharp sword that goeth out of his mouth so that by the word of his mouth he shall cause his Angels to smite the nations and when they have smitten them dead he by a word of his mouth will raise them again and rule them with a rod of iron in that he will make them undergo a second death So that the two-edged sword that goeth out of his mouth shall cut both ways that is to say it shall cut down this natural life and cut down that spiritual life also so that after death they shall have a living death and a dying life so that he will rule them with a rod of iron in utter darkness where is weeping and gnashing of teeth for evermore For as much as he hath trod the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God he hath purchased to himself a greater power than he had before even a power that after he hath killed this natural life to kill both body and soul of his enemies in hell fire that is with a second and eternal death and so he will rule them with a rod of iron indeed I would not have the Reader to stumble because it is said in Scripture in divers places and in this verse also that he treadeth the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God as if there were a Father above Christ as men have vainly imagined and have not stuck to say that Christ-trod the wine-press of his Fathers wrath But I would have the Reader to know that there is no such saying in all the Bible as that he trode the wine-press of his Fathers wrath but he treadeth the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God for he is the Almighty God himself though in a two-fold condition as I have shewed before in this Treatise Which methinks might satisfie the minde of any sober moderate man but if it doth not satisfie the reason of man I cannot help it the thing is truth in it self and it was a truth to the Prophets and Apostles and to John the Evangelist and it is a truth to me and will be a truth to all true Believers to the worlds end CHAP. LXXVI VErse the sixteenth And he hath on his Vesture and on his Thigh a Name written King of kings and Lord of lords This vesture is the body of his flesh as I said before and on his thigh signifies that part of his vesture that is most fittest to write his name upon the thigh being the most fleshy part of a man and so most fittest to write upon That is it was the most fittest part of all the body to thrust the spear into so that there was written on his vesture and on his thigh King of kings and Lord of lords That is he was pierced with the devils spear in the body and in his thigh and by the blood that came out of his own vesture there was this name written upon his own body King of kings and Lord of lords That is that body was the body of God and that blood was the blood of God so that he being the King of Heaven he must needs be King of kings and Lord of lords for who is King of kings but