of the REVELAT I 0 N. 103 ------~----------------~---------- out Europe. But by that Time the fifth Vial comes, th<fc Witndfcs in the end ~ !hall again have overcome them, who arc mdeed that Numbe.· of the Beaji'; ~ Name, the lafi of all his Company to be overcome, as Chap. I 5· 2. they btin~ the Iafi fort of his Champions, even thefe :J(ameJ·of Mm [ oi'OfU<TC< .x,e~.£""''] (as they are called chap. I r. verf I 3· and they fhall be killed infiead of the Witnefies, at their Refurrechon, as the firfi Degree and Preparauon to the fifi h Vial. The Fifth Vial is upon theThrone, or Seat of the 'Beaft ; which is plainiy Rome 1t fr,lf; which was the old Seat of the Dragon, the Heathenifh Empire, which Satan did, as it were, openly govern that Empire under Heathenifh Ido– latry. But after that, this Seat was refigned by the Dragon unto the Pope, at his firfi Rifing, Chap. '3· 2. Which City the Sybi/!J long fince prophefied of, !hould again become a Sheep-coat. And the Holy Ghoft, in Chflp. I8. that it !hould be thrown down M a Milljlone, and be 110 more ji11md at all, but fhould become the H1bitation of Devi!J only, and tbedwellingof every foul Spirit for ever Of this Vial we may fay, as the Difciples laid to Chrifi; N01v he fjeak:: eth plttinly, m:d not in Parable;, zs before. Only, as the ·other Vials are to be taken in the large(! fenle, fo I think this is, (though not in a Spiritual Senfe; for he !peaks plainly, and not in Figures). And therefore, as was fa id ci•ap. 1 3· in the explaining of that fecond Beafi, That not alone the Pope is that 1:\cafi, but concrete, and together with him, his Clergy, who make up one Body with him as their Head. And fo it may be, that by Seat of the Be.1i here, is not only and fimply meant Rome, the Sea and Seat of that chief Bifhop the Pope ; but it may be extended to other Seas and Seats that fall together with it; name– ly of fuch of the Clergy, whether. in Italy or elfewhere, as cleave unto the Beafi, and profeC. themfelves of his Number and Company. Who now under this fifth Vial, are rumbled down from their ufurped Seats, Thrones, and Dig– nities ; together with this their Head, w.hofe• whole Kingdom is now become full of Darknefs and Obfcurity. Yet fo, as eminently Rome, the proper Sqt of the Beafi, is here intended, and in the Letter of this Vial held forth as the Sub– jel.t of it upon which it falls. And with the f.1ll of Rome, the Number and Time of the Beafi's Reign and Kingdom, is reckoned as fulfilled ; namtly, his 1260 Years allotted himtodo in. Which Years have now rheir Period. And although the Popedom remains to be de!1royed by the feventh Vial; yet his Glory is here reckoned as gone and taken from him; and he is now rcfcrved alive, only for a further and more glorious execution. Therefore it is (,iJ, HJJ Kingdom;, darh.!:ed; F'or now he is put by his feven Hills, his Seat: His Sca– ven-headed Kingdom is no longer reckoned of, (as i\ir. Mede rcafons). But that which bath chiefly confirmed me in the Opinion, that the Period of the Beafi's Kingdom is by the Holy Ghofi reckoned to end with this fall of the City of Rome, is, That I obfervethe I7th and 18thChapters are principally and on purpofe added ; firfi, to prefent this City of Rome in all her Bravery, before her Ruin, as chap. 17. and then to fing a folemn, fiately, and triumphant Song; for her Ruin and DcfiruCl:ion,as Chap.I8.throughout. Now that the Holy Ghofi !hould make this Ruin of the City that hath fo long reigned (as ~·erf !aft of Chap. 17.) over the Kings of the Earth, fo great a matter of Triumph, and fo e~inent above all Things el(e in thisBook, imports, That the !aft and fatal Pe– rtod of that fourth Roman Monarchy (of which that City was to be the Seat, and the Beall the lafi Head) is here to be accounted as come, and the number of its Years expired, the Beafi's Kingdom being now as good as at an end. He may indeed raife fome trouble, and again make fome refitlance, afier the fixth Vial; but Reign any more he !hall not: For otherwife, this had been P.cana TriMtphalem ante Vitlo1·iam canere, to triumph before an a!fured Vil.tory; which the Holy Ghofi would not have done, upon this Occafion, but relervecl it till ~fter the feventh Vial. But then was to come another manner of Triumph, more high and glorious; for the Marriage of the Lamb, when Rome's Ruin, and the Beafi's -Kingdom; will be forgotten. And therefore God ordained it to be performed at the Funeral
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