Church They are in their Hearts sealed of the Spirit but outwardly they have no other Mark save that of the profession of the pure Doctrine of the Apostles By the Mark that is in their Hearts they are known of God and by that in their Foreheads they are known of men VII ILLUSTRATION Of the Multitude which no man could number that Stood before the Lamb with Palms of their felicity and whence they came REV. CHAP. 7. V. 9. After this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all Nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white Robes and Palms in their hands V. 10. And they cried with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb. V. 11. And all the Angels c. V. 12. Saying Amen Blessing and Glory and Wisdom and Thanksgiving Honor and Power Might be unto our God for Ever and Ever Amen V. 13. And one of the Elders answered saying unto me what are these which are arayed in white Robes and whence are they V. 14. And I said unto him Sir thou knowest And he said to me these are they which came out of great Tribulation and have washed their Robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. V. 15. Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them V. 16. They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them nor any heat V. 17. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their Eyes THis multitude that could not be numbred are the companions of those Souls who cried under the fifth Seal How long O Lord before thou avenge our blood and white Robes were given unto them and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow servants also and their bretheren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled chap. 6. v. 10 11. These Martyrs are represented innumerable and there are two reasons intimated for it First because they were of all Nations kindreds people and Tongues 2ly because they were come out of great Tribulation And this great Tribulation is so called from the long duration of it Nor could it be otherway's for that it was to continue as long as the Papal Kingdom namely two and fourty months or a 1260 day 's which are 1260 years as we shall afterwards see They are represented clothed in white Robes as they under the fifth Seal were to intimate both their dignity and their Joy. But besides this they are represented standing before the Throne and before the Lamb with Palms in their hands whereas they under the fifth Seal were represented under the Altar and without Palms The reason of that difference is this because under the fifth Seal the Enemies of the Martyrs had the upper hand of them and persecuted their memories to that degree as to dig their bodies out of the ground and to throw their ashes into the wind as accounting them an abominable crew whereas in the place of that these here their great Tribulation's being finished and the 1260 years expired and the Beast and the false Prophet being cast into the bottomless pit are represented standing before the Throne of God and with Palms in their hands as conquerors over all their Enemies They shall be acknowledged blessed in Heaven and such who after the End of this Tribulation shall be found on the Earth walking in their faith shall Reign with Christ a thousand years So that the Holy Spirit doth by way of Anticipation describe here the felicity of the Church of God on the Earth whereof we have spoken upon the Subject of the first Resurrection that the terrible calamity which is to be represented under the Trumpets might not discourage believers being strengthened and fortified before hand by a promise of the victory which the Church shall at last obtain over her Enemies The Prophet Isaiah hath promised the same happiness to the Church of Israel For he hath said chap. 25. v. 8. that God will wipe away tears from off all faces And he hath said chap. 41. v. 10. that they shall not hunger not thirst neither shall the heat nor Sun smite them 'T is likewise to the Church made up of Iews and Gentiles that the Holy Spirit doth here promise the same felicity The Terms used by Isaiah do equally agree with the happiness in Heaven for the Souls of the Martyr's and with the happiness on Earth for those who shall have part in the first Resurrection and who shall Reign a thousand years VIII ILLUSTRATION Of the Silence in Heaven for half an hour REV. CHAP. 8. V. 1. And when he had opened the Seventh Seal there was silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour V. 2. And I saw the Seven Angels which stood before God and to them were given seven Trumpets AFter that the Idolatry of the Roman Empire was overthrown and after that the Christian Religion was established by publick Authority and that an end was put to persecution St. Iohn saw heresies and superstitions breaking in upon the Church But this did not come to pass immediately there was a space before that had the face of a peace or truce In a word there was a a short intervall That is it which had been already represented by the holding back of the four winds whereof we have spoken in the fifth Illustration And it is the same which is represented by the silence mentioned here at the opening of the 7 th Seal For when no wind blows there is a general calm And a great silence in the Air which is called Heaven in Scripture But in this place Heaven signifies the Church and Silence denoteth the peace that was established under the Reign of Constantin Called a Silence for half an hour because that peace continued only for a few years So that if the holding the winds from blowing signifies a general peace the Silence for half an hour marks the short while that it lasted IX ILLUSTRATION Of the seven Angels with the seven Trumpets and of the Angel who cast the Censer into the Earth REV. CHAP. 8. V. 2. And I saw the seven Angels which stood before God and to them were given seven Trumpets V. 3. And another Angel came and stood at the Altar having a golden Censer and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar which was before the Throne V. 4. And the Smoke of the Incense which came with the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand V. 5. And the Angel took the
and Antichristian Each of them had its Vicar Babylon her Caliph who calls himself the Vicar of God and of Mahomet and Rome her Pope who stiles himself the Vicar of Iesus Christ and of St. Peter Finally Heathen Babylon was a Type of Rome Papal and Antichristian as the Redemption of the Iews from the Babylonish Captivity was a figure of the Departure of the Reformed from the Communion of Rome So that we are not to be surprised that the Holy Ghost should under the name of Babylon intend Rome But we must examin all the Lineaments of this Portraiture that so if it thereby appear that all of them do agree to Rome we may no longer doubt but that it is Rome which is here signified by Babylon In the first place St. Iohn says that he saw a Woman Now as the Church of God is represented under the Idea of a Woman being the Spouse and Wife of the Lamb so Rome is also a Church but She is the Spouse of the Pope whom we have proved to be Antichrist 2. The Woman which St. Iohn saw sat upon a Scarlet-coloured Beast full of the Names of Blasphemy having seven Heads and ten Horns Rev. 17. 3. And we have already proved that this Beast is the Roman Empire Which as it is represented under a Scarlet Colour because both its Senators and Emperors chose to wear that colour so the Beast is said to be full of Names of Blasphemy because the Empire was stiled Eternal Rome a Goddess and the Emperors Gods. The Church of Rome sitteth also upon this Beast because she hath succeeded unto and is possessed of the Majesty of the Roman Empire and hath revived all its Blasphemies through calling her self Eternal and Infallible 3. St. Iohn stiles Babylon a Harlot and the mother of Harlots which is as much as Idolatrous and the Mother of Idolaters Now Rome calleth her self the Mother of all Churches and as she stands convicted of being Idolatrous by the adoration that she giveth to Bread and the accidents of it in the Eucharist and the Worship which she rendreth to the Cross to the holy Virgin to Images and to the Pope himself so all Churches within her Communion are Idolatrous as she is Which proves her to be the Harlot and the Mother of Harlots which St. John describeth 4. He further adds that this Woman sitteth upon many Waters Which Waters the Angel explaineth to be Nations the Waters says he which thou sawest where the Whore sitteth are peoples Nations and Tongues Rev. 17. 15. Now all do know that Rome pretendeth to have a Right of jurisdiction over the whole World and in truth She was heretofore reverenced by all Europe as the Seat of the everlasting Kingdom of the Son of God. 5. Babylon carrieth in her fore-head a Name Written MYSTERY Nor can any deny but that this agreeth to the Church of Rome For the Pope carried heretofore the Name Mystery upon the Brim of his Myter which exactly answered to the forehead Julius the second was he who took it away out of his and since then it hath been no more used nor seen And King James the first of great Brittain having affirmed that persons who were worthy of credit had seen the Name Mystery upon the Miter of the Popes that were before Julius the second the Jesuite Lessius contenteth himself with bare answering that we are not to seek for a Mystery in a Mystery Which is an acknowledgment of the matter of Fact and a confession that it used to be there In a word there is no one thing in the Papal Church but what is Mysterious The Habit 's of the Popes of the Cardinals of the Arch-Bishops of the Bishops of the Priests and of the Monks are all full of Mysteries that are wholly unintelligible to the people Nor doth the Priest use the least Gesture nor the least Motion at the Altar or in any part of their Divine Service which is not Mysterious and hid from the understanding of the Vulgar 6. Of what other but of Rome can that be understood which is said of Babylon namely that she hath a Golden Cup in her hand full of Abominations and Filthiness of her Fornication The Scripture doth elsewhere compare Doctrines to Drink or to diet that is fit to nourish so that these Abominations which are in the Golden Cup are abominable Doctrines such as the Forbidding Priests to Marry and the commanding to abstain from meatâ— The Church of Rome findeth it to be more to her purpose that a Priest should keep a Harlot rather than that he should have a lawful Wife which is an Abomination She imposeth a greater Punishment on them that shall eat Flesh in Lent upon Friday than upon those who commit Adultery and Murther which is an Abomination She taketh away the Cup in the Sacrament both against the express command of the Son of God who sayth drink ye all of it Matth. 26. 27. and contrary to the practice of the Apostles and of the whole Church for the first five Centuries as themselves do aknowledg Which is an Abomination She teacheth that Christ is not really present in the Eucharist unless it be the Priests pleasure to have it so and keth the Presence of the Son of God to depend upon the Intention of a wretched creature which is an Abominable Doctrine She every day Sacrificeth the Lord of Glory and offereth him up to the Honor of Saints which is an Abomination In brief all the Doctrines of the Papacy and all their Worship are an Abomination because they all tend to the Worship of the Creature But the Golden Cup by means of which she makes the people receive and swallow them is her Infallibility It is with this that She Guilds over her false Doctrines and her Superstitious Worship They do ingenuously acknowledg that neither Transubstantiation nor the Sacrifice of the Mass nor the Adoration of the Host nor the Worship of Images nor any of their other Doctrines and Errors are founded on the Scripture but the Church of Rome having decreed and enjoined them and She being Infallible we are to receive them implicitely and without examination or otherway's we are to be eternally damned By means of this glistering Cup all is submissively received by the deluded people This serveth to make them swallow down the greatest Abominations such as the prohibition of reading the Scripture and of serving God in a language which they understand and the doctrines of Worshipping the Host the Cross the Pope the with-holding the Cup and a thousand other Superstitions 7 Moreover it is said of Babylon chap. 18. v. 7. that She saith in her heart I sit a Queen am no Widow and shall see no sorrow Which is the very language of the Church of Rome She stiles her self the Soveraign Lady and Mistris of all Christians not only of inferior people but of Princes Kings and Emperors And indeed She is an Empire having for her Monarch the Pope for her
Censer and filled it with fire of the Altar and cast it into the Earth and there were voyces and thundrings and lighnings and an Earthquake TRumpets were used under the Law for two uses One was for War and to encourage the people to fight The other was for peace and to stir up the people to a holy rejoicing Those spoken of here are of the first sort The Seven Angels are the denouncers of those Evils which God was to pour out upon the Church to punish her decay in zeal and Charity The other Angel who stood before the Golden Altar with a Golden Censer is Jesus Christ that appeared in the 7. Chap. with the Seal of God and appeareth now as a Priest with a Censer that is to say as an Intercessor And his Intercession appeareth here with two different effects one for his people in obtaining their prayers to be accepted and his giving value to them is figured by incense The other against false Christians upon whom he scattereth fire from off the Altar This is the fire of division whereof Christ speaks Luke 12. 49 51. I am come to send fire on the earth Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on Earth I tell you nay but rather division 'T is said that this fire was taken off the Altar because it was to be kindled in a Church destitute of zeal and charity and because this fire of division was to be about Religion as the subject of it and by reason that Jesus Câ—rist was to be the cause of it or at least the pretence The voices thundrings lightnings and Earthquake that ensued upon the Scattering of this fire do plainly represent the strifes quarrels and troubles which under the Reign of Constantin and his Successors broke out among the Bishops and Pastors Who being given up to covetousness luxury and ambition raised such troubles as shook the Christian Religion and opened a door to Antichristianism which did appear under the Trumpets X. ILLUSTRATION Of the first Trumpet and of the Hail Fire and Blood. REV. CHAP. 8. V. 1. And the seven Angels which had the Seven Trumpets prepared themselves to sound V. 7. And the first Angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood and they were cast upon the Earth and the third part of the Trees was burnt up and all green Grass was burnt up WE find not in History any change that befell the Church so near to the withholding the winds and to the Silence for half an hour i. e. so near to the peaceable Reign of Constantin which either more opened a door to Antichristianism or which better correspondeth to this Hail to this fire and to this blood caused by this first Trumpet than that so much noted Heresie of Arius 1 Arianism begun to lift up its head under the Reign of Constantin The Church had no sooner peace than the Devil let loose this Heretick to trouble her 2 This Heresie infected the whole Empire The world saith St. Ierom trembleth and is amased to see it self become Arian It lasted near three hundred years Many Councils were assembled to stop its course And it was in these Councils that the Bishop of Rome laid the foundation of that Supremacy which made him afterward to be considered and feared as the Head the judg and the absolute Monarch both of the world and of the Church 3 The hail the fire and the blood do admirably agree to that Heresie 'T is called Hail by reason both of its violence and of the noise which it made and because of the barrenness and coldness which it begot in mens hearts out of which it drove away godliness and charity 'T is stiled Fire because of the contentions which it kindled And it is called Blood by reason of the bloody persecutions which it raised And whereas she third part of the Trees and every green Herb are said to have been burnt up it is because more than one half of the Pastors who are designed by Trees and the generality of the people signified by all green Grass were infected with it XI ILLUSTRATION Of the second Trumpet A Mountain Burning cast into the Sea and a third part of it became Blood. REV. CHAP. 8. V. 8. And the second Angel sounded and as it were a great Mountain burning with fire was cast into the Sea and the third part of the Sea became blood V. 9. And the third part of the Creatures which were in the Sea and had life died and the third part of the Ships were destroyed 'T Is certain that Mountains do in the language of the Prophets signify the Kingdoms of the Earth Thus Mount Sion signifieth the Church which is the Kingdom of God. And thus 't is said Isaiah chap. 2. v. 14. that the day of the Lord shall be against all the high Mountains that is against all Nations tho' never so fierce and against all Kingdoms how powerful soever So that this burning Mountain thrown into the Sea cannot be better explained than of the Nations of the Goths Visigoths Ostrogoths Vandal's and Gepid's that under the Reign of Valens about the year 378. broke in like an inundation upon the Roman Empire destroyed Rome and who abolished the very Name of the Roman Empire in the West about the year 547. These Nations are stiled a burning Mountain because of their violence and of their swiftness This Mountain was cast into the Sea because it was an effect of the wrath of God that these Nations broke in upon the Roman Empire which was a great Sea a heap of many peoples which the Scripture useth to express by waters Now this burning Mountain is not said to dry up the Sea tho that be the proper effect of fire but it is said to have caused the third part of the Sea to become blood the H. Spirit having a respect to what is here signified by this Mountain namely the fierce and bloody humour of these Nations who drowned a part of the Roman Empire in blood infected the people of this Empire with Errors and destroyed a part of its Cities designed here by Ships XII ILLUSTRATION Of the third Trumpet A great Star fell from Heaven REV. CHAP. VIII V. 10. And the third Angel sounded and there fell a great Star from heaven burning as it were a Lamp and it fell upon the third part of the Rivers and upon the Fountains of Waters V. II. And the Name of the Star is called Worm-wood and the third part of the waters became Worm-wood and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter SEeing Jesus Christ hath in the first chap. v. 20. expounded the seven Stars which he had in his right hand to represent Pastors it must necessarily be that by the Star spoken of here some Bishop or Pastor should be intended And forasmuch as it is a great Star it must be a great Bishop that is designed and the Pastor of some Church which men esteem'd to be the