Chapter VII
The rising of the ivitnesses, from ver. II to ver., 15 of the llth chapter.
SECTION I.
Three things in general observed, Christ s resurrection the pattern of this.
The proportions between their killing and rising. This resurrection a
shadow of that to come.
I COME now to their rising again, and to those events which do accom
pany it. Three things in the general I observe about it :
I. That the particular circumstances of it are like to those in Christ s re
surrection and ascension : this rising of theirs being an allusion to that resur
rection of his, as was before said; and Christ mystical being in these last
days, when his visible kingdom approacheth, more eminently to be made
conformable unto Christ personal, both in his death and resurrection, the
last of his acts done on earth before that his kingdom then. Yea, and, for
our comfort, although there are some evident characters of likeness to that
_are more
his last passion mentioned in this their killing here, yet there
apparent ones of a conformity unto his resurrection in this their rising again. The several particulars whereof will arise to our observation in the explica
tion. This but in the general. II. That God hath so recorded the more eminent circumstances of this
their resurrection, that they do, as it were, answer unto those more eminent
circumstances noted in their killing; and this, as it were, a reward suited
and proportioned unto the debasement in the other. For
1. Then they are said to be killed; and now a spirit of life, is said to come
into them.
2. Then they are said to lie dead in the street; and now they are said to
stand upon their feet.
3. Then these their enemies or false-hearted friends are said to see them,
either as rejoicing over them, or at leastwise as not helping them; but now
at their resurrection it is twice noted and indigitated that their enemies saw
them, and that both when they arose and ascended; so ver. 11, 12 : both
which acts are done in the very face of their enemies, the more to spite and
vex them. Yea, and, as Pareus observes, the Greek word for see is here
changed; for as there it imported that they then saw them with pleasure, so
here it intimates that they now behold them with horror.
4. Then their enemies rejoiced over them; but now great fear is said to
fall upon their enemies who beheld them.
5. Then they were exposed to such contempt that their bodies were not
suffered to be buried, which is a degree of humiliation beyond death; but
now, instead of this, they have therefore a farther degree of glory put upon
CHAP. VII.] AX EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. 181
them beyond restoring to life. A voice calls them up to heaven ; and they ascend, that is, to a far more glorious condition than they had before. And
6. Their enemies are now killed in their stead, as being sacrificed unto
them, for their killing them before. Seven thousand of their enemies were
slain, ver. 13. And all this is but to make the parallel of their resurrection and ascension unto that of Christ the more full. For so it was in Christ ; the lower he de
scended, the higher he ascended : Eph. iv. 9, Now that he ascended, what
is it but that also he first descended into the lower parts of the earth
1 ? And, as Dr Ames hath well observed, the degrees of his exaltation were
answerably opposite to the degrees of his humiliation : his rising from the dead being opposed to his death; and his ascension into heaven, to his descent into the grave, and going down to hell, or into the state of death ; and his sitting at God s right hand, to his remaining in the grave and in the
estate of death.
III. The third thing which in general I observe is, that in this their re
surrection there is a forerunning shadow of that last great victory which
brings in the kingdom of Christ and of his saints for the thousand years; of the glorious beginning whereof, under the seventh trumpet ensuing, ver.
15, this is ordained to be the dawning. But the particulars thereof I shall observe, when I have despatched the
particular interpretation. It is enough now in general to have observed it.
SECTION II.
The several steps and degrees of their resurrection and ascension.
I. The first step of their resurrection is the
entering of the spirit of life from God into them ; even as in Christ s resurrection, the coming of his soul
into his body was the principle of that his future life. And such a principle this same spirit of life here imports. And so here in this allusion, it notes out their full restoring to their former state, even to that life and power which at any time before their killing they had had. This resurrection here
is not to be understood of the resurrection of their natural bodies, which is not to begin till the thousand years, yet it is the resemblance and shadow of
it ; but it shall be a rising of the persons of these witnesses who shall survive
this short storm, or of their successors standing up in their cause. That whereas they were laid as men utterly dead, during these three years and a half, in respect of any active life of prophecy; and partly, it may be, through the discouragements and base fears of their own spirits, they lay too still and quiet, like dead men, and suffered their enemies to carry it, by their not opposing them so boldly as they ought to have done : yet now, a bold and steeled resolution to lie still no longer, together with an active
spirit, comes upon them, and they stand up upon their feet, and make head
against their enemies, and so, in that sense, are said to rise again from the dead as it were, namely, comparatively to their dejected estate during those
three years and a half.
And as for those who were bodily slain by their enemies the Gentiles, during that war and slaughter, they may be said to rise in their successors, who con
tinue to profess the same cause. For the saints are a holy nation and com
munity; and what the next succcession doth, through the prayers or suffer
ings of a former generation, that former generation is said to do, as Isa. Iviii.
12; and so John Baptist rose up in the spirit of Elias; and when Christ
182 AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. [PART II.
preached, they thought John was risen from the dead. And this spirit of
life is said to be from God, s% rot Qsov, as noting out a more than ordinary
hand of God therein, and a special demonstration of his power, such as he
put forth when he raised up Jesus Christ from the dead, as Eph. i. 19,
and Rom. i. 4. If in anything Christ was declared the Son of God wit
power, it was in his resurrection from the dead. And such a power shall
raise up these witnesses.
II. They stand upon their feet; that is
1. As in their former station or state.
2. As men erect, and taking heart, their cause being just, though before
condemned. And
3. As ready to defend it, and as men able and resolved now to contror
their enemies; which strikes a mighty dread into their guilty consciences.
Great fear fell upon them that saw them; that is, a disheartenedness and
dejection of mind. Their hearts begin to sink and die at the witnesses first
beginning to live; for they see this prophecy, beyond all expectation, ful
filled: that, as Christ foretold he should rise again the third day, so it being
generally foretold that these witnesses should rise after three years and a half;
which they, as these Pharisees, had slighted: but now, think they, surely
the ruin both of us and of our cause will follow. So the hearts of Hainan s
friends misgave them when they saw him begin to fall before Mordecai. And now may the church well begin to say, Rejoice not against me, O mine
enemy; when I fall, and lie in the street, I shall arise. . . . Then she that
is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her; ... and she shall be
trodden down as mire in the streets, never to rise again; as you have it
Mic. vii. 8, 10.
Or, it may be, this great fear that is here said to fall upon them that saw
them/ is meant of those standers-by cf the peoples, kindreds, tongues, and
nations, that had before seen their dead bodies, but relieved them not, though
they were friends unto them; upon whom therefore this great fear and
reverence of God and his truth in these witnesses doth fall, so as now to take
part with them, and be on their side; being moved thereunto by the mar
vellous spirit of life and zealous courage, which God, according to the prophecy which before run of them, did now cause to come upon them. The word
$ewz?v implies a fixed diligent observance and intention of mind; such as,
upon seeing a wonderful work of God, we use to have. They see the finger
of God in this, and that makes them to fear and dread his power and majesty. For in that sense we often find in Scripture, that, upon some great and emi
nent deliverance, or work of an almighty and divine power put forth, fear is
said to fall upon the beholders; so Jer. xxxiii. 9, and elsewhere.
III. As Christ ascended up to heaven in a cloud, so also these, being
called up to heaven by a great voice from thence, saying, Come up hither.
Where, by heaven, the place into which they are called, is meant a condition
more honourable and glorious than ever they had before, and which, com
paratively to their former estate, is a heaven. For now they are about to
cast off their sackcloth for ever. And again, as Christ rose to die no more, Rom. vi. 9, so shall these; they shall die no more, as men that ascend to hea
ven do not. And thus, as Christ said of himself, Luke xxiv. 26, It became him
: so it may be said of these. So^that by heaven here is not simply meant the church, as often in this book it is,
to suffer, and so to enter into his glory
^when
for these that rise are of the true church already, and were so even
they lay dead, but it is meant of their following condition, which for liberty
CHAP. VII.] AN EXPOSITION OP THE KEVELATION. 183
and honour shall be as a church in heaven, in comparison to what it was
before, which was but as a church on earth.
Thus, ascending into heaven is used to express an obtaining of new power,
freedom, and glory; as Isa. xiv. 12, 13. And this is done in recompense of
that contempt which they lay in before, especially just before, when they lay dead. And indeed, as I take it, the dawning of the glory of the new heaven
and new earth approaching begins first in this glorious condition, which the
church, after this rising of the witnesses, shall within a while be raised up
unto, and quietly enjoy, as those in heaven do, whose state is described,
chap, xix., I saw a great multitude in heaven, &c. Of which hereafter. And thus much of their resurrection and ascension itself.
SECTION HI.
The events that accompany their resurrection.
Now further ; as there are certain events which accompanied Christ s re
surrection, so the like do accompany theirs. Yfhen Christ arose, there was
an earthquake, which affrighted the soldiers that watched him ; and so was
there here likewise, as ver. 1 3. Now, to explain what is here to be understood by this earthquake
1. For the time of it; it is said to be at the same hour, namely, with
this their resurrection, or beginning to rise ; and so may seem to be men
tioned as one of the means which did make way for and facilitate this their
rising, by removing the impediments of it, and, as it were, rolling the stone
away, that so these witnesses might rise from under the power of their
enemies ; which former obtained power of theirs this earthquake doth scatter and dissolve.
Now whereas their resurrection and ascension are both together mentioned
in ver. 11, 12 ; and then after both comes in the mention of this earthquake,
ver. 13, There was the same hour, &c. ; yet, as I take it, this follows not
that all of them resurrection, ascension, and earthquake were at the same time or hour together. For their resurrection and ascension are two
distinct degrees of their exaltation, as in Christthey were, and therefore may not so immediately follow one after the other, as in Christ they did not,
his ascension being forty days after his resurrection ; and yet they are both
recorded and set together, because they are things of a kind and sort, as
pertaining both of them unto the exaltation of the witnesses. So that for
this passage that follows, ver. 13, that there was an earthquake the same
hour ; it may perhaps not refer to the time of both, namely, their rising and ascension, but unto the beginning of the time of their first rising, as an
occurrence that fell out the same hour when this great turn began ; or rather,
indeed, as the way and means God first used to remove impediments for the
setting free of these witnesses, and restoring them unto their former state and life.
2. For the thing itself, and the place where this earthquake shall be, and what shall be the effects of it ; this is expressed in what follows : the tenth
part of the city fell, and of the names of men were slain seven thousand.
Great earthquakes have oft-times shook down cities and buildings, &c., and many men have often perished by them. And such shall be the effects of
this here.
184: AN EXPOSITION OP THE REVELATION. [PART II.
SECTION IV.
The fall of the tenth part of the city, what ? Whether thereby be meant the ruin of Rome, the fifth vial ?
But the main question is, What is meant by the tenth part of the city/ and what by the names of men ? Mr Mede thinks, that by the tenth part of the city is meant Rome itself, and its ruin by the fall of that tenth part ; as being that which shall fall out immediately upon, or at the same hour with, this rising and ascending of the witnesses ; and so to be all one with the fifth vial. And his reason is, because this being an overthrow of the Popish party, who are the enemies of these witnesses, for the beast kills them, it must therefore be reduced to one of the vials : and to which of them but to the fifth ? For four are men tioned before, in ver. 5-7, and the sixth seems to be all one with that which
follows, ver. 14, when it is said, The second woe is past; and then the seventh vial is all one with the seventh trumpet. And this interpretation he thus makes out : Rome, which now is the seat of the beast, being but the tenth part of ancient and imperial Rome, as history and chorography tells us, the scope therefore of the angel here must be, to shew how that relic of Rome, before brought to a tenth part, by the former wars and trumpets, chap, viii., ix., should now wholly and for ever be defaced and overthrown. And so, accordingly, the names of men that are said to be slain, he makes to be those dignities, (haply ecclesiastical dignities, says he,) whereby men are ranked in Italy whilst Rome stands, as cardinals, archbishops, and bishops, &c., the merchants who in Italy have enjoyed so great traffic by reason of this whore s merchandise ; these are together, with the fall of the city, to be deposed, and civilly to die, as the witnesses before had done, this seat of the beast now falling into the Protestants hands. An interpretation learned and ingenious. But that which hath carried my thoughts to some other distinct event from this, though this ultimately may be intended, hath been the observation of that so different effect, mentioned ver. 13, as wrought upon the hearts of the remnant of those, and so of the same company with them, that are slain with the fall of the city in this earthquake ; together with that other con trary effect, which the full and fetal ruin of the seat of the beast, under the fifth vial, is said to have upon the remnant of the beast s company there, as the event of that vial. Here the remnant of men that are not slain are said to be affrighted, and to give glory to the God of heaven ; but there, upon
the^ execution of that fifth vial, in the height of it, it is said, they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their torments and their sores, and repented them not of their deeds; so chap, xvi. 10, 11. Now, if we interpret this their giving glory to God, here in this chapter, in the lowest and most diminishing sense that can be supposed, and as not arising to true repentance ; yet at least it implies an acknowledg ment of God to his praise, such as Achan made, though haply forced, and out of fear constrained ; and if it be so taken, yet it is utterly opposite to blaspheming the God of heaven, which these other, feeling his hand, upon the ruin of Rome, are said to do. This remnant here, chap, xi., being such as were, through fear, drawn in to be of the Popish party, and therefore do now repent.
So that it rather seems to me to be some special occurrence, more nearly and properly belonging unto the witnesses rising and ascension, as immedi-
CHAP. VII.] AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. 185
ately making way unto them both, in those parts of Europe where the witnesses had chiefly been killed ; where, for the helping forward their re
surrection, God causeth this earthquake, and mighty commotion of the state
of things and of the people s hearts. That whereas through a forced consent and yielding, the Pope s power had again been entertained by that tenth part of the city, for the killing the witnesses ; they now do cast off that power,, with a mighty commotion and insurrection, and so proceed to ruin the op
posite party unto the witnesses, who were the instruments of that former
slaughter. Of which party the remnant unslain do, as men affrighted, give glory unto God, and turn back again to embrace the truth, and acknowledge God to be in these witnesses, and in their cause.
So that, although this may and shall end in the ruin of Rome, which is the highest effect of the fifth vial, for this resurrection and ascension of the
witnesses are truly the preparation unto it ; yet this other passage of the
earthquake, &c., that here is said to be the same hour with their rising, is
rather to be understood of the means, or thing, making way unto that their
resurrection. So that this insurrection, or rising of the people, in the tenth
part of the city, which is meant by the earthquake, is the preparation unto-
their resurrection, which ends in the ruin of Rome ; the scope of the Holy Ghost here being to shew what did properly and peculiarly concern the
rising of the witnesses, as the means to it : yet so, as still this earthquake
here, and fall of the tenth part of the city, are reducible unto that fifth vial, as a degree unto it. And so that fifth vial may also be ultimately intended
in this passage recorded of the witnesses rising, as the preparation unto it. Thus in the interpretation of the vials, I shewed that there may be many
sprinklings of the same vial, both long before it come to its a/c
(a^ and vigour, and also after ; all which are, notwithstanding, to be reduced unto that vial of the kind whereof they are, or unto which they are either preparations or
appendixes.
Yea, further, the word city being taken in a double consideration in this
book, one more strict for the city of Rome itself, another larger for the
jurisdiction of that city, as was before observed ; accordingly may the tenth
part, both of the one and the other, be here meant, as the one is successively to follow and fall after the other. And so both interpretations may aptly be here intended ; the Ml of the one being as a degree unto the fall of the
other, which is the height of that fifth vial. Unto this I do the more in
cline, for that such a double scope and aim, in things of equivocal significa
tion, I find the Holy Ghost oftentimes to have in his eye. So in the vials,. as I before shewed ; and so I believe in this passage and event. So that I exclude not that interpretation of Mr Mede s, but do only join another with
it, though I think that may be mainly and ultimately intended.
SECTION Y.
More particularly, that by a tenth part of the city is meant one of the ten.
kingdoms of Europe. Hoiv it is said to fall. The earthquake in itt ivhat ? The names of men, what ? and their killing. Now to come to a more particular interpretation of this place
1. By the tenth part of the city I understand, as Mr Brightman before me,, some one tenth part of Europe ; which, as it all once belonged to the juris diction of the city of Rome, and is in this book called ten kingdoms, so now
again, upon the Gentiles, or idolatrous Papists, their recovering the outward
court, shall now at last, more or less, come under the jurisdiction of that
186 AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. [PART II.
city ; but especially, or at least this tenth part of it here intended, where most faithful witnesses shall be found, and where most of them shall be
triumphed over and slain, shall, during these three years and a half, become a part of the city again ; and so is called a tenth part of the city
: city beingput here, as it often is in this book, for the extent of the jurisdiction of the
city of Rome, which had these ten European kingdoms by charter allotted unto it, chap, xvii., and unto which these kingdoms are a second time to
agree to give up their power. In one of which ten, or in the tenth part of the whole, the witnesses shall first begin to rise
} and therein shall this
earthquake accompany their resurrection. This tenth part of the city may perhaps be all one with that street of the city, mentioned ver. 8.
2. By the earthquake here, which is said to be a great one, is meant (as
still in this book it is) a great concussion or shaking of states, politic or
ecclesiastical, for of either or of both it is used. Thus under the sixth seal, the great alteration wrought in the Roman empire, when it turned from heathenism to Christianity, brought about by the power of Constantine, with
the deposing those heathenish emperors, captains, &c., and altering the face
of the empire s religion, is called an earthquake, chap. vi. So that the like
mighty commotion, with an alteration of the face of things, (either civil or
ecclesiastic,) shall fall out in a tenth part of the city, and shall accompany or usher in this rising of the witnesses. Now
3. By and through this earthquake s falling thus out in a tenth part of
the city, this tenth part of it is so shaken that it falls, that is, ceaseth to be a part of the city, or to belong unto its jurisdiction any longer, or, which is all one, falls off, as we say, from being of the number of those that
give their power to the beast. Which if it prove to be any of the Protestant
states that should yet again, as was said, embrace the beast s power, and come under his jurisdiction, or, in order to the bringing in again of the
Pope s power, should kill these witnesses, and so thereby become a part of
that city, and be reckoned as pertaining unto its jurisdiction ; yet now re
volting from under the power of this city, and recoiling again through this
earthquake, it may truly be said to fall, namely, qua iirbis pars est, as it is a part of the city, which it before was, but now ceaseth so to be, it now
utterly renouncing either to belong to its jurisdiction, or to be of its party any longer. And as earthquakes are from inward motions in the bowels of
the earth, so this here may seem to arise from within that kingdom itself; whether through the supreme magistrate s beginning to hate the whore, (as the promise is, chap, xvii.,) or the people s abominating the cruelty and con
tempt put upon the witnesses and their cause ; their consciences having been
enlightened in the truth, while themselves were trodden under, as the out ward court, by these Gentiles, and so they come to shake off that yoke ; and the witnesses having a spirit of life now come into them, these take
heart, and join with them and their cause : whether, I say, through the
working of either or both of these I cannot determine, but I think through both. For the ruin of the city, unto which this is at least the preparation,
is to be effected through God s changing one of the ten kings hearts so to
hate the whore, as to eat her flesh, and burn her with fire, chap. xvii. And this voice speaking unto the witnesses out of heaven, Mr Mede con
jectures to be that of supreme authority, with which the people also shall
join ; for an earthquake certainly notes out a commotion in the people and
nations.
4. The effect of this earthquake, and fall of this tenth part of the city,
is the killing seven thousand of the names of men ; so it is in the original.
CHAP. VII.] AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. 187
A phrase which, as thus joining names and men together, is not so to be found in the whole book of God. By these names of men are certainly denoted out those, be it interpreted of whomsoever, that had been the wit
nesses enemies, and that had the great agency and hand in killing them, and
in subjecting those nations unto the power of the beast.
Mr Mede conceives it to be ovo/tara atyfatw, names of men, for men of
names, according to the usual phrase of Scripture as riches of grace for
rich grace, &c.
Now, by men of names, in Scripture, is meant men of office, title, and
dignity. So Num. xvi. 2, those two hundred and fifty men, who were princes of the congregation, and in Korah s conspiracy consumed, are called men of
name, (so in the Hebrew,) that is, men of title and dignity. You heard before how the last sort of enemies unto these witnesses, under
the fourth vial, were set forth unto us by the type of those very opposers of Moses and Aaron, who were then the two witnesses of the Lord, as was shewn in the exposition of the 5th verse of this chapter. Now as there, in
Numbers, the spiritual punishment of many of them, for their enmity against the witnesses, is noted out by that fire which then devoured them : so here a
civil punishment falls upon these ; for having thus killed these witnesses, themselves are to be killed, haply by being bereft of their names and titles, which are to be rooted out for ever, and condemned to perpetual forgetfulness.
This Mr Mede carries to ecclesiastical dignities under the Papacy, those
Latiales Episcopatus, &c. And for the number seven thousand, it is an in
definite number, and put for many, as the usual manner of the Scripture is. And certainly, if these names here do prove to be ecclesiastical dignities and
titles, the phrase here used fits them and is most proper for them ; for they use it of themselves, and when they would in a word or two comprehend all the several ranks and orders of the hierarchical ministry, from the highest to the lowest, which for them particularly to enumerate were too tedious, they involve all in this indefinite expression, by what names or titles soever
dignified or distinguished.
Now, as they call their dignities names, so the Holy Ghost, you see, calls them names of men ; that is, merely human, of man s institution, and not of God s. For so are most of their offices themselves, and, in a manner, the names of them all ; they being not such names as the Holy Ghost teacheth us to call them by, but such as the canons and constitutions of men have
imposed. And this may, indeed, be the true reason why this phrase, used nowhere else, is yet used here, now when the ruin of the Pope s creatures comes to be mentioned as most fitly, by names of men, denoting forth that
evil and error of theirs which is one true cause of their ruin. But now for
civil offices and titles, for them to be of man that is, to have their rise from men is proper to them, and therefore they are called creations, or ordinances of men, avQou-ivri xr/ffsi, &c., 1 Pet. ii. 13 ; and this in opposition or distinc
tion unto ecclesiastical offices. Whereas ecclesiastic offices and names should
all, for the foundation of the calling and office itself, be of God, and not of men. They are of another building and constitution, although man designs the persons to them, and that, too, in a way of God s appointment. Thus
this phrase, of man, is used of this sort of offices, and to this very purpose, in other places of Scripture. So when Paul speaks of his office of apostleship, and his being designed to it, Gal. i. 1, he useth this phrase, An apostle, neither of man, nor ~by man ; that is, My office itself is not of man s appoint ment, nor was I put into it by man, that is, designed to it by man s choice.
188 AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. [PART II.
And although that office of his was an extraordinary office, yet other ordi
nary ministers offices are divine for the institution of them, and in that
respect not of man, though by man (that is, the church) their persons be
designed unto those offices. For Christ is Lord of these administrations or
offices, as you have it, 1 Cor. xii. 4, 5 ; and so they hold of him as truly as
gifts in the same place are said to do of the Spirit, and operations of the Father. And men are no more to assume to appoint church-offices than they are able to give gifts, or to bless those gifts with operations ; and when they do so, they derogate from Christ the Lord as truly as they should from the Holy Ghost, in attempting to bestow upon such as Simon Magus, who desired it, the gifts of the Spirit. No, it is God who hath set edero, (as you have it, ver. 28 of that chapter,) teachers, as well as apostles, in the church. Paul there reckons up ordinary officers as well as extraordinary ; for the institution
of the one is from God as well as the other.
Now therefore, when the Holy Ghost here speaks of those false names and titles of church-officers which Christ appointed not, he disclaims them from holding of him, but calls them names of men, as being of human crea
tion, whereas they should be only of divine institution. And so being plants which God the Father planted not, they are here said to be rooted out of this one kingdom or state, where, it seems, they had been the causes and authors of all this mischief and cruelty against the witnesses ; and which, through the efficacy of their working to uphold their names, had again been become the tenth part of the city, but now, by this earthquake, falls from being any longer under that jurisdiction. And together with it are all those steeples and cathedrals, and all those names and titles that belong thereto, utterly shaken down also, it being a just punishment and reward of their conspiracy against the witnesses, and agency in their killing.
SECTION VI.
What tenth part of Europe, or ivkick of the ten kingdoms, it is most probable that this earthquake and resurrection of the ivitnesses shall fall out in.
Now, which of these ten kingdoms or of the ten states in Europe, and what tenth part thereof, shall first have this great privilege, as a blessed handsel to the rest that follow, is not hard to conjecture, though it be rash
ness peremptorily to determine ; for God maketh new choice of nations and churches therein beyond the line and reach of our conjectures, and his ways are past finding out ; neither can the face of his former proceedings with
any of the churches give us any certain and infallible dcsignment which of them he will do most good unto.
I will therefore only cast in such conjectures as, according to the face of the sky in the churches of this present age, do seem to prognosticate where and in what parts this heaven, which the witnesses shall ascend up into, is
like first to clear up in, from under these clouds, and from out of this hour of darkness to come upon the world.
1. The saints and churches belonging unto the kingdom of France God hath made a wonder unto me in all his proceedings towards them, first and
last, and there would seem some great and special honour reserved for them
yet at last. For it is certain that the first light of the gospel, by that first and second angels preaching, chap, xiv., which laid the foundation of Anti
christ s ruin, was out from among them, namely, those of Lyons and other
places in France. And they bore and underwent the great heat of that
morning of persecution, which was as great, if not greater, than any since.
CHAP. VII.] AN EXPOSITION OF THE EEVELATION. 189
And besides, the churches of France have ever since had as great a share in
persecutions, yea, greater than any other churches. And though it be well-
nigh five hundred years since they began first to separate from Antichrist, and they still continue a glorious church unto this day, yet they never had that great honour and privilege, which other churches have been so blessed
with, as to have a supreme magistrate professing their religion ; but either
they have been bloody persecutors and oppressors of them, or else they have
apostatised from them. May it not, therefore, be hoped and looked for, that
their kings in the end should be of the number of those kings who, as you have it, chap, xvii., are to be wrought on to hate the whore, and to burn her with fire; and so that this voice here, which calls these witnesses, who there have ever prophesied in sackcloth, up to heaven, may proceed from one of their kings; and so, as that kingdom had the first great stroke, so now it should have the honour to have the last great stroke in the ruining of Borne ? But yet
2. If you take a view of the face of the present condition of the saints and churches in Europe, as in this last age, wherein these things are in all like lihood to be fulfilled, it presents itself, together with a prospect into the times past also, and then if you put all together, the churches and saints in
Great Britain, and the islands belonging to it, have, in my thoughts and
conjectures, (not swayed unto it through affection only, which may betray the judgment, but through a serious and impartial consideration and weigh ing of things,) more hopeful characters upon them for this glory than any of the other reformed churches ; and so appear the likeliest unto me to prove the more eminent stage, both of this great slaughter, and also of the rising and ascension of the witnesses.
(1.) For the ages past, there hath been these three hundred years as glo rious a succession of godly witnesses and martyrs as any other nation can
produce, as you may collect out of Mr Foxe s Martyrology.
(2.) For the last foregoing age, since the times of the Reformation, and for the present one, the marks of these witnesses designed to this slaughter and
glory, as in the former part of this chapter you have had them laid forth, appear the liveliest, and, in a manner, only upon them of Great Britain :
for
[1.] There hath God continued the most faithful, and called, and chosen/ as they are called, chap. xvii. 14, who are of the Lamb s side, and who are
together with him to overcome the kings that shall hate and burn the whore ; and, indeed, more of them that hold forth the power of religion with differ ence from the world, than in all the nine kingdoms besides. And surely, where most of the witnesses are, there will be their most eminent slaughter ; and where their greatest slaughter is, there will be their most glorious resur
rection and ascension. For all these will certainly be commensurated and
proportioned one to the other : magnitude of sufferings to multitude of wit
nesses ; and then greatness of glory unto the greatness of sufferings. Now, that the saints in these kingdoms of Great Britain are like to be the subjects of that slaughter, and those kingdoms made the street, or open market-place
thereof, I shewed before.
[2.] There God hath eminently stirred up men s hearts to breathe after a further and purer reformation, and measuring of the temple. And they have been put to contend for it more than all the other churches ; and this, more or less, ever since the first erection of the English church at Frankfort, in Queen Mary s days. And in the contention about it, and through that bitter
persecution for it, they even for this very cause having prophesied in sack-
190 AN EXPOSITION OF THE BEVELATIOX. [PART II.
cloth more apparently than others in other reformed churches, their spirits have increased both in spiritual light and holiness, and in practical know
ledge in the ways and works of sanctification, by which the worshippers are to be measured, and also in further and clearer light about the institution and true government of a church, by which the temple and altar are to be measured, more than all the reformed churches besides have done ; who, in the quiet enjoyment of much of what these contend to have in a further
purity, have run out almost into nothing but an outward court of profession, and a mere form, there being few priests, or true worshippers, that, with difference from others, do worship God in power, in spirit, and in truth, that are to be found in the inner temple of their assemblies. And let but the
exposition of the six first verses of this chapter be consulted with, and that
interpretation given be but impartially applied to the Protestant professors this day in Europe, and how eminently above the rest will the condition of the saints of Great Britain, and their constant conflicts with the beast and his abettors unto this day, be found to fit the measure thereof, and to look more like, and come nearer the life of, that face of things therein presented, than any other, or than all other the reformed European churches since that their first reformation ! And
[3.] That description of those who are to be the eminent opposites of the witnesses in these last days, and the authors of this their slaughter, fits those
open and professed enemies of them in those kingdoms also. And there, if
anywhere, are found those that receive the number of the beast s name ; who, notwithstanding, hitherto have, and may yet for a while, deny his
< character and disclaim his name. Whom shall we liken this generation unto, or where shall we find similitudes that will suit them, if those
descriptions forepassed in this chapter suit them not ? Sure I am, if these be not they, they are as like as ovum ovo. And these (the number of his name ) being the beast s last champions, as appears out of chap. xiii. 17, and chap. xv. 2, and are therefore there mentioned last, are to hold up the
last great quarrel of the beast s cause, and to fight this last combat with the witnesses ; and so in this last age to be overcome in open field by them, as their predecessors that had the mark and image of the beast have been over come by the former generation of witnesses in elder times. And
[4.] In which of the reformed churches are these names of men, who are to be the killers of the witnesses, and therefore are slain in this earth quake in their revenge, continued but in these kingdoms 1 And that in this otherwise unused phrase, by what names or titles soever distinguished! Which names and titles, and several dignities, take in all sorts of them, from the highest to the lowest, in all those kingdoms, may haply be found to amount to 7000, that number being an indefinite kind of number, and taken for more or less, even besides such ministers of parishes and assemblies as have for the substance of their office a Avarrant from God, though for their usual names, whereby they are called, they retain a name of man s devising. Yea, is not this very thing made the quarrel now, whether their ranks of
ministry be names of God or of men 1 About which the witnesses have, from the very beginning, contended. Yea, is it not the suspicion and general opinion that to continue and to secure these their names they would again introduce Popery 1 And is not the matter as thus stated the very ground of their quarrel ? And hath it not long been the ground of all the opposi tion against the witnesses and saints in this kingdom, as of silencing, fining, depriving them, and deposing them from their ministerial charges, &c., lest
that, as the Pharisees said of Christ, the people s running after the witnesses
CHAP. VII.] AN EXPOSITION OF THE EEVELATION. 191
doctrine should endanger their names, credits, and dignities, and so take away their kingdoms ? Hereat the quarrel first began, and for that secret cause hath all along been continued, though under other outward pretences. Yea, this is the thing that shall provoke them to the ensnaring slaughter of these witnesses, which now approacheth. They say within their hearts, Let us kill these witnesses,
( and the vineyard will be ours. Now, upon all these grounds, how fairly probable does it seem that these occurrences here mentioned, as those that shall attend the resurrection of the witnesses, are to fall out in this tenth part of Europe, and in one or both of these our kingdoms above-mentioned, more eminently than in any other European state or kingdom
! And how just were it with God to give up these names of men, who have been the enemies of his witnesses in all times
since the Reformation, to receive at last the number of the beast s name, and under his name and power to become in the end the killers of these
witnesses, and his trained band, and leaders in this his last war ! And how wonderful and wise a dispensation of God will it be towards his own in these
kingdoms, to have reserved the utter extirpation of these names of men, though so long while contended for, unto such a time and occasion as this ! And that after they shall first have done this feat and exploit for the beast, hi killing the witnesses, they should then be sacrificed as Baal s priests were by Elias ; even when these witnesses, whom they so persecuted, shall rise, and die no more ; and so by this means, the ruin of these their enemies should be made the witnesses triumph, and the removing them, out of the way by this earthquake made the foundation of their ascension into heaven :
after which the work of measuring the temple, by these Samaritans inter
rupted, shall go forward in the hands of Joshua and Zerubbabel ; and the
people, who before were afraid of these hinderers of the work, shall now begin to cry, Grace, grace, unto it ; and so the rearing of these purer churches
shall be upon the rubbish of this Samaritan mountain, the false church.
And if the fifth vial be also aimed at in this earthquake, and the fall of Rome, the seat of the beast, as ultimately I think it is, then how comely will it be, and suitable with the long expectation of God s witnesses and holy ones, that the ruin of these episcopal seas, and seats of those that shall do
Antichrist such service, should fall out with, or be a preparative unto, the
fall of that great bishop s sze, as I said in expounding the fifth vial, and both
to go down together, as alike pertaining to the same building of man s, not God s !
[5.] And lastly, if this prove the issue of God s dealings with these king doms, how gloriously shall God thereby acquit himself in the conclusion of all
his dispensations towards them ! For to see two such contrary streams
running so strongly one against another in the same channel, hath indeed caused a wonderment in the godly-wise of this last age, what God means to
do, and what end he means to make with England. This is that which is now the great expectation of the churches there, how equally God means to
proceed, both towards them that fear him therein, and also towards the op
posite party that are and have been there. For it is strange, even to a
miracle, to see how God upholds in the same state two such contrary fac
: one, of his own people, rising-higher and higher in spiritual
tions and parties
light, and in opposition to superstition, and breathing after further purity of
holiness and perfection of public worship ; and together with this, at the same time, another strong party looking towards Rome, and increasing in
superstition, darkness, and an impudent outfacing the light of truth, and
that then when it shineth hottest and clearest on them. Now, for the all-
192 AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION, [PART II.
\vise God, who professeth to have this art and skill, to preserve the right eous, and reserve the wicked unto punishment, as Peter speaks ; for him now
at last to come off so gloriously, what more equal, and so more likely dis
pensation, than to run this course chalked out here in this chapter, both towards the one and the other party in that kingdom, and which, according to the course of his dealings throughout the Scriptures, though this prophecy had not been left us in this chapter concerning these very times, the godlywise might have hoped God most probably might intend to take ?
SECTION VII. How this their resurrection and ascension is a forerunning shadoiu of the
restitution of all things at the coming of Christ s kingdom. Now further ; concerning this great privilege and honour thus first befall
ing some one tenth part of Europe, let me add this unto all that hath been
said of it, to make it appear yet the more glorious
: That this resurrection of the witnesses seems to be the beginning of the first great turn of things in the church hastening to the New Jerusalem ; and so the very first dawning of the kingdom of Christ approaching, and of the final restitution of the church s liberty from under the yoke of Antichrist. When Christ arose, as
these witnesses here do, his disciples then asked him whether he would at
that time restore Israel. He denies not that it should be done ; only he
.tells them it was not for them then to know the seasons. But now the time of that restitution approaching, the rising of these witnesses, which beareth the true resemblance of his, is here mentioned as the signal of that restitu
tion which, chap, xx., is called the first resurrection; of which, I say, this
is the forerunning shadow. And, indeed, thus have the writers of all ages since Christ understood it. For when they speak of that day, and the signs of it, you shall generally find it among the ancients that this killing of the two witnesses and their rising, though indeed it hath by them been inter
preted of Enoch and Elias, are made the forerunning signs of the approach of that joyful day of Christ s kingdom, which they called the day of judg ment.
And, I confess, I have thought that the true reason why this particular occurrence, though falling out but in a tenth part of Europe, is here made mention of, rather than other occurrences which are like to fall out with it or
after it, as the ruin of Home, which in itself is a greater one, is because that
this one passage should have more fitness to become a sign which to give is the scope of the Holy Ghost in this chapter of the approaching of the New
Jerusalem, to come under the seventh trumpet, than any other occurrence ;
it being not only the first step of the restauration of the church after Anti
christ s last scattering of it, which shall for ever after go on and increase until the full restitution of all things, it is not only, I say, the first turn of the stream after that last low ebb, the waters whereof shall rise and increase till
it be full sea and never ebb again, (these witnesses now rising, as Christ did, .never to die again, but to cast off their sackcloth for ever,) but further also,
in many particulars, the liveliest picture and model of that great restauration of all things which is to come, above any other passage ; and so is singled out as a forerunning type and resemblance of it.
This great restoring of all things, of which we speak, is to begin with the seventh vial, which, as was said, is all one with the seventh trumpet, when
* old things are to be done away, and all to be made new. Now, as then
* a great earthquake, and that ( such a one as never was
there is said to be
CHAP. VII.] AN EXPOSITION OF THE KEVELATION. 193
since men were upon the earth/ chap. xvi. IS ; so here there is said to be a
great earthquake also. And as the effect of that earthquake is the dividing the remainder of Babylon into three parts, and the falling of the cities of
the nations, ver. 19 of that 16th chapter; so here the effect of this earthquake
is the falling of a tenth part of the city, and the slaying of these names of men. And as that is ushered in with a resurrection, which, chap. xx. 5, 6,
is called the first resurrection, that is, the first physical rising of the
bodies of the saints, so this also hath a resurrection (though not natural and physical, yet metaphorical) of dead witnesses unto a better life than ever
they had before. So wonderful a work and change is this to be, that it shall be even as life from the dead, as the apostle speaks of the conversion of
the Jews.
And again, as then after that resurrection there is a new heaven and a new earth, so here there is an ascending into a heaven. So glorious shall
the condition of these witnesses be, in comparison of what it was before, that it shall justly be counted a heaven, if compared with their former best
condition before their killing.
Thus among the Gentiles will God give one instance, as a small scheme,
type, and shadow of this his kingdom, to confirm the faith of the saints in
it, and that, as is most probable, in those churches of Europe which he means chiefly to make partakers afterwards of this his New Jerusalem under
the seventh trumpet.
SECTION VIII. An interpretation of that clause, ver. 14, The second ivoe is past. A reconciling some difficulties about it.
There remains nothing now in this chapter to be expounded, excepting this clause which follows, ver. 14, The second woe is past; and, behold, the third cometh quickly; which is the close of the sixth trumpet. For the three last trumpets being called three woes, chap. viii. 13, when the fifth
trumpet had done sounding, it is said, chap. ix. 1 2, One woe is past ; and, behold, there come two woes more, &c. And now when the sixth trumpet s time of ending comes, it is said, The second woe is past, &c. ; which is all one as to have said, The sixth trumpet, and the woe of it, do here determine, or at least begin to determine and end.
Now, the sixth trumpet being the empire and tyranny of the Turk, and
the sixth vial being that great and deadly blow that shall be given that
empire, to make way for the kingdom of the Jews, the kings of the east, mentioned in that vial, hence Mr Mede interprets this passing away of the second woe to be the very sixth vial, as this fall of the tenth part of the
city he makes to be the fifth vial. Which if it be so, the difficulty to me, which I see not so clearly by him reconciled, is, that this passing away of the second woe, as it is here recorded, seemeth, for the time of it, to fall out
together with this resurrection and earthquake, and with the ascension of the
witnesses and fall of the tenth part of the city, and all these to determine and end, as it were, in one common period. For as soon as the Holy Ghost had made the narration of all these, he concludes with this, The second woe is past. And then, he making the fifth vial to be the period of the
Pope s reign, and the witnesses ceasing to prophesy in sackcloth to be at
their rising, and at the fall of the tenth part of the city ; how then can the passing away of the second woe, if it be the sixth vial, be imagined to
fall out at the same time with these, seeing the vials, as well as the seals and trumpets, do fall out successively each after other? And though VOL. in. N
194 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EEVELATION. [PART II.
not in equal or alike distances of time each from other, as Napier would have it, yet all of them in some distance, as is most likely ; and it is certain
it hath held so in all the rest.
Now, to reconcile this difficulty :
1. Either the fifth and sixth vial shall fall out altogether about the same
time; and so the conversion of the Jews and rising of the European witnesses
fall out together as preparations unto them both ; which I confess unto me seems not altogether improbable. For that passage in Dan. xii. 1, compared with the last verse of chap, xi., would seem to imply as much. In which
last verse the angel had spoke of the end of the reign of Antichrist ; and in the 1st verse of the following 12th chapter he speaks of the Jews being deli vered from their greatest time of trouble, which is to befall them from the Turk upon their first conversion : and he seems there to make them both to be at the same time, or at least so near each other that the distance is not
considerable. For he expressly says, At that time shall Michael stand up, to deliver thy people/ so he calls the Jews by way of distinction from the
Gentile Christians, as being of Daniel s nation. Or else
2. Whereas there are two things here mentioned concerning these wit
nesses
(!.} Their rising, accompanied with this earthquake; and
(2.) Their ascension into heaven, which must needs fall out after their
resurrection : it may be, that as Christ s ascension was forty days after his
resurrection, so this their ascension, though mentioned immediately next
their resurrection, may be some space of years after, when their enemies are
removed, and all obstacles and impediments out of the way; then they have a heaven granted them, and a voice calling them up thither. And so it may come to pass that this ascension of theirs may not be until the sixth vial, though their rising were before the fifth vial, and a preparation unto it. But
3. And lastly, to solve all these doubts : it may be, that the only scope and drift of the angel in bringing in this clause, The second woe is past,
here, ver. 14, was not so much thereby to denote the exact common period or instant of time for all these occurrences mentioned, or to shew how the
sixth vial and the end of the sixth trumpet shall, for the time of them, be
together with this earthquake, &c. ; but rather, whereas the Turkish tyranny was one part of the second woe upon the eastern Christians, spoken of chap,
ix., and the treading down the outward court of carnal Protestants by the
Papists, and killing their witnesses, another second part of that second woe, that therefore now, when he had related and put them both together, then he comes in with this speech, The second woe is past ; that is, I have now
fully declared what a woe God will bring both on the eastern Christians, and also on the European and western Christians; and these two do com
plete and perfect the story of the second woe, and do also belong unto the
story of the sixth trumpet. Which second woe, consisting of those two parts, I have now fully done withal; and so I pass from it to speak of the third
* cometh quickly, &c. And so this passage seems to be in tended rather materially to shew what appertains to the sixth trumpet, than
woe, which now
chronologically to shew the expiring of it. And so this great punishment from the Popish Gentiles upon the Protestant party in the west for their
sins is fitly cast under the trumpets, and joined to that great plague and
punishment on the eastern Christians by the Turk, as a part of the sixth
trumpet, and severed from the vials as no part of them : they being to fall
only upon the enemies themselves of both these Christian companions
CHAP. VII] AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. 195
namely, upon the Pope and the Turk. Thus the Holy Ghost homogeneally putteth together the punishment of carnal Christians, both eastern and
western, under the woe of the trumpets ; and in like manner involveth those other two grand enemies unto the Christian profession and religion wholly under the punishments and plagues of the seven vials. And so that may be the reason, both why the story of treading down the outward court and of the killing of the witnesses comes in here in chap, xi., though the matter of them belongs unto the book-prophecy ; and why also the treading the
wine-press, chap. xiv. 20, which is part of the treading the outward court in this llth chapter, is reckoned as no part of the vials, it being to fall upon the Protestant party. Yet so as with what in the trumpets, what in the
vials, God will be sure to meet with all sorts for their sins, and so, by a like
just and impartial rule, proceed both towards friends and enemies, without any respect of persons.
But whether of these, or whether any of these, will reach the Holy Ghost s meaning, I leave unto the reader to judge.
I shall, by and by, add a fourth interpretation of that clause, to me as
probable as any of these, when I have first cast in a few conjectures about the times of the fulfilling of these things, which I reserved to the last, as the closure and coronis of this long discourse : because many things already de livered in this interpretation do fall in to strengthen the conjectures concern
ing the precise time of the falling out of these so great occurrences.
SECTION IX.
The conclusion of this discourse. The conjectures of some about the time when this killing and rising of the witnesses shall be.
I find two periods of time more eminently pitched upon by writers of this
age, according to the diversity of men s conjectures, for great changes in the churches of Christ.
The first is fixed some time between the years 1650 and 1656. The other upon 1666. Both which periods are not far off to come. Concerning both of which, as also any other that shall be made upon con
jectures out of these prophecies, this general caution must be taken in : That in these computations a mistake of a few years may fall out, and the event fall out sooner or later than the time conjectured, by reason that the
vulgar account of years from the birth of Christ is uncertainly kept, accord
ing to the acknowledgment of chronologers themselves. So Arnobius, at the writing of his Apology, speaks indefinitely of the reckoning of j^ears, how
long it was from Christ unto his time : Tricenti sunt ferme anni, says he, aliquid plus vel minus, a quo cospimus esse ChristianL And therefore the best chronologers (as Helvicus, &c.) reckon the true account to reach two
years further than the vulgar account doth, and so make the year 1650 with us to be in truth 1652 5 and so of the rest. Others give a larger allowance, namely, of four years. And this indeed is the true reason of that difference about the first period mentioned, namely, between 1650 and 1656 ; some
saying it shall be in 51, some in 52, and some in 56 : yet all making the ground of their so fixing it one and the same, only varying about the precise time by reason of several computations and accounts of the years since
Christ, as we shall see by and by. And for that second period of 1666, which is made to terminate the date of Antichrist s reign, and is to that pur pose understood to be that number of 666 made mention of in the last verse of chap, xiii., the first that so interpreted that place was an unknown Eng-
196 AX EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. [PART II.
lish writer, anno 1589, who, in a little book dedicated to the church of Rome, first gave this obscure hint of it : Yet/ says he, two months, two
weeks, two days and a half, and thy number 666 shall be fulfilled, as writ
ing to that church. Which casting up, from 1589, the year his book bare date of, from the printing of it, I found him to aim at 1666. Now, the reason which they give for this interpretation, and why they reckon the be
ginning of Antichrist s 1260 years, or forty-two months, from Pope Inno cent s time, anno 406, I have given upon chap. xiii. And I find Simpson, the Scotch abbreviator of the church s story, to pitch the beginning of the Pope s usurpation over churches in this man s time, who yet had no eye at
all unto this interpretation of 666. And, as I remember, Mr Wood, now with God, in his manuscript upon the Revelation, doth also incline to think the year 1666 to be the time of the Pope s downfall; and so also do some
others.
That other first period of 1650, or 51, or 56, I find by some to be made the time of the Jews first call. And by others, that of 1656 to be the time of the expiring of Antichrist s reign, and the fall of the city. The first that I know of that ever pitched upon this term of years was that holy man Hil-
tenius, the great forerunner of Luther in Germany, and who foretold the
very year of Luther s rising after Mm, to teach the same doctrine that he had done; which Melancthon says he saw written under his own hand. Among other of whose sayings, you shall find this as one of the last recorded
in his life, written among the lives of the German divines, by Melchior Adamus : that the year after Christ 1651 shall be the time of the change of
this world, and so the beginning of that new world to come. Since him, many others, though haply not from him, have fallen upon this period of 1650. So Finch, in his book of the Calling of the Jews, makes it the time when God will leave off, as says he, to scatter his holy people, for then shall the Turks first declining come,
<fec. And the Jews themselves have their eyes upon this very time ; for it was a secret communicated to old Mr Forbes by a learned Jew, as Mr Forbes himself related it, not long before his death, that the learnedest Rabbi they had had in the world of late years did pitch upon 1650, or thereabouts, as the utmost time wherein they should expect their Messiah to reveal himself unto their nation ; and how he had left this secret with some of his learned
friends that came about him when he was on his deathbed to know his judgment about the Messiah.
I find also Mr Mede, in his Clavis, to pitch upon 1656, though tacitly and
implicitly, yet clearly enough, as the time he most inclined unto for the
expiration of Antichrist s kingdom. For in his Synchronisms, he makes the
first trumpet and the Pope s 1260 days to begin together ; and in his Com
ment, he makes the beginning of the first trumpet to be in the year 395. So
that, if the reign of Antichrist begins at the year of Christ 395, then his 1260 days or years will end in 1655. And thus there will be so many years from Christ unto the beginning of the new world, as there was from the
beginning of the old world until the days of Noah, unto which Christ com
pares his coming, even 1656 years. Now the best ground for this opinion that ever I met with, and which I
suppose all or most of these have gone upon, is that computation of years given to Daniel, chap. xii. 1 1 of his prophecy, by this very angel that gave this little book here, and this llth chapter, by word of mouth, unto John, as was said before. Who there says, that from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set
CHAP. VII.] AN EXPOSITION OF THE REVELATION. 197
up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days, or years. The
beginning of which account they fix, as I said before, in Julian s time, when was the last time both of the ceasing of the daily sacrifice by him set up, and of setting up heathenish idolatry in the world. Which years, if other wise they be reckoned from Vespasian and Titus his son s sacking of Jeru
salem, were out almost three hundred years ago. This place and account
in Daniel, I suppose Hiltenius, the first that pitched on it, had in his eye for the ground of his conjecture. For he was a great studier of Daniel s pro
phecies, and wrote notes upon them, as in his life you may read. And sure
I am that Mr Wood, Finch, and others, do make that the ground of their
opinions. And I suppose that most of all these Jews also do the like. And, as was said before, the reason why some do so uncertainly pitch upon 1651, others 52, others 55, and others 56, is the variation and uncertainty of the account of years since Julian s time, when and how long he reigned
: some
pitching his reign in the year 361, some in 363, and others in 365.
Now I shall only shew how both these periods namely, of 1650 or 56, and 1666 may be reconciled, and how they both may stand together. The fifth vial, as hath been said, had two gradual accomplishments of it ; whereof the one is a preparation to the other. That vial is emptied, as also
are some of the others, by two several pourings forth of two several portions, the one of the top, the other of the dregs of the wrath of God ; whereof
this llth chapter mentions one, and the 16th chapter the other. The first
degree of it begins at the rising of the witnesses, with the fall of the tenth
part of the city, as taking the word city for the extent of Rome s jurisdic tion ; which is completed by a second degree of it namely, the ruin of the
city of Rome itself, which is now but a tenth part of the ancient material
city of Rome that once flourished : with the ruin of which city itself, the time of Antichrist s reign and kingdom is reckoned to end ; it being the full