patience they are called by the Spirit Kings of the east So that Christ his Prophets Apostles and Saints are those Kings of the East who have the aforesaid waters dryed up that the way for these Kings of the East might be prepared That is there is no natural rivers upon earth that shall hinder or keep from being dryed up neither temporal nor spiritual For the vial of Gods wrath it will dry up all the rivers of waters upon earth natural and all rivers of waters spiritual when Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven with all his Saints the Kings of the East to put an end to this bloody persecuting unbelieving world And to dry up all the waters of peace in mens souls And the Kings of the East by their faith and patience shall walk upon the waters of wicked persecuting mens souls as upon dry ground That is the Kings of the East shall rejoyce in the eternal destruction of their enemies even as their enemies did over them when they persecuted and put them to death So that the way that is the hearts of the Saints enemies may be as a way for the Kings of the East to tread and trample upon all that joy peace and comfort that the Dragon beast and false prophet had when they persecuted the Saints Which Saints are the Kings of the East and that faith and patience the Saints had it prepared themselves to suffer with chearfulness the persecution and death it self So that the waters of the great river Euphrates even the waters of their persecutors souls was dryed up that the Kings of the East that is the Saints might be prepared to fight that good fight of Faith as the Saints did in the time of the Ten Persecutions So much for the interpretation of the twelfth verse CHAP. LII VErse the thirteenth And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs came out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet These three unclean spirits like frogs they are said to come out of the mouthes of three several persons to wit the Dragon beast and false prophet yet these three proceed all from one spirit even the spirit of the fallen Angel or as I may say the spirit of Cain that Dragon-devil who was the first murderer And the spirit of Cain remaining in the seed it bringeth forth many Dragon-devils like himself So that all Dragon-devils make up but one Dragon and so all wicked beasts make up but one wicked beast so all false prophets and false priests or false speakers they make up but one false prophet Now they are called three unclean spirits like frogs in regard of the threefold operations and workings of them For they proceeded from that one spirit of reason the devil Onely this one spirit of reason it doth work three several ways and by three several persons yet all three of them were like frogs They were all alike for wicked idolatry and persecution of the Saints and to deceive the people For they are the spirits of devils working miracles which go forth unto the Kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battel of that great day of God Almighty as in the 14 verse of this chapter So that these three spirits like frogs that came out of the Dragons mouth and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet They were to go forth to all the Kings of the earth and not onely so but to all great men in the whole world to invite them to persecute and to fight against the Saints with a sword of steel and with other cruel deaths When as the Saints had no other weapons of war but those that were spiritual to wit the sword of the spirit the shield of faith the helmet of salvation these and such like weapons of war the Saints do fight withal But the Dragon beast and false prophet they by their councel power and authority did invite all the kings of the earth and of the whole world to fight against the Lord Jesus and the remnant of the Seed of Faith who are the Saints With persecution and death as aforesaid with carnal weapons and inventions of cruel deaths as the Scriptures and History doth make mention of But the Revelation of John gave him to see that the last battel that will be fought between God Almighty and the dragon beast and false prophet it will be at the end of the world That is Jesus Christ he is God Almighty he and his Saints and Angels shall fight with the dragon beast and false prophet and with all the Kings of the whole world And he and his Saints shall give them an utter overthrow that is an eternal overthrow so that the dragon beast and false prophet with all the adherents unto them shall be destroyed with a second death which shall burn as a lake of fire for even and ever CHAP. LIII IT will be necessary to open something more of the dragon beast and false prophet and of those three unclean spirits like frogs that came out of their mouths The Reader may remember that I shewed before that there was many dragons since Cain yet all counted by the spirit but one dragon and so of the beast and false prophet all are included into one Now this dragon spoken of he is meant the same great red dragon spoken of in the 12. of the Revelation who persecuted the woman namely Herod though there was many dragons after him yet it is called all but one dragon they being all partakers of the same spirit and acted in the same persecution of the Saints So likewise that beast that did arise out of the Sea with seven heads and ten horns as in the thirteenth chapter verse the first Is that beast spoken of here by the spirit though there was divers other beasts after him yet they acting by the same spirit of persecution of the Saints they are all called by the spirit but one beast So likewise the false prophet is meant that government of worship that was established upon the Chief or High-priests of the nations so that there was a spiritual government of worship which did belong to those Images and Idols that was set up by the Power and Authority of the Beast As all Forms of Worships let them be true or false there must be some particular Head as Aaron was High-priest of the Worship of the Law and Christ the Head of the Gospel Worship yet there was many more High-priests besides Aaron yet all called but Aaron the High-priest Even so it was with the false prophet the same spirit of idolatry and persecution for conscience sake for not submitting to worship the beast and his image it did run thorow the spirits of all the false priests as it did in him that was the chief who was set up by the power of the beast at the
form of a white horse it is not much material for it the spirit will call the righteousness of Saints a white horse who shall gainsay it But however the white Robes of the Saints who are washed in the blood of the Lamb are as a white horse for God their King to ride upon So that if you understand the interpretation of this white horse you may the more easily know the meaning of the other three horses Also it is necessary to know who doth ride or sit upon this white horse I declare by Revelation from the holy Spirit that he which John saw sit on the white horse it was no other but Christ himself It was he that had a bowe and a crown was given unto him it may be said the crown was given unto him as he was the Redeemer For this crown of Glory that was given unto him it was as he was the Redeemer and not as he was the Creator And as he was the Redeemer he sate or rode upon the white horse And he went forth conquering and to conquer That is he being the author of the righteousness of Faith as he was the Redeemer that he made the Saints so pure and white that they became a white horse for him to sit upon So that they were able by their faith in the blood of the Lamb to suffer tribulation and death it self So that they became more then conquerors for he that suffereth persecution for the name of Jesus he doth conquer more then he that doth persecute and put to death So likewise Christ that sate upon this white horse as he was the Redeemer he went forth conquering and to conquer That is he went forth in the power of faith by which he created all things he went forth to redeem the Seed of Adam that was fallen under death and the fear of eternal damnation So that death and hell got power over Adam and his Seed so that Christ riding upon the white Horse of innocency or the righteousness of Faith he went forth conquering and to conquer That is he went forth to die to shed his most precious blood and by his giving himself up unto death He conquered over sin death and hell Therefore it is said in Scripture Oh death I will be thy death oh grave I will be thy victory That is he will get victory over the grave as he did over death for he destroyed death in that death could not keep him under it for ever in that he passed thorow it He got victory over the grave in that the grave could not keep him inclosed in the earth So that he went forth conquering and to conquer never leaving off until he had conquered all his enemies That is to say sin death devil hell the grave these all were his enemies and he hath conquered over them all by his becoming flesh and by his suffering of death upon the Cross as he was a Redeemer or as he was God the Son and these enemie did Christ which sate upon the white horse go forth conquering and to conquer to redeem the Seed of Adam And this is the true meaning what is meant by the white horse and by him that sate thereon and by his conquering and to conquer And the bowe which he had it signified the power he had to shout and kill those spiritual enemies which is sin death hell and devil Which could no ways have been killed but by giving his life up unto death and by his passing thorow death and quickening into life again he killed death sin hell and the devil With this dart of offering up his soul unto death it being shot thorow sin death and hell by the strength or bowe of the power of faith in God And as for the Crown that was given him it is spoken with relation to the Son-ship of God as he is a Redeemer So that the Crown of Glory that he hath given him it is attributed unto him as he is a Redeemer For the work of Redemption is counted by the redeemed ones more worthy of a Crown of glory then the work of creation So that this Crown of glory that is given to Christ that sate upon the white Horse it is in relation to his work of Redemption in that he conquered over all those spiritual enemies as aforesaid So much for the first and second verses CHAP. XVI IN the 3 verse it is said And when he had opened the second Seal I heard the second Beast say Come and see And in the 4 verse There went out another horse that was red and power was given to him that sate thereon to take peace from the earth and that they should kill one another and there was given unto him a great Sword These four beasts which John saw in the vision did signifie unto him those wonderful Transactions which were and should be acted here on earth in the state of mortality in the time of the four Monarchies And signified unto John in the way of vision by four horses Now the second horse that did appear to John in the vision was a red horse and power was given to him that sate thereon to take peace from the earth and that they should kill one another This Monarchical Government went forth upon a red horse that is shedding of blood should be the greatest work he that sate thereon should do It was called a red Horse because of the much shedding of blood so that the blood of men is called a red Horse even as the righteousness of faith is called a white Horse And as the souls of the Saints were made white with the blood of the Lamb so are these souls made red with shedding of one anothers blood So that every mans soul became a red horse and he that sate upon this red horse had power given him to take peace from the earth and for that purpose theâ—e was given unto him a great sword Now this great Sword it was to kill and in killing one another peace must needs be taken from the earth So that this Kingly Power though they were many Kings yet they are called but him that sate upon the red horse So likewise though there were many thousand slain and had their blood shed yet they are all called but A red horse so that there is but the horse and his rider for Kings and Magistrates do ride upon the people in that they command the people to kill one another So that people which go to fight to shed one anothers blood may well be called A red horse for they make their souls as red as scarlet with blood-shed And the power of the Magistrate doth ride and sit upon this red horse for he hath a great sword given unto him to command persecutors to kill one another and they must obey and become a red horse or else they must be killed themselves Thus in short I have given you the signification of the red horse and of him that sits thereon For
outward trouble Or else they must worship against the light of their conscience and so sting their souls and have the torment of his mind which is as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man So that when men are tormented and stung in this manner both in soul and body they will chuse rather to die than to live and shall seek for death but it shall flee from them These things hath been experienced in all Ages by some and will be to the end of the world Verse the seventh And the shapes of the Locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battel And the latter part of the verse The faces of these locusts were like men Verse the eighth They had hair like unto the hair of women and their teeth were as the teeth of a Lion And in the nineth verse They had breast-plates of iron And in the tenth verse And they had tails like unto scorpions and there were stings in their tails and their power was to hurt men five months These locusts that came forth of the smoak of the pit may be said to be in shape like horses prepared unto battel in regard of their strength and preparedness of minde they had to hurt and to destroy for the faces of the locusts were like the faces of men They must needs be like men for they were men onely they were wicked men therefore called Locusts Their hair is said to be like the hair of women in regard they did wear their hair long and their teeth may be said to be like Lions teeth in respect of the readiness they had to tear in pieces with their teeth And they may be said to have breast-plates of iron in that they were exceedingly well armed Also they may be said to have tails like Scorpions because of that poisonous nature that lay in their tailes for there was a sting in it which did hurt men five months Which men are called Scorpions as that of Ezekiel chap. 2. v. 6. he speaking to the rebellious house of Israel whom he calls bryers and thorns as they were fit for nothing else but for the fire Yet they like Scorpions did endeavor to sting Ezekiel but he was incouraged of God not to be afraid of them So that wicked men are Locusts and Scorpions and do sting men about worship with persecution and death it self And this sting may be said to be in their tails when they persecute men meerly for conscience or religion sake Then is the sting in their tails and they do hurt men as the Scorpion of the earth doth hurt when he striketh a man So that great Plagues were upon the earth at the sounding of the fifth Angel Which Plagues did proceed from the smoak of the bottomless pit it being opened by that king who is the the Angel of the bottomless pit whose name is called Appollion That is the Angel of Reason that was first thrown down from heaven unto this earth even he that deceived our first parents as aforesaid which is the destroyer And this Reason that is the fallen Angels nature is that which rules in all wicked Kings and Magistrates therefore called by the Revelation of the Spirit Serpents Dragons Devils Stars Angels the devil and his angels yet all from one Angel of reason fallen And this angel of reason fallen from heaven unto this earth is the Angel of the bottomless pit of the imagination of mans heart which doth send forth that smoak locusts and Scorpions which doth sting and hurt their fellow-creatures Which doth bring such Plagues and woe upon the inhabitants of the earth which is far more then I can relate at the sounding of the fifth Angel But I shall leave the Reader to consider of it therefore I shall say no more of it here CHAP. XXVIII ANd in the thirteenth verse The sixth Angel sounded and John heard a voice from the four horns of the golden Altar which is before God As for the Altar I shall not speak of that for that hath been opened in my other Writings neither shall I speak of the voice which John heard nor of the horns he speaketh of for the thing is of no great concernment to know But I shall proceed to the fourteenth verse The voice that came from the four horns of the golden Altar which is before God saying to the sixth Angel that had the Trumpet Loose the four Angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates Now I would have the Reader to understand that these four Angels that were bound in the great river Euphrates were not good Angels but evil angels That is they were the Dragons angels that is they were four kings that were of the same seed and nature as he was For they came from the old serpent the devil which beguiled Eve He may be called the old serpent because he was the first Angel that was thrown down from heaven unto this earth And where the spirit of this Serpent-angel is in King or Magistrate they being of his seed they may be called Angels also For the devil and his angels are reserved in chains of darkness until the Judgement of the great day The meaning is this the devil was that old serpent-angel that deceived Eve as aforesaid And he being an Angel of light before he was cast down from heaven but now he being upon this earth and dissolving into seed he is become an angel of darkness Why because he hath lost the knowledge of himself what he was himself and what the other Angels were that were of the same nature of reason as he himself is I say he hath lost the knowledge both of the form of Angels and their natures and what he was himself So that he is now in chains of darkness wondering in his imagination what the devil should be Not thinking himself to be the devil and this is spiritual chains of darkness not to know what the devil is in his form and nature And those great men that came of his seed that is to say the seed of the serpent As Cain the first-born of the devil cursed Cham scoffing Ishmael prophane Esau that Dragon Herod with thousands of other kings and great men that are of his seed therefore called angels So that these angels are reserved in chains of darkness until the Judgement of the great day as well as the devil their father For they are as ignorant what the devil is and that they are angels as the serpent is what he was before he was thrown down from heaven So that I would have the Seed of Faith to know that there is no such thing as the seed of reason doth vainly imagine as to think that there is any such thing as a devil and his angels in chains of darkness out of the body of man distinct from man For there is no devil but man and what is in the body of man And this spirit of reason in man is the devil and when the spirit of
seven heads with himself And as for the ten horns they were all one for they were both blasphemers and idolaters and did worship idols and images and persecuted the seed of the woman and make war with the Saints And all the victory the Saints did obtain against the Dragon the Beast and their Image it was by faith and patience in the blood of the Lamb enabling them to suffer with patience those Ten Persecutions which those ten horns did push the saints with those cruel deaths which the Revelation of John calls ten days tribulation But I shall have occasion to speak more of that hereafter CHAP. XXXIII BUt in the second verse of this chapter it is said And the beast which I saw was like unto a Leopard and his feet were as the feet of a â—ear and his mouth as the mouth of a Lion and the Dragon gave him his power and his seat and his authority Now I would have the Seed of Faith to know that these ten Persecutions which were the ten horns they were acted upon the Saints in the primitive time so called That is so long as the Commission of the Apostles did successively last or as long as the true Faith of Christ was upon the earth which did last a matter of three hundred years from the birth of Christ For after his birth there was true Faith on the earth For when the Son of Man as he calls himself did come in the flesh upon earth was there any faith upon earth surely no. If there had been faith upon the earth they would never have sought to have destroyed him when he was born as Herod that red Dragon did And afterwards his own people the Jews So that this is to be minded that always when God doth come with his Commissions there is little or no faith upon the earth Was there any faith upon the earth when God did send Moses to Pharaoh and to Israel Moses being the first man which God chose and gave a Commission to write Scripture I say was there any faith upon the earth at the first appearing of God Surely no. But after Moses had appeared then there was faith upon the earth but at his first appearing there was no faith on the earth So likewise at the second appearing of God that is to say when Christ was born was there any faith upon the earth at that time but onely in old Simeon and his wife and Joseph the supposed father of Christ The earth was very barren of true faith at the appearing of God in this way But after his appearing there was much true Faith upon the earth as may be read concerning Christ himself that many believed on him and a greater number of people believed on his Apostles more then did on himself So that there was great faith upon the earth in the time of Gods appearing in his Commission of the Blood But before or at the first appearing there was very little or no faith upon the earth So likewise at Gods third appearing in his Commission of the Spirit was there any true faith upon the earth surely no. This I know by experience that there was no true faith on the earth but since God hath appeared in the Commission of the Spirit there is true faith upon the earth more then hath been this thirteen hundred and fifty years So that at the appearing of God in his three Commissions there was very little or no true faith upon the earth I mean at their first appearing But after their appearing there is true faith upon the earth and that more abundant then at any other time For that faith which is between Commissions it is but a traditional faith and not a saving and justifying faith I onely give the Seed of Faith this birâ— that they may distinguish and know the better how and when the Scriptures were fulfilled So I shall pass on to open the chief things of most concernment in this Chapter CHAP. XXXIV THe first thing that I would have the Seed of Faith to mind is this that these ten horns of Persecution of the Saints it did first begin at the birth of Christ in that Dragon Herod And afterwards the spirit and power of the Dragon it was invested or seated upon this Beast he being the first head which the Dragon did give all his power and authority and his seat unto That it the same spirit of reason that was in Herod the Dragon it was in the seed of this Beast So that this B ast having the same spirit of Reason in him as the Dragon aforesaid had he did exercise the idolatry blasphemy and persecution of the Saints as the Dragon did So that he being of the same spirit and practice as the Dragon was it may be said that he received the Dragons seat power and authority He being the first head that succeeded the Dragon For this I would have the Seed of Faith to know that this spirit of the Dragon it went thorow the seed of all those seven heads And all that persecution that was acted in that three hundred years in the time of the Commission of the Apostles it is reckoned all but unto seven heads or seven beasts though more wicked kings then these seven might persecute the Saints in those Ten Persecutions in that three hundred years Yet they are all included in those seven because the same spirit of reason that was in the Dragon the same was in the seven And so in the seed of all wicked kings so that they all acted as the Dragon did in blaspheming the living God and persecuting his Saints For as all good Kings are included but into four good Beasts as I said before So likewise all wicked persecuting Kings are included in those seven heads or seven wicked beasts they being of the same seed and nature as the Dragon is and walk in the same steps of idolatry blasphemy and persecution as he did They may be said all of them to receive the seat power and authority of the Dragon which is no other but the spirit of reason whose original is from the fallen Angel though called a Dragon a Serpent a Devil the seed of Reason is all this and more But little doth man think that the spirit of reason in every man poor and rich bond or free high or low King or people is the devil serpent and dragon For many poor men have the spirit of the Dragon in them onely they have not power to execute it upon the Saints nor his fellow-creatures Therefore when the Spirit doth call a man a Dragon or a beast it is with relation to that power that is invested upon or in a King or Head-Magistrate So that he being the head or chief above all others he hath power and authority to do good or hurt And according as his authority and power doth act it self forth on this earth in righteousness justice and worshipping the true God He is called by the Revelation
of the Spirit a good Beast good King or good Angel So on the contrary if the power and authority of the Head-Magistrate doth act it self forth in unrighteousness and injustice and idolatry and persecution for conscience sake he is called by the spirit an evil Beast a Serpent a Devil a Dragon So that when the spirit or seed of Reason doth act in the Head-Magistrate like a Dragon that King or Head-Magistrate may be said to be a Dragon as Herod And when a Head-Magistrate doth act as a subtile Serpent he may be called a Serpent as did those Jews in Christs and the Apostles time And when a Head-Magistrate doth act as a devil he may be called a devil as murdering Cain in point of wâ—â—â—ip slew his brother Abel and so the Jews did by Christ in point of worship Therefore Christ calls those Jews which were Head-Magistrates as the high Priests and Levites he calls them serpents devils saying they were of their father the devil for he was a murderer and a liar from the beginning Now Cain was the first liar and murderer and so the first devil in the state of mortality And those Jews that would have killed Christ were the children of Cain therefore called devils because they did the same works as Cains their father had done For they had persecuted and killed Prophets and righteous men and so they did Christ himself as Peter doth relate in the Acts of the Apostles So that they walked in the way of their father Cain therefore called devils Onely this I would have the Reader to understand that when the Spirit of Reason doth act in the Head-Magistrate as a Serpent or as a devils or as a Dragon or any other way that the Scriptures doth brand for wickedness it is all acted in this world though John doth say he saw it in heaven But it is by way of vision but the wickedness is acted in this earth for the spirit of reason which is the devil is become mortal and so he exercises his cruelties and murthers upon mortals like himself But it is said to be in heaven because the first original of reason came from heaven The fallen angels nature being the spirit of reason fallen it became mortal and so hath run thorow the seed of mortality and so acts in the state of mortality as a serpent devil or dragon And is said by the Revelation of John to be seen in heaven because the spirit of reason the devil the original of it came from heaven but the things acted by it is acted in this earth c. CHAP. XXXV NOw the spirit of reason in this beast that did arise out of the sea to whom the Dragon gave his power seat and authority unto he is said to be like unto a leopard Now a leopards a speckled or spotted creature Now this beast is said to be like unto a leopard in regard of the policy which he did exercise to gain the people to fight for him and his image For he seemed to the people to be very religious and zealous in worship but it was to images of wood and stone Yet this form of worship and command he gave to the people to worship the Image they were as white spots of righteousness And his threatning of those that would not bow down to worship the Image these were his black spots So that he in this regard may be said to be like a leopard that is spotted black and white Black to the Saints but white to those that received the mark of the beast in his right hand or in his forehead and in this regard he may be said to be like a leopard Secondly He is said to have feet as it were the feet of a Bear that is he acted as a Bear doth with his feet That is to claw and break the bones of that in pieces which he hath power over for the strength and mischief of a Bear it lieth most in his feet So was it with the beast he by his Command to worship the Image which he did set up claw and break the bones of those Saints that would not fall down and worship the Image by persecution imprisonment and death it self And in this regard he may be said to have feet as it were the feet of a Bear Thirdly It is said And his mouth was as the mouth of a Lyon the meaning is this he acted with his mouth as the mouth of a Lyon doth That is as the mouth of a Lyon doth roar with such an exceeding great and terrible noise that the beasts of the forrests exceedingly fear and tremble at the noise of the Lyon that cometh out of his mouth So likewise the roaring noise that came out of this beasts mouth made all the Saints in Asia at that time to fear and tremble For there was gone out of this beasts mouth great blasphemy as in the fifth verse And a Command went out of his mouth that they should worship the Dragon who gave his power seat and authority unto this beast And in regard the Dragons power seat and authority was given and established upon this beast there went a Command out of this beasts mouth that all people should worship the beast as they did the dragon as in the fourth verse of this chapter So that the mouth of this beast may be said to be like the mouth of a Lyon For these his Commands to worship devils and blasphemies against the living God proceeded out of the beasts mouth even as the floods of water did out of the dragons mouth And in this regard the beast may be said to have a mouth like the mouth of a Lyon Now it is to be observed that this beast had one of his heads as it were wounded unto death Now it is to be minded that it was but as it were nor was thought unto death but his head were not quite dead if he had he would have done no more mischief to the Saints But his deadly wound was healed so that the world did the more wonder after him saying Who is like unto the beast Who is able to make war with him Now I would have the Seed of Faith to minde who it was that did give this beast that deadly wound in his head and yet was healed again It was the faith and patience of the Saints that did give him this deadly wound in that they would not worship the beast nor his image but did suffer persecution unto the death joyfully So that this beast was sick with torment of soul in that he could not bring them from the faith of Jesus to worship devils nor to submit to his will so that he was wounded almost to death So that he was weary of persecuting the Saints his Conscience being so wounded he gave over persecuting for a season until his Conscience was healed again And though it be said that he had a wound by a sword and did live it was no other sword but the
state of Israel And so the vials and Plagues that was poured out upon him they were temporal Plagues also And there was a temporal darkness for three days all over Egypt which darkness was but a shadow or type of that spiritual darkness upon the mind of man now and the eternal darkness at the end of the world CHAP. L. NOw I would have the Reader to observe that this beast here spoken of by John it was that beast that did rise out of the Sea having seven heads as in Chapter the thirteenth verse the first to whom the Dragon gave his Power Seat and Authority this was the first beast that persecuted the saints after the Apostles Commission came to be published upon the earth That is this was the first beast that made war with the saints about worship And so the same Spirit Power and Authority that was in this beast it did run thorow the loins of all other beasts that succeeded him all the time of the ten Persecutions And the same spirit hath and doth run in the line of all wicked persecuting Idolaters Kings and Head-magistrates they are called by the Spirit but one beast And look what beast or beasts are alive at the end of the world they shall be all counted but one beast and shall all be overthrown with one overthrow even as Pharaoh King of Egypt was For though there was many Pharaohs Kings of Egypt as aforesaid yet in the destruction of that one King Pharaoh all wicked Pharaohs are destroyed in him So likewise Herod that did seek to kill Christ when he was born in that he slew all the male children in Bethlehem who were two years old or under I declare this Herod was that Dragon John speaks of in divers places in the book of the Revelation who gave his power seat and authority unto this beast And so successively the spirit of the Dragon it runs thorow the line of all wicked beasts to the worlds end even as the spirit of the Dragon did run thorow the lines of many Herods since Cains birth Yet this Herod that persecuted Christ as soon as he was born is called by the spirit in John that great red Dragon And his spirit of persecution it was given to all those wicked beasts that did succeed immediately after him and that shall succeed to the end of the world For this is to be minded by the Reader that the Herod that would have killed Christ he died before this beast had any power but Herod the Dragons spirit remained in other Herods as that Herod that beheaded John Baptist who was eaten up with lice So that there was more Herods than one yet the same spirit of Cain the devil was in them all So that they may be called by the Spirit but one Herod dragon or devil they being all guided by one evil spirit even the spirit of murdering Cain the first man-devil or the devil become flesh So that this spirit of Cain who ruled in all those Pharaohs and Herods before God was manifest in the flesh is that Dragon-devil who gave his power seat and authority unto the beast That is the spirit of the Dragon did persecute oppress and kill before Christ came upon an natural account for fear of loosing his kingdom as Pharaoh king of Egypt did And Herod the Dragon he slew the young children for fear Christ should take his kingdom out of his hands So that most of their cruel murthers they acted it was upon a temporal account But the cruelties that was acted by those beasts it was upon a spiritual account I call it a spiritual account because the persecuting and putting to death of the Saints it was for worshipping of Christ according to the doctrine of the Apostles who set up a worship contrary to that which was set up by those beasts For there was a liberty granted of God unto the Worship of the Law of Moses for the Jews to fight with the Sword of steel and to destroy those Kings or Beasts that did molest them But the Worship of the Gospel did not teach men so to do but altogether to the contrary So that the sufferings of the Saints under the Gospel and ever since it is upon a spiritual account for who ever doth suffer meerly for his Faith or his Religion or his Worship he may be said to suffer upon a spiritual account And those Beasts that do persecute upon that account they persecute upon a spiritual account Even as this Beast did spoken of by John for this Beast did persecute the Saints in the time of the Gospel for worshipping of Christ and not worshipping his Image as Pharaoh did to the people of Israel in the temporal And look what Plagues were poured out upon Pharaoh and all the land of Egypt in the temporal so likewise will spiritual Plagues be poured out upon the beast and upon all that worship him or his image And as there was a natural darkness in all the land of Egypt upon the King as upon the people so likewise this spiritual darkness is poured out upon the seat of the Beast That is there is a darkness poured out upon the mindes of all evil Kings and Head-Magistrates who undertake to set up Forms of Worship as idols and images for the people to worship And there being a darkness poured out upon the minde of the Beast so that he doth worship false gods and not onely so but this vial of darkness is poured out upon the mindes of all those people who worship false gods That is there is a spiritual darkness upon the minde and spirit of the Beast and all that worship a false god I say a spiritual darkness is poured upon them all even whilest they are here in this world Even as that natural darkness was poured out upon Pharaoh and all the land of the Egyptians I say there is as gross a thick darkness poured out upon the spirits of the greatest part of men and women at this day concerning the true knowledge of God and the true worship that God requireth as there was upon Egypt And this spiritual darkness of the minde it is but a preparation or fore-runner of that eternal darkness which will as certainly be when time shall be no more as the darkness of the minde is at present in all the seed of the serpent who worship false gods But as there was light in all the places of the children of Israels dwellings as you may see Exod. 10.23 which dwellings of theirs it was in the Land of Goshen where the children of Israel were as in Exod. 9.26 Now this Land of Goshen it signifies the light of grace or spiritual and heavenly light in the mindes of the Seed of Faith and the children of Israel signifies the true Saints or true Worshippers of God in spirit and truth So that every true Believer in the true God he may be said to dwell in the Land of Goshen in his own minde in
which Land there is the light of Faith whereby they may see the way to that eternal light of Glory where no sad or melancholly thought shall arise to darken the light of peace joy and everlasting glory So on the contrary the Land of Egypt it signifies that hell and darkness of the minde So that all those who know not the true God nor his true Worship they are in that spiritual darkness in their mindes as the Egyptians were who gnawed their tongues for pain Even so will it be with all those wicked beasts who have and do set up Images and Idols of gold wood and stone or any false worship whatsoever contrary to Moses the Apostles and the two Witnesses of the Spirit I say all those that worship contrary to these three Commissions they are in that spiritual Egyptian darkness in their mindes whilest they are here in this world And this darkness in their spirits it will lead them to that eternal dark night when as no light shall appear for ever That is no motion of peace or hope of deliverance shall arise in their mindes for ever and ever And then shall this Beast and all that received his mark name or number of his name gnaw their tongues for pain to eternity For this Vial or Plague is poured out upon the seat of the beast then of necessity it will follow that all that worship according to his command will have the Vial of darkness poured out upon them also So much for the interpretation of the fifth Vial and of the tenth Verse CHAP. LI. I Shall pass by the eleventh and come to the twelfth verse And the sixth Angel poured out his Vial upon the great river Euphrates and the waters thereof was dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared This great river Euphrates was in the Land of Canaan where those four Angels was bound as I shewed before And as those four Angels were loosed at the sounding of the Trumpet of the sixth Angel so at the pouring out of the sixth Vial this great river Euphrates must be dryed up Now this great river Euphrates it signifies all the rivers and fountains of waters in the whole world in the natural That is to say at the end of the world God will pour out his vial of wrath upon all rivers and fountains of waters so that they shall be dryed up so that the thirst of man and beast shall not be quenched this will God do in the natural Also God will pour out his vial of wrath upon the spiritual estate of man even upon the great spiritual river Euphrates that is upon all the souls and consciences of wicked idolatrous persecuting men and women all the world over That is the waters of their souls shall be dryed up so that no motion of peace shall arise or spring from their souls to quench the thirst of sin then no more then there did to Dives the rich man who being in hell wanted one drop of cold water to cool his tongue But the river of his soul that did run with motions of peace in his natural life it was now dryed up so that no drop of cold water could be had That is not one motion of peace or hope could arise in his spirit it being dryed up by the wrath of God being poured out upon the river of his soul So that the souls or spirits of all wicked persecuting idolatrous people all the world over maybe called in the spiritual the great river Euphrates and the vial of Gods wrath being poured out upon the spirits of those people aforesaid it doth dry up all the waters of their souls That is all their peace so that no hope of eternal happiness can arise in them For all hope is dryed up so that there is no motion of peace can arise in their souls to quench the fire of hell in them for all the waters are dryed up in their souls and this is that great spiritual river Euphrates spoken of by John Whose waters thereof are dryed up for the peace of the minde of man is called in Scriptures Water as Christ saith He that believes in me out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water So likewise Christ said to the woman of Samaria if thou hadst asked me I would have given thee water of Life and it should be in thee a well springing up unto eternal life So that there is spiritual waters that doth spring out of the soul of man as there is natural waters that doth spring out of the earth or out of the rocks And these spiritual waters doth satisfie the spirit of man in its kinde as the natural waters doth in its kinde And as there is a spiritual water that doth proceed from the Seed of Faith so likewise there is a spiritual water that doth proceed from the seed of reason in man And this water that doth proceed or arise from the seed of reason it doth give great satisfaction to the minde of man Now these spiritual waters that doth arise from the seed of reason are called by the spirit the great river Euphrates And this is that river Euphrates that the sixth Angel poured out his vial upon and dryed up all the waters as aforesaid Not but that the natural river Euphrates which signifies all the rivers in the world will be dryed up also Onely this book of the Revelation of John it hath generally a two fold meaning that is to say a spiritual meaning and a temporal meaning So that both the great river Euphrates in the temporal and the great river Euphrates in the spiritual the waters of them both will be dryed up at the end of time which thing will be unexpressible sad to all those who have no water of Life in their souls to drink It is said by the spirit of John that this great river Euphrates was dryed up that the way of the Kings of the east might be prepared Now what these Kings of the east are is very necessary to know These Kings of the East I declare they are all good Kings further I declare that Christ the King of Heaven is said to come out of the East as you may read Math. 2.2 3 verses Where the wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying where is he that is born King of the Jews for we have seen his Star in the East and are come to worship him So that this Jesus the King of the Jews he is called the King of the East because his Star in the East directed the wise men to finde him out that they might worship him Now this is to be minded by the Reader that Prophets Apostles and Saints they are called by the Spirit Kings and Priests unto God as the Scripture saith So that all Prophets Apostles and true Believers may be called Kings And seeing the King of Kings came out of the East these all following him in the same steps of faith and
first So that though there were many priests that succeeded him and many that did officiate the priests Office besides yet they being all of one and the same spirit they are called by the Spirit in John but one false prophet For priests are called by the Spirit many times prophets as Baal had four hundred false prophets did belong to him that is they were four hundred false priests Now this I would have the Reader to minde that these three spirits like frogs that came out of the dragons mouth and the beasts mouth and the false prophets mouth I would not have the Reader to think that these three spirits like frogs did cease in the time of the ten Persecutions neither would I have him to think that there is no dragon nor beast nor false prophet now though there was then Although I confess the main drift of Johns Revelation had relation chiefly to those wonderful strange actions that was acted by the dragon beast and false prophet unto the Saints in the time of that Commission of the Gospel But this is for certain that the spirit of the dragon and the spirit of the beast and the spirit of the false prophet remains in its seed to this day and will do to the end of the world So that the spirit of the dragon beast and false prophet these three unclean spirits do send forth their spirits like frogs to the Kings of the earth to encourage them all to fight against Truth and against true Worship and to make the Saints to submit to their idolatrous worship For as I said before all Forms of Worship that are set up by men who have no Commission from God is a false worship and who ever is the chief Minister in that worship so set up he may be said to be a false prophet And by this rule all Opinions in Religion and Forms of Religion or Worship that is set up in the world at this day by several sorts of people they are all false because the Ministers are false and so they may be all called but one false prophet even from the first Pope to the last Quaker their Ministery being all false even one as well as the other CHAP. LIV. AGain I shall give the Reader a little distinction of the several operations of these three spirits and yet they all joyn together to fight against God Almighty And yet cozen and cheat one another and cheat the people of the world also So that very few in the whole world doth escape being deceived by one or more of these three unclean spirits like frogs that cometh out of the dragon beast and false prophets mouthes First the unclean spirit of the Dragon it seeketh after natural wisdom as Natural Philosophy Astrology Magick and so becomes a Physician or a Doctor of Physick to cure diseases The wisdom of the Dragon it doth pry into the knowledge of the Stars and the influence of them as the Magicians of Egypt did that they may be counted wise men Likewise this spirit of the Dragon it doth pry into the nature of Herbs Plants with the spirits of all Vegetable and all things of curious Arts so that the spirit of the Dragon comes to be wiser in things of nature than all other men So that all other men that are not skill'd in this wisdom of Nature they are subverted and deceived by this spirit and do honor him as a God thinking that God hath given him more wisdom in this kinde than to all other men So that this knowledge of Natural Philosophy Astrology and by sick makes men become honorable in the sight of all people Also it makes the people to part with their silver freely also it clothes the Physician in rich Velvet so that people may know what he is by his Vesture All this honor and much more than I can relate doth the spirit of the Dragon procure by that unclean spirit that cometh out of his mouth For all those wise Magicians Astrologers Natural Philosophers Doctors of Physick are those Frogs that came out of the Dragons mouth For these afore-mentioned they are a great multitude and do swarm as the Frogs in a warm day and do deceive multitudes both of their health and of their silver under pretence of doing them good This is the proper work and operation of the spirit or wisdom of Reason that cometh out of the Dragons mouth CHAP. LV. SEcondly The unclean spirit that cometh out of the Beasts mouth it is those persons that studies the Laws of the Land In as much as the Beast is the Head of the Law it is he that doth authorize men to be Expounders and Interpreters of the Law he doth authorize some to be Judges some Councellers some Attorneys with many other Titles that Lawyers have So that this unclean spirit that cometh out of the Beasts mouth it is the multitude of Lawyers that are authorized by him and these Lawyers they may be said to come out of his mouth because without his power and authority they can do nothing That is they cannot cheat and deceive the people as they do so that the Lawyers who practice Cases of Law they are so numerous that they can hardly be numbred Also they are clothed with fine scarlet with deceiving the people yet the Lawyers are but the sproutings forth of the unclean spirit that cometh out of the Beasts mouth And it is the proper work of the spirit of the Beast to clothe these Lawyers in scarlet even as the spirit of the Dragon did the Doctors of Physick clothe them in Velvet yet notwithstanding they are in their natures no other but Frogs sent forth by these two spirits aforesaid to deceive them that dwell upon the earth CHAP. LVI THirdly The other unclean spirit it came out of the mouth of the false prophet This false prophet signifies the Chief and Head-Governor of Spiritual Worship as the Pope or any Head-Minister of any Religion whatsoever but more especially of that Head-Minister or Head-Priest that is upheld by the Beast or the Civil Power For there is a spiritual Power invested upon the false prophet by the Beast or Civil Power so that none shall exercise or officiate the Office of a Minister but such as the false prophet shall send forth So that those men this false prophet or chief priest doth send forth to preach these are sent forth from that unclean spirit that cometh out of the false prophets mouth For the false prophet hath full power to ordain and send forth men to preach to deceive the people in a way of false worship as the Dragon had to the Physician and as the Beast had to the Lawyer And as the Doctor of Physick by his deceit came to be clothed in Velvet and the Lawyer by his deceit came to be clothed in Scarlet so likewise the Preachers ordained by the false prophet they come by their deceit to be clothed in sheeps clothing made of the finest wooll
with garments down to the heel So that the outward garb and clothing of these three they do carry such a glory honor and majesty among the people in outward appearance that the people do believe or think there is more honor and glory within whereby they are mightily deceived in their expectations For these three sorts of men afore-mentioned are counted by the Spirit of revelation in John no other but three sorts of Frogs and those three spirits that sent them out they were but three unclean spirits And the work these Frogs aforesaid are to do it is to go forth to deceive the people of the earth for where is there a man hardly to be found not fourteen yeares ago upon the earth but they were deceived either by the Physician Lawyer or Priest Nay they deceive one another for the Priest is deceived by the Doctor of Physick and the Doctor of Physick he is deceived by the Priest For the Priest deceives his soul in that the Doctor thinks he can preach such saving Doctrine that may save his soul but alas he is altogether deceived for the Priest doth not know what will become of his own soul after death much less of anothers So likewise the Doctor of Physick he deceives the Priest making him believe and think that he will give him such a portion of Physick as shall restore him to life and health when as many times it doth cause the want of health and life both So that he deceives the Priest both of his health and money also just as the Priest did him in the matter of his salvation And as for the Lawyer he cheats the Doctor and the Priest both For they are both forced to make use of him and they do the the like by him for the Lawyer he must have the Priest for his Minister to save his soul and the Doctor to be his Physician So that they get pretty even one with another but all people besides that deal with them are sure to be deceived and to loose by them These three sorts of men are esteemed by the world the most honorable men of all but by the Spirit of Faith they are branded for the worst of all men In that they are called frogs for experience doth shew that these three sorts of men do overflow the earth like crooking frogs in the water on a hot sun-shiny day So that hardly a man can escape being persecuted or deceived or cheated by them These are those that are sent forth by those three unclean spirits which are called the spirits of devils which go forth to the Kings of the earth And of the whole world to gather them together to the battel of that great Day of God Almighty That is these three sorts of men shall incite and invite all ignorant Kings of the earth or Head-magistrates and all ignorant people to persecute and kill the innocent Saints who cannot fight with no other weapons but faith and patience And such spiritual weapons as these must destroy all the great Army of the whole world when they are gathered together Because this battel will be the last battel that will be fought between the Seed of Faith and the seed of reason Therefore called the great day of God Almighty and the place where this great battel must be fought where they were gathered together it is called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon That signifies the whole world or that great City mystery Babylon the mother of harlots who hath made all nations drink of the cup of the wine of the wrath of her fornications When that City is destroyed the whole world will be destroyed also But I shall have occasion to speak more of that in the seventeenth Chapter so that the Reader may see a little more clear what is meant by those three unclean spirits like frogs what they are and from whom they did proceed Also I have interpreted what followed upon the pouring out of the vial of the sixth Angel with many other things which may satisfie the Readers spirit if understood So I shall pass by a verse or two there being nothing of any great concernment in them and shall go on to the 17 verse CHAP. LVII ANd the seventh Angel poured his vial into the air and there came a great voice out of the Temple of heaven from the Throne saying It is done This seventh Angel he poured out his vial into the air Now this is to be minded that the vials of Gods wrath they are poured out upon the earth and upon the sea and upon the Sun and upon the seat of the beast c. And now last of all upon the air so that the wrath of God is poured out upon every thing and place that doth yield comfort and refreshment unto the heart of man And air being the greatest refreshment of life of any thing else especially when life is like to die this experience doth shew the truth of it Also air is the last refuge that life hath to fly unto for many people will in sickness call for air because for want of they it die for air is the life of nature and when life is weak and not strong enough to take in air into it then it doth dye for so long as life can receive air into it it doth live So that this seventh and last vial of Gods wrath it is poured out upon the air Because the air is the last and greatest refreshment unto a natural life and not onely so but it is the conclusion of life the want of it So that the last vial of Gods wrath it is poured out into the air onely to signifie the annihilation of all natural life which he created at the beginning of this world So now at the latter end of this world his vial of wrath being poured out upon or into the air it will destroy that natural life of man and beast and all other creatures that hath life Therefore it is that great voice out of the Temple of heaven from the Throne saying It is done Signifying that the vial of Gods wrath being poured into the air is the conclusion and end of all Gods plagues upon natural life in this world For though God had destroyed the life of many thousands and millions more then can be numbered by those six vials poured out before as that of the earth and of the sea and of the sun and of the seat of the beast as aforesaid I say they are not to be numbered the multitude these vials did destroy Yet this vial poured out into the air it destroyeth more then all the rest It being the last and the utter annihilation of all natural life and the end of the world Therefore it is said by the voice out of the Temple in heaven It is done That is all the vials of Gods wrath are poured forth upon this wicked unbelieving idolatrous world neither shall there be any more vials of wrath or plagues poured out
seven heads are called by the Spirit seven Mountains on which the woman fitteth These seven Mountains are those seven Beasts spoken of before though called here seven Mountains And as for the woman I have shewed what is meant by it before to wit all spiritual power in relation to the worshipping of false gods it being set up by non-commissionated men and all false worshippers they are called by the Spirit a woman or the great City Babylon So that those chief men that have set up forms of worship without a Commission from God they are called the woman that sitteth on seven Mountains She may be said to fit upon them because her spiritual idolatrous power is above their temporal power For as I said before the temporal Magistrate is commonly subject to the Priest especially in matters of religion so that in this regard the woman may be said to fit upon seven Mountains For she had power over all these seven Beasts to cause them to commit spiritual fornication and spiritual whoredom with her in worshipping of false gods and in sheding the blood of Saints Verse the tenth And there are seven Kings five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come and when he cometh he must continue a short space The meaning is this that John saw in his vision that five of these seven persecuting beasts were fallen And he that one is in present being in the time of the Apostles Commission and that was the sixth And the other that was not yet come he was to come after the Commission of the Apostles was exterpated out of the world and when he is come he shall continue a short space That is he shall not continue to the end of the world for no man knoweth what the spirit doth mean by a short space but the spirit of the beast that was and is not he shall continue to the end of the world as in the eleventh verse And the beast that was and is not even he is the eighth and is of the seven and goeth into perdition The meaning is this that the spirit of the Dragon Herod the beast who is the eighth though of the seven wicked beasts because they all acted by his wicked spirit of reason the devil So that the spirit of the Dragon it shall run thorow the loins of all persecuting Kings and Head-magistrates even to the end of the world Hath not the spirit of persecution run thorow the loins of many Papist Kings by the power of the Popes spiritual fornication since the worship of the Gospel was set up by him all over Europe Hath not the spirit of spiritual fornication to worship false gods run thorow the loins of the Papists Protestant Presbytery Independent Baptist Ranter and Quaker all over Europe or as we call it Christendom So that this spiritual fornication all opinions doth commit with idols or in worshipping of false gods So that they all make up but one woman or one whore who commiteth sp ritual fornication or one great City Babylon So likewise there hath many Papist Kings since the Pope had this spiritual power that have been guilty of sheding the blood of Martyrs more then can well be numbered Neither can all Protestant Kings be excused in this point nor Presbytery neither Neither would the other four be excusable if they were in power So that the spirit of the Dragon it doth and hath run thorow the loins of all these beasts that have been since the Roman Catholick Religion was set up So that all the persecution that hath been for conscience sake all the blood that hath been shed for Religion sake it hath been acted from the spirit of the whore aforesaid in the Priests and from the spirit of the Dragon in the Head-magistrate who are called beasts And this spirit hath raigned and doth raign in the Head-magistrate ever since the Roman Catholick Religion was set up aâ— aforesaid and shall continue to the end of the world They all being counted by the spirit but one beast because they are all guided by one spirit of persecution and blood-shed for Religion sake So that I declare that this is the beast that was and is not even he is the eight and is of the seventh That is his spirit runs thorow the seed of the seventh and so it doth run thorow the bodies of these that are the eighth So that this spirit of the dragon which is reason the devil who hath persecuted and shed the blood of Saints Martyrs of Jesus for not worshipping false gods that they may all go into perdition together that is into eternal damnation CHAP. LXIII VErse the twelfth And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten Kings which have received no kingdom as yet but receive power as kings one hour with the beast These ten Kings were inferior to the Beast and were under his Dominions for the Beast was as it were an Emperor who had many Kings under him And these ten Kings lived in kingdoms but were not so established as that they could keep them against the Beasts will yet nevertheless if they would be obedient unto the Beast and execute his will he would give them power as Kings one hour with himself that was until they had extirpated the name of Jesus out of the world And that power they received of the beast it was to persecute and kill the Saints For these ten Kings were those ten horns upon the beast that had seven heads That is these ten Kings should receive power from the beast to execute those ten Persecutions upon the Saints Yet I would not have the Reader to think that there was but ten Kings and no more for ten Kings did not last 300 years But if there were ten score Kings the spirit doth call them but ten signifying those ten persecutions in the primitive times For the beast had seven heads and ten horns and these ten Kings were those ten horns and they received their power to persecute and shed the blood of Saints and Martyrs of Jesus from the seven heads which is called a beast So that the one hour that these ten Kings received power from the beast it was all the time of the Ten Persecutions for they were the ten horns as aforesaid This you may see in the thirteenth verse These have one mind and shall give their power and strengh unto the beast That is seing the beast had given them power as Kings to shed the blood of Saints they likewise proffer unto the beast their power and strength to serve him in what they can And the service these ten Kings must do the beast it is to shed the blood of the Saints as you may see in the fourteenth verse Verse the fourteenth These shall make war with the Lamb and the Lamb shall overcome them for he is Lord of lords and King of Kings and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful These ten Kings aforesaid are to
make war with the Lamb that is they make war with the Saints and shed their blood For these ten Kings do execute the will of the beast in making war with the Saints for in making war with the Saints they may be said to make war with the Lamb. And as the faith and patience of the Saints did bear their cruel torments to the terrifying of the souls of their persecutors even whilest in this life So that the sufferings of the Saints with patience and chearfulness for they have no other weapons of war but the weapon of the Spirit That is to say a Breast-plate of Righteousness the Shield of Faith the Helmet of Salvation the Sword of the Spirit these are the Lambs weapons of war and he doth furnish his Saints with them so that they shall be able to overcome all their enemies Who fighteth with Spear and Shield or with Sword of steel or Gun these are the devils weapons of war and he fighteth with the Saints with these and such like weapons and so kills the body and hath no more to do That is he puts to death this natural life which is called but a killing the body and hath no more to do But the weapons of war the Saints do use they being spiritual they kill the persecutors soul and yet shed no blood For as carnal weapons doth kill the natural life of man and shed his blood So likewise those spiritual weapons afore-mentioned doth kill that spiritual life in the persecutors with an eternal or second death and yet shed no blood and in this manner shall the Lamb overcome these ten Kings which ten Kings doth include all persecuting spirits whatsoever For the Lamb being King of kings and Lord of Lords he hath chosen his Saints and they are faithful to fight under his banner for he hath called them for that purpose And the Lamb being their King and Captain the Saints shall certainly overcome their persecutors and in this sense the Lamb shall overcome them CHAP. LXIIII. VErse the fifteenth And he saith unto me the waters which thâ—â— sawest where the whore sitteth are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues I have opened this verse before so that I need not speak any thing more of it here but I shall pass by this and go to the sixteenth verse Verse the sixteenth And the ten borne thou sawest upon the beast these shall hate the where and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire These ten horns are those ten Kings aforesaid they received power before from the beast to persecute the Saints and to make war with the Lamb. And now they receive power from God to hate the whore and to fight against her spiritual power as you may see in the seventeenth verse For God hath put it into their hearts to fulfil his will Yet I would have the Reader to minde that these ten horns or ten kings doth imploy all wicked kings who are subordinate or under the beast For all wicked beasts are included in this one beast and all idolatrous spiritual power is included in this one whore or City Babylon So that God will put it into the hearts of wicked kings to put down the spiritual power of idolatry So that the Fifth-Monarchy-men are mightily mistaken thinking in themselves that those Kings or great persons that shall pull down the Popes spiritual power or any other spiritual power that hath neer affinity with the Popish worship I say they are much mistaken For God will put it into the hearts of wicked reprobate men to do his will they shall hate the whore and make her desolate and naked That it they shall smite her flesh with a sword of steel and burn her with fire that is they shall utterly destroy her For burning with fire signifies utter destruction and eating her flesh it signifies the being well pleased in their mindes so that their mindes doth feed upon the destruction of her and in this sense they may be said to eat her flesh Onely this I do confess that the Pope is that whore that must be made desolate for the same spirit of fornication concerning spiritual matters or worshipping of idols is in the Pope and others as there was in other whores who profess the same spiritual power as the Pope doth For one spirit of idolatry hath run thorow the line of them all in all ages and the Pope succeeding after the Ten Persecutions he is called by the Spirit a whore and the last whore And doth not she by her spiritual power sit upon many waters which waters doth signifie multitudes of people nations and tongues doth not she by her spiritual power and temporal both sit almost upon all Europe Doth noâ— she sit upon almost all the Beasts that is the Kings of Europe So that when this whore is made desolate the world will be at an end Onely this I would have the Fifth-Monarchy-men to minde that they must be wicked reprobate men that doth make her desolate for all that fighteth with carnal weapons that is a sword and Gun they are wicked Though God doth put it into their hearts to do his will for one wicked man shall destroy another with carnal weapons For these ten horns which signifies all wicked Kings when they have made the whore desolate they shall give their kingdoms unto the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled That is these conquerors over the whore shall give their kingdoms unto the Beast who gave them Commission and power at the first to persecute and kill the Saints So that they take no notice that God did put it into their hearts to do his will upon the whore but they attribute all the power and glory of it to the beast looking more upon his Commission and Authority that he gave them To destroy the Saints and by the same Authority they think they do make the whore desolate not minding Gods putting it into their hearts Therefore it is they give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled That is they shall give their kingdoms unto the beast until the end of the world When God shall make a final end that is an eternal destruction of the beast and of the whore and of these ten horns that gave their kingdoms unto the beast then will the words of God be fulfilled CHAP. LXV VErse the eighteenth and the last verse of this chapter And the woman which thou sawest is that great City which raigneth over the Kings of the earth I have spoken of these things in this verse in divers places before so that I need not say no more of it Onely this I would have the Reader to minde that all this seventeenth Chapter the things contained in it it was shewed unto John by way of vision And what judgement should befall in the end to all those that were concerned in those matters of spiritual and temporal
express these heavealy Secrets as well as I could rather than to bury them with my self alone So that who ever doth read this Treatise of the Interpretation of this Book of the Revelation of St. John I say they must take it as it is and let them remember that God seldom chose Learned men to declare the mysteries of his kingdom but let that pass When I had weighed and pondered in my minde this great mystery of God that God became flesh I was moved in my minde to express my self thus unto God Oh Lord God of truth thou that wert from eternity and hadst thy being of thy self a spiritual body in form like a man thou who knowst no beginning of thy self neither dost thou know any ending of thy self yet thou by thy own wisdom and power became very man clothing thy spiritual body with pure humane flesh onely the Life of that body was no other but the Godhead Life so that thou madest thy self a little lower then the Angels also thou madest thy self capable to suffer the pains of death by thy own creatures and so thy vesture was made red it being dipt in thy own blood for the Redemption of thy own seed the seed of Adam It is thee O Lord that wert the first revealer of heavenly secrets unto mankinde some thou hast revealed thy minde unto by voice of words some by secret inspiration of thy Spirit and others thou hast revealed the mysteries concerning thy self and thy kingdom by the Spirit of Faith that doth arise out of its seed so that the original of all true Revelation and understanding the mysteries of thy kingdom it doth come from thee Oh Lord God of truth so that I can truly say with Moses the Prophets Apostles and Saints Blessed be the Lord God of truth who hath revealed unto me the mystery of God and the mystery of the right devil with the interpretation of many other heavenly secrets spoken of by John in this Book never revealed before unto Prophet or Apostle therefore unto thee O Lord God of truth thou that art King of kings and Lord of lords who art that Alpha and Omega whose garment of flesh was made red and whose vesture of flesh was dipt in his own blood for the Redemption of mankinde thou who art the first and the last even he that was dead but is alive and behold he liveth for evermore to thee onely be ascribed all Allelujah of praises by me thy servant whom thou hast chosen when I thought not of it Also let Allelujah blessing glory and honor be given unto him by all those that doth truly understand and believe these things interpreted in this Treatise I say again let us give all praises honor and glory unto our God our King and our Redeemer even the Lord Jesus Christ both now and for evermore Amen Amen CHAP. LXXX AS for this twentieth Chapter it is onely a relation of things done before and as for the chief things in this Chapter concerning Satans being bound for a thousand years and after the thousand years was expired Satan was let loose with many other things depending thereupon they are opened already in the Interpretation of the eleventh of the Revelation Onely I shall give a word or two to shew what is meant by Gog and Magog This Gog and Magog is the Turk Pagan and all heathen men who never professed the worship of Moses nor the worship of the Gospel that is the same spirit that was in the heathen in former time who were called by the Spirit Gog and Magog as you may see Ezekiel 39.1 Thus saith the Lord God behold I am against thee O Gog. And in verse 6. God will send a fire on Magog So chapter 38.2 Son of Man set thy face against Gog the land of Magog and in the 3 verse and say Thus saith the Lord behold I am against thee O Gog the chief Princes of Meshech Now this Gog and Magog spoken of in Ezekiel it was no other but Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon he I say is called by the Spirit Gog as in 2 Chron. 36 6 and all his princes who had great armies who helped him to fight against Jerusalem and they are called by the Spirit Magog as you may see 2 Kings 24.1 2. Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon came up that is he came up to fight against Jerusalem and there came against Jerusalem bands of the Caldees and bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the children of Ammon these all came against Judah to destroy it and so they did according to the word of the Lord. And these bands of men aforesaid are called by the Spirit Magog so that it may be clear to the Reader that this Gog and Magog spoken of by John it is meant all the Heathen power upon the face of the earth in that the heathen hath three parts of the world in his hands For this is to be minded by the Reader that this Gog and Magog spoken of by the Prophets they were Heathen powers and people who never did profess nor confess the Scriptures of truth And this Gog and Magog John speaketh of are Heathen men also for the same spirit that was in that Gog and Magog it doth run in the line of that seed even to the end of the world So that the Heathen that shall be destroyed at the end of time may be called Gog and Magog as the other Gog and Magog was destroyed after the seventy years were expired they were destroyed with a temporal destruction but this Gog and Magog John speaketh of they will be destroyed with an eternal destruction at the end of time For this spirit of reason the devil or Satan that was bound for a thousand years and when the thousand years was expired he was let loose which things I have opened in The Interpretation of the eleventh of the Revelation This spirit of reason the devil as aforesaid it being loosed out of prison which prison I have shewed what it is in that book aforesaid so that this Satan being loosed he goeth forth to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth as in the eighth verse of this chapter Gog and Magog to gather them together to battel the number of whom is as the sand of the Sea So that the Reader may see that Satan shall go out to deceive the nations that are in the four quarters of the earth which four quarters doth signifie all the world for the world is divided but into four parts and all these four parts of the earth they are deceived by this spirit of Satan which spirit of Satan I have shewed what it is in my other writings but this is to be minded that the Saints the Seed of Faith are excepted by the Spirit for though they live in the four parts of the earth yet they are not deceived by the spirit of Satan not as to their eternal perdition as the other
Chap. 58. How the spiritual Babylon is compared unto the temporal and how false worship may be and is called Mystery Babylon in opposition to the mystery of God with many other things opened And how and when the Scepter departed from the Jews and how the Gentiles worship is idolatrous and so becomes or makes up that great City Mystery Babylon the Mother of harlots and what is meant by her fornication Chap 59. How the Kings of the earth may be said to commit fornication and how the Saints do drink the wine of the wrath of her fornication how the scarlet coloured beast doth carry the whore and how she fits upon the beast and what is meant by the beast and why called a scarlet coloured beast Chap. 60. The Interpretation of the woman how she is arrayed in scarlet colour and purple and precious stones with a golden Cup in her hand and what these things do signifie and how the woman may be said to be drunken with the blood of the Saints Chap. 61. The Interpretation of the beast that was and is not and yet is and how he may be called the eighth and is of the seven with other deep secrets Chap. 62. How the woman may be said to sit upon seven mountains and what the mountains are Chap. 63. The Interpretation of the ten horns and what is meant by their having power one hour with the beast and how they make war with the Lamb and what weapons they fight with and with what weapons the Lamb doth overcome them Chap. 64. How the ten horns received power from the beast to persecute the Saints and how the same ten kings received power from God to make the whore desolate to fulfil Gods will yet all but wicked kings yet they did his will Chap. 65. How all this 17th Chapter was shewed unto John by vision and none could interpret it but he that hath a Commission from God Chap. 66. The difference between the temporal Babylon and the spiritual Babylon and how this spiritual Babylon is called an habitation of devils and a cage of every hateful bird and a hold of every unclean spirit and how the kings of the earth and all nations committed fornication with her Chap. 67. How the Saints may be said to come out of her and how she must drink her own blood and what is meant by filling her cup and giving it her double to drink and what maner of famine and fire she shall be destroyed with Chap. 68. What is meant by the Merchants standing afar off for fear of her torment Chap. 69. How the Prophets and Apostles are bid to rejoyce over the destruction of the great City in that God hath avenged himself on her Chap. 70. How the seed of Reason doth walk in the paths of the Scriptures yet cannot finde out the true God but the Seed of Faith can finde out God in all those narrow paths where he doth walk and how the voice of mirth did cease when Babylon is destroyed and the blood of Prophets and Saints is found in her Chap. 71. How the four beasts and four and twenty Elders and Saints do sing praise unto God for the perpetual downfall of spiritual Babylon Chap. 72. What is meant by the voice of many waters and the voice of mighty thunderings and how the Saints are married unto God Chap. 73. What is meant by the white horse and by the many Crowns that he had on his head and of the difference of glory between the work of Creation and the work of Redemption and how it may be said that no man knew his name but himself Chap. 74. The Interpretation of the garment of Christ down to the foot and his vesture dipt in blood what is meant by treading the wine-fat Chap. 75. What is meant by the Armies in heaven that followed Christ and how they al sat upon white horses and how Christ trode the fierceness of the wiâ—â—-press of Almighty God and yet not his Fathers wrath Chap. 76. The Interpretation of the Name of Christ written upon his thigh and how he may be called King of kings and Lord of lords in respect of the power of his Creation and the power of his Redemption and how his death got power over sin death and hell so that he can dispose of death now as he pleases for his own glory Chap. 77. What is meant by the fowls of heaven and what the Supper is they are invited unto and what it is they must have to Supper and how the Saints may be said to eat the flesh of Kings and of Captains and of mighty men Chap. 78. How the temporal Power signifies the Beast and the spiritual Power signifies the false Prophet and how they are both cast alive into a lake of fire and brimstone and what is meant by the remnant that were slain with the sword that came out of his mouth with the end of the nineteenth Chapter Chap. 79. The Prophets prayer and thanksgiving unto Jesus Christ the onely God who became very man and yet was very God at the same time Chap. 80. What is meant by Gog and Magog and how the Camp of the Saint may be said to be compassed about in all the four quarters of the earth and what that fire is that came down from heaven Chap. 81. How Non-commissionated men are those that do add unto the Prophecy of this Book of the Revelation and to all the Scriptures and 〈◊〉 the plagues written in that Book will be added unto them for going before they were sent of God Chap. 82. How men are said to diminish or take away from this Book and how he hath his part taken out of the Book of Life All the Chief HEADS of the most Divine MYSTERIES plainly opened in the several Chapters of this Book CHAP. I. THe first Chapter of the Revelation of John doth speak of things which must shortly come to pass John calls it The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass John might well say that God did give it unto him because Jesus Christ is God as he doth make it appear in his following Discourse in this Chapter Also those servants which he was to declare this Revelation of Jesus Christ unto I declare it was unto the Ministers of those Seven Churches in Asia and from them to the Churches themselves Also John doth speak much of this Book of the Revelation by way of vision as well as revelation and that doth make this Book of the Revelation to be the more difficult and hard to be understood or to be interpreted Therefore many wise and learned men have gone about to interpret some places of it but have left the greatest part of it as a sealed Book which cannot be opened and have left that which they have writ upon as dark to the Reader as it was at first And the cause is they do not know what
sufferings for truth he cometh to have the witness in himself that his name is written in the Book of Life and that his name shall not be blotted out no not by God himself 6. Him that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the Name of my God and the name of the City of my God which is New Jerusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from my God and I will write upon him my new Name This Pillar in the Temple of God it signifies the great strength of faith and patience that was in the Church of Philadelphia So that their great faith should enable them to suffer with such patience that they should become a Pillar in the Temple of God that is their faith should be as a Pillar to encourage and strengthen and bear up those that were more weak in faith and more fearful to suffer But he that overcometh shall be as a Pillar to bear up the weak even as a Pillar of a Church of stone doth bear up the building that standeth upon it For the Temple of God is no other but true Believers they are called by the Spirit The Temple of God and he that is strong in faith and doth overcome all persecution by patient suffering for his faith in God he shall be made a Pillar to help bear up the Church of God And he shall go no more out That is he shall go no more out from being a Pillar but he shall be esteemed of God a standing Pillar in his Temple to all Eternity So that God will write upon him his own Name and the name of the City of God The Name of God is to be a King Priest and Prophet So that he that overcometh as aforesaid shall have this name written upon his heart King Priest and Prophet unto God And as for the name of the City of God New Jerusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from God which New Jerusalem I have opened what it is in the Interpretation of the Eleventh of the Revelation And as for the New Name God will write upon him I have shewed what it is before 7. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am sate down with my Father in his Throne Here the Reader may see what the Spirit doth mean by overcometh That is he overcometh sin death and hell within himself these being principalities and powers within a man Also he overcometh all persecution and the malice of the devil the spirit of reason without a man These things I say are overcome by the power of Faith in suffering patiently for truth as aforesaid For this was the way that Christ did overcome all his enemies and when he had overcome by his death sin in that he dyed unto sin And he overcome death in that he was deaths death Also he overcame hell in that the grave was not able to hold him under Therefore it is said by the spirit Oh death I will be thy death oh grave I will be thy victory Also he overcame by his sufferings the spirit of reason the devil who always persecuted the Prophets and Saints I say he overcometh by his death this spirit of reason the devil in that he hath procured by his death an eternal damnation to all persecuting spirits So that he hath overcome them and will kill them with a second death where will be weeping and gnashing of teeth for evermore And he overcometh these enemies aforesaid he is sate down in the Throne of the Father That is he is sate down in the same Glory as he had when he was the Creator or the same Glory which he had before the world was Even so in like manner shall every Prophet Apostle and Saint that overcometh those enemies aforesaid by the power of his Faith and his patient sufferings for truth To him will Christ grant to sit with him in his Throne that is he shall sit with Christ or be with Christ in the Kingdom of Eternal Glory Even as he himself after his sufferings is sate down in the kingdome which he had before the world was Which is called by the spirit the Throne of the Father in relation to that twofold condition in God as I have shewed in this Treatise following Thus in short I have given the Interpretation what is meant by those seven several Blessings given by the Spirit to the seven Churches of Asia and how they all differ one from another and yet all have relation to one and the same thing even to eternal happiness joy and glory in the presence of Almighty God their God their King and Redemeer CHAP. IV. I Would have the Seed of Faith also to understand that Christ the onely God is he which did send forth these seven Spirits unto the seven Churches Therefore called by the Revelation of John the seven Spirits which are before his Throne The seven Spitits I declare by Revelation that they are but one Spirit even the Spirit of Jesus Christ the onely wise God blessed for ever and ever Onely this I would have the Seed of Faith to understand that this one spirit of Christ it hath seven several operations or workings in the seven Churches Therefore called by the Revelation of John seven Spirits before the Throne Therefore you may read that John in his writing to the seven Churches of Asia giveth seven several Blessings as aforesaid So likewise he cometh with his message to the seven Churches with seven several titles and yet all from one God and one Spirit As thus First he writeth to the Church of Ephesus with this title Saith he that holdeth the seven Stars in his right hand who walketh in the middest of the seven Golden Candlestickâ— These Golden Candlesticks are the seven Churches Is there any spirit that can walk in the middest of the hearts of the seven Churches but the Spirit of Christ which is God surely no. Secondly John writeth to the Church of Smirna These things saith the first and the last which was dead and is alive Is not Jesus Christ the first and the last Was not he dead and rose again And so is alive Surely it is This was the saith of John and the rest of the Apostles and it is my faith also Thirdly John writeth these things unto the Church in Pergamos Saith he who hath the sharp Sword with two edges This Sword with two edges it cometh out of Christs mouth I suppose all men that profess the Scriptures will confess it Fourthly Unto the Church in Thyatira he writeth These things saith the Son of God who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire and his feet are like fine brass Here the Spirit of Christ gives himself forth under the title of his Son-ship but to the former Churches he gives himself forth under the title of the Father-hood Yet under the title
of the Son-ship he is exceeding glorious seemingly more glorious and terrible then under the title of God the Father For here his eyes are like unto a flame of fire and his feet like fine brass yet all this while it is he the same he which is the first and the last that is cloathed with flesh and bone yet a glorified body in the heavens above the Stars Fifthly Unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis write These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God and the seven Stars This he is Christ the first and the last he that was dead and is alive this is he that hath the seven Spirits of God and the seven Stars Who can have the seven spirits of God but he that is God And who can rule and govern the seven Stars which are the seven Churches but God onely Sixthly To the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia write These things saith he that is holy he that is true he that hath the Key of David he that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth I suppose that all men which profess the Scriptures will acknowledge that this must needs be God he which is Holy he that is true he that hath the key of David who can shut up the minde of man in ignorance and darkness as he doth the wise and prudent men of this world and no man can open their understandings Also he can open the understandings of the Seed of Faith and let the light of life shine into their hearts and no man can shut up their hearts And he that can do this it God I suppose it will be confest by all but not believed but by few yet it is plain in Johns Revelation that this God is no other but Jesus Christ Seventhly To the Angel of the Church of the Loadiceans write These things saith the Amen the faithful and true Witness the beginning of the Creation of God Jesus Christ is the Amen the true and faithful witness he is also the beginning of the Creation of God because he is and was that God that created the world and all things therein in the beginning According to that saying in Scripture speaking of Christ By him the world was made and without him was nothing made which was made Intimating that there was nor is any thing created or made by any other God or infinite Spirit whatsoever but by the Lord Jesus Christ onely Here the Seed of Faith may see that the Revelation of John hath set forth Jesus Christ to be he that is and which was and which is to come and that these seven Spirits before his Throne proceeded from Jesus Christ the onely wise God blessed for ever yet I declare that it was all but one Spirit of God going forth into the seven Churches of Asia in giving them seven several reproofs and seven several blessings as aforesaid as I have here set down Also the Revelation of John hath given answerable to the seven Blessings seven several Titles to this God according to their several operations and Blessings in the seven Churches of Asia Therefore called the seven Spirits which are before his Throne Therefore I have set them down in order as before written And because the Seed of Faith may understand and know that these seven Spirits spoken of by John are no other but that one Spirit of Jesus Christ the onely wise God he that is and he that was and he which is to come I say from this Jesus proceeded those seven Spirits and those seven Titles are attributed to him which is which was and which is to come That is this Jesus is he that by his Spirit or Grace holdeth 1. The seven Stars in his right hand who walketh in the midst of the seven Golden Candlesticks The seven Stars in his right hand is the the Ministry of the seven Churches and the Golden Candlesticks are the Churches themselves as aforesaid 2. This Jesus is he that is the first and the last which was dead and is alive 3. Christ is he that hath the sharp Sword with two edges in that he is the Judge of the quick and the dead 4. This Christ Jesus is he whose eyes are like unto a flame of fire and his feet are like fine brass 5. This Jesus is he that hath the seven Spirits of God because he is God and hath the seven Stars 6. This Jesus is he that is holy he that is true he that hath the Key of David he that openeth and no man shuteth and shuteth and no man openeth 7. This Jesus is the Amen the faithful and true Witness the beginning of the Creation of God CHAP. V. THus in some measure I have opened what is meant by him which is which was and which is to come and what is meant by the seven Spirits before his Throne It will be necessary to open something what is meant by his Throne The Throne of Christ I declare is where he is as it is with an earthly King where the King is there is his Throne especially where the King doth sit in Judgement upon any matters of life and death But if he be not there in his own person yet his Arms is set over every place of Judicatory and the Judge of that place doth sit under the Kings Arms representing the person of the King And so the Judge fits in the Kings Throne Yet it may be said that the Kings Throne is there also for the Kings Throne is all over his Dominions and Kingdoms though he himself be but in one particular place where his honor and glory and greatness may be most manifest And that place where his glory is most seen and where he doth usually sit in Judgement I say that place may properly be called the Kings Throne For if the king were not a person and had a kingdom how could he set up a Throne in it And if there be a Throne set up in a kingdome there must of necessity be a King to sit upon it And this King must be the person of a man else why should we call him a King So likewise the Lord Jesus Christ he being God and Man in one single person he hath a kingdom above and beyond the Stars and he being King of heaven he hath a Throne to sit upon himself And many other Thrones in his kingdom above the Stars for all his Prophets Apostles and Messengers which he hath sent in this world Even as a King hath many Judges and Messengers in his earthly kingdom and the King hath given them many Thrones to sit upon which are visibly seen by the eye of sence and reason So likewise the eye of Faith doth as perfectly see God their King sitting upon his Throne in the kingdom of glory above the Stars and all those Prophets and Apostles Messengers and Ambassadors which he hath sent to sit upon Thrones of glory also So that there is Thrones of Glory in Heaven as
had succeeded even to the day or time of that beast so that they knew the number of his name and how many Beasts were past before him So that those that had Commissions for offices and places of trust were those that had the name of the Beast because they had the Beasts hand to those Commissions for to authorize them in their places and those that had the number of his name were those that wore a badge of his arms signifying what number of Kings loins this Beast did come thorow So that none but those that had received the mark as aforesaid and those that had the Beasts warrants for Offices And those that had the number of his name as aforesaid were to have the priviledge to buy and sell c. CHAP. XL. VErse the eighteenth Here is wisdom Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man and his number is six hundred threescore and six I would have the Reader to minde the interpretation of this verse Observe in the first verse of this chapter John saw in his vision a beast arise out of the sea having seven heads Which seven heads did signifie seven Kings or seven Beasts that should have ten horns Which ten horns did signifie the Ten Persecutions in the primitive times so called Yet we finde in this chapter but three of these Beasts which acted their parts in persecuting the Saints though all the seven heads did persecute the Saints Also in the last verse of this chapter John includes all these seven beasts into one beast saying Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast for it is the number of a man It must needs be the number of a man because man is called a beast either a good beast or an evil beast as I have said before concerning the four good beasts they signified all good Kings and Head-Magistrates were all included in those four good Beasts So likewise all evil Kings and evil Magistrates are included in those seven heads which the beast had that arose out of the Sea Further the Spirit of Revelation in John doth include all evil Kings and evil Magistrates into one evil beast Shewing that there is but one evil beast in whom the evil spirit doth raign in persecuting men for conscience sake because they wil not worship the beasts Image So that you that can discern between the spirit of reason and the Spirit of Faith For these two Spirits lye both hid in their two Seeds to wit the Spirit of Faith in the Seed of God and the spirit of reason in the seed of the serpent-angel or devil And according as these two Spirits doth work or operate in man man comes to be a good beast or an evil beast So that who ever doth discern clearly between the two Seeds may read or count the number of the good Beast and the number of the evil beast For this I say they are both but two men that is to say a good man and an evil man Because the good Spirit runneth thorow the line of the Seed of Faith and causeth good Kings and Head-Magistrates and all others of that Seed to do well and to worship God aright as David did and not to persecute men for Conscience sake So on the contrary the spirit of Reason the devil it runneth thorow the line of the seed of Reason and causeth evil Kings and evil Head-Magistrates and others to do injustice and to worship a false God and persecute for Conscience sake as king Ahab did So that all good Kings and Head-Magistrates who have been guided by the Spirit of God though many thousands of them they may be counted by the Spirit but one good beast Because that one good Spirit of God did act in them while they were here in this world So likewise though there have been many thousand evil kings and evil Head-Magistrates yet they may be counted by the Spirit but one evil beast Because that one evil spirit of Reason the serpent devil did act in them little or much whilest they lived in this world So that the one evil spirit acting in all the evil beasts they are counted by the Spirit of revelation but the number of a man Like unto that saying Revel 21.17 And he measured the wall thereof an hundred forty and four cubits according to the measure of a man that is of the Angel So that the bigness of the Angel was but as the bigness of a man and those hundred and forty and four cubits spoken of by John it did amount in the conclusion but to the measure of a man So likewise this beast whose number is the number of a man and his number is said to be six hundred threesc re and six That is as I said before the spirit of the Serpent-Angel hath run thorow the seed of Reason in so many Kings and Head-Magistrates who came from the loins of Cain he being the first devil in flesh and the first man-devil And his spirit running in that seed it hath brought forth so many evil beasts as six hundred sixty six Now I would have the Reader to understand that John did not mean exactly so many and no more for doubtless there hath been many thousands more since Cain slew his brother Abel But I believe the revelation of John hath relation onely to those evil beasts which were in power in the time of the two Commissions that is in the time of the worship of the Law of Moses How many evil Kings which are beasts were there in that time while that Worship stood that persecuted the Prophets and caused the people to worship Baal and false gods And so the Rulers of Israel who were Head-Magistrates who persecuted the Apostles and Christ these were of those evil beasts And when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romanes then their power and persecution did cease And the Romane Gentiles those Emperors and Kings and Head-Magistrates they persecuted the Saints in the second Commission and these beast afore-mentioned were those John saw in his vision So that the number of these persecuting evil beasts who were idolaters in the time of those two Commissions or two Testaments I say they might amount to no more than six hundred threescore and six These all coming through the loins of Cain the first man devil they may be called by the Spirit but one man therefore said to be the number of a man So that in the conclusion all wicked idolatrous persecuting Kings and Head Magistrates who proceeded from the loines of Cain he being the first murtherer and liar from the beginning they are counted by the Spirit in John but the number of a man That is as much as to say they are but one man though six hundred sixty and six men acted in persecuting the Prophets Apostles and Saints yet all but the number of a man To conclude this Chapter and this Verse in a few words that
spiritual the Son of God whose eyes are like a flame of fire and his feet like unto fiue brass This is he that treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God as in Revel 19.15 Now as the vial of Gods wrath was poured out upon the natural Sun in that the Sun had power to burn up Sodom and Gomorrah as aforesaid So likewise the Son of righteousness had the vial of Gods wrath poured out upon him also In that he treaded the fierceness of Gods wrath that is his own wrath as he was the Creator So that he suffered death at the hands of his creatures which death is called by the spirit the wine-press of Gods wrath And this wrath being poured out upon the Son of Righteousness he hath power given him to scorch men with fire That is he hath power to scorch the consciences of wicked men with the fire of hell This power also doth he give to every true Prophet and Apostle and Minister whom he doth chuse And as the death of Christ is called the fierce wrath of God so likewise it may be called a fire for the wrath of God may be called a fire though executed in several other ways So that this death of the Son it being charged upon the consciences of all wicked persecuting idolatrous men and women by the Apostles Prophets and Ministers chosen by them It doth scorch their consciences with the fear of eternal death which is the fire of hell as in the nineth verse And men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the Name of God which hath power over these Plagues So that every true Messenger of Christ hath power to scorch the consciences of men and to kindle the fire of hell in all persecuting spirits and false worshippers who worship false gods And this fire and heat was very much poured out by the Apostles and those Ministers ordained by them in the primitive times so called For none knows what those persecuting beasts and false worshippers who received the beasts mark did suffer nor how their consciences were scorched with the fire of hell even whilest they were in this world which was but a taste of what shall be hereafter But this taste it made them blaspheme against him that had power over these Plagues For the minde of man is so desperately wicked that if he could destroy that God that hath power over these Plagues even as they did those his messengers and the Saints that believed them But the Saints may see that there is a secret spiritual power in every true Messenger of God to scorch the souls of persecuting and despising men and women with the heat of hell fire this I know to be true by experience as well as by faith For the doctrine of the true God and his true Worship it doth torment the souls of the seed of the serpent inwardly as the heat of the Sun doth outwardly to a mans body and men are more subject to blaspheme for the torment within then they are for torments without Because the one is but for a time but the other is for eternity So that the spiritual scorching with great heat is that John chiefly intends in this chapter in relation to the torment of mind that was upon those beasts that persecuted the Saints and all those that received his mark as aforesaid In the time of the Apostles Commission and with relation to the end of the world Thus in some measure I have given the litteral and spiritual meaning of the fourth Angel pouring out his vial upon the Sun and of the 8. and 9. verses CHAP. XLIX VErse the tenth And the fifth Angel poured our his vial upon the seat of the beast and his kingdom was full of darkness and they gnawed their tongues for pain This fifth vial it hath a twofold meaning that is a litteral and spiritual meaning The litteral meaning is in relation to the vial or plague that Moses poured out upon Egypt as you may see Exodus the 10.22 23 And Moses streched forth his hand towards heaven and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days and in the 23. verse They saw not one another neither rose any from his place for three days c. Here the Reader may see that this vial was poured out in the natural upon Egypt and upon the seat of the King of Egypt Pharâ—ah being king Therefore called the beast and the seat of the beast signifies the power and authority that Pharaoh had over all the land of Egypt And this Vial being poured out upon the seat of the beast it signifies upon all those that were under his government That is that were of his own people so that there was thick darkness in the Kings palace and upon his servants no place free as there was upon the inhabitants of Egypt so that darkness was all over the land of Egypt no place free For if any place had been free from darkness in the land of Egypt then I say the vial had not been poured out upon the seat of the beast So that this vial Moses poured out of thick darkness it was upon the seat of the beast that is upon King Pharaoh in whom the power and authority of Egypt did stand So that when darkness was poured out upon the King in whom the light of all the Laws of Egypt did shine forth upon the people if the Seat in whom the Law is placed be darkned then the people which must obey must needs be darkned also For where a King or Head Magistrate hath power given him either from God or from man to make Laws for people to obey that power and authority is called by the Spirit the Seat of the beast And when God doth pour out the vial of his wrath upon this Authority then I say the vial may be said to be poured out upon the Seat of the Beast so that the Reader may see what is meant by the Seat of the Beast Now I have opened a little what is the litteral or natural meaning of the fifth Angel pouring out his vial or plague upon Egypt and what the Plague was and what the Seat of the Beast is I shall now also give you to understand the spiritual meaning of these things aforesaid Observe there was many Pharaohs that were Kings of Egypt in those four hundred years that Israel was in bondage in Egypt yet all these King Pharaohs are included in that one King Pharaoh unto whom Moses was sent So that all the Kings of Egypt are counted by the Spirit but one King Pharaoh And all those Plagues which Moses poured out upon Egypt it was upon this King Pharaoh even until God had utterly consumed him and he did in the Red-sea these things were fulfilled in the history and in the natural at the beginning of Moses Commission And that beast Pharaoh king of Egypt his actions of oppression to the Israelites they were upon the temporal
of people that are deceived by them who were the first brothers of this idolatrous worship set up by non-commissionated men I say they are all counted by the spirit but a whore in that they and all people who doth joyn in worship with them they do commit fornication in their spirits with idols So that who ever doth worship false gods by the instigation of the false prophet or false priest he doth commit fornication or whoredom with idols So that this is to be minded that all opinions in worship that people are in who hath not a true Commission from God to be a Minister or Preacher he and they do all commit fornication with idols For every opinion in religion that doth not worship the true God they do commit fornication with idols Neither can they do otherways because their teachers are false like priest like people Also this is to be observed by the Reader that the Revelation of the Spirit it hath onely relation to those peoples that do profess and confess the Scriptures So that Johns Revelation hath relation to all those that confess the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Gospel of Jesus and the Apostles and not relating to the heathen who never heard of the Scriptures So that all those false worshippers under the Law of Moses and all those false worshippers under the Gospel of Jesus they are called by the spirit that great City Babylon or mystery Babylon or a scarlet whore It is called mystery Babylon in relation to the mystery of God as aforesaid Likewise it may be called mystery Babylon in relation to that Babel that men would have built that should have reached up to heaven after Noahs flood in respect of the confusion there was in the building of it so that it all came to utter confusion and destruction So likewise there is such a confusion in all false worship and worshippers that at the last that Babylon they have built with idols thinking to reach in that superstitious way up to heaven But they shall be confused in their understandings and in the true knowledge and worship of the true God So that they shall be utterly destroyed both them and their Babel that is their worship with an eternal destruction But this is to be minded that the first mention of this temporal Babel Genes 11.4 where the sons of Noah said Go to let us build us a City and a Tower whose top may reach unto heaven And in the seventh verse God consumed this tower by confounding their language So likewise the first rise of this mystery Babylon it was amongst the Jews That is when the Jews would worship other gods besides that God which Moses did declare unto them even the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob to wit the God of Israel yet nevertheless those Jews who were the seed of the serpent they would have other gods as the Amorites and the heathen had to go before them Therefore they would have a Calf to be their God to worship as Exodus chapter 32.1 this Calf was the first false god the people of the Jews did worship Though they murmured against God and Moses many times before yet they never fell to worship idols as Gods before So that this was the first beginning of the setting up or the building of a false worship in opposition to that worship that Moses set up which was but a little before So that as soon as ever God did set up his worship by the hand of Moses that the people might come to know the true God I say the spirit of reason which is the devil in man he doth set up his worship in like manner to worship gods of his own imagination even the works of his own hands even a Calf For this Calf doth signifie all idols or false worship whatsoever For though the idols of men are many and their forms of worship many yet they all being false not worshipping the true God they do but worship a calf in stead of God And as these Jews who made this calf for a God were the first that began to build up a Babel of false worship this spirit of idolatry it did run thorow the line of the seed of the serpent until it got great power For after Moses and Joshua were gone the seed of the serpent grew in great power and did punish those that would not bow down to Baal For Baal signifies all false worship or all false gods so that when the serpents seed got power to set up his worship as Moses had power to set up the worship of God And as Moses did plague and punish those serpents for making that calf and worshipping it or any other idols in that many of them were destroyed by death So hath the false worshippers served the Prophets and Saints ever since that would not bow down to their false worship witness Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin and Ahab Manasses with divers other wicked kings and rulers and head-magistrates in the time of the Law who persecuted the Prophets and put them to death For telling them of their forsaking of the worship of the Law of Moses and worshipping of idols And the same spirit of reason the devil it continued in that nation of the Jews until Christ came according to that prophesie of Jacob the scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come So that there was a Scepter of Government that did remain upon the people of the Jews though they had no Jews kings a long time before So that a matter of forty years after Christs death in the destruction of Jerusalem the Scepter did depart from Judah That is from that nation of the Jews so that they are ever since a scattered people in many parts of the earth So that the Scepter that is the Government is departed from them indeed and the same spirit of persecution and idolatry it doth run along in the seed of reason the devil in the Gentiles So that the Gentile Kings and Head magistrates have been given mightily to idolatry imitating the worship of the Gospel And hath persecuted and put to death many Saints for not bowing down to that worship set up by these Gentile-Kings or Head-magistrates ever since the destruction of Jerusalem even to this day So that this is to be minded by the Reader that this mystery Babylon or great city or whore who hath committed fornication with the Kings of the earth The meaning of the Spirit is this that all Kings and Head-magistrates in the time of the Law and in the time of the Gospel who profess the Scriptures even to the end of the world That have or shall set up a false worship or idols by their power and cause the people to do the same they may be said to commit fornication with idols So that whoever doth worship false gods let it be in what form or manner it will it is all counted by the spirit but
spiritual fornication or whoredom So that all false worshippers or all that do worship idols or false gods from the greatest to the least from the beginning of Moses Commission to the beginning of the Apostles Commission and to the end of them and not onely so but to the end of the world even to the end of the Commission of the Spirit even the seven Churches of Europe For all spiritual idolatrous worship is in them also though they differ in several forms of worship one from another Namely the Papist Episcopacy Presbyterian Independent Baptist Ranter and Quaker all other Sects and Opinions are involved in these seven and every one of these seven are idolatrous Because none of them knoweth the true God therefore cannot worship him aright So that by consequence it will follow that they all commit fornication with idols for whoever worships a false god he committeth spiritual fornication which I am sure they all do For neither the Ministery of them nor the people doth know the true God nor the right devil for if they did then would they know what worship doth belong unto the true God now in these latter dayes So that all the false worshippers from the beginning of Moses to the end of the world they make up but one great City Babylon or one Woman or one scarlet Whore who hath made all Nations drink of the wine of her fornication That is this spirit of Reason in Kings and Head-Magistrates hath made all Nations to worship idols and images for God So that they have become drunk with spiritual fornication that the people have thirsted after the blood of the Saints as well as those in authority So that they are all become one City Babylon which will be destroyed at the end of the world This is that great Mystery Babylon that great City that John did prophesie the downfal of in the sixteenth Chapter And in the seventeenth Chapter he saw by faith the total downfal of this spiritual Mystery Babylon that great City the Mother of harlots that is of spiritual idolatry which is spiritual whoredom So that there was many more harlots then one yet they are all counted by the Spirit but one whore or harlot For that great City Babylon doth consist of nothing else but spiritual harlots So that the Reader may see what is meant by this spiritual Babylon and this great City and what is meant by the woman the great Whore and what is meant by her fornication so that the Reader may the better understand the interpretation of the Chapter that followeth CHAP. LIX IN the first verse of this seventeenth Chapter there was one of the seven Angels which had the seven vials and talked with John by way of vision and revelation saying unto him Come hither and I will shew unto thee the judgement of the great Whore that fitteth upon many waters Here it is clear that John did see by way of vision and revelation the downfal or judgement of this great spiritual Whore which I have shewed what is meant by it before And as for her sitting upon many waters the many waters where the whore sitteth it signifies multitudes of people nations and tongues as you may see verse 15. That is the spirit of reason in the whore as aforesaid should have such a spiritual power over the spirits of whole nations and tongues and multitudes of people that she should cause them all to commit fornication with idols or else they should be persecuted or suffer death So that whosoever would not commit fornication with her or at her command they should drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication That is she would persecute and put them to death for death is the wine of her wrath For the blood of the Saints is that wine of her wrath which is put into her golden cup that is in her hand And she doth not onely drink the blood of the Saints that is in the golden cup her self but she doth make the Kings of the earth to drink it also For in the a verse With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk of the wine of her fornication That is the Kings of the earth hath committed fornication with her in that they have been perswaded by her and joyned with her to worship idols For except the Kings of the earth who are the temporal power doth joyn with her spiritual power she could do nothing So that the Kings of the earth committing fornication with her that is to worship idols with her So they came to commit fornication with her that is the Kings and Head-magistrates doth uphold that spiritual power the whore hath and doth help to make the people to drink of the wine of her fornication So that the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication That is the inhabitants of the earth what with command from the spiritual power of the whore and what with command from the temporal power of the Kings of the earth the inhabitants of the earth are forced to commit fornication with idols also So that they are made to drink the wine of fornication with her that is look what comfort or satisfaction can be found in worshipping of idols they shall drink it with her But the wrath of her fornication none shall drink that but the Saints because they will not commit fornication with her that is to say not worship idols at her command Verse the 3. So be carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness and I saw a Woman sit upon a Scarlet coloured beast full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten horns As for the wilderness I shall say nothing as to that because I have opened what it is in the Interpretation of the eleventh of the Revelation But this Woman who doth sit upon a Scarlet coloured beast the Woman is the same as I said before that great City Babylon And the Scarlet coloured beast it doth signifie all Kings and Head-magistrates who hath submitted unto the false suggestions of Learned men who have pretended to be Prophets and Priests and Ministers of God without a Commission from God And so by the advice of these false prophets priests and ministers kings and head-magistrates hath set up images or forms of worship And hath made Laws for all people to obey in point of worship as well as in point of civil or temporal affairs Also they have made these persons aforesaid to have the charge to see the people worship according to that Law And hath given them a spiritual power to punish all those that will not worship accordingly This hath been the practice of all Kings and Head-magistrates I mean all evil kings and head-magistrates ever since the first idolatrous practices was used under Moses Commission And so a successive idolatrous power did follow even amongst the professors of the God of
Israel And it was practised by many wicked kings and head-magistrates and false priests and false prophets Which did cause many true Prophets and righteous men to be persecuted and put to death for not giving way to their false worship And so since the Apostles Commission the same thing hath been acted by Kings and Priests and so it will be to the end of the world So that all evil kings and evil head-magistrates are counted by the Spirit but one scarlet coloured beast for the spiritual Whore the woman to sit upon she may be said to sit upon the beast because she fits upon his power for Kings in all ages have been subject to the spiritual power though it hath been never so false for we see by experience that all those that goeth upon a spiritual account if he be but a Minister of the Gospel so called yet he sits upon the Magistrate For where is there a Magistrate in a Parish as a Deputy or such like but the Minister sits upon him So that one can do nothing as to matter of worship without the other So that the idolatrous woman who is the chief may well be said to sit upon a scarlet coloured beast which beast signifies all Kings and Head-magistrates who give themselves up to be guided in matter of worship by non-commissionated men who pretend a spiritual power to be Prophets Priests or Ministers of the Gospel or of the Law without a Commission from God But this beast here spoken of by John it doth chiefly relate to those beasts that did succeed after the destruction of Jerusalem which was a matter of four years after Christs death in relation to those Ten Persecutions which did last a matter of three hundred years So that all those beasts that persecuted the Saints in that time they are called by the Spirit a scarlet coloured beast He may be called a scarlet coloured beast in regard he had assisted the woman with his temporal power to persecute and shed the blood of Saints So that the sins of his soul they were as red as scarlet with the blood of the Saints and in this sense he is called a scarlet coloured beast and not onely so but full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten horns The meaning is this so many heads so many names of blasphemy that is there was seven Kings that came out of his loins as I shewed power and all these seven heads or beasts they persecuted and shed the blood of Saints and blasphemed God that had power over Plagues So that they all blasphemed God and shed the blood of the Saints for not worshipping their images and in this regard he may be called a scarlet coloured beast full of names of blasphemy For their souls were all made red as scarlet with the blood of Saints and they all blasphemed alike and the woman sate upon them all alike so that they are all called by the Spirit but one scarlet coloured beast CHAP. LX. VErse the fourth And the woman was arrayed in Purple and Scarlet-colour and decked with Gold and precious Stores and Pearls having a golden Cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication This woman is the same afore-mentioned and as for her being arrayed in Purple and scarlet-colour the purple signifies the civil outside appearance and rich array That is she was arrayed with such outside language and gestures and ornaments concerning the worshipping of Idols That it was as a garment of purple unto her which made the Kings and people all to bow down to her and glad they were that they might drink of that golden cup in her hand which cup was full of abomination And as for the scarlet-colour she was decked with that is within her That is her soul was made as red as scarlet with the blood of the Saints as the beast aforesaid And as for the precious Stones and Pearls she was decked with that signifies that good esteem the beast and the people had of her superstitious worship Thinking in themselves that she was precious in the eyes of the Lord or as a Pearl or Jewel in the sight of God and that she did God good service to kill his Saints that would not bow down and worship so holy a service as was required by her And as for the golden Cup in her hand the Cup signifies the form and manner of worship which she doth prescribe to the beast and the people to false gods And that which this golden Cup in her hand is full with it is the superstitious idolatrous worship that the beast and people must drink of That is they must do as she hath prescribed in matter of worship and so they come to drink out of the golden Cup in her hand and so they take a full draught of her spiritual abominations and filthiness of her fornications with idols and in the blood of the Saints Verse the fifth And upon her head was a name written Mystery Babylon the great the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth There need not be any interpretation upon this verse for I have shewed what is meant by Babylon before and what is meant by the mother of harlots so that I shall pass by this 5 verse and proceed to the 6 verse Verse the sixth And I saw the Woman drunken with the blood of the Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus and when I saw her I wondered with great admiration Here John saw in his vision the Woman drunken with the blood of the Saints and Martyrs of Jesus That is mystery Babylon or City Babylon which is compared to a woman that is all persecuting Spirits in point of worship are compared to a woman For they have all drunk the blood of Saints and Martyrs so that John did see in his vision that they were all drunken with the blood of Saints even as men are drunken with wine So that John did wonder with great admiration to see that God should have so much patience as to stay so long before he did pour out his Judgements upon this Woman who had made her self drunken with the blood of the Saints and Martyrs of Jesus But in the seventh verse The Angel said unto John wherefore didst thou marvel I will tell thee the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carrieth her which hath the seven heads and ten horns As if he should say when thou seest the judgement of the woman and of the beast that I will bring upon them thou wilt then marvel no more at their being drunken with the blood of the Saints and Martyrs of Jesus CHAP. LXI IN verse the eighth the Angel doth explain unto Johns understanding what the beast is that doth carry the woman as he did the woman in the seventh verse But the explanation of the Angel it is as dark to the reason of man as the vision it self For who can understand what is meant by these
our God The meaning is this after John had seen the utter overthrow of this great idolatrous City Babylon Immediately after he heard a great voice of much people in heaven that is he heard the voice of the twenty four Elders the four Beasts the Prophets and Apostles and the multitudes of Saints which cannot be numbered and the holy Angels saying or giving praise unto God in such like words as these Allelujah salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God All these sounding forth their praise unto God together must needs be a great voice indeed onely this is to be minded that none but the revelation of the Spirit could hear it in heaven and yet be here upon earth So that this great voice John heard in heaven it was by those aforesaid in praise unto God that he had avenged the blood of his servants at her hand as you may see in the second and third verse Again they said Allelujah and her smoak rose up for ever and ever So that all this joy and glory John heard in heaven it was even for this one thing that God had judged thus to give that whore who corrupted the earth with her spiritual fornication a perpetual torment that the smoak of it might ascend for ever and ever And in verse the 4th The four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sate on the throne saying Amen Allelujah so that you may see that all are concern'd in this matter to give praise unto God for this judgement upon her These four beasts the Reader may remember I have shewed what they are in this Treatise but for the four and twenty Elders I have said little of them here but I have spoken more largely of them in the Interpretation of the eleventh of the Revelation And in the fifth verse A voice came out of the Throne saying Praise our God all ye his servants and ye that serve him both small and great His servants signifies his Prophets and Messengers whom God did send Small and great doth signifie all true believers or Saints let them be ever so great in faith and knowledge or ever so small or weak in faith and knowledge Yet so it be true faith though but small they are all required by that voice from the Throne to praise God and for what must they praise God for even for his judgement upon the whore And not onely so but that God will raign now himself over you in eternal joy and glory and raign over the wicked persecutors in eternal pain and shame as you may see in the sixth verse CHAP. LXXII ANd I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and as the voice of a mighty thundering saying Allelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth This voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and as the voice of many thunderings they are the same as I said before to wit the four and twenty Elders the four Beasts the Prophets and Apostles and the multitude of Saints more then can be numbered and the holy Angels These in their praises unto God was the voice of many waters and the voice of thunderings I say these are they that doth sing Allelujah to the Lord God omnipotent who reigneth for ever and ever in joy and glory with his Saints and for ever and ever over the reprobates in eternal torments as aforesaid For these voices say in the seventh verse Let us be glad and rejoyce and give honor to him That is to God for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made her self ready This Marriage is an eternal Marriage with God and the elect seed for all the elect seed are Saints from the beginning of the world to the end of it are called by the Spirit but one virgin And this Lamb the virgins Husband is no other but God himself as I have shewed before So that at the end of time all the Elect Seed shall be married unto God their King Redeemer not onely in true righteousness and holiness as they were in the state of grace here in this world But they shall be marryed unto the Lamb which is the onely wise God blessed for evermore to that eternal felicity joy and glory with him So that his wife shall have a propriety in those eternal joys even as a vertuous woman hath here in her husbands estate For in the eighth verse And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and white For the fine linen is the righteousness of Saints that is the righteousness of Faith For faith purifies the the heart and Saints being clothed with this righteousness of Faith they become virgins They are called virgins in that they are not defiled in their souls with idols and false worship which is called by the Spirit fornication or whoredom So that this Bride the Lambs wife being clothed with the righteousness of Faith it is called by the Spirit fine linen clean and white and this is the righteousness of Saints who is the Bride to God her Husband Who putteth upon this white cloathing a Garment of eternal glory which will shine more brighter than the Sun More might be said in this thing but I suppose there is enough said to satisfie the Seed of Faith And as for the nineth and tenth verses I shall pass them by because I have spoken of them and given the meaning of them in the Interpretation of the eleventh of the Revelation CHAP. LXXIII VErse the eleventh And I saw heaven opened and he hold a white horse and he that sate upon him was called Faithful and true and in righteousness he doth judge and make war This white horse is the same white horse as I spake of before in the sixth chapter of Johns Revelation and he that sate upon this white horse is the same that sate upon that white horse to wit the righteousness of Saints And he that sate upon this white horse was no other but Christ Jesus the onely wise God as I have shewed before For this is to be minded by the Reader that though Christ hath a righteousness of his own which may be a white horse for himself to sit upon he being called Faithful and true and in righteousness he doth judge Yet nevertheless the righteousness of Saints is included all into one righetousness so make up but one white horse for the onely wise God to sit upon and to make war That is he made war with death hell and the devil as I said before and overcame them and so had many Crowns upon his head as you may see in the 12 verse These many Crowns upon his head they signifie but two Crowns all other Crowns of glory which he hath they are all included in these two That is he hath a Crown of glory upon his head as he is the Creator of all things
eternal happiness and that his blood might keep down the reprobate seed to endless misery So that the Reader may see what the Spirit doth mean by Christ being clothed with a garment down to the foot and his vesture dipt in blood For I think none are so ignorant as to think that it was any woollen or linnen or silk garment that was dipt in blood that would have been little benefit to any man But the ignorance of people is so great that they will think and believe any thing though never so contrary to reason and yet seem to be wise men in reason but the greater is their darkness in spiritual and heavenly things Yet the Seed of Faith may see what this vesture dipt in blood is and who it was that was clothed with this garment down to the foot It was no other but God himself as is said in the same verse And his Name is called The word of God for there is none can truly be called the Word of God but God for the Word was with God and the Word was God as I have shewed before CHAP. LXXV VErse 14. And the Armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linnen white and clean These armies which were in heaven they are the Saints and the Prophets Apostles and Witnesses of the Spirit are the Captains over these armies that is all true Believers in every Commission are in these three armies and there is one Chief General in all the armies in heaven and that is God himself So that all these armies in heaven follow him upon white horses For as the General hath a white horse to sit upon so likewise have all the armies in heaven that is to say all the Saints white horses to sit upon also The Reader may remember that I shewed before what is meant by a white horse and how that God himself had a white horse to sit upon to wit his own righteousness of faith By which power of faith God created all things and by the power of faith he fulfilled the Law and by the power of faith he laid down his life unto death and by the power of faith did rise again so that this righteousness of faith is that white horse that Christ doth sit upon Likewise the armies in heaven they follow him upon white horses also that is all the Saints as aforesaid being true Believers in Christs death that his blood was the blood of God so that this blood hath washed their souls in it that their hearts are purified by faith in the blood of the Lamb so that they have the righteousness of faith in them and this righteousness of faith is called by the Spirit A white horse So that all the armies in heaven that is all true Believers they have white horses to sit upon to follow their God their King and their Redeemer And as for their being clothed in fine linnen white and clean that signifies their souls being purified by faith the guilt of all sin is cleansed from them so that though their souls were as red as scarlet with the guilt of sin yet now being purified by faith they are made as white as snow So that their souls are clothed now with peace joy and glory which is as fine linnen white and clean c. Verse 15. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God This sharp sword that goeth out of his mouth it is out of the mouth of Christ that is when he shall command his Angels to pour out their vials of wrath or plagues upon the enemies of truth It may be called a sharp sword that goeth out of his mouth so that by the word of his mouth he shall cause his Angels to smite the nations and when they have smitten them dead he by a word of his mouth will raise them again and rule them with a rod of iron in that he will make them undergo a second death So that the two-edged sword that goeth out of his mouth shall cut both ways that is to say it shall cut down this natural life and cut down that spiritual life also so that after death they shall have a living death and a dying life so that he will rule them with a rod of iron in utter darkness where is weeping and gnashing of teeth for evermore For as much as he hath trod the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God he hath purchased to himself a greater power than he had before even a power that after he hath killed this natural life to kill both body and soul of his enemies in hell fire that is with a second and eternal death and so he will rule them with a rod of iron indeed I would not have the Reader to stumble because it is said in Scripture in divers places and in this verse also that he treadeth the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God as if there were a Father above Christ as men have vainly imagined and have not stuck to say that Christ-trod the wine-press of his Fathers wrath But I would have the Reader to know that there is no such saying in all the Bible as that he trode the wine-press of his Fathers wrath but he treadeth the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God for he is the Almighty God himself though in a two-fold condition as I have shewed before in this Treatise Which methinks might satisfie the minde of any sober moderate man but if it doth not satisfie the reason of man I cannot help it the thing is truth in it self and it was a truth to the Prophets and Apostles and to John the Evangelist and it is a truth to me and will be a truth to all true Believers to the worlds end CHAP. LXXVI VErse the sixteenth And he hath on his Vesture and on his Thigh a Name written King of kings and Lord of lords This vesture is the body of his flesh as I said before and on his thigh signifies that part of his vesture that is most fittest to write his name upon the thigh being the most fleshy part of a man and so most fittest to write upon That is it was the most fittest part of all the body to thrust the spear into so that there was written on his vesture and on his thigh King of kings and Lord of lords That is he was pierced with the devils spear in the body and in his thigh and by the blood that came out of his own vesture there was this name written upon his own body King of kings and Lord of lords That is that body was the body of God and that blood was the blood of God so that he being the King of Heaven he must needs be King of kings and Lord of lords for who is King of kings but
God himself onely So that as he was the Creator of all things he had this Name written on him as he was the Creator Jehovah God Almighty I am that I am this was the Name of God as he was the Creator and this name was written on his Spiritual body which was his vesture for his God-head Spirit to live in but now God is become flesh and hath cloathed the Godhead Life with a garment of flesh as a vesture and shed his most precious blood he being in the condition of a Son or a Servant he made himself capable of the pains of death and so died unto Sin that is to satisfie sin for nothing could satisfie sin but the blood of God And by his dying unto it he destroyed sin in that death could not keep him under it For if death could have kept that body of Christ in the grave so that it might not have risen again then sin and death would have lived for ever and ever and this world would have had no end So that by this death of God he hath conquered sin death and hell for the Seed of Adam that they shall have no power over them not as to keep them under eternal torments But on the contrary he hath by his death overcome sin death and hell so as to make them serve for the eternal torment of the seed of the serpent who have acted sin So that as he hath gone thorow the condition of a Redeemer and overcome sin death and hell upon those two considerations aforesaid By the body of his flesh he hath purchased to himself as he is the Redeemer a name written on that body of flesh which is called his vesture King of kings and Lords of lords But here is one thing more to be minded that this death of Christ was that which treadeth the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God For God was wrath with sin and nothing could punish sin but an eternal death so that God having no way to destroy sin and to be even with the serpent that brought sin and death into the world not onely to himself and his own seed but also to Adam and his seed So that God being willing to avenge himself of the serpent and his seed and to restore Adam and his Seed again he took upon him the Seed of Abraham which is the nature of Adam and not the nature of Angels of whose nature the serpent was of And so clothed the eternal spirit with a body of flesh and so offered up the eternal spirit unto death that he might destroy him that had the power of death which is the devil which devil is no other but the spirit of reason in man So that as death was in the devils hands before Christs death yet now by his death he hath gained the power of death himself â—nto his own hands So that now he will deliver his own seed from it and will inflict the same death eternal upon the devil and his seed as he would have done upon God and his seed So that the wrath of Almighty God it was against sin and death which the serpent brought into this world upon all the seed of Adam and the body of God by the assistance of the eternal spirit must tread the wine-press of it That is the eternal spirit was the life of the blood that was in that blessed body so that he poured out his soul unto death and was offered up throw the eternal spirit and this was the treading the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God he being the Almighty God himself and by this work of Redemption he hath a Name written upon that body of flesh he suffered death in King of kings and Lord of lords I confess these things are deep mysteries hard for me to explain in words and more hard to be understood by those who know not what revelation doth mean For things of this nature cannot be explained with that ease as other matters may which is more easie to understand but the Seed of Faith may see what is meant by the wine-press of Gods wrath and who it was that treadeth it in that his soul was made an offering forsin and so hath a Name by his sufferings King of kings and Lord of lords as aforesaid CHAP. LXXVII IN this sixteenth verse John hath concluded the marriage of the Lamb with the joy and glory the Saints shall have in heaven over the destruction of Babylon that is over the destruction of all wicked persecuting men from the beginning of the world to the latter end thereof and by what means these things hath been accomplished Even by that sharp Sword that goeth out of Christs mouth in giving his Angels command to pour out the vials of his wrath upon the earth and by his own garment dipt in blood hath he accomplished glory and eternal happiness to the Saints and shame and endless misery to the reprobate So that in the latter part of this chapter the Spirit doth call to rememberance the great destruction of that great City Babylon and doth incite the Saints in heaven to increase their joy in heaven by feeding upon the destruction of that great whore who caused all the nations of the earth to drink the wine of her fornication as you may see in the seventeenth verse Verse the seventeenth And I saw an Angel standing in the Sun and he cryed with a loud voice saying to all the fowls that she in the midest of heaven Come and gather your selves together unto the Supper of the great God These fowls that fly in the midst of heaven are the Saints they are called by the Spirit the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven and these fowls are invited to Supper with the great God Hâ—â—â— the Reader may see that Christ is the great God for they sup with him they were married unto that is the Lamb they were married unto and he the fowls of heaven must sup with Also this is he that is King of kings and Lord of lords even the great God and that which the great God and the fowls of heaven must have to supper it is set down in the 18 verse Verse the eighteenth That ye may ear the flesh of Kings and the flesh of Captains and the flesh of men and the flesh of horses and of them that fit on them and the flesh of all men both free and bond both small and great This verse doth imply all both great and small that fought under the banner of the beast and the false prophet which false prophet signifies the spiritual Power of the whore as aforesaid and the beast signifies the Civil Power or Head-magistrate who committed fornication with the woman and so joyned together to fight against God and his Saints And these Kings Captains and mighty men and small and great they were all authorized by these two Powers aforesaid to fight against God and his Saints and so they did persecute and kill
many of them yea they killed Christ himself So that now as these men did eat the flesh of the Saints and drink their blood in that they were pleased in their mindes that they had shed the blood of Saints and the blood of Prophets and Apostles for that is called by the Spirit eating and drinking So likewise now the great God hath by the sword that goeth out of his mouth destroyed with a final and eternal destruction those Kings Captains and great Men aforesaid Now the great God and all his Army of Saints who are the fowls of heaven shall sup with the flesh of these men aforesaid That is they shall eat their flesh not with their teeth but their spirits shall feed upon their eternal damnation with joy delight so that their souls shall be satisfied or filled with their flesh For the fowls of heaven shall feed upon their eternal damnation in their mindes even as men do upon the tendrest flesh that is with their teeth and their spirits will be as well satisfied with their destruction as mens hungry stomachs are with sweet flesh So that there is a spiritual eating of the flesh of Kings and Captains and the flesh of mighty men in their destruction as there is a spiritual eating of the flesh of Christ and drinking his blood to their eternal joy and happiness And this kinde of Supper are the Saints invited unto that they may sup with the great God for they shall have the same flesh to eat as he hath as he is satisfied in eating their flesh so shall they CHAP. LXXVIII VErse 19. And I saw the Beast and the Kings of the earth and their Armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his Army This nineteenth verse signifies the same things as the eighteenth verse doth onely John saw the Beast and those Kings muster up their Army together to fight with him upon the horse and against his Army But he that sate upon the horse was Christ and his Army that followed him were the Saints and his horse was a white horse and all his Army sate upon white horses also as I shewed before But he that sate upon the horse was too hard for the Beast and the Kings of the earth so that the Beast was taken as in verse 20. And the Beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the Beast and them that worshipped his image These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone This Beast and false prophet signifie the Civil Power and the Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Power for the beast signifies the temporal Power and the false prophet signifies the Spiritual Power For these two always committed fornication together and in all Ages they joyned together to persecute the Prophets Apostles Saints and Christ himself and so they will do to the end of time And John seeing by the eye of Faith and Revelation the end of the world he saw also the Beast and the false prophet taken That is he saw the whole temporal Power of this world and the whole spiritual Power of this world who joyned together in false worship and in persecuting the Saints John saw them both taken they were both cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone So that this spirit of the Beast shall remain in its seed to the end of the world and the spirit of the false prophet shall remain in its seed to the end of the world so that they may both be cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone with all those that received the mark of the Beast and that did worship his image Verse 21. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse which sword proceeded out of his mouth and all the fowls were filled with their flesh The remnant that were slain signifies all those that were of the Beasts and false prophets minde yet did not gather themselves together to the Beasts Army but they were as it were a remnant left behinde as a Reserve as it is a custom for Generals of Armies to leave a remnant behinde as a Reserve but if the Generals Army be beaten and he taken the remnant will quickly be destroyed by him that overcometh So it is with Christ when he hath taken the Beast and false prophet and cast them alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone and when he had spoiled the Kings of the earth and the Captains and the mighty men of war and all the common soldiers who had received the mark of the Beast in the fore-head or in the right hand it was an easie matter for him that sat upon upon the horse to slay the remnant with the sword that goeth out of his mouth In fine the slaying of the remnant with the sword it was to cast the remnant and the Kings and Captains and mighty men and all both great and small into a lake of fire burning with brimstone with the Beast and the false prophet So that all the Saints which are called by the Spirit the fowls of heaven they were all filled with their flesh so that the Saints shall nâ—ver hunger or thirst more but shal be fully satisfied in their damnation who alwayes made the Saints to hunger and thirst after peace and quietness And to reign with God their King and Redeemer in that eternal felicâ—ty joy and glory where is all satisfaction that can be had where there will be no hunger nor thirst but a continual increase of new joys for evermore So much for the interpretation of this Nineteenth Chapter CHAP. LXXIX WHen I had gone thorow this Book of the Revelation of St. John I found many things in it exceeding mysterious even as a sealed Book as it were impossible for any one to interprete yet through the assistance of the revelation of the Spirit of Faith I having the knowledge of those two Foundations the Scritures standeth upon before to wit the knowledge of the true God and the right devil so that from these two Foundations all the chief and great mysteries and hard sayings in that Book hath bin opened unto me and I have given the interpretation of all the chief matters of concernment in that Book first and last yet but very short considering the variety of mystical sayings in that Book of Johns Revelation But when I had seriously considered and understood the height and depth of these heavenly sayings of John concerning the true God the Alpha and Omega the first and the last that was dead and a alive and behold he liveth forevermore With many other heavenly mysteries which was in my heart which I understood but I had not words in my self to set it forth and to declare it to others that they might understand these mysteries also yet nevertheless I thought it was better to
sense upon the words of this Prophecy even what their imaginations doth dictate unto them they being uncertain in themselves that what they say to be true So that who ever doth take upon him to be a Minister of the Gospel to interprete the Scriptures without a Commission from God or that knowledge aforesaid I say such men as those may be said to add unto the words of the Prophecy of this Book of the Revelation and not only so but to the whole Book of the Scriptures For all men that do undertake to be Ministers and Preachers of Christ without a Commission from him they not being sent by him these men onely are those that do add unto the Prophecy of this Book that is they add their own vain thoughts and conceivings of their own imaginations unto the truths of God So that in stead of the true meaning of the Scriptures the people have nothing else but the Preachers thoughts and conceivings of the Scriptures and so are altogether unsatisfied in their spirits and these are those men that do add unto the Prophecy of this Book of the Revelation and to the Book of the Scriptures So in like manner will God add unto him or them the plagues that are written in this Book Now what these plagues are they are spoken of in this Book The plagues that shall be added unto them are spiritual that is to say spiritual darkness upon the minde here and the fear of the second death so that the soul of man shall possess the second death which shall burn as a lake of fire and brimstone in utter darkness where is weeping and gnashing of teeth to eternity These are those spiritual plagues that God will add to all those men that go to be Preachers of his Gospel and were not sent by him for they onely do add unto the Prophecy of this Book So that the Reader may see what a dangerous thing it is for a man to take upon him to prophesie preach or teach as a Messenger of Christ without a Commission from him For who ever doth so he doth add his own vain thoughts and imaginations in the Scriptures of those Heavenly Secrets Mysteries and Visions declared by holy men who were inspired by the holy Ghost or the revelation of Faith to write those things aforesaid yet men by their own imaginations by the gift of Learning and by the natural wisdom of Reason will undertake to interprete Scriptures and to be Preachers to others without a Commission from God and without any true knowledge of God And so these men do come to add other Interpretations of their own conceivings unto the Scriptures which is contrary to the mind of that Spirit that writ them and so they become capable to receive of those plagues that are written in this Book as aforesaid CHAP. LXXXII ALso I would have the Reader to know that the same men that do add their conceivings unto this book the same sort of men do take away from the words of this Book of this Prophecy They may be said to take away from it in that they will not suffer any true Interpreter to expound the meaning of the words of the Prophecy of that Book of the Revelation or any other Scriptures onely this some mens mindes are acted out one way and some another some men so they may be suffered to speak their own phantasies upon the Scriptures so as to please themselves and their Hearers that is they care not how much they add to this Book not minding to take any thing from it It is not their principles to take any thing from the Scriptures but their delight is altogether to add their vain conceptions conceiving the meaning thus and thus But he that taketh away from this Book is such a one that will not suffer the true Interpretation of the Scriptures nor of this Book of the Revelation because the true Interpretation of the Scriptures overthroweth all the Principles of Religion in the world So that if truth should be suffered to have freedom in the world then all the old Principles of Religion that have been received in the world so many hundred years by the Pope and others they would quite fall to the ground So that there is a necessity that there should be a number of men to add unto this Book and a number of men to take away from it For true revelation always had some to add to it and some to take from it so that he that taketh from it God will take his part out of the Book of Life and out of the holy City and from the things which are written in this Book The meaning is this that as they would not suffer no true Interpretation of the Scriptures to abide in the world but would take it quite away both the Interpretation and the Interpreter also So in like manner God will take his part out of the Book of Life and out of the holy City so that he shall have no part in that glory and everlasting life which is written of in this Book of the Revelation That is he thought by taking away from the words of this book that is by his persecuting the true Interpretation of it that he did God good service even as he did that added to it for he that adds unto it as aforesaid doth think he doth God good service So in like manner he that taketh from it as aforesaid that persecutes true Revelation and true Interpretation he doth think he doth God good service in so doing and so he thinks to have a part in the Book of Life and to be one of the members of the holy City and to have a right to that glory and happiness that is written in this Book when as alas alas he is one of them that hath taken away from the Prophecy of this Book by persecuting the true Interpretation of it so that God hath taken away that part he thought he had in the Book of Life and that confidence he had in being a member of the holy City and of the glory hereafter I say all these things will God take away from those men that doth take away from the words of the Prophecy of this book of the Scriptures and more especially this book of the Revelation of Saint John This is the true meaning of the Spirit in adding and taking away from this Book of Johns Revelation Oh where is there a man hardly to be found but he is guilty of one of these two either to add or to take away from this mysterious book of the Revelation of John So that the Reader may see what the Spirit doth mean by adding and taking away and who they are that doth this for this is to be considered that no man can interpret the Scriptures truly but he that is chosen and sent of God as Moses and Aaron Peter and Paul and us the Witnesses of the Spirit Also none can interpret the Scriptures truly but those that have the same Spirit as those had that spake the Scriptures that spirit can trace the steps of God Almighty in those three paths which God hath walked in Those three parths are Gods three Commissions or three Records on earth to wit the Water Blood and Spirit so that no Commissionated man of God can be said either to add to or diminish from the word of God for he is chosen of God to reveal the mysteries of the kingdom unto his chosen ones which mysteries are hidden in that letter So that the messengers of God they shall be punished of God if they will not go forth to declare the mysteries of his kingdom but on the contrary if men go are not sent of God they are punished of God for going before they were sent and in going before they are sent they do add and take away from the Scriptures and from this book of the Revelation for they being not chosen nor sent of God they do not know the true meaning of the Scriptures so they not knowing the truth of them they add their own conceits and senses upon them and diminish and take away the true Interpreter by persecution and will not suffer it to abide in the world lâ—st their own principles should fall by it and this is the true meaning of the Spirit and what is meant by adding and taking away from the words of the prophecy of this book of the Revelation of St. John I thought it something necessary to open these two verses because it hath been a thing common in most peoples mouths when they have heard the interpretation of Scriptures with many deep Secrets opened and many heavenly Mysteries revealed which never was revealed before or that hath not been commonly known amongst Religious people they have seemed hard sayings So that men have cryed out O Blasphemy or else say I have added to the word of God or if the interpretation doth differ from the common received opinion or interpretation Then they will say I take away from the word of God yet they know not what it is to add or to take away from it therefore I have opened these two verses in the last chapter and the last verses but one of the Revelation of St. John that the Seed of Faith may know what it is and who they are that add and diminish the words of the prophecy of this book aforesaid and who it is that doth not add nor diminish but doth give the true interpretation of all the deep secrets and hidden mysteries of the whole book of the Revelation And now last of all what it is to add and take away with the joy and glory of them that doth not add nor diminish thereunto with the plagues shame and misery of all those that doth add thereunto or diminish there from So much for the Interpretation of all the chief Head and hard sayings in the whole book of the Revelation of St. John and the conclusion of this Epistle Lodowick Muggleton FINIS