_And the Angel stood_, upon the earth and sea, _saying, Rise and measure
the Temple of God and the Altar, and them that worship therein_, that is,
their courts with the buildings thereon, viz. the square court of the
Temple called the separate place, and the square court of the Altar called
the Priests court, and the court of them that worship in the Temple called
the new court: _but the_ great _court which is without the Temple, leave
out, and measure it not, for it is given to the _Gentiles_, and the holy
city shall they tread under foot forty and two months_. This measuring hath
reference to _Ezekiel_'s measuring the Temple _of Solomon_: there the whole
Temple, including the outward court, was measured, to signify that it
should be rebuilt in the latter days. Here the courts of the Temple and
Altar, and they who worship therein, are only measured, to signify the
building of a second Temple, for those that are sealed out of all the
twelve tribes of _Israel_, and worship in the inward court of sincerity and
truth: but _John_ is commanded to leave out the outward court, or outward
form of religion and Church-government, because it is given to the
_Babylonian Gentiles_. For the glorious woman in heaven, the remnant of
whole seed kept the commandments of God, and had the testimony of _Jesus_,
continued the same woman in outward form after her flight into the
wilderness, whereby she quitted her former sincerity and piety, and became
the great Whore.
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