is almost expired; we are approaching to the vin tage, and at this day ought to fay, Come Lord fef, come; but within a little while we fhall fay, Hei come, he is come. CHAP. XI. The explication of the 14th Chapter. The vi fion of the harveft, and the vintage: the harvest of the Reformation, made in the age laft paft; the vintage is the Reformation, which shall be made this prefent age. 'He fourteenth Chapter, is the fecond of those wherein we find the circumftances of the fall of the Babylonian Kingdom. In the beginning of the Chapter, we find the 140 thousand marked ones, who are the fame with the two witnesses, (whom we fhall discourse of hereafter,) the small number of faithful ones, whom God preferved in spiritual Babylon,and who did not partake of her Idolatries. We find them, I fay, who fing a fong which none was able to learn, but they; i, e. they taft peculiar joyes and pleasures, which the Antichriftian Chriftians were notable to tafte. In the following verfes an Angel appears, flying in the midst of heaven, Chap. 14.6. having the ever-. lafting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. This is the preparative unto that preaching of the Gofpet, which must be made to all Nations, when the Antichriftian Kingdom fhall be abolifht. This preaching is faid to be of the everLafing Gospel, because it shall laft untill the end of the the world. All Nations fhall be converted, and Part 2, their purity fhall fuffer no alteration, as long as the world fhall laft. And to fignify that the Kingdom of Antichrift shall fall; through the preaching of this everlasting Gofpel; immediately after, another Angel cryes Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great City, Which proves, that in the vifion that follows, the harvest and the vintage are the two parts of the fall of the Babylonian Kingdom. cution of genfes,tore ver1.9.10 In the third place, we have in this Chapter an The perfe Angel who denounces the terrible judgments of the Walden God, that must fall on those who worship the Beast, fes, & Albiand his image,andreceive his mark in their foreheads, told in the or in their hands. And at the fame time, by thefe 14th Chap. words, here is the patience of the Saints, is fignified a fore perfecution that muft go before the fall of Antichrift; not that perfecution, which we fuffer at this day, and which must be the laft; but that which the Church endured in the Waldenfes, the Albigenfes, the Bohemians, &c. For this is the per fecution which happen'd before the Reformation of the laft age, because the fall of Babylon, which is fpoken of in this Chapter, begins by the Reformation made in the laft age. Therefore the perfecttion here fpoken of, must be that which went before our Reformation: but there is no other, befides that againft the poor Waldenfes, which lafted a full ico years, before the preaching of Luther. All thefe things are onely a preparative unto the laft vifion of this Chapter, which contains a new prediction of the fall of Antichrift, with new circumstances: and 'tis this V.14. And I lookt, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one fate like unto the fon of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp fickle Part 2. A diftintion of V. 15. And another Angel came out of the Tem ple, crying with a loud voyce to him that fate on the cloud, Thrust in thy fickle and reap, for the time! come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. V. 16. And he that fate on the cloud thrust in his fickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. V. 17. And another Angel came out of the Temple, which is in Heaven; he also having a sharp fickle. V. 18. And another Angel came out from the Altar, which had power over fire, and cryed with a loud cry to him that had the sharp fickle, faying, Thrustin thy sharp fickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. V. 19. And the Angel thrust in his fickle into the earth, and gather'd the vine of the earth, and caft it into the great wine-prefs of the wrath of God. V. 20. And the wine-prefs was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine-press, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and fix hundred furlongs. In this vifion there are circumstances and fubcircumftance; the circumstances are thefe, the Angel who stances, fits on a white cloud, and his cloathing; another ftance in Angel who bids him thruft in his fickle; another this vifion. Angel who appears likewife having a fickle; the and fub ripeness of the corn and grapes; the wine-prefs of , veft in the mation al vintage is I cannot tell by what fpirit it is, but at last I am Part 2. ftrongly perfwaded, that the harvest and the vin- The hartage are the Reformations of the Church, that vifion is which happened, the last age, and that which fhall the Refor happen in the end of this age, and the beginning of ready the next. The harvest therefore is paft, the vin- made; the tage muft presently come. In this matter, fofeph the Refor Mede feems to be not more happy in his conje- that shall cture, than others: He makes the harveft fignify be shortly the ruin of the city of Rome; and the vintage, the made. total ruin of the Antichriftian Kingdom, which muft happen a little while after Rome fhall be fackt. But I am perfwaded, that they who will read me with fome attention, and without prejudice, will prefer my thoughts before his. mation, ill fenfe. J The word harvest in the ftyle of the Spirit, fome- Harvest times fignifies good, and fometimes evil. God taken in an fpeaks by Jeremy, The daughter of Babylon is like a Jerem.51. threshing floor, it is time to thresh her; yet a little 33. while, and the time of her harvest shall come. And the Prophet Ifaiah fpeaking of the defolation which fhould befall the ten Tribes by the Affyrians, faith, And it shall be, as when the harvest- ifa. 17.5. man gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm. The Prophet Joel alfo reprefents the day of Icel 3. 13. Gods vengeance, Put in the fickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, get you down, for the prefs is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. In all these places, the word harvest fignifies destruction and ruin. In other places, harveft fignifies fouething that is good. The harvest is great, faid our Saviour; Mat.9.33, but the labourers are few, fpeaking of the converfion of the Gentiles; Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. Ifent Ioh.4.35 you to reap, that whereon you bestowed no labour, 38. Lastly, 30. Part 2. Laftly, fometimes harvest fignifies both Good and evil together. As in the Parable of the Tares in Matt. 13. the field. Let them grow both together until the barveft. And at the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers, Gather firft the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. The harvest is the end of the world, the tares are the wicked, the wheat is the good, the reapers are the Angels, the fame harvest that shall caft the chaff into the fire, fhall lay up the corn in the garner. The fame judgment that fhall adjudge the wicked unto Eternal flames, fhall gather the elect into glory. The harvest therefore may fignify fomething that is good; but we cannot find, that any where the term vintage is taken in The word a good fenfe. The juyce that comes out of the vintage, grape, hath the colour of blood, which comes always fig out of the veins of them that are murthred. nifies, fome - evil. ifa. 63. For this reafon vintage always fignifies anger, But obferve: God hath exactly put the distance between these two parts of the fall of the Popish |