those times before you as Patterns for imitation 1. As I would not have you decline Sufferings for the Gospel and Righteousness sake when indeed called of God thereunto so be careful not to suffer as Busie bodies or Evil-doers Mattyrdom for Christ was accounted so honourable amongst them that the Names of all that were Martyrs indeed were register'd and kept upon Record and such as did Suffer either not for Truth or without a Call out of an itching appetite for Honour were not Enroll'd 2. In all your Sufferings own Magistracy and honour the Authority of Magistrates I am sure this was the Doctrine and Practice of Christ the Apostles and the purer primitive Churches 3. Shew all Meekness towards your Persecutors that they may be convinced it is not through a peevish humoursomness or Pride but really for Conscience sake because you dare not sin against God that you do and suffer what you do condescend to them in all things civil unless they impose upon your Consciences something contrary to God's Word 4. Shew Love to the Souls of those that hate you with a most cruel hatred in praying sincerely heartily and constantly for them Matth. 5. end 5. Do not use any sinful or unlawful means to deliver your self from sufferings Heb. 11.25 26. 6. As I would have none to venture upon sufferings in their own Strength a Fleshly confidence will fail you in an Hour of Temptation so let not the sense of thy own weakness cause discouragement and a despondence of Spirit but rather act dependance upon this good God that when ever he gives the Call he will proportion thy Strength in some measure to thy Sufferings 1 Cor. 10.13 7. These primitive Martyrs were not only patient but of a chearful Spirit in all their Sufferings they Sung Psalms to one Jesus Let this be the Gospel-Frame of Spirit you are of in every thing give thanks for this is the will of God your Heavenly Father 1 Thess 5.18 8. Be much in Prayer in the exercise of Repentance and of Faith in applying particular Promises to your own Souls and in realizing the Glorious things of Eternity 9. In all your Sufferings be public Spirited i. e. Let Gods Glory the honour of the Gospel the Edification of Churches and Christians and thy own Souls Advantage be aimed at Do not think how thou mayest get Honour and a Name to thy self but rather 1 Cor. 10.31 whatsoever thou dost do or suffer let all be for the Glory of God 10. Think it not enough to begin well but resolve in the Lord's Strength to continue faithful to the Death and thou shalt be sure of the Crown of Life 7. God was good to his People from Constantine's time and the first beginning of Antichrists Rise to his full height and to put the two last in one he has been good to them ever since he began to decay and will continue his Goodness to them more and more to the end of the World And here it will be necessary for your better understanding of this Subject to premise a few things 1. No sooner was the Church delivered from a Persecuted State but immediately upon the back of that a new Storm did arise 2. The Churches Tryals now are of a different Nature from what they were formerly as then they Suffered from professed Pagans so now they are exercised with Spiritual Judgments they were pestered with Heresies and Errors from within and such as by Profession were Christians 3. This is not so to be understood as if they shall not now suffer Persecution but the Denomination of the Churches State is from that which is Chief and Principal of the two Evils Heresies were the greatest 4. The Instruments by whom they suffered were Antichrist and his Adherents 5. In treating of these things I shall take it for granted that the Churches sufferings in this Age is contained under the Trumpets 8. and 9. Chap. of the Revel 6. I understand the 7th Chap. of the Revel to be only a preparative to the sounding of the Trumpets and intervenes between the opening of the 6th and 7th Seals as also that the 10th Chap. and beginning of the 11th is no new Prophesy distinct from the Prophesy of the Trumpets but only intervenes between the 6th and 7th 7. I must speak particularly and more largely than I intended of the evils of this Age that so the Goodness of God in preserving them from the same may appear to be the greater and so for methods sake I shall summarily give you the substance of the 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th Chap. of the Revel as they lie in order Revelations Chap. Seven 1. Take notice that the Nature of the Evil to ensue is hinted at v. 1 2. There were Four Angels standing on the four Corners of the Earth holding the four Winds that they should not blow upon the Earth nor on the Sea nor on the Trees This was the Judgment that was to come upon earthy unstable and self-conceited Professors of the visible Church even a suspension of the influences of the North and South-Wind of the Spirit throughout all the Corners of the Earth 2. It is observable that this nor any other kind of evil can befal Creatures by chance but by the Hand of an over-Ruling Divine providence Four Angels are Empowered and Commissioned from above before the thing be put in Execution 3. From verse 2.3 Observe Such is God's Goodness and Christ's tender Care towards his poor People that he suffers not these Commissioned Executioners of Divine Justice to go on hastily with their Work till they were sufficiently prepared and guarded against it 4. The Great Lord Chancellor the Keeper of the Great Seal of Heaven is pleased to set his own Mark upon his chosen Ones whereby they may be ensafed and secured against this ensuing Evil Hurt not till we have Sealed the Servants of our God in their Foreheads He gives them that excellent Unction 1 John 2. and anointing of the Spirit that though Antichristian Calamities may reach their Bodies yet they shall never be able to do their Souls any considerable hurt 5. herein is the Goodness of God yet further that during Antichrists Rage the Sealed Ones are exactly Numbred to a Man in the Court-Rolls of Heaven One Hundred Forty Four Thousand out of all the Tribes of Israel i. e. as the Twelve Tribes of Israel were but few in respect of other Nations and the Elect of God among themselves were but few in respect of those that were called Israelites so the Number of those that are preserved from Antichristian Pollutiones shall be few in respect of a world of carnal Professors that shall wonder after the Beast 6. From verse 9. to the end you have an excellent prophetical hint of their deliverance from Antichristianism and then their Condition shall be glorious comparatively i. e. in respect of her Wilderness condition and prophesying in Sackcloath then shall there be a multitude which no Man can
debtors they are For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things their duty is also to Minister unto them in carnal things Acts 2.44 45. All that believed were together and had all things common and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all Men as every Man had need And 4.32 Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own but they had all things common 6. In all Changes and Conditions they were constant still one and the same not sickle or variable some times for one thing sometimes for another Acts 2.42 And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and in fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers 46.47 And they continued daily in the Temple with one accord and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart praising God and having favour with all people and the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved 2 Cor. 1.21 22. 1 Thes 3.12 13. Rev. 3.10 Thou hast kept the word of my patience And 2.13 I know thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satans seat is and holdest fast my Name and hast not denied my Faith even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful Martyr Lastly The Lord was graciously pleased to confer the Honour of Martyrdom upon them Stephen was the Proto-Martyr Acts 7. They were scattered at Jerusalem by reason of Persecution Acts. 8. Paul and Peter suffered at Rome under Nero the one Beheaded the other Crucified So also James surnamed Justus Nay there was not one of the Apostles that escaped a violent Death John only excepted Let us make some use of all this in some Three or Four things 1. Let us bless God for his goodness to them O Blessed be the Lord that ever there was such a one as the Apostle Paul O Blessed be the Lord for the Truths Ordinances Gifts and Graces that were communicated to them we are in a sense sharers in the Mercies What was then written or transacted said or done was all for our Instruction 2. Did the Lord give forth such an abundant measure of the Spirit at the first Plantation of the Gospel according to what the Work of that Day did require which was to bring the carnal Jews from off their Ceremonies and the heathenish Gentiles from Satan to God who must see Miracles otherwise they will not believe Let us believe and be confident that the same good God will not be wanting to proportion the Gifts and Graces of his Churches and Servants to the Work of this our Day which is the reformation of Religion from Antichristianism Blessed be the Lord for any small bedewings and besprinklings of the Spirit poured forth upon any in our times in order hereunto 3. Let us from hence bemoan our selves and others that go under the Name of Churches of Christ who have degenerated so far from them in Doctrine Discipline Worship Gifts Graces Holiness of Conversation Perseverance in Sufferings contraria mixta seposita clarius elucescunt In the primitive times Christ placed us in a kind of Paradise but we have not kept our first Habitation 4. Let 's not only remember whence we are fallen but also return to our first Estate and when we set about a Reformation whether Personal or Ecclesiastical Let 's be sure to set the primitive Pattern before us as near as may be Let 's Love as they did endeavour to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace as they did continue steadfastly in the Apostles Doctrine in fellowship in breaking of Bread and Prayers as they did No sufferings frighted them from following the Lamb be followers of them in all things imitable so far as they were followers of Christ Sixthly God was good to his Gospel Israel after the Death of the Apostles till Constantine's time And here before I come to particulars it will be necessary to premise these few general considerations as introductory for the clearing of what is further intended 1. Be it known to you that immediately upon the Death of the Apostles the Church was in a persecuted state It 's true it was so in their time but not as afterwards when there were publick Laws and Edicts made against the profession and professors of the Christian Religion providence so ordering it that they should have some respite till the Gospel and Churches had some Plantation 2. The time of this persecuted Condition was Three Hundred Years or thereabouts 3. The Instruments whom the Devil made use of for this diabolical Service were the heathen Emperors of Rome Rev. 12.3 The party there combating against Michael and his Angels Christ and his People is thus described A great red Dragon having seven Heads and ten Horns and seven Crowns upon his Heads A Dragon because of his Power red because of his Cruelty having seven Heads i. e. seven several sorts of Governments in Rome heathenish as also it was built upon seven Hills having ten Heads with seven Crowns thereupon to distinguish Rome-heathen from Rome-Antichristian Rev. 13.1 That has not only seven Heads and ten Horns but also Crowns upon the Horns to intimate that Antichrist made Kingdoms of those that were but Provinces during the Dragon's Reign under the heathen Emperors 4. Having perused several writers of great Note both for Godliness and Learning upon that transcendantly high mystical Scripture of the Revelation It 's most probable as I humbly conceive that they guess right who assert that the Seals Chap. 6. hold forth this State of the Church during the first three Centuries of which Ch. 12. to verse 13. seems to be explicatory 5. In treating of this Subject I shall be necessitated to make use of History to which I require no more of you but a Historical Faith I account it a great Mercy that every Age has had some faithful Servants of God whose care it has been to transmit to posterity the memorable acts of Divine Providence to his People Psal 145.4 One generation shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts I will speak of the glorious honour of thy Majesty and of thy wondrous works 1. God was good to them in giving forth this incomparable rich and rare Monument of the Revelation of John the Divine the principal scope and intendment whereof was 1. To forewarn them of the near approach of suffering times that so they might not be surprized but in a readiness to encounter therewith 2. That they might know what their sufferings would be by whom and of what continuance 3. That they should be comforted and encouraged under all especially upon this two-fold consideration 1. There 's no sufferings shall befall you but according to the predetermination and fore-appointment of a wise God and loving Father 2. Let the Churches troubles be what they will they shall have a glorious and an assured issue seeing this was the good end of
and absurdities that follow upon contrary opinions which do assert that it 's now a fulfilling or the futurition of it as a thing yet to come make me to conclude that it is past From what has been already said in opening the Chap. it 's clear That it is not now a fulfilling 1. This time cannot be exactly towards the end of the one thousand two hundred and threescore Days and forty two Months and if it be When did they begin 2. Antichrist is not now at the highest nor the Church at the lowest 3. We cannot be said to be the Street of the great City nor our times times of Popery 4. We are not the first that laid the measuring-line to Antichrist's Temples Altar and Worshippers 5. This savours of Spiritual Pride and can hardly be asserted without reflecting upon the glorious Martyrs that have gone before us as if they had not deserved the Names of Witnesses in respect of us whereas indeed neither we nor our sufferings are worthy once to be named in way of comparison with them and their sufferings Some do fondly fancy that nothing is to be witnessed to but some one Notion of their own 6. This would argue ingratitude and murmuring as if we were still in the Wilderness when indeed we have rather cause to bless God saying We bless thee Lord God Almighty because thou hast taken to thee thy great Power and hast reigned The absurdities that follow upon asserting that this is yet to come and that the foresaid Days and Months did begin with six hundred and six are these 1. By adding one thousand two hundred and threescore to six hundred and six will be one thousand eight hundred and sixty six about two hundred Years hence 2. This may breed security in this present Age. 3. For two hundred Years Antichrist must still be a increasing to a greater height than ever 4. Either all the glorious late Transactions throughout the World have had no tendency to the prophesied ruin of Antichrist or if they had all that has been done must be undone again and all the Nations that have cast off the Popes supremacy must Apostatize and become worse than before Is it probable that God has brought so many out of Aegypt to bring them back again No verily 5. If it be determined of God that Antichrist's forty two Months shall not expire nor his prophesied Reign begin till then then it will be but in vain to attempt any thing against him all this while And this is the second ground proving the preterition of this Prophecy There is but one more to wit the harmony and concurrence of providential Events Which this prophecy understanding it according to the interpretation given makes me conclude it is over add 1260 to 300 and the number that results thence is 1560. Now let us inquire a little what state the Church was towards the concluding period of this time or near thereupon Anno 1546 in the War between the Emperor and Duke of Saxony the Protestants were almost totally routed the Prince himself imprisoned Magistrates divested of their Robes many Ministers banished and imprisoned for not taking the Interm the Antichristian party insult exceedingly in sending great Guns and Prisoners which they had taken as Trophies of an absolute Victory over Lutheranism About the same time there was a great persecution in France in the Netherlands under the Duke of Alva of the Waldenses in Provence Anno 1545. They of Piedmont by the Duke of Savoy It is not unknown what was here in Queen Mary's days It is observed by some that within a few of these Years the number of them that suffered for Christ were 900000 and this may relate to the slaying of the Witnesses and as for the Resurrection about 1559 the Work of Reformation had a great reviving in German At a Diet of the Empire at Ausburg by publick Authority the Protestants had free liberty to make Profession of their Religion without prejudice to their Estates and civil Privileges about the same time Reformation had a reviving in Scotland In France under Charles the 9th Anno 1560. Queen Mary Reigned about 1554 and died some five Years after and Queen Elizabeth brought glorious days to Protestantism in general in respect of the Marian days Besides all these Arguments my own observation of the Acts of Providence at this day do more and more confirm me in this perswasion however if any can shew me more convincing Reasons to the contary I hope through Grace I shall not be found pertinacious I cannot slightly pass over so material a point as this is without drawing some practical Inferences from it by way of Application 1st For Instruction 1. The longest Day that ever was had an end Antichrist's forty two Months have their period 2. When Persecutors are at the highest then their Downfal draws nigh Nihil violentum durabile 3. O that all the Sons of Wickedness would be wise and instructed from what has befallen others to tremble and fear God because of his Judgments 4. Christ's Witnesses do carry on his Work by their Sufferings as well as Services Passive Obedience is as acceptable to God and useful to others as Active 5. No Cause of Christ sealed with a bloody Testimony shall ever be quite lost 6. The Reformed Churches that have in any measure cast off the Yoak of Antichristianism are highly to be esteem'd of tho' it was never intended of God that Reformation shold stand at what it did begin either in Doctrine Worship or Discipline yet the state of the Primitive Reformers was a Heaven upon Earth in comparison of what their Prececessors state was More particularly from these things we may venture to make some sober conjecture concerning the Dispensation this Age is under 1. If this Prophecy of the Witnesses be fulfilled about an hundred Years ago then we are now under the 7th Trumpet which contemporizeth with their Resurrection or does at least follow immediately upon it 2. The Work of Reformation is not to begin the Right-hand of the most High has already laid the Foundation 3. Antichrist has been already at the highest and is now a going down the Wind all the endeavours of Men and Devils shall not be able to raise him again to what once he was nor to support or keep him from falling tho' this and two or three Nations more should Apostatize to Popery more than ever yet it 's nothing contrary to my assertion unless Bohemia Switzerland Helvetia Hungary Holland and all in Germany France Sweden and other parts do professedly return to Rome again and become more Idolatrous than before which shall never be 4. We shall never know such another slaying of Witnesses as this 1. Those were in the Wilderness the suffering Witnesses of after Ages shall be out of the Wilderness 2. They were then in Sackcloth after Ages shall never know such a mournful Condition 3. They suffered before the Temple of God was opened in Heaven which