A Demonstrative Scripture-Proof FROM Mahometan Times THE Kingdom of Christ Must needs be in its Succession 1697. By T. BEVERLEY REVEL XI 14 15. The Second Woe is past Behold the Third Woe cometh Quickly And the Seventh Angel sounded and I heard Loud Voices in Heaven saying The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ London Printed in the Year 1692. A Demonstrative Proof from the Space of Time run out since the Hegire Era or Great Date of Time to the Mahometans like the Year of our Lord to Christians when the False Prophet Mahomet appear'd Arm'd viz at 622. That the Kingdom of Christ must at the farthest be in its Succession 1697. the 1260. Days of Years of the Roman Empire in the Papal Tyranny then Ending and the Mahometan Imposture and Barbarous Potentacy shall then also pass away according to the Line of Time given SEeing It will easily be allowed the Parahles of Scripture are as truly the Word of God whether expounded or not if rightly understood as the most plain Doctrinal Scripture It must also be allowed That we ought to search for that True Meaning and Sense of them seeing it is a Rule concerning All Scripture it ought to be search'd and because Parables require more laborious search that they may be understood Christ giving his Doctrine in Parables so often us'd that Parabolical Admonition He that hath Ears to hear let him hear And when Christ said to his Disciples not understanding the Parable of the Sower though he had not then exâ—ounded it Vnderstand ye not this Parable How then will ye understand all Parables Mark 4. He implied thereby There would be given in his Word many and very dark Parables and yet that All Scripture Parables ought to be understood by Christians though not expounded viz. by Search and Compare with other Scriptures and so they may be understood else it could not be our Duty to understand them Now All Prophetical Hierogliphick Emblems and Figures particularly those of the Revelation are Prophetical Parables and so ought to be search'd and understood and may be as other Parables Christ therefore Seven Times together uses that very Parabolical Admonition he us'd in the Gospels He that hath an Ear let him hear c. 2. c. 3. And yet in a more dark Parable and less practical than those Epistles to the Churches viz. that of the Beast c. 13. 10. he again says If any Man hath an Ear let him hear And because the Parables of the Revelation are of so deep Enquiry and require much Thought Christ invitâ—s so painful Re-searches with the Promise of Blessedness not only to hâ—s Minâ—sterial Servants to Read and Expound but to his People who are to be Instructed to Hear by that Inscription as in Letters of Gold on the Portal Blessed is he that Readeth c. c. 1. 3. All whâ—ch assure us That its Parables are given to be understood and that we may and it is our Duty so to search as to understand to be assured we have the True Word of God and the Sense of it even as in other Scriptures and that our Blessedness is to be found therein Else the giving that Book of Scriptures and the Promise before it were vain and unreasonable Having thus far Prefac'd to the Arguing from the Space the Mahometans False Prophetism and Tyranny have been in the World that the Kingdom of Christ must at the farthest be in its Succession at 97 I propose Two Heads of Argument The First shaâ—l be taken from General Scripture-Principles which none can deny The Second shall be taken from the verâ— Letter or most unavoidably necessary Sense of what we find in that Book of the Revelation relating hereunto which also None shâ—ll be Able to Deny when the Reason for so giving the Sense is duly consider'd and that All Chronology and History undoubtedly Agree I begin therefore with such Principles as will strongly Argue from the Consideration of Mahometanism according to General Rules of Scripture Princip I That the Mahometan Falshood and Tyranny hath been a Judgment upon the Christian World No Christian of what Peâ—swasion soever can or will I think deny That it hath arisen for this 1069 Years viz. fâ—om 622 to thâ—s 1691. can no more be denied than the other I Argue therefore seeing there hath heen so Great and setled a Judgment upon so Universal a Profession as the Christian is a Sin of proportionable Settlement and Duration ought to be search'd out and match'd with it acâ—ording to the whole Tenor of Scripture as the Jews Killing the Lord of Life and Calling his Blood on Them and on their Children and their so Obstinate Vnbelief in him is own'd by all Christians to be the Just Cause of the Wrath that hath come upon them to the End Now what sin of the Christian World can be thought to be that Sin but the Apostacy in the Christian Church the Apostle so long ago foretold 2 Thes 2. and which All Protestants acknowledge hath been in it ever since the Rising of Mahometanism and from Time before it very near 200 years in its Beginnings Princip 2 Such a Relation betwixt a Judgment and a Sin is especially most Argumentative when the Sin in its Appearance is Engraven on the Judgment Now whoever considers the Pope having taken upon him to be Vniversal Bishop and Pastor Vicar of Christ Head of the Church and so Vniverâ—al Prophet and to have the Power of the Keys and so of the Sword in Ordine ad Spiritualia and by his Infallibility to give Universal Law to the World and so many Christian Princes Enchanted to support him in All and then compares Mahomet taking upon himself to be the Greatest True Prophet of the World yet with some Allowance to Moses and to Christ to give the Alcoran as an Universal Law and to be appointed by God to Proselyte the World by the Power of the Sword and to have thereby prevail'd on so great a part of the World and withal to be a Detester of all Image-Worship in opposition to Popish Idolatry How must it needs be own'd God hath Anger'd the Christian or rather Antichristian State by a Foolish Religion as he speaks Deut. 32. and set Mahometanism as a Counter-Antichristianism to Antichrist in a way of Horrible and Dreadful Judgment upon that Antichrist and as a Paraselene or Mock Moon to the Beasts Moons Princip 3 When a Judgment hath Counter-ballanc'd a Sin for several Ages Apparently together and They born the Characters of a Mutual Relation It is not according to Scripture-Reason supposeable the Judgment should remove before the Sin be removed either by Reformation or by Final Judgment upon it when it is not reform'd nor the Iniquity purg'd till they die Princip 4 The First Beginnings of a Sin are according to Scripture chastis'd though often with very severe Judgments yet of a less severe kind and such as are as it were Fore-runners of greater
It is therefore most Rationally according to Scripture to be suppos'd there were some former Methods of Judgment upon Antichristianism which is by all Protestants acknowledg'd to have enter'd much earlier than Mahomet But these Judgments though they remov'd the former State of the Western Empire yet under the New Model of several Supreme Monarchs together with the Papacy in the Place of the Emperour It was continued and even the very Imperial Grandeur surviv'd as Romane in the Eastern Empire And when the Sin of the former Model is so close Rivetted and that it enters so into the Substance as to pass along into all Change of Forms and People Then God knits a Chain of Judgments that shall for ever make an End of that Sin Princip 5 It is not agreeable to the Wisdom and gracious Government of God that either such a Sin or Judgment should last always and this sin and this Judgment having under some very solemn Determination of God endur'd already longer than any other except the Sin of the Jews and the Judment upon them which is by our Saviour foretold to be as long as any Gentile Times It is a strong Presumption all these are now near an End Princip 6 Now when God hath given so long a Time to such an united State of Sin and Punishment in the Jew and Gentile as he never yet gave from the Beginning of the World to this Day We have Reason to believe the next Change shall be a Final Change to his Kingdom and Glory For so the Course or all Scripture runs So that as we have so great Reason to believe some Change after so long a lasting Sin and Judgment is near we have also Reason to believe that the next Change so near shall be a Change once for all to that never Ending Kingdom of Christ Princip 7 An Interpretation of the Prophecies of Scripture that shall not only agree with these Great Principles of Scripture-Reason but shall by Evidence from Prophecies themselves shew that they Pourtray and Represent to us both the Antichristian Apostacy as the Grand Sin and the Mahometan Imposture and Tyranny lying as a Judgment upon that Grand Sin and the Notes of Time exactly agreeing to both we have Reason to be assured Such Interpretation is a True Interpretation of Prophecy and that we may expect Things to come to pass accordingly I come therefore to give as I hope they will appear Irresistable Proofs from the Letter of Prophecy from the Types and from the Times Assigned by it that the Space of Time the Mahometan Imposture and Tyranny as a Judgment on the Antichristian Apostacy have already taken up hath been such that the Kingdom of Christ must needs be so near coming into its Succession as 1697. Argum. 1 It is undeniable by express Evidence from the very Words of Prophecy Rev. 10. c. 11. That the Time of the Seventh Angels sounding the Seventh Trumpet cannot be a Time wherein any thing of such Enmity to the Kingdom of Christ as Mahometanism is by All that bear the Name of Christians and the Papacy by All Protestants is acknowledg'd to be have any place For it is sworn c. 10. 6 7. there shall be Time no more viz. of such Time Times and Half Time as were sworn should be Dan 12. 7. for the scattering the holy people and for the wearing out the Saints of the Most High but that the Mystery of God in the Glory of his Kingdom should be finish'd The Contrary therefore could then have no place And when the Display of the Seventh Trumpet is describ'd the Kingdoms of this World are by Loud Voices in Heaven proclaim'd to be become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Rev. 11. 15. 18. and then his Servants Great and Small shall have Rewards given them and They be destroy'd who destroy'd the Earth There could then be no possible Room for the Mahometans whose King is Apollyon nor for the Papacy Represented by the Beast making War with the Saints Argum 2 Seeing the Seventh Trumpet is so distinguish'd that there should be such Time Times and Half Time no more and that None of the Six foregoing Trumpets are so Distinguish'd There is a Great Assurance given that those Time Times and Half Time flow back into the Six Trumpets and take them up For then Times of a contrary Temper to the Kingdom of Christ and to Finishing the Mystery had according to the Oath Dan. 12. their Place Rev. 8. c. 9. Argum. 3 It is most certain by the express Text the Fifth and the Sixth Trumpets must in some things agree with the Seventh Trumpet and in some things so utterly disagree that the Space of the one as hath been said cannot be the Space of the other They agree in that They are All Three Woe-Trumpets and bring Judgment and Woe upon some Grand Enemy of the Kingdom of Christ And so the Two First Woes are Preparatoty Woes to the Third Woe of the Seventh Trumpet They agree also with the Seventh Trumpet in this That they carry on Time so that there should be no Remaining Time of Hinderance to the Finishing the Mystery of God but that such Time should be no more But they must herein disagree to the utmost that the Executioners of these Two Woes are as the Assyrians and Babylonians of Old though executing the Judgments of God on Idolatrous Pretenders to be his Peopâ—e yet themselves great Enemies to the Kingdom of Christ and of the Serpentine Kind compared to Scorpions and Serpents Rev. 9. 10 11. 14 and are under their Prince the Angel of the Bottomless Pit They therefore are themselves to be enfolded in the Last Woe being to be destroyed as the Destroyers of the Earth Argum. 4 It must be most certain the Days of the Seventh Angel Sounding cannnt be yet because the Papacy in the Sense of All Protestants and the Mahometan Imposture and Tyranny in the Sense of All Christians are so opposite to the Kingdom of Christ and have yet such a prevalent Interest in the World that the Kingdoms of this World cannot by such loud Voices be said to be the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Argum. 5 There is no possible Denial That the Book of the Revelation hath fix'd 42 Months of the Gentiles treading under Foot the Outward Court and the Holy City and of the Beasts having power over Tongues and People and making War with the Saints and 1260 Days call'd also Time Times and Half a Time and Three Days and a Half of the Witnesses being in Sackcloth the Woman the Church in the Wilderness the Witnesses lying Dead and the Church hid from the Face of the Serpent Rev. 11. 2. c. 12. 6. 14. c. 13. 5. It is also most certain there are great Examples in Scripture of a Day appointed for a Year when Prophetical Time is Cypher'd And it appears on greatest Reason from Ezek. 4. to be made a Standard of Prophetick Time
that had been preparing also some Time before did fall upon the Sin as an Apostacy come to the Birth or a Mystery of Iniquity come into the Light or Born This I Acknowledge as newly made known to me For Manifestations from God on such Dark Scriptures come as by Stealth secretly and one's Ear Receives but a Little at a Time as Eliphaz speaks Job 4. 12. But that Little is very Admirable I Humbly therefore say He that hath an Ear let him Hear and Weigh When Paganism made that Great Rally of it Self by Eugenius and Argobastes under that Fore-nam'd Excellent Prince Theodosius Styl'd the Great It was brought to a Decisive Battle In the midst of which That Pious Emperor Humanely Judging the Success Doubtful Knelt down even in the midst of the Fight as History Relates in most Solemn manner and with most forcible Expressions according to Scripture Precedents Begged and obtain'd the Victory But Dying of a Dropâ—y before the end of the Year The Empire from his Death manifestly Declined Till it ceased in the West in Augustulus The Battle fore-nam'd and the Death of Theodosius fell out A. D. 395 Near the middle Point of this Time lyes A. 437. Upon this very Epoch of the 1260 years I pitch'd 7 years ago Led with other great Considerations As 1. By the just Scripture Distributions of the 2300 Evs Morns of which the 1260 are a part I Find and am able to make out Their Lot falls to begin 437. 2. Again That particular Voice in the midst of the Rev. 6. 6. Four living Creatures in the Third Seal Commands our great Attention For it divides under the Emblem of Just Weights and Measures that the Roman Emperor so Renowned for Justice Alexander Severus was so Austere concerning the Time of the Churches Just Weights and Measures of pure Worship according to Ezek. 45. 10. c. into two equal Halves The first Half ended at the end of the Third Seal with Alexander's Death at 235 202 years from the Resurrection which we account A. D 33. And the other Half or 202 at the beginning of the Apostasy 437. 3. Add to these two the Reformation which I strongly urged could not be before Half Time began after Time and Times Now this beginning in Luther at that famous A D. 1517. the 180 of which Half Time consists must end 1697 and lead back the Half Times with the Times and Time to begin 437. These fully assured me by themselves But yet being often demanded What remarkable Character of Providence distinguished to my Thoughts 437 as the Epoch of the 1260 years I set my self to seek by Books of Scripture and History and by Humblest Prayer And finding the Mahometan Times so certainly gave 1069 of those 1260 and that the lesser Judgments on the Roman Empire began so early that we might well Date the beginning of the 1260 so early as to begin 431 and so to end this 1691 Did not the Events that are so certainly to come to pass when ever they End and which are not come to pass forbid us For thereby the 1260 years are certainly known not to be Ended I therefore Examin'd again and again If there was any thing that did Illustrate 437. I first found help'd therein as I Trust by God it stands about the middle Point between the year of the Death of that Emperor of so great Memory from which the Empire began so manifestly to Decline and the very Cessation of the Western Empire As it is very easy to be found That 437 stands very near the middle Point between 395 and 476 when Augustulus Fell and so a New Course of Time viz. Of the Bishop of Rome being the only Supreme Name in Rome after the Emperor Fallen and the Ten Kings having No so much as Pretended Name of Emperor above them till they gave their Power as Horns to the Beast to which Ten and One to which it gives an Eminency Prophecy hath greatest Respect And that One Daniel Styles The little Horn but it hath a Look more Bold than his Fellows And John in the Revelation calls the 7th Head or the Beast and the Ten Kings are Horns to it and It self is the 8th King as it were Absolute in regard of Spiritual Supremacy over All Dan. 7. 24. and Rev. 17. 10 11. compared Now this Change was so great as very Reasonably to give a Reputation to the Middle Point between so Great and Victorious an Emperor as Theodosius and the utter Fall of Augustulus the last Western Emperor And then such a Ten Fold Principality with a Spiritual Supreme rising out of the Empire made so Great a Change Moved yet further as I have Reason to Hope and Believe by the Grace of God in Christ I further Enquir'd Whethâ—r there was any Images of such a Remark on the middle Point of this Time by Prophecy And behold to my Wonder and Astonishment and to my greatest Satisfaction God was pleased to Reveal even this to me I had upon my first Prophetical Researches been well assur'd both by the Course of the Seals and the Times to which they Pointed and the high Agreement of the Types That the truly Adequate or full Spread Visum or chief Thing seen in the seventh Seal was Theodosius his perfect Victory over Heathenism in the Defeat of Eugenius His fore-mentioned Prayer joyn'd no doubt with the Prayers of All-Saints in the Christian Churches at that time Incens'd with the Intercession of Christ brought down Vengeance on the Pagans as with the Fire of the Altar in the Censor cast down and with Thundrings and Lightnings upon thâ—m and with the great Earthquake of the Dragon of Paganism and the Devil Ruling in it cast down from Heaven and from hence the Voices of Thanksgivings and giving Glory to God Now is the Kingdom of our God Come in so great an Appearance and Pledg of it Rev. 8. v. 5. and 12. v. 10. in compare Who can but say that the Types are Admirably Agreeable Herein also are the Types of the Church not yet Judg'd by God as under the Apostasy For the People Represented under All Saints was waiting in the Outward Court not yet Trodden by Gentiles while the Incense was in Offering shew'd the Worship yet pure in the Main yet Contracting into retired Incense-Service in the Temple There was now at the Opening of this Seal a silence of half an Hour to let us know that it was but a short Time till the dayly Sacrifice would be taken away and the Abomination of Desolation set up in the Apostasy according to the silence in the Offering Incense as the Learned Mr. Mede ever to be Remembred with Honour hath long ago Observed But further than this In regard the Trumpets were making ready to sound the Alarm of War from Heaven on the Western Roman Empire that had so long Paganiz'd and nâ—w was ready to shift into Antichristianism Then was the Space of about half an hours Silence of these