 Section 1 of Observations upon the Apocalypse of St. John. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Adam Bielka. Observations upon the Apocalypse of St. John. Chapter 1 Introduction Concerning the Time when the Apocalypse was Written Irenaeus introduced an opinion that the Apocalypse was written in the time of Domition, but then he also postponed the writing of some of the sacred books and was to place the Apocalypse after them. He might perhaps have heard from his master Polycarp that he had received this book from John about the time of Domition's death. Or indeed John might himself at that time have made a new publication of it from whence Irenaeus might imagine it was then but newly written. Eusebius in his Chronicle and Ecclesiastical History follows Irenaeus, but afterwards in his Evangelical Demonstrations he conjoins the banishment of John into Patmos with the deaths of Peter and Paul and so do Turtelian and Pseudo Procarus as well as the first author, whoever he was, of that very ancient fable that John was put by Nero into a vessel of hot oil and coming out unhurt was banished by him into Patmos. Though this story be no more than a fiction yet was it founded on a tradition of the first churches that John was banished into Patmos in the days of Nero. Epiphanios represents the Gospel of John as written in the time of Domition and the Apocalypse even before that of Nero. Eretas in the beginning of his commentary quotes the opinion of Irenaeus from Eusebius but follows it not for he afterwards affirms the Apocalypse was written before the destruction of Jerusalem and that former commentators had expounded the sixth seal of that destruction. With the opinion of the first commentators agrees the tradition of the churches of Syria preserved to this day in the title of the Syriac version of the Apocalypse which title is this the revelation which was made to John the evangelist by God in the island of Patmos into which he was banished by Nero the Caesar. The fame is confirmed by a story told by Eusebius out of Clemens Alexandrinos and other ancient authors concerning a youth whom John sometime after his return from Patmos committed to the care of the bishop of a certain city. The bishop educated, instructed and at length baptized him and then remitting of his care the young man thereupon got into ill company and began by degrees first to revel and grow vicious then to abuse and spoil those he met in the night and at last grew so desperate that his companions turning a band of highwaymen made him their captain and Seath Chrysostom he continued their captain a long time. At length John returned to that city and hearing what was done rode to the thief and when he out of reverence to his old master fled John rode after him, recalled him and restored him to the church. This is a story of many years and requires that John should have returned from Patmos rather at the death of Nero than that of Domitian because between the death of Domitian and that of John there were but two years and a half and John in his old age was so infirm as to be carried to church dying above 90 years old and therefore could not be then supposable to ride after the thief. This opinion is further supported by the illusions in the apocalypse to the temple and altar and Holy City as then standing and to Gentiles who were soon after to tread underfoot the Holy City and outward court. Tis confirmed also by the style of the apocalypse itself which is fuller of hebraisms than his gospel. For thence it may be gathered that it was written when John was newly come out of Judea where he had been used to the Syriac tongue and that he did not write his gospel till by long converse with the Asiatic Greeks he had left off most of the hebraisms. It is confirmed also by many false apocalypses as those of Peter, Paul, Thomas, Stephen, Elias, and Syrinthus written in imitation of the true one. For as the many false gospels, false acts and false epistles were occasioned by true ones and the writing, many false apocalypses and ascribing them to apostles and prophets argues that there was a true apostolic one in great request with the first Christians. So this true one may be well supposed to have been written early that there may be room in the apostolic age for the writing of so many false ones afterwards and fathering them upon Peter, Paul, Thomas, and others who were dead before John. Caius, who was contemporary with Tertelian tells us that Syrinthus wrote his revelations as a great apostle and pretended the visions were shunned him by angels asserting a millennium of carnal pleasures at Jerusalem after the resurrection so that his apocalypses was plainly written in imitation of John's and yet he lived so early that he resisted the apostles at Jerusalem in or before the first year of Claudius 26 years before the death of Nero and died before John. These reasons may suffice for determining the time and yet there is one more which to considering men may seem a good reason to others not all propounded and leave it to every man's judgment. The apocalypses seems to be alluded to in the epistles of Peter and that to the Hebrews and therefore to have been written before them Such allusions in the epistle to the Hebrews I take to be the discourses concerning the high priest in the heavenly tabernacle who is both priest and king as was Melchizedek and those concerning the word of God with the sharp two-edged sword, the Savatismos or millennial rest, the earth whose end is to be burned supposed by the lake of fire, the judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries the heavenly city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God the cloud of witnesses, Mount Zion heavenly Jerusalem, general assembly spirits of just men made perfect the delisette by the resurrection and the shaking of heaven and earth and removing them that the new heaven, new earth and new kingdom which cannot be shaken may remain in the first of Peter occur these the revelation of Jesus Christ twice or thrice repeated the blood of Christ as of a lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world the spiritual building in heaven first Peter chapter 2 verse 5 an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for us who are kept unto the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time first Peter chapter 1 verses 4 and 5 the royal priesthood the holy priesthood the judgment beginning at the house of God and the church at Babylon these are indeed obscure illusions but the second epistle from the 19th verse of the first chapter to the end seems to be a continued commentary upon the apocalypse there in writing to the churches in Asia to whom John was commanded to send this prophecy he tells them they have a more sure word of prophecy to be heeded by them as a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in their hearts that is until they begin to understand it for no prophecy sayeth he of the scripture is of any private interpretation the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy ghost Daniel himself professes that he understood not his own prophecies and therefore the churches were not to expect the interpretation from their prophet John to study the prophecies themselves this is the substance of what Peter says in the first chapter and then in the second he proceeds to describe out of the sure word of prophecy how there should arise in the church false prophets or false teachers expressed collectively in the apocalypse by the name of the false prophet who should bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them which is the character of Antichrist and many sayeth he shall follow their lusts they that dwell on the earth shall be deceived by the false prophet and be made drunk with the wine of the whores fornication by reason of whom the way of truth shall be blasphemed for the beast is full of blasphemy and through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you for these are the merchants of the earth who trade with the great whore and their merchandise is all things of price with the bodies and souls of men whose judgment lingereth not and their damnation slumbereth not but shall surely come upon them at the last day suddenly as the flood upon the old world and fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah when the just shall be delivered like lot for the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished in the lake of fire but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness being made drunk with the wine of the whores fornication who despise dominion and are not afraid to blaspheme glories for the beast opened his mouth against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven these as natural brute beasts the ten horned beast and two horned beast or false prophet made to be taken and destroyed in the lake of fire blaspheme the things they understand not they counted pleasure to riot in the daytime sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you having eyes full of an adulterous for the kingdoms of the beast lie deliciously with the great whore and the nations are made drunk with the wine of her fornication they are gone astray following the way of Balaam the son of Beor who love the wages of unrighteousness the false prophet who taught Balak to cast stumbling block before the children of Israel these are not fountains of living water but wells without water not such clouds of saints as the two witnesses ascend in but clouds that are carried with a tempest etc thus the author of this epistle spent all the second chapter in describing the qualities of the apocalyptic beast and false prophet and then in the third he goes on to describe the destruction more fully and the future kingdom he saith that because the coming of Christ should be long deferred they should scoff saying where is the promise of his coming then he describes the sudden coming of the day of the Lord upon them as a thief in the night which is the apocalyptic phrase and the millennium or thousand years which are with God but as a day the passing way of the old heavens and earth by a conflagration in the lake of fire and are looking for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness seeing therefore Peter and John were apostles of the circumcision it seems to me that they stayed with their churches in Judea and Syria till the Romans made war upon their nation that is till the twelfth year of Nero that they then followed the main body of their flying churches into Asia and that Peter went then by Corinth to Rome that the Roman Empire looked upon those churches as enemies because Jews by birth and therefore to prevent insurrections secured their leaders and banished John into Patmos it seems also probable to me that the apocalypse was there composed and that soon after the epistle to the Hebrews and those of Peter were written to these churches with reference to this prophecy as what they were particularly concerned in for it appears by these epistles that they were written in times of general affliction and tribulation under the heathens and by consequence when the empire made war upon the Jews for till then the heathens were at peace with the Jews as well as with the rest the epistle to the Hebrews since it mentions Timothy as related to those Hebrews must be written to them after their flight into Asia where Timothy was bishop and by consequence after the war began the Hebrews and Judea being strangers to Timothy Peter seems also to call Rome Babylon as well as with respect to the war made upon Judea approaching captivity like that under old Babylon as with respect to that name in the apocalypse and in writing to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia Asia and Bethania he seems to intimate that they were the strangers newly scattered by the Roman wars for those were the only strangers there belonging to his care this account of things agrees best with history when duly rectified for Justin and Aranaeus say that Simon Magus came to Rome in the reign of Claudius and exercise juggling tricks there Psydo Clemens adds that he endeavored there to fly but broke his neck through the prayers of Peter whence Eusebius or rather his interpreter Jerome has recorded that Peter came to Rome in the second year of Claudius but Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem Philastios, Sulpicious Prosper, Maximus, Toreen Nensens and to Eusebius Jr. place this victory of Peter in the time of Nero indeed the ancient tradition was that Peter came to Rome in the days of this emperor as it may seem in lactancias Chrysostom tells us that the apostles continued long in Judea and that then being driven out by the Jews they went to the Gentiles this dispersion was in the first year of the Jewish war when the Jews as Josephus tells us began to be tumultuous and violent in all places for all agree that the apostles were dispersed into several regions at once and Origen has set down the time telling us that in the beginning of the Judaic war the apostles and disciples of our Lord were scattered into all nations Thomas into Parthia Andrew into Scythia John into Asia and Peter first into Asia where he preached to the dispersion and thence into Italy Dionyses Corinthieths sayeth that Peter went from Asia by Corinth to Rome and all antiquity agrees that Peter and Paul were martyred there in the end of Nero's reign Mark went with Timothy to Rome 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 11 Colossians chapter 4 verse 10 Sylvanas was Paul's assistant and by the companions of Peter mentioned in his first epistle we may know that he wrote from Rome and that the ancients generally agree that in this epistle he understood Rome by Babylon his second epistle was writ to the same dispersed strangers with the first 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 1 and therein he sayeth that Paul had writ of the same things to them and also in his other epistles verses 15 and 16 now as there is no epistle of Paul to these strangers beside that to the Hebrews in this epistle chapter 10 verses 11 and 12 we find at large all those things which Peter had been speaking of and here refers to particularly the passing away of the old heavens and earth and establishing an inheritance immovable with an exhortation to grace because God to the wicked is a consuming fire Hebrews chapter 12 verses 25 26 28 and 29 having determined the time of writing the apocalypse I need not say much about the truth of it since it was in such request with the first ages that many endeavored to imitate it by feigning apocalypses under the apostles names and the apostles themselves as I have just now should studied it and used its phrases by which means the style of the epistle to the Hebrews became more mystical than that of Paul's other epistles and the style of John's gospel more figurative and majestical than that of the other gospels I do not apprehend that Christ was called the word of God in any book of the New Testament written before the apocalypse and therefore am of opinion the language was taken from this prophecy as were also many other phrases in this gospel such as those of Christ being the light which enlightens the world the lamb of God which take away the sins of the world the bridegroom, he that testifies he that came down from heaven the son of God, etc Justin Martyr who within 30 years after John's death became a Christian writes expressly that a certain man among the Christians whose name was John one of the 12 apostles of Christ in the revelation which was shooed him prophesied that those who believed in Christ should live a thousand years at Jerusalem a few lines before he saith but I and as many as our Christians in all things right in their opinions believe both that there shall be a resurrection of the flesh and a thousand years life at Jerusalem built adorned and enlarged which is as much as to say that all true Christians in the early age received this prophecy for in all ages as many as believe the thousand years receive the apocalypse as the foundation of their opinion and I do not know one instance to the contrary Papias, bishop of Herapolis a man of the apostolic age and one of John's own disciples did not only teach the doctrine of the thousand years but also asserted the apocalypse was written by divine inspiration Malito who flourished next after Justin wrote a commentary upon this prophecy and he being bishop of Sardis one of the seven churches could neither be ignorant of their tradition about it nor impose upon them Irenaeus who was contemporary with Malito wrote much upon it and said that the number 666 was in all the ancient and approved copies and that he had it also confirmed to him by those who had seen John face to face meaning no doubt his master Polycarp for one at the same time Theophilus bishop of Antioch asserted it and so did Tertelian Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen soon after and their contemporary wrote a commentary upon it all these were ancient men flourishing within 120 years after John's death and of greatest note in the churches of those times soon after did Victorinas write another commentary upon it and he lived in the time of Diocletian this may surely suffice to shoe that the apocalypse was received and studied in the first ages and I do not indeed find any other book of the New Testament so strongly attested or commented upon so early as this the prophecy said blessed is he that rediff and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep the things which are written therein this animated the first Christians to study it so much difficulty made them a remit and comment more upon the other books of the New Testament this was the state of the apocalypse till the thousand years being misunderstood brought a prejudice against it and Dionyses of Alexandria noting how it abounded with barbarisms that with the haborisms promoted the prejudice so far as to cause many Greeks in the fourth century to doubt of the book but whilst the Latins and a great part of the Greeks retain the apocalypse and the rest doubted only out of prejudice it makes nothing against its authority this prophecy is called the revelation with respect to the scripture of truth which Daniel was commanded to shut up and seal till the time of the end Daniel sealed it until the time of the end and until that time comes the lamb is opening the seals and afterwards the two witnesses prophesy out of it a long time in sackcloth before they ascend up to heaven in a cloud all which is as much to say that these prophecies of Daniel and John should not be understood till the time of the end but then some should prophesy out of them in an afflicted and mournful state for a long time and that but darkly so as to convert but few but in the very end the prophecy should be so far interpreted as to convince many then sayeth Daniel many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased for the gospel must be preached in all nations before the great tribulation and end of the world the palm bearing multitude which come out of this great tribulation cannot be innumerable out of all nations unless they be made so by the preaching of the gospel before it comes there must be a stone cut out of a mountain without hands before can fall upon the toes of the image and become a great mountain and fill the earth an angel must fly through the midst of heaven with the everlasting gospel to preach to all nations before Babylon falls and the son of man reaps his harvest the two prophets must ascend up to heaven in a cloud before the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of Christ kiss therefore a part of this prophecy that it should not be understood before the last age of the world and therefore it makes for the credit of the prophecy that it is not yet understood but in the last age in the age of opening these things be now approaching as by the great successes of late interpreters it seems to be we have more encouragement than ever to look into these things if the general preaching of the gospel be approaching it is to us and our posterity that those words mainly belong in the time of the end the wise shall understand but none of the wicked shall understand blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein the folly of interpreters has been to foretell times and things by this prophecy as if God designed to make them prophets by this rashness they have not only exposed themselves but brought the prophecy also into contempt the design of God was much otherwise he gave this and the prophecies of the Old Testament not to gratify men's curiosities by enabling them to foreknow things but that after they were fulfilled they might be interpreted by the event and his own providence not the interpreters be then manifested thereby to the world for the event of things predicted many ages before will then be a convincing argument that the world is governed by providence for as the few and obscure prophecies concerning Christ's first coming were for setting up the Christian religion which all nations have since corrupted so the many and clear prophecies concerning the things to be done at Christ's second coming are not only for predicting but also for effecting a recovery and re-establishment of the long lost truth and setting up a kingdom wherein dwells righteousness the event will prove the apocalypse and this prophecy thus proved and understood will open the Old Prophets and all together will make known the true religion and establish it for he that will understand the Old Prophets must begin with this but the time is not yet come for understanding them perfectly because the main revolution predicted in them is not yet come to pass in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he shall begin to sound the mystery of God shall be finished as he have declared to his servants the prophets and then the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ and he shall reign forever apocalypse chapter 10 verse 7 chapter 11 verse 15 there is already so much the prophecy fulfilled that as many as will take pains in the study may see sufficient instances of God's providence but then the signal revolutions predicted by all the holy prophets will at once both turn men's eyes upon considering the predictions and plainly interpret them till then we must content ourselves with interpreting what had already been fulfilled amongst the interpreters of the last age there is scarce one of note who have not made some discovery worth knowing and then I seem to gather that God is about opening these mysteries the success of others put me upon considering it and if I have done anything which may be useful to the following writers I have my design end of chapter 1 recording by Adam Bielka chapter 2 of observations upon the apocalypse of Saint John by Sir Isaac Newton this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Adam Bielka chapter 2 of the relation which the apocalypse of John hath to the book of the law of Moses and to the worship of God in the temple the apocalypse of John is written in the same style and language with the prophecies of Daniel and hath the same relation to them which they have to one another so that all of them together make but one complete prophecy and in like manner it consists of two parts an introductory prophecy and an interpretation thereof the prophecy is distinguished by the opening of the seven seals of the book which Daniel was commanded to seal up and hence it is called the apocalypse or revelation of Jesus Christ the time of the seventh seal is subdivided into eight successive parts by the silence in heaven for half an hour and the sounding of seven trumpets successively and the seventh trumpet sounds to the battle of the great day of God Almighty whereby the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and those are destroyed that destroyed the earth the interpretation begins with the words and the temple of God was opened in heaven and there were seen in his temple the ark of his testament and it continues to the end of the prophecy the temple is the scene of the visions and the visions in the temple relate to the feast of the seventh month for the feasts of the Jews were typical of things to come the Passover related to the first coming of Christ and the feasts of the seventh month to his second coming his first coming being therefore over before this prophecy was given the feasts of the seventh month are here only alluded unto on the first day of that month in the morning the high priest dressed the lamps and in illusion here on too this prophecy begins with a vision of one like the son of man in the high priest's habit appearing as it were in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks or over against the midst of them dressing the lamps which appeared like a rod of seven stars in his right hand and this dressing was performed by sending seven epistles to the angels or bishops of the seven churches of Asia which in the primitive times illuminated the temple or church Catholic these epistles contain admonitions against the approaching apostasy and therefore relate to the times when that apostasy began to work strongly and before it prevailed it began to work in the apostles days and was to continue working till the man of sin should be revealed it began to work in the disciples of Simon, Menander, Capocrates, Sarenthes and such sorts of men as had imbibed the metaphysical philosophy of the Gentiles and cabalistical Jews and were then called Gnostics John calls them Antichrists saying that in his days there were many Antichrists but these being condemned by the apostles and their immediate disciples put the churches in no danger during the opening of the first four seals the visions at the opening of these seals relate only to the civil affairs of the heathen Roman Empire so long the apostolic traditions prevailed and preserved the church in its purity and therefore the affairs of the church do not begin to be considered in this prophecy before the opening of the fifth seal she began then to decline and to want admonitions and therefore is admonished by these epistles till the apostasy prevailed and took place which was at the opening of the seventh seal the admonitions therefore in these seven epistles relate to the state of the church in the times of the fifth seals at the opening of the fifth seal the church is purged from hypocrites by a great persecution at the opening of the sixth that which led it is taken out of the way namely the heathen Roman Empire at the opening of the seventh the man of sin is revealed and to these times the seven epistles relate the seven angels to whom these epistles were written answer to the seven Amar column who were priests and chief officers of the temple and had jointly the keys of the gates of the temple with those of the treasuries and the direction appointment and oversight of all things in the temple after the lamps were dressed John saw the door of the temple opened and by the voice as it were of a trumpet to the eastern gate of the great court to see the visions and behold the throne was set the Delecet the mercy seat upon the ark of the testament which the Jews respected as the throne of God between the cherubooms Exodus 25 verse 2 Psalm 99 verse 1 and he that sat on it was to look upon like Jasper and Sardine stone that is of an olive color the people of Judea being of that color and the sun being then in the east a rainbow was about the throne the emblem of glory and round about the throne were four and twenty seats answering to the chambers of the four and twenty princes of the priests twelve on the south side and twelve on the north side of the priests court and upon the seats were four and twenty elders sitting clothed in white braiment with crowns on their heads representing the princes of the four and twenty courses of the priests clothed in linen and out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices the Delecet the flashes of the fire upon the altar at the mourning sacrifice and the thundering voices of those that sounded the trumpets that were sung at the eastern gate of the priests court for these being between John and the throne appeared to him as proceeding from the throne and there were seven lamps of fire burning in the temple before the throne which are the seven spirits of God or angels of the seven churches represented in the beginning of this prophecy by seven stars and before the throne was a sea of glass this crystal the brazen sea between the porch of the temple and the altar filled with clear water and in the midst of the throne and round about the throne were four beasts full of eyes before and behind that is one beast before the throne and one behind it appearing to John as in the midst of the throne and one on either side in the circle about it to represent by the multitude of their eyes standing in the four sides of the people's court and the first beast was like a lion and the second was like a calf and the third had the face of a man and the fourth was like a flying eagle the people of Israel in the wilderness encamped round about the tappernacle and on the east side were three tribes under the standard of Judah on the west were three tribes under the standard of Ephraim on the south were three tribes under the standard of Reuben and on the north were three tribes under the standard of Dan Numbers 2 and the standard of Judah was a lion that of Ephraim an ox that of Reuben a man and that of Dan an eagle as the Jews affirm whence were framed the hieroglyphics of cherubumes and seraphims to represent the people of Israel a cherubume had one body with four faces the faces of a lion an ox a man and an eagle looking to the four winds of heaven without turning about as in Ezekiel's vision chapter 1 and four seraphims had the same four faces with four bodies one face to every body the four beasts are therefore four seraphims on the sides of the people's court the first in the eastern side with the head of a lion the second in the western side with the head of an ox the third in the southern side with the head of a man the fourth in the northern side with the head of an eagle and all four signified together the twelve tribes of Israel out of whom the 144,000 were sealed Apocalypse 7 verse 4 and the four beasts had each of them six wings two to a tribe in all 24 wings answering to the 24 stations of the people and they were full of eyes within or under their wings and they rest not day and night or at the morning and evening sacrifices saying holy, holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is to come these animals are therefore the seraphims which appeared to Isaiah in a vision like this of the Apocalypse for there also the Lord sat upon a throne in the temple and the seraphims each with six wings cried holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts and when those animals give glory and honor and thanks to him that sit upon the throne who liveth forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying thou art worthy old Lord to receive glory and honor and power for thou has created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created at the morning and evening sacrifices so soon as the sacrifice was laid upon the altar and the drink offering began to be poured out the trumpet sounded and the Levite sang by course three times and every time when the trumpet sounded the people fell down and worshiped three times therefore did the people worship to express which number the beasts cry holy, holy, holy and the song being ended the people prayed standing till the solemnity was finished in the meantime the priests went into the temple and there fell down before him that sat upon the throne and worshipped and John saw in the right hand of him that sat upon the throne a book written within and on the backside sealed with seven seals Fideliset the book which Daniel was commanded to seal up and which is here represented by the prophetic book of the law laid up on the right side of the ark as it were in the right hand of him that sat on the throne for the festivals and ceremonies of the law prescribed to the people in this book Adam braided those things which were predicted in the book of Daniel and the writing within and on the backside of this book relates to the synchronic prophecies and none was found worthy to open the book with the lamb of God and lo in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the elders that is at the foot of the altar stood a lamb as it had been slain the morning sacrifice having seven horns which are the seven churches and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth and he came and took the book with the right hand of him that sat upon the throne and when he had taken the book the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the lamb having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors which are the prayers of the saints and they sung a new song saying thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou was slain by thy God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and has made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth the beasts and elders therefore represent the primitive Christians of all nations and the worship of these Christians in their churches is here represented under the form of worshiping God and the lamb in the temple and the lamb for his benefaction in creating all things and the lamb for his benefaction redeeming us with his blood God is sitting upon the throne and living forever and the lamb as exalted above all by the merits of his death and I heard sayeth John the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and the loud voice worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing and every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying blessing, honor, glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb for ever and ever and the four beasts said amen and the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever this was the worship of the primitive Christians it was the custom for the high priest seven days before the fast of the seventh month to continue constantly in the temple and study the book of the law it might be perfect in it against the day of expiation we're in the service which was various and intricate was holy to be performed by himself part of which service was reading the law to the people and to promote his studying it there were certain priests appointed by the Sanhedrin to be with him those seven days in one of his chambers in the temple and there to discourse with him about the law and read it to him studying it himself this his opening and reading the law those seven days is alluded unto in the lambs opening the seals we are to conceive that those seven days begin in the evening before each day for the Jews began their day in the evening and that the solemnity of the fast begins in the morning of the seventh day the seventh seal was therefore opened on the day of expiation and then there was a silence in heaven for half an hour and an angel the high priest stood at the altar having a golden censer and there was given him much incense that he should offer it with prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne the custom was on other days for one of the priests to take the fire from the great altar in a silver censer but on this day for the high priest to take fire from the great altar in a golden censer and when he was come down from the great altar he took incense from one of the priests who brought it to him and went with it to the golden altar and while he offered the incense the people prayed without in silence which is the silence in heaven for half an hour when the high priest had laid the incense on the altar he carried a censer of it burning in his hand into the most holy place before the ark and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the angels hand on other days there was a certain measure of incense for the golden altar on this day there was a greater quantity for both the altar and the most holy place and therefore it is called much incense after this the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the great altar and cast it into the earth that is by the hands of the priests who belonged to his mystical body he cast it to the earth without the temple for burning the goat which was the lord's lot and at this and other concomitant sacrifices until the evening sacrifice was ended there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake that is the voice of the high priest reading the law to the people and other voices and thunderings from the trumpets and temple music at the sacrifices and lightning from the fire of the altar the solemnity of that day of expiation being finished the seven angels found their trumpets at the great sacrifices of the days of the feast of tabernacles and at the same sacrifices the seven thunders uttered their voices which are the music of the temple and the singing of the Levites intermixed with the soundings of the trumpets and the seven angels pour out their vials of wrath which are the drink offerings of those sacrifices when six of the seals were opened John said those things that is after the visions of the sixth seal I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth nor on the sea nor on any tree and I saw another angel ascending from the east having the seal of the living God and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels given to hurt the earth and the sea saying hurt not the earth nor the sea nor the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads this sealing alludes to the tradition of the Jews that upon the day of expiation all the people of Israel are sealed up in the books of life and death for the Jews and their talmud tell us that in the beginning of every new year or first day of the first month tisri the seventh month of the sacred year three books are opened in judgment the book of life in which the names of those are written who are perfectly just the book of death in which the names of those are written who are aintious or very wicked and a third book of those whose judgment is suspended till the day of expiation and whose names are not written in the book of life or death before that day the first ten days of this month they call the penitential days and all these days they fast and pray very much and are very devout that on the tenth day their sins may be remitted and their names may be written in the book of life which day is therefore called the day of expiation upon this tenth day in returning home from the synagogues they say to one another God the Creator, seal you to a good year for they conceive that the books are now sealed up and that the sentence of God remains unchanged henceforth to the end of the year the same thing is signified by the two goats upon whose foreheads the high priest yearly on the day of expiation lays the two lots inscribed God and for Azazel God's lot signifying the people who are sealed with the name of God and their foreheads and the lot Azazel which was sent into the wilderness representing those who received the mark a name of the beast and go into the wilderness with the great whore the servants of God being therefore sealed in the day of expiation we may conceive that this ceiling is synchronal to the visions which appear upon the opening the seventh seal and that when the lamb had opened six of the seals and seen the visions relating to the inside of the six he looked on the backside of the seventh leaf and then saw the four angels holding the four winds of heaven and another angel ascending from the east with the seal of God conceive also that the angels which held the four winds were the first four of the seven angels who upon opening the seventh seal were seen standing before God and that upon their holding the winds there was silence in heaven for half an hour and that while the servants of God were sealing the angel with the golden censor offered their prayers with incense upon the golden altar and read the law and so soon as they were sealed the winds hurt the earth at the sounding of the first trumpet and the sea at the sounding of the second these winds signifying the wars to which the first four trumpets sounded for as the first four seals are distinguished from the three last by the appearance of four horsemen towards the four winds of heaven so the wars of the first four trumpets are distinguished from those of the three last by representing these four winds and the other by the three great woes in one of Ezekiel's visions when the Babylonian captivity was at hand six men appeared with slaughter weapons and a seventh who appeared among them clothed in white linen and a writer's ink horn by his side is commanded to go through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations done in the midst thereof and then the six men like the angels of the first six trumpets are commanded to slay those men who are not marked conceive therefore that the hundred forty and four thousand are sealed to preserve them from the plagues of the first six trumpets and that at length by the preaching of the everlasting gospel they grow into a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues and at the sounding of the seventh trumpet come out of the great tribulation with palms in their hands the kingdoms of this world by the war to which the trumpet sounds becoming the kingdoms of God and his Christ for the solemnity of the great Hosanna was kept by the Jews upon the seventh or last day of the Feast of Tabernacles the Jews upon that day with palms in their hands and crying Hosanna after six of the angels answering to the six men with slaughter weapons had sounded their trumpets the lamb in the form of a mighty angel came down from heaven clothed with a cloud and a rainbow was upon his head and his face was as it were the sun and his feet as pillars of fire the shape in which Christ appeared at the beginning of this prophecy and he had in his hand a little book open the book which he had newly opened for he received but one book from him that set it upon the throne and he alone was worthy to open and look on this book and he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the earth and cried with a loud voice as when a lion roared it was the custom high priest on the day of expiation to stand in an elevated place in the people's court at the eastern gate of the priest's court and read the law to the people while the heifer and the goat which was the lord's lot were burning without the temple we made therefore suppose him standing in such a manner that his right foot might appear to John as it were standing on the sea of glass and his left foot on the ground of the house and that he cried with a loud voice in reading the law on the day of expiation and when he had cried seven thunders uttered their voices thunders are the voice of a cloud and a cloud signifies a multitude and this multitude may be the levites who sang with thundering voices and played with musical instruments at the great sacrifices on the seven days of the feast at which times the trumpets also sounded for the trumpets sounded and the levites sang alternately three times at every sacrifice the prophecy therefore of the seven thunders if nothing else than a repetition of the prophecy of the seven trumpets in another form and the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven and swear by him that liveth forever and ever that after the seven thunders there should be time no longer but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he shall begin to sound the mystery of God should be finished as he heth declared to his servants the prophets the voices of the thunders therefore last to the end of this world and so through those of the trumpets and the voice which I heard from heaven heth John spoke unto me again and said go and take the little book et cetera and I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up and it was in my mouth sweet as honey and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was bitter and he said unto me thou must prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings this is an introduction to a new prophecy to a repetition of the prophecy of the whole book and it alludes to Ezekiel's eating a roll or book spread open before him and written within and without full of lamentations and mourning and woe but sweet in his mouth eating and drinking signify acquiring and possessing and eating the book is becoming inspired with the prophecy contained in it it implies being inspired in a vigorous and extraordinary manner with the prophecy of the whole book and therefore signifies a lively repetition of the whole prophecy by way of interpretation and begins not till the first prophecy that of the seals and trumpets is ended it was sweet in John's mouth and therefore begins not with the bitter prophecy of the Babylonian captivity and the Gentiles being in the outward court of the temple and treading the holy city under foot and the prophesying of the two witnesses in sackcloth and their smiting the earth with all plagues and being killed by the beast but so soon as the prophecy of trumpets is ended it begins with the sweet prophecy of the glorious woman in heaven and the victory of Michael over the dragon and after that it is bitter in John's belly by a large description of the times of the great apostasy and the angels stood upon the earth and sea saying rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and them that worship therein that is their courts with the building thereon the delisette the square court of the temple called the separate place and the square court of the altar called the priest's court and the court of them that worship in the temple called the new court but the great court which is without the temple leave out and measure it not for it is given to the Gentiles and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months measuring hath reference to Ezekiel's measuring the temple of Solomon there the whole temple including the outward court was measured to signify that it should be rebuilt in the latter days here the courts of the temple and altar and they who worship therein are only measured to signify the building of a second temple for those that are sealed out of all the twelve tribes of Israel and worship in the inward court of sincerity and truth but John is commanded to leave out the outward court or outward form of religion and church government because it is given to the Babylonian Gentiles for the glorious woman in heaven the remnant of the whole seed kept the commandments of God and had the testimony of Jesus continued the same woman in outward form after her flight into the wilderness she quitted her former sincerity and peyote and became the great whore she lost her chastity but kept her outward form and shape and while the Gentiles tread the holy city under foot and worship in the outward court the two witnesses represented perhaps by the two feet of the angel standing on the sea and the earth prophesied against them and had power and John Moses to consume their enemies with fire proceeding out of their mouth and to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophesy and to turn the waters into blood and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will that is with the plagues of the trumpets and vials of wrath and at length they are slain rise again from the dead up to heaven in a cloud and then the seventh trumpet sounds to the day of judgment the prophesy being finished John is inspired anew by the eaten book and begins the interpretation thereof with these words and the temple of God was opened in heaven and there was seen in his temple the ark of the testament by the ark we may know that this was the first temple for the second temple has no ark and there were lightnings and voices and thunderings and an earthquake and a great hail these answered to the wars in the roman empire during the reign of the four horsemen who appeared upon opening the first four seals and there appeared a great wonder in heaven a woman clothed with the sun in the prophesy the affairs of the church began to be considered at the opening of the fifth seal and in the interpretation they began at the same time with the vision of the church in the form of a woman in heaven there she is persecuted and here she is pained and travail the interpretation proceeds down first to the sealing of the servants of God and marking the rest with the mark of the beast and then to the day of judgment represented by a harvest and vintage then it returns back to the times of opening the seventh seal and interprets the prophesy of the seven trumpets by the pouring out of seven vials of wrath the angels who pour them out come out of the temple of the tabernacle that is out of the second temple for the tabernacle had no outward court then it returns back again to the times of measuring the temple and altar and of the Gentiles worshipping in the outward court and of the beast killing the witnesses in the streets of the great city and interprets these things by the vision of a woman sitting on the beast drunken with the blood of the saints and proceeds in the interpretation downwards to the fall of the great city and the day of judgment the whole prophesy of the book represented by the book of the law is therefore repeated and interpreted in the visions which follow those of sounding the seventh trumpet and begin with that of the temple of God opened in heaven only the things which the seven funders uttered were not written down and therefore not interpreted end of section 2 recording by Adam Bielka