had forgot what he was about bring in a large Vision consisting of seven parts wherein there is nothing at all Propheticall but onely the Reproof or Praises the Comminations or Promises to a few particular Churches This is not according to the steddy order and method of Divine Wisedome especially in this Book then which there never was nor ever will be any thing more accurately written 10. And he had in his right hand seven Stars Methinks it is extremely harsh to conceit that these seven Stars are merely the seven Bishops of any seven particular Churches of Asia as if the rest were not supported nor guided by the hand of Christ or as if there were but seven in his right hand but all the rest in his left Such high Representations cannot be appropriated to any seven particular Churches whatsoever But seven must signifie all in both Coexistence and in Succession to the end of the world Which is a sense worthy so sublime a Book as this of the Apocalypse and correspondent to the meaning of the rest of the Septenaries that occur in this Book of Prophecy they signifying an entire Succession of some seven things or other which they are brought in to represent 11. The seven Stars are the Angels of the seven Churches and the seven Candlesticks which thou samest are the seven Churches Though according to the Literal sense these seven Churches and the seven Angels are easily applicable to those particular seven Churches of Asia above specify'd yet I cannot but conceive that he not calling them here the seven Churches of Asia but seven Churches in general it is an invitation to the searching out some more large Propheticall sense such as we drive at as also in that he says the Angels of the seven Churches at large and not of Asia nor names the Churches by name but especially in that he calls them Angels in stead of Bishops or Pastours For he continuing so in the Propheticall style proper to this Book that ascribes all to the Ministry of Angels it is a sign that the Letters to the seven Angels of the Churches have also a Propheticall sense as well as a Literal or rather that that is the sense that is most chiefly of all intended 12. All these Intimations put togegether out of this first Chapter toward the Assurance of a Propheticall meaning of the Seven Churches of Asia have that force with me that though I could not my self produce such a continued Mysticall or Propheticall sense which would be all along easie and natural yet I could not but vehemently suspect that there is some such sense though it were not in my power to reach it But if I have through the Divine Assistence light on such a sense as is both continually coherent important and according to the Analogie of the Propheticall style I hope this Preparation will even extort the belief thereof from the Reader But such as it is I shall now present to his view CHAP. III. The Interpretation of the Epistle to the Ephesine Church 1. IT was intimated out of the last verse of the foregoing Chapter that the Omission of the appropriating the seven Churches to Asia by name was a fair invitation to us to suspect a more large and released sense of this Vision of the Seven Churches And indeed this Releasement is more free in the Greek Copy then in our English Translation For the Original runs thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the seven Candlesticks which thou sawest are seven Churches not the seven Churches which in the Literal sense one might be prone to imagine to be none other then those situate in Asia minor but this Division of the Churches into Seven in the Mysticall sense is rather distributio ex adjunctis then è subjectis the whole Catholick Church in its Succession from the beginning to the end being cast into seven Intervalls according to seven notorious Qualifications or Conditions thereof For so we say the Primitive Church the Apostatized Church the Reformed Church c. denoting not their Place but rather their Time and Quality which the Genius of the Prophetick style if it were to express them would exhibite as so many Churches distinctly situate 2. But besides this it is farther to be noted that the omission of the appropriating these Seven Churches to Asia does also fairly quit the Mysticall Interpreter of giving any account of the signification of that name it being omitted in the Interpretation of the seven golden Candlesticks Which I thought worth the noting tâ—â—â— all pretense of Cavill might be taken from them that may haply prove lesse satisfy'd with our giving an account of that Greek name from an Hebrew Allusion though their Cavill to the more judicious I hope will seem altogether groundless 3. Nor lastly does the returning of the Spirit of Prophecy to the Seven Churches by name in these Epistles written to them determine the Vision solely and adequately to those seven Churches of Asia topically understood forasmuch as the names of all those Churches at least by an easie Allusion have an Appellative signification and manifestly denote their Quality and Condition as we shall see in the process of our Exposition 4. First therefore of the Church of Ephesus which Christ salutes after this manner Unto the Angel of the Church of Ephesus write These things saith he that holdeth the seven Stars in his right hand and who walketh in the midst of the seven golden Candlesticks That by Angels according to the Apocalyptick style all the Agents under their Presidency are represented or insinuated I have already noted and it is so frequent and obvious in the Apocalypse that none that is versed therein can any ways doubt of it Wherefore Christ his writing to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus in this Mysticall sense is his writing to all Bishops Pastours and Christians in this first Apostolicall Intervall of the Church And that particularly in this Epistle to this Church I mean in the Mysticall sense thereof he recommends himself to them under the character of him that holds the seven Stars in his right hand and who walketh in the midst of the seven golden Candlesticks the sense stripp'd of this Propheticall Pomp is that I am he that supports all my Bishops and Pastours and all that labour for the Interest of my Kingdome from this time for ever I am present with them and uphold them As he said at the first founding of the Church Goe ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you And lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the world He is in the midst of his Church where-ever two or three are gathered together in his Name He walks through in the midst of the Successions of the seven Intervalls of the Church the seven golden
be as the dung on the face of the earth So that the Notation of the name denotes with what foul Reproach the Papal Power and Superstition would be put down in those places out of which it was to be exterminated that it should be troden down into the very Dirt. So that upon him that was in the Pergamenian Intervall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord of the People the Papal Hierarchy domineering over all at the close of this Thyatirian Intervall this insulting Lamentation might be taken up with a paronomasticall Allusion not much unlike the foregoing Etymologie in the sense thereof and near enough to the sound of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alas the Dung or Dirt of the Papal Lordlinesse How is it troden down as the Mire in the streets Which was notoriously performed in the actings of Martin Luther against the Pope and Roman Clergy But whether this or what else may be alluded to by the sound of the Name I am not very solicitous the Story of the Person being sufficient to warrant the meaning I have given of the Text as any one may see by perusing the Expolition And our Performance I hope will appear solid enough without descending to such curious Niceties We will therefore now onely adde something briefly touching the Usesulnesse thereof and so conclude 13. And certainly our Exposition of these seven Epistles to the seven Churches has an equal Usefulnesse with any other Exposition of the Apocalyptick Visions and the more considerable in that it is a more compendious comprehension of the main drift of them all First then it serves for the confirmation of our faith in the particular Providence and Watchfulnesse of Christ over his Church it being so manifest from this Exposition with what care and steddiness he hath carried on things hitherto in the first five Intervalls and that they have been no otherwise then He himself has predicted in these Propheticall Epistles But then again in the second place here is an ample and timely Testimony in the behalf of the Protestants I mean such as have declared against and forsaken the Communion of the Church of Rome from the time of the Waldenses to the first Reformers usually so called the Waldenses being acknowledged the faithfull Martyrs of Christ and those other that lived within the Intervall of the Church in Thyatira carrying away no lesse Encomium as being thus described in the Epistle to that Church I know thy works and charity and service and faith and thy patience and thy works and the last to be more then the first So that they approved themselves more and more even till they broke out at last into a National Reformation And shall not our first Reformers then be thought worthy of having the Vision of the Rising of the Witnesses applied to them who have so ample a testimony from Christ himself whom the Father has constituted the Judge of the whole World And shall not they rightly be said to have ascended into Heaven in a Politicall sense to whom was made good that Promise to the Church in Thyatira To him that overcomes will I give power over the Nations c This therefore of the Church in Thyatira does farther ratifie what we have elsewhere delivered touching the Rising of the Witnesses that the Completion of that Prophecy was in that wonderfull Reformation God unexpectedly brought about by Luther and others Whence it will follow that the sound of the sixth Trumpet is over and that the Forty two months the One thousand two hundred and sixty days or the Time and Times and Half a time are expired as to the fulfilling of Prophecy and consequently that it is in vain for any to compute any Futurities upon the supposall of their Expiration to come and that those that doe so will finde themselves confuted by the unsutablenesse of Events and thereby expose the endeavour of interpreting Prophecies to reproach and scorn and weaken mens belief even of those Expositions that are true and give great advantage to the common Adversary But as it is most true in it self so it is most for the Interest of Reformed Christendome to take notice that the Protestant Reformation is the fulfilling of the Vision of the Rising of the Witnesses and of their Ascending into Heaven that men may have that value for the Reformation that is due thereto it having thereby so plain a Ratification from Divine Testimony of the rightfulnesse thereof against the Tyrannies and Idolatries of the Church of Rome and that both Magistrate and People may every-where be the better sodered together upon this consideration and that all Sects that keep the Foundation may have the better esteem for one another and not vilifie and hate one another in such sort as usually they do but be in a readinesse for Christian Unity and Love For it is this Dispensation of Spirit that must give Antichrist that most deadly Blow that is to come and not a flaming Sword out of the mouth of the Rider of the white Horse literally understood or large streams of fire spouted out of Heaven upon him or any such miraculous assistence as some ignorantly expect at the finishing of the 1260 days Which groundlesse Supposition is fit for nothing but to engender vain Heats and presumptuous Conceits to which no answer will be given but Shame and Frustration But the plain Truth understood as it is naturally tends to the begetting in all Reformed Christendome a mutuall esteem of one another and the suppressing that vain Presumption in Parties as if they were the sole people that the Vision of the Witnesses belonged to and so ought to expect marvellous things for themselves conjoined with the destruction or suppression of all the rest that are not of their own Party Which fond or rather unchristian Conceits are quite expunged by the true and faithfull Interpretation I have published to the world of the Rising of the Witnesses which puts them in a way rather of duly prizing one another and of jointly endeavouring in the spirit of Sobriety to advance the common Interest of whole Reformed Christendome then for any one Party so vainly to presume of themselves above all the rest And finally this groundlesse expectation of any such wonderfull events upon the expiration of the 1260 days being thus wiped away that time as to any fulfilling of Prophecies being already expired and no set time being defined for the future but onely the order of things in the Vision of the Vials it is left for the Protestants to compute the approach of the final Ruine of Antichrist and the blessed Millennium according to their own progresse in the Mysterie of real Regeneration and indispensable Duties of Christianity By how much more holy by how much more harmlesse by how much more humble by how much more Heavenly-affected they finde one another by how much more discreet by how much more faithfull and obedient to the publick
ought to be as much concerned as that particular Church of Sardis was in Asia minor And this intention of the Holy Ghost being once understood it will be of the like usefulness to the Philadelphian Church especially and also to the Laodicean Wherefore the Objections were but small considering the Usefulness of this Epistolar way though there were no other sense of these seven Epistles and the seven Churches but the mysticall For as in an entire Vision where the beginning is touching something past or present all goes under the Title of Propheticall though that part that respects things past is but Historicall Representation so in this entire Epistolar Vision though the first part be Epistolar yet it is but Historicall Representation exhibiting times and persons past as if they were present to be writ to and that for uniformity sake in the form of an Epistle as what is past in History under the form of Propheticall Vision as the Rider of the white Horse which is the first in the Vision of the Seals though the Representation was of what was partly past and partly present But what is to come is the proper object of all Vision Propheticall But now besides all this in the Literal sense there being then a Church in Ephesus when that Epistle was wrote to it and in a Moral sense it being applicable to any Church that does Ephesize in any part of Christendome and at any time the Objection in my judgment has melted into less then nothing And therefore notwithstanding this exception we will not stick to place the end of the Interval of the Ephesine Succession in the tenth of Nero's Reign and in the year of Christ 63. Till then let the Church of Christ be represented under the Title of Ephesus from that time till about three hundred and odd years after Christ under the name of Smyrna from thence to the latter end of the Persecution of the Albigenses and Waldenses let her be the Church dwelling in Pergamus from that time till whole Nations fell off from the Pope let the same Church bear the name of Thyatira from that time Protestantisme became the Religion of Nations till the last Vial let this Church bear the Title of the Church in Sardis from that time till the fourth Thunder let it wear the name of Philadelphia from the fourth Thunder till Christ come visibly to Judgement in the clouds let the Church bear the name of Laodicea These are the seven Intervals which how well they will fit with the Titles of these distinct successive States of the Church and the things spoken of them in the Vision I will anon endeavour to unfold CHAP. II. A farther Preparation out of the first Chapter of the Apocalypse whereby this Propheticall meaning of the Vision of the Seven Churches is more clearly assured BUT in the mean time for the greater assurance of this Propheticall or Mysticall sense we will first make some farther Remarks upon the first Chapter of the Apocalypso Where we will make onely this one modest Supposition that the Spirit of God sets down nothing immethodically nor in vain or at least nothing vainly immethodicall Wherefore upon the very first Verse which bears the Title of the whole Book The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass that is things to come to pass some shortly and other some in succession of time as all Interpreters agree I cannot but note this That if the Spirit of God do but respicere Titulum as most certainly he will he will set down no entire Visions as this of the Seven Churches is but they must in the main be of things to come to pass not of things present merely and not hid but obvious to the eyes of men as the State of the Churches here mentioned was to the world at that time And therefore something farther must be meant by them then can be contained in the Literal sense which is not of things to come as the Title requires but onely of things present or some Promises or Threatnings that do not properly amount to the nature of Prophetical prediction no more then the Law of Moses to which they are annexed 2. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the word of this Prophecy for the time is at hand This again plainly shews that this Book is all of it I mean all the entire Visions thereof a Book of Prophecies which as I intimated before mere Promises and Threatnings cannot make it no more then they do those Laws of Moses to which they are adjoyned And though the several States of the Seven Churches may be applicable to several states of particular Churches of after-Ages in Christendome l yet it cannot properly be in this Literal sense by way of Prediction but of Example of Vertue or Vice of pious or impious Actions which repeatedly happen in all History Whence if there be no more in it then thus these Epistles to the Seven Churches cannot be deemed any Prophecy and therefore are heterogeneous to the Scope and Title of the Book 3. But upon the so expresly calling this a Book of Prophecies for John to salute the Seven Churches in Asia with this Salutation Grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come methinks it does even forcibly drive a man to conceive that the Vision of the Seven Churches which he so immediately falls upon is a Prophecy according to the title immediately mentioned in the foregoing Verse Besides that the description of the party in whose name he salutes them which is and which was and which is to come does very naturally insinuate that he is treating of what reaches from the beginning of the Church to the latest Ages thereof Which he insists more upon in the seventh Verse after he has spoken of the person of Christ Behold he cometh with the clouds this reaches the last Period of Laodicea when God will judge all people and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him for the Earth shall then be burnt up with the works thereof Even so Amen This will certainly come to pass about the seventh Thunder in that dark hollow Dungeon where there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth let the sons of Infidelity or Unbelief conceit what they will to the contrary Wherefore the minde and scope of the spirit of Prophecy seems here to be carried out even to the utmost Ages of the world 4. According as he declares in the next Verse I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty That Wisedome and Power that reaches from one end to another mightily and sweetly orders all things This methinks strongly insinuates that the Vision of the Seven
Candlesticks till the end of all This is to encourage the beginning of his Church and is methodically put in the first place as being general and running through all the Intervalls thereof till the end of the world But that the Frontispice as I before called it to this Vision of the Seven Churches which was the glorious Character of our blessed Saviour is made use of by piece-meal for an entrance into the parts of this Vision as it is in them all I cannot but take notice how fitly it answers to the Vision of the Seals where the parts of the Frontispice are also made use of to usher in four of the Seals for the four Beasts one after another and that with apposite significancy as here at the opening of the four first Seals are introduced uttering this voice Come and see Wherefore there being the like contrivance in both Visions it is a shrewd intimation that they are Visions of like importance that is very reachingly and comprehensively Propheticall as I endeavoured to evince out of the first Chapter 5. And how accommodate that part of the Character of our blessed Saviour is to this part of the Vision that concerns the Ephesine Church is already declared We shall now confider the fitnesse of the paronomasticall Allusion in the Name For that the Propheticall style does affect such Allusions both Grotius and Mr. Mede and all Interpreters that I know are agreed upon And Grotius does particularly give the reason of the names of all these Churches in his Commentary on the Apocalypse So that there is nothing of Levity or Indiscretion in the attempting of the same In Ephesus therefore for ought I know there may be a double Allusion both to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being one of the three matres Lectionis as they are called contained in it both E and A it does plainly intimate that the sound of E and A are not so extremely different one from another But as for the sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is hugely well and peculiarly accommodate to this Church it being the first Intervall of the Seven as it were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the same the Careeres or Lists from whence the Race begins of the Succession of all the Seven Churches which ends in the end of the world And S. Paul compares the calling of Christians to a Race 6. But as for the other word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Grotius also expresly takes notice of and pitches upon the Allusion thereto is unexceptionable both as to sound and signification For it denotes that great servour and zealous desire the Church in those first Primitive and Apostolick Times had to the Affairs of Christ and to the Interest of his Kingdome that they did sincerely and earnestly under the conduct of that Heros on the white Horse with his bow and arrow in his right hand aim at and press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus they were inflamed with the desire of enlarging the Kingdome of Christ here and of obtaining that immarcescible Crown hereafter and of eating the fruit of eternall life in the celestiall Paradise of God This was the first love of this Church this was their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their vehement and sincere desire and onely scope of their Actions that they might serve Christ here and enjoy him afterwards in his heavenly Kingdome And therefore out of this fervent love to Christ and sense of their own happinesse they did at first easily devour all Difficulties 7. As it is noted in the two following verses I know thy works and thy labour and thy patience and how thou canst not bear with such as are evil For those that are sincerely and fervently good it cannot but make them have an Antipathy against what is evil and discern them that bear themselves never so Apostolically and yet are not right at the bottome to be but Hypocrites and Liers And thou hast tried them which say they are Apostles and are not That there were false Apostles deceitfull workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ in the Apostles time within which the Period of this Church is the Apostle Paul takes notice 2 Cor. 11. 13. which therefore is very agreeable to the Intervall of this first Church For when should any pretend to be Apostles sent from God but in that Age there were Apostles sent into the world by him And hast born and hast patience and for my Name 's sake hast laboured and hast not fainted What is here is much-what the same sense and words as were in the foregoing verse but it is not repeated in vain For these words I suppose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have a special correspondence to the reward promised in the 7. verse He that will not labour shall not eat but he that labours very much and breaks not off by reason of any lazy fainting or culpable lassitude is worthy to be fed with the bread of life But besides this labour and patience in the highest circumstances is here repeated the better to set off the present remissness of some in this Ephesine Church as it is in the next Verse 8. Neverthelesse I have something against thee because thou hast left thy first love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grotius and Dr. Hammond expound it because thou hast remitted of thy first love and so allow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie relaxation and remission in a contrary sense to intension of degrees whence there may be another ground of Allusion in Ephesus to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in counter distinction to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that this Ephesine Church may have its name from its first intense Love and its after Remission thereof by this double Allusion But as the Allusion to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is more perfect then that to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so questionless this first Intervall of the Church was more famous for their sincere and real Love to Christ then for their Remissnesse therein Which serves something for the countenancing of the term of this Intervall Because thou hast left thy first love that is to say because thou hast ceased to be so fervent in spirit as at the first Which first Love being according to the measure of Christ's own Prescript was certainly such as made the Ephesine Church love Christ more then Father or Mother or Wife or Children or any worldly Interest whatsoever accordingly as he requires But towards the end of the Intervall of this first Succession of the Church this Love and Courage it seems began to abate and too many began to Gnosticize as it is called in that point and think it a small thing to deny the Faith in the time of Persecution even those that yet professed themselves of the Church and were Believers That this was
Churches that are writ unto What a plain and manifest account is there to him that compares the Epistles in their Propheticall sense with the Intervalls of the Church Catholick lying in that order that these Churches are ranged This is a satisfactory reason and worthy the Spirit that wrote these Epistles But whether they are ranged in this order because that a Letter-carrier going from Patmos his first journey will be to Ephesus and then to Smyrna and so in order till he come to Laodicea whether the holy Spirit of Prophecy regarded that in the dictating of his Letters though Alcazar the Jesuite be for it I cannot but suspend my judgement and that not without a smile But of this Ataxie more particularly anon 3. Fourthly If it be demanded why just Seven Churches in Asia are writ to neither more nor lesse especially that in Thyatira according to the acknowledgement of Epiphanius being then not founded but after the writing of these Epistles it is hard to give a satisfactory answer in the Literal sense For to say this Book of the Apocalypse affects the number Seven and that because it runs upon the number Seven altogether in the insuing part of the book which is Propheticall it therefore for Conformity sake chuses this number in writing to the Churches though literally understood seems but a meagre mean and trifling account a design unworthy the Holy Spirit that dictated this Book But the using this number Seven all over is rather an intimation that the Book is Propheticall all over and that these Epistles are also a Prophecy accordingly as we have explained them And taking them so the Answer is plain and obvious viz. The number Seven is here chosen out as Symbolicall it being the note of Universality whence the Pythagoreans as I above noted call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore Seven and no more then Seven Churches are writ unto as standing for the seven Intervalls of the Church from the beginning to the end of all Fifthly If it be demanded why these seven Churches rather then any others which in all likelihood may have the same Vertues and Vices that these are commended and taxed for The reason of this is writ in the very Notation of their Names every Name being significative of the Condition of the Church Catholick in that successive Intervall of time that this or that Church so named standeth for and in such order as they are repeated Sixthly If one require a Reason why Christ is described by holding the seven Stars in his right hand in the Epistles to the Churches of Ephesus and of Sardis why the same description in both or why in either In the Literal sense it will be hard to finde any peculiar Reason but in the Propheticall sense already declared it is obvious For the seven Stars signifie all the Pastours whether in present existence or succession And Ephesus is the beginning-state of the Church and therefore it is both very seasonable and methodicall to represent the first Founder Sustainer and Continuer thereof by this Emblem Lo I am with you to the end of the world And that this again is hinted at in the Epistle to the Church of Sardis is with evident Proportion and Analogy to the Affairs of the Church there represented For the Church of Sardis is as it were the beginning again or the emerging of the true Church or Kingdome of Christ out of the Power and Kingdome of Antichrist 4. Seventhly Why the Church of Ephesus of all other Churches should be commended for their trying false Apostles Why might not other Churches be attaqued by them and also discover them as well as the Church of Ephesus The Solution of which Probleme is easie in this Mysticall sense of the Epistles that places the Ephesine Intervall within the Apostles times but the rest on this side of them Eighthly If any one demand why it is said to the Church of Smyrna more then to any other Church Be thou faithfull unto death and I will give thee the Crown of life and again He that overcometh shall not be hurt by the second death In the Literal sense it will be very hard to finde any peculiar Reason why this might not as well be said to the Church in Pergamus where there was killing for Religion it seems by the mention of the Martyr Antipas I but there was no obtaining the Crown of life there in any peculiar sense but the Crown of life that is the Imperial Crown was given to the Sufferings of the Primitive Martyrs under the Ten Persecutions to whom also according to the opinion of the ancient Church the Promise of the first Resurrection belonged Which is here obliquely glanced at according to the mode of the Apocalyptick style that loves to hint things by Ellipses in that Promise He that overcometh shall not be hurt by the second death implying thereby that he shall be made partaker of the first Resurrection Ninthly If any one will again object more particularly against the Ataxie of the Churches that they are ranged neither according to the merit nor congeneracy of their Conditions pretending that it had been far better to have joyned the two irreprehensible Churches together Smyrna and Philadelphia against whom there is no complaint at all and then Ephesus Sardis and Laodicea against whom there is no complaint of eating things offered unto Idols and afterwards Pergamus and Thyatira in which Churches alone there is If any one I say contend that this method had been more exact truly in the Literal sense it will be hard to frame an handsome and satisfactory answer especially if he urge that God is the Authour of Method as well as the God of Order But in this Mysticall or Propheticall sense the Answer is solid and exquisite and much-what the same that was given to the like Difficulty more generally propounded before namely That the Churches of Asia are named in that order the successive Intervalls of the Church Catholick were to proceed in of which these Asiatick Churches are but the Symbols or Hieroglyphicks And therefore those two Intervalls of time which take in the Reign of the Beast and the False prophet viz. the Intervalls of the Church of Pergamus and of Thyatira must come after Ephesus and Smyrna because till the expiration of those two Intervalls Idolatry had not again re-entred the Apostatizing Church And the three following Intervalls of Sardis Philadelphia and Laodicea are the Intervalls of the true Church elapsed out of the hands of domineering Idolatry and therefore we hear no more in them of things sacrificed unto Idols nor of any Jezabel And Philadelphia which is the most holy and the most glorious Intervall of the Church that is to appear on the face of the earth is not to be named according to her Dignity but according to her Succession in time toward the latter end of the world as she is here ranged But of this more then enough because we had
touched of it in the general before 5. Tenthly Why is Christ in his Description before the Epistle to the Church in Pergamus set out by a two-edged sword coming suppose out of his mouth according to the Ellipticalnesse of the Apocalyptick style what reason in the letter can be given of that for especially if this Supplement be made it cannot respect the slaying of Antipas with the sword What peculiar thing then in this Church of Pergamus is there to require this Description Truly nothing at all appears in the Letter But in the Propheticall sense it is very proper The Waldenses and Albigenses in this Intervall assaulting the Church of Rome or at least defending themselves and their pure Faith so signally by this weapon I mean by the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God though themselves died so many thousands of them in the field by the sword for the Faith they thus defended And in the eleventh place The Description of Christ before the Epistle to the Church in Thyatira And his feet like fine brasse as if they burned in a furnace for that Supplement is to be understood out of his Description in the first Chapter as before But now what peculiar significancy has this Description or what congruity to any thing in the Church of Thyatira Literally understood surely none But in the Propheticall sense it is very expressive of those lower members of Christ's body his Church here on earth of their invincible Zeal and Patience and Sincerity of Affection such as did abide the most fiery Trialls that could be put upon them and made them stand at the Stake amongst burning Faggots with the flames about their ears and never flinch for it As has been noted in the interpretation of that Epistle This was the state of that Intervall of the Church Twelfthly In a Book that is so full of AEnigmaticall Involutions and Coverings upon Coverings where he calls the Churches Golden Candle-sticks and the Bishops or Pastours Stars and Angels even then when he interprets and offers to be more plain that the same Authour should so openly and plainly mention any one by name as he does the Martyr Antipas if there were not some farther Mysterie in it would be a great difficulty and hardly to be digested by the more sagacious and curious I must confesse I have often wondred at this naming Antipas by name till I understood a farther sense thereof such as we have rendred in the exposition of that Epistle 6. In the thirteenth place One might well demand why Christ expresses a greater disgust against the Church of Laodicea then that of Sardis For though the former is said to be luke-warm yet the other making a great show of life is notwithstanding declared to be dead That Christ should be more enraged against Luke warmnesse then Hypocrisy and threaten it more deeply then the other I will spew thee out of my mouth which is quite to cast a thing away never to be resumed again must seem marvellous to the considerate Certainly if there were not some greater matter in it the Spirit of Christ would not speak so severely onely to follow a Metaphor But in the Propheticall sense the Solution is easie that passage being predictive of the Extermination of the Church from the face of the earth at the close of the world as I have expounded it In the fourteenth place It may be demanded why so affectedly and repeatedly in every Epistle that phrase is used I know thy works without any variation or omission Which seems a thing but of small importance in the Literal sense of these Epistles but in the Propheticall it seems on purpose so repeated to intimate an Allusion in Asia to the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was intended on purpose to answer to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Asia may also be significant as well as the names of the Seven Churches which they all being it is a shrewd presumption this repetition was for some such design as has been declared Whereas the Literal sense can give no account thereof Fifteenthly Alcazar himself is much stumbled that the Spirit of God should be thought to take notice of any one particular Woman in the Church of Thyatira and so call her by the name of Jezabel as is ordinarily supposed And indeed these things are too little for the majesty of this writing of the Apocalypse But how can we help it in the Literal sense if we will interpret with constancy and coherency But in the Propheticall sense there is no such incongruity The Object is worth the Spirit 's taking notice of in this kinde this Jezabel being that painted Woman of Rome intoxicating the Kings of the earth with the Cup of her spiritual Fornications as has been shewn upon the Text. 7. Sixteenthly It seems very strange that that Promise of ruling over the Nations and receiving the Morning-star which doubtlesse are Politicall Promises should be made to the Church in Thyatira more then to that in Pergamus or Ephesus and others What Victories or Dominion did the Church in Thyatira in Asia get over the Nations more then other Churches This is an hard knot in the Literal sense But in the Propheticall it is loosned at the first sight For the Closure of the Intervall of the Church of Thyatira brings in the time wherein whole Nations revolted from the Pope and his idolatrous Church and professed the Reformed Religion and so in these parts got the Pontifician party under them Seventeenthly In the Epistle to the Church in Philadelphia there is mention made of a mighty Temptation that is to come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth touching which he saith Behold I come quickly Why should this be said to the Church of Philadelphia more then to any other of the Churches here specified There are not the least footsteps of reason to be found in the Literal sense But in the Propheticall sense the thing is plain For the Intervall of Philadelphia beginning in the last Vial wherein that mighty and terrible Earthquake is to happen the great Temptation what it is is plainly thence understood and how in respect of this Philadelphian Church it will come quickly she commencing but in the very same Vial that this is to happen under Eighteenthly Why upon this Philadelphia a private Asiatick Church should the name of the City of God the new Jerusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from God the very same that is expressed Apoc. 21. be said to be written This title were too big and turgent for any private Church were it not a Type or Symbol of some greater matter But by the Propheticall interpretation this difficulty is quite removed For the Intervall of the Philadelphian Church is co-incident with the times of the new Jerusalem mentioned at the end of the Apocalypse and of the Millenniall Empire of Christ upon earth 8.
Cor meum illumina fulgens Stella Maris Et ab hostis machina semper tuearis O gloriosa Virgo Maria mater Regis aeterni Libera nos ab omni malo à poenis Inferni Which is a Petition for Illumination of heart for Security from the Devil and from eternall Death which is onely the Privilege of the Son of God the eternall Wisedome of the Father to grant who is said also to have the Keys of Hell and of Death 4. But the thing which is very observable and which I mainly drive at is this That the Roman Church toward the latter end before the Reformation broke out had run so mad after the Patronage of the Virgin that they had almost forgot the Son of God and spent all their Devotions on her whom they do at least equallize to Christ and so really make her as well as some love to call her the Daughter of God in as high a sense as Christ is his Son as will farther appear in the process of our Quotations As in that Prayer to the blessed Virgin that follows in Chemnitius Te mater illuminationis cordis mei te nutrix salutis meae mentis te obsecrant quantum possunt cuncta praecordia mea Exaudi Domina adesto propitia adjuva potentissima ut mundentur sordes mentis meae ut illuminentur tenebrae meae O gloriosa Domina Porta vitae Janua salutis Via reconciliationis Aditus recuperationis obsecro te per salvatricem tuam foecunditatem fac ut peccatorum meorum venia vivendi gratia concedatur usque in finem hic servus tuus sub tua protectione custodiatur Which Petition and Compellations saving what belongs to the Sex are most proper and natural to be used towards Christ. But the Virgin is here made our Saviour and Mediatour in the feminine gender 5. As she is again most expresly in that Prayer to her in her Feast of Visitation Veni praecelsa Domina Maria tu nos visita AEgras mentes illumina Per sacrae vitae munera Veni Salvatrix seculi Sordes aufer piaculi In visitando populum Poenae tollas periculum Veni Regina gentium Dele flammas reatuum Dele quodcunque devium Da vitam innocentium In which Invocation the Virgin Mary is plainly called the Saviour of the World and pray'd unto for spiritual Illumination of the Soul and for the purgation thereof from the filth both of Sin and Guilt whereby she is plainly equallized to the Son of God and made as it were a She-Christ or Daughter of God To this sense also are those Prayers put up to her in her Feast of the Conception and of the Annunciation But it were infinite to produce all Reade that Prayer in Chemnitius sung to her by the Council of Constance It is a perfect Imitation of the ancient Prayer of the Church to the Holy Ghost CHAP. VI. More Forms of Invocation of the blessed Virgin out of the Mary-Psalter so called extremely Idolatrous and Blasphemous 1. WE will now onely note some passages in the Mary-Psalter as it is called wherein how much at that time the Church of Rome had thrust themselves under the Protection and Patronage of the Virgin and made her the Daughter of God in stead of approving themselves faithfull touching the Rights and Prerogatives of the Son and his Worship will be most notoriously evident I will begin with the thirtieth Psalm In te Domina speravi non confundar in aeternum In gratiam tuam suscipe me inclina ad me aurem tuam in moerore meolaetifica me Tu es fortitudo mea refugium meum consolatio mea protectio mea ad te clamavi cùm tribularetur cor meum exaudîsti de vertice collium aeternorum In manus tuas Domina commendo spiritum meum meam totam vitam diem ultimum This is that whole Psalm to the Virgin jusr in such a form and with such a repose of spirit as David prays in to God himself 2. But we will content our selves with transcribing onely some select pieces As Psalm 71. Resperge Domina cor meum dulcedine tuâ Fac me oblivisci miserias hujus vitae Concupiscentias aeternas excita in anima mea de gaudio Paradiss inebria mentem meam And again Psalm 104. Salus sempiterna in manu tua est Domina qui te dignè honoraverint suscipient illam Clementia tua non deficiet à seculis aeternis misericordia tua à generatione in generationem And Psalm 117. Dispositione tuâ mundus perseverat quem tu Domina cum Deo fundâsti ab initio Tuus totus ego sum Domina salvum me fac quoniam desiderabiles sunt laudes tuae in tempore peregrinationis meae No man can say more to or expect more from the eternall God himself Whence they make the eternall Godhead as hypostatically united with the Virgin as with Christ himself and carry themselves to her as if she were as properly the Daughter of God as he the Son For else how could she be said to have everlasting Salvation in her power and to have laid the Foundations of the world from the beginning with the eternall Deity 3. There are also other passages in this Psalter whereby they make the Virgin Mary a She-Christ the Daughter of God as he is the Son of God and that is by the applying of the very Phrases spoken of him in the Scripture unto her As in Psalm 2. Venite ad eam omnes qui laboratis tribulati estis refrigerium solatium dabit animabus vestris And Psalm 81. Terge foeditatem me am Domina quae semper rutilas puritate Fons vitae influe in os meum ex quo viventes aquae profluunt emanant Omnes sitientes venite ad illam de fonte suo gratanter vos potabit This is the gift of the Spirit belonging onely to Christ to give to them that believe on him And he is also said to be the ease and rest of all them that are weary and heavy laden And again Psalm 46. Omnes gentes plaudite manibus psallite in jubilo Virgini gloriosae Quoniam ipsa est porta vitae janua salutis via nostrae reconciliationis spes poenitentium solamen lugentium pax beata cordium atque salus This is attributed to the Virgin whenas it is Christ alone that is the way of Salvation and Reconciliation with God 4. This is a foul and tedious Subject and therefore to make an end at length let us consider the Blasphemy of the 41. Psalm Quemadmodum desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum ità ad amorem tuum anhelat anima mea Virgo sancta Quia tu es genitrix vitae meae altrix reparationis carnis meae Quia tu lactatrix Salvationis animae meae initium finis totius salutis meae Here is that attributed to the Virgin which is said of Christ that he is the Authour
Magistrate by how much more kinde and loving to one another and by how much more seriously affected for the advancing the publick good and the endeavouring the common welfare of all mankind which will introduce the Philadelphian Intervall by so much more near they may reckon the approach of the downfall of Antichrist and the glorious Reign of Christ in his Saints at the happy Millennium But what other Indications there be besides these in the Visions of the Prophets whereby we may compute the nearnesse of those Times I must ingenuously confesse I know not But this was a sudden Excursion We will return again into the way 14. But thirdly In that it is said Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that Woman Jezebel which calleth her self a Prophetesse to teach and seduce my servants to commit Fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto Idols c. this is a perfect clearing of the Protestant Reformers from that hainous Crime of Schism that the Church of Rome so magisterially lays to their charge it plainly implying that their Separation from the Church of Rome was not onely no Fault but a Vertue and an indispensable point of Obedience to the command of Christ and that it had been Disobedience and Rebellion against Christ not to have separated and therefore was impossible to be any Schism Which is a thing worthy of our notice and consideration As is also this contrary to the opinion of some otherwise learned That to depart from the Church of Rome upon the very account of Idolatry is not Schism before God but onely in the sight of men and those it is to be feared of none of the purest minds but rather such as have a greater sense of the carnal Interest of the Church then of the Glory of God and the purity of his Worship For Christ who is God blessed for ever does here blame the Church in Thyatira that she suffers the Woman Jezebel any longer and does not cast her off as the Eunuchs cast her out of the window in the Type and that for this very cause because she is a Teacher of Idolatry and an Abettour and Countenancer of spiritual Fornication as is manifest in the Text. So that before God or in the sight of God both the Church of Rome stands guilty of Idolatry and also the Protestants leaving her Communion upon that account are acquitted from any the least taint or suspicion of Schism And that the Spirit of God does but witnesse with our spirits in the truth of this matter if thou hast not lost the free use of thy Reason that brief Treatise of Idolatry added to this present Exposition will I hope abundantly satisfie thee which therefore I have adjoined as a sutable Appendage thereunto 15. Fourthly In that Reformed Christendom especially after their Remissnesse in Life and Manners and Contentionsnesse about Trifles is represented under the Type of the Church in Sardis to be in such an imperfect Condition though emerged out of the grossnesse of the Popish Idolatry for there is no farther complaint of either the Doctrine of Balaam or of Jezebel here this should teach us to be humble and not over-fierce and confident in our Opinions and Doctrines but meekly to bear one with another and be ready to be instructed by one another for the clearing up the Truth But in the mean time things being no better then they are sith they are no worse then they were predicted we are hence to learn that it is our Duty never to suffer our mindes to relapse towards the Flesh-pots of AEgypt or think we had as good goe back again to Rome as to be no better then we are For this Sardian state is like the wandring in the Wildernesse betwixt AEgypt and the promised Land which is the Philadelphian state into which there is no entrance till after the seven Vials that is till the last of them be poured out or at least a-pouring As it is said in the fifteenth of the Apocalypse And the Temple was filled with smoak from the glory of God and from his power and no man was able to enter into the Temple till the seven plagues of the seven Angels were fulfilled Where no man according to the Apocalyptick style signifies that that company of men that were to enter into and make up that state of the Church which is here styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the living Temple of God would not appear in that eminent condition till after the Vials the last either current or complete Which agrees admirably with that passage in the Epistle to Philadelphia Him that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God So that these Philadelphians shall not onely enter into the Temple after the smoak of the Vials but never goe out of it again according to the sense we have explained it in Wherefore because we are in a kinde of Wildernesse-condition we ought with Faith and Meeknesse and Patience to abide till God shall bring us into that good Land and not to murmur against him and reproach his Providence who hath thought fit to carry on things with such leisurely steps nor peevishly and falsly to say that we had as good return to Rome again and that it is a question whether the Reformation has done more good or hurt For such thoughts or speeches are false injudicious and ingratefull Reproaches against the sacred Providence of God whose ways these bitter shallow and unsanctify'd spirits understand not because the spirit of the world has blinded their eyes And forasmuch as there is no complaint of Idolatry in the Epistle to this Sardian Church nor the least hint to make any Separation as before all the Churches of Reformed Christendom and all the particular Sects and Members thereof ought to have a tender regard how they divide from one another or break Communion for difference of Ceremony or Opinion but holding all the indispensable Foundation and bearing joint Testimony against the grosse Idolatries and wilde Enormities of the Church of Rome to study Peace and mutuall Compliance that the Body of Reformed Christendome may be more strong and compact to stand against the common Enemie But above all we are with might and main to endeavour to perfect Holinesse in the fear of God and to purge our selves from all pollution of flesh and spirit that we may prevent the extremity of that Judgement which is threatned as suddenly and unexpectedly to come upon the Church of Sardis And these I think are main Usefulnesses discoverable in the Interpretation of the Epistle to the Sardian Church 16. And fifthly As for the Exposition of the Church of Philadelphia it is of main Importance for the making of the world good For it is the ordinary excuse for the reigning of Impiety and Immorality in the world that men will be men as long as the world lasts and that things are more likely ever to grow worse and worse then
better and therefore very few there are that will either attempt the amending of their own Lives or the encouraging others so to doe When notwithstanding it is plain according to the Propheticall sense of the Epistle to the Church of Philadelphia that there will be a time when Righteousnesse and true Holinesse will have a most glorious reign upon earth But those that are averse from this belief are usually averse also from believing any certitude in the Expositions of Prophecies They will not forsooth be so presumptuous as to pretend they can understand them especially such as either chastise the abominable Wickednesses of the Roman Church or such as promise Times transcendently better Which is a piece of Hypocrisie much like that of Ahaz when the Prophet bid him ask a Sign of the Lord his God but he good modest Hypocrite would not ask a Sign neither would he tempt the Lord. The meaning whereof was that he would not amuze nor distract his thoughts nor render himself more obnoxious by taking notice of a supernatural Evidence against the natural Sentiments and persuasions of his own carnal minde under whose Government he was resolved to be and not be dissettled by the Inlets of any higher Light The application is very easie and obvious 17. And lastly Admitting the Propheticall meaning of the Epistle to the Church of Laodicea it is of great use for the establishing our Faith in that grand Point That this Terrestriall Scene will have an end and that at the close of all Christ will visibly come in Judgement to reward all men according to their works That he will judge both the quick and the dead according to the Orthodox sense of the Apostolick Doctrine To all which we may adde that as the Expositions of these Seven Epistles to the Seven Churches in Asia are in a manner as convincing as any other Visions in the whole Apocalypse so they are far more easie and reach the main Design in a lesse compasse of words and have not that operosenesse of Synchronisms necessarily hanging on them as the other have for the clearing of the sense but are onely seven Intervalls manifestly succeeding one another whose Bounds so far as things are past are easily determinable And we know that the Intervall of Sardis ends where that of Philadelphia begins and Laodicea is the close of all Which Facility and Comprehensiblenesse must needs improve the Usefulnesse of these Expositions very considerably And there wanting nothing but the Significations of the Names to be added for the easie Applicability of the Events to each Intervall I will for the satisfaction of the Reader briefly furnish them that have no skill in the original Languages with the sense and meaning of the Names of all the Seven Churches aforehand 18. Ephesus therefore with an Allusion to the Greek word Ephesis signifies Desire the first moving Principle that drives on an Activity for the attaining the main Scope we aim at But with an Allusion to Aphesis it signisies Remissnesse for which this Church of Ephesus is blamed or else alluding again to Aphesis it signifies the starting or letting loose the Racers at the beginning of the Race Which agrees very fitly with this Ephesine Intervall which is the beginning of the Church and of the whole course of Providence concerning the same to the end of the world Smyrna signifies Myrrh intimating the bitter Affliction of the Primitive Church under the Ten Pagan Persecutions Pergamus signifies Sublimity or Exaltation intimating the raising of the Church out of her former dejected and afflicted condition under the aforesaid Persecutions into a glorious Triumph over Paganism as it fell out upon the Conquest of Constantine the great It signifies also or prefigures the enormous Haughtinesse of the Church of Rome in that Intervall Thyatira in Allusion to Thygatira a Daughter intimates the more-then-ordinary Womanishness of the Church of Rome in that Intervall But in Allusion to Thyateria Altars of Incense or sweet Odours it signifies the more-then-ordinary frequentness of burning the blessed Protestant Martyrs with fire and faggot in this Period Which Cruelty though it was abominable in respect of that bloudy and barbarous Church that committed it yet the suffering of those holy Martyrs in this manner out of Fidelity to Christ and his Truth was a Sacrifice of sweet Odours to him and very gratefully accepted of him Sardis in Allusion to Sarda or lapis Sardius the same that Carnalina signifies the imperfect and carnal Condition of that Intervall of the Reformed Church that is called Sardian Philadelphia which signifies Charity in general and particularly a more special love to them of the true Houshold of Faith intimates the Reign of the Spirit which is the Spirit of Love For God is Love and he that abideth in Love abideth in God and God in him This is that illustrious Reign of Christ in his Millenniall Empire of Love when the Christian life shall take place and Opinions and Persecutions shall be done away And lastly Laodicea signifies a popular Politicall or externally-Legal Righteousnesse the outward form of the former Philadelphian state but as in old age the spirit much decay'd though the outward figure of the body much-what the same It signifies also the arraigning and judgeing of the people that is the Nations of the world when Christ shall come to judge both the quick and the dead because this is to be performed at the close of this Laodicean Intervall 19. The significancy of the Names of these Seven Churches reckoned always in such an order as that seven Intervalls of the Church from the beginning to the end of all answer exactly in the Affairs of the Church both to these Names in this order they are reckoned and to the Conditions of the Seven Churches as they are orderly described in the Seven Epistles to them is a plain Demonstration to them that are not extremely refractory especially if you adde the Certainty that there must be a Propheticall meaning of these Epistles as is made good in the first and second Chapters of the ensuing Book I say it is a plain Demonstration that our Exposition is true as well as so easie and comprehensible and therefore of an universal Usefulnesse as well to the Illiterate as the Learned Which I hope Reader will be a sufficient Excuse for the Authour that he has either invited thee to the pains of reading or given himself the trouble of compiling this present Treatise Farewell A Propheticall EXPOSITION OF THE SEVEN EPISTLES Sent to THE SEVEN CHURCHES IN ASIA From Him THAT IS AND WAS AND IS TO COME SIRACIDES Ch. 59. He that giveth his minde to the Law of the most High and is occupied in the meditation thereof will seek out the wisedome of all the Ancient and be occupied in Prophecies A Propheticall EXPOSITION OF THE SEVEN EPISTLES Sent to THE SEVEN CHURCHES in Asia CHAP. I. A Preparation toward the Mysticall or Propheticall Interpretation of the Seven
stage but if thou strivest so as to get the victory in the way I have instructed thee I will translate thee to that Heavenly Kingdome most naturally and properly so called where thou shalt sit down and drink of the fruit of the Vine in the Kingdome of my Father As I after I had overcome ascended up to Heaven into those glorious mansions and there sate down at the right hand of God so him that overcometh the Temptations and Incumbrances the Pleasures and Enticements of this lower world will I cause to sit down with me in the Heavenly places at the last Day Which Monition is the more seasonable by how much more near the approach of that great Day is For I shall come visibly to Judgement in the very next Thunder to the Siege of Gog and Magog when I will transform your vile bodies into the similitude of my glorious body that ye may be fit companions for me in Heaven for ever Behold I shew you a mystery Ye shall not all sleep yet ye shall all be changed that mortality may be swallowed up of life This is a great and stupendious Promise but thou art to consider that it is spoken by him that is the Amen the true and faithfull witnesse and the beginning of the Creation of God and therefore both will and can carry on all his design to the very end Amen 13. He that hath an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches From the Epiphonema coming here last as in all these four last Epistles one may haply raise this Objection as if this sense of the Promise immediately preceding it were not Politicall or Propheticall enough but merely Theologicall the Promise being to be performed in the other world and therefore not the proper object of Prophecy which concerns the affairs of the stage of this Earth And that this therefore is against our professed Rule But I answer that though the Promise of obtaining Heaven after this life upon the death of the body be merely a Theogicall Promise and of a thing more spiritual and invisible and not to be seen upon the face of this Earth yet this promise of obtaining Heaven at the Resurrection and general Day of Judgement it being the day of that great and visible Assizes wherein the Souls of the Saints shall appear in glorify'd bodies may well be ranged in the same order with the rest of the Promises immediately preceding the Epiphonemata of each Epistle and to be accomplished visibly in this life For the sense of the Promise in brief is this That as Christ after his Sufferings his Death and Passion ascended visibly into Heaven for Heaven is said to be the throne of God in the Scripture and so Heaven became also Christ's throne so those of Laodicea who upon the Mortification of their Lusts should attain to the state of life in the New birth should ascend visibly into Christ's throne that is into Heaven in the open view of them that should be left here on the Earth and in the inferiour Regions of the Air sentenced to that everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels This is a plain and obvious sense of this Promise and such as the placing of the Epiphonema requires and is in my judgement no mean Ratification of the true and Literal sense of that Article of our Faith touching the visible Resurrection and Glorification of our bodies and their ascension into the Heavenly Regions against such as would whiffle away all these Truths by resolving them into a mere moral Allegorie Thus consonant every way are the Interpretations of these Epistles both to themselves and to the Apostolick Truth CHAP. X. A Recapitulation of the main Evidences of the truth of this Mysticall or Propheticall Exposition of the Seven Epistles to the Seven Churches of Asia by way of Solution of Difficulties touching the said Epistles and their Circumstances otherwise hardly or not at all to be solved 1. AS in natural Hypotheses those are accounted truest that solve the Phaenomena of Nature the most naturally and easily and especially if such as are no otherwise solvible then upon the proposed Hypothesis so that meaning of Scripture I mean especially of any considerable portion thereof ought to be esteemed truest that can solve the most Difficulties that may be raised concerning the same or the Contexts precedent or subsequent thereto and if all still the more certain and if unsolvible otherwise there is still the more assurance of undeniable Demonstration Now how near this Mysticall or Propheticall Exposition of these Epistles approches to the clearnesse of this case I will leave to the Reader to judge after he has considered the Solutions of the Questions easily raised out of the Epistles themselves or the precedent Chapter and not easily answered nor at all satisfactorily at least most of them but upon the Hypothesis we have gone 2. As first If a man enquire why the Spirit of Prophecy after he has so expresly given notice that this Book of the Apocalypse is to shew unto his servants things that are to come and called it plainly a Book of Prophecies should start so unexpectedly from the Title and intended subject as to write no lesse then seven Epistles to certain Churches that have nothing considerable of Prophecy in them before he deliver any Prophecies properly so called but onely Promises and Comminations and that he should doe this with as great Pomp and as high a Preamble as he does when he begins so famous Prophecies as those of the seven Seals and the opened Book But according to our Hypothesis the Answer is easie viz. That though these seven Epistles to the seven Churches of Asia have a Literal sense yet they are also a Parable or Prophecy and of as high concern for both matter and extent of time they reaching from the beginning of the Church to the end of the world as the Prophecy of the Seals and opened Book and that they are ushered in with this great Pomp on purpose to give us notice thereof Secondly A man would be prone to enquire why the Spirit dictates Letters unto the Churches in Asia and not rather to the Churches in Europe Asia and Africk For certainly the Church had disspred it self into all these Quarters of the world by that time As if the Spirit of Truth were a respecter of persons For these are not the Letters of John but of the Holy Ghost But our Answer is ready at hand That for the significancy of the word Asia to comport also with the significancy of the names of the Seven Churches Asia alone was pitched upon But according to the Propheticall sense the true Catholick Church is writ unto under such distinct Conditions as she was to vary into unto the end of the world So that there is no Partiality nor Acception of Persons in this Thirdly If a man demand touching the order or precedency of these Seven