1 54 ~ PART II. ~ v1n ExPoSITION SECT. v. The jJwpmfs and the extent of this ViBory, how great i wi>ether unto Veath · 1Jatllral, or '*artyrdom, difcujfed. COncerning the fharpnels of this Victory, of the Beafl:, and of the Popiih Party, how f.1r it !hall extend: As, 1. Whether unto Blood, or to Martyrdom, and to death Natural ofthe Wit– nelfes; and whether this kjlling here be meant of fuch a kind ? I find fome who interpret all done to them to be meant of a Civil Death, not a N11tural; that is, a kjlling them, conltdered as Witne!Jes, not as Men; that is, a taking >way all Power from them, of prophefying as they had wont; a gene– ral lilencing of Minifiers, and depoilng Magiflrates and Men of worth, that profels and uphold Religion, putting them from their Places, fhutting their Shops, burning their Books, &c. And for this, makes, I. That their Death, and lying dead here, is but correfpondent to their Rejitr– re{Jion. Now their Rejitrre{Jion is not from a Natural Death, and therefore fuch not their kj/ling. 2. That their Bodies, when dead, are f.1id to lie in the Street of the great City for three day ancl an half; and after that, a Spirit ofLife to come into tho[e dead Bodies. Now that cannot be meant of natur,1lly dead Men : for their Bodies cannot be fuppofed to have lain naturally dead fo long above-ground. And then, in that the Spirit of Life is C1id to enter into thofe Bodies that were dead; and in that it mufi be fttppofed, that thofe lay dead, who are firft here !aid to be f<jllecl: All this would feem to carry it to the very fame individual Perfons that were kjlled, that they fhould rife. Which to fuppofe of a Nat11ral Rejimef1io11, before the Day of Chrifi, we have no warrant, nor any ground for. And accordingly they interpret that following Palfage; That thofe ofthe Na– ti01u, Tongues, and KindredJ, fiijfir then1 not to he put in Gravu; as that which may be confirued and taken in the better part ; as !hewing what fhould hinder their Enemies from killing them out-right, namely, that there was a Party of Prot<fiams in the Nations about them, that fhould hinder their Enemies from martyring and utterly extinguifhing them, and fhould preferve them above– ground for a reviving; even as Men whom we think not dead, but in a Swound, we ufe to keep out of the Grave, and not bury them, becaufe we hope they may revive again. And fo thefe Prorefhnts, that the C•ufe may again prevail, they may prclervc the Perfons. And this the rather appears the Intendment here; In that thefe of the Nations, Tongues, and Kindred,, feem to be a di– verfe and diflinct Company from the Enemies of the Witnelfes. For of their Enemies, that is C1id which follows in the next verfe ; And thofe that dwelt on the Earth, rejfJiced over them, &c. As if the Angel went about to defcribe the differing Spirits of the two forts of Men, of whom he fpeaks, towards thefe Witneffes : The one (whom he calls thole of Nations, Tongues, and Kindreds) as Friends doing them this kind Office, as not to Jitjfir their Bodies to be put i11 GraveJ : But the other (whom as diverfe from thefc, he calls under a new Phrafe, Thofe that dwell on the Earth) as Enemies rejoicing over them. Which makes this fuffering of tbe Wirndles herein alone to differ from Chrifi's (unto which, in all other Circumfiances, the Allufion holds) that Chrifi was really fl..i/led, and therefore buried: But thefe, though killed as WitneffiJ, yet are not fulfrred to be buried ; as noting out a keeping them from an Extinction, or an utter taking them out of the way, though by their Enem.ies they be fupprelfed. And it may be, that as Chrifi foretold his R.efurrection the third Day, and fo, it was commonly known and bruited, that even the Pharifees had knowledg of it, and C1id unto Pi/ate, ThiJ Deceiver foid, he would rife the third Day; which they laughed at as a vain Dream: So it may be, this very Notion of fuch a prevail– ing of the Popifh Party for three Years and an half, which bath been fo long and fo much fpoken of in the Church, !hall be fo commonly known, (as already it
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