C!An ExPOSITION ~ Vials : Now how dot!;> this agree with thofe poor, forlorn, EaClern Chrifiians, ~ whole Churches have remained corrupt and dark, and overwhelmed with Super– fiition and Ignorance under all thefe Times, (and fo but a few among them Holy) and have been under thefe Mahumetan Tribulations a thoufand Years, the one half of them, and the other half two hundred Years, and continue fiill to dolo under the Turks, without any eafe from Mifery, or reCloring to Light and Beauty. And yet Chrifl: hath bad a Company among them, though fcat· tered and divided; for fo they are parted into feveral Sects and Companies, as theGrecian and Armenian Chrifiians, &c. And therefore God bath preferved among them the Knowledg and Profeffion of Chri!l:, and of much more Truth than is in the Romifh Church (in the dark Times of it) to be found ; which God fanctifies to fame of them. And in that, according to all the bell: Inter– preters, this Turkifh Tyranny and Tribulation is to continue, even till the New Jemfalem, (for the Turk is to be overthrown, to make way for the Jews, the Kings of the Ea!l:, under the fixth Vial, and to be defl:royed by the Seventh) ; bow cloth this accord alfo with this, that the frate of thefe Ea!l:ern Saints is re– J>refented here to confi!l: of fo few, and thofe to be under great Tribulation un– til the Time of the New JerH[alem, as that which fhould prove their firll Deli– verance; and when they come into the :JI(}w Jenifi.!em, to be as it were but 11ew come out of that Great Tribulation. And the wonder that is made at this God's gracious dealing with a People, fo of all Chriflians forgotten, and not accounted of, (that ever they fbould be taken into this New Jemfalem) cloth further confirm it: For that the WellernChurches, that have born the heat of Antichri!l:ian Perfecntion, and overcome Antichri!l:, (and !hall in the end per– fect their Vifrory) and have fet up Temples, encreafing more and more in Light and Glory, even until the New Jemfalem; that thefe fhould be made partakers of the New Jemfalem, is no wonder, no flrange thing; for rhey growing up unto it, it were !l:range if it fbould prove otherwife : And therefore, chap. I 9· r, &c. we find them (after the Ruin of the Whore) preparing themfelves yet more for the Morriage of the Lamb. But tha! thefe forlorn Grecians fhould be taken into it, among whom we fcarce imagine any Believers at all to be, this might well be made one of the greatefl Wonders of God's riche!l: Grace and Mercy, (and bath as much affefred my Heart to confider, fince the time God led me into the thoughts of it, as any thing through the whole Book) that (as the Prophet faith) this Ephraim fhould be his pleafant Child, who would have thought ! But this is ju!l: like God, whofe Ways are unfearchable, and his Works pall finding out. And therefore one of the Elders fays here unto 1ohn, verf. I 3· ( as provoking him to obferve this Paffage, as much as any thing in this Book) What are theft? and whence come they ? And John lays unto him, Thou ftnowejl ; and he laid, Thefe are they who come 011t of great Trib11lation ; and in– deed the greatefl Tribulation that ever the Servants of God were under. And there are thele probable likelyhoods for this alfo, (even according to the courfe of God's Ways and Dealings) for God to chufe fuch a People from under fo great Tribulation, and who are of all the lowe!l:; and therefore, or for thiscaufe (as it is verf I4.) to make them partakers of fo great a Priviledg; this is julllikeGod, who loves to do AtTsofMercy, which may jufrly fetal! the World a wondering. And they having born the Heat of the Day, and continued in the Profeffion of Chri!l: as well as we ; reafon is, they lhould be recompenced, and have their Penny alfo. And they being feared in thofe very Dominions where the Turk is feated, who is to be overthrown by or for the Jews, to make way for them to get poffeffion of their own Land, which lieth in thofe Eallern Countries, and in the mid!l: of thole Nations, (who are there– fore called Kings of the Eaft, Chap. I6. I2.); how probable is it therefore that upon the Ruin of the Turks, they !hall be thus delivered! and that if any Gentiles be partakers of the Jew's Priviledg, thofe Chri!l:ian Gentiles !hould, who have been opprelfed by this their Common Enemy, and who dwell and inhabit in Countries near, and about the Land of the Jews; efpecially if their Land fbal!Ge made (as is thought by fome) the chief Seat of that Fifth Mo– )larchy ; then furel y, theft: Nations that are nearefr them, are like moA topartake
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