Christ's Kingdom coming on Earth How desireable are all Advancements of it in the world And how delightful ought to be such Tokens of its approaching as our Saviour speaks of When these things begin to come to pass look up and lift up your heads for your Redemption draweth near and when you see these things come to pass the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand Luk. 21. ver 28. 31. Wherefore my preceding Exposition giving an Account of a preludious commencing of that Kingdom in this Nation being at hand to end our present Troubles and Distractions in a state of Christian Peace and Liberty by dissolution of all opposite power thereto it must surely be a welcome discovery to all who are so much Friends to the Truth as to desire that it may prove true for they I hope will see sufficient reason to perswade them of the Truth of it Whereas I said that the Author of the Scruplers Case considered does detract from the Spirituality of Christ's Kingdom as well as from the Authority of the devils Kingdom I shall now give some brief Account of it though it not much concerns the purpose of my Post-script His supposing Adam and his Posterity to have been settled under a Theocracy and that Man was so governed before the Flood may be allowed meaning thereby that he was not governed then by any human Government set up by politick Laws but by the Law of Nature or Law of God written in Mans Heart by which Law the Paternal or Patriarchical Authority was exercised But he is much out in further supposing that the putting the Government into the hands of one of our own nature by the aforesaid promise on Adams Fall was a Condescention to our lapsed state which could not bear the awful Soveraignty of a Theocracy annexed to our innocent state as if Christ's Kingdom was inferiour to the Theocracy annext to that state whenas indeed it 's much superiour to the same For Adam in innocency was but in a natural carnal state he was a natural Adam or living Soul of the Earth earthly but the second Adam the Lord from Heaven being a quickning Spirit came to bring that spiritual Theocracy or dispensation of divine Life which is the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth whereby Christ does rule in believers and is by them to rule the world and which was not known to the world till revealed by the Prince of Life who brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel It was before the hidden wisdom of God ordained before the World unto our Glory ehe Mysteries hid from Ages and Generations but now made manifest to the Saints Col. 1.26 hid from the Prophets that prophesied of it and the Angels that desired to look into it 1 Pet. Chap. 1. Whereas therefore this Author makes not onely Christs Kingdom to be instituted by the aforesaid promise on Adams Fall but also him thereby to be vested in his Authority and to have exercised the same in human Governments reformed by righteous Laws c. both before and since his assuming our Nature and also does ascribe so much Vertue to Faith in Him before his coming as that it was sufficient to free Men from that Corruption of Nature wherein the spiritual dominion of the Devil did consist and to reunite them by a holy Nature to the Father of Spirits p. 22. He seems to have little Knowledge of that spiritual dispensation which the coming of Christ did introduce and thereby commence the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth For Believers in Christ before his coming dyed in Faith not having received the Promises but having seen them afar off and were perswaded of them and embraced them c. So that tho' they might joy in the perswasion of so happy a State to come yet they did it without knowing what it would be as Men joy in belief of a happy State in the other Life without knowing what it will be and therefore surely could not find such happy effects from Belief of it till revealed by his coming For whenas we beholding as in a glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory c. So that the Righteousness of God revealed in us from Faith to Faith in Him is wrought in us by contemplating the manifestation of God in Him How could this be till he was made known to the world or became God manifested in the Flesh There was therefore before no such Vertue of Faith in Him for renewing our Nature and freeing Men from the Corruption of it as this Author imagines nor any Reformation by righteous Laws but what is competent to politick worldly Governments where the Spirit of the world will prevail in the modalizing them and so make the Reformation by such Laws amount to no more than his Government who when he finds it for the Interest of his Kingdom can transform himself into an Angel of Light and his Ministers into Ministers of Righteousness And there were some Heathen Emperours who must be granted to be worldly Powers under the Prince of this world that yet will put in for Rulers by whom Christ did exercise his Authority of the Theocracy according to this Authors Account thereof But no Reformation by righteous Laws can amount to the Theocracy of Christ's Kingdom without the concurrence of that Spiritual Power which is the Life of all such Laws and wherein the dominion of Christ's Kingdom or the Kingdom of Heaven which he brought on Earth does consist we being thereby enabled to act according to the Judgments of Truth contrary to the Spirit of the World and so to overcome the World and advance the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth And yet this Author seems scarce to have higher conceptions of the State of that Kingdom in its perfection than what he imagines of it before and since Christ's coming For he calls the Millennium Those happy times when by means of Christ's visible Ministers the World shall be restored to so peaceable a condition as will be proper for putting down all other Rule and Authority but his own and subjecting all things immediately to himself p. 23. but no mention of that spiritual dominion wherewith he shall then reign So that by those happy times he seems onely to understand a Christian Common-wealth wherein the former worldly state of Government shall be put down and the Saints shall rule onely by Christ's Laws but he seems not aware of that dispensation which onely can enable to fulfil his Laws and which is signified by The Tabernacle of God being with men and his dwelling with them and the New Jerusalem not needing the Sun or Moon to shine into it having the Glory of God and the Lamb to be the light thereof and the Throne of God and the Lamb in it and by their eating of the Tree of Life and drinking of the Waters of Life freely c. And it 's Christ's reducing the World to an immediate
Scripture does teach thereof but also signifies little Insight into the State of the opposite Kingdoms of Christ and the Devil in the World the conflict between which and the decree of God to put the Powers of the one under the Feet of the other are the main occasions of his making such Changes by which he pursues the fulfilling his decree as well as awakens in men a fear of him I have therefore given some brief Account of the Rise and State of those Kingdoms in the World driving on to that happy Issue of the great conflict between them whereby the great works of Providence for accomplishing the same may be contemplated with better Judgment than blindly to be censured as dismal works of darkness AN Enquiry into the Vision OF THE Slaying and Rising OF THE WITNESSES c. THe time of the Prophesying of the Witnesses being certain viz. 1260 Prophetick days which are so many years If we can find out the beginning of their Prophesying it will discover also the time of their finishing the same and of the Slaying and Rising of them thereon But I must first note a mistake in Expositors in making the 1260 days of their Prophesying and the Womans abode in the Wilderness to be Synchronal with the 42 Months of the continuance of the Ten-horned-beast and the Treading down of the Outer-Court whenas the Commencement of the former does precede the latter Those times being of equal extent does make it easy to fall into that mistake especially when they cannot much differ in the time of their commencing but that they differ therein is evident First From the continuance of the Ten-horned beast after the Witnesses finishing their prophesying For when they have finished the same the beast ascending out of the bottomless-pit which is the Ten-horned-beast makes war against them and overcomes them c. Also the same Beast is to continue till the abolishing of the Antichristian Powers by the battel of the great day of God Almighty at the seventh Trumpet and the seventh Vial when the Beast and the false Prophet are to be cast into the Lake of Fire Rev. 19.20 Therefore the 42 Months being the same extent of time with the 1260 days and continuing after their Expiring must also Commence after them Secondly From the Persecution which the old Serpent being cast into the Earth Rev. 12. did raise against the Woman fled into the Wilderness before the Rise of the Ten-horned-beast For after his being so cast down he casts out water like a Flood after her to carry her away And after he hath so spent his wrath against her he proceeds to make war with the Remnant of her Seed by the Ten-horned-beast c. 13. Now the Womans abode in the Wilderness being 1260 days the same with the Prophesying of the Witnesses and there suffering this Persecution preceding to the Rise of the Ten-horned-beast its plain that the 42 Months of his continuance must commence after the 1260 days It appearing therefore that the 1260 days and 42 Months are not wholly Synchronal I proceed to the commencement of the first being the time of the Witnesses Prophesying and the Womans abode in the Wilderness Thither she fled from the Persecution of the Devil for her bringing forth the Man-child who was caught up unto Gods Throne and thereby the Devil cast out into the Earth So that her abode there does commence from the time of his being so cast down which befell him about the end of Theodosius Magnus his Reign when the Heathen worship became abolished by his shutting up the Heathen Temples and depriving the Priests of their Revenues Whereby the devil fell from his Heavenly Station of being worshipped as the God of this World as also from the Power which upheld that worship Which further appears from the commencement of the Trumpets which according to Mr. Mede and others was by the Incursion of the Barbarous Nations which immediately succeeded the said Theodosius his death For their sounding being the subject of the seventh seal the devils being cast down must immediately precede the same being that befell him by the Revolution in the Heathen Government which is the subject of the Sixth Seal His fall from Heaven appears therefore both from the abolishing of the Heathen Worship and the immediate succeeding of the Trumpets to be about the end of the said Theodosius his Reign which Mr. Mede makes to end in the year 395 and also makes the devils fall from Heaven by the said Revolution in the Sixth Seal to be then completed or fulfilled But the Persecution thereon which drives the Woman into the Wilderness having no notable Transaction whereto to fix its beginning and being not to be supposed so immediately to succeed the devils being cast out as not to have some small space of time for the raising it and the 1260 days of her abode in the Wilderness being a Computation by Centuries with an odd sixty it s most Congruous to make them Commence with the fifth Century which so soon succeeds the said Theodosius his death viz. begins five years after it and so the odd sixty years to succeed a Century And thus making the beginning of the fifth Century to be the Epocha of the 1260 days of the Womans abode in the Wilderness its clear when they must end viz. in the year 1660 and consequently the 1260 days of the Prophesying of the Witnesses which I think none doubt but that it s during the same time must do the same And as the thus fixing the Epocha of those years or Prophetick days appears so reasonable so the truth thereof will be much confirmed when we come to apply the same to History that is when we find that at the end of those days the slaying and rising of the Witnesses c. became fulfilled which we find not how otherwaies to make out so as to agree with the Vision That the time and times and half c. is synchronal or signifies the same time with the 1260 days appears from both being the measure of the Womans abode in the Wildernss cap. 12. But the 42 months of the Ten-horned beast cannot commence till the Empire became divided into ten Kingdoms by the barbarous Nations that over-ran it which was not till after the middle of the fifth Century Mr. Mede makes it to be soon after the taking Rome by Gensericus the Vandal which he says was A.D. 455. and that the year following or soon after the whole Empire became divided into Ten Kingdoms But the reviving of the Ten-horned-beast cannot well be reckoned till the expiring of the Western Empire in Augustulus A.D. 476. For the Emperors being the sixth Head under which the Beast received its deadly wound by a sword that ought to be expired before its reviving under a new Head Also the Man of Sin was not to be revealed till He that did let viz. the sixth Head or Roman Emperors was taken out of the way And tho' those Emperors
from the taking Rome by Gensericus to Augustulus were so inconâ—…ble as to make some reckon the Western Empire to end with Valentinian the third yet it did really continue though in a languishing condition till it expired in Augustulus a Name suitable to the state it was then dwindled into And whenas its expiring is described in the third Trumpet by a great star falling from Heaven its Name being called Worm-wood the miserable condition of the Empire under those petty Emperors and their perplext troubles do best suit with that Character And the not reviving of the Ten-horned-beast till then does well enough agree with the ten Horns or ten Kings receiving Power as Kings one hour with the Beast for that signifies no more than that they received such Power about the same time with the reviving of the Beast And by the latitude of Mr. Medes's words before cited it might be very nigh the said expiring of the Western Empire before the Empire became divided into ten Kingdoms And as the not reviving of the Ten-horned-beast till the said A.D. 476 does so well agree with those Kings receiving Power as Kings one hour with the Beast so it better suits with the Power and Corruptions of Antichrist being then more advanced to sit him for reviving and heading the Ten-horned-beast And whereas he is represented by a Two-horned-beast signifying the twofold Power he claims viz. Ecclesiastical and Civil answering to his Authority of Priest and King whose Vice-gerent he assumes to be and therefore he is said to wear the Horns of the Lamb he begins to head the Ten-horned-beast by exercising onely the first of these Powers till by his Pseudo-prophetick deceits he hath so advanced himself and deluded the World as to make way for his claiming the other Power also In the mean time steps in the other King who was to continue but a short space and was no Roman but a Foreign Head And this was Odoacer King of the Herculi with the succeeding Ostrogoths So that Odoacer extinguishing the Western Empire by vanquishing Augustulus the eighth Head which is the seventh Roman-head does as to one of his Powers which he exerciseth begin to head the Beast at the same time with the rise of the foreign Head which was to continue but a short space viz. both at the expiring of the sixth Head the Roman Emperors But he is not reputed the eighth Head till his exercising the other Power also The first Power fulfils the revealing of the Man of Sin at the expiring of the sixth Head and the other being civil makes him agree with the other Heads and so become the eighth Head which one of the seven or the seventh Roman Head My making the Commencement of the 1260 days to precede the 42 months is further made good out of Daniel For it 's said of the little Horn there cap. 7. which is the Antichristian-head of the Ten-horned-beast That the Saints of the Most High shall be given into his hands for a Time and Times and the dividing of a Time and then Judgment shall sit to take away his dominion and to consume it unto the end Now the said time and times c. being the same as before shewed with the 1260 days and at the end thereof Judgment beginning to sit to take away the dominion of the said Horn or Ten-horned-beast under that Head he is therefore to continue after the 1260 days till his dominion be taken away and consumed which how long it is seems concludible from Daniel cap. 12. Where we find again the said time and times and half c. during which the scattering of the power of the Holy People should be which is the same with the said giving the Saints into the hands of the said Beast and then on Daniel's enquiring What shall be the end of those Wonders there spoken of He is denyed an Answer as enquiring into things that are closed and sealed up till the time of the end yet is told of two periods of time which will make great discovery of what he enquires after viz. From the taking away the daily sacrifice and setting up the Abomination that maketh desolate there shall be 1290 days Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1335 days Which Numbers tho' they respect the Profanation of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes yet as he is generally agreed to be a Type of Antichrist so they in a Typical sense respect his Reign and so must have the same Epocha with the preceding time and times c. there which they relate to And then the time and times c. or 1260 days ending as before shewed in the year 1660 the 1290 days must end in 1690 and the 1335 days in 1735. So that whereas at the expiring of time and times c. or 1260 days Judgment begins to sit to take away the dominion of the Beast on the rising of the Witnesses after the slaying them at the end of those days the 1290 days denote a time the year 1690 at which some very remarkable advance will be made therein or some notable Transactions or Revolutions will fall out in order thereunto But the 1335 days denote a time the year 1735 at which the taking away his dominion or destroying him will be so completed as to make them Blessed or peculiarly happy that reach thereunto Now as to the falling out of such an event in the year 1690 as I have spoken of we have seen what great Transactions and Changes of such tendency both at home and abroad that with the preceding and following year hath produced and what further we are in continual expectation of And as to the event to fall out in the year 1735 I take it to be the sounding of the seventh Trumpet For on the slaying and rising of the Witnesses and their ascending in a Cloud and the falling thereon of the Tenth Part of the City it 's said The second Woe is past and the third Woe cometh quickly Which Fall of the Tenth Part of the City of which after I take to be a chief part of the event signified to fall out or commence in the year 1690. And we see how the state of the Turkish Empire the second Woe-Trumpet does agree with the seventh Trumpet its being the other event Which hath received such a deadly Wound as to make it ‖ Which is further confirmed from the time for which the Euphratean Horse-men or Turks are loosed Re. 9.5 to execute the second Woe-Trumpet on the Empire For the Day Month Year being Prophetick Days make 396 years the Epocha of which being about the beginning of the Fourteenth Century when the Turks began their Eruption from Euphrates on the Empire they must be now near expiring and therewith end that Trumpet or the Empire that inflicted that Plague At least so far as to make it cease from continuing the Plague of a Woe-Trumpet but the absolute breaking of that Empire seems not to be
till the sixth Vial and then it will fulfil The drying up the River Euphrates to make way for the Kings of the East unlikely to last long and at present even to cease from continuing the Plague of a Woe-Trumpet And being at the time when the second Woe-Trumpet is past and the tenth part of the City is fallen both which are now about being fulfilled it 's said The third Woe cometh quickly it can hardly be at a greater distance than the said year 1735 and therefore the great event signified then to fall out must in all likelihood be it Which is much confirmed by the 42 months of the continuance of the Beast so agreeing therewith For his time beginning in the year 476 and ending at the seventh Trumpet as before shewed the 42 months from the said Epocha end in the year 1736 the year after the said 1735. But it may be objected That the said Numbers of Daniel in â—…e typical sense mentioned should rather commence with the 〈◊〉 months of the Antichristian Reign which in their typical sense â—…ey respect than with the 1260 days which have an higher Eâ—…ha To which I say that the taking away the dayly Sacriâ—… c. may in a typical sense be well applyed to the Epocha 〈◊〉 the 1260 days both in respect of the persecution by which 〈◊〉 Devil caused the Woman to fly into the Wilderness and â—…o in respect of the Advance Antichrist had then made in corâ—…ing the World with the Mysteries of Iniquity And thereâ—…e though his Reign cannot be said to commence till he beâ—…e a new Head of the Ten-horned-beast succeeding the sixth â—…ead which expired A.D. 476. yet those Numbers in their tyâ—…al sense may well respect him before the proper commenceâ—…nt of his Reign And they being there introduced in reference 〈◊〉 the preceding time and times c. as aforesaid they are to â—…ve the same Epocha and so notifie signal times of the advanceâ—…g and accomplishing the deliverance of the People of God â—…ch commenceth at the end of time and times c. or 1260 â—…ys by the rising of the Witnesses after the slaying them and 〈◊〉 the Judgment that then begins to sit as aforesaid to take â—…ay the dominion of the Beast c. Having thus discovered the time of the expiring of the 1260 â—…ys and so of the slaying and rising of the Witnesses thereon â—…e are next to enquire How History Answers the same or â—…ere and how the same hath been fulfilled The year 1660 â—…ing as before shewed the time of the expiring of the 1260 â—…ys nothing then fell out that appears capable of Answering â—…e description of the slaying and rising of the Witnesses unless 〈◊〉 great Revolution by the Restauration The slaying them is â—…ed chiefly to one of the ten Kingdoms the Empire was diviâ—…d into by the falling of the Tenth Part of the City that 〈◊〉 one of those ten Kingdoms on their rising and ascending 〈◊〉 Cloud And what Kingdom can this be but ENGLAND â—…deed the French Persecution and also the Hungarian did beâ—… about the same time both the French and the Imperial Court â—…ing Encouragement thereunto from our KING's Restauraâ—…n as well they might considering what he as well as his Broâ—…er proved to be on which and the preceding Pyrenean Peace 〈◊〉 Design was set on foot for Ruining the Reformed Religion So that it 's a very remarkable time for the slaying of the Witnesses to commence at which considered together with the Reasons I have given for the 1260 days ending then seems to make it unquestionable to be the true time thereof But nothing then or since fell out in France or elsewhere but in England that can answer the Vision of the slaying them c. For it 's said thereon They that dwell on the Earth shall rejoyce and make merry and send Gists one to another because that those two Prophets tormented them that dwell on the Earth But no such rejoycing hath been at those foreign Persecutions they being not so much approved of as to cause such solemn rejoycings but on the contrary those that have been deeply concerned in promoting the French Persecution have been ashamed to own the same it being so inhumane and barbarous as to move pity and favour from Papists themselves whereas it 's well known what great and solemn rejoycings there was both at home and abroad for the King's Restauration by reason that the dwellers on earth had been tormented by that Party which was then prevailed against and which thereon was retaliated with those severe punishments and sufferings which they have since undergone But then How was the Witnesses lying dead three days and a half that is three years and a half fulfilled in England To which I say That there may be such a symbolical meaning of their lying dead as to make the fulfilling thereof according to the Prophetick time needless For it may refer to Antiochuâ— Epiphanes his Prophaning the Temple and to the time of Elyah's mournful prophesying when he caused great Famine by shutting up Heaven c. both which were for the same time and so signisie that their lying dead shall be alike short time of Tryal and have thâ— like happy Issue Yet a fulfilling thereof according to the prophetick time may be aptly enough assigned For reckoning the slaying the Witnesses here chiefly to respecâ— the excluding so many Non-conforming Ministers by the Bartholomew-Act yet including also those who were shut out of Civil Employment by the Corporation-Act or otherwaies for favouring that Cause that was then so run down from Bartholomew-day 1662 the three years and half will end in Februarâ— 1665. About which time the dreadful Plague had so finisheâ— its slaughter as to make the Citizens flock fast to London agaiâ— And the Non conforming Ministers having during the Plague 〈◊〉 the Risque of that danger which the Parish-Ministers sled 〈◊〉 and supplyed their Pulpits which they deserted did thereâ—… gain that Reputation with the City as was a beginning of â—…e Entrance of the spirit of Life into them to set them on their 〈◊〉 For the People were so affected with that dreadful Judgâ—ent and the Zeal and Faithfulness to their Duty which the â—on-conforming Ministers did manifest thereon as much to â—…ntenance their Meetings which they were then encouraged 〈◊〉 set up and were so born out therein that the Oxford-Act â—…de during the Plague could take little effect to drive them â—…om the City On which see Mr. Baxter's Non-conformists â—…ea for Peace p. 236 237 238 239. and he hath these remarkâ—…le Words thereon Thus the dreadful Plague began that which 〈◊〉 so much offendeth as a dangerous Schism Also the next disâ—…l Judgment which laid the City in Ashes and so gave more â—…untenance to the Non-conformists Meetings by reason of the â—…ish-Churches being destroyed and the Unsuccessfulness of â—…e Dutch War wherewith it was expected to ruine that Naâ—… were together with the preceding Plague such astonishâ—…g Providences as must
needs strike the evil World with some â—…ead of that Divine Power so wonderfully manifested in its â—…dgments But the Contemplation thereof was such reviving â—…d animating of the Witnesses which might be with a due â—…passion of the evils inslicted by those Judgments and an â—…ancing of their Repute and Interest as to complete the setâ—…g them on their feet from their slain condition Which begat in their Adversaries such fear of them fulfillâ—…g what is said of the Witnesses raised again on their feet That â—…t fear fell on them that saw them as brought the Penal Laws 〈◊〉 them to suppress and hath since begotten many politick Arts 〈◊〉 keep them under and hinder their ascending in a Cloud to 〈◊〉 Heaven of Power whether the great Voice ver 12. does 〈◊〉 them Notwithstanding which they have continued still eâ—…ging in the World and will do so till that Voice be fulâ—…ed And as our late Revolution hath gained them that Liâ—…ty which is like to be so holding as to prove an open Door â—…em which no man can shut so it seems designed also for the â—…illing that Voice and thereby accomplishing the Fall of the â—…th Part of the City though the same be hitherto much obâ—…cted by continuance still of the former Enmity against them and Jealousies of them notwithstanding the great detriment the Publick receives thereby Though this Vision thus concerns our Nation as it chiefly respects one of the ten Kingdoms the Empire was divided into as before noted yet it hath also a concurrent fulfilling in other Countries where the afore mentioned design against the Reformed Religion on the Restauration c. hath been pursued to the utmost whereby as the slaying of the Witnesles hath been fulfilled with them so there hath and will be a fulfilling of their Resurrection by the aforesaid Judgment that now sits at the end of time and times c. To take away the dominion of the Beast and to consume it unto the end This Account of the slaying and rising of the Witnesses as respecting one of the ten Kingdoms c. is further confirmed from the Persecution here which succeeded the Restauration it s better agreeing with the slaying of the Witnesses than those Persecutions which then and since have faln out elsewhere coming short of their barbarous Inhumanity though so severe and heavy as to prove ruinous to many and so better answering to the slaying the Witnesses which is different from the former Antichristian Persecutions both as being peculiar to the Witnesses the Worshippers in the Inner-Court or Temple and Altar whereas the former extends also to the Outer-Court trodden down and as being not so much designed to destroy as to silence and subdue importing a political and a spiritual Death viz. as to their exercising their Function of Prophesying from whence they are raised by the Spirit of LIFE entring into them c. Also the Persecution here is more likely than any elsewhere to be the slaying the Witnesses because the Sufferers under it were such as espoused the Cause they were engaged in upon their own Judgment and Choice and much contrary to their worldly Interest both in respect of their excluding themselves thereby from Preferments and also exposing themselves to manifold evils from Punishment of Laws and Enmity of their prevailing Adversaries Whereas the Persecution in France and elsewhere being against a Religion so long established by Law that the Professors of it received it by Education it was therefore like a National Religion which involves all Professors true or false and so had multitudes in its Communion not so much from Principles of Conscience as the Influence of Education whereby the Truth was not so rooted in their hearts as to enable them to abide those Tryals that came upon them But this Account of the slaying and rising of the Witnesses tho' enforced with so strong Reasons will not be easily digested by those who so highly esteem the Reformation as to make the breaking then with Rome to be a dismembring us from the Ten-horned-beast or a separating this Kingdom from continuing one of the Horns thereof Which cannot be if the slaying the Witnesses was fulfilled according to my Account thereof For they being slain by the Beast that ascends out of the Bottomless-pit that is the Ten-horned-beast which cap. 13. is said to arise out of the Sea and cap. 17. to ascend out of the Bottomless-pit this Kingdom must continue a Member of that Beast or one of the Horns thereof at the time of the slaying them Which that it did so seems so clear from other Reasons also as to make it hardly conceivable to be otherwaies For the Reformation made no Alteration in the Civil Government and therefore could not make any as to this Kingdoms continuing a Part or Member of the Ten-horned-beast which is a representation of the Politick or Civil State of the Empire Nor did it make any in the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction so called the same Hierarchy continuing here with rejection of the foreign Jurisdiction usurpt by the Pope And though the Reformation made in Religion was much Praise-worthy as a good beginning yet it fell much short of obeying that Voice Come out of her my People c. Rev. 18. And yet instead of making further progress it proved retrograde and backsliding became so prevalent as to beget dismal apprehensions of our relapsing to what we had reformed from and thereby involved us in the calamities of the Civil War Yet so far were we from being warned thereby that the Restauration proved a reviving of the same designs which before had produced such sad effects and which now became more eagerly driven on both out of enmity to that Party which were God's Scourge for the former pursuing the same and also to prevent the like sufferings from them again by a total suppressing them It appears therefore that the Antichristian Spirit of the World hath been the prevailing or predominant Spirit in the Nation since the Reformation and how can it then not continue us of the same Antichristian-body the Ten-horned-beast as formerly whatever Variance we have had since with Rome And being refin'd in Profession by the Reformation whilst the same Antichristian Spirit and worldly Power continues to bear sway does rather make us more complete Members of that Beast than make us cease from continuing Members thereof the Mystery of Iniquity consisting in warring against Christ under a Christian Profession or having Horns like a Lamb yet speaking as a Dragon And such Reformation in such enlightened times is indeed serviceable for the prolonging of worldly Power in opposition to the coming of Christs Kingdom whilst Satan being transformed into an Angel of Light and his Ministers into Ministers of Righteousness become thereby enabled the longer to vye with the true Children of Light Also the 1260 days of the Witnesses Prophesying and the Womans abode in the Wilderness ending as before shewed but in the year 1660 and by some not so
part of the City seems not accomplished But there 's reason to reckon the fulfilling thereof near both from the light of this Vision and also from our seeing that Power so declining and languishing that all politick bands and subtle workings of the deceiver for upholding and prolonging it prove like the loosed tacklings that cannot strengthen their Masts nor spread their Sails whereby the Nation as to the worldly politick state of it is in alike unhing'd and crazy tottering condition as in Esay 24.19,20 is described to precede the glorious state of Christ's Kingdom And the Conflict that does spring from this declension of worldly Power and the emerging of the Witnesses ascending in a Cloud is the cause of our present Troubles and Distractions Nor can we well hope for settlement and prosperity till the Judgment that sits hath ended this Conflict by so taking away the dominion or power of the Beast as to fulfil the Fall of the tenth part of the City and the great Voice that calls the Witnesses up to Heaven This will give new Life and Vigour to the Government By the Lord being exalted among us to fill us with Judgment and Righteousness and make wisdom and knowledge the stability of our Times and strength of Salvation It will be a laying the Foundation of that City whose Builder and Maker is God whereby we shall find Him carrying on that Spiritual Building till he hath raised us up to the glorious state of the New Jerusalem And it will be such a preludious commencing of Christ's Kingdom in the Nation as will occasion great Changes throughout Christendom and so be a preparative making way for the great Revolution at the seventh Trumpet which settles Him in his Kingdom on Earth and therein be a great transaction of the fifth Vial which fils the Kingdom of the Beast with darkness And indeed that Vial seems to commence from our late great Revolution and so the Exit of King James did conclude the fourth Vial poured on the Sun as we have before noted his Fathers Fate to be a signal Transaction of its beginning But then whereas the present Consederacy against France is the result of that Revolution which seems not well established till the Confederates have so succeeded against that Sun which hath shined with much scorching heat to the great annoyance of Christendom as to make him set in a Cloud when this befals him which seems very hopeful as well as desireable it may well be reckoned a Transaction belonging to the fourth Vial as being so connext with King James's Exit that the Fall of the one did involve the others Fall Since therefore so great Consequences are like to attend our late Revolution they are much in the dark who are so much concerned for our settling upon our old bottom or worldly state acquiescing in the Deliverance received as if it rendred us as happy as is to be desired or however to be expected like those who reject all speculations of Christ's Kingdom on Earth telling us that he came not to interest himself in or give disturbance to the Rights of Princes or Civil Governments his Kingdom being not of this world shewing themselves of like spirit with those who said We will not have this Man reign over us But tho' his Kingdom be from above as He himself was and not from beneath of this world or according to the course thereof yet it s in this world where He must reign till he hath put down all Authority and Power all Enemies under his feet and so make the Kingdoms of the World become the Kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ c. And the Laws and Liberties which we so Joy in are owing to the advancement of his Kingdom on Earth But the world being unable so to consider them claims them as the Rights of Free-born People and which our Rulers are bound to observe by Original Contract with the People c. Whenas indeed what Change there is in the Government of the Christian world from the absolute dominion of Heathen Princes proceeds from the Victory gained over the powers of the world by the Man-child being caught up unto God's Throne to rule and the Dragon being cast out into the Earth Rev. 12. which caused the great Revolution in the Empire described in the sixth Seal And what Liberty or Freedom can any pretend to who are the Servants of Sin and Satan who having the Power of Death through fear of it makes them all their Liver-time subject to Bondage Which Bondage of Corruption all Mankind are subject to so far as Redemption through Christ Jesus hath not freed them from it And they being thus the Children of wrath under the Thraldom of the Prince of the power of the Air the spirit that worketh in the Children of Disobedience what Rights or Priviledges could they obtain Or what Assurance could they have of them when granted by absolute Heathen Rulers under the Prince of darkness Whose Power did set them above the need of making such Grants and could easily frustrate them when made So that the Grants and Concessions whereby the Princes of Christendom have obliged themselves to their Subjects and thereby enfranchised them from Heathen Thraldom are owing to the downfal of the Devils power by his being cast out of Heaven whereby they being unable to continue that absolute dominion were driven to comply with their Subjects by such Concessions And though his power hath been so restored by the Impostures of the false Prophet and other his subtle Arts to corrupt the Nations of Christendom as in some Countries almost to frustrate the benefit of that Victory over him yet in others it continues to be enjoyed and with that firmness in our Country as to make both former and latter Attempts to deprive us of it fatal to the Undertakers And the late Revolution seems not onely design'd to confirm to us that Benefit when there appeared so much danger of losing it but also much to enlarge the same by that advancemene of Christ's Kingdom which is signified by the Fall of the tenth part of the City But we seem insensible thereof and as little disposed to and prepared for so great a Blessing as Lot and his Family were to depart out of Sodom to escape destruction It 's too high a Blessing for the world to like tho' it be well pleased with than already received of being freed from Heathen Thraldom It can like such Blessings that free it from the evils and miseries that attend it s lapsed state lying in wickedness but is not pleased with such Blessings that tend to recover it out of that state by Reforming its Corruptions Which Indisposition to higher Blessings designed us makes the world so little sensible to whom to ascribe what we already enjoy and so to fail of rendring Him due Praise and Thanks for the same to whom all Judgment is committed that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father