Ch,14. The Harvefl,fgVintage Revelation. of Cod's Wrath. Ch. 4 I2. This mifery of impenitent Idolaters and Enemies of Chrift, will Blew the World how wife and happythe Saints were, that by patient fuffering did overcome, and kept to the end the Commands of God and the Faith of Jefus. Faith, Obedience andPatience are all neceffary to Salvation. 13. And I heard a voice from hea- ven faying unto me, Write, Bleffed are the dead which die in the Lord; from henceforth, yea, faith the fpirit, that they may reft from their labours, and their works do follow them. 13. Tho` it be always happy go be at reft with Chrift, the Sufferingsof thole times will be fo great, as will make it Teem a feafonable Bleffednels to go to that Reft, where theyBlall xo more labour or fuller, but receive the fruit oftheir labours and works perform'd forChrift on Earth. Some make this to bebut a Promife of after-freedom from Perfecution here: The Text proveth a Bleflednefs for feparated Souls before the Refurre&ion ; for r a'wei 'n I [hence- forth] fignifieth from this time forward. The Socinians therefore abufe the Text, that make the Bleffednefs to be but Refting in a ttate of death till the Refurreftion. For Life, with God's fervice and acceptance in a time ofPer- fecution, is a greater Bleffing than sneer death. 14. And I looked, and behold, a white cloud, andupon the cloudone fate, like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a (harp fickle. 15. And ano- ther angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that fate on the cloud, Thruft in thy fickle and reap, for the time is come for thee to reap, for the harveft of the bath found England to be the thou!nd fix earth is ripe. 1 í 16. And he that fate hundred Furlongs, and Crammer tobe the An- gget that had Power over Fire, becaufe he held on the cloud thruft in his fickle on the his right hand to be burnt and Mona/ Cron- earth, and the earth was reaped. well to be the Execution Angel : And forme la, 1 t, 16. Some underftand this ofan An- that can m ke themfelvesbelieve that fo fmall gel in the likenefs ofa Man, but molt ofChrift a fpot of Ground as England is it that this Tre- or an Angel like Chrift. The other Angel eeedy is a&edon, have thought that they found feemeth to figuifie butanother part of thevilon, here the killing of the two Witneffes (Magi- and Execution reaping the Harvefr, is punifhing ftracy and Minilry) and the two Beafts, and Sinners ripe for defäu&ion. the number oftheir Names, in the Letters here mentioñd, k (ch) f (x) 5 (14) and the 17. And another angel came out of wounding and the healing , and the Mark the temple which is in heaven, he alto of the Beat P E R, as referring to Ch. having a (harp fickle. 18. And ano- (Church) and Sr. (Stare) and in a word, ther angel came out from the altar, that almoft halt'he Revelation fpake of 1n which had power over fire, and cried gland. But unle,s they can prove that the two, Beafts have their Offspring, who bear with a loud cry to him that had the their Father's Image, and are difpers'd as Cainn's. (harp fickle, faying, Thruft in thy. !harp fickle, and gather the clutters of the vine of the earth, for hergrapes are fully ripe. 19. And the angel thrufi in his fickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cart it into the great wine-prefs of the wrath of God. 20. And the wine- prefs was trodden without the city, and blood cameout of the wine-prefs, even unto the horfe-bridles, by the fpace of a thoufand and fix hundred furlongs. 17, II, 19, 2O Of the difference between theFherveft and the Vintage, and the two .Angels and their Executions, Opinions are various. Some make it to be twodegrees ofourPlague, fome to be two ; tome fay eon/iota, fome fay enplane. Some fay one is the Deftru&ion of the Tarltifb Empire, and the other (the Vintage) of the Raman Papacy before Chrif's coming. Some fay, the firft is the cempleating of the Ele&as converted, and the fatter the deftroy. ing ofAntichrift. Some fay it fpeakethofthe laffJudgment, fome ofthe Fall only of Hea- then Rome, and force of other Executions Is is clear that it fpeaketh ofdivers degrees of ExecutionofGod's Judgments on the Idolaters, fhgilified as by diversAngels appearance, words anddeeds : But whether it meant any betide the Roman Heathen Idolatry, and their content. ing Countries fufferings; and whether the fix. teen hundred Furlongs fignify any more than diffufed Plagues ; ,and whether tt was meant of Trajan's Executions in Syria, &c. as Gratin& thought, or of the Country about Rome, or any determinate (pace, and where, and which ofthe fix or leven fenfes of [power over Fire] is right bander a meet deftroymg power, areall things which I cannot determine. Mr. Brightman s
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