Works, Book 5 · Chapter 10
CHAP. X.
Short Observations upon some passages in the Apocalyps.
CHAP. 1. vers. 11.—the Seven Churches which are in Asia] If we consider their number, being Seven, which is a number of revolution of times, and therefore in this Book the Seals and Trumpets and Vials also are Seven; or if we consider the choice of the H. Ghost, in that he taketh neither all, no nor the most famous Churches in the world, as Antioch, Alexandria, Rome, and many other, and such no doubt as had need of instruction as well as those here named; If these thing; be well considered, may it not seem that these Seven Churches, besides their Literal respect, were intended to be as Patterns and Types of the several Ages of the Catholick Church à principio ad finem? that so these Seven Churches should prophetically sample unto us a Seven-fold successive temper and condition of the whole Visible Church according to the several Ages thereof, answering to the Pattern of the Seven Churches here. And if this were granted, viz. That they were intended for so many Patterns of so many States of the Church succeeding in the like order the Churches are named; then surely the First Church (viz. the*Ephesus primitiva Eccl…si…e Typus, plurima fortiter passae, sed tandem in amore d…crescentis, unde Apostasia, 2 Thess 2. and 1 Tim. 4. 1. Ephesian State) must be first, and the Last be the last. As for those between, though there be no Characters to bound them all ‖No more ha…e the first 6 Trumpets: only ingruss we know by the Text where the First of them beginneth and where the Sixth endeth.exactly, yet the mention of false Iews and the Synagogue of Satan, Throne of Satan, Balaam, Iezabel, &c. (Apocal. 2.) in the Five middle ones, will argue that they belong to the time of the Beast and Babylon. And for the Sixth in special, viz. Philadelphia, we have a good character where to place it, viz. partly about the time the Beast is falling, and partly after his destruction, when the New Ierusalem cometh. For Philadelphia is promised that the Synagogue of Satan should bow before her feet, that she should be preserved in the general temptation to come upon the whole world, that upon her should be written the name of the New Ierusalem (Apocal. 3. 9, 10, 12.) If any thinks these Seven Churches are to be put into the Scheme, (as being perswaded they serve for Prophecies of things to come as well as Descriptions of things present) he may easily supply their want by imagining them in that middle empty space between the Two Prophecies, or might without any great deformity express them by 7 letters, E. S. P &c.
CHAP. 3. vers. 21.—I will give him to sit with me in my Throne, even as I— am set down with my Father in his Throne] Here are 2 Thrones mentioned. My Throne, saith Christ; this is the condition of glorified Saints, who sit with Christ in his Throne: but my Father's (i.e. God's) Throne is the Power of Divine Majesty; herein none may sit but God and the God-man Iesus Christ. To be installed in God's Throne, to sit at God's right hand, is to have a God-like Royalty, such as his Father hath, a Royalty altogether incommunicable, whereof no creature is capable. To receive our devotions in Heaven is a flower of this incommunicable Royalty.
CHAP. 5. vers. 12. Worthy is the Lamb to receive Power, and Riches, and Wisdom, and Strength, and Honour, and Blessing] The whole Doxology consists in the acknowledgment of these three Sovereign Prerogatives of the Divine Majesty, his Power, his Wisdom, his Goodness. The two first, Power and Wisdom, are express; and Riches and Strength belong to Power: the third (viz. Goodness) is implied in Blessing or Thanksgiving, which is the Confession of the Divine Goodness. Observe also that these words (and those in the parallel place, chap. 4. 11.) are the summe and argument of that Hymnologie which the Primitive Church used at the offering of Bread and Wine for the Eucharist.
CHAP. 9. vers. 5.—tormented five months, and vers. 10.—to hurt men five months] For the clearing of this difficulty, 1. What if these Five months are not the whole time of the plague of Locusts, but the time only of their tormenting with their tail? Agreeably to this supposal the Editio Complutensis followed by Plantine reads not vers. 10. as we do with the Codex Regius, foreign but thus, foreign, that is, And they had tails like unto Scorpions, and stings: and in their tails they have power to hurt men five months. And what if this then be the meaning of vers. 5.—They should be tormented five months; and their torment was as the torment of a Scorpion, when he Striketh a man, that is, they should be tormented by the tail, a… Scorpions torment and strike with their tail?
2. What if by the Head of this Army of*the Saracens. Locusts we understand their Foremost troups or Vanguard, which infested and setled in the Eastern parts, erecting their chief Caliph at Bagdat or Babylon in Mesopotamia; and by the Tail of this Army their Latter and hindmost troups, which encamped Westward in Africk and Spain, as the Rere of that great Army who in process of time erected also a Caliph at Algier, and from thence after some ages invaded Sicily and Italy, which they held even under the Walls of Rome and Pope's nose, just five months or 150 years; during which though they killed not the Beast, yet they continually frighted, vexed and tormented him? For it should seem that the Holy Ghost in this number principally aimed at Italy, once the Seat of the Empire, and now of the Beast, whom the Head-troups of these Locusts never came near, but only their Tail.
Vers. 20. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship Daemons, and Idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk] See this explained in Book III. pag. 635.
CHAP. 10. vers. 11. Thou must prophesie again before many, &c.] These words, foreign, Thou must prophesie again, (which interpret the Symbolum of the Book-eating, ver. 10.) do imply that the Systeme of Visions following do relegere tempus Apocalypticum ab ovo. But if any Vision of that Systeme of Visions do begin at the beginning of the Apocalyptical time or period, (as it is not denied but that of the Puerperium in Chap. 12. doth) there is no reason to think but that the First Vision beginneth there; both because it is the First, and because it is the summe and Compendium of all that follow after. If then the First Vision after the eating of the Book begin at the beginning of the Apocalyptical period, surely the Measuring of the Temple and foreign is that which begins there: If the Measuring of the Temple and foreign begin at the beginning of Apocalyptical time, then this Measuring cannot be contemporary with the Treading down of the Outer Court and the Witnesses prophesying in Sack-cloth; because these contemporate with the Woman in the Wilderness and the XLII months blasphemy of the Beast, which are granted not to be from the beginning of Apocalyptical time.
CHAP. 11. Vers. 2.—the holy City shall they tread under foot 42 months; and ver. 3.—my two Witnesses shall prophesie in Sack-cloth *the same is said of the Woman's being in the Wilderness, ch. 12. 6.1260 days; and ver. 9.—three days and an half (as in chap. 12. 14.—a time and times and half a time)] That by these Numbers are not meant Three single years and an half, see it demonstrated by five Reasons, in Book III. pag. 598.
CHAP. 12. vers. 14. And to the Woman were given two Wings of a great Eagle] This alludes unto Exod. 19. 4. where God is said to have born his people upon Eagle's wings, and brought them (out from the Egyptians) unto himself, namely in the Wilderness.
—That she might flie into the Wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished— from the face of the Serpent] Seeing the whole Apocalyps almost consists of Expressions borrowed from the Types of the Old Testament; why should not this of the Woman's dwelling and being fed in the Wilderness have reference to that of Israel's Mora in deserto, an estate and condition externally better than what they came from in Egypt, but inferiour to that they should in time attain unto? Yea besides this general, the Allusion is most fit for many particular Correspondencies. Moses brought the Israelites out of the Egyptian bondage into the Wilderness, a place where they might worship and sacrifice unto the Lord safely, where the Law was given, Tabernacle built, Ordinances both Sacred and Political enacted, &c. So did foreign, Great Constantine deliver the Apostolical Woman, and brought her into the like condition, wherein she might worship Christ safely, the Laws of the Church were established, Tabernacles for Christian Worship erected, T…thes and Revenues assigned, &c. And had not this Christian Wilderness a Calf too made of the Ear-rings stoln from the Egyptians? Was there not here found a Korah among the Sons of Levi, with his partakers,*Numb. 16. men of renown, to rebel against Moses and Aaron, and to offer strange fire unto the Lord? Was there not here a Balaam to deceive, and a Baal-Peor to be worshipped? was there not a Marah and a Meribah? Yea, was there not here also as well as there those who brought an evil report upon the Land whither they were to go? Farther, might not God say of the times of this Christian Wilderness, as he did of the abode of Israel there? Psal. 95. 10. Forty years long was I grieved, &c. and Amos 5. 25, 26. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have born the Tabernacle of your Moloch, &c.
CHAP. 17. 14.—and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful] i.e. The Lamb and those called and elect and chosen ones which are with him shall overcome the Beast. So I understand it. These are that Virgin-Company (Chap. 14.) which follow the Lamb whither soever he goeth, and shall now accompany him in this Exploit. This therefore will serve for a Character Synchronistical, That that Virgin-Company continues in time to the end of Babylon and the Beast; and for an intimation of whom that Vision meaneth, viz. such as faithfully adhere unto the Lamb, while the Beast reigneth and the rest of men admire and worship him.
CHAP. 19. 15. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the Nations] So it was prophesied of him by Esay, chap. 11. 4.—that he should smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips should shay the wicked: and in 2 Thess. 2. 8.—he shall consume that Wicked one (viz. Antichrist) with the Spirit of his mouth. Christ our General nor fights nor conquers by force of Arms, but by the power of his Word and Spirit; He does all nutu & verbo: As it is said (Psal. 33.) God made the world by his word and by the breath of his mouth; in like manner doth Christ overcome his enemies, and enables his Ministers to overcome them also, Verbo & Spiritu oris. Agreeable hereunto is that in Hos. 6. 5. I have hewed them by my Prophets, and slain them by the words of my mouth.
CHAP. 20. 6. Blessed and Holy is he that hath part in the First Resurrection] What is meant by the First Resurrection, see in The Remains upon the Apocalyps. Book III. pag. 604. and in Book IV. Epistle 20.
Vers. 14. And Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire: This is the Second Death] Nothing is hereby meant but that Death was now quite vanquished; and that there should be no more Death of Body or Separation of Soul, but only the Second Death. As if it had been said, Death and Hades were now confined only to the lake of fire, which is the Second Death. The Death of Bodies in the grave should be no more, nor the state of Separate Souls in*Hades is the state of Separate Souls, whether good or bad, after death. Hades.