Vers. 7. And I heard another out of the Altar say, Even so, O Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgements.
The Altar was the place upon which Sacrifices being slain, were laid to be consumed. It signifies a suffering condition, and so is used Rev. 6.9, 10, 11. I saw under the Altar the souls of them which were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cryed with a loud voyce saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge, and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? Only with this difference, the sufferings there spoken of were unto death, and martyrdome, and therefore they are said to be under the Altar; but here, though their sufferings are great, yet not to death, and therefore they cry out of the Altar, though they are upon the Altar, yet not so, but that they can still give testimony to Gods work in the world. The second Testimony therefore coming out of the Altar, or from the Altar, denotes the persons bearing this testimony to be such as lye under great sufferings, who out of the Altar, i.e. in the midst of all their persecutions, do yet give testimony that the strange astonishing and unwonted Effects of this Vial, are no other but the true and righteous judgements of God, inflicted upon those, upon whom this Vial is poured out.
How sutable hereunto is that Testimony not long since sent over, by some exiled Bohemians from Lissa in Po∣land, to us in England, written by one of the banished in a little Book, intituled Clavis Apocalyptica, who in pages 1••3, 104. speaking of the great Revolutions in the Isle of great britain, and particularly mentioning that of the Fountain Head becoming blood, he (though yet as one