C

·

cellam.

think that God hath fet forth us the Apostles, &c.
fays, Thus Enoch and Elias, that fhall be
the Apostles of the last times, muft fuffer
many Perfecutions and Afflictions, for
they must be sent before to prepare the
People of God, and to ftrengthen the
Churches. St. Jerom+; We fhall fay no- +Ep. 148.
thing in this Place concerning Enoch and ad Mar-
Elias, of whom St. John in his Revelation
witneffeth, that they fhall come again
upon Earth and die. The fame (in fhort)
is affirmed by St. Augustin, Lib. 9. de Gen.
Cap. 6. by Profper, de dimid. Temp. Cap. 13. by
St. Gregory, in fob, Lib. 9. Cap. 4. by Damafcen,
de fide Orthodoxa, Lib. 4. Cap.27. Aretas Cæfari-
enfis, in 1 Apoc. &c. And as for the Coming
of Elias, the Holy Scriptures themselves feem
plainly to affert it. For thus faith God by
the Prophet Malachy, Chap. 4.5. Behold I
will fend you Elias the Prophet before the great
and terrible Day of the Lord come, he shall turn
the Heart of the Fathers to the Children, and the
Heart of the Children to the Fathers, left I come
and fmite the Earth with a Curfe. In which
Place the Expreffions of the great and terri-
ble Day of the Lord, and of fmiting the Earth
with a Curfe,do I think, chiefly (if not only)
relate to his Second Coming; for that his
First Appearance, in the Form of a Ser-
vant, cannot with any tolerable Congruity
be called Great or Terrible; and he came
not then to perform any Judicial Acts, but
what were purely Spiritual, the Judging of
the Earth being the grand Defign of his
Second Coming. To this it is objected,

that

that our Bleffed Lord exprefly afferted, that Elias there meant was already come, Mat. 17. 12. To which I Anfwer, That our Lord meant no more than that John the Baptift, the Power and Spirit of Elias, or Elias in the Spirit was come, but not in the Body; in which that he was yet to appear before his Second Coming, our Saviour himself doth not deny, but rather plainly affert. For when the Disciples taking our Saviour's Words in too large a Senfe, asked him, How then Say the Scribes that Elias must first come? Our Lord anfwers, that Elias fhall come, and shall restore all Things; which Words being spoken in the future Tenfe, cannot be apply'd to John the Baptift who was already come, but had not reftored all Things, which is ftill referved to the Coming of Elias in Perfon at the End of the World, or the times of Reftitution of all Things, which God has spoken by the Mouth of all his Prophets fince the World began, Acts 3. 21. And the Author of the Book of Eccluf. 48. 10. feems plainly to understand the Prophecy of Malachy, concerning the Perfon of Elias, of whom he had been speaking, saying, that be was ordained for Reproofs in their times, to pacifie the Wrath of the Lord's Judgment, before it break forth into Fury; and to turn the Heart of the Father to the Son, and to restore the Tribes of Ifrael.---Thefe then are the two Olive-Trees, and the two Candlesticks, standing before the God of the Earth, Rev. 11. 4. Zech. 4. 3. called Olive-Trees from the Divine Unation, as

being anointed Kings and Priests in Christ's Kingdom; and Candlesticks, as bearing in them the burning and fhining Light of the Spirit of Truth, who is the Light of the World; in which Sense the Seven Churches, Rev. 1. 20. are alfo called Candlesticks. And whereas Grotius upon the Place, has brought it as an Argument to prove, that hereby are not meant Two Perfons, but Two Churches, because they are called Candlesticks, which the Angel interprets to be Churches, Rev. 1. 20. we have, I think, as good a Reafon to conclude they are Perfons, because they are called Olive-Trees, which Zech. 4. 14. are interpreted of Two Perfons, Jofbuah and Zerubbabel. Many Scripture-Characters of particular Perfons being applicable to Churches (as may be fhewn at large) and vice verfa. But to proceed, in St. John's Account of these Two Witneffes, If any Man will hurt these (Rev. 11. 5.) .e. make any Attempt upon their Perfons, either by natural or magical Violence, Fire proceedeth out of their Mouth (a plain Allufion to what Elijah did, 2 Kings 1.) and devoureth their Enemies; and if any Man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. V.6. Thefe have Power to fhut Heaven that it rain not in the Days of their Prophecy; (plainly alluding to what Elijah did, 1 Kings 17.1. 18. 1, 41. as in the following Words to Mofes's turning the Waters into Blood, Exod. 7.17.) and have Power over Waters to turn them into Blood, and to fmite the Earth with all Plagues as often us they will. Which Words

N

may,

*

may, I think, fairly be understood in a literal Senfe, without any Violence to the Text of the Nature of Things. V.7. And when they fhall have finished their Testimony, the Beast that afcends out of the bottomless Pit (i. e. Antichrift) fhall make War against them (with more Violence than before) and shall overcome them and kill them. V. 8. And their dead Bodies fhall lie in the Streets (i. e. in one of the Streets, by an ufual Hebraifm) of the great City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where alfo our Lord was crucified. This Great City is unquestionably Jerufalem, called Sodom, Ifa. 1. 10. and may poffibly be meant by Egypt in many Places of Prophetical Scripture. But that which puts it beyond all doubt is, that diftinguifhing Character of being the Place where our Lord was crucified, which has been moft violently wrefted by our Modern Expofitors to fignifie Rome, or Christendom. V.9. And they of the People and Kindreds, and Tongues and Nations, fhall fee their dead Bodies three Days and half, and fhall not fuffer their dead Bodies to be put in Graves. God in this refpect making their Madnefs fubfervient to his Glory. For by being thus expofed in the open Street, their Refurrection and Afcenfion fhall be the more vifible and confpicuous to all that behold them. V. 10. And they that dwell upon the Earth (i. e. The Antichriftian Company) shall rejoyce, over them, and shall make merry and fend Gifts to one another Cas in time of Publick Joy, Hefter 9. 19, 22. Neb. 8. 10-12.) because these two Prophets

!

tormented

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tormented them that dwell on the Earth; (as
the Prophets, and particularly Elijah, were
faid to trouble wicked Kings and People,
1 Kings 18. 17, 18. 21. 20.) V. II. And af
ter three Days and half, the Spirit of Life from
God entered into them, and they stood upon their
Feet, and great Fear fell upon all them that
Saw them. V. 12. And they heard a Voice from
Heaven, Saying unto them, Come up hither; and
they afcended up to Heaven in a Cloud, and their
Enemies beheld them. V. 13. And the fame Hour
was there a great Earthquake, and the tenth
part of the City fell; and in the Earthquake
were flair of Men Seven Thousand, and the Rem-
nant were afrighted, and gave Glory to God.
By Seven Thousand Names, as it in the Origi-
nal, may be meant Seven Thousand, or
perhaps an indefinite great Number, of the
*Chief or Principal Members of the Anti-
chriftian Kingdom, Gen. 6. 4. Job 30. 8. Name, or
The Second Woe is paft, the third cometh quickly, Renown;
Rev. 11. 14. But here it may be objected, oppos'd to
If the Witneffes Prophecy 1260 Days, and Men of no
the Times of the Beaft are 42 Months, ing such as
Name, be-
which are the fame fpace of time diffe- are not
rently expreffed, for that in 42 Months, known in
or three Years and half, 1260 Days are the World
comprehended; then the Destruction of by their
Antichrift muft fynchronize with the Death
of the Witneffes, which cannot be, because
the Death of the Witneffes is the End of
the fecond Woe, and then what time shall
we allot to the third Woe, or the pouring
out of the Seven Vials, which is all tranf
acted within the times of Antichrift, fince
N 2
he

* That is

Men of

Acts.