Ch. 9. The bottomleßPit,&c. Rev had power to let out fuch Defirs,yers. Five months being the jut} time of the Zealots rage, beforeTittts came agaiaf} the City, confirmeth the Eft fart of Expofitórs in their Opinion : but, as I fàid, matt Proteftant Writers take this King to be the Pope, or the Devil as salting him, and the Locufts to be the Fryars and Clergy andall their Tormenrings and Defroy- ings to be fpiritual : but it's hard to think that Deceiving Mould be meant by fisch Torment- ing, as made Men with for Death; for their Excommunicationsand Perfecutions cannot be meant, becaufe thole are more againft good Men than the bad ; and tho' fame oftheir Do- ¿trines be uncomfortable, they have more that flatter Men in Sin. 12. One woe is pall, and behold, there come two woes more hereaf- ter. in. Thus one of the three Woes refery'd to the three lait Trumpets, is pale, and two fol- low. 13. And the fixth angel founded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar se hich is be- fore God, 14. Saying to the lixth an- gel, which had the trumpet, Loofe the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. 13, 14. Thole thatexpound all this of the Deftrudion of3erufalem, think that by Eu- pirates is meant Rome, and that the four Angels there bound was the Roman Legions which Ve- lla/Zan had ftopt, till he faw what would be- come of the Empire, when Galba, Otho, and rtuliens were kill'd, and he was chores Empe- ror, and then he went on to tine Siege; or elfe that the Syrian Legions, having marchd as far as Euphrates, were there (tope. But this Expo - fition bathmuch faid againft it, efpecially that therewere then things pate, and that v. ea. the men are defcrib'd as gruff Idolaters, which the 'Jews then were not. Manyothersexpound it ofthe Arabians and Tur/is, who dwelt beyond Eepbrates, out of the Roman Territories, till they invaded and fpoil'd them, r;,. And the four angels were loo- fed, which were prepared for an hour and a day, and a month, and a year, for to flay thethird part of men. 15 Some g.' the; from [.an hour, a day, a moinb,ánd a fear] that from the finit great inva- fìon and taking of Babylon, to the fall Of the Turk:, it will be exau}ly iu t696, which time will expound. The four.,AngelsTome take for four MabometanGenerals; and parts, before they elation. ThefixthTrumpet. CI1. 9 united in one. And by flaying the third part of men, their cruel devaftations and fucceffes. r6. And the number of the army of the army of thehorfemen were two hundred thoufand : and I heard the number of them. 16. The number of the Roman Army, fry fume ; but waft lay the number of the Maho- metans was exceeding great, like Locults over- fpreading all the Countries. 1 7. And thus d faw thehorfes in the vilion, and them that fate on them, having breft- plates of fire, and of ja- cinth, andof brimfione: and the heads of the horfes were as the heads of lions, anti out of their mouths Wiled fire, and fmoke, and brimilone. 17. They appear'd terribly, as fitted to de- $roy ; butCome expound it of their falfe Dp. ¿trine. 18. By thefe three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the fmoke, and by the brimflooe, which iffued out of their mouths. 18. Multitudes, fay fome, kill'd'by theRo- mans ; and, fay molt others, the exceeding great numbers kill'd by the Mahometans, Sara- cens and Turks, r9. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails : for their tails were like unto ferpents, and had heads, and with.them they do hurt. ?9. They are both fierce and venemous, and everyway delirulive. Some expoundmouth and tail, ofthe, $ontand Tearof their Armies. 20. And the reftof the men which were not killed by thefe plagues, yet repented not of the works cf their hands, that they fhould not worff.ip devils, and idols of gold, and filver, and brafs, acd (tone, and of wood, whichneither can fee, nor hear, nor walk: 21. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their forgeries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. zo, 21. To take this for the Gnoflitks, and tine fpiritual Idò'atryof the fcios, Teems way unlikely. The Mahometans, lay others, made the deflroying of le?ols their chief profeffon, and have not only rooted out Image-worship from the Eafiern Chriftians, but turn'd time many great Kingdoms andEmpires from Ilea- rbenifm to Mabometanifm;; but they repented not under thole deftruytions._ CHAP.
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