Potency where could the worlds wondering after the Beast and worshipping Him lodg within such straits of Time How would the Acclamations to Him who is like unto the Beast be spent in a Breath How would the ministry of the other Beast to him have any place Where would his War with the Saints and his Power over all Kindreds Tongues and Nations receiving his Mark c. find Room How could the City or mystical Woman arrive to those heights as to offer the Golden Cup of its Fornication to all the Princes and Inhabitants of the World or to rise to those Riches to draw such Confluency as to make its Merchants the Greats of the World Who sees not this Nut-shell of Time cannot contain the Ocean of this Prophecy Besides as we have before at large found the City is to be kept on high by the sixth seventh and eighth Kings from the days of John the Apocalyptical Prophet we know how great a Time hath run out since then we know the King that then was is long and long ago expir'd the seventh King was to endure but a short space and what short space must it then be if the eighth King or Beast was to endure but three years and a half And yet upon this eighth King was the Woman Rome to ride until its utter Desolation But it hath and doth still sit Queen since the Apostles Time to this Day and mostly upon this Beastian King how can then forty two Months if Litteral answer so long a space So that there is nothing more undeniable then that these forty two Months are to be drawn out by the Prophetical Elaboratory into Months of Years 3. When upon a just and severe Computation we find that these forty two Months prophetically expounded will reach from the very Time where according to Prophecy they were to begin down to this Time and allow for the event that is to be still expected at the end of those forty two Months not yet being come to pass and will indeed exactly touch that very period that by Prophecy is affixed to them all together It is the greatest proof of the forty two Months so to be expounded that can be expected or desired until the event justifie all Let us then proceed to an exact Calculation of the Time given us in these forty two prophetical Months and there see what length they reach The great matter in Question will be whether these Months import Time of the Sun or of the Moon for between Time of the Sun and of the Moon there will in the whole forty two Months be near thirty eight years difference But there are these three great Reasons they must according to the strict propriety of the word and Thing Months be regulated by the Moon and not by the Sun. This was always the Sense of the Scripture where ever It Reas 1 mentions Months it intends Time governed by the Moon which had as all know so great Domination over Jewish Time that the great Solemnities of their New Moons and Feasts received Law from it and It created all the Time the Scripture calls Months and because of those New Moons must necessarily do so So that if It were not so here Scripture must vary from its own use of the word throughout all other places for It hath no word that it expresses Months by but precisely taken from the Moon or the Newness of the Moon Now why It should do so here without any Reason It should do so but much the contrary as will appear what Account can be given There is nothing more evident then that this divine Prophecy keeps a strict and severe Distinction betwixt the Children of Reas 2 the day and of the Night betwixt the Witnesses the Seed of the Woman the Church and the Woman the Church it self who are all of the Day and the Gentiles and the Beasts Times who are of the Night For the Times of the former are signally measured by Days as governed by the Sun wherewith the Church is Cloathed But the Times of the latter are charactered by Months as conducted by the Moon the pale and wan Luminary of the Night which Moon the Church is said not without regard to this very matter to have under its Feet and therefore not fit to give its Character of Time. And seeing this hath been taken notice of by many Interpreters of the Revelation It is much of wonder they have not measured these Months by the Course of the Moon which Rules the Night The Latine word Menses hath made the Confusion and I know not what should mislead them but Inobservance seeing the Hebrew and Greek words exactly translated are Moons not Months which kept to had clear'd all doubts There is a third Reason which is very great and would absolutely determin this Point if it were well Comprehended and Reas 3 that is that the Sun is the great measure of Days and Years and of all Time by its superior Motion and the Moon does but borrow from it as its Light so its power of guiding and denominating any Parts of the Course of Time Even so the Church and its Seed who is Cloathed with the Sun must give Law to the Course of that Time that concerns its self and its Seed And It hath the Moon under its Feet in this respect also that it gives Laws to the Course of the Moon 's Time by its own Time so then these forty two Months of the Gentiles and the forty two Months or rather Moons of the Beast can be no other than Lunar or time of the Moon as they must being call'd Moons And so as time of the Moon must be subordinated to the account of Time by the Sun's Motion So these Months must be subordinated in their measure to the Beginning and Ending of the Twelve Hundred and Sixty Years with which they are always match'd as Correspondents viz. of the Woman the Church in the Wilderness and of its Seed the Witnesses in Sackcloth and therefore must needs be Lunar Time or Time of the Moon For if they were Months of the Sun if we might call time of the Sun Months whose very Name denotes Time of the Moon alone and self-dependent Time the False Church even as the True Church must be Cloathed with the Sun and have the Moon under its Feet which is contrary to this Prophecy But if we should attend the full dimensions of this Argument It would lead us into the whole state of the Characters of Time given in Daniel and this Prophecy which would be too large a Discourse for what is here intended and therefore I referr the searching Reader to the Treatise call'd A Scripture-Line of Time which I have made Publick and satisfie my self with what concerns the Matter in hand That the Forty Two Months of the Beast are Lunar Time and must be measur'd according to the time of the Sun or the Twelve hundred and sixty Years of the Woman in the Wilderness
hence Let us then consider the Importance of this Voice and it is plainly the Separation of the People of God and so of every Person among us if we are of his People from any Communion with that City or Community concerning which we shall by the Light of this Prophecy duly weigh'd and consider'd be convinc'd that It is the City symboliz'd or set out by this Mystical Woman And our Separation must be proportionable to the danger of being tainted or struck with the Contagion of its Sins or Apprehended and Reach'd by the Thunder-shaft of its Plagues For so is the Charge Come out of her my People And so is the Enforcement Lest ye be partaker of her Sins and lest ye Receive of her Plagues Now that we may do this It is highly Expedient at least to use the utmost Enquiry into this Prophecy that we may know by the Characters of it What and what manner of City the Spirit of God in it doth signifie and what or what manner of Time also It hath denoted or else we cannot so well judge what is 1 Pet. 1. 11. our Duty or what our Danger For though I would allow with as much Largeness of mind as can be desir'd that by the General Rules of Universal Scripture we may without the particular Understanding of this Prophecy be secur'd from both the Impurities and from the Judgments of this City by Adhering to the Truth and Purity and Mercy of the Christian Religion in Doctrine Discipline Worship and Practise according to the just measures of the Word of God yet we cannot do it with those particular Evidences of that Divine Reason nor with those vigorous Emotions of Zeal against such an unclean Communion as this Prophecy rightly apprehended would arm us with For certainly The Pen of this Divine Scribe was not made in vain I will therefore use the highest Diligence of Research and close Enquiry into the Prophecy concerning the City and the Times appointed to it and then concerning the Comming out of it and enforce the Charge here given to come out of it and all this as peculiarly deriv'd from this Holy Oracle in comparison of which all the Streams deriv'd from Antiquity are Low and Flat in shewing the Great Abominations of that City But Blessed is he that Readeth and They who Hear the Words of this Prophecy for now the Time is more at hand as to what we are now to Treat of than when the Oracle was first given although each part of this Prophecy was in its own Time and Order at Hand according to the Line wherein each Thing was to come to pass and which Line began in the Things that were first to come to pass and did come to pass from the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ which are but one Time in the Account of Prophecy as we say in Law The whole of each Term is but one Day and from thence the Revelation is dated as from its Epoch or Beginning-Point First therefore concerning the City there are such Characters as undeniably assure us This City can be no other than the City Rome that is here thus describ'd The City resembled by a Woman a not only Imperious but Charact. 1 Imperial whorish Woman is plainly Expounded by the Angel to be a City And it is usual in Prophecy to Figure Cities by that Embleme of a Woman and not only Cities but Churches as Revel c. 17. c. 18. Zion by a Woman grieved in Spirit the True Church in this Prophecy is often Typ'd by a Woman the New Jerusalem by the Bride the Lambs Wife And Adulterous Churches by Adulterous Women as Aholiab and Aholibah are the Pictures of Samaria Ezek. 23. and Jerusalem both as Adulterous Cities and Churches But this Woman this Imperial and Imperious whorish Woman is affirm'd to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all the Emphasis and Force of Expression that can be The City The Great That hath now saith the Apostle John that I am in writing it at this very present Time the Kingdom over the Kings of the Earth Now a City that had then the Kingdom over the Kings of the Earth undeniably imported a Capital City the Seat of an Vniversal Monarchy at that Time. For as a Monarch hath in the very nature of a Monarch all subordinate Magistrates under him and accountable to Him so an Universal Monarchy hath States and Kingdoms under it that however in their particular Kingdoms They may be over and above all others yet still their Power is Limitable and accountable to and may be Appealed from to the Universal Monarchy and Power When therefore This City is said to be The City The Great Having at that Time a Kingdom over the Kings of the Earth It is to say the City spoken of was at the Time when the Revelation was given the Seat of an Vniversal Monarchy and that some Supreme Power had its Imperial Residence there took its Title from that City exercis'd its Power under that Title and as the then present Head of that City bore up the City by such Title so that it is said to have a Kingdom over the Kings of the Earth because such a Power so related to it had a Kingdom over all other Kingdoms far and near or had sueh an Universal Monarchy or Kingdom Now what City that was that had then a Kingdom over the Kings of the Earth in the sense now declared besides the Notices of Universal History in that matter it is most evident from Scripture that it must be even that very City Rome for Augustus at that time the Emperour of Rome when our Lord was Born made a Decree that All the World viz. the World of the Roman Empire which Aspir'd as it were to equal the very Habitable Earth in Extent should come under a particular Census Luc. 2. 1. or be describ'd that so an Account of the large Bounds of the Dominion the Numerousness Strength and Riches of the Subjects might be render'd to Him. We read in the History of the Acts of the Apostles how great the Honour was for any City to be accounted a Member of that City that its Natives might be the Free-Born of that City It made such a City no mean City The Immunity of being so Free-born was so great that many purchas'd it at an exceeding Rate who had it not by Birth We find the Apostle Paul though he was a Jew and immediately subject to the Jewish Law yet as it were directed by an Impulse of Providence Appeals to Caesar's Tribunal as the Highest upon Earth These and Acts 22 28 many other Expressions assure us what City it was that at that Time Reigned over the Kings of the Earth And it was very necessary the Scripture that loves most in all weighty matters to be serv'd by its own Records should take this great Notice of the Roman Empire Because as the Fourth Monarchy it was of the Four the most Remarkable For
Power or as the Word signifies a Priviledge or Authority was given Him It sets out though not a Lawful Authority that was to be obey'd as is most apparent by every thing pertaining to this Beast yet It imports a signal permission and ordination of God's to that purpose and that He carryed the Woman as a King or Head of the Beast viz. of the Idolatrous Empire and by a Figure or Synechdochically the Beast Himself as Head oft denotes the whole Body For the driving this home to the purpose I am sensible It will be necessary to give Proof That the Beast c. 13. and c. 17. are one and the same Beast For if the Beast were not the same in both Chapters we could indeed have no guidance from the forty two Months assigned to the Beast c. 13. concerning the Time of the Beast c. 17. But if it be one and the same Beast in both Chapters then the forty two Months must needs be the Gauge of the Duration of the Beast c. 17. as It is c. 13. Now besides many Agreements between the Two Representations assuring them one and the same that would require much Discourse and Consideration of the whole Frame of this stupendious Point of the Prophecy I shall as I have endeavour'd all along in each Branch of this Discourse choose One that requires least Discourse and yet is most undeniable that is the Beast in the Beginning of chap. 13. who had one of his Heads Wounded and the Deadly Wound was healed is the Beast that had the Fourty Two Months limited to Him The very same Beast had by the Ministry and Service of the other Beast of whom I will not now enquire It being unnecessary to the Force of this Argument The very same Beast I say had an Image made to Him with which He is ever after so conjoyn'd that the Beast and his Image go inseparably together the very same Beast had the Number of his Name as also his Mark made particular unto Him All these the Beast that had the Fourty Two Months decreed to Him undeniably had for the Prophecy Affirms it in several express Words Calling the Beast that had these the First Beast the Beast that had a Wound by a Sword and did Live the Beast whose Deadly Wound was healed Now the very same Beast that hath the Image the Mark the Name the Number of the Name and was worshipped is He that is carryed all along with these infallible Characters upon Him through every Chapter of this Prophecy after his Description c. 13. till He is brought together with the Woman the City or Church under the seventh Vial and both utterly destroyed c. 19. And they who had gotten the Victory over his Image Mark Name Number of his Name and would not Worship Him nor his Image celebrate the Judgments of God made manifest upon the Woman the City and upon Him Cast into the Red Sea or Lake of Fire as Moses and the Israelites upon the Brink of the Red Sea of Old sung the Praises of God in casting Pharaoh and all his Host into that Red Sea a kind of Type of this Destruction c. 15. And after all was fully executed upon the City carryed upon the Beast upon the Beast Himself and upon his false Prophet and their whole Party They who are first and most eminent in the first Resurrection are they who had not worshipped the Beast nor his Image nor receiv'd his Mark nor his Name so manifestly referring to the Beast who had All these who is the Beast that had the Forty two Months assign'd to Him. c. 13. And indeed It is so far from two Beasts that there is not except that Beast whom the Prophecy calls the other Beast who had no Image Mark Name nor number of Name any more Beasts then this One Beast who had all these who is kept so distinct as not to be confounded by the special care and caution of the Divine Spirit And that other Beast first ministred to this grand Beast till He came to his Number and after serv'd Him as his false Prophet and they were adjudged both to the Lake together which I hope is full proof that the same Beast who had the forty two Months assigned to Him is the very Beast who bears Rome aloft in this c. 17. and supports its Time at this day And now the Time assign'd is very express in this Prophecy viz. Forty two Months which was the first point to be made out There must be substantial proof that the Time assign'd will Point 2 bear such a length as may comport with the Argument that is to reach from the Expiration of the seventh King above twelve hundred years ago and so onward till the Times of this Eighth King and seventh Head shall end also Now It is at first sight evident Forty two Months are naturally understood a Time so very short and curt that They afford no room nor space for Action that is great and considerable But it is as evident there is a Cyphar or prophetick Short-hand for Time that multiplies Days into Years and weeks of days into weeks of years and so consequentially and proportionably Months of Days into Months of Years and so proportionably these Months of Days into Months of Years And this hath been Standard for the Rate of prophetick Time ever since It was first set and seal'd by God Ezek. 4. 6. I have appointed thee each day for a year And that therefore It should be so here there is greatest Reason 1. Because It is eminent stupendious profoundest Prophecy even this whole Book of Revelation and particularly this of the City and of its Prince the Beast and requires deepest search and a Mind that hath Wisdom as is more than once admonished in this very point and part of the Prophecy that concerns the Beast as if it were the most dark misterious and lowest laid of any Thing in this whole Volume of Prophecy so that if ever there be place for such Interpretation of Time here it is 2. The necessity of deferring to the Prophecy it s own Grandeur requires this Interpretation of Time For when it portrays such a Power as the Beastial Power and Principality every stroke of which is great and admirable when It draws such a City or Community sitting upon it so every way wonderful as that John wonder'd with great Admiration and that principally and in a manner solely in relation to this Beast of the seventh Head and Eighth King and at the Woman upon Him. If the whole of this Grandeur Power and Principality both of the City and of the King for both are to be destroyed together were coup'd up within the short space of three years and a half how small and petite must the Prophecy be in describing with so great State and Eloquence of Types and words such a Mushrome City and Prince that should Rise and Fall before they could be known to Live or be warm in that
Sun. Those Months being time of the Moon given by Prophecy must be taken and applyed to time of the Sun given by the same prophecy that they may be rated and known what time They contain According to the exactest Computation that can be made Fourty two Months apply'd to Twelve hundred sixty Days for Years must be Twelve hundred twenty two Days for Years that is Twelve hundred twenty two Years The Epoch or Beginning then of these Months fixed at the Cessation of the Christian Emperour the prophetical Seventh King which was in the Year of our Lord 475 must needs reach to the Year 1697. The Twelve hundred sixty Days or Years both of the Witnesses and of the Woman ending necessarily at the same time for the one cannot out-last the other must begin thirty eight Years before the Months viz. 437. But because the Witnesses could not be supposed to put on their Sackcloth without just Occasion given the Gentiles under the other Beast Treading the Holy Court must have begun their Fourty two Months when the Twelve hundred sixty Days of the Witnesses Sackcloth and the Womans Wilderness State began also viz. 437. It is no matter what became of the Gentiles Fourty two Months after the Beast first Risen and grown up to his Image and Power to enforce the Worship of it and the receiving his Mark Name or of the Number of his Name viz. at 725 his Famous 666. For then the Beasts Months support the Seventh Headship and the Roman City or Apostate Church and the Gentiles Months Merge or are drowned in them The Months and Days being given under the Character of Time Times and Half a Time and three Days and a half when they arrived to the Beginning of the half Time and Days such a partial Rising of the Witnesses and Retrenchment of the Bestian Kingdom such a Fall of some of the Ten Kings from the Beast as was seen at the Reformation was allowable by Prophecy after the manner of our Lord 's three Days and Nights in the Heart of the Earth and was a Pledge of the complete Fall of the Beast and of the City's Fall from their whole Ten Mark those Kings who bewayl Babylon c. 18. 9. cannot be those Ten Kings who at last Turn to hate the Whore who they are will not be known till that Burning of Babylon shall be better understood King'd Principality at the end of the half Time or 1697. At the same time when the Days of the Witnesses and the Months of the Beast End The Turkish Second Woe or Tyranny shall pass away and cannot sooner because it is the Second Woe Trumpet upon the Bestian Kingdom lasting till its Fourty two Months End Which being an Observation foreign to this Matter needs not be enlarged yet well observ'd adds strength to the whole The last Argument I shall use to perfect all that hath been said already Last Arg. shall be an Appeal to All that in any degree know the State of the World whether the Condition of Papal Rome since the time especially of the Beasts receiving the Key of the Bottomless Pit as a Fallen Star in the Days of Phocas his coming to his Number and Image in the days of Leo Conon hath not answer'd the Characters of Prophecy Ann. 725. Does the Prophecy signifie a City perpetuating Eternal Rome in a Church as False Impure and Adulterate as the Mother of Harlots Imports Which Title cannot be due in its highest degree but where True Religion is Prostituted as appears in Aholiab and Aholibah And hath not Rome been such a One as Papal in all its Idolatrys Superstitions and Sensualities Does the Prophecy Represent a Caesar in an Image and hath not the Pope's Tripple Crown elevated upon his Spirituality and Vicarship of Christ been such a One Does the Prophecy speak Rome in all the Grandeur of Scarlet Purple and precious Stones And is not the Splendor of Rome its Pope Cardinals and Hierarchy such Does the Prophecy set out an Universal Propagation of the Fornications of such an Imperious Whorish Woman prevailing upon Kings Nations Kindreds and Languages and what hath Papal Rome pretended more forcibly to than such an Vniversality of its Religion which is called Filthiness Spiritual and Bodily and All Abomination Does Prophecy set out the Idolatrys of such a City and its Prince by the Blasphemy of God of his Tabernacle of All that dwell in Heaven and this openly avow'd by a Title writ on her Forehead according to the manner of the most Infamous Prostitutes and of Babylon Mad of Graven Images and yet all under a Mystery So as to be doubted whether Idolatry is justly charged upon it by even Those who deeply suspect it And is not this and hath not this been the State of Rome most Remarkably since the Days of Leo Conon Does the prophecy Represent a Bestian War with the Saints a Causing that all who would not Worship the Image should be Kill'd and proscribing them that they should not Buy nor Sell All Great and Small Rich and poor who will not receive the Mark c a City Drunk with the Blood of Saints and what can we say but that the Excommunication of Princes deposing and Depriving them the Interdicting of Kingdoms Massacres Martyrdoms Inquisitions Ravages upon the World on the account of that Religion Falsly so call'd have answer'd the prophecy Do other prophecys of Scripture say there should be a Grand Apostasie out of which should come a Man of Sin and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one above all Law and Control as Supreme and Infallible justly styl'd a Beast One sitting in the Temple of God exalting Himself above All that is called God or is Worshipped That though the Mystery of Iniquity was then at Work for Him yet that He could not be Revealed but in his Season Do we not see such a One that hath been long in the World claiming from the Apostles whom yet the elder Ages of Christianity knew not till the Time pointed out by Prophecy was come A Lord God the Pope as hath been Blasphem'd Does that same prophecy say The Lord will Consume that Man of Sin with the Glory of his Coming and with the Brightness of his own Appearance And do we not see at this Day his Times drawn out and lengthen'd beyond parallel for such an Appearance And does not the prophecy of the Revelation say the same Thing For his utter Destruction is not till the Heavens open to Christ Revel 19. Does not another Prophecy say Some a certain Sort and Society or Community of Men shall Depart or Apostatize from the Faith giving heed to wandring Spirits as Divels are called and to their Apparitions and so to Doctrines of them as Daimons and of the Worship of them through Or Saints departed the Hypocrisie of Lyars and Legendary Priests who disguising themselves in the Garb of extraordinary Holy Persons Coyn such Stories of such Spirits appearing to them to draw others