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ELEVENTH CHAPTER Of the Revelations.

AND there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel ftood, faying, Rife, and meafure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.

2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and meafure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city fhall they tread under foot forty and two months.

3 And I will give power unto my two witneffes, and they fhall prophesy a thoufand two hundred and threefcore days, clothed in fackcloth.

4 Thefe are the two olive trees, and the two candlefticks, ftanding before the God of the earth.

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7 And when they fhall have nearly finifhed their tef timony, the beaft that afeendeth out of the bottomlefs pit fhall make war against them, and fhall overcome them, and kill them.

8 And their dead bodies fhall lie in the street of the great city, which fpiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where alfo our Lord was crucified.

9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations fhall fee their dead bodies three days and an half, and fhall, not fuffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

10 And they that dwell upon the earth fhall rejoice over them, and make merry, and fhall fend gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God-entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which faw them.

12 And they heard a great voice from heaven, faying unto them, Come up hither. And they afcended up to

heaven

heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

13 And the fame hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were flainseven thousand men of name and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The fecond woe is paft; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

15 And the feventh angel founded; and there were great voices in heaven, faying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Chrift; and he fhall reign for ever and ever.

16 And the four and twenty elders, which fat be'fore God on their feats, fell upon their faces, and worhipped God,

17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou haft taken to thee thy great power, and haft reigned.

18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou fhouldest give reward unto thy fervants the prophets, and to the faints, and them that fear thy name, fmall and great; and shouldeft deftroy them which deftroy the earth.

19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was feen in his temple the ark of his teftament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

CHAP.

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A brief prophetic Hiftory of the Western Part of the Church, and of the Beast of the bottomless Pit.".

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THE preceding chapter being no more than a fummary introduction to the digreffive part of the prophet's plan, or the little book," I have thought it neceffary to give it only a general explanation. But as, in applying the various figurative marks of this chapter to their proper events, I fhall have frequent occafion to differ in opinion from former commentators, I feel the propriety, as well as the neceffity of tranflating every type and figu rative expreffion, into that which I, conceive to be the natural, literal, and true prophetic fenfe, before I apply them to their correfponding events. Upon a faithful performance of this duty, a right application of them to the events foretold must altogether depend, and the reader will thereby be the better enabled to discern, on which fide the truth preponderates; for, as Lord Coke observes, " nomi"na fi nefcis, perit cognitio rerum."

Ver. 1. And there was given me a reed, like "unto a rod; and the angel food, faying, Rife, "and measure the temple of God, and the altar, "and them that worthip therein.”

A reed is a very proper type for a pen. The ancients used it in marking out their hieroglyphics; and it is still used in fome parts of the Eaft. A rod is an inftrument by which firipes are made on the body of a man, corrected for his crimes; and therefore a "reed, like unto a rod," is a juft figure for a pen, with which the fcourges and afflictions of the

church

"And the

church are to be marked out on paper. "angel food;" he paufed to give the prophet time to recover from the confufion of ideas, which-the awful events unfolded to him by the "feven thun"ders *" had occafioned; and then ordered him to "rife;" that is, to prepare to receive his inftructions; and to perform the duty which fhould then be required of him. This was to "meafure the "temple of God," &c. The word measure here is certainly a figure to denote the writing of the hiftory of "the temple of God :" for to meafure, in the fenfe it is commonly used, is to take the dimenfions, qualities, and circumstances of a thing; and therefore is a natural and well-adapted metaphor, in the prefent cafe, as applied to prophetical events. By the temple of God, and the "altar, and them that worship therein," we are to understand the true church of Chrift, or that part of mankind, who ftill adhere to the doctrine of the "two witneffes of God," hereafter mentioned and defcribed. If I am right in this expofition of the text, the inftructions of the angel fo far amount to this: Take a pen, and write a history of that part of the church of Chrift, as I fhall direct at this time, omitting fuch things as I fhall order to be omitted, until you fhall more particularly be informed in a future vifion refpecting them.'

"

Ver. 2." But the court, which is without the "temple, measure it not, for it is given to the Gen"tiles; and the HOLY CITY they shall tread under ** foot forty and two months.”

Thefe figurative expreffions are evidently taken from Jerufalem, and the temple. Jerufalem was called the Holy City; and " the temple of God" in it,

See the laft chapter, ver. 4.

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was built within feveral courts. In the principal or inner court, the temple and the altar were erected; and here the Priefts, Levites, and other Jews who had purified themfelves, and conformed to the rites of the church, alone facrificed and worshipped. Here the unclean Jews were not admitted; but the outer court was a place common to both. And thus they who worshipped in the temple, and before the "altar," as well as the "holy city," are very apt and proper figures for the true church of Chrift, founded on the word of God, revealed through his

two witneffes:" while "the court which is with"out the temple, given to the Gentiles," fignificantly defignates a church which fhould apoftatize from the truths of the Gospel of Chrift, into Gentile fenfuality and idolatry; and is here intended to prefigure both the Mohamedan and Papal hierarchies ; which were to separate themselves from, and to become as Scourges upon the primitive church of Chriftianity, in her degenerate ftate, for her lukewarmnefs, and want of perfect faith in the revealed word of God. Thefe hierarchies, thus prefigured by "the "court without the temple," the prophet is informed fhall tread the holy city under foot, forty and "two months;" which, when tranflated from the figurative into the literal fenfe, means, that those two apoftacies fhould fo corrupt and pervert the pure truths, upon which the Gospel of Chrift is founded, and prevail on mankind to embrace their errors fo generally, as to render those truths as grafs conftantly trodden under foot, withered, defiled, and blafted; and that this depreffion fhould continue "forty and two months," that is, 1260 prophetic years.

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But the prophet is commanded, by the angel, not to make a particular hiftory of thofe apoftacies, a part of his prefent fubject or vifion; but the court

" which

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