other places And I do believe that such as sustain any loss and run any great hazard at this time to keep a good Conscience towards God shall be well rewarded even in this World besides what they may expect hereafter in another But Fourthly For our great Comfort and Encouragement herein we have many promises of a blessed Reward hereafter in Heaven for suffering for a good Cause and for Righteousness sake Eternal Glory and Happiness shall then be sure to be our Reward for such high Obedience as the suffering meekly and patiently for the sake of the blessed Jesus is Matt. 5.10 saith our Saviour Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven And to this purpose Luke 6.22 Blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the Son of man's sake Rejoyce ye in that day and leap for joy For behold your reward is great in Heaven for in the like manner did their Fathers unto the Prophets And those that forsake Houses and Lands for Christ's sake and the Gospel's shall besides their reward here in this World inherit Eternal Life and Happiness in the World to come Matt. 19.29 and Mar. 10.30 And in the world to come eternal Life And saith St. Paul Rom. 8.17 If so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Christ ought to have suffered and so to enter into his Glory Luke 24.26 And if we will be his Disciples and followers we must expect to do so too and to enter in by the strait Gate of affliction But our sufferings here will bear little or no proportion to the Glory that doth await us for them For if St. Paul could say fo who hath given us so large an account of his sufferings 2 Cor. 11.23 much more may we say so And again saith St. Paul to Timothy 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also reign with him And saith St. James 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him And this is our Lord's promise by St. John to the Church in Smyrna Rev. 2.10 Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a Crown of Life And all are to hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches ver 11. And again Rev. 3.21 saith he To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne To this high Dignity is the faithful Sufferer like to be advanced Fifthly For our farther Comfort and Support in all the Sufferings that we meet with for Christ's sake and for keeping a good Conscience towards God we may see that God doth regard and pity us in all our distresses and afflictions and that he will then succour and strengthen us and not suffer us to be over-powered and born down with the violence of such temptations as we have not strength to resist and withstand Tho' our Trials sometimes may be sharp yet if we have recourse to him and call upon him in that due manner that we ought we shall be sure of a supply and shall have strength sufficient for all the Combats and Encounters that we shall meet with Our God is a God of Love and tender Compassion towards his Creatures and faithful Servants and will not desert and forsake them in the Day of Anguish and Distress but will hear and succour them when they cry to him for help This he declareth by the Psalmist Psal 50.15 And call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me And saith God by the Prophet Isaiah 49.15 Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb Yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee The care of these tender Mothers towards the Children of their own Womb is not comparable to that of God towards his faithful Children And saith the Apostle Heb. 13.5 6. For he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee So that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me And our Saviour doth promise to be constantly with his Church as need shall require Matt. 28.20 And lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Amen And saith he Matt. 10.30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbred Fear ye not therefore So great is the Care that God hath of his Servants that the smallest matters belonging to them are all regarded and minded by him and due care is taken about them And saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it God by his infinite Wisdom and Power will so order all things that we shall be able to overcome the temptations that we meet with some way or other if we do our utmost endeavours and he will so help us that we shall not be over-powered by them Sixthly For a fuller confirmation of this viz. That God will always be ready to help us in our greatest needs we may see that he hath always been with his faithful Servants in a remarkable manner and afforded them extraordinary Help and Assistance when their Need and Necessities have required it In an extraordinary manner was he with Joseph in the Prison with David when Saul sought to take away his Life with Elijah when Jezebel would have put him to death with the three Children in the Fiery Furnace with Daniel in the Lions Den with Paul when he was brought before Nero the Roman Emperour and with Stephen when he was put to death These and many more that might be alledged to this purpose are like a Cloud of Witnesses to confirm this to us viz That God will be sure to be with his faithful Servants in the worst of Times and Dangers to assist them with his Almighty Arm And as the sufferings of the Apostles did abound so did their inward Joy and Strength 2 Cor. 1.5 And in the midst of their sufferings could they rejoyce 2 Cor. 12.10 Col. 1.24 such sweet Influence and Communications of his Love and Goodness did God then afford them And I am
apt to believe that many who have been driven out of this World with the Fire of Persecution and with the merciless Torments of cruel Men have departed hence with as much if not more ease than many that have died quietly upon their Beds and undisturbed by the sinful and restless Troublers of this World And if so then we have no great cause to draw back or to be sore afraid even in the worst of Times and Dangers To animate us the more then herein let us remember how victoriously many Saints have gone out of this World to those unspeakable Joys that are prepared for them in the next And as Paul saith Rom. 8.37 have been more than Conquerours thro' him that loved them in all the Tryals and Combats that they have been exercised with And seeing that we are listed Souldiers under Christ Let us follow them in a meek and patient suffering of all the Adversities and Injuries that befal us here for keeping the Faith of Christ and a good Conscience towards God Let us be perswaded as St. Paul was Rom. 8.38 39. That neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Let us look unto Jesus the Captain of our Salvation the Author and Finisher of our Faith who endured such contradiction of Sinners against himself Who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God Heb. 12.2 Let us consider him that we may not be wearied and faint in our minds but be faithful unto death that we may not lose our Crown of Life But if we will not be prevailed upon by all these powerful Arguments and Persuasions to keep Faith and a good Conscience and to stick close to our Profession even in the worst of Times If the glory of such sufferings and the unspeakable Reward that doth await them If such assurances of Divine Help and Assistance that Almighty God will never be wanting to us but will have us always under his watchful Eye and will always grant us Succour and Strength answerable to our needs If these will not prevail with us Then we may farther take notice what a miserable condition such Revolters will be in that for fear of Persecution shall forego their Profession Such are like to lose their Lives as our Lord sheweth Mar. 8.35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it And such as are ashamed of him and his words must expect the same measure again to their great and eternal Reproach as our Lord shews ver 38. Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my Words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels And those that deny him must look for the same return again to their utter confusion Matt. 10.33 But whosoever shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven The Apostle's words also are now especially to be heeded and laid to heart Heb. 6.4 For it is impossible for those saith he who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come If they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance seeing they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame And saith he again Heb 10.26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the adversaries And if we Protestants should turn to the Popish Religion we may expect that this will be our condition And to conclude we may see that all Cowards that are not at all valiant for the Truth are like to go to the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone Rev. 21.8 But the Fearful and Unbelieving shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone And this consideration also will be of great use to keep us from Backsliding and falling away from our Christian Profession to any Idolatrous or to any other sinful Practices that are not consistent with the Truth of the Gospel when we so plainly see as here we do That such Revolters must bid adieu to all the Bliss and Happiness that is promised in the Gospel and are like to go to the grand Apostate and to that everlasting Fire that was prepared for him and his Angens Matth. 25.41 And if these Arguments will not prevail with us I know not what will Seeing then that the Concerns before us are so very great the avoiding of Eternal Woe and Misery and the obtaining of Eternal Life and Happiness depending upon our good Behaviour and Christian Carriage here Let us be wise then betimes and shew our selves Men and not be like Solomon's Fool that had a price in his hand to get Wisdom but had no heart to it Prov. 17.16 Let us not to avoid a little Suffering here forfeit our Title to the Crown of Life and the blessed Kingdom above and run into endless Misery and Destruction For this will be prodigious folly and madness But seeing it is the Lord alone that must keep and uphold us all or else we shall be sure to fall and all the Watchman's care without his good Protection is to no purpose Ps 127.1 Let us then be careful and diligent to call for his blessed Help and Succour at all times and never trust to our own strength and abilities but let us always be mindful of that Divine Instruction of our blessed Lord and put it in practice Luke 21.36 Watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man And now that all men may be the more sensible of the heavy judgment of God which I affirm to be at hand I shall here add the Eleventh Chapter and some other places of the Revelation of St. John which do particularly treat of the second grand Woe of that sacred Book which is the judgment that I speak of And that this Eleventh Chapter may be the better understood of all men I shall add a short explication of it according to that little Insight that I have into this great Mystery wherein through God's help I intend to be plain that the meanest Capacities may in a good measure understand it if they will and may clearly see that this judgment is there foretold and therefore will certainly come to pass Revelation Chapter XI 1. And there was given me a reed like unto a rod and the Angel stood saying Rise and measure the
Child is come to the Birth there may be strength to bring forth 2 Kings 19 â— 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
you alway even unto the end of the world Amen Which words I hope I may thus paraphrase with respect to this great juncture of time My incessant Care and watchful Providence shall always attend you my Servants and I will never be wanting to you but will be ready to assist you always with my Counsel and Help if ye will hearken to me and carefully observe the motions of my Hand And even now in this dark Day and fiery Tryal that is coming upon you mine eyes shall be continually upon you and my hand stretched out to uphold and strengthen you and Death with its gastly looks and dreadful face shall not then too sorely affright and terrifie you when ye dye Martyrs in my Cause And know that it is I the Saviour of the world that am the sure and faithful Watchman and that I do now advertise and give you warning of the dark Days that are coming upon you and the heavy Woe that is to follow them that ye may know these things beforehand and may not be surprized at them when they come to your astonishment and prejudice For it was I that awoke my Watchmen and set them to give warning of the Evil approaching otherwise they had been taken in a drowsie and sleepy Condition I am faithful in what I promise and according to my Word Lo I am with you now and at all times even unto the end of the World Amen The second Woe which is now at hand and like to fall as I conceive upon the Protestant Kingdoms chiefly is like to be very dreadful But yet the third Woe which is like to fall upon the Popish Kingdoms and within the jurisdiction of Rome about 130 years hence is like to be far more dreadful for so do these sacred Oracles plainly seem to declare Then is the terrible Vision of the sixth Seal as I conceive to be consummated and completed Rev. 6 12-17 And I beheld saith St. John when he had opened the sixth Seal and lo there was a great Earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth even as a figtree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together and every mountain and Island were moved out of their places And the Kings of the earth and the great Men and the rich men and the chief Captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every freeman hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb For the great Day of his Wrath is come and who shall be able to stand This Seal may in part belong to this second Woe that is now approaching but it will be consummated and compleated as I conceive when the third and last of these three dreadful Woes cometh And then Woe Woe Woe to Rome and the Romish Church for then are all these dreadful things like to be fulfilled and compleated according to the sense and meaning of them And the Destruction of new and Mystical Babylon is set out in as prodigious a manner as the Destruction of old Babylon was Isaiah 13.9 as if the Frame of the whole world should then shake and tremble and be disordered at that Day and as if the Terror of it should be like the Terror of the last Day when the Heavens and the Earth shall be dissolved and as if men should then be surrounded with Blackness and Darkness on every side and should then seek to hide themselves in the dens and caves of the rocks and call to the rocks and mountains to hide and shelter them from the fiery Wrath and merciless Cruelty of that Day that should have no Light nor Comfort at all in it Then will be the time that the great Harvest of the earth the great Harvest of Sin and Iniquity will be fully ripe and fit for the Sicle and shall then be cut down and cleared away Rev. 14 14-16 Then will the great Winepress of the Wrath of God be trodden Rev. 14.19 20. And the Angel saith St. John thrust in his sicle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and cast it into the great Winepress of the Wrath of God And the Winepress was troden without the City and blood came out of the Winepress even unto the horses bridles by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs O Dreadful What an astonishing treading of the Winepress of the Wrath of God is this like to be when Blood shall thus flow from it like a great River whose Stream shall swell and rise as high as the horses bridles and not be stopt before it hath run a thousand and six hundred surlongs What an Akeldama and field of Blood will Rome and the jurisdiction thereof then be But thro the good Providence of God this great and stupendious Winepress of the Wrath of God shall be trodden without the City Not without the City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt Not without the City of Rome and the jurisdiction thereof for these are like then to be the Shop and Anvile of Divine Vengeance where all the Heats of Wrath and Fury are to be hammer'd But it will be trodden without the holy City and pure Church of Christ God then so over-ruling and ordering Affairs that his faithful Servants shall not then be dipt in this bloody Stream And our Lord then making good his Promise to the Church of Philadelphia his beloved Spouse Rev. 3.10 Because thou hast kept saith our Lord the Word of my Patience I also will keep thee from the Hour of Temptation which shall come upon all the World to try them that dwell upon the earth From this dark hour of Tryal and judgment is the Church in Philadelphia then to be preserved as a recompence for her sore Travel and great exercise of Patience that she is now to undergo in the end of the Sardian Church and after this second Woe is past the Philadelphian Church I hope will begin Then when the third Woe cometh are all the seven last Vials of the Wrath of God to be poured out upon the earth and upon the City which Spiritually is called Egypt and it is like to be plagued in such a manner as heretofore the Land of Egypt was Rev. 16.1 Then is the water of the great River Euphrates to be dryed up that the way of the Kings of the East may be prepared to come in to the Fall of great Babylon Rev. 16.12 Then are the three unclean Spirits like frogs proceeding out of the mouths of the Dragon the Beast and false Phrophet to go forth to gather the Kings of the whole world to the Battel of that great Day of God Almighty And then they