The affairs of the Church begin to be considered at the opening of the
fifth seal, as was said above. Then she is represented by _a woman_ in the
Temple of heaven, _clothed with the sun_ of righteousness, _and the moon_
of _Jewish_ ceremonies _under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve
stars_ relating to the twelve Apostles and to the twelve tribes of
_Israel_. When she fled from the Temple into the wilderness, she left in
the Temple a _remnant of her seed, who kept the commandments of God, and
had the testimony of Jesus Christ_; and therefore before her flight she
represented the true primitive Church of God, tho afterwards she
degenerated like _Aholah_ and _Aholibah_. In _Diocesian_'s persecution _she
cried, travelling in birth, and pained to be delivered_. And in the end of
that persecution, by the victory of _Constantine_ over _Maxentius_ A.C.
312, _she brought forth a man-child_, such a child as _was to rule all
nations with a rod of iron_, a _Christian_ Empire. _And her child_, by the
victory of _Constantine_ over _Licinius_, A.C. 323, _was caught up unto God
and to his throne. And the woman_, by the division of the _Roman_ Empire
into the _Greek_ and _Latin_ Empires, _fled_ from the first Temple _into
the wilderness_, or spiritually barren Empire of the _Latins_, where she is
found afterwards sitting upon the Beast and upon the seven mountains; and
is called _the great city which reigneth over the Kings of the earth_, that
is, over the ten Kings who give their kingdom to her Beast.
Pages:
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252