Chapter VI
The killing of the witnesses, ver. 7-10 of the llth chapter.
SECTION I.
The time of their three years and a half not yet come. A reconciliation of this and Mr Brightmaris opinion, in a double fulfilling of it.
THIS angel s scope is, as was said, to shew how, according to the angel s oath
in Daniel, Antichrist should accomplish to scatter the power of the holy
people, towards the end of his reign of a time, times, and half a time. And so, what is here said of the beast s war and victory refers not to the
conquests and slaughters which Antichrist, during his whole reign, should make of the holy people, or witnesses, spoken of chap. xiii. ; but particularly
designeth out an eminent prevailing over them at the last, or, as the first words of ver. 7 have it, orav rsXstfuat, &c., when they are about to finish or end the term of their prophecy in sackcloth, even their 1260 years ; which is
the same space that Antichrist hath allotted to him to reign in. Now, what
power these holy people, the witnesses, had got before this their last scatter
ing, hath in their description been declared. They had power to erect a
temple to themselves, and out of it to pour forth four vials upon their ene
mies, as hath been shewn. And that they might the better fence themselves
against the beast, possessing the greatest part of Europe, the holy city, we have heard how they had environed the temple with a mighty party of car
nal professors, separating with them from the beast, as with an outward
court; which, we have seen by ver. 1, the Gentiles are again to subdue unto themselves and to tread down. Which treading down their outward court
is indeed one part of that his last accomplishment to scatter the power of
the holy people, or haply it may rather be termed a preparation unto it. For come at the witnesses they could not, till this outward court were gained. Which, when they shall have more fully won, which is now a-doing, then
they further shall kill the witnesses ; for then both they and their inner
temple will be exposed to the irruptions of the Gentiles, and will be easily
subdued by them, whenas their outworks shall first be thus taken and reco
vered. And this will not be fully done till even towards the finishing their
allotted time of prophesying in sackcloth, and so of the beast s reigning, which is to expire soon after it, with their ascension into heaven. Now
I. For the times when this last killing of them here intended shall come
to execution ; the question among interpreters is, Whether it be yet past or
yet to come 1
Mr Brightman, as was said, maketh this measuring the temple to be long since fulfilled and past. So also this killing the witnesses here, and the ex
piration of their time of prophesying in sackcloth, to be already wholly past ;
154 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EEVELATION. [PART II.
and this in that great overthrow of the Protestant party in Germany by Charles the Fifth, anno 1547, and in that condemning the Scriptures, which he makes the witnesses, by the Council of Trent about that time, now well-
nigh a hundred years since.
But most others, as Graserus, Matthias Hoe, Mr Mede, Mr Wood, &c., do think it yet to come. And according to that series of interpretation hitherto
by me given, if that hold good, it must necessarily be as yet to be executed. And it seems to me most evident, both by what is said to go before it, and
also to follow after it ; of which nothing that is to follow after it is yet ful
filled, although a hundred years, since the time that Mr Brightman inter
prets it of, are run out. For
1. This is to fall out towards the ending of their prophecy in sackcloth, or of their mourning and oppressed condition, after which they are to cast
off their sackcloth. As Joshua s filthy garments who was one of the types of these were taken from him, and a fair mitre was set upon his head/ so after their resurrection, these witnesses are to be clothed in
( fine linen,* as you may read, chap. xix. Now it is evident that the time of their pro phesying in sackcloth, of bewailing the condition of the church under Anti
christ, and of their oppression by him, is not yet out. The filthy garments they wore during their captivity in Babylon, they still have on; as Joshua
also had his on in Zechariah s time, which was a long while after they were come forth out of Babylon. So the true witnesses are still in an oppressed
condition, whilst Antichrist s church, and those of their enemies even in the reformed churches, are as the church-triumphant, in silk, and at their full
liberty.
2. This is here to fall out towards, the ending of the reign of Antichrist, in respect of his power to do; for this is that last scattering, prophesied of by Daniel, with which he is to accomplish his times. Now we see he hath
his kingdom yet standing, and his power to do ; and there are a hundred
years more run on since that havoc made of them by the Papists in Germany., and yet Antichrist s forty-two months are not expired, we being now but under the fifth vial. And when the seat or throne of the beast Borne itself
shall come to be ruined, then shall his kingdom be full of darkness, and the glory of it so damped and extinguished, as it is thought, that from that time his reign is accounted of as at an end. And
3. We see Antichrist as yet but in his first march towards this war; he is but now going forth to win the outward court, which he must again recover
ere he can come at the witnesses; and this killing of them, is placed here, after his recovery of thai And though he hath trod down Germany, yet he
is but setting up and advancing his engines of assault and battery upon other such places where God hath the most of his powerful witnesses in these last times : though already he be evidently set down in his siege of them also, by his instruments, and those that receive the number of his name, who are
to be his last champions.
4. We evidently see by what is gone before in the description of these wit
nesses, that four vials of the seven are to be poured out by them before this their killing. For in the days of their prophecy, they smite the earth with plagues, which is the first vial; and turn the sea and rivers into
blood/ which is the second and third vial; and then devour men with fire/ which is the fourth. And then after all these exploits of theirs, comes their
killing. So that this falls out< after, or under, the fourth vial. But that
slaughter a hundred years since: wais but under the second vial^ and indeed but in the beginning of, that vial; and we as yet see not the full effect of the
CHAP. VI.] AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. 155
fourth vial, wMch is but now a-pouring forth. And therefore this killing of the witnesses here is not as yet fulfilled.
5. After their rising again, the second woe is said to pass away. Now
that second woe is the sixth trumpet, which then is said to pass away when the times of it are expired, or the foundation of its ruin laid. And that
sixth trumpet is, as hath been said, the Turk, and his great power and
tyranny. Whose kingdom we see yet to stand in its full vigour and flourish; and no fundamental blow of weakening given to it.
6. Much less is the seventh trumpet begun to be blown, which yet isto come quickly after the sixth, as you have it ver. 14. For although Jesus
Christ, in these northern kingdoms, hath been assisted in that his harvest of
his elect since the Reformation, by supreme and princely authority; and
therefore, chap, xiv., that peaceable harvest was reaped by an angel crowned; yet
(1.) The kingdoms of the world becoming Christ s, for him to reign for ever, and this at the beginning of this seventh trumpet, his kingdom then shall be another manner of one than as yet he hath had; even that fifth monarchy which is mentioned in Dan. vii. 14, and is to begin at the end of the days of the beast. And, if you mark the words, this shall be a kingdom that
shall not be administered by deputies, and by a delegated power; but by Christ the king s immediate rule and government: Thou hast taken to
thyself thy great power, and hast reigned, &c., ver. 17. And
(2.) When that seventh trumpet shall begin to sound, then, as chap. x. ? shall that mystery be fulfilled spoken of by the prophets, and which Paul
calls a mystery, Rom. xi, even the New Jerusalem, and kingdom of the
saints, and the first resurrection, as appears by ver. 1.5-17 of this chapter, compared with chap, xx., xxi., &c. But now since that resurrection of the
witnesses, which Mr Brightman would have this to be, is almost a hundred
years, and yet none of these things are begun, nor as yet to begin.
(3.) The seventh trumpet, and the last vial, as hath been often said, do fall out together; or rather, the last vial begins the seventh trumpet, as the last verse of this llth chapter, compared with the seventh vial, chap, xvi., doth shew; for there are the same thunderings, hail, &c., in them both. Now we are yet but under the fourth vial, and so very far off from the last.
Yet I will add this, which may reconcile that opinion of Mr Brightman with this other, and haply serve in the closure of all to give some small further hint about the time of the last vial s fulfilling, and so concerning the
expiring of times before mentioned.
As I said before, about the measuring the temple, that the angel might have an aim, both at that first laying the foundation of true churches, and also at this second reformation now in hand, and take both in his view at
once, they both being degrees of the same work; yet so as ultimately he^ looks unto the latter, as the special intendment of this place, though the other were in itself infinitely far the greater work : so I conjecture that he might take in two killings of these witnesses, which should follow after, oiy it may be, accompany both those measurings; the one at or after that foundation laid, the other at or upon the finishing to be begun, and soordered that the first should be a foregoing resemblance of this other to suc ceed. Yet so as his ultimate ami and scope still should be at a latter kill
ing of them, which is yet to eome.
I have observed it in many instances, which I could produce, that many prophecies in Scripture have had two several gradual accomplishments, wluereof both the one and the other are intended by the Holy Ghost; yet so
156 AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. [PAKT II.
as the latter is usually more eminently intended, and the first sometimes in tended as a foregoing type of that which is to follow. You may observe many passages quoted out of the prophets, and applied by the apostles in the New Testament unto the times of the gospel, as being then fulfilled, which yet had a gradual accomplishment under the Old Testament, in the times after the captivity of Babylon. So that the Holy Ghost aimed at both. Thus the 9th verse of the 1st chapter of Isaiah is quoted by Paul, Horn, ix., and applied unto the gospel times.
Yea, and you shall sometimes find the same prophecy even under the Old Testament fulfilled over and over ; and so to have two several intended ac
complishments. For instance, I will give one which some learned men have
fallen upon, although I find others do dissent from them in it. And I rather
pitch upon it, because it is proper to the thing in hand; for it is made the
type of this measuring the temple. It is that prophecy of rebuilding the
temple after the seventy years captivity in Babylon ; which, as some think, had a double accomplishment aimed at. And as there were two eminent
leadings into captivity, the one of Jechoniah, the other of Zedekiah, when the
city was destroyed; so, according to learned chronologers and best interpre
ters, I find a double reckoning of the seventy years, and of the building again of the temple
: some reckoning from that captivity of Jechoniah, in the
first year of Nebuchadnezzar ; some from that of Zedekiah, in the nineteenth
year of Nebuchadnezzar, as the Jesuits Sanctius and Ribera do affirm. I will not meddle with the dispute about it ; but that God kept a double reckoning of that seventy years, in respect to a double gradual accomplishment, to me seems evident. For Ezekiel begins the captivity from that carrying away of
Jechoniah, Ezek. i. 2, 3 ; and the prophet Jeremiah, in the 29th chapter of his prophecy, ver. 10, comforts those that were carried away with Jechoniah with this, that after seventy years God will visit them, &c. Now one seventy years was ended, when Cyrus gave leave to lay the foundation of the temple, as reckoning from the first captivity. And yet after this, in Zechariah s
time, when the temple was to be again measured and finished, there is an other seventy years said to be ended ; as the time wherein this temple, which hitherto had lain imperfect, was to be perfected. This you may see by Zech. L 12, 16, compared. For there the final ending of the seventy years is made the foundation of the last work of perfecting the temple, and God s
returning in mercy, according to his promise, for to do it. So that a double
captivity, and a double seventy years, ending in a double work, the one of
laying the foundation, the other of finishing the temple, seem to have been in the Holy Ghost s eye. Now why may it not be so, even in this also, that the computation of the beast s reign, and the church s coming out of Babylon, the killing of the wit
nesses, and the measuring of the temple, may have a double accomplishment and expiration, and all intended, yet so as the latter mainly aimed at 1
The like instance might be made of the computation of another period of time and prophecy fulfilled, which, because I may, in the closure of this 1 1th
chapter, have particular cause to mention, I will also instance in. It is that of Daniel, chap. xii. 1 1 ; the things in which chapter refer to the times of the
end, under the New Testament, when is the time of which the angel tells him that knowledge should be increased, &c. And Daniel inquiring when these things should be, the angel answers, From the time that the daily sacrifice namely, of the Jews shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Now by history it is evident, that there hath been a double taking
CHAP. VI.] AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. 157
away of the Jewish sacrifice under the days of the New Testament, and a
double setting up the abomination of desolation ; that is, heathenish idolatry. And so a double computation must needs be taken of these 1290 years.
When Vespasian and his son Titus sacked Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and advanced heathenish idolatry in the room of it, then was one time when both these things were evidently done ; both the Jewish sacrifice taken
f abomination that maketh desolate set up. And if from that
away, and the
time we reckon 1290 years, that first setting up heathenism instead of the Jewish worship being in the year after Christ s birth 69 or 70, they end in 1359 or 1360 ; when indeed the first great increase of knowledge, and dis
covery of Antichrist began, under Wickliff, Thaulerus, &c., and a great dif
fusion of the light of the gospel amongst us Gentiles. But there was another, both ceasing of the daily sacrifice, and setting up of heathenish idolatry, by Julian the apostate emperor, about the year 363, who both suppressed the
Christian religion, typified out by the daily sacrifice, after it had been set
up by Christian emperors, and also advanced heathenish worship. Yea, he
did set up the Jewish sacrifice again, which till his time had ceased, and was then taken away, and never unto this day set up again. And it is observ
able how special a hand God hath had in binding the Jews from setting up their daily sacrifice at Jerusalem again. The Turk, whom they live
under, tolerates all other religions, and theirs also in all other exercises of it, but suffers them not to live at Jerusalem or to sacrifice there ; and yet per mits the Christians to inhabit in it, and to possess the sepulchre of the Lord, and to perform all rites of their religion. And though the Jews would give much more for the like kind of liberty, to have that place to dwell in, and
to sacrifice there, yet it is prohibited them.
Now from either of these times above-mentioned may this computation of 1290 years be taken : the one respecting the blessed times when the more
clear light of the gospel, and the discovery of Antichrist, began to come among us Gentiles the other those happy times to come, when the Jews
shall first be recalled, which some fix about the year 1655 or 1656. And so two accomplishments of those 1290 years. Now then, to return unto the thing in hand. Mr Brightman, he reckons the beginning of Antichrist s reign, and the witnesses beginning to prophesy in sackcloth, from the time of the Roman emperors removing to Constanti
nople ; which he interprets to be that taking him that letted out of the
way, as Paul to the Thessalonians hath it, namely, the emperor, who being removed to Constantinople, and the Pope having Rome, ordained to be the
seat of the beast, thus left him, he might soon begin to gain power. And
that, indeed, from thence his first conception did begin, may not be, nor is it
by most, denied. And so Mr Brightman, from thence beginning the 1260
years of the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth, which falls eighteen years
short, according to the account he makes, after that of Egypt, and of our
vulgar account, makes the end of those years to fall out in 1550, when the
rising again of the Protestant cause in Germany did begin. And thus in
like manner the term of Antichrist s kingdom or power to do (namely, as
formerly he had wont) might be reckoned to have had one kind of period in the falling off of these kingdoms of England, Scotland, &c., which fell out not many years after this, even before 1560, which Mr Brightman, according to that his series of interpretation, interpreteth to be the seventh trumpet, when the kingdoms of the world became the kingdoms of Jesus Christ, and so before that settled peace of the gospel established, and the throwing of Antichrist and his power out of those kingdoms. In all which kingdoms
158 AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. [PAET II.
the witnesses had first their times of being overcome and killed for three
years and a half, though at several times in each of them. So in Germany, in that victory got over the Protestants, anno 1547, or thereabouts ; just three years and a half after which they revived and enjoyed that peace which
since they have had.
In like manner in England, after that, in Queen Mary s days, whose
reign, although it lasted five whole years, yet the first part of her reign was
spent in making war upon the witnesses, or, as I may so speak, in the
preparations of war against the witnesses, in getting statutes made for their
burning, &c. ; and the killing and martyring of them was but for three years and a half. After which ended, they rose again in Queen Elizabeth s be
ginning to reign, and have since that time hitherto enjoyed, as it were, a
heaven.
Thus also in France, in the year 1572, which was fourteen years after, and about 1260 years after Constantine, (according to our account of years,) the massacre of the Protestants began, and in appearance an extinction of
the religion, as they called it, for three years and a half: when, anno 1576, their peace and liberty was again granted them, and they had a manifest
resurrection. Thus God observed a gradual fulfilling of this their killing and rising, as a shadow foregoing that great and last one to come.
But then there is another computation of the beginning of Antichrist s
reign, and of the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth in opposition to him,
reckoning it from his birth and bringing forth into the world, as that former was from the time of his conception, about a hundred years after Constan
rhen not only the Roman emperors were removed out of the way unto Constantinople, but also the western empire itself began
tine, in anno 406 or 410, w
first to break into ten kingdoms. Which is the truest and utmost character of the time of the beast s rising, as was shewed in our -exposition of the 17th
chapter. Which breaking the western empire was that taking out of the way which Paul especially aimed at. For then the Pope had full scope to
get his power, which these new kingdoms were to give unto him. Which term of his, if the reckoning be made after the ordinary compute of years, will end in 1666 or thereabout.
Now as there is this other computation of the Pope s times, (beginning and
ending,) which falls out in this century of years now running on ; so also in
this same century, since the year 1600, there hath answerably been begun
another, or second measuring the temple, as being to precede the expiration of this other computation of the witnesses prophesying, which is yet to
come. And in like manner also there will follow another great and eminent
slaughter of the witnesses, and prevailing of the beast over them, before this second computation of his and their time be ended; that is, before 1666.
SECTION II.
The allusion unto Christ s last passion, in this last slaughter of the
witnesses, explained.
Thus much in general for the time of the witnesses killing. Now
II. To come to the thing itself. For the understanding of which I shall
also in the general premise this : That this their last killing, rising, &c., is represented in an allusion unto the story of Christ s own crucifying and rising again; which makes this the most remarkable of all former sufferings, in that it is in an exact conformity
CHAP, VI,] AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. 159
to his death/ and to the circumstances of it. In all other passages of this book, the allusions are still to stories of the Old Testament. But this, in a manner alone, alludes to that great and eminent story of Christ s passion and resurrection, which are the centre of all, both in the Old and New Testament. And whereas all other stories in the Old are but types of the
sufferings and resurrection of Christ, here those sufferings and that resur rection of his are made the pattern of these of the witnesses; and that not in respect of that general, common conformity that is in all the sufferings of all the saints for Christ and his gospel unto those of Christ, as Paul
speaks, Phil. iii. 10, and therefore calls them, the after-sufferings of the body of Christ, Col. i. 24, but this here is made such in some peculiar eminency and transcendency, above all sufferings that have been formerly in any age ; and it being the last, it is in a singular manner set forth unto us
thereby. Which may at once both provoke us to prepare for it, as Christ
did, when he knew what he should suffer ; and also comfort us against it, as being therein in a peculiar manner to be made conformable unto Christ : which will draw on with it a peculiar conformity also in reigning with him in glory. Now that the allusion here is indeed unto the last sufferings of Christ,
&e., is acknowledged and observed by all interpreters. And it appears in
every circumstance here related.
As, for example, in that, as he, after three-years-and-a-half s preaching upon earth once finished, when that he had almost carried it in the people s
hearts, the world going after him, was yet in the end prevailed upon by his
enemies, and put to death by the foreign power of the city of Rome, having then jurisdiction over Jerusalem, and for three days did lie in their power
: so in like manner that these witnesses, after three-years-and-a-half s (for that
is the exact compute of 1260 days, or forty-two months) prophesying well-
nigh expired, and now when they are about even to finish it, having so
mightily prevailed in the people s hearts, that their Pharissean enemies are afraid of utterly losing their credit and authority, that then these Pharisees, again acknowledging the foreign power of Rome, should prevail over these
witnesses, and that so far as by and under the authority and jurisdiction of the beast, and for his sake, should now at last kill them, and have them in their power for three years and a half; which do bear a like proportion to those 1260 years or days forepassed, that Christ s three days did to his three
years forepassed ; their enemies also rejoicing, feasting, and sending gifts for
joy that they had them thus down, and in their power; even as the Pharisees
did at that their great feast of the passover, when they were, as they thought, rid of the torment which Christ s ministry had put them to, and made it the
joyfullest feast and passover that ever they kept
: after all which, that those witnesses should notwithstanding rise again, even as our Lord did, and rise with an earthquake, as he then did, and with an affright to their enemies that see it, as befell those soldiers who saw his, as you may read in the
story of his resurrection, and after this should ascend up to heaven, as he then did; all this makes the allusion here very full and observable. And because the Holy Ghost thus alluded unto Christ s sufferings, therefore John, by way of parenthesis, puts in these words, speaking of the place where this
slaughter was to be : in the city, says he, where our Lord also was crucified/ ver. 8. That same 6Vou xa/, where also, may have a double reference: it may as a copulative relate to the former cities unto which he had resembled
it, even Sodom and Egypt, in this sense, and that city also where our
160 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EEVELATION. [PART II.
Lord was crucified; that is, Jerusalem. And it may as well refer unto the word crucified in this sense; where our Lord was before in like manner
crucified, there are these now in like manner to be killed.
SECTION III.
That this killing of the witnesses is to be executed by and under the power of
the beast of Home; and so could not be meant of any of the former per
secutions in the reformed churches, which were from among themselves.
Thus much in general for the understanding this great occurrence which
is yet to come in the church.
JSTow more particularly to explain some things about it, though it be a
difficult thing to hit right in the understanding, and much more in applying the circumstances of a prophecy unto things to come, and which the events
do best interpret.
1. Take notice, that the power and authority by which this slaughter shall
be made is to be that of the beast, or the Pope of Rome ; and this as having
regained more or less power in these places where these witnesses are. This
is evident
(1.) In that not so much their enemies who are among them, and of the
reformed religion with them, that yet hate them, but the beast that ascends
out of the bottomless pit, is said to kill them. And
(2.) In that he calls the place where their dead bodies lie, and so, by con
sequence, where this slaughter is to be executed, the city where our Lord was crucified. Which is not spoken of Jerusalem, but of Rome ; that being here called the great city, which, chap. xvii. 18, is called the city which then
ruled over the kings of the earth; which can be none but Rome. And to make this good, we are to know, that the jurisdiction of the Roman empire was then in John s time called the city. And therefore the whole world was called Orbis Romanus, the Roman world. And in like manner now, all
kingdoms subjected to the Pope are called the church of Rome, as together making that great city. And in that world the city of Rome was the regal
palace, from whence issued out edicts and commands over all. And in such
a sense it is said, the city where Christ was crucified ; because it was the Roman power and authority by which he was put to death, though it were done at Jerusalem, for thither did the jurisdiction of Rome reach ; and there
they should deliver him up unto the Gentiles, Matt. xx.
fore Christ says,
19, that is, the Romans, who then had trodden down that holy city, and
got the command of it ; the Pharisees owning Ca3sar for their king. And thus now for the killing these witnesses, it must be that the beast of Rome
shall again recover so much owning and acknowledgment in the places of
the Reformation, whether by secret combination or by professed avouchment God only knows, where the witnesses are to be killed ; so as, for his
sake, and at his instigation, these Pharisees, either as joining with him, or
else using the help of his party, shall kill them. And so far must the beast have a hand in it, that he may truly be said to do it ; and that in order to
the further advancement of his power in those places. And therefore
(3.) The place where their dead bodies are said to lie is said to be wXars/a
fi-oAswg rq$ ptyahns, the street, the extension of the jurisdiction, of the
great city/ as being within the jurisdiction or walls of it, as it were. You heard before how that the Gentiles were to regain the outward court, and
so it to become part of the city again, and within the extent of its juris diction.
CHAP. VI.] AN EXPOSITION OF THE KEVELATION. 161
So that, however the witnesses have had enemies from among themselves, who have been, as those Pharisees were to Christ, of the same nation and
religion, and yet have persecuted them from the first, even from the times of the first reformation downward, and therefore it hath been that the faithful witnesses have continued to prophesy in sackcloth and mourning, even now in their last days, when yet a separation hath been made from Antichrist, because those among them still continued to oppress them ; yet none of all those wars and prevailings against them all that while, by those of their own, are this same war and killing of them here so eminently set out. For this must be by the beast, even by their enemies combining with the Papists, or
using the help of the beast, to join with them against the witnesses ; or, it may be, beginning again to submit to the beast, in a more open and avowed manner, as those Pharisees did to Caesar. And so, for his sake, and to ad vance his power, shall they kill those witnesses, who indeed are only and alone the greatest and most hearty withstanders of him, and that will stand
it out against him. Or if, when this is done, they do not so openly avow the beast s power, yet it may be said to be done by the beast, if by a party or combination of men that are for him, though not professedly, yet who, in order to reduce his power into those churches, do raise this war against the witnesses and oppress them. And that which may give suspicion of this is
because, as I shewed out of chap, xiii., there is a generation of men set forth as the beast s last champions, who yet should not, at least at the first, so
openly own his name or character, that yet receive the number of his name.* And these are there reckoned his as truly as the other, as being they who should interdict buying and selling to the beast s opposites, in order unto his advancement. And they doing this in order unto the beast and for him, the beast therefore and his power may be said to do it.
But I fear that they shall proceed yet further, even to an open acknow ledgment and professing the Pope s power, though perhaps not as infallible head of the church, yet as universal patriarch of the west, and so endeavour
ing to effect a union and reconciliation with him. For these men, as was
said, are to bring in but an image of Popery, as it was of heathenism, espe cially at first, though with intent to introduce more. And with this doth that speech of the angel in his oath, Dan. xii. 7, accord, which, as I said, this angel here came to renew and interpret ; that when he, namely, this
beast, shall have accomplished, namely, with this last killing, to scatter the power of the holy people, &c. That which I here cite this for is, that it must be he and his power that must do it. And in that the Gentiles are here said to obtain the outward court, ver. 1, so as to tread it down with the rest of the holy city; this would argue a prevailing of them, so far as to gain a subjection from carnal Protestants, by reason of which it shall be that even the beast s power, as entertained and owned by the most, may be said to kill them. And like wise the allusion here to Christ s suffering, by the power that then Home had in Jerusalem, the holy city, would argue this also. That even as then, a governor, or president, from Rome, namely Pilate, lay at Jerusalem, and was, in the name and power of Kome, the author of Christ s crucifying ; so, at least, that Rome should now in like manner have her legates, that should have power in these places to procure the deposition and death of these witnesses. That so, as God ordained Jerusalem, the city where Christ was
crucified, unto which the allusion here is made, to be the slaughter-house of all the prophets, insomuch that Christ said, It was not possible that a pro phet should perish but in Jerusalem ; and therefore it was that himself was VOL. III. L
162 AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. L?AET II.
so secure that he should not be killed until he came thither ; so that Rome
is in like manner ordained to have a hand in the deaths of all the witnesses,
though others may persecute them too. And so this last and great slaughter and martyrdom of them shall be executed by her. That so when at her
downfall she comes to be reckoned with, it may be said, as it is in chap,
xviii. 24, that in her was found the blood of the prophets, and of the saints,, and of all that were slain upon the earth. And therefore, until the Romish
flag be advanced upon the walls of the outward court of this temple, reckon
not this time of the witnesses three years and a half to be come. But when
you see that abomination of desolation begun to be set up, then flee into the
mountains, as Christ in another case speaks.
SECTION IV.
The time of the least s enjoying this full victory but three years and a half,
The time of obtaining it, and of killing the witnesses, may be longer.
2. For the time of the continuance of this slaughter. Whereas there is here
mentioned the beast s making war against them, and overcoming and killing them, then when they are about to finish their testimony, that is, towards-
the time of the end of it, and then their lying dead for three days and a
half; we must herein warily take heed we mistake not this only mentioned
time of three years and a half, as if that were all the time allotted for this
last war against them, victory over them, and slaughter of them. No, it is
not said they should be overcoming and killing them only so long time ; but
that these witnesses should lie dead no longer, after a full victory obtained, and slaughter once made. So that that war against them, and killing of
them, may be much longer in execution than for three days and a half only. And indeed, how long that shall continue before these three years and a half
begin, we know not. The Gentiles have already been a long while a-besieg-
ing and making war against the temple, and have not as yet prevailed. It
is not yet come to an overcoming of so much as the outward court ; that
: for the winning of the outward
out-work is not yet fully enough gained
court I account part of this their making war against the witnesses. But how long soever this war may prove, and how far soever it may be length ened out, yet when it comes to a complete victory once, then, for our corn-
fort, we are sure that the time of the witnesses lying dead shall be but for
three years and a half, until their rising, or beginning to rise again. And
as in a great eclipse of the moon, the time whilst all or most of its body is
darkened, and whilst that eclipse is in its fulness, useth especially to be set down and taken notice of by astronomers, and that time is especially ac
counted the time of the eclipse, and not so much the time when it begins to
: so is it here in tins great and last hour of darkness which the church is to have, wherein the time of its total
lose, or after that to recover some light
eclipse is only reckoned. The Pharisees were long a-laying their plots against
Christ, and consulting how to ruin him, but at the last prevailed only for
three days. And thus all hitherto done is but the war in order to this,
conquest ; the enemies are as yet but a-taking the out-works, and making their approaches, &c.
3. For this time here mentioned of their lying dead, it is but for three
years and a hah , which is here called three days and a half; whereby three
natural days, consisting of twenty-four hours, cannot be meant. For how
shall the noise of this full victory be carried to nations and tongues, who are
said to see their dead bodies, partly in that respect of having the news of
CHAP. VI.] AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. 163
it 2 And how shall the whole Eoman party universally rejoice, and send
gilts one to another to congratulate this victory ? These three days, there
fore, and a half, in which they are to lie dead, are such as those 1260 days
formerly mentioned were, even prophetical days, taken according to the style of the prophets, namely, days for years. And such a three years and a half had Jerusalem, the holy city, under Antiochus, when the temple was pol
luted, and the daily sacrifice/ God s true worship, taken away, and hea
thenish idolatry, which there, and still elsewhere in Daniel, is called the abomination that maketh desolate, set up ; and when those that were the most eminent for godliness did fall by the sword and by captivity, (as you have it Dan. xi. 31, &c.,) for many days. But the last persecution of his
reign was for three years and a half, as in 1 Mace. i. 30 to cha,p. vi. you have
it recorded. But in the llth chapter of Daniel, where this Antiochus is
prophesied of, he is in this made the type of Antichrist ; and therefore after
that the prophet had thus set forth and ended that his tyranny at ver. 3o of
that chapter, he begins, ver. 36, to set out the Pope and his tyranny unto
: so passing from the type to the antitype, even as
the end of the chapter
Christ doth, in the 24th of Matthew, from the story of the destruction of Jerusalem to that of the end of the world, because that was a type of it. And therefore it is that Daniel useth this transition, ver. 35 of that llth
chapter, when he had ended Antiochus s story, that there remains yet a time ordained, so Graserus and others read it, that is, yet another
series of the fates to be related, whereof this was the type; and so he
passeth on to describe Antichrist (who is that king mentioned ver. 36) unto
the end of that chapter, whose ruin and end, he says, should be after
ill tidings to him out of the north that is, the reformation of religion in these northern countries had so enraged him as to cause him to go forth in fury, at his last endeavouring utterly to root out,
<fec. And in which expedition he should so far prevail as to plant his tabernacle on
the glorious holy mountain, that is, to overrun the church. Which, indeed, I take to be all one with this last war and killing the witnesses here, for it
is there just before his end too, for three years and a half; whereof that last
prevailing over the Jews by Antiochus was the type. And such a like time, as I said before, had the Pharisees over Christ, even three days, which Christ
calls the hour of darkness ; even as this is thought to be that hour of
temptation to come over the whole (Christian) world, Kev. iii. 10. The ene
mies, indeed, think to have the day of it, but they shall have only the hour
of it. This great and fearful eclipse, in the fulness of it, shall last no longer ; this is their hour.
And such a like space of time is used in Scripture to express a short time ; as Hos. vi. 2, After two days he will revive us, and in the third day raise us up, &c.
Again, such a like time had Julian over the church, when he had again set
up heathenism. Some say his reign was three years long, though others say
less. And so hath God ordered it, for the like holy ends, that as heathen ism had a prevailing again in the world, before it was utterly extirpated, for that small time in Julian s reign, and this even after that Christianity had been set up forty years before by the imperial power of Constantine ; so that Popery (the image of it) should in like manner expire, and after a glo rious reformation made by kingly power, and casting out of Popery in many
states, that it should yet have a prevailing over those churches, or the eminentest of them, once again before its final and utter extirpation.
164 AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. [PART II.
SECTION V.
Tlie sharpness and the extent of this victory, how great ; wliether unto death
natural or martyrdom discussed.
Concerning the sharpness of this victory of the beast, and of the Popish
party, how far it shall extend ; as Whether unto blood or to martyrdom and to death natural of the wit
nesses, and whether this killing here be meant of such a kind 1
I find some who interpret all done to them to be meant of a civil death,
not a natural ; that is, a killing them considered as witnesses, not as men ;
that is, a taking away all power from them of prophesying as they had
wont a general silencing of ministers, and deposing magistrates and men of
worth that profess and uphold religion, putting them from their places,
shutting their shops, burning their books, &c. And for this makes
1. That their death and lying dead here is but correspondent to their
resurrection. Now, their resurrection is not from a natural death, and there
fore such not their killing.
( lie in the street of the great
2. That their bodies, when dead, are said to
city for three days and a half, and after that a spirit of life to come into
those dead bodies. Now, that cannot be meant of naturally dead men, for
their bodies cannot be supposed to have lain naturally dead so long above-
ground. And then, in that the spirit of life is said to enter into those bodies
that were dead, and in that it must be supposed that those lay dead who are
first here said to be killed, all this would seem to carry it to the very same
individual persons that were killed, that they should rise; which to suppose
of a natural resurrection before the day of Christ, we have no warrant nor
any ground for.
And accordingly they interpret that following passage, that those of the
nations, tongues, and kindreds, suffer them not to be put in graves, as that
which may be construed and taken in the better part, as shewing what should
^was a
hinder their enemies from killing them outright, namely, that there
party of Protestants in the nations about them that should hinder their ene
mies from martyring and utterly extinguishing them, and should preserve them above-ground for a reviving ; even as men whom we think not dead, but in a swoon, we use to keep out of the grave, and not bury them, because we hope they may revive again. And so these Protestants, that the cause
may again prevail, they may preserve the persons. And this the rather ap
pears the intendment here, in that these of the nations, tongues, and kin
dreds seem to be a diverse and distinct company from the enemies of the
witnesses; for of their enemies, that is said which follows in the next verse,
< And those that dwelt on the earth rejoiced over them/ &c. As if the angel went about to describe the differing spirits of the two sorts of men, of whom
he speaks, towards these witnesses : the one, whom he calls those of nations,
tongues, and kindreds, as friends doing them this kind office, as not to
suffer their bodies to be put in graves ; but the other, whom, as diverse from
these, he calls under a new phrase, those that dwell on the earth, as ene
mies rejoicing over them.
Which makes this suffering of the witnesses herein alone to differ from
Christ s, unto which, in all other circumstances, the allusion holds. that
Christ was really killed, and therefore buried. But these, though
_ killed as
witnesses, yet are not suffered to be buried ; as noting out a keeping them
from an extinction, or an utter taking them out of the way, though by their
CHAP. VI. J AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. 165
enemies they be suppressed. And it may be, that as Christ foretold his re
surrection the third day, and so it was commonly known and bruited, that
even the Pharisees had knowledge of it, and said unto Pilate, This deceiver
said he would rise the third day, which they laughed at as a vain dream :
so it may be, this very notion of such a prevailing of the Popish party for
three years and a half, which hath been so long and so much spoken of in
the church, shall be so commonly known, as already it begins to be, that for
that very cause these friends of theirs may so far interpose as to hinder the
utter extinction, or the burial of them, wholly under-ground, (as it were,) as
hoping that this notion given out of their resurrection, after three years and
a half, may prove true, as the disciples hoped of Christ s resurrection all the
while that he lay in the grave.
And whereas it may be thought, that because the Holy Ghost singleth out this one last killing, and instanceth in it alone, above all those other
that have foregone it throughout the beast s whole reign, although he hath made many wars against and slaughters of the witnesses in former times,
that therefore this should be the worst and sharpest; their answer hereunto
is, that this killing of them here is thus particularly and alone mentioned in
another respect, namely, as it is the signal of the Pope s ruin, and so that
this argues not the soreness of this their last killing above any foregoing. This is that which useth to be said for this opinion. But, for my part, I
think it cannot be denied but that
1. This lying dead here of these witnesses must needs be metaphorically
meant, and understood of such a civil death, and of a suppression of them
and their cause, and, as they are witnesses, to be so put down and extin
guished, that they for a time remain as men laid forth by the walls for
dead, and as men in whose testimony there is in appearance no life, or likeli
hood of a revival, their enemies having now got such a power over them.
This is certainly made the great matter of their enemies rejoicing
: that as
the Pharisees thought they had Christ sure enough when they got him con demned and crucified, and had him in the grave; so these their enemies shall
think they have the witnesses down sure enough for ever, so great, desperate, and helpless in all view will the suppression of the witnesses by these their
enemies be. And this was principally intended in their being said to lie
dead; and, oppositely, the revival of them and their cause is set forth by a
resurrection from the dead.
And to this purpose there may be something in that phrase in Daniel, when the angel, speaking, as I take it, of this last war of the beast, says, He shall accomplish to scatter the power of the holy people ; as noting out
rather the dissolving their power as witnesses, than killing them as men.
So that whatever proceedings the power of their enemies may reach unto,
further to kill or martyr the natural bodies of these witnesses; yet this is
the thing eminently held forth in this metaphorical expression, and therein
eminently intended, that the cause and testimony of these witnesses should
^ And the Holy Ghost would have us take notice that their enemies prevailing should so
be as desperate and hopeless, without any appearance of life.
far reach.
2. But yet withal, in the second place, I am notwithstanding afraid, lest
that so great a victory over them, and the suppression of them as witnesses,
should also be followed with great effusion of blood, and with martyring many of them. And although this their lying dead and rising again be meta
phorically meant and intended to set out the desperateness of their cause and
testimony, and so to illustrate that glorious revival of theirs afterward; yet
166 AN EXPOSITION OF THE KEVELATION. [PAET II.
those other foregoing words, He shall make war against them, overcome them, and kill them/ may import further proceedings, by which they got this complete victory. I confess I am afraid of those many metaphors; lest this same killing mentioned after overcoming should not be meant really and properly of some further cruelty in enemies so malicious, when they have got the power in their own hands. For if the intent of that word falling were to express their suppression only as witnesses, that word over coming had then been sufficient to import it. Sure I am, in the 13th chap ter, where the rage and utmost cruelty which the beast should at any time, through his whole reign, exercise against the saints, is so prophesied of, all that cruelty of their enemies, which proceeded to so great slaughters of them, is expressed in the same words that here,
< And it was given him to make ivar against the saints, and to overcome them, ver. 7. And yet under those two expressions whereas here are three, Trilling being added are contained all those bloody executions and butcherings of the saints, by martyrdom and death, which afterwards, in the 10th verse of that chapter, is more fully ex pressed, when it is said, He that kills with the sword must be killed by the sword; as shewing the cause and manner of the beast s bloody fall and ruin in the end, and what it is that should provoke God and man unto it, even their butchering of the saints.
And although Antichrist s power is in general there set out, as it should be in his height and ruff, and during the whole time of his rei^n as gettinopower over all nations, tongues, and kindreds, and here only his last par ticular war against the witnesses is described, which should immediately forego his rum; yet it follows not that this expression here should not be of the same nature and kind, and import the same cruelty and manner of prevailing, that is there intended. For notwithstanding that the issue of the last particular war is the fatal and utter ruin of the beast, yet that hinders not but that he may first recover again the like power, and exercise the like cruelty over these witnesses for this small space, which he had done in former ages, when he obtained power so long to continue over them. Yea it may be feared, by that dirge of her own funeral song, which herself at last makes, in the 18th chapter, ver. 7, 8, that she shall recover her ancient power again, or at least entertain certain hopes and expectations of it through her prevailing over some, and those of the chief, of her lost kingdoms. For there you may read, that when the next day, as it were, she is to be burnt for a witch and a whore, she saith in her heart, and sings, I sit as a queen and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow : which is spoken of her pre sent condition just before her fall; for it follows, therefore shall her plagues come in one day, and she shall be utterly burnt with fire; for stronois the Lord who judgeth her. All which implies, that as her destruction should be sudden, and in the midst of her rejoicing, so that she shall have got such power and footing again, as that God s omnipotent power must be put forth in that her so sudden and unexpected ruin after all this.
There is the like intimated in that mention of the beast s recovery of his power in Dan. xi. 45, where it is added, yet he shall come to his end; as importing the greatness of that work, and the utter unlikelihood of it, now when he shall have gained his power so settledly again. That yet comes in there as that yet in the M Psalm does:
< Yet I have set my king on my oly hill of Sion, maugre all the opposition and rage of the Gentiles and rnansees ; though they have so far prevailed as to crucify him, yet I have set my ,,on as king on Sion, and raised up him and his cause again to
CHAP. VI.] AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. 167
And I therefore incline to think, that that song of the whore, mentioned
ver. 7 of the 17th chapter, is uttered by her as during this her merry time at last; when she and her friends rejoice so, and make merry during these
three years and a half, ver. 10 of this llth chapter; when suddenly after
it she is to be ruined. Yea, I believe that the cruelties which upon this
recovery of her power she may now at last exercise, according to her manner
in former ages, may be the means to revive the memory of all her former
slaughters, and so to provoke God and men, as for this her last bloodshed, to bring upon her the blood of all the prophets and martyrs before shed; even as the blood of Christ at last brought upon the Jews the blood of all from Abel, to provoke God to ruin Jerusalem. That as the ten tribes were
enraged against the Benjamites, with eagerness to root them out, because of their great victory at first got over themselves; so may the Protestant party be whetted on by these fresh killings of the saints, which may revive the memory of all the former, otherwise apt to be forgotten, to do execution upon these their enemies without all mercy. And so shall be fulfilled what is
said, chap, xiii., He that killeth with the sword must be killed by the sword. They shall reward her as she had rewarded them just before, as
chap. xvii. 6. And whereas it is alleged, that this being but one particular war against the witnesses, why should it be alone mentioned at last as some way peculiar, if it were such as Antichrist had commonly made upon the saints all his former days, which are mentioned chap. xiii. 1 The angel would not have recorded it thus alone by itself, if it had not been a different war from those former ones which the beast made against these witnesses.
The answer is, that it follows not that this is not such a kind of war and
prevailing as formerly Antichrist had. For this, though such as the former,
is thus particularly and alone mentioned, merely for this respect, because it
is the last of them all, and so as a signal to shew the time of Antichrist s
ending, and to make known the wonderful dealing of God, both with his church and with his enemies; that after so great a victory by it obtained
against the beast, he should notwithstanding thus prevail over it again, and have power to do for this space of time, even as in former ages; when
thinking himself as secure as ever, that then he should for ever be over thrown : the wonder of this deserved to be made a sign, and that this war of all other should particularly be instanced in.
Then again, add to this, that it is that last, great, and eminent suffering of the church, namely, of the European churches, and therefore it, of all
others, may be ordained to be the sorest. These witnesses do now die to
rise, and so to die no more, as Christ did not after his resurrection, Rom. vi.
9, but to enter into their glory, as Christ also did. I have observed that those
last afflictions, which are the immediate forerunners of the greatest happi ness and good, are still the sharpest. So it was with Christ himself; so with
all Christians in their last conflict with death, the king of fears, who yet is the porter to let them into heaven ; and so it is with the church in her per secutions. The Egyptian bondage was sorest at the last. And, says Paul, 1 God hath set forth us apostles last, as it were appointed unto death, 1 Cor.
iv. 9, alluding to those gladiators or fencers in the Roman games, the last of whom, there being three sorts that used to come upon the stage, were
appointed not to go off. but to fight it out till they were killed, they being ordinarily either slaves or else malefactors. The greatest persecution that ever the church had under heathenish Rome was that last one under Dioclesian, and the fifth seal. And therefore all the former martyrdoms of the saints
168 AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. [PART II.
by that state, during the times of the former seals, do, with a general cry of
their blood, come but then in, when as that the cruellest of all the former was come. And yet that was not the last neither of those persecutions that the church ever was to have; for it is there told those saints that they had other brethren yet to be killed. But here these witnesses are to rise and die no more; for as they died as Christ did, so they shall rise as Christ did.
Yea, and further; you may observe, that this is now mentioned not only alone, and above all other conquests over the saints, but also as the very epitome of all their former sufferings during the whole time of the witnesses
prophecy. And therefore in the very time of the duration hereof namely, three days and a half it is set forth as bearing the proportion of a com pendium of the whole time of their prophesying and suffering, which was for three years and a half, or 1260 days. As in like manner Christ s sufferings, unto which the allusion here is, were all summed up in his death, which is
therefore put for all his sufferings. When therefore it came to a My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? then he was heard and delivered from what he feared. And so in this last brunt of the church, when you shall hear the like voice uttered by it, know then that delivery is near.
We may also further consider, that now the beast hath been so chafed by these witnesses prophesying, and hath had so many vials emptied upon him and his company, they will thereby be so enraged, when once they shall get the victory and power into their hands, that surely in their rage they will be
cruel, as was said of Reuben. And the angel in Daniel, chap. xi. 44, ex
pressly attributes this his last invasion of the churches unto his rage for
their opposing him by this northern reformation, which in these kingdoms hath been the occasion of it. Therefore, says he, he shall go forth with
great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. So that nothing but blood and cruelty will be in their hearts. And therefore if God restrain not their spirits, or cut them short by an almighty work of his power, this
last must needs come to be far the sorest of all former persecutions.
Add unto this, that in chap. xvii. 6 the whore, the city of Rome, is pre sented as she shall be just before her ruin ; and this, as drunk with the blood of the saints. Which unto me seems to argue, that drunkenness now
at last shall be added to that her thirst of blood, which, by her being scorched with fire by these witnesses, hath been increased. I know it may be said
that it is spoken of her in her relation to her former bloody martyrisings of the saints. But that vision being made of her as just before her fall, (for, ver. 1, John says, that one of the seven angels of the vials and as it is
conjectured by interpreters, the fifth, because he it is that pours out his vial upon the seat of the beast, the whore shewed him the judgment of the
great whore, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,
&c., that is, in so many ages fore-passed ; so that he presented her in her old and last days,) and that then she appears so drunk, makes me fear that
it is by reason she was new come out from her cups of blood ; and that now
at last (after these years for her to sleep in) some fresh cup, some new draught, shall make her tipsy again, that so she may be surprised somno vinoque sepulta, buried in sleep and drunkenness, as Babylon was ; which will be the greater judgment and confusion unto her.
But yet, whether it shall be thus or no, I dare not nor cannot certainly and peremptorily determine. For on the other side, how God may
* restrain * Left blank in the original edition. ED.
CHAP. VI.] AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. 169
tlieir wrath, and cut short their spirits/ as the Psalmist speaks, we know not.
Yea, notwithstanding all their rage, malice, and spirit of revenge, yet how far their own wisdom and policy may move them of themselves to forbear the full execution of that vigour which their power gives them opportunity
of, we know not. For when their victory is gotten, they may use it more
moderately; especially in a respect to that Protestant party, which, though outwardly overcome by them, yet they cannot but in their hearts and con sciences continue firm unto the cause of these witnesses. The light of the
gospel hath took such a deep impression on men s spirits, as it cannot be
extinguished, nor they be brought so suddenly to embrace Popery as the truth. And as the Pharisees, for fear of the people, forbore many attempts against Christ, so may these for fear of these tongues, kindreds, and nations here mentioned, which are in heart inclined to the Protestant cause, forbear the extremity of their rage, though for the present they have the power ;
especially considering that they may wait for, and promise to themselves, some after age and time when their power shall more perfectly be recovered and settled, and men s consciences quieted in Popish ways, and when the adverse Protestant party shall be brought low and diminished. And so they may come to forbear and defer their full revenge so long, until this limited and short time of their full power, namely, their three years and a half, be
expired, and out of date sooner than they dreamed of. Which may prevent and hinder the execution of their cruel intentions to destroy and utterly make away many.
And we have experience of the wisdom of this generation of men, who love easy and gradual conquests. And their own experience hath and doth teach them that the martyring and butchering of the saints hath still ad vanced the cause of the Protestant religion, and branded theirs with bloocl and cruelty, as a mark of the false and whorish church. And though they be full of malice, which puts them on to use the utmost extremity, yet their
wisdom, having some further mischievous end, may keep down the rage of that their malice, even as in Julian the Apostate, who sinned against the Holy Ghost, it did. For he seeing that martyrdoms did tend rather to add unto and increase the church than to diminish it, and knowing that martyrdom would procure to those that suffered it a fairer crown of glory, out of envy, therefore, and a witty malice, he would make no edicts for the killing of the
Christians, but rather used ways of subtlety, by laying snares and tempta tions to draw men from the truth, and to shipwreck their consciences ; and so with his profane hands to paddle in the blood of their souls a sweeter
victory to him rather than of their bodies, and to triumph over them in their falls from the truth, rather than in their deaths. Arid to that end he invented another way to mischief and diminish them, by denying them schools of learning and the use of books, and suffered none of the Christians to bear any office, either in war or peace.
Moreover, there may be insinuated some mitigation of this rage of these Gentiles in the pursuing this their last victory, in that which follows the
before-cited place in Daniel; where although it be said that he shall go forth in such fury and rage, and with an intent to root out many, yet all his prevailing is in the issue and success expressed but by this, that he shall plant his tabernacle upon the glorious holy mountain. Which may imply, that although his intention is utterly to destroy, yet for the execu tion of it no more shall be done than getting a possession again in the
church, and a planting his tabernacle, his power and throne, therein ; which
170 AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. [PART II.
is therefore called a tabernacle, because it must presently be pulled down
again.
The event only must declare how far this prevailing shall succeed. In the meantime, we have cause to fear, and to prepare for, the worst ; both from the sins of the witnesses in yielding too far unto the superstitions of Home, and in suffering some of those superstitions to be left in their churches,
by the overflowing of the Romish sea, as we see much filth useth to be left on the shore by the overflowing of the ocean, and from many other sins of
theirs, as carnal-gospelling, worldly-mindedness, &c., and also from their base yielding up the outward court, and deserting the cause. For, as the
angel in Daniel says, many among them shall do wickedly. Now to conclude this point. That whereto my last and utmost thoughts and hopes concerning this matter do chiefly incline and sway me is, to think that it will be such a time with the church as that under Julian was ; arid that haply that persecution of his was a kind of type of this : that being the
last prevailing of heathenism, as this of Popery. Julian abstained from
extremity of cruelty, in respect of blood, especially at the first ; but having the power in his hands, he endeavoured, by crafty means, to undo and ex
tinguish religion, by denying the Christians the use of schools of literature, and books, &c., as I before told you ; and rather shewed his malice in flout