That the Beaſts Kingdoms beginning to fall under the ſixth Trum- pet, ſeveral of the Vials declaring the degrees of his falling, muſt belong to that. It appeareth by all we have in this Chapter from ver, 7, to 15. that Antichriſts Kingdom was in a great meaſure weakned under the fixth Trumpet, particularly from wer. 11. to 13. to which thoſe who think that all the Vials related to the ſe- venth Trumper ſay, That they grant that there were ſome prepara- tions to the final ruine of Antichriſt, during the period of the frxth Trumpet, but the ſeven Vials fignifie the farther progreſs and ' perfettion of his Ruine, which falls under the Period fignified by the ſeventh Trumpet ; this being premiſed, I proceed with the Text. y It 1s doubted here, whether thoſe Words, are become the Kingdoms of the Lord and his Chriſt, be to be underſtood as being aQtually ſo, or now being to be ſo. Thoſe who make the Senſe that they now aCtually were ſo, muſt underftand the time to be the Day of Judgment, or ſome time next to it, and conſequently muſt think that five at leaſt of the ſeven Vials, mentioned chap. 16. be- longed to the fixth Trumpet. Thoſe who make the Senſe, are be- ginning to become the Kingdoms of the Loyd, or ſhall ſhortly be ſo, may make all the ſeven Vials to belong to the ſeventh Trumpet. By becoming the Kingdoms of the Lord Chriſt, he means ſuch in outward profeſſion; ſo as Antichriſt ſhall reign no more, but they ſhall be ruled by the Officers of the Lord Chrift, until they be taken up to reign with him in Glory.
worſhipped God 2. *
7 I fake this to ſfignifie no more than the Triumph of the Saint and Angels in Heaven upon this Viory of the Lord over Antichriſt and the promoval of Chriſt's Kingdom; and certainly if there be Joy in Heaven _ the SEEN of one Sinner, as we are told, Luke 15. 7. we muſt imagine a much greater Joy upon th is ſion of Nations and Kingdoms unto Chriſt. LIN Dover
17 Saying, we give thee thanks, O Lord God Al- mighty, which art, and waſft, and art to come 7 ; becauſe thou haſt taken to thee thy great power, and haſt reigned 6.
a It 1s a phraſe denoting God's Eternity, and Immutability, we met with it before, chap. 4. 8, b Thoſe Cceleſtial Beings bleſs God for exerting his Power, and recovering the Kingdom of Chriſt _ _ the Hands of Antichriſt, and ſetting his King upon his holy Hill of Zzon.
13 And the nations were angry c, and thy wrath is come d, and the time of the dead that they ſhould be judged ec, and that thou ſhouldſt give reward unto thy ſervants the Prophets f, and to the ſaints g, and them that fear thy name, ſmall and great h, and ſhouldſt deſtroy them which || deſtroy the earth z.
dern Gentiles, they have heen angry long enough. d Now it is time for thee to ſhew thy ſelf angry, and thou haſt begun to do it. e The time is come for thee to judge the Cauſe of thy faithful Witnefles, and all thoſe who have died in teſtimony to thy Truth. f And for thee to reward ſuch as have faithfully revealed thy Will. g And not only them, but all thy Holy Ones. þ Without reſpe& to their Quality in the World, be they little or great. 7 The time alſo is come, when thou haſt' deſtroyed, or wilt deſtroy that Anti- chriſtian Brood, which ſo long hath plagued the Earth, and deſtroy- ed thy People in it. |
great hail mr,
k Some here by the Temple of God, underſtand the Repreſenta- tion of the Temple in MHieruſalem; others underſtand the Church Triumphant ; others the Church of Chriſt militant here upon Earth. [ Accordingly by Heaven they underſtand either the natural Heavens, or the Chriſtian Church. It ſeemeth to be a plain allufion to the Fewiſh Church, whoſe Temple, was ordinarily ſhut up in the time of wicked and idolatrous Princes, who regarded not the true Worſhip of God; ſo as all the time of Saul's Reign the Ark abode in the private Houſe of 2bed Edom; and when Foſtah came to Reign, he found the Temple negleRted all the Days of his Father Amon, and Grandfather Manaſſes, and the Book of the Law in the Rubbiſh. But when good Princes came to the Throne, ſuch as Hezekiah and Foſiah, they opened the Temple, reſtoring the true Worſhip of God : So under the New-Teſtament, during the whole Reign of 4n- tichris, where he prevails, Idolatry and Superſtition obtain, and the true Worſhip of God 1s ſuppreft ; but his time being now expi- ring God ſheweth John that there ſhail be a reſtoring of the true
| Worſhip of God, and a Liberty both to Miniſters and People to worſhip
16 And the * four and twenty elderswhich fat be- + 1, FR fore God on their ſeats, fell upon their faces, and and 5. 8
Chap. XI.
Or, cor - c Thoſe who have not been of thy true 7/ael ; but old or mo- =_
19 And * the temple of God & was opened in *ch, 15.5. heaven /, and there was een in his temple the ark of * Ch. 16. his teſtament /- and * there were lightnings, and 1 voices, and thundrings, and an earthquake, and * OS "_
Chap. XII.
| Or, ſign.
|| Or, ſign.
worſhip God according to his Will. For though Antichri was not yet wholly deſtroyed, nor his Party extinguiſhed, yet he had loſt his Power and Dominion, and God was now beginning to reckon with him for the Blood of his Saints, which was all to be done be- fore all the Kingdoms of the World ſhould become the Kingdoms of the Lord Chriſt. / In the Temple of old, the Ark of the . Cove- nant was the great Symbol of God's Preſence ; hence God is ſaid to have dwelt betwixt the Cherubims; in the Ark where the two tables of the Law; ſo as this Phraſe may either note the pure, free, and ordinary expounding of the Law of God, which ſhould be upon the Down- fall of Antichiiſt; or the Preſence of God with his Church in that more and pure reformed State. m But ſuch a work of Pro- vidence being not like to be effefted without the Ruine of Anti- chriſt, God ſheweth it ſhall be uſhered in with Lightnizgs, and Voices, and Thurdrings, and great Hail ;, by terrible things in Righteouſneſs (as the P/almiſt ſpeaketh.) The Conſequents of which, the ſeven Via's, of which we ſhall read, chap. 15. pouring out Plagues upon the Antichriſtian Party, until they ſhould be wholly rooted out, and Chriſt alone ſhould be exalted in his Church, and rule as King upon
. his Holy hill of Zton.