and night in his Temple ever thankfully mindfull of the Evil they are delivered from and the great good they enjoy In vertue of the former sufferings of the true Apostolick Church under the Antichristian Tyranny shall the Church in these dayes here described enjoy peaceably their Religion and make their addresses to God continually in safety in his Holy Church which is his Temple And he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them For these are the times of Iehovah Shammah Of the Tabernacle of God amongst Men the times of the New Ierusalem 16. They shall hunger no more nor thirst any more They shall not be false-fed nor hunger-starved by deceitful Teachers that cannot impart to them the bread of Life nor raise the Spirit of Life in them by their Ministry as being devoid of it themselves whereby their thirst may be satisfied Neither wall any Sun light on them nor any heat There shall no Political Power whatsoever tyrannize over their consciences and by their persecution force them as was usuall under Antichrist to a sapless senseless heartless nay grosly Superstitious and Idolatrous Religion against their own judgement and inward sense of things 17. For the Lamb that is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters that is Christ himself by his Spirit and by true Spiritual Guides and Governours to whom he has communicated his Spirit shall feed them that is guide and govern them and shall lead them unto Living Fountains of waters shall conduct them into and guide them in the Dispensation of Life the renovation of their inward Man into the Living Image of God And God shall wipe all tears from their eyes They shall be no more calamitous by the wrongs and persecutions of bloody Tyrants whether Spiritual or Temporal For the true Apostolick Church shall then be an impregnable City or Polity of it self the New Ierusalem as it is described in the 21 Chapter of the Apocalypse This is the sense of this transition from the six first Seals to the opening of the last and reaches from the beginning of the corrupt part of the Pergamenian Interval to the end of the Laodicean NOTES CHAPTER VII Vers. 2. One of whose Titles is the East This is D r Hammonds sense upon the place and it is I think not only ingenious but true For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the East is with the Cabbalists the Eternal Wisdom of God that is the Eternal Word which is Christ. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the very word in the Text the same that occurrs Luke 1. vers 78. whereby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Day-spring from on high has visited us which is there understood of Christ as also Zachar. 3.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and chap. 6.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecce vir Oriens nomen ejus And Jerem. 23.5 he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also chap. 33.14 All which places not only the Christians but the Iews understood of the Messias So plain is it that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Oriens the East or Day-spring is a Name or Title of Christ. And though in those places of the Old Testament it is translated Germen a Branch as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most ordinarily signifies yet being it may also signifie light or shining and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in what sense soever is a Title of Christ and yet does usually signifie the East that the word here may be allusively used to signifie Christ is to me abundantly rational See Doctor Hammond upon Luk. 1. v. 78. CHAPTER VIII 1. ANd when he had opened the seventh Seal there was silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour This is spoken in allusion to the custome in the service of the Temple where though in the former part of their Service while the Sacrifices were offered the Temple rang again with their loud Musick yet in the time of Incense all were silent and in their tacit devotions 2. And I saw seven Angels which stood before God and to them were given seven Trumpets This he saw during this silence or at the beginning thereof 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 the Saints upon the golden Altar which was before the Throne Things thus represented in Heaven prefigure things here on Earth and these Ceremonies of the Temple the Devotions of the Christians whose prayers are here represented as coming up in remembrance before God Which is expressed in this Judaical way or Ceremony of the Temple by the giving to this Angel as to a Priest much Incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar which was before the Throne answering to the Altar of Incense overlaid with Gold that stood before the Sanctum Sanctorum 4. And the smoke of the Incense which came with the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand that is the desire of the true Church who are of one mind with God ascended up before God as Incense out of a Priests hand and was known and accepted with him Their prayers in all likelihood were in general for the preservation of the Church and suppression of both the old and new growing abominations of the Empire 5. And to the end that you may know what the will of God was in order hereunto it is further added And the Angel took the Censer and filled it with the fire of the Altar and cast it into the Earth and there were voices and thundrings and lightnings and an earthquake Which things betoken the wrath of God to be poured upon the bloody persecuting Roman Empire against whom the souls of the slain under the Altar had called for vengeance chap. 6.10 The great tempests and commotions that should befall it are thus expressed in the general and as an effect of the foregoing groans and cryes of his aggrieved people 6. And the seven Angels that had the seven Trumpets prepared themselves to sound And therefore those Tempests and Calamities will now more particularly be described in the several soundings of those Angels that have the seven Trumpets 7. So the first Angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood that is a thundring hail-storm with fire whereby is signified the furious Invasion of the Barbarians into the Empire And the mention of blood seems on purpose to be added that there may be no mistake as if this storm was to be upon trees and grass and not upon men though it follows And they were cast upon the earth and the third part of trees was burnt up and all green grass was burnt up Which the mention of blood shows not to be understood of earth trees and grass that bleed not but of the men of the
are equal to the forty two months wherein they are said to have trod it down So that the residue of this Vision runs up into the Sardian succession of the Church into the time of the seven Vials And already I think it is manifest in this Opened-Book-Prophecy that this Lion of the Tribe of Iudah did not roar in vain he having rescued so considerable a prey out of the jaws of Antichrist in the last notable Reformation And behold the third Wo cometh quickly which is the pouring forth of the Vials The first whereof is that intoxicating cup of envy rage and exulceration of spirit against the risen Witnesses by which their enemies being dementated it would make them impotently attempt such things as would render them execrable odious or despicable to all the world Which wrath of theirs and malice so naturally flowing from the prosperity of the Witnesses it is no wonder it is said That the third Wo cometh quickly 15. And the seventh Angel sounded and there were great voices in Heaven namely where S t Iohn was wrapt up in Spirit Saying The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ that is several Kingdoms and Principalities as pledges of the rest are recovered already by Christ out of the hands of the Tyrannical Antichrist by the late blessed Reformation And he shall reign for ever and ever that is whatever chastisements may come upon the Church of Sardis for her neglects and imperfections this Kingdom of Christ which has begun shall for certain take place and he shall reign to the end of the world through the Sardian Philadelphian and Laodicean successions 16. And the four and twenty Elders which sate before God on their seats fell upon their faces and worshipped God These Princes in Heaven are said thus to do betokening what those Princes and Potentates on Earth that were our Noble Reformers would do or how devoutly they would be affected for so blessed a Reformation which God by his gracious Providence had brought to pass for they were in a manner slaves to the Pope before 17. Saying We give the thanks O Lord God Almighty which art and wast and art to come because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned that is given so glorious a specimen of thy power and that thou rulest in the Kingdoms of men and hast thus happily begun the reign of thy Christ for the subduing utterly at last the Kingdom of Antichrist The beginning of the seventh Trumpet is the beginning of the Sardian succession of the Church and of the seven Vials and the commencement of them all are with praises and acclamations for this first auspicious victory of Christ over the Papal Hierarchy or Antichrist For the word Sardis signifies a Song of Ioy and here is the thanksgiving of the Elders and at the beginning of the Vials there is sung the Song of Moses and of the Lamb. What follows here are some scatterings and obscure hints of the affairs under the seven Vials and plainly ends with the seventh 18. And the Nations were angry that is the Gentiles that had trodden down the outward Court and defiled it by a new kind of Idolatrous Gentilism the minds of these were exasperated and exulcerated with wrath and envy at this sudden resurrection of the Witnesses which is a short glance at the first Vial. And thy wrath is come and the time of the dead that is of those that this Tyrannical Roman Hierarchy had so often and in such multitudes so barbarously murthered for their witnessing to the Truth the time is now come that Christ is to judge and revenge their Cause which seems to allude to the third Vial where it is said Thou art righteous O Lord which art and wast and shall be because thou hast judged thus For they have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets and thou hast given them blood to drink for they are worthy which is an easie comment upon what follows That they should be judged and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy Servants the Prophets and to thy Saints and them that fear thy Name small and great The meanest that have died Martyrs and been murdered for the profession of the Truth that thou shouldest judge their Cause though they were despised by this Proud Imperious Iezebel And shouldest destroy them that destroy the Earth that is the men upon the Earth for of this Iezebel or Whore of Babylon it is said And in her was found the blood of Prophets and of Saints and of all that were slain upon the Earth into such an Akeldama has that lofty Prelate the Pope ever and anon turned Christendom by his restless ambition and tyranny 19. And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven Out of which the seven Angels having the seven last plagues are seen to come Chap. 15. And there was seen in his Temple the Ark of the Testament Which answers to the great voice out of the Temple of Heaven from the Throne Chap. 16.17 under the seventh Vial So that this time reaches to the very Sanctum sanctorum or Holy of holies betokening a most powerfull pure and Apostolick State of the Church as if we were come into the first Apostolick Times again in the beginning of the Church as the outward Court is an emblem of the latter Apostated Times thereof By which is notified the beginning of the Philadelphian succession which commences with the seventh Vial. To which what follows seems to allude And there were lightnings and voices and thunderings and an earthquake and great hail which is plainly a description of the seventh Vial. So that this whole Vision in this Chapter begins with the first Epocha of the Church and endeth with the seventh Vial or first Thunder Which is also the very space of the Sett of Visions comprized in the three following Chapters which are a more ample description of the same state of things in the same time and we shall note what parts answer each other NOTES Chapter XI Vers. 6. By a Prophetical Metalepsis or Zoopoeia c. Metalepsis is a Figure whereby an effect or event is translated or communicated to some Person or Thing because the Place and Time is coincident with them That there is such a Figure and that it is made use of in the Apocalypse I have proved in my Synopsis Prophetica lib. 1. cap. 4. sect 10. But a Zoopoeia of the second kind is when free Actions are attributed to free Agents of which notwithstanding they may be no more the cause than if they were inanimate Beings or not in Being at all This figure also I have proved to be made use of in the Apocalypse as well as in other Authors lib. 1. cap. 3. sect 10. See my Synopsis in the places cited For particular occasions answer in Analogy to particular acts of will c. And the Analogie is very exact the Figure being but once admitted which I have
and delusions of his wicked Spirits at their Images or Altars to deceive the people 4. And they worshipped the Dragon which gave Power to the Beast namely which had given him his Armies his Throne and his great Authority that is to say though he appears in the shape now not of the Dragon but of the Leopard or Panther a Beast the Dragon is said so much to abhor that is in the gratefull shew of Christianity yet so far forth as they gave obedience to the Paganical and Idolatrous part joyned with it they indeed worshipped or obeyed the Dragon whose Fiends or Goblins might please themselves to receive that worship at their Altars and Images that they had by their jugling tricks and false Miracles reintroduced into the Church and flear amongst themselves at the Imposture that they made the Church in so gross a sense become the worshippers of Devils as it is said in the sixth Trumpet And they worshipped the Beast that is they yielded obedience to the Beast to the Imperial Power in such a state as it was saying Who is like unto the Beast who is able to make war with him Things are so well setled and strongly this way and so accommodately to all mens liking that neither Jew nor Pagan can be able to dissettle the Peace of the Empire in this point or make war and raise stirs against it 5. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies that is great and enormous blasphemies which are injunctions for Idolatry of several sorts for Blasphemy in Scripture often signifies Idolatry And Power was given unto him to continue forty and two months the same time the outward Court is trodden down by the Gentiles that is the entireness of his Dominion shall continue till the seventh Semitime till about the fourth month thereof 6. And he opened his mouth in Blasphemy against God to blaspheme his Name by giving his incommunicable Name to Idols or Images or Name may signifie his person and so his person is blasphemed by Idolatry committed against him by worshipping any other person besides God or Christ. And his Tabernacle namely the Body of Christ which is the Living Tabernacle of God it is blasphemed more wayes than one both in that they Idolatrously worship a mere Wafer instead thereof and make it also so vile a thing that it shall be at the command of every Priest for whatever uses he will please to fetch it down by his transubstantiating charm to be devoured into the foul stomachs of the People and as it may happen to be eaten by base Vermine such as Rats and Mice And them that dwell in Heaven that is the Saints and Angels they most wickedly blaspheme in that they set up Idols by the instigation of Evil Spirits the Forces or Armies the old Dragon delivered to the Beast who no doubt are busie enough to assist there and play tricks and do call these Idols by the names of the Saints or Angels and impute these tricks there played in the behalf of Idolatry by them to the Saints when they are the mere delusions of these Goblins or Devils Besides it it a gross reproach to the Saints and Angels to suppose they will accept of Religious Worship and so prove Rebels to God Wherefore that Power that established and decreed such enormous things as these Image-worship Saint-worship and Transubstantiation may well be said to open their mouth in blasphemy for publishing such Edicts c. 7. And it was given him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them that is to oppose them and subdue them and keep them under all along that they shall have no power in the Empire as it was said before of the mournful Witnesses that they were Politically dead all the three Times and an half in a manner But in some part of this time the war and slaughter or killing is not mystical but proper For of the Waldenses and Albigenses in France alone there is said to have been slain no less than ten hundred thousand And in the Inquisition within thirty years space no less than an hundred fifty thousand persons were consumed with all manner of grievances and miseries besides infinite numbers more And Sanderus the Jesuite reports that an infinite number of Lothards as he calls them and Sacramentarians through Europe were burnt with fire and fagot but excuses it as not done by the Pope and Bishops but the secular Magistrate which is the thing this Prophecy foretells that it is the Beast with ten horns the Secular Power of the Empire not the Beast with two horns that is the executioner of the cruelty or that dooms to death Iezebel excites but Ahab the Secular Powers execute or command to be executed her bloody suggestions against Naboth that is against those that have the Witnesses of Jesus the Spirit of Prophecy as is elsewhere explained And power was given him over all Kindreds Tongues and Nations namely that he might persecute and force men to Idolatrous worship in all the parts of the Empire 8. And all that dwell upon the Earth that is whose minds are fixed on earthly things shall worship him that is obey his Idolatrous Edicts and Commands whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world that is are not of the number of the Called and Chosen as they are termed Chap. 17. nor of those that are redeemed from the Earth as they are described Chap. 14. For those will ever stand out till they get the victory over the Beast 9. If any man have an ear let him hear For this was a remarkable intimation and worth the observing as also that which follows 10. He that leadeth into Captivity shall go into Captivity He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword that is That Power which now in this forty-two months of years of the Beast domineers so and forces men to their Idolatrous worship shall at last be led captive into the Truth and they that kill now with the sword of persecution shall be slain by the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God answerably to the witnesses slaying their enemies by the fire that came out of their mouth Which victory was obtained in the resurrection of the Witnesses in a degree in the third or fourth month of the seventh or last Semitime viz. in the late blessed Reformation as I have above noted Here is the patience and the faith of the Saints that they may stand to it with these spiritual weapons till it shall please God to give them success as he did in the time even now mentioned 11. And I beheld another Beast coming out of the Earth Why there is two Beasts here since the Empire became Christian in profession I above intimated namely because there is as it were Imperium in Imperio a Secular Empire and Sacerdotal which pretends to an Universal Rule in
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
implanted into him Rom. 9. Wherefore it is no wonder S t Iohn did so profound Reverence to the messenger of News so unspeakably grateful acceptable and enravishing And he said unto me See thou do it not For it should seem the mien of his face conjoyned with the posture of his body betrayed such a pitch of veneration and worship as might seem more than Civil and not due nor warrantable from one fellow-Creature to another I am thy fellow-servant and the fellow-servant of thy brethren that have the testimony of Iesus worship God Reserve such high pitches of affection and veneration for God alone whom thou art to love with all thy heart and all thy soul but thy Neighbour only as thy self And if Iohn's worshipping this Angel visible and present be thus reprovable what is the worshipping of Saints and Angels invisible in Temples and at Altars and Images consecrated to them but the dregs of Idolatry For the testimony of Iesus is the spirit of Prophecie He was not to be taken with so profound admiration and veneration of the Angel for that he was such a Prophet for he was yet but his fellow-servant as also of others that had the Testimony of Jesus For no man can say Iesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost They cannot be true and faithfull Witnesses of Jesus out of love and loyalty to him but they must be inspired by his spirit and so their witnessing of him is an effect of the spirit of Prophecy the spirit enabling them firmly to believe and declare beyond what flesh and blood can attain to Such a spirit of Prophecy was in the two Witnesses Chap. 11. whose faith was so strong that they could suffer the utmost for the Truth 11. And I saw Heaven opened Now follows the Vision that contemporizes with the treading of the Wine-press and with the seventh Vial which will give admirable light to both And behold a white Horse An Horse with his Rider doth signifie Rule and Command and the colour white Prosperity and Success And he that sat upon him was called faithfull and true and in righteousness doth he judge and make war In the seventh Vial there was mention of the battel of that great day of God Almighty but no mention there of any Armies or any Captain of the Forces Lo here is the Commander of the Army Christ himself the Eternal Logos joyned with the Humane Nature who in Righteousness doth judge and make war 12. His eyes were as a flame of fire Fire is a symbol of Intellectuality especially a flaming fire that implies light Thus we read of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fiery Intellect in the Magick Oracles and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shining fire attributed to the Soul as being a certain Divine and Intellectual Essence as Plethon speaks wherefore the Logos here is rightly said to have eyes like a flaming fire because he is not only Intellectual but that great and Eternal Intellect from whence all Intellectual Beings are as also their Operations exercised by virtue of the more pure etherial and igneous spirits And on his head were many Crowns For the Kings of the East by this time had submitted to him besides what might be done under the fourth Vial. And he had a name written that no man knew but himself This in brief signifies the incomprehensibleness and imperscrutableness of the Divinity of our Saviour he alone that is it being able to comprize it 13. And he was cloathed with a vesture dipt in blood This partly relates to his Humane Nature and Passion and partly to the Vision of the treading of the Wine-press where blood is said to ascend up to the horse-bridles whence his garments would be dipt in blood And is a sign that these two Visions this and that of the Wine-press tend to the same thing And his name is called the Word of God which may include not only the Eternal Logos that was made flesh but even the written Word of God also The false Prophet or Idolatrous Hierarchy of Rome upon their pretense of Infallibility had silenced not only the express Law of the written Word of God but most coarsly and barbarously had trodden down those innate Principles of Morality and Reason that the Eternal Word had implanted in the souls of men and by terrour and cruel force did what she could to smother stifle and extinguish them But here the scene of things is changed and the pure Word of God like a valiant Heros triumphs over the corrupt superstitious idolatrous and contradictious Doctrines and Institutes of a company of deceitful and deceivable men which in this Vision is called the false Prophet 14. And the Armies which were in Heaven followed him Here be the Armies as before we noted the Commander which belong to the battel of the great Day of God Almighty under the seventh Vial Upon white Horses cloathed in fine linnen white and clean A strange kind of Armature if it were to be understood literally of such a battle as Soldiers ordinarily fight in the Field But white horses and fine linnen white and clean signifie the Righteousness and good success of these Evangelical Warriours that shall bestir themselves in those dayes 15. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the Nations This again showes that this is no Carnal Warfare but as it is said in the Epistle to the Hebrews The Word of God is quick and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword And he shall rule them with a rod of iron in allusion to the second Psalm which is a Prophecie of these Times of the Messias Thou shalt Rule them with a Rod of Iron and break them in pieces like a potters vessel which is a Prophetick symbol of that wonderful contrition of heart that the word of God makes when it is sincerely seasonably and powerfully evibrated against the Enemies of his Kingdom And he treadeth the Wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of God Almighty This referrs to the Vision of the Wine-press Chap. 14. whereby it is again manifest that those two Visions belong to one and the same thing But the treading of the Wine-press is there explained and the Explanation ratified by this of the sword coming out of the mouth of the Rider of the White Horse 16. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords which sheweth the Royal descent of Christ even according to the flesh as if he had laid claim to this Soveraignty by descent from David the King accordingly as it is said Chap. 22. I am the Root and Off-spring of David and the bright Morning Star the Root of David as to his Divinity and the Off-spring of David as to his Humanity 17. And I saw an Angel standing in the Sun that is those signified by this Angel stood in the most bright and glorious Light of the Gospel or Word of God as
and Thyatiran Successions of the Church it is manifest that Saracens and Turks under the fifth and sixth Trumpets invade the Empire as a Scourge for their Idolatry as plainly appears from Ch. 9. v. 20. where the rest of the men that were not killed by these Plagues are said not to repent them of their worshipping 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Daemons and Idols of Silver and Idols of Gold c. Where Daemons according to the Greek idiom signify either Angels or the Souls of men any Spirits out of Terrestrial bodies the Souls of Saints and Spirits of Angels And lastly in the Opened-Book-Prophecy Chap. II. what is the treading under-foot the outward Court by the Gentiles for fourty two months but the over-running the Empire again with Idolatry and Persecution of which Gentilism or Paganism consists for so many months or Semitimes of months of years And what the 7000. names of men vers 13. but Idolatrous Titles or men of those Titles that belong to the seventh head of the Beast which is an Idolatrous head And Chap. 13. vers 1. the Beast there rising out of the Sea with ten Crowned Horns plainly shows it is the Empire after its division into so many Kingdoms Which therefore is under the seventh head And all the seven heads there are said to have names of Blasphemy upon them that is of Idolatry Besides this Beast is said to be the healed beast and the image of the Dragon that received the deadly wound in his fight with Michael and the Martyrs Which plainly shows that the Empire after Christanity was setled in it became again an Idolatrous persecuting Beast as the old Pagan Empire was And lastly not to number up all we might Chap. 17. the Whore of Babylon with her cup of Fornication that is of Idolatry in her hand as Grotius himself cannot but interpret it and sitting upon a Beast full of Names of Blasphemy that is of Idolatry again even according to Grotius what can this be but the City of Rome and the Roman Empire become Idolatrous But they put it off by saying it is the Pagan Empire and Rome Pagan which is a thing impossible For the Woman here sitting upon the Beast that was is not and yet is which was never true of the Roman Empire till after it had been Christian it cannot be understood of the Roman Empire Pagan And that conceit of Domitian being this Beast it is such a childish trifle or sleight whiffle that it is a wonder to me that any one that had any freeness of judgment or soundness of reason should ever fancy such a thing but having spoken of this in my Preface I will say no more of it here From these few places to omit several others it is abundantly evident that that truely infallible Moderator even the Spirit of God himself has decided the controversie concerning the Idolatry of the Church of Rome and has declared them guilty of that crime and the Protestants guiltless of any crime of Schism in leaving the Communion of that Church Which is a thing seriously to be considered by all the Potentates of Christendom that they may not listen to the voice of the blood-thirsty Iezabel when she shall solicite the Kings of the Earth to the persecution of the Servants of God and Christ because they cannot bow down to stocks and stones with her nor submit to any other of her points of Idolatry Now for any invidious cavils against this firm Protestant Exposition of the Apocalypse I hope Reader thou wilt set as little by them as I do my self For it may be it will be thought by some an high piece of Rudeness and Incivility in that this Protestant Exposition of the seven heads of the Beast makes all the Emperours since the Apostasie of the Church into Idolatry to be part of the seventh head which is one of the heads of Blasphemy though otherwise never so noble and vertuous And the like cavils may be raised touching the Popes of Rome though they be never so Learned and Pious that they will make part of the two Horned Beast that has the Horns of a Lamb but the voice of a Dragon And I must confess the same may be alledged against making those six forms of Pagan Government Kings Consuls Dictators Decemviri Triumviri and Emperours six heads of Blasphemy When amongst the Emperours it is well known what an excellent example of vertue Marcus Antoninus was and that Tully a Roman Consul for Wit Vertue and Eloquence was the glory of the Roman Empire But I can briefly answer for my self that I never since I understood Tully and Marcus Antoninus to be part of those two heads of Blasphemy had in the least the more diminishing thoughts of their Vertues and Perfections I had observed in them before For I knew before they were Pagan Idolaters and that it was the privilege of their nature to bear up so stoutly against the disadvantages of their Religion they were born under And there is the same reason of excellent Emperors and other Princes of the Pontifician Religion The profession of an Idolatrous Religion ought not to derogate from their natural or acquired perfections only all good men will heartily and solicitously wish that their souls were as safe as their personal reputation And I charitably judge of them of the Roman Church who do not stick to call all Protestant Kings and Princes be they never so great or never so good Hereticks and by the punishment they allot to those they call so any one may judge what wretches and vile persons they deem them that they intend notwithstanding no derogation thereby to their personal worth or vertue But here is the great difference that we call them nothing but what the Scripture calls them but they nickname others against all reason and Scripture adding to false and bitter words unjust and barbarous persecutions And what we have said concerning Emperours and Kings the same is to be said of the Popes of Rome No Popes personal perfections and vertues are touched but the Idolatrous and Antichristian constitution and frame of things such as every Pope is to succeed into and which make a Pope a Pope But as for my interpreting the two Horns of the Beast of the Episcopal Mitre that no Protestant Bishop take exceptions the interpretation is not mine but Iosephus Acosta's as Cornelius à Lapide cites him De Tempor Noviss Lib. 2. c. 17. Duo cornua Episcopalis putà Mitrae sive Infulae haec enim est bicornis insigne sunt Videtur ergo quòd hic Pseudopropheta erit Episcopus quispiam Apostata simulator religionis Ecclesiastici honoris proditor qui draconis venenum suis sermonibus populo propinabit So near to the mark is the Interpretation of this Romanist But in the mean time the making the two Horns of the Mitre the two Horns of the Lamb Lamb always signifying in the Apocalypse either Christ himself or his true Church it