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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	book_n	dead_a	open_v	5,415	5	9.9361	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68061	An exquisite commentarie vpon the Reuelation of Saint Iohn VVherein, both the course of the whole booke, as also the more abstruse and hard places thereof not heretofore opened; are now at last most cleerely and euidently explaned. By Patrik Forbes of Corse.	Forbes, Patrick, 1564-1635.	1613 (1613)	STC 11149.3; ESTC S102414	192,912	300

Christ began this second time sitting on a white cloude Chap. 14. 14. to make his iudgements manifest Cha. 15. 4. And from the time he began to erect this his great white Throne by the reuiued light of the Gospell when the time of the dead commeth to bee iudged Chap 11. The seuenth Trumpet sounding to the finishing of the mystery of God in full accomplishment of all which the Prophets foretold for deliuerance of the Church and her goodly state in grace So as the signe of the sonne of man shall bee seene in heauen the victory ouer her enemies shall still hold on and the enemies still fall as did Haman before Mordecay till by all the degrees of destruction they at last in the generall iudgement receiue finall sentence when death and the Diuell who hath dominion thereof shall be abolished And for this purpose onely it is that heere so liuely an hypotyposis of the last iudgement is set downe In the person of the iudge the maner and order of iudging and the execution so farre foorth as for the present purpose was needfull The person of the Iudge is described in his office administration thereof and his dreadfull maiesty and power In office hee is a Iudge a royall and a great Iudge as hauing a Throne and a great Throne He is also faithfull true vpright and glorious and whose iudgements are cleare and manifest by his white Throne As he rode before Chap. 19. on a white horse and did sit Chapt. 14. on a white cloude His administration is in that hee sitteth His dreadfull maiesty and power is expressed in a wonderfull forme of ishing before his presence Heauen and Earth depart and so as their place is not found To shew a perfit departing as that which in Scripture is saide of the wicked that he perisheth so as his place is not knowen 21 The order of iudgement is in the persons iudged and manner of processe The persons are all the deade great and small cleared by enumeration of these who are dead in the Sea who by any other kind of mortality or who were in their graues And herein clearely is implyed the power of the Iudge For no question can bee of the liuing when all the dead are forced to giue presence The manner of processe is set downe after the forme of well ordered humane iudicatories In that bookes were opened euen the records of mens actions and another booke the booke of life The iudgement of earth is of these things which were in the bookes according to their workes The forme of speech is to be noted in that it saith not of things written in the bookes and according to their workes To shew that heere are not two rules of iudging But that so men are iudged according to their works as yet the iudgement is led and ordered by the bookes For the ground and cause of the iudgement is the booke of life according as in it mens names are written or are passed by beeing either giuen to Christ of the Father or left Now whom the Father giueth him none is able to take out of his hand but he raiseth them vp at the last day And whom he electeth them hee predestinateth to bee made conformable to the image of his sonne whom he predestinateth he calleth effectually whom he calleth he iustifieth and sanctifieth heere by his spirit to bring foorth fruits of righteousnesse and so at length glorifieth These fruits of faith confirme vs in the assurance of our election and that wee are in Christ Iesus that which further strengthneth our peace as writing it in our owne consciences which are the one sort of bookes and whose testimonie must accord with the other booke of life Now then in the iudgement so are workes lookt on as collation alwaies must be of the bookes to see if our names be written in the booke of life as assurance of life and ioyfull peace are written in our consciences Otherwaies in it selfe all our righteousnesse is but as a menstruous clout But yet what Israel will not obtaine seeking to establish their owne righteousnesse which is by the Law the election will obtaine 22 Such are the person of the Iudge and the order and manner of processe Now the execution followeth Which agreeably to the purpose of the holy Ghost for which onely mention of the last iudgement is heere made is all in wrath against death hell and such as are not written in the booke of life who are adiudged to euerlasting fire which is the second death And this is to shew as I touched before that this last victory ouer the Dragon and his instruments shall bee full and perfect holding course from the first degree of their foile therein till death and the graue which are the last enemies be subdued And this execution of enemies was sufficient to record in this place where this matter is not handled as though now at this point of time and incident case the last iudgement were to fall out As many heereupon haue imagined that the ouerthrow of Antichrist and these huge Armies of opponents should bee conioined with Christ his last comming But the spirit hath no such meaning But handling the victory of the Church ouer her enemies to shew that it should bee perfect he letteth vs see that it shall hold on till all enemies being subdued to Christ his feet at last death be swallowed vp of victorie and that the Dragons foile should not bee now as at the first binding from which after a space hee got loose againe But it should bee to finall destruction And in this sense the Apostle in the second to the Thess 2. telleth that Antichrist shall bee abolished with the brightnesse of the Lord his comming Not as though he shall raigne till then but that he shall be so consumed heere with the power of the word of truth as without recouering strength he shall be destroied for euer the full and perfect point whereof is in the Lord his last comming and finall sentence against him Therefore Cha. 17 the Beast is said to goe to destruction In the vsuall manner of Scripture when God will confirme his Saints against dangers and in hope of deliuerance for their full setling he leadeth them to the consideration of that finall deliuerance whereto euer our hearts should bend themselues and in like manner in denouncing destruction to the enemies in the measure whereof as it falleth out here we neuer are satisfied he leadeth vs to their last and finall sentence Thus the Lord calleth the Prophet and other faithfull in that promised deliuerance from the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes to the consolation of the resurrection So Christ in his sermons often Paul for all Christianity pleadeth the resurrection The Martyres suffered constantly vnder the Lawe looking for a better resurrection The Scripture teacheth vs that that day shall come as a thiefe vpon a peaceable and secure world marrying and taking in

to place all his security in being in the Lord his Tabernacle where the Lord would place him on a rocke and where he would repose vnder the wings of the Lord. 12 The other part of God his dispensation is gracious in threefold graces as the first was in threefold iudgments The three graces are the spirit of sanctification the pure word of God and the faithfull Ministery thereof The type of the spirit of sanctification are seuen Lampes burning before the throne seuen for perfection of all graces burning both for illumination and purging power Lampes for this worke in our hearts in which hee infundeth and nourisheth the oile of grace to faith and loue our sound state wherein is compared by the Lord to wise Virgins hauing oile in their lamps and wee are warned to haue our lamps burning and that wee quench not the spirit They are said to be before the throne as Chap. 1. for the Spirit his ready and plentifull outward operation still ioyned with his two subsequent instruments in his owne children Sect. 9. 13 The second grace is the first outward meane of the spirit the pure word of God the type whereof is a gla●●ie sea like to Christall It is before the throne as euer ioined in his Saints with the spirit and for that therein wee may see the glory of God with open face Isai 59. 21. 1. Cor. 3. That the word of God for the purging and refreshing vertue thereof is compared to water is euident by the ordinary speech of al Scripture Hereof the Lauer placed in the entry to the Tabernacle was a type to which in Salomon his Temple succeeded the brasen sea whence this here hath the name It is of gla●se for the calme stilnesse thereof for God his word is not as those raging waters which stirre vp mud and durt but like those still running waters by which Dauid was led Psal 23 And as the soft running waters of Siloam which refresh the City of God Psal 46. Therefore besides their stilnesse they are cleare as Christall much excelling that Sea in Solomon his Temple which was of Brasse both for the open and cleare sight for which it is also before the throne as I haue touched and also for that this Sea admitteth no mixture of any other Cisterne It is not mixed with bloud as that Chapter 8. much lesse with bloudy worsum as that Chapter 16. Finally it admiteth nothing except the fire Chapter 15. 14 The third grace and second outward meane of the spirit of sanctification is the faithfull Ministery of this Word for it pleaseth God to saue the world by the foolishnesse of preaching The type hereof are foure bodied wights translated in our bookes beasts through the pouerty of our tong which affordeth but one word for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in relation to the two former graces For albeit the spirit bee the spirit of life and life it selfe yet as wee see neither what way the wind commeth nor which way it goeth so know wee not the way of the spirit although wee feele the force of it And howbeit the word of God bee liuelie and of it as of an immortall seed wee are begotten to immortality yet it hath not that outward naturall and bodily life in it which men haue who minister the same who therefore are called liuing wights by their Ministery begetting in vs the life of God and so are our spiritual Fathers Gal. 4. 19. And this is the third great grace of God vpon his Church that hee hath giuen gifts to men and raised vp to vs Prophets of our Brethren In them are shewed first their properties common and singular and next their function Of their common properties the first is their place betwixt the throne and the Elders as Ministers dispensators of grace from God to thē as also for al their function whereof hereafter Thus placed their number is foure as sufficient to go to all quarters like these foure Ministers of God his generall prouidence and dispensation Ezech. 1. foure Chariots of Brasse Zach. 6. the 4 Angels Cap. 7. Their next cōmon property is that they are full of eyes noting vigilancy and knowledge for they are Watchmen and should bee able to teach exhort rebuke improue and conuince For their place and calling whereby they haue to looke continually to the Throne to the Elders the Church and to themselues as placed for lights and examples to their flockes they are full of eyes before behind and within Act. 20. 28. 1. Tim. 4. 16. Their last cōmon property is that each hath sixe winges in all answerable to the number of the Elders and so placed as all are for flight not as of the Seraphim Isai 6. in such sort as they can intend flight no where whether they haue not wings to carry them hauing wings round about as well as eyes to shew aswel as knowledge and care so promptitude and fitnesse to helpe diligently and minister a word in season to the weary to strengthen the weake to confirme the strong to raise them who are fallen to bind vp the broken hearted to beate downe the lofty to seeke what is loosed and bring home what is strayed The singular property of each is the first had the face of a Lyon shewing courage the second the face of a Bullocke noting patience and labour the third of a man for prudency the fourth of a flying Eagle to signifie as a contempt of base so a sharpe sight in heauenlie things as the Eagle soareth high and is able to looke in the Sunne at No one-day Now these are not here so attributed singularly to each as if they were vtterly depruied of the other properties which cannot consist with their vertues which euer draw all these together in some degree as these foure Ezech. 1. are described each to haue all the foure faces but here they are distinctly attributed to shew God his wise dispensation in his Ministers of grace so dealing aboundantly to all as yet his diuersity of graces is to bee seene in each one Further if we consider rightly since the Apostles who excelled in all the first succeeding Ministers of the Gospell were like Lyons for courage subduing all and taking the spoile none able to rescue it The next for bloudy persecution and constant suffering were bullockes The third for prudent spying out of Antichrist were men And therefore Chap. 13. to count the number of the beast is counted wisdome and the witty are inuited thereto and Chapter 17. the mind which hath wisdome findeth out who the beast is The fourth sort are of them who Antichrist being reuealed and knowne shall see as Eagles and soare vp to the beholding of the hid secrets of God his word when the Angell standeth in the sunne Chap. 19. as the dayly growth of knowledge in these and other misteries of the Kingdome giue not onelie

was that Chapter 13. of them who admire and follow the Beast and that hereafter verse 8. but no the lesse hauing mixed with it some such infirmity as required a wakening of him from a vanishing astonishment wherein many lie benummed in these our dayes who yet wonder not the first wondring This effect of the vision occasioneth the Interpretation First of the Beast who is summarily described ver 8. and after more plainly exponed in the interpretation of the heads and horns His summary description is by his stable and yet variable condition which in those who are not written in the booke of life worketh such admiration as was that Chapter 13. This Beast then in some sort and respect had beene before that time wherein Iohn seeth him and in some respect and condition was euen then albeit not as it was before neither as it should be thereafter and was yet to come in a different respect condition from either And as it was yet to come which is the condition and time wherein here it is to bee taken and considered it hath two remarkeable notes One is that it should arise out of the bottomlesse pitte which albeit in some sort it may bee said of all wicked powers yet it is in a singular manner proper to Antichrist Chapter 9. and 13. the Vicar of the Dragon his kingdome the Angell of the bottomlesse pitte the aduersary the man of sin and sonne of perdition His other note is that hee goeth to destruction whereof hereafter 8 This description so obscurelie proponed as in a ridle the Angell most clearely openeth in the interpretation of the heads and hornes so as it is maruell why any should seeke after any other sense of the Angels words then that which himselfe giueth 9 First then the heades are both seuen hilles on which the woman sitteth and also seuen Kings The first is so cleare a note of Rome as Grammarians know it and both are put here iointly for cleare demonstration what state hee pointeth at as also to shew that the heads of that state as they are Kings must onely bee taken of such as alwayas held that City and not of such as are or were heades in bare title neither abiding in that City nor making it great and glorious by their power such as were the Grecian Emperours after the fall of the westerne Empire And much more ridiculously since the Kings of Germany bearing the title of Romane Emperours while they haue not one foot within Italy yea of all Princes who now domine within the compasse of the olde Romane dition brooke the smallest portion thereof and whatsoeuer either now be or before was the Title of other yet seeing the Beast bearing vppe the woman maketh her glory and grandeure none can bee esteemed for heades now but these by whome shee retaineth her credite lustre and pompe Neither are Kings here to bee taken for so many persons but for so many kinds of soueraign gouernments in course ruling that state according to the knowne frame of Hebrue speech Now in exponing these seuen Kings hee doth interprete the former darke speech and leadeth vs euen by the hand to the time and that state and condition of Rome in time which here properly is the Beast bearing the Whore 10 The Beast had been in a sort in the fiue heades who were fallen It was euen then in respect of the policy at that time ruling but as the Beast here is discribed and specially to bee vnderstood that is as by him Rome becommeth the great whore hee was yet to come The fiue fallen were Kings Consuls Dictators Decemuirs and Tribunes Caesars the sixt head ruled in Iohn his dayes A seuenth was to come which notwithstanding is not the Beast or head making this beast as here it is set downe For that head was soone to euanish but the eight head in number and which in a sort is one of the seuen hath here peculiarly the name of this beast 11 Of this head three things are noted First that hee is the eighth in number and order Secondly that yet in a sort hee is one of the seuen to shew how notwithstanding that eight are here counted it standeth yet true that the Beast had but seuen heads Not that it was one and the same properly but for viue resemblance Chapter 13. As making vp the image of the Beast by cure of the deadly wound and bringing kingdomes prouinces in al 's great subiection to Rome by the cup of fornication thus bearing vp the Whore as did earst the former heads by force of Armes so it is both the eight and in a sort the sixt wherein the Beast had got a deadly wound which this head cureth For the liuely resemblance in Monarchie state lawes rites vestments c. Read the donation of Constantine and Steuchus in defence of it This eighth head then is the Pontificality by which Rome is extolled and borne vp to be a Queene and Lady of Kingdomes bewitching the world and because in the summarie speech he had said that the Beast was to come and seeing seuen heades had onely beene attributed to the Beast whereof none of the sixe could be hee as he is here proponed lest hereby we should thinke that of necessity the next head after Caesars being the seuenth behoued to bee this Beast the Antichrist the Angell in great wisdome and plainnesse pulleth vs from that thought in shewing that one was then to come who yet was not hee for that should soon bee gone but the eighth and last should bee this Beast I shewed on the 13. Chapter that the seuenth head was the Kingdome of the Ostrogothes to whose King Theodoricus the Emperour of the East with aduise of Senate willingly bequeathed Rome and Italy sacro texit velamine in Signum reiab imperio concessae and who of the Romans was receiued as their lawfull Prince and by himselfe and his Successors raigned ouer it many yeeres during which was both peace and friendshippe betwixt them and the Emperours of Constantinople all the dayes of Zeno Anastasius and Iustinus The third note of this eighth head called peculiarly the Beast bearing the Whore is that hee goeth to destruction And in this hee is also singular from all former heads who albeit they all did fall yet the beast in some sort remained For the State and credite of the Kingdome abode in some degree in the subsequent heades But this eighth head shall draw that whole state with him to vtter and euerlasting ruine and this is that which Chapter 19. is meaned where it is said that the Beast and false Prophet are taken and both cast in the Lake Whereupon many fondly imagine that the Beast and false Prophet bee two diuers But this is it which the spirit would shew vs that the false Prophet who is the head shall so fall as the body of the state and Kingdome shall perish with him For none shall bee able to