n
the _Roman_ Empire, during the reign of the four horsemen, who appeared
upon opening the first four seals. _And there appeared a great wonder in
heaven, a woman clothed with the Sun_. In the Prophecy, the affairs of the
Church begin to be considered at the opening of the fifth seal; and in the
Interpretation, they begin at the same time with the vision of the Church
in the form of a woman in heaven: there she is persecuted, and here she is
pained in travail. The Interpretation proceeds down first to the sealing of
the servants of God, and marking the rest with the mark of the Beast; and
then to the day of judgment, represented by a harvest and vintage. Then it
returns back to the times of opening the seventh seal, and interprets the
Prophecy of the seven trumpets by the pouring out of seven vials of wrath.
The Angels who pour them out, come out of the _Temple of the Tabernacle_;
that is, out of the second Temple, for the Tabernacle had no outward court.
Then it returns back again to the times of measuring the Temple and Altar,
and of the _Gentiles_ worshiping in the outward court, and of the Beast
killing the witnesses in the streets of the great city; and interprets
these things by the vision of _a woman sitting on the Beast, drunken with
the blood of the Saints_; and proceeds in the interpretation downwards to
the fall of the great city and the day of judgment.

The whole Prophecy of the book, represented by the book of the Law, is
therefore repeated, and interpreted in the visions which follow those of
sounding the seventh trumpet, and begin with that of the Temple of God
opened in heaven. Only the things, which the seven thunders uttered, were
not written down, and therefore not interpreted.

Notes to Chap. II.

[1] Isa. vi.

[2] Apoc. v.

[3] Apoc. vii

[4] Buxtorf in Synogoga Judaica, c. 18, 21.

[5] Ezek. ix.

* * * * *

CHAP. III.

_Of the relation which the Prophecy of _John_ hath to those of _Daniel_;
and of the Subject of the Prophecy_.

The whole scene of sacred Prophecy is composed of three principal parts:
the regions beyond _Euphrates_, represented by the two first Beasts of
_Daniel_; the Empire of the _Greeks_ on this side of _Euphrates_,
represented by the Leopard and by the He-Goat; and the Empire of the
_Latins_ on this side of _Greece_, represented by the Beast with ten horns.
And to these three parts, the phrases of the _third part of the earth, sea,
r