is called the Son of Man here an Angel which name is also given him Rev. 10.1 2 3 5 6. Rev. 20.1 Chap. 16.17 which in my discourse on the seventh Vial I have shewed is to be understood of Christ I shall not much insist on onely adding that I rather incline to the latter that it is Christ himself 1 Because this work is done by the pouring out of the seventh Vial and the seventh Vial is poured out by Christ alone 2 Because this work is the treading of the Wine-press and the treading of the Wine-press is Christs work alone Isa 63.3 Rev. 19.15 3 Because it carrying greatest probability with it that the Harvest and Vintage should be but one and the same thing set forth for ampleness sake under two Similitudes it should also seem most probable to conclude the Angel of either to be the same Now the work of the Harvest is in express terms appropriated to Christ the Son of Man therefore the Vintage is his work too 4 Because supplication seems to be made in the same manner to this Angel as is to Christ himself An Angel coming out of the Temple cryes with a loud voyce to him that fate on the Cloud i.e. Christ the Son of Man to thrust in his Sickle and reap vers 15. In like manner an Angel coming from the Altar cryes with a loud voyce to this Angel to thrust in his Sickle and gather the clusters of the earth vers 18. therefore they seem to be one and the same and Christ himself the person pointed at in both If here I may add my conjecture concerning these two Angels that cry with a loud voyce to have this work of the Harvest and Vintage performed I have a conceit that the first may signifie the Gentile Churches the second the Jews who both about the instant time of Christs appearance are provoked by seeing the whole world gathering together to swallow them up to cry mightily to the Lord to manifest his power for their preservation for which cause either are said to cry with a loud voyce and both by seeing the rage and height of the enemy have saith to beleeve their destruction to be at hand therefore either are brought in pleading great words of faith The first pleads Reap O Lord for the time is come to reap the Harvest of the Earth is ripe vers 15. The second pleads Gather the clusters of the Vine for her Grapes are fully ripe vers 18. and for this reason also may as I conceive the same thing be set forth under two Parables that so hereby a clear way might be made for either of these two first Gentiles than Jews to be brought in pleading with Christ to shew forth his power and greatness at this day Now of these two the Angel of the Gentile Churches is said to come out of the Temple yet not the Temple of Heaven which the Angel of the Vintage i.e. Christ comes forth of ver 17. because the Gentile-Saints had long before this time even from the first day the Vials began to be poured forth had a Temple among them Rev. 15.5 6. this being the most remarkable thing concerning them that they had a Temple therefore are they described as coming thence The Angel of the Jews comes from the Altar vers 18. Quest Why is he so described Answ To note the wonderful sufferings that people shall be in and that in that very nick of time wherein Christ shall appear which is spoken of Daniel 12.1 Zoch 14.1 2 3. and of which we have discoursed before this being the most remarkable thing concerning them and that which makes them to cry so loud therefore are they described as coming from the Altar yet as touching this Angel it is added that he hath power over fire vers 18. noting the great prevalency that the cry of this Angel from the Altar should have to bring down the Wrath of God upon the Heads of the enemies as Elijah commanded fire from Heaven and the Witnesses in the time of their Prophecy are said to devoure their enemies by fire Rev. 11.5 so the cry of these poor Jews who at this present are to be exercised under an hour of such sharp trouble as never was until this day since there was a Nation shall be so prevalent with Christ that it shall in a manner constrain him out of Heaven and command down his sore and heaviest wrath upon the heads of their enemies which is here set forth by this Angels having power over fire As touching the 1600 Furlongs vers 20. conjectures are divers Napiers opinion is That it respects the date of this terrible day who reads the words thus Blood came out of the Wine-press unto the Horse Bridles by the space of 1600 stades of courses as if saith he appearingly he should mean Metaphorically as Wine may be thought to flow from the Press or the blood of slain men in a Field to ascend to the Horse Bridles so eternally shall the torment of the wicked ascend after that 1600 years be accomplished for saith our Author these stades agree well to mean years seeing a stade is that race or course that one may be thought to run with one breath before he begin to renew his breath again as one year is that race or course that the Sun makes in a Circuit before he begin to renew his Circuit again Now counting 1600 years from the time that this was written which was about the 97 year of Christ as Eusebius in his Chronicle saith or in the end of the reign of Domitian as Irenaeus saith which was An. Dom. 99. the end of the account shall fall out about the year of Christ 1697. or 1699. Thus Napier This agrees well to the time of Christs coming as the same is held forth in other Scriptures onely falls two or three years sooner Now whether Christ who tels us that for the Elects sake the days shall be shortned Matth. 24.22 may not by reason of that sharp trouble that precedes his coming shorten by so much as this comes to that determined time of his coming which we have in Daniel I will not say yet a seeming probability of some such thing there is in our Saviours words Mayer hath an opinion that this may relate to the place quoting Rabbi Menahen upon Gen. fol. 60. who affirmeth that the Land of Canaan was 1600. Furlongs in length Now saith our Author for so much as all things are carried here on in an Allegory to the Temple the Altar and the Holy City which were of the Jews I doubt not but in this space without the City it is also alluded unto that Country such an innumerable multitude are destroyed as if such a slaughter of men were made as would overflow in this depth all the whole land of Canaan This opinion the Prophets favor in that general concurrence that is amongst them that the battle of Armageddon which is that treading of the Wine-press here mentioned
behalf of that cause which my heart is inwardly perswaded is Jesus Christs to whom I could not be faithful should I now be silent having this hope that that heart which once had in it such a flame of love to the cause of Christ and was so zealous of the work of God in the world and against the Beast as that thereby many were provoked cannot but yet have some sparks of this holy fire alive in it and that there is yet in your Highness an ear to hear what the Holy Spirit saith in the word if so be the sound be certain and distinct tho but a Child blow the Trumpet Or if not yet that herein I shall discharge a duty in my own apprehension incumbent upon me and every of Gods people so far as they have light namely to inform your Highness what Christ at this day expects from you according to which he will account with you and if what is written be truth it is you duty to hear it yea where is but an appearance of truth if you shall without diligent trial either neglect or reject it though the grounds upon which you may perhaps so do may serve to answer Conscience a while yet will they not answer the Lord another day who will account with you not as with others but according to that Talent of light you have had and is held forth unto you the professions you have made before many of his people and the opportunities you have And therefore my Lord as it is now no time for those who either love the Lord Jesus or your Highness to flatter you or speak their fears mincingly So let me here say what not long fince I told your Highness in a more private way That I do verily beleeve the thing is already manifest to the Lord and the day is not far off in which it shall be to your Highness also who are your most faithful Friends whether those that now hang up their Harps though they may be but as one Micaiah to 400 false Prophets or those that are singing their Songs of which latter sort I mean for the greater part of them I may for the truth of the thing I am sure without offence say in the Apostles phrase onely adding a word They who never yet loved you truly now zealously affect you but not well yea they would exclude you that you might affect them and serve their designs I would to God I could speak otherwise and that private cryes might have prevented this publick bearing witness which though I had no other motive yet ingenuity did I not consider that when it tends to hinder in the Lords work it is no longer a vertue but a vice to be mortified would have disswaded me from The love of the meanest Saint is precious to me the favor of your Highness much more but in these divided times offering many temptations of this nature I have often remembred the case as it stood betwixt Christ and Peter Matâ—h 16.21 22 23. who when Peter by his love and affection would have put him by his Fathers work Christ grew offended even at Peters love and did abandon it My Lord if ever the Mystery of Iniquity wrought spiritually it doth at this day And no wonder for a fear and dread of the Witnesses is fallen upon the Beast whose blow that he may escape he would now if that will do it enter into a high form of Saintship and indeed who looks for Antichrist take him either as he is the whole Body or as he is this oâ— that part in his last state in any other Garbe than the form of a gloribus â—aint though he may have read the Book of the Revelations yet is he still to learn the Mystery of the Beast there revealed Now is the man of sin struggling for his Kingdom which he will uphold as long as he can but though the Dragon Beast and False Prophet joyn heads and hands together yet shall they not bee able to keep it up long no not half so many years as some dream of Ages for God hath numbered Babylons Kingdom and in a manner finished it the Beast and the Whoreâ—s or the Beast and the False Prophet are already weighed in the Ballances and found wanting the Kingdom shall as most certainly so suddenly be divided broken and given to another And as a clear evâ—dence hereof we have the signs of the times grounded upon the woâ—d which Christ did refer the Generation of the Pharisees and Sadduces to when they would know of him a sign Matth. 16.3 O yee Hypocrites can yee not discern the signs of the times What signs of the times had they Answ Two evident signs founded upon Scripture 1. The departure of the Scepter from Judah in Herods then swaying it who was an Idumean 2. The expirations of Daniels seventy weeks the limited time of the Messiahs appearance By either of these they might have concluded that truth they opposed and received him for their Messiah whom they rejected but this they did not but must have farther signâ— yet for which cause Christ calls them Hypocrites a wicked and an adulterous Generation My Lord Let me here say The Lord in his Word hath left signs of this time I am now speaking of no less clear and demonstrative than were the signs of thaâ— and although I am of all the most unworthy to be acquainted with them or any thing of the mind of the Lord yet is it my perswasion that some of them are discovered in the following discourse and he that shall without prejudice read what in the close is written of the time and compare it with the things themselves specified throughout the Book may possibly be of my mind at least not censure me for thinking so And if now My Lord as persons willing to be blinded we shall shut our eyes to those signs of the times God hath left us in the word and ask for other signs to know his work by and when we are called to do it it is an evident token even from our Saviors own words of an Adulterous and Apostatizing generation I had almost said and if I had his words would have born me out of an hypocritical heart My Lord Let me not be made an offender for this plain dealing if I am so long as the Lord shall keep my feet in the way of my duty it shall not trouble me and I have hope that in this I have had his merciful guidance and have not as yet stepped out of that way For if in the day when Christ is going up to his Kingdom the stones would not hold their peace should not the Children cry Hosanna then surely it is a duty very incumbent upon the Saints at this day there being nothing more obvious than that Christ is well onwards upon his march to his Kingdom not to be silent but although they may be rebuked yea dealt worse by for so doing yet to follow their
until seventy years should be accomplished God did not give any such positive commands unto other Generations After this in Ezra's Nehemiah's and Daniels time these Worthies and the Saints of that age had the proper work of their Generation which was to go forth of Babylon and rebuild the Temple of God at Jerusalem which Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed Thus all along in the times of the Old Testament Gods Church and people in their several Generations have had their several works Let us look to the New Testament which dawned in John the Baptist had not John the proper work of his Generation which was to be the Fore-runner and Harbinger of the Messiah to declare to the Nation of the Jews that the Messiah whom they expected and waited for was now approaching and that the glorious Kingdom of God in the pure administration of the Gospel was at hand and that therefore it did behove every one now to have their eyes and hearts turned from Moses towards him and his administration which was now approaching After him the Apostles in their time had the proper work of their Generation which was to go forth and publish the glad tydings of salvation which before were cooped up within the narrow compass of Judea to all the world beginning at Jerusalem to gather Saints together so fast as they were converted into Churches and to appoint over these Pastors and Teachers and also to give Rules and Directions for the right ordering and governing of the Churches unto the end of the world Let us come to the Saints of following Generations had not they likewise their proper works which was in some to bear witness before the wicked world and the Heathen Tyrants and Infidels of those ages wherein they lived to the truth of that Doctrine they had received from the Apostles before them by sealing the same with their blood and willingly giving themselves up as sheep to the slaughter to the cruelties tortures massacres of the Paganish world in bearing testimony to the truth of Jesus Afterwards the work of the next Generation was to bear witness by writing preaching and all sound Doctrine against the damnable Heresies of Arrius and his complices and others which through that little tranquility which the Church injoyed under Constantine crept in and overspread the Christian world In after ages for some hundreds of years together the work of Saints in their Generation was to bear witness by speaking and suffering unto the truth and worship of Jesus against the pernicious errors and false worship of Antichrist and the boundless and swelling pride and pomp of that man of sin In Generations since the work hath been to recover the truth and worship of Christ which was well nigh buried under Antichrists reign to its ancient purity lustre and beauty And so Luther and the Saints and Worthies of his Generation as their principal work did recover out of the jaws of the Beast the precious truths of Christs Priestly Office the glorious Doctrine of our justification by Christ alone which was well nigh swallowed up by the Antichristian innovations of Masses Crosses Pardons Pennance Purgatory Vowes Pilgrimages solitary and single life with other inventions of humane wisdom for the procuring a righteousness of our own And since him the great work of Saints in their Generations hath been to recover the Kingly Office of Christ which the Lordly pomp and tyranny of the man of sin and his followers had cast a mist upon to set up Christ as sole King and Governor in his Churches as well as the onely and alone High Priest of his Saints Thus Saints all along from the beginning of the world in their several Generations have had their several works proper and peculiar to the Generations they have lived in so as that what hath been the work of one Generation hath not been the work of another and what hath been the work of that other hath not been the work of that unless at such time as it fell out in the Generations of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and also the several Generations of the Saints under the Roman and Antichristian persecutions wherein the dispensations of God towards his people hath continued the same and for substance alike for divers Generations together there the work hath been the same for no substantial change in dispensation there is none in the work of out Generation it being variation of dispensation that causeth the work of our Generation for to vary Third General Head That it is a thing of very great concernment for a Saint to attend unto and be active in the work of his Generation Generation-work is the most neglected work of all others with the generality of Professors who either consider not that such a work there is or if they do yet they think that it belongs to others not to them to mind it but in case they be industrious in those common duties which lye upon them as Saints and those special duties which attend their Callings Stations Relations or present condition it is enough for them and matters not whether they be active in the business of their Generation yea or no. Yea many that are imployed therein do not sufficiently weigh the greatness of the work they have in hand I shall therefore here endeavour to shew of how great concernment it is for a Saint to attend unto and be active in this work which I shall lay before you in some particulars 1 God by his dispensations calls aloud for it The dispensations of God have a voyce and God oft by these bespeaks a duty or duties of his people Mic. 6.9 The Lords voyce cryeth unto the City What voyce is this why meerly the voyce of a dispensation Gods dispensations being commands Hear the Rod and who hath appointed it To disobey then the visible call of a dispensation is to disobey a command of God The hazarding our lives is a weighty matter and if done carelesly a great sin yet Hester upon the visible call of a dispensation viz. Gods cause and people of God lying at the stake ready to suffer runs this sore hazard to which though she was stirred up by Mordecai as one Christian friend now may stir up another in such a capacity as Hester was to befriend Gods cause were it now dying as then it was yet were not Mordecayes words her warrant he being not indued with a Prophetical Spirit norspeaking as such as his doubtful speech she weth Who knows whether thou art come to the Kingdome for such a time as this but the call of the dispensation Meroz was called by Gods dispensations to help the Lord against the mighty We read not of any particular command Merez had to do it only the call of a dispensation Gods people were under oppressors and God was up to deliver them which call Meroz neglecting Meroz is doubly and bitterly cursed by the Angel of the Lord for it Judg. 5.23 Curse ye Meroz said the Angel of the
litteral sense to make way hereby for the Jews more speedy return out of the Eastern Countries to Jerusalem their native Country mistake for the grounds of our last Proposition and also because as saith a godly man in answer to this opinion the sixth Vial according to this should have no plague at all for saith he either in these words of drying up Euphrates the plague is pointed at or in none for the following words mention no plague but only the endeavour of Gods enemies to defend themselves against it By the River Euphrates some others understand the Riches and Revenues of Antichristian Babylon which Riches and Revenues of theirs are the strength of Babylon mystical as Euphrates of old was of litteral Babylon the drying up of Euphrates the taking of these their Revenues from them which Rents and holy Tribute of theirs being denied their Chests and Coffers will by degrees grow empty Now although the Patrons of this opinion are men of worth and to be esteemed yet cannot I herein subseribe unto them 1 Because as is by some of them confessed the drying up of Euphrates in this sense hath been begun this hundred years nay some say three hundred whereas the pouring forth of this Vial is a thing yet to come 2 Because every of the Vials hitherto hath done this by degrees already and the Vials yet to come will more for observe it throughout all the Vials whatsoever it is that Antichrist loseth by any Vial he together with the loss of that loseth a considerable part of his Revenues coming in thereby and therefore every Vial clipping his Tribute and cutting him short here there needs not a particular Vial to be poured out upon that which every of the Vials till the same is wholly destroyed will have an influence upon Neither thirdly Can I see how this will further at most but very little the Jews return which is that great thing to prepare a way for the doing whereof this Vial is poured forth An eminent late Writer interprets this River Euphrates to be the streams of Popish corruption namely their Idolatries by their Mass Invocation of Saints c. their murders of the souls of men as well as the bodies of Christs servants their Sorceries of which many of the Popes themselves were guilty their Whoredomes namely in their Stews their Thefts by their Indulgences and Pardons for money c. But these things are no other but that Popish Earth the first Vial fell upon by the fall whereof these though not throughout Antichrists Kingdom yet in some parts which is enough to evidence a Vial to have been already poured out upon them were destroyed And it is well known that Luther who began to pour out the first Vial was the very hammer of the Papists as to the beating down and knocking in peeces these things And although the Popish party are severely punished for these things upon the sounding of the sixth Trumpet Chap. 9.18 19 20 21. Yet as these gross enormities came not then in upon the sounding of that Trumpet but were in before though then they are punished for them so each Vial casting out as the same Author hath observed that very corruption which the same Trumpet brought in it follows the bringing of these things in being before so must their casting out also and therefore it is more agreeable to the Authors own Position to place the casting of these things out under the first Vial as I have done they coâ—ing in in all likelihood under the first Trumpet than that their casting out should not be until this Sixth But more rightly as some others we are to understand the Ottoman Family or Turkish Empire called the Great River because of the multitude of People and Nations therein Rivers signifying People and Nations as I have proved under the third Vial and the Great River Euphrates either to signifie as some think that people to be here meant who inhabit about Euphrates which are the Turks or as I conceive to give us to understand that that very people are here intended who shall about this time be looked upon and accounted the greatest people of all others for of all Rivers that we read of in the Old Testament Euphrates is called the Great River Gen. 15.18 Deut. 1.7 Josh 1.4 or the River by way of emphasis Deut. 11.24 Now the people who at this present time are of all others accounted the greatest are the Turks who therefore and no other are here to be understood And which serves us for a strong confirmation hereof the River Euphrates is but once more in all the Revelation mentioned Chap. 9.14 and there by the general consent of Expositors it hath reference to the Turkish power To which let me further add that it being a thing also granted that in the last war to which preparation is made under this Vial as well the Turkish Power shall be engaged against the Saints as the Power of the Beast it therefore seems a thing very probable that the Turk shall by the pouring out of this Vial have some great provocation which shall induce him to joyn hands with the Beast in his so desperate a quarrel 2 EFFECT Drying up of the waters of Euphrates And the waters thereof were dryed up The Turks power and multitude through the pouring out of this Vial shall be wasted and destroyed for waters set forth multitudes of people as before the drying up of the waters imports a wasting and consuming of these multitudeâ— 3 The moving Cause Preparing a way for the Kings of the East That the way of the Kings of the East might be prepared These words render a reason of the drying up of Euphrates which is to prepare a way for the Kings of the East By Kings of the East We are here to understand the Jews who upon the pouring forth of this Vial shall return to their own Land and be converted to Christ And I take it that the pouring out of this Vial prepares a way for both viz. Their possession of their own land again and their conversion to the Faith of the Gospel For as the latter shall not go without the former I mean conversion to Christ without possession of their land The Scripture being full and clear in this that when that Nation shall be converted they shall be in possession of their Land again Isa 61.7 Jer. 31.17 and 32.41 Ezek. 37.21 22 25. Amos 9.14 15. Zech. 2 12. so the former alone without the latter would be a thing indeed too low and carnal to be accounted the sole moving cause of pouring out this Vial which this preparing a way for the Kings of the East is Now the Jewes are here called Kings either for that abundance of riches they shall bring along with them at their return Isa 60.9 To bring thy Sons from far their silver and their gold with them Or rather for that great honour and dignity that God will put upon his people setting them
with the Beast and fraying his Horns got not onely power into their hands now to cope and grapple with the greatest but also the very Art of hacking and hewing down Gods enemies they shall be no longer young beginners to whom time must be allowed to rid work off hands but they shall now become perfect Artists men that have driven a Trade a great while of fraying of Horns pulling down worldly powers and therefore be skilled in the way and know how to rid such work off hands apace and hence in the forequoted place Isa 11.14 it s said they shall flie to note the quick dispatch they shall make of their work Now the Gentile Churches by invading the Turks Dominions with such of the Jews as are nearest for being zealous in Gods cause and expert in their way they will lose no time and by fraying his Horns they shall thereby prepare a way or make a high way for the rest of the Jews who come from more remote parts and chiefly the ten Trâ—â—es who were carried captive by the King of Assyria who therefore are called the remnant of his people from Assyria to come up to their land and joyn with the rest as vers 16. And there shall be a high way for the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria i.e. yet remaining of those the Assyrians carried captive like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt Yet because some Jews there shall be who shall be in such corners of the world that they cannot any other way than by shipping come at their Land therefore those Gentile Christians who shall have set their Brethâ—en in possession of their Land making it now their busâ—ress to serve God in this work shall go forth with the multitude of their ships to fetch up the Jews from the more remote parts and Creeks and corners of the world unto their own land which is spoken of Isa 60.9 Surely the Isles shall wait for me and the ships of Tarshish first to bring thy Sons from far their Silver and their Gold with them unto the name of the Lord thy God and to the holy one of Israel because he hath glorified thee And although at this day the Gentiles shall be in a manner Servants to the Jews yet shall their hearts be so spiritual that considering it to be their Fathers work will they shall be so far from being offended to see these new-coming-in-Guestsso entertained and welcommed as that they must wait upon them that they shall exceedingly delight in the thing As Angels of glory delight to see Saints dandled and to serve them Now as the Gentile Christians by drying up the waters of Euphrates shall set open a door for the Jews from all quarters to come up to their own Land So shall this kindness of theirs shewed towards the Jews in undertaking freely so great a work for their sakes have a strong influence upon the hearts of that People to bring them by little and little to a love and liking of Christianity and so as I said at first the pouring out of this Vial prepares a way both for their regaining their own Land their conversion to Christ Qu. If any further desirous to know who amongst the Gentile Christians are most likely to be the Instruments in doing of this work My thoughts concerning it are of which I may truely say that not a private affection to any people above others hath been the rise of them but a diligent search of the Scripture to find satisfaction concerning the Angel of this Vial hath brought forth unawares both the questior with my thoughts thereupon which in the general so far onely as I have ground for conjecture I shall here lay down and let the understanding and unprejudiced Reader judge 1 It is most likely That the same Angel or those very Instruments which shall ruin Rome shall also pour out this Vial upon the great River Euphrates because the stone that smites the feet of the Image i.e. Antichrist is the same with the four Carpenters who are to fray the Horns i.e. the Turkish Power lift up over the Land of Judah Now because it will be said That it is as hard a thing for us as yet to find who this Angel shall be as the other for till we see Rome destroyed who knows who shall do the thing I answer would you know the Instruments before you see them at Romes Gates observe then the rolling stone and look for them there where you see that For this is most certain that as the great Image is to be broken in peeces by no other force or power but onely that of the stone so there where the stone is first taken out of the mountains and formed together by God and begins to roll and smite out of that quarter may we conclude the Tempest though yet it be a great way off which is to fall upon Rome shall most certainly come for observe it though the stone by rolling grows greater and greater yet is it that stone still and not another which was formed together at first whereas if the same matter which formed together did make the stone at first were wholly to be laid aside though matter of the same kind should still be used yet would it be a new stone a stone new formed but the same stone that smites at first and not another is that which breaks in peeces the great Image though this stone whilst it is in doing of it is still in a growing posture by means whereof as it rolls further and further so may it have much more matter added daily to it yet is it the same stone still and the outward strength of the stone lies principally in that matter which was formed together at first that being the Basis or foundation of the rest And this confirmes our first and main Proposition viz. That the Gentile Christians shall pour out this Vial upon the Turk because the very same stone which begins to smite the Image on his feet is to break the whole Image i.e. all worldly Powers This likewise confirms what but even now I said viz. That the stone Dan. 2. and the four Carpenters Zich 1. are one and the same for the four Carpenters are they which fray the Horns lift up in the last days over the Land of Judah Now that which breaks all worldly Powers in the last days standing in the way of Christs Kingdom is no other but the stone which Daniel â—peaks of 2 In answer yet further to the former Question I find in the fore-quoted places Isa 60 9. and 11.14 four marks or characters to know that people by who among the Gentile Christians shall be the principal Instruments of making way for and bringing the Jews unto their own Land First They shall be a people inhabiting in some Isles Secondly They shall have great hearts to the work and a longing desire to
generation ib. 12 And lastly Take heed of conjunction with such who are not real-hearted to the cause of God and the work of the generation p. 89 The Table of the Second Part. The Introduction containing six general Propositions in order to the whole Proposition 1. THat we are there to begin the pouring forth of the Vials where Antichrist first began to go off the Stage p. 1 2 Prop. 2. That the Vials are all to be poured forth by such Angels only as come out of the Temple p. 2 Prop. 3. That Gods call to the Angels to pour out their Vials is to be looked for out of the Temple p. 3 Prop. 4. That the subjects of each Vial are things standing in ppsition to Christs Kingdome chiefly things pertaining to Antichrist p. 4 Prop. 5. That the effects of one Vial do oft-times run into another Vial p. 5 Prop. 6. That the Terms and Phrases relating to the Vials are to be understood not in a litteral but a metaphorical sense p. 6 VIAL 1. 1 The subject of it the Popish earth or the corrupt Doctrine of Antichrist p. 7 2 The effect An infectious stinking sore causing in others a loathing and withdrawing upon the Assertors of Popish principles p. 8 It began to be poured out about Luthers time ib. VIAL 2. 1. The subject of it the Sea 1. Not meant of Nations in general p. 9 2 Nor of the corrupt Doctrines of Antichrist concluded upon in the Council of Trent ib. 3 Nor of the Political State of the Roman Empire p. 10 But The Romish Discipline or the Hierarchy and Clergy of Rome upon whom this Vial was poured out in England Anno Dom. 1641. p. 10 11 12 Two Objections answered 1 Obj. The Hierarchy and Clergy of England but an inferior part of the Romish Hierarchy and Clergy answered ibid. 2 Obj England but one of the ten Horus answered ib. 2 The Effects 1 Effect The Antichristian Discipline appears cruel corrupt and becomes loathsom p. 13. 2 Effect All those that live and breath in this corrupted sea die a civil death ibid. Some remaining drops of this Vial yet to come p. 14 VIAL 3. 1. The Subject of it the Rivers and Fountains of waters 1. Not to be understood of the Romish Bishops and Doctors p. 14 2 Nor particularly of the Jesuits ib. But of Some particular States and Kingdoms subjected to the Beast with their heads and Rulers p. 15 16 2 The Effect Bloody Wars arise in those Nations by which their Heads and chief Rulers are cut off ib. 3 An Adjunct A justification of God in the execution of his wrath upon those Nations and their Heads 1 By the instruments used to do the work p. 17 2 By suffering Saints from some more remote place p. 18 A reason given why this Vial hath a double testimony of the righteousness of it which none of the other Vials have p. 19 A reason also given why only the Instruments Christ useth and suffering Saints give this testimony ib. Two reasons given why Saints that have suffered in Scotland do at present in Holland do not with their fellow Brethren joyn in this testimony p. 20 The particular Nations this Vial falls upon are England the Low-Countries and France and the reason why ibid. An Objection answered How it can be just with God to punish these Nations and their present Heads for what was done formerly seeing they cannot help what their Forefathers did yea are reformed and do disclaim it p. 21 This third Vial is the Vial we stand under it hath for the greatest part passed over England already is now passing upon Holland and will shortly upon France p. 22 23 VIAL 4. 1. The Subject of it the Sun 1. Not Christ 2 Nor the Scriptures p. 23 But the German Empire yet not the war past wrath suddenly to come p. 24 25 2. An Adjunct A power given to the Angels to scorch with fire interpreted of the Call the Angels of this Vial shall give to the Witnesses now lying dead in Germany to arise p. 26 27 28 3 The Effects 1. Rage and vexation upon the Popish party ibid. 2. Blaspheming God ib. VIAL 5. 1 The subject the seat of the Beast 1 Not Antichrists Kingdom in general p. 29 2. Not the Popes Supremacy ibid. 3. Not Episcopacy p. 30 But the City of Rome p. 30 31 Two Objections answered ibid. 2 The Effects 1. Effect An eclipse of the glory of the Papal Kingdom p. 32 2 Effect Rage and madness upon the Papals ib. 3. Effect Blaspheming God p. 33 3 The time when this Vial shall be poured forth about the year 1656 ib. Two Reasons given why the Fourth and Fifth Vials have so little time allowed them for pouring forth when the former have taken up much more p. ib. 34 VIAL 6. 1 The Subject The great River Euphrates first not litterally to be understood p. 35 2 Not meant of the riches and revenues of Antichrist ib. 3 Not of the streams of Popish corruption p. 36 But The Turkish Empire p. 37 Here is shewed why the Turkish Empire is called the Great River and why the Great River Euphrates 2 The effect a wasting the Turks power and multitude p. 38 3 The moving cause To prepare a way for the Jews both to their possession of their Land again and also their receiving of Christ p. 38 39 Here is shewed why the Jews are called Kings why Kings of the East That the Jews con version shall be before the pouring out of the seventh Vial proved p. 40 41 Three Objections answered Obj. 1. The words speak not of conversion but preparing a way thereto answered p. 42 Obj. 2. The Jews cannot be converted till after all the Vials because no man could enter into the Temple till all the Vials were poured forth answered ib. Obj 3. The 21 and 22 Chapters of the Revelation which follow upon the seventh Vial hold forth the Jews conversion answered p. 43 4 The Angel of this Vial. 1 Not the Jews themselves p 44 2 Not the Turk performing it 1. Either by civil broyles ibid. 2. Nor by a diversion of his forces to some other place making way thereby for the Jews to rise p. 45 3 Not Christ by any immediate hand from heaven ib. But The Gentile Churches Proved p. 45. to 52. where also is shewed the cause of this attempt made by the Gentile Saints upon the Turk and the manner how they shall carry it on Here also the Prophecies of the Stone Dan. 2. and of the four Carpenters Zach. 1. are opened in doing which both are shewed to be one both are applyed to the Gentile-Saints the Reason given why the Gentile-Saints are by Daniel called a Stone by Zacharie four Carpenters Quest Who among the Gentile-Saints shall undertake this enterprise Answ 1. The same Instruments that shall ruin Rome p. 52 53. Here is shewed who they are that in all likelihood shall ruin Rome 2 Four Characters taken out of the Prophets
given them from their work because their work is to bear witness for Christ against the Beast and that each in his place all the Forty two months that the Beast doth Tyrannize and the Holy City is trodden underfoot The Magistrate as a Magistrate bearing publick witness against the unjust oppressions of the Beast and his lawless Tyranny over the Estates and bodies of men yea and consciences too The Minister as a Minister against the cursed institutions of Antichrist either in Doctrine or Discipline Here its necessary we distinguish betwixt that general witness-bearing that is common to all ages and that special witness-bearing which is peculiar to these Witnesses and to this time viz. of the one thousand two hundred and sixty days There is a general Testimony which the people of God in all ages give for Christ against the World Sin Satan Oppression Error c. But that testimony barely doth not bring him who bears it within the number of these two Witnesses A Magistrate in his place may oppose Tyranny Oppression c. a Minister in his error and false Doctrine and yet neither of them Christs two Witnesses if there be not in both an opposing themselves to that special evill whether it be in things Civill or Ecclesiastical that was at first brought in or being brought in is upheld by the Beast for the peculiar work of these witnesses and the thing wherein lies the specifical difference betwixt these witnesses and others is That these bear witness for Christ against the Beast Which is most evident 1 Because Christ hath paired his Witnesses in the same manner as the Beast hath his The Beast as but now I observed stands up with two witnesses viz an Antichristian Magistracy and Ministry to maintain his cause On the contrary Christ stands up with two witnesse or a pair of Witnesses viz. a true Magistracy and Ministry to oppose the Beast and maintain his cause 2 Because It s for this Reason Christ entitles them my Witnesses because in Christs behalf they shall stand up against Antichrist as those are said to be such a mans witnesses that bear witness for him against his Adversary All that time the Beast stands up and would perswade the world that he is in the truth and his cause the right these two Witnesses on the contrary stand up and profess before the world that he is the Beast and his cause the cause of Antichrist and not of Christ 3 Which is the principal Reason because the time that these Witnesses bear their witness is the very time of the Beasts reign The time of the Beasts reign and treading under foot the Holy City is Forty two months Rev. 13.5 Chap. 11.2 The time of these two Witnesses is One thousand two hundred and sixty days Vers 3. And I will give power to my two Witnesses and they shall Prophecy one thousand two hundred and sixty days Now that the Forty two months and the One thousand two hundred and sixty days are one and the same I prove not onely from the general consent of Expositors who acknowledge the thing giving this reason for it Because say they forty two mouths reduced into days and reckoning thirty days to each month which is the Grecian account which John writing to the Church of GOD then resident among the Greeks did observe make up the full sum of One thousand two hundred and sixty days not a day over or under But I prove it hence that indeed this thing must needs be so for let it be considered what is the very cause that these two Witnesses wear sackcloth this long term of one thousand two hundred and sixty years the cause is not the sufferings of the Saints thoughout this time for had that been the cause then should these Witnesses have put on their sackeloth more early viz. with the time of the ten first Persecutions which was a day of as sore sufferings as ever any hath been since but then these two Witnesses here mentioned were not in their sackcloth but contrariwise the Woman all that time was cloathed with the Sun Chap. 12.1 the two Witnesses in Sackcloth therefore were not then up But the cause yea the very cause why the Witnesses wear mourning attire is because they hear the continual Blasphemies of the Beast against God his name and Tabernacle and them that dwel in Heaven They see the Holy City the Truths and Worship of Christ trodden under foot by the Beast and they not able to rescue them out of his hands this makes them put on sackcloth and mourn before the Lord. Now consider the term of time that is given to the Beast to continue to do these things is forty two months this being so it will follow that in case this forty two months were a time either longer or shorter than the one thousand two hundred and sixty days then must also the witnesses wearing sackcloth be by so much longer or shorter then 1260 days for continue the cause and we continue the effect also and contrariwise take away the cause and the effect ceaseth Upon this Principle it being a thing manifestly clear that the 42 months the 1260 days make up but one and the same number of years which also must of necessity begin and end together Hence it is evident that that very act which I may call the constitutive act i. e. the act which makes these Witnesses to be such is bearing witness against the Beast take this away though they may stand up against all the evill that is in the world besides yet are they not Christs Witnesses if they do not in particular appear against the evil of the Beast for if this be not the meaning what reason is or can be given why their witness-Bearing should be thus restrained onely to the time of the Beast seeing in the other sense it s a duty in all ages to bear witness and those Instruments the Lord hath raised up in all ages have done it 1 Hence a man may be a godly man and in a more general way bear witness for Christ and yet none of Christs Two Witnesses 2 Hence it s of more concernment than many are aware of to be inquiring into and publickly appearing against whatsoever is of the Beast though the thing be never so small A man in publick place may cease to be a witness of Christ if publickly he do not bear witness against these things 3 Hence such Laws Principles and Practices as tend to suppress this witness-bearing against the Beast are themselves expressely Antichristian and of the Beast SECT III. THese Witnesses are called two because of the fewness of them say some Because two is a number sufficient to bear a witness and without two a witness is invalid say others I no way disapprove these conjectures but I must confess I judge it most agreeable to the Text to say they are therefore called two because they consist of two sorts or two ranks of men viz. Christs
that it can be no other coming but Christs Personal Now because at the time of Christs personal coming the dead Saints are so to be raised up as that they may be ready to come with Christ 1 Thess 3.13 1 Thess 4.14 Zech. 14.5 Therefore we have the resurrection of the dead intimated in the verse before Christs coming vers 13. And I heard a voyce from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them The Emphasis of the Text lyes in those words from henceforth about which I find Expositors not applying this to the time of Christs coming and the resurrection but to a time past to be much puzled And indeed there is cause for as it is a forced Translation and besides the Etymologie of the word to translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 otherwise than from henceforth or from this time so cannot any solid reason be given for it without a supposal of the resurrection to be here intimated why the dead from this time should be pronounced Blessed more than from any other time why from this time they should rest from their labours and have their works following them more than from any other time To say they go to Heaven by Death and there rest from their labours Answ But why from this time rather than any other are they blessed seeing all that dye in the Lord throughout all Ages are equally made partakers of the blessing in this sense To say the reason of the special blessing ariseth from the Cause they dye in they dye in Christs Cause and suffer as Martyrs Ans But why is the speciality of the Blessing annexed to this time seeing as Martyrs many had suffered for Christ long before To say as do some others because the Gospel began now to be preached in the world which only makes men dye happily Answ But why from this time seeing a Soul cannot dye happily or in the Lord at any time without some knowledge of Christ and the Gospel To restrain this as do some others to the pains of Purgatory which they say till about this time did cause fear even in good people at their deaths but now the Gospel being preached clearly and the vanity of that opinion laid open the people of God dye comfortably with assurance of going straight-way into Paradise will not help us with an interpretation for who can think otherwise but that the vanity of this most grose opinion was laid open before even when the everlasting Gospel was preached vers 6.7 and if so why then are they said to be blessed from this time and not rather from that time when the everlasting Gospel began to be preached To say yet as do others because great Persecutions were now to arise so that it was a blessing to be dead before they came Ans 1. Whether is it a greater blessing to die in the Lord a Martyr or to die of a mans natural death 2. Let it be considered Whether the time of the Waldenses Albigenses which time Expositors place higher making application of the thing spoken of vers 6 7. to them were not a time of as sore yea sorer Persecutions than the time to which they make application of these words and if so that this be the onely reason why then should not the blessing be placed there rather than here or as well there as here For my own part I do conceive that the thing here intimated is the Resurrection which opinion as it cuts off a multitude of uncertainties so doth it agree most fitly to the circumstance of time according to the method I have observed and is clear also from the Context consent of other Scriptures and the words themselves taken in their natural sense without straining or forcing of them being in effect thus much as if the Holy Ghost should say The children of God untill this day have been ever accounted the worlds Fools who have counted their life a burden and toyl their death a loss of their expectations but now at this day of the Resurrection when the fruit of Gods peoples patience their faith and obedience of which was spoken in the foregoing verse which hath a necessary dependance on this and had we conjoyned them in our exposition as they are in the Text it might possibly have been better shall be manifested before all men it shall then be seen that those who in former ages from the very beginning of the world did live to the Lord and dye in the Lord are the onely blessed men who from this day in Soul and Body both are made partakers and that in recompence of their former toyl and labours of the glorious rest of Christ having now their good works following them i. e. the reward of all their former good works which the world looked upon as things lost and cast away given to them Hence which serves to expound these words the time of the seventh Angels sounding which is contemporary with this both looking to the time of Christs coming is called the time of Gods giving a reward unto his Servants the Prophets and to the Saints and to them that fear his name smal and great Rev. 11.18 which answers punctually to this of their works i.e. the reward of their works following them By these two Scriptures I am further confirmed in what I have writen upon the Vials viz. That not Martyrs onely but all the Saints shall rise in the first Resurrection and come with Christ for the blessing here pronounced is common to all that dye in the Lord yea to all that have kept the patience faith and commandements of Christ and not peculiar to Martyrs onely the rewarding Saints in the time of the new Jerusalem is not a rewarding Martyrs onely but all that fear Gods Name a qualification common to Saints smal and great As for the double similitude in the following words 1. Of a Harvest vers 15 16. 2. Of a Vintage vers 18 19 20. whether the Harvest signifie Christs gathering his Elect in the world which are his Corn together to him 1 Thes 4 17. 2 Thes 2.1 Mat. 24.31 And the Vintage Christs destruction of those of his Enemies that he finds gathered together upon his appearing or whether one thing viz. The ruin of his enemies be intended in both which seems best to agree to Joel 3.13 Put ye in the Sickle for the Harvest is ripe come get you down for the Press is full the Fat 's over-flow which Prophecy as it is the same for time with this so this seems to be taken thence I shall not undertake possitively to determine Further whether the Angel with a Sickle who gathers the Vintage ver 19. be any Angel that Christ makes use of at his coming to destroy his enemies as God by an Angel destroyed the Host of Senacherib or whether this Angel be Christ himself who before
cause of his people against him shall the power of this fourth Monarchy stand up and by him without the help of any Creature shall it be destroyed therefore said in the following words to be broken without hand i.e. without mans hand by Christ alone agreeing to other places which speak of the same time Isa 63.3 I have trodden the Wine-press alone and of the people there was none with me Chap. 66.16 The slain of the Lord shall be many Rev. 19.21 the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat on the Horse with many others The final destruction also of that proud King spoken of chap. 11. viz. the fourth Monarchy is by the personal appearance of Christ as compare chap. 11. ult He shall come to his end and none shall help him with chap. 12.1 And at that time shall Michael or Christ stand up So that the utmost point of either Prophecy or the concluding act of that long Tragedy which we have First Rehearsed in brief chap. 8. Secondly More fully declared in that last and great Prophecy chapters 10 11 12. is the standing up of Michael therefore the 2300 days which bring us to the end of the first and the 1335 which bring us to the end of the second must both expire at one and the same point viz. with Christs personal appearance THESIS XXXV The point of time at which either ends is A.D. 1701. THESIS XXXVI The true beginnings of either number do necessarily infer this year to be the end THESIS XXXVII The 1335 days are to be begun at the same Head with the 1290 therefore but one Head of account is laid down to both which is the taking away of the daily Sacrifice and setting up that abomination that maketh desolate vers 11. Onely it is to be extended so many years farther as there are more days in the 1335. then we have in the 1290 which is 45 years now 45 years being added to the year 1656 where as hath been proved endeth the 1290 the 1335 wil expire with the aforesaid year 1701. THESIS XXXVIII The 2300 days are to be begun with the beginning of the Persian Monarchy namely with the first year of Cyrus The reason is because the eighth Chapter of Daniel is as I have said a Prophecy of the three last Monarchies onely viz. Medes and Persians Grecians Romans therefore may we not go upward into the Babylonish Monarchy for a beginning because in so doing we exceed the bounds and limits of the Prophecy but we are to begin with the first year of Cyrus with which year begins the Prophecy it self THESIS XXXIX That the Heads of either number which yet both end at one and the same point are so stated as that the greater begins with the beginning of the Persian Monarchy and so with the Head of the Vision it self running down quite through it the lesser not till near a 1000 years after about the midst of the Vision a little before the coming forth of the Beast is no less than the most glorious result of the wonderful wisdom of the All-wise disposer of all things who for divers reasons hath thought good so to order it 1 That hereby the Mysteries of these two Prophecies yea all Daniels Prophecies might be the greater for observe there being not above three years betwixt either Vision Daniel having the first of these two in the third of Belshazzar chap. 8.1 which year was the last of the Babylonian Monarchy his second in the third of Cyrus chap. 10.1 the third year of the Persian had both been to be begun from the time of the Visions then would the number of dayes in either have been equal to about three dayes which little time too the Text hath clearly determined to pass betwixt Vision and Vision and if so this one thing alone would have been so great a Standard of light into both these Prophecies yea all the Prophecies of Daniel his 70 weeks excepted all the rest having dependance on these as could no way stand with the design of the Holy Ghost which was to have the Book sealed up until the time of the end for hence it would have been obvious and evident to every eye 1 That either Prophecy were the same and had one and the same beginning and ending 2 That the thing spoken of the little horn chap. 8. and of the vile person chap. 11. were not to be applied to the time of Antiochus rage which very opinion hath been a cloud upon the Prophecies of Daniel for a long time for as Mr. Parker in his Daniels Prophecies expounded pag. 37. hath well proved the 2300 days are no way appliable to the time of Antiochus persecutions 3 That all Daniels Visions and Prophecies viz. That of the great Image chap. 2. That of the four Beasts and the little Horn chap. 7. together with these chap. 8 and chap. 10 11 12. do terminate at one and the same point and this point to be no other but the end of the 2300 the 1335 days for if these two be the same and terminate at one point then by a parallel of reason the other two also viz. that of the great Image and that of the four Beasts for either of those conclude with work of a like nature and glory of a like kind with these And if so then is that other clouding opinion which darkens all Daniels Prophecies at this day viz. That the little Horn chap. 7. is to be understood either of the whole Norman Race here in England from William the Conqueror the first of that Race as some conceive or of the late King Charles onely the last of that Race as others shaken off for that Race hath been extirpated root and branch these five years already whereas to the end of the 2300 days the 1335 it is near 50 years yet to come and therefore we must of necessity unless we deny that which from the scope of each Prophecy is so clear as that it is undeniable viz that Daniels Prophecies have but one and the same end conclude that either the little Horn Chap. 7. is no such thing as many now adays suppose or affirm that the final destruction of this little Horn is come upon him upwards of fifty years before the determined time Now this one beam of light followed being such as that it discovers most of those by-wayes that men have gone in and thereby darkned the truth of Daniel it could not I say stand with Gods design of sealing this Book to make Revelation of so great and clear light as would have come in had the heads of each number been placed with the time of each Vision 2 Reason Because hereby the latter Prophecy which is the clearer and intended by the Lord as a farther and more particular light into those things that in the general had been revealed before should have been as dark as the other in regard of making up any account of time had the same began as