Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	witness_n	word_n	work_n	114	3	4.6461	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89026	The key of the Revelation, searched and demonstrated out of the naturall and proper charecters of the visions. With a coment thereupon, according to the rule of the same key, / published in Latine by the profoundly learned Master Joseph Mede B.D. late fellow of Christs College in Cambridge, for their use to whom God hath given a love and desire of knowing and searching into that admirable prophecie. Translated into English by Richard More of Linley in the Countie of Salop. Esquire, one of the Bargesses in this present convention of Parliament. With a præface written by Dr Twisse now prolocutor in the present Assembly of Divines.; Clavis apocalyptica. English	Mede, Joseph, 1586-1638.; More, Richard, d. 1643.; Twisse, William, 1578?-1646.; England and Wales. Parliament.	1643 (1643)	Wing M1600; Thomason E68_6; ESTC R12329	241,145	298

the kindreds and people and nations shall see their dead bodies three dayes and an halfe and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves Or and there shall be of kindreds and people and nations which shall see their dead bodies c. Whether this be to be taken for a part of crueltie or benefit it is doubtfull nor is it to be determined but by the fulfilling of the prophesie For it may be taken either as proceeding from enemies adding this disgrace to the great slaughter which they had made the deniall of buriall to the dead bodies of the slaine or as from friends and favourers of the Witnesses to wit by this means providing for them as it were by and by to rise againe For howsoever it was otherwise a part of a great crueltie not to bury the dead and to be cast out unburied was esteemed especially among the Ieues for an exceeding ignominy yet those which were so slaine that they were not plainly in despaire but that they might be restored to life againe it is to be accounted a benefit to hinder them a little while from close buriall If we must hold the first to be determined by this Type seemeth to be intimated some note of Infamie or Ignominy wherewith all the followers of the Beast not contented to have slaine the Witnesses will moreover punish them If the latter some rescue from the reformed people for feare of whom as being in multitude the greatest part by farre and therefore the wound being yet fresh Chap. 11. and things not as yet settled not to be provoked to desperation without danger or at least by secret meanes and favour it should come to passe that the Witnesses should not be so dealt with that there were no hope of reviving Achmetes out of the learning of the Indians Apotel 130 If any in his sleepe shall seeme to himselfe to be buried that buriall tendeth to the full certaintie of his ruine If he shall seeme to see some defect of things pertaining to his buriall that defect is referred to hope If thou now enquire whether any thing in the Text appeare which inclineth more to this interpretation then the other I truly should draw this for an Argument of this matter that since here he declareth the subject in manner and words different from that when he speaketh of enemies in the verse following he would not have the same to be understood here as there but divers there certainly enemies but here friends of the Witnesses For of the enemies in the verse following rejoycing and sending gifts one to another he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they that dwell upon the earth But of those that will not suffer the dead bodies of the Witnesses to be put into graves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations partitively as if he would note some certaine ones of a divers disposition from the rest Let the Reader judge Three dayes and an halfe That is as it seemeth three yeere and an halfe For those things that are foretold to be done then do argue that they cannot be understood of dayes in proper sence For can any man beleeve that the small space of three dayes and an halfe is sufficient either for spreading the fame of the death of the Witnesses or for the sending of messengers with gifts to and fro among the Nations Nay it were not indeed sufficient for the providing of them Adde hereunto that the halfe of a day properly so taken or twelve houres were altogether unfit for determining of such acts For such matters are not wont to be observed by houres but by moneths at least by whole dayes In the meane time it is to be observed that the time here is computed not of the killing of the Witnesses but wherein they lay dead and without life now after they were slaine But how long the warre it selfe shall last and how long time shall be given for the killing of the Prophets nothing but the fulfilling of the prophesie will teach Chap. 11. And they that dwell upon the earth shall re●oyce over them and Vers 10. shall be glad and shall send gifts one to another because these two Prophe●s tormented them that dwelt on the earth Concerning the manner of sending gifts in a publique joy or in great gladnesse See Esther 9. 19. 22. But after three dayes and an halfe the spirit of life from God entered into them and they stood upon their feet and great feare fell Vers 11. upon them which saw them Such as the death of the Witnesses was such shall be their raising up or resurrection from the dead to wit a restitution to their former estate and that not so much by any humane power or ayde as the finger of God who is wonderfull in his works For these words the spirit of life from God entered into them intimateth this Achmetes apotelesm 6. and 7. out of the learning of the Egyptians and Persians If any shall seeme to see in a dreame the raising of the dead that matter signifyeth the delivery of those that be bound and an end of warres Apot. 7. a freedome from calamities You may see Ezek. chap. 37. And they heard a great voyce from heaven saying unto them Vers 12. Come up hither and they ascended up to heaven by a cloud or in a cloud and their enemies beheld them The witnesses shall not only be restored to their place and former station but shall be even advanced into some more excellent degree of honour and power For to be carried in a cloud and to ascend into heaven doth signifie that See Dan. 7.13 Esay 14. 13. and 19. Whereupon in the declarations of dreames which Apomasar or Achmetes that Arabian whom I have so often cited hath gathered out of the ancient monuments of the Egyptians and Fersians it is read if a King shall seeme to himselfe to have sitten in the clouds and to be carried whither soever he would the Barbarian enemies shall become his servants over whom he shall raigne with authoritie A●so if a King shall seeme to himselfe as it were to have ●lowen to heaven where the starres should be he shall obtaine eminency and fame above other Kings Likewise if a King being ascended up shall seeme to himselfe to be set in heaven he shall reduce a countrey greater then that which he possesseth under his power Apotel 162. and 164. These things I bring in to this purpose that I may shew that this parable was used in that meaning which I say by Chap. 11. the Prophets of God according to the custome of the East The ministery therefore of the witnesses sha●l not be despicable as before neither shall they be reckoned among the abject and contemptible sort of men So that that which our Saviour said of himselfe Luk. 24. 26. Did it not behoove Christ to suffer these things and afterward to enter into his glory shall

and to build and to plant let no man now marvell that fire or divine revenge is said to proceed out of the mouthes of the witnesses who notwithstanding have the sole power of denouncing it or obtaining it from God So the witnesses doe revenge their own injury it so loweth by what means also they revenge the contumely offered to the Temple of God They have power to shut heaven that it raine not to wit a mysticall Vers 6. raine in the dayes of their prophesie That is they are furnished with the power of the keyes whereby they shut up heaven against these new Gentiles the corrupters of Christian worship that the grace of the blood of Christ sealed by Baptisme be not shed upon them for the remission of their sins so long as they by their Idolatries and Superstitions shall persevere to be the cause of the mourning prophesie of the witnesses I will more plainly expresse it They according to the word of God do debarre from the hope of eternall life promised on●ly to the pure worshippers of God those new Idolaters untill being mindfull of their covenant in Baptisme they shall returne to the worship of one God by one Mediatour Iesus Christ forsaking the worshipping of Satan and so shall put an end to the mourning prophesie of the witnesses Even as Elias also restored not raine to the Israelites now almost killed with drought before that the prophets of Baal and his worship were destroyed But of this power of the witnesses we have an example afterwards Chap. 14 9. If any one say they shall worship the Beast and his Image and receive his marke in their forehead or on his hand the same shall drinke of the wine of the wrath of God of the pure wine 10. tempered in the cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with Chap. 11. fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence 11. of the Lambe and the smoake of their torment shall ascend for ever and ever c. To conclude they have power over waters to turne them into Vers 6. blood and to smite the earth with every plague as often as they will Such like power indeed Moses and Aaron used when they brought Israel out of the Egyptian bondage Whence I gather that the power of the witnesses figured by this type pertaineth not to all the dayes of the mourning prophesie but to the end of them or the time of the phyalls to wit when by the conduct of the witnesses or Prophets as it were of Moses and Aaron the Christian people is to be brought out like wise from the tyranny and service of the Beast by pl●gues expressed after the manner of those of Egypt For truly the first plague of the Phyals doth strike the earth with an Vlcer by the seco●d and third the waters are turned into blood the rest doe torment the worshippers of the Beast or the Gentiles abiding in the court of the Temple with other and yet more grievous plagues The interpretation of all which we will reserve to their proper place Let it suffice here to have referred this last power to the powring out of the Phyals It followeth And when they shall be about to finish their testimony the Beast which ascendeth out of the bottomlesse pit shall make warre against Vers 7. them and shall overcome them and kill them Of the function and power of the Witnesses hitherto it followeth now of their destinie which they were to finde at the end of their Prophesie The description whereof is wholly compact out of the historie of the passion of our Lord. For the Lord Iesus likewise when he had ended his preaching of about so many dayes as the prophesie of the Witnesses amount to is slaine by the Romane Governour the Legate of this beast between whom and the Witnesses there is warre but in the time of his sixt head the third day after there being likewise a great earthquake he rose againe And a little after to wit upon the fortieth day being received in a cloud he ascended into heaven All which things God would have to be represented in this slaughter of his witnesses by his owne death that like as they have borne the likenesse of those renowned paires of which is spoken before in the state of their function so they should be made conformable Chap. 11. in suffering and death to their Lord Christ that faithfull Witnesse which truely ought to be both comfortable and glorious to them in the midst of their miseries But let us give light to the text When saith he they shall be about to finish their testimony for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be translated no● of the Preterperfect tense when they have finished the Beast which ascendeth out of the bottomlesse pit shall make war with them and shall overcome them and kill them That is when now part of the holy Citie or inhabitants of the Christian world acknowledging the horriblenesse of Gentilisme repenting of their Idolatries and abominations and clensing the Temple of God within themselves the witnesses rejoycing should begin to put off their sackcloth and to be freed from their daily mourning notwithstanding they should not yet be wholly freed that Romane seven-headed Boast of the last time of which Chap. 13. chasing that the preaching of those mourners had so farre prevailed shall make warre against them overcome and kill them The first of which concerning the mourning of the witnesses already begunne to determine ●ath beene continually performed from the beginning of the reformed Church untill this present The other concerning warre and slaughter I conjecture is yet to come But our Brightman thought it already fulfilled to wit in the Smalcaldian warre under the Emperour Charles the fifth Others apply it to the late ruine of the Churches of Germany And who would not much rather that so lamentable an accident to the Church were past then to feare it to be yet to come But the interpretation is not to be directed according to our wish Yea rather the errour will be with greater danger on that part then on the contrary For the expectation of a future calamity conduceth more to piety then an over-credulous securitie thereof as if it were already past There are two things which perswade me that this last destruction is yet to be feared The first that those lamentable times of the Gentiles trampling under foot the holy Citie or Christian Religion or the times of the forty two moneths cannot be said to have fulfilled their period so long as the Beast shall reigne and therefore neither the Dayes of the Witnesses mourning in sackcloth being of the same time and of the same age with them Another because this destruction of the Witnesses is to be the next antecedent as we shall heare afterwards Chap. 11. to the destruction and ruine of the great Citie that is Rome which the * Series course of

the Phyals suffereth not to be so neet come considering that we have not passed the fourth of them as yet although we hope it is in agitation in the present Germane warres as there it shall be taught But that the ruine of the Citie belongeth to the fifth we shall shew anon Whose forerunner therefore that this destruction shall be which we have in hand it is very probable especially since it is usuall with Christ our Captaine to subdue his enemies and to reward his with victory by the method of the Crosse Neither yet because this destruction is the last and even yet to come can any thing be certainly determined concerning the grievousnesse thereof above all w●● have gone before for happily not so much in respect of the grievousnesse certainly not of the long continuance as that it should be for a signe of the mourning of the Witnesses then forthwith to be ended and of the ruine of the Citie of Rome being at hand therefore it alone of all the destructions wherewith the Beast should afflict the Saints deserved a singular remembrance and description even as indeed the environing of the inhabitants of Ierusalem by the Armie of Cestius Gallus a little before the ●atall siege by Titus was foretold for a signe of the sacking thereof then to approach and to be at the doores For even as our Saviour told his Apostles enquiring the signes of the time of the sacking thereof When ye see Ierusalem besieged by an Luk. 21.20 Army then know that the desolation thereof draweth neere the like may be thought here to be meant of the sacking of Babylon when ye shall see that three yeeres and an halfe slaughter of the Witnesses know ye that the desolation of the great Citie draweth neere But the slaughter where with the Witnesses are foretold to be overcome by the Beast I thinke is to be understood in the most generall signification wherein he comprehendeth death also metaphorically or analogica●ly so called ●or he is said to Dye in that sense who being settled in any state whatsoever whether Politique or ●cclesiasticall or any other ceaseth to be what he was Whereupon also he killeth who punisheth any one with such a death For so in the Sacred stile to live is all one as to be to die not to be In which understanding we are said to die to Satan and to sinne when for the time to come we cease to be their slaves Chap. 11. and to live unto Christ when we beginne to be his And the reason of opposition doth altogether seeme to require that in what manner theresurrection of the Witnesses to life after the slaughter accomplished should be such should be the slaughter it selfe but that appeareth to be analogicall because no resurrection properly so called can be before the coming of Christ under the seventh Trumpet But this cometh to passe while the sixth is in being The killing therefore of the Witnesses if we expound it according to such a rule of understanding it will seeme to be a molestation and dejection of them from the office and place which they a little while had gotten in the reformed Church by the ef●icacie of their preaching whether it be joyned with corporall death or otherwise so that thenceforth they live not the propheticall life such as then they had lived nor exercise the functions thereof any more Whereby it must needs likewise come to passe that the pillars thereof being taken away and the false Prophets of the Beast being againe brought in instead of the Prophets of Christ the whole politie of the reformed Church as far as this shall happen shall goe to the ground which whether it shall happen sooner or later onely he knoweth in whose hands are times and opportunities In the meane time lest happily any one may be deceived this is diligently to be observed that this last warre of the Beast is not of the same kinde with that which he had waged continually hitherunto against the company of the Saints of which indeed in the history of the Beast it is said Chap. 13.7 That it was given unto him to make w●rre with the Saints and to overcome them b●t altogether different For wherefore should that be declared as peculiar to the last times of the Beast which had beene usuall with him if not from his infancie yet at least from his * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfection therefore it is one kinde of warre which the Beast waged universally against the Saints another which in his last he shall wage with the Prophets who had begunne now to put off their sackcloth and to end their propheticall mourning that is with the Bishops of the Church in the reformed part thereof which is more manifest out of the divers event of either warre there ●ur●ly with successe here very lamentable For there the Beast ●●tained power over every Tribe Tongue and Nation c. But here he procureth to himselfe a sudden and fatall ruine as is Chap. 11. to be seene in the Text. And their dead bodies shall lie in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the street of the Vers 8. great Citie which spiritually is called Sod me and Egypt where also their Lord was crucified That Citie surnamed great is Rome so called not so much for the quantitie to looke upon as because she had beene the Queene of other Cities according to that of the Angel Chap. 17. 18. The woman which thou sawest is that great Citie which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth As in like manner by the name of the great King as God is called Psal 28. 2. and Matth 5. 35. and which title did peculiarly comply in times past with the Kings of the Assyrians and Persians is meant the King of Kings who ●ath authoritie over ●ther Kings Whereupon throughout the whole Revelation whatsoever other name Rome is called by either Babylon or Harlot it is alwaies intituled the Great as that Great Babylon that great Whore Adde hereunto that through the whole Revelation that title is given to no Citie besides it except at length after the sacking of it to that new Ierusalem Chap. 21.10 descending from heaven in the light whereof afterward the Gentiles should walke Which he that should thinke to be here meant he certainly should have need of some * Neesing powder Hellebore For neither was Jerusalem in the age of Iohn nor is any other Ierusalem ever to be the Great Citie or head and Queene of other Cities of the world excepting it It is added which is spiritually called Sodome and Egypt Egypt for the tyrannie over the people of God like the Egyptians tyranny Sodome for whoredome to wit spirituall Now here which let the Reader diligently marke is the Key of the Allegorie of which sort more in this Booke doe occurre Whereby indeed the holy Ghost at once would intimate that whatsoever in these visions is exhibited any where of the plagues of Egypt or destruction of

signifying Trajan from the West whose reigne with Hadrian his successour was full of blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The third Seale a Man shewing a blacke horse and his rider signifying Septimius Severus from the South and by the ballances Vers 5. 6. in his hand Iustice and carefull provision for the Common-wealth in his time and Alexanders The fourth Seale an Eagle shewing a pale horse and his rider signifying Maximinus from the North in his time and Gallus Vers 7. 8. Volusianus and Decius the sword famine and pestilence met together therefore called Mortifer The fifth Seale no beast horse norrider entereth from Aurelianus V●●● 9 10 11 in Anno 268. wherein is set forth the tenne yeeres persecution under Dioclesian The sixth Seale an admirable shaking of Heaven and Earth Vers 12 13 14 15 16 17 signifying the change and subversion of the state of Rome heathen by Constantine the Great Before the entrance to the seventh Seale which is a seale of Chap. 7. Trumpets there is care taken for the Church set forth by a company of 144000. to be sealed of every Tribe of Israel 12000 in Vers 4. 5. reckoning of which there is an unusuall order yet in that Type such as might best represent the profession of pure Religion miraculously in the bosome of the Empire to be preserved in the midst of the combustions of the World polluted with idolatrous worship and conspiring the ruine of the Church and therefore it is fenced with the Seale of God The twelve Apostles aptly answering the Type of Israel the number 12. being the Ensigne of the Apostolike race and by multiplying expressing the Apostolike pregenic To which is added by the representation of innumerable Palme-bearers 〈◊〉 a most ample estate of every Nation People Tribe and Ton●ue ● praising God The seventh Seale containeth seven Trumpets sounding the Chap. ● allar●e to the ruine of the Empire by a seven-fold order of plagues the foure first of lesse extent The first Trumpet wasteth the Territorie of the Romane Empire with a terrible breaking in of the Northerne Nations for by the third part of the Earth is meant the people or politicall Vers 7. Vniverse of the Romane Empire it being the third part of the then known habitable world This happened from the death of Theodosius Anno 395. by Alaricus and the Goths and by the Barbarians Radagaiso being their Captaine Anno 404. and by the Vandales and Alanes c. Anno 405 6. The second Trumpet assaileth the dominion of the Romane Vers ● 9. Empire expressed by the Sea Rome being taken by Alaricus Anno 410. After which the largenesse of the Romane dominion was daily cut off untill Anno 455. that Gensericus tooke and spoiled Rome againe after which the whole body of the Empire was divided into tenne Kingdomes Anno 456. The third Trumpet utterly throweth downe the Romane Hesperus or Westerne Caesar Anno 476. fetching his last breath under Vers 10 11. the fatall name of Augustulus a Prince of bitternesse and sorrowes therefore resembled by a falling Starre called Wormewood The fourth Trumpet taketh away the light of the Romane Vers 12. Maiestie shining till then under Ostrogothean Kings when the Consulship of Rome failed Anno 542. The three woe Trumpets Vers 13. The fifth or first woe Trumpet sendeth the hostile hands of Chap. 9. Saracens and Arabians in the Type of Locusts not onely to destroy Vers 3. and waste from the yeere 830 to 980. that is 150. yeeres or five moneths of yeeres but also to poyson with the venemous doctrine of Muhamedisme The Locusts had a King over them whose name was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Destroyer Vers 11. The sixth or second woe Trumpet lo●seth the foure Angels Vers 13 14. that is the foure Sultanies or Kingdomes into which the Turkes were parted being before restrained at Euphrates which loosing happened a little before the yeere 1300. uniting themselves under the conduct of one Othoman which should come to passe after a propheticall day a moneth and a yeere being 396. yeers to wit from the yeere 1057. wherein Tangrolipix had taken the royall Citie Bagdad from which time the Turkes are prepared to kill the third part of men that is in the yeere 1453. Constantinople Vers 15. being then taken The number of the horsemen are two hundred Vers 16. thousand thousand their Munition Gunnes and Ordnance expressed Vers 17. by Fire Smoake and Brimstone The seventh or third woe Trumpet is put off to the prophesie Chap 10. of the Little Booke It containeth the consummation of the Vers 7. Mysterie of God which event is declared in an Oath taken by an Angel and a Crie upon which seven thund●rs utter their Vers 6. Vers 3. voices which Iohn is forbidden to write Ver● 4. The Prophesie of the Little Booke wherein the destinie of the Church is cont●ined followeth to which the Apostle is fitted by Vers 8 9 10. taking the Booke and eating it which was sweet in his mouth but bitter in his belly The measur●d court setteth forth the Primitive state of the Christi●n Church conformable to the rule of Gods Word shortly after to ensue and contrary to which is the Court not to be measured it not being Gods workmanship but to be prophaned by idolatrous worship renewed or Antichristian Apostasie to reigne fortie two moneths of yeeres While this Court is prophaned two Witnesses bewaile the prophanation Ve●s 3. give testimonie to the truth of God and exhort to repentance 1260. dayes answerable to the fortie two moneths of prophanation denouncing Gods iudgements which beganne to be executed at the Phyalls and debarring the new Idolaters from the hope Vers 5. of eternall life Vers 6. The destinie of these Witnesses is when they have finished their testimonie to be made conformable to Christ in suffering to be Vers 7. in●licted upon them by the Romane seven-headed Beast these shall in the end suffer a mysticall death and lye unburied three Vers 8 9 10 11. yeeres and an halfe after which they shall be restored to their former estate or to a more excellent dignitie And upon a commotion and alteration of politicall affaires the Citie of Rome as Vers 12 13. now it is being but a tenth part of the old Citie shall be overthrowne at the fifth Phyall wherein shall be slaine ●000 men of Name or of the Clergie or Companies of men This is the ending of the second woe or sixth Trumpet at which time the Kings from the East or the Iewes shall beginne as it were a new Kingdome or the Beast i. the Pope shall change his forme being driven from his Metropolis Rome by the overthrow thereof So this Vision Chap. 11. of the open Booke goeth through the whole course of the Revelation to shew the connexion of it with the Seales and Trumpets THe Romane Empire worshipping the Dragon that is the Chap. 12. Devil in Idols persecuted the Church of God represented Vers 3 4. by the woman in travell to bring