Kings and Lord of Lords in their Station For I am sure they are given from one even the chief Shepherd and Bishop of his Church Jesus Christ I am not enclin'd nor have ever had a Temptation to represent the Prophesies of Scripture as a Doctrine of Blood. I am sensible what Spirit Christianity is of to its greatest Enemies Christ came not to destroy mens lives but to save them I expect a Battel of Christ that shall not be as of the Warriors with confused noise and Garments rolled in Blood but with fewel of Fire pure and clean Holiness a pure Ether of Justice and Righteousness for in Righteousness he Judges and makes War and that in the mean time there shall be no more use of Instruments to destroy than the most Righteous and just Constitutions and Governments of Nations allow For the Angels of the Vials upon the Anti-Christian State are cloathed with Linnen pure and white and their Breasts girded with golden Girdles their Vials full with no other wrath than of God Almighty Rev. 15. Yet not offering to be particularly definitive I Avow in the general Yet Eight years and the Kingdoms of this World shall become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ and Papacy and Mahometanism shall sink down before Him his Monarchy shall then begin its Succession although his glorious Investiture shall not be till seventy five years after In which time The everlasting Gospel shall be preached by a new Mission equal in speed and effect to that of the Apostles and more universal symboll'd therefore by an Angel flying through the midst of Heaven bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles and effectual to the Conversion of the Jews upon which Saviours shall come upon Mount Sion and destroy the whole race of Pagan Mahometan Anti-Christian Edomites and the Kingdom shall be the Lords ADVERTISEMENT IF any please to assist in the Publication of the whole Designation they shall receive Proportionably It consists of the Scripture Line of the Kingdom drawn from the first Sabbath to the thousand Years Sabbatism The Song of the Kingdom or Solomons Prophetick Song adjusted to it The Doctrine of the Kingdom or Demonstrative proof by Scripture the Kingdom of the thousand Years is the Resurrection or Day of Judgment The Prayer of the Kingdom or the Lords Prayer prov'd principally to look at that Kingdom The Sacrament of the Kingdom or the Supream aim of the Lords Supper argued to be at that Kingdom T. Beverley Revel XVII 16 17. And the Ten Horns thou sawest upon the Beast these shall hate the Whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her Flesh and burn her with Fire For God hath put into their hearts to fulfil his Will and to agree and to give their Kingdom unto the Beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled I Have in a Discourse Published Twelve Months past explain'd Gods Command to come out of Babylon and prov'd the explanation of this and the neighbouring Prophesie as having it 's direct Aspect on the prostitute Roman Communion by such Arguments as have never been so much as attack'd in a time when there was both all advantage and keenness against what ever was offered contrary to that Interest how weak or trifling soever it might seem and it is probable They would have that Discourse go for such It is wonder therefore if the Arguments would have born it they were not at least expos'd to scorn and laughter but Prophetic Truth in this matter is too solid to be so fasten'd on This Prophesie Imports the great Revolution of those Ten Kings and their Kingdoms our own and those which lie all about us that were known for several Hundreds of Years to have been devotely united to the Roman Catholick Church as they delighted to Style it and to the Papal Supremacy as Head of it these very Kings and Kingdoms shall hate that Adulterous Church made Infamous in this Prophesie by the Name of the Whore and shall Treat her with the greatest Hatred Indignity and Aversation and God will set Judgment before them as in the Case of the Jewish Ezek. 23. Aholibah and they shall execute greatest severity upon it as eating her Flesh by Slaughter and Burning her with Fire And all this they shall do as is Implyed when the words of God are fulfill'd That is when the time determin'd by God for the giving their Kingdom to the Beast is expir'd till then they agree in one being under an Enchantment to the Whore to give their Kingdoms to the Beast that bears her that he might bear her with the greatest Granduer and State his Head rising up with these Ten Horns These Symbolical Names are given to the Papacy and the Ten Kings for the stupidness of their Idolatry and the Cruelty of their Persecution The time God had allotted to the Beast was Forty two Jewish Months making 1222 Years as another Prophesie assures us so long the Papacy was to continue from the time of this Authority to be accounted from 475 and at the same hour the Ten Kings receiv d their Kingdoms in Sacred Register or Prophesie at the Cessation of the Roman Western Empire This time is also call'd as given to the whole Anti-christian Revel 12. Apostacy Time Times and half a Time At the Morning of the half Time as Christ arose on the Morning of his Third Day Some Beginning â—3â— of those Ten Kings began to hate the Whore and Revok'd their Kingdoms from the Beast This was when Luther first rose up Ann. 1517. Yet so great Kingdoms as we know France Spain Italy Germany Poland and Portugal continue their Subjection to him In them also the Prophesie shall be accomplished when the words of God shall have their last fulfilling that will be at the Year 1697. For as each Time is Three Hundred Sixty Years so proportionably the half Time is one Hundred Eighty Years Take them to begin at Luthers appearance 1517. they necessarily end at 1697. the very observation of which gives the expectation of that Year Credence For none can deny if Time Times half a Time are equal to 1260. Years The half Time numbers 180. None can deny the Reformation dawn'd 1517. which things joyn'd together make whether we will or no a great Climateric of 1697. a Year of great Remarque as the Hundred Eightieth or half Time from the Reformation for if a part of the Ten Kings Revok'd then as in the Morning All must at the Evening For when the words of God are entirely fulfilled this hating the Whore must be fulfilled also and that is at the full end of the half Time 1697. These things I have more fully opened and proved in that Command out of Babylon as also in the Scripture Line of Time. I only prepare for the present Discourse by a Summary Repetition of them My Intention now is to Remarque upon the present wonderful Doing of God in this Nation and to
THE LATE Great Revolution IN THIS NATION Argued according to Rev. 17. 16. 17. To be duely Ascribed to the Supreme Spirit now about to move in the Fulfilling All Prophecy The earnest of which is vouchsaf'd to us in this so wonderful Change. In pursuance of a Discourse Published Twelve Months past viz The Command of God to come out of Babylon Wherein is more fully proved the NOW Roman Communion is Intended and that the Words of God will be fulfilled concerning the Present State of the Papacy in its Expiration and the Hatred of the Whore 1697. By T Beverley For the Testimony of JESVS is the Spirit of Prophecy Revel 19. 10. Printed for John Salusbury in Cornhil near the Royal Exchange 1689. A PREFACE TO THE READER Upon the following DISCOURSE suited to the present Juncture of Affairs in the World and to the particular Signs of the Times now Emerging THat which bore up the great Princes and Leaders among the Servants of God in Elder times to such a Transcendency of Action was immediate Revelation from God The Word of God came to them as Christ speaks and ennobled them as Gods upon Earth Immediate Revelation in the same manner bore up so High the Spirits of the Prophets that they feared none of the Powers upon Earth how great and formidable soever in delivering the Divine Messages even when they threatned them with that Ruine which they knew would most enrage them to Hear of The very same immediate Revelation stirred up the Spirits of the Vniversality of the Servants of God in Prayer and suitable Action so that they offered themselves willingly to the Services of their Generation even in the Loughtiest Atchievements when they knew themselves Arm'd with the Assurances of the Purposes of God to be fulfilled in those Seasons wherein they were summoned to such Actions That which next to such immediate Revelation would now Inspire the Servants of God in each Station to the highest Elevation in Divine Manifestations to the World in Prayer and Action must be a Discovery of the Signs of the present Time according to sacred Prophesie and especially that great Prophesie of the New Testament which is peculiarly entitled The Revelation Because it is and ought to be in the place of immediate Revelation to All who Read and Hear it and all the Servants of Christ ought to Read and Hear it For it is the Revelation that God gave to Jesus Christ to shew to his Servants things that are shortly to come to pass And that shewing is plainly declar'd to be by their Reading and Hearing For it immediately follows Christs shewing and signification of it by the Testimony and Writing of his Servant John. For he is commanded to write for after Ages And to encourage in such Reading and Hearing There is a Promise of Blessedness adjoyn'd to the Reading and Hearing I do not at all doubt there is a mystical Reading and Hearing by the Spirit and Power of Christ instructing and actuating his Servants according to the Principles and Services of this very Prophesie And that what is now doing and operating in the World and in our Nation is according to it without explicite understanding or attending to the Explanation of it But yet undoubtedly a more open and bold Explanation is due especially to this Age of the Churches of Christ and approach of his Kingdom We ought now to be more skill'd in the Signs of the Times than by a meer kind of Implicite Faith. And that must be by the Calculation of them according to this Prophesie for the Signs of the Times are compounded especially of the Definition of times by Prophesy and the events determin'd to come to pass in those Times and our discerning the Signs of the Times is to be by a compare of Prophesie and the product of Times agreeable to the Prophesie together even as the Time of Messiahs coming was design'd by the sure Word of Daniels Prophesy and Jesus Christ mighty in Word and Deed came at the same Time. Now our Lord condemns the Ignorance of the Scribes and Pharisees and People who did not discern the Signs of that Time not as simple Ignorance or Nescience but as gross Hipocrisie that they would not know what they might have known and proportionably in all times but especially in these Times wherein mighty Works are to shew forth themselves and begin to shew forth themselves in the downfal of the Turkish Tyranny with which the Papal is to meet in such degrees of Ruine as are determin'd to be parallel in each and in parallel Times I most humbly and earnestly threfore Beseech the Angels of the Reformed Churches That they would search this so great Prophesie of the New Testament as commensurate as hath been said to Immediate Revelation and that they would Minister out of it to the Princes and Powers of the Ten Kingdoms that have so long given their Power and Kingdom to the Beast especially to those which are already of the Reformation For the Words of God are near to be fulfill'd for God had said The Beast shall have Power to continue Forty two Months and to receive great Power and Authority from those Kings giving their Power and their Kingdom to Him. And the Word of God was fulfill'd so that their Kingdoms were entirely so given till the Reformation when the Morning of the last half Day or half Time of the forty two Months gave Liberty to some of those Ten Kings to reverse and recal the giving of their Kingdom As Christ arose early in the Morning of his last third Day and appeared to some of the Apostles and Disciples But it was Evening e're he met them in a Body and those who saw him first were Instrumental to prepare those who did not see him till the Evening so those Princes already of the Reformation shall be Instrumental to oblige the rest who have not yet renunciated to the Beast and the false Church to do the same now near the End of the last of the forty two Months Let them therefore have those grand excitements and encouragements of Prophesie undoubtedly Cyrus though a Gentile Prince was highly animated by the Prophesies of Isaiah and Jeremiah for the Destruction of Literal Babylon which Prophesies we may be assured were expounded to Him by Daniel so great a Prophet in his own Times how much more will Christian and Protestant Princes exalted in their Spirits summon their Prowesse and puissance for the service of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ to be within these Eight next Years proclaim'd by loud Voices from Heaven For when the Words of God are to be fulfill'd that the Ten Kings and their Nations do give their Power no longer to the Beast Then the Kingdom of Christ is proclaim'd although his Inauguration as we speak shall not be till seventy five Years after If any should say the Prophesie is dark and not to be understood and Men very disenclin'd to believe the Explications given of
it let them consider it is very dangerous to say of any Book of Scripture with the unlearned we cannot read it because we are not learned and with the learned we cannot read it because it is sealed If there were by the pouring out of the Spirit upon the Reformed an united endeavour to search by the Books of Scripture and other Ecclesiastical Records with Prayer what and what manner of Time the Holy Spirit in it did signifie as they have search'd for the Sense of Antiquity in some things of far less moment or concern to the Kingdom of Christ what doubt can there be but that the two leaved Gates of Truth in it had open'd to them and by their concerted Light and Authority Princes would be awaken'd and perswaded so that the great City and its Decimal power would soon feel the Earthquake and fall I am not at all in doubt but that to me less than the least of all Saints and the chiefest of Sinners as upon the Banks of Chebar Ulai and Hiddekel and as in the Isle of Patmos that Grace hath been vouchsaf'd upon my most Attentive Thought and Contemplation of this and other Prophesies of Scripture and upon the whole Scheme of Scripture Time that I have certainly found That at the year sixteen hundred ninety seven These great Things shall come to their Complement that are to be at even Dates with the Proclamation of the Kingdom of Christ That the Pollution of the Sanctuary shall be so far finish'd that the measur'd Temple and it's worshippers sealed up within eight the last twelve hundred sixty years shall be opened and a far more excellent Church-state Appear The Ministrations of Truth and Divine Worship much purer as the Ark of Testament seen and the Witnesses Shall have come out of their Sackcloth wherewith the so long Apostacy together with the Turkish Woe a Judgement upon that Apostacy hath cover'd them I have publish'd several Discourses to this purpose viz. A Scripture line of Time and Solomons Song adjusted to it and have found none who hath thought fit to remonstrate to them or resist the Evidence with which I have written not because I have written but because of what I have written I may say It is written It is written in the Scripture of Truth Particularly the annexed Discourse I publish'd a year ago and I cannot but look upon the present appearance of things in the World a Justification of it I have observ'd hitherto a very wonderful progress of Divine Government in the World according to the Calculation of Prophesie I have made I observe a great Preparation for the Cessation of the Turkish Woe upon the Imperial Constantinople and the Greek Cities that those Candlesticks may be Re-placed I observe yet This seems to wait for the Fall of the Tenth of the great City which motion it is to attend I have been always of the Judgment the Reformed Churches that lye in the Bowels of Nations whose Princes and Staple Laws had not established the Reformation were in Danger of fresh Martyrdoms by the cruel Policies of the Jesuites Order whose Arcana Imperii or Politics may well be styl'd the depths of Sathan I have understood those Churches symbol'd by the Church of Thyatira in regard of whom the Feet of Christ burn as in a Furnace to this day The Nations whose Princes and Laws have establish'd the Reformation I have had firm Assurance could not be re-enslav'd under the enchantment of Restoring that Power to the Beast which they had repeal'd from him nor should the Churches in them except by a short Hurricane be in any danger of force I have had the same Confidence with particular Relation to this Nation and the Churches in it and that the Soveraign Power of it shall be of the principal that shall perfect that Revolution of the Reformation into it's Complement and on that account have pray'd for the good understanding of our Supreams to that very end I have compar'd such Reformed Churches and particularly this to that of Sardis esteeming our greatest danger to be a Security a slumber in a State though splendid as to this World yet short of the Glory intended by Christ in the Advances of his Kingdom and that thereupon he would come upon us and we should not know at what hour he himself would come upon us I find no Reason to change or so much as to suspect but to be more and more confirm'd in these Sentiments I make no more doubt the present Conjuncture is a dawn of that great Revolution awaiting the Year ninety seven next ensuing than I doubt whether the dawn of the day be in advance to the perfect Light because I am not upon any single Conjecture but upon the whole Conspiration of Apocalyptical Times compar'd with the Registries of History in the course of Time since our Lords Resurrection as famous and as well known as the Reformation from Luthers Time is known I am not on any single Line of Time but upon the Concatenation of Times throughout Scripture not as it is perplex'd with the Irreconcileable Chronological Controversies but assur'd by Massy Sterlyn Scripture both by compare of the Texts themselves and Scripture Reason argued from them I have only three parts of that Line to publish viz. from Abraham to the going out of Egypt from the going out of Egypt to Solomons beginning the Temple and from the Temple begun to Cyrus his Decree for restoring it after the Babylonish Devastation I have also prepar'd so great a Probation that the day of Judgment and the Resurrection so generally acknowledg'd in Christian Doctrine are at the full dimensions of Exposition the very Milennial or thousand years Kingdom of Christ that I think upon the comparing of Scriptures I have vouch'd and argued it cannot be denyed and as a Complement of all I have adjusted to those Illustrious Scriptures the Prayer we so generally acknowledge by the Name of the Lords prayer in the Explanation of it and proved it to be the Prayer of and prepared for that Glorious Kingdom of Christ as also by eminent Scriptures the Lords Supper to be the Sacrament of the Kingdom I hope by the good Hand of God towards me to be so assisted as to make Publication of these with the great and confiding Expectation that since I have had so great cause to believe no one sees Reason to chastise the Discourses I have publish'd and that the Divine Administrations of these latter Times are going on to justifie them they will be serviceable as Goâ—ds to the enquiries of greater Masters of Assemblies and their every way â—ore acceptable Researches into these things to the greater hastning of the Glory and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fall of his Enemies to be his Footstool by the earnest Prayers of his Churches and Saints and that in the mean time they will be as Nails fastning those Tents and Pavilions of Princes who are to serve the King of
was not Protestant also for God will not give back what he hath rescued so that among them the killing of the Witnesses can have no proper place any more I am assured according to Prophesie The Protestant Churches in Hungary Savoy France have too much made good some senses of killing the Witnesses but under another Symbol in Prophesie then of the Witnesses slain viz. the Thyatyrian Churches Argument 3 That exceeding Infatuation of Jesuitic Councils which are the depths of Sathan and as the last sinking Pillar of a decaying Kingdom argue it so near the end as Prophesie hath made it when Achitophels Wisdom is turned into foolishness it argues a fatal ruin near Their seeking to hide their Counsels deep from the Lord by the golden pretence of Liberty of Consâ—ience as if they would Cajole the Reformation and Gods so great Abomination of it and ensnating them in it shows the last remedies or healing Medicines of Babylon have proved vain God hath made their turning things upside down to be as the Potters Clay that immediately receiv'd another shape and mould then they designed it Now as when Haman began to fall before Mordecai he fell apace so this great defeat God hath begun to give them declares their final zuin approaching And indeed the Kingdom of the Beast hath more Years upon it then most Kingdoms or Monarchies in the World have had except the Ancient Babylon as deriving it from Nimrod the beginning of whose Kingdom was Babel Had not God decreed so long a Gen. 10. 10. State In the course of Human Powers it had fallen long ago but Rome Eternal is one of it's Blasphemies and though it says it shall Sit a Lady for ever yet it's Idols have deceiv'd it For it 's Menetâ—kel is e'en at the Doors The dephth of it's so old Kingdom shall now become Dotage therefore God hath begun the Pattern among us and it shall go through the whole breadth of the greâ—â— City Argument 4 This sudden and speedy change with so little noise with so little confusion with so little or no blood is a Landschaph or Mirror of an extraordinary intention or design of Providence God seems to have wrought every thing by an Immediate Presence by a coming down he appears to have Bowed the Heavens and to have come down so though mountains of contrary appearances have flowed down at his presence he hath answer'd us by amazing things in righteousness he hath done things that we looked not for that Eye hath very scarcely seen or ear heard or the heart of Man conceiv'd of All hath been as when a Melting Fire Burneth and things of themselves have run into the Form God would have them as the Clay or Wax turns to the Scale Certainly when God does such things in so great a manner it Portends more than the late terrible Earthquakes in Popish Territories God is more in this still voice Every Battel of the Warriour is with confus'd noise and Garments rolled in Blood this hath been as with Feweâ— and burning of Fire and it is a Presage that to us a Child is born a Son is given who shall within few spaces take the Government Esâ—y 9. on his Shoulders and appear the Father of the World to come his Kingdom of Righteousness and Peace is near It is not to be presum'd that all shall go on just thus God hath done this that he might give notice what he is about to do and this concerted with the Prophetical Line is a great Sign of the Tâ—me and declares his Kingdom is near to be Proclaim'd for when Papacy falls as the last part of the last viz. the Roman Monarchy to which Christs Succeeds his Kingdom shall be Proclaim'd and he invites all to take notice of it his Kingdom of Righteousness and Peace I say is near For the Feet of Clay Crumble and the Iron parts from them Argument 5 Things seem so to be layd by God as if the very Merits of the Cause betwixt the Romans and the Protestant Christianity were to be tryed and very natural Reason if it were to be Umpire would easily tell us what the determination from Heaven would be In the beginning of the Reformation there was a Dispute whether Protestancy should have any place or Being in the World in that which is call'd the Smalcaldic War. And God determin'd in favour of Protestancy it hath not been possible yet to make it lose one Nation or Kingdom Establish'd on Protestant Laws The time is near when the Question shall be put whether Anti-christianism shall have a longer State in this World and it is very dangerous a Critical Time for such a Question to be put so near the end of the Beasts Moons Every publick Watch man then should be skill'd in the Time of Babylons falling in the burden of that Dumah that Edomitish Christianity or Anti christianism we should know what of the Night what of the Night what the Age of Isa 21. 9. 10. 11. the Roman Moon of that Governess of the Night is what the hour of it's Night is for the Morning cometh to the True Churches of Christ and the Night the blackness of the Night on that Lady of the Night God hath stirred up the Spirit of Protestant Princes and it is most likely he will so Embroyl things betwixt them and the Princes who are yet with the Beast as shall be serviceable to make an universal change and all contrary Assâ—ciations shall be broken in peices God hath given therefore as in the beginning a Sentence from Heaven in this Nation and out of his great goodness hath herein exalted it above the other Protestant Nations to give a Pattern here first And it cannot but be remarkable that a Descendent of that great Prince of Orange whose Assassination at his Death gave him the Name of Martyr as his great Conduct in his Life the Honour of one of the great Captains who were at that time with the Lamb and with his Called and Chosen and Faithful Argument 6 I doubt not at all we may say Providence hath sent that Fire upon Earth concerning which it says what will I if it be already kindled That is it insists no longer upon a seeming velleity or as we speak a willing and woulding to have the Fire kindled It is already kindled It is in Act and in Motion It hath shed or Insensibly distributed it self into all the veins of our Nation and will do so through all the Christian World till as a Refiners Fire it Purifie it from that Ant-ichristian Apostacy that shall not be able to abide the Day of Christs coming for which this Fire is to prepare By this I understand the great Zeal against that Impure Anti-christianism And there is to be found upon this Zeal as it were the very Image Seal and Impress of this Prophesie It here spread it self upon all sorts and degrees of this Nation from the highest to the lowest what is it then but
to say This is one of the Ten Kingdoms that should hate the Whore and Execute the Judgment of God upon it that is Written in it's due Times And that the Soveraign of the Nation because he cannot at the present understand the Reason of complying with so great a Prophesie should voluntarily retire from the Government till he shall see and consider what he hath not yet duely seen and consider'd It being indeed Impossible according to this Prophesie but this Protestant Nation must have a Protestant Head no other can rest upon it Certainly this is a very Memorable fulfilling of this Prophesie and I am most assur'd it is for a Sign to the Lord that shall not be Cut off till the whole be fulfilled and it ought to be set up for a Memorial before the Lord as in the Temple of the Protestant Churches I know something like it fell out in our Neighbour Kingdom concerning Henry the Fourth and the Great of France Grand-father of our King and Great Grand-father of our Prince of Orange There was at that time in that Nation an universal Zeal against the Reformation which they call'd Heresie so that they would by no means receive a Prince how great soever his Character was as it was indeed as great as any Princes of his time though there was at that time a Complex of great Princes in the World they could not receive him how undoubted soever his Right according to their Salique Law But he was under a necessity to forfeit his Right to live in a perpetual War or to change his Communion upon what he did Draw a Curtain in Honour to the Memory of so Heroick a Name But was not this also a great fulfilling of this very Prophesie according to that season For at that time when several Princes had withdrawn themselves and their Kingdoms from the Anti-christian Usurpation if all had done so how had the words of God been fulfill'd giving the Beast Forty Two Months of such a Decem-Principality or Ten Horned Power when above an Hundred Years at that time were unexpir'd It pleased God to take the advantage to Revulse some of them from him to give public notice thereby It was the Morning of the half Time and we are even now to be admonish'd by it on the other side some great Kings were to continue united to him to show the half Time was not run out but the end of it to be expected for the making Desolate and Naked and Judging her that hath so violated the Wedlock of True Christianity In another regard also Prophesie was hereby fulfilled for by that Great Henry the Fourth of France that Famous Edict of Nants was Granted and Confirm'd in favour of the Reformation of which he had been so great a Confessour and Champion that thereby in France as in Germany and Poland and some other Countries Churches of Thyatyra might be settled lying among the Nations where the Counsels of the Ignatian or Jesuits Order superadded to other Orders justly esteem'd and call'd by Protestants or as They viz. Protestants speak the depths of Sathan would yet take place according to which springing up in a just Season for it viz. 1528. advantages have been taken to Persecute Christ in his Servants of those Churches and to cause his Feet to Burn as in a Furnace as they have done most dreadfully some time past in that Nation in violation of that Edict and as more constantly where the Hellish Inquisition hath been always as an Oven or Furnace kept hot and burning in Countries wholly given up to the Beast still And thus wonderfully hath God Counterpoiz'd the State of the Beasts Kingdom and the Reformation during this half Time acccording to Prophesie giving yet the inclining and heavyer Scale to the Beast that his words may be fulfilled until the Beasts Measure be heaped up and running over Argument 6 That which greatly further persuades me the present Providence over these Nations shall be in order to the fulfilling of Prophesie is that it so wonderfully Synchronizes or keeps time with the State of the Turkâ—sh Empire I have given Eighteen Months ago public Testimony from Prophesie that the Tenth part of this great City shall fall before the Mahometan Sultany is Dis-mounted from the Constantine-politan Heighths and De-ported from the Confluence of People as of Rivers since that two Champagnes have pass'd full of such Action as hath exceedingly humbled the Oâ—toman Mountain and yet it stands though shaking and as in a trembling expectation of the fall of that Anti-christianism that gave the demeritorious provocation to the Wrath and Justice of God that swell'd it to such a loftiness As Rome and Constantinople were such Sisters in the Apostacy as Aholah and Aholibah in an Idolatrous defection from God so God prepar'd for them so sore a scourge as the Mahometan Imposture that should both deride their Superstition and miserably Afflâ—ct them together It came abroad soon after the contest of those Two Bishops both fallen Stars for Supremacy and Vniversality wherein Rome had the fatal pre-eminence to obtain the Key of the bottomless Pit. Immediately broke out those Judgments of that Mahometan Imposture which this Sacred Prophesie calls Two woes which have layn upon them Both from that very time more or less Judgments prepar'd on purpose for the Anti christian Apostacy in which the Eastern Churches shar'd deep and which is to this day too closely Incorporated with the remains of the Christianity that is found among them that are indeed rather dark Mentions of than that Excellent Doctrine it self and Holy Religion of our Lord Jesus Christ As therefore this Armed and violent Imposture seiz'd above Two Hundred Years ago on that Imperial City Constantinople that so unhappily affected to be called New Rome and therefore hath Druâ—k so deep of it's Cup both of Sin and Judgment so it shall continue under that Tyranny as a Witness of the more dreadful vengeance that is to fall upon that fouler Prostitute Old Rome and stands as a Pillar of Salt to warn it hereof Yet so that that Grecian Acropolis is subjected in Hope and waits as the groaning Creation for the Liberty of the Sons of God so for that happy Day of the fall of the Tenth of that great City the coming of the Witnesses out of their Sach-cloth and their Ascent to Glory as it were to Heaven in a Bright Cloud For then that Second wâ—e of the Turkish Vsurpation upon that City and those Churches shall pass off from them and so must be near And now that God hath so suddenly shaken the Foundations of that Ottâ—man Empire and made it to Totter gave me expectations the Anti â—hristâ—an should observe Time that the Provocation and the scourge might pass off together and it is to me most undoubted this Râ—vâ—lution is in Motion thereunto nor can I slight the notices from Nature as in Convulsive Fits in the last Summers Earthqâ—akes giving the Alarm to both these Tyrannies
should be fulfilled It without any notice of their withdrawing their Kingdom from the Beast tells us they shall hate the Whâ—re Now it is True Their being Drunk with the Wine of the Whores Fornication is the Reason of their giâ—ing their Kingdom to the Beast that carries her as hath been before observ'd and therefore when e're they hate the Whore they will certainly withdraw their Power from the Beast But because it is said they shall hate the Whore without any mention how they shall behave themselves to the Beast and that it seems to be the peculiar note of the Prophesie fulfiâ—led that they hate the Whore it mov'd my enquiry whether either in the first Reformation or at the Time of this Revolution there be any shade of any King dividing the Beast and the Whore that is of a Retrenchment of their Power from the Beast and yet continuing their kindness to the Whore that the distinct particular Hatred might as I may say Perpendicularly fall on the Whore the minds of any Princes Jealous of their Power and the Honour of their Kingdom having any ways been mov'd with an Indignation at the Curtalling their Power and Kingdom by giving it to the Beast and so have re-call'd it For if such can be found it seem'd to me a great note of the fulfilling this Prophesie viz. If the Whore was first so distinctly loved that then by her self she might be expos'd to Universal hatred afterward And I find that there have been some Specimens of it all along and in the beginning of the Reformation by out King Henry the Eighth who retain'd his kindness to the Roman Catholic Church in it's Doctrine and Worship and veneration of it and Monstrous Zeal for it in all these and yet remov'd the Power of the Beast from his Regalia in all Points But never was there so Ample and Illustrious a Representation of it as in the present French King who hath so with his Clergy Lower'd and even Annul'd the Power of the Beast or the Pope in their Gallicane Church and yet so closely espous'd the Apostacy of the Whore and under the very Name of the Roman Catholic Church and so In-humanly Persecuted the Reformed as Hâ—retics as if that King would himself take upon him to be the Beast bearing that Church and to Relieve the Pope from so ungentile as well as Aâ—ti christian Office By which he and his Clergy have offer'd these great Instructions to the World. 1. That the Roman Catholick Church as call'd whatever hands the Administration of it be in will shew it self to be the Whore the Mother of the Abominations of the Earth of Superstitions and Idolatries and that drinks it self drunk with the Blood of the Saints and of the Martyrs of Jesus and that whoever serves it shall be intoxicated with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sting the High Rage and Fury of its Fornication and shall enforce the same Cup with utmost Barbarity into the Hands and Mouths of those who refuse it 2. That the distinction betwixt the Court of Rome and the Church of Rome is a vain and frivolous shift an Apron of Fig leaves to hide the impurity and filthiness of the Whore for at this day in France are found however palliated the Sorceries Idolatries and Murthers of the Church of Rome where the Court of Rome is so much defied This is as it were on purpose ordered by Providence to expose the Whore by her self alone 3. That there shall be as great an Instance as can be of Hating the Whore or Church of Rome by it self and as distinct as can be supposed in that close Conjunction it hath with the Beast and the Beast with it The very abstracted Religion of the Roman Communion shall be detested for its own sake without Relation to Politics or to the Usurpation of the Beast or Papacy over National Rights And whenever this is It is the watch word of this Prophecy that It is near fulfilling And because things are so much prepared in France hereunto It is a very great ground of Expectation that there this great Prophecy shall begin to be fulfilled above any of the Kingdoms devoted to the Beast and Whore as united and that the Time is as near as I have from this Prophecy declared and that by some wonderful Hand of God parallel to what hath been in our Nation the Action shall go on there to which there are many other Prognostics leading not fit to be here recounted where we insist wholly on Prophecy and Providence compar'd I now conclude this Argumentative part with these brief Inferences Infer 1 These Considerations of Prophecy designing so great Ends shew the Vanity of such Reasonings What is Prophecy to us or the Ten Kings hating the Whore If we have the Laws and Liberties of our own Government of which Protestant Religion is become so Essential a part that we cannot have the one without the other we have what we desire we meddle not with dark Prophesies beyond our Line we consider the Natural and Political Causes of these Things which lye so plain before us and meddle not beyond them But be not deceived God is not mocked nor can be justled out of his Purposes by such low Designments of ours He hath a Wheel within every Wheel of ours which being acted by his Supreme Spirit shall move on to its Ends and carry all our Wheeles thither with it self His Pleasure must go on however our private Interests are disordered by it In a common Flame particular Houses must suffer blowing up and lesser Buildings give way and make room for public princely Structures sometimes our Desires and Conveniencies are taken in as of late sometimes left out but the Mystery of God in the Kingdom of Christ by the Oath of the Angel must be finished there is but a short Time in comparison now till the Seventh Trumpet begin to finish it and Time of the present date of the present Style shall be no more as He hath spoken by his Servants the Prophets That Kingdom of Christ is and shall suddenly appear to be the Grand Public not only of our Nation but of the World. And the Destruction of the Papacy and the Hatred of the Whore by the Ten Kings must be to us even to us whoever we are whether we will or no both as to our National Interests and as to our Eternal Concernments Our National Interests shall be carried that way if we are moved with that Spirit of God now about to shew it self in the World according to our desires if not beyond all our Desires and Intendments And as to Our Everlasting Concernments It is much to us for It brings on that Day that shall be either the day of our Redemption or that shall burn as an Oven and All the Wicked shall be consumed in it Infer 2 Let us earnestly pray and wait for that Philadelphian State of the Church that is so near us and that shall far
exceed all our present Church states how excellent soever they may be Then shall the Great Truths of Gospel-Redemption and particularly the Prophesies be Sung as a New Song as by a Choir of Angels the Musick of the Spheres and all the Servants of Christ under the Lamb standing on Mount Zion with his Fathers Name on their Fore-heads shall learn it And then as by a new Mission speedy and Universal like the First Apostolical Preaching and as from the Mid-Heaven shall the Everlasting Gospel be preached to All The disbelieved Hour of Christs Judgment viz. Of his Kingdom or Government that begins with a Judiciary Process shall be Thunder'd out as nigh to All Nations The Fall of Babylon and the Judgment on the Beasts Worshippers shall be declared with a New Majesty and Power The First Resurrection Blessed are the Dead c. shall be promulg'd Prayers for the Conversion of the Fulness of the Gentiles and so of the Jews shall be answered by Christ with the Crown on his Head and the sharp Sickle in his Hand reaping the Harvest of the Earth as Ripe for the Salvation of all Israel and then is the Vine of the Earth gathered especially the Clusters of Spiritual Sodom and thrown into the Wine-press of the Wrath of God and from â—hence the Vials are fill'd and pour'd out in Judgment Then the Opened Temple shall shew the Tabernacle of Testimony and the Ark of the Testament and be filled with Smoke because the Divine Glory is coming to dwell there that is Ezekiels Temple and City and the New Jerusalem of the Apostle John shall be spiritualâ—z'd into one Divine Presence of God and of the Lamb which is the Sanctuary cleans'd at the End of Daniels 2300 Ev. Morn These Things God will be Enquir'd of for by the Prayers of his Servants awakned thereunto But they are by the demand of the Watchers and by the Word of the Holy however light they are made of and therefore shall certainly be in their Season Infer 3 We are hereby made to understand how to pray for the Powers that are set over us by God as in Relation to the most Supreme part of their Administration As now for the King the only Prayer that can be made for him in Faith with respect to the Regal Power is that He may be one of those that may hate the Whore else in a Protestant Nation rescued from the Beast and the Whore Prophecy will not allow him at this Time I do not say of the Day but of the Beasts last Moon though it be indeed also the Half day since the Reformation had it not been for this Prophecy there had not been such an easie Retirement of Him from Government An Atheist may see and the greatest Infidel in Sacred Prophecy be convinc'd The Great Prayer for the Protestant Prince whom God hath stirred up to be a Deliverer is That He may be a polished Shaft in Gods Quiver and that God would fill his Bow with Him and make Him as the Sword of a mighty man that he may ride out prosperously and atchieve High in this Great work that is to be done that after the overthrow of the Throne of Kingdoms and of the Rider c. He would make him a Signet as having chosen Him And for the assembled Councels of the Nation that they may be with the Lamb who is appearing King of Kings and Lord of Lords as His Called Faithful and chosen now his Victory over the Ten Kings who have and who yet make War with Him is so near For the Witnesses of Christ in this Nation of all Kinds our Prayer should be that they may so finish their Sack cloth Prophecy that they may hear that Voice Come up hither Infer 4 Let us review this so fresh wonderful doing of God in this Nation with a Wisdom and Consideration guided and conducted by Prophecy let us behold it in All the Circumstances of it especially in this that God hath frustrated the Tokens of the Babilonian Lyars and made the Divinors at Loretto and the Infallible Chair Mad but hath begun to perform the Counsel of his Messengers saying to Babylon It shall Fall and to his New Jerusalem It shall be built and to those of the Ten Kings who are now of the Reformation You are my Shepherds and shall perform my Pleasure till All the other of the Ten Kings also unite in Hating the Whore when the words of God are fulfilled to the utmost As a Pattern hereof He hath bowed the Hearts of the People of the Nation as one Man He hath brought the Notions of Loyalty Non-Resistance and Passive Obedience into Subjection to Prophecy Infer 5 Let us seriously consider All who love the Kingdom of Christ and sincerely pray Thy Kingdom Come according to the Prayer of the Kingdom whether we would choose and desire that this late Revolution should be though set at the highest Elevation a Mercy to the Nation and to his Servants in it upon their very Prayers but not in order to any further great End according to that admirable Prophecy of the New Testament the Revelation or whether we would choose and desire It should be for the removal of that Great Remoâ—a and Estopple of the Kingdom of Christ the Papacy a Beginning of the Train of Things that shall pass according to Prophecy in this order viz. Begin at this Prophecy of the Text Chap. 17. v. 16 17. and set it before c. 11. 11. to the End and so pass to c 14. and carry a line through it to c. 15. c. 16. c. 18. c. 19. c. 20. c. 21. c. 22. to v. For so I am assured God hath begun in our Nation so as He will extend this Prophetical Line through the World reaching to that Glorious Jerusalem According to our desire herein let us search that Prophecy and set our Faces to the Lord our God by Prayer and Supplication with Fasting Sack cloth and Ashes Infer 6 The Philadelphian State of the Church that shall be at the End of the Apostasie is the Exemplar or Pattern at which All the Protestant Churches should aim as being indeed the Rest or Rev. 3. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remainders that are to fill up the Reformation upon which the New Jerusalem shall come down in which the Sanctuary cleansed appears This we should aim at in Brotherly Love imported in its very Name which is the Bands and the Beauty of that Church In Holding fast the Name of Christ in his Supreme Pastoral and Episcopal Office receiving nothing but from his Voice entring by the Door of his sole Authority and flying from the Voice of Strangers in keeping the Word of his Patience or staying for the Vnfading Crown until his Glorious Kingdom in looking for and hasting to it For in too great an Ignorance and unbelief of it the very wise Virgins of the Protestant Churches are slumbring and sleeping at this Day In laying aside all Austere Ceremonialness out