these plagues belong to that City or Society that is spiritually called Aegypt namely to the Papal or Antichristian Hierarchy that has so long kept the Children of God in bondage and in which the Witnesses have been so often slain Earth therefore here is chiefly repeated to bear a correspondence in the outward Cortex with Sea Rivers and Air as if God would stir up all the Elements or Nature to fight against the Beast and the Antichristian Powers And there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the Beast and upon them which worshipped his Image that is the minds of the Pontifician party were extreamly enraged and exulcerated with fury and envy against the risen Witnesses as an Evil Spirit from the Lord troubled Saul when they beheld them Chap. 11. vers 12. ascending to Heaven that is called up to high places and dignities in Church and State and that the Papal Idolatrous Power and Tyranny was abolished This Cup of Bitterness Wrath Envy and intoxicating Zeal for so foul a Cause was the effusion of the first Vial upon them which did so work upon them and dementate them that they made themselves still more execrable and odious by their impotent and unsuccessful attempts against them that God had thus exalted above their reach In the mean time we see how naturally besides the letting loose Evil Spirits upon them the first Vial follows the rising of the Witnesses accordingly as it is glanced at Chap. 11. vers 18. immediately after their rising and those Triumphant Doxologies for the same those Songs of Joy from whence the Sardian Church has her Name which here commenceth And the Nations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Heathen were angry c. by which are understood the Antichristian party as by Iews the truly Christian chap. 2.9 in the stile of the Apocalypse 3. And the second Angel poured out his Uial upon the Sea that is upon some parts of the Sea And Sea in the Prophetick stile signifying the gathering together of the People into one Polity or Kingdom it must signifie some parts of this Kingdom or Polity which is here the Jurisdiction or Dominion of the Papacy Of some parts therefore of this Sea it is said And it became as the blood of a dead man and every living soul died in the Sea viz. in these parts of this Sea which were turned into blood there were no live fishes to be caught there any more and fishes dead in the Sea signifie disappointment of hope and that what we expect will not come to pass In such a state was the Papal Hierarchy after the settlement of the Reformation in so many Provinces Principalities and Kingdoms which deadness and hopelesness of his affairs there brought to pass by the good Providence of God was the pouring out the second Vial upon these parts of this Sea or Jurisdiction and turning them into blood and the quite spoiling any further fishing there 4. And the third Angel poured out his Uial upon the Rivers and Fountains of waters and they became blood As Sea signified above Politically so Rivers and Fountains of Waters or Springs must that are the Heads of Rivers and both come from the Sea and return thither again viz. the water of them A Sea therefore here being a Kingdom or Polity the Rivers must be Emissary Powers of the said Kingdom whether Armies or other Agents with those that Head them or Govern them who may be deemed the Spring-heads of them they taking their directions and motions from them and depending on them as Rivers do on their Springs And this plague of turning Rivers into blood being manifestly one of the plagues of Aegypt these Emissaries must be the Emissaries of that City or Polity which is spiritually called Aegypt which is the Papal Hierarchy And the turning these Rivers into blood is the putting to death such Emissaries for their treasonable attempts against Kings or Princes and the setled Religion and Government of the place 5. And I heard the Angel of the Waters say viz. the Prefect of the multitudes of people Thou art Righteous O Lord which art and wast and shall be that is thou art just O Jehovah thou great Judge and King because thou hast judged thus 6. For they have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets namely in the Pergamenial Interval in which thy faithful Martyr Antipas was slain with the sword besides many other bloody butcheries and massacres of the people of God And thou hast given them blood to drink for they are worthy as having shed so much innocent blood 7. And I heard another out of the Altar say that is out of that place of the Temple where the Altar stood and where so many Burnt-offerings were made Even so Lord God Almighty true and righteous are thy judgements For I can witness what a number of Innocent Souls were burnt with fire and fagot in the Thyatirian Interval of the Church because they would not submit to the gross Superstitions and Idolatries and incredible nay impossible figments of the Roman Hierarchy and so were made Burnt-offerings or Sacrifices to their intolerable Avarice Ambition and Tyrannical Cruelty 8. And the fourth Angel poured out his Uial upon the Sun Sun here may have either a Political sense or a Mystical Mystically understood it may be the Word of God which is a Lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths as the great Lamp of the Universe is naturally understood to be The Vial therefore poured upon the Sun are clear convictive explications of the Word of God the Prophetical parts thereof especially whereby manifestly are discovered the unrighteous Mysteries of the Kingdom of Antichrist that men may see in what a foul condition they are how apostatized from God and Christ and how plainly and reproachfully their abominable doings are characterized by the finger of God in Scripture and how lively their most direful and diabolical Image is there described Whence it is no wonder that it immediately is said And power was given unto him to scorch men with fire 9. And men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the Name of God which hath power over these plagues and they repented not to give him Glory They are so vext that they blaspheme the Name of God and rather vilifie the Scriptures and the Spirit that wrote them than repent them of their sins and give Glory to God by acknowledging the Truth as certainly the true sense of the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse where they are known and acknowledged tend exceeding much to the Glory of God and the illustration of the constancy of his Providence And this may go for the mystical sense of the effusion of the Vial upon the Sun But there may be also a Political one and then Sun is to be understood of the greatest Secular Power within the Papal Jurisdiction which therefore is the German Empire Wherefore if any German Emperour or any
shew how nauseous and loathsome thou art to me in a torrent of Reproof as a sign of my disgust against thee and upon thy impenitence at length being weary of thee as concerning God it is said before his bringing the deluge of water on the Earth that it repented him that he had made man I will spew thee out from my self who fill all things and exterminate thee out of Being by a deluge of Fire that shall put an end to this Terrestrial Scene of things and the Laodicean Church shall be no more 17. But in the mean time that I may faithfully admonish thee Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have néed of nothing whilst thou considerest that Peace and Plenty that Power and Rule and security from Enemies which thou enjoyest and the purity of Doctrine and Worship free from Superstition and Idolatry and the abundance of both Natural and Divine Knowledge and clear understanding of Prophecies by reason of their completion now and skilfull Interpretations of thy Predecessors and Universal Freedom from all persecution I tell thee notwithstanding all these thou art mistaken in thy condition And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked in that thou art destitute of the Glories and Treasures of the Inward Man and art ignorant of the mysteries of Regeneration and of the Spirit of Life in the New Birth and art content with a covering but not of my Spirit whereby thou dost but add sin to sin 18. I counsel thée therefore to buy of me Gold tryed in the fire that thou mayest be rich Gold refined in the fire and so pure that it is transparent like glass New Jerusalem Gold which is the New Nature or Creature mine own Image And the price is thy sincere endeavouring and breathing after that state that thou mayest possess those durable Riches which shall not be melted when the Elements shall melt with fervent heat and the Earth and the works therein shall be burnt up namely at the Conflagration And white rayment that thou mayest be cloathed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear And buy of me white rayment that is groan in thy self O spiritless Laodicea and desire to be cloathed with thy Spiritual Tabernacle from Heaven that being so cloathed thou mayest not be found naked and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear at the last day And anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou mayest see Clear thy judgement and understanding by a diligent purification of thy Soul from all corruptions of flesh and spirit and perfect holiness in my fear that thou mayest see and have a right discerning in all things 19. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and repent As many as I love I chasten and I have a love to thee even for thy outward resemblance of thy deceased Sister Philadelphia and therefore I chastise thee with sharp reproofs to bring thee to an inward sense of things and shall further afflict thee by outward straits and distress to awaken thee For thine Enemies Gog and Magog by reason of thy remisness in Religion security and neglect of the Interest of my Kingdom will grow upon thee and at last encompass the Beloved City Be zealous therefore and repent thee of thy dead formality and remisness in the affairs of my Kingdome that so thou mayest recover the Philadelphian love and fervency 20. And do not complain of difficulties Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me I offer my aid unto you and solicit you ever and anon by good monitions and suggestions and if you obey sincerely my dictates and succours of Light and Grace I offer you and by this your sincerity open me the door I will sup with you I will communicate my Nature and Spirit unto you You shall feed on my flesh which is meat indeed and drink of my blood which is drink indeed and that saying shall be fullfilled in you I in my Father and you in me and I in you If any man love me and keep my Word my Father will love him and will come to him and abide with him 21. And that I may the more effectually rouse thee up out of this dead formality and tepidity out of this dulness and lethargy I add further To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne You shall not only enjoy Me and my Father in this life but if you will stand to the conflict and so attain to the state of the Spirit of Life and real Regeneration into the Living Image of my self I will exalt you to the same happiness with my self your bodies being transformed into the Image of my glorious Body and so fitted to ascend into the Throne that he has given me whose Throne is Heaven as Earth his footstool Nay you shall sit with me in my Throne and judge the Apostate Angels at the last day This is a great and stupendious promise but you ought to consider that he has promised it who is the Amen the true and faithfull Witness and the Beginning of the Creation of God and therefore both will and can bring all his counsels purposes and promises to pass Even so Amen 22. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches NOTES CHAPTER III. Vers. I. Whose condition is notified in their name c. Namely by way of allusion to the Lapis Sardius whose vertue is to exhilarate the mind of him that wears it and make him couragious and is an Amulet against witchcraft and poyson Which may intimate the comfortable doctrine of Iustification by Faith and the defeating the poyson of that cup of Fornication in the hand of the Whore of Babylon that the Sardian Church is not infected with that poyson of Idolatry as being out of the reach of that inchanted Cup of the Whore Sardis also signifies Canticum Laetitiae which sutes well with the Ioy of the Reformed Churches at the rising of the Witnesses signified by those Harpers with the Harps of God in their hand ch 15. But being the Sardius Stone is in Hebrew called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Odem which sounds near to Edom and by the Latines termed Carnalina this insinuates the defectuousness of the Sardian Church and her Carnality in several points of Doctrine and Practice Concerning which see my Exposition of the seven Churches Chap. 7. Vers. 7. And discovers its nature and condition in its name c. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Love of the Brethren and indeed consequently the Love of God and all Men these Vertues are so nearly linked together when they are sincere and in a due degree See my Exposition of the Seven Churches
Book what acclamations in Heaven were there thereupon For the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours which are the prayers of the Saints And 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 As if this priviledge of obtaining such a wonderful power of predicting things to come and communicating such a Book as this of the Apocalypse unto his Church were one special fruit of his Passion and the shedding his most precious blood upon the Cross. And therefore let them take heed that despise this Book of the Apocalypse so much and all endeavours to understand it aright that they be not found in the number of them that tread under-foot the Son of God even in those things for which he is the most highly admired and extolled by the blessed Saints and Angels which is the greatest slight and affront of him imaginable and count his precious blood shed upon the Cross whereby he procured this transcendent priviledge to himself and them of fore-knowing things that concern all Ages of his Church an unholy thing and do despite to the Spirit of Prophecy In the mean time this may at least excuse them that seriously and soberly endeavour rightly to understand the Visions of this Book from being reputed men less judicious or else very unfortunate to spend their time and labour on so mean and obscure an argument as this Book of the Apocalypse as some for want of judgement or good will have perstringed that excellently learned and pious person M r Joseph Mede But what a vast difference is there betwixt the Spirit of the holy Evangelist John and the great Spirits or Wits as they would be accounted of this Age He wept out of an eager desire of understanding the Prophecies of this Book they laugh at any one for a fool that pretends the endeavouring to understand them or thinks they are to be understood But I hope that will be found true that Solomon sayes Prov. chap. 14. vers 6. A scorner seeketh wisdom and findeth it not but knowledge is easie to him that understandeth Which I distrust not but will be made good in any intelligent Reader of my Exposition of this Book It will prove easie to him upon his taking notice of the meaning of the Prophetick stile and supposing the grounds I go upon which are but few and allowed generally by all Protestant Churches that I know of viz. That the Church of Rome is Idolatrous which will imply that the Greek Church also was so as is plain from the second Nicene Council which the Romanists alledge That the said Church is murderous as having put to death many and many thousands of innocent Souls because their consciences would not allow them to joyn with this Church in their Idolatrous Worship And lastly that she is Imposturous in pretending to many miraculous Acts that exceed the power of Nature or the faculties of any ordinary men As changing the Elements as they call it of Bread into real Flesh and of Wine into real Blood by saying certain words over it In exorcising or enchanting of Statues or Images and of Water Oyl and other things by certain words into a power of keeping off Enemies repelling Diseases ceasing Thunder and Lightening and driving away the Devil nay in pretending to a Power of thunder-striking men down into hell which is only in the hand of God Almighty to do at his pleasure and not for men to do at their pleasures because others will not joyn with them in their gross Doctrines and Idolatrous Worship This if it were true were a stupendious Miracle indeed thus to bring fire from heaven to thunder-strike innocent men into the pit of hell But such pretended feats as these this Book elegantly expresses by the phrase of Sorcery or Magick as it may be called as being an imitation of the pretences of Magicians thus to act above Nature by words and charms These are the main things that are supposed concerning the Church of Rome which if they be admitted the sense of the Apocalypse will run as glib as may be upon a little knowledge of the Prophetick stile And I shall wonder at any one that is satisfied concerning these that shall stick at the truth of our Interpretation which as touching this part is so throughly demonstrated in my Joynt-Exposition or rather in the eight last Chapters of the first Book of my Synopsis Prophetica that I cannot tell what can be more fully evidenced to the reason of a man namely That the Beast that was and is not and yet is is the Roman Empire and the Woman that rides him the Roman Hierarchy after the times of the seventh King that was to stay but a little while which are the pure Christian Caesars Wherefore the Roman Hierarchy after that time being set out by the symbol of a Whore for so that Woman is called viz. the Whore of Babylon and the Beast she rides on said to be full of Names of Blasphemy it is manifest that both the Empire and Hierarchy are become Idolatrous Besides that if the Apocalypse were silent in this matter of their being Idolatrous the Writers of the Protestants have over and over again demonstrated them to be so and for them that are so perswaded not to acknowledge their condition to be predicted in the Apocalypse but to conceit it silent therein is to envy God and Christ the Glory of foretelling things to come and the Church the priviledge of having them foretold her and the advantage of confounding her enemies thereby And now for the state of the Reformed Church that it will be at last so well Reformed and so largely amplified that Peace Truth and Righteousness shall at last over-spread as it were the face of the earth and that herewith the Iews will be called and make one part of the Catholick Church this is a thing both believed and hoped for by all good men and expresly pointed at in several places of Scripture as well as in the Apocalypse And lastly for the first Resurrection the proper priviledge of the Martyrs at the entrance of the Millennial Reign of Christ upon Earth that this was the general Opinion of the Primitive Church is made out notably by M r J. Mede in sundry places of his Writings And that way that I have explained it here in my Exposition it cannot have the least scandal or offence the Martyrs according to my Explication not living upon Earth but being revivificated into their Glorious Bodies reign with Christ in Heaven Wherefore the things that I suppose being so certain or unexceptionable and my Exposition consequential to these and perpetually made out according to the known meaning of the Prophetick stile and agreeably to the truth of History without any violence done to either