of the REVELATION. (In a word) As a God only to be believed in, and worfhipped, as being ~ only and , 1 !one Holy; They magmfy nor Samts, nor Temples, nor the Pope, ~ no, nor any Cr.eature whatloever: For lo, ]er, ro. 7· the hke Speech is uttered in oppolttion to all Falfe Gods; and therefore, fay they, Who will not fear thee? or worfhip thee, and that, accordmg to thme own ways prefcnbed m thy Word, and not according to Men's Inventions, Jt~ft, and True, and RighteotH. "re thy Way, (that is part of thetr Song) and all Superfhttons and humane Inventions in Worfhip are falfe: So C1ys D,tvtd, I hate every evtl W-ry, but thy Law do I love, as being only True and R.tghteous, Pfa/, I '9· Th\ls much for their Song. Secondly, The Delcription of thefe Angels, and their Preparations to pour out their Vials, you have from verf 6. of thiS I sth Chapter to the end, as you have the execution and pouring out of their Vials in the r6th Chapter. The Angels are defcribed as cloathed in White,as Pnefls, and girt with a goldw Girdle of Alacrity, Strength, Sincerity, and Truth; for in Scripture Men are faid to be girt with all the(e. And one of the [o11r Beafts (that is, of the Of– ficers of the Churches, whole Mouths in praying the Officers flill are) is faid to give theft Vials unto theft Angels, in that theirs and the Church's Prayers do fill up thefe Vials in their leveral $ucceffions. And the Plagues they execute are faid to be iri Vials, both becau(e the Prayers of the Saints do fill up the Wrath poured ant, (for chap. 5· the Vials are interpreted the Prayers of the Saints); and alfo in allufion to the Expreffion m the Old Tetlament, where God's Wrath is defcribed by a (up or Vial in the Hand of the Lord; as often in the rpfafms you have it. And Rovte's Sin I;Jeing expreffed by aCup of Abomina– tion in her Hands ; her Plagues are therefore fitly expreffed by Vials and Cups of Wrath, irreltflably poured out upon their Heads from Heaven. And they are laid to be filled with the Wrath of God,that liveth (or ever and ever: For that there Plagues are Spiritual as well as Corporal (as I ihall !hew) ; and are but the be– ginnings of an Everlafling Wrath, as that Fire from Heaven upon the Sodo– mites, is raid to be an Everlajling Fire, and lo called by ]11de. Again, thele Vials are laid to come out of the Temple; that is, out of the Church or Churches then erected. Which becaule it follows the mention of the opening the Temple of the Tabernacle in Heaven: therefore Come have miflaken it, as if the(e Angels had come out of the Temple of the TejlimOJ;y, mentioned verf 5· whereas that Temple there, is, by way of diflincrion, called, The Tem– ple of the Tabernacle of the TejJimony,-. even the Holy of Holie.s; and the opening of that Temple? not lpoken m relatton unto the Angels commg out, as opening upon thetr commg forth; but for the dtfcovery of the Ark, as you have lt in– terpreted under the feventh Trumpet, chap. I I. verf /aft, in allufion to the Ho– ly of Holies, which was kept vailed. Now by that I rth Chapter, it evidently appears, that the Vials are poured out before the opening of this Tabernacle of the Teflimony in Heaven; For verf 5, and 6, you read of four Vials before the killing of the Wirncffes; and the fifth Vial is after their rifing; and the paffing away of the fecond Woe is the fixth Vial; and then the feventh Vial, and the leventh Trumpet are all one, (as bath been often times !hewed); and then comes the Tabernacle of the Teflimony, or Holy of Holies to be opened, and the Ark to be dtfcovered and.(een m tt, verf !aft of that Chapter. And in like manner here alfo, the opening of this Tabernacle is faid to be fM'TIX mum, after theft things ; that is, after thele Vials; which is a phrare in this Book, al– ways noting out things in a feveral Succeffion performed, and adiffering Vilton, as chap. 4· verf I. and chap. 7· verf9· And the mention of it comes in here, only to fhew the Event of the(eVials. The Temple therefore that thefe Angels c?me out of, is at the purefl but the Temple of Priefls; and yet filled with 5mo~ from the Glory and Power ofGod, it betokening his fpecial, glorious, and powerful Prefence in and with the Church during the Time of the Vials, which the Smoke that _filled the Temple at the Dedication, was a Sign o£ And this Smoke here tmphes, and is the Sign of three Things, N2 I. Of
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