was before as to Outward Church Priviledges and Profession which is the visible Life of a Church 8 And their dead Bodies i. e. these Churches anathematized and suppressed shall lie unburied in the 30 Street of the great City i e. their Censures against them and suppressing of them shall be Publick Open and Notorious through the whole Extent and in the most conspicuous places of the Antichristian Jurisdiction which 31 spiritually i. e. in a mystical sense 1 Cor. 10.4 is 32 called by the Spirit of God in this Prophecy 33 Sodom for its Spiritual Uncleanness by Idolatry and Aegypt for its Tyranny and its innumerable Superstitions and Idolatries 34 where also or in which great City our Lord Christ was crucified 30 By Street in Scripture is meant the Broad Open and publick places of Concourse as the Word is used Matth. 5.6 and Esther 6.9 Whereby is intimated that some Churches in the most Conspicuous and Eminent Places of the Roman Territories which is the City concerned in these Visions and is called the (a) Chap 14 8.17 18 18 10. great City should be persecuted and anathematized by the Apostasy and that the Devastations made upon the Witnesses should be publick and in open view and that they should be capable of being raised and restored contrary to what the wicked are threatned with Job 18.17 that their remembrance shall perish from the Earth and they shall have no name in the Street 31 From hence it clearly appears that what is here delivered is to be understood in a Metaphorical sense by way of Mystical Allegory which was common then amongst the Jews and which the Sacred Writers especially the Apostle to the Hebrews makes frequent use of 23 Or is in a Spiritual and Mystical Sense for to call and to be are frequently used promiscuously in Scripture Although I presume the meaning of this place given in the Paraphrase to be the truest for as Gog was prophesied of by the Prophets under the Names of Edom Moab Leviathan and the other Chief Enemies of God and of the Jewish Church as the Prophet Ezekiel expresly declares Chap. 38.17 So are the Idolatrous Enemies of the Christian Church prophesied of under the Names of Aegypt Babylon and the like in this Book and in the Old Testament 33 Thus Jerusalem is called Sodom and Gomorrah Isa 1.10 34 Christ was crucified at Jerusalem which is here mentioned 1. To shew that this Slaughter of the Witnesses was to be under the Jurisdiction of the Romans Jerusalem being then under their Dominion and our Saviour being Crucified by their Authority Upon which account his Suffering under Pontius Pilate and his Crucifixion which was a Roman Punishment are mentioned in the Creed 2. Rome is called Jerusalem because it succeeded the (a) Mori Oper. Theol. 721 728 Synagogue in its Carnal Hypocritical and Persecuting Temper and is a City that killeth the Prophets and Witnesses of Christ as Jerusalem of old was wont to do 3. Our Saviour is said to be Crucified at Rome because he is crucified there in his (b) Matth. 25.40 45. Acts 9.4 Members to whom whatsoever is done he imputes as done to himself Whereupon he asked Saul why he persecuted Him when he persecuted his Disciples And because the Apostacy Reigns there which sin is particularly called the Crucifying of Christ afresh and the putting him to an open shame Heb. 6 4-8 9 And they or some of the People and Kindreds and Tongues and Nations who shall be disposed to attend to and take notice of this matter shall see or diligently consider their dead Bodies i e. the deplorable and ruinous State of these desolate Churches three days and an half see num 37. and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in 35 Graves i. e. to be buried in utter Oblivion and to be in an irrecoverable condition out of all hope of being restored Ezek. 37 11-14 Hos 6.2 35 The same Metaphors that are here made use of are also used in the same sense by Ezekiel Chap. 37 1-14 and by Hos 13.14 where by dry bones in an open Valley and by dead bodies in Graves is meant a hopeless condition without the least expectation of Recovery 10 And they that dwell upon the Earth i. e. the more sensual and earthly part of the Kingdom of the Beast shall rejoice over them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another as in time of publick Joy Hest 9.19 22. Nehem. 8 10-12 because these two Prophets 36 tormented by their Reproofs denouncing of Judgments contrary Life and Conversation and the progress of their Doctrine amongst the people Hos 6.5 Judg. 16.6 Jon. 4.9 them that dwell on the Earth i. e. the Antichristian People 36 As the Prophets and particularly Elijah one of the Witnesses of the Jewish Church are said to trouble wicked Kings and People 1 Kings 18.17 18.21 20. 11 And after three 37 days and a half the Spirit 38 of Life from God entred into them i. e. they were wonderfully revived Ezek. 37.5 8 9 10 13 14. Hos 6.2 and they stood 38 upon their feet i. e. were in a posture of Service and Defence and appeared with Courage and Readiness to perform their Duty Ezek. 2 1-3.37 10. and great fear 39 fell upon all them which saw them revived so wonderfully to the Joy of their Friends and the Consternation of their Enemies 37 It is observed by the Lord Napeir that besides the Common Prophetical Day which is taken for a Year in Prophecy There is also a great and extraordinary Day in Scripture which signifies not a Year but any Time to be determined by Circumstances as the Word Day is used in the Day of the Lord and in Man's Day Now if Day signifie Time in Scripture it may very well (a) Lord Napeir on the Revel Prop. 1.15 Mori Oper. Theol. pag 179. and his Appendix to Dan. pag. 284-293 signifie so in this place where it seems to be necessary that Three Days and an half should be brought to comport with Three Times and a half 1260 Days and Forty Two Months All which being of the same signification there seems to be no reason but that the Three Days and a half should be of the same Nature too especially if we consider that the Woman in the Wilderness which is the Church or Witnesses collectively taken from whom it differs only in Notion as the Body doth from its Members hath Three Times and a half allotted her as well as 1260 Days to which there must be something porportionable in the Times of the Witnesses which are her Seed and are coaeval with her and the Three Days and a half are of the same Extent with 1260 Days and Three Times and an half if you account the Days for Years and then again resolve those Years into Days denoting so many Years But for the clearer stating of this Matter it is to be observed that here is a plain Allusion to the time of
amongst the Branches of the River Nile ready to devour the Israelites as the Dragon here stood before the Woman to devour her Child And here the Paucity and Obscurity of the Members of the pure Church upon the Growth and Increase of Antichristianism after the Empire became Christian is set forth by a Wilderness state or condition which is an obscure and retired but a safe (a) See Dr. Pocock on Hos 2.14 one to which Men betake themselves when they are threatned and pursued by Enemies as the Israelites in the persecution of Antiochus 1 Maccab. 2. 28 31. when the Gentiles had prophaned the Sanctuary fled into the Mountains and into the secret places of the Wilderness And yet as when the Israelites fled from Pharaoh into the Wilderness they soon murmured and apostatized from God so was the Church no sooner delivered from the persecutions of the Pagan Empire but the Antichristian and Paganizing Apostacy began to increase amidst which yet the pure Church was preserved although small in Number and in an obscure condition as the few true Israelites were amongst the Numerous Apostatizing ones in the Wilderness who were corrupted (b) Exod. 12.38 Numb 11.4 by the mixt Multitude of Idolaters who went up with them out of Aegypt as the Christian Church was by the Converted Pagans * This by a frequent Hebraism may signifie no more than that she shall be fed ot nourished as the Phrase is explained at the 14 verse But perhaps hereby may be meant the Two Witnesses from whom the Woman only differs as the Vniversal doth from all its Particulars or the Body from its Members taken collectively by whom the Church may be said to be preserved and maintained because of their Preaching the Word of God and distributing the hidden Manna as the Israelites were fed in the Wilderness with Manna and miraculous Food by the Hands of Moses and Aaron Two Old Testament Witnesses Numb 33.1 Psalm 77 20.78 52. 19 The Witnesses chap. 11.3 and the Woman have the same number of Days assigned them as being not really different one from the other only the Woman or Church in general is to be understood as the Mother and the Witnesses as the Seed and Children begotten as it were in the Womb of the Church in which they were Baptized and Regenerated And here it is fit to be observed 1. That a Day began first to be reckoned for a Year in the Wilderness Numb 14.34 whereby the like reckoning of a Day for a Year in this place is much enforced 2. That there were but just Forty Two Encampments of the Children of Israel in the Wilderness reckoned up in the 33d Chap. of Numbers whereby may be fitly typified the Forty Two Months of the Gentiles and the Twelve hundred and sixty days of the Woman which differ only as Solar and Lunar time do one from another as hath been shewn on the former Chapter sojourning together in the Wilderness as the Few true Israelites did with the Numerous Apostatizing ones in a latent obscure and almost invisible manner 3 From hence also may be illustrated the Epocha or beginning of the Twelve hundred and sixty days from A.D. 437. For as the (a) Exod. 12.40 Gal. 3.17 Israelites went out from Pharaoh into the Wilderness at the End of Four hundred and thirty years from the Promise and the Covenant renewed by Sacrifice so in correspondence to its Type may the Christian Church be well thought to have fled from the Dragon Antichristianizing the Church about the same time from Christ's coming to give the Promise of Salvation and to enact the New Covenant by the Sacrifice of himself upon the Cross 7 And there was War 20 i. e. enmity and opposition Eph. 6.12 in Heaven 21 and in the Christian Church and Empire Michael i. e. Christ Dan. 10.13 21.12 1. and his Angels i. e. the Christians in the Empire fought 22 against i. e. opposed and resisted the Dragon i e. the Devil and Paganism and the Dragon Fought to hinder the progress of Christianity and his 23 Angels i. e. the Pagans in the Empire 20 There has been always an Enmity betwixt the good and the bad in the Church the latter persecuting the former as Cain did Abel and Ishmael Isaac from whence the Apostle dates the Persecution of the Church the Woman with her Children and the Mother of us all Gal. 4 22-31 So that the Four hundred Years Affliction of Israel Gen. 15.13 may be very well dated from about that time 21 The Christian Church is vety appositely called by the Apostle Gal. 4.26 Jerusalem which is above or the heavenly Jerusalem by which also may be signified the Archetypal Church or Kingdom in Heaven mentioned on Verse 1. in the Administration of which there is something like a VVar betwixt good and bad Angels who are represented as fighting in Scripture Dan. 10.13 20 21. But here seemeth also to be pointed out unto us the downfall of Paganism in the Empire which had its deadly Blow given it by Theodosius the Great as hath been before observed Whence it also follows that this War is Contemporary with the Times of Constantine and Theodosius 22 An Expression taken from Dan. 10.13 20. 23 Such were Licinius Julian Argobastes and Eugenius the Roman Senate and all other Opposers of Christianity in the Empire 8 And prevailed not i. e. they were conquered and subdued neither was their place found any more in Heaven i. e. Paganism was cast out of the Church and Empire and lost all its power and Authority in it as being adjudged by him that sitteth on the Throne to have no longer continuance in it See num 1. and 21. 9 And the great Dragon was cast out of Heaven by Divine Sentence and out of the Christian Church and Empire that old Serpen i. e. cunning and subtile who had been used to deceit ever since the time of our first Parents Gen. 3. called the Devil i. e. the slanderer and calumniator of God to Men and of Men to God and Satan i. e. the Adversary and Accuser of Christians Job 1.9 Zech. 3.1 2. which deceiveth the whole World into Idolatry and Wickedness 1 John 5.19 he was cast out of a state of rule and dominion and reputed Godship in the Pagan Empire into the * Earth i. e. into a mean condition in respect of his former state and to rule in the Hearts of Earthly minded Men and of the Apostatizing part of the Church and his Angels i. e. his Agents and Instruments were cast out with him i. e. Paganism was destroyed in the Empire now become Christian * The State and Condition of the Dragon under Antichristian Idolatry may be very well express'd by his being cast from Heaven to Earth because Polytheism or the VVorship of many Gods being extirpated at the Overthrow of Paganism he was no more worshipped as a God in the Empire and the Worship of Saints and Angels succeeded to it an Idolatry inferiour to
the former which being perfectly and directly Satanical was a State of things more agreeable to the Devil which when he lost he might very well be said to be cast from Heaven to which the Pagans had exalted him in their Worship to Earth that is to an inferiour sort of Authority and Power in the VVorld and an Idolatry less Diabolical 10 And upon this Sentence and Judgment obtained in Heaven I heard a loud 24 Voice of praise and thanksgiving saying in Heaven and in the Church thus delivered and exalted now is come Salvation i. e. deliverance from Satan's Claim Power and Kingdom as a God upon Earth under the Divine Justice upon a faln World and from Persecution and strength i. e. the manifestation of God's Power in destroying his Enemies and the Kingdom of our God i. e. the glorious advancement of his Religion and the manifestation of the Power of his Christ in advanceing his Church for the accuser of our Brethren before God and in the time of Persecution under the Pagan Empire is cast 25 down or thrown down upon the Earth which accused 26 them before our God day and night i. e. was their indefatigable and inveterate enemy and false accuser 24 This Verse and the following contain an Epinicion or a Song of Thanksgiving to God upon the Conquest of Paganism and the (a) Chap. 7. n. 23. and n. 1. of this Chapter Appearance of Christ's Kingdom in the Empire now become Christian which yet lasted but for a short space before the Glory of it was Eclipsed by Antichristianism Chap. 17.10 Concerning the downfall of Paganism see Dr. Cave's Learned Introduction to the Lives of the Fathers of the Fourth Century 25 A Metaphor taken from wrestling as Grotius notes And here we may observe that when Idolatrous and wicked Men are cast out of Rule and Authority it may be very well said that the Devil is cast out because he acts and governs in and by them 26 Expressions taken from Job 1. and the 4th and Zech. 3. where the Scripture speaking according to the manner of Men represents Satan as accusing good and pious men before God Which he does by aggravating their real Faults and Imperfections and by exciting the Wicked Men of the World to raise False Accusations against them as they Notoriously did against the Primitive Christians see Dr. Cave's Primitive Christianity Part 1. Chap. 1-4 But perhaps this Accusation may relate to Satan's appearing at this Judiciary Tryal alledging the Faults of the Brethren and demanding that they might be delivered unto him the Executioner of God's Justice which he might urge was not yet satisfied 11 And they 27 i. e. our Brethren overcame him in this judiciary Tryal before the Throne of God and all his subtile arts and powerful instruments in the times of Persecution by the Blood of the Lamb i. e. by Faith in Christ's Blood and by his Merits and Passion alone and by the word of their Testimony i. e. by the Gospel which they Preached purely and Efficaciously and the Testimonies they had given under the four first Seals and because they Loved not their Lives no not unto the Death but despised them and willingly and chearfully laid them down for Christ and his Gospel's sake Chap. 4. 9 10 11. 27 In this Verse is shewn the Way how Paganism was overthrown which is in a manner contrary to that which Antichristianism makes use of viz. by the Blood and Merits of Christ alone and not of Saints by the preaching of the Gospel and not by Vnwritten Traditions and by the Christians chearful and patient Suffering not by Resistance VVars and Murther Chap. 11.7 Although perhaps the Chief and Principal Import of this Verse may be to set forth the Grounds and Just Proceedings of God against Paganism and of the Victory here mentioned which was obtained by the Blood of Christ the great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Fundamental and principal Cause who prevailed by his Blood to open the Seals which were so many preparatory Judgments to this End and by the Testimony of the Living Creatures the Gospel-Ministry and Witnesses of the Four First Seals and by their Deaths and Martyrdoms under the Fifth Seal after which ensued the Ruine of Paganism under the Sixth Seal 12. Therefore rejoyce ye Heavens and ye that dwell in them i. e. ye Angels and Saints whose joy encreases according to the advancements of Christ's Kingdom on Earth and ye good and heavenly minded Christians which are faithful Members of the Church now in an exalted state although but for a short time wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth i. e. the earthly minded and Antichristian part of the Empire and of the Sea i. e. the wicked multitude of the Empire Jude 13. for the Devil is come down from Heaven or his exalted State unto you upon the Earth having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short 28 time i. e. in respect of his former Reign 28 The Pagan Religion was overthrown by Theodosius the Great and made only some feeble Efforts under Arcadius and Honorius and Theodosius the Younger but with little Advantage and therefore that being at an End the short time here mentioned must be meant concerning the Antichristian Empire which Satan knew was to have an End and that in a short time in respect of the several Thousand Years of his past Reign in the World from the beginning of Idolatry 13 And when the Dragon i. e. the Devil saw that he was cast upon the Earth out of his former Empire and Dominion he Persecuted * the Woman i. e. the Church which brought forth the Man-child i. e. the Kingdom of Christ * Here the History of the VVoman is resumed and the Persecution here mentioned must relate to the Incursions of the Goths and other Barbarous Nations Chap. 8. because they are the only Persecutions which immediately succeeded upon the Dragons being cast upon the Earth by the Overthrow of Paganism which Judgments designed as a Chastisement by God were intended by Satan who stirred up those Nations by the permission of Providence as a Persecution upon the Church so that the Trumpets which are contemporary with this Persecution were Divine Judgments in the Hands of the Angels upon the Empire and the Antichristianizing Party but in the Designs of Satan a Persecution of the pure Church 14 And to the Woman i. e. the true and pure part of th Church were given i. e. prepared by God's Providence ver 6. two 29 wings of a great Eagle i. e. effectual means of a speedy and safe delivery from this Danger notwithstanding all difficulties and in despight of all oppositions that she might fly into the Wilderness i. e. be in an obscure invisible condition verse 6. into her place prepared of God verse 6. where she is nourished or preserved for a 30 Time and Times and half a Time chap. 10 6. 11 2 3 9 11. from the face or sight and
wrath of the very Serpent 31 i. e. the Devil verse 9. 29 VVings denote Flight in Scripture Psalm 55.6 and a great Eagles VVings a swift and a safe Retreat joyned with tender Care Deut. 32.11 12. Isa 63.9 And here is an Allusion to Exod. 19.4 and Deut. 32.11 12. where God tells the Israelites that he had brought them out of Aegypt as on Eagles VVings Kings also and Kingdoms are represented by Eagles and VVings in (a) Ezek. 17.3 7. Dan. 7.6 Scripture whence the two VVings of an Eagle may be here appositely put to denote the Eastern and VVestern Divisions of the Roman Empire of which an Eagle is the known Ensign which by supporting and advancing the Visible Church secured also thereby the pure Church although in an obscure and VVilderness-State in the midst of the growing Apostasy as Wheat amongst Tares over-topping it according to the Parable Matth. 13. And here is also a Note of the Time when this came to pass the most remarkable Division of the Empire being upon Theodosius's Death when the Two Antichristianizing Divisions of it by introducing a State of Christianity which counterfeited the True one so covered and hid the True Church under it that the Enemies which Satan raised up against it combated not True Christianity but the counterfeit of Antichristianism for it which grounded its pretence to Grandeur on the very Glorious Promises made to Christ's Kingdom and its Idolatry on Honour for Christ and his Saints Which made the Devil who found that the Storms he had raised against the Church fell upon his own Antichristian part the Church becoming soon invisible to throw out of his Mouth verse 15. a Flood thinking thereby to overwhelm her wheresoever she was 30 Upon this place it is fit to observe 1. That this is the very distribution of Time allotted to Antichrist Dan. 7 25.12 7. Which was distributed after this manner to shew the different States and Progress of Antichrist who arrived not to his Kingdom but by Steps and Degrees for he was about One whole Time or Three hundred and sixty Years before his Kingdom was established upon his prevailing in the Iconoclastick War and from thence continued about Two whole Times or Seven hundred and Twenty Years in a flourishing State of Supreme Power and Dominion until the Entrance of the Half Time at the Reformation 1517. when his Kingdom declined and was in a broken and divided condition signified by Half Time which is called the dividing of Time Dan. 7.25 See what hath been said on Chap. 10 6. 11 2 3 9 11. and what is discoursed upon the Rise of Antichrist on the following Chapters 2. There being in the 1260 Days of the Witnesses some Remarkable proportionable parts called Three Days and a half it is highly reasonable that the woman in the Wilderness should have such a sort of Time allotted unto her because she differs not from the Witnesses but only Notionally as hath been before observed And therefore 1260 Days having been allowed her at the 6th verse it may be rationally concluded that the Distribution of Time in this Verse answers to the Three Days and a half of the Witnesses because they are both of the same Extent Three Times and a half being the same with Three Years and a half and also because they may fitly denote the Time in which the Church in general typified by the Woman was narrowly preserved from Destruction whilst its Members the Witnesses were oppressed and lay dead in the Streets See the Notes on Chap. 11. 9 11. 31 Serpents are noted by Naturalists to be quick sighted and the Old Serpent is described as very subtile Gen. 3. from whence we may conclude that the True Church was now at this time so closely secured by God that it escaped the sight of the Dragon himself even when he took the Shape of a Serpent that is used his utmost Craft and Subtilty as well as Power and walked about seeking to devour her And from hence also it appears that Antichristianism had now so mightily prevailed as to be praedominant the Church being hid and overgrown by it as the Wheat in the Gospel by the Tares and that this was the very time when the Witnesses lay dead as to Power being anathematized and silenced and yet prophesied in Sackcloth i. e. in a Wilderness State and Condition in which a Church was nourished and preserved by God altho latent and almost invisible the sealed ones being now closely secured and the Worshippers retired into the inmost Recesses of the Temple which are Symbols representing one and the same thing according to divers Notions and Circumstances For our better understanding of this Chapter we may distinctly consider the Woman or Church under these divers Respects 1. As Apostolical during the pure state of the Church of Ephesus Ver. 1. 2. As in pain and watched by the Dragon that her Child might be devoured during the Persecutions of the Church of Smyrna Verse 2-4 3. As Delivered of a Child under Constantine Verse 5. 4. As bereft of her Child which was caught up to God Verse 5. Whereby is signified That Christ was not to appear long in the Glories of his Kingdom at that time but was to disappear after he had given but a short sight and glimpse of it 5. As persecuted by the Serpent stirring up the Barbarous Nations Verse 13. 6. As in a preparation to fly when the Two Wings were given her Verse 14. 7. As fled into the Wilderness Verse 6. and as bid there in an invisible State during the closest times of her Wilderness condition called Three Times and a half Verse 14. and Three Days and a half Chap. 11. 8. As persecuted by the Mahometan Inundation Verse 15 16. It may also here be fitly observed That this Chapter contains a plain Answer to the common (a) See the Preface to Morney du Plessi's Mystery of Iniquity Mr. Mede Disc 29.32 and pag. 649. And a Discourse of Bishop Sanderson concerning the Church Question of the Romanists Where was your Church before Luther For it was in an obscure state sometimes more Visible than at others and sometimes almost wholly invisible amidst the Apostacy as Wheat amongst the Tares 15 And the Serpent i. e. the Devil cast out of his mouth 31 water as a flood i. e. multitudes of Barbarous Nations after the Woman the Christian pure Church that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood i. e. to be destroyed in the common ruin 32 Water as a Flood signifies in this Prophecy a sudden and violent Inundation of many People and Nations which seem to be the Mahometan Nations described Chap. 6th because 1. They are said to be cast out of the Serpent's Mouth by which the pernicious and prevailing Imposture of their false Prophets Doctrine may be signified whereby he deceived the Nations as the Serpent did Eve by his Subtilty Speech and Doctrine being compared in Scripture (a) Prov. 18.4
And from hence it appears as also from the solemn words Verse 17. It is done which are plainly taken from the same passage in Ezekiel that the Judgments upon those wicked Nations are here referred to and this may probably be that signal Vengeance which shall fall upon them upon the passing away of the Old Earth by which as by a mighty Tempest of Thunder Lightning and prodigious Hailstones reserved by God against this time of Trouble and this day of Battel and War as Job speaks Chap 38.22 23. in the same Words used in this Chapter and by Daniel Chap. 12.1 they shall be scattered into the Four Corners of the Earth where they are to remain under the Effects of God's Wrath often set forth in Scripture by such Tempests until the expiring of the Thousand Years CHAP. XVII The Text. 1 AND there came with Authority and Commission from God one i. e. the first Chap. 16.2 of the seven Angels which 1 had the seven Vials and talked with me after a more familiar manner saying unto me Come hither i. e. nearer unto me to receive more clear and intimate communications of Knowledge and I will shew or point out and demonstrate unto thee the Judgment i. e. the foul 3 guilt Sentence and Destruction of the great 4 Whore i. e. the gteat Idolatrous City and Church that 5 sitteth upon many Waters that is ruleth over much people Verse 15 18. Annotations on CHAP. XVII 1 To shew that this Woman was one of the Enemies of Christ's Kingdom upon whom the Vials are to be poured and withal the chief of them with whom all the others were to fall 2 As being now about to give him a more clear description of the Beast than he had as yet received 3 So the Word signifies sometimes in Scripture as Ezek 7.23 Rom. 5.16 1 Tim. 5.12 4 The People Cities and Churches which Apostatize from the True God to Idolatry are called Whores in (a) Isa 1.21 Nahum 3.4 Ezek. 23. Rev. 2.20 Scripture for breaking their Covenant with God to whom they were thereby espoused from whence it is evident that a Christian City must be meant in this Chapter and not a Pagan which cannot be said to be a Whore or an Apostate City because Pagan Cities having never acknowledged the True God or been espoused unto him cannot be said to Apostatize from him And we may observe that there is here a Double Article in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew that this City was Eminent for Idolatry and that she had been before noted for it in this Prophecy that she had continued in it for a long time that her sin was great in it self and had been propagated through the large Extent of her Dominions whence she is called The Great Whore and The Whore as being the Chief and Metropolitan of the Idolatrous Cities and Churches the impudent Whorish Woman according to Ezek. 16.30 and Chap. 23. and the Jezebel Rev. 2.20 5 In Allusion to the situation of her Type Babylon which is called The Great City Dan. 4.3 and is described Jerem. 51.13 as dwelling upon many Waters that is situaated upon Euphrates which encompassed it and ran through it and the adjacent Countrey in Cuts and Rivulets 2 With whom i. e. by 6 whose sollicitations and example the ten Kings of the Earth verse 12. have committed spiritual fornication which is Idolatry Isa 23.17 and all the inhabitants or meaner people of the Earth i. e. of the Apostate Roman Empire have been drunk i. e. madly zealous and sottish y doteing Jerem. 51.7 with the wine of her Fornication i.e. her pleasing and intoxicating allurements to Idolatry 6 Or hereby may be signified that they Idolized her by worshipping her and calling her the Mother and Mistress of all Churches and attributing Infallibility to her as the Phrase is taken Jerem. 3.9 Ezek. 16 17.23 37. 3 So he i. e. the Angel carried me away in the Spirit chap. 1. 10. into the Wilderness 7 where the Woman the true Church was chap. 12. 6. and I saw a 8 Woman i. e. a City verse 18. and Church * sit on high and in an exalted state verse 9. upon a scarlet 9 coloured Beast i. e. the Roman Empire full of names or kinds of Blasphemies i.e. of all 10 manner of Idols and Idolatries and Idolatrous Titles and Offices having seven heads or successive forms of Government verse 9 10. and ten horns i. e. Kings verse 12. 7 The Wilderness was a proper place for him to see this Vision in 1. Because places of Retirement and Solitude are fittest for the Reception of Divine Illuminations and for Meditation and to signifie that a clear and distinct View of the Apostasy could not be taken but by one who had retired at some distance from it and from its bewitching pleasures and the Hurry and Noise which attended its City Church and Court 2. Because the Woman the pure Church being in the Wilderness he could best compare them and distinguish the one from the other 8 Churches and Cities are represented by Women in Prophecy (a) Isa 54.6 Jerrm 6.2 Ezek 16 30. and 23d Chap. as they are also in ancient Coyns and Pictures And although a City be here chiefly signified as is plain from Verse 18. yet because the Church is in the City and the foul and loathsome Crime of the City here reprehended is with relation to Church-Corruptions therefore that is to be understood and included in it * She sitteth on high on the Beast by which she is born up or exalted as Imperial Cities are by the Empires of which they are the Chief Seat 9 Scarlet Colour denotes Royal Authority as appears from Dan. 5. Matth. 27.28 and the Military Robe of the Roman Emperours was also of that Colour whereby is appositely signified the Tyrannical Cruelty of the Beast and that this Woman or City was seated in the Roman Empire and was the Imperial City of it 10 All which may be included in (a) See Chap. 2 9. 11 13. numb 45. Names of Blasphemies and is plainly fulfilled in the Numerous kinds of Idolatry and Idolatrous Offices in use under the Roman Antichristian Jurisdiction no other Beast being proper to carry a Whore or an Apostate Church but an Apostate one 4 And the Woman i. e. the Romish City and Church was arrayed in Purple 11 and Scarlet Colour i. e. arrogated to her self Imperial Power and Majesty and decked 12 with Gold and precious stones and Pearls i. e. was a pompous and worldly Church full of Pride and Riches having a golden Cup 13 in her hand i. e. tempting Baits and powerful motives ready at hand to entice worldly minds full of abomination 14 and filthiness of her fornication i. e. of abominable and loathsome Idolatry 11 Scarlet was the Habit of the Romans in VVar and Purple the Habit of the Emperours and Senate in Times of Peace as Grotius observes on the place whereby is signified that this was
Chap. 20. 11. up of his Glorious Kingdom (c) Chap 1 7 and Chap. 20. 21. 22. to God and the Father Which Kingdom is the chief Action or End of the Prophecy to which all the other Actions represented in it are conducive and the whole is embelished by many accidental Ornaments as by so many Episodes As by a description of the (a) Chap. 4. Throne of the Majesty of God Songs (b) Chap. 5. chap. 7. 10 c. 11 16. c. 12. 10 c. 14 1. Chap. 15. and 19.1 c. of Triumph Praise and Thanksgiving (c) Chap. 7. 9-17 pre-representations of Christ's Kingdom Christ himself and Angels speaking voices from Heaven together with Thundrings and Lightnings and frequent Interlocutory passages too many to be here particularly mentioned It consists of two Tomes (d) See chap. 4 1. c. 5 1. of Prophecy the former (e) Chap 2. and 3. of which and the more general one may be called the Church-Prophecy the latter (f) Chap. 5. and more particular the Book-Prophecy both reaching from the Resurrection to the same Period of Time and describing the same events but after a different manner the first by Symbols (g) Chap. 2. c. 3. of Churches the latter (h) See Chap. 6. 1. c. by Symbols often taken from the Civil Occurrences of the Roman Empire and from others relating to the Church as Seated in it which principally respect the Affairs of the Church and Kingdom of Christ and yet are taken from civil Occurrences that each event might be the better distinguished as by so many notable Characters of time It begins with a general (a) Chap. 1. 1-12 Preface or Prologue wherein the Epoch (b) Chap. 1. 10. of the Prophecy is setled and the (c) Chap. 1. 5 6 7. Period of it the Kingdom of Christ And it ends with a general Conclusion (d) Chap. 22. 7-21 or Epilogue relating to some of the great events but especially to the Vials Besides the general Preface there are also two Particular ones the one (e) Chap. 1. 11 -20 prefixed to the Church-prophecy in which Christ is represented in a Priestly and Kingly Habit as Supreme Lord of the Church the Epistles are declared to be Mystical and are ordered to be sent to the Churches and their Angels The other (f) Chap. 4. and 5. is placed before the Book-Prophecy in which the Throne of God is described the Divine (g) See page 70. Court of Judicature which is to pass Sentence upon all the Actions in the Prophecy is setled Christ is declared the Supreme Director of them and appears (a) See pag. 83. as ready to receive his Kingdom But because Christ according to the Mysterious Agreement betwixt him and the Father had promised by (b) Dan. 12 7. pag. 83. 87. 112. chap. 10. 6. Oath that the Beast should have his Times therefore is the Book given into his hands Sealed with (c) Chap. 5. and 6. seven Seals which are as so many stops or delays to it and the several openings of them as so many removals of obstacles to it concerning which see Chap. 6. After the opening of the Sixth (d) Chap. 6. 12. c. Seal upon the downfal of Paganism the Succession of a Christian Emperour and the advancement of Christ's Church in the Empire there is given a representation (e) Chap. 7. 9-17 of Christ's Kingdom which as being the cheif end of this Prophecy is always kept in view in it of which the Christian Empire and Church thus advanced were an Emblem But because the Mystery of Iniquity began then to increase therefore (a) Chap. 7. 1-9 Chap. 11. 1. and Chap. 12. are the Servant of God Sealed the Woman prepares for her Flight into the Wilderness the Worshippers begin to retire into the Temple and the Witnesses prepare to put on their Sack-cloath which Visions are cotemporary and parallel and not long after are Persecuted by the (b) Chapters 11. c. 12. c. 13. c. 17. Beast which carries the Woman A pure Church being Sealed i. e. (c) See on Chap. 7. 3 4. Chap. 8. 1 -6 covered and secured amidst the growing Corruptions and the Seventh (c) See on Chap. 7. 3 4. Chap. 8. 1 -6 Seal being opened at the final Victory over Paganism by Theodosius there appear at the opening of that Seal on the back-side (d) See on Chap. 5. 1. of the seventh Roll of the Book seven Angels with seven (e) See Chap 8. and 9. Trumpets Symbols of so many Judgments upon the Antichristianizing Church and Empire The Judgments of the four (f) Chap. 8. 6-13 first Trumpets were executed by the Northern Nations which ended in the fall of the Western Emperours and the Succession of the (g) Chap. 9 1. Chap. 13. and 17. 8-13 Papal Empire the Fifth (a) Chap. 9. 3-12 by the Saracens and the sixth (b) Chap. 9. 12-21 by the Turks who destroyed the Antichristian Eastern Empire and still continue as a Wo upon the Western Quickly after the passing of the Mahometan Wo which is the second Wo the Wo of the sixth Trumpet before which (c) Chap. 11. 14. 15. the Witnesses will rise the ten Kings will hate the VVhore the Antichristian Hierarchy will fall and there shall be great Conversions the feventh (d) Chap. 11. 12 c. 17 16. See the Notes on Chap. 18. 21. and last Trumpet sounds out of which there proceed seven (e) Chap. 11. 15. Voices which are the (f) Chap. 14. Voices of the seven Thunders unsealed which were sealed at the beginning of the Reformation described chap 10. and are as so many preparations to the Blessed Millenuium out of the seventh (g) Chap. 14.19 See Notes on chap. 14. 2. of which Voices there issue seven Vials containing the final Judgments upon Antichristianism and all the enemies of Christ's Kingdom raised to Judgment whereupon a Monumental (h) See pag. 329. and chapters 15. 16 18 and 19. Pillar as it were is erected with this Inscription It is done to shew that the Prophecy aims at a certain time of Christ's Victory over his enemies and of his appearing in Glory to his Friends and Servants whereupon also anotner such Inscription is given chap. 21. 6. After the pouring forth of the seventh (a) Chap. 16. 17. Vial the thousand (b) Chapters 20-21 22. years Kingdom of Christ begins which being Expired Satan (c) Chap. 20. 3. is loosed for a little space but the final Judgment comes on at the end of which the Kingdom is (d) Chap. 20 11. delivered up to God And here it is to be observed that because the same things are represented in the Chutch Prophecy and in the Book Prophecy that therefore there are many Synchronisms or Contemporary Visions in this Book And because the Kingdom of Christ and Antichrist are Opposite that therefore there are many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Opposite representations in it Of which the Reader is here presented with a general Scheme the particulars which are very many being to be carefully observed and gathered out of the Book it self The Church of Ephesus (a) Chap. 2. 1-8 See pag. 20. 32. is contemporary with the four first Seals and reaches from the Resurrection A. D. 33. to the beginning of the Persecution under Dioclesian A. D. 303. The Church of Smyrna (b) Chap. 2. 8-12 in which the Synagogue of Satan arose is contemporary with the fifth sixth and seventh Seal and lasts until the sounding of the first Trumpet A. D. 437. The Church of Perganus (c) Chap. 2. 1â—-15 begins to Witness in Sackcloath at the entrance of the Apostasy A. D. 437. and is contemporary with the five first Trumpets and part of the Sixth and with the progress of the Apostasy to a Throne and the slaying of the Antipapal Witnesses by Excommunications and Persecutions until about the 12th Century or between A. D. 1100 and 1200. Then arose the Church of (d) Chap. 2. 18. c. Thyatira witnesing against the depths of Satanical Corruptions which continued during the first Slaying of the VVitnesses and the progress of the Mahometan Wo of the sixth Trumpet (a) Chap. 10. until the Reformation A. D. 1517. The Church of Sardis together with some low appearances of the Philadelphian State kept under by those of the Synagogue chap. 3. 9. are contemporary with the Reformation and are to last until some more perfect Church State shall appear of which if the Calculations (c) See the Notes on Chap. 10. 7. on Chap. 11. 2 11. frequently mention'd in the following Book prove true there will be some more than ordinary appearance about A. D. 1697. when the Beasts Months end The Philadelphian (d) Chap. 3. 7-13 State the Church of Thyatira (e) Chap. 2. 19. in its last works the undefiled (f) Chap. â— 4. Names in Sardis and those also of that State whom this Prophecy calls Them of the Synagogue chap. 3. 9. who shall come and unite themselves to the Church of Philadelphia carry on the whole series of things during the (g) See Chapters 14 Voices and the Vials from the rise of that Sate until the Glorious Millenium that is if the Calculations here advanced (b) Chap. 3. 1-7 prove true from A. D. 1697. until (a) See Chapters 14. and 16. A. D. 1727. and from 1727 to 1772. After the Millennium Satan is loosed for a short season Gog and Magog compass the City but are destroyed and all the Enemies of Christ are Judged and perfectly Subdued with which the Laodicean (b) Chap. 3 14-22 Chap. 20. State of the Church is cotemporary But besides these Synchronisms betwixt the Church Prophecy and the Book Prophecy it is very observable that there are very many Visions in the Book Prophecy which Synchronize one with another as is frequently observed in the Annotations of which here is given a short Specimen referring the Reader to the Book it self for a larger account of them Synchron 1. The Seals and many particulars in the twelfth Chapter are contemporary as will appear to any one who compares the sixth Chapter with the twelfth Synchron 2. The Barbarous Nations chap. 8. 7. entring as Gentiles into the outward Court the Worshippers in the inward Temple the Witnesses in Sackcloath and the Church actually flying into the Wilderness are also contemporary See Chapters 8. c. 11. c. 12. Synchron 3. The Beast rising out of the Sea coming into his Succession and into his forty two Months and the ten Kings receiving Power all one Hour with him are contemporary with the Extinction of the Western Empire upon the Sounding of the Third Trumpet because when the former Government was expired Another must needs immediately come into Succession Synchron 4. The Witnesses lying Dead and the Woman hid in the Wilderness from the face of the Serpent are Synchronous Synchron 5. The ending of the two Times the beginning of Half Time the Thunders Voices Uttered and then Sealed are contemporary See Chap. 10. Synchron 6. The full rising of the Witnesses the Fall of the tenth of the great City the passing away of the second Wo and the beginning of the seventh Trumpet to sound are contemporary with the End of the three Days and an Half of the three Times and Half and of the 1260 days and forty two Months which are in an equal Duration Synchron 7. The seventh Trumpet the Voices and the Vials the Judgment on the Whore the Beast and the False Prophet the Lamb's Wife making her self ready are contemporaries Synchron 8. The thousand Years of Sathan bound the first Resurrection the Blessed Participation of it the New Jerusalem the New Heaven and New Earth are contemporaries Synchron 9. The thousand Years expired Sathan Loosed the Gog and Magog are together in time Synchron 10. The Fire coming down from Heaven Sathan's casting into the Lake the Dead Judged and with Death cast into the Lake Synchronize with the White Throne the Laodicean Saints sitting down with Christ upon it The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Opposites are cheifly these The Kingdom of Christ and of his Saints The Kingdom of Satan carried on in the fourth or Roman Monarchy first as Pagan then as Antichristian The Church of Ephesus as Apostolical The Church of Ephesus having left its first Love Chap. 2. 4. Smyrna A Synagogue of Satan Chap. 2. 9. Pergamus and Antipas The Throne of Satan Balaam and the Nicolaitans Chap. 2. 13 14 15. the false Prophet Chap. 16 13. Thyatira The Depths of Satan Jezebel or the false Prophetess Chap. 2. 20 14. The undefiled names in Sardis Those of the Synagogue Chap. 3. 3 4 9. Philadelphia The Laodicean Luke-warmness The Lamb. The Dragon the Beast the other Beast with two Horns like a Limb. Chap. 13. 11. The Bride the Lamb's Wife chap. 19. 7. The Whore chap. 17. Christ's sealed ones and witnesses The Marked Slaves of the Beast chap. 13. 16. The great City the Holy Jerusalem the beloved City the Camp of the Saints c. 20 9.21.10 Babylon the great City reigning over the Kings of the Earth c. 17. and the City of Gog and Magog at the four corners of the Earth c. 20.8 Twelve the Apostolical Number c. 7.4 Twenty five the Antichristian name mark number c. 13. 18. Christ the King of Kings and Lord of Lords chap. 19. 16. The Kings of the Earth chap. 19. 19. The Armies which come in the Heaven with Christ c. 19.14 The Armies of the Kings of the Earth and their Nations Gog and Magog Chap. 19. 15 19. 20 8. ERRATA PAg. 6. l. 29. read 16. p. 9. l. 5. of the of this World p. 13. l. 16. r. denote p. 14. l. 24. r. full of p. 21. l. 16. r. Rom. 2. p. 27. l. 27. r. Goods p. 22. l. 32. r. 58. p. 41. l. 8. f. the r. that
the Chaos preceded the first appearance of Light which made the Day as the Darkness of the Apostasy according to the Course and Order of Nature which proceeds from Privation to Form preceeds the Morning-Star and bright Day of Christ's Kingdom whereupon the Months of the Gentiles are mentioned before the Days of the Witnesses because the Gentile Apostasy must be in Nature and Time before the Witnesses could prophesie against it although they both commence from the same Day or Year Now a Day is taken in this Prophecy for a Coelestial Solar Year consisting of Three hundred and sixty days in round Numbers according to the Custom of Scripture and according to the degrees of a Circle and of the Sun's passage through the Ecliptick by which the Year is made as appears from Three (a) 360 360 360 180 1260 Times or Years and a half being made equal to Twelve hundred and sixty days and therefore in proportion by a montb must be meant not a month in Civil Accounts which are Arbitrary according to the divers Customs and Reckonings of Cities and Nations but a Caelestial Natural Month depending upon the Moon by whose Motion from one Conjunction with the Sun to another the Month is made According to which Motion a Month consists of something above Twenty Nine days and a Lunar Year of 354 days not reckoning the Odd Hours and Fractions neither in this nor the Solar Accounts which is six Days above Twenty Nine Days to each Month of the Year by which reckoning (a) 354 354 354 177 1239 Forty Two months of years at 354 each year amount to 1239 years and at (b) 29 42 58 116 1218 Twenty-Nine Days each Month to 1218 years But because in the 1260 Days there are five Days taken from each Solar Year which indeed consists of 365 Days therefore also in the Lunar Years of the Forty Two Months there must be Five days taken from each that they may bear proportion to the Solar Years which are indeed only properly and naturally Years the Lunar Year being no otherwise a Year than as it is determined by the Annual Course of the Sun and being altogether uncertain and arbitrary but as it is adjusted unto and brought into accord with its Motion According to which Substraction each Lunar Year will amount to 349 Days and the whole Forty Two Months of Years to (c) 349 349 349 174 ½ 1221 ½ about 1222 Years (d) 1218 3 ½ 1221 ½ exceeding the Total of the Months at Twenty Nine Days each by about Four Days which because Fractions are neglected in these Accounts we are to reckon full 1222 Years (e) 1222 38 1260 Thirty Eight Years less than the Twelve hundred and sixty Days of Years of the Witnesses according to the proportion betwixt the Motion of the Sun and Moon the latter of which exceeding the former by about (a) 11 Days 3 ½ Years of Years 38 Eleven Days in a year or a Thirty Third part the Encrease in Twelve hundred and sixty years or Three years and a half of years amounts to Thirty Eight years or twice Nineteen years that is two Cycles (b) Bevereg Instit Chronol lib. 2.4 6 7 of the Moon or Golden Number which being grounded upon the Period of Meton a Famous Athenian Astronomer who flourished Four hundred and thirty years before Christ was first brought into the Kalendar by the First General Council of Nice A. D. 325. to settle the Paschal or Easter Feast about which so great Contentions had been in the Church which Rule and Decree is Religiously observed as Dr. Beveridge speaks in the Church of England And thus having settled the True Notion of a Month and the Extent of it we are next to find out where the Beginning of these Forty Two Months and of the Twelve hundred and sixty Days which are parallel to them is to be fixed the Holy Spirit having not been pleased to give the precise Epocha or Beginning of them but having left it to be searched out by the Industry of those who consider Times and Seasons We are to take Notice then that (c) See Mr. Mede's Apostasy Gentilism consisting in the Practice of Pagan and Idolatrous Customs was come to a great heighth about A. D. 400. and that there is great Reason to fix upon A. D. 437. for the precise Year from whence the Lord of Times and Seasons thought good to date the Beginning of its Times or Reign may be made more than probable from these following Considerations 1. Because it is the precise Year in which the Churches Purity ended it being the Year which compleats the last Half Time of the Churches Purity weighed in the Two Scales of the Ballance which appeared under the Third Seal as hath been shewn on Chap. 6.5 2. Because it is the very Year from which the Time Times and Half Time are to be reckoned as hath been already proved on Chap. 10. vers 7. numb 13. Which being made equal to 1260 days Chap. 12.6 14. the beginning of the Date of the one must be the beginning of the Date of the other and consequently of the Forty Two Months of the Gentiles which run parallel to the 1260 days of the Witnesses and of the Woman in the Wilderness Of which the Reformation beginning A. D. 1517. just at the Entrance of Half Time is an illustrious Proof as hath been observed on Chap. 10. 3. Because it is the middle Point betwixt the two remarkable Half Hours made up into One Hour at the Ten Kings receiving power with the Beast Concerning which see what hath been largely discoursed on Chap. 8. 4. If the beginning of the Gentiles Months and of the 1260 Days of the Witnesses be fixed at 437. there will be found to be a wonderful Congruity according to the strictest Mathematical Proportion betwixt the Days of the Witnesses the Gentiles Months and the Months of the Beast who as is evident from Rev. 17.10 11 12. receiv'd not his power until he came to be the Eighth King which was not until the End of A. D. 475. or the beginning of A.D. 476. upon the Fall of the Western Emperour Now if the Gentiles Months begin (a) 437 1222 1659 38 1697 A. D. 437. then they must end they amounting in the whole as hath been shewn to 1222. Years at A. D. 1659 sooner by Thirty Eight Years then the 1260 Days End which is the Exact Astronomical Proportion betwixt Solar and Lunar Time as hath been before observed and if the Beasts Months begin at (b) 476 1222 1697 476. then they will end at 1697. together with the Days of the Witnesses and will carry on the Times of the Apostasy from (c) 1659 38 1697 the End of the Gentiles Months to the End of all Antichristian Time by the same Astronomical Proportion consisting of Two Cycles of the Moon or Golden Numbers For it is to be observed that the Church was Paganized before the
which it came to be called the third part whereupon the Grecian Monarchy was cast to the ground it 's very Seat and Power becoming thereupon Roman Constantine (b) Cave's Introduct to the Lives of the Fathers vol. 2. pag. 13. Rycaut's Pref. to the Lives of the Popes commanding by a Law that it should be called New Rome and having Peopled it with the best Families he could draw from Old Rome and the Inhabitants of it being called Romans 13 Here is implied that the fourth Empire Subdued all the rest and bore Rule over all the Earth after it had Subdued the Grecian Monarchy which stood in competition with it according to what was foretold by Daniel chap. 2. 39 40. 7 7 19 32. 14 This refers to the Persecutions which fell upon the Christian Church by the Instigation of the Devil and his Instruments in the Roman Empire especially to their last and most cruel Effort in the ten Years Persecution under Dioclesian when the Woman was as it were teeming with a Glorious Church State in a Christian Empire which was brought forth under Constantine as a short Specimen and imperfect Representation of the Kingdom of Christ as hath been shewn on chap. 7 9.-17 5 And yet notwithstanding all his opposition Psal 2. she brought forth a 15 Manchild i. e. Christ reigned then as King and Lord of his Church and there was on Earth a lively and manly representation of him and his Kingdom for a short time Psal 2.7 8. Is 9 6.66 7 8. Acts 4 23.-30 who was to rule all Nations with a rod of Iron i. e. was to have an universal Kingdom Psalm 2 8-12 and her Child was caught 16 up unto God and to his Throne i. e. Christ and his Kingdom were advanced and his Church was in a State typical of his glorious Kingdom which yet not long continued Psal 110.1 15 Here the Kingdom of Christ is plainly set forth in Expressions chiefly taken from the second Psalm which contains a Description of it as all Interpreters agree And by the Man-child is meant 1. Christ himself who is said to be brought forth or born because he at this time obtained as King of his Church a Conquest over Paganism and a great increase to his Kingdom whereby he was begotten in the Phrase of the Psalmist Psalm 2.6 7 8. that is the holy Child Jesus was manifested and declared to be Lord and King 2. The Church and Christian Empire under Constantine may be called the Man-child as Cyrus is called the Lord's Christ or Messias Isa 45.1 because he was a Type of Christ and as Christians are said to be Christ's Body and to have Christ formed in them Gal. 4.19 And if the Roman Empire it self may in some sense as Grotius has well noted on Dan. 7.13 be not unfitly called an Image or Type of Christ much more may the Christian Empire under Constantine who was a greater Restorer of Christ's Kingdom than Cyrus was be styled a Mystical Christ and be an Emblem of his Glorious Kingdom on Earth 16 Christ after his Resurrection which is called his Birth in Scripture was taken up into heaven as we also shall be caught up thither 1 Thes 4.17 where the same word is used insomuch that this Phrase is taken from Christ's Ascent into heaven and alludes to it And its import may be 1. That Christ was then actually King of the Roman Heathen Empire which he had newly conquered signified by his being caught up to the Throne of God whereby some Ascents of his Throne in the Heavenly Places or Advancements of his Kingdom may be signified in which he was installed and inaugurated at his Ascension when he was caught up into Heaven 2. Hereby may be signified also the advancing of the Christian Religion to the Imperial Throne as Christ was advanced at his Ascension to the Throne of his Father at his Right Hand Psalm 110.1 But as Christ was of a sudden taken up in a Cloud out of the sight of the Apostles whilst they were looking on him Acts 1.9 so may also hereby be signified the short space of the continuance of the Roman Christian Empire Rev. 17.10 answerable to Christ's being seen of the Apostles only for Forty Days Acts 1.3 and the sudden depravation of Religion by a growing Antichristianism upon its advancement by Constantine whereby in a short time the true Primitive and Apostolical Christianity was obscured and could not be seen pure and unmixt which as (a) And on John 1.1 Grotius has noted on the place may be signified by being caught up to God those things being said in Scripture to be with God which are invisible and appear not unto Men. 6 And 17 or but yet it was not long before the Woman or Church thus delivered from Persecution and advanced in the Christian Empire * fled into the Wilderness 18 i. e. was in a secret and obscure state and condition in the midst of the encreasing Apostasy where she hath a place prepared by God i. e. she is secured by him that they 18 should feed her there or that she should be nourished and preserved there after a wonderful manner a thousand 19 two hundred and threescore days i. e. Years See chap. 11. 2 3. 17 When Christ was caught up to God and the Heavenly State he designed became thereupon invisible the Church soon retired into the Wilderness i. e. into an obscure and invisible State too as being bereft of that Presence and Power of Christ which was necessary to advance it into that perfect and heavenly State which his Kingdom requires Here the Flight which was after the War in Heaven is mentioned before it by a Prolepsis or Anticipation frequent in (a) Grot. in Gen. 1.27 Ecclus 48.1 Scripture and in this (b) See Pererius on the Revelations Grot. on Rev. 21.2 Prophecy the Holy Spirit being wont to hasten to the chief point it is about and to mention what intervenes of lesser consequence afterwards as is manifest from the History of the Creation where Paradise which was planted on the Third Day is not described until afterwards in the second Chapter and the full and particular Relation of the Creation of Mankind but briefly touched upon in the first Chapter is deferred unto the second which Figure is here observed to shew that the Man child Christ's Kingdom was not to succeed upon the Glorious Pre appearance of it Verse 5. and that the Church the Woman was to be in an obscure condition and that immediately after her Delivery and that she was presently to prepare for her Flight she being not to appear in Visible Glory until 1260 Years after it * So the Children of Israel went up in haste out of Aegypt Exod. 12.31 33 39. 18 This Type is taken from the Children of Israel's sojourning in the Wilderness after they had escaped out of the hands of Pharoah who is expresly called Psalm 74.13 14. Isa 51.9 the Dragon or Crocodile lying
Mede ou the place to the deep and flowing waters of a Man's Mouth and the Mahometans having been peculiarly described by their Subtilty as well as their Power and Force Chap. 9. 7 8 10 19. 2. Because this their violent and sudden Invasion like that of a Torrent or water as a Flood was just before the Death of the Witnesses at the second Council of Nice when the Woman was flying into her closest and most retired state answerable to that of the sealed or secured from the hurt of the Mahometan Locusts Chap. 9.4 for she was as yet visible to the Serpent when he cast the flood after her and was then flying into her invisible state the Church being as is plain from hence sometimes totally over-spread with thick darkness and at other times more or less Visible as the Sun is in cloudy days or the Stars in overcast Evenings when they can scarcely be discerned but by a piercing and stedfast Eye or through Telescopes 16 And the Earth i. e. the corrupt and apostatized part of the Church helped the Woman by opposing this inundation and the Earth 33 opened her Mouth and swallowed up the Flood which the Dragon cast out of his Mouth i. e. received and suffered the mischeif of their invasions 33 These words are taken from Numb 16.32 and allude to what has sometimes happened in Earthquakes in which Rivers have been swallowed up by the Earth And it may be observed that it is not said that the Earth swallowed the waters which might indeed denote the conversion of the Barbarous Nations and their incorporating into the Apostasy but that it swallowed up the Flood whereby the Mischief of the Waters or People is more properly signified which indeed fell severely as hath been observed on Chap. 9. on the Idolatrous Apostasy whilst the pure Church was sealed or secured and preserved from the hurt of the Locusts 17 And the Dragon was wrath with the Woman i. e. the pure Church and he went to make War by means of the Beast chap. 11 7. to whom he gave his Authority chap. 13.2 with the small remnant 34 of her seed i. e. the Witnesses who became visible by separating from the Apostasy chap. 11. which keep the Commandments of God purely and entirely without additions and corruptions and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ which is the Spirit of Prophecy chap. 19.10 i. e. are Witness Churches chap. 11.3 34 The Seed of the woman are plainly the Witnesses Chap. 11. which small Remnant was warred with and killed whilst the Church in general or the Woman was preserved by God CHAP. XIII The Text. 1 AND 1 John stood upon the 1 sand of the Sea and saw in Vision a 2 wild savage 3 Beast i. e. an Idolatrous cruel and persecuting Body of Men under a Chief Head rise up out of the 4 Sea i. e. taking its beginning out of the Commotions and Confusions of Nations and People Dan. 7.2 3 having seven 5 heads or Forms of Government Chap. 12 3.17 10 and ten horns or Kingdoms Chap. 5 6.12 3.17 12. and upon his horns ten 6 crowns or Diadems to denote their Soveraign Power and upon his heads the name of Blasphemy signifying that they were Idolatrous Governments Chap. 2.9 Annotations on CHAP. XIII 1 The most proper place to receive a Vision of a Beast rising out of the Sea 2 So the Word should be translated for it is of a distinct signification from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which also ought to be rendred Living Creature and not Beast 3 It appears plainly from Dan. 7.3 17 23. that this is the true (a) See Grotius on Dan. 7.3 Mat. 20.26 Moor's mystery of Iniquity Part 2. in the Word Beast Scriptural Notion of a Beast in general 4 This is taken from Dan. 7.3 where Four great Beasts or Kingdoms are represented as coming up out of the Sea upon which the Winds had striven whereby a Troublesome state of Affairs is aptly signified out of which Empires and Kingdoms have generally risen See num 6. 5 From hence it appears evidently that this Beast is the Roman Empire which was under seven Forms of Government See on Chap. 12 3. 17 10. 6 These Horns are the Kingdoms into which the Roman Empire was divided as appears from Chap. 17.10 which are here represented as Crowned to denote that this was the State of the Empire under which that Division should come to pass whereby it is distinguished from the State of the Empire given as Pagan in the foregoing Chapter where its Ten Horns are not Crowned For although Prophecy with Respect to the Vision in Daniel Chap. 7.8 generally represents the Fourth Beast or Roman Empire in its full and compleat Portraiture as well with Relation to what it was to be as to what it actually was at the time of each Vision yet that a distinction of the Times of its particular States and Conditions might he the better observed each Representation is generally diversified by some particular circumstances relating to it Whereupon the Ten Horns are represented as Crowned to shew that this was the Beast with which the Ten Kings were to receive Power From whence it appears that this Beast is the Papacy as is shewn on Rev. 17.12 which also rose out of the Sea or out of the Confusions of the Roman City and Empire when it was cast like a burning Mountain into the Sea Chap. 8.8 It being plain from (a) Morney du Plessi's Mystery of Iniquity pag. 81 85. Heidegger Histor Papatus pars 1. cap. 2. Bp. Overal's Convocat Book pag. 291 292. History that the Papacy rose upon the Ruines of the Empire which beginning with the the Invasions of the Northern Nations about 400 we may well date its first rising out of the Sea from about that time when (a) Epist ad Gaudentium in Prefat ad libr. Didym de Sp. S. where by the See thing Pot out of the North he understands the Northern Nations Jerom expected Antichrist whom (b) This is confessed by Bellarmine de Roman Pontif. 3. 5. See Mornay's mystery of Iniquity Downham of Antichrist B. 1. c. 3. Dr. Cressener's Append. to his Demonstrat of the Apocal. he and the Ancient Fathers believed should rise upon the Fall of the Empire which they took to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that which withheld the Man of Sin 2 And the Beast which I saw was in its Body like unto a 7 Leopard which represents the Grecian Monarchy Dan. 7.6 and his Feet were as the Feet of a 7 Bear the Emblem of the Medo-Persian Monarchy Dan. 7.5 and his Mouth as the Mouth of a 7 Lion which was the Symbol of the Babylonian or Assyrian Monarchy Dan. 7.4 and the 8 Dragon i. e. the Pagan Roman Emperours Chap. 12. 3 9 13. gave him i. e. the Beast his 9 power i e. his Diabolical Arts and Forces to entice and constrain Men to Idolatry his 10 Seat or Throne i. e. his
Pretences and punish the Faults of this Succession and to purge and purifie it 38 Thyatira is distant from Pergamus about Forty Eight Miles and there is not now so much as One Christian Church in it Stephanus the Geographer tells us that this City which was before called Pelopea and Semiramis was named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and afterwards Thyatira by Seleucus Nicanor upon the News he received there of the Birth of a Daughter Which Name may therefore denote according to the Allusion observed in the other Names An idolatrous Daughter of an idolatrous Mother Jezebel who was as the Scripture Notes 1 Kings 16.31 The Daughter of Ethbaal the King of the Zidonians and therefore fit to represent the Woman described Chap. 17. of this Prophecy who was the Idolatrous Mother of the Apostate Daughter or Church of this Succession and the Daughter of Paganism as Jezebel was of Ethbaal the Zidonian 39 Christ here makes himself more plainly known than he had hitherto done and that by his Supreme Title the Son of God because that his Kingdom was now to arise more visibly out of the Apostasy and therefore to be owned and protected by him their Supreme Sovereign who was to destroy their Enemies and give them power over the Nations 19 I know thy Works in order to the propagating of my Kingdom and Charity or Love and Zeal towards me which thou hast not left or abated Verse 4. and Service in thy Ministry and towards the poor Saints Rom. 15.25 31. 2 Cor. 8.4 and Faith and Patience during the Corruptions and Persecutions of the Apostasy and 40 thy Works and the last works of the Church typified by this State to be performed by them at Christ's coming to his Kingdom Verse 25 26. to be more in Number and Quality then the first Works at their first remarkable Rising out of the Apostasy 40 Here their Works are twice mentioned and their last are said to be more than their first whereby is signified the the Faithful of this Succession whom we have supposed to be the Waldenses and Albigenses should towards the approach of Christ's Kingdom do things surpassing their first Works which yet were very great they having at first proselyted an incredible Number of all Ranks and Nations as appears from History and even the Confession of their Enemies for which see Vsher Thuanus and a late English Treatise 20 Notwithstanding I have a few or some little things against thee because thou sufferest 41 that Notorious Cursed woman 2 Kings 9 34. Jezebel 42 i. e. the Papal Apostasy which calleth her self a Prophetess i. e. pretendeth to and boasteth of Infallihility 43 and miraculous Gifts to teach and to seduce by her cunning Devices 2 Kings 9.22 my Servants professing Christianity to commit Spiritual Fornication by Idolatry and to eat things sacrificed unto Idols See Verse 14. 41 The True Church is blamed for suffering the Apostasy although they were kept under by its Power and Dominion because it was as yet so imperfect in its Gifts and Graces as not to be able utterly to cast out those Corruptions which cannot stand against the power of God's Word when it appears in its utmost Efficacy 42 A fit Type of the Romish Apostasy 1. for Idolatry 1 Kings 16.31 32. 2 Kings 9.22 2. for Cruelty and persecuting of God's Prophets or Witnesses that protested against Idolatry 1 Kings 18 4.19 2 10. 2 Kings 9.7 3. for stirring up Ahab or the Secular Magistrate to persecute God's Servants and to draw them to Idolatry by false witnessing against them 1 Kings 21.8 9 10 25 26. 4. for her Paint and Whorish Attire and her Witchcraft or subtile Allurements to entice to Idolatry and keep Men in her Communion and her impudent impenitence 2 Kings 9.22 30. and lastly for the manner of her Destruction which was so entire as that of the Apostasy will be Vers 27. that nothing remained of her but so much as might serve for a Monument of her Destruction 2 Kings 9 35-37 43 Which Doctrine began to be advanced in this Succession of the Church by the Schoolmen who appeared A. D. 1200. And perhaps Jezebel might have been one of the Prophetesses of Baal for we read 1 Kings 18.19 that an hundred of them eat at her Table it being probably their Office to provide for and Minister to the Prophets which may also be further conjectured from her conversing with them it being usual for the Disciples of the True Prophets to be seized with their Enthusiasms as Saul was when he was amongst the Prophets which might be imitated by the evil Spirits in the idolatrous Prophets 22 And I gave her space 44 to repent of her Fornications i. e. her Idolatry and she repented not 44 Which may be dated from the time of the more publick Appearance of the Witnesses under the General Name of Waldenses about A. D. 1100. or rather if we compare this place with its parallel Chap. 9.20 21. from the Inroads of the Turks into the Eastern Empire ending in the taking Constantinople A. D. 1453 until the Reformation A.D. 1517. when the Sardian State began at the appearing of Luther which great punishment of God upon the Eastern Empire for its Idolatry having not its due influence upon the Western God was pleased to raise up Princes who threw off the Romish Vsurpations and Corruptions and openly owned and protected the Reformation which is the Sardian State of the Church as it is favoured by Protestant Princes as that of Thyatira is the Type of the True Church under the Oppression of Popish ones that being the Church-State immediately following the foregoing Pergamenian State which was under the power of Satan's Throne in a hidden condition having in it Idolaters which it could not cast out because of the power of the prevailing part of the Church For Thyatira's suffering of the Woman was not a willing connivance but one arising from a necessity of the great Oppression she was under and the imperfectness of their Church-State for if it had been a voluntary connivance at Idolatry Christ would not have said that he had only a few or some small things against them Neither would this State have been approved by him so far as to bid them hold fast that which they had already And this space is typified by the time of Repentance which God gave Jezebel which was from Elijah's denouncing Judgment against her 1 Kings 21.23 until her Death accompanied with an impudent impenitence 2 Kings 9 30-37 22 Behold I will cast her into a Bed 45 of languishing Psalm 41.3 and them that commit Adultery with her by being Partakers with her in Idolatry Chap. 17.2 into great tribulation at the pouring out of the Vials chap. 16. except they repent 46 of their deeds 45 Instead of the Beds of her Whoredom and Idolatry alluding to Jezebel's Adultery And it is apparent that the Romish Church hath been in a languishing and decaying Condition ever since the appearing
Successors 16 And said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us altho by crushing us in pieces Isa 2 19.-21 Hos 10.8 from the face or anger of him that sitteth on the Throne i. e. God and from the wrath of the Lamb i. e. Christ that we may not see and feel the misery which is coming upon us 17 For the great 30 day of his wrath i. e. the appointed time of his Judgments is come and who shall be able to stand against it oppose or endure it 30 This immediately refers to the overthrow of the Pagan Powers by the Christian Empire and has also a relation to the final Judgments upon Antichrist when the Martyrs who are commanded to rest until that time shall be fully avenged this Judgment upon Paganism by the Christian Empire being a Type of the Judgment at Christ's Kingdom CHAP. VII The Text. 1 A And after these things I saw four Angels 1 i. e. Ministers of God's Providence standing in a readiness to execute God's Commands upon the four corners i. e. Angles or Cardinal Points Ezek. 7.2 Matth. 24.31 Zech. 2.6 of the Earth holding back or restraining the four winds or Instruments of trouble and commotion Jerem. 49.36 Dan. 7.2 Zech. 6.5 of the Earth that the Wind 2 should not blow upon the Earth 3 i. e. that the Roman Empire should not be disturbed nor on the 3 Sea i. e. the common People Chap. 17.15 nor on any Tree 3 i. e. the great ones Isa 2.13 Zech. 11.2 Annotations on CHAP. VII 1 The Living Creatures do not appear but Angels in their stead and they standing on the Angles of the Earth and not on the Angles of the Throne as the living Creatures did whereby is signified that the strict Apostolical Purity was abated as I have often remarked as the Glory of God and the living Creatures in Ezekiel remove by degrees from the Temple as it grew more and more polluted until they departed totally from it Read and diligently Consider Exek 8.4 6.9 3.10 15-19 11 23. 2 Hereby is signified the Quiet which the Christian Empire enjoyed from Constantine to Theodosius in respect of what Commotions were before in the Empire whilst it was Pagan and should be afterwards upon the Death of Theodosius when its Ruin soon ensued upon the Winds blowing by the Trumpets Chap. 8. For by the Winds not blowing is not meant that they should have no Troubles and Commotions but according to the usual import of such Hyperbolical Expressions in Scripture that they should be so little or short as the Tempest under Julian was that they should be in comparison nothing at all especially in respect of those Commotions the Empire was to undergo within a short season which would produce great Changes in it by introducing a New Antichristian Supremacy with Ten Kings whereby the Monarchick Power of the Empire according to its Representation in Daniel shifted from its Iron Legs into its Feet and Toes part of Iron part of Clay and the Idolatrous Beastian Power was to pass into the Little Horn and the Ten Horns all which being to be brought to pass by great Concussions in the Empire its present State under Christian Emperours is accounted a Calm in respect of what was to ensue the Pagan Beast being then subdued and the Antichristian Man of Sin being withheld so that Christianity was then as it were in a quiet and prosperous condition 3 3 3 The whole Body of the Roman Empire is here represented by apt Metaphors taken from those things which are most subject to be disturbed with Winds 2 And I saw another Angel 4 ascending from the East i. e. Christ having the 5 Seal of the Living God i. e. a Commission from him Ezek. 9.4 and he cried with a loud voice to testify his Love and Affection to his chosen ones to the four Angels to whom it was given by God who had determined great changes in the Empire to hurt by executing of Judgments the Earth and the Sea vers 1. 4 Christ is called the Angel of the Covenant Malach. 3.1 and the Sun of Righteousness Malach. 4.2 and the Day-spring or rising Sun from the East Luke 1.78 and Ezek. 44.2.3 the Prince of the Church that is Christ and only he has Power to enter in at the Eastern Gate of that Mystical Temple from whence it is clear that Christ is here to be understood called so because he enlightens and comforts his Church and like the Rising Sun discovers Works of Darkness and the good from the bad See Dr. Hammond on Luke 1.78 Gregory's Observations pag. 73. and Dr. Pocock on Malachi 5 A Seal signifies a Command or a Commission from its being sealed with the King's Seal 1 Kings 21.8 Esth 3 12.8 8 10. 3 Saying hurt not the Earth neither the Sea or the Trees i. e. the Empire and its Inhabitants till we have 6 sealed or shall seal i. e preserve and secure in secret Ezek. 9 1.-4 the servants of 7 our God i. e. those who serve God purely and sincerely Nehem. 1.11 in their 8 foreheads i. e. very closely and securely 6 Men use to Seal those things which they would have concealed and preserved as we have before hinted on Chap. 5. 1. especially in times of danger so God commanded the Israelites to sprinkle Blood upon their Posts when he would save them whereby as with a Seal he concealed and preserved them Exod. 12. and the Scarlet Thread Josh 2.18 was a Sign or Seal to distinguish Rahab from those that perished and Ezek. 9. a Mark or Seal of Distinction Security and Preservation is put upon the Foreheads of those that were to be saved in that common Destruction And the prime and great import of Sealing is to signifie that the True Glory which shall appear in Christ's Kingdom the New Jerusalem was to be covered and secured while the false and worldly Splendor and Glory of the Antichristian Apostasie was cheifly visible and predominant the True Worshippers being now in the Temple the Witnesses in Sackcloath and the Woman in the Wilderness which are all equivalent with these sealed ones 7 Christ as Mediator and Head of the Church has a joynt Relation to God with his faithful Servants John 20.17 8 In allusion to the Custom of the Eastern Nations who marked their Servants on the Forehead And hereby is signified a close concealment and security when the Foreheads or Faces of his Servants are sealed or hid so that they could not be known 4 And I heard and therefore am certain of what I relate the number of them which were sealed or concealed and secured and there were sealed an 9 hundred forty and four thousand of all the Tribes of Israel i e a pure Apostolical Church was preserved but in a hidden and secret condition the glorious appearance of Christ's Kingdom being stopped and hindred 9 Israel in this Book as hath been before observed on Chap. 2.9 is put for the pure Christian Church
lawful for the Gentiles to pray there and therefore it could not properly be said to be given unto them now or to be polluted by them as having been always accounted unclean whereas they were never admitted into the other Courts And by the Court without the Temple is very appositely understood the Visible Christian Worship because the Visible Worship of God was performed in that place under the Law whereas all the Temple-Worship was hid from the People See the Books before quoted and Mr. (b) Pag. 19 20 478 479 480. and Ainsworth on Exod. 40.33 Mede's Works 8 Grotius on the places notes That this is called Extracludere by the Ancient Writers concerning the Limits and measuring of Grounds But the Word also denoting in (c) John 9.34 Acts 7 58 13 50. Grotius in loca Scripture an Ignominious casting out or an Excommunication it may also here signifie the leaving or casting it out of the Sacred Enclosure or Limits as unsacred and polluted as Mr. (d) Pag. 587. Mede speaks 9 So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is of the past Sense and not of the present may be translated whereby is signified that it had been given up or delivered by God before the time in which it was measured although it must be confessed that the past Tense is often used for the present in Scripture 10 By (a) Hammond on Matth. 23.15 Grot. on John 12.20 Acts 21.28 Gentiles or Nations the Jews understand all but themselves and Proselytes of Justice who were circumcised and accounted as Jews which were the Proselytes of the Gates as they call them who had renounced Idolatry but had not embraced the whole Jewish Religion and were permitted to come no further than into the Outer Court called the Court of the Gentiles and were thought to prophane and pollute the Temple if they did as appears from Acts 21 28 29.24 6. But by Gentiles are most commonly meant in Scripture the Heathen Nations round about them who whilst they continued in open Idolatry were not to live amongst them especially those who persecuted them and laid their Country City and Temple waste such as Nebuchadnezzar and Antiochus whose Desolations are bewailed and described in (b) Psalm 74. and 79. Dan. 8.1 Maccab. from Chap. 1. to Ver. 16 of the 6th Scripture and such were also the Four Successive Monarchies of the Assyrians Persians Grecians and Romans whose Times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or appointed Seasons the word made use of by Daniel and Jeremiah Chap. 27.7 are called by our Saviour (c) See Grotius on the place and Mr. Mede's Works pag. 709 753. Luke 21.24 the Times of the Gentiles at the ending of which fort of Times in the Expiration of the Roman Monarchy continued in the Antichristian the Jews are to be restored as our Saviour there plainly asserts and the Holy City is no more to be trodden under foot by the Gentiles Now the like Expressions and some of the Words here made use of being plainly taken from the (a) Psalm 79.1 Dan. 8.10 1 Maccab. 1.37 38 39.3 45 51.4 60. Luke 21.24 Scriptures quoted in the Margin it is manifest that they have an Allusion to them especially to the Story of Antiochus a lively Type of Antichrist who is therefore prophesied of in him as a Type by Daniel and of the Gentile Times and Actions here foretold and therefore the like Actions committed by some Christians must be here referred to called Gentiles for bringing the (b) Mr. Mede's Apostasy of the latter Times Gentile Worship into the Church together with Tyranny and crafty Baits to entice to Idolatry according to the Example of Antiochus the Type of Antichrist and the Paganizing Jews who did after the Ordinances of the Heathens and built a Place of Exercise at Jerusalem according to their Customes and thereby gave a great occasion to the Tyrant to take Jerusalem and to enter proudly into the Sanctuary and pollute it and lay it waste like a Wilderness and to make the City an habitation of Strangers or Gentiles and to become strange to those that were born in it as you may read in the places of the Book of Maccabes before quoted All which agrees plainly to the Apostasy which has introduced a Pagan Christianity into the Church 11 Jerusalem is called so which is the Type of the whole Christian Church whereby is signified a Vniversal Apostasy in the Visible Church the latent or invisible one having been before measured and secured by God 12 A Day is put for a Year in this Book as hath been before shewn on Chap. 2.10 and then by consequence a Month must be put for a Month of prophetical Days consisting of as many common years as a common month doth of days But for the better understanding of the Nature of these prophetical Times and Seasons it will be very convenient to deduce this matter from the very Beginning and Original of it And accordingly it is to be observed that out of the whole space of Time assigned by God to the Transactions of this World which is thought to be about Seven Thousand Years there is a certain part allotted by him for the Times of the Apostasy and the Reign of the Beast called by Daniel Time Times and half a Time Chap. 7 25.12 7. of which it hath been discoursed already on Chap. 10.6 which are reduced into 1260. Days and Forty Two Months in the Revelations Into Days with respect to the Witnesses and the Seed of the Woman in the Wilderness who are the Children of the (a) Mede pag. 481 492. Mori Oper. Theol. pag. 614 616. Gen. 1. Luke 16.8 Acts 26.18 2 Cor. 6.14 Eph. 5.8 1 Thes 5.5 8. 2 Pet. 1.19 Rev. 22 16. See the Notes on Rev. 12.1 Day and into Nights with respect to the Gentiles and the Beast whose Antichristian Deeds are Works of Darkness and they the Children of the Night of which the Moon has the Government And as the Natural Day is divided in Scripture into Evening and Morning so is this Line of Time in proportion to that Distinction divided into Days which answer to the Morning of the Natural Day and into Months which answer to the Evening or Night of it the Days and Months making up one and the same Line of Time as the Evening and Morning make up One Natural Day whence the Time allotted in Daniel Chap. 8.13 14. for the Course of Affairs from Cyrus to the cleansing of the Sanctuary is called Evening-Morning out of which for it principally respects the Apostasy which defiled the Sanctuary this Line is taken the Months out of its Evenings and the Days out of its Mornings which way of Speech is taken from Gen. 1.5 16. where the Light is called Day and the Darkness Night and the Moon is said to rule the one and the Sun the other and the Natural Day is called Evening-Morning the Evening being put before the Morning because the Darkness o◠Night of
upon this happy and glorious change of things 50 Here is an Acknowledgment of Praise and Thanksgiving to God according to the usual manner in this Prophecy as hath been before frequently observed and that made by the Twenty Four Elders the Representatives of the Jewish Church and by Voices in the former Verse which perhaps proceeded from the Four Living Creatures who are the Voices or Speakers in the sixth Chapter 17 Saying We give thee thanks O God Almighty which art and wast and art to come i. e. the Eternal Jehovah because thou hast taken 51 unto thee thy great or extraordinary power which hath been hitherto usurped by Satan Mahometism Antichistianism and the wicked Powers of this World and hâ—th reigned visibly and powerfully in Truth and Judgment without any rival 51 Here is declared the Succession of Christ's Kingdom as it is the manner to proclaim the Succession of Princes 18 And or although 52 the Nations or Gentiles that is the Paganizing Christians verse 2. were angry for being cast out of the visible Church which they had defiled and usurped verse 2. Psal 2. and 99.1 and or but 52 thy wrath 53 is come or is ready to be poured forth and executed upon the living and the time of the Dead is come that they should be Judged both good and bad according to their Deeds and that thou shouldst in that time of Judgment give reward unto thy Servants the Prophets or Witnesses of the Jewish Church or Ministers Dan. 12.3 and to the Saints or eminently holy Persons of the Christian Church and to all them that fear thy Name in every Nation according to the light and talents God hath given them Acts 10.2 34 35. small and great in Office or Graces who shall be rewarded according to what they have received and the use they have made of it Mat. 25. and shouldst destroy them of all sorts which destroy or corrupt the Earth by their Tyranny Wickedness and Antichristian Apostasy 52 In both these Senses the Article is used in Scripture according to its Acceptation in the Hebrew of the Old Testament Gen. 15 10.17 5. Job 17.10 Jerem. 11.17 and in several other places 53 This Verse relates to the Time of Trouble mentioned Dan. 12.1 and the great Battle Rev. 16. and the Resurrection and Judgment mentioned in the last Chapters which shall be particularly discoursed of in their proper places 19 And the Temple of God i. e. his pure Worship was opened in Heaven i. e. became visible in the Church and there was now seen in his Temple which before was measured sealed and shut up verse 2. the Ark 54 of his Testament i. e. the greatest Mysteries of Religion which were before obscured by Antichristianism were most clearly made known and there were lightnings and voices and thundrings and an Earthquake and great hail i. e. high and clear Manifestations and signs of Christ's Kingdom Mat. 24 Rev. 4 5.8 5. 54 The Ark of the (a) Numb 4.5 20. 1 Sam. 6.19 Exod. 25. Testament was always kept secret and covered and was to be seen only by the High Priest once a year whereby the Mysteries of Religion are Typified which the Angels desire to look into and were not Revealed unto them but by the Church 1 Peter 1.12 Ephes 3.10 Now these Mysteries called here the Ark of His that is Christ's Testament or New Covenant which were mightily obscured and perverted under the Reign of Antichristianism appear opened that is clearly manifested unto all Jews as well as Christians now united into One Body from whom also they had been for a long time hid by Types and Veils and a Judicial Blindness 1 Cor. 3 13-16 Rom. 11.25 Which Temple here opened and the Ark seen it are more fully and largely prophesied of by Ezekiel from Chapter the 40th to the End of his Prophecy CHAP. XII The Text. 1 AND * there appeared in vision a great wonder or prodigious sign portending great things in Heaven †or in the pure Primitive Church State a Woman i. e. the Church the Spouse of Christ Isa 54.1 2 Cor. 11.2 Eph. 5.32 cloathed or Environed wich the Sun beams shining all about her i. e. full of Communications of Glory Purity and Holiness from Christ the Sun of Righteousness Malac. 4.2 and the Moon 1 i. e. Antichristianism under her feet i. e. in comtempt and in subjection to her and upon her Head a Crown 2 of twelve 3 Stars representing the twelve Apostles chap. 1.20 Annotations on CHAP. XII * The Beast having been but just mentioned in the former Chapter Verse 7. the Holy Spirit doth here according to the Custom of Scripture which takes occasion from the bare mention of a thing to give a larger Account of it begin to set forth who he was and from whence he had his Original and how he came to be so powerful as to make War with and kill the Witnesses which Subject is prosecuted in this the following and the seventeenth Chapter And here we may observe that the Vision of the VVoman is Cotemporary with the Fifth Seal Chap. 6.9 when the pangs of Persecution were at the heighth the Child being brought forth in the Christian Empire in the next Seal †Heaven as hath been cursorily observed on Chap. 11.12 num 41. is not to be understood always in this Book only and perhaps not primarily of the Church-State on Earth but of the Archetype or State of it now in Heaven there seeming to be in Heaven a Kingdom of Christ and an Heavenly Tabernacle and Sanctuary which is an Archetypal and Exemplar State of what is to be performed on Earth in the Church Whereupon a Door was opened to John in Heaven Chap. 4 1. and the Temple of God was opened in Heaven Chap. 11.19 Which Interpretation will be much strengthned by a due Consideration of Hebr. 9. where the Apostle distinguishes betwixt a VVorldly (a) See Grotius on Heb. 9. and Mr. Dodwell of One Altar Sanctuary and a Heavenly one and calls the Jewish a pattern of things in the Heavens And there is also in this Book a Consessus Synedrium or Seat of Judgment in Heaven described in the Fourth and Fifth Chapters before which Satan as God and Prince of this VVorld was as it were tryed and after his Accusation of God's Servants and Defence of himself adjudged to be cast from the power of Godship which he had in those parts of the World which are concerned in this Prophecy Whereupon there is Joy in Heaven verse 12. upon the Brethrens being acquitted upon Satan's Fall from the Rule he had by God's Justice over the wicked World the Glory which accrued to God by his Wise and Holy Administrations and the present Advance of Christ's Kingdom Upon the increase of which the Saints may receive increase of Glory in that Heavenly Tabernacle which shall come down from Heaven in the New Jerusalem State 1 Worldly things because of their Mutability may be reprseented by the
(a) See Mr. Mede on this place and Pag. 613. Poli Synops in Gal. 4.3 Coloss 2.8 20. Moon the lowest of the Planets and nearest to the Earth Paganism also one and the same Symbol having divers significations in Scripture as Grotius observes on Heb. 9.11 may be very well signified by it but Antichristianism is here chiefly intended the main Subject of these Visions denoted by the Moon because of the Paganism it introduced into Christianity whose Idolatrous Rites were Works of the Night or of Darkness of which the Moon is the Governess and whose Festivities depended upon the Motions and Aspects of that Planet as hath been already observed on Chap. 11. num 12. And by the Moon 's being here under the Sun as it is when it Eclipses it seems to be pointed out the critical time of this Vision viz. that it was when the pure Apostolical Church typified by Ephesus was about to leave its first Love and to receive a (b) Compare Luke 21.24 with Rom. 11.12 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Deminution or Eclipse from the increasing Apostasy for the Lustre of the Christian Church of the Gentiles was diminished upon the coming in of the Apostasy and is not to have its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Full Light of Graces Knowledge and Converts until the Paganizing Times of the Gentiles in the Antichristian Apostasy are fullfilled 2 To shew that the Apostolical Doctrine is the Chief Ornament Crown and Glory of the Church Thus the Word Crown is used Isa 28.5 Phil. 4.1 1 Thes 2.19 And in this Verse there is an Excellent Description of the pure primitive Church enlightned and adorned by Graces Gifts and Communications from Christ and with the pure Apostolical Doctrine but yet capable of having its Light eclipsed by Antichristianism rising from under its Feet and of having its Crown of pure Gold fall from off its Head except Christ hold it in his Right Hand Chap. 1.16 3 Hereby is signified that the Church was Apostolical the Twelve Apostles being represented by Twelve Stars because they enlightned the Church and were constant and sixt in their Doctrine not variable and unconstant as the Moon is in its Appearances and Motions whereby it is the fitter Type of Antichristianism See the Notes on Chap. 7. 4 5. and 21 15-21 And perhaps the Twelve Stars may be symbolical of the Twelve Tribes as they shall be in the New Jerusalem State Predicted and Typified by this State of the Church as the Glorious Kingdom of Christ is by the Christian Empire 2 And she i. e. the Church being with 4 Child i. e. very Fertile and Fruitful with true Christians Is 54 1.60 22.66 8. Ezek. 16.20 cried travailing in Birth and pained to be delivered i. e. laboured with her utmost endavours to bring forth set up and propagate Christ's Kingdom Isa 66.7 Gal. 4.19 4 The Metaphors in this Verse are chiefly taken from Isaiah's Description of the Perfect Church consisting of Jews and Gentiles united into One Body as it shall be in Christ's Kingdom Isa 66 5-24 3 And whilst the Women was in Travail there appeared another Wonder in 5 Heaven and behold a 6 great 6 red 7 Dragon i. e. the bloody and Persecuting Pagan Roman Empire of a great Jurisdiction and Extent having seven 8 Heads or Forms of chief Government successively one after another See Chap. 17. 9 10. and ten 9 Horns or Kings Dan. 7.20 24. Chap. 17.12 and seven 10 Crowns or Diadems upon his Heads noting the seven successive Forms of Government in the Roman State to have been Imperial and Supreme 5 The Dragon appears as in Heaven because he was reputed as God by the Heathens and was now worshipped and in power in the Pagan Empire 6 6 7 Pharaoh Aegypt and other Idolatrous and Persecuting Powers and Empires are represented by (a) Psal 74.13 14. Is 27 1.51 9. Ezek. 29 3.32 2. Dragons in Scripture and by Leviathan and other monstrous Creatures for so the Word translated (b) Dr. Pocock on Mic. 1.8 Malac. 1.3 Dragons signifies in general in the Old Testament And accordingly the Roman Pagan Empire is set forth by a Dragon because it was a Satanical Kingdom shewing a Diobolical Spirit in its Persecution Idolatry Tyranny and Unjust Enlargement of Dominion Upon which also the Dragon is represented as of a great Size and red or bloody and because Satan called a Dragon or Serpent from his tempting our first Parents in that shape ver 9.2 Cor. 11.3 really influenced and presided over that Empire as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Governing and Assisting Daemon and was indeed worshipped by them when they sacrificed to their Idols 1 Cor. 10.20 8 Rome indeed stood upon seven Hills which yet are not here meant because Head signifies in Scripture the Governing Part Isa 7.20 Dan. 7.6 1 Cor. 12.21 and therefore by these seven Heads are appositely denoted the seven successive Governments of the Roman State viz. Kings Consuls Decemvirs Dictators Tribunes Caesars or Emperours and the Antichristian King the seventh Head See the Notes on Chap. 17. 9 10. 9 Horns as hath been shewn on Chap. 5.6 signifie Kings and Kingdoms and the Roman Empire is represented with Ten Horns that it may bear proportion with the Description of it given Dan. 2.41 where the Fourth Kingdom hath the Toes of a Man which are Ten. See Chap. 17.12 10 Crowns are an Emblem of Imperatorial and Supreme Power and therefore the Ten Horns do not appear crowned because they were not as yet in being as Kings but were Subjects to the Roman Empire See on Chap. 13 1. 17 12. 4 And his 11 Tail i. e. his Power and Subtility drew after him and reduced under his Power the third 12 part of the Stars of Heaven i. e. the Potentacies and Governments of the world and did 13 cast them to the Earth i. e. Subdued them and the Dragon stood watching and ready fierce and hungry 1 Pet. 5.8 before the Woman or Christian Church which was ready to be delivered of the Kingdom of Christ for to devour 14 her Child as soon as it was Born i. e. to destroy the Kingdom of Christ as soon as it appeared 11 Some Dragons or Serpents particularly those which are called Rattle-Snakess have monstrous and prodigious long Tails which are an (a) Moor's Oper. Theol. pag. 601. Hammond on the place emblem of a great retinue and a long Military Train of Souldiers and Armies the Tail also signifies in Scripture Subtility and may here denote the Policy of the Devil and his pretences to Miracles Prophecy Magick and the like whereby he corrupts and deceives the minds of Men. See Chap. 9.10 12 By the third Part is meant the Grecian Monarchy the third Monarchy in Daniel whereby we have a remarkable Note of Time given us viz. that it was now upon the point of time in which the Seat of the Roman Empire was to be transferred from Rome to Byzantium by Constantine upon
See Chap. 2.9 num 19. 22 The Humane Nature of Christ is called in (a) John 1.14 Hebr. 8 2.9 11. Col. 2.9 See Dr. Hammond on John 1.14 Scripture the True Tabarnacle in which the Divinity as it were sojourned here upon Earth And the Church also may be represented by a Tabernacle as it is called Ezek. 23.4 Rev. 21.3 because of its wandring Wilderness-condition in expectation of its Home and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Heaven The (b) See Dr. Moor's Mystery of Iniquity first is blasphemed in the Papacy many ways but especially by the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and the Idolatrous practises consequent upon it the latter by Calumnies Excommunications and Persecutions It is the Opinion of a Learned Man that by Tabernacle is here meant the State of Saints and Angels in Heaven or the Heavenly State in which Christ is said to minister Heb. 8.2 and through which he is said to have passed Heb. 9.11 to the Holy of Holies the very Throne of God which may also be the meaning of Heb. 10.20 And this Interpretation he thinks to be most probable 1. Because the Humane Nature of Christ is it self the Minister of the Tabernacle and not the Tabernacle in which the Ministration is performed 2. Because the Heavenly things themselves are to be purified and anointed Dan. 9.24 Heb. 9.23 and therefore are to be supposed to have been prophaned and blasphemed that is Idolatrously abused and because such an Acceptation of the Word Tabernacle here is more agreeable to what is said in this Vision concerning the Tabernacle of Testimony being opened and the Tabernacle of God being with Men and with Ezekiel's Visional Temple or Tabernacle and with the Divine Tabernacle Chap. 4. the Scene or Apocalyptick Stage of these Visions See Chap. 12 1. 21 3. And lastly because Christ in his Humane Nature may be more significantly comprehended under the (a) John 1.1 18. See Mercer and Pocock on Joel 2.32 and Acts 2.21 Name of God 23 Who are blasphemed by the Idolatrous Worship of them taught and practised in the Church of Rome 7 And it was given to him to make War with the Saints i. e. to oppose excommunicate and persecute the Witnesses Chap. 11 7. and the Seed of the Woman Chap 12.17 and to overcome them Chap. 11.7 and power was given him over all Kindreds and Tongues and Nations i. e. to make Proselytes in all parts of the World and to Rule and Govern the Kings and People of the Antichrian Kingdom Chap. 10.11 8 And all that dwell upon the Earth i. e. the Apostacy shall worship him i. e. obey and honour him as an Infallible Head whose 24 Names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World i. e. except those Living Eminent and Excellent Members of Christ's Church particularly known and designed by him to be effectually saved by his Blood who was crucified in respect of the Divine Decree Appointment and Agreement betwixt the Father and the Son from all Eternity Phil. 4.3 Gen. 3.15 Acts 15.18 Gal. 3.17 24 See on Chap. 3. 4 5. These are the Witnesses Chap. 11. the seed of the Woman Chap. 12.17 and the Sealed ones 9 If any man 25 hath an ear let him hear for what hath been now delivered in a Spiritual and Mystical manner is very remarkable and worthy the most attentive and most serious Observation See Chap. 2.7 25 Hereby as hath been already shewn on Chap. 2.7 is intimated that what has been delivered concerning the Beast in this Chapter after an aenigmatical and parabolical manner this being the Sentence made use of by our Saviour in the close of his Parables is a Truth of the greatest importance against which yet many would shut their Ears And therefore all Christians are called upon seriously to consider and weigh what is here delivered and not to be driven from the profession of the pure Faith by Fear of Punishment nor wrought upon to follow the Beast by the spendid Baits of Greatness Power and Authority or the high and big pretences of Infallibility Success and Vniversality seeing it was foreseen and foretold by the Holy Spirit that the generality of Mankind should be earthly minded and should thereupon follow the Beast and only a few chosen and beloved of God should escape this Vniversal Corruption 10 He that leadeth 26 into Captivity shall go into Captivity he that killeth with the Sword must be killed with the Sword i. e. all Antichrian Enemies shall be dealt with at last as they have dealt with others Chap. 19. 20 21. Here is an occasion for the Exercise of the Patience and Faith of the Saints in bearing their Sufferings and in believing and patiently waiting for their deliverance out of them and the destruction of the Enemies of God and of his Church See on Chap. 14.12 26 Here is a plain reference to the Beast's and the False Prophets being taken Captive and to the slaughter of the Remnant by the Sword Chap. 19. 20 21. For as the Prophets of old were wont to comfort the People of God when in Captivity and under great distress by Denunciations of Ruine and Destruction to their Enemies so does the Holy Spirit here revive the persecuted Saints by telling them that their Persecutions should have an End and that the Apostasy which now domineered and blasphemed the Holy Name of God should at last be abolished and utterly destroyed according to the just and righteous Judgment of Almighty God who recompenses Tribulation to them that trouble his Saints 2 Thes 1.6 7. Isa 33.1 2. Ezek. 39.10 Matth. 7 2.26 52. But yet they are commanded to have Patience for although the Judgment is certain yet it will not be so soon as they might expect Hab. 2.3 4. Matth. 21 19-24 11 And I beheld another 27 Beast i. e. another Persecuting and Idolatrous Body of Men under Superiors coming up silently slowly and by degrees as feet of Clay out of the 28 Earth or Apostasy and he had two 28 Horns Potentacies or Powers like a Lamb 29 i. e. seemingly Christian and he spake as a 30 Dragon i. e. was in his Doctrines Decrees and Practises Antichristianly Idolatrous and Persecuting 27 This Beast is different from the former as appears from his Original Shape and the other Characters here given of him called therefore the other Beast as being a distinct Beast from that whose Succession the Prophecy was describing 28 28 The former Beast rose up out of the Sea that is the Commotions and Divisions of the Empire This rises as things grow out of the Earth silently and by degrees And as by the former Beast the Papacy as Monarchick and Imperial was fitly represented so in this Type there seems to be a signification of the Apostate Hierarchy or of the whole Body of the Ecclesiasticks as Antichristian as appears 1. From the Account here given of its Original viz. that it was out of the Earth by which
an Imperial Roman City It is also observable 1. That this VVoman takes to her self the Colour of the Ornaments of the Tabernacle of God as Grotius also notes which were of (a) Exod 25.4 Purple and Scarlet whereby her Idolatrous Vsurpations of what belongs to God may be set forth And 2. That these Colours are much affected in the Papacy (b) Heidegger in Apocalyps pag. 429 430. Platin. in Vit. Paul secundi Vide Bezae argutum Epigramma in hanc rem that Christ's Priests saith Baronius might be in their Pomp equal to the High Priests amongst the Heathens 12 Such was also wont to be the Attire of Harlots Prov. 17.10 And it is observable that the Papacy has not only excessive Riches and Revenues but that the (c) Rycaut 's Preface to the Lives of the Popes Popes have been so prodigal in procuring Ornaments and Jewels for their own Pontifical Attire and especially their Triple Crown a fatal Counterfeit of Christ's many Crowns Rev. 19.12 that they have often run the Papacy into debt by it which by their Prodigious Pride is loaden with Gold and Jewels and became thereby so heavy that Pope Paul the Second died of an Apoplexy occasioned by the weight of it 13 Babylon her Type is said Jerem. 51.7 to be the Golden Cup that hath made the Earth drunken with her Wine 14 Abominations signifie Images or Idols and the abominable Practises accompanying them 1 King 11.5 7. 2 King 23.24 Jerem. 7 30. â—2 34. 5 And upon her 15 forehead after the impudent manner of a whoreish woman Ezek 23 and 16.30 was a Name 16 written so plainly that it might be read and understood by those who exercise Spiritual Wisdom verse 9. Mystery 17 of iniquity 2 Thes 2.7 18 Babylon the great i.e. the Metropolis of the Fourth or Roman Empire the 19 Mother City and Church of Harlots i. e. of Idolatrous Cities and Churches and abominations i. e. the cheif Author and Promoter of Image Worship and other filthy 20 and unclean Doctrines and Practices of the Earth i. e. of the Apostasy 15 Criticks have observed that Harlots were wont to have their Names written on the Portals of the House where they prostituted themselves and sometimes upon their Foreheads and that hereby is accordingly signified the notorious Impudence of her Idolatry although I presume that this may be rather an allusion to the Title (a) Exod. 28.36 upon the Forefront of the Mitre of the Jewish High Priest which had Holiness to the Lord written upon it and that hereby is intimated that this Apostate Church was of a contrary Temper and Spirit to what God required in his Church and Servants 16 She was not one of those whom God had sealed in the Forehead but had her Crime written upon it her sin being publick and notorious and easily to be discerned by the Mind that hath Wisdom 17 Hereby is evidently signified that this VVoman had compleated and brought forth that Mystery of Iniquity which began to work when the Apostle wrote to the Thessalonians called a Mystery of Iniquity because it undermined Christianity the Mystery of Godliness by the specious pretences of promoting and advancing it as Dr. Moor hath shewn in his Mystery of Inibuity where he hath also plainly proved that this hath been actually done by the Romish Church whose Religion and Worship especially in what belongs to the Mystery of the Mass is so mystical that many Books have been writen to give the significations of it and of the Habits of their Priests and the Ceremoniet and Vestments they make use of And that Papal Rome is hereby meant will appear more evidently from what Scaliger has noted on this place viz. that the Word (a) Heidegger in Apocalyps cap. 17. pag. 160. Downham of Antichrist and Bishop Barlow's Brutum Fulmen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was engraven on the Frontlet of the Pope's Mitre and was changed by Julius the Third when the Protestants began to adapt this Prophecy to the Papacy which is also confessed to be true by Brocardus a Papist in his Notes upon this place who lived in the times of Pope Julius and is but faintly denied by Lessius in his Answer to King James 18 Babylon was the Seat of the Assyrian Monarchy and is confessed (b) Dr. Cressener lib. 1.3 by almost all Interpreters Ancient and Modern Popish as well as Protestant to be a Type of Rome which in here described by the Phrase Nebuchadnezzar made use of when he proudly gloried in Babylon as the seat of his Kingdom from whence it appears that Rome is here meant under the relation of being the seat of the fourth Empire as Babylon was of the first And Rome as the seat of the Fourth Empire under its Antichristian King must be here meant because it is called the Mother of Harlots which is a Phrase peculiar to an Apostate City and Church in Scripture as hath been before observed on numb 4. 19 The cheif of the Idolatrous Churches from whence Idolatry is derived and propagated to all others and on which they depend as members of it in Opposition to the True Jerusalem the mother of us all Gal. 4.26 20 Such as the Denial of Marriage to the Clergy whereby Vncleanness is promoted the toleration and defence of Fornication and other abominable Doctrines and Practises which are Taught or Connived at under the Papacy 6 And I saw the Woman as it were drunken with the Blood of the Saints or holy and pure Christians which she had spilt with an excessive and insatiable greediness and delight and with the Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus i. e. his Special and Faithful Witnesse and when I saw her I wondered 21 with great Admiration what this Vision should mean 21 This shews that Rome Antiehristian must be here understood for it would have been no such strange sight to have seen Pagan Rome defiled with Idolatry and drunk with the blood of Christians 7 And the Angel said unto me wherefore didst thou marvel for the thing when thou understandest it more fully will not seem so strange and therefore I will 22 tell or explain unto thee the mystery or secret meaning and import of the Woman i. e. the City and Church and of the Beast i. e. the Roman Empire that carrieth or supporteth her verse 3. which hath the seven heads and ten horns verse 3 22 Here the Angel contrary to his wonted custom Explains the Vision to him which shews that it is a very remarkable one and upon which the understanding of all the others depend very much 8 The beast or Roman Empire as under its seventh Head the Papacy verse 10 11. which thou sawest carrying the Woman verse 3. was 23 in the sixth head the Pagan Emperours verse 10 and is 23 not as yet risen and arrived to an Antichristian Supremacy See chap. 13. 11 12. and or but shall ascend 23 out of the bottomless Pit and arrive to that