come for the better managing the Affairs of Christs Kingdome 7. And the first Beast was like a Lion which was the Standard of Iuda on the East side of the Camp The second Beast like a Calf which was the Standard of Ephraim on the West side of the Camp The third Beast had the face of a man which was the Standard of Reuben on the South side And the fourth Beast was like a flying Eagele which was the Standard of Dan on the North. And note that these four Beasts were thus situated in the Vision of Ezechiel And that this only is a Type of that Church that shall be cast thus into four parts the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ signified in both Visions 8. And the four Beasts had each of them six wings about him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is but hard sense if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it must signifie in a circle about him And therefore Grotius judiciously joyns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 together And so the Text runs thus Had each of them six wings And they were full of eyes without and within And they rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Now that the four Beasts are said each of them to have six wings as the Beasts in Ezechiel's Vision also have undoubtedly they have them for that use the Seraphims are said to make of them in the Prophet Esay With twain to cover their faces with twain to cover their feet and with twain to fly Which implies a Reverence of the Divine Majesty an activity and readiness in his Service and a carefulness over our Affections that we walk in clean paths And whereas they are presently said to be full of eyes without and within it implies that with one eye regarding outward objects and the other their own nature and so comparing them together they will ever behave themselves decorously and becomingly with due reverence to that which is above them in dignity and excellency and at a due distance from those things that are unworthy of them and beneath them And therefore if any such thing be offered them from without as is repugnant to the innate Light and immutable Principles of an Intellectual Creature their eyes within will easily discern the Proposer to be either a Fool or an Impostor This is the state even of the whole People of God in those dayes But as for their Reverence and devotional sense of their Maker and Redeemer it is in a manner perpetual they rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come who fills all things and times with his Presence and Providence And as the People are so are their Priest-like Princes and Rulers For it follows immediately in the next Verses 9. And when those Beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the Throne who liveth for ever and ever 12. The four and twenty Elders also Prince and People being of one heart and mind fall down before him that sat on the Throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever and tast their Crowns before the Throne in humble acknowledgment from whom and for whom they Reign even for the manifesting of the Glory and Honour and Power of God in the Kingdom of his Saints And therefore they are introduced Saying 11. Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast Created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were Created NOTES CHAPTER IV. Vers. 5. All the Ministring Angels or all the Living c. For Seven we substitute All in this place the Septenary Number with the Cabbalists signifying Universality whence of the Pythagoreans it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the full comprehension of the numbers of sundry things in this Book of the Apocalypse is terminated in Seven Vers. 6. In the midst of the Throne and round about the Throne c. The Beasts seem to have been placed to S t John 's sight so as that one appeared just in the midst before the Throne and the spectacle being exhibited to him shelvingly another appeared beyond the Throne in the same line and two other the one on this side and the other on that side in a line cutting that other in right Angles so that they at due distances encompassed the Throne in a Circle exteriour to the twenty four Elders And in that they were not only seen as it were in the middle of the Throne in the sense abovesaid but on each side also and so encompassed the Throne placed in the common sections or conterminations of the four quadrants of the Circle drawn about it they are said to be not only in the midst of the Throne but about the Throne in a Circle at equal distances Or else in the midst that is within the Circle of the Throne which is thus conceived to be drawn about it but so near that the Beasts supposed like those in Ezechiel will have the same faces appear within the verges of the Throne that appeared without but in opposite places But then the Elders must be placed in a Circle without the Beasts which will make these Priestly Kings less answer to the Levites But thereby we are the better assured that they are Kings and not Priests It 's possible both these wayes may be glanced at in the Vision and that it may reflect both on the Camp of Israel and Vision of Ezechiel at once CHAPTER V. 1. ANd I saw in the right hand of him that sate on the Throne that is in the hand of God a Book written within and on the backside viz. A Book that had a more outward sense in the meer Letter which consists of Representations Symbolical or Hieroglyphical of Iconismes or Images of things future and a more inward sense which is the sense of the future things themselves thus represented in Symbols or Images This Book of Prophecies was in the hand of God the Father in his power to impart it to whom he pleased as it is intimated in the beginning of the Apocalypse which is said to be the Revelation of Jesus Christ but that God gave it unto him sealed with seven seals And in that this Book is said to be sealed with seven seals it shews what a great Arcanum or Secret it was it being a Representation of a Scene of Affairs reaching from the beginning of the Church to the end of the world 2. And I saw a strong Angel proclaiming with a loud voice Who is worthy to open the Book and to loose the Seats thereof And that the inestimable worth of this Book of Prophecies which sottish and prophane Spirits so much slight and vilifie and crafty Politicians so much harden themselves against may appear here is proclamation made by a strong Angel with a loud voice Who is worthy to open c. that is Who is worthy to have so vast
dishonour that Noble Name and Calling by proving themselves of the Synagogue of Satan and betrayers of the Kingdom of their Lord that bought them fast slaves to the flesh and impatient of all persecution worse than Peter whom notwithstanding when he would have discouraged me from my sufferings on the Cross I sharply rebuked with a Get thee behind me Satan for thou savourest not the things of God 10. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer nor imitate that base cowardise of that Synagogue of Satan for they are no Church of mine but a cage of perfidious hypocrites Behold the Devil shall cast some of you into prison that ye may be tryed and ye shall have tribulation ten dayes The Devil and his Ministers under Paganism will cast some of you into prison for the tryal of your faith and constancy and you shall have the tribulation of ten dayes even of those ten bloody persecutions under the Pagan Emperours Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Be in no wise discouraged but continue faithful unto death and I will give you a Crown of Life even the Imperial Crown Constantine turning Christian which will be a Crown of Life and security to you my Church and save you from death and persecution This shall be the external effect and fruit of your sufferings or the Political reward thereof 11. He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the Churches He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death He that stands out this tryal and valiantly suffers martyrdom shall not be hurt of the second death but have his part in the first resurrection accordingly as it is written Apoc. 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power This is the promised priviledge of those Martyrs that suffered persecution in this Smyrnean succession of the Church under the Ten hot Persecutions And as that other promise that preceded the Parabolical Epiphonema was external and political So this reward that follows the said Epiphonema is invisible and belonging to the other State which distinction is to be observed in the rest of the Epistles and that the promise that follows the Epiphonema He that hath ears let him hear c. belongs to what is spiritual and invisible 12. And to the Angel of the Church in Pergamus write viz. to the Bishops and Pastors c. of the Pergamenian succession of the Church which reaches from the end of the Smyrnean succession namely from the year three hundred twenty four to the year one thousand two hundred forty two when the Popes Legate Ameline with Trancavel the Bastard Son of Count Beziers ended the War against the Albigenses * and which has its condition signified by its name write thus These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges Who salutes them wearing the Title of this part of his Representation by a kind of Antithesis this Sword that comes out of his mouth being the Sword of the Spirit in opposition to the Sword and Arm of Flesh that persecuted the True Church in this succession 13. I know thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satans seat is and thou holdest fast my Name and hast not denyed my Faith I observe how well thou carryest thy self though thou dwellest under the Dominion and Jurisdiction of the first-born of Lucifer that man of Sin and Son of Pride a right Pergamenian lofty and haughty under whose Jurisdiction notwithstanding thou art found to dwell and yet holdest fast to my Authority and the pure Christian Profession nor hast apostatised from the Ancient Faith and Purity of Worship untainted with Superstition and Idolatry Even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth No not in those dayes when Antipas those faithfull and couragious Opposers of Holy Father the Pope for so the word plainly signifies the Waldenses and Albigenses were cruelly slain with the Sword within the Jurisdiction of that first-born of Lucifer 14. But I have a few things against thée because thou hast there them that hold the Doctrine of Balaam who taught Balac to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed to Idols and to commit fornication You have those that comply with the Pseudo-prophet Balaam the lofty Lord of the People for so Balaam signifies who has taught Balac the Secular Power now but a shadow or cypher it being in this Interval evacuate in a manner as the name imports by the over-topping of the Power Ecclesiastical to force the Israelites that is the true and genuine Christians of which the Israelites were a type to come to Mass and by partaking thereof to partake of Idolatry they making by their Idolatrous usages there the Lords Supper which is a Feast upon a Sacrifice like to the feeding upon Idolothyta upon things sacrificed unto Idols 15. So hast thou also them that hold the Doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing I hate And besides these complyers with the Mass though they be in their own judgements against it there are amongst you also that indulge too much to the liberty of the flesh and imitate the Sect of the Nicolaitans a thing which my soul abhors 16. Repent or else I will come unto thée quickly amend these faults or else I will come unto you quickly by a more strict vigilaney of the Lords of the Inquisition whose Rule was most notorious in the succeeding Interval of the Church and then the more frequent terrour of being burnt at the stake will more effectually extinguish the flames of your wantonness and lust Be ye therefore pure and holy as I also am pure and holy And will fight against them with the sword of my mouth And as for those that opress my faithfull ones I will fight against them with the sword of my mouth and cut off whole Nations by vertue thereof namely of the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God convincingly preached from the Idolatrous Roman Church This is a reward political and visible to be fulfilled in the next Interval at the close thereof 17. He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the Churches To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna He that stands out in purity of heart and a good conscience he instead of that sweet consecrated wafer that pretended visible Manna shall eat of the true hidden spiritual Manna spoken of Iohn 6. My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed For the words I there speak they are spirit and they are life And if he dye he shall eat Angels food and pass unto their Communion and Society And will give him a white stone and in the stone a new Name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it that is though he be accused and
against all gainsayers and hast never behaved thy self otherwise than becomes a sound and faithfull Christian and such as is resolved never to dishonour that Profession or Name 9. Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Iews and are not but do lye Behold I will make them that are the Synagogue of the Devil for their pride falsities and murderous cruelties and yet call themselves Iews that is Christians nay Holy Church the Type as above being used for the Antitype but are so far from being so that really they are but Pseudochristians or rather the Synagogue of Antichrist who under pretence of professing Christ do most wickedly oppose him by nulling his Laws and barbarously murthering his true and faithfull Subjects for not committing Idolatry and other abominations they would force upon them whereby it is manifest though they call themselves Holy Church and Christians they are counterfeits and lyars Behold I will make them to come and worship before thy féet and to know that I have loved thée Behold I will make them to come instead of kissing the Popes Slipper to worship before thy feet to be subjected unto thee and to do thee homage And to acknowledge how much I have loved thee and set thee above all the other Princes of the Earth 10. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience I also will kéep thée from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the Earth Because thou hast showen all along such invincible meekness and patience in maintaining my cause and undaunted faithfulness in that great confusion commotion and temptation under the last Vial which shall come upon all the world to try the Inhabitants of the Earth I will keep thee and protect thee and thou shalt be safe and victorious in all 11. Behold I come quickly Even in this last Vial into which thou art already entred Hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy Crown Thou art a Church after my own hearts desire O Philadelphia nor do I accuse thee of any thing thou carriest thy self with that integrity and sincerity only hold fast to that perfection thou hast attained that thou mayst not be deprived of the Crown I intend for thee For in thee shall be accomplished all the glorious Promises concerning my Kingdome upon Earth 12. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple of my God and he shall go no more out To you that overcome to you it shall be given to be Pillars in the Temple of my God you shall be an holy fixt and stable People the true holy Catholick Church that shall never fail but shall endure till I come in the clouds to judgement at the last day All other forms and denominations shall perish but this shall obtain the Dominion unto the end And I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the City of my God which is New Ierusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from my God and I will write upon him my new Name And on these lasting Pillars shall the Name of my God be written and the new Nature in you shall be visible and legible as it were to all how heavenly it is and Divine and how you are really that Church represented by the City in Ezechiel which is called Iehovah Shammah God is there For your conversation will be such that every man will be ready to say God is amongst you of a truth and that you are really as well as called the New Ierusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from my God And lastly I will write upon you my New Name not the Morning Star but the Bright Morning Star or that newly purchased Title in the Battle where the Beast and False Prophet are taken and cast into a lake burning with brimstone and the rest slain with the sword of him that sate on the White Horse which sword cometh out of his mouth viz. the Title of King of Kings and Lord of Lords For it is then that you shall be the greatest Empire upon Earth 13. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches 14. And unto the Angel of the Church in Laodicea write Unto the Bishops and Pastors especially and the charge under them in the Laodicean succession which reaches from the fourth Thunder till Christ visibly appear in the clouds of Heaven * and whose name denotes the nature thereof write thus These things saith the Amen the faithfull and true witness in whom all the Promises are Yea and Amen Whose faithfulness is seen in bringing to pass the Philadelphian Estate that marvellous purity and external prosperity of that succession of the Church and therefore we are to believe his Promises of the Eternal Felicity he reminds us of in this A Blessed Immortality after this Life and his visible coming to judge the quick and the dead and his putting an end to this Terrestrial Scene though in this declining Age of the Church in the Laodicean succession some may be too slow to believe it And therefore these Titles of assuredness and veracity are here used And he is called a Faithful Witness also because he so impartially witnesses of the State of the Laodiceans and does not flatter them The beginning of the Creation of God It may be well understood of the New Creation or Constitution of things under the Gospel which he having carried on all along hitherto according to Prophecy and Prediction he is the more certainly and readily to be believed in this last Catastrophe of things Or taking the beginning of the Creation of God with an higher reference to that Title of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which respects his Divinity or the Eternal Logos without whom nothing was made or created Then the importance of of it is this That as sure as he made this Earth this habitable round world so we may be as sure that he both can by the same power and also will destroy it again in this Laodicean succession by a final Conflagration taking vengeance of the wicked and resetling all true Believers in an Eternal State of Glory 15. I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot But that you are careless formal luke-warm Christians Thou retainest indeed still the external form of the Philadelphian Church as to Doctrine and Worship but thou art destitute of that Spirit of Life in the New Birth which was the proper character of thy deceased Sister Philadelphia I would thou wert cold or hot For though it be not better in it self to be quite cold yet it were for thee that thou mightest the more easily be convinced of thine own wants and by repentance and mortification enter into the state of Regeneration and be made partaker of my Spirit 16. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spew thée out of my mouth I will
a foresight of things communicated to him from God as to endite such a Book of Prophecies as this 3. And no man in Heaven nor in Earth neither under the Earth was able to open the Book neither to look thereon And this proclamation being made there was none found neither of the Angels in Heaven or Men upon Earth or Infernal Spirits under the Earth who are vulgarly accounted so wise and cunning and in whom Witches and Wizards so confide for the knowledge of things to come that were able to open the Book or look thereon i. e. That had so reaching a foresight as to pierce through such a large series of future things as is contained in this Book which intimates that nothing but the holy Power of God could be the Author thereof 4. And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the Book neither to look thereon That is to say I was sorely grieved that there was none found meet or worthy to have imparted to him so stupendious a faculty of foretelling things to come in such a manner as they are in this Book So useful a gift of Prophecy Where Iohn personates every good Christian that is solicitous for the affairs of the Church and thoughtfull what will become of her 5. And one of the Elders saith to me wéep not Cease to be so grieved and troubled in spirit Behold the Lyon of the Tribe of Iuda the root of David hath prevailed to open the Book and to loose the seven Seals thereof Christ hath by his courageously fulfilling the will of his Father obtained this priviledge That he may open the Book and loose the Seals thereof that is to have so wonderfull a comprehension of future things and piercing foresight by the gift of his Father as to foresee all that is contained in this Book and to communicate it to his Church 6. And I beheld and lo in the midst of the Throne and of the four Beasts and in the midst of the Elders That is betwixt God the Father and the Church stood a Lamb as it had been slain and with bleeding wounds upon him the blessed Jesus Mediator betwixt God and Man as he is here placed betwixt the Throne and the four Beasts Having seven horns which are the Emblems of Power as being he to whom All Power is given in Heaven and in Earth And seven Eyes All manner of Wisdom and Counsel and all the Angels of God at his beck to execute his Counsel and his Will which is implied in what follows which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth unto all the Earth 7. And he came and took the Book out of the right hand of him that sate upon the Throne That is it was given to him of his Father to have so vast a foresight of things to come from the beginning of the Church even to the end of the World and Power to effect what was foreknown according to the beginning of this Book of the Apocalypse The Revelation of Iesus Christ which God gave unto him c. which shews that the whole Book of the Apocalypse the Epistles to the seven Churches as well as the Visions that follow is a Prophetical Revelation of things to come 8. The consideration of which wonderful Gift and Power signified by this receiving of the Book being made so exceeding manifest in the times of the Spiritual Reign of Christ in the New Ierusalem which Times this pompous Introduction to the Prophecy of the sealed Book does typifie For the four and twenty Elders belong to that state of the Church will raise a wonderful strain of Faith and Devotion in them and admiration of the stupendious Providence of Christ over his Church as it is signified by what follows And when he had taken the Book the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb having every one of them Harps and golden Uials full of Odours which are the praises and prayers of the Saints 9. And they sing a new Song saying And then will they sing a new Song namely they will then praise their Creator and Redeemer for that new constitution of things in the Reign of the Spirit as it is written Chap. 21. And he that sate upon the Throne said Behold I make all things new And he said straightway to Iohn It is done I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end I will give him that is a thirst of the fountain of life freely that is I will communicate unto him my Spirit here and make him partaker of Eternal Life hereafter in my heavenly Kingdom and they will say as follows Thou O Christ wert worthy to take the Book and open the seals thereof that is to have communicated unto thee so vast a comprehension of the futurity of things as is contained in this Book of Prophecies and Power to carry on things as they are predicted For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation This is but a just reward of thy endearing sufferings upon the Cross for the salvation of Mankind 10. And hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reign upon Earth In this blessed Millennium which thou hast long ago shown to thy Church in that admirable Book of Prophecies which by the Ministry of an Angel thou communicatest to thy beloved Disciple Iohn 11. And to show further how holy heavenly and Angelical those Times will be and what an Union and Agreement betwixt the Church of Christ and the Angelical Hosts it is further added And I beheld and I heard the voice of many Angels round about the Throne and the Beasts and the Elders which Beasts and Elders signifie the Church of Christ consisting of men upon the Earth And the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands 12. These innumerable companies of Angels joyn themselves to the Quire of the Church saying with a loud voice Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing as by whom the State of the Church is brought to such a blessed condition upon Earth according to the predictions of this Book of Prophecies Let all therefore be ascribed to him 13. Nay the completion of this Book of Prophecies in those Times will be such an Universal conviction of the Divinity and Sonship of Christ that he was really and in truth the foretold Messias the Beginner and Finisher of the Works of God to his Church that that will come to pass that follows And every Creature which is in Heaven and on the Earth and under the Earth and such as are in the Sea and all that are in them heard I saying Blessing Honour Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever All intelligent Beings and Spirits whether belonging
are equal to the forty two months wherein they are said to have trod it down So that the residue of this Vision runs up into the Sardian succession of the Church into the time of the seven Vials And already I think it is manifest in this Opened-Book-Prophecy that this Lion of the Tribe of Iudah did not roar in vain he having rescued so considerable a prey out of the jaws of Antichrist in the last notable Reformation And behold the third Wo cometh quickly which is the pouring forth of the Vials The first whereof is that intoxicating cup of envy rage and exulceration of spirit against the risen Witnesses by which their enemies being dementated it would make them impotently attempt such things as would render them execrable odious or despicable to all the world Which wrath of theirs and malice so naturally flowing from the prosperity of the Witnesses it is no wonder it is said That the third Wo cometh quickly 15. And the seventh Angel sounded and there were great voices in Heaven namely where S t Iohn was wrapt up in Spirit Saying The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ that is several Kingdoms and Principalities as pledges of the rest are recovered already by Christ out of the hands of the Tyrannical Antichrist by the late blessed Reformation And he shall reign for ever and ever that is whatever chastisements may come upon the Church of Sardis for her neglects and imperfections this Kingdom of Christ which has begun shall for certain take place and he shall reign to the end of the world through the Sardian Philadelphian and Laodicean successions 16. And the four and twenty Elders which sate before God on their seats fell upon their faces and worshipped God These Princes in Heaven are said thus to do betokening what those Princes and Potentates on Earth that were our Noble Reformers would do or how devoutly they would be affected for so blessed a Reformation which God by his gracious Providence had brought to pass for they were in a manner slaves to the Pope before 17. Saying We give the thanks O Lord God Almighty which art and wast and art to come because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned that is given so glorious a specimen of thy power and that thou rulest in the Kingdoms of men and hast thus happily begun the reign of thy Christ for the subduing utterly at last the Kingdom of Antichrist The beginning of the seventh Trumpet is the beginning of the Sardian succession of the Church and of the seven Vials and the commencement of them all are with praises and acclamations for this first auspicious victory of Christ over the Papal Hierarchy or Antichrist For the word Sardis signifies a Song of Ioy and here is the thanksgiving of the Elders and at the beginning of the Vials there is sung the Song of Moses and of the Lamb. What follows here are some scatterings and obscure hints of the affairs under the seven Vials and plainly ends with the seventh 18. And the Nations were angry that is the Gentiles that had trodden down the outward Court and defiled it by a new kind of Idolatrous Gentilism the minds of these were exasperated and exulcerated with wrath and envy at this sudden resurrection of the Witnesses which is a short glance at the first Vial. And thy wrath is come and the time of the dead that is of those that this Tyrannical Roman Hierarchy had so often and in such multitudes so barbarously murthered for their witnessing to the Truth the time is now come that Christ is to judge and revenge their Cause which seems to allude to the third Vial where it is said Thou art righteous O Lord which art and wast and shall be because thou hast judged thus For they have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets and thou hast given them blood to drink for they are worthy which is an easie comment upon what follows That they should be judged and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy Servants the Prophets and to thy Saints and them that fear thy Name small and great The meanest that have died Martyrs and been murdered for the profession of the Truth that thou shouldest judge their Cause though they were despised by this Proud Imperious Iezebel And shouldest destroy them that destroy the Earth that is the men upon the Earth for of this Iezebel or Whore of Babylon it is said And in her was found the blood of Prophets and of Saints and of all that were slain upon the Earth into such an Akeldama has that lofty Prelate the Pope ever and anon turned Christendom by his restless ambition and tyranny 19. And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven Out of which the seven Angels having the seven last plagues are seen to come Chap. 15. And there was seen in his Temple the Ark of the Testament Which answers to the great voice out of the Temple of Heaven from the Throne Chap. 16.17 under the seventh Vial So that this time reaches to the very Sanctum sanctorum or Holy of holies betokening a most powerfull pure and Apostolick State of the Church as if we were come into the first Apostolick Times again in the beginning of the Church as the outward Court is an emblem of the latter Apostated Times thereof By which is notified the beginning of the Philadelphian succession which commences with the seventh Vial. To which what follows seems to allude And there were lightnings and voices and thunderings and an earthquake and great hail which is plainly a description of the seventh Vial. So that this whole Vision in this Chapter begins with the first Epocha of the Church and endeth with the seventh Vial or first Thunder Which is also the very space of the Sett of Visions comprized in the three following Chapters which are a more ample description of the same state of things in the same time and we shall note what parts answer each other NOTES Chapter XI Vers. 6. By a Prophetical Metalepsis or Zoopoeia c. Metalepsis is a Figure whereby an effect or event is translated or communicated to some Person or Thing because the Place and Time is coincident with them That there is such a Figure and that it is made use of in the Apocalypse I have proved in my Synopsis Prophetica lib. 1. cap. 4. sect 10. But a Zoopoeia of the second kind is when free Actions are attributed to free Agents of which notwithstanding they may be no more the cause than if they were inanimate Beings or not in Being at all This figure also I have proved to be made use of in the Apocalypse as well as in other Authors lib. 1. cap. 3. sect 10. See my Synopsis in the places cited For particular occasions answer in Analogy to particular acts of will c. And the Analogie is very exact the Figure being but once admitted which I have
these plagues belong to that City or Society that is spiritually called Aegypt namely to the Papal or Antichristian Hierarchy that has so long kept the Children of God in bondage and in which the Witnesses have been so often slain Earth therefore here is chiefly repeated to bear a correspondence in the outward Cortex with Sea Rivers and Air as if God would stir up all the Elements or Nature to fight against the Beast and the Antichristian Powers And there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the Beast and upon them which worshipped his Image that is the minds of the Pontifician party were extreamly enraged and exulcerated with fury and envy against the risen Witnesses as an Evil Spirit from the Lord troubled Saul when they beheld them Chap. 11. vers 12. ascending to Heaven that is called up to high places and dignities in Church and State and that the Papal Idolatrous Power and Tyranny was abolished This Cup of Bitterness Wrath Envy and intoxicating Zeal for so foul a Cause was the effusion of the first Vial upon them which did so work upon them and dementate them that they made themselves still more execrable and odious by their impotent and unsuccessful attempts against them that God had thus exalted above their reach In the mean time we see how naturally besides the letting loose Evil Spirits upon them the first Vial follows the rising of the Witnesses accordingly as it is glanced at Chap. 11. vers 18. immediately after their rising and those Triumphant Doxologies for the same those Songs of Joy from whence the Sardian Church has her Name which here commenceth And the Nations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Heathen were angry c. by which are understood the Antichristian party as by Iews the truly Christian chap. 2.9 in the stile of the Apocalypse 3. And the second Angel poured out his Uial upon the Sea that is upon some parts of the Sea And Sea in the Prophetick stile signifying the gathering together of the People into one Polity or Kingdom it must signifie some parts of this Kingdom or Polity which is here the Jurisdiction or Dominion of the Papacy Of some parts therefore of this Sea it is said And it became as the blood of a dead man and every living soul died in the Sea viz. in these parts of this Sea which were turned into blood there were no live fishes to be caught there any more and fishes dead in the Sea signifie disappointment of hope and that what we expect will not come to pass In such a state was the Papal Hierarchy after the settlement of the Reformation in so many Provinces Principalities and Kingdoms which deadness and hopelesness of his affairs there brought to pass by the good Providence of God was the pouring out the second Vial upon these parts of this Sea or Jurisdiction and turning them into blood and the quite spoiling any further fishing there 4. And the third Angel poured out his Uial upon the Rivers and Fountains of waters and they became blood As Sea signified above Politically so Rivers and Fountains of Waters or Springs must that are the Heads of Rivers and both come from the Sea and return thither again viz. the water of them A Sea therefore here being a Kingdom or Polity the Rivers must be Emissary Powers of the said Kingdom whether Armies or other Agents with those that Head them or Govern them who may be deemed the Spring-heads of them they taking their directions and motions from them and depending on them as Rivers do on their Springs And this plague of turning Rivers into blood being manifestly one of the plagues of Aegypt these Emissaries must be the Emissaries of that City or Polity which is spiritually called Aegypt which is the Papal Hierarchy And the turning these Rivers into blood is the putting to death such Emissaries for their treasonable attempts against Kings or Princes and the setled Religion and Government of the place 5. And I heard the Angel of the Waters say viz. the Prefect of the multitudes of people Thou art Righteous O Lord which art and wast and shall be that is thou art just O Jehovah thou great Judge and King because thou hast judged thus 6. For they have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets namely in the Pergamenial Interval in which thy faithful Martyr Antipas was slain with the sword besides many other bloody butcheries and massacres of the people of God And thou hast given them blood to drink for they are worthy as having shed so much innocent blood 7. And I heard another out of the Altar say that is out of that place of the Temple where the Altar stood and where so many Burnt-offerings were made Even so Lord God Almighty true and righteous are thy judgements For I can witness what a number of Innocent Souls were burnt with fire and fagot in the Thyatirian Interval of the Church because they would not submit to the gross Superstitions and Idolatries and incredible nay impossible figments of the Roman Hierarchy and so were made Burnt-offerings or Sacrifices to their intolerable Avarice Ambition and Tyrannical Cruelty 8. And the fourth Angel poured out his Uial upon the Sun Sun here may have either a Political sense or a Mystical Mystically understood it may be the Word of God which is a Lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths as the great Lamp of the Universe is naturally understood to be The Vial therefore poured upon the Sun are clear convictive explications of the Word of God the Prophetical parts thereof especially whereby manifestly are discovered the unrighteous Mysteries of the Kingdom of Antichrist that men may see in what a foul condition they are how apostatized from God and Christ and how plainly and reproachfully their abominable doings are characterized by the finger of God in Scripture and how lively their most direful and diabolical Image is there described Whence it is no wonder that it immediately is said And power was given unto him to scorch men with fire 9. And men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the Name of God which hath power over these plagues and they repented not to give him Glory They are so vext that they blaspheme the Name of God and rather vilifie the Scriptures and the Spirit that wrote them than repent them of their sins and give Glory to God by acknowledging the Truth as certainly the true sense of the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse where they are known and acknowledged tend exceeding much to the Glory of God and the illustration of the constancy of his Providence And this may go for the mystical sense of the effusion of the Vial upon the Sun But there may be also a Political one and then Sun is to be understood of the greatest Secular Power within the Papal Jurisdiction which therefore is the German Empire Wherefore if any German Emperour or any
as nakedness before God or they will be stript of it and made naked Whence it follows Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame that is who is so watchful over his ways and intent on the work of real Regeneration which will appear also in his outward Conversation that he becomes cloathed in such a garment as shall not be taken from him in this time when God will pluck off the covering from all Nations and the veil of Hypocrisie from off the People as Esay somewhere foretells Which is a plain intimation that this Battel is not Carnal but Spiritual 16. And he gathered them together into one place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon that is by the over-ruling Providence of God they were brought into this place which in the Hebrew tongue signifies the destruction of their Armies but there is nothing yet done toward their discomfiture for the seventh Vial is not yet poured out * And therefore by a Commutation of Iconismes the event of this Congress is set out in another form this huge Camp of all the Armies of both sides being turned into one mighty City which is called the Great City consisting of the Universality of Cities considered as one as it follows in the Prophecie 17. And the seventh Angel poured out his Uial into the Air namely over this great Company and there came a great voice out of the Temple of Heaven from the Throne saying It is done This is a firm Decree from him that sits on the Throne and a full assurance by his Spirit universally in the hearts of his Servants the Evangelical Party that their Ministry shall succeed And as to the utter overthrow of Antichrist and the enlargement of the Kingdom of Christ by the conversion of the Gentiles the mystery of God shall be consummate under this seventh Vial The thing is as sure as it were done already 18. And there were voices and thunders and lightenings and there was a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon Earth so mighty an earthquake and so great that is there was such a strange Commutation of Affairs in the world as was never known or recorded in any History of former Times Of such mighty efficacy was the preaching of the Gospel in the power of the Spirit by the speaking party of the Army of Christ against the Forces of the Infidels and Antichrist For this is the meaning of those Voices and Thunders and Lightenings that it was the promulgation by these Boanergers's of the Law of the Son of God which is like unto fire as is related in Esdras 19. And the great City was divided into three parts as there were three parts in the great Camp before The Antichristian party the Infidel or purely Heathen party and the pure Evangelical party But this Tripartition is named immediately after this great Earthquake as if it were the effect of it for the more handsom embellishing the outward Cortex of the Prophecy * And the Cities of the Nations fell that is the Heathenish or Infidel party were thunder-struck by these Boanerges's and converted to the Faith of the Gospel of Christ in the simplicity and purity thereof And great Babylon came in remembrance before God that is the Antichristian Hierarchy with her adherents the Whore of Babylon as she is called in the following Chapter To give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath viz. of the wrath of God that is to be arraigned and judged that condign punishment and vengeance may be taken of her 20. And every Island fled away and the Mountains were not found Their Temples and other consecrated places were taken from them and they were deprived of their Dignities or of the Assistances of the great Ones of the Earth 21. And there fell upon men a great hail out of Heaven every stone about the weight of a Talent namely upon Babylon or the Antichristian party So that all her goodly trees were spoiled and stript of their both leaves and fruit their boughs broke down and their stocks beaten bare even to the inmost bark And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great that is the hearts of this Antichristian party were still hardened even in this last Aegyptian plague inflicted on them and their rage and impatience under their calamity made them speak evil of the ways of God which yet are altogether righteousness and truth Or if in these miseries they took themselves to their devotions * their very prayers were blasphemy in the stile of the Apocalypse they being so mingled with various sorts of Idolatry NOTES CHAPTER XVI Vers. 16. And therefore by a Commutation of Iconismes c. This is called Iconismorum Metallaxis in my Synopsis Prophetica And it is a Prophetick Figure whereby the Image or Representation that is begun with is not continued but changed and yet the same matter still pursued See Synops. Prophet lib. 1. cap. 4. sect 15. But in the mean time the letting go the first Iconisme in this place which is of a Camp and not persuing it to the event of the Battel is here done with great consideration and prospection because this Battel is fully afterwards described and the Commander also or General which is here omitted in the 19 th Chapter vers 11. Which is one of the main pieces of the artifice of concealment intended in this admirable Book of Prophecies Vers. 19. And the Cities of the Nations fell c. There is mention at first but of one great City and yet here besides Babylon there is mention of many Cities viz. of the Nations Which seems to be a destined Key whereby we might understand that by that great City is meant the Vniversality of a number of Cities considered as one in which Babylon it self was also comprized according as we have expounded it Vers. 21. Their very prayers were blasphemy c. This is the sense which that Learned and Pious Author Peganius gives in this place which I thought worth the taking notice of if it may effectually force any one to make a more serious reflexion on the hainousness and horridness of the Romish Religion CHAPTER XVII IN the nineteenth Verse of the foregoing Chapter there was a short glance at the Arraignment Accusation and Condemnation of the Whore of Babylon But the destruction of this Babylon being the main scope of all the Vials this Argument may well seem to deserve a more full and copious prosecution I mean the Arraignment Accusation and Condemnation of the great Whore contained in these two next Chapters namely the 17 th and 18 th And therefore it follows 1. And there came one of the seven Angels which had the seven Uials and talked with me saying unto me Come hither I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great Whore that is the Arraignment Accusation and
implanted into him Rom. 9. Wherefore it is no wonder S t Iohn did so profound Reverence to the messenger of News so unspeakably grateful acceptable and enravishing And he said unto me See thou do it not For it should seem the mien of his face conjoyned with the posture of his body betrayed such a pitch of veneration and worship as might seem more than Civil and not due nor warrantable from one fellow-Creature to another I am thy fellow-servant and the fellow-servant of thy brethren that have the testimony of Iesus worship God Reserve such high pitches of affection and veneration for God alone whom thou art to love with all thy heart and all thy soul but thy Neighbour only as thy self And if Iohn's worshipping this Angel visible and present be thus reprovable what is the worshipping of Saints and Angels invisible in Temples and at Altars and Images consecrated to them but the dregs of Idolatry For the testimony of Iesus is the spirit of Prophecie He was not to be taken with so profound admiration and veneration of the Angel for that he was such a Prophet for he was yet but his fellow-servant as also of others that had the Testimony of Jesus For no man can say Iesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost They cannot be true and faithfull Witnesses of Jesus out of love and loyalty to him but they must be inspired by his spirit and so their witnessing of him is an effect of the spirit of Prophecy the spirit enabling them firmly to believe and declare beyond what flesh and blood can attain to Such a spirit of Prophecy was in the two Witnesses Chap. 11. whose faith was so strong that they could suffer the utmost for the Truth 11. And I saw Heaven opened Now follows the Vision that contemporizes with the treading of the Wine-press and with the seventh Vial which will give admirable light to both And behold a white Horse An Horse with his Rider doth signifie Rule and Command and the colour white Prosperity and Success And he that sat upon him was called faithfull and true and in righteousness doth he judge and make war In the seventh Vial there was mention of the battel of that great day of God Almighty but no mention there of any Armies or any Captain of the Forces Lo here is the Commander of the Army Christ himself the Eternal Logos joyned with the Humane Nature who in Righteousness doth judge and make war 12. His eyes were as a flame of fire Fire is a symbol of Intellectuality especially a flaming fire that implies light Thus we read of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fiery Intellect in the Magick Oracles and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shining fire attributed to the Soul as being a certain Divine and Intellectual Essence as Plethon speaks wherefore the Logos here is rightly said to have eyes like a flaming fire because he is not only Intellectual but that great and Eternal Intellect from whence all Intellectual Beings are as also their Operations exercised by virtue of the more pure etherial and igneous spirits And on his head were many Crowns For the Kings of the East by this time had submitted to him besides what might be done under the fourth Vial. And he had a name written that no man knew but himself This in brief signifies the incomprehensibleness and imperscrutableness of the Divinity of our Saviour he alone that is it being able to comprize it 13. And he was cloathed with a vesture dipt in blood This partly relates to his Humane Nature and Passion and partly to the Vision of the treading of the Wine-press where blood is said to ascend up to the horse-bridles whence his garments would be dipt in blood And is a sign that these two Visions this and that of the Wine-press tend to the same thing And his name is called the Word of God which may include not only the Eternal Logos that was made flesh but even the written Word of God also The false Prophet or Idolatrous Hierarchy of Rome upon their pretense of Infallibility had silenced not only the express Law of the written Word of God but most coarsly and barbarously had trodden down those innate Principles of Morality and Reason that the Eternal Word had implanted in the souls of men and by terrour and cruel force did what she could to smother stifle and extinguish them But here the scene of things is changed and the pure Word of God like a valiant Heros triumphs over the corrupt superstitious idolatrous and contradictious Doctrines and Institutes of a company of deceitful and deceivable men which in this Vision is called the false Prophet 14. And the Armies which were in Heaven followed him Here be the Armies as before we noted the Commander which belong to the battel of the great Day of God Almighty under the seventh Vial Upon white Horses cloathed in fine linnen white and clean A strange kind of Armature if it were to be understood literally of such a battle as Soldiers ordinarily fight in the Field But white horses and fine linnen white and clean signifie the Righteousness and good success of these Evangelical Warriours that shall bestir themselves in those dayes 15. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the Nations This again showes that this is no Carnal Warfare but as it is said in the Epistle to the Hebrews The Word of God is quick and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword And he shall rule them with a rod of iron in allusion to the second Psalm which is a Prophecie of these Times of the Messias Thou shalt Rule them with a Rod of Iron and break them in pieces like a potters vessel which is a Prophetick symbol of that wonderful contrition of heart that the word of God makes when it is sincerely seasonably and powerfully evibrated against the Enemies of his Kingdom And he treadeth the Wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of God Almighty This referrs to the Vision of the Wine-press Chap. 14. whereby it is again manifest that those two Visions belong to one and the same thing But the treading of the Wine-press is there explained and the Explanation ratified by this of the sword coming out of the mouth of the Rider of the White Horse 16. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords which sheweth the Royal descent of Christ even according to the flesh as if he had laid claim to this Soveraignty by descent from David the King accordingly as it is said Chap. 22. I am the Root and Off-spring of David and the bright Morning Star the Root of David as to his Divinity and the Off-spring of David as to his Humanity 17. And I saw an Angel standing in the Sun that is those signified by this Angel stood in the most bright and glorious Light of the Gospel or Word of God as
this Sacrament but rather call for it according to that saying of S t Peter Can any one forbid water that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we There may be also no mean nor useless mystery in the Inscription of the names of the twelve Tribes of the Children of Israel on the Gates of the City rather than elsewhere For the Jews being a Nation under the Law and the dispensation of the Law being to live under an external Rule though we have not yet arrived to the Spirit of Life it is implied that there is no entrance into this dispensation of the Spirit without endeavouring as well as we can to live up to those external Rules exhibited to us from the Word whereby we break off from all external evil courses and imitate all good and laudable actions as well as we can with all sincerity of heart which is the summe of true Repentance 14. And the wall of the City had twelve Foundations and in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb which sheweth the pure Apostolicalness in this constitution of the Church and insinuates the safety of this Apostolicalness For walls are for safety and these are the very Foundations of the walls 15. And he the Angel that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the City and the Gates thereof and the wall thereof Apoc. chap. 11. there the Church was measured by a Man but this new state of things by an Angel That simply with a Reed this with a golden Reed which implies that this new state of things will as much surpass that state of the Church though symmetral to the Reed it was then measured with as Angels do men and a golden Reed an ordinary combustible one as there indeed was in those first four hundred years which are accounted the symmetral Ages of the Church that which was very combustible and ought to be consumed But the pure Word of God and Spirit of Love abide for ever And this is the golden Reed that adequately measures the New Ierusalem For the Word of God abideth for ever and Charity never ceaseth 16. And the City lyeth four square which Figure as well as the Number Four are symbols of Righteousness And the length is as large as the breadth that 's but an explication of the squareness thereof And he measured the City with the Réed twelve thousand furlongs the length and the breadth and the height of it are all equal that is the City is in the form of a Cube which plainly shows it cannot be a City literally understood but a Polity and signifies not walls and houses but men The solid Content therefore of the City is said to be twelve thousand Furlongs to signifie how entirely Apostolical the constitution of things then will be And to show that this City is more peculiarly described in opposition to the Roman Hierarchy the Perimeter of the Cube twelve thousand Furlongs is the circuit of Ierusalem as the Perimeter of the Cube twenty five thousand Furlongs which twenty five is the Root of the number of the Beast is the circuit of Rome But this it may be is a curiosity that might as well have been omitted as I do also for brevity sake omit That to the twelve Gates Angels Tribes Foundations in the New Ierusalem do answer twenty five Gates Pastours Parishes Cardinals c. in the City of Rome 17. And he measured the wall thereof an hundred forty four Cubits according to the measure of a man that is of the Angel in the shape of a man and whose measuring is to be understood humano more by extracting the square Root Now the Root of 144 is Twelve which shows the height and thickness of the wall and being Twelve it denotes again the pure Apostolicalness of the frame thereof and the strength of it from this Apostolical fabrick thereof 18. And the building of the wall of it was of Iasper the Hebrew word which is rendred by the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as Ictibus resistens as Grotius Notes which is not to be subdued by the knocks of the hammer but rather so strong that it breaks all that strikes against it In which sense the wall being of Iasper signifies how firm and inexpugnable it is throughout and is a symbol of invincible patience or fortitude without which all the rest of the vertues are in a manner useless especially in the day of tryal And the City was pure gold like unto clear glass Whence it perfectly resembles the Amber in Ezechiel's Vision which is that Divine Element of Regeneration as I elsewhere more fully show But the golden colour is the tincture of the Spirit of Love or Charity which high perfection and the highest that is of the Soul I conceive to be here signified by Gold in this Vision where ever it is mentioned Gold being by far the most Noble of all Metals most pure and most permanent as the Apostle takes notice that Charity is which never fails whatever becomes of other Gifts and Graces And this City is the Philadelphian Interval of the Church whose proper character is Divine Love 19. And the Foundations of the Wall of the City were garnished with all manner of precious stones that is to say the beauty of them was the garnishing but the substance of them the safety of the City which is the end for which walls are built The first foundation was a Iasper That by Iasper more peculiarly was signified the holy Spirit that is said to be the Luminary of this City I have noted above But he is not only the Luminary of this City but the first foundation of the Wall thereof that is the principal ground of their safety Ephes. 3.16 That he would grant you according to the riches of his Glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit c. And a little after That ye being rooted and grounded in Love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having your foundation in Love c. which is this Spirit of Love the first foundation of the wall of this City And which is such a Spirit as will drive away all evil or foul Spirits such as have their haunts in the ruines of Babylon chap. 18. vers 2. as the Iasper-stone is said in Dionysius Afer to be an Amulet against all Empusa's and other specters And others write of it that it stops the tumults of thoughts and inconstancy of mind arising from the motions of the blood which in an higher sense in the proper office of the Holy Spirit of which the Iasper is a symbol The second a Saphir The Saphir is a stone of the colour of the Heavens which therefore is a fit note of Heavenly-mindedness and is said to be an Amulet against Lust This is another security of their City that they set their mind upon Heavenly things whereby they escape the
things of the greatest importance makes men careless and remiss and destroyes all order and discipline weakens the health of the body and makes the soul incapable of the holy influences of the Spirit of God So necessary a stone therefore for the safety of the City is this Amethyst to be placed in the wall thereof 21. And the twelve Gates were twelve pearls every several Gate was of one pearl which shows plainly the thing cannot be literally understood unless there were Oisters or other Conchae bigger than one of these Gates or Porches But in that the Gates viz. Inletts into the City are said to be Pearles that Gemm sets out the condition of them that are fitted to enter into the City For the colour of the Pearle shows the mild innocent child-like meekness of them that are fit to enter as our Saviour has declared Vnless you be converted and become as one of these Children you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The Notation of the word also intimates what is requisite to Baptism viz. Repentance For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnio from whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived alludes to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mixture of bitterness which denotes the wholesome cup of Repentance But the whiteness of the Pearles may insinuate also the washing away of the guilt and stain of Sin in the Sacrament of Baptism which Interpreters make these Gates to be a symbol of And the street of the City was pure gold as it were transparent glass The street that is Forum Vrbis as Grotius notes the publick place where they meet and transact businesses It is said to be pure gold like to transparent glass because they converse one with another bonâ fide in pure love and sincerity as if they were transparent to one another and could see one anothers hearts and thoughts 22. And I saw no Temple there No such Temple as was amongst the Jews which together with the Divine Residence supposed in it as being deemed the house of God is properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such a Temple as this there was none in the New Ierusalem For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it The eternal Deity is the object of their worship and the Lamb the body of Christ the Holy Catholick Church is the house wherein he resides the same with the City it self which from his presence there is called Iehovah Shammah Ezech. 48.35 God therefore immediately residing by his Spirit in the hearts of his people the Citizens of this New Ierusalem this is instead of the Temple of the Ancient Jews And according to the Prophetick stile Lamb will more naturally though it does not so usually signifie the body of Christ his Church than Christ himself 23. And the City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it This may allude to Isai. 60.19 The Sun shall be no more thy light by day c. But the more peculiar sense of the place I conceive according to the Prophetick stile which makes the Sun the highest Power in any Polity and the Moon next to it as an Emperour and an Emperess in an Empire or an Vniversal Patriarch and Emperour as the Popish Interpreters expound the two great Lights the Sun and the Moon the one of the Pope the other of the Emperour the Ecclesiastick Power being the Sun the Secular the Moon the sense I say is this That no man imagine any necessity in those dayes when the Kingdoms of the World shall become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ that there should be any such Oecumenical Patriarch Pope or Bishop over the Church of Christ or any Vniversal Monarch or Emperour over his whole Empire it is expresly said that the City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it no need of any one Vniversal Prelate and Vniversal Monarch as some would fancy the Pope and the Emperour to have been For the Glory of God did lighten it that is the Spirit of God which is compared to the Iasper-stone vers 11. which is said to be the Luminary thereof this is the Sun or Supreme Power thereof which is to hold all together And the Lamb is the light thereof namely by shedding the promised efficacy of his Spirit into it The Kings therefore of those many Kingdoms that in those dayes become the Kingdom of Christ shall have no other Supreme Head over them but Christ himself but be as the four and twenty Crowned Elders before the Throne of the Lamb and have no other Superiour neither Patriarch nor Monarch but he Of those times is said that of Isai. chap. 24.23 Then the Moon shall be confounded and the Sun ashamed all that have born themselves as Universal Monarchs in Church or State hitherto when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Sion and Ierusalem namely in this New Ierusalem and before his Ancients gloriously those Ancients described Chap. 4. as cloathed with white rayment and sitting upon Thrones with golden Crowns on their Heads which signifie the Kings of those Times when Jew and Gentile shall make one Fold and the Church be reduced to her Apostolick purity in the blessed Millennium over whom there will be no Head but God and Christ nor will they have need to be held together in one Universal Kingdom of Christ by any other Tye than his Laws and the Union of his Holy Spirit which will be so abundantly shed forth in their hearts in those days namely in the Philadelphian Succession 24. And the Nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it Extra Ecclesiam nulla est salus is a maxime amongst the Pontificians confining Salvation to a blind implicit Faith in the Infallibility of their Pope and Church But the Iasper-stone the influence of the Holy Spirit which is the Light of this City is that by whose guidance the Nations now walk in the wayes of Salvation And the Kings of the Earth do bring their Glory and Honour into it that is turn Converts to this dispensation of the Spirit where the Word and the Spirit is the Rule not the blind Decrees of both a fallacious and fallible Polity of men that adulterate Doctrine for their worldly interest 25. And the Gates of it shall not be shut at all by day Their prosperity and great knowledge and illumination will not make them proud disdainful or careless of others happiness and salvation but they will be ever ready to embrace and admit by Baptisme all Converts from all quarters of the World upon their sincere Repentance and Conversion For there shall be no night there no Adversity nor Ignorance in this Philadelphian Interval while the Eternal Spirit of Love shines upon them And therefore they will be alwayes ready at every one of their twelve Gates standing open to all the four quarters of the world to admit all single-hearted and sincere Proselytes 26. And they shall
Horns of the Lamb falsly pretending to be his Vicar but spoke like the Dragon decreeing Idolatries and barbarous persecutions And his servants shall serve him they shall serve him with a willing and prompt mind in this day of his power 4. And they shall see his face They will enjoy the full light of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. His Life and his Spirit will be most palpably and sensibly revealed in them And his name shall be in their foreheads It shall also be plain to all from their outward Conversation whose they are and to whom they belong viz. That they are the faithful Servants of Jesus 5. And there shall be no night there No ignorance nor any persecution for not being ignorant and for not admitting of things blasphemous and impossible That ignorance is the Mother of Devotion will be out of date in those days which Principle sate like the darkness of midnight on the Church during the time of the Idolatrous Hierarchy And they need no candle no factitious lights or false Instructions of carnal men Nor the light of the Sun no pretended Infallibility of the Pope whom his flatterers make the Universal Sun of the Christian World and put the Emperour like the Moon under his feet For the Lord God giveth them light namely by his Word and by his Spirit and they shall be no longer slaves to the cunningly contrived Opinions of men And in this freedom of the Light of the Word and Spirit they shall reign for ever and ever that is this Kingdom of Christ shall never be subjected again to the power of the wicked Nor shall that numerous rabble of Gog and Magog be able to take this City but it shall continue to the visible Coming of Christ to judgement and his sentencing all the Ungodly to the Lake burning with fire and brimstone which is the second Death 6. And he said unto me These things are faithfull and true namely these predictions of the Excellent state of the Church in the Philadelphian Interval described or set out by the New Ierusalem and as stupendious as it may seem to flesh and blood yet is a most certain truth And the Lord God of the holy Prophets sent his Angel to shew unto his Servants both this great Mystery of the New Ierusalem and other things the things which must shortly be done namely under the first six Seals 7. Behold I come quickly to support my Church in her Smyrnean condition under the second third fourth and fifth Seals and to deliver her from her Persecutions under the sixth Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the Prophecy of this Book that is That observeth what is writ therein for his own Direction and Comfort 8. And I Iohn saw these things and heard them and when I had heard and seen I fell down to worship before the feet of the Angel which shewed me these things and amongst other things the great Glory of the Catholick or Universal Church set out by the description of the New Ierusalem Which did so overcome him with joy as that assurance of the Conversion of his own Countrey-men the Jews that again he was carryed away into the greatest Affection and Veneration for the Messenger of such enravishing news 9. Then saith he unto me See thou do it not For I am thy fellow-servant and the fellow-servant of they Brethren the Prophets viz. of those that truly believe in and bear witness of Jesus Christ by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost And of them which keep the sayings of this Book That observe them understand them and believe them and have faith and courage to act accordingly which no man can do but by the power of the Spirit of God Worship God Accordingly as our Saviour has prescribed Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve 10. And he saith unto me Seal not the sayings of the Prophecy of this Book as if it concerned onely Times afar off or many ages to come For the time is at hand that is The time of exercising the Faith of the true Followers of Christ in the Smyrnean Interval of the Church and of discovering the barbarous and brutish cruelty of Paganism against them Which Tragedy will be acted over again in the Pergamenian and Thyatirian Intervals of the Church by a Pagano-christian Synagogue whereby the Faith of the True Church will be exercised and more illustriously appear and the wickedness of a false hypocritical Hierarchy more notoriously manifested to the World Divine Providence administring occasion for the discovering both in their colours not forcing the Wills of either by his Absolute Omnipotency Whence it follows in the next Verse 11. He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he that is filthy let him be filthy still Let their unjust cruelty and barbarous persecution and foulness of Life and filthiness of Idolatry go on in the Pagan and afterwards in the Pagano-christian Polity till they are ripe for Judgment I will not stop them And he that is righteous let him be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still that is increase more and more in honesty of Conversation unblameableness of Life and purity in Religion and in Zeal against all Idolatry not refusing the assistances of my Spirit and Grace 12. And behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be I will demolish or abolish the Pagan Religion and set up the Christian under the sixth Seal in the Reign of Constantine and judge the Whore the Idolatrous Hierarchy under the sixth Trumpet and utterly destroy her under the seventh Vial and he that is righteous growing still more righteous and he that is holy still more holy introduce the glorious State of the New Ierusalem under the second Thunder These things are within the compass of my Providence and Power and therefore will certainly come to pass For 13. I am Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End the First and the Last My Kingdom shall out-last all Kingdoms neither shall any Power upon Earth survive my Reign in the Holy City Ierusalem Whence follow the words of Saint Iohn as relating to those Times 14. Blessed are they that do his Commandments that walk uprightly according to the external Word or Law That they may have right to the Tree of Life that is be baptized at last into the dispensation of the Spirit of Life in the New Birth And may enter through the Gates into the City that is be baptized and admitted Citizens in order to the aforesaid attainment to be true Members of this Living Church of Christ the New Ierusalem and enjoy all the holy and healing priviledges thereof which have been above described 15. For without are Dogs and Sorcerers and Whoremongers and Murderers and Idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lye that is brutish obscene and Atheistical men and jugling pretenders to
bring the Glory and Honour of the Nations into it The best Spirits and the most Noble and Considerable Persons of all Nations will flow in to them and be proselyted by them be admitted Citizens of the New Ierusalem and Members of this truly Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church of Christ. 27. But for so may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie there shall in no wise enter into it * any thing any person that defileth or is of a scandalous conversation neither whatsoever whosoever worketh abomination that is committeth Idolatry though the Whore of Babylon would admit none but such or maketh a lye No Legend-mongers nor obtruders of absurd and impossible Doctrines such as the Artificers of Babylon forged for filthy lucre-sake no such may be admitted to come into this City whose Gates are pure Pearl But they only who are written in the Lambs Book of Life as breathing after a Life sutable to his But the description of this Glorious City is not yet finished it reaches further into the five first Verses of the following Chapter NOTES CHAPTER XXI Vers. 1. By a Lemmatosynechia as it is called c. Lemmatosynechia is an Apocalyptick Scheme or Figure whereby as the word signifies the Cortex or outward Letter of the Text is held together or continued in such sort as if there were a real connexion and dependance of one part upon the other when as in the inward sense there is no such matter An elegant instance of this is to be found Chap. 16. vers 18 19. where upon the mention of the great Earthquake it is presently said And the great City was divided in three parts as if that Division had been a diruption caused by that Earthquake when as what is meant by that great City were three distinct parties before A like example of this figure is also Chap. 11. vers 7 8 9. where the two Witnesses are said to be slain as it were at the ending of their witnessing and their dead bodies to lye three dayes and an half unburied where the three dayes and an half are set at the end of the One thousand two hundred and sixty dayes as if they were the latter end of them when as they in truth commence as high as the One thousand two hundred and sixty dayes and the same time with them But the Parable runs smooth in the outward Cortex as if they were distinct and the death of the Witnesses for three dayes and an half together occasioned by their One thousand two hundred and sixty dayes prophesying See also Chap. 19. vers 5. But as eximious as any is this present example of a Lemmatosynechia the mention of a New Heaven and a New Earth being immediately made upon the burning of this Natural Earth Which therefore in the Cortex implyes that the destroying of that gave occasion of making a New Heaven and a New Earth when as they are not Natural but Political as both Grotius and Doctor Hammond acknowledge and the Text will extort it from any one that reads this twenty first Chapter considerately Vers. 27. Any thing any person c. It is usual with S t John to put the Neuter Gender for the Masculine as Joh. 6. vers 36 38 40. See Grotius upon the place CHAPTER XXII 1. AND he shewed me a pure River of Water of Life clear as crystal proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb What this River may signifie that in Amos may be a Key to Let Iudgement run down as water and Righteousnesse as a mighty stream Again touching the uttering of Divine and Holy Doctrines it is said of God Ecclesiastic 24.25 He filleth all things with his Wisdom as Phison and as Tigris in the time of the new fruits He maketh the Vnderstanding to abound like Euphrates and as Jordan in the time of Harvest c. Wherefore this River of water of Life from the Throne of God is the faithfull and effectual Administration of Justice and pouring forth Holy and Wholesom Doctrines and Monitions in the demonstration of the Spirit by them that are in highest Authority in this City of God which Authority is understood by the Throne of God and of the Lamb who in right of his Father is Supreme Governour over all and the immediate actuator of his Vicegerents 2. In the midst of the street of it that is in the midst of the Forum of the City or broad open place where their meetings were to serve God consult of their Affairs and administer Justice And of either side of the River which ran from thence through the City was there the tree of Life that is Trees of Life else how could they be in rowes on this side and that side the River By which Trees according to the Prophetick stile must be understood Men and that not of the meaner sort but Grandees in Church and State And being they are called Trees of Life it intimates a state quite contrary to that of the wicked Iud. 12. Trees whose fruit withereth without fruit twice dead c. beside that it signifies that the Life of the Lamb is in them Which bare twelve manner of fruits and all worthy the profession of the pure Apostolick Faith and yielded her fruit every month of the year So uncessant are they in the bringing forth the fruits of true Faith which are good Works Here seems to be an allusion to the description of the Righteous Man Psalm 1. He shall be as a Tree planted by the Rivers side c. And of these happy times of the Messias in the expected Millennium is that Psalm 72.7 understood In his dayes shall the Righteous flourish like a Palm Tree as it is elsewhere said or like a Cedar in Lebanon The sense therefore is That by the free current of Justice and the countenancing pure Doctrine from the Higher Powers which the Throne of God intimates Holy and Good Men both in Church and State will be in Authority and Esteem to manage the Affairs of Christ's Kingdom obliging all unto them by their Christian Goodness and Equity which is the constant Fruit which they bear And the leaves of the Tree were for the healing of the Nations that is the People of those several Nations which are then brought under the Empire of Christ Which is an insinuation of the gentle but effectual Healing Discipline which will be in this Philadelphian Interval Those are the leaves of these Trees to heal the sores of the People by gently drawing away the corruption whatever may be remaining in them 3. And there shall be no more curse no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No more furious Papal Anathema's or Excommunications to depose Kings and Princes and to involve the Christian World in blood But the Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it that is Christ shall be in it The meek Empire of the Lamb of God shall obtain after the Tyranny of the bloody Antichrist or two-horned Beast who wore the