Chapter VIII
The exposition of the lith chapter, ivherein the state of the true church under
Antichrist is described.
As in the 13th chapter you have the false antichristian church, whereof the
Pope is the head, so in this 14th chapter begins the description of the
true church during the time of Antichrist, whereof the Lamb is the head : which church is made up of that seed of the woman mentioned chap. xii. 17 ; whom, during her lying hid in the wilderness, Satan through Antichrist s power did persecute. Now the several conditions of the church, during those times of Antichrist unto this day, may be reduced to three heads :
1. The state of true believers in those darker times of Popery, when they were mingled with Papists, as making no open separation from them, and
yet preserving themselves pure from much of their idolatrous worship and
opinions; and this during the space of seven hundred years from the Pope s
rising.
2. The state of the church when first a separation began to be made from the church of Rome, and the gospel to be preached, from the year 1100.
3. The state of the church under the Reformation since the times of Luther and Calvin, for these last hundred years.
Into these three several states the church of God doth eminently fall
divided, to the view of any that are skilled in ecclesiastic stories. And these three states are lively deciphered in this chapter.
1. The state of that confused company under Antichrist s first times, ver. 1-6.
2. The church s first separation from the company of Antichrist, in three several degrees of it, ver. 6-14.
3. The state of the Reformation since Calvin s time, ver. 14 to the end.
First, The state of believers mingled among Antichrist s company, and not setting up churches distinct from those under him, though opposing the ,
grossness of his idolatry, and keeping themselves pure from it. And these are set forth in characters suitable to that condition. They are a scattered company of a hundred and forty-four thousand, joining themselves to the Lamb Christ, having his Father s name written in their foreheads, that is, professing the true God, in the sincere obedience and worship of him, whilst the opposite company of Antichrist went wondering after the beast, even a world of them, as chap. xiii. 3, and received his mark, ver. 17. These are
set forth by the same number of a hundred and forty-four thousand that the Christians in the east, under the Mohammedan bondage and darkness, arer who were the fifth and sixth trumpets, their state and condition being much alike in this, as they are a company of persons singly to be numbered and scattered up and down, here and there, as they were, in the midst of the
corruptions of those eastern churches, under the darkness and oppression of Mohammedanism. So in like manner, these are a company of true believers
CHAP. VIII] AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. 77
scattered up and down under the growing superstitions and increasing dark ness of Popish antichristianism ; which, until the year of Christ 1100, did increase more and more upon the world. They stand upon Mount Sion, which was called the city of David ; as not yet having a temple, or instituted churches distinct from Antichrist, erected and built, as in David s time Mount Sion had not. And though they sung a new song, the truth of the gospel which themselves believed, yet so confusedly and indistinctly, as none could learn it, or understand that they differed from them. It was a new song,
differing from what the Papists taught about Christ ; yet they did not pro pagate it to many ; there were few or none, it is said, that could learn it. And they are said to sing it secretly, before this representative chorus of the four beasts and the four-and-twenty elders, as they are considered as a stand
ing company, that do view all the visions of this book, but themselves were not cast into such an order of worship, they not having churches or officers to begin the song, as in other times you may observe that it is said, the four
beasts began, and the four-and twenty elders sung that song. So that they had no distinct churches and assemblies, nor officers of their own who sung this song ; their voices being sometimes as the voice of many waters con
fusedly murmuring against the superstitions daily arising in those times, and thundering aloud. First, against setting up of images, anno 707, both
in France and Germany ; and then, against transubstantiation : sometimes
sweetly harping melodious strains of true devotion, which believers, and some writers of those times, as we in their writings find, were full of. Those
kept themselves virgins from the gross idolatries of the whore, not defiling themselves with the rest of those women ; by which are meant the daughters of the whore, that is, those cities and kingdoms in which they lived, which
(as the daughters receiving themselves the fornications of Rome, the mother
city) allured these also unto spiritual fornication with them. Thus during those times of gross idolatry, we read of those who professed their detestation
of images, and that idol of transubstantiation.
The second state of the church is, that of the separation which believers made from antichristian churches, having a new and a further light broke
forth among them ; which we have described unto us by three degrees, rising higher and higher, presented under three several angels, from the 6th verse, and so on, according to the usual course of this book : the first of which flies
in the midst of heaven, being to publish his message unto many nations,
having the gospel to preach; that is, Jesus Christ, and justification by him, and the true worship of him : which in those times was counted a new
gospel ; therefore in opposition to that made calumny, the Holy Ghost here
calls it the everlasting gospel. And this began to be done about the year 1100. But because I mean to begin the Second Part of this my Exposition of this book with the story of the church s first separation from Popery, which here
begins at the 6th verse of this chapter ; therefore I reserve the particular
exposition thereof unto that Second Part in its due place, and break off this
First Part here, although in the middle of a chapter, yet at a right joint or
period.
AN EXPOSITION OP THE REVELATION. [PART II.
PART n.
BEING THE STORY OP THE CHURCH PROM THE TIMES OP THE FIRST
SEPARATION FROM THE BEAST, THE POPE, UNTIL
THE GLORIOUS KINGDOM OF CHRIST j
AS IT IS LAID DOWN CHAP. XL, AND FROM CHAP. XIV. 6 UNTO THE
BEGINNING OF CHAP. XX.
THE PKEFACE.
THE main thing I aimed at, both in my first studying this book, and also in this my exposition of it, was to search into such passages therein as did con cern and fall upon the last days, especially the present times of the church ; and to inquire and find out under which of these constellations our own times do fall, and what is certainly yet to come. Now, what hitherto hath been expounded by me I found, by the general consent of the best expo
sitors, though upon diverse grounds, to belong unto more ancient times, long since past. And hence it is that, in the exposition of those 6th, 8th, and 9th chapters, I have been the less inquisitive, therein especially following Mr Mede, whose scheme and division also of this whole prophecy into the Sealprophecy and Book-prophecy, and making the one to contain the fates of the
empire and the other of the church, I ever accounted a happy notion for the
understanding of this book, and have therefore enlarged it although, in the
exposition of the 7th chapter, I altogether differ from him, as also in some few things else. Now, those parts of this prophecy which belong to more
elderly times being thus briefly run over and despatched, I have now selected and singled out all that I find, both in the seal-prophecy and in this book-
prophecy, to have an eye to these present times, or to those yet to come, and have cast them apart by themselves, as being those things in this book which it concerns us more especially to search into. And to the end that I might begin at a right joint, without mangling the whole, I have chosen to
begin from that state and time of the church s separation from Popery, and of the Reformation, which this book-prophecy begins at, namely, chap. xiv. 6, and so to give upon this, but especially what concerns the present age, a larger exposition than upon the former I have done : having written that First Part,
PREFACE.] AX EXPOSITION OF THE EEVELATIOX. 79
especially that brief exposition of the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th chapters, but to make way for the understanding of that which now follows ; it being impos sible for any man to be confirmed in the true interpretation of any part without some general insight into the whole.
Now, in general, if you would know what belongs to these latter times in
this prophecy
1. The seal-prophecy, from the 6th chapter to the 12th, running over all time from John s days unto the kingdom of Christ, and the passages thereof in the 10th and llth chapters, (being the last under that first prophecy,) do therefore belong unto the last times, as hath been abundantly declared in that general scheme given in the First Part ; and, indeed, most of the things in the llth chapter do belong to the times of the vials, chap, xvi., as will
appear in the exposition of it. Then, again
2. At the beginning of the 6th verse, chap, xiv., in the book-prophecy, begins the great restoration of the gospel from under Popery, and so the
story of the last days, which is continued along in such things as shall
befall the church unto the kingdom of Christ, which begins not until chap. xx. Hence, therefore, all these passages in those chapters mentioned out of both prophecies, being put together in their due place and order, do fitly fall in together, to make the story of the church complete, from the first separa tion from Popery unto Christ s kingdom ; and do indeed take in all that in
this book of the Kevelation is spoken of these times : which, therefore, I call a Second Part of the exposition of this book.
A particular scheme and division, presenting, in their due order and succes
sion, all the contents of those chapters which do concern our times. Because the right ordering and ranking of the particular visions of this book in both prophecies in their due times, either of succession after each
other, or their synchronising or falling out together at the same time, is the chief key of interpretation ; therefore, as I gave a more general scheme and division of this whole book at the first, to make way for the exposition thereof, so I will now premise a particular scheme of these chapters men
tioned, so to make way for the understanding of the exposition thereof also.
First therefore I will set together the materials therein contained, accord
ing to that right and due order, either of synchronising each with other, or due succession after each other ; that is, shew what times the several visions of those chapters do belong unto; which of them are, in order of time, before the other, and which fall out at the same time with other. The full proof of which method, and my so ordering them, I shall in part reserve to the larger exposition itself, which follows ; only now take it briefly, for the better
clearing the exposition.
Two representations of the church, from the separation to the New
Jerusalem. The church of Christ, from those times of separation unto the New Jeru
salem, is presented, either
80 AN EXPOSITION OF THE KEVELATION. [PAET II
I. In the various conditions which in itself it should run through, all the
time until then, in several ages, both in respect of the progress of its separa tion further and further off from Rome, and so of its increase of light, purity, and reformation ; as likewise in respect of persecutions and judgments upon
at, and its restitution and deliverance again from under them. Or else
II. It is presented in one uniform, entire, and general condition, suiting with all those times of it, first and last, both as within itself it partakes of
like privileges all that time, and especially also in relation to the execution
of plagues and punishments, poured out of the seven vials, on the enemy of
the church, whom this true church is to be the instrument of ruining. And
both these ways the Holy Ghost hath been pleased to represent the story of it.
The church s uniform and alike condition entirely set forth together
in the \5th and \Qth chapters. This same entire condition of it, during all this long time, as I take it,
Is set forth in the 15th and 16th chapters.
1. In the 15th chapter is set forth the common, uniform, and like state
of the church all that while
(1.) As within itself, ver. 2-5.
(2.) In the common and like description of the angels or powers out of the vials which come out of those churches, from ver. 6 to the end. Which
representation of the church, and of these angels, all that whole time, is also made as the immediate sign, great and wonderful, or the forerunner, of the New Jerusalem, ver. 1, 2. There being after these vials, and this state of
the church, a more glorious state of it to come ; which, ver. 5, is called the
opening the temple of the tabernacle, (so called by way of distinction from
the temple of the seven angels,) as wherein the ark, Christ himself, is to be
seen, as chap. xi. 19 ; which, until the vials are all poured out, stands veiled, as the holy of holies did. And so this present state of the church, which is
the temple out of which the seven angels come forth, ver. 6, holdeth but the
proportion and allusion of the inward court of the priests unto the holy of
holies in the Jewish temple, in comparison unto that other church or
temple to come after this, as rer. 5 speaks. And so the erection of it is made the sign or immediate forerunner of this holy of holies, as ver. 1, 5,
compared, do evidently shew. And then
2. In the 16th chapter, you have the execution and pouring out of these
seven vials by the angels out of this church or inner temple, erected from the
first separation from Antichrist, all along those times unto the New Jerusa lem ; which, in their several orders and successions, are in one view exhibited
in that 16th chapter.
The various condition of the church scatteredly presented in three parts.
Now, although this common, uniform condition of the church all this
-time is set thus, in relation to the execution of those vials on the enemies,
in one entire view, in the 15th and 16th chapters ; yet that other various con-
PREFACE.] AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. 81
dition of the church, as in respect to its own particular and diverse state in all those times, the Holy Ghost was pleased variously, and in several places of this prophecy, to describe and set forth, as best suiting to a special end and occasion, yet with such infallible characters of their times, of the vials they belong unto, and also unto what times of each vial, as cannot deceive us.
Thus, the first part of the story of the various condition of the church during the four first vials is set forth, chap, xiv., from the 6th verse to the end ; at which 6th verse the separation of the true church from Antichrist
beginning, there began also the first erection of true churches, or the temple, first made mention of in that chapter, when Waldus and his company first
fell off from Rome. And the reason why this was first done, ere the vision of the vials was presented, was because it was meet to shew how the temple was first built and reared, ere the seven angels and their vials poured forth out of this temple should be mentioned. And therefore chap. xiv. shews that first part of the church s story in all its first comings forth from Anti
christ, and laying the foundation of churches ; but then it breaks off at the times of the fourth vial, for that so far precedes the reformation of the true
church, as it respected a separation from Antichrist, and so runs along with such vials as should by degrees first prepare for his ruin, as the three or four
first vials do.
But then the next state of the church, from the time of the fourth vial to the fifth vial, when Antichrist s time of forty-two months is to expire ; that the llth chapter, which comes in as a chronology to shew the end and ex
piring of those times of Antichrist, doth supply the story of it, ver. 1-14. And this story comes in there, rather than here in chap, xiv., because that was to be as an immediate signal of Antichrist s downfall ; and so comes in most fitly there in that llth chapter; that chapter being intended as an exact chronology or computation of the times of the beast s reign, to the end
it might be discerned when his time should end : and so the immediate sign before it is therefore annexed, for the church s warning and comfort against the approaching of the time of his ending, and a fatal prevailing of Anti
christ over them just before. And so the story of that 1 1th chapter doth in deed begin where that 14th chapter endeth, or about the same time. And
as the 14th chapter presented us with the story of the reformation of the church from Antichrist and his false church, and so what befell the church
during that time; so the llth chapter begins with a new reformation of the reformed churches among themselves, and what should befall them upon that
reformation namely, the killing the witnesses between the fourth vial and the fifth, or, at the utmost, before the sixth vial.
And then the third part of the church s story, from after the fifth vial
until the New Jerusalem, which New Jerusalem begins chap. xx. of the
book-prophecy, and chap. xi. 15 of the seal-prophecy, the 19th chapter pre sents us with in its due place
: for the 17th and 18th chapters being, the one but an explanation who was the beast, and where his seat was, that so the church might be able to discern this Antichrist ; and the other being a
funeral-song for the pouring out of the fifth vial, when the seat of the beast,
VOL. III. F
82 AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. [PART II.
the whore, (the city described in the 17th chapter,) is ruined, when also Anti
christ s kingdom, as it is most probable, doth end : therefore fitly, after both
these digressions, comes in, in its due order, the state of the church from the
time of that fifth vial, or the ruin of the city, unto the New Jerusalem. And
therefore the 19th chapter thus begins, And after these things, I heard the
voice of an innumerable company, &c., that is, after the ruin of the city and whore described in chap, xvii., and ruined, chap, xviii, and so goes on to describe the state of the church then until the New Jerusalem.
Now to sum up all. As the story in the 14th chapter containeth the
first reformation and separation of the church from Antichrist in several
degrees, and the llth chapter containeth a second reformation of the churcli
within itself from profane mixture ; so this 19th chapter contains a third
reformation personal, of the saints themselves in it, as then with might and main preparing and adorning themselves for the marriage of the Lamb, which
then they shall evidently see approaching, now when the whore is cast off
and burnt ; and there you may see them getting all the fine linen they can, that is, of holiness and growth in grace, the righteousness of the saints, that so their Lord and Husband might greatly delight in their beauty, as you may see, ver. 7, 8. And this is the true general coherence and order of what
yet remains to be interpreted.
The particular synchronism of the several visions and contents of all those
chapters : and, first, of the l&h chapter, from ver. 6, with the 15th and
1 6th, to its 8th verse. Now because, according to this division and general scheme given, the
visions of the 15th and 16th chapters, namely, those of the vials, do run
along the same whole course of time through diverse ages that the visions
of the 14th chapter, from ver. 6, and also of the llth chapter, to ver. 15, and of the 19th chapter also, do, (though the one in a uniform continued
way, the other in a scattered successive representation of the church s
condition, all along the same tract of time through many ages ;) therefore it
will be expedient to shew which of these several parts of these two repre sentations do synchronise and fall out together in the same age, and which of them do succeed each other.
I will therefore a little more particularly set together the several parts of
these stories ; both of that of the seven vials, which are put together, chap,
xv., xvi., and those other several pieces and scattered passages of those
other chapters, in all their due times as they fell out together.
1. That same temple filled with smoke, chap. xv. 8, out of which come
the seven angels, I conceive to have been begun to be set up in the times of
the first separation from Antichrist, chap. xiv. 6. When also the everlasting
gospel was begun distinctly to be preached, both by Waldus and his follow
ers, who did erect true churches unto Christ, (as the history of the Waldenses
shews,) when those harpers on the glassy sea, chap, xv., began more dis
tinctly to sing the song of Moses and the Lamb ; that is, the doctrine both of
the law and gospel, which the hundred and forty-four thousand, in the darker
PREFACE.] AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. 83
times of Popery, had but muttered, and that so confusedly as none could
learn it. For this, compare chap. xiv. 6, 7, with chap. xv. 3, 4. So that
the doctrine of the gospel, and the erection of the temple out of which the
vials do come, and the separation from Popery, do all begin together.
2. This erection of the temple, and preparation being thus made by the
first angel, chap. xiv. 6, the first vial out of that temple, chap. xvi. 1, 2, began with the voice of the second angel, chap. xiv. 8. So that the first
angel, chap. xiv. 6, sets up the temple, and the second angel brings forth
the first vial. And therefore, accordingly, the voice of that angel, chap. xiv.
8, is, Babylon is fallen, Babylon is fallen ; that is, now is the first founda
tion of her ruin laid, (as in opening the vials I shall afterward shew,) or, now do those vials begin which shall be her ruin.
The second vial, chap. xvi. 3, follows with the voice or cry of the third
angel s preaching, chap. xiv. 9, then when the sea of Antichrist s doctrine was both proved and pronounced damnable by Luther s doctrine, and the
waters which the whore sat on fell from her ; that is, those kingdoms and commonwealths which had subjected themselves unto her. For this, com
pare the year of Luther s preaching, recorded chap. xiv. 9-11, and that
second vial, chap. xvi.
The third vial, chap. xvi. 4, hath been pouring out since that harvest
began, chap. xiv. 14, since the summer weather and settled peace of the
reformed churches, meant by rivers and fountains, as in the opening the
meaning of that vial will appear.
The fourth vial, chap. xvi. 8, I take it, began about the time of the vint
age, chap. xiv. 18, whereof this to me is an infallible character, that an
angel who had power over fire is said to excite unto it. Now, chap. xvi. 8,
the fourth angel, who poured out this fourth vial, is said to havepower
given him to scorch men with fire. And so that description, chap. xiv. 1 8,
is of the same angel, to shew that these two (the fourth vial and this vint
age) fall in the same times : and so it is evidently evinced that the 14th
chapter, and the times of it, reach but to the fourth vial.
The synchronism of the vision of the llth chapter, in the age between the
fourth and fifth vial; and of the 17th and 18th chapters, with the times
of the fifth vial; and of the I9th, with the age after theffth vial unto
the New Jerusalem. Come we next to the llth chapter
Which, first, under the seal-prophecy, begins (now about the times of
the fourth vial) before the expiration of the world s monarchy, Antichrist s
times, and the church s oppression, and before the seventh trumpet, which
blows, ver. 15. And it begins with the representing the temple of the re
formation, the same which the 14th chapter had represented, (out of which
the angel, with his sickle for the harvest, did come, chap. xiv. 15,) in
which these reformers, who erected that temple in the 14th chapter, having committed this error, to lay an outward court unto it, John there bearing the persons of the godly of this age, are bidden to measure that temple
84 AN EXPOSITION OF THE KEVEtATION. [PAET II
anew, as not fully conformed to the pattern, and to cast out the outward
court. And so it contains a further reformation of the temple in that 14th
chapter erected. And as in the vintage, chap, xiv., the Popish Gentiles had,
as was said, trod down the grapes in Germany; so here, chap. xi. 1, the like
outward court in other churches elsewhere is given unto these Gentiles to
tread down, and so with that exploit to end their date of treading down
the holy city for forty-two months, (or 1260 years,) with this their re-entry,
which shall be their last upon the churches of the Keformation. And so you
see the llth chapter begins where the 14th chapter ends.
Then, secondly, ver. 5, 6 of that chapter, in the description of the wit
nesses, you furthermore expressly have the first four vials briefly summed up;
and no more of them than the first four mentioned therein, to shew that these
witnesses, in these latter times of their prophecy, are the same with those
angels that pour out the vials, chap. xvi. And observe, that that mention of
them comes in but by way of parenthesis in this speech of the angel unto
John, that he might discern who they were, and know them again in this
new book-prophecy; and all to this end, to shew what after these four vials,
or from the time of the fourth and before the fifth, should befall them
in^the
expiring of the 12 GO years allotted them to prophesy in, in sackcloth, or in a
mourning condition; which now should end with the beast s reign also,
which ends with the fifth vial. And so, ver. 7, when they shall be about to
finish their testimony, that is, just now, at the ending of their prophecy,
they that formerly have had the power to execute four such vials on the
beast s company already, must now, before they do fatally darken and over
come his kingdom by the fifth vial, be themselves once more overcome by the
beast. Which killing of them, being thus mentioned after four of the vials,
summed up, ver. 5, 6, and in the end of their prophecy, and in the very ex
piring of their time of mourning, must needs therefore be from after, or upon
the time of the fourth vial, and before the fifth, or at furthest with the sixth.
And then, ver. 13, the witnesses, they rise, and the tenth part of the city
falls, which some have interpreted to be the fifth vial, the ruin of the city of
Eome. But of that hereafter in the exposition.
After that, ver. 14, the second woe passeth away, which notes the re
moving of the Turkish power and tyranny, which was the second woe, or
sixth trumpet, spoken of chap. ix. 12, 13, which is aU one with the sixth
vial, chap, xvi., the drying up the river Euphrates, or the preparation
unto it ; as in the exposition will appear.
Then follows the seventh trumpet, chap. xi. 15 to the end; at which time
the seventh vial begins, as is evident by comparing chap. xi. 9 and chap.
xvi. 18-21, as also chap. x. 7, in that it is said in one place that time shall
be no longer than until the seventh trumpet blows, and in the other, It
is done/ says the voice, when the seventh vial is poured out, chap. xvi. 17.
And, lastly, as under the seventh trumpet comes in the holy of holies,
which, as was said, is the opening the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven,
in which the ark is seen, chap. xi. 18; so you may read, chap. xv. 5, that
after the vials, (he says there, fj^sra -rut, after these things, ) this temple of
PREFACE.] AN EXPOSITION OP THE REVELATION. 85
the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven is said to be opened. That
temple out of which the vials come being but as the inward temple which was begun to be erected, for else they had no true churches, from the first
separation, but polluted with tjie adjoining of the outward court by the re
formers. But under the times of the fourth vial, this temple is measured and purged, and that court cast out, chap. xi. 1, now ending in the holy of
holies succeeding it.
But whereas still what should befall the church from the time of the
rising of the witnesses, which falleth out about the fifth vial, is not ex
pressed in that llth chapter, nor what should be the church s condition from
that space between the fifth vial and the seventh trumpet and holy of
holies ; but we are still to seek that, for the llth chapter does setly describe
only what befell the church just before the expiring of the reign of Antichrist, as a signal added for the church s warning: therefore this part the 19th
chapter supplies, the 17th and 18th chapters being but a larger explication of the fifth vial, as all agree, namely, the ruin of the city, the first verse
of which begins thus, After these things, I saw an innumerable company in
heaven, praising God for the downfall of the whore, (at large set forth chap,
xvii., xviii.,) and therefore it must needs set forth the state of the church now after the fifth vial until the seventh, as in the exposition will appear. And then that great battle at the Lamb s marriage-supper, which follows in
that chapter, how that agrees with the seventh vial, let any one judge that
shall read chap xvi. from the 14th verse to the end, and chap. xix. from the llth verse to the end. And then come in the thousand years, and New
Jerusalem, chap, xx.-xxii., which is all one with the holy of holies.
86 AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVEL ATIOIsT
. [PAET II