* * * * *
OBSERVATIONS
UPON THE
APOCALYPSE
OF
St. _JOHN_.
* * * * *
CHAP. I.
_Introduction, concerning the time when the _Apocalypse_ was written_.
_Irenæus_ introduced an opinion that the _Apocalypse_ was written in the
time of _Domitian_; but then he also postponed the writing of some others
of the sacred books, and was to place the _Apocalypse_ after them: he might
perhaps have heard from his master _Polycarp_ that he had received this
book from _John_ about the time of _Domitian_'s death; or indeed _John_
might himself at that time have made a new publication of it, from whence
_Irenæus_ might imagine it was then but newly written. _Eusebius_ in his
_Chronicle_ and _Ecclesiastical History_ follows _Irenoeus_; but afterwards
[1] in his _Evangelical Demonstrations_, he conjoins the banishment of
_John_ into _Patmos_, with the deaths of _Peter_ and _Paul_: and so do [2]
_Tertullian_ and _Pseudo-Prochorus_, as well as the first author, whoever
he was, of that very antient fable, that _John_ was put by _Nero_ into a
vessel of hot oil, and coming out unhurt, was banished by him into
_Patmos._ Tho this story be no more than a fiction yet was it founded on a
tradition of the first churches, that _John_ was banished into _Patmos_ in
the days of _Nero_. _Epiphanius_ represents the _Gospel of John_ as written
in the time of _Domitian_, and the _Apocalypse_ even before that of _Nero_.
[3] _Arethas_ in the beginning of his Commentary quotes the opinion of
_Irenæus_ from _Eusebius_, but follows it not: for he afterwards affirms
the _Apocalypse_ was written before the destruction of _Jerusalem_, and
that former commentators had expounded the sixth seal of that destruction.
With the opinion of the first Commentators agrees the tradition of the
Churches of _Syria_, preserved to this day in the title of the _Syriac_
Version of the _Apocalypse_, which title is this: _The Revelation which was
made to _John_ the Evangelist by God in the Island _Patmos_, into which he
was banished by _Nero_ the _Cæsar__. The fame is confirmed by a story told
by [4] _Eusebius_ out of _Clemens Alexandrinus_, and other antient authors,
concerning a youth, whom _John_ some time after his return from _Patmos_
committed to the care of the Bishop of a certain city. The Bishop educated,
instructed, and at length baptized him; but then remitting of his care, the
young man thereupon got into ill company, and began by degrees first to
revel and grow vitious, then to abuse and spoil those he met in the night;
and at last grew so desperate, that his companions turning a band of
high-way men, made him their Captain: and, saith [5] _Chrysostom_, he
continued their Captain a long time. At length _John_ returning to that
city, and hearing what was done, rode to the thief; and, when he out of
reverence to his old master fled, _John_ rode after him, recalled him, and
restored him to the Church. This is a story of many years, and requires
that _John_ should have returned from _Patmos_ rather at the death of
_Nero_ than at that of _Domitian_; because between the death of _Domitian_
and that of _John_ there were but two years and an half; and _John_ in his
old age was [6] so infirm as to be carried to Church, dying above 90 years
old, and therefore could not be then suppos'd able to ride after the thief.
This opinion is further supported by the allusions in the _Apocalypse_ to
the Temple and Altar, and holy City, as then standing; and to the
_Gentiles_, who were soon after to tread under foot the holy City and
outward Court. 'Tis confirmed also by the style of the _Apocalypse_ itself,
which is fuller of _Hebraisms_ than his Gospel. For thence it may be
gathered, that it was written when _John_ was newly come out of _Judea_,
where he had been used to the _Syriac_ tongue; and that he did not write
his Gospel, till by long converse with the _Asiatick_ Greeks he had left
off most of the _Hebraisms_. It is confirmed also by the many false
_Apocalypses_, as those of _Peter_, _Paul_, _Thomas_, _Stephen_, _Elias_
and _Cerinthus_, written in imitation of the true one. For as the many
false Gospels, false Acts, and false Epistles were occasioned by true ones;
and the writing many false _Apocalypses_, and ascribing them to Apostles
and Prophets, argues that there was a true Apostolic one in great request
with the first _Christians_: so this true one may well be suppos'd to have
been written early, that there may be room in the Apostolic age for the
writing of so many false ones afterwards, and fathering them upon _Peter_,
_Paul_, _Thomas_ and others, who were dead before _John_. _Caius_, who was
contemporary with _Tertullian_, [7] tells us that _Cerinthus_ wrote his
Revelations as a great Apostle, and pretended the visions were shewn him by
Angels, asserting a _millennium_ of carnal pleasures at _Jerusalem_ after
the resurrection; so that his _Apocalypse_ was plainly written in imitation
of _John_'s: and yet he lived so early, that [8] he resisted the Apostles
at _Jerusalem_ in or before the first year of _Claudius_, that is, 26 years
before the death of _Nero_, and [9] died before _John_.
These reasons may suffice for determining the time; and yet there is one
more, which to considering men may seem a good reason, to others not. I'll
propound it, and leave it to every man's judgment. The _Apocalypse_ seems
to be alluded to in the Epistles of _Peter_ and that to the _Hebrews_ and
therefore to have been written before them. Such allusions in the Epistle
to the _Hebrews_, I take to be the discourses concerning the High-Priest in
the heavenly Tabernacle, who is both Priest and King, as was _Melchisedec_;
and those concerning the _word of God_, with the _sharp two-edged sword_,
the [Greek: sabbatismos], or _millennial_ rest, the _earth whose end is to
be burned_, suppose by the lake of fire, _the judgment and fiery
indignation which shall devour the adversaries_, the _heavenly City which
hath foundations whose builder and maker is God_, the _cloud of witnesses,
mount _Sion_, heavenly _Jerusalem_, general assembly, spirits of just men
made perfect_, viz. by the resurrection, and _the shaking of heaven and
earth, and removing them, that the new heaven, new earth and new kingdom
which cannot be shaken, may remain_. In the first of _Peter_ occur these:
[10] _The Revelation of Jesus Christ_, twice or thrice repeated; [11] the
_blood of _Christ_ as of a Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the
world_; [12] the _spiritual building_ in heaven, 1 Pet. ii. 5. _an
inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for us, who are kept unto the salvation, ready to be revealed in
the last time_, 1 Pet. i. 4, 5. [13] the _royal Priesthood_, [14] the _holy
Priesthood_, [15] the _judgment beginning at the house of God_, and [16]
_the Church at _Babylon__. These are indeed obscurer allusions; but the
second Epistle, from the 19th verse of the first Chapter to the end, seems
to be a continued Commentary upon the _Apocalypse_. There, in writing to
the _Churches in _Asia__, to whom _John_ was commanded to send this
Prophecy, he tells them, they _have a more sure word of Prophecy_, to be
heeded by them, _as a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day
dawn, and the day-star arise in their hearts_, that is, until they begin to
understand it: for _no Prophecy_, saith he, _of the scripture is of any
private interpretation; the Prophecy came not in old time by the will of
man, but holy men of God spake, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Daniel_ [17] himself professes that he understood not his own _Prophecies_;
and therefore the Churches were not to expect the interpretation from their
Prophet _John_, but to study the Prophecies themselves. This is the
substance of what _Peter_ says in the first chapter; and then in the second
he proceeds to describe, out of this _sure word of Prophecy_, how there
should arise in the Church _false Prophets_, or _false teachers_, expressed
collectively in the _Apocalypse_ by the name of the false Prophet; who
should _bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought
them_, which is the character of _Antichrist_: _And many_, saith he, _shall
follow their lusts_ [18]; they that dwell on the earth [19] shall be
deceived by the false Prophet, and be made drunk with the wine of the
Whore's fornication, _by reason of whom the way of truth shall be
blasphemed_; for [20] the Beast is full of blasphemy: _and thro'
covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandize of you_; for
these are the Merchants of the Earth, who trade with the great Whore, and
their merchandize [21] is all things of price, with the bodies and souls of
men: _whose judgment--lingreth not, and their damnation [22] slumbreth
not_, but shall surely come upon them at the last day suddenly, as the
flood upon _the old world_, and fire and brimstone upon _Sodom_ and
_Gomorrha_, when the just shall be delivered [23] like _Lot_; for _the Lord
knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the
unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished_, in the lake of fire; _but
chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness_, [24]
being made drunk with the wine of the Whore's fornication; who _despise
dominion, and are not afraid to blaspheme glories_; for the beast opened
his mouth against God [25] to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and
them that dwell in heaven. _These, as natural brute beasts_, the ten-horned
beast and two-horned beast, or false Prophet, _made to be taken and
destroyed_, in the lake of fire, _blaspheme the things they understand
not_:--they count it pleasure to riot in the day-time--sporting themselves
with their own deceivings, while they feast [26] with you, _having eyes
full of an [27] Adulteress_: for the kingdoms of the beast live deliciously
with the great Whore, and the nations are made drunk with the wine of her
fornication. They _are gone astray, following the way of _Balaam_, the son
of _Beor_, who loved the wages of unrighteousness_, the false Prophet [28]
who taught _Balak_ to cast a stumbling-block before the children of
_Israel_. _These are_, not fountains of living water, but _wells without
water_; not such clouds of Saints as the two witnesses ascend in, but
_clouds that are carried with a tempest_, &c. Thus does the author of this
Epistle spend all the second Chapter in describing the qualities of the
_Apocalyptic_ Beasts and false Prophet: and then in the third he goes on to
describe their destruction more fully, and the future kingdom. He saith,
that because the coming of _Christ_ should be long deferred, they should
scoff, saying, _where is the promise of his coming_? Then he describes the
sudden coming of the day of the Lord upon them, _as a thief in the night_,
which is the _Apocalyptic_ phrase; and the _millennium_, or _thousand
years_, which _are with God but as a day_; the _passing away of the old
heavens_ and earth, by a conflagration in the lake of fire, and our
_looking for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness_.
Seeing therefore _Peter_ and _John_ were Apostles of the circumcision, it
seems to me that they staid with their Churches in _Judea_ and _Syria_ till
the _Romans_ made war upon their nation, that is, till the twelfth year of
_Nero_; that they then followed the main body of their flying Churches into
_Asia_, and that _Peter_ went thence by _Corinth_ to _Rome_; that the
_Roman_ Empire looked upon those Churches as enemies, because _Jews_ by
birth; and therefore to prevent insurrections, secured their leaders, and
banished _John_ into _Patmos_. It seems also probable to me that the
_Apocalypse_ was there composed, and that soon after the Epistle to the
_Hebrews_ and those of _Peter_ were written to these Churches, with
reference to this Prophecy as what they were particularly concerned in. For
it appears by these Epistles, that they were written in times of general
affliction and tribulation under the heathens, and by consequence when the
Empire made war upon the _Jews_; for till then the heathens were at peace
with the _Christian Jews_, as well as with the rest. The Epistle to the
_Hebrews_, since it mentions _Timothy_ as related to those _Hebrews_, must
be written to them after their flight into _Asia_, where _Timothy_ was
Bishop; and by consequence after the war began, the _Hebrews_ in _Judea_
being strangers to _Timothy_. _Peter_ seems also to call _Rome_ _Babylon_,
as well with respect to the war made upon _Judea_, and the approaching
captivity, like that under old _Babylon_, as with respect to that name in
the _Apocalypse_: and in writing _to the strangers scattered thro'out
_Pontus_, _Galatia_, _Cappadocia_, _Asia_ and _Bithynia__, he seems to
intimate that they were the strangers newly scattered by the _Roman_ wars;
for those were the only strangers there belonging to his care.
This account of things agrees best with history when duly rectified. For
[29] _Justin_ and [30] _Irenæus_ say, that _Simon Magus_ came to _Rome_ in
the reign of _Claudius_, and exercised juggling tricks there.
_Pseudo-Clemens_ adds, that he endeavoured there to fly, but broke his neck
thro' the prayers of _Peter_. Whence [31] _Eusebius_, or rather his
interpolator _Jerom_, has recorded, that _Peter_ came to _Rome_ in the
second year of _Claudius_: but [32] _Cyril_ Bishop of _Jerusalem_,
_Philastrius_, _Sulpitius_, _Prosper_, _Maximus Taurinensis_, and
_Hegesippus junior_, place this victory of _Peter_ in the time of _Nero_.
Indeed the antienter tradition was, that _Peter_ came to _Rome_ in the days
of this Emperor, as may be seen in [33] _Lactantius_. _Chrysostom_ [34]
tells us, that the Apostles continued long in _Judea_, and that then being
driven out by the _Jews_ they went to the _Gentiles_. This dispersion was
in the first year of the _Jewish_ war, when the _Jews_, as _Josephus_ tells
us, began to be tumultuous and violent in all places. For all agree that
the Apostles were dispersed into several regions at once; and _Origen_ has
set down the time, [35] telling us that in the beginning of the _Judaic_
war, the Apostles and disciples of our Lord were scattered into all
nations; _Thomas_ into _Parthia_, _Andrew_ into _Scythia_, _John_ into
_Asia_, and _Peter_ first into _Asia_, where he preacht to the dispersion,
and thence into _Italy_. [36] _Dionysius Corinthius_ saith, that _Peter_
went from _Asia_ by _Corinth_ to _Rome_, and all antiquity agrees that
_Peter_ and _Paul_ were martyred there in the end of _Nero_'s reign. _Mark_
went with _Timothy_ to _Rome_, 2 _Tim._ iv. 11. _Colos._ iv. 10. _Sylvanus_
was _Paul_'s assistant; and by the companions of _Peter_, mentioned in his
first Epistle, we may know that he wrote from _Rome_; and the Antients
generally agree, that in this Epistle he understood _Rome_ by _Babylon_.
His second Epistle was writ to the same dispersed strangers with the first,
2 _Pet._ iii. 1. and therein he saith, that _Paul_ had writ of the same
things to them, and also in his other Epistles, _ver._ 15, 16. Now as there
is no Epistle of _Paul_ to these strangers besides that to the _Hebrews_,
so in this Epistle, chap. x. 11, 12. we find at large all those things
which _Peter_ had been speaking of, and here refers to; particularly the
_passing away of the old heavens and earth_, and _establishing an
inheritance immoveable_, with an exhortation to grace, because _God_, to
the wicked, _is a consuming fire_, Heb. xii. 25, 26, 28, 29.
Having determined the time of writing the _Apocalyse_, I need not say much
about the truth of it, since it was in such request with the first ages,
that many endeavoured to imitate it, by feigning _Apocalypses_ under the
Apostles names; and the Apostles themselves, as I have just now shewed,
studied it, and used its phrases; by which means the style of the Epistle
to the _Hebrews_ became more mystical than that of _Paul_'s other Epistles,
and the style of _John_'s Gospel more figurative and majestical than that
of the other Gospels. I do not apprehend that _Christ_ was called the word
of God in any book of the New Testament written before the _Apocalypse_;
and therefore am of opinion, the language was taken from this Prophecy, as
were also many other phrases in this Gospel, such as those of _Christ_'s
being _the light which enlightens the world, the lamb of God which taketh
away the sins of the world, the bridegroom, he that testifieth, he that
came down from heaven, the Son of God_, &c. _Justin Martyr_, who within
thirty years after _John_'s death became a _Christian_, writes expresly
that _a certain man among the _Christians_ whose name was _John_, one of
the twelve Apostles of _Christ_, in the Revelation which was shewed him,
prophesied that those who believed in _Christ_ should live a thousand years
at _Jerusalem__. And a few lines before he saith: _But I, and as many as
are _Christians_, in all things right in their opinions, believe both that
there shall be a resurrection of the flesh, and a thousand years life at
_Jerusalem_ built, adorned and enlarged_. Which is as much as to say, that
all true _Christians_ in that early age received this Prophecy: for in all
ages, as many as believed the thousand years, received the _Apocalypse_ as
the foundation of their opinion: and I do not know one instance to the
contrary. _Papias_ Bishop of _Hierapolis_, a man of the Apostolic age, and
one of _John_'s own disciples, did not only teach the doctrine of the
thousand years, but also [37] asserted the _Apocalypse_ as written by
divine inspiration. _Melito_, who flourished next after _Justin_, [38]
wrote a commentary upon this Prophecy; and he, being Bishop of _Sardis_ one
of the seven Churches, could neither be ignorant of their tradition about
it, nor impose upon them. _Irenæus_, who was contemporary with _Melito_,
wrote much upon it, and said, that _the number 666 was in all the antient
and approved copies; and that he had it also confirmed to him by those who
had seen _John_ face to face_, meaning no doubt his master _Polycarp_ for
one. At the same time [39] _Theophilus_ Bishop of _Antioch_ asserted it,
and so did _Tertullian_, _Clemens Alexandrinus_, and _Origen_ soon after;
and their contemporary _Hippolytus_ the Martyr, Metropolitan of the
_Arabians_, [40] wrote a commentary upon it. All these were antient men,
flourishing within a hundred and twenty years after _John_'s death, and of
greatest note in the Churches of those times. Soon after did _Victorinus
Pictaviensis_ write another commentary upon it; and he lived in the time of
_Dioclesian_. This may surely suffice to shew how the _Apocalypse_ was
received and studied in the first ages: and I do not indeed find any other
book of the New Testament so strongly attested, or commented upon so early
as this. The Prophecy said: _Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear
the words of this Prophecy, and keep the things which are written therein._
This animated the first _Christians_ to study it so much, till the
difficulty made them remit, and comment more upon the other books of the
New Testament. This was the state of the _Apocalypse_, till the thousand
years being misunderstood, brought a prejudice against it: and _Dionysius_
of _Alexandria_, noting how it abounded with barbarisms, that is with
_Hebraisms_, promoted that prejudice so far, as to cause many _Greeks_ in
the fourth century to doubt of the book. But whilst the _Latins_, and a
great part of the _Greeks_, always retained the _Apocalypse_, and the rest
doubted only out of prejudice, it makes nothing against its authority.
This Prophecy is called _the Revelation_, with respect to _the scripture of
truth_, which _Daniel_ [41] was commanded to _shut up and seal, till the
time of the end_. _Daniel_ sealed it _until the time of the end_; and until
that time comes, the Lamb is opening the seals: and afterwards the two
Witnesses prophesy out of it a long time in sack-cloth, before they ascend
up to heaven in a cloud. All which is as much as to say, that these
Prophecies of _Daniel_ and _John_ should not be understood till the time of
the end: but then some should prophesy out of them in an afflicted and
mournful state for a long time, and that but darkly, so as to convert but
few. But in the very end, the Prophecy should be so far interpreted as to
convince many. _Then_, saith _Daniel, many shall run to and fro, and
knowledge shall be encreased_. For the Gospel must be preached in all
nations before the great tribulation, and end of the world. The
palm-bearing multitude, which come out of this great tribulation, cannot be
innumerable out of all nations, unless they be made so by the preaching of
the Gospel before it comes. There must be a stone cut out of a mountain
without hands, before it can fall upon the toes of the Image, and become a
great mountain and fill the earth. An Angel must fly thro' the midst of
heaven with the everlasting Gospel to preach to all nations, before
_Babylon_ falls, and the Son of man reaps his harvest. The two Prophets
must ascend up to heaven in a cloud, before the kingdoms of this world
become the kingdoms of _Christ_. 'Tis therefore a part of this Prophecy,
that it should not be understood before the last age of the world; and
therefore it makes for the credit of the Prophecy, that it is not yet
understood. But if the last age, the age of opening these things, be now
approaching, as by the great successes of late Interpreters it seems to be,
we have more encouragement than ever to look into these things. If the
general preaching of the Gospel be approaching, it is to us and our
posterity that those words mainly belong: [42] _In the time of the end the
wise shall understand, but none of the wicked shall understand. [43]
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this Prophecy,
and keep those things which are written therein._
The folly of Interpreters has been, to foretel times and things by this
Prophecy, as if God designed to make them Prophets. By this rashness they
have not only exposed themselves, but brought the Prophecy also into
contempt. The design of God was much otherwise. He gave this and the
Prophecies of the Old Testament, not to gratify men's curiosities by
enabling them to foreknow things, but that after they were fulfilled they
might be interpreted by the event, and his own Providence, not the
Interpreters, be then manifested thereby to the world. For the event of
things predicted many ages before, will then be a convincing argument that
the world is governed by providence. For as the few and obscure Prophecies
concerning _Christ_'s first coming were for setting up the _Christian_
religion, which all nations have since corrupted; so the many and clear
Prophecies concerning the things to be done at _Christ_'s second coming,
are not only for predicting but also for effecting a recovery and
re-establishment of the long-lost truth, and setting up a kingdom wherein
dwells righteousness. The event will prove the _Apocalypse_; and this
Prophecy, thus proved and understood, will open the old Prophets, and all
together will make known the true religion, and establish it. For he that
will understand the old Prophets, must begin with this; but the time is not
yet come for understanding them perfectly, because the main revolution
predicted in them is not yet come to pass. _In the days of the voice of the
seventh Angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be
finished, as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets_: and then _the
kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and his
_Christ_, and he shall reign for ever_, Apoc. x. 7. xi. 15. There is
already so much of the Prophecy fulfilled, that as many as will take pains
in this study, may see sufficient instances of God's providence: but then
the signal revolutions predicted by all the holy Prophets, will at once
both turn mens eyes upon considering the predictions, and plainly interpret
them. Till then we must content ourselves with interpreting what hath been
already fulfilled.
Amongst the Interpreters of the last age there is scarce one of note who
hath not made some discovery worth knowing; and thence I seem to gather
that God is about opening these mysteries. The success of others put me
upon considering it; and if I have done any thing which may be useful to
following writers, I have my design.
Notes to Chap. I.
[1] Dem. Evang. l. 3.
[2] Vid. _Pamelium_ in notis ad _Tertull._ de Præscriptionbus, n. 215 &
_Hieron_ l. 1. contra _Jovinianum_, c. 14. Edit._Erasmi._
[3] Areth. c. 18, 19.
[4] Hist. Eccl. l. 3. c. 23.
[5] Chrysost. ad Theodorum lapsum.
[6] Hieron. in Epist. ad Gal. l. 3. c. 6.
[7] Apud Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 28. Edit. _Valesii_.
[8] Epiphan. Hæres. 28.
[9] Hieron. adv. Lucif.
[10] 1 Pet. i. 7, 13. iv. 13. & v. 1.
[11] Apoc. xiii. 8.
[12] Apoc. xxi.
[13] Apoc. i. 6. & v. 10.
[14] Apoc. xx. 6.
[15] Apoc. xx. 4, 12.
[16] Apoc. xvii.
[17] Dan. viii. 15, 16, 27. & xii. 8, 9.
[18] [Greek: aselgeias], _in many of the best MSS._
[19] Apoc. xiii. 7, 12.
[20] Apoc. xiii. 1, 5, 6.
[21] Apoc. xviii. 12, 13.
[22] Apoc. xix. 20.
[23] Apoc. xxi. 3, 4.
[24] Apoc. ix. 21. _and_ xvii. 2.
[25] Apoc. xiii. 6.
[26] Apoc. xviii. 3, 7, 9.
[27] [Greek: moichalidos].
[28] Apoc. ii. 14.
[29] Apol. ad Antonin. Pium.
[30] Hæres. l. 1. c. 20. Vide etiam Tertullianum, Apol. c. 13.
[31] Euseb. Chron.
[32] Cyril Catech. 6. Philastr. de hæres. cap. 30. Sulp. Hist. l. 2.
Prosper de promiss. dimid. temp. cap. 13. Maximus serm. 5. in Natal. Apost.
Hegesip. l. 2. c. 2.
[33] Lactant de mortib. Persec. c. 2.
[34] Hom. 70. in Matt. c. 22.
[35] Apud Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 2. c. 25.
[36] Euseb. Hist. l. 2. c. 25.
[37] Arethas in Proæm. comment. in Apoc.
[38] Euseb. Hist. l. 4. cap. 26. Hieron.
[39] Euseb. Hist. l. 4. c. 24.
[40] Hieron.
[41] Dan. x. 21. xii. 4, 9.
[42] Dan. xii. 4, 10.
[43] Apoc. i. 3.
* * * * *
CHAP. II.
_Of the relation which the _Apocalypse_ of _John_ hath to the Book of the
Law of _Moses_, and to the worship of God in the Temple_.
The _Apocalypse_ of _John_ is written in the same style and language with
the Prophecies of _Daniel_, and hath the same relation to them which they
have to one another, so that all of them together make but one complete
Prophecy; and in like manner it consists of two parts, an introductory
Prophecy, and an Interpretation thereof.
The Prophecy is distinguish'd into seven successive parts, by the opening
of the seven seals of the book which _Daniel_ was commanded to seal up: and
hence it is called the _Apocalypse_ or _Revelation_ of _Jesus Christ_. The
time of the seventh seal is sub-divided into eight successive parts by the
silence in heaven for half an hour, and the sounding of seven trumpets
successively: and the seventh trumpet sounds to the battle of the great day
of God Almighty, whereby _the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of
the Lord and of his Christ_, and those are destroyed that destroyed the
earth.
The Interpretation begins with the words, _And the temple of God was opened
in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the Ark of his Testament_: and
it continues to the end of the Prophecy. The Temple is the scene of the
visions, and the visions in the Temple relate to the feast of the seventh
month: for the feasts of the _Jews_ were typical of things to come. The
Passover related to the first coming of _Christ_, and the feasts of the
seventh month to his second coming: his first coming being therefore over
before this Prophecy was given, the feasts of the seventh month are here
only alluded unto.
On the first day of that month, in the morning, the High-Priest dressed the
lamps: and in allusion hereunto, this Prophecy begins with a vision of one
like _the Son of man_ in the High-Priest's habit, appearing as it were in
the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, or over against the midst of
them, dressing the lamps, which appeared like a rod of seven stars in his
right hand: and this dressing was perform'd by the sending seven Epistles
to the Angels or Bishops of the seven Churches of _Asia_, which in the
primitive times illuminated the Temple or Church Catholick. These Epistles
contain admonitions against the approaching Apostacy, and therefore relate
to the times when the Apostacy began to work strongly, and before it
prevailed. It began to work in the Apostles days, and was to continue
working _till the man of sin should be revealed_. It began to work in the
disciples of _Simon_, _Menander_, _Carpocrates_, _Cerinthas_, and such
sorts of men as had imbibed the metaphysical philosophy of the _Gentiles_
and _Cabalistical Jews_, and were thence called _Gnosticks_. _John_ calls
them _Antichrists_, saying that in his days there were many _Antichrists_.
But these being condemned by the Apostles, and their immediate disciples,
put the Churches in no danger during the opening of the first four seals.
The visions at the opening of these seals relate only to the civil affairs
of the heathen _Roman_ Empire. So long the Apostolic traditions prevailed,
and preserved the Church in its purity: and therefore the affairs of the
Church do not begin to be considered in this Prophecy before the opening of
the fifth seal. She began then to decline, and to want admonitions; and
therefore is admonished by these Epistles, till the Apostacy prevailed and
took place, which was at the opening of the seventh seal. The admonitions
therefore in these seven Epistles relate to the state of the Church in the
times of the fifth and sixth seals. At the opening of the fifth seal, the
Church is purged from hypocrites by a great persecution. At the opening of
the sixth, that which letted is taken out of the way, namely the heathen
_Roman_ Empire. At the opening of the seventh, the man of sin is revealed.
And to these times the seven Epistles relate.
The seven Angels, to whom these Epistles were written, answer to the seven
_Amarc-holim_, who were Priests and chief Officers of the Temple, and had
jointly the keys of the gates of the Temple, with those of the Treasuries,
and the direction, appointment and oversight of all things in the Temple.
After the lamps were dresed, _John_ saw _the door_ of the Temple _opened_;
and by _the voice as it were of a trumpet_, was called up to the eastern
gate of the great court, to see the visions: and _behold a throne was set_,
viz. the mercy-seat upon the Ark of the Testament, which the _Jews_
respected as _the throne of God between the _Cherubims__, _Exod._ xxv. 2.
_Psal._ xcix. 1. _And he that sat on it was to look upon like _Jasper_ and
_Sardine_ stone_, that is, of an olive colour, the people of _Judea_ being
of that colour. _And_, the Sun being then in the _East, a rainbow was about
the throne_, the emblem of glory. _And round about the throne were four and
twenty seats_; answering to the chambers of the four and twenty Princes of
the Priests, twelve on the south side, and twelve on the north side of the
Priests Court. _And upon the seats were four and twenty Elders sitting,
clothed in white rayment, with crowns on their heads_; representing the
Princes of the four and twenty courses of the Priests clothed in linen.
_And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings, and voices_,
viz. the flashes of the fire upon the Altar at the morning-sacrifice, and
the thundering voices of those that sounded the trumpets, and sung at the
Eastern gate of the Priests Court; for these being between _John_ and the
throne appeared to him as proceeding from the throne. _And there were seven
lamps of fire burning_, in the Temple, _before the throne, which are the
seven spirits of God_, or Angels of the seven Churches, represented in the
beginning of this Prophecy by seven stars. _And before the throne was a sea
of glass clear as chrystal_; the brazen sea between the porch of the Temple
and the Altar, filled with clear water. _And in the midst of the throne,
and round about the throne, were four Beasts full of eyes before and
behind_: that is, one Beast before the throne and one behind it, appearing
to _John_ as in the midst of the throne, and one on either side in the
circle about it, to represent by the multitude of their eyes the people
standing in the four sides of the peoples court. _And the first Beast was
like a lion, and the second was like a calf, and the third had the face of
a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle_. The people of _Israel_ in
the wilderness encamped round about the tabernacle, and on the east side
were three tribes under the standard of _Judah_, on the west were three
tribes under the standard of _Ephraim_, on the south were three tribes
under the standard of _Reuben_, and on the north were three tribes under
the standard of _Dan_, _Numb._ ii. And the standard of _Judah_ was a Lion,
that of _Ephraim_ an Ox, that of _Reuben_ a Man, and that of _Dan_ an
Eagle, as the _Jews_ affirm. Whence were framed the hieroglyphicks of
_Cherubims_ and _Seraphims_, to represent the people of _Israel_. A
_Cherubim_ had one body with four faces, the faces of a Lion, an Ox, a Man
and an Eagle, looking to the four winds of heaven, without turning about,
as in _Ezekiel_'s vision, chap. i. And four _Seraphims_ had the same four
faces with four bodies, one face to every body. The four Beasts are
therefore four _Seraphims_ standing in the four sides of the peoples court;
the first in the eastern side with the head of a Lion, the second in the
western side with the head of an Ox, the third in the southern side with
the head of a Man, the fourth in the northern side with the head of an
Eagle: and all four signify together the twelve tribes of _Israel_, out of
whom the hundred forty and four thousand were sealed, _Apoc._ vii. 4. _And
the four Beasts had each of them six wings_, two to a tribe, in all twenty
and four wings, answering to the twenty and four stations of the people.
_And they were full of eyes within_, or under their wings. _And they rest
not day and night_, or at the morning and evening-sacrifices, _saying,
holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come_.
These animals are therefore the Seraphims, which appeared to _Isaiah_ [1]
in a vision like this of the _Apocalypse_. For there also the Lord sat upon
a throne in the temple; and the Seraphims each with six wings cried, _Holy,
holy, holy Lord God of hosts. And when those animals give glory and honour
and thanks to him that sitteth upon the throne, who liveth for ever and
ever, the four and twenty Elders_ go into the Temple, and there _fall down
before him that sitteth on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever
and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy,
O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all
things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created_. At the morning and
evening-sacrifices, so soon as the sacrifice was laid upon the Altar, and
the drink-offering began to be poured out, the trumpets sounded, and the
_Levites_ sang by course three times; and every time when the trumpets
sounded, the people fell down and worshiped. Three times therefore did the
people worship; to express which number, the Beasts cry _Holy, holy, holy_:
and the song being ended, the people prayed standing, till the solemnity
was finished. In the mean time the Priests went into the Temple, and there
fell down before him that sat upon the throne, and worshiped.
_And _John_ saw, in the right hand of him that sat upon the throne, a book
written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals_, viz. the book
which _Daniel_ was commanded to seal up, and which is here represented by
the prophetic book of the Law laid up on the right side of the Ark, as it
were in the right hand of him that sat on the throne: for the festivals and
ceremonies of the Law prescribed to the people in this book, adumbrated
those things which were predicted in the book of _Daniel_; and the writing
within and on the backside of this book, relates to the synchronal
Prophecies. [2] _And none was found worthy to open the book_ but the Lamb
of God. _And lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four Beasts, and in
the midst of the Elders_, that is, at the foot of the Altar, _stood a lamb
as it had been slain_, the morning-sacrifice; _having seven horns_, which
are the seven Churches, _and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God
sent forth into all the earth. And he came, and took the book out of the
right hand of him that sat upon the throne: And when he had taken the book,
the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb,
having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are
the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to
take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and
people, and nation; and hast made us, unto our God, Kings and Priests, and
we shall reign on the earth._ The Beasts and Elders therefore represent the
primitive _Christians_ of all nations; and the worship of these
_Christians_ in their Churches is here represented under the form of
worshiping God and the Lamb in the Temple: God for his benefaction in
creating all things, and the Lamb for his benefaction in redeeming us with
his blood: God as sitting upon the throne and living for ever, and the Lamb
as exalted above all by the merits of his death. _And I heard_, saith
_John_, _the voice of many Angels round about the throne, and the Beasts
and the Elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand,
and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb
that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and
honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and
on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that
are in them, heard I, saying, Blessing, honour, glory, and power, be unto
him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And
the four Beasts said, _Amen_. And the four and twenty Elders fell down and
worshiped him that liveth for ever and ever._ This was the worship of the
primitive _Christians_.
It was the custom for the High-Priest, seven days before the fast of the
seventh month, to continue constantly in the Temple, and study the book of
the Law, that he might be perfect in it against the day of expiation;
wherein the service, which was various and intricate, was wholly to be
performed by himself; part of which service was reading the Law to the
people: and to promote his studying it, there were certain Priests
appointed by the _Sanhedrim_ to be with him those seven days in one of his
chambers in the Temple, and there to discourse with him about the Law, and
read it to him, and put him in mind of reading and studying it himself.
This his opening and reading the Law those seven days, is alluded unto in
the Lamb's opening the seals. We are to conceive that those seven days
begin in the evening before each day; for the _Jews_ began their day in the
evening, and that the solemnity of the fast begins in the morning of the
seventh day.
The seventh seal was therefore opened on the day of expiation, and then
_there was silence in heaven for half an hour. And an Angel_, the
High-Priest, _stood at the Altar, having a golden Censer; and there was
given him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all
Saints, upon the golden Altar which was before the throne_. The custom was
on other days, for one of the Priests to take fire from the great Altar in
a silver Censer; but on this day, for the High-Priest to take fire from the
great Altar in a golden Censer: and when he was come down from the great
Altar, he took incense from one of the Priests who brought it to him, and
went with it to the golden Altar: and while he offered the incense, the
people prayed without in silence, which is the silence in heaven for half
an hour. When the High-Priest had laid the incense on the Altar, he carried
a Censer of it burning in his hand, into the most holy place before the
Ark. _And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the Saints,
ascended up before God out of the Angel's hand._ On other days there was a
certain measure of incense for the golden Altar: on this day there was a
greater quantity for both the Altar and the most holy Place, and therefore
it is called _much incense_. After this _the Angel took the Censer, and
filled it with fire from the_ great _Altar, and cast it into the earth_;
that is, by the hands of the Priests who belong to his mystical body, he
cast it to the earth without the Temple, for burning the Goat which was the
Lord's lot. _And_ at this and other concomitant sacrifices, until the
evening-sacrifice was ended, _there were voices, and thundrings, and
lightnings, and an earthquake_; that is, the voice of the High-Priest
reading the Law to the people, and other voices and thundrings from the
trumpets and temple-musick at the sacrifices, and lightnings from the fire
of the Altar.
The solemnity of the day of expiation being finished, the seven Angels
found their trumpets at the great sacrifices of the seven days of the feast
of tabernacles; and at the same sacrifices, the seven thunders utter their
voices, which are the musick of the Temple, and singing of the _Levites_,
intermixed with the soundings of the trumpets: and the seven Angels pour
out their vials of wrath, which are the drink-offerings of those
sacrifices.
When six of the seals were opened, _John_ said: [3] _And after these
things_, that is, after the visions of the sixth seal, _I saw four Angels
standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the
earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on
any tree. And I saw another Angel ascending from the _East_, having the
seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four Angels,
to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the
earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our
God in their foreheads._ This sealing alludes to a tradition of the _Jews_,
that upon the day of expiation all the people of _Israel_ are sealed up in
the books of life and death. For the _Jews_ in their _Talmud_ [4] tell us,
that in the beginning of every new year, or first day of the month _Tisri_,
the seventh month of the sacred year, three books are opened in judgment;
the book of life, in which the names of those are written who are perfectly
just; the book of death, in which the names of those are written who are
Atheists or very wicked; and a third book, of those whose judgment is
suspended till the day of expiation, and whose names are not written in the
book of life or death before that day. The first ten days of this month
they call the penitential days; and all these days they fast and pray very
much, and are very devout, that on the tenth day their sins may be
remitted, and their names may be written in the book of life; which day is
therefore called the day of expiation. And upon this tenth day, in
returning home from the Synagogues, they say to one another, _God the
creator seal you to a good year_. For they conceive that the books are now
sealed up, and that the sentence of God remains unchanged henceforward to
the end of the year. The same thing is signified by the two Goats, upon
whose foreheads the High-Priest yearly, on the day of expiation, lays the
two lots inscribed, _For God_ and _For _Azazel__; God's lot signifying the
people who are sealed with the name of God in their foreheads; and the lot
_Azazel_, which was sent into the wilderness, representing those who
receive the mark and name of the Beast, and go into the wilderness with the
great Whore.
The servants of God being therefore sealed in the day of expiation, we may
conceive that this sealing is synchronal to the visions which appear upon
opening the seventh seal; and that when the Lamb had opened six of the
seals and seen the visions relating to the inside of the sixth, he looked
on the backside of the seventh leaf, and then saw _the four Angels holding
the four winds of heaven, and another Angel ascending from the _East_ with
the seal of God_. Conceive also, that the Angels which held the four winds
were the first four of the seven Angels, who upon opening the seventh seal
were seen standing before God; and that upon their holding the winds,
_there was silence in heaven for half an hour_; and that while the servants
of God were sealing, the Angel with the golden Censer offered their prayers
with incense upon the golden Altar, and read the Law: and that so soon as
they were sealed, the winds hurt the earth at the sounding of the first
trumpet, and the sea at the sounding of the second; these winds signifying
the wars, to which the first four trumpets sounded. For as the first four
seals are distinguished from the three last by the appearance of four
horsemen towards the four winds of heaven; so the wars of the first four
trumpets are distinguished from those of the three last, by representing
these by _four winds_, and the others by _three great woes_.
In one of _Ezekiel_'s visions, when the _Babylonian_ captivity was at hand,
_six men_ appeared _with slaughter-weapons_; _and a seventh_, who [5]
appeared _among them clothed in white linen and a writer's ink-horn by his
side_, is commanded to _go thro' the midst of _Jerusalem_, and set a mark
upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations
done in the midst thereof_: and then the six men, like the Angels of the
first six trumpets, are commanded to slay those men who are not marked.
Conceive therefore that the hundred forty and four thousand are sealed, to
preserve them from the plagues of the first six trumpets; and that at
length by the preaching of the everlasting gospel, they grow into _a great
multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and
people and tongues_: and at the sounding of the seventh trumpet come out of
the great tribulation _with Palms in their hands: the kingdoms of this
world_, by the war to which that trumpet sounds, _becoming the kingdoms of
God and his _Christ__. For the solemnity of the great _Hosannah_ was kept
by the _Jews_ upon the seventh or last day of the feast of tabernacles; the
_Jews_ upon that day carrying Palms in their hands, and crying _Hosannah_.
After six of the Angels, answering to the six men with slaughter-weapons,
had sounded their trumpets, the Lamb in the form of _a mighty Angel cane
down from heaven clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and
his face was as it were the Sun, and his feet as pillars of fire_, the
shape in which _Christ_ appeared in the beginning of this Prophecy; _and he
had in his hand a little book open_, the book which he had newly opened;
for he received but one book from him that sitteth upon the throne, and he
alone was worthy to open and look on this book. _And he set his right foot
upon the sea and his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice,
as when a lion roareth_. It was the custom for the High-Priest on the day
of expiation, to stand in an elevated place in the peoples court, at the
Eastern gate of the Priests court, and read the Law to the people, while
the Heifer and the Goat which was the Lord's lot, were burning without the
Temple. We may therefore suppose him standing in such a manner, that his
right foot might appear to _John_ as it were standing on the sea of glass,
and his left foot on the ground of the house; and that he cried with a loud
voice, in reading the Law on the day of expiation. _And when he had cried,
seven thunders uttered their voices_. Thunders are the voice of a cloud,
and a cloud signifies a multitude; and this multitude may be the _Levites_,
who sang with thundering voices, and played with musical instruments at the
great sacrifices, on the seven days of the feast of Tabernacles: at which
times the trumpets also sounded. For the trumpets sounded, and the
_Levites_ sang alternately, three times at every sacrifice. The Prophecy
therefore of the seven thunders is nothing else than a repetition of the
Prophecy of the seven trumpets in another form. _And the Angel which I saw
stand upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and
sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, that_ after the seven thunders
_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, as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets_. The voices of
the thunders therefore last to the end of this world, and so do those of
the trumpets.
_And the voice which I heard from heaven_, saith _John_, _spake unto me
again and said, Go and take the little book, &c. And I took the little book
out of the Angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as
honey, and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto
me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues,
and kings_. This is an introduction to a new Prophecy, to a repetition of
the Prophecy of the whole book; and alludes to _Ezekiel_'s eating a roll or
book spread open before him, and written within and without, full of
lamentations and mourning and woe, but sweet in his mouth. Eating and
drinking signify acquiring and possessing; and eating the book is becoming
inspired with the Prophecy contained in it. It implies being inspired in a
vigorous and extraordinary manner with the Prophecy of the whole book, and
therefore signifies a lively repetition of the whole Prophecy by way of
interpretation, and begins not till the first Prophecy, that of the seals
and trumpets, is ended. It was sweet in _John_'s mouth, and therefore
begins not with the bitter Prophecy of the _Babylonian_ captivity, and the
_Gentiles_ being in the outward court of the Temple, and treading the holy
city under foot; and the prophesying of the _two Witnesses_ in sackcloth,
and their smiting the earth with all plagues, and being killed by the
Beast; but so soon as the Prophecy of the trumpets is ended, it begins with
the sweet Prophecy of the glorious _Woman in heaven_, and the victory of
_Michael_ over the Dragon; and after that, it is bitter in _John_'s belly,
by a large description of the times of the great Apostacy.
_And the Angel stood_, upon the earth and sea, _saying, Rise and measure
the Temple of God and the Altar, and them that worship therein_, that is,
their courts with the buildings thereon, viz. the square court of the
Temple called the separate place, and the square court of the Altar called
the Priests court, and the court of them that worship in the Temple called
the new court: _but the_ great _court which is without the Temple, leave
out, and measure it not, for it is given to the _Gentiles_, and the holy
city shall they tread under foot forty and two months_. This measuring hath
reference to _Ezekiel_'s measuring the Temple _of Solomon_: there the whole
Temple, including the outward court, was measured, to signify that it
should be rebuilt in the latter days. Here the courts of the Temple and
Altar, and they who worship therein, are only measured, to signify the
building of a second Temple, for those that are sealed out of all the
twelve tribes of _Israel_, and worship in the inward court of sincerity and
truth: but _John_ is commanded to leave out the outward court, or outward
form of religion and Church-government, because it is given to the
_Babylonian Gentiles_. For the glorious woman in heaven, the remnant of
whole seed kept the commandments of God, and had the testimony of _Jesus_,
continued the same woman in outward form after her flight into the
wilderness, whereby she quitted her former sincerity and piety, and became
the great Whore. She lost her chastity, but kept her outward form and
shape. And while the _Gentiles_ tread the holy city underfoot, and worship
in the outward court, the two witnesses, represented perhaps by the two
feet of the Angel standing on the sea and earth, prophesied against them,
and _had power_, like _Elijah_ and _Moses_, _to consume their enemies with
fire proceeding out of their mouth, and to shut heaven that it rain not in
the days of their Prophecy, and to turn the waters into blood, and to smite
the earth with all plagues as often as they will_, that is, with the
plagues of the trumpets and vials of wrath; and at length they are slain,
rise again from the dead, and ascend up to heaven in a cloud; and then the
seventh trumpet sounds to the day of judgment.
The Prophecy being finished, _John_ is inspired anew by the eaten book, and
begins the Interpretation thereof with these words, _And the Temple of God
was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his Temple the Ark of the
Testament_. By the Ark, we may know that this was the first Temple; for the
second Temple had no Ark. _And there were lightnings, and voices, and
thundrings, and an earthquake, and great hail_. These answer to the wars in
the _Roman_ Empire, during the reign of the four horsemen, who appeared
upon opening the first four seals. _And there appeared a great wonder in
heaven, a woman clothed with the Sun_. In the Prophecy, the affairs of the
Church begin to be considered at the opening of the fifth seal; and in the
Interpretation, they begin at the same time with the vision of the Church
in the form of a woman in heaven: there she is persecuted, and here she is
pained in travail. The Interpretation proceeds down first to the sealing of
the servants of God, and marking the rest with the mark of the Beast; and
then to the day of judgment, represented by a harvest and vintage. Then it
returns back to the times of opening the seventh seal, and interprets the
Prophecy of the seven trumpets by the pouring out of seven vials of wrath.
The Angels who pour them out, come out of the _Temple of the Tabernacle_;
that is, out of the second Temple, for the Tabernacle had no outward court.
Then it returns back again to the times of measuring the Temple and Altar,
and of the _Gentiles_ worshiping in the outward court, and of the Beast
killing the witnesses in the streets of the great city; and interprets
these things by the vision of _a woman sitting on the Beast, drunken with
the blood of the Saints_; and proceeds in the interpretation downwards to
the fall of the great city and the day of judgment.
The whole Prophecy of the book, represented by the book of the Law, is
therefore repeated, and interpreted in the visions which follow those of
sounding the seventh trumpet, and begin with that of the Temple of God
opened in heaven. Only the things, which the seven thunders uttered, were
not written down, and therefore not interpreted.
Notes to Chap. II.
[1] Isa. vi.
[2] Apoc. v.
[3] Apoc. vii
[4] Buxtorf in Synogoga Judaica, c. 18, 21.
[5] Ezek. ix.
* * * * *
CHAP. III.
_Of the relation which the Prophecy of _John_ hath to those of _Daniel_;
and of the Subject of the Prophecy_.
The whole scene of sacred Prophecy is composed of three principal parts:
the regions beyond _Euphrates_, represented by the two first Beasts of
_Daniel_; the Empire of the _Greeks_ on this side of _Euphrates_,
represented by the Leopard and by the He-Goat; and the Empire of the
_Latins_ on this side of _Greece_, represented by the Beast with ten horns.
And to these three parts, the phrases of the _third part of the earth, sea,
rivers, trees, ships, stars, sun, and moon_, relate. I place the body of
the fourth Beast on this side of _Greece_, because the three first of the
four Beasts had their lives prolonged after their dominion was taken away,
and therefore belong not to the body of the fourth. He only stamped them
with his feet.
By the _earth_, the _Jews_ understood the great continent of all _Asia_ and
_Africa_, to which they had access by land: and by the Isles of the _sea_,
they understood the places to which they sailed by sea, particularly all
_Europe_: and hence in this Prophecy, the _earth_ and _sea_ are put for the
nations of the _Greek_ and _Latin_ Empires.
The third and fourth Beasts of _Daniel_ are the same with the Dragon and
ten-horned Beast of _John_, but with this difference: _John_ puts the
Dragon for the whole _Roman_ Empire while it continued entire, because it
was entire when that Prophecy was given; and the Beast he considers not
till the Empire became divided: and then he puts the Dragon for the Empire
of the _Greeks_, and the Beast for the Empire of the _Latins_. Hence it is
that the Dragon and Beast have common heads and common horns: but the
Dragon hath crowns only upon his heads, and the Beast only upon his horns;
because the Beast and his horns reigned not before they were divided from
the Dragon: and when the Dragon gave the Beast his throne, the ten horns
received power as Kings, the same hour with the Beast. The heads are seven
successive Kings. Four of them were the four horsemen which appeared at the
opening of the first four seals. In the latter end of the sixth head, or
seal, considered as present in the visions, it is said, _five_ of the seven
Kings _are fallen, and one is, and another is not yet come; and the Beast
that was and is not_, being wounded to death with a sword, _he is the
eighth, and of the seven_: he was therefore a collateral part of the
seventh. The horns are the same with those of _Daniel_'s fourth Beast,
described above.
The four horsemen which appear at the opening of the first four seals, have
been well explained by Mr. _Mede_; excepting that I had rather continue the
third to the end of the reign of the three _Gordians_ and _Philip_ the
_Arabian_, those being Kings from the _South_, and begin the fourth with
the reign of _Decius_, and continue it till the reign of _Dioclesian_. For
the fourth horseman _sat upon a pale_ horse, _and his name was Death; and
hell followed with him; and power was given them to kill unto the fourth
part of the earth, with the sword, and with famine, and with the plague,
and with the Beasts of the earth_, or armies of invaders and rebels: and as
such were the times during all this interval. Hitherto the _Roman_ Empire
continued in an undivided monarchical form, except rebellions; and such it
is represented by the four horsemen. But _Dioclesian_ divided it between
himself and _Maximianus_, A.C. 285; and it continued in that divided state,
till the victory of _Constantine_ the great over _Licinius_, A.C. 323,
which put an end to the heathen persecutions set on foot by _Dioclesian_
and _Maximianus_, and described at the opening of the fifth seal. But this
division of the Empire was imperfect, the whole being still under one and
the same Senate. The same victory of _Constantine_ over _Licinius_ a
heathen persecutor, began the fall of the heathen Empire, described at the
opening of the sixth seal: and the visions of this seal continue till after
the reign of _Julian_ the Apostate, he being a heathen Emperor, and
reigning over the whole _Roman_ Empire.
The affairs of the Church begin to be considered at the opening of the
fifth seal, as was said above. Then she is represented by _a woman_ in the
Temple of heaven, _clothed with the sun_ of righteousness, _and the moon_
of _Jewish_ ceremonies _under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve
stars_ relating to the twelve Apostles and to the twelve tribes of
_Israel_. When she fled from the Temple into the wilderness, she left in
the Temple a _remnant of her seed, who kept the commandments of God, and
had the testimony of Jesus Christ_; and therefore before her flight she
represented the true primitive Church of God, tho afterwards she
degenerated like _Aholah_ and _Aholibah_. In _Diocesian_'s persecution _she
cried, travelling in birth, and pained to be delivered_. And in the end of
that persecution, by the victory of _Constantine_ over _Maxentius_ A.C.
312, _she brought forth a man-child_, such a child as _was to rule all
nations with a rod of iron_, a _Christian_ Empire. _And her child_, by the
victory of _Constantine_ over _Licinius_, A.C. 323, _was caught up unto God
and to his throne. And the woman_, by the division of the _Roman_ Empire
into the _Greek_ and _Latin_ Empires, _fled_ from the first Temple _into
the wilderness_, or spiritually barren Empire of the _Latins_, where she is
found afterwards sitting upon the Beast and upon the seven mountains; and
is called _the great city which reigneth over the Kings of the earth_, that
is, over the ten Kings who give their kingdom to her Beast.
But before her flight there was war in heaven between _Michael_ and the
Dragon, the _Christian_ and the heathen religions; and the Dragon, _that
old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, who deceiveth the whole world, was
cast out to the earth, and his Angels were cast out with him_. And _John
heard a voice in heaven, saying, Now is come salvation and strength, and
the kingdom of our God, and the power of his _Christ_: for the accuser of
our brethren is cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb,
and by the word of their testimony. And they loved not their lives unto the
death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe be to
the inhabiters of the earth and sea_, or people of the _Greek_ and _Latin_
Empires, _for the devil is come down amongst you, having great wrath,
because he knoweth that he hath but a short time_.
_And when the Dragon saw that he was cast down_ from the _Roman_ throne,
and the man-child caught up thither, he _persecuted the woman which brought
forth the man-child; and to her_, by the division of the _Roman_ Empire
between the cities of _Rome_ and _Constantinople_ A.C. 330, _were given two
wings of a great eagle_, the symbol of the _Roman_ Empire, _that she might
flee_ from the first Temple _into the wilderness_ of _Arabia, to her place_
at _Babylon_ mystically so called. _And the serpent_, by the division of
the same Empire between the sons of _Constantine_ the great, A.C. 337,
_cast out of his mouth water as a flood_, the _Western_ Empire, _after the
woman; that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. And the
earth_, or _Greek_ Empire, _helped the woman, and the earth opened her
mouth, and swallowed up the flood_, by the victory of _Constantius_ over
_Magnentius_, A.C. 353, and thus the Beast was wounded to death with a
sword. _And the Dragon was wroth with the woman_, in the reign of _Julian_
the Apostate A.C. 361, _and_, by a new division of the Empire between
_Valentinian_ and _Valens_, A.C. 364, _went_ from her into the _Eastern_
Empire _to make war with the remnant of her seed_, which she left behind
her when she fled: and thus the Beast revived. By the next division of the
Empire, which was between _Gratian_ and _Theodosius_ A.C. 379, the _Beast_
with ten horns _rose out of the sea_, and the _Beast_ with two horns _out
of the earth_: and by the last division thereof, which was between the sons
of _Theodosius_, A.C. 395, _the Dragon gave the Beast his power and throne,
and great authority_. And the ten horns _received power as Kings, the same
hour with the Beast_.
At length the woman arrived at her place of temporal as well as spiritual
dominion upon the back of the Beast, where she is nourished _a time, and
times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent_; not in his kingdom,
but at a distance from him. She is nourished by _the merchants of the
earth_, three times or years and an half, or 42 months, or 1260 days: and
in these Prophecies days are put for years. During all this time the Beast
acted, and _she sat upon him_, that is, reigned over him, and over the ten
Kings _who gave their power and strength_, that is, their kingdom _to the
Beast_; and she was _drunken with the blood of the Saints_. By all these
circumstances she is the eleventh horn of _Daniel_'s fourth Beast, who
reigned with _a look more stout than his fellows_, and was of a different
kind from the rest, and had eyes _and a mouth_ like the woman; _and made
war with the saints, and prevailed against them_, and _wore them out_, and
_thought to change times and laws_, and had them _given into his hand,
until a time, and times, and half a time_. These characters of the woman,
and little horn of the Beast, agree perfectly: in respect of her temporal
dominion, she was a horn of the Beast; in respect of her spiritual
dominion, she rode upon him in the form of a woman, and was his Church, and
committed fornication with the ten Kings.
The second Beast, which _rose up out of the earth_, was the Church of the
_Greek_ Empire: for it _had two horns like those of the Lamb_, and
therefore was a Church; and it _spake as the Dragon_, and therefore was of
his religion; and it _came up out of the earth_, and by consequence in his
kingdom. It is called also _the false Prophet_ who wrought miracles before
the first Beast, by which he deceived them that received his mark, and
worshiped his image. When the Dragon went from the woman to make war with
the remnant of her seed, this Beast arising out of the earth assisted in
that war, and _caused the earth and them which dwell therein to worship_
the authority of _the first Beast, whose mortal wound was healed_, and to
_make an Image to him_, that is, to assemble a body of men like him in
point of religion. He had also _power to give life_ and authority _to the
Image_, so that it could _both speak, and_ by dictating _cause that all_
religious bodies of men, _who would not worship_ the authority of _the
Image, should be_ mystically _killed. And he causeth all men to receive a
mark in their right hand or in their forehead, and that no man might buy or
sell save he that had the mark, or the name of the Beast, or the number of
his name_; all the rest being excommunicated by the Beast with two horns.
His mark is [Cross] [Cross] [Cross], and his name [Greek: LATEINOS], and
the number of his name 666.
Thus the Beast, after he was wounded to death with a sword and revived, was
deified, as the heathens used to deify their Kings after death, and had an
Image erected to him; and his worshipers were initiated in this new
religion, by receiving the mark or name of this new God, or the number of
his name. By killing all that will not worship him and his Image, the first
Temple, illuminated by the lamps of the seven Churches, is demolished, and
a new Temple built for them who will not worship him; and the outward court
of this new Temple, or outward form of a Church, is given to the
_Gentiles_, who worship the Beast and his Image: while they who will not
worship him, are sealed with the name of God in their foreheads, and retire
into the inward court of this new Temple. These are the 144000 sealed out
of all the twelve tribes of _Israel_, and called the _two Witnesses_, as
being derived from the two wings of the woman while she was flying into the
wilderness, and represented by two of the seven candlesticks. These appear
to _John_ in the inward court of the second Temple, standing on mount
_Sion_ with the Lamb, and as it were on the sea of glass. These are _the
Saints of the most High_, and _the host of heaven_, and _the holy people_
spoken of by _Daniel_, as worn out and trampled under foot, and destroyed
in the latter times by the little horns of his fourth Beast and He-Goat.
While the _Gentiles_ tread the holy city under foot, God _gives power to
his two Witnesses, and they prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore
days clothed in sackcloth_. They are called _the two Olive-trees_, with
relation to the two Olive-trees, which in _Zechary_'s vision, chap. iv.
stand on either side of the golden candlestick to supply the lamps with
oil: and Olive-trees, according to the Apostle _Paul_, represent Churches,
_Rom._ xi. They supply the lamps with oil, by maintaining teachers. They
are also called _the two candlesticks_; which in this Prophecy signify
Churches, the seven Churches of _Asia_ being represented by seven
candlesticks. Five of these Churches were found faulty, and threatned if
they did not repent; the other two were without fault, and so their
candlesticks were fit to be placed in the second Temple. These were the
Churches in _Smyrna_ and _Philadelphia_. They were in a state of
tribulation and persecution, and the only two of the seven in such a state:
and so their candlesticks were fit to represent the Churches in affliction
in the times of the second Temple, and the only two of the seven that were
fit. The _two Witnesses_ are not new Churches: they are the posterity of
the primitive Church, the posterity of the two wings of the woman, and so
are fitly represented by two of the primitive candlesticks. We may conceive
therefore, that when the first Temple was destroyed, and a new one built
for them who worship in the inward court, two of the seven candlesticks
were placed in this new Temple.
The affairs of the Church are not considered during the opening of the
first four seals. They begin to be consider'd at the opening of the fifth
seal, as was said above; and are further considered at the opening of the
sixth seal; and the seventh seal contains the times of the great Apostacy.
And therefore I refer the Epistles to the seven Churches unto the times of
the fifth and sixth seals: for they relate to the Church when she began to
decline, and contain admonitions against the great Apostacy then
approaching.
When _Eusebius_ had brought down his _Ecclesiatical History_ to the reign
of _Dioclesian_, he thus describes the state of the Church: _Qualem
quantamque gloriam simul ac libertatem doctrina veræ erga supremum Deum
pietatis à Christo primùm hominibus annunciata, apud omnes Græcos pariter &
barbaros ante persecutionem nostrâ memoriâ excitatam, consecuta sit, nos
certè pro merito explicare non possumus. Argumento esse possit Imperatorum
benignitas erga nostros: quibus regendas etiam provincias committebant,
omni sacrificandi metu eos liberantes ob singularem, qua in religionem
nostram affecti erant, benevolentiam._ And a little after: _Jam vero quis
innumerabilem hominum quotidiè ad fidem Christi confugientium turbam, quis
numerum ecclesiarum in singulis urbibus, quis illustres populorum concursus
in ædibus sacris, cumulatè possit describere? Quo factum est, ut priscis
ædificiis jam non contenti, in singulis urbibus spatiosas ab ipsis
fundamentis exstruerent ecclesias. Atque hæc progressii temporis
increscentia, & quotidiè in majus & melius proficiscentia, nec livor ullus
atterere, nec malignitas dæmonis fascinare, nec hominum insidiæ prohibere
unquam potuerunt, quamdiu omnipotentis Dei dextra populum suum, utpote tali
dignum præsidio, texit atque custodiit. Sed cum ex nimia libertate in
negligentiam ac desidiam prolapsi essemus; cum alter alteri invidere atque
obtrectare cæpisset; cum inter nos quasi bella intestina gereremus, verbis,
tanquam armis quibusdam hastisque, nos mutuò vulnerantes; cum Antistites
adversus Antistites, populi in populos collisi, jurgia ac tumultus
agitarent; denique cum fraus & simulatio ad summum malitiæ culmen
adolevisset: tum divina ultio, levi brachio ut solet, integro adhuc
ecclesiæ statu, & fidelium turbis liberè convenientibus, sensim ac moderatè
in nos cæpit animadvertere; orsà primùm persecutione ab iis qui militabant.
Cum verò sensu omni destituti de placando Dei numine ne cogitaremus quidem;
quin potius instar impiorum quorundam res humanas nullâ providentiâ
gubernari rati, alia quotidiè crimina aliis adjiceremus: cum Pastores
nostri spretâ religionis regulâ, mutuis inter se contentionibus
decertarent, nihil aliud quam jurgia, minas, æmulationem, odia, ac mutuas
inimicitias amplificare studentes; principatum quasi tyrannidem quandam
contentissimè sibi vindicantes: tunc demùm juxta dictum Hieremiæ,
_obscuravit Dominus in ira sua filiam Sion, & dejecit de cælo gloriam
Israel_,--per Ecclesiarum scilicet subversionem_, &c. This was the state of
the Church just before the subversion of the Churches in the beginning of
_Dioclesian_'s persecution: and to this state of the Church agrees the
first of the seven Epistles to the Angel of the seven Churches, [1] that to
the Church in _Ephesus_. _I have something against thee_, saith _Christ_ to
the Angel of that Church, _because thou hast left thy first love. Remember
therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works;
or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out
of its place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the
deeds of the _Nicolaitans_, which I also hate_. The _Nicolaitans_ are the
_Continentes_ above described, who placed religion in abstinence from
marriage, abandoning their wives if they had any. They are here called
_Nicolaitans_, from _Nicolas_ one of the seven deacons of the primitive
Church of _Jerusalem_; who having a beautiful wife, and being taxed with
uxoriousness, abandoned her, and permitted her to marry whom she pleased,
saying that we must disuse the flesh; and thenceforward lived a single life
in continency, as his children also. The _Continentes_ afterwards embraced
the doctrine of _Æons_ and Ghosts male and female, and were avoided by the
Churches till the fourth century; and the Church of _Ephesus_ is here
commended for hating their deeds.
The persecution of _Dioclesian_ began in the year of _Christ_ 302, and
lasted ten years in the _Eastern_ Empire and two years in the _Western_. To
this state of the Church the second Epistle, to the Church of _Smyrna_,
agrees. _I know_, saith [2] _Christ_, _thy works, and tribulation, and
poverty, but thou art rich; and I know the blasphemy of them, which say
they are _Jews_ and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of
those things which thou shalt suffer: Behold, the Devil shall call some of
you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten
days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life._
The tribulation of ten days can agree to no other persecution than that of
_Dioclesian_, it being the only persecution which lasted ten years. By _the
blasphemy of them which say they are _Jews_ and are not, but are the
synagogue of Satan_, I understand the Idolatry of the _Nicolaitans_, who
falsly said they were _Christians_.
The _Nicolaitans_ are complained of also in [3] the third Epistle, as men
that _held the doctrine of _Balaam_, who taught _Balac_ to cast a
stumbling-block before the children of _Israel_, to eat things sacrificed
to Idols, and [4] to commit_ spiritual _fornication_. For _Balaam_ taught
the _Moabites_ and _Midianites_ to tempt and invite _Israel_ by their women
to commit fornication, and to feast with them at the sacrifices of their
Gods. The Dragon therefore began now to come down among the inhabitants of
the earth and sea.
The _Nicolaitans_ are also complained of in the fourth Epistle, under the
name of the _woman _Jezabel_, who calleth herself a Prophetess, to teach
and to seduce the servants of _Christ_ to commit fornication, and to eat
things sacrificed to Idols_. The woman therefore began now to fly into the
wilderness.
The reign of _Constantine_ the great from the time of his conquering
_Licinius_, was monarchical over the whole _Roman_ Empire. Then the Empire
became divided between the sons of _Constantine_: and afterwards it was
again united under _Constantius_, by his victory over _Magnentius_. To the
affairs of the Church in these three successive periods of time, the third,
fourth, and fifth Epistles, that is, those to the Angels of the Churches in
_Pergamus_, _Thyatira_, and _Sardis_, seem to relate. The next Emperor was
_Julian_ the Apostate.
In the sixth Epistle, [5] to the Angel of the Church in _Philadelphia_,
_Christ_ saith: _Because_ in the reign of the heathen Emperor _Julian_,
_thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the
hour of temptation, which_ by the woman's flying into the wilderness, and
the Dragon's making war with the remnant of her seed, and the killing of
all who will not worship the Image of the Beast, _shall come upon all the
world, to try them that dwell upon the earth_, and to distinguish them by
sealing the one with the name of God in their foreheads, and marking the
other with the mark of the Beast. _Him that overcometh, I will make a
pillar in the Temple of my God; and he shall go no more out_ of it. _And I
will write upon him the name of my God_ in his forehead. So the
_Christians_ of the Church of _Philadelphia_, as many of them as overcome,
are sealed with the seal of God, and placed in the second Temple, and go no
more out. The same is to be understood of the Church in _Smyrna_, which
also kept the word of God's patience, and was without fault. These two
Churches, with their posterity, are therefore the _two Pillars_, and the
_two Candlesticks_, and the _two Witnesses_ in the second Temple.
After the reign of the Emperor _Julian,_ and his successor _Jovian_ who
reigned but five months, the Empire became again divided between
_Valentinian_ and _Valens_. Then the Church Catholick, in the Epistle to
the Angel of the Church of _Laodicea_, is reprehended as _lukewarm_, and
[6] threatned to be _spewed out of _Christ's_ mouth_. She said, that she
was _rich and increased with goods, and had need of nothing_, being in
outward prosperity; _and knew not that she was_ inwardly _wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked_. She is therefore _spewed out of
_Christ's_ mouth_ at the opening of the seventh seal: and this puts an end
to the times of the first Temple.
About one half of the _Roman_ Empire turned _Christians_ in the time of
_Constantine_ the great and his sons. After _Julian_ had opened the
Temples, and restored the worship of the heathens, the Emperors
_Valentinian_ and _Valens_ tolerated it all their reign; and therefore the
Prophecy of the sixth seal was not fully accomplished before the reign of
their successor _Gratian_. It was the custom of the heathen Priests, in the
beginning of the reign of every sovereign Emperor, to offer him the dignity
and habit of the _Pontifex Maximus_. This dignity all Emperors had hitherto
accepted: but _Gratian_ rejected it, threw down the idols, interdicted the
sacrifices, and took away their revenues with the salaries and authority of
the Priests. _Theodosius_ the great followed his example; and heathenism
afterwards recovered itself no more, but decreased so fast, that
_Prudentius_, about ten years after the death of _Theodosius_, called the
heathens, _vix pauca ingenia & pars hominum rarissima_. Whence the affairs
of the sixth seal ended with the reign of _Valens_, or rather with the
beginning of the reign of _Theodosius_, when he, like his predecessor
_Gratian_, rejected the dignity of _Pontifex Maximus_. For the _Romans_
were very much infested by the invasions of foreign nations in the reign of
_Valentinian_ and _Valens_: _Hoc tempore_, saith _Ammianus_, _velut per
universum orbem Romanum bellicum canentibus buccinis, excitæ gentes
sævissimæ limites sibi proximos persultabant: Gallias Rhætiasque simul
Alemanni populabantur: Sarmatæ Pannonias & Quadi: Picti, Saxones, & Scoti &
Attacotti Britannos ærumnis vexavere continuis: Austoriani, Mauricæque aliæ
gentes Africam solito acriùs incursabant: Thracias diripiebant prædatorii
globi Gotthorum: Persarum Rex manus Armeniis injectabat_. And whilst the
Emperors were busy in repelling these enemies, the _Hunns_ and _Alans_ and
_Goths_ came over the _Danube_ in two bodies, overcame and slew _Valens_,
and made so great a slaughter of the _Roman_ army, that _Ammianus_ saith:
_Nec ulla Annalibus præter Cannensem ita ad internecionem res legitur
gesta_. These wars were not fully stopt on all sides till the beginning of
the reign of _Theodosius_, A.C. 379 & 380: but thenceforward the Empire
remained quiet from foreign armies, till his death, A.C. 395. So long the
four winds were held: and so long there was silence in heaven. And the
seventh seal was opened when this silence began.
Mr. _Mede_ hath explained the Prophecy of the first six trumpets not much
amiss: but if he had observed, that the Prophecy of pouring out the vials
of wrath is synchronal to that of sounding the trumpets, his explanation
would have been yet more complete.
The name of _Woes_ is given to the wars to which the three last trumpets
sound, to distinguish them from the wars of the four first. The sacrifices
on the first four days of the feast of Tabernacles, at which the first four
trumpets sound, and the first four vials of wrath are poured out, are
slaughters in four great wars; and these wars are represented by four winds
from the four corners of the earth. The first was an east wind, the second
a west wind, the third a south wind, and the fourth a north wind, with
respect to the city of _Rome_, the metropolis of the old _Roman_ Empire.
These four plagues fell upon _the third part of the Earth, Sea, Rivers,
Sun, Moon and Stars_; that is, upon the Earth, Sea, Rivers, Sun, Moon and
Stars of the third part of the whole scene of these Prophecies of _Daniel_
and _John_.
The plague of the eastern wind [7] at the sounding of the first trumpet,
was to fall upon the _Earth_, that is, upon the nations of the _Greek_
Empire. Accordingly, after the death of _Theodosius_ the great, the
_Goths_, _Sarmatians_, _Hunns_, _Isaurians_, and _Austorian_ Moors invaded
and miserably wasted _Greece_, _Thrace_, _Asia minor_, _Armenia_, _Syria_,
_Egypt_, _Lybia_, and _Illyricum_, for ten or twelve years together.
The plague of the western wind at the sounding of the second trumpet, was
to fall upon the _Sea_, or _Western_ Empire, by means of _a great mountain
burning with fire_ cast into it, and _turning it to blood_. Accordingly in
the year 407, that Empire began to be invaded by the _Visigoths_,
_Vandals_, _Alans_, _Sueves_, _Burgundians_, _Ostrogoths_, _Heruli_,
_Quadi_, _Gepides_; and by these wars it was broken into ten kingdoms, and
miserably wasted: and _Rome_ itself, the burning mountain, was besieged and
taken by the _Ostrogoths_, in the beginning of these miseries.
The plague of the southern wind at the sounding of the third trumpet, was
to cause _a great star, burning as it were a lamp, to fall from heaven upon
the rivers and fountains of waters_, the _Western_ Empire now divided into
many kingdoms, and to turn them to _wormwood_ and _blood_, and make them
_bitter_. Accordingly _Genseric_, the King of the _Vandals_ and _Alans_ in
_Spain_, A.C. 427, enter'd _Africa_ with an army of eighty thousand men;
where he invaded the _Moors_, and made war upon the _Romans_, both there
and on the sea-coasts of _Europe_, for fifty years together, almost without
intermission, taking _Hippo_ A.C. 431, and _Carthage_ the capital of
_Africa_ A.C. 439. In A.C. 455, with a numerous fleet and an army of three
hundred thousand _Vandals_ and _Moors_, he invaded _Italy_, took and
plundered _Rome_, _Naples_, _Capua_, and many other cities; carrying thence
their wealth with the flower of the people into _Africa_: and the next
year, A.C. 456, he rent all _Africa_ from the Empire, totally expelling the
_Romans_. Then the _Vandals_ invaded and took the Islands of the
_Mediterranean_, _Sicily_, _Sardinia_, _Corsica_, _Ebusus_, _Majorca_,
_Minorca_, &c. and _Ricimer_ besieged the Emperer _Anthemius_ in _Rome_,
took the city, and gave his soldiers the plunder, A.C. 472. The _Visigoths_
about the same time drove the _Romans_ out of _Spain_: and now the
_Western_ Emperor, the _great star which fell from heaven, burning as it
were a lamp_, having by all these wars gradually lost almost all his
dominions, was invaded, and conquered in one year by _Odoacer_ King of the
_Heruli_, A.C. 476. After this the _Moors_ revolted A.C. 477, and weakned
the _Vandals_ by several wars, and took _Mauritania_ from them. These wars
continued till the _Vandals_ were conquered by _Belisarius_, A.C. 534. and
by all these wars _Africa_ was almost depopulated, according to
_Procopius_, who reckons that above five millions of men perished in them.
When the _Vandals_ first invaded _Africa_, that country was very populous,
consisting of about 700 bishopricks, more than were in all _France_,
_Spain_ and _Italy_ together: but by the wars between the _Vandals_,
_Romans_ and _Moors_, it was depopulated to that degree, that _Procopius_
tells us, it was next to a miracle for a traveller to see a man.
In pouring out the third vial it is [8] said: _Thou art righteous, O
Lord,--because thou hast judged thus: for they have shed the blood of thy
Saints and Prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are
worthy_. How they shed the blood of Saints, may be understood by the
following Edict of the Emperor _Honorius_, procured by four Bishops sent to
him by a Council of _African_ Bishops, who met at _Carthage_ 14 _June_,
A.C. 410.
_Impp. Honor. &. Theod. AA. Heracliano Com. Afric._
_Oraculo penitus remoto, quo ad ritus suos hæreticæ superstitionis
abrepserant, sciant omnes sanctæ legis inimici, plectendos se poena &
proscriptionis & sanguinis, si ultra convenire per publicum, execrandâ
sceleris sui temeritate temptaverint. Dat. _viii._ Kal. Sept. Varano V.C.
Cons._ A.C. 410.
Which Edict was five years after fortified by the following.
_Impp. Honor. & Theod. AA. Heracliano Com. Afric._
_Sciant cuncti qui ad ritus suos hæresis superstitionibus obrepserant
sacrosanctæ legis inimici, plectendos se poenâ & proscriptionis &
sanguinis, si ultra convenire per publicum exercendi sceleris sui
temeritate temptaverint: ne quâ vera divinaque reverentia contagione
temeretur. Dat. _viii._ Kal. Sept. Honorio _x._ & Theod. _vi._ AA. Coss._
A.C. 415.
These Edicts being directed to the governor of _Africa_, extended only to
the _Africans_. Before these there were many severe ones against the
_Donatists_, but they did not extend to blood. These two were the first
which made their meetings, and the meetings of all dissenters, capital: for
by _hereticks_ in these Edicts are meant all dissenters, as is manifest by
the following against _Euresius_ a _Luciferan_ Bishop.
_Impp. Arcad. & Honor. AA. Aureliano Proc. Africæ._
_Hæreticorum vocabulo continentur, & latis adversus eos sanctionibus debent
succumbere, qui vel levi argumento à judicio Catholicæ religionis & tramite
detecti fuerint deviare: ideoque experientia tua Euresium hæreticum esse
cognoscat. Dat. _iii._ Non. Sept. Constantinop. Olybrio & Probino Coss._
A.C. 395.
The _Greek_ Emperor _Zeno_ adopted _Theoderic_ King of the _Ostrogoths_ to
be his son, made him master of the horse and _Patricius_, and Consul of
_Constantinople_; and recommending to him the _Roman_ people and Senate,
gave him the _Western_ Empire, and sent him into _Italy_ against _Odoacer_
King of the _Heruli_. _Theoderic_ thereupon led his nation into _Italy_,
conquered _Odoacer_, and reigned over _Italy_, _Sicily_, _Rhætia_,
_Noricum_, _Dalmatia_, _Liburnia_, _Istria_, and part of _Suevia_,
_Pannonia_ and _Gallia_. Whence _Ennodius_ said, in a Panegyric to
_Theoderic_: _Ad limitem suum Romana regna remeâsse._ _Theoderic_ reigned
with great prudence, moderation and felicity; treated the _Romans_ with
singular benevolence, governed them by their own laws, and restored their
government under their Senate and Consuls, he himself supplying the place
of Emperor, without assuming the title. _Ita sibi parentibus præfuit_,
saith _Procopius_, _ut vere Imperatori conveniens decus nullum ipsi
abesset: Justitiæ magnus ei cultus, legumque diligens custodia: terras à
vicinis barbaris servavit intactas_, &c. Whence I do not reckon the reign
of this King, amongst the plagues of the four winds.
The plague of the northern wind, at the sounding of the fourth trumpet, was
to cause _the Sun, Moon and Stars_, that is, the King, kingdom and Princes
of the _Western_ Empire, _to be darkned_, and to continue some time in
darkness. Accordingly _Belisarius_, having conquered the _Vandals_, invaded
_Italy_ A.C. 535, and made war upon the _Ostrogoths_ in _Dalmatia_,
_Liburnia_, _Venetia_, _Lombardy_, _Tuscany_, and other regions northward
from _Rome_, twenty years together. In this war many cities were taken and
retaken. In retaking _Millain_ from the _Romans_, the _Ostrogoths_ slew all
the males young and old, amounting, as _Procopius_ reckons, to three
hundred thousand, and sent the women captives to their allies the
_Burgundians_. _Rome_ itself was taken and retaken several times, and
thereby the people were thinned; the old government by a Senate ceased, the
nobles were ruined, and all the glory of the city was extinguish'd: and
A.C. 552, after a war of seventeen years, the kingdom of the _Ostrogoths_
fell; yet the remainder of the _Ostrogoths_, and an army of _Germans_
called in to their assistance, continued the war three or four years
longer. Then ensued the war of the _Heruli_, who, as _Anastasius_ tells us,
_perimebant cunctam Italiam_, slew all _Italy_. This was followed by the
war of the _Lombards_, the fiercest of all the _Barbarians_, which began
A.C. 568, and lasted for thirty eight years together; _factâ tali clade_,
saith _Anastasius_, _qualem à sæculo nullus meminit_; ending at last in the
Papacy of _Sabinian_, A.C. 605, by a peace then made with the _Lombards_.
Three years before this war ended, _Gregory_ the great, then Bishop of
_Rome_, thus speaks of it: _Qualiter enim & quotidianis gladiis & quantis
Longobardorum incursionibus, ecce jam per triginta quinque annorum
longitudinem premimur, nullis explere vocibus suggestionis valemus_: and in
one of his Sermons to the people, he thus expresses the great consumption
of the _Romans_ by these wars: _Ex illa plebe innumerabili quanti
remanseritis aspicitis, & tamen adhuc quotidiè flagella urgent, repentini
casus opprimunt, novæ res & improvisæ clades affligunt_. In another Sermon
he thus describes the desolations: _Destructæ urbes, eversa sunt castra,
depopulati agri, in solitudinem terra redacta est. Nullus in agris incola,
penè nullus in urbibus habitator remansit. Et tamen ipsæ parvæ generis
humani reliquiæ adhuc quotidiè & sine cessatione feriuntur, & finem non
habent flagella coelestis justitiæ. Ipsa autem quæ aliquando mundi Domina
esse videbatur, qualis remansit Roma conspicimus innumeris doloribus
multipliciter attrita, defolatione civium, impressione hostium, frequentiâ
ruinarum.--Ecce jam de illa omnes hujus fæculi potentes ablati sunt.--Ecce
populi defecerunt.--Ubi enim Senatus? Ubi jam populus? Contabuerunt ossa,
consumptæ sunt carnes. Omnis enim sæcularium dignitatum ordo extinctus est,
& tamen ipsos vos paucos qui remansimus, adhuc quotidié gladii, adhuc
quotidié innumeræ tribulationes premunt.--Vacua jam ardet Roma. Quid autem
ista de hominibus dicimus? Cum ruinis crebrescentibus ipsa quoque destrui
ædificia videmus. Postquam defecerunt homines etiam parietes cadunt. Jam
ecce desolata, ecce contrita, ecce gemitibus oppressa est,_ &c. All this
was spoken by _Gregory_ to the people of _Rome_, who were witnesses of the
truth of it. Thus by _the plagues of the four winds_, the Empire of the
_Greeks_ was shaken, and the Empire of the _Latins_ fell; and _Rome_
remained nothing more than the capital of a poor dukedom, subordinate to
_Ravenna_, the seat of the Exarchs.
The fifth trumpet sounded to the wars, which the _King of the_ South, as he
is called by _Daniel_, made _in the time of the end_, in _pushing at the
King who did according to his will_. This plague began with the _opening of
the bottomless pit_, which denotes the letting out of a false religion: the
_smoke which came out of the pit_, signifying the multitude which embraced
that religion; and the _locusts which came out of the smoke_, the armies
which came out of that multitude. This pit was opened, to let out smoke and
locusts into the regions of the four monarchies, or some of them. _The King
of these locusts_ was the _Angel of the bottomless pit_, being chief
governor as well in religious as civil affairs, such as was the Caliph of
the _Saracens_. Swarms of locusts often arise in _Arabia fælix_, and from
thence infest the neighbouring nations: and so are a very fit type of the
numerous armies of _Arabians_ invading the _Romans_. They began to invade
them A.C. 634, and to reign at _Damascus_ A.C. 637. They built _Bagdad_
A.C. 766, and reigned over _Persia_, _Syria_, _Arabia_, _Egypt_, _Africa_
and _Spain_. They afterwards lost _Africa_ to _Mahades_, A.C. 910; _Media_,
_Hircania_, _Chorasan_, and all _Persia_, to the _Dailamites_, between the
years 927 and 935; _Mesopotamia_ and _Miafarekin_ to _Nasiruddaulas_, A.C.
930; _Syria_ and _Egypt_ to _Achsjid_, A.C. 935, and now being in great
distress, the Caliph of _Bagdad_, A.C. 936, surrendred all the rest of his
temporal power to _Mahomet_ the son of _Rajici_, King of _Wasit_ in
_Chaldea_, and made him Emperor of Emperors. But _Mahomet_ within two years
lost _Bagdad_ to the _Turks_; and thenceforward _Bagdad_ was sometimes in
the hands of the _Turks_, and sometimes in the hands of the _Saracens_,
till _Togrul-beig_, called also _Togra_, _Dogrissa_, _Tangrolipix_, and
_Sadoc_, conquered _Chorasan_ and _Persia_; and A.C. 1055, added _Bagdad_
to his Empire, making it the seat thereof. His successors _Olub-Arflan_ and
_Melechschah_, conquered the regions upon _Euphrates_; and these conquests,
after the death of _Melechschah_, brake into the kingdoms of _Armenia_,
_Mesopotamia_, _Syria_, and _Cappadocia_. The whole time that the Caliphs
of the _Saracens_ reigned with a temporal dominion at _Damascus_ and
_Bagdad_ together, was 300 years, viz. from the year 637 to the year 936
inclusive. Now locusts live but five months; and therefore, for the decorum
of the type, these locusts are said to _hurt men five months and five
months_, as if they had lived about five months at _Damascus_, and again
about five months at _Bagdad_; in all ten months, or 300 prophetic days,
which are years.
The sixth trumpet sounded to the wars, which _Daniel_'s King of the _North_
made against the King above-mentioned, _who did according to his will_. In
these wars the King of the _North_, according to _Daniel_, conquered the
Empire of the _Greeks_, and also _Judea_, _Egypt_, _Lybia_, and _Ethiopia_:
and by these conquests the Empire of the _Turks_ was set up, as may be
known by the extent thereof. These wars commenced A.C. 1258, when the four
kingdoms of the _Turks_ seated upon _Euphrates_, that of _Armenia major_
seated at _Miyapharekin_, _Megarkin_ or _Martyropolis_, that of
_Mesopotamia_ seated at _Mosul_, that of all _Syria_ seated at _Aleppo_,
and that of _Cappadocia_ seated at _Iconium_, were invaded by the _Tartars_
under _Hulacu_, and driven into the western parts of _Asia minor_, where
they made war upon the _Greeks_, and began to erect the present Empire of
the _Turks_. Upon the sounding of the sixth trumpet, [9] _John heard a
voice from the four horns of the golden Altar which is before God, saying
to the sixth Angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four Angels which are
bound at the great river _Euphrates_. And the four Angels were loosed,
which were prepared for an hour and a day, and a month and a year, for to
slay the third part of men_. By the four horns of the golden Altar, is
signified the situation of the head cities of the said four kingdoms,
_Miyapharekin_, _Mosul_, _Aleppo_, and _Iconium_, which were in a
quadrangle. They slew the third part of men, when they conquered the
_Greek_ Empire, and took _Constantinople_, A.C. 1453. and they began to be
prepared for this purpose, when _Olub-Arslan_ began to conquer the nations
upon _Euphrates_, A.C. 1063. The interval is called an hour and a day, and
a month and a year, or 391 prophetic days, which are years. In the first
thirty years, _Olub-Arslan_ and _Melechschah_ conquered the nations upon
_Euphrates_, and reigned over the whole. _Melechschah_ died A.C. 1092, and
was succeeded by a little child; and then this kingdom broke into the four
kingdoms above-mentioned.
* * * * *
Notes to Chap. III.
[1] Apoc. ii. 4, &c.
[2] Apoc. ii. 9, 10.
[3] Ver. 14.
[4] Numb. xxv. 1, 2, 18, & xxi. 16.
[5] Apoc. iii. 10, 12.
[6] Apoc. iii. 16, 17.
[7] Apoc. viii. 7, &c.
[8] Apoc. xvi. 5, 6.
[9] Apoc. ix. 13, &c.
* * * * *
_THE END._
* * * * *
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_The last pages of these Observations having been differently drawn up by
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_And none was found worthy to open the book_ till the Lamb of God appeared;
the great High-Priest represented by a lamb slain at the foot of the Altar
in the morning-sacrifice. _And he came, and took the book out of the hand
of him that sat upon the throne._ For the High-Priest, in the feast of the
seventh month, went into the most holy place, and took the book of the law
out of the right side of the Ark, to read it to the people: and in order to
read it well, he studied it seven days, that is, upon the fourth, fifth,
sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth days, being attended by some of the
priests to hear him perform. These seven days are alluded to, by the Lamb's
opening the seven seals successively.
Upon the tenth day of the month, a young bullock was offered for a
sin-offering for the High-Priest, and a goat for a sin-offering for the
people: and lots were cast upon two goats to determine which of them should
be God's lot for the sin-offering; and the other goat was called _Azazel_,
the scape-goat. The High-Priest in his linen garments, took a censer full
of burning coals of fire from the Altar, his hand being full of sweet
incense beaten small; and went into the most holy place within the veil,
and put the incense upon the fire, and sprinkled the blood of the bullock
with his finger upon the mercy-seat and before the mercy-seat seven times;
and then he killed the goat which fell to God's lot, for a sin-offering for
the people, and brought his blood within the veil, and sprinkled it also
seven times upon the mercy-seat and before the mercy-seat. Then he went out
to the Altar, and sprinkled it also seven times with the blood of the
bullock, and as often with the blood of the goat. After this _he laid both
his hands upon the head of the live goat; and confessed over him all the
iniquities of the children of _Israel_, and all their transgressions in all
their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat; and sent him away into
the wilderness by the hands of a fit man: and the goat bore upon him all
their iniquities into a land not inhabited_, Levit. chap. iv. & chap. xvi.
While the High-Priest was doing these things in the most holy place and at
the Altar, the people continued at their devotion quietly and in silence.
Then the High-Priest went into the holy place, put off his linen garments,
and put on other garments; then came out, and sent the bullock and the goat
of the sin-offering to be burnt without the camp, with fire taken in a
censer from the Altar: and as the people returned home from the Temple,
they said to one another, _God seal you to a good new year_.
In allusion to all this, _when he had opened the seventh seal, there was
silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And an Angel stood at
the Altar having a golden Censer, and there was given unto him much
incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints, upon the
golden Altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with
the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angel's hand.
And the Angel took the Censer, and filled it with fire of the Altar, and
cast it to the earth_, suppose without the camp, for sacrificing the goat
which fell to God's lot. For the High-Priest being _Christ_ himself, the
bullock is omitted. At this sacrifice _there were voices and thundrings_,
of the musick of the Temple, _and lightnings_ of the sacred fire, _and an
earthquake_: and synchronal to these things was the sealing of _the 144000
out of all the twelve tribes of the children of _Israel_ with the seal of
God in their foreheads_, while the rest of the twelve tribes received the
mark of the Beast, and the Woman fled from the Temple into the wilderness
to her place upon this Beast. For this sealing and marking was represented
by casting lots upon the two goats, sacrificing God's lot on mount _Sion_,
and sending the scape-goat into the wilderness loaden with the sins of the
people.
Upon the fifteenth day of the month, and the six following days, there were
very great sacrifices. And in allusion to the sounding of trumpets, and
singing with thundring voices, and pouring out drink-offerings at those
sacrifices, _seven trumpets are sounded_, and _seven thunders utter their
voices_, and _seven vials of wrath are poured out_. Wherefore the sounding
of the _seven trumpets_, the voices of the _seven thunders_, and the
pouring out of the _seven vials of wrath_, are synchronal, and relate to
one and the same division of the time of the seventh seal following the
silence, into seven successive parts. The seven days of this feast were
called the feast of Tabernacles; and during these seven days the children
of _Israel_ dwelt in booths, and rejoiced with palm-branches in their
hands. To this alludes _the multitude with palms in their hands_, which
appeared after the sealing of the 144000, and _came out of the great
tribulation_ with triumph at the battle of the great day, to which the
seventh trumpet sounds. The visions therefore of the 144000, and of the
palm-bearing multitude, extend to the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and
therefore are synchronal to the times of the seventh seal.
When the 144000 _are sealed out of all the twelve tribes of _Israel__, and
the rest receive _the mark of the Beast_, and thereby the first temple is
destroyed; _John_ is bidden to _measure the temple and altar_, that is,
their courts, _and them that worship therein_, that is, the 144000 standing
on mount _Sion_ and on the sea of glass: _but the court that is without the
temple_, that is, the peoples court, to _leave out and measure it not,
because it is given to the_ Gentiles, those who receive the mark of the
Beast; _and the holy city they shall tread under foot forty and two
months_, that is, all the time that the Beast acts under the woman
_Babylon_: and _the two witnesses prophesy 1260 days_, that is, all the
same time, _clothed in sackcloth. These have power_, like _Elijah, to shut
heaven that it rain not_, at the sounding of the first trumpet; and, like
_Moses, to turn the waters into blood_ at the sounding of the second; _and
to smite the earth with all plagues_, those of the trumpets, _as often as
they will_. These prophesy at the building of the second temple, like
_Haggai_ and _Zechary_. These are _the two Olive-trees_, or Churches, which
_supplied the lamps with oil_, _Zech._ iv. These are _the two
candlesticks_, or Churches, _standing before the God of the earth_. Five of
the seven Churches of _Asia_, those in prosperity, are found fault with,
and exhorted to repent, and threatned to be _removed out of their places_,
or _spewed out of _Christ's_ mouth_, or _punished with the sword of
_Christ's_ mouth, except they repent_: the other two, the Churches of
_Smyrna_ and _Philadelphia_, which were under persecution, remain in a
state of persecution, to illuminate the second temple. When the primitive
Church catholick, represented by _the woman in heaven_, apostatized, and
became divided into two corrupt Churches, represented by the _whore of
_Babylon__ and the _two-horned Beast_, the 144000 _who were sealed out of
all the twelve tribes_, became the _two Witnesses_, in opposition to those
two false Churches: and the name of _two Witnesses_ once imposed, remains
to the true Church of God in all times and places to the end of the
Prophecy.
In the interpretation of this Prophecy, _the woman in heaven clothed with
the sun_, before she flies into the wilderness, represents the primitive
Church catholick, illuminated with the _seven lamps_ in the _seven golden
candlesticks_, which are the _seven Churches_ of _Asia_. The Dragon
signifies the same Empire with _Daniel_'s He-goat in the reign of his last
horn, that is, the whole _Roman_ Empire, until it became divided into the
_Greek_ and _Latin_ Empires; and all the time of that division it signifies
the _Greek_ Empire alone: and the Beast is _Daniel_'s fourth Beast, that
is, the Empire of the _Latins_. Before the division of the _Roman_ Empire
into the _Greek_ and _Latin_ Empires, the Beast is included in the body of
the Dragon; and from the time of that division, the Beast is the _Latin_
Empire only. Hence the Dragon and Beast have the same heads and horns; but
the heads are crowned upon the Dragon, and the horns upon the Beast. The
horns are ten kingdoms, into which the Beast becomes divided presently
after his separation from the Dragon, as hath been described above. The
heads are seven successive dynasties, or parts, into which the _Roman_
Empire becomes divided by the opening of the seven seals. Before the woman
fled into the wilderness, _she being with child_ of a Christian Empire,
_cried travelling_, viz. in the ten years persecution of _Dioclesian_, _and
pained to be delivered: and the Dragon_, the heathen _Roman_ Empire, _stood
before her, to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought
forth a man child, who_ at length _was to rule all nations with a rod of
iron. And her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne_ in the
Temple, by the victory of _Constantine_ the great over _Maxentius_: _and
the woman fled_ from the Temple _into the wilderness_ of _Arabia_ to
_Babylon_, _where she hath a place_ of riches and honour and dominion, upon
the back of the Beast, _prepared of God, that they should feed her there
1260 days. And there was war in heaven_, between the heathens under
_Maximinus_ and the new Christian Empire; _and the great Dragon was cast
out, that old serpent, which deceiveth the whole world_, the spirit of
heathen idolatry; _he was cast out_ of the throne _into the earth. And they
overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony;
and they loved not their lives unto the death_.
_And when the Dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the
woman which brought forth the man child_, stirring up a new persecution
against her in the reign of _Licinius_. _And to the woman_, by the building
of _Constantinople_ and equalling it to _Rome_, _were given two wings of a
great eagle, that she might flee into the wilderness into her place_ upon
the back of her Beast, _where she is nourished for a time, and times, and
half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent_, upon the death
of _Constantine_ the great, _cast out of his mouth water as a flood_, viz.
the _Western_ Empire under _Constantine junior_ and _Constans_, _after the
woman: that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the
earth_, the nations of _Asia_ now under _Constantinople_, _helped the
woman_; and by conquering the _Western_ Empire, now under _Magnentius_,
_swallowed up the flood which the Dragon cast out of his mouth. And the
Dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of
her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of
_Jesus Christ_, which_ in that war _were sealed out of all the twelve
tribes of _Israel__, and remained upon mount _Sion_ with the Lamb, being in
number 144000, and having their father's name written in their foreheads.
When the earth had swallowed up the flood, and the Dragon was gone to make
war with the remnant of the woman's seed, _John stood upon the sand of the
sea, and saw a Beast rise out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns.
And the Beast was like unto a Leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a
Bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a Lion._ _John_ here names _Daniel_'s
four Beasts in order, putting his Beast in the room of _Daniel_'s fourth
Beast, to shew that they are the same. _And the Dragon gave_ this Beast
_his power and his seat and great authority_, by relinquishing the
_Western_ Empire to him. _And one of his heads_, the sixth, was _as it were
wounded to death_, viz. by the sword of the earth, which swallowed up the
waters cast out of the mouth of the Dragon; _and his deadly wound was
healed_, by a new division of the Empire between _Valentinian_ and
_Valens_, _An._ 364. _John_ saw the Beast rise out of the sea, at the
division thereof between _Gratian_ and _Theodosius_, _An._ 379. The Dragon
gave the Beast his power, and his seat and great authority, at the death of
_Theodosius_, when _Theodosius_ gave the _Western_ Empire to his son
_Honorius_. After which the two Empires were no more united: but the
_Western_ Empire became presently divided into ten kingdoms, as above; and
these kingdoms at length united in religion under the woman, and reign with
her _forty and two months_.
_And I beheld_, saith _John_, _another Beast coming up out of the earth._
When the woman fled from the Dragon into the kingdom of the Beast, and
became his Church, this other Beast rose up out of the earth, to represent
the Church of the Dragon. For _he had two horns like the Lamb_, such as
were the bishopricks of _Alexandria_ and _Antioch_: _and he spake as the
Dragon_ in matters of religion: _and he causeth the earth_, or nations of
the Dragon's kingdom, _to worship the first Beast, whose deadly wound was
healed_, that is, to be of his religion. _And he doth great wonders, so
that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of
men_; that is, he excommunicateth those who differ from him in point of
religion: for in pronouncing their excommunications, they used to swing
down a lighted torch from above. _And he said to them that dwell on the
earth, that they should make an image to the Beast, which had the wound by
a sword, and did live_; that is, that they should call a Council of men of
the religion of this Beast. _And he had power to give life unto the image
of the Beast, that the image of the Beast should both speak, and cause that
as many as would not worship the image of the Beast should be killed_, viz.
mystically, by dissolving their Churches. _And he causeth all both small
and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right
band or in their foreheads, and that no man might buy or sell, save he that
had the mark, or the name of the Beast, or the number of his name_; that
is, the mark [Cross], or the name [Greek: LATEINOS], or the number thereof
[Greek: chxs], 666. All others were excommunicated.
When the seven Angels had poured out the seven vials of wrath, and _John_
had described them all in the present time, he is called up from the time
of the seventh vial to the time of the sixth seal, to take a view of the
woman and her Beast, who were to reign in the times of the seventh seal. In
respect of the latter part of time of the sixth seal, then considered as
present, the Angel tells _John_: _The Beast that thou sawest, was and is
not, and shall ascend out of the abyss, and go into perdition_; that is, he
was in the reign of _Constans_ and _Magnentius_, until _Constantius_
conquered _Magnentius_, and re-united the _Western_ Empire to the
_Eastern_. He is not during the reunion, and he shall ascend out of the
abyss or sea at a following division of the Empire. The Angel tells him
further: _Here is the mind which hath wisdom: the seven heads are seven
mountains, on which the woman sitteth_; _Rome_ being built upon seven
hills, and thence called the seven-hilled city. _Also there are seven
Kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when
he cometh, he must continue a short space: and the Beast that was and is
not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition_.
Five are fallen, the times of the five first seals being past; and one is,
the time of the sixth seal being considered as present; and another is not
yet come, and when he cometh, which will be at the opening of the seventh
seal, he must continue a short space: and the Beast that was and is not,
even he is the eighth, by means of the division of the _Roman_ Empire into
two collateral Empires; and is of the seven, being one half of the seventh,
and shall go into perdition. The words, _five are fallen, and one is, and
the other is not yet come_, are usually referred by interpreters to the
time of _John_ the Apostle, when the Prophecy was given: but it is to be
considered, that in this Prophecy many things are spoken of as present,
which were not present when the Prophecy was given, but which would be
present with respect to some future time, considered as present in the
visions. Thus where it is said upon pouring out the seventh vial of wrath,
that _great _Babylon_ came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the
cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath_; this relates not to the
time of _John_ the Apostle, but to the time of pouring out the seventh vial
of wrath. So where it is said, _Babylon is fallen, is fallen_; and _thrust
in thy sickle and reap, for the time is come for thee to reap_; and _the
time of the dead is come, that they should be judged_; and again, _I saw
the dead small and great stand before God_: these sayings relate not to the
days of _John_ the Apostle, but to the latter times considered as present
in the visions. In like manner the words, _five are fallen, and one is, and
the other is not yet come_, and _the Beast that was and is not, he is the
eighth_, are not to be referred to the age of _John_ the Apostle, but
relate to the time when the Beast was to be wounded to death with a sword,
and shew that this wound was to be given him in his sixth head: and without
this reference we are not told in what head the Beast was wounded. _And the
ten horns which thou sawest, are ten Kings, which have received no kingdom
as yet, but receive power as Kings one hour with the Beast. These have one
mind_, being all of the whore's religion, _and shall give their power and
strength unto the Beast. These shall make war with the Lamb_, at the
sounding of the seventh trumpet; _and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he
is Lord of Lords and King of Kings; and they that are with him are called
and chosen and faithful. And he saith unto me, the waters which thou sawest
where the whore sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations and
tongues_, composing her Beast. _And the ten horns which thou sawest upon
the Beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and
naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire_, at the end of the
1260 days. _For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to
agree and give their kingdom unto the Beast, until the words of God shall
be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest, is that great city which
reigneth over the Kings of the earth_, or the great city of the _Latins_,
which reigneth over the ten Kings till the end of those days.
* * * * *
_FINIS_.