All others were excommunicated.
When the seven Angels had poured out the seven vials of wrath, and _John_
had described them all in the present time, he is called up from the time
of the seventh vial to the time of the sixth seal, to take a view of the
woman and her Beast, who were to reign in the times of the seventh seal. In
respect of the latter part of time of the sixth seal, then considered as
present, the Angel tells _John_: _The Beast that thou sawest, was and is
not, and shall ascend out of the abyss, and go into perdition_; that is, he
was in the reign of _Constans_ and _Magnentius_, until _Constantius_
conquered _Magnentius_, and re-united the _Western_ Empire to the
_Eastern_. He is not during the reunion, and he shall ascend out of the
abyss or sea at a following division of the Empire. The Angel tells him
further: _Here is the mind which hath wisdom: the seven heads are seven
mountains, on which the woman sitteth_; _Rome_ being built upon seven
hills, and thence called the seven-hilled city. _Also there are seven
Kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when
he cometh, he must continue a short space: and the Beast that was and is
not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition_.
Five are fallen, the times of the five first seals being past; and one is,
the time of the sixth seal being considered as present; and another is not
yet come, and when he cometh, which will be at the opening of the seventh
seal, he must continue a short space: and the Beast that was and is not,
even he is the eighth, by means of the division of the _Roman_ Empire into
two collateral Empires; and is of the seven, being one half of the seventh,
and shall go into perdition.
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