{hip therein c.
a- The next words tell us the uſe of this Reed. It was a meaſu- ring Reed, ſuch a one as Ezekiel in his Viſien, ( Ezek. 4o. 3.) ſaw in the Man's Hand. There, the meaſuring was in order to a Rebuild- ing, here,.in order to preſerving. b We cannot well underſtand what followeth, without underſtanding the StruQure of the Tem- ple. The 7ews, for the place.of their Worſkip, had firſt a Taber- nacle, then a Temple. The. Tabernacle was a moveable houſe, which they took down and carried about with them in their Journyings, and: pitched down when in any place they pitched their Tents, We read of it, Exod. 40. we read but of one Court in that, into which only -the Prieſts and Levites entred ; the People were without it, pitehing their Tents round about it. It had in it an Altar of Gold for Incenſe, Exod. 40. 5. which ſtood before the Ark, verſe 26, 27, and verſe 29.: and an Altar:for Burnt-offering, which ſtood by the Door of. the Tahernacle.' The Temple was built by Solomon, 1 Rings 6. and afterwards rebuilded by Zerobabel, upon their return out of Captivity: That was: builded with two Courts, #n inner Court, 1 Kings 6.36, in which. was: the A/tar; and an outward Court, which is. called the great Court, 2 Chron. 4. 9. and in Ezekiel many times the outward Court. This is called the Houſe, in the firſt Book of Kings, \chap. 6. 17. It was in lenzth forty Cubits; the Oracle was within it, verſe 19. where ſtood the Ark covered with the Cherubims.. Into the inward Court the Priefts and Levites only
Came ;
* Ezek.40, 3, Xc.
Chan. XI.
| Or, ca$t Out.
Y Ch. 13-5.
} Or,T 81! gruve unto my tw9 witneſſes, that they may pro- th:iy.
came ;z into the outward Court caine any of the J/raelites. Herod, upon the additional Building to the Tempie, added another large Court, called the Court of the Gentiles; but that not being of God's Direction, nor in Solomon's Temple, or Zerobabel's 1s not here menti- oned. This Temple was a Type of the Church underthe New Teſta- ment, 1 Cor. 3, 17. 2 Cor. 6. 16. and is fo to be interpreted general- iy in this Book. For the material Temple at Hieruſalem was deſtroyed by the Romans more than twenty years betore this Prophecy,. never to be builded more ; not one ſtone was left upon another ;, ſo. that Fohn here was bid to meaſure the Church. c Yet not the whole Church, but that part of it. which the inner Court typified ; the Al- tar, and thoſe that worſhipped within that ſpace where that was, which of old were only the Prieſts and Levites ; and under the New Teſtament ſignified thoſe who were to be an: Holy Prieſthood, 'a Spirt- taal Houſe, thoſe that ſhould offer up ſpiritual Sacrifices acceptable through Teſis Chrilt, v Pet. 2. 5. who could indure a meaſuring by God's Reed, the Word of God.
2 But, the court which is without the temple || leave out, and, meaſure it not d: for it is. given unto rhe Gentiles z ; and rhe holy city ſhall they tread under
toor f * torty and two months g. |
d There is no great doubt, but the ſame Perſons are here to be underſtood by the Court which is without the Temple, ( that 1s, with» out the inward Court ) and the holy City, and by them, both the generality of thoſe People, who come under the Name of the Chri- ftimn Church, who are all of them, in ſome' ſenſe, an holy People, 1 Cor. 7. 14. ( asall the Jews were) yet for the greateſt part of them John 1s commanded to omit or negle& them, as thoſe who would not indurea meafure by the Reed, and of whoſe Preſervation God would take no ſuch care, ( e. f. ) but give them up to. the Gen- tiles to be trodden under foot. By which, many learned and good Men underſtznd God's ſuffering Antichri$f to have a Power over and againſt them. I find ſome, underſtanding by the Altar, and thoſe that worſhipped therein, the 5g) qpakgs Church, that for ſome hundreds of years after Chriſt kept cloſe to the Divine Rule, whom God preſerved, though in the midſt of the Ten firſt Perſecutions : and by the outward Court, the Church after that time which God ſuf- fcred to fall under the Power of the Beaft, and Antichrift, that is, the Papacy, which are well enough called the Gentiles, as bringing in Gentiliſm again into the Church, and hardly differing in any thing, {.ving that the old Heathens owned matiy Supreme Gods, and thee new Gentiles but one. - God ſheweth Fohn here, that he would ive up the outward Court, or this holy City, the generality of Chri- {tians, to theſe Gentiles, that they ſhould rule, and domineer over them g for forty and two Months , the: meaning of which, we fhall by and by ſtew. A hte pious and learned Writer differs alittle in his ſenſe, as thinking that God here ſheweth Fohn ſomething further, viz. That under this ſixth Trumpet, he would give the generality of thoſe called Chriſtians, that will not indure the meaſure of the Reed, fo over to Antichriſt, that they ſhall turn Papiſts,, and help to kill the Lord's Witneſſes; of which we ſhall ſpeak, verſe 3. So as this 1s not a new Prophecy, but a continuation of what ſhall happen after the ſounding of the fixth, and before the ſoundmg- of the ſeventh Trumpet : if ſo, I conceive that thoſe words | ſhall they tread un- der fort forty and two Months ) muſt be underſtood, until the end of the 42 Months ; for the 42 Months being the whole time of An- zichriſt, or the Beaſt, muſt be in a great meaſure ſpent before the ſounding of the ſixth Angel.” But it ſeems to. be the Opinion of this learned Man, that a very great part of thoſe who' pretend to con- fitute the reformed Proteſtant Church at this day, but are but as the outward Court, not ſuch 'as worſhip within the Oracle, ſhall, before the ſounding of the ſeventh Trumpet, apoſtatize, and fall.off to. Po- pery, until Antichriſ's 1260 days ſhall expire, and joyn with .Pa- piſts in the killing of the Witneſſes. The truth of which we muſt leave to the Providence of God in time to diſcover ; aſthough who ſo con- fidereth the face of things this day inEurope(within which the greateſt part of the Chriſtian Church is) will jadge there is too great a probabi- lity of what this learned Man ſaith,but I dare'qetermine nothing in it. 3 And ||I wilF give nee unto my. two witnelles 7, and they ſhall propheſie a thouſand wo hundred: :;:4