apt to believe that many who have been driven out of this World with the Fire of Persecution and with the merciless Torments of cruel Men have departed hence with as much if not more ease than many that have died quietly upon their Beds and undisturbed by the sinful and restless Troublers of this World And if so then we have no great cause to draw back or to be sore afraid even in the worst of Times and Dangers To animate us the more then herein let us remember how victoriously many Saints have gone out of this World to those unspeakable Joys that are prepared for them in the next And as Paul saith Rom. 8.37 have been more than Conquerours thro' him that loved them in all the Tryals and Combats that they have been exercised with And seeing that we are listed Souldiers under Christ Let us follow them in a meek and patient suffering of all the Adversities and Injuries that befal us here for keeping the Faith of Christ and a good Conscience towards God Let us be perswaded as St. Paul was Rom. 8.38 39. That neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Let us look unto Jesus the Captain of our Salvation the Author and Finisher of our Faith who endured such contradiction of Sinners against himself Who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God Heb. 12.2 Let us consider him that we may not be wearied and faint in our minds but be faithful unto death that we may not lose our Crown of Life But if we will not be prevailed upon by all these powerful Arguments and Persuasions to keep Faith and a good Conscience and to stick close to our Profession even in the worst of Times If the glory of such sufferings and the unspeakable Reward that doth await them If such assurances of Divine Help and Assistance that Almighty God will never be wanting to us but will have us always under his watchful Eye and will always grant us Succour and Strength answerable to our needs If these will not prevail with us Then we may farther take notice what a miserable condition such Revolters will be in that for fear of Persecution shall forego their Profession Such are like to lose their Lives as our Lord sheweth Mar. 8.35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it And such as are ashamed of him and his words must expect the same measure again to their great and eternal Reproach as our Lord shews ver 38. Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my Words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels And those that deny him must look for the same return again to their utter confusion Matt. 10.33 But whosoever shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven The Apostle's words also are now especially to be heeded and laid to heart Heb. 6.4 For it is impossible for those saith he who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come If they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance seeing they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame And saith he again Heb 10.26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the Truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the adversaries And if we Protestants should turn to the Popish Religion we may expect that this will be our condition And to conclude we may see that all Cowards that are not at all valiant for the Truth are like to go to the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone Rev. 21.8 But the Fearful and Unbelieving shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with Fire and Brimstone And this consideration also will be of great use to keep us from Backsliding and falling away from our Christian Profession to any Idolatrous or to any other sinful Practices that are not consistent with the Truth of the Gospel when we so plainly see as here we do That such Revolters must bid adieu to all the Bliss and Happiness that is promised in the Gospel and are like to go to the grand Apostate and to that everlasting Fire that was prepared for him and his Angens Matth. 25.41 And if these Arguments will not prevail with us I know not what will Seeing then that the Concerns before us are so very great the avoiding of Eternal Woe and Misery and the obtaining of Eternal Life and Happiness depending upon our good Behaviour and Christian Carriage here Let us be wise then betimes and shew our selves Men and not be like Solomon's Fool that had a price in his hand to get Wisdom but had no heart to it Prov. 17.16 Let us not to avoid a little Suffering here forfeit our Title to the Crown of Life and the blessed Kingdom above and run into endless Misery and Destruction For this will be prodigious folly and madness But seeing it is the Lord alone that must keep and uphold us all or else we shall be sure to fall and all the Watchman's care without his good Protection is to no purpose Ps 127.1 Let us then be careful and diligent to call for his blessed Help and Succour at all times and never trust to our own strength and abilities but let us always be mindful of that Divine Instruction of our blessed Lord and put it in practice Luke 21.36 Watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man And now that all men may be the more sensible of the heavy judgment of God which I affirm to be at hand I shall here add the Eleventh Chapter and some other places of the Revelation of St. John which do particularly treat of the second grand Woe of that sacred Book which is the judgment that I speak of And that this Eleventh Chapter may be the better understood of all men I shall add a short explication of it according to that little Insight that I have into this great Mystery wherein through God's help I intend to be plain that the meanest Capacities may in a good measure understand it if they will and may clearly see that this judgment is there foretold and therefore will certainly come to pass Revelation Chapter XI 1. And there was given me a reed like unto a rod and the Angel stood saying Rise and measure the
other places And I do believe that such as sustain any loss and run any great hazard at this time to keep a good Conscience towards God shall be well rewarded even in this World besides what they may expect hereafter in another But Fourthly For our great Comfort and Encouragement herein we have many promises of a blessed Reward hereafter in Heaven for suffering for a good Cause and for Righteousness sake Eternal Glory and Happiness shall then be sure to be our Reward for such high Obedience as the suffering meekly and patiently for the sake of the blessed Jesus is Matt. 5.10 saith our Saviour Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven And to this purpose Luke 6.22 Blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the Son of man's sake Rejoyce ye in that day and leap for joy For behold your reward is great in Heaven for in the like manner did their Fathers unto the Prophets And those that forsake Houses and Lands for Christ's sake and the Gospel's shall besides their reward here in this World inherit Eternal Life and Happiness in the World to come Matt. 19.29 and Mar. 10.30 And in the world to come eternal Life And saith St. Paul Rom. 8.17 If so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Christ ought to have suffered and so to enter into his Glory Luke 24.26 And if we will be his Disciples and followers we must expect to do so too and to enter in by the strait Gate of affliction But our sufferings here will bear little or no proportion to the Glory that doth await us for them For if St. Paul could say fo who hath given us so large an account of his sufferings 2 Cor. 11.23 much more may we say so And again saith St. Paul to Timothy 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer we shall also reign with him And saith St. James 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him And this is our Lord's promise by St. John to the Church in Smyrna Rev. 2.10 Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a Crown of Life And all are to hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches ver 11. And again Rev. 3.21 saith he To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne To this high Dignity is the faithful Sufferer like to be advanced Fifthly For our farther Comfort and Support in all the Sufferings that we meet with for Christ's sake and for keeping a good Conscience towards God we may see that God doth regard and pity us in all our distresses and afflictions and that he will then succour and strengthen us and not suffer us to be over-powered and born down with the violence of such temptations as we have not strength to resist and withstand Tho' our Trials sometimes may be sharp yet if we have recourse to him and call upon him in that due manner that we ought we shall be sure of a supply and shall have strength sufficient for all the Combats and Encounters that we shall meet with Our God is a God of Love and tender Compassion towards his Creatures and faithful Servants and will not desert and forsake them in the Day of Anguish and Distress but will hear and succour them when they cry to him for help This he declareth by the Psalmist Psal 50.15 And call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me And saith God by the Prophet Isaiah 49.15 Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb Yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee The care of these tender Mothers towards the Children of their own Womb is not comparable to that of God towards his faithful Children And saith the Apostle Heb. 13.5 6. For he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee So that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me And our Saviour doth promise to be constantly with his Church as need shall require Matt. 28.20 And lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Amen And saith he Matt. 10.30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbred Fear ye not therefore So great is the Care that God hath of his Servants that the smallest matters belonging to them are all regarded and minded by him and due care is taken about them And saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it God by his infinite Wisdom and Power will so order all things that we shall be able to overcome the temptations that we meet with some way or other if we do our utmost endeavours and he will so help us that we shall not be over-powered by them Sixthly For a fuller confirmation of this viz. That God will always be ready to help us in our greatest needs we may see that he hath always been with his faithful Servants in a remarkable manner and afforded them extraordinary Help and Assistance when their Need and Necessities have required it In an extraordinary manner was he with Joseph in the Prison with David when Saul sought to take away his Life with Elijah when Jezebel would have put him to death with the three Children in the Fiery Furnace with Daniel in the Lions Den with Paul when he was brought before Nero the Roman Emperour and with Stephen when he was put to death These and many more that might be alledged to this purpose are like a Cloud of Witnesses to confirm this to us viz That God will be sure to be with his faithful Servants in the worst of Times and Dangers to assist them with his Almighty Arm And as the sufferings of the Apostles did abound so did their inward Joy and Strength 2 Cor. 1.5 And in the midst of their sufferings could they rejoyce 2 Cor. 12.10 Col. 1.24 such sweet Influence and Communications of his Love and Goodness did God then afford them And I am
and that now I wait with long Patience three years and an half after I have sent forth my Heralds in mournful habit to proclaim my coming in judgment that hereby the formal and hypocritical Worldlings and all Sinners might be brought to a true and sincere Repentance and Reformation of their Lives according to my Divine Precepts and so find Mercy at this time But if this Gracious method of mine will not prevail with them and no Overtures of kindness will work upon them I will take away the Mask and Vizard of their Hypocrisie I will suffer the Popish Gentiles and the Beast of Rome once more to bear Rule over my Church and then it will be manifest to all the world whether they will own me for their Lord and Master or whether they will reject me and adore this Beast of Rome flat contrary to my sacred Laws and that Abhorrence and Detestation that I have declared against this Romish Beast and the Popish Religion in these sacred Oracles And if they will presume to do this let them know that my second Dreadful Woe is at hand and at their Eternal Peril let them look for the Direful Effects of it This doth not all indeed arise from this single Verse but it may be fairly drawn from this Verse and the rest of the Chapter These Witnesses seem to be two eminent parts of the Protestant Church and the faithful Seruants of God And I am persuaded that the eminent men of the Non jurors of this Kingdom do bear a considerable part herein being now suspended purely for a Point of Conscience and in a mournful condition And perhaps something of a like nature may be now acted in other Protestant Countries And these two Witnesses are to prophesie 1260 days that is about three years and an half before that Popery shall prevail and have power over the true Christian Church And altho it be now above three years and an half since these men were suspended yet this doth not prove that they can be no part of these Witnesses For tho they began then to be in a mourning condition yet the more solemn time of their Prophesying did not begin till afterwards and this may be looked upon as a Praeludium to their more solemn Prophesying But I would not have any one to think that there will be three years and an half yet before Popery shall come in For it may come in within a twelve-month month for ought I know I am fully persuaded that these 1260 days are now a running but I cannot define the exact beginning of them and therefore not the end and am ignorant of God's secret working in the Prophesying of these Witnesses The exact time belongs to God and I know it not 4. These are the two Olive-trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth This may have some respect to the Prophet Zechariah's Vision and the answer that the Angel gave him to his question about it Zec. 4 11 14. Then answered I saith the Prophet and said unto him that is to the Angel What are these two Olive-trees upon the right side of the Candlestick and upon the left side thereof Then said he These are the two Anointed Ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth And this is understood to be meant of Zerubbabel and Joshua those two eminent Servants of God and is a high commendation of them And so is this to be lookt upon as a high Encomium and commendation of these Witnesses and shews our blessed Saviour's high approbation of them And this may be farther confirmed by what is said of the undefiled Ones in the Church of Sardis and is an argument to shew that these places contemporize and belong to the same time Rev. 3.4 Thou hast a few Names that is Persons even in Sardis saith our Lord by his Angel which have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy Tho the Generality of the Bishops and Pastors in the Sardian Church be very tardy and faulty yet we see that there are a few in this Church that are approved of and highly commended And these I take to be the Witnesses here And by these high Characters that our Lord hath given of these Witnesses he hath shewed that these are the great Lights of his Church and hereby hath admonished all men to have a due regard to them and to hearken to their voice and to be ready to be guided and directed by them And as I take the eminent men of the Non-jurors to be a part of these Witnesses so would I have all men to have a due regard to them and now to hearken to their pious Instructions and admonitions that they may save their Souls and Lives too if it may be But if any Non-jurors do shew themselves to be sinful and wicked men in other respects or to be favourers of Popery they are not to be looked upon as any part of these Witnesses For these are the true and distinguishing Characters whereby all men are to know these Witnesses at this time to wit Their sad and mournful condition Their Prophesying in sackcloth as it is in this xi Chapter and their undefiled Garments as it is Rev. 3.4 5. And if any man will hurt them fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their Enemies and if any man will hurt them he must in this manner be killed This may have some respect to Moses and Aaron whom God did in an extraordinary manner protect when he sent them to Pharaoh King of Egypt to redeem his People out of their Egyptian Bondage as we may see Exod. 7. and thence forward And afterwards in the Wilderness did God in a miraculous manner destroy those that rose up against them causing the earth to open and swallow up one part of them and sending down fire from Heaven to consume another part of them as we may see Num. 16. And this may also have some respect to God's two great Prophets Elijah and Elisha for the protection of the former of which God twice sent down fire from Heaven to consumè the two Captains and their men that were sent to apprehend him 2 Kings 1. And for the protection of the other God vouchsafed an heavenly Host of Horses and Chariots of fire 2 Kings 6.17 And by this fire proceeding out of their mouth here we are to understand as I conceive that God will in an extraordinary manner protect and defend these Witnesses during the time of their Prophesying and will execute some signal punishments upon their Enemies rather than suffer them to hinder his Witnesses in the execution of their offices which they do in obedience to his blessed Will And it may seem the more requisite that he should vouchsafe them this extraordinary Safe Conduct for their protection as he did to Moses and Aaron and to Elijah and Elisha seeing the World heretofore hath been too ready to stone his
and Honors that they received by it To hear this profitable Diana of theirs cried down and to see men disswaded from the worshipping of her this moves their blood and puts them into a tumult Act 19.28 11. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entred into them and they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon them which saw them That is after Popery shall have Reigned three years and an half and after these Protestant Witnesses and Servants of God shall have remained in this dead and forlorn condition three years and an half Then by the Omnipotent Power of God they shall be raised up again from this dead and miserable condition into a lively and happy one Not by might nor by any Power of their own but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts Zec. 4.6 And then shall all men be struck with exceeding great fear at this wonderful Work of God and must then expect the dreadful Effects of this second Woe as the following verses shew 12. And they heard a great Voice from Heaven saying unto them Come up hither And they ascended up to Heaven in a Cloud and their Enemies beheld them That is By an extraordinary Hand of Providence like a commanding Voice from Heaven there was a way made for their great exaltation and accordingly they were exalted to great Honor and Power and Authority in the Church of Christ in a remarkable manner which I understand by their ascending up to Heaven in a Cloud And their Enemies of the Church of Rome saw this and wondred at it that these Protestants which they thought they had in their Power and were wholly subdued should be so strangely rescued from them and exalted again and set out of their reach and power And this is to come to pass after Popery hath prevailed three years and an half over the Protestant Church 13. And the same hour was there a great Earthquake and the tenth part of the City fell and in the Earthquake were slain of men or Names of Men that is Persons of Men seven thousand And the Remnant were affrighted and gave Glory to the God of Heaven That is At the same time that the Protestant Witnesses shall be raised up again in such a wonderful manner there will be a great Earthquake that is an exceeding great Commotion and Tumult of War in the Protestant parts of the World and great Alarming and Fighting And then the Third Part of the Romish Church as I conceive shall be destroyed and fall off from the Popedom part being killed in this great Earthquake and Tumult of War and part turning Protestants And then will there be an exceeding great Slaughter of Men for seven thousand seems here to be put not barely for seven thousand but for an exceeding great number of Men that shall be then slain This we may conclude because this is one of the three grand Woes of this Book and we see that a far greater number than seven thousand have often been slain and yet accounted no Woe by these Sacred Oracles And the rest of the Papists being struck with fear and astonishment at this wonderful and heavy Judgment of God upon them will acknowledge in their Hearts and Consciences that this is in truth the Handy-work of Almighty God and many as may be hoped will upon this turn Protestants and so give Glory to the God of Heaven both with their Heart and Mouth and in the whole course of their Lives By the Tenth Part of the City here I conceive may be meant a Tenth Part of the old Roman Empire and about a third Part of the Popish Empire as it will then be when the Protestant Kingdoms are united to it again This seems probable to me because St. John saith ver 15 There were great Voices in Heaven saying The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ And hereby I conceive we are to understand a considerable part of them and more than a Tenth Part of the Popish Empire And three of the ten Horns in Dan. 7. fell before the little Horn with Eyes and a Mouth whereby I understand that the Popish Empire was to be extended over three tenth Parts of the old Roman Empire and so a third Part of the Popish Empire will be a tenth Part of the old Roman Empire which I suppose may be here meant It seems probable to me that there will be some Bloodshed when Popery cometh into this Nation and let the great City of London look to that Let the worthy and pious Citizens thereof hearken to the Watchman's Voice for he is willing to do all that lies in his power to save their Souls and Lives too at this great juncture of time But Woe Woe Woe to poor England and the whole Kingdom thereof and the other Protestant Kingdoms at the end of the three years an and half when Popery shall be driven out For then we see that this dreadful Woe is to be executed Then let the Revolting Protestants and all the Papists of these Kingdoms expect that the heavy Wrach of Almighty God will come upon them if they do not in due time take care to prevent it by hearkening to Wisdom's Voice and taking a due care to reform their Lives according to her Divine Precepts 14. The second Woe is past and behold the third Woe cometh quickly When the three years and an half of Popery are past and this heavy Judgment of God hath been executed upon the formal and sinful Professors of Christianity and an exceeding great multitude of them are slain Then we are to know that the second great Woe is past And behold the third Woe cometh quickly That is in a short space of time and in a far shorter space of time than had been between the first Woe and this second Woe And this third and most dreadful Woe of all is like to come upon the Romish Church about an hundred and thirty years hence and about the year of our Lord 1826. This is too great a Mystery for me and as I conceive for any man else to define the exact year when this dreadful Woe shall fall and therefore I only say about the year 1826 and do not define that for the exact year when the Popedom shall go down But yet I am perswaded that it will stand but a very few years after that time For by these Sacred Oracles we are assured that the number of the Beast is but 666. Rev. 13.18 Here is Wisdom saith the Angel or St. John from him Let him that hath understanding count the number of the Beast for it is the number of a Man and his number is six hundred threescore and six By the Beast here I understand the Beast with seven heads and ten horns and by this Beast with seven heads and ten horns I understand the Papacy and Church of Rome For tho' this Beast be said to have seven Heads