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 the hour and every thing that shall befal either the Church or the World because he hath been sacrificed Which is the reason of the four and twenty Elders saying unto him Thou art worthy to open the Book and to loose the Seals thereof for thou hast redeemed us It ought here to be carefully observed that this New Song containeth the whole Mystery of Gospel worship For here we have the death of Christ which is the foundation of all we have them whom his death hath redeemed we have the fruits which believers receive by his Death namely the dignity of being Kings and Priests and we have the Glory which accrueth to Jesus Christ himself For he is thought worthy to know all the Secrets of providence and to receive the Adoration of all Creatures low middle and high Which Adoration is here set before us in a form that is most perfect and which alone is that where with God is pleased that which all the Angels with the four and twenty Elders publish aloud that worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing This is moreover what every Creature in Heaven and on Earth and under the earth and such as are in the Sea say likewise in their turn Blessing and Honor and Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever And the four living Creatures said Amen and the twenty four Elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever It is repeated again because it can never be said enough All worship that is not conformable to this pattern is unlawful and displeaseth God. Nor can we give the least worship to a Creature whatsoever degree of glory it hath arrived at without a departing from this divine model and falling into Idolatry Here we have a Sentence that condemneth the worship of the Roman Church in their addressing their Hymn's and their Prayers to Angels and to Saints IV. ILLUSTRATION Of the Opening of the first six Seals REV. CHAP. 6. AS to the Six Seals of the opening whereof the sixth Chapter treateth the four first differ from the two other in two things One is that at the opening of the four first there appear four Horsemen four living Creatures The other is that at the opening of these St. John is called upon to consider the things which are there declared to be hereafter to come There is doubtless some reason for this difference and this reason is in all probability nothing but this namely that every one of these four Seals containeth things which respect the whole course of the prophetick History both of the Roman Empire and of the Church which the two following do not This reason appeareth to be true in that in the first Vision of Zechariah chap. 1. v 8. it is said that the men which the Prophet saw riding upon red bay and white Horses were those whom the Lord sent to and fro through the Earth And in that the four living Creatures signify as we have proved the four Archangels set over the four parts of the world which marketh Universality And by consequence that the four first Seals at the opening whereof they do appear contain the things that respect the whole series of the History of the Roman Empire and of the Church Which observation if we duly attend unto we shall the more clearly understand the opening of these Seals V. 1. And when the Lamb opened one of the Seals i. e. the first I heard one of the four living Creatures that is the first saying as if it had been the voice of Thunder Come and see V. 2. And I saw and behold a white Horse and he that sat on him had a Bow and a Crown was given unto him and he went forth conquering and to conquer This first living Creature is the Lion whose Roaring is the most terrible voice of all the noises of Brutes If the Lion doth Roar shall we not tremble saith one of the Prophets It is compared also to the noise of Thunder which is the thing of the world that is most frightful to men This is exactly the preaching of the Gospel They who preach it are Boanerges Sons of Thunder they carry dread along with them wheresoever they are heard Jews and Gentiles were equally frighted at the beginning and the Papal Kingdom doth dread nothing so much at this day Which is the reason that the Pope and his Clergy use all the power and industry that they are able to stiffle this voice in all places but it is in vain The Gospel hath been victorious over Iews and Gentiles and will be so over the Papal Empire This is what is promised to the man upon the white Horse going forth conquering and to conquer For this Man is Iesus Christ the Lion of the Tribe of Judah who hath overcome He established his Gospel through the whole Pagan Roman Empire The worshippers of false Gods being pierced by the Arrows of our Saviour became converted to the Faith. And he will do the same to the Papal Roman Empire V. 3. And when he had opened the second Seal I heard the second living Creature say come and see V. 4. And there went out another Horse that was red and power was given unto him that sat thereon to take peace from the Earth and that they should kill one another and there was given unto him a great Sword. This second living Creature is the Ox the Symbole of patience and of being designed for slaughter which denoteth the persecutions which believers who are the Mystical Sheep of Jesus Christ were to suffer And he that sat upon this red Horse is no other than Satan the red Dragon that Murderer from the beginning who is armed with a Sword to presage the Blood which for the sake of the Gospel and to hinder the victories of Jesus Christ he should shed through the whole extent both of the Pagan and Papal Empire V. 5. And when he had opened the third Seal I heard the third living Creature say come and see and I beheld and lo a black Horse by that sat on him had a pair of Ballances in his hand The word in the Original signifies a Yoak as well as a Ballance And that it ought to be here translated a Yoak the sequel doth demonstrate V. 6. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living Creatures say a measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny and see thou hurt not the Oyl and the Wine This undoubtedly denoteth a great plenty of all things necessary to the comfort of life Which sheweth that this Horseman carrieth a Yoak not a Ballance Here is indeed a change from white to black The first Horseman who sat upon the white Horse to wit Jesus Christ spread the light of his Gospel in order to establish a spiritual Religion
stain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame St. Iohn declares the same of the Beast that carried the Woman Rev. 19. v. 20. how that he was taken and cast into a Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone So that after the agreement of the one Beast with the other in so many particulars there is no room left for suspition but that Daniel's fourth Beast is the same with the Beast described by St. Iohn upon whom the Woman stiled Babylon the Great sitteth and that all the Revelations of St. Iohn are nothing else but a continuation of the Prophetical History which Daniel had begun of the Roman Empire and of the Church of God. II. ILLUSTRATION What is intended by the Seven Heads of the Beast REV. CHAP. 17. v. 20. THe Seven Heads ascribed to the Beast in the Vision of St. Iohn serve to explain the Vision in Daniel and do make it clearly appear that the fourth Beast which the Prophet Daniel describes and which is the same with that described by St. Iohn can represent nothing save the Roman Empire For proof of this we are only to observe the Explication which the Angel gave of that Vision to Saint Iohn Rev. 17. v. 9. Here is the mind say's he that hath wisdom the seven Heads are seven Mountains on which the Woman sitteth And they are seven Kings five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come These seven Hills do so plainly point out and characterise the City of Rome that the Angel could not have more evidently declared it if he had directly mentioned it the Terms wherein he represents it being so agreeable to the Character of the City buils upon seven Hills which is the stile whereby their own Poets Ovid Propertius Horace and Virgil do describe it Septemque una sibi muro circumdedit Arces Virg. Dîs quibus septcm placuere colles dicere carmen Horat. Septem urbs alta jugis toti qui praesidet Orbi Propert. Sed quae de septem totum circumspicit Orbem Montibus Imperii Roma Deûmque locus Ovid. Accordingly that learned Roman Varro being speaking of a Festival called Septimentium that was dedicated to the Honor of Rome of which they had made a Goddess say's that this Feast took its name from the seven Mountains on which Rome was built Nor are there any but who do know these Hills to have been the Palatine the Capitoline the Aventine the Celian the Esquiline the Viminal and the Quirenal So that from and by means of these Mountains we come to be assured that the Beast with seven Heads according to the exposition given by the Angel can be nothing but the Roman Empire And this is made further evident by the seven Kings which as the Angel tells us are also signified by the seven Heads Rev. 17. v. 10. And there are seven Kings five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come Which seven Kings do most infallibly denote the seven Forms of Government under which Rome hath been and through which it hath passed since its Foundation For it is the Scripture method of expression to signify by Kings all sorts of Supream Governors As appears both from the 36. of Genesis v. 31. where Moses having reckoned up the Kings that reigned in Edom before there reigned any King over the Children of Israel means no more than before there was any Soveraign Magistrate in Israel and from Deut. 33. v. 5. where Moses is said to have been King in Ieshurun Now the seven kinds of Supream Magistrates by which Rome hath been governed are Kings Consuls Decemviri Military Tribunes Dictators Emperors and Popes Five whereof the Angel says were fallen and that the sixth which was that of Emperors now is namely in the time of St. Iohn but that the seventh was not yet come forasmuch as the Bishop of Rome was not at that time what he is since grown up unto by his Usurpations of being as well the Soveraign Master over Kings and Emperors as Monarch over the Church But we are not yet come to prove the Pope to be meant by the seventh Head it being necessary before we advance to that to explain divers other particulars so that it is enough for the present to have shewn that the Beast with the seven Heads can represent nothing else save the Roman Empire III. ILLUSTRATION What the Ten Horns of the Beast do denote and signify REV. CHAP. 17. v. 12. THE Lamb by which our Saviour is represented is said to have Horns as well as the Beast but the signification of the Horns of the one is somewhat different from the meaning of the Horns of the other Those of the Lamb do denote the Power of Jesus Christ and the number seven intimates the perfection of it Rev. 5. v. ◠So that the Lamb 's being represented with seven Horns is to signify the Fulness of his Power or as it is in the language of St. Paul Phil. 2. 9 10. His having a Name given him above every name that at the Name of Iesus every Knee should bow But the Horns of the Beast do signify Kingdoms and Dominions as appears by their being applied to such a sense in the Visions of Daniel Thus the Ram by which was signified the King of Persia Dan. 8. 3. is represented with two high Horns and whereof the one was higher than the other because the Kingdom of Persia was more powerful than that of the Medes And accordingly the Angel tells St. Iohn that the Ten Horns of the Beast are Ten Kings Nor is it of any great moment whether the number Ten do signify punctually so many it being sufficient to take the word indefinitely for the intimating a considerable number it being so used elsewhere And thus it both signifies the great Extent of the Roman Empire and serves to demonstrate that it is only this Empire which we have represented in the Revelation there being no other in St. Iohns time that could answer the vast importance of this Phrase or at least none that was known and with which the Church of God had any concernment And it is by reason of its greatness that the Sacred Writers call it by the stile of all the World and of the whole habitable Earth Luc. 2. 1. Rev. 13. 3 8. Rev. 17. 18. As if all Nations had been under the jurisdiction of the Roman Emperors But whereas there seems to be a contradiction in the Explication given by the Angel in that after he had said that the Ten Horns of the Beast are Ten Kings he adds Rev. 17. 12. that these ten Kings had received no Kingdom as yet but were to receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast Seeing if he intend by the Beast the Roman Empire as it florished in St. Iohns time how can he say that these Kings had received no Kingdom as yet and that they were only to receive their power at the same season with the Beast I
considered two ways First more grossly and in the bulk as it comprehendeth all the Seven Heads and in that sense it is nothing but a Regency under the seven Forms of Government which Rome hath passed throw since its Foundation and so it indefinitely and at large designs the Roman Empire Secondly As it is used precisely or strictly to denote the Beast under the seventh Head which is the Pope or Papal Power and so it is represented by the Beast with Two Horns 'T is most evident that it is Rome under the seventh Head which is the Pope that is here spoken of in that it is the Healing of the Wound which the Beast had received under the sixth Head. For he both speaks of this Wound in the third Verse and then of the Healing of it by the Beast with two Horns which is the Papacy in the 12. Verse Now that the Papal Empire is the Seventh Head or the Beast with Two Horns will be demonstratively proved by observing the conformity which is between that Beast and the Papal Kingdom 1. For whereas the Term Beast does signify a Domination and an Empire it cannot be denied but that the Romish Church is an Empire and that it may be stiled the Papal Kingdom and the Roman Empire 2. Forasmuch as Horns according as we have proved do denote Iurisdictions and Powers so the Papal Authority comprehends a twofold Power and two kinds of Domination one over that which is Temporal and another over that which is Spiritual One over this Life and another over that which is to come So that the Papal Kingdom must be that which is meant by the Beast with Two Horns 3. Whereas 't is said Rev. 13. 11. that the Two Horns of the Beast were like the Two Horns of the Lamb. All do know that Jesus Christ hath a twofold Authority or two kinds of Soveraignty One over the Soul and another over the Body One over that which is Temporal and another over that which is Spiritual And seeing the Pope boasts of this twofold Authority under pretence of being the Vicar of Jesus Christ it does therefore follow that he is the Beast with the Two Horns 4. And whereas 't is said Rev. 13. 11. that the Beast with two Horns spake as a Dragon 't is undeniable that the Pope speaks in the same manner and not only like the Devil Matth. 4. 9. assumeth to himself a Right of Disposing of all the Kingdoms of the World and of forbidding men to obey the Commandments of God but as the calumniating Spirit he reproacheth Gods Word both by accusing it of falsehood and by robbing it of its perspicuity integrity perfection sufficiency and of its Authority which he challengeth to himself 5. It being said Rev. 13. 12. that the Beast with two Horns exerciseth all the power of the first Beast whose deadly wound was healed This does perfectly agree to the Papal Power For the Roman Empire that flourished in St. Iohn's time having received a Deadly Wound it became healed thro the application of the Papal Authority as a Plaister unto it Now that Wound consisted in two things in the Subversion of the Pagan Idolatry and in the Abatement of the Glory of Rome And the Heathens were wont to observe in their Disputations against the Christians that as the ancient Religion fell from its splendor so the Glory of Rome did proportionably decay And as the Pagan Idolatry became in effect destroyed by the conversion of Constantine and the care of his Successors so Rome as to its Glory being first much darkned and almost extinguished and then being destroyed by the Goths tho it came afterwards to be restored yet it was never honored to be the Residence of the Emperors in that they fixed their abode at Ravenna and Millan These two Wounds seemed to be incurable but the Papal Soveraignty did perfectly heal them both For in the room of the God's Worshipped under Paganism there was set up the Adoration of Angels Saints the Consecrated Bread and of Relicks So that by this new Idolatry Panagism became again restored And withal Rome hath recovered a Glory not only equal unto its former but greater than what it had seeing the Pope thro having made it the Seat of his Empire appears there as the true Successor of the Heathen Emperors as the Commander of Kings and as the Supream Pontife as well as Chief Cesar who hath united the Priesthood to the Imperial Dignity In a word the Pope is the Head of a Senate attired in Purple and challengeth a Right of Deposing Kings and of disposing Crowns and who receives Tribute from all People and makes himself to be adored not only with a Civil but with a Religious Adoration as the Emperors of old used to be Both Blondus and Steuchus Bishop of Egubium do ingenuously describe without being aware of it how the Wound which Rome had received is again healed thro means of the Soveraignty that is come to be vested in the Pope The first says That the Majesty of Rome is now greater than ever it was because the Princes of the Earth do now worship the Successor of St. Peter as perpetual Dictator that is as Soveraign Pontife and as Vicar of the High Priest Jesus Christ And the other tells us That if after the Subversion of the Roman Empire God had not raised up the Papacy in which the ancient Majesty of Rome is revived that City had been a Habitation of Brute Beasts whereas by the establishment of the Papacy it hath recovered a grandure very little different from that which it had in the time of the old Empire seeing all Nations do now no less Reverence the Bishop of Rome than heretofore they obeyed the Roman Emperors So that by this it appears that the Beast with Two Horns is nothing but the Papacy forasmuch as the Papal Power hath healed Rome of the Wound she had received under the Emperors and rendred her again both Idolatrous and Mistriss of the World as she was heretofore 6. Whereas 't is said of the Beast with Two Horns Rev. 13. 12. That he causeth the Earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first Beast this agrees also to the Papacy which causeth that Rome being healed of its Wound is as much if not more reverenced than ever it had been upon an alledged pretence of having been the Chair and Seat of St. Peter As the Pagans made a Goddess of Rome Heathen by consecrating a Temple and dedicating a Feast unto her which they called Septimontium so Christians do no less make a Goddess of Rome Christian both by stiling her the Mistriss of the World and thro attributing to her the Priviledg of Infallibility that does belong to none save unto God. 7. 'T is further said Rev. 13. 13. That the Beast with two Horns doth great Signs and Wonders so that he maketh Fire come down from Heaven Now all men do not only know that the Romish Legends are full
esteem that they who before had been called Arnoldians Henricians and Petrobrusians are supposed to have gotten from him the name of Valdenses Tho that is a mistake forasmuch as long before the time of Valdo they who made profession of the true Doctrine had been so stiled from the name of the Valleys of Angrogna and Piedmont where the Church of God had been harboured from the day 's of Constantin as hath been already observed These Teachers are represented crying with a loud voice Fear God because at that season Babylon alone was dreaded it being the common language of every one at that day Who is like unto the Beast who is able to make war with him as the Holy Ghost hath marked Rev. chap. 13. v. 4. They are farther represented crying Give Glory to God because then the Honor due to God was transferred to Creatures which according to St. Paul is a with-holding or a not-giving Glory to God. For that Apostle being speaking of the Pagans he accuseth them of not having glorified God by reason of their giving that honor to the Creature which belonged to none save to the Creator Rom. 1. 21 23. Moreover they are here introduced threatning the men of that Age with the Judgments of God The hour say they of his judgment is come Which Denunciation was fulfilled in the same Century For the Quarrels between the Emperor Frederick and the Pope filled all Christendom with Civil Wars and overwhelmed it with Desolation Besides the Voiage of Louis the seventh into the Holy Land proved most unhappy and then Saladin towards the end of that Age conquered the Kingdom of Jerusalem so that all the Christians became defeated and droven out of Palestine They are further introduced preaching the Gospel to every Nation and kindred and Tongue and People that is through all parts of the Papal Kingdom which in these Visions is signified by the Kingdom of the Beast Of whom it is said Chap. 13. v 7. that power was given unto him over all kindreds and Tongues and Nations and that all who dwelt upon the Earth worshipped him Which can be meant of nothing else but of the Roman Papal Empire In the fourteenth Age about the year 1360. Iohn Wicklif assaulted the Pope and both called him Archheretick Antichrist the Impostore of the Church and proved him to be so by Scripture History and his own Actions He preached likewise against the Sacrifice of the Mass against Indulgences and against the Worship of Images Relicks and Saints The voice of this Angel was so powerful and efficacious that Edward the third King of England ordained in Parliament that from thence forward Bishops should not go to Rome for confirmation but be confirmed at home by their own Metropolitans This Wicklif upon his withdrawing into Bohemia had Iohn Hus for his Disciple Which Hus by the alone power of his Doctrine drew the Kingdom of Bohemia off from obedience to Rome And thence it is that this Angel is introduced crying Babylon is falling is falling Because that was a presage of the falling away of Nations from her which should ensue in the next Age. John Hus was burnt by the Council of Constance contrary to the publick Faith and the safe Conduct that had been given him by the Emperor Sigismond And History reports of him that he should say to his Judges ye are putting a Goose to death for so Hus in the Bohemian Language signifies but a hundred years hence God will raise up a Swan whom tho ye would never so fain destroy ye shall not be able Which Prophecy was exactly fulfilled at the time For as Iohn Hus was burnt anno 1415. so Luther begun the work of the Reformation by writing against Indulgences in the year 1515. And tho the Court of Rome did all they could both to stop his mouth and to destroy him yet they could never effect it It was therefore in the 16. Century that the voice of the third Angel was heard saying loudly If any man worship the Beast and his Image and receive his mark in his Forehead or in his Hand the same shall drink of the Wine of the Wrath of God c. This Angel is Luther who writ with that strength and preached with that efficacy and with such success against the Errors Idolatry and Tyranny of the Church of Rome that near one half of the Nations and People who reverenced her as their Mother and feared her as their Queen withdrew from her Communion and look't upon her with detestation as the Mother of uncleanness and Abominations And as Rome could not behold the success of the voice of the third Angel but with despite and rage so Believers could not escape suffering a great deal from a power which saw it self so dangerously weakned by their Separation This is what the H. Spirit declareth was to be when he saith Here is the patience of the Saints here are they that keâ—p the Commaudments of God and the Faith of Iesus But the Holy Spirit in the message directed thereupon to St. Iohn do's likeway's animate and fortify them against all those evils that Babylon should be able to do unto them And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me write Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them There being no where else and express command given unto St. Iohn to write except in the first Chap. v. 19. It serves to shew the great importance of this Doctrine both in discovering the falsehood of the Romish Doctrine about the State of Dead about the Worship given unto them about Purgatory to which they are adjudged and about the Mass which is made use of for fetching them thence and also for the comfort and encouragement of those who assert the dignity of the Everlasting Gospel and who are persecuted by the Beast for defending of it XVIII ILLUSTRATION Of the Harvest and the Vintage REV. CHAP. 14. v. 14 15 c. THese two Visions do without doubt signify the Judgments of God against his Enemies and the Persecutors of his Church Accordingly Ieremiah useth the similitudes of Vintage and Harvest against Babylon of the Chaldees Chap. 51. v. 33. The Daughter of Babylon saith he is like a threshing floor it is time to thresh her yet a little while and the time of her Harvest shall come Ioel also makes use of them both Chap. 13. 3. Put in the Sicle saith he for the Harvest is ripe come get you down for the Press is full the fats overflow for their wickedness is great There are some who do think that the Harvest respecteth and threatneth the Mahometan Empire but all are agreed that the Vintage referreth unto and threatneth the Papal Kingdom As for me I think it most probable that both these Judgments do threaten the Papal Empire And that the Harvest signifies an Initial Judgment or a Decision as to some
of time betwixt the sounding of the sixth Trumpet and the sounding of the seventh Seeing 't is said chap. 11. v. 14. The second Wo is past and behold the third Wo cometh quickly For we are to observe that this is not said in the prediction of the two first Wo's under the fifth and sixth Trumpets All that is there said is only that they shall come but this quickly is not added save in the prediction of the third Wo. Whence we may conclude that the seventh Trumpet shall immediately follow the Resurrection of the two Witnesses Whose Death as it fell out in 1685. so their Resurrection shall ensue within three years and a half from that time because the three days and a half wherein they are to lie dead being prophetick days are equivalent unto so many years And then in a short time after the Resurrection of the Witnesses whom the Beast hath killed we shall see the arrival of the third Wo that is to avenge the Lambs Wife for all the evils which the Mother of Harlots hath made her to suffer Nor ought we to forget that the Term in the Original which signifieth a Vial signifieth also a Cup in which sense the Term is undoubtedly here used For besides that it is the Judgments of God which are here treated of and which are expressed in the Scripture by the word Cup as appeareth both Ps 75. v. 8. and by the prayer of our Saviour in his Agony Let this Cup pass from me Matth. 26. v. 39. I say besides this it is evident that the vengeance wherewith Babylon is threatned is expressed by the same Term Rev. chap. 18. v. 6. Reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works in the CUP which she hath filled fill to her double So that the Cups of God's Wrath are set in opposition to the golden Cup with which Babylon made drunk the Nations of the Earth Babylon's Cup is full of the furious Wine of her fornications Rev 17. 2. These Cups which are to be poured out are full of the wrath of Almighty God by which he will make her desolate I will again repeat that seeing these Vials or Cups contain Judgments yet to come and which cannot be explained from the Events as hath been done in expounding of the Visions of the Trumpets that therefore I design not to speak otherway's than by way of Conjecture This is a deference which should be pay'd to the Author of Prophesies Howsoever we shall see what may be best alledged and what carrieth the greatest probability by having our eye upon remembring the Explanations that have been already given The first Vial. V. 2 And the first Angel went and poured out his Vial upon the Earth 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 The Earth upon which the first Vial fell is the Antichristian Church the Christian Church become Earthly which is no longer constituted of those that are Citizens of Heaven as the true Church of Jesus Christ is but is made up of worldly persons who have nothing else in their aim but to satisfy their ambition avarice and carnal desires These will be fretted and grieved to see the loss of their Church Revenues and to be deprived of the means of gratifying their Iusts This vexation and sorrow which is the noisome and grievous sore upon them will increase their rage against the Church of God. They who have the mark of the Beast represent the Clergy the Prelates and the Priests who are not only distinguished by their Habits and shaving their Crowns but who likewise boast of an indelible Character that is to say of a mark which nothing can efface These who worship the Image of the Beast signifie the false zealots who are intoxicated with the belief of the Infallibility of the Romish Church as the ancient Romans were with the Eternity of Rome which they stiled the Eternal City These are the Bigots who are transported with a blind zeal the Ignorants who are swallowed up in Superstition and who yield a greater and a more submissive obedience to their Guides than that which God requireth of his People For God doth not require a blind Obedience which is that which they do render to their Clergy The second Vial. V. 3. And the second Angel poured out his Vial upon the Sea and it became as the Blood of a dead man and every living Soul died in the Sea. The Sea is the Papal Kingdom in its utmost extent not only the countrey whereof the Pope is Soveraign but likewise all those Princes who acknowledg him for their Spiritual Head and Father This Empire shall become as the Blood of a dead Man so that every Soul which liveth in it shall die That is the Government of Popish Princes shall grow so intolerable that their people shall not be able to endure their Yoke As the Fish cannot live in waters which are turned into Blood. The third Vial. V. 4. And the third Angel poured out his Vial upon the Rivers and Fountains of Waters and they became Blood. V. 5. And I heard the Angel of the Waters say thou art righteous O Lord which art and wast and shalt be because thou hast judged thus V. 6. For they have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets and thou hast given them blood to drink for they are worthy The Rivers and the Fountains are beyond all peradventure the Doctrines wherewith they nourish Souls The Doctrine of the Romish Church is a Doctrine of Blood against all those whom they account Hereticks And it is very probable that the same Doctrine shall prove bloody against themselves And that their Maxims such as that Faith is not to be kept with Hereticks that men are to be compelled to go to Mass because it is written compel them to come in and that it is lawful to do evil that good may come of it together with others of that kind shall one day serve to make their members arm against and tear one another And by that means like shall be returned unto them for like The fourth Vial. V. 8. And the fourth Angel poured out his Vial upon the Sun and power was givrn unto him to shorch men with fire V. 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 This Sun is in all likelyhoood the Ottoman Emperor who is the Sun of the Eastern Empire For as the fourth Trumpet raised and established him so the fourth Vial shall shake him and pull him down The Subjects of that Empire shall be mortally afflicted but instead of being thereby converted they shall blaspheme the Name of God through not acknowledging his providence as the Supreme and righteous cause of their Judgments The fifth Vial. V. 10. And the fifth Angel poured out