Depths of Satan the Arcana Imperii or Counsels of Antichristianism as the settlement of the Reformation here and by all Imaginable Artifices of Policy and Power And it seem'd the very Crisis for it in that last Reign That the most High decided against it with so High a Hand was very Glorious That God hath given so Great Advantages in Appearance for the Return of King James by such a War so Tedious so Burdensome in such an absence of the King And that the whole should be thus resolv'd into so very an August Acknowledgment by the Grand opposer of Him and that the Interest of the same King James should be as it were hush'd into such a silence and neglect as now appears and by his very so Great Allie is a very Exalted Hand of Jehovah for the Justification of the Reformation in these Nations And that it should be reserv'd for this Year 97. Is an Honourable Character fixed upon this Year as I hope Immediately preceeding the entrance of the Kingdom of Christ Rem 6. That the War hath been Carryed on by such a Ballance of Equality that except we consider that Great Intention of Providence to consine within his own Figure Allowed by Prophecy the French King in which It Confederated so many Princes and States however differing among Themselves and the securing Protestancy to these Nations Except I say we consider this All hath been Labouring in the very Fire and wearying the Nations for very Vanity And yet God hath as by an Immediate Hand of his own Determined All into Peace This is I have Great Trust Because the next Thing he will do shall be to Fill the Earth with the Knowledge of his Glory as the Waters cover the Sea Rem 7. I should Rejoyce to find this Peace Propagating an Universal Reformation of the open prophanesses and wickednesses of the Nations Which the Societyes for Reformation in this City give some Hopeful Appearances of and it is much to be desired The Power of the Magistrate would with it's own Authority and Influence Encourage such Honourable undertakings And if it be not so as I doubt not It will a Greater Magistracy will Take the matter into its own Hand But the very Motions however unformed or Abortive they would or might prove of Themselves are some Preliminary Motions to that Great Reformation the Kingdom of Christ will bring in when to the People shall be turned a Pure Language And Men shall Fear the Lord from the Rising of the Sun to the going down of the same Rem 8. It is Greatly to be Lamented if the suffering Witnesses of Christ in any parts Comprehended within this Peace have found no place of consideration in it and Relaxation by it But if they have not I am the more Assured It is reserv'd for the Immediate Hand of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords overcoming the Ten Kings and moving them as by an Impulse from himself with the Hatred of the Whore and He will shew his Servants as a Light Arising in the darkness of their sufferings yet continuing the Morning Star in the first Dawns of his Kingdom Till it shall come to the Bright Morning Star of his own Glorious Appearance in that Kingdom at the Highest Elevation of it Rem 9. It is in the next Place of a most Hopeful Reflection to me That this Peace Falls as a Blow upon the League between the French King and the Turkish Sultan so as to dissolve it For as I have heretofore argued so I shall now more Fully and yet very Breifly Represent it The true Account of the Visional order of Breaking the Image Dan. 2. Is That the Stone smote the Image on its Feet of Iron and Clay First and so the whole was broken This is most Precisely and Definitively set down v. 34. The Stone Cut out which is not in Hands smote the Image upon his Feet which were of Iron and Clay and Brake Them to Peices And again v. 35. Then was the Iron and the Clay First and All the Image Broken so that it became as the Chaff of the Summer-Threshing Floor This therefore from compare of one part of this Prophetick Vision with another and with the New Testament Prophecy of the Revelation must be the Order The First part of the Image smitten is the Iron Feet of the Ten Kings Rev. 17. overcome by the Lamb and the Called Faithful Chosen Witnesses with Him Then these Ten Kings who had with one Consent given their Kingdom and Power to the Beast serve the Lamb by hating the Whore and burning her Flesh with Fire This shaking as an Earthquake the Great City and its Decemprincipality or Tenfold Principality Arising from the Ten Kings so giving their Power to the Beast that Carryed Her Falls Thus the Clay is Broken by the First Approach of the Kingdom of Christ weilding the Iron or the Ten Kings to his service But then All is Threshed and Broken as into Chaff by the stone Becoming a Mountain fuling the whole Earth So there remains no Power but Christ's and his Saints with him to whom the Dominion under the whole Heaven is given But now v. 45. The Stone cut out of the Mountains without hands brake in peices first the Iron then nor the Clay but the Brass The True Order of the Final Stroke was set down before which could not be changed what therefore is given v. 45. must be some previous and preparatory stroke that Falls upon the Iron and the Brass in a Conjunction and the Greatness that Each had by that Conjunction comes to nothing And by that change of the Order this Previous Stroke is shaded under the Full and Final Breaking of the whole and silently intimated by it By the Iron I understand the French Power in this Great Spread of it self against so many of the Ten Kingdoms confederated as it hath been of late years and its Aspirings to be the whole Iron it self that is to Vniversal Monarchy And this I look upon to be noted by the Iron in this place of Daniel By the Brass I Apprehend the Grecian Power as now in the Hand of the Turk whose Port is the Grecian Constantinople Now then this is a private Prophâ—tical Watch-word of the very Time when the whole Image shall be Broken It shall be when that Unnatural Conjunction between Him who would be the whole Iron of the Feet and who will be called the most Christian King and the now Belly of Brass the Turkish Power the Professed Enemy of Christians shall be Broken by the Stone cut out of the Mountains in his Supreme Providence and come to nothing Now this Conjunction we see thus brought to nothing by this Peace the French King not able to bear up his Former retensions by the Loss of Turkish Aids nor the Turk against the Emperor by the Loss of French Assistances And in this very 97. why then should we not look for the whole Image to be soon after
A REVIEW OF What God hath been pleased to do This Year According to PROPHECY And particularly near the 23d of the Month we stile August IN THE General Peace and the Muscovian and Imperial Victories over the Turks WITH A most Humble Apology and Defence concerning the falling short of Events of what was expected according to the Interpretation of that sure Word of Prophecy By T. BEVERLEY Psal 111. 2. The Works of the Lord are great sought out of All who have pleasure therein LONDON Printed for William Marshal at the Bible in Newgate-street and John Mâ—rshal at the Bible in Grace-Church-Street MDCXCVIII TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE Sir Humfry Edwyn LORD MAYOR Of the City of LONDON My Lord I Have observed The supreme Providence hath Placed you in the most Eminent Magistracys of this Great City in Two Extraordinary Years Engraven upon with Illustrious Appearances of his own Hand Your Sherivalry as I have been assured in the Year 88 The Year of the so Great Revolution in these Nations and your Lordships Mayoralty Enters in this Year of the Peace and the so Grand Victory of the Imperial Army over the Mahometan Turkish Signiory and both so close together and at a Time as I apprehend well known to Prophecy I have therefore thought it my Duty Humbly to present the following Review of both to your Lordship as in so High a Station This so Great Year And yet If God hath Graciously led me into the tâ—â—e Interpretation of his Sure Word of Prophecy This is but small in Comparison of your Authority Extending it self into the much Greater Year 98 As I hope it will be found In which your Sword shall be born before the Prince of Princes the King of Kings and Lords of Lords the Prince of the Kings of the Earth I mean not in His Personal Appearance as many either Ignorantly or wilfully mistake but in Regard of the Glorious Manifestation of His Kingdom Entring its Succession which will not Lessen but Aggrandize both Royal and Magistratical Honour and Authority that Kisses the Son and does Homage to This Supreme and will not in the least give Countenance to Anarchy Confusion or Resistance to that Ordinance of God by either Le ellism or Rebellion but Conciliate the most Holy Humble and Pious subjection to Authority so Enstamp'd from Heaven as then it will be I have taken Notice by General Discourse Your Lordship in your Publick Attendance on the Worship of God appears to Desire the Reconciliation of Protestants whether under those undesirable and as too much mannaged unkind distinctions of Episcopacy Presbytery or Congregational Union I hope It is as Falling out this Year not without happy Presages of that Blessed Philadelphian Church-State speedily about to enter In which all such Names of difference will be lost in both the Purity and Love that will overflow them in the Succession of that Kingdom And as I have some Years ago Foretold That the Cathedral of Pauls as we stile it whose Loughty Pile which Providence seems to have allowed the Preparation of for the National Solemn Acknowledgments of God in the Peace wherein your Lordship will bear such a Figure shall yet I am perswaded speedily with those Names of Prelation and Prefidency in it that have their only Basis in that Antiquity wherein the Synagogue of Sathan began to have the Ascendency and not in pure Scripture-Antiquity Bow Themselves at the Feet of that Philadelphian State and Acknowledge Christ hath Loved and Chosen it or else both the Prelacy and the Cathedrals will suffer Abrogation and become useless There is one thing more I Congratulate to your Lordship this Year of your so eminent Magistracy in And that is An appearance of Zeal for the Retrenchment and Extirpation of open Prophaness Irreligion and Lewdness of Manners I cannot but have an Honour for any such undertaking and beseech of God his presence with it and Blessing upon it So far as it bears but a desire to prepare for if I may so allude a Temple for God in the Nation and I doubt not It will have the assistance of your Authority and other the Religious Participants of your Government But yet I cannot but hope Our Greater Solomon will be supreme in the Administratâ—on and Raise it much higher then Man can do My Lord As to my self I cannot claim any particular Knowledge of or Interest in you but looking upon your Magistracy in 88 and 98 as Honoured with a Prophetickness I have on that Account taken the boldness to Inscribe your Name and I do very humbly beseech your Patronage of this Review under its Great Patron and the acceptance of this Dedication Till it shall be able as I hope it will within few Months be to Answer for it self to all that shall send to it or ask a Reason of its Hope as owned by that Higher Patronage publickly in the Eyes of all In the mean time as I most humbly beg the Prayers of all who Love the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ So my most Fervent and Earnest â—upplications shall be for the Magistracy of this Great City and their as Honourable Station in the Kingdom of Christ and most particularly for your Lordship Mo. 9. D. 12th 1697. My Lord Your Lordships Most Humble Servant In that Kingdom THO. BEVERLEY An earnest Invitation and Perswasion to All that profess a Reverence of the Divine Majesty to Regard the Works of the Lord and to take Pleasure in Searching them out in their Greatness particularly this Year By way of Preface to the following Discourse SEeing this Review rests upon the very Eminent Appearances of God in this present Year 1697 I think it no way Improper to prefix a serious perswasive deeply to consider the Operations of the Divine Hand and to search them out as Hidden Treasures It is the Atheism and Irreverence of the Divine Being and his Government of the World that we Lavish out his Great Providences into no other Discourses but as of News This is not the Business of a serious Christian and of those who have the Assistance of Sacred History directing us what observations to make upon those works and the Sure Word of Prophecy Guiding us what we are to expect by due Reflexion on what God hath done according to Prophecy to what he will do to the End of the World It is not enough for us with a shew of Great Wisdom and Foresight to Dilate upon the Political Tendencies of Great Events least we Fall into the Hipocrisy of the Pharisees who were able to make Natural observations on the Face of the Heavens but could not Discern the signs of the Times We ought as to make Improvement of Mercies and Judgments to search and try our ways and to turn unto the Lord to Praise Him for his wonderful Works to the Children of Men So to Vnderstand as the Sons of Issachar the Times that we may know what Israel ought to do how to order our Supplications
Witnesses in their sufferings under Anti-christian Powers or the Universality of the Witnesses of Christ out of their Sackcloth-state and Mournful Prophecy of the Kingdom of Christ in delay and not yet being in its Illustrious Appearance They have yet the Seale of Concealment on their Foreheads and do not yet stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb having his Fathers Name Conspicuously written on those very Foreheads where the Seal was before That is there is not yet that Pouring out of the Spirit They are not yet publickly justified as the Witnesses of Christ along the 1260 Years 2. That the Stone cut out of the Mountains that is not in Humane Hands That is That doth his Great Works immediately by himself in breaking the Image of the Four Monarchyes in the last of them and himself becoming a Great Mountain filling the whole Earth hath not yet thus appear'd must also be confessed 3. That therefore the Antichristian and the Mahometan State joyn'd with it tho as a woe upon it are not so broken yet as that the Kingdoms of this World should by the Ten Kings being overcome by the Lamb be Proclaimed to be become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and He himself Universally Acknowledged King of Kings and Lord of Lords and his witnesses with Him Called Chosen Faithful and known to be so All which I had Hoped and Expected should have come to pass in this Year 97 and in the Prophetical Hour Viz. In the latter part of the Month August Herein therefore and thus far I most willingly and humbly Acknowledge my Fault and Mistake I come therefore to the Second Head and that is to observe how far God hath been pleased to own his unworthyest Servant this Year and in the very time of the Year in the Interpretation of Prophecy And there are two Things which I would Remark upon as very Eminent â—isposes of Providence wherein by Regarding the Operations of the Lord and Searching out the more hidden Things in the Works of his Hand as those who Take Pleasure therein We may find a very wonderful agreement of Providence with Prophecy in this very Year and at that Noted time of the Year 1. The First is That so Illustrious Providential Revolution of setting Peace in so many of the Kingdoms into which the Western Roman Empire hath stood so long divided after so long a War 2. The strokes by the supreme ordination of Divine Government in the World by the Hand of the Prince of Mascovy as a Prince of the Christian Profession according to those we Call the Grecian Churches and by the Hand of the Imperial Power that submits its self to the Roman Church as it is also called and its Papacy upon the Turkish Empire And on each of these I would make their Particular and Peculiar Remarks and First on the First Rem 1. The settling Peace in the Borders of any Nation and of Nations together after many Evils and Harassings of War is a Great Mercy and Goodness of God to those Nations wherever It is display'd This is very easily Intelligible and as easily Acknowledged by the Rejoycings and Hopeful Expectations from the present Peace and the Triumphs wherewith it is Receiv'd And War is Accounted one of the Four Great Judgments of God in the World If we then consider what an unreformed Nation we our selves are and how unreformed the Nations about us are It is not according to the usual Method of Providence to Remove Judgments without much Greater Effects of Ruine or Reformation What then can we think but that God bears with Patience the Great Provocations of the Nations of Europe Because they are Kingdoms that Peculiarly belong to the Kingdom of Christ For the Lamb shall overcome the Ten Kings into a Voluntary subjection to his Rev. 17. 14 16. Kingdom Which appears in that They shall Hate the Whore and burn her Flesh with Fire I cannot but hope therefore God spares them from Ruining one another because he reserves them for that Time Thus because he would make the Israelites a Type of the Kingdom of Christ Altho even at the Time of their deliverance from Egypt They Lifted up their Eyes to the Idols of Egypt and God lifted up his Hand to Destroy them yet he wrought for his Name sake and did not Destroy them And so I hope he does now Rem 2. It is certain according to Prophecy Peace is a Great Signal Ezek. 20. 9 10. of the Kingdom of Christ And such a Time there shall be When Nations shall beat their Spears into Pruning Hooks and their Swords into Esa 2. Mic. 4. Ploughshares Nation shall not Lift up Sword against Nation Nor shall they Learn War any more They shall sit every Man under his own Vine and Figtree Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace shall be no End and of the Increase of his Peace even as of his Government there God will do that Astonishing Thing in the World He will Psal 46. 8. make Wars to cease to the Ends of the Earth He will break the Bow and Cut the Spear in sunder and burn the Chariots in the Fire All the Instruments of Cruelty shall as by Gods own Hand be brought to an utter End He will Still All by his own Appearance as God when He in favour of his own People will be Exalted in the Earth when He is with his People as in that City whose Name is Jehovah Shammah The Lord is there Obr. I know it will be said There have been many times Treaties of Peace and that have been Consummated in an effective Peace and yet no Kingdom of Christ hath succeeded what Argument then can it be of such a Kingdom now That there is such a Peace Answ 1. Yet every Peace is an Olive Branch and a memorial of that Kingdom of Peace Even as every Judgment is an assurance of the Last Judgment and every War a Fore-runner of the Great Battel at Armageddon That shall bring All Enemies under the Feet of Christ and his Saints Answ 2. The certain Argument of such a succeeding Kingdom of Christ does not Lye Singly in a Peace but in a Peaâ—e at such a Time when by the Line of Time the Kingdom of Christ is so justly to be Expected and so the Line of Time and the Peace do mutually strengthen and assure one another In the wisdom of Divine Government of the World There was an Universal Peace under Augustus at the Time of that First Specimen of the Kingdom of Christ His coming in the Flesh It was not by it self a direct Argument of his coming at that Time But the Fulness of Time for his Coming and the Peace did mutually Corroborate one another and give the Expectation of the Messiah then to appear And so I hope it will appear at this Time As some Years ago In the Light of Prophecy I predicted The End of this War whether by breaking the French or by Peace
Broken in its own Just Order now First given And the Strokes upon the Turk in the very Time of the Treaty are Justly to be looked upon as the Proclaiming his Coming to an End and None to help Him Now if this be a True Interpretation of this Prophetic Vision and I do not sâ—e what can be objected to it what a Great Assurance is it That in this 97. the Great Change that this Vision foretells must needs be very near to come into effect and who can once imagine that so Divine a Vision so exactly in every Thing framed could by Chance and â—ot without some Great Design and Purpose Transpose the Iron from the Feet of Iron and Clay to the Belly and Thighs of Brass and place the Clay of the Feet between the Brass of the Belly and the Silver of the Breast And I cannot but demand what Fairer Exposition or Interpretation of Providenttal Event could be given to such a Prophecy Now I must be bold to say Whoso hath Wisdom let him consider it The Wise shall understand but the Prejudiced and the Careless will not understand Rem 10. All this is much the more Remarkable in that Prince who hath been the severe Enemy and the open Persecutor of the Reformation and yet continues so and therefore iâ— the Kingdom of Christ be so near as these Compares of Prophecy give hopes he must either be Removed suddenly by a stroke of Judgment or by so eminent a Conversion as Persecuting Paul was an Hypotyposis or Pattern of For he hath Raged even to Madness against the Reformation and been Breathing out Threatnings against the Witnesses of it and so continues And yet his Kingdom is one of the Teâ— whose Kings shall be overcome by the Lamb and Hate the Whore He must then either be a Great Instance of Converting Grace as it were from Heaven or of Judgment and seeing the God of All Grace is most Glorious in the Former and the Fruit of it might be much Greater in the World I look upon it as our Duty to pray for it and desire it if I may not say to hope for it That God who hath bowed his Heart so far in the Acknowledgment of a Protestant Kiâ—g so set up by himself may please also to Bow his Soul to the Protestant Religion and to a Zeal for it answerable to his former Persecutions and to this very day Now thus far I have Remrak'd upon the First of the Providential Events of this Year as it is preparatory to the Kingdom of Christ according to the Interpretation of Prophecy That Prophecyings may not be despised but All awaken'd Earnestly to Pray and wait for that Kingdom seeing there is so much to be observ'd in this Providential Revolution of the Peace as to be a Door of hope and a Day of small Things and that in this very Year of 1697. And I dare not Assume it to be more I humbly confess as yet As in the Following Observations upon the Great Strokes on the Turkish Potentacy I shall further Acknowledge I come now to the Second Grand Providential Event of this Year 1697. The severe Strokes The Great Governour of the World and Lord of Hosts hath caused by the Arms of the Czar of Muscovy and of the Emperor of Germany to fall upon the Mahometan â—ttoman Signiory and to adjust them by Prophecy to the near Approach of the Kingdom of Christ That I may present this in the Clearest and most Compendious Table I shall First consider Mahometanism in the General as common to the Saracens and Turks and then peculiarly as it is now seated in the Ottoman Turkish Empâ—râ—â— and each in several short Notes of Observation and Argue from them the Great Hopes that these Strokes upon that Mahometan Imposture and Tyranny are Fore-Runners of the Final Dissolution of it and of the Kingdom of Christ succeeding 1. The very Essential State of this Imposture and Tyranny is design'd by God as a Mock-Antichrist to the Grand Roman Papal Antichrist a Paraselene or Counterfeit Moon to his Moon even as Antichrist is a mock-Christ or in Despite to our True Lord Christ 1. Mahomet acknowledges Christ a Great Prophet even as Antichrist does but robs Him of the Glory of his Divinity and of being the onely Supreme True Prophet wherein He is an Antichrist 2. He Abhors Idols Herein He mocks Antichristian Idolatry but sets up the Idol-Prophet Mahomet Therein He is an Antichrist 3. He pretends to an Vniversal Kingdom Herein He mocks the Papal Antichrist One by the Spiritual the other by the Temporal Sword pretends to an Vniversal Kingdom but both undermine Christâ—s Kingdom and Both are Antichrists therein 4. He offers a Fools Paradice and Deliverance from Future Misery but as Counterfeit as the Popes Deliverance from Purgatory by his Key of the Bottomless Pit Herein are they both Antichrists but Mahomet as coming last and upon the Papacy is a Mock-Antichrist an Antichrist in despite 5. He pretends some Reverence to some of the Sacred Writings but hath brought in a Nonsensic Alcoran as vain as Papal Traditions and Oral Laws 2. The Time therefore of the Beginning of this Imposture and Tyranny was soon after the Papal Supremacy the one at 606. the other at 622. The one the Antichristian the other the Mahometan Hegire when its Tyranny came forth while the one lasts the other lasts also when the one ends the other shall end also If therefore Antichristian Times determine in 97. Mahometan Times shall determine with them why them may we not hope this Blow on Mahometanism is an Alarm-Blow upon Both Antichrists now ready to Expire I come now more particularly to consider the Ottoman Turkish Power and to Remark on that as more precisely before us in the Events of this Year and so make these Remarks upon it 1. The Ottoman Power Appear'd in the Greatest Extremity and lowest Condition of the Witnesses after the Great Persecution upon Those we call the Vaudois and the most cruel Slaughter of so many of Them In Revenge of which God sent the Ottoman Power to Remonstrate against the Antichristian Salvagenesses 2. They were designed by God to Raise the Mahometan Imposture and Tyranny to the Imperial Throne of Eastern Rome or Constantinople C. 11. 45. This is expressed by Daniel as the planting the Tabernacle of his Pallace between the Seas in the Glorious Holy Mountain so Honourably styled because it was the City of Constantinople that First Christian Emperor and Great Type of the Kingdom of Christ This was in the Year 1453. 3. The Ottoman Emperor Selymus in or upon the First Year of the Reformation 1517. seized upon Judea and Jerusalem styled by Daniel Ch. 11. 41. the Glorious Land 4 There is an Absolute Determination of God This Mahometan Ottoman Prince shall come to his End C. 11. 45. Seeing this is so determined we have Reason to look upon this very Year as the Year of his Approaching end on these Reasons
1. The Mahometan Ottoman Emperor Coming in as a Judgment upon Papal Antichristian Cruelty and Advanced to the Throne of the Eastern Roman Empire That he might be a Mock Antichrist to the Grand Antichrist in the West He must in all the Reason and Sense of Prophecy be Limited to the Times of the First Antichrist Because when the Sin is Removed The Judgment shall be Removed also And when the True Lord and Christ shall Consume the Great Antichrist by the Breath of his Mouth He will Consume All other Antichrists with Him If then the Times of the Papal Antichrist shall End in this 1697. The Mahometan shall End in it also 2. Accordingly we find The Time Assigned to the Ottoman Power standing prepared to obtain and to hold in possession that Roman Eastern Empire will exactly agree from the Time of His Rising with the End of Antichristian Times For let us with the best and most of Chronologers Date his Rising to the Year 1300. And Prophecy Assigns to him for the obtaining and holding the Grecian Empire under his Power an Hour a Day a Month a Year Which by Fair Prophetical Computation make up 397 Years and so must end 1697. 3. The seizing on Jerusalem just at the Reformation when the last 180 Years or Half Time of Antichristianism entered is a very Hopeful Argument to me That this Ottoman Term of Power is this Year to End For there is a Concurrence of Three Great Periods according to that very seizure of Jerusalem by the Ottoman Power in the Year 1517. Which Fall on this very Year 1697. The Period of the Antichristian Times in the last Half Time being Remarked as by the Reformation so by the Particular stroke of God on the Papal Antichrist in the seizure of such a Place to which so High a Devotion is pretended by the Grand Antichrist into the Hand of the Mock Antichrist and who Himself to shew Himself a Mock-Antichrist made the same pretence of Devotion to and at it As History Reports of Selymus that Turkish Saltan who seized it And it is worthy observation That the Enlargement of the Ottoman Empire at that Time and in those Parts and Particularly on the â—oly City and Land Gave the Fair and Plausible pretension to the Papal Raising Money by Indulgences to withstand and resist it Which odious Cheat of Indulgences gave the Great Advantage to the Reformation as is well known And it gives much Encouragement to Hope So Eminent a Consiguration against Antichristianism as of the taking Jerusalem and the Reformation and the latter so Derived from the Former upon the Year 1517. Gives it an undoubted Title to be the Beginning of Half Time or the Last 180 Years of Antichristianism and so to be at an End this 1697. 2. The Period of the Jewish Captivity and Jerusalems being Trodden under Foot of All Nations For seeing those Times upon Judea and Jerusalem are Bounded by the Gentiles Times Fulfilled and that the Time of the Antichristian Apostacy are peculiarly by Prophecy Branded as Gentiles Times of Treading under Foot the Holy City If the Antichristian Half Time which is its last Began 1517 and Ends 1697. Consequently the last 180 Years of â—ewish Captivity and Conculcating or Trampling under foot-Times must end and Consequentially also Mahometan Times that hold Jerusalem and Judea under that Conculcation must end at the same time too 3. The Period of Mahometan Times Themselves must be found in this very 1697. For then the Time of Turkish planting the â—abernaclâ— of his Palace in the Glorious Holy Mountain Ceases And Constantinople shall Return to its Former Glory under Constantine and be a Grand City in the Kingdom of Christ The taking therefore of Constantinople drew so near to the Time of the Reformation at the last Half Time of Antichrist to Foreshew Both those Antichrists of East and West shall be consumed together in 1697 Ending 4. That Complication of Power that seems at this Time to be Gathering against the Ottoman Empire looks like a Hopeful Symptom Their End is now Approaching For so Daniel describing his End says Tydings out of the East and North shall Trouble Him and then the Dan. 11. ult Conclusion of All is He shall come to his End and none shall help Him Now how very exactly does this agree with the present Juncture Viz. The Combination of the Muscovian Forces on one side with the Imperial on the other side in the same Design of bringing Him down And what may come upon Him from Poland He is not Insensible of Now All these Trouble Him And that unnatural Aid He had from France is deserting Him So that Things make up the very Aspect of that Prophetic Vision of Daniel upon Him 5. If we consider the Muscovian Prince He is of that Profession of Christianity found among those we Call the Greek Churches who though they are the other Wing of the Roman Eagle or Empire that Rev. 12. c. 13. Carryed the Church into the Antichristian Wilderness and the other Horn of that Lamâ— that spake as a Dragon yet the Antichrist it self settled in what is Called the Western or Latin Rome and the other are not under the Black Brand of that These two parts of the Roman Empire are styled in Relation to one another The Rest of Men And it is said of the Antichristian Rest of Men Notwithstanding the Judgment on the Eastern Rome Rev. 9. ult c. 11. 13. They Repented not But of the Rest of Men of the Eastern Part when they saw the Judgment on the Western Babylon or Rome they were Affrighted and Gave Glory to the God of Heaven by Repentance which speaks to me in short Prophetical Language the Restitution of the Grecian Churches And it immediately follows The Second that is The Mahometan woe is past I Rejoyce therefore That God hath made use of a Prince of the Grecian Profession so Victoriously over the Mahometans by whom they are now held in slavery 6. The Imperial Power though yet given according to Prophecy to the Beast is yet made use of in the Sense It is said The Earth helped the Woman in Drinking up the Mahometan Flood The Judgment falls especially on the Civil and Ecclesiastic Antichristian State and therefore it doth its utmost to resist it and particularly God hath made use of the German Emperor as a Bullwark of the Western Roman Empire against the Mahometane and I hope The Empire shall yet become an eminent part of the Kingdom of Christ 7. That Great turn God hath pleased to make in the Spirit and Victoriousness of the Ottoman Power from so High a Tyde to so low an Ebb And under this very present Prince who seemed to recollect All its former prowess and magnanimity but it hath proved like a last effort or as they speak like a Lightning before Death 8. The weight and severity of the stroke in so great a slaughter and as by an immediate Hand of Gods own as
in Times of old on his Enemies Terror upon them Castingthem Headlong into the River Does I hope Intimate a near approaching Final Destruction And that All this is come to pass in this Year 1697. According to the Line of Time and in those Remarkable Months we Call August and September and in the very prophetic Hour of August I have so Remarked upon and so upon the Time of the Scripture Jubilee In All which I cannot but hope God hath been pleased to take off much of the Scandal of my mistake And this is the Consummating Reason of my Hope I have now dispatched the Second Head of this Apology and come to the Third Or what It is I expect when Time shall be no more but for the Finishing of the mystery of God Which I shall but just represent in the several uses the Spirit of God makes of the Word Mystery in the New Testament And shew That the Mystery of God in every of those Things shall be Finished in the Kingdom of Christ Beginning and Going on to open it self into its Fullest Glory 1. The Gospel the Comprehensive Mystery the Mystery of Faith of Godlyness The Mystery of God of the Father of Christ With All its Divine and Glorious Truths The Mysterys of the Kingdom of Heaven shall be Finished by the Full Revelation of it in the Everlasting Gospel Preached to every Nation under Heaven And particularly in that Branch Christ Received up into or rather for Glory Viz. The Glorious manifestation of Himself upon which the Apostacy hath so long layn as an Eclipse and Delay 2. The Mystery of the Union betwixt Christ and Believers in the Spiritual Marriage shall be Finished in the Bride the Lamb's Wife making her self Ready and the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb. 3. The Mystery of the Gentiles Universally brought in and illustriously united as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or One Body with the Israel of God And further The Eclipse taken off that is yet upon the Gentile Churches and their return to a Full orb'd Light according to the Promises made to the Churches in the Glorious Kingdom of Christ 4. The Mystery of Reconciliation Reception Salvation and Fulness of All Israel when that Full Glory of the Gentiles is Then shall be a Great Appearance of the Fulfilling All the Great promises and Prophecys we find in both the Old and New Testament to that People when the Gentiles Times are Fulfilled as was Noted a Summary Assurance of which is the very Name of that City The New Jerusalem 5. The Mystery of the Seven Churches as Seven Golden Candlesticks in the midst of which The Son of Man walks and the Seven Stars of the Evangelick Ministry seen in his Right Hand in all the Glory of each The Seven Churches as Types of the Churches of the New Testament successively with their Angels And comprehending under them Those Grecian Churches of Asia All brought into the Glory and Purity of the Philadelphian Church and the New Jerusalem the City of our God coming down into it shall then be fully Finished 6. The Mystery of the Antichristian Church City and the whole Hierarchy of it with All its Abominations shall be laid open understood of All and come to an utter end by the mighty Spirit of Christs Mouth by the Brightness of his Appearance and by the Judgments He will execute according to Rev. 17. and C. 18. On the Womans Forehead was written Mystery The Mystery of the Woman and the Beast that Carryed Her and the Judgment of the Great Whore were made known to John by the Angel and it shall be a Mystery Finished that is Laid open and brought to an utter End 7. The Mystery of the Divine will in Recapitulating and Recollecting All Things in Heaven and Earth in Christ even in Him as the Head in the fullness of Times of All Times that is in the Glorious Thousand Years-Kingdom of Christ Eph. 1. 10. 8. The Mystery of the Living Saints changed who shall Inherit the New Earth during the 1000 Years and walk in the Light of the New Heavens or Jerusalem above in the sight of Christ and of his Saints of the First Resurrection and in Bodys every way Proportioned to that Blessed State and Healed with the Leaves of the Tree of Life This the Apostle shews as a Great Mystery 1 Cor. 15. Now other then these eight Great uses of the word Mystery or what is most clearly referring to Them I do not find in Scripture and seeing the Spirit of Prophecy hath so comprehensively used the word Mystery concerning its Finishing and that each of these things is Styled Mystery in the Gospel and shall have so certain a Consummation and Complement in the Kingdom of Christ We may very well Expound the one by the other and be sure of their coming into their Finishing when Time of a former sort that is of the Time Times and Half Time shall be no more And because there are such direct assurances of the Finishing of each of these in the Prophecy of the Revelation How clear is it And now I come to the Fourth and Last Head To give the duest and justest Apology concerning no more Appearance of the Finishing of the mystery of God in All these Great mentions of it already in this Year 1697 And to adjust between the Humblest Acknowledgment of my own mis-understanding in what Hath fallen so much below and yet with equal Acknowledgment of what hath been already reflected upon to have passed as an Earnest and Pledge And wherein yet I have sure Grounds as I most Humbly conceive and believe in the sure word of Prophecy concerning 97. And hereof I will give Account in this short but yet full Declaration of my self and of my Sense herein The Year 1697. I must still look upon as I have all along Remonstrated to be the very Year in which the Time Times and Half Time of the Antichristian Apostacy and of the 1260 Years of the Witnesses in Sackcloth and of the Church in the Wilderness are to Expire and End But now whether in the Beginning of the Year 97. as I first Hoped or towards the Middle of the Year on the Twenty Third of the Month we call August Answering to the Twenty Third of the same Month 476. on which the Roman Western Empire ceased in Augustulus as I had Entertained Hopes when I found no such Appearances in the Beginning of the Year or that in and with the very Ending of the present 1697. the aforenamed Terms Expire Solomon says The Desire of a Man is his Kindness I desire with all Sense of Unworthyness to speak it The earnest desire of my Soul in Love to the Kingdom of Christ and the Hope of it deferred making my Heart even sick excited my Zeal to prefer the Times that I had any Reason to pitch upon that were nearest And this as I now find produced the mistake which I desire with All Self-Humiliation to confess before God