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A30061 A letter of a Protestant clergy-man to the reverend clergy of the Church of England, and to all other good Protestants advertising them from the sacred revelation of St. John of the evil which he apprehends to be coming upon the Protestant church, etc. / written by Digby Bull ... Bull, Digby. 1695 (1695) Wing B5412; ESTC R40767 54,096 68

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A LETTER OF A Protestant Clergy-man TO THE Reverend CLERGY OF THE Church of England AND To all other good Protestants advertising them from the sacred Revelation of St. John of the Evil which he apprehends to be coming upon THE PROTESTANT CHURCH c. Written by DIGBY BULL M. A. and late Rector of Sheldon in Warwickshire London Printed for the Author and are to be sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster 1695. Reverend Brethren both of the Clergy and Laiety I Am apprehensive and very confident than an Evil Time is at hand and that Popery is ready to come in upon us for the great Abuse of that blessed Light of the Gospel which we have so freely enjoyed And I doubt that first and last there will be a great deal of Bloodshed in this Nation and I would have you all advertised hereof That you may make all the due Preparation against such a Dreadful Time that may be and may do all that lyes in your Power to preserve your selves and the Flocks that are committed to your Care that you may not fall to Popery nor be taken in any other great Wickedness and so be swept away with the Beesom of Destruction I would have you to peruse Archbishop Usher's Prediction and to make the best use of his Advice that may be For I take it to be of a Divine Nature and do believe that there is Truth in it and that the dismal Time which he speaks of is now at hand And I am perswaded that this Day will come in a surprizing manner as he saith and that such as give themselves up to a carnal and vain Security will be wrapt up in Misery and Destruction before they are well aware of it And therefore it behoveth all Men to look well to the grand Concerns of their Souls and Lives and to be continually upon their Watch and Spiritual Guard that they may not be taken in a vain Confidence like the rich Fool in the Parable Luke 12.16 And from Rev. 11. I do believe that Popery will prevail over us for three Years and an half and that then to the great wonder of the World and like Men from the dead the Protestant Religion shall rise up again and be as Glorious as it was before if not much more so And from the comfortable expectation of this lightsome and joyful Morning we may be the more encouraged with Patience and Perseverance in the Truth to weather out this dark and dismal Night And by the blessed Help and Assistance of Almighty God we shall be able to do it and his Divine Help will never be wanting to us if we seek it with that diligence and care that we ought And the more to keep us from falling to Popery we may remember how strictly we are commanded to keep the Faith and Doctrine of the Gospel pure and uncorrupt and how severely the Violators thereof are threatned And we may sufficiently see that Popery is not at all consistent therewith First We may see that we are strictly enjoined to keep the sacred Commands of Almighty God and to contend earnestly for the Faith of the Gospel and at our Baptism we did solemnly engage to do so by our Sureties Upon our love to him doth our blessed Lord require of us that we should keep his Commandments If ye love me saith he Joh. 14.15 keep my Commandments St. Paul also in sundry places doth strictly charge both Timothy and Titus and in a Solemn manner before God to keep the Precepts and Commandments that he gave them 1 Tim. 5.21 and 6.13 And he sheweth that the Philippians were to strive together for the Faith of the Gospel Phil. 1.27 That ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the Faith of the Gospel and in nothing terrified by your adversaries And this St. Jude presseth also Jude 3. It was needful for me saith he to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints And to the Angel of the Church in Sardis saith our Saviour Rev. 3.3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent By the Angel here we are to understand the Bishops and Pastors of the Church and the Flocks under them the Angel seems to be put for the whole Church but especially for the Governours and Pastors of it And this place as Dr. More sheweth respecteth our own times And here we are admonished to remember how we have been Instructed in the sacred Scriptures and also how we have been taught by the blessed Reformation to lay aside all the sinful Errors and Practices of the Romish Church And here we are also strictly enjoined to retain and hold fast all that is good and agreeable to the sacred Scriptures and upon our neglect herein we are severely threatned with Judgment as the following words shew Secondly We may see that such as any ways make void the sacred Word of God are sharply rebuked and severely threatned for it Our blessed Lord himself doth sharply rebuke the Jews upon this account and shews that such Religion is vain when Men leave the Divine Laws and Commandments of Almighty God to follow the Traditions and Precepts of Men. Mar. 7.7 In vain do they worship me saith he teaching for doctrines the commandments of men For laying aside the commandment of God ye hold the tradition of men And saith he Mat. 5.19 Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven St. Paul also doth shew that he that disannulleth the Gospel of Christ and setteth up any thing in opposition to it is to be had accursed yea tho' he were an Angel from Heaven Gal. 1.8 But tho' we saith he or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed And this the Apostle doubleth that it might be the more heeded and minded and that none might presume to do so And saith St. John 2 Joh. 9. Whosoever abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God And saith he again Rev. 22.18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the Prophecy of this book If any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this Book And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this Prophecy God shall take away his part out of the book of life By these plain places of Scripture we may see how closely we ought to keep to the Sacred Word of God and that it is in vain to pretend to worship and serve Him except we do so And we see that it is a cursed thing to make void the Gospel and to preach up any thing in opposition to it and that such as do so must expect the Wrath and Judgment of God
Child is come to the Birth there may be strength to bring forth 2 Kings 19 ● and that the Fruit of her Womb this Royal and hopeful Issue may be delivered from the bloody Talons and merciless Paws of this red and fiery Dragon and may be caught up to the Throne of God and there preserved that in due time he may Rule all Nations with his strong and iron Rod. Now is the time That that Grand and Set Battel is to be fought between Michael and the Dragon Rev. 12.7 For now will Michael the Archangel and all the Host of blessed Angels that are under him exert and put forth their utmost strength and power and use their utmost vigilancy and Industry for the supporting and upholding of the pure Church of Christ and to keep the Servants of God from Revolting and Backsliding and falling to Popery and being driven by the Terror of men to fall down and worship the Beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless Pit And now will the Dragon also set his shoulder to the work and he and his black Regiments will labour with Might and Main to extinguish and utterly to put an End to the pure Christian Church and to drive all the faithful Servants of God to desert and forsake him and to turn to the Popish Religion and to join with the Beast of Rome which God hath declared to be a grand Rebel against him and his Kingdom And now therefore it is the Duty of every good Protestant and especially of the Bishops and Pastors of the Protestant Church to be at their most ardent Prayers to Almighty God and to implore his Help that he would have Mercy upon his Church and preserve it from being destroyed by the restless Enemies thereof Now is it their duty to lift up their incessant Cryes to the blessed Jesus that he would make good that Promise to his Church Matth. 16.18 That the Gates of Hell should not prevail against it That he would now hold up his Auspicious Hand while this Battel is fought as once Moses did upon a like occasion Exod. 17.11 and that he would stretch out his Almighty Arm for the support of his Church and Servants and Succour us frail Creatures in the Day of Tryal and Grant Success and Victory to Michael and his Angels who is represented as General of the Christian Forces Now let all the valiant Souldiers of Christ put on the whole Armour of God that they may be able to stand against all the Wiles of the Devil Eph. 6.11 For we are now to wrestle not with flesh and blood against the bodily strength of a single man as wrestlers do But against Principalities against Powers against the Rulers of the darkness or the dark and sinful Rulers of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places Wherefore let us take unto our selves the whole Armour of God that we may be able to withstand in the evil Day and having done all that is in our power that we may stand Let all the faithful Servants of Christ now give all that little help and assistance that they can in so righteous and sacred a Cause as this is when the Church and Spouse of Christ lyeth at the Stake and wherein the blessed Jesus and Saviour of the World requireth their service And then if they fight valiantly in this sacred and Renowned Cause and persevere to the end then let them expect his Euge Well done thou good and faithful Servant Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord Matth. 25.21 And saith our Lord to the Church in Sardis to the Pastors and Members thereof even to the present Christian Church as I understand it and as Dr. More also hath interpreted it Rev. 3.5 He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life but I will confess his name before my Father and before his Angels Those that overcome in this Grand Battel against the Dragon in this splendid manner like Victors and Conquerors are they to be clothed their Names are like to stand Registred in the Book of Life as those that are like to enjoy eternal Bliss and Happiness And to their unspeakable joy and endless glory they will be had in honor before Almighty God and his Angels But if any man draw back his Soul will have no pleasure in him Heb. 10.38 And our Lord hath told us Matth. 10.33 That whosoever shall deny him before men him also he will deny before his Father which is in heaven And now let all the Bishops and Pastors of the Protestant Church remember that bitter Curse which the Angel pronounced against the Inhabitants of Meroz Jud. 5.23 Curse ye Meroz said the Angel of the Lord Curse ye bitterly the Inhabitants thereof because they came not to the help of the Lord to the help of the Lord against the Mighty And let them take care that there may be no cause for the Archangel Michael now to pronounce such another bitter Curse against them for their backsliding at this Day when this great Battel of the Lord upon the account of his Church is to be fought And here we are taught how we must prevail and overcome Rev. 12.11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their Testimony and they loved not their Lives unto the death These are the means by which we are to overcome at this time and not by carnal Weapons viz By procuring an interest in the Blood of the blessed Jesus and by a meek and patient suffering for his sake and a firm resolution rather to dye than to depart from the Testimony and Faith of Christ and violate and break his sacred Commandments freely offering up our Lives to him if he should call us to the Cross to suffer Martyrdom for his sake And for our great Comfort and Encouragement herein saith the Apostle 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also reign with him And saith St. John Rev. 14.13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence forth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them And again saith he Rev. 20.4 And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God and which had not worshipped the Beast neither his Image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years This is the first Resurrection Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath no power but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years See Dr. More upon this place And for our great stay and sure support in such a fiery Tryal saith our blessed Lord Matth. 28.20 And lo I am with