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A27626
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A sermon upon Revel. II, 11, &c. summoning the expectation of the witnesses rising and of the great concurrent works daily shewing forth themselves, and to be compleat by 1697 : together with the surprizing confirmations of the line of time and the 1260 days of years ending 1697 ... / by T. Beverley.
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Beverley, Thomas.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing B2176; ESTC R5617
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10,974
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18
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Impulse to no Impression but to Argue upon the very written Word and Letter of Scripture in compare with it self may Humbly say when these things come to pass Then you will know that by holding to the True Sense of the Testimony of Jesus by his Prophets That true sense is the Spirit of Prophecy and I have aright given it to you When you shall hear of and see a far greater Slaying these Names of Men throughout the Christian Profession than when King Henry the 8th here in England slew that i◠Dis-Authorized so many Names of Abbots Priors Monks of several Orders and Distinctions of Fryars and laid them in the Dust You will then call to mind what I now make known to you and Believe This is indeed according to the Testimony of Jesus and to the Spirit of Prophecy I wait therefore to see what God will herein do and when he will begin to Work For when he will begin Nothing shall Let Him His Reward is with Him and his Work before Him Event 5. The Remnant shall be Affrighted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They shall be Magor-Missabibs Fear round about all Fear and so shall give Glory to the God of Heaven that is there shall be abundance of Conversions to the Power and Purity of Christian Religion So that every way the Potentacy of Rome and its Papacy and Hierarchy must Fall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the Remnant All Successions of Men to the Kingdom of Christ shall Hear and Fear For They shall wisely consider Gods Doing and shall be afraid to Joyn themselves to a False Religion that God hath so Remonstrated from Heaven against And this is indeed to give Glory to the God of Heaven Event 6. The Second Woe viz. That of the Mahomet an Turks shall be wholly cessated and pass away So that the Grecian Churches however so Dark now under the very Black Wings of Antichristianism shall come out of Both Slaveries They that have lain among the Pots shall be made as the Wings of a Dove covered with Silver and her Feathers with Yellow Gold That Great Name of Power and Tyranny Grand Signior and Sultan shall be dismounted from the Hills of Constantinople on which it is seated as a Nova Roma as it ought to be that it may be a Woe on Old Rome and from that confluence of Seas and their Bosphorus in Regard of which it claims to be as the Port or Haven of the World Thus Daniel of Old prophesied of that Turkish King of the North planting his Palace between the Seas But then to the Wonder and Amazement of the World He shall come to his End and none shall help him However he is now holpen by France All shall be Removed as a Cottage or Shepherd's Tent and the Seven Asian Churches whose Candlesticks and Lights have been Covered so long under that Night shall begin again to look Bright When you see this come to pass you shall know there hath been a Scripture-Prophecy concerning it And if This be to be done by 97 how should we cry out Awake Oh Arm of the Lord Awake put on strength as in the Days of Old I come in the Second place to Argue upon the Time when This is All to be according to this very Prophecy And This is the general Expression of it After Three Days and a Half Now this may look as if the Three Days and a Half were to be fully past and ended and so nothing would be to be Looked for till 97. were fully come and past according to my Calculation of Time And then these Great Events would find place and Room for Themselves to come on But as I have always endeavour'd to make out These Three Days and a Half are Equal with the 1260 Days except only as a deep part is particularly implied when that whole and intire space is yet preserv'd and express'd And it is therefore given in Three Days and a Half by a Little Variation from Three Times and a Half that it may bear a Resemblance to the Three Days of our Lord in the Grave viz. the Evening of the First Day which is our Sixth Day or which we not so Agreeably with Scripture Language because in Gentile Times call Friday the whole of the Second which was the Seventh Day and the Jewish Sabbath and the Night till towards Morning of the Third Day which was the Jews First and our Lord's Day And this Rising was in the Night towards Morning as the Jews from the Creation Account the Night of every Day before the Day For John 20.1 we are Assur'd Early in the Morning while it was yet Dark Mary Magdalen came to the Sepulchre and found Christ Risen yet as it were on purpose to Expound to us the After Three Days and a Half here in this Prophecy This very Manner of Rising of our Lord so far as can be perceiv'd by Compare of the Evangelists as soon as ever the Seventh Day or Sabbath was past and his Third our Lord's Day but just entred he Arose This very Manner of Rising I say again on the very Entrance of the Third Day In both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is call'd Mark 8.31 After Three Days even as here After Three Days and a Half Thus there was Liberty for a Partial Rising of the Witnesses as soon as ever it was Half Time which Fell out in Luther's Appearance 1517. exactly according to my Account of Time Then the 180 years of Half Time entred which shall therefore end 97. according to that Exactness And this first Appearance of the Reformation by Luther was like the Appearance of Christ in his Resurrection It was some Time he had been Risen how long we cannot certainly find e're it was any way known on Earth He was Risen All that Day But He was very Retired Appearing only to some very few of his Disciples as if still Dead But in the Evening even then when the Doors were shut for Fear of the Jews Christ miraculously pass'd through the shut Doors and Appear'd to the whole Eleven except Thomas and gave Them with the Solemnity of Breathing on Them the Promise of the Spirit tho the Spirit it self did not come down till Pentecost was fully come And thus I doubt not at the Latter part of Half Time tho All Doors seem now close shut and there is so great a Fear of False Jews or Antichristian Tyranny in so many places that the Witnesses cannot meet Boldly yet that Christ will make his way through all Bars And as there was a Partial Rising at the First of Half Time that hath been hitherto with much Reservedness yet All will now open in the Evening and there will be a Spirit of Life a Breathing on all the Witnesses by the Spirit of Christ tho the full pouring of it out will not be till the Kingdom of Christ in its Succession after 97. in the Days of the Seventh Trumpet when the 144000 shall appear with
the Lamb on Mount Sion 3. If we consider the more particular precise Time In the same Hour it may yield us some further Light Now tho I would not be too curious and precise in Minute Points of Time yet I have Accounted the Hours of the Half Day which are 12 according to the Natural Distribution of Time and in â—80 years there are 15 years to an Hour so that we are somewhat past the Last Half Hour We may then hope that as there was Half an Hours Silence set for the Churches continuing in the Worship of God so as not to suffer the Taking away the Daily Sacrifice and at the Half Hours End the Apostacy entred and as at that Half Hour made an whole Hour Antichrist himself Rev. 8.1 c. 17.12 call'd the Beast entred with his Ten Kings so within this Last Half Hour The Apostacy shall cease and at the End of the Hour viz. at 97. The Kingdom of Christ shall be in its Succession Object There is one Objection These Hopes of so soon Appearances of God in the Witnesses may seem to be encountred by viz. seeing the Witnesses are to be in Sackcloth during the 1260 Days and that a Day for a Year is so Precise and Limited a Time it will allow no such Latitude as that before the last Year there should be any so Advantageous Change in the Witnesses Condition as this Discourse Represents Answ This Argument is I confess so pressing that it must be acknowledg'd The Witnesses cannot come out of their Sackcloth till that very 1697. For all these Effects I have now Nam'd being in a Concatenation and then that greatest Effect of the Kingdom of Christ coming into its Succession not being till that very End of the 1260 days The Witnesses are till then willingly and even desirously in a State of Waiting and of Prophecy in Sackcloth Even tho call'd up into such a State in Heaven as I have Describ'd Yet they Humble themselves in Fasting Sackcloth and Ashes till that very Time is come when the Kingdoms of this World shall be Proclaim'd to be the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ The more the Light and Power of Christ Appears on the Witnesses the more they Prophecy in Sackcloth that is Foretel Desire and in Humiliation wait for that Kingdom so to be Proclaim'd and cannot be satisfied without it But that there might be such a Freedom left by God to himself to make a change of the Witnesses State so much for the better as He did in the Beginning so in the End of Half Times He cast the Time of the Antichristian Tyranny and of the Witnesses Sufferings into Three Times and an Half and nearer into Three Days and an Half That there might be a Conformity to the Faithful Witness Christ Jesus of whom it is said It was impossible he should be holden of Death but must overcome it in the very first Minute of Time and so far as could consist with the Wisest allowance for the satisfaction of Divine Justice for mans sins and Truth of Prophecy So the Witnesses must in and through Him and in Conformity to Him have a partial Rising at the very begining of Half Time and a Full one before the End of Half Time There remains only to draw up the Discourse into particular Use and Application Vse 1. Let us upon this Discourse diligently wait and observe what God will please to be doing this and the following years to 97. It is a Sin at any time not to Regard the Works of the Lord and the Operations of his Hand But it is much more so when we are Warned and Admonished and assur'd that the Kingdom of God is come nigh to us It is then such a sin that there is great Reason to Fear God will pull such Down from their Present State and not Build them up in his New Jerusalem If we then shall observe these Things coming to pass How should It Convince and Assure us of the Word of God in all its Truth and certainly if God Answers us now by Terrible things in Righteousness which we could not have Looked for had we not been thus Awaked by his Prophetick Oracles if we shall see the Mountains of the Present State Flow Down at his Presence and the Mountain of his Kingdom not only Standing Fast being Girded with Power but beginning to Fill the Earth while the Vallies grow to such a Fruitfulness as to Laugh and also to Sing How will it Assure us of All Things else we Find in Prophecy Vse 2. Let us by earnest Prayer stand upon our watch Tower and wait to see what God will say to us And if we seem to be Reproved by contrary Appearances of Providence what we shall Answer I have Endeavour'd to write the Vision and to make it plain upon Tables that he may Run that Reads it I have been Bold to Declare the Time the Vision is Appointen for If any Mans Heart be Lifted up in Scorn and Vnbelief of it It is not upright in Him For the Vision will Speak and will not Lye Tho it should seem to Tarry this Year Yet it will not Tarry God hath given me herein I Bless his Holy Name the Spirit not of Fear or Distrust but of Love and Desire These Things may come to pass for the Glory of Christ and his Kingdom of Power to Declare them and of a sound sober Mind not Phantastry or Enthusiasm but of Reliance upon what is Written and I am waiting at the Foot of God to see whether these Matters will hold Good or not I beseech your Help by Prayers and Earnest striving therein All you who wait for the Consolation of Israel It will not hinder but promote your Salvation since waiting for the Kingdom of Christ is both so great a Grace and Duty pray for the Peace of Jerusalem They shall prosper that Love it There are set Thrones of the Judgment of Christ and his Saints Psal 122.6 There is the General Assembly of Brethren and Companions of Saints For all these Sakes Let us not hold our Peace at such a Time as this Let us give God no Rest till Jerusalem's Salvation go forth as a Lamp that Burns and become a Praise in the Earth If you say The Profaneness Carnality Wickedness of Protestants and even of Professors of all sorts is so great we are Riper for Judgment than Mercy and can expect that only Remember This Day that is a coming whoever are not Reform'd by the Methods of Grace before it It will flame out upon Them as an Oven And why should it be strange There should be a mighty Grace of the Gospel first a Ministry in the Spirit and Power of Elijah to Turn the Hearts c. lest Christ come and smite the Earth with a Curse And that for this God should as all along Ezek. 20. work for his Names his Kingdoms sake notwithstanding all Provocations Vse 3. This is the great Hopes we have of good Success upon the Undertaking of Protestant Princes and their Arms and that such a Confederacy as they are in shall be Bless'd as a Means to Turn the Hearts of Princes yet joyned to Rome and its Papacy to Hate it particularly of All Blessing on our Princes and Nation and Forces by Land and Sea Yea it is the Universal Hope and Happiness of all the Servants of Christ of all his Witnesses in whatever Suffering Condition They are They shall all Rise by a Spirit of Life from God and stand upon their Feet under whatever Oppression whether of the Throne or of the They on the part of the Synagogue of Satan or their own private Unhappinesses They shall All be Ascending into Free Worship of God and with All Authority and Amplitude of Condition Let us therefore earnestly cry out Awake Awake O Arm of the Lord make thyself Bare as in the Days of Old the Years of Ancient Times Object Whereas we may be Ready to say Why is not this Time then more generally Understood Ans I desire your Consideration Haggai 1.2 It was much such a Time in Relation to Jerusalem and the Temple of Old They were between Cyrus his Decree and the Complemental Accomplishment of it as we are between the Beginning and upon end of the Half Time There had been about 20 years from the end of the 70 of Captivity set so often by Jeremy The Vessels of the Lord's House had been Visited and Restored by Cyrus Ezra 1.7 Daniel had Computed and Found the Time of the Desolations at an End so long ago Yet they said The Time is not yet come to Build the House of the Lord What Argument then is this Men generally know not this Time But God Derides and Scorns their Hipocrisy as I make no doubt He does Theirs who Live in their Cieled Houses by the Benefit of the Reformation so far Vochsafed to us and God's Care over our Protestant Nation And says the Time for the Kingdom of Christ is not yet Is it for you Oh ye pittiful ungrateful Ones And is it not Time for me Is it a Time for your Lordships Dignities Grandieur Palaces and is it not yet Time for my Glory for my Kingdom This Causes All the Blasts Comings to nothing of our great Expectations because the House of God lies Wast The Kingdom of God is not Minded This Causes all the Misery Poverty Complaint of Taxes Wants because we do not look to God's Kingdom When we do From that Day let us Count God will Bless us Oh! when will This Spirit be given to Zerubbabel and Joshua Surely it will come as a Spirit of Life from God very suddenly upon his Witnesses and stir Them Up and all shall Work together for the House of our God and of his Kingdom FINIS