Lastly, they have for their head the Angel of the Bottomless-pit, called Abaddon in Hebrew,& Apollyon in Greek, i. e. destroyer, This is not the defcription of the Devil, as Jofeph Mede believed, "Tis the description of Mahomet, a Monster arifing out of Hell, as well as the Locufts: The Angel of the Bottomless-pit. Angel fignifies Paftor & meffenger; & we muft obferve once for all that the name Angel in the Revelation doth not fignify a fpecies of thofe Spirits that are fo called, Angells & Devils. Tis the name of an Office, given fometimes to J. Chrift, fometimes to Paftors, fometimes to men that are Inftruments in Gods hand, fometimes to Spirits separated from matter. So that the Angel of the Bottomlefs-pit, fignifies here no other thing than the falfe Paftor afcended out of the Bottomlefs-pit. He is called Deftroyer, because in truth there never was a man in the world that deftroyed fo many men both as to Body & Soul.

The Turks

Then the fixth Angel founded, I heard a Ch. 9. 13. voice, &c. which faid to the fixth Angel, loofe the four Angells, which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four Angels were loofed which were prepared for an hour & a day, & a month, a year. This is the & fecond of thofe Woes that were cried, We, & their Wo, Wo. These three Woes all have relation to the Roman Empire in its fecond period, fourth i. e. in its Antichriftian period. The firft Monarchy. Wo is the birth of the Saracen Empire & the Religion of Mahomet. The fecond blow is F 4

the

in vafions

on the

the irruptions of the Turks. They must be found in the Prophecies that refpect the Roman Empire; for they take up too confiderable a part in the hiftory of this Empire. Now the Turks will not be found any where else but here, they must therfore be here. And What the Without doubt they are here. What we faid four An- juft now must be remembred, that the name gels in Euphrates Angel in the Revelation fignifies Office, & not Signify. a fpecies of Spirits. See here four Angels

bound in the River Euphrates, & loofed.
Thefe can't be good Angels; for the good
Angels are not bound. They can't be Devils;
for the Devils are not bound in fome places
of the Earth more than in others. So that
these four Angells fignify four Messengers
of the Anger of God, four inftruments of
his Juftice, whofe violence till this time he
reftrain'd;
; & whom afterwards he leaves
wholly to their fury, for the punishment &
ruin of the Roman Empire,as well in its Eastern
as its Western branch. These four Angels
therfore fignify these four Sultanies which
the Turks establifht round about Euphrates,
& in the regions of Afia the lefs, & Syria.
All that have read the hiftory of the Crufa-
does, know, that the Chriftians in the end
of the Eleventh age found them establisht in
thofe four principal feats Nice, Damafcus,
Antioch & Aleppo. The founders of thefe
Sultanies had been kept behind Euphrates for
fome time. But in the tenth & Eleventh
age they were let loose, they overflowed
the Greek Empire, which made a part of the

Ro

Roman Empire; they pufht on their Conquefts as far as Nice, the capital City of Bythinia; i.e. almoft to the very Gates of Con ftantinople. They afflicted all the Coafts of the Mediterranean-Sea, Greece, Sicily and Italy; and at laft they entirely destroyed the Empire of the Greeks, by the taking of Conftantinople, which happened in the year

1452.

This is what is meant by these words, The four Angels were loofed to kill a third part of

men.

The Turks

are fent to

Roman

Empire.

We must remember what hath been faid in the explication of the firft Trumpets, viz. deftroy the that the third part in these Prophecies fignifies the Roman Empire, because that took up about a third part of the World. The Turks are fent to kill the third part of men; i.e. to kill the men of the third part of the Earth, or of the Roman Empire, or of the fourth Monarchy. The Locufts of the fore-going Trum pet were fent, not to kill men, but to torment them for five moneths; because the Saracens and Arabians did only gnaw off the edges of the Roman Empire, and did not penetrate into its entrails,But the Turks pierced even into the very heart of the fourth Monarchy, and laid it defolate; and they have establifht their Empire in one of its capital Cities, viz. Conftantinople.

They are fent to kill the Men of this third part of the World.

Indeed, never was there feen fo horrible

a

Butchery

Butchery of Men, and fo great an Effufion of Blood, as that which the Turks have caufed in their Irruptions, in attacking, or in defending themselves in the Crufadoes. I am perfwaded, all the Conquerors together, fince the beginning of the World, never shed fo much Blood.

To Kill, fignifies alfo a total Deftruction: So that the Prophecy feems to fignifie, that the Turks are fent of God entirely to deftroy the Roman Empire. They have already destroyed the Eastern Branch of it, the feat whereof was at Conftantinople; and there are some that conjecture, that God defigns them alfo to destroy the Western Branch, whofe Seat at this day is at Rome: God only knows this. But tho the Turks fhould do no more than they have already done, 'tis enough to fulfil the Prophecy, which faith,

That God fent them to kill the men of the third part of the Earth, i. e. of Europe.

And the number of the Army of the Horfmen was 200. Thonfand Thousand.

The Turks certainly are originally Scythi ans, Tartars and Nomades; people that had nothing but Horfmen in their Armies. The formidable Infantry of the Turks, which they call the fannizaries, was not inftituted till about the year 1300, by Ottoman, the Founder of the Empire, which at this day poffeffeth Conftantinople, Before that, their chief ftrength was in Cavalry. The Prophet maketh it prodigious for its number. All the

World

World knows the thing happen'd exactly according to the literal fenfe. He also describes them in a hideous manner.

They that fate on the Horses, had Breaftplates v. 17. of Fire, and of Jacinth, and Brimstone.

That is to fay, the heads of thefe Horsemen were like globes of fire, whence came forth flame and fmoke. The heads of the horses were as the beads of Lions, & out of their mouths iffued Fire Smoke, Brimstone. This Fire, this Smoke, and this Brimstone, feem to be a defcription of Gun-powder, and its effects. And this may well fignify that the Turks fhould make their principal defolations in the Empire of the fourth Monarchy, after the invention of canons and fire-arms, whence come forth, lightnings, flames, fulphur & fmoke; which indeed did come to pass.

These horses that vomit up flame & fmoak, have alfo tails like unto Serpents, with which they do hurt, viz. in fpreading their poifon. And this is common to them with the Locusts of the fifth Trumpet. 'Tis the venom of the wicked Religion of Mahomet, which the Turks have eftablished, & fpread in all places where they have eftablifht their dominion.

They that were not Killed by thefe plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not Worship Devills, & idols of Gold, & Silver, & Brass, & Stone & Wood, which neither can fee, nor hear nor walk. Neither repented they of their Murders, nor

,