Untitled Treatise on Revelation (section 1.3)
No 18.
PROP. I.
The Seales & within the seventh Seale the Trumpets are distributions of time which succeed one another orderly without any interruption or interfering.
This Proposition follows from the Rule because in the vision as it appeared to Saint Iohn the seales were opened & the Trumpets sounded one after another in order & the contents of every seale & Trumpet are in this book described in the same order without any interfering or interruption. And farther as an indication of the {illeg} {illeg} immediate consequences of opening that seale. ffor as soon as it is opened the Trumpets are given to the seven Angels in order to their sounding.
I said that the Seales & Trumpets are described after one another without any real interruption: but this is to be understood with this limitation that the seventh chapter be esteemed as a Parenthesis between the sixt & seventh Seal; & the tenth chapter & 13 first verses of the Eleventh also a Parenthesis between the sixt & seventh Trumpet. ffor these were inserted into the continued narration of the Seals & Trumpets for a singular reason to be explained hereafter, & make no more then a verball interruption of their continuity. For it is manifest that the things declared from ch 10.1 to ch 11.13 end together with the sixt Trumpet becaus at the end of them is added: The second wo is past & behold the third wo cometh quickly. And so the seventh seale manifestly begins together with those things described in the seventh chapter becaus the hurting of the Earth & the Sea & the Trees which was immediately to follow the sealing of the saints ch 7.3 was put in execution at the sounding of the Trumpets; the Earth & the Trees being hurt in the first Trumpet & the Sea in the second: & therefore the sealing of the saints must immediately precede the first Trumpet & so be coincident with the time of incense. And indeed the stilness of the winds during the sealing, & the silence in heaven during the incense, what els should they signify by their mutuall resemblance but the coincidence of these times? For by the silence is to be understood a suspension of those noises which followed the time of incense, that is of the voices & thundrings & Trumpets which is as much as to say a suspension of wars (see Prop 4) & the stillnes of the winds {signify} the same thing Def 52. But * * these {illeg} have o{illeg} plain {illeg} in the Proposition {illeg}refer {illeg}
These {illeg} theses are {illeg} collateral {illeg} with the se{ven} seals & {illeg} & so make {no} intrruption.
I {had} thought {illeg} while {illeg} {command} between the plagues of the 4th & 5t Trumpets by the {flying of the} Angel through heaven & crying Wo, & between the plagues of the sixt & seventh {is} this expression: the second wo is past & behold the third wo cometh quickly: ffor these intervalls, as they were requisite to distinguish between the cardinall revolutions, so being inconsiderably short they may be esteemed connexions of the Trumpets & referred each to the time of the precedent Trumpet extended so much beyond its plague.
< text from p 2 resumes >PROP IV.
The Calamities which follow upon sounding the Trumpets, are all by War.
This the very soundings of the Trumpets imply, as being so many Alarms to war. But I shall run over the particulars.
At the first Trumpet the Blood mingled with the Hail & Fire, at the second Vial the sea becoming blood as of a dead man & every thing dying in it, & at the third Vial the ffountains becoming blood & god's giving them blood to drink because they had shed the blood of his saints, are manifest indications of war. For none of this bloodshed can be by persecution of the saints becaus these plagues are termed the Vials of the wrath of God & so to be inflicted upon evill men, as is also exprest in the pouring out of the first & third.
Also at the fourth Trumpet or Vial the smiting of the Sun Moon & stars, signifies the overthrow of some King or Kingdom by Def 44 & 45, & so implies war.
And in all these four Trumpets there is also an impression of war by fire & burning. In the first there is fire mixed with the hail & blood, in the second a mountain burning with fire, in the third a Star burning as it were a Lamp, & in the fourth power is given to the sun to scorch men with fire: & this figure of fire & burning signifies war by Def 48 & 49
The wars of these four trumpets are also signified by the four winds in chap 7.1, of which we shall have occasion to speak in Prop 15.
Moreover at the fift Trumpet there arose Locusts like horses prepared to battel with faces like men (i.e Horsmen) & Breastplates as of Iron. And the sound of their wings was as of Chariots & Horses running to Battel.
<5>At the sixt there were let loos four Kings with an Army of horsmen with Breastplates & license to kill men.
And at the seventh the Beast with the Kings of the Earth were gathered together against him that sate on the hors & against his Army. And there followed a great Hail with thundrings & lightnings & a great shaking: which are the singular impressions of a great Battel by Def 51 & 53
<6>PROP. II.
The seven Vials of wrath described in Chap 15 & 16 are the same with the Plagues or woes of the seven Trumpets in Chap 8, 9, 10, 11.
This will appear by the following comparison of each Vial with each Trumpet.
Here the hail & fire mingled with blood which were cast upon the earth answers to the Vial poured out upon the earth. And the trees & grass which were burnt up answer to the men which were infected with the noysom & grievous sore. ffor trees & grass in visions are used to signify men of high & low degree. Def Yet it is to be noted that notwithstanding this external resemblance of this Trumpet & Vial their interpretation is somthing different.
The parallelism of the second third & fourth Trumpet & Vial is manifest. And in this fift there is darkness in both cases; & the seat of the beast corresponds to the men which had not the mark of God in their foreheads; & the pains & sores to the stingings of Serpents with which men were exceedingly tormented but not killed.
| VI. Ch. 9.13, 14, 16. And the sixt Angel sounded, & I heard a voicesaying – loos the four Angels which | Ch 16.12. And the sixt Angel poured out his Vial upon the great River Eu |
Here the four Angels bound at Euphrates with their Army manifestly answers to the kings of the East at the same river.
< insertion from p 8 >
I have here put a parallelism between the falling of the tenth part of the city, & the falling of the cities of the nations, not as if they were the same, but because I take the former which concludes the sixt Trumpet to be an immediate fore-runner of the latter wherewith the seventh Vial begins.
And thus you see the agreement between the plagues of the seven vials & Trumpets is throughout very punctuall, so that I think there can be no doubting of their sameness | coincidence. I may add that their Introductions also resemble one another. For the sealed saints with which the Prophesy of the Trumpets is introduced (ch 7.3) correspond to them that get the victory over the Beast & over his Image &c with which the other Prophesy of the Vials is introduced ch 15.2 ffor the sealed saints were contemporary with the Beast as shall be shewed hereafter, & consequently were the same with those that got the victory over him. Also the Vision of offering incense at the Altar before the Angels began to sound, corresponds | has some resemblance to the vision of the Temple appearing opened in heaven & filled with smoke from the glory of God, out of which the seven angels came to pour out the Vials. And lastly in that ye Vials are called the seven last Plagues they suit well with the Trumpets which are the plagues of the last Seale & inflicted on those wicked ages which the Prophets & Apostles considered as the last times.
< text from p 11 resumes >PROP. III.
The seven Thunders also (ch. 10.3) most probably denote the same thing with the seven Trumpets.
That they are not a series of things conteined in the sixt Trumpet is probable, as well because they are omitted in the sixt Vial, as becaus the little book & other circumstances of the tenth chapter denote a regress of Prophesy. And if there be a regress, then there is no Epocha so proper for them as that of the Trumpets: especially if it be considered, that, as the Censer is a Type of the Vials of wrath, so the ensuing voices & thunderings (ch 8.5) may be a type of the voices of these seven thunders.
And perhaps the reason why the things which the thunders uttered are not declared, is because they are sufficiently declared in the Trumpets & Vials. And that these Thunders are notwithstanding introduced may probably be to make the description of the Beast harmonize with his number 666. For 'tis not probable that they should be introduced for no end, & I cannot yet see any unless to make up this harmony, which consists in the tripple repetition of his description by the Trumpets Vials & Thunders, under the first six of which his reign is comprehended.
PROP. V
The fals Prophet mentioned in chap 16 & 19, is the same with the two horned Beast in chap 13.
This is evident by the agreement of their descriptions. ffor ch 13.14, the two horned Beast is said to deceive them that dwell on the earth by means of the miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying that they should make an Image to the Beast which had the wound by a sword & did live. And ch 19.20, the fals Prophet is said to have wrought miracles before the Beast, with which he deceived them that – worshipped his Image. Which descriptions sufficiently convince their sameness.
But further, as in ch 12 & 13 the two horned Beast is described together with the Dragon & ten horned Beast, so ch 16.13, instead of the two horned Beast, the fals Prophet is recconed with the Dragon & ten horned Beast. Which argues it to be but another name of the same thing given upon the account of its lying wonders, to distinguish it from the ten horned Beast which in the 14th & following chapters is eminently stiled the Beast. And hence it appeares why Saint Iohn never speaks of Beasts in the plural number, as in some places he should have done had not one of the Beasts been signified by the name of the fals Prophet.
PROP. VI.
The ten horned Beasts in chap 13 & 17 are the same.
This is evident also by the agreement of their descriptions. ffor both of them have seven heads & ten horns. On the hornes of one are ten crowns to denote that they are ten Kings ch 13.1: And the ten horns of the other are also ten Kings ch 17.12. ✝ ✝ The one was a[1] slain with a sword & b[2] revived, the wound of his c[3] death being healed: the other is called the beast which was & is not & shall ascend out of the bottomless pit. The one is said to have upon his heads the name of Blasphemy ch 13.1; & the other to be full of the names of blasphemy ch 17.3. The one succeeds the Dragon in his seat which persecuted the woman in the wilderness ch 13.2, & consequently is also in the wilderness; & so is the other in the wilderness ch 17.3. Of one it is said that power was given him over all kindreds & tongues & nations ch 13.7, & of the other that the ten Kings give their power & strength to the beast, & that the waters where the whore sitteth are peoples & multitudes & nations & tongues, ch 17.13, 15. Of one that all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world ch 13.8, & of the other that they that dwell on the earth whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, shall wonder when they behold him ch 17.8. Of one that he with the kings of the earth & their Armies shall be gathered together to make war against him that sat on the hors (i.e. the king of righteousness whose name is the word of God ch 19.11, 12, 13) & against his army; & that he (i.e. he whose mark was received & image worshipped ch 19.20 {shall be} cast into the lake {of} fire shall be taken (together with the fals Prophet which wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the beast's mark & worshipped his image,) & cast into the lake of fire ch 19.19, 20: & of the other that the kings which give their strength to the beast shall make war with the Lamb & he shal overcome them, ch 17.13. And lastly the destruction of both these beasts is at the same time, namely at the beginning of the seventh Trumpet. ffor by comparing ch 19.19, 20, with ch 16.13, 14, 15, 16, it appears that the agents of the Dragon beast & fals Prophet gathered the nations to the battle of the great day of God against that time when the seventh Vial (which, by Prop: 1, is contemporary with the seventh Trumpet) was ready to be poured out, & that at the pouring of it out they were overthrown, as is exprest by the falling of the cities of the nations ch 16.19 & by the taking of the beast & fals Prophet & slaying the rest ch 19.20. And so the beast which ascendeth out of the bottomless pit ch 11.7, that is the other Beast on which the whore sitteth ch 17.8, this Babylonian Beast shall war against the two Witnesses at the end of their prophesying & kill them, & consequently rejoyce with the nations till their resurrection, that is till about the end of the second Wo ch 11.12, 13, 14. & so continue till the sounding of the seventh Trumpet (the great City being faln ch 11.13,) when their kingdomes must become the kingdomes of Christ Ch 11.15. And great Babylon come in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath ch 16.19. Both these Beasts therefore perish together at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet, & so being contemporary must be one & the same beast, – contemporary, universal, & alike in all their qualities & actions must needs be the same. Yea Babylon that great city (that is the Whore of Babylon ch 17.5, 18 & 18.2) is in chap 14.8, 9 joyned to that beast whose Image is worshipped & mark received. And so again in chap 16.13, 19: with on which the 17th chap is but a comment. unless there be supposed two contemporary Empires both which are alike in all respects & at the same time ruling over all kindreds & nations even to the number of ten kings, gather them to battle against the Lord & are overthrown together. Which if it were so, the two Empires or Beasts would have been spoken of in the plural number wherever this great battel against the Lord is described, as in ch 16 & 19. Besides that this is absolutely repugnant to the universality of both described above.
PROP. VII.
The two horned Beast ch 13 is the same with the Whore of Babylon ch 17.
This also appeares by the agreement of their description. ffor one is a fals Prophet having two hornes like the Lamb but speaking as the Dragon & deceiving them that dwell on the earth by meanes of pretended miracles, ch 13.11, 14: the other Mystery the mother of Harlots & abominations of the earth, making the inhabitants of the earth drunk with the wine of her fornication ch 17.5, 2, & deceving all nations with her sorceries ch 18.23. The one giving life to the Image of the beast that it should speak & cause that as many as would not worship the Image of the Beast should be killed ch 13.15; & the other drunken with the blood of the saints & with the blood of the martyrs of Iesus ch 17.6, & in her was found the blood of Prophets & saints & of all that were slain upon the earth ch 18. 4. The one exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him which was over all kindreds & tongues & nations, & this power is exercised not by force of arms but by deceiving men by fals miracles ch 13.12, 7, 14; & ch 16.14: & the other reigneth over the kings of the Earth & sitteth upon peoples & multitudes & nations & tongues, & that not by constraint but their voluntary submission ch 17.8, 15, 13, 17. They are destroyed both together, the two horned Beast or fals Prophet at the same time with the ten horned Beast ch 19.20, which was shown to be at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet; & the Whore of Babylon at the pouring out of the seventh Vial, ch 16.19. They both denote a degenerate apostate christian church; the fals Prophet by a Synecdoche, putting a part for the whole; & the whore in opposition to the woman in the Wilderness which is Christ's Spouse the true Church. And lastly both are alike conjoyned with the same ten horned beast: the two horned beast being said to exercise his power ch 13.12, & the whore to sit upon him ch 17.3. All which I think is sufficient to prove their sameness.
Yet thus much is to be noted, that although these names signify the same thing, yet it is in {divers} respects. In {respect} of its {illeg} {do}ctrin & lying miracles it is a fals prophet & in respect of its Idolatry {illeg}
PROP. VIII.
The Dragon & Beast are the Kingdome whose symptomes are declared in the Seales & Trumpets, whereof the Dragon begins with the Seales & the Beast with the Trumpets.
To make this appear I shall lay down the follwing particulars. 1 That the Dragon & Beast represent Kingdoms For besides that this is their usuall signification in Dreames & Visions Def 31 & 32; the Dragon is said to have seven crowns upon his heads ch 12.3 & to give his power & seat & great authority to the Beast ch 13.2; And the Beast to have power over all Kindreds & Tongues & Nations ch 13.7, & with the Kings of the Earth & their armies to make war against him that sate on the hors & against his army ch 19.19, & to have 10 crowns upon his horns ch 13.1 & his heads & horns to be Kings ch 17.10, 12. All which circumstances are sufficient indications of their being Kingdoms.
< insertion from the right margin >2. The Beast is a kingdom derived out of the Dragon & coextended to the latter part of him. For the Dragon gave power to the Beast ch 13.2. He gave him his power & his seat & great authority.
2. But yet the Dragon did not give {illeg} cease himself: for the Beast & Dragon are worshipped together ch. 13.4 & coexist at their latter end ch 16.13. And in ch 17.11 the Beast is recconned the eigth King & of the seven that is of the seven Kings or Heads of the Dragon, & therefore not after them all so as to be a quite different head, but coincident with the last.
3 The Beast is coextended – – – 3. The Beast is coextended to all the Trumpets. For at the pouring out of the first Vial there fell a grievous sore upon them that had the mark of the Beast; & therefore he was {illeg}flicted. ffor we have shown that the Beast is overthrown at the beginning of the seventh Trumpet or Vial. And at the pouring out of the first Vial, there fell a grievous sore upon them that had the mark of the Beast & worshipped his Image. And so the wo of the fift Trumpet is inflicted on the men that have not the seale of God in their foreheads ch 9.4. Who those are will appear by comparing it with the fift Vial which is said to be poured out upon the seat of the Beast. So that all men which have not the seale of God in their foreheads, that is all those for whose wickedness & on whome God inflicts the punishments of these trumpets, are recconed for members of the Beast.
4. The Dragon is that part of the Kingdom whose symptomes are described at the opening of the seales. ffor since the Beast was in being at the first Vial, the Dragon which preceded him must also precede the Vials & syncronise with the seales & so be that part of the Kingdom whose Kings & other symptomes are described at their opening.
5. The common period of the Dragon & Beast is coincident with the common period of the Seales & Trumpets. I think this is reasonable because the parts of the Prophesy will thereby best agree with one another. ffor as of the whole series of Prophesy exhibited by the seales & Trumpets, the most eminent distribution is into two parts, the Seales & the Trumpets; & of the series of Prophesy exhibited by the Dragon & Beast, the most eminent distribution is also into two parts, the Dragon & Beast: so the most eminent distribution of the subjects of those prophesies must be into two parts or unlike successions of things answering to the parts of the prophesies. And therefore since both Prophesies relate to one common subject or kingdom as was newly shown, their parts by agreeing to the same parts of that kingdom must synchronise with one another.
** ** The next action is the persecution of the Woman by the Dragon, & her flight into the wilderness, & this must begin with the next seale. If it begin sooner it will interfere with the Sixt seale wherewith it is utterly inconsistent. ffor during that seale, the Church is represented in a victorious & triumphant state, over the Dragon. And she cannot be at the same time both triumphant over her enemies & persecuted by them so as to fly into the Wilderness It cannot begin therefore sooner then the seventh seale, & there is no room for it to begin later becaus the Beast is in being at the first Vial ch 16.2. & consequently at the first Trumpet, & his rise is later then the beginning of this Persecution. Wherefore it must begin with the seventh seale. And with the contents of that it suits most punctually. For the prayers of the saints offered up to God, & the contemporary sealing of the servants of God (Prop 17) & the commission of the four Angels to hurt the earth & the Sea so sooon as they were sealed, are all arguments of evil times then beginning, wherein the saints are oppressed, & Gods judgments shortly to ensue upon their enemies for oppressing them. And this alone might be enough to manifest that the triumph of the Church ends with the sixt seale & consequently that the persecution of the Dragon begins with the seventh.
Wherefore since the Beast was in being at the first Trumpet & the Dragon persecuted the Woman in the space between that & the beginning of the seventh seale it remains that their common period be coincident with the common period of the seales & Trumpets: I mean the period of the Dragon so far as he precedes the Beast & of the seales so far as they precede the Trumpets. For the Trumpets are conteined within the seventh seale, & the Dragon does not wholly perish at the rise of the Beast, but becomes a member of him as shall be shewed hereafter.
I suppose it will not now be doubted whither the Dragon be then in being; that is, at the time of the first Trumpet. And I have shown above that he is overthrown at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet. See the 5t particular following.
4 The Dragon is coextended to all the seales. For the latter part of him because coincident with the Beast must fall in with the Trumpets & consequently with the seventh seale. And therefore the former part of him which precedes the Beast must also precede that Seale & so fall in with the other six
But for fuller manifestation of this particular, & that it may appear how the Dragon is that Kingdom whose symptomes are described in the seales, it will not be amiss to compare particularly the Prophesy of the Dragon with the contents of the seales.
And first concerning the war which the Dragon made with Michael & his Angels it is said that they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, & by the word of their testimony, & they loved not their lives unto the death ch 12.11. Whereby it appears that the Angels or souldiers that warred with him were the saints, & their weapons the blood of the Lamb & word of their testimony, & their courage that they loved not their lives unto the death, or that they exposed their lives freely for the sake of the gospel. And so this war was managed on the saints part by testifying the truth of the gospell, & on the Dragons part by persecuting & killing them for their testimony: whence he is called the accuser of the brethren which accused them before God day & night vers 10. And that this was no slight skirmish but a very earnest conflict is further exprest by the emphaticall repetition that Michael & his angels fought against the Dragon, & the Dragon fought & his Angels. Now if we take a view of the seales to see where this persecution is described, we shall not find it before the fift seale, but there it is exprest most lively by the soules under the Altar of them that were slain for the word of God & for the testimony which they held, who cryed with a loud voice saying: How long, O Lord, holy & true dost thou not judg & avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth &c.
< text from p 20 resumes >And first concerning the war which the Dragon made with Michael & his angels, it is said that they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, & by the word of their testimony & they loved not their lives unto the death, ch 12.11. Whereby it appeares that the Angels or souldiers that warred with him were the saints, & their weapons the blood of the Lamb & word of their testimony, & their courage that they loved not their lives unto the death, or that they exposed their lives freely for the sake of the Gospel. And so this war was managed on the saints' part by testifying the truth of the Gospel, & on the Dragon's part by persecuting & killing them for their testimony: whence he is called the accuser of the Brethren which accused them before God day & night vers 10. And that this was no slight skirmish but a very earnest conflict is further exprest by the emphaticall repetition that Michael & his Angels fought against the Dragon, & the Dragon fought & his angels. Now if we take a view of the seales to see where this persecution is described, wee shal not find it before the fift seale, but there it is exprest most lively by the soules under the Altar of them that were slain for the word of God & for the testimony which they held, who cryed with a loud voice saying how long o Lord holy & true dost thou not judg & avenge our blood on them that dwel on the earth, &c And in the next seale we have the event of this war as lively described by the smiting of the luminaries & powers of heaven & earth. ffor heaven in visions represents the throne or court of a King or other supreme Authority, the clouds his splendor & glory, the earth the inferior sort of people, the starrs the nobles, the Sun the supreme authority & the Moon the next in dignity. Thus in Ioseph's dreame the sun moon & stars signify his Father Mother & Brethren. And accordingly the Earthquake & smiting of the Sun Moon Stars & heaven at the opening of the sixt seale will signify the terror of the people & overthrowing or subduing of that Kingdom which the Prophesy relates to. Which interpretation is not onely agreable to the use
<24>The next thing is the event of the war which was that the Dragon & his angels were not able to withstand, neither was their place found any more in heaven. But the great Dragon was cast out that old Serpent called the Devil & Sathan which deceived the whole world, he was cast out into the earth & his angels were cast out with him. Now by this victory we are not to understand the subversion of any temporal dominion but a victory of Christianity over heathenism, as is manifest because it was obteined by the blood of the Lamb & by testimony of his Martyrs, & also because the Dragon which was cast out is called that old serpent the Devil & Sathan which deceiveth the whole world, & immediately after his being cast out a voice was heard in heaven saying: Now is come salvation & strength & the kingdom of our God & the power of his Christ for the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before our God day & night.
And this agrees to the next seale, where this great overthrow of the kingdom of Sathan is represented by the smiting of the Sun Moon & Stars, the great shaking, & the departure of the heavens. For these expressions universally signify the overthrow of kingdoms Def 44, 45, 51 & 3 And least this should seem to respect the overthrow of any other kingdom then that of Sathan the whole Seale is spent in describing the ruin of Idolatry. For the stars of heaven falling unto the earth as figgs from a figg tree signify Idols falling down by Def 65 The Heavens departing as a scroll when it is rolled together signify the roofs & glory of their Temples cast down by Def 65 The moving of mountains & Islands out of their places signify the demolishing of their Temples & Altars by Def 8 & 19 And the kings of the earth & great men & rich men & chief captains & mighty men, & every bond man & every free man hiding themselves in the Dens & in the rocks of the Mountains & saying to the mountains & rocks Fall on us & hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne; these signify Idols of every degree & sort (whether they be worshipped by Kings or great men or rich men or captains or mighty men or bond or free) to be first hid or shut up in their temples & then buried in the ruins thereof. Def 63 & 64. And lastly as a further indication that this Seale is to be interpreted of a victory of christianity over the kingdom of Sathan it is added that they said: Hide us {from} the face of *[4] him that sitteth on the throne & from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come & who shall be able to stand. Which expressions seem borrowed from Isa 2.21 where in like manner speaking of Idols, he saith that they shall cast them to the Moles & to the Bats to go into the clefts of the rocks & into the holes of the ragged rocks for fear of the Lord & for the glory of his Majesty when he arriseth to shake terribly the earth.
But that the analogy between the contents of this Seale & the overthrow of the Kingdom of the Dragon may appear more fully: let the Dragon be compared to the sun which became black as sackcloth of hair Def 2 & his angels which together with him were cast out of heaven into the earth, to the stars which fell from heaven to the earth as figgs from a figtree Def 2 & their being cast ἐις την γην into the earth, to the hiding of men in Dens & Rocks of mountains & saying {to the} Mountains & {to the} Rocks fall on {us} & the Heathen Church (if I may so call the zelous worshippers & defenders of Idolatry) to the Moon which became as blood Def 45 ffor the Dragon & his Church are related to one another as the church of christ to Christ that is as a woman to her husband, & so may be signified by the Sun & Moon like Iacob & Rachel. Gen 37.10.
The next action is the persecution of the woman by the Dragon & her flight into the Wilderness. And this must begin with the next seale. ffor it cannot begin sooner because the sixt seale is wholly taken up in casting down the Dragon & it begins not till after his casting down is fully accomplished ch 12.13. Nor can it begin later: ffor the Wo which in ch 12.12 was proclaimed against the inhabitants of the earth & of the sea because the Devil was come down unto them to persecute the woman, began to be executed on the earth in the first Trumpet & on the Sea in the second. And therefore since God's judgments follow the sins of men, the persecution of the woman which caused these judgments must begin some little time at least before the Trumpets & so fall in with the time of incence. And with that it suits most punctually: For the prayers of the saints offered up together with the incense to God, & the contemporary sealing of the servants of God, & the comission of the four Angels to hurt the earth & the Sea so soon as they were sealed are all arguments of evill times then beginning wherein the saints are oppressed & Gods judgments shortly to ensue upon their enemies for oppressing them.
And hence we may understand why the narration of the seales is interrupted between the sixt & seventh seale by the interposition of the seventh chapter. For the designe of such an interruption must be to signify an end of the former state of things & the beginning of a new one by some grand revolution, & so it will most fitly agree to that cardinall period of time which concluded the reign of the Dragon in heaven & began the flight of the Woman into the wilderness. But of this more hereafter
The next action is that as the Woman fled into the Wilderness the Dragon cast out of his mouth water as a flood after her that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood, and the Earth helped her & swallowed up the waters. Now for understanding this it must be considered ffirst that by the Earth is meant inhabitants of the Earth Def 4 namely of that earth which was mentioned a little before with the Sea to whome the Devil came down vers 12. Secondly that by the waters are meant multitudes of people Def 5 & those inhabitants of the sea afforesaid ffor since they are cast out of the Dragons mouth they must be of his kingdom & consequently of the inhabitants of the earth & Sea. But not of the earth since that swallowed up these waters & besides it is inconsistent with the analogy of the Vision where two sorts of people are distinguisht by the names of Earth & sea, to represent those of the earth by water. These waters are therefore of the sea They are indeed compared onely to a flood but that is in respect of their being cast out of the Dragons mouth & hinders not that they should be inhabitants of the sea since all waters originally proceed from thence. Thirdly whereas the woman was persecuted by the waters, & the earth helped her & swallowed up the waters, there is opposition & war signified between the earth & waters with victory to the earth.
Now compare all this with the Trumpets & you will find the Analogy very full. For by Prop 4 the Trumpets are so many sucessive degrees of war which break out after the short peace during the stilness of the winds in the time of incense, & these wars falling heavy upon the Earth in the first Trumpet & upon the waters in the second & third, the Earth & Waters will therefore be the parties concerned in these wars & so may well be supposed the two enemies at war with one another whereof the earth is worsted in the first attempt but afterwards in the second & third Trumpet prevailes over the waters &, as it were, swallows them up in victory drying them up so much that although they were a sea in the {illeg}.
The last action of the Dragon mentioned in this 12th chapter is that after this he was wrath with the woman & went to make war with the remnant of her seed which kept the commandments of God & have the testimony of Iesus Christ. And this being when there was left but a remnant of the seed of the woman, it must be understood of the times of greatest desolation, that is of the 42 Months when the woman was fully arrived into the wilderness & the witnesses prophesied in sackcloth: which in Prop 16 I shall show to be in the 5t & 6t Trumpets.
And lastly at the end of this time it is recorded of the Dragon in chap 16 that out of his mouth & out of the mouth of the Beast & of the fals Prophet there went three unclean spirits like ffroggs unto the kings of the earth & of the whole world to gather them to the battel of the great day of God Almighty. And this is that great battel at the seventh Vial or Trumpet at which the Beast & fals Prophet are taken & cast into the lake of fire, & the Dragon bound & cast into the bottomless pit ch 19.20 & 20.2.
Thus we have deduced the reign of the Dragon from the fift Seale to the last Trumpet. And I suppose it will not now be doubted whither he be also synchronall to the four first seales, since it is not likely that the wars & other things there described (especially in the 2d & 4th seale) should relate to any other kingdom then that which before the battel with Michael, & consequently before the fift seale, drew the third part of the stars of heaven with his tayle & cast them to the earth, that is which (by Def 2 & 39) had then subdued the third part of the kings & Princes of the world with his Armies. He is indeed represented as if he had ✝ ✝ had but newly done casting them down when he began that battel; but he is not introduced rising out of the earth or sea like the two Beasts, but as preexistent with the woman & Michael: which is intimation enough that he as well as the Woman & Michael was in being even before the writing of this Prophesy.
< text from p 28 resumes >Having run through the Analogy of the Prophesy of the Dragon to that of the seales & Trumpets: it will not be amis to take notice of an objection that may arise about the signification of the Dragon, in that I understand it one while of a kingdom & another while of that old Serpent the Devil. For the circumstances do manifestly require that it be taken in both these significations, & yet to understand it in both will be no inconstancy if it be done with mutuall respect to one another, that is, if it be understood indifferently either of such a Kingdom which doth the works of the Devil & is of a religion instituted by him, or of the Devil & his works with respect to such a Kingdom as doth them. For this is nothing more then when a King is sometimes put for the person of a king & sometimes for his Kingdom; which in the sacred prophesies is not unusuall.
* {illeg} Beast is more especially the Kingdom on which the plagues of the Trumpets & Vialls are {illeg} For thus much is exprest in the first Vial where there fell a grievous sore on the men which had the mark of the Beast & worshipped his Image; & in the fift Vial which was poured upon the seat of the beast, so that his Kingdom became full of darknes; & in the sixt & seventh Vial where there came out of the Mouth of the Beast & Dragon & fals Prophet thre unclean spirits to gather the world to the battel of the great day wherein the Beast perished & Babylon (the whore which sate upon him) came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. Also in the preface to the Vials the Prophet first introduces the seven Angels having these seven plagues ch 15.1, & then the Victors over the Beast ver 2, 3, 4, & then returns to the description of the Plagues: as if by thus interweaving them he intended to point at the Beast as the subject thereof. So in the Preface to the Trumpets the Angels are forbid to hurt the earth & the Sea until the searvants of God be sealed, as if it were to signify that those hurts were to be inflicted on the men which have not the seale of God in their fforeheads ffor so it is exprest in the fift Trumpet. And who those are you may learn by comparing that Trumpet with the fift Vial; namely them that have the mark of the Beast. In a word, the wickednes & universality of the Kingdom of the Beast with the Dragon, which by Prop 14 is included in him, is so great as leaves no room for these plagues to fall beside him.
6. The Beast rose — ** Lastly the rise of the Beast is one of the most cardinal revolutions in all the prophesy & so can fall in with no time so well as with that cardinal period between the sixt & seventh Seale where both by the beginning of the Trumpets & by the interposition of the seventh chapter is signified an end of the former state of things & the beginning of a new one. These two periods must therefore be adjusted to one another by Rule to fall beside him.
The Beast rose out of the Sea either at or after the opening of the sixt {seale and} according to the tenour & order of the visions that rise must be after the war of the Dragon {with} Michael, the Dragon being introduced but newly before & in that war represented with his full power which he gave (some of it at least) to the Beast at his rise. This rise therefore could not be before the opening of the sixt seale. Nor could it be long after becaus
7. The Beast ascended out of the bottomless pit at the opening of the seventh seale. He had a double rise whereof the second (after a deliquium) was out of the bottomles pit as is manifest from hence that he is called the beast which was & is not & shall ascend out of the bottomless pit. His rise out of the Sea signifies only {his} beginning to be a temporal kingdom, but his ascention out of the bottomles pit expresses moreover his bringing up with him a fals infernall religion. Def. The first preceded his mortal wound with a sword, the second was at his reviving, for then or rather immediately after was set up his new religion as is plain from hence that when the two hornd beast caused men to set up the worshipping of him & make an image to him, he is not called the Beast which rose out of the sea but the beast whose mortal wound was healed vers 12, & the wounded beast which lived or revived vers 14.
Now that this second rise fals in with the beginning of the seventh seal may appear by these reasons. 1 It could not be much later becaus the plague of the first Vial was inflicted on the men which had received the mark of the beast & worshipped his Image, & therefore the Beast & his Image with their religion were in being before the pouring out of that Vial & consequently before the sounding of the first Trumpet. Nor could it be much sooner because it followed the deliquium of the beast which together with his continuance before that deliquium could not but take up some considerable time, & both which were after the Opening of the sixt seale. It must therefore be about the opening of the 7th seale. Secondly although the rising of the beast out of the sea, becaus it expresses only the rise of a temporal kingdom without respect to religion be not inconsistent with the things described in that seal, nor with those in chap 12.10 coincident to it; yet his ascention out of the pit implying the rise of a new infernal religion must needs so soon as that religion is grown to any considerable degree of maturity put an end to those things & with them to that seale & so begin the next. Thirdly the interweaving —— 
– Thirdly the interweaving the vision of the victors over the Beast with the first appearance of the seven angels of the Vials ch 15.1, 2, 6, is intimation enough that those victors begin then to get the victory, & consequently that the beast begins then to be. ffor it is necessary that he be adequately synchronall to those that get the victory over him because there is no cessation of the church militant. Now the first appearance of these Angels, according to the analogy of this vision of the Vials with that of the Trumpets, must be at the same time with the first appearance of the seven Angels of the Trumpets. That is, at the opening of the seventh Seal. Fourthly by the opposite relation of the seal of God to the mark of the Beast, it is most naturall to suppose that the vision of sealing the saints is {but} a mystical indication of the time when men began to receive the mark of the Beast; that is, of the time when the Beast arose, which therefore must be immediately after the sixt seal. Lastly the rise of the Beast — – adjusted to one another by Rule
8. Notwithstanding this the reexistence of the beast began a little before the 7th seale. For the time of his death by the wound preceding the setting up of his worship & the making of his Image (chap 13.12,14) & consequently not only the first Vial ch 16 but also his ascention out of the pit, must fall in with his other deliquium or non existence in the sixt seale, as we signified above & even the resemblance of the Parables may evince. His reexistence therefore begins at the healing of his wound. But his wound was healed before the end of the sixt seale:[5] for this seale, as I shall show {hereafter}, was the Head in which the Beast was wounded; & therefore be also synchronall to the four first seales, & hence it is not likely that the warrs & other things there described should relate to any other Kingdom; & the Prophesy after the narration of the seales & Trumpets beginning anew at the Woman & Dragon ch 12, there is no reason why it should not return to the first Epocha.
Object: j. Since the Beast was immediately to succeed the Dragon, his reign ought to be dated from the overthrow of the Dragon by Michael, which overthrow may be supposed at the beginning of the sixt seale, & so the Beast will begin his reign before the Trumpets.
Resp. It is not likely that the direct & immediate effects of Michael's victory should be the setting up of the Beast who seems to have equald if not transcended the Dragon in wickedness. This is inconsistent with the triumph of the church in the sixt seale & much more with the following actions of the Dragon. For his persecuting the woman into the wilderness, & casting out of his mouth water as a flood after her, do infer not onely his after-existence but continuance in power, & it is said afterward that the Dragon gave the Beast his power & his seat & great Authority which he could not have done if he had lost it in the Battel with Michael. For his overthrow appears by the description of it to have been in religious & spiritual rather then temporal matters & therefore the Dragon notwithstanding might still retain his temporal Dominion
The expressions indeed that the Dragon with his angels was cast out of heaven into the earth do imply his casting out of the throne into a vulgar state & consequently the ruin of his kingdom, but this as I said is to be understood of the spiritual state & not the temporal power of that kingdom called the Dragon. For the fuller understanding of which we must know that the Dragon has here a double signification, representing primarily that old serpent the Devil, & thence by a trope the kingdom which does the works of the Devil & is of a religion instituted by him. And where it is said that the Dragon was cast out of heaven into the Earth it is to be taken in the first sense for the Devil with his worship, & not in the second for the temporal state of the Kingdom which exerciseth that worship. ffor the words are, That the great Dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil & Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth & his angels were cast out with him. ch. 12.9. Which is as much as to say that the worship of the Devil was cast out of the Throne or Court, & remained onely among the inferiour people. But where it is said that the Dragon had seven heads & ten hornes & seven crowns upon his heads, & his tayle drew the third part of the stars of heaven &c And that he persecuted the woman & gave the Beast his power & seat & great Authority, it must be rather taken in the second sence for the temporary Kingdom. And so comparing these two senses the result will be that after the worship of the Dragon was cast out, the Kingdom denominated from thence still continued & retained its former power & name until it gave the Beast its power & seat & great Authority; [that is untill by reason of some further notable alteration it exchanged its name for that of the Beast.]
Nor need it seem strange that the Kingdom retained the name of Dragon after the Dragon was cast out, [since he was not thereby quite destroyed but onely cast out of heaven into the Earth, & so stil preserved his worship among the vulgar. And from them the whole kingdom might be properly denominated, so long at least as they continued the major part. And after that] For the ancient worship of the Dragon might be a sufficient reason to continue that name to the Kingdom to distinguish it from the Beast.
Object 2. Before the pouring out of the Vials Saint Iohn saw them that had gotten the victory over the Beast ch 15.2, And therefore the Beast existed before the first Vial & consequently before the first Trumpet.
<34>Resp. This vision of the Victors over the Beast doubtless respects all those that were at any time to get the victory over him, & therefore must necessarily extend to the time within the Vials, becaus although the Beast should have begun his reign before them, yet within them was to be the greatest part of his reign wherein those Victors were to get the Victory. And if it extend to the time within the vials, there can be no necessity of referring it to any time before them.
Nor need the tense exprest in the translation, I saw them that had gotten the victory over the Beast, breed any difficulty, since it may be as well translated thus. I saw them that get the Victory, or I saw the Victors over the Beast, νικωντας ἐκ του θηρίου. But how ever it be rendered it need not be understood as relating to the time but onely to the form of the Vision wherein future things were represented as present: much after the same manner that before the prophesy of the Trumpets it is said of the Palm-bearing multitude; These are they which came out of great tribulation & have washed their robes, ἔπλυναν τὰς στολὰς And yet they were not come out of that tribulation before the sounding of the seventh Trumpet: Or that the Lamb was said to be slain from the foundation of the world, becaus it was so in the foresight & decree of God who beholds futurities as if actually present.
And this interpretation is confirmed by the interweaving of the visions. ffor that of the Vials is first introduced by the appearance of the seven Angels with the seven last plagues vers 1, & then that of the Victors over the Beast inserted vers 2, 3, & 4, & afterwards the narration of the former vision of the Angels continued vers 5, 6 &c. And this interweaving implies that they are collateral, & consequently, that the Beast & victors over him are to live in the time of the Vials.
PROP. IX.
The Kingdom represented by the Dragon & Beast is the same with the fourth Kingdom in Daniel represented by the dreadfull Beast with great iron teeth, as also by the iron leggs of Nebuchadnezzar's Image. And the two horned Beast is the same with the little horn of that dreadfull Beast.
This I prove in the following particulars. 1 The same kingdoms are represented in both those Visions of Daniel: as might appear by the analogy between them, were it not generally granted. ffor they both began in Daniel's days, agree in number, & end into the same fift kingdom. The fift Kingdom is manifestly the same in both visions; for it is described in one vision to be a kingdom which God should set up which shall never be destroyed nor left to other people but shall break in pieces & consume the four precedent kingdoms & shall stand for ever, Dan 2.44. And in the other Vision it is said that after the fourth Beast the kingdom & Dominion & greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom – which shall not pass away nor be destroyed. Dan 7.14, 26, 27. And so the descriptions of the fourth Kingdom agree, the iron legs answering to the iron teeth, & the ten toes to the ten horns, & the strength & dominion of this kingdom in both places being described exceeding great above that of the other three.
2. The Kingdom represented by the Dragon & Beast is suppose the Dragon cast out waters as soon as he began to persecute, those being the instrument of his persecution.
The Beast therefore begins with the seventh seale & consequently with the Vision of the Trumpets. I mean not at the sounding of the first Trumpet but at the delivering of the seven Trumpets to the angels in order to their sounding.
PROP. XI.
The Kingdom represented by the Beast is the same with the fourth Kingdom in Daniel represented by the dreadfull Beast with great iron teeth, as also by the iron leggs of Nebuchadnezzar's image. And the Whore of Babylon is the same with the little horn of that dreadfull Beast.
This I prove in the following particulars. j The same Kingdoms are represented in both those visions of Daniel; as might appear by the analogy between them were it not generally granted. For they both began in Daniel's days, agree in number & end in the same fift Kingdom. The fift Kingdom is manifestly the same in both visions; for it is described in one vision to be a kingdom which God should set up which shall never be destroyed nor left to other people but shall break in pieces & consume the four precedent Kingdoms & shall stand for ever Dan 2.44. And in the other vision it is said that after the fourth Beast the Kingdom & Dominion & greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high whose kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom – which shall not pass away nor be destroyed Dan 7.14, 26, 27. And so the descriptions of the fourth Kingdom agree the iron leggs answering to the iron teeth & the ten toes to the ten horns, & the strength & dominion of this Kingdom in both places is described exceeding great above that of the other three.
2. The Kingdom represented by the Apocalyptic Beast is {illeg} {of} the wound cannot continue further then to the end of this seale, no nor so far, for if it do it will not be a {wound} made in the head but one side of the head chopt of. The wound therefore is healed, that is the beast revives or reexists before the opening of the 7th seale.
Nor does this contradict what was said above: for this beast was healed & revived before the other beast caused men to worship him & make his Image & therefore must have drawn up his religion after him either at some little distance or gradually from his reviving. And if so, then we must by virtue of the arguments in the foregoing section assigne the ascention of his religion or the most notable period of it to the opening of the 7th seale, & his reviving or the politicall part of his ascention to some little time before.
9 Although the Dragon continue to the end a kingdome distinct from the beast yet that is in respect of civile dominion, only, For even his subjects embrace the religion which the beast brought out of the bottomless pit & so far may be accounted subjects of the Beast also. For all the world wondred after him & worshipped him & the Dragon together ch 13.3, 4. And power was given him over all kindreds & tongues & nations. And all that dwell upon the earth were to worship him whose names were not written in the book of life. vers 7, 8; that is all nations within the compass of this Prophesy: so that the Beast in respect of his religion is the universal kingdome beyond whose bounds this Prophesy considers nothing. the same with that in Daniel represented by the Beast with Iron teeth. For both kingdoms have one comon period ending into the kingdom of the saints which shall never be destroyed, Dan 7, & Rev 11.15, & so at least they are synchronall. And since both were revealed by the council of the same God for the same end, (the benefit & establishment of his Church) it is not to be doubted but that one was intended to be a key to the other & therefore that both relate to the same subject.
But to put the matter out of controversy, Saint Iohn hath signifed this | very elegantly expressed their correspondence by describing the Beast which he saw, to be like a Leopard, & his feet as the feet of a Bear & his mouth as the mouth of a Lyon, ch 13.2. ffor these three being the Beasts by which the three first Kingdoms were represented in Daniel, the naming of them all in this description of the Beast by Saint Iohn seems to be on purpose to point at the vision of Daniel & insinuate the correspondence between the two Prophesies.
And in that onely three of those Beasts, the Leopard Beare & Lyon are named, it implies that the Beast described must supply the place of the fourth to make up the quaternary. Which he doth the more fitly because they are set down in order backward & he is put in the first place, & also becaus of his shape, he being neither Leopard Beare nor Lyon but a strange Monster as was that other dreadful & terrible Beast with Iron teeth, & having ten horns as the other had.
3. The Kingdom therefore represented in the Apocalyps by the Beast is the same with that represented by Daniel's fourth Beast, & consequently the same with that represented by the Leggs of Nebuchadnezzar's Image.
4. The whore of Babylon is the same with the little horn of Daniel's fourth Beast. ffor the Whore hath the same relation to the kings signified by the ten horns of his fellow beast that the little horn hath to the horns of his Beast. Both of them are members of the same fourth Kingdom, & both rise up after their fellows & exalt themselves above them. ffor of the little horn it is said that his look was stouter then his fellows Dan 7.26, & that he had eyes & a mouth to represent him as a head set over them & of the two horned Beast that he exercised al the power of the first Beast before him & (in form of a whore) sat upon the Beast & ruled over the kings of the earth Rev 13.12 & 17.3, 18. The little horn spake great words against the most high & wore out the saints of the most high & thought to change times & laws Dan 7.25; And the two horned Beast spake like the Dragon & gave life to the Image that it could speak & cause that as many as would not worship it should be killed. [He also did great wonders & made fire come down from Heaven on the earth in the sight of men whereby he deceived them & so prevailing with them to observe his dictates for laws, caused them to worship the Beast & to make an image to him & worship it also.] The little horn had eyes as wel as a mouth to show that he should reign by sharp-sighted policy & subtilty ; & the two horned beast is called a fals Prophet, a deceiver, & a Whore with mystery written upon her forehead. The little horn made war with the saints & prevailed against them Dan 7.21: & the Whore of Babylon was drunken with the blood of the saints & of the martyrs of Iesus; – & in her was found the blood of Prophets & of Saints & of all that were slain upon the earth. The Dominion of both lasted untill the time that the saints possessed the Kingdom Dan 7.21, 22. Rev 16.19 compared with ch 11.15., & was of equal continuance, namely a time & times & the dividing of time, that is, three times or yeares & a half, or two & fourty months Dan 7.25. Rev 12.14 & 13.5. And the end of both was to be cast into the burning flame Dan 7.11. Rev 19.20 And lastly as the whore is represented in the Apocalyps a distinct Animal presiding over the ten horned Beast, so the eyes & mouth of the little horn show that he is not of the same rank with the other horns but indued with life & sense & so equipollent to a distinct Animall presiding over his Beast.
These therefore being members of the same general Kingdom & alike related to that kingdom & to their fellow members & throughout synchronal & agreeing in their qualities & fate must necessarily be allowed the same.
Posit IX.
The two hornd Beast is a body of men which began about the opening of the seventh seale, & by policy & deceipt grew up within the nations which worshipped the ten-horned Beast untill it overtop't all earthly powers.
1. That he is not a single person but a body of men is manifest by the prophetique signification of a Beast, & by the comparison of him to the ten horned beast in that he is called another Beast ch. 13. 11 & by his being the same with the whore who is called a great City.
2 This Beast began about the opening of the 7th Seale. ffor he could not begin much sooner because the first Beast rose out of the sea but in the sixt Seal & he rose after the first Beast as is manifest both by the order of the narration & by the other's being called the first beast. Nor could he well begin later because he was in being before men made the image & received the other Beast's mark 13.14, 16. & those things were done before the first Vial, & consequently before the first Trumpet. He is represented the Author & spreader of the wickedness which sprang up with the other beast out of the bottomless pit, for by his fals miracles he set up the worshipping of him & caused men to make & worship his Image & receive his mark, & therefore the rise of this beast best agrees with the ascention of the other out of the bottomless pit & so must be either at or a little before the opening of the seventh Seale.
<42>3. He grew up by policy & deceipt & not by force of armes. ffor he deceived them that dwell on the Earth by fals miracles insomuch that he could bring down fire from heaven & give life to the image of the beast that it should speak &c. And so the Whore is said to deceive all nations with her sorceries, & to have mystery written upon her forehead. And doubtless by these deceipts it was effected that the ten kings should have one mind & give their power & strength unto the Beast on which she sate ch 17.13. They are not forced to it but God hath put in their hearts to agreee & give their kingdom unto her Beast untill the words of God shall be fulfilled vers 17: which without doubt was done by means of her deluding them, for it cannot be supposed that kings should voluntarily subject their kingdoms without being out-witted & imposed upon; & of the use of miracles to manage kings there is a singular instance in ch 16.14, where the working of them is mentioned as an instrument by which the three spirits which came out of the mouth of the Dragon Beast & fals Prophet gather the kings of the earth & of the whole world to the battel of the great day of God Almighty.
Posit. IX.
The two hornd Beast, called also the fals Prophet, is a body of Heathenizing Christians under two supreme Bishops, & a little before the opening of the 7th Seale rose out of the inferior sort of people within those nations which afterward worshipped the other Beast; & by deceiving men administred to the ascention of that beast out of the bottomles pit, & at length exalting himself by the like deceit became the whore upon his back exprest in Daniel by the little horn of the 4th Beast. & in Isaiah 23.15 by Tyre.
1. That he is not a single person but a body of men is manifest by the prophetique signification of a Beast (Fig ) & by the comparison of him to the 10 hornd beast in calling him another Beast ch 13.11, & by his being the same with the Whore Posit who is called a great city ch 14.8, & 17.18
2
< text from p 41 resumes >PROP. VIII.
versality of those worshippers. All the world wondered after him, — he had power given him over all kindreds & tongues & nations, & all that dwell upon the earth were to worship him whose names were not written in the book of life, ch 13.3, 7, 8: That is, all nations which are considered within the compass of this Prophesy; & consequently the two horned beast must be included in those nations.
The same thing appeares also from hence that whatsoever power the two horned Beast exerciseth it is over the worshippers of the first Beast . ffor he caused the earth & them that dwell therein to worship that beast ch 13.12. And it was in the sight of that beast that he did his miracles whereby he deceived them that dwel on the earth vers 14, & the Image of that Beast which he caused them to make, & the mark of that Beast which he caused all both small & great rich & poor free & bond to receive. And those whome the fals Prophet deceived with his miracles were they that had received the mark of the Beast & worshipped his Image ch 19.20
Also the two hornd Beast exerciseth all the power of the first Beast, & that before him, or in his sight ch 13.12, & sitteth upon him in the form of a whore [who ruleth over peoples & multitudes & nations & tongues, that is over the subjects of that beast ch 17.15,] & reigneth over the kings of the earth vers 18, that is, over the ten horns of that Beast vers 12, & deceiveth all nations with her sorceries – & maketh all nations, that is the whole Kingdom of that Beast, drunk with the wine of the poison of her fornication ch 18.23, 3.
3. And hence it appeares also that this two hornd Beast grew up untill at length it overtopt all other powers even that of kings & extended his dominion over the whole kingdom, riding as it were upon it.
4. He grew up by policy & deceipt & not by force of arms. ffor he deceived them that dwel on the earth by fals miracles, insomuch that he could bring down fire from heaven & give life to the Image of the Beast that it should speak &c ch 13 And so the Whore is said to deceive all nations with her sorceries, & to have mystery written upon her forehead. And doubtles by these deceipts it was effected that the ten kings should have one mind & give their power & strength unto the Beast on which she sate, ch 17.13. They are not forced to it, but God hath put in their hearts to agree & give their kingdom unto her Beast untill the words of God shall be fulfilled, vers 17; which without doubt was done by means of her deluding them. ffor it cannot be supposed that Kings should voluntarily subject their kingdoms without being out-witted & imposed upon. Yea that the chief designe of these miracles was to manage Kings & compass temporall ends may appear out of ch 16.14, where the working of miracles is mentioned as an instrument by which the three spirits which came out of the mouth of the Dragon, Beast, & fals Prophet gather the kings of the earth & of the whole world to the battel of the great day of God Almighty.
PROP. IX.
The Image of the Beast is also some contemporary & internal body politique representing the ten horned Beast, but yet deriving its authority from the two horned Beast.
1. The Beast whose Image this is, is the ten horned & not the two horned Beast. ffor it is said to be made to the Beast which had the wound by a sword, that is to the ten horned Beast. And the same thing is implyed in the often repeated expression of worshipping the Beast & his Image, that is, the ten horned beast & his Image to both which the two horned Beast did injoyn that worship ch 13.12, 15, & both which in ch 19.20 are mentioned together with the fals Prophet; & therefore since the fals Prophet is the two horned Beast, this Beast whose is the Image must be that with ten horns: especially since the name of Beast is onely given to the two horned Beast in ch 13, & afterward appropriate to that with ten horns, the other's name being changed to that of whore & fals Prophet.
2. This Image represents the ten horned Beast. For els it could not be his Image nor would men worship it as they worship the Beast. ffor as the reason why Idolaters worship Idols, is becaus they look upon them as the representatives of their Gods, so the reason why the worshippers of the Beast do also worship his Image should be that they account it his representative. It cannot be called his Image without respect to likeness, as the statue set up by Nebuchadnezzar was called Nebuchadnezzar's Image; for so it ought rather to have been called the Image of the two hornd Beast that caused it to be made; & therefore it must be granted his representative.
3. It is some kind of Authority & not an Image of wood or stone or metal, because it received life from the two hornd beast so that it could both speak & cause that as many as would not worship it should be killed, & because it was not onely worshipped but made by them that dwel on the earth, that is, not by an artificer but a multitude. Nor is it so likely that a material Image should be made to represent a body politique whose form consists not in any external shape but in Authority & Dominion.
4. This Authority is derived from the two horned Beast. ffor it was this Beast that injoyned men to make the Image, & had power to give life unto it.
5. It is distinct from the Authority of either Beast, being neither the Authority of the ten horned Beast, becaus but his Image; nor of the two horned Beast because derived from him, and enlivened by his power, nor of both together becaus mentioned together with them both as a third thing distinct from both, ch 13 & 19.
6. It is placed rather in a body politique then in a single person. For so it will more truly represent the Beast who is not a single person but the most universal body politique.
7. This Image is contemporary with the Beast; because wherever it is mentioned, the Beast is mentioned with it, as in ch 14.9, 11. ch 15.2. ch 16.2. ch 19.20 & ch 20.4: And because it was injoyned to be made by the two horned Beast who was contemporary with the other Beast, & was made even in the first Vial, that is, almost as early as the Beast began his reign.
8. It is also internal to him, that is, not a forreign kingdome but a Body politique comprehended within those nations which worship the Beast . For this Image is made by them that worshipped the Beast, as may appear by comparing ch 13. vers 8 & 12 with vers 14. Whereas were it a forreign Kingdom it would not be so much an Image of the Beast as a distinct Beast it self, having its proper subjects. Also it is further observable that where the Beast & fals Prophet are cast into the Lake of fire ch 19.20, & 20.10, the Image is omitted, which ought not to have been done were it not included in the other two. In a word; the Beast, as was said above, is the universal Kingdom, beyond which nothing is considered in this Prophesy.
PROP. XII.
The seven Heads of the Dragon & Beast are the distributions of the Kingdom into so many successive parts by the opening of the seales in order: every part or head being continued from the opening of one seale to the opening of the next & the seventh head from the opening of the seventh seale to the beginning of the seventh Trumpet to sound.
And 1 the heads are so many successive parts of the Kingdom. For the heads are stiled Kings & those successive ch 17.10: Where by Kings you must not understand single persons, for the Beast which is said to be but one of the kings or rather but a part of one, being called the eighth & of the seven, is yet said to have ten horns & ten crowns upon his horns to denote so many Kings at once comprehended in that part of one. And besides, what single Kings reign could be long enough for the seventh under which is comprehended all that variety of events during the sounding of the seven Trumpets, which we shall hereafter show to be above a thousand yeares. By a King therefore is to be understood an aggregate of kings whether collaterall or successive unto some determinate period; & not onely Kings, but the whole Kingdom also during that intervall: for the beast which is said to be the eighth King & of the seven, signifies the whole kingdom. And therefore the seven successive Kings are so many successive distributions of the Kingdom.
* * 2. The heads are to be recconed in common to the Dragon & Beast, so that the first six of them belong to the Dragon alone & the seventh to the Dragon & Beast together. For this is implyed by the saying that the Beast is the eighth King & of the seven ch 17.10, 11. Which is as much as to say that the Dragon hath seven heads of his own without the Beast & in that respect the Beast is but the eighth, & yet he is to be recconed of the seven because he does not succeed all the seven heads of the Dragon but fall in with the seventh. For by Prop 10 the Beast falls in with the latter part of the Dragon; & he cannot fall in with more then the last of his heads because he is called but the eighth head: whereas he would have constituted also a ninth & tenth head &c, had he fallen in with more heads then the last
And hence it is that the Dragon hath seven crowns upon his heads to denote his reign in all the seven —
< text from p 48 resumes >2. And hence the Dragon hath seven crowns upon his heads to denote his reign in all the seven, but the heads of the Beast are without crowns becaus his reign takes up no more then the last head. But yet to discriminate his last head from the rest, the ten horns on which are ten crowns must be imagined to stand upon that. For in ch 17.12, in the time of the sixt head (defined in vers 10) it is said, The ten Kings have received no kingdom as yet but receive power as kings the same hower with the Beast. And therefore the kings with the Beast begin not their actual reign untill the next or last head, & by consequence the ten horns with the crowns upon them must all stand upon that: For the better conception of which it may be convenient to imagin the heads in order one above another, & the crowned horns upon the uppermost head.
Nor need it seem strange that the Beast should have seven heads attributed to him & yet be but the seventh; for it was fit that the symptomes of the whole Kingdom should be recconed in common to both parts to denote their connexion, & it is limitation enough of the order of their reigning, that onely the heads of the one & the horns on the last head of the other are crowned. The which will not onely appear not improper but very significant if we further consider the relation of this vision to that of Daniel where the whole Kingdom, signified here by the Beast & Dragon together, is represented by the dreadful Beast with iron teeth. For although Saint Iohn's Beast in a strict sense be taken onely for the last part of the Kingdom , & therefore his heads are without crowns, yet his having the same heads with the Dragon may imply that in some respect he is to be taken in a larger sense & extended through the whole kingdom; namely in respect of Daniel's vision to make this Beast adæquate to that, & thereby to signify that they are the same. For this is agreeable to the precedent Proposition.; Yea & Saint Iohn doth sometimes consider this Beast though perhaps not in the same latitude with Daniel, so as to extend it through all the heads, yet in a greater latitude then the seventh head, as is manifest by his calling it in the time of the sixt head, The Beast which was & is not & shall ascend out of the bottomles pit, & a little after, The Beast that was & is not & yet is.
3. The heads of the Dragon & Beast are the distributions of the Kingdom according to the seven seales. For since Saint Iohn no where distributes it into such parts but by the seales & trumpets, & the Beast or seventh head takes up the seventh Seale by Prop 10 it remains that the first six heads be coincident with the first six seales. And indeed what els should be meant by calling these heads Kings in ch 17.10 but to point at the four horsmen in the 4 first Seales as being the {four} {illeg} of the Kings introduced as a specimen of the rest.
Object. If the Heads of the Beast be distributions of him according to the seales, then six of those seales were opened in Saint Iohn's time, which is to make him prophesy of things past. For when he wrote the Apocalyps he said of the heads that five are fallen & one is ch 17.10
Resp. This expression is not to be referred to the time of writing the Apocalyps but to the time which was looked upon as present in the vision: For thus in many other places things are spoken of as past or present becaus past or present in the visions though to come in Saint Iohn's time. As for the time of this expression it was when one of the seven Angels which had the seven Vials, talked with Saint Iohn, showing him the judgment of the great Whore & expounding that Vision to him ch 17.1, 7, 10. & therefore it could not precede the vision of those Angels. Now their first appeareance was when they came out of the temple to pour out the seven vials, & therefore that must be the highest time. And it is most proper to refer it to that time as being the common Epocha of these collaterall visions of the Vials & Whore. And so since the Vials take up almost all the seventh head, this vision of the Angels which immediately precedes them may fall into the sixt: which agrees with the expression at that time that five are fallen & one is
And this is confirmed by comparing it with another saying of the Angel at the same time, viz: that the Beast was & is not & shall ascend out of the bottomless pit. For it will be difficult to refer that to any other time then that of the sixt seale. For it is not likely that the non existence of the beast should be of any great duration or fall in with any other time then that or at least some part of that wherein came the kingdome of God & power of his Christ after the Dragon was cast out.
PROP. XIII.
The ten hornes of the Beast are ten contemporary Kingdoms voluntarily uniting & conspiring into one Body politique called the Beast.
And 1 that the ten horns are so many Kings is implyed by the crowns upon them & also expresly affirmed ch 17.12 And not onely Kings but successions of them with their Kingdoms, for so a horn is used to signify Def .
2 They are contemporary & not successive Kings ffor this also the horns of a Beast imply when they appear together, as is evident by Daniel's vision of the Ram & Goat. And much more ought it to be so in this Beast because the other kings which are successive have a different representation, being signified each by one crown upon a head. For as one crown upon a head is made the emblem of monarchichal government in the Dragon, so the ten crowns upon one head must according to the analogy signify so many kings at once in the Beast. And if it were not so, the little horn in Daniel which rose up after the other ten could not well be said to rise up among them ביגיהן Dan 7.8: nor to root up three of them vers 8, & 20, & much less after that have fellows סבדחהּ vers 20. The ten toes also of Nebuchadnezzar's Image imply so many collaterall kingdoms into which the fourth Kingdom was to be rent Yea Daniel expresly affirms that it should be divided, & that its parts should not stick to one {another}. And the same may be collected from severall expressions in the Apocalyps, as that those Kings are said to receive power as Kings about the same time with the Beast, & to agree & give their kingdom unto the Beast untill the words of God shall be fulfilled: which cannot be understood of successive kings. Again, the Whore is said to sit upon peoples & multitudes & nations & tongues & to reign over the kings of the earth ch 17.1, 15, 18. And that all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, & the Kings of the earth have committed fornication with her ch 18.3: where by kings of the earth must be understood Kings of the several nations which she sits upon & makes drunk. So ch 18.9, 10 it is said that the Kings of the earth who have committed fornication & lived deliciously with her shall bewail her & lament her when they shall see the smoak of her burning – saying, Alas, alas, that great City Babylon, — for in one hower is thy judgment come. And in ch 17.16, 17, that the ten horns (after the time is fulfilled that God shall put in their hearts to agree & give their kingdom to the Beast) shall hate the whore & shall make her desolate & naked, & shall eat her flesh & burn her with fire. Which places must necessarily be interpreted of several kings at once. [And lastly in the Battel of the great day of God Almighty, the Beast with the Kings of the earth & their armies, are gathered together against him (the word of God) that sate upon the hors & against his army ch 19.19 & 16.14, & therefore the kings which untill that time give their power & strength unto the Beast are many together, & the expression, Kings of the earth, in this Prophesy is to be understood of collateral Kings.]
3. These Kings give their power & strength & kingdom to the Beast voluntarily, & not by compulsion. ffor it is said that they have one mind, & that God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will & to agree & give their kingdom unto the Beast. And the Whore is said to commit fornication with them, & make all nations drunk with the wine of her fornication & to deceive them with her sorceries Ch 18.3, 24. And so the two hornd Beast is said to deceive them by his miracles & by making fire come down from heaven. So that they are perswaded into an unanimous subjection by Sophistry & subtile delusions, but not conquered by the sword.
4 These Kings thus conspiring into one body politique are the very Beast. ffor the horns of a Beast are used to signify the number of particular kingdoms or Dynasties of which the universal Kingdom represented by the whole Beast is composed: as may be seen in Daniel where the two horns of the Ram were the Kings or Kingdoms of the Medes & Persians which composed that general Kingdom & the four horns of the Goat were the four princi pall Kingdoms of which the Greecian universal Kingdom after the death of Alexander consisted. And in like manner the ten horns of this Beast must denote so many Kings or Kingdoms all which together make up the universal Kingdom signified by the whole Beast. ffor these Kings which in the sixt head had received no Kingdoms whence could they receive them but from the Dragon, by sharing his body among them in the time of the last head? Which if it be supposed, yet the universal Kingdom will be still continued in the aggregate of those Kingdoms, as well as the Græcian Kingdom after the death of Alexander was, according to Daniel's representation of it by one Beast with four horns, continued in the aggregate of his sucessors; & on this account more properly that they have one mind, & that god shall put in their hearts – to agree & give their kingdom unto the Beast, that is, to constitute the Beast, or so to agree & combine together that their kingdoms shall be, as it were, but one Kingdom , & by consequence the very Beast. For in the expression of giving their Kingdom to the Beast, it is to be observed that all their Kingdoms together are called their Kingdom in the singular number & so esteemed as if but one Kingdom, which may therefore be well represented by one Beast notwithstanding the subdivisions.
And unless this be allowed, the Beast must have more horns then ten; for there are ten horns in the Kingdom which the kings give unto him, & if he have any other Kingdom distinct from the Whore or little horn, there must be one more horn at least in that
But for further confirmation of this particular, it is to be observed that the Whore in one place is said to sit upon the Beast, in another place to sit upon many waters, which are peoples & multitudes & nations & tongues, & in another place to be the great city which ruleth over the Kings of the earth, ch 17.1, 3, 15, 18. And by consequence, the Beast, the many waters or Nations & the Kings of the Earth must signify the same thing since they are indifferently used for one another.
And this is further signified by Nebuchadnezzar's Image whose feet & toes were described to be part of iron & part of clay to signify the aptness of the Kingdom to be rent into less Dynasties toward the latter end of it. And the distributions of the leggs into ten toes imply the rending of it into so many kingdoms, the aggregate of which is still to be esteemed the same universal kingdom as before the division because they are represented by the toes which together with the feet & leggs in Daniel's estimation constituted but one & the same fourth kingdom.
[And lastly this is evident by the universality of the Beast, whom all the earth was to wonder after & to worship & to receive his mark.
5.[6] Although the Beast be the aggregate of all nations, yet it may signify after a more special manner that nation where the Whore immediately resideth. For it seems to respect that nation above the rest [in ch 16.10 where mention is made of the seat of the Beast &] in ch 19.19 where the Beast is mentioned together with the Kings of the earth as if there were some kind of difference between them. And so where the Kings of the earth are said to give their Kingdom to the Beast the meaning may be that the other nations joyn with that in submission to the whore. Not as if that were a kingdom divers from the other ten, but either one or more of them, or some region belonging to one or more of them, or else, it may be, some less civile but not regal Dynasty or Dynasties distinct from them all. For that beside the principal division of the Beast into ten Kingdoms there were to be many subdivisions into inferior Dynasties is implyed by the iron & clay which adhered not together, & of which even the toes themselves of Nebuchadnezzar's Image consisted.]
PROP. XIV.
The Horns of the Beast are Kingdoms derived from the Dragon, & the Dragon himself became one of the hornes.
<56>
1. The horns were kingdoms derived from the Dragon. For since the horns which upon the Beast's head have their proper crowns, are upon the Dragon's head also, & that without any other crowns then the common one of the Head; they must represent the same kingdoms or nations subject to one common King in the reign of the Dragon which were afterwards in the reign of the Beast to obtein their proper Kings. For that this is the proper interpretation of these circumstances is manifest by the saying in the time of the sixt seale. That the kings had not then received their kingdoms but were to receive them about the same time with the Beast. So Dan 7.24 The ten horns out of this Kingdom are ten Kings that shall arise, i.e. that shall arise out of this Kingdom: The force of which place will appear more fully by considering that since they arise in the middle of his reign, if they did not arise out of him his preceding & following parts could not make one & the same beast. This dividing of the kingdom is also signified by the toes & by the mixture of Iron & clay in the feet of Nebuchadnezzar's Image, compared with Daniel's explication thereof, as was signified in the precedent Proposition where this assertion was occasionally touched on.
2. The Dragon amongst the Kingdoms divided from him became one of the horns of the beast. For since the Dragon survived the rise of the Beast & consequently the dividing of the other kingdoms from him, he must either be recconed among those other kingdoms to make up the number of the horns or remain a kingdom external to the Beast. But not external, for that is repugnant to the universality of the Beast described by Saint Iohn, & much more to the Vision of Daniel whose Beast comprehends the Dragon even before the rise of Saint Iohn's Beast. He is therefore comprehended within the Beast & by consequence one of his horns. ffor in that he is a kingdom a crown must belong to him, & the Beast hath no other crowns but those upon his horns.
Yea this is expresly declared in ch 13.2, 4, where it is said that the Dragon gave the Beast his power & his seat & great authority: Which is not to be interpreted as if he parted with all his power, for so he would have ceased to be; But the sense is that having parted with some he gave him the remainder by assisting him therewith, as will appear by comparing this place with ch 17.13 where the ten kings are in like manner said to give their power & strength to the Beast, that is to give him their kingdom v 17, which is the same thing with their becoming his horns. And therefore according to the analogy of these two places, the Dragon with the rest of the Kings do all contribute to inlarge the power & dominion of the Beast by the access of their power & strength & territories, & so all become his horns: yea the Dragon more eminently then the rest, since from him, according to ch 17, the Beast borrowed the greatest of his power.
PROP. IV.
The calamities which follow upon sounding the Trumpets, are all by war.
This the very soundings of the Trumpets imply, as being so many Alarms to War. But I shall run over the particulars.
<59>At the first Trumpet the Hail & fire mingled with blood; at the second Vial the sea becoming blood as of a dead man, & every thing dying in it, & at the third Vial the fountains becoming blood, & God's giving them blood to drink because they had shed the blood of his saints; are sufficient indications of war. For none of this bloodshed can be by persecution of the saints becaus these plagues are termed the vials of the wrath of God, & so to be inflicted upon evil men, as is also exprest in the pouring out of the first & third.
Also at the fourth Trumpet or Vial the smiting of the Sun Moon & Stars, signifies the overthrow of some King or kingdom, by Def : & so most probably implies war.
*** *** And in all these four there is also an impression of war by fire & burning. In the first there is fire mixed with the hail & blood, in the second a mountain burning with fire in the third a star burning as it were a Lamp & in the fourth power is given to the sun to scorch men with fire. And this figure of fire & burning signifies war by Def.
The wars of these four Trumpets are also signified by the four winds in chap 7.1, of which we shall have occasion to speak in Prop
Moreover at the fift Trumpet — At the fift Trumpet there arose Locusts like horses prepared to battel, with faces like men (i.e. Horsmen) & Breastplates as of Iron. And the sound of their wings was as of chariots & Horses running to Battel
At the sixt there were let loos four Kings with an Army of horsmen with Breastplates & license to kill men.
And at the seventh the Beast with the Kings of the Earth were gathered together against him that sat on the hors & against his Army, & there followed a great Hail **** with thundrings & lightnings & a great shaking; which are the singular impressions of a great battel by Def
< text from p 59 resumes >
But to make this limitation yet more firm it may be further considered that as the first four seales in ch 6 were ushered in by the four Beasts, so the first four Trumpets are ushered in apart by their four Angels standing on the corners of the Earth ch 7.1. For that these were the Angels, not which sounded, but which executed the consequent effects is manifest becaus to them it was given to hurt the earth & the sea, & another Angel cryed to them saying, Hurt not the Earth neither the Sea nor the Trees till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. These are they therefore which after the saints are sealed hurt the Earth & Trees at the first Trumpet & the Sea at the second: And their number will extend them to the third & fourth also, but no further. For the winds wherewith the Angels were to hurt the earth & the Sea &c: are so many wars by Def. & therefore we are to suppose that the Angels let go these winds successively as being the 4 first of the 7 successive woes of the Trumpets. And from this combination of these four Trumpets may be argued that they relate to things of the same nature with one another, & of a different nature from the contents of the three last which by the want of Angels are distinguished from them. For otherwise the introduction of the four Angels & their limitation to that number would be an insignificant circumstance.
But to put the matter out of doubt, the holy ghost has again signified the combination of the four first Trumpets by parting them as it were from the three last by the interposition of an Angel flying through the midst of heaven & saying with a loud voice, Wo, Wo wo to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the Trumpet of the three Angels which are yet to sound.
PROP. XV.
The two & forty Months of the Beast the like reign of the Whore, the stay of the Woman in the Wilderness, the treading under foot of the holy City, & the prophesying of the two witnesses in sackcloth, are throughout synchronal, & extend from the beginning of the Wo Trumpets to the killing of the witnesses .
ffor 1 they are of equal duration. The Beast 42 Months ch 13.5; the Whore or little Horn a time & times & the dividing of time Dan 7.25; the Woman a time & times & half a time Rev 12.14, or 1260 days ch 12.6; the Gentiles 42 Months. & the witnesses 1260 days ch 11.2, 3. All which are equall since the holy Ghost in ch 12.6, 14, hath interpreted a time & times & the dividing of time to be 1260 days, that is three yeares & a half or 42 months. ** **
<66>2. They are synchronall & end with the killing of the Witnesses ~ ~ ~ ~ 2. They are synchronal & end with the killing of the witnesses. Of their synchronism severally there are divers {illeg}
< insertion from p 66 >Of their synchronism severally there are divers characters: as of the Witnesses in sackcloth & woman in the wilderness becaus both express the like desolate estate of the Church of the Woman & whore by way of opposition & becaus the wilderness wherein the woman is is also inhabited by the whore ch 17.3 & made to be a wilderness by her abominations Def . Of the Whore & her Beast becaus shee sits upon him: (A) (A) Of the Beast & woman becaus he rose at her beginning to fly into the wilderness & continued to the last trumpet, & in the wilderness during all the 42 months, made war with the saints, which were constitute the woman in the wilderness with him.
(A) Of the Woman & Beast becaus the {saints} with which he warred all the time, must be in the same wildernes with him & {are} no other then the woman of the Beast & Gentiles by their identity See Prop 17 & of the Gentiles & witnesses becaus they are introduced together ch 11.2, 3. Of the Beast & Witnesses becaus he makes Warr with them & kills them And indeed such is the affinity of all these things that their synchronism was never yet that I know doubted of, the equality of their duration being alone thought a sufficient indication thereof.
But to comprehend them all together: they are all necessarily implied in the times immediately before the death of the witnesses because till then the enemies of the Church prevailed more & more over her, & they are inconsistent with the times after their resurrection becaus from that time she prevailes over her enemies untill first the great City & soon after the whole Kingdom of the Beast be overthrown. For at the very resurrection of the witnesses she frighted her enemies & was no longer hid in the wilderness but became visible to all the world who beheld her as a cloud for multitude, Def The numbers therefore since they all express the time of the churches desolation & her enemies prevailing over her, must end between these two periods. And of these two I prefer the first. ffor then the Witnesses have done prophesying, & by consequence the Woman is ceased out of the Wilderness, & the Temple out of the City so that it is no longer a holy City which the Gentiles tread under foot; & the Beast & with him the Whore, for want of enemies, have done making war as their triumphal sending gifts to one another denotes. The killing of the witnesses therefore puts an absolute end to all things to which the 1260 days are applied & so must be the common period of those days. I say an end: for if any one tell me that Christ has promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church & therefore she cannot be interrupted, I return that other saying of his: when the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth. As there was intermission of the Iewish Kingdom for 70 years in the Babylonian Capitivity notwithstanding the promis that the Scripture should not depart from Iudah till Shiloh came, so in our Saviour's promis a short intermission of the Ch may not be accounted a prævailing against her becaus not a final nor durable prevailing, nor yet so absolute but that her works may continue in the earth, some men remaining well disposed to receive the truth though at present carried away with the streame, others seeking after it & perhaps discerning & believing it but yet imperfectly like those Pharissees that feared to confess it least they should be put out of the Synagogue or at least some believing one truth, others another so as among them all to retain the whole, & if you will go farther & suppose some few true believers in all that is necessary, I shall not gainsay it so you will but suppose 'em so few as here not to come into compute.
Some I know will say that the witnesses are two single persons, & so their slaying infers not any such deliquium of the Church. But they that will not be pervers may easily discern that they are something diffused through the whole Beast's dominion since it was not a few men but the Beast that made war with them & killed them, not a single City or nation but peoples kindreds tongues & nations that rejoyced over them & saw them rise again & ascend to heaven in a cloud. And the city in whose street they were was not a bare City but the whole dition thereof extending as far as where our Lord was crucified. Also they are called two candlesticks, which is an emblem not of two persons but of two Churches Rev: 1.20. And if there {illeg} thing els but {illeg} that it is the tenour of the Prophesy to present every thing by figures, it will be ground enough for us to suppose the same done in the Prophets.
< text from p 67 resumes > <69> < text from p 69 resumes >3. These Synchronals begin with the Wo-trumpets, This is a conclusion of main importance & therefore I shall be the more particular in the proof of it, urging for that end the following arguments.
Arg: 1. The wound of the Beast was healed at the end of the fourth Trumpet by Prop 14. And this Synchronism is dated from the healing of that wound. Now that this synchronism is dated from the healing of that wound I prove by these reasons.
ffirst the 42 Months of the Beast must either be dated from the healing of his wound or from his first rise, for there is no other remarkable Epocha within his reign. But it cannot be dated from his first rise because it is synchronal to the reign of Daniel's little horn, & this arose not till after the other ten horns which constitute the Beast. The same may be argued from the Whore for it was shown above in Prop: 7, that she arrived not to her dominion so as to sit upon the Beast untill some time after he was risen.
ffourthly this 42 Months of the Beast is not called the time of his continuance but the time of his making war. Ἐδόθη ἀυτω ἐξουσία πόλεμον πόιησαι μηνας τεσσαράκοντα δύο. There was given unto him power to make war forty & two months. And concerning this his Worshippers, in the vers before, proclaim saying, Who is like unto the Beast? who is able to make war with him? So that these two & forty Months are not spoken of his whole continuance but of the time onely wherein he had power to make war, or made war powerfully in so much that none were able to make war with him: & therefore must necessarily exclude the time of his being wounded to death by war, & begin but at his resurrection.
Conclude we therefore that this synchronism of the 42 months is dated from the healing of the wound that is from the end of the fourth Trumpet, & so begins with the wo-trumpets.
Arg: 2. The care taken by the Holy Ghost to separate the three last Trumpets from the four first, both by interposition of an Angel crying Wo, wo, wo, & by introducing the four Trumpets first apart by their four Angels, must needs imply some considerable difference in the nature of the times which they relate unto, & so that the Wo-trumpets begin with some new scene of things, as was signified above. And therefore it will be more naturall to make them begin with this Synchronism then to combine all the seven Trumpets therein by extending it through them all.
Arg: 3. This Synchronism is of all times the most wicked, as is notoriously manifest by the description of the Whore of Babylon in ch 17 & 18 & of the little horn in Daniel so many ages before. & of the latter times both by the Apostles & by Daniel in his other visions In like manner the Wo-trumpets are represented as conteining the greatest judgments of God for wickedness, as is manifest by the proclamation of Wo at the beginning of them. And therefore since it is usuall with God to proportion his judgments to wickedness, this Synchronism will best agree to these Trumpets. At least the denunciation of Wo at the beginning of them is a declaration of God's anger at the aggravation of the wickedness commencing at that time: & I see not what wickedness that can bee besides the beginning of this Synchronism.
Arg: 4. This Synchronism is generally acknowledged to be the famous reign of Antichrist or man of Sin of whome Saint Paul to the Thessalonians ch: 2, said, Ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time: For the mystery of iniquity doth already work onely he who now letteth will let untill he be taken out of the way. Now he who letteth is by the tradition of the Ancients, the Roman Empire, that Kingdom whose fate is described in the Seales & Trumpets. And therefore the man of Sin cannot be taken out of the way nor this Synchronism begin before that Kingdom be taken out of the way. Search now the Apocalyps from the first seale to the last Trumpet, & you will find nothing that can signify this taking away beside the sixt Seale & fourth Trumpet; for in them onely is the smiting of the Luminaries which is the proper Emblem of the overthrow of a kingdom But I shewed in Prop 10 that the sixt seale was to be interpreted of spirituall matters without diminishing the temporall power of the Kingdom, & therefore it is onely in the fourth Trumpet that this taking away can happen. And that then it does happen will appear in the application of this Prophesy to history
These Arguments might suffice to evince this important part of the Proposition, but yet I shall add one more, because, beside the strength it hath for this end, it conteins a notable determination of something more then is to be found in the Apocalyps.
<74>Arg: 5. The Whore of Babylon was to be forgotten or left desolate seventy yeares immediately before her reign. But this cannot happen at any other time then in the fourth Trumpet, & therefore her reign begins with the fift.
The major Proposition I prove out of Isa. 23.15, 16, 17, 18 where it is thus written.
"And it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years according to the days of one King: After seventy years shall Tyre sing as an Harlot. Take an harp, go about the City thou Harlot that hast been forgotten, make sweet melody, sing many songs that thou mayest be remembered. And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy yeares that the Lord will visit Tyre, & she shall turn to her hire, & shall commit fornication with all the Kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth. And her merchandise & her hire shall be holiness to the Lord. It shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, & for durable cloathing."
The circumstances of this Prophesy do in all respects suit with the whore of Babylon but not with the City of Tyre, & therefore I shall not doubt here by Tyre to understand this whore.
In the name there can be no difficulty becaus the Holy Ghost altogether calls the Whore by names borrowed from forreign places, as Babylon, Sodom, Egypt, & (as some think) Idumea Isa 34, & there is no reason why he may not as well call her Tyre, especially if Tyre in any respects besides wickedness (as in bordering upon the Sea. See Rev 18.17, 19) do more advantageously then other places resemble her. Yea, if I am not mistaken, the holy Ghost hath confirmed this name to her in Ezekiel 28. But at least that this place of Isaiah is to be understood of her will appear by the following considerations.
And first whereas Tyre is here called a Harlot & said to commit fornication with all the Kingdoms of the world upon the face of the Earth: this is the exact description of the whore of Babylon, but can in no wise agree to the City Tyre. For none but the Church of God can be an Harlot & commit fornication. This is a crime peculiar to God's people when they forsake him & go a whoring after other Gods or Idols. And therefore although Heathens were universally Idolaters yet the holy Ghost never reproves any nation under the notion of committing fornication beside the revolting Iews in the old Testament & revolting Christians in the new. But were it otherwise so that Tyre be called a Harlot for her Idolatry yet I see not how shee should be accused for committing fornication with other nations since her dealing with other nations was onely in matters of trade & merchandise. Nor does the universality of the expression that Tyre should commit fornication with all the Kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth agree so well to that city as to the Whore.
Secondly I see not how the seventy years of desolation can be accommodated to the City of Tyre. ffor from Isaiah's days to Nebuchadnezzar's it continued in prosperity excepting onely five or six year's siege & that in vain by Salmanasser, & by Nebuchadnezzar it was not onely ruined for seventy years but for ever as was prophesied by Ezekiel ch 26. Yet not far from this City there was another incompassed by the sea & called by the same name but this was not ruined with the other,[7] but from that very time governed first by Baal their king for about 10 years & then by Iudges for about seven yeares & three months, & then again by Kings (Balator, Merbal Hirom, &c) untill the reign of Cyrus & from thence for any thing that appears to the contrary flourished till it was utterly destroyed by Alexander the great under its last King.
Thirdly in that these seventy yeares are said to be according to the days of one King, is plainly signified that this prophesy is not to be interpreted litterally of Tyre, but hath some mystical meaning in it. For what King since Isaiah's days hath reigned 70 yeares? But if we refer it to the Whore of Babylon, & make the 70 yeares to be the duration of the fourth Trumpet the interpretation is obvious. Namely that as the holy Ghost calls the seven Heads of the Dragon seven Kings & these, as I shewed, are the successive parts of the Kingdom divided according to the seales: So the like divisions of the Beast by the Trumpets may be also called Heads or Kings, of which the seventy yeares is the duration of the fourth.
ffourthly, whereas it is said that Her merchandise & her hire shall be holiness to the Lord – & that her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the Lord: it is here in so many words declared that by Tyre is meant a people whose merchandise & hire, that is, whose possessions are holiness unto the Lord, & that the people for whom this merchandise is, that is the people of Tyre are they that dwell before the Lord. And this is as much as to say that by Tyre is meant a people whose possessions are consecrate & set apart to the true God, so that they cannot be alienated without sacrilege, & a people also that are themselves set apart & consecrate to the service of that God. That is in plain words, a people whose possessions are the revenues of the Church, & which themselves are ecclesiastical persons like the Tribe of Levi. And this can in no wise be understood of the City of Tyre; but of the Whore of Babylon it is a most apposite description, according to the character of Saint Paul, that the Man of Sin should sit in the Temple of God.
And whereas it is further added, that her merchandise shall not be treasured nor laid up – but shal be for them that dwell before the Lord to eat sufficiently, & for durable cloathing; That is, they shall spend it upon their backs & bellies in pride & luxury: this also suits justly with the description of the Whore. For of her it is said that the merchants of the earth waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies, Rev 18.3. And that all were made rich that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness vers 18. And that she was clothed in fine linnen & purple & scarlet & decked with gold & pretious stones & Pearles vers 16. And the merchandise she bought was Gold, Silver, pretious stones, Pearls, fine Linnen, Purple, Silk, Scarlet, Sweet Wood, all manner of pretious Vessels, — Cinnamon, Odours, Ointments, Frankincens Wine, Oyle, fine Flower, Wheat, Beasts, Sheep &c. vers 12, 13.
These are the reasons by which I here understand the Whore of Babylon by Tyre: Which being granted & consequently that this Whore was to be forgotten 70 yeares & then to sing as an Harlot, & return to her hire & commit fornication with all the kings of the earth, that is to begin her reign at the end of the 70 yeares, which was the Major Proposition; I prove the Minor by this consideration that the Whore must have began to be (though not to reign) before the 70 years ffor otherwise she could not bee said to have been forgotten, nor afterward to return to her hire. But there is no signe of her being before the rise of the two horned Beast or at the soonest not before the Dragon began to chase the Woman into the Wilderness: & therefore these seventy yeares must fall within the seventh seale. And within that there is no time so suitable to this desolation as the fourth Trumpet. Yea it seems necessary that she be desolate during the death of her Beast therein, & therefore that must be the time since there is no mention of her being desolate oftener then once.
PROP XVI.
The Temple within the holy City troden under foot by the Gentiles, denotes the same thing with the Woman in the Wilderness persecuted by the Dragon & Beast: the
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Temple answering to the Woman, the city to the Wildernes, & the Gentiles to the seventh head of the Dragon
1 The Gentiles are the same with the Beast becaus by Prop 16 they are contemporary to him, & all Kindreds & tongues & nations, ch 13.7, 16, that is all Gentiles are his Subjects. Also in prosecuting the description of the Gentiles & Witnesses, the Beast ch 11.7, & they of the Peoples & kindreds & tongues & nations in vers 9 are put in stead of the Gentiles.
2 The Temple of God with the Altar & them that worship therein is the same with the Woman, becaus they also by Prop 16 are synchronal, & both signify the true church of Christ: the Temple as being dedicated to God's worship & inhabited by him, as Saint Paul saith to the Corinthians, Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God — the Temple of God is holy which Temple ye are, 1 Cor 3.16, 17; And the Woman as being the Mother of beleevers Rev 12.17, & Spouse of Christ, ch 19.7. And therefore since there is but one true Church, they must both be the same.
The Temple indeed may seem to be distinguished from the Church by the further mentioning of them that worship in the Temple But I take this to be done but by way of explanation, , much after the same manner that in the vision of the woman it is added that the Dragon went to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God, not to distinguish the seed from the Woman but to explain the signification of the Woman thereby. Let therefore the parallel be put between the worshippers in the Temple & the seed of the woman, & then the Temple will answer to the Woman & so differ from the worshippers in it no otherwise then the Woman from her seed, or then the whole from some of its members. The same may be argued from the common affection of being measured with a reed, which would be improper were the things measured of a different kind.
And as the Temple is a representatve of the living worshippers so the Altar therein is of the Martyrs, concerning whome it is said that the former Martyrs represented by the Altar in the fift Seale should rest yet for a little season untill their fellow servants also that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled.
3 The outward Court & holy City is the same with the wilderness, becaus alike related both to the Nations signified by the Gentiles & Beast & to the Church signified by the Temple & Woman, being inhabited by the one ch. 11.2 & 17.3, & conteining the other; that is, being their common Dition.
4 This Vision of the Temple & holy City troden under foot by the Gentiles begins with the seventh seale & so comprehends the last head of the Dragon. In the three former particulars I considered onely the Synchronism of the 42 Months, to which this Vision chiefly relates. But as that Synchronism is dated from a later period then the first rise of the Beast or first flight of the woman into the Wilderness: so it must be of a later date then the first appearance of the Temple & Court troden under foot by the Gentiles. For since these two visions are of the same signification all their parts must correspond to one another & be coextended, & consequently the Gentiles must begin to tread underfoot the holy city when the Dragon begins to persecute the Woman into the Wilderness: which as I shewed in Prop 10 is at the beginning of the seventh seale.
And for further confirmation of this it may be also considered that the measuring of the Temple & Altar & them that worship therein with a reed in this vision signifies the same thing with sealing the servants of God in their foreheads with the seale of God in chap 7 & with the numbering those by Tribes that were sealed, 12000 of each tribe. ffor sealing or numbring or measuring them are but divers modes of expressing God's care for his elect, not much unlike that of our Saviour's telling his disciples that the very haires of their head are all numbred. Or as Saint Paul saith that they are sealed to the day of redemption: And therefore it is not to be doubted but that these circumstances were intended to connect the beginning of this vision of the Temple with that of sealing & numbring the servants of God, & so to fix it at the beginning of the seventh Trumpet.
Mr Mede extends this vision yet higher, even to the beginning of the first seale, supposing that it ought to return to the highest Epocha becaus it is a regress of Prophesy. That it is a regress of Prophesy was proved above Posit 2. 3. But I see no reason why it should return higher then to the beginning of the last seale, since the book conteining it is but a little one, & the seven Thunders which are also a distinct Prophesy introduced together with this book, do yet return no higher. Yea to extend it upward to that period & no higher is altogether agreeable to the method of the narration, as will appear by considering the reason & design of this regression, which doubtles was to insert such things as were proper for connecting the vision of the seales & Trumpets with that of the Dragon & Beast, which things although contemporary with the Trumpets yet could not be declared together with them, becaus continued through them all without being interrupted and distinguished into parts answering to each Trumpet. And therefore as Historians when they have two contemporary subjects which cannot be conveniently related together, discours first of one till they come to some remarkable period common to them both & then return to bring down the other to the same period before they proceed; so here Saint Iohn having related the fate of the church & Empire together under the first six seales, when he comes at the seventh he makes a notable breach by interposing the seventh chapter conteining the vision of the sealed saints, as if it were to cut of the following visions from those of the six preceding Seales, & there divides the narration, & first declares the fate of the Empire unto the common period of that & the obscured Church & then returns to declare the fate of the Church to the same period: after which he proceeds in the joint description of both together shewing the downfall of the one & victory of the other at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet.
And that this is the scope of the Prophesy of the little Book is evident in that it is introduced before that of the sealed Book is ended, & so is interwoven with it. ffor although the narration of the first six Trumpets was fully completed, as appears by ch 10.6, 7, where it is said that there should be time no longer but in the days of the voice of the seventh Angel when he shall begin to sound the mystery of God should be finished: yet the narration of the sounding of that Angel was deferred untill Saint Iohn had related this Prophesy of the little Book, ch 11.14, 15. So that this prophesy is inserted into that of the sealed book, like a Parenthesis within a sentence.
And for this reason I extend this of the little Book onely to the first thirteen verses of chap 11, & not with Mr Mede to the end of the Apocalyps; considering that the sounding of the 7th Trumpet is a return to the contents of the sealed Book & so must break off the Prophesy of the other Book, & that that other book is called but a little book, that is a book conteining but a little Prophesy & that it is said to be sweet in Saint Iohn's mouth & bitter in his belly, that is, to begin with the comfortable description of measuring the Temple & Altar & them that worship therein, signifying God's care for his elect; but from thence to the end to contein a description of the worst of times during the 42 Months: whereas if it be extended beyond that to the end of the Apocalyps, it would on the contrary be most sweet in his belly by reason of the joyfull times described in the seventh Trumpet, & more at large in the three last chapters, & in comparison thereof bitter in his mouth as beginning with the afflicted state of the Church militant under the Seales & first six Trumpets.
PROP. XI.
The hundred & forty four thousand sealed Servants of God are extended from the beginning of the seventh seale to the death of the Witnesses; & the Palm-bearing multitude from their resurrection to the utter ruin of the Beast.
And 1 the 144000 begin with the seventh seale. ffor although they are set before it, yet as I signified above they are referred to it by being introduced with the vision of the four Angels which were to hurt the earth & the sea at the sounding of the Trumpets. For in these Prophesies it is the Method of the holy Ghost when two contemporary subjects are to be related successively, thus to interweave them least they should be taken for successive things. And were it not for this end, the vision of the four Angels ought to have been separate from that of the sealed saints & inserted into the seventh seale to which it belongs.
But for the distincter understanding the connexion of these visions, you may consider the following particulars. ffirst that the silence in heaven for about the space of half an hower is the intervall between the beginning of the seventh seale & the beginning of the first Trumpet wherein the Angel offered incens with the prayers of the saints upon the golden Altar. For I extend this time of silence through all that intervall, becaus the circumstances of this vision are taken from the service of the Iews, & it was their custome to be silent {during} the time of Incense. Secondly the first appearance of the seven Angels which were to sound is at the very opening of the seventh seale becaus it precedes the time of incens & consequently is at the beginning of the half hower's silence. Thirdly the first appearance of the four Angels is contemporary with that of the seven. ffor to suppose this is most natural becaus they belong collaterally to the same vision of the Trumpets. It is also contrary to the order of the narration to put them later, & were they earlier they would interfere with the sixt seale. ffourthly the forbidding of these Angels to hurt the earth & the sea till the servants of God were sealed implies that they were to hurt the earth & the sea immediately after, & consequently the time of sealing must be extended to the first Trumpet wherein they begin to hurt the earth; that is, coextended to the half hower's silence. ffiftly whereas the four Angels hold the four winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree, that is during the time of sealing: the serenity & stilness of that time is a further argument of its coincidence with the half howers silence **. ** & that not onely by the similitude of the things, but also by the agreement of their signification ffor both signify a suspension of the following war: the stilness of the winds by Def & the silence in heaven as being a suspension of the noises, that is, of the voices & thunders & trumpets which introduced that war. And lastly the blessing of being sealed suits best with the time wherein the sacrifice of their prayers is mutually offered to God. For this passage is like that in Ezekiel: And the Lord said unto the Angel: Go through the midst of Ierusalem & set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh & cry for the abominations that are done in the midst thereof. Ezek 9.4.
2 The sealed saints are extended downward into the Trumpets. ffor by forbidding the four Angels to hurt the earth & the sea till the servants of God were sealed, this sealing is represented as a protection of them from the evil of the following times. And afterward in the fift Trumpet by calling the Worshippers of the Beast the men that have not the seale of God in their foreheads to distinguish them from the saints which are their contemporaries, it is plainly signified that those saints are of the numbers of the sealed ones. So in that the 144000 are called Virgins & said not to be defiled with women ch 14 it is as much as to say that they have escaped committing fornication with the Whore. And therefore they must have been her contemporaries.
3 The sealed saints are the true church extended downward even to the death of the witnesses. That they are the true Church is evident by their being sealed in opposition to them that receive the mark of the Beast, & called the servants of God & the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. And that they are for some time at least contemporary to the measured Temple & to the woman in the Wildernes is evident by Prop 17 partic 4 & Prop 10 partic 4; & also by Prop 16, considering that they are extended downward at least to the fift trumpet as was newly shown. And therefore since there is but one true church these sealed saints must be the same with the Temple & Woman, & by consequence equally extended downward with them, that is to the death of the witnesses. For till then the woman is in the wilderness & the holy City troden under foot. Prop 16.
<85>4. The Palm-bearing multitude are extended from the resurrection of the witnesses to the utter ruin of the Beast. For these immediately follow the sealed saints as is manifest by the order of the visions & therefore begin at the resurrection of the Witnesses. And beyond the utter ruin of the Beast they extend not becaus after that there is no more time for them to be in, ch 10.6, 7. & 1 Thes: 2.8. Their number ch. 7.9 is greater then can consist with the reign of the Beast whilst prosperous, & their great tribulation (ch 7.14) is less consistent with the times after his ruin when the kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of Christ for ever. But in the intermediate time the great prevailing of true religion signified by the ascention of the witnesses up to heaven who before prophesied onely in sackcloth, & by the cloud in which they ascended, that is by a great multitude of beleivers, Def 29 & 42 & by the preaching of the everlasting gospel to every nation & tongue & Kindred & people ch 14.6,[8] & interdicting the worship of the Beast & his Image vers 9; does argue the great multitude of its Professors: And at that time also is to be the greatest tribulation that ever was in the world or ever shal be. Mat 24.29, 30.[9] Dan 12.1, insomuch that Saint Iohn saith of that time: Here is the patience of the saints here are they that keep the commandments of God & the faith of Iesus. And both this great number of true Christians & great tribulation are necessarily conjoyned with the times of the ruin of the Beast, the one to cause his ruin & the other to be caused by him in the conflict before he be ruined. And therefore the Palm-bearing multitude by reason of the greatness of their number & tribulation, & they onely can suit with these times.
The same may be further argued from the contents of the 19th Chapter. For in vers 1 & 6 there is described such another great multitude preceding the ruin of the Beast & singing Allelujah at the judgment of the Whore which doubtless are the same with the Palm-bearing multitude. For they agree in the greatness of the multitude, the one being termed a great multitude which no man could number of all nations & kindreds & peoples & tongues ch 7.9, & the other much people, & many waters, that is Nations ch 19.1, 6. They agree also in their manner of worshiping, the one standing before the Throne & saying Salvation to our God &c. And the other in heaven saying Salvation & glory & honour & power unto the lord our God, & when they thus sang praises the heavenly Host also that was about the Throne fell down & worshipped God, ch 7.10, 11 & ch 19.1, 4. And lastly they agree in their white clothing. ffor the palm-bearing Multitude were clothed in white ch 7.9, & the other multitude sang that the marriage of the Lamb was come & his wife (i.e. the present Church or multitude that sang) hath made her self ready, & to her was granted that shee should be arrayed in fine linnen clean & white ch 19.8. And so it is said that the Armies which were in heaven following the King upon white horses clothed in fine linnen white & cleane ch 19.14: which armies doubtless belong to the same multitude because the one conquered the Beast vers 19; & the other rejoyced at the judgment of the whore, vers 2. These are therefore the Palmbearing multitude, & these fall in with the times wherein the Whore & Beast are overthrown.
To conclude, the death of the Witnesses is a breach & the onely breach made in the continuity of the Church, & this distinguishes her into two such parts as are represented by the sealed Saints & Palm-bearing multitude, & therefore these must fall in with one another.
< text from p 86 resumes >PROP. XII.
The time from the beginning of the seventh seale to the beginning of the seventh Trumpet is but one & the same continued Apostacy which arrives to a greater height at the beginning of the fift Trumpet, & at the greatest height at the death of the Witnesses & after their resurrection declines gradually untill first the great City Babylon be ruined & a while after all the Nations which gave their Kingdom to it be overthrown with an exceeding great slaughter.
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1. There is no Apostacy nor Eclips of the Church before the Seventh Seale. ffor in the four first seales there is nothing which respects the Church unless it be the victoriousness of her head in the first. In the fift seale indeed she suffers a great persecution but that is the greatest preservative against an Apostacy & produced her triumph over Gentilism with the description of which the sixt seal is taken up. So in the contemporary Prophesy of Chap 12 the Woman appeares gloriously adorned with the Sun Moon & Stars & suffers no obscuration or detriment by the Dragon till after he was cast out of heaven into the earth which was not completed till the end of the sixt Trumpet. This is all in the Apocalyps which precedes the seventh Trumpet, & in all this there is nothing of Apostacy or obscuration of the Church, but directly the contrary.
2. There begins an Apostacy at the seventh seale. For then the saints sending up their prayers are sealed against the evill times to come (see Ezek 9.4), then the Dragon begins to persecute the woman & she to fly into the Wilderness, then the Beast her grand enemy rises up & men begin to worship his Image & receive his mark, & for this overspreading of wickedness God prepares the judgments of the Trumpets & Vials & inflicts them on the Beast & his Worshippers,
3 The Apostacy ceases at the beginning of the seventh Trumpet. ffor then the Beast & ffals Prophet are destroyed & the Dragon shut up, & the Kingdoms of the world become the Kingdoms of God & of his Christ & he reigns for ever & ever.
4 The time from the beginning of the seventh Seal to the end of the sixt Trumpet is but one & the same continued Apostacy. For the better understanding of this you may consider these things. ffirst that this is the adequate time of the existence of the beast from his beginning to ascend out of the bottomles pit & in all this time his Image is worshipped & his mark received secondly that at the beginning of this time the woman begins her flight into the wilderness & comes not out again till the end of it. It is but one & the same continued persecution of her by the same Dragon from the beginning to the end. Tis true the earth helps her for some time against the Dragon but this is not so as to rescue her out of the Wilderness but onely to preserve her from being quite overwhelmed & carried away of the flood: not to better her condition but only to save her from perishing. ffor after this she is in a wors condition then before, having left but a remnant of her seed & those too still persecuted by the Dragon till the end. Thirdly the sealed Saints who stand in opposition to those that receive the mark of the Beast & were sealed all together at the very beginning of the seventh seale, are extended through all this time to the death of the witnesses. ffourthly this time is as it were cut out of the continued series of the seales & Trumpets by the two notable breaches made at the beginning & end of it, I meane the seventh chapter which intercedes the sixt & seventh seale & the tenth & 13 first verses of the eleventh chapter which intercede the sixt & seventh Trumpet. These are a fence on both sides to inclose, & to separate this intermediate time from the times before & after, & may be compared to the two terms of a Parenthesis which bound & include the words between them to distinguish them from the rest. Nor do they onely include but like two bands ty all the intermediate parts together; ffor they both run through the whole & so close with one another throughout; the palm-bearing multitude falling in with the times after the resurrection of the witnesses & the measuring of the Temple with the sealing of the saints. And it is yet a further band of these times that they are all allotted to the same seale & to the same head of the Dragon. And further as if all this were not enough to distinguish & characterise them the Prophet has described them by themselves in the vision of the Vials.
And indeed so notable are the times of this Apostacy that the whole Apocalyps from the fourth chapter seems to have been written for the sake of it. ffor the first six seales are but like an introduction to give warning of these times approaching & the 13 following chapters do all of them concern these times, some part of the 12th chapter onely excepted. And these are the times also which Daniel in no less then three of his visions (chap 7, 8, 11) has so long before described to be above all others exceedingly wicked.
He that hath ears to hear let him hear.
5. This Apostacy arrives to a greater height at the beginning of the first Wo-trumpet. For then has the Earth done helping the Woman, & she is fully hidden in the wilderness having left but a remnant of her seed. Then the Gentiles take full possession of the outward Court, & the two Witnesses begin to prophesy in sackcloth, & then Babylon gets upon her Beast & begins to sing as an Harlot. This is the beginning of the notable synchronism of the 1260 days wherein wickednes is at the height, the next period only excepted.
6. This Apostacy arrives to the greatest height at the killing of the Witnesses. ffor the warring with the Witnesses toward the end of their prophesy argues wors times then before the Beast began that war with them, & the killing of them argues times still wors by the prospering of wickedness; & their enemies rejoicing over their dead bodies, & making merry & sending gifts to one another becaus of the ceasing of these two Witnesses which tormented them, is such a triumph as argues that they are absolute & universal victors over the truth, having no more enemies left to torment them by standing up for it.
I should now proceed to describe the fall of this Babylonian Kingdom as it is graduated by these three periods; the resurrection of the witnesses, the fall of Babylon, & the battel of the great day. But these things being described at large in the 14th & 19th Chapters, I shall instead thereof show the connexion of those chapters with this interval.
7. The 14th chapter is a description of the times between the death of the witnesses & the beginning of the seventh Trumpet. This will appear by comparing their contemporary parts whereof the first is the vision of the Lamb with 144000 saints on mount Sion,[10] & this suits best with the time of the death of the Witnesses.[11] ffor these 144000 are the same with the sealed Saints as may appear both by their equal number, & by the seal in their foreheads which is here called the name of God, & by the coincidence of the times which they were to live in: ffor those were to live in the times of the Beast untill the death of the Witnesses, & these are they that have lived in those times; for they are called those which were redeemed from the earth & said to be virgins not defiled with Women, that is not polluted with the abominations of the Whore of Babylon These were therefore the Virgin Church represented by the woman in the wilderness, but they are here represented as no longer in the Wilderness but on Mount Sion, as men that are now redeemed from the earth & for the future in fruition of the presence of the Lamb. This Vision is therefore a representation of the accomplishment of the time of those saints on earth & so must fall in with the end of that time.
There is also another character of this period. ffor in that this chapter immediately succeeds the vision of the Beast who is said to make war 42 Months; it falls in very fitly with the end of those Months.
The next thing[12] is the vision of an Angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth even to every nation & kindred & tongue & people. And this preceding the fall of Babylon must fall in with the resurrection of the Witnesses.[13] And indeed they are the same thing: the two Witnesses being the two Testaments by which the will of God is testified to the world; their death the universal neglect of them to rely upon humane authorities; their resurrection & ascention the reviving spreading & great exaltation of their authority; & the cloud in which they ascended the great multitude of people (the Palm-bearing multitude which no man could number) to be converted all the world over by this reviving & universal preaching of the Gospel. This is that of which our Saviour said; This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come. Matt 24.14.
After this Angel had preached saying Fear God & give glory to him, ffor the hower of his judgment is come, &c. that is the hower in which he will judg Babylon: there follows another Angel[14] proclaiming that Babylon is fallen. And this answers to the fall of the 10th part of the City,[15] that is of the whole city Babylon then standing, for it was thrown down by a shaking. Not by an earthquake onely as it is usually translated, but by a shaking of heaven & earth, for so the word σεισμὸς must be understood in these prophesies. And this by Def signifies a political commotion so great as to overthrow a Kingdom & so can import nothing less then the fall of Babylon. And indeed what els signify the next words [The remnant were affrighted & gave glory to God] but their glorifying God for judging Babylon.
Immediately after this[16] there followed a third Angel prohibiting the worship of the Beast & his Image for the future: from whence we may gather that the Beast was still in being & had his worshippers. Though the City & dominion of Babylon was at an end the religion still continued among many. And this informs us who those are that cause the further troubles of the saints, concerning which Saint Iohn cries out in the next words, Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God & the faith of Iesus; & who the ffroggs are which come out of the mouth of the Dragon[17] & out of the mouth of the Beast & out of the mouth of the fals Prophet & gather the whole world to the battel of the great day.
The last thing is the harvest & Vintage[18] & these fall in with that battel of the great day.[19] ffor the Winepress is an emblem of slaughter by Def & the quantity of blood which came out of the winepress even to the horsbridles by the space of 1600 ffurlongs is an indication of the exceeding greatness of the slaughter, & that in Battel: ffor what hors bridles are those but of horsmen in the battel. ** ** Yea that there may be no room for doubting you have in the nineteenth chapter this treading of the winepress & the great battel joyned together. ffor when the Word of God upon the white hors led the armies of heaven to that great battel, it is said of him that out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations, & that he treadeth the winepres of the fiercenes & wrath of God; & then the battel is immediately described: ffor further elucidation of the place you may compare it with Isa 63.2, 3. which is a description of the same battel by the like treading of a winepress &c. which this place of Saint Iohn relates. This 14th chapter of the Apocalyps therefore ends with the great battel & consequently with the very beginning of the seventh Trumpet. ffor immediately before the seventh Vial the armies of the whole world are gathered together against this battel, & at it's pouring out their overthrow is described first by the expression It is done to signify the suddenness of it, & then by the voices, thunders, lightnings, shaking, hail, & falling of the Cities of the Nations, to express the action. And therefore since the 7th Trumpet is coincident with this Vial it must begin at the very battel, & be as it were a sounding to the onset.
8. The 19th Chapter is a description of the times between the falling of the 10th part of the City & the beginning of the seventh Trumpet. For The great battel shows that it ends at the very beginning of the seventh Trumpet; & that it succeeds the fall of Babylon is manifest by its beginning which runs thus. After these things (i.e. After the fall of Babylon described at large in the former Chapter) I heard a great voice of much people in heaven (i.e. the Church) saying: Allelujah; salvation – to God – for he hath judged the great Whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, & hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand, & again they said Allelujah: & her smoke ascendeth up for ever & ever. This Chapter therefore begins at the fall of Babylon & so must fall in with the time between that & the seventh Trumpet.
And indeed the middle of the Chapter is also such as can agree to no other time. ffor (not to repeat the consent of the great multitude with the Palm-bearing multitude) that multitude crying the Lord omnipotent reigneth, argues it to be after the reign of the Whore; & the Lamb's wife being not yet married but prepared against the day of marriage argues it to be before the seventh Trumpet when the Lamb, (as is described in the next words,) comes to vanquish all her enemies & marry her.
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2 at the sounding of this Trumpet it is said that the Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord & of his Christ & he shall reign for ever & ever: & this cannot well be applied to any christian Kingdom which hath been hitherto, or is like to be before the end of the world because they neither shall last for ever & ever nor have been or are like to be so much the Kingdom of Christ as they were in the Apostles times: unless we will take mea sure rather by the external pomp then integrity of worship For the purity of religion (according to what the Apostles prophesied of the latter times) hath ever since decreased, & is {like} still to decrease more & more to the end, insomuch that {illeg} of: See Luke 19.11, 12 & Dan 7.26, 27. But of this more hereafter
3 After the greatest decay of religion there is to be an universal preaching of the Gospel immediately before the seventh Trumpet Prop. . But this is not yet fulfilled; there has been nothing done in the world like it, & therefore it is to come.
4 At the end of the sixt Trumpet the Angel sware that there should be time no longer, but at the voice of the seventh Angel when he shall begin to sound the mystery of God should be finished as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets. Now here is a direct assertion of the end of the world in these words that there shall be time no longer, & this further character of it, that the Mystery of God shall then be finished: By which mystery I see not what can well be meant if not the resurrection of the saints & accomplishment of their happiness in Christ's Kingdom, which according to the Prophets is to commence at his second coming.
5 Yea this is positively asserted (Chap 11.18) in these words. Thy wrath is come (viz: at the 7th Trumpet) & the time of the dead that they should be judged, & that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the Prophets & to the saints & them that fear thy name small & great & shouldst destroy them which destroy the Earth Compare this with chap 22.12 Behold I come quickly & my reward is with me to give every man as his work shall be
6 A little before the pouring out of the 7th Vial (which is coincident with the 7th Trumpet Posit 2) there is warning given of our Saviours coming in these words. Behold I come as a Theif blessed is he that watcheth: A phrase which is very particularly applied to our saviour's second coming as you may see in Rev 3.3 2 Pet 3.10 Matt 24.43. And then as soon as the 7th Vial is poured out there came a great voice out of the Temple of heaven from the Throne saying It is done: which expression must denote the sudden accomplishment of some very extraordinary thing, such as is the coming of our Saviour & the change to be wrought in the world at his coming. And what els, think you, should be meant by calling {illeg}
7 In the end of the 14th chapter (which in Prop 12.7, I shewed to end at the very beginning of the seventh Trumpet) you have
[1] a. ἐσφαγμένην εἰς θάνατον wounded to death. ch 13.3
[2] b. Ὁ ἔχει τὴν πληγὴν της μαχαίρας, καὶ ἔζησε . Qui habet vulnus ensis & vixit vers 14. i.e Qui habet vulnus jam sanatum et revixit. Non enim dicit Qui habet et vivit neque qui habuit et vixit sed verba in diverso tempore posita sunt ut ἔζησε ad initium restitutæ vitæ referatur dum ἔχει indefinitè respicit omne tempus post acceptum vulnus.
[3] c. ἡ πληγη του θανάτου αυτου. vers. 12
[4] * i.e. of God ch 4.2
[5] a Posit.
[6] 5. Besides these 10 {Kings} there were to be {many} other little principalities
[7] Iosephus contra Appionem lib 1
[8] See Prop 19.7
[9] See the Comment on Matth 24
[10] ch 14.1
[11] ch 11.7, 8, 9, 10
[12] ch 14.6
[13] ch 11.11
[14] ch 14.8
[15] ch 11.13
[16] ch 14.9
[17] ch 16.13
[18] ch 14.14
[19] ch 16.14, 18, 21.
