goodly planet, which was wont to bring comfort, by the light thereof, to the inhabitants of the earth, became so fiery and scorching, that the beams thereof were intolerable; breeding extreme plagues and calentures, and other deadly maladies amongst men.

XVI. 9. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

And men, being broiled as it were with the extremity of heat, and tormented with the diseases which followed thereupon, instead of humbling themselves under the just and powerful hand of God, wickedly blasphemed his Name; who had the power to inflict these plagues: and they repented not of their sins, nor gave him the glory of his justice.

XVI. 10. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain;

And the Fifth Angel poured out his vial on the Prime Seat and Metropolis of the Empire; and the power and government thereof, both spiritual and temporal, began to be obscured and abased; and the followers and abettors thereof gnawed their very tongues for indignation;

XVI. 11. And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

And, instead of acknowledging their error, they blasphemed the God of Heaven, because of their deep discontent and vexation, and repented not of their wickedness.

XVI. 12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

And the Sixth Angel poured out his vial upon the great River Euphrates, which was the defence of the Eastern Babylon; and, as Cyrus, when he went about to take that city, first drained the channel of the Euphrates and derived the streams another way, so shall it be now ordered, by the Providence of God, that this great river shall be made passable to the kings of the East, that so those of the Turkish Empire may have way and opportunity for their armies against the West.

XVI. 13. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

And I saw a resolute conspiracy and combination of Satan, and his two powerful instruments, the secular and spiritual powers; who agreed to send forth their most forcible agents, for the making of a strong party on their behalf.

XVI. 14. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the

whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

For they are the emissaries of Satan; and, for the effecting of their purpose, do and pretend strange miracles; stirring up the kings of the earth, to arm all their powers, and to bring them forth to that great battle, wherein Almighty God hath determined to give that notorious foil unto the enemies of his Church.

XVI. 15. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

Behold, this, which I intend to do, I will do it suddenly and unexpectedly. Blessed is he, that abideth in prayer and watching, keeping about him the garments of true righteousness and innocence; lest, being stripped thereof, he be put to just shame and confusion.

XVI. 16. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

And these people were gathered together by the Providence of the Almighty, through the instigation of their emissaries, into a place designed by God for their destruction; as Sisera and his army were brought into the valley of Megiddo for their overthrow.

XVI. 17. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

And the Seventh Angel poured out his last and most universal plague, into the very Air, wherein the enemies of his Church do breathe; and there came a great voice out of the heavenly Temple, even from the throne of the Almighty, saying the overthrow of mine enemies is now come to a very speedy execution.

XVI. 18. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

And, in a kind of heavenly applause to this sentence and decree of the Almighty, and as an effect of those plagues which were poured out of the seventh vial for the confusion of the enemies of God, there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, and strange commotions, and alterations of the states of the world; such as were never formerly seen, or known.

XVI. 19. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

And the great city, which was the Empress of the World, by the force of that commotion was divided into three parts:

while some adhered unto their old superstitions and errors, others professed dislike and detestation of them and a third sort carried them in a neutrality betwixt both; and the cities of the Paganish, Jewish, Mahometan profession fell off from their wonted mis-religion: and that great city, the Mystical Babylon, came in remembrance, for her speedy revenge, before God; who now was ready to pour upon her the fierceness of his wrath and indignation.

XVI. 20. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

And every island fell off and revolted from her; and those firm stays, which she thought to be most assured, were no more found to stand out for her maintenance.

XVI. 21. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

And, as it was in the days of Joshua, that God fought against his enemies from heaven, by casting down great and weighty hailstones upon their heads; so shall he confound his Antichristian enemies, at the last: and men, in the bitterness of their anguished souls, shall be ready to blaspheme the Name of God, which sendeth this judgment upon them.

XVII. 1. And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

And there came one of those Seven Angels, which had the charge of the Seven Last Plagues to be poured upon the world, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, and I will shew thee the judgment of that Great City, who is infamous for her spiritual fornications, and who ruleth over many nations:

XVII. 2. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

By whom the kings of the earth have been drawn into abominable idolatries; and the inhabitants of the earth have been deceived and bewitched, with the pleasing doctrine and practice of her superstitions.

XVII. 3. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

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So he ravished me away, in a holy ecstasy of spirit, into the wilderness and there, for the more free and full contemplation of these matters, by the opportunity of the solitariness of the place, he represented unto me the Antichristian State, in the form of a Woman sitting upon that great and glorious seat

of the empire; which was distained with horrible and great blasphemies, being situated upon seven hills and having the command of ten kings.

XVII. 4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

And the woman was very gorgeously set forth, in all manner of rich ornaments, that the earth or sea could afford: and she had in her hand a golden cup, specious in shew, but full of error and abomination; which was that poisonous and intoxicating doctrine of heresy and idolatry, wherewith she hath seduced the people of the earth:

XVII. 5. And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

And, in the open shew and carriage of her, any indifferent man might read thus much; This is that Mystical Babylon, the Great City of the World, the most Infamous Author and Pattern of all both Spiritual and Bodily Fornications, and all Outrageous Wickedness.

XVII. 6. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

And I saw the cruelty of this state and government such, as that it was even overlaid with the excess of that innocent blood of God's Saints and holy Martyrs, which it had causelessly shed and when I saw this sight, I stood marvelling, with great astonishment and admiration.

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XVII. 7. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore did sthou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carried her.

And the angel, seeing me thus amazed, said unto me, Why wert thou thus astonished at this sight? I will shew thee the true and plain meaning of this vision; and the signification, both of the Woman, and of the Beast that carrieth her.

XVII. 8. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

The Beast, then, which thou sawest, is no other than the Roman Empire; the port and magnificence whereof was very great, in the days both of their former governors, and especially in the reign of their late emperors, Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, and Claudius: but now, in the following times of Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Domitian, is much abated of

the former glory and greatness, and is now void by the death of the late governor ; but shall be supplied again by much variety of usurpers, as it were out of hell itself; into which place of perdition they shall soon return: and those, that do not belong to the election of God, nor are acquainted with the course of his providence, shall wonder at the strange and uncouth alterations of this vast Monarchy; which was once so glorious and powerful, and now is not so great as it was, yet still hath an eminent being amongst men.

XVII. 9. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. This is the interpretation of this vision, according to true understanding and wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills, whereon that city is built.

XVII. 10. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

And, withal, they signify seven forms of government or rule, which that state hath been and must be swayed by; viz. Kings, Consuls, Dictators, Decemviri, Tribunes, Emperors, Ecclesiastical Princes; whereof the five first are past and gone, and the sixth of them is now in being, and the seventh is not yet come; and, when it doth come, it shall not hold long, before it be wasted, and, for the time, suppressed, by the inundation of barbarous nations.

XVII. 11. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

And that last form of government, which I said should be for a time suppressed, and yet is not come into being; even that is the eighth, in respect of that spiritual power and jurisdiction, which it shall challenge and usurp; and yet is one of the seven, in respect of this temporal dominion, which it claimeth; and shall in due time be destroyed.

XVII. 12. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

And the ten horns, which thou sawest, are ten several kings; but such as are not yet in being, nor have their kingdoms as yet erected; but shall be set up afterwards, even at the same time, that the Second Beast shall arise to greatness, out of the ruins of the Empire.

XVII. 13. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

These are all agreed, to give their utmost strength and assistance to that Second Beast, which is the False Prophet; and shall join both their counsels and forces, to that purpose.

XVII. 14. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them.