of the REVELATION. 57 2 • And as in reafon it mull: be fo, fo the Holy Gholl: hatb declared, that the Q:'-''-""" prefervation from the Hurt of thofe Mahu~etan Invafion!, was the aim of this ~~ fealing thus afore·hand, ( fo great was God s care) -and that therefore,rhefe Servants of God, the 144000 fealed here, are indeed the Chrillians of the Eaft, who were only in danger to be hurt in their ~ouls by Apo(hcy, through the tyranny of thefe Trumpets. · You may. read m the 9th Chapter, ver.f. 4· that when thefe Saracen Locufis,under their Ring-l,eacler .MahonJet, were firfilet loofe, and had their Commiffion, that then comes in -this.C!aufe of.Exception, that they jho11/d h11rt only thofe Men tbat were not foaled. .In that therefore then, and not till then, and there only, the menuon of thts Pnvrledge. of thetr bemg fealed comes in, it manifefily argues, that the main and primary intention of the fealing of this Company, had its place and accompli(hment in P,erlons that were under the Blall:s of thefe Loc-e1ll:s. The Holy Ghoft hath fet this as an hand in the Margent, to point at them; and to iliew, that although in the V~Gon_ their fealing comes in before-hand, (chap. 7.) yet here efpecially it receives its intended aim and fulfilling, in the real execution of it ; as if he had laid, Now comes in the Myll:ery of the leali~g of thofe 144c;oo, (chap. 7·) in thefe two Trumpets, the fifth and fixth. Netther can It be ob;efred, that even the Chrifiians in the Well were preferved from the Hlllt of thefe Incurfions; in that thefe Mahumetans were reftrained from breaking in upon thefe ten Kingdoms; and that fo they might be meant. . For, r. the Myll:ery of Sealing, notes the Jingling out, and marking of fome here and there, from the croud of citliers ( defigned to ruin) by God's fpecial hand of Providence ; even as the Door-Po(ls of the lfraelites were mar-. ked, as a Man marks his Sheep when he puts them in among other Droves : And fo the Mourners going into Captivity with the reil, were marked: But lo, not the Servants of.r.od in the Weft only, but all the Kingdomsof the Weft lliould'have been fatd to be fcoled; which;, controry to the My£tery of Sealin!J here intended. And therefore it mu(! mean God's lcattered Ones, under the Bla(ls of thofe Trumpets fcattered (like the twelve Tribes, JanJ.r. 1.) hereand there in thofe Countries, but their Souls preferved faithful unto Chrift, maugre all the Mahumetan Seducements or Bondage they were then lubjecred unto. And, 2. they are faid (when they partake of the New Jerufalem, veri. 14; I).) to come o11t of great Tribulation: and therefore it mu(( be meant of fuch as were not wholly \<ept free from Mahumetan Incurfions, but were under them; and in great Tribulation by reafon of them. For (as Forbes well obferves) that gredt Trib11lation (chap. 7. I 4·) mufi needs be the danger of thole Locu£ts, (chap. 9·4· ) from .the Hurt of which (fo as not to damn their ~ouls, though affhfr them they mrght) they iliould he preferved ; (although he mdeed inter– prets both this TribHlation, and the Hnrt done by the Locn(ls, to be that Anti· chrillian Perfecution in the We£t, but is rather that 'Tyranny of Mahumetans in the Ea£t.) Add to all this the many Charac'rers in the Text, that carry it to thefe Eacferri Chrifiians, affording probable Realons that they iliould be intended : As, Firft; That the Angel, who feals them, is laid to afcend from the Ettft,. (veri. 2, ) or from the rijing of the Sun, (as it is in the Original) as coming up hke the Sun when it rifeth, in the Ea(lern Part of the Horizon, or of the World. And his ftanding there to Seal thefe Chrill:ians, manifeftly thereby draweth our Eyes to the Eall:ern parts of the World, as the place where thele fealed Ones are to be found. And? fecondly, That they are prefented as a few timmay be flutnbred, and as makmg up but a few in many Ages (as was faid) and living in that conditi– on, even to the very Times of the New Jemfdem, under great Trib11iatio,, and fcattered apart like to the twelve Tribes 5 and that from the Primitive Time~, in this uniform condition of Paucity, and Tribulation, and Darknefs; which (a.\ was oblerved) thofe I44ooo, in chap. 14. are not, but do arile up to a greater Light and Victory, before the Time of the New JmtfalenJ under the I · Vials ;
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