A Paraphrase on the New Testament, Revelation · Chapter 19
CHAP. XIX.
1. ANd after theſe things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, ſaying, Halleluiah, ſalvation, and glory, and honour, and power unto the Lord our God:
1. The Saints in Heaven, and the Chriſtians on earth, gave Praiſe to God, and glorified him, for this great work.
2. For true and righteous are his judgments, for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his ſervants at her hand. 3. And again they ſaid, Allelujah: and her ſmoke roſe up for ever and ever.
2, 3. They glorified God for holy and amiable juſtice… and deſtroying the Mother of Idolatry and neſt of Luxury and cruelty. God will have great Glory by deſtroying the perſecutors and wicked, and in delivering his Saints, and in the Freedom of the Goſpel.
4. And the four and twenty elders, and the four beaſts fell down, and worſhipped God that ſat on the throne, ſaying, Amen, Allelujah.
4. And the conſenting Praiſes of the Church, eſpecially of Chriſtian Jews, was repreſented to me under the oſt-mentioned ſimilitude of the Temple-Worſhip, where the Twelve Tribes were doubly repreſented (by twelve Oxen, and twelve Lions) and four Cherubims were about the Mercy-Seat. Jews, and Gentile Chriſtians, praiſe God for the Fall of Babylon.
5. And a voice came out of the throne, ſaying, Praiſe our God, all ye his ſervants, and ye that fear him, both ſmall and great.
5. And God himſelf, and his Miniſters, called to all his Church to joyn in theſe his Praiſes.
6. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, ſaying, Allelujah: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth: 7. Let us be glad and rejoyce, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made her ſelf ready. 8. And to her was granted, that ſhe ſhould be arrayed in fine linnen, clean and white: for the fine linnen is the righteouſneſs of Saints.
6, 7, 8. And the raiſing of the Catholick Church in numbers, and extent, and power, to the viſible Glory of Chriſt, was repreſented to me by the Voice as of a great multitude, &c. ſaying, Praiſe the Lord, for his Kingdom is coming in Power, and his Church ſhall be promoted by the Rulers of the Earth, and the Kingdoms of the World ſhall be viſibly the Kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Chriſt: And Chriſt and his Church will appear to the World in Honour and Joy, as Marriages uſe to be celebrated. And the Catholick Church ſhall be clothed with the notes of Honour and Purity, or Righteouſneſs (or ſhall publickly worſhip him in his inſtituted Ordinances.)
9. And he ſaith unto me, Write, Bleſſed are they which are called unto the marriage-ſupper of the Lamb, And he ſaith unto me, Theſe are the true ſayings of God.
9. Happy are they that ſhall ſee the fall of Babylon, and the Deliverance and Advancement of the Chriſtian Church, and ſhall have their place and part in that publick Reign of Chriſt, by his Chriſtian Magiſtrates and Paſtors, and in the publick praiſes of the flouriſhing Chriſt, (much more they that ſhall ſee his Reign in the Kingdom of Glory.)
10. And I fell at his feet to worſhip him: and he ſaid unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow-ſervant, and of thy brethren, that have the teſtimony of Jeſus, worſhip God: for the teſtimony of Jeſus is the ſpirit of prophecy.
10. I thought that I owed ſo great honour to ſuch a Meſſenger of ſo glad Tydings, that I fell at his feet to worſhip, him (not with Divine Worſhip, as God, but as his Angel;) but he forbad it me, and bid me worſhip God only, and not Angels, by ſuch proſtration: (For though we we may, by proſtration, do worſhip to a Prince or Parent, yet to do it to Angels that are inviſible, will be too like the Heathen ſort of Worſhip, and encourage thoſe that offer Angels, unwarrantable Worſhip.) I am a Servant of Chriſt, and a fellow-ſervant to thee and thy Brethren the Prophets; and your Office of publiſhing the Goſpel, and mine in this Prophecy, are much like: The Spirit of Prophecy, by which you are Chriſt's Meſſengers and Witneſſes, is that Teſtimony of Jeſus, which you and I, as fellow-ſervants, are in our ſeveral capacities employed.
11. And I ſaw heaven opened, and behold, a white horſe, & he that ſat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteouſneſs he doth judge and make war.
11. Having ſpoken in general of the Fall of Babylon, he now ſheweth how Chriſt in its over throw will do execution on thoſe his Enemies, till he have rooted the out; and how the Beaſt will ſtruggle before he be quite deſtroyed, and that not in Rome only.
12. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written, that no man knew but he himſelf. 13. And he was clothed with a veſture dipt in blood, and his Name is called, The word of God.
12, 13. His flaming Eyes ſignifie his Glory and Omniſcience; and his many Crowns, the many Kingdom… which he ſhall ſubdue and reign over. What his unknown Name is, we muſt not enquire. His bloody Veſture ſignifieth his Victory over his Enemies, purchaſed with his Churches deliverance by his own blood: And his known Name is, The Word of God
14. And the armies, which were in heaven followed him upon white horſes clothed in fine linnen, white and clean.
14. And the Executioners of his juſtice on Babylon, &c. were repreſented to me by an Army of heavenly ones following him on white Horſes, and clothed in white, &c.
15. And out of his mouth goeth a ſharp ſword, that with it he ſhall ſmite the natitions; and he ſhall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the wine-preſs of the fierceneſs and wrath of almighty God.
15. The word of his mouth is, as a ſharp Sword, to overcome the Heathen World, and all his Enemies, by converting his choſen, and denouncing his Judgments on the uncurable, which he will execute, and that preſently by the Sword of his Warriors, by whom he will cruſh the Rebels, and on them he will execute God's Vindictive Juſtice.
16. And he hath, on his veſture, and on his thigh, a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
16. For beſides. [the Word of God] he hath another name on his thigh (where the Sword is worn) King of Kings, &c. For he will reign, and all Kings and Lords are under him and he will ſubdue his Foes.
17. And I ſaw an angel ſtanding in the ſun, and he cryed with a loud voice, ſaying to all the fowls that flie in the midſt of heaven, Come and gather your ſelves together unto the ſupper of the great God: 18. That ye may eat the fleſh of Kings and the fleſh of captains, and the fleſh of mighty men, and the fleſh of horſes, and of them that ſit on them, and the fleſh of all men, both free and bond, both ſmall and great.
17, 18. It cannot be expected that the whole Idolatrous Empire of Babylon be deſtroyed without War: And he will conquer that is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords: And Commanders and Souldiers ſhall be a prey to the Fowls; which was fulfilled on Maxentius, Li…inius, &c. Others ſay, this is deſtruction of the Popiſh Kings: And others, that it ſignifieth not their death, but the Fall of Popery
19. And I ſaw the beaſt, and the Kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war againſt him that ſat on the horſe, and againſt his army. 20. And the be…ſt was taken, and with him the falſe prophet, that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had receive… the mark of the beaſt; and them that worſhipped his image. Theſe both were caſt alive into a lake of fire burning with brimſtone.
19, 20. The Pagan emperours were conquered, & with them the Literate Sedu…rs (Senators, Orators, Poets, Philoſophers, Augurs, Aruſpices, Prieſts, who by ſuch Poetical Fable is, as Ovid's Metamorpheſis, and by feigned Predictions, Oracles, and ſuch pretended Miracles as Eunapius boaſteth of by many of their Philoſophers, but especially by the power of their abuſed Learning, called by Paul the Wiſdom of the World, which is fooliſhneſs with God, and Science falſely ſo called) who deceived the Princes and People into a high Opinion of their Idols, and a contempt o… Chriſtianity, as fooliſhneſs: The Imperial Power, and the Learned Seducers, were rooted out, and, as Sodom, caſt into utter deſtruction, and judged to damnation.
Others ſay, that the Beaſt here is the Pope, and the falſe Prophet, with him, is himſelf alſo, he being the Beaſt as Civil Ruler, and the Prophet as Eccleſiaſtical: But the Text plainly maketh them two, Others ſay, it is the Pope and his Clergy, Jeſuits, Fryars, &c.
21. And the remnant were ſlain with the ſword of him, that ſat upon the horſe, which ſword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their fleſh.
21. The memory of their conquered Emperours and Philoſophers, Senators, Poets, &c. is continued in Hiſtory (as Pilate's in the Creed) to their perpetual ſhame, and ſo they are ſaid to be caſt alive into the Lake: But the multitudes of Souldiers and People, that fought for them, were ſlain and caſt into Oblivion; or ſome converted by the Word, and ſome confounded. Or, as others, the Papiſts are ſome converted, and others for obſtinacy condemned.