they are that shall be converted and by whom they shall be converted This I have handled more at large in the other little Tract called Lingua Testium which ought to be joyned to this and was so intended though the winds and storms of persecution severed them My hearty prayer to God is that this clay and spettle may by the powerful operation of Gods spirit be effectual to the opening the eyes of those blind soules who by the blind are led out of the way and both fallen into the ditch What I have done is but as a Rams horn in a weak mans hand which one stone in probability from Jericho walls is able to dash in pieces yet what cannot a rams horn do when God sends it forth by his commission it is able to overthrow the strong walls of Jericho In God alone I put my trust he is my strength by his help have I leaped over the wall of many difficulties by his power I trust I shall undermine and blow up the wall of Babylon I am sure it stands though formidable to the beholder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon a tottering foundation and blessed are those Princes and blessed those people and persons whom God hath given a heart to enterprise so great a work though they die in that service Rev. 14. 13. My prayer is that this Tract may be as that voice in Jerusalem before its ruine A voyce to the Magistrate and a voice to the Minister a voice to the Papist and a voice to the Protestant a voice to the aged and a voice to the young a voice to the rich and a voice to the poor and a voice to all that belong to the Election of grace to forewarn them to fly from the evil to come for be assured O ye people of England that God will visit you and that speedily with his sore and heavie judgments as you have been singular in sin so will God single you out to punishment the day is at hand when Traytors and Covenant-breakers shall cry to the Mountains to fall upon them and to the hills to cover them from the wrath of God which will inevitably fall upon them Now that I might call some souls out from amongst them before the wrath of God break in upon them and it be too late I have written this ensuing Tract with as much plainnesse and brevity as I could I have pared off all difficulties which might perplex the Reader either in the method or in the style I have given thee here the cream of many a moneths study which I have gathered out of the choicest books in Europe I have left no stone unturned nor any Library in England that I could come at unransackt I expect no bribes of breath or profit but the profit of mine and thy soul which is the soul of profit as to other profit I am a stranger indeed I am a great looser for I have consumed both my body and estate to inrich my soul and others in this study nothing but my bed and my meals have been tedious to me since I undertook it and if the Lord be pleased to prosper it to the good but of any one soul I shall dedicate my whole life in praises to him and account my corporall losses a thousand times repaid me For this end I beseech thee Reader to read it as I writ it Sequestrate thy self from distractions and sit down as in the presence of God to search after his revealed Will in these misterious texts Watch against the Devils temptations for he is most busie about a man when he sits to meditate on these texts He shall never profit by this that doth not as that Father saith on the Cant. Carnalem exuere affectum he that comes to this treasury with smutcht and coalie heart and hands shall carry away pro thesauro carbones If thou therefore find not that expected satisfaction at the first reading of this book lay not the fault like Senecas Nurse presently upon the book but see that it be not thy fault in reading it I give thee this the rather because I know it will have many Censurers but I am confident few confuters remember good reader as thou must answer one day for thy lost hours which are double loss and as for thy sluggish hearing and praying so for thy sluggish and unprofitable reading of books The Lord therefore for Jesus sake grant that thou mayst so read as to understand that therein thou mayst be blessed which is the onely end of the Authors labours Vale. THe earnest endeavour of Dr. Homes on October the 8. 1650. was to perswade the Lord Major Aldermen and the chief of the City assembled at Christ-Church that now this year 1650. the things done against the lawful Parliament of England together with the grand defeat given to the Scots by Cromwell was the fulfilling litterally of his Text in Psal 149. 8. 9. To bind their Kings in Chains and their Nobles in fetters of Iron that they may execute upon them the vengeance written this Honour have all his Saints the honour of imprisoning arraigning condemning and beheading the only Protestant King in the world of disâ—â—bing the Protestant Peers of the Parliament of England and of secluding the sincere Protestants of the Commons of England the changing of the Government of England the removing of the Covenanted Reformation and the invading of Scotland and overthrowing of the covenanting party such honour have all the Saints saith Dr. Homes this is saith he page 6. remotio impedimenti the removing of impediments and the holy ones that is the present power now sitting at Westminster which he calls a Parliament have removed these impediments the Dr. gives a Catalogue of his Saints viz. the Parliameâ—â— the Councel of State the Army the Magistrates the Ministers and the Churches these are the Doctors holy ones I wonder how the Dr. left out the King of Spain the pâ—incipal Saint next to the Pope in these honourable actions they doubtless have according to the Doctors interpretation endeavoured long before now in 88. and the Gun-powder-plot to fulfil the Doctors Text literally that is to overthrow King Lords and Commons and all that stand stedfastly to maintain Protestant Laws and Religion these are the things done and these are the persons who perform them the actions saith the Dr. are glorious and the actors holy ones neither is this any new notion of the Doctors for he professeth that 8. years agoe he was of this opinion that this year 1650. should produce such glorious effects as the beheading of King Charles upon a Scaffold at his own door for so the mâ—n means plainly by his expressions Is it not strange that this Dr. should be so old a Prophet nay is it not strange that he should be so soon a Prophet and so strange a Prophet for in the year 1642. the Dr. as he saith foretold these things to come to passe this year and in 1639. thousands
the Eastern Gentiles destruction but glorious conversion A remnant onely of the Antichristian Faction shall be converted Rev. 11. 13. Secondly This Battel cannot be fought after the Vialls are powred out for the Vials produce the utter ruine of the Enemies of the Church Now if the Battel should be after the Enemies of the Church are overthrown it must necessarily be a Battel with the Ayr as we say there are no Enemies to be subdued all 's finished when the Vials are powred out Therefore by necessary consequence it is cleer that the great Battel and the Vials are one and the same thing Now then put all together if the Vials and the Battel be the same and this Battel must be fought by the Witnesses and their Army with whom Christ by his mighty power will eminently go forth for in no other sence is Christ coming on a white horse to be taken and these must appear in fine and white linnen which is contrary to sackcloth which in till then they were and at this Battel the Beast and the false Prophet and the Dragon must be ruined Then I prove that this Battel is not far off and that from the Doctors own calculations in his Thanksgiving Sermon There he proves to my hand from Rev. 13. 5. that Antichrist began his 42 Moneths Raign which makes up 1260 years which is the time of the Witnesses abiding in the Wilderness and in Sackcloth Now saith he Antichrist began to work and act vigorously about the year 390 after Christ I do believe this of the Doctors to be a reall truth and for confirmation of the same I will add one word or two I do affirm that about that year 390. the Bishop of Rome began to be formally Antichrist for then they began to claim an independent power as unto the Magistracy and Ministery He claimed a priviledge of being exempted from the censures of Councels as being above them for he made the Eastern Councels but his Sons and he their Father and Sons have not power to censure their Father and then they began to overlook Emperours to excommunicate them to depose them and to free themselves from their censures Hereupon the Magistracy and Ministery were in a short time brought under the Popes feet and made to wear sackcloth and then the Church fled into the place prepared of God for her Reâ— 12. 6. which place is England as shall be proved The Devils stratagems of setting up Independency in the Chair of Rome was the Key of the bottomless pit which the Devil put into the Popes hands and it is indeed the formalis ratio Antichristi for Independency set the Bishops of Rome above Magistracy and above Ministery above mans Law and above Scriptures and Gods Law as their Decretals manifest therefore Paul 2 Thess 2. sets him out to the life ver 4. He opposeth himself above all that is called God above every Magistrate and then he as God sits in the Temple of God that is in the Church of God for Rome was for a long time the purest Church Now in this Church the Independent Prelate sits as God making Laws like a God None but God hath an Independent power but the Pope he takes upon him an Independent liberty and authority and priviledge of himself and by himself alone and without any other he takes upon him to alter Scripture add to Scripture and detract from it in this he sets himself even above God and so is the true Antichrist Now this Independent power the Bishop of Rome began to put in practice about the year 390. to which add the just measure of the time of this Antichrists raign which is 1260 years and it makes compleatly 1650. The other pertinent place which the Doctor alledgeth is Dan. 12. 11. from the time the daily sacrifice shall be taken away there shall be 1290 dayes that is years now about the year 360. that destructive abomination of ruining their Temples foundation overturning their Altars and destroying their Sacrifices and burning their Utensels and so putting to an end their Sacrifices began now add to 360. 1290. and it makes 1650. Now this year 1650. saith the Doctor must be the great year of doing great things against Antichrist pag. 17. He calls wise men to consider how here in England there hath been a King bound and some Nobles he means beheaded and how Kingdoms have been changed into Common-wealths and how Scotland hath been beaten over and over he leaves wise men to consider whether these are not high acts of throwing down Antichrist These acts he calleth pag. 18. the making good of his Doctrine and upon that account exhorts the people to praise God for cutting off the King and throwing down the House of Lords and from pag. 25. to pag. 27. or thereabouts he sets up a tone of rayling in the most ridiculousest style and weakest way of arguing against the Protestants of England for not keeping the Thanksgiving day that I am ashamed our English Nation should be so much disgraced as to have the Title of Doctor set before it In pag. 32. he tells the Lord Major and the rest of the Companies That they must not onely as Saints give thanks but as people considered in opposite distinction to Kings Monarchy being turned into Democracy Kingdoms into Common-wealths This Democracie he highly commends and in the same page with a Whores or rather with a Whore-masters fore-head affirms this most andacious and notorious untruth That this government was anciently among the Jews in the time of the Judges I have already proved this Doctor to be a Teacher of false Doctrines therefore I pass by these things onely I would intreat the Reader to take notice how under the pretence of crying down Antichrist there are subtill deceivers not onely crept in but rushed in and by authority maintained allowed and ushered in to depress and destroy the true Saints and Church of God by stigmatizing them with the mark of Antichristianism and to exalt and extoll the actors and actions of these whose design is wholly to exalt Antichrist Was it ever heard before that Protestants made a day of rejoycing for the fall of a Protestant Nation and a Protestant King Who truly rejoyceth at this but Rome and the Romish Factors I l'e say no more to this but return to the Doctors Calculations and out of his own mouth by Gods grace I hope to make it cleer that what he calls the throwing down of Antichrist is the sâ—aying of the Witnesses and these which he calls the Saints and Holy Ones are they that are the slayers of the Witnesses The Doctor is strongly conceited that this year 1650. shall be a year of terrible things against Rome his grounds for it are plausible I do confess it and I am upon the same grounds as confident as he That Rome shall have a fatall blow immediatly after this year I know many are ready to laugh at this opinion and say Was Rome ever in
the force of the Enemy then God ariseth Q. But after what manner or by what means will God convert the twelve Tribes A. The Holy Ghost tells us Esay 49. 21 22 23. the whole chapter is a description of the glorious Gospel-day when Christ shall deliver both Jews and Gentiles from the Devils bondage and Antichrists yoak in v. 6. there 's Christs Commission to raise up the Tribes of Jacob God hath appointed him for that end that he may call the scattered Tribes from the North and from the west from the land of Sinim but the Jew shall say in his heart Who hath begotten me these seeing I am barren and desolate a captive and a wanderer to and fro and who hath nourished them Behold I was left alone whence are these This is the question that the Jews ask at the time of their beginning to be converted and brought from the North and from the West and from the Land of Sinim But observe the Answer the Holy Ghost gives v. 22. Thus saith the Lord God Behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles and set up my standart to the people and they shall bring thy sons in their armes and thy daughters shall be carryed on their shoulders The meaning is God will command the converted Gentiles the Ministers of the Gentile Church and they shall hold out the white flag of the Gospel of reconciliation by Jesus Christ for that 's Christs Standart and this shall be the way of their conversion but that 's not all for in the next verse v. 23. and Kings shall be thy nursing Father and Queens shall be thy Nurses converted Gentile-Kings shall invite the Jews into their Kingdome and give them leave fairly to bring in their scruples they have against Christ and appoint men to satisfie their doubts give them leave which the Pope will not do to read the New Testament and compare Christians principles with the ir principles For so the Prophet saith They shall be converted they shall see eye to eye that is by the Eye of the Old Testament they shall see into the New and by the Eye of the New they shall see into the Old Testament-prophecies fulfilled so that the godly Magistracy those are Kings and the goldy Ministery amongst the Gentiles shall be instruments of converting the Jews Hereupon my hopes and grounds are that God will by affliction so mould and frame the heart of the King of Scotland and then raise him to so great a power as that he will not only be the great instrument of throwing down Antichrist but also a great instrument in converting of the Jews in the West-Indies and East-Indies where the people thirst abundantly after the Word but there are few to deal the bread of life to them I have great hopes that God will yet again by an English Monarch do mighty things against Rome-Antichristian and for the propagating of the Gospel and my reasons are Because God chose the first Monarch in the world to be a Christian and a Defender of the Faith in this Kingdom Lucius was King of England and he that God chose to make the Vicar as Elutherius Bishop of Rome styled him this was Anno Christi 180. Abou 120 years after God raised up out of this Kingdom a Christian Emperour Constantine who was the Son of Hellena that beautiful Brittish Princess This Constantine God made the great Instrument of throwing down the Heathen Emperours turning the whole Empire from Paganism to Christianity He freed the Christians from their prisons and saved them from being any more tortured for Christ Since that time Religion was never quite extinguished but the Brittish people notwithstanding their afflictions kept their Religion amongst them after Rome apostatized from its primitive purity so far as from Rome-Christian to become Rome-Antichristian We shall find in History that the English Monarchs were the first that opposed the Popes Tyranny William the Conquerour was one that shewed himself an Enemy to the Popes pomp and tyranny and usurpation It may truly be said that the Normans despised and abhorred the Popes wicked usurpation The Plantaginets curbed the Pope's insolency The Tudars likewise unhorsed the Popes Observe here how the Tudars came in Henry 7. married Elisabeth the eldest daughter of Edward 4. and hereby unites the two Houses of York and Lancaster In the person of this King saith Sir Robert Naunton in his book called Fragmenta Regalia the royall scepter fell back into the current of the old British bloud which by the invasion of the Saxons and afterwards by the conquest of the Normans had discontinued almost a thousand years so that all the German Norman Burgundian Castalian and French atchievements with the intermarriages which eight hundred yeares had acquired and incorporated were all brought back into the old royall line of the ancient British Christian Kings This being so which I verily believe as 't is one of the remarkablest passages in the world so 't is that which makes exceedingly for my purpose viz. That the Kings of England are the lawfull Magistracy of England and that they are no usurpers and therfore one of the Witnesses This Henry 7. married his eldest daughter Margaret to the King of Scots The Tudars expiring in Q. Elizabeth the off-spring of Margaret who was matched into the royall Family of the Stuarts succeeded Q. Elizabeth in the English throne by a title cleer and unquestionable Now as the Tudars unhorsed and banished the Pope so the Stuarts stabbed the Pope so that as England had the first King that subjected this Kingdom to Christ and the first Emperor that subjected the Roman Empire to Christ and the first Kings that opposed Antichrist And as King Iames was the first that proved the Pope to be Antichrist so his son was the first King that ever was openly put to death for finishing his testimony against Antichrist Hence it appeares that as Monarchy before Christ was visible in the Church from Adam untill Christ so it hath been visible in this Kingdom since Christ from Lucius in a Christian line of unquestionable succession unto this distressed King of Scotland now persecuted by Antichrist This King was begot by a Protestant King baptized by a Protestant Mininister a Bishop he was born the heire of three Protestant Kingdoms and is the successor of a Martyr who laid down his life for the maintenance of the Protestant Religion and this King hath covenanted to maintain the Protestant Religion all which could never be said of any King before and therfore my hope and trust is that King Iames his Grandchild shall be the King that shall throw down Rome Antichristian and be the great Instrument of making both Jews and Gentiles bow down to a reall reformation especially when in all probability these three Kingdoms are the Kingdoms where the Witnesses shall be slain by the usurpation of a mean fellow who shall arise and set up a new government and take upon him to be
of people know that he was a malicious blood-hound of the persecuting Prelates one that prosecuted honest Christians at the Bishops Courts with most inveterate hatred and how suddenly did this man put off his Paritors Bagge and put on his Prophets Mantle how soon did he that pleaded for Crucifixes Cringings surplices crossings and Popish ceremonies that prayd for Bishops by what names or titles soever distinguished that prayed for our gracious Soveraign King Charles King of great Brittain Defender of the faith and supreme head of the Church in all causes and over all persons how soone did this man turn and how strangely was he altered that in 1642. he should foretell the ruine of his gracious Soveraign and now count the day of his ruine and his Peers that glorious day which literally fulfills the Doctors prophetical Text the young King and the Nobles may by this perceive what good friends the prelatical Bratts are to Monarchy but we proceed from page 20. to p. 27. He takes pains to the purpose to perswade the people to praise God since such glorious wonders are effected this day in these times and he layeth at the Presbyterians with all his might rayling at them that they wil not come in to make up the choice with his holy people he tells them 't is 〈◊〉 defect in their Consciences and if they be Saints they are in the dark or else they are full of prejudice or under some strange temptations nay a little after he saith they are no Saints for it is a contradiction in Adjecto to say a man is a Saint and will not be thankful nay in page 2â— he saith they are wilfully obstinate and page 23. miscomplexioned and in page 27. they are weak in judgemeâ—t and distempered in spirit From the Presbyterians he turns away and betakes himself in his use to his holy people and in page 32. he exhorts them to praise God in opposition to Kings Monarchy being turned into Democracy and Kingdoms into Common wealths here he turns States-man and takes upon him to tell what 's the best Government in the world a regular Democracy saith he assisted with an occasional Aristocracy in trust is the safest Government here he goes about to put his holy Councel of State above his holy Parliament he goeth on and most falsely and most unjustly slanders the Government of the Jews saying that this Democracy that he desired was the ancient Government of the Jews here he doth abuse both Moses and Joshua and all the Judges of Israel which were absolute Monarchs he proceeds and tells us that the first degenerate King was Nimrod observe here how the Dr. insnâ—res himself First He acknowledgeth the Office of a King to be lawful why else doth he say degenerate King for if a Kingly Government be not lawful Nimrods Office was enough to make him degenerate Secondly He acknowledgeth there were lawful Kings before Nimrod therefore he calls this Nimrod not the first King but the first degenerate King here the Dr. spake truth not at unawares but premeditatively for in page 9. He acknowledgeth that there was a holy King before Nimrod and that was Melchizedeck King of Salem Priest of the most high God Heb. 7. This Melchizedeck he saith was Sem the Sonne of Noah mark then how this wicked perverter of the wayes of truth even against his Conscience contradicts himself for in page 32. he stirs up the people to praise God for the Destruction of Kingly Government and Monarchy that Kingdoms are turned into Common-wealths and Monarchy into democracy and in page 39. brands all those with the mark of Antichristian which go about to uphold Kings or Kingly Government and yet confesseth that Kingly Government is lawful Government can any sober-minded man give credit to such a self condemned wretch he proceeds in page 32. to rayse at Kingly Government saying that God is angry at the peoples asking a King and God gave them a King in anger the 1. Sam. 8. the Doctor never considers it was their manner of asking a King that provoked God neither doth he consider how that God gave them only a King in wrath for God continued the Office when he destroyed the person of the King and God himself those David King after Saul which Government continued unremoved for â—4 Generations together Mat. 1. and at last it was as a grievous punishment for their sin removed But the Doctor forgets or conceals this he proceeds to exclaim against the lives of Kings thereby to defame their Office he calls them ambitious blood-suckers asks what Kings have done since Christs time until now for Christ but even much against Christ true Christians he forgets that the first Christian King in the world was he that subdued this Kingdom of England to the profession of the Gospel he forgets what Constantine that Monarch did in turning all the Empire the most of the world from Paganisme to Christianity I 'le only aske this question of the Doctor what glorious reformation in the world was ever wrought without a Monarch but the Dr. proceeds and tells us page 23. that there is divine reason why States should incline to Democracy one reason is because God did create us not Kings but people take this reason of the Doctors one way it is ridiculous non-sence take it another way it is an absolute untruth for Adam the first man created by God was created a Monarch God put all things under him to be subject and serviceable to him but his chief reason against Monarchy is because God hath setled his decree against Monarchy Dan. 2. Here the Doctors jugling is discovered for it is not Monarchy but degenerate Monarchy that God threatens to throw down this the Dr. doth as good as confess in page 32. where he confesseth that the Monarchy of Nimrod was a degenerate Monarchy because a tyrannical one now to argue because God will overthrow tyranical Monarchy therefore he will overthrow all Monarchy holds no more true in the consequence then because God will damn all reprobated men therefore hee 'l damn all men Thus have I given you a summary view of the chief things in the Doctors Sermon whereby it may plainly appear to every eye that the drift of this fellow as of the rest of his Jesuited fraternity is to prove the Protestants of England their civil Government to be Antichristian and that those that have blowne up the lawful Parl. are the Saints of the holy people whom God hath set apart for such a work and honoured them withall that they have bound Kings in Chains and Nobles in Fetters of Iron this he calls the throwing down of Antichrist which eight years agoe he foretold would come to passe about this year 1650. which is a year that the Independent-time-servers much haâ—p upon and this Dr. in special alleaging many Texts of prophetical Scripture to make good what he affirms in this explication of some Texts of Scripture I do acknowledge
shall this beast cause sore prosecution to fall upon the Saints of God yea this beast shall be farre more cruel then any of the enemies of the Church before him he shall be more monstrous in his attempts against the Church and he shall reach higher then ever any enemy before him the tallest we reade of before was but 66. but this is 666. all the enemies the most hellishest Traytors could never yet root up the Protestant Government in England they could never blowe up King Lords and Commons by their most secret plots but this beast doth it at noon-day in the face of all the world Oh that I had but room here to write his History I should make the eares of all that heard it tremble to remember these horrid unnatural villanies that this beast of the earth whose nummber is 666. hath committed all the conspiracies of Rome and Spain though they have not now been idle could never yet do the tenth part of that mischief to the Magistry and Ministry of England as he hath done how hath he overthrown them even when they had finished their Testimony how miserably is our covenanted Reformation broken in pieces by the prevailing Treason and rebellion of this beast As for those who seek to find the beast in the number of his name I conceive they stumble upon these two grosse mistakes they take the word number in a literal sence which is to be interpreted in another sence it signifying there the due proportion of the beast in number weight and measure thereby shewing he is an usurper a thief and a robber none of Gods appointment 2. There is another stumbling-block at which Interpreters not a few fall they go about to find the number of this beast in his name whereas the Holy-Ghost doth not bid us number his name for that the fooles of the world do but he bids them count the number of the beast count him in his rising he rose by his Lambs horns and Dragons tongue by flattering and hypocrisie blasphemies and deceits count him in his acting he acts by the Devils and the Popes Commission count him in his power he sets up his Sword-power a tyranical unlawful power count him in his means of obtaining that power and 't is his signes and wonders whereby he cheateth the people into a compliance with and subjection to his Power and Dominion Look upon him and count him in his several Acts of power and he is extreme tyranical he makes it death speak against the new Government and then he forceth men even against their own Consciences to subscribe to his new Government or publickly to own it by observing his publick edicts and keeping and solemnizing his Fast-dayes and Feâ—st-dayes and if not to deprive them of the priviledge of buying and selling to out-law them and God only knowes what worse thing thus count the number of the beast and his number is none of Gods but the Devils number he is full weight no where but in the Devils scales In plain truth he is a hydeous monstrous Tyrant against the Church exceeding all that went before him for the Popes they only drove the witnesses into Sackcloth but this beast slayes them Thus have I tediously though not impertinently shewed thee Reader the beast that slayes the witnesses and the time when he doth slay them and by this time I doubt nor but thou seest that those whom the Dr. my Antagonist makes the holy ones are those that slay the witnesses and those for whose destruction he impudently gave thanks are the slain witnesses I meane the lawful Governours and Government in the State and the lawful Governours and Government in Church for 't is the Offices of both which being destroyed may justly be called the slaying of the Witnesses all rational sober-minded Protestants may easily find the slain witnesses if hee 'l but look to the casting down of the Covenant-Reformation and the Instruments of that Covenant In the Covenant he may find their testimony the which both Magistrate and Ministers having finished that is fully agreed upon and resolved effectually to put in practice up comes this beast of the earth and with his Sword-power slayes them and their reformation and this is the time of slaying of the witnesses now this as we have proved he did when he set up his God Mauzzim Dan. 11. 38. that is his Sword-power the which was set up in Anno 1647. about August or December when he got the strength of the Kingdom by Sea viz. the Navy into his hands and 〈◊〉 Cinque-ports Castles Strong-Holds and fortifications of the Kingdom Together with the general Command of all the forces in the Kingdom of England and Wales at which time he seized on the royal perâ—on of the King of England marched up in Arms against the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament charged illegally persumptiously and unjustly the chief of the Members of the House of Commons with Treason put them to flight imprisoned divers of the Lords and several of the Commons and the chiefest and honourablest of the Magistrates of the City of London and by his Sword-power set up his packt party of fagitive Members which fled from the Parliament and openly subscribed to live and die with this fellow whose designs were to blow up King and Parliament as since all the world hath seen it true I humbly conceive we may reckon the name of this beast to begin then and the slaying of the witnesses then to begin so that the next conclusion or proposition for me to prove will be this That the beast of the earth that did slay these witnesses shall be destroyed the witnesses that he slew shal rise again about this year 1651 by slain witnesses rising again I do not mean the same persons that were slain but the same Offices that were pulled down shall rise again the lawful State Government and lawful Church-Government shall rise again for the more plain and clear demonstration of this we must lay down some few Propositions to be premised 1. That as the former part of the Revelation sets forth the enemies of the Church and the Church her sad condition under those enemies especially these 3. enemies the Dragon the Beast and the false Prophet so from Rev. 14. to the end you have the vision of the Raign of the beast the Dragon and the false Prophet and the rising of the Church to a glorious State 2. That the beasts distruction that slayes the witnessests and the witnesses rising again are at one and the same time for as the beasts rising and the witnesses ruine were at once Rev. 11. 7. so the witnesses rising and the beasts ruine shall be at once as the cause and the effect The beasts rising was the cause of the witnesses falling and the witnesse rising again is the cause of the beasts ruine 3. That those witnesses are a goodly Magistracy and a goodly Ministry which are called Rev. 4. 4. 6. 7. 24. Elders
commerce or trade with them they shall be at as great distance in Opinion Judgment and practice as the Covenant is at a distance from the Engagement or the Engagement from the Covenant Covenanters cannot pass to the Engagers without perjury and the Engagers cannot pass to Covenanters without forfeiting their allegeance to their acknowledged Masters This I conceive is the Valley that shall be made towards the East and West which must needs be Eastward and Westward when the Mount is divided and half removes towards the North the other towards the South The Fathers many of them mis-interpreting this text by giving a bare literal explication of the words differ therefore in the application some apply this text to Titus and his Army's Exploits upon Mount Olivet Others faign that 't was then when God with his Angels fought for the Maccabees on that Mount against Antioches Others think that 't was then fulfilled when Constantine fought against the Arrians at which time on this hill the sign of the cross appeared Hence it may be Theodoretus and Hierom conceive that this hill was divided into four parts like a cross but these have but fabulous grounds for their opinion Zanche Vatable Lycanus and many others say 't was divided but into two parts but I humbly conceive that in a literal sense Mount Olivet was never divided into two Therefore the text is not to be understood literally but figuratively and parabolically under these tearms and Expositions setting forth some eminent place in the world which is eminent for holiness and unity in Doctrine and Government but unexpectedly rent and miserably divided into two grand parties which shall be at so great and vast a distance in opinion and practice as 't is impossible to reconcile them one to the other the one shall swear to maintain King Lords and Commons and the other shall swear to suppress King and Lords the one shall swear to maintain true Religion in Doctrine Discipline and Worship and the other shall practice the destruction of Religion in Doctrine Discipline and Worship by a toleration of all Religions and supporting Popery by taking away all Oaths offensive to Popish Tenents and all Statutes offensive to their persons and estates and striving to destroy sound stedfast principled Protestants by imposing Oaths upon them against their consciences and by taking away their priviledge of the Law from them so laying them open to all manner of misery By this you may see I am strongly induced to believe that the Mount of Olives is England and Scotland formerly united under one King and Religion and under one solemn League and Covenant That part of the mountain divided to the North I conceive is Scotland That part to the South I conceive according to its situation from Scotland is England betwixt these there shall be a great Gulf a Gulf betwixt their principles so deep and wide that all the World shall take notice of it If any man should doubt of Scotland being part of the Mountain of Holiness in regard of the base reproaches of late cast upon them I 'le desire that man to read Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs opinion of Scotland in a speech made at Guildhall London Octob. 6. 1643. Scotland saith he is a Kingdom beloved and honoured of God by whom God will do great things in the latter Age of the World 't is a Philadelphia 't is more deeply ingaged to God then any Nation in the World by Covenant 't is the most reformed Nation under Heaven 't is the greatest Enemy to Antichrist in the World and the most successefull with whom God hath most eminently appeared they are exceeding wise exceeding just and full of Christian love This was Mr. Jeremiah Burrough's opinion of the Kingdom of Scotland and if he say it I hope honest Independents if there be any will believe it V. 5. And ye shall flee into the Valley of the Mountain for the valley of the Mountain shall reach unto Azal yea ye shall flee like as ye fled from the Earth-quake in the dayes of Uzziah King of Judah and the Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with thee This time shall be a time of great terrour Hunc terrorem dominus praedicit Luke 21. saith Oecolampadius where mens hearts shall fail then for fear of the commotions which in this age shall come and ye shall flee into my Mountains So Hierom reades it For the Valley of the Mountain shall reach unto Azal Many of the ancient Interpreters read Azal as a proper name and so pass it by So doth Pagnine Aquila Vatible and the Chaldee but Soman renders Azal usque adproximum to some place neer at hand Others as Tygurine and Arrias Montanus conceive 't is meant some secure place where God did hide his Church from Antiochus his fury but Hierom and Lyranus expound it thus That ye may flee into the Valley which lieth betwixt Moriah and Mount Zion that was a secure place for it was betwixt the City wall and the Temple But others more neer the Hebrew text interpret Azal usque ad separatum so Deodat speaking of Azal saith it signifies a separation So that the plain sense of the text seems to be this Ye shall flee into the Valley of my Mountains that is Yea that are the sealed ones of the Lamb that refuse to worship the Beast or his Image or receive his mark that is subscribe his Ingagement Ye shall flee into the Valley of my Mountains that is that place or Nation which keeps my Covenant and observes my statutes to do them there God will dwell where his Laws are observed and his Ordinances maintained in purity but that Nation onely in the World this day is Scotland and the reason why God will have them to fly to his Mountains is in the next words For the Valley of the Mountain shall reach unto Azal that is The breach betwixt the two Kingdoms shall reach unto a separation It shall separate true Subjects from Traytors sincere Professors of Religion from Apostates and Hypocrites Covenant-keepers from Covenant-breakers Sheep from Goats Thus the breach betwixt the Kingdoms shall make a separation in Persons in Prayers in Sermons in every thing there shall be a separation In Cant. 2. 27. the Church prayes thus Return my well-beloved and be like a Roe or a young Hart upon the Mountains of Bether this word Bether seems to match Azal for Bether signifies a separation or division Now on a Mountain of Separation the Church Praies Christ to appear it seems to me a prayer made for this day for verse 4. 'T is when the Jews that are obscured shall be converted and ver 15. when Herericks shall spoil the Church then in such a straight the Church prayes that on the Mountains of Bether that is In the divided distracted Kingdoms he would appear for the Churches deliverance it shall be a time of flying a time of hot persecution but the onely place for safety for the Saints
these shall rejoyce at the fall and ruine of the Church these men shall cry at the affliction of the Just Ah ha so we would have it Is not this a dismal day when one Parliament man shall imprison another and one Minister envie and reproach another It shall be neither day nor light light nor dark men shall not know what to make of the times one shall say 't is Evening another shall say 't is Morning another shall say 't is Noon-day another shall say 't is neither One saith as my fine Doctor that I deal with that 't is the morning of a glorious Reformation Behold how far it is carryed on even to the murthering of a King and blowing up of a Parliament Another and that justly from Scripture-grounds saith this mock-reformation is the slaying of the Witnesses Another saith in the grief of his heart the Evening of the Gospel is coming upon England and God is carrying it into some other Nation as God when the Jews rejected a Reformation lost the Sun-shine of the Gospel and it shin'd gloriously upon the Gentiles so when Christ comes to call the Jews the Gentiles that despise that way of Christs coming in a Reformation-way to call the Jews may justly have the Gospel taken from them and the Ministers may give that dolefull farewell to England that Paul gave to the Jews Behold we turn from you and go to the Gentiles This is justly to be I know not whether I had best say hoped or feared yet for my Countries and Kinsfolks sakes I 'le say feared but England is most unworthy it hath rejected a Reformation and I much fear the set-day and God by persecution as fourteen years since by the Prelates persecution he did is now calling his Ministers away to some greater Harvest for here they fish day and night and catch nothing they plow and sow abundantly but they reap no fruit In New-England the harvest begins to increase upon those few Labourers hands there the poor soules can weep out a whole Sermon and in the midst of their business in their hard labour their soules in the field can groan within them for wounding Christ and here in Old-England men despise the Ministers and the message they bring persecute them slander them and use all violent means to drive them out of the Kingdom Really I much fear 't is Evening with England but what do I mean I forget my self I am expounding It shall neither be light nor dark that is it shall be neither night of despaire nor day of assurance it shall be neither night of dispondency nor day of comfort What shall I say I will say no more for I am confident every man that lives in these times that is in his senses and observes the times hath a ready Comment upon this text Oecolampadius refers this to Luke 21. where the Sun shall be darkened and the Moon shall not give her light it may be v. 7. represents the state of the slain Witnesses but it shall be one day it is known to the Lord By day is here meant a year a Prophetick day though this Beast of the Earth reigne three years and a half yet he shall thus tyrannize but one yeare that 's the comfort he shall make a rent betwixt the North and the South but one year 't is but one year that it shall be neither light nor dark and here is the comfort of all in the evening of that day that is in the later end of the year it shall be light he shall tyrannize in Scotland but one yeer Now the great question is what yeer this yeer is when 't will be the Doctor saith this yeer Though I cannot fiddle with the Doctor yet I 'll keep time with him as neer as I can Doth he say great things shall be done against Antichrist about the yeer 1650 So do â— But here the Doctor and I shall run in discords those whom the Doctor calls I am confident against his conscience Antichristian I upon sure and infallible grounds call them visible Saints that is the Kingdom of Scotland that now defend the Covenant-cause and a distressed lawfull Magistracy and a lawfull rightly constituted Ministery and Ecclesiastick Discipline And those whom the Doctor calls holy ones the holy Heretikes and the holy Gun-powder Traytors and the holy Covenant-breakers and the holy Apostates for they are visibly such to all the world those I call by their right names as they appear to the world by their actions viz. the last bloudy enemies of â—he Gospel Church who in the later part of the last times as M. Tho. Goodwin saith shall arise and slay the Witnesses that is a godly Magistracy and Ministery who had finished their testimony and fitted all things for a complete reformation these enemies of the Church I call them enemies and these goodly painted hypocrits I call them so I do not number them by their names but I count them by their actions by what they do not by what they say and thence I conclude infallibly they are Antichristian for by their fruits not leaves I know them to be such and contrary to the Doctor I do verily believe that soon after this-yeer 1650. God will raise up the Witnesses in Scotland overthrow consume and utterly destroy the Doctors holy Army holy State and holy Common-wealth And my reasons are taken partly out of the Doctors own mouth for about this time the Pope of Romes tyrannizing over the Church is expired and to go one step further then the Doctor within six moneths I conceive after the end of this yeer 1650. the reigne of the Beast of the Earth which slayes the Witnesses is out and the time of the Witnesses lying dead is out and they must rise whose rising is the Beasts ruine the rising of a lawfull Magistracy and Ministery will be the ruine of Democrary and Independency For the battell must be fought by lawfull Magistracy and lawfull Ministery against Usurpers in Church and State The Doctor hath proved that the Popes time of tyrannizing is out in 1650. My businesse then shall be to prove that he that slays the Witnesses his time is out soon after the end of this yeer 1650 I have proved it already I will therefore only explain that part of Dan. 11. from v. 36. to the end not precisely every verse but so much as may illustrate the tenent that in all probability immediately after the end of this yeer 1650. will be the downfall of Cromwell and his Army and his new government which he hath by his sword erected Observe therefore this that Rev. 13. from verse the 11. to the end and Dan. 11. 36. to the end are spoken both of one Beast and do both in the same manner set forth his government and tyranny and bloudy cruelty and successe in his actions therfore you read in Rev. 13. 14. of an image which he makes men to worship and in Dan. 11. 36. you read of the
god Mauzzim that he sets up both these are one and the same thing and signifie a sword-power that this Beast shall set up I have many learned Expositors on my side in the interpretation of both texts and some of the Fathers with whom I fall full jump in the explication for they say that the Beast in both places is that Antichrist that shall arise when the Roman Monarchy shall be destroyed and slay the Witnesses and reigne three years and an half Now we must reckon the beginning of this Beasts reign the time that he set up his god Mauzzim and exalted himself above all other government and this was when he got the ships at sea the Forts Castles Forces Magazines whole power of the sword into his own hands at land This was done in the year 1647. and about September or October In the same year so that near about that time we must begin the Beasts raign and then about the evening of the day that is the latter end of that year when he divides the two Kingdoms the Beasts three years an half wil be out but mark what shal come to pass immediately before this year of division Dan. 12. 40. At the time of the end shall the King of the South push at him and the King of the North shall come up against him like a whirlwind with Chariots with Horsemen with many ships In Zach. 14. 14. there you have the Mountain divided into North and South Here you have in this verse the North and the South joyned together to overthrow the Beast of the Earth which hath set up his God Mauzzim his Sword-power This was cleerly fulfilled in the Northern Invasion and the Southern Insurrection I will not inlarge here in so plain a thing but what shall be their success they shall be overthrown by him and he shall enter into the Countries and shall overflow and pass over He that is he that sets up the God Mauzzim he shall overtop both the Northern Invaders and the Southern Insurrections neither the King of the North nor the King of the South shall overcome him he shall pass over them v. 41. He shall enter into the glorious Land I am of Mr. Jeremiah Burroughs opinion that Scotland is the gloriousest Land in the world for holiness therefore I think it is meant Scotland that he should enter as he did after he had defeated Hambleton's forces he entred the Kingdom of Scotland and many shall be overthrown Some read and many Countries shall be overthrown but there is no such word as Countries in the Hebrew Therefore I humbly conceive 't is better read and many shall be overthrown that is many noble families many great persons and many people shall but these shall escape out of his hand Edom and Moab and the chief of the children of Amon the ancieut and the latter Expositors have mistook this text in allowing it onely a literal sense which the Holy Ghost intends not for by Edom and Moab and Ammon are meant the Enemies of the Church who plead the same priviledges that the Church pleads as Esau was the eldest son of Isaac by birth but he sold his birth-right and became an apostate and so did his posterity who were from him called Edomites But these Apostates pretended as the Church of Rome doth that they were the true Church because they came from the eldest son of Isaac and so Moab and Ammon though most abominable Idolaters yet said that their father was Lot and they were the true Church though they were begotten in incest as all Heresies and Hereticks are gotten by corrupting the Holy Word and Truth of God so that by Edom and Moab and Ammon that escape this Beasts clutches may be understood Hereticks and Apostates if so how cleerly doth this point out of the Beast to us or if by Ammon and Moab may be meant those murtherers of the King Traytors for in 2 Chron. 24. 46. a Moabite and an Ammonite one of the chief of the children of Ammon conspired against the King and slew him so that Apostates Covenant-breakers Hereticks and Traytors conspirers against the King shall escape him wheresoever he comes you may know this beast by his followers for none but such are protected by him and beloved of him By Moab may be meant the malicious party who pretend religiously to curse the Church of God by their hypocritical hirelings such as Balam who for a good place or office will vilifie that cause which they once professed to be a righteous cause V. 42. And the Land of Egypt shall not escape that is Ireland which were more bloudy to the people of God then Egypt to Israel Egipt that is a Kingdom full of abominable Idolatry therefore Rome is called spirituall Egypt V. 43. He shall have power over the Treasures of gold and silver and the precious things of Egypt that is He shall be Governour of Ireland for who hath power over the Treasury but the Governour By Lybians and Ethiopians are meant the common sottish and slavish sort of people which will bow to any body these shall subscribe to him But when he is in Ireland what follows next V. 44. But tidings out of the East and out of the North shall trouble him Holland is East and Scotland is North from Ireland now the Treaty in Holland with the King by the Scots shall trouble him V. 45. Tydings out of the East and out of the North shall trouble him Ireland the place where the Beast of the Earth shall be that Witness-slaying Beast hath Holland on the East of it and Scotland on the North of it Now tydings from the North and East shall trouble him that is the King of Scotland shall be in Holland that 's to the East of him and the Scots in the North call a Parliament and send Commissioners from Scotland to treat with the King in Holland and so tydings out of the East and out of the North shall trouble him This Treaty shall trouble him and call him out of Ireland into England from whence he shall go with great fury to destroy and utterly to make away many He shall go with an Army resolving to destroy and utterly to make away the Covenanters in Scotland and this is plainly set down in vers 45. V. 46. And he shall plant the Tabernacles of his palace Some read The Tabernacle of the wrath of his judgment so Brightman reades it Others read it And he shall plant his Tabernacle Aphadno keeping the Hebrew word intire Others there are that translate Aphadno and read the text thus And he shall spread the Tabernacles of his stables This word Aphadno which is read Palace though I know not why Brightman very learnedly unfolds This word saith he is compounded of three words Aph and Din and the affix of the third person Daleth the wrath of his judgment as if he should say He shall plant the Tabernacles of wroth whereby he shall procure to
which alludes to the prophetick Psalm Psal 98. where you have every thing runs parallel with John's Vision for there you have a new song and the cause of it 't is for a marvellous great victory gotten by Gods own Arm in an eminent manner in the sight of the Heathen ver 2. and then at that time the house of Israel and the ends of the Earth see the salvation of God as the Angel Rev. 4. 6. preacheth it and then ver 4. there is a Hallelujah ver 5. with the Harp which the Harpers have ver 7. the sea roars and the earth and the flouds clash one against another but ver 19. the Mountains of holiness rejoyce because he is come to judge the earth Read the next Psalm it gives great light into these texts to be fulfilled in these times Be not therefore discouraged O ye Saints of God be patient be constant be couragious be not faithless but believe when your affliction and distress is greatest then is your deliverance nearest when your Enemies are most cruel most confident most strong most malicious and most secure then will Christ come in the cloud then will he appear on the white cloud with the sickle in his hand to cut down your Enemies blessed are you in this day that watch and keep on your spiritual garments for Christ will assuredly come and he will come as a thief at unawares unexpected behold the time is at hand your temptations are great the Devil is sifting you and winowing you as wheat it is a day of tribulation of great sorrow it is a day wherein your Enemies rejoyce and make merry it is a day of great rebuke and shame to the Church the enemies say ah ha so we would have it Edom's sons cry down with the walls of Zion down with them to the ground It was never a sadder day with the Church of England and Scotland since the Gospel was preached amongst them then now I dare appeal to all the Historians in the world whether ever the Gospel was so desperately persecuted and so neer to ruine as now it is Look in England and the very foundations of the Gospel are rooting up I mean the Doctrinal-foundation Do I say onely Doctrinal nay but I do affirm the personal foundation of the Gospel is rooting up Are not the Scriptures which are the spiritual foundation of the Gospel denyed to be the Word of God and do not men set their accursed lusts above the Holy Scriptures in maintaining that no more is Scripture then what their spirits close with and is not the Lord Jesus denyed to be God and the Son of God and the second person in the Trinity and do they not affirm that he is not the Purchaser of salvation for the Elect And to go a little further are not the Ministerial foundations viz. Magistracy and Ministery thrown down was there ever more open villanies committed against the persons and offices of Magistrates and Ministers then at this day How is the Magistracy trampled in the dirt and their spoyls divided How are Ministers imprisoned banished sequestered and silenced How grievous and intolerable are the burthens that they lay on the poor Ministers bodies and souls They have taken away their estates and so expose their poor families to ruine they impose a most unjust and unconscionable Oath upon them directly contrary to those lawful Oaths they took before and for the not subscribing of it which no consciencious Protestant will do or can do they are out-lawed shut out of protection out of their livelyhoods and exposed to utter ruine at the pleasure of any of the sons of violence and what condition have they put the Papists those bloudy and inveterate Enemies of the Protestants What becomes of the Laws in force against them Are they not all repealed What 's become of those discriminating Oaths that molest the Papists peace in this Kingdom Are they not all taken away and is not onely the sincere consciencious Protestant the man whose estate office person and family lyeth at the mercy of bloudy Papists and Gunpowder traytors Who is so blind as not plainly to see these things and what consciencious Protestant so secure as not to feel it And as for Scotland though blessed be the Lord there be a godly Magistracy and Ministery as yet standing yet how neer are they to their fall How great a blow have they received already How many enemies have they against them The Pope and all his politicians in England Holland Ireland Spain France are active against them in England the whole wealth and strength of it is imployed to ruine the Kingdome of Scotland in Holland and France the same Popish Politicians are imployed to raise rebellion against Kingly Government in Ireland the arch Rebells are in a League with the Common-wealth of England they having renounced Kingly Government long before were the first that owned the Common-wealth of England and gave them a Title whereupon Collonel Monk made a peace with them This Collonel Monk is now as Major Generall of the Foot under Cromwel in Scotland Spain hath owned this present power that cut off the King for a Free-State and Common-wealth and drives the same design to throw down the King of Portugal and France with England yea the Popes Agents in Scotland are active in stirring up those Papistical Families in Scotland against the Kirks party who are the Covenanting party It would be too long to tell how the Spanish Faction to say no more prevaileth this day throughout Europe the King of France who denies the Popes temporal power is like by the Jesuited-State-commotions to be overthrown the King of Portugal is in a probable way to be overthrown by the King of Spain the Hollander which was the supply of Scotland for Ammunition since the Prince of Orange's death is like by their own civil jars to become a prey to the Spaniard after designes betwixt England and Spain are ripened and poore England overflow with the Spanish Faction who cannot see all things cutting out against the Protestants acording to the Spanish Model who cannot see that perfected which was intended long since who sees not those dismall attempts against Magistracy and Ministery now compleated and accomplished which were intended 1588. by the King of Spain's Armado against Queen Elizabeth and by the Gunpowder Traytors against King James Something 't is that makes the Spanish Court triumph 't is because they have drave the Royal Family of England and Scotland into great distress it is helpless throughout the world no Kingdom nor Nation lends that distressed Family their helping hand the Prince of Orange the great comforter of that Family is taken out of the World and the Queen of Sweadland snatched from him by the Emperor The English Nation are divided into Independents Prelaticall men and Presbyterians for the most part the Independent and Prelaticall Party are ingaged by Oath against the Magistracy and Ministery of Scotland for they all
which Banner he leads his troops of Traitors and squadrons of blasphemers and Hereticks how shall all these be overthrown at one set battell about this yeer 1651. since t is impossible all these three Enemies shall be at the battell in person The Question is somewhat hard to be determined positively yet this is clear from the Scripture that this great battell Revel 19. 19 20. is that battell that shall be fought by the Witnesses after they are risen from their slain condition and this battell is fought against the Beast that slays the Witnesses that is the Beast of the Earth that little Horn in Dan. 7. 26 27. and Dan. 11. 4 5. and against the Beast of the bottomlesse pit and his company which makes merry Rev. 11. 10. for the destruction of the Witnesses now how can it be said that when this Beast and his party are overcome that then the Beast and the false Prophet and the Dragon are over-come A. 1. To this we answer in two words 1. They may virtually and potentially all three fall when one fals so the whole hosts of the Philistines fell when Goliah fell 2. Then when this Beast of the Earth fals all the three begin to fall and from that day never rise more their chief plots and devices shall be discovered and broken and their villanie shall be discovered to the whole world which shall make the ten Horns to hate the Whore and burn her with fire Or who can tell but that at this battell the cheif strength of the Pope the grand Hereticks who are the devils Esquires and the cheif and grand Traitors against the Laws and Religion of England may be all in that battell overcome Or thus at three Kings in one person by the Beast of the earth were overthrown so the three grand enemies of the Church in that one person of the Beast of the earth may be overthrown And to me it is very probable in Revel 17. where John saw Rome in that year when she was to go to destruction in v 3. He saw the last Beast that did bear up Rome and uphold her in her pomp the Beasts is called v 8. the Beast that cometh out of the bottomlesse pit to let us know that that Beast which slaies the Witnesses bears up Rome when she is going to damnation this Beast v 3. is called the Beast bearing up Rome because he slays the Witnesses that would have pulled down Rome he is called therefore a scarlet coloured Beast because of his bloody cruelty against the true Church and then he is said to have seven Heads and ten Horns because he supports that City Rome with seven Heads and ten Horns Popery by the Covenanteers had long â—ince been in the dust but that he broke the Covenanteers and their Reformation by his bloody treason and his blasphemous troops So then as this Beast is said to bear up Rome though he be far distant from Rome by his slaying Romes enemies so Rome may be said to fall and the Pope may be said to fall and the Devil who is said to be the father of Hereticks and blasphemers may be said to fall when he that hath supported them fals And in this sence at this battell when this Beast is overthrown the Beast and that false Prophet and the Dragon may be said to fall and be sure of it when the Witnesses have got their victories over this Beast down goeth Popery and blasphemie and heresie so that though in the downfall of this Beast of the earth it cannot be said that the Pope and the Devil shall personally and universally in their power be overthrown yet it may truly be said that virtually they are overcome it may well and truly be said that the Pope and the Devil are overcome when this Beast is overcome because the Beast is the support of Popery by which Romes pomp is supported and the support of Hereticks and blasphemers by whom the Devils kingdom is upheld hath he not caused those to fall who went about to overthrow Rome and hath he not granted a toleration to all Hereticks to lord it over the orthodox Christians Who is so blinde as doth not see that he doth support this day the state pomp and Religion of Rome and of the Divels kingdom there Satans throne is where the Witnesses are slain Rev. 2. 13. In a word it may truly be said when the Beast of the earth is overthrown that then the Popes cause and interest and the Devills interest will with him be overthrown in these three kingdoms for who is it but he that hinders the Covenant-reformation and if he shall by the Covenanteers as I do undoubtedly believe he will when his three years and a halfs Raign is up be overcome be assured that the rising Witnesses prosecuting the ends of the Covenant will be the ruine of the Popes and the devils Kingdom in England Indeed the Tenor of the Covenant is nothing else but to establish the Witnesses and throw down Popery and Heresie that is the Pope and the Devils kingdom Shall I yet go a little further I am confident that when this Beast of the earth is overcome his cursed Hellish conspiracies with the Court of Rome and the Court of Spaine to overthrow the Kings of Europe that acknowledg not the Popes supremacie will be made so apparent that all the Kings in Europe especially France and Portugall and these thre Kingdoms England Scotland and Ireland will both abominate and utterly reject the Romish Court as a den of abominable Theeves and Murtherers And I trust utterly forsake that accursed Religion which can change it self into any shape and pretend any interest on purpose to overthrow kingdoms and murther Kings Now put all these together consider but from the time of the Popes rising when he got to be the head of Rome to be independent which as on all hands is concluded was about the yeer 390. and consider but the time of the Beasts of the earth who riseth out of Independency and slaies the Witnesses in the yeer 1647. consider how cleerly the holy Ghost holds out the Beast in his rising in his government in his time of duration and in the manner and place of his ruine compare but Scripture with Scripture compare Dan. 7. and 11. and Matth. 24 Mark 13. Luke 21. Rev. 11. the 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. Chapters and Zach. 14. together with severall other Texts in Ezek and Isiah I say compare the severall texts as we have set them one with another and compare with these texts the occurrences of these three yeers last past in England Scotland and Ireland and from all it may be concluded I would fain say positively probably that immediately after 1650. is ended when the Beast of the earth hath â—aged a Prophetick day that is one year in Scotland then comes the ruine of the Church her enemies for then the Church of Romes time of keeping the Witnesses in Sackcloath is expired and the three years and an half of the great Independent Beast that shall slay the Witnesses is expired then he and his Poliarchy of Senators who Raign as Kings must go to their eternall graves and then the Witnesses must rise and take possession of their seats from which they were thrown and the Covenanted-reformation by them must be carried on to the utter destruction of the Pope and his faction and the binding of the devil and utter casting of him out of the Church with his faction All which the Lord of his infinite mercy through Jesus Christ for his elect sake both of Jews and Gentiles unconverted and alreadie converted hasten Even so come Lord Jesus Come quickly Amen FINIS