Doctrine of Piety is most exactly taught them whereby they become at once very Commendable and very Serviceable Private Families are better and more orderly governed and taught than the Publick Colledges were sometimes in the Universities So great is our Felicity that the Infant and Sucking-Child despises the Cockatrice and Addar Thus he of the First-fruits of the Reformation by which we may as he teaches us collect what the Harvest under the Fourth Monarchy may produce Michael Rotingius in Zach. vi 8. REcitat Zacharias Propheta praeter reliqua quae viderit ctiam de quatuor Quadrigis quae de medio aereorum montium egrediuntur Excunt Equi in totum orbem ut Christo Domino Templum edificent ipse Dominus Sacerdos super solio suo sedeat Id scilice administratur per equorum Ministerium velocissimè Sed tamen quo tandem haec res tota evasura sit Angelus per boc significat cum de nigris in Aquilonem euntibus sic interpretatur quod faceunt Spiritum Dei requiescere in Terram Aquilonis Quo haud dubiè ultima Ecclesiae tempora significata sunt Aquitonem vidimus ab Angelo in Propheta maximè designari pro sede Spiritus Domini Ab his initiis si quis nunc haec praesentia consideret cum abominationes Papisticae pluribuus locis abjectae sunt plures suo sanguine impietatem istam confutarunt populi in urbibus agris cum veris Pastoribus sunt Laetum Evangelii nuncium audiunt Scholae piae sunt ubi praeter reliquas Artâ—s bonas res necessarias ad sana de rebus judicia Doctrina pietatis exactissima traditur juventus ornatissima ac instructissima reditur Familiae Domesticae meliùs rectiùs instituuntur quam olim discentium in Scholis publicis Collegia fuerint Tanta faelicitas rerum est ut infans lactans Regulum Colubrum nihili faceant I must not presume here to the Honour of a Doctor of the Church or an Interpreter of the Divine Oracles I deal indeed with Prophets Seers Visions and Revelations but of an inferiour Class such as aspire not to any Place in the Sacred Canon Esdras himself who hath had that Reputation with some is left out by the Decree of the late Council of Trent and not without just Cause for all the latter Prophecies which have made the World ring with their Noise against Rome are but the Ecchoes of Esdras and only give us in his words often repeated the Fall of the Roman Empire as this Book will shew at large And I assure my self that whosoever hath any Veneration for Esdras cannot lightly despise the other who are manifestly inspired with the same Spirit The Sibylline Prophecies may seem to be of the same Extract as they are allowed to be of like Antiquity with Esdras but they are neither so Express nor particular in their Predictions Of what Spirit soever these Modern Prophecies were they are so considerable that he who by his Arms is reputed an Over-ballance to Europe thinks no scorn to seek in the Ashes of one of them some Encouragement to his Pretensions I hope then none will be offended if I put these Paper-Bullets in my Countrymens Mouths for their better Encouragement and Defence whilst they are Arming themselves and marching out in a Conjuncture more probable to fulfil what yet remains for them to do than any of their Adversaries yet had who have by force sought to corrupt and draw those Visions to their side Postellus for France and others on the Spanish side have long since mustered their Prophecies and Arguments whilst their Masters on each part were armed with vain hopes to prevail by them and fulfil them I begin with Esdras as the most Ancient most Reputed and from whom it is not hard for any Humane Spirit that had been well acquainted with his Text and considered his words to prophesy what our Modern Pretenders have set out with various Amplifications as the Spirit that conducted them did prompt or suggest And because our Romanists who look so big and with such strange Confidence against all Natural and Moral Reasons as well as all Prophetical Inspirations and Revelations think to drown all their Enemies in a deluge of Blood and to possess a desolated World alone are principally concerned I will give them Esdras in their own Doway Translation and then set down the lesser and more Modern Prophecies in the convenientest order I can contrive them the better to shew their consent with him and one another April 1648. Post-script January 1679. NB. THat the many late Sham-Prophecies which the Devil hath of late Ages and still doth more abundantly impose on the World are only like the Presbyterian-Plos his last refuge of Lyes to stop the Ears of those he can thereby seduce from believing true Plots and Prophecies under which by God's just Judgment they are thereby prepared to Suffer The Author of the Discourse of the Rise and Power of Parliaments now come to my hand hath Pag. 33. this remarkable Passage Though I am far from giving credit to any Prediction or Prophecy but these of Holy Writ yet I cannot but remember you of that old Latine one Rex Albus c. on which you know our Wishes taught us to six a pleasing Interpretation This Hint will bring to your mind what perhaps has not been there almost this 30 Years That both for his Innocency and accidental Snow that fell on his Hearse the late King Charles was that White King who for some time was to be the last in England That afterwards his Son should from beyond the Seas return to the Possession of his Crown and that in his Days Religion and Laws should be Reformed and Settled upon the eternal Foundation of Truth and Justice The fulfilling of this Prophecy now will seem as miraculous an effect of Providence as that of our Soveraign's Restauration and will as much eternize the Wisdom of the Parliament as the other our Loyalty Prosopopoea Britannica Even in every Nation Yea and almost in every Generation Some Poets have proved Prophets to foretell Things future many Years ere they befel And sure the Latines to imply the same To Poets and to Prophets give one * Vates The most ancient Delphic and Sibyline Oracles were in Verse Name A Post-script TO THE READER Courteous Friend ASsure thy self what ever Spirit dictated these Predictions whether they be Crumbs fallen to Dogs or Fragments of the Prophetick Bread broken by the Spirit of Christ in the Scriptures and therefore preserved by Disciples as well as they could in these homely Baskets or not that which they foretel will certainly in God's time by his Hand be effected by such Persons and in such times as he pleases in whose Power Instruments Times and Seasons are reserved And therefore the Kingdom shall certainly be restored to his Israel and that in the time of these Kings who gave their Power to the Whore but
Voice of God God in them the Voice of Christendom is the Voice of Christ Christ in them Go on then for He who went out before Joshua and Israel his and their Captain-General is gone out before You as before him and before your People and Kingdom They who have begun to shake and fall shall fall and be removed before Yours and your Successors as they have fallen before the Swords of your Predecessors That I have to this purpose at large in this Book endeavoured to proclaim your Title plead your Cause gird on your Arms encourage your Souldiers and Confederate's Hearts open your Subjects Purses in so sacred an Expedition from Prophetick Stars Prodigies and no less than prodigious Dreams and Visions As I am assured it cannot but be grateful to all your Loyal People who would most gladly enlarge your Kingdom at the expence of their Blood and Treasure prolong your Life if it were possible with a prodigal Effusion of their own and give their whole Stock thereof reserving no Moments unto themselves to perpetuate your Reign in the Breath of whose Nostrils they draw what Life they now retain of Peace Joy Trade Liberty of Conscience above all Nations round about them So I hope this small Contribution collected out of my slender Stock will not be unacceptable thus seasonably presented to your Royal Hands By your Majesties most Loyal Affectionate Prostrate Clerk Servant Subject and sometimes Commissionated Chaplain E. T. Ad Regem Carolum Votum QUi Leo de Juda est flos de Jesse Leones Protegat stores Carole Magne tuos Hobby Let Judah's Lion and flow'r from Jesses Stem Keep Charles's Lions Flow'rs and Diadem 'T was by a Charles France once the Eagle got 'T was by a Charles the Spaniards drove that Lot Why may not Britain challenge the next Call And by a Charles be made Imperial Howel A Prophetick Epigram on the Pictures of the late King and Queen in one Table by Van-Dyke Filius hic magni Jacobi haec filia Magni Henrici soboles dic mihi qualis erit Qualis erit Qualem depinxit Homerus Achillem Marte consilio Nestora talis erit Son of Great James Daughter of Great Henry Tell me how great shall be their Progeny Greater than Homer painted with his Quill Achiles in Arms and Nestor in Council Grebner's Prophecy of the Year 1660. The faithful and true Warrier riding on a white Horse descendeth from Heaven with his Soldiers riding upon white Horses to fight against the Enemies of his Church c. See the future History of Europe Pag. 26. His Majestie 's unparallel'd happy peaceable Reception and those peaceable innocent voluntary Bands mustered to meet and entertain Him at his return and following him unto London a Shadow Earnest and Pledg of that blessed King and a lively demonstration of his Power shortly expected to appear in some like voluntary surprizing Confluence of like Noble Holy Innocent Troops when his Majesty shall be pleased to declare himself for such an Expedition as is here Predicted Aspice venturo laetentur ut omnia seclo See all rejoyce in the Presage Of the approaching happy Age. Da veniam subitis non displicuisse meretur Festinat Caesar qui placuisse tibi Pardon Great Sir what You cannot commend This haste to Please deserves not to Offend An Admonition to the Reader concerning the Title of the Fourth Monarchy given to this Book rather than that of the Fifth Monarchy so much doted on by some of our Days HIstorians have made their Four Monarchies according to the Rise and Fall of the Empires of several particular Nations 1. Assyrians 2. Persians 3. Grecians 4. Romans But this is a lame Division and comes far short of that Transcendent Metamorphosis of Humane Affairs which by comparing of Histories Observation of new Stars and Comets with the consideration of the Manners and Conditions of Men we may easily perceive must within this few Years from 1650 saith my Author be brought upon the World The learned Mathematicians and Astrologers who have more throughly searched into the secrets of Astrology and Nature more rightly place the Four Monarchies according to the four Coasts of Heaven 1. The Eastern Monarchy of the Assyrians some reckon the Persians into this 2. Southern of the Persians and Grecians bounded within the Circumference of 3600 miles or 11 degrees of Latitude 3. The Western Monarchy of the Romans 4. And lastly The Northern Monarchy by the Historical Account the Fifth must be of the Northern Lion who to the amazement of Christendom shall arise from the North Sea and pitch his Tents in the ashes of the Eastern and Western Monarchies Anonymus Future History of Europe 4o. See him and Sandivogius's Prophecy below Chap. 1. and the Philosophical Key at the end of this first Part Chap. ult The Epistle to the Reader THe Fourth Monarchy so numbred by the Learned Philosophers which some with the Historians do rather delight to call the Fifth gives all Men an hopeful Expectation that it will Transcend all that are gone before in excellent Purity of Religion and Perfection of happy Government Some Divines have been bold to entitle the Northern Kings of England Scotland Denmark and Sweden to it by applying unto them what is spoken of the Chariots of the Black Horses in Zachariah vi 8. and to the Reformation begun by them These are said by the Prophet to have gone out of the Brazen Mountains into the North and to have pacified God's Spirit and settled his Temple in the North Country See Michael Rotingius in the Margent concerning the Reformation of which this is the Translation Michael Rotingius on Zach. vi 8. THe Prophet Zacariah besides other things relates also what he saw concerning the Four Chariots what came forth from amongst the Brazen Mountains These Horses then go out into the whole World that they may build a Temple for our Lord Christ and that He may sit Lord and Christ upon his own Throne Now this is executed most swiftly as it were by the ministry of Horses But to what Point this whole Affair will at length arrive the Angel gives us to understand when speaking of the Black Horses which go into the North he thus expounds himself These shall make the Spirit of the Lord to rest in the Land of the North. By which words the last Times of the Church without doubt are signified Wee see the North most especially designed for the Seat of the Lord's Spirit by the Angel in the Prophet Let any Man saith he draw an Estimate of this from the beginning made at this time the Popish Abominations are in very many places renounced many have confuted their Impiety with the testimony of their Blood the People assemble in Towns and Villages with true Pastors they attend to the glad Tidings of the Gospel Schools are piously instituted where besides other good Arts and Learning necessary to instruct Youth in making a sound judgment of Affairs the
29. And whereas thou sawest two under Wings that went off towards the Head which was on the right side this is the inpretation 30. These are they whom the most High hath preserved for their end whose Kingdom is little and full of trouble as thou sawest 31. And the Lion which thou sawest rising up out of the Wood and roaring and speaking to the Eagle and rebuking her for Unrighteousness with all the words which thou hast heard 32. This is the Wind which the most High hath kept for them for their Wickedness unto the end and he shall reprove them and cast before them their Spoils 33. For he shall set them alive in the Judgment and shall rebuke them and correct them 34. For he shall deliver the residue of my People by Affliction which are preserved upon my Borders and he shall make them joyful until the coming of the Day of Judgment whereof I have spoken unto thee from the beginning 35. This is the Dream that thou sawest and these are the interpretations Thus far the Angel Uriel to Esdras CHAP. XIII 1. ANd it came to pass after seven days I dreamed a Dream by Night 2. And lo there arose a Wind from the Sea that it moved all the Waves thereof 3. And I beheld and lo that Man waxed strong with the thousands of Heaven 25. This is the meaning of the Vision Whereas thou sawest a Man coming up from the midst of the Sea 26. The same is he whom God the Highest hath kept a great season which by his own self shall deliver his Creature and he shall order them that are left behind 29. Behold the days come when the most High will begin to deliver them that are upon the Earth 30. And he shall come to the astonishment of them that dwell on the Earth 31. And one shall undertake to fight against another one City against another one Place against another one People against another and one Realm against another 32. And the time shall be when these Things shall come to pass and the Signs shall happen which I shewed thee before and then shall my Son be declared whom thou sawest as a Man ascending 33. And when all the People hear his Voice every Man shall in their own Land leave the Battel they have one against another 34. And an innumerable multitude shall be gathered together as thou sawest them willing to come and to overcome him by fighting 35. But he shall stand upon the top of the Mount of Sion 36. And Sion shall come and shall be shewed to all Men being prepared and builded like as thou sawest the Hill graven without Hands 39. And whereas thou sawest that he gathered another peaceable Multitude un-unto him 40. Those are the ten Tribes NB. That in the famous Book by some called the Baby Prophecy sometimes in the custody of the Earl of Marlborough or a Copy of it seen and remembred by several Persons of Honour yet alive and for the most part fulfilled in innumerable Particulars * Generosa Nobilitas non sinet ei fieri malum The Nobles and Gentry shall suffer no Wrong to be done to the King nor his Crown the present King of England survives the last great Battel And as here the end of all those Prophecies is the Conversion of the Eastern Jews for their Habits mistaken for Turks I would not any much should trust or fear Such Prophecies but when Events appear To answer unto that which was foretold Wise Men should make what use of them they could And so direct their Actions that Hell's Charms And Cheating Riddles may not do them harms i. e. By Justice and Mercy towards Men and Piety to God Anonymous future History of Europe SECT 11. § THe two Books of Esdras are thought and that by none of the least Learned St. Augustine St. Ambrose Tostatus Scaliger the Elder Melancthon Arias Montanus Bucer and Bibliander to be Canonical because of the most eminent fulfilling of many Predictions in them contained In the 11th Chapter of the second of those Books there is under the Type of an Eagle a manifest Prophecy both of the Roman Heathenish Empire as likewise of the Papacy with her chief Leaguers to this present Time throughout the whole Chapter This Eagle is the Roman Heathenish Empire her twelve Feathered Wings are the twelve first Emperours from Julius Caesar to Nerva The three Heads are the Kingdoms of France Spain and Germany preordained of God to maintain the power of her Pride when all her Wings her Heathenish and Tyrannical Caesars should fail her Nevertheless under her twelve first Caesars are comprehended in general all the Emperours which Reigned in her from Julius Caesar who first crackt the strings of her Liberty to Augustulus Momyllus her last Roman Caesar for the space of 474 Years Her eight contrary Feathers are the eight terrible Inundations of several Nations from the North God's Scourges which overwhelmed her fairest Provinces sunk her State in Blood and by Fire and Sword humbled her as low as the Dust she trod on viz. 1. Alaricus and his West Goths 2. Attilas and his Huns. 3. Gensericus and his Vandals 4. Odoacer 5. Theodoricus and his East Goths 6. Totilas and his Spaniards 7. Alboinus and his Longobards who deposed her Diminutive Gaesar Augustulus Momyllus 8. And lastly The intestine Home-bred Faction and Conspiracy which proved more Pernitious than the rest as all intestine Diseases are the worst which in the Reigns of Otho the Great Otho the III and Frederick the II so often strove to eradicate the Papal Superiority and re-edifie her S. P. Q. R. buried so many Ages ago out of the Ruines of the City The Head in the midst is the German Empire begun A. C. 801 on Christmas Day by Charles the Great which though v. 32. it long did and yet doth put the Earth in great fear yet v. 33. must vanish in an instant as did the Wings and come to nought The German Empire thus destroyed v. 35. The Head on the right side the Kingdom of Spain must devour the Head on the left side the Kingdom of France Therefore it is manifest that the Kingdom of France though now it flourisheth in what Glory and Magnificence the Earth can afford must ere long be humbled by the Power of Spain with many Discomfitures and brought to doleful Straits and great Perplexities I my self have observed how that Year in which the Figures of the Golden Number were equal to the Figures of the Year of Christ hath ever proved Fatal to that Monarchy It was so with them from 1570 to 1576 In all which seven Years the Guisian Faction made lamentable Havock of the Church of God and the Kingdom So shall it be in that Year in which the final Tragedy of that Kingdom shall be acted six Years after which France shall be no more But when that shall be no sign of Europe shall remain nor remembrance where the Walls of Rome stood §
of Antichrist Ruine of Rome and Annihilation of the Sodomitical Order of the society of Jesus and in the Extirpation of all Kingdoms and free Estates of Papists adhering to them to make way for the Lion of the North to erect his Fifth our Fourth Monarchy in the Ashes of Germany wherein shall be established the eternal Felicity of the Church by the Conversion of the Jews and Fulness of the Gentiles This he calls in the same Page the Ministerial not Personal Reign of Christ on Earth § 15. Pag. 10. Out of Buxtorfs Letter to Mr. Shirley Fellow of Trinity Colledg dated May 3. 1624. he brings in these words of Baudensis concerning the same Comet and Conjunction according to the Opinion of the Northern Astrologers Behold thou then a Prophecy if not Apostolical far beyond Astrological if I mistake not God hath arisen and drawn out his Sword there shall happen in these our European Regions the Slaughter of People Funerals of Kings Subversions of Common-wealths Mutations of Monarchies Massacres of Princes and Illustrious Commanders violent proud Councils Treasons Rebellions and in Northern parts of Europe War Sickness Pestilence Princes cast out of their Dominions Fathers banished Children after a long time restored This Comet also threatens the terrible Ruine of Rome and Burnings in all the Cities of Europe The Papistical Clergy and especially the Cardinals shall be cast down from their Dignities the Jesuits shall be every where drawn out to Death neither shall the French nor Spaniards have Courage to save their Necks from the Halters Futhermore we discern a Kingdom to arise in the Holy Land of its most ancient Inhabitants which to Christians shall be a Miracle and to the World a Terror And these shall succeed in the Revolution into a new Empire under which shall be administred Universal Gladness Joy and Delight to Mankind the Wicked being every where taken away All these things shall be effected by a certain Northern King who shall miraculously establish Peace Religion and Security throughout the whole World So far Buxtorf in his Letter from Baudensis and the Northern Astrologers § 16. The same Anonymous pag. 12 13. Paul Grebner of Misnia was more than an Inquisitor into the effects of Stars being questionless endued from above with a Prophetick Spirit He plainly affirms that as England was ever a Monarchy within it self since it was discovered by the Romans so shall it in like manner continue and remain even then when all other Kingdoms and States in Europe are swallowed up of the Fourth Monarchy of the Lion of the North. And saith that Grebner never speaks of England in all his famous Manuscripts but as the most Warlike and Potent Kingdom of Europe Pag. 25. He saith i. Baudensis from his Unkle Grebner as it seems that the Eclipses happening two Years before or after 1660 portend the Mutations of all the several States of Austria Silesia Hungary Holland France and Portugal and that the Revolution of Times is come wherein they must give place to the Lion of the North whose Scepter shall bruise their Power to nothing and his Gauntlet lay their Forces prostrate at his Feet § 17. Note well If all other Kingdoms be swallowed up by this Northern Lion save England only neither France nor Holland being excepted then without doubt the English Monarchy will be too much concerned and too nearly to stand still and consequently must be either the Head or some Confederate Limb of this Lion at least and that will yet more clearly appear by the mournful Ditty as he calls it which he puts into Europe's Mouth to sing at that time which by its Character seems to be a Fragment of the ancient Sibyline Oracles for he tells not whence he or his Author had it § 18. Heu mala Progenies Fatis servata nefandis Gens nefandarum Domitrix altrixque ferarum Quid fueras quid sisque vide Tua prima propago Bella gerit Sobolemque petit lues atra secundam At Leo terribilis Borealibus editus oris Flammi feram ex * Orco pelagi plangentibus undis Educens aciem pecudes urbesque virosque Sternet antiquis Solem Lunamque movebit Sedibus ille etiam patrio jure infima summa Reddet occasum sub Legis mittet inermem Thus Englished § 19. Alas ill race to dismal Fates reserved By whom dire Beasts are tamed and preserved See what thou wert and art Thy first issue Inclines to War Plague doth the next subdue Thus Sibyl or what ever other Author Penn'd this Prophecy thus far doth very mystically and yet learnedly and aptly depaint to us the City and Empire of Rome in her Heathen estate taming and nourishing all sorts of wild Beasts to be brought forth in their Theaters for their Sport and above any other Nation addicted to and flourishing in Wars but in her latter declining and degenerated Christian Estate subject unto the Pestilential Chair of the Papacy But a fierce Lion sprung from the Northern Shore Shall bring from deepest * Hell and Waves that roar A blazing Army he shall Men ore-run Cities and Cattel yea the Moon and Sun Remove shall he and Father like the least Make Highest and give Laws to the weak West The word Orcus * translated Hell here is properly to be understood of Great Britain supposed by the Ancients to be the Fortunate Islands in whose most Northern parts Hell was thought to be as in the most Southern the ever-green Elizian Fields And there to those names Thule Scotia Orcades do manifestly alude as the Learned know Thule in the Phaenecian Tongue as Scotos in the Greek signifie Night and Obscurity See our Historians Camden Ailef c. § 20. Thus far our said Anonymus out of Grebner and Baudensis his Nephew I will next transcribe hither Grebner's own words out of 72 and 73 Banners and translate them only omitting for brevity sake in the first Quae animus meminisse horret The Predictions of our late Confusions known to be too truly described by him and published by others Banner 72. Per id tempus Rex quidam Borcalis nomine Carolus c. post hunc eleget nullum Interea unus è stirpe Caroli in littore Regni Pattis sui cum Gallicis Suevicis Danicis Hollandicis Burgundicis Germanicis auxilliis stabit omnes inimicos suos cruentissimo prelio superabit postea Regnum suum felicissime administrabit eritque Carolo Magno Major In English About that time a certain Northern King shall marry Mary c. after him they Elect none But in the mean time one of Charls's Line shall stand and with Auxiliary French Swedish Danish Hollandian Burgundian German Forces shall fight a most cruel Battel at the Shore of his Father's Kingdom vanquish all his Enemies and afterwards most happily Govern his Kingdom and shall be greater than Charles the Great § 21. Banner 73. Europae labes imbecillitas singulorum ejusdem Regnorum sedem mirabiliter struet quintae
or greater Commotions Shakings or Concussions of ill founded Powers and Governments make way only for the grand Revolution by which those Things which are well founded and settled by Divine Decree and Providence to work together for his Glory in the common good of Mankind and Advancement of Christ's Kingdom to that End shall be brought about perfected settled and unmoveably Established And this even in their Astrological way those who give credit thereto must be forced to allow or admit me to conclude because the superiour new Stars fixt and of longer continuance more mighty and universal operation or signification for Good must needs prevail over over-rule and wear out and so survive and make use of the Operations of the lesser mischievous weaker more restrained and less durable Effects and Significations Now such are the Effects or Significations according as our learned Astrologers tell us of the lesser Modern and less durable Appearances Comets c. compared with the said new Stars in Cassiopaea Cygnus and Serpentarius Attendants on this new Monarchy or as Postellus fains to call it Christ's second Birth or new Birth of the World or Renovation and new Edition of the Gospel And it is very probable that he gave the Reformation that name of Christ's second Birth and return into the World in contemplation of that new Star which was by our Northern Magi so received and interpreted as discovering the Fourth Monarch and the place of his Birth to those that understand Heaven's Language § 36. Observ 6. Seeing then we may conclude that whatever Commotions and Revolutions happen in the Christian World make for the interest of the Fourth Monarchy how contrary soever they may for the present appear to it and its designs So as that our Doctor tells us upon his Observation that Comets themselves as in Luther's time and since are Monitors of Ecclesiastical Changes and those for the better to the greater Liberty and Freedom of Protestant Churches and others tell us they make way for the Fourth Monarchy I will therefore here adventure farther to discover what I have observed whereby it may better appear what Church and what Monarchy was signified and indicated by these new Stars to whose Interests all these Commotions must finally cooperate And first as to the Church and Reformation pointed out by that Star in Cassiopaea's Chair it is manifest that it can be no other than that of the Reformed Protestant of the Church of England and those that are protected under it and subscribe to its Confession and the Monarchy as manifestly appears to be the British of England Scotland and Ireland united in the Person of King James in one Monarch to which France and the other Reformed Churches there as of right they ought so will in due time be united the Transition being much more Natural and Facile from the French to the English Religion and Liberty than from the British to the French Dominion For upon view of our Church History I find that the Articles of the Church of England being the common Confession of the Reformed Protestants to which with very few grains of Allowance as well Calvinists as Lutherans may without scruple indifferently subscribe were formed in the Convocation at London 1563 in which the Reverend Pious and Learned Alexander Nowel Dean of Pauls was Prolocutor and the same were in the Year 1571 by Soveraign Authority enacted and established to be the publick Confession of the English Church in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth § 37. And about the same time a Catechism agreeable to the same Articles was Published and by Authority enjoyned to be taught in Schools with this Title Catechismus brevis Christianae disciplinae summam continens omnibus Ludimagistris Authoritate Râ—â—ia commendatus Of the Articles a late Church Historian hath these words The English and Latine Articles of the Church of England set forth in Print in the Year of Christ 1571 when they were first Ratified by Act of Parliament whose being as obligatory bears not date nine Years before from their composition in Convocation but hence from their Confirmation in Parliament So that there was hardly a Years difference betwixt the publication of the Articles of the Reformation of the English Church to the World and the appearance of that Star in the Chair of Cassiopaea giving the whole World warning and the Wise Men aim to look our for some second glorious discovery of the Gospel § 38. And as for the Monarchy of Great Britain that was yet more Illustrated by the appearing of two new Stars the one two or three Years before and the other a Year or two after the Union of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland in the Person of King James That which was the Precursor and Harbinger as it were of this Northern Monarchy was the forementioned Star in the Breast of the Swan 1600 and that which followed and attended on it was the Star in the foot of Ophinchus in the Year 1604. Nor can I see why any should condemn him of Presumption who should from the Analogy of the Star in the East directing the Wise Men of those parts to the King of the Jews our Saviour born about that time argue that the use of these may probably be partly to shew to the Wise of our Times and Parts when and where the true Reformation and Reforming Monarchy must rise For as the Star in the Chair of Cassiopaea one of the most glorious in the Heavens generally speaking and amongst the most Glorious those of the North more especially and the most conspicuous part of that Constellation her Chair it self most resplendent was most proper to signifie the second Edition as I may say or new Birth of the Gospel or second Birth of Christ as Postellus would have it brought into the World by a Virgin Queen about the time of that Stars appearance and then spread newly all over Europe as it had been conceived by her Authority some nine Years before So in like manner the Star in the Breast of the Swan and that other in the foot of Serpentarius attending at like distance on the Birth of our British Monarchy are as apposite to demonstrate it to our Northern Wise Men that of the Swans Breast its time and place and that in Serpentarius foot its principal design and work namely the ruine of that Serpentine Brood which are the present support and foot of the Roman Court their Home and Harbour and Hope Keeper Holder up and Maintainer of the Serpent and his Kingdom which he pretends unto in Heaven the Temple and Church of God I say again That as the Star in Cassiopaea's Chair An. 1572 shewed where when and by whom the second Edition of the Gospel or second Birth of Christ's Kingdom was wrought namely here in this Island by a Virgin Queen who in the Year 1571 Enacted the true Reformed Christian Faith So the Star in the Swans Breast 1600 and Serpentarius foot 1604 shews what Kingdom
and Family must extinguish by the lustre of that Reformation the Superstitions and Idolatries of Rome and give that blow with a Stone cut out without Hands from the Mountain on the feet of the last Supporter of Satan's Kingdom the Roman Monarchy being also the basest and worst constituted of incoherent Iron and Clay and grind it to Dust and disperse the Remnants of it to all the Winds as Daniel prophesies § 39. There being the same reason for us to look out for some new Kingdom in these Northern parts to which these Stars were perpendicular as there was for those Wise Men in the East to look for a King born in Judea by the Star they saw in the East Nor doth the moveableness of that and fixedness of these make as to our purpose any considerable difference for it was necessary that those Eastern Magi who sought one particular Person should be guided by a Star so moveable that its perpendicular Rays might point out Bethlehem and our Blessed Saviour's Person to them that they might bring to him their Gold and other Treasures But to discover to our Wise Men in the North the Kingdom to which the Honour is reserved in this last and worst Age to reform the Religion and Manners of the whole World according to Christ's Rule both for Spirituals and Civils it sufficed that such new Stars did appear unto them fixed in the Starry Orb as by their motion therewith might describe a Circle wherein at the time of their appearance that Reformation and Kingdom did first rise and appear Now if we enquire what Reformation did appear in the World about the time of the appearance of the Star in Cassiopaea's Chair near the Circle its direct Rays did describe upon the Globe on the Earth we shall find that of Queen Elizabeth and no other And again if we seek what Kingdom did arise about that time the Star first appeared in the Swans Neck within the Northern Circle described by its perpendicular Beams we shall find no other than the Monarchy of Great Britain then founded by King James and transmitted from him to our present Soveraign Charles the II the first of English Birth who sway'd the Scepter Allowing what those ancient Prophecies here subscribed § 40. Bruti Posteritas Albanis associata Anglica Regna premet peste labore nece Consurgent Britones Albanae Gentis amici Antiquum nomen Insula tota feret Ut profert Aquila veteri de Turre loquuta Gum Scotis Britones Regna Paterna gerent Long time the British and the Scotish Race The English Realm with War Plague Toyle deface Till a Friend rise to Scots of British Stem Then British Scots their Father's Diadem Resume and all the Isles its ancient Name Thus did the Eagle from th' old Tower proclaim § 41. And to cherish our hopes the Motto's of this Monarchy and its Impressures fixed on its Coin and elsewhere do happily conspire Namely That Motto of the first Christian Emperour Constantine the Great our Countryman In hoc Signo vinces referred by the Cross to Christ's Death And that other of like import Duce Auspice Christo That Kingdom prosper and subdue all must Whose Standard Christ's Cross is Christ guide and trust § 42. A King of British Blood in Cradle Crown'd With Lion markt shall joyn all British Ground So Sir William Maurice of North-Wales repeated in English Merlin's Prophecy of 600 Years standing CHAP. V. Thomas Pugh British Prophecies out of Maxwel 's Prophecies Sect. 16. Fol. 84. c. § 43. ACcording to the Confession of the Italian Jesuit Hieronimus Platus in the 2d Book of the Religious Life and 30th Chapter England hath been more fertile of Converters of Countries and Nations to the Christian Faith than any other Land whatsoever else So is it not unlikely but that God will have the same Country to be more fertile of many Reformers and other corrupt Churches especially that of Rome than any other Land whatsoever and to reclaim Rome and her Daughters from their Abuses and Corruption and to restore unto them their Primitive Purity and Integrity such as it was in the days of Constantine the Great Born in Great Britain § 44. So Nostradamus predicts That Rome shall be ruled by the Britanish Head In his first Century he saith that the new King that joyns the lower and Northern Countries of Europe shall be the Instrument of loss to the Church of Rome And that the Bishop of Rome together with his Clergy except they shew themselves willing to be reformed shall be made to spit Blood when the Rose shall flourish He promiseth in his 5th Century that of the Trojan Blood shall spring a Prince of a doughty Dutch Heart who shall attain to so high a Degree that he shall chase far away the Arabick or Mahometan multitudes and likewise return to the Church her ancient Eminency and Sincerity § 45. Out of the Library of St. Victor cited by the Abbot of Cluny it 's said Abbot Joakim said That the Red Rose should send forth the sweet Water that shall purifie and cleanse the Church from her Corruption Paracelsus Amongst the Roses shall spring up one who shall change the Sandy Foundation into a Rock § 46. Mr. George Maxwel from Sir George Norroy King at Arms Jessae Rosa sanguis Bruti Portat crucem Jesu Christi Christ's Cross displayed in England's Standard shows From British Blood must spring the Jessean Rose § 47. It seems that from the Rose of England shall proceed or spring the Reformation or Purgation of the Church of Rome Likewise the same City and Empire received from the same Country the first Authorized Profession of the Christian Faith by the blessed means of Constantine the Great a Britain born at York Grebner The Lion having the Rose and Lillies in his Arms shall utterly destroy the Pope so that there shall be none at that time § 48. Brithwald Bishop of Winchester in the Confessor's time saw in a Vision * NB. That the Kingdom of the English is the Kingdom of God and that it is as well by the gentle sweetness of its Yoake and Government like that of Christ as in other respects And by this we may understand how vainly the Antichristian Enemies pretend a right to it by this Prophecy and seek by force to Conquer it from Christ's Kingdom and to subdue it to their own Tyrany Regnum Anglorum est Regnum Dei Thus far my Author § 49. I shall only as to these Prophecies on what ground soever they proceed add this Observation for the Readers consideration That God whose Providence as is manifest by his Word is very uniform in his Justice upon the cruel Enemies of his People seems to have given warning to Rome and her Antichristian Confederates that as the Northern People raised up by his Spirit revenged the Blood of his Primitive Saints spilt by the Roman persecuting Heathen Empire on that Red Dragon so the League of Northern
under which all Wisdom Divine and Humane shall flourish and come to excellent Perfection § 81. When in this Isle observe you shall The tenth part of great Babel fall And Reformation fully made Of them and their Mysterious Trade Who merchandize most holy Things Then God to speedy Vengeance brings With Gog with Magog and the Whore Amygd Britan. The Beast which Nations yet adore § 83. To this Poetical Strain I will add one or two more in Verse as they were delivered unto me The first which I received from a Gentleman who assures me that he knows it to be of above forty Years standing and remembers to have heard it long before he took the Copy of it is in these words 1. The Eagle droops and moults his Wings And Fewd shall grow 'twixt Northern Kings Holland is threatned Spain shall pine And Blood shall swell the River Rhine 2. When once the Orange and the Rose Unite beware England's old Foes 3. This done no more shall monstrous Pride Triumphant over Nations ride The Miter falls and scarce shall have A mournful Tear or certain Grave 4. The Lillies now bewail their loss And serve but to adorn the Cross 5. The Work 's begun but would you see The Harvest ripe joyn eight and three The Northern Star at last appears And an all-conquering Banner bears 6. Howl howl ye Merchants all your deeds Shall now receive their worthy Meeds NB. Babel Merchants of holy Things the Beast in the foregoing Prophecy is in this Monstrous Pride the Roman Mitre and Merchants The time in that is the Expulsion of their Priests out of Great Britain once the tenth part of Babel in this the Year 1683. § 84. The second transmitted out of France in the Year 1668 to the then Secretary of the Royal Society I heard repeated by a Noble Lord some Years since and were in these words if my Memory fail not Jam propero cursu festinat temporis ordo Quo locus Franci Majestas prisca Senatus Papa Sacerdotes Missae Simulacra deorum Delubra atque omnis superis invisa potestas Judicio Domini justo sublata peribunt Fallor an ista mihi suggessit versibus iisdem Angelus ipse deum testor Geniosque polorum Me vidisse aliquem aut me vidisse putasse Ista Remonstrantem tabula depicta fideli Cum matutino premeret me tempore somnus The Author is reported to have been a Member Senator or Assistant of the Parliament of Paris I have endeavoured to render them in English Verse for their use who understand not the Original as follows With headlong speed that Juncture doth advance Wherein the Royal Seat and State of France The Pope Priests Masses Images Saints Shrines And what with these against Heaven's will combines By Divine Justice shall to Ruine fall I much mistake or some Angelical Spirit this in these Verses did suggest Whilst in my Morning sleep I took my rest I God to Witness call and 's Heavenly Hoast I saw indeed or at the least suppos'd I saw an Angel who did shew to me In a fair written Table this same Prophecy § 85. And here it need not seem strange that I adjoyn some Visions and Prophecies of our poor despised British Countryman Arise Evans for by comparing what I have of him at hand with others I find that neither in number clearness particularness of Visions and Predictions nor in speed or certainty of Events predicted is he in any thing inferiour to Merlin Grebner Ponatovia Savanarola Drabritius or any other Ancient or Modern Seer of that sort His particular Applications of Scripture which seem most harsh and Prophanations to some had they been made and polished with the Art and Industry of a learned Head and Hand would have amounted to no more than what the Apostle affirms That the Jews were our Types that whatever happened to them was for our Instruction and Comfort both so brought about by God's Providence and recorded by his Spirit So that as there is no Case of Conscience which is not answered in Scripture so neither is there any Case of publick distress whereunto there is not such a Parallel found in Scripture History or Prophecy as may not only give the diligent Enquirer instruction in what ought to be done by publick Societies or Persons in such Distresses and sufficient Consolation in greatest and most desperate Extremities but a fore-sight also and that certain of the Event either to Ruine or Deliverance That such an Ideot as Evans fell upon and so shrewly applied some particular Prophecies to those Times particularly in which he spoke as it seems strange so it shews that he had some Guide more than common Angel or Spirit or whatever it was And by the rule he gives to try Spirits and Prophecies in his Eccho printed 1653. Pag. 64 and 65. c. and Astrological Predictions Pag. 83 84. I find he gave no farther credit to his own Predictions than he could find some pattern for them in Scripture Prophecies in like Cases And one of the most shrewd amongst these we have here inserted having the advantage of Rise Evans in Stile and Education pretends no other authority for his Predictions than that God doth follow the same rule in his Administration of the publick Affairs of England by his Providence at this day he had observed and set down in Scripture for our Instruction in the History of the Old Testament which he had found to be so infallible a Rule that he doubted not to Predict both to the Rump and Oliver Cromwel their speedy Ruine and sometimes boldly limited them a short time as I could evince had I his Books at command This may serve to invite the Readers patience in his perusal of what I have excerped out of Arise Evans till I come in the other parts to examine more strictly these Prophets or Prodigies § 86. This silly Artisan having with strange confidence predicted the King's Death by the hand of his Enemies and that unavoidable and set it twice under his hand in Writing left one of those Papers in the Chappel at Somerset House and delivered another to Secretary Windebank with his own Hand when he was about to Examine him on the first which he had before in charge against him he was put and kept Prisoner in the Gate-House three Years as he had predicted in August 1635 and being close Prisoner there had the following Vision which he thus describes in his Eccho Pag. 72. As I was desiring of God to shew me a figure of the Judgment that was to come and of the Glory that should follow I fell into such a Trance that I seemed to be in Merioneth-shire where I was brought up at Maisellan Kadderrase Anglice Arise Charles Church in Field And behold I was with my Elder Brother by the side of the River Dey sunny i. Sunny day which comes from a Fountain called Bishops Well in a Hill in the North-east called Kader u duruse i. Arise the
that the same Word shall make a Breach into your Kingdoms and destroy you so that you shall have no cause to glory at the Fall of the King of England for he shall be raised far above you And therefore the best way for you to escape is to joyn your selves with him and let the Word of God have free passage amongst you and reform your Law by his Law c. Pag. 51. § 89. Pag. 77. another Vision that I had 1650. It seemed to me that I was in France and went through all the Cities thereof until I came to Rome and when I came thither me-thought I was troubled with great Waters but at last as I went through the City a Voice came to me saying So far as thou art come so far shall one Cromwel come This he interprets That as Joab by David's encouragement went and smote the Jebusites at Jerusalem so some Person commanding under the King shall go to Rome and smite the Jesuits Now as to the name of Cromwel given this General if it were not conditional as to that Family if they had restored the King and been rewarded for their pains with the Command of his Army as General nor belong to some other Noble Person of that Name as there is a Lord of that Name derived from Cromwel Earl of Essex so Famous in King Henry the 8ths time and fatal to Rome it must signifie some bold and successful English General and his Army such as Cromwel possibly might be General of about the time of this Vision or Men of such Spirits or Principles as they then were For many times in these Writers names of Persons and Families as Frederick and Ferdinand for Example signifie not those Persons themselves but Frederick the Protestant party in Germany and Ferdinand the Popish See our German Enthusiasts Primariae Personae Septentrionalium Duces Intimating Generals not Kings to Command And whatever the name Cromwel here imports the Passages following transcribed out of his Voice from Heaven Printed with his Eccho aforesaid 1653 shews that he did foresee the destruction of Rome by such hands Pag 21. from Amos 9.11 12. Paralleling the Christian Church of God with us to that of Israel and David he saith In Ver. 11 12. Ye have the King's Tabernacle or Court set up again and his Kingdom enlarged over all the Earth And 39. You that look for Christ's Personal Reign here on Earth know that it shall be in the Kingly Power established here again when this State is dissolved You that look for the Conversion of the Jews know that the aforesaid King meaning this present King Charles the II. is the means appointed by God to effect it CHAP. IX The History of the Prophetick Agat § 90. TO these Prodigious Visions I may properly enough refer and here with them record the no less miraculous Prophetical and Prodigious Appearances not unlike Visions seen in a Stone of the Agat sort of an Ash gray colour drawing towards a Blew given in for an advantage to his Bargain as a Curiosity only of little value with a parcel of other Stones sold to Eylers of Hamborough about the Year 1600 and now or lately in the possession of Mr. Martin Eylers a Person well known as I am informed in some Princes Courts in Germany Son Grandchild or descended from the first Purchaser aforesaid who hath shewed it to many at his Lodgings in Carter-Lane near Doctors Commons and elsewhere in London This Stone is of an Oval form of the breadth of a Silver Two-pence of the thickness of a Copper Farthing its ground is Ash colour as hath been said but it is flecked and dapled as it were on the one side after the manner of some Agats with a whitish Cloud of the exact shape of an Head and Neck with a full half-side Face turned towards the right Hand The Ground is transparent when held against the Light but the Head drawn thereon is not This Stone having been long about 80 Years as I have said in this Family of Eylers and sometimes set in a Ring yet nothing was observed in it save that white cloudy unknown Face till some Years after the Treaty at Munster when first the Pope's Nuncio there afterwards Pope Alexander the 7th became famously known in Germany and all over Europe he first and then others were noted by them who knew him and them Personally and by their Pictures or Medals to be exactly represented in this Stone according to the remarkable features of their Faces Yet were not the greater part of them discovered till about ten Years ago and since that time some yet unknown Faces and Appearances are discerned therein Those that are generally known or have been discerned and known by Travellers are 1. The aforesaid large half Face to be the Image of Pope Alexander the 7th with his Head and Neck wherein all the other Faces on that side are contained being made up of some part of his said Head Face or Neck according as it is differently exposed to the light and transposed or viewed whole or partly covered 2. In the side of his Cheek the next largest Face is seen being three quarters of the Face of Leopoldus the present Emperour of Germany whose Features are very remarkable 3. In the top of the Popes Head is the full Head and Face of Lewis the 14th the present King of France holding the Pope's Head in its right Situation but in the same place by turning the Pope's Head downwards and Neck upwards 4. The present Dauphin of France is seen 5. Behind in the hinder part of the Pope's half Head and elsewhere therein sundry other Princes are plainly discerned but drawn so close one upon anothers Cheek as it were Scale upon Scale that some weak Eyes cannot discern them distinctly unless some part of the Pope's Head which makes up other Features be covered Amongst them John Casimir King of Poland is very remarkable 6. After him is his Neighbour the Duke of Muscovy 7. and the Emperours of Tartaria Persia and others of the remote parts of the World partly unknown as I am informed 8. The Emperour of Turky's Features with his Turbant and an Half-Moon thereon make up the finishing and last lines of the Pope's Neck so that the Papacy making as it were the Body the Turk and the King of France are as it were the Poles of this Map of the Worlds Monarchs § 91. After the several different Resemblances of so many distinct known and unknown Faces were found on the Pope's side of this Stone the Owner was desirous to try if the other side which was yet rough and unpolished would produce any thing and gave it unto a Workman who upon a Mill such as is used for polishing of Diamonds wrought it down so long till there rose therein the appearance of an Angel in a long Robe holding a Flower as it were a Scepter in his Hand But this appearance being not white after the manner of the
as it hath done manifestly ever since he wrote and Christianity be eclipsed in an higher measure and the true Worshippers of God decrease above whatever yet hath been done Though Protestantism in many Coasts and Countries shall be totally swallowed up of Popery and Mahomitanism More lamentable Wars and fearful Massacres rage through England Germany France Spain Italy and all European Monarchies than we have yet beheld and though some of these Kingdoms wholly revolt to Popery others be Lukewarm and at a stand until 1686 yet all these shall but make way for the final Eradication of the Enemies of the Church and the glorious and wonderful Birth and Erection of the Fifth Fourth Monarchy Universal which shall be brought forth by these Pangs and Sorrows of Christendom Now Judgment must begin not at the Temple of Antichrist but House of God And what Blood soever is shed upon the Soil of the Christian Church shall be no other than fruitful Showres and warm Seasons to make the Field of the Church more pregnant in the production of that glorious Harvest of Saints which shall cover the World so he and our English Seers consent He that comes with the Chicken of the Eagle saith one i. that Landed with him the dreadful Dead Man his right Character in several respects Invades and wastes England with Fire and Sword two Years he that intro duces Popery c. Arise Evans saith he cannot be Crowned for all that He saw five young Faces in the Royal Line succeed one another in an uninterrupted Series and there are just so many now alive C. M. A. J. W. and he of them who overcomes his Popish Enemies England hath no other in a Bloody Battel Erit Carolo magno major § 121. So hitherto there is little encouragement for the Pope's Nuncio to come amongst us with his Consecrated Banner he may spill and let out much of our corrupted Blood but shall never reach our Heart See the Arch-Bishop of Armath's Printed Prophecy To be sure no old dotard Pope shall ever be Crowned in England however Gadbury and his Stars flatter him if Arise Evans were a Prophet The German Enthusiasticks sing the same Tune with ours Cotterus 1621. May 10. Tentatiuncula superveniet ad explorandos Hypocritas Id. Mart. 20. Hoc habe pro signo Septentrionales constanter soli Justitiae adhaesuros meridionalem à fucatum solem inducturum soli Justitiae nubeculam tentationis sed cito transituram prodibit enim Paulo post Sol Justitiae pleno fulgore Drab 1652. Jul. 2. Opus meum promovebo concitatione omnium gentium adversus invicem ut quidquid mali est Idolatrici mibique voluntati meae contrarii corruat prius evertatur funditus When I have set before the Reader the judgment of a learned and pious Bishop concerning these Predictions I will conclude Periculosum est saith he Prophetica tractare negocia Quia materia haec humanum excedit captum super hoc lubricum facile est labi And again Omnium Prophetiarum haec est proprictas ut prius impleantur quam intelligantur And from Acts v. 38. Nihil mali invenimus in Homine isto quod si Spiritus ei locutus est aut Angelus ne repugnamus Deo Lastly Desino autem argumentis Divina haec esse non humana pugnare Propriae id cujusque hominis conscientiae ac circumspectioni divinaeque illuminationi committens Thus the Publisher of these in his last Edition pretends he dare not contend much less dare I to try is all Mens duty Irenaeus l. 2. c. 57. p. 218. Alil à praescientiam habent futurorum Visiones dictiones Propheticas consule ejus commentatorem § 122. To fill up this vacant Page it will not be amiss nor tedious if I parle a little with my Reader about our Modern Prophecies at parting Prophecy in what concerns the Fundamentals in our Religion and saving Faith is certainly at an end The Spirit of Prophecy foretelling Mercies and Judgments for Reward and Encouragement of well and for Punishment of or Repressing evil doers is not as is manifest and undeniable being plain matter of Fact in and by many Revelations fulfilled fore-known or fore-seen and testified by many living Witnesses and Records Some are here inserted many more might be produced Those of the Reverend Arch-Bishop of Armath of the Fire of London and other particulars long since fulfilled and those yet to come then most unlikely when foretold now seem hardly to be avoided and need not be here repeated because notoriously published and known to this whole Kingdom I hope it will be no offence if I add hither one conspiring wholly with his which hath been thus related to me § 123. A Manuscript Book was brought a little before the Fire of London 1666 to a Bookseller by an unknown Person who desired to have it Printed and Published which declared before-hand what came to pass as Predicted in that Fire The Bookseller refused to Print it because it was not Licensed so the Author took away his Book with him In the time of the Fire this Bookseller being very busie saw this Author passing by and told him That because he had so plainly predicted it he had cause to suspect that his hand was in it Nay replied the strange Author if I had been accessary to so wicked a purpose I would not have offered my Book to Publication which I wrote for the discovery and prevention thereof And added There will follow a more dreadful execution by Sword than this by Fire and after that a Famine if God deal with us as we deserve § 123. Ambiguous Predictions like those of the Sybils and some Delphic Oracles without reference to particular Times Places Persons Groundless Figments Gipsy-like Prognosticators Welch Impostors Telesen Panther Shipton's Prophecy and many such like which walk about disgrace not sober Predictions and Premonitions grounded on sound Reason and agreeable to Divine Truth I will conclude with Walter Linn's Admonition to the Reader of certain German Emblem Prophecies Published by him first in Edward the 6th's ticklish Reign and Reprinted seasonably in 1588 for our Protestant Countrymens encouragement when the invincible Crusado and Navy invaded us Whether these saith he or such like Prophecies be of God or no let the Godly judge But surely it is commonly seen when God will shew his Displeasure and Indignation and intends to bring to pass some great Act that all Creatures do prophesie before and give Warning although it help but little Prophets prophesied the Subversion of Jerusalem Christ threatned the Apostles warned all availed not They heard Voices in the Temple they saw Signs in the Element they heard Battels in the Clouds Mad-men and such as were out of their Wits did prophesie it unto them but all these Signs prevailed not They were destroyed because they despised God's Word Even so it shall happen to the Papists Daniel Zachary Christ Paul 2 Tim. 2. 1 Tim. 4. Peter 2.
Pet. 2. Their own Bishops Abbots Monks Nuns Astronomers long since prophesied it to them common Rumour Proverbs Visions Signs all prevailed nothing therefore must they be destroyed there is no remedy That which they will not now they must see to their Grief at last when all help is past Wherefore let no good Christian grieve himself with them but rather suffer and take with Patience and pray unto God to revenge the Blood of his Saints and speedily deliver us from those cruel Tyrants Thereby shall a Man get a greater Conquest over them than by Sword and Armour God knows well where such a Titus is as shall be the destruction of those Arrogant Rabbies To whom be all Honour Praise Glory c. Amen So this good Man John Aurelius Augurelius in the second Book of his Chrysopaeia describes and commends the forementioned admired Agat of King Pyrrhus v. § 93. whose Verses on that Subject I thought not unworthy to be inserted here rather than to trouble the Margent there with their English Translation not only because of the likeness of the Subject but also lest perhaps any Reader not versed in the Greek History should think our Modern Relation the less Credible because unparalell'd in all former Times His words are these Illis Gemmis nitens distentaque miris Interdum maculis facies Jam qualis Achaten Aeacidae ornarat Musis Apolline felix Vos Natura Parens nulla cui motus ab Arte Provenit O Divae parva concludere Gemma Sponte novem voluit propriisque insignibus omnes Ornatas mediumque simul considere Phaebum Deposito mitem Cornu citherâque canentem His ut testatum signis mortalibus estet Quo numero quali semper praestatis honore Vide Theatrum Chemicum Vol. 3. p. 310. Gems sometimes have their beauteous Faces spred And patcht with wondrous Shapes Thus dapled That happy Agat was in which was shown Apollo and Nine Muses the renown Of Warlike Pyrrhus Mother Nature so Assisted by no Art design'd to show In her own work the learned Nine and there Made each her proper Character to bear In midst of them made disarm'd Phaebus sit And to his Harp sweetly his Voice to fit Thus unto Mortals she joy'd to declare Both what their Number and their Titles were Happy King Pyrrhus who this Gem possest And they whose Eyes beheld it thought them blest The Publisher to the Reader AFter I had Transcribed this to meet with their Incredulity which would as I conjecture seek shelter from the unexampled varieties of the Images seen in so small a Stone I met with another Objection which I thought fit to obviate here also namely that the Features appropriated in this Relation to several Persons as namely to the Turk Pope Emperour and King of England are only the Draughts of the beholders Fancies or imposed upon them by the Relators To this I answer That it is as usual for Persons who view the best drawn Pieces of the most excellent Painters to differ in their Judgments about them and some to fancy them to be more and some to be less or not at all like the Original 2. That as in other Pictures so much more in these the curious Artist verst in Minuture whose Eyes serve them to work in Draughts to others unperceptible are the truest judges 3. That ordinary Eyes on first view without being at all imposed on have been able to name the Persons forementioned without any suggestion from others and curious Artists practised in Painting discern many more than others can either see or fancy So that in truth they who would reprove others of credulous Fancies who see the aforesaid Resemblances in this Stone do discover their own distrustful Fancies in contradicting their own and others better Eyes in those Objects of which they are the most proper Judges and whilst with too much caution they avoid the imputation of Credulity they lay themselves too open to the censure of the contrary rude and less tolerable Vice 4. Some of the Features aforementioned are too notorious to be mistaken by those who know them and all who see them in this Stone and concur in opinion of their Resemblance to one and the same Person who are not a few cannot be thought to be led by fancy to such an agreement and much less to combine to deceive others See the Figures of Alexander the 7th c. Since this I understand that Mr. Ellers is returned into England and is at present in London If I can by any diligent inquiry come to speak with him I will give a more perfect History and Description of his wondrous Agat and present the Reader with the Draughts of some of the principal Appearances which have been lately discovered in France by some good Eyes there beyond what were discerned before in this Stone § 126. Quirinus Kuhlman in his late London Epistle hath some Passages which I thought fit to set down here because of the consent I find betwixt them and the Observations of our learned Astronomer Doctor Banbridg §. 30 as above In his 41 Pag. he mentions the Comet of the 19th of Novemb. 1652. foretold 8 days before by Drabritius of the self-same day wherein the Orders at Vienna were signed for a Reformation in Selesia his Native Country and which took its course from the place of Noah's Dove with its Olive Branch directly to that where the famous new Star of 1672 appeared In the same Page is the Solar Eclipse of the 12th of Aug. 1674 interpreted divinely as he saith by Stephen Melish in his 115 Vision In his 42 Page he mentions two Comets one of Decemb. 1664 which joyned it self with another which appeared about Easter 1665 near the Ears of the Ram and became the Sun's Companion beyond what hath been known in any former Age and another about Easter 1677 which he there terms the swift Executor of all the foregoing Stars Comets and Conjunctions and the introducer of Changes upon the whole World In the same Page Paragraph 96 and 97 he thus discourses These ordinary and extraordinary Witnesses the fore-runners of the greatest Alterations though they surpass the Wits of Heathen Astrologers yet do they so clearly attest the Change of all Kingdoms that the publick and private written and Moral Conceits of all Men agree in this That some unheard of Revolution is to be expected But saith he there is no Astrologer of those I have seen whose Conjectures have come nearer the Truth than the Almanack-Writer of Staden who expresly compares the two Comets of 64 and 65 to two who gave in their evidence before a Judg and the 3d to a publick Herald proclaiming the sentence given in upon the foregoing Evidence And therefore declares his opinion That within 24 Months viz. * Id. p. 47. The two Years time of the last Comet expired May 1679 saith this Epistler before Easter 1679. the Work of God will be Manifested by preparing the whole Roman