fighted mind, & full of the knowledg of man. They ceafe not day nor night saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, &c. 'Tis the office of the Miniftry to labour without intermiffion about the fanctification of God's name & the establishing his glory.

When the living Creatures gave Glory & hanour & praise to him that fate on the throne, &c. the Four and Twenty Elders caft them, ¦ felves down before him. This is the same thing that Ezekiel signified by these Wheels, that went when the living Creatures went; the people reprefentend by the TwentyFourElders follow the infpiration of the Paftors represented by the four living creatures. When the living Creatures praise God, the elders caft them felves down. He that will follow these four living Creatures in the Revelation will fee that every where they perform the office of Pastors & Minifters of the commands of God.

As for the Elders, I don't know how it comes to pafs that they have not been taken for the Faithful People from the very name of Elders. Some would herein find the Paftors of the Church. Tis true, the Gospel calls Paftors fo. But here it fhould be remembred that the Emblems are borrowed from the Law, & not from the Gofpel. 'Tis agreed that in this vifion the Prophet hath a refpect to the diftri bution which the ancient Law made of its people. Now we fhall no where find that the Elders fignify the Levites & Priests. On the contrary they are always diftinguisht; yea, & they are oppofed to the Priefts as

well

well in the Old as in the New Teftament; The Priefts & the Elders of the people. Every where the Elders fignified the heads of the Tribes and Families, that were confulted with in great affairs; they were properly the Reprefentatives of the people. So that the Twenty Four Elders are the new people by allufion to ancient people. There is twenty four of them because the ancient Ifrael had twelve Patriarchs & twelve Tribes ; & the new Ifrael hath twelve Apoftles which are the twelve Patriarchs & Heads of their Tribes. The twelve Elders of the fewish Church joined with the twelve Patriarchs ofthe new covenant make twenty four in all, & thefe twenty four are the whole Church Representative; .e. the whole body of the faithfull people. Thefe Elders fit round about the throne as Affeffors, because the Saints fhall judg the World faith St. Paul: They are cloathd in white 'Raiment : That is the habit of a Priest. And that fignifies, that the Priesthood is no longer confined to one only Tribe, that the eleven tribes are re-entred into their ancient rights. For naturally all the firft-born of what tribe foever they were, were Priefts. This is what the Holy Spirit means when he calls the faithful ones of the New Teftament the firft-born, Priests, & a royal Prieft-hood. Thefe Elders have on their heads crowns of Gold. 'Tis because every one of the faithfull people is made not only a Priest but also a King.

Wherfore they fay in their frong, To him that hath made us Kings & Priefts.

This defcription of the Church by four living Creatures & twenty four Elders, belongs principally to the Church reigning & glorious on the Earth, fo as it will be defcribed to us in the laft Chapters of the Revelation. For then only the Paftors & the people shall perfectly have the qualities represented by thefe Enigma's. However 'tis reasonable to place them here, because the Paftors of all ages of the Church if they have not these qualities reprefented by the four living Creatures, yet at least they are obliged to have them, & they have them in part, tho they have them not in the degree of perfection.

CHAP. III.

The Key of the Revelation. This book is na other than a comment on what Daniel

faith in the 7th. Ch. of his Revelations, touching the fourth Beast, & the fourth Monarchy.

Ehold the Theater open'd & prepared; we proceed to view the Vifions that are as fo many Entrings. But I think it neceffary to premife in the first place an Obfervation which I call the Key of the Revelation. 'Tis, that this whole Book is nothing but a Paraphrafe on what Daniel faith in the feventh Ch. of his revelations touching the fourth Beast. Certainly this fourth Beast is the Roman Empire, the fourth Monarchy. And iffome great

&

4

taken no

States in

& ftrange events be found therin, 'tis always with respect to the Roman Empire, that muft endure to the coming of the Kingdom of J. Chrift on the Earth. The reason why God VVhy God taking no notice of fo many great events bath nor that happen without the bounds of the Roman tice of Empire, of the great Empires that are efta- other blifht the nations that are overturned, the Reve the bloody Wars that are every where, & lation. infifts only on the fourth Monarchy, or the Roman Empire is because God reveals not future events but with respect to the Church which he loveth, which he conducts, & which he will inftruct concerning his will. Now the Church was to be enclosed in or very near within the bounds of the Roman Empire. I know that there were ChriftianChurches in Perfia, & it may be fome in the Indies. But all this was but a fmall matter. Euphrates was the bounds of Chriftianity; it fpread it felf but a little beyond it. The Church therfore had no need to know that which fhould happen on the other fide Euphrates, nor to understand the foundation of the Empires of the Tartars, the Kings of Perfia, the Mogulls & the Chinois; for all this had no refpect to her. Wherfore the Revelation faith not one word of them. The Spirit of God alfo had no intention to inftruct us in the adventures of the Empire of the Saracens & that of the Turks, but with reference to the fourth Monarchy. Therfore we shall not fee these two Empires that of the Saracens & that of the Turcks but

only

The divi

fourth

Monarchy

only by the by in the fifth & fixth Trumpets; & we fhall not fee them there but as the Scourges of God that fall on the fourth monarchy to vex & to destroy it. This obfervation is the Key of the Revelation. For first, it removes that difficulty which many make fo great a ftir about, viz. that the Revelation as tis ufually explained, doth not at all touch on, or if it doth; 'tis but by the by, the greatest Revolutions of the World, that happen'd in the Eaft fince 1200 years. Yet once more, it was not the work of him who would speak of nothing but the Church & thofe Events, that have an immediate reference to the Church. Secondly, This obfervation will teach us rightly to divide the times of the Revelation, & properly to apply the vifions to each time, & to difcover the events that are fignified by those Visions.

We must know therfore, that the fourth fion of the monarchy without comparison the greateft, & moft diftinguished in the Prophecies is divided into two into two great periods. The first is from the Periods. birth of Rome ab urbe conditâ, which was the great Epocha of the Romans, to the divifion of the Roman Empire into ten Kingdoms, which was after the death of Valentinian the third about the year 455. For then the Empire was torn in pieces between the Greeks, the Vandals, the Goths, the Burgundians &c. it was I fay divided into ten principal parts. The fecond period of the fourth monarchy is fince the divifion of the Empire among ten Kings, & the reunion of thofe ten Kings under one

fole