the Holy Ghost the third Person in Trinity and shall be until the King of that Kingdom appears again to personate his distinct Office with the Father and the Holy Spirit who have always an intrinsecal co-operation with him What I further apprehend concerning their joynt-acting in and concerning this Kingdom I will offer to consideration though such speculations may perhaps appear Novelties For sometimes great Fires are kindled by little obscured sparks and my Rush-candle may perhaps occasion the enlightning of many Torches hereafter when my snuff is burnt out There is an Interweaving of many dark expressions in the Apoculypse of St. John concerning this and other sublime Mysteries to him delivered wherein things preceding have relation to things following and some things following to those which precede by way of supplement as I conceive and some also having reference both to what was precedent and subsequent Thus under correction I apprehend and that among such the binding of Sathan for a thousand years is one having respect as well to the restraining of him from setting up his Mystery of Iniquity until the LET should be taken away which was before the Bottomless Pit was opened as a relation unto the time wherein he should be restrained a thousand years from deceiving the Nations after the BEAST the false Prophet and the whole Mystery of Antichristianism should be destroyed by the coming of Christ to personate his Kingship upon earth For it was a thousand years after our Saviours Ascention and after the Roman Empire was at highest and began to decline before the Beast which arose out of it could ascend to his height which consumed all the number of years alotted to that Empire until the Beast last mentioned arose This time was enigmatically presignified by M. the first and greatest Numeral belonging to that Empire the remainder of their Numerals to wit DCLXVI presaged the time alotted to the second Beast the last Relick of that Monarchy mystically represented by that part of Daniel's Image which was composed of Iron and Clay For though I must confess I have no Precedent for what I declare my Judgement to be nor any other warrant but what hath been spoken to my own heart in private I do conceive which I have heretofore published effect upon several occasions that God though it seems they took no notice of it gave that Empire a Mysterious hint in their own Numerals how long it should last after it was at highest both in the main of its first Institution and in that which should arise out of it until the total extirpation thereof branch and root All the said Numerals joyned together in order beginning at the greatest and ending at the least being these M.D.C.L.X.V. and I make one thousand six hundred sixty six The thousand years were consumed before the second Beast which is the Mystery of Iniquity was compleated and then that usurped the whole power of his Predecessor and the remaining Numerals make up DCLXVI which is the number of a Man to wit the Mystical man of sin and will be the whole time limited as I conceive for his wicked Raign after he came to his highest exaltation and as I take it we are to begin to reckon this double number from Christs death and passion or Ascention not from his Birth because the Roman Empire was not at his highest till then and declined not until it had Crucified the Lord of Life And if so we may guess within a short time how long that Mystery may continue if we knew certainly how many years Christ lived upon the earth and if Chronologers have rightly computed preceding times from his Birth till this year 1665 and that time as I have already said may be about four or five and thirty years yet to come I will not so absolutely determine it as once heretofore I did being a little-over heated with Zèal upon occasion given to treat of that time For Christ having intimated that a compleat certainty of it is not revealed to any man in the flesh I wave that peremptory expression though I still believe it will be about that time and perhaps God sometimes permitteth such casual slips when they are not purposed to keep his Children quiet when they desire things before they can be had as we do our Children by suffering them to please themselves with uncertain harmless hopes When the number of the Beast is finished I do believe there will be a space of time in which that which is truely Good shall be as well made known at Evil hath now been almost six thousand years and that the time thereto allotted is that seventh Mysterious Day or Sabbath which the Lord our GOd hallowed when he had finished his six days works and that the Jewish sabbaths of dayes and years were but Types of the great sabbath separated from the other six parts of time and sanctified by GOD for himself and his chosen people to rest in and is called a Day by him with whom A thousand years is but as yesterday it being usual in holy scripture to signifie many years and times consisting of many ages by the denomination of a day or days as in Daniel a time of many Generations then to come by 1335 dayes Dan. 12. 12. and in the Revelation 11 by 1260 days and in the same Chapter by three day and a half and it signifies the whole time of Christs Kingdom upon earth in that place where it is said Abraham desired to see his day and saw it For he fore saw it by Faith 24. Six days of a thousand years apiece as I conceive was alotted for the men of this VVorld to prosecute therein those works which they thought they had to do and were alotted both for their Probation and to acquite as aforesaid that experimental knowledge which was desired by our First-parents And in that space of time both good and evil men who were Vicegerents or Subjects either of the Kingdom of God or of the Prince of this world were permitted to be active for their several Interests according to their distinct inclinations and to pursue them so far forth as that good or evel which was in them would extend But neither the Righteousness which was in the best is sufficient in it self to perfect their desired Kingdom nor the wickedness which is in the worst enongh to establish their Dominion because the restraining power of him who is the Supream Governour of all things would not permit the Adversaries of his Kingdom to be so wicked as they would have been in acting destructively thereunto though the wickedness of their Will wanted nothing to compleat of demonstrate their personal untighteousness of that perfection of Evil which was in them But when the great Sabbaths of years is come in which the supream Kings of both are to manifest and exercise their Powers in another mode then heretofore or at this present to wit during the last thousand years or seventh part of time
they have long lived who imbracing the Jewish Heresie made themselves liable to that heavy curse which they imprecated upon themselves and their Posterity who when they crucified Christ wished his Blood might be upon their heads and the heads of their Children These therefore I suspect to be in no better estate then they of whom it was said Revel 3. 9. They shall be made of the Synagogue of Sathan because they said they were Jews but were not so 8. They who are now reported to call themselves Israelites and to be the Posterity of those who were carried out of their own Country before the Babylonish Captivity and said to have been ever since obscured as it were from the world and now repairing to possess the inheritance of their Fore-fathers are not to us ascertained to be such as they are famed or to have made that egress and progress lately reported For we have yet received no Letters that I hear of from any of our Merchants or Factors trading in or near those parts but all seems to come from one root I shall therefore believe neither matter of Fact nor what some conjecture will be the consequence of that Rumour till better evidence thereof nor will miscensure their charitable hope who already believing what they hear conceive it may possibly be a Preparatory to that Conversion of the Jews which is by them expected I confess I have heretofore stagger'd to and fro between my hope and fear concerning that people For there are several places in the Old Testament so variously interpreted by Learned and Pious men that I dare not peremptorily conclude one way or other because those Prophecies are not yet unquestionably unsealed to me And perhaps left Ambiguous for Probation of our Faith and Constancy who were to live in this last Age of the World wherein there would be so many great Impostures and false Miracles as have been foretold We busie our selves in matters which little or nothing belong unto us out of a vain curiosity and by mistaking the true meaning of what we read in Holy Scripture suppose that which was never intended neglecting the mean while our duties in that which is plainly declared and more concerns us As in several places of S. Pauls Epistles particularly touching the Jews Rom. 9. which as wiser men then I understand it did principally relate to that Nation in the Apostles time and to abate the Gentiles presuming on themselves as also their miscensure of the Jewish total Apostacy and Rejection rather then to infer such consequences as many supposed 9. I will look to my own calling and seek to secure my safe standing as God by his Grace enables me praying for the Calling and Conversion of Jews Turks Heathens and for all Heathenish and Jewish Christians in Gods time and mode thinking of them as I find they are until I more plainly perceive what God and they will do I believe the Vision of dry Bones which received Flesh and Life concerns both Jews and Gentiles And know if God so pleaseth a Nation may be born and regenerated in a day and that a people may be kept hidden from the rest of this wide world in some part thereof till he may thence bring them forth again in his appointed time none knowing how or from whence as he doth Swallows and other Birds in their seasons which yearly come we know not from whence and go we know not whither Nevertheless I do not think he will do all that he can or that we are bound to believe what Interpreters of dark places in Holy Scripture shall conjecture to be the meaning wherein the wisest of them contradict each other especially when it concerns not our saving Faith but the Temporary Restoration of the Jews to an earthly Possession Who for ought I yet hear have given us so little show of a Repentance preparatory to their Conversion that this may be a temptation to a further hardning of them and of Apostacy in some among us if God prevent it not For it seems not to me improbable considering the near approaching of Christs Kingdom but that the grand Antichrist and all other petty Antichrists with their confederates will improve their several Mysteries of iniquity to the utmost that their Supream Prince the Devil may gather together a Rabble pretending to be Jews extraordinarily congregated by Divine Providence to delude those who profess a belief in the true Messias already come We were by our Saviour forewarned to take heed we were not then deceived in regard many Deceivers would come in his Name to the deluding even of the Elect so far as possible And when he had foretold the signes and wonders which should precede his second coming being such as have been more frequent in our dayes then in any one Age nay I think more then in many Ages since Christs Ascension he added that in the dayes he spake of false Christs and false Prophets should arise shewing such signes and wonders that it would hazzard the Elect as aforesaid Therefore said he Whosoever shall say Loe here is Christ loe there is Christ believe it not If they shall say unto you He is in the Desert go not out Or if they shall say he is in the secret Chamber believe it not For as the Lightning cometh out of the East and shineth into the West so shall the coming of the Son of Man be It is said in another place that the Kingdom of GOD is within those who belong thereunto which if we find it to be in us we shall be able to discern Impostures and if it be not so with us the Israelites who are now famed to be come into the Deserts of Arabia will nothing avail us to what purpose soever they come 10. Their Temporal Kingdom concerns them only and not us who claim interest in a better and know that the most glorious earthly Kingdoms are but Vanities and Snares in respect thereof And if there be any Prophesie in the Old Testament thereto relating and unsealed to them and others it is not so to me and until it shall be so opened that I may be assured thereof and till I shall think it also more pertinent to Gods glory then yet I do my belief will be suspended That midnight is very near or not far off of which it was said Matth. 25. 6. Behold the Bridegroom cometh go forth to meet him But this is not such an Outcry but made by the Voices of men only which are so deceitful that we see cause almost every day to believe the contrary of that which we believed yesterday I therefore cannot believe it will be any other Voice then that of the anointing Spirit within the Children of Christs Kingdom which must prepare them for that whereof no outward Intelligencers can give a certain Information because the evidence of Christs Kingdom depends not upon external Observations but upon that evidence within us which is confirmed by the Word infallibly
set before us unless we shall be likewise preserved in all temptations from those evils which may else ensue when we abuse external benefits and saving means to the dishonor of the Giver either by neglect or employing them to fulfill our wicked lusts or by turning his spiritual Graces into wantonness Giving and Forgiving Pardons and Protections must go together in compleating our happiness for flesh and blood is so frail that without Gods preventing Grace and perpetual co-assistance we are sometimes prone to make even the forgiveness of our sins an introduction to a returning with the Dog to his vomit and with the Swine to wallowing in the mire as appears by the impudence of that Harlot mentioned by Solomon who made the payment of her vowes a motive to allure her lascivious companions to be partners in her uncleanness And it hath been too often seen that many young persons especially who are perswaded they are sanctified by a formal communicating at the Lords Table about the time of Easter do take more liberty that day to fulfill their vain lusts then on any one day in the year and yet some of these are none of those who make least conscience of Moral or Divine Duties 2. That Word in the Original which is translated DEBTS signifies Trespasses or sins also Omissions and Commissions leaving that undone which we ought to do and doing that which we ought not to do There is also in this Petition a Condition implyed beside that which is expressed touching our forgiving them who are indebted or offensive to us which condition includeth Contrition Confession Repentance and Amendment making up one fourfold Duty without performance whereof in will at least we cannot justly ask that pardon here prayed for Forgiveness of our Debts and Trespasses is not precarious but on condition we forgive them who Trespass against us And if it be so they ought seriously to consider how far they are from performing it as they ought to do who persecute their brethren or others to the ruining of their estates and the destruction of their lives who seek their weal and never did or intended them evil especially they who persecute others for differing from them in judgement and practice onely in things relating to their consciencious serving of God whereof none but he himself is a competent Judge These are far from imitating God in his free Acts of Grace as are they also who make shewes of Reconciliation and forgiveness to get the more power and opportunity to execute their Vengeance upon those whom they hate without just cause But I return to the forementioned conditional Duty He that says he hath no sin is a lyar and hath no truth in him He that hides his sin shall not prosper He that is not sorry for it cannot truly Repent He that Repents not is uncapable of Remission and if he might obtain it without Repentance no Amendment would follow but he would every day wax so much worse rather then better that at last he would fall into a final obduracy rendring him impenitent for ever This fourfold Duty I make to be but one because if one be sincere all the rest are so truly performed together in one moment effectually though it be in the last hour of life that they will be accepted of as if actually done from the VVomb to the Grave as appears by our Saviours gracious words to the Thief upon the Cross and by him who received the whole dayes wages for one hours work for though our sins are so many and unknown that we cannot confess be sorry for them or repent them all in particular yet their being so many may and ought to make us to repent them in general with the more hearty sorrow and confession and then our willingness to amend shall be accepted for the deed through that satisfaction which was made for all our transgressions by him who hath satisfied to the plenary Remission of all our Debts and Trespasses who shall ask it in his Name with Faith and Love 3. That this Faith and Love may be attained unto we must with David earnestly desire and endeavour to have our hearts and Reins searched that out secret sins may be discovered unto us as much is as possible and consider from what â—osome Serpents we are delivered by the sacrificing of that Lamb which taketh away the sins of the World for in the heart lies the root of all Transgressions which though mortified by Christs taking upon him our Nature is in every unregenerate man soon quickned again by the spirit of the Devil and the evil seed by him injected is conceived nourished and delighted in by filthy contemplations until it comes forth into deeds and though never perhaps brought forth into Act defiles as much if not more then actual Adulteries and Murthers because spiritual wickednesses occasioning no outward shame or punishment bringing us to heed and repent them as open gross sins do are by so much the more dangerous and mortal To kindle and inflame our Love to Christ and that our Faith may take the faster hold on him we might to take notice that he hath Redeemed us and all mankinde from every sin whatsoever lest by denying him the honour of that Mercy which is the greatest illustration of his Love we commit a greater sin then all those that we desire should be forgiven and let us be wary that we charge not the humane Nature with a sin wherewith God charges it not in such a manner as some do under a pretence of doing him honour thereby Thus ignorantly they do at least if not Hypocritically who impute the guilt of Original sin to all Mankind For I cannot understand to what end they should impute the guilt of our first Parents transgression to all except it be to lay un to Gods charge the chief cause and greatest blame of all our Prevarications according to their câ—vil who said The Childrens teeth were set on edge by their Fathers eating of sowre grapes whereof they tasted not and were made liable to everlasting death by their transgressions before they had any sin of their own This is the effect of those words and this misimputation to God is continued though he hath said yea sworn the contrary and reproved the Jews whose imitators and parallels we have been in all their sins for many have the very same evil opinion of Gods Justice and Mercy This makes me think when I hear what some say to this purpose in their confessions that they do but complement with God in their Prayers as they do who being suiters to a great person say to this effect Sir we are your poor humble servants who have often offended your honour and are so unworthy that we can justly expect nothing but of your meer favour c. yet when they come to speak of this person to others say He is a hard man reaping where he sowed not gathering where he strowed not making him pay for that