Demonftr.c.vij.

XI

The Image of the Beast with feven Heads and ten Horns arifes fome confiderable time after Him; and continues at least till very near His final deftruction.

That the Image of the Beaft, is the Image of the firft Beaft with the feven Heads and ten Horns; and not of the fecond Beaft or falfe Prophet, is fo evident in the plain words of the Text; and fo clearly prov'd by Dr. Greffener in the Correction of Mr. Mede's mistake, that I fhall not fpend any time upon it. That he is alfo diftinct from him, and from the fecond Beaft is equally clear in the Text; and in the nature of the thing; and fo that alfo needs no particular proof. But that his Period is rightly stated in this Propofition, muft here be demonftrated. Now in this matter, the bare view of the account of the making and origin of this Image in the Revelation, will foon put his beginning out of question; namely, that it was not till fome confiderable time after the rife of that firft Beaft. For it wil thereby appear evident, not only that the first Beaft with the feven Heads and ten Horns; but even the fecond Beaft with the two Horns like a Lamb, which arofe fome time after the other, was both in being, and in great reputation and authority alfo before the appearance of this Image: Nay, in fo great credit, by his pretences to Wonders and Miracles, that himfelf perfuaded the World to make this Image, and caufed it to be worshipped. Hear the words, and Apoc. xiij.1. deny the reafoning if you can. Ifaw, fays St. John, a Beaft rife up out of the Sea, having feven Heads and ten Horns, &c. And I beheld another Beaft coming up out of the Earth, and he had two Horns like a Lamb, and he spake as a Dragon. And be Ver. 11,&c. exercifeth all the power of the first Beast before him, and cauferb the Earth, and them that dwell therein, to worship the first Beast, whose deadly wound was bealed: and he doth great Wonders, fo that he maketh fire to come down from Heaven on the Earth in the fight of Men; and deceivesh them that dwell on the Earth by

Dan.vij. 24

the

the means of thofe Miracles which be had power to do in the fight of the Beast; faying to them that dwell on the Earth, that they fhould make an Image to the Beast which had the wound by a fword, and did live, &c. And then, as to the end of this Image, it must be but a little while before the end of the Beaft himself: for we meet with a Caution, or Threatening rather, a little before, That if any man worship the Beast, and his Image, befball Apoc.xiv.9, 10. drink of the wine of the wrath of God: which fhews, that at this point of time he was not in Being only, but in Power alfo. But the reason why I dare not affirm that he is to continue quite to the utter deftruction of the Beaft is, because I find no mention of him there, but only of the Beaft, and the falfe Apoc. xix. 20. Prophet, as perishing together at that time. And therefore it feems to me probable, that as this Image did not begin till fome time after the Rife of this Beaft, fo will he not continue till his final destruction, but come to his Period fome little time before him.

XIL

The State of the undefiled Followers of the Lamb is contained both in the Sealed Book, and Open Codicil, in the former largely, in the latter briefly: Each of which Series of Visions is on either fide diftinct from the rest of the Matter in each Book; and contains five feveral States collateral and parallel to each other; beginning with the Commencement of the Trumpets, and ending with their Conclufion.

This intire Series of fucceeding Prophecies diftinct from the reft, and occurring both in the Sealed Book, and in the Open Codicil; and which reaches from the beginning of the Trumpets, till their conclufion in the last of the Vials, has not been hitherto fufficiently taken notice of, nor diftinguish'd from the reft by any Interpreters: much lefs have the feveral correfponding parts in each Prophecy been rightly compar'd together,

K 2

and

2

and their juft Confequences obferv'd, as they ought to have been. And yet because this is the Principal, if not the only Inftance of a double Series of Vifions in this Book, I mean fuch an one as being in fubftance the fame, and defcribing the very fame States and Actions, is yet intirely gone over twice, i. c. both in the Sealed Book, and in the Open Codicil, and that in the very fame order, it cannot but juftly deferve a more than or dinary Confideration. The brief Account is, according to the genius of the Writing, in the fmaller Open Codicil, and is wholly contain'd in the fourteenth Chapter. The larger Account is, according to the genius of this Writing alfo, in the bigger Sealed Book, and is contain'd, part of it in the feventh, and the reft in the 18th and 19th Chapters; which parts are of a piece, and to be taken together. And the plain Reason of the interruption of this Series in the Sealed Book is this; that as foon as the Syftem of its Events was brought down through the first fix Trumpets, or to that grand Period, the Commencing of Chrift's glorious Kingdom; it was broken off on purpose to leave room for fuch other Vifions as belong'd to the former time, and were to happen before the end of the fixth Trumpet alfo; as collateral with the foregoing branches of this Prophecy. Juft as in general Hiftories we bring down the Story of fuch a Nation through fuch an Age, and then return back to its beginning again, to give the like account of the Collateral affairs of other Countries during the foregoing interval, and perhaps lower, before we re-affume the former Series again. That these two Prophecies, or rather Series of particular Prophecies are, if not the very fame, yet very near of kin, and the one a kind of Abbreviation or Epitome of the other, will appear from the following Abftracts of each, fet all along in correfpondence over against one another.

Large

Now upon this Comparison of the two several Series, it feems to me not a little evident, that they exactly agree together. 'Tis alfo to me evident, that here are five feveral branches of this Prophecy: The first Branch, as the Account of the Sealed Book reprefents it, contains the fealing of 12000 pure Worshippers of God out of each Tribe of Ifrael, 144000 in all; in order to their distinction, and preservation from thofe Evils the Trumpets were to bring on the World. And the Account of the Open Codicil introduces thefe 144000 pure Worshippers as ftanding on Mount Sion, and finging a New Song before the Throne; and they are ftiled the firft-fruits to God and to the Lamb under the Tyranny of the Antichriftian Powers; and 10 pledges and fore-runners of the greater Multitude of pure Worshippers, which was to fucceed in the next Interval. The Second Branch, as the Open Codicil has it, introduces an Angel flying in the midst of Heaven to preach the everlasting and pure Gospel of Chrift, free from all Antichriftian corruptions, to every Nation, and Tribe, and Tongue, and People: And in the Sealed Book we have the fuccefs of this Preaching, that an innumerable company out of every Nation, and Tribe, and People, and Tongue, to whom the everlasting Gofpel was preach'd, were wrought upon by it; and began to feparate from, and triumph over Antichrift; with Palms in their hands, in token of their Victory. The third Branch is exactly reprefented in the fame manner in both Books: An Angel crying with a loud voice, that Babylon was certainly fallen, and implying, that this first Fall was a fure fore-runner of her gradual decay, till her laft final and remedilefs deftruction. The fourth Branch is almoft exactly the fame in both the Books alfo; for the Sealed Book reprefents it as a voice from Heaven, folemnly warning all to depart out of Babylon; and to enforce this Warning the more effectually, a pathetical defcription is added of the wofulness and vastnefs of her laft Fall approaching: And the Open Codicil brings in a third Angel, denouncing dreadful Judgments on all who ftill worship the Beast, and his Image; the great Pillars of Antichrift; to deter and warn Men from fo fatal a complyance any longer. The fifth Branch, or the Claufula, is alfo very agreeable in both Books; as being no other than Chrift's laft De

ftruction