Constantiue the Great commeth to the Imperial seat the Dragon is overcome and Heathenism extirpated vers 4 and following In the second Period from the 400. years and upward Period 2. until the end of the 1200. and 60. years these seven concurrent times are described 1. The holy City is trodden under foot by the Gentiles 2. The two Witnesses cloathed with Sack-cloth Cap. 11. ver 2 3. to the 10th the explaining of which I refer to the 11. Chap. 3. The woman fled into the Wilderness and is fed there The primitive Church rescued from heathenish bondage fled into the wilderness i. e. into a midle estate not wholly hid and invisible nor yet gloriously visible but as it were in a middle condition betwixt both Rob. The two wings of a great Eagle given to the woman to by into the wilderness Mede refers to the Roman Empire whose Ensign is an Eagle and to the two Cesars of the Eastern and Western Empire divided as two wings by whose aid and protection the Church fled into her wilderness estate Cap. 12. verse 6. to 14. As Mary upon the birth of Christ fled from Herod into Aegypt So the Woman i. e. the Primitive Church notwithstanding the persecution of the Dragon having brought forth a man Child who was to rule the Nations with a rod of Iron which primarily belongs to Christ personal Psa 2. Secondarily to Christ mystical his Church and members which Christ mystical ruled all Nations by a rod of Iron subjugating the Roman Empire partly by a spiritual Gospelvictory promoted by Michael and his Angels against the Devil and his Angels rulers in that Empire partly by a corporeal conquest afterward when Christians prevailed and obtained such power and success under Constantine the great and his Successors fled into the Wilderness where she hath a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1200 and 60. days vers 6. which is again related v. 14. The meaning I conceive is this the Church though freed from heathenish tyranny yet is afresh imbarked in new troubles and persecutions by divers enemies Now during all this time the Church is in her wilderness condition as Israel of old was after their deliverance from Aegypt Thus take the parallel Israel delivered from Egyptian bondage under Pharoah fled towards the wilderness but was persued by Pharoah had liberty to worship God in the Wilderness where their Tabernacle was erected there Apostatized from God and his pure worship in the matter of the Calf Baalpeor Baalam c. and was there exercised with new troubles and afflictions of hunger thirst fiery Serpents and of divers enemies abode in the Wilderness 40. years during which space they made 42 journeys and stations from Aegypt to Jordan And at last all their enemies being subdued Numb 33. from 1. to 50. they quietly possessed the promised rest the Land of Canaan So the Church being freed from Heathenish Tyranny under the Red Dragon fled into the Wilderness but was persued and persecuted by the Dragon had liberty granted of worshipping God in the wilderness by the edicts of Christian Emperors and Kings who erected for them Temples or publique places for Christian worship yet in that her Wilderness estate she made many idolatrous defections Apostatizing from God and his pure worship especially to Antichristianisme Cap. 12.17 And the Dragon was wroth with the woman went to make war with the remnant of her seed c. Cap. 13.1 And I stood upon the sand of the Sea c. Mede saith the words are to be read not steti but stetit Cum Latinis omnibus Syre interpr i. e. The Dragon stood upon the sands i. to bring up this beast out of the sea to persecute the woman Further he saith v. 3. And I saw one of his heads wounded to death That the word vidi is not in some Editions as the Complutense reading the sentence thus The Dragon gave him his power seat and great authority and one of his heads wounded to death that it might be healed or that had been wounded to death and the healing of his wounds which is added this he either saw to be done while he was rising out of the sea or as soon as he was risen out of it is there exercised with new troubles and persecutions by the Dragon Beast and False Prophet abides in this Wilderness seat 42. moneths At last the Dragon the Beast and the false Prophet with all her enemies being vanquished the Church obtaines the new Heavens and new Earth and reigns with Jesus Christ a thousand years yea for ever and ever the former and following series of this Prophecy clears this parallel This state of the Church seems to last till the seventh Trumpet So that to this day the Church is still in this Wilderness-condition but drawing towards the borders of a far happier estate 4. The beast with ten horns blasphemeth God and maketh war with the Saints cap. 13. v. 5 6 7. This ten horned Beast as was mentioned before is the Dragons Delegate or Substitute he is said to rise out of the Sea by Sea here understand that multitude of ten Kingdomes into which the Barbarians had shredded the whole compass of the Roman Territories out of all which the Dragon now endeavours to extract and of which to compose one Roman Dominion or that conflux of Armies and people striving in war like a tempestuous Sea He is said to have seven heads and so is the same beast cap. 17.3 compared with vers 9 10. His seven heads are interpreted by the Holy Ghost himself to be seven Mountains whereon the Royal Seat of the Empire of Rome was built and seven Kings or kindes of Government by which the Empire should be governed The names of blasphemy notes his blasphemous idolatries tending to the extream reproach of God his Religion and Saints his ten horns and upon his horns Voyce out of the Wilderness p. 38. ten crowns these signifie that he should not come to his crown by the strength of his Sword his Leaders and his Legions But of the crowns upon the hornes see another interpretation p. 90. as the Dragon did but by the base and voluntary submission of all the Caesars Kings and Princes as should with one Councel and Vote deliver up their authority and power secular to the devotion and pleasure of the beast therefore he wears his Diadems not upon his heads as the Dragon did but upon his Hornes and upon his Hornes ten crownes Which ten Hornes crowned say most Writers denote ten Kings or Kingdomes into which the Roman Empire of the sixth head was divived all which were to be conjoyned Mede in Cum. Apoc. part 2. cap. 13. into one for carrying of the whore These 10. horns thinks Mede belong not to all the seven heads but onely to the seventh because the heads flourishing the horns flourish the heads fulling the horns necessarily fall therewith Now these ten
with it in a learned Writer since I thought good here to put it down and leave it to the judgement of the Reader to choose which Interpreration he likes best pointing no doubt at the Christian Emperor who did-not differ from the Heaven Emperor as a distinct form of Government for they were both Souldiers and chosen by the Souldiers but in the quality of his person the one hating and persecuting the other loving and protecting Christian Religion And when he comes he must continue a short space For the Empire when it came into the hands of the Christians stood but a short time in its strength a matter of seventy or eighty years from about the middle of the reign of Constantine the great for till then he was exercised with mighty Wars against the Heathen Emperors unto the end of the raâ—â—n of Theodâ—sius the great from about Anno. 316 or 320. to 395 or 397. It follows in the next verse the beast that was and is not even he is the eighth and is of the seventh viz. The Papel state was in respect of the bulk of the Empire whereof he is a horne And is not i. e. it hath not any present existence in the Apostles times as the seventh head for the time of that is not yet come Even he is the eighth and is of the seventh that is he is the eighth if you make the Christian Emperor one but he is indeed the seventh for there is but seven heads and he is but the seventh distinct form of Government Kings Tribunes Decemvirs Dictâ—ors Consâ—ls Emperors and the seventh Popes Now here lies the Argument It is 〈◊〉 to wards the end of the 1200 end 60. years since the Pope became the head of the Roman Kingdom Ergo the Earthquake that must ruine him and his Kingdom draws near To make this appear we are to know as some have observed there were divers degrees of the fall of that vast body of the Roman Empire one after the death of Julian the Apostate about Anno. 365. For then the barbarous Nations invaded and made huge Havock in the Provinees of the Empire A second was about Anno. 410. when Rome it self was sacke by Alaricus the Goth and the Empire dismembred A third about Anno. 455. when ten Kings were risen up instead of the Empire to which let me interpose one notable one out of a learned writer about Anno. 395. at the death of Theodâ—siâ—s the great the barbarous nations had made many attempts before but were from time to time especially by his valour repelled 2 Thes 2.7 The time of Antichrists revealing is when he who letteth is taken out of the way now this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or he that did let the 〈◊〉 pearing of Antichrist is interpreted by Anrient and laâ—â— Writers 〈◊〉 be the Roman Empire not then wholly demolished but divided and weekened it was divided after Theadosius into Eastern and Western 〈…〉 in the East and Arcadius in the Wost now the Western Empire was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was taken away by the death of Arcad. us But upon his death they brake in like an huge inundation bore down the Empire before them shivered it in a hondred peices so as it near recovered any more This great mine of the Roman Empire was six years adoing for so great a body as the Empire could not by created means be ruined in a short time And it is very remarkable both because it made so great a change in the Kingdoms of Europe and Affrick planting them almost universally with new nations and names and in special because that storm brought our forefathers into this Land setling here a new Nation and language It is thirdly also observable because in it the sixth Head of the Roman Monarchy the Emperor went off and the seventh the Pope came on onely the question is about which of these times and degrees was the Empires destruction Not so high as Julians death for the Empire stood in good strength after that for thirty years at least nor so low as 455. when it was quite broken and not long after lost its very name but somewhere between viz. either about 406. or 410 years after Christ when Rome it self the head of the Empire was taken Now if the beasts reign began about or between 406 and 410 then the ruining earthquake must needs approach considering how many years are gone of the 1260 years Object The sixth Head of the Empire continued long after the death of Theodosius the Great Answ 1. Not in strength but was still more and more broken unco its dissolution 2. Rome became the the Seat of the Beast by the means of translating the sear of the Empire from Rome to Constantinoplâ— from whence ensued the parting the Empire into two parts by which division it being weakened and alter also sundred in affection as well as in place was the easier to be entred upon and obtained by the Pope especially after the death of Arcadius Bishop Vsher sum of Christian Religion p. 443. It is not absurd to imagine that the sixt head and the seventh might be in some degree together For first it is but a comparison not like that natural head of which there can be but one atonce more makes a monster and truly this Reast is a monster Besides the Impesial and Papal Head did not so thwart or cross one another at first as afterwards they did so as it might be with them as Logicians say of contrary qualities they may consist together in the same subiect gradibus remissis non intensis they might both of them have their power and not intrench one upon another Popes at first medled in a manner only with the matters of the Church as being desirous to settle their Ecclesiastical authority and the Emperors on the other side almost wholly busied themselves about the Civil State to govern and defend the Empire And yet further which may lessen the absurdity before that you shall have in the Roman Government sometimes as it were two heads at once as Consuls who were for a year and a Dictatator chosen it may be for three months or for six moneths upon some extraordinary exigencies and necessities of State who was for the time supreme as namely in matters of war as the Consuls were supreme for other Civil affairs The Earthquake whereby Antichrists Kingdom is to be ruined approacheth Indice or Evidence 2. appeareth by this second Indice or Evidence Because t is almost 1200 and 60 years since the ten Kings began and the Beast began with them as may appear Rev. 17.12 The ten horns which thou sawest are ten Kings which have received no Kingdom as yet but received power as Kings one hour with the Beast The ten Kings are the many Kingdoms that sprung up out of the ruins of the Empire as the Kigdoms of France Spain c. These are called horns aptly because Antichrist doth with them as the beast doth
trampled under foot but such as by way of Office were distinguished from others Mat. 10.41 Prophets distinguished from righteous men and Prophets distinguished from Saints Babylon is therefore ruined because in her is found the blood of the Prophets and of the Saints Revelat. 17.24 Twelve hundred and sixty days These are not natural days but prophetical every day taken for a year as Ezek. 4.6 Numb 14.14 the days of their Prophecying in sackcloth are twelve hundred and sixty years and so expire not till the 42. months of the Beasts raign be expired For months taken prophetically as before every day for a year and reckoning for every month 30. days now multiply the 42. by the 30. and the raign of the Beast is 1200 and 60. years and though there be great difficulty when to begin the rise and raign and most expositors herein much vary yet in the continuance there is a general accord and none can rationally make any question of it Now if we descend from the words of this Prophecy and come to observe the answerable events in History we shall find that in every age there were Witnesses opposing the 〈◊〉 canny Idolatry and Blasphemies of Antichrist their particuler names times places and their manner of resisting the man of sin it would be too large to infirst upon From the 600. year of Christ to the 16. century See a Catalogue of the Witnesses in their several ages in the Ministers of London their Jus Divinum Ministerii Evangelici page 53. Also the Histories of the Maegdeburgon See also Illyricus his Catalog Testium Veritatis Also Jacob. Vsher de Eccles Success Statu And Mr. Sim. Birckbeck his Treatise called Protestants evidence yet a Catalogue is given of them by Protestant writers As Our famous Jewel for 600. years from the time of Christ and his Apostles hath abundantly proved that the truths professed in the reformed Churches were maintained by the Antients And in the succeeding centuries when the man of sin began to prevail there were in their several ages godly and learned Ministers who opposed Popish errors defending the sufficiency of the Scriptures and of Communions to be received in both kinds justification by free grace disclaiming the defilements of worship in adoring Images invocation of Saints praying for the dead worshipping reliques declaiming against his supremacy and Title of universal Bishop as Antichristian Yea Protestant writers make mention of Magistrates as well as Ministers opposing Antichrist yea in this one Kingdome you shall find in History before the Conquest Kings for piety called Saints opposing the insolency and wickedness of the Church of Rome King Edgar acknowledged no Supremacy in the Pope but saith the care of the Church ad nos spectat it belongs to the King and not to the Pope Yea when the Popes were swelled to that hight that Kings kissed their feet yet then the Kings of England opposed their Usurpation Object If the Witnesses Prophecy 1200 and 60. days then they Prophecy after they are slain Answ In that sense they are said to be slain they may prophecy in sackcloth nay they will necessarily do so viz. performe their witness with sadness and mourning Their finishing their Testimony doth not cause their Prophecying to cease their suffering and their slaying is the most glorious part of their sackcloth Prophecy And so I proceed to the fourth Verse Vers 4. These are the two Olive trees and the two Candlesticks c. That is they are like unto Zerubbabel and Joshua restorers of the Jewish Church under the Babylonish Captivity in resemblance to whom the two Witnesses should endeavour to bring the Church out of Antichristian bondage and slavery These are represented by two Olive trees Zach. 4. ◠standing on the two sides of the Candlestick continually supplying it with Oyl But why two Candlesticks when Zachary mentions but one See the conjecture of Mr. Mede upon this Chap. The Candlestick signifying the Church of these times maintained with spiritual supplies not by strength or armies but by Gods special blessing and influence the Olive Trees extraordinarily dropping Oyl for light into those Candlesticks Vers 5. And if any will hurt them fire cometh out of their mouths and devoureth their enemies And if any will hurt them he must in this manner be killed Here the witnesses are compared to Elijah and Elisha restorers of Gods pure Worship from Baalitical Idolatry In this allusion is signified a double power which is granted to them First A power to avenge themselves against their Enemies not by any external fire or sword-power when hurt by them but their revenge like fire proceedeth out of their mouth t is by the mystical fire of the word they preach denouncing Gods wrath against their wickedness As Elisha called for fire from Heaven upon the Captains and their fifties 2 King 2.9 10 11. If any shall hurt them he must in this manner be killed i. e. spiritually and mystically by the word of their prophecy which as fire devoureth them according to that of the Prophet Jer. 5.14 he makes his word a savour of death unto death to them they have ever the vengeance in a readiness for their enemies 2 Cor. 10.6 Thus they avenge their own wrong but how the wrong done to the Church Secondly Therefore secondly they have power to avenge the Church of Christ against the defilers and Gentilish prophaners thereof These saith the Text have power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their Prophecy viz. Mystical rain As Elijah shut Heaven that it rained not on Israel almost consumed with drought and famine in the days of his Prophecy till he had destroyed the false worship and worshippers of Baal So these Witnesses by the Keys of the Kingdome of heaven have power to shut heaven against the Idolatrous Gentiles excluding them from hope of eternal lise by the blood of Christ and showers of Divine grace till they repent and forsake their Idolatrous worship and being mindful of their baptismal Covenan returne to the pure worship of God by one mediator Jesus Christ and so put an end to the mournful Prophecy of these witnesses Of this power of the Witnesses we have an example Chap. 14.9 where t is said the third Angel whereby is meant according to Interpreters Luther and his Successors denounceth most woful torments to all the followers and worshippers of the Beast If any shull worship the beast and his Image or receive his mark c. he shall drink of the Wine of the wrath of God c. It is added Annotations upon the Bible In the days of their Prophecy three years and six months in Elijahs time answerable to the number of months here verse 2. Vers 6. Lastly These witnesses have power over maters to turn them into blood And to smite the Earth with plagnes as oft as they will Here the Witnesses are resembled to Moses and Aaron deliverers of Israel out of
War again them So much of finishing their testimony It follows The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit c. That is Antichrist or any of the Beastian party He is compared to a beast not onely because of his inhumanity but because of his irrationality in seeking by killing the Witnesses to hinder the course of the Gospel 2 Thess 3.1 2. And he is said to come out of the bottomless pit or Abyss The word in the Greek signifies all these By this Beast here is meant the Popish Ecclesiastical Government who use the temporal sword Clavis Apoâ— which may be understood out of hell as chap. 9. 2. or out of the sea as the ten-horned beast did Rev. 13.1 or out of the body of the earth or a deep pit in the earth and so may signifie the two-horned beast chap. 13. 11. Now t is this beast and his party that makes War against overcomes and kills the Witnesses his party is described chap. 13. 15 16. Such as either receive his mark or his name or the number of his name The explication of which see before upon chap. 13. Shall make war against them i. e. against the Witnesses We read chap. 13. 7. of the Beasts war against the Saints And it was given to him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them i. e. saith Mr. Mede the remnant of the womans seed in the Wilderness chap. 12. 17. which the same Author conceives to be executed when such a numerous company of the Waldenses and Albigenses and other true Christians were destroyed seventy years together First intended against the Saracens after turned against the Christians that would not worship and submit to the beast Here in this 11. chap. vers 7. is set down by the holy Ghost the beasts war against the Witnesses Note here into 〈◊〉 precedes the killing of the Witnesses a War properly to caned and a War against the Witnesses â—â— the Magistrates and Ministers of some of the Reformed Churches for so it did the killing of the Witnesses to the German Churches the War betwixt the Emperor and the German Princes especally the Sweeds lasted many years at last ended in a Pacification out 〈…〉 were left and deprived of the liberty of the Consiliences whereby the Preachers and Professors of 〈◊〉 Gospel in the He 〈◊〉 Provinces were â—ivilly slain Apug 1650. which differs from the others regard of the time of its it being at the latter end of Antichrists reign when the Witnesses finish their testimony not then they begin to finish but when they shall finish It commonwealth from the time They were persecuted and fought against by Antichrist often before but this is the last hattel before their death and rising again to the ruine of Antichrists Kingdom Which War as Parâ—â—s notes is not onely Ecclesiastical but Civil for the beast doth stir up Princes of Kingdoms and Provinces to make War against the Witnesses that he may overcome and kill them And shall overcome them i. e. not by power and armed force as in the war against the Saints chap 13. 7. which made way for and effected a cruel bodily killing of the Saints before mentioned The enemies have now given over this bodily killing of the Prophets and Saints almost this 100 years few in this space have been called before Tribunals and sentenced to death Happily some few examples may be found like a few drops of rain after a great showr but not many They have forborn this course not out of any love or compassion to the people of God but meerly because they durst not or because they found by proof that this course prejudiced their cause Sanguis Martyr Semen Eccles but he overcomes them by his Jesuitical or rather bottomless pit policy bringing it so about that the secular and ecclesiastical power like Herod and Pilat are united against the Witnesses the latter making use of the former as a rider makes use of the power and strength of his horse to ride over tread down and kill the Witnesses Rev. 13.3 And kill them Now because these words are somewhat killing and discouraging because the same with those chap. 13. 7. and import as if this slaughter because the last were worse then the first I will first therefore give you the judgement and opinion of learned Mede of this last killing by the Beast His words are these Neither can it certainly be concluded that because this killing that the Beast makes of the Witnesses is the last therefore t is the greatest and the worst of all that went before it But it hath and deserves a singular mention and description amongst all the slaughters of the Beast perhaps not so much for the greatness of it sure not because of the continuance of it as because it was to be a sign that the mourning of the witnesses should end soon after it and that the ruine of the City of Rome should instantly follow it Fo as the compassing about of Jerusalem with Armies Luk. 21.20 did foretel and was a sign her destruction and desolation was at hand and near at her drors the like here may be intimated as we may conceive concerning the destruction of Babylon when you shall see that triennial slaughter of the Witnesses then know the desolation of that great City of Rome it at hand Now this killing of the Witnesses by the Beast or his party is to be understood according to the forecited Author and all late Interpreters metaphorically or analogically of a civil death For he is said to dye in that notion or sense who in that station wherein he stood either Political or Ecclesiastical or any other ceaseth to be what he was hence he is said to kill The slaying of the Witnesses is to be understood not of a corporal but civil death Caryl on Job cap. 21. 7. that doth punish any man with such a death For in Scripture language to live is often to be to die is not to be in which sense we are said to dye to sin when we are no longer the servants to sin and to live to Christ when we begin to be Christs Furthermore This killing is plainly meant a killing them as Witnesses not as men a throwing them out of their places and stations as if naturally dead Whether this sad time be past present or to come I leave others to judge it appears by the following Verses it must be meant of a civil death ver 8. Their dead bonies lying in the street of the great City three days and a half this shews it cannot be meant of a natural death for how should their bodies lye dead in that sense for three years and a half or say it were for shorter time Again it is clear from vers 11. For look what the resurrection of the Witnesses to life shall be after their killing and lying dead such a time such must needs be the killing for no resurrection properly so called can come
Gospel going forth Rev. 14.15 should bring in a great Harvest to God and mightily increase the number of the Witnesses Shall see their dead bodies The word in the Greek doth import Rationem habere they shall have some cover over them as make their enemies affraid to proceed to great cruelties against them their enemies happily would starve them and their families but their friends will feed them their Enemies would banish them totally destroy them bury them under ground but the friends of the Witnesses will not suffer their persons nor names to be so dealt withal And their Enemies may see their interest so great in the hearts and affections of the people kindreds and tongues as may give some check to their violence for the wound being yet fresh and affayrs not well setled happily their Enemies would be loth to make them desperate or at least it may so come to pass by the secret favour and endeavour of some great person or persons things shall not be so carried against the Witnesses as there shall be no hope of a Resurrection Three days and an half i. e. three years and a half but here is to be noted the time here to be computed is not the killing but the time they shall iye dead and without life after they are killed but how long the war lasts Quam diu entem bellum ipsum durabit quantu â—â—que tempus dabitur prophetis interficiendis non nisi vaticinii complementum docebit Mede and how long time shall be given for the killing of the witnesses the fulfilling of the Propehcy will best tell us Verse 10. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoyce ever them and make merry and send gifts one to another c. Of the manner of sending gifts in great rejoycings see Ester 9.19 20. They joy now they are rid of and avenged of these Witnesses who vexed and troubled their consciences As upon the news of the French massacre which begun on Bartholmew day a Jubilee was proclaimed at Rome the Cardinal of Lorain gave a thousand crowns to the messenger and the Pope caused the massacre to be painted in his Palace So no doubt such an eminent civil slaughter in Protestant Churches must needs fill all the Popish world with rejoycings and longs of triumph the Bestian party then accounting the day theirs and that they have obtained a compleat victory Further note the Beasts or Beastian parties triumph for three days and a half must necessarily be computed and estimated not from the end of the slaughter in all the Churches but from the slaughter that shall be in that Church wherein the Prophets shall be last slain Neither can we imagine it to be otherwise unless we should furmise the slaughter of the Prophets to end in all the Churches at once which to be done in so many several States and Nations at once is hardly possible But this joy of the Inhabitants of the earth i. e. the Antichristian world is but short for v. 14. there is a wo Trumpet co Antichrist and all his Creatures and Confederates and all the enemies of the Saints threatning the last and worst of woful destructions to them Wo saith Christ to them that laugh for they shall weep Thus much of the War against killing and the lying dead of the Witnesses Now of their Resurrection Ascention and the consequents thereof in the 11th and following verses Verse 11. And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them c. Here beginneth now the third Period Period 3. where the enemies of the Gospel are quelled and therewith doth break forth the true peace and tranquillity of the Church When these three days or three years and a half come to an end then also together therewith do expire the forty two months of treading the holy City under foot ver 2. The 120 and 60 days of the Witnesses prophecying in sackcloth vers 3. The 1200 and 60 days of the woman in the wilderness chap. 12.6 the forty two months of the Beast and his blasphemies c. 13.5 The times time and half a time which is 1200 and 60 days of the Beast with ten hornes speaking great words against the most High and wearing out the Saints mentioned in the book of Daniel chap 7.21.12.6 But to come to the Text After three days and a half the spirit of life c. Such as the death of the Witnesses was such will be their resurrection from the dead viz. a restoring them to their former state and that not so much by any endeavour of their own or by any humane help as by the finger of God who is wonderful in all his works So much is intimated in these words The Spirit of life from God shall enter into them We have such an expression concerning the lews in the Captivity of Babylon I will put my Spirit within you and ye shall live and I will place you in your own land The same will befall he slain Witnesses God will lend them an unexpected help by such means as never entred into any mans mans thoughts God will revive them again And they stood upon their feet i.e. they appear again in the publick Congregations not as hearers onely but as Masters of the Assemblies and take possession of their places and publickly exercise their ministerial Office they are unbound and loosed from their grave-cloaths as Luzarus was when he came forth and stood upon their feet they are delivered from the bonds and cords and heavy yokes of humane laws and constitutions that killed them and kept them dead and hindred their resurrection And great fear fell upon them that saw them i.e. as there was great joy and exultation among the Beastian party at then killing and lying dead so there will be great terror when they shall fee this resurrection of the Witnesses to their former places and functions then will there be a lively example set before us of that which is written in the book of Wisdom chap. 5. Verse 12. And they heard a great voyce from heaven soying Come up hither That is The Witnesses are not onely restored to their former place and station but they are raised up to some higher degree of honour for so saith Mede their being taken up by a cloud into heaven signifies See Dan. 7.13 Isa 14.13 and 19. They shall be called up by the supreme Magistrate to higher honor and esteem then before And they ascend up to heaven i.e. they enter into their publick charges in the Church heaven and perform their ministry with great authority And their enemies beheld them i.e. they that did so before rejoyce at their sufferings wherein is verified concerning them what is threatned Jer. 50.11 to 13. Verse 13. And the same hour there was a great earthquake and the tenth part of the City fell and there were slain in the earthquake the names of men seven thousand At what time the Witnesses or Prophets ary