of the RE V EL A T I 0 N. ioi Now to puniil1 this fo prefumptuous and high Rebellion,again(\ fo ~uch Light ~ (\ill !hining, and Age after Age encreafing, the Angel (or the Execuuoners of C:hap: 3: this Vial) bath Power to fi·orcb them with Firr. And this is manifeflly inter-~ preted, chap. .II. where the Holy Gho(\, (peaking of this Vial, foys, ( verf 5.) I will give Power to my Two WitneJ!h, (Who are all one With thele Angels ); and if any ,'JI1an will hurt then1, Fire fba/1 proceed olft of their Mouth!, and devour their E»e»iies : and if any Will hurt them, he nutjl in tfJii nianher be kjl!ed. The Puni(hment there recited is Spiritual, (os all the relt there mentioned are) for they do execute it as Wimelfes, by prophelying; and therefore this Fire is laid to come out of their Mouths. And thole .other Plagues (as their flopping · the Rain, &c. verf6.) mull: needs be (o underf1ood, namely, in a Spiritml A!– !ufion. And lo this of devouring with Fire, notes out the higbef1 kind of Pu– ni!hment that Men are capable of, as being killed with a Witnels, [in thiJ man– "er ml'.ftthey be /,jlled]. And it is alfo there made the Puni!hment of a wilfid finning of Men, even of thofe that fet their Wills again(\ God,and thefe his Wit– nelfes: For lo the Emphafis is put [if any Man [will] hurt them J and it is twice laid, as making them go wholly and fully againll Knowledg, and fo to fit1 wilfully. Now both thiS here, and that In Chnp. 11. do leem to be an Allufion, either to the Fire of Sodom (this City being called Spiritually Sodom) whicH Jude 'J. is called, the Vengeance of the Eternal Fire; becaule that Fire that came down from Heaven upon the Sodomitu, was but a beginning ofHell unto them, and a Type of it unto us. Or e!fe (to which I rather encline) it is an allurion unro that Fire that came out of Mofe' his Mouth (namely at his Prayer) unto Nadab and Abihu. for offering flrange Fire unto God, Levit. I O. 1, 2. and upon Corah's Company, Numb. lb. when they laid, All the 'People are Huly. Which, Heb. 10. 27, 28. is brought in as the Type to exprels their Punifhment, who fin wilfully after the knowledg of the Truth, and fo fin againf1 the Holy Ghofl, verJ 26. [If we JitJ wilfitlly, after we have received the Knorvledg of the Tr11th, tbere remaineth no more Sacrificefor Sins, but a cert:~in fearfuL lookj11g for of Judg– ment, [ C,.,&;r" "V"'"'' J or receiving Judgment in their own (.onlcicnces; Which he there calls j;ery Indignation that Jba/1 devour the Adverforicf, [ U?IOV«VTl'l J under-hand Adverf.'fies, ( ro the word is) as that Company was unto lvlojkf; pretending to be for God and his People; all tbe rPeople are Holy (lay they) and lo themfclves were. And that unto this Fiery Indignation that fell on that Company, the Apo(\le's allufion there was Cwho in that EpiOle opcneth many Tnes) as making it a Type of the Torment and Punifhment of fuch kind of wilful Sinners under the New Tejlament, is evident by what follows in the next, verf 28. He that deJPifod Moles Law, died witho11t Merq, under twoor t/;rce Wit– "effe'; then of how much forer Punifbment foal! he be tho11ghtJvorth;•, &c. Now bring but Pa111's Expofition of that Type there, unto this Allufion, that is uled both in Chap. 11. and alfo here; and it helps fully to expound this part of this Vial, (as I {hall il1ew when I come to open the 1 rth Chapter, vetf) . unto whic11 I mu(\ refer you for the full Expofftion of it). As l'a11l there calls this Sin, ajin– ning wilfit!ly: So, tb.tp. 1 I. their Sin is expref1 twice by the malice of the Will. And tlm it is this Sin,. or at leafl an high kind of prelum~ruous !inning againft Knowledg, accompamed wtth Terror, that lS here meant m this Vtal, chap. 16. 8, 9· appears further allo by the Effe/.1: here mentioned, namely, their blaffbeming the N•me of God, 1vho hatb Power over theft PlaguC!. Now blalpheming the Ho' ly Ghof1, or the workings of him, ih others (knowing they are his Works, as her': thele do blalpheme God, knowing they are his Pbgues) this is the very Spmt.of thiS Sm: And then final Impenttency lS here allo added as the Effe/.1: of it, that they repenud not. So that it is prelumptuous !inning at leafl, that is here meant. And you may further oblerve, that this Plague goes on in the fifth Vial; and ihis Sin againlt Knowledge, grows up to a further height under tha,t Vtal; for there they are lo fcorcbed, that they gnaw their Tvnguo, as Meri in Hell. And that in thelc Times c the Times of the fdurth Vial) this fin againfl: the Holy Gholl: grows very rife and common,by reafon of tlic abundance ofLight and Convti.bon that lhineth in Churches, both long been the Oblervation of Godly Men,who have had Senfes exerciled to difcern the Spirits ofMengrow~ ing in Rage and Madnefs; beyond the luppofal ofany other Principl~ that 010uld act
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