The Annotations.

¹ Thus Grotius, Dr. Hammond, and most Interpreters ex­pound these Words; this Prophecy containing a Discovery of things which were to come to pass, in a Succession of time one after another: of which it may be very appositely said, That they must come to pass shortly, when they are shortly, to begin to pass into Event; as an Army is said to be coming, when only the Van-Guard begins to appear. With which Interpretation these Words of Dr. Pocock agree (on Joel, pag. 145, 150.) Of those last things, which were to be done, or in doing, to the last of time in this world, St. John, by reason of the certainty of their being fulfilled in due time, saith, that they should be fulfilled, [...], or shortly come to pass.

² Michael and Gabriel are employed in Daniel; but in this Prophecy several Angels are made use of, but none by Name; which, together with the Humane Subor­dinate Ministry, employed under them, are generally call­ed by the Name of Angel in this Book. From this Verse we may observe the Order of Divine Revelation; which proceeds from God the Father, as the Fountain and Original; and is committed by him to Christ, unto whom all Power is given in the Church: by whom it is sent to his Servants, especially Ministers, by the Ministration of his Angels, who are under him, as their Head and Lord; and his Ministers, to whom the Prophecy is principally directed, are also stiled Angels, from their Ministring to him in this Prophecy, together with the Angels. See on, ver. 20.

2 Who bare record [i. e. hath testified and declared by his Preaching and Sufferings, vers. 9. and in this Book] of [Christ] the Word of God, [John 1.1. Chap. 19.13.] and of the Testimony of Jesus Christ [i. e. the ³ Gospel, 1 Cor. 1.6] and of all things that he saw ⁴ [concerning Christ while he abode on Earth; and afterwards in this, and the following Visions]

³ Called his Testimony, because it testified of him, decla­red the Will of God; and was testified unto, or confirmed by his Miracles.

⁴ Here the Apostle plainly discovers himself to be the Wri­ter of this Book, from many Characters peculiar unto him­self; as that he had given Testimony (which is part of the Office of an Apostle in Scripture, Acts 1.8, 22, &c.) unto the Gospel of Christ, and to the Divinity of the Word of God, by his Preaching, and by his Sufferings for it; and that he had delivered many things concerning Christ, of which he had been a peculiar Eye-witness; which are now upon Record in his Gospel, in the like manner of Speech, and way of Assurance, John 1, 14.19, 35.

And moreover, this being a Preface to the whole Book of Visions he had already seen, these Words may very well refer unto them.

3 ⁵ Blessed [here and here after] is he that readeth [and expoundeth with diligence and understanding,] and they that hear [with at­tention] the words of this Prophecy, and keep [in their Minds, observe, and practise] those things which are written therein; for the time [of their beginning to be successively compleated] is at hand [and therefore to be regarded; and the Consideration of it not to be put off unto a further Day, as the Jews were wont to do, Ezek. 12.21-28.]

⁵ The Divine Authority of the Revelation, the Author of the Book, and the Subject-matter of it, having been deliver­ed in brief, in the foregoing Verses; St. John here declares the Fruit and Benefit which the Readers and Observers of it shall reap by it; and very probably gives an intimation, That it ought to be read in publick Assemblies; here being mention of one [...], or Reader; and of many, as it were, assem­bled to hear him Read, and Interpret, according to the Cu­stom of the Church. And without doubt, great is the bles­sing attending the sober Study of this Book; and the due [Page 4] Observation of the Correspondence betwixt it, and the Events foretold in it, must needs be a matter of extraordinary com­fort, especially to those who shall be so happy as to live near the Times of its full completion; as Christ told Daniel, chap. 12. 12. And even what is not so fully understood, is never­theless (according to the Example of Daniel, and of the Bles­sed Virgin, Luke 2.19, 50, 51.) to be pondered upon, and kept in our Minds, lest we be found wholly ignorant of the great Truths contained in this Book, when the Times of their Consummation appear; and that thereby God may be wrought upon to make known unto us, what we do not understand; seeing he hath declared, That he that seeketh shall find, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. But chiefly the Blessed­ness here pronounced belongs to those who practice accord­ing to the pure and undefiled Rules of Christian Worship gi­ven in this Prophecy.

4 John to the Seven ⁶ [Eminent] Churches in Asia, [the Less:] Grace [i. e. the free and undeserved Love and Assistance of God] be un­to you, and ⁷ Peace [i. e.] all manner of Prosperity, especially Spiritual] from ⁸ him [or The] which is, and which was, and which is to come [i. e. the Eternal and Immutable God, Exod. 3.14. who can therefore reveal, and will certainly accomplish all which is here foretold, and which belongs unto his Church, from the beginning unto the end of Time:] and from the ⁹ Seven Spirits [i. e. the Holy Ghost or Spirit, Zach. 4.2, 6.] which are before his Throne [i. e. is present, and of Counsel with him who sits on the Throne, work­ing and communicating Graces and Gifts, by its Operations, ac­cording to his supreme Good Pleasure and Determination.]

⁶ The Seven Churches particularly mentioned in the 11th Verse, were the most eminent and flourishing of those which were under the peculiar Care and Government of John; up­on which account they might be very well made choice of by the Holy Spirit, amongst many others, which were then pro­bably planted in Asia Minor, now called Natolia. Some Tra­vellers, (particularly the Ingenious Mr. Spoon) have remark­ed [Page 5] several Circumstances of their present Condition, an­swerable to the Judgments denounced against them, in the following Epistles; which may render it something probable that they were immediately directed unto them; although the Arguments brought by Dr. Moor, and others, seem to me to carry with them a full Conviction, of what Grotius confesses, that the seven Asiatick Churches are but a Pattern, and Example of the sevenfold state and quality, successive temper and condition of the Universal Church, from the be­ginning to the end of it; of which, perhaps (for it is not a thing unusual in Scripture) there may be some intimation in their Names, as Grotius has observed, which might pro­bably have been made out more clearly, if we had a more par­ticular account of the ancient History, and circumstances of those Churches; however that they are Mystical, and not bare­ly Literal Epistles, I shall endeavour to prove by observations drawn from the Text it self, in my following Annotations; and shall not rest upon extrinsecal and more remote Argu­ments, being sufficiently convinced of the frequent weakness of Reasoning upon such Topicks in these matters. But upon an impartial consideration of all circumstances, I cannot but be of opinion, That these seven Asiatick Churches represent the seven Periods, and Successions of the Ʋniversal Church; which in correspondence to the Creation (a Type of God's Transactions with his Church) is, according to the known Tradition of the Jews, after six thousand years of Labour and Imperfection, to enjoy a seventh of Peace, Holiness, and Perfection; from whence the Pythagoreans, whose Philoso­phy came from the East, took their Doctrine of the perfection of this Number; which is in Scripture, and particularly in this Prophecy often made use of in what relates to Christ and his Kingdom; and is a perfect number, not upon an Arithmetical account (for the Number Six is the first perfect Arithmetical one) but upon a Mystical; in memory of God's having finished, and perfected his Works on the Seventb day; and of the Sab­batical [Page 6] Rest of the Church, in the Seventh Thousand Year of the World, after Six remarkable Periods of it from Christ's Resurrection, of which more hereafter on Chap. 20. 5. How­soever thus much is certain; That what is contained in these E­pistles, ought to be duly considered by all Churches; that so they may avoid the Faults therein reprehended, and the Pu­nishments threatned in them; For what is therein written, is written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the World are come.

⁷ Peace, especially Spiritual, being the greatest of bles­sings, is put in Scripture, to denote all manner of Prospe­rity.

⁸ The That is; [...], Jehovah, who is Being it self; for these Words are an Explication of that Sacred Name. See the In­terpreters on Exod. 3.14.

⁹ It is the Opinion of Mr. Mede, (Disc. 10.) and of Dr. Hammond, on the place, That by the Seven Spirits are to be understood Seven Angels: But besides that (as Grotius notes on the place) Spirits are distinguished from Angels in the Fifth Chapter; and that Chap. 4. 5. they are called the Seven Spirits of God; which is a Title not given to Angels in Scripture: it is not easily accountable, why Angels should be placed in the same rank, with the Persons of the Trinity, and that be­fore the Son; and that Grace should be Prayed, and Wish­ed for from them, when all good Gifts are said, by the Apo­stle James, (Chap. 1. 17.) to come from above, from the Father of Lights; and there being no form of a Salutation, or Bles­sing in Scripture in the name of a meer Angel (for the Angel- Gen. 48.15.6. is Christ, and not a created Angel) such an Inter­pretation of these Words would give a greater Encouragement to Creature-Worship, than can be imagined to have been gi­ven in this Prophecy, which is so severe against all Idolatry, and in which this very Apostle was twice reprehended for of­fering to give Worship to an Angel. And therefore there be­ing no necessity of interpreting the words in this Sense, it is [Page 7] certainly the safest, and the truest way, in my Opinion, to understand them concerning the Holy Spirit, represented here by Seven Spirits, in respect of his Various, but Perfect Ope­rations and Gifts (denoted by Seven, the Number of Perfe­ction, as we have already noted, and shall declare more fully hereafter) to the Ʋniversal Church, in the Sevenfold successive State of it. Whereupon Zach. 4. the Seven Lamps at the 2d Verse, are at the 6th Verse said to be by God's Spirit; That is, from the Plenitude of the Holy Spirit, which in those Se­ven Lamps diffused its Mighty and Perfect Operations. But although Angels are not to be placed before Christ, yet the Order of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity is not al­ways observed in Scripture; not in that very Apostolick Benediction, 2 Cor. 13. where the Grace of Christ is placed first; and in this Form of Benediction, the Holy Ghost is put before Christ, because more was to be spoken concerning him afterwards, who was therefore more conveniently to be re­served unto the last place.

5 And from ¹⁰ Jesus Christ, who is the Faithful Witness [of his Fa­thers Will, and a Prophet worthy to be believed,] and the first begotten of [or first born from] the Dead [by his being first raised, which is a new Birth or a Regeneration, Acts 13.33.] and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth [i. e. the chief Ruler, and Dis­poser of the Kingdoms of Men, especially the four Monarchies, which shall be broken to Peices, and consumed by his Kingdom, Dan. 2, 44.4, 17.] unto him that Loved us [unto the Death, John 15.13.] and washed us from our sins, in [or by] his own Blood [shed for them.]

¹⁰ Note here, the great Propriety of the Titles attributed to Christ; for he is said to be the faithful Witness, that the following Prophecy might be the more readily believed; and in Opposition to the Pretences of Antichrist to New Traditi­ons, distinct from those delivered by him in his Gospel, the in­tire [Page 8] Revelation of his Father's Will. (2dly) His Resurrecti­on is mentioned, because it was the chief Proof of his Divi­nity, and the Ground of our Faith; and chiefly because that from thence is taken the Epocha, or the beginning of the Ac­count of the Times and Seasons of this Prophecy. The other Titles plainly relate to the Efficacy of his Blood alone, to our Justification and Sanctification; and to our Praises due to him alone, in opposition to Merits and Satisfactions, Prayers to Saints and Angels, and the other Corruptions of the Op­posite Antichristian Kingdom.

6 And hath made us Kings [to Reign on the Earth in his King­dom, Dan 7.27. Rev. 5, 10.20, 6.] and Priests [to offer Spiri­tual Sacrifices, 1 Pet. 2.9. Rev. 20.6.] unto God, and his Father, [and not unto Saints and Angels] to him [Christ] be Glory [i. e. Praise and Acknowledgment of his Perfections] and [Kingly] Do­minion, for ever and ever, [in his Everlasting Kingdom, Dan. 2.44. Revel. 11.15.] Amen [So be it, and so it will be.]

7 ¹¹ Behold he cometh ¹² [ i. e. he will as certainly come, as if we saw him now a coming] with Clouds [i.e. with Power, and great Glory, Dan. 7.13. Matth. 24.30.) and every Eye [of all Men] shall see him [coming,] and they also which pierced him [i. e. the Jews, shall see him, feel his Power, and acknowledge him, Isa. 40.5. Zach. 12.10. John 19.37.] and all Kindreds [Tribes, or People] of the Earth [i.e. of the wicked, worldly, and ¹³ Antichristi­an Part;] shall wail because of him [their Judg, whom they had pro­voked:] Even so ¹⁴ Amen, [ i. e. this is a certain Truth, to be ex­pected and desired.]

¹¹ This Verse relates to the coming of Christ in his King­dom at the last Day, when the Jews, who crucified him, and all other his Enemies, shall appear, and be judged by him. And it is worth noting, That (according to the Precepts of Art, observed by the most Judicious Wri­ters) we have here, from Verse 5. given us in short at the very entrance of this Prophecy, a brief Representation [Page 9] of the chief End and Design of it, The Kingdom of Christ: of which, upon all fit Occasions we are presented with a short View; because it is the thing which all the Events Ty­pified in this Book, were designed to produce; and as it were the Catastrophe of this [...] of the World (according to Plotinus's Phrase) or of all the Transactions which have appeared on the Stage of it.

¹² A Form of Speech in use with the Prophets, denoting the Infallible certainty of what they foretold. Or, cometh, may here signifie, he beginneth to come; as Verse 1. See ^* Dr. Pocock on Joel.

¹³ Earth is taken in this sense, sometimes in this Prophecy; as we shall see hereafter.

¹⁴ This Word, in Scripture, is put to affirm, that the thing will be, as well as to wish for it, and approve it.

8 [And do not doubt of the Truth, and Extent of this Pro­phecy; for] I [Christ, who have revealed it] am Alpha ¹⁵ and O­mega, the beginning and the ending [who am before all things, and shall abide after them for ever,] saith the Lord [Christ] which is, [or, The That is], and which was, and which is to come, the Almigh­ty [as well as Eternal Jehovah, who can bring to pass the Words of this Prophecy, from the beginning of it, to the end of Time.]

¹⁵ These are the first and last Letters of the Greek Alpha­bet; whereby the Beginning and Consummation of all Things, Times, and Seasons, is ascribed to Christ: as the incommuni­cable Attributes of God also are, viz. his Name Jehovah, and his Almightiness. So that this Verse contains a plain Declara­tion of the Divinity of our Saviour.

9 I John, who also am your Brother [in the same Faith] and Compa­nion in tribulation [i. e. a Fellow-sufferer with you] and in the King­dom [Page 10] and patience [or patient ¹⁵ expectation of the Kingdom] of Je­sus Christ [delayed unto the time of the end, Dan. 12.4-13. Rev. 10.4, 7.] was [in ¹⁷ Banishment] in the Isle that is called ¹⁸ Patmos, for [preaching] the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ [i.e. the Gospel.]

¹⁶ For so the words seem to signifie, and may very well be Translated, by a figure common in Scripture; for this Kingdom was to have begun in its full Power immediately at Christ's Resurrection, and was then expected by the Apo­stles, Acts 1.6. but was still patiently to be waited for, until the time of the end to which it was deferred. Altho the words may more properly relate to the Patience of Christ; or to his own patient Expectation of his Kingdom, until the times agreed on with his Father. See Chap. 3.10.

¹⁷ In the time of Domitian, about the end of the year of our Lord 95, or the beginning of 96, as Chronologers gene­rally agree.

¹⁸ Situate in the Archi-pelago, about 40 Miles from the Continent of Asia, towards Ephesus, in the Sea next to the Churches to which he wrote. And as Ezekiel and Daniel had their Visions when they were in Captivity; so also might it be, by way of Correspondence, Ordained by God, that John should receive this Prophecy in a place of Exile; Restraints, and places of Recess, and Retireme [...] from the wicked World, affording the fittest dispositions, and op­portunities for Divine Communications.

10. I was in the Spirit ¹⁹ [ i. e. under the immediate Power of it] on the ²⁰ Lord's day, and ²¹ heard [that is, perceived in my Spirit, unexpectedly, and as it were from] behind me, a great voice, as of a Trumpet, [i. e. a very loud voice, as the sound of the Trum­pets on the solemn Festivals, Psal. 47.5. or in the time of War, Zechar. 9.14. to raise my attention, and to encourage me; and to signifie that Judgments were to be denounced.]

¹⁹ That is, I was not in the Body, but in a Spiritual Ex­tasie [Page 11] or Rapture, under the immediate actings of the Spirit of God, representing things to my Soul, and not to my Senses, 2 Cor. 12.2.

²⁰ The First Day of the Week, or the Christian Sabbath, in­stituted in Memory of Christ's Resurrection, and called, The Lord's Day (a Phrase never used in the New Testament, but with reference to this Day, and the Lord's Supper), because it was blessed and sanctified by Christ's Resurrection, and the De­scent of the Spirit (intimated here, by John's saying, that he was then in the Spirit), and instituted, and set apart by his Au­thority, as the Day in which his Worship was ordinarily and necessarily to be frequented by all Christians. And the Day is here punctually expressed (which is also exactly observed by Ezekiel and Daniel, for the benefit of the Church, which is to take notice of Times and Seasons), to shew that these Visi­ons commence from Christ's Resurrection: For to that end on­ly is the mention of this Day proper to this Prophecy; On which he might truly stile himself, The First Begotten of the Dead; and he that was dead, and is alive.. And according­ly we are not to suppose, as some do, that he received this Prophecy on the Annual Day of the Resurrection; but that (according to the Decorum to be observed in Visions and Re­presentations) the very Numerical Day, in which Christ arose, was, as it were, recalled, and represented unto him, as the Beginning of the Time allotted to the Actions of the whole Representation. And from its being said, That he was in the Spirit on that Day, it may be conjectured (seeing that every thing in this Prophecy has a mystical sense, which yet is the primary and most proper) that the Day of Pentecost, on which Christ gave the Gifts of the Spirit, was joyned in Vi­sion and Representation with it; as the same Day may hap­pen to be the King's Coronation and Birth day too.

²¹ Words of seeing, hearing, and the like, signifie in Scri­pture, the Actions of the Inward Senses, as well as of the Out­ward.

[Page 12]11 Saying; I ²² am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: And what thou seest [in this Vision] write in a Book, [for greater security and continuance, Job 19.23, 24.] and send it unto the seven ²³ Churches which are in Asia [the Less], unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and un­to Pergamus, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadel­phia, and unto Laodicea.

²² These solemn Titles of Christ's Divinity, are here repeat­ed, not only for the greater Assurance of the Certainty of these Visions, but to signifie, by being placed immediately be­fore the Command, to write to the Seven Churches; That these Epistles relate to what was to come to pass in the End of Time; and that they contain a Succession of Prophecy from the first to the last; and the solemn Appearance of Christ, which fol­lows, and the whole Preface with which this Vision is intro­duced, do make it highly probable, that they were designed for more than seven private Churches, of no very large Extent or Duration.

²³ That these Cities were all in being in John's Time, is past doubt; only it hath been questioned by some, whether there were Churches as yet Erected in all of them; which yet seems to be a groundless Scruple; seeing that the Apostle Paul so long before professes, that he had at Ephesus a great Door, and an Effectual one opened to him; and that the Word of God increased so mightily throughout all Asia, that he thought good to tarry amongst them for the space of three years, Acts 19.10, 20. and 20.18, 31. See Archbishop Ush­er's Treatise, concerning the Original of Bishops, and Metropo­litans; and of the Lydian, or Proconsular Asia.

12 And I turned to see [whose] the voice [was] that spake with me: And being turned, I saw seven golden ²⁴ Candlesticks [representing seven Churches.]

²⁴ Candlesticks are Symbols, or visible Hieroglyphicks of Churches; taken from the Candlestick with seven Branches, [Page 13] and Lamps in it, under the Law; which was a Type of the Church, Exod. 25.31. Numb. 8.2. Whereby is signified their Duty of enlightning and instructing, by the purity of their Doctrine, and Example, whereby they become preci­ous as Gold in the fight of God. See and compare Psalm 19.10. Matth. 5.14. John 5.35. Rom. 10.15. Philip. 2.15, 16. And most, especially the Candlestick, Zec. 4. gives great Light to the Candlestick in this Vision.

13 And in the midst ²⁵ of the seven Candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man [i. e. Christ walking in the midst of them, to order them, as the Priests did the Lamps, Exod. 27.20, 21. and to protect, guide and watch over them, Levit 26.12. Matth. 18.20.28, 20. 2 Cor. 6.16.] cloathed [in the High-Priests Vestments] with a garment down to the foot [Exod. 28, 40.39, 27. Ezek. 9.2. Dan: 10 5.] and girt about the Paps with a golden girdle [of the Ephod, Exod 28, 8.29, 5. to deno [...]e his Royal Priesthood; a golden girdle being also the habit of Kings, anciently amongst the Eastern Nations, Job. 12.18.]

²⁵ Hence, perhaps, it was, that God commanded ( Exod 25.37. and Numb. 8.2.) that the Lamps should be lighted on that part which was towards the midst, or middle Branch of the Candlestick; signifying thereby Christ, to whom we ought all to look for help, and from whom we have all our Light and Knowledge. See Ainsworth on Numb. 8.2.

14 His head ²⁶ and his hair were white like Wool, as white as Snow [noting his Eternal Wisdom and Authority, Dan. 7.9.] and his eyes were as a Flame of Fire [Penetrating all things by his Pro­vidence, with quickness, power and terror, Dan. 10.6. Ezek. 1.27. Hebr. 4.12, 13.]

²⁶ Hence may be proved the Consubstantiality and Equality of the Son with the Father; the same Expressions being used in Daniel, concerning the Father.

[Page 14]15 And his Feet [especially when he comes to Judge his Church, Isa. 53.7.] like unto fine ²⁷ brass, as if they burned in a furnace [i. e. representing the stability, power, glory and terror of his actions and punishments, and that his Servants are to be pu­rified and refined by sufferings, Dan. 10, 6.12, 10. Malach. ch. 3. and 4.] and his voice as the sound of many Waters [i. e. his word was powerful and terrible, like that of a raging multitude, signified by Waters, Dan 10.6. Psal. 93.4.]

²⁷ See Dr. Hammond, who seems to have given the true sense of these Words; wherein is represented a fiery flaming Appearance in Glory; taken from a flaming Fire, in which the lower part looks like Amber (which we translate Fine Brass), and the Flame, especially the upper part, is of a white colour.

16 And he had in his right hand [i. e. under his mighty power, direction and protection; in safety and great honour, Psal. 18.35. Je [...]em. 22.24. Cant. 8 6.] seven Stars [i. e. the Angels of the se­ven Churches, ver. 20.] and out of his Mouth went a sharp two edged Sword [i e. his word, sharp, quick and powerful, for the destructi­on of his Enemies, and the defence of his Friends, Eph. 6.17. Hebr. 4.12.] and his countenance [i. e. the manifestation of himself, Cant. 5.15. Psal. 4 6] was as the Sun shineth in his strength [at noon, in its greatest height and brightness; that is, very Glorious and of Majesty.]

17 And when I saw him [in this glorious and terrible appear­ance,] I fell at his feet as dead [for fear:] and he laid his right hand [of power and support] upon me, saying unto me, fear not, I am the first and the last [i. e the E [...]ernal, Almighty God, who can sustain and strengthen thee, Dan. 8, 18.10, 10, 18.]

18 I am he that Liveth [i. e. the living God, the Fountain and Author of Life] and was dead [for your Sins:] and behold [now] I am alive [and that] for evermore. Amen [i. e. This is a certain Truth.] and [I] have the Keys of ²⁸ Hell [i. e. power over the state and place of separated Souls, to call them back or retain them when they are departed out of the Body;] and of Death [it self, to [Page 15] keep men from it; and therefore fear not; for if you were real­ly Dead, I could raise you up again. All which looks with a Full Eye on that great First Resurrection.] c. 20.

²⁸ [...]. See Hammond, on Matth. 11. and Bishop Pear­son on the Creed.

19 [And upon this assurance, stand up upon thy Feet, and be of good Courage, and] Write [in a Book unto the seven Church­es, as I before commanded thee, vers. 11.] the things which thou hast seen [already, ²⁹ in the representation of the seven Stars, and seven golden Candlesticks, vers. 12, 13, 16.] and ³⁰ [write also] the things which are [now in being in my present Apostolical Church,] and the things which shall be hereafter [successively to the very end of Time.]

²⁹ It is manifest from the next Verse, that this is the true sense of these Words; where it is expresly said, that the Seven Stars were Seen by him in his Right Hand; which are there­fore the things he had Seen; and were written with the rest of the Preface, in a Book, to the seven Churches, verse 11.

³⁰ Here he is commanded to write the Epistles to the seven Churches; the first of which, viz. that to Ephesus, as we have there shewn, refers to the State of the then Apostolical Church, beginning at Christ's Resurrection; the others to the follow­ing successive States of the Churches to the End of the World.

20 [Which things, present and future, are] the ³¹ Mystery [or the Prophetical and Mystical sense] of the seven Stars which thou sawest in my right hand [which are the things thou hast seen, and not the Mystery to be written concerning them;] and [write] the seven Golden Candlesticks [i e. the mystery or mystick sense of them also.] The seven ³² stars are [or signifie and represent, Gen. 41.26.] the Angels ³³ [or Pastors] of the seven Churches; and the seven Candlesticks which thou sawest, are the seven Churches [or, are ³⁴ seven Churches, that is Bodies of Christians under their several Pastors; as well those which are now, as those which shall be successively here­after.]

³¹ These words, which are of the Accusative Case, and put by way of Apposition, plainly refer only to the things which are, and shall be; which are here said to be the Mystery, or mystical meaning of the seven Stars; which therefore are not referred to, as being not themselves the Mystery, but the things which were to be mystically explained in the following Epistles. And from hence also we are plainly given to under­stand, that the Subject Matter of these Epistles is Mystical, and not barely Literal; and that they concern things future, as well as the present.

³² Here is explained what is meant by Stars and Candlesticks, whose further mystical meaning, as they relate to Churches then in being, and to future Successions of them and their Pastors, is largely delivered in the following Epistles.

³³ The Ministring Spirits, which attend on God, are call­ed Angels, in Scripture, from their being employed as Messen­gers in his Service: and therefore by the Angels of the Churches, must be meant the Pastors of them (which are here clearly distinguished from the Churches themselves), from their like Office of delivering God's Messages to the People, and put­ting up their Prayers unto him; Upon which Account the Jewish Priest is called, The Messenger (or Angel) of the Lord of Hosts, (Malach. 2.7.) where Angel (that I may observe this by the way) is evidently taken collectively (as Dr. Po­cock, on the Place, confesses) for the Succession of the whole Jewish Priesthood, comprehended there under the common Name of Levi, their Father, and spoken of as one Person; because they were all of the fame Stock, and all separated to the same Function. And as they are upon this Account call­ed Angels; so are they called Stars, from their Office of en­lightning, or instructing others. By Angels therefore in this, and the following Chapter, is meant, the Evangelical Ministry; represented by Angels (as all other Ministerial Agents are in this Prophecy), because the present World is subject to An­gels, under Christ, the Head of them, and the Angel of the [Page 17] Covenant; Whereas the World to come (that is, the Kingdom of Christ, at his last coming, as the Apostle speaks, Heb. 2.5.) is to be ruled by Christ and his Saints, and is not to be in subjection unto Angels.

³⁴ It is here said, That the seven Candlesticks, are, or signi­fie seven Churches (for so it is in the Greek); not the seven Churches, which might seem to have determined them to the seven in Asia. The Epistles are indeed to be sent to the se­ven Churches of Asia, ver. 11. But the mystical meaning of them, is not here said to belong to the Angels, or to the Seven Churches of Asia only, but to Seven Churches, and to the An­gels of them; from whence it is plain, that they are prophe­tical, relating to Seven Successions of the Ʋniversal Church. See Mr. ^* Mede.

Annotations on CHAP. II.

¹ This I shall hereafter endeavour to make out, to be the principal, if not only drift of these Epistles, from such Chara­cters and Arguments, as shall arise from the Text it self. Very good Interpreters, and particularly Grotius, on Revel. 1.11. have thought, that the several Successions of the Church, here represented, are intimated in their very Names, according to a way of Allusion made use of in Scripture, as well as in Hea­then Authors. For thus the God of Ekron, whose True Name is thought to have been Baal zebachim, or the Lord of Sacri­fices, is called in derision Baal zebub, or the Lord of Flies; and Belzebul, or the Dunghil God. And the Prophet Micah 1.14, 15. manifestly alludes to the Names of Cities, calling Achzib a Lie; as if its Name were derived from Cazab, which in Hebrew signifies to Lie; and the City Mareshah is threatned to be disinherited, in allusion to its Name; and A­dullam is called the Glory of Israel, perhaps (says Doctor Po­cock on the Place) from its Situation, its Strength, or its [Page 19] Beauty, or some other Reason, probably taken from its Name, as the others are, although now unknown. And such Paronomasia's, or Allusions, may be more frequent in Scripture than we think for, by reason of our Ignorance in the Premi­tive Language, and of the Story and Circumstances of the Places, whose Names are alluded to.

2 I know [observe and approve, Psalm 1.6.] thy [good] works and thy labour ² [in the work of the Gospel; in converting, in­structing, and governing those whom thou art set over, 1 Thes. 5.12. 1 Tim. 5.17.] and thy patience, [and perseverance in it, and under sufferings for it], and how thou canst not [endure, or] ³ bear [with] them, which are evil [in Life or Doctrine, but castest them, when they prove incorrigible, out of the Church:] and thou hast tryed ⁴ them [by the Gospel, Gal. 1.8. 1 John 4.1. by their Works Matth. 7.20. and by the Gift of discerning Spirits, 1 Cor. 12.10.] which say they are Apostles [sent and commissioned to preach the Gospel], and are not, and hast found them liars, [or False Apostles, Acts 20.29, 30. and 15.1, 24. 1 Cor. 15.12. 2 Cor. 11.13. Gal. 1.6. 1 and 2 Epist. to Timothy. 1 John 4.1.]

² Labour also may here signifie a zealous and unwearied pro­fession of the Gospel, amidst the greatest Discouragements, as the Word is taken, 1 Cor. 15.58.

³ These Words refer to the zealous Execution of Discipline, for which the Church was at first very remarkable, as appears from 1 Cor. 5. 1 Tim. 1.20. Tit. 3.10. 2. John 10.

⁴ It appears from Scripture, that there were many False A­postles foretold by our Saviour, Matth. 24.11, and by the A­postle Paul, in his Admonition to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus, Acts 20.29, 30. Who generally seem to have insi­nuated themselves into the good Opinion of the People, by specious pretences of being Brethren, and by creeping into their Houses and Assemblies unawares, and privily, and by com­municating with them in their Feasts of Charity, as appears from 2 Cor. 11.26. Gal. 2.4. 1 Tim. 3.6. Jude 4.12. and from this place; where they are said, to pretend to be Apostles, when [Page 20] they were not. For the Hereticks seem to have acted more close­ly and subtily while the Apostles were living than afterwards; which made i [...] [...] task to try and detect them, which yet the Apostolical Church did with great Zeal and Care, by examining their pretences by the Doctrine they had received of Christ, and by Gifts of discerning False Spirits, as Clemens Romanus attests in his Epistle to the Corinthians. And this place seems to determine this Succession of the Church to the Times of the Apostles; the Pretence of being Apostles, or Mes­sengers, sent and commissioned by God to preach New Doctrines, being peculiar to that Age, and made use of by Simon Ma­gus, and his Followers, particularly by Cerinthus, against whom John wrote his Gospel; who pretended to New Reve­lations: And it being not peculiar to Ephesus alone, but to most other Churches, we may reasonably conclude, that by E­phesus is not understood that Church alone, but the Church-State of the Apostolical Age; which began on the Day of Pen­tecost, next following the Ascension of our Saviour, in the Thir­ty Third Year of our Lord, about the Twenty Fourth Day of May, as Bishop Pearson has stated the Aera of the Apostolical Church in his first Lecture on the Acts. From this place we may learn, That strict care ought to be taken in trying and examining those who are to be sent to teach others; and that the Canon of Scripture was setled by this Apostolical Church, she having duly tried and rejected all other Pretenders to A­postolical Doctrines; and that the first State of the Church was purely Apostolical.

3 And [yet thou] hast born ⁵ [Afflictions, although thou canst not bear ⁵ with them which are evil;] and hast [still] patience ⁶, and for my Names sake [i. e. for me, and upon the Account of my Gos­pel] hast laboured ⁶ [in it], and hast not fainted [under it, nor under thy sufferings for it, Gal. 6.9. 2 Thes. 3.13.]

⁵ Such kind of Allusions are frequent in Scripture, as Rom. 1.24, 25, 26, 28.

⁶ This being a Repetition of what was said in the foregoing Verse, seems to intimate, that their Labour and Sufferings were Great, and very Remarkable; a Repetition sometimes denoting so much in Scripture.

4 Nevertheless I have somewhat [of ⁷ complaint] against thee, be­cause thou hast left [or ⁸ remitted, and abated something of] thy first ⁹ [or former, fervent, and intense] Love [of me, my Gospel, and Kingdom.]

⁷ So the Phrase is taken, Matth. 5.23.

⁸ So this word is rendred by Grotius and Doctor Hammond, and, I think, rightly. And as Grotius thinks, that Love and Desire, may by way of Allusion, be signified by the Word E­phesus, so may also the Greek Word here made use of, intimate some Remission, or Coolness of their First Love, by the same Figure which the Prophet Micah makes use of, Chap. 1. 13, 14. and which Grotius thinks the Apostle uses, Rom. 1.17, 28, 29. where also in the 29th Verse there is a manifest Allusion to the Name Judah, which signifies Praise, Gen. 29.35.

⁹ The First Love, which the Prophet, Jerem. 2.2, calls the Kindness of Youth, and the Love of Espousals, is usually very fervent; but is wont soon to cool and abate in the best of Men. And accordingly the Church at first, when (as Hie­rom speaks) the Blood of our Lord was warm, and the Faith of the New Converts was Fervent, was very Zealous in all its Du­ties and Offices, as appears from the Acts of the Apostles, parti­cularly from Chap. 2.41-47. and Chap. 4.31-37. where we have a perfect Pattern of the First Love of the Apostolical Church, in the Church of Jerusalem; especially in their ha­ving all things common, and calling nothing their own. And yet in a very short space, as soon as the Number of the Disci­ples, and with them the Church-Revenue, was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Graecians against the Hebrews, e­ven in the Infant-Church, as we read Acts 6. occasioned by the Pride of the Hebrews, as Bishop Pearson has shewn, in his [Page 22] Third Lecture on the Acts; wherein (as also in the Behaviour of Ananias and Saphira) there are early Tokens and Types given of a Declension in the Church, which proceeded so far as to this matter, even in those First Times of the Gospel, that Paul tells the Philippians, (Chap. 2. 21. of his Epistle to them, supposed to be written about A. D. 59, or 62.) that all Men sought their own, and not the things of Jesus Christ. For not on­ly Demas forsook Paul out of Love to this present World, but Mark grew weary of the Labour of the Gospel, and went not with Paul and Barnabas to the work, Acts 15.38. and Pe­ter himself, for fear of the Jews, was guilty of Dissimulation, Gal. 2.11, 12. And the Galatians had generally departed from the True Notions they had received of Christian Liber­ty, and a Working Faith, Gal. 5.1, 6, 7. and were grown very remiss in their Acts of Charity, Gal. 6.9. And the Churches mentioned in Scripture, are frequently reprehended for great Enormites; so that it is no wonder that the Churches in After-Ages proved guilty of them; the Love of many wax­ing cold betimes, as our Saviour foretold, Matth. 24.12. and Paul complained, 2 Tim. 1.15. and 4.16. But this Prophecy respecting principally the Apostacy which crept into the Visi­ble Church; by this passage is chiefly meant some degrees of it, which were then advancing: John, at the close of his first Epistle, written not long after the Revelations, warning the Christians to keep themselves from Idols, and the Mystery of Iniquity, of which Worshiping of Angels was a part, already working, even when St. Paul wrote his second Epistle to the Thessalonians, about the year 49. as some think, or 53. ac­cording to Bishop Pearson; from whose Opinion, that of a Judicious Person, well skilled in Scripture Chronology, does not much differ; who dates the Conception of Antichrist, A. D. 55. which may very well be called, an abating, or remitting of Love; a cleaving to the One God, being so often descri­bed in Scripture by Metaphors taken from Chaste Love, and E­spousals; and Idolatry being so often likened to its contrary, [Page 23] Adultery, and Fornication. However, it is certain, That in the Times of the Apostles, something was even then work­ing, which made way by degrees for the Following Aposta­cy. Such, perhaps, were, (1.) A Natural Love of Quiet and Ease, and Fear of Trouble and Displeasure; whereby, by Degrees, their Zeal was abated, which was the Fault of Mark and Peter, who yet returned to their First Love and Works. (2.) An excessive Esteem for some Pastors, for their Gifts, to the despising of others; which was the Cause of the Divisions in the Church of Corinth, as appears from Paul's Epistles to them. (3.) A Domineering and ambitious Temper in the Pa­stors themselves, which was the Fault of Diotrephes, 3 John 9, 10. (4.) A Want of mutual forbearing one another; the Jewish Christians Judging and Condemning the Gentiles, and the Gentiles despising the Jewish. (5.) Divers False Opinions brought by the Jewish and Gevtile Converts into the Church; especially with relation to Angels and Departed Souls; which are the usual Subject of Paul's Epistles; and of which he treats particularly, 2 Thes. 2. 1 Tim. 4.1. Col. 2. (6.) And last­ly, God out of his infinite Wisdom, permitted, even in the pure Church of the Apostolical Age, not only Errors and He­resies to arise through the Common Imperfections of Men and Churches, but also a Foundation to be laid for the Grand Vi­sible Apostacy, which began very early; and rose to a great heighth, not long after the Departure of Paul from Miletum, and that from amongst the Christians themselves, as the Apo­stle plainly asserts, Acts 20.28.30. And was to be carried on by some of them, or by the man of sin; that is by a Visible Body, or Succession of Men, under the pretence of Mystery and Godliness, and of Antiquity and Apostolicalness, as appears from 2 Thes. 2. 1 Tim. 4.1. and from the second Verse of this very Chapter.

5 Remember ¹⁰ therefore from whence [or, from what degrees of Love] thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first Works [with the like Zeal;] or else I will come unto thee quickly [and that on a sud­den, [Page 24] and unexpectedly;] and will remove thy Candlestick ¹¹ [or Church] out of its place [and give it unto another, Matth. 21.43.] except thou repent.

¹⁰ Here is laid down the True Way of Reforming the Church, and of its escaping Destruction; viz. by her consider­ing wherein she hath deviated from the Gospel; by which Rule the False Apostles were tryed, Verse 2. and in repenting of, or forsaking her Faults: and in a zealous practice of her first good Works, according to the Model of the Gospel. And we have here given us two different States of the First Chur­ches; viz. of their First Love, or Purity; and of their Re­mission of it, and Deviation from it.

¹¹ This Removal is not to be understood of the particular Church of Ephesus; which is noted by Bishop Ʋsher, to have continued, and to have preserved its Metropolitical Prehemi­nence entire, until the time of Constantine, whilst others of the Seven had been deprived of it: And although there be not now at Ephesus so much as One Christian, (which Mr. Spoon looks upon as a fulfilling of this Prophecy) yet the Judgment here threatned, was to come quickly; and must therefore refer to something more early than its present State. And therefore Ephesus mystically here representing a Church-State, the remo­ving of its Candlestick must signifie, its ceasing to be such a Church-State as it was before; the Pure, Primitive, and Apo­stolical State of the Church, degenerating, by degrees, and that very soon, from its First Love; and becoming a Syna­gogue of Satan, in the following Succession: and its Priviledges and Preheminences, in the Kingdom of Heaven, being taken from it, and given to other Church-Successions, according to the Denunciation of Christ, Matth. 21.43.

6 But [yet, notwithstanding this defect,] this thou hast [com­mendable in thee,] that thou hatest [so far art thou from suffering and conniving at] the [unclean] deeds [or, practices] of the ¹² Ni­colaitans, which I also hate.

¹² A sort of impure Hereticks, who about the year 80 or 90, after Christ, much about the Time of Cerinthus, taught, that it was lawful to eat things sacrificed unto Idols; and that Ma­trimony was a mere Humane Institution, not obliging the Con­science; and asserted the Lawfulness of Fornication, and all manner of Ʋncleanness, fathering their Doctrine (as the Here­ticks then were wont to do) upon Nicholas, one of the seven Deacons in the Acts; from which Opinions and Practices the Church was as yet free; although it afterwards fell into some of them; and there were some, even then, who forbad Mar­riage, which was one step to the increase of this Impurity of the Nicolaitans, 1 Tim. 4.3.

7 He that ¹³ hath an [understanding] ear, let him hear [attentive­ly, consider, and understand,] what ¹⁴ the Spirit [speaking by the Prophets] saith [by me, in this Prophetical and Spiritual Epistle] unto the Churches [of God in all Ages and Successions of them, for whose Uses it was written.] [And] to him [or that person] that overcometh [the Remissness of Love, which is to be found in this Church-State,] will I give to eat of the ¹⁵ Tree of Life, which is in the Paradise of God; [i. e. the Enjoyment of a happy State in Christ's Kingdom, Rev. 22.2. Ezek. 47.12.]

¹³ From this Verse it seems to appear, that these Epistles are Spiritual and Mystical, because the same Sentence is annexed to them, which Christ makes use of at the Close of his Para­bles, or Mystical Discourses, to engage Attention, and to teach, That all men were not capable of understanding them, but those who had their Minds duly exercised in Spiritual Things: And the manner of speaking being here altered from what it was at the first Verse, viz. from these things saith Christ, into hear what the Spirit saith; Hereby seems to be intimated, that these are Spiritual and Prophetical Epistles, spoken by the Di­vine Spirit in Christ, which was to teach the Apostles all things; and shew them things to come, John 16.12, 13. Part of which are here revealed, relating not to the single Church of Ephe­sus [Page 26] alone, but to the Churches in the Plural; that is, all the se­veral Periods and Successions of them.

¹⁴ The Particle, what, refers not only to the following Sen­tence, but to all which went before, as appears from the Epistles to the Churches of Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodi­cea; in which there is nothing that follows this Proverbial Sentence; which must therefore have a reference to what pre­ceded it.

¹⁵ This Promise refers to the particular Overcomers of the Evil of each Church-State, and not to the Churches themselves; for as some Men may fall short of overcoming Vice and Error in a good Church-State, so others may overcome the Evil of a bad one. And the Promises to the several Overcomers, are taken from the Descriptions given afterwards in the latter part of this Prophecy, of the New Jerusalem, or Kingdom of Christ; which as they have promoted, so shall their Reward be. Now the Earthly Paradise, was a Type of Christ's Heavenly Kingdom; and to eat of the Tree of Life, in the midst of that Paradise, is to be refreshed and nourished with Divine Communications, in the Kingdom of Christ; in which the Saints and Overcom­ers shall Reign with him. And here we are to take notice, that the Rewards are suited to each particular State; to be re­freshed by eating in a State of Happiness, being proper to those who are wearied with Labour and Sufferings; and a Crown in the next Succession, being the fit Reward of the Overcom­ers of a state of persecution. It is also further fit to be observ­ed, That the Right of Primogeniture is not given to Ephesus, but to Smyrna the Symbol of the afflicted Church-state, which has the Crown of Life bestowed upon it, the Symbol of Royal Dignity, which of Right belongs to the First Born; and the very King­dom of the New Jerusalem is given to Philadelphia, of which the Key of David, and her Crown, are the Symbols: which seems to be shadowed out unto us, in the Blessings of Jacob, (Gen. 49. which may by way of Allegory, and as Typical, be accommodated to the Mystical Israel the Church), where [Page 27] the Precedency, both in Dignity and Power, is taken from Reuben, the First Born, because of his Instability, and having defiled his Father's Bed; which may be Typical of Ephesus's Early Departure from its First Love, and of the Idolatrous A­postasie which crept into it betimes; which is a spiritual De­filement in Scripture: whereupon its Candlestick was removed out of its place; that is, it lost the Rank of priority it was to have in the Kingdom of Christ, which was given to the next Succession of Smyrna for it's Constancy in Afflictions; bur es­pecially the New Jerusalem State, coming down in the Phi­ladelphian Succession.

8 And unto the Angel [Verse 1.] of the Church in Smyrna ¹⁶, write; these things, saith the First ¹⁷ and the Last, which was dead, and is alive; [that is, Christ the Eternal God, who raised himself from the Dead.]

¹⁶ Smyrna is the next City of the seven, Northward from Ephesus, and about Forty Miles distant from it; and it is still a Metropolitical See, having yet no more than Two Churches of Greeks in it, and One or Two of Armenians. It's Name may by a Figurative Allusion, be derived from a Syriack word sig­nifying Bitterness, to denote the bitter persecutions of the Church under this State.

¹⁷ These Attributes are made use of, to encourage them to undergo their Sufferings, as having been already experien­ced by Christ, who was God, and had vanquished Death for them.

9 I know [and approve] thy [good] works, [in the propagating of my Kingdom] and tribulation [under persecutions] and poverty, [or extream want, by thy being spoiled ¹⁸ of thy Good;] but thou art [really] rich [in Grace, and in my Esteem and Favour;] and I know the blasphemy ¹⁹ [ i. e. Idolatry] of them [or that party,] that say they are Jews ²⁰ [that is, boast themselves to be the pure Christians, the true Worshippers of the one only God;] and art [Page 28] not [truly so,] but are [really, and in God's Account] the ²¹ Syna­gogue of Satan [that is, an Antichristian Congregation.]

¹⁸ As was usual in Times of persecution, Heb. 10.34.

¹⁹ Blasphemy is a Contumely, or Reproach of God, by attri­buting that to a Creature which is properly his; whence in Scripture it is put to signifie Idolatry, which is the highest Blasphemy. See Isa. 65.7. 1 Maccab. 2.6. 2 Maccab. 8.4. And this Blasphemy then appeared in the Reverence paid to Martyrs, which was the Beginning of Idolatry.

²⁰ The Phrases and Expressions of this Mystical Book are taken from the Old Testament, and the Jewish Oeconomy, which was Typical of the Christian, as the Apostle asserts, 1 Cor. 10.1-4. the Type in this prophecy, being constantly put for the Anti-Type, or thing signified. And therefore, according to that usual Figure; by Jews here must be understood, Chri­stians, who are the mystical Israel, or the [...], the True Israel, as Justin Martyr calls them; whose Glory, and proper Priviledg it was, to be the Worshippers of the One True God; whilst all the World besides, were guilty of Idolatry. Now the Jews being wont to pride themselves in their priviledges; those here represented are also said, to say that they are Jews, that is, boast of it, in al­lusion, perhaps, to the Name Judah, which signifying Praise and Thanksgiving; is here, and by the Apostle Rom. 2.17-29 put to denote a Boasting Confession, joyned with a seeking the Praise of Men, as Grotius has noted on the place; and as is ob­vious from the last verse of that Chapter, as I before hinted. Of which Pride of theirs, there is an eminent instance in the very first Apostolical Church at Jerusalem, Acts 6. where the Hebrews, or Natural Jews who came from the Loyns of Abraham, neglected, or proudly despised, the Hellenists, or Pro­selyted Gentiles, altho Jews by their Religion, as well as themselves. And therefore in proportion; by Jews here must be meant those Christians who more than ordinarily [Page 29] boasted themselves to be the pure Worshippers of the True God only, when yet they were really guilty of Idolatry. For the word Jew, as Grotius notes on Rom. 2.17. was then a word significative of their Religion, rather than of their Nation; and denoted as much as a Worshipper of the one God; or one who confessed and acknowledged him, as the word Judah is Explained by Philo, and Interpreted by the LXX, Gen. 29.35.

²¹ Satan signifies, according to the Original of the word, the Great Adversary, the Devil; of whose Congregation, these Pretending pure Christians are said to be, and not of Christ's, because, by their Blasphemous or Idolatrous Practi­ses, they did indeed, and in God's account, Worship him, and Propagate his Antichristian Kingdom. But this was at first the Fault only of a few of them, or of that Party that Valued themselves, and Despised others, calling themselves Jews, or the only True, or pure Israel of God; it having always happened so from the beginning of God's Church, that according to the Allegory insisted on Gal. 4.25, 29. the Corrupt Party hath stood most upon its Purity, Honour and Preheminence; and hath Persecuted, and Despised the pure one.

Now the Church of Smyrna, comprehending that Succes­sion of the Church, in which the great Persecutions happen­ed; and in which a Crown of Life was at last given them at the Empires becoming Christian: The Blasphemy here reprehended, refers chiefly to the latter State of that Succes­sion, when Honours and Riches Flowing into the Church, corrupted the purity of their former poor and suffering con­dition; and the reverence at first innocently paid to Mar­tyrs; and the introducing of Pagan Rites by degrees, un­der pretence of winning the Heathens, gave a great encrease to the growing Apostasy; iniquity under the covert of a Myste­ry, i. e. of Piety, Religion and well meaning Zeal, making daily progress in the Church, until it arose to an Antichristian Sy­nagogue [Page 30] or Congregation of a prevailing party amongst them. Which phrase is made use of, in opposition to the Title given the Jews in the Old Testament; who are called Numb. 31.16. The Congregation or Synagogue of the Lord: which the cor­rupt party of this Succession had forfeited, by its Antichri­stian or Satanical Innovations; as the Jews also did upon their Apostasy under Jeroboam, 2 Chron. 11.15. who are there­upon said to have Sacrificed unto Devils or Satan. And it is worth Observation, that the last degeneracy of the Jewish Church, when, as it appears from the Gospels, it became a Satanical Synagogue, consisted chiefly, in vain Traditions, in Affecting Titles, Honours and Prehemency, in neglecting the Spiritual Service of God, and in expecting a present Worldly Kingdom of the Messias, instead of a Future, Heavenly State of it, and of the Kingdom of God within us, consisting in inward Righteousness and Peace; and lastly in Cruelty and Persecution, and in casting out of the Synagogue of the Lord, the true and faithful Servants of Christ. Now in whatso­ever Age of the Church there may be found such a Temper and Spirit Prevailing; so much may it be said to have of the Synagogue of Satan in it: Much of which was visible, in this succession, in the strifes amongst Bishops, about the Superiority and the Prehemenency of their Sees; in their rash Censuring and Excommunicating one another for slight Matters, as ap­pears evidently in the Behaviour of Pope Victor; in the Op­positions made in this period to the Doctrine of the Antient Chiliasts; and in the introducing a great number of Cere­monies, Rites and Customs into the Church, to bring over the Jews and Pagans to the Christian Religion.

10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: [For] behold the Devil ²², shall [by evil Men, as his Instruments,] cast some ²³ of you [who have the courage not to deny me] into prison [i. e. vari­ous and grievous Tortures and Persecutions;] that ye may be tryed [fully, whether ye be perfect and entire, James 1.2, 3. 1 Pet. 1.7.] and you shall have Tribulation [that is, one most notable Persecution;] [Page 31] ²⁴ ten days [of years:] Be thou faithful unto [the suffering of] death, and I will give thee a crown ²⁵ of Life [i. e. Freedom from Persecuti­on, Rewards and Honours.]

²² Persecutors do the Devils Work, Eph. 2.2. and to him Justin Martyr frequently attributes the Pagan Persecutions, because they were promoted and set on by his Instigation.

²³ For many fell away in the Times of persecution.

²⁴ Days, in Prophetick account, are frequently put for Years; as is evident from Numb. 14.34. Ezek. 4.6. and Dan. 9.24. where the Days of the Seventy Weeks, are un­derstood by most Interpreters of Years. For a Day being the First, and most Natural Measure of Time, depending upon the constant and most known Revolution of the Sun; is put in all Languages, and particularly in the Hebrew, to express indefinitely, a length or continuance of Time; as the Days of Herod signifie in Scripture, the Time of his Reign; and is limited to some certain continuance, by circumstances; or ac­cording to the Will of Him who makes use of it: as it is by God in Scripture restrained to signifie a Prophetical Year, as is evident from the places I have quoted: against which, Grotius has Objected nothing material, as Dr. Moor has ful­ly proved in his Mystery of Godliness, Book 5. Chap. 15. Now the last and greatest Persecution of the Church under Di­ocletian, lasting, according to all Chronologers, exactly ten Years; It is evident that this place must refer unto it: espe­cially if we consider that the Vision of the Souls under the Altar, which is Contemporary with this Succession; immedi­ately preceeds the great Earthquake, or change of Things un­der Constantine; and that no Example could be brought by Grotius, or Dr. Hammond of a ten days Persecution, in the Times to which they limit this passage; and that Ten, does not denote in Scripture a short time when put indefinitely, but is always put for one of a long continuance, (it being, as it were, the plentitude of simple Numbers) as is evident from Numb. 14.22. Job. 19.3. 1 Sam. 1.8. Eccles. 7.19.

Furthermore, seeing that the things referred to in this Pro­phecy, being for the use of the whole Church, ought to be il­lustrious parts of History, and not References to something not Transmitted unto us (with which shift Grotius puts off his Reader) what more Notable part of History could be referred to, than that of the ten Years Persecution, which gave Date to the Aera Martyrum, and is a most famous Character of Time; exactly answering in its ten Years Duration, to the Prophetical way of Accounting a Day for a Year, and fit to be made use of by the Holy Ghost, in Transmitting so remark­able a Period of the Church down to after Ages.

²⁵ A Crown denotes Regal and Triumphal Honours, and a Crown of Life is opposed to the Deaths and Martyrdoms they had before Suffered: And hereby is plainly set forth the Freedom from Persecution they Enjoyed under Constantine, at the end of the Tenth Persecution; which, according to the Accurate Computation of Mr. Pagi, in his Critical Annotations upon Baronius, began Feb. 23. A.D. 303. and ended June 13th, A. D. 313. when the famous Epocha was Instituted of the Churches Freedom from Persecution; mentioned by Eusebius in his Chronicon, and by the Author of the Alexandrian Chro­nicon.

From which Time we may date their Crown of Life; Con­stantine daily proceeding to advance and secure the Church; which enjoyed great Freedom (bating only some short Per­secutions, particularly that under Julian), until it came to its highest pitch of External Peace and Honour, under Theodosi­us the Great, who died at Milan A. D. 395. on Jan. 17. or Feb. 24. after he had given Paganism its deadly Blow, by his Famous Defeat of Argobastes and Eugenius, A. D. 394.

11 He that hath an Ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches: [Verse 7.] [And] He [i. e. that person] who overcometh, [the Persecutions, and Evils of this Church-State, and perseveres unto the End, in the Precepts of the Gospel,] shall not be hurt of the second death, [but shall escape it, Rev. 20.6.]

[Page 33]12 And to the Angel of the Church in Pergamos ²⁶, write, These things, saith he who hath the sharp ²⁷ Sword, [of the Word and the Spi­rit,] with two edges, [to inflict severe and sharp Judgments, chap. 1.16.]

²⁶ Pergamos is distant from Smyrna, Northwards, about five hundred and Forty Furlongs; and there are in it now but a few Families of miserable Christians, and but one Church; although it was anciently the most Famous and Chief City of Asia the Less, having been the Seat of the Attalidae, who were rich and potent Kings; and of the Roman Proconsuls: For which Reason, as well as in Allusion to its Name, it may be put to denote here, The exalted State of the Church; High and Lofty Fabricks, and Things, being called, [...], by the Asiaticks: And because of its ^(a) excessive Idolatry, it is a fit Type of the Apostate state of this Succession, in which the Apostasy was exalted to a Throne.

²⁷ Corruptions daily encreasing under this State, the Styleis here changed, and Christ is represented with a sharp sword in his Hand.

13 I know thy [good] works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's ²⁸ Seat [or Throne] is, [i. e. under the Dominion of the Antichristian Apostasy;] and [I know that nevertheless] thou hol­dest fast [or retainest the profession of] my Name [and hast not re­nounced it, by becoming Antichristian;] and hast not denied my Faith [or Gospel; no not] even in those days [or Times of Dark­ness and Cruelty,] wherein Antipas ²⁹ [ i. e. the Opposers of Po­pery] was my faithful Martyr [or Witness,] who was flain [by De­crees, Anathemas, and frequent Deaths] among you [or under your Jurisdiction,] where Satan [or Antichrist] dwelleth [or has his constant Residence, in great State and Power, 2 Thes. 2.4, 9]

²⁸ The Apostasy is now called Satan's Seat, or Throne; because that upon the Churches Exaltation, under the Christi­an Emperors, a Worldly Kingdom, and a Paganizing Christi­anity, arose by degrees, especially at Rome, to such an heighth, that it became at last to have a Supremacy, or a Throne in it; to which Satan's power in this World is likened in Scripture, viz. Isa. 14.12-14. Luke 10.18. John 12.31. With which the History of those Times agrees; it being evident, that from about the year 400. and odd (the precise year I shall endeavour to determine hereafter), when Satan's Syna­gogue seems to have arrived to its maturity; that the Aposta­sy daily increased, chiefly upon the Growth of the Papacy, which came to have a Throne about the year 606, when Boniface the Third Usurped the Title of Ʋniversal Bi­shop.

²⁹ There might have been perhaps a Martyr of this Name at Pergamus; although the Story of him related in the Greek Menologies, is vehemently to be suspected, as Grotius has well noted; a Brazen Bull being not a Punishment amongst the Romans, whose Laws were then observed at Pergamus; and the Relations of those early Martyrdoms, being justly called in question by some of the Learnedst Men of the Romish Church. But howsoever, the Names made use of in this Book, having constantly a mystical signification, this also must be understood after the same manner; and it will then plainly denote, The Opposer of the Pope; that is, (by a Figure usual in this Prophe­cy) the whole Body, or succession of those, who during this pe­riod, witnessed against the Apostasy of that See; a Catalogue of whom you may find in Illyricus, Ʋsher, and other Authors. For [...] signifies against, or contrary; and [...] is the Old Word for Father; from whence, by a Reduplication of Let­ters comes [...], or [...]; that is, Pope, or Holy Father; for which consult what is said by the Etymoligists out of Eu­stathius.

And the Word Antipas, is made use of, and not [...], or [...], because this was a Common Name, which the others were not: And because those Names would have given a too open intimation of the Mystery designed designed by them, contrary to the Holy Secrecy and Reserve usually observed in this Prophecy.

14 But [yet] I have a few [or some little, small] things [to object] against thee, because thou hast ³⁰ there [where thou dwellest, and amongst you,] them [or a prevailing Party] that hold [profess and practise] the Doctrine [Precept and Counsel] of ³¹ Balaam, [ i. e. the False Antichristian Prophet,] who taught Balack [ i. e. the Princes subject to Antichrist,] to cast a stumbling-block [or an Occasion to commit Sin] before the Children of Israel [that is, the Christians of that Age, the Spiritual Israel] to * eat things sa­crificed unto Idols, and to commit [Spiritual] Fornication [which is I­dolatry.]

³⁰ Although the Apostate Church had the Throne; that is, the Antichristian Power, and Preheminence; yet the pure Church-State is here blamed for having them, or that prevai­ling party amongst them, although they could not help it; because, that it had not arrived to that perfection of Gifts and Graces, as must necessarily have cast out the corrupt party by its power and efficacy. Thus the Apostle blames the Corin­thians, 1 Cor. 5. and 2 Cor. 7. that they had not mourned, that the incestuous person might be cast out from among them; and, for want of vehement Affections of godly Sorrow, De­sire, Revenge, &c. by which alone they could approve, and clear themselves in that matter.

³¹ Concerning this wicked advice of Balaam, who counsel­led Balack to draw the Israelites to Idolatry, by enticing them with the Conversation of strange Women, you may read the 22d, 23d, 24th, 25th Chapters of Numbers, and the 16th [Page 36] Verse of the 31st. as also Micah 6.5. 2 Pet. 2.15. and Jude 11. together with the Expositors on those places. Whereby is plainly signified the wicked Counsel of the Antichristian Party, especially of the Papacy, (which, like Balaam, pretends to Prophecy and Infallibility) whereby the Secular Powers, Represented by King Balack, were perswaded to entice the people to Idolatry; by worshipping Bread, and Saints, and Ima­ges. So that this Period comprehends the Times in which these Doctrines were controverted, and at last imposed; and seems to reach until about the year 1100. when Antipas, or the faithful Witnesses against these, and other Errors, which had been before slain by the Anathemas of several Councils; and lay mostly concealed and hid within the Apostate Church; began to unite into an open and visible Body, and to appear under the Name of the Waldenses and Albigenses, in a more direct Opposition to that Satanical, or Antichristian Authori­ty, which had hitherto over-powered them. Upon which, as History testifies, vast Numbers of all Ranks and Qualities united themselves unto them.

* To eat things sacrificed unto Idols (as appears from the Apostles Discourse, 1 Cor. 8. and 12.) was accounted by the Corinthians no fault, and was defended by them (as Grotius notes upon the place) by very subtile Distinctions, not unlike those used by the Papists, in defence of their Idolatry; and therefore by it may be here meant, some lesser degrees, and plausible Entrances of Idolatry, such as the Honours given to Martyrs, their Relicks, and the like; which they were more guilty of in this Succession, than of downright Idolatry; and is therefore placed first here, before Fornication; but is pla­ced after it, in the next Succession ( Verse 2.) because flat I­dolatry was then predominant, in respect of which, the o­ther was but of a lesser Account, and is therefore put af­ter it.

[Page 37]15 So hast thou also [in which thou art not wholly inexcusa­ble, although it be against thy Will, Vers. 14. num. 30.] them that hold the Doctrine of the Nicolaitans ³² [ i. e. those who counte­nance and practise filthy Lusts,] which thing I hate [and which therefore ought to have been cast out by thee, though not by Pow­er, which thou hadst not, yet by Mourning, and Prayer, and E­minence in Gospel-Graces.]

³² These Deeds which were abhorred by the Ephesine Suc­cession of the Apostolical Church, had by this Period gained many Teachers and Approvers. And hereby is very probably meant, those Encouragements which were given to Lust by corrupt Doctrines, about Celibacy and Virginity; and by In­dulgences and Pardons for all manner of Sins; which being at first, only a prudent Relaxation of Discipline, were in pro­cess of time, so far corrupted, first by the Martyrs and Con­fessors, who granted them (as Cyprian frequently complains) to the Lapsi, before Pennance performed, or upon very easy ones; and afterwards by the Negligence of following Ages, still growing worse and worse; that at last, about the year 1100. they became Scandalous Dispensations for all sorts of Wickedness, and Encouragements for Men to take up Arms a­gainst the Enemies of the Papacy, and Christ's faithful Anti­pas, or Opposers of it.

16 Repent ³³ [therefore, even of the few and small Faults thou hast; and mourn, and sorrow after the most earnest and fervent manner, that these Offenders may be taken away from amongst you, 1 Cor. 5. 2 Cor. 2. and 7.] or else I will come unto thee ³⁴ [in Judgment, indeed, for these thy smaller Faults; but so as not to ³⁵ fight against, and destroy thee:] quickly [and on a sudden:] and will fight against [and destroy] them [amongst you, who hold these Doctrines] with the Sword of my Mouth [i. e. by my Gospel Threats, and Judgments effectually denounced, and executed, e­ven to utter Excision; whilst thou shalt be visited with a Fatherly Correction, and that only in case thou repentest not.]

³³ The True Church is commanded to repent; that is, of its want of such an intense Zeal, extraordinary Humiliations, Fervent Prayers and Supplications, as might have prevailed with God to cast those Errors and abominations out of the Church; which Discipline is also called Mourning and Repent­ance, by the Apostle, in the places I have quoted: and for want of this (which is its small, or few things), Christ saith that he will come unto them in Judgment indeed, but not in anger, and with a Fatherly Correction, to bring them to a tho­rough Reformation and Repentance.

³⁴ Christ speaks only to the pure Church, because pure Chur­ches are only accounted Churches in his Esteem; although it has the same Name with the corrupt; because that alone was visible.

³⁵ Here is an allusion to the slaughter of the idolatrous Isra­elites, at the Command (or by the mouth) of God, for joyn­ing themselves to Baal-Peor, upon the instigation of Balaam, Numb. 25.4, 5.

17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches, [Verse 7.] [And] To him that overcometh [the Corrupti­ons of this Church-State,] will I give to eat of [or to partake of, and be nourished by] the hidden ³⁶ Manna [i. e. the secret Consolati­ons of God's Spirit.] And I will give him a ³⁷ white stone [that is, a Reward for his Victory, and Absolution from the Censures and Excommunications he lies under,] and in the stone a new Name, [chap. 3, 12. 19, 16.] written, [importing, that they are Members of Christ's Kingdom, Children of God; and Heirs of Heaven, Isa. 62.2. and 65.15. Rom. 8.16. 1 John 3.1.] which no [Natural or Carnal, 1 Cor. 2.9-11.] man [of this Church-State] knoweth [the true Value of, 1 John 3.2.] saving he that receiveth it [from me, and hath experienced the Consolations of the Divine Mercy and Absolution, Rom. 8.16]

³⁶ By Manna is meant the sweet Consolations which arise from the Knowledge of God, and his Will in Christ the True Manna, John 6. Which is called hidden, in allusion to the [Page 39] Manna which was laid up in a Golden Pot, and put in the Ark, and kept in the most secret part of God's Temple, the Holy of Holies, Exod. 16.33, 34. Heb. 9.4. Whereby inward and spiritual Comforts are signified, enjoyed by the Saints in se­cret, during their retired Worship at the Altar of Incense, whilst they were under the Power of the Antichristian Su­premacy: So that the True Pergamus seems plainly to be the Type of the True Church, under the Power of the Apostasy; and of those faithful Christians, who are in that Church, but not of it; wishing and expecting the Coming of Christ's Kingdom, that they might be delivered from this their Sack-cloath and mournful Condition; in which they are fed indeed with pleasant Food, but as the Jews were with Manna in the Wilderness; the Type of a desolate State.

³⁷ This is thought to be an Allusion to the Anci­ent Custom of acquitting Criminals by a White Stone; and of giving Conquerors in the Games (to which Paul fre­quently alludes) a White Stone, with their Names, and the Value of the Prizes written on it; which none was to look upon, and know, but those who won it: Whereby may be meant the publick Acquittal, Justification, and Rewards which the faithful Christians of this Succession should receive in Christ's Kingdom. But because the Allusions in this Prophecy are generally taken from the Jewish Customs, and the Old Testament; therefore it may not be altogether a groundless con­jecture, that here may be an Allusion to the Stones on the Ora­cular Breast-plate of the High-Priest, which had the Names of the Children of Israel engraven upon them, for a Memorial; to signifie, that Christ, our High-Priest, is always mindful of us; and to put God in remembrance of his People: to which End it is here said, that Christ will give them a White Stone, with their New Name, of being Members of Christ's Kingdom, the New Jerusalem written in it; that thereby they might be in his remembrance, and he might behold their purity (deno­ted [Page 40] by a White Colour) and shew mercy upon them; and open­ly acknowledge and reward them in his Kingdom.

18 And unto the Angel of the Church in ³⁸ Thyatira, these things saith the ³⁹ Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine Brass [Chap. 1.14, 15. i. e. whose Providence is quick and penetrating and whose Judgments are pure and terri­ble, to try the Pretences, and punish the Faults of this Succession, and to purge and purifie it.]

³⁸ Thyatira is distant from Pergamus about Forty Eight Miles, and there is not now so much as One Christian Church in it. Stephanus, the Geographer, tells us, that this City, which was before called Pelopea, and Semiramis, was na­med [...], (and afterwards Thyatira), by Seleucus Nica­nor, upon the News he received there of the Birth of a Daughter; Which Name may therefore denote (according to the Allusion observed in the other Names) An idolatrous Daughter of an idolatrous Mother Jezebel, who was, as the Scripture Notes, 1 Kings 16.31. The Daughter of Ethbaal, the King of the Zidonians; and therefore fit to represent the Woman described, Chap. 17. of this Prophecy, who was the Idolatrous Mother of the Apostate Daughter, or Church of this Succession; and the Daughter of Paganism, as Jezebel was of Ethbaal the Zidonian.

³⁹ Christ here makes himself more plainly known than he had hitherto done, and that by his Supreme Title, the Son of God; because that his Kingdom was now to arise more visi­bly out of the Apostasy, and therefore to be owned and pro­tected by him their Supreme Sovereign, who was to destroy their Enemies, and give them power over the Nations.

19 I know thy Works [in order to the propagating of my King­dom,] and Charity [or Love and Zeal towards me, which thou hast not left or abated, Verse 4.] and Service [in thy Ministry, and towards the poor Saints, Rom. 15.25, 31. 2 Cor. 8.4] and Faith, [Page 41] and Patience, [during the Corruptions and Persecutions of the A­postasy,] and ⁴⁰ thy Works, and the last [works of the Church typi­fied by this State, to be performed by them at Christ's coming to his Kingdom, Verse 25, 26.] to be more [in Number, and Qua­lity] then the first [Works at their first remarkable Rising out of the Apostasy.]

⁴⁰ Here their Works are twice mentioned; and their last are said to be more than their first; whereby is signified, the the Faithful of this Succession (whom we have supposed to be the Waldenses and Albigenses) should, towards the approach of Christ's Kingdom, do things surpassing their first Works; which yet were very great, they having at first proselyted an incredible Number of all Ranks and Nations; as appears from History, and even the Confession of their Enemies; for which see Ʋsher, Thuanus, and a late English Trea­tise.

20 Notwithstanding I have a few [or some little] things against thee, because thou sufferest ⁴¹ that [Notorious, Cursed] woman [2 Kings 9 34.] Jezebel ⁴² [ i. e. the Papal Apostasy,] which calleth her self a Prophetess, [i. e. pretendeth to, and boasteth of Infallihility ⁴³, and mi­raculous Gifts,] to teach, and to seduce [by her cunning Devices, 2 Kings 9.22.] my Servants, [professing Christianity,] to commit [Spiritu­al] Fornication [by Idolatry,] and to eat things sacrificed unto Idols. [See Verse 14.]

⁴¹ The True Church is blamed for suffering the Apostasy, al­though they were kept under by its Power and Dominion; because it was as yet so imperfect in its Gifts and Graces, as not to be able utterly to cast out those Corruptions, which cannot stand against the power of God's Word, when it appears in its utmost Efficacy.

⁴² A fit Type of the Romish Apostasy, (1.) for Idolatry, 1 Kings 16.31, 32. 2 Kings 9.22. (2.) for Cruelty, and persecuting of God's Prophets, or Witnesses, that protested a­gainst Idolatry, 1 Kings 18, 4.19, 2, 10. 2 Kings 9.7. [Page 42] (3.) for stirring up Ahab or the Secular Magistrate, to perse­cute God's Servants, and to draw them to Idolatry, by false witnessing against them, 1 Kings 21.8, 9, 10, 25, 26. (4.) for her Paint, and Whorish Attire and her Witchcraft, or subtile Allurements, to entice to Idolatry, and keep Men in her Com­munion; and her impudent impenitence, 2 Kings 9.22, 30. and lastly, for the manner of her Destruction; which was so entire, (as that of the Apostasy will be, Vers. 27.) that nothing remained of her, but so much as might serve for a Monument of her Destruction, 2 Kings 9.35-37.

⁴³ Which Doctrine began to be advanced in this Successi­on of the Church, by the Schoolmen, who appeared A. D. 1200. And perhaps Jezebel might have been one of the Prophetesses of Baal; for we read, 1 Kings 18.19. that an hundred of them eat at her Table, it being probably their Office to pro­vide for, and Minister to the Prophets; which may also be further conjectured from her conversing with them; it being usual for the Disciples of the True Prophets, to be seized with their Enthusiasms; as Saul was, when he was amongst the Pro­phets; which might be imitated by the evil Spirits in the ido­latrous Prophets.

22 And I gave her space ⁴⁴ to repent of her Fornications [i. e. her Ido­latry,] and she repented not.

⁴⁴ Which may be dated from the time of the more publick Appearance of the Witnesses, under the General Name of Waldenses, about A. D. 1100. or rather, (if we compare this place with its parallel, Chap. 9.20, 21.) from the Inroads of the Turks, into the Eastern Empire, ending in the taking Constantinople, A. D. 1453, until the Reformation, A.D. 1517. when the Sardian State began at the appearing of Luther; which great punishment of God upon the Eastern Empire, for its Idolatry, having not its due influence upon the Western; God was pleased to raise up Princes, who threw off the Ro­mish [Page 43] Ʋsurpations and Corruptions, and openly owned and pro­tected the Reformation; which is the Sardian State of the Church, as it is favoured by Protestant Princes; as that of Thyatira is the Type of the True Church, under the Oppressi­on of Popish ones; that being the Church-State immediate­ly following the foregoing Pergamenian State, which was un­der the power of Satan's Throne, in a hidden condition; ha­ving in it Idolaters, which it could not cast out, because of the power of the prevailing part of the Church. For Thyati­ra's suffering of the Woman, was not a willing connivance, but one arising from a necessity of the great Oppression she was under, and the imperfectness of their Church-State; for if it had been a voluntary connivance at Idolatry, Christ would not have said, that he had only a few, or some small things against them; Neither would this State have been approved by him so far, as to bid them hold fast that which they had already. And this space is typified by the time of Repentance which God gave Jezebel, which was from Elijah's denouncing Judg­ment against her, 1 Kings 21.23. until her Death, accom­panied with an impudent impenitence, 2 Kings 9.30-37.

22 Behold, I will cast her into a Bed ⁴⁵ [of languishing, Psalm 41.3.] and them that commit Adultery with her [by being Partakers with her in Idolatry, Chap. 17.2.] into great tribulation, [at the pouring out of the Vials, chap. 16.] except they repent ⁴⁶ of their deeds.

⁴⁵ Instead of the Beds of her Whoredom and Idolatry; allu­ding to Jezebel's Adultery. And it is apparent, that the Ro­mish Church hath been in a languishing and decaying Condi­tion ever since the appearing of the Witnesses, especially at the Reformation, 1517.

⁴⁶ This refers to some second space of Repentance afforded the Apostasie, before the pouring out of the Vials; which may be probably the time allotted to the uttering of the Voices, Chap. 14. by which Babylon was called to Repentance.

[Page 44]23 And I will kill her [Idolatrous] Children ⁴⁷ [ i. e. her Prose­lytes and Followers,] with death [i. e. I will certainly, and utterly destroy them;] and [by the greatness of the Punishment] all the Churches [of the World] shall know, that I am he which ⁴⁸ searcheth the R [...]i [...]s [i. e. the Desires] and Hearts [i. e. the Thoughts, and can discern the Sincerity of them:] and I will give unto every one of you according to your works [and not according to your subtile and fair pretences.]

⁴⁷ As the Disciples of the Prophets are called, the Sons of the Prophets; and as Timothy and Mark are called Paul's Sons in Scripture, because they were his Disciples, and were con­verted by him; so are the Proselytes of Jezebel called here the Children of her spiritual Whoredom, as being brought o­ver to the Apostasie by her subtile Enticements, and by the power of those Kings and Princes especially, who were of her Communion, and thereby had committed Adultery with her.

⁴⁸ From whence it appears, that the Apostasie made use of plausible Insinuations to seduce Men to their Communion; and an appearance of Piety and Religion.

24 But unto you I say, and ⁴⁹ to the rest in Thyatyra [that is, the Remnant of this Succession, which shall continue until I come in my Kingdom, Verse 25, 26.] as many [of you. I mean,] as have not [held and approved] this [Idolatrous] ⁵⁰ Doctrine [of the Apo­stasie before-mentioned, Verse 20.] and which have not known [so as to hold, and approve] the depths ⁵¹ of Satan [i. e. the Antichristian Mysteries and Policies] as ⁵² they [of the pure Church of Thyatira,] speak [or call them;] I will put upon you no other burthen ⁵³ [of Com­mand.]

⁴⁹ The Church of Thyatira is distinguished into Two In­tervals, viz. one before, and at the Reformation; the other after it, which is to last until Christ's Coming in his Kingdom, when upon the appearance of that Succession, their last works shall be greater than their former. The first Interval is deno­ted [Page 45] here by You; that is, you who are now in being: the second by [...], the Rest, or the Remnant. See Chap. 3, 2.11, 13.

⁵⁰ By [...] are meant in Scripture, Sentences, or Para­bles; and Precepts, or Discourses tending to Doctrine and Man­ners; for so the Word is frequently used in the New Testa­ment: of which sort there were many false and erroneous ones amongst the Jews, as appears from Heb. 13.9. and amongst the Primitive Christians, falsly attributed to the Apostles, and Apostolical Men.

⁵¹ The profound Mysteries, such as Transubstantiation, and Infallibity, and the deep Politick Devices of the Apostasie; are called here Satanical Depths: in opposition to the My­steries of Christianity, called deep things of God, and the Depth, Rom. 11.33. 1 Cor. 2.10.

⁵² It was the chief Accusation of the Waldenses, the pure Christians of this Succession, that they called the Papacy, Ba­bylon, and Antichrist; and adapted the Prophecies of this Book to that Church, as may be seen in a Treatise put forth by them, A. D. 1120. and printed in Perrin's History of them.

⁵³ A Phrase taken from Acts 15.28. Where Ordinances, or Commandments are called Burthens; as they are also Matth. 23.4. And Christ here assures them, that he would not charge them with any Injunctions of doing their first Works, or repenting as he had done the other Churches; but bids them only stick close to what they held, and maintained; approving thereby their Integrity and Purity.

25 But that [or those necessary things, Acts 15.28.] which ye have already [believed and held] hold fast till I come [in my King­dom.]

26 And he [i. e. that Body of Men, or those Persons] that over­cometh [the Corruptions of this State,] and keepeth my ⁵⁴ Works [or the Precepts and Commandments, which I have given them, and [Page 46] enabled them to perform] unto the end [of time when Christ's Kingdom shall come, Rev. 10.6, 7.] to him will I [then] give pow­er over the ⁵⁵ Nations [or Gentiles, that is, the Apostasie, and their A­bettors.]

⁵⁴ They are called Christ's Works, in opposition to the Depths of Satan; which are the Works of the Devil, John 8.41, 44. And by his Works are meant Holy Worship and Practice, and the most vigorous Opposition of the Apo­stasie.

⁵⁵ As being no better than meer Gentiles, by reason of their Idolatry.

27 ( And he [or the Saints of this Church-State] shall rule them [the Antichristian Party, and their Abettors] with a Rod of Iron, [that is, with just Severity] and as the Vessels of a Potter, shall they, be broken to shivers) [i. e. their Church-State shall be dissolved easily and irreparably; and I will give him power over the Nations,] even as I received [Power] of my Father [Psalm 2.9. for they shall reign with me.]

28 And I will give him the ⁵⁶ Morning-Star, [i. e. these Witnesses shall first arise, and give early Notice of the approaching glorious State of Christ's Kingdom.]

⁵⁶ A Phrase made use of by the Holy Ghost, in 2 Pet. 1.19. with reference to this very matter; where Prophetical Scripture is likened unto a light shining in a dark place, which yet not­withstanding its Obscurity, was a more sure word then a Pri­vate Voice from Heaven, and which might be understood not­withstanding the dark state we are in, provided they be not in­terpreted according to our own Natural Ʋnderstanding, called there, the VVill of Man; nor according to a Private Interpretati­on; but according to the VVill of God, speaking in, and by the Holy Penmen; which is a Publick Interpretation; because it is taken from the Common Analogy of Scripture, (Rom. 12.6.) [Page 47] and is agreeable to the VVritings of All the Holy Men of God; whose Spiritual Things are to be compared one with another, that so we may have a Publick Standard of Interpretation in the Church; and because it proceeds (although in an ordinary manner) from the same ^(a) spirit (which alone knows the things of God) which at first moved the Holy Prophets; which is One, and agreeable to it self in all its Gifts and Operati­ons; and which, when it incited them to speak and write, gave them not Prophecies of a private Sense, as relating only to private and particular persons; but which were to be un­derstood in a Publick Sense, concerning Christ, his Church, and Kingdom. But although they may be understood by us, yet the Apostle tells us, that it will not be without great difficulty, until the Day shall dawn, and the Day Star arise in our Hearts; by which the appearance of Christ in his King­dom is meant, who is called, Rev. 22.16. the bright and Morn­ing Star; the first Dawnings and Approachings of whose Kingdom may be meant by the Morning Star; as the King­dom in its full Glory, may be understood by the Bright Morn­ing-Star. And therefore by the Morning-Star in this place is understood the Remnant (or the rest) of this Succession, which shall last until the Succession of Christ's Kingdom begins; and who shall (as the Morning-Star riseth before the Sun) give no­tice of his Approach, by some more than ordinary works and Manifestations of it: Which we hope and pray, that the Lord will soon accomplish (and if he has vouchsafed to his Servants any Knowledge of Times and Seasons, it cannot be far off) by raising the poor oppressed Churches of the Valleys; who were the Morning-Star, or the first Visible Body of Witnes­ses, before the Reformation; and we hope will arise, and that speedily, before Christ's Appearance in his Glorious King­dom; for they have hitherto shined (according to their [Page 48] own Mysterious ^(a) Device, which is a lighted Taper, in a Candlestick, environed with Seven Stars, in a dark place, with this Motto, Lux lucet in Tenebris) amidst the Darkness of the Apostasie; And may Christ give unto them, and that quickly, the Morning-Star of his Glorious Presence. Amen, Amen, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.

29 He that hath an Ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches [i e. this is a Mysterious Truth, worthy the utmost Consideration.]

Annotations on CHAP. III.

¹ Sardes, or Sardis, is distant about Thirty Three Miles from Thyatira, Southward; It was antiently, as appears by its Ruines, a Magnificent, Splendid, and Proud City, as be­ing the Seat of King Croesus; for which Reason, (as well as from an Allusion to the Precious Stones of that Name, which ^(a) Pliny asserts were called so from this Place, as being first found there) it may typifie, a splendid and stately Church-suc­cession, which has a Name, or a Repute in the World. It is now (as the Learned Doctor ^(b) Smith, an Eye-witness, te­stifies, (who could not but weep at the sight of it) a most miserable Village, inhabited only by Shepherds and Herdsmen, and a few ignorant Christians, without Church or Priest; [Page 50] whereby may be providentially set forth the Real Deadness of this Church-state, and the Desolation it is to suffer.

² Sardis is thought to be the Type of the Churches of the Reformation, under the Favour and Protection of Reformed Princes, in a condition of External Splendor: Because, (1.) It succeeds that of Thyatira, which is the Type of Reformed Churches, under the Tyranny of Popish Princes; to which State the Reformation succeeded, begun by Luther, A. D. 1517. (2.) Because there is no mention made of Balaam, or Jeze­bel, or Nicolaitism, in this Succession; which shews, that they had escaped from under the power of the Apostasy, typified by them. (3.) Because the same Title is given to Christ here, as is made use of in the Ephesine Succession, the Type of the A­postolical Church; whereby seems to be intimated, that the Church began now to be Reformed according to the First Pri­mitive and Apostolical Pattern: only it is here Remarkable, that it is not said, that Christ holdeth the Seven Stars in his Right Hand, but barely, that he hath them; to shew, perhaps, by the Omission of those Remarkable Words, that they had departed from the True Apostolical Model, which Christ had or held in his Right Hand; that is, had in great Honour. Nei­ther is this to be taken for a groundless, and a loose Interpre­tation; or a Licentious Fancy (as Dr. Hammond calls the like Conjectures of Mr. Brightman,) seeing, that in such a Concise Prophecy, God ( whose Glory it is to conceal a thing, Prov. 25.2.) hath given us sometimes but slender hints, or intimations of great Truths; and that the Addition, or taking away of but a Letter in a Name, (as in the Names of Abra­ham, Sarah, and Jeconiah; for which see Grotius on Jerem. 22.24.) is of great import in Scripture. And of how much greater signification then, may be the leaving out so material a part of Christ's Title, in a Prophecy so brief and mysteri­ous?

³ From whence it appears, that this Church has a Reputati­on in the World for its outward profession; but is very much wanting in inward Life, Truth and Holiness.

⁴ So And frequently signifies in Scripture.

⁵ Ephesus had only lost its First Love; but this Church was really dead, as to the True Spirit and Power of the Gospel, and the perfect simplicity and purity of it.

2 Be watchful [in observing the Times and Seasons of Christ's coming, Dan. 12.12. Matth 24.42-51. Rev. 16.15.] and strengthen [or uphold, and sustain,] the things ⁶ which remain [i. e. the necessary Truths which shall remain until Christ's coming; and which thou hast kept entire; but] that are ready to die [as to the Power and Life of them:] for I have not found thy works [of Reformation, according to the Gospel,] ⁷ perfect before God [so as to be able to stand before the Glory of his Kingdom, when it shall begin to appear; or to endure the Severity of his Tryal, whatsoever Esteem they may have amongst Men, Luke 16.15.]

⁶ By [...], or the rest, seems to be meant those Necessary Works, and Articles of Belief, which they had kept alive, or entire; and were to remain, during the following Successi­on of the Church, until Christ's Coming, as being Necessary Truths, which would endure Tryal; and were essential to the being of it, as a Church: in which sense [...], and [...] is taken in this Prophecy; as [...], signi­fies in Authors, the remaining, or succeeding part of the Day.

⁷ Filled up, or compleated, as the Rude Lineaments of a Picture, are said to be filled up by a Painter, when he comes to draw it to the Life; See Hammond on Matth. 5.17. Here this Church is blamed for not carrying on the Reformation to its utmost perfection; and for suffering necessary Truths to decay, and be almost ready to die.

[Page 52]3 Remember ⁸ therefore how [i. e. with what Sincerity and Zeal,] thou hast received, and heard [the Doctrine of Truth, at the begin­ning of the Reformation;] and hold fast [what thou didst then receive,] and repent [of thy Deadness, Verse 1. thy Negligence and imperfections, Verse 2. and thy Departure from the Princi­ples thou hast received and heard.] If therefore thou shalt not watch ⁹ [and wait for the Kingdom of God, Mark 15.43.] I will come on thee, as a Thief ¹⁰ [ i. e. unexpectedly,] and thou shalt not know [by reason of not watching over the Times and Seasons which God has shewn unto his Servants,] what hour I will come unto thee [in my Kingdom, and discover thy Defects, and Unsuitableness to it.]

⁸ Here they are called upon to look back upon the Model of their First Reformation, which they had swerved from; and to hold fast those Principles, and to repent and amend what was faulty.

⁹ Here is intimated, as also in the second Verse, that this Church was careless, and slow to believe, and expect Christ's second coming in his Kingdom, before the Day of Judg­ment.

¹⁰ This Phrase signifies in Scripture, a sudden and a surpri­sing Judgment; as Matth. 24.42, 43. Luke 22.39, 40. 1 Thes. 5.2. And here is intimated the sudden coming of the Kingdom of Christ upon this Church, to its great surprize and amazement; occasioned by its ignorance of the disagreeable­ness of its own State to it; or it's not knowing that it would have come so soon, or that she should have been so entirely removed by its First Appearances.

4 Thou hast a few Names ¹¹ [or excellent Persons, Acts 1.15.] e­ven in Sardis [although almost dead;] which have not defiled [no, not] their Garments [Jude 23: but have carefully avoided all the Corruptions of this State, and have had their Works perfect be­fore God;] and they shall walk with me in white ¹² [Garments; i. e. be favoured by me, and honoured in my Kingdom, and be justi­fied, [Page 53] and declared righteous:] for they are [in my sight] worthy [of it; as having kept themselves white, or undefiled.]

¹¹ Excellent persons, and therefore known by Name, as Exod. 33.12. God is said to know Moses by Name; that is, after a special and particular manner. Or it is a Metaphor, either from Moses's taking the Names of the Children of Israel, Numb. 3.40, 43.26, 53, 54. or from the High priests bearing their Names upon the Stones on his Breast-plate; which being the Foundation Stones of the New Jerusalem, (Chap. 21.) the Names written on them, may be put to signifie Excellent, A­postolical Members of the Church.

But here we are to note, that these Excellent and undefiled persons, were but a few; and therefore it is dangerous to fol­low the Majority, or Multitude of this Church, according to what is observed concerning the Sardian ^(a) Stone that it hath but a very little of a pale or white colour mixt with its red.

¹² Or shining Garments, (Matth. 17.2.) which were such as Kings used to wear, and bestow upon their Favourites; whereby also Chearfulness and Innocence is signified, and Pu­rity and Righteousness, Eccles. 9.8. Rev. 19.8.

And from this Verse we may observe, That this Church may be Communicated with without sin; there being some of its Members (although a few) who remain in it, without being defiled: and that the whole Church is spoken to, and is said to have those Exellent Names, and the undefiled Names are not blamed for having, or suffering the corrupt, as in Pergamus, and Thyatira; which are manifest Indications, that Sardis is not an Apostatical, but a True, and a Reformed Church.

5 He that overcometh [the Corruptions of this State] the same shall be clothed in white Raiment [Vers. 4. Rev. 19.8.] and I will not blot ¹³ out his Name out of the Book of Life [i. e. he shall be enrolled amongst the Members of my Kingdom, Dan. 12.1. Rev. 13, 7.17, 8.20, 12, 15.21, 27.22, 19.] but I will ¹⁴ confess his Name before [Page 54] my Father, and before his Angels [i. e. I will make him be publick­ly acknowledged and commended at the last day.]

¹³ This Phrase occurs, Exod. 32.32. Psalm 69.28. and seems to be taken from the Custom recorded, Ezra 2.62, 63. where we read, That the Jews kept Registers of the Genealo­gies of their Priests; in which, if a man were not found, he was put from the Priesthood, as polluted. It was also an anti­ent Custom (alluded to, as some think, in this place) of En­rolling the Names of Citizens, and Blotting them out of the Publick Registers, when they had forfeited that Priviledge; From whence also came the Custom of blotting Names out of the Diptychs of the Church. But from whatsoever Custom the Phrase is taken, it plainly relates to the Rewards which will be bestowed upon the Saints of this Church-Interval in Christ's Kingdom.

¹⁴ Expressions taken from the Day of Judgment; noting the Gracious Requital Christ will afford them, for confessing his Name in greatest purity, Matth. 10.32. Luke 12.8.

6 He that hath an Ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.

7 And to the Angel of the Church in ¹⁵ Philadelphia, write, These things saith he that is holy, [or the Holy, who will shortly erect a holy Church, and Kingdom,] and he that is true [or The True; who will bring to pass what he has promised concerning his Church;] he that hath the Key ¹⁶ of David [ i. e. full power of dis­posing all things concerning his Kingdom;] he that openeth [a Door to his People;] and no man shutteth [against them;] and shut­teth [against his Enemies] and no man openeth [i. e. hath Sovereign and irresistible Power; and will conduct his People through all Difficulties, to such a Church-State, as they shall never be depri­ved of by their Enemies.]

¹⁵ Sardis represents those Churches of the Reformation, which have a Repute, or Name in the World, but want the [Page 55] inward Life and Spirit of the Gospel; and Philadelphia seems to be the Type of the Reformed Churches which are low in Outward Strength and Esteem, but very strict in observing Christ's Word and Commands; which Characters I shall not venture to adapt to any particular Churches; but leave them to the impartial consideration of all concerned, as they may be gathered from the Text it self. Philadelphia is distant a­bout Twenty seven Miles from Sardis, a City (as Strabo notes) never very Populous and Famous, because it was sub­ject to Earthquakes; which yet withstood the Fury of the ^(a) Turks with great Constancy and Gallantry, when all the rest of Asia had submitted; and has now ^(b) in it Four Churches of Greeks, and about Two Thousand Christians: which are no contemptible Remarks, as to our present pur­pose, and would induce a Man to think, that the Divine Wisdom has afforded us some faint Resemblances of the little outward strength or power of this Church-state, and of its strict adherence to the Truth, and of the Ample Reward God will afford it; even in the Fate of the City from which it is de­nominated. And, (if any thing be to be gathered from the Names of these Churches) the Nature and Qualities of this State are plainly discovered in its Name; Philadelphia signi­fying Brotherly Love; as if this Church-State were to be esta­blished upon that Principle, and not upon power outward splendor and superiority, Luke 22.24-30. See Grotius on that place, and on the parallel places in the Gospel.

¹⁶ An Expression taken from Isa. 22.22. where Eliakim (a Type of Christ, as his very Name imports, signifying one raised, or setled by God) has the Key of the House of David given him; whereby is denoted, Christ's Government over his Church; a Key being an Ensign of Government; and David's [Page 56] House, Family, or Court, being a Type of the Church, espe­cially as it shall be in the New Jerusalem, the City of David, or the Messias, who is the Great King of it.

8 I know thy Works [to be perfect before God:] behold [and ¹⁷ let it be noted and remarked,] I have set before thee, [or, given thee,] an open ¹⁸ door [i. e. a hopeful occasion, and means, of free­ly and effectually propagating the Truth; and a prospect of bet­ter things, and greater Liberty;] and no man [although they shall often attempt it,] can [be able to] shut it, [or, hinder you of this Liberty; but it shall continue accompanied with great efficacy, notwithstanding your many Adversaries, until my coming;] for thou hast a little [outward ¹⁹, worldly] strength [Force and Pow­er to protect and countenance thee;] and [yet for all that] hast kept ²⁰ my Word [or Gospel; as to Faith and Practice purely and entirely; and hast discharged thy Office faithfully:] and hast not denied my Name ²¹ [by entertaining any degrees of Anti-Christian Corruptions, which bear not my Name, or were not instituted by me, but hast openly avowed and professed my Name, as sole King and Law-giver of my Church.]

¹⁷ Behold, is a Particle denoting the importance of the thing to be delivered.

¹⁸ This is the true Import of the Phrase: for which see and compare Hosea 2.15. Acts 14.27. 1 Cor. 16.9. 2 Cor. 2.12. Colos. 4.3. And from this, and what follows, we may take notice, that this Church, although often denied Li­berty of Preaching the Gospel (in which sense Grotius un­derstands the shutting of the Door here mentioned,) should yet enjoy it, in despight of all opposition, and never have it wholly shut against them; and that this open Door, should af­ford them a Prospect, and a hope and confidence of enjoying a more perfect State of things.

¹⁹ By Strength cannot here be understood inward and spi­ritual strength, or Zeal and Courage to propagate the Truth, with all Boldness and Success; for that was great in them, and they have a high Character and Commendation given them for [Page 57] it, by our Saviour; But by Strength must be understood, out­ward humane Strength, Advantages and Authority, in respect of Birth, Power, Reputation for Learning, Riches, or the like; in which the Might of this World consists, 1 Cor. 1.25-28. but especially Countenance and Protection from the Secular Powers; of which they had but little, as having been in a pa­tient afflicted Condition, and under Restraints; as appears from Vers. 8, 10.

²⁰ To keep Christ's word, denotes their faithful preaching, and professing the Gospel, and their strict adherence to it, which is called, keeping the Charge of the Lord, in the Old Testament; which Ministers are to do in their own Persons; as appears from Ezek. 44.8. where, in a Vision of the New Jerusalem, (when this Philadelphian State comes to its perfection) those Priests are reprehended by God, who kept not the Charge of his holy things, but set keepers of them in his Sanstuary for themselves.

²¹ By Name here seems to be meant, the Name written on his Vesture, Rev. 19.16. viz. King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; that is, Supreme Disposer of all the Kingdoms of the World, and sole Governour of his Church, which is his King­dom. And this strict adherence of this Church, to the Word or Commandments of God only, is opposed to the departure of the Sardian and Ephesine Succession, from what they had re­ceived and heard.

9 Behold I will ²² make them [who are] of the [part of the] ²³ Syna­gogue of Satan, [and by them, I mean those] which say they are Jews [or Pure, Primitive Christians] and are not, but do lye [by such false pretences:] Behold I will make them [by my providence and in­ward convictions] to come and Worship before thy Feet [i. e. to shew ²⁴ the greatest honour and submission unto thee; learn of thee; and joyn in Communion with thee; although in an inferior de­gree of esteem,] and to know [i. e. be convinced, and acknowledg,] that I have Loved thee [as my pure and undefiled Church, Cant. 6. [Page 58] 4, 9. and have shewn it by preserving thee, notwithstanding all their endeavours to the contrary.]

²² In the Greek it is, I give, the Present for the Future, as is usual; and them is added as a necessary Supplement; and the Words supplied as they ought to be, may be very well rendred thus; Behold, I will give unto thee them of the Synagogue; i. e. I will bring them, or fetch them in, and present them unto thee.

²³ By the Synagogue of Satan, is meant (as has been shewn on Chap. 2.9.) those who in the Smyrnaean Succession, intro­duced Blasphemous or Idolatrous Doctrines and Practices into the Church, under pretence of Judaism or Israelitism; that is, pure, and primitive Christianity: and therefore by Conse­quence, here must be meant, some of the Reformation (that Interval, or Succession being here described), who lie, and de­ceive others by the same false pretence; not into Satanical, or Antichristian Blasphemy or Idolatry; but Defilements, (Verse 9.) that is, Corrupt Additions to God's Worship; which are cal­led, Defilements, or impure Mixtures, by the Prophet Ezekiel, Chap. 43.8. and Lyes, Prov. 30.6. Isa. 29.13. But yet we are to take notice, that they are not called, The Synagogue of Satan; but They, or Them of the Synagogue; to signifie, that only a Prevailing Party amongst them were defiled; and that their Errors were not Idolatrous (as theirs were who are reprehended in the Epistle to the Church of Smyrna, called therefore, The Synagogue of Satan) but corrupt, or defiled, and false, or lying Additions; which yet were not so much their own Inventions, as taken up by them from Anti­quity; whence they are called, not The Synagogue, but Of the Synagogue; as being of their party, and Imitators of them, under pretext of Conformity to the Ancient Synagogue of the Smyrnaean Succession, which first introduced those Corrupti­ons.

²⁴ All which may be implied in this Phrase; to lye prostrate at ones Feet, being the highest Act of Honour and Submissi­on, amongst the Eastern Nations; for so Joseph's Brethren (which may be no unfit Type of what is here foretold), Gen. 42, 6.44.14. who had been the Authors of his Afflictions, came and bowed down before him to the ground, when he was exalted to be the Chief Governour in Aegypt: and it being also a Custom for Scholars to sit at the Feet of their Masters; to Worship at their Feet, may denote their learning of them, and joyning with them in their Worship, but as in an inferiour de­gree of Knowledge and Esteem; according to the Expressions of the Prophet, Isa. 60.14. from whence this place seems to be taken. And the words also may be interpreted thus, to come and worship [God] before thy Feet; according to a pa­rallel place of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 14.25.

10 Because thou hast kept [and observed] the word ²⁵ [or precept] of my patience [i. e. of the Patience which I taught, and practised; especially in expecting, with me, the coming of my Kingdom; and that in a low and mean condition:] I also will keep thee [or this Church State entire] from the hour [or suddain and unexpected time] of ²⁶ Temptation [or general Tryal;] which shall come upon all the World to try them that dwell on the Earth [whether their Church States are pure or no; and to purify some, and destroy others, Dan. 12.1. Malach. 3.2, 3. 2 Pet. 2.9. 1 Cor. 3.11.-15.]

²⁵ [...] signifies a Precept or Doctrine of Patience; in the sense that [...], or Word, is taken, 1 Cor. 1.18. and to keep the Word (as the Phrase is frequently used in John's Gos­pel) is to observe that Precept; and that chiefly with reference to a patient Expectation of Christ's Coming, as the Phrase is taken 2 Thes. 3.5. and Rev. 1.9.

²⁶ This, I suppose, is to be understood concerning the pour­ing out of the Vials; as shall be endeavoured to be shewn, when they come to be considered.

[Page 60]11 Behold I come [to try and judg them,] quickly [or on a sudden after this period of the Church begins to appear;] hold that fast which thou hast [received and kept,] that no man take ²⁷ thy Crown [i e. rob thee of that reward thou shalt have in my Kingdom.]

²⁷ No Churches so perfect, but that it is possible for them, if left to themselves, to be perverted; and no Man so nigh the Goal, but he may lose the Prize, if he be not, by the Grace of God, made watchful, and careful. And here we are to ob­serve, that these Promises are taken from the New Jerusalem-state in Christ's Kingdom, and that they are made after the most ample and plainest manner to this Church-state; because of its greatest purity, and patience, in expecting that Kingdom, and its fitness to receive it, in the near approach of it in the New Jerusalem.

12 [For] Him that overcometh [the temptations of this poor and despised Church State,] will I make a ²⁸ Pillar in the Temple of my God [i. e. he shall be a Member of a strong, fixt, and stable Church State,] and he shall go no more out [of it, for it shall not be changed.] And I will write ²⁹ upon him [or, upon this Pillar] the Name of my God [Jehovah] and the Name of the City of my God [The Lord is there, Ezek. 48.35.] which is ³⁰ new Jerusalem [i. e. the prefect Gospel State in Christ's Kingdom, Hebr. 12.22.] which cometh down out of Heaven from my God [i. e. shall be established by God's more immediate Power, and by abundant Manifestati­ons of Gifts and Graces, Ezek. 43.4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Gal. 4.26. see on Rev. 21.2, 3.] and I will write upon him my new Name [Rev. 19.16.22, 4. i. e. he shall be ³¹ a Member of my Kingdom, who am King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. See before on verse 8. and Isa. 56.5. Rev. 19.12.]

²⁸ In allusion to the Two Pillars before Solomon's Temple, called Iachin and Booz, from their strength and stability, 1 Kings 7.15, 21. The Apostles also are called Pillars, Gal. 2.9. and the Church, the Pillar of Truth, 1 Tim. 3.15. and Christians are compared to a Temple, and its Stones or Pillars, Eph. 2.21. 1 Pet. 2.5.

²⁹ This may perhaps be an Allusion to the Inscriptions which were used to be put upon Pillars. Hence the Title of the sixteenth Psalm is in the Greek rendred, An Inscription up­on a Pillar; and Absalom's Pillar, 2 Sam. 18.18. might have probably his Name graven on it.

³⁰ New is often in Scripture put for excellent, or perfect. And this State may be called New, because the visible Glory of it did then first appear; and it was a strange, or new thing, it being known, or believed before by few.

³¹ For to be called, and to be, are of the same import in the Hebrew Phrase.

13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.

14 And unto the Angel of the Church of the ³² Laodiceans write; these things saith the Amen ³³ [ i. e. The God of Truth, Isa. 65.16. who will perform what he has promised, 2 Cor. 1.20. and will in this period put a final end to all things;] the Faithful and True Witness [who hath performed punctually, what hath been hi­therto promised by the Father, and will go on to do so to the end; although the Truths he hath delivered may seem never so incredible, Chap. 1.5.] the beginning ³⁴ of the Creation of God [i. e. of the First Creation of all things; and of the New Crea­tion or Constitution of things after the Resurrection, of which he was the first Born from the Dead, Col. 1.18. Rev. 1, 5.21, 1.]

³² This State succeeds the Philadelphian State, and there­fore must be after the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ, or the New Jerusalem, of which Philadelphia is a Type, as ap­pears from Verse 12. It seems to be a State in which there was a great Remissness of the extraordinary Zeal which was shewn in the former Succession, during Christ's Kingdom; and its Name denoting (as Grotius remarks) The Judging of the People, it may from thence be probably concluded, that it is that State, during which the great Judiciary Act of Judging the People, or Nations, is to be performed. Rev. 20.8-15. [Page 62] where occasion will be given of discoursing more largely of this Matter. It was once a most Famous and Rich City, as this Church-state is described to be at the seventeenth Verse, but is now only a heap of Ruines, and inhabited by none but wild Beasts; so that Monsieur Spoon, after all his search, could not find out where its Church stood; Christ having spewed it utterly out of his Mouth.

³³ Amen signifies Truth; and denotes also the End, or Con­clusion; and being put before what follows, concerning the beginning of the Creation of God, implies, that what con­cerns the End of Church-states, is the chief thing typified by this Church.

³⁴ Christ is said to be the beginning of the Creation of God, (1.) Because he was in the beginning with God, when all things were made by him, John 1.1. as being the first born of every Creature; that is, being above, and before all Crea­tures whatsoever, and the Cause of them, Col. 1.15-17. (2.) because he was the beginning of the New Creation, or Constitution of things under the Gospel, Col. 1.18. 2 Cor. 5.17. and the Author of the New Heavens, and New Earth; or the New and Excellent State of things in his Kingdom upon Earth. And (3.) because he is the Beginning, the First Born from the dead, Colos. 1.18. which Title he here takes, because this Church-Period extends until the End of all Earthly Things; when follows the beginning of the New Creation or Constitution of things in his Kingdom of Glory. But of this more on the Three last Chapters.

15 I know thy works [and thy whole state and condition,] that thou art neither cold [i. e. neither void of all zeal for that Philadel­phian glorious State of my Kindom, which is now withdrawn from the very new Earth, Rev. 20.11.] nor hot [i e. nor fervent­ly zealous for it, according to the extraordinary Love which that State requires:] I ³⁵ would [that I may speak after the man­ner of men,] thou wert cold [for then being destitute of all Love, which is the Life of a Christian Church, thou wouldest be in a [Page 63] deadly state, and fitted for destruction] or ³⁶ hot [for then the vehement flame of thy Love, would have been irresistible, [...]nd unextinguishable; and all things here below, would have been utterly contemned, in respect of me; Cant. 8.6, 7.]

³⁵ Christ does not wish that they were cold, simply and absolutely, but comparatively, that they were rather so, than in such a State of Indifferency, which was dangerous to them­selves, and more troublesome and displeasing, in some respects, unto himself. And the whole Expression is taken from the manner in which Men are wont to express themselves, when any thing is displeasing unto them; and is not to be too Rigorously insisted upon in every part of the Simili­tude.

³⁶ By Heat and Fire is meant Divine Love in Scrip­ture; and by Coldness, on the contrary, is meant the absolute privation of it, which is the Death of the Soul, whose Life consists in the Love of God and Christ. This appears from several Expressions, especially in the Book of Canticles; where ( Chap. 8.6, 7.) the Spouse, which is Christ's Church, in its most lovely Philadelphian State, in his Kingdom; repre­sents the Love it has for him, by a strong vehement flame, or heat, such a one as can be kindled only from the Lord (as the Words may be translated), and which could not possibly be extinguished; nor could be translated from him to any o­ther; but perfectly contemned and rejected all Earthly things, when they stood in competition with him. Now this being the Love which the Spouse had for Christ, in its perfect State (which is elegantly set forth in that Book) the Heat which is here wanting in this Laodicean State, must be such a fervent one, as that was, which was in the foregoing State; which was vehement, heavenly, overcoming all Difficulties, and preferring Christ, and things above, beyond all Earthly things whatsoever; yea, counting them as dross and dung, when compared with Christ. See Grotius, and Dr. Patrick on Canticles 8.6, 7.

[Page 64]16 So then [or therefore, after all this long debate within my self, what I should do with thee, which art so troublesome, and uneasy to me; this is the conclusion of the whole matter, that] because thou art ³⁷ luke-warm, and neither cold [as some of the other Church-states were, which I have therefore destroyed,] nor hot [to the degrees of the state of the new Jerusalem, so that I can­not pitch my Tabernacle any longer with thee, nor take thee up unto me, except thou overcomest the evils of this State, by following my counsels and hearkning to my rebukes, Rev. 20.11.21, 2, 3.] I will [I speak still after the manner of men, be­cause of your infirmity,] spew ³⁸ thee out of my mouth [i. e. I will wholly rid me of the uneasiness I have been under, and will have neither thee, nor any other Church-state any more upon Earth]

³⁷ By Lukewarmness is not meant an indifferency to all Religion; but an indifference to that higher, Heavenly State of Love and Glory, which Philadelphia was raised to. For it is plain, from a diligent compare of this Prophecy, that after the Philadelphian State of a Thousand Years, there is to be another Church state; which is called ( Rev. 20.9.) The Camp of the Saints, and the Beloved City; which must be this State of Laodicea, because it is the only one that remains af­ter the Philadelphian; and therefore its Lukewarmness must be such as is consistent with the Love of God (for else the Members of it could not have been said to be loved by Christ, Verse 19.) and is only so in respect of the higher Fervors of the Philadelphian State, which is the Holy ^(a) City, which comes down from Heaven, like a Bride, with a most vehement Flame of Love for Christ her Husband; and after a Thousand Years of True Glory, was translated, or fled away with Christ into Heaven, into a Glorious State of Eternity; whereas this State is described, as being on the Earth, (Rev. 20.9.) and as retaining too much Love to the Glories and Enjoyments of [Page 65] their Earthly State; although the Lustre of the Presence of Christ, manifested, during the Thousand Years, was with­drawn; and as not having such a vehement Love for being with Christ, as to contemn all the Gold and Riches (which are mentioned in the next Verse) and all the Worldly substance of its Earthly State, for a Heavenly State with Christ; which it would have done, if it had had the Love of the Spouse in the Canticles.

³⁸ This is a Metaphor from lukewarm Water, which pro­vokes Vomiting, and casts off from a sickly Stomach what loads it, and is nauseous or uneasie to it; and is used in Scri­pture ^(a) to signifie the utter dispeopling of a Nation: in which sense it seems here to be taken for the total removal of this, and all other such like Church-States; as being uneasie to Christ, because of their imperfections; who would now be no more contented with any State but a Heavenly, Perfect, and Ʋnchangeable one; such a one, as no Waters could quench, nor any Floods drown, and which was to be set, as a Seal upon his Heart, Canticl. 8.6, 7. And accordingly, Christ is here representented, as uneasie under this State, rather than angry with it; and as deliberating, and at last resolving what to do with it; which is intimated by [...], an Illative Particle, no­ting a Conclusion drawn from Premises deliberated of, and con­sidered; and the Result is, That he could not indeed de­stroy them in his Anger, by Fire from Heaven, as he would their Enemies, the Nations, (Rev. 20.9.) because he had a Love for them, and they were not cold in their Love to him; neither could he take them in the State they were in, unto himself in Heaven; and therefore he was at last resolved to spew all Earthly Church states out of his Mouth, and have no more [Page 66] such upon Earth, by reason of the Imperfections and Corrup­tions they were subject to, when left to themselves, and his more immediate presence was withdrawn from them.

17 [And this will I do] because ³⁹ thou sayest I am [still as] rich [as I was before, and in the possession of the same Glorious State;] and [not only so] but I am encreased with Goods, and [which is more,] have need of nothing [but am in a perfect, self-sufficient State:] and knowest not [such is the ignorance of Man when left to himself,] that thou art wretched [or, The wretched, full of wants and defects;] and miserable [or, The miserable, in a help­less condition,] and poor [in grace, and glory] and blind [or igno­rant, seeing not thy wants, nor the remedy of them,] and naked [or i [...] a shameful condition; in respect of the former; now the Bride, and her Husband are retired, and God dwelleth not with thee, Rev. 20, 11.21, 2, 3, 4.]

³⁹ Here is shewn the Ground of their Lukewarmness, and the Reason why Christ would spew them out; because they thought that their present State was as Glorious as their for­mer; and as much to be chosen, as that which had the full Glo­ry of the New Jerusalem.

18 [And therefore,] I counsel thee [out of my Love to thee, verse 19.] to buy [or, obtain and procure] of me [what I will freely give thee, if thou will be sensible of thy own unwor­thiness, and inability of thy self to procure it, Isa. 55.1, 2.] Gold tried in the fire [i. e. the most precious and most pure Wis­dom of my Kingdom in Heaven above, Prov. 2, 4.3, 14. Zeck. 13.9. Math. 13.44, 45, 46. 1 Pet. 1.7.] that thou mayest be rich [in good and perfect works before God, Luke 12.21. 1 Tim. 6.17, 18.] and white raiment [i. e. unspotted and perfect Holiness, such as is required in my Kingdom;] that thou mayest be Cloathed [with my Righteousness, Rev. 19.8.] and the shame of thy nakedness [or thy shameful nakedness] do not appear [when I come to Judgment, Rev. 20.12-15] and anoint thy eyes with Eye-Salve [i. e. with clear knowledg that thou mayst see and discern betwixt the dark and imperfect state thou art in, and the glo­rious [Page 67] entire light and perfection of the former, Rev. 21.23, 24.22, 5.]

19 [Thou art the Camp of my Saints upon Earth, and the beloved City, and therefore have I permitted the Nations to gather themselves to Battel against thee, and to encompass thee, Rev. 20.8, 9.] for as many as I Love [and whom I Love, I Love unto the end, John 13.1.] I rebuke [as I have done thee for thy lukewarmness] and chasten [by afflictions, as thou hast been by the coming up of Gog and Magog against thee, Rev. 20.8, 9.] be zealous therefore [after a higher, and a more glorious state, and that in Heaven,] and repent [of thy lukewarmness, for to this end have I rebuked and chastened thee.]

20 [And to shew what Love I have for thee] Behold [and let it be taken special notice of,] I stand [waiting with an unwearied patience,] at the door [of the Heart and Conscience of each per­son amongst you,] and ⁴⁰ knock [or use frequent and loud impor­tunities, by the motions of my Holy Spirit, Cant. 5.2. Prov. 1.20-] if any ⁴¹ man [or any one of the Saints of this beloved City; for to them, and concerning them, I now speak, and not of their Church State, which I will certainly spew out of my Mouth;] hear [and obey] my ⁴⁰ voice [and all that I have loved will do so, John 10.27, 28, 29.13, 1.] and open the door [of his Heart, by removing all wilful impediments;] I [who have now withdrawn my glorious presence,] will come unto him, and will sup with him, and he with me [i. e. I will dwell with him, pos­sessing his Soul with my Gifts and Graces, and will communicate my self after a friendly and a familiar manner unto him in my Heavenly Kingdom, Luke 14.15. John 14.20, 23. Rev. 19, 9.21, 3.]

^{40 40} It was the antient custom to knock, and call aloud at the same time.

⁴¹ Christ before spoke to the Church of Laodicea; here he speaks to the Members of it; to whom he promises high­er, and more intimate communications of himself; altho he had resolved to ease himself of their imperfect Church State.

[Page 68]21 To him [or that person,] that overcometh [the evils of this State, by hearing and obeying my voice, and opening unto me,] will I grant to sit with ⁴² me in my Throne [in my Kingdom, whilst I judg the Nations, Satan, Death and Hell; and then to reign with me to all Eternity; John 17.22-24. Rev. 20.8-15.] even as I also overcame [Temptations, Sin, Death and Hell,] and am ⁴³ set down with my Father in his Throne [in Heaven John 17.5.]

⁴² Here Christ and his Saints are represented as sitting in one and the same Throne; in allusion to the Thrones of the antient Eastern Kings, which were very large, and in the form of a Bed or Couch, so that many persons might sit in them at once, Cant. 3.7.

⁴³ Mr. Mede ^(a) observes on this verse, that although the glorified Saints are said to sit here with Christ on his Throne; that yet none but Christ God-Man is said to sit with the Father on his Throne; because no Creature is capa­ble of the priviledge of sitting on God the Father's Right Hand in his Throne; that being a Godlike Royalty altogether incommunicable.

22 He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear, what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.

Annotations on CHAP. IV.

* The foregoing Vision contained in the Second and Third Chapters, may be called, The Church-Prophecy, because that in it the several successive States and Periods of the Church, from the beginning of it, at Christ's Resurrection, until the Kingdom of Christ, and the End of all things, are represent­ed under the Types of Churches, the most proper Emblem of them: and that the following Vision (which may be called the Book-Prophecy, from its Events being repre­sented in a Book with Seals), to which this, and the next Chapter are a Preface, is of the same signification and extent, shall be argued hereafter, as occasion shall require; and may at present be gathered from some Congruities observable in the Prefaces to each of them; as that John is spoken to here by a Trumpet, as he was in the former Preface in the first Chap­ter; and is in the like Spiritual Extasie as he was then in; [Page 70] which being Circumstances peculiar to these Two Visions, may argue them to be of the like Nature and Import. And here it is not improper to observe, that in this, and the following Chapter is chiefly contained,

(1.) A Representation of the Throne, Divine Consistory, or Court of Judicature of Almighty God, which is to pass Judg­ment upon the State of things throughout the whole Pro­phecy.

(2.) The setling and appointing of Christ, the Lamb, new­ly risen from the Dead, to be the Supreme Governour, and Director of all the Events which were to come to pass, by giving him power to open the Book, and loose the Seals of it.

(3.) We have here a Pre-representation (as there is upon all suitable occasions) of the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ, the chief End of all the Visions, given us in Two Doxologies; sung by Angels, and the Representatives of the Christian and Jewish Church; who are, as it were, a Chorus to this Divine Drama; as the Virgins, Companions, Watchmen, and Shepherds are in the Book of Canticles; which is a Sacred Dramatick Poem, relating to Christ's Kingdom. See Dr. Patrick 's Pre­face on the Song of Solomon, and Dr. Beverley's Exposition of it.

¹ From whence Prophecies are called Visions, and Prophets Seers in Scripture. Hammond.

² [...] is put for [...] here, and in other places of Scripture; as John 1, 15.15, 18. 1 John 4.19. and this is the same with the first Voice of a Trumpet, cap. 1.10.

2 And immediately I was in the Spirit [Chap. 1.10.] and behold, a Throne was set in Heaven [i. e. God appeared as King and Judg, Isa. 6.1. Ezek. 1.26. Dan. 7.9.] and one [i. e. God the Father, Chap. 5.7.] sat on the Throne [i. e. appeared in Majesty, and as in Judgment.]

3 And he that sat, was, to look upon [or was in appearance ³ and resemblance,] like a Jasper [i. e. Glorious, Rev. 20.11.] and [Page 71] a Sardine ⁴ stone [i. e. Glorious but Terrible, Exod. 24.10. Ezek. 1.27] and there was a Rain-bow [i. e. his covenant of mercy and peace, and his mindfulness of it, Gen. 9.11-16. Isa. 54.8-10. Ezek. 1.28.] round about the Throne [so that it might always be in his remembrance,] in sight like unto an Emerald ⁵ [denoting the never failing mercies of his Covenant; and the most pleasant, and precious promises of it, and of his Kingdom.]

³ For he saw not God, but only his Glory; a [...]d such Ap­pearances as denote his Attributes and Perfections, Ezekiel 1.28.

⁴ It is a Blood-coloured, or Red Stone, like Fire; and there­fore fit to denote the Justice, and fiery Indignation of God, Heb. 10.27.

⁵ A Smaragd, or Emerauld, is a most precious Stone, of a very pleasant, and never fading Greenness; the chief Colour in the Rainbow.

4 And ⁶ round about the Throne, were four and twenty Seats [or, Thrones] and upon the Seats I saw [the] four and twenty ⁷ Elders [i. e. the representatives of the Jewish Church, 1 Chron. 24. Isa. 24.23.] sitting [on Thrones; as participating in Judgment and Government, Dan. 7.9, 22, 26, 27. Rev. 20.4.] cloathed in white ⁸ raiment [i. e. Priest's Vestments,] and they had on their Heads ⁸ Crowns of Gold [i. e. Regal Ornaments, Chap. 1, 6.5, 10.20, 6.]

⁶ They encompass the Throne, as faithful Ministers and Ser­vants, to receive God's Commands; and to shew their Near­ness and Access unto him, who was in the midst of them, to protect, assist, and give his Commands unto them, Matth. 18.20.

⁷ The Church of Israel, as it shall be advanced by Christ in his Kingdom, being plainly called, God's Antients, or Elders, by Isaiah, Chap. 24.23. it seems evident to me, that the four and Twenty Elders are here put for the Representatives of it, in allusion to the Four and Twenty Heads of the Courses of the Priests, [Page 72] instituted by David, 1 Chron. 24. Elder, in its General Noti­on, signifying a Head, or Governour amongst the Jews, as ap­pears from Gen. 50.7.

And this Word Elder, being by this time become familiar in the Church, to signifie the Pastors or Governours of it; why may not a Title used in the Christian Church, be put to denote the Governours of the Jewish; as on the contrary, the Jewish Types are all along in this Prophecy, put to denote the Christian Antitypes?

^{8 8} The Jewish Church seems here to be represented, (1.) by their white Vestments, which was the Habit of the Jewish Priests, Exod. 28.39, 40.39, 27. and (2.) by their Crowns; where­by is denoted, that they were a Royal Priesthood, as they are called, Exod. 19.6. and that they, together with the Christi­an Church, should reign with Christ.

5 And out of the Throne [of God the Father.] proceeded ⁹ light­nings, and thunderings, and voices [denoting the Majesty of God, and the Terror of his Laws and Judgments, and of the appear­ance of his Kingdom;] and there were seven Lamps of Fire burning before the Throne which are [the Symbols, or Hieroglyphicks of] the seven Spirits of God [i. e. of the perfect, warming and enlight­ning influences and operations of the Holy Ghost towards the Church, Exod. 37.23. Ezek. 4.2. See the Notes on Rev. 1.4, 12, 20.]

⁹ These Words are taken from the Dreadful Appearance of God upon Mount Sinai, at the Delivery of the Law, Exod. 19. and 20.18, 20. and signifie God's Judgments, in behalf of, and upon his Church; and especially the extraordinary breakings forth, and signal comings of Christ's Kingdom, where­by he shakes not the Earth only, but the Heaven; as they are set forth in Scripture by Metaphors, primarily taken (ac­cording to the Opinion of the Learned Theorist of the Earth) from the last general Conflagration. See, and diligently com- [Page 73] Haggai 2.6-9. Malach. 3.1. Psalm 18.13. Jerem. 25.30. Ezek. 1.13. Heb. 10.27-31. Heb. 12.18-29.

6 And before the Throne there was a ¹⁰ Sea [i. e. a large Vessel or receptacle, 1 Kings 7.23.] of Glass like unto Christal [i. e. pure and transparent, as that of the Tabernacle was, Exod. 38.8. denoting Baptism and the purity it requires; and the Blood of Christ by which we are washed and cleansed from our sins, Rev. 7.14] and in the midst ¹¹ of the Throne [or, just before it, Ezek. 1.5.] and round ¹¹ about the Throne [Numb. 2.2.] were four Beasts [or living ¹² Creatures, representing the pure Apostolical Church of Christ in all parts of the World;] full of Eyes before and behind [i. e. very circumspect and vigilant; and skilled in the past and future state of Christ's Kingdom.]

¹⁰ The Laver, or Brazen Vessel in the Temple, for the Priests to wash in, is called a Sea in Scripture; as all Receptacles of Waters are: of which see Exod. 30, 18.38, 8. by which is aptly represented the [...], or Baptismal Lavers of the Antients, which were very large.

^{11 11} One of the Beasts might be probably placed before the Throne, or in the midst of it; and the other Three in just distances round about it; probably one behind, and two on each side of it; in correspondence to the Description of So­lomon's Throne, 1 Kings 10.19. or according to the pitch­ing of the Tents of the Israelites, which are described, Numb. 2.2. as being over against, and round about the Tabernacle; that is, encompassing it in a Square Figure, (as the Learned generally agree) each of the Four Divisions being placed at the Four Points of it, looking towards the Four Cardinal Points of Heaven.

¹² For so the word [...] ought to be translated, as it is, Ezek. 1.5. that so they may be the better distinguished from [...], or the Antichristian Beast. These Four living Crea­tures are called Cherubims, Ezek. 10.2; By which is meant Active Beings of an Angelical Nature, employed in the [Page 74] Ministration of God's Providence, as appears from their De­scription given by Ezekiel. Now the Representations here gi­ven, figuring something analogous to them in the Church; they cannot be supposed to signifie any thing more proper­ly than the pure Christian Church, represented by the Apo­stles; who were so extraordinarily active in the propagating of the Gospel into the Four Quarters of the World; and were Twelve, making up Four Ternaries of Living Creatures, or Zealous Active Ministers of Christ; according to the Num­ber of the Four Ternaries of the Twelve Tribes, under the Four Standards in the Wilderness. For we are to take no­tice, that this Representation of the Throne of the Majesty of God; or this Theatre, or Stage of the Apocalyptick Visions (as Mr. Mede calls it,) exactly answers the Encampments of the Israelites; God's Throne being here placed in the middle, as the Tabernacle was there; the Four and Twenty Elders next, to answer the Station of the Priests and Levites; and the Four Beasts at each Angle, Diametrically opposite to each o­ther, against the Four Cardinal Points of the Wind, represent­ing Christians in the Four Quarters of the World, in analogy to the Four Standards of the Camp of the Israelites, having in them Figures of these Four Living Creatures, taken from the Cherubims of the Chariot, or Glorious Throne of Almigh­ty God, 1 Chron. 28.18. For which, see Mr. ^* Mede, Dr. Hammond on the Place, Grotius on Numb. 10.15. and Mr. Ainsworth on Numb. 2. where he has given us the Figure of the Encampments, and has discoursed largely on them; and Dr. ^‖ Spencer.

7 And the first Beast [or living creature.] was like a Lion ¹³ [de­noteing the Power and strength of the Gospel and Apostolical Mi­nistry, Gen. 49.9. Psal. 103.24.] and the second Beast like a Calf ¹⁴ [Page 75] [or Ox; denoting their Laboriousness and Usefulness, Prov. 14.4.] and the third Beast had the face of a Man ¹⁵ [signifying Reason and Prudence;] and the fourth Beast was like a flying Eagle ¹⁶ [note­ing their activity, and quick-sightedness into the Mysteries of the Gospel.]

¹³ This was the Standard of Judah, on the East side, com­pared to a Lyon, Gen. 49.9. And the Qualities of these Living Creatures, do denote the like Gifts and Graces, requi­red in the Ministry, which were after an extraordinary man­ner eminent in the Apostles, the Representatives of the Christi­an Church, and of its State in the Kingdom of Christ; to which this appearance relates.

¹⁴ The Standard of Ephraim, on the West side of the Camp; who is resembled to an Ox, Deut. 33.17.

¹⁵ Reuben's Standard on the South side.

¹⁶ The Standard of Dan on the North side.

8 And the four Beasts had each of them six ¹⁷ Wings, [noteing their speed, their Reverence in God s Presence, and their humble sense of themselves, Isa. 6.2] about ¹⁸ him; and they were full of Eyes within ¹⁹ [to observe themselves as well as to be vigilant over others;] and they ²⁰ rest not day and night [but are constant and incessant in the Worship and Service of God, Isa. 60, 11.62, 6. [ saying, Holy, ²¹ Holy, Holy, [i. e. infinitely and superlatively Holy, Isa. 6.3.] Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come [Rev. 1.4.]

¹⁷ With Two they covered their Faces, out of Reverence; with Two their Feet, or Nakedness, out of a sense of their own shame and impurity; and with Two they flew, to execute God's Commands, Isa. 6.2.

¹⁸ [...], round about them; that is, perhaps at several Distances on each side; as the Israelites are said to encamp [...], or round about the Tabernacle; that is, at distant Points of the several sides of the Square, encompassing it. So here each of the Living Creatures is said to have Six Wings, [...]; that is, on each side Three, one against another; [Page 76] one pair on their Shoulders, with which they flew; another on each of their Breasts, stretched upwards, to cover their Faces; and the Third about their Hips, to cover their less honourable parts, or appearances. Andreas Caesariensis, reads, as our common Copies do; but if [...] be to be joyned to [...], as Grotius, and Dr. Hammond think; then their Expo­sition may be consulted, as more commmodious.

¹⁹ The inward Eyes of these Creatures were represented unto John; the Figure, or Appearance (which was perhaps diaphanous) being contrived accordingly.

²⁰ This was the Practice of the Apostolical Church; as ap­pears from Acts 2.42, 46.20, 31. Luke 2.37. 2 Tim. 4.2.

²¹ Here it is acknowledged by the Apostolical Church, with the Joynt Consent of the Israelitish Church; that God is a Supereminent Being; and that he is to be worshipped incom­municably, according to his most eminent and unparallell'd Holiness; and perhaps the Divine Being, in Father, Word, and Spirit, may be intimated in the Threefold Repetition of the Word Holy. But howsoever, in this First Doxology, the Lord God Almighty (who is, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, God blessed for ever,) is only mentioned, and not the Lamb; to shew, that the Belief of One God, who created all things, is the First Fundamental Principle of Religion; Christ, as Redeemer, the Lamb slain, being not acknowledged and wor­shipped, until the Second Doxology, after he had appeared before the Throne of the Father, and had received his King­dom; acccording to the Original Model of these Visions, in the Book of Daniel; where ( Chap. 7.) the Son of Man is brought near to the Father, and then had Dominion and Glo­ry given him.

9 And when [soever] these Beasts ²² [or, representatives of the A­postolical pure Church,] give [or shall, and are wont to give] glory [i. e. acknowledgment of God's glorious Majesty, and Excellency;] and Honour [to God's Authority and Preheminence;] and thanks [Page 77] [for his bounty, and gracious gifts to his Church;] to him that sat on the Throne, who liveth for ever and ever [i. e. to the Eternal and Liv­ing God, not a dead Idol; who will open his Kingdom of Eter­nal Life to all true Christians.]

²² At the fourth Verse, the Twenty four Elders are placed be­fore the Living Creatures, to signifie the Primogeniture of the Jewish Church; Here they are placed after them, to signifie that the Truths here acknowledged, were first clearly made known to the Christian Church; and shall be at last commu­nicated by them to the Jewish; which shall be excited, and provoked to Jealousie by them; and shall at their Conversion joyn with them, in an acknowledgment of these, and all other Truths of Christianity.

10 The four and twenty Elders [or Heads of the pure Jewish Church testifying their agreement with the Christian Church, do] fall down [in great humility and submission,] before him that sat on the Throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever; and cast their Crowns before the Throne [in token of Subjection and Homage,] saying,

11 Thou art worthy [and thou only,] O Lord, to receive [the Ac­knowledgement of] Glory, and Honour, and Power; for thou hast cre­ated all things [by thy Power,] and for thy pleasure [or Will, the on­ly Motive to it,] they are [preserved in their Being,] and were [at first] created [Nehem. 9.6.]

Annotations on CHAP. V.

¹ God held the Book in his Right Hand, to shew his Pow­er, and his Readiness to deliver it.

² This Book seems to have consisted of seven several Rolls, rolled up into one, in the Form of a Cylinder ^(a), according to the Custom of the Antients; having seven Labels, sealed with seven Seals; which being opened in order, there ap­peared in each of them, the Seulptures, or Hieroglyphicks here­after mentioned; and the back side of the last Roll, which is the outermost in rolling, was written upon, to shew, that there was a long series of Events contained in this Book; it being not the Custom of the Ancients, to write on the back side of the Roll, but when the inside could not contain all their Wri­ting. We may divide, for Order, and Memories sake, the whole Prophecy of this Book, into Two Tomes (as Mr. Mede calls them) the first of which, contained in the foregoing Chapters, may be called, The ^(b) Church Prophecy; wherein [Page 78] Symbols of Churches then in being are used; the Second (which begins here) may be called, The Book-Prophecy, be­cause its Events are represented by Hieroglyphicks in a Book: And both Prophecies are of the same Extent; this latter reach­ing to the End of Time, and determining and distinguishing Church Successions and Affairs as well as the former; only with this difference, that they are represented in the latter by future Occurrences and Circumstances of the Civil State and Empire; that so the Times of their Accomplishment might be the better known, and taken notice of, by the illustrious E­vents represented in them. For as it pleased God to describe and foretel by his Prophets the Fall of Babylon, and other E­vents, under several Symbols and Representations, for the grea­ter assurance of the Prediction (as in Pharaoh's Dream, Gen. 41.32.) and that the thing might be the more deeply imprint­ed on Mens Minds, by the Variety of the Figures by which they are described; so hath the Divine Spirit, upon the same account, given divers Emblems of one and the same thing in this Prophecy.

³ I shall here, once for all, endeavour to give the true im­port of Sealing, which seems to have these several Accepta­tions in Scripture.

(1.) It denotes a secret, or an hidden Condition; as we seal up things which we would keep secret.

(2.) It denotes Security; Thus the Stone at the mouth of Daniel's Den, and our Saviour's Sepulchre, were sealed with Seals.

(3.) It signifies Hindrance and Restraint: Thus God, Job 37.7. is said to seal up the Hand of every man; i. e. to hinder their Work by Storms and wet weather; and to seal up the Stars, Job 9.7. i. e. to restrain their Influences, as Satan is said, Rev. 20.3. to be shut up, and to have a Seal set upon him, to restrain him.

[Page 80](4.) Propriety is signified by sealing in Scripture; from the Custom of sealing Goods and Servants when they were bought; thereby to denote their propriety in them, and to distinguish them from other Mens Servants; Hammond on Eph. 4.30.

(5.) Lastly, From these, and other Metaphors, it often in Prophetical Scripture signifies the Obscurity of a Prophecy, and the concealing of it, in dark terms, from the Generality of the People, Isa. 8.16. and the stopping or hindring the Events foretold by it: so that sealing and writing, and sealing and opening, are opposed in prophetical Language to one another, and signifie as much as concealing and revealing, delaying the Accomplishment of a Prophecy, and bringing it into effect. See the Notes on Chap. 7.2, 3, 4.

⁴ With reference to the seven states of Christ's Church, which were hindred from coming into event, whilst the Book was sealed; and were to be by degrees accomplished, and dis­covered upon the gradual opening of each of them.

2 And I saw a strong ⁵ Angel [or a mighty one, Psalm 103.20] proclaiming with a loud ⁵ voice [after the manner of a Herald, Dan. 3.4.] who is worthy [for Authority, and Ability,] to open ⁶ the Book, and to loose the Seals thereof [i. e. to bring into event the things there delivered.]

^{5 5} To shew the Weight and Concern of the thing to be de­livered, as worthy to be heard of all Creatures.

⁶ To open it by unsealing it, or when it is unsealed.

3 And no ⁷ man [or no creature, Isa. 41.28.] in Heaven [i. e. nei­ther Saint nor Angel,] nor in Earth, nor under the Earth [i. e. in the State of departed Souls, from whence Christ was just come,] was able to open the Book [i. e. to bring to pass the Events of it;] neither [so much as] to look thereon [if it were opened; that is of himself to understand, foresee, and govern the course of the Prophecy, and conduct it into Event.]

⁷ Here by a Hebraism, (consisting in describing the whole by an enumeration of its parts) is signified, that no Creature whatsoever, was able to open the Book, or so much as to un­derstand it of himself.

4 And I wept * much, because no man was found worthy to open, and to read the Book, neither to look thereon, [as fearing that I should not be shewn those things that were promised me, Chap. 4.1.]

* This weeping seems to be rather from a Despair, that things would not be carried on to the great Kingdom of Re­demption; as the Two Apostles (Luke 24.21.) were sorrow­ful, least Christ was not he which should have redeemed Isra­el; and were astonished, as Mary also was ( John 20.13, 15.) because the Lord could not be found, for which she wept. For Christ is represented at the sixth Verse, as just risen from the dead, and therefore in congruity to that appearance, what is here said, must relate to the time before he appeared, as risen; which is also a Circumstance that confirms the fixing of the Epocha of this Book at the Resurrection.

5 And one [or the ⁸ first, and chief] of the ⁹ Elders [or Repre­sentatives of the Jewish Church, Chap. 4.4.] saith unto me, Weep not [for thy own sake, or the sake of the Church, which thou fearest will be deprived of what is contained in this Book; for] behold the Lyon ¹⁰ of the Tribe of Judah [ i. e. Christ, Gen. 49.9. Heb. 7.13, 14. who is also] the root of David [Isa. 11.1, 10. Rom. 15.12.] hath prevailed [with the Father, by his Blood and Merits], to open the Book, and to loose the seven Seals thereof [Vers. 2, 4. [ i. e. to declare what is in it, and to accomplish it.]

⁸ For so One seems to signifie in this Prophecy; as also it does, Dan. 10.13. Gen. 1.4. Matth. 28.1.

⁹ The Jewish Church having been entrusted with the Ora­cles and Prophecies of the Old Testament, concerning the Kingdom of Christ; it is very proper, that their Ministry should be here made use of, to declare unto John, the im­port [Page 82] of what had been delivered therein, concerning the Me­rits and Power of Christ, in revealing and erecting his Kingdom: and therefore Christ is here described by Titles taken from what relates to the Jews; as the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah; because he came from that Tribe which is resem­bled to a Lyon in Scripture; and the Root of David, be­cause he proceeded from his Stock, as from a Root.

¹⁰ No Creature whatsoever (as Man signifies, Verse 7. and Isa. 41.28.) was able to open this Book, or look into it, but only Christ, by Vertue of his Merits; whereby that extra­vagant Knowledge, which is ascribed unto Angels and Saints in the Romish Church, and their Mediatorship, is plainly ex­ploded, as appears also from the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th Verses.

6 And I beheld [with great concern and expectation,] and lo [on a sudden] in the midst of the Throne, [i. e. just before it, and next unto it,] and of the Four Beasts, and in the midst of the Elders [i. e. betwixt God the Father, and his Church;] stood ¹¹ [in a po­sture of Defence, as Mediator and Advocate, and in a readiness to receive his Kingdom, Dan. 7.13; 14.] a Lamb [i. e. Christ, John 1.29.36.] as it had been [newly] stain [and just risen from the dead;] having seven Horns ¹² [ i. e. perfect Regal Authority, e­specially over the sevenfold State of the Church;] and seven Eyes [signifying perfection of Knowledge, and Providential Ad­ministrations, Zech. 3.9] which are [or represent] the seven Spi­rits of God [i. e. the perfect Operations of Gods Spirit, Zech. 4.6, 10. See on, Rev. 1.4.] sent forth into all the Earth [to super­intend, dispose, and conduct all things, 2 Chron. 46.9. Isa. 11.2.]

¹¹ From Christ's being here represented, as just risen from the dead, with the Signs of his Sufferings, fresh and bleed­ing; it may be gathered, that the Epocha of these Visions, is to be taken from Christ's Resurrection, and Ascension into Hea­ven; as we have observed before on Chap. 1.10.

And he is represented as standing, to denote, that he was not as yet in possession of his Kingdom, which was due to him at his Resurrection (as the Psalmist plainly affirms, Psalm 2, 7, 8.) but that he stood ready to receive it; to which end he was brought unto the Father, as appears plainly from Dan. 7.13, 14.

¹² Horns being the Weapons of Beasts, they are put to sig­nifie Strength and Power, in Scripture, as Psalm 75.5, 10. and in Daniel, and this Prophecy, they denote Kings, and their Regal Power; as the Scripture interprets it self, Dan. 8.20, 21. Rev. 17.12.

7 And he [i. e. Christ being now entring upon his Kingly Of­fice] came [to the Father, being brought near before him, to re­ceive his Kingdom, Dan. 7.13, 14] and took the Book * out of the Right Hand of him that sate upon the Throne [i. e. received his King­dom from the Father, and power to reveal and execute what was contained in that Book concerning it.]

* This answers to Dan. 7.14. where, upon his being brought to the Father, a Kingdom is given him, of which this Book is a Symbol, as being the Book of the Kingdom of Christ: only we are to take notice, that the Book is sealed; the Kingdom being not to appear, but by steps and degrees, ac­cording to the opening of the Seals, until the seventh Trumpet of the seventh Seal; during which time Christ was to sit in the patience and expectation of his Kingdom, at the Right Hand of God, until his Father made his Foes his Footstool; according to Psalm 110.1. and 1 Cor. 15.25, 27.

8 And when he had taken the Bo [...]k, the four Beasts, and four and twenty Elders [i. e. the Christian, and the Jewish Church, percei­ving th t all Power was now given unto him, of the Father,] fell down before the Lamb, [to worship him] bearing every one of them Harps [to praise him;] and golden Vials [or Bowls to hold In­cense in, 2 Chron. 4.22.] full of ¹³ Odours, which are [i. e. signi­fie] [Page 84] the Prayers [Psalm 141.2.] of Saints [i. e. of the living Crea­tures, and Elders, and all Saints and Members of the pure Church in his Kingdom, Rev. 20.4.]

¹³ The Ascent of the Incense signifies the Ascent of Pray­ers to Heaven; and the Odour of it their Acceptableness with God; for which see Dr. Hammond on the place, and on Luke 1.10. And here Christ appearing for his Saints, as in his Kingdom, makes them Priests to God, by giving them Incense. See Chap. 8.3, 4.20, 6.]

9 And they sung a new Song [of ¹⁴ singular Love and Grati­tude, upon the occasion of Christ's Redemption, and King­dom,] saying, Thou art worthy [and thou alone, Verse 23.] to take the Book, and to open the Seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast re­deemed us to God [i. e. to be his Servants and Worshippers; by thy Blood, out of every Kindred, and Tongue, and People, and Nation [to be a Catholick Church and Kingdom.]

¹⁴ In this sense this Word is taken, Psalm 33.3. Isa. 42.9, 10. But it is rather called a New Song here, because it will have been for a long time out of use, during the Apostacy, which will have perverted the Doctrine of Redemption, and Kingdom of Christ therein celebrated: of which Kingdom there is here given an Appearance and Representation, signified by Musick and Harps, which are the Attendants of it in this Prophecy: Songs and Musick being not made use of in it, but upon some such Pre-appearance, until the Apostasie is at an end; as if du­ring the Absence of the Bridegroom, Mourning were more suit­able for the Church.

10 And hast made us unto [the Service and Glory of] our God, Kings and Priests [i. e. a Priestly Kingdom, Chap. 1.6.] and we shall reign ¹⁵ in the Earth [in thy Kingdom, Rev. 20.4.]

¹⁵ From hence it is plain, that Christ's Kingdom is to be up­on Earth, Rev. 20.4.

[Page 85]11 And I beheld [or, was still in Vision,] and I heard the Voice of many Angels round about the Throne, and [round about] the Beasts, and the Elders, [i. e. the whole Church consisting of Angels, and Men, Christians and Jews, Heb. 12.22, 23, 24.] and the number of them [i. e. of the Angels,] was ten tbousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands [i. e. innumerale, Heb. 12.22.]

12 Saying with a loud Voice [and suitable affection,] worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive [the Acknowledgment and Pos­session of] power [and Authority over all things, especially his Church, Matth. 11.27.28, 18. John 17.2.] and of Riches [i. e. the inheritance of all things, Heb. 1.2.] and of Wisdom [to go­vern his Church, as being the Eternal Wisdom of his Fa­ther, Prov. 3.16.] and [of] strength [to conquer his Enemies;] and honour [from all Creatures] and glory [from his Father, John 17.1, 5.] and blessing [from Angels and Saints, and all creatures, Psalm 145.10, 11. Psalm 148.]

13 And every ¹⁶ Creature [Phil. 2.10.] 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 and Honour and Glory, and Power, be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb [i, e. to God the Father, and his Son Christ,] for ever and ever.

¹⁶ Even inanimatt Creatures are frequently in Scripture cal­led upon to praise God, by a common Figure usual to all Authors and Nations; that because they would praise him, if they could; and are the Objects and Occasions of Praise to Angels and Men; and are under the command of God, and subservient to his Glory, and his Churches good; and because the very Order and Beauty of the Creatures, especially as they shall be in the Restitution of all things, is a Real, and Vir­tual Praising of God. And all Creatures, Saints and Angels themselves, are here brought as making this Acknowledg­ment; to signifie, that God and Christ are the alone Objests of Worship; and not any Creature whatsoever, Exod. 20.4, 5.

[Page 86]14 And the four Beasts [i. e. the Christian Church] said, Amen [to this new Song; i. e. consented, and approved of it] And [after the Christian Church, to shew that they received the clear and explicit Knowledge of Chrisi, from the Christian Church, and to testifie the Agreement there is betwixt the Old and New Testament] the Four and Twenty Elders [i. e. the Jewish Church] fell down and worshipped him ¹⁷ that liveth for ever [i. e. God the Fa­ther.]

¹⁷ Here it is to be observed, that as the Christian Church be­gan (Chap. 4.8, 9.) with Hymns, and Worship to God the Fa­ther; so the Jewish Church here Ends, (after they had joyned with the Christian Church in Praises and Acts of Worship to Christ, who has the same Worship here given him with the Father) with an Act of Worship to the Father; to shew, that as all things are Of Him, so are they also To Him; and His Glory; and that the Kingdom is to be delivered up unto him, and that all things are to be subject unto him, who is All in All, (1 Cor. 15.24-28.) which is signified by their falling down, and worshipping him, in token of their Obedience, and of the Subjection of all things unto him; all Creatures also are as them­selves, bowing, or being subject unto him, in the sense that they praise him, Psal. 2.10, 11.

Annotations on CHAP. VI.

¹ The Seals are as so many Stops and Delays to Christ's Kingdom; and the opening of them signifies, not only the making of the Visions known, wnich before were concealed; whereupon Prophecy is called, a sealed Book; but also the Effect of every Vision, as the Prophet Ezekiel, Chap. 12.23. Phrases it; or the several Steps and Advances made towards the Kingdom of Christ; this being the Book of Christ's Kingdom, whirh he opened, as King, with Power and Au­thority, and by actually effecting the things signified in their due and proper times.

² Hereby is signified the great Power and Efficacy which accompanied the first preaching of the Gospel, whence Mark 3.17. James and John are called the Sons of Thunder; and the utmost Force of God's Power, is called, the Thunder of God's Power, Job 26.14.

³ One, as is usual in this Prophecy, signifies the first of the Beasts, like a Lyon, whose Station being in the Eastern part of the Jewish Camp; hereby is signified the coming forth of the Gospel from Jerusalem, which is in the Eastern parts of the World; whence the Gospel was first preached, and the first Apostolical Church gathered, according to the Pre­diction of the Prophets, Isa. 28.16. Micah 4.2. Acts 2.41-

2 And I saw, and behold [I perceiv'd engraven on the first Roll,] a white ⁴ Horse [signifying the pure and merciful power and con­quest of the Gospel Dispensation, Psal. 45.4.] and he ⁵ [ i. e. [Christ] that sat on him [i. e. who had the Power, and management of that Dispensation;] had a Bow ⁶ [ i. e. the Gospel, Psal. 45.5.] and a Crown was given unto him [as King and Conqueror] and he went forth [from Jerusalem Mic 4.2.] conquering ⁷ [by the efficacy of his Gospel, and his Ministers;] and to conquer [by degrees, un­till the completion of his Kingdom, Psal. 2.6.-8.]

⁴ Horses being a swift and warlike Creature (according to the admirable Description of them given in Job, Chap. 39.) the Scripture does signifie by them, some active and powerful Dispensation of his Providence, brought to pass by his Angels and Ministers; the Nature and Quality of which is denoted by the divers Colours attributed to those Horses; as appears plainly from Zach. 1.8, 10.6.2, 3.10, 3. Now the Dispensation here pointed at, being that of Christ's Kingdom, a ^(a) white Horse is attributed unto him, [Page 89] (1.) to denote his Power; Princes and Honourable Persons being used to Ride, and that on White Beasts; whilst Inferi­ours went on Foot, as appears from Judg. 5.10. Eccles. 10.7. (2.) To signifie the Mercifulness of his Conquest, Psalm 45.4. Zech. 9, 9.10, 3. it being usual for Conquerors to ride on white Horses on the Days of Triumph, Rev. 19.11, 14.

⁵ That Christ is hereby signified, is evident from Rev. 19.11, 12, 13. compared with Psalm 2. and 45. from whence these Symbols are taken.

⁶ As an Archer with his Bow (according to the Descripti­on given by the Psalmist 7, 12.11, 2.) first menaces and threatens at a distance, before he shoots; so Christ first ap­peared with a peaceable Message of Salvation to all who would come in unto him; before he threatned, and executed his Judgments upon the Rebellious Jews and Romans; ac­cording to the Description of his Kingdom, Psalm 2. and 45.

⁷ This refers to the Great Conquests the Gospel gained by the Ministry of the Apostles; and this first Seal seems to be plainly contemporary with the Ephesine Succession, in its first State, when their Works and Love was great, and their Preach­ing powerful as Thunder; which is to be dated from Christ's Resurrection, A. D. 33. when he gave Commission to his Dis­ciples to conquer, by teaching and baptizing all Nations, Matth. 28.18, 19, 20.

3 And when he [i. e. Christ] had opened the second Seal, I ⁸ heard the second ⁹ Beast [or Gospel-Ministry, as yet Apostolical,] ⁸ say, Come and see [what Desolations are coming upon the Earth.]

^{8 8} This living Creature speaks not in Thunder, as the o­ther did, to shew, that the Gospel's Power and Purity was now something abated; Ephesus having soon left its first fervent and intense Love.

⁹ The Ox, whose Station was in the Western Quarter of the Camp.

4 And [the Enemies of Christ, the Jews and Gentiles, having refused to submit entirely to his Kingdom, Psalm 2. and 45.] there went out [from the Western Quarter,] another Horse that was red [de­noting Wars and Effusion of Blood:] and power was given [by Christ,] to him ¹⁰ that sate thereon [i. e. who had the Execution of this Bloody Dispensation;] to take Peace from the ¹¹ Earth [i. e. to en­gage the Men of the World, especially in the Roman Empire, in Wars;] and that they [both Jews and Gentiles;] should kill one ano­ther; and there was given unto him a great Sword [signifying great slaughter in War, Jerem. 16.4. Ezek. 14.21.]

¹⁰ Here the Desolations of the Jews foretold by Daniel, Chap. 9. and by our Saviour in the Gospel, seem plainly to be described: For,

(1.) They were finally compleated by one coming forth from the West; that is, by Trajan and Hadrian, who were Spaniards, under whom they were miserably slaughtered, and almost utterly extirpated. And,

(2.) Those Times were very remarkable for their mutual Slaughters one of another; the Romans killing vast Numbers of the Jews; and the Jews, on the contrary, almost dispeo­pling some of their Provinces; and fighting so obstinately a­gainst Hadrian, that the Conquerour could not boast of the Triumph, his Loss was so great; which is a thing so plain from all History, that we need not quote Authors to testifie it.

This Seal may reach from A. D. 66. when these Desolations began in the War against the Jews, under Nero, by Vespasian and Titus; until the fatal Slaughter and Dispersion of that Nation under Hadrian, who ended his War against them, A. D. 134. and died, A. D. 138. on the Kalends of January; as Mr. Pagi has accurately stated this Account.

¹¹ By Earth here is meant the Kings of the Earth, who were Enemies to Christ, the Jews and Gentiles, as Peter has explain­ed David, Acts 4.25-27.

5 And when he had opened the third Seal, I heard the third ¹² Beast [or Apostolical Ministry,] ¹³ say, Come and see, [and mark dili­gently what you see and hear, Verse 6.] And I beheld, and lo, a black ¹⁴ Horse [i. e. a sad, and a severe Dispensation:] and he ¹⁴ that sate on him [or had the Execution of that Dispensation;] had a pair of ¹⁴ Ballances in his hand [to signifie strict, and impartial Ju­stice.]

¹² Like a Man, whose Station was in the South.

¹³ Here is no mention of Thunder, for the Reason given be­fore, Numb. 8.8.

^{14 14 14} A pair of Ballances is the common and most appo­site Emblem of Justice; and by a Black Horse cannot be sig­nified a Famine, as is evident from what will be said on the following Verse; although Blackness be reckoned as the Ef­fect of it, Lament. 5.10. And therefore it is most agreeable, that some sad Dispensation, and severe state of things should be signified by it; according to the Acceptation of Blackness, Job 30.30. Psalm 119.83. With which Emblems the Hi­story of the Times succeeding the Desolations of the Jews un­der Hadrian, does wonderfully conspire; which reach from A. D. 138. when Hadrian died, in whom the former Seal ended, unto A. D 235. when Alexander Severus was killed on the 14th of March, which seems to be the Extent of this Seal.

For (1.) Septimius Severus was an African; whose Coun­trey lay to the South; the Station of the Third Living Crea­ture, which spake at the opening of this Seal. And he being the first and only Emperour, that ever came from that Coun­trey; why may not that unusual Choice be more particular­ly hinted at by the Black Horse he rod on; Horses of that co­lour [Page 92] being extremely valued by the Africans (as Bochar­tus ^(a) has observed) out of their Resemblance to their own swarthy Complexion; and because of their strength and firmness? And of this kind, perhaps, was that Great and Couragious Horse, which stoopt to take him up, and car­ried him into the Forum, after he had thrown his Predecessor Pertinax, in an Ominous Dream; related by ^* Herodian. Which Observation, howsoever, may serve to illustrate the Apocalyptical Symbol here made use of; it being taken for granted by the Expositors of Dreams at that time, that a Horse signifies Imperatorial Power.

(2.) There happened in his time, viz. A. D. 202. a bloo­dy and a long ^(b) persecution, continuing until after his Death, which was on the 4th of Feb. A. D. 211. of which a Black Horse is a fit Emblem; Blackness being the Symbol of Perse­cutions, and Calamitous Dispensations in Scripture; as Cantic. 1.5. Zech. 6.2, 6.

3. This Emperour was very Cruel, and a Great and a Terrible Conquerour, of a very Rigid and Rough Disposition; and very strict and impartial in Administration of Justice, and Punishment of Delinquents; which are Qualities very pro­perly represented by Blackness, and a pair of Ballances; espe­cially if we consider that this Age was the Age of Lawyers, in which Papinian and Ʋlpian flourished, and were advanced to the highest Dignities, under Septimius Severus, and A­lexander Severus, the Son of Mamoea, whose strict Justice, and Severity against Offenders, and excellent Laws, are Fa­mous in all History: So that the Symbols of a Ballance, and the Voice from the midst of the Beasts, cannot but belong al­so unto him, in a most particular manner, who was also a [Page 93] great Warriour. And the Beast appearing at the opening of this Seal, having the Resemblance of a Man, which signifies Humanity, Reason, and Prudence; the excellent Race of the Antonines, famous for those Qualities, may be very well in­cluded in the Period of this Seal; there having been an ad­mirable Succession of Emperours (excepting Commodus, and Heliogabalus, whose Reign was short,) from Hadrian, in whom the former Seal ended, unto Alexander Severus, of whom the Ballance was a proper Emblem, his Motto being that Epitome of Justice, Do as you would be done by; and who was also very favourable to the Christians.

6 And I heard a Voice ¹³ in the midst of the Four Beasts [i. e. from Christ in his Apostolical Church, Chap. 5. 6.] say, A ¹⁵ Measure of Wheat for a penny, and Three Measures of Barley for a penny [i. e. let exact care be observed about necessary Food for eating;] and see thou hurt [or diminish] not the Oil and the Wine [i e. let no Fraud be used in Drinks and ¹⁶ Medicines]

¹⁵ A Famine cannot be here described; because, that scar­city could not be great, where Barley and Wheat were not wanting; nor even Wine and Oyl, which are rather the Com­forts of Life, than the Necessaries: And therefore this Verse refers to the strict Justice, and diligent Care observed by Se­verus and Alexander, about publick Provisions; for which they are signally remarkable in History.

But this Voice being heard so remarkably, amongst the Four Beasts; that is, as spoken by Christ, who is represented as in the midst of them, Chap. 5.6. seems to intimate something relating to Christ's Church, and that very remarkable; which I shall endeavour to explain, by what is offered by Dr. Be­verley, a Person of deep thought, and of great insight in these matters.

He thinks then, that by the Ballances in the Rider's hand, is figured Christ's weighing the Churches Purity in the exact Ballances of the Sanctuary; according to what is prophesi­ed [Page 94] of him, by Ezekiel, Chap. 25.9, 10-25. that he (the Prince) shall take care in the New Jerusalem state there pre­figured, that their Oblations, or Worship, shall be exact, ac­cording to the Old Standard of the Sanctuary, from which they had swerved; of which Worship, or Daily Service, Wheat, Oyl and Wine are the Symbols, they being the con­stant Attendants of the Daily Sacrifice; as appears from Exod. 29.40. Numb. 28.7. Barley also denoting the Christian Oblation in the Sacrament, and their Praises and Thanksgi­vings; because Barley was used in no Oblation, (except in that of the suspected Wife, Numb. 5.15.) but in the Oblation of the First Fruits of their Harvest, Lev. 23.9. which was a Type of the Christian Eucharistical Oblations, as Mr. ^* M [...]de has shewn.

And (2dly,) He thinks, that the whole Time of the Seals, is, as it were, weighed in the Two Scales of this Ballance; the one half of it, being run out at the time when these Bal­lances appeared to wit, A. D. 235. when Alexander Severus's Death put an End to this Seal; for the first Seal beginning at the Resurrection, A. D. 33. if you add to that 202 years, the Moyety of the whole Seals, the first half-Time will fall upon the year 235. the other half extending to 437 where he dates the beginning of the 1260 Years of the Apostasie; which will be made out more fully in the Process of these Annotati­ons.

¹⁶ Wine and Oyl were also used in the curing of Wounds, and for Medicines, Isa. 1.6. Luke 10.34.

7 And when he had opened the fourth Seal, I heard the Voice of the fo [...]rth Beast, ¹⁷ say come and see [what Judgments God will bring upon the Heathen Empire for their impenitence.]

¹⁷ The Church continues still Apostolical, because the Li­ving Creature still speaks; although the Thunder, or mighty Power and Efficacy of the Gospel was departed from it. And the Apostolical Ministry here calls upon him to consider, the Obstinacy and Impenitency of the Pagan Empire, notwithstand­ing the Gospel had been preached amongst them for so long a time, and that therefore God had resolved utterly to destroy them, after he had tried, whether he could reclaim them by his severe Judgments; amongst whom yet he preserved a Remnant of Christians to be a Holy Seed; according to God's Denunciations in a parallel Case, Ezek. 14.12-23.

Now the voices of the living Creatures, or of the Apo­stolical Representatives of the Christian Church still conti­nuing, we may reasonably conclude that the Ephesine or A­postolical Succession lasted during these four first Seals: a­mongst the Apostolical Ministry of which Succession we may justly reckon, not only the Apostles and Apostolical Men; but the Primitive Writers and Witnesses of these times, from Justin Martyr, to Origen; who by their Apologies, exem­plary Lives and Deaths, and Learned Writings, Justified the Christian Religion, confuted Judaism and Paganism, and called upon the Empire to Repent; many of them foretel­ing its fall, and the rise of Antichristianism upon it, and speaking plainly concerning the Thousand Years Kingdom of Christ; for which, see Mr. Mede, Dr. Burnet's Theory of the Earth, and Dr. Cressener.

8 And I looked and beheld a ¹⁸ pale Horse [i. e. great slaughter and mortality,] and his Name that sat thereon was Death; and Hell [or, the grave] followed with him [as his Attendant;] and power was given unto them over the fourth ¹⁹ part of the Earth [i. e. the Roman Empire;] to kill with the Sword [i. e. by War] and with Hunger [i e. by Famine] and with Death [i. e. by the Pestilence, Jer. 9.21.] and with the Beasts of the Earth.

¹⁸ The State of the Empire, from Maximin to Diocletian; that is, from A. D. 235. to A. D. 284. is here plainly Chara­cterised.

For (1.) Maximin was a Thracian, whose Countrey lay Northward, according to the Station of the Fourth Beast, the Eagle.

(2.) In that small space of time, there were above Twenty Emperours (not reckoning the Thirty Tyrants under Gallie­nus,) most of them very short-lived, and coming to untimely Ends; which is very appositely represented by Death's sitting upon a pale Horse, instead of a Rider.

(3.) Besides the persecution of the Christians, the whole Roman Empire was then grievously harrass'd by Cruel and Barbarous Emperours, by Civil VVars, and Forreign Invasions; the Persi­ans and Asiatick Scythians breaking in upon the Eastern part of the Empire; and the Goths about the same time invading the Western, after a most terrible manner; about the beginning of the Reign of Gallus A. D. 251. ^(a) or 252. as Zozimus observes.

(4.) In this Period there was a dreadful Plague, that last­ed for Fifteen Years together; which beginning in Aethiopia, went through most of the Provinces of the Roman Empire: upon the occasion of which Cyprian wrote his Books de Mor­talitate, and against Demetrian, where that Holy Gospel-Wit­ness, attributes that Mortality to the impiety and persecution of the Pagans, and not to the Innocent Religion of the Christi­ans; and seriously exhorts the Heathens to a speedy Repentance. And there was a Famine also, as Dionysius ^(b) Alexandrinus testifies, who lived at that time: After which Desolations, it was a frequent thing in those Countries for the Wild Beasts to ravage, and to break in into their very Cities, and commit [Page 97] great Slaughters; which is a Judgment threatned in Scrip­ture, Lev. 26.22. Deut. 32.24. Ezek. 14.15.

¹⁹ The Roman Empire seems to be called the [...], The Fourth of the Earth, because it was the Fourth Earthly Monarchy prophesied of by Daniel; after which, the Heavenly Kingdom was to be set up. See on, Chap. 8.7.

9 And when he [i. e. the Lamb Christ.] had opened ²⁰ the fifth Seal; I saw under the Altar ²¹ [of sacrifice, Lev. 4.7. i. e. under the Power, in the presence of, and in Communion with God and Christ;] the Souls of them [see on Chap. 20.4.] that were slain for the word of God, and for the Testimony which they held [i e. the Chri­stian Martyrs, especially under Diocletian. Chap. 2, 10.20, 4.]

²⁰ The Beasts Voice, or the Apostolick Ministry here cea­ses; to shew, that Satan's Synagogue was now rising in the Smyrnaean Succession; upon the Honours paid to Martyrs un­der this Seal.

²¹ When Altar is put indefinitely, the Altar of Sacrifice is usually understood; where the Blood of the Sacrifice was wont to be poured out: and by being under the Altar, is signified the happy state of Martyrs under the protection, and in the pre­sence of God and Christ, as appears from Heb. 13.10. Colos. 3.3, 4. compared with 2 Maccab. 7.36. Psalm 27.5. Phil. 2.17. And here is given a plain Character of this Seal; from the Voice of the Blood of the Martyrs, and from the change of Things immediately following it in the next Seal; whereby is evidently signified the great Persecution under Diocletian, whereupon the Aera Martyrum was instituted; and the over­throw of Paganism under Constantine; from whence also it is very manifest, that the Smyrnaean Succession is contemporary with this Seal, from the like appearances, Chap. 2.10.

10 And they ²² cryed [instead of the Apostolical Voices;] with a loud Voice [thereby shewing their Number, their Zeal, and the importance of their Complaint;] saying, How long, O Lord [Christ,] holy [and therefore hateing Cruelty and Bloodshed;] [Page 98] and true [to thy promises of avenging thy people, Luke 18.7, 8.] dost thou not judge and avenge our Blood [to vindicate thy Honour and thy Truth,] on them that dwell on the Earth [i. e. the Pagan Em­pire; for our Persecution has been long and cruel, Revel. 2.10.]

²² As Abel's Blood did, Gen. 2.10. Heb. 12.24.

11 And white Robes [denoting Reward, Honour and Purity, Chap. 3.4.] were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet [in quiet, patiently expecting the time of God's Vengeance;] for a little season, until their Fellow Servants al­so, and their Brethren [in Christ] that should be killed, as they were, should be fullfilled ²³ [ i. e. until the Times, and the Number of Martyrs determined by God, should be compleated.]

²³ Hereby is signified the Martyrdoms which were to fol­low under Licinius, Julian, the Arrians, and the Apostasie, until God's signal and last Vengeance, upon the Antichristian Tyranny, under the Vials.

12 And I beheld, when he had opened the Sixth Seal, and lo there was a great Earth-quake ²⁴ [ i. e. a great commotion, and a strange change of Affairs, Hag. 2.6, 7. Heb. 12.26] and the Sun ²⁵ [ i. e. the chief God of the Pagans, and the Heathen Emperour the chief Magistrate;] became black ²⁶ as sackcloath of hair [Isa. 50.3.] and the Moon [i. e. the next in dignity,] became as ²⁷ Blo [...]d [i. e. were Eclypsed, and lost their former Glory.]

²⁴ It will not be altogether unseasonable to remark in this place, what ^* Socrates, the Ecclesiastical Historian, notes from frequent Observation, that Earthquakes are the Signs and Forerunners of Changes, and Commotions in the Church.

²⁵ Here by Metaphors taken from the Prophetical Descrip­tions of the Day of Judgment, and the last Conflagration of the World, (to which several of them seem plainly to re­fer, as Dr. Burnet has observed in his ingenious Theory of the Earth; and when the things described here by several Pro­phetical [Page 99] Accumulations, shall be fully verified.) God's Judg­ments under Constantine, and his Successors, upon the Heathen Religion, and Empire, are set out unto us: Although the Po­litical World being described in Scripture by Metaphors taken from the Natural, (as appears from Isa. 51.16. Dan. 8.10.) the Heavens here may denote what is superiour in it, and the Earth what is inferiour: and the Sun may be taken for the Supreme in the State, the Moon for the next, and the Stars for those which are next in order unto them; according to the Ancient Symbolical, and Hieroglyphical Learning of the Eastern Nations, of which we have an Example, Gen. 37.9, 10. Where Joseph's Dream concerning the Sun, Moon, and Stars, is interpreted by Jacob, of himself, as Father, and Chief of the Family; of his Wife as next, and of his Chil­dren as subject unto them. And Sun, Moon and Stars, Hills and Mountains, being the Objects, and Places of Idolatry; Hereby may be also signified the final Overthrow of Pagan I­dolatry; as well as of the Pagan Civil Powers.

²⁶ A Metaphor taken from an Eclipse, in which the Sun appears black; and the Moon of a dark Red, like black Blood.

13 And the Stars of Heaven [i. e. the inferiour Deities, and Ma­gistrates;] fell unto the Earth [i. e. were cast out, and displaced by the mighty Power of God;] even as a Figtree casteth her untimely Figs [Nahum. 3.12.] when she is shaken of a mighty wind [e.e. as easily, and in as great abundance, Isa. 34.4.]

14 And the Heaven [i. e. the whole superior State of the Hea­then World Civil and Religious,] departed ²⁷ [out of sight] as a scroll that is rolled together [so that they could not be seen;] i. e. they had no Authority, nor Esteem,] and every Mountain [i. e. all the places of Idolatry, and of great strength and security, Isa. 2.14-18. Jerem. 51.25. Zech. 4.7.] and Island, ²⁸ [ i. e. all their Provinces and Places beyond the Seas;] were moved out of their pla­ces [i. e. the Government and Religion of them was changed and overturned.]

²⁷ A Metaphor from the Ancient Manner of Writing up­on [Page 100] one long Scroll; which being rolled up, according to their Custom, what was written in it could not be seen.

²⁸ The Jews called all Maritime Places Islands; and all pla­ces beyond the Mediterranean. Consult the Interpreters on Gen. 10.5. and Mr. ^* Mede. And hereby is meant, that no places escaped, altho never so strong or remote.

15 And the Kings ²⁹ of the Earth [i. e. the supreme Powers sub­ject to the Roman Empire, Isa. 10.8. Acts 4.26.] and the great men [or Nobles, Dan. 4.36. Mark 6.21.] and the rich men, and the chief Captains, and the mighty men, [or Soldiers, Judg. 5.22] and every bond man, and every free man [i. e. all of every rank and quality] hid themselves [for fear. Isa. 2.19.] in the dens and rocks of the Mountains [i. e. the most secret, and most inaccessible places, Judg. 6.2.]

²⁹ Here, by an enumeration of the several Ranks and De­grees of Men (according to the Scripture-Phrase), all the Members of the Roman Empire are reckoned up.

From a due consideration of these Six Seals, it will be ma­nifest that they are Synchronous with the two first Churches, ending in that of Smyrna; when that Period received a Crown of Life under Constantine and his Successors.

16 And said to the mountains and rocks fall on us, and hide us [altho by crushing us in pieces, Isa. 2.19.-21. Hos. 10.8.] from the face [or anger] of him that sitteth on the Throne [i. e. God] and from the wrath of the Lamb, [i. e. Christ; that we may not see and feel the misery which is coming upon us.]

17 For the great ³⁰ day of his wrath [i. e. the appointed time of his Judgments] is come; and who shall be able to stand [against it, oppose, or endure it.]

³⁰ This immediately refers to the overthrow of the Pagan Powers by the Christian Empire; and has also a relation to the final Judgments upon Antichrist; when the Martyrs, [Page 101] who are commanded to rest until that time, shall be fully avenged; this Judgment upon Paganism, by the Christian Empire, being a Type of the Judgment at Christ's King­dom.

Annotations on CHAP. VII.

¹ The Living Creatures do not appear, but Angels in their stead; and they standing on the Angles of the Earth, and not on the Angles of the Throne, as the living Creatures did; whereby is signified that the strict Apostolical Purity was a­bated, as I have often remarked; as the Glory of God, and the living Creatures in Ezekiel remove by degrees from the Temple, as it grew more and more polluted, until they departed totally from it. Read, and diligently Consider, Exek. 8.4, 6.9, 3.10, 15-19 11, 23.

² Hereby is signified the Quiet which the Christian Em­pire enjoyed from Constantine to Theodosius, in respect of what Commotions were before in the Empire, whilst it was Pagan; and should be afterwards upon the Death of Theodo­sius; when its Ruin soon ensued, upon the Winds blowing by the Trumpets, Chap. 8. For by the Winds not blowing, is not meant, that they should have no Troubles and Com­motions, but (according to the usual import of such Hyper­bolical Expressions in Scripture) that they should be so little, or short (as the Tempest under Julian was) that they should be, in comparison, nothing at all: especially in respect of those Commotions the Empire was to undergo within a short season; which would produce great Changes in it; by in­troducing a New Antichristian Supremacy with Ten Kings; whereby the Monarchick Power of the Empire (according to its Representation in Daniel), shifted from its Iron Legs into its Feet and Toes, part of Iron, part of Clay; and the Idolatrous Beastian Power was to pass into the Little Horn, and the Ten Horns; all which being to be brought to pass by great Concussions in the Empire; its present State under Christian Emperours is accounted a Calm, in respect of what was to ensue; the Pagan Beast being then subdued; and the Antichristian Man of Sin being withheld; so that Christianity was then, as it were, in a quiet and prosperous condition.

^{3 3 3} The whole Body of the Roman Empire, is here re­presented by apt Metaphors taken from those things which are most subject to be disturbed with Winds.

2 And I saw another Angel, ⁴ ascending from the East [i. e. Christ] having the ⁵ Seal of the Living God [i. e. a Commission from him, Ezek. 9.4.] and he cried with a loud voice [to testify his Love and Affection to his chosen ones;] to the four Angels, to whom it was given [by God, who had determined great changes in the Em­pire;] to hurt [by executing of Judgments] the Earth and the Sea [vers. 1.]

⁴ Christ is called, the Angel of the Covenant, Malach. 3.1. and the Sun of Righteousness, Malach. 4.2. and the Day­spring, or rising Sun from the East, Luke 1.78. and Ezek. 44.2.3. the Prince of the Church; that is, Christ, and only he, has Power to enter in at the Eastern Gate of that Mysti­cal Temple; from whence it is clear, that Christ is here to be understood; called so, because he enlightens and comforts his Church; and, like the Rising Sun, discovers Works of Darkness, and the good from the bad. See Dr. Hammond on Luke 1.78. Gregory's Observations, pag. 73. and Dr. Pocock on Malachi.

⁵ A Seal signifies a Command, or a Commission, from its be­ing sealed with the King's Seal, 1 Kings 21.8. Esth. 3, 12.8, 8, 10.

3 Saying, hurt not the Earth, neither the Sea or the Trees, [i. e. the Empire, and its Inhabitants] till we have ⁶ sealed [or shall seal i. e preserve and secure in secret, Ezek. 9.1.-4.] the servants of ⁷ our God [i. e. those who serve God purely and sincerely, Nehem. 1.11.] in their ⁸ foreheads [i. e. very closely and securely.]

⁶ Men use to Seal those things, which they would have concealed, and preserved (as we have before hinted on Chap. 5. 1.) especially in times of danger; so God com­manded the Israelites to sprinkle Blood upon their Posts, when he would save them; whereby, as with a Seal, he concealed and preserved them, Exod. 12. and the Scarlet Thread, Josh. 2.18. was a Sign or Seal to distinguish Rahab from those that perished; and Ezek. 9. a Mark or Seal of Distinction, Security and Preservation is put upon the Fore­heads of those that were to be saved in that common Destru­ction.

And the prime and great import of Sealing, is to signifie, that the True Glory which shall appear in Christ's Kingdom, the New Jerusalem; was to be covered, and secured, while the false, and worldly Splendor and Glory of the Antichri­stian [Page 104] Apostasie, was cheifly visible and predominant, the True Worshippers being now in the Temple, the Witnesses in Sackcloath, and the Woman in the Wilderness; which are all equivalent with these sealed ones.

⁷ Christ as Mediator, and Head of the Church, has a joynt Relation to God with his faithful Servants, John 20.17.

⁸ In allusion to the Custom of the Eastern Nations, who marked their Servants on the Forehead: And hereby is signi­fied a close concealment and security, when the Foreheads, or Faces of his Servants are sealed, or hid; so that they could not be known.

4 And I heard [and therefore am certain of what I relate;] the number of them which were sealed [or concealed, and secured] and there were sealed, an ⁹ hundred forty and four thousand, of all the Tribes of Israel, [ i e a pure, Apostolical Church was preserved, but in a hidden and secret condition; the glorious appearance of Christ's King­dom being stopped and hindred.]

⁹ Israel, in this Book (as hath been before observed, on Chap. 2.9.) is put for the pure Christian Church, propagated from the Twelve Apostles; as the Israelitish Church was from the Twelve Patriarchs. And the Number 144000. is a square Number, arising out of Twelve, the square Root of it, deno­ting the Apostolical Doctrine to be the Root (Twelve times Twelve Thousand amounting to One Hundred and Forty Four Thousand) and Foundation of the Church; and that the pure Church is a square Body; because,

(1.) It can admit of no other Foundation than that of the Apostles; as this square Number can admit of no other Root than Twelve: that is, it can be produced by no other Num­ber multiplied into it self; which is what is meant by a square Root in Arithmetick.

(2.) Because the Church is to be built in all After-Ages, upon this Doctrine, multiplied by it self only; as the square Number arises from the Root multiplied into it self. And [Page 105] this is not to be accounted a groundless Fancy; but is no small part of the Knowledge of the Eastern Nations, in which Solomon, and Moses were skilled; who were wont to wrap up Mysteries in Hieroglyphicks, and Numbers, that they might be hid from the Vulgar, and known only by Persons fitted and capacitated for them; and at suitable Times and Opportunities; it not being convenient that some Truths should lie exposed to all, and at all Seasons. And according­ly it hath pleased God, for the same Reasons; and that Hu­mane Search and Diligence might be exercised and encoura­ged; to make use of the same way of Concealment; to shew that all Humane Knowledge is to be subservient to Divine, and to his Church: Whereupon he hath made frequent use of the Number Twelve, in things pertaining to his People and the Church; the Patriarchs being Twelve, the Tribes Twelve, the Gates of Jerusalem Twelve, and the Apostles Twelve; and the Measures of the New Jerusalem being a­dapted to this Number; for the Reasons before hinted, and for others, which we shall have a fitter occasion to mention hereafter. See the Notes on Chap. 1.20. and 20, 4.

By these sealed ones, are meant a pure Apostolical Church, preserved from the time of Constantine, under the Calami­ties of the Empire; and during the continuance of the Apo­stasy; so as to be Witnesses against it, but in a hidden and concealed Condition.

For (1.) They are said to be sealed; that is, preserved, (as we have shewn) but in a hidden Condition; as the Law is commanded to be bound up, and sealed, Isa. 8.16. and the Words of Prophecy to be closed up, and sealed, Dan. 12.4, 9. And the Church is said to be a Spring shut up, and a Fountain sealed, Canticl. 4.12. of which the Seven Thousand, which God had reserved to himself in secret, and had preserved from the Idolatry of Baal, 1 Kings 19.18. are a Type.

[Page 106](2.) This sealing immediately follows the Downfall of Pa­ganism under Constantine, at the opening of the Sixth Seal in the former Chapter; whereby is signified, that some great danger was then near, that Christ should seal and secure his True Church, so soon after their Delivery from Persecution. And the History of those Times clearly testifie, that the True Spirit of Christianity soon decayed, upon the Peace, Ho­nours, Priviledges, and Prosperity which the Church then enjoyed; and that the excessive Veneration they had for Saints and Martyrs, gave Rise to the Apostasie; upon which the pure Church became sealed; that is, shut up and concealed; and a stop was put to its appearance in that true spiritual Glo­ry, which it shall have under Christ's Kingdom; for its degene­rating by degrees into a Satanical Synagogue. For sealing de­notes also the Hindrances and Lets which Christ's Kingdom has met with, by its being over-powered by the Apostasie; which at last advancing to a Throne, wholly covered and hid it in an obscure and sealed State, no Church being at last visi­ble, but the Apostatized one.

(3.) It appears from the Third Verse, that the time of this sealing lasted from Constantine, until the sounding of the first Trumpet; i. e. until the Irruptions of the barbarous Nations after the Death of Theodosius the Great; during which time the Apostolical Church was under a continual sealing; i. e. its Visible State was daily obscured and covered; until at last by the destruction of the Empire; and the rise of the Apostasy upon it; it was closely sealed up in an invisible State.

5 Of the ¹⁰ Tribe of Judah ¹¹ were sealed twelve thousand. Of the Tribe of Reuben ¹² were sealed twelve thousand. Of the Tribe of Gad ¹³ were sealed twelve thousand.

¹⁰ The Number of each Tribe is particularised, and deter­mined; to shew, that the Members, of God's pure Church, are [Page 107] not chosen casually, and at all Adventures; but are determi­ned by God, and that out of every Tribe, or part of the Ca­tholick Church. And the Numbers of each Tribe are equal; viz. Twelve Thousand to each; to shew, that each particu­lar Church is to be Apostolical in the profession of the entire and perfect Doctrine delivered to them; and that they are to be firm and stable in themselves; which is the ^(a) Mysti­cal signification of a Cubical ^(b) Number, such as the Chi­liads, or Thousands are, out of which each Tribe con­sists.

¹¹ It is the Opinion of Mr. Mede, that the Nature, Quali­ties, and Circumstances of the pure Church, are included in the true Scripture-import, and mystical meaning of the Names of the several Tribes; which I shall therefore, in submission to his Opinion, insist upon more particularly; because there is good ground in ^(c) Scripture for such Mystical Allusions, taken from Names. Judah is placed first; because the Go­vernment was given to him in David; and Christ came of that Tribe; which, for the Generality, kept to the publick Worship of God, and the Rightful Kingly Succession, when the others had cast it of, Hos. 11.12. 1 Chron. 5.2. Heb. 7.14.

His Name signifies Confession, or Praise, (Gen. 29, 35.49, 8.) whereby is signified, that the pure Church ought to pay a Eucharistical Service of Praise and Thanksgiving to God; and confess him openly and publickly in his Worship.

¹² Reuben is the next, because although he lost his Birth-right for defiling his Father's Bed ( Gen. 49.4. 1 Chron. 5.1.) yet he shewed great Courage, together with Gad, in that [Page 108] Noble Resolution they made of passing over Jordan, ready Armed before their Brethren, Numb. 32. The Name signi­fies, See the Son, whom God out of his ^(a) Mercy sent, when he saw, and had a respect unto our Afflictions, Gen. 29.32. Whereby is intimated, that the Church ought to look up un­to Christ in their afflicted State, as God did upon them, in their desperate Condition, when he sent his Son to redeem them.

¹³ Gad signifies a Troop, as is plain from Gen. 30.11. com­pared with Gen. 49.19. called so, because that being situa­ted on the Borders of the Countrey, it was to be always rea­dy in Arms; and so should sometimes be overcome by its E­mies; but should at last overcome them: whereby the State of the Church Militant, and of the Future Victorious State of the Kingdom of Christ, notwithstanding its many seeming Foils and Delays of Conquest, is fitly typified.

6 Of the Tribe of ¹⁴ Aser were sealed twelve Thousand, of the Tribe of ¹⁵ Nepthali were sealed twelve Thousand, of the Tribe of ¹⁶ Manas­ses were sealed twelve Thousand.

¹⁴ Asher signifies blessed, because he was the cause that his Mother was accounted happy and blessed, Gen. 30.13. and because he lived in a fruitful and happy Soil, Gen. 49.20. Deut. 33.24. Whereby is signified the Delight which Christ has in his Church; the Fruitfulness of it; and the Blessing which they enjoy, who have God for their Lord, Psalm 144.12-15.

¹⁵ This is the Tribe in which our Saviour was very conver­sant, his constant Residence being in Galilee, and most fre­quently in Capernaum, a City of Galilee, in the Tribe of Nep­thali, as Mr. Mede has ingeniously observed; upon which ac­count [Page 109] Nepthali is placed before his Seniors, and has received so great an Encomium from Moses, Deut. 33.23. The Word signifies, Gen. 30.8. very great and vehement wrestlings, or Endeavours, joyned with ^(a) Skill and Cunning; or Fair Words, Gen. 49.21. By which may be signified the frequent Wrestlings of the Church with God in Prayer ( Gen. 32.24-32. Hos. 12.3, 4) and their wrestling against Flesh and Blood, and resisting the Wiles of the Devil, and the Powers of Darkness, with a prudent Simplicity, joyning the Wisdom of the Serpent with the Harmlesness of the Dove.

¹⁶ Manasseh signifies forgetting; whereby is intimated, that God makes all true Christians forget all their former Toil, when he gives them Comfort and Joy in the Holy Ghost; and that whosoever would follow him, must forget and for­sake all his Father's House, and worldly Relations; which seems to be the Gospel-import of the Words of Joseph, Gen. 41.51. and the thing for which Levi is praised, Deut. 33.9.

7 Of the Tribe of Simeon ¹⁷ were sealed Twelve Thousand, of the Tribe of ¹⁸ Levi were sealed Twelve Thousand, of the Tribe of ¹⁹ Issa­char were sealed Twelve Thousand.

¹⁷ Simeon signifies Hearing; whereby is noted, that God hears the Prayers of his Church; and the Hatred with which their Enemies hate them, Gen. 29.33.

¹⁸ Levi indeed had no portion in the Division of the Land (as Dr. Hammond notes), yet in Christ their Portion was as good as any. Levi signifies joyned; for the Church, Christ's Spouse, is to be joyned unto the Lord, in Spirit and Fervent Affection, and not unto Idolatrous Harlots; which is the Spi­ritual meaning of the Book of Canticles. Read Gen. 29.34. 1 Cor. 6.16, 17. Eph. 5.25-33. Deut. 33.9.

¹⁹ Issachar signifies, Gen. 30 17, 18. a Hire, or Reward gi­ven by God; as appears from the Context; from whence ^(a) Philo, makes him to be the Type of One whose Labours are Crowned and Rewarded by God; and that (as ^(b) Je­rome remarks) with a great Compensation for slight and small Performances, of no greater Value than Mandrakes: by which the Rich Rewards which God bestows upon his Church, for their imperfect Services, may be not unfitly set forth.

8 Of the Tribe of ²⁰ Zabulon were sealed Twelve Thousand, of the Tribe of ²¹ Joseph were sealed Twelve Thousand, of the Tribe of ²² Ben­jamin were sealed Twelve Thousand.

²⁰ Zabulon signifies Dwelling, Gen. 30.20. which was the Tribe upon the Borders of which our Saviour himself dwelt, Matth. 4.13. from which place, diligently compa­red with Isa. 9.1. it may be gathered, that they shall have the greatest share of Christ's Presence, who have undergone the greatest Misery and Afflictions; and that he will come and dwell with the ignorant, but humble person, rather than with self-conceited and proud Professors; as Christ dwelt with the ignorant Galileans, rather than at Jerusalem; whe­ther he went not but upon some solemn Occasions. See Mr. Mede upon this place; and Isa. 57.15. John 14.23. Matth. 9.13.

²¹ Joseph signifies, He will add, or adding, Gen. 10.24. for God daily adds to his Church more Blessings, and conti­nues his Grace to those who pray unto him, and use their own diligent Endeavours, Gen. 30, 22.49, 22-26. Deut. 33.12-17.

²² Benjamin signifies, the Son of the Right Hand, Genes. 35.18. For the Church, which was Benoni, or the Son of Sorrows unto Christ, as being purchased by his Sufferings and Blood; is yet unto him, and his Father, a Benjamin; that is, much loved and regarded, as the Phrase is interpreted, Deut. 33.12▪ as near and dear to him as the Right Hand, the most Honourable of the Two; Upon which account, the people of Israel are called, the Men of God's right hand, Psal. 80.17.

And we may observe, that Dan is here wholly left out, and Ephraim not mentioned by Name, because they both soon apostatized to Idolatry; it being a Custom amongst the Jews to leave out of their Genealogies and Chronologies the Names and Times of Wicked Persons; as Er and Onan, Judah's wic­ked Sons, are omitted by ^(a) Josephus, when he reckons up his Posterity.

And altho they are mentioned in Ezekiel, yet that was when the whole Church was purified, and in its Jerusalem State; where­as at this present time of Numbring, Dan and Ephraim were the Types of the Apostasie; and were therefore to be omitted; and not to be mentioned, but when the Righteous amongst them had been purified, and the Wicked had been purged a­way by God's Judgments.

9 ²³ After this [Vision of the Apostolical Church secured and concealed;] I beheld, and lo a great multitude, which no man could number, of all Nations, and Kingdoms, and People, and Tongues [i. e. the ²⁴ Catholick Church of Christ's Kingdom, Dan. 7.14, 27.] stood before the Throne, and before the Lamb [in communion with God, and Christ in his Ki [...]gdom;] cloathed with white Robes, [de­noting Honour and Purity,] and ²⁵ Palms in their Hands [denoting Victory over Persecutions and Temptations, and the Triumphs of Christ's Kingdom.]

²³ The following Vision is taken from the Descriptions gi­ven in this Prophecy of the New Jerusalem State in Christ's Kingdom, to which only it can, in propriety of Speech, be­long; as appears from the many high Expressions made use of in it; and from the Elders (the Representatives of the Jew­ish Church) having the Precedency; which will not be until the New Jerusalem State. And yet because that Kingdom is not to come until the Days of the Voice of the Seventh Angel, (who has not yet sounded) therefore this Description can­not belong to the Kingdom it self, but to some Typical Re­semblance, or Pre-appearance of it: it being usual in this Pro­phecy (as I have already observed) for the Spirit to describe the several Praeludia, or faint Resemblances, and imperfect Appearances of Christ's Kingdom, by the State of the King­dom it self; to shew what the Church ought and might have arrived to; and that his Kingdom should have appeared of Right at those times; if a stop had not been put to it, ac­cording to the determinate Counsels of God, and Christ's Submission unto them, Dan. 12.7. For the Kingdom of Christ, which should have come in its Glory, upon the As­cension of our Saviour, was retarded by the Times allotted to Paganism, and Antichristianism; and was thereupon delay­ed until the Time of the End, (Dan. 12.) Only Christ at some certain seasons puts in, as it were, his Claim to his Kingdom, by some more than ordinary Appearances of it. Now the Appearance here referred to, seems to be plainly, that of the Christian Church, under the Christian Empire; which was the next remarkable Event after the Fall of Paganism, described at the close of the foregoing Chapter; and was so glorious a one, that it might justly be described by the State of the King­dom it self; Paganism having been overthrown by it, the Church delivered from Persecution, and exalted into an un­expected, and sudden State of Prosperity, and the Man of Sin withheld for some time, 2 Thes. 2.6, 7. And yet be­cxuse this glorious State of things would not continue long in [Page 113] purity, but would be soon corrupted by Pride and Ambiti­on, and by the bringing in of Pagan Rites into the Church, under the Specious Pretences of a well-meaning Prudence, and Zeal: therefore it pleased God, to give an intimation of this early Corruption, by sealing a pure Church, even be­fore he gives the glorious appearance of the Visible Church; that a competent Number of sealed Witnesses might be set a­part, and preserved betimes in purity and integrity; before their Minds could be corrupted by the Glory and Honours of this Exalted Church; and by the Mystery of iniquity, which had been working in secret for a long time, and was advanced to a Satanical Synagogue, even in the foregoing times of Per­secution.

²⁴ Whereby is pointed out the great Number of Professors in the Christian Empire.

²⁵ A Psalm is the Symbol of Victory amongst all Nations; whence in Ezekiel's Vision of the Temple, (Ch. 40, and 41.) Palm Trees are so often mentioned; which signifie the Conquests True Christians are to make over Sin and Persecution, and the Conquest they had now gained over Paganism.

10 And cryed with a loud ²⁶ Voice [to denote the Affectionateness, and the Publick Freedom of their Worship;] saying, ²⁶ Salvation be unto our God [i. e. let the Glory of our Deliverance be ascribed unto him, the sole Author of it, Psalm 3.8. Hos. 13.4.] which sitteth upon the Throne; and unto the Lamb [the sole Purchaser of it; to them alone let it be given, and not unto our own Merits, or any Creature.]

^{26 26} Hereby also is intimated the Publick Freedem of Wor­ship they enjoyed in the Christian Empire; and their Deli­verance from their Persecutors.

[Page 114]11 And all the Angels stood round about the Throne, and about the El­ders, and the four Beasts, and fell before the Throne on their Faces, and worshipped God [i. e. all the whole Church, consisting of Angels, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Jews and Christians, Heb. 12.22-24. joyned in the Praise of God;]

12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and Glory, and Wisdom, and Thanksgi­ving, and Honour, and Power, and Might be unto our God, for ever and e­ver, Amen. [Chap. 4.8-11.5, 11-14.]

13 And one [or the first] of the Elders [or Representatives of the Jewish Church, now fully instructed by the Christian, and one with it,] answered [or said, Matth. 11.25.] saying unto me [to excite my enquiry after a thing worthy of it, and out of a desire to inform me;] what are these that are arrayed in white Robes? and whence came they?

14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest [for I do not, and am desirous to be taught by thee.] And he said unto me, these are they which came out of ²⁷ [the] great Tribulation and have ²⁸ washed their Robes [i. e. their imperfect performances, Luke 15.22. Rev. 19.8.] and made them ²⁹ white [or pure and shining,] in the Blood of the Lamb [Christ; i. e. they are purified, delivered, and rewarded by Gods acceptance of their actions and sufferings, upon Christ's Merits, Isa. 52.1.]

²⁷ With reference to the New Jerusalem State, this Tribu­lation (noted with a double Greek Article, The Tribulation, The Great, to shew the Remarkableness of it) refers to the Days of extraordinary Trouble, mentioned, Dan. 12. Matth. 24. Mark 9. and Luke 21. which shall precede Christ's Kingdom, perhaps at the pouring forth of the seventh Vial, and the Earthquake attending it; from which the Saints shall be de­livered: but with reference to the Christian Empire, it has a relation to the Ten Days Tribulation under Diocletian, menti­oned ( Chap. 2.10.) from which they were delivered by Constantine, and to their Escape from out of the Great Day of God's Wrath against Paganism, Chap. 6.17.

²⁸ These are the Saints and Martyrs who had white Robes given them, Chap. 6.11. and were bid to tarry, in expectati­on of Christ's Kingdom, which they, and their Successors here enjoy: whereby is set forth the Advancement of the before Persecuted Church, and of its Confessors and Wit­nesses.

²⁹ They are made White or Shining by his Blood; as Wooll receives a more Noble and shining Colour by being died in Purple. And here is an Allusion to Joshua's Change of filthy Garments, and his putting on White and Clean Priestly Vest­ments; as these Saints do here in Christ's Kingdom, in which they are Priests unto God and Christ.

15 Threfore [because they persevered under Persecution, and trusted in Christ's Merits,] are they before the Throne of God [in com­munion with him, and under his particular care in a State of Prosperity;] and serve him ³⁰ Day and Night [i. e. continually and inces­santly;] in his Temple [of the New Jerusalem, in the General As­sembly and Church of the First-born;] and he that sitteth on the Throne [i. e. God,] shall dwell among them [or pitch his Tent amongst them; i. e. they shall be his people, and he will afford them his continual Presence, Conduct aad Defence, Isa. 4. Ezek. 48.35. John 1.14. Rev. 3, 12.21, 3. 2 Cor. 6.16. Levit. 26.12.]

³⁰ A Metaphor taken from the constant Service and Atten­dance of the Priests and Levites in the Temple; some of which were always present in it Day and Night, 1 Chron. 9.33. Psal. 135.1, 2. Luke 2.37.

16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more [that is, they shall always enjoy God's Ordinances, and his Gifts and Graces, Isa. 49.10. John 4.13.6, 27.] neither shall the ³¹ Sun light on them, nor any [scorching] heat [i. e. they shall be delivered from Persecutions and Sufferings, Isa. 49.10. Psalm 121.6, 7.]

³¹ The Jews express all manner of inconveniencies by Heat; because of its Extremity in those Eastern parts, both from the Sun and burning Winds, Jonas 4.9.

17 For the Lamb which is in [or about] the midst of the Throne [i. e. Christ,] shall feed them, and shall lead them [as a good Shepherd Psalm 24.1, 4. John 4.10-14. and 21.15-17.] unto ³² living Fountains of Waters [i. e. perpetual Comforts and Refreshments, Isa 12 3. John 7.38] and God shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes [i. e. remove all Causes and Occasions of Sorrow.]

³² So the Jews call Fountains, continually bubling and springing up, Canticl. 4.15. John 4 10.

Annotations on CHAP. VIII.

¹ The Metaphors here are taken from the ^(a) Temple-Ser­vice, (which shews that Church-Affairs are here typified, as well as those of the Empire) in which, at the offering of In­cense, the People prayed without in the Court in private; whilst the Priest offered the Incense; which Prayers were ve­ry short, and the whole Service performed in silence: where­as the offering of Sacrifice, the first part of their Service, was accompanied with Singing, Musick and Trumpets, 2. Chron. 29.25.

* See on Ver. 7. Num. 11.

2 And I saw the seven Angels which stood ² before God, [as ready to execute his Pleasure;] and to them were given [by God's appoint­ment,] seven ³ Trumpets [to denounce seven Judgments.]

² These are expresly called Angels, and not The Spirits of God, whereby they are distinguished from the Seven Spirits, Chap. [Page 118] 1.4. And by these Seven standing before God, is denoted the Preparedness of the several Instruments and Means requi­red to the executing of God's Judgments by the Seven Trum­pets: and also the Majesty of the Divine Presence is expressed by them, in allusion to the Custom of the Eastern Kings (from whose Rites many of the Descriptions in Scripture are ta­ken) who had Seven Princes, who saw their Faces, or stood be­fore them, and were the Chief in their Kingdoms, Esther 1.14. Grotius on Matth. 18.10.

³ Here is an Allusion also to the Temple Service; where it was the Custom to blow with Trumpets after the Oblation of Incense (as appears from Ecclus. 50.15, 16.) strict Silence be­ing observed before it: as here the Angels have Trumpets given them, to prepare to sound, but sound not until the Incense was offered.

Angel signifies in this Prophecy, not only the Angelical Spi­rits, but also the subordinate Ministers employed under them here upon Earth; as has been before shewn on Chap. 1.1, 20. And therefore here may be meant by this Angel, the Emperour Theodosius, who is the Chief Person concerned in this Vision, as we shall shew hereafter; whose Prayer, at the Head of his Army before the Battel with Eugenius, is very re­markable in History; and also the whole Christian Church, which joyned with him in Prayer to God upon that great Occasion: Angel being taken Collectively in this Book, for all the several Instruments made use of in it.

3 And another Angel [or Ministring Spirit, representing the Persons employed in the like service on Earth;] came and stood at [or, by] the Altar [of incense; Exod. 30.1. having a Golden Censer [or Vessel to hold Incense, Levit. 16.12. Hebr. 9.4.] and there was ⁴ given unto him much Incense [Levit. 16.12, 13. Rev. 5.8.] that he should Offer it with the Prayers of all Saints ⁵ [or Holy Chri­ans;] upon the Golden Altar [of Incense, Exod. 30, 3, 6, 7.40, 26.] which was ⁶ before the Throne [of God.]

⁴ Here may be an Allusion to a Custom in the Jewish Ser­vice, of bringing the Odors to the Priest by others, Exod. 27.20. See Maimonides in Ainsworth on Levit. 24.2.

⁵ Here is also an Allusion to the High Priests offering In­cense in the Temple, while the People, called here, All Saints, i. e. the Holy and Peculiar People of God; prayed in the Outward Court. And by what is here delivered. and in the former Verses, is intimated, that the daily Publick Sacrifice of pure Worship, which was wont to be performed in the Out­ward Court, should cease, and was about to be contracted in­to a retired, and a silent one, signified by the Silence, Vers. 1. and the Incense-Worship which was within the Temple: and that although the Saints, or Holy People, were as yet without, in the Outward Court, not yet trodden down by Antichristi­an Defilements; that nevertheless it would not be long (but about half an hour, or a short space) before that, also (which was a Type of the Visible Church, and its Worship) should be polluted by them; concerning which Allusion, and the Grounds of it, see more on Chap. 11.1.

⁶ As the Altar of Incense in the Temple, was before the Mer­cy-seat, Exod. 30.6, 7.40, 26.

4 And the smoak of the Incense [Chap. 5.8.] which came with the Prayers of the Saints, ascended up before God out of the Angels hand, [i. e. they were grateful and acceptable unto him through the Merits, and Intercession of Christ, Psal. 141.2. Acts 10.4.]

5 And the Angel took the censer [which was now empty, the In­cense being consumed and their Prayers ended;] and filled it with fire from the Altar [of ⁷ Sacrifice or Burnt-Offerings;] and cast it [i. e. dispersed God's Judgment, and fiery Indignation, Ezek. 10.2. Luke 12.49.] upon the Earth [i. e. the Roman Empire; and there were ⁸ Voices, and Thundrings, and Lightnings [Chap. 4.5.] and an Earthquake [i. e. extraordinary Commotions in the Empire, and great Manifestations of Christ's Kingdom, Chap. 6.12.]

⁷ For there was a continual Fire on the Altar of Sacrifice, but none on the Altar of Incense. See Ainsworth on Exod. 30.8 and on Lev. 6.12, 13. This Service was performed in the Temple; but the Fire was taken off the Altar of Burnt Sacri­fice in the Outward Court; to shew that God's Judgments (re­presented by Fire, which denotes in Scripture any destru­ctive thing) came upon them, by Reason of the Gentilism, or Antichristian Pollutions of the Outward Court, or Visible Church.

⁸ The other Seals having been distinguished by some nota­ble Events in the Empire; it is reasonable to think that this is so too; and there is none which agrees better to it than the Wonderful Victory ^(a) of Theodosius over Eugenius, A. D. 395.

Because, (1.) It follows in order the Event foretold in the sixth Seal, this Victory giving the Deadly Blow to Heathen­ism, and perfecting what was begun by Constantine, and some of his Successors under that Seal.

(2.) Because the following Trumpets (denoting the fall of the Empire) began to produce their Effects not long after this Defeat: So that it exactly corresponds, as a middle Event, with the foregoing and following ones.

(3.) The Vengeance of God fell extraordinarily upon the Pagans; and their Defeat by a wonderful Tempest was mira­culous; as Claudian the Heathen Poet confesses, and as the Sol­diers, who were present at the Battel, told ^(b) Augustine: which is very naturally expressed by Fire cast by an Angel from Heaven upon Earth; Fire being a general ^(c) word in Scripture, for all manner of Mischiefs and Destructions.

[Page 121](4.) This Victory was followed with the entire Destru­ction of Heathenism; in which appeared an extraordinary Manifestation of Christ's Kingdom; of which Thunderings and Lightnings, and an Earthquake, are usual Forerunners in this Prophecy.

(5.) This Victory was obtained at the Prayers of the Chri­stians; Theodosius having solemnly prayed to God for it, in a Publick Church, when he set forward to the Army; and ear­nestly begging it at the Hands of God upon his Knees, at the Head of his Army, in the very Day of Battel; the whole Church in the mean while observing solemn Fasts, and put­ting up their united Prayers to God for his Success; which being their constant Custom, was without doubt, observed on this extraordinary occasion; as seems to be intimated by ^(a) Sozomen: All which is manifestly here typified by the Offering of the Prayers and Incense of all Saints, and its Ascent before God.

6 And the seven Angels, which had the seven ⁹ Trumpets, prepared ¹⁰ themselves [that men might repent during the time of that prepa­ration,] to sound [an Alarm of Judgments, Jerem. 4.19. Ezek 33.1-6.]

⁹ Trumpets ^(b) were used amonst the Jews on several occa­sions; as,

(1.) In the several Journeyings, and Removes of their Camp in the Wilderness; whereby is not unfitly typified the several Motions of the Church in its Wilderness-Condition, upon the sounding of the Trumpets by the Angels in this Pro­phecy.

(2.) In calling the Ordinary Assemblies, and on Feast Days, and New Moons; and on their Fast Days, when they were [Page 122] (according to the Observation of Maimonides) to sound Trumpets for Fasting and Prayer, because of the Enemies of Is­rael, which were coming against Israel; and because of the Ap­proaching Winds, Rain, and Earthquakes, Wars of Heathens with Heathens, and Pestilences, Locusts, and Caterpillers; and because of other Distresses, mentioned out of him, by Ains­worth.

So that the Trumpets given to the Angels, and their preparation to sound, may be as an Admonition to the Em­pire, to Repent, in order to the diverting of Judgments.

Lastly, Trumpets were used in sounding Alarms, in time of War; whence they signifie in the Prophets a Denunciation of Judgments, and a warning of the imminent Approach of them; as they do in this place.

¹⁰ They had Trumpets given them, Verse 2. and here they prepare to sound; by taking (as it were) their Trumpets into their Hands, and putting them to their Mouths; whereby a Respite and Delay is signified, from the actual Execution of the Judgment; or some lesser Judgments, preparatory to the great and fatal ones: according to the proceedings of the Merciful, but Just God; who, after Judgments threatned, gives time and space of Repentance; and punishes lightly, before he comes to utter Excision.

7 [And after some short space of Quiet and Respite, Vers. 1.] The first Angel sounded, and there followed ¹¹ Hail and Fire mingled with Blood [i. e. a wasting, and bloody Devastation,] and they were cast upon the ¹² Earth, [i. e. the Roman Empire,] and the third ¹³ part of ¹⁴ Trees [i. e. the great ones, Isa. 2.13. Zach. 11.2.] was burnt up, and all green Grass [i. e. the common People.]

¹¹ This is a Description of a Thunder-storm; in which there is Blood instead of Rain, to make the Type more dreadful: And it is an Allusion taken from the Plague of Hail in Ae­gypt, Exod. 9.22-35. whereby is signified a Furious and [Page 123] Bloody Irruption, laying all things waste before it; as Fields and Trees are wont to be, by a raging and blasting Tempest. The like Scheme of Speech is made use of by Isaiah, (Chap. 28.2.) in describing the Invasion of the King of Assyria, which he likens to a destroying Tempest of Hail, and an overflowing Flood of mighty Waters; only Blood is here added instead of Water, to shew the Greatness of the Slaughter, which should attend it. And what fitter Metaphors could be used to set forth the terrible Inundations of the Barbarous Nations upon the Roman Empire; which happened in the Course of this Trumpet? For we are to understand, that the ^(a) Goths (which seems sometimes to be used as a General Name for these Barba­rous People) were originally a People of Scythia; who coming from thence, and having seated themselves in Scandza, or Scanzia (which comprehends Sweedland, Norway, and the vast Tracts of Land adjoyning) at length, in process of time, about Three Hundred Years before Christ; upon the occasion of a Famine, Wars, their great increase, or the desire of a better Soil, the usual Causes of the Transmigration of Nations; left that Countrey: and after long Wanderings (from whence they were afterwards called Vandals, that is, Wanderers) through Germany and Sarmatia, as far as the Palus Maeotis, one part of them setled there, and were called Getae; and the other, but the greatest part of them, returned from thence, and took up their Habitation in Dacia and Thrace; from whence they seem to have made their first Incursions under ^(b) Philip, or Decius, about A. D. 251. After several Fights with them in the Times of Constantine, Valens, and Valentinian; immedi­ately upon the Death of Theodosius the Great, they fell like a mighty Torrent into the Roman Empire: They first harrassed [Page 124] the Eastern parts of it under Alarich, about A. D. 395. for about five Years together; and about A. D. 405. a vast num­ber of them, under Radagaisus, invaded Italy; who was fol­lowed by Alarich, who took Rome on the 24th of August, A. D. 410. a great multitude of them, mixt with other Bar­barous People, having over-run Gaul, Spain, and Africk, at the instigation of Stilicho, about the same time that Alarich first invaded Italy, A. D. 406. From the Invasion begun by Alarich, Italy enjoyed but little Quiet, daily steps being made to its utter Ruine (some of which were as Preparations to the sounding of the Trumpets,) first by the Goths, then by the Huns, under Attila, and by the Vandals under Genserick; who from the Year 430. miserably wasted Italy, and the Provinces, especially about A. D. 455. when Genserick took Rome which is accounted a fatal ^(a) Year, and stiled by some, the Year of Vengeance: But upon the Death of Aetius, Provinces were daily lost to the Barbarians, and the Roman Empire, which declined from the Death of Theodosius, received a Mortal Wound; under which it lay languishing until it expired un­der Augustulus, about A. D, 476. So that we have here a fa­mous Period of Time, from the Victory of Theodosius, upon which his Death ensued, A. D. 395, until 476: which seems to be called One Hour, or One entire Space, or Line of Time (for so [...] signifies, Ch. 9.15, Rev. 17.12. And therefore about half of that space seems here to be signified by about half an hour; which will reach from 395, unto 437; which is about the half of this whole Line of Time; and falls upon that Time, when the Bar­barous Nations (who had been before often successfully repul­sed) began to make their most Furious Impressions upon the Roman Provinces on all sides, under the weak Government of a Woman, Placidia, the Empress, and her Son Valenti­nian, [Page 125] who was a Child when he began to Reign; inso­much that Genserick came then to be so powerful, as that he se­verely persecuted the Orthodox, from the very Year ^(b) 437. unto 476. when he died. And furthermore, it is very re­markable, that about 430, and odd, the Apostasy, which be­gan in Image-Worship, about 360. palpably increased, as Mr. ^(c) Mede has observed. So that the Year 437. is very re­markable on all Hands, as being about the middle Point, or about half of the whole Hour, or Aera, reaching from the entire Defeat of Heathenism, to the entire Fall of the Western Empire; and because it may be justly accounted the Exact Year from which the actual sounding of the Trumpets are to be reckoned; which were but in preparation from 395. un­til that time: and also because it may be with great Reason thought to be the beginning of the Antichristian Apostasy; which from that time generally increased, until it gained a Kingdom with the Ten Kings arising out of the Ruines of the Roman Empire, A.D. 476. and that at One Hour, that is, One en­tire Hour made up of Two Halves, the first reaching from 395, to 437. the latter, at the End of which this Kingdom began, from thence to 476. See on Chap. 11, 2.13.5.17, 12.

¹² The Fourth Kingdom, which is the Roman Empire, is called, Dan. 7.23 The Kingdom upon the Earth, to distin­guish it from Christ's Kingdom, the Heavenly and Everlasting Kingdom: and Luke 2.1. it is called, all the World or Earth, because most of the then Known World was subject to it.

¹³ It is the Opinion of Mr. Mede, that by the Fourth of the Earth, (Chap. 6.8.) is meant almost all the Roman Empire; [Page 126] which, upon due Compute ( says Dr. Moor) was then one third part of the Earth; upon which account they take the Third part to be the Symbolical and Cabbalistical Character of the Roman Empire, according to the Genius of this Mystical Book, and the Custom of the Ancient Eastern Nations, who gave Characters from Numbers and Proportions. But to inter­pose a Conjecture, not altogether groundless; I am apt to i­magine, that as the Roman Empire is called the Fourth, Chap. 6.8. whilst it had its Imperial Seat fixed at Rome, the Head then of the Fourth Kingdom: So that after Constantine re­moved the Seat of the Western Empire to Constantinople, it is called the Third; because its Imperial Seat was then in the Greek or Eastern part of the Roman Empire; which was the Third Kingdom of the Earth, in Daniel. From which time Constantinople, or New Rome, became the Chief Seat of the Civil Empire, Old Rome being abandoned to the New Eccle­siastical Empire of the Pope; the Western Emperours seldom coming at it, and by degrees leaving it to them: So that e­ven the Western Empire may be Charactered by the Third, be­cause that Old Rome, the Chief Seat of it, and of the Trans­actions of this Vision, had lost its Civil Imperialism over the Fourth part of the Earth, and was now forced to truckle to the third part, or Constantinopolitan Roman Empire; where the Chief Majesty of the Empire was seated; Old Rome being never able to gain its Preheminence; and the Ruin of its Civil Jurisdiction being owing to this Action of Constantine; which will appear also the more probable, if we consider, that the Rise and Fall of Empires is dated in Prophecy, from the like Fate of the Imperial Seats of them. See Chap. 9, 15.12, 4.

¹⁴ This is taken from Exod. 9.25. where we read, that the Thunder Storm of Hail smote every Herb of the Field, and broke every Tree of the Field: By which is here signified all the Mem­bers and People of the Roman Empire, denoted by Metaphors taken from those things which suffer most by Storms: And [Page 127] Trees here, according to the Prophetical Scheme of Speech, signifie the Great Ones; and Grass, by the like Analogy, sig­nifies the Common People.

8 And the second Angel sounded, and as it were a great ¹⁵ Mountain [or City, Jerem. 51.25.] burning with fire, was cast into the Sea; and the third part of the Sea [i. e. the Roman Empire] became Blood ¹⁶ [ i. e. was ravaged with bloody Wars, Exod. 7.17, 18.]

¹⁵ This Type is taken from Jerem. 51.25. where it is used concerning Babylon; by which all along in this Book, Rome is understood. A Mountain denotes a Kingdom, or a City, from its Strength, and Lofty Edifices and Towers; as Annota­tors have observed on Isa. 13.2. Jerem. 51.25. Zechar. 4.7. And the Sea signifies a Body Politick; because Seas are in Scripture-Phrase, a gathering together of Waters, which in this Book are put to denote People, and Multitudes, as appears from Chap. 18.15. And therefore by the Type in this Verse, the Confusions and Desolations (represented by the Psalmist, Psalm 46.2. by Mountains carried into the midst of the Sea) which the State and City of Rome then lay under, may be fit­ly signified; it being at this time, as a great Mountain burn­ing in the Sea, but not actually burnt; that is, in a consuming Condition, but not utterly destroyed.

For (1.) ^(a) Radagaisus was entirely defeated by Stili­cho, and he himself, and almost his whole Army, was destroy­ed by Sword or Famine: Stilicho being made an Instrument by God of preserving the Empire; when he designed nothing but his own Interest, and the usurping of it; which appear­ed also in another Memorable Instance, when he ^(b) saved the Empire from total ruine, by succouring Saul, the General [Page 128] of the Army, under him, at the very time that he was put to flight by Alarick.

(2.) When ^(a) Alarick took Rome, he sackt indeed and rifled it; but burnt only some part of it, and that contrary to the wonted Custom of the Goths, as Jornandes hath particular­ly observed; and left the large Church of Peter entire, for an Asylum for the Christians.

(3.) When Athaulphus, the Goth, not long after, had pil­laged Rome, and was resolved entirely to root out the whole Roman Power; he was opportunely diverted by Placidia, the Emperour's Sister, and perswaded to make a ^(b) Peace, and retire into Spain; where he married her, A. D. 414.

(4) Attila the Hun, and Genserick the Vandal, were both hindered from firing and destroying Rome, by the Eloquence and Prudent Behaviour of Leo the Great: And ^(c) Totilas, who had resolved to burn it, and raze it to the Ground, was diverted by an Embassay from Belisarius; and when he af­terwards retook it, he rebuilt what he had burnt and de­stroyed of it. So that this City, which had been so often ta­ken and rifled, and was so often in a burning Condition; was kept, as a burning Mountain in the midst of Waters, continu­ally resisting the Fire, which would have consumed it; and will be so preserved by God, until the time of its final De­shruction; in which, this City answers to its Type Babylon; which after it was taken, and pillaged by Cyrus, remained nevertheless in some sort of Glory, until the Times of Alex­ander; as Rome, after its first being sacked by Alarick, con­tinually recovered it self again; although not to the degrees of it's former Magnificence. And as the City, so also the Empire, although miserably harassed, was yet preserved from utter de­struction, [Page 129] during the Period of this Trumpet; but as a bur­ning Mountain cast into the Sea, amidst the contrary strug­lings of the People, some seeking to destroy it; others to preserve it: the Barbarous Nations themselves contributing thereunto; as the Goths did, by helping it against the Huns, Vandals and Sueves.

¹⁶ For these Barbarous ^(a) Invaders were very bloody; killing all they met, Young and Old, Women and Chil­dren.

9 And the third part af the ¹⁷ Creatures which were in the Sea, and had Life [i. e. the Fishes; which represent the Subjects and Inhabi­tants of the Roman Jurisdictiction, Ezek. 29.4.] died ¹⁸ [as to their ancient Polity, they being not now one entire Jurisdiction;] and the third part of the ¹⁹ Ships [that is, Cities; or Goods and Mer­chandise;] were destroyed.

¹⁷ The Type of a Mountain being thrown into the Sea, is here further alluded unto; And hereby is signified, that the great Mountain, or City of Rome, being in hazard of be­ing destroyed and consumed by its being taken and pillaged; the Sea, or People of the Civil State, into whose contrary stri­vings and struglings it was thrown, as into the Waves of the Sea, must needs suffer extremely by it; both in their Persons, denoted by the Living Creatures of the Sea; and in their Goods and Estates, denoted by Ships; as Metaphors most pro­per to the Sea, from whence this Emblem is taken.

¹⁸ This came to pass when the Provinces of the Roman Em­pire about A. D. 455. (the time when Genserick also took Rome) were divided into several Kingdoms, by the Northern Nations, which broke into it; which is the Death of a Civil State, when it ceases to be what it was before.

¹⁹ Cities are to a Countrey as Ships to the Sea; the Places wherein Men Live and Traffick; and wherein they are forti­fied against Enemies, as by Ships against the Violence of the Sea, says Dr. Hammond on the place. But Grotius's Expo­sition seems to me more apposite; for, as Sea signifies People, so (says he) Ships must, by the same Analogy, signifie their Goods or Moveables.

10 And the third Angel sounded, and there fell a great Star from Heaven, burning, as it were a Lamp ²⁰ [denoting the fall of the ²¹ We­stern Emperour, Isa. 14.12.] and it fell [...]pon the third part of the ²² Ri­vers [i. e. upon the Co ntries and Provinces, Magistrates, and Ar­mies of the Roman Empire, represented by Rivers, Ezek. 32.2-6.] and upon the Fountains ²³ of Waters [i. e. the Capital Cities.]

²⁰ This is a plain Description of that sort of Comets, or falling Stars, which for the Figure of them are called ^(a) Lampadias.

²¹ The most remarkable Division ^(b) of the Roman Em­pire into the Eastern and Western (whose bounds you may see in Procopius ^(c) Vandalick History,) begun, (upon a Decree of Theodosius) Jan. 17. A.D. 395. when Arcadius reigned in the East, having his Seat at Constantinople; and Honorius in the West: After which time the Empire never came entirely into the Hands of one Monarch. Now this Western Empire cea­sed under Augustulus, A.D. 476. when Odoacer became King of Italy, and translated the Seat of the Empire from Rome to Ravenna; after it had enjoyed the Imperial Dignity, for 521. Years.

²² A Type taken from One of the Plagues of Egypt, Exod. 7.17-22.

²³ As Seas and Waters signifie the People, so do Fountains Capital Cities; from whence the People are derived into Co­lonies and Provinces.

11 And the Name of the Star is called ²⁴ Wormwood [denoting the bitter Afflictions which he, and the Empire felt under him, R [...]h 1.20. Jerem. 9 15.] and the third part of the Waters [i.e the People of the Roman Empire] became Wormood [i. e. were grievous­l [...] afflicted, and their Lives became bitter unto them;] and many m [...]n died of the Waters [i. e. by mutual Slaughters, and by the grie­vous Afflictions the Empire then suffered, Lament 3.15. Acts 8.23. Heb. 12.15.]

²⁴ After the Death of Aetius and Valentinian, A. D. 455. the Western Empire suffered extremely under weak and short-lived Princes; and by the Incursions of the Huns, Goths, and other Barbarous Nations, into Italy, and the Roman Provin­ces; especially of Odoacer with his Herulians (a People of Seythia, who had seated themselves in Pannonia) who extin­guished the Roman Empire; which brought infinite Miseries, and a most heavy, and bitter Servitude upon the whole Peo­ple; ^(a) Augustulus (so called, because he came very young to the Empire) being also banished, and imprisoned. Whose Fall from Imperial Dignity is aptly represented by the Fall of a Star from Heaven, according to the like Allusion, Isaiah 14.12—

12 And the fourth Angel sounded, and the third part [Verse 7.] of the Sun [i. e. the Roman Kingly Dignity,] was smitten [or, kid­ed ²⁵ and destroyed] and the third part of the Moon, and the third part of the Stars [i. e. the other inferiour Powers;] so as the third part of them was darkned, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise [i e. the whole ²⁶ Roman dignity, and autho­rity, was totally Eclypsed, see Chap. 6.12, 13, 14.]

²⁵ For so to smite signifies in very many places of Scrip­ture; it being rendred sometimes by Killing; as Exod. 2.12.

²⁶ Odoacer, the Herulian, reigned Sixteen Years, as King of Italy; when he was conquered by Theodorick the Goth, who took that Title A. D. 493. and reigned Thirty Three Years with great Prudence and Moderation, towards the Romans, preserving the Authority of the Senate, and Consuls, and their other Dignities and Customs; which his Successors, the Go­thish Kings of Italy for some time observed; whose Reign continued for about Seventy Six Years. But Justinian the Emperour having made War upon Italy, for regaining it from the Goths; after it had suffered miserably by a dreadful Fa­mine, and a Bloody War under Totilas; it was at last joyned to the Eastern Empire: the Kingly Power being extinguished, and Narses made Governour of it for Justinian; about A.D. 553. who being removed from his Government after sixteen Years Administration of it; Longinus was advanced to it, un­der the Title of Exarch of Ravenna, A. D. 569. When the Consuls entirely ceased, and the Authority of the Senate was abolished; and Rome, the Mistress of the World, became a Dutchy, and was subject to Ravenna: at which time also the Kingdom of the Lombards (who came Originally from Scan­zia into Pannonia) began in Italy, which lasted until A. D. 756. after which, Charles the Great, who beat the Lombards out of Italy, was created Emperour of the Romans, by Pope Leo, Dec. 25. A. D. 800. all which time Rome was under the Government of the Papacy; as we shall see hereafter.

13 And I beheld, and heard an Angel flying [to denote speed] thorow the midst of Heaven [i. e. in the meridian height of it that he might be seen, and heard of all;] saying with a loud voice [audibly, and terribly,] Wo, ²⁷ Wo, Wo, to the Inhabitants of the Earth, by reason of the voices of the Trumpets of the three Angels, which are yet to sound.

²⁷ Here the extreme Misery, which the Empire was to suf­fer by the Saracens and Turks, Chap. 9.12. and the Apsta­sy, Chap. 11.14. is foretold. Under the Angels in this Chapter, are included (according to an Observation frequently made) all those Faithful Servants of Christ, who witnessed to his Truths, and against the Rising Antichristianism in the Church, during the Time and Course of the Trumpets; and of the pre­paration to the sounding of them. Such were, amongst many others;

(1.) Gregory Nyssen, who was a married Man; and wrote an excellent ^(a) Epistle against Pilgrimages to the Holy Land.

(2.) Gregory ^(b) Nazianzen; who was so mightily of­fended with the Quarrels and Contentions of Bishops and Councils, that he refused to come to a Synod at Constantino­ple, saying, That Experience had sufficiently taught him how little good was to be expected from Synods; and then resign­ed his Bishoprick, which he said, he knew not, whether to stile a Tyrannical, or an Archiepiscopal Dignity; and testified a­gainst the excessive State, Power, and Honours of the Clergy, freely ^(c) confessing, That the Mischiefs of the Church in his Time proceeded from thence.

(3) Ambrose, who was a stout Defender of Discipline, ^(d) exercising it even upon the Great Emperour Theodosius; who with an extraordinary Meekness and Penitence submitted unto it.

(4.) ^(e) Jerome, Theodoret, Andreas Caesariensis, Arethas, and others, who plainly testifie, That Rome was to be the [Page 134] Seat of Antichrist; as does also ^(a) Augustine, and Chryso­stom ^(a); who were excellent Witnesses to many great Truths in this Succession; the former ^(b) complaining ex­ceedingly of the encrease of Ceremonies in his Time, and confessing, that a more than Jewish Servitude was brought in by them; which Expression gives light to the Reason, why the prevaling party of this Succession, is called the Synagogue of Satan, Ch. 2.9. Although it must be confessed, that these, and the other Great Men of this Period of the Church, contributed much to the encrease of its Corruptions; which the best of Men may do, when God permits such Deviations from the Simplicity of the Gospel to prevail; and doth not withhold Men from being carried away with them by his more than ordinary Restraints.

(5.) Salvian, Gildas, and the other Authors, who wrote concerning the Invasions of the Barbarous Nations, and lived in those Times, do loudly testifie against the Vices and Cor­ruptions of them; as also Gregory the Great, who was a most Eminent Witness of the Approach of Antichrist in his Time; as will be shewn in the beginning of the An­notations on the next Chapter; as were also all those Ex­cellent Persons, who testified, during the fifth and sixth Trumpet, against the Worship af Images, and other Corruptions; for which God brought these Woes upon the Church. See the Protestants who have gathered Catalogues of Wit­nesses, and the laborious Collections of Monsieur Allix, in his Ac­counts of the Albigenses and Waldenses.

Annotations on CHAP. IX.

¹ Here the Papacy is described.

(1.) Because that which appeared, is said to be a Star; which is the Symbol of the Gospel Ministry, Chap. 1.20.

(2.) It is said to be the Star that was fallen from Heaven; which cannot refer to Mahomet, who never had any Place in Heaven; i. e. any Place or Dignity in the Church; or any Dignity at all, from which he might be said to have fal­len.

(3) This Star is said to have fallen from Heaven to Earth, and then to have a New Dignity bestowed upon him; where­by it is evident, that the fallen Star, mentioned Chap 8.10. cannot be here understood; because that Star fell upon the Waters, this upon the Earth; and that was a Comet, this a Star, which fell from one Power to another; whereas the o­ther was in a burning and consuming Condition, bereft of all Power.

[Page 136](4.) This fallen Star is said to have the Keys of the bottom­less Pit given unto him; that is, a Satanical Authority, con­sisting of a Synagogue, a Throne, and Depths of Satan; which being proper to the Apostasy, especially the Papacy; ought here also to be understood concerning it: For as (according to the Observation of Dr. ^(a) Lightfoot,) the Keys of Heaven were given to Peter, when a Door of Salvation was to be o­pened to the Gentiles, by his Preaching, and Erecting the first Christian Church; so when the Christian World was about to fall, as it were, into its former Gentilism, the Key of the bot­tomless Pit was given to Antichrist.

(5.) This Star is said to be already fallen, at the time that the Pit was opened, and the Locusts (that is, the Saracens) came out of it. Now the Rise of the Saracens is placed, by all Historians, in A.D. 622. when the Aera of the Hegira, or Flight of Mahomet began; and the Rise of Antichristianism in the Latin Church, as to the Point of Supremacy, is generally pla­ced by Protestants, Sixteen Years before it; when Boniface the Third, A. D. 606. took the Title of Ʋniversal Bishop, and Head of all Churches; which ^(b) Gregory the Great had con­demned before in the Bishop of Constantinople; asserting, that he who usurped it, was the Forerunner of Antichrist, the Prince of Pride; and that he imitated Lucifer, in exalting his Throne above the Stars of God; that is, his Brethren, the Bi­shops, who are the Stars of Heaven; and in ascending above the heighth of the Clouds. Which words are, as it were, a Com­ment upon the Place; and a Prophecy (as one ingeniously speaks) of their High-Priest, who spake not this of himself, but as being High-Priest that Year; foretelling the Fall of that Eminent Star from Heaven, to a State of Worldly Domini­on, [Page 137] according to the manner of the Kingdoms of the Earth. So that in a few years after the Rise of the Papal Antichrist in the West; there arose in the East a new sort of an Anti­christian Dominion, to be a Scourge to it, and in opposi­tion unto it's Idolatrous Practices; the Chief of which called themselves Chalifs, or Vicars of Mahomet, (for so the word signifies) as the Popes have called themselves the Chalifs, or Vicars of Christ.

2 And he opened the bottomless Pit [i. e. Exercised this Authority, and entred upon the Administration of his Kingdom;] and there arose a smoak ² out of the Pit, as the smoak of a great Furnace [i. e. many gross and Antichristian Errors;] and the Sun, and the Air were darkned by reason of the Smoak of the Pit, [i. e. The Gospel, the Light of the World, was obscured by these errors.]

² As a great Smoak hinders the Sight, so do Errors the Ʋn­derstanding. He keeps to the Allegory; for Smoak takes from us the sight of the Stars; saith Grotius on the Place. And the ^* Locusts are wont to come in so great Numbers, that the Air hath been darkned, and the Sun, as it were, Eclypsed by them, Joel. 2.10.

3 And there came ³ out of the Smoak [contrary to the expectation of him that opened it;] Locusts ⁴ upon the Earth [i. e. the grie­vous Plague of ⁵ Mahometism, with the Numerous and Destroying Armies of the ⁵ Saracens Exod. 10.3-15. Joel Chapters 1.2.] and unto them was given power, as the Scorpions of the ^* Earth have power [as to the manner of the Mischief they were to do, Verse 5.10.]

³ Locusts do encrease most in very dry Seasons, and come in bliting burning Easterly Winds; which are usually ac­companied with a smoaky Vapour: whence probably is that [Page 138] Expression, Hosea 13.3. according to the LXX,- and like a Smoak, or Vapour from Locusts. Although Bochartus is of Opinion, that here is an Allusion to the Custom amongst the Ancient Arabs or Saracens, of hunting Locusts by ^(a) smoak.

⁴ Great Armies of Enemies are resembled to ^(b) Locusts in Scripture;

(1.) By Reason of their Number, Judg. 6, 5.7, 12. Psalm 105.34. Joel 1.6. The Multitudes of Locusts, which in­fest the Eastern, and sometimes the European parts, being al­most ^(c) incredible. And it is not altogether improper to remark here, that vast Numbers of Locusts have been fre­quently seen to appear, before the Approach of great Armies; which is frequently noted by Abul Pharajai, and by Du Fresne in his Notes at the end of ^(d) Cinnamus.

(2.) Because of the great, and unavoidable Mischief they do in the Fields, in Houses, and to Men themselves, whom they set upon, and are thought sometimes to have killed ^(e) them. Book of Wisdom 16.9.

(3.) From the exact Military ^(f) Discipline and Order they observe in flying; and the strength which is in their Ranks and Divisions when they fly, or go, Joel 2.7, 8.

(4) From their climbing of Walls, and getting into Hou­ses and Windows; like Men of War, in time of Seige, and Sacking of Towns, Joel 2.7, 9. Exod. 10.6. and from their not ^(g) being subject to hurt, from Weapons, which they avoid by their Swiftness, and by the Subtilty and Tenuity of their Bo­dies, Joel 2.8.

* Terrestrial Scorpions are (as Naturalists observe) of all the most ^(a) hurtful.

( ⁵) ( ⁵) The Saracens seem to be understood by Locusts, be­cause,

(1.) They came from the East, as the Locusts did, Exod. 10.13. Whence they were called ^(b) Saracens, which sig­nifies the Inhabitants of the Eastern parts of the World.

(2.) Because of their vast Numbers, and their wandring State and Condition, they being of the Race of the Ancient ^(c) Scenitae, who lived in Tents, roaming from place to place; with which agrees the Description of the Locusts, gi­ven by the Prophet Nahum 3.15, 16. as the place is interpre­ted by ^(d) Bochartus.

(3.) Because the Arabians, or Children of the East, are ex­presly likened to Locusts or Grasshoppers, Judges 6.3-5.

(4.) By Reason of the suddenness of their Invasions, and the Prodigious Swiftness of their Conquests, and the great ha­vock and Ravage made by them; all which Circumstances are Notorious in the Plague of Locusts, who fall in prodigi­ous Numbers in one Night, and sometimes almost in a mo­ment, destroying all before them.

And (Lastly,) because these Locusts are said to come out of the thick smoak of the bottomless Pit; i. e. out of gross Er­rors, and filthy Practices; which is the plain Original of Ma­hometism; which began in a very corrupt and dark Age, when the Christians were divided into many Sects and Schisms, and vented very gross Errors; such were those of the Arrians, Jacobites, Melchites, Eutychians, Monothelites and Nestorians; from whom proceeded many of the Opinions of [Page 140] Mahomet; who was ^(a) assisted in the Contrivance of his Religion by Sergius, a banished Nestorian, by an Arrian Monk, and other Hereticks; with whom the Church was then infested, as it was also by Contests about the Supremacy; and with gross Antichristian Errors; which are the Chief Things intended in this Prophecy: Of all which ^(b) Hottinger has treated fully. But that we may the better understand the true Meaning of this Vision; I [...] [...]ll endeavour to give a brief Account of the Rise of Mahometism, and of the progress of the Saracenick Empire, from Authentick Historians, chiefly from Elmacinus, and Abul Pharajai, Two Arabick Writers; which will be of great use in the following Annotations.

The Saracens are properly those Arabs which lived about Meccha and Medina, and the places adjoyning; who, under their Prophet Mahomet, began to be Famous, about A.D. 622. when he fled from Meccha, he place of his Nativity, for fear of the Tribe of the Coraisites, or Koreisheites, the Inhabitants of Meccha; who threatned him for endeavouring to usurp o­ver them, and for introducing a New Doctrine amongst them: for although many of them had been converted to the Christian Religion, in and before the Reign of ^(c) Va­lens; yet the Arabs were by this time mostly ^(d) Idolaters, worshipping the Stars, whose Motions and Influences they understood, which was all ^(d) the Skill and Knowledge they had in their State of Ignorance; as the Mussulmen call the Times before their Conversion to Mahometism. They are mentioned by ^(e) Pliny (and by none before him, as far as I can find) under the Name of Saracens; and are placed by him, and Ptolemy, in Arabia Felix; and that rightly; for [Page 141] Meccha ^(a) is not a City of Arabia Deserta, as is commonly thought; but is situated over against the middle of the Red Sea, about a Days Journey from it, betwixt Jaman and Hig­jaz, in Arabia Felix; about seven and Thirty Days Journey from Grand Caire, and about Ten Days Journey or Two hun­dred and seventy Miles from Medina; the place of this false Prophet's Retreat; where he lived about Eight Years, and made the greatest part of his Alcoran. During this th [...] he had many Battels with his Neighbours, especially the K [...]rci­shites, the Chief Tribe of those Parts; and propagated his Doctrine, and Dominion, in many parts of Arabia; but not much farther. After his Death (which was A. D. 631. as A­bul Pharajai affirms, or according to Elmacinus, A. D. 632.) his Successors made swift and prodigious Conquests; over-running Persia, Syria, Aegypt, and Palestine in a very few Years; insomuch that about the ^(b) Year 729. in Fourscore, or an Hundred Years at furthest, they had subdued most of the Kingdoms and Provinces of the Known World; extending their Arms into India, beyond the Bounds of the Roman Em­pire. About 643. ^(c) they invaded Africk; and from thence fell into ^(d) Spain, about A. D, 711. which in Two Years space they wholly conquered. About A. D. ^(e) 716. (as Abulpharajai and Elmacinus both agree) they besieged Con­stantinople with a vast Army; and Ravaged and over-run Languedoc, Provence, and several parts of France, from A. D. ^(f) 721. to A. D. 738. when they were totally van­quished [Page 142] and beaten out of those parts by Charles Martel. A­bout A. D. ^(a) 828. they took Sicily, and from thence infested Italy; pillaging Rome ^(b) the Year following; and A.D. 846. they came from Africk (as the Locusts ^(c) are wont to do) in­to Italy, and again fell upon ^(d) Rome, burning the Famous Churches of Peter and Paul, and carrying away many of their Ornaments with them into Campania; where they pil­laged several Monasteries: but whilst they were returning with their Spoils into Africk, they were dispersed by a migh­ty Tempest, and the greatest part of them were cast away. They afterwards harrassed Italy for several Years, until they were subdued, and beaten out of it, first, by Otho, about 980. who was called, the Death of the Saracens; and then by the Emperour Henry the Second, and the Normans, betwixt the Years ^(e) 1014, and 1022. not long after which time, viz. A. D. ^(f) 1055. their was an End put to their Empire, by Tangrolipix, or Tugrol-Beg: who fixed his Seat at Bagdad, the Imperial City of the Saracens, whereby that Empire devolved upon the Turks; he being installed Sultan there, A. D. 1057. by the Saracenick Chalif; Two Hundred Ninety Three years after its being built for their Imperial Seat, by Al-Mansur, A. D. 762. as both ^(g) Abul-Pharajai and Elmacinus agree.

4 And it was [said or] commanded * them [by God, who raised them up, and sealed the True Christians, whilst Antichristianity only was exposed to hurt;] that they should not hurt [by pervert­ing them from their Religion;] the Grass [or Herb] of the Earth, neither any green thing, neither any Tree [i. e. no Christians who had any Spiritual Life in them, and shewed it by its Fruits and [Page 143] Effects, Psalm 1, 5.52, 8. Matth. 3.8, 10. Rev. 7, 1.8, 7.] but only those men, which have ⁶ not the Seal of God in their Foreheads [i. e. the Apostasy; for a pure, Apostolical Church was to be preserved in secret, Chap. 7.]

* And to this End were they raised by Providence; which miraculously preserved them from being destroyed by the Ro­mans, as Dr. ^(a) Howel hath judiciously observed.

⁶ God was pleased to preserve a pure Church in secret, du­ring the great Inundation of these Barbarous People; as ap­pears from the Catalogues of Witnesses to the Truth, in this Age; although the whole Apostate Church, both of the Ea­stern and Western parts, severely felt the Scourge of this Plague; which fell mostly upon them (that their Fault might be known by the very providential timing of their punishment) during some Remarkable Instances, and Workings of the Apo­stasy. When the Saracens first appeared A. D. 622. the World was much given to Image-Worship; Heraclius ^(b) the Emperour, having newly then recovered the Cross from the Persians, and restored it to the Temple of the Sepulchre, from which it had been taken; and upon that instituted, or at least celebrated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. When they inva­ded Sardinia, about 720. Luitprandus, King of the Lom­bards, bought the Relicks of St. Austin at a great price, of them; and went out to meet them in a solemn Procession, and being struck with the Wonder of the Greatness of the Mira­cles which had been done by them, worshipped them (says ^(c) Sigonius) with Divine Honour. And it is very remarkable, that the great Quarrels betwixt Leo the Emperour, and the Popes, Gregory the Second, and the Third, about Images; were, upon the Saracens objecting Image-Worship, as Idolatry [Page 144] to the Emperour; and that the greatest and fiercest assaults of the Saracens upon the Empire, were during the Time that Con­test was hottest; to wit, from the year ^(a) 713. when the Controversie with the Monothelites ceased, and the only one which then exercised the World, was that about Images: a­bout which time they conquered Spain, and besieged Constan­tinople; and fell into Italy not long after the Worship of Ima­ges was established by a Law, in the Second Council of Nice, A. D. 787.

5 And to them it was given, that they should not ⁷ kill them [or utterly destroy even the Apostate Antichristian Roman Em­pire;] but that they should be ⁸ Tormented five Months [of yeats;] and their Torment was as the Torment of a Scorpion when he striketh a man [i. e. very ⁹ vexatious, and painful, Prov. 23.32. Ezek. 2.6.]

⁷ To kill a Body Politick, is, (as ^(b) Grotius has obser­ved) to make it cease to be, either by utterly destroying the people of it, or by subjecting it to a New Authority, whereby it ceases to be what it was before: Neither of which were the Saracens able to do in the Eastern or Western Roman Em­pire; for although they often besieged Constantinople, yet they could never take it; and they tormented Rome and I­taly, by frequent and sudden Incursions, but had never posses­sion of the former, nor any long quiet settlement in any part of the latter; But (as ^(c) Putean remarks) Their Incursions in­to Italy, were like a sudden Tempestuous Wind, which vanishes after it has done its Mischief. So that, as to the Chief and Ca­pital parts of the Roman Empire, they never had power to kill them, or reduce them under their Authority, and could [Page 145] not fix the Seat of their Empire, in any of its Imperial Cities; as the Turks afterwards did theirs at Constantinople; which is expresly called, slaying or killing the Third part of Men, Vers. 15. but seated themselves first at Damascus in Syria, after­wards at Bagdad.

⁸ Here is a manifest Allusion to the time that Locusts are wont to live; which ^(a) Naturalists observe to be Five Months; which we are to understand according to the Pro­phetical way of reckoning (of which there hath been menti­on already made on Chap. 2.10.) of Months of Years.

Now if we consider the whole length of the Duration of the Saracenick Empire, we shall find it to be precisely 435. Years; reckoning from A. D. 622. the Aera of Mahometism, unto A. D. 1057. when the Turkish Empire succeeded; as ^(b) Elmacinus, and Dr. Pocock, in the Margin of Abul-Pha­rajai, has particularly noted. Which Line of Time consists of a Ternary of Five Months of Years; each of them a­mounting to an Hundred and Forty Five Years, reckoning ^(c) Twenty Nine Years of Days to each Month; of which, Two Five Months being allotted to their tormenting, and hurting of Men, the first in this Verse, and the second in the tenth; the remaining five months must be understood to belong to their declining and decaying condition; when they could not tor­ment others. And with this, there is a wonderful Agree­ment in History; which dates the Decay and Division of this Empire, from about 290, or 300 years after its Rise. For Elmacinus divides his History into Three Books, as we do the Duration of their Empire into a Ternary of five months; trea­ting in the first Book of the Original, and Encrease of their Empire; which he extends from A.D. 622. to about A.D. 746: in [Page 146] the second Book, of the Declension of it; and in the third of its Distraction and Dissipation; placing the fatal ^(a) Divi­sion of it about A. D. 936. not much above twice five months after its first appearance; when he confesses, that the Power of the Chalif was diminished, and the Kingdom weakned; his Revenues taken away, and nothing but a Name left him; the Turks prevailing daily at Bagdad, from A. D. 863. and depo­sing the Califs very frequently.

And with [...] Account, agrees the Observation of ^(b) Ce­drenus; who relating the Prediction of a Famous Alexandri­an Astronomer, who foretold, that the prosperous Power, and flourishing Dominion of the Saracens, should be but for Three Hundred and Nine Years; judges him to have erred indeed, but not very much, in his Calculation. And therefore I can­not but upon this occasion recommend the Study of Scrip­tural, especially Prophetical Chronology, to all Learned Men; no ways doubting, but that they will find, that the greatest Difficulties may be cleared up by it.

⁹ Bochartus ^(c) notes, That the Torment of Scorpions is very grievous, and of all other the most vexatious; whence troublesome Persons are likned unto them, Ezek. 2.6. Ec­clus. 25, 15.26, 7. and observes, that they also, as well as the Locusts, hurt only for five months. Now that the Tor­ment of the Saracens, was not only of the like duration, but of the like Nature, History sufficiently testifies, especially as to what concerns the Two Imperial Seats, Rome, and Constanti­nople; which, as the next Verse clearly sets forth, (with which History accords) were frequently tormented with fresh Alarms of their Incursions and Invasions.

[Page 147]6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them [i. e. they shall be tor­mented with continual Invasions, so that they shall desire Con­quest and Death, rather than such a mischievous and unsetled condition, Joel 2.6. Jerem. 8.3]

7 And the Shapes of the Locusts were like unto ¹⁰ Horses prepared to b [...]iel [i. e. they were stout and swift, Joel 2.4. Job 33.23-25.] and on their Heads, were, as it were, ¹¹ Crowns of Gold [signifying their Victories and Success, and the many Kingdoms should sub­mit unto them;] and their Faces were as the ¹² Faces of men [i. e. they had seemingly rational and plausible pretences, Rev. 4.7 D [...]n. 7.4.]

8 And they had Hair as the ¹² Hair of VVomen [i.e their Preten­ces were insinuating, enticing and deceitful, Canticl 4, 1.6, 5.] and their Teeth was as the Teeth of Lions [i. e. cruel and devouring, not white and clean, Canticl. 4, 2.6, 6. Joel 1.6.]

^{10 (a)} Bochartus observes, that Locusts represent Horses, not only in their Swiftness, (which is here chiefly pointed at, the Conquests of the Saracens being carried on with pro­digious and almost incredible speed,) but also in the shape of their Heads; the Figure of which may be seen in ^(b) Ludol­phus's Notes on his Aethiopick History.

¹¹ As their rapid success is described before, so have we here represented the great Number of Kingdoms which they over-run; for (as Mr. Mede has truly noted) no Nation ever had so large an Extent of Dominion, or ever subdued so many King­doms in so short a space.

^{12 12 (c)} Bochartus notes, That there are some hairy and rough Locusts; and Mr. Mede observes, that the ancient Ara­bians, or Saracens, were Famous for ^(d) wearing long Hair, [Page 148] and having their heads attired like women. But these Words (as appears from the Texts I have quoted) evidently refer to the Perfidiousness and Subtlity of the Saracens, for which they are notoriously infamous in all ^(a) History; and to the spe­cious pretences by which they advanced their Religion, and the sagacity and strength of Reason, for which they are ^(b) pe­culiarly noted to have valued themselves; they becoming also such great Proficients in the Peripatetick Philosophy, and the Art of disputing; that Charlemain brought in Aristotle's Philoso­phy into the West, and set up the Schools, that the Christians might be the better furnished to oppose the Jews and Mahome­tans. For the Religion of Mahomet was with great cunning adapted to the Looseness and Debauchery of that Age; and being made up of a Medley of Judaism, and of the Opini­ons of the Hereticks of those Times, it was peculiarly fitted to prevail upon both of them. Furthermore, Mahomet is no­ted to have come of a Noble ^(c) Tribe, and to have got great Riches, although his Parents were very poor; and by Conver­sation with people of all Perswasions, to have gained an in­sight into the several Religions which were then professed; which being joyned ^(d) with a good Natural Wit, a sweet Voice, and a courteous Disposition to Men of all Conditions, especially to the Christians, whom he pretended mightily to favour, and forbad to be forced from their Religion (as ap­pears from other Testimonies, as well as from his Last Will and Testament, which some Learned men do now judge to be Genuine,) were very plausible ways of gaining upon men. [Page 149] But above all, the great Zeal which he shewed against ^(a) I­mages, and Idolatry, together with the ^(b) seeming holiness of his Life, his solitary Retiredness into a Cave, for a considerable time, and the strange Feats he did by the power of Sorcery, were the most plausible, and most prevailing Insinuations he made use of; and which were permitted to prevail, by the just Judgment of God, as a punishment upon the Christians for their great Superstition and Idolatry; and that the Belief of the Ʋnity of the Godhead, and of his Abhorrence of Images; might be kept up in the parts of the Christian World, where the Apostasy had so mightily encreased.

9 And they had Breast-plates, as it were Breast-plates ef Iron [i. e. they were well armed, Joel 2.8.] and the sound of their ¹³ Wings, was as the sound of Chariots of many Horses running to Battel [deno­ting their Swiftness, Noise, and Terror, Joel 2.5. Job. 39.20.]

^{13 (c)} Bochartus also notes, that the Locusts make a terri­ble Noise with their Wings; and that (as was before obser­ved) they are not easily wounded.

10 And they had Tails like unto Scorpions, and there were ¹⁴ Stings in their Tails [i. e. they pretended to Prophecy, and infected, and deceived Men by it, Isa. 9.15.] and their power was to hurt men five months [of years, i. e. 145. years.]

¹⁴ The Sting and Poyson of Scorpions is in their Tails; as ^(d) Bochartus has observed; and hereby is signified, the poy­son of their false Religion, grounded upon pretence to prophecy, [Page 150] and converse with the Angel Gabriel; the Prophet that teach­eth Lies being expresly likened to the Tail, Isa. 9.15.

11 And they had a King ¹⁵ over them [Eph. 2.2.] which is the An­gel of the bottomless ¹⁶ Pit [i. e. a Satanical Instrument acted by an Evil Spirit, who came out of it with the Smoak, and Locusts, Verse 2, 3.] whose Name in the Hebrew ¹⁷ Tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek Tongue hath his Name Apollyon [i. e. the Destroyer [...] viz. Mahomet, whose Religion and Empire is seated in the Chief City of the Jews, Jerusalem; and of the Greeks, Constantinople: the Destroyer of the Lives and Religion of both.]

¹⁵ Hereby is intimated, that these were Mystical Locusts, not Natural o [...], which have no King over them, Prov. 3 [...].27.

¹⁶ Mahomet's Hellish Doctrine is hereby described; who also was suspected of Sorcery, and therefore strives to clear himself of it in his Alcoran; and seems to have been possessed by an Evil Spirit; of which his extraordinary Epileptick Fits are thought to be no mean Argument. See Mr. ^* Mede, and Dr. Hammond on Matth. 17.15.

¹⁷ This is in allusion to the Inscription upon our Saviour's Cross, Matth. 27.37. This is Jesus the King of the Jews: which was written ( Luke 23.38.) in Letters of Greek, and Latine, and Hebrew: to shew, that Christ, our Saviour's Kingdom, was to be dispersed and established through the whole World: in correspondence whereunto, Mahomet's Superscrip­tion is, The Destroyer, as Christ's was, Jesus, The Saviour; and his Name is written in the Hebrew, and Greek; but not the Latine Tongue: to shew, that he should prevail over Jeru­salem, the Chief City of the Jews, and over Constantinople, the Chief City of the Greek Empire; but not over Rome, the Chief City of the Latin, or Western Roman Empire.

[Page 151]12 One Woe [or the first of the Three Woes. viz. the Sarace­nick denounced Chap 8.13.] is past [in Vision,] and behold there c [...]e Two Woes more hereafter.

13 And the sixth Angel sounded [an Alarm to a new Woe,] and I heard a ¹⁸ Voice from the Four Horns of the Golden Altar [of Incense,] which is before God, [Chap 8.3, 4.]

¹⁸ The Voice which commands the letting loose of the four Angels, which were to execute the second Woe, comes from t [...] Man of Incense; which had Four Horns (as we read, H [...]d. 27, 2.30, 2. Ezek. 43.15.) denoting ^(a) the Suffi­ciency and Excellency of Christ's Intercession, and his power and Authority, (of which Horns are an Emblem) over his Church, in the Four Quarters of the World. So that hereby is signified the Voice, or Prayers of the Saints of God, or the pure Church, gathered from the Four Corners of the Earth, who now prayed in secret, in a sealed, or retired Condition, (as we have shewn on the Eighth Chapter, Verse 3, 4.) that God would punish the Idolatry (Verse 20, 21.) which now Reigned upon the whole Earth, and was newly established at the Council of Nice. And the Voice proceeded from the Four Horns of the Golden Altar, to shew, that they were pure from Idolatry, and that Holiness to the Lord was graven upon the Horns of their Altar; as the sin of Idolatry was upon the Horns of the Jewish Altars, Jerem. 17.1.

14 Saying to the sixth Angel, which had the Trumpet, loose [from their Restraint,] the ¹⁹ Four [Evil] Angels [i. e. the Turkish Po­tentacy;] which are bound ²⁰ in the great River ²¹ Euphrates; [i. e. hin­dered by Divine Restraint, and the Providential course of things, from making any considerable Progress in the parts of the Roman Empire beyond that River.]

¹⁹ The Bad, as well as Good Spirits, which God makes use of, are called in Scripture, Angels; which in this Book are put to denote the Men, and Instruments used by and under them in their executing the Commands of God. And because there is great Reason to believe, (as I shall shew hereafter) that the Turkish Potentacy is meant in this place, which immediately followed the Saracenical; I shall therefore endeavour to give you a brief Account of its Original and Progress:

The Turks (called [...] by ^(a) Herodotus, and Turcae by Mela, and Pliny) are by all Accounts a Northern People; called therefore, The King of the North, Dan. 11.40. as the Saracens are, The King of the South; because they lie South­ward of Palestine. They were Orignally Natives of Tarta­ry, which is called Turchestân, by the Eastern Writers; and is a Countrey of a vast Extent, reaching from the River Volga to the extreme East; consisting of Two sorts of Tartars, the Eastern, or Mogul Tartars, lying above China, beyond the Mountain Imaus, or Emodus; and the Western Tartars on this side Imaus; whose Language is different from the former: and from these latter came the Turks, as appears from their Language, the Ground of which is Tartar; and those Tartars also, which inhabit the lesser Tartary; upon the Black or Euxin Sea, called, the Crim Tartary, or Tarta­ria Precopensis; from a great Dike, near which its Chief City stands; Crim signifying a great Bank with a Ditch, in the Tartar Language; as Precop does in the Polish: who were originally of the same Race with the Turks, although they are now a mixt people; because their Prince is by Compact, to succeed the Grand Signior, upon de­fect of Heir Male; which the Turks would not have consented to, if they had not been of the same Line.

Now the Turks made their Excursions from all parts at first; some of them from beyond (a) Tanais, (where those Turks seem to have lived, who sent an Embassy to Justin Junior, and were employed by Heraclius against the Persians, when he sailed through the Euxin Sea) into Georgia, and by de­grees into Armenia: but the greatest and most Famous Body of them, came from Mawaralnàhra, or the Regions beyond the River Oxus; and from that part of it above the Caspian Sea, which is particularly denominated from them, Turchestân; the Chief Seat whereof is Samarchand; from whence they were cal­led into Persia, and not from Armenia, as Abul-Pharajai, and El­macinus both testifie; who make frequent mention of them, and their Kings, long hefore their setling in Persia. They at first fell into Chorasân, (a Countrey lying betwixt Persia and India) and ravaged some parts of ^(b) Persia, about A. D. 625. and afterwards ^(c) assisted the Persians against the Saracens, about A. D. 643. About ^(d) A. D. 800. they made great Incursi­ons through the Portae Caspiae; which is a narrow Passage near Derbent, (which signifies in the Persian Language a streight betwixt Mountains) called by the Turks, Demir Capi, or the Iron Gate, near the Caspian Sea, betwixt Armenia and Persia; and is part of that vast Ridge of Hills (at least 1500 Miles long) which runneth from West to East, from Arme­nia to India; where the Branches of it run several ways, one great one of them separating the hithermost Tartary, from that above China, or the Mogul Tartary; and is called Imaus: these Hills receiving different Names, in the different Coun­teies through which they run; sometimes being called Mount ^(b) [Page 154] Taurus, sometimes Mount Caucasus, and near Tartary, Imaus. Through this Natural Barrier of Nations, there is a Narrow Passage; which the Turks passed, and possessed themselves of the Northern part of Armenia, called, perhaps, from them, Turcomania: From whence, and about the same time, some of them went, and settled in Caramania, in Asia Minor, anci­ently called Cilicia: whilst others of them, who were Sti­pendiaries to the Saracenick Chaliphs, prevailed mightily at Bagdâd, betwixt the Year 863. and 900. insomuch, that although they had been often slain in great Numbers, and were driven out of Chorasana; they yet Rallied their Forces, under Tugrol, or Togrul-Beg, ^(a) (called Tangroli­pix, and by several other Names by the Greeks,) who came from the Countries beyond the River Gihon, or Jihun, (which is the same with Oxus) as ^(b) Abul-Pharajai distinctly af­fims; and passed that River, and not Araxes, which divides Armenia from Media; except those Two Rivers are con­founded by the Greeks, as Du Cange thinks. This great Cap­tain, together with the rest of his Brethren, of the Family of the ^(c) Seljukidae, who began to be Famous about A. D. 1038. being called into the Assistance of the Persians; at last conquered them; taking Ispahan about A. D. 1050. and having embraced Mahometism, the Religion of that Countrey; they proceeded so far, as to conquer Bagdad, A. D. 1055. and to put an end to the Empire of the Saracens in those parts.

Betwixt the years ^(d) 1070, and 1080. they made great progress in Asia Minor; some of the Family of the Seljuki­dae, [Page 155] who came thither from Persia, fixing their Imperial Seat at Iconium; who are from thence called the Sultans of Ico­nium, and are distinguished from the other Turkish Sultans, who Reigned in Asia the Great; whose chief Seats were in Persia, (where Tangrolipix ^* died, A. D. 1063.) and at Bag­dad. But the ^(a) Christians in the Holy War, about A. D. 1097. having broken their power in those parts; and what through the Divisions which arose amongst the Sons of Cutlu­muses ^(b) (the Cousin German of Tangrolipix, and the first who made considerable Inroads into Asia Minor) about A.D. 1108; We hear little considerable of the Actions of these Sultans, until their Credit and Power came to be advanced by Sultan Aladdin Caicobad, who was made Sultan A. D. 1219. and died about A. D. 1236. In the mean time, the Eastern Turkish Empire mightily encreased, especially under the Arms of Saladin ^(c) (Salaho Ddin) who took Aegypt from the Saracenick Chalifs, about A. D. 1169. where the Turkish, and Circassian Mamlucs (i. e. Slaves, or Servants) afterwards bore sway for about 275 years, as Dr. Pocock informs us in his Supplement to Abul-Pharajai. But on a sudden, A. D. ^(d) 1202. there arose a New Empire in the World; the Mo­gul-Tartars (or Tatars, called so from a ^(e) River in that Coun­trey, of that Name) falling in upon the Eastern Empire of the Turks, and making Incursions as far as Asia Minor (which the Arabians call Rumaea;) and at last taking Bagdad, A. D. 1258. whereby the Dynasty of the Arabian Mussulmen, was transferred unto the Kings of the Mogul-Tartars, according to Abul-pharajai; which Empire nevertheless lasted not long [Page 156] in those parts; for it was broken by mutual Discords, about A. D. 1335. where Dr. ^(a) Pocock places the end of that Dynasty; nothing considerable being performed by them, until the Time of Tamerlan (Timur Lenc) who died A. D. 1404. Since which time they have contained themselves within their own Eastern bounds; and have not carried their Arms into the Western parts. This great and terrible Inva­sion gave occasion to the Rise of the ^(b) Ottoman Turks; who being beaten out of Asia, by the Mogul-Tartars; and hearing of the Fame of the Sultans of Iconium; began their March from the Province of Mahan, in the Dominions of the Persians, towards Asia Minor, A. D. 1214. under the Conduct of Solyman-Shahum; to one of whose Sons, (he himself being drowned at the passing of Euphrates) Ala­din, Sultan of Iconium assigned a Portion of Land, near the Mountains of Armenia: From which small beginnings they raised themselves by their Valour, and the Favour of Aladin, to such a heighth, that A. D. 1299. ^(c) Othman (commonly called Ottoman) Solyman's Grandchild, took the Name of Sultan, and so enlarged their Dominions, that his Son (he himself dying A. D. 1325.) took Brusia (formerly Prusa, a City of Bithynia,) either that Year, or very soon after, and made it the First Seat (as Hadrianople was afterwards, and Constantinople is now) of the mighty Ottoman Empire; which ^(d) succeeded the Aladinian Sultany, after it had been esta­blished in Asia Minor, about Ninety Years. Since which time their History is so well known, that I shall not further insist upon it; having brought it down to the Times here mention­ed; viz. their most Famous passing the River Euphrates; and [Page 157] that at a time (as ^(a) Camerarius has very well noted) when Ecclesiastical Authority had advanced it self above the Civil, and Divisions and Superstition had much encreased amongst Christians. Now the Cause why this great Empire should be Characterized by Four Angels, bound in the River Euphrates, and afterwards loosed; is a thing worthy our disquisition; and it may, perhaps, be for these Reasons:

(1.) Because that the Kingdom of the Turks was divided into Four Proefectures, or Principalities, whilst they were bound in the River Euphrates; that is, had made no Incursions into those Western parts; which are bounded by that Famous River. For so we are expresly told in the Relation ^(b) of an Embassy, from the Scythian Turks to Justin Junior, about A.D. 570. where the Turkish Embassadours being asked hy the Em­perour concerning the State of their Kingdom; tell him, that the Chief Power was indeed solely in their King Disabulus; but that their Kingdom was divided into Four ( [...]) or Principalities.

(2.) At their most memorable passing the River Euphrates, they were under the Command of Four ^(c) Captains, viz. So­lyman ^(d) Shahum, and his Three Sons; and upon the death of Solyman, who was drowned in the passing of that River (a circumstance not altogether to be disregarded,) they were a­gain under Four Commanders; viz. Otrogules, and his Three Sons; of whom Ottoman was one; who, upon their being loo­sed, (by having power from God to pass the River Euphrates,) laid the Foundations of that mighty Empire. All which are no obscure Circumstances, but most notable, and most famous [Page 158] passages of their History; the Number of Four Illustrious Fa­milies being so remarkable amongst them, that ^(a) Leunclavius hath a particular Chapter about.

(3.) They are not only remarkable for ^(b) Four Chief suc­cessive Families; viz. the Seljukian, Aladinian, Oguzian, and Ottoman: but if Mr. Mede's Observation prove true, they were actually divided into Four Tetrarchies, or Sultanies, whilst they were bound in Euphrates.

And (lastly;) Because the Spirit of God, in delivering Pro­phecies, which are on purpose dark and aenigmatical, may al­lude to many passages and circumstances in one, and the same Type, and Figurative Expression; some less known and obvi­ous than others, to excite men's Industry: why may not the Turkish Potentacy be signified by Four, because of the Ʋni­versality of its Conquests, described Dan. 11.40-45. ( Four, as Dr. Moor observes, standing for a Note of Ʋniversality in the Cabbalistick Mysteries) especially in the Graecian Monar­chy, which it was more immediately designed to kill, or de­stroy? For as the Horns of the Altar, from which the Voice comes (Vers. 13.) are Four, to signifie the Ʋniversal Extent of Christ's Church; so are there here Four Angels loosed; to shew, that this Woe was to fall Ʋniversally upon the Grecian Church and Monarchy, described in Daniel (Chap. 8.8.) by Four Notable Horns, towards the Four Winds of Heaven. For the Turkish Empire (as that Judicious Historian, Mr. ^(c) Knolls, has observed) hath brought fatal mutations, not upon Christen­dom only, but the whole World; having under its Command the chief and most Fruitful parts of Europe, Africa and Asia; and having fixed it self almost altogether, even in the self same Kingdoms, Countries, and Regions, as belonged to the Greek [Page 159] Empire. For although the Third of the Earth, and of Men, be the Symbol of the Grecian Empire; yet in respect of its Ʋ ­niversality, it may also be represented by the Number Four.

²⁰ To bind, is to hinder and restrain; as appears from Rev. 20.2. and that by secret Impulses and Instincts, as the Word is taken, Acts 20.22.

And from hence we may learn, That the Bounds of Em­pires, and their progress, are from God; as are also the Pro­vidential Seasons, in which he lets loose Barbarous Nations to chastise Christians.

²¹ A great River, upon which the Old Babylon, the Type of the Antichristian City, stood; it was the fatal Boundary of the Roman Empire; and was so oftentimes to the Turks; they making but small Advances beyond it, except in Asia Mi­nor, (out of which they were also beaten, first by the Chri­stians, and then by the Tartars) until that famous loosing them by God, to punish the Antichristian Babylon, about A. D. 1300. after which time their Success was swift and prodigious.

15 And the Four Angels were loosed [i. e. permitted to pass that River,] which were prepared [by God, from the first Erection of their Empire] for an ¹² Hour, and a ²³ Day [i. e. a Year,] and a Month [of Days, which are Years;] and a Year [of Prophetical Days, for Years;] for to slay the ²⁴ third part of Men [i. e. to de­stroy utterly the Constantinopolitan, or Greek Roman Empire.]

²² The Word [...], translated Hour; signifies, Dan. 4, 33.5, 5. Time, or Season; in which sense it is often used by John in his Gospel, and in this Book; particularly John 2, 4.4, 52.5, 25.7, 30. and Rev. 11, 13.17, 12. And thus also it is to be understood in this place; because it is famili­arly used in this Sense, by the Writer of this Book; and no where by him in the other, for an Hour; which is but of little use to ascertaining a Line of Time; which is not wont to descend to such minute portions of it. And there­fore [Page 160] it is here to be understood (that it may bear a propor [...]i­on to its Use in other places) concerning A certain portion of Time, not here particularly limited and determined, beyond those particularly specified; q. d. that they were prepared for a certain Time or Season, and also for a Day, a Month, and a Year, over and above that Time. And the Remark concern­ing the Acceptation of the Word Hour for Time; receives great Light from the Observation of ^(a) Scaliger; who notes; that Hours were a Devise of the Greeks; and so consequently were not in use amongst the Jews, during the Times of the Old Testament; from whence the Words and Phrases of this Book are taken.

²³ This Prophetical Time (for which see Chap. 11. num. 12.) makes up 396 years; which is the exact space of Time from the beginning of the Turkish Empire, A. D. 1057. (as we have before shewn,) to the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, A. D. 1453. the very year assigned by the latest ^(a) and most accurate Chronologers, for the taking of that City, after much doubt concerning it: Which is an Observa­tion that ought to be taken notice of, to Excite Learned Men to the Study of Scripture-Chronology.

²⁴ We have before shewn, on Chap. 8.7. that this is the Mystical Symbol of the Greek, or Constantinopolitan Roman Empire; which was killed or destroyed, at the taking of Constantinople, the Chief Seat of it; when (as Chronologers note) the Eastern Empire of the Christians ceased, and came into the hands of the Turks; which was only tormented by the Saracens, who could never kill it, by taking its Imperial City; when an Empire, in the account of Prophecy, is at an End. See before on Verse 5.

[Page 161]16 And the number of the Army ²⁵ of the Horsemen, were two hun­dred thousand thousand [i. e. a vast number, Psalm 68.17. Dan. 7.10.] and I heard ²⁶ the number of them [as if they had been repeat­ed out of a Muster-Roll.]

²⁵ Thus the Army of Gog and Magog is described by E­zek. 38▪ 4, 15. And here is another Character of the Turks, whose chief Strength and Numbers consisted at first in their Cavalry; as that also of the Tartars, from whom they ori­ginally came, and of the Persians did; with whom they are confounded, and are called by their Name in History, af­ter they had conquered them. And from some such reason, perhaps, as this, is the Horses Tail, still carried before their Chief Officers, as an Ensign of Honour and Authority, in Me­mory, that their Strength consisted chiefly in Horse; of which they were wont to bring vast Numbers into the Field; as they also did at the taking of ^(a) Constantinople.

²⁶ When a thing is most certain, and very remarkable; some such vehement Expression is wont to be used in this Prophecy.

17 And thus [or after this following manner, in which I shall describe them,] I saw the Horses in the Vision, and them that sate on them, having ²⁷ breast-plates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone; and the Heads of their Horses, were as the Heads of Lions [i. e. fierce and terrible, and making a roaring noise;] and out of their mouths is­sued ²⁸ fire, and smoke, and brimstone.

²⁷ That is, Breastplates of Armour, excellently polished, like flaming fire; which will cast the Colours of Jacinth and Brimstone, when the Sun shines on them: For the Turks, and their Horses, were, perhaps, at first, in polished Armour of I­ron, [Page 162] which is of a Violet Colour; according to the Custom of the ^(a) Persians; from whose Countrey they came, when they passed Euphrates, and amongst whom they had lived for a long time.

²⁸ This is a plain Description of the discharging of Guns by Men on Horseback; when the Smoak, and Fire of the Gun-powder seems to issue out of their Horses Mouths; and the Smell of Brimstone (of which mixed with Nitre and Charcoal, it is made) is so very prevalent.

18 By these three ²⁹ was the third part of men killed [i. e. the Con­stantinopolian Empire was destroyed,] by the fire, and by the smoak, and by the Brimstone, which issued out at their mouths [when the Riders discharged their Guns.]

²⁹ Here is also another evident Character; for the Holy Ghost represents the Turkish Army, by those Warlike Instru­ments, which were invented about the time of their being let loose upon the Empire; Guns being found out A. D. ^(b) 1354. or 1380. at furthest; and brought to perfection, a­bout 1415; by the use of which, the ^(c) Turks enlarged their Conquests; and (as all Historians ^(d) relate) took Constan­tinople; the prodigious Great Cannon and Guns which they used at that Siege, being very Remarkable, and very Fa­tal.

19 For their power is in their mouth [Verse 18. i. e. in their Arms,] and in their Tails [i. e. in false pretences to Prophecy, [Page 163] Verse 10.] for their Tails were like unto Serpents [i.e. they were craf­ty and Venemous,] and had heads [with mouths speaking great things; promoting and spreading their false Doctrines;] and with them [i. e. their ³⁰ headed Tails] they do hurt [to the Souls of Men.]

³⁰ They had Two Heads like the Serpent Amphis [...]na: by which the spreading Venome of their poysonous Religion is de­scribed; together with their manner of propagating it; viz. by Fire issuing out of their mouths; that is, by Force of Arms; and by their Tails, or crafty pretences; for they are noted to have at first entred Europe ^(a) humanely, although they proceed­ed after to oppression: And (lastly▪) for their high and Vain-glorious Words and Titles; and the fair pretences they made use of against Idolatry, which was then too visible and pre­dominant in the Church.

20 And the rest of ³¹ the men [i. e. [the remaining part of the Empire; viz. the Western;] which were not killed [i.e. utterly destroyed] by these [foregoing] Plagues [inflicted by the Saracens and Turks;] yet repented not [notwithstanding these Judgments, which were designed by God for that End;] of the Work of their Hands [i. e. their Idolatry, 2 Kings 22.17. Jerem. 25.6, 7.] that they should not worship ³² Devils [i. e. Daemons, Lev. 17.7.] and Idols of Gold, and Silver, and Brass, and Stone, and of Wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk [i. e. Images, Psalm 115, 4.135, 15.]

³¹ The Third of men (i. e. the Eastern Empire) being killed; the rest of men, must signifie, the remaining part; that is, the Western Empire, which was usurped by the Pa­pal Antichrist; whilst the Mahometan Antichrist Tyrannized in the Eastern.

³² By Daemons are meant Spirits of a middle Nature betwixt God, and Men; that is, Angels, and Souls departed. See Mr. Mede on the place; and his Apostasy of the Latter Times.

21 Neither repented they of their Murthers [i. e. Persecutions,] nor of their ³³ Sorceries [i. e. Wicked Arts, and False Devices to deceive Souls, Nahum 3.4. Isa 47.9, 12.] nor of their Forni­cation [or Unclean and Idolatrous Doctrines and Practices▪] nor of their Thefts [i. e. cheating of Men by sanctified pretences.]

³³ Such as Exorcisms Relicks, Anointings, and her lying Signs and Wonders; together with all her bewitching and in­toxicating Doctrines and Practices.