rvfn ExPOSITION ~ therefore rejoice for their Vifrory over them. And therefore this is not like to ~be a Ma!lacre of all forts ofProfe!fors at large (as was thatin Pari<,Anno 1572.) but a particular Combat,and fet Battel agamft the fincere Wttne!fee only :Whom their Enemies have been taught to know and diftingui!h from orher•, by the Fire,they have !hot into their Confciences, as verf 5· Thus in .Antiochw his three Years and an half (the Type of this) the Perlecution fell elpecially upon thofe that were Teachers and InftruCl:ers of others. So Dan. I r. 35· And thus will this do. Only let me add this ; That thefe Witne!fes being the Golden (andleflicfz.J alfo, (as may feem by verJ4·) therefore a flattering of them (namely, of the purer Churches) will be joined with it. And if their Olive Trw be felled and removed, if their Prophets and Rulers be fcattered, themfelves then muft needs be fcattered. [Smile the Shepherd, and the Sheep wiO be fcattered J as Chrifl: fpake of himfelf and his Difciples; which fmiting of his there, (namely at his Paflion) is here alluded unto. But a fecond Q_Iery may be; Whether this Killing will be over all the Re– formed Churches, and fo generally of the Witne!fes in all Protelhnt Stares and Kingdoms? Graferw, a judicious Lutheran Divine, thinks that it will be Uni– verfal; and that this is the Angel's very fcope here, thus particularly to del!gn out this !aft Killing, as herein differing from all other former Ones, that it lhould at once be a general and total Eclipfe of True Churches for three Years and an ha!( And fo ( fays he) !f<!!od hatlemH per parte; impleri mmq11an1 dejiit, jam plenarie & univerfaliter perftcietur : that is, That Perfecution which in fome place or other bath never ceafed, arid fo by parts bath been fulfilled, at fevcral Times, that !hall now at once more fully and univerGIIy be accompli!l1'd. And I muft confefs, that the treading down the Outward Court, and the Sins of all Churches, fo great and fo general in all, do univerfally threaten this. And it may be part of the drift of that Speech which we have explained, that thofe of the People;, Kindreds, Tongue;, and Nations, Jhould fee their dead Bodies lie in the Street (or JurifdiC\ion) of the Great City; as importing, that generally, in all thofe Nations where Witne!fes are to be found, they !hall bt killed ; and fo, by that means, they lhould all have opportunity to view and fee their dead Bodies. This I deny not, but think it may be the Event, more or lefs. Yet how– ever, I believe, That fome one Kingdom or State, will more eminently be made, Sedes 'BeUi, the Field of this Barrel, the Shambles of this Slaughter. And one R.eafon hereof is, Becaufe where the Witneffes rife from this their dead Condition, there is an Earth·quake joined with it, which !hakes tbe tenth part of the City ; that is, (as I take it, and !hall afterwards give my R.cafon for it) one pf thofe ten E11ropean Kingdoms, that have given up their Power un– to the Beaft, !hall now in this Slaughter begin to fall from, and ceafe to be a part of the City, or to belong to the Jurifdifrion of Rome any longer; under which, for the fpace of thefe three Years and an half, it had been. Now that falling a'I:Yay of the Tenth Kingdom, being joined with rhefe Witne!fes rillng again, it would argue, that Accident of the Earthquake to fall our for the efpecial help and furtherance of the Witne!fes riling, who are in, or do belong unto that Kingdom, or tenth part of the City. Some one particular State or Kingdom !hall a!lift the Wime!fes in it in .their Ril!ng and Afcending_into Hea– ven; and !haU revenge their Slaughter, by k,jOing 7000 Names of .J/.1m, who were their Enemies, and had been Executioners of them in their fore· palfed Slaughter. Now if their Ref~trretlion and Afcenflon be in Come one part of the ten Kingdoms made more eminently glorious, and fo, the fpecial Privi!edg of the Witne!fes belonging unto that tenth Part ; then one would think, that the kjUing or flaughter of them !hould alfo be in that tenth part of the City more confpicuous than in the relt. For in this fuffering, whereof Chri(t's Paflion is propounded the Type, thofe that fuffer mofr with him, !hall rife and enter into this their Glory fpoken of; which is to be anfwerably proportioned ro their Suffering. If therefore the Glory that follows, feems to be more peculiar to one tenth Part; the fuffering fore-going it would alfo feem to have been more - peculiar
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