that had been preparing also some Time before did fall upon the Sin as an Apostacy come to the Birth or a Mystery of Iniquity come into the Light or Born This I Acknowledge as newly made known to me For Manifestations from God on such Dark Scriptures come as by Stealth secretly and one's Ear Receives but a Little at a Time as Eliphaz speaks Job 4. 12. But that Little is very Admirable I Humbly therefore say He that hath an Ear let him Hear and Weigh When Paganism made that Great Rally of it Self by Eugenius and Argobastes under that Fore-nam'd Excellent Prince Theodosius Styl'd the Great It was brought to a Decisive Battle In the midst of which That Pious Emperor Humanely Judging the Success Doubtful Knelt down even in the midst of the Fight as History Relates in most Solemn manner and with most forcible Expressions according to Scripture Precedents Begged and obtain'd the Victory But Dying of a Dropâ—y before the end of the Year The Empire from his Death manifestly Declined Till it ceased in the West in Augustulus The Battle fore-nam'd and the Death of Theodosius fell out A. D. 395 Near the middle Point of this Time lyes A. 437. Upon this very Epoch of the 1260 years I pitch'd 7 years ago Led with other great Considerations As 1. By the just Scripture Distributions of the 2300 Evs Morns of which the 1260 are a part I Find and am able to make out Their Lot falls to begin 437. 2. Again That particular Voice in the midst of the Rev. 6. 6. Four living Creatures in the Third Seal Commands our great Attention For it divides under the Emblem of Just Weights and Measures that the Roman Emperor so Renowned for Justice Alexander Severus was so Austere concerning the Time of the Churches Just Weights and Measures of pure Worship according to Ezek. 45. 10. c. into two equal Halves The first Half ended at the end of the Third Seal with Alexander's Death at 235 202 years from the Resurrection which we account A. D 33. And the other Half or 202 at the beginning of the Apostasy 437. 3. Add to these two the Reformation which I strongly urged could not be before Half Time began after Time and Times Now this beginning in Luther at that famous A D. 1517. the 180 of which Half Time consists must end 1697 and lead back the Half Times with the Times and Time to begin 437. These fully assured me by themselves But yet being often demanded What remarkable Character of Providence distinguished to my Thoughts 437 as the Epoch of the 1260 years I set my self to seek by Books of Scripture and History and by Humblest Prayer And finding the Mahometan Times so certainly gave 1069 of those 1260 and that the lesser Judgments on the Roman Empire began so early that we might well Date the beginning of the 1260 so early as to begin 431 and so to end this 1691 Did not the Events that are so certainly to come to pass when ever they End and which are not come to pass forbid us For thereby the 1260 years are certainly known not to be Ended I therefore Examin'd again and again If there was any thing that did Illustrate 437. I first found help'd therein as I Trust by God it stands about the middle Point between the year of the Death of that Emperor of so great Memory from which the Empire began so manifestly to Decline and the very Cessation of the Western Empire As it is very easy to be found That 437 stands very near the middle Point between 395 and 476 when Augustulus Fell and so a New Course of Time viz. Of the Bishop of Rome being the only Supreme Name in Rome after the Emperor Fallen and the Ten Kings having No so much as Pretended Name of Emperor above them till they gave their Power as Horns to the Beast to which Ten and One to which it gives an Eminency Prophecy hath greatest Respect And that One Daniel Styles The little Horn but it hath a Look more Bold than his Fellows And John in the Revelation calls the 7th Head or the Beast and the Ten Kings are Horns to it and It self is the 8th King as it were Absolute in regard of Spiritual Supremacy over All Dan. 7. 24. and Rev. 17. 10 11. compared Now this Change was so great as very Reasonably to give a Reputation to the Middle Point between so Great and Victorious an Emperor as Theodosius and the utter Fall of Augustulus the last Western Emperor And then such a Ten Fold Principality with a Spiritual Supreme rising out of the Empire made so Great a Change Moved yet further as I have Reason to Hope and Believe by the Grace of God in Christ I further Enquir'd Whethâ—r there was any Images of such a Remark on the middle Point of this Time by Prophecy And behold to my Wonder and Astonishment and to my greatest Satisfaction God was pleased to Reveal even this to me I had upon my first Prophetical Researches been well assur'd both by the Course of the Seals and the Times to which they Pointed and the high Agreement of the Types That the truly Adequate or full Spread Visum or chief Thing seen in the seventh Seal was Theodosius his perfect Victory over Heathenism in the Defeat of Eugenius His fore-mentioned Prayer joyn'd no doubt with the Prayers of All-Saints in the Christian Churches at that time Incens'd with the Intercession of Christ brought down Vengeance on the Pagans as with the Fire of the Altar in the Censor cast down and with Thundrings and Lightnings upon thâ—m and with the great Earthquake of the Dragon of Paganism and the Devil Ruling in it cast down from Heaven and from hence the Voices of Thanksgivings and giving Glory to God Now is the Kingdom of our God Come in so great an Appearance and Pledg of it Rev. 8. v. 5. and 12. v. 10. in compare Who can but say that the Types are Admirably Agreeable Herein also are the Types of the Church not yet Judg'd by God as under the Apostasy For the People Represented under All Saints was waiting in the Outward Court not yet Trodden by Gentiles while the Incense was in Offering shew'd the Worship yet pure in the Main yet Contracting into retired Incense-Service in the Temple There was now at the Opening of this Seal a silence of half an Hour to let us know that it was but a short Time till the dayly Sacrifice would be taken away and the Abomination of Desolation set up in the Apostasy according to the silence in the Offering Incense as the Learned Mr. Mede ever to be Remembred with Honour hath long ago Observed But further than this In regard the Trumpets were making ready to sound the Alarm of War from Heaven on the Western Roman Empire that had so long Paganiz'd and nâ—w was ready to shift into Antichristianism Then was the Space of about half an hours Silence of these
It is lastly out of all doubt that these Notes of Time so discypher'd make 1260 Years and conspire in so doing Argum 5 There is the greatest Assurance that can be that the Mahometan Imposture becoming an Armed Power hath lasted 1069 years from 622 to 1691. And that the Papacy in the Sense of All Protestants a Fowl Corruption and Usurpation and in the Sense of the most Zealous Protestants the Antichristian Apostacy hath run parallel with it and they have so long counter-ballanc'd one another as a Sin and as a Judgment But further that such a Mystery of Iniquity was working 2 Thes 2. 7. to discover it self about 200 years more or less before the Mahometan Era so as to make up now much what 1260 years Argum. 6 It is most Notorious in History that before the Mahometan Imposture and Armed Power came as a Judgment on the Christian Profession there were Judgments on the Roman Empire not only as mix'd of Pagan People but as the Emperors and Magistracy and Multitudes of People under them were Christians but All at the same time began to be corrupted with what hath since settled into the Antichristian Apostacy Now these Judgments were as hath been argued very severe yet of a very different Severity from the Mahometan Scourge For first They did not establish such an Horrible Imposture and Counter Religion to the Christian Name * Both calling themselves Believers and one another Infidels and therein to Antichristianism also that disguises it self under that excellent Christian Name and so supports it self by it Then they did not take away the Roman Name Empire and City in the West as the Mahometans have done in the East but the Barbarians so Coalescd or Knit themselves into the Roman Papal Supremacy by degrees that All became a Variety of Kingdoms Supreme within themselves yet refunding or giving back their Supremacies to one Spiritual Roman Supreme who in order to that Spiritual Supremacy wound in to himself a vast Imperialness also on as they are call'd the Temporal Powers So that though the Incursion of the Barbarians upon All Parts of the Roman Empire effected such a Division of the Empire yet it is well known they Re-united in such a Recognition of a Spiritual Supreme There was indeed a Taking and Re-taking the Great City Rome so that it was for a Time depriv'd of all Face of any other Metropolitanism but of the Bishop of Rome which it is to be observ'd was always firm to it and was under the Exarch of Ravenna But in that Eternal Rome as it was styl d how wickedly soever rose up and took the Name of the Catholick Church as its Bishop the Name of Supreme Bishop and Pastor It Lived still and became Great Now it is beyond all Controversie in Chronology From the Mahometan Hegire at 622. Going back to the Death of that Great and Excellent Prince Theodosâ—us â—he first when the Empire began to be played upon by those lesser Judgments particularly the Invasion of Italy which may look like a Beginning of them which was A. D. 402. There are years enough and many to spare to make the 1069. from 622. to 1691 1260 Insomuch then as we see not yet that Great Event of the Kingdom of Christ which shall begin at the Seventh Trumpet 's Sounding and yet find that Twelve hundred and sixty years and many more must needs have pass'd since 402. We must not begin them there because we know so well such Great Effects as are just before and at the Beginning of that Trumpet have not yet been We must therefore either the very Next Year or every Next Year be in Expectation of such Great Events on which the Seventh Trumpet should begin to Sound and so the Kingdom of Christ come into Succession In as much as if we go back from 1691. to 622. we have 1069. years and to make them 1260. we need go back no farther than to 431. when there was Appearance enough of those Judgmenâ—s begun Buâ— for very Great Reasons presently to be given I begin the Judgments precisely at 437 as much about the middle Point betwixt Theodosius his Death 395 and the Cessation of the Western Imperial Name in Augustus at 476. Argum. 8 The Face in a Picture drawn with the most Exquisite Art cannot more answer the Face in the Life than the Types in the Prophecy of the Revelation answer the Great Events in History Rev. 8. all along coming each at the just Times What more Admirable Type of the Western Empire Invaded in all parts than a Storm of Hail and Fire mingled with Blood yielding 18 years of the 1260. Or what Time more exact than at 437 as we shall presently see to Begin What more exact Emblem of Rome so often Taken and Re-taken to the so great Amazement of and Noise in the World and yet preserv'd then a Mountain like an Etna or Vesuvius Spouting Fire into or cast flaming into the Sea that it makes a terrible hissing in the Waves yet the Fire so re-bated as not to consume it This began A. D. 455. to purpose the First Taking Anno 410. being but for Few days yielding 21 years more to the 1260. What more Wonderful Figure of the Cessaâ—ion of the Western Empire Falling in Augustulus as a Hesperus or Evening-Star than a Lamp quench'd in the Waters at 476 and imbittering all Refreshments in the Empire or Commerce like Wormwood yielding 66 years more of the 1260. What more curious Emblem of Rome tâ—e Metropolis of the Western Empire having no proper Supreme of its own except the Roman Bishop not so much as Consular power who was indeed in Providence already in his Succession but not Able to cast any Rays of Secular Majesty upon Rome till he Fell as a Star on the Earth then the Third part of the Sun Moâ—n and Stars were smitten and a Third part of the Day and Night not shining Third because the Prophecy makes Third the Hieroglyphical Number of each Rome the Western Old the Eastern New Rome or Constantinople Yielding 64 years more to the 1260 years What more Admirable Type of a Christian Bishop becoming C. 9. all along such a Secular Prince under the Disguise of a Sâ—iritual Supreme Pastor then a Star Falling to the Earth when Christ had styl'd the Angels of the Churches Stars in his Right Hand Yielding 16 Years more to the 1260 Days and so making up the 191 wanting to the 1069. What more Stupendious Image of the Mahometan Imposture becoming Arm'd first in the Saracens and Rising out of the Antichristian Darkness of the Pope's Supremacy Arrogating the Keys of Purgatory as his own to which the Mahometan Paradâ—se is such a Fabulary opposite than Venemous Locusts coming out of the Smoke swarming every way and running up and down the World with a perpetual Disquiet under the Abaddon of the Bottomless Pit and yielding by Five Months and Five Months and the Time of Non-Action 490 years
the North and of the South c. 11. 5 c. peirc'd to the East and I find these Great Agreements between this Prophetic Portraicture and all I had said on the Types Rev. 9. 1. The Antichristian State as the last Course of Gentile Times shall continue till the Indignation against Jerusalem treading it under Foot shall be accomplished v. 36. 2. The Mahometan Southern or Saracenic and the Northern or Turkish Powers are the First Judgments or Trumpets on the Roman Antichristian Empire but making one Trumpet with the Last Woe Trumpet v. last call'd all Three the single Trumpet of the Three Angels Rev. 8. ult come in the last Course of Judgment so Daniel says at the Time of the End v. 42. 3. The Turkish Power as it began by Trangolipix in Persia and seiz'd Egypt by Saladin which as it is said in Daniel did not Escape v. 42. so it came to a Settlement in the Ottoman Family which grew great above Any of the Former Turkish Families But it was in greatest Trouble by that so dreadful Impression from the East-North v. 44. by Tamerlane who carried with him the Proud Sultan Bajazet in a Cage of Iron and held him in Fetters to his Death After this the Ottoman Princes went on with a Fury to Kill and to Destroy as the Prophecy Speaks and planted their Tabernacle or Palace between the Seas viz. at that Meeting of the Seas a most Illustrious Character of Constantinople on which Account it is called The Port even as its Mountainous Scite makes it called the Holy Glorious Mountain It might be understood of Judea and Jerusalem which was soon after seiz'd by Selymus out of other Mahometan Hands viz the Sultans of Egypt But I rather understand it of Constantinople call'd so by way of Allusion to Jerusalem because Constantine the First Christian Emperor made it the Tower of the Christian Empire and as it were a Jerusalem Consecrated to God and to Christ v. 45. And how when All was thus setled to shew The Turkish Potentacy would be then in its last Stage of Time It is said This Northern King shall come to his End and None shall help Him And it appears an Insinuation That when he shall be very near his End he shall have some unaccountable and unexpected Help such as at this Day he finds from the French Power that by Diverting the Imperial Arms gives an Aid to the Continuance of this Turkish Power for a small space But this notwithstanding He shall come to his End and None shall be Able by Any Help whatever to prevent it even at this 1697. But because the Knot of the Eclipse of Christianity Rests in the Antichristian State First the Vnion of the Pope and the Ten Kings shall be fully Dissolv'd And then this Woe shall pass away I may in the Last Place Add We must Understand the Prophecy of Daniel and of the Revelation by their Types or never Understand them till the Time of the Days Dawn and the Day-Star of the Kingdom of Christ it self Arising in our Hearts For that they shall not be understood except in Eternity sure Any One will be asham'd to say But that it is our Duty to understand them Now is plain by what the Apostle says We Do well to give heed to the Sure Word of Prophecy shining in the Dark Place or Time of the 2 Pet. 1. 19. Apostacy and that Christ says Let him that hath an Ear hear and here is Wisdom Let him that hath it count Now that the Types and the Events Rev. 13. 8. pitch'd upon Answer with so Great Exactness we may know by comparing the Events which I have given with the Events God hath himself expounded Prophetical Types into that he might thereby give us an Example in Expounding Prophetical Types as that Nebuchadnezzar was the Head of Gold c. Dan. 2. 38. That the Ram was the King of Persia that the He-Goat was the Dan. 8. 21. King of Grecia that the Kingdom was divided after the Death of the First King of Grecia by whom None doubt Alexander the Great is Intended putting an End to the Persian Monarchy in Darius the Last King These things then give us the Key of Expounding Prophetic Types 1. Agreement of the Types and of the Events 2. In an Orderly Succession 3. That they be Events of a High and Signal Eminency in that Succession 4. That they keep the Course of Time a-foot * Within Dan's 4 Monarchies to the great End or Kingdom of Christ 5. That being rightly Hit they are as significant as plain Words All which shew the Necessity of the Types I have insisted upon to be the True and that there can no other be Expected So that I boldly conclude whoever considers them must say They are certainly the True or at least most Rationally to be believ'd to be the True Prophetical Types and so that Christ's Kingdom must be so near And thus I have given such Arguments for the Great Change of the World at 1697 that as I most Humbly Appeal to the All-Knowing Spirit concerning their Truth in Agreement with what He hath so long a-go spoken and written so I am most Bold to say Neither the Understanding of Angels or Men can Resist Them having so Great a Presence of Divine Manifestation in Them If any be perswaded we are yet to expect that Slaying of the Witnesses before this Happy Change which must have its Three Years and a Half I have given Great Reasons against that Judgment as founded on that Text Rev. 11. 9 and am sure it cannot be the Sense of a Prophecy that requires a much longer space to fulfil it self in even of the whole 1260 Years of the Apostacy yet with a peculiar Respect to the Deepest Time of both the Pagan and Mahometan Tyranny according to the Allusion to the Deep Part of our Lord 's being in the Grave those Three Days so Famous in Evangelical History Yet I will not be so bold as Absolutely to Deny there being just possible Time before 97 to be so and yet the Witnesses to Rise so soon but there may be some such Space by way of Re-Capitulation and Epitome of that Deep State at the Last of the 1260 Years Which if Decreed by God may be insinuated by the Framing the whole Vision of the Witnesses so as to End in Three Days of Years and a Half and then the wonderful Change at their Rising by the Spirit of Life entring into Them to ensue And hereunto it would much incline any ones Judgment to observe the Great Wickedness found at this Day among the Protestants their Vnpreparednefs and deep Aversation to such a Kingdom of Christ as is so Near and that therefore some very Dreadful however Short Course of Judgment must winnow the Reform'd so call d Nations and even Churches for it And if this be so We must of Necessity be Just Entring into so Trying a Time and ought to prepare for it and to take into deep Consideration All such Possible Fore-bodes of it in the Present Agitations in the World we now see especially if Tending to a Re-Revolution the only Possibility of such a Black State in Humane View within these Kingdoms But though in Abundant Caution and warn'd by the Last Summer's Suspension of Decision I thus speak Yet I hope Better Things and Things that have Fast Hold of the Kingdom of Christ which shall Reform the Age by an Unknown hitherto since the Reformation Multitude of Converts and for all such Rebels as will yet Hate to be Reform'd and will not see They shall see and be purg'd out by the Majesty of the Lord then Appearing And whether of thâ—se Two Judgments on this Prophecy is the Justest to it I am perswaded the Next Summer's Action will give a certain Prospect For Time is so short to 97. that the Motion in Relation to it if there should be such a Gloomy Three Years and Half must be very quick If Any still think The Time Allow it All for Preparation and No such Dark Parenthesis or Time between is too short both in regard of so many of the Ten Kings and Kingdoms Remaining Popish and even in regard of the Vn-Reformed Protestancy I say for a Conclusion Thus it ought to be that Prophecy may be Fulfilled For this Blessed Change and Re Reformation is to be at the End of Half Time And the very Nature of the End of Half Time requires That All Things should be Running on in a full Stream and Carier as it were for a whole Time and then suddenly and to Amazement coming to an End in the very Half or Midst as the Man spoken of Jerem. 17. 11. who is Cut off in the midst or as the Hebrew Word is even as of Half Time in the Half of his Days and at his End proves a Fool so shall the End of the Antichristian State be sudden surprizing and at an Instant as a Line that Appears in full Length but cut off in the Midst The Suddenness is express'd by the same Hour the Surprisal by Great Fear or Affrightment Revel 11. 13. And So Let it be Oh Lord. THE END