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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86683	Lingua testium: wherein monarchy is proved, 1. To be jure divino. 2. To be successive in the Church (except in time of a nationall desertion) from Adam untill Christ. 3. That monarchy is the absolute true government under the Gospel. 4. That immediately after extraordinary gifts in the Church ceased, God raised up a monarch for to defend the Church. 5. That Christian monarchs are one of the witnesses spoken of Rev. 11. 6. That England is the place from whence God fetched the first witnesse of this kind. 7. England was the place whither the witnesses, (viz. godly magistracy and ministry) never drove by Antichrist. Where is proved, first, that there hath been a visible magistracy, (though in sackcloth,) these 1260. yeares in England. ... Amongst these things are proved that the time of the calling of the Jews, the fall of Antichrist, and the ruine of the Beast of the earth is at hand. Wherein you have the hard places of Mat. 24, and Rev. 17. explained with severall other hard texts: ... / Written by Testis-Mundus Catholicus, in the yeare of the Beasts of the earth's raign, 1651.	Hall, Edmund, 1619 or 20-1687.	1651 (1651)	Wing H327; Thomason E632_22; ESTC R202496	43,212	57

unquestionable title both by succession and conquest after his ascension according to his promise sent his holy spirit in an extraordinary way upon his twelve Apostles who dividing the world amongst them went forth in the power of the Holy Ghost conquering the people During their time there was no need of any Magistracy for their protection for the Holy Ghost protected them beyond all the Magistracy in the world it released them out of the strongest prison brake open the strongest gates and knockt down their stoutest enemies as Paul who was doubtlesse some great Magistrate amongst them for he was the companion of Herod and when he was converted the Church had peace round about which argues there was none before his conversion greater then he he punished the scandalous as Ananias and Saphira it gave like a Monarch large boons to those that desired it it healed the sick gave limbs to the lame raised the dead and by its imperiall power made spirits of men in every Nation bow down to the Apostles commands this extraordinary presence of the spirit with the Apostles was beyond all the Monarchs in the world for this Spirit saved all the passengers in the Ship when the Ship was broken all in pieces which all the Monarchs in the world could not do this Spirit raised Paul from death to life after he was stoned which all the powers in the world could not do therefore there was no need of a Magistracy to protect them in that Age the power of working Miracles was their Magistracy at this time say some We may truly affirm that since Christs universall conquest on the Crosse after his Resurrection from that day Matth. 28. 18. that he divulged this universall power in heaven and earth the Church hath not been left without a true Monarch for Christ is that Monarch who gave Commission to his Disciples to divulge his Laws and command the world to observe them and he would be with his Embassadors to the end of the world so that the true Church cannot be without a Monarch who by a naturall right according to the flesh raigns over them and will raign in the midst of his enemies and make all their designs promote his honor and his Churches good this grand priviledge only the Gospell Church injoys for the Jews had only temporall Monarchs according to the flesh who died away but they had not a spirituall Monarch who by right of Succession came whom through unbelief they reject to this day though for certain he is their lawfull naturall King by a naturall right of Succession being of the Linage of David and he is our naturall King we being Gentiles by a right of Succession from Adam and he is spiritually the King both of the Jews and Gentiles by that spituall infinitely glorious Conquest which he got over the Wrath of God and his Divine Justice over the Powers of hell and all their malice and over the souls of the Elect and all their sinnes so that he is by Conquest the Monarch of the Gospell Church so that the Church under the Gospell can never be without a Throne and one to sit upon that Throne In the last place this we do affirm that soon after extraordinary gifts ceased and that extraordinary Succession of Ministers which Christ promised to be with til the end of the world Mat. 28. 20. succeeded God raised up a civil Magistracy for the protecting of the Church propagation of the Gospel and preservation of the Ministery This Magistracy was visible in England before any other part of the world and as Rome furnished our Magistracy with a godly orthodox Christian Ministery so not long after our Magistracy furnished Rome with a godly Magistracy to rescue the Ministery out of the Jawes of those Heathen Dragons Lucius about 170 years after Christ being a Brittish King of this Nation was called to be Gods Vicar as Elutherius Bishop of Rome terms him this Christian King sets up Christs Lawes and Faith in his Kingdom pulling down Paganism and setting up Christian Bishopricks in the room of the Pagan Flamins About 130 years after out of the same Royall Brittish bloud God raised up that famous Witness for his Truth Constantine who became the first great protecter of the Christians throughout the habitable world he was the first that made Rome which for a long time had been the Devils Throne to become Gods Throne Rev. 12. He threw down the bloudy Dragons the Emperours and Rome afterward became famous in her Magistracy and Ministery for Christ beyond all the world untill Antichrist arose and drove these Witnesses into the Wilderness and made them war sackcloth since which rising and tyrannizing of Antichrist there hath been a visible Magistracy and Ministery in England as Witnesses to the Truth of Christ though many times in great obscurity through outward persecutions it would be here too tedious to relate what might be said of the Magistracy and Ministery of England we will onely say thus much that the Kings and Bishops of England testified to the Truth against the Popes Antichristian Usurpation more then others and before any other Witnesses for about the time Anno 800. when the Popes were swelled to their height even then shall we find when other Kings kissed the Popes feet the Kings and Bishops of England opposed their Usurpation What if I did assert this That the first lawfull Christian Magistracy under the Gospell arose in England from England it went to Rome wherefore a little while half an hour it flourished and caused great peace in the Church but when Antichrist arose he drove the lawfull Magistracy and lawfull Ministery of Rome into Sackcloth and into the Wildernesse that is into some remote place from Rome observe it Rev. 12. 14. The Woman that is the Church that brought forth such a happy Son as Constantine this Woman by Antichrist is drove into the Wildernesse saith the Text into her place whence I conclude that England is this Wildernesse For first this was the place from whence a godly Magistracy went unto Rome and secondly this was the place unto which the Witnesses were drove again where I say have been visible in sackcloth since the Popes usurpation of Rome nay let me add this to my assertion that the lawfull Monarch of Rome by a true Line of Succession was Charles the King of England who was beheaded on a lofty Scaffold at noon at his own door January 30. 1648. For if noble Sir Robert Naunron that learned Antiquary and noble Lawyer say true in his Fragmenta Regalia cap. 1. p. 2. whose words are these Remarkable it is saith he concerning the violent desertion of the Royall house of Britains by the invasion of the Saxons and afterward by the conquest of the Normans that by the vicissitude of times and thought a discontinuance almost a thousand years the Royall Scepter should fall back into the Corrent of the old British bloud in the person of Henry VII

That Christ ordained a Government and that potestas ordo power and order are essentiall in that Government ●o Divines do deny but the Modus titulus in this government is that which as yet lies disputable Some say this government ought to be Aristocraticall Of this opinion is that holy and learned Calvin which I wonder at his grounds for it are because he thinks the ancient government of the Jewes was Aristocratical but the sandy foundation of this opinion shews us the weakness of this Argument For there is nothing more clear then that Israels government from their deliverance out of Egipt to their captivity in Babylon was Monarchical if Supaemacy in one be Monarchy so that out of the rains of Calvins Argument will arise a firm Argument Thus if the examples of Civill-government under the Gospel must be according to that under the Law for there the force of Calvins argument lies then Monarchy is the government that must be erected in the time of the Gospel but we pass this Hierom is of opinion which he grounds on Dan. 7.18 That when the great Day of Gospel-Reformation shall come i. e. when the Roman Monarchy is destroyed then saith he all Kingdoms shall be thrown down and there shall be no government at all onely the Communion of the Saints But this Opinion as 't is much built upon these Times so 't is built on a sandy foundation upon a mistake in the interpretation of Dan. 7. 18. and it is absolutely contradictory to these prophetick promises of uniting the two Tribes and the ten Tribes under one King or government i. e. making them as at first one Kingdom under one King and against those Texts which promise to the Jews That in the Gospel-dayes amongst the Gentile-Gospellers He will raise up Kings to be their nursing Fathers and Queens to be their nursing Mothers and many other texts therfore we pass this also The noble and most learned Hebrews for the most part conclude That God will call them again and make them a famous Monarchy So that the worst of them hold that Monarchy shall continue untill the end of the world indeed Levie Ben Gerson an Hebrew upon the first of Sam. 8. pleads for Aristocracie and to advance it he like the Serpent bites Kingly-Government by the heel like as the Prelates on the one hand and the Independents on the other hand plead against Presbytery so doth he against Monarchy For he picks up the excrements of the Kings of Judah and Israel and from their illsavouring infirmities conclude therefore their government is such as their infirmities were which is such a childish weak way of arguing that it deserves no answer As if because the Priests were naught therefore their Office must be naught or because a Sacrifice was lame therefore the Temple was naught or as if because the image on the gold is defaced therefore the gold is naught this is peevish-childishness therefore we pass that also and come to the question Whether Christ ordained Monarchy to be in the Gospel Church To that we answer negatively as to the Title 1. No King on Earth since Christs incarnation to this day can shew an extraordinary or immediate Call from God to be King as David could and Solomon could for he was chosen King by God before he was born 2. There is no King since Christ that can say he hath a naturall right to his Kingdom Succession that ended in Christ who had a true Title by natural succession to be Monarch of the World as descending from Adam Luk. 3. and a natural right to the Monarchy of the Jews as descending of Abraham Matth. 1. So that Christ onely is naturally according to the flesh by succession the King of the Jews and Gentiles and in this sence is Rom. 5. 14. to be understood where Adam is said to be a Type of him to come that is as he was Monarch of the World by divine institution and naturall right so that he that claims since Christs incarnation by a natural right the Monarchy of the World or Kingdom of the Jews usurps the Office of Christ for Christ onely is Monarch of the world by a natural descent and in this respect he is both King and Priest after the order of Melchisedeck for Melchisedeck was without beginning of dayes or end of time in respect both of his Priestly and Kingly Office without beginning of dayes that is in respect of his pedegree for he was both King and Priest by naturall succession from Seth the son of Adam which was time out of mind For none at that time were able to tell the antiquity of his descent who by birth was both Monarch and Priest and then this Melchisedeck was without end of time For neither the Kingly Office nor the Priestly Office were extinct in the Church untill Christ came in whom met both the Kingly the Priestly and the Prophetick Office this Christ was according to the flesh the naturall son of Melchisedeck who having carried up to heaven with him his humane nature sits a King a Priest and a Prophet in that nature in heaven for ever on his Churches behalf and in this sense Melchisedecks offices are without end of time for our King and our Priest is ascended up into heaven where he makes continuall intercession for us so that since him there is no succession of Monarchs by lineall descents but Magistracy is not made null under the Gospell because it ceaseth in respect of a naturall title by succession For God hath ordained by his approving providence other ways of erecting Monarchs then by succession or immediate call as David was Monarch over the countries round about him not by succession nor by an immediate call from God but by conquest so that the great Office of Monarchy may lawfully come in at other doors though the door of succession and immediate calling from God be shut But this is not the question That Christ hath not abolished Monarchy under the Gospel nothing is more clear For government is a morall thing and stands as sure as the fifth Commandement Now Monarchy is Gods government therefore it stands firm with the fifth Commandement which Laws he came not to make void but establish We may truly argue therfore for Monarchy under the Gospel by an argument taken à fortiori For if under the Law God gave to his Church Monarchicall government much more doth that great blessing belong to the Gospel Church Paul exhorts that prayers especially be made for Kings that they might be converted that so under them the Church might lead a peaceable life so that Kings were to be brought in under the Gospel as well as others It is true indeed there was not immediately after Christs ascension a visible established Magistracy in the Church because the Church was not then established Besides there was no need of Magistracy at that time for Christ the absolute Monarch of heaven and earth by a true and

LINGVA TESTIVM WHEREIN MONARCHY IS PROVED 1. To be Jure Divino 2. To be successive in the Church except in time of a Nationall desertion from Adam untill Christ 3. That Monarchy is the absolute true Government under the Gospel 4. That immediately after extraordinary Gifts in the Church ceased God raised up a Monarch for to defend the Church 5. That Christian Monarchs are one of the witnesses spoken of Rev. 11. 6. That England is the place from whence God fetched the first witnesse of this kind 7. England was the place whither the Witnesses viz. godly Magistracy and Ministry never drove by Antichrist Where is Proved First that there hath been a visible Magistracy though in sackcloth these 1260. yeares in England Secondly That this Magistracy in all Ages since Antichrists being visible hath witnessed for Christ against Antichrist Thirdly That the late King who was cut off with the Axe was the lawfull successor of Gods witnesses who for these 1260. yeares have been Witnesses in Sackcloth for Christ against Antichrist whereby t' is evident that he is the slain Witnesse that finished his Testimony Fourthly That his Son the K. of Scotland who is the Witnesse expected 3. yeares and an half after the slaying of the Witnesses to rise again is by an unquestionable title Emperour of Rome and that Prince expected to be the ruine of the Antichristian Monarchy of Rome Amongst these things are proved that the time of the calling of the Jews the fall of Antichrist and the ruine of the Beast of the Earth is at hand Where in you have the hard places of Mat. 24 and Rev. 17. explained with severall other hard Texts Together with a description of the last Enemies which slay the Witnesses whereby t is evident that England is the place where the Witnesses are slain and no place else Written by Testis-Mundus Catholicus In the yeare of the Beasts of the Earth's raign 1651. READER I Have taken upon me one of the hardest Taskes this day in the World and who am I that undertake it but the weakest that ever travelled in this high way I find Gyants in learning stumbling falling stragling and quite tyred in this way many mighty men durst never adventure to put foot therein and few that ever entred it can say they came to their journies end there was still a pus ultra which they all acknowledged This only was my encouragement to enter into this sacred Thicket of Divine Mysteries that that Divine Essence which gave it to the world delights to reveale it to Babes and Sucklings in the world I am sure my Lord and Master the King of Heaven and Earth delights to have it so The great God usually magnifies his grace this way by doing great things by the weakest meanes He made a poore weake despised Maid alone to bring forth the mighty Monarch of Heaven and Earth Indeed in this great work I have been as the blessed Virgin both {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} alone Whiles I was bigge of what I have here brought forth in both these Tracts I was inforced like Elizabeth to hide my self for so grievous were the thrumps and kicks of my friends against it whiles I went in pain of it that I could not endure them and now it is born the Herods of the times doe seek its life I must confesse it goeth adroad in a homely dress yet it is never the lesse nor never the worse truth The Harp is Davids Harp though the Method and the Stile which are as the strings and the fingers are mine which I could heartily wish were better The rudenesse of them I doe acknowledge may give occasion to my enemies to make me the morrall of Lucians Fable who deriding illiterate sauce-boxes tells us of a Supercilious Asses whose aspiring minde looking at least five Sphere above his reach made his rude fingers itch to be playing on Orpheus his Harp snatching it therefore from Apollo to whom 't was dedicated to work he went and made therewith such an hideous noise that instead of making wilde Beasts tame as Orpheus was wont he made the tame Dogs of the Town madde who ran upon him and tore him in pieces I doe not desire to make the morrall of this Fable let if I must because my enemies will have it so if I make such harsh musick of that Sacred Harp the Bible that I inrage the Dogs of this age against me but my enemies remember that my unskilfull fingers make harsh musick onely in Dogs eares and however the harp I play upon is still the same and none but Dogs thereat will be inraged I confesse of all Instruments this of Sigionoth is the hardest and I may truly say that many excellent Musicians otherwayes have made such harsh musick on this Instrument that the Romish Dogs have had to Just a cause to bark at them but as for the Romish party I feare them not because I am sure they cannot come at me for their own Authors they must thrust them through to touch me and so must the Independents likewise so that I have the least cause of any man to feare either of them and as for others I expect by the Law of gratitude faire dealing at their hands if it be asked why this Preface is made a book distinct and not joyned to Manus Testium as it ought I answer 1. 'T is not my fault but theirs that print it these are times of separation 2. I committed them to severall hands that if one miscarried the other might possibly have safe arivall and if either there might be light enough in that alone to tell the the world who the witnesses are where they shall be slain when they shall be slain and who shall slay them and when and where he shall be overcome that slayes them For this cause have I handled many things in this Preface which I have touched on in the Book and touched many things here which I have handled in the Booke that in this Tract I have handled more clearly which I lest obscurely through over much brevity in the Book especially that of Monarchy and that of the Beast which slayes the witnesses in Rev. 17. where I have indeavoured to answer all the hard questions in that Chapter which is the mystery of the Revelations as yet to me never by any one fully and clearely opened I have not studied loftiness but plainness of speech in these Tracts I have not as most Schollars doe eyed onely Schollars but herein playing the Jesuite of our times I have eyed the Vulgar ●ort most and writ to their capacities that so counter-workking the Jesuite of our times I might undeceive poore misled soules who are stung with those Iesuiticall Independent Scorpions and bring them to the knowledge of the true Church a lawfull Magistracy and ministery and discover to them the true Antichrist For this cause reader doe I run a corporall hazard on purpose to save thy soule harmlesse by

years of this opinion but many others more moderate as Irenaeus Turtullian Lactantius Victorinus Apolonius Severus Justinus and several others These did not hold as Corynthus did that they should raign with Christ in corporal but in spiritual delights after 6000 years were accomplished from the Creation may not I say Augustine lib. 20. de Civit. Dei Cap. 7. is of this opinion and Ierome on Dan. 7. where he saith In uno Romano imperio propter Antichristum blasphemantem omnia simul regna delenda sunt nequaquam terrenum imperium erit sed Sanctorum conversatio a saying much harped on though not quoted in these times to further the design of slaying the Witnesses And upon the same mistake as it is conceived the Councils though they were for the most part against this opinion yet they could never unanimously agree to condemn the Opinion as heretical Others of our recents very learned men and pious thinking to confute this errour of the Chiliasts run into more absurdities then the most of those whom they endeavour to confute for not knowing how to remove that Mountain betwixt the Chiliasts and them about the first Resurrection and the raign of the Saints and the 1000. years binding of Sathan they say that the raign of the Saints is pa●t it being before Antichrist comes into the world Of this opinion is Hortulanus and as I am informed by Schollars Pereus Galianus that learned Romanist is of the same opinion as appears by his Manuscripts in the Vatican by Antichrist they mean that Beast of the Earth Rev. 13. 12. which shall arise Rev. 11. 7. and slay the Witnesses few of the Romanists concur with them in their opinion but very many Protestants in the main jump with them but as contrary to the light of the Scriptures as darkness is to light But there are other learned men of great renown who decline both these opinions as Bullinger Beucer and Seraphin who affirm that the great and magnificent promises made to the Church in the old Testament and in the new are not yet fulfilled but are to be fulfilled after the downfall of Antichrist after which say they and others with them the Devills kingdom of darknesse heresie and blasphemie shall be ruined and the Church shall no more be afflicted with heresie but the heavenly form of government shall be set up in the Church which shall suppresse all its enemies with these learned men so far as I have quoted them I shall concur For this I do affirm yet not I but the Scriptures that there is another great day of reformation to be in the world before the day of judgment besides that great day of reformation already past which Christ when he was on earth began this shall be a more glorious day then any that ever yet was on earth I do not say that Christ shall reign on earth personally I abhor that extreme with that learned Father B. Hall in his tract called the Revelations unrevealed but I or rather the Prophets do affirm that in this great day of reformation to come after the downfall of Antichrist the twelve Tribes shall be converted to the Gospel Here therefore I must with my reverend fathers good leave be his dissenting son notwithstanding all he hath said to the contrary For first whereas he saith the promises in the Prophets are spiritually to be taken and not literally concerning the twelve Tribes but concerning the gospel-Gospel-Church I briefly reply this argument is invalid because he neither backs it with reason nor Scripture with reason he cannot for it is a non sequitur to say because the Prophets somtimes are to be understood therefore alwayes I am sure this is neither true in Logick nor Divinity 2. There is no probability in his assertion for though indeed Jerusalem be somtimes in the Prophets put for the Gospel-Church yet where the Prophets speak of the house of Iudah and the house of Ioseph there I believe 't will be hard for the Doctor to prove that they are spiritually to be understood of the Gospel Church as Zach. 10. 6 7 8. so in severall other places had the Bishop instanced in any place of the Prophets we should have grapled then for probability But I passe on 3. If these Prophecies do nothing concern the restauration of the Jewes in these latter dayes then to what purpose did God send his Prophets to sing songs in their ears if it nothing concerned them Certainly these Prophecies were prophesied amongst them to no purpose if all those Prophecies belonged to the Gentiles then certainly God would have sent his Prophets amongst them but they principally concerned the Jewes and therefore they were prophesied amongst them and to them to whom they belonged for God never sends his Prophets out of order all Gods Prophets prophesied to the people to whom they were sent but the Prophets of the old Testament were appointed Prophets for the twelve Tribes except those that had speciall Commission as Ionas to go to the Gentiles and therefore to them principally these Prophesies belong and therefore that hard question is thus resolved since in Luke 21. Ierusalem shall be trodden underfoot untill the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled and the time of the Gentiles reigne continues Rev. 11. 2. 1260. years how coms it to passe in Dan. 12. that the time of the Church's dissipation shall be 1290. dayes To that 't is thus answered Daniel was a Prophet principally designed for the Jewes and therefore God declares to him how long the dissipation of the Jewes shall be which as M. Brightman and other learned men say on Dan. 12. 11. began Anno 360. therefore their time is up about this yeare 1650. their time of dissipation being to continue 1290. years but now our Saviour in Luke 21. 24. respects the Gospel Gentile Church as well as the Jewes which shall be as Rev. 11. 1. drove into a sack cloth condition untill the time of 1260. years be accomplished Now many learned men count that the time of Antichrists appearing to be formally Antichrist and the time of the Witnesses going into the Wilderness and putting on sackcloth was in or neer about the year 390. So that Antichrists raign and the witnesses sackcloth condition is expired in Anno 1650. Now if Daniel in his Prophesie should onely respect the Gentile Church how could Iohn Christ and Daniel be reconciled in their prophefies To return therefore to the thing in hand we affirm that the Prophets in the Old Testament prophesied of the futurehappy state of their own Kindred and Nation and not of the Gentile Church but accidentally and occasionally for the most part as shewing what shall come to pass in the Gentile-Church immediatly before the great Day of the Jews conversion which is the sign that the Jews shall have of their approaching glorious Day And therefore the Old Testament prophesies of the uniting of the house of Ioseph and Iudah together under one King and

and in great numbers and this shall be Ezek. 37. 11. when Israel gave themselves for lost and their hopes were cut off then the whole house of Israel like bones exceeding dry came together and they that were in the Valley of dry bones v. 1. became an exceeding great Army ver. 10. How cleer there doth the Holy Ghost prophesie of the conversion of the whole house of Israel that is the twelve Tribes Now if it should be objected 't was prophesied of their restauration under the second Temple to that I answer it cannot be because onely the two Tribes returned and not the ten Tribes to the second Temple as Manass-Ben-Israel affirms and generally all Historians hold that very few of the ten Tribes returned with the two But now this Prophesie extends to the whole house of Israel ver. 11. i e. the twelve Tribes So that from the time of the Prophesie untill this day it hath not as yet been fulfilled and therefore 't is to be fulfilled and when 't is fulfilled it will be suddenly as Romes ruine will be sudden so the Jews conversion will be sudden and therefore our Lord Jesus and their true Messia's prophecying of their conversion Matth. 24. in ver. 24 25 26. he tells them Antichrist shall be busie with his false Prophets immediatly before the day of Christs coming to destroy Antichrist and to convert the Jewes and then shall he come as the lightning which comes from the East and is quickly in the West so shall the coming of Christ be This coming of Christ cannot be meant of his coming to judgment but of his coming to call the Jews to repentance and to destroy the Roman Monarchy or the Roman Antichristian Pontifick state in ver. 29. the destruction of Rome is prophesied and ver. 30. prophesies of the repentance of the twelve Tribes in the day of his spiritual appearance to them in the Gospel ver. 31. prophesies of the time when this shall be it shall be at the sounding of the great voyce and the Trumpet that is at the sounding of the seventh Trumpet Rev. 11. 16. when the Witnesses shall rise Antichrist shall fall and Euphrates shall be dryed up ver. 32 33. tells us that the Tribulation of the Gospel-church under the rage of Hereticks as Separatists Blasphemers Seducers Antichrists and false Prophets is as sure a sign of the downfall of Rome and the conversion of the Jews as the budding and sprouting of the trees are of the approaching of the summer Now these Heresies and these false Prophets shall be eminent in the Gospel-Gentile Church which shall be the true sign of the Jews conversion ver. 34. plainly tells us this cannot be meant of the day of Judgement for this generation saith Christ shall not passe that is the stock of Israel shall not be extirpate untill they have seen all these things fulfilled this day is called Luke 21. the day of the redemption of the twelve Tribes Now if this day as some would have it be the day of Judgement this day would be the damnation of the Tribes if they must be in the world untill this day and unconverted therefore this day is the day of the Jews conversion not the day of Judgement ver. 25. The next verse is to confirm the certainty of the Prophecy For heaven and earth shall passe away but not one title of the Word shall passe away ver. 36. But of that day and of that hour i. e. of the heavens and earth passing away knoweth no man by this 't is manifest that Christ in the whole Chapter speaks not one word of the day of Judgement untill ver. 35. which he forbids any to pry into for God only knew that but of the day of his coming to ruine Rome and convert the Jews he bids us by the foregoing signes know for certain that it was near even at the doors ver. 33. Now this glorious coming of Christ in his spirituall and corporall punishments on his enemies and his spirituall and corporall favors to the Jews shall be as the lightning which is swift in it's motion it gives light from East to West presently so shall all the Kingdomes in this world become the Lords and his Christs on a suddain Therefore far be it from any Protestant to have such a malignant thought as that God hath forgot to be gracious or that his hand is shortned that he cannot help the poor Jews which are this day many of them looking listening and admiring at us in England and Scotland whose eyes I trust shall see some glorious sign of good to them ere long Forty times more may be said in vindication of this manifest truth concerning the twelve Tribes conversion but considering how little is said against it I shall say no more but proceed The subject of my ensuing Discourse in this and Manus Testium which should be joyned with this is concerning this great day My opinion is that the three grand Enemies of the Church shall neer about the end or within a year of 1650. begin to rise and never fall more at this time also the morning of the Jews conversion shall begin and shall shine more and more untill it come to a perfect day These Opinions the Reader shall find bottomed on Scripture which Scriptures are not of any private interpretation but such as are matched with Scripture which illustrate the things proved by them and also have several learned Authors concurring in the confirmation of the same thing so that if I am laughed at for my opinion I doubt not but in that particular what ever it be of moment I shall make the Remonstrant confess he scoffs not onely at me but at his betters I write not this to deter any from endeavouring to confute this ensuing Tract for one end of my writing so briefly on so large a subject is that I may have a speedy answer and a seasonable confutation which if it be cleer from Scripture-grounds I shall readily and willingly submit and return a thankfull Reply to my Corrector and promise him to retract my Errours As for the time of Antichrists fall which I conceive to begin presently after 1650. it is well known that 't is no new opinion for Brightman and several other learned men have so conjectured upon this ground which is humane because 't is drawn from humane story for he begins the Jews great afflictions in An. 360. so that their 1290. years afflictions must necessarily be expired in this year 1650. and Dr. Homes and several others well-versed in the study of the Revelations and of History do gather that Antichrist appeared visibly in the Church in Anno 390. so that the Gentile and Jewish church afflictions seem both to expire at one time for Antichrist is to rage over the Gentile church but 1260. years which by the compute is accomplished Anno 1650. Now as Dr. Homes saith very well in so many years possibly there may be lost-time in the account so

Princes were greater then the Vintage the great Conquest of Gideon over that vast Army But here is another hard question comes in and that is from v. 14. and 16. Q. How can it be said in v. 13. that the Horns make war with the Lamb and the Lamb overcomes them and in v. 16. The ten Horns shall hate the whore and make her naked and eat her flesh and burn her with fire Resp. To this we answer Those ten Horns cannot be the same in person in v. 14. with these in v. 16. 1. Because these in v. 14. make war against the Lamb but those in v. 16. make war for the Lamb 2. Those in v. 14. are destroyed and overcome by the Lamb and therefore cannot be the same in person with those in v. 16. because they shall hate the Whore Now comes in the Judgement of the Whore spoken of v. 1. and in this v. 16. the Officers that shall bring her to Judgement are set forth Observe but the opposition that the Holy Ghost puts betwixt the person and persons in one Office by the ten Horns as I have shew'd signifies a Senate a Parliament or a supream power consisting of many Members This v. 14. and 16. if seriously perused shew us that there shall be a great Rent amongst persons conjoyn'd in one office the ten Horns v. 12. arise with the beast but the other v. 17. give their Kingdom through their oversight to the beast so that these clearly are distinct for these last ten Horns had a Kingdom or else they could not give it away but the other v. 12. come to be Kings or as Kings with the beast so that the coming up of these is the casting down of those vers. 17. untill the words of God be fulfilled Those ten Kings vers. 13. give their power and strength which they received from the beast to the beast against the Lamb But those ten Horns v. 17. give but their Kingdom for a time and when that time is fulfilled i. e. when the seventh Trumpet sounds when the mystery of God shall be finished or fulfilled then those shall hate the Whore and shall make her desolate and eat her flesh and burn her with si●e This gives us a most clear description of the slain Witnesses by a party atising out of their own bowels Here are the same ten Horns for the beast against the Lamb and the same ten Horns for the Lamb against the Beast and the Whore This is a mystery which hath been locked up from former ages and is now in the eyes of all the world revealing it self these ten Horns therefore are distinct in their persons and the same in office onely the one party sides with the Beast who gives them his power to slay the Witnesses so that these reigning keep the name and power of a Parliament and so they are called the ten Horns and this Rome they keep till the true Parliament which pretendedly was on the beasts head arise and by their powerful prosecution of their Covenant-Reformation shew their hatred to the Whore make her desolate eat her flesh and burn her with fire For certain the rising of the slain Witnesses shall be the downfall of the Beast the Pope and the Devils Kingdom I am not ignorant how remote I am from the common received opinions of the Protestants neither am I ignorant how far they are from the clear light of sacred Text which gives too much occasion to the Romish party in their writings to scorn at their interpretations It were easie to shew the contradictions that they make who interpret these ten Horns to be the ten Kings of Europe but I forbear and only make this the excuse of my prolixity because I easily perceive the great stone which the Protestant Writers stumble at is this last beast that is to rise and raign three years and an half in which time he slays the Witnesses This Beast few of them for ought I can perceive ever dream't of therefore they mistake the Beast rising out of the bottomless pit Rev. 11. 7. the Beast of the Earth Rev. 13. 11. and the eighth Beast Rev. 17. 11. to be the Pope and these ten Horns to be the ten Europian Kingdoms which are all gross mistakes and the causes of greater in most of their Writings Having thus by the good grace of the Holy Trinity by these mysterious Texts discovered this last Beast and these last Enemies of the Church I trust he that is not spiritually blind will say Surely these Scriptures are fulfilled in our eyes this day Was there not a glorious Reformation began and though with much danger and difficulty yet clearly carryed on Read but the Assemblies Works read the good Ordinances made by the Parliament for the carrying of it on read the Covenant and then say whether there was not a glorious Reformation began nay did not the King give his Royall assent to this Reformation and did not the Parliament close with these Concessions and then even then on a sudden when these Witnesses had finished their Testimony then ariseth this Beast and over throws this Reformation by slaying the Witnesses which had finished their Testimony By this the Reader may see my confidence upon Scripture-bottome that these are the times and this is the place and the Magistracy and Ministery of England are the witnesses that now are slaying and this Power now tyrannizing over the Church is that Power that slayes the Witnesses and the Beast that set up this Power together with the Power that he hath erected shall gather all their strength against the Lamb that is against the true Saints which in sincerity worship Christ and there the mighty hand of God shall appear to the utter ruining and confounding of them then shall the Witnesses arise and take up that Reformation which hath lien dead three years and an half and shall carry it on without any more opposition and all this shall begin to be done I do not say finished neere about this present year 1651. These I have more largly discoursed of in the ensuing Tract yet not at large because I expect to have it answer'd by some of the Time-serving Champions especially Docter Homes whom I take to be the learned'st Saint of them all in this study and he hath got him almost as great a name amongst the ignorant Crew for a Prophet as Lillie the Hedg-Prophet who Jispsie-like gets his living by telling fortunes as Lillie so doth this Doctor make his Oracle speak to the humour of the Times as that infamous Priest of Apollo out of base flattery made the Oracle {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} So doth the blasphemous wretch indeavour to make the Holy Oracles of the Scriptures {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that is to humour the usurping Trayterous bloudy Hereticks of the Times and with more subtilty then any of his fellows It behoveth Christians to observe some mens Designs more then others and to