here is the mind that hath wisdom First The seven heads of the beast are interpreted to be seven Mountains and seven Kings that by this double accommodation this interpretation might be more sure Partly to seven mountains the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth vers 9. That is these seven heads are seven hills upon which Rome is built viz. the Capitâ—line Palatine Calian Aventine Aesquiâ—â—â— Viminal and Quirinal Mount For the honour of which seven mountains saith Parens an Annual 〈◊〉 was observed on the third of the Iâ—â—s of December either in memory of Romulus the builder of the seven mountained City or of Servins Tullus who to Romnlus four Mountains added three more seven in all Partly to be seven Kings i. e. seven orders formes or kinds of Governors or Governments of this Roman Kingdome or Empire whereof Rome is the Imperial seat And there are seven Kings vers 10. viz. seven orders or sorts of Rulers Kings Consuls Tribunes Decemvirs Dictators Cesars Ponâ—â—ficrans or Popes Five are fall i. e. in Johns time the first five viz. Kings Consuls Tribunes Decemvies Dictators And one is i. e. Cesars then in being in Johns time and the other is not yee come i. e. the dilacerated state of the Cesarship or Cesartan Empire into ten Kingdomes at the least by the Barbarians as was before intimated this was as it were a seventh head but was indeed but of the sixth being the same in substance with the Cesars but was not come in Johns time and was but to continue a short space till the Dragon and falle Prophet had reunited and so healed this wounded and dilacerated state of the Empire Therefore in the Text it is added And when he commeth Rev. 13.2 he must continue a short space vers 10. And the beast that was and is not even he is the eighth and is of the seventh and goes to perdition v. 11. That is the Roman Empire that was under five heads or formes of Government before Johns time and under the sixth head of Cesars in Johns time which Cesars were changed as it were into another and seventh form in its dilacerated state of the ten Kingdoms yet is not i.e. In Johns time is not yet brought under the last head or forme viz. the Papal which is the eighth i.e. in respect of the change of the Cesarship into ten Kingdomes which seemed to be as a seventh but was indeed onely part of the sixth head and the Papal head is of the seventh i.e. he is indeed the last and seventh head or form of this beast in the course of which seventh head he carries the whore and in this state or form the beast shall be utterly destroyed Thus of the seven heads and their Interpretations 2. The ten hornes of the Beast are Interpreted to be ten Kings Bestia decemcornupeta seu secularis est unia versitas illa decem pluâ—m nus Regnorum in quae Caesarum post exturbatum â—raconem Imperium Barbarica plaga dissilierat in unam denuo Rempull cam Romanam redintegratà Draconu impierate coalescentium Mede Cap. 13. page 181. or ten Kingdomes viz. those ten before mentioned Kingdomes into which the Empire of the Cesars was divided by that deadly wound of the Barbaman Nations which ten Kings or Kingdoms were not yet sprung up in Johns time but into which afterwards the body of the Roman beast in the course of his last head should be dilacerated by the deadly wound of the Cesarean head And which ten Kings should unanimously give all their power to the beast for his restitution and reparation under the Government of his seventh and last head For unto this seventh head onely and not to any of the six aforegoing these ten horns belong Now these ten hornes are interpreted and described First Partly by their constitution as hath been now explained v. 12.13 Secondly Partly by their hostile persecution against the Lamb in his Members These shall make war with the Lamb viz. by making War with the Saints and overcoming them 42. months as was before declared Thirdly Partly by their overthrow by the Lamb Christ Jesus and his Saints at last which overthrow is confirmed both by the Lambs Regal power and by the Saints three victorial properties 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 v. 14. Hitherto of the interpretation of the Mystery of the beast carrying the Whore 2. Now of the Mystery of the Whore her self carried by this beast which is here also interpreted Herein note 1. Her Ample Dominion 2. Her utter destruction and 3. Topical Denomination 1. Her ample Dominion over peoples of many Nations and Languages signified by the waters where the Whore sitteth And he said unto me The waters which thou sawest where the Whore sitteth are Peoples and Multitudes and Nations and Tongues 1.15 2. Her utter destruction and judgement which the Angel promiseth to tell Johns is described First By the Instrumental means of her destruction the ten hornes upon the beast Secondly by the degrees of her destruction from these ten horns And the ten hornes which thou fawest upon the beast shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire vers 16. These degrees of their destroying her shall be 1. Their hatred of the Whore with whom they have committed fornication 2. Deserting of her betaking themselves to Christs pure worship 3. Denuding of her or making her naked both by words laying open her filthy and abominable whoredomes and Idolatries c. and also by deeds withdrawing her respective revenues from her which were wont to be given her 4. Eating her flesh not onely by retaining to their own use her rich incomes Carnes nostras illi manducant qui nos persequuntur Aug. in Locum Tom. 8. but also by opposing and persecuting her which in Scripture language is as eating of ones flesh Job 19.22 Psa 27.2 5. Burning of her with fire When the punctual time cannot particularly be determined but it hastens apace and cannot be far off if the fift viol be now running which shall be poured out upon the forme of the beast which is now the judgement of many learned Divines Let the Saints strive mightily with God and pray the Whore into flames for her ruine approacheth And some of those Kingdomes that helped to raise up the Whore shall be as ready to pull her down Thirdly Her utter destruction is also described by the principal cause thereof Gods providential dispensation according to his Word who can as easily make these ten hornes unanimous to her ruine as they were to her rise and raign For God hath put into their hearts to fulfil his Will and to agree and to give their Kingdome to the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled v. 17. 3. We have
Constantiue the Great commeth to the Imperial seat the Dragon is overcome and Heathenism extirpated vers 4 and following In the second Period from the 400. years and upward Period 2. until the end of the 1200. and 60. years these seven concurrent times are described 1. The holy City is trodden under foot by the Gentiles 2. The two Witnesses cloathed with Sack-cloth Cap. 11. ver 2 3. to the 10th the explaining of which I refer to the 11. Chap. 3. The woman fled into the Wilderness and is fed there The primitive Church rescued from heathenish bondage fled into the wilderness i. e. into a midle estate not wholly hid and invisible nor yet gloriously visible but as it were in a middle condition betwixt both Rob. The two wings of a great Eagle given to the woman to by into the wilderness Mede refers to the Roman Empire whose Ensign is an Eagle and to the two Cesars of the Eastern and Western Empire divided as two wings by whose aid and protection the Church fled into her wilderness estate Cap. 12. verse 6. to 14. As Mary upon the birth of Christ fled from Herod into Aegypt So the Woman i. e. the Primitive Church notwithstanding the persecution of the Dragon having brought forth a man Child who was to rule the Nations with a rod of Iron which primarily belongs to Christ personal Psa 2. Secondarily to Christ mystical his Church and members which Christ mystical ruled all Nations by a rod of Iron subjugating the Roman Empire partly by a spiritual Gospelvictory promoted by Michael and his Angels against the Devil and his Angels rulers in that Empire partly by a corporeal conquest afterward when Christians prevailed and obtained such power and success under Constantine the great and his Successors fled into the Wilderness where she hath a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1200 and 60. days vers 6. which is again related v. 14. The meaning I conceive is this the Church though freed from heathenish tyranny yet is afresh imbarked in new troubles and persecutions by divers enemies Now during all this time the Church is in her wilderness condition as Israel of old was after their deliverance from Aegypt Thus take the parallel Israel delivered from Egyptian bondage under Pharoah fled towards the wilderness but was persued by Pharoah had liberty to worship God in the Wilderness where their Tabernacle was erected there Apostatized from God and his pure worship in the matter of the Calf Baalpeor Baalam c. and was there exercised with new troubles and afflictions of hunger thirst fiery Serpents and of divers enemies abode in the Wilderness 40. years during which space they made 42 journeys and stations from Aegypt to Jordan And at last all their enemies being subdued Numb 33. from 1. to 50. they quietly possessed the promised rest the Land of Canaan So the Church being freed from Heathenish Tyranny under the Red Dragon fled into the Wilderness but was persued and persecuted by the Dragon had liberty granted of worshipping God in the wilderness by the edicts of Christian Emperors and Kings who erected for them Temples or publique places for Christian worship yet in that her Wilderness estate she made many idolatrous defections Apostatizing from God and his pure worship especially to Antichristianisme Cap. 12.17 And the Dragon was wroth with the woman went to make war with the remnant of her seed c. Cap. 13.1 And I stood upon the sand of the Sea c. Mede saith the words are to be read not steti but stetit Cum Latinis omnibus Syre interpr i. e. The Dragon stood upon the sands i. to bring up this beast out of the sea to persecute the woman Further he saith v. 3. And I saw one of his heads wounded to death That the word vidi is not in some Editions as the Complutense reading the sentence thus The Dragon gave him his power seat and great authority and one of his heads wounded to death that it might be healed or that had been wounded to death and the healing of his wounds which is added this he either saw to be done while he was rising out of the sea or as soon as he was risen out of it is there exercised with new troubles and persecutions by the Dragon Beast and False Prophet abides in this Wilderness seat 42. moneths At last the Dragon the Beast and the false Prophet with all her enemies being vanquished the Church obtaines the new Heavens and new Earth and reigns with Jesus Christ a thousand years yea for ever and ever the former and following series of this Prophecy clears this parallel This state of the Church seems to last till the seventh Trumpet So that to this day the Church is still in this Wilderness-condition but drawing towards the borders of a far happier estate 4. The beast with ten horns blasphemeth God and maketh war with the Saints cap. 13. v. 5 6 7. This ten horned Beast as was mentioned before is the Dragons Delegate or Substitute he is said to rise out of the Sea by Sea here understand that multitude of ten Kingdomes into which the Barbarians had shredded the whole compass of the Roman Territories out of all which the Dragon now endeavours to extract and of which to compose one Roman Dominion or that conflux of Armies and people striving in war like a tempestuous Sea He is said to have seven heads and so is the same beast cap. 17.3 compared with vers 9 10. His seven heads are interpreted by the Holy Ghost himself to be seven Mountains whereon the Royal Seat of the Empire of Rome was built and seven Kings or kindes of Government by which the Empire should be governed The names of blasphemy notes his blasphemous idolatries tending to the extream reproach of God his Religion and Saints his ten horns and upon his horns Voyce out of the Wilderness p. 38. ten crowns these signifie that he should not come to his crown by the strength of his Sword his Leaders and his Legions But of the crowns upon the hornes see another interpretation p. 90. as the Dragon did but by the base and voluntary submission of all the Caesars Kings and Princes as should with one Councel and Vote deliver up their authority and power secular to the devotion and pleasure of the beast therefore he wears his Diadems not upon his heads as the Dragon did but upon his Hornes and upon his Hornes ten crownes Which ten Hornes crowned say most Writers denote ten Kings or Kingdomes into which the Roman Empire of the sixth head was divived all which were to be conjoyned Mede in Cum. Apoc. part 2. cap. 13. into one for carrying of the whore These 10. horns thinks Mede belong not to all the seven heads but onely to the seventh because the heads flourishing the horns flourish the heads fulling the horns necessarily fall therewith Now these ten
Egyptian bondage and restorers of Gods true worship in the Wilderness The two witnesses shall exercise the power of Moses and Aaron whence Learned Mede collects the power of the Witnesses figured in this type not to belong to all the days of their sackcloth prophecy but onely to the end of their Prophecy viz. the pouring out of the Vials As Moses and Aaron immediately before and at their bringing of Israel out of Egypt turned those waters into blood and smote them with ten sore plagues So towards the Period of these two Witnesses Prophecy when the Christian Church under their conduct as it were of Moses and Aaron shall now begin to be rescued from the Antichristian bondage and Tyranny of the Beast the Vials of Gods wrath like Egyptian plaguen shall come upon the beast and his Gentilith worshipers the plague of the first Vial being a noysome grievous sore the second and third blood the plagues of the rest greater and more greivous to he inflicted upon the beast and his party or the Gentiles treading down the outward Court and holy City the interpretation whereof I refer till I come to Cimp 〈◊〉 It is enough here to note this last power of the Witnesses to belong to the pouring out of the Vials Vers 7. And when they shall finish their Testimony the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make War against them And shall overcome and kill them Hitherto of the gift and power of the Witnesses It followeth now that I speak of the sate or the various consequents and events of their prophecying expressed in this verse wherein these Witnesses become singularly conform to Jesus Christ who preached about forty two moneths i. e. three years and a half was then slain by the Roman Governour lay dead three days three days after rose again with a great earthquake and forty days after ascending into Heaven a cloud receiving him But to give some light into the Text Then they shall finish their testimony Translators and Interpreters have been mistaken in rendring these words thus When they have or shall have finished their testimony 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to think that this killing should not begin till the 1200 and 60 days should be expired because by this means the Witnesses should remain in Sackcloth and the woman in the wilderness beyond the time appointed and also the fourth beast should continue to blaspheme longer then 42. months to all which not onely the plain text but also the swearing of the Angel Dan. 12.17 and the great Oath of the Son of God Rev. 10.6 are contradictory Therefore the words must not be rendered in the Perfect-tence when they have finished or in the Future Perfect tence when they shall have finished but in Future simplici cum Finituri sunt When they shall finish their testimony So Claverius in his first Apotalyptical dawning page 124. and Mede in his Commentary upon the Revelation reads the words When they shall finish i. e. when the 1200 and 60 days shall draw towards an end And when now part of the Christian world shall repent of their Gentilish Idolatries and reforme and the Witnesses for joy shall begin to lay aside their mourning weeds though yet they were not past the danger that was prophecyed should come That seven-headed beast of Rome in the course of his last head of which see before Chap. 13. disdaining and scorning the prevalency of these mourning Witnesses by their Prophecying shall make war against them overcome and kill them First then to speak of the Witnesses finishing their Testimony I agree herein with Mr. Mede that the mourning Witnesses began to finish the Testimony of all the former Witnesses from the beginning of the reformation of the Reformed Churches and so on to the begining of the beasts war against them preceding the killing of them His words are these speaking of the Witnesses finishing their Testimony and of the War and slaughter of them quorum primum inquit de testium planctu finiri caepto ab initio Ecclesiae reformatae huc usque continue factitatum est c. In the beginning then of the reformation of the Reformed Churches this finishing began Now this reformation began in Germany in the raign of the Emperor Charles the fifth by Luther and his Associates Luther began the finishing of this Testimony by Sermons writings disputations whereby he discovered and detected the lyes and frauds of Antithrist as Moses did the Cheats and falsehoods of Jannes and Jambres the Egyptian Sorcerers which Doctrine of Luther Charles the fifth laboured by all means to suppress by conventions decrees and edicts but Luther and his Associates being backed and assisted by the Duke of Saxony the Lantgrave of Hesse and other Princes in Germany the Magistrates of Fellow Witnesses withstood these Edicts and decrees and answered to them in every point Entred into a Protestation against them Protestation And of this Protestation the Princes and all that adhered to them were called Protestants which name is now given to all them that in their Doctrine swerve from the Church of Rome League and Covenant Afterward being sorely for this threatened by the Emperor the Protestants entred into a League and Covenant to ayd each other in the Quarrel of Religion And not long after the Protestans drew up a Confession of their faith Confession of faith and presented it to the Emperor this is that Confession of faith that is called the Augustane Profession This finishing of the Testimony of the former witnesses thus begun was carried on by their example in other Cities and places abroad whence sprung up other reformed Churches as of Helvetia Sucvia Geneva France Holland Scotland and England last of all reformed The finishing then of the Testimony I conceive must be by the Magistrates and Ministers of some of these reformed Churches who shall give in their Testimony against the Churches Apostacy towards the latter end of the 1200 and 60 days For the finishing must be meant of the last Witnesses before the last battel of the Beast against them whereby he overcomes and kills them And it is likely the Witnesses of some of the reformed Churches last reformed conclude compleat and make an end of finishing this Testimony as the Witnesses of the first reformed Churches begun it Yea not onely by Witnessing against the Apostatical Church of Rome as they did but by giving the cleerest the fullest Testimony for truth and holiness against the errors and unholiness of Antichrist for Church purity against Church-corruptions and the Apostacy of the Church of Rome that ever was given this twelve hundred years So that these last Witnesses may be called the Finishing Witnesses that finish compleat and perfect the testimony of all the former Witnesses do it with so much light and convincing evidence and with so much heat in their testimony called fire in their mouths vers 5. as doth vex and torment their enemies and enrage them to a
War again them So much of finishing their testimony It follows The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit c. That is Antichrist or any of the Beastian party He is compared to a beast not onely because of his inhumanity but because of his irrationality in seeking by killing the Witnesses to hinder the course of the Gospel 2 Thess 3.1 2. And he is said to come out of the bottomless pit or Abyss The word in the Greek signifies all these By this Beast here is meant the Popish Ecclesiastical Government who use the temporal sword Clavis Apoâ— which may be understood out of hell as chap. 9. 2. or out of the sea as the ten-horned beast did Rev. 13.1 or out of the body of the earth or a deep pit in the earth and so may signifie the two-horned beast chap. 13. 11. Now t is this beast and his party that makes War against overcomes and kills the Witnesses his party is described chap. 13. 15 16. Such as either receive his mark or his name or the number of his name The explication of which see before upon chap. 13. Shall make war against them i. e. against the Witnesses We read chap. 13. 7. of the Beasts war against the Saints And it was given to him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them i. e. saith Mr. Mede the remnant of the womans seed in the Wilderness chap. 12. 17. which the same Author conceives to be executed when such a numerous company of the Waldenses and Albigenses and other true Christians were destroyed seventy years together First intended against the Saracens after turned against the Christians that would not worship and submit to the beast Here in this 11. chap. vers 7. is set down by the holy Ghost the beasts war against the Witnesses Note here into 〈◊〉 precedes the killing of the Witnesses a War properly to caned and a War against the Witnesses â—â— the Magistrates and Ministers of some of the Reformed Churches for so it did the killing of the Witnesses to the German Churches the War betwixt the Emperor and the German Princes especally the Sweeds lasted many years at last ended in a Pacification out 〈…〉 were left and deprived of the liberty of the Consiliences whereby the Preachers and Professors of 〈◊〉 Gospel in the He 〈◊〉 Provinces were â—ivilly slain Apug 1650. which differs from the others regard of the time of its it being at the latter end of Antichrists reign when the Witnesses finish their testimony not then they begin to finish but when they shall finish It commonwealth from the time They were persecuted and fought against by Antichrist often before but this is the last hattel before their death and rising again to the ruine of Antichrists Kingdom Which War as Parâ—â—s notes is not onely Ecclesiastical but Civil for the beast doth stir up Princes of Kingdoms and Provinces to make War against the Witnesses that he may overcome and kill them And shall overcome them i. e. not by power and armed force as in the war against the Saints chap 13. 7. which made way for and effected a cruel bodily killing of the Saints before mentioned The enemies have now given over this bodily killing of the Prophets and Saints almost this 100 years few in this space have been called before Tribunals and sentenced to death Happily some few examples may be found like a few drops of rain after a great showr but not many They have forborn this course not out of any love or compassion to the people of God but meerly because they durst not or because they found by proof that this course prejudiced their cause Sanguis Martyr Semen Eccles but he overcomes them by his Jesuitical or rather bottomless pit policy bringing it so about that the secular and ecclesiastical power like Herod and Pilat are united against the Witnesses the latter making use of the former as a rider makes use of the power and strength of his horse to ride over tread down and kill the Witnesses Rev. 13.3 And kill them Now because these words are somewhat killing and discouraging because the same with those chap. 13. 7. and import as if this slaughter because the last were worse then the first I will first therefore give you the judgement and opinion of learned Mede of this last killing by the Beast His words are these Neither can it certainly be concluded that because this killing that the Beast makes of the Witnesses is the last therefore t is the greatest and the worst of all that went before it But it hath and deserves a singular mention and description amongst all the slaughters of the Beast perhaps not so much for the greatness of it sure not because of the continuance of it as because it was to be a sign that the mourning of the witnesses should end soon after it and that the ruine of the City of Rome should instantly follow it Fo as the compassing about of Jerusalem with Armies Luk. 21.20 did foretel and was a sign her destruction and desolation was at hand and near at her drors the like here may be intimated as we may conceive concerning the destruction of Babylon when you shall see that triennial slaughter of the Witnesses then know the desolation of that great City of Rome it at hand Now this killing of the Witnesses by the Beast or his party is to be understood according to the forecited Author and all late Interpreters metaphorically or analogically of a civil death For he is said to dye in that notion or sense who in that station wherein he stood either Political or Ecclesiastical or any other ceaseth to be what he was hence he is said to kill The slaying of the Witnesses is to be understood not of a corporal but civil death Caryl on Job cap. 21. 7. that doth punish any man with such a death For in Scripture language to live is often to be to die is not to be in which sense we are said to dye to sin when we are no longer the servants to sin and to live to Christ when we begin to be Christs Furthermore This killing is plainly meant a killing them as Witnesses not as men a throwing them out of their places and stations as if naturally dead Whether this sad time be past present or to come I leave others to judge it appears by the following Verses it must be meant of a civil death ver 8. Their dead bonies lying in the street of the great City three days and a half this shews it cannot be meant of a natural death for how should their bodies lye dead in that sense for three years and a half or say it were for shorter time Again it is clear from vers 11. For look what the resurrection of the Witnesses to life shall be after their killing and lying dead such a time such must needs be the killing for no resurrection properly so called can come