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this also a great fulfilling of this very Prophesie according to that season For at that time when several Princes had withdrawn themselves and their Kingdoms from the Anti-christian Usurpation if all had done so how had the words of God been fulfill'd giving the Beast Forty Two Months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
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
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