When the primitive
Church catholick, represented by _the woman in heaven_, apostatized, and
became divided into two corrupt Churches, represented by the _whore of
_Babylon__ and the _two-horned Beast_, the 144000 _who were sealed out of
all the twelve tribes_, became the _two Witnesses_, in opposition to those
two false Churches: and the name of _two Witnesses_ once imposed, remains
to the true Church of God in all times and places to the end of the
Prophecy.
In the interpretation of this Prophecy, _the woman in heaven clothed with
the sun_, before she flies into the wilderness, represents the primitive
Church catholick, illuminated with the _seven lamps_ in the _seven golden
candlesticks_, which are the _seven Churches_ of _Asia_. The Dragon
signifies the same Empire with _Daniel_'s He-goat in the reign of his last
horn, that is, the whole _Roman_ Empire, until it became divided into the
_Greek_ and _Latin_ Empires; and all the time of that division it signifies
the _Greek_ Empire alone: and the Beast is _Daniel_'s fourth Beast, that
is, the Empire of the _Latins_. Before the division of the _Roman_ Empire
into the _Greek_ and _Latin_ Empires, the Beast is included in the body of
the Dragon; and from the time of that division, the Beast is the _Latin_
Empire only. Hence the Dragon and Beast have the same heads and horns; but
the heads are crowned upon the Dragon, and the horns upon the Beast.
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