t. _And upon the seats were four and twenty Elders sitting,
clothed in white rayment, with crowns on their heads_; representing the
Princes of the four and twenty courses of the Priests clothed in linen.
_And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings, and voices_,
viz. the flashes of the fire upon the Altar at the morning-sacrifice, and
the thundering voices of those that sounded the trumpets, and sung at the
Eastern gate of the Priests Court; for these being between _John_ and the
throne appeared to him as proceeding from the throne. _And there were seven
lamps of fire burning_, in the Temple, _before the throne, which are the
seven spirits of God_, or Angels of the seven Churches, represented in the
beginning of this Prophecy by seven stars. _And before the throne was a sea
of glass clear as chrystal_; the brazen sea between the porch of the Temple
and the Altar, filled with clear water. _And in the midst of the throne,
and round about the throne, were four Beasts full of eyes before and
behind_: that is, one Beast before the throne and one behind it, appearing
to _John_ as in the midst of the throne, and one on either side in the
circle about it, to represent by the multitude of their eyes the people
standing in the four sides of the peoples court. _And the first Beast was
like a lion, and the second was like a calf, and the third had the face of
a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle_. The people of _Israel_ in
the wilderness encamped round about the tabernacle, and on the east side
were three tribes under the standard of _Judah_, on the west were three
tribes under the standard of _Ephraim_, on the south were three tribes
under the standard of _Reuben_, and on the north were three tribes under
the standard of _Dan_, _Numb._ ii. And the standard of _Judah_ was a Lion,
that of _Ephraim_ an Ox, that of _Reuben_ a Man, and that of _Dan_ an
Eagle, as the _Jews_ affirm. Whence were framed the hieroglyphicks of
_Cherubims_ and _Seraphims_, to represent the people of _Israel_. A
_Cherubim_ had one body with four faces, the faces of a Lion, an Ox, a Man
and an Eagle, looking to the four winds of heaven, without turning about,
as in _Ezekiel_'s vision, chap. i. And four _Seraphims_ had the same four
faces with four bodies, one face to every body. The four Beasts are
therefore four _Seraphims_ standing in the four sides of the peoples court;
the first in the eastern side with the head of a Lion, the second in