CAP.x1. ARevelationoftheApoca 847 fbt isall full offilthineffe,and ofall abominable and ftinking matter with- in,but thisCity hath exceedinggreat purity & holinefïe throughout,joy. ned withmoil great dignity andMajeffy.Which fweet combiningof ho- lineffeand ftatelineffe,the more rare a thing it is to befeen, the more glo. rious it is like to be,and tomake this Church to beat length. Verf. 19,20. And the foundations ofthe Wallofthe City. Here the Holy Ghoft cometh toe,xplain the foundations of the wallfeverally ; in the de- fcribi,ng ofwhich,he fticketh not in the loweft mattersthat are laid undet all the building,but hee fheweth withall,that the matter of thewhole bull- dingis molt preciousabove all other things,as which conlifîethwholly of molt noble Gems,neither cloth it give place any whit to that moil divine form, which we haveheard ofbefore. I am not ignorant how much the Interpreters do toile themfelves in applying aide foundations to eachofthe ancient Apoftles, and this diffi- culty is inçreafed by this fo exquifite order,which the Holy gbofit ufeth in. defcribing the foundarions,wheras there is no certain rank of theApoftles to be found either in the Go#ell, or in the .4/t, ; Bait fometimes one is reckoned up firft,fometimes another. Whereupon it is uncertain altoge- ther, towhich Apoflle each (lone fhould be anfwerable. But the I-cly Ghoff feemeth tohave no purpofe in this place, to defcribe the twelve firfl Apoftles,but rather to decypher untous thofe teachers of the Chri- ftian Church, that fhould be hereafter among the Jews, who bear the names of the Apofiles, whom alto they fucceed in their func`tìon as they do partake likewife with them in the rewards of their labour ; and fo we have feen them called above, verf. r 4. And Chap. Y 8.ao.'all faithfitll Tea- chers are the offfpringof theApoflles, as the former verfe taught us, which laid forthunto us the greatneffe of the wall,as it was compafted of the number of twelve multiplied into it fell. It is certain that the excel- lencies ofthe gifts, wherewith theTeachers excell aboveother men, are noted out unto us in this place,by thofe things which are moil precious of all other things upon earth; and withall,we are hereby taughr,bothwhat precious account God maketh offuch teachers, as allo how greatly they ought to be efleemed among men. And it is no lefTe certain, that every one of the excellent venues did íhine forth long ago moll clearly in the old Apof}les. But I think that this Order is proper to the Docttors that are to come in the reftoring of the Jews which if we fhall apply to ancient ones, We fhall,perchance,fhoot far wide,bygiving each of them that which belon- geth not to them ; therefore.cleaving as much as wee can to the proper drift and purpofe of, the Holy Ghoft in this place, betides that excellencie which is common to all the Gems, wee fuppofe that this fo accurate a S s s s s reckoning,
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