THEOREMS; Evincing, That the Subject of the Fourth and Fifth Chapters of the REVELATION, is the Church of ENGLAND, B. L. E. With ANSWERS to OBJECTIONS.  
Humbly offered to the Serious Consideration of All ENEMIES of the Church of England, DISSENTERS and SEPARATISTS. By Wal. Garrett, Rector of Everly in Wiltshire: Sometime Fellow of Trinity College in Cambridge.  
Who hath Believed our Report, and to whom is the Arm of the Lord Revealed?  Esai. liii. 1. 
The Harvest is Plenteous, but the Labourers are Few,  Mat. ix. 37. 
I Have Already (by God's Assistance) Giv'n-forth an Exposition of Every Particular, in the Fourth and Fifth Chapters of the Revelation; and now come to Evince the CERTAINTY of it: by laying down such Theorems, or Propositions, of Unquestionable Verity, as will serve at Once both to Establish my own Exposition, and to Refel All Others Whatsoever.  
(I.) The Church Described in Rev. iv, and v. was not in Being, when St. John Received the Vision. For the Vision is Expressly Entitled by the Spirit Himself, Chap. iv. 1. Things that must be HERE AFTER. (II.) The Throne in those Chapters therefore, is not the Throne of God, in the Highest Heaven; nor the Sitter on the Throne, God Almighty Himself in Person; (for These were not Things to Come, but have been the SAME from All Eternity:) but the Sitter on the Throne, is God Ruling in and by some Earthly Potentate; and his Throne is a Throne on EARTH. And Consequently, The Church in which this Throne is Set, and over which the Sitter on it does Preside, is a Church on Earth. (III.) Whereas they are said, Not to Rest Day and Night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty; Which Was, and Is, and is to Come: It cannot hence be Concluded, That they should Never take any Rest in Sleep; nor that Always, when Awake, they should be saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, etc. but that they should Say it Every Day, and Every Night; or Every Morning, and Every Evening; and That, Often at Every Time; and very Observably; or to Some Such Sense, as That is. As, when S. Paul enjoins Every Christian, to Pray without Ceasing, 1 Thess. v. 17. So, Eph. vi. 8. Act. xx. 31. Rom. i 9 1 Thess. i. 3. For it is a very Common Phrase; and Can Mean no other, but Constantly, at certain Returns of Time; or some Such Thing. (IV.) Neither ought it hence to be Inferred, That this Church was to make use of No Other Words, in her Addresses, but Holy, H, H; L, G, A, etc. But only, That she was to Use a Constant FORM, of Prayer and Praise; in which, One of the most Remarkable Things should be, her Glorifying the Blessed Trinity Only. For that this Church is here set forth, as Using a FORM, is Undeniable. And therefore No Church that does not use a Form, of Glorifying the Blessed Trinity; (Nay, that does not use it Much, and very Observably,) can be the Church here Described. For, How Oddly would it look, to pretend to Give an Idea, of a Church that is a Professed Enemy of Forms; or that hardly Ever Mentions the Trinity Distinctly in their Prayers, by telling us, That they Rest not Day, and Night, Saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which Was, and Is, and is to come? As on the Other side, it is the Very Characteristic of Our Church's Service. Insomuch that I cannot Forbear to say, That to him that is in Search, after the Church here Prefigured, That One Circumstance is Sufficient to Forestall his Judgement for the Church of England. (V.) There is No Necessity, That they should use Those Very Words neither; It is Enough, if the Words be LIKE them. For Identity is not Required in Visions, but Likeness Only. Thus a City, in Prophecy is called a Woman; a Tyrant, a Beast; etc. Because of their Near Resemblance, as to those Things the Prophecy Respects in them; as, the Parturiency of the One, and the Savageness of the Other. It is therefore, for the Fulfilling of the Prophecy we are Speaking of, Sufficient, if the Church gives Glory to the Blessed Trinity in Words LIKE These, Holy, H, H; L, G, A: Which Was, and Is, and is to Come; Such, for Example, as are These of Our Church, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it Was in the Beginning, Is Now, and Ever shall be, World without end. Where we see the Words [As it Was, Is now, and ever shall be,] Perfectly to Correspond to Those in the Type, [Which Was, and Is, and is to Come.] And (in the Former Clause) Father, Son, and H. Ghost, Answer as Directly to Lord, God, Almighty; and Glory, to Holiness. For God is said to be Glorious in Holiness, Exod. xv. 11. For as the Usual Notion of Holiness in Scripture, is Separation: So the Glory of God is, that Nothing can be Compared to him, Esai. xl. 18. xlvi. 5. (VI) The Sealed Book is That, whose Visions are Distinctly Set-down, in the Sixth, and Following Chop. This is Plain to Sense (VII.) By Opening the SEALS of this Book, is Meant Explaining it. There is No Other Sense of Opening the Seals of Any Book, throughout the Scripture. For Sealing Always singnifies Concealing the Sense of a Mystery; and Opening is Explaining it. For which, see Dan. ix. 24. and xii. 4. Esai. xxix. 11. Luk. xxiv. 32. Acts xvii. 3. And I am very well Assured, there is No One Place to the Contrary. I do not say, That Barely to Open a Book, is to Explain it: but to Open the SEALS of a Book; or to Open the Text, or Writing, of a Book: for the Seals are Always upon the Text; and Not upon the Cover, Paper, or Parchment of a Book. And if the Book we are speaking of, had been Sealed only with Wax, Led, or Ir'n, etc. What Needed All That Ceremony, (Setforth so Particularly, and Pompously, in the uth. Chapter) about the Losing of its Seals, when Every Mechanic could have done it? But it is There Affirmed, That No one in Heaven, nor in Earth, nor Under the Earth, could do it. What? Not Break, or File, or Cut, or some way or other Get-off, a Seal from a piece of Parchment? That's strange indeed! (VIII.) It is not God's Giving his Son the Revelation, that is Described in Rev. v. For That was Done Before the Vision was Exhibited to S. John. But the Vision of Rev. v. is Manifestly a Part of those things, which the Spirit Entitles, Things that were to come to pass AFTER Chap. iv. 1. (IX.) The Vision therefore of Rev. v. is a Prefiguration of the Circumstances, that were to Accompany the Explaining of the Said Book; when the Time was Come for it. Which is an Indisputable Result from the Two next-foregoing Theorems. (X.) The Precise Time for the Fulfilling of Rev. v. 5. is That, wherein the First Notice was to be given, of the True Way of Expounding the Book. For when upon Loud Proclamation made, No One in All the World was Found Able to Do it, to the Great Grief of such as Earnestly Desired it, Weep not, (sa●s one of the Elders;) Behold, the Lion of the Tribe of Juda, etc. hath Prevailed to Open the Book; that is, He hath Oped it by Me. For if he meant Only, That Christ Can Do it, if he Would; it is Gratis Dictum. And one might as well say, of the hitherto-Unintelligible Parts of Ezekiel, That Christ hath Prevailed to Open Them too. But we are ne'er the Wiser for it Yet. The Elder's Meaning therefore must be This; Behold, The Lion of the Tribe of Juda, etc. hath Instructed ME to Open the Book, and Lose its Seals. (XI.) Mr. MEDE is the Pers'n, that gave the First Notice of the Book's Opening, Anno. 1632. and made a very Considerable Progress in it. And is Consequently That Elder Spoken of Rev. v. 5. For This, we have the Testimony of Mons. Jurieu, Accomp. of Scrip. Proph. Part. I. Chap. VIII. Joseph Mede, in my Opinion, is the First that Understood Any thing of the Sealed Book. We have also the Concurrent Evidence of All Protestant Interpreters (excepting H. Grotius, and Dr. Hammond, Deserted by All Protestants, and Rejected even by Monsieur de Meaux Himself, in his Explication of the Apocalypse, Pref. pag. 62.) that have Joined their Suffrage with him. But This Proposition can be No Otherwise Demonstrated, than by Aswering Any Man's Objections, that Dissents from us, which he will find Enough, that will be Ready to Engage in. But Thus much is Certain, That, (if Mr. Mede be not the First;) Whoever Is, or shall be the First, is the Elder There Mentioned; I Mean in Rev. v. 5. And Consequently, of the Number of the 24 Elders, Rev. iv. 4. And the Church, he is a Member of, is That, whose Establishment is Predicted, Rev. iv. (XII.) Before the Reformation No Man Understood the Book. This is So Apparent; that the Contrary is not, I believe, so much as Pretended by Any Man whatsoever. (XIII.) The Sealed Book therefore, whose Opening is Prefigured, Rev. v. Said to be Written Within, and on the Backside, is a Book in the Form We Now have them; and Not, in a ROLL; as Books were Want to be Made-up in S. John's time. Of which Book, the Outside-writing is the Text; as it lies before Us in These Days; and is Read by Every Child at School, as soon as he can Speak. But the Sense contained Under That, is the Inside-writing; which is Found Only in the Skilful Interpreter. The Seal is the Mysterious Expression. And whereas the Whole Book is indeed but One Continued Mystery All along; the Holy Spirit, by Dividing it, (as his Usual Manner is) into seven Parts, makes, as it were, seven Mysteries of it; which He Calls, (according to the Use of Scripture in Such Cases,) Seven Seals. This I Observe, with respect to the Learned, and Ingenious, but yet Needless, Fancy, of those, who have taken the Pains to Excogitate a Way, How a Roll might be Sealed with seven Seals, so that the Opening of the First, might not at the Same Time Disclose the Vision of the Second. As if, at the Time, when the Vision was to be Explained, the Fashion for Books, was to be in Rolls. (XIV.) The Lamb Revived after Slaughter, Standing in the midst of the Throne; who Came, and Took the Book, out of the Hand of the Sitter on the Throne, Chap. v. 6, 7. Cannot be Christ in Pers'n, who Comes not to Any Earthly Throne, (as the Throne we Speak of is;) but it is Christ, in Some Good King, who was to be Slain, as was his Master; and to Rise again in a Figure, (as Isaac is said to have Done, Heb. xi. 19) and as our Good King Charles the Martyr Did, in his Son of the Same name; when he was restored, as it were to Life again, Anno, 1660. Such kind a of Resurrection, is No Stranger to the Prophets; for which see Ezek. xxxvii. 11. 14. Rom. xi. 15. Now Whoever First was to Open the Book, his Performance was to be Seconded with such a Resurrection, Rev. v. 5.6. Which, as it Never Happened in the World Before; So we may Hope, that there will Never be Occasion for Such Another. And if there should Not, the Book must have been Op●n'd Before the Restauration of King Charles The Second. (XV●.) Also, Before the Opening of the Book, there was to be a Loud Proclamation, by a Strong (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Mighty, or Powerful) Angel, for Any one to come and Open the Book, that Can. Which, Before Mr. Mede's Opening it, was made by King James I. According as I have Showed at large, in my Exposition of Chap. v. All which things, with a Great Many More, Conspire to Fix the Honour, of Showing the Way to Open It, upon Mr. Mede; and Consequently, That, of being the Church Prefigured in Rev. iv, and v. upon This Church of Ours. For indeed (to Sum-up All in short) upon This Hypothesis, not only the Exposition of the said Two Chapters; but also, of the Three Foregoing ones, and of Every Particular in them, Runs Strangely Smooth, and Natural, and Every way Unexceptionable; as I have made Appear, by a Thorow-Exposition, I have Published, of them. Which, if the Hypothesis had been Wrong, would have been As Impossible at least, for Me to have done; as it has been for All Other Interpreters, (Men of as Great Learning, Wit, and Fancy, as the World afforded,) who have Proceeded on a Wrong Hypothesis. But instead of That, I have Shown the seven Epistles, and the Fourth and Fifth Chapters, to be a Prophecy of the Church, from the Beginning, to the Times We live in, by Such a Clear, and Solid Explication, of Every Type and Passage in them, as may Defy All Opposition; and which Cannot Reas'nably be Ascribed, to Any thing but its TRUTH.  
The Only Objections, worth the Mentioning, that are come to My Knowledge, are These. Obj. 1. We have No Nocturnal Service; and therefore cannot be said, not to Rest Day and Night, Saying, Holy, H, H; etc. Ans. 1. We account, as from Midnight to Noon, Morning: So from Noon to Midnight again, Night. Thus, at Any Time After Noon, we are Taught to Pray, Light'n our Darkness, etc. and Defend us from All Perils and Dangers of This NIGHT. Ans. 2. By Day and Night (as by Evening and Morning, Gen. i. 5, 8, etc.) in sensu Conjuncto, by a Hendiadis, may be Meant a Natural Day of 24 Hours; Called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 2 Cor. xi. 25. And so the Sense will be, That Every 24 Hours, (or Every Day,) they Fail not Often to Rehearse the said Hymn.  
Obj. 2. Neither is England Large enough, nor the Pers'ns, I mentioned as Concerned in the Prophecy, of Eminent Regard enough (for Grandeur, Fame, or Piety,) for the Spirit to Intent in This Admirable Vision. Ans. Then Ought it to be shown, That I have either Misinterpreted, or Misapplied the Words, or some Considerable Part of them. For if, Without Either of These Faults, the Words be Granted to be Well Adapted to a People, that was not Intended by the Author; Whose Honour, pray, will That Reflect upon? Such Objections therefore as These, that have No Foundation in the Prophecy, are Mere Prejudices. For, Why is not the Church of England Large enough? Only because we Fancy so. For, Where does the Prophecy Require, either a More Extensive Church, than This of England, to be Fulfilled in? Or, more Eminent and Renowned Pers'ns (in their several Stations) than were Queen Elizabeth, King James I. King Charles I. and II. and (for an Elder) than Joseph Mede? But Particularly, as for King Charles II. it is Plain, that He had Piety Enough, to Answer All His Part in the Prediction, to the Full; and with That, let Every one, that pretends to reason, Rest Satisfied. For it cannot be Denied, but that King Charles II. with All his Faults, was, in the Hands of CHRIST, a Noble Instrument of our Political REDEMPTION. And if we think his Private Conversation to have been hardly Suitable to That High Character; yet since, at the Same Time, we Cannot but Confess the Prophecy to be Accomplished in him; give me leave to Remember you, That God sometimes, in the Unsearchable Depths of his Wisdom and Justice, is Found to have made, of the Chief Stones in his Edifice, Stones of Stumbling; at which however, it Becomes not Us (nay, it is very Dangerons for us) to he Offended. From which Danger we can only be Secure, in Taking our Measures from the Word of God; and Not from our Own Delusive Fancies and Prej●dices. And, May Our New Jerusalem, in This, take Warning by the Old one. For it is grown too Plausible and Popular a Humour (because so well Attempered to Most men's Capacities, or Designs) to Vilify Prophetic Speculations, upon Affected Ignorances', and Misappresions. Wherein we are not a little Uncharitable, upon many Accounts. But Especially, in respect of Those, who Otherwise might be Converted by them, from the Error of their ways. As, in Particular, in respect of Non-Conformists, and Separatists; to whom it would be a Singular Piece of Service, to have it Made-out Clearly to them, That the Church of England, By Law Established, is the Church Predicted of in the Fourth and Fifth Chapters of the Revelation: That they Perish not in their Dividing Practices, and Unchristian Strifes, and Emulations. For Our Sectaries do More than cry, I am of Paul, and I of Apollo's, etc. And yet even That, is by the Apostle Termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Division, Sedition, Faction; Envying, or Emulation, Strife, Contention, 1 Cor. i 11, 12. iii. 3, 4. and Said to be (in its Own Nature) Damnable, Gal. v. 20, 21. Accordingly the Same Apostle lays a Grievious Curse upon Such Make-bates, 1 Cor. xuj. 22. If Any Man Love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema, Maran-atha. For he had most Earnestly Besought them, Chap. i. 10. BY THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, to Speak All the Same Thing; and that there be No Divisions among them; but Perfect Concord, in the Same Mind, and in the Same Judgement. With respect to which, in the end of the Same Epistle, (as is said Already) he, in his Zeal for the Church's Unity, does Solemnly Denounce Anathema, Maran-atha, upon all Those Pers'ns, with whom, for want of LOVE to the LORD JESUS CHRIST, his Obtestation should prove Ineffectual.  
I am not therefore of Their Mind, who give-out, That the Fomenters of Unreas'nable Divisions, may be Saved: Grounding themselves upon 1 Cor. three 12, 15. For the Apostle does not say, (as They Imagine,) That the Builders of Ill DOCTRINES shall be Saved; but, of III Pers'ns. For the Building he is There Treating of, are Pers'ns. He Explains himself so, Expressly, ver. 9 YE are God's Husbandry: YE (Pers'ns, Not Doctrines.) are God's Building. Agreeably in the Next Verses, CHRIST (says he) is the Foundation. The Foundation therefore, we see, and Whole Structure, are not Doctrines, but Pers'ns. Whereof Some are Gold, and Some Stubble. But tho' the Stubble be Burnt, yet the Builder shall be Saved; if he were not in Fault. But This, in Building of Dividing Errors, (which is indeed, Destroying, or Pulling-Down, and Not, Building,) Cannot Rightly be Affirmed. I am Sure S. Paul, in That Place, is very Far from So Saying. Be Zealous therefore, Brethren, and Repent; and Join yourselves, with All Alacrity, to the Communion of That Heavenly Church, which, in the Fourth and Fifth Chapters of the Revelation (and I might Add, the Tenth, and Many More, as will Appear Hereafter,) is Adorned and Honoured with So Glorious a Testimony from the Spirit of Prophecy.  
Lastly, Even such as will not Believe without a Sign from Heaven, might hence Receive Incredible Satisfaction. For the Revelation, Set in its True Light, (as Now it is,) What is it but A STANDING SIGN from Heaven, A PERMANENT and PERPETUAL MIRACLE? For therein is Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, Conspicuously Revealed from Heaven, for Sixteen Hundred Years ago, to have set in Order, the Grand Affairs, and Revolutions, of the most Considerable Parts of His Empire in the World; from its Beginning, to our Own Times, Inclusively. Which Considered, with What Conscience can any Man Deny the Being, or the Providence of God? or, that the Scriptures are his Genuine Oracles? (among which he finds the Revelation, to be So (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,) Self-Evident, and to Carry the Authority of the Others, Shining in it;) or Call in Question Any Point, or Article (Especially of the Prime, and Fundamental ones) of Our Religion? For it is not Possible to be Objected against the Revelation, (as was of Old, by Porphyry, against Part of Daniel's Prophecy,) That it was Composed After the Things were Done. Hieron. Praef. Com. in Dan. And yet it is as Plainly, and as Fully Accomplished, as if it had been So Indeed; or, as if the Histories of More than 1600 Years, had All been Writt'n Purposely, in Favour of a Prophecy but Newly Understood; and yet in Every body's Hands So Long Before.  
And Can we make a Trivial Matter, Sirs, of Such Discoveries? Which are, in True Esteem, the Glory of Christianity; and which, if Duly Cultivated, and Improved, (as they both Might, and Ought to be,) would Equal the Condition of Our Times, to That of the First Ages of the Church; as to the Certainty, that we might Gain Thereby, of our Religion; and the Proof, they would enable us to Make of it. And let No Man Here Cry-out upon the Strength of Imagination; till he has Well Weighed the Assertion, and Knows himself Able to Confute it. For, How Easily are the Mists of Fancy, Dispelled by the Light, and Warmth of Sound reason? For My Part, I am very Sensible ● (I Bless God for it) That the Wisdom of the Spirit, has So Contrived the Texture of This Prophecy, that a Foreign Exposition of it may as Easily be Blown away, as a Lose Feather. A Lock, with so Many Substantial Wards to it, is not to be Picked. Which is the True Cause, that not One of the Admirers of H. Gr. or Dr. Hammond, has at Any time Appeared, in Vindication of Their Expositions; they are so Manifestly, and so Grossly Faulty. And so All Others Needs must be, that Err, (as They do) in the Main Subject of the Vision. For a Conclusion therefore of this Paper, I Hearty Commend it, to the Good Blessing of the Great God our Saviour; To Whom be All Glory for Ever. Amen.   

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