we may encourage the persevering Remnant in the words of Moses Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-Peor for all the men that followed Baal-Peor the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you but ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day Deut. 4. 3 3. Here is the faith and patience of the Saints And indeed we cannot but admire the grace of God and to his praise we would speak it that we were preserved from the wicked Apostacy of O. C. against which we spared not to contend to the loss of our Liberties and to the hazard of our Lives the which we cannot but look on as the door and inlet to all this that is now come upon us Psal 81. 11 12 13 14 15. And all those unfaithful servants that complyed with him and his Interest and continued in a sinful perseverance as highly guilty of betraying the Righteous Interest and Cause of Christ and the Liberties of all the Saints of sin against God and the work of their Generation whereby they have made themselves unmeet for any place of Power and Trust and others must take their Crown neither will they any more finde acceptance with the Lord or his People but upon unfeigned Repentance which they may best testifie by making themselves nothing that Christ may be all and serving him in the lowest and meanest capacity For those that Christ will delight to honour in this work are Virgins Rev. 14. who never were espoused or marryed to a worldly or defiling Interest and except our names be found in those blessed distinguishing Characters as in the Kings muster Roll we shall never follow the Lamb with another spirit as Josbua and Caleb did We conclude with David instead of thy Fathers shall be thy Children a second Generation whom thou mayest make Princes in all the Earth Psal 45. 16. We therefore freely of a ready minde and with a most chearful heart accounting it an honour too great for us poor worms who are the meanest of men the greatest of sinners and the least of Saints to gird on a Sword for Christ Give up our Lives and Estates unto our Lord King Jesus and to his People to become Souldiers in the Lambs Army abhorring Mercenary Principles and Interests And for this works sake we desire not to love our lives unto the death neither will we ever if we may speak so great a word with reverence in the fear of God sheath our Swords again untill Mount Zion become the joy of the whole Earth a Mountain of holiness and a habitation of justice untill Rome be in Ashes and Babylon become a hissing and a curse the border of wickedness and the People against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever there being left unto her neither Name nor Remnant Son nor Nephew For that we are not purposed when the Lord shall have driven forth our Enemies here in these Nations and when we shall in a holy Triumph have led our Captivity Captive to sit down under our Vines and Figg-trees but to go on to France Spain Germany and Rome to destroy the Beast and Whore to burn her flesh with Fire to throw her down with violence as a Milstone into the Sea that she may be found no more at all Rev. 18. 21. Jer. 51. 35. to bring not onely these but all the Nations to the subjection of Christ that the Kingdome may be the Lords and to perfect the deliverance of all the Saints the Remnant of the Waldenses and all the Children of the Free-woman who are yet groaning and crying under the Tyranny and Persecutions of Antichrist and to avenge the blood of all the Martyrs which we earnestly remember and which is an especial motive unto us the cry of which is very loud in our ears and much more in the ears of God unto whom vengeance belangeth And this is much more then a National Quarrel that which is the Test now being the Interest of Christ the blood of the Butcher'd Murder'd Martyr'd and Massacred Saints the interest of the good People the Liberties of all men and the undoing of all the sinful oppressions and yoaks of the whole Creation The Controversie now therefore lies between Zion and Babylon Christ and Antichrist and therefore we assert That it is lawfull for the true spiritual Seed the legitimate Heirs of the promises and the World Rom. 4. 13. To RISE VP against the carnal serpentine accursed seed who are the destroyers of the Earth Rev. 11. 18. To possess the GATE of their Enemies to binde their Kings in Chains and their Nobles in Fetters of Iron And we being called of God and cut out without hands or humane contrivement in whom is shewn forth his Power RISE UP on Gods behalf free from the guilt of the breach of Oaths and Covenants upon our Consciences to conflict with this prophane persecuting Spirit of the Dragon and the Worshippers of the Beast that dwell on the Earth And we Call all that have a life to lay down for their King and Saviour to come forth against them with the Sword and execute upon them the Judgements written Are you a poor despised Remnant why God has formed you for himself As Christ was a tender Plant and a Root out of dry ground so may his Kingdom arise out of a poor obscure illitterate and such as the world calls Fanatick People And out of them shall come forth the Corner the Nail and the Battel-bow we look for a righteous spiritual Magistracy out of the new sharp threshing Instrument And to the end we may not lay a stumbling-block to shut out any for this good and wholesome Principle of Christs Government is so large that it involves every honest Interest and this bottom can onely secure our Cause as we could prove but that we write not in an argumentary way who are against the same abominations and enormities that we are own at least the negative part of our Cause and in the main are substantially and really for the same good things with us we also declare that whoso hath a heart to appear for God for his Christ for Reformation Justice and Righteousness for the Cause of Truth and for the good People of these Nations under so much reproach and sufferings whose Lives Estates Liberties and Posterities are ready to be made a Prey by the cruellest and worst of men who in the Properties of their natures are beasts against Popery Prelacy Common-prayer Organs Superstitions false prophane forms of Worship Idolatrous Ceremonial Typical Antichristian shadows and vanities such as is Sirplices Lawn Sleeves Hoods Tippets and such whorish trash and Trinkery Altars Bowing Kneeling and Worshipping a piece of Wood and Bread and a Wax Candle a filthy base Idol for the true God against Idolatrous Pictures and Images the seeds of Superstition and Ignorance we say whoso hath a heart to rise up for God against the Pope his Bishops and
A Door of Hope OR A CALL and DECLARATION for the gathering together of the first ripe Fruits unto the STANDARD of our Lord KING JESUS WE must begin with this Song Great and marvellous are thy Works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints Rev. 15. And if he will breath in us the Life and Wisdom of his own holy Spirit we will call to minde and Rehearse the Righteous Acts of the Lord who has been doing by mean and despicable Instruments a great and good work full of wonder and astonishment of late years in these utmost Isles of the world according to the Prophesies of the Scriptures in order to the introducing the best Interest which is the desire of all Nations namely the Exaltation of the Throne and Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ among us And this beginning of Reformation and the honest Party engaged in this Quarrel however by far the less number God did abundantly own and witness too from heaven by opening his Salvation and making bare his own Arm against the late King who was justly cut off as a Murtherer see Decl. of Parl. 11. Feb. 1647. Tyrant and Traytor insomuch that Germany was not without a witness that Learned and Judicious Author of Clavis Apocalyptica to the Righteousnesse of that Sentence who concludes by vertue of that clear Text Rev. 16. 5 7. Lord thou art Righteous because thou hast Judged thus P 100. Novertheless God hath now taken away all our bancks and permitted this old Enemy to come in upon us as a flood Isa 59. 19. And now C. S. the Son of that Murtherer is Proclaimed King of England whose Throne of Iniquity is built on the Blood of precious Saints and Martyrs and on the Blood of all our Brethren in the late Wars In whom is continued from Nimrod their first Head and Original the succession of the same cursed Seed and Serpentine Off-spring which by a continued Series runs through the Veins of the Assyrian Persian Grecian and Roman Monarchies So that now this common Enemy the seed of Ham is risen up in the spirit of that Murtherer Cain in the spirit of Esau Pharoah Amaleck Nebuchadnezzar Haman in the spirit of Herod and of the old Heathen Romane Persecutors such as Dioclesian against whom the Blood of the butcher'd and martyr'd Saints cryed under the fifth Seal at the beginning of whose ten years most cruel savage Persecution as M. Mede hath observed within thirty dayes about 17000. are reported to have been butcher'd In Egypt alone how small a part of the Empire of Rome there were butcher'd 144000. men and all the world almost was stained with the precious blood of the Martyrs in the spirit of the monstrous cruell unparallel'd Beast Rev. 13. who hath all the cursed properties of a Leopard for fierceness the feet of a Bear to catch and hold and the mouth of a Lion to tear and devour in the spirit of that Scarlet filthy Whore Rev. 17. the Mother of Harlots the Whorish Churches who is drunk with the blood of Saints and in her is found the blood of Prophets and Martyrs and all that has been slain on the Earth we say they are now Risen up in this spirit against the Lord against his Christ and People This is the spirit that put to death our Lord Jesus Christ and that murthered all the Martyrs But when we seriously weigh with our selves the great and good designs God hath in this strange Providence whereat most are confounded to punish and spue out of his mouth a Lukewarm People who had not a thorough spirit for the Work to try the Faith and Patience of his own People as pure Gold to conform them to their Head to Redeem and Separate them from all the rest by choice distinguishing Characters as Gold from more impure Mettal as Gideons three hundred from the thousands to this great Work of following the Lamb To fulfil the Word of God and the Prophecies of these last dayes among which those three in that blessed Book of the Revelations chap. 11. 10 11 12 13. chap. 18 7 8. chap. 17. 17. are not the least And to get himself a great Name which will be more glorious by much then that of Egypt Jer. 23. 7 8. For as he raised up Pharoah so hath he them to shew his Power in them and that his Name may be declared throughout all the Earth Rom. 9 17. They are brought as Foxes into the Snare and as Birds into the Net We say when we consider these things we are so far from being dejected that we cannot restrain from singing and praise knowing that this will make much for Gods Honour our good and this Works advantage and they shall not be able to touch one hair of our head nay we were very much confirmed in our hopes of the sudden appearance of this Work by the coming in of their poor wretched King at whom as the Daughter of Zion did at that great boasting Assyrian we laugh and have them in derision And when we consider the great opinions of this year the wonderfull effects it is like to produce the sweet harmony and agreement of the Prophecies the visibility of those things therein foretold to fall in the time of the Witnesses death the great likelihood of the Witnesses Resurrection the great New Covenant-Promise of the spirit made to this Work the wonderfull undeniable signs of the times and how miraculously we have been cut out and preserved for this Work of which we shall speak in a brief Treatise by it self And also having our hearts broken with the Love of Christ and boiling over and having tasted through choice distinguishing grace the Preciousness Power and Love of a soul-endearing Jesus we are mightily awakend and stirred up and that Fire that has been hid under our Ashes will break out into Flames and that Fountain of the Rivers of Living Waters into Streams as the bubbling Springs that searcheth the ground and finding entrance gusheth out Our Lives and every thing else that is dear unto us upon a worldly account we despise as a mean thing in comparison of the glory of that Name which is to us as precious Oyntment and we lay all down at the feet of our Lord Jesus resolving if we perish to perish there And first we desire to lay our selves in the dust to have soul-abasing thoughts of our selves for such is the nature and fruits both of the Grace and teachings of Christ and freely to admire what we have freely received that his preserving Grace has kept us from the defilements soul-destroying Iniquities and heart-entraping snares of these perillous times the cheats and delusions of Satan sin the world and an evil heart that we have not worshipped the Beast Rev. 13. 8. defiled our Garments and gone a whoring after strange Interests of which we may say as Solomon of the strange woman Many strong men have been slain by her Prov. 7. 26. And
handle the Pen of the Writer The Princes of Issachar with Deborah and Barak on foot in the Valley And if Reuben will continue in his divisions and abide among the Sheepfolds to hear the bleatings of the Flocks Gilead abide beyond Jordan Dan remain in Ships and Asher continue on the Sea-shore and abide in his breaches yet Zebulun and Napthali will be a People that will jeopard their lives unto the death in the high places of the field and Meroz shall be accursed because they came not to the help of the Lord to the help of the Lord against the mighty And our heart being towards you that among all the People offer your selves willingly to the Work we beseech you set all things in order prepare your selves and let the Rich help the Poor that with one mouth we may all say Thine are we David and on thy side thou son of Jesse Peace peace be unto thee and peace be to thine helpers for thy God helpeth thee 1 Chron. 12. 18. And if any of the old Army which God hath laid aside whose hearts he hath touched do quit their Interests and come to us on this alone lasting Foundation they shall be willingly received We have but one word more and that is unto young Converts who together with those who have separated from Antichrist in his purest Forms and Dresses and have been kept through rich Grace from the defilements of the Times and the late Apostacy are like to be the choicest instruments in this Work Precious honest heart let neither thy sins past miscarriages want of faith nor any other imperfection discourage thee from flying unto Christs Standard but as thou art with thy soul all broken in pieces throw thy self down at the feet of our Lord Jesus and come dye for him who spared not his own precious heart-blood for thee and thy life he saith and all things pertaining thereunto shall be given thee Some choice Teachings and Hints of a poor despised Remnant from that great Prophecy of the VVITNESSES Rev. II. Humbly submitted to Saints Consideration IN this three Years and half of which Elijahs Time of the three years and six months was a very great type of the Witnesses death God has been dealing with us as he did with that his worthy servant we have never been without the Bread of the Promises and the Waters of Spiritual comfort and this Prophecy since we had the Light of it has been as a Fountatin to us for new strength to corroborate us to confirme us and in the Promise of the spirit of Life we have had a salve for every sore and strength against every Temptation So that altho our Brooks are dryed and Ravens gone publick Ordinances and worldly helps yet have we still a handfull of meal and a little oyl with the Widow of Zareptah an invisible Fountain a living store which will last us till the Rain comes We cannot but take notice of the soul-melting goodnesse of our God that he has given us this valley of Achor for a door of Hope that he has shewed us a right way in the Wilderness insomuch that we can say of many choice Teachings and signall Hints which through free Grace we have been made partakers of under which we have cause to be mightily humbled this was the Spirit of God and this was the place of Loves Of all which in particular if the Spirit bring them to our Remembrance as also of the manifold Grace of God we trust we shall talk at the Rendezvouz on Mount Zion among the Virgins to his Praise And now we cannot but admire the wonderful Providences of God that he has called us into our secret Chambers Isa 26. 20. wherein he hath brought us to a state of near conformity and resemblance to himself and the first-fruits of the Primitive Saints who when the Shepheard was smitten and lay in the Grave and the cloud was so black that of all the thousands that were wont to hear him and follow him were left but 120 Names as the fruits of all his Preaching and Miracles were privately together in an Upper Room for fear of the Jews waiting for the great New Testament-Promise And surely now God has some great thing for his People that he calls them so near unto himself Now we shall shew our Opinion of these things and with submission give our judgement of the present state of Affairs In the doing whereof we shall omit many things and but name the rest 1. That the two Witnesses are that precious select separated Remnant of Christ in the Churches who in every Age and Generation are witnessing too and to the death contending for the great truth of their Age ver 3 4. 2. That these two Witnesses are at this day slain and lie dead Proved 1. From the great probability there is and ground we have to judge from what those worthy and famous men German Author and Tillinghast and other Authors of no small authority have writ That the 1290 dayes Dan. 12. 11. which of necessity must be headed according to the Character of the Vision with that remarkable Act of Julian A. D. 366. And the 42. moneths or the Dominion of the Power of darknesse and of the night which is not measured by dayes according to the motion of the Sun as the Witnesses Prophecy is but by moneths after the motion of the Moon which ruleth the night so Mede of the Beasts Tyranny and Persecution which is headed by his rise A. D. 396. for thirty years must pass between the heads of these two Numbers because they expire at one and the same time so Tilling Rev. 13. 5. in which it is observable that the utmost continuance of the Beast is not measured out but onely the time of his Commission unto blood limited ended with that remarkable year 1656. according to their computions of the mysticall Numbers But some will dislike this opinion and disallow these heads of account the which nevertheless if we let go we shall be quite lost in our Enquiry because the time then must be expired and yet the fruit doth not appear And how say they will you bring the mysticall Numbers and their computations to a harmony and agreement To such we thus answer That the time times and an half Dan. 12. 7. which are not the whole time of the Vision for that is particularly expressed afterward but are laid down as a Mark and Character of the end of wonders are not to be reckoned for a part of the 1290. dayes ver 11. but are a time distinct and to be added thereunto That the three dayes and an half of the Witnesses lying dead Rev. 11. 9. are not to be taken for any part of the forty two moneths ver 2. or the 1260. dayes ver 3. for they are to Prophesie so long but we must put a difference because the Scriptures doth so between their Prophesying time and the time of their lying dead But the three years and